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AIList Digest Volume 6 Issue 061
AIList Digest Friday, 1 Apr 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 61
Today's Topics:
Bindings - Jocelyn Paine's Email Address & UK Addresses,
Seminars - The Knowledge Based Specification Assistant (ISI) &
Nonmonotonic Temporal Reasoning and Causation (CMU) &
Architecture-Independent Parallel Programming (BBN) &
A Comparison of Spatial and Symbolic Reference (CMU)
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Date: Tue, 29 Mar 88 10:42:29 PST
From: lambert@cod.nosc.mil (David R. Lambert)
Subject: Jocelyn Paine's email address
For those wishing to respond to Jocelyn Paine's "Software Minds"
query, the email address listed:
popx%vax.oxford.ac.uk%ac.uk@ukacrl.bitnet
did not work from my .mil address. An address which did work is:
popx@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Dave
David R. Lambert, PhD
Code 772 (S)
Naval Ocean Systems Center
San Diego, CA 92152
Commercial: (619) 553-1093
Autovon: (AV) 553-1093
Email: lambert@nosc.mil
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Date: Tue, 29 Mar 88 09:00:47 BST
From: US x6111 <US@IB.RL.AC.UK> (US at UKACRL)
Subject: Problems with e-mail to UK
Addresses within the UK are handled in big-endian order, so that mail
to oxford should be addressed like:
POPX%UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX%UKACRL.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Jonathan Wheeler
User Support and Marketing Group
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Didcot, Oxfordshire, England
------------------------------
Date: 28 Mar 88 21:55:21 GMT
From: luu@vaxa.isi.edu (Kim Chau Luu)
Reply-to: luu@vaxa.isi.edu (Kim Chau Luu)
Subject: Seminar - The Knowledge Based Specification Assistant (ISI)
Title : The Knowledge Based Specification Assistant
Speaker : Lewis Johnson
Location : USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-6695
11th Floor Large Conference Room
Date : April 6, 1988
Time : 3:00 - 5:00PM
Abstract:
Software specification is the process of constructing a design for a
system to achieve some desired outcome in the world. It involves
analyzing the domain of application, identifying requirements which the
software must meet, and then developing a specification of a system that
can meet these requirements. The Knowledge-Based Specification
Assistant Project (KBSA) is building a tool to actively assist in this
process. It supports our view of the specification process as one of
incremental model construction and transformational derivation. A
specifier starts by developing an explicit model of the application
domain, and of the requirements to be met by the software. This model
is developed incrementally over time, as the specifier's understanding
of the problem improves. A specification is then developed by
transforming the requirements into an implementable form. The KBSA
system assists this process as follows: a) by applying the
transformations necessary to develop the specification, b) by analyzing
the specification, to help identify where transformations must be
applied, and c) by paraphrasing and explaining the specification.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 88 15:39:01 EST
From: Anurag.Acharya@CENTRO.SOAR.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Seminar - Nonmonotonic Temporal Reasoning and Causation (CMU)
AI SEMINAR
TOPIC: Nonmonotonic Temporal Reasoning, and Causation
SPEAKER: Professor Yoav Shoham
Dept. of Computer Science
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
shoham@score.stanford.edu
WHEN: Tuesday, April 12, 1988 3:30pm
WHERE: Wean Hall 5409
ABSTRACT
We define two problems that arise from the conflicting goals of rigor
and efficiency in temporal reasoning, called the {it qualification
problem} and the {it extended prediction problem}, which subsume the
infamous {it frame problem}. We then offer solutions to those.
The solution relies on making nonmonotonic inferences. We present
our very simple, semantical approach to nonmonotonic logics.
We then define a particular nonmonotonic logic, called the logic
of {it chronological ignorance}, which combines
elements of temporal logic and the modal logic of knowledge.
We illustrate how the logic can be used to solve the qualification
problem. (In the unlikely event of time permitting, we will do the same
for the extended prediction problem).
Although the logic of chronological ignorance is, in general, badly
undecidable, we identify a restricted class of theories, called
{it causal theories}, which have very nice properties: They each have
a model that is (in a certain sense) unique, and that is (in a certain sense)
easily computable.
We argue that the above analysis offers an attractive account of
the concept of {it causation}, and of its central role in
common sense reasoning.
The talk presupposes only basic understanding of first-order logic.
------------------------------
Date: Wed 30 Mar 88 14:50:19-EST
From: Marc Vilain <MVILAIN@G.BBN.COM>
Subject: Seminar - Architecture-Independent Parallel Programming (BBN)
BBN Science Development Program
AI Seminar Series Lecture
AN ARCHITECTURE-INDEPENDENT MODEL
FOR PARALLEL PROGRAMMING
Gary W. Sabot
Harvard University and
Thinking Machines Corporation
(GARY@THINK.COM)
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
2nd floor large conference room
10:30 am, Tuesday April 5
The paralation model consists of a new data structure and a small
number of operators. The model has two main goals. As a model, it must
be high-level and abstract. It should ask programmers to describe an
algorithm, not every detail of the algorithm to hardware mapping. This
leads to programming languages that are easy to use for general
application programming. On the other hand, the constructs of the model
must be easy to compile into efficient code for a variety of
architectures (for example, MIMD or SIMD processors; bus-based,
butterfly, or grid interconnect; etc.). An inefficient programming
language, no matter how expressive and easy-to-use, cannot gain
widespread acceptance.
The talk describes the paralation model in detail. Programming
examples are presented in Paralation Lisp, a language based on the
model. A number of compilers for Paralation Lisp have been written.
Paralation Lisp code can currently be run in parallel on the 65,536
processor Connection Machine, or serially on any implementation of
Common Lisp.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 88 14:25:17 EST
From: Anurag.Acharya@CENTRO.SOAR.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Seminar - A Comparison of Spatial and Symbolic Reference
(CMU)
UNDERSTAND SEMINAR
Tuesday, April 5, 1988
12:00 - 1:20
Adamson Wing, Baker Hall
Knowing What vs. Where: A Comparison of Spatial and Symbolic Reference
Susan Dumais, Bellcore
email: std@bellcore.com
The traditional name-based approach to storing and retrieving
information in computers in now being supplemented on some
systems by a spatial alternative - often driven by an office
or desktop metaphor. These systems attempt to take advantage
of the important role that location plays in retrieving objects
in the real world (i.e. we must know where things are in order
to retrieve them). Several experiments examined the usefulness
of location-based and name-based methods for representing,
organizing and retrieving information in computerized databases.
Accuracy of location reference in a Location-only condition
was initially comparable to that in a Name-only condition,
but declined much more rapidly with increases in the number of
objects and delay between initial storage and subsequent retrieval.
Adding Location to Name information did not substantially improve
retrieval accuracy. These results call into question the
generality of spatial metaphors for information retrieval
applications.
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End of AIList Digest
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