Plenary Lectures
Dan Cristea
"Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași
Faculty of Computer Science, Iasi, Romania
Abstract.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Dan Cristea is an emeritus professor of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași (UAIC), Faculty of Computer Science, and still holds a part time position as a principal researcher at the Institute of Computer Science in the Iași branch of the Romanian Academy. He is a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy and a full member of the Academy of Technical Sciences of Romania. The main courses taught have been artificial intelligence, rule-based programming and techniques of natural language engineering. He is the initiator of the program of master studies in Computational Linguistics at UAIC. His research interests have been mainly related to discourse theories and applications (methods and techniques for anaphora resolution, discourse parsing, question answering, summarization), automatic configuration of NLP architectures, language evolution, semantic representations of natural language, computerisation of dictionaries, lexical semantics. He was involved in the construction of resources for Romanian language and, recently, on computational studies of the old Romanian language. Prof. Cristea has initiated and is the co-director of the EUROLAN series of Summer Schools on Human Language Technology (https://eurolan.info.uaic.ro/2021/), which had 15 biennial editions since 1993, and co-initiated the series of international conferences on Linguistic Resources and Tools for Natural Language Processing, with its 17th edition this year (https://profs.info.uaic.ro/~consilr/2022/).
Petrica Pop Sitar
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca,
North University Center of Baia Mare
Romania
E-mail: petrica.pop@mi.utcluj.ro
Promising new directions and perspectives in combinatorial optimization
Abstract.
Combinatorial Optimization lies at the core of intelligent decision-making in complex systems. Many real-world problems, ranging from logistics and transportation to scheduling, network design, and resource allocation, etc., require selecting the best configuration from an exponentially large set of feasible solutions under multiple constraints.
This presentation examines the evolving landscape of combinatorial optimization, highlighting both classical foundations and modern advances, focusing mainly on the class of generalized combinatorial optimization problems. We discuss the challenges posed by large-scale, multi-objective, and dynamic problems, where exact methods often become computationally prohibitive. The presentation highlights the development of advanced metaheuristics, evolutionary algorithms, hybrid approaches, and learning-enhanced optimization techniques capable of delivering high-quality solutions within practical time limits.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Petrica Pop Sitar is full Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, North University Center of Baia Mare, Romania. Petrica’s academic and research trajectory was shaped through active involvement in multidisciplinary research groups across five institutions: Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, University of Twente, University of Patras, Technical University of Vienna and Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Twente in 2002. He is the director of the research center: Intelligent Methods for Solving Optimization Problems. His main research interests include artificial intelligence, combinatorial optimization, operations research and mathematical modelling. Dr. Pop Sitar has published broadly in international journals and conferences (~175+ papers) and has held multiple editorial and organizational roles for conferences and journals in his fields of expertise.
Milan Tuba
Head of the Artificial Intelligence Project, Singidunum University
Belgrade, Serbia
Vice-Rector of Research, Sinergija University
Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
E-mail: tuba@ieee.org
Abstract.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
