CALL FOR PAPERS THE 9th EUROPEAN - JAPANESE CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION MODELLING AND KNOWLEDGE BASES May 24-28, 1999, Hosted by the Iwate Prefectural University, JAPAN APPI Grand Hotel, Hachimantai, Iwate OBJECTIVE: The aim of the conference is to bring together experts from different areas of computer science and other disciplines, who have a common interest in understanding and solving problems on information modelling and knowledge bases. We also aim to recognise and analyse new areas on modelling and knowledge bases to which more attention should be paid. Therefore cognitive science, philosophy and logic, as well as linguistics are relevant areas, too. TOPICS: Modelling of information is becoming more and more important in information systems. Their databases, knowledge bases, as well as knowledge management systems are growing all the time. Modelling helps to understand, explain, predict, and reason on information manipulated in the systems, and to understand the role and functions of components of systems. Modelling can be made with many different purposes in mind and at different levels. It can be made by emphasising users' conceptual understanding, or e.g. efficient knowledge sharing in co-operative information systems. It can be made on a domain level on which the application domain is described, on an algorithm level, or on a representation level. On each level the objects are different, and different rules govern the behaviour of them. Therefore the concepts, rules and methods for modelling are also different. The approaches for modelling in various application areas may differ considerably, too. In this conference the interest is focused on modelling of information, and the development and use of models in information systems of various kinds. Scientific or technical papers of high quality are sought on topics including, but not limited to the following. The highest priority will be given to papers which are strongly related to different aspects of modelling. 1. Theoretical and Philosophical Basis of Concept Modelling and Conceptual Modelling - Concept formation, descriptions of concepts, conceptual change - Systems of concepts, theories of concept systems, and concept integration - Human concepts vs. formal concepts in the design of information systems - Formal ontologies and knowledge sharing, justification of shared knowledge 2. Conceptual Modelling and Information Requirements Specification - Knowledge managemet for conceptual modelling - Recognition, use, and manipulation of information based on different ontologies and on different epistemological basis - Languages, tools and methods for conceptual modelling - Methods and systems for developing and using conceptual information - Conceptual information requirements specification for information systems 3. Models in Intelligent Activity - Meta-modelling for the model building process - Relationships between conceptual modelling and problem solving - Modelling, understanding, human cognition and problem solving - Concept formation as intelligent activity in model construction, problem solving, and conceptual learning 4. Collections for Descriptions of Concepts, Knowledge Base Design, and Data Base Design - Conceptual modelling for knowledge management - Active database systems and active knowledge base systems - Design methodologies and design tools - Modelling for the design of object-oriented data bases 5. Human-Computer Interaction and Modelling - Metadata for human-computer interaction - Interfaces to data bases and knowledge bases, - Management of large conceptual schemata - Modelling in multimedia information systems 6. Software Engineering and Modelling - Conceptual modelling vs. O-O modelling: similarities and differences - Use of design patterns and concept definition libraries - Modelling software engineering processes - SE methods as modelling tools; UML and other formalisms - Dynamic modelling of distributed systems - Modelling of multi-agent systems - modelling in multi-agent systems 7. Applications - Modelling in virtual reality - Conceptual modelling in 3D environment - Modelling Global Cyber Society - Temporal modelling in information systems - Modelling in the WWW systems HOW TO SUBMIT A PAPER: Send five (5) printed copies of your paper (either as a full paper, max. 20 double spaced pages, or as a short paper of max. 8 pages) to one of the PC co-chairs by January 15, 1999. The paper must be original, and not submitted or accepted by any conference or journal. The selection of papers is made on the basis of review, by the program committee. The acceptance will be based on the originality of work, on the suitability of the topic to the conference, and on the overall quality of your submission. The acceptance letters will be sent by 28th February. In the case of acceptance, you are expected to send your final paper for inclusion in the preprints to arrive no later than 7th May, 1999. The text must be ready for final publication in the book by the end of August 1999. HOW TO SUBMIT A POSITION PAPER: Send five (5) printed copies of your position paper (max. 4 pages) to one of the PC co-chairs by January 15, 1999. Research projects of any scale are invited to illustrate innovative concepts, theories, prototypes, or experiences. Time for presenting accepted position papers will be allocated. HOW TO SUBMIT A POSTER: Send five (5) printed copies of your poster hand-out material (max. 2 pages) and draft drawings of your poster to one of the PC co-chairs by February 26, 1999. Research projects of any scale are invited to illustrate innovative concepts, theories, or prototypes. During the conference, special space for posters will be reserved. WORKING PRINCIPLES OF THE CONFERENCE: - The total number of participants is limited to 50. - The authors present their papers at the conference. The papers, poster outlines, and position papers are included in the preprints. The final text of the papers can be polished for publication after the conference. Only actually presented papers will be published in the book. - The final book will be published through an international publisher. CONFERENCE SITE: The conference will be hosted by the Iwate Prefectural University (IPU), located at Takizawa (10 km north of Morioka city), Japan. Iwate Prefecture (http://www.office.pref.iwate.jp/~kanko/access_e.html) is in the North-eastern part of Tohoku region. Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture. The Tohoku Shinkansen train service takes about 3 hrs from Tokyo station (http://www.office.pref.iwate.jp/~kanko/access3_e.html) to Morioka city. Iwate Prefecture has Hanamaki Airport with regular flights to Osaka, Sapporo, etc. (http://www.office.pref.iwate.jp/~kanko/access2_e.html). The conference will be held at the APPI Grand Hotel, Hachimantai, Iwate. It is a hot-spring and resort of 5 stars class hotel. Iwate is the name of Iwate mountain (2000m high), 10 km North of Morioka. Iwate boasts great natural beauty. The Rikuchu Coast, a Rias-type coast line with high cliffs and reefs offshore, the "Alps of the Sea", is well-known as a natural museum of volcanoes. Hiraizumi is one of Tohoku's most historically important towns. It was built by the feudal lord Kiyohira Furukawa some 870 years ago. Though several wars ultimately destroyed Hiraizumi, its glory lives on through the 3,000 National Treasures still preserved in the Golden Hall of the Chusonji Temple, (http://www.office.pref.iwate.jp/~kanko/toku_e.html) and in other places. CONFERENCE FEE: The registration fee of approx. 50,000 Japanese Yen will include the preprints, lunches and dinners during the conference, refreshments in coffee breaks, a banquet party, a bus tour within Iwate Prefecture, and the cost for the final book. The room and breakfast cost of 10,000 Japanese Yen per night, is to be paid to the hotel directly by the participants. Program Committee: Eiji Kawaguchi, (Co-Chairman), Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan Hannu Kangassalo, (Co-Chairman), University of Tampere, Finland Alfs T. Berztiss, University of Pittsburgh, USA Harold Boley, German Research Center for AI, Germany Silvana Castano, University of Milano, Italy Pierre-Jean Charrel, Université Toulouse 1 & IRIT, France Olga De Troyer, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Valeria De Antonellis, University of Milano, Italy Nicola Guarino, National Research Council LADSEB-CNR, Italy Hele-Mai Haav, Institute of Cybernetics, Estonia, Issam A. Hamid, Iwate Prefectural University, Japan Jaak Henno, Tallinn Technical University, Estonia Tu Bao Ho, Japan Advanved Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Koichi Hori, RCAST, University of Tokyo, Japan Matthias Jarke, RWTH Aachen, Germany Manfred Jeusfeld, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Yahiko Kambayashi, Kyoto University, Japan Tadahiro Kitahashi, ISIR, Osaka University, Japan Yasushi Kiyoki, Keio University, Japan Pavel Materna, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Robert Meersman, Free University Brussels, Belgium John Mylopoulos, University of Toronto, Canada Björn Nilsson, Astrakan Strategic Development, Sweden Moira Norrie, ETH-Zentrum, Switzerland Setsuo Ohsuga, Waseda University, Japan Antoni Olivé, Univ. Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain Christine Parent, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland Barbara Pernici, University of Milano, Italy Alain Pirotte, University of Louvain, Belgium Veikko Rantala, University of Tampere, Finland Colette Rolland, University of Paris I, France Yasuki Sekiguchi, Hokkaido University, Japan Cristina Sernadas, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal Arne Sølvberg, University of Trondheim, Norway Yuzuru Tanaka, Hokkaido University, Japan Bernhard Thalheim, Brandenburg Technical University, Germany Takehiro Tokuda, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Benkt Wangler, SU/KTH, Sweden Roel Wieringa, University of Twente, The Netherlands Torao Yanaru, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan Naoki Yonezaki, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Esteban Zimanyi, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Organizing Committee Issam A. Hamid, (Local organiser), Iwate Prefectural University, Japan Hannu Jaakkola, Tampere University of Technology, Finland Yoshitaka Shibata, Iwate Prefectural University, Japan Addresses: Eiji Kawaguchi, Kyushu Institute of Technology Dep. of E.E. and Computer Engineering 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, 804-8550 Japan Tel: +81-93-884-3254 Fax: +81-93-871-5835 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Hannu Kangassalo University of Tampere P.O. Box 607 FIN-33101 Tampere Finland Tel: +358-3-2156778 Fax: +358-3-2156070 E-mail: [log in to unmask] ____________________________________________________________ Preliminary information about the conference can be seen on the page http://www.pori.tut.fi/~hj/ejc99.html . Information on previous European-Japanese conferences and conference books (1989-1998) can be seen on the page http://www.cs.uta.fi/~hk/muu-toim-90.html. ____________________________________________________________