The2006IEEEInternational Conference on Information ReuseandIntegration FORWARD

We wouldlike toextend ourwarmest welcome toeachofthis year's conference attendees. This isthefourth annual IEEE/AOARDIRIconference. We areveryhappytoseethecontinuing growth ofthis conference. Itshould benoted that various sponsors todateareseeking tofundreuseandintegration asameanstocontrol project development andmaintenance costsfromthe outset. Thisyear's conference addresses allaspects of Heuristics inScalable Systems Engineering as theyrelate totheever-increasing role played by intelligent systems intheengineering design process, aswellastheever-increasing needto integrate mathematical logics withheuristic search incomplex industrial systems (e.g., heuristic solutions oftheTSP).Thecommonproblemconfronting suchsystems istheacquisition andevolution ofheuristics. Inparticular, the evolution ofheuristics canbeformalized inthe context ofreuse andintegration. Heuristics arerules ofthumb - atermthat stemsfromtheGreekwordfor"helmsman", or onewhoserves todiscover. Computational heuristics provide forthenear-optimal solution of otherwise intractable problems. Systems Engineering isabroad-ranging discipline thatseeks tointegrate sub-units, parts, andassemblies intoa morecomplex whole, whosefunctionality derives fromcontextsensitive integration. Inparticular, systems engineers concern themselves withreuse indesign, optimality, efficiency, maintainability, testability, andcostfactors intherealization of(extensible) functionalities. Thedesign ofsystems and systems ofsystems (e.g., systems ofevolving complexity) inherently depends uponsearch processes insatisfaction offormal constraints. Theintrinsic importance ofheuristics tononadmissible search techniques issimilar tothat of relativistic vs.strictly Newtonian effects. Thatis, sucheffects onlybecome relevant withscale. Information reuse andintegration (IRI) seeks, asitsprincipal goal, tomaximally exploit availableinformation tocreate newknowledge andto reuse that knowledge - evensofarastoplaya major role inthecreation ofnewknowledge. The IEEE/AOARDIRIconference serves asaforum forresearchers andpractitioners fromacademia, industry, andgovernment topresent, discuss, and exchange ideas. TheIRIconference differs from itssister Alconferences principally inthatits authors address real-world problems withrealworldsolutions - while contributing tothevariousintelligent systems theories. Industrialists andacademics will beable toachieve empirical results withlesseffort, inproportionately less time, andwithproportionately less chance oferrorbyborrowing fromtheresults published herein. Wethank theIEEESMC society andtheAsian Office ofAerospace Research andDevelopment (AOARD)fortheir support oftheIRIconferences aswellasfortheir commitment toandassistance inhelping ustoachieve ourstated goals.