Peter Kopacek - Böcker

The main aim of this symposium was to bring together end-users and control system specialists to evaluate the possibilities for improvement of techniques, design procedures, components and instruments to encourage low cost automation; considering not only economic aspects but also improvements in productivity, reliability, flexibility and ease-of-application. Special emphasis was placed on small and medium sized enterprises. The technical sessions dealt with topics from process automation as well as from manufacturing automation.

The IFAC TC on Manufacturing, Modelling, Management and Control (MIM) was founded on the IFAC World Congress Sydney 1993. The goals of this workshop concerned the development, comparison and classification of formal models in the field of Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems in a descriptive as well as prescriptive way. Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems are able to integrate optimization methods, simulation models, procedures and knowledge-based tools. The target for the workshop activities were related to the specification of requirements for new models which are used in simulating and designing manufacturing management and control strategies, including discrete-event and continuous representations. Technical areas of interest, at the system level, included: tools for plant layout design, process planning, production planning and control. Technical areas of interest, at the component level, included: models for functional description of flexible manufacturing and assembly systems oriented to production activity control, process supervision and maintenance.

Over recent years, a number of people actively involved in engineering, but also in other fields, have worked on the topic of international stability. Workshops have been held in various places and organized by different people and institutions.

This conference, the sixth event in the SWIIS series, continued the tradition set in the earlier five SWIIS meetings. The goal was the beneficial application of systems engineering methods onto description of conditions, in which nations or groups interact with one another. Scientists from other fields such as political science, economics, social science, and international studies also had a platform to present and discuss their ideas.

In the technical program of this conference, 2 survey papers and 19 regular papers - grouped into 8 sessions - were presented. Papers were given in the following areas: Methodological analysis; Investigation of development: stability, sustainable development; Modelling of stability; Application of control principles to international stability; International policy co-operation; Cultural and educational aspects in international stability; East/West/North/South relationships; Global development - regional impact; and Negotiation and mediation in conflict.

This Proceedings contains the papers presented at the eighth in IFAC's conference series on Supplementary Ways for Improving International Stability. This conference, entitled "Social Stability: The Challenge of Technology Development", was held in Vienna, Austria, on 27-29 September 2001.

The papers included in this Proceedings volume cover a very broad field of interest, and include topics such as social aspects of technology transfer, managing the introduction of technological change, ethical aspects, technology and environmental stability and anticipating secondary and tertiary effects of technological development.

Technological development has caused profound changes to social stability. Regions that had stable populations for centuries have experienced enormous population growth, leading to the formation of sometimes unmanageable megaplex cities, as well as bringing about macroscopic environmental change. The papers in this Proceedings offer insights into ways to mitigate the unwanted side-effects of rapid development, and methodologies for appropriate ways of managing the introduction of technologies which will alter social stability.

This conference was dedicated to Professor Harold Chestnut, the first president of IFAC, who died in August 2001. Professor Chestnut was among the pioneers of social stability ideas within IFAC and formed the technical committee which organises this conference series.

Advanced Control Strategies for Social and Economic Systems

A proceedings in the volume from the IFAC workshop Waterford, Republic of Ireland, 3-5 July 2003

Technological development has caused profound changes and social stability. Regions which have had stable populations for centuries have experienced enormous population growth leading to the emergence of sometimes unmanageable megaplex cities as well as bringing about macroscopic environmental change. The scope of this IFAC SWIIS Conference is to offer insights into mitigating unwanted side-effects of rapid development and to share methodologies for appropriate ways of managing the introduction of technologies which will alter social stability.Contributions included in Improving Stability in Developing Nations through Automation 2006 cover a very broad field of interest for subjects such as social aspects of technology transfer, managing the introduction of technological change, ethical aspects, technology and environmental stability, and anticipating secondary and tertiary effects of technological development.

This volume contains selected papers from the second meeting of the Robotic Group in the Alpe-Adria Initiative dealing with reviews of industrial applications of robots in the Alpe-Adria Region, research activities of universities and research centres, low-cost automation for small- and medium-sized companies, robotics and intelligent manufacturing systems (especially in assembly automation) and education in robotics. Latest developments such as fuzzy-control, applications of neuronal networks, and applications of methods for artificial intelligence for robot control are also included.

Der Einsatz elektronischer Datenverarbeitung in Krankenanstalten erfährt in den letzten Jahren eine stürmische Entwicklung. War ursprünglich nur daran gedacht, mit Hilfe der Datenverarbeitung administrative Tätigkeiten zu vereinfachen, so wird nun bereits ein integriertes Krankenhausinformationssystem angestrebt. Daten sollen möglichst am Ort ihrer Entstehung erfaßt werden und die Weiterleitung dieser Daten an alle Stationen, Abteilungen und Leistungsstellen, die diese Daten benötigen, sowie eine patientengerechte Auswertung dieser Daten sollen garantiert werden. Die Wissenschaftliche Landesakademie für Niederösterreich beschäftigt sich in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Zentrum für medizinische Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildung mit dieser Thematik. Die Beiträge dieses Buches beleuchten die wissenschaftlichen Aspekte eines solchen Krankenhausinformationssystems, informieren über die angebotenen Systeme, geben Beispiele, wie Daten zu verwalten sind, und berichten über Anforderungskriterien von Anwenderseite.

Entstanden aus einer Pflichtvorlesung "EDV für Maschinenbauer" an der Technischen Universität Wien gibt das Buch Studenten und in der Praxis stehenden Technikern eine Einführung in die theoretischen Grundlagen der Informatik und der praktischen Anwendung, hier im speziellen im Maschinenbau.Nach der Vermittlung der notwendigen theoretischen Grundlagen wird anhand eines einfachen Programms die Problemanalyse mit den weiteren Schritten der Problembeschreibung, Programmierung und Implementierung erläutert. Mehrere technische Anwendungsbeispiele bieten einen Überblick in die Vielschichtigkeit integrierter technischer Systeme. Zur Lösung komplexer Probleme wird auf die entsprechende Spezialliteratur verwiesen.