AIList-REQUEST@SRI-AI.ARPA (AIList Moderator Kenneth Laws) (12/04/85)
AIList Digest Tuesday, 3 Dec 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 181 Today's Topics: Seminars - Truth Maintenance and Multiple Worlds in KEE (SU) & Model and Temporal Proof System for Processes (CMU) & Reasoning about Control in Vision (SRI) & An Approach to Conscious Experience (UCB), Conferences - Expert Systems and Their Applications & Knowledge and Data & Workshop on AI for Design Automation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon 2 Dec 85 08:54:31-PST From: Anne Richardson <RICHARDSON@SU-SCORE.ARPA> Subject: Seminar - Truth Maintenance and Multiple Worlds in KEE (SU) DAY December 3, 1985 EVENT Computer Science Colloquium PLACE Skilling Auditorium TIME 4:15 TITLE "Truth Maintenance and Multiple Worlds in KEE" PERSON Paul Morris, Robert Nado, Richard Fikes FROM IntelliCorp TRUTH, MAINTENANCE AND MULTIPLE WORLDS IN KEE We describe the integration of an assumption-based truth maintenance system (ATMS) into the frame-based representation facilities of the KEE system, and the use of the ATMS to implement a multiple-world context graph system for KEE. Integration into the frame system involves associating with potential slot values ATMS nodes that are used to determine in which worlds (contexts) the slot values are believed. Built-in inferences provided by the frame system, such as inheritance and the checking of value class and cardinality constraints, are recorded, when needed, as explicit justifications in the ATMS. In addition, the default reasoning capabilities of KEE have been refined and extended to take advantage of the ATMS. Tradeoffs in the integration between flexibility of use and run-time efficiency are examined. We describe the multiple-world context graph system with particular attention to an interpretation of the graph as a network of actions. In this framework, the semantics of graph merges are investigated and restrictions to ensure valid action sequences are discussed. ------------------------------ Date: 2 December 1985 1654-EST From: Theona Stefanis@A.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Seminar - Model and Temporal Proof System for Processes (CMU) Date: Monday, 9 December Place: 5409 WeH Time: 3:30 PS SEMINAR A model and temporal proof system for processes Van Nguyen IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (joint work with Alan Demers, David Gries and Susan Owicki) There exist several models of processes, e.g. those of Brock-Ackerman, Hoare, Milner and Pratt. None of these models handles both synchronous and asynchronous communication in a single framework. In addition, their modeling of temporal properties (e.g. liveness properties) is generally unsatisfactory. The models that seem most promising, due to their simplicity and ability to hide information, are those based on traces. A trace is a finite sequence of communication events, which can be thought of as an abstraction of a process state in which all irrelevant internal details are hidden. A number of proof systems for processes have also been proposed. The Hoare-like proof systems, e.g. those of Chen-Hoare, Levin-Gries and Misra-Chandy, are simple but lack expressive power and cannot deal with temporal properties. Temporal proof systems, e.g. those of Manna-Pnueli and Barringer-Kuiper-Pnueli, are expressive but more complicated. We present a model for processes that is based on the notion of behavior (a generalization of trace). The model can handle either synchronous or asynchronous communication, and can describe temporal properties. We also describe a sound and complete temporal proof system that is based on the model. Due to the modularity of the model, the proof system is compositional. Both the model and proof system are simple. Thus we show that temporal proof systems can be made ------------------------------ Date: Tue 3 Dec 85 11:44:55-PST From: LANSKY@SRI-AI.ARPA Subject: Seminar - Reasoning about Control in Vision (SRI) REASONING ABOUT CONTROL IN A HIGH-LEVEL COMPUTER VISION SYSTEM Leonard Wesley SRI International, AI Center 11:00 AM, MONDAY, December 9 SRI International, Building E, Room EJ228 (new conference room) If you built an expert system, how would you expect it to decide what to do next in complex situations? Typically there are several alternative actions it might take to reach some goal. In some cases, the best alternative is clear or the choices do not warrant extensive analysis. At times the consequences of pursuing some action justify expending the effort to obtain the necessary information to analyze the pros and cons of choosing a particular alternative. Most would agree that the information that is needed to reach any decision is, to some degree, uncertain, imprecise, and occasionally inaccurate (called "evidential" information). Clearly knowledge about the certainty, precision, and accuracy of information can be used to improve a system's ability to reason about (i.e., control) its actions. In this talk, we shall describe how this might be accomplished by an expert system in the domain of high-level computer vision. We shall explain why we view Shafer's theory of belief functions as being better suited than some other models as a theoretical foundation for representing evidential information and reasoning about control. Results from a large number of image interpretation experiments will be presented to demonstrate how a system's performance can be improved when Shafer's theory is soundly exploited. Finally, we shall briefly describe how our approach to control might be extended to an evidential-based framework for planning under uncertainty. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Dec 85 09:43:33 PST From: admin%cogsci@BERKELEY.EDU (Cognitive Science Program) Subject: Seminar - An Approach to Conscious Experience (UCB) BERKELEY COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM Fall 1985 Cognitive Science Seminar - IDS 237A Tuesday, December 3, 11:00 - 12:30 240 Bechtel Engineering Center Discussion: 12:30 - 1:30 in 200 Building T-4 ``An Approach to Conscious Experience'' Bernard J. Baars Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute, U.C.S.F. Conscious experience has been widely viewed as a confusing and ill-defined issue, and most psychologists have avoided it until quite recently. However, there are straightforward ways to specify reliable empirical constraints on the problem, sim- ply by contrasting comparable pairs of events, one of which is conscious and the other not. For example, we are typically unconscious of highly predictable stimuli, though there is strong evidence that such stimuli continue to be represented in the nervous system. We are unconscious of automatized actions, of the unattended stream in a selective attention paradigm, of conceptual presuppositions, of the unconscious meaning of per- ceptual and linguistic ambiguities, of lexical access, syntac- tic rule-application, etc. In all these cases the unconscious information continues to be represented and processed. Any complete theory of conscious experience is bounded by, and must ultimately account for, the entire set of such contrasts. The empirical constraints converge on a model of the ner- vous system as a distributed collection of specialists--- automatic, unconscious, and very efficient. Consciousness is associated in this system with a "global workspace"---a memory whose contents are broadcast to all the specialists. Special- ists can complete or cooperate for access to the global workspace, and those that succeed can recruit and control other specialists in pursuit of their goals. Over the past seven years this Global Workspace approach has been extended to a number of puzzling issues, including action control and the neurophysiological basis of consciousness. ------------------------------ Date: Saturday, 30 November 1985 21:06:58 EST From: Duvvuru.Sriram@cive.ri.cmu.edu Subject: Conference - Expert Systems and Their Applications SIXTH INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON EXPERT SYSTEMS & THEIR APPLICATIONS INTRODUCTION Following the success of the 5th International Workshop in Expert Systems and their Applications at the prestigious 14th century fortess Palace of the Popes in Avigon (France), the Agence de l'Informatique has scheduled the 6th Workshop for April 28-30, 1986. Papers are solicited which describe expert systems actually applied in industry, currently under assessment by users, or currently commercially available. INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS Five copies of submitted papers (not exceeding 20 pages in 8 x 11" camera-ready format) should reach the Workshop Chairman before January 15, 1986. Papers may be written either in English or French. Simultaneous translation will be provided at the conference. Submitted papers should include a page with: - title of the paper - author's name - author's address - phone number and extension - telex number - a 10 line abstract - a list of key words All papers will be refereed by an international program committee; notification of acceptance will be given by March 4, 1986. A best paper award will be presented at the conference. OTHER ACTIVITIES Tutorials and panel discussions are planned. Send suggestions for topics to Workshop Chairman at the address indicated. INFORMATION For further information contact: Jean-Claude Rault Workshop Chairman Agence de l'Informatique Tour Fiat - Cedex 16 92084 Paris - La Defence France Tel. (331) 47 96 43 14 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Nov 85 19:05:15 EST From: "John F. Sowa" <sowa.yktvmv%ibm-sj.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Conference - Knowledge and Data IFIP INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING ANNOUNCEMENT TC2 WORKING CONFERENCE organized by Working Group 2.6 Knowledge and Data (DS-2) November 3-7, 1986 in Albufeira (Algarve), Portugal Scope: Questions of meaning are more important for the design of a knowledge base than methods of encoding data in bits and bytes. As database designers add more semantic information to their systems, their conceptual schemata begin to look like AI systems of knowledge representation. In recognizing this convergence on issues of semantics, IFIP Working Group 2.6 is organizing a working conference on Knowledge and Data. It will address the issues and problems of knowledge representation from an interdisciplinary point of view. Topics: Design of a conceptual schema Knowledge and data modeling Database semantics Natural language semantics Expert database systems Logic, databases, and AI Methods of knowledge engineering Tools and aids for knowledge acquisition Invited speakers: Herve Gallaire, Germany Robert Meersman, Belgium J. Alan Robinson, USA Roger Schank, USA Dana Scott, USA An IFIP working conference is oriented towards detailed discussion of the topics presented. Participation is by invitation, with optional contribution of a paper that is refereed by the program committee. Anyone who is interested in participating should send an abstract of current research or a prospective paper to either of the program cochairmen. Abstracts are due March 14, 1986. Complete papers are due May 16, 1986. Papers presented at the conference will be published in book form by North Holland Publishing Co. General Chairman: Amilcar Sernadas, Portugal Program cochairmen: John F. Sowa Robert Meersman IBM Systems Research Institute L.U.C. -- Dept. WNIF 500 Columbus Avenue Universitaire Campus Thornwood, NY 10594 B-3610 Diepenbeek U.S.A. Belgium CSNET: sowa.yktvmt@ibm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Nov 85 15:58:44 est From: Scott C McKay <scm%gitpyr%gatech.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Subject: Conference - Workshop on AI for Design Automation FIRST AFWAL* RESEARCH WORKSHOP TO DEVELOP AND AUTOMATE A SCIENCE OF DESIGN FOR MILITARY WEAPONS SYSTEMS VIA APPLIED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Georgia Tech Research Institute Atlanta, Georgia March 24-26, 1986 The premise of this workshop is that appropriate research can create a new, invented Science of Design to support CAE/CAD in a CAE/CAD/CAM Military Weapons System Foundry. A Foundry is required for rapid design and production of complex weapons systems demanded by changing military mission requirements. CAE/CAD is viewed as a domain of Applied AI called Design Automation (DA), and Design Science is considered a subdiscipline of Design Automation. DA is viewed as a totally generic discipline whose domain is both weapons systems and their embedded electronics, including multiplatform systems. The discipline of DA incorporates requirements engineering, weapons system and subsystem configuration, the design of mission-specific system and subsystem functions, signal and data processing algorithm design, software engineering (including firmware), multiprocessor and processor design, and structural, mechanical, thermal, electrical, electromagnetic, and electronics (including analog) engineering. For this workshop the domain of DA will be limited to military embedded electronics systems (including multiplatform systems). Within this domain the workshop is generic, in that it includes all the preceding DA disciplines from requirements engineering to electronics engineering. The workshop's purpose is to prepare approximately five detailed near-term project plans for initial vectoring of DA-relevant research towards Weapons System Foundry objectives. One project plan will detail development of a DA Testbed. Additional special interest project plans may also be prepared. All workshop attendance expenses are the responsibility of attendees, and include a nominal registration fee for lunches and refreshments. Only US citizens will be allowed to attend the workshop. There is no a priori restriction on attendees' technical background or employer. An attendance limit of 40 participants may cause rejection of some attendance applications; however, all applicants will be provided copies of the draft workshop report for review. An Attendance Application Package is available on request. It contains a white paper defining AFWAL objectives for long term DA technology development, a detailed workshop description, and a questionnaire to establish individual applicant's DA-relevant qualifications and interests. To request an Attendance Application Package please contact: Mr Harold Noffke AFWAL/AARM-3 WPAFB OH 45433-6543 Tel: (513) 255-3655/5097/6071 *AFWAL stands for Air Force Wright Aeronautical Laboratories. ------------------------------ End of AIList Digest ********************