Knowledge-based systems in Japan

This report summarizes a study of the state-of-the-art in knowledge-based systems technology in Japan, organized by the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center (JTEC) under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The panel visited 19 Japanese sites in March 1992. Based on these site visits plus other interactions with Japanese organizations, both before and after the site visits, the panel prepared a draft final report. JTEC sent the draft to the host organizations for their review. The final report was published in May 1993

Japanese cooperative R&D projects in software technology

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-55).Michael A. Cusumano

The role of computational logic as a hinge paradigm among deduction, problem solving, programming, and parallelism

This paper presents some brief considerations on the role of Computational Logic in the construction of Artificial Intelligence systems and in programming in general. It does not address how the many problems in AI can be solved but, rather more modestly, tries to point out some advantages of Computational Logic as a tool for the AI scientist in his quest. It addresses the interaction between declarative and procedural views of programs (deduction and action), the impact of the intrinsic limitations of logic, the relationship with other apparently competing computational paradigms, and finally discusses implementation-related issues, such as the efficiency of current implementations and their capability for efficiently exploiting existing and future sequential and parallel hardware. The purpose of the discussion is in no way to present Computational Logic as the unique overall vehicle for the development of intelligent systems (in the firm belief that such a panacea is yet to be found) but rather to stress its strengths in providing reasonable solutions to several aspects of the task

ICOT 2018 Proceedings of The 18th International Conference on Thinking

In May 2018, join practitioners and researchers from around the world for the International Conference on Thinking in Miami. This transdisciplinary conference brings together leading world researchers and practitioners who will offer research, insights and experiences that provoke, challenge and foster collegial exchange and educational development around the topic of thinking and its application to solving global problems and creating a better world. ‘Thinking’ is understood broadly to include the use of one’s mind for cognitive processes such as thinking, learning, creativity, reflecting, reasoning, analyzing and deciding while also acknowledging cultural, psychological, historical, and disciplinary diversity and richness. Now more than ever it is imperative to innovate and deal with a deep and wide range of global problems IMMEDIATELY, as the consequences of not doing so are, frankly, dire. Set to marshal and develop the thinking and application of hearts and minds to better serve our fellow global citizens and planet. The conference is emphatically transdisciplinary in trend, drawing from such fields as education, neuroscience, health sciences, the arts, sports, government, business, anthropology, history, cross-cultural studies, architecture, engineering, economics, geography, technology and other areas. Issues like globalization, climate change, demographic changes, mass migration, immigration, technology, the global economy and ethical dilemmas lead us inquire and find solutions from multiple perspectives. With the theme: Cultivating Mindsets for Global Citizens” we aim to create awareness about global issues and the big questions that the next generations will inherit from us. Together we will explore strategies for deeply engaging citizens as young as toddlers up to seniors in understanding world issues from different points of view. We will consider the interdependency of different disciplines in an effort to collaboratively find solutions to global problems in a digital era

Logic Programming Using Parallel Associative Operations

In order to provide performance improvements in the execution of large logic programs, it is highly desirable to investigate the relationships between logic, data-base systems and knowledge-based systems in the context of massively parallel architectures. This paper presents a model for the interpretation of logic programs in this type of environment and overviews the algorithms under development. An interpreter that implements the model has been demonstrated in simulations on a number of small programs. Implementation requires that only a small set of hardware primitives be available, these have been successfully implemented on a working prototype machine, DADO. Current research aims to develop the model into a practical and efficient logic programming system for use on the machine

Soft policies and hard competition: Government, industry, and user impacts on the development of Japan's software industry

The paper analyzes the development and structure of the Japan's software industry, focusing particular attention on the failure of government support policies to nurture an internationally competitive industry and the success of foreign software producers in the Japanese market. The research adopts an evolutionary approach to explain Japan's problems in building a competitive software industry except in games, challenging the validity of standard explanations such as cultural disadvantage and failure to adopt best practice. The pattern of development in the Japanese software industry results from strong user preference for customized software over packaged products. Large users develop highly customized software systems that reflect their unique organizational structures and operating advantages. Software is viewed as an input into the production process, rather than an output to be independently marketted. As such, the structure of the software reflects the administrative heritage of major industrial users as much as developments in computer technology. The tendency to emphasize customization favors intra-industry software advances over interindustry expansion. Moreover, high demand for customization combines with large variation in operating systems to fractionalize the industry and frustrate government support policies. Even though the Ministry of International Trade and Industry followed the same industry support model that proved so successful in manufacturing, an independent world class software industry has not developed. The preference for customization has also allowed foreign software producers to successfully pursue a hub and spoke strategy. Foreign producers have been able to expand their user base, thereby lowering unit cost and putting local software developers at a further disadvantage. The research suggests that this situation will continue

JTEC panel report on machine translation in Japan

The goal of this report is to provide an overview of the state of the art of machine translation (MT) in Japan and to provide a comparison between Japanese and Western technology in this area. The term 'machine translation' as used here, includes both the science and technology required for automating the translation of text from one human language to another. Machine translation is viewed in Japan as an important strategic technology that is expected to play a key role in Japan's increasing participation in the world economy. MT is seen in Japan as important both for assimilating information into Japanese as well as for disseminating Japanese information throughout the world. Most of the MT systems now available in Japan are transfer-based systems. The majority of them exploit a case-frame representation of the source text as the basis of the transfer process. There is a gradual movement toward the use of deeper semantic representations, and some groups are beginning to look at interlingua-based systems

From Knowledge Based Systems to Knowledge Sharing Technology: Evaluation and Assessment

There is no set of general guidelines to evaluate Knowledge Sharing Technology, specific ideas to evaluate user-independent ontologies in their own whole life cycle, whether their definitions are reused by KBS or they are shared among software agents. Instead of starting from the beginning, this paper discusses similarities and differences between knowledge bases and ontologies. The idea is to learn from Knowledge Base Systems' evaluation and assessment by picking up some successful ideas and adapting them to the domain of the ontologies. We also learn from its mistakes by avoiding them. The paper also describes how different agents that use ontologies with different aims have different concerns in the evaluation and assessment processes. Definitions of the terms: evaluation, verification, validation and assessment in the knowledge sharing domain are also given

JTEC/WTEC annual report and program summary: 1993/94

The JTEC/WTEC (Japanese Technology Evaluation Center/World Technology Evaluation Center) Program at Loyola College is overviewed. A review of activities for 1993 and early 1994 is discussed along with plans for the following year. The bulk of the report consists of the summaries of completed projects in Information and Communication Technology; Materials; Manufacturing and Construction; Aeronautics, Space, and Ocean Technology; Energy; and Biotechnology