WASP -- Web Agent Support Program
BIJLAGE I: Description of Research Groups
The descriptions below are meant to augment the descriptions
of the groups given in section 12.c of the proposal.
Since the referees were unable to evaluate the theoretical
competence of the applicants, the descriptions focus primarily on
the theoretical interests of the applicants and their groups.
A. Eliens -- SE/VU
Anton Eliëns finished his study theoretical
computer science in 1986 at the University of Amsterdam.
As employee of the CWI he did research on formal aspects
of expert systems and the semantics of distributed logic
programming. His thesis DLP - A language for distributed
logic programming, supervised by prof. dr. P. Klint and prof. dr.
J.W. de Bakker, has been published as a book by Wiley (1992).
In addition to the publications mentioned in the proposal,
he also published papers on the mathematical semantics of
distributed logic programming,
some in collaboration with dr. E. de Vink.
He is the originator and leader of
of the DejaVu project, consisting of two AIOs and
one scientific programmer, that deals with the various aspects of
object oriented programming and distributed hypermedia.
He is a member of the NVTI, ACM and IEEE.
J. Treur, F. Brazier - AI/VU
J. Treur completed his study and his thesis both in mathematics and
logic at the Utrecht University. F.M.T. Brazier completed her study in
mathematics and her thesis on information retrieval and user
interfaces both at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The fundamental research of the VU/AI group addresses the following
topics:
- Formal semantics of reasoning and acting behaviour from a temporal
perspective
- Formalisation of cooperation in multi-agent systems
- Formal foundations for verification and validation of compositional
systems
- A logical theory of design
The researchers involved in these fundamental topics are: dr. F.M.T.
Brazier, drs. P.A.T. van Eck, drs. J. Engelfriet, dr. F. van Harmelen,
dr. C.M. Jonker, prof. dr. J. Treur, dr. L.C. Verbrugge,
drs. N.J.E. Wijngaards.
Formal semantics of reasoning and acting behaviour from a temporal
perspective.
Researchers: F.M.T. Brazier, J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, N.J.E. Wijngaards
Specifications for systems performing the complex types of reasoning and
acting processes can be formally interpreted in terms of temporal model
structures. The approach has been elaborated succesfully to obtain
formal semantics for specific types of complex reasoning processes, such
as: strategic reasoning and reflection in meta-level architectures,
default reasoning, hypothetical reasoning based on dynamic generation
and rejection of assumptions, design processes, compositional systems.
- Brazier, F.M.T., Treur, J., Wijngaards, N.J.E.,Willems, M., Temporal
Semantics of Complex Reasoning Tasks. In: B. Gaines, M. Musen (eds.),
Proc. 10th Banff Knowledge Acquisition Workshop, KAW'96, University of
Calgary, 1996
- J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, "A Temporal Model Theory for Default
Logic". In: M. Clarke, R. Kruse, S. Moral (eds.), Symbolic and
Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning and Uncertainty , Proceedings
ECSQARU93, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 747,
Springer-Verlag, 1993, pp. 91-96.
- J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, "Temporal Theories of Reasoning". In: C.
MacNish, D.Pearce, L.M. Pereira (eds.), Logics in Artifical
Intelligence, Proceedings JELIA 94, Lecture Notes in Artificial
Intelligence, Vol. 838, Springer-Verlag, 1994, pp. 279-299. Also in:
Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics 5(2), 1995, pp. 239-261.
- J. Engelfriet, H. Herre, J. Treur, "Nonmonotonic Belief State
Frames and Reasoning Frames (extended abstract)". In: C. Froidevaux,
J. Kohlas (eds.), Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning
and Uncertainty, Proceedings ECSQARU'95, Lecture Notes in Artificial
Intelligence, Vol. 946, Springer-Verlag, 1995, pp. 189-196.
- J. Engelfriet, H. Herre, J. Treur, "Nonmonotonic Reasoning with
Multiple Belief Sets". In: D.M. Gabbay, H.J. Ohlbach (eds.), Practical
Reasoning, Proceedings FAPR'96, Lecture Notes in Artificial
Intelligence, Vol. 1085, Springer-Verlag, pp. 331-344, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, "Specification of Nonmonotonic Reasoning".
In: D.M.Gabbay, H.J. Ohlbach (eds.), Practical Reasoning, Proceedings
FAPR'96, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 1085,
Springer-Verlag, pp.111-125, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, "Semantics for Default Logic based on
Specific Branching Time Models". To be published in: Proceedings
ECAI'96, Wiley & Sons, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, "Minimal Temporal Epistemic Logic". To be published
in: Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, special issue: Combining
Logics, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, J. Treur, "Executable Temporal Logic for
Nonmonotonic Reasoning". To be published in: Journal of Symbolic
Computation, special issue: Executable Temporal Logics, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, V.W. Marek, J. Treur, M. Truszczynski, "Infinitary
Default Logic for Specification of Nonmonotonic Reasoning". To be
published in: Proceedings JELIA'96, Springer-Verlag, 1996.
- J. Engelfriet, "Only Persistence Makes Nonmonotonicity
Monotonous". To be published in: Proceedings JELIA'96, Springer-
Verlag, 1996.
- Gavrila, I.S. and Treur, J. (1994). A formal model for the dynamics of
compositional reasoning systems, in A.G. Cohn (ed.), Proc. 11th
European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, ECAI'94 , John Wiley &
Sons, Chichester, 1994, pp. 307-311.
- Hoek W. van der, Meyer J.-J., Treur J.,
Formal semantics of temporal epistemic reflection,
In: L. Fribourg and F. Turini (ed.), Logic Program Synthesis and
Transformation-Meta-Programming in Logic, Proc. Fourth Int. Workshop on
Meta-programming
in Logic, META'94,
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 883, Springer Verlag, 1994,
pp. 332-352.
- Hoek W. van der, Meyer J.-J.Ch., Treur J.;
Temporalizing Epistemic Default Logic;
R.B. Feenstra, R. Wieringa (eds.),
Information Systems-Correctness and Reusability.
Selected papers from the IS-CORE-95 Workshop,
World Scientific Publishers, 1995,
pp. 173-190.
- Treur J.,
Temporal Semantics of Meta-Level Architectures for Dynamic
Control of Reasoning.
In: L. Fribourg and F. Turini (ed.), Logic Program Synthesis
and Transformation-Meta-Programming in Logic, Proceedings of the Fourth
International Workshop
on Meta-Programming in Logic, META'94.
Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 883, 1994,
pp. 353-376.
Formalisation of cooperation in multi-agent systems.
Researchers: F.M.T. Brazier, C.M. Jonker, J. Treur, L.C. Verbrugge
A formalisation of a cooperation model based on joint intentions
(informally introduced by N. Jennings) has been developed and applied to
project coordination. A logical framework for collective commitments has
been introduced.
- Brazier, F.M.T., Jonker, C.M., Treur, J., Formalisation of a cooperation
model based on joint intentions, In: J. Muller, M. Wooldridge, N.R.
Jennings (eds.), Intelligent Agents III, (Proc. Third Int. Workshop on
Agent Theories, Architectures and Languages , ATAL'96), Lecture Notes in
AI, Springer Verlag, 1996, to appear
- B. Dunin-Keplicz, L.C. Verbrugge, Collective commitments, Proc. of the
Second Int. Conference on Multi-Agent Systems, ICMAS'96, MIT Press,
1996, to appear
Formal foundations for verification and validation.
Researchers: F.M.T. Brazier, F. van Harmelen, C.M. Jonker, J. Treur
Formal foundations have been developed within which static properties to
be verified and validated are defined at a semantic level, independent
of syntactical aspects of any specific representation language. Based on
the temporal semantics approach discussed above, some first explorations
have been performed to extend the logical foundation to dynamic
properties.
-
Harmelen, F. van and Aben, M., Applying rule-base anomalies to KADS
inference structures; In: R. Gamble (ed.), Proceedings of the IJCAI'95
Workshop on Validation and Verification of Knowledge-Based Systems,
1995.
- Treur J., Willems M.,
A logical foundation for verification.
In: A.G. Cohn (ed.), Proc. of the 11th European Conference on
Artificial Intelligence, ECAI'94.
John Wiley \& Sons, Chichester, 1994,
pp. 745-749.
- Treur J., Willems M.;
Formal Notions for Verification of Dynamics of Knowledge-Based Systems;
M. Ayel and M.-C. Rousset (eds.), Proc. of EUROVAV-95, European
Symposium on the Validation and Verification of Knowledge-Based
Systems,
ADERIAS-LIA, Chamb\'ery, France, 1995,
pp. 189-199.
A logical theory of design .
Researchers: F.M.T. Brazier, J. Treur
As a formal foundation for design tasks a logical theory of design has
been developed. The basic notions in design processes such as (partial)
design object descriptions, requirements and their relations are
formally defined in logical terms. As in design processes usually not
only design object descriptions but also requirements evolve over time,
and often strategic reasoning takes place, logical foundations for the
dynamic aspects are crucial. The dynamics of design processes as
formally defined in the logical theory of design are based on the
temporal semantics approach discussed above.
- Brazier F.M.T., Langen P.H.G. van, Treur J.;
A logical theory of design; J.S. Gero and F. Sudweeks (eds.), Proc. IFIP
WG5.2 Workshop on Formal Design Methods for CAD, Chapman and Hall, 1996,
to appear
P. De Bra - IS/TUE
Paul De Bra completed his study in mathematics at the University of Antwerp
in 1981, with a thesis on "Conditional Dependencies". In February 1987 he
obtained his doctorate in (computing) science, with a thesis on "Horizontal
Decompositions in the Relational Database Model", of which results have been
presented at several conferences, including the International Conference on
Database Theory (ICDT) and the conference on Mathematical Foundations for
Data Base Systems (MFDBS). Also the more recent publications [9] and [10] of
the WASP proposal show the competence of the applicant in fundamental research.
The shift in focus of attention towards more practical and applied research in
hypermedia and the Web dates back only about three years.
Paul De Bra is still a member of the "Vereniging voor Fundamentele Informatica"
(in Belgium) and of the NVTI
(Nederlandse Vereniging voor Theoretische Informatica).
He is also member of the ACM.
Paul De Bra has recently been appointed to full-professor, heading the Information
Systems section at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Apart from the
applicant this research group has expertise in executable specification
formalisms for information systems (prof. dr. K.M. Van Hee and
dr. ir. W. van der Aalst), software engineering (dr. L. Somers),
different formalisms for logic and their application to protocols (dr. F. Dignum),
object-oriented databases (prof. dr. J. Paredaens, dr. A. Aerts)
and hypermedia (dr. ir. G.J. Houben).
mailto:eliens@cs.vu.nl
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Thu Sep 26 14:04:17 MET DST 1996
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