Paris, 12 April 2010
EFITA newsletter / 456 / European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture, Food and the Environment
eWorkshop on Knowledge Discovery for Rural Systems (KDRS'2010)
Held in conjunction with the 14th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge
Discovery and Data Mining
21-24 June, 2010 - HYDERABAD, India
Extension of Paper Submission: now April 30th 2010
See: http://sites.google.com/site/kdforruralsystems/
>>> Conducting of Workshop
This workshop will be conducted as part of the The 14th Pacific-Asia Conference
on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Participants are encouraged to attend
both the workshop and the conference in Hyderabad. All those that register
and participate in the workshop must also register for the conference.
A eWorkshop will be run in conjunction with the workshop running in the conference
facilities in Hyderabad. The eWorkshop is being organized to encourage participants
who may not be able to get to Hyderabad. You are encouraged to submit and
present papers either at the conference or via video conferencing. Alternatively
you may wish to contribute solely as a registered workshop participant. All
workshop matereials will be made available to all workshop participants.
Further details will be provided on the arrangements for the eWorshop when
you register for the workshop.
>>> eWorkshop Overview
This workshop will examine the application of AI and Knowledge discovery techniques
to improve the productivity and sustainability of rural and agricultural systems.
The focus of the workshop will be a forum to discuss how these techniques
are improving the productivity of rural and agricultural sectors. Such techniques
can improve the delivery of information for decision making by farmers, extension
officers, agricultural researchers to improve agricultural sustainability,
selecting suitable varieties, managing pests and diseases and for land use
planning on a local and regional basis.
A number of computer science and agricultural researchers are collaborating
to examine how the use of such KD techniques can contribute to rural sustainability
by effectively examining the government and research databases. For example,
AI techniques such as neural networks and data mining provided a better alternative
to the use of traditional statistical techniques in choosing the best crop
varieties or most appropriate management for pests and diseases, soil salinity.
These techniques could also be used to predict the effects of changes in climate,
rainfall and temperature as a result of climate change.
>>> Workshop Scope
The Workshop on Knowledge Discovery for Rural Systems encourages the following
topics (but is not limited to)
- Theoretical foundations in Data Mining
- Data models for rural management
- Farmer decision making
- Knowledge based farmer recommendation models
- Land use management
- Water catchment management planning
- Data mining techniques in agriculture
- Improving Data Quality of rural products and services
- Data collection and integration techniques
- Data cleaning and transformation
- Information visualization of agricultural data.
- Enhancing quality of tools available to rural systems.
- Pattern recognition in agricultural images and data.
>>> Workshop Paper Submission
All papers must be submitted electronically to Workshop Organizers at l.armstrong(a)ecu.edu.au in PDF format only.
Submitting a paper to the workshop means that if the paper is accepted, at
least one author should present the paper at the workshop or via videoconferencing
if you are participating as a eWorkshop participant. All attendees are required
to register at PAKDD 2010 website.
We are currently negotiating with a publisher to a selection of the workshop
papers in a special issue of the International Journal of Agricultural and
Environmental Information Systems. We will keep you posted on the same.
Contact: Leisa ARMSTRONG - School of Computer and Security Science, Edith
Cowan University, Perth Australia
Email: l.armstrong(a)ecu.edu.au
Young Researchers Summer School on "Innovative Information and Communication
Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment"
15 - 17 July and 16 -18 September - 2010 VOLOS, Greece
The European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and
the Environment (EFITA), the Hellenic Association for Information and Communication
Technology in Agriculture (HAICTA) in collaboration with the University of
Thessaly, are pleased to announce the organization of the first "Young
Researchers Summer School (YRSS) on Innovative Information and Communication
Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment".
The objective of YRSS is to promote cross-domain training and collaboration
opportunities among young researchers worldwide, working on topics related
to the EFITA goals. Therefore, the organizers invite PhD students, advanced
MPhil., MA and MSc students as well as young researchers and practitioners
with a demonstrated interest in related issues, to participate. The participants
will present their topics of work/interest as well as their progress and results
in an audience of specialists ready to comment on their research work. Exchange
of views and elaborate discussions will follow aiming to a better understanding
of the research outcome. Moreover, keynote lectures will present related overviews
on European Union (EU) programmes and opportunities for cooperation. Proceedings
and certifications of attendance will be provided.
The goals of the school are:
- To give participants the opportunity to gain valuable experience, consultancy
and future directions for their research.
- To identify groups of researchers working in similar areas and having common
research interests.
- To promote future collaborations for research and development of EU projects.
- To identify and encourage participants to present their research at the
next EFITA 2011 Conference in Prague.
>>> Topics
- Automation in Process Control
- Bio-sensor Applications
- Bio-statistics and ICT
- Data Acquisition and Signal Processing
- Data Bases and Applications
- Decision Support Systems
- E-services
- Environmental Control Systems
- Internet, Web Technologies and Applications
- Information Systems
- Intelligent Systems
- GIS advanced applications
- Modelling and Use of Statistical Analysis
- Monitoring and Control Systems
- Ontology and Web Semantic
- Precision Agriculture
- Quality Control Systems
- Role of ICT in Rural Development
- Statistics and GIS
- Sensor Network Applications
- Strategy and Management Information Systems
- System Modelling
- Pervasive Computing
- Wireless Networks
- Other related research topics
>>> Important Dates
> Applications (4-pages extended summary, related presentation and curriculum
vitae) Due:
For the first period: 30-04-2010
For the second period: 30-06-2010
> Notification of Acceptance:
For the first period: 10-05-2010
For the second period: 10-07-2010
> School Duration:
First Period: 15-17 July 2010
Second Period: 16-18 September 2010
>>> Costs and Support
The cost is 250 € for double or 350 € for single room including accommodation
(3 nights, meals and excursions). The Organizers will try to benefit from
governmental funds or sponsors to lower the cost or to increase the extras.
See: http://meli.aua.gr/yrss/index.htm
Contact Information: Prof. S. TZORTZIOS, Dr. S. KARETSOS
E-mail: stzortz(a)agr.uth.gr, karetsos(a)aua.gr
Proceedings are available for the first North American Conference on Precision
Dairy Management held at Toronto, Canada on March 2-5, 2010
74 presenters from 18 countries on various aspects robotic milking and
precision technology applied to dairy cattle management.
See: http://www.precisiondairy2010.com/proceed.html
Contact: Blair MURRAY
E-mail: blair.murray(a)ontario.ca
VOA3R Project Outline: Virtual Open Access Agriculture & Aquaculture
Repository: Sharing Scientific and Scholarly Research related to Agriculture,
Food, and Environment
VOAR aims to design and deliver a virtual platform (in terms of technology,
practices, guidelines, content, communities) that will promote the Open Access
paradigm to scientific and scholarly content coming from researchers working
on agriculture, food, and environment. It aims to implement a pilot B action
that will carry out a conclusive experiment with open access to a federation
of digital libraries of scientific/scholarly content around these topics,
exploring new paradigms for peer reviewing, rendering, querying and linking
these content repositories.
The overall aim is to improve the access, sharing, promotion and reuse of
open access research content in the domains of agriculture, food and environment.
To achieve this, it brings on board existing forces already promoting the
Open Access paradigm in their work, providing for a first time a virtual platform
for their cooperation and integration. It is expected to showcase its results
from experimenting with digital libraries and content repositories from real
communities (such as the European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture –EFITA). It aims to involve researchers, scientists, and students
in order to understand, adopt and share new and innovative opportunities to
search, review, render, query and link existing research work/outcomes.
The point of reference will be the VOAR Web portal that will allow the tools,
standards, and practices/guidelines to interested stakeholders and communities
to to connect, share and contribute their content, through a federation of
digital libraries and repositories on agriculture, food, and environment.
The rationale of the approach will be showcases through the participation
of existing agricultural libraries, European conferences that openly share
their proceedings, research collaborations and communities, as well as virtual
scientific communities and networks.
Contact: Miguel-Angel SICILIA
E-mail: msicilia(a)uah.es
Transylvanian travels
Sister Catherine and Sister Helen are travelling through Europe in their
car. When they enter Transylvania they are stopped at a traffic light. Suddenly,
out of nowhere, a tiny little Dracula jumps onto the hood of the car and hisses
through the windshield.
"Quick, quick!" shouts Sister Catherine. "What shall we do?"
"Turn the windshield wipers on. That will get rid of the abomination,"
says Sister Helen.
Sister Catherine switches them on, knocking Dracula about, but he clings
on and continues hissing at the nuns.
"What shall I do now?" she shouts.
"Switch on the windshield washer. I filled it up with Holy Water at the
Vatican" says Sister Helen.
Sister Catherine turns on the windshield washer. Dracula screams as the water
burns his skin, but he clings on and continues hissing at the nuns.
"Now what?" shouts Sister Catherine.
"Show him your cross," says Sister Helen.
"Now you're talking," says Sister Catherine.
She rolls down the window and shouts:
"Get the fuck off the windshield!"
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie
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