IEEE CONTROL SYSTEMS SOCIETY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
ON DISCRETE EVENT SYSTEMS

    Ryan J. Leduc
    Chair, IEEE CSS Technical Committee on DES
    Dept. of Computing and Software
    McMaster University
    1280 Main Street West
    Hamilton, Ontario
    Canada L8S 4K1

    Phone: (905) 525-9140 Ext. 27962
    Fax: (905) 524-0340
    e-mail: leduc@mcmaster.ca
    WWW: http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/~leduc/

DESTC Web Page: http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/destc/

To subscribe/unsubscribe to the newsletter, please go here.

To submit news items and articles to this newsletter, go here.

It is the responsibility of the contributor to ensure that they have the necessary permissions/clearance required for the transmittal of their news item.

Contents:

1. Editorial

2. Announcements
 2.1 [CFP: IEEE IECON-2007] Special Sessions on "Petri Nets and Discrete
     Event Systems", Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 5-8, 2007.
 2.2 Increasing Size of Readership.

3. Books
 3.1 Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes", by H.S.
     Chang, M.C. Fu, J. Hu, S.I. Marcus
 3.2 Perspectives in Operations Research: Papers in Honor of Saul Gass' 80th
     Birthday", by Frank Alt, Michael Fu, Bruce Golden

4. Conferences
 4.1 2007 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and
     Cybernetics, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, October 7 - 10, 2007
 4.2 ISC2007 - 5th ANNUAL INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION CONFERENCE 2007, Delft,
     The Netherlands, June 11 - 13, 2007
 4.3 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, New Orleans, LA, USA,
     December 12 - 14, 2007

5. Journals
 5.1 Selections from Automatica, Volume 43, Issue 2, February 2007

Welcome to the newsletter of the IEEE Control Systems Technical Committee Group on Discrete Event Systems!

See http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/destc/ for information on the DESTC.

Personal note from the editor:

Welcome to the January 2007 issue of the DESTC newsletter. May the new
year bring you good health, happiness, and plenty of productive
research!

Ryan

Contributed by: Jin-Shyan Lee <jinshyan_lee@itri.org.tw>

[CFP: IEEE IECON-2007] SPECIAL SESSIONS ON "PETRI NETS AND DISCRETE
EVENT SYSTEMS", TAIPEI, TAIWAN, NOV. 5-8, 2007.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
	Call for Papers: Special Session on 
	Petri Nets and Discrete Event Systems
-----------------------------------------------------------------
			IEEE IECON 2007
The 33rd Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
	November 5-8, 2007, The Grand Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan
	Conference web site:  http://iecon07.ccu.edu.tw/
===================================================
Petri nets were introduced by C. A. Petri in his seminal work in 
1962. Since then Petri nets have been applied in several areas for 
modeling and analysis of discrete event systems. The aim of this 
invited session is to provide a platform for international 
researchers and practitioners to present and share their original 
works addressing the new challenges, research issues and novel 
solutions of Petri Nets and Discrete Event Systems. 

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
   - Petri nets
   - UML, statechart, and activity diagrams
   - Discrete event systems
   - System modeling and simulation
   - Supervisory control
   - Performance evaluation and optimization
   - Planning and scheduling
   - Fault detection, isolation, diagnostics, and error recovery
   - Applications: factory automation, transportation systems,
     computer & communication networks, e-commerce, and supply chains
   - Practical applications and industrial case studies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT DATES:
March 26, 2007	Expression of interest (Email short summaries to 
		the organizer)
April 2, 2007	Deadline for submission of full papers
June 18, 2007	Notification of acceptance
July 23, 2007	Final camera-ready papers due

The Proceedings of IECON 2007 will be included in the IEEE Xplore 
database and indexed by EI Compendex.
For further information, please see the website: 
http://iecon07.ccu.edu.tw/

INSTRUCTIONS:
Interested contributors please e-mail your short summaries (paper 
title, authors, abstract, and contact details) to Dr. Jin-Shyan Lee 
at your earliest convenience.
----------------------------------------------------------

Session Co-Organizers:

Assoc. Prof. Toshiyuki Miyamoto
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering
Osaka University, Japan
Email: miyamoto@eei.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp

Prof. Zhiwu Li
School of Electro-Mechanical Engineering
Xidian University, China
Email: zhwli@xidian.edu.cn

Dr. Jin-Shyan Lee
Information & Communications Research Labs
Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan
Email: jinshyan_lee@itri.org.tw
----------------------------------------------------------------

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc aT mcmaster dOt ca>

INCREASING SIZE OF READERSHIP.

The more DES researchers who subscribe to the DESTC newsletter, the
more valuable a resource it is for all of us. More subscribers means
that our announcements reach a larger audience.  It also means that
more people will be likely to submit DES related announcements, thus we
will all be better informed.

I would like to take this opportunity to try to increase the reach of
the newsletter.  If you are speaking with or e-mailing a fellow DES
researcher, please consider asking them if they are aware of the
newsletter and point them to the link below to view the current
newsletter.  When I received the list of subscribers from my
predecessor, there were several out of date e-mail addresses that 
I could not replace so these people may not be aware that the
newsletter has started up again. 

http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/destc/des_nltr.php

Ryan Leduc

Contributed by: Michael Fu <mfu@isr.umd.edu>

SIMULATION-BASED ALGORITHMS FOR MARKOV DECISION PROCESSES

H.S. Chang, M.C. Fu, J. Hu, S.I. Marcus
Springer, 2007
ISBN 978-1-84628-689-6
http://www.springer.com/978-1-84628-689-6

Markov decision process (MDP) models are widely used for modeling 
sequential decision-making problems that arise in engineering, 
economics, computer science, and the social sciences. It is well-known 
that many real-world problems modeled by MDPs have huge state and/or 
action spaces, leading to the notorious curse of dimensionality that 
makes practical solution of the resulting models intractable. In other 
cases, the system of interest is complex enough that it is not 
feasible to specify some of the MDP model parameters explicitly, but 
simulation samples are readily available (e.g., for random transitions 
and costs). For these settings, various sampling and population-based 
numerical algorithms have been developed recently to overcome the 
difficulties of computing an optimal solution in terms of a policy 
and/or value function. Specific approaches include:
- multi-stage adaptive sampling;
- evolutionary policy iteration;
- evolutionary random policy search; and
- model reference adaptive search. 

"Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes" brings 
this state-of-the-art research together for the first time and 
presents it in a manner that makes it accessible to researchers with 
varying interests and backgrounds. In addition to providing numerous 
specific algorithms, the exposition includes both illustrative 
numerical examples and rigorous theoretical convergence results. The 
algorithms developed and analyzed differ from the successful 
computational methods for solving MDPs based on neuro-dynamic 
programming or reinforcement learning and will complement work in 
those areas. Furthermore, the authors show how to combine the various 
algorithms introduced with approximate dynamic programming methods 
that reduce the size of the state space and ameliorate the effects of 
dimensionality.

The self-contained approach of this book will appeal not only to 
researchers in MDPs, stochastic modeling and control, and simulation 
but will be a valuable source of instruction and reference for 
students of control and operations research.

Written for: 
Researchers working with Markov decision processes, stochastic 
modeling and control, or simulation; graduate students working in 
control and/or operations research

scheduled publication March 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Markov Decision Processes 
2 Multi-stage Adaptive Sampling Algorithms 
3 Population-based Evolutionary Approaches 
4 Model Reference Adaptive Search 
5 On-line Control Methods via Simulation 
References 
Index

Contributed by: Michael Fu <mfu@isr.umd.edu>

PERSPECTIVES IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH: PAPERS IN HONOR OF SAUL GASS' 80TH
BIRTHDAY

Frank Alt, Michael Fu, Bruce Golden
Springer, 2006
ISBN 978-0-387-39933-1
http://www.springer.com/978-0-387-39933-1

The book is an edited volume from leading research scholars in the 
field of Operations Research, focusing on future perspectives in OR. 
Each of the contributors offers their perspective looking forward to 
the further development of the field. The theme will provide pivotal 
interest in the book because of prominence of the contributors and 
Saul Gass' position as one of the founders of OR and his involvement 
in writing about the history of OR. The history of operations research 
is of considerable interest and this book takes a pivotal perspective 
of OR's history by examining current trends and the future of the 
field.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I History & Perspectives 

Reflections on Saul Gass' Influence, Rudolph P. Lamone 
Four Score Years of Saul I. Gass: Portrait of an OR Professional, 
Arjang A. Assad 
In the Beginning: Saul Gass and Other Pioneers, Alfred Blumstein 
Learning from the Master: Saul Gass, Linear Programming and the OR 
Profession, Thomas Magnanti 
Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards: Reflections on Definitions of 
Operations Research by Morse and Kimball, Richard 
Larson 
Ben Franklin: America's First Operations Researcher, Bruce L. Golden 
Good Management, the Missing XYZ Variables of OR Texts, Kenneth Chelst 
and Gang Wang 
The Operations Research Profession: Westward, Look, the Land is Bright,
Randall S. Robinson 

Part II Optimization & Heuristic Search

Choosing a Combinatorial Auction Design: An Illustrated Example, Karla 
Hoffman 
Label-Correcting Shortest Path Algorithms Revisited, Maria G. Bardossy 
and Douglas R. Shier 
The Ubiquitous Farkas Lemma, Rakesh V. Vohra 
Parametric Cardinality Probing in Set Partitioning, Anito Joseph and 
Edward Baker 
A Counting Problem in Linear Programming, Jim Lawrence 
Towards Exposing the Applicability of Gass & Saaty's Parametric 
Programming Procedure, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson 
The Noisy Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem: A Computational 
Analysis, Feiyue Li, Bruce Golden, and Edward Wasil 
The Close Enough Traveling Salesman Problem: A Discussion of Several 
Heuristics, Damon J. Gulczynski, Jeffrey W. Heath, and Carter C. Price 
Twinless Strongly Connected Components, S. Raghavan 

Part III Modeling & Making Decisions

EOQ Rides Again! Beryl E. Castello and Alan J. Goldman 
Federal Express Sort Facility Employee Scheduling Problem, Lawrence 
Bodin, Zhenying Zhao, Michael Ball, Atul Bhatt, Guruprasad Pundoor, 
and Joe Seviek 
Sensitivity Analysis in Monte Carlo Simulation of Stochastic
Activity Networks, Michael C. Fu 
The EM Algorithm, Its Randomized Implementation and Global 
Optimization: Some Challenges and Opportunities for Operations Research
Wolfgang Jank 
Recovering Circles and Spheres from Point Data, Christoph Witzgall, 
Geraldine S. Cheok, and Anthony J. Kearsley 
Why the New York Yankees Signed Johnny Damon, Lawrence Bodin

Contributed by: Mariagrazia Dotoli <dotoli@deemail.poliba.it>

2007 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
October 7 - 10, 2007

The 2007 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and 
Cybernetics (SMC 2007) provides an international forum that brings 
together those actively involved in areas of interest to the IEEE 
Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, to report on up-to-the-minute 
innovations and developments, to summarize the stateof-the-art, and 
to exchange ideas and advances in all aspects of systems engineering, 
human machine interface, and emerging cybernetics.
The conference theme recognizes that current progress in Systems 
Science and Cybernetics have resulted in vast advances in cooperative 
systems of systems that are able to work together, sharing 
information and joint decision making using smart technologies such 
as, but not limited to, intelligent computational tools. Such
systems are already used in serving the global community need for 
information dissemination and securing the welfare of humanity. 
Papers related to the conference theme are especially solicited, 
including theories, methodologies, and applications of intelligent 
systems in science, technology, security, education etc. 

Contributions covering industrial issues/applications and academic 
research including, but not limited to the following technical areas, 
are invited:
- Bio-Informatics
- Biomedical Cybernetics
- Bio-systems
- Computational Life Sciences
- Conflict Resolution
- Control of Uncertain Systems
- Cooperative Systems and Control
- Data Mining & Management
- Decision Support Systems
- Dependable and Autonomous Systems
- Discrete Event Systems
- Expert and Knowledge Based Systems
- Fault Diagnosis
- Fuzzy Logic Systems
- Homeland Security
- Human-Computer Interface
- Human Machine Interaction and Systems
- Hybrid Systems
- Image Processing/Pattern Recognition
- Industrial Applications
- Intelligent Communications Systems
- Intelligent Devices/Consumer Electronics
- Intelligent Information Systems
- Intelligent Systems and Soft Computing
- Intelligent Transportation
- Internet/Electronic Commerce
- Knowledge Acquisition in Intelligent Systems
- Large-Scale Systems
- Machine Learning
- Manufacturing Systems
- Multi-agent Systems & Distributed AI
- Multimedia Systems
- Policy Analysis
- Petri Nets
- Quality/Reliability & Systems Engineering
- Risk Management
- Robotic Systems
- Service Systems and Organizations
- Smart Sensor Networks
- Systems Engineering
- Systems Modeling & Control
- Technology Assessment
- Distributed Intelligent Systems

Call for Contributed Papers
Prospective authors are invited to submit their full paper(s) 
electronically through the conference website.
Papers will be reviewed by the Program Committee for technical merit 
and content. Accepted papers will appear in the conference 
proceedings only if one of the authors is registered for the 
conference and is presenting the work. How to submit a paper? Please 
see our website for our Electronic Submission System.

Call for Special Sessions
Interested attendees are encouraged to propose special sessions, 
which consist of five papers that provide a focused discussion of new 
or innovative topics. Each proposal must include the session title, 
description, and organizers. Special sessions are not invited 
sessions and papers will undergo the same review process as regular
conference submissions. Special session papers must be clearly 
indicated when submitted with a copy sent to the designated special 
session organizer.

Important Dates
Thursday, February 1, 2007: Deadline for submission of proposals for 
special sessions
Thursday, March 1, 2007: Deadline for submission of papers (full-
length papers only)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007: Notification of acceptance
Tuesday, July 3, 2007: Submission of final camera-ready papers

web site: click here

Contributed by: Mariagrazia Dotoli <dotoli@deemail.poliba.it>

ISC2007 - 5TH ANNUAL INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION CONFERENCE 2007
Delft, The Netherlands
June 11 - 13, 2007

ISC2007 - 5th ANNUAL
INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION CONFERENCE 2007

Organised by
The European Technology Institute

and Sponsored by
EUROSIS

Hosted by
Delft University of Technology
http://www.tudelft.nl

Co-Sponsored by
ENSAIT-UPV-KFKI-Ghent University
MOBIUS-CREAX

For latest information see:
http://www.eurosis.org
http://85.255.195.219/cms/cms/?q=node/176


AIM OF ISC'2007

The Industrial Simulation Conference 2007 (ISC-2007) is the fifth 
annual international Simulation conference, which aims to give a 
complete overview of industrial simulation related research and to 
provide an annual status report on present day industrial simulation 
research within the European Community and the rest of the world. The 
exchange of techniques and ideas among the different disciplines, 
universities and industry, which support the integration of 
simulation in the everyday workplace, is the basic premise at the 
heart of ISC-2007.  ISC'2007 consists of four major parts. A part 
concerns itself with simulation methodology, another with simulation 
applications, then there are the workshops, the software exhibition 
and last but not least the poster sessions for students.

The methodologies section covers: Modelling and Analysis 
Methodologies, Languages and Tools, Artificial Intelligence, 
Knowledge Based Simulation, Virtual Reality, Synthetic Environments, 
Petri Nets and Performance Analysis related to industrial applications


MODELLING METHODOLOGY

Web Based Simulation, Optimization and Response Surfaces, Parallel 
and Distributed Systems, Virtual Worlds, Methods for Special 
Applications, Practice, Extensions, XML, Open Source, Model 
Development, Network Modelling, Distributed Simulation and Industry, 
Modelling Very Large Scale Systems, Aerospace Operations, Revising 
Simulations Components
 

ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY

Advanced Input Modelling, Simulation Optimization, Cross Entropy, 
Output Analysis, Input Modelling, Simulation Optimization, Input 
Analysis, Difficult Queering Problems, New Output Analysis

 
DISCRETE SIMULATION LANGUAGES AND TOOLS

Discrete simulation languages; Object oriented modelling languages; 
UML and simulation; Model libraries and modularity; Component-
oriented simulation; Special simulation tools and environments; Meta-
models and automatic model generation; Graphical simulation 
environments and simulation software tools; Intelligent simulation 
environments; Database management of models and results; Java and Web 
enabled simulations, UML and OO Simulation.

 
The application section covers: Automation, CAD/CAM/CAE, Defence 
Electronics, Design Automation, Simulation in industrial Design, 
Industrial Engineering, Industrial and Process Simulation, 
Manufacturing, Simulations, Logistics and Transport, Power Plants, 
Multibody Systems, Aerospace, etc...

 
CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

The keynote for the ISC2007 will be announced later


TUTORIALS

Tutorials can be proposed in the following three categories:
    T1- Introductory tutorials 
    T2- State of the Art Tutorials 
    T3- Software and Modelware Tutorials 

Tutorial proposals should be emailed to Philippe.Geril@eurosis.org


POSTER SESSION

The poster session only features work in progress. Next to the actual 
poster presentation, these submissions also feature as short papers 
in the Proceedings. 


STUDENTS SESSION

This session is for students who want to present their work in 
progress or part of their doctoral thesis as a paper. Student papers 
are denoted by the fact that only the name of the student appears on 
the paper as an author. They are published as short papers in the 
Proceedings.

 
DIVERSE ACTIVITIES

For demonstrations or video sessions, please contact Philippe Geril. 
Special session will be set up for vendor presentations in co-
ordination with the scientific program. User Group meetings for 
simulation languages and tools can be organised during the conference.

If you would like to arrange a meeting, please contact the Conference 
Chairs. We will be happy to provide a meeting room and other 
necessary equipment. 

Partners for projects session(s) will be organised by EUROSIS to give 
potential project teams or individuals the opportunity to present 
their research in order to link up with fellow researchers for future 
research projects. Those wishing to participate in this session need 
to send a proposal to Philippe Geril.

 
EXHIBITION

A special exhibition will be held during the conference focused on 
simulation tools. For more information please contact EUROSIS for 
further details. 

Email: Philippe.Geril@eurosis.org


DEADLINES AND REQUIREMENTS

Send all submissions in an ELECTRONIC FORM ONLY in uuencoded, zipped 
Microsoft Word format, PDF or Postscript format indicating the 
designated track and type of submission (full paper or an extended 
abstract) to EUROSIS (Philippe.Geril@eurosis.org). 

Please provide your name, affiliation, full mailing address, 
telephone / fax number and Email address on all submissions as well. 
For submissions please put in the subject of your Email the following 
indications: ISC2007 and designated track or USE THE ABSTRACT 
SUBMISSION SITE!!

Only original papers, which have not been published elsewhere, will 
be accepted for publication


REGISTRATION FEES

Registration Fees

		     Author		   EUROSIS		Other 

					   Members	       
Participants 

Pre-reg before	    495 EURO		  495 EURO	       555 
EURO

May. 15th 2007

 

Registration after Pre-registration	  525 EURO	       595 
EURO

May 15th '2007	      required 

 

The registration fee includes one copy of the Conference Proceedings, 
coffee and tea during the breaks, all lunches, a welcome cocktail, a 
conference dinner and a company visit


PAPER SUBMISSION TYPES

FULL PAPER (including abstract, conclusions, diagrams, references) 
During review,the submitted full papers can be accepted as a regular 
5 page paper. If excellent,full papers can be accepted by the program 
committee as an extended (8-page) paper.

Each submission will be reviewed by at least three members of the 
International Program Committee.
 

EXTENDED ABSTRACT (at least five pages)

Participants may also submit a 5 page extended abstract for a regular 
(5 pages)or short (3 pages) paper or poster, which will be reviewed 
by the International Program Committee. All accepted papers will be 
published in the ISC'2007 Conference Proceedings.


SHORT ABSTRACT (at least three pages)

Participants may also submit a 3 page abstract for a short paper or 
poster, which will be reviewed by the International Program 
Committee. All accepted papers will be published in the ISC'2007 
Conference Proceedings. 

ONE PAGE ABSTRACTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED.


CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS

Philippe Geril 
EUROSIS
Ghent University
Faculty of Industrial Management
Technologiepark 903
B-9052 Ghent-Zwijmaarde, Belgium 
Tel (Office): +32 9 264.55.09 
Fax: + 32 9 264.58.25
Email: philippe.geril@eurosis.org

 
OUTSTANDING PAPER AWARD

The 2007 Industrial Simulation Conference Committee will select the 
Outstanding Paper of the Conference. The author of this paper will be 
awarded a free registration for a EUROSIS conference. Only papers 
SUBMITTED AS FULL papers will be eligible for the Outstanding Paper 
Award. 

 
LANGUAGE

The official conference language for all papers and presentations is 
English.

 
IMPORTANT DEADLINES

EARLY SUBMISSION DEADLINE FEBRUARY 10TH 2007

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FEBRUARY 25TH, 2007

February 25, 2007: Submit contributed full-papers
(5 to 8 proceedings pages) not previously published. These 
submissions, when accepted will be published as regular or extended 
papers, depending on their quality.

Submit extended abstracts (5 abstract pages) or short papers (3 
abstract pages), reports of industrial projects and summaries of 
posters. These submissions, when accepted, will be published as 
regular, of up to 5 proceedings page papers.

Submit one -to -three page proposals to present tutorials, to 
organise and chair panel sessions, to organise user meetings, vendor 
sessions or to exhibit software

February 25, 2007: 
Submit abstracts for student and poster session

LATE PAPER SUBMISSION MARCH 15TH, 2007

April 1, 2007: Notification of Acceptance or Rejection
May 15, 2007: Authors provide camera-ready manuscript

June 11-13, 2007: Conference

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc aT mcmaster dOt ca>

46TH IEEE CONFERENCE ON DECISION AND CONTROL
New Orleans, LA, USA
December 12 - 14, 2007

The 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control will be held Wednesday
through Friday, December 12-14, 2007 at the Hilton New Orleans
Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana USA. The conference will be
preceded by technical workshops on December 10-11, 2007.

The annual IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) is
internationally recognized as the premier scientific and engineering
conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of
systems and control. The CDC brings together an international community
of researchers and practitioners to discuss new research results,
perspectives on future developments, and innovative applications
relevant to decision making, automatic control, and related areas.

The 46th CDC will feature the presentation of contributed and invited
papers, as well as tutorial sessions and workshops. In addition to the
standard oral presentations, the conference will also feature
interactive presentations and demonstrations, in order to encourage an
interaction exchange with the audience. Topics for the interactive
sessions will be selected specifically to benefit from the time for
interaction and discussion that are not available in a typical lecture
session, and the authors will be encouraged to make creative use of
poster boards as well as hands-on computer simulations and
demonstrations

The 46th CDC will contain Invited Interactive Sessions. An invited
interactive session will consist of between ten (10) to fifteen (15)
papers, which should present a unifying theme from a diversity of
viewpoints. Presentations will be interactive (i.e. poster, plus
preferably some sort of simulation or software demonstration). Each
Invited Interactive Session accepted will have a room devoted to the
session, including data projection for the overview. The deadline for
submissions for invited interactive sessions will be later than for
regular submission and is set to March 15, 2007.

The CDC is hosted by the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS), and is
organized in cooperation with the Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics (SIAM), the Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences (INFORMS), the Japanese Society for Instrument and
Control Engineers (SICE), and the European Union Control Association
(EUCA).

New Orleans is one of the premier tourist destinations in the United
States, with world-renowned restaurants and music, a rich cultural
heritage and lively evening entertainment. The conference hotel
overlooks the Mississippi River, and is within walking distance of the
historic core of the city  including the French Quarter and the
Warehouse and Arts District. 

Call for Contributed Papers: Papers are invited in the form of regular
manuscripts (allotted 6 Proceedings pages). Note that short manuscripts
are not considered. Papers must conform to the submission policy,
described below, requiring that all manuscripts be in 2-column format
and meet strict page limits. 

Call for Invited Sessions: Invited sessions consist of six papers
presenting a unifying theme from a diversity of viewpoints. Proposals
must clearly describe the motivation and relevance of the session.
Proposals must be accompanied by full versions of each paper,
which will be individually reviewed together with the proposal itself.
Individual papers may be removed from a proposed session and replaced
by appropriate contributed papers. In case an entire proposed session
is rejected, selected papers may be accepted as contributed
ones.

Call for Tutorial Sessions: Tutorial sessions addressing
state-of-the-art control theory and advanced industrial applications
are solicited. Panel discussions are strongly encouraged.
Call for Interactive Papers: Papers are invited in the form of
interactive papers to be presented in a way that involves interaction
with the viewers, including simulations, experimental setup, visual
demonstrations, and virtual reality tools.

Call for Workshops and Tutorials: Workshops and tutorials to be held
prior to the conference are solicited on all related topics. Proposals
for workshops addressing novel control methodologies and nonstandard
control applications are strongly encouraged.

Exhibits related to control education, control theory, and industrial
applications are invited.

Important Dates:
Paper submissions site www.paperplaza.net opens: January 9, 2007
Deadline for submission of Invited Session proposals: February 18, 2007
Deadline for submission of all papers: February 23, 2007
Notification of acceptance: July 25, 2007
Final submission and on-line registration opens: August 3, 2007
Deadline for Final submission of all papers: September 9, 2007

All papers and session proposals must be submitted through the
conference submission website www.paperplaza.net and must conform to
the policy found at the conference web site www.bu.edu/cdc2007/ Papers
must be submitted in English.

The 46th CDC is hosted by the IEEE Control Systems Society and is held
in cooperation with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
(SIAM), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management
Sciences (INFORMS), the Japanese Society for Instrument and Control
Engineers (SICE), and the European Union Control Association (EUCA).

SUBMISSION POLICY
- All papers submitted to the 46th CDC, either for review or  
  publication (after acceptance), must be formatted in the standard
2-column Proceedings format.
- For the purposes of REVIEW, regular and invited papers are
limited to 8 pages. Papers exceeding these limits will NOT be reviewed.
- For PUBLICATION in the Proceedings, accepted regular and invited
  papers are limited to 6 pages. Papers exceeding these limits will
be published only after payment of a page overlength fee.
- At least one of the authors of the paper must register for the 
  conference at full member/ nonmember rate to upload the final
manuscript.

web site: click here

Contributed by: Ryan Leduc <leduc aT mcmaster dOt ca>

SELECTIONS FROM AUTOMATICA
VOLUME 43, ISSUE 2
FEBRUARY, 2007

1) Decentralized supervisory control of nondeterministic discrete event
systems: The existence condition of a robust and nonblocking supervisor

Seong-Jin Park and Kwang-Hyun Cho

Abstract:

This paper addresses a decentralized supervisory control problem for an
uncertain discrete event system (DES) modeled by a set of possible
nondeterministic automata with unidentified internal events. For a
given language specification, we present the existence condition of a
robust and nonblocking decentralized supervisor that achieves this
specification for any nondeterministic model in the set. In particular,
we show that the given language specification can be achieved based on
the properties of its controllability and coobservability with respect
to the overall nominal behavior of the uncertain DES. It is further
shown that the existence of a nonblocking decentralized supervisor can
be examined with a trajectory model of the language specification.

web site: click here