Kinsale Online-2003
Online Constraint Solving: Handling Change and Uncertainty


A CP2003 workshop
Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland
September 29th, 2003



[Description] [Submission] [Attendance] [Dates] [Organisers] [Program Committee]

Schedule

Working Notes and tentative schedule

Description of the workshop

On-line problem solving is a significant issue for many practical applications, where solutions must be executed as the operating environment changes. Many of the application areas have been tackled by constraint based methods, but current constraint solving tools offer little support for on-line problems. Possible enhancements could include rapid reaction to problem changes, prediction of future changes and contingent solutions, time guarantees or exploitation of known time limits.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers interested in these topics, to consider how existing techniques can be enhanced, and to explore combinations of different techniques. The workshop will be of interest to those modelling and solving real world problems, to those interested in theoretical issues in constraint solving, and also to members of the Uncertainty in AI and Planning and Scheduling communities.

We invite submissions which address any of the following topics, or which deal with any other aspect of online constraint solving, dealing with change or uncertainty:
  • fast reaction to problem changes
  • reacting to problem changes by searching for similar solutions
  • preparing to react by storing solutions or justifications
  • predicting changes to constraints, variables, assignments or objectives
  • finding robust solutions
  • finding contingent solutions
  • anytime solving
  • refining solutions as problem structure is revealed
  • multi-level modelling and solving
  • multi-step or sequential constraint solving
  • interactive problem solving
  • distributed problem solving
  • comparison of techniques
  • practical applications of online constraint solving, dealing with change and uncertainty
Submissions may be full papers (up to 15 pages) or short papers (up to 5 pages). All submissions will be reviewed by an international program committee, and will be selected on the basis of their contribution to the workshop topic. The aim of the workshop is to generate discussion and the flow of ideas. Therefore, a small number of submissions will be selected for full presentation (20 minutes plus questions) during the workshop. All other accepted submissions will be presented in 5 minute slots followed by an open discussion session.

Submission guidelines

Final papers for the workshop notes will be limited to either 15 or 5 pages in the Spinger Verlag LNCS style (font size 10). Note that there is very little time between notification of acceptance and the deadline for final versions, so we recommend submissions should be in the proper format to save time. Please email all submissions as either postscript, MS Word 6.0 or pdf to Ken Brown (k.brown@cs.ucc.ie) by 16th July. Each submission should have a title page with the name, address, and email address for each author. One of the authors should be identified as the contact author.

Attendance Details

At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop. All workshop attendees must pay the CP workshop registration fee.

Important Dates

  • Email submission: July 16th (Wednesday)
  • Notification: August 6th (Wednesday)
  • Final versions: August 27th (Wednesday)
  • Workshop: September 29th

Workshop Organisers

Chris Beck, 4C, Ireland, c.beck @ 4c.ucc.ie
Ken Brown, 4C, Ireland, k.brown @ cs.ucc.ie Primary contact
Gérard Verfaillie, CNRS-LAAS, France, gverfail @ laas.fr


Program Committee

Roman Bartak, Charles University, Czech Republic
Amedeo Cesta, ISTC-CNR, Italy
Markus Fromherz, Parc, USA
Carmen Gervet, IC-PARC, UK
Simon de Givry, INRA, France
Bill Havens, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Narendra Jussien, Ecole de Mines de Nantes, France
Ralf Keuthen, a.p.solve Limited, UK
Ian Miguel, University of York, UK
David Lesaint, BT Exact, France
Jon Spragg, a.p.solve Limited, UK
Thierry Vidal, ENIT, France
Toby Walsh, 4C, Ireland