Address: | Abteilung für Datenbanken und Expertensysteme Institut für Informationssysteme (Nr. 184/2) Technische Universität Wien Paniglgasse 16 A-1040 Vienna AUSTRIA |
Telephone: | +43-1-58 801/6123 |
Fax: | +43-1-505 53 04 |
Email: | wsi@dbai.tuwien.ac.at |
Homepage: | http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/staff/slany/ |
Real-world decision making is to optimize something. In order to optimize, one needs criteria, which can be expressed for instance as constraints. Constraints are usually vague and have different relative importances. Also, data collected from unreliable sources is often slightly incorrect. Sometimes criteria even contradict each other. Therefore compromises are necessary. Typical application areas of fuzzy constraint optimizers include scheduling, design, configuration, planning, and classification. Test application domains for prototypes are steel-production scheduling and classroom roostering. In our project, special consideration is given to the reusability aspect of all tools.
The StarFLIP++ (read: StarFlipPlusPlus) project is currently divided into the following subtasks:
StarFLIP++ is a joint effort of the StarFLIP++ team that meets every second Thursday at the department. Students interested in participation can find available subjects below and are kindly invited to contact me.
My publications can additionally be found via the unified computer science technical report index (UCSTRI).
Class schedule: each Wednesday during the winter term of 1996/97 from 10h to 12h in room SEM 181A, Paniglg.16, A-1040 Wien.
I will give you all details at the "Vorbesprechung" on Wednesday October 16, 1996, 10h c.t., in the room SEM 181A (3rd floor in US floor-counting style, 1st in Austrian floor-counting style), Paniglg.16, A-1040 Wien.
The lecture will be held in English and will focus on practical and theoretical decision making problems and methods, general organizational skills, as well as on English language skills.
Motivation to attend: You will learn a lot about decision making and problem solving, skills almost always required in daily life and of outmost significance for the foundations of computer science. Additionally, for native speakers of German, you will learn better English, another important skill in our society. Finally, I hope we will have a lot of fun together.
A short riddle to catch your appetite:
A father and his son were driving to a ball game when their car
stalled on the railroad tracks. In the distance a train whistle blew a
warning. Frantically, the father tried to start the engine, but in his
panic, he couldn't turn the key, and the car was hit by the onrushing
train. An ambulance sped to the scene and picked them up. On the way
to the hospital, the father died. The son was still alive but his
condition was very serious, and he needed immediate surgery. The
moment they arrived at the hospital, he was wheeled into an emergency
operating room, and the surgeon came in, expecting a routine
case. However, on seeing the boy, the surgeon blanched and muttered,
"I can't operate on this boy - he's my son."
What do you make of
this grim riddle? How could it be? Was the surgeon lying or mistaken?
No. Did the dead father's soul somehow get reincarnated in the
surgeon's body? No. Was the surgeon the boy's true father and the dead
man the boy's adopted father? No. What, then, is the explanation?
Think it through until you have figured it out on your own - I insist!
You'll know when you got it, don't worry. [from: Douglas
R. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas, 1985]
Students interested in participation can find available PR I, PR II, and DA subjects below and are kindly invited to contact me.
Check research and projects described above to get an idea of projects available. Find below a list of possible subjects. Available subjects cover, among others, the WWW, fuzzy logic, constraints, computational complexity, OO-design in C++, UI-design, AI (KBS), scheduling, English, linguistics, and scientific organization tools. Please get in contact with me for details.
StarFLIP++ related subjects:
Other possible subjects:
Please get in contact with me for further details.
Wolfgang SLANY earned the equivalent of a master's degree (Diplom-Ingenieur) at Technische Universität Wien, Austria, in 1989 with a thesis on database query optimization. He then spent two years at Tokyo University in Japan as a Mombushou postgraduate research scholar, doing work on computational linguistics and user interface design, exploring the Japanese artificial intelligence scene, working for a Japanese software company, and getting married. In 1994, he received his PhD (Dr.techn.) at Technische Universität Wien with a thesis on fuzzy scheduling. He won the 1996 Heinz Zemanek award, the highest prize from the Austrian Computer Society awarded every two years. He has actively participated in industrial projects, has served as senior researcher in projects involving industrial partners from the Austrian industry, and has done consulting and teaching. He was co-organizer and program-chairperson of international conferences and workshops, and is member of AAAI, ACM, eCE (Austrian Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility), IEEE Computer, OCG (Austrian Computer Society), ÖGAI (Austrian Society for Artificial Intelligence), and NIPPON-ÖJG (Austro-Japanese Society). He currently holds the position of a university assistant at the Institut für Informationssysteme, Abteilung für Datenbanken und Expertensysteme, Technische Universität Wien and is a senior researcher at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Expert Systems.
A more detailed curriculum vitae can be found in http://www.dbai.tuwien.ac.at/ftp/user/slany/cv.ps.gz.gz.
Kyoko Slany's (my wife) homepage can be found at http://www.univie.ac.at/linguistics/students/kyoko/index.htm.