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AIList Digest Volume 2 Issue 104
AIList Digest Monday, 13 Aug 1984 Volume 2 : Issue 104
Today's Topics:
Hardware - Cellular Automata,
LISP - Interlisp/Zetalisp Compatibility,
Applications - Computerized Conferencing,
Robotics - Dogs/Ants & Underwater Robots,
Expert System - Construction Kit,
Reports - Stanford Math/CS Library,
Project Report - AI/Speech Research at Edinburgh
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Date: 9 Aug 84 15:40:58-PDT (Thu)
From: hplabs!tektronix!tekchips!mock @ Ucb-Vax.arpa
Subject: Hardware Implementations of Cellular Automata
Article-I.D.: tekchips.1014
I'm looking for information concerning hardware implementations of 2d
cellular automata. Specifically, do implementations tend to be just
`life' rules or are they the more general case, and what sort of
speed/resolution statistics have been achieved? I would appreciate any
sort of information about particular implementations.
Jeff Mock
tektronix!tekchips!mock
------------------------------
Date: Fri 10 Aug 84 09:17:25-PDT
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Reply-to: AIList-Request@SRI-AI
Subject: Re: Hardware Implementations of Cellular Automata
The Golay processor has been around for about two decades; it's a
hard-wired hexagonal processor performing logical operations on boolean
image data. I believe that various medical image processing
systems offer shrink/expand cycles for image overlays that can be
similarly programmed, and there are both software languages and
parallel-processor projects aimed at permitting easy specification
of parallel local operations on image arrays.
-- Ken Laws
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 9 August 1984, 22:01-EDT
From: Robert P. Krajewski <RpK%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: Interlisp/Zetalisp Compatibility
Since I have only a limited knowledge of Interlisp, this will be sketchy at
best.
(1) All arguments to functions in Interlisp are optional. In ZetaLisp (Common
Lisp), optional arguments are specified in the function definition with special
keywords.
(2) The NTH function is different. (Rather miscellaneous, eh ?)
(3) Interlisp does not have a package system. (In this respect, it is like
MacLisp and Franz Lisp.) The modern MacLisp descendants (ZetaLisp and NIL, and
the Common Lisp dialects) contain such a system, which is basically a way of
managing the namespace of symbols with ``packages,'' the equivalent of old
obarrays. To give a quick example, suppose one has a symbol in the CELLOPHANE
package. From within that package, one can refer to a symbol called WRAP in
that package by WRAP, and refer to outside as CELLOPHANE:WRAP. It can get much
more hairy than this (what about global symbols like CONS ?), but that's the
general idea.
(4) Both Interlisp (in the workstatation implementations) and Zetalisp have
facilities for processes and windows, but they are obviously handled in
different ways. The same is true for hash tables and macros.
(5) Zetalisp does not have a DWIM facility; the error handler is powerful
enough to enable the user to recover intelligently from errors while being
informed of the condition. In keeping with the MacLisp tradition, the basic
unit for organising source code is the file, and a display editor that is
highly integrated with the Lisp environment is used. In contrast, structure
editors are used in Interlisp to edit code.
I hope somebody more familiar with Interlisp can answer your question. In
terms of compatibility, there doesn't seem to be much of it between the two
dialects..
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 84 16:54:52 EDT
From: "Martin R. Lyons" <991@NJIT-EIES.MAILNET>
Subject: Computerized Conferencing and AI
In response to Liam Bannon's (bannon@nprdc) message of July 21:
We at the Computerized Conferencing and Communications Center of
New Jersey Institute of Technology operate the Electronic Information
Exchange System (EIES). Over our six years of operation, we have
studied how people interact not only with the system, but with others,
and how the two modes differ. In most instances, it has been found
that Computer Conferencing increases productivity and creativity, by
allowing not only ongoing discussion, but also 24 hour access.
Over the past few months, I have begun looking into the
feasibility of integrating an AI subsystem into our most recent
effort, EIES II, a new, improved version of EIES. At this point, the
design is such to provide user aid, to field questions (English text)
from the user, and try to answer those as intelligently as possible.
Most of our questions to the online consultants here take the form of
'Where do I find the conference on IBM PCs?', etc.
I have available two lists: the first is the research
reports available from CCCC, and the second major works by Murray
Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz, two of the original designers of EIES.
S. R. Hiltz is also a sociologist and along with Elaine Kerr has
carried out extensive research in user interactions and usage. In
order to spare the list the 300+ lines of references, I am not
including them here. If you would like a copy drop me a message and
I'll send them to you. Please feel free to contact me here if I can
be of any help.
MAILNET: Marty@NJIT-EIES.Mailnet
ARPA: Marty%NJIT-EIES.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
USPS: Marty Lyons, CCCC/EIES @ New Jersey Institute of Technology,
323 High St., Newark, NJ 07102 (201) 596-EIES
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 84 18:20:00-PDT (Tue)
From: pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!mihran @ Ucb-Vax.arpa
Subject: Re: Robotics - (nf)
Article-I.D.: uicsl.12300002
Forget about the dogs. Even an ant is quite sophisticated compared to
the capabilities we want the robots to have, at least in the near
future. I was watching one of these nature shows on PBS the other day
which was showing the behaviour of the ants underground. I would guess
that if the technology develops to the level of sophistication that
allows us to implement the sensory-motor coordination that these ants
have, our robots will probably be more than adequate to perform with
great skill the necessary tasks at an assembly line or at a dangerous
mine.
------------------------------
Date: 6 Aug 1984 13:31:56-EDT
From: Chuck.Thorpe at CMU-CS-IUS
Subject: Underwater Robots
[Forwarded from the CMU-C bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.]
The Mobile Robot Lab has just set a new record for proven depth capability
for a CMU-built submersible robot. Neptune, running under an umbrella taped
to its camera mast, operated successfully at depths up to .1" during the
recent rain storm.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Aug 84 14:49:23-PDT (Tue)
From:
Subject: expert system construction kit
Article-I.D.: uvicctr.501
E X P E R T S Y S T E M C O N S T R U C T I O N K I T
The knowledge independent LISP-based expert system called PORTAL
is now available for distribution from the Laboratory for Computer
Enhanced Cognition, University of Victoria.
It is a simple rule-based system, with a forward inference
mechanism, and includes supporting utilities for a rule and entity
editor as well as some analytical tools for validating your knowledge
base.
The system has been written in Franz LISP under UNIX 4.1 BSD, and
can be obtained on a non-commercial, non-disclosure, as-is basis for a
nominal fee. The distributed version includes source and executable
code, and a MAKE system for implementation.
We are offering this system in the interests of making a simple
but complete expert system construction tool available to research
laboratories, so that the difficult problems of knowledge acquisition
can be attacked on a broad front.
The fee is $200.00 for universities, and $500.00 for other
laboratories. Interested parties should send a purchase order for the
amount indicated, or call.
Ernie Chang
Laboratory for Computer Enhanced Cognition August 1, 1984
Department of Computer Science
University of Victoria
Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y2
Canada
604-721-7232 (7233) ...uw-beaver!uvicctr!echang
...ubc-vision!uvicctr!echang
References:
1. Chang, EJH, McNeely M, Gamble K. An Expert System for Liver Function
Test. Proc. 4th Jerusalem Conference on Information Technology, 1984.
2. Chang, EJH, McNeely M, Gamble K. Strategies for Choosing the Next
Test in an Expert System. Proc. American Association for Medical
Systems and Informatics Conference, San Francisco, May 1984.
------------------------------
Date: Thu 9 Aug 84 23:34:13-PDT
From: C.S./Math Library <LIBRARY@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
Subject: Latest Math & CS Library "New Reports List" posted on-line.
[Forwarded from the Stanford bboard by Laws@SRI-AI.]
The latest Math & Computer Science Library "New Reports List" has been
posted on-line. The file is "<LIBRARY>NEWTRS" at SCORE, "NEWTRS[LIB,DOC]"
at SAIL, "<CSD-REPORTS>NEWTRS" at SUMEX, and "<LIBRARY>NEWTRS" at SIERRA.
In case you miss a reports list, the old lists are being copied to
"<LIBRARY>OLDTRS" at SCORE and "<LIBRARY>OLDTRS" at SIERRA where they will
be saved for about six months.
If you want to see any of the reports listed in the "New Reports List,"
either come by the library during the display period mentioned or send a
message to LIBRARY at SCORE, giving your departmental address and the
six-digit accession numbers of the reports you want to see, and we will
check them out in your name and send them to you as soon as they are available.
The library receives technical reports from over a hundred universities
and other institutions. The current batch includes - among others -
reports from:
Carnegie-Mellon University. Department of Computer Science.
Carnegie-Mellon University. Robotics Institute.
Harvard University. Center for Research in Computing Technology.
IBM. Research Division.
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA).
Mathematisch Centrum (Amsterdam).
U.K. National Physical Laboratory. Division of Information Technology
and Computing.
Universitaet Hamburg. Institut fuer Informatik.
Universitaet Karlsruhe. Institut fuer Informatik.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Computer
Science.
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Department of Computer Science.
- Richard Manuck
Math & Computer Science Library
Building 380 - 4th Floor
LIBRARY at SCORE
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 2-Aug-84 16:23:21-BST
From: HENRY T HPS (on ERCC DEC-10) <hthompson%edxa@ucl-cs.arpa>
Subject: Project Report - AI/Speech Research at Edinburgh
[Edited by Laws@SRI-AI.]
A major 5-year research and development project in speech recognition is to
start at the University of Edinburgh in October 1984 under the direction of
Dr John Laver and Dr Henry Thompson, in conjunction with members of the
Departments of Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering and
Linguistics.
The goal of the project is a machine assisted speech transcription system -
a text input device starting from spoken input, and depending on incremental
interactions between user and system to develop a final text.
Computing resources will include 2 VAX 11/750s running UNIX(TM Bell
Laboratories) and a network of Xerox 1108s running Interlisp-D. The eventual
target is the Alice parallel reduction machine.
In addition to the ten people already involved, seventeen new
positions are available. For further information, write Dr J. Laver,
Centre for Speech Technology Research, Department of Linguistics, Adam
Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, SCOTLAND, or call
031 667-1011 x6380.
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End of AIList Digest
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