8,529 research outputs found
Dagstuhl News January - December 2011
"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic
Boosting Combinatorial Problem Modeling with Machine Learning
In the past few years, the area of Machine Learning (ML) has witnessed
tremendous advancements, becoming a pervasive technology in a wide range of
applications. One area that can significantly benefit from the use of ML is
Combinatorial Optimization. The three pillars of constraint satisfaction and
optimization problem solving, i.e., modeling, search, and optimization, can
exploit ML techniques to boost their accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness. In
this survey we focus on the modeling component, whose effectiveness is crucial
for solving the problem. The modeling activity has been traditionally shaped by
optimization and domain experts, interacting to provide realistic results.
Machine Learning techniques can tremendously ease the process, and exploit the
available data to either create models or refine expert-designed ones. In this
survey we cover approaches that have been recently proposed to enhance the
modeling process by learning either single constraints, objective functions, or
the whole model. We highlight common themes to multiple approaches and draw
connections with related fields of research.Comment: Originally submitted to IJCAI201
State-of-the-art in aerodynamic shape optimisation methods
Aerodynamic optimisation has become an indispensable component for any aerodynamic design over the past 60 years, with applications to aircraft, cars, trains, bridges, wind turbines, internal pipe flows, and cavities, among others, and is thus relevant in many facets of technology. With advancements in computational power, automated design optimisation procedures have become more competent, however, there is an ambiguity and bias throughout the literature with regards to relative performance of optimisation architectures and employed algorithms. This paper provides a well-balanced critical review of the dominant optimisation approaches that have been integrated with aerodynamic theory for the purpose of shape optimisation. A total of 229 papers, published in more than 120 journals and conference proceedings, have been classified into 6 different optimisation algorithm approaches. The material cited includes some of the most well-established authors and publications in the field of aerodynamic optimisation. This paper aims to eliminate bias toward certain algorithms by analysing the limitations, drawbacks, and the benefits of the most utilised optimisation approaches. This review provides comprehensive but straightforward insight for non-specialists and reference detailing the current state for specialist practitioners
Improving National and Homeland Security through a proposed Laboratory for Information Globalization and Harmonization Technologies (LIGHT)
A recent National Research Council study found that: "Although there are many private and public databases that
contain information potentially relevant to counter terrorism programs, they lack the necessary context definitions
(i.e., metadata) and access tools to enable interoperation with other databases and the extraction of meaningful and
timely information" [NRC02, p.304, emphasis added] That sentence succinctly describes the objectives of this
project. Improved access and use of information are essential to better identify and anticipate threats, protect
against and respond to threats, and enhance national and homeland security (NHS), as well as other national
priority areas, such as Economic Prosperity and a Vibrant Civil Society (ECS) and Advances in Science and
Engineering (ASE). This project focuses on the creation and contributions of a Laboratory for Information
Globalization and Harmonization Technologies (LIGHT) with two interrelated goals:
(1) Theory and Technologies: To research, design, develop, test, and implement theory and technologies for
improving the reliability, quality, and responsiveness of automated mechanisms for reasoning and resolving semantic
differences that hinder the rapid and effective integration (int) of systems and data (dmc) across multiple
autonomous sources, and the use of that information by public and private agencies involved in national and
homeland security and the other national priority areas involving complex and interdependent social systems (soc).
This work builds on our research on the COntext INterchange (COIN) project, which focused on the integration
of diverse distributed heterogeneous information sources using ontologies, databases, context mediation algorithms,
and wrapper technologies to overcome information representational conflicts. The COIN approach makes it
substantially easier and more transparent for individual receivers (e.g., applications, users) to access and exploit
distributed sources. Receivers specify their desired context to reduce ambiguities in the interpretation of information
coming from heterogeneous sources. This approach significantly reduces the overhead involved in the integration of
multiple sources, improves data quality, increases the speed of integration, and simplifies maintenance in an
environment of changing source and receiver context - which will lead to an effective and novel distributed
information grid infrastructure. This research also builds on our Global System for Sustainable Development
(GSSD), an Internet platform for information generation, provision, and integration of multiple domains, regions,
languages, and epistemologies relevant to international relations and national security.
(2) National Priority Studies: To experiment with and test the developed theory and technologies on practical
problems of data integration in national priority areas. Particular focus will be on national and homeland security,
including data sources about conflict and war, modes of instability and threat, international and regional
demographic, economic, and military statistics, money flows, and contextualizing terrorism defense and response.
Although LIGHT will leverage the results of our successful prior research projects, this will be the first research
effort to simultaneously and effectively address ontological and temporal information conflicts as well as
dramatically enhance information quality. Addressing problems of national priorities in such rapidly changing
complex environments requires extraction of observations from disparate sources, using different interpretations, at
different points in times, for different purposes, with different biases, and for a wide range of different uses and
users. This research will focus on integrating information both over individual domains and across multiple domains.
Another innovation is the concept and implementation of Collaborative Domain Spaces (CDS), within which
applications in a common domain can share, analyze, modify, and develop information. Applications also can span
multiple domains via Linked CDSs. The PIs have considerable experience with these research areas and the
organization and management of such large scale international and diverse research projects.
The PIs come from three different Schools at MIT: Management, Engineering, and Humanities, Arts & Social
Sciences. The faculty and graduate students come from about a dozen nationalities and diverse ethnic, racial, and
religious backgrounds. The currently identified external collaborators come from over 20 different organizations
and many different countries, industrial as well as developing. Specific efforts are proposed to engage even more
women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities.
The anticipated results apply to any complex domain that relies on heterogeneous distributed data to address and
resolve compelling problems. This initiative is supported by international collaborators from (a) scientific and
research institutions, (b) business and industry, and (c) national and international agencies. Research products
include: a System for Harmonized Information Processing (SHIP), a software platform, and diverse applications in
research and education which are anticipated to significantly impact the way complex organizations, and society in
general, understand and manage critical challenges in NHS, ECS, and ASE
Improving National and Homeland Security through a proposed Laboratory for nformation Globalization and Harmonization Technologies (LIGHT)
A recent National Research Council study found that: "Although there are many private and public databases that
contain information potentially relevant to counter terrorism programs, they lack the necessary context definitions
(i.e., metadata) and access tools to enable interoperation with other databases and the extraction of meaningful and
timely information" [NRC02, p.304, emphasis added] That sentence succinctly describes the objectives of this
project. Improved access and use of information are essential to better identify and anticipate threats, protect
against and respond to threats, and enhance national and homeland security (NHS), as well as other national
priority areas, such as Economic Prosperity and a Vibrant Civil Society (ECS) and Advances in Science and
Engineering (ASE). This project focuses on the creation and contributions of a Laboratory for Information
Globalization and Harmonization Technologies (LIGHT) with two interrelated goals:
(1) Theory and Technologies: To research, design, develop, test, and implement theory and technologies for
improving the reliability, quality, and responsiveness of automated mechanisms for reasoning and resolving semantic
differences that hinder the rapid and effective integration (int) of systems and data (dmc) across multiple
autonomous sources, and the use of that information by public and private agencies involved in national and
homeland security and the other national priority areas involving complex and interdependent social systems (soc).
This work builds on our research on the COntext INterchange (COIN) project, which focused on the integration of
diverse distributed heterogeneous information sources using ontologies, databases, context mediation algorithms,
and wrapper technologies to overcome information representational conflicts. The COIN approach makes it
substantially easier and more transparent for individual receivers (e.g., applications, users) to access and exploit
distributed sources. Receivers specify their desired context to reduce ambiguities in the interpretation of information
coming from heterogeneous sources. This approach significantly reduces the overhead involved in the integration of
multiple sources, improves data quality, increases the speed of integration, and simplifies maintenance in an
environment of changing source and receiver context - which will lead to an effective and novel distributed
information grid infrastructure. This research also builds on our Global System for Sustainable Development
(GSSD), an Internet platform for information generation, provision, and integration of multiple domains, regions,
languages, and epistemologies relevant to international relations and national security.
(2) National Priority Studies: To experiment with and test the developed theory and technologies on practical
problems of data integration in national priority areas. Particular focus will be on national and homeland security,
including data sources about conflict and war, modes of instability and threat, international and regional
demographic, economic, and military statistics, money flows, and contextualizing terrorism defense and response.
Although LIGHT will leverage the results of our successful prior research projects, this will be the first research
effort to simultaneously and effectively address ontological and temporal information conflicts as well as
dramatically enhance information quality. Addressing problems of national priorities in such rapidly changing
complex environments requires extraction of observations from disparate sources, using different interpretations, at
different points in times, for different purposes, with different biases, and for a wide range of different uses and
users. This research will focus on integrating information both over individual domains and across multiple domains.
Another innovation is the concept and implementation of Collaborative Domain Spaces (CDS), within which
applications in a common domain can share, analyze, modify, and develop information. Applications also can span
multiple domains via Linked CDSs. The PIs have considerable experience with these research areas and the
organization and management of such large scale international and diverse research projects.
The PIs come from three different Schools at MIT: Management, Engineering, and Humanities, Arts & Social
Sciences. The faculty and graduate students come from about a dozen nationalities and diverse ethnic, racial, and
religious backgrounds. The currently identified external collaborators come from over 20 different organizations and
many different countries, industrial as well as developing. Specific efforts are proposed to engage even more
women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities.
The anticipated results apply to any complex domain that relies on heterogeneous distributed data to address and
resolve compelling problems. This initiative is supported by international collaborators from (a) scientific and
research institutions, (b) business and industry, and (c) national and international agencies. Research products
include: a System for Harmonized Information Processing (SHIP), a software platform, and diverse applications in
research and education which are anticipated to significantly impact the way complex organizations, and society in
general, understand and manage critical challenges in NHS, ECS, and ASE
Dagstuhl News January - December 2006
"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic
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