April 1997 - Categories - categories.org.au

Notes of two lectures
by Ross Street 30 Apr '97

30 Apr '97

This is to announce the placement on the WWW of the notes of my two lectures at the Conference on Higher Category Theory and Mathematical Physics, Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois; 28-30 March 1997). The site is: <www-math.mpce.mq.edu.au/~coact/street_nw97.ps> [I have tried to eliminate offending fonts and to accommodate funny US paper size. Thanks to Sjoerd Crans for helping here.] Title: The role of Michael Batanin's monoidal globular categories Lecture I: Globular categories and trees Lecture II: Higher operads and weak omega-categories This is a report on recent work of Michael Batanin. The goal of his work is to provide an environment for defining the concepts associated with weak omega-categories and for developing the ensuing theory. The approach is "globular". To put this in context, I might mention some important steps in the development of weak omega-categories. Categories were defined by Eilenberg-Mac Lane in 1945. Monoidal and symmetric monoidal categories were defined by Mac Lane in 1963. Ehresmann defined (strict) n-categories in 1966. B�nabou defined bicategories in 1967. In the early 80s, monoidal bicategories were in the air but a full definition was not published in that period. Joyal-Street defined braided monoidal categories in 1985. Gordon-Power-Street defined tricategories in 1991 (this, and the coherence theorem, were published in 1995). Braided monoidal categories were defined by Kapranov-Voevodsky-Baez-Neuchl-Breen around 1993. Trimble produced a definition of tetracategory in 1995. Diverse approaches to weak n-categories for all n have appeared. Street (1985) suggested a simplicial definition with horn filler conditions. Trimble (1994) approached the problem using operads and Stasheff associahedra. Baez-Dolan (1995) have a definition using typed operads and opetopes. Tamsamani (1996) gave a multisimplicial definition. Batanin uses higher operads and globular sets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ross Street email: street(a)mpce.mq.edu.au Mathematics Department phone: +612 9850 8921 Macquarie University fax: +612 9850 8114 Sydney, NSW 2109 Australia Internet: http://www.mpce.mq.edu.au/~street/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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weak \omega-categories
by Olga Batanin 29 Apr '97

29 Apr '97

The preprint version of my paper "Monoidal globular categories as a natural environment for the theory of weak n-categories" is now available. The dvi file is at http://www-math.mpce.mq.edu.au/~mbatanin/coh0.dvi Please, contact me if you have any difficulties with printing it out. I can mail hard copies. Michael Batanin. Abstract. The paper is devoted to the problem of defining weak $\omega$-categories. The definition presented here is based on a nontrivial generalization of the apparatus of operads and their algebras, originally developed by P.May \cite{May} for the needs of algebraic topology. Yet, for the purposes of higher order category theory, a higher dimensional notion of operad is required. Briefly, the idea of a higher operad may be explained as follows. An ordinary non-symmetric operad in $Set$ associates a set $A_{n}$ to every integer $n$. The set of integers may be interpreted as the set of $1$-cells in the free category generated by one object and one nonidentity endomorphism of this object. To find a higher order generalization of the notion of operad we have to describe the free strict $\omega$-category generated by one object and one nonidentity endomorphism of this object and one nonidentity endomorphism of this endomorphism and so on (so, for example, the set of integers is the one-dimensional part of this category). The required $\omega$-category $Tr$ will be the category of planar trees of a special type. The $k$-th composition of cells will be given by the colimit of the diagram of trees over a special tree $M_{n}^{k}$. The other component of the theory of operads is an appropriate monoidal category (with some extrastructure like braiding or symmetry) where one can consider the notion of operad. We need also a monoidal category (perhaps, with extrastructure as well) where one can define the notion of algebra for an operad. Finally, the corresponding coherence theorems for both types of monoidal categories are required. I call all these components a natural environment for a given theory of operads. One of my main goals was to find a natural environment for the theory of higher order operads. For this I introduce monoidal globular categories and show they are suitable for the development of the theory of higher order operads. The crucial point here is a coherence theorem for monoidal globular categories (section 4) which includes as special cases the coherence theorems for monoidal, symmetric monoidal, and braided monoidal categories and a sort of pasting theorem for $\omega$-categories. A primary example of a globular monoidal category is the globular category of $n$-spans $Span$. The $0$-spans are just the sets. The $1$-spans are the spans in $Set$ in the usual sense. In some informal sense, an $n$-span is a relation between two $(n-1)$-spans. This globular monoidal category plays the same role for higher-order category theory as the category of sets does for ordinary category theory. These results allow me to formulate the notion of higher order operad. An $\omega$-operad will associate an $n$-span to every $n$-cell in $Tr$ for every $n\ge 0$.} There are also the units and multiplications and some axioms for these operations. The category of non-symmetric operads (in the category of sets) is just a one-dimensional subcategory of the category of $\omega$-operads. Finally, Iintroduce a notion of a contractible $\omega$-operad, So the main definition is: A weak $\omega$-category is a globular set together with the structure of algebra over a universal contractible $\omega$-operad. I construct also a fundamental $n$-groupoid functor from topological spaces to the category of weak $n$categories for all $n$ including $\omega$ and consider another examples of weak $n$-categories, hifger operads and their algebras.

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IC-EATCS Annual Advanced School
by Catuscia Palamidessi 28 Apr '97

28 Apr '97

I apologize for multiple copies. Regards, Catuscia Palamidessi ======================================================== 3rd IC-EATCS Annual Advanced School "Models and Paradigms of Concurrency" 15-19 September 1997, CISM, Udine, Italy Organized by Furio Honsell Catuscia Palamidessi Paolo Serafini University of Udine (Scientific Coordinator) University of Udine University of Genova Sponsored by Italian CNR UNESCO University of Udine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For further information see the URL: http://www.disi.unige.it/person/PalamidessiC/IC-EATCSschool/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOPE The IC-EATCS (European Association of Theoretical Computer Science) Advanced Schools focus on specific subjects of Theoretical Computer Science, and address an international public formed both by PhD students and by researchers who wish to deepen their knowledge of the field. Besides the didactical purpose, these events aim at the dissemination of advanced scientific knowledge and at the promotion of international contacts and exchange of ideas among scientists. They intend to be an occasion, especially for the youngest participants, to meet other people interested in their research with whom to discuss ideas and to compare approaches and results. The IC-EATCS 1997 Advanced School will focus on "Models and Paradigms for Concurrency". The aim is to provide a overview of some of the hot topics in the field of Concurrency Theory, particularly concerning computational models and linguistic paradigms. If there are PhD students interested in taking an examination at the conclusion of the School, such an examination will be scheduled on Saturday 20 September, and will consist of exercises agreed upon by the Organizers and the Lecturers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROGRAMME There will be 3 main courses of 10 hours each. Every course will be parted in 5 lectures of 2 hours, one per day. Additionally, there will be invited talks, one per day, of 1 hour and half each. MAIN COURSES Samson Abramsky Interaction Categories University of Edimburgh, UK Prakash Panangaden Probabilistic Theories and Methods for Mc Gill University, Ca Concurrency Davide Sangiorgi An introduction to the Pi-calculus INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, Fr INVITED TALKS Pierpaolo Degano (to be announced) University of Pisa, It Moreno Falaschi Concurrent Constraint Programming University of Udine, It Roberto Gorrieri Security and Privacy in Process Algebras University of Bologna, It Furio Honsell (to be announced) University of Udine, It Simone Martini Distributed Cut-elimination in Proof-nets University of Udine, It ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLICATION To apply, participants should fill the enclosed Application Form and return it, either by hard or electronic mail, to: IC-EATCS 1997 Advanced School Secretariat CISM, Palazzo del Torso Piazza Garibaldi 18 33100 UDINE - ITALY Tel: +39 432 294989 or 508251. Fax: +39 432 501523. Email: cism(a)uniud.it Please send a copy of your application (preferably by email) also to Catuscia Palamidessi, DISI, via Dodecaneso, 35, 16146 Italy. Email: catuscia(a)disi.unige.it. DEADLINE Early registration: 30 June 1997. Late registration: 15 August 1997 FEES The Participation fee is 600,000 ITL (Italian Lira) for early registration, and 700,000 ITL for late registration (1 USD is about 1,700 ITL). It includes coffee breaks and printed material relative to the courses. It does not include accomodation or meals. FURTHER INFORMATION For further information please contact Ms.Carla Toros, Cism Secretary. Tel. +39 432 294989. Email: cism(a)hydrus.cc.uniud.it ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRANTS A limited number of participants who cannot be entirely supported by their own Institution can be offered scholarship and/or lodging and/or partial support of travel expenses. In order to have a large attendance applicants are encouraged to solicit partial support also from other institutions. The request for support should be sent by 30 June 1997 together with the Application, and it should include: * the enclosed Grant Application Form * the Curriculum Vitae of the participant * (optional) one or two letters of recommendation. The request should be sent either by hard or electronic mail, to: IC-EATCS 1997 Advanced School Secretariat CISM, Palazzo del Torso Piazza Garibaldi 18 33100 UDINE - ITALY Tel: +39 432 294989 or 508251. Fax: +39 432 501523. Email: cism(a)uniud.it Please send a copy of your request also to Catuscia Palamidessi, DISI, via Dodecaneso, 35, 16146 Italy. Email: catuscia(a)disi.unige.it. The letters of recommendation, if sent by email, should be send directly by the people who write them. Awarding of grants will be notified by 30 July 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACCOMODATION AND TRAVEL There are many hotel opportunities in Udine. A list of them, with reduced prices for the CISM schools participants, is enclosed below. Participants are kindly requested to make the hotel reservation directly. A map of Udine, showing the location of CISM and of the various hotels, is available at the URL http://www.disi.unige.it/person/PalamidessiC/IC-EATCSschool/index.html A limited number of participants can be lodged in the Student House of the University of Udine. More information about this will be made available at the URL above. Participants to the school can get meals at the "Mensa Universitaria" for about 10,000 ITL. The best way to reach Udine by plane is to arrive at the airport of Trieste. From this airport, there are frequent buses to Udine. The trip takes about half an hour. More information about travel will be made available at the URL above. 8<-------------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLICATION FORM Family name: _____________________ Name: ___________________________ Date of Birth: ___________________ Cytizenship: ____________________ Position: __________________ Affiliation: __________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ Phone: ________________ Fax: ______________ Email: ________________ ..................................................................... Please select your preferred form of payment for the fee by replacing the "o" with an "*" o Check of Lire: ___________ sent to CISM. o Payment of Lire: ___________ made on CISM Bank Account N. 3000, ROLO Banca 1473, Agenzia 2, UDINE (ABI 3556, CAB 12303). Bank transfer must be free of charge for the organizers. o Charge of Lire on the Credit card: _______________________ (Cartasi, Eurocard, Mastercard or Visa) Number: _________________________ Expiration date: _______ Name on card: _____________________________________________ ..................................................................... Please indicate to whom the invoice should be addressed here below. This name should also appear on all bank documents Name: ______________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________ VAT number or Fiscal Number: _______________________ (Only for EC or Italian residents or foreigners with permanent business activity in Italy): 8<-------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRANT APPLICATION FORM (to be sent together with the application form) I hereby apply for the following support for attending the ``IC-EATCS Advanced School on Models and Paradigms for Concurrency'', CISM, Udine, 15-19 September 1997 : - travel expenses: Yes No - living expenses: Yes No - participation fee: Yes No When using the most economical way of travelling, my travel costs amount to: ________________________________ Other sources will contribute to my expenses for: - travel expenses: Yes No Partially (up to _________________________) - living expenses: Yes No Partially (up to _________________________) - participation fee: Yes No Partially (up to _______________________) I do not receive any further support and I hereby declare that the above information is correct and to the best of my knowledge. Date: _________________ Signature: ____________________________________________________________ 8<-------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOTELS IN UDINE Approximate Prices in Lire January 97 (*) Single room Double room ......................................................................... **** (first category) AMBASSADOR PALACE HOTEL, 91.000 Via Carducci 46 112.000 164.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 37 77, Fax 50 37 11 break.incl. break.incl. ASTORIA HOTEL ITALIA, 140.000 180.000 Piazza XX Settembre 24 break.incl. break.incl. Tel. +39 0432/50 50 91, Fax 50 90 70 special discounted prices for week-ends 130.000 170.000 ......................................................................... *** (second category) CRISTALLO 76.000 118.000 Piazzale D'Annunzio 73 breakfast 13.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 19 19, Fax 50 16 73 additional discount for direct payment 72.000 110.000 FRIULI, 85.000 150.000 Viale Ledra 24 105.000 Tel. +39 0432/23 43 51, Fax 23 46 06 break.incl. break.incl. PRESIDENT, 90.000 Via Duino 8 105.000 140.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 99 05, Fax 50 72 87 break.incl. break.incl. PRINCIPE, 90.000 Viale Europa Unita 51 100.000 150.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 60 00, Fax 50 22 21 break.incl. break.incl. SAN GIORGIO, 90.000 Piazzale Cella 3 110.000 130.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 55 77, Fax 50 61 10 break.incl. break.incl. CONTINENTAL 90.000 Viale Tricesimo 71 99.000 135.000 Tel. +39 0432/46 969, Fax 52 60 02 break.incl. break.incl. ......................................................................... ** (third category) QUO VADIS, 55.000 80.000 Piazziale Cella 28 breakfast 7.000 90.000 Tel. +39 0432/21 0 91, Fax 21 0 92 ......................................................................... * (fourth category) SUITE INN - Meubli, Via di Toppo 25 no single rooms 60.000 Tel. +39 0432/50 16 83 break. not incl. ......................................................................... Interested persons are kindly requested to make the hotel reservation directly. International code number for Udine is: +39432. For national calls, the code is 0432. (*) These are special prices for CISM participants. When contacting the hotel, please make clear that you are a CISM participant.

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AMAST'97 CFP
by Michael Johnson 27 Apr '97

27 Apr '97

AMAST'97 (Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology) particularly welcomes papers in category theory as a foundation for computer science, and as a tool in software engineering. If you would like to submit, but may have trouble meeting the May 15 deadline, please contact mike.johnson(a)mq.edu.au as soon as possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Call for Papers Sixth International AMAST Conference AMAST '97, December 13-17, 1997, Sydney, Australia. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Goals The major goal of the AMAST Conferences is to put software development technology on a firm, mathematical foundation. Particular emphasis is given to algebraic and logical foundations of software technology. An eventual goal is to establish algebraic and logical methodologies as practically viable and attractive alternatives to the prevailing approaches to software engineering. Previous meetings of AMAST were held in Iowa (1989 and 1991), Twente, Holland (1993), Montreal (1995) and Munich (1996). During these meetings, AMAST has attracted an international spread of researchers and practitioners interested in software technology, programming methodology and their algebraic and logical foundations. In addition, the first day of each conference has been dedicated to Mathematics Education for Software Engineers. Following this successful trend, the sixth AMAST International Conference will be held at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, from December 13 to December 17, 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Submissions As in the previous years we invite papers reporting original research in algebra and logic, suitable as a foundation for software technology, as well as software technologies developed by means of logic and algebraic methodologies. Submissions should not have been published and should not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY systems software technology, application software technology, concurrent and reactive systems, formal methods in industrial software development, formal techniques for software requirements, design. PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY logic programming, functional programming, object paradigms, constraint programming and concurrency, program verification and transformation, specification languages and tools, formal specification and development case studies. ALGEBRAIC AND LOGICAL FOUNDATIONS logic, category theory, relation algebra, computational algebra, algebraic foundations for languages and systems, theorem proving and logical frameworks for reasoning, logics of programs. SYSTEMS AND TOOLS (for system demonstrations or ordinary papers) software development environments, support for correct software development, system support for reuse, tools for prototyping, validation and verification, computer algebra systems, theorem proving systems. We invite prospective authors to submit electronically previously unpublished papers of high quality. Papers should be between five and fifteen pages in LNCS style. Ten page papers are ideal, and papers longer than fifteen pages may be rejected without detailed refereeing. Please see details at http://www.cs.mq.edu.au/amast97 under "submission" which explain how to get a paper number, and then send a fully self-contained postscript file (preferably derived from LaTeX with the LNCS style on a Unix system) to amast97(a)mpce.mq.edu.au . If for any reason it is impossible to submit electronically authors may send six paper copies of their submission to the programme chair at the address below. All papers will be refereed by the programme committee, and will be judged based on their significance, technical merit, and relevance to the conference. As in the past, we expect the proceedings to be published by Springer-Verlag in their Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series. Papers should be received by May 15, 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Address for non-electronic submissions and enquiries Michael Johnson AMAST'97 Programme chair School of Maths and Computing Macquarie University Sydney, 2109, Australia Phone: ++61 (0)2 9850 9583 Fax: ++61 (0)2 9850 9551 Email: amast97(a)mpce.mq.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------- AMAST General Chair: Maurice Nivat (France) Programme Chair: Michael Johnson (Australia) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Programme Committee V.S. Alagar (Canada), Egidio Astesiano (Italy), Didier Begay (France), Richard Buckland (Australia), John Cannon (Australia), Kokichi Futatsugi (Japan), Armando Haeberer (Brazil), Paola Inverardi (Italy), Michael Johnson (Australia), Rocco De Nicola (Italy), Anton Nijholt (Netherlands), Fernando Orejas (Spain), Mehmet Orgun (Australia), John Plaice (Canada) John Potter (Microsoft Research Institute), R. Ramanujam (India), Charles Rattray (Great Britain), Teodor Rus (USA), T. Sakabe (Japan), Giuseppe Scollo (Netherlands), R.K. Shyamasundar (India), Andrzej Tarlecki (Poland), R.F.C. Walters (Australia), Martin Wirsing (Germany). ------------------------------------------------------------------- Organizing Committee Chair and Finances: Michael Johnson Tools and Demos: Richard Buckland Local arrangements: Vicki Carruthers ------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Dates Submission of Papers: May 15, 1997 Submission of System Demo Proposals: June 15, 1997 Author notificaiton of ouctome: August 1, 1997 Camera read copy received by: September 1, 1997 Education Day: December 13, 1997 Conference Days: December 14-17, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Further information For regularly updated details of the conference organisation see http://www.cs.mq.edu.au/amast97 or send email to amast97(a)mpce.mq.edu.au -------------------------------------------------------------------

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Call for contributions
by Pino Rosolini 24 Apr '97

24 Apr '97

[An HTML version of the Call for Contributions is available at http://www.disi.unige.it/conferences/new-trends97/ Apologies if you receive copies of the message.] Call for Contributions NEW TRENDS IN SEMANTICS Satellite Workshop to ICALP '97 July 4-5, 1997 Bologna, Italy The purpose of the workshop is to gather researchers in the field of semantics of programming languages and to investigate new developments. Special emphasis will be given to game semantics. Contributions are invited in the form of a short abstract on topics related to semantics of computations. We welcome contributions about novel applications to semantics from areas such as type theory, category theory, domain theory, logic, as well as others. Invited speakers are Samson Abramsky, LFCS, Edinburgh Vincent Danos, Paris VII Andre` Joyal, Univ. de Quebec, Montreal Davide Sangiorgi, INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis The next announcements will be distributed electronically only to those who will have so requested. Please, send the appended form to ntis97(a)athena.disi.unige.it. Submission: Fill in the form appended below with information about title and abstract, and send it, preferably by e-mail, to ntis97(a)athena.disi.unige.it by May 22, 1997. A provisional programme will be drawn and distributed on May 25, before the deadline for early registration at ICALP, trying to include as many talks as time permits. The programme will then be finalized by May 30 -- we intend to allow for late submissions if slots in the programme remain available after May 25. Organizing committee: Andrea Asperti (Bologna) asperti(a)cs.unibo.it Eugenio Moggi (Genova) moggi(a)disi.unige.it Giuseppe Rosolini (Genova) rosolini(a)disi.unige.it Information about the workshop or about accomodation in Bologna can be found at the URL above. For further information, please contact G. Rosolini or Renza Morino R. Morino G. Rosolini tel: +39 (0)10 3536965 tel: +39 (0)10 3536630 fax: +39 (0)10 3536960 fax: +39 (0)10 3536699 email: morino(a)dima.unige.it email: rosolini(a)disi.unige.it address: DIMA, Univ. di Genova, via Dodecaneso 35, 16146 Genova, Italy ---------MAIL ASAP TO ntis(a)athena.disi.unige.it-------------- Name: Address: email: URL (if available): I would like to receive future announcements about the workshop. I would like to give a talk entitled: which should last (15/25/40 minutes, please specify). Abstract:

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preprint available
by Anders Kock 22 Apr '97

22 Apr '97

The article: "Geometric Construction of the Levi-Civita Parallelism" by Anders Kock is available from ftp://ftp.mi.aau.dk/pub/kock/parallel.ps (about 150 kb). (The Levi-Civita Parallellism is also called the Riemannian Connection; it is the unique symmetric affine connection compatible with a given Riemannian metric. We present a geometric construction of it, using variational principles and synthetic differential geometry.)

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TCS Special Issue: Proof-search in Type-theoretic Languages.
by David Pym 22 Apr '97

22 Apr '97

[Apologies for multiple copies of this message.] Dear Colleague, This message is to remind you that a special issue of TCS dedicated to the topic "Proof-search in type-theoretic languages" has been announced, with Didier Galmiche and I as guest editors. Following some requests, we have delayed the submission deadline. So, please find enclosed the corresponding last call for papers. The new (and firm) submission deadline is 15 September, 1997. Prospective contributors are warmly invited to contact either of the guest editors to discuss the suitability of topics and papers. The submissions should satisfy the usual standards of scholarship, originality and high-quality of the TCS journal. Kind regards, David Pym ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ******************************************************************* * * * 2nd Call for Papers --- Submission Deadline Extended to * * 15 September, 1997 * * * ******************************************************************* Special Issue of Theoretical Computer Science (TCS) (Editor-in-Chief: M. Nivat) on ******************************************** * Proof-search in Type-theoretic Languages * ******************************************** Guest Editors: Didier Galmiche David Pym CRIN-CNRS & UHP Nancy 1 Queen Mary & Westfield College Nancy, France University of London Algorithmic proof-search is a fundamental enabling technology throughout artificial intelligence and computer science. There is a long history of work in proof-search in a variety of systems of logic, including classical, intuitionistic, relevant, linear and modal systems, at the propositional, first- and higher-order levels. Such work has ranged from the most abstract to the most practical and has employed the full spectrum of logical techniques, from proof theory, model theory and recursion theory. Recently, there has been a great deal of work on proof-search in type-theoretic languages. Such languages can be thought of as logical frameworks to represent proofs and to formalize connections between proofs and programs. Two recent workshops on "Proof-search in Type-theoretic Languages" (Nancy, 1994 and Rutgers University, NJ, 1996) have provide exchanges of ideas and experiences in topics concerned with proof-search in type theory, logical frameworks and their underlying (e.g., classical, intuitionistic, linear) logics. Here again, the scope of languages studied and techniques employed has been wide, stretching to include algebraic and categorical methods. From the computational point of view, the type-theoretic component of logical languages, which may involve propositional, first-order, higher-order or polymorphic assignment regimes, introduces significant challenges for both theoreticians and implementors. *************** * TOPICS * *************** Topics of interest include, but are not restricted to: * Natural deduction, sequent calculi systems for type-theoretic languages. Based-on tableaux, matrix or resolution methods for proof-search in type-theoretic languages. * Semantic techniques in proof-search. Search vs. deduction as the basis of logic; consequences for model theory * Theorem proving and program development with type-theoretic languages: concepts, techniques, implementation and experimentation * Logic programming in type-theoretic languages as search-based computation; integration of model-theoretic semantics and imperative aspects of logic programming * Operational semantics and proof theory of search-based computation. Denotational semantics and model theory of search-based computation. * Complexity of search problems in type-theoretic languages; comparisons with non-type-theoretic systems. *************** * SUBMISSIONS * *************** Prospective contributors are warmly invited to contact either, or both, of the guest editors (see addresses below) to discuss the suitability of topics and papers. The submissions should satisfy the usual standards of scholarship, originality and high-quality of the TCS journal. * SUBMISSION DEADLINE ********************** The new submission deadline is * 15 September, 1997 * ********************** * SUBMISSION FORMAT Please submit either 4 paper copies or, preferably, a postscript file to either of the addresses given below. * SUBMISSION ADDRESSES Either: Didier Galmiche, CRIN-CNRS & UHP Nancy 1, Batiment LORIA, Campus Scientifique, B.P. 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy France Didier.Galmiche(a)loria.fr Tel: +33 (0)3 83 59 20 15 Fax: +33 (0)3 83 41 30 79 WWW: http://www.loria.fr/~galmiche or: David Pym, Department of Computer Science, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, England U.K. pym(a)dcs.qmw.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)171 975 5237 Fax: +44 (0)181 980 6533 WWW: http://www.dcs.qmw.ac.uk/~pym ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Summer School on Games and Computation
by Samson Abramsky 18 Apr '97

18 Apr '97

MATHFIT SUMMERSCHOOL IN EDINBURGH GAMES AND COMPUTATION Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science JUNE 23-24 1997 The use of games to model various aspects of computation has been notably successful over the past few years. In particular, two areas where there has been rapid progress recently are: game semantics and its applications to programming languages and logic; and the use of games in verifying properties of concurrent processes. Game semantics has been used to give the first syntax-independent constructions of fully abstract models for functional languages such as PCF and FPC (Abramsky,Jagadeesan and Malacaria, Hyland and Ong, Nickau, McCusker), for imperative languages such as Idealized Algol (Abramsky and McCusker), and for languages with non-local control operators such as call-cc (Ong, Laird). There are promising applications to object-oriented languages in progress. In the area of concurrency, games have been used to explicate bisimulation and proof-search in the modal mu-calculus (Stirling). This has been applied to the Edinburgh Concurrency Workbench by Perdita Stevens, and has resulted in improvements to the efficiency of the implementation. SPEAKERS Samson Abramsky, Edinburgh University Martin Hyland, Cambridge University Perdita Stevens, Edinburgh University Colin Stirling, Edinburgh University Wolfgang Thomas, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel GRANTS A small number of grants for the Summer School are available for PhD students. Further information and registration forms can be found at: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/cps/school.html The Summer School is supported by the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the London Mathematical Society. Samson Abramsky and Colin Stirling

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4th WoLLIC'97 - third call
by ruy＠di.ufpe.br 16 Apr '97

16 Apr '97

[An HTML version of the Call for Contributions is available via the WoLLIC'97 web page at http://www.di.ufpe.br/~wollic97 The usual apologies apply if you receive multiple copies of this message.] Third Call for Contributions 4th Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Computation (WoLLIC'97) August 20-22, 1997 ! NEW TUTORIALS >> (Tutorial Day: August 19th) << NEW TUTORIALS ! Fortaleza (Ceara'), Brazil The "4th Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Computation" (WoLLIC'97) will be held in Fortaleza, Ceara' (Brazil), from August 20th to 22nd 1997. Contributions are invited in the form of two-page (600 words) abstracts in all areas related to logic, language, information and computation, including: pure logical systems, proof theory, model theory, algebraic logic, type theory, category theory, constructive mathematics, lambda and combinatorial calculi, program logic and program semantics, logics and models of concurrency, nonclassical logics, nonmonotonic logic, logic and language, discourse representation, logic and artificial intelligence, automated deduction, foundations of logic programming, logic and computation, and logic engineering. There will be a number of guest speakers, including: Keith Devlin (St.Mary's Coll), Abbas Edalat (Imperial Coll), Rob van Glabbeek (Stanford Univ), Yuri Gurevich (Michigan Univ), Peter Johnstone (Cambridge Univ), Roman Kossak (CUNY), Daniel Lehmann (Jerusalem Univ), Drew McDermott (Yale Univ), Michael Moortgat (Utrecht Univ), Moshe Vardi (Rice Univ), Paulo Veloso (PUC-Rio). Submission: Two-page abstracts, preferably by e-mail to *** wollic97(a)di.ufpe.br *** must be RECEIVED by JUNE 1st, 1997 by one of the Co-Chairs of the Organising Committee. Authors will be notified of acceptance by July 1st, 1997. The 4th WoLLIC'97 is under the official auspices of the Interest Group in Pure and Applied Logics (IGPL), The European Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI), and co-sponsored by the Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL), and the Sociedade Brasileira de Computacao (SBC). Abstracts will be published in the Journal of the IGPL (ISSN 0945-9103) (Oxford University Press) as part of the meeting report. Selected contributed papers will be invited for submission (in full version) to a special issue of the Journal of the IGPL (http://www.mpi-sb.mpg.de/igpl/Journal) The location: Located near the equatorial line in the northeastern coast of Brazil, Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceara', lies by the beach between the Ceara' and the Coco' rivers, in the middle of 570km (360mi) of sandy beaches of the State's coast. The hightest point in the city is only 30m (100ft) high and its beach front is formed of sand dunes up to 10m high and coconut trees. The weather is dry and sunny. A permanent breeze comes from the ocean and keeps the air clean and healthy while the temperature rests on a nice level year around. The lack of rain during most of the year, now a blessing for the visitors, prevented a definitive settlement in the area of Fortaleza until the middle of the 17th century. At that time, need to assure the hold of the land, the Portuguese established the "Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Assuncao" in the same place where a hundred years before the dutch had built the Schoonenbroch Fort. Fortaleza, named after the fortress, has been since then an important trading center and an artistic and cultural center of the country. (http://www.bec.hosting.ibm.com/pagina/ifortale.html) Programme Committee: A. Avron (Tel-Aviv Univ., Israel), J. van Benthem (ILLC, Amsterdam), W. A. Carnielli (UNICAMP, Campinas), N. da Costa (USP, Sao Paulo), I. Hodkinson (Imperial College, London), L. Moss (Indiana Univ., Bloomington), V. de Paiva (Birmingham Univ., UK), T. Pequeno (UFC, Fortaleza), R. de Queiroz (UFPE, Recife), P. Veloso (PUC, Rio). Organising Committee: M. Aragao (UFC), F. Carvalho (UFC), A. T. C. Martins (UFC), H. Nogueira (UFC), A. G. de Oliveira (UFBA/UFPE), M. Pequeno (UFC) (Chair), T. Pequeno (UFC), R. de Queiroz (UFPE), W. Vasconcelos (UECE). For further information, contact the Co-Chairs of the Organising Committee: Ruy de Queiroz, Departamento de Informatica, Univ. Federal de Pernambuco, CP 7851, Recife, PE 50732-970, Brazil, e-mail: ruy(a)di.ufpe.br, tel.: +55 81 271 8430, fax: +55 81 271 8438. Marcelino Pequeno, Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial, Univ. Federal do Ceara', CP 12166, Fortaleza, CE 60455-760, Brazil, e-mail: marcel(a)lia.ufc.br, tel.: +55 85 287 1333, fax: +55 85 288 9845. Web homepage: http://www.di.ufpe.br/~wollic97

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ICCL'98: Preliminary Call For Papers
by Christopher Colby 14 Apr '97

14 Apr '97

PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS IEEE Computer Society 1998 International Conference on Computer Languages Loyola University Chicago Chicago, USA, 14-16 May 1998 Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Computer Languages, and by ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages This is the sixth in a series of conferences devoted to all aspects of computer languages, serving to bring together people broadly interested in machine processable descriptions. The hallmarks of ICCL are diversity, openness to a wide range of linguistic research, and international representation. The focus is on new ideas in languages and language technology which are innovative or experimental in nature. Papers are sought that describe significant new theoretical or experimental results in the design, evaluation or implementation of programming/specification languages. Areas of particular interest include but are not limited to: * Implementation, optimization * Theory, semantics * Abstract interpretation, flow analysis * Partial evaluation * Parallel and distributed languages * Object-oriented languages * Functional and logic languages * Multiparadigm languages * Real-time and fault-tolerant languages * Requirements, design, and specification languages * Internet programming languages * Domain-specific languages Papers should be at most 20 double-spaced pages in length, should have an abstract of 250 words, and a separate cover page indicating the title, authors, and a list of keywords. Papers will be judged on the basis of their relevance, significance, originality, correctness, and clarity. Accepted papers will appear in a full proceedings published by the IEEE Computer Society Press, for which authors will be expected to sign a copyright release form. Papers may be submitted electronically by sending an e-mail containing a platform-independent PostScript file (which can be printed on A4 and/or on 11" x 8.5" paper) to the address iccl98(a)csc.ncsu.edu, or by sending 5 copies of papers to Purush Iyer, program committee co-chair, at the address below. Submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter that includes a return mailing address, telephone number and email address. The papers are due by Oct 1, 1997. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by Jan 20, 1998. Camera ready versions of accepted papers will be due Feb 15, 1998. On the day prior to the Conference, a workshop on Internet programming languages is being planned by Henri Bal (bal(a)cs.vu.nl) and Boumediene Belkhouche (bb(a)eecs.tulane.edu) details for this and other pre-conference activities will be publicized in a separate announcement. PROGRAM COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS CONFERENCE CHAIR Purush Iyer Young-il Choo David Schmidt Dept of Computer Gifford-Fong Computing and Info. Science Associates Sciences Dept. North Carolina State yic(a)gfa-genesis.com Nichols Hall 234 University Kansas State University Raleigh, NC 27695-8206 Manhattan, KS 66506, USA Tel: +1 919-515-7291 Tel: +1-913-532-6350 Fax: +1 919-515-2878 Fax: +1-913-532-7353 purush(a)csc.ncsu.edu schmidt(a)cis.ksu.edu PROGRAM COMMITTEE Henri Bal (Vrije University, NL) Boumediene Belkhouche (Tulane University, US) Young-Il Choo (Gifford-Fong Associates, US) Radhia Cousot (CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, FR) Pascal Fradet (IRISA, FR) Dan Friedman (Indiana University, US) Rajiv Gupta (University of Pittsburgh, US) Laurie Hendren (McGill University, CA) Fritz Henglein (DIKU, DK) Purush Iyer (NC State University, US) Joxan Jaffar (National University of Singapore, SG) Kim Marriott (Monash University, AU) Martin Odersky (University of South Australia, AU) Jens Palsberg (Purdue University, US) Uday Reddy (University of Illinois, Urbana, US) John Reppy (AT&T Research, US) Tom Reps (University of Wisconsin, US) Jeremy Gibbons (Oxford Brookes University, UK) Dave Schmidt (Kansas State University, US) Bernhard Steffen (University of Passau, DE) LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CHAIR STEERING COMMITTEE Konstantin Laufer Joseph Urban (Chair), Arizona State Univ., USA Loyola University Boumediene Belkhouche, Tulane University, USA Chicago, IL, USA Pei Hsia, University of Texas, Arlington, USA

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