IUBio

CNE - USC Workshop

Jean-Marc Fellous fellous at rana.usc.edu
Tue Sep 7 19:00:49 EST 1993



Thank you for posting the following announcement on the list:


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The Center for Neural Engineering University of Southern Califor-
nia announces a Workshop on

	 Neural Architectures and Distributed AI: 
	From Schema Assemblages to Neural Networks 
		    October 19-20, 1993

    [This Workshop was previously scheduled for April 1993]


Program Committee: Michael Arbib (Organizer), George Bekey, Dami-
an Lyons, Paul Rosenbloom, and Ron Sun

To design complex technological systems,  we  need  a  multilevel
methodology  which  combines a coarse- grain analysis of coopera-
tive or distributed computation (we shall refer to the  computing
agents  at  this  level  as "schemas") with a fine-grain model of
flexible, adaptive computation (for which neural networks provide
a powerful general paradigm). Schemas provide a language for dis-
tributed artificial intelligence and perceptual robotics which is
"in  the  style  of the brain", but at a relatively high level of
abstraction relative to neural networks.  We seek  (both  at  the
level of schema asemblages, and in terms of "modular" neural net-
works) a distributed model of computation, supporting  many  con-
current  activities  for recognition of objects, and the planning
and control of different activities.   The  use,  representation,
and  recall  of  knowledge  is mediated through the activity of a
network of interacting computing agents which between  them  pro-
vide  processes  for going from a particular situation and a par-
ticular structure of goals and tasks to a suitable course of  ac-
tion.   This  action  may involve passing of messages, changes of
state, instantiation to add new schema instances to the  network,
deinstantiation  to  remove  instances,  and  may  involve  self-
modification and self- organization. Schemas provide  a  form  of
knowledge representation which differs from frames and scripts by
being of a finer granularity.  Schema theory is generative: sche-
mas  may  well be linked to others to provide yet more comprehen-
sive schemas, whereas frames tend to "build in" from the  overall
framework.   The  analysis  of  interacting computing agents (the
schema instances) is intermediate between the overall  specifica-
tion  of  some behavior and the neural networks that subserve it.
The Workshop will focus on different facets of  this  multi-level
methodology.   While  the  emphasis will be on technological sys-
tems, papers will also be accepted on  biological  and  cognitive
systems.


Submission of Papers

A list of sample topics for contributions is as follows, where  a
hybrid  approach  means one in which the abstract schema level is
integrated with neural or other lower level models:

	- Schema Theory as a description language for neural 
		networks
	- Modular neural networks
	- Alternative  paradigms  for  modeling  symbolic  and  
		subsymbolic knowledge
	- Hierarchical and distributed representations: adaptation
		and coding
	- Linking DAI to Neural Networks to Hybrid Architecture
	- Formal Theories of Schemas
	- Hybrid approaches to integrating planning & reaction
	- Hybrid approaches to learning
	- Hybrid approaches to commonsense reasoning by integrating
		neural networks and rule-based reasoning (using 
		schemas for the integration)
	- Programming Languages for Schemas and Neural Networks
	- Schema Theory Applied in Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics,
		and Neuroscience


Prospective  contributors  should  send  a   five-page   extended
abstract,  including  figures  with informative captions and full
references - a hard copy, either by regular mail or fax - by  Au-
gust  30,  1993  to:
 
	Michael Arbib, 
Center for Neural Engineering,
University of Southern California, 
Los  Angeles,  CA  90089-2520,
USA     
Tel:    (213)    740-9220,    
Fax:    (213)    746-2863,
email: 	arbib at pollux.usc.edu  

Please include your full address, including fax and email, 
on the paper.

In accepting papers submitted in response to this  Call  for  Pa-
pers,  preference will be given to papers which present practical
examples of, theory of, and/or methodology  for  the  design  and
analysis of complex systems in which the overall specification or
analysis is conducted in terms of a network of interacting  sche-
mas,  and  where  some but not necessarily all of the schemas are
implemented in neural networks.  Papers which  present  a  single
neural  network  for pattern recognition ("perceptual schema") or
pattern generation ("motor schema") will not be accepted.  It  is
the  development  of  a methodology to analyze the interaction of
multiple functional units that constitutes the distinctive thrust
of this Workshop.

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent by email  no
later than September 1, 1993. There are currently no plans to is-
sue a formal proceedings of full papers, but  (revised  versions)
of  accepted  abstracts received prior to October 1, 1993 will be
collected with the full text of the Tutorial in a  CNE  Technical
Report  which  will be made available to registrants at the start
of the meeting.


A number of papers have already been accepted for  the  Workshop.
These include the following:

Arbib: Schemas and Neural Networks: A  Tutorial  Introduction  to
Integrating  Symbolic  and  Subsymbolic Approaches to Cooperative
Computation

Arkin: Reactive  Schema-based  Robotic  Systems:  Principles  and
Practice

Heenskerk and Keijzer: A Real-time  Neural  Implementation  of  a
Schema Driven Toy-Car

Leow and Miikkulainen, Representing and Learning  Visual  Schemas
in Neural Networks for Scene Analysis

Lyons  & Hendriks: Describing and analysing robot  behavior  with
schema theory

Murphy, Lyons & Hendriks: Visually Guided Multi-  Fingered  Robot
Hand Grasping as Defined by Schemas and a Reactive System

Sun: Neural Schemas and Connectionist Logic:  A Synthesis of  the
Symbolic and the Subsymbolic

Weitzenfeld: Hierarchy, Composition,  Heterogeneity,  and  Multi-
granularity in Concurrent Object-Oriented Programming for Schemas
and Neural Networks

Wilson & Hendler: Neural Network Software Modules

Bonus Event: The CNE Research Review: Monday,  October  18,  1993
The  CNE Review will present a day-long sampling of CNE research,
with talks by faculty, and students, as well as demos of hardware
and  software.   Special attention will  be paid to talks on, and
demos in, our new Autonomous Robotics Lab and Neuro-Optical  Com-
puting  Lab.  Fully paid registrants of the Workshop are entitled
to attend the CNE Review at no extra charge.


Registration The registration fee of $150 ($40 for qualified stu-
dents  who  include  a "certificate of student status" from their
advisor) includes a copy of the abstracts, coffee breaks,  and  a
dinner to be held on the evening of October 18th.

Those wishing to register should send a check payable to  "Center
for  Neural  Engineering, USC" for $150 ($40 for students and CNE
members) together with the  following  information  to  Marrietta
Pobst, Center for Neural Engineering, University of Southern Cal-
ifornia, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520, USA.



		  SCHEMAS  AND NEURAL NETWORKS 
	Center for Neural Engineering, USC October 19-20,1993 

NAME:  ______________________________________________ 
ADDRESS:_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
    
PHONE NO.: _______________    FAX:___________________           
EMAIL:_______________________________________________

 I intend to submit a paper: YES  [   ]      NO   [   ]

I wish to be registered for the CNE Research Review: 
		YES   [    ]  NO   [   ]


Accommodation Attendees  may  register  at  the  hotel  of  their
choice,  but  the  closest hotel to USC is the University Hilton:
3540 South Figueroa Street, 
Los Angeles, CA 90007, 
Phone:   (213) 748-4141,  
Reservation:  (800)  872-1104,  
Fax: (213) 7480043.  

A single room costs $70/night while a double room costs  $75/night.
Workshop  participants  must  specify  that they are "Schemas and
Neural Networks Workshop" attendees to avail of the above  rates.
Information  on  student  accommodation  may be obtained from the
Student Chair, Jean-Marc Fellous, jfellous at pollux.usc.edu.



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