Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!CS.RPI.EDU!nl-kr-request From: nl-kr-request@CS.RPI.EDU (NL-KR Moderator Chris Welty) Newsgroups: comp.ai.nlang-know-rep Subject: NL-KR Digest, Volume 8 No. 31 Message-ID: <9106042057.AA19985@sirius.cs.rpi.edu> Date: 4 Jun 91 20:57:02 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu (NL-KR Digest) Distribution: world Organization: The Internet Lines: 791 Approved: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu IJCAI Digest (Tue Jun 4 14:50:49 1991) Volume 8 No. 31 Today's Topics: IJCAI-91 Workshop Program Submissions: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu Requests, policy: nl-kr-request@cs.rpi.edu Back issues are available from host archive.cs.rpi.edu [128.213.10.18] in the files nl-kr/Vxx/Nyy (ie nl-kr/V01/N01 for V1#1), mail requests will not be promptly satisfied. If you can't reach `cs.rpi.edu' you may want to use `turing.cs.rpi.edu' instead. BITNET subscribers: we now have a LISTSERVer for nl-kr. You may send submissions to NL-KR@RPIECS and any listserv-style administrative requests to LISTSERV@RPIECS. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To: nl-kr@cs.rpi.edu X-Alternate-Route: user%node@mbunix.mitre.org Subject: IJCAI-91 Workshop Program Date: Wed, 22 May 91 14:46:02 EDT >From: Joseph L. Katz. IJCAI-91 Workshop Program The IJCAI-91 Program Committee invites participation in the IJCAI-91 Workshop Program. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to meet and discuss selected technical topics in an atmosphere which fosters the active exchange of ideas among researchers and practitioners. Attendance at the workshops is limited and participation is by invitation only. For further information concerning these workshops, intending participants must write DIRECTLY to the workshop contacts given below as soon as possible since the closing date for submissions for all workshops is 15 June, 1991. The fee for each workshop is AUD$85.00 W-1 PARALLEL PROCESSING FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The intent of this workshop is to bring together hardware architects, AI researchers and application engineers who are engaged in or interested in parallel artificial intelligence. Through key presentations and ample discussions, it is hoped that the workshop will facilitate the exchange of ideas among researchers, as well as to bridge the gap between hardware architects and AI researchers,. The granularity of parallelism discussed at the workshop will range from coarse-grain to fine-grain parallel processing. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Laveen N. Kanal Department of Computer Science University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742, USA Tel: (+1 301) 4052674 Fax: (+1 301) 9277193 email: kanal@cs.umd.edu copy email: moldovan@gringo.usc.edu suttner@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.de W-2 DECISION MAKING THROUGHOUT THE GENERATION PROCESS In order to be able to describe the generation process, we need to arrive at some consensus as to the space of decisions in the process overall. This, in turn, will allow us to better understand and take advantage of each other's work, since researchers will be able to identify clearly which portion of the decision space is covered by their work. In this context, an important question that must be answered is whether the different decision types have any communalities that can be exploited; for example, could the reasoning processes that determine text planning choices also be useful for lexical selections? In addition, it is essential to reach an agreement with respect to the answers to the following questions: What are the decisions made by a text generation system? How should alternatives be represented? What control structure determines the order in which the decisions should be made? and What is the effect of a decision on subsequent decisions? This workshop will attempt to answer these questions by bringing together researchers to specifically discuss the decision making process in their systems. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Marie Meteer BBN, 10 Moulton Street Cambridge, MA 02138, USA Tel: (+1 617) 8733789 Fax: (+1 617) 8733776 email: mmeteer@bbn.com copy email: ingrid@bruce.cs.monash.oz.au W-3: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FOR KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS The rule-based paradigm used in the building of many Knowledge-based systems implies that rule-based systems are self-documenting and facilitate the addition of knowledge to the knowledge-base in the ad-hoc manner (the No-Function-in-Structure principle). Several 'first generation' Knowledge-based systems built using this paradigm are being rebuilt because the maintenance experience has shown that the paradigm is invalid. The maintenance of these systems became increasingly difficult to the point that an expensive reconstruction effort was seen as the only solution to the burgeoning maintenance problem. This workshop aims to bring together researchers to discuss the above issues and who are involved with the software engineering of Knowledge-Based systems having experience in :design methodologies, maintenance, structured knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, and knowledge modeling. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Bob Jansen CSIRO Division of Information Technology P O Box 1599 North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia Tel: (+61 2) 8879487 Fax: (+61 2) 8887787 email: Bob-jansen@syd.dit.csiro.au W-4: MODELLING FOR INTELLIGENT INTERATION Any system capable of intelligent interaction requires a model of any agent with which it communicates. An intelligent interface needs a model of the user. An intelligent help system must have a model of the advice-seeker. An intelligent tutoring system requires a model of the student. And an intelligent Natural Language dialog participant needs a model of the other participant in the discourse. The last few years have seen a dramatic growth in research into automatically acquiring and updating these models, representing the knowledge they must contain, and making use of this knowledge to enhance communication. This workshop seeks to bring together this diverse community of researchers. Its purpose is to explore and develop similarities and differences in their concerns, approaches, and terminology. The focus will be on research into the construction of computer programs capable both of forming and using agent models. However, contributions from closely-related areas of research are welcome, including tools for constructing these systems, techniques or evaluating their performance, and cognitive models that aid in their design. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Judy Kay Department of Computer Science F09 University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Tel: (+61 2) 6923423 email: judy@cs.su.oz.au copy email: alex@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu W-5: AI AND BUSINESS Artificial intelligence (AI) is receiving increasing use in business and government settings in a number of areas, including finance, accounting, management and economics. The focus of this workshop will include the following: - issues in managing, deploying and implementing knowledge based systems - the impact of expert systems on organizations and the impact of organizations on experts systems, e.g., political issues - innovative business applications of AI technology, for example, applications of AI in finance, accounting, management and economics; the use of AI in international business settings; the use of AI to detect fraud - integration issues in business applications, for example, the integration of linear programming and expert systems or the use of hypertext in expert systems.or the use of hypertext in expert systems - the use of multiple ASI methods in applications for business - the use of AI in applications with large databases, e.g., financial databases. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Daniel E O'Leary Paul R Watkins Advanced Technologies in Information Systems School of Business University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421 USA Tel: +(1 213) 740 4856 (O'Leary) (+1 213) 740 4852 (Watkins) Fax: (+1 213) 747 2815 email: oleary@mizar.usc.edu copy email: Watkins@uscvm.usc.edu After May 11,1991 Daniel O'Leary School of Information and Computer Science Bond University Queensland 4229 Australia Tel: (+61 7) 5953356 Fax: (+61 7) 5953333 W-6: INTEGRATING AI AND DATABASES Any non-trivial reasoning system needs to access a large amount of data. Current research has focused on developing both artificial intelligence and database systems, but separately. Artificial intelligence researchers and practitioners need to cooperate with database workers. Specific issues to be considered include: - loose and tight coupling vs, fully integrated expert databases - object-oriented knowledge based management systems - adding deductive capabilities to databases - using object-oriented expert database systems to perform case-based or model-based reasoning -coupling knowledge based and information systems - building real-time deductive databases. - exiting AI-DB prototypes (e.g., LDL, RDL, Logres) and practical examples - Intelligent interoperability. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: John Zelezikow Database Research Laboratory Applied Computing Research Institute La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia Tel: (+61 3) 4791003 Fax: (+61 3) 4704915 email: johnz@latcs1.lat.oz.au W-7: DYNAMIC SCENE UNDERSTANDING The aim of the workshop is to examine critically some of the difficult and challenging issues in dynamic scene analysis and motion estimation. These issues include" Robust algorithms, qualitative analysis, multiple motion segmentation, nonrigid motion, and the interaction of high-level and low-level techniques. the emphasis of the discussions will be on the limitations of present methods and approaches, and potentially fruitful future research directions. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Thomas S. Huang Beckman Institute and Coordinated Science Laboratory University of Illinois 1101 W. Springfield Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA Tel: (+1 217) 3336912 Fax: (+1 217) 2441764 email: huang@uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu W-8: EVALUATING AND CHANGING REPRESENTATION IN MACHINE LEARNING In general, the influence of knowledge representation for the success of Machine Learning systems is well known, One needs to choose the means for representing the input examples, the available domain knowledge and the output (concept) descriptions. In practical applications of Machine Learning, the design of the representation language can be the most critical and time-consuming part. The workshop will focus on studies that aim at evaluating representations for given learning tasks, both theoretically and empirically, as well as on methods for changing the representation when necessary. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Katharina Morik GMD and Technical University of Berlin GMD PO Box 1240 Schloss Birlinghoven D-5205 Sankt Augustin 1, Germany Tel: (+49 2241) 142670 Fax: (+49 2241) 142889 email: morik@gmdzi.uucp Copy email: bergadan@di.unito.it wray@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov W-9: FULLY-IMPLEMENTED NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS A large set of theories have been proposed in recent years, covering one or more aspects of NL understanding systems. Little effort has been spent on integrating these theories into one system. Experiments involving the integration of different theories, e.g., unification -based analysis, DRT-based semantics, logic-based reasoning, analogical reasoning, and two-level morphology, have delivered interesting results. One of the major outcomes in this respect is that the game of "my component/theory is not responsible for that task/ explanation/problem" cannot be played any more, instead a much broader view has to be taken as the deficits of the theories become apparent. The integration of several theories explicates their requirements and necessitates their revision. Researchers of all areas of natural language understanding systems are invited to actively participate in this workshop. Contributions should not cover a particular theory/explanation but rather results from integrating different theories into one single system. Reports which cover limitations of specific theories with respect to integration and/or concrete demands for the further development within theories are especially welcome. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: H. J. Novak IBM Germany WT IWBS 7000-75 P O Box 80 08 80 D-7000 Stuttagrt 80, Germany Tel: (+49 711) 6695447 Fax: (+49 711) 6695500 email: novak@DS0LILOG.BITNET W-10: WORKSHOP ON EVOLUTION AND CHAOS IN COGNITIVE PROCESSING The goals of the workshop is to provide a forum for researchers investigating the links between evolutionary processes and discrete chaos theory, and to review the research from these two areas used for the study of cognitive processing Investigating the interaction between evolutionary processes and discrete chaos theory may lead to the solution to the above mentioned problem as well as others. For example, chaotic behavior in a genetic system, once defined, could be detected so the the actual operators of the system could be changed to achieve convergence. We would like to direct the increased research interest in these two areas towards the study of cognitive processing. Topics of interest for the Workshop include artificial life, discrete chaos, emergent behaviors, cellular automata, classifier systems, alternatives to the classical genetic algorithm approach, genetic algorithm theory, other evolutionary systems, discrete non-linear systems, and the application of the mentioned topics to cognitive processing. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Dwight Deugo Carleton University Ottawa K1S 5B6, Canada Tel: (+1 613) 7884345 & 7884333 Fax: (+1 613) 7884334 email: dwightdeugo@scs.carleton.ca W-11: FUZZY CONTROL WORKSHOP During the past several years fuzzy control has emerged as one of the most active and fruitful research areas in the application of fuzzy set theory, especially in the realm of industrial processes which do not lend themselves to control by conventional methods. Fuzzy control has appeared as a qualitative extension of classical control theory and is very similar to AI knowledge representations in that both model the "common sense" knowledge of an experienced human operator. However, AI and Fuzzy Control approaches have developed independently form one another and there has been almost no exchange of ideas between the two scientific communities. In control theory the terms fuzzy rule-based formalism can be likened to a qualitative input/output model whereas the AI approach is akin to a qualitative state-space description and performs the function of an internal representation of the process. Thus the fuzzy control representation describes what an operator does rather than why he does it. The knowledge about the later can only come from the internal representation of the process i.e. its model. In this context the workshop will provide a framework within which the similarities and differences between the two approaches can be highlighted and discussed in depth. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Peter Eklund Department of Computer and Information Science Linkoping University 5-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden Tel: (+46 13) 281950 Fax: (+46 13) 142231 email: pwe@ida.liu.se (internet) pwe@seliuida (bitnet) W-12: FUZZY LOGIC IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The recent success of fuzzy logic applications has demonstrated the power of fuzzy logic based techniques. While most products incorporating fuzzy logic are in fact applications of fuzzy control, significant research has pointed to the usefulness of fuzzy logic in AI research. The focus of the workshop is indicated below: - knowledge representation with fuzzy logic - approximate reasoning (syllogistic reasoning, interpolating reasoning, combination of evidence) - representation, recognition and learning of imprecise concepts in fuzzy environments - fuzzy algorithms in AI - fuzzy programming language - fuzzy expert system shells. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Anca Ralescu Department of System Science Graduate School of Science & Engineering at Nagatsuta Tokyo Institute of Technology 4259 Nagatsuta Midori-ku, Yokohama 227, Japan Tel: (+81 45) 9221111 ext 2699 Fax: (+81 45) 9222666 email: anca@sys.titech.ac.jp W-13: INTELLIGENT & COOPERATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: BRINGING AI & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES TOGETHER. The paradigm for the next generation of information processing systems will involve large numbers of intelligent agents distributed over large computer/communication networks. Work tasks will be defined by one or more agents and will be executed by a pool of agents acting autonomously, cooperatively, or collaboratively, depending on the resources required to complete the task. A goal of this vision is to be able to efficiently, and transparently, use all computing resources (e.g., processing, knowledge and data) that are available on all computers in large computer/communications networks. The design, construction, use, and evolution of systems within the above paradigm will require sophisticated support for all aspects of the systems lifecycle. We call such systems Intelligent and Cooperative Information Systems (ICIS). The workshop will address many aspects of the ICIS functionality, implementation, deployment, and evaluation For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Mike P. Papazoglou Department of Computer Science Australian National University GPO Box 4 Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia Tel: (+61 6) 2494725 Fax (+61 6) 2490010 email: mike@anucsd.anu.oz.au W-14: NATURAL LANGUAGE LEARNING The focus of this workshop is computational language learning models. Primarily, we aim to bring together those who have implemented language learning models, or parts thereof. However, we intend that computationally viable language learning models developed by Linquists and Psycholinquists will also be examined at the workshop. In addition, Machin Learning or Natural Language research which has not specifically been undertaken from a language learning perspective may be considered relevant - in particular, for example work in Concept Learning and Semantic representation. We wish to invite applications from all who have implemented language learing programs, and we will further encourage participation from those whose work could be of use in the implementation of language learning systems. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: David M. W. Powers FB Informtik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern 6750 Kaiserslautern, Germany Tel: (+49 631) 2053449, Fax: (+49 631) 2053200 email: powers@uklirb.uucp copy email: reeker@cs.ida.org onomata@bengus.bitnet W-15: REPRESENTING KNOWLEDGE IN MEDICAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS A growing number of researchers are working to apply research paradigms that have been developed in Artificial Intelligence to several areas of medicine. A particular area of interest in medical applications is that of decision support systems to assist in the diagnosis and/or treatment of patients. With the constantly escalating costs of medical care, systems that can aid the physician in making informed decisions should prove to be significant time (and money) savers. The purpose of this workshop is to examine the unique aspects of representing knowledge in these medical decision support systems. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Cynthia Sarmiento Department of Computer Science and Engineering ENG118 University of South Florida Tampa, FL 33620, USA Tel: (+1 813) 9742113 Fax: (+1 813) 9745456 email: cds@sol.csee.usf.edu W-16: EXPLANATION GENERATION FOR KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS In practice, most current systems still have very restricted explanation capabilities or do not even provide any explanation at all. Yet, we know that some of these systems are rather successful. Are their users really satisfied with the system-user information? If so, is it because most actual knowledge-based systems today deal with a specific type of tasks, domains, or a user group which hardly ever requires explanation? Will users still be satisfied with the restricted explanation capabilities of current knowledge-based systems if these systems dealt with different types of tasks and more complex domains? Answers to these questions would help us to decide which techniques to employ to support the appropriate level of system-user interaction. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Nel Wognum University of Twente Department of Computer Science P O Box 217 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands Tel: (+31 53) 893736 Fax: (+31 53) 339605 email: wognum@cs.utwente.nl W-17: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN DESIGN Design has long been an area of particular interest for AI researchers who view it as uniquely complex intelligent behavior and AI researchers are choosing design as a domain to study. Design researchers have embraced the AI paradigm as a means of developing and exploring computational and cognitive models of design independently of the specific application areas. Developments in both AI and design understanding provide a burgeoning potential for cross-fertilization of ideas. The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for both AI researchers in design and design researchers using AI to present and explore state-of-the-art and cutting edge developments in AI in design in order to enhance both AI and design research. At the same time the workshop will continue the process of forming a scientific community of design researchers. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: John Gero Department of Architectural and Design Science University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Tel: (+61 2) 6922328 Fax: (+61 2) 6923031 email: john@archsci.arch.su.oz.au W-18: AI APPROACHES TO PRODUCTION PLANNING; MASTER SCHEDULING FOR SEQUENCING TOOLS Production planning is a highly complex activity that can benefit from AI approaches in developing tools to support, optimize or automate planning functions. Flexible Manufacturing and Computer Integrated Manufacturing are emerging approaches to production planning that could benefit from exposure to AI methods and tools. Two particular areas of production planning are targeted for this workshop. Master Scheduling is concerned with materials and resource allocation, particularly in job-shop situations where multiple production routes must be allocated, Sequencing is concern with ordering production through single/multiple processes, particularly when optimizing constraints must be fulfilled by the generated sequence. The workshop will addressed key enabling technologies that have or might be applied to CIM approaches to this area. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Steve Garlick BHP Central Research Labs P O Box 188 Wallsend, NSW 2287, Australia Tel: (+61 49) 510621 email: steveg@venus.crl.bhp.com.au W-19: OBJECTS AND AI Recently, object-oriented programming has gained tremendous recognition as a powerful paradigm for structuring and programming complex systems. At the same time, the field of AI is still striving for new representational and software engineering advances that can help develop its complex systems and applications. Given the similarities (at least from the surface) between objects and frames. and notions such as class hierarchies and AI inheritance, it is natural to ask questions such as: - what can object-oriented programming and AI offer each other - how do the two areas differ from each other - where are they heading and can each shape the future of the other With these questions in mind, we feel there is a strong need for a special forum in which researchers in both fields can address these questions and discuss issues related to object-oriented programming, AI, and the relationship between them. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Mamdouh H. Ibrahim Electronic Data Systems AI Services 5555 New King Street, 4th Floor Troy, MI 48098 USA Tel: (+1 313) 696-7129 Fax: (+1 313) 696-2325 mhi@ais.tsd.eds.com or mhi@eds.com W-20: COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES TO NON-LITERAL LANGUAGE METAPHOR, METONYMY, IDIOM, SPEECH ACTS, IMPLICATURE Non-literal language includes metaphor, idiom, and other devices whose meaning cannot be obtained by direct composition of their constituent words. The purpose of the workshop is to stimulate exchange and discussion of theoretical issues and practical problems of artificial intelligence (AI) models of non-literal language. Issues of interest include the relation-ship of non-literal to literal language, the adequacy of various forms of knowledge representation (symbolic vs connectionist vs statistical), static vs dynamic mechanisms, general vs idiosyncratic treatment of instances, instances as novel vs conventional forms, comparison and contrast of models of the various forms of non-literal language, and broader implications for AI. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Dr. Dan Fass Center for Systems Science Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada Tel: (+1 604) 2913208 Fax: (+1 604) 2914951 email: fass@cs.sfu.ca W-21: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL DESIGN OF RATIONAL AGENTS This workshop will focus on the rational-agency approach to the design of AI systems. Its purpose is to bring together researchers working on various aspects of rational agency and on the design of systems based on this approach. In the workshop, we will consider the philosophical foundations and logical formalizations of rational agency, the role of decision theory in deliberation and meta-level reasoning, and the design and performance evaluation of such rational agents in experimental and real-world domains. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Michael P. Georgeff Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute 1 Grattan Street Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia Tel: (+61 3) 6637922 Fax: (+61 3) 6637937 email: georgeff@aaii.oz.au W-22: REASONING IN ADVERSARIAL DOMAINS The purpose of this workshop is to explore the requirements of, and techniques for reasoning in adversarial domains when a pure mini-max strategy is inappropriate. Of particular interest are techniques that have not received much attention in the AI literature, such as partial goal achievement or goal relaxation, such as is required for successful negotiation. Reasoning about intentions and beliefs in adversarial contexts will be discussed, with the planning of deceptions a possible topic of discussion. Researchers in the areas of fame theory, computer game playing, multi-agent planning, legal reasoning, negotiation, and relevant application research will be invited to discuss issues such as: modeling an agent's beliefs, use of decision-theoretic techniques, protocols for accounting for an adversary, and formal representation of adversarial domains. In addition, we will review progress in adversarial reasoning applications. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Christopher Elsaesser Artificial Intelligence Technical Center Mail Stop W429 The MITRE Corporation 7525 Colshire Drive McLean, VA 22102-3481, USA Tel: (+1 703) 8836563 Fax: (+1 703) 8836435 email: elsaesser@starbase.mitre.org W-23: SITUATION AWARENESS Situation Awareness embraces a number of underlying technologies; it is somewhere between pattern classification and recognition on the one hand and planning and plan-repair on the other. It involves evidential reasoning and models of non-cooperative communication. This workshop seeks to provide an opportunity for workers from a range of disciplines and application domain projects to interact and address the generic rather than domain specific issues. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Simon Goss Aircraft Systems Division Aeronautical Research Laboratory Defense Science and Technology Organisation 506 Lorimer Street Port Melbourne, Victoria 3207, Australia Tel: (+61 3) 6477711 Fax: (+61 3) 6463433 email: SIG@dstos3.dsto.oz.au W-24: COMPUTER VISION - FROM COGNITIVE SCIENCE TO INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION After 20 years of intense researching, the topic of computer vision remains essentially unchartered territory where even the appropriate exploration methodology is still hotly debated. Whilst deep issue aspects of computer vision are often intimately connected with biological vision, primarily that of humans, there have been many successful (though limited) implementations of industrial vision systems (supporting robotic and other automation), which have not been either burdened or assisted (depending on one's viewpoint) by these issues. It would be valuable to debate the ongoing controversy concerning the extent to which biological vision studies are essential to the task of developing artificial vision systems and whether scientific curiosity about the casualty structure of a natural perceptive mechanism should be mixed or confused with the need for robust, fast and inexpensive functional emulations in application fields including industrial automation, healthcare/prostheses, remote/hazardous environments, service industries and many others. Participants at this workshop would be expected, not only to present short papers on state-of-the-art methods and results over a wide range of computer vision topics, but to contribute to the debate outlined above in the hope that all would benefit from the insights brought to the forum by researchers spread the whole way along the spectrum of interests and motivations from pure curiosity driven cognitive science to commercially focussed industrial automation. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Ray Jarvis Intelligent Robotics Research Centre Monash University Wellington Road Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia Tel: (+61 3) 5653470 Fax: (+61 3) 5653454 email: eln164y@monu1.cc.monash.EDU.AU W-25: ADVANCES IN INTERFACING PRODUCTION SYSTEMS WITH THE REAL WORLD This workshop will deal with production systems tightly coupled to real world problems Contributions concerning the HW and SW production system architectures focusing on real-time aspects such as recency, graceful degradation, run-time guarantee, asynchrony, uncertainty, data fusion and high performance including parallelism are of interest. Since such systems are driven by frequent changes in the real world, resource bound evaluations must be taken into consideration. From the implementation point of view, our special interest is devoted to the integration of real-time production systems with conventional procedural language programs and databases. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Franz Barachine ALCATEL-ELIN Research Centre Ruthnergasse 1-7, 1210 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43 1) 391621150 email: rcvie!es_manag@relay.EU.net copy email: ishida@nttkb.ntt.jp@relay.cs.net milind.tambe@natasha.mach.cs.cmu.edu W-26: VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF AI SYSTEMS This workshop will be aimed at providing a global view of different approaches to verification, validation, and testing (VV&T). Plans include discussion of European and Pacific Rim approaches to VV&T. A number of other issues will be examined at the workshop, including the implications of the move to standards; software engineering approaches to VV&T; the relationship between knowledge acquisition and VV&T; evaluation of the overall quality of the system (e.g.,security and user satisfaction); and other topics of interest to participants. For further information on participating in this workshop contact: Marc Ayel Jean Pierre H. Laurent Universite de Savoie Laboratoire d'Intelligence Artificielle BP 1104 73011 Chambery Cedex France Tel: (+33 79) 961062 Fax: (+33 79) 963475 email: lia@frgren81.bitnet copy email: jplaure@imag.fr ------------------------------ End of NL-KR Digest *******************