Proceedings of theThirteenth National Conference onArtificial Intelligence and the

Eighth Innovative Applications ofArtificial Intelligence Conference

Volume Two

Sponsored by theAmerican Association forArtificial Intelligence

AMI Press / The MIT Press

Menlo Park • Cambridge • London

Mobile RobotsEstimating the Absolute Position of a Mobile RobotUsing Position Probability GridsWolfram Burgard, Dieter Fox, Daniel Hetrnig, and TimoSchmidt, Universitat Bonn / 896

Navigation for Everyday LifeDaniel D. Fu, Kristian J. Hammond and Michael J.Swain, University of Chicago 1902

Guaranteeing Safety in Spatially Situated AgentsRobert C. Kohout and James A. Hendler, University ofMaryland; David J. Musliner, Honeywell TechnologyCenter/909

Video

Recognizing and Interpreting Gestures on a MobileRobotDavid Kortenkamp, Eric Huber, and R. Peter Bonasso,Metrica Inc. 1915

Classifying and Recovering from Sensing Failures inAutonomous Mobile RobotsRobin R. Murphy and David Hershberger, ColoradoSchool of Mines/922

GARGOYLE: An Environment for Real-Time, Context-Sensitive Active VisionPeter N. Prokopowicz, Michael J. Swain, R. James Firby,and Roger E. Kahn, University of Chicago / 930

Robot Navigation Using Image SequencesChristopher Rasmussen and Gregory D. Hager, YaleUniversity 1938

Integrating Grid-Based and Topological Maps forMobile Robot NavigationSebastian Thrun, Carnegie Mellon University and ArnoBiicken, Universitat Bonn 1944

Model-Based Reasoning

Model-Based Reasoning

Improving Model-Based Diagnosis through AlgebraicAnalysis: The Petri Net ChallengeLuigi Portinale, Universita di Torino 1952

A Model-Based Approach to Blame Assignment:Revising the Reasoning Steps of Problem SolversEleni Stroulia, Center for Applied Knowledge Processingand Ashok K. Goel, Georgia Institute of Technology / 959

Qualitative Multiple-Fault Diagnosis of ContinuousDynamic Systems Using Behavioral ModesSiddarth Subramanian, National Instruments -Georgetown and Raymond J. Mooney, University of Texasat Austin/965

A Model-Based Approach to Reactive Self-ConfiguringSystemsBrian C. Williams and P. Pandurang Nayak, RecomTechnologies/NASA Ames Research Center 1971

Qualitative Physics

Trajectory Constraints in Qualitative SimulationGiorgio Brajnik, Universita di Udine and Daniel J.Clancy, University of Texas at Austin 1979

A Formal Hybrid Modeling Scheme for HandlingDiscontinuities in Physical System ModelsPieterJ. Mosterman and Gautam Biswas, VanderbiltUniversity 1985

Building Steady-State Simulators via HierarchicalFeedback DecompositionNicolas F. Rouquette, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,California Institute of Technology 1991

Managing Occurrence Branching in QualitativeSimulationLance Tokuda, University of Texas at Austin 1998

Spatial & Functional Reasoning

Diagrammatic Reasoning and CasesMichael Anderson, University of Hartford and RobertMcCartney, University of Connecticut 11004

Augmenting the Diagnostic Power of Flow-BasedApproaches to Functional ReasoningLuca Chittaro and Roberto Ranon, Universita diUdine /1010

A Qualitative Model of Physical FieldsMonika Lundell, Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology 11016

Generating Multiple New Designs from a SketchThomas F. Stahovich, Randall Davis and Howard Shrobe,MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory /1022

Natural Language

Learning

Tree-Bank GrammarsEugene Charniak, Brown University /1031

Left-Corner Unification-Based Natural LanguageProcessingSteven L. Lytinen and Noriko Tomuro, DePaulUniversity 11037

Automatically Generating Extraction Patterns fromUntagged TextEllen Riloff, University of Utah 11044

Learning to Parse Database Queries Using InductiveLogic ProgrammingJohn M. Zelle, Drake University and Raymond J.Mooney, University of Texas 11050

Semantics & Discourse

HUNTER-GATHERER: Three Search TechniquesIntegrated for Natural Language SemanticsStephen Beale, Sergei Nirenburg, and Kavi Mahesh, NewMexico State University 11056

Semantic Interpretation of NominalizationsRichard D. Hull and Fernando Gomez, University ofCentral Florida 11062

Building Up Rhetorical Structure TreesDaniel Marcu, University of Toronto 11069

Using Plan Reasoning in the Generation of PlanDescriptionsR. Michael Young, University of Pittsburgh 11075

Perception

Perception

Interfacing Sound Stream Segregation to AutomaticSpeech Recognition — Preliminary Results onListening to Several Sounds SimultaneouslyHiroshi G. Okuno, Tomohiro Nakatani and TakeshiKawabata, Nippon Telegraph and TelephoneCorporation 11082

VI

Motion and Color Analysis for Animat PerceptionTamer F. Rabie andDemetri Terzopoulos, University ofToronto 11090

Noise and the Common Sense Informatic Situation fora Mobile RobotMurray Shanahan, Queen Mary & WestfieldCollege/1098

Vision

A Hybrid Learning Approach for Better Recognition ofVisual ObjectsIbrahim F. Imam, SRA International and Srinivas Gutta,George Mason University /1104

Using Elimination Methods to ComputeThermophysical Algebraic Invariants from InfraredImagery/. D. Michel and N. Nandhakumar, University ofVirginia; Tushar Saxena and Deepak Kapur, StateUniversity of New York at Albany/1110

Video

Approximate World Models: Incorporating Qualitativeand Linguistic Information into Vision SystemsClaudio S. Pinhanez and Aaron F. Bobick, MIT MediaLaboratory 11116

Integrating Visual Information across CameraMovements with a Visual-Motor Calibration MapPeter N. Prokopowicz, University of Chicago and Paul R.Cooper, Northwestern University /1124

Planning

The Environment

A Bias towards Relevance: Recognizing Plans whereGoal Minimization FailsAbigail S. Gertner, University of Pittsburgh and Bonnie L.Webber, University of Pennsylvania /1133

What Is Planning in the Presence of Sensing?Hector J. Levesque, University of Toronto /1139

Opportunity Recognition in Complex EnvironmentsLouise Pryor, University of Edinburgh /1147

Generalizing Indexical-Functional ReferenceMarcel Schoppers and Richard Shu, Robotics ResearchHarvesting /1153

Handling Uncertainty

Rewarding BehaviorsFahiem Bacchus, University of Waterloo; Craig Boutilier,University of British Columbia; Adam Grove, NECResearch Institute /1160

Computing Optimal Policies for Partially ObservableDecision Processes Using Compact RepresentationsCraig Boutilier and David Poole, University of BritishColumbia/1168

A Qualitative Model for Temporal Reasoning withIncomplete InformationHector Geffner, Universidad Simdn Bolivar /1176

On the Size of Reactive PlansPeter Jonsson and Christer Bdckstrom, LinkopingUniversity /1182

Search

Is "Early Commitment" in Plan Generation Ever aGood Idea?David Joslin, CIRL/University of Oregon and Martha E.Pollack, University of Pittsburgh 11188

Pushing the Envelope: Planning, Prepositional Logic,and Stochastic SearchHenry Kautz and Bart Selman, AT&TLaboratories 11194

Finding Optimal Solutions to the Twenty-Four PuzzleRichardE-KorfandLarryA. Taylor, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles 11202

Linear Time Near-Optimal Planning in the BlocksWorldJohn Slaney, Australian National University and SylvieThiibaux, IRISA /1208

Temporal Reasoning

Planning for Temporally Extended GoalsFahiem Bacchus, University of Waterloo and FrodualdKabanza, Universite de Sherbrooke 11215

A Cost-Directed Planner: Preliminary ReportEithan Ephrati, Bar Ilan University; Martha E. Pollackand Marina Milshtein, University of Pittsburgh 11223

Monitoring the Progress of Anytime Problem-SolvingEric A. Hansen and Shlomo Zilberstein, University ofMassachusetts 11229

A Linear-Programming Approach to TemporalReasoningPeter Jonsson and Christer BUckstrom, LinkopingUniversity /1235

Rule-Based Reasoning & ConnectionismProduction Systems Need Negation as FailurePhan Minh Dung, Asian Institute of Technology andPaolo Mancarella, University of Pisa 11242

Using Constraints to Model Disjunctions in Rule-BasedReasoningBingLiu andjoxan Jaffar, National University ofSingapore 11248

A Connectionist Framework for Reasoning: Reasoningwith ExamplesDan Roth, Weizmann Institute of Science 11256

Uncertainty

Bayesian Networks

Goal Oriented Symbolic Propagation in BayesianNetworksEnrique Castillo and Jose" Manuel Gutierrez, University ofCantabria; AH S. Hadi, Cornell University/1263

A Clinician's Tool for Analyzing Non-ComplianceDavid Maxwell Chickering and Judea Pearl, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles 11269

Building Classifiers Using Bayesian NetworksNir Friedman, Stanford University and MoisesGoldszmidt, Rockwell Science Center/1277

Generalized Queries on Probabilistic Context-FreeGrammarsDavid V. Pynadath and Michael P. Wellman, Universityof Michigan /1285

Foundations

On the Foundations of Qualitative Decision TheoryRonen I. Brafman, University of British Columbia andMoshe Tennenholtz, Technion — Israel Institute ofTechnology /1291

Plausibility Measures and Default ReasoningNir Friedman, Stanford University and Joseph Y.Halpem, IBMAlmaden Research Center/1297

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First-Order Conditional Logic RevisitedMr Friedman, Stanford University; Joseph Y. Halpern,IBMAlmaden Research Center; and Daphne Koller,Stanford University 11305

A Counterexample to Theorems of Cox and FineJoseph Y. Halpern, IBMAlmaden ResearchCenter/1313

AAAI-96 INVITED TALKS

Robots with AI: A Retrospective on the AAAI RobotCompetitions and ExhibitionsPete Bonasso, Metrica, Inc., Johnson Space Center, NASAand Tom Dean, Brown University 11321

Moving Up the Information Food Chain: DeployingSoftbots on the World Wide WebOren Etzioni, University of Washington 11322

Brain Dynamics in the Genesis of Trust as the Basis forCommunication by RepresentationsWalter J. Freeman, University of California,Berkeley 11327

Using Multi-Agent Systems to Represent UncertaintyJoseph Y. Halpern, IBMAlmaden ResearchCenter/1329

Refinement Planning: Status and ProspectusSubbarao Kambhampati, Arizona StateUniversity 11331

Boosting Theory Towards Practice: RecentDevelopments in Decision Tree Induction and theWeak Learning FrameworkMichael Kearns, AT&T Research 11337

Challenge Problems for Artificial IntelligenceBartSelman, AT&T Laboratories; Rodney A. Brooks,Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Thomas Dean,Brown University; Eric Horvitz, Microsoft; Tom M.Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University; and Nils J. Nilsson,Stanford University /1340

The Database Approach to Knowledge RepresentationJeffrey D. Ullman, Stanford University 11346

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AAAI-96 ROBOT COMPETITION &EXHIBITION ABSTRACTS

A Reactive Mobile Robot Based on a Formal Theory ofActionC. Baral, L. Floriano, A. Gabaldon, D. Morales, T. Son,andR. Watson, University of Texas at El Paso /1350

CoMRoS: Cooperative Mobile Robots StuttgartThomas Brdunl, Martin Kalbacher, PaulLevi, andGunter Marnier, Universitat Stuttgart, Germany 11351

McMaster University's Artificial Computing SystemAndrew Dawes and Mark Bentley, McMasterUniversity /1352

Doing Tasks with Multiple Mini-RobotsJohn Fischer, Paul Rybski, Dirk Edmonds, and MariaGini, University of Minnesota 11353

Lola, the Mobile Robot from NC StateRicardo Gutierrez-Osuna, Daniel S. Schudel, Jason A.Janet, and Ren C. Luo, North Carolina StateUniversity /1354

Clementine: Colorado School of MinesRobin R. Murphy and the UndergraduateInterdisciplinary Robotics Team, Colorado School ofMines/1355

Mobile Robot Navigation and Control: A Case StudyNicholas Roy, Gregory Dudek, and Michael Daum,McGill University, Canada 11356

YODA: The Young Observant Discovery AgentWei-Min Shen, Jafar Adibi, Bonghan Cho, Gal Kaminka,Jihie Kim, Behnam Salemi, and Sheila Tejada, Universityof Southern California 11357

AmeliaReid Simmons, Sebastian Thrun, Greg Armstrong,Richard Goodwin, Karen Haigh, Sven Koenig, ShyjanMahamud, Daniel Nikovski, and Joseph O'Sullivan,Carnegie Mellon University 11358

SIGART/AAAI DOCTORALCONSORTIUM ABSTRACTSSelection of Passages for Information ReductionJody J. Daniels, University of Massachusetts 11360

Towards a Unified Approach to Concept LearningPedro Domingos, University of California, Irvine /1361

A Computational Theory of Turn-TakingToby Donaldson, University of Waterloo, Canada 11362

Learning in Multi-Agent SystemsClaudia V. Goldman, The Hebrew University, Israel/1363

Bounding the Cost of Learned Rules: ATransformational ApproachJihie Kim, University of Southern California 11364

Agent-Centered Search: Situated Search with SmallLook-AheadSven Koenig, Carnegie Mellon University 11365

Recurrent Expert NetworksCathie LeBlanc, Florida State University 11366

Semi-Deterministic ReasoningChengjiang Mao, University of Delaware 11367

A Connectionist Model of Instructed LearningDavid C. Noelle, University of California, SanDiego 11368

Symptom Management for Schizophrenic AgentsPhoebe Sengers, Carnegie Mellon University 11369

Adaptive Shared Control for an Intelligent PowerWheelchairRichard C. Simpson and Simon P. Levine, University ofMichigan Hospital /1370

Induction of Selective Bayesian Networks from DataMoninder Singh, University of Pennsylvania /1371

Why Dissect a Frog When You Can Simulate a Lion?Brian K. Smith, Northwestern University/1372

Algorithm Evolution for Signal UnderstandingAstro Teller, Carnegie Mellon University 11373

The Use of Knowledge-Based Systems Techniques forRisk AssessmentBotond Virginas, University of Portsmouth, UnitedKingdom/1374

AAAI-96 STUDENT ABSTRACTSEfficient Planning by Graph RewritingJose Luis Ambite and Craig A. Knoblock, University ofSouthern California 11376

Expecting the Unexpected: Detecting and Reacting toUnplanned-for World StatesElla M. Atkins, Edmund H. Durfee, and Kang G. Shin,University of Michigan 11377

Experiments in Evolutionary Synthesis of RoboticNeurocontrollersKarthik Balakrishnan and Vasant Honavar, Iowa StateUniversity 11378

A Reinforcement Learning Framework forCombinatorial OptimizationJustin A. Boyan, Carnegie Mellon University /1379

Learning Topological Maps: An Alternative ApproachArno Biicken and Sebastian Thrun, University of Bonn,Germany/1380

Computing Default Logic Extensions: AnImplementationA. P. Courtney and N. Y. Foo, University of Sydney; G.Antoniou, Griffith University, Australia 11381

Characterizing Temporal RepetitionDiana Cukierman and James Delgrande, Simon FraserUniversity, Canada 11382

Achieving Agent Coordination via DistributedPreferencesJoseph G. D'Ambrosio and William P. Birmingham, TheUniversity of Michigan /1383

Fast Discovery of Simple RulesPedro Domingos, University of California, Irvine/1384

Multistrategy Learning: A Case StudyPedro Domingos, University of California, Irvine/1385

Simple Bayesian Classifiers Do Not AssumeIndependencePedro Domingos and Michael Pazzani, University ofCalifornia, Irvine/1386

CADI -An Intelligent, Multimedia Tutor for CardiacAuscultationKurtD. Fenstermacher, University of Chicago 11387

Integration of an Expert Teaching Assistant withDistance Learning SoftwareSteven P. Fonseca and Nancy E. Reed, University ofCalifornia, Davis/1388

Self-Adaptation of Mutation Rates and DynamicFitnessMatthew R. Glickman and Katia P. Sycara, CarnegieMellon University/1389

Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Robot GroupBehaviorDani Goldberg, Brandeis University /1390

Inducing Design Biases that Characterize SuccessfulExperimentation in Weak-Theory Domains: TIPSVanathi Gopalakrishnan, University of Pittsburgh 11391

Belief Network Algorithms: A Study of PerformanceNathalie Jitnah, Monash University, Australia /1392

Proposed Interestingness Measure for CharacteristicRulesMicheline Kamber, Simon Eraser University andRajjanShinghal, Concordia University, Canada /1393

A Transformational Analysis of the EBL UtilityProblemJihie Kim and Paul S. Rosenbloom, University ofSouthern California 11394

Controlling State-Space Abstraction in BayesianNetworksChao-Lin Liu, University of Michigan 11395

Ad Hoc Attribute-Value PredictionGabor Melli, Simon Eraser University, Canada 11396

An Incremental Interactive Algorithm for RegularGrammar InferenceRajesh Parekh and Vasant Honavar, Iowa StateUniversity 11397

Constructive Neural Network Learning AlgorithmsRajesh Parekh, Jihoon Yang, and Vasant Honavar, IowaState University 11398

A Computational Model of Persistent BeliefsSunju Park, The University of Michigan 11399

Contracting Strategy Based on Markov ProcessModelingSunju Park and Edmund H. Durfee, The University ofMichigan /1400

Learning Procedural Planning Knowledge in ComplexEnvironmentsDouglas J. Pearson, The University of Michigan /1401

MarketBayes: A Distributed, Market-Based BayesianNetworkDavid M. Pennock, The University of Michigan /1402

The Kritzel System for Handwriting InterpretationGaofeng Qian, The University of Texas at Dallas /1403

SplitNet: A Dynamic Hierarchical Network ModelJurgen Rahmel, University of Kaiserslautern,Germany 11404

Symbolic Performance & Learning in ContinuousEnvironmentsSeth O. Rogers, University of Michigan /1405

Effects of Local Information on Group BehaviorShounak Roychowdhury, Neeraj Arora, and Sandip Sen,University ofTulsa /1406

Automated Formulation of Constraint SatisfactionProblemsMihaela Sabin and Eugene C. Freuder, University of NewHampshire /1407

Dynamic Constraint-Based Planning in TraumaManagementMoninder Singh, University of Pennsylvania 11408

Blocking as a Middle-Ground for Step-OrderCommitments in PlanningBiplav Srivastava and Subbarao Kambhampati, ArizonaState University /1409

Experimentation-Driven Operator LearningKang Soo Tae, University of Texas at Arlington /1410

Hybrid Knowledge- and DatabasesMerwyn Taylor, University of Maryland 11411

Learning Models for Multi-Source IntegrationSheila Tejada, Craig A. Knoblock, and Steven Minton,University of Southern California 11412

Rabbi: Exploring the Inner World through StoriesMarina Umaschi, MIT Media Laboratory /1413

Constructive Induction of Features for PlanningMichael van Lent, University of Michigan /1414

Agents Modeling Agents in Information EconomiesJose M. Vidal and Edmund H. Durfee, University ofMichigan 11415

Optimal Factory Scheduling Using StochasticDominance A*Peter R. Wurman, University of Michigan 11416

Dynamic Map: Representation of Interactions betweenRobotsChristian Zanardi, GRPR, Ecole Polytechnique deMontreal, Canada 11417

Neural Network Guided Search Control in PartialOrder PlanningTerry Zimmerman and Subbarao Kambhampati, ArizonaState University/1418

INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS OFARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCECONFERENCE

Case StudiesEASy: Expert Authorizations SystemJonathan Altfeld, Brightware, Inc.; Douglas E. Landonand Charles J. Daniels, Equifax Check Services/1421

Near Optimal Objects Packing through DimensionalUnfoldingEmilio Bertolotti, Enrico Castaldo, and Gino Giannone,BULL HN, Italy /1433

Developing and Deploying Knowledge on a GlobalScaleJames Borron and David Morales, Reuters America;Philip Klahr, Inference Corporation /1443

An Intelligent System for Asset and Liability AssessmentUrs Biihler and Luca Bosatta, Swiss Bank Corporation,Switzerland; Lawrence Poynter, Inference (CSE) GmbH,Germany /1455

Localization of Troubles in Telephone Cable NetworksChuxin Chen, Pacific Bell; Teresa L. Hollidge, TIBCOInc.; and DD Sharma, Pacific Bell /1461

Using Artificial Neural Networks to Predict the Qualityand Performance of Oilfield CementsP. V. Coveney and T. L. Hughes, SchlumbergerCambridge Research Ltd.; P. Fletcher, SchlumbergerDowell, United Kingdom /1471

Comet: An Application of Model-Based Reasoning toAccounting SystemsRobert Nado, Melanie Chams, JeffDelisio, and WalterHamscher, Price Waterhouse Technology Centre /1482

Diagnosing Delivery Problems in the White HouseInformation Distribution SystemMark Nahabedian and Howard Shrobe, MIT ArtificialIntelligence Laboratory 11491

Settlement Analysis Expert (SAX) - Modeling ComplexBusiness Logic in the Development of EnterpriseSolutionsJohn C. Ownby, Frito-Lay, Inc. 11500

EZ Reader: Embedded AI for Automatic ElectronicMail Interpretation and RoutingAmy Rice and Julie Hsu, Brightware, Inc.; AnthonyAngotti and Rosanna Piccolo, Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. 11507

Intelligent Retail Logistics SchedulingJohn Rowe and Keith Jewers, J. Sainsbury pic; AndrewCodd and Andrew Alcock, Inference Corporation, UnitedKingdom 11518

The NASA Personnel Security Processing ExpertSystemDavid Silberberg, The Johns Hopkins University AppliedPhysics Laboratory and Robert Thomas, NASAHeadquarters/1527

KARMA: Managing Business Rules from Specificationto ImplementationJacqueline Sobieski, Fannie Mae; Srinivas Krowidy,Brightware, Inc.; Colleen McCHntock and MargaretThorpe, Tangram, Inc. 11536

The SIGNAL Expert SystemRolfStruve, SIGNAL Versicherungen, Germany 11548

Supporting Performance and ConfigurationManagement of GTE Cellular NetworksMing Tan, Carol Lafond, and Gabriel Jakobson, GTELaboratories, Inc., Gary Young, GTEMobilnet /1556

Monitoring Frog Communities: An Application ofMachine LearningAndrew Taylor, University of New South Wales; GraemeWatson, University of Melbourne; Gordon Grigg andHamish McCallum, University of Queensland,Australia 11564

AdjudiPro®2. 0David Williams, Bradley C. Simons, and Joe Connolly,United HealthCare Corporation /1570

SSCFI: Autonomous Fault Isolation inCommunications CircuitsRalph Worrest, Roland Zito-Wolf, Hongbin Wang, andShri Goyal, GTE Laboratories Incorporated 11579

Invited TalksThe BOEING 777 - Concurrent Engineering andDigital Pre-AssemblyBob Abarbanel, Boeing Information & SupportServices 11589

Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in Databases:Applications in Astronomy and Planetary ScienceUsama M. Fayyad, Microsoft Research 11590

Index/1593