(Apologies for cross postings) ************************************************************************************ 9th International Workshop on COMBINATIONS of INTELLIGENT METHODS and APPLICATIONS (CIMA 2021) (URL: http://aigroup.ceid.upatras.gr/cima2021/) in conjunction with The Twelfth International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA 2021) 12-14 July 2021, Chania, Greece ************************************************************************************* CALL FOR PAPERS ************************************************************************************* The combination of different intelligent methods is a very active research area in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The aim is to create integrated or hybrid methods that benefit from each of their components. It is generally believed that complex problems can be easier solved with such integrated or hybrid methods. Some of the existing efforts combine what are called soft computing methods (fuzzy logic, neural networks and genetic algorithms) either among themselves or with more traditional AI technologies such as logic and rules. Another stream of efforts integrates case-based reasoning and machine learning with soft-computing and traditional AI methods. Yet another integrates agent-based approaches with logic and also non-symbolic approaches. Some of the combinations have been quite important and more extensively used, like neuro-symbolic methods, neuro-fuzzy methods and methods combining rule-based and case-based reasoning. However, there are other combinations that are still under investigation, such as those related to the Semantic Web and Deep Learning. In some cases, combinations are based on first principles, but in most cases they are created in the context of specific applications. The Workshop is intended to become an annual forum for exchanging experience and ideas among researchers and practitioners who are dealing with combining intelligent methods either based on first principles or in the context of specific applications. Topics of interest of the Workshop are (but not limited to): Bayesian Networks Case-Based Reasoning Deep Learning Ensemble learning, Ensemble methods Evolutionary Algorithms Evolutionary Neural Systems Fuzzy-Evolutionary Systems Hybrid Approaches for the Web Hybrid Knowledge Representation Approaches & Systems Hybrid and Distributed Ontologies Information Fusion Techniques Integrations of Neural Networks Intelligent Agents Integrations Integrations of Statistical and Symbolic AI Approaches Intelligent Agents Integrations Machine Learning Combinations Neuro-Fuzzy Approaches/Systems Reinforcement learning Semantic Web Technologies Integrations Swarm intelligence methods & integrations Applications Agents & Multi-agent Systems Big Data Biology, Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Decision Support and Recommender systems Economics, Business and Forecasting Applications Education & Distance Learning Industrial & Engineering applications Medicine & Health Care Multimodal Human Computer Interaction Natural language Processing and Understanding Planning, Scheduling, Search & Optimization Robotics Social Networks This year we are very interested in combinations of intelligent methods for sentiment analysis and emotion recognition. PAPER SUBMISSION We are interested in high quality research papers on the above or related topics. Interested authors are invited to submit original contributions to the workshop. The papers should be submitted through the IISA-21 submission system (https://easyconferences.eu/iisa2021/submission/). In the "Select Tack" page, choose "CIMA 2021" (or similar choice). In preparing your submission, follow IISA-21 guidelines (https://easyconferences.eu/iisa2021/instructions-for-authors/). All papers will be refereed by at least two members of the program committee of the Workshop. Accepted papers will be presented at the Workshop sessions of the conference. PROCEEDINGS The proceedings of the workshop will be part of the IISA 2021 proceedings (IEEEXplore approval pending). After the workshop, we may issue a Springer volume with extended versions of the accepted papers, after a second review round. ATTENDANCE One of the authors of each accepted paper should register for the IISA Conference and present the work at the associated Workshop session of the conference. If none of the authors is registered, their paper will not be presented at the Workshop and will not be included in theproceedings. Registration info is available in https://easyconferences.eu/iisa2021/. IMPORTANT DATES Paper submission: 15 March, 2021 Acceptance notification: 15 April, 2021 Camera-ready: 26 April 2021 ORGANIZERS AND CO-CHAIRS Ioannis Hatzilygeroudis, University of Patras, Greece Maria Virvou, University of Piraeus Vasile Palade, Coventry University, UK Isidoros Perikos, University of Patras, Greece PROGRAM COMMITTEE (TBA)