[agents] CPAIOR 2018: Call for Papers

[Mathijs de Weerdt]

CPAIOR 2018: Call for Papers
https://sites.google.com/view/cpaior2018/

The 15th International Conference on the Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research will be held in Delft, The Netherlands, June 26-29, 2018.

The aim of the conference is to bring together interested researchers from Constraint Programming (CP), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Operations Research (OR) to present new techniques or applications and to provide an opportunity for researchers in one area to learn about techniques in the others. A main objective of this conference series is also to give these researchers the opportunity to show how the integration of techniques from different fields can lead to interesting results on large and complex problems. Therefore, papers that actively combine, integrate, or contrast approaches from more than one of the areas are especially solicited. High quality papers from a single area are also welcome, if they are of interest to other communities involved. Application papers showcasing CP/AI/OR techniques on novel and challenging applications or experience reports on such applications are strongly encouraged.

The program committee invites submissions that include but are not limited to the following topics:

* Inference and relaxation methods: constraint propagation, cutting planes, global constraints, graph algorithms, dynamic programming, Lagrangian and convex relaxations, heuristic functions based on constraint relaxation.
* Search methods: branch and bound, intelligent backtracking, incomplete search, randomized search, portfolios, column generation, Benders decompositions or any other decomposition methods, local search, meta-heuristics.
* Integration methods: solver communication, model transformations and solver selection, parallel and distributed solving, combining machine learning with combinatorial optimization. 
* Modeling methods: comparison of models, symmetry breaking, uncertainty, dominance relationships.
* Innovative applications of CP/AI/OR techniques.
* Implementation of CP/AI/OR techniques and optimization systems.

Submissions are of two types: regular papers (submitted for publication and presentation) and extended abstracts (submitted for presentation only).  Outstanding regular paper submissions may be invited to be published directly in the journal Constraints through a ëfast trackí process.

This year's conference will also introduce a distinguished paper award and a student paper award.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR REGULAR PAPERS

Regular papers should present original unpublished work and can be of two types:

* long papers (at most 15 pages plus references)
* short papers (at most 8 pages plus references)

Both long and short papers will undergo rigorous review and are subject to the same criteria of quality. Both types are also eligible for distinguished paper or student paper award.  Short papers are particularly encouraged for interesting and novel work in progress, for which the practical or theoretical relevance is not yet fully identified. 

The conference proceedings will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.  All regular papers should be prepared in the format used for that series (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html). 

Submission schedule for regular papers (both long and short):

   Abstracts: December 1, 2017
   Full papers: December 8, 2017
   Rebuttal Phase:  January 15-17, 2018
   Notification: January 31, 2018
   Camera-ready version: March 1, 2018


INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXTENDED ABSTRACTS

Extended abstracts should be 1 or 2 pages in length and may present preliminary work or work already published in other outlets. The extended abstracts are submitted for presentation only (if accepted), and will not be formally published in the LNCS conference volume.  A collection of the accepted extended abstracts will be published on the conference website.  A submission representing work submitted or published in another outlet should state that outlet. Extended abstracts will be reviewed to ensure appropriateness for the conference.

Submission schedule for extended abstracts:

   Abstract: March 2, 2018
   Notification: March 16, 2018


INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOURNAL FAST TRACK

A selection of outstanding submissions to the technical program will be offered the opportunity to be published exclusively through a ëfast trackí process in the journal Constraints. Authors of these papers can opt to extend their paper from 15 to 20 pages plus references (subject to a minor second round of review) and be accepted directly in the journal by the time of the conference. Invited authors who select to fast track their paper will receive a 1-page extended abstract in the conference proceedings and will be invited to present at the conference on the same ground as any other accepted submission. Fast Track Journal papers should be formatted according to the Journal Guidelines (http://www.springer.com/computer/ai/journal/10601). The important dates for fast track papers are:

   Author opt-in decision: February 7, 2018
   Extended abstract submission (for LNCS proceedings): March 1, 2018
   Journal version submission: March 1, 2018
   Notification: April 1, 2018
   Camera-ready version: April 8, 2018

Submission Process

All papers are to be submitted electronically in PDF format by following the instructions at the URL https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cpaior2018 .


QUESTIONS

For any queries on the submission process, please contact the Program Chair (Willem-Jan van Hoeve) using  cpaior2018 at easychair.org .