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From: John Hallam <john@ed.aifh>
Subject: AISB95 "Hybrid Problems, Hybrid Solutions" Conference Programme
Message-ID: <D39n8E.C4p@aisb.ed.ac.uk>
Reply-To: news@aisb.ed.ac.uk (Network News Administrator)
Organization: Dept AI, Edinburgh University, Scotland
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 10:45:50 GMT
Lines: 329

            CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND PELIMINARY PROGRAMME.

              AISB-95:  Hybrid Problems, Hybrid Solutions.
              ============================================

                  Monday 3rd -- Friday 7th April 1995

         Halifax Hall of Residence & Computer Science Department
               University of Sheffield, Sheffield, ENGLAND

The Tenth Biennial Conference on AI and Cognitive Science organised by the
Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour.

INVITED SPEAKERS:
		     Professor Alex GAMMERMAN, University of London
		     Professor Malik GHALLAB, LAAS-CNRS, Toulose.
		     Professor Graeme HIRST, University of Toronto
		     Professor John MAYHEW, University of Sheffield
		     Professor Noel SHARKEY, University of Sheffield

Programme Chair:     John Hallam (University of Edinburgh)

Programme Committee: Dave Cliff (University of Sussex)
		     Erik Sandewall (University of Linkoeping)
		     Nigel Shadbolt (University of Nottingham)
		     Sam Steel (University of Essex)
		     Yorick Wilks (University of Sheffield)

Local Organisation:  Paul Mc Kevitt (University of Sheffield)

The past few years have seen an increasing tendency for diversification in
research into Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and Artificial
Life.  A number of approaches are being pursued, based variously on symbolic
reasoning, connectionist systems and models, behaviour-based systems, and
ideas from complex dynamical systems.  Each has its own particular insight
and philosophical position.

This variety of approaches appears in all areas of Artificial Intelligence.
There are both symbolic and connectionist natural language processing, both
classical and behaviour-based vision research, for instance.

While purists from each approach may claim that all the problems of
cognition can in principle be tackled without recourse to other methods, in
practice (and maybe in theory, also) combinations of methods from the
different approaches (hybrid methods) are more successful than a pure
approach for certain kinds of problems.  The committee feels that there is
an unrealised synergy between the various approaches that an AISB conference
may be able to explore. Thus, the focus of the tenth AISB Conference is on
such hybrid methods.

The AISB conference is a single track conference lasting three days, with a
two day tutorial and workshop programme preceding the main technical event,
and around twenty high calibre papers will be presented in the technical
sessions.  Five invited talks by respected and entertaining world class
researchers complete the programme.  The proceedings of the conference will
be published in book form at the conference itself, making it a forum for
rapid dissemination of research results.

The preliminary programme for the conference is attached below.  Note that
the organisers reserve the right to alter the programme as circumstances
dictate, though every effort will be made to adhere to the provisional
timings and calendar of events given below.

========================================================================
                         PRELIMINARY   PROGRAMME
========================================================================


Monday 3rd April, 1995

[all day]       WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIAL PROGRAMME

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

Tuesday 4th April, 1995

[all day]       WORKSHOPS AND TUTORIAL PROGRAMME


6.00-9.00       REGISTRATION RECEPTION, HALIFAX HALL, UNIVERSITY OF
		SHEFFIELD

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

Wednesday 5th April, 1995

08:00-on        REGISTRATION

09:00           Local Organisation Chair opening address:
                Paul Mc Kevitt, Local Organisation
                (University of Sheffield)

09:10           HOD opening address:
                Colin Smythe, Head of Department of Computer Science
                (University of Sheffield)

09:20	        Programme Chair opening address:
                John Hallam, Programme Chair
                (University of Edinburgh)

09:30-10:30	Invited Talk -- Professor Malik Ghallab,
		LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France.

10:30-11:00	Break

11:00-12:45	3 Papers

	``An Introduction to Dynamic Symbol Systems'',
	Herbert Jaeger, Faculty of Technology,
	University of Bielefeld

	``Reactive Systems in Physical Environments'',
	Simin Nadjm-Tehrani, Department of Computer and
	Information Science, Linkoping University

	``From Numerical Observations to Propositional
	Representations: A Cognitive Methodology to
	Structure Hybrid Spatial Knowledge in the WIRE
	project'', Mario Borillo, IRIT Toulouse and Herve
	Pensec, SOGERMA-SOCEA, Groupe Aerospatiale, Merignac

12:45-14:15	Lunch

14:15-16:00	3 Papers

	``Decisions, decisions:  Knowledge goals in planning'',
	Louise Pryor, Department of Artificial Intelligence,
	University of Edinburgh

	``Knowing how:  a semantic approach'', Sam Steel, 		
	Department of Computer Science, University of 
	Essex

	``A Meta-Level Framework for Exploring Conflicts
	in Multiple Knowledge Bases'', Mandy Haggith, 
	Department of Artificial Intelligence, University
	of Edinburgh

16:00-16:30	Break

16:30-17:50	2 Papers

	``Unsatisfied Variables in Local Search'', Ian Gent,
	Department of Artificial Intelligence, University
	of Edinburgh and Toby Walsh, Mechanized Reasoning
	Group, IRST, Genoa

	``An Attempt to Map the Performance of a Range
	of Algorithm and Heuristic Combinations'',
	Edward P.K. Tsang, James E. Borrett and Alvin
	C.M. Kwan, Department of Computer Science,
	University of Essex

20:00	        CONFERENCE RECEPTION, HALIFAX HALL BAR


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

Thursday 6th April, 1995

09:15-10:15	Invited Talk -- Professor John Mayhew, 
		AIVRU, University of Sheffield. 

10:15-10:45	Break

10:45-12:30	3 Papers

	``The SOMASS System:  a Hybrid Symbolic and
	Behaviour-based System to Plan and Execute
	Assemblies by Robot'', Chris Malcolm, Department
	of Artificial Intelligence, University of
	Edinburgh

	``Multiple Agent Systems for Configuration Design'',
	Stuart Watt, Zdenek Zdrahal, Knowledge Media
	Institute, Open University & Mike Brayshaw, 
	School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham

	``Symbolic and Continuous Proceses in the Automatic
	Selection of Actions'', R Cooper, Tim Shallice &
	Jonathan Farringdan, Department of Psychology,
	University College, London

12:30-14:00	Lunch

14:00-15:00	Invited Talk -- Professor Noel Sharkey,
		Department of Computer Science, University
		of Sheffield

15:00-15:20	Break

15:20-16:30	2 Papers

	``A Neural Network Decision-Support Tool for the       	
	Diagnosis of Breast Cancer'', Joseph Downs, 			
	Robert F Harrison, Department of Automatic Control &
	Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield and 
	Simon S Cross, Department of Pathology, University
	of Sheffield Medical School

	``RULEX & CEBP Networks As the Basis for a Rule Refinement
	System'', R Andrews & Shlomo Geva, Neurocomputing Research 
	Centre, Queensland University

16:30-16:50	Break

16:50-18:00	2 Papers

	``A Heuristic for General Rule Extraction from a 		
	Multilayer Perceptron'', Zhe Ma & Robert F Harrison, 
	Department of Automatic Control & Systems Engineering,
	University of Sheffield & R. Lee Kennedy, Department
	of Medicine, University of Edinburgh 

	``An Adaptive State Machine For Use In Unsupervised Parallel
	Learning Systems'', Christopher J Holgate & Thomas J W Clarke,
	Neural Systems Engineering Group, Imperial College


20:00	        CONFERENCE BANQUET, SHEFFIELD KELHAM ISLAND INDUSTRIAL
                MUSEUM (WITH DON RIVER LIVE STEAM ENGINE)

21:00           After dinner speech by DISTINGUISHED SEASONED AI RESEARCHER


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

Friday 7th April, 1995

09:15-10:15	Invited Talk -- Professor Graeme Hirst
		Department of Computer Science,
                University of Toronto, Canada
		
10:15-10:45	Break

10:45-12:30	3 Papers

	``Towards Learning Semantics of Spontaneous 			
	Dialog Utterances in a Hybrid Framework'',
	Volker Weber and Stefan Wermter, Computer
	Science Department, University of Hamburg.

	``Knowledge Acquisition Using Metaphors'', Asoka S 
	Karunananda, Hyacinth S Nwana & Pearl Brereton, 
	Department of Computer Science, University of
	Keele.

	``Grounding DTMs:  An Interview Tool for Acquiring
	Meta-Strategic Teaching Knowledge'', Nigel Major
	and Kieron O Hara, Department of Psychology, 
	University of Nottingham

12:30-14:00	Lunch

14:00-15:00	Invited Talk -- Professor Alex Gammerman, 
		Dept of Computer Science, Royal Holloway and
		New Bedford College, University of London.

15:00-15:20	Break

15:20-16:30	2 Papers

	``Towards Hybrid Nonmonotonic Reasoning Systems'',
	James P Delgrande, School of Computer Science,
	Simon Fraser University, Canada & Torsten H Schaub,
	IRISA, Rennes

	``Why Some Hybrid Solutions aren't Really Solutions
	(and Why Others aren't Really Hybrid)'', Bradley Franks,
	Department of Psychology, London School of Economics &
	Richard Cooper, Department of Psychology, University
	College, London

16:30-17:00	Conference ends.

========================================================================

SHEFFIELD:

Sheffield is one of the friendliest cities in the UK and is situated well
having the best and closest surrounding countryside of any major city in the
UK. The Peak District National Park is only minutes away. It is a good city
for walkers, runners, and climbers.  It has two theatres, three 10 screen
cinemas, a library theatre which shows more artistic films, a large number
of museums many of which demonstrate Sheffield's industrial past, and a
number of Galleries in the City, including the Mapping Gallery and Ruskin.
Several important ancient houses, such as Chatsworth House, are close to
Sheffield.  The Peak District National Park is a beautiful site for visiting
and rambling upon.  There are large shopping areas in the City and by 1995
Sheffield will be served by a 'supertram' system.

The University of Sheffield's Halls of Residence are situated on the western
side of the city in a leafy residential area described by John Betjeman as
``the prettiest suburb in England''.  Halifax Hall is centred on a local
Steel Baron's house, dating back to 1830 and set in extensive grounds. It
was acquired by the University in 1830 and converted into a Hall of
Residence for women with the addition of a new wing.

Correspondence concerning local organisation and registration should be
directed to the local arrangements organiser at the following address.

	Paul Mc Kevitt,
	Department of Computer Science,
	University of Sheffield,
	Regent Court,
	211 Portobello Street,
	Sheffield S1 4DP,
	ENGLAND.

	Phone:  + 44 742 825572
	FAX:    + 44 742 780972
	E-mail: p.mckevitt@dcs.sheffield.ac.uk

Correspondence relating to the conference programme should be directed to
the conference programme chair at the address below.

	John Hallam,
	Department of Artificial Intelligence,
	University of Edinburgh,
	5 Forrest Hill,
	Edinburgh EH1 2QL,
	SCOTLAND.

	Phone:  + 44 131 650 3097
	FAX:    + 44 131 650 6899
	E-mail: john@aifh.edinburgh.ac.uk



