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Neuron Digest Volume 11 Number 22
Neuron Digest Thursday, 1 Apr 1993 Volume 11 : Issue 22
Today's Topics:
2nd European Conference on Artificial Life
Reinforcement Learning workshop to follow ML93 -- Call for participation
USC/CNE Workshop - Rescheduling.
"Call for papers"
Submission
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issues to "neuron-request@cattell.psych.upenn.edu". The ftp archives are
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 2nd European Conference on Artificial Life
From: Goss Simon <sgoss@ulb.ac.be>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 93 17:26:14 +0700
ECAL '93
2nd European Conference on Artificial Life
SELF-ORGANIZATION AND LIFE, FROM SIMPLE RULES TO GLOBAL COMPLEXITY
Brussels, May 24-26th, 1993
Natural and artificial systems governed by simple rules exhibit self-
organisation leading to autonomy, self-adaptation and evolution. While
these phenomena interest an increasing number of scientists, much remains
to be done to encourage the cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques.
The aim of this conference is to bring together scientists from different
fields in the search for common rules and algorithms underlying different
systems. The following themes have been selected :
- - Origin of life and molecular evolution
- - Patterns and rhythms in chemical and biochemical systems and interacting cells
(neural network, immune system, morphogenesis).
- - Sensory and motor activities in animals and robots.
- - Collective intelligence in natural and artificial groups
- - Ecological communities and evolution .
- - Ecological computation.
- - Epistemology
We are also planning demonstrations of computer programmes, robots and
physico-chemical reactions, both in vivo and in video.
Invited Speakers
C. Biebricher (Germany), S. Camazine (USA), H. Cruse, P. De Kepper (France),
W. Fontana, N. Franks (UK), F. Hess (Holland),
B. Huberman (USA), S. Kauffman (USA), C. Langton (USA), M. Nowak (UK),
T. Ray (USA), P. Schuster (Germany), M. Tilden (Canada), J. Urbain (Belgium),
F. Varela (France).
Organising committee
J.L. Deneubourg, H. Bersini, S. Goss, G. Nicolis (Universite Libre de Bruxelles)
R. Dagonnier (Universite de Mons-Hainaut).
International Program committee
A. Babloyantz (Belgium), G. Beni (USA), P. Borckmans (Belgium),
P. Bourgine (France), H. Cruse (Germany), G. Demongeot (France),
G. Dewel (Belgium), P. De Kepper (France), S. Forrest (USA), N. Franks (UK),
T. Fukuda (Japan), B. Goodwin (UK), P. Hogeweg (Holland), M. Kauffman (Belgium),
C. Langton (USA), R. Lefever (Belgium), P. Maes (USA), J.-A. Meyer (France),
T. Ray (USA), P. Schuster (Austria), T. Smithers (Belgium), F. Varela (France),
R. Wehner (Germany).
Address:
ECAL '93,
Centre for Non-Linear Phenomena and Complex Systems, CP 231,
Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Bld. du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Fax : 32-2-6505767; Phone : 32-2-6505776; 32-2-6505796;
EMAIL : sgoss@ulb.ac.be
_____________________________________________________________________________
REGISTRATION
The registration fees for ECAL '93 (May 24-26) are as
follows ($1=34BF):
Payment before Payment after
May 1st May 1st
Academic: 10.000 BF 12.000 BF
Non-Academic: 12.000 BF 14.000 BF
Student: 6.500 BF 7.500 BF
a) I authorise payment of BF by the
following credit card:
American Express Visa/Eurocard/Master
(please indicate which card!)
Card Name
Card No
Valid from: to:
Signature
b) I enclose a Eurocheque for BF
c) I have ordered my bank to make a draft of
BF to :
ECAL '93
Account no: 034-1629733-01
CGER (Caisse Generale d'Epargne et de Retraite)
Agence Ixelles-Universite
Chaussee de Boondael 466
1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
_________________________________________________________
____________
Signature Date
Name
Telephone Fax
e-mail
Address
_______________________________________________________________________________
ECAL '93
Self-Organisation and life
From simple rules to global complexity
Brussels May 24-26
(Very) Provisional Program
(16 invited speakers, 40 oral communications, 50 posters)
Monday May 24th
9.00 Inauguration
9.10 Opening remarks
9.45 Coffee
10.15 Origins of life and 10.15 Chemical patterns
molecular evolution. and rhythms. Invited
Invited speakers: C. speaker: P. De Kepper
Biebricher, W. Fontana, P.
Schuster.
12.20 lunch 13.10 lunch
14.10 Theoretical biology 14.10 Collective
and artificial life. intelligence in animal
Invited speaker: C. groups (social insects).
Langton Invited speaker: N.R.
Franks
15.50 coffee 15.50 coffee
16.30 Theoretical biology 16.20 Collective
and artificial life intelligence in animal
groups (social insects).
Invited speaker: S.
Camazine
18.00 Beer and sandwiches
19.30 Theoretical biology
and artificial life:
General discussion.
Invited speaker: F. Varela
22.00 Close
Tuesday May 25th
9.00 Individual behaviour. 9.00 Patterns and rhythms
Invited speaker: M. Tilden in human societies.
Invited speaker: B.
Huberman
10.40 coffee 10.40 Coffee
11.10 Individual behaviour 11.10 Multi-robot systems
12.10 lunch 13.10 lunch
14.00 Posters and
demonstrations (robots,
simulations, videos,
chemical reactions, ...).
Invited speaker: F. Hess.
18.00 Cocktail
20.00 Banquet
Wednesday May 26th
9.00 Evolution. Invited 9.00 Sensory and motor
speakers: T. Ray, S. activities in animals and
Kauffman. robots. Invited Speaker:
H. Cruse
10.20 Coffee 10.40 coffee
11.10 11.40 Ecological
communities and evolution.
Invited speaker: M. Nowak
12.10 lunch 13.10 lunch
14.10 Collective pattern 14.10 Patterns and rhythms
in living systems in the immune system.
Invited speaker: J. Urbain
15.50 coffee 15.50 coffee
16.30 Collective pattern 16.20 Patterns and rhythms
in living systems in the immune system.
17.30 Closing remarks
_____________________________________________________________________________
*** you may need a physical copy of the BIT hotel reservation form or the ***
*** Brussels Hotel Guide. See below for details ***
HOTEL ACCOMODATION FOR ECAL '93
We have reserved a number of rooms in the centre of
Brussels (see attached list), not far from the Metro line
1a which will take you to the conference (ULB, Campus
Plaine, Metro Station Delta, Metro Ligne 1a, direction
Hermann Debroux). There are unfortunately no hotels close
to the University. All prices include breakfast, TV,
bathroom (see enclosed official hotel guide for more
details).
Hotels are rather expensive in Brussels, and you will see
that we have not been able to reserve many low-priced
rooms. The earlier you make your reservation, therefore,
the surer you are of having one. Another possibility is
that you arrange to share a double room with a fellow
conferencier.
It is important that you try to reserve before the 15th
of April, otherwise our options on the rooms may be
cancelled. Please note that there are 3 ways of reserving
your room, depending on which hotel you choose.
1. Hotels President (World Trade Centre) and Palace
For the Hotels President and Palace you will see on the
enclosed ECAL selected hotel list that we have been able
to negotiate a substantial reduction on normal rates. To
do so we have had to agree to pay for the rooms in one
lump sum, including a down payment. Therefore, if you
wish to take a room in these hotels you must make the
reservation through us. We will only accept to do this if
you pay the necessary sum in advance (we will refund
cancellations, though these two hotels might impose a
cancellation charge if there are too many last minute
cancellations). Please reserve before April 15th. After
this date we cannot garuntee that the hotel will maintain
our unused reservations and group rate. We enclose a
special form for the registration and pre-payment of
these rooms.
2. Other hotels on selected ECAL list
For all the other hotels on our selected list, please
fill in the enclosed BTR reservation form and return it
to us. We will forward it to:
Mr. Freddy Meerkens
Group reservations
Belgian Tourist Reservations
Bld. Anspach 111, B4
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 513.7484; Fax (322) 513.9277
He will make the reservation and should also notify you
that the reservation has been made. There is no charge
for this service, BTR being a state agency.
You can if you wish send or fax your reservation form
directly to M. Meerkens, group reservations, BTR. In this
case, please do not forget to mention in large letters
that you are attending the ECAL '93 conference (group
reservation), and please send us a copy (marked "COPY")
of your reservation form, so that we can keep track of
where everyone is staying.
3. Independent Reservations
Finally, for those of you that are more independently
minded, who wish to find a cheaper hotel, or have other
reasons, we enclose the Brussels Hotel Guide 1993, which
lists all the hotels in Brussels. If you choose one that
is not on the enclosed ECAL selected hotel list, you can
then reserve through Belgian Tourist Reservations (see
above), using the enclosed BTR form (you do not need in
this case to mention that you are attending ECAL). We
would nevertheless like you to send us a copy (marked
"COPY") of your BTR reservation form, so that we can keep
track of where everyone is staying.
ECAL selected Hotel list (do not contact these hotels
directly - see attached instructions) ($1=34BF approx.)
Hotel President (World Trade Centre) (100 rooms) *****
180 Bld. E. Jacqmain, 1210 Bruxelles
Tel: (322) 217.2020; Fax: (322) 218.8402
single room = double room: ECAL price: 4000 BF (<< Normal
price: 7500 BF)
Hotel Palace (lots of rooms) ****
3 Rue Gineste, 1210 Bruxelles
Tel: (322) 217.6200; Fax: (322) 218.1269
single room: ECAL price: 3780 BF (<< Normal price: 6000
BF)
double room: ECAL price: 4520 BF (<< Normal price: 7000
BF)
Hotel Atlas (30 singles, 10 doubles) ****
30-34 Rue du Vieux Marche-aux-Grains, 1000 Bruxelles
Tel: (322) 502.6006
single room: ECAL price: 3360 BF (just < Normal price:
3500 BF)
double room: ECAL price: 3780 BF (just < Normal price:
4100 BF)
Hotel Arcade Sainte Catherine (30 singles, 10 doubles)
***
2 Rue Joseph Plateau, 1000 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 513.7620; Fax (322) 514.2214
single room = double room: ECAL price: 3900 BF (= Normal
price)
Hotel Orion (15 singles) ***
51 Quai au Bois a Bruler, 1000 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 221.1411; Fax (322) 221.1599
single room: ECAL price: 3120 BF (= Normal price)
Hotel Vendome (30 singles) ***
96 Bld. Adolphe Max, 1000 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 218.00070; Fax (322) 218.0683
single room: ECAL price: 2875 BF (= Normal price)
Hotel Opera (20 singles) **
53 Rue Gretry, 1000 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 219.4343; Fax (322) 219.1720
single room: ECAL price: 2200 BF (= Normal price)
Hotel de Paris (20 singles) ** (shower not bathroom)
800 Bld. Poincarre, 1070 Bruxelles
Tel (322) 527.0920; Fax (322) 528.8153
single room: ECAL price: 1800 BF (= Normal price)
Reservation and pre-payment for Hotel President (World
Trade Centre) or Hotel Palace
I would like to reserve a single / double room at the
Hotel President / Hotel Palace for the nights of:
Signature Date
Name
Telephone Fax
e-mail
Address
_________________________________________________________
____________
a) I authorise payment to ECAL '93 of BF
by the following credit card:
American Express Visa/Eurocard/Master
(please indicate which card!)
Card Name
Card No
Valid from: to:
Signature
b) I enclose a Eurocheque (made put to ECAL '93) for
BF
c) I have ordered my bank to make a draft of
BF to :
ECAL '93
Account no: 034-1629733-01
CGER (Caisse Generale d'Epargne et de Retraite)
Agence Ixelles-Universite
Chaussee de Boondael 466
1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Simon Goss
Unit of Behavioural Ecology
Center for Non-Linear Phenomena and Complex Systems
CP 231, Campus Plaine
Universite Libre de Bruxelles
Boulevard du Triomphe
1050 Bruxelles
Belgium
Tel: 32-2-650.5776
Fax: 32-2-650.5767
E-mail: sgoss@ulb.ac.be
------------------------------
Subject: Reinforcement Learning workshop to follow ML93 -- Call for participation
From: Rich Sutton <rich@gte.com>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 93 15:07:43 -0500
Call for Participation
"REINFORCEMENT LEARNING: What We Know, What We Need"
an Informal Workshop to follow ML93
June 30 & July 1, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Reinforcement learning is a simple way of framing the problem of an
autonomous agent learning and interacting with the world to achieve a
goal. This has been an active area of machine learning research for the
last 5 years. The objective of this workshop is to present concisely
the current state of the art in reinforcement learning and to
identify and highlight critical open problems.
The intended audience is all learning researchers interested in
reinforcement learning; little prior knowledge of the area will be
assumed. The first half of the workshop will consist mainly of
tutorial presentations, and the second half will define and explore
outstanding problems. The entire workshop will last approximately one
and a half days. Attendance will be open to all those registered for
the main part of ML93 (June 27-29).
Program Committee: Rich Sutton (chair), Nils Nilsson, Leslie
Kaelbling, Satinder Singh, Sridhar Mahadevan, Andy Barto, Steve
Whitehead
CALL FOR PAPERS. Papers are solicited that lay out relevant
problem areas, i.e., for the second half of the workshop. Proposals
are also solicited for polished tutorial presentations on basic
topics of reinforcement learning for the first portion of the workshop.
The program has yet to be established, but will probably look something
like the following (all names are provisional):
Session 1: Introduction
The Challenge of Reinforcement Learning, by Rich Sutton
History of RL, by Harry Klopf
Q-learning
Planning and Action Models, by Long-Ji Lin
Session 2: Theory
Dynamic Programming, by Andy Barto
Convergence of Q-learning and TD(lambda), by Peter Dayan
Session 3: Applications
TD-Gammon, by Gerry Tesauro
Robotics, by Sridhar Mahadevan
Session 4: Extensions
Prioritized Sweeping, by Andrew Moore
Eligibility Traces, by Rich Sutton
Sessions 5 & 6: Open Problems
Generalization
Hidden State (short-term memory)
Hierarchical RL
Search Control
Incorporating Prior Knowledge
Exploration
...
If you are interested in attending the RL workshop, please register by
sending a note with your name, email and physical addresses, level of
interest, and a brief description of your current level of knowledge
about reinforcement learning, to:
sutton@gte.com
OR
Rich Sutton
GTE Labs, MS-44
40 Sylvan Road
Waltham, MA 02254
------------------------------
Subject: USC/CNE Workshop - Rescheduling.
From: Jean-Marc Fellous <fellous%sapo.usc.edu@usc.edu>
Date: Tue, 09 Mar 93 07:57:50 -0800
Thank you for posting the following notice:
**************************** RESCHEDULING ****************************
SCHEMAS AND NEURAL NETWORKS
INTEGRATING SYMBOLIC AND SUBSYMBOLIC
APPROACHES TO COOPERATIVE COMPUTATION
A Workshop sponsored by the
Center for Neural Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520
The Program Committee has now evaluated the submissions to the
proposed Workshop on 'Schemas and Neural Networks: Integrating
Symbolic and Subsymbolic Approaches to Cooperative Computation',
and found that rather few were on the proposed topic, although
there were several excellent submissions on Connectionist Imple-
mentation of Semantic Networks; and Schemas, Neural Networks,
and Reactive Implementations of Robots. We have thus decided to
postpone the meeting until October so that we may explicitly sol-
icit the strongest possible contributions on an expanded theme -
still on the topic of schemas and neural nets, but with the per-
spective now broadened to include the two areas most closely re-
lated to this particular combination of low and high-level tech-
nologies: schemas plus other low-level technologies (such as
reactive robot control); and neural nets plus other high-level
technologies (such as rule systems and semantic nets).
We regret whatever inconvenience this delay may cause you, but
believe that for most contributors and participants, this will
mean a much stronger and exciting meeting.
New Schedule: October 19 -20, 1993
With Best Wishes
Michael Arbib
**************************************************************************
------------------------------
Subject: "Call for papers"
From: VEMURI@icdc.llnl.gov
Date: 09 Mar 93 12:15:01 -0800
Dear Sir:
I'd appreciate if you kindly announce this once in your newsletter.
Thank you.
Rao Vemuri
===============================================================================
CALL FOR PAPERS
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Jay Libowitz, George Washington University
Special Issue on Macintosh Based Expert Systems and Applications
Guest Editor: Prof. V. Rao Vemuri, University of California at Davis
The Journal of Expert Systems with Applications is planning on a
special issue devoted to expert systems on APPLE MACINTOSH PLATFORMS.
Papers are invited in the following areas:
Expert System Shells, Applications, Case Studies, and User Interfaces.
Hybrid Systems such as Fuzzy expert systems, Neural Nets and expert systems.
All the submissions, both invited and submitted, will be reviewed by a panel
of experts, both from academia and industry.
Please submit the original and 5 copies of your complete manuscript directly
to the Guest Editor before 30 November 1993.
If you do not have a paper, but wish to participate as a reviewer, please
send a note to me because I can use all sorts of help in the review process.
Prof. V. Vemuri
Guest Editor, Special Issue on Expert Systems
Department of Applied Science
P. O. Box 808, L-794
University of California at Davis
Livermore, CA 94550
vemuri@icdc.llnl.gov
(510) 294-4051
------------------------------
Subject: Submission
From: eletansh@nuscc.nus.sg (Tan Shao Hua (Dr))
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 13:35:54 +0800
Dear Editor,
Please kindly consider to include the attached Call for Papers in your next
issue of Neuron-Digest. This special issue should be relevent to the Neuron
Digest readers. Thanks for your consideration.
SH Tan
eletansh@nuscc.nus.sg
********************** cut here **************************
Call for Papers
ASIA-PACIFIC ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(PART A: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING)
MARCH 1994 SPECIAL ISSUE ON NEURAL CONTROL
ASIA-PACIFIC ENGINEERING JOURNAL (PART A: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING) is planning
to publish a special issue on Neural Control in March 1994. This special issue
will cover all aspects of neural control, including but
not limited to the following topics:
Adaptive control Learning control
Nonlinear control Process control
Motion control System identification
Stability System theory
Hybrid control systems Optimal control
Robotics Control strategies planning
Authors are invited to submit their contributions to
APEJ Managing Editor
Faculty of Engineering
National University of Singapore
Singapore 0511
Tel: (65)7722292
Fax: (65)7773847 or (65)7773117
E-mail: eletansh@nuscc.nus.sg
Submission Deadline: 15 September 1993
APEJ (Part A) Editorial Board (Control & Automation)
K.J. Astrom (Sweden), K. Furuta (Japan), G. Goodwin (Austrilia), Z.-J. Han
(P.R. China), C.C. Hang (Singapore), F. Harashima (Japan), R.N.K. Loh
(USA), M.G. Rodd (UK), Y.P. Shih (Taiwan), S. Yamamoto (JAPAN)
Instruction for Authors:
1. 3 copies of the manuscripts in English should be submitted to the
Managing Editor. The manuscript, including an abstract of no more than
100 words, references, tables, figures and figure captions should be clearly
typed in double-space on A4 size paper with ample margins around text.
2. Each symbol must be clear, either typed neatly or written in ink
and properly aligned to distinguish superscripts and subscripts.
Section headings, references, tables and figures should be numbered in
Arabic numerals. Footnotes and references should be listed at the end of
the main text.
3. Each table or figure should occupy a separate page, and all tables and
figures should be grouped at the end of the paper. Original indian-ink
drawings or glossy prints are preferred and they should be large enough
for reduction to a minimum of 50%. A list of figure captions should be
given on a separate sheet.
4. Once a paper is accepted, authors are assumed to have transferred
the copyright to the publisher. It is author's responsibility to obtain
written permission to reproduce copyrighted materials.
5. All submitted papers will be acknowledged and refereed. There is no
page charge and 50 free reprints will be provide to the main author of
each paper.
------------------------------
End of Neuron Digest [Volume 11 Issue 22]
*****************************************
