
Genetic Algorithms Digest    Thursday, 19 July 1990    Volume 4 : Issue 12

 - Send submissions to GA-List@AIC.NRL.NAVY.MIL
 - Send administrative requests to GA-List-Request@AIC.NRL.NAVY.MIL

Today's Topics:
	- Request for abstracts from presentations at GA workshop
	- patent
	- Special Issue of Machine Learning Journal on Reinforcement Learning
	- Two Contests
	- Genetic Programming - New TR
	- Incorrect Phone Number for GA Short Course (Issue: v4n9)

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CALENDAR OF GA-RELATED ACTIVITIES: (with GA-List issue reference)

Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, Paris (v3n21)  Sep 24-28, 1990
Workshop Parallel Prob Solving from Nature, W Germany (v4n5)  Oct 1-3,   1990
2nd Intl Conf on Tools for AI, Washington, DC (v4n6)          Nov 6-9,   1990
4th Intl. Conference on Genetic Algorithms (v4n9)             Jul 14-17, 1991

(Send announcements of other activities to GA-List@aic.nrl.navy.mil)

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From: Alan C. Schultz (GA-List Moderator)
Date: Thursday, 19 Jul 90
Subject: Request for abstracts from presentations at GA workshop

      Since there will be some time before the proceedings from the
      workshop are published, it would be nice if those who participated
      in the workshop would write up a short description of their
      presentation (abstract length) to share with those who could
      not attend.  I will then send these out on GA-List.

Alan

--------------------------------

From: "Steven A. Harp" <harp@lutsen.hi-csc.honeywell.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 90 11:06:20 cdt
Subject: patent

    Any comments or details on the nature and scope of patent 4,935,877
    assigned to Dr. John R. Koza for genetic approaches to breeding
    computer programs?  This was briefly described in the June 30 (?)
    New York Times Patents section.  The article by Edmund L. Andrews
    was short on specifics, although it did mention sexual reproduction. 
    --
    --Steven Alex Harp
    --

----------------------------------

From: Clay Bridges <clay@CS.CMU.EDU>
Subject: Special Issue of Machine Learning Journal on Reinforcement Learning
Date: Sun, 08 Jul 90 23:53:27 EDT

  ------- Forwarded Message From...

  From: Rich Sutton <rich@gte.com>

    Dear Reinforcement-Learning Researchers:

    At the recent Machine Learning meeting in Austen it became clear that
    there is a lot of new interest in reinforcement learning within the ML
    community.  Without any prompting by me, it was suggested at the
    editorial board meeting that there should be a special issue of the
    Machine Learning Journal on reinforcmement learning.  The purpose of
    this message is to assess the level of interest in contributing papers
    to such a special issue.  

    By "reinforcement learning" I mean trial-and-error learning from
    performance feedback without an explicit teacher other than the
    external environment.  Reinforcement learning has most often been
    studied within connectionist or genetic-algorithm paradigms, but it
    need not be (e.g., Kaelbling's recent work).

    Special issues can play a valuable role in collecting material on a
    topic into one place that is easy to find.  They can also
    semi-formally establish and define an identifiable topic area.  The
    risk of special issues is that publication of some work might be
    delayed waiting for a full issue of papers to be accepted and
    completed.  My conclusion is that a special issue would be a good idea
    if there will be a sufficient supply of papers.

    This brings me to you.  Might you contribute a paper to such a special
    issue of MLJ?  Please email me an estimate of the odds that you would
    submit a paper for such a special issue if the deadline was, say, 9
    months from now.

    It takes three or four good articles to make an issue, and about 10
    submissions to get that many acceptances.  If it looks like we'd get
    that many submissions we'll go ahead planning a special issue, with me
    as guest editor.  If in fact we get less than that I will see that they
    are not long delayed (by journal standards) but are published as
    individual journal articles.  Whether or not we have a special issue,
    and whether or not you expect to have something ready in this time
    frame, I encourage you to submit papers on reinforcement learning to the
    Machine Learning Journal; there is an interested, quality audience
    there.

    So please go ahead and mail me a rough estimate now.  There is no
    committment.  And please forward this message to anyone else
    you know who might be interested in submitting a paper.  Thanks.

				    - Rich Sutton
				      sutton@gte.com
				      GTE Labs
				      Waltham, MA  02254

---------------------------------

From: "Dave Goldberg (dgoldber@ua1vm.ua.edu)" <DGOLDBER@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Date: Mon, 02 Jul 90 08:11:11 CDT
Subject: Two Contests

   The International Society for Genetic Algorithms is pleased to announce
   two graphic design contests.  Contestants are invited to submit
   draft design ideas for (1) a society/conference logo and (2)
   a conference poster.  The society name is the International Society for
   Genetic Algorithms (ISGA), and the conference name is the International
   Conference on Genetic Algorithms (ICGA).  The 1991 conference will be
   held in San Diego (La Jolla) at the University of California at San Diego
   between July 14-17, 1991.  Submissions will be judged by the conference
   committee, and winners will receive a free conference registration and
   admission to the tutorial sessions.  Submissions receiving honorable
   mention will receive a free copy of the conference proceedings.

   The logo design should be appropriate for use on letterhead, calls for papers
   and other literature.  The design may include ICGA and ISGA separately or
   together.

   The poster graphic should be appropriate for use on 11x17 posters, but it
   also should be reducable to 8.5x11 for use on the proceedings cover
   and t-shirts.  Last year's graphic (see 89 conference proceedings) has
   an automatic entry into this year's contest.

   The contest is open until August 31, 1990.  Please send submissions to
   me at the following address:

   Department of General Engineering
   117 Transportation Building
   104 South Mathews Avenue
   Urbana, IL 61801-2996

   I can answer questions by email (dgoldber@ua1vm.ua.edu).  I look forward
   to seeing your submission.  Dave Goldberg

-------------------------------

From: John Koza <koza@Sunburn.Stanford.EDU>
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 1990 15:03:23 PDT
Subject: Genetic Programming - New TR

  A new technical report entitled "Genetic Programming: A Paradigm for
  Genetically Breeding Populations of Computer Programs to Solve Problems" is
  now available as Stanford University Computer Science Department technical
  report no. STAN-CS-90-1314.

  ABSTRACT: Many seemingly different problems in artificial intelligence,
  symbolic processing, and machine learning can be viewed as requiring
  discovery of a computer program that produces some desired output for
  particular inputs. When viewed in this way, the process of solving these
  problems becomes equivalent to searching a space of possible computer
  programs for a most fit individual computer program. The new "genetic
  programming" paradigm described in this report provides a way to search for
  this most fit individual computer program. In this new "genetic programming"
  paradigm, populations of computer programs are genetically bred using the
  Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest and using a genetic crossover
  (recombination) operator appropriate for genetically mating computer
  programs. In this report, the process of formulating and solving problems
  using this new paradigm is illustrated using examples from various areas.

  Examples come from the areas of machine learning of a function; planning;
  sequence induction; symbolic function identificiation (including symbolic
  regression, empirical discovery, "data to function" symbolic integration,
  "data to function" symbolic differentiation); solving equations (including
  differential equations, integral equations, and functional equations)'
  concept formation; automatica programming; pattern recognition; time-optimal
  control; playing differential pursuer-evader games; neural network design;
  and finding a game-playing strategy for a game in extensive form.

  AVAILABILITY: (1) A limited number of copies of this report can be obtained
  from the author FREE between now and August 31, 1990, by writing John Koza,
  Post Office Box K, Los Altos Hills, CA 94023.

  (2) Copies may be obtained for $15 from Taleen Nazarian, Computer Science
  Department, Margarget Jacks Hall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94023
  USA.  


  John Koza
  Stanford University
  Computer Science Department

-----------------------------------

From: "Dave Goldberg (dgoldber@ua1vm.ua.edu)" <DGOLDBER@UA1VM.ua.edu>
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 90 05:49:58 CDT
Subject: Incorrect Phone Number for GA Short Course

    For those of you seeking information regarding the five-day
    short course entitled "Genetic Algorithms in Search,
    Optimization, and Machine Learning" to be presented at Stanford
    University's Western Institute in Computer Science on August 6-10,
    the wrong phone number was given previously.  Contact Joleen Barnhill,
    Western Institute in Computer Science, PO Box 1238, Magalia, CA 95954,
    (916)873-0575.

    The course, presented by John Koza and myself, includes in-depth
    coverage of GA mechanics, theory and application in search, optimization,
    and machine learning.  Students will be encouraged to solve their own
    problems in hands-on computer workshops monitored by the course
    instructors.  New material on Walsh functions, Boltzmann tournament
    selection, Koza's genetic programming, messy genetic algorithms (mGAs),
    and the theory of real-coded GAs and virtual alphabets will be presented
    in a classroom setting for the first time.  I hope to see some of you
    there.  Dave Goldberg

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End of Genetic Algorithms Digest
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