Announcement

[ Upcoming Events ]

Informal International Workshop

Two young researchers from the systems school in the University of Hull Business School, England, visit Tokyo Tech in February. We would like to open an informal workshop to welcome the researchers and to enjoy the opportunity of learning what they are doing there in Hull. The University of Hull and Tokyo Tech together can cover a wide range of systems research and we are looking forward to seeing the contrasts among different systems research paradigms.

Theme: Interdisciplinarity in Systems Sciences
Date: February 14 and 15, 2006
Place: 707, 7F, W9 Building, Ookayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Fee Free (but the fee for Welcome Party is 5,000 JPY)
Apply: If you would like to attend this workshop, please send the following information to sasegawa@valdes.titech.ac.jp.
(1)Name
(2)Affiliation and Position
(3)E-mail address
(4)Attend/Not attend Welcome Party
Aims & Scope In this workshop, instead of mere introductory talks by the respective researchers, we set a clear collaborative aim of the workshop, the title of which is --

Interdisciplinarity in Systems Research

One of the key characteristics of systems sciences is its interdisciplinary nature and its variety. Different researchers claim the legitimacy of their works on different intellectual stances. The sad fact however is that there seems to be little interaction among the different sessions in systems society conferences. There is always a gap between the idealistic slogans and the reality!

Now, criticism is easy and construction is very difficult. How can we achieve an interdisciplinary discourse? We have a number of occasions in which we listen to the talks of researchers belonging to the fields outside our own. However, we often lack the fundamental attitude to enjoy the real value of the presented works. Thus, in many cases, interdisciplinary attempts may very well end up less than the sum of the relevant disciplines.

In order to avoid such a mess, our aim in the workshop is to discuss explicitly the epistemological issues underlying the different paradigms in systems research. We do ask the presenters to talk about what they are doing as we do in other seminars. We request the speakers however to organize their talks in such a way that even intelligent novices can understand what they are doing in the critical manner. The speakers may organize their presentations in such a way that the following issues will be clarified even to novices:

1) the real world relevance of your works -- what is the use of the research?
2) justification of the research method -- e.g.) why do you use mathematics?
3) legitimacy of your works -- does refutability or any other criteria legitimize your work?

The above is only examples and the speakers may focus on other research issues as well. We simply ask the speakers to pay a little bit of attention to HOW they are doing their research as opposed to WHAT they are doing.

We put special emphasis on the discussions and questions/answers after the talks. We spare significant length of time after each talk, and we specially welcome very fundamental and challenging questions from the novices. We ask the audience not to be intimidated to fear that their questions may be inappropriate. The very aim of the workshop is to foster the fundamental understanding than to follow the frontier of the field.

We hope that the workshop will result in a energetic discussion among the participants, and it will be a precious learning opportunity for not only the audience but also the speakers.
Note: Each presentation consists of 40-minute talk and twenty-minute Q and A.

Program

February 14

10:30-11:00
Introduction, Mission of the COE Program, Aim of Workshop
K. Kijima, Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology

11:00-12:00
Let us Justify 90% of the Extant Ways and Propose 10% of Improvements!
N. Kobayashi, Ph.D. Candidate, Tokyo Institute of Technology

12:00-13:00
Action Education by ProjectFA new methodology for project-based education
H. Chujo, Ph.D. Candidate, Tokyo Institute of Technology

13:00-14:30
Lunch

14:30-15:30
To be announced
M. Dauda, Ph.D. Candidate, Hull University

15:30-16:30
Making Knowledge in Public Sector Healthcare:
A Systems Analysis of the National Health Service
R. Chowdhury, Ph.D. Candidate, Hull University

16:30-17:00
Wrap Up


February 15

10:30-11:30
Difference between Human and Computer-based Reasoning
N. Konno, Ph.D. Candidate, Tokyo Institute of Technology

11:30-12:30
The Social Foundation of the Cognitive System of Socially-Supported Belief
N. Matsumoto, Ph.D. Candidate, Tokyo Institute of Technology

12:30-14:00
Lunch

14:00-15:00
Kinds of Semantic Relations
Wai Ling Lai, JSPS Research Fellow, Tokyo Institute of Technology

15:00-15:30
Coffee Break

15:30-17:00
Discussion
All the Presenters

18:00-20:00
Welcome Party (to be fixed)

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Rsearch Project 'Social Simulation'
SOARS Tutorial

The SOARS Tutorial will be held on February 20 and 21, at Suzukake-dai Campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology. If you would like to attend this tutorial, please send a E-mail to the contact E-mail address below.

Date: February 20 and 21
Time schedule will be fixed within days
Venue: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Suzukake-dai Campus, J2 Building, 16F, 1601
Fee: Free
Apply: If you would like to attend this tutorial, please send the following information to Mr. Arai(arai@dis.titech.ac.jp) by February 15.
(1)Name
(2)Affiliation
(3)Purpose to attend
(4)E-mail address
Note: This tutorial will be given in English.
Participant should bring your own mobile PC with Java 1.4.2 or later installed.

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International Workshop on New-Generation Social Systems Theory

The 21st Century Program 'Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences' will hold 'International Workshop on New-Generation Social Systems Theory' on February 24, at Ookayama Campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology. We invite 3 guest speakers, Peter Dittrich, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, Thomas Kron, University in Hagen, Germany, and Amanda Gregory, University of Hull, UK. If you would like to attend this international workshop, please send a E-mail to contact address below.

Date: February 24, 2006
Venue: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama Campus, West9 Building, 6F, 607
Theme: New-Generation Social Systems Theory
Fee Free (but the fee for the get-together-party is 5,000 JPY)
Apply: If you would like to attend this international workshop, please send the following information to 21coe—absss.titech.ac.jp no later than February 10.
(1)Name
(2)Affiliation and Position
(3)E-mail Address
(4)Attend/Not attend get-together-party
Aims & Scope Social systems theory is now arriving at the stage of reconstruction under the global, inevitable and rapid change of the world. Sociology is recognized as a social science that treats domestic and historical social facts in each cultural sphere. On the other hand we expect sociology theory to provide a general framework for our common world. Organization science and other social systems researches face the same situation.

We need the methodology of social systems research for analyzing each social fact in detail under the cultural context and common global fact at the same time. We expect new-generation social systems theory to be in the details and general at the same time.

We should rebuild a social systems theory under the international collaboration. The social systems theory provide a general framework for social systems. The framework is also required to be applied to different cultural and historical facts at the same time.

For the purpose we would like to collaborate and discuss. Contributors are expected to provide their own stand points for this mission program. Topics cover the wide range of social systems such as globalization, bottom up approach, autopoiesis, decision theory, organization sciences and so on.

Program (tentative)

Note: All presentations will be given in English

09:30
Open Desk

10:00-11:00
Research Program for Social Systems Theory of 21st Century:
From Agent-Based Points of View
Hiroshi Deguchi (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

11:15-12:15
How to Identify the Hierarchical Structure of Autopoietic Social Systems:
Reaction Networks as a Formal Mechanism to Explain Social Phenomena
Peter Dittrich (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) and
Lars Winter (University in Hagen)

12:15-13:45
Lunch

13:45-14:45
The Importance of Actor Constellations for the Emergence of Communication Systems
Christian Lasarczyk (University Dortmund) and
Thomas Kron (University in Hagen)

15:00-16:00
The Relevance of Social Autopoiesis for Managers
Amanda Gregory (University of Hull)

16:15-17:15
The concept of agent in the agent-based simulation reconsidered
Akira Tokuyasu (Hosei University)

18:00-20:00
Get-together-party@(the fee is 5,000 JPY)

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SCIS & ISIS 2006
Joint 3rd International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems and 7th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent Systems

Date: September 20-24, 2006
Venue: O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Web Site: http://scis2006.cs.dm.u-tokai.ac.jp/

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[ Past Events ]

Systems Thinking in UK and Japan 2

Date: November 18, 2005
Time: 14:00-17:00
Place: Room 715, 7th Floor, West 9 Building, Ookayama Campus
Guests: Amanda Gregory, Zhichang Zhu, and Jennifer Wilby (Hull Business School, UK)

The 21st Century COE Program "Creation of Agent-based Social Systems Sciences" presents an informal seminar titled "Systems Thinking in UK and Japan 2" at Room 715, 7th Floor, West 9 Building, Ookayama Campus, from 2 pm to 5 pm, November 18.

We are inviting three distinguished researchers in the filed, Amanda Gregory, Zhichang Zhu, and Jennifer Wilby from Hull Business School, UK. The business School is one of the most active centers in UK to study systems thinking/approach and a partner of our COE center. At the seminar we will have an opportunity to learn each other about recent theoretical and practical progress in the field in UK and Japan.

Since the seminar will be on discussion basis, it will be so informal with a limited number of participants.

The seminar must be beneficial for a wide range of students and business persons:
- If you are not so familiar with systems thinking you can learn what it is like.
- If you want to know recent topics or advances in the area, you can discuss about them. It is highly appreciated if you could contribute to the discussion or questions and answers.

If you are interested in it, please contact Ms Satomi Segawa at satsegawa@jim.titech.ac.jp to tell her your name and affiliation (department).

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Call for Papers
IFSR 2005: 'The New Roles of Systems Sciences for a Knowledge-based Society'

Congress
Name:
IFSR 2005 (The First World Congress of the International Federation for Systems Research)
Theme: The New Roles of Systems Sciences for a Knowledge-based Society
Date: November 14- 17, 2005
Venue: International Conference Centre, Kobe, Japan

Call for Papers

A knowledge-based, technology-supported society is the key to solving current problems of mankind. The ability to understand and manage a complex, dynamic knowledge society of the future and the overall systemic framework supporting it is vital. Systems Sciences carry the promise of promoting the creation, management, exchange, integration, and application of knowledge by applying holistic / systemic paradigms and principles. Systems Sciences provide a basis for balancing the divergent needs and interests between individuals and society worldwide, between ecology and economy, between nations of various levels of development and between differing worldviews. They enable us to understand the conflict potential, to search for suitable policies, to harness complexity, and to provide adequate methods and technological tools for their resolution. The guiding themes of this congress are the new directions, challenges and roles for Systems Sciences and their potential beneficial impact on an emerging knowledge society.

Symposium-1: Technology Creation Based on Knowledge Science (chair: T. Kobayashi)
Symposium-2: Creation of Agent Based Social Systems Sciences (chair: H. Deguchi)
Symposium-3: Intelligent Information Technology and Applications (chair: H. Nakayama)
Symposium-4: Meta-synthesis and Complex Systems (chair: X. Tang)
Symposium-5: Data/Text Mining from Large Databases (chair: T. Ho)
Symposium-6: Vision of Knowledge Civilization (chair: Andrzej Wierzbicki)
Symposium-7: Foundations of the Systems Sciences (chair: Gary Metcalf)
Workshop: New Roles of Systems Sciences in a Knowledge Society (chair: Matjaz Mulej)
Panel Discussion: New Roles of Systems Science in a Knowledge Society (chair: K. Kijima)

Details on the program: http://www.sea.uni-linz.ac.at/ifsr05/
Details on the organisation : http://ifsr2005.jtbcom.co.jp/

Regular Papers: Authors are invited to submit an extended abstract (2 - 3 pages) to the symposia and the Workshop by July 1, 2005. Final papers (8 pages) are due by Oct. 1, 2005.
Position Papers: Short Position Papers (1-2 pages) are invited for the Workshop, describing visions and predictions of the future impact and effects of Systems Sciences by July 1, 2005. Final position papers (2 pages) are due by Oct. 1, 2005.

Conference proceedings and will be published by JAIST Press.

All submissions must be in electronic form: http://ifsr2005.jtbcom.co.jp/
Detailed instructions for submission: http://www.sea.uni-linz.ac.at/ifsr05/guidelines.htm

Early registration fee (until Aug. 17, 2005):
30.000 Yen (ca.285 Dollar), students: 10.000 Yen
Regular registration fee:
35.000 Yen (approx. 330 Dollar). Students: 15.000 Yen

Convention Board (Chairs):
Jifa Gu (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Yoshiteru Nakamori (JAIST, Japan)

International Program Committee (chairs):
Gerhard Chroust (Kepler Univ. Linz, Austria)
Andrzej Wierzbicki (JAIST. Japan)
Zhichang Zhu (J. Systems Res. and Behavioral Sc.)

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Systems Meet Innovation Management

Lecturer: Hugo Tschirky, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland
Kyoichi Kijima, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Date: September 29, 30, 2005
Place: Room 607, 6th Floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Fee: Free
Program: Sept 29

10:00-11:00
Introduction and Systems Approach
Prof. K. Kijima

12:30-14:00
Innovation Management 1: Coping with technological change (Lecture)
Prof. H. Tschirky

14:00-14:30
Break

14:30-16:00
Innovation Management 2: Selected management tools (Short Case Studies)
Prof. H. Tschirky


Sept 30

10:00-11:00
Innovation Management 3: Structured creativity: the innovation architecture (Lecture)
Prof. H. Tschirky

12:30-14:00
Innovation Management 3: Applied innovation architecture (Group Work)
Prof. H. Tschirky and Prof. K. Kijima

14:00-14:30
Break

14:30-16:00
Innovation Management 4: Group Work Presentations & Selected Themes
(1 Presentation Per Group 15 Minutes)
Prof. H. Tschirky and Prof. K. Kijima

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2nd Symposium of the COE Program
"Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)"

Date: July 12, 13, 2005
Time: 9:30- (Open Desk 9:00-)
Place: Collaboration Room, 2nd floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Contact: If you would like to attend the Symposium, please send us a e-mail with the following data; name, affiliation, position, e-mail address, attendance (or not attendance) at luncheon gathering.
Contact e-mail address: absss-web@dis.titech.ac.jp

Program

July 12

09:30-10:00
Introduction to Drama Theory
Kyoichi Kijima, Sub-Leader of the COE Program 'Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences', Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

10:00-10F30
Drama Theory for Participatory Decision Support: Introduction
Jim Bryant*, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

10:30-12:30
Drama Theory for Participatory Decision Support: Tutorial
Jim Bryant*, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

12:30-13:45
Lunch

13:45-14:00
Introduction of the Center on Agent-based Social Systems Sciences (CABSSS)
Hiroshi Deguchi, Leader of the COE Program 'Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences', Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

14:00-14:30
Climate Negotiation Process and Agent-based Modeling
Norichika Kanie, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

14:30-15:00
The Possibility of Visual Investigation of Legal Information (LawMap)
Hironao Kaneko, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

15:00-15:30
Online Mediation Agent Based on Old Cases
Takahiro Tanaka, Ph.D Candidate of Tokyo Institute of Technology
Katsumi Nitta, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

15:30-16:00
Coffee Break

16:00-16:30
Automatic Assemble System for Modular Structure
Yuzuru Terada, Ph.D Candidate of Tokyo Institute of Technology
Satoshi Murata, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

16:30-17:00
Developmental Word Grounding Through A Growing Neural Network with A Humanoid Robot
Xiaoyuan He, Ph.D Candidate of Tokyo Institute of Technology
Ryo Kojima, Ph.D Candidate of Tokyo Institute of Technology
Osamu Hasegawa, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

17:00-17:30
Beyond the KISS Principle for Agent-based Social Simulation
Takao Terano, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

17:30-18:00
SOARS Project, Where Do We Go from Here
Hiroshi Deguchi, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

18:00-20:00
Welcome Buffet Party


July 13

09:30-10:00
Agent-based Decision Maker Preference Modeling using SONIA-DNN for Restaurant Work Assignment and Scheduling Problem
Muhammad R. Widyanto
Makoto Watanabe
Kazuhiko Kawamoto
Benyamin Kusumoputro
Kaoru Hirota, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

10:00-10:30
Multi Agent Based Image Retrieval System Applied to Decision Making
Mladen Jovic
Thomas Seidl
Yutake Hatakeyama
Kaoru Hirota, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

10:30-11:00
An Experimental Analysis of Loop-Free Algorithms for Scale-free Networks
Shigeo Doi
Masayuki Yamamura, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

11:00-11:30
Towards Validation in Agent-based Simulation: Starting from Comparison among Different Agents
Keiki Takadama, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

11:30-12:00
From Social Change to Self-organization: Perspective Transformation of Social System Theory
Takatoshi Imada, Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

12:00-12:30
The Coevolution of Altruism and Punishment in a Spatially Structured Population
Mayuko Nakamaru, Associate Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology

12:30-14:00
Lunch

14:00-15:30
Tutorial 1
Claudio Cioffi-Revilla**, George Mason University, USA

15:50-16:00
Break

16:00-17:30
Tutorial 2
Peter Dittrich***, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany


*Jim Bryant is Professor of Operational Research and Strategy Sciences and a directer of Centre for Strategic Learning and Change at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is one of the most active researchers in "drama theory," a generalization of game theory.

**Claudio Cioffi-Revilla is Professor of Computational Social Sciences at Gerge Mason University, USA. He directs George Mason University's new Center for Social Complexity. His current interests are in agent-based simulation and other computational approaches to long-term social science macro-questions.

***Peter Dittrich is Junior Group Leader (equivalent to Junior-Professor or Assistant Professor, non-permanent), Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Bio Systems Analysis Group, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. His current research interests are in computational sociology (socionics, social computing) and Modeling, simulation, and theory of complex biological and social systems.

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AESCS 2005 CALL FOR PAPERS
The Fourth International Workshop
on Agent-based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems
Annual Conference of PAAA
(Pacific-Asian Association for Agent-based Approach in Social Sciences)

Date: July 9-13, 2005
Venue: O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
AESCS 2005: http://www.paaa.econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp/PAAA_aescs2005.html
PAAA Web: http://www.paaa.econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp/

  1. Important Dates

    April 15, 2005: Paper submission deadline (by web-site)
    April 15, 2005: Deadline for Summer School and Tutorial Proposals
    May 7, 2005: Notification of paper acceptance (by e-mail)
    June 7, 2005: Camera-ready copies of accepted papers due (by web-site)
    July 9-13, 2005: Workshop

  2. Aims and Scope

    There are many economic, organizational, and social problems, for which they require collective information processing with a large collection of autonomous and heterogeneous agents. Following the successes of the former AESCS workshops, the Fourth workshop on Agent-based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems (AESCS'05) focuses on the Agent-based Social Systems Science (ABSSS), an emerging scientific field as a trans-disciplinary and cross-cultural sciences. ABSSS will cover a broad spectrum of sciences such as social systems theory, sociology, business administration, management information science, organization science, computational mathematical organization theory, economics, evolutionary economics, international political science, jurisprudence, policy science, socio-information studies, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, complex adaptive systems theory, and philosophy of sciences. Also, AESCS'05 would include the issues of systems design for global and local socio-economic systems in the twenty first century. We would like to explore various new cross-cultural arenas of the human sciences. Of course, such an approach has been tried several times in the history of the modern sciences of humanities and systems, and has established such important conceptual frameworks and theories as Cybernetics, Synergetics, General Systems Theory, Cognitive Science and Complex Adaptive Systems. However, the rapid progress of computer technology enables us to create novel conceptual frameworks and design theories for socio-economic systems of the twenty-first century under the cross-cultural and trans-disciplinary context.

  3. Topics to be Addressed

    The topics include, but not limited to:

    (1) Formal Theories on Agent-based Approaches

    1. Agent-based computational foundations; Theories on rationality, intention, and emotion; Social behaviors, social action, and social interaction; Mathematical organization theory; Mathematical sociology


    (2) Computational Economics and Organization Theory
    1. Agent-based computational economics; Econophysics; Market-oriented computing; Artificial markets; Agents in financial engineering; Computational organization theory;


    (3) Modeling, Simulation and Validation Techniques
    1. Toolkits and methods for agent-based simulation; Large scale social simulation; Validation and verification of simulation results and simulation systems;


    (4) Gaming Simulation
    1. Gaming simulation; Participatory simulation; Hybridization of agent-based simulation and gaming simulation


    (5) Collective Intelligence
    1. Collective decision and behaviors; Emergent intelligence; Social intelligence


    (6) Applications of Agent-based Modeling
    1. Organization and industrial design; Electronic commerce; Community design; Environment problems; Emergency management: prevention of disasters, epidemic diseases, and finance collapses; Medical and insurance systems; Public policies; Spatial modeling, pedestrian modeling; Marketing decision support


    (7) Related Areas
    1. Evolutionary economics; Complex adaptive systems, chaotic and fractal dynamics; Evolutionary computation; Evolutionary games; Population dynamics; Anthropology


    (8) Conceptual Model and Methodologies
    1. Conceptual modeling of agent-based approach; Philosophical issues of agent-based modeling


  4. Paper Format

    Submitted papers should not exceed 12 pages in length with one column and single space. Please follow the format of Springer Lecture Notes series. The manuscript includes all figures, tables, graphs, and bibliography.

  5. Publication

    Accepted papers are published in the workshop proceedings. As post-proceedings, selected papers presented at the workshop will be published from Springer Verlag.

  6. Registration and Participants

    The registration fees are 10,000 Japanese Yen, which will cover conference materials including the proceedings.

  7. Tutorials and Summer School

    We will have two and/or four hours tutorials at the workshop. We will also organize international open summer schools for Agent-based modeling after the meeting. Participants of AESCS'05 are able to attend the summer school programs. Proposals for the tutorials and summer schools are welcome. The proposals must be written in one page summary within the deadline specified above.

  8. Financial Support

    The Organizing Committee of AESCS 2005 decided to give financial support of traveling cost to student participants. Each amount of financial support is depending on the distance from Tokyo. Applicants should be student and paper-giver of AESCS 2005. If you would like to apply for the financial support, please fill-in the Application Form, and send it back through e-mail to the secretary of AESCS 2005 (E-mail: AESCS05@dis.titech.ac.jp ) by April 15. You can also send us a Recommendation Letter which is wrote by the person who has relationship with NAACSOS or ESSA.

    Note: if you apply for the financial support without submitting paper, your application will not be considered.

    1. Full name
    2. Nationality
    3. Sex
    4. Date of birth
    5. Residential Address
    6. Affiliation (Position and Organization)
    7. Telephone
    8. Fax
    9. E-mail
    10. Paper Title and Author(s)
    11. Other information (Option)

    Successful applicants will receive the Letter of Grant through e-mail by May 7, and receive a traveling ticket subsequently through air mail. The recipient should bring us at the Congress a copy of the recipient's valid passport, a copy of the student ID, and ticket stub. Please do not hesitate to contact with secretary of AESCS 2005, if you have any question.

  9. Organizing and Program Committees

    Workshop Chair:

    1. Hiroshi Deguchi, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan


    Workshop Organizers:
    1. Kyoichi Kijima, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

    2. Takao Terano, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
    3. Hajime Kita, Kyoto University, Japan

    Sponsor:
    1. COE21 Program "Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences", by Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science and Department of Value and Decision Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology


    Program Committee (Tentative, in alphabetical order):
    1. Kiyoshi Arai, Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan

    2. Robert Axtell, Brookings institution, U.S.A.
    3. Shu-Heng Chen, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
    4. Sung-Bae Cho, Yonsei University, Korea
    5. Norman Foo, University of South Wales, Australia
    6. Yoshi Fujiwara, ATR Human Information Science Labs., Japan
    7. Toshiya Kaihara, Kobe University, Japan
    8. Toshiyuki Kaneda, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
    9. Thomas Lux, Kiel University, Germany
    10. Tag Gon Kim, KAIST, Korea
    11. Hideyuki Mizuta, IBM JAPAN, Japan
    12. Akira Namatame, National Defence Academy, Japan
    13. Keiji Suzuki, Future University-Hakodate, Japan
    14. Keiki Takadama, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
    15. Shingo Takahashi, Waseda University, Japan
    16. Utomo Sarjono Putro, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
    17. David W. K. Yeung, Hong Kong Baptist University and St. Petersburg State University, China

  10. Query Address

    E-mail: AESCS05@dis.titech.ac.jp

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9th Annual Meeting of Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics

Date: 26-27 March, 2005
Place: Suzukakedai Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, JAPAN
URL: http://www.econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~evoeco/indexj.html
Inquiry: Executive Committee of 9th Annual Meeting of Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics (evoeco@degulab.cs.dis.titech.ac.jp)

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Fellowship:
21st-Century COE Program Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Entry Title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Advertising Institutions: Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering
and Department of Value and Decision Science, Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology
Description: This postdoctoral position is available from April 1 or October 1, 2005 for a period of one year basically (depending on the situation, reemployment for every fiscal year, but up to five years). The Research Fellow will be expected to work in close collaboration with these program members on studying, by using the bottom up approach, a variety of different social systems found in the 21st century and understanding the principles and techniques of their institutional design.

We will develop a theory of agent-based modeling (ABM) and a framework of agent-based simulation. In agent-based simulation machine agents are used as players and in addition to machine agents, key persons with a vested interest in the issue being modeled, such as a policy maker and other stakeholders, participate in the model as player agents. Through this interaction it is possible to share, interpret, understand and analyzes the issues as they are played out among the human players. By using a method, based on agent based modeling, there is an opportunity to understand from constructive points of view the various types of systems in our global society. For this purpose, emphasis is not only given to a bottom up approach, but also to a functional approach and an attempt is made to bridge the gap between constructive and functional, micro and macro, interpretive and rational modeling. By focusing on the traceability of the various processes found within a social system, frameworks are created for problem solving that enable the design, in a process traceable form, of different types of organization and institutions. Information on the "Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)" can be found at
http://www.dis.titech.ac.jp/coe/index_eng.htm
Qualification Requirements: Applicants should have, or expect shortly to obtain a PhD in the following research fields; Economics, artificial intelligence, mathematical or computational social sciences and decision sciences. Experienced programming skill in Java will be evaluated. However, since our research is essentially interdisciplinary, they are not exclusive. Every young researcher interested in developing "Agent-based Social systems Sciences" with us is more than welcome to apply to this position.
Applications: Applications should include a letter, a CV, a summary of your academic area of expertise, a list of your publications, a sample of academic work (e.g. offprint of your journal articles or a PhD dissertation), and a recommendation letter, and should be sent as soon as possible and no later than January 31 or July 31, 2005.
Salary: The salary is based on the directives of Tokyo Institute of Technology, and fringe benefit per year. Though it depends on the research hours and performance, a typical annual rate may be JPY 3,600,000 (tax inclusive).
Duration: April 1 or October 1, 2005 - 1 year basically.
(depending on the situation, reemployment for every fiscal year, but up to five years.)
Closing Date: January 31 or July 31,  2005
Address for Receiving Application: 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8502 Japan
Tokyo Institute of Technology
21st-Century COE Deguchi Group, G5-18
Web Address: http://www.dis.titech.ac.jp/coe/index_eng.htm
Primary Contact: Professor Hiroshi Deguchi
Contact E-mail: arai@dis.titech.ac.jp

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1st Symposium of the COE Program
"Creation of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)"

Date: March 3, 2005
Time: 10:00-17:30
Place: Collaboration Room, 2nd floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Contact: If you would like to attend the Symposium, please send us a e-mail with the following data; name, affiliation, position, e-mail address, attendance (or not attendance) at luncheon gathering.
Contact e-mail address: absss-web@dis.titech.ac.jp

Program

10F00-10F15
Opening Address 1
Akira Shimokoube, Vice-President of Tokyo Institute of Technology

10F15-10F30
Opening Address 2
Hiroshi Ishihara, Head of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

10:30-11:15
Mission of Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences
Hiroshi Deguchi, Leader of the COE Program, Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

11F15-11F45
Expectation for Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences: From the viewpoint of Risk Management of Health
Hisayoshi Kondou, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

11F45-12F15
Expectation for Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences to Support for Group Consensus-Building
Toru Suzuki, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.

12F15-13F45
Luncheon Gathering

13F45-14F00
Message from Professor Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, Director, Center for Social Complexity,
George Mason University

14F00-14F30
Agent-based Modeling and its Applications
Kyoichi Kijima, Sub-leader of the COE Program, Professor of Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology of Tokyo Institute of Technology

14F30-15F00
Adaptive Systems
Shigenobu Kobayashi, Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

15F00-15F30
Negotiation Agent and Law System
Katsumi Nitta, Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

15F30-15F50
Coffee Break

15F50-16F20
Human Agent Collaboration System
Yoshihiro Miyake, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

16F20-16F50
Mathematical System for Decision Making
Kaoru Hirota, Professor of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of Tokyo Institute of Technology

16F50-17F30
Panel Discussion

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17th Symposium of Autonomous Decentralized System

Date: 27-28 January, 2005
Place: Suzukake Hall, Suzukakedai Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, JAPAN
URL: http://www.mrt.dis.titech.ac.jp/sice-das05
Inquiry: Satoshi Murata, Associate Prof. of Tokyo Institute of Technology
E-mailFmurata@dis.titech.ac.jp

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Research Project "Mathematical System for Decision Making"
Prof. A. Bargiela Lecture Meeting

Lecture Title: Granular Computing as a formal framework for human-centred (hypercomputational) information processing
Lecturer: Andrzej BARGIELA (Nottingham Trent University, UK)
Date: 18 January, 2005
Time: 16:40-18:10
Place: G3 2nd floor, Meeting Room, Suzukakedai Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Note: On 11 January at 13:35-14:00 in the same room, we hold also another Meeting in which Prof. Bargiela talk about his research agenda and his University. It would be greatly appreciated if you would participate in both meetings.
Summary: Granular Computing (Zadeh, 1979, 1997) has been motivated by the human information processing that can be characterised by an adaptive adjustment of the abstraction (granulation) of the problem at hand so as to achieve a mental model of the problem that is both manageable and as accurate as possible. Such an adaptive adjustment of abstractions does not fit easily into a definition of standard computations formalised by a Universal Turing Machine (UTM) since it presupposes the availability of "insight" and "understanding" of the problem domain.

In this talk we will look at the hypercomputational characteristics of Granular Computing that make it a good framework for human-centred information processing, a framework that still makes use of standard computers and is therefore eminently implementable. We will show that a parallel execution of granular models coupled with a possibility of "correcting" the results of computations at one level of abstraction with the results from another level of abstraction is capable of solving "uncomputable" (in the UTM sense) problems such as Godel's Entscheidungsproblem. This new insight puts an entirely different emphasis on the issue of Software Engineering of Granular Systems from designing correct computable processes to designing computable components for solving uncomputable, human-like information processing tasks.

Andrzej Bargiela (Mf94) is Professor and founder-Director of the Intelligent Simulation and Modelling Lab at the Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. His main research focus, pursued since 1978, is processing of uncertainty in the context of modelling and simulation of various physical and engineering systems. The research involves development of algorithms for processing uncertain information, investigation of computer architectures for such processing and the study of information reduction through visualisation. Recent research has been the development of a formal framework for processing of information abstractions. This is referred to as a Granular Computing framework.
Professor Bargiela published widely and delivered invited lectures at several universities in Europe, North America and Japan (TITech, Konan University, Osaka Prefecture University).
He was elected as chairman of the European Council of the Society for Computer Simulation in 2002 and was nominated to serve as associate vice-president of the Society for Computer Modelling and Simulation (USA) in 2004.
He is Editor of a book series on Simulation and Modelling published by Research Studies Press.
He is a founder and Director of a research spin-off company specialising in human-centred information processing; INFOHUB Ltd.

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Research Project "Human Agent Collaboration System" Seminar

Lecture Title: 'Searching a Polygonal Region from the Boundary'
Lecturer: Prof. Ichiro Suzuki (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Date: 14 January, 2005
Time: 15:00-16:00
Place: Meeting Room, 1st floor, G5, Suzukakedai Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
E-mailFmurata@dis.titech.ac.jp

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RA Forum

Date: 21 December, 2004
Time: 10F00--
Place: Collaboration Room, 2nd floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology

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2nd Inter-COE21 Symposium

Date: 16 December, 2004
Place: Keidanren Hall, 14th floor, Keidanren Kaikan
URL: http://www.rso.titech.ac.jp/

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Research Project "Agent-based Modeling and its Applications"
Prof. Keith W. Hipel Lecture Meeting

Date: 30 November, 2004
Place: Collaboration Room, 2nd floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Lecturer: Keith W. Hipel (University of Waterloo, Professor, Department of Systems Design Engineering)
Lecture Title: A System Engineering Approach to Conflict Resolution

Summary:
The overall objectives of the research are to put the theory and practice of conflict resolution into proper perspective and to introduce the graph model for conflict resolution as a flexible decision technology for systematically studying realworld conflict which can arise in engineering, international politics, business, and many other fields. Specific challenges that had to be overcome in the development of the graph model are described and it is explained how ideas from computational engineering and elsewhere were used to conquer them. For example, a difficult hurdle to surpass in the design of any decision model is how to obtain preference information and within the graph model paradigm for conflict resolution a number of flexible procedures have been designed for conveniently eliciting ordinal preference information for each of the decision makers. Other algorithmic and computational difficulties that had to be surmounted include developing techniques for handling very large conflicts, handling irreversible moves by decision makers, and carefully defining solution concepts for mathematically describing a rich range of human behaviour that can take place under conditions of conflict. The foregoing and other related developments have been incorporated into the decision support system GMCR II which permits practitioners and researchers to carry out comprehensive strategic studies within a user-friendly windows operating environment. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is employed for clearly demonstrating how GMCR II can be effectively used for modeling, analyzing, and better understanding realworld conflict. Strategic results obtained for some environmental and water resources conflicts are also presented.

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Research Project "Human Agent Collaboration System"
1st Group Seminar

Date: 26 November, 2004
Place: G5 Meeting Room, Suzukakedai Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology

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Creation of Agent-based Social Systems Sciences
Informal Meeting

Date: 8 November, 2004
Time: 16:30-18:30
Place: 9th floor, West bldg.9, O-okayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, JAPAN
Guest: Prof. Mike Jackson
(Dean, Hull Business School, UK., Ex-president of the International Society for Systems Sciences)
Theme: Recent Trends in Systems Thinking in UK (tentative)

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2004 Summer Institute of
Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science,
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Introduction of Agent-based Social Systems Sciences (ABSSS)
and SOARS(Spot Oriented Agent Role Simulator)

Date: 24-26 September, 2004
Host: Executive Committee of 2004 Summer Institute of Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science and ABSSS
Co-host: Department of Value and Decision Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Place: Suzukakedai Campus, G5 Meeting Room, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, JAPAN

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Research Assistant Recruitment

We are looking for the Research Assistant widely. If you have interest to this RA, Please send us the following information by 8 September, 2004.
1 Name and Grade
2 Laboratory which you are belonging to
3 Project which you are interested in (among our 8 Projects)
4 Special affairs

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