welcome to · sarabjot singh anand, [email protected] agnar aamodt, [email protected]...

I J C A I - 9 9 C O N F E R E N C E P R O G R A M

3

Welcome to

IJCAI-99, the Sixteenth InternationalJoint Conference on ArtificialIntelligence, is sponsored by the Inter-national Joint Conferences on ArtificialIntelligence, Inc. (IJCAII), and the Scan-dinavian AI societies: Danish AI Society(DAIS), Finnish AI Society (FAIS), Norwegian AI Society (NAIS), and theSwedish AI Society (SAIS). A NordicScientific Advisory Committee (NISAC)was established to organize IJCAI-99.

IJCAII sponsors biennial conferences onartificial intelligence, that are the mainforums for presenting AI-research resultsto the international AI community. Previous conference sites were

Washington, D.C., USA (1969) London, England (1971) Stanford, California, USA (1973) Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR (1975) Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (1977) Tokyo, Japan (1979) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (1981) Karlsruhe, Germany (1983) Los Angeles, California, USA (1985)Milan, Italy (1987) Detroit, Michigan, USA (1989)

IJCAI-99 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Conference Chair Luigia Carlucci Aiello, Università di Roma ”LaSapienza” (Italy)

Program Chair Thomas Dean, Brown University (USA)

Conference Arrangements Chair Anita Kollerbaur, Stockholm University and RoyalInstitute of Technology (Sweden)

Local Arrangements Chair Carl Gustaf Jansson, Stockholm University andRoyal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

Secretary-Treasurer Ronald J. Brachman, AT&T Labs - Research(USA)

Nordic IJCAI Scientific Advisory Committee Chair Erik Sandewall, Linköping University (Sweden)

IJCAI-99 ADVISORY COMMITTEE

ChairLuigia Carlucci Aiello, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” (Italy)

Maria Gini, University of Minnesota (USA)Hiroaki Kitano, Sony Computer Science Laboratory (Japan)Teuvo Kohonen, Helsinki University of Technology(Finland)Jean Claude Latombe, Stanford University (USA)Nada Lavrac, J. Stefan Institute (Slovenia)Juzar Motiwalla, Kent Ridge Digital Labs (Singapore)Bernd Neumann, Universität Hamburg (Germany)Karen Sparck Jones, FBA, University of Cambridge (England)Pietro Torasso, University of Turin (Italy)J.R. Quinlan, RuleQuest Research Pty Ltd andUniversity of New South Wales (Australia)Tibor Vámos, Hungarian Academy of Sciences(Hungary)David Waltz, NEC Research Institute (USA)

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP

Sydney, Australia (1991) Chambery, Savoie, France (1993) Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1995) Nagoya, Japan (1997)

The 2001 conference is scheduled for Seattle, Washington, USA, August 5–10.

IJCAI-99 gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of the following corporations and organizations:

MAIN SPONSORS:

Ericsson

Microsoft

The Swedish National Board for Industrialand Technical Development – NUTEK

The Swedish Research Council of Engineering Sciences – TFR

SPONSORS:

Wallenberg Foundation

Computas

Swedish Institute for Computer Science, SICS

AT&T Labs-Research

Department of Computer and InformationScience, Linköping University

Department of Computer and SystemsSciences, Stockholm University and RoyalInstitute of Technology

Department of Information Science, UppsalaUniversity

SAAB Automobile AB

Sun Micro Systems AB

University College of Karlskrona/Ronneby

C O N F E R E N C E P R O G R A M I J C A I - 9 9

4

IJCAI-99 PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Program Chair Thomas Dean, Brown University (USA)

Agnar Aamodt, Norwegian University of Scienceand Technology (NTNU, Norway)Susanne Biundo, University of Ulm (Germany)Joost Breuker, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)Joachim M. Buhmann, University of Bonn (Germany)Eugene Charniak, Brown University (USA)Henrik Christensen, Royal Institute of Technology(Sweden)Rina Dechter, University of California/Irvine (USA)Pedro Domingos, Instituto Superior Tecnico (Portugal)Boi Faltings, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland)Ian Frank, Electrotechnical Laboratory (Japan)Dan Geiger, Technion (Israel) and MicrosoftResearch (USA)Malik Ghallab, LAAS-CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) (France)Randy Goebel, University of Alberta (Canada)Radu Horaud, CNRS and INRIA Rhone-Alpes(France)Liliana Ironi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche(CNR, Italy)

Finn V. Jensen, Aalborg University (Denmark)Peter Jonsson, Linköping University (Sweden)Hiroaki Kitano, Sony Computer Science Laboratory (Japan)Daphne Koller, Stanford University (USA)Sarit Kraus, Bar-Ilan University (Israel) and University of Maryland (USA)David Leake, Indiana University (USA)David McAllester, AT&T Labs-Research (USA)Robert Milne, Intelligent Applications (UK)Andrew Moore, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)Leora Morgenstern, IBM (USA)Maria Teresa Pazienza, University of Rome ”TorVergata” (Italy)Henri Prade, Institute de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse (IRIT, France)Daniela Rus, Dartmouth College (USA)Claude Sammut, University of New South Wales(Australia)Marco Schaerf, University of Rome ”La Sapienza”(Italy)Noel Sharkey, University of Sheffield (UK)Sam Steel, University of Essex (UK)Kilian Stoffel, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland)Peter Struss, Technical University of Munich and OCC’M Software (Germany)

Moshe Tennenholtz, Technion (Israel)Volker Tresp, Siemens AG (Germany)Toby Walsh, University of Strathclyde (UK)

Tutorial ChairBoi Faltings, Ecole Polytechnique Federale deLausanne (EPFL, Switzerland)

Workshop ChairSebastian Thrun, Carnegie Mellon University(USA)

Additional Volunteer help to Program CommitteeKee-Eung Kim, Brown University (USA)Vibhu O. Mittal, Just Research & Carnegie MellonUniversity (USA)

IJCAII Organization, Local Arrangements Committee, andNISAC (Nordic IJCAI Scientific Advisory Committee) are presented on page 24.

CITY ON WATERThe noblest part of Stockholm is built on a few small islands. The picture showsStockholm’s old town facing Lake Mälaren. In the back to the left is a glimpse ofthe Royal Palace with its flag. To the right are the towers of the “Storkyrkan”and “Riddarholm’s” churches.

JAN

AS

PL

UN

D

5

I J C A I - 9 9 C O N F E R E N C E P R O G R A M

MORNING AFTERNOON EVENING

Friday, July 30 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pm

Saturday, July 31 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmWorkshops 8.30 am – 5 pm

Sunday, August 1 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmWorkshops 8.30 am – 5 pmTutorials 9 am – 1 pm 2 pm – 6 pm

Monday, August 2 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmWorkshops 8.30 am – 5 pmTutorials 8 am – Noon 1 pm – 5 pm

Tuesday, August 3 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmTechnical Sessions 9 am – Noon 2 pm – 5 pmRoboCup Semifinals 9 am – 6 pmExhibition 10 am – 5 pm

Wednesday, August 4 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmTechnical Sessions 9 am – 12.30 pmRoboCup Finals 12.45 pm – 5.15 pmExhibition 10 am – 5 pm

Thursday, August 5 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmTechnical Sessions 9 am – Noon 2 pm – 5 pmExhibition 10 am – 5 pm

Friday, August 6 Registration 7.30 am – 6 pmTechnical Session 9 am – 12.30 pm 2 pm – 5.30 pm

Conference at a glance

The Opening ceremony will beheld at City Conference Centrefollowed by a Reception in theCity Hall of Stockholm.

The Opening Ceremony willbe chaired by Luigia CarlucciAiello, the Conference Chair ofIJCAI-99.

The Reception will be hostedby the City of Stockholm.

• the Technical Program, August 3 –August 6, including technical paperpresentations by top scientists in thefield, invited speakers and awardwinners

• the Tutorial Program, August 1 –August 2

• the Workshop Program, July 31 –August 2

Business Meeting12.30 – 2 pm, open to all attendees.

Opening Ceremony:City Conference Centre, 5.30 pmReception: City Hall of Stockholm

The Computers and Thought Lecture, 5.30 pm

Conference Dinner:Boat from the City at 6 pm followedby dinner at the Vaxholm Fortress

Research Excellence Lecture, 5.30 pmFollowed by ”Robo Culture” – Musicand Dance, 7 pm – 8 pm

IJCAI-99 is composed of various complementary programs:

• the Exhibition, August 3 – August 6

• RoboCup-99 to be held from July 29to August 4 at the same venue asIJCAI-99.

W O R K S H O P S I J C A I - 9 9

6

Workshop Program(By invitation only)

Track Saturday, July 31 Sunday, August 1 Monday, August 28.30 am – 5 pm 8.30 am – 5 pm 8.30 am – 5 pm

KRR-1: Practical Reasoning and RationalityJohn Bell, [email protected]

Track “KRR”

Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

KRR-2: Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Action and ChangeMichael Thielscher, [email protected]

KRR-3: Hot Topics in Spatialand Temporal ReasoningHans W. Guesgen,[email protected]

KRR-4: Qualitative and ModelBased Reasoning for Complex Systems and Their ControlRobert Milne,[email protected]

KRR-5: Ontologies and Problem-Solving Methods: LessonsLearned and Future TrendsRichard Benjamins,[email protected]

Track “ML”

Machine Learning

ML-1: Statistical MachineLearning for Large-Scale Optimization Justin Boyan,[email protected]

ML-2: Neural, Symbolic, and Reinforcement Methods for Sequence LearningC. Lee Giles,[email protected] Ron Sun, [email protected]

ML-3: Support Vector MachinesCraig Saunders,[email protected]

ML-4: Learning About UsersÅsa Rudström, [email protected]

ML-5: Automating the Construction of Case Based ReasonersSarabjot Singh Anand,[email protected] Agnar Aamodt,[email protected] David W. Aha, [email protected]

Track “IRF”

Information Retrieval and Filtering

IRF-1: Intelligent Information IntegrationDieter Fensel, [email protected]

IRF-2: Machine Learning for Information FilteringThorsten Joachims,[email protected]

IRF-3: Text Mining: Foundations,Techniques and ApplicationsRonen Feldman, [email protected]

Norra Latin, room 451 Norra Latin, room 454 Norra Latin, room 454



Norra Latin, room 358 Norra Latin, room 358


The workshops will take place July 31–August 2. The program

includes 29 workshops arranged in nine tracks centered

around broad research topics and problem domains.

Participation is limited to those invited by the workshop

organizers prior to the conference.

Workshop Chair: Sebastian ThrunPlease note that the house name – Folkets Hus or Norra Latin –and the room number is required to identify a room.

I J C A I - 9 9 W O R K S H O P S

7

Track Saturday, July 31 Sunday, August 1 Monday, August 28.30 am – 5 pm 8.30 am – 5 pm 8.30 am – 5 pm

Track “ABS”

Agent-BasedSystems

ABS-1: Agent Mediated Electronic CommerceAlexandros [email protected] Sierra, [email protected] [email protected]

ABS-2: Agent CommunicationLanguagesFrank Dignum, [email protected] B. Chaib-draa, [email protected]

ABS-3: Learning About, From and With Other AgentsJose M. Vidal, [email protected]

ABS-4: The Third International Workshop on RoboCupManuela M. Veloso, [email protected]

ABS-5: Team Behavior and Plan RecognitionSimon Goss,[email protected]

Track “PLAN”

Planning, Scheduling, and Control

PLAN-1: Adjustable Autonomy SystemsDavid Kortenkamp,[email protected]

PLAN-2: Scheduling and Plan-ning Meet Real-time Monitoringin a Dynamic and Uncertain WorldAbdel-Illah Mouaddib,[email protected] Thierry Vidal, [email protected]

Track “ROB”

Robotics

Track “BUS”

AI and Business

Track “NLP”

Natural LanguageProcessing

Other Topics

ROB-1: Robot Action PlanningMichael Beetz, [email protected] Joachim Hertzberg,[email protected]

ROB-2: Adaptive Spatial Representations of Dynamic EnvironmentsGerhard Kraetzschmar,[email protected]

ROB-3: Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robot NavigationAlessandro Saffiotti,[email protected]

BUS-1: Knowledge Managementand Organizational MemoryRose Dieng,[email protected] Nada Matta,[email protected]

BUS-2: Intelligent Workflow and Process Management: The New Frontier for AI in BusinessMamdouh Ibrahim,[email protected] Drabble,[email protected]

NLP-2: Knowledge and Reasoning in Practical DialogueSystemsJan Alexandersson, [email protected]

EMP: Empirical AIAchim Hoffmann,[email protected]

CASA: Computational AuditoryScene AnalysisFrank Klassner, [email protected]

SATIS: Non Binary Constraints Jean-Charles Regin, [email protected] Nuijten, [email protected]

Folkets Hus, room 204 Folkets Hus, room 204



Folkets Hus, room 203 Folkets Hus, room 203 Folkets Hus, room 203


Norra Latin, room 461


T U T O R I A L S I J C A I - 9 9

8

Tutorial Program

Sunday, August 1 Monday, August 2

9.00 am – 1.00 pm 2.00 pm – 6.00 pm

A3 Collaborative Multiagent SystemsBarbara Grosz, Charlie Ortiz

8.00 am – Noon 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm

A1 Agents and Multiagents in theInternet and IntranetsMichael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh

The IJCAI-99 Tutorial Program features 20 four-hour tutorials

that explore evolving techniques. Each tutorial is taught by

experienced scientists and practitioners in AI. The tutorials

are organized in five main themes A–E with four tutorials in

each theme. The themes are:

A) Multiagent Systems,

B) Situated Artificial Intelligence,

C) Planning and Scheduling,

D) Basic Technologies, and

E) Knowledge Extraction and Discovery.

A2 Ontological EngineeringAsunción Gómez-Pérez

A4 Principles of Agents and Multiagent Systems: Social, Ethical, and LegalAbstractions and ReasoningMichael N. Huhns, Munindar P. Singh

E1 Evaluating Machine Learning and Knowledge DiscoveryFoster Provost, David Jensen

D1Neural Networks for DataStructures: Principles andApplicationsPaolo Frasconi, Alessandro Sperduti

C1 Practical Planning SystemsSteve Chien, Brian Drabble

B1 Robotic Soccer: The ResearchChallenges and the Concrete Simulation and Real Robot PlatformsPeter Stone, Manuela Veloso

E2 Practical Text MiningRonen Feldman

D2Probabilistic Argumentation SystemsJurg Kohlas, Rolf Haenni

C2 Knowledge-based SchedulingSteve Chien, Stephen Smith

B2 Intelligent Multimedia Interface AgentsWolfgang Wahlster, Elisabeth André

E3 Automatic Text Summarization: Methods, Systems and EvaluationUdo Hahn, Inderjeet Mani

D3Learning Bayesian Networks from DataNir Friedman, Moises Goldszmidt

C3 Recent Advances in AI Planning: A Unified ViewSubbarao Kambhampati

B3 Behavior-based RoboticsMaja Mataric, Ronald Arkin

E4 Introduction to InformationExtraction TechnologyDouglas E. Appelt, David J. Israel

D4Solving AI Problems with SatisfiabilityIan Gent, Toby Walsh

C4 Economically Founded Multiagent SystemsTuomas W. Sandholm

B4 User-Adaptive Systems: An Integrative OverviewAnthony Jameson

Norra Latin, room 456Norra Latin, room 456Norra Latin, room 456Norra Latin, room 456




Folkets Hus, room 307Folkets Hus, room 307Folkets Hus, room 307Folkets Hus, room 307

Please note that the house name – Folkets Hus or Norra Latin –and the room number is required to identify a room.Tutorial Chair: Boi Faltings

I J C A I - 9 9 O P E N I N G C E R E M O N Y

9

IJCAI-99 Opening CeremonyThe Opening Ceremony will start at 5.30 pm August 2 in Room ABC – FolketsHus followed, by a Reception in the CityHall of Stockholm.

The Opening Ceremony will be chairedby Luigia Carlucci Aiello, the ConferenceChair of IJCAI-99. The Reception will behosted by the City of Stockholm.

The Conference Installation NorraLatin was earlier a high school. This elegantly renovated school

house is now one of Sweden’s topconference installations.

The IJCAI-99 reception will be held in“Blå Hallen” (The Blue Lounge) of Stockholm’s City Hall on the shore ofLake Mälaren. City Hall is where Stockholm’s politicalleadership work. Here you can also findlarge, exclusive reception rooms. The largest are “Blå Hallen” and “Gyllene Salen” (The Golden Room). City Hall was built during 1911–1923.

JAN ASPLUND

LARS HANSSON

T E C H N I C A L P R O G R A M I J C A I - 9 9

10

Technical Program

The IJCAI Award for ResearchExcellence and the Computers andThought Award are made by the IJCAIIBoard of Trustees, upon recommenda-tion by the IJCAI Awards SelectionCommittee, which consists this year of

C. Raymond Perrault (Menlo Park, USA)Ross Quinlan (Sydney, Australia)Erik Sandewall (Linköping, Sweden)Wolfgang Wahlster (Saarbrücken, Germany,Chair)

The IJCAI Awards Selection Committeereceives advice from members of the IJCAIAwards Review Committee, who commenton the accuracy of the nomination mate-rial and provide additional informationabout the nominees. The IJCAI AwardsReview Committee is the union of theformer Trustees of IJCAII, the IJCAI-99Advisory Committee, the Program Chairsof the last three IJCAI conferences, andthe past recipients of the IJCAI Award forResearch Excellence and the IJCAI Distin-guished Service Award, with nomineesexcluded.

IJCAI COMPUTERS AND THOUGHT AWARD

The Computers and Thought Award ispresented at IJCAI conferences to out-standing young scientists in artificialintelligence. The award was establishedwith royalties received from the book“Computers and Thought”, edited byEdward Feigenbaum and Julian Feldman;it is currently supported by income fromIJCAII funds.

Past recipients of this honor have beenTerry Winograd (1971), Patrick Winston(1973), Chuck Rieger (1975), DouglasLenat (1977), David Marr (1979), GeraldSussman (1981), Tom Mitchell (1983),Hector Levesque (1985), Johan de Kleer(1987), Henry Kautz (1989), RodneyBrooks (1991), Martha Pollack (1991),Hiroaki Kitano (1993), Sarit Kraus(1995), Stuart Russell (1995), and LeslieKaelbling (1997).

The winner of the 1999 IJCAI Comput-ers and Thought Award is Nicholas R.Jennings, Professor at the Department of Electronic Engineering of the QueenMary & Westfield College, University ofLondon, UK.

Professor Jennings is recognized for hiscontributions to practical agent architec-tures and his applied work in the field ofmulti-agent systems. He will deliver alecture entitled Agent-Based Computing:Promise and Perils on the evening ofAugust 3, 1999.

IJCAI AWARD FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

The IJCAI Award for Research Excellenceis given at the IJCAI conference to a sci-entist who has carried out a program ofresearch of consistently high quality, yield-ing several substantial results. Past reci-pients of this award are John McCarthy(1985), Allen Newell (1989), Marvin Minsky (1991), Raymond Reiter (1993),Herbert Simon (1995), and Aravind Joshi(1997).

The winner of the 1999 IJCAI Award for Research Excellence is Judea Pearl,Professor of Computer Science at theUniversity of California Los Angeles, USA.Professor Pearl is recognized for hisfundamental work on heuristic search,reasoning under uncertainty, and causality.He will deliver a lecture entitledReasoning with Cause and Effect on theevening of August 5, 1999.

IJCAI-99 Awards

The IJCAI-99 Technical Program includes talks by two IJCAI-99

award winners and 12 invited speakers and presentations of

195 papers, including two distinguished papers that are

receiving publishers’ prizes. Paper sessions are organized in

17 themes. A thematic overview of the schedule appears on

pages 14 – 15, including the awards lectures and invited talks.

The detailed program follows on pages 16 – 23.

Program Chair: Thomas Dean.

I J C A I - 9 9 T E C H N I C A L P R O G R A M

11

THE DONALD E. WALKER DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD

The IJCAI Distinguished Service Awardwas established in 1979 by the IJCAIITrustees to honor senior scientists in AIfor contributions and service to the fieldduring their careers. Previous recipientshave been Bernard Meltzer (1979), ArthurSamuel (1983), Donald Walker (1989),Woodrow Bledsow (1991) and Daniel G.Bobrow (1993).

In 1993, the IJCAI Distinguished Ser-vice Award was renamed the Donald E.Walker Distinguished Service Award inmemory of the late Donald E. Walker, who shaped the IJCAII organization as aSecretary-Treasurer.

At IJCAI-99, the Donald E. WalkerDistinguished Service Award will be givento Wolfgang Bibel, Professor of Intellecticsat the Department of Computer Science ofthe Darmstadt Institute of Technology inGermany.

Reasoning With Cause and EffectJudea Pearl

The talk will summarize models, principles, and tools thatwere found useful in applications involving causal reasoning,including knowledge mining, policy prediction, explanation,and counterfactuals. The principles build on structural-model semantics in which actions are interpreted as surgerieson mechanisms and causes transmit the impact of suchsurgeries.Thursday, August 5, 5.30 pm–6.30 pm

IJCAI-99 AWARD FOR RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

IJCAI-99 COMPUTERS AND THOUGHT AWARD

DISTINGUISHED PAPERS

Agent-Based Computing: Promise and PerilsNick Jennings

Agent-based computing represents an exciting new synthesisboth for Artificial Intelligence and, more generally, ComputerScience. It has the potential to significantly improve thetheory and the practice of modeling, designing, and imple-menting complex systems. In this talk we explore whatmakes agents such an appealing and powerful conceptualmodel and argue that scaleable software systems requireagents that can perform effectively in dynamic and uncertainenvironments interacting via flexible organizationalstructures.Tuesday, August 3, 5.30 pm–6.30 pm

Learning in Natural LanguageDan Roth

The paper presents a learning theory account of the majorstatistical approaches to learning in natural language. A class ofLinear Statistical Queries (LSQ) hypotheses is defined and manystatistical learners used in natural language are shown to be inthis class. The coherent view of learning approaches in this con-text may help to develop better learning methods and an under-standing of the role of learning in natural language inferences. Friday, August 6, 2 pm–3.30 pm

A Distributed Case-Based Reasoning Application for Engineering Sales SupportIan Watson and Dan Gardingen

This paper describes the implementation of a distributed case-based reasoning application that supports engineering sales staff.The application operates on the world wide web and uses theXML standard as a communications protocol between client and server side Java applets. The paper describes the distributedarchitecture of the application, the two case retrieval techniquesused, its implementation, trial and roll-out, detailing the benefitsit has provided to the company. Friday, August 6, 11 am–12.30 pm

Judea Pearl

Nick Jennings

Dan Roth

Ian Watson

Folkets Hus, Room ABC

Folkets Hus, Room ABC

Norra Latin, Room Aulan

Folkets Hus, Room C

As a pioneering researcherin automated deduction,Professor Wolfgang Bibelis recognized for his out-standing contributions andservice to the internationalAI community including hiscreation of ECCAI, whichhas operated since 1982 asan umbrella organization of27 European societies forartificial intelligence.

The award will be given during theopening ceremony, Monday August 2,5.30 pm.

12


Minoru Asada, Osaka University and Henrik I. Christensen, The Royal Institute ofTechnology in Stockholm and Centre forAutonomous Systems

Robotics in the Home, Office, and Playing Field

Robots are moving into our everyday lifefor tasks like entertainment, cleaning, anddelivery. To arrive at such systems, a num-ber of key scientific questions must beanswered and technological breakthroughsmust be accomplished. The areas of ser-vice robotics and the RoboCup eachdefine common tasks that allow evalua-tion of systems promoting integration ofrobotics and AI. In this talk the applica-tion domains are introduced, recent resultsare reviewed, and issues for future genera-tions are outlined.Wednesday, August 4, 11 am – Noon

Folkets Hus, Room C

Luca Console, Universitá di Torino and Oskar Dressler, OCC´M Software GmbH

Model-based Diagnosis in the Real World:Lessons Learned and Challenges Remaining

Model-based diagnosis techniques havestarted to enter industrial applications andcommercial tools. We focus on pointingout the reasons behind these successes, interms of both technical solutions andindustrial needs. The lessons learned andopen problems hampering wider applica-tion suggest future theoretical and practi-cal research.Friday, August 6, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Rroom C

Neil Gershenfeld, Physics and Media Group at the MIT Media Lab

Natural Intelligence

While the study of machine intelligencehas focused on the programming of general-purpose computers, digital logicrepresents a small subset of the latentcapability of natural systems to manipu-late information. I present some of theremarkable computational tasks that canbe performed by the evolution of simpleclassical and quantum systems, and con-sider the implications for inference andinterfaces of bringing rich sensory infor-mation into more conventional computingenvironments.Friday, August 6, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Room A

Stig B. Hagström, Stanford UniversityFrom Teaching to Learning: The Role of AI in an Educational Paradigm Shift

Simultaneously with the information“explosion” in the last few decades therehas been a corresponding “explosion” inhigher education in most countries. Thisgrowth in number of students has essen-tially followed an “extrapolation” oftraditional teaching modes.

There have, however, been a number ofattempts to apply modern electronic toolsto promote a change described as “fromteaching to learning”.

In a joint effort Stanford University andselected Swedish universities are promot-ing a shift towards learning throughLearning Laboratories. The talk will illus-trate some basic ideas and concepts behindthis collaboration and the Learning Labo-ratories.Wednesday, August 4, 11 am – Noon

Folkets Hus, Room A

David Heckerman, Microsoft ResearchLearning Bayesian Networks

For two decades, Bayesian networks con-structed by experts have been used inintelligent systems with a fair amount ofsuccess. More recently, researchers havedeveloped techniques for constructingBayesian networks (both parameters andstructure) from a combination of expertknowledge and data. These techniques cansignificantly reduce the cost of building an intelligent system and can be used toidentify causal relationships from non-experimental data – an important break-through for science. I will describe someof these techniques, concentrating onmethods borrowed from Bayesian statis-tics, and discuss real-world applications.Tuesday, August 3, 4 pm – 5 pm

Folkets Hus, Room A

John Hooker, Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnifying Optimization and ConstraintSatisfaction

The optimization methods of operationsresearch and the constraint satisfactionmethods of artificial intelligence have aunifying theme: both fields exploit the fun-damental and related dualities of searchvs. inference and strengthening vs. relax-ation. This allows the two fields to be seenas special cases of a more general app-roach and suggests new methods that fitinto neither OR nor AI.Thursday, August 5, 4 pm – 5 pm

Folkets Hus, Room A

Invited Speakers

13


Radu Horaud, CNRS and INRIA Rhone-AlpesNon-Metric Dynamic Vision: A Paradigmfor Representing Motion in PerceptionSpace

The representation of motion is of centralimportance in many artificial intelligence-related fields such as robotics, computergraphics, virtual reality, neurophysiology,and so forth. A crucial and not yet com-pletely understood issue is, however, themeasurement of motion. Computer visionhas proposed a paradigm called “dynamicvision”. Within this paradigm, the vastmajority of solutions consider a singlecamera. In this talk we advocate that apair of uncalibrated cameras should bepreferred.

The motion measurement and represen-tation issued from such a camera pair aremore tractable from a mathematical pointof view and can be used in a wider rangeof applications, such as visual guidance ofrobots and vehicles, visual surveillance,and virtualized reality.Thursday, August 5, 4 pm – 5 pm

Folkets Hus, Room C

Lydia Kavraki, Rice University Computational Approaches to Drug Design

The rational approach to pharmaceuticaldrug design begins with an investigation ofthe relationship between chemical struc-ture and biological activity. Informationgained from this analysis is used to aid thedesign of new or improved drugs. Compu-tational chemists involved in rational drugdesign routinely use an array of programsto compute geometric and chemical char-acteristics of molecules. In this talk Idescribe areas of computer-aided drugdesign that are important to computa-tional chemists but are also rich inalgorithmic problems and have attractedthe attention of computer scientists.Tuesday, August 3, 4 pm – 5 pm

Folkets Hus, Room C

Robert Schapire, AT&T Labs – ResearchTheory and Practice of Boosting

Boosting is a general method for produc-ing a very accurate classification rule bycombining rough and moderately inaccu-rate “rules of thumb.” While rooted in atheoretical framework of machine learn-ing, boosting has been found empiricallyto perform rather well. In this talk, I willintroduce the boosting algorithmAdaBoost and explain the underlyingtheory of boosting, including an explana-tion of why boosting often does not sufferfrom overfitting. I also will describe somerecent applications of boosting.Tuesday, August 3, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Room C

Donia Scott, University of BrightonThe Multilingual Generation Game: Authoring Fluent Texts in Unfamiliar Languages

This talk presents Multilingual NaturalLanguage Generation (M-NLG), which isproving successful in its attempts toachieve the same goals as machine transla-tion (the more familiar alternative technol-ogy for automating multilingual documentproduction) while avoiding many of itspitfalls.Thursday, August 5, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Room C

Oliviero Stock, IRST, Instituto per la RicercaScientifica e Tecnologica

Was the Title of This Talk Generated Automatically? Prospects for IntelligentInterfaces and Language

Language processing has a large practicalpotential when we realize that, forinstance, it can be integrated with othermodalities made available by a computer.Intelligent interfaces are artifacts that(often) practically embody these concepts.Some prototypes are presented and chal-lenges for the future are discussed.Tuesday, August 3, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Room A

Moshe Tennenholtz, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology

Realizing Electronic Commerce: From Economic and Game-TheoreticModels to Working Protocols

Mechanism design is the branch of eco-nomics and game theory that deals withthe design of economic settings and proto-cols. In this talk we review some of themechanism design literature and discusssome essential steps in the adaptation ofeconomic mechanisms to non-cooperativecomputational environments, such as theInternet.Thursday, August 5, 9 am – 10 am

Folkets Hus, Room A


14

Theme IJCAI-99 Awards and Distinguished Papers

Invited Talks Automated ReasoningRoom 456

Case-Based Reasoning Room C

Theme Machine LearningRoom A/Room Aulan

10.30 - 12.00, Room ALearning for Information Retrieval 1

14.00 - 15.30, Room ALearning for Information Retrieval 2

Natural Language Processing, Room Aulan

Planning and SchedulingRoom 307

9.00 - 10.00 Planning 1

10.30 - 12.00 Planning 2: Exploiting Domain Structure

14.00 - 15.30 Planning 3: Disjunctive Planning

16.00 - 17.00 Scheduling

Qualitative Reasoningand Diagnosis, Room B

Technical Program Overview

11.00 - 12.30, Room AReinforcement Learning 2: Applications

14.00 - 15.30, Room AAutomated Discovery

16.00 - 17.30, Room AData Mining

10.30 12.00, Room AClassification Learning 2: SupportVector Machines

10.30 - 12.00, Room AulanNeural Networks 1

14.00 - 15.30, Room AReinforcement Learning 1

14.00 - 15.30, Room AulanHybrid Systems: Neural and Symbolic Processing

16.00 - 17.00, Room AulanNeural Networks 2

9.00 - 10.30, Room AClassification Learning 1

11.00 - 12.30 Natural Language Processing 2

14.00 - 15.30Natural Language Processing 3:Learning

16.00 - 17.30Natural Language Processing 4:Information Retrieval

9.00 - 10.30Natural Language Processing 1

9.00 - 10.30Planning 4: Uncertainty and TimeConstraint

11.00 - 12.30Qualitative Reasoning 2: Spatial Reasoning

14.00 - 15.30Diagnosis 1

16.00 - 17.30Diagnosis 2

14.00 - 15.30Qualitative Reasoning 1

Friday August 6

Thursday August 5

Wednesday August 4

Tuesday August 3

Friday August 6

Thursday August 5

Wednesday August 4

Tuesday August 3

11-12.30, Room CDistinguished Paper, Ian Watsonand Dan Gardingen, in sessionKnowledge-based Applications,Application 1

14.00 - 15.30, Room AulanDistinguished Paper, Dan Roth, in session Natural Language Processing 3, Learning

17.30 - 18.30, Room ABCAward for Research Exellence,Judea Pearl

17.30 - 18.30, Room ABCComputers and Thought Award, Nicholas R. Jennings

9.00 - 10.00Neil Gershenfeld, Room A

Luca Console and Oskar Dressler (joint talk), Room C

9.00 - 10.00Moshe Tennenholz, Room A

Donia Scott, Room C

16.00 - 17.00John Hooker, Room A

Radu Horaud, Room C

11.00 - 12.00Stig Hagström, Room A

Minoru Asada and Henrik Christiansen (joint talk),Room C

9.00 - 10.00 Oliviero Stock, Room A

Robert Schapire, Room C

16.00 - 17.00 David Heckerman, Room A

Lydia Kavraki, Room C

9.00 - 10.30Reasoning About Action 1

11.00 - 12.30Reasoning About Action 2

14.00 - 15.30 Belief Revision

16.00 - 17.30Resource-Bounded Reasoning

9.00 - 10.00Description Logics 2

10.30 - 12.00Description Logics 1

14.00 - 15.30Semantics and Models

9.00 - 10.30Non-Monotonic Reasoning 2

11-12.30Non-Monotonic Reasoning 3:Model Checking Methods

10.30 - 12.00Theorem Proving

14.00 - 15.30Non-Monotonic Reasoning 1

10.30 - 12.00Case-Based Reasoning 1

14.00 - 15.30Case-Based Reasoning 2


15

Knowledge-based Applications, Room C

Challenge Papers Room B

Cognitive ModellingRoom 307

Constraint SatisfactionRoom Aulan/Room B

Distributed AIRoom 307

Computer Game PlayingRoom 307

Robotics and PerceptionRoom C

Search Room 203/204

Software AgentsRoom 203/204

Temporal ReasoningRoom 203/204

Uncertainty and ProbabilisticReasoning, Room 203/204

10.30 - 12.00Decision-Theoretic Applications toControlling Computation

14.00 - 15.30Probabilistic Reasoning and Learning

10.30 - 12.00Robotics and Perception 3



9.00 - 10.30Search 1

11.00 - 12.30Search 2

14.00 - 15.30Genetic Algorithms

16.00 - 17.30Software Agents

14.00 - 15.30Temporal Reasoning

9.00 - 10.00Alternative Uncertainty Formalisms

10.30 - 12.00Solving Control Problems

9.00 - 10.30 Markov Decision Processes 1

11.00 - 12.30 Markov Decision Processes 2

10.30 - 12.00Challenge Papers 4: Bridging PlanSynthesis Paradigms

10.30 - 12.00 Challenge Papers 1

14.00 - 15.30 Challenge Papers 2: PropositionalReasoning and Search

16.00 - 17.00Challenge Papers 3: PropositionalReasoning and Search/Planning

11.00 - 12.30Cognitive Modeling 1

14.00 - 15.30Cognitive Modeling 2

16.00 - 17.00Cognitive Modeling 3:Spatial Reasoning

9.00 - 10.30, Room BConstraint Satisfaction 3

11.00 - 12.30, Room BConstraint Satisfaction 4

10.30 - 12.00, Room AulanConstraint Satisfaction 1

14.00 - 15.30 Room AulanConstraint Satisfaction 2

9.00 - 10.30 Economic Models 2: Auctions

10.30 - 12.00Multi-Agent Systems 2

14.00 - 15.30Economic Models 1

11.00 - 12.30Multi-Agent Systems 1

9.00 - 10.00Game Playing 1

16.00 - 17.00Game Playing 2

11.00 - 12.30Applications 1




16

Technical Program: Tuesday, August 3

Time Room:

A B CFolkets Hus Folkets Hus Folkets Hus

INVITED TALK• Was the Title of This Talk Generated

Automatically? Prospects for Intelligent Interfaces and Language.Oliviero Stock, IRST, Instituto per la RicercaScientifica e Tecnologica

CHALLENGE PAPERSChallenge Papers 1

• Adaptive Web Sites: Conceptual Cluster MiningMike Perkowitz and Oren Etzioni

• An Assessment of Submissions Made to the Predictive Toxicology Evaluation ChallengeAshwin Srinivasan, Ross D. King and DouglasW. Bristol

• Two Fielded Teams and Two Experts: A Robo-Cup Challenge Response from the TrenchesMilind Tambe, Gal Kaminka, Stacy Marsella,Ion Muslea and Taylor Raines

INVITED TALK• Theory and Practice of Boosting

Robert Schapire, AT&T Labs – Research

9 am – 10 am

COMPUTER AND THOUGHT LECTURE• Agent-Based Computing: Promise and Perils

Nicholas R. Jennings, Professor at the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, UK.

5.30 pm – 6.30 pm

4 pm – 5 pm

2 pm – 3.30 pm

10.30 am – Noon

INVITED TALK• Learning Bayesian Networks

David Heckerman, Microsoft Research

MACHINE LEARNINGLearning for Information Retrieval 2

• The Cluster-Abstraction Model: UnsupervisedLearning of Topic Hierarchies from Text DataThomas Hofmann

• Latent Class Models for Collaborative FilteringThomas Hofmann and Jan Puzicha

• Conceptual Grouping in Word Co-occurrenceNetworksAnne Veling and Peter van der Weerd

MACHINE LEARNINGLearning for Information Retrieval 1

• A Machine Learning Approach to BuildingDomain-Specific Search EnginesAndrew McCallum, Kamal Nigam, Jason Rennieand Kristie Seymore

• Domain-Specific Keyphrase ExtractionEibe Frank, Gordon W. Paynter, Ian H.Witten,Carl Gutwin and Craig G.Nevill-Manning

• Learning Rules for Large Vocabulary WordSense DisambiguationGeorgios Paliouras, Vangelis Karkaletsis andConstantine D. Spyropoulos

CHALLENGE PAPERSChallenge Papers 3: Propositional Reasoning and Search / Planning

• On the Use of Integer Programming Models inAI PlanningThomas Vossen, Michael Ball, Amnon Lotemand Dana Nau

• The LPSAT Engine & its Application to Resource PlanningSteven A. Wolfman and Daniel S. Weld

CHALLENGE PAPERSChallenge Papers 2: Propositional Reasoning and Search

• Compiling Knowledge into DecomposableNegation Normal FormAdnan Y. Darwiche

• Using Walk-SAT and Loop-Back CSP for Cryptographic Key SearchFabio Massacci

• SAT-Encodings, Search Space Structure, andLocal Search PerformanceHolger H. Hoos

INVITED TALK• Computational Approaches to Drug Design

Lydia Kavraki, Rice University

CASE-BASED REASONINGCase-Based Reasoning 2

• PEBM: A Probabilistic Exemplar Based ModelAndres F. Rodriguez and Sunil Vadera

• Toward a Probabilistic Formalization of Case-Based InferenceEyke Hüllermeier

• A Lattice Machine Approach to AutomatedCasebase Design: Marrying Lazy and EagerLearningHui Wang, Werner Dubitzky, Ivo Dntsch andDavid A. Bell

CASE-BASED REASONINGCase-Based Reasoning 1

• Demand-Driven Discovery of AdaptationKnowledgeDavid McSherry

• Dynamic Refinement of Feature Weights UsingQuantitative Introspective LearningZhong Zhang and Qiang Yang

• Remembering to Add: Competence-preservingCase-Addition Policies for Case Base MaintenanceJun Zhu and Qiang Yang


17

Room:

Aulan 456 203 / 204 307Norra Latin Norra Latin Folkets Hus Folkets Hus

CONSTRAINT SATISFACTIONConstraint Satisfaction 1

• A Comparison of Structural CSP Decomposition MethodsGeorg Gottlob, Nicola Leone and FrancescoScarcello

• Solving Strategies for Highly Symmetric CSPsPedro Meseguer and Carme Torras

• Extending Consistent Domains of Numeric CSPHelene Collavizza, Franois Delobel and Michel Rueher

AUTOMATED REASONINGTheorem Proving

• Lemma Generation for Model Elimination by Combining Top-Down and Bottom-Up InferenceMarc Fuchs

• Cooperation of Heterogeneous Provers Joerg Denzinger and Dirk Fuchs

• UPML: A Framework for Knowledge SystemReuseDieter Fensel, Richard Benjamins, Enrico Motta and Bob Wielinga

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGDecision-Theoretic Applications to Controlling Computation

• Reactive Control of Dynamic Progressive ProcessingShlomo Zilberstein and Abdel-Illah Mouaddib

• Pre-sending Documents on the WWW: A Comparative StudyDavid W. Albrecht, Ingrid Zukerman and Ann E. Nicholson

• Continual Computation Policies for AllocatingOffline and Real-Time ResourcesEric Horvitz

PLANNING AND SCHEDULINGPlanning 1

• Dealing with Geometric Constraints in Game-Theoretic PlanningPatrick Fabiani and Jean-Claude Latombe

• Computational Complexity of Planning and Approximate Planning in Presence ofIncompletenessChitta R. Baral, Vladik Kreinovich and Raul Trejo


• The Difference All-Difference MakesKostas Stergiou and Toby Walsh

• The Symmetric Alldiff ConstraintJean-Charles Regin

• Branch and Bound with Mini-Bucket HeuristicsKalev Kask and Rina Dechter

AUTOMATED REASONINGNonmonotonic Reasoning 1

• Complexity Results for Propositional ClosedWorld Reasoning and Circumscription fromTractable Knowledge BasesSylvie Coste-Marquis and Pierre Marquis

• Credulous Nonmonotonic InferenceAlexander Bochman

• Preferred Arguments are Harder to Computethan Stable ExtensionYannis Dimopoulos, Bernhard Nebel and Francesca Toni

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGProbabilistic Reasoning and Learning

• On the Role of Context-Specific Independencein Probabilistic InferenceNevin L. Zhang and David Poole

• Exploratory Interaction with a Bayesian Argumentation SystemIngrid Zukerman, Richard McConachy, Kevin B. Korb and Deborah Pickett

• Learning Probabilistic Relational ModelsNir Friedman, Lise Getoor, Daphne Koller andAvi Pfeffer

PLANNING AND SCHEDULINGScheduling

• Cyclic SchedulingDenise L. Draper, Ari K. Jonsson, David P. Clements and David E. Joslin

• An Iterative Sampling Procedure for ResourceConstrained Project Scheduling with TimeWindowsAmedeo Cesta, Angelo Oddi and Stephen F. Smith

PLANNING AND SCHEDULINGPlanning 3: Disjunctive Planning

• Reachability, Relevance, Resolution and thePlanning as Satisfiability ApproachRonen Brafman

• Improving Graphplan's Search with EBL & DDB Techniques Subbarao Kambhampati

• To Encode or Not to Encode – Linear PlanningRonen Brafman and Holger H. Hoos

PLANNING AND SCHEDULINGPlanning 2: Exploiting Domain Structure

• The Detection and Exploitation of Symmetry in Planning ProblemsMaria Fox and Derek Long

• From Interaction Data to Plan Libraries: AClustering ApproachMathias Bauer

• SHOP: Simple Hierarchical Ordered PlannerDana S. Nau, Yue Cao, Amnon Lotem, andHector Munoz-Avila

Please note that the house name – Folkets Hus or Norra Latin –and the room number is required to identify a room.


Technical Program: Wednesday, August 4

Time Room:


MACHINE LEARNINGClassification Learning 1

• Decision Tree Grafting From the All Tests ButOne PartitionGeoffrey Webb

• Constructive Induction: A Version Space-based ApproachMichele Sebag

• Process-Oriented Estimation of GeneralizationErrorPedro M. Domingos


• Improving Search Using Indexing: A Studywith Temporal CSPsNikos Mamoulis and Dimitris Papadias

• A New Tractable Subclass of the Rectangle AlgebraPhilippe Balbiani, Jean-Francois Condotta andLuis Farinas del Cerro

• Maximal Tractable Fragments of the RegionConnection Calculus: A Complete AnalysisJochen Renz

ROBOTICS AND PERCEPTIONRobotics and Perception 1

• Multiple Path Coordination for Mobile Robots: A Geometric AlgorithmStephane Leroy, Jean-Paul Laumond and Thierry Simeon

• Physical Constraints on Human Robot InteractionMichita Imai, Kazuo Hiraki and Tsutomu Miyasato

• State Space Construction by Attention ControlHiroshi Ishiguro, Masatoshi Kamiharako andToru Ishida

9 am – 10.30 am

11 am – 12.30 pm INVITED TALK• From Teaching to Learning: The Role of AI

in an Educational Paradigm ShiftStig B. Hagström, Stanford University


• Path Consistency on Triangulated ConstraintGraphsChristian Bliek and Djamila Sam-Haroud

• A New Method to Index and Query SetsJürg Hoffmann and Jana Koehler

• Constraint Propagation and Value Acquisition:Why We Should Do it InteractivelyRita Cucchiara, Marco Gavanelli, Evelina Lamma, Paola Mello, Michela Milanoand Massimo Piccardi

INVITED TALK• Robotics in the Home, Office, and Playing

FieldMinoru Asada, Osaka University andHenrik I. Christensen, The Royal Institute ofTechnology in Stockholm and Centre for Autonomous Systems


19

Room:


NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSINGNatural Language Processing 1

• Situated Grounded Word SemanticsLuc Steels and Frederic Kaplan

• Lean Semantic InterpretationUdo Hahn, Martin Romacker and Katja Markert

• The Role of Saliency in Generating NaturalLanguage ArgumentsChris Reed

AUTOMATED REASONINGNonmonotonic Reasoning 2

• Abducing Priorities to Derive Intended ConclusionsKatsumi Inoue and Chiaki Sakama

• Maximum Entropy and Variable StrengthDefaultsRachel A. Bourne and Simon Parsons

• On the Relations Between Probabilistic Logicand p-CMSPierre Hansen, Brigitte Jaumard and A.D Parreira

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGMarkov Decision Processes 1

• Computing Near Optimal Strategies for Stochastic Investment Planning ProblemsMilos Hauskrecht, Gopal Pandurangan and Eli Upfal

• Multi-Value-Functions: Efficient AutomaticAction Hierarchies for Multiple Goal MDPsAndrew W. Moore, Leemon Baird and Leslie P. Kaelbling

PLANNING AND SCHEDULINGPlanning 4: Uncertainty and Time Constraints

• A Possibilistic Planner that Deals with Non-Determinism and ContingencyEmmanuel Guere and Rachid Alami

• Highly Reactive Decision Making: A Gamewith TimeThierry Vidal and Silvia Coradeschi

• Real-Time Problem-Solving with ContractAlgorithmsShlomo Zilberstein, Francois Charpillet andPhilippe Chassaing

The Conference Dinner will be at Vax-holm Fortress on August 4 to a cost of600 SEK, including VAT. Access to theFortress will be by boat, leaving fromNybrokajen in the City’s center at 6 pmfor a one-hour cruise through the Stock-holm Archipelago.

A traditional Nordic Dinner will beserved in ancient, historic surroundings.Return to Stockholm will again be byboat, departing between 10 pm and mid-night.

Informal dress is recommended. Pleaseregister early, as space is limited.

Conference DinnerSwedish king Gustav Vasa decided that

the Fortress should be built and the workbegan on the original structure in 1548,but there were many alterations over thecenturies. The present-day fortificationsdate back to 1863, and the mighty wallsare built from 30,000 solid granite blocks.The fortress has been attacked twice, bythe Danish navy in 1612 and by the Russ-ian navy in 1719.

The courtyard, originally used formilitary drilling, is now a place for events,theatre and music. Today the Fortress isan exciting and popular tourist attraction.

A view of the Vaxholm Fortressand the island Vaxholmen inthe inner part of the StockholmArchipelago.

AUTOMATED REASONINGNonmonotonic Reasoning 3: Model Checking Methods

• On the Complexity of Model Checking for Propositional Default Logics: New Results andTractable CasesRobert Baumgartner and Georg Gottlob

• Stable Model Checking Made EasyChristoph E. Koch and Nicola Leone

• Model Checking for Nonmonotonic Logics:Algorithms and ComplexityRiccardo Rosati

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGMarkov Decision Processes 2

• A Sparse Sampling Algorithm for Near-Optimal Planning in Large Markov Decision ProcessesMichael Kearns, Yishay Mansour and Andrew Ng

• Computing Factored Value Functions for Policies in Structured MDPsDaphne Koller and Ronald Parr

• Bounding the Suboptimality of Reusing SubproblemMichael H. Bowling and Manuela M. Veloso

DISTRIBUTED AIMulti-Agent Systems 1

• Sequential Optimality and Coordination inMultiagent SystemsCraig Boutilier

• A Protocol-Based Semantics for an AgentCommunication LanguageJeremy Pitt and Abe Mamdani

• Towards Flexible Multi-Agent Decision-Making Under Time PressureSanguk Noh and Piotr J. Gmytrasiewicz


20

Technical Program: Thursday, August 5

Time Room:


INVITED TALK• Realizing Electronic Commerce:

From Economic and Game-Theoretic Modelsto Working ProtocolsMoshe Tennenholtz, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology

CHALLENGE PAPERSChallenge Papers 4: Bridging Plan Synthesis Paradigms

• Unifying SAT-based and Graph-based PlanningHenry Kautz and Bart Selman

• Temporal Planning with Mutual ExclusionReasoningDavid E. Smith and Daniel S. Weld

INVITED TALK• The Multilingual Generation Game: Authoring

Fluent Texts in Unfamiliar LanguagesDonia Scott, University of Brighton


• Markov Localization Using CorrelationKurt Konolige and Ken Chou

• Tracking Many Objects with Many SensorsHanna Pasula, Stuart J. Russell, Michael Ostland and Ya'acov Ritov

9 am – 10 am

10.30 am – Noon

2 pm – 3.30 pm

4 pm – 5 pm

5.30 pm – 6.30 pm RESEARCH EXCELLENCE LECTURE• Reasoning with Cause and Effect

Judea Pearl, Professor at the Computer Science Department of the University of California Los Angeles, USA.

INVITED TALK• Unifying Optimization and Constraint

SatisfactionJohn Hooker, Carnegie Mellon University

MACHINE LEARNINGReinforcement Learning 1

• A Near-Optimal Poly-Time Algorithm for Learning in Stochastic GamesRonen Brafman and Moshe Tennenholtz

• Efficient Reinforcement Learning in FactoredMDPsMichael Kearns and Daphne Koller

• Convergence of Reinforcement Learning withGeneral Function ApproximatorsVassilis A. Papavassiliou and Stuart J. Russell

MACHINE LEARNINGClassification Learning 2: Support VectorMachines

• Transduction with Confidence and CredibilityCraig Saunders, Alex Gammerman and Volodya Vovk

• Leave-One-Out Support Vector MachinesJason Weston

QUALITATIVE REASONING AND DIAGNOSISQualitative Reasoning 1

• Semi-Quantitative Comparative AnalysisIvayla Vatcheva and Hidde de Jong

• A Qualitative-Fuzzy Framework for NonlinearBlack-box System IdentificationRiccardo Bellazzi, Raffaella Guglielmann andLiliana Ironi

• Generalized Physical Networks for AutomatedModel BuildingMatthew Easley and Elizabeth Bradley

INVITED TALK• Non-Metric Dynamic Vision: A Paradigm for

Representing Motion in Perception SpaceRadu Horaud, CNRS and INRIA Rhone-Alpes


• A Spatiotemporal/Spatiotemporal-FrequencyInterpretation of Apparent Motion ReversalTodd R. Reed

• A Context-dependent Attention System for aSocial RobotCynthia Breazeal and Brian Scassellati


21

Room:


MACHINE LEARNINGNeural Networks 1

• A Potts Spin MFT Network Solving MultipleCausal InteractionsLotfi Ben Romdhane

• SARDSRN: A Neural Network Shift-ReduceParserMarshall R. Mayberry and Risto Miikkulainen

AUTOMATED REASONINGDescription Logics 2

• Multi-Dimensional Description LogicsFrank Wolter and Michael Zakharyaschev

• On the Relation of Resolution and TableauxProof Systems for Description LogicsUllrich Hustadt and Renate A. Schmidt

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGAlternative Uncertainty Formalisms

• Towards a Possibilistic Logic Handling of PreferencesSalem Benferhat, Didier Dubois and Henri Prade

• Incremental Learning in a Fuzzy IntelligentSystemYi L. Murphey and TieQi Chen

COMPUTER GAME PLAYINGGame Playing 1

• Temporal Coherence and Prediction Decay inTD LearningDonald F. Beal and Martin C. Smith

• Domain-Dependent Single-Agent SearchEnhancementsAndreas Junghanns and Jonathan Schaeffer

MACHINE LEARNINGNeural Networks 2

• Improved Classification for a Data FusingKohonen Self Organizing Map Using a Dynamic Thresholding TechniqueOdin Taylor, John MacIntyre and John Tait

• Generalized Connectionist Associative MemoryNigel P. Duffy and Arun K. Jagota

MACHINE LEARNINGHybrid Systems: Neural and Symbolic Processing

• Preference Moore Machines for Neural FuzzyIntegrationStefan Wermter

• Processing Symbols at Variable Speed inDUAL: Connectionist Activation as Power SupplyAlexander A. Petrov and Boicho N. Kokinov

• Hybrid Thematic Role Processor: SymbolicLinguistic Relations Revised by ConnectionistLearningJaao Luis G. Rosa and Edson Franozo

AUTOMATED REASONINGSemantics and Models

• Preferential Semantics for Causal SystemsMaurice Pagnucco, Pavlos Peppas, Mikhail Prokopenko, Norman Y. Foo and Abhaya C. Nayak

• Query Evaluation and Progression in AOLKnowledge BasesGerhard Lakemeyer and Hector J. Levesque

• Axiomatic Foundations for Qualitative/OrdinalDecisions with Partial PreferencesAdriana M. Zapico

AUTOMATED REASONINGDescription Logics 1

• Reasoning in Expressive Description Logicswith Fixpoints Based on Automata on InfiniteTreesDiego Calvanese, Giuseppe De Giacomo, andMaurizio Lenzerini

• Reasoning with Concrete DomainsCarsten Lutz

• Computing Least Common Subsumers inDescription Logics with Existential RestrictionsFranz Baader, Ralf Kuesters and Ralf Molitor

TEMPORAL REASONING• Scalable Temporal Reasoning

Steffen Staab and Udo Hahn

• Managing Temporal Uncertainty Through Waypoint ControllabilityPaul H. Morris and Nicola Muscettola

• A New Framework for Reasoning About Points,Intervals and DurationsArun K.Pujari and Abdul Sattar

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILISTICREASONINGSolving Control Problems

• Combining Variable Resolution Discretizationfor High-Accuracy Solutions of ContinuousTime and Space MDPsRemi Munos and Andrew W. Moore

Solving Non-Markovian Control Tasks withNeuro-EvolutionFaustino J. Gomez and Risto Miikkulainen

• Reinforcement Algorithms Using FunctionalApproximation for Generalization and theirApplication to Cart Centering and FractalCompressionClifford Claussen, Srinivas Gutta and Harry Wechsler

COMPUTER GAME PLAYINGGame Playing 2

• Decomposition Search: A CombinatorialGames Approach to Game Tree Search, withApplications to Solving Go EndgamesMartin Mueller

• GIB: Steps Toward an Expert-Level Bridge-Playing ProgramMatthew L. Ginsberg

DISTRIBUTED AIEconomic Models 1

• Efficiency and Equilibrium in Task AllocationEconomies with Hierarchical DependenciesWilliam E. Walsh and Michael P. Wellman

• Sequential Auctions for the Allocation ofResources with ComplementaritiesCraig Boutilier, Moises Goldszmidt and Bikash Sabata

• Algorithms for Optimizing Leveled Commitment ContractsTuomas W. Sandholm, Sandeep Sikka andSamphel Norden

DISTRIBUTED AIMulti-Agent Systems 2

• Risk Control in Multi-Agent Coordination byNegotiation with a Trusted Third PartyShih-Hung Wu and Von-Wun Soo

• Shopbots and PricebotsAmy R. Greenwald and Jeffrey O. Kephart

• Be Patient and Tolerate Imprecision: How Autonomous Agents Can CoordinateEffectivelySudhir K. Rustogi and Munindar P. Singh


22

Technical Program: Friday, August 6

Time Room:


INVITED TALK• Natural Intelligence

Neil Gershenfeld, Physics and Media Group at the MIT Media Lab

QUALITATIVE REASONING AND DIAGNOSISQualitative Reasoning 2: Spatial Reasoning

• Acquisition of Qualitative Spatial Representation by Visual ObservationTakushi Sogo, Hiroshi Ishiguro and Toru Ishida

• Qualitative Outline TheoryAntony P. Galton and Richard C. Meathrel

• Qualitative and Quantitative Representations of Locomotion and their Application in RobotNavigationAlexandra Musto, Klaus Stein, Andreas Eisenkolb and Thomas Roefer

INVITED TALK• Model-based Diagnosis in the Real World:

Lessons Learned and Challenges RemainingLuca Console, Universitá di Torino and Oskar Dressler, Technical University ofMunich

9 am – 10.30 am

4 pm – 5.30 pm

2 pm – 3.30 pm

11 am – 12.30 pm

MACHINE LEARNINGData Mining

• Efficient Mining of Statistical DependenciesTim Oates, Matthew D. Schmill and Paul R. Cohen

• Towards Efficient MetaqueryingRachel Ben-Eliyahu-Zohary and Ehud Gudes

• Efficient SQL-Querying Method for DataMining in Large Data BasesSon H. Nguyen

MACHINE LEARNINGAutomated Discovery

• Discovering Admissible Model Equations from Observed Data Based on Scale-Types and Identity ConstrainsTakashi Washio, Hiroshi Motoda and Niwa Yuji

• Finding Relations in Polynomial TimeGilles Caporossi and Pierre Hansen

• Automatic Concept Formation in Pure MathematicsSimon G. Colton, Alan Bundy and Toby Walsh

MACHINE LEARNINGReinforcement Learning 2: Applications

• Confidence Based Dual Reinforcement Q-Routing: An Adaptive Online Network Routing AlgorithmShailesh Kumar and Risto Miikkulainen

• A Neural Reinforcement Learning Approach toLearn Local Dispatching Policies in ProductionSchedulingSimone C. Riedmiller and Martin A. Riedmiller

QUALITATIVE REASONING AND DIAGNOSISDiagnosis 2

• Utilizing Device Function in Structure-BasedDiagnosisAdnan Y. Darwiche

• Automatic Diagnosis of Student Programs inProgramming Learning EnvironmentsSongwen Xu and Yam San Chee

• Structured Modeling Language for AutomatedModeling in Causal NetworksYousri El Fattah

QUALITATIVE REASONING AND DIAGNOSISDiagnosis 1

• Debugging Functional ProgramsMarkus Stumptner and Franz R. Wotawa

• Monitoring Piecewise Continuous Behaviors by Refining Semi-Quantitative Trackers Bernhard Rinner and Benjamin Kuipers

• Diagnosis as a Variable Assignment Problem: a Case Study in a Space Robot Fault DiagnosisLuigi Portinale and Pietro Torasso

KNOWLEDGE-BASED APPLICATIONSApplications 3

• Visual Planning: A Practical Approach to Automated Presentation DesignMichelle X. Zhou

• A Case Based Approach to the Generation of Musical ExpressionTaizan Suzuki, Takenobu Tokunaga and Hozumi Tanaka

• Using Focus Rules in Requirements ElicitationDialoguesRenaud Lecoeuche, Catherine Barry and Dave Robertson


• Verifying Integrity Constraints on Web SitesMary Fernandez, Dana Florescu, Alon Levyand Dan Suciu

• Discovering Chronicles with Numerical TimeConstraints from Alarm Logs for MonitoringDynamic SystemsChristophe Dousson and Thang Vu Duong

• Integrating Problem-Solving Methods intoCYCJames S. Aitken and Dimitrios Sklavakis


• An Effective Ship Berthing AlgorithmAndrew Lim

• A Distributed Case-Based Reasoning Application for Engineering Sales SupportIan Watson and Dan Gardingen

• Knowledge Modeling and Reusability inExClaimLiviu Badea


23

Room:


NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Natural Language Processing 2

• Combining Weak Knowledge Sources forSense DisambiguationMark Stevenson and Yorick Wilks

• Classifying Texts Integrating Pattern Matching and Information ExtractionFabio Ciravegna, Alberto Lavelli, Luca Gilardoni, Johannes Matiasek, Nadia Mana, Silvia Mazza, Massimo Ferraro,William J Black, Fabio Rinaldi and David Mowatt

AUTOMATED REASONINGReasoning About Action 1

• The Ramification Problem in the Event CalculusMurray Shanahan

• Logic-Based Subsumption ArchitectureEyal Amir and Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid II

• Automata Theory for Reasoning About ActionsEugenia Ternovskaia

SEARCHSearch 1

• A Search in a Small WorldToby Walsh

• A Switching from Bidirectional to Unidirectional SearchHermann Kaindl, Gerhard Kainz, Roland Steiner, Andreas Auer and Klaus Radda

• A Divide and Conquer Bidirectional Search:First ResultsRichard E. Korf

DISTRIBUTED AIEconomic Models 2: Auctions

• An Algorithm for Optimal Winner Determination in Combinatorial AuctionsTuomas W. Sandholm

• Taming the Computational Complexity of Combinatorial Auctions: Optimal and Approximate ApproachesYuzo Fujishima, Kevin Leyton-Brown and Yoav Shoham

• Speeding Up Ascending-Bid AuctionsYuzo Fujishima, David McAdams and Yoav Shoham

NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Natural Language Processing 4: Information Retrieval

• Combining General Hand-Made and Automatically Constructed Thesauri for QueryExpansion in Information RetrievalRila Mandala, Takenobu Tokunaga and Hozumi Tanaka

• Towards Multi-paper Summarization UsingReference InformationHidetsugu Nanba and Manabu Okumura

• How Latent is Latent Semantic Analysis?Peter M. Wiemer-Hastings

NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING Natural Language Processing 3: Learning

• Learning in Natural LanguageDan Roth

• An Evaluation of Criteria for Measuring theQuality of ClustersBhavani Raskutti and Christopher Leckie

• Relational Learning for NLP Using LinearThreshold ElementsRoni Khardon, Dan Roth and Leslie G. Valiant

AUTOMATED REASONINGResource-Bounded Reasoning

• Programming Resource-Bounded DeliberativeAgentsMichael Fisher and Chiara Ghidini

• Exploiting a Common Property ResourceUnder a Fairness Constraint: A Case StudyMichel Lemaitre, Grard Verfaillie and Nicolas Bataille

• Maximization of the Average Quality of Anytime Contract Algorithms over a Time IntervalArnaud Delhay, Max Dauchet, Patrick Taillibertand Philippe Vanheeghe

AUTOMATED REASONINGBelief Revision

• A Foundational Approach to Belief ChangeJames P. Delgrande

• Postulates for Conditional Belief RevisionGabriele Kern-Isberner

• An Inconsistency Tolerant Model for BeliefRepresentation and Belief RevisionSamir Chopra and Rohit J. Parikh

AUTOMATED REASONINGReasoning About Action 2

• Projection Using Regression and SensorsGiuseppe De Giacomo and Hector J. Levesque

• Expressive Reasoning about Action in Nondeterministic Polynomial TimeThomas Drakengren and Marcus Bjareland

• A Logic of IntentionXiaoping Chen and Guiquan Liu

SOFTWARE AGENTS• Designing Comprehensible Agents

Phoebe J. Sengers

• Behavior Networks for Continuous DomainsUsing Situation-Dependent MotivationsKlaus Dorer

• Rights, Duties and Commitments betweenAgentsLeendert WN van der Torre and Yao-Hua Tan

SEARCHGenetic Algorithms

• Coevolution, Memory and BalanceJan Paredis

• Genetic Heuristic for Search Space ExplorationManuel Clergue and Philippe Collard

SEARCHSearch 2

• Improvements to the Evaluation of QuantifiedBoolean FormulaeJussi T. Rintanen

• An Experimental Study of Phase Transitions in MatchingAttilio Giordana, Marco Botta and Lorenza Saitta

• Optimizing Recursive Information-GatheringPlansEric Lambrecht, Subbarao Kambhampati andSenthil Gnanaprakasam

COGNITIVE MODELINGCognitive Modeling 3: Spatial Reasoning

• Diagrammatic ProofsNorman Y. Foo, Maurice Pagnucco andAbhaya C. Nayak

• Modeling the Basic Meanings of Path RelationsChristian Kray and Anselm Blocher

COGNITIVE MODELINGCognitive Modeling 2

• Using a Cognitive Architecture to Plan Dialogsfor the Adaptive Explanation of ProofsArmin Fiedler

• Investigating the Emergence of Speech SoundsBart G. de Boer

• Computer Aided Tracing of Children's PhysicsLearning: a Teacher Oriented ViewFilippo Neri

COGNITIVE MODELINGCognitive Modeling 1

• An Anthropocentric Tool for Decision MakingSupportElisabeth Le Saux, Philippe Lenca, Philippe Picouet and Jean-Pierre Barthelemy

• Autonomous Concept FormationEdwin D. de Jong

• Reasoning About Actions in Narrative UnderstandingSrinivas Narayanan

C O M M I T T E E S I J C A I - 9 9

IJCAII ORGANIZATION

TrusteesMichael P. Georgeff (President), Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (Australia)

Luigia Carlucci Aiello, Università di Roma ”La Sapienza” (Italy)

Hector Levesque, University of Toronto (Canada)

C. Raymond Perrault, SRI International (USA)

Wolfgang Wahlster, German Research Center for AI (Germany)

Thomas Dean, Brown University (USA)

Bernhard Nebel, Albert-Ludwigs-UniversitätFreiburg (Germany)

SecretariatRonald J. Brachman (Secretary-Treasurer), AT&TLabs - Research (USA)

Priscilla Rasmussen, Academic and ResearchConference Services (USA)

Former TrusteesBarbara J. Grosz, Harvard University (USA)

Wolfgang Bibel, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (Germany)

Alan Bundy, University of Edinburgh (Scotland)

Alan Mackworth, University of British Columbia(Canada)

Saul Amarel, Rutgers University (USA)

Patrick J. Hayes, University of West Florida (USA)

Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University (USA)

Erik Sandewall, Linköping University (Sweden)

Alistair D.C. Holden (deceased), University of Washington (USA)

Max B. Clowes (deceased), formerly University of Sussex (UK)

Donald E. Walker (deceased), formerly Bellcore(USA)

Woodrow W. Bledsoe (deceased), formerly University of Texas (USA)

NISAC (NORDIC IJCAI SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE)

ChairErik Sandewall, Linköping University (Sweden)

Agnar Aamodt, NTNU, Trondheim (Norway)

Niels Ole Bernsen, Odense University (Denmark)

Henrik Christensen, Royal Institute of Technology,Stockholm (Sweden)

Patrick Doherty, Linköping University (Sweden)

Patrik Eklund, University of Umeå (Sweden)

Joergen Fischer Nilsson, Technical University ofDenmark (Denmark)

Peter Gärdenfors, University of Lund (Sweden)

Lars Kai Hansen, Denmark´s Technical University(Denmark)

Timo Honkela, Helsinki University of Technology(Finland)

Sture Hägglund, Linköping University (Sweden)

Peter Johansen, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

Christen Krogh, University of Oslo (Norway)

Jan Komorowski, The Norwegian Institute ofTechnology (Norway)

Bente Maegaard, University of Copenhagen(Denmark)

Brian Mayoh, Aarhus University (Denmark)

Ilkka Niemelä, Helsinki University of Technology(Finland)

John Perram, University of Odense (Denmark)

Anna Sågvall-Hein, Uppsala University (Sweden)

Annika Waern, Swedish Institute of ComputerScience (SICS)/ SITI (Sweden)

Karl Johan Åström, Lunds Institute of Technology (Sweden)

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE

ChairCarl Gustaf Jansson, Stockholm University andRoyal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

Vice Chair and Conference Arrangements Chair Anita Kollerbaur, Stockholm University and RoyalInstitute of Technology (Sweden)

Subcommittee Chairs Tord Dahl, Financial Chair, Stockholm Universityand Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

Lars Mollberg, Fund-Raising Chair, Ericsson Telecom (Sweden)

Kersti Hedman, Exhibition Chair, SITI (Sweden)

Henrik Eriksson, Affiliate Events Chair, LinköpingUniversity (Sweden)

Liaision Officers & Representatives for AI SocietiesErik Sandewall, NISAC Liaison, LinköpingUniversity (Sweden)

Silvia Coradeschi, RoboCup Liaison, LinköpingUniversity (Sweden)

Agnar Aamodt, NAIS, Norwegian University ofScience and Technology (Norway)

Patrick Doherty, SAIS, Linköping University (Sweden)

Timo Honkela, FAIS, Helsinki University of Technology (Finland). From 1999 replaced byHeikki Hyötyniemi, Helsinki University (Finland)

Brian Mayoh, DAIS, Aarhus University (Denmark)

Other MembersSture Hägglund, Linköping University (Sweden)Rune Gustavsson, University College of Carlskrona/Ronneby (Sweden)

Åsa Rudström, Stockholm University and RoyalInstitute of Technology (Sweden)

Diana Sidarkeviciute, Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

Enn Tyugu, Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

Peter Wahlgren, Stockholm University (Sweden)

IJCAI Committees

Several bridges connect the islands and areas of land that comprise the city of Stockholm.One of the longest is “Västerbron” (West Bridge), which is an important link between thenorthern and southern central parts of town.

PHO

TO:

JAN

ASP

LUN

D

24

IJCAI-99 Conference Committee, see page 3.IJCAI-99 Advisory Committee, see page 3.IJCAI-99 Program Committee, see page 4.

I J C A I - 9 9 G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N

25

STOCKHOLM – BEAUTY ON WATER

Stockholm – the Royal Capital of Sweden– is one of the most beautiful cities in theworld. It is situated on 14 islands andlaced by water so clean that you can fishand swim in it right in the middle of thecity.

Stockholm became the capital of Swe-den 700 years ago, and is today a moderncity with more than 1 million inhabitants.In the picturesque winding alleyways ofthe city’s medieval Old Town section, thevery air is redolent with history. The OldTown is well known for its excellentrestaurants and shopping facilities, andwithin a few minutes’ walking distance isthe throbbing pulse of a modern city. Anoptional guided tour will be held August 2.

Since 1901 the city has been the venueof the Nobel Prize Ceremony (see pictureon brochure cover), the most prestigiousof all meetings – and indeed the citymakes a fitting venue. The reasons arebasic, facilities and experience are excel-lent, the city’s infrastructure is good and it is a safe place to be.

The city offers many attractive optionsfor visitors. Perhaps the most breathtakingscenery of all awaits visitors to the archi-pelago, which with 24,000 islands is oneof the largest archipelagos in the world.Why not take a steamship trip out there?You can be away all day or just a fewhours. If you are interested in history youcan visit the famous Open Air Museum orthe Wasa Museum. An optional guidedtour will be held at the Wasa Museum onAugust 3. There will be a one hour cruisethrough the archipelago ending withIJCAI-99 Dinner at Vaxholm Fortress onAugust 4.

Stockholm is also one of the communi-cation hubs and economical and culturalcentres of the Nordic area. Arlanda Air-port handles some 200 flights daily to andfrom 40 countries on five continents.There are direct flights from most majorcities in Europe and from the large citiesin the U.S and easy connections from therest of the world.

Stockholm is like a Swedish Smörgås-bord – it has everything.

CITY CONFERENCE CENTRE

The 16th International Joint Conferenceon Artificial Intelligence will be held at theCity Conference Centre.

The City Conference Centre/NorraLatin, is one of Europe’s largest and mostbeautiful congress and conference facili-ties. It is located in the center of Stock-holm, at walking distance from the Cen-tral Railway Station and Air Bus Terminal(see map on brochure cover page).

Norra Latin, the magnificent old gram-mar school in Florentine Reinassance stylefrom 1880, has recently been renovated. It now offers all conference amenities andprovides an excellent setting for IJCAI-99.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Stockholm’s public transportation systemis safe, very efficient and convenient. Itconsists of buses, trains and underground.In the city, hotels, museums, shops andrestaurants are generally within walkingdistance, which makes Stockholm an idealcity for strolls.

CURRENCY

The official currency is Swedish Krona(SEK). USD 1 = Approx. SEK 8. (June 1999).

TIPPING

When buying services in Sweden such asrestaurants, hotels, sightseeing, etc.,tipping is not required.

TAX-FREE

Non-European Union citizens have tax-free shopping privileges for goods that arepacked and sealed in the shop, and aremeant for use outside the border ofSweden. You receive a form when youmake the purchase, and when you leavethe country, most of the VAT is refunded.

TOURIST INFORMATION

The Conference Secretariat will be mosthappy to give you more information aboutStockholm, book tour tickets, and makerestaurant reservations or assist you in anyother way during your stay in Stockholm.

You can also contact the StockholmInformation Service:

P.O. Box 7542, SE-103 93 Stockholm,Phone: +46 8 789 24 00, Fax: +46 8 789 24 50. Visiting address in Stockholm: Hamngatan 27, Sweden House.

BANKS

Most banks open at 9.30 am and closebetween 3pm and 4.30 pm. The banksclosest to the venue are:

Nordbanken, Sveavägen 14, open 10 am to 4 pm

Handelsbanken, Sveavägen 17open 10 am to 3 pm

Föreningssparbanken, Vasagatan 27(Norra Bantorget)open 9:30 am to 3 pm

POST OFFICES

Post offices are generally open between9 am and 6 pm.

There are two post offices close to CityConference Center. One is located at theCentral Station, open Monday – Fridayfrom 7 am to 10 pm, on Saturdays/Sun-days from 10 am to 7 pm (no parcels).The other post office is located at Sveavä-gen 31, open Monday – Friday from 7 amto 7 pm, on Saturdays 10 am to 2 pm.

WHERE TO EAT

Lunches are not included in the registra-tion fee. Coffee will be served morningsand afternoons at several stations near theconference rooms.

There are many restaurants, fast food,economic and luxury class, in the sur-roundings of City Conference Centre.Most of them are open both for lunch anddinners. The restaurant at City ConferenceCentre will be open for lunch, but not fordinner.

Lunch Dinner

Fast food 35-45 50-100

Economy 55-65 250 (3 dishes)

Deluxe 85-150 400-500 (3 dishes)

Restaurant costs in Sweden. Breakfast isnormally included in hotel prices. Prices in SEK.

Information on Venue

G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N I J C A I - 9 9

26

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES

The IJCAII office will be in room 510,Folkets Hus.

The IJCAI-99 administrative office willbe in room 406 in Folkets Hus.

Volunteer headquarters at the IJCAI-99Registration Desk in Marmorvalvet, NorraLatin, will be open from 8 am - 6 pm.

SPEAKER READY ROOM

Room 201, Folkets Hus. The room will beopen from 8 am to 6 pm daily from July31 to August 6.

On July 30 the room will be open from 2 pm to 5 pm. Assistance will be available.

All prices in Sweden include VAT, in mostcases 25%.

Who gets the VAT refunded?

The first rule is that only enterprises/orga-nizations can get the VAT repaid, not pri-vate persons. However, some enterprisesare excluded: companies providing healthcare, banks, and insurance companies.Universities/schools get VAT repaid inmost cases.

What is needed to get the VAT refunded?

- an application form must be filled inand sent to the Special Tax Office inSweden

- the originals of invoices or comparabledocuments with specified VAT

- members in the European Union shouldadd a VAT Registration Certificate

- members outside the European Unionshould add a Cooperation CertificateRegistration that clearly shows businessstatus.

The application form is included in yourconference package.

All receipts, invoices or other docu-ments should be in original, and explicitlyspecify the VAT. The sums should be

in SEK; if presented in other currency, therate of exchange should be stated. Pleasenote that sales slipes or receipts from credit cards are not accepted.

Back home the application has to befilled in and signed by the applicant/per-son authorized to sign for thecompany/authorized agent.

In order to ensure an expeditious pro-cessing of a claim, please make sure thatthe documents listed above are enclosed.An application must be sent no later thansix months after the end of the calendaryear to which it refers.

The Special Tax Office will investigateyour application. VAT will be refunded assoon as possible. Payment can be made toyour bank account. It is very important tofill in the complete name, address andbank code including SWIFT code andaccount-holder.

Questions

Advice about how to fill in the applicationform can be obtained at the IJCAI-99 registration desk. Questions regardingVAT refund are being answered by theSpecial Tax Office, phone number (+46) 0240-870 00. Telephone hours: 9 am to 3 pm, Monday–Friday.

VAT

MESSAGE BOARD

A message board for your convenience islocated near the IJCAI-99 registrationdesk. Please check regularly for messages.

INTERNET

Internet access will be provided in room300, Folkets Hus. The room will be opendaily 8 am to 6 pm from July 29 to August 6.

TELEPHONES

Public telephones for domestic and inter-national calls are located close to thereception desk at Norra Latin. At FolketsHus you will find the telephones at theentrance and at the second floor. Tele-phones operate by telephone card, whichmay be purchased at the reception desksin Norra Latin and Folkets Hus.

CANCELLATIONS

Cancellations of registration

Cancellations of registrations will not beaccepted after June 15th 1999. We regretthat no refunds can be made for cancella-tions received after June 15th 1999.

Cancellation of hotel reservation

Cancellation of any hotel reservation willnot be accepted after June 15th 1999. Weregret that the hotel deposit cannot berefunded after June 15th 1999.

Cancellation of social events

Cancellation of social events will not beaccepted after July 29th 1999. For cancel-lations received up to July 29th 1999, thepayments will be refunded less 50%.

Disclaimer

The Organizing Committee and CongrexSweden AB accept no liability for injuries/losses of any nature incurred by partici-pants and/or accompanying persons, norfor loss or damage to their luggage and/orpersonal belongings.

27

The Swedish Research Institute for Infor-mation Technology (SITI) has the pleasureto invite you to the IJCAI-99 Exhibition.The exhibition is open from August 3 to August 6, 10 am to 5 pm in Folkets Hus.

The goal is to illustrate AI techniquesas ubiquitous elements of most

technologies. Moreover it will serve as ameeting place and showroom for the con-ference.

The exhibition area is distributed onthree floors as follows:• First floor: companies, science projects

and research groups

• Second floor: publishers, foundationsand institutions

• Third floor: IJCAI-99 sponsors

SITI welcomes all participants to the IJCAI-99 Exhibition!

Exhibition Program

The Robot World Cup, RoboCup, is aninternational initiative to foster AI andintelligent robotics research by provid-ing a standard problem, a soccer game,in which a wide range of technologiescan be integrated and examined.

This is the third RoboCup event.The competitions take place in Stock-holm, in conjunction with IJCAI-99.

The first Robot World Cup, RoboCup-97,was held in Nagoya, Japan, in August1997, and included the participation ofmore than 40 teams. The second RobotWorld Cup, RoboCup-98, was held inParis, in July 1998, and more than 50teams participated.

In order for a team of robot agents toactually play a soccer game, different tech-nologies need to be integrated, includingdesign principles of autonomous agents,multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisi-tion, real-time reasoning, sensor-fusion,and learning. RoboCup is a task for ateam of multiple fast-moving robot agentsin a dynamic, nondeterministic andadversarial environment.

REAL ROBOT F180 LEAGUE

Teams of up to five real robots of smallsize (approximately 15 cm in diameter)compete in a field of a size of a tabletennis table. This year 18 teams partici-pate in the competition. The preliminaries(from the 29th till the 31st of July) takeplace in Electrum, Kista (blue under-ground with direction Akalla), while thequarter finals, semi finals and finals takeplace in Norra Latin (the same locality asthe IJCAI conference).

REAL ROBOT F2000 LEAGUE

Teams of up to five real robots of mediumsize (approximately 50 cm in diameter)compete on a 9 by 5 meters field. Thisyear 21 teams participate in the competi-tion. The preliminaries (from the 29th to the 31st of July) will be played inElectrum, Kista, while the quarter finals,semi finals and finals take place in Norra Latin.

SIMULATION LEAGUE

Software agents play soccer using theRoboCup soccer server simulator, avail-able from the RoboCup web page. TheRoboCup Simulator League is a part ofIJCAI’s official Challenge Paper Program,where successful results will be reported atIJCAI-99. This year 35 teams participatein the competition. The competition willtake place from the 29th of July to the 4thof August in Norra Latin.LEGGED ROBOTS

SONY LEGGED ROBOT LEAGUE

The RoboCup-99 Sony legged robotleague takes place in a carpeted field, withlandmarks and goals. Each team consistsof three legged robots. This year 9 teamswill participate to the competition. Thecompetition takes place from the 29th ofJuly to the 4th of August in Norra Latin.

WORKSHOP

The workshop ABS-4, see page 7, presentsand discusses technical details of therobots and software agents that partici-pate in the competition, as well as otherresearch and educational topics related toRoboCup. A post-workshop proceedingswill be published by Springer-Verlag aspart of Lecture Notes on ArtificialIntelligence (LNAI).

FINALS

The Finals, on Wednesday the 4th ofAugust will be held from 12.45 –17.15 inthe following order:• Simulation League• Sony Legged Robot League• Small Robot League• Middle Size Robot League

For additional information please refer to

RoboCup web page: http://www.robocup.org/RoboCup-99 web page:http://www.ida.liu.se/ext/RoboCup-99/

Robot World Cup Soccer Gamesand Conferences 29 July – 4 August, 1999

I J C A I - 9 9 E X H I B I T I O N A N D R O B O C U P

S O C I A L P R O G R A M I J C A I - 9 9

28

FOR PARTICIPANTS AND ACCOMPANYING PERSONS

MONDAY 2 AUGUST, 5.30 PMOpening Ceremony and Welcome Reception

Opening Ceremony in City ConferenceCentre followed by Welcome Reception atthe Stockholm City Hall hosted by theCity of Stockholm. The Ceremony andreception are included in the technical program fee and fee for accompanyingpersons.

WEDNESDAY 4 AUGUSTDinner at Vaxholm Fortress

Price per person SEK 600.

Boats will take you from the city’s centerat 6 pm for a one-hour cruise through the Stockholm Archipelago ending at Vaxholm Fortress. Upon arrival you willbe served a traditional Swedish dinner inancient historic surroundings.

The number of tickets for the Dinnerare limited and will be distributed on afirst-come-first-served basis.

OPTIONAL TOURS

SUNDAY 1 AUGUSTIntroduction to Stockholm – A Sightseeing Tour


The best way of getting to know a cityquickly is to go on a sightseeing tour bybus. This tour gives you an overall view ofStockholm. While passing well-knownbuildings, museums, and parks, your guidewill tell you about shopping facilities,good restaurants and entertainment.

The tour starts at 2 pm and lasts for1 1/2 to 2 hours. Departure and return areoutside the City Conference Centre.

MONDAY 2 AUGUSTA Walk in Gamla Stan (the Old Town)


A guided walk through Gamla Stan,Stockholm’s heart. This is the island onwhich Stockholm was originally built atthe beginning of the 13th century. Strolldown the narrow streets and discoverbreathtaking sights and fascinating build-

ings. The two most dominant buildings onGamla Stan are Stockholm Cathedral,built in 1267 and therefore the oldestchurch in Stockholm, and the RoyalPalace, where the King and Queen stillhold their official receptions and banquets.The tour starts at 2 pm in Gamla Stan atSlottsbacken, by the Obelisk, and lasts for2 hours.

TUESDAY 3 AUGUSTThe Vasa Museum


Enjoy a piece of Swedish history at thespectacular Vasa Museum, one ofStockholm’s main attractions. The royalwarship Vasa sank on her maiden voyageinside Stockholm Harbor, in 1628. After333 years underwater, she was raised fromher watery grave in 1961, and after sever-al years of restoration she has now beenmoved to her final resting place in thespectacular museum. A guide will give afascinating account of the Vasa and ofwhat life was like onboard a warship inthe 17th century. The tour starts at 10 am

and lasts for 2 hours. Departure andreturn are outside the City ConferenceCentre.

WEDNESDAY 4 AUGUSTArt Tour


This tour will take you to two beautifulart museums in Stockholm.

First, Millesgården, with its fountains,terraces and magnificent view of Stock-holm, which was the home of the greatSwedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875-1955).He is famous for his dramatic and techni-cally daring work. A number of Milles’works are displayed in the beautifulgarden overlooking the sea.

Second, Waldermarsudde, which wasonce the home of Prince Eugen, the“Painter Prince”. His house, which con-tains his art collection, is now a museumoffering the informal charm of a privatehome. The tour starts at 9.30 am and lastsfor 3 hours. Departure and return are out-side the City Conference Centre.

Social Program(All prices include VAT)

This picture shows the exterior of the Vasa Museum which is, according to a survey made in 1996, rated thebest museum in Stockholm. The warship Vasa capsized on her maiden voyage, August 10, 1628. On April 24,1961, the ship broke the water surface again, after 333 years on the bottom of the sea. In the Vasa Museum’slarge shiphall stands the carefully restored ship. This is the only remaining ship of its kind in the world stillintact from the 17th century .

JAN ASPLUND

I J C A I - 9 9 M E E T I N G S

29

THURSDAY 5 AUGUSTDrottningholm Palace


Drottningholm Palace, just outside Stock-holm, dates from the 17th century and ismodelled on Versailles. Today, the palacewith its magnificent park is the RoyalFamily’s residence. The Court Theatre isone of the oldest in the world still in use.It is the only theatre that uses the originalstage scenery from the 18th century. Thetour starts at 1 pm and lasts for 3 1/2hours. Departure and return are outsidethe City Conference Centre.

Tickets for the social program canbe purchased at registration desk.Tickets will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis.

Congrex reserves the right to can-cel any of the tours if the number ofparticipants should be too small.

MeetingsIJCAII TRUSTEES MEETING

Monday, August 2, 8 am – 5 pm in Shera-ton Hotel. A continuation will take placeThursday August 5, 8.30 pm – Noon inroom 405, Folkets Hus.

IJCAII EXECUTIVE MEETING

Wednesday, August 4, 2 pm – 4 pm inroom 405, Folkets Hus.

IJCAII BUSINESS MEETING

Thursday, August 5, 12.30 pm – 2 pm inroom A, Folkets Hus. This meeting isopen to all attendees.

IJCAI-99 PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, August 4, 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm, in Bruce’s Dining Rooms, Norra Latin. Lunch will be served.

ECCAI – GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Wednesday, August 4, 11.30 pm –2.30 pm, in room 357, Norra Latin.

ECCAI – BOARD MEETING

Monday August 2, 4 pm to 5.30 pm, inroom 405, Folkets Hus.

ECCAI – FELLOWS BREAKFAST

Wednesday August 4, 7.30 am – 8.30 am,in Sheraton Hotel.

ECCAI – DISSERATION AWARDS PRESENTATION

Tuesday August 3, 12.05 pm – 1 pm, room A, Folkets Hus.

IFIP TC-12 MEETING

Monday August 2, 10 am to 2 pm, inroom 405, Folkets Hus.

AIJ EDITORIAL BOARD MEETING

Tuesday August 3, Noon to 2 pm, in room461, Norra Latin.

PHOTO: R.RYAN

I J C A I - 2 0 0 1 I J C A I - 9 9

30

IJCAI-2001, SEATTLE, USAAUGUST 5 – 10, 2001

IJCAI-2001, the Seventeenth InternationalJoint Conference on Artificial Intelligence,will be held August 5 through August 10in Seattle, Washington, USA.

It is sponsored by the InternationalJoint Conferences on Artificial Intelli-gence, Inc. (IJCAII) and co-sponsored byAAAI (American Association for ArtificialIntelligence). The meetings will take placeat the Washington State Convention andTrade Center. Their web site is athttp://wsctc.com/.

For further information contact one ofthe following:

Conference Chair, IJCAI-2001Prof. Hector LevesqueDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of TorontoPratt Building, Room 2836 King’s College RoadToronto, ON M5S 3H5, CanadaTel: +1-416-978 3618 Fax: +1-416-978 1455

Program Chair, IJCAI-2001Prof. Bernhard NebelInstitut für Informatik, Albert-Ludwigs-UniversitätAm Flughafen 17, D-79110 Freiburg, GermanyTel: +49-761-203 8221 Fax: +49-761-203 8222

Local Arrangements Chair, IJCAI-2001James E. HoardThe Boeing CompanyP.O. Box 3707; MS 7L-43Seattle, WA 98124-2207, USATel: +1-206-865-3262 Fax: +1-206-865-2965

Ms. Carol Hamilton, AAAI,445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025 USATel: +1-650-328-3123 Fax: +1-650-321-4457

Secretary-Treasurer IJCAI-2001Dr. Ronald J. BrachmanAT&T Labs-Research180 Park Avenue, Room A221P.O. Box 971 Florham Park, NJ 07932-0971, USATel: +1-973-360 8300 Fax: +1-973-360 8896

Next IJCAI Conference

During the Conference all inquiries to: After the Conference:

City Conference Centre Congrex Sweden ABAttn. IJCAI 99 Attn. IJCAI 99Barnhusgatan 12-14 P.O. Box 5619SE 107 26 STOCKHOLM SE-114 86 STOCKHOLMSweden Sweden

Phone: + 46 8 506 166 00 Phone: +46 8 459 66 00Fax: + 46 8 468 10 90 71 Fax: +46 8 661 91 25

E-mail: [email protected]

Registration, hotel booking, social events and general information

All matters regarding registration, hotel booking, social events andgeneral information are handled by Congrex Sweden AB.

IMPORTANT ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

World Wide Web

For the latest information about the Conference, pleasevisit the Conference homepage at: http://www.ijcai.org/ijcai-99

PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANIZER

Congrex Sweden AB has been appointed ProfessionalConference Organizer. Congrex Partnership is an inter-national group of professional conference managementcompanies with offices in Europe, North America, Latin America and Pacific Asia.

Next IJCAI Conference will be held in Seattle, USA,August 5 – August 10, 2001.