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Call for Papers --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15th Mini-EURO Conference Theme: "Managing Uncertainty in Decision Support Models (MUDSM 2004)" Where: Coimbra - Portugal When: 22-24 September 2004

Formatting instructions for paper submissions are available at the Web page www.inescc.pt/mudsm2004

Sponsoring institutions: EURO (The Association of European Operational Research Societies), APDIO (Portuguese OR Society), Faculty of Economics at the University of Coimbra, INESC Coimbra

Scope and objectives Mini EURO Conferences are conferences allowing specialists of a particular promising OR theme of research to participate in a meeting where the screening of papers can be more effective and participation in the debates can be more lively than at larger meetings. The 15th Mini EURO Conference is aimed at providing an open forum in which researchers coming from different scientific disciplines and operational research areas can discuss and share their experience regarding methodological approaches to tackle, in an explicit manner, uncertainty and imprecision stemming from distinct sources, which have influence on obtaining robust conclusions in decision support models with application to several areas. Particular attention will be paid to multicriteria evaluation models in which distinct types of difficulties are associated with achieving robust conclusions: the intrinsic incomplete nature of models, the imprecision associated with input data, and the uncertainty associated with the analytical representation of the structure of the decision maker's preferences. Contributions from decision theory, fuzzy sets, rough sets, risk analysis, stochastic programming, sensitivity analysis, robustness analysis, interval programming, inexact programming, etc. are expected both from methodological and application perspectives, thus paving the way for a cross-fertilization between distinct ways to incorporate uncertainty, imprecision and risk in decision support models.

Organizing Committee Luís Cândido Dias (Chair) Carlos Henggeler Antunes, Maria João Alves, Ana Rosa Borges.

International Program Committee Carlos H. Antunes (Chair, Portugal) Alexis Tsoukiàs (France), Andreas Saltelli (Italy), Bernard Roy (France), Carlos Bana e Costa (Portugal), Constantin Zopounidis (Greece), Danae Diakoulaki (Greece), David Rios-Insua (Spain), Denis Bouyssou (France), Efraim Turban (HK), Jacinto Gonzalez-Pachon (Spain), Jacques Teghem (Belgium), Jean-Marc Martel (Canada), Jean-Pierre Brans (Belgium), João Clímaco (Portugal), João Paulo Costa (Portugal), José Figueira (Portugal), Kaisa Miettinen (Finland), Luís C. Dias (Portugal), Manuel Matos (Portugal), Maria João Alves (Portugal), Mashahiro Inuiguchi (Japan), Pascale Zaraté (France), Philippe Vincke (Belgium), Rudolph Vetschera (Austria), Raimo Hamalainen (Finland), Richard Wendell (USA), Rita Almeida Ribeiro (Portugal), Roman Slowinski (Poland), Ronald R. Yager (USA), Salvatore Grecco (Italy), Simon French (UK), Theodor Stewart (South Africa), Tomas Gal (Germany), Valerie Belton (UK)

Submissions Three kinds of submissions are welcome: · Proposal for a session of three papers dedicated to a given topic. After acceptance, the promoter will be responsible for his/her session and will chair it. · Proposal for a panel discussion on a given topic. After acceptance, the promoter will be responsible for his/her session and will chair it. · Free submission of short papers (4-6 pages). The accepted papers will be published as conference proceedings.

The official language of the conference is English.

Publication We are pleased to announce that special issues of two leading journals - the European Journal of Operational Research and Decision Support Systems journal - will publish selected papers presented at the conference. Authors present at MUDSM 2004 will be invited to submit full versions of their papers to be published on a Special Issue of EJOR or a Special Issue of DSS on the theme of the conference.

Venue The conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra. Dating from 1290, the U. Coimbra is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest in Portugal. It now comprises eight faculties, including the Faculty of Economics, which was established in 1972. Coimbra is located in the centre region of Portugal, easily accessible by car, bus or train from Lisbon (200 Km) or Oporto (130 Km) international airports.

Registration fee Type of registration / Until June 23, 2004 / After June 23, 2004 Normal(1) / 240 Euro / 300 Euro Student(2) / 120 Euro / 150 Euro (1) Includes conference Proceedings and documentation, lunches, coffee breaks, social program, and taxes (VAT). (2) Includes all of the above, except the banquet comprised in the social program. To qualify as a student, the delegate must present a student card. Support from EURO may be granted to seven delegates from Eastern European countries (300-600 Euro each).

Important dates March 31, 2004: Submission of short papers (4-6 pages) June 1, 2004: Notification of acceptance June 23, 2004: Early registration deadline June 30, 2004: Revised short paper due July 25, 2004: Registration deadline (to guarantee inclusion in the final program and proceedings volume) October 2004: Submission of full papers to special issue of EJOR or DSS journals

Secretariat MUDSM 2004 INESC Coimbra Rua Antero de Quental, 199 3000-033 Coimbra, Portugal mudsm2004@inescc.pt

Web page www.inescc.pt/mudsm2004

-------------- Luis M.C. Dias Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra; INESC Coimbra