Optimization and fuzziness in problems of design and configuration

For the representation of domain knowledge, hierarchies are used to model the world of systems under consideration, the world of elements of these systems, and the connection between systems and elements. Design or, as a special case configuration, means specification of abstract entities by more precise entities or composition of the precise entities, called objects or object classes to a system, is considered. The specification process starts with the abstract entities, so-called elements, and runs over several stages of object classes, finishing with precise entities, the so-called objects. Three types of requirements are considered: functional properties, global constraints, and objectives/fuzzy goals