MIWAI'12

“…it is the major, overriding environmental issue of our time, and the single greatest challenge facing environmental regulators. It is a growing crisis with economic, health and safety, food production, security, and other dimensions.”

In the last several years, we have witnessed all kinds of changes in the world’s climate. These changes have affected our lives profoundly. The catastrophic flood in Thailand in 2011, for example, was one of the worst in that country’s and the world’s history. There were 12.8 million affected people, hundreds of thousands lived their lives under water for more than a quarter of the year, while many others were homeless. The flood also struck Thailand’s economy heavily. Most of the industrial estates in central Thailand were under water, and, as a consequence, hundreds of thousands of jobs were floated away. The World Bank estimated that the economic loss was 1.44 trillion Baht—more than half of the country’s annual budget. Of course, Thailand is not the only victim of this kind of catastrophe. It is just a recent proof of how much climate change can damage this world - and particularly developing countries - as a whole.

Dealing with climate change is an extremely challenging task, involving several relevant issues. Scientists in related areas—environmental science and geo-informatics, for example—have been working hard on this problem for years. The highly complex character of climatic phenomena requires extreme computational power to model, understand and, hopefully, prevent its catastrophic consequences. This has laid down an immense challenge to the AI community: how AI, as an underpinning technology, can promptly respond to help leverage the full computational power to deal with the problem.

Thus, MIWAI-2012 invites papers on advances in AI techniques and related fields, e.g., GIS, neural networks, decision trees, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, etc., for climate change. Of course, papers in other areas of AI are also welcome as usual. We do hope that the works presented in the workshop will not only provide observation and recommendations, but also help the community to bestow better problem solvers in the area at the same time.

About MIWAI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) research has broad applications in real world problems. Examples include control, planning and scheduling, pattern recognition, knowledge mining, software applications and strategy games. The ever-evolving needs in business both on a local and on a global scale demand better technologies for solving more and more complex problems. Such needs can be found in all industrial sectors and in any part of the world.

This workshop aims to be a meeting place where excellence in AI research meets the needs for solving dynamic and complex problems in the real world. The academic researchers, developers, and industrial practitioners will have extensive opportunities to present their original work, technological advances and practical problems. Participants can learn from each other and exchange their experiences in order to fine tune their activities in order to help each other better. The main purposes of the MIWAI series of workshops are as follows:

• to provide a meeting place for AI researchers and practitioners.
• to inform research students about cutting-edge AI research via the presence of outstanding international invited speakers.
• to raise the standards of practice of AI research by providing researchers and students with feedback from an internationally-renowned program committee.

  (Previous MIWAIs can be accessed here.)

MIWAI 2012 flyer can be downloaded here.

Previous MIWAIs can be accessed here.

About the Universities

Nong Lam University, Vietnam

Located in Thu Duc district, Ho Chi Minh City, Nong Lam University (NLU) is the leading university in providing human resource for the southern areas in Vietnam. As one of the main university in the educational system of the country, we provide professional careers for majors that are most related to the country economic system. In the history of 57 years, staffs in broad fields of agriculture, forestry, biotechnology, information technology, mechanical engineering, economy, languages, natural resource and environment are educated from the university.

In the research activities, NLU disseminates research results as well as adapted technologies directly to human life in the rural areas. The researchers conducted by corporation of several faculties have been encouraged. We consider the central of our studies on providing better life-conditions for farmers, breeders and people that are vulnerable to natural resource and environment.

Ho Chi Minh University of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh University of Natural Resources and Environment (HCMUNRE) is directly under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE). It was first established in 2006 as a college by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) by merging two existing schools Meteorology & hydrology school and 3rd Central cadastral school. Recently in 2011, it was upgraded to university level according to Decision No.1430/QĐ-BGDĐT.

HCMUNRE is a young and dynamic university which can provides academic education in a wide range of fields included Basic Sciences, Meteorology and Hydrology, Environment, Land Management, Geodesy, Water Supply & Drainage, Applied Informatics, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Business Administration. In this school year, the university has received 13,000 applications and admitted 2,000 freshmen. It is now attended over 6,000 students.      

Beside education, we also focus on research activities. In reality, HCMUNRE has cooperated with academic organizations, local governments and enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City and other Southern Provinces of Vietnam to carry out a number of research projects related to our strengths such as Environmental Protection and Meteorology and Hydrology. In the future, we desire to extend the research to other fields such as Applied Informatics and Geographic Information System (GIS). 

Our goal is to become a MONRE’s center of academic education, research and technology transfer for the southern part of Vietnam in short term and for the whole country in long term.  Toward this end, HCMUNRE encourages to establish free exchange and close relationships in both basic and applied sciences with educational and research organizations and academic communities in Vietnam and overseas.

Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT) is the leading university in teaching and research activities of Vietnam . We play the active role in the fields of talents cultivation and providing manpower with strong technical skills to the Southern areas of Vietnam. HCMUT is a centre of technology - industry and management training. Graduate students from HCMUT have strong professional skills, which are recognized equivalent to those of other advanced countries in the Southeast Asia. Moreover, HCMUT is also the science research and technology transfer center which plays the key role in providing information and applying advanced technologies of developed countries and transferring to concerning industries in the Southern areas of Vietnam .

Department of Computer Science (DCS). As part of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), DCS originated from the former Department of Applied Applications that was established in 1989. In 2005, DCS acquired its current name, in the recognizing the rapid growth in the information technology arena. Currently, DCS awards the Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree in Computer Science and Engineering, Master of Engineering (MEng) in Computer Science and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computer Engineering.

Upon graduation, students are well prepared for a wide variety of career options as they have obtained a strong theoretical foundation and also necessary practical skills. They have also possessed solid background for advanced degrees in Computer Science. Graduates of BEng degree may find a position as a software developer, scientific programmer, systems programmer, or software engineer. Graduates of MEng and PhD degrees can definitely pursue their career paths in both academic and industry tracks.

Mahasarakham University, Thailand

The historical development of Mahasarakham University, or MSU, may be traced back to March 27, 1968, when it was originally established as the College of Education, Mahasarakham, for the purpose of extending higher education to the nation's Northeastern region. Situated in an outer area north of Maha Sarakham, a small town right at the center of the region, the college functioned to produce quality teachers to serve educational institutions of all levels. The college's status was later elevated when it became a regional campus of Srinakharinwirot University in 1974. At that time there were four faculties: Education, Humanities, Social Sciences and Science. The university finally gained independent status and became Mahasarakham University, Thailand's 22nd government university, on December 9, 1994, when the University Act was graciously authorized by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and published in the Royal Gazette.

The Faculty of Informatics

The Faculty of Informatics has been established since June 1, 2000. On April 24, 2003 Mahasarakham University Council approved the proposal to officially establish a new faculty with its current title at Mahasarakham University. The faculty's key responsibility is to upgrade the quality of education in information science in the northeastern region of Thailand by using appropriate teaching methods, empirical research, and educational services.

University of Hyderabad

The Unversity of Hyderabad was created by an Act of the Indian Parliament, the University of Hyderabad, has, over three decades, distinguished itself as one of the best in the country as a centre for teaching, research and innovations. With a highly qualified and internationally renowned faculty, motivated students, scholars, and support staff , it has carried out cutting edge research in disciplines such as the sciences, social sciences, humanities, technology, visual arts, communication, management and continuing education. Right from its inception, the University has pioneered teaching, research and extension activities in the best possible manner, keeping with the mandate given to it by the nation. It has vigorously sought interdisciplinary and interface studies in frontier areas across disciplines. Today, it has a thriving undergraduate program of the integrated kind, and its post-graduate studies and research programs rival some of the best in the country.

The Department of Computer and Information Sciences (DCIS)

DCIS epitomizes excellence in all the major functions associated with higher learning such as teaching, research, student development and curriculum planning. The strengths of the department are its quality faculty, innovative and flexible curricula with their unique focus on post-graduate education, state-of-the-art research with a remarkably high number of PhD scholars – both ongoing and recently graduated, and highly open and transparent policies that foster a healthy student-faculty interaction. Department of Computer and Information Sciences attained its distinct identity since 23rd March 1993. However, prior to its formation as a department, it was functioning as a component of the School of Mathematics & Computer/Information Sciences since 1983.