This book is a compilation of a selected subset of research articles presented at the Eighth INFORMS Computing Society Conference, held in Chandler, Arizona, from January 8 to 10, 2003. The articles in this book represent the diversity and depth of the interface between ORiMS (operations research and the management sciences) and CS/AI (computer science and artificial intelligence ). This volume starts with two papers that represent the reflective and integrative thinking that is critical to any scientific discipline. These two articles present philosophical perspectives on computation, covering a variety of traditional and newer methods for modeling, solving, and explaining mathematical models. The next set includes articles that study machine learning and computational heuristics, and is followed by articles that address issues in performance testing of solution algorithms and heuristics. These two sets of papers demonstrate the richness of thought that takes place at the ORiMS and CSI AI interface. The final set of articles demonstrates the usefulness of these and other methods at the interface towards solving problems in the real world, covering e-commerce, workflow, electronic negotiation, music, parallel computation, and telecommunications. The articles in this collection represent the results of cross-fertilization between ORiMS and CSI AI, making possible advances that could have not been achieved in isolation. The continuing aim ofthe INFORMS Computing Society and this research conference is to invigorate and further develop this interface.

Inhalt
I. Perspectives on Computation.- 1. A Framework for Integrating Solution Methods.- 2. Computational Modeling And Explanation: Opportunities for the Information and Management Sciences.- II. Machine Learning & Heuristics.- 3. Extremal Optimization: an Evolutionary Local-Search Algorithm.- 4. Tabu and Scatter Search for Artificial Neural Networks.- 5. A Machine-Learning Approach to Optimal Bid Pricing.- III. Algorithm Performance.- 6. Grasp with Adaptive Memory Programming for Finding Good Starting Solutions to the Multicommodity Capacitated Network Design Problem.- 7. Analyzing the Impact Of Knowledge on Algorithm Performance in Discrete Optimization.- 8. A Computational Study of Three Demon Algorithm Variants for Solving the Traveling Salesman Problem.- 9. Improved PTAS for The Unit-Height Rectangle Packing Problem: A New Dynamic Programming Procedure.- IV. Applications.- 10. Mending the Lag between Commerce and Research: A Logic- based Workflow Verification Approach.- 11. Batching Techniques for Task Allocation in Workflow Systems? Towards Effective Role Resolution.- 12. RECO: Representation and evaluation of configurable offers.- 13. Mapping MIDI to the Spiral Array: Disambiguating Pitch Spellings.- 14. Fluid Models for Parallel Processor Allocation.- 15. Identifying Investment Opportunities in International Telecommunications Markets using Regression Models.