First SIPTA School on Imprecise Probabilities

July 27-31, 2004

Lugano, Switzerland

 

 

Contents

 

General information

Confirmed speakers

Schedule and topics

How to participate

Organization and location

Local contact

General information

 

Imprecise probability is a generic term for the many mathematical or statistical models which measure chance or uncertainty without sharp numerical probabilities. These models include belief functions, Choquet capacities, comparative probability orderings, convex sets of probability measures, fuzzy measures, interval-valued probabilities, possibility measures, plausibility measures, and upper and lower expectations or previsions. Imprecise probability models are needed in inference problems where the relevant information is scarce, vague or conflicting, and in decision problems where preferences may also be incomplete.
The school is intended as a wide and deep introduction to imprecise probability topics, both theoretical and applied. In particular, the school will focus on coherent lower previsions and their behavioral interpretation, decision theory, robust statistics, risk analysis, imprecise probability methods for artificial intelligence and knowledge discovery. Applications will include case studies from environmental science, statistical classification, and medical diagnosis. It will be an aim of the school to connect the mentioned topics into an overall picture within the framework of imprecise probabilities.
The school will be held in room A-11 at the University of Lugano (USI), located in the centre of Lugano, on July 27-31, 2004. Each of the 5 days will be made of 4 hours of theory and 4 hours of exercises.
This event is organized by the Society for Imprecise Probability Theories and Applications (SIPTA) and by the Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull'Intelligenza Artificiale (IDSIA).
Advanced master or Ph.D. students, postdocs, junior researchers, and others interested in participating can officially apply for this event by following the instructions.

 

Sponsors

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Confirmed speakers

 

Thomas Augustin (Munich University, Germany)

Gert de Cooman (Gent University, Belgium)

Scott Ferson (Applied Biomathematics, USA)

Serafín Moral (Granada University, Spain)

Teddy Seidenfeld (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)

Marco Zaffalon (IDSIA, Switzerland)

 

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How to participate

 

Participation is open to all qualified applicants, but the number of participants will be limited to a maximum of about 50. The participation fee will be 50 CHFs (Swiss Francs), to be paid on site. Students willing to participate in the school should send an application letter with curriculum vitae (stating also their previous knowledge in fields related to the theme of the school) and a brief letter of reference by a university professor to the following address no later than May 31, 2004:

 

Marco Zaffalon IDSIA Galleria 2 CH-6928 Manno (Lugano) Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)91 610 8665 Fax: +41 (0)91 610 8661 E-mail: zaffalon@idsia.ch

 

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Organization and location

 

Location: The school will be held in room A-11 at the USI, located in the centre of Lugano, a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Lugano, in the Ticino Canton, the southern part of Switzerland. Lugano is close to Zurich (3 hours by train, 20 minutes by plane), to Milan (1 hour by train) and to Venice (4 hours by train).  A map of the campus is available. Room A-11 is in Buffi street; see the old Ospedale street in the map (the street name recently changed from Ospedale to Buffi!). The school building is red. Signs will be put to indicate the school venue.

Lunches: If enough people are interested, it will possible to have lunches, at the special price of about 13 CHFs each, at the restaurant of the Lugano 1 high school, in the middle of the beautiful Ciani park. The restaurant is about 15 minutes walk from the school venue. Please indicate this request in your application to participate.

The Lugano 1 high school.

Accommodation: Lugano is popular with tourists and the summer is a busy period, so you are recommended to book the hotel as soon as possible. Here you have a list of hotels located in the city center of Lugano and close to the school. You can also visit the site of Swiss Hotels Association to book online your accommodation.
If you plan to extend your stay in Switzerland, please visit the web site of Ticino Tourism and Switzerland Tourism where you will find useful information on touring Switzerland.

How to get to Lugano: you can get to Lugano by train, car or plane.
By plane: Lugano Agno (LUG) is the airport of Lugano. Swiss is the main operator of the airport and there are direct flights with major European cities. There are also two major international hubs, Zurich (ZHR) and Milano Malpensa (MPX) which are relatively close to Lugano. Zurich is connected to Lugano every hour by train (see below) and the travel time is 3.5 hours (return ticket ~108 CHFs). Milano is connected by a shuttle bus that takes 70 minutes to cover the distance (return ticket ~50 CHFs).
By train: The Swiss federal railways provide an interactive timetable which can help you in planning your rail trip to Lugano.
By car: Lugano is placed on the A2 autobahn which crosses Switzerland along the north-south axis. Traffic conditions can be checked on the Touring Club Suisse website (follow the "inforoute" link).

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Local contact information

 

Marco Zaffalon

 

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