Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
NL-KR Digest Volume 01 No. 29
NL-KR Digest (12/16/86 11:03:57) Volume 1 Number 29
Today's Topics:
Seminar: On the Classification of States and Events
Logic of Knowledge, Action, and Communication (BBN)
Concepts Defined via Approximate Theories (SU)
Classification of States and Events (MIT)
Massively Concurrent Systems
Commonsense Reasoning about Solid Objects
Conference: Message Understanding
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 5 Dec 86 18:50:06-EST
From: LPOLANYI at G.BBN.COM
Subject: Seminar: On the Classification of States and Events
LINGUISTICS AND COGNITION SEMINAR SERIES
SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM - BBN LABS
TOPIC: On the Classification of States and Events
SPEAKER: Professor Henk Verkuyl
University of Utrecht/ UMASS Amherst
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday December 11, 1986
2nd Floor Large Conference Room
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA
ABSTRACT:
In this talk, I shall argue that Zeno Vendler in his original classification
of aspectual categories into STATES, ACTIVITIES, ACCOMPLISHMENTS and
ACHIEVEMENTS basically proposed a two parameter cross classification
(PROCESS and DEFINITENESS/COUNT) but that he redundantly introduced a
third parameter, INTERVAL. This INTERVAL parameter based on the length
of a temporal unit has led, over the years, to many problems and
misunderstandings. In the talk, I shall argue that a re-analysis of
aspectual categories based on partial orderings provides a more
satisfying treatment of natural language aspectual phenomena.
------------------------------
Subject: Seminar - Logic of Knowledge, Action, and Communication (BBN)
Date: Thu 11 Dec 86 17:00:25-EST
From: AHAAS at G.BBN.COM
[Excerpted from AIList]
Another BBN AI Seminar: Leora Morgenstern of New York University will
speak on "Foundations of a Logic of Knowledge, Action and
Communication" at 10:30 on Thurday December 18 in the 2nd floor large
conference room at 10 Moulton St. Her abstract:
Most AI planners work on the assumption that they have complete
knowledge of their problem domain, so that formulating a plan consists
of searching through some pre-packaged list of action operators for an
action sequence that achieves some desired goal. Real life planning
rarely works this way because we usuallly don't have enough
information to map out a detailed plan of action when we start out.
Instead, we initially draw up a sketchy plan and fill in details as we
proceed and gain more exact information about the world.
This talk will present a formalism that is expressive enough to
describe this flexible planning process. We begin by discussing
various requirements that such a formalism must meet, and present a
syntactic theory of knowledge that meets these requirements. We
discuss the paradoxes, such as the Knower Paradox, that arise from
syntactic treatments of knowledge, and propose a solution based on
Kripke's solution of the Liar Paradox. Next, we present a theory of
action that is powerful enough to describe partial plans and
joint-effort plans. We demonstrate how we can integrate this theory
with an Austinian theory of communicative acts. Finally, we give
solutions to the Knowledge Preconditions and Ignorant Agent Problems
as part of our integrated theory of planning.
This talk will include comparisons of our theory with other
syntactic and modal theories such as Konolige's and Moore's. We will
demonstrate that our theory is powerful enough to solve classes of
problems that these theories cannot handle.
------------------------------
Date: 10 Dec 86 1242 PST
From: Vladimir Lifschitz <VAL@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Seminar - Concepts Defined via Approximate Theories (SU)
[Excerpted from AIList]
Commonsense and Non-Monotonic Reasoning Seminar
CONCEPTS DEFINED VIA APPROXIMATE THEORIES
John McCarthy
Thursday, December 11, 4pm
Jordan 050
Some important concepts for AI including "it can", "it believes" and
counterfactuals may be precisely definable in theories that approximate
reality in a generalized sense. Useful approximate theories of action are
typically non-deterministic even when they approximate deterministic
systems. The concepts are useful to the extent that the approximate
theory answers questions about the real world, but they often become
imprecise when attempts are made to define them directly in real world
terms. The lecture will discuss the sense of approximation, give
some examples, and make connections with the previous discussion of
contexts. Some of the material is discussed in my paper "Ascribing
Mental Qualities to Machines".
------------------------------
Subject: Seminar - Classification of States and Events (MIT)
Date: Fri 5 Dec 86 18:50:06-EST
From: LPOLANYI at G.BBN.COM
[Excerpted from AIList]
LINGUISTICS AND COGNITION SEMINAR SERIES
SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM - BBN LABS
TOPIC: On the Classification of States and Events
SPEAKER: Professor Henk Verkuyl
University of Utrecht/ UMASS Amherst
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday December 11, 1986
2nd Floor Large Conference Room
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA
ABSTRACT:
In this talk, I shall argue that Zeno Vendler in his original classification
of aspectual categories into STATES, ACTIVITIES, ACCOMPLISHMENTS and
ACHIEVEMENTS basically proposed a two parameter cross classification
(PROCESS and DEFINITENESS/COUNT) but that he redundantly introduced a
third parameter, INTERVAL. This INTERVAL parameter based on the length
of a temporal unit has led, over the years, to many problems and
misunderstandings. In the talk, I shall argue that a re-analysis of
aspectual categories based on partial orderings provides a more
satisfying treatment of natural language aspectual phenomena.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1986 17:34 EST
From: JHC%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU
Subject: Seminar: Massively Concurrent Systems
Resent-Message-Id: <12262571016.13.LAWS@SRI-STRIPE.ARPA>
MASSIVELY CONCURRENT SYSTEMS
FOR KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND REASONING
Gul A. Agha, MIT AI Lab
The problem of reasoning is central to Artificial Intelligence
systems. The effectiveness of a "reasoning method" is intimately tied
to the "knowledge representation" scheme on which it operates. The
seminar will discuss some recent theoretical work in inheritance-based
models for knowledge representation. Problems germane to
inheritance-based models include exception handling, multiple
inheritance, and viewpoints. The talk will outline some mechanisms
that have been proposed to address these issues. Methods of reasoning
such as first-order logic, nonmonotonic logic and due process
reasoning will be related to the knowledge representation schemes.
Thursday, December 11, 4pm
NE43 8th floor playroom
------------------------------
Date: 1 Dec 1986 13:57 EST (Mon)
From: Daniel S. Weld <WELD%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU at XX.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Seminar: Commonsense Reasoning about Solid Objects
[Excerpted from AIList]
ERNEST DAVIS
A Logical Framework for Commonsense Reasoning about Solid Objects
When a small die is dropped inside a large funnel, it comes out
the bottom. How do you know that? I will discuss why this problem is
harder than it looks; what kinds of knowledge could be used to solve it;
and how this knowledge can be expressed formally.
Friday, December 5; 1:00pm; 8th Floor Playroom
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 86 13:03:15 PST
From: Beth M. Sundheim <sundheim%trout@nosc.ARPA>
Subject: Conference: Message Understanding
MESSAGE UNDERSTANDING CONFERENCE
Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
For the past six years, researchers at the Naval Ocean Systems Center
(NOSC) have been investigating automated processing of text in
Naval messages. These messages are characterized by all of the problems
anticipated in processing natural languages, with the problems of telegraphic
input and technical sub-languages playing prominent roles.
To get a better appreciation of relevant ongoing R & D in this area,
NOSC will host a Message Understanding Conference (MUCK) in June 1987.
Participation in this conference will be by invitation only and will be
limited to those who have technical approaches that are most promising
for the particular problem of processing military messages.
The conference will be conducted in the form of a workshop, including
software demonstrations of the technology being developed by the individual
participants. If you are involved in text processing, especially military
message processing, and are interested in participating in this conference,
contact Beth Sundheim of NOSC (sundheim@nosc).
Those who indicate an interest will receive a technical document
containing an unclassified version of a set of Naval tactical messages,
representing the types of text processing problems encountered.
Respondents will also receive details relative to the conference. Through
subsequent dialog, participants in the workshop will be selected.
G. R. ALLGAIER
Head, Artificial Intelligence Branch
By direction of the Commander
------------------------------
End of NL-KR Digest
*******************
