Preliminary Announcement: ML'94 + COLT'94

Ming Li mli at math.uwaterloo.ca
Tue Mar 22 17:35:31 EST 1994



An unabbreviated version of this announcement in Latex or postscript
can be obtained via anonymous ftp from cs.rutgers.edu in the directory
pub/learning94.  If you do not have access to ftp, send email to
ml94 at cs.rutgers.edu or colt94 at research.att.com.

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

		   --- Preliminary Announcement ---

               ML '94                             COLT '94

  Eleventh International Conference        Seventh ACM Conference on
         on Machine Learning	         Computational Learning Theory
          July 10-13, 1994                     July 12-15, 1994
 				                                     
        Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The COLT and ML conferences will be held together this year at Rutgers
University in New Brunswick.  This is the first time that COLT and ML
will be held in the same location, and we are looking forward to a
lively and interdisciplinary meeting of the two communities.  Please
come and help make this exciting experiment a success.

Among the highlights of the conferences are three invited lectures,
and, on Sunday, July 10, a day of workshops and tutorials on a variety
of topics relevant to machine learning.  The tutorials are sponsored
by DIMACS, and are free and open to the general public.  COLT is
sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Groups on Algorithms and
Computation Theory (SIGACT) and on Artificial Intelligence (SIGART).
In addition, COLT and ML received generous support this year from
AT&T Bell Laboratories and the NEC Research Institute.

This preliminary announcement, which omits the final technical
program, is being provided so that travel arrangements can be made as
early as possible.  An updated announcement, including the technical
program, will be distributed sometime in April.

>>>> WARNING <<<<  The dates of the conferences coincide this year
with the World Cup soccer matches being held at Giants Stadium in East
Rutherford, New Jersey.  These games are expected to be the largest
sporting event ever held in the New York metropolitan area, and it is
possible that the volume of soccer fans in the area could adversely
affect your ability to make travel reservations.  Therefore, IT IS
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU MAKE ALL YOUR TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS AS
EARLY AS POSSIBLE.


			 GENERAL INFORMATION

LOCATION.  The conferences will be held at the College Avenue Campus
of Rutgers University in downtown New Brunswick, which is easily
accessible by air, train, and car.  For air travel, New Brunswick is
35 minutes from Newark International Airport, a major U.S. and
international airline hub.  By rail, the New Brunswick train station
is located less than four blocks from the conference site and is on
Amtrak's Northeast corridor.  For travel by car, the conference site
is approximately three miles from Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike.

See instructions below for obtaining a map of the campus.  Most
conference activities will take place in Scott Hall (#21 on map) and
Murray Hall (#22).  Conference check-in and on-site registration will
take place in Scott Hall (follow signs for exact room location) on
Saturday, July 9 at 3-6pm, and everday after that beginning at 8am.

REGISTRATION.  Please complete the attached registration form, and
return it with a check or money order for the full amount.  The early
registration (postmark) deadline is May 27, 1994.

HOUSING.  We have established the group rate of $91/night for a single
or a double at the HYATT REGENCY HOTEL (about five blocks from the
conference site).  This rate is only guaranteed through June 10, 1994,
and, due to limited availability, it is strongly recommended that you
make reservations as soon as possible.  To reserve a room, please call
the Hyatt directly at 908-873-1234 or 800-233-1234 and be sure to
reference ML94 or COLT94.  Parking is available at the hotel for a
discounted $3/night.

We have also reserved dormitory space in two dorms, both of which are
an easy walk to the main conference site.  Dorm reservations must be
made by the early registration deadline of May 27, 1994.  Both dorms
include daily maid service (linens provided first day for the week and
daily fresh towels and beds made).  The Stonier Hall dorms (#56 on
map) are air-conditioned with private bath and are situated in the
center of the campus.  Due to limited availability, only shared double
rooms are available in Stonier.  Only a block away, the Campbell Hall
dorms (#50) are one of a set of three "river dorms" overlooking the
Raritan River.  Although Campbell Hall is not air-conditioned, the
view of the river is quite pleasing and rooms on the river side should
offer good air flow.  Baths in Campbell are shared on each floor, with
single and double rooms available.

Please specify your dorm preference on your registration form, and we
will assign space accordingly on a first come, first served basis as
long as rooms are available.  Unfortunately, because there are only a
finite number of rooms within each dormitory, we cannot absolutely
guarantee your request.  Check-in for the dorms will take place at the
Housing Office in Clothier Hall (#35) which is located next to the
Hurtado Health Center (#37) on Bishop Place.  Check-in hours will be
4pm to midnight, July 9-13.  Parking passes, for those staying in the
dorms, will be available upon check-in.

TRAVEL BY AIR.  Newark International Airport is by far the most
convenient.  A taxi from the airport to New Brunswick costs about $36
(plus nominal tolls) for up to four passengers.  (This is the
flat-rate fare for a _licensed_ taxi from the official-looking taxi
stand; it is strongly recommended that you refuse rides offered by
unlicensed taxi drivers who may approach you elsewhere in the
airport.)  Shuttle service to New Brunswick is available from ICS for
$23 per person.  ICS shuttles run direct to the Hyatt, and require at
least one-day advance reservations (908-566-0795 or 800-225-4427).  If
renting a car, follow signs out of the airport to New Jersey Turnpike
South, and continue with the directions below.  By public
transportation, take the Airlink bus ($4 exact fare) to Newark Penn
Station and follow the "by rail" directions below.  (New Jersey
Transit train fare is $5.25 one-way or $8 round trip excursion; trains
run about twice an hour during the week, and less often in the evening
and on weekends.)

TRAVEL BY CAR.  Take the New Jersey Turnpike (south from Newark or New
York, north from Philadelphia) to Exit 9.  Follow signs onto Route 18
North or West (labeled differently at different spots) toward New
Brunswick.  Take the Route 27, Princeton exit onto Albany Street
(Route 27) into downtown New Brunswick.  The Hyatt Regency Hotel will
be on your left after the first light.  If staying at the Hyatt, turn
left at the next light, Neilson Street, and left again into the front
entrance of the hotel.  If staying in the dorms, continue past this
light to the following light, George Street, and turn right.  Stay on
George Street to just before the fifth street and turn left into the
Parking Deck (#55 on map).  Walk to the Housing Office in Clothier
Hall (#35) for dormitory check-in.

TRAVEL BY RAIL.  Take either an Amtrak or a New Jersey Transit train
to the New Brunswick train station.  This is located at the corner of
Albany Street and Easton Avenue.  If staying at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel, it is a (long) three block walk to the left on Albany Street to
the hotel.  If staying in the dorms it is a (long) six block walk to
the Housing Office in Clothier Hall (#35 on map) for dormitory
check-in.  (The taxi stand is in front of the train station on Albany
Street.)

MEALS.  Continental breakfast is included with registration, but not
lunch or dinner.  Restaurants abound within walking distance of the
conference and housing venue, ranging from inexpensive food geared to
college students to more expensive dining.

A reception on July 12 is scheduled at the rustic Log Cabin, situated
next to the experimental gardens of the agricultural campus, as part
of the registration package for all ML94 and COLT94 attendees.  The
banquet on July 13 is included in the registration package for
everyone except students.

CLIMATE.  New Jersey in July is typically hot, with average daily
highs around 85 degrees, and overnight lows around 70.  Most days in
July are sunny, but also come prepared for the possibility of
occasional rain.

THINGS TO DO.  The newly opened Liberty Science Center is a fun,
hands-on science museum located in Liberty State Park, about 30-45
minutes from New Brunswick (201-200-1000).  From Liberty State Park,
one can also take a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and the Immigration
Museum at Ellis Island.

New York City can be reached in under an hour by rail on New Jersey
Transit.  Trains run about twice an hour during the week, and once an
hour on weekends and at night.  Fare is $7.75 one-way, $11.50 round
trip excursion.

New Brunswick has a number of theaters, including the State Theater
(908-247-7200), the George Street Playhouse (908-246-7717), and the
Crossroads Theater (908-249-5560).

The New Jersey shore is less than an hour from New Brunswick.  Points
along the shore vary greatly in character.  Some, such as Point
Pleasant, have long boardwalks with amusement park rides, video
arcades, etc.  Others, such as Spring Lake, are quiet and
uncommercialized with clean and very pretty beaches.  Further south,
about two hours from New Brunswick, are the casinos of Atlantic City.

You can walk for miles and miles along the towpath of the peaceful
Delaware and Raritan Canal which runs from New Brunswick south past
Princeton.

Your registration packet will include a pass for access to the College
Avenue Gymnasium (near the dormitories, #77 on map).

FURTHER INFORMATION.  If you have any questions or problems, please
send email to colt94 at research.att.com or to ml94 at cs.rutgers.edu.

A map of the campus, abstracts of workshops/tutorials, updates of this
announcement, and other information will be available via anonymous
ftp from cs.rutgers.edu in the directory pub/learning94.

For New Jersey Transit fare and schedule information, call
800-772-2222 (in New Jersey) or 201-762-5100 (out-of-state).



			  TECHNICAL PROGRAM

The technical program for the conferences has not yet been finalized,
but will be distributed sometime in April.  All ML technical sessions
will be held July 11-13, and all COLT sessions will be held July
12-15.


INVITED LECTURES:

  * Michael Jordan, "Hidden decision tree models."

  * Stephen Muggleton, "Recent advances in inductive logic
	programming."

  * Fernando Pereira, "Frequencies vs biases: Machine learning
	problems in natural language processing."


PAPERS ACCEPTED TO ML:

  A Baysian framework to integrate symbolic and neural learning.  Irina
     Tchoumatchenko, Jean Gabriel Ganascia.
  A case for Occam's razor in the task of rule-base refinement.  J.
     Jeffrey Mahoney, Raymond Mooney.
  A conservation law for generalization performance.  Cullen Schaffer.
  A constraint-based induction algorithm in FOL.  Michele Sebag.
  A Modular Q-learning architecture for manipulator task decomposition.
     Chen Tham, Richard Prager.
  A new method for predicting protein secondary structures based on
     stochastic tree grammars.  Naoki Abe, Hiroshi Mamitsuka.
  A powerful heuristic for the discovery of complex patterned behavior.
     Raul E. Valdes-Perez, Aurora Perez.
  An efficient subsumption algorithm for inductive logic programming.
     Jorg-Uwe Kietz, Marcus Lubbe.
  An improved algorithm for incremental induction of decision trees.
     Paul Utgoff.
  An incremental learning approach for completable planning.  Melinda T.
     Gervasio, Gerald F. DeJong.
  Combining top-down and bottom-up techniques in inductive logic
     programming.  John M. Zelle, Raymond Mooney, Joshua Konvisser.
  Comparison of boosting to other ensemble methods using neural
     networks.  Harris Drucker, Yann LeCun, L. Jackel, Corinna Cortes,
     Vladimir Vapnik.
  Compositional instance-based learning.  Karl Branting, Patrick Broos.
  Consideration of risk in reinforcement learning.  Matthias Heger.
  Efficient algorithms for minimizing cross validation error.  Mary Lee,
     Andrew W. Moore.
  Exploiting the ordering of observed problem-solving
     steps for knowledge base refinement: an apprenticeship approach.
     Steven Donoho, David C. Wilkins.
  Getting the most from flawed theories.  Moshe Koppel, Alberto Segre,
     Ronen Feldman.
  Greedy attribute selection.  Richard A. Caruana, Dayne Freitag.
  Hierarchical self-organization in genetic programming.  Justinian
     Rosca, Dana Ballard.
  Heterogeneous uncertainty sampling for supervised learning.  David D.
     Lewis, Jason Catlett.
  Improving accuracy of incorrect domain theories.  Lars Asker.
  In defense of C4.5: notes on learning one-level decision trees.  Tapio
     Elomaa.
  Increasing the efficiency of simulated annealing search by learning to
     recognize (un)promising runs.  Yoichihro Nakakuki, Norman Sadeh.
  Incremental multi-step Q-learning.  Jing Peng, Ronald Williams.
  Incremental reduced error pruning.  Johannes Furnkranz, Gerhard
     Widmer.
  Irrelevant features and the subset selection problem.  George H. John,
     Ron Kohavi, Karl Pfleger.
  Learning by experimentation: incremental refinement of incomplete
     planning domains.  Yolanda Gil.
  Learning disjunctive concepts by means of genetic algorithms.  Attilio
     Giordana, Lorenza Saitta, F. Zini.
  Learning recursive relations with randomly selected small training
     sets.  David W. Aha, Stephane Lapointe, Charles Ling, Stan Matwin.
  Learning semantic rules for query reformulation.  Chun-Nan Hsu, Craig
     Knoblock.
  Markov games as a framework for multi-agent reinforcement learning.
     Michael Littman.
  Model-Free reinforcement learning for non-markovian decision problems.
     Satinder Pal Singh, Tommi Jaakkola, Michael I. Jordan.
  On the worst-case analysis of temporal-difference learning algorithms.
     Robert Schapire, Manfred Warmuth.
  Prototype and feature selection by sampling and random mutation hill
     climbing algorithms.  David B. Skalak.
  Reducing misclassification costs: Knowledge-intensive approaches to
     learning from noisy data.  Michael J. Pazzani, Christopher Merz,
  Patrick M. Murphy, Kamal M. Ali, Timothy Hume, Clifford Brunk.
  Revision of production system rule-bases.  Patrick M. Murphy, Michael
     J. Pazzani.
  Reward functions for accelerated learning.  Maja Mataric.
  Selective reformulation of examples in concept learning.  Jean-Daniel
     Zucker, Jean Gabriel Ganascia.
  Small sample decision tree pruning.  Sholom Weiss, Nitin Indurkhya.
  The generate, test and explain discovery system architecture.  Michael
     de la Maza.
  The minimum description length principle and categorical theories.  J.
     R. Quinlan.
  To discount or not to discount in reinforcement learning: a case
     study comparing R~learning and Q~learning.  Sridhar Mahadevan.
  Towards a better understanding of memory-based and Bayesian
     classifiers.  John Rachlin, Simon Kasif, Steven Salzberg, David W.
     Aha.
  Using genetic search to refine knowledge-based neural networks.  David
     W. Opitz, Jude Shavlik.
  Using sampling and queries to extract rules from trained neural
     networks.  Mark W. Craven, Jude Shavlik.


	       WORKSHOPS AND DIMACS-SPONSORED TUTORIALS

On Sunday, July 10, we are pleased to present four all-day workshops,
five half-day tutorials, and one full-day advanced tutorial.  The
DIMACS-sponsored tutorials are free and open to the general public.
Participation in the workshops is also free, but is at the discretion
of the workshop organizers. Note that some of the workshops have
quickly approaching application deadlines.  Please contact the
workshop organizers directly for further information.  Some
information is also available on our ftp site (see "further
information" above).


TUTORIALS:

T1. State of the art in learning DNF rules              morning/afternoon
      (advanced tutorial)
    Dan Roth                                         danr at das.harvard.edu
    Jason Catlett                                catlett at research.att.com

T2. Descriptional complexity and inductive learning               morning
    Ed Pednault                                     epdp at research.att.com

T3. Computational learning theory: introduction and survey        morning
    Lenny Pitt                                           pitt at cs.uiuc.edu

T4. What does statistical physics have to say about learning?     morning
    Sebastian Seung                                 seung at physics.att.com
    Michael Kearns                               mkearns at research.att.com

T5. Reinforcement learning                                      afternoon
    Leslie Kaelbling                                     lpk at cs.brown.edu

T6. Connectionist supervised learning--an engineering           afternoon
      approach
    Tom Dietterich                               tgd at research.cs.orst.edu
    Andreas Weigend                               andreas at cs.colorado.edu


WORKSHOPS:

W1. Robot Learning                              morning/afternoon/evening
    Sridhar Mahadevan                               mahadeva at csee.usf.edu

W2. Applications of descriptional complexity to         afternoon/evening
      inductive, statistical and visual inference
    Ed Pednault                                     epdp at research.att.com

W3. Constructive induction and change of                morning/afternoon
      representation
    Tom Fawcett                                       fawcett at nynexst.com

W4. Computational biology and machine learning          morning/afternoon
    Mick Noordewier                               noordewi at cs.rutgers.edu
    Lindley Darden                                  darden at umiacs.umd.edu




		     REGISTRATION FOR COLT94/ML94

Please complete the registration form below, and mail it with your
payment for the full amount to:

	Priscilla Rasmussen, ML/COLT'94
	Rutgers, The State University of NJ
	Laboratory for Computer Science Research
	Hill Center, Busch Campus
	Piscataway, NJ  08855

(Sorry, registration cannot be made by email, phone or fax.)  Make
your check or money order payable in U.S. dollars to Rutgers
University.  For early registration, and to request dorm housing, this
form must be mailed by May 27, 1994.  For questions about
registration, please contact Priscilla Rasmussen
(rasmussen at cs.rutgers.edu; 908-932-2768).

     Name: _____________________________________________________
     Affiliation: ______________________________________________
     Address: __________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________________
     Country: __________________________________________________
     Phone: _______________________ Fax: _______________________
     Email: ____________________________________________________

Confirmation will be sent to you by email.


REGISTRATION.  Please circle the *one* conference for which you are
registering.  (Even if you are planning to attend both conferences,
please indicate the one conference that you consider to be "primary.")

		    COLT94                 ML94

The registration fee includes a copy of the proceedings for the *one*
conference circled above (extra proceedings can be ordered below).
Also included is admission to all ML94 and COLT94 talks and events
(except that student registration does not include a banquet ticket).

     Regular advance registration: $190		       $_______
     ACM/SIG member advance registration: $175	       $_______
     Late registration (after May 27): $230	       $_______
     Student advance registration: $85		       $_______
     Student late registration (after May 27): $110    $_______
     Extra reception tickets (July 12):   _____ x $17 = _______
     Extra banquet tickets (July 13):     _____ x $40 = _______
     Extra COLT proceedings:		  _____ x $35 = _______
     Extra ML proceedings:		  _____ x $35 = _______
     Dorm housing (from below):			       $_______

     TOTAL ENCLOSED:				       $_______


How many in your party have dietary restrictions?
Vegetarian: _____ Kosher: _____ Other: ______________

Circle your shirt size:    small  medium  large  X-large

HOUSING.  Please indicate your housing preference below.  Descriptions
of the dorms are given under "housing" above.  Dorm assignments will
be made on a first come, first served basis, so please send your
request in as early as possible.  We will notify you by email if we
cannot fill your request.

_____ Check here if you plan to stay at the Hyatt (reservations must
      be made directly with the hotel by June 10).

_____ Check here if you plan to make your own housing arrangements
      (other than at the Hyatt).

_____ Check here to request a room in the dorms and circle the
      appropriate dollar amount below:

			    Dorm:    Stonier        Campbell
     Length of stay:                  dbl.       sing.    dbl.

     ML only (July 9-13):            $144         144     108
     COLT only (July 11-15):          144         144     108
     ML and COLT (July 9-15):         216         216     162


If staying in a double in the dorms, who will your roommate
be? ____________________________________

For either dorm, please indicate expected day and time of arrival and
departure.  Note that check-in for the dorms must take place between
4pm and midnight on July 9-13.

     Expected arrival:     ______       ______
                           (date)       (time)

     Expected departure:   ______       ______
                           (date)       (time)


TUTORIALS.  The DIMACS-sponsored tutorials on July 10 are free and
open to the general public.  For our planning purposes, please circle
those tutorials you plan to attend.

     Morning:     T1  T2  T3  T4
     Afternoon:	  T1  T5  T6

To participate in a workshop, please contact the workshop organizer
directly.  There is no fee for any workshop, and all workshops will be
held on July 10.

REFUNDS.  The entire dorm fee, and one-half of the registration fee
are refundable through June 24.  Send all requests by email to
rasmussen at cs.rutgers.edu.





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