AIList-REQUEST@SRI-AI.ARPA (AIList Moderator Kenneth Laws) (10/28/85)
AIList Digest Monday, 28 Oct 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 157 Today's Topics: Reports - Davis Working Papers in Linguistics, Seminars - Iterative Knowledge Aggregation (UPenn) & Limits of Expert Systems (Ames) & Layered Control System for a Robot (MIT) & Machine Learning and Knowledge Representation (MIT) & Possible Histories (SRI) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Oct 85 22:20:47 pdt From: ucdavis!harpo!lakhota@UCB-VAX.Berkeley.EDU Subject: Davis Working Papers in Linguistics From: Robert Van Valin, UC Davis ucdavis!harpo!lakhota@Berkeley We have started publishing a working paper series at Davis, and I think there are many linguists on the net who would be interested in it. Could you run the following blurb for the first issue in the series? Thanks. DAVIS WORKING PAPERS IN LINGUISTICS No. 1, 1985 Contents: `A lexical theory of auxiliary selection in Italian' Giulia Centineo, UC Berkeley `Clause linkage and zero anaphora in Mandarin Chinese' Liang Tao, UC Davis & Hunan Teacher's College `Aspects of the interaction of syntax and pragmatics: Discourse coreference mechanisms and the typology of grammatical systems' Robert D. Van Valin, Jr., UC Davis `Notes on Tepehua (Totonacan; Mexico) verbal semantics' James K. Watters, UC Berkeley & SIL Approx. 150 pages [This announcement of the report series is fine, but I have suppressed price and ordering information to comply with Arpanet regulations against commercial use. Contact "ucdavis!harpo!lakhota"@Berkeley for details. -- KIL] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 85 00:43 EDT From: Tim Finin <Tim%upenn.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Seminar - Iterative Knowledge Aggregation (UPenn) 12:00 Monday Oct. 28th 303 Towne Building, University of Pennsylvania A Survey of Iterative Knowledge Aggregation Methods Robert Hummel Courant Institute, NYU Iterative knowledge aggregation methods are used to choose one of a finite set of labels about each of a set of objects. Relaxation labeling processes are one example; there are now numerous other techniques for combining information which is sometimes supportive of a hypothesis and sometimes mutually contradictory. In this talk, I compare and contrast these methods, including stochastic relaxation algorithms, constrained power methods, and the Dempster/Shafer theory of evidence formulation. For each methods, we review the form of the state space, the type of evidence which can be represented, and the updating and convergence properties of the method. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 85 21:37:39 pdt From: eugene@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Eugene Miya) Subject: Seminar - Limits of Expert Systems (Ames) Terry Winograd, 11/5, 1030am National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center Joint Ames AI Forum/RCR Branch Seminar SPEAKER: Terry Winograd Computer Science Dept. Stanford University TOPIC: Expert systems: How far can they go? ABSTRACT: We are in the midst of a great wave of enthusiasm about the potential for expert systems in every area of human life and work. There is no agreement, however, as to just how much they can achieve, and where they will run into fundamental limits. This talk will address some basic questions as to what expert systems can really be expected to do. I will describe the "blindness" that is inevitable in the process of articulating the "systematic domains" that are needed for computer manipulation, and argue that it leads to important limitations on what we can expect AI techniques to accomplish. DATE: 5 Nov. 1985 TIME: 1030am BLDG: 245 ROOM: Space Sci Aud. Tuesday POINT OF CONTACT: E. Miya PHONE NUMBER: (415)-694-6453 eugene@ames-nas.ARPA VISITORS ARE WELCOME: Register and obtain vehicle pass at Ames Visitor Reception Building (N-253) or the Security Station near Gate 18. See map below. Do not use the Navy Main Gate. Non-citizens (except Permanent Residents) must have prior approval from the Director's Office one week in advance. Submit requests to the point of contact indicated above. Non-citizens must register at the Visitor Reception Building. Permanent Residents are required to show Alien Registration Card at the time of registration. If you are a foreign national E-mailing a request, please include your nationality, and Visa Type and number. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Oct 85 16:58:36 EDT From: "Steven A. Swernofsky" <SASW@MIT-MC.ARPA> Subject: Seminar - Layered Control System for a Robot (MIT) Thursday 31, October 4: 00pm Room: NE43- 8th floor Playroom The Artificial Intelligence Lab Revolving Seminar Series "A Layered Robust Control System for a Mobile Robot" Rod Brooks MIT AI Lab The AI Lab Mobile Robot project has built one robot and we are constructing a second. They are intended to autonomously wander around office areas of the lab at the same time as people are occupying those areas. The robots will eventually build maps of their surrondings and the second one will interact with the environment with an onboard manipulator. We describe a new architecture for controlling these mobile robots. Layers of control system are built to let the robot operate at increasing levels of competence. Layers are made up of asynchronous modules which communicate over low bandwidth channels. Each module is an instance of a fairly simple computational machine. Higher level layers can subsume the roles of lower levels by suppressing their outputs. However, lower levels continue to function as higher levels are added. The result is a robust and flexible robot control system. The talk will end with speculations on evolution and brains, and modelling them with the Unconnection Machine. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Oct 85 17:00:31 EDT From: "Steven A. Swernofsky" <SASW@MIT-MC.ARPA> Subject: Seminar - Machine Learning and Knowledge Representation (MIT) Wednesday 30, October 4: 00pm Room: 405 Robinson Hall Northeastern University 360 Huntington Ave. Boston MA Northeastern University College of Computer Science Colloquium Brittleness, Tunnel Vision, Machine Learning and Knowledge Representation Prof. Steve Gallant Northeastern University A system is brittle if it fails when presented with slight deviations from expected input. This is a major problem with knowledge representation schemes and particularly with expert systems which use them. This talk defines the notion of Tunnel Vision and shows it to be a major cause of brittleness. As a consequence it will be claimed that commonly used schemes for machine learning and knowledge representation are pre- disposed toward brittle behavior. These include decision trees, frames, and disjunctive normal form expressions. Some systems which are free from tunnel vision will be described. INFO: Carole D Hafner <HAFNER%northeastern.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> ------------------------------ Date: Sun 27 Oct 85 18:48:47-PST From: LANSKY@SRI-AI.ARPA Subject: Seminar - Possible Histories (SRI) POSSIBLE HISTORIES Pat Hayes Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, AI Lab 11:00 AM, MONDAY, October 28 SRI International, Building E, Room EJ228 (new conference room) A history is a connected piece of space/time with 'natural' boundaries. Using these as a basic ontology for talking about events, processes, etc. has some advantages over some other frameworks, and doesn't have some of the disadvantages which are sometimes attributed to it. However, it does have one major problem, which is the difficulty of talking about alternative possible futures, to allow planning to be done. In this talk I discuss a new way of using histories which looks like it can overcome this problem. ------------------------------ End of AIList Digest ********************