UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
The Department of Computer Science & Engineering

STUART C. SHAPIRO: CSE 663

Last modification: 10/9/02.

Instructor:

Prof. Stuart C. Shapiro, 326 Bell Hall, 645-3180 ext. 125, shapiro@cse.buffalo.edu

Office Hours: M 1:30-2:20; Th, F 2:00-2:50. Or make an appointment via email. See my schedule for my available times.

Catalog Description:

A second graduate course in knowledge representation and reasoning covering such topics as automated theorem proving, semantic network implementation, etc., and surveying knowledge representation and reasoning topics not covered in other graduate-level courses. Topics will vary according to instructor and student interests.

Prerequisites:

CSE 563 or CSE 572 or CSE/LIN 567 or permission of instructor; graduate standing. (See course descriptions.)

This course can be used to satisfy the following graduate degree requirements:

for the CSE M.S. degree:

Complete "a 600 level CSE course containing a project component, with grade at least B+ for the course and the project." [from the Graduate Handbook]

for the CSE Ph.D. qualifying process in AI/Knowledge Representation:

"Take one 600-level course in the area that you have selected for your dissertation research, and get at least B+." [from the Graduate Handbook]

for the CSE Ph.D. degree in any area:

"Take at least another CSE 600-level course with grade at least B" [from the Graduate Handbook]

for the Ph.D. Track Program in Cognitive Science:

"Five additional Cognitive Science-approved courses. Three of these must be distributed across two departments outside your home department." [from the Track Program Web Page]

Course requirements:

• Class attendance;
• Participation in class discussions;
• Assigned readings;
• Occasional homeworks, sometimes involving problem sets, sometimes involving experimenting with KRR systems, sometimes involving programming;
• Term paper. See project suggestions

.

Resources:

Papers: See the Reading List

Documents:

• SNePS 2.5 User's Manual, PS version HTML version

• SNePS 2.5 Tutorial, PS version PDF version DVI version

• SNePS 3 User's Manual

Web Sites:

• Foundations of Logic and Inference: various versions of papers, presentations, and programs.

• Logic Modelling Workshop containing the Zoo and Traffic challenge domains.

• Some AI Topics pages:
  • Representation
  • Reasoning
  • Logic & Formal Reasoning

Interactive Sites:

• OpenCyc Web Site

• SATEN

Academic policies:

This course will abide by the Departmental Academic Integrity policies and procedures, and the Departmental Incomplete policy.

Tentative Syllabus:

The course will be structured by the various components of SNePS 3, a Knowledge Representation and Reasoning system currently being implemented by SNeRG, the SNePS Research Group. However, the topics will be discussed within a broader KRR context. The tentative list of topics is:

1. Propositional Representation;
2. Propositional Reasoning:
   1. Wire-based reasoning;
   2. Path-based reasoning (generalized hierarchies);
3. First-Order Representation:
   Theory and use of arbitrary objects;
4. First-Order Reasoning:
   1. Subsumption reasoning;
   2. Rules of inference: instantiation and propositional connectives;
   3. Belief Revision
   4. Default Reasoning
5. Cognitive Robotics:
   Representing and performing acts by a reasoning agent;
6. Natural Lanaguage Competence:
   Interfacing with a natural language parser and generator.

Important Dates:

Tuesday, August 27	First class meeting
Friday, August 30	Last day to drop without financial penalty
Thursday, September 12	Homework #1 due
Thursday, September 19	Homework #2 due
Thursday, September 26	Homework #3 due
Tuesday, October 1	Term paper proposal due
Thursday, October 17	Homework #4 due
Friday, October 18	Last day to withdraw and recieve a grade of R
Tuesday, November 5	Term paper draft due
Thursday, November 28	No class - Thanksgiving Holiday
Thursday, December 5	Last class meeting
Thursday, December 19	Term paper due

Stuart C. Shapiro <shapiro@cse.buffalo.edu>