NLSC: Unrestricted Natural Language-based Service Composition through Sentence Embeddings

Current approaches for service composition (assemblies of atomic services) require developers to use: (a) domain-specific semantics to formalize services that restrict the vocabulary for their descriptions, and (b) translation mechanisms for service retrieval to convert unstructured user requests to strongly-typed semantic representations. In our work, we argue that effort to developing service descriptions, request translations, and matching mechanisms could be reduced using unrestricted natural language; allowing both: (1) end-users to intuitively express their needs using natural language, and (2) service developers to develop services without relying on syntactic/semantic description languages. Although there are some natural language-based service composition approaches, they restrict service retrieval to syntactic/semantic matching. With recent developments in Machine learning and Natural Language Processing, we motivate the use of Sentence Embeddings by leveraging richer semantic representations of sentences for service description, matching and retrieval. Experimental results show that service composition development effort may be reduced by more than 44\% while keeping a high precision/recall when matching high-level user requests with low-level service method invocations.Comment: This paper will appear on SCC'19 (IEEE International Conference on Services Computing) on July 1

Synergistic Integration of Large Language Models and Cognitive Architectures for Robust AI: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper explores the integration of two AI subdisciplines employed in the development of artificial agents that exhibit intelligent behavior: Large Language Models (LLMs) and Cognitive Architectures (CAs). We present three integration approaches, each grounded in theoretical models and supported by preliminary empirical evidence. The modular approach, which introduces four models with varying degrees of integration, makes use of chain-of-thought prompting, and draws inspiration from augmented LLMs, the Common Model of Cognition, and the simulation theory of cognition. The agency approach, motivated by the Society of Mind theory and the LIDA cognitive architecture, proposes the formation of agent collections that interact at micro and macro cognitive levels, driven by either LLMs or symbolic components. The neuro-symbolic approach, which takes inspiration from the CLARION cognitive architecture, proposes a model where bottom-up learning extracts symbolic representations from an LLM layer and top-down guidance utilizes symbolic representations to direct prompt engineering in the LLM layer. These approaches aim to harness the strengths of both LLMs and CAs, while mitigating their weaknesses, thereby advancing the development of more robust AI systems. We discuss the tradeoffs and challenges associated with each approach.Comment: AAAI 2023 Fall Symposiu

Orbital and Suborbital‐Scale Variations of Productivity and Sea Surface Conditions in the Gulf of Alaska During the Past 54,000 Years: Impact of Iron Fertilization by Icebergs and Meltwater

As a high-nutrient and low-chlorophyll region, the modern Gulf of Alaska (GoA) is strongly impacted by the limitation of iron. Paleostudies along the Alaskan slope have mainly focused on reconstructing environmental conditions over the past 18 ka. Based on micropaleontological, biogeochemical, and sedimentological parameters, we explore a sediment record covering the past 54 ka at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1419 to understand the impact of orbital- and suborbital-scale climate variability on productivity and sea-surface conditions. Close to the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS), Site U1419 is ideally located to elucidate how the evolution of a large ice mass and glacial processes affected orbital- and suborbital-scale changes in nutrients (e.g., iron) supply. Meltwater discharge from the northern CIS impacted sea surface dynamics of GoA coastal waters. The corresponding increases in bulk biogenic concentrations during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and MIS 2 (54–17 ka) suggests a direct impact from iron fertilization. The lack of a consistent relationship between productivity and SST suggests that cooling of surface waters was not the dominant control on primary producers. The inundation of the subaerially exposed continental shelf during the last deglacial (17–10 ka) warming could have served as a major micronutrient source, accounting for a deglacial peak in production. Low productivity after the last deglaciation suggests reduced iron availability, which we link to reduced meltwater inputs from smaller ice masses onshore. Our multiproxy approach reveals a more comprehensive picture of late Quaternary productivity variations compared to earlier studies along the Alaskan margin. The impact of tidewater glaciers and meltwater discharge on past marine productivity and nutrient budget dynamics of high-latitude coastal regions is discussed

Estimación de la sobreexplotación producida en el acuífero valle de Celaya (México)

Romero, J. H., Palacios, O. L., & Escobar, B. S. (julio-agosto, 2017). Estimación de la sobreexplotación producida en el acuífero Valle de Celaya (México). Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua, 8(4), 127-138. El acuífero Valle de Celaya se encuentra ubicado en el estado de Guanajuato, México, en una  región denominada “El Bajío” y es la principal fuente de abastecimiento de agua de once  municipios (Apaseo el Alto, Apaseo el Grande, Celaya, Comonfort, Cortázar, Jaral del Progreso, Juventino Rosas, San Miguel Allende, Salamanca, Tarimoro y Villagrán), con una población aproximada de un millón de habitantes. El desarrollo de estos municipios depende en buena medida del manejo sustentable de los recursos hídricos, sobre los cuales existe una zona de veda desde 1949. Dados los grandes cambios observados en esta región, es necesario actualizar el estudio hidrológico existente, ya que además se han modificado los límites del acuífero, el cual se fusionó con el acuífero de los Apaseos en el año 2003. El objetivo de este trabajo fue estimar el grado de sobreexplotación para el año 2013, como paso indispensable para elaborar un plan de manejo sustentable, para lo cual se aplicaron dos métodos:  a) el método de balance hidrológico, que consiste en medir o calcular las diferencias entre las entradas y salidas del agua del acuífero, y b) el método de análisis de la evolución de niveles de agua, donde la sobreexplotación se determina a partir del producto del abatimiento medio en un tiempo dado, multiplicado por el coeficiente de almacenamiento. Como resultado de la aplicación del primer método se obtuvo una sobreexplotación de 440.78 Mm3 mientras por el método de evolución de niveles de agua se obtuvo una cifra de 386.58 Mm3. Sin embargo, ambos valores son sólo crudas estimaciones de la sobreexplotación real debido a la falta de información actualizada del censo de aprovechamientos y a la escasez de información geohidrológica; tampoco se cuenta con datos reales ni del gradiente hidráulico ni del valor de la transmisividad en la periferia del acuífero, parámetros indispensables para calcular las entradas y salidas horizontales mediante la ley de Darcy