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call for papers to the workshop connectionist - symbolic integration : from unified to hybrid approaches to be held at ijcai ' 95 montreal , canada august 19-20 , 1994 there has been a considerable amount of research in integrating connectionist and symbolic processing . while such an approach has clear advantages , it also encounters serious difficulties and challenges . therefore , various models and ideas have been proposed to address various problems and aspects in this integration . there is a growing interest from many segments of the ai community , ranging from expert systems , to cognitive modeling , to logical reasoning . two major trends can be identified in the state of the art : these are the unified or purely and the hybrid approaches to integration . whereas the purely connectionist ( " connectionist-to - the-top " ) approach claims that complex symbol processing functionalities can be achieved via neural networks alone , the hybrid approach is premised on the complementarity of the two paradigms and aims at their synergistic combination in systems comprising both neural and symbolic components . in fact , these trends can be viewed as two ends of an entire spectrum . up till now , overall , there is still relatively little work in comparing and combining these fairly isolated efforts . this workshop will provide a forum for discussions and exchanges of ideas in this area , to foster cooperative work . the workshop will tackle important issues in integrating connectionist and symbolic processing . a tentative schedule day 1 : a . introduction : * invited talks these talks will provide an overview of the field and set the tone for ensuing discussions . * theoretical foundations for integrating connectionist and symbolic processing b . definition of the two approaches : * do they exhaust the space of current research in connectionist-symbolic integration , or is there room for additional categories ? * how do we compare the unified and hybrid approaches ? * do the unified and hybrid approaches constitute a clearcut dichotomy or are they just endpoints of a continuum ? * what class of processes and problems is well-suited to unified or hybrid integration ? the relevant motivations and objectives . * what type of model is suitable for what type of application ? enumerate viable target domains . c . state of the art : * recent or ongoing theoretical or experimental research work * implemented models belonging to either the unified or hybrid approach * practical applications of both types of systems research addressing key issues concerning : * the unified approach : theoretical or practical issues involving systematicity , compositionality and variable binding , biologically inspired models , connectionist knowledge representation , other high-level connectionist models . * the hybrid approach : modes and methods of coupling , task sharing between various components of a hybrid system , knowledge representation and sharing . * both : commonsense reasoning , natural language processing , analogical reasoning , and more generally applications of unified and hybrid models . day 2 : d . cognitive aspects : * cognitive plausibility and relations to other ai paradigms * in cognitive modeling , why should we integrate connectionist and symbolic processing ? * is there a clear cognitive rationale for such integration ? ( we may need to examine in detail some typical areas , such as commonsense reasoning , and natural language processing ) * is there psychological and / or biological evidence for existing models ? if so , what is it ? e . open research issues : * can we now propose a common terminology with precise definitions for both approaches to connectionist-symbolic integration and for the location on the continuum ? * how far can unified systems go ? can unified models be supplemented by hybrid models ? can hybrid models be supplanted by unified models ? * limitations and barriers faced by both approaches * what breakthroughs are needed for both approaches ? * is it possible to synthesize various existing models ? workshop format - panel discussions - mini-group discussions : participants will break into groups of 7 / 8 to discuss a given theme ; group leaders will then form a panel to report on group discussions and attempt a synthesis with audience participation - interactive talks : this is a novel type of oral presentation we will experiment with . instead of a classical presentation , the speaker will present a problem or issue and give a brief statement of his personal stand ( 5 min ) to launch discussions which he will then moderate and conclude . - classical slide talks followed by q / a and discussions . workshop co - chairs : frederic alexandre , crin - cnrs / inria - lorraine ron sun , the university of alabama organizing committee : john barnden , new mexico state university steve gallant , belmont research inc . larry medsker , american university christian pellegrini , university of geneva noel sharkey , sheffield university program committee : lawrence bookman ( sun laboratory , usa ) michael dyer ( ucla , usa ) wolfgang ertel ( frw , germany ) limin fu ( university of florida , usa ) jose gonzalez - cristobal ( upm , spain ) ruben gonzalez - rubio ( university of sherbrooke , canada ) jean - paul haton ( crin - inria , france ) melanie hilario ( university of geneva , switzerland ) abderrahim labbi ( imag , france ) ronald yager ( iona college , usa ) schedule : - the submission deadline for participants is february 1 , 1995 . - the authors and potential participants will be notified the acceptance decision by march 15 , 1995 . - the camera-ready copies of working notes papers will be due on april 15 , 1995 submission : - if you wish to present a talk , specify the preferred type of presentation ( classical or interactive talk ) and submit 5 copies of an extended abstract ( within the limit of 5 - 7 pages ) to : ron sun department of computer science the university of alabama tuscaloosa , al 35487 rsun @ cs . ua . edu ( 205 ) 348-6363 - if you only wish to attend the workshop , send 5 copies of a short ( no more than one page ) description of your interest to the same address above . - please be sure to include your e-mail address in all submissions .
