Research Group in Intelligent Systems

On March 19th and 20th 2009 took place the annual meeting of the MID-CBR (Marco Integrador para el Desarrollo de Sistemas de Razonamiento Basado en Casos, TIN2006-15140-C03) a coordinated project by the Instituto de Investigación de Inteligencia Artificial (IIIA-CSIC; Main Researcher: Dr. Enric Plaza), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (GAIA-UCM; Main Researcher: Dra. Belén Díaz-Agudo) and the Universitat Ramon Llull (GRSI-URL; Main Researcher: Dra. Elisabet Golobardes). The aim of this meeting was to summarize all the work done, throughout the last year, reported all the articles published and the communications presented in the most relevant journals and conferences of the CBR community. There were also explained the current lines of research and there were proposed future collaborations. In particular, we can highlight some events of the agenda for the first day: Enric Plaza (Research Coordinator) started the meeting presenting the achievement degree of the project goals and the assessment of the different pattern’s project outcome. All this information was reported in the official annual report sent to the Science and Technology Ministry.

A. Sánchez, H. Gómez, P. González, E. Golobardes, J.L. Arcos, J. Recio, C. Garriga, E. Armengol, E. Plaza, M. Castanys, G. Corral, B. Díaz, A. García, D. Vernet, A. Fornells

Then, Juan Antonio Recio and Antonio Sánchez, two members belonging to the GAIA-UCM group presented the last version of jcolibri2, where the most relevant changes are related to their work on textual CBR and the incorporation of templates. There were also presented their beginning in incorporating planification based on descriptive logic for the reuse phase in CBR systems. Secondly, Albert Fornells and Guiomar Corral presented the most recent advances in the MID-CBR project achieved by the GRSI group, both in the melanomas domain and the telematic domain. Thirdly, Eva Armengol and Josep Lluís Arcos from the IIIA introduced their research work in extraction and explanation in lazy domains and in using introspective reasoning to improve CBR system performance, respectively. Enric Plaza was in charge of introducing their first results on Social Choice CBR (based on social networks topologies), where different methodologies inspired on argumentation and poolcasting. Finally, Pedro González, member of the GAIA-UCM group, presented an overview of their research in artificial intelligence mainly applied on the virtual reality (games) domain. During a coffee break all the MID-CBR team took the opportunity to visit the laboratory Media Lab La Salle of La Salle Campus. The last day all the MID-CBR team participated in a brainstorming where all the new research lines were discussed, and where new lines and collaboration were opened. The discussion will make easier the definition of our future work in the CBR framework, making possible the transition from the MID-CBR to futures projects.

What does the equation ZigBee + Cars = ZigBeeCars mean?

On March 19, ZigBeeCars will be presented in the Saló de l’ensenyament in view of promoting the engineering at La Salle. In a space of 35 square meters, offered by the EnginyCat program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, a spectacular racetrack will allow the public to drive seven cars at the same time through remote control from a PC. By means of this fun activity, many technical concepts could be brought to the students.

Further work of this project aims at incorporating AI to provide the cars with autonomy.

Hope you enjoy the activity!

Today starts the “Research Week”. From Wednesday to Wednesday the campus la Salle offers plenty of research activities originated from the GRSI: lectures performed by world-known researchers and presentations of thesis and DEAs.

Among these activities Prof. Goldberg and Prof. Chua will delight us with their talks. No doubt, this is a rendezvous that an engineer cannot miss!

You can find below the summary of the program schedule:

* All of the activities are taking place in Ed. Sant Josep - Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle.
* For further details, please refer to the previous posts.

Anyone who ever took an electronics laboratory class will be familiar with the fundamental passive circuit elements: the resistor, the capacitor and the inductor. However, in 1971 Leon Chua reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth fundamental element, which he called a memristor (short for memory resistor). Although he showed that such an element has many interesting and valuable circuit properties, until now no one has presented either a useful physical model or an example of a memristor. Here we show, using a simple analytical example, that memristance arises naturally in nanoscale systems in which solid-state electronic and ionic transport are coupled under an external bias voltage.

One application of the memristor could be to create a new type of ultradense non-volatile random access memory (RAM) that would supplement and eventually replace today’s commonly used dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Computers using conventional DRAM lack the ability to retain information once they lose power. When power is restored to a DRAM-based computer, a slow, energy-consuming “boot-up” process is necessary to retrieve data from a magnetic disk required to run the system. In contrast, a memristor-based computer would retain its information after losing power and would not require the boot-up process, resulting in the consumption of less power and wasted time.

Another potential application of memristor technology could be the development of computer systems that remember and associate series of events in a manner similar to the way a human brain recognizes patterns. This could substantially improve today’s facial recognition technology, enable security and privacy features that recognize a complex set of biometric features of an authorized person to access personal information, or enable an appliance to learn from experience.

Prof. Leon O. Chua will extensible talk about memristor in Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle on December 12 at 17:00. Go here to sign up for the talk.

Prof. David E. Goldberg will embark us in an interesting journey that starts considering simple GAs and follows the road to the design of competent GA, breaking the billion-variable optimization barrier. The talk will be held in Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle on December 11 at 18:00. Go here to sign up. In what follows, further information is provided.

Speaker: David E. Goldberg

Title: Not Your Grandmother’s Genetic Algorithm

Abstract: Genetic algorithms (GAs)–search procedures inspired by the mechanics of natural selection and genetics–have been increasingly applied across the spectrum of human endeavor. Genetic algorithms were also a primary ingredient in the rise in interest in the study of complex adaptive and emergent systems. Despite these salutary effects, some persist in thinking of evolutionary processes–and algorithms that rely upon them–as inherently slow, unreliable, and ad hoc, without much theoretical support. This talk briefly introduces GAs, but quickly shifts to a line of work that has succeeded in supporting GA mechanics with bounding design theory that has been used to demonstrate GA scalability, speed, and range of reliable applicability. Key elements of this theory are discussed to give insight into this accomplishment and to make the point that fast, scalable GAs may also be viewed as first-order models of human innovative or inventive processes. The talk highlights recent results in breaking the billion-variable optimization barrier for the first time. It also discusses recent experience with GA-inspired creativity or innovation support systems.

Bio: David E. Goldberg, a leader in the field of genetic algorithms, is the Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also co-founder and chief scientist of ShareThis Inc., a web2.0 startup company. Trained as a civil engineer at the University of Michigan, where he earned his B.S.E. and took his Ph.D. in 1983, Dr. Goldberg has held positions at Michigan, Alabama, and Illinois. He is co-chair of the inaugural and 2nd Workshop on Philosophy and Engineering (TUDelft & the Royal Academy of Engineeirng), and he was recently name co-director the Illinois Foundation for Innovation in Engineering Education. . Among many honors, he is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Wickenden Award presented by the American Society for Engineering Education, and an Outstanding Instructor Award presented by the National Technological University . In addition to articles in professional journals, he is the author of two books on genetic algorithms, the widely-cited Genetic Algorithms in Search, Organization, and Machine Learning (1989) and The Design of Innovation (2002), and, most recently, The Entrepreneurial Engineer, which was published in 2006 by Wiley.

Prof. David E. Goldberg is giving a talk about the technology professional of the future. The talk will be held in Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle on December 10 at 17:00. Go here to sign up. In what follows, the further information about the talk is provided.

Title: The Creativity Imperative and the Technology Professional of the Future

Speaker: David E. Goldberg, Co-Director, Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education

Abstract: The world (1) is apparently flat, (2) is being given over to a rising creative class, and (3) requires a whole new mind, but a common conclusion drawn from authors such as Friedman, Florida, and Pink is that technology professionals in advanced economies must excel at creating new categories of product and service, as returns to routine engineering/technology labor are declining because of the ease with which these tasks may be outsourced. This talk starts by examining the setting after World War 2 that has largely shaped engineering and technology education of the recent era. It continues by discussing the techno-economic forces that have affected the intervening time, and it considers recent work by Price in others to understand the essential characteristics and habits of tech visionaries (TVs) who currently help major companies create value through the effective bootstrapping of entirely new product lines. The talk concludes by discussing the newly established Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education, including crucial organizational, content, and delivery innovations designed to promote effective and viral curriculum reform.

Bio: David E. Goldberg, a leader in the field of genetic algorithms, is the Jerry S. Dobrovolny Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also co-founder and chief scientist of ShareThis Inc., a web2.0 startup company. Trained as a civil engineer at the University of Michigan, where he earned his B.S.E. and took his Ph.D. in 1983, Dr. Goldberg has held positions at Michigan, Alabama, and Illinois. He is co-chair of the inaugural and 2nd Workshop on Philosophy and Engineering (TUDelft & the Royal Academy of Engineeirng), and he was recently name co-director the Illinois Foundation for Innovation in Engineering Education. . Among many honors, he is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Wickenden Award presented by the American Society for Engineering Education, and an Outstanding Instructor Award presented by the National Technological University . In addition to articles in professional journals, he is the author of two books on genetic algorithms, the widely-cited Genetic Algorithms in Search, Organization, and Machine Learning (1989) and The Design of Innovation (2002), and, most recently, The Entrepreneurial Engineer, which was published in 2006 by Wiley.

Not less important than the thesis, Rubén Nicolàs and Núria Macià are presenting their “Diploma d’Estudis Avançats” (DEA), the first check point in their incipient research career.

In what follows, you can find the information of both presentations:

Rubén Nicolàs i Sans

Examining committee: Prof. Josep M. Garrell, Prof. Francesc Alías, and Prof. David Miralles/Prof. Jordi Riera

Núria Macià Antolí­nez
Anàlisi de la relació entre la complexitat del problema i la precisió dels classificadors en mineria de dades

Examining committee: Prof. Josep M. Garrell, Prof. Francesc Alías, and Prof. David Miralles/Prof. Jordi Riera

In a few days, you and Prof. Goldberg or Prof. Chua may pass each other in La Salle’s corridors. And no, it will not be a mirage. Top researchers will walk around our Campus in December. The reason: two young talents of the GRSI, Albert Orriols and Giovanni Pazienza, are presenting their thesis, which are worthy of examining committees of a such level.

We recommend attending these presentations, not only for the quality of the work performed by these two PhD students, but also for the opportunity to meet the best researchers in their knowledge area.

In what follows, you can find the information of both presentations:

Albert Orriols i Puig
New challenges in learning classifier systems: Mining rarities and evolving fuzzy models

Examining committee: Prof. David E. Goldberg, Prof. Francisco Herrera, Prof. Martin Butz, Prof. Xavier Llorà , and Prof. Xavier Vilasí­s.

Giovanni Pazienza
Aspects of algorithms and dynamics of cellular paradigms

Examining committee: Prof. Leon Chua, Prof. Tamas Roska, Prof. Marco Gilli, Prof. Marco Balsi, and Prof. Ester Bernadó

Tin Kam Ho is the leader of the Statistics, Learning, and Computing Research Group at Bell Laboratories. Her interests embrace pattern recognition, data mining, and modeling and simulation of complex systems. She received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from SUNY at Buffalo in 1992. She is Editor-in-chief of the IAPR official journal Pattern Recognition Letters, and has been associate editor of several other journals including IEEE-Transactions on PAMI. She has received the ICDAR Young Scientist Award in Document Analysis and Recognition, the Bell Labs President’s Gold Award, and the Pierre Devijver Award in Statistical Pattern Recognition. She is a Fellow of the IAPR and the IEEE, and has received 7 U.S. patents in classifier design, image analysis, and wireless tracking. For further information, visit Ho’s web page.

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CALL FOR PAPERS
The special session on LCS: new Trends and Challenges in the 8th Hybrid Intelligent Systems Conference (HIS 2008) aims at bringing together researchers in Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) and Genetic-Based Machine Learning (GBML), with the interest of discussing recent and new perspectives for the research in the field. LCSs were introduced by John H. Holland as a way of applying evolutionary computation to machine learning problems. Since then, the LCS field has benefited from much research leading to competitive learners, with better theoretical support, and many applications. The special session aims to be a forum for researchers to discuss recent developments and future challenges of LCSs. We encourage authors to submit original papers as well as preliminary and promising works in the topics of the special session.

See the CFP for more details.

Albert Fornells is going to defense his PhD thesis next Friday, December 14th. Good luck!

The Research Group offers a postdoc research position for a period of two years, starting as soon as possible. Click here for more details.