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NL-KR Digest Volume 05 No. 05
NL-KR Digest (7/27/88 20:09:06) Volume 5 Number 5
Today's Topics:
Seminars: Computer Modelling of Child Language Learning
Case memory for a case-based reasoner (BBN)
Describing Program Transformers with Higher-order
Unification (UNISYS)
Jobs - New Mexico
Conferences: ACM SIGIR 1989 Annual
AISB89
2nd Conf. on AI and Law
Call for Abstracts - Battlefield Environment
Submissions: NL-KR@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU
Requests, policy: NL-KR-REQUEST@CS.ROCHESTER.EDU
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 88 10:54 EDT
From: dlm@research.att.com
Subject: Computer Modelling of Child Language Learning
How Do Children Learn to Judge Grammaticallity?
or
Research Issues for Computer Modelling of Child Language Learning
Thursday, July 14, 1988, 10:30 am
AT&T Bell Laboratories - Murray Hill 3D-436
Mallory Selfridge
The University of Connecticut
Development of a successful computer model of child language learning
would have important implications for the development of natural
language interfaces to computers. However, no such fully successful
model has yet been developed, and ongoing research is taking several
different approaches. The purpose of this talk is to identify the
most promising approach and the most important research issues it
suggests. This talk first discusses the problem of developing a com-
puter model of child language learning and argues that the primary
questions are those of accounting for empirical data rather than
abstract questions from theoretical linguistics. It then identifies
a set of several linguistically-motivated questions, including the
question of how children learn to judge grammaticallity, and suggests
that they should be answered as side-effects of computational mechan-
isms required to account for empirical data. The "grammar acquisi-
tion" approach to child language learning is then reviewed, and is
judged to be undesirably abstract and of uncertain promise. Then, an
example of a "semantic" approach to child language learning, the
CHILD program, is considered, and its performance in accounting for
empirical data is described. Further, CHILD's ability to learn to
judge grammaticallity is described, and answers to set of
linguistically-motivated questions are proposed as side-effects of
CHILD's mechanisms. This talk concludes that the "semantic" approach
to computer models of child language learning is the most promising,
and identifies as important research issues a) the investigation of
the relationship between language and memory processes; b) the
development of non-linguistic representations of syntactic knowledge;
c) the investigation of the process whereby the child infers the
meaning of an incompletely understood utterance; and d) the identifi-
cation and investigation of additional empirical data on child
language learning.
SPONSOR: Bruce Ballard - allegra!bwb
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 88 16:48 EDT
From: Marc Vilain <MVILAIN@G.BBN.COM>
Subject: Case memory for a case-based reasoner
BBN Science Development Program
AI Seminar Series Lecture
CASE MEMORY FOR A CASE-BASED REASONER
JANET KOLODNER
Georgia Institute of Technology,
& MIT (AI in Medicine Group),
& Thinking Machines Corp.
(janetk@zermatt.lcs.mit.edu)
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
3rd floor large conference room
10:30 am, Tuesday July 19th
*** NOTE: NOT THE USUAL ROOM ***
Perhaps the most important support process a case-based reasoner needs
is a memory for cases. Analysis of observations of physicians using
cases during problem solving have led us to derive requirements for a
case memory. We then created representations, retrieval algorithms, and
selection heuristics that support these requirements. In this talk, I
first present observations of physicians using cases during problem
solving and then present the requirements on memory that arise from
analyzing doctors' behavior. I will also present the representations,
retrieval algorithms, and selection heuristics that derive from those
requirements. The memory model is implemented in a computer program
called PARADYME (Parallel Dynamic Memory) and runs on the Connection
Machine. Research was done in conjunction with physicians at New
England Medical Center and programmers at Thinking Machines.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 88 14:28 EDT
From: finin@PRC.Unisys.COM
Subject: Unisys AI Seminar: Describing Program Transformers with Higher-order Unification
AI SEMINAR
UNISYS PAOLI RESEARCH CENTER
Describing Program Transformers with Higher-order Unification
John J. Hannan
Computer and Information Science
University of Pennsylvania
Source-to-source program transformers belong to the class of
meta-programs that manipulate programs as objects. It has previously
been argued that a higher-order extension of Prolog, such as
Lambda-Prolog, makes a suitable implementation language for such
meta-programs. In this paper, we consider this claim in more detail.
In Lambda-Prolog, object-level programs and program schemata can be
represented using simply typed lambda-terms and higher-order
(functional) variables. Unification of these lambda-terms, called
higher-order unification, can elegantly describe several important
meta-level operations on programs. We detail some properties of
higher-order unification that make it suitable for analyzing program
structures. We then present (in Lambda-Prolog) the specification of
several simple program transformers and demonstrate how these can be
combined to yield more general transformers. With the depth-first
control strategy of Lambda-Prolog for both clause selection and
unifier selection all the above mentioned specifications can be and
have been executed and tested.
2:00 pm Wednesday, August 3
Unisys Paloi Research Center
BIC Conference Room
Route 252 and Central Ave.
Paoli PA 19311
-- non-Unisys visitors who are interested in attending should --
-- send email to finin@prc.unisys.com or call 215-648-7446 --
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 88 18:31 EDT
From: yorick@nmsu.csnet
Subject: Jobs - New Mexico
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Rio Grande Research Corridor
Computing Research Laboratory
New Mexico State University
Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM. 88003.
yorick@nmsu.edu.cs.net
(505) 646-5466
We need people with interest/experience in (a) compuational
semantics (lexical ambiguity, text processing, extraction of
semantic information from large dictionaries); (b) problem
solving and associated knowledge representation schemes; (c)
software engineering experience, preferably applied to large
natural language processing programs. Prolog and/or Lisp
capability needed for (a) and (b), Prolog and/or C for (c).
We are a growing AI Lab in a nice piece of desert. Details
of jobs and desert from Yorick Wilks.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 88 18:31 EDT
From: Edward A. Fox <fox@fox.cs.vt.edu>
Subject: ACM SIGIR 1989 Annual Conference
SIGIR '89
CALL FOR PAPERS
12th INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
Cambridge, Massachusetts
June 25 - 28, 1989
Sponsored by ACM SIGIR
In cooperation with:
AICA - GLIR (Italy)
BCS - IRG (United Kingdom)
GI (Federal Republic of Germany)
INRIA (France)
Information Retrieval
Information retrieval is one of the most exciting areas of
research and development in the computer and information sciences
today. Research in this field is becoming increasingly important
in areas as diverse as hypertext, natural language processing,
knowledge representation, expert systems, database and multi-
media object management systems, software engineering and office
information systems. Similarly, techniques developed in these
and other areas have strong impact on work in information
retrieval, even in its traditional applications in document and text
retrieval systems. The Annual ACM SIGIR Conference is the prem-
ier forum for presentation and discussion of current research in
this multidisciplinary area. The 12th Annual Conference will
focus especially on the relationships between information
retrieval and other fields. The technical program will consist
of contributed research papers and panel presentations. In addi-
tion, there will be a program of tutorials on Sunday 25 June.
TOPICS FOR SIGIR '89
Original research papers and panel proposals are solicited on
topics including, but not limited to the following:
Information retrieval theory
e.g. Retrieval models
Evaluation
Document and query representation
Artificial Intelligence and Information Retrieval
e.g. Knowledge representation
Natural language processing
Connectionism
Expert systems
Interface issues
e.g. User modelling
Human-computer interaction
Intelligent interfaces
Hypertext and Multimedia Systems
e.g. Automatic construction of links
Search and navigation
Applications
e.g. Software reuse
Office information systems
Case-based retrieval
Implementation issues
e.g. Parallel processing
File organization
Text searching hardware
Storage devices, e.g. optical storage
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Contributed Papers
Persons wishing to contribute original research papers should
send four copies of either: a ten to twelve page (double-spaced)
extended abstract; or, a twenty page full paper, to the appropri-
ate program chair, as indicated below. Papers will be published
in the conference proceedings, and authors will be required to
sign an ACM copyright release form. Submissions are due 14
December 1988.
Panel Presentations
Suggestions for panels should consist of descriptions of the
topic to be covered, the names of proposed speakers and modera-
tor, brief abstracts of the proposed presentations, and the
desired length of time for the panel. Four copies of proposals,
of no more than three pages, should be sent to the appropriate
program chair. Proposals are due 14 December 1988. Email may
be used for panel proposals, but must be backed up by hard copy.
Tutorials
Proposals for tutorials should consist of the topic to be dis-
cussed, the name(s) and brief biographies of the presenter(s),
and an outline of the tutorial. Four copies of proposals, of no
more than three pages, are due 16 January 1989. Email may be used
for tutorial proposals, but backed up by hard copy. Proposals
should be sent to the tutorial chair:
Paul Gandel
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Room 2J-501
Holmdel NJ 07733
ihnp4!hoqam!pbg
IMPORTANT DATES
14 December 1988 Papers and panel proposals due to Program
Chairs
16 January 1989 Tutorial proposals due to Tutorial Chair
17 February 1989 Authors informed of acceptance of papers and
proposals
20 March 1989 Final versions of papers due
Program Chairs
Prof. N.J. Belkin
4 Huntington Street
School of Communication, Information & Library Studies
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
USA
njb@flash.bellcore.com (internet)
belkin@zodiac (bitnet)
(Americas & Asia)
Prof. C.J. van Rijsbergen
Department of Computing Science
Glasgow University
Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Scotland
cjvr@cs.glasgow.ac.uk
(Europe, Africa, Australia)
Program Committee
Robert B. Allen, Bell Vijay Raghavan, University of
Communications Research Southwestern Louisiana
Abraham Bookstein, University Stephen Robertson, The City
of Chicago University, London
Alex Borgida, Rutgers Gerard Salton, Cornell
University University
Christine Borgman, UCLA Karen Sparck Jones, Cambridge
University
Giorgio Brajnik, Universita
degli Studi di Udine Craig Stanfill, Thinking
Machines Corporation
Yves Chiaramella, Laboratoire
Genie Informatique - IMAG Jean Tague, University of
Western Ontario
Stavros Christodoulakis,
University of Waterloo Carlo Tasso, Universita degli
Studi di Udine
Paul Cohen, University of
Massachusetts C.J. van Rijsbergen, Glasgow
University
Edward A. Fox, Virginia Poly-
technic Institute and State Clement Yu, University of
University (VPI&SU) Illinois at Chicago Circle
William B. Frakes, AT&T Bell Conference Committee
Laboratories
Conference Chair:
Norbert Fuhr, Technische Bruce Croft, University of
Hochschule Darmstadt Massachusetts
Peter Ingwersen, Royal Danish Program Chairs:
School of Librarianship Nick Belkin, Rutgers
University
Janet Kolodner, Georgia Tech C.J. van Rijsbergen, Glasgow
University
Donald H. Kraft, Louisiana State
University Tutorials Chair:
Paul Gandel, AT&T Bell
Michael J. McGill, OCLC Laboratories
Norman Meyrowitz, Brown Local Arrangements Chair:
University Candy Schwartz, Simmons
College
Erich J. Neuhold, Institute for
Integrated Publication and Publicity Chair:
Information Systems Edward A. Fox, VPI&SU
Fausto Rabitti, IEI-CNRS Treasurer:
Donna Harman, National Bureau
Roy Rada, Liverpool University of Standards
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 08:30 EDT
From: Tony Cohn <agc%snow.warwick.ac.uk@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK>
Subject: AISB89
AISB89 Call for Papers
===========================
AISB (The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and
Simulation of Behaviour) will hold its seventh biennial conference at
the University of Sussex, April 17-21 1989. The occasion will also
mark the first 25 years of AISB's existence.
Papers of not more than 5000 words are invited on any aspect of Artificial
Intelligence or the Simulation of Behaviour including
Vision Knowledge Representation
Knowledge Acquisition Automated Reasoning
Cognitive Modelling Commonsense Reasoning
Learning Psychological, Philosophical or Social Implications
Search Languages, Machines and Environments for AI
Planning Natural Language Understanding
Papers may describe theoretical or practical work but should make a
significant and original contribution to knowledge about the field of
Artificial Intelligence. A prize will be awarded for the best paper.
It is expected that the proceedings will be published as a book.
Requirements for Submission:
Each paper should contain an abstract of not more than 200
words and a list of up to four keywords or phrases describing the
content of the paper. Authors should give an electronic mail address
where possible, but all submissions should be in hardcopy in
letterquality print. Papers should be written in 12 point or pica
typewriter face on A4 or 8.5" x 11" paper. Five copies should
submitted. Papers must be written in English. Submission of a paper
implies that all authors have obtained all necessary clearances from
their institution and that an author will attend the conference to
present the paper if it is accepted. Papers should describe work that
will be unpublished on the date of the conference.
Deadline for submission: 1 November 1988
Notification of acceptance mailed by: 7 December 1988
Deadline for camera ready copy: 24 January 1989
Papers and all queries regarding the programme should be sent to
the programme chairman:
Dr Tony Cohn
Dept Computer Science
University of Warwick
COVENTRY
CV4 7AL
UK email: agc@uk.ac.warwick.cs
arpa: agc%uk.ac.warwick.cs@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
Programme committee:
Tony Cohn, David Hogg, Alison Kidd,
Chris Mellish, Mike Sharples, Sam Steel
All other correspondence and queries regarding the conference
should be addressed to:
Judith Dennison
SSAISB Executive Officer
Arts E
University of Sussex
BRIGHTON
BN1 9QN Tel: +44 (273) 678379
Email: judithd@uk.ac.sussex.cvaxa
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 13:22 EDT
From: carole hafner <hafner%corwin.ccs.northeastern.edu@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: 2nd Conf. on AI and Law
CALL FOR PAPERS
Second International Conference on
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and LAW
June 13-16, 1989
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The field of AI and Law -- which seeks both to understand fundamental mechanisms
of legal reasoning as well as to develop useful applications of AI to law --
is burgeoning with accomplishments in both basic research and practical
applications. This increased activity is due in part to more widely available
AI technology, advances in fundamental techniques in AI and increased interest
in the law as an ideal domain for studying certain issues central to AI.
The activities range from development of classic expert systems, intended as
aids to lawyers and judges, to investigation of canonical elements of case-based
and analogical reasoning. The study of AI and law both draws on and contributes
to progress in basic concerns in AI, such as representation of common sense
knowledge, example-based learning, explanation, and non-monotonic reasoning,
and in jurisprudence, such as the nature of legal rules and the doctrine
of precedent.
The Second International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and
Law (ICAIL-89) seeks to stimulate further collaboration between workers in
both disciplines, provide a forum for sharing information at the cutting
edge of research and applications, spur further research on fundamental
problems in both the law and AI, and provide a continuing focus for the
emerging AI and law community.
Authors are invited to contribute papers on topics such as the following:
-- Legal Expert Systems
-- Conceptual Information Retrieval
-- Case-Based Reasoning
-- Analogical Reasoning
-- Representation of Legal Knowledge
-- Computational Models of Legal Reasoning
In addition, papers on relevant theoretical issues in AI (e.g., concept
acquisition, mixed paradigm systems using rules and cases) and in
jurisprudence/legal philosophy (e.g., open-textured predicates, reasoning
with precedents and rules) are also invited provided that the relationship
to both AI and Law is clearly demonstrated. It is important that all authors
identify the original contributions presented in their papers, exhibit
understanding of relevant past work, discuss the limitations as well as
the promise of their ideas, and demonstrate that the ideas have matured
beyond the proposal stage. Each submission will be reviewed by at least three
members of the Program Committee and judged as to its originality, quality,
and significance.
Authors should submit six (6) copies of an Extended Abstract, which must include
a full list of references, by January 10, 1989 to the Program Chair:
Edwina L. Rissland
Department of Computer and Information Science
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA;
(413) 545-0332, rissland@cs.umass.edu.
Submissions should be 6 to 8 pages in length, not including references.
No electronic submissions can be accepted. Notification of acceptance or
rejection will be sent out by early March. Final camera-ready copy of the
complete paper (up to 15 pages) will be due by April 15, 1989.
Program Chair: Edwina L. Rissland, University of Massachusetts/Amherst and
Harvard Law School
General Co-Chairs: Robert T. Franson, Joseph C. Smith, Faculty of Law,
University of British Columbia
Secretary-Treasurer: Carole D. Hafner, Northeastern University
Program Kevin D. Ashley IBM Thomas J. Watson Reasearch Center
Committee: Trevor J.M. Bench-Capon University of Liverpool
Donald H. Berman Northeastern University
Jon Bing University of Oslo
Michael G. Dyer UCLA
Anne v.d.L. Gardner Palo Alto, California
L. Thorne McCarty Rutgers University
Marek J. Sergot Imperial College London
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 88 12:54 EDT
From: John Benton <john@ai.etl.army.mil>
Subject: Call for Abstracts
*******************************CALL FOR ABSTRACTS****************************
The U.S. Army Symposium/Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Research for the
Battlefield Environment will be held on November 15-18, 1988 at the Westin
Hotel in El Paso, Texas. The Symposium/Workshop is being held under the
auspices of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development and
Acquisition and is co-sponsored by the U.S. Army Engineer Topographic
Laboratories, The Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory and the Ballistic Research
Laboratory. No classified papers will be presented at the Symposium. Extended
abstracts (of 200 to 300 words) addressing the issues listed in the attached
Symposium Program are being solicited. Abstracts which most closely address
these issues will be given preference for acceptance. The abstracts must be
submitted to the Session Chairs listed below by September 1, 1988. Contractors
are reminded to include a clearance from their Contracting Officer with the
abstract. Government authors must include a clearance for the abstract from
their agency. Authors of abstracts accepted for inclusion in the symposium
will be notified not later than September 30 that their abstract has been
accepted and that a camera-ready manuscript must be submitted no later than the
first day of the Symposium. Letters indicated that the papers have been
cleared by the relevant authorities must be included with the submitted paper.
The chairman for the Session on Automated Terrain Reasoning is John R. Benton,
tel: (202)355-2717, Autovon 345-2717, ARPANET: john@etl.arpa. His address is
Commander and Director
U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories
ATTN: ETL-RI-I (John Benton)
Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060-5546
The chairman for the Session on The Realistic Battlefield is Dr. Howard Holt.
tel: (505)678-2412 or Autovon 258-2412. His address is
Commander and Director
U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Lab
ATTN: SLCAS-AS (DR. E. Howard Holt)
White Sands Missile Range, NM 88002-5501
The chairman for the Session on State-of-the-Art Applications is Morton
Hirschberg. tel: (301)278-6661 Autovon 298-6661, ARPANET: mort@brl.arpa
Director
Ballistic Research Laboratory
ATTN: SLCBR-SE-C (M. Hirschberg)
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066
(Note: Abstracts may be sent by ARPANET to Mr. Benton or Mr. Hirschberg
accompanied by a statement that the abstract has been cleared and that the
the clearance has been mailed.)
John Benton
Program Committee Chairman
****************************************************************************
Symposium Program
for
U.S. Army Symposium/Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Research
for the Battlefield Environment
Session I: Introduction and Military Requirements
Session II: Automated Terrain Reasoning
Session Chair: John R. Benton, U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories
Assuming the existence of a topographic data base, can automated terrain rea-
soning systems be developed to provide support for operations in the Battle-
field Environment. Submitted papers should address the following questions:
a. What are the relevant military doctrines; can we identify them, con-
vert them to computer representation?
b. What current research on spatial reasoning has been done that is
relevant to exploiting the battlefield environment? What additional
research needs to be done? Can cold weather factors be incorporated into
the research efforts?
c. How will the Condensed Army Mobility Model System (CAMMS) be
integrated into automated terrain reasoning. Are there inadequacies in
the model?
d. What special requirements do terrain reasoning systems put on Geo-
graphic Information Systems (GIS)? Are present GIS's adequate?
e. Do Expert Systems (ES) have a role in spatial reasoning - fundamen-
tally or only as an interface to the military doctrine representation?
f. How can we make the information usable to the GI in the Field? Will
it be at platoon, company, battalion, division or corps? Is it premature
to distinguish applications along these lines?
Session III: The Realistic Battlefield
Session Chairman: Dr. Howard Holt, U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory
How can we apply artificial intelligence techniques for exploitation of the
realistic battlefield environment with multiple sources of smoke, dust and
obscurants? Papers will address the following questions:
a. Is relevant military doctrine subjective? Can it easily be converted
to a computer representation.
b. How can information on smoke and obscurants be usefully presented to
the GI in the field?
c. Can Geographic Information Systems be used to represent obscurants
which move as a function of time. How can obscurant data be made to
interact with a GIS.
d. What role will Expert Systems (ES) play?
Session III: State-of-the Art Applications
Session Chair: Morton Hirschberg, U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory
Are there any State-of-the Art applications? What are the best candidates for
automating terrain reasoning? Submitted papers should address these questions.
------------------------------
End of NL-KR Digest
*******************
