26-30 June 2000, LOT graduate course
Title: The Computational System: Constants and Variables
Speaker: Micheal Moortgat
Location: Tilburg University campus, Building Q, room QZ105
Date and Time: June 26-30, 9:30 - 12:00

The aim of this course, following the slogan `Cognition=Computation', is to model the cognitive abilities underlying knowledge and use of language as a specialized deductive system: a `logic of grammar'. We address two central questions:

• What are the constants of grammatical reasoning? Can we provide an explanation for the uniformity of the form/meaning correspondence across languages in terms of these constants?
• How can we reconcile the idea of grammatical constants/invariants with the differences between languages, that is, with structural variation in the realization of the form/meaning correspondence?

The course is presented at an introductory level. The emphasis is on convergences between `minimalist' views on grammatical organization, and `resource-conscious' developments in logic and computer science.

More information can be found here. Reading materials, slides and exercises are available on-line at http://www.let.uu.nl/~Michael.Moortgat/personal/Courses/cg2000.html.

28 June 2000, Talk by Mario Szegedy
Title: Towards a Katona type proof for the 2-intersecting Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem, and a generalization of Bollobas's theorem
Speaker: Mario Szegedy, Rutgers University / Institute for Advanced Studies
Location: Room M279 at the CWI, Kruislaan 413
Date: Wednesday June 28th, 15 00-16.00

Abstract:
We study the possibility of the existence of a Katona type proof for the Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem for 2- and 3-intersecting families of sets and show that such proof exists if the size, n, of the basic set is sufficiently large. Using our methods we are able to generalize the well known Bollobas theorem for 2- and 3- intersecting families for certain k,n pairs, where k is an an upper bound on the sizes of the sets occurring in the system.
Joint work with Ralph Howard, Gyula Károlyi and László A. Székely.

30 June 2000, DIP Colloquium
Title: Parse Pruning: Exploiting Author's Style
Speaker: Sonja Mueller-Landmann, Institut fuer deutsche Sprache, Mannheim
Location: OMHP, Oudemanhuispoort 4-6, Room C105.
Date and Time: Friday 30th June 2000, 15.15-17.00

Abstract:
On parsing natural language, the number of syntactically ambiguous situations inevitably grows with the coverage of the grammar. Therefore, most broad-coverage applications use one or other supplementary mechanism to decide on the respective probability of several ambiguous (partial) analyses. In this talk, I will propose corpus-based parse pruning: A database of probabilistically weighted, multi-level constituent structures is generated from a stratificational German corpus and utilized as a backbone for dependency grammar. This pruning approach yields high-quality parsing results. An extensive evaluation of the syntactic variety in the training corpus and a series of experiments on quantity and quality of the constituent structures used for pruning give further insight into the criteria that help a language model to get representative and dynamically adaptable: Corpus size, a multi-purpose annotation scheme, and a wide variety of authors.

More information can be found on the DIP (Discourse Processing) homepage, or by contacting the DIP Colloquium organizing committee at DIP@hum.uva.nl

30 June 2000, Computation Logic Seminar
Machiel Jansen from the Department of Social Science Informatics (SWI) of the UvA will talk about the use of semantic tableaux for Knowledge Engineering.
Location: Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Room P.327
Date and Time: Friday June 30, 14:30-15:30

Abstract:
In Knowledge Engineering a number of problem types (or tasks) such as diagnosis, planning, classification etc. have been identified. A number of default heuristic problem solving methods have been linked to each task, together with typical domain conceptualizations. Logical properties of tasks are often left underspecified. The aim of my research is to investigate how a task can be characterized in logical terms. To do this I use semantic tableaux, or rather show how they can be adapted to incorporate other (non-classical) forms of reasoning. However the aim is not to build an optimal (non-monotonic) tableaux based theorem prover. Instead tableaux are used as a tool to show some logical properties of tasks on what is known as 'the knowledge level' are involved.

More information can be found on the Computational Logic Seminar homepage.

3-7 July 2000, 5th BCN Summer School in Groningen
The 5th BCN Summer School will take place on July 3-7 in Groningen. For more information and registration, see our website at http://www.bcn.rug.nl/bcn/training/sumschool/ss2000.htm.

17 July 2000, Talk by Tamara Munzner
Title: Interactive Visualization of Large Graphs and Networds
Speaker: Tamara Munzner (Stanford University)
Location: Room M280 at CWI, Kruislaan 413
Date & Time: Monday July 17th, 14:00-15:00
Abstract and Information: see http://graphics.stanford.edu/~munzner/.

16 October 2000, Seminar on Games and Logic
Location: Applied Logic Laboratory, Sarphatistraat 143.
Date and Time: 16 October 2000, 15.15-17.00
We plan to read the following paper:
R. Sugden Rational Choice: a survey of contributions from economics and philosophy. The Economic Journal 101 (1991) pp. 751-785.
Boudewijn de Bruin will lead the discussion.

For more information, see the Seminar on Games and Logic homepage.

7 July 2000, DIP Colloquium (final session of season)
Title: Puzzles of UNTIL: stativity, negation, and the perfect
Speaker: Anastasia Giannakidou, University of Groningen
Location: Philosophy Department, MFR Ground Floor
Date and Time: Friday 7th July 2000, 15.15-17.00

Abstract:
The goal if this talk is to re-examine the durativity/stativity of the family of meanings associated with UNTIL in the light of the hypotheses that (a) negation is an aspectuality operator tranforming events into states (Verkuyl 1993, de Swart 1996, de Swart and Molendijk 1990,among others), and (b) the perfect is likewise an state-yielding aspectuality operator.

It will be shown that the former hypothesis cannot be proposed as a general property of negation across languages, and is in need of revision. I will conclude (with Kamp and Reyle 1993) that negation need not change the eventuality type of the predicate: states remain states under negation, and events remain events. To this end, I examine contrastively the family of meanings associated with until and its Greek counterpart mexri. Though mexri is durative, like until, it cannot be used with negated eventive predicates (signalled by perfective aspect). In these cases, a lexically distinct NPI is usedópara monon. With negations of states or processes (and imperfective aspect) the expected ambiguity arises between wide and narrow scope readings of mexri wrt negation.

The perfect, on the other hand, does indeed yield states (Vlach 1993, Kamp and Reyle 1993). Yet it is shown that present perfect states are incompatible with mexri and until. This will be explained as a semantic clash between the present perfect semantics, which requires that the state include the utterence time (n), and the meaning of UNTIL which sets an endpoint prior or including n. The past perfect is not affected because the duration of the state in this case does not reach n, hence an endpoint prior to n can be set. Negation, similarly, voids the problem by cancelling n as the expected endpoint.

As a result of the proposed analysis, Karttunenís (1974) theses that there is an NPI-until, and that this until is punctual rather than durative is confirmed by analogy to the Greek data. Data from Dutch and German will also be shown to confirm this result.

More information can be found on the DIP (Discourse Processing) homepage, or by contacting the DIP Colloquium organizing committee at DIP@hum.uva.nl

10 July 2000, talk on lattice expansions by Mai Gehrke
Title: Canonical extensions of distributive lattice expansions
Speaker: Mai Gehrke, New Mexico State University
Location: to be announced
Date: July 10, 15.15 hrs.

Abstract:
Distributive lattices abstractly capture the notion of a collection of sets equipped with the binary operations of union and intersection. It is of interest to be able to represent algebras for which just part of the structure is that of a distributive lattice in this way as well. Such algebras we call distributive lattice expansions and we explore a tool called the canonical extension which often allows us to access the benefits of the set representation for these expanded structures.

For more information, contact Yde Venema.

18 July 2000, Afternoon on Co-Algebras
Speakers: Rob Goldblatt, Alexandru Baltag, Bart Jacobs
Location: Room P.016 at the Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24
Date & Time: Tuesday July 18th, 13:30-17:00

On the occasion of a visit by Professor Rob Goldblatt from Victoria University Wellington, the ILLC will host an afternoon seminar on co-algebras and modal logic. For updates, abstracts and more information see http://staff.science.uva.nl/~yde/activities/co-alg.html or contact Yde Venema.

6-18 August 2000, Birmingham, ESSLLI 2000
12th European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information.
A two week summer school which offers 42 courses at various levels and six workshops in the areas of Logic, Computation, and Language. Organised by the School of Computer Science, at the University of Birmingham, under the auspices of the European Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI)

All ILLC PhD students are highly recommended to participate. Their fees will be paid by the institute (early registration-rate). Early registration deadline for reduced registration fee of 95 Pounds is 31 May, 2000. After this the registration fee will be 150 Pounds. The deadline for applications for bursaries is also 31 May.

For the programme, applications and further information, see: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~esslli/
Local organisers: Achim Jung and Eike Ritter
All enquiries to esslli@cs.bham.ac.uk

Friday 15 December, Presentation new Research Institutes of the Faculty of Humanities
Location: Hall 105 of the PC Hoofthuis
Date and Time: December 15th, 13.30 till 16.30

The new Research Institutes of the Faculty of Humanities (The institute for Language and communication, the Institute for Culture and History and the Institute for Cultural Analysis) will present themselves on Friday, December 15th, from 13.30 till 16.30, hall 105 of the PC Hoofthuis. All ILLC-staff, PhD students and supporting staff is cordially invited.

8 September 2000, DIP Colloquium
Title: Quantifying kids
Speaker: Bart Geurts, University of Nijmegen
Location: Philosophy Department, MFR ground floor
Date and Time: Friday 8th September 2000, 15.00-17.00

Abstract
It is well known that, at least in experimental settings, young children may deviate from their elders in their judgments about quantified sentences. This holds, in particular, for sentences with universal quantifiers. When asked if the sentence "Every A is paired with a B" is true or false, a child may claim that the sentence is:

1. false in a situation like this: AB AB AB B
2. true in a situation like this: AB AB AB A
3. false in a situation like this: AB AB AB C

In this talk I will argue that these problems have two causes. On the one hand, children may have problems with non-symmetric determiners, which demand a syntax-semantics mapping that is more complex than the one required by symmetric determiners. On the other hand, younger children sometimes fail to grasp the restrictions grammatical form imposes on the domain of a determiner.

29 August - 8 September 2000, Tbilisi Summer School in Language, Logic, and Computation, Tbilisi, Georgia
The Georgian Centre for Language, Logic, and Speech, based at the Tbilisi State University, will host Tbilisi Summer School, the main purpose of which is to make the students and young scholars acquainted with the modern state of affairs in the mentioned fields of science, and - at the same time - to further contacts and scientific collaboration between Western and Eastern Scholars.

Besides local students, the School also welcomes students from abroad. The Participation fee for these students will be $120 (wich includes excursion, banquet, reprints, etc.). Foreign students will be comfortably accommodated with Georgian families (with two meals) for $40 per day.

More information can be found at http://www.geocities.com/summer_school_2000/.

14 September 2000, Annual boat trip for international students
Time: Thursday 14 September at 4 p.m.
Place: departure from the Roeterseiland (back of Euclides building)

In September we will welcome 16 new international students to our institute, both MSc students (11) and exchange students (5). Moreover, two current exchange students have decided to join the MSc program, which makes the total number of students enrolled 18 ! The boat trip, which is starting to get traditional, will give the students the opportunity to meet each other and the ILLC staff. Drinks and snacks will be served on board. Don't miss it!

The new students:
MsC Students: Dirk Buschbom (Germany), John Duda (USA), Mohammad Amin Farjudian (Iran, starting October 1), David Gabelaia (Georgia), Mehmet Giritli (Turkey), Nicole Hausen (USA), Troy Lee (USA), Aristides Moustakas (Greece), Fabrice Nauze (France), Marcello Vavassori (Italy) and Mathieu Vidal (France).
Exchange Students: Chris McCaw (Australia), Mika Cohen (Sweden), Massimo Panzarella (Italy), Luca Spada (Italy) and Vincenzo Salipante (Italy)

10 October 2000, Lecture by E.W. Dijkstra
Title: On avoiding avoidable case analyses
Speaker: E.W. Dijkstra, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin
Location: Room Z011, CWI, Kruislaan 413
Date and Time: 10 October 2000, 16:00

Abstract:
Since brevity is an essential virtue of proofs and programs and will always be so) and case analyses tend to lengthen them, avoding case analysis is (and will remain) a central issue in mathematical methodology and the methodology of programming.
With a series of small examples we'll illustrate various techniques for case analysis reduction. They should make us understand why counting arguments can be so effective and when they are applicable.

For more information, please contact Krzysztof R. Apt, tel. 020-592.4135, email: k.r.apt@cwi.nl.

13 October 2000, DIP Colloquium
Title: Prosody and Meaning: Two Case Studies
Speaker: Emiel Krahmer
Location: MFR, Philosophy department, ground flour
Date and Time: Friday 13th October 2000, 15.00-17.00

Abstract:
In this talk a methodological approach to the study of meaning and intonation is outlined. This approach focusses both on what speakers can produce (using production experiments) and on what hearers can perceive (using perception experiments). It is shown that such an experimental paradigm can yield interesting results from a semantical point of view by discussing two specific cases: contrastive accent and meta-linguistic negation. Concerning contrastive accents, we argue against the existence of a seperately identifiable accent with a contrastive interpretation, but a contrastive intonation contour does appear to exist. We argue that this contour triggers a presupposition, which may be resolved using van der Sandt's theory of presuppositions. We also present empirical evidence for the existence of a set of prosodic differences between meta-linguistic negations and descriptive negations, a distinction which is the subject of considerable debate in presupposition theory. Finally, we argue that prosody gives rise to soft constraints, and point out that an optimality theoretic framework may be suitable to model the relation between prosody and meaning. In the discussion we outline some problems and prospects for such an account.

For more information, see ftp://ftp.let.uu.nl/pub/colibri/logic/dutch/dip.39-2000.

13 October 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Title: Constraint Programming viewed as Rule-based Programming
Speaker: Krzysztof Apt
Location: Room P.327, Euclides building
Date and Time: 13 October 2000, 13.30

Abstract:
We study here a natural situation when constraint programming can be entirely reduced to rule-based programming. To this end we consider constraint satisfaction problems that are based on predefined, explicitly given constraints. To solve them we first derive rules from these constraints and limit the computation process to a repeated application of these rules, combined with labeling.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

17 October 2000, talk by ILLC-guest Valentin Goranko
Speaker: Valentin Goranko
Title: Generalizing Sahlqvist formulae(From Sahlqvist to van Benthem: the long and winding road)
Date and Time: Tuesday October 17 2000, 15.15 - 17.00
Location: P.014, Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam

Abstract:
We propose a generalization of Sahlqvist formulae to polyadic modal languages by representing these languages in a combinatorial style and thus, in particular, developing what we believe to be the right syntactic approach to Sahlqvist formulae at all. We prove first-order definability and canonicity for the extended class of polyadic Sahlqvist formulae.
In this talk I will outline our approach, give some examples, and mention how in some extended languages Sahlqvist theorem can be obtained as a rather easy syntactic exercise. Finally, I will discuss the question of what Sahlqvist formulae actually are.
This talk is based on joint work with D. Vakarelov.

For more information, contact Yde Venema (yde@science.uva.nl).

20 October 2000, DIP-colloquium, Michiel van Lambalgen
SPEAKER: Michiel van Lambalgen (ILLC, UvA)
TITLE: Event calculus, nominalisation and the progressive
PLACE: MFR, Philosophy department, ground flour
DATE: Friday 20th October 2000
TIME: 15.00-17.00

ABSTRACT
Ever since Vendler we know that nominalisations come in two varieties: perfect (having a noun-like character) and imperfect (having a verb-like character). The resulting nominals differ in both their external and internal distributional properties. Formally, nominalisation is an operation that transforms formulas into terms. However, since we need a truth predicate, the definition of such an operation is nontrivial. By grafting Feferman's (1984) type-free calculus on a variant of the event calculus (originally due to Kowalski and Sergot (1986), this version due to Shanahan (1995)) we obtain a system in which the two nominalisations can be performed formally, with the right distributional properties (and such that the HoldsAt predicate of the event calculus matches the truth predicate of Feferman's system). The added bonus of Shanahan's event calculus is that it is capable of dealing with continuous change and nonmonotonicity. This will be seen to provide an elegant solution of the so-called `imperfective paradox' involving the progressive. This pertains also to cases where the object need not exist, as in `Mary is drawing a circle'.

We shall discuss a number of examples from the literature, a.o. Bonomi's `Multiple Choice Paradox' (1997) to see how they fit in the present framework. (Joint work with Fritz Hamm, Tuebingen.) Home Page: http://www.hum.uva.nl/computerlinguistiek/dip/ (but still out of date)

More information can be found on the DIP (Discourse Processing) homepage, or by contacting the DIP Colloquium organizing committee at DIP@hum.uva.nl

23 - 27 October 2000, OZSL Schoolweek
The OZSL Autumn Schoolweek of 2000 will take place October 23-27 in Hotel Dennenhoeve in Nunspeet.

The OzsL School Week offers a broad range of tutorials and discussion opportunities, up-to-date overviews of the Staff and Ph.D. research carried out within the school (Staff Accolade, and Accolade New Style), an occasion for social interaction between Ph.D. students, and an occasion to meet staff.

The following activities are scheduled for the School Week:

Monday, October 23

Adult Accolade

Monday Evening, October 23

Schoolweek Dinner at Hotel Dennenhoeve

Tuesday October 24 - Thursday October 26, Mornings

Tutorial: Three lectures on coalgebra, by Bart Jacobs and Jan Rutten.
Tutorial: Almost sure validities and 0-1 laws of logical properties on finite structures, by Valentin Goranko.

Tuesday Afternoon

The Use of Logic in Linguistics (I) (discussion moderated by Albert Visser)

Wednesday Afternoon

The Use of Logic in Linguistics (II) (discussion moderated by Albert Visser)

Thursday Afternoon

Games Afternoon (event organized by Paul Dekker and Yde Venema).

Friday, October 27

PhD Accolade

For further information see the SchoolWeek Program.
To register, please fill in the Online Registration Form, and submit it at or before Monday October 16th.

31 October 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Title: Termination Analysis: a New Perspective
Speaker: Neil Jones (DIKU, Copenhagen)
Date and Time: October 31, 2000, 13.00 - 14.00
Location: ILLC, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam

Abstract:
A simple sufficient criterion is given to determine whether a program terminates for all input data. It is shown to be decidable but in general hard: complete for PSPACE.
THE CRITERION: Size Change Graphs are constructed from a functional program with well-founded data. Each is a local call graph "G_c" for a function call "c" appearing in the program. G_c summarizes the parameter size changes resulting from the call. The program is "size-change-terminating" if for every infinite call sequence cs = c1 c2 c3..., the concatenation G_c1 G_c2 ... has a thread (data path) with infinite descent: some value decreases infinitely often, without increase. Thus no legal computation path can be infinite, and so the program terminates in all actual runs.
ITS DECISION: The set of infinite call sequences cs = c1 c2 c3... with an infinitely descending thread is omega-regular: accepted by a finite-state Buechi or Rabin automaton. These automata have all the properties of usual finite automata on finite words, with well-understood algorithms to test for infiniteness, containment, etc. The criterion tests equality of two omega-regular sets.
This criterion is more general, and the method more automatic than traditional methods based on lexicographic and other orders. Further, reduction from a problem involving Boolean programs shows that this simple criterion is (surprisingly) also hard for PSPACE.

This is joint work with Chin Soon Lee and Amir Ben-Amram.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

3 November 2000, Computational Logic Seminar, Satisfiability Afternoon
An afternoon on Satisfiability in the Netherlands, with speakers from all over the country.
Location: Room P.327, Euclides building
New Date and Time: November 3, 2000, 13.00-16.30

Schedule:

For more information and abstracts, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

10 November 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Speaker: Ewa Orlowska (Polish Academy of Science)
Title: Relational Proof Theory
Date and Time: November 10, 2000, 15.00-16.00
Location: Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam, room P.327
Note: this talk was cancelled

Abstract:
In 1960 Helena Rasiowa and Roman Sikorski proved completeness of the classical predicate logic using a cut-free proof system of the tableau-style. We discuss a methodology of Rasiowa-Sikorski proof theory. We present general correspondence results that lead to the principles of generation of the rules from constraints. We present proof systems for various algebraic structures and non-classical logics, in particular for structures used in spatial reasoning, for substructural logics and for information systems.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

10 November 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Speaker: Arjen de Vries, CWI
Title: Challenging Ubiquitous Inverted Files
Date and Time: November 10, 2000, 13.30-14.30
Location: Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam, room P.327

Abstract:
Searching collections by their content (be it text, images, or true multimedia content) has become a common requirement in software systems, as a result of the successes achieved in the information retrieval (IR) research field, the demand for better search engines on the WWW, and the continuously growing amount of digitized photo footage presented online.

Retrieval systems enabling content-based search are typically standalone systems that have been developed for very specific applications. There is not much consensus on how the integration of these techniques in general-purpose database management systems (DBMSs) should take place. State-of-the-art solutions simply make new functions available in the query language. These functions interface to the otherwise still standalone software systems. This leaves to the user the burdens of both query formulation and the combination of results for each single representation into a final judgement. Also, this usually leads to inefficient query processing for queries involving several content representations.

This position paper discusses the architecture of the Mirror DBMS, especially designed to enable the integration of databases and (multimedia) information retrieval. We focus on a specific sub-problem of this challenging problem: the efficient processing of queries integrating text retrieval with structured document queries. An iconic example of an information need requiring such query processing is `English newspaper articles about Willem-Alexander dating Maxima'. `English' and `newspaper article' refer to attributes of a structered document collection, whereas the aboutness-clause is presumably best processed by information retrieval techniques.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

10 November 2000, DIP Colloquium, Kristiina Jokinen
Speaker: Kristiina Jokinen
Title: Evolution of Communication and Human-Computer Interaction: Prospects and Thoughts of Learning Dialogue Systems
Date and Time: Friday 10th November 2000, 15.00-17.00
Location: Department of Philosophy, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15, Amsterdam, MFR (ground flour)

Abstract:
Development in computing power and computer facilities, together with the development in natural language processing, has led to a new view of the nature of computers: instead of regarding computers as simple programmable machines, the metaphor talks about communicating agents, intelligent dialogue systems, learning, and evolution. However, selections from a menu, pre-recorded responses, or repeated requests to rephrase one's question may not quite support the view of a system as an intelligent agent. In this talk I will discuss requirements for ambitious 21-century dialogue systems, and argue that one of the biggest problems in making dialogue systems more flexible, robust and natural is the knowledge acquisition problem. The more complex tasks the system is expected to cope with, the more complex knowledge is needed. However, the solution is not only to increase the system's memory but rather, to equip the system with capabilities to learn through interaction. An obvious choice to tackle the knowledge acquisition bottleneck is to use various machine-learning methods. It has be shown that the application of learning techniques results in substantial increase in processing speed as well as in accuracy and robustness of large-scale language processing systems. I will present some results done at CELE on comparing various methods on linguistic benchmark problems, and discuss their effect in the context of a learning dialogue system. Finally, the learning approach has also brought in such cognitive science problems as the innateness of language ability and evolution of cognition. Even if we leave the philosophical problems of consciousness and thinking machines aside, the models for symbolic learning systems can benefit from the investigations into neural and brain-like computation: general architectures, learning algorithms and memory organization form the basis for domain-dependent representations and attentional state, from which conceptualisation and language learning emerge as a result of interactions of constraints on various levels. I will finish my talk by drafting these kind of new perspectives on the representation and acquisition of linguistic knowledge.

More information can be found on the DIP (Discourse Processing) homepage, or by contacting the DIP Colloquium organizing committee at DIP@hum.uva.nl

17 November 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Speaker: Rens Bod, UvA
Title: DOP as a Cognitive Model in Action
Date and Time: November 17, 2000, 13.30-14.30
Place: ILLC, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam , room P.327

Abstract:
The Data-Oriented Parsing (DOP) model is an experience-based learning technique which has been quite successful in natural language processing. In this talk I will generalize DOP towards a unifying model for human cognition. This model assumes that cognition (learning, reasoning, information processing etc) works with representations of previous experiences rather than with abstract rules. It operates by combining fragments from previous representations into new representations. The frequencies of occurrence of these fragments are used to determine the most probable representation out of all possible representations that can be constructed in this way.

I will start by giving an overview of DOP from a multimodal perspective (language, music and vision), and then suggest how the model may be applied to automated reasoning: given a corpus of proof trees of previous theorems, new theorems can be proved by combining partial proof trees in the most probable way.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

21 November 2000, Games in Logic, Language and Computation 4
Date and Time: Tuesday November 21, 10.00 - 17.00
Location: Senaatszaal Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

On the day after the Ph.D. Defense of Hans van Ditmarsch, the fourth Workshop on Games in Logic, Language and Computation will be held in Groningen, Tuesday, November 21.

The workshop series "Games in Logic, Language and Computation" has started out as an informal event where researchers in the ILLC community discuss their interest in the use of games and game theory in the area of logic and language. The third meeting has recently taken place at the Schoolweek of the Dutch Research School in Logic in Nunspeet, and with this fourth meeting in Groningen we have gone international.

The workshop is open to all interested, and there is no participation fee. We would appreciate it, however, if all those who want to participate let us know at "barteld@cs.rug.nl".

The fourth meeting on Games in Logic, Language and Computation has been made possible by the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science (University of Groningen) and the Logic in Communication group (University of Amsterdam). The organizers are Paul Dekker, Hans van Ditmarsch, Barteld Kooi, Gerard Renardel de Lavalette and Rineke Verbrugge.

Preliminary Program:

For more information (accomodation, titles, abstracts), see http://www.cs.rug.nl/~barteld/games/gllc4.html

22 November 2000, Computational Logic Seminar
Speaker: Yuri Gurevich ,Microsoft Research
Title: What is an Algorithm?
Date and Time: November 22, 2000, 13.15-15.00
Location: ILLC, Plantage Muidergracht 24, Amsterdam, room P.017

ABSTRACT:
One may think that the title problem was solved long ago by Church and Turing. It wasn't; there is more to an algorithm that the function it computes. (Besides, what function does an operating system compute? The term algorithm is understood broadly here.) The interest to the problem is not only theoretical. Applications include modeling, specification, verification, design and testing of software and hardware systems. The first part of the talk will be devoted to the sequential abstract state machine (ASM) thesis: every sequential algorithm is behaviorally equivalent to a sequential ASM. The thesis was proved recently (ACM Transactions on Computational Logic 1, no. 1, July 2000) from first principles. The remainder of the talk will be devoted to extensions of the thesis to general computations and to the current applications of ASMs.

For more information, see http://www.illc.uva.nl/~mdr/ACLG/Local/seminar00-2.html.

1 december 2000, SYMPOSIUM on TABLEAU METHODS, Technical University of Eindhoven
Date: Friday, December 1
Location: Technical University of Eindhoven,Auditorium, room 14

Tableau methods are convenient and effective for automating deduction, not just in classical logic but also in various non-standard logics. Areas of application include verification of software and computer systems, deductive databases, knowledge representation and system diagnosis In connection with the publication of the handbook of Tableau Methods (Kluwer, 1999) the TUE-KUB research group on Logic and Informationsystems organizes this one-day symposium. Four of the authors of the handbook will elaborate on the chapters they have written.

PROGRAM:
10.45 - 11.45 Marcello D'Agostino (Ferrara), Tableaux methods for classical propositional logics
12.00 - 13.00 Reinhold Letz (Muenchen), First-order Tableau Methods
13.00 - 14.15 lunch
14.15 - 15.15 Bernhard Beckert (Karlsruhe), Equality and other theories
15.30 - 16.30 Joachim Posegga (Darmstadt) / Peter Schmitt (Karlsruhe), Implementing Semantic Tableaux

Participation, including lunch, is free. However, in order to be able to organize lunch adequately, one is requested to register at the following address: sobu@kub.nl. Further information can be obtained at the following address: H.C.M.deSwart@kub.nl

Friday 8 December, 2000, DIP Colloquium, Veerle van Geenhoven
Speaker: Veerle van Geenhoven, Max Planck Instituut Nijmegen, Psycholinguistiek
Title: On the interaction of pluractionality, properties, and for-adverbials
Place: MFR, Philosophy department, ground flour
Date and Time: Friday December 8th 2000, 15.00-17.00

Abstract:
In the literature, we basically find two accounts of the contrast illustrated in (1) and (2), namely, Dowty's (1979) quantificational account and Krifka's (1989) account in terms of quantization.

1. ? Bill discovered a flea on his dog for an hour.
2. Bill discovered fleas on his dog for an hour.

This paper starts out with an overview of some shortcomings in these two accounts. Alternatively, I argue that the interaction of for-adverbials with indefinite and bare plural complements is guided by a silent pluractional operator that applies to the verb. Linguistic support for the existence of such an operator is drawn from the presence of overt pluractional markers on West Greenlandic verbs. I show that if a pluractional operator applies to a semantically incorporating verb the resulting verb can absorb only those nominals which denote properties that hold of singularities and pluralities simultaneously. This provides the basis for a property-based explanation of the contrast between (1) and (2) as well as a novel perspective on so-called aspectual shifts.

The Australian National University will be hosting the 9th Annual Logic Summer School. The School will consist of short courses on aspects of pure and applied logic taught by experts from Australia and overseas. The School will be held from 4 - 15 December 2000, and is suitable for IT professionals using formal methods or problem-solving technologies, teachers who teach logic, students who are going on to do research in logic or a related fields, whether in computing, mathematics or philosophy.

The cost of the school is $1,500/person. Discounts may be negotiated for companies or institutions who send more than one participant to the School. Students in full-time education are eligible for a reduced fee of $100. For information on Scholarships for students please see our internet site at http://arp.anu.edu.au/lss.
The closing date for early registrations is, Friday 3 November, 2000. Registrations received after this date will be subject to 20% surcharge.

If you would like additional information about this course please contact The Automated Reasoning Group. Email: lss-admin@arp.anu.edu.au or phone: 61 (02) 6279 8630, Fax: 61 (02)6279 8651.

18-20 December 2000, Sinn und Bedeutung V, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Sinn und Bedeutung V will be held from Monday 18 until Wednesday 20 December 2000, at the University of Amsterdam. The Sinn und Bedeutung meetings aim to provide a platform for semanticists to present recent work. The area of interest includes any topic from current areas of semantic research, formal semantics, cognitive semantics, descriptive semantics, typological semantics, historical semantics, philosophy of language etc.

Invited Speakers:

• Maria Bittner (Rutgers University, confirmed)
• Barbara Partee (University of Massachusetts)
• Martin Stokhof (University of Amsterdam)

For a preliminary program, registratino details, and further information, see our website at http://www.illc.uva.nl/SuBV/". Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to generate the hotel-reservation forms. Those who register for the meeting, however, will be notified immediately when these forms are available. You can also email the Organizing Committee at dekker@hum.uva.nl, or contact the Committee at

Organizing Committee Sinn und Bedeutung V
ILLC/Department of Philosophy
University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15
NL 1012 CP, Amsterdam
The Netherlands

13-24 August 2001, ESSLLI-2001, Helsinki, Finland
Thirteenth European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information
Third Call For Proposals
Deadline: July 23, 2000

The main focus of the European Summer Schools in Logic, Language and Information is the interface between linguistics, logic and computation. Foundational, introductory and advanced courses together with workshops cover a wide variety of topics within six areas of interest: Logic, Computation, Language, Logic and Computation, Computation and Language, Language and Logic. Previous summer schools have been highly successful, attracting around 500 students from Europe and elsewhere. The school has developed into an important meeting place and forum for discussion for students and researchers interested in the interdisciplinary study of Logic, Language and Information. ESSLLI-2001 is organised under the auspices of the European Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI).

The ESSLLI-2001 Programme Committee invites proposals for foundational, introductory, and advanced courses, and for workshops for the 13th annual Summer School on a wide range of topics in the following fields: Logic, Language, Computation, Language and Logic, Logic and Computation, Language and Computation. In addition to courses and workshops there will be a Student Session. A Call for Papers for the Student Session will be distributed separately.

All proposals (subject: ESSLLI-2001) should be submitted by electronic mail to the program chair, Marcus Kracht at <kracht@math.fu-berlin.de>, in plain ASCII text, as soon as possible, but no later than July 23, 2000. Authors of proposals will be notified of the committee's decision no later than September 15, 1999. Proposers should follow the guidelines while preparing their submissions; proposals that deviate substantially will not be considered.

For proposal guidelines and more information see http://www.folli.uva.nl/Esslli/2001/esslli-2001.html.

Call for Papers for the Journal of Logic, Language and Information Special Issue on Logic and Games.
New Deadline: 1 October 2000
Guest Editors: Paul Dekker and Marc Pauly

Games have been utilized within logic for a variety of different purposes such as semantic evaluation games (Hintikka & Sandu), model comparison games (Ehrenfeucht & Fraïssé, and proof games (Lorenzen). On the other hand, logic has become increasingly important in game theory, in particular for the epistemic foundation of game-theoretic solution concepts (Aumann & Stalnaker). As the TARK and LOFT conferences show, interaction between logic and game theory has become more diverse in recent years, exploring game logics, the use of game-theory in multi-agent systems, game-theoretic accounts of natural language phenomena, and the role of language in defining preferences.

Games have been utilized within logic for a variety of different purposes such as semantic evaluation games (Hintikka & Sandu), model comparison games (Ehrenfeucht & Fraïssé, and proof games (Lorenzen). On the other hand, logic has become increasingly important in game theory, in particular for the epistemic foundation of game-theoretic solution concepts (Aumann & Stalnaker). As the TARK and LOFT conferences show, interaction between logic and game theory has become more diverse in recent years, exploring game logics, the use of game-theory in multi-agent systems, game-theoretic accounts of natural language phenomena, and the role of language in defining preferences.

In the wake of an interdisciplinary workshop on logic and games held in Amsterdam, November 1999, we specifically invite contributions in any of the following areas:

• Logical analysis of games, e.g. modeling knowledge, belief, and information flow in games; applications of epistemic and dynamic logic to games
• Logic games, e.g. model comparison games, semantic evaluation games, etc.
• Game logics, e.g. extensions of program logics and modal logics to investigate the structure of games in general
• The role of language and logical definability in games, games in natural language semantics, independence-friendly logic
• Logical approaches to multi-agent systems with a special focus on game-theoretic aspects

For more information, see the original Call for Papers.

15 December 2000, Journal of Logic and Computation, Special Issue on Hybrid Logics
Final Call for Papers
Deadline: 15 December

HyLo 2000, the Second Workshop on Hybrid Logics, was organized in Birmingham, Great Britain, on August 14-18, 2000. Given the interest the workshop gave rise to, a special issue of the Journal of Logic and Computation will be devoted to Hybrid Logics. Contributions are not limited to those presented at HyLo 2000, and we are now inviting submissions from all interested authors.

Submissions should be sent by email in Postscript format to carlos@science.uva.nl. More information on the terms of submissions: http://hylo-si.hylo.net

Important Dates:
December 15, 2000 Paper submissions
February 15, 2001 Acceptance notification
March 30, 2001 Final submissions due

Related Links
www.hylo.net, Hybrid Logic Site (including background information on the topic and an extensive bibliography).
hylo2000.hylo.net, Hylo 2000 home page.
www3.oup.co.uk/logcom/ Journal of Logic and Computation (Oxford University Press).

Final Call for Participation / AiML-ICTL 2000
Advances in Modal Logic - International Conference on Temporal Logic 2000
October 4-7, 2000, University of Leipzig, Germany

FURTHER INFORMATION E-mail enquiries about AiML-ICTL 2000 should be directed to wolter@informatik.uni-leipzig.de. Information about AiML can be obtained on the World-Wide Web at http://www.aiml.net/, and about AiML-ICTL 2000 at http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~wolter/aiml.html.

Friday 8 September 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Sophia Velissaratou
Place: Euclides Building, Room 3.27
Title thesis: Conditional Questions and Which-Interrogatives
Supervisor: Jeroen Groenendijk

Tuesday 19 September 2000, 12:00
PhD Defense of Marco Vervoort
Place: Oude Lutherse Kerk, Singel 411, Amsterdam.
Title dissertation: Games, Walks and Grammars: Problems I've Worked On.
Promotor: Mike Keanse
Co-promotor: Michiel van Lambalgen
An abstract is available.

Tuesday 26 September 2000, 10:00
PhD Defense of Paul van Ulsen
Place: Oude Lutherse Kerk, Singel 411, Amsterdam.
Title dissertation: E.W. Beth als logicus
Promotores: Anne Troelstra and Johan van Benthem

Friday 29 September 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Sjaak Verbeek
Place: Room P.327, Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24
Title: An information theoretic approach to finding word groups for text classification
Supervisor: Michiel van Lambalgen

Monday 2 October 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Mariana Haim
Place: Room PCH 319, Spuistraat 134
Title: Duality for lattices with operators: a modal logic approach
Supervisor: Yde Venema

Wednesday 11 October 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Catarina Dutilh-Novaes
Place: Room P.327, Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24
Title: A Study of William of Ockham's Logic: From Suppositio to Truth Conditions
Supervisors: Dick de Jongh and Frank Veltman

Thursday 12 October 2000, 10:00
PhD Defense of Carlos Areces
Place: Oude Lutherse Kerk, Singel 411, Amsterdam.
Title dissertation: Logic Engineering. The Case of Description and Hybrid Logics.
Promotor: Johan van Benthem
Co-promotor: Maarten de Rijke

Wednesday 25 October 2000, 17:00
Master of Logic Defense of Levan Khavtasi
Place: Room PCH 319, Spuistraat 134
Title: Extending focused theories: particles in focus
Supervisor: Henk Zeevat

Thursday 16 November 2000, 9:30
Master of Logic Defense of Patrick Yancey
Place: Room 3.27, Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24
Title: Indeterminacy and translatability
Supervisor: Theo Janssen

Friday 17 November 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Shai Berger
Place: MF Room, Vendelstraat 8
Title: Studies on the Uses and Usefulness of Diagrams
Supervisor: Michiel van Lambalgen

Monday 20 November 2000, 14:00
PhD Defense of Hans van Ditmarsch
Place: Senaatskamer, Academiegebouw Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Broerstraat 5, Groningen
Title dissertation: Knowledge games
Promotores: Gerard Renardel, Johan van Benthem

"Bij deze nodig ik u uit voor het bijwonen van de verdediging van mijn proefschrift a.s. 20 november, in het Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, te Groningen. De titel is `Knowledge games'. De promotores zijn Gerard Renardel en Johan van Benthem. Het onderzoek is mede mogelijk gemaakt door mijn tijdelijke detachering bij het ILLC, momenteel. Vandaar dat het mij passend leek illc medewerkers een exemplaar van het proefschrift aan te bieden. Als u interesse heeft voor een exemplaar van mijn proefschrift, wilt u dan svp. een verzoek per email sturen aan de secretaresse TCW, mw. Alma, c.m.alma@ppsw.rug.nl. Zij zal eind oktober een pakket met het gewenste aantal exemplaren aan het ILLC opsturen, ter verdere verspreiding door het secretariaat. Overigens zal het proefschrift tzt. ook verkrijgbaar zijn in de ILLC proefschriften reeks onder nummer ILLC DS-2000-06.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Hans van Ditmarsch"

Thursday 23 November 2000, 12:00
Master of Logic Defense of Iouri Netchitailov
Place: Room 3.27, Euclides Building, Plantage Muidergracht 24
Title: Parallelism for Games
Supervisor: Johan van Benthem

Friday December 22 2000, 16:00
Master of Logic Defense of Marie Nilsenova
Place: MFR (ground floor), Department of Philosophy, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15
Title: Uncertainty in the Common Ground
Supervisor: Robert van Rooy

In the "NWO open competition" (round 1999), the following projects in which ILLC staff is involved have been approved of:

• Extending feasible computation: quantum computing (Dr. L. Torenvliet)
• Average-case analysis of algorithms (Prof. dr. P.M.B. Vitanyi)
• Component based framework for constraint solving (Prof. dr. K.R. Apt)

Applications for the External Faculty Fellowship program of the Center for Humanities of Stanford University for the next Academic year can be submitted until 15 November.

The External Faculty Fellowship-program is open to senior researchers as well as junior postdocs. The amount of funding varies from 25.000 US dollars for juniors to 40.00 dollar for seniors, plus moving and travel expenses. Your own institutes should take part in financing your stay. Information: Satnford Humanities Center, Stanford University, Mariposa House, 546 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford CA 94305-8630, tel. 001 650 7233052, http://shc.stanford.edu/.

Deadline: 15 november

The third Merrill Lynch Forum Innovation Grants Competition
Merill Lynch awards a total of $180.000 prize money (first prize: $50.000) to those PhD's who successfully present the commercial application possibilities of their research. The presentation should not exceed 3000 words; the exact details of the prerequisites of the presentation etc. can be obtained with Peter Blok. Deadline: December 15

The Academy of Sciences is offering a grant for Post-docs for a one year visit to a university in Nordrheinland-Westfalen (the so called Hendrik Casimir-Karl Ziegler research grant. Information can be obtained by Peter Blok (6090, pblok@science.uva.nl)

The Centre of Computing Research in Mexico City is looking for 20 new members of staff with PhD and 25 without. If anyone of you is interested, there is documentation available about the institute and the positions. Please contact Peter Blok (tel: 525-6090).

The faculty of Humanities awarded ILLC one extra PhD position, which will be occupied by B.D. Ten Cate: "Doelgerichte Semantiek" (supervisors: Jeroen Groenendijk and Paul Dekker

Johan van Benthem received a NWO Humanities grant for one PhD student: B. de Bruin, "De kennis en rationaliteitsaannamen van speltheoretische oplossingsconcepten".

Valentin Goranko will be a guest at the ILLC from september 15th to november 15th (room 3.28, telephone 020-5255361).

The regular PhD-student position at the Humanities Faculty will be occupied by R.J.Mastop: "Informatieuitwisseling en tegenspraak" (supervisors: Jeroen Groendendijk and Frank Veltman)

Balder ten Cate joins the ILLC staff as a PhD student of Jeroen Groenendijk and Paul Dekker (filling a PhD position awarded by the faculty of Humanities). More information is available here.

Boudewijn de Bruin joins the ILLC staff as a PhD student of Johan van Benthem (funded by a NWO Humanities grant). More information is available here.

Willem Jan van Hoeve joins the ILLC staff as a PhD student of Krzysztof Apt (funded by a NWO grant). More information is available here.

Sebastian Brand joins the ILLC staff as a PhD student of Krzysztof Apt (funded by a NWO grant). More information is available here.

Guest from December 6th to December 12th: Ms. Elena N. Lissaniouk
Ms. Elena N. Lissaniouk, Ph.D. at the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Logic, St.-Petersburg State University; will be staying at Pl. Muidergracht 24 room P 325, tel: 5235

Pieter Adriaans and the Syllogic experienced several knock downs over the last couple of days and the repairs on the ripped mainsail are not successful. Last night, on Day 14 of the Race, the skipper decided to run for shelter and changed course to Faial, Horta, on the Azores. The Syllogic has been in the lead of Class IV for the first six days before unfortunate developments took place. Read this and more at www.robosail.nl.

Friday 8 and 15 december, Course Projectmanagement for Promovendi
Note: this course is given in dutch!

Veel promovendi vinden het moeilijk hun onderzoek goed te plannen. Zij krijgen hier weinig vat op en lopen daardoor kans op vertragingen. In de tweedaagse training Projectmanagement voor promovendi staat deze, meer procesmatige kant van het promotieonderzoek centraal. Door kennis van projectmatig werken en time management leer je grip krijgen op deze kant van je onderzoek. Je leert beter om te gaan met tijd, planning, deadlines en beslismomenten. Ook wordt er aandacht besteed aan het maken van een goede afstemming van taken en verantwoordelijkheden met de omgeving.

Het Loopbaan Advies Centrum van de UvA organiseert een training:
Doelgroep: Promovendi aan de UvA, in het eerste of tweede jaar van hun onderzoek
Tijd: Vrijdag 8 en 15 december 2000, 9.30-17.00 uur
Plaats: Zaal 2.04, Service- en Informatiecentrum, Binnengasthuisstraat 9
Kosten: Fl. 50,- (worden door ILLC vergoed)
Aantal deelnemers: Min. 6 en max. 10
Inschrijving: (deelname op basis van datum inschrijving) per e-mail: sdvtraining@bdu.uva.nl o.v.v. "Projectmanagement promovendi"
Informatie: Ans Rekers, tel: 5252469, email: a.rekers@bdu.uva.nl

Wednesday 6 December, Presentation Teaching Institute
Location: zaal A, gebouw A
Date and Time: Wednesday December 6h, 13.30-17.00

Aan de betrokkenen bij het owi-I
Graag herinner ik u aan de bijeenkomst van woensdag aanstaande 13.30-17.00 in zaal A van gebouw A. Na de toespraken van Sijbolt Noorda en Andre Schram zullen de opleidingsdirecteuren Jan Bergstra, Frans Groen en Rik Maes hun visie geven op de toekomst van onze opleidingen. In de daarna volgende workshops is uw inbreng van wezenlijk belang voor de nadere uitwerking van de vernieuwingen in ons onderwijs.

The course schedule for the 2nd trimester is available.
You can pick up a hard copy at room 3.11 or 3.12 of the Euclides building, or room 2.08 of the philosophy building The course schedule is also available on the website, at http://www.illc.uva.nl/gpil/courses/schedule2.html.