List of News:
Systems Announcements
Books Announcements
- Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies
- Reactive Systems: Modelling, Specification, and Verification
- Programming Multiagent Systems in AgentSpeak using Jason
Other Announcements
- Post-doctoral Position, Cork Constraint Computation Centre
- Next 10 Years of Constraint Programming
- Survey on FLP and Curry
- Visual Languages and Logic
- CFP: Special Issue on Automated Deduction
- CFP: Agents, Web Services and Ontologies
- Logic & AI: Special Session in Honor of V. Marek's 65th Birthday
Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies
Communicated by M. Baldoni, T.C. Son, B. Van Riemsdijk, M. Winikoff
We would like to inform you that the Springer volume for this year edition of the workshop is on-going to be published. It will appear as LNAI 4897 and it will likely be out by the end of the current year/ beginning of the next year.
The suggested title for the volume is:
Declarative Agent Languages and Technologies V:
Fifth International Workshop, DALT 2007,
Hawai'i, USA, May 14, 2007,
Selected, Revised, and Invited Papers
Fifth International Workshop, DALT 2007,
Hawai'i, USA, May 14, 2007,
Selected, Revised, and Invited Papers
The TPTP Problem Library (v3.3.0)
Communicated by Geoff Sutcliffe
URL: http://www.tptp.org/
The TPTP (Thousands of Problems for Theorem Provers) Problem Library is a library of test problems for automated theorem proving (ATP) systems. The TPTP supplies the ATP community with:
- A comprehensive library of the ATP test problems that are available today, in order to provide an overview and a simple, unambiguous reference mechanism.
- A comprehensive list of references and other interesting information for each problem.
- New generalized variants of problems whose original presentation is hand-tailored towards a particular automated proof.
- Arbitary size instances of generic problems (e.g., the N-queens problem).
- A utility to convert the problems to existing ATP systems' formats.
- General guidelines outlining the requirements for ATP system evaluation.
TPTP v3.3.0 is now available at:
http://www.tptp.org
The TPTP-v3.3.0.tar.gz file contains the library, including utilities and basic documentation. Full documentation is online at:
http://www.tptp.org/TPTP/TR/TPTPTR.shtml
The TPTP is regularly updated with new problems, additional information, and enhanced utilities. If you would like to register as a TPTP user, and be kept informed of such developments, please email Geoff Sutcliffe.
What's New in TPTP v3.3.0
- 920 new FOF problems, in the domains GEO LCL SEU SWV.
- Better header handling in tptp2X
- In SyntaxBNF
- Removed the lemma_conjecture role
- Added assumption_record, asssumption role, and asssumption intro_type
- Generalized the BNF for defined terms - been commented out so far
- Added real numbers in scientific notation
Cork Constraint Computation Centre
Communicated by Ken Brown
URL: http://www.ctvr.ie/
The Centre for Telecommunications Value-chain Research (CTVR) and the Cork Constraint Computation Centre (4C) at University College Cork, Ireland, have a vacancy for a postdoctoral researcher to work on optimisation problems in wireless networking. Strong programming skills are necessary. Experience in the one or more of the following areas will be required: distributed computing, distributed constraint optimisation, multi-agent systems, constraint programming, local search, optimisation algorithms, combinatorial auctions and game theory. Knowledge of wireless networking would be an advantage.
CTVR (www.ctvr.ie) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institution research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Its aim is to develop breakthrough research in areas relevant to the telecommunications industry, with particular emphasis on the economic context and value-chain impact of the research. The centre is led by Trinity College Dublin, and involves five technology strands: Emerging Networks, Radio Frequency, Photonics, Test & Reliability, and Optimisation & Management. The Optimisation and Management strand is led by 4C, working with UCD, and
involves collaborative research and development in optimisation, decision support and business management in telecommunications. Sample projects include protocols for negotiating access to spectrum commons, optimised
fault detection in optical networks, distributed coordination in supply chains, stochastic inventory management, demand forecasting, the economic impact of dynamic spectrum, and optimisation of backhaul networks for
cellular systems.
The Cork Constraint Computation Centre (www.4c.ucc.ie) at University College Cork is one of the leading academic centres of constraint programming research in the world. The centre has about 50 members, including academics, research staff and students, from over a dozen countries and collaborates with researchers from many countries. It has an Industry Associates Program (www.4c.ucc.ie/iap) with over 50 members. 4C is part of the Department of Computer Science, but is based in its own building in the centre of Cork City, a short walk from the main UCC campus.
The appointed person will be expected to work closely with researchers from the Radio Frequency and Emerging Networks strands, and in particular on optimisation techniques for reconfigurable wireless systems. There will be
opportunities for collaboration with CTVR's industrial partners, including Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs Ireland. The researcher will also be expected to collaborate with other CTVR researchers in 4C, with the opportunity to
contribute to other ongoing CTVR projects. Candidates should be highly motivated, with a strong publication record, and an interest in developing applications of computational techniques.
The position is available immediately. Funding is secure until mid-July 2009, with the potential for extension. Postdoctoral salaries start at €39000, with higher salaries dependent on qualifications and experience. The position will remain open until filled.
To apply, please send a CV plus covering letter to Dr Ken Brown at the address below. For informal discussion, please contact Ken Brown (k.brown@cs.ucc.ie), copying labadmin@4c.ucc.ie.
Dr Ken Brown
Cork Constraint Computation Centre
14 Washington Street West
Cork
Ireland
Tel: (+353) 021-425-5465
4C Tel: (+353) 021-425-5400
http://www.cs.ucc.ie/~kb11
Cork Constraint Computation Centre
14 Washington Street West
Cork
Ireland
Tel: (+353) 021-425-5465
4C Tel: (+353) 021-425-5400
http://www.cs.ucc.ie/~kb11
Next 10 Years of Constraint Programming
Communicated by L. Bordeaux
URL: http://www.cs.brown.edu/people/pvh/CPL/Papers/v1/papers.html
We are delighted to announce that a special issue on the Next 10 Years of Constraint Programming:
has appeared as Volume 1 of Constraint Programming Letters:
Constraint Programming Letters (CPL) provides an international forum for the electronic publication of high-quality scholarly articles on constraint programming. All published papers are freely available online.
This special issue collects invited papers following the workshop on "The next 10 years of constraint programming" that took place at the International Conference on Constraint Programming in Nantes, France in 2006.
The special issue editors,
Lucas Bordeaux, Barry O’Sullivan, Pascal Van Hentenryck
New Survey on Functional Logic Programming and Curry
Communicated by Michael Hanus
URL: http://www.informatik.uni-kiel.de/~mh/papers/ICLP07.html
Dear Colleagues,
since I know that many of you have cited my old survey on functional logic programming (appeared in 1994 in JLP), I'd like to point you to a new survey that I have recently published at ICLP that addresses some important more recent topics in FLP. Of course, not all of the numerous works in this area could be covered in such a space-limited survey, but I hope it could be useful as an entry point, e.g., for your students. You'll find it in my web pages at
Best regards,
Michael
Michael
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Special Issue on Visual Languages and Logic
Communicated by Phil Cox
Diagrams of one sort or another have always been used as aids to abstract reasoning. Although many are informal mnemonics, reminding their authors about structures and relationships they have observed or deduced, considerable research effort has been expended on formalising graphical notations so that they may play a more central role in the application of logic to problems.
While early work concentrated on diagrammatic representations of logic as a more intuitive or revealing paper-based replacement for textually represented logic, research in this area now mostly involves notations specifically designed for computer implementation either as computational models or interface languages. Examples include relational and existential graphs (C.S. Peirce), conceptual graphs (J.F. Sowa), various flavours of semantic networks such as conceptual dependency graphs (R. Schank), graphical deduction systems such as clause interconnectivity graphs (S. Sickel), Venn diagrams, Euler diagrams, constraint diagrams, and visual logic programming languages.
Following the success of the 2007 Workshop on Visual Languages and Logic (VLL 2007) (http://vivid.cs.dal.ca/VLL), we are soliciting, for a Special Issue of JOLLI, papers in which the primary focus is research at the intersection of logic and visual languages. In particular, we invite VLL 2007 authors to submit updated and expanded versions of their papers. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Graphical notations for logics (either classical or non-classical, such as first or higher order logic, temporal logic, description logic, independence friendly logic, spatial logic)
- Diagrammatic reasoning
- Theorem proving
- Formalisation (syntax, semantics, reasoning rules)
- Expressiveness of visual logics
- Visual logic programming languages
- Visual specification languages
- Applications
- Tool support for visual logics
If you intend to submit a paper, please email a title, abstract and keywords to VLL@cs.dal.ca by November 30, 2007. This information will be used to assign referees in advance of the paper deadline.
Your paper may be up to 30 pages, must conform to the JOLLI style, and be emailed as a PDF to VLL@cs.dal.ca by January 31, 2008. Note that although PDF is not the required format for the final copies of accepted papers, it is the most convenient for reviewing.
If you have any questions about this Special Issue, please email VLL@cs.dal.ca.
Philip Cox, Dalhousie University; Andrew Fish and John Howse, University of Brighton
Guest Editors, Special Issue on Visual Languages and Logic
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Guest Editors, Special Issue on Visual Languages and Logic
Journal of Logic, Language and Information
Programming Multi-Agent Systems in AgentSpeak using Jason
Communicated by Rafael H. Bordini
Title: Programming Multi-Agent Systems in Agent Speak using Jason
Authors: Rafael H. Bordini, Jomi Fred Hübner, and Michael Wooldridge
Reference: John Wiley / Hardback / 273 pages / October 2007 / ISBN10: 0470029005 / ISBN13: 9780470029008
URL: http://jason.sf.net/jBook/
Since it was introduced by Rao in 1996, AgentSpeak has proved to be one of the most influential programming languages available for multi-agent systems. AgentSpeak provides the features of complex
PRS-style reactive planning systems in a simple and elegant framework. This book provides a practical introduction to programming in AgentSpeak using Jason, a fully-featured, freely-available
implementation of AgentSpeak. The book provides a brief introduction to multi-agent systems and the BDI agent architecture on which AgentSpeak is based, and then describes Jason’s AgentSpeak variant and
provides a comprehensive, practical guide to using Jason for programming multi-agent systems. The book is illustrated with many practical examples, the source code for which is available at the book's web site.
This essential guide to AgentSpeak and Jason will be invaluable to senior undergraduate and postgraduate students studying multi-agent systems. The book will also be of interest to software engineers, designers, developers, and programmers interested in multi-agent systems.
CONTENTS
Preface
1 Introduction
2 The BDI Agent Model
3 The Jason Agent Programming Language
4 Jason Interpreter
5 Environments
6 Communication and Interaction
7 User-Defined Components
8 Advanced Goal-Based Programming
9 Case Studies
10 Formal Semantics
11 Conclusions
A Reference Guide
Bibliography
New MU-TERM site and web interface
Communicated by Salvador Lucas
URL: http://zenon.dsic.upv.es/muterm
We are pleased to announce the new web site for the termination tool MU-TERM:
http://zenon.dsic.upv.es/muterm
which includes a web interface for the tool:
http://zenon.dsic.upv.es/muterm/muterm.php
as well as standalone (graphical and command-line) versions of the tool over several platforms (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows).
MU-TERM is a tool which can be used to verify a number of termination properties of Term Rewriting Systems via different reduction relations which can be associated to them:
- termination of rewriting,
- termination of innermost rewriting,
- termination of context-sensitive rewriting,
- termination of innermost context-sensitive rewriting
- Modular treatment of termination problems at the TRS level
- Dependency pairs and Context-sensitive dependency pairs (including SCC treatment, narrowings, usable rules, etc.)
- RPO and CS-RPO termination
- Polynomial termination using polynomials with non-negative integer and rational coefficients
- Polynomial constraint solving using SAT and CSP techniques
Journal of Symbolic Computation
Automated Deduction: Decidability, Complexity, Tractability
Communicated by V. Sofronie-Stokkermans
URL: http://www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/~sofronie/addct-special-issue.html
This special issue is devoted to the scope of the workshop ADDCT'07: Automated Deduction: Decidability, Complexity, Tractability, which took place in Bremen (Germany) on July 2007. Topics of interest include
(but are not restricted to):
- Decidability:
- decision procedures based on logical calculi such as: resolution, rewriting, tableaux, sequent calculi, or natural deduction
- decidability in combinations of logical theories
- specialized decision procedures
- Complexity:
- complexity analysis for fragments of first- (or higher) order logic
- complexity analysis for combinations of logical theories (including parameterized complexity results)
- Tractability (in logic, automated reasoning, algebra, ...)
- Application domains for which complexity issues are essential (verification, security, databases, ontologies, ...)
Submission procedure
Submission to this special issue is completely open. We expect original articles (typically 15-30 pages; submission of larger papers will be evaluated depending on editorial constraints) that present high-quality contributions that have not been previously published in an archival venue and that must not be simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere.Submissions must comply with JSC's author guidelines. They must be written in English and should be prepared in LaTeX using the "Elsevier Article Class (elsart.cls)" with "JSC add-on style (yjsco.sty)" and "Harvard style references (elsart-harv.bst)". The package "JSC LaTex" (that contains all the necessary style files and a template) can be obtained from http://www4.ncsu.edu/~hong/jsc/JSC_LaTex_2007_Mar_12.zip
The introduction of the paper MUST explicitly address the following questions in succinct and informal manner:
- What is the problem?
- Why is the problem important?
- What has so far been done on the problem?
- What is the contribution of the paper on the problem?
- Is the contribution original? Explain why.
- Is the contribution non-trivial? Explain why.
The deadline for submissions is April 6th, 2008.
Guest editors:
Silvio Ghilardi (U. Milano)Ulrike Sattler (U. Manchester)
Viorica Sofronie-Stokkermans (MPI,Saarbruecken)
Ashish Tiwari (Menlo Park)
Contact
For further informations please send an e-mail to Viorica Sofronie-Stokkermans (e-mail sofronie@mpi-inf.mpg.de)
Reactive Systems: Modelling, Specification, and Verification
Communicated by LICS
URL: http://www.cs.aau.dk/rsbook/
REACTIVE SYSTEMS: MODELLING, SPECIFICATION AND VERIFICATION
by Luca Aceto, Anna Ingolfsdottir, Kim G. Larsen and Jiri Srba
Cambridge University Press,
ISBN-13: 9780521875462.
A textbook providing a balanced introduction to the theory and practice of concurrency for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. It describes various approaches for the modelling, specification and verification of reactive systems, their strengths and weaknesses, and when they are best used. The book has arisen from various courses taught in Iceland, Denmark and elsewhere, and is designed to give students a broad introduction to the area, with
exercises throughout.
Journal of Multiagent and Grid Systems
Agents, Web Services and Ontologies: Integrated Methodologies
Communicated by V. Mascardi
Guest Editors
Matteo Baldoni (baldoni@di.unito.it)
Cristina Baroglio (baroglio@di.unito.it)
Viviana Mascardi (mascardi@disi.unige.it)
Cristina Baroglio (baroglio@di.unito.it)
Viviana Mascardi (mascardi@disi.unige.it)
Aims of the special issue
The realisation of distributed, open, dynamic, and heterogeneous software systems is a challenge that involves many facets, from formal theories to software engineering and practical applications. Scientists in various research areas are attacking this problem from different perspectives.In particular, in the last years service-oriented software technologies, and especially Web Services, have been gaining popularity, becoming a leading paradigm in the development of IT solutions. The current web service technology, however, does not yet supply valid methodologies for developing cross-enterprise systems which require complex interactions among the parties nor it supports the automatic retrieval and composition of web services as well as desired. These issues, actually, demand for semantic descriptions and for a formal representation of organizational aspects that are at the heart of research in other fields, such as Agents and Multi-Agent Systems and Ontologies, where the concepts of autonomy, proactivity, heterogeneity, interaction, inference, flexibility, semantic matching have a central role.
Each of the mentioned research fields has its specific competencies, among them:
- MAS face the representation of distributed, open systems from an abstract point of view, supplying theories, methodologies, and tools for modelling systems of heterogeneous, interacting entities.
- Agent-Oriented Software Engineering studies how existing techniques can be adapted or extended in order to engineer this kind of complex distributed systems, and offers methodologies, notations, and techniques suitable for analysing, modelling, prototyping and finally implementing them following the "Multiagent System" metaphor.
- Web Services provide an already available and widely accepted infrastructure for supporting interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network, allowing heterogeneous software applications written in various programming languages and running on various platforms both to expose themselves as WSs, and to use other WSs.
- The need of sharing either a common, sophisticated conceptualisation of the application domain, or just a simple vocabulary, is more and more often addressed by means of Ontologies. Ontologies are a key technology both in the Agent-Oriented Software Engineering field, where they are used to make the exchange of meaningful information among autonomous entities possible, and in the Web Services field, where they represent the means for moving from Web Services to Semantic Web Services.
This Special Issue is a follow-up of the MALLOW-AWESOME'007 workshop, held at Durham, UK in September 2007 (http://awesome007.disi.unige.it), which has provided a discussion forum for researchers working on Agents, Web Services, and Ontologies. A selection of extended and revised works presented at the workshop will be considered for publication, together with new works, which have not been presented at MALLOW-AWESOME and that will be submitted by answering to this call.
Topics
Topics of interest are all those concerned with integrated and/or cross-field approaches for engineering Agents, Web Services, Ontologies. They include, but are not limited to:- Semantic Web Agents and Semantic Web Services
- Integrated Methodologies, Notations, Infrastructures, Languages for Agents, WSs, Ontologies
- Enhancement of communication among Agents/WSs by means of Ontologies
- Formal aspects for Agents, WSs and Ontologies
- Service-Oriented Multiagent systems
- Implementing agents with WS technologies
- Agent-inspired Declarative Approaches to WSs or SOA
- Exploiting AOSE for engineering WSs and Ontologies
- Orchestrations, choreographies, and Interaction Protocols: languages, theory and practice
- Formal Description of contracts and negotiation policies
- Tools for Semantic Web Services/Agents
- Applications of Semantic Web Services/Agents
Instructions for Authors
Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts by email as PDF files to the Special Issue guest editors (baldoni@di.unito.it, baroglio@di.unito.it, mascardi@disi.unige.it). Please, clearly state in the email message both the journal name and the special issue title.If you mean to contribute to the special issue, please, send an email, containing *tentative title*, *authors*, *short abstract*, and *keywords*, to the guest editors as soon as possible (and no later than January, 15th, 2008).
Manuscripts must be formatted according to the guidelines that can be retrieved through the link http://www.iospress.nl/html/15741702.php (accessible also through the MALLOW-AWESOME'007 workshop web page: http://awesome007.disi.unige.it/specialissue.html).
Notice that paper submission is to be done by email to the guest editors and *not* by means of the IOS Press submission system, which can be used only for papers that are not to be included in a special issue.
Important dates
- Deadline for abstracts: January, 15th, 2008.
- Deadline for submission: February, 20th, 2008
- Deadline for review: March, 24th, 2008
Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics
Logic and AI: Session in Honor of Victor Marek's 65th Birthday
Communicated by M. Truszczynski
URL: http://isaim2008.unl.edu/
This session is held on Jan 3 and Jan 4, 2008, ias part of the Tenth International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics, ISAIM 2008 (http://isaim2008.unl.edu).
Organizers: Michael Kaminski (Technion) and Miroslaw Truszczynski (University of Kentucky)
Speakers:
- Howard Blair (Syracuse
University)
Hybrid Programs: Symmetrically Combining Natively Discrete and Continuous Truth-values - Alex Bochman (Holon Academic Institute of Technology)
Default Logic Generalized and Simplified - Thomas Eiter (Technische Universität Wien)
Exploiting Conjunctive Queries in Description Logic Programs - Mel Fitting (City University of New York)
Explicit Logics of Knowledge and Conservativity - Michael Gelfond (Texas Tech University)
Integrating Answer Programming and Constraint Logic Programming - Michael Kaminski (Technion)
A Non-Preferential Semantics of Non-Monotonic Modal Logic - Johann Makowsky (Technion)
From Hilbert's Program to a Logic Toolbox - Ilkka Niemela (Helsinki University of Technology)
Stable Models and Difference Logic - Jeff Remmel (University of California at San Diego)
A Mathematician Looks at Answer Set Programming -
John Schlipf (University of Cincinnati)
and
Marc Denecker (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
Complexity of First Order ID-Logic - Marian Srebrny (Polish Academy of Sciences)
SAT as a programming environment for linear algebra and cryptography - Miroslaw
Truszczynski (University of Kentucky)
Hyperequivalence of programs and operators