June 2006 - Categories - categories.org.au

Foundations?
by F W Lawvere 03 Sep '10

03 Sep '10

Down with "Foundations"! Up with algebra! Dear Friends, Presumably I am among those who are being "vilified" as "lovers of categories as foundation". By avoiding any precise definition, such a formulation might appeal to the widespread justified boredom induced by the past hundred years of "foundations as justification". Whenever I used the word "foundation" in my writings over the past forty years, I have explicitly rejected that reactionary use of the term and instead used the definition implicit in the work of my teachers Truesdell and Eilenberg. Namely, an important component of mathematical practice is the careful study of historical and contemporary analysis, geometry, etc. to extract the essential recurring concepts and constructions; making those concepts and constructions (such as homomorphism, functional, adjoint functor, etc.) explicit provides powerful guidance for further unified development of all mathematical subjects, old and new. What is the primary tool for such summing up of the essence of ongoing mathematics? Algebra! Nodal points in the progress of this kind of research occur when, as is the case with the finite number of axioms for the metacategory of categories, all that we know so far can be expressed in a single sort of algebra. I am proud to have participated with Eilenberg, Mac Lane, Freyd, and many others, in bringing about the contemporary awareness of Algebra as Category Theory Had it not been for the century of excessive attention given to the alleged possibility that mathematics is inconsistent, with the accompanying degradation of the F-word, we would still be using it in the sense known to the general public: the search for what is "basic". We, who supposedly know the explicit algebra of homomorphisms, functionals, etc. are long remiss in our duty to find ways to utilize those concepts also in guiding high school calculus. Best wishes, Bill Bibliography: - The Category of Categories as a Foundation for Mathematics, La Jolla conference 1965, Springer (1966) - Adjointness in Foundations, Dialectica, (1969), to be reprinted in TAC - Foundations and Applications: Axiomatization and Education, Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, (2003) vol 9, pp 213-224 - Sets for Mathematics, w/ Bob Rosebrugh, Cambridge Univ. Press, (2003) ************************************************************ F. William Lawvere Mathematics Department, State University of New York 244 Mathematics Building, Buffalo, N.Y. 14260-2900 USA Tel. 716-645-6284 HOMEPAGE: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~wlawvere ************************************************************

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ramifications of Goldblatt's notion of a skeleton of a category
by Galchin Vasili 04 Jul '06

04 Jul '06

Hello, Rob Goldblatt in section 9.2 of his book "Topoi: The Categorical Analysis of Logic" introduces the notion of a "skeleton of a category C" which he defines as a "full subcategory C-sub-zero of C that is skeletal, and such that each C-object is isomorphic to one and only one C-sub-zero object". This statement seems to imply that we can have an "operator": skel: CAT -> CAT where CAT is the categories of (small) categories such that 1) skel is idempotent on any member of C of CAT, i.e. ] skel (skel (C)) = skel (C) 2) skel (C) = a "maximal" skeleton of C. I am struggling with 1) what "maximal" means in this case? E.g. is there some kind of order on all the skeletons of category C? 2) would the "operator" skel be a functor? Kind regards, Bill Halchin

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1cfp: calco'07 (2nd Conference on Algebra and Coalgebra in Computer Science), Bergen, Norway
by calco07＠ii.uib.no 30 Jun '06

30 Jun '06

*------------------------------------------------------------------* * Call for Papers * * * * CALCO 2007 * * * * 2nd Conference on Algebra and Coalgebra in Computer Science * * * * August 20-24, 2007, Bergen, Norway * * * *------------------------------------------------------------------* * Abstract submission : January 28, 2007 * * Technical paper submission: February 7, 2007 * * Author notification: March 28, 2007 * *------------------------------------------------------------------* * http://www.ii.uib.no/calco07/ * *------------------------------------------------------------------* CALCO brings together researchers and practitioners to exchange new results related to foundational aspects and both traditional and emerging uses of algebras and coalgebras in computer science. This is a high-level, bi-annual conference formed by joining the forces and reputations of CMCS (the International Workshop on Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science), and WADT (the Workshop on Algebraic Development Techniques). The first CALCO conference took place 2005 in Swansea, Wales (http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/calco/index.php) and was a huge success. The second event will take place 2007 in Bergen, Norway. Its aim is to be at least as successful. CALCO 2007 will be preceded by two events: * CALCO-jnr - a CALCO Young Researchers Workshop dedicated to presentations by PhD students and by those who completed their doctoral studies within the past few years. * Tools & Application Day - providing the opportunity to give system demonstrations. There will be separate submission procedures for CALCO-jnr and the Tools & Application Day, respectively. Topics of Interest ------------------ We invite submissions of technical papers that report results of theoretical work on the mathematics of algebras and coalgebras, the way these results can support methods and techniques for software development, as well as experience with the transfer of resulting technologies into industrial practise. We encourage submissions in topics included or related to those in the lists below. * Abstract models and logics - Automata and languages, - Categorical semantics, - Modal logics, - Relational systems, - Graph transformation, - Term rewriting, - Adhesive categories * Specialised models and calculi - Hybrid, probabilistic, and timed systems, - Calculi and models of concurrent, distributed, mobile, and context-aware computing, - General systems theory and computational models (chemical, biological, etc) * Algebraic and coalgebraic semantics - Abstract data types, - Inductive and coinductive methods, - Re-engineering techniques (program transformation), - Semantics of conceptual modelling methods and techniques, - Semantics of programming languages * System specification and verification - Algebraic and coalgebraic specification, - Formal testing and quality assurance, - Validation and verification, - Generative programming and model-driven development, - Models, correctness and (re)configuration of hardware/middleware/architectures, - Process algebra Submission Guidelines --------------------- Prospective authors are invited to submit full papers in English presenting original research. Submitted papers must be unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere. Experience papers are welcome, but they must clearly present general lessons learnt that would be of interest and benefit to a broad audience of both researchers and practitioners. As in 2005, it is planned to publish the proceedings in the Springer LNCS series. Final papers will be no more than 15 pages long in the format specified by Springer. It is recommended that submissions adhere to that format and length (see http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) Submissions that are clearly too long may be rejected immediately. Proofs omitted due to space limitations may be included in a clearly marked appendix. Paper submissions will be made electronically at the conference web site. Both an abstract and the full paper must be submitted by their respective submission deadlines. A special issue of the new high- quality open access journal Logical Methods in Computer Science (http://www.lmcs-online.org) consisting of extended versions of selected papers will be produced after the conference if there are enough good papers that can be extended and revised to the standards of this journal. Important Dates (all in 2007) ----------------------------- January 28 Abstract submission due February 7 Technical paper submission due March 28 Author notification May 16 Camera ready due ----------------------------- August 20 CALCO-jnr and Tools Day August 21-24 CALCO technical programme August 24 Post-conference meetings Programme Committee ------------------- Jiri Adamek, University of Braunschweig, D Jose Fiadeiro, University of Leicester, UK H.Peter Gumm, Philipps University, Marburg, D Bartek Klin, University of Warsaw, PL Bart Jacobs, University of Nijmegen, NL Marina Lenisa, University of Udine, I Ugo Montanari, University of Pisa, I (co-chair, http://www.di.unipi.it/~ugo/) Larry Moss, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA Till Mossakowski, University of Bremen and DFKI Lab Bremen, D (co-chair, http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~till/) Peter Mosses, University of Wales Swansea, UK Fernando Orejas, Politechnical University Catalonia, Barcelona, E Prakash Panangaden, McGill University, CA Dirk Pattinson, University of Leicester, UK Dusko Pavlovic, Kestrel Institute, USA Jean-Eric Pin, CNRS-LIAFA Paris, F John Power, University of Edinburgh, UK Horst Reichel, Technical University of Dresden, D Grigore Rosu, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA Jan Rutten, CWI and Free University, Amsterdam, NL Davide Sangiorgi, University of Bologna, I Andrzej Tarlecki, Warsaw University, PL Martin Wirsing, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, D Uwe Wolter, University of Bergen, NO Steering Committee ------------------ Jiri Adamek, Michel Bidoit, Corina Cirstea, Jose Fiadeiro (co-chair, http://www.cs.le.ac.uk/people/jfiadeiro/) H.Peter Gumm, Magne Haveraaen, Bart Jacobs, Hans-Joerg Kreowski, Alexander Kurz, Ugo Montanari, Larry Moss, Till Mossakowski, Peter Mosses, Fernando Orejas, Francesco Parisi-Presicce, John Power, Horst Reichel, Markus Roggenbach, Jan Rutten (co-chair, http://homepages.cwi.nl/~janr/) Andrzej Tarlecki Organising Committee -------------------- Magne Haveraaen (chair, http://www.ii.uib.no/~magne/) Michal Walicki, Uwe Wolter, University of Bergen, Norway Yngve Lamo, Bergen University College, Norway Location and Organisation ------------------------- Bergen was Norway's first capital from the 13th century, and up until the 1830's Norway's biggest town. Its placement has made it a natural point through which foreign influences penetrated to Norway and Scandinavia and the Norwegian export was leaving the country (centuries of membership in the Hanseatic League with export of fish and timber). Many of the wooden houses and larger facilities from the Hanseatic times survived fires and modernisation and make up today a charming town center. Nowadays Bergen is small by international standards, but it has always been a meeting place for people and a centre for commerce and culture. Spectacular fjords and mountains surrounding the town, combined with a lively and sociable atmosphere, make it a worthwhile place to visit. The conference will be held at Grand Hotel Terminus in the centre of Bergen. The hotel will handle room bookings individually. A social programme will complement the scientific event. Sponsored by Department of informatics, University of Bergen, Bergen University College, and IFIP WG1.3 on Foundations of System Specification. Further sponsorships pending. -- http://www.ii.uib.no/calco07/

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Position preannoucement in Paris 7 (in ** mathematics **)
by Curien Pierre-Louis 29 Jun '06

29 Jun '06

POSITION PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT A position of Maitre de Conferences (permanent position) in mathematics is likely to be opened next year at Paris 7 University. The hired candidate will work in the laboratory PPS (Preuves, Programmes et Systemes), which spreads its interests on both sides of the correspondence between proofs and programs, covering work on language design and implementation, rewriting, semantics (and game semantics in particular), categories, linear logic, realizability, probabilistic and topological methods, etc... See www.pps.jussieu.fr. The position will be opened around February 2007, with decisions taken around May 2007, and job starting in September 2007. But there is a preliminary phase called ** qualification **, through which all candidates to academic positions in France have to go. This procedure consists of an evaluation of both research and teaching experience of candidates in view of their potential application to a position in a French university. The first phase of this (rather light) procedure is opened on September 11, 2006, and *** closes on October 16, 2006 *** and is entirely electronical (http://www.education.gouv.fr/personnel/enseignant_superieur/ enseignant_chercheur/calendrier_qualification.htm). The section of qualification should be preferably number 25 (mathe'matiques), but candidates interested in multiple applications in France, including in CS departments, may also apply for qualification in section 27 (informatique) simultaneously. This approaching first deadline is the main reason for the present early announcement. A certain fluency in French is required for the position. The teaching will be in the mathematics department, so some experience in teaching mathematics (rather than computer science) is welcome Teaching is in French. I invite potential candidates to contact me, and I also encourage colleagues to point me to interesting potential candidates fitting the criteria. Best regards, Pierre=Louis Curien curien(a)pps.jussieu.fr

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CATS call for papers
by Barry Jay 28 Jun '06

28 Jun '06

The CATS call for papers is at www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~cbj/cats07 Papers on applicaitons of categories in computing are most welcome. Regards, Barry Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium /Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium/ (CATS) in 2007 will be held in Ballarat in 2007. CATS is the premier theoretical computer science conference in Australasia. It is held annually as part of /Australasian Computer Science Week/ <http://www.ballarat.edu.au/acsw> (ACSW) which comprises many other conferences and is overseen by the Computer Research and Education Association (CORE - previously CSA). CATS 2007 will be the thirteenth time that CATS has been held. The symposium will consist of invited talks and formal paper presentations. All papers will be fully refereed with proceedings published by CRPIT <http://crpit.com/>. Our invited speaker is Professor Jens Palsberg <http://www.cs.ucla.edu/%7Epalsberg/> UCLA Call for papers Papers are invited on all aspects of Theoretical Computer Science. Some representative, but not exclusive, topics include the following: * logic and type systems * semantics of programming languages * formal program specification and transformation * concurrent, parallel and distributed systems * algorithms and data structures * automata theory and formal languages * computational complexity * applications of discrete mathematics and optimisation Full papers for CATS 2007 should be submitted electronically <http://cats07.it.uts.edu.au/> no later than Friday August 11 2006. Submissions must be original work, not published or submitted elsewhere. All submissions will be refereed. Accepted papers will appear in the published proceedings. Important Dates * Submission of abstracts Thursday July 27 2006 * Submission of full papers Friday August 11 2006 * Notification of authors Tuesday September 26 2006 * Final version due Friday October 20 2006 * Author registration Friday October 20 2006 Program Chairs Barry Jay <http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/%7Ecbj/> University of Technology, Sydney <http://www.it.uts.edu.au> Email: |cbj(a)it.uts.edu.au| <mailto:cbj@it.uts.edu.au> Joachim Gudmundsson <http://nicta.com.au/director/research/programs/imagen/people/joachim_gudmun…> National ICT Australia <http://nicta.com.au> Email: |Joachim.Gudmundsson(a)nicta.com.au| <mailto:Joachim.Gudmundsson@nicta.com.au> -- Associate Professor C.Barry Jay, Phone: (61 2) 9514 1814 Faculty of IT www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~cbj University of Technology, Sydney. CRICOS Provider 00099F CATS07 homepage: www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~cbj/cats07 -- Associate Professor C.Barry Jay, Phone: (61 2) 9514 1814 Faculty of IT www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~cbj University of Technology, Sydney. CRICOS Provider 00099F CATS07 homepage: www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~cbj/cats07

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Call for Participation RTA'06
by Ralf Treinen 26 Jun '06

26 Jun '06

*********************************** * * * RTA'06 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION * * * *********************************** http://www.easychair.org/FLoC-06/RTA.html Seattle, WA, USA August 12-14, 2006 Affiliated workshops Aug 11 & 15 The 17th International Conference on Rewriting Techniques and Applications (RTA'06) is organized as part of the Federated Logic Conference (FLoC), collocated with CAV, ICLP, IJCAR, LICS, SAT, and several affiliated workshops. RTA is the major forum for the presentation of research on all aspects of rewriting. Typical areas of interest include (but are not limited to): * Applications: case studies; rule-based (functional and logic) programming; symbolic and algebraic computation; theorem proving; system synthesis and verification; proof checking; reasoning about programming languages and logics; * Foundations: matching and unification; narrowing; completion techniques; strategies; constraint solving; explicit substitutions; tree automata; termination; * Frameworks: string, term, graph, and proof rewriting; lambda-calculus and higher-order rewriting; proof nets; constrained rewriting/deduction; categorical and infinitary rewriting; * Implementation: compilation techniques; parallel execution; rewrite tools; termination checking; * Semantics: equational logic; rewriting logic. INVITED TALKS: * Randy Bryant (jointly with LICS and SAT): Formal Verification of Infinite State Systems using Boolean Methods * Javier Esparza: Rewriting Models of Control-Flow * Juergen Giesl: Automated Termination Analysis for Haskell: From Term Rewriting to Programming Languages The complete program is available at http://www.easychair.org/FLoC-06/RTA-program.html AFFILIATES WORKSHOP * HOR'06: 3rd International Workshop on Higher-Order Rewriting * RULE'06: 7th International Workshop on Rule-Based Programming * UNIF'06: 20th International Workshop on Unification * WG1.6: Annual meeting of the IFIP Working Group 1.6 on Term Rewriting. * WRS'06: 6th International Workshop on Reduction Strategies in Rewriting and Programming * WST'06: 8th International Workshop on Termination Please refer to the RTA'06 web site for further information on the workshops. RTA'06 PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIR: * Frank Pfenning, Carnegie Mellon University RTA'06 PROGRAM COMMITTEE: * Zena Ariola, University of Oregon * Franz Baader, Technical University Dresden * Gilles Dowek, Ecole Polytechnique and INRIA * Guillem Godoy, Technical University of Catalonia * Deepak Kapur, University of New Mexico * Delia Kesner, University Paris 7 * Denis Lugiez, University of Provence * Claude Marche, University Paris-Sud * Jose Meseguer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign * Frank Pfenning, Carnegie Mellon University (Chair) * Ashish Tiwari, SRI International * Yoshihito Toyama, Tohoku University * Eelco Visser, Utrecht University * Hans Zantema, Eindhoven University of Technology RTA'06 CONFERENCE CHAIR: * Ashish Tiwari, SRI International LOCATION, TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATION, AND REGISTRATION: RTA'06 will be part of the 2006 Federated Logic Conference (FLoC 2006) which will be held Augucst 10-22, 2006, at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers, in Seattle, Washington state, USA. For registration and more detailed information on travel consult http://www.easychair.org/FLoC-06/index.html DEADLINES * July 10th, 2006 Early Registration * July 21st, 2006 Discounted Rate at the Conference Hotel * August 1st, 2006 Regular Registration

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aosd 2007
by Oege.de.Moor＠comlab.ox.ac.uk 20 Jun '06

20 Jun '06

AOSD 2007: CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS 6th Conference on Aspect-Oriented Software Development http://www.aosd.net/2007/cfc/research.php >> abstract submission by September 22, 2006 << ------------------------------------------------------ The program committee especially welcomes submissions from category theorists on any topic relating to given a model of language X, construct a model of AspectX

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Mazzola
by Peter Freyd 16 Jun '06

16 Jun '06

He [Guerino Mazzola] completed his PhD in mathematics and gained academic recognition in algebraic geometry and representation theory in 1980 The next step was for Mazzola to apply his abstruse mathematical concepts, such as topos theory, to music theory [I have appended the Colin McLarty's MathSciNet review of Maxzola's "Topos of Music". Mazzola is still active as a reviewer for Math Reviews.] Copyright 2006 The Jakarta Post Source Asia Intelligence Wire The Jakarta Post May 27, 2006 Saturday ACC-NO: A2006060563-11449-GNW LENGTH: 916 words HEADLINE: GUERINO MAZZOLA A WALKING MUSICAL CONTRADICTION BODY: from THE JAKARTA POST -- SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2006 -- PAGE 24 Acid rockers the Grateful Dead have done it at the Great Sphinx of Giza; New Age instrumentalist Yanni has done at the Acropolis; jazz pianist David Benoit has accomplished it at India's Taj Mahal and China's Forbidden City Two years ago, Swiss jazz pianist Guerino Mazzola also did it at the Prambanan Hindu temple in Kalasan, Yogyakarta, when he made his first shot at performing under the shadows of world's greatest monument Next August, Mazzola will finally fulfill his dream of staging a show at one of the Seven Wonders of the World and will have a chance to outshine the musical greats The 59-year-old musician is expected to stage a show under the shadow of Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java, the world's largest Buddhist temple Performing at one of the world renowned heritage sites would be a glorious feat for lesser musicians, but Mazzola had the experience before when he staged a gig at an Aztec ruin in Mexico The planned Borobudur show -- slated for mid-August and to be the subject of a documentary film by award-winning Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho -- will, however, be much more different "It (the Aztec site show) was nothing, it was a flop as I absorbed no energy from the historical site "The planned Borobudur show, however, will be different as we have studied the temple and the philosophy behind it and I hope I can absorb the energy from ancient times," Mazzola said recently over a dinner in Kotagede, Yogyakarta But even without Borobudur as a backdrop, Mazzola will likely deliver an electrifying show and in turn draw a large crowd, among them knowledgeable jazz fans Known as the "Jackson Pollock of jazz", Mazzola has peddled for years the so-called free jazz, a left-of-the-dial genre that champions musical exploration to the fullest and sets aside any pretention to producing market-friendly music A direct descendant of free-thinking jazz musicians like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, Mazzola has adopted a technique that gives primacy to speed, accuracy and dynamism, without abandoning sensitivity Together with drummer Heinz Geisser, Mazzola have given a new meaning to jazz improvisation, with each of their compositions being played in a different style at each show The duo has recorded several free-jazz CDs that have become a must- have for jazz lovers in Europe. Mazzola has recorded music with jazz luminaries such as Matt Maneri, Scott Fields and Rob Brown "Unlike classical musicians who follow the direction from a conductor, a jazz musician is a master of his own time and does not obey anybody," Mazzola said of his esthetic Casual fans, however, will be bewildered once they discover that Mazzola is also a professionally trained mathematician who graduated from the University of Zurich in mathematics, theoretical physics and crystallography Someone who worships free musical expression -- unbound by technical constraints -- he approaches his music with the precision of mathematical and physical theories He completed his PhD in mathematics and gained academic recognition in algebraic geometry and representation theory in 1980 The next step was for Mazzola to apply his abstruse mathematical concepts, such as topos theory, to music theory "Music is a language that is very near to mathematics and there is a kind of convergence between the two," Mazzola said, before launching into a lengthy lecture about a new discovery in physical science that the elementary particles that moved in space floated around and vibrated like strings on a violin In spite of his verbose speech on mathematics that lent weight to his authority in physical science, Mazzola dressed so casually that he could pass for, well, a jazz musician It took him 15 years of training in classical music before he found out about jazz and became fascinated by it And jazz proved to be much harder and more painful road to take "I heard Errol Garner and was completely fascinated. I started listening to jazz and learned his technique for 10 years. When practicing, my finger bled and the keys were red everywhere," he said, referring to the American jazz pianist and composer that played the greatest influence on his playing technique He later found that the classical approach to piano was completely useless After growing tired of imitating his idol, Mazzola started to use his sense to guide him open up new musical terrain. "After spending many years imitating others, you finally want to know what is inside you," he said The decision to embrace free jazz could have also sprung from his contempt of any authoritarian structure A former communist well-versed in Karl Marx's works, Mazzola abandoned Marxism and Communism after learning about its authoritarian tendencies When he was a postgraduate university student in Paris, Mazzola was also drawn to the Black Panther organization and protested against racism and the Vietnam war "Later, I learned about the abuse of authoritarian regimes that claimed to espouse Marxism, and decided to leave it behind," he said He also abandoned Christianity from learning that the church also showed a similar authoritarian tendency, as in the Grand Inquisition "I don't believe in God in a narrow sense. The only thing that I could agree about God is that He has constructed the world through music," he said, with a mixed expression between glee and solemnity ********************************************************************** Mazzola, Guerino(CH-ZRCH-MMI) The topos of music. (English. English summary) Geometric logic of concepts, theory, and performance. In collaboration with Stefan Gvller and Stefan M|ller. With 1 CD-ROM (Windows, Macintosh and UNIX). Birkhduser Verlag, Basel, 2002. xxx+1335 pp. ISBN 3-7643-5731-2 00A69 (18B25) The author transposes the Pythagorean theory of harmonies into commutative algebra because, on one hand, linearity is the modern version of additivity and proportion, and on the other hand there are standard means for programming with modules as data types. This working Pythagoreanism includes a CD with software for analyzing scores and preparing them for electronic performance, and recordings of some examples. Indeed the CD includes a pdf of the entire book, nicer than the printed copy as it has color graphics plus active links to the bibliography and to cross-references in the text. There is an extensive mathematical analysis of musical structures operationalized as categorical semantics for the programs. And the book gives a very great deal of more cognitive scientific, semiotic, and literary music theory. The author is known as a composer and a jazz pianist, and has other publications in scheme theory, such as .ref[J. Algebra 78 (1982), no. 2, 292--302; MR0680361 (84d:16039)]. A key use of commutative algebra is given as "alterations are tangents". For example, F-sharp and G-flat name the same tone and the same key on a piano keyboard. The two names denote two different structural roles in composition -- it matters that F-sharp is not just a note, but an alteration of F-natural. The author regards the space of tones as an abelian group M so any single note is an element of the group, which the author treats as a Z-element, a homomorphism Z --> M from the group of integers. Then an altered note can be considered as a pair of notes, a base plus an altered value, and so as a Z x Z element of M. In the traditional alterations, to sharps or flats, the altered value is near the base note, and the author models these by infinitesimal deformations, or tangent vectors. That is, he uses the ring of dual numbers Z[h], and all of this is applied over other ground rings than Z, and thus brings us to scheme theory. Symmetries within scores, and structural relations between scores, drive the mathematics up to sheaves, and very briefly to toposes and Grothendieck topologies. The author candidly states he is unsure whether this musicological perspective can use topos cohomology (p. 436). The remaining 800 pages of the book are more concrete (until the 100-page appendix surveying concepts from group theory through schemes to vector fields and differential equations). They deal with major semioticians, philosophers, music critics and music theorists, especially computational music theorists. They apply algebraic and geometric notions of symmetry, along with the physiology of perception, to analyze harmony, cadence, motifs, tempo and counterpoint. Examples analyzed at length focus on work of Bach and Beethoven, but include Mozart and Debussy, Glenn Gould's eccentric performances, and the author's works on the CD. All is operationalized as computational musicology, in the software. Reviewed by Colin McLarty

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IFIP WG 2.2 Anniversary Meeting - Call for Participation
by Marino Miculan 15 Jun '06

15 Jun '06

======================================================= CALL FOR PARTICIPATION FORMAL DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS: IFIP WG 2.2 Anniversary Meeting 11-13 September 2006 Udine, Italy http://www.dimi.uniud.it/ifip06/ The IFIP Working Group 2.2 was established in 1965 as one of the first IFIP Working Groups. The primary aim of the WG is to explain programming concepts through the development, examination and comparison of various formal models of these concepts. The WG thus explores the theory and the practice of formal methods for the specification, verification and the design of software and systems. Earliest members of the WG included Dana Scott, Erwin Engeler, Jaco de Bakker, Raymond Abrial, Peter Lauer, Manfred Paul, Erich Neuhold, Maurice Nivat, Ed Blum. Throughout the years, members of the WG shaped various styles of semantics, comprising denotational, operational, algebraic, and logical semantics. The anniversary meeting commemorates the 40-th birthday of WG. In the meeting, a number of keynote speakers and current members of the WG will give tutorial presentations on topics relevant to the WG, focusing on history (of these topics, or of the WG), but also on current outlook and future developments. Keynote speakers: Amir Pnueli, Igor Walukiewicz, and Ernst-Rudiger Olderog (as current WG members), Dana Scott, Manfred Paul, and Hans Langmaack (as founding WG members), Leslie Lamport and Gordon Plotkin (as past WG members) . Registration ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Registration to the meeting is possible at http://www.dimi.uniud.it/ifip06/registration.html The meeting fee is 120 Euros until 31 July 2006. After that date, and until 31 August 2006, the fee will be 150 Euros. After then, no registrations will be accepted. The workshop fee includes lunches, coffee-breaks, the social dinner and the excursion on Sunday afternoon. Preliminary Programme and Speakers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday 10 September, afternoon Excursion: San Daniele countryside (and ham) Monday 11 September * 09.00-10.00: Amir Pnueli * 10.00-10.30: coffee break * 10.30-11.30: Hans Langmaack * 11.30-12.00: Maciej Koutny * 12.00-14.00: lunch * 14.00-15.00: Igor Walukiewicz * 15.00-15.30: coffee break * 15.30-16.30: Ugo Montanari * 16.30-17.00: Catuscia Palamidessi * 17.00-17.30: Andrzej Tarlecki * 17.30-18.00: Rocco De Nicola Tuesday 12 September * 09.00-10.00: Gordon Plotkin * 10.00-10.30: coffee break * 10.30-11.30: local speaker * 11.30-12.00: Mariangiola Dezani * 12.00-14.00: lunch * 14.00-15.00: Dana Scott * 15.00-15.30: coffee break * 15.30-16.30: Egon Boerger * 16.30-17.00: Markus Muller-Olm * 20.00- : Social Dinner Wednesday 13 September * 09.00-10.00: Leslie Lamport * 10.00-10.30: coffee break * 10.30-11.00: Manfred Paul * 11.00-11.30: J Strother Moore * 11.30-12.00: Peter Mosses * 12.00-14.00: lunch * 14.00-15.00: Ernst-Rudiger Olderog * 15.00-15.30: coffee break * 15.30-16.30: Shigeru Igarashi * 16.30-17.00: Stephan Merz * 17.00-17.30: Anders P. Ravn * 17.30-18.00: Philippe Darondeau

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ph.d. studentship at Toulouse (France)
by Sergei SOLOVIEV 06 Jun '06

06 Jun '06

At University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse-3) a ph.d. studentship is available. There is no restrictions concerning nationality, but there is an age limit ( no more than 25 ans in 2006.) Please, notice very short delay: - applications before 20.06 - interview 23.06 contact: soloviev(a)irit.fr Theme: The categories with structure including distinguished functors and natural transformations (subject to certain identities) are considered, such as the Symmetric Monoidal Closed Categories with tensor $\otimes$ and hom-functor as distinguished functors, associativity and commutativity of $\otimes$ etc. The "critical mass" of theoretical results concerning the commutativity of diagrams in such categories demands the development of adequate computer support and software. The software should contain certain automated and interactive verification procedures, in particular automated procedures using the algorithms that are already known and interactive procedures for extraction of consequences of particular properties of concrete categories (e.g., categories of modules). The theme is closely connected with proof theory and commutative algebra. The competences in programming are required. It is possible also that the ph.d. student will obtain new mathematical results in addition to programming part. (Advisers: Sergei Soloviev, Mark Spivakovsky) -- Sergei SOLOVIEV

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