
Genetic Algorithms Digest   Wednesday, 26 September 1990   Volume 4 : Issue 23

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

Today's Topics:

	- Administrivia
	- TR announcement (hardcopies now available)
	- release announcement: GENESIS 1.1ucsd
	- Call for Papers - Special Issue of MLJ on Reinforcement Learning
	- COLT '91 Call For Papers

******************************************************************************

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

Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, Paris (v4n17)  Sep 24-28, 1990
Workshop Parallel Prob Solving from Nature, W Germany (v4n18) Oct 1-3,   1990
2nd Intl Conf on Tools for AI, Washington, DC (v4n6)          Nov 6-9,   1990
4th Intl. Conference on Genetic Algorithms (v4n17)            Jul 14-17, 1991

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

******************************************************************************

Date: Wed, 26 Sep 90
From: Alan C. Schultz (GA-List Moderator)
Subject: Proper mailing address

	Please do not use "reply" when responding to items on
	GA-List.  Instead, explicitly address your mail to
	one of the addresses given at the top of each issue.

	The reply command will generate mail addressed to
	gadistr@... which is used to examine mail bounce back.

	Alan

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

Date: Thu, 30 Aug 90 13:05:23 PDT
From: schraudo%cs@ucsd.edu (Nici Schraudolph)
Subject: TR announcement (hardcopies now available)

    The following technical report is now available in print:

	    Dynamic Parameter Encoding for Genetic Algorithms
	    -------------------------------------------------

	       Nicol N. Schraudolph       Richard K. Belew


    The selection of fixed binary gene representations for real-valued
    parameters of the phenotype required by Holland's genetic algorithm
    (GA) forces either the sacrifice of representational precision for
    efficiency of search or vice versa.  Dynamic Parameter Encoding (DPE)
    is a mechanism that avoids this dilemma by using convergence statistics
    derived from the GA population to adaptively control the mapping from
    fixed-length binary genes to real values.  By reducing the length of
    genes DPE causes the GA to focus its search on the interactions between
    genes rather than the details of allele selection within individual
    genes.  DPE also highlights the general importance of the problem of
    premature convergence in GAs, explored here through two convergence
    models.

    To obtain a hardcopy, request technical report LAUR 90-2795 via e-mail
    from office%bromine@LANL.GOV, or via plain mail from

	    Technical Report Requests
	    CNLS, MS-B258
	    Los Alamos National Laboratory
	    Los Alamos, NM 87545
	    USA

    As previously announced, the report is also available in compressed
    PostScript format for anonymous ftp from the Artificial Life archive
    server.  To obtain a copy, use the following procedure:

    $ ftp iuvax.cs.indiana.edu   % (or 129.79.254.192)
    login: anonymous
    password: <anything>
    ftp> cd pub/alife/papers
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get schrau90-dpe.ps.Z
    ftp> quit
    $ uncompress schrau90-dpe.ps.Z
    $ lpr schrau90-dpe.ps

    The DPE algorithm is an option in the GENESIS 1.1ucsd GA simulator, which
    will be ready for distribution (via anonymous ftp) shortly.  Procedures
    for obtaining 1.1ucsd will then be announced on this mailing list.

    Nici Schraudolph, C-014                nschraudolph@ucsd.edu
    University of California, San Diego    nschraudolph@ucsd.bitnet
    La Jolla, CA 92093                     ...!ucsd!nschraudolph

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

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 14:22:07 PDT
From: schraudo%cs@ucsd.edu (Nici Schraudolph)
Subject: release announcement: GENESIS 1.1ucsd

    I am pleased to announce the release of GENESIS 1.1ucsd, a heavily modified
    and enhanced version of the original genetic algorithm simulator by John J.
    Grefenstette.  New features (since 1.0ucsd) include:

    - support of subdirectory structure for I/O files
    - application-specific parameters to the evaluation function
    - sigma scaling (a more robust alternative to window scaling)
    - stochastic decoding for searching continuous spaces
    - super-uniform population initialization option
    - support of Dynamic Parameter Encoding - cf. recent TR announcement

    Other major differences to standard GENESIS include the ability to use
    suitable C functions directly as evaluation functions, and to distribute
    a set of simulations to remote hosts.  GENESIS 1.1ucsd can be obtained
    via anonymous ftp from the Artificial Life archive server as follows:

    % mkdir GAucsd
    % cd GAucsd
    % ftp iuvax.cs.indiana.edu	(129.79.254.192)
    Login: anonymous
    Password: <anything>
    ftp> cd pub/alife/software/unix/GAucsd
    ftp> binary
    ftp> get GENESIS.1.Z
    ftp> get GENESIS.2.Z
    ftp> get GENESIS.3.Z
    ftp> get GENESIS.4.Z
    ftp> quit
    % uncompress GENESIS.?.Z
    % chmod +x GENESIS.?
    % GENESIS.1
    % GENESIS.2
    % GENESIS.3
    % GENESIS.4
    % lpr UsersGuide
    % view README

    A tech report describing the main new feature, Dynamic Parameter Encoding,
    is available in pub/alife/papers/schrau90-dpe.ps.Z on the same ftp server.

    If you don't have ftp access, I can honor requests for an e-mail copy
    of the source code.  I maintain a mailing list for bug reports, updates,
    and other issues pertaining to this simulator - send me a message if
    you wish to be added to this list.  Please feel free to send me your
    comments, suggestions and experiences regards 1.1ucsd.

    I have compiled and tested the code on Sun3, Sun4, Vax, Mips and Pyramid
    architectures - if you are installing 1.1ucsd on another system I'd like
    to hear whether you had any compatibility problems.

    Best regards,

    Nicol N. Schraudolph, C-014
    University of California, San Diego
    La Jolla, CA 92093-0114

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

Date: Wed, 12 Sep 90 12:04:20 -0400
From: rich@gte.com (Rich Sutton)
Subject: Call for Papers - Special Issue of MLJ on Reinforcement Learning

			       CALL FOR PAPERS

    The journal Machine Learning will be publishing a special issue on
    REINFORCEMENT LEARNING in 1991.  By "reinforcement learning" I mean
    trial-and-error learning from performance feedback without an explicit
    teacher other than the external environment.  Of particular interest is
    the learning of mappings from situation to action in this way.
    Reinforcement learning has most often been studied within connectionist
    or classifier-system (genetic) paradigms, but it need not be.

    Manuscripts must be received by March 1, 1991, to assure full
    consideration.  One copy should be mailed to the editor:

	    Richard S. Sutton
	    GTE Laboratories, MS-44
	    40 Sylvan Road
	    Waltham, MA  02254
	    USA

    In addition, four copies should be mailed to:

	    Karen Cullen
	    MACH Editorial Office
	    Kluwer Academic Publishers
	    101 Philip Drive
	    Assinippi Park
	    Norwell, MA 02061
	    USA

    Papers will be subject to the standard review process.

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

Date: Thu, 13 Sep 90 22:10:17 EDT
From: Ming Li <mli@water.waterloo.edu>
Subject: COLT '91 Call For Papers

			CALL FOR PAPERS

			   COLT '91
	  Fourth Workshop on Computational Learning Theory
		 Santa Cruz, CA.  August 5-7, 1991

    The fourth workshop on Computational Learning Theory will be held at
    the Santa Cruz Campus of the University of California.  Registration 
    is open, within the limits of the space available (about 150 people).  

    In previous years COLT has focused primarily on developments in the
    analysis of learning algorithms within certain computational learning 
    models. This year we would like to widen the scope of the workshop by 
    encouraging papers in all areas that relate directly to the theory of 
    machine learning, including artificial and biological neural networks, 
    robotics, pattern recognition, information theory, decision theory, 
    Bayesian/MDL estimation, and cryptography. We look forward to a lively, 
    interdisciplinary meeting.

    As part of our program, we are pleased to present two special invited talks. 

	    "Gambling, Inference and Data Compression"
	      Prof. Tom Cover of Stanford University

	    "The Role of Learning in Autonomous Robots"
	      Prof. Rodney Brooks of MIT

    Authors should submit an extended abstract that consists of:

	  (1) A cover page with title, authors' names,
	      (postal and e-mail) addresses, and a 200 word summary.  
	  (2) A body not longer than 10 pages in twelve-point font.  

    Be sure to include a clear definition of the theoretical model used, 
    an overview of the results, and some discussion of their significance,
    including comparison to other work. Proofs or proof sketches should be
    included in the  technical section.  Experimental results are welcome,
    but are expected to be supported by theoretical analysis. Authors
    should send 11 copies of their abstract to L.G. Valiant, COLT '91,
    Aiken Computing Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
    The deadline for receiving submissions is February 15, 1991.  This
    deadline is FIRM. Authors will be notified by April 8; final
    camera-ready papers will be due May 22.  The proceedings will be
    published by Morgan-Kaufmann.  Each individual author will keep the
    copyright to his/her abstract, allowing subsequent journal submission
    of the full paper. 

    Chair: Manfred Warmuth (UC Santa Cruz).

    Local arrangements chair: David Helmbold (UC Santa Cruz).

    Program committee: Leslie Valiant (Harvard, chair), Dana Angluin (Yale), 
    Andrew Barron (U. Illinois), Eric Baum (NEC, Princeton), Tom Dietterich 
    (Oregon State U.), Mark Fulk (U. Rochester), Alon Itai (Technion, Israel),
    Michael Kearns (Int. Comp. Sci. Inst., Berkeley), Ron Rivest (MIT), 
    Naftali Tishby (Bell Labs, Murray Hill), Manfred Warmuth (UCSC).

    Hosting Institution: Department of Computer and Information Science, 
    UC Santa Cruz.

    Papers that have appeared in journals or other conferences, or that are 
    being submitted to other conferences are not appropriate for
    submission to COLT. Unlike previous years, this includes papers
    submitted to the IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science
    (FOCS).  We no longer have a dual submission policy with FOCS.

    Note: this call is being distributed to THEORY-NET, ML-LIST,
    CONNECTIONISTS, Alife, NEWS.ANNOUNCE.CONFERENCES, COMP.THEORY,
    COMP.AI, COMP.AI.EDU, COMP.AI.NEURAL-NETS, and COMP.ROBOTICS. Please
    help us by forwarding it to colleagues who may be interested and
    posting it on any other relevant electronic networks.

--------------------------------
End of Genetic Algorithms Digest
********************************
