January 2008 - 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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closed monoidal structure in topological categories
by Gaucher Philippe 31 Jan '08

31 Jan '08

Dear all, I thank you very much for all the answers. I am going to read all these papers. But maybe it is simpler to explain my problem: Consider Theorem 27.22 of the book "The joy of cats" <http://www.tac.mta.ca/tac/reprints/articles/17/tr17abs.html> : a well-fibered topological construct is cartesian closed iff for any object A, Ax- preserves colimits. Does this theorem have a generalization for other symmetric monoidal structures than the binary product ? Thanks in advance. pg.

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reference needed please
by Gaucher Philippe 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Dear all, By exploring the Math Reviews, I found by chance a paper constructing for any reasonable (semi)topological category a closed monoidal structure. Unfortunately, I cannot refind this paper and I cannot remember the keywords I used. Could you help me please ?? Thanks in advance. pg.

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6th International Summer School in Formal Languages andApplications
by carlos.martin＠urv.cat 27 Jan '08

27 Jan '08

Apologies for multiple posting! Please, forward the announcement to whoever may be interested in it. Thanks. ------------------ 6th INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL IN FORMAL LANGUAGES AND APPLICATIONS (formerly International PhD School in Formal Languages and Applications) Tarragona, Spain, July 21 - August 2, 2008 Organized by: Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics Rovira i Virgili University http://www.grlmc.com ADDRESSED TO: Graduate students from around the world. Most appropriate degrees include: Computer Science and Mathematics. Other graduate students (for instance, from Linguistics, Electrical Engineering, Molecular Biology or Logic) as well undergraduate students can attend too provided they have a good background in discrete mathematics. All courses will be compatible in terms of the schedule. (There will be no courses in parallel.) COURSES AND PROFESSORS JULY 21-26: Martyn Amos (Manchester), Synthetic Biology: Biological Engineering [6 hours] Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju (Budapest), Language Theoretic Models of Multi-Agent Systems [14 hours] Zoltan Esik (Tarragona), An Axiomatic Theory of Automata [6 hours] Rusins Freivalds (Riga), Elliptic Curves [6 hours] Max Garzon (Memphis), Biomolecular Nanotechnology [6 hours] Masami Ito (Kyoto), Regular Grammars [6 hours] Martin Kutrib (Giessen), Cellular Automata [6 hours] Claudio Moraga (Mieres), Fuzzy Formal Languages [6 hours] Kenichi Morita (Hiroshima), Two-Dimensional Languages [6 hours] Mitsunori Ogihara (Rochester), Computational Complexity and Molecular Computation Models [6 hours] Friedrich Otto (Kassel), Restarting Automata [6 hours] COURSES AND PROFESSORS JULY 28 - AUGUST 2: Francine Blanchet-Sadri (Greensboro), Partial Words [6 hours] Henning Bordihn (Potsdam), Mildly Context-Sensitive Grammars [8 hours] Wojciech Buszkowski (Poznan), Type Logics and Grammars [8 hours] Manfred Droste (Leipzig), Weighted Automata [8 hours] Joerg Flum (Freiburg, Germany), Parameterized Complexity [6 hours] Tom Head (Binghamton), Computing with Light Using Transparency and Opacity [6 hours] Satoshi Kobayashi (Tokyo), Grammatical Models and Algorithms for Biological Sequence Analysis [6 hours] Mark-Jan Nederhof (St.-Andrews), Probabilistic Parsing [6 hours] Alexander Okhotin (Turku), Language Equations [6 hours] Detlef Wotschke (Frankfurt), Descriptional Complexity of Automata and Grammars [12 hours] Sheng Yu (London, Canada), Finite Automata [16 hours] REGISTRATION: It has to be done on line at: http://www.grlmc.com FEES: They are variable for each student, depending on the number of courses each one takes. The rule is: 1 hour = - 10 euros (for payments until March 24, 2008), - 12 euros (for payments after March 24, 2008). The fees must be paid to the School's bank account: IBAN code: ES13 0073 0100 5104 0350 6598 Please mention SSFLA'08 and your full name in the subject. An invoice will be provided on site. To check the eligibility for early registration, what counts is the date of the bank order for payment (not the date when the registration form was filled in). People registering on site at the beginning of the School must pay in cash. ACCOMMODATION: Information about accommodation will be provided through the website of the School in due time. IMPORTANT DATES: Announcement of the programme: January 26, 2008 Starting of the registration: February 4, 2008 Early registration deadline: March 24, 2008 Starting of the School: July 21, 2008 End of the School: August 2, 2008 QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Carlos Martin-Vide: carlos.martin(a)urv.cat WEBSITE: http://www.grlmc.com POSTAL ADDRESS: SSFLA'08 Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics Rovira i Virgili University Plaza Imperial Tarraco, 1 43005 Tarragona, Spain Phone: +34-977-559543 Fax: +34-977-559597

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LFM 2008 Call for Abstracts and Invitation to Register
by Kristin Yvonne Rozier 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this email. See below on how to be removed from our mailing list. -------------------------------------------------- NASA Langley/NIA Formal Methods Team invites you to submit an abstract and/or register to attend: The Sixth NASA Langley Formal Methods Workshop LFM 2008 http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/LFM2008/LFM2008.html April 30 - May 2, 2008 Newport News, Virginia -------------------------------------------------- Important Deadlines: -------------------------------------------------- Abstract Submissions for Contributed Talks: March 1, 2008 Acceptance: March 15, 2008 Registration: April 15, 2008 -------------------------------------------------- Theme of Conference: -------------------------------------------------- Safety critical systems represent an ever-increasing problem domain, challenging verification techniques to catch up. Within the field of aeronautics alone, we find the need for verification of algorithms for separation assurance, air traffic control, auto-pilot, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), adaptive avionics, automated decision authority, and much more. Recent advances in formal methods have made verifying more of these problems realistic. Thus we need to continually re-assess what we can solve now and identify the next barriers to overcome. Only through an exchange of ideas between theoreticians and practitioners from academia to industry can we extend formal methods for the verification of ever more challenging problem domains. The goal of this workshop on formal methods for verification is to examine formal verification techniques, their theory, application areas, current capabilities, and limitations. This format is designed to introduce researchers, graduate students, and partners in industry to those topics that are of fundamental interest and importance, to survey current research, and to discuss major unsolved problems and directions for future research. The meeting will be comprised of invited talks covering the major research areas, and more specialized contributed talks, including student talks. Contributed talks will consist of 30-minute research expositions providing state-of-the-art information on recent developments related to formal methods, and a number of 15-minute talks on current research given by undergraduate and graduate students. -------------------------------------------------- Topics of Interest: -------------------------------------------------- Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following: * advances in formal verification techniques * formal models of distributed computing * planning and scheduling * automated air traffic management * fault tolerance * hybrid systems/hybrid automata * embedded systems * safety critical applications * safety cases * accident/safety analysis -------------------------------------------------- Invited Tutorials: -------------------------------------------------- * Gerard J. Holzmann (NASA JPL) - On Limits * John Rushby (SRI) - Formal Methods and Certification * Moshe Y. Vardi (Rice University) - From Philosophical to Industrial Logics -------------------------------------------------- Submissions: -------------------------------------------------- There are two categories of submissions: * Regular Talks. These talks will be 30 minutes in length, including questions. * Student Talks. These talks will be 15 minutes in length, including questions. Both categories of talks will be selected from the abstracts submitted to the LFM 2008 web site. -------------------------------------------------- Location and Cost: -------------------------------------------------- The workshop will take place at the Marriott Hotel, City Center at Oyster Point, Newport News, Virginia, USA. Information on hotel block reservations and travel are located on the LFM 2008 web site. Note that hotel reservations at the special block rate must be made on or before 30 March 2008. There will be no registration fee charged to participants. All interested individuals, including non-US citizens, are welcome to attend, to listen to the talks, and to participate in discussions. However, all attendees must register. We especially encourage students and other researchers possibly interested in specializing in formal methods to attend as this will be a good opportunity to become more knowledgeable about this area of research. Please visit the official LFM 2008 web site for further information: http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/LFM2008/LFM2008.html. Cheers, Kristin Yvonne Rozier LFM 2008 General Chair -------------------------------------------------- We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this email. If you do not want any further announcements regarding LFM 2008, please send a message to Kristin.Y.Rozier(a)nasa.gov with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' as the subject. -- ____________________________________________________________ __ /\ \ \_____ / \ ###[==_____> / \ /_/ __ / __ \ \ \_____ | ( ) | ###[==_____> /| /\/\ |\ /_/ / | | | | \ / |=|==|=| \ Kristin Yvonne Rozier / | | | | \ Kristin.Y.Rozier(a)nasa.gov / USA | ~||~ |NASA \ Formal Methods Group, |______| ~~ |______| Safety Critical Avionics Systems Branch, (__||__) NASA Langley Research Center /_\ /_\ Phone: (757) 864-2169 !!! !!! Fax: (757) 864-4234 http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/people/kyr

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Lectureships available
by Rob Goldblatt 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Please forward to interested parties. TWO LECTURESHIPS IN MATHEMATICS Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Applications are invited for two permanent positions of Lecturer in Mathematics available in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science. (The position of Lecturer corresponds approximately to that of Assistant Professor in North America, but with tenure). Candidates with research interests in any area of mathematics are welcome to apply. For more information, and online application, see http://vacancies.vuw.ac.nz/positiondetail.asp?p=4091 Applications close 21 February 2008

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CSL 2008 - first call for papers
by Ugo Dal Lago 22 Jan '08

22 Jan '08

--------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS Computer Science Logic 2008 CSL 2008 17th Annual Conference of the European Association for Computer Science Logic Bertinoro (Bologna), Italy 15 - 20 September 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract submission: March 28, 2008 Paper submission: April 7, 2008 Author notification: May 19, 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://csl2008.cs.unibo.it --------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer Science Logic (CSL) is the annual conference of the European Association for Computer Science Logic (EACSL). The conference is intended for computer scientists whose research activities involve logic, as well as for logicians working on issues significant for computer science. Topics of interest include: automated deduction and interactive theorem proving, constructive mathematics and type theory, equational logic and term rewriting, automata and games, modal and temporal logics, model checking, logical aspects of computational complexity, finite model theory, computational proof theory, logic programming and constraints, lambda calculus and combinatory logic, categorical logic and topological semantics, domain theory, database theory, specification, extraction and transformation of programs, logical foundations of programming paradigms, verification and program analysis, linear logic, higher-order logic, nonmonotonic reasoning. Proceedings will be published in the LNCS series. Each paper accepted by the Programme Committee must be presented at the conference by one of the authors, and final copy be prepared according to Springer's guidelines. Submitted papers must be in Springer's LNCS style and of no more than 15 pages, presenting work not previously published. They must not be submitted concurrently to another conference with refereed proceedings. Any closely related work submitted by the authors to a conference or journal before March 28, 2008 must be reported to the PC chairs. Papers authored or coauthored by members of the Programme Committee are not allowed. Submitted papers must be in English and provide sufficient detail to allow the Programme Committee to assess the merits of the paper. Full proofs may appear in a technical appendix which will be read at the reviewer's discretion. The title page must contain: title and author(s), physical and e-mail addresses, identification of the corresponding author, an abstract of no more than, 200 words, and a list of keywords. ACKERMANN AWARD: The Ackermann Award is the EACSL Outstanding Dissertation Award for Logic in Computer Science. The Ackermann Award 2008 will be presented to the recipients at CSL2008. Deadline for nominations is March 15, 2008. Details at: http://www.dimi.uniud.it/~eacsl/submissionsAck.html For the three years 2007-2009, the Award is sponsored by Logitech, S.A., Romanel, Switzerland, the world's leading provider of personal peripherals. INVITED SPEAKERS: Luca Cardelli, Microsoft Research, Cambridge Pierre Louis Curien, PPS, Paris Jean-Pierre Jouannaud, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Wolfgang Thomas, RWTH, Aachen PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Michael Kaminski (co-chair), Technion, Haifa Simone Martini (co-chair), Università di Bologna Zena Ariola, University of Oregon, Eugene Patrick Baillot, CNRS and Université Paris 13 Patrick Cegielski, Université Paris 12 Gilles Dowek, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau Amy Felty, University of Ottawa Marcelo Fiore, University of Cambridge Alan Jeffrey, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent Leonid Libkin, University of Edinburgh Zoran Majkic, University of Beograd Dale Miller, INRIA-Futurs, Palaiseau Luke Ong, University of Oxford David Pym, HP Labs, Bristol and University of Bath Alexander Rabinovich, Tel Aviv University Antonino Salibra, Università Ca' Foscari, Venezia Thomas Schwentick, Universität Dortmund Valentin Shehtman, Moscow University and King's College London Alex Simpson, University of Edinburgh Gert Smolka, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken Kazushige Terui, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo Thomas Wilke, Universität Kiel ORGANIZATION: Ugo Dal Lago, Università di Bologna Simone Martini, Università di Bologna ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Volume dedicated to Walter Tholen's 60th
by Maria Manuel Clementino 21 Jan '08

21 Jan '08

======Second Announcement====== SPECIAL VOLUME IN HONOUR OF WALTER THOLEN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS SIXTIETH BIRTHDAY Walter Tholen celebrated his 60th birthday last October, and there will be a special volume of Theory and Applications of Categories dedicated to this occasion. The deadline for submission is 15 March 2008. For more information, please visit the web page http://www.mat.uc.pt/~cmatcs/WTholen_volume.html The Guest Editors, Maria Manuel Clementino, George Janelidze, Robert Rosebrugh, Jirí Rosicky

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Post-Doc Position in Verifiable Model Transformations for SOA Engineering
by Reiko Heckel 19 Jan '08

19 Jan '08

[Apologies for multiple copies - please forward to interested candidates] Applications are invited for a Research Associate to work on the FP6-IST project SENSORIA. The overall aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive approach to the engineering of software systems for the emerging Service-Oriented Computing paradigm, integrating foundational theories, techniques, and methods, as well as a pragmatic software engineering approach. The post is available within WP7 to support the development and verification of service-oriented systems by means of automated, verifiable transformations. Applicants should have completed or be nearing completion of a PhD in Computer Science or a related subject, and be in possession of a good background in graph transformations, their verification and implementation, and their application to model transformations. Some knowledge of logic and algebraic specification techniques is desirable. The post is for one year, but likely to be extended by a further six months. Closing Date for applications is 8 February 2008. Please find further details at http://www.le.ac.uk/personnel/jobs/r3602a.html I'm happy to answer any further questions. Reiko -- Prof Dr Reiko Heckel Chair of Software Engineering Department of Computer Science University of Leicester Leicester LE1 7RH United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)116 252 3406 Fax +44 (0)116 252 3915 http://www.cs.le.ac.uk/people/rh122

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Call for contributions: QUANTUM PHYSICS AND LOGIC (QPL'08) & DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTATIONAL MODELS (DCM'08)
by Bob Coecke 19 Jan '08

19 Jan '08

ANNOUNCEMENT/CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: --------------------------------------- Joint International Workshop on: QUANTUM PHYSICS AND LOGIC (QPL'08) DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTATIONAL MODELS (DCM'08) July 12-13, 2008, Reykjavik, Iceland. http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/work/bob.coecke/DCM_QPL_08.html --------------------------------------- This to ICALP 2008 affiliated joint event combines two (established) workshop series: QUANTUM PHYSICS AND LOGIC (QPL'08): This event has as its goal to bring together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum computing and the use of logical tools, new structures, formal languages, semantical methods and other computer science methods for the study quantum behaviour in general. Over the past couple of years there has been a growing activity in these foundational approaches together with a renewed interest in the foundations of quantum theory, which complement the more mainstream research in quantum computation. A predecessor of this event, with the same acronym, called Quantum Programming Languages, was held in Ottawa (2003), Turku (2004), Chicago (2005) and Oxford (2006); with the change of name and a new program committee we wish to emphasise the intended much broader scope of this event, aiming to nourish interaction between modern computer science logic, quantum computation and information, and structural foundations for quantum physics. DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTATIONAL MODELS (DCM'08): Besides quantum computing, several new models of computation have emerged in the last few years, and many developments of traditional computational models have been proposed with the aim of taking into account the new demands of computer systems users and the new capabilities of computation engines. A new computational model, or a new feature in a traditional one, usually is reflected in new structural paradigms. The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers who are currently developing new computational models or new features for traditional computational models, in order to foster their interaction, to provide a forum for presenting new ideas and work in progress, and to enable newcomers to learn about current activities in this area. Previous editions in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were also affiliated to ICALP. Invited speakers: Terry Rudolph (Imperial College London) TBA Programme Committee: Howard Barnum (Los Alamos) Dan Browne (University College London) Bob Coecke (Oxford) Co-Chair Vincent Danos (Paris VII) Andreas Doering (Imperial College London) Annick Lesne (IHS Paris) Ian Mackie (Sussex) Prakash Panangaden (McGill) Co-Chair Jon Yard (Los Alamos) Dates: - Submission deadline: March 31 - Acceptance/rejection notification: April 21 - Pre-proceedings versions due: June 15 - Workshop: July 12-13 2007 Submission format: Prospective speakers are invited to submit a 2-5 pages abstract which provides sufficient evidence of results of genuine interest and provides sufficient detail to allows the program committee to assess the merits of the work. Submissions of works in progress are encouraged but must be more substantial than a research proposal. We both encourage submissions of original research as well as research submitted elsewhere. Authors of accepted original research contributions will be invited to submit a full paper to a special issue of a journal yet to be decided on. Submissions should be in Postscript or PDF format and should be sent to Bob Coecke <coecke(a)comlab.ox.ac.uk> by March 15. Receipt of all submissions will be acknowledged by return email. Accepted contributors will be able to publish extended versions of their abstracts in Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. Financial support. The workshop enjoys support from: EPSRC Network Semantics of Quantum Computation (EP/E006833/1) EPSRC ARF The Structure of Quantum Information and its Applications to IT (EP/D072786/1)

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