CFP: SCC-95 THE SECOND SWEDISH CONFERENCE ON CONNECTIONISM The Connectionist Research Group University of Skovde, SWEDEN

[Connectionist]

                      March 2-4, 1995


                      CALL FOR PAPERS



SCOPE OF THE CONFERENCE

Understanding  neural  information   processing   properties
characterizes  the field of connectionism, also known as Ar-
tificial Neural Networks (ANN).

The rapid growth, expansion and great popularity of  connec-
tionism  is  motivated  by  the  new  way of approaching and
understanding the problems of artificial  intelligence,  and
its applicability in many real-world applications.

There is  a number of subfields of connectionism among which
we distinguish the following.

The importance of a  "Theory  of  connectionism"  cannot  be
overstressed.  The  interest in theoretical analysis of neu-
ronal models, and the complex dynamics of network  architec-
tures  grows rapidly.       It is often argued that abstract
neural network models are best understood by analysing their
computational  properties  with  respect to their biological
counterparts. A clear  theoretical  approach  to  developing
neural  models  also provides insight in dynamics, learning,
functionality and probabilities of  different  connectionist
networks.

"Cognitive connectionism" is bridging the  gap  between  the
theory  of  connectionism and cognitive science by modelling
higher  order  brain  functions  from  psychology  by  using
methods  offered  by  connectionist  models. The findings of
this field are often evaluated by  their  neuropsychological
validity and not by their functional applicability.

Sometimes the field of connectionism is referred to  as  the
"new  AI". Its applicability in AI has spawned a belief that
AI will benefit from a good understanding of neural informa-
tion  processing  capabilities.  The subfield "Connectionism
and artificial intelligence" is also concerned with the dis-
tinction between connectionist and symbolic representations.

The wide  applicability  and  problem-solving  abilities  of
neural  networks  are  exposed  in  "Real-world  computing".
Robotics, vision, speech and neural hardware are some of the
topics in this field.

"The philosophy of connectionism"  is  concerned  with  such
diverse  questions  as  the  mind-body problem and relations
between distributed representations, their semantics and im-
plications for intelligent behaviour.

Experimental studies in "Neurobiology" have implications  on
the  validity and design of new, artificial neural architec-
tures. This branch of connectionism addresses topics such as
self-organisation,  modelling  of  cortex,  and  associative
memory models.

A number of internationally renowned keynote  speakers  will
be  invited  to  give  plenary  talks on the subjects listed
above.


GUIDELINES FOR PAPER SUBMISSIONS

Instructions for submissions of manuscripts:

Papers may be submitted, in three (3) copies, to one of  the
following sessions.

~ Theory of connectionism
~ Cognitive connectionism
~ Connectionism and artificial intelligence
~ Real-world computing
~ The philosophy of connectionism
~ Neurobiology

A note should state principal author and email  address  (if
any). It should also indicate what session the paper is sub-
mitted to.

Length:

Papers must be a maximum of ten (10) pages  long  (including
figures  and references), the text area should be 6.5 inches
by  9  inches,  including  footnotes  but   excluding   page
numbers), and in a 12-point font type.

Template and style files conforming to these  specifications
for  several  text formatting programs, will be available to
authors of accepted papers.

Deadline:

Papers must be received by Thursday, September  1,  1994  to
ensure  reviewing.  All submitted papers will be reviewed by
members of the program committee on the basis  of  technical
quality,  research  significance,  novelty  and clarity. The
principal author will be notified  of  acceptance  no  later
than Tuesday, October 18, 1994.

Proceedings:

All accepted papers will appear in the  conference  proceed-
ings.


CONFERENCE CHAIRS

Lars Niklasson,                  Mikael Boden
lars.niklasson at ida.his.se        mikael.boden at ida.his.se

TENTATIVE SPEAKERS

Michael Mozer     University of Colorado, USA
Ronan Reilly      University College Dublin, Ireland
Paul Smolensky    University of Colorado, USA
David Touretzky   Carnegie Mellon University, USA

This list is under completion.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Jim Bower         California Inst. of Technology, USA
Harald Brandt     Ellemtel, Sweden
Ron Chrisley      University of Sussex, UK
Gary Cottrell     University of California, San Diego, USA
Georg Dorffner    University of Vienna, Austria
Tim van Gelder    National University of Australia, Australia
Agneta Gulz       University of Skovde, Sweden
Olle Gallmo       Uppsala University, Sweden
Tommy Garling     Goteborg University, Sweden
Dan Hammerstrom   Adaptive Solutions Inc., USA
Jim Hendler       University of Maryland, USA
Erland Hjelmquist Goteborg University, Sweden
Anders Lansner    Royal Inst. of Techn., Stockholm, Sweden
Reiner Lenz       Linkoping University, Sweden
Ajit Narayanan    University of Exeter, UK
Jordan Pollack    Ohio State University, USA
Noel Sharkey      University of Sheffield, UK
Bertil Svensson   Chalmers Inst. of Technology, Sweden
Tere Vaden        University of Tampere, Finland


PLEASE ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO:

                          "SCC-95"
              The Connectionist Research Group
                    University of Skovde
                        P.O. Box 408
                   541 28 Skovde, SWEDEN
                   E-mail: crg at ida.his.se