No subject

[cfields@NMSU.Edu]

              Call for Participants / Call for Abstracts


            Symbolic Problem Solving in Noisy, Novel, and
                   Uncertain Task Environments


           20-21 August, 1989 (tentative), Detroit, MI, USA
              An IJCAI-89 Workshop, Sponsored by AAAI


Goals.

Brittleness in the face of noise, novelty, and uncertainty is a
well-known failing of symbolic problem solvers.  The goals of this
Workshop are to characterize the features of task environments that
cause brittleness, to investigate mechanisms for decreasing the
brittleness of symbolic problem solvers, and to review case histories
of implemented systems that function in task environments high in
noise, novelty, and data of uncertain relevance.


Topics of interest for the Workshop include the following.

Analysis of task environments:  Definitions of noisy, novelty,
and uncertain relevance; exploration of related concepts in general
systems theory or logic; parameters for characterizing task
environments; knowledge engineering strategies.

Mechanisms for addressing noise and novelty:  Plasticity and
learning; constructive problem solving; fragmentation of knowledge
structures; dynamic modification of rules, schemata, or cases;
coherence maintenance; adaptive control mechanisms.

Representations:  Data structures allowing dynamic abstraction
and modification; representation of ``unstructured'' knowledge;
knowledge implicit in control or learning procedures; ordering of
knowledge structures; tradeoffs between explicit and implicit
knowledge representation.

Implementation issues:  Implementing symbolic problem solvers on
parallel machines; concurrency control strategies; integrating
symbolic systems with artificial neural networks; general systems
integration.

Researchers interested in participating in the Workshop are invited to
submit abstracts describing work in any of these topic areas.


Format.

All participants will present their current work, either as a brief
oral report or as a poster.  Most presentations will be posters, as
these provide the greatest opportunity for presentation and discussion
of technical details.  Presentations will be on the first day of the
Workshop, followed by discussions in working groups organized by
application domain and a panel discussion on the second day.

Attendance at IJCAI Workshops is limited to fifty participants.
Participants not registered for IJCAI must pay a $50/day fee.


Abstract Submission.

Please submit a 1 page abstract of the work to be presented,
together with a cover letter summarizing previous work in relevant
areas and expected contribution to the Workshop, to Mike Coombs, Box
30001/3CRL, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001
USA, by 15 May 1989.  Authors will be notified as to acceptance by 1
June 1989.  Accepted abstracts will be distributed at the Workshop.  A
volume collecting selected papers from the Workshop is planned; papers
for this volume will be solicited at the Workshop.


Organizers.

Mike Coombs and Chris Fields (NMSU), Russ Frew (GE), David Goldberg
(Alabama), Jim Reggia (Maryland).  Points of contact: Mike Coombs,
505-646-5757, mcoombs at nmsu.edu; Chris Fields, 505-646-2848,
cfields at nmsu.edu.