November 1999 - Categories - categories.org.au

Cfp: Realizability Semantics and Applications (MSCS special issue)
by Lars Birkedal 10 Dec '99

10 Dec '99

Call for Papers Special Issue of Mathematical Structures in Computer Science (MSCS) on Realizability Semantics and Applications Editors: L. Birkedal, J. van Oosten, G. Rosolini, D.S. Scott There has been recently a reawaking of interest in many aspects of realizability interpretations -- especially as regards semantics of type theories for constructive reasoning and semantics of programming languages. But, the details of realizability can be quite technical, and therefore a tutorial workshop on realizability and appliations was held in June/July 1999 in Trento, Italy. The workshop contained both tutorial lectures and also contributed research talks, see http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/birkedal/www/realizability-workshop/ for an overview. A special issue of the journal Mathematical Structures in Computer Science (MSCS) will be devoted to papers on realizability semantics and applications. The volume will contain the tutorial presentations given by invited speakers at the realizability workshop in Trento. We now also solicit contributions of research papers on realizability and applications for the special MSCS volume. Everyone is invited to contribute a paper (i.e., not only researchers who contributed a paper to the realizability workshop). Papers will be refereed to the usual high standards of MSCS. Instruction to Authors Authors are invited to submit full original research papers. Papers should be submitted via email to wr99(a)athena.disi.unige.it as a postscript file, or by mailing a hard copy to Lars Birkedal School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA before January 1, 2000. Important Dates Submission Deadline: January 1, 2000.

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CFP CT 2000
by RFC Walters 30 Nov '99

30 Nov '99

CALL FOR PAPERS CATEGORY THEORY 2000 (CT 2000) July 16-22, 2000 Centro di Cultura Scientifica "Alessandro Volta" di Villa Olmo Como, Italy The next international summer conference in category theory will be held at Villa Olmo from Sunday 16th July to Saturday 22nd July 2000. We invite submissions in all areas of category theory and its applications, but particularly in the following areas: * algebraic topology and homological algebra, * categorical logic, * categories and computer science, * enriched category theory and 2-dimensional universal algebra, * galois theory and descent, * general category theory. * higher dimensional category theory and quantum algebra, * topos theory and synthetic differential geometry, The web page for the conference is http://www.disi.unige.it/conferences/ct2000/ Electronic submissions are preferred but authors may instead mail 4 copies of an extended abstract, in either case to arrive by 15th March, 2000. Email address for electronic submissions ct2000(a)disi.unige.it Mail address for hardcopy submissions RFC Walters (CT 2000) Dipartimento di Scienze CC., FF., MM., UniversitÃ degli studi dell'Insubria 22100 Como, Italy Important Dates 15 March, 2000: Papers due 15 May, 2000: Notification of acceptance or rejection of papers 16-22 July, 2000: Conference Papers should be submitted in the form of an extended abstract. Papers should begin with the title of the paper, each author's name, affiliation, and e-mail address, followed by a statement as to which of the areas of category theory mentioned above the paper belongs, a succinct statement of the problems and goals that are considered in the paper, the main results achieved, the significance of the work in the context of previous research, and a comparison to past research. The abstract should provide sufficient detail to allow the program committee to evaluate the validity, quality, and relevance of the contribution. The entire extended abstract should not exceed 10 pages. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 15 May, 2000. Program Committee S.L. Bloom (Stevens Institute, USA) J.M.E. Hyland (Cambridge, U.K.) G. Janelidze (Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi) G.M. Kelly (Sydney, Australia) A. Kock (Aarhus, Denmark) R. Pare (Dalhousie, Canada) R.H. Street (Macquarie, Australia) Organizing Committee A. Carboni (Insubria) G. Rosolini (Genova) R.F.C. Walters (Insubria and Sydney)

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Job Position at Milano University
by Prof. Apolloni Bruno 29 Nov '99

29 Nov '99

RESEARCH POST IN THE DEPT. OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF MILAN Applications are invited for a research post within the framework of the "Principled Hybrid Systems: Theory and Applications" (PHYSTA) research network. The network is funded by the Training and Mobility of Researchers programme (TMR) of the EC and has started in December 1997. It involves research groups from five universities: i) King's College London, United Kingdom (Dept. of Mathematics, Prof. J.Taylor) ii) Katholic University of Nijmegen, Netherlands (Centre for Neural Networks, Prof. Stan Gielen) iii) National Technical University of Athens, Greece (Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Prof. Stefanos Kollias) iv) University of Milan, Italy (Department of Computer Science, Prof. Bruno Apolloni) v) Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom (Dept. of Psychology/English, Prof. Rodie Cowie) The aim of the research network is the development of a theory and a methodology for combining symbolic and sub-symbolic techniques. The problem domain which is used comes from HCI and refers to emotion understanding based on static/moving image and speech signals. The research post is available in the Neural Networks Laboratory of the Computer Science Department of the University of Milan. The post is available immediately for a period of 18 months. The successful applicant will work for the continuation of the development of a hybrid system prototype which has been implemented. This is a system combining a neural processing part which performs a mapping from the feature to the propositional variables space and a symbolic processing part. The latter is a series of meditation jumps to higher levels of abstraction following a PAC learning framework for boolean formulas. Candidates must have (or be close to obtaining) a PhD in a field such as Computer Science, Mathematics or Electrical Engineering. C programming skills are necessary while experience using SNNS and Scheme/Lisp programming skills are welcome. As the funding is provided by the EC TMR programme there are some restrictions on who may benefit from it: * Candidates must be 35 years old or younger. * Candidates must be nationals of a EU country, Norway, Switzerland or Iceland * Candidates must not be Italian nationals or have worked in Italy 18 out of the last 24 months. The salary for this post is approximately 2,100 Euros. To apply for this post please (e)mail your CV to the address below: Professor Bruno Apolloni, Neural Networks Laboratory Computer Science Department University of Milan, Via Comelico 39, Milano 20135, ITALY phone: 0039 02 55006284 fax: 0039 02 55006276 email: apolloni(a)dsi.unimi.it More information: apolloni(a)dsi.unimi.it http://www.image.ece.ntua.gr/physta

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change of address
by Jiri Adamek 29 Nov '99

29 Nov '99

Please use the following address in case of difficulties with my usual one: J.Adamek(a)tu-bs.de

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New Lectureship and Readership Positions at Sheffield
by Michael Mendler 25 Nov '99

25 Nov '99

Dear Colleagues, Three lectureships (Ref:R1868A) and one readership position (Ref:R1868C) are available at the Department of Computer Science of Sheffield University. I would be grateful if you could bring these positions to the attention of anyone who might be interested. One of the lectureships is available for candidates from any area, another one as well as the readership would be suitable for research-strong applicants in distributed systems theory, specifically mobile agents. More information about the posts can be found on the Department's web-page <http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/dept/jobs.html> Informal enquiries may be made to Professors Yorick Wilks or Mahesan Niranjan {yorick,niranjan}(a)dcs.shef.ac.uk. Further details of how to apply are available from the Personnel Department Jobs Page at <http://www.shef.ac.uk/jobs/> The closing date for all applications will be Monday 20 December 1999. Thanks a lot, Michael Mendler

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WoLLIC'2000
by Ruy de Queiroz 18 Nov '99

18 Nov '99

[apologies for multiple copies.] First Call for Contributions 7th Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Computation (WoLLIC'2000) August 15-18, 2000 ! TUTORIALS >> (Tutorial Day: August 15th) << TUTORIALS ! Natal, Brazil The "7th Workshop on Logic, Language, Information and Computation" (WoLLIC'2000), the seventh version of a series of workshops which started in 1994 with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary research in pure and applied logic, will be held in Natal, Brazil, from August 15th to 18th 2000. Contributions are invited in the form of short papers (10 A4 10pt pages) 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, logic and complexity theory, 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. The 7th WoLLIC'2000 has the scientific sponsorship of the Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL), the Interest Group in Pure and Applied Logics (IGPL), the European Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI), the Sociedade Brasileira de Computacao (SBC), and the Sociedade Brasileira de Logica (SBL). THE LOCATION Natal is the capital and largest city of Rio Grande do Norte, a sun shiny land of beaches, dunes, coconut trees, located in north-east coast of Brazil. There, the summer takes all year long (sun shines more than 300 days per year), and the heat is softened by a constant breeze. Along the 400-kilometer (250-mile) coast line, calm beaches with reefs forming natural pools altern with good surfing spots, almost untouched places full of sand dunes and coconut trees. GUEST SPEAKERS There will be a number of guest speakers, including: Andrea Asperti (Univ Bologna, Italy) Maria Luisa Bonet (Univ Politecnica Catalunya, Spain) (*) Martin Hyland (Cambridge Univ, UK) (*) Angus Macintyre (Edinburgh Univ, Scotland) Luiz Carlos Pereira (Pontificial Catholic Univ of Rio, Brazil) Bruno Poizat (Univ Lyon I, France) (*) Glynn Winskel (BRICS, Denmark) (*) TO BE CONFIRMED SUBMISSION: Papers (sent preferably in postscript format by e-mail to wollic(a)di.ufpe.br, or in 5(five) copies to postal address) must be RECEIVED by MAY 7th, 2000 by the Chair of the Organising Committee. Papers must be ANONYMOUS (a separate identification page must be included), written in English and give enough detail to allow the programme committee to assess the merits of the work. Papers should start with a brief statement of the issues, a summary of the main results, and a statement of their significance and relevance to the workshop. References and comparisons with related work is also expected. Technical development directed to the specialist should follow. Results must be unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere, including the proceedings of other symposia or workshops. One author of each accepted paper will be expected to attend the conference in order to present it. Authors will be notified of acceptance by JUNE 9th, 2000, and final versions will have to be delivered (in LaTeX format) by JUNE 16th, 2000. The abstracts of the papers will be published in a "Conference Report" section of the Logic Journal of the IGPL (ISSN 1367-0751) (Oxford Univ Press) as part of the meeting report. Papers presented at the meeting will be invited for submission (in full version) to the Logic Journal of the IGPL (http://www.oup.co.uk/igpl/) IMPORTANT DATES: Submission: May 7th, 2000 Notification of acceptance/rejection: June 9th, 2000 Delivery of final (in LaTeX): June 16th, 2000 PROGRAMME COMMITTEE: Sergei Artemov (Moscow Univ, Russia, and Cornell Univ, USA), Ricardo Bianconi (Univ Sao Paulo, Brazil), Sam Buss (UC San Diego, USA), Edmund Clarke (Carnegie-Mellon Univ, USA), Itala D'Ottaviano (Univ Campinas, Brazil), Heinz-Dieter Ebbinghaus (Univ Freiburg, Germany), Peter Johnstone (Cambridge Univ, UK), Hans Kamp (Univ Stuttgart, Germany), Pat Lincoln (SRI International, USA), Maarten de Rijke (Amsterdam Univ, The Netherlands), Colin Stirling (Edinburgh Univ, Scotland). ORGANISING COMMITTEE: B. C. Bedregal (UFRN), M. E. Coniglio (UNICAMP), A. M. P. Cruz (UFRN), D. Deharbe (UFRN), A. T. C. Martins (UFC), A. Moreira (UFRN), A. G. de Oliveira (UFPE/UFBA), R. de Queiroz (UFPE), R. H. N. Santiago (UFRN). For further information, contact the Chair of the Organising Committee: Ruy de Queiroz, Departamento de Informatica, Univ. Federal de Pernambuco, CP 7851, 50732-970 Recife, PE, Brazil. E-mail: ruy(a)di.ufpe.br, tel.: (+55 81) 271-8430, fax: (+55 81) 271-8438. WEB PAGE: http://www.di.ufpe.br/~wollic/wollic2000/

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function spaces
by Martin Escardo 18 Nov '99

18 Nov '99

Dear Comprox and Categories members, Here is a short note that Reinhold Heckmann and I have written. Your comments are welcome, as always. On function spaces in topology ------------------------------ It is the purpose of this expository note to provide a self-contained, elementary and brief development of the fact that the exponentiable topological spaces are precisely the core-compact spaces. The only prerequisite is a basic knowledge of topology (continuous functions, product topology and compactness). We hope that teachers and students of topology will find this useful. As far as we know, there is no such development available in the literature. Although there are one or two embellishments, our methods are certainly not original. We briefly discuss more advanced treatments in the introduction. ------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~mhe/papers/exponentiablespaces.ps.gz http://www.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~mhe/papers/exponentiablespaces.dvi.gz http://www.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~mhe/papers/exponentiablespaces.ps http://www.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~mhe/papers/exponentiablespaces.dvi ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best regards, Martin & Reinhold

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Yet another new book (shameless commerce division, again)
by Fred E.J. Linton 17 Nov '99

17 Nov '99

Participants in this past summer's Coimbra meetings may be interested to learn that the photographs my wife snapped there have now (like those of April in Buffalo) been incorporated into another "This is Us" volume: "Symposium -- Celebrating [with] Saunders." Same format as "This is Us, Vol. 1: Doing Math -- Category Theorists at Buffalo," and same price, yet with even more pictures (170 pp. vs. 108 pp.). Using less costly paper and a more economical printing technique helped keep expenses -- and hence price -- about the same; fortunately, with no appreciable degradation of image quality. Pre-publication mock-ups got shown around last month, at the University of Chicago's own Saunders' Birthday Party, and at the McGill OktoberFest; thanks to all whom these tempted into placing early orders, publication was completed on November 1, in the very constructive sense that on that date we mailed out all copies ordered in October, and that all orders arriving since then have seen same-day fulfillment. Further copies of both books can now be produced upon demand, as can also custom enlargements of individual photos. For details, please use the address in the .sig below. Cheers (and thanks for forgiving this commercial intrusion upon your time), -- Fred [E.J. Linton, aka <FLinton(a)Wesleyan.edu> , for The Lintons' Video Press]

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FMOODS'2000 cfp
by Carolyn Talcott 16 Nov '99

16 Nov '99

============================================================================== !! Apologies for multiple copies !! ============================================================================== Call for Papers FMOODS'2000 IFIP TC6/WG6.1 Third International Conference on Formal Methods for Open Object-Based Distributed Systems Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA September 6-8, 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Information * The conference home page is found at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fmds2000 * Conference-related email should be addressed to fmoods2000(a)cs.stanford.edu * Information on the FMOODS series of conferences can be found at http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/research/netdist/fmoods ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Important Dates 1st March 2000 Submission deadline 30th April 2000Notification of acceptance 23rd May 2000 Camera ready copy for participants proceedings due ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Objectives Object-based Distributed Computing is being established as the most pertinent basis for the support of large, heterogeneous computing and telecommunications systems. Indeed, several important international organisations, such as ITU, ISO, OMG, TINA-C, etc. are defining similar distributed object-based frameworks as a foundation for open distributed computing. The advent of Open Object-based Distributed Systems - OODS - brings new challenges and opportunities for the use and development of formal methods. New architectures and system models are emerging (e.g., the enterprise, information, computational and engineering viewpoints of the ITU-T/ISO/IEC ODP Reference Model) which require formal notational support. Usual design issues such as specification, verification, refinement, and testing need to take into account new dimensions introduced by distribution and openness, such as quality of service and dependability constraints, dynamic binding and reconfiguration, consistency between multiple models and viewpoints, etc. OODS is a challenging research context and a source of motivation for semantical models of object-based systems and notations, for the evolution of standardised formal description techniques, for the application and assessment of logic based approaches, for better understanding and information modeling of business requirements, and for the further development and use of Object Oriented methodologies and tools. The objective of FMOODS is to provide an integrated forum for the presentation of research in several related fields, and the exchange of ideas and experiences in the topics concerned with the formal methods support for Open Object-based Distributed Systems. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: * formal models for object-based distributed computing * semantics of object-based distributed systems and programming languages * formal techniques in object-based and object-oriented specification, analysis and design * refinement and transformation of specifications * types, service types and subtyping * interoperability and composability of distributed services * object-based coordination languages * object-based mobile languages * efficient analysis techniques of specifications * multiple viewpoint modelling and consistency between different models * formal techniques in distributed systems verification and testing * specification, verification and testing of quality of service constraints * formal methods and object life cycle * beyond IDL: semantics based specification patterns * formal models for measuring the quality of object-oriented requirement or design specifications * formal aspects of distributed real-time multimedia systems * applications to telecommunications and related areas ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Conference Organizers Carolyn Talcott(Chair) Scott Smith(PC Chair) Tel: + 650 723-0936 Tel: + 410 516-5299 Fax: + 650 725-7411 Fax: + 410 516-6134 Stanford University The Johns Hopkins University Stanford, CA, USA Balimore, MD, USA clt(a)cs.stanford.edu scott(a)cs.jhu.edu Nalini Venkatasubramanian Sriram Sankar Tel: + 949 824-5898 Tel: + 510 796-0915 Fax: + 949 824-4056 Fax:+ 510 796-0916 University of California at Irvine Metamata Inc. Irvine, CA, USA Fremont, CA, USA nalini(a)ics.uci.edu sriram.sankar(a)metamata.com Program Committee * Gul Agha (U. of Illinois, USA) * Patrick Bellot (ENST, Paris, France) * Lynne Blair (U. Lancaster, UK) * Howard Bowman (UKC, Kent, UK) * Paolo Ciancarini (U. Bologna, Italy) * John Derrick (UKC, Kent, UK) * Michel Diaz (LAAS-CNRS, Toulouse, France) * Alessandro Fantechi (U. Firenze, Italy) * Kathleen Fisher (ATT Research Labs, USA) * Kokichi Futatsugi (Jaist, Ishikawa, Japan) * Joseph Goguen (UC San Diego, USA) * Roberto Gorrieri (U. Bologna, Italy) * Reinhard Gotzhein (U. Kaiserslautern, Germany) * Guy Leduc (U. of Liege, Belgium) * Luigi Logrippo (U of Ottawa, Canada) * David Luckham (Stanford University, USA) * Jan de Meer (GMD Fokus, Berlin, Germany) * Elie Najm (ENST, Paris, France) * Dusko Pavlovic (Kestrel Institute, USA) * Omar Rafiq (U. of Pau, France) * Arend Rensink (U. Twente, Netherlands) * Sriram Sankar (Metamata Inc., USA) * Gerd Schuermann (GMD Fokus, Berlin, Germany) * Scott Smith (Johns Hopkins University, USA) * Jean-Bernard Stefani (FT/CNET, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France) * Carolyn Talcott (Stanford University, USA) * Nalini Venkatasubramanian (UC Irvine, USA) Sponsors - IFIP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evaluation and Publication of Submitted Papers Submitted manuscripts will be evaluated and selected for presentation in the conference. The proceedings of FMOODS '00 will be published by Kluwer, the publishers of IFIP events. The proceedings will be made available at the conference. Instructions to the Authors Authors are invited to submit full original research papers, up to 16 pages (including bibliography), 12 point, single spaced, including an informative abstract, names and affiliations of all authors, and a list of keywords facilitating the assignment of papers to referees. Submission Paper submissions will be electronic via the web. Papers must be submitted as postscript documents that are interpretable by Ghostscript. Details on the submission process are to be found at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fmds2000. The package for electronic submission of papers will be available approximately one month before the submission deadline. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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BRICS Int. PhD School: Call for Admission and Grant Applications
by Uffe Henrik Engberg 15 Nov '99

15 Nov '99

[Please accept our apologies if you receive this more than once] B R I C S International PhD School in Computer Science University of Aarhus Denmark Call for Admission and Grant Applications This is a call for admission and grant applications from students to BRICS International PhD School in Computer Science at University of Aarhus, Denmark. The call is aimed at students starting August 2000, with application deadline January 31st, 2000. BRICS International PhD School is an integrated part of the BRICS (Basic Research in Computer Science) Research Centre, and both are funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. The school admits 10-15 students (Danish and foreign) annually, and it provides a substantial number of student grants. The core areas of the PhD School are: Semantics of Computation; Logic in Computer Science; Computational Complexity; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Programming Languages; Distributed Computing; Verification; and Data Security and Cryptology. The PhD school will provide its students with a solid background in the theoretical foundation of computer science, and centred around BRICS activities. From this foundation, the students may either continue in one of the core areas or venture into areas of a more applied or experimental nature as possible areas of thesis specialisation. The PhD School wishes to recruit PhD students of the highest international standards. It provides an excellent research environment and scientific training facilities, and aims at making its PhD graduates attractive for a wide spectrum of employers - in private and public research and development institutions, both in Denmark and abroad. So, if you are a student with at least four years of full-time study by the summer of 2000, highly motivated and well prepared for a PhD study in computer science within a truly international environment, please send us an application following the instructions below. For more details, please visit http://www.brics.dk, or contact us by e-mail at phdschool(a)brics.dk. Also, we would appreciate your passing on this information to interested students and colleagues at your university or research institute. BRICS The Research Centre BRICS (Basic Research In Computer Science) was founded in 1994 by the Danish National Research Foundation at the Universities of Aarhus and Aalborg. BRICS is a centre of basic research in Algorithmics, Logic and Semantics, and has a scientific staff of 30 (permanent and long term visitors), and around 100 short term visitors annually. Admission Prerequisites and Study Structure Admission is based on knowledge corresponding to four years of full-time studies, including basic courses in programming and programming languages, computer systems, algorithms and data structures, computability and mathematics (this list will be interpreted in a flexible way). The time allocated for the PhD studies is a further four years, where the first two years include some mandatory course work and introductory research, concluded by a qualifying examination, whereas the last two years are dedicated to the writing of the thesis, finishing with a defence. All students admitted to the school will enter this study structure. We may, however, take into account merits from previous study. Students are normally admitted for the semester start September 1st. --- but admission may take place throughout the year. PhD Student Grants The school offers student grants of different types: 1. tuition waiver and full studentship 2. tuition waiver and partial studentship 3. tuition waiver Only a limited amount of type 1. grants are available. How to apply 1. First, fill in the application form on http://www.brics.dk/PhDSchool/Application.html Alternatively, send an e-mail to phdschool(a)brics.dk with subject "PhD Application" including: - your full name, personal address and phone number, college / university, URL of home page (if applicable), and e-mail address, - in case you apply for grants from the PhD School, the type of your application (see above - for details see http://www.brics.dk) 2. Second, send by ordinary mail to the address below - a covering letter, including the information from your application form/e-mail, - a short curriculum vitae, - complete official transcripts from colleges or universities, documenting minimally four years of full time study, - names of three people whom we may ask for letters of recommendation, - an indication of your motivation for a PhD study, and particular research area of initial interest (max two pages). Applications for admission August 1st, 2000 should be sent as soon as possible and before January 31st, 2000. Decisions will be announced in March, 2000. Postal Address BRICS International PhD School Department of Computer Science University of Aarhus Ny Munkegade, Bldg. 540 DK-8000 Aarhus C Denmark Phone: +45 8942 3264 Fax: +45 8942 3255

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