Date: Fri 12 Aug 1988 13:13-EDT From: AIList Moderator Nick Papadakis Reply-To: AIList@mc.lcs.mit.edu Us-Mail: MIT LCS, 545 Tech Square, Rm# NE43-504, Cambridge MA 02139 Phone: (617) 253-6524 Subject: AIList Digest V8 #45 To: AIList@mc.lcs.mit.edu Status: R AIList Digest Saturday, 13 Aug 1988 Volume 8 : Issue 45 Announcements: NSF Robotics and Machine Intelligence Funding NSF-DARPA Program in Image Understanding and Speech Recognition Announcement of new Journal on Data and Knowledge Engineering Neural Computation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Aug 88 09:16:26 -0400 From: "Kenneth I. Laws" Subject: NSF Robotics and Machine Intelligence Funding I am now back on the network, after having a month at NSF to learn my new job. (The hardest part was growing an extra finger on my left hand to accomodate an IBM PC's keyboard. I can now hit the shift key almost evey time, and the control key better than seven times out of ten.) My new address is Kenneth I. Laws Director, Robotics & Machine Intelligence National Science Foundation 1800 G St. NW, Room 310 Washington, DC 20550 I intend to conduct as much business as possible over the net, but, if you must call, the number is (202) 357-9586. My Bitnet address is klaws@nsf; Arpanet/Internet klaws@note.nsf.gov. The ampersand in Robotics & Machine Intelligence can be taken as a union or an intersection. Many of the current grants are for computer vision; a few are for robotic control. I am funding some work in acoustic analysis, prosody, and other aspects of speech recognition. I also support research on architecture-related algorithms for vision and AI, since robots have to deal with the world in real time. The research that I most want to encourage, however, is that which will add intelligence to the golem. NSF has other programs that include AI, NL, interactive systems, expert systems, and man/machine interfaces, as well as manufacturing, control theory, cognitive modeling, etc., but my program is the one most focused on AI interacting with the real world. I have a subprogram on Automated Reasoning and Problem Solving that includes many traditional AI topics: knowledge representation, intelligent databases, heuristic search, constraint satisfaction, commonsense reasoning, theorem proving, problem solving, hierarchical reasoning, fuzzy logic, approximate reasoning, automated design, analogical reasoning, decision theory, evidential reasoning, machine learning, concept inference, etc. Other parts of my program include neural networks, parameter nets, distributed systems, connectionist expert systems, and genetic algorithms. AI work with an analog, perceptual, or applied flavor is likely to end up in my program, although other NSF program directors do share these interests. The available funds can only cover the very best proposals in so broad a field. I hope to fund a large number of small grants rather than a few large ones, so tailor your requests accordingly. I will also be asking sharp questions about "Where's the Science?" and "If this pays off, who will benefit?". I'm charged with supporting the scientific infrastructure, and will give top priority to research that could open new areas of study, transfer promising techniques to new labs, or close out an unproductive (but seductive) approach. I am also likely to favor proposals that are crisply and concisely written, although the peer review system can occassionally uncover merit in proposals full of equations and jargon. (Thanks, all you volunteers!) Keep in mind that I can't approve your grant unless you convince me that the scientific community needs the work done and that you are capable of doing it. The burden is on the author! Even if you win a grant, it is unlikely to support you continuously for any lengthy period of time. Our grants are to fund specific research efforts, not specific researchers or laboratories. (You may want to contact me before writing a proposal, in order to tailor your pitch to the current needs of the RMI program.) The review-and-action cycle takes six to nine months -- sometimes longer -- and there are no guarantees until the day you get the award letter. We can provide some continuity via multiyear "continuing grants", but I would like to reduce the number of such grants being made by my program. You can write to me if you would like more information about my program or the submission of NSF proposals. You may also want to check with your local grants officer, who can identify the sections of our somewhat daunting literature that apply to your situation. (We have several types of grants, and sending for all the literature may get you more than you want to know.) The actual submission requirements are fairly minor: 15 copies of a cover sheet, budget, and your proposal. Short proposals probably get fastest consideration by reviewers. See also the following announcement of a joint NSF/DARPA program in Image Understanding and Speech Recognition, designed for team efforts and somewhat larger awards than I can manage from my regular program. -- Ken Laws ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Aug 88 10:47:06 -0400 From: "Kenneth I. Laws" Subject: NSF-DARPA Program in Image Understanding and Speech Recognition NSF and DARPA are initiating joint support of research in AI, beginning with Image Understanding and Speech Recognition. This year's proposals should be submitted to NSF by November 1, 1988. Announcements will be distributed through all the usual NSF and DARPA channels, but you can contact me if you want to be sure of receiving a copy. This program is designed to support interdisciplinary, experimental team research with potential for transfer to industry or other national use. Institutions outside the current NSF and DARPA programs are particularly encouraged to apply. Initial screening will be done through NSF peer review, with a joint panel selecting the final grantees. Funding of up to $350,000 per year for three years may be available. Technical inquiries may be made to any of the following: NSF - Dr. Kenneth I. Laws; Division of Information, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems; 1800 G St. NW, Room 310; Washington, DC 20550; (202) 357-9586. DARPA - IU: Lt. Col. Robert L. Simpson, Jr., Ph.D.; (202) 694-4002. SR: Dr. J. Allen Sears; (202) 694-5921. Submission requirements for this program (NSF-DARPA Initiative, IRIS/CISE) are described in the standard NSF grant publications. The announcement sheet will list relevant publications in somewhat more detail. -- Ken Laws klaws@note.nsf.gov klaws@nsf.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Aug 88 19:01:09 EDT From: Benjamin W. Wah Subject: Announcement of new Journal on Data and Knowledge Engineering ANNOUNCING THE NEW IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON KNOWLEDGE AND DATA ENGINEERING AIM The new Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering aims to provide an international and interdisciplinary forum to pub- lish results on the research, design, and development of knowledge and data engineering methodologies, strategies and systems. FOCUS This Transactions will focus on knowledge and data engineering. The key technical issues it will address are related to (a) the acquisition and management of knowledge and data in the development and utilization of information systems; (b) strategies to capture and store new knowledge and data; (c) methods to lessen the burden of software and hardware develop- ment and maintenance; (d) mechanisms to provide system modeling, design, access, and security and integrity control; (e) archi- tectures, systems, and components to provide knowledge and data services within centralized and distributed information systems; (f) designs to provide increased intelligence and ease of use through speech, voice, graphics, images and documents; (g) tech- niques to provide improved overall functions and performance to meet new social needs; and (h) the development of ways to pro- long the useful life of knowledge and data and its graceful degradation. SOME PERTINENT AREAS TO BE COVERED (a) Knowledge and data engineering aspects of knowledge based and expert systems (b) Artificial Intelligence techniques relating to knowledge and data management (c) Knowledge and data engineering tools and techniques (d) Parallel and distributed knowledge base and database processing (e) Real-time knowledge bases and databases (f) Architectures for knowledge and data based systems (g) Data management methodologies (h) Database design and modeling (i) Query, design, and implementation languages (j) Integrity, security, and fault tolerance (k) Distributed database control (l) Statistical databases (m) System integration and modeling of data and knowledge engineering systems (n) Algorithms for data and knowledge management (o) Performance evaluation of data and knowledge engineering algorithms (p) Data communications aspects of data and knowledge engineering systems (q) Applications of data and knowledge engineering systems (r) Experience in knowledge and data engineering FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION Quarterly. The first issue is scheduled to appear in March 1989. SUBSCRIBERS Researchers, developers, managers, strategic planners, users, and others interested in state-of-the-art and state-of- the-practice activities in the knowledge and data engineering area. ARTICLE SELECTION PROCEDURES This new periodical is at the Transactions level. The selection of articles for publication will follow the guidelines used by other IEEE Computer Society Transactions, such as the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and the IEEE Transac- tions on Computers. A minimum of three reviews will be required for a decision to be made on each submitted or solicited paper. TYPE OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED The proposed periodical is a Transactions intended to pub- lish original results in research and development in areas relevant to knowledge and data engineering. Papers that can be submitted for consideration include those that have not previously been published in another jour- nal, or are not currently being published, as well as those that have been published in Conference Proceedings, Digests, and Records and that have undergone substantial revision. Invited papers from leading authorities in the knowledge and data engineering area will also be published. Three types of papers will be published: (1) Regular technical articles (25-35 double spaced pages, including figures, tables, and references): (a) papers with extensive original results and (b) in-depth surveys, which contribute to the understanding and advances in the knowledge and data engineering area; (2) Concise short articles (maximum 12 double spaced pages): papers with results that are important and original and are presented in a concise form; (3) Correspondence articles (maximum 3 double spaced pages): comments on previously published articles, short extensions to current results, critiques on previous results, responses from authors, and corrections to previously published arti- cles. An effort will be made to shorten the turnaround time for con- cise papers and correspondence articles. GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING PAPERS AND PROPOSALS ON SPECIAL ISSUES (1) For invited papers and proposals for special issues, send 6 copies to C. V. Ramamoorthy, Editor-in-Chief Computer Science Division University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 ram@ernie.berkeley.edu (2) For all other submissions, including regular articles, con- cise articles, and correspondence articles, send 6 copies of manuscript, complete with illustrations, abstract, and index terms, to Benjamin W. Wah, Associate Editor-in-Chief Coordinated Science Laboratory University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1101 West Springfield Avenue Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 333-3516, (217) 244-7175 wah%aquinas@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu IEEE copyright transfer form and similar guidelines for sub- missions can be found in the January 1988 issue of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. FURTHER INFORMATION Any questions regarding the journal can be directed to either the Editor-in-Chief or the Associate Editor-in-Chief. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 88 17:41:04 edt From: terry@cs.jhu.edu (Terry Sejnowski ) Subject: Neural Computation Announcement and Call for Papers NEURAL COMPUTATION First Issue: Spring 1989 Editor-in-Chief Terrence Sejnowski The Salk Institute and The University of California at San Diego Neural Computation will provide a unique interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of important research results and for reviews of research areas in neural computation. Neural computation is a rapidly growing field that is attracting researchers in neuroscience, psychology, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence. Researchers within these disciplines address, from special perspectives, the twin scientific and engineering challenges of understanding the brain and building computers. The journal serves to bring together work from various application areas, highlighting common problems and techniques in modeling the brain and in the design and construction of neurally-inspired information processing systems. By publishing timely short communications and research reviews, Neural Computation will allow researchers easy access to information on important advances and will provide a valuable overview of the broad range of work contributing to neural computation. The journal will not accept long research articles. The fields covered include neuroscience, computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, physics, psychology, linguistics, adaptive systems, vision, speech, robotics, optical computing, and VLSI. Neural Computation is published quarterly by The MIT Press. Board of Editors Editor-in-Chief: Terrence Sejnowski, The Salk Institute and The University of California at San Diego Advisory Board: Shun-ichi Amari, University of Tokyo, Japan Michael Arbib, University of Southern California Jean-Pierre Changeux, Institut Pasteur, France Leon Cooper, Brown University Jack Cowan, University of Chicago Jerome Feldman, University of Rochester Teuovo Kohonen, University of Helsinki, Finland Carver Mead, California Institute of Technology Tomaso Poggio, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Wilfrid Rall, National Institutes of Health Werner Reichardt, Max-Planck-Institut fur Biologische Kybernetik David A. Robinson, Johns Hopkins University David Rumelhart, Stanford University Bernard Widrow, Stanford University Action Editors: Joshua Alspector, Bell Communications Research Richard Andersen, MIT James Anderson, Brown University Dana Ballard, University of Rochester Harry Barrow, University of Sussex Andrew Barto, University of Massachusetts Gail Carpenter, Northeastern University Gary Dell, University of Rochester Gerard Dreyfus, Paris, France Jeffrey Elman, University of California at San Diego Nabil Farhat, University of Pennsylvania Francois Fogelman-Soulie, Paris, France Peter Getting, University of Iowa Ellen Hildreth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Geoffrey Hinton, University of Toronto, Canada Bernardo Huberman, Xerox, Palo Alto Lawrence Jackel, AT&T Bell Laboratories Scott Kirkpatrick, IBM Yorktown Heights Christof Koch, California Institute of Technology Richard Lippmann, Lincoln Laboratories Stephen Lisberger, University of California San Francisco James McClelland, Carnegie-Mellon University Graeme Mitchison, Cambridge University, England David Mumford, Harvard University Erkki Oja, Kuopio, Finland Andras Pellionisz, New York University Demetri Psaltis, California Institute of Technology Idan Segev, The Hebrew University Gordon Shepherd, Yale University Vincent Torre, Universita di Genova, Italy David Touretzky, Carnegie-Mellon University Roger Traub, IBM Yorktown Heights Les Valiant, Harvard University Christoph von der Malsburg, University of Southern California David Willshaw, Edinburgh, Scotland John Wyatt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Steven Zucker, McGill University, Canada Instructions to Authors The journal will consider short communications, having no more than 2000 words of text, 4 figures, and 10 citations; and area reviews which summarize significant advances in a broad area of research, with up to 5000 words of text, 8 figures, and 100 citations. The journal will accept one-page summaries for proposed reviews to be considered for solicitation. All papers should be submitted to the editor-in-chief. Authors may recommend one or more of the action editors. Accepted papers will appear with the name of the action aditor that communicated the paper. Before January 1, 1989, please address submissions to: Dr. Terrence Sejnowski Biophysics Department Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 21218 After January 1, 1989, please address submissions to: Dr. Terrence Sejnowski The Salk Institute P.O. Box 85800 San Diego, CA 92138 Subscription Information Neural Computation Annual subscription price (four issues): $90.00 institution $45.00 individual (add $9.00 surface mail or $17.00 airmail postage outside U.S. and Canada) Available from: MIT Press Journals 55 Hayward Street Cambridge, MA 02142 USA 617-253-2889 ------------------------------ End of AIList Digest ********************