Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS'96) December 10 (Tue) - 13 (Fri), 1996 Keihanna Plaza, Kyoto, Japan http://www.keihanna-plaza.co.jp/ICMAS96/index.html This announcement includes: * Call for Papers (Deadline: May 3, 1996) * Call for Workshop Proposals (Deadline: May 3, 1996) * Call for Exhibitions (Deadline: September 9, 1996) * Preliminary General Information (conference site information, a budget plan for attending the conference, etc.) * Student Scholarships * Questionnaire Please fill out the questionnaire attached at the end of this announcement and send it to: icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp (Of course, returning the questionnaire is not a prerequisite of paper submission.) Further information is available from the ICMAS'96 WWW site: Please send any questions about ICMAS'96 to: icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp ************************************************************************ Call for Papers Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems ICMAS'96 December 10 (Tue) - 13 (Fri), 1996 Keihanna Plaza, Kyoto, Japan Multiagent Systems are computational systems in which several (semi-)autonomous agents interact or work together to perform some set of tasks or satisfy some set of goals. These systems may involve computational agents that are homogeneous or heterogeneous, they may involve activity on the part of agents having common goals or distinct goals, and they may involve participation on the part of humans and intelligent agents. Research and practice on these systems generally focuses on problem solving, communication, and coordination aspects, as distinct from low-level parallelization or synchronization issues that are more the focus of distributed computing. Researchers and developers from many disciplines, who have contributed to multiagent systems over the past decade, exchanged insights and results during the First International Conference on MultiAgent Systems (ICMAS'95) in June 1995 in San Francisco. The program committee of ICMAS'96 is committed to maintaining the global involvement and disciplinary breadth of the conference, where the topics of interest will include but are not limited to: * Agent models and architectures * Agent-oriented programming * Believable agents * Communication issues and protocols * Cooperation and coordination * Cooperative information systems * Conceptual and theoretical foundations * Conflict resolution and negotiation * Development and engineering methodologies * Distributed heterogeneous databases * Distributed search * Distributed resource allocation * Evaluation of multiagent systems * Game-theoretic approaches * Intelligent agents * Market-oriented approaches * Multiagent planning and learning * Multiagent vision and robotics * Organization and social structure * Practical applications (Enterprise integration, Feature interaction, Information gathering, Manufacturing, Software agents, Software engineering) * Testbeds and development environments * User interface issues ICMAS'96 will have a three-day main conference with technical sessions presenting reviewed papers and plenary sessions bringing together different aspects of this highly interdisciplinary area. One-day tutorials and workshops will also be presented before the main conference. Submissions: Authors should submit five (5) copies of papers and an email version of the abstract by May 3, 1996 to one of the program co-chairs. All papers will be reviewed by the program committee, and authors will be notified of acceptance by July 15, 1996. Each paper should clearly indicate the nature of its scientific contribution, and the problems, domains, or environments to which it is applicable. Paper Format: Submitted papers must be printed on 8 1/2" x 11" or A4 paper using 12 point type (10 characters per inch for typewriters). Each page must have no more than 38 lines and an average of 75 characters per line. (This corresponds to LaTex article style, 12 point.) Each paper should have a single title page which includes a 150-word abstract and up to two topic areas covered by the paper. (These will be used to focus reviewing and ultimately to structure the technical program.) The length of the paper must be at most 5000 words. Multiple Submission Policy: A paper that has been (or will be) submitted to other conferences may be submitted to ICMAS'96 as long as (1) it is not published or presented at other conferences, (2) the author clearly indicates on his paper the other places where it has been submitted, and (3) the author notifies the program co-chair if he submits his paper to other conferences during the ICMAS'96 review process. Student Scholarships: ICMAS'96 has a number of scholarships available to help defray the travel costs of selected student authors. Please refer to the student scholarship program included in this announcement. It is also available at the ICMAS'96 WWW site. General Chair: Organizing Chair: Mario Tokoro Hideyuki Nakashima Dept. of Comupter Science ETL Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi 1-1-4 Umezono Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 223, Japan Tsukuba 305, Japan mario@mt.cs.keio.ac.jp nakashim@etl.go.jp Local Arrangements Chair: Kazuhiro Kuwabara NTT Comm. Science Labs. 2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-02 Japan kuwabara@cslab.kecl.ntt.jp Program Co-chairs: Americas: Les Gasser Information Technology and Organizations Program Room 1115 National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, Va. 22230, USA lgasser@nsf.gov Europe/Africa: Donald Steiner Siemens AG, ZFE T SN 5 Otto-Hahn-Ring 6 D-81739 Munich, Germany donald.steiner@zfe.siemens.de Asia/Pacific Rim: Toru Ishida Dept. of Information Science Kyoto University, 606-01 Kyoto, Japan ishida@kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp Advisory Committee: John Campbell (Univ. College of London, UK) Christiano Castelfranchi (Inst de Psicologia, CNR, Italy) Susan E. Conry (Clarkson University, USA) Yves Demazeau (LEIBNIZ/IMAG/CNRS, France) Edmund Durfee (Univ. of Michigan, USA) Jacques Ferber (Univ. of Paris VI, France) Les Gasser (USC, USA) Michael Georgeff (Australian AI Institute, Australia) Carl Hewitt (MIT, USA) Michael N. Huhns (Univ. of S. Carolina, USA) Toru Ishida (Kyoto University, Japan) Victor Lesser (Univ. of Massachusetts, USA) Jean-Pierre Muller (Univ. Neuchatel, Switzerland) Jeffrey Rosenschein (Hebrew University, Israel) Donald Steiner (Siemens AG, Germany) Katia Sycara (CMU, USA) Mario Tokoro (Keio Univ. / Sony CSL, Japan) Publicity Chair: Toshiharu Sugawara (NTT Basic Research Labs., Japan) sugawara@ntt-20.brl.ntt.jp More detailed information is available on the ICMAS'96 WWW site: http://www.keihanna-plaza.co.jp/ICMAS96/index.html Do not hesitate to send an email to "icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp" if you have any questions about ICMAS'96. ************************************************************************ Call for Workshop Proposals Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems ICMAS'96 The ICMAS'96 Committee invites proposals of workshops to be held in conjunction with the Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS'96). The workshops are intended to provide opportunities to meet and informally discuss selected topics on multiagent systems. Proposal: Those who are willing to organize a workshop should send the following information to the workshop chair by e-mail. * workshop title * abstract * a list of organizers * the name, address, e-mail address, phone number, fax number of the person to contact * estimated size of participants * length (half-day/full-day) Submission deadline is May 3, 1996 (extended from the previous announcement), and the notification will be made by June 1, 1996. Workshop Details: A workshop will be held on December 10, 1996, the day before the main conference. The workshop will be either half-day or full-day. The workshop organizers will be responsible for: * Producing a call-for-participation and distributing it. The ICMAS'96 Committee will make the call-for-participation available at the ICMAS'96 WWW server. * Selecting workshop participants. A list of participants should be submitted to the ICMAS'96 Committee by September 9, 1996. * Producing the workshop notes. If camera ready copy of the notes is submitted to the ICMAS'96 Committee by November 9, 1996, the ICMAS'96 Committee will produce copies of the workshop notes for workshop participants. The ICMAS'96 Committee will provide meeting places for the workshops including nominal refreshments. The workshop participants are required to register for the ICMAS'96 main conference. Workshop registration will be handled by the ICMAS'96 Committee along with the main conference registration. Please send proposals/inquires to the workshop chair: Workshop Chair: Hideyuki Nakashima (ETL) e-mail: nakashim@etl.go.jp ************************************************************************ Call for Exhibitions Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems ICMAS'96 The ICMAS'96 Committee invites technology demonstrations for the Second International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS'96). ICMAS'96 is intended to provide a forum for exchanging ideas and research results. In this spirit, the ICMAS'96 Committee have decided to provide multiagent researchers and practitioners with an opportunity to demonstrate their technology ranging from research prototypes to commercial multiagent systems. Several applications for an exhibition have already been received from all over the world. For example, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and Kyoto University in Japan are planning to exhibit a Telescript-based system which provides conference and tourist information. This system will also support meeting arrangement among conference participants. In this exhibition, about 50 personal intelligent communicators will be loaned to conference participants to actually try out the system. Conference Site: The Keihanna Plaza, the ICMAS'96 conference site, has a 770 square-meter multi-purpose Event Hall. This Event Hall has been used for various exhibitions and social events; the ICMAS'96 exhibitions will be held at this Event Hall. The Event Hall has an outlet for network connection, and the Keihanna Plaza is connected via 1.5 Mbps leased line to the Internet. Thus, exhibitions which utilize the Internet are possible. The ICMAS'96 Committee will provide space for the exhibition, power line, and a network connection. Equipment should be arranged by the presenters, but a limited number of workstations (such as Sparc station, Indy, Macintosh) will be available from the ICMAS'96 Committee. Schedule: December 10, 1996 (Tue), the day before the main conference, will be allocated for the exhibitions. Application: Applications for the exhibition should include the following: * The title, author and abstract of the exhibition * The name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and fax number of the person to contact * Equipment to be used. (please specify how much power capacity is needed and whether a network connection is needed or not) * How much space is needed for the exhibition * If you want to borrow equipment from the ICMAS'96 Committee, please specify its requirements * Other requirements if any Applications should arrive at the ICMAS'96 Exhibition Coordinator no later than September 9, 1996. An e-mail application is preferred (e-mail address: icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp). The notification will be made electronically by September 30, 1996. The nominal fee will be charged for an exhibition of a commercial system. The title and abstract of accepted demonstrations will be made available from the ICMAS'96 WWW server prior to the conference. Please send your application/inquires to the ICMAS'96 Exhibition Coordinator: Mokoto Yokoo NTT Communication Science Laboratories 2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-02 JAPAN phone: +81-774-95-1829 fax: +81-774-95-1871 e-mail: icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp ************************************************************************ ICMAS'96 General Information (Preliminary) * Tentative Conference Schedule: December 10 (Tue): Tutorials, Workshops, and Exhibition December 11 (Wed): Main Conference, (evening) Reception December 12 (Thu): Main Conference, (evening) Traditional Japanese Music 'GAGAKU' performance, Banquet December 13 (Fri): Main Conference (Day 3) * Conference Site: The ICMAS'96 will be held at the Keihanna Plaza at the center of Kansai Science City. Information on the Keihanna Plaza is available at . In the evening of December 12, the traditional Japanese music (called "Gagaku") performance by Gagaku Music Society of Tenri University is planned at the Nara New Public Hall in the Nara Park. The Nara Park is famous for gentle deer wandering around in the park. (It's fun to feed them with special biscuits!) There are also many interesting historical spots around the Nara Park including Todaiji temple (The Great Budda), Kasuga Grand Shrine, and Kofukuji. (Most of the afternoon of December 12 is planned to be free time so that conference participants can have time to walk around the Nara Park area.) * Rough estimate of the expenses for attending the conference (tentative and subject to change): Early Registration Fee: 35,000 yen (tentative!) Accommodation (5 nights): 55,000 yen (11,000 yen x 5) Meal: 10,000 yen Transportation: 10,000 yen Airfare to Japan: 100,000 -- 150,000 yen (depending on your location) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Total 210,000 -- 260,000 yen (US$2,000 -- $2,400) ************************************************************************ Student Scholarships -- ICMAS'96 ICMAS'96 has a number of scholarships available to help defray the travel costs of selected student authors. In addition, members of the ICMAS community are working to arrange regional scholarships. To apply, please fill in the application form below and send it to "icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp" via e-mail by July 31, 1996. Decisions on support will be made by August 16, 1996; preference will be given to graduate students coming from outside Japan to present their papers at the main conference. The amount of support is expected to approximately cover the attendee's airfare to Japan (regional scholarships may cover more or less, however). Applications and inquires should be sent to "icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp". --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Student Scholarship Application Form: Name: Institution & Department: Address: Country: Email address: Telephone: Fax: Faculty advisor: Email address: Address: Expected travel expenses: Other sources of funding (including regional scholarships): Short curriculum vitae: One-paragraph description of your research interests in multiagent systems: ************************************************************************ QUESTIONNAIRE To register interest, would you take the time to fill in this form and send it to icmas96@keihanna-plaza.co.jp. Name: Position: Organisation: Address: Postcode: Country: Telephone: Fax: E-mail: So I suggest the following possibilities (please check if the answer is yes): [ ] I may submit a paper to ICMAS'96. Topic areas (if already known): [ ] I may present a demonstration at ICMAS'96. Topic areas (if already known): [ ] I may wish to attend ICMAS'96 as a delegate. I would most likely attend if ... ... the following issues were addressed: ... other: