April 2019 - Categories - categories.org.au

Facets of realizability - call for contributions
by Valentin Blot 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS For the FACETS OF REALIZABILITY workshop. https://project.inria.fr/realizability2019 Cachan (Paris), France, 1 - 3 July 2019. We are looking for people who want to present recent work on topics related to realizability. IMPORTANT DATES: Submission deadline: 1st June Workshop: 1st-3rd July BACKGROUND: The goal of the workshop is to bring together researchers interested in realizability or whose research involves applications of realizability. Here, ???realizability??? is to be understood in a very broad sense to foster new ideas from interaction of people working on its different aspects. The main focus will be realizability interpretations, arithmetic, function and categorical realizability and in particular work on the boundary between any of these. An example of a concept that lies at the border between arithmetic and function realizability is the principle of bar induction. INVITED SPEAKER: Paulo Oliva TOPICS: The scope of the workshop includes but is not limited to: - Number realizability - Modified realizability - Function realizability - Computable analysis - Dialectica interpretation - Classical realizability - Synthetic topology - Categorical realizability - Bar induction / bar recursion Short abstracts (at most half a page excluding references) should be sent to the two organizers directly with subject line ???[facets of realizability] abstract???. There will be no formal reviewing but the organizers will select work they consider relevant to the workshop and give notification of accepted abstracts as they arrive. The abstracts will not be published and contributions about submitted or already published work are welcome. the organizers, Valentin Blot & Florian Steinberg [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Bx 2019 Call for Participation (Workshop on Bidirectional Transformations)
by James Cheney 27 Apr '19

27 Apr '19

Bx 2019 Call for Participation ============================== Highlights ---------- * Invited speaker: Zack Ives on Views, Update Propagation, and Provenance * Registration information (early deadline: May 4) * List of accepted papers and talks General Information ------------------- * 8th International Workshop on Bidirectional Transformations * http://bx-community.wikidot.com/bx2019:home <http://bx-community.wikidot.com/bx2019:home> * June 4, 2019, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA * as part of the Philadelphia Logic Week (PLW) 2019: https://sites.sju.edu/plw/ <https://sites.sju.edu/plw/> Bidirectional transformations (bx) are a mechanism for maintaining the consistency of at least two related sources of information. Such sources can be relational databases, software models and code, or any other document following standard or ad hoc formats. Bx are an emerging topic in a wide range of research areas, with prominent presence at top conferences in several different fields (namely databases, programming languages, software engineering, and graph transformation), but with results in one field often getting limited exposure in the others. Bx 2019 is a dedicated venue for bx in all relevant fields, and is part of a workshop series that was created in order to promote cross-disciplinary research and awareness in the area. As such, since its beginning in 2012, the workshop has rotated between venues in different fields. Bx 2019 will be a part of Philadelphia Logic Week (PLW) 2019, which also includes conference and workshops on logic, provenance, and databases, topics that we hope will complement Bx and help build engagement with these communities. Registration ------------ * https://sites.sju.edu/plw/plw-2019-registration/ <https://sites.sju.edu/plw/plw-2019-registration/> * Early registration deadline: May 4 * Passes available for attending multiple co-located events, including LPNMR (Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning) and workshops, Datalog 2.0 (Resurgence of Datalog in Academia and Industry), and TaPP (Theory and Practice of Provenance) * Opportunities for students to receive financial support from the LPNMR Doctoral Consortium Invited Talk ------------ * Views, Update Propagation, and Provenance Zachary Ives (University of Pennsylvania) http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~zives/ <http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~zives/> Accepted Papers and Talks ------------------------- The abstracts can be found at http://bx-community.wikidot.com/bx2019:accepted <http://bx-community.wikidot.com/bx2019:accepted> . * ASN.1 Encoding Schemes Done Right Using CMPCT Mark Tullsen (Galois, Inc.) * Lenses and Learners Brendan Fong (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Michael Johnson (Macquarie University) * Multicategories of Multiary Lenses Michael Johnson (Macquarie University) and Robert Rosebrugh (Mount Allison University) * Incremental Bidirectional Model Transformation with eMoflon::IBeX (Tool Paper) Nils Weidmann (Paderborn University), Anthony Anjorin (Paderborn University), Lars Fritsche (TU Darmstadt), Gergely Varró, Andy Schürr (TU Darmstadt), and Erhan Leblebici (TU Darmstadt) * A Bidirectional Krivine Machine (Short Paper) Mikael Mayer (University of Chicago) and Ravi Chugh (University of Chicago) * Consistent Runtime Adaptation of User Interfaces (Short Paper) Anthony Anjorin (Paderborn University), Enes Yigitbas (Paderborn University), and Hermann Kaindl (Vienna University of Technology) * Symmetric d-Lenses and Symmetric c-Lenses are not Coextensive (Short Paper) Michael Johnson (Macquarie University) and François Renaud (Université Catholique de Louvain) * A Toolbox of Lenses: Dimensions of the Lens Design Space (Talk) Zinovy Diskin (McMaster University) * Expanding the Power of Lens Synthesis (Talk) Anders Miltner (Princeton University), Solomon Maina (University of Pennsylvania), Kathleen Fisher (Tufts University), Benjamin Pierce (University of Pennsylvania), David Walker (Princeton University), and Steve Zdancewic (University of Pennsylvania) * Optics and Type Equivalences (Talk) Jacques Carette (McMaster University) and Amr Sabry (Indiana University Bloomington) * Reified Correspondences: A New Component of the Multiary Delta Lenses Framework (Talk) Zinovy Diskin (McMaster University) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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***SPAM?*** categories: Third call for submissions: HoTT 2019
by Michael Shulman 27 Apr '19

27 Apr '19

************************************************************** Third call for submissions INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HOMOTOPY TYPE THEORY 12-17 August 2019 Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA https://hott.github.io/HoTT-2019 ************************************************************** Submission of talks and registration are open for the International Homotopy Type Theory conference (HoTT 2019), to be held August 12-17, 2019, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. Contributions are welcome in all areas related to homotopy type theory, including but not limited to: * Homotopical and higher-categorical semantics of type theory * Synthetic homotopy theory * Applications of univalence and higher inductive types * Cubical type theories and cubical models * Formalization of mathematics and computer science in homotopy type theory / univalent foundations Please submit 1-paragraph abstracts through EasyChair here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hott2019 The submission deadline has been EXTENDED to 15 MAY 2019; we expect to notify accepted submissions by 1 June. This conference is run on the "mathematics model": full papers will not be submitted, submissions will not be refereed, and submission is not a publication. Please email hott2019conference(a)gmail.com with any questions. STUDENT PAPER AWARD A prize of $500 (and distinguished billing in the conference program) will be awarded to the best paper submitted by a student (or recently graduated student). To be eligible, you must include in your submission (or send separately to hott2019conference(a)gmail.com) a link to a preprint of your paper (e.g. on arXiv or a private web space). REGISTRATION, ACCOMODATION, AND TRAVEL Registration for the conference and the summer school is now open at https://hott.github.io/HoTT-2019/registration/. A limited amount of financial support is available for students and postdoctoral researchers; application instructions are available at the web site, as is information about accomodation and travel options. INVITED SPEAKERS Ulrik Buchholtz (TU Darmstadt, Germany) Dan Licata (Wesleyan University, USA) Andrew Pitts (University of Cambridge, UK) Emily Riehl (Johns Hopkins University, USA) Christian Sattler (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) Karol Szumilo (University of Leeds, UK) IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: 15 May Notification Date: 1 June Final abstracts due: 15 June Early Registration deadline: 1 July (reduced fee) Late Registration deadline: 1 August (increased fee) Conference: 12-17 August 2019 SUMMER SCHOOL There will also be an associated Homotopy Type Theory Summer School in the preceding week, August 7th to 10th. The instructors and topics will be: Cubical methods: Anders Mortberg (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) Formalization in Agda: Guillaume Brunerie (Stockholm University, Sweden) Formalization in Coq: Kristina Sojakova (Cornell University, USA) Higher topos theory: Mathieu Anel (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) Semantics of type theory: Jonas Frey (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) Synthetic homotopy theory: Egbert Rijke (University of Illinois, USA) SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Steve Awodey (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) Andrej Bauer (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) Thierry Coquand (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) Nicola Gambino (University of Leeds, UK) Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine (Stockholm University, Sweden) Michael Shulman (University of San Diego, USA), chair We look forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh! [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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CfP (Deadline Extension): Workshop on Semantic Spaces at the Intersection of NLP, Physics, and Cognitive Sciences, 5th-9th August 2019
by Martha Lewis 25 Apr '19

25 Apr '19

[with apologies for cross-posting] Call for Papers Workshop on Semantic Spaces at the Intersection of NLP, Physics, and Cognitive Science Part of ESSLLI 2019 (http://esslli2019.folli.info/ <http://esslli2019.folli.info/>) August 5th - 9th 2019 Riga, Latvia https://sites.google.com/view/semspace2019/home <https://sites.google.com/view/semspace2019/home> **** Deadline Extension: Contributions may be submitted at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2019 <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2019> by **17th May 2019** AIMS AND SCOPE Vector embeddings of word meanings have become a mainstream tool in large scale natural language processing tools. The use of vectors to represent meanings in semantic spaces or feature spaces is also employed in cognitive science. Unrelated to natural language and cognitive science, vectors and vector spaces have been extensively used as models of physical theories and especially the theory of quantum mechanics. Crucial similarities between the vector representations of quantum mechanics and those of natural language are exhibited via bicompact linear logic and compact closed categorical structures in natural language. Exploiting the common ground provided by vector spaces, the workshop will bring together researchers working at the intersection of NLP, cognitive science, and physics, offering to them an appropriate forum for presenting their uniquely motivated work and ideas. The interplay between these three disciplines will foster theoretically motivated approaches to understanding how meanings of words interact with each other in sentences and discourse via grammatical types, how they are determined by input from the world, and how word and sentence meanings interact logically. Topics of interests include (but are not restricted to): Reasoning in semantic spaces Compositionality in semantic spaces and conceptual spaces Conceptual spaces in linguistics and natural language processing Applications of quantum logic in natural language processing and cognitive science Modelling functional words such as prepositions and relative pronouns in compositional distributional models of meaning Diagrammatic reasoning for natural language processing and cognitive science Modelling so-called ‘non-compositional’ phenomena such as metaphor IMPORTANT DATES: **17th May 2019**: Paper submission 7th June 2019: Notification to contributors 5th-9th August: Workshop dates CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Professor Ruth Kempson FBA, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, King's College, London, UK Dr Jamie Kiros, Research Scientist, Google Brain Dr Sanjaye Ramgoolam, Reader in Theoretical Physics, Queen Mary University of London, UK SUBMISSIONS: We invite: Original contributions (up to 12 pages) of previously unpublished work. Submission of substantial, albeit partial, results of work in progress is welcomed. Extended abstracts (3 pages) of previously published work that is recent and relevant to the workshop. These should include a link to a separately published paper or preprint. Original contributions will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logics - IfCoLog Journal of Logics and their Applications (http://collegepublications.co.uk/ifcolog/about/ <http://collegepublications.co.uk/ifcolog/about/>). Contributions should be submitted at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2019 <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=semspace2019> Please send any queries to semspace19(a)easychair.org <mailto:semspace19@easychair.org> PROGRAMME COMMITTEE: Bob Coecke, University of Oxford Peter Gärdenfors, Lund University Stefano Gogioso, University of Oxford Giuseppe Greco, Utrecht University Helle Hvid Hansen, Delft University of Technology Jules Hedges, University of Oxford Dimitrios Kartsaklis, Apple Alexander Kurz, University of Leicester Antonio Lieto, University of Turin, Department of Computer Science Richard Moot, CNRS (LIRMM) & University of Montpellier Dusko Pavlovic, University of Hawaii Emmanuel Pothos, City University London Matthew Purver, Queen Mary University of London Giovanni Sileno, University of Amsterdam Pawel Sobocinski, University of Southampton Marta Sznajder, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich Oriol Valentín, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Dominic Widdows, Serendipity Now! Geraint Wiggins, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Frank Zenker, Lund University ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE: Martha Lewis, ILLC, University of Amsterdam Dan Marsden, University of Oxford Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, Queen Mary University of London [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Final Call for Papers: Fourth Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 4)
by Kohei Kishida 24 Apr '19

24 Apr '19

(Invited speakers and financial support have been added. The submission deadline is close, but please note that there is no fixed submission format or page limit.) FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURES (SYCO 4) Chapman University, California, USA 22-23 May, 2019 http://events.cs.bham.ac.uk/syco/4/ The Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO) is an interdisciplinary series of meetings aiming to support the growing community of researchers interested in the phenomenon of compositionality, from both applied and abstract perspectives, and in particular where category theory serves as a unifying common language. The first SYCO was in September 2018, at the University of Birmingham. The second SYCO was in December 2018, at the University of Strathclyde. The third SYCO was in March 2019, at the University of Oxford. Each meeting attracted about 70 participants. We welcome submissions from researchers across computer science, mathematics, physics, philosophy, and beyond, with the aim of fostering friendly discussion, disseminating new ideas, and spreading knowledge between fields. Submission is encouraged for both mature research and work in progress, and by both established academics and junior researchers, including students. Submission is easy, with no format requirements or page restrictions. The meeting does not have proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been submitted or published elsewhere. Think creatively--- you could submit a recent paper, or notes on work in progress, or even a recent Masters or PhD thesis. While no list of topics could be exhaustive, SYCO welcomes submissions with a compositional focus related to any of the following areas, in particular from the perspective of category theory: - logical methods in computer science, including classical and quantum programming, type theory, concurrency, natural language processing and machine learning; - graphical calculi, including string diagrams, Petri nets and reaction networks; - languages and frameworks, including process algebras, proof nets, type theory and game semantics; - abstract algebra and pure category theory, including monoidal category theory, higher category theory, operads, polygraphs, and relationships to homotopy theory; - quantum algebra, including quantum computation and representation theory; - tools and techniques, including rewriting, formal proofs and proof assistants, and game theory; - industrial applications, including case studies and real-world problem descriptions. This new series aims to bring together the communities behind many previous successful events which have taken place over the last decade, including "Categories, Logic and Physics", "Categories, Logic and Physics (Scotland)", "Higher-Dimensional Rewriting and Applications", "String Diagrams in Computation, Logic and Physics", "Applied Category Theory", "Simons Workshop on Compositionality", and the "Peripatetic Seminar in Sheaves and Logic". SYCO will be a regular fixture in the academic calendar, running regularly throughout the year, and becoming over time a recognized venue for presentation and discussion of results in an informal and friendly atmosphere. To help create this community, and to avoid the need to make difficult choices between strong submissions, in the event that more good-quality submissions are received than can be accommodated in the timetable, the programme committee may choose to *defer* some submissions to a future meeting, rather than reject them. This would be done based largely on submission order, giving an incentive for early submission, but would also take into account other requirements, such as ensuring a broad scientific programme. Deferred submissions can be re-submitted to any future SYCO meeting, where they would not need peer review, and where they would be prioritised for inclusion in the programme. This will allow us to ensure that speakers have enough time to present their ideas, without creating an unnecessarily competitive reviewing process. Meetings will be held sufficiently frequently to avoid a backlog of deferred papers. # INVITED SPEAKERS John Baez, University of California, Riverside Tobias Fritz, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Nina Otter, University of California, Los Angeles (One more speaker to be confirmed) # IMPORTANT DATES All times are anywhere-on-earth. - Submission deadline: Wednesday 24 April 2019 - Author notification: Wednesday 1 May 2019 - Travel support application deadline: Wednesday 8 May 2019 - Registration deadline: TBA - Symposium dates: Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 May 2019 # SUBMISSIONS Submission is by EasyChair, via the following link: - https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=syco4 Submissions should present research results in sufficient detail to allow them to be properly considered by members of the programme committee, who will assess papers with regards to significance, clarity, correctness, and scope. We encourage the submission of work in progress, as well as mature results. There are no proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been previously published, or has been submitted for consideration elsewhere. There is no specific formatting requirement, and no page limit, although for long submissions authors should understand that reviewers may not be able to read the entire document in detail. # FINANCIAL SUPPORT Some funding is available to cover travel and subsistence costs, with a priority for students and junior researchers. To apply for this funding, please contact the local organizer Alexander Kurz (axhkrz(a)gmail.com) with subject line "SYCO 4 funding request" by Wednesday, 8 May, with a short statement of your current status, travel costs, and funding required. # PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Miriam Backens, University of Oxford Ross Duncan, University of Strathclyde and Cambridge Quantum Computing Brendan Fong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stefano Gogioso, University of Oxford Amar Hadzihasanovic, Kyoto University Chris Heunen, University of Edinburgh Dominic Horsman, University of Grenoble Martti Karvonen, University of Edinburgh Kohei Kishida, Dalhousie University (chair) Aleks Kissinger, Radboud University Nijmegen Andre Kornell, University of California, Davis Martha Lewis, University of Amsterdam Samuel Mimram, ??cole Polytechnique Benjamin Musto, University of Oxford Nina Otter, University of California, Los Angeles Simona Paoli, University of Leicester Dorette Pronk, Dalhousie University Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, Queen Mary Pawel Sobocinski, University of Southampton Joshua Tan, University of Oxford Sean Tull, University of Oxford Dominic Verdon, University of Bristol Jamie Vicary, University of Birmingham and University of Oxford Maaike Zwart, University of Oxford [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Final call for contributions: Applied Category Theory 2019, July 15-19, Oxford.
by Bob Coecke 23 Apr '19

23 Apr '19

2ND (AND LAST) CALL FOR PAPERS Applied Category Theory 2019 July 15-19, 2019, Oxford, UK http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ACT2019/ * * * Applied category theory is a topic of interest for a growing community of researchers, interested in studying systems of all sorts using category-theoretic tools. These systems are found in the natural sciences and social sciences, as well as in computer science, linguistics, and engineering. The background and experience of our members is as varied as the systems being studied. The goal of the ACT2019 Conference is to bring the majority of researchers in the field together and provide a platform for exposing the progress in the area. Both original research papers as well as extended abstracts of work submitted/accepted/published elsewhere will be considered. There will be best paper award(s) and selected contributions will be awarded extended keynote slots. The conference will include a business showcase and tutorials, and there also will be an adjoint school, the following week (see webpage). IMPORTANT DATES Submission of contributed papers: 3 May Acceptance/Rejection notification: 7 June SUBMISSIONS Prospective speakers are invited to submit one (or more) of the following: - Original contributions of high quality work consisting of a 5-12 page extended abstract that provides sufficient evidence of results of genuine interest and enough detail to allow 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. - Extended abstracts describing high quality work submitted/published elsewhere will also be considered, provided the work is recent and relevant to the conference. These consist of a maximum 3 page description and should include a link to a separate published paper or preprint. The conference proceedings will be published in a dedicated Proceedings issue of the new Compositionality journal: http://www.compositionality-journal.org Only "original contributions" are eligible to be published in the proceedings. Submissions should be prepared using LaTeX, and must be submitted in PDF format. Use of the Compositionality style is encouraged. Submission is done via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=act2019 PROGRAM CHAIRS: John Baez (UC Riverside) Bob Coecke (University of Oxford) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Bob Coecke (chair) John Baez (chair) Christina Vasilakopoulou David Moore Josh Tan Stefano Gogioso Brendan Fong Steve Lack Simona Paoli Joachim Kock Kathryn Hess Bellwald Tobias Fritz David I. Spivak Ross Duncan Dan Ghica Valeria de Paiva Jeremy Gibbons Samual Mimram Aleks Kissinger Jamie Vicary Martha Lewis Nick Gurski Dusko Pavlovic Chris Heunen Corina Cirstea Helle Hvid Hansen Dan Marsden Simon Willerton Pawel Sobocinski Dominic Horsman Nina Otter Miriam Backens STEERING COMMITTEE John Baez (UC Riverside) Bob Coecke (University of Oxford) David Spivak (MIT) Christina Vasilakopoulou (UC Riverside) [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Volume LX-2 of the "Cahiers"
by Andrée Ehresmann 22 Apr '19

22 Apr '19

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to inform you that Volume LX-2 (2nd trimester 2019) of the ?? Cahiers ?? is now freely downloadable from the two websites of the ?? Cahiers ??: - as a whole issue on the site http://ehres.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cahiers/Ctgdc.htm <http://ehres.pagesperso-orange.fr/Cahiers/Ctgdc.htm> - as separate articles on the site http://cahierstgdc.com <http://cahierstgdc.com> Hoping you???ll enjoy reading this new issue, best regards, Andr??e Ehresmann, Marino Gran and Ren?? Guitart [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Re: Mini-course Friedrich Wehrung - May 20 - 24
by Axel Osmond 20 Apr '19

20 Apr '19

***Forwarding - Sorry for multiple messages *** Dear all, I am writing to let you know that, in the scope of the /DuaLL/ project, *Friedrich Wehrung* is coming to Nice to give a mini-course on "Constructing (counter)examples via condensates", in the week *May 20 - 24* (you can find the abstract below). [I apologize to those who are receiving this e-mail twice] Here is the planned schedule: Mon 20: 15h -> 16h Tue 21: 15h -> 16h Wed 22: 15h -> 16h Thu 23: 11h -> 12h Fri 24: 11h -> 12h For logistic reasons (and a request from the speaker), please let me know by the ***May 10*** whether you'll be attending this course. In case you wish to attend but the schedule doesn't suit you, please let me know as soon as possible. You can also see the following website for next planned meetings of /DuaLL/: https://math.unice.fr/~cborlido/GdT.html Please don't hesitate to let me know if you wish to be added to our mailing list. Best regards, C??lia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Abstract:* For categories A and B, the determination of the range of a given functor F: A\to B gives often rise to seemingly intractable problems, even at the most basic level ??? that is, does every object of B belong to the range of F (up to isomorphism of course)? Similar, apparently stronger questions can be stated for arrows in B, or, more generally, for commutative diagrams in B. It turns out that due to a 2011 construction of the author with Pierre Gillibert, that we called the condensate construction, all those questions are, under fairly general conditions, equivalent. For instance, representing an arrow is ?? not really ?? harder than representing an object. However, this equivalence comes with a cost: going from a diagram counterexample to an object counterexample (outside the range of F) requires a cardinality jump, the amplitude of which depends of a natural number called the Kuratowski index (often equal to the order-dimension) of the shape of the diagram in question. Recent improvements of the condensate construction made it possible to prove stronger negative results, stating that the range of the functor F is not even closed under elementary equivalence with respect to infinitary languages of the form L_{\infty,\lambda}. Such negative results are inferred from the existence of a (necessarily non-commutative) diagram D in A such that F(D) is not F(X) for any commutative diagram X in A. For example, the long-standing problem of the characterization of the spectra of all Abelian lattice-ordered groups finds there a negative solution: namely, the class of all Stone duals of such spectra (which are special kinds of distributive lattices with zero) is not closed under L_{\infty,\lambda}-elementary equivalence for any infinite cardinal \lambda; in particular, it is not the class of all models of any class of L_{\infty,\lambda} sentences. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Postdoctoral position in quantum theory in Edinburgh
by Chris Heunen 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

The University of Edinburgh is looking to recruit a full-time postdoctoral researcher to work on the project "Combining Viewpoints in Quantum Theory" with Dr. Chris Heunen. Duration: initially 1 year, with extension to 3 years Salary: £33,199 - £39,609 Start: 1 July 2019 or soon thereafter Deadline: 17 May 2019 Application: https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobs… Applicants must hold or be about to receive a doctoral degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Physics, and have a strong background in one or more of the following areas: * Quantum computing * Category theory * Programming languages * Operator algebra * Causality The successful applicant will focus on one of two areas: optimising quantum programs by analysing unitary groups, and implementing the achieved results in software; or developing a categorical framework for spatially distributed quantum protocols, and investigating causality. This includes collaborating with project partners and members, including PhD students. The Quantum Informatics group (http://web.inf.ed.ac.uk/quantum-informatics) is part of the School of Informatics' Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, a community of theoretical computer scientists with interests in concurrency, semantics, categories, algebra, types, logic, algorithms, complexity, quantum theory, databases and modelling. Informal enquiries can be directed to <chris.heunen(a)ed.ac.uk>. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Second Call for Papers: Fourth Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO 4)
by Kohei Kishida 13 Apr '19

13 Apr '19

FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURES (SYCO 4) Chapman University, California, USA 22-23 May, 2019 http://events.cs.bham.ac.uk/syco/4/ The Symposium on Compositional Structures (SYCO) is an interdisciplinary series of meetings aiming to support the growing community of researchers interested in the phenomenon of compositionality, from both applied and abstract perspectives, and in particular where category theory serves as a unifying common language. The first SYCO was in September 2018, at the University of Birmingham. The second SYCO was in December 2018, at the University of Strathclyde. The third SYCO was in March 2019, at the University of Oxford. Each meeting attracted about 70 participants. We welcome submissions from researchers across computer science, mathematics, physics, philosophy, and beyond, with the aim of fostering friendly discussion, disseminating new ideas, and spreading knowledge between fields. Submission is encouraged for both mature research and work in progress, and by both established academics and junior researchers, including students. Submission is easy, with no format requirements or page restrictions. The meeting does not have proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been submitted or published elsewhere. Think creatively--- you could submit a recent paper, or notes on work in progress, or even a recent Masters or PhD thesis. While no list of topics could be exhaustive, SYCO welcomes submissions with a compositional focus related to any of the following areas, in particular from the perspective of category theory: - logical methods in computer science, including classical and quantum programming, type theory, concurrency, natural language processing and machine learning; - graphical calculi, including string diagrams, Petri nets and reaction networks; - languages and frameworks, including process algebras, proof nets, type theory and game semantics; - abstract algebra and pure category theory, including monoidal category theory, higher category theory, operads, polygraphs, and relationships to homotopy theory; - quantum algebra, including quantum computation and representation theory; - tools and techniques, including rewriting, formal proofs and proof assistants, and game theory; - industrial applications, including case studies and real-world problem descriptions. This new series aims to bring together the communities behind many previous successful events which have taken place over the last decade, including "Categories, Logic and Physics", "Categories, Logic and Physics (Scotland)", "Higher-Dimensional Rewriting and Applications", "String Diagrams in Computation, Logic and Physics", "Applied Category Theory", "Simons Workshop on Compositionality", and the "Peripatetic Seminar in Sheaves and Logic". SYCO will be a regular fixture in the academic calendar, running regularly throughout the year, and becoming over time a recognized venue for presentation and discussion of results in an informal and friendly atmosphere. To help create this community, and to avoid the need to make difficult choices between strong submissions, in the event that more good-quality submissions are received than can be accommodated in the timetable, the programme committee may choose to *defer* some submissions to a future meeting, rather than reject them. This would be done based largely on submission order, giving an incentive for early submission, but would also take into account other requirements, such as ensuring a broad scientific programme. Deferred submissions can be re-submitted to any future SYCO meeting, where they would not need peer review, and where they would be prioritised for inclusion in the programme. This will allow us to ensure that speakers have enough time to present their ideas, without creating an unnecessarily competitive reviewing process. Meetings will be held sufficiently frequently to avoid a backlog of deferred papers. # INVITED SPEAKERS John Baez, University of California, Riverside Tobias Fritz, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Nina Otter, University of California, Los Angeles (One more speaker to be confirmed) # IMPORTANT DATES All times are anywhere-on-earth. - Submission deadline: Wednesday 24 April 2019 - Author notification: Wednesday 1 May 2019 - Travel support application deadline: Wednesday 8 May 2019 - Registration deadline: TBA - Symposium dates: Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 May 2019 # SUBMISSIONS Submission is by EasyChair, via the following link: - https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=syco4 Submissions should present research results in sufficient detail to allow them to be properly considered by members of the programme committee, who will assess papers with regards to significance, clarity, correctness, and scope. We encourage the submission of work in progress, as well as mature results. There are no proceedings, so work can be submitted even if it has been previously published, or has been submitted for consideration elsewhere. There is no specific formatting requirement, and no page limit, although for long submissions authors should understand that reviewers may not be able to read the entire document in detail. # FINANCIAL SUPPORT Some funding is available to cover travel and subsistence costs, with a priority for students and junior researchers. To apply for this funding, please contact the local organizer Alexander Kurz (axhkrz(a)gmail.com) with subject line "SYCO 4 funding request" by Wednesday, 8 May, with a short statement of your current status, travel costs, and funding required. # PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Miriam Backens, University of Oxford Ross Duncan, University of Strathclyde and Cambridge Quantum Computing Brendan Fong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stefano Gogioso, University of Oxford Amar Hadzihasanovic, Kyoto University Chris Heunen, University of Edinburgh Dominic Horsman, University of Grenoble Martti Karvonen, University of Edinburgh Kohei Kishida, Dalhousie University (chair) Aleks Kissinger, Radboud University Nijmegen Andre Kornell, University of California, Davis Martha Lewis, University of Amsterdam Samuel Mimram, ??cole Polytechnique Benjamin Musto, University of Oxford Nina Otter, University of California, Los Angeles Simona Paoli, University of Leicester Dorette Pronk, Dalhousie University Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, Queen Mary Pawel Sobocinski, University of Southampton Joshua Tan, University of Oxford Sean Tull, University of Oxford Dominic Verdon, University of Bristol Jamie Vicary, University of Birmingham and University of Oxford Maaike Zwart, University of Oxford [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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