From MAILER-DAEMON Fri Jan 9 11:10:04 2009 Date: 09 Jan 2009 11:10:04 -0400 From: Mail System Internal Data Subject: DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA Message-ID: <1231513804@mta.ca> X-IMAP: 1228219728 0000000087 Status: RO This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software. If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created with the data reset to initial values. From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 1 22:07:13 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:07:13 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L7KY8-0007PI-4U for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:59:40 -0400 Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:53:27 +0000 From: Maria Manuel Clementino MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: PhD Program in Mathematics UC|UP Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Maria Manuel Clementino Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 1 Dear Colleague, A joint PhD Program in Mathematics has recently been launched by the Universities of Coimbra and Porto. Applications for the third edition of the program are open and will be accepted until January 31, 2009. All relevant information can be found at http://www.mat.uc.pt/phd_prog I would appreciate your help in bringing this program to the attention of qualified students. Thank you in advance. Best regards, Paulo Eduardo Oliveira (Steering Committee) From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 1 22:07:14 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:07:14 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L7KYv-0007Sa-F5 for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:00:29 -0400 Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 23:51:30 +0100 (CET) From: Lutz Strassburger To: Lutz Strassburger Subject: categories: CfP Workshop "Structures and Deduction", Bordeaux, July 20-24, 2009 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Lutz Strassburger Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 2 ******************************************************************* FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS International Workshop "Structures and Deduction" (SD09) July 20 - 24, 2009 organized as part of the European Summer School on Logic, Language and Information ESSLLI 2009 July 20 - 31, 2009 in Bordeaux ******************************************************************* ORGANIZERS: Michel Parigot (CNRS, Univ. Paris 7, France) Lutz Strassburger (INRIA Saclay-IdF, France) DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKSHOP: The topic of this workshop is the application of algebraic, geometric, and combinatorial methods in proof theory. In recent years many researchers have proposed approaches to understand and reduce "syntactic bureaucracy" in the presentation of proofs. Examples are proof nets, atomic flows, new deductive systems based on deep inference, and new algebraic semantics for proofs. These efforts have also led to new methods of proof normalisation and new results in proof complexity. The workshop is relevant to a wide range of people. The list of topics includes among others: algebraic semantics of proofs, game semantics, proof nets, deep inference, tableaux systems, category theory, deduction modulo, cut elimination, complexity theory, etc. The goal of the workshop is twofold: first, to bring together researchers from various fields who share the interest of understanding and dealing with structural properties of proofs and second, to provide an opportunity for PhD students and researchers to present and discuss their work with colleagues who work in the broad subject areas that are represented at ESSLLI. The workshop is intended to be a sequel of the ICALP-workshop SD05 in Lisbon 2005 . SUBMISSION DETAILS: Contributions can be regular papers, but also work in progress, programmatic/position papers or tutorials. Submissions should be formatted with the LNCS LaTeX style, take between two and fifteen pages and allow the committee to assess their merits with reasonable effort. The length limit can be relaxed for the versions that will be presented at the workshop, depending on the total bulk of the accepted contributions. The accepted papers will appear in the workshop proceedings published by ESSLLI. One author of each accepted paper must attend the workshop in order to present the paper. WORKSHOP FORMAT: The workshop is part of ESSLLI and is open to all ESSLLI participants. It will consist of five 90-minute sessions held over five consecutive days in the first week of ESSLLI. There will be 2 or 3 slots for paper presentation and discussion per session. On the first day the workshop organizers will give an introduction to the topic. INVITED SPEAKERS: tba PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Lev Beklemishev (Moscow) Stefano Berardi (Torino) Agata Ciabattoni (Vienna) Alessio Guglielmi (Bath/Nancy) Martin Hyland (Cambridge) Grigori Mints (Stanford) Michel Parigot (Paris) Lutz Strassburger (Palaiseau) Kazushige Terui (Kyoto) IMPORTANT DATES: Deadline for submissions: February 15, 2009 Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2009 Deadline for final versions: May 11, 2009 Workshop dates: July 20 - 24, 2009 LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS: All workshop participants including the presenters will be required to register for ESSLLI. The registration fee for authors presenting a paper will correspond to the early student/workshop speaker registration fee. Moreover, a number of additional fee waiver grants will be made available by the ESSLLI local organizing committee on a competitive basis and workshop participants are eligible to apply for those. There will be no reimbursement for travel costs and accommodation. Workshop speakers who have difficulty in finding funding should contact the local organizing committee to ask for the possibilities for a grant. FURTHER INFORMATION: About the workshop: About ESSLLI: From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 2 08:53:16 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:53:16 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L7Ueu-0007b6-Vu for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:47:21 -0400 From: David Roberts To: Categories list Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: Effective epimorphisms and pretopologies Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:23:00 +1030 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: David Roberts Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 3 Hi all, An effective epimorphism is a map which is the quotient of its kernel pair. I would like to use the term 'effective pretopology' to denote a Grothendieck pretopology such that all the covers have the additional property that they are effective epimorphisms (I'm assuming the covering families consist of single maps). Has this been done before? This seems to conflict a little with the notion of effective topology as defined by Mike Barr in 'On categories with effective unions'. There the notion of topology is an endomorphism of the subobject functor. But perhaps someone can enlighten me on this. David Roberts From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 2 16:54:55 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:54:55 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L7c9Z-0003p8-Cd for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:47:29 -0400 Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:27:59 -0800 From: "Mike Stay" To: categories Subject: categories: Question about monad algebras and 2-categories MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Mike Stay" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 4 Any monoid can be presented as an algebra (X in Set, h:TX->X) for the monad T:Set->Set for monoids. There's a 2-category with - one object - morphisms are lists of elements of X - 2-morphisms out of a list f are all the different ways of collapsing sublists of f using h This construction works for algebras of any monad, not just the one for monoids. Does it have a name? -- Mike Stay - metaweta@gmail.com http://math.ucr.edu/~mike http://reperiendi.wordpress.com From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 3 19:03:41 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:03:41 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L80eL-0005NN-HU for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:56:53 -0400 Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:54:31 +0100 From: Maria Emilia Maietti MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Apal spec. issue - Constructive Topology - G. Sambin 60 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Maria Emilia Maietti Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 5 -------------------------------------------- Call for Papers: Advances in Constructive Topology and Logical Foundations in honor of the 60th birthday of Giovanni Sambin ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Issue of Annals of Pure and Applied Logic ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Workshop "Advances in Constructive Topology and Logical Foundations" in honor of the 60th birthday of Giovanni Sambin was held in Padua on October 8-11 2008: see http://www.math.unipd.it/60thsambin/ The proceedings of this workshop will be published as a special issue of the Annals of Pure and Applied Logic with the following guest editors: Maria Emilia Maietti, Erik Palmgren and Michael Rathjen These proceedings are open for high-level research papers about constructive topology and related logical foundations. We will appreciate very much if you let us know your intention of submitting a paper by sending an email to apalsambin60@math.unipd.it before April 30, 2009 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submissions by email to: apalsambin60@math.unipd.it ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 3 19:04:32 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:04:32 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L80fT-0005UI-3N for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:58:03 -0400 From: David Roberts To: Categories list Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-1-857701043 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: Re: Effective epimorphisms and pretopologies Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:26:44 +1030 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=US-ASCII;format=flowed;delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: David Roberts Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 6 Hi, thank you to those people who responded privately and gently reminded me that the word I was looking for is 'subcanonical'. What I wrote before is a definition equivalent to the usual one involving representable presheaves On a related note, I get tired of saying 'a pretopology where the covering families consist of single maps'. Is there an established word for this? If not, how about 'singleton pretopology'? David Roberts Begin forwarded message: > From: David Roberts > An effective epimorphism is a map which is the quotient of its kernel > pair. I would like to use the term 'effective pretopology' to denote a > Grothendieck pretopology such that all the covers have the additional > property that they are effective epimorphisms (I'm assuming the > covering families consist of single maps). Has this been done before? From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 3 19:05:39 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:05:39 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L80gK-0005bF-95 for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:58:56 -0400 Subject: categories: TLCA '09 : Second Call for Papers From: Luca Paolini To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:00:57 +0100 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Luca Paolini Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 7 --- SECOND CALL for PAPERS --- Ninth International Conference on =20 Typed Lambda Calculi and Applications (TLCA '09) =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Brasilia, July 01-03, 2009 =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Part of Federated Conference on Rewriting, Deduction,=20 and Programming (RDP'09) http://rdp09.cic.unb.br/ ------------------------------------------------ ** Title and abstract due 5 January 2009 ** ** Deadline for submission 12 January 2009 ** ------------------------------------------------ The TLCA series of conferences serves as a forum for presenting original research results that are broadly relevant to the theory and applications of typed calculi. The following list of topics is non-exhaustive: * Proof-theory: Natural deduction and sequent calculi, cut elimination and normalisation, linear logic and proof nets, type-theoretic aspects of computational complexity * Semantics: Denotational semantics, game semantics, realisability, categorical models * Implementation: Abstract machines, parallel execution, optimal reduction, type systems for program optimisation * Types: Subtypes, dependent types, type inference, polymorphism, types in theorem proving * Programming: Foundational aspects of functional and object-oriented programming, proof search and logic programming, connections between and combinations of functional and logic programming, type checking The programme of TLCA'09 will consist of three invited talks (one common with the Conference Rewriting Techniques and Applications) and about 25 papers selected from original contributions. Accepted papers will be published as a volume of Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science series (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/index.html). Invited Speakers ------------------------------------ There will be three invited talks: * Marcelo Fiore (Univ. of Cambridge) * Jean-Louis Krivine (Univ. Paris 7) * The invited speaker joint with RTA, will be announced later. Submissions: ------------ The submitted papers should describe original work and should allow the Programme Committee to assess the merits of the contribution. In particular references and comparisons with related work should be included. Submission of material already published or submitted to other conferences with published proceedings is not allowed. Papers should not exceed 15 pages in Springer LNCS format (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html). Abstracts and papers must be submitted electronically=20 through the EasyChair system at: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=3Dtlca09 more details on the EasyChair procedure=20 can be found on the web page of the conference. Important Dates: ---------------- Title and abstract due Monday January 5 Deadline for submission Monday January 12 Referee reports due, PC discussion starts Sat February 28 Notification acceptance/rejection Fri March 20 Final Versions sent in by authors Fri April 10 TLCA'09 Program Committee: -------------------------- Zena Ariola, University of Oregon Patrick Baillot, CNRS and ENS Lyon Thierry Coquand, Goteborg University, Pierre-Louis Curien , CNRS and University Paris 7 (PC Chair) Ren=E9 David , Universit=E9 de Savoie Dan Ghica , University of Birmingham Ryu Hasegawa , Tokyo University Barry Jay , University of Technology, Sydney Soren Lassen , Google, Sydney Luca Paolini , University of Torino Frank Pfenning , Carnegie Mellon University Thomas Streicher , Technical University of Darmstad TLCA Steering Committe: ----------------------- Samson Abramsky, Oxford, chair Henk Barendregt, Nijmegen Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini, Turin Roger Hindley, Swansea Martin Hofmann, Munich Pawel Urzyczyn, Warsaw Simona Ronchi Della Rocca, Turin TLCA Publicity Chair: --------------------- Luca Paolini From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 3 19:07:05 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:07:05 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L80hd-0005jw-ML for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:00:17 -0400 Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 09:23:17 -0800 From: "John Baez" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "John Baez" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 8 Dear category theorists - Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this index is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? Best, jb From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:19:38 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:19:38 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8Fsl-00058X-Mf for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:12:47 -0400 Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 19:32:19 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 9 Don't know about Cahiers, but Bob has repeatedly tried to get them to index TAC and it is like hitting a blank wall. The editors of Mathematical Structures in Computer Science have just sent a very strong letter to the EC which has decided to use the citation indices (there are apparently more than one) in a formal way. The American editors seemed to say, that they were used very little for tenure or hiring purposes in the US and, to my knowledge (from tenure decisions at McGill but at least in the early 90s never used by the main granting agencies. But above and beyond that, there was a time when I was actually using the citation index for its stated purpose. It was when I was starting my work on duality and I wanted to know to what extent the Pontrjagin duality had been extended to classes of topological abelian groups larger than that of locally compact groups. Every useful for that, but not if it gratuitously omits certain journals. One of the strongest points made is that the citations often go to derivative works rather than the original. This is not malice on the part of authors; often the derivative source is simply a better, clearer, whatever, source than the original. In a similar way, you cannot judge a mathematician from the number of his students. Gauss had only 8 students, and four of them, including three of the best known (Dedekind, Sopie Germain, and Riemann had exactly none). But he has, in toto, close to 45,000 descendants, over 70% of whom were descendants of someone named Christain Gerling, whom I had never heard of until I just looked it up. My guess is that most of us are descended from Gauss (I am). Gustav Herglotz had 1278 descendants nearly all of whom descend from one student: Emil Artin (my doktorgrandfather). My point is that these things are simply not decent measures of value or influence. The ISI is useful for some things and useless for others, including making this kind of judgment. That's what people are good at. Michael On Wed, 3 Dec 2008, John Baez wrote: > Dear category theorists - > > Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which > "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, > powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to > find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this index > is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. > > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? > > Best, > jb > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:19:38 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:19:38 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8Fth-0005Hc-Ao for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:13:45 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:06:29 +0100 (MET) From: Patrik Eklund To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Patrik Eklund Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 10 Probably is and probably isn't. I wrote a paper some years ago which eventually was published and the journal is SCI listed. Our paper contained some keyword like monads and n-categories and stuff, and we liked the paper, we still do. The reviewers didn't always, but the editor eventually took the decision. In correspondence with the editor it was like "... even if only a few in the world will understand, it is not a reason not to publish ...". I should say that the editor (thanks again!, if you read this, and my apologies for using our correspondence as an example) saw the potential for applications as well, which the reviewers did not. Once in a while I communicate within the most theoretical communicates. I feel humble and I realize how little I know, and I want to build upon that. On the other hand, I want to build things that are useful, that improves the world around me a little bit further. And I want to combine the two! Certainly, and please do not stand up and go just yet, certainly categorists are doing great and also very very useful things. But simply, is it enough? Can we do more? Do we reach out? Why are computations efficient? Because we have grids. Why do aeroplanes fly. Because we have matrices. And so on. It would be nice to hear something like: How did we save global economy? With categories. By the way, can anyone point at some category theory success stories, that could be explained in evening news? Patrik On Wed, 3 Dec 2008, John Baez wrote: > Dear category theorists - > > Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which > "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, > powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to > find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this index > is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. > > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? > > Best, > jb > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:20:30 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:20:30 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8Fur-0005Sb-NB for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:14:57 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:11:36 +0100 From: "Andrej Bauer" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Finite sets and injective maps MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Andrej Bauer" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 11 The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? Best regards, Andrej From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:20:30 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:20:30 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8FuV-0005Nf-Nn for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:14:35 -0400 From: "George Janelidze" To: Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 09:15:23 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "George Janelidze" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 12 Dear Colleagues, I think John asks a very good question! However: While the Thomson Scientific's "Science Citation Index" could be related to some commercial matters that I do not understand, Mathematical Reviews in just Mathematical Reviews, and for each of us it has "Author Profile", and among other things it gives you the total number of citations on your papers, and if you click on "Citations", it lists citations, and below the list there is "Reference List Journals", and if you click on that, you will see a lot of journal titles, but not "Theory and Applications of Categories", not "Cahiers", and not "Applied Categorical Structures". That is, according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in Category Theory journals are not citations! I am sure this is not what Mathematical Reviews really wanted to do, and that it must be corrected first of all. George Janelidze ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Baez" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:23 PM Subject: categories: Science Citation Index > Dear category theorists - > > Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which > "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, > powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to > find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this index > is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. > > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? > > Best, > jb From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:21:51 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:21:51 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8Fvo-0005bx-Sg for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:15:56 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 12:08:29 +0100 (CET) From: Erik Palmgren To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Conference on Philosophy and Foundations of Mathematics, May 5-8, 2009 at SCAS, Uppsala MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-ID: Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Erik Palmgren Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 13 First announcement A conference on Philosophy and Foundations of Mathematics - Epistemological and Ontological Aspects, dedicated to Per Martin-L=F6f on the occasion of his retirement, is to be held in Uppsala, Sweden, May 5-8, 2009 at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. Speakers: Peter Aczel Mark van Atten Thierry Coquand Peter Dybjer Juliet Floyd Jean-Yves Girard Sten Lindstr=F6m Colin McLarty Per Martin-L=F6f Peter Pagin Erik Palmgren Jan von Plato Dag Prawitz Christine Paulin Aarne Ranta Michael Rathjen Giovanni Sambin Anton Setzer Stewart Shapiro Wilfried Sieg S=F6ren Stenlund G=F6ran Sundholm William Tait The aim of the conference is to bring together philosophers, mathematicians, and logicians to penetrate current and historically important problems in the philosophy and foundations of mathematics. Swedish logicians and philosophers have made important contributions to the foundations and philosophy of mathematics, at least since the end of the 1960s. In philosophy, one has been concerned with the opposition between constructivism and classical mathematics and the different ontological and epistemological views that are reflected in this opposition. A central philosophical question concerns the nature of the abstract entities of mathematics: do they exist independently of our epistemic acts (realism, or Platonism) or are they somehow constituted by these acts (idealism)? Significant contributions have been made to the foundations of mathematics, for example in proof theory, proof-theoretic semantics and constructive type theory. These contributions have had a strong impact on areas of computer science, e.g. through Martin-L=F6f's type theory. Two important alternative foundational programmes that are actively pursued today are predicativistic constructivism and category- theoretic foundations. Predicativistic constructivism can be based on Martin-L=F6f constructive type theory, Aczel's constructive set theory, or similar systems. The practice of the Bishop school of constructive mathematics fits well into this framework. Associated philosophical foundations are meaning theories in the tradition of Wittgenstein, Dummett, Prawitz and Martin-L=F6f. What is the relation between proof-theoretical semantics in the tradition of Gentzen, Prawitz, and Martin-L=F6f and Wittgensteinian or other accounts of meaning-as-use? What can proof-theoretical analysis tell us about the scope and limits of constructive and (generalized) predicative mathematics? To what extent is it possible to reduce classical mathematical frameworks to constructive ones? Such reductions often reveal computational content of classical existence proofs. Is computational content enough to solve the epistemological questions? A central concern for the conference will be to compare the different foundational frameworks - classical set theory, constructive type theory, and category theory - both from a philosophical and a logical point of view. The general theme of the conference, however, will be broader and encompass different areas of philosophy and foundations of mathematics, in particular the interplay between ontological and epistemological considerations. Peter Dybjer Sten Lindstr=F6m Erik Palmgren Dag Prawitz S=F6ren Stenlund Viggo Stoltenberg-Hansen (organization and programme committee) Venue The workshop will take place at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Linneanum, Thunbergsv=E4gen 2, Uppsala, Sweden Attendance Attendance is open, and there is no registration fee. However, anyone planning to attend should preregister by emailing PFM[at]math.uu.se no later than April 5, 2009. A complete programme and further useful information will appear on the web page http://www.math.uu.se/PFM/ Sponsors The conference is organised with the support of The Swedish Research Council, Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University,=20 Department of Mathematics, Uppsala University,=20 Centre for Interdisciplinary Mathematics, Uppsala University, Department of Philosophy, Uppsala University, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University, The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala, Swedish National Committee for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Scien= ce. From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:22:24 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:22:24 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8FwG-0005fW-4k for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:16:24 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 14:23:53 +0100 (CET) From: Jiri Adamek To: categories net Subject: categories: filtered colimits MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Jiri Adamek Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 14 I would appreciate knowing the inventor of the concept of filtered category, and the first source of the fact that filtered colimits commute with finite limits in Set. Thanks for help, Jiri Adamek xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx alternative e-mail address (in case reply key does not work): J.Adamek@tu-bs.de xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 4 11:22:43 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:22:43 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8Fwx-0005me-AK for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:17:07 -0400 Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:22:29 -0400 From: "Robert J. MacG. Dawson" MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Robert J. MacG. Dawson" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 15 John Baez wrote: > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. That would be the one with one character per issue printed among 128 blank sheets, right? -Robert Dawson From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:25:39 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:25:39 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8ab9-0002XC-KP for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:19:59 -0400 Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:49:26 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 16 Michael, at least in the old days, multiauthor papers were listed only once e.g. Milnor and Stasheff only under Milnor jim Barr wrote: > Don't know about Cahiers, but Bob has repeatedly tried to get them to > index TAC and it is like hitting a blank wall. > > The editors of Mathematical Structures in Computer Science have just sent > a very strong letter to the EC which has decided to use the citation > indices (there are apparently more than one) in a formal way. The > American editors seemed to say, that they were used very little for > tenure > or hiring purposes in the US and, to my knowledge (from tenure decisions > at McGill but at least in the early 90s never used by the main granting > agencies. > > But above and beyond that, there was a time when I was actually using the > citation index for its stated purpose. It was when I was starting my > work > on duality and I wanted to know to what extent the Pontrjagin duality had > been extended to classes of topological abelian groups larger than > that of > locally compact groups. Every useful for that, but not if it > gratuitously omits certain journals. > > One of the strongest points made is that the citations often go to > derivative works rather than the original. This is not malice on the > part > of authors; often the derivative source is simply a better, clearer, > whatever, source than the original. > > In a similar way, you cannot judge a mathematician from the number of his > students. Gauss had only 8 students, and four of them, including > three of > the best known (Dedekind, Sopie Germain, and Riemann had exactly none). > But he has, in toto, close to 45,000 descendants, over 70% of whom were > descendants of someone named Christain Gerling, whom I had never heard of > until I just looked it up. My guess is that most of us are descended > from > Gauss (I am). Gustav Herglotz had 1278 descendants nearly all of whom > descend from one student: Emil Artin (my doktorgrandfather). > > My point is that these things are simply not decent measures of value or > influence. The ISI is useful for some things and useless for others, > including making this kind of judgment. That's what people are good at. > > Michael > > > On Wed, 3 Dec 2008, John Baez wrote: > >> Dear category theorists - >> >> Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which >> "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, >> powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they >> need to >> find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from >> this index >> is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. >> >> I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and >> "Cahiers" are >> not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - >> Elsevier's >> journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. >> >> Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? >> >> Best, >> jb >> >> > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:25:39 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:25:39 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8abo-0002aO-Jn for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:20:40 -0400 To: categories@mta.ca From: Sam Staton Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:56:01 +0000 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Sam Staton Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 17 Andrej, You can say that finite sets and injective functions is (up-to =20 equivalence) the free symmetric monoidal category with an initial =20 unit, on one generator. I think this is quite well known. I first learnt it from Marcelo =20 Fiore, a long time ago, and we referred to it in our paper Comparing Operational Models of Name-Passing Process Calculi Information and Computation vol 204. 2006. I've also seen John Power refer to the result, e.g. in Semantics for Local Computational E=EF=AC=80ects MFPS XXII. ENTCS vol 158. 2006. I am intrigued about what you will use the category for. Sam On 4 Dec 2008, at 09:11, Andrej Bauer wrote: > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? > > Best regards, > > Andrej > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:26:30 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:26:30 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8acP-0002cf-Hb for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:21:17 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:56:36 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 18 Considering the AMS's attitude to category theory, I assume that this is what they meant to do. Michael On Thu, 4 Dec 2008, George Janelidze wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > I think John asks a very good question! However: > > While the Thomson Scientific's "Science Citation Index" could be related to > some commercial matters that I do not understand, Mathematical Reviews in > just Mathematical Reviews, > > and for each of us it has "Author Profile", > > and among other things it gives you the total number of citations on your > papers, > > and if you click on "Citations", it lists citations, > > and below the list there is "Reference List Journals", > > and if you click on that, you will see a lot of journal titles, > > but not "Theory and Applications of Categories", not "Cahiers", and not > "Applied Categorical Structures". > > That is, according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in Category Theory > journals are not citations! > > I am sure this is not what Mathematical Reviews really wanted to do, and > that it must be corrected first of all. > > George Janelidze > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Baez" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:23 PM > Subject: categories: Science Citation Index > > >> Dear category theorists - >> >> Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which >> "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, >> powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to >> find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this > index >> is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. >> >> I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" > are >> not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's >> journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. >> >> Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? >> >> Best, >> jb > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:26:54 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:26:54 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8ad2-0002fW-MO for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:21:56 -0400 Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:00:02 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 19 George, Has anyone brought this to the attention of MR? jim Janelidze wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > I think John asks a very good question! However: > > While the Thomson Scientific's "Science Citation Index" could be related to > some commercial matters that I do not understand, Mathematical Reviews in > just Mathematical Reviews, > > and for each of us it has "Author Profile", > > and among other things it gives you the total number of citations on your > papers, > > and if you click on "Citations", it lists citations, > > and below the list there is "Reference List Journals", > > and if you click on that, you will see a lot of journal titles, > > but not "Theory and Applications of Categories", not "Cahiers", and not > "Applied Categorical Structures". > > That is, according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in Category Theory > journals are not citations! > > I am sure this is not what Mathematical Reviews really wanted to do, and > that it must be corrected first of all. > > George Janelidze > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Baez" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:23 PM > Subject: categories: Science Citation Index > > > >> Dear category theorists - >> >> Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which >> "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, >> powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they need to >> find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from this >> > index > >> is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. >> >> I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and "Cahiers" >> > are > >> not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - Elsevier's >> journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. >> >> Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? >> >> Best, >> jb >> > > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:26:54 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:26:54 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8adZ-0002i1-Mw for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:22:29 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 11:02:14 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories net Subject: categories: Re: filtered colimits MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 20 Although Grothendieck did it only for directed sets and in abelian groups, once he had done that the extension to sets was obvious and to filtered categories not much more. Five years later, when I sat in on Sammy's course called homological algebra, but really category theory, he had the full limit notion and I think must have talked about filtered index categories (although I cannot quite remember it). Michael On Thu, 4 Dec 2008, Jiri Adamek wrote: > I would appreciate knowing the inventor of the concept of > filtered category, and the first source of the fact that > filtered colimits commute with finite limits in Set. > > Thanks for help, > Jiri Adamek > > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > alternative e-mail address (in case reply key does not work): > J.Adamek@tu-bs.de > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:28:11 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:28:11 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8aeK-0002mX-99 for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:23:16 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 11:05:32 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 21 On Thu, 4 Dec 2008, jim stasheff wrote: > Michael, > > at least in the old days, > multiauthor papers were listed only once > e.g. Milnor and Stasheff > only under Milnor > > jim I haven't looked recently, but that was the way it was when I used it. It was a way of finding where a subject had gone, not who had led it there. This is a total misuse of the index. Michael From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:29:29 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:29:29 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8afa-0002tI-8i for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:24:34 -0400 Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 12:59:36 -0400 (AST) To: categories@mta.ca From: selinger@mathstat.dal.ca (Peter Selinger) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: selinger@mathstat.dal.ca (Peter Selinger) Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 22 The category of finite sets and injective functions is the symmetric monoidal category freely generated from one pointed object (i.e., from one object A and one arrow I->A, where I is the tensor unit). -- Peter Andrej Bauer wrote: > > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? > > Best regards, > > Andrej > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:39:15 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:39:15 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8api-0003r8-Bx for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:35:02 -0400 To: categories@mta.ca From: Paul Levy Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 20:20:22 +0000 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Paul Levy Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 23 On 4 Dec 2008, at 09:11, Andrej Bauer wrote: > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? It's the coaffine category (i.e. symmetric monoidal category whose unit is initial) freely generated by one object. See the following paper: @article{Petric:substruct, author = {Zoran Petric}, title = {Coherence in Substructural Categories}, journal = {Studia Logica}, volume = {70}, number = {2}, year = {2002}, pages = {271-296}, bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de} } Paul From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:39:15 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:39:15 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8ap2-0003kz-Np for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:34:20 -0400 From: Michael Mislove To: Categories list Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 11:13:16 -0600 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Mislove Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 24 [Note from moderator: For information, as publisher I have twice suggested TAC to Thomson. Three years ago it was rejected after a long delay with no explanation other than a reference to their "policy". When the suggestion was renewed last summer via email and their web site mentioned below I received no response at all, not even an acknowledgement, certainly no gift card.] Dear Colleagues, I wrote Thomson and asked how to find out what's covered, and also how to request a journal be included. Below is a copy of the response I received. I checked, and neither Cahiers nor T&AC are included (nor is ENTCS, sad to say). I also took a brief look at the leading essay on the ISI site about their rationalization for their selection process. The bottom line in my view is that they provide this service not for our needs, but for those who want quick and dirty guesstimates of the importance of publications. Administrators like to use such rankings, and publishers also focus on them, citing impact factor as a major aspect of the importance of journals they publish. We can all go to the site listed below to request that Cahiers and T&AC (and don't forget ENTCS!!) be included, but I'm afraid this community is too small to have an impact (sic) on this industry, so I think we should look elsewhere for the needs we have to be met. Of course, there is the lure of that $50 American Express gift card.... Best regards, Mike Mislove > > From: ts.cts-ps@thomson.com > Date: December 4, 2008 10:35:11 AM CST > To: mislove@tulane.edu > Subject: RE: Web of Science Journal Coverage CASE 254481 > > Dear Michael Mislove: > > Thank you for contacting Thomson Reuters Technical Support. > > For information on our journal coverage, please go to http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/ > > On the "Master Journal List", please see "Journal Lists for > Searchable Databases" to see product-specific coverage. > > For information on our journal selection process, please go to http://thomsonreuters.com/business_units/scientific/free/essays/journalselection/ > > To recommend a journal for coverage , please go to http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/info/journalrec/ > > If you are the publisher of the journal and wish to submit the > journal for coverage, please go to http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/info/journalsubmission/ > > > Thank you for your interest in Thomson Reuters products. We need > your input and welcome your comments. For a chance to win a $50 > American Express Gift Cheque please complete our brief customer > satisfaction survey at: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225LGW6MAD3 > > Charles Maurer > Customer Technical Support Representative > Global Customer Support > > Thomson Reuters > +1 800.336.4474 > +1 215.386.0100 > http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/support/techsupport > http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com > > Thomson Reuters and its product names and acronyms used herein are > trademarks, service marks, and registered trademarks used under > license. This email is for the sole use of the intended recipient > and contains information that may be privileged and/or confidential. > If you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender by > return e-mail and delete this e-mail and any attachments. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Dec 3, 2008, at 11:23 AM, John Baez wrote: > Dear category theorists - > > Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which > "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with > quick, > powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they > need to > find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from > this index > is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. > > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and > "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - > Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? > > Best, > jb > =============================================== Professor Michael Mislove Phone: +1 504 862-3441 Department of Mathematics FAX: +1 504 865-5063 Tulane University URL: http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mwm New Orleans, LA 70118 USA =============================================== From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:41:12 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:41:12 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8ar3-0003yE-22 for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:36:25 -0400 From: "R Brown" To: Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 21:09:06 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "R Brown" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 25 Dear All,=20 I did some investigation on this in 2003, but never got round to writing = an article for the Notices AMS as was proposed.=20 I wrote to journals on the EMS list and asked their opinion of ISI. Some = of the opinions were quite scathing. As Michael notes, dealing with ISI = is like hitting a blank wall.=20 What ISI are trying to do is a little like Readers Digest: as ISI claim, = they give the `Essential Science'. In practice, it seems they quickly = put on their list journals from publishers (Homeopathy; Chaos, Solitons, = Fractals;. ...) but put up all sorts of barriers to new independent = journals. What does this show about the real aims of ISI?=20 They claim to have an assessment procedure for new journals, but what = this procedure is remains undisclosed.=20 More discussion is given by Richard Poynder:=20 I wrote about this topic recently = (http://poynder.blogspot.com/2008/11/open-access-question-of-quality_21.h= tml).=20 This might also interest you, as it suggests there is a growing = perception of the need to move beyond the impact factor: http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/11/why_does_impact_factor_persist.php It is not in ISI interests to take on more journals (more work, what = reward?). It may be that they are using old technology (pre-Google?).=20 I looked on the Thomsons/ISI board once and found no academic = representation. It is not clear that they have the expertise to do the = job they claim to do. Unfortunately, many countreis accept their claims, = and it is administratively convenient so to do.=20 A report by Charles Goldie for the LMS writes: " The last few paragraphs suggest one general point, not specific to = mathematics, that I hope the CMS response can take up, which is that the = citation studies planned by HEFCE to be its main indicators depend on = data from a private overseas corporation with no responsi=ADbility to = the UK whatsoever. The way the data are organised by the Thomson = Corporation (choice of fields, selection of journals for inclusion, = allocation to fields) has considerable prior consequences for what it is = feasible to do with the data, and hence for what indicators HEFCE or = their agents might wish to employ. For the research future of this = country to be determined to a large extent in this way is absolutely = craven, and seems to me simply shame=ADful."=20 Thus there is considerable doubt that ISI are doing what could be called = a professional academic job, though it might be called `professional' if = the aim is simply to make money from data organised in a way whose = toxic potentiality is not easily open to view.=20 Charles wrote to me: "As you'll see, part of what I found was that Thomson Scientific's classification of journals into fields has no coherence or logic. Algebra Colloquium is classed as Applied Mathematics!" The other point is that `great oaks from little acorns grow'. A new but = vital area may have little `impact factor'. ISI procedures, and their = acceptance for research evaluation, are unfavourable to new = initiatives, and trends.=20 Unfortunately, the discussion of how mathematics progresses, and how new = ideas grow, the context, is not usually part of the study of mathematics = for students, and my impression is there is little developed language to = cope with this. (Music degrees allow for study of performance, = musicology, composition, ..Can we learn from this?) See discussion in = various articles on www.bangor.ac.uk/r.brown/publar.html particularly perhaps `The methodology of mathematics'. Comments and = argument welcome! But I have found the views of `top people' (in the UK, = FRS's) can be very naive, the `Groupoids is rubbish' school of thought, = or `the van Kampen programme is a ridiculous programme', etc., etc.=20 If anyone would like more information to pursue this ISI matter, I am = happy to help. My problem is that I have some writing priorities and am = a bit too old to divert my attention too much.=20 But obviously it is bad news for the progress of mathematics if the EC = is taken in by what ISI themselves say they do, rather than by an = analysis of what they actually do. Please forward this to the EC if it = might help! Ronnie From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:41:44 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:41:44 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8arx-000436-KZ for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:37:21 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:14:02 +1100 Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps From: Steve Lack To: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Steve Lack Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 26 Dear Andrej, Here are a few: 1. It's the symmetric monoidal category freely generated by a pointed object (i.e. an object X with a map I-->X where I is the unit for the monoidal structure). 2. It's the "symmetric monoidal category with I=0" freely generated by an object. 3. It's the monoidal category freely generated by an object X equipped with an involution s:X^2-->X^2 satisfying the braid relations and a morphism i:I-->X satisfying s.Xi=s.iX. Steve. On 4/12/08 8:11 PM, "Andrej Bauer" wrote: > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? > > Best regards, > > Andrej > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:43:11 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:43:11 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8asy-000486-1N for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:38:24 -0400 Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 22:35:07 +0100 From: "Andrej Bauer" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Andrej Bauer" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 27 I thank everyone who answered. The answer is "the free symmetric monoidal category with an initial unit generated by one object". Some were curious to know what I am doing with the category. In a study of generalizations of relational databases with a student of mine we found that a good category to use for describing schemata (shapes of relations) is the category whose objects look like freely generated coproducts and the morphisms are injective functions. So I now know that this category is the freely generated symmetric monoidal category with an initial unit generated by the set of types that may appear in a schema. Thank you. Best regards, Andrej From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:44:18 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:44:18 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8atq-0004CN-6C for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:39:18 -0400 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753.1) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: <4C3A5165-4173-4AA9-8C78-7B588A2A0416@loria.fr> To: categories@mta.ca Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Francois Lamarche Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 18:49:24 +0100 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Francois Lamarche Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 28 In Sets+Injective functions (Inj?) the disjoint sum A+B obeys a =20 universal property which is slightly more restricted than coproduct: given two maps A ---> C <--- B such that their pullback is empty, =20 then there exists a unique A+B ----> C with the usual coproduct-=20 filler property. So I guess that if you look for the free category with one generator =20 object, pullbacks, initial object and a bifunctor+natural =20 transformations with that universal property, you will get FInj, but =20 that has to be ascertained. Hope that helps, Fran=E7ois On 4 d=E9c. 08, at 10:11, Andrej Bauer wrote: > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? > > Best regards, > > Andrej > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:45:30 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:45:30 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8aus-0004Ij-1Q for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:40:22 -0400 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:04:12 -0500 From: Claudio Hermida To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Finite sets and injective maps Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Claudio Hermida Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 29 Andrej Bauer wrote: > The category of finite sets and functions may be characterized (up to > equivalence) as the category with finite coproducts freely generated > from one object. Is there a similar nice characterization for the > category of finite sets and _injective_ functions? > > Best regards, > > Andrej > > > > There are two universal characterisations of the category of finite sets and injections: I - It is the free symmetric monoidal category on one generator, with an initial unit. II - It is the free symmetric monoidal category on one generator G, with a monoidal indeterminate x: I -> G. In both cases, the symmetric monoidal structure is given by finite coproducts. The general notion of 'monoidal indeterminates' requires some spelling out, but should be clear enough in this simple case. II implies I above; it follows from a general construction of monoidal indeterminates subject to a naturality constraint (which is trivial in this case). Regards, Claudio Hermida From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:45:56 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:45:56 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8avz-0004Qh-QK for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:41:31 -0400 Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 08:07:44 +0100 From: "Andrej Bauer" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Andrej Bauer" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 30 In many countries, Slovenia included, the SCI is used in a formal way in government funding decisions, as well as in decisions about promotions at our university. My colleagues and I in Ljubljana simply must publish in journals that are on the SCI index, otherwise the publication is hardly recognized at all ('8 points' for top half of SCI versus '2 points' for being in Math Reviews). To add insult to injury practically all journals on SCI are of the kind that steals our work, funded by public money, and resells it back to the public. Nobody is even attempting to explain to the government what the problem is. If anyone has a plan on how to break the grip, I would like to hear it. So even if I wrote papers in category theory, I would/could not publish them in TAC because it is not in SCI. Best regards, Andrej From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:49:02 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:49:02 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8ay1-0004gz-B0 for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:43:37 -0400 Message-ID: <97415295E1FE4EC2B3CAFEEBA95811DF@RONNIENEW> From: "R Brown" To: Subject: categories: ISI Web of Science Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 08:12:54 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "R Brown" Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 31 Further to my previous email, the report by Charles Goldie for the LMS = with reference to the use of metrics for research evaluation by the = HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) is now available = with his permission at www.bangor.ac.uk/r.brown/MetricsREF.html Ronnie From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 09:51:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:51:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8b0u-000546-RW for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:46:36 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:28:22 +0100 From: Joachim Kock Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index To: categories@mta.ca MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Joachim Kock Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 32 Hello category theorists, just to report that in Spain, Thomson's Science Citation Index is now the main measure of quality of publication in mathematics: every report and application has to indicate impact factor(*) and citation count(**) o= f=20 all one's papers -- and papers in journals not indexed (or in conference proceedings) simply don't count as papers! As a concrete example, I received last year an evalutation from the Ministry of Science and Education explicitly telling me that I need to improve the number of papers published in indexed journals. (*) Impact factor is really a silly measure for quality: for example many learned societies distribute papers into several different journals only according to length but using otherwise the same criteria for acceptance, whereas those different journals can have very different impact factors in Thomson's index. (It may interest some of you that the Elsevier journal CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS edited by El Naschie has a= =20 higher impact factor than Annals of Mathematics.) (**) Of course the citation count is Thomson's count, which counts only citations from Thomson indexed papers, and even fails to identify preprint citations to papers later indexed. (E.g. paper A cites preprint B. When B is published in an indexed journal the citation from A does not count.) It has a very bad effect, especially on young researchers, who have to follow the rules of Thomson's and Ministry's game, and look up impact factors before choosing which journal to submit to, instead of following scientific criteria. Furthermore, access to Thomson's database is not free. (The Spanish Ministry has paid access for all Spanish universities, instead of using that money to fund research.) It is more than likely that Thomson is affiliated in some way with Elsevier and other publishing houses -- in any case they share the same goals of extracting money from science budgets -- and therefore free journals represent a threat, and it is not very likely that any free electronical journal will be included in Thomson's index. It did happen with 'Geometry & Topology', though... I agree with George that it is important to get TAC and Cahiers into the AMS citation database. This should be possible just by scientific reasons. Before that happens I think there is not much hope to enter Thomson's index... The real problem is to convince science foundations and other funding agencies to boycott Thomson. Just getting more and more good journals into Thomson's index is not going to help with that :-( Gettting the categories journals into the AMS citation database will help providing a strong alternative to Thomson. Cheers, Joachim. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Joachim Kock Departament de Matem=E0tiques -- Universitat Aut=F2noma de Barcelona Edifici C -- 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) -- ESPANYA Phone: +34 93 581 25 34 Fax: +34 93 581 27 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------- From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:16:26 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:16:26 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kk1-0002Z9-Ex for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:09:49 -0400 To: categories@mta.ca From: "Hans-E. Porst" Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 15:12:32 +0100 References: Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Hans-E. Porst" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 33 This isn't really surprising: it is just another hint, that it is easier to get a weak journal - published by a commercial publisher - on the ISI list than a strong one, if the latter is published independently. Hans-E. Porst Am 04.12.2008 um 15:22 schrieb Robert J. MacG. Dawson: > John Baez wrote: > >> I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and >> "Cahiers" are >> not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - >> Elsevier's >> journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > That would be the one with one character per issue printed among 128 > blank sheets, right? > > -Robert Dawson > -- Hans-E. Porst porst@math.uni-bremen.de FB 3: Mathematics Phone: +49 421 21863701 University of Bremen Secr.: +49 421 21863700 D-28334 Bremen Fax: +49 421 2184856 From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:17:26 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:17:26 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8klD-0002db-5D for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:11:03 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:16:00 +0000 From: Tim Porter To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1;DelSp="Yes";format="flowed" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Tim Porter Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 34 On the subject of the ISI citation index, I wonder if what is being=20=20= =0A= done is consistent with anti-trust laws in the USA and with fair=20=20=0A= competition laws in the EU. The refusal of Thomson's to accept=20=20=0A= reputable journals and also to justify their refusal looks to me to be=20= =20=0A= suspect on legal grounds. Does any one know of any legal challenges=20=20= =0A= to this.=0A= =0A= It may be that the EMS and AMS should start a ridicularising campaign.=20= =20=0A= Public money n many countries is going to a so-called service that=20=20= =0A= is not being performed at a professional level.=0A= =0A= Tim=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= Quoting Joachim Kock :=0A= =0A= > Hello category theorists,=0A= >=0A= > just to report that in Spain, Thomson's Science Citation Index is now=0A= > the main measure of quality of publication in mathematics: every report= =0A= > and application has to indicate impact factor(*) and citation count(**) of= =0A= > all one's papers -- and papers in journals not indexed (or in conference= =0A= > proceedings) simply don't count as papers! As a concrete example, I=0A= > received last year an evalutation from the Ministry of Science and=0A= > Education explicitly telling me that I need to improve the number of=0A= > papers published in indexed journals.=0A= >=0A= > (*) Impact factor is really a silly measure for quality: for example=0A= > many learned societies distribute papers into several different journals= =0A= > only according to length but using otherwise the same criteria for=0A= > acceptance, whereas those different journals can have very different=0A= > impact factors in Thomson's index. (It may interest some of you that=0A= > the Elsevier journal CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS edited by El Naschie has a= =0A= > higher impact factor than Annals of Mathematics.)=0A= >=0A= > (**) Of course the citation count is Thomson's count, which counts only= =0A= > citations from Thomson indexed papers, and even fails to identify=0A= > preprint citations to papers later indexed. (E.g. paper A cites preprint= =0A= > B. When B is published in an indexed journal the citation from A does=0A= > not count.)=0A= >=0A= > It has a very bad effect, especially on young researchers, who have to=0A= > follow the rules of Thomson's and Ministry's game, and look up impact=0A= > factors before choosing which journal to submit to, instead of following= =0A= > scientific criteria.=0A= >=0A= >=0A= > Furthermore, access to Thomson's database is not free. (The Spanish=0A= > Ministry has paid access for all Spanish universities, instead of using= =0A= > that money to fund research.) It is more than likely that Thomson is=0A= > affiliated in some way with Elsevier and other publishing houses -- in=0A= > any case they share the same goals of extracting money from science=0A= > budgets -- and therefore free journals represent a threat, and it is not= =0A= > very likely that any free electronical journal will be included in=0A= > Thomson's index. It did happen with 'Geometry & Topology', though...=0A= >=0A= > I agree with George that it is important to get TAC and Cahiers into the= =0A= > AMS citation database. This should be possible just by scientific=0A= > reasons. Before that happens I think there is not much hope to enter=0A= > Thomson's index...=0A= >=0A= > The real problem is to convince science foundations and other funding=0A= > agencies to boycott Thomson. Just getting more and more good journals=0A= > into Thomson's index is not going to help with that :-(=0A= >=0A= > Gettting the categories journals into the AMS citation database will=0A= > help providing a strong alternative to Thomson.=0A= >=0A= > Cheers,=0A= > Joachim.=0A= >=0A= > ----------------------------------------------------------------=0A= > Joachim Kock =0A= > Departament de Matem=E0tiques -- Universitat Aut=F2noma de Barcelona=0A= > Edifici C -- 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) -- ESPANYA=0A= > Phone: +34 93 581 25 34 Fax: +34 93 581 27 90=0A= > ----------------------------------------------------------------=0A= >=0A= >=0A= >=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= ----------------------------------------------------------------=0A= This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.=0A= =0A= =0A= --=20=0A= Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi,=0A= gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig=0A= gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y=0A= neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar=0A= unwaith a dil=EBwch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi,=0A= rhaid i chi beidio =E2 defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a=0A= gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i=0A= hanfonodd yn unig ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn=0A= Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu=0A= bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu=0A= 100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn=0A= nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract=0A= rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa=0A= Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor. www.bangor.ac.uk=0A= =0A= This email and any attachments may contain confidential material and=0A= is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you have=0A= received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately=0A= and delete this email. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you=0A= must not use, retain or disclose any information contained in this=0A= email. Any views or opinions are solely those of the sender and do=0A= not necessarily represent those of the Bangor University.=0A= Bangor University does not guarantee that this email or=0A= any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless=0A= expressly stated in the body of the text of the email, this email is=0A= not intended to form a binding contract - a list of authorised=0A= signatories is available from the Bangor University Finance=0A= Office. www.bangor.ac.uk=0A= =0A= From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:17:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:17:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8klx-0002gW-B9 for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:11:49 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:58:10 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 36 Andrej Bauer wrote: > In many countries, Slovenia included, the SCI is used in a formal way > in government funding decisions, as well as in decisions about > promotions at our university. My colleagues and I in Ljubljana simply > must publish in journals that are on the SCI index, otherwise the > publication is hardly recognized at all ('8 points' for top half of > SCI versus '2 points' for being in Math Reviews). To add insult to > injury practically all journals on SCI are of the kind that steals our > work, funded by public money, and resells it back to the public. > Nobody is even attempting to explain to the government what the > problem is. > > If anyone has a plan on how to break the grip, I would like to hear it. > The AMS should be taking up this cause. Has anyone tried to interest them? jim > So even if I wrote papers in category theory, I would/could not > publish them in TAC because it is not in SCI. > > Best regards, > > Andrej > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:18:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:18:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kms-0002k9-Qw for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:12:46 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:46:47 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 37 Ronnie, The AMS staff shoudl be doing this. May I forward your msg to them or just suggest they get on the ball? jim Brown wrote: > Dear All,=20 > > I did some investigation on this in 2003, but never got round to writin= g an article for the Notices AMS as was proposed.=20 > > I wrote to journals on the EMS list and asked their opinion of ISI. Som= e of the opinions were quite scathing. As Michael notes, dealing with ISI= is like hitting a blank wall.=20 > > What ISI are trying to do is a little like Readers Digest: as ISI claim= , they give the `Essential Science'. In practice, it seems they quickly p= ut on their list journals from publishers (Homeopathy; Chaos, Solitons, F= ractals;. ...) but put up all sorts of barriers to new independent journa= ls. What does this show about the real aims of ISI?=20 > > They claim to have an assessment procedure for new journals, but what t= his procedure is remains undisclosed.=20 > > More discussion is given by Richard Poynder:=20 > > I wrote about this topic recently (http://poynder.blogspot.com/2008/11/= open-access-question-of-quality_21.html).=20 > > This might also interest you, as it suggests there is a growing percept= ion of the need to move beyond the impact factor: > > > http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/11/why_does_impact_factor_persist.ph= p > > It is not in ISI interests to take on more journals (more work, what re= ward?). It may be that they are using old technology (pre-Google?).=20 > > I looked on the Thomsons/ISI board once and found no academic represent= ation. It is not clear that they have the expertise to do the job they cl= aim to do. Unfortunately, many countreis accept their claims, and it is a= dministratively convenient so to do.=20 > > A report by Charles Goldie for the LMS writes: > > " The last few paragraphs suggest one general point, not specific to ma= thematics, that I hope the CMS response can take up, which is that the ci= tation studies planned by HEFCE to be its main indicators depend on data = from a private overseas corporation with no responsi=ADbility to the UK w= hatsoever. The way the data are organised by the Thomson Corporation (cho= ice of fields, selection of journals for inclusion, allocation to fields)= has considerable prior consequences for what it is feasible to do with t= he data, and hence for what indicators HEFCE or their agents might wish t= o employ. For the research future of this country to be determined to a l= arge extent in this way is absolutely craven, and seems to me simply sham= e=ADful."=20 > > Thus there is considerable doubt that ISI are doing what could be calle= d a professional academic job, though it might be called `professional' i= f the aim is simply to make money from data organised in a way whose tox= ic potentiality is not easily open to view.=20 > > Charles wrote to me: > > "As you'll see, part of what I found was that Thomson Scientific's > classification of journals into fields has no coherence or logic. > Algebra Colloquium is classed as Applied Mathematics!" > > The other point is that `great oaks from little acorns grow'. A new but= vital area may have little `impact factor'. ISI procedures, and their ac= ceptance for research evaluation, are unfavourable to new initiatives, a= nd trends.=20 > > Unfortunately, the discussion of how mathematics progresses, and how ne= w ideas grow, the context, is not usually part of the study of mathematic= s for students, and my impression is there is little developed language t= o cope with this. (Music degrees allow for study of performance, musicolo= gy, composition, ..Can we learn from this?) See discussion in various art= icles on > www.bangor.ac.uk/r.brown/publar.html > particularly perhaps `The methodology of mathematics'. Comments and arg= ument welcome! But I have found the views of `top people' (in the UK, FRS= 's) can be very naive, the `Groupoids is rubbish' school of thought, or `= the van Kampen programme is a ridiculous programme', etc., etc.=20 > > If anyone would like more information to pursue this ISI matter, I am h= appy to help. My problem is that I have some writing priorities and am a = bit too old to divert my attention too much.=20 > > But obviously it is bad news for the progress of mathematics if the EC = is taken in by what ISI themselves say they do, rather than by an analysi= s of what they actually do. Please forward this to the EC if it might hel= p! > > Ronnie > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > =20 From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:19:55 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:19:55 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kni-0002mK-5Y for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:13:38 -0400 Subject: categories: Workshop announcement From: Pieter HOFSTRA To: categories@mta.ca Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:08:19 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Pieter HOFSTRA Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 38 Fields Institute Workshop Announcement: Smooth Structures in Logic, Category Theory and Physics University of Ottawa May 1-3, 2009 Abstract categorical approaches and analogies with the differential calculus and the theory of smooth manifolds arise in a number of diverse areas of mathematics. For example, the well-known fact that the category of manifolds and smooth maps fails to be cartesian closed motivated both the theory of convenient vector spaces due to Froelicher, Kriegl, and Michor, and work on categories of smooth spaces initiated by Chen and Souriau. In topos theory, synthetic differential geometry, developed by Lawvere, Kock, Moerdijk, Reyes, and others, provides an appealing abstract setting for differential geometry using the theory of nilpotent infinitesimals. In logic, the differential lambda-calculus, due to Ehrhard and Regnier, was inspired by considerations from linear logic, differential calculus, and work on locally convex topological models of linear logic. This theory subsequently gave rise to the recent development of differential categories by Blute, Cockett, and Seely. In topology, the Goodwillie calculus, which also has connections with the study of smooth manifolds, is an example of a ``calculus of functors'' drawing inspiration from differential calculus. And in theoretical physics, recent work by Baez and Schreiber on higher gauge theory exploits some of these more abstract versions of differential geometry in order to avoid technical difficulties implicit in the theory of infinite-dimensional manifolds. The Logic and Foundations of Computing group at the University of Ottawa is happy to announces a workshop, supported by the Fields Institute, which aims to bring together researchers from these different areas in order to encourage further interaction in the study of smooth structures in logic, category theory and physics. In addition to the main invited lectures, several of the invited speakers will give tutorials on their areas of expertise in order to make the subject accessible to students and other new researchers in the area. The (confirmed) invited speakers are: * John Baez (UC Riverside) * Kristine Bauer (Calgary) * Thomas Ehrhard (PPS Paris) * Anders Kock (Aarhus) * Andrew Stacey (NTNU Norway) Some student support from the Fields Institute will be available. There will also be some time reserved in the schedule for a selection of contributed talks. Further details regarding student support and contributed talks can be found on the workshop webpage: http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/programs/scientific/08-09/smoothstructures/ With best regards, Richard Blute (rblute@uottawa.ca) Pieter Hofstra (phofstra@uottawa.ca) Philip Scott (phil@site.uottawa.ca) Michael A. Warren (mwarren@uottawa.ca) From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:21:23 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:21:23 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kpe-0002wh-CV for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:15:38 -0400 From: Pedro Resende Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 21:21:58 +0000 To: categories@mta.ca Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Pedro Resende Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 39 As an example of how some governments may indeed be tempted to use ISI information for tenure and promotion decision, Iet me mention what happened in Portugal some years ago. There was a short-lived social- democrat government in Portugal whose science minister (a professor from IST's mechanical engineering department) proposed to base the evaluation of scientific production on a simple formula. The formula originally included niceties such as requiring every scientist, whatever his field, to publish an average of four papers per year --- ranging from social sciences to chemistry (!!!) More, these papers were supposed to be published in ISI cited papers. A series of fierce complaints from the portuguese scientific community followed, in an attempt at least to fix the formula by providing realistic expectations regarding average numbers of publications according to field. The requirement that publications be ISI-indexed was probably going to be retained, though, except that the government was short-lived and the whole evaluation system was swiftly (and fortunately) replaced by a more effective peer review system. About that time I learned from Ronnie Brown that he had had some correspondence with Eugene Garfield (the founder of ISI) and in particular had mentioned to him how SCI seemed to be used in some countries in order to assess scientific production. Garfield's reply was crisp and clear: "The SCI was not designed for that purpose" (these may not have been the exact words, but it was the spirit as far as I remember). Why some governments will insist on (mis)using such a commercial tool is not completely clear. My guess is that in some cases this is a consequence of lack of understanding of how science works, on the part some political decision makers. Certainly the need to cut on expenses must play a role, too. Best, Pedro. On Dec 3, 2008, at 5:23 PM, John Baez wrote: > Dear category theorists - > > Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which > "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with > quick, > powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they > need to > find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from > this index > is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. > > I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and > "Cahiers" are > not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - > Elsevier's > journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. > > Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? > > Best, > jb > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:22:14 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:22:14 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kqf-000308-4Y for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:16:41 -0400 Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 00:21:18 +0100 From: "Bockermann Bockermann" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Isomorphism of enriched categories MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Bockermann Bockermann" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 40 Dear mathematicians, could anybody give me a hint if the following assertion is true? Let V be a complete and co-complete symmetric monoidal closed category. The category sV of simplicial objects in V is also complete and co-complete symmetric monoidal closed with the pointwise tensor. There is a V-adjunction D:V<-->sV:Z of the V-functor Z which evaluates in 0 and the discrete V-functor D. Does this induce a V-Isomorphism of V-categories V-Fun(K,ZC)~sV-Fun(DK,C) for any small V-category K and any sV-category C? Please note that a similar statement is true for the non-enriched case [e.g. Borceux2, Proposition 6.4.8.]. Thank you for any help. Tony From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 5 20:22:14 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:22:14 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8kqf-000308-4Y for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:16:41 -0400 Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 00:21:18 +0100 From: "Bockermann Bockermann" To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Isomorphism of enriched categories MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Bockermann Bockermann" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 41 Dear mathematicians, could anybody give me a hint if the following assertion is true? Let V be a complete and co-complete symmetric monoidal closed category. The category sV of simplicial objects in V is also complete and co-complete symmetric monoidal closed with the pointwise tensor. There is a V-adjunction D:V<-->sV:Z of the V-functor Z which evaluates in 0 and the discrete V-functor D. Does this induce a V-Isomorphism of V-categories V-Fun(K,ZC)~sV-Fun(DK,C) for any small V-category K and any sV-category C? Please note that a similar statement is true for the non-enriched case [e.g. Borceux2, Proposition 6.4.8.]. Thank you for any help. Tony From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 6 08:20:40 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:20:40 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L8w4J-0007X4-37 for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:15:31 -0400 Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:58:00 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 42 Pedro, It's just so easy for a bureaucrat to be able to back up an arbitrary decison by pointing to an `impact factor' jim Resende wrote: > As an example of how some governments may indeed be tempted to use ISI > information for tenure and promotion decision, Iet me mention what > happened in Portugal some years ago. There was a short-lived social- > democrat government in Portugal whose science minister (a professor > from IST's mechanical engineering department) proposed to base the > evaluation of scientific production on a simple formula. The formula > originally included niceties such as requiring every scientist, > whatever his field, to publish an average of four papers per year --- > ranging from social sciences to chemistry (!!!) More, these papers > were supposed to be published in ISI cited papers. > > A series of fierce complaints from the portuguese scientific community > followed, in an attempt at least to fix the formula by providing > realistic expectations regarding average numbers of publications > according to field. The requirement that publications be ISI-indexed > was probably going to be retained, though, except that the government > was short-lived and the whole evaluation system was swiftly (and > fortunately) replaced by a more effective peer review system. > > About that time I learned from Ronnie Brown that he had had some > correspondence with Eugene Garfield (the founder of ISI) and in > particular had mentioned to him how SCI seemed to be used in some > countries in order to assess scientific production. Garfield's reply > was crisp and clear: "The SCI was not designed for that > purpose" (these may not have been the exact words, but it was the > spirit as far as I remember). > > Why some governments will insist on (mis)using such a commercial tool > is not completely clear. My guess is that in some cases this is a > consequence of lack of understanding of how science works, on the part > some political decision makers. Certainly the need to cut on expenses > must play a role, too. > > Best, > Pedro. > > > On Dec 3, 2008, at 5:23 PM, John Baez wrote: > >> Dear category theorists - >> >> Thomson Scientific runs the well-known "Science Citation Index", which >> "provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with >> quick, >> powerful access to the bibliographic and citation information they >> need to >> find relevant, comprehensive research data". I believe data from >> this index >> is used in tenure and promotion decisions at some universities. >> >> I just heard that "Theory and Applications of Categories" and >> "Cahiers" are >> not listed on the Science Citation Index, while - for example - >> Elsevier's >> journal "Homeopathy" is listed there. >> >> Is this true? Is there some way to improve the situation? >> >> Best, >> jb >> >> > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 8 09:35:25 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:35:25 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L9gBD-00000I-Pg for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:29:43 -0400 From: "R Brown" To: Subject: categories: Science Citation Index Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 15:19:49 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "R Brown" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 43 There is also available the report from the IMU as follows: http://www.mathunion.org/publications/report/citationstatistics/ It should be emphasised that the ethics and practice of citation for an individual paper are unclear and probably untaught, except possibly through the admonishments of editors. Certainly scholarship in itself is generally unrewarded. What gets the most fame is a solution to a famous problem; and this is partly because the judgement of the achievement is easy, and could almost be set up as a computer program, as for tennis rankings. Opening new areas, or problem formulation, gives a more difficult task to assess: as they say, predicting the future has its problems. And it may take many years or decades for the true implications to sink in. Should a citation be to the original paper, or to the most recent and possibly best exposition (the latest author has the advantage of someone else doing the spadework)? There is always an attraction in citing a famous author, which gives a certain cachet, even if the idea came from someone relatively unknown. There is the practice of changing terminology, so that the original paper looks old fashioned, and in any case dealt with oomla when `everyone' nowadays calls it bamloo. How far back in the history of an idea or technique should citations go? There is no established framework for good practice in citations dealing with all these matters. Thus the idea of using citations as a basis for assessment of importance is hazardous in the extreme. This is emphasised in the IMU report. Will the national Mathematical Societies be prepared to speak out publicly on these key issues; or be willing to beard the Thomson/ISI lion; or subject the basis of what ISI call `Essential Science' to ridicule; or state publicly that the ISI journal evaluation process has little open quality assurance? Ronnie From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 8 09:37:08 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:37:08 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L9gDR-0000Ff-14 for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:32:01 -0400 Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:55:34 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Categories list Subject: categories: [Fwd: Re: citation indices] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 44 In re: the attached John Ewing writes: Jim: Sure, I'm happy to share thoughts -- all pretty frustrating. John For those of you suffer from government misuse of this `resource' see if they acknowledge receipt of the IMU report - both summary and full. jim From: "John Ewing" To: "'jim stasheff'" Subject: RE: citation indices Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 11:09:27 -0500 Jim: The IMU-IMS-ICIAM report was widely circulated, pushed out to government and university bureauacracies, and republished in many places throughout the world. (The AMS Notices only wanted to publish the executive summary -- not my call, of course, because the Notices has an independent editor-in-chief.) There is really not much more one can do other then educate people. None of these organizations, nor any societies, have the power to force people to use common sense. I have talked about citation statistics to several groups, one of which was the NIH. Surprisingly, they were very receptive to the idea that one had to use citation statistics with care. People in the biological sciences, with a citation culture, seem to understand this. On the other, the otherwise mild report has drawn intense negative reaction from many other places, with headlines to stories along the lines of "Confused mathematicians" and "Mish-Maths Statistics" and so forth. There is a huge enterprise behind citation statistics, and it includes a large part of the scientific community -- people who enthisiastically promote the use of citation data as a substitute for peer review. Parts of the mathematical sciences are included in this effort (most prominently, statistics itself). I've learned a lot from the reaction to the report, and in some ways I've learned more from the reaction than from the work itself. The original hope was that a sensible report from a respected international body would help to persuade people to use common sense. In some places, that worked. In many others, it's clearly had little or no effect. Of course, the misuse of statistics in a world gone mad to quantify every aspect of life extends far beyond citation statistics. I sometimes yearn for the better days of the past ... a sure sign I'm growing old. John -------------- John Ewing Exec Dir, AMS 401-455-4100 -------------- See Math Moments at www.ams.org/mathmoments -----Original Message----- From: jim stasheff [mailto:jds@math.upenn.edu] Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 10:57 AM To: jhe@ams.org; jim stasheff Subject: citation indices john, I've received lots of sad stories about misuse of ISI Citation Index for hiring,promotion, tenure and even orders about where to publish. After the IMU report, what is being done to counter this pernicious influence? jim From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 8 09:38:03 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:38:03 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L9gES-0000Mc-BT for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:33:04 -0400 Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:47:54 +1100 Subject: categories: Re: Isomorphism of enriched categories From: Steve Lack To: Mime-version: 1.0Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Steve Lack Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 45 On 6/12/08 10:21 AM, "Bockermann Bockermann" wrote: > Dear mathematicians, > > could anybody give me a hint if the following assertion is true? > Let V be a complete and co-complete symmetric monoidal closed category. The > category sV of simplicial objects in V is also complete and co-complete > symmetric monoidal closed with the pointwise tensor. There is a V-adjunction > D:V<-->sV:Z > of the V-functor Z which evaluates in 0 and the discrete V-functor D. Does > this induce a V-Isomorphism of V-categories > V-Fun(K,ZC)~sV-Fun(DK,C) > for any small V-category K and any sV-category C? > > Please note that a similar statement is true for the non-enriched case [e.g. > Borceux2, Proposition 6.4.8.]. > > Thank you for any help. > > Tony > > Dear Tony, Yes, it is true. More generally, let F-|U:W-->V be a monoidal adunction. This means that V and W are monoidal categories, F and U are monoidal functors, monoidal natural transformations 1-->UF and FU-->1 satisfying the triangle equations. (A monoidal functor F:V-->W involves maps FX\otimes FY-->F(X\otimes Y) and I_W-->F(I_V), not necessarily invertible, but satisfying coherence conditions. In a monoidal adjunction, as above, the monoidal functor F is necessarily strong, so that the comparison maps are invertible. The comparison maps for U need not be invertible.) For a small V-category K and a W-category C we do indeed have an isomorphism V-Fun(K,UC) = U(W-Fun(FK,C)) of V-categories. I'll do my best to explain this via ascii. V-functors from K to UC are in bijection with W-functors from FK to C; this takes care of the object-part. For V-functors M,N:K-->UC, the hom-object V-Fun(K,UC)(M,N) is the equalizer of the evident maps ---> Pi_k UC(Mk,Nk) ---> Pi_{k,l} [K(k,l), UC(Mk,Nl)] in V, where the products run over all objects k and l of K. On the other hand, U(W-Fun(FK,C)(M,N)) is given by the equalizer of --> U(Pi_k C(Mk,Nk)) --> U Pi_{k,l} [FK(k,l),C(Mk,Nl)] or equivalently, since U is a left adjoint, the equalizer of --> Pi_k UC(Mk,Nk) --> Pi_{k,l} U[FK(k,l),C(Mk,Nl)] So we are now left to prove Lemma: U[FX,Y]=[X,UY], for X in V and Y in W. Proof: V(Z,U[FX,Y]) = W(FZ,[FX,Y]) = W(FZ\otimes FX,Y) = W(F(Z\otimes X),Y) = V(Z\otimes X,UY) = V(Z,[X,UY]) naturally in Z and so U[FX,Y]=[X,UY] as required. Regards, Steve Lack. From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 8 09:39:08 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:39:08 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1L9gFS-0000UR-0c for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:34:06 -0400 From: Giuseppe Longo Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 10:53:08 +0100 To: categories@mta.ca MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Giuseppe Longo Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 46 On Friday 05 December 2008, Tim Porter wrote: > On the subject of the ISI citation index,=20 : : > It may be that the EMS and AMS should start a ridicularising campaign. =A0 Mathematical Structures in Computer Science (MSCS), a Cambridge UP journal,= is=20 soon going to publish an Editors' note: Bibliometrics and the curators of= =20 orthodoxy ftp://ftp.di.ens.fr/pub/users/longo/editorsMSCS.pdf This firm critique of Bibliometrics contains also references to several=20 documents on the issue, in particular an excellent text by the Intermation= al=20 Mathematics Union. Best =20 Giuseppe Longo=20 Editro-in-chief http://www.di.ens.fr/users/longo=20 From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 9 14:11:12 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:11:12 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LA6wM-0002db-M5 for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:04:10 -0400 From: "George Janelidze" To: "Categories list" Subject: categories: Re: citation indices Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 20:58:49 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "George Janelidze" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 47 Dear Colleagues, The discussion on citation indices is interesting and important, but may I protest a bit?: Of course we all know that it does not make sense to judge mathematicians by numbers of publications and/or citations. But it does not mean that the number (and the list) of citations on your and my papers given in Mathematical Reviews should be the number (and the list) of citations in non-category-theory journals! Therefore the task number one here is not to argue about general improvements of various indices, but to convince Mathematical Reviews to include TAC, Cahiers, and APCS in what Mathematical Reviews calls "Reference List Journals". Jim, any success? If it is as bad as Michael Barr says, well, it least we will know that we made an attempt - and then, who knows, may be Categorical Reviews will be created one day... Next, if you allow me to propose task number two, it could be to try again (using MR) to include the same journals to various lists including Thompson's list (APCS is already there though) - not because it will help us to judge ourselves and each other, but simply because there are those funny bureaucratic requirements of many universities in many countries. George Janelidze From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 9 14:11:12 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:11:12 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LA6vp-0002Xq-9S for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:03:37 -0400 Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:54:23 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: how to cite Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 48 Those who still are involved in training the next generation (or as editors improving the training of the current generation) might well pay careful attention to the following from Ronnie (as well as to encouraging the use of bibtex): > > > It should be emphasised that the ethics and practice of citation for an > individual paper are unclear and probably untaught, except possibly > through > the admonishments of editors. Certainly scholarship in itself is > generally > unrewarded. What gets the most fame is a solution to a famous problem; > and > this is partly because the judgement of the achievement is easy, and > could > almost be set up as a computer program, as for tennis rankings. > Opening new > areas, or problem formulation, gives a more difficult task to assess: as > they say, predicting the future has its problems. And it may take many > years > or decades for the true implications to sink in. > > Should a citation be to the original paper, or to the most recent and > possibly best exposition (the latest author has the advantage of someone > else doing the spadework)? There is always an attraction in citing a > famous > author, which gives a certain cachet, even if the idea came from someone > relatively unknown. There is the practice of changing terminology, so > that > the original paper looks old fashioned, and in any case dealt with oomla > when `everyone' nowadays calls it bamloo. > > How far back in the history of an idea or technique should citations go? > > There is no established framework for good practice in citations dealing > with all these matters. > > Thus the idea of using citations as a basis for assessment of > importance is > hazardous in the extreme. This is emphasised in the IMU report. > > Will the national Mathematical Societies be prepared to speak out > publicly > on these key issues; or be willing to beard the Thomson/ISI lion; or > subject > the basis of what ISI call `Essential Science' to ridicule; or state > publicly that the ISI journal evaluation process has little open quality > assurance? > > Ronnie > > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 9 14:12:50 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:12:50 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LA6y2-0002ov-P0 for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:05:54 -0400 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753.1) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Jonathan_CHICHE_ Subject: categories: Re: citation indices Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 21:08:12 +0100 To: Categories list Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Jonathan_CHICHE_ Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 49 This remark is quite off-topic for this list, yet may be taken into account by those members who want to take action about this ranking issue. The situation is somewhat similar within other fields of knowledge and is not limited to science. Indeed, I attended a literature colloquium a few weeks ago, during which there was a short talk dealing with this topic. The speaker, apparently reacting to a decision which applies to European researchers in his field, described a society in which researchers, in order to be well-ranked, would ask their relatives and friends to click frantically on their names and articles in Google, then pay people to do that fulltime to get higher ranks (in developing countries to reduce the cost). A reknown critic and professor, quite influential (at least here in France), replied that it was perfectly justified to use ranking methods because these had proved efficient in the field of "pure sciences". (I do not remember the words she used.) Unfortunately, I was too abashed to answer. The reason why I am writing this is that I think researchers should take interdisciplinary action, if any. Indeed, this issue is more sociological or political than scientific, and therefore I am not sure mathematicians have the power to address it on their own. Regards, Jonathan From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 9 14:13:12 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:13:12 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LA6yi-0002t1-RY for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:06:37 -0400 Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:26:13 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Categories list Subject: categories: Re: citation indices Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 50 George, I'vwe had a prompt reply from Ewing on the general issue so far none from MR will try again jim Janelidze wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > The discussion on citation indices is interesting and important, but may I > protest a bit?: > > Of course we all know that it does not make sense to judge mathematicians by > numbers of publications and/or citations. But it does not mean that the > number (and the list) of citations on your and my papers given in > Mathematical Reviews should be > > the number (and the list) of citations in non-category-theory journals! > > Therefore the task number one here is not to argue about general > improvements of various indices, but to convince Mathematical Reviews to > include TAC, Cahiers, and APCS in what Mathematical Reviews calls "Reference > List Journals". Jim, any success? > > If it is as bad as Michael Barr says, well, it least we will know that we > made an attempt - and then, who knows, may be Categorical Reviews will be > created one day... > > Next, if you allow me to propose task number two, it could be to try again > (using MR) to include the same journals to various lists including > Thompson's list (APCS is already there though) - not because it will help us > to judge ourselves and each other, but simply because there are those funny > bureaucratic requirements of many universities in many countries. > > George Janelidze > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 9 14:14:11 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:11 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LA6zX-0002yN-Cj for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:07:27 -0400 Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:09:50 +0000 From: Alexander Kurz MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories Subject: categories: TACL 2009: First Announcement and Call for Papers Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Alexander Kurz Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 51 =============================================================================== TOPOLOGY, ALGEBRA AND CATEGORIES IN LOGIC (TACL 2009) =============================================================================== 7-11 July 2009 Institute for Logic, Language and Computation University of Amsterdam the Netherlands http://www.illc.uva.nl/tacl09/ Scope ----- Studying logics via semantics is a well-established and very active branch of mathematical logic, with many applications, in computer science and elsewhere. The area is characterized by results, tools and techniques stemming from various fields, including universal algebra, topology, category theory, order, and model theory. The program of the conference TACL 2009 will focus on three interconnecting mathematical themes central to the semantical study of logics and their applications: algebraic, categorical, and topological methods. This is the fourth conference in the series Topology, Algebra and Categories in Logic (TACL, formerly TANCL). Earlier installments of this conference have been organized in Tbilisi (2003), Barcelona (2005), and Oxford (2007). Featured topics --------------- Contributed talks can deal with any topic falling under the scope of the meeting. This includes, but is not limited to, the following areas: * Algebraic logic * Coalgebraic semantics * Categorical methods in logic * Domain theory * Fuzzy and many-valued logics * Lattices with operators * Modal logics * Non-classical logics * Ordered topological spaces * Ordered algebraic structures * Pointfree topology * Residuated structures * Stone-type dualities * Substructural logics * Topological semantics of modal logic Submissions ----------- Contributed presentations will be of two types: 20 minutes long presentations in parallel sessions and featured, 30 minutes long, plenary presentations. The submission of an abstract of 1-4 pages is required to be selected for a contributed presentation of either kind. While preference will be given to new work, results that have already been published or presented elsewhere will also be considered. More information on the submission procedure is available on the conference website. Important dates --------------- March 15, 2009: Abstract submission deadline April 15, 2009: Notification of authors July 7-11, 2009: Conference Program Committee ----------------- Guram Bezhanishvili, New Mexico State University, USA Nick Bezhanishvili, Imperial College London, United Kingdom Nick Galatos, University of Denver, USA Mai Gehrke, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, Netherlands (Chair) Rob Goldblatt, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand Rosalie Iemhoff, University of Utrecht, Netherlands Ramon Jansana, University of Barcelona, Spain Alexander Kurz, University of Leicester, United Kingdom Franco Montagna, University of Siena, Italy Drew Moshier, Chapman University, USA Hiroakira Ono, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Yde Venema, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands Steve Vickers, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Michael Zakharyaschev, Birkbeck, Universty of London, United Kingdom More Information ---------------- If you have any queries please send them to the conference email address: tacl09@uva.nl =============================================================================== From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 10 07:09:03 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:09:03 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAMrh-0000Or-D2 for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:04:25 -0400 Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:35:16 -0800 From: Vaughan Pratt MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Vaughan Pratt Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 52 The thing I don't understand about citation indexes is, what is the barrier to entry here? For any field naturally associated to a university department (physics, mathematics, chemistry, history, English), what is to stop that field deciding that in the interest of fairness to all professionals working in the field whose work is subject to review, for example junior faculty, it is going to run its own citation index subscribing to a set of technical and ethical standards that it makes public and holds itself to, e.g. via ISO 9000 certification? It then actively works to promote the use of its index by reviewing bodies, in competition with the existing citation indexes run for profit. Usually reviewers in any given field are reluctant to confess to depending on citation indexes as a labor saving device. However when a field has acknowledged the efficiency of doing so and has set up an adequately run index serving that need, and a review states that the only citation index if any resorted to by the reviewer was the field's own, the credibility of that review is enhanced even though the reviewer has not stated whether he or she actually used that index. Reviewers should not be asked to reveal actual use of an index because that information could prejudice users of the review against reviewees whose reviewers felt the need to resort to an index, since that could be taken as a sign of non-notability, of questionable relevance to a reviewee's performance. Obviously one wants to hire and retain the most famous people, but they've all gone to the highest bidder. More significantly, fields lose credibility in the eyes of other fields when they put notability ahead of competence. Most of all, they lose effectiveness when they do not give due credit to researchers whose low profile keeps them below the radar of reviewers yet who are nonetheless valuable players. MVP can mean either most valuable player or most visible player, and these need not always be the same thing in subjects that don't have 80,000 readers of each and every scientific article. Because the field's index is working for the benefit of the field more than for its own profit, it can and should maintain two-way contact with those working in the field, by encouraging them to contribute suitably formatted information listing and classifying their identifiable contributions, as an extension of their CV. In this way CV's need no longer be isolated documents but instead become coordinated with the field's index, whose maintenance becomes the joint responsibility of the researcher and the index. This divides the labor that hitherto has had to be duplicated to a considerable degree at both ends, potentially halving the cost of this part of the review process. Done properly, these field indexes will consume resources of course, but these can be underwritten in the same way that the for-profit indexes make their money, namely by charging for them at rates competitive with the established indexes, but with the additional edge of being supplemented by subsidies from the homes of the appointment and promotion committees whose work will in consequence be of a higher quality than it presently is today and who therefore can reasonably make that case to their provost or HR department. Many fields already maintain their own indexes, which should in principle be relatively easy to upgrade to the standards suggested here compared to having to start from scratch, to the extent that the field is adequately coordinated with the indexes it considers itself to be operating. An index purportedly serving a field that is not responsive to the field's membership should be disowned by the field and an index competing with it set up. Such a threat should motivate any field's existing indexes that can see which side their bread is buttered on to play ball. There is the tricky question of what to do with multiple established indexes operated independently but at least nominally under a field's control. One approach is to select one of them as the one responsible for the functions proposed here, but if they are complementary then some sort of coordination between them producing an effect sufficient for those purposes may be a better solution, as being less disruptive to their complementarity, whose benefits should be clear to all duality theorists. Once a field's index has been accepted by an institution, and becomes the primary if not only reference for all who need to consult such indexes, the institution's library need feel under no obligation to maintain their subscriptions to competing indexes serving that field. The above-mentioned institutional subsidies can then be drawn at least in part from those savings, an added efficiency of this system. Indexes run according to these principles should strongly incentivize all who stand to benefit from their quality to contribute to that quality according to their roles. The extant indexes can complain all they want about uncompetitive practices, but at bottom they are the ones who brought this unwanted competition on themselves by operating an inferior product. Pragmatic governments do not legislate in competition with Darwin's law of survival of the fittest because in economics that law trumps all others. Governments that legislate at odds with Darwin's law fall victim to it, as we saw with Russia. Western civilization has not intentionally legislated against the interests of fair competition for a long time now, preferring to legislate against unfair competition by imposing tariffs (the bludgeon), passing antitrust laws (the rapier), etc. Vaughan Pratt From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 10 07:09:03 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:09:03 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAMr4-0000KU-7N for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:03:46 -0400 Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 14:55:39 +0900 From: Hitoshi Ohsaki To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: RTA 2nd CFP (June 29 - July 1, 2009, Brasilia) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hitoshi Ohsaki Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 53 ******************************************************** * * * RTA 2009 * * Rewriting Techniques and Applications * * 20th International Conference * * * * June 29 - July 1, 2009, Brasilia, Brazil * * http://rdp09.cic.unb.br/rta.html * * * * Second Call for Papers * * * ******************************************************** ************************************************************************* NEW since 1st CFP: Submissions open, RDP workshops, RTA invited speakers. ************************************************************************* The 20th International Conference on Rewriting Techniques and Applications (RTA 2009) is organized as part of the Federated Conference on Rewriting, Deduction, and Programming (RDP 2009), together with the International Conference on Typed Lambda Calculi and Applications (TLCA 2009), and the workshops HOR'09, LSFA'09, RULE'09, WFLP'09, and WRS'09. The conference will be preceded by the 4th International School on Rewriting (ISR). Brasilia, the federal capital of Brazil, is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. RDP 2009 will be held at Universidade de Brasilia, one of the largest and one of the most prestigious universities in Brazil, on a campus built by highly acclaimed architect Oscar Niemeyer. Brasilia is easily reached by plane; air fares are moderate at that time of the year. IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract Submission: January 19, 2009 Paper Submission: January 26, 2009 Notification: March 20, 2009 Final version: April 10, 2009 RTA is the major forum for the presentation of research on all aspects of rewriting. Typical areas of interest include (but are not limited to): * Applications: case studies; analysis of cryptographic protocols; rule-based (functional and logic) programming; symbolic and algebraic computation; theorem proving; system synthesis and verification; proof checking; reasoning about programming languages and logics; program transformation; * Foundations: matching and unification; narrowing; completion techniques; strategies; rewriting calculi, constraint solving; tree automata; termination; combination; * Frameworks: string, term, and graph rewriting; lambda-calculus and higher-order rewriting; constrained rewriting/deduction; categorical and infinitary rewriting; integration of decision procedures; * Implementation: implementation techniques; parallel execution; rewrite tools; termination checking; * Semantics: equational logic; rewriting logic; rewriting models of programs. INVITED SPEAKERS Invited talks will be given by Vincent Danos (Edinburgh, UK) and Johannes Waldmann (Leipzig, Germany). The joint invited speaker of RTA and TLCA will be announced later. BEST PAPER AWARD: A prize of 500 Euro will be given to the best paper as judged by the program committee. The program committee may decline to make the award or may split it among several papers. GENERAL CHAIR: * Mauricio Ayala Rincon (Brasilia, Brazil) PROGRAM COMMITTEE: * Takahito Aoto (Sendai, Japan) * Franz Baader (Dresden, Germany) * Eduardo Bonelli (Buenos Aires, Argentina) * Dan Dougherty (Worcester, USA) * Rachid Echahed (Grenoble, France) * Santiago Escobar (Valencia, Spain) * Neil Ghani (Glasgow, GB) * Juergen Giesl (Aachen, Germany) * Jean Goubault-Larrecq (Cachan, France) * Aart Middeldorp (Innsbruck, Austria) * Hitoshi Ohsaki (Osaka, Japan) * Vincent van Oostrom (Utrecht, The Netherlands) * Elaine Pimentel (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) * Femke van Raamsdonk (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) * Manfred Schmidt-Schauss (Frankfurt, Germany) * Sophie Tison (Lille, France) * Ashish Tiwari (Stanford, USA) * Ralf Treinen, chair (Paris, France) PUBLICATION: RTA'09 proceedings will be published by Springer-Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series. SUBMISSIONS: Submissions must be original and not submitted for publication elsewhere. Submissions must fall into one of the following categories (to be indicated at submission): 1. Regular Research Papers: describing new results; they will be judged on correctness and significance. 2. Papers describing the experience of applying rewriting techniques in other areas; they will be judged on relevance and comparison with other approaches. 3. Problem sets that provide realistic and interesting challenges in the field of rewriting. 4. System descriptions; they should contain a link to a working system and will be judged on usefulness and design. All submissions will be judged on originality and quality of presentation. Submissions in the first three categories can be up to 15 proceedings pages long, system descriptions up to 10 proceedings pages. Additional material, for instance proof details, may be given in an appendix which is not subject to the limitation of pages. However, submissions must be self-contained within the respective page limit; reading the appendix should not be necessary to access the merits of a submission. Submissions are accepted in either Postscript or PDF format. Authors are strongly encouraged to use LaTeX2e and the Springer llncs class file, available at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html. Abstracts and papers must be submitted electronically through the EasyChair system at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rta2009 Questions concerning submissions may be addressed to the PC chair, Ralf Treinen . From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 21:21:18 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:21:18 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAwdX-0005Ba-4d for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:16:11 -0400 Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:23:21 +0000 From: "Roy L. Crole" MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Midlands Graduate School in the Foundations of Computing Science Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Roy L. Crole" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 54 **************************************************************** Midlands Graduate School in the Foundations of Computing Science **************************************************************** 30th March - 3rd April 2009 University of Leicester, UK http://www.cs.le.ac.uk/events/mgs2009 The 10th Midlands Graduate School (MGS) is taking place! WHAT IS MGS 2009? The MGS is an intensive course of lectures on the Foundations of Computing. It is very well established, with this being our 10th anniversary, and has always proved a very popular and successful event. This year we have Professor Peter Dybjer, Chalmers, Sweden, as guest lecturer. The lectures are aimed at graduate students, typically in their first or second year of study for a PhD. However, the school is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about mathematical computing foundations. We very much welcome international applications as well as from those from the UK. FINANCIAL SUPPORT We have 20 EPSRC funded places with substantially reduced fees. COURSES - Foundations Thorsten Altenkirch Category Theory Paul Levy The Lambda Calculus Henrik Nilsson Functional Programming - Advanced Peter Dybjer Normalization by Evaluation Martin Escardo Semantics Nicola Gambino Dependent Types Alexander Kurz Coalgebra Uday Reddy Separation Logic Georg Struth Automated Theorem Proving WHERE IS MGS 2009? MGS 2009 will take place at John Foster Hall, University of Leicester, UK, with accommodation and lectures all on one site. Breakfasts, lunches and four course dinners will be provided. For further details and registration visit http://www.cs.le.ac.uk/events/mgs2009 Please register soon! Grants will be awarded on the basis of a supervisor's recommendation, and all other places will be on a first come first served basis. All registrations must be received by 2pm on 30th January 2009. Roy Crole and Daniela Petrisan. From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 21:21:18 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:21:18 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAwcr-000596-A5 for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:15:29 -0400 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:11:46 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 55 Vaughan Pratt wrote: > The thing I don't understand about citation indexes is, what is the > barrier to entry here? Time and energy? jim From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 21:22:10 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:22:10 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAwe1-0005DP-97 for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:16:41 -0400 Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:16:48 +0000 From: Maria Manuel Clementino MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Post-doc positions at CMUC, Coimbra Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Maria Manuel Clementino Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 56 ================= POSTDOC POSITIONS ================= The Center for Mathematics of the University of Coimbra is accepting applications for postdoctoral grants. Deadline: January 31, 2009 Detailed information can be found at: http://www.mat.uc.pt/~cmuc/postdoc-09-10.pdf From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 21:23:47 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:23:47 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAwg1-0005KC-8S for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:18:45 -0400 Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:54:49 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Categories list Subject: categories: [Fwd: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd)] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 57 MR requests a list of candidates to add so provide me the ammunition jim Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:36:48 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) From: Calista Stafford To: jds@math.upenn.edu cc: msn-support@ams.org, klw@ams.org, btk@ams.org Subject: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd) Dear Professor Stasheff, Your message has been forwarded to my attention. Reference lists appear in MathSciNet from journals included in the Mathematical Reviews Citation Database. These journals are selected through an editorial process that includes approval by the Mathematical Reviews Editorial Committee (MREC). Citation Database reference list journals are reexamined each year in October. The list of current Citation Database reference list journals can be found at: http://www.ams.org/mrcitations/journal_list.html. Please feel free to send me specific examples of journals you might have in mind and I will forward them to MREC for their consideration. Let me know if you have further questions. Sincerely, Calista Stafford Calista Stafford Acquisitions Assistant Mathematical Reviews 416 Fourth St. Ann Arbor, MI 48107 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:37:06 -0500 From: jim stasheff To: mathrev Subject: inquiry in re: citations and Have you received my inquiry in re: citations and journals covered by MR? If you just ahven't had time to reply, just let me know thanks jim stasheff Original message: Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:16:10 -0500 From: jim stasheff To: mathrev , jim stasheff Subject: problem with citations? I am told that according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in Category Theory journals are not citations! If true, can something be done about it? thanks jim From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 21:25:23 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:25:23 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAwhL-0005Ob-Ey for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:20:07 -0400 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:43:59 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Re: Science Citation Index MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 58 I am responding to Vaughan's long message (which I won't bother repeating). The AMS has set up its own citation index but we have seen that they too will not include TAC (I am not sure about Cahiers). They have a long-standing and apparently immutable prejudice against category theory and nothing can change that. As for a field as small as category theory setting up its own index, that would seem to be a non-starter. Even if we were to do it, the bureaucrats of the EC would not accept since it would be seen as self-serving. After reading that the Springer journal Homeopathy is indexed, I began to wonder if the publisher pays ISI for inclusion. I am sure that this kind of information is kept secret. (Actually, Robert Dawson has wildly exaggerated the publication of Homeopathy: the truth is that one out of every 10^{100} numbers contains one pixel of ink and the remaining issues are blank.) From rrosebru@mta.ca Thu Dec 11 23:02:58 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:02:58 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LAyDI-0003aK-JU for categories-list@mta.ca; Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:57:12 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:57:51 +1100 Subject: categories: comonadicity of Lan_E From: Steve Lack To: "categories@mta.ca" Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Steve Lack Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 59 Does anyone know anything about when functors E:C-->D have the property that the functor Lan_E:[C,Set]-->[D,Set] given by left Kan extension is comonadic? Actually I'm interested in something a bit more general. Let E:C-->D be a functor. I'm happy to suppose that it is bijective on objects and faithful. Then Lan_E has a right adjoint, given by restriction along E. Let W be the induced comonad on [D,Set], and [D,Set]^W its category of coalgebras. The comparison K:[C,Set]-->[D,Set]^W has a right adjoint R, constructed using equalizers in [C,Set]. Comonadicity would mean that this adjunction is an equivalence; what I really want to know is when/whether R is fully faithful, so that K is a reflection onto a full subcategory. (This is equivalent to Lan_E preserving the equalizers which are used to construct R.) This seems like something topos theorists might know about. Steve. From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 12 15:54:04 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:54:04 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LBDxJ-0006L3-RC for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:45:45 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:58:56 +0100 From: Andree Ehresmann To: Categories list Subject: categories: Re: [Fwd: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1; DelSp="Yes"; format="flowed" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Andree Ehresmann Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 60 Dear George, Naturally I agree that the "Cahiers" be included in the list. Since many years, the Math. Reviews ask me to send them 2 free copies of each issue of the "Cahiers", which I do regularly, and the papers in the "Cahiers" are analysed and figure in their authors'list of publication (at least for those I have verified). However I have just seen that the "Cahiers" as such are not in the list of journals and I am going to write them to have an explanation. With all my best wishes for the new year, Warm regards Andree From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 12 16:05:32 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:05:32 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LBE9G-0007UB-TT for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:58:06 -0400 From: "George Janelidze" To: "Categories list" , Subject: categories: Re: [Fwd: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd)] Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:30:12 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "George Janelidze" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 61 [From moderator: apologies to George; a keyboard error of mine hid the correct sender of this in a version posted a short time ago.] Dear Jim, I think what you did is extremely useful, also because it will make the views of MR on category theory very clear. My list below contains APCS in addition to the two journals everybody mentions. It does not contain HHA = and JHRS, not because I have anything against them, but because we are explicitly talking about category theory now (according to your message t= o MR). Theory and Applications of Categories - ISSN 1201 - 561X: http://www.tac.mta.ca/tac/ Robert Rosebrugh rrosebrugh@mta.ca Cahiers de Topologie et G=E9om=E9trie Diff=E9rentielle Cat=E9goriques - I= SSN 1245-530X (formerly ISSN 0008-0004): http://pagesperso-orange.fr/vbm-ehr/CT/CT2T.htm Andree Ehresmann Andree.Ehresmann@u-picardie.fr Applied Categorical Structures (ISSN: 0927-2852 (print version), ISSN: 1572-9095 (electronic version)): http://www.springer.com/math/journal/10485 Robert Lowen bob.lowen@ua.ac.be Dear Andree, Bob, and Bob, Could you please urgently confirm that you agree to include the journal y= ou are taking care of to the list above, and confirm the details I gave? With best regards to all - George ----- Original Message ----- From: "jim stasheff" To: "Categories list" Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:54 PM Subject: categories: [Fwd: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd)] > MR requests a list of candidates to add > so provide me the ammunition > > jim > > > Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:36:48 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) > From: Calista Stafford > To: jds@math.upenn.edu > cc: msn-support@ams.org, klw@ams.org, btk@ams.org > Subject: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd) > > Dear Professor Stasheff, > > Your message has been forwarded to my attention. > > Reference lists appear in MathSciNet from journals included in the Mathematical > Reviews Citation Database. These journals are selected through an editorial > process that includes approval by the Mathematical Reviews Editorial Committee > (MREC). Citation Database reference list journals are reexamined each y= ear in > October. The list of current Citation Database reference list journals = can be > found at: http://www.ams.org/mrcitations/journal_list.html. > > Please feel free to send me specific examples of journals you might hav= e in > mind and I will forward them to MREC for their consideration. Let me kn= ow > if you have further questions. > > Sincerely, > Calista Stafford > > Calista Stafford > Acquisitions Assistant > Mathematical Reviews > 416 Fourth St. > Ann Arbor, MI 48107 > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:37:06 -0500 > From: jim stasheff > To: mathrev > Subject: inquiry in re: citations and > > Have you received my inquiry in re: citations and journals covered by M= R? > If you just ahven't had time to reply, just let me know > > thanks > > jim stasheff > > Original message: > > Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:16:10 -0500 > From: jim stasheff > To: mathrev , jim stasheff > Subject: problem with citations? > > I am told that according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in > Category Theory journals are not citations! > > If true, can something be done about it? > > thanks > > jim From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 13 16:45:12 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:45:12 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LBbH7-00026z-OE for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:39:45 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:00:29 -0500 From: jim stasheff MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Subject: categories: a list of journals Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: jim stasheff Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 62 For MR citations is at http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/mrcit/journal_list.html but requires mathscinet access which I have via upenn proxy if you do not have access to mathscinet let me know a journal or two you would like me to check on jim From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 13 16:47:01 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:47:01 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LBbIc-0002Bn-L7 for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:41:18 -0400 Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:58:19 +0000 (GMT) From: Richard Garner To: "categories@mta.ca" Subject: categories: Re: comonadicity of Lan_E MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Richard Garner Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 63 Dear Steve, With regard to your query, I reproduce a message sent by Peter Johnstone to this list in March 2007 providing sufficient (and possibly necessary?) conditions for Lan_E to be comonadic. "A further attempt to provide a general context for Richard's observation: let f: C --> D be a functor between small categories having a right multi-adjoint in the sense of Diers, i.e. such that, for each object b of D, the comma category (f \downarrow b) is a disjoint union of categories with terminal objects. (Note that this is always the case when C is discrete, as in the example considered by Richard, since then the (f \downarrow b) are also discrete.) Then the left Kan extension functor f_!: [C,Set] --> [D,Set] can be constructed using only coproducts rather than more general colimits, from which it follows easily that it is faithful and preserves equalizers. Hence it is comonadic. (I suspect that this may be a necessary as well as a sufficient condition for comonadicity of f_!, but I don't yet have a proof.)" With best wishes, Richard --On 12 December 2008 12:57 Steve Lack wrote: > Does anyone know anything about when functors E:C-->D have the property that > the functor Lan_E:[C,Set]-->[D,Set] given by left Kan extension > is comonadic? > > Actually I'm interested in something a bit more general. Let E:C-->D be a > functor. I'm happy to suppose that it is bijective on objects and faithful. > Then Lan_E has a right adjoint, given by > restriction along E. Let W be the induced comonad on [D,Set], and [D,Set]^W > its category of coalgebras. The comparison K:[C,Set]-->[D,Set]^W has a right > adjoint R, constructed using equalizers in [C,Set]. Comonadicity would mean > that this adjunction is an equivalence; what I really want to know is > when/whether R is fully faithful, so that K is a reflection onto a full > subcategory. (This is equivalent to Lan_E preserving the equalizers which > are used to construct R.) > > This seems like something topos theorists might know about. > > Steve. > > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Sun Dec 14 09:49:52 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:49:52 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LBrGq-0003L7-MK for categories-list@mta.ca; Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:44:32 -0400 From: "R Brown" To: Subject: categories: assessment of journals etc Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:41:16 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "R Brown" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 64 I have put together a few links and other comments on=20 http://www.bangor.ac.uk/r.brown/journalassess.html which I hope will be useful for making easier communication of = appropriate evidence, perhaps to influence governments.=20 Ronnie From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 15 18:19:57 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:19:57 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCLhT-0005ST-H9 for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:14:03 -0400 Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:41:48 -0800 From: Vaughan Pratt MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories list Subject: categories: Elementary references for Birkhoff/Stone duality? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Vaughan Pratt Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 66 David Eppstein, a regular contributor to Wikipedia, asked me recently about background relevant to his recent work on the Birkhoff duality of finite posets and finite distributive lattices. This resulted in several exchanges that can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Vaughan_Pratt#Birkhoff.27s_representation_theorem His last message requested citable references concerning my explanation of the duality. The best I could come up with was Peter Johnstone's *Stone Spaces*, which is where I learned about these particular dualities. However my answer to his earlier question was phrased in what I felt was more elementary language than used by Peter (but of course "elementary" is in the eye of the beholder). My question here is, where in the literature is there an account of Birkhoff/Stone duality in terms of homming into schizophrenic objects at a level comparable to my detailed reply to David? The concept itself can be presented at a very elementary level, but the expositions of it that I'm aware of presume a degree of sophistication of the reader out of proportion to what the concepts should require in this case. If Peter's book is indeed the most elementary account available I'll settle for that. Whatever's available. Vaughan From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 15 18:21:07 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:21:07 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCLii-0005YA-AR for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:15:20 -0400 Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:57:22 +0000 From: Steve Vickers MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Categories list Subject: categories: Re: [Fwd: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd)] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Steve Vickers Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 67 Dear Jim, There should be mention of Mathematical Structures in Computer Science. Although it's not exclusively about category theory, categories have always played a prominent role in the mathematical structures used. Regards, Steve Vickers. jim stasheff wrote: > MR requests a list of candidates to add > so provide me the ammunition > > jim > > > Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:36:48 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) > From: Calista Stafford > To: jds@math.upenn.edu > cc: msn-support@ams.org, klw@ams.org, btk@ams.org > Subject: inquiry in re: citations and (fwd) > > Dear Professor Stasheff, > > Your message has been forwarded to my attention. > > Reference lists appear in MathSciNet from journals included in the > Mathematical > Reviews Citation Database. These journals are selected through an editorial > process that includes approval by the Mathematical Reviews Editorial > Committee > (MREC). Citation Database reference list journals are reexamined each > year in > October. The list of current Citation Database reference list journals > can be > found at: http://www.ams.org/mrcitations/journal_list.html. > > Please feel free to send me specific examples of journals you might have in > mind and I will forward them to MREC for their consideration. Let me know > if you have further questions. > > Sincerely, > Calista Stafford > > Calista Stafford > Acquisitions Assistant > Mathematical Reviews > 416 Fourth St. > Ann Arbor, MI 48107 > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:37:06 -0500 > From: jim stasheff > To: mathrev > Subject: inquiry in re: citations and > > Have you received my inquiry in re: citations and journals covered by MR? > If you just ahven't had time to reply, just let me know > > thanks > > jim stasheff > > Original message: > > Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:16:10 -0500 > From: jim stasheff > To: mathrev , jim stasheff > Subject: problem with citations? > > I am told that according to Mathematical Reviews, the citations in > Category Theory journals are not citations! > > If true, can something be done about it? > > thanks > > jim > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 15 18:21:57 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:21:57 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCLkL-0005fb-V4 for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:17:02 -0400 Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:29:17 -0500 From: michaeln.gurski@yale.edu To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Biequivalences and biadjoint biequivalences MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: michaeln.gurski@yale.edu Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 68 After a number of requests, I have written up a proof that every biequivalence in Bicat is part of a biadjoint biequivalence. It can be found at the following address. http://gauss.math.yale.edu/~mg622/biadjdraft.pdf The result still holds in a general tricategory and I am in the process of writing up the full proof. Nick From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 15 18:21:57 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:21:57 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCLjq-0005dQ-K9 for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:16:30 -0400 Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:14:22 +0100 From: Martin Leucker To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: CfP: ICTAC'09 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Martin Leucker Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 69 Our apology for possible multiple copies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ICTAC'09 6th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing *** CALL FOR PAPERS *** Equatorial Hotel Bangi, Malaysia University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) August 16th - 20th 2009 http://www.ictac.net/ictac09/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The 6th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing is taking place from the 16th till the 20th of August 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ICTAC'09 is organized by Abdullah Mohd Zin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Jeff Sanders, United Nation University, Institute of Software Technology, Macao. The PC is chaired by Martin Leucker (TU Munich) and Carroll Morgan (UNSW). Visit http://www.ictac.net/ictac09 for a preliminary web page. About ICTAC 2009 ---------------- ICTAC 2009 is the 6th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing, the latest in a series founded by the International Institute for Software Technology of the United Nations University (UNU-IIST). The main purpose of ICTAC is to bring together practitioners and researchers from academia, industry and government to present research and to exchange ideas and experience addressing challenges in both theoretical aspects of computing and in the exploitation of theory through methods and tools for system development. The previous four ICTAC events were held in Guiyang, China (2004), Hanoi, Vietnam (2005), Tunis, Tunisia (2006), Macau (2007) and Istanbul (2008). Workshops --------- The main conference is surrounded by workshops and a summer school. See the web page for more details. Invited Speakers ---------------- Zuohua Ding Zhejiang Sci-Tech University Leslie Lamport Microsoft Annabelle McIver Macquarie University Sriram Rajamani Microsoft Scope=20 ----- Topics include, but are not limited to: * software specification, refinement, verification and testing * model checking and theorem proving * software architectures * coordination and feature interaction * integration of theories, formal and engineering methods and tools * models of concurrency, security, and mobility * parallel, distributed, and internet-based (grid) computing * real-time, embedded and hybrid systems * automata theory and formal languages * principles and semantics of languages * logics and their applications * type and category theory in computer science * case studies, theories, tools and experiments of verified systems =20 * service-oriented architectures: models and development methods * domain modelling and domain-specific technology: examples, frameworks and experience=20 Paper Submissions ----------------- ICTAC 2009 calls for two types of contributions: RESEARCH PAPERS and TOOL DEMONSTRATION PAPERS. Both types of contributions will appear in the LNCS proceedings and have oral presentations at the conference. Papers should be written in English in LNCS format. RESEARCH PAPERS: Research papers should contain original research, and sufficient detail to assess the merits and relevance of the contribution.=20 Submissions reporting on industrial case studies are welcome, and should describe both strengths and weaknesses in sufficient depth.=20 Research papers should be no more than 15 pages. TOOL DEMONSTRATION PAPERS: Tool demonstration papers present tools based on aforementioned theories or fall into the above application areas. Tool demonstration papers allow researchers to stress the technical and practical side, illustrating how one can apply the theoretic contributions in practice. Tool demonstration papers should be no more than 6 pages. As usual, submissions to the conference must not have been published or be concurrently considered for publication elsewhere. All submissions will be judged on the basis of originality, contribution to the field, technical and presentation quality, and relevance to the conference. Submission constitutes a commitment to attend and present a paper, if accepted. Proceedings of ICTAC 2009 will be published by Springer in the LNCS series. Important Dates --------------- Abstract Submission: 6 April 2009 Submission of Papers: 10 April 2009 Notification of acceptance: 25 May 2009 Final copy for proceedings: 1 June 2009 ICTAC 2009: 16 - 20 August 2009 =20 Committees ---------- General Chair ------------- Abdullah Mohd Zin Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Jeff Sanders United Nation University, Institute of Software Technology, Macao=20 Program Chairs -------------- Martin Leucker Technische Universit=E4t M=FCnchen, Germany Carroll Morgan University of New South Wales =20 Local Organizing Committee -------------------------- Zarina Shukur, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Chairperson) Nazlia Omar Syahanim Mohd Salleh Program Committee ----------------- Parosh Abdulla Uppsala University, Schweden Keijiro Araki Kyushu University, Japan Farhad Arbab Leids University, The Netherlands Christel Baier Technical University of Dresden, Germany Mario Bravetti Universita di Bologna, Italian Ana Cavalcanti University of York, England Van Hung Dang United Nations University, Macao David Deharbe Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil Wei Dong Zhejiang University, China Deepak D'Souza Indian Institute of Science, India John Fitzgerald Newcastle Uiversity, England Wan Fokkink Vrije University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Marcelo Frias University of Buenos Aires, Argentina Kokichi Futatsugi JAIST, Japan Paul Gastin LSV/ENS Cachan, France Susanne Graf VERIMAG, France Lindsay Groves Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Anne Haxthausen Technical University of Denmark, Denmark Moonzoo Kim KAIST, South Korea Kim G. Larsen Aalborg University, Denmark Insup Lee University of Pennsylvania, USA Martin Leucker TU Munich, Germany Kamal Lodaya Institute of Mathematical Sciences, India Larissa Meinicke Abo Akademi, Finland Ugo Montanari University of Pisa, Italian Carroll Morgan University of New South Wales, Australia Ahmed Patel Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia Pekka Pihlajasaari Cadence Research Labs, USA Abhik Roychoudhury National University of Singapore, Singapore Hassen Saidi SRI International, USA Augusto Sampaio Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil Cesar Sanchez IMDEA, Spain Marjan Sirjani University of Tehran, Iran Sofiene Tahar Concordia University, Canada Serdar Tasiran Koc University, Turkey Helmut Veith Technical University Darmstadt, Germany Mahesh Viswanathan University of Illinois at Urbana, USA Tomas Vojnar Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic Ji Wang Zhejiang University, China Jim Woodcock University of York, England Husnu Yenigun Sabanci University, Turkey Naijun Zhan Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Huibiao Zhu East China Normal University, China Steering Committee ------------------ John Fitzgerald University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Martin Leucker Technische Universit=E4t M=FCnchen, Germany Zhiming Liu (Chair) UNU-IIST, Macao Tobias Nipkow Technische Universit=E4t M=FCnchen, Germany Augusto Sampaio Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil Natarajan Shankar SRI, USA Jim Woodcock University of York, UK =20 From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 16 20:13:41 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:13:41 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCjx0-0001sD-9k for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:07:42 -0400 From: "George Janelidze" To: Subject: categories: A paper on Galois descent in ArXiv Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:16:57 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "George Janelidze" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 70 Dear Colleagues, The paper [F. Borceux, S. Caenepeel, and G. Janelidze, Monadic approach to Galois descent and cohomology, arXiv:0812.1674v1 ] has just appeared in ArXiv. Please send us your comments, and especially suggest more references since the paper uses a lot folklore results. Francis Borceux, Stefaan Caenepeel, and George Janelidze From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 16 20:15:02 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:15:02 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCjyl-0001x0-VZ for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:09:32 -0400 Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:15:27 -0500 (EST) From: Phil Scott To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Announcement: Makkaifest (19-20 June, 2009) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Phil Scott Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 71 We are pleased to announce the following conference: Models, Logics and Higher-Dimensional Categories: A tribute to the work of Mihaly Makkai 19, 20 June 2009 at Centre de Recherche Math\'ematique (CRM) in Montreal Since the mid 1970s there has been a remarkably successful marriage of ideas and techniques between category theory on the one hand and model theory and logic on the other. This was first distilled in the 1977 monograph "First Order Categorical Logic" by M Makkai and G Reyes, which successfully combined traditional model theory with Grothendieck toposes. In the succeeding years, Makkai has built up an impressive body of work in several related fields: categorical model theory, first order logic with dependent sorts, higher dimensional category theory, and most importantly, a coherent and far reaching view of categorical logic in mathematical foundations. Such a meeting is timely for several reasons: not only the occasion of Makkai's 70th birthday year, but also because recently there has been a widening consensus that traditional model theory might usefully embrace the categorical methods he pioneered. Traditional model theory is set-based; in contrast, there has been an increasing use of category-theoretic (specifically including sheaf-theoretic) contexts and techniques in recent model-theoretic work in such areas as algebraic geometry, differential algebra, Mordell-Lang theory, etc. The focus of the meeting will be traditional model theory, categorical model theory and logics, and higher-dimensional category theory (the main themes in Makkai's research career). We hope to have a number of Michael's former and current collegues and students as speakers at the meeting, including the following invited speakers: Mike Barr Victor Harnik Bradd Hart Andre Joyal Hal Kierstead Julia Knight Francois Lamarche Robert Par\'e Anand Pillay Gonzalo Reyes Charles Steinhorn Marek Zawadowski There may be time for some short contributed talks; if that is possible, we shall issue a call for proposals when we can. For further information, please email either Phil Scott or Robert Seely (local organizers). Organizing Committee: B. Hart (McMaster) T. Kucera (Manitoba) P.J. Scott (Ottawa) R.A.G. Seely (McGill) From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 17 08:47:39 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:47:39 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LCvj7-0005CF-AP for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:42:09 -0400 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: On "Traced Monoidal Categories" Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:16:55 +0900 From: Hasegawa Masahito Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hasegawa Masahito Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 72 Dear all, Recently we have noticed that there is an error in the paper "Traced Monoidal Categories" by Joyal, Street and Verity, published in 1996. It is about the bidjointness of the Int-construction and, to our best knowledge, never pointed out before. We think that it is of some interest for quite a few people, as this biadjointness is widely known and frequently quoted in the literature, especially in various work in theoretical computer science. In the paper by JSV, it is claimed that (in Proposition 5.2) the Int-construction gives a left biadjoint of the inclusion of the 2-category TortMon (of tortile monoidal categories, balanced monoidal functors and monoidal natural transformations) in the 2-category TraMon (of traced monoidal categories, traced strong monoidal functors and monoidal natural transformations). However, we found that the statement is not quite correct. There is a simple counterexample: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Counterexample: Let N=(N,0,+,\leq) be the traced partially ordered set of natural numbers. Then Int(N) is equivalent to the compact closed partially ordered set Z=(Z,0,+,-,\leq) of integers. The biadjointness would say that TraMon(N,Z) is equivalent to TortMon(Int(N),Z), which in turn is equivalent to TortMon(Z,Z). However, some calculation shows that TraMon(N,Z) is isomorphic to the partially ordered set of natural numbers, while TortMon(Z,Z) is isomorphic to a discrete category with countably many objects. --------------------------------------------------------------------- JSV's proof was almost perfect, except the very last three lines where some details on 2-cells were missing/wrong. We think that the easiest (and possibly the only) way to recover the biadjointness is to modify the definition of TraMon as the 2-category of traced monoidal categories, traced strong monoidal functors and *invertible* monoidal natural transformations - this is a natural choice, as the 2-cells of TortMon are invertible because of the presence of duals - then all seem to work well (and Ross agreed in his reply to our message). In practice, as far as we can see, this seems to be a relatively harmless error, as most uses of the Int-construction in the literature do not depend on the details on 2-cells (they often do not mention 2-cells at all). However, there are some papers explicitly mentioning 2-cells and thus inheriting the incorrect statement from the JSV paper. (Unfortunately, it is the case for a paper by one [Hasegawa] of us ...) Best, Masahito Hasegawa Shin-ya Katsumata -- Masahito Hasegawa Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 20 07:50:08 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:50:08 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LE0IJ-0003y5-Pa for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:46:55 -0400 Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:32:12 -0800 From: Vaughan Pratt MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories list Subject: categories: The Reasoner - editorial on n-categories Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Vaughan Pratt Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 73 In The Reasoner 2:12 (December 2008), freely downloadable as http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/jw/TheReasoner/vol2/TheReasoner-2(12).pdf from http://www.thereasoner.org/ editor David Corfield writes about n-categories, giving an impressively accessible short overview of the concept and then interviewing Tom Leinster about his experience with n-categories. The interview is followed by an article on the Paradox of Omnipotence by Alex Blum, which addresses the frustration any omnipotent being must surely experience at being unable to create a stone that she cannot lift. (Imagine the applications, such as blocking the fridge door when on a diet: one paradox helping another.) Many of us in moments of temporary perceived omnipotence have experienced this accompanying sense of impotence, which can occur so frequently in life that one learns to suppress it subliminally in microseconds, becoming completely unconscious of it at an early age (but not without much screaming before then). Properly understood, this so-called Paradox of Omnipotence is, as often happens, really a principle, the Principle of Omniimpotence. Paradoxical origins tend to potentize principles to a remarkable degree, with potencies upwards of 200C (the fourth power of a googol). As a case in point the omniimpotence principle forms the basis of a useful diagnostic. Using all available tools, how would you go about creating a stone you cannot lift? If it seems impossible you may be suffering from omnipotence. The principle is modeled at a very elementary level by 0-1 matrices, which cannot simultaneously contain a row of all 1's and a column of all 0's. This is the zeroary case of a more general interference or "uncertainty principle," the binary case of which is that any proper meet in the rows of such a matrix precludes a proper join in the columns. (For this purpose a meet or join is held to be *proper* when it is neither of its arguments.) From this it follows that if a matrix represents a semilattice by virtue of its rows having all meets then its columns cannot have any proper join. This and more can be found at http://boole.stanford.edu/pub/coimbra.pdf as the dry edition of the notes from the course on Chu spaces I gave at the School on Category Theory and Applications held at the University of Coimbra in 1999. (The wet edition, under the slogan "All wet all the time," would have included the above wisdom on omniimpotence but wiser heads prevailed, both mine.) It is not immediately obvious to the untrained eye that there should be any connection between the omnipotence of god and category theory. It should therefore be of some interest to both category theorists and theologians that a more formal connection could exist beyond this mere juxtaposition of articles in The Reasoner. Vaughan From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 20 15:36:00 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:36:00 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LE7ak-0006RF-UQ for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:34:26 -0400 Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:46:06 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: categories list Subject: categories: Re: The Reasoner - editorial on n-categories MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 74 What is missing from Vaughan's account is the "Principle of Asymptotic Omnipotence". Of course the supreme being can create a stone it cannot lift. But being omnipotent it can grow its strength to the point where it can now lift it. Omnipotence allows it to create a more massive stone that it currently could not lift. But then.... It makes no more sense to ask what happens in the limit than it does to ask which way the fly was flying when it was crushed between the two locomotives. Michael On Fri, 19 Dec 2008, Vaughan Pratt wrote: > In The Reasoner 2:12 (December 2008), freely downloadable as > > http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/jw/TheReasoner/vol2/TheReasoner-2(12).pdf > > from > > http://www.thereasoner.org/ > > editor David Corfield writes about n-categories, giving an impressively > accessible short overview of the concept and then interviewing Tom > Leinster about his experience with n-categories. > > The interview is followed by an article on the Paradox of Omnipotence by > Alex Blum, which addresses the frustration any omnipotent being must > surely experience at being unable to create a stone that she cannot > lift. (Imagine the applications, such as blocking the fridge door when > on a diet: one paradox helping another.) Many of us in moments of > temporary perceived omnipotence have experienced this accompanying sense > of impotence, which can occur so frequently in life that one learns to > suppress it subliminally in microseconds, becoming completely > unconscious of it at an early age (but not without much screaming before > then). > > Properly understood, this so-called Paradox of Omnipotence is, as often > happens, really a principle, the Principle of Omniimpotence. > Paradoxical origins tend to potentize principles to a remarkable degree, > with potencies upwards of 200C (the fourth power of a googol). As a > case in point the omniimpotence principle forms the basis of a useful > diagnostic. Using all available tools, how would you go about creating > a stone you cannot lift? If it seems impossible you may be suffering > from omnipotence. > > The principle is modeled at a very elementary level by 0-1 matrices, > which cannot simultaneously contain a row of all 1's and a column of all > 0's. This is the zeroary case of a more general interference or > "uncertainty principle," the binary case of which is that any proper > meet in the rows of such a matrix precludes a proper join in the > columns. (For this purpose a meet or join is held to be *proper* when > it is neither of its arguments.) From this it follows that if a matrix > represents a semilattice by virtue of its rows having all meets then its > columns cannot have any proper join. > > This and more can be found at > > http://boole.stanford.edu/pub/coimbra.pdf > > as the dry edition of the notes from the course on Chu spaces I gave at > the School on Category Theory and Applications held at the University of > Coimbra in 1999. (The wet edition, under the slogan "All wet all the > time," would have included the above wisdom on omniimpotence but wiser > heads prevailed, both mine.) > > It is not immediately obvious to the untrained eye that there should be > any connection between the omnipotence of god and category theory. It > should therefore be of some interest to both category theorists and > theologians that a more formal connection could exist beyond this mere > juxtaposition of articles in The Reasoner. > > Vaughan > > > From rrosebru@mta.ca Sun Dec 21 10:33:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:33:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LEPKq-00011w-Ub for categories-list@mta.ca; Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:31:12 -0400 Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:32:08 -0800 From: Vaughan Pratt MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories list Subject: categories: Re: The Reasoner - editorial on n-categories Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Vaughan Pratt Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 75 Michael Barr wrote: > It makes no more sense to > ask what happens in the limit than it does to ask which way the fly was > flying when it was crushed between the two locomotives. What does "when it was crushed" mean? Assuming an infinitely small fly, i.e. a point, and modeling locomotives as line segments (since they're much bigger than flies), if the locomotives are open at the front (the better to absorb the shock of hitting a cow) then "when it was crushed" cannot be when the frontiers of the locomotives met since there was room for the fly then. But at every other candidate for "when it was crushed" we can ask in which direction it was flying. The argument looks fine with at least one locomotive closed (cows be damned). With exactly one the fly is crushed before the locomotives collide, while if both are closed the fly is crushed when they collide. In either case you're right. Vaughan From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 23 09:51:36 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:51:36 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LF7dg-0007WL-S3 for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:49:36 -0400 From: "mail.btinternet.com" To: Subject: categories: reference to Grothendieck and n-categories? Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:30:27 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "mail.btinternet.com" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 76 There will be a conference in Paris to celebrate the 80th birhday of = Alexander Grothendieck http://www.ihes.fr/jsp/site/Portal.jsp?document_id=3D1661&portlet_id=3D14= and the publication of Pursuing Stacks and the associated correspondence = will be announced. There is from my point of view one lacuna which I = would like to fill. My memory is that I read in 1982 in a SLNM paper on = category theory, I think by Jack Duskin, in which he referred to = Grothendieck's interest in n-categories. This suggested to me to write = to Grothendieck with lots of papers and asking for a meeting, since I = was going to Marseilles-Luminy that summer. I have been unable to = identify this paper. Help would be appreciated! Ronnie From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 23 09:51:36 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:51:36 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LF7d5-0007UI-Kr for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:48:59 -0400 Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:58:58 -0800 From: Vaughan Pratt MIME-Version: 1.0 To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: Role of interpretation Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Vaughan Pratt Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 77 Not that there's been much warring with set theory, foundations of mathematics, or universal algebra lately on this list, but it occurs to me that what I wrote a couple of days ago at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Sokal_Affair#Analogy_with_religion namely how I view the Sokal Affair, might be equally applicable to such wars. Wars can result from differences of opinion. e.g. ownership of territory, interpretations, cardinality of the set of Gods (I hold that it is a square, hence not a prime like 2 or 3, but am open to all arguments to the contrary), or from perceived slights (gloves thrown down, tactless cartoons, etc.), or failing economies (starvation, etc.), or psychopathic dictators (Hitler, Mobutu), etc. These alternatives suggest that perhaps not a great proportion of wars are attributable to differences of interpretation. 9/11 however seems to me inextricably linked to problems of interpretation, in particular how such core references as the Quran, the Bible, the Torah, etc., each held to be *the* word of God by its disciples, are to be understood and applied, about which there is presently great disagreement just where it seems to matter most. Whatever strategies turn out to reconcile these differences effectively may be just as effectively applied to category theory, lattice theory, universal algebra, foundations of mathematics, and whatever else ticks off the conservative end of the mathematical spectrum. Which presently rather ticks me off, I consider them a bunch of dogmatic atheists. Why can't they be a little more agnostic? Let's make agnosticism a legitimate belief system. Vaughan From rrosebru@mta.ca Tue Dec 23 09:51:36 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:51:36 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LF7ce-0007SK-NH for categories-list@mta.ca; Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:48:32 -0400 From: MFPS To: categories@mta.ca Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v929.2) Subject: categories: MFPS FInal Call for Papers Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:20:33 -0600 Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: MFPS Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 78 Dear Colleagues, Below is the Final Call for Papers for MFPS 25, which will be held =20 at Oxford, UK from April 3 - 7, 2009. We encourage submissions in all =20= areas relating to the topics of the meeting. Best regards, Mike MIslove =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS MFPS XXV http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mfps/mfps25 Twenty-fifth Conference on the Mathematical Foundations of Programming Semantics University of Oxford Oxford, UK April 3 - 7, 2009 =09 Partially Supported by US Office of Naval Research In commemoration of the founding of denotational semantics in the work =20= of Dana Scott and Christopher Strachey, the Twenty-fifth Conference on =20= the Mathematical Foundations of Programming Semantics will take place =20= on the campus of the University of Oxford, Oxford UK from April 3 - 7, =20= 2009. MFPS conferences are devoted to those areas of mathematics, =20 logic, and computer science that are related to models of computation, =20= in general, and to the semantics of programming languages, in =20 particular. The series has particularly stressed providing a forum =20 where researchers in mathematics and computer science can meet and =20 exchange ideas about problems of common interest. As the series also =20 strives to maintain breadth in its scope, the conference strongly =20 encourages participation by researchers in neighboring areas. TOPICS include, but are not limited to, the following: biocomputation; =20= concurrent and distributed computation; constructive mathematics; =20 domain theory and categorical models; formal languages; formal =20 methods; game semantics; lambda calculus; logic; probabilistic =20 systems; process calculi; programming-language theory; quantum =20 computation; security; topological models; type systems; type theory. The INVITED SPEAKERS for MFPS XXV are Neil Ghani, Strathclyde Marta Kwiatkowska, Oxford Catherine Meadows, Naval Research Lab Michael Mislove, Tulane Dana Scott, CMU David Schmidt, Kansas State In addition, there will be four SPECIAL SESSIONS: - A Session Honoring Bob Tennent on the occasion of his 65th birthday =20= year, which is being organized by Dan Ghica (Birmingham) and Pete =20 O'Hearn (QMW), and will begin with David Schmidt's plenary talk. - A Session on Security will be held in conjunction with Catherine =20 Meadow's plenary talk. It is being organized by Catherine Meadows and =20= A. W. Roscoe (Oxford). - A Session Honoring Michael Mislove on the occasion of his 65th =20 birthday year, which is being organized by Achim Jung (Birmingham), =20 Samson Abramsky (Oxford) and Steve Brookes (CMU). It will be held in =20 conjunction with Dana Scott's plenary address. - A Session on Mathematical Structured Programming will be held in =20 conjunction with Neil Ghani's plenary address. It is being organized =20 by Neil Ghani and will consist of next spring's meeting of MSFP. In addition, there will be five TUTORIAL TALKS on Quantum Information =20= and Quantum Computing. These are being organized by Samson Abramsky =20 (Oxford) and Bob Coecke (Oxford). The talks will be given at the =20 start of each day of the meeting. These talks are aimed at providing =20 background for participants to take part in the Workshop on Quantum =20 Physics and Logic (QPL VI) immediately following MFPS in Oxford. The remainder of the program will consist of papers selected by the following PROGRAM COMMITTEE Andrej Bauer, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Stephen Brookes, CMU, USA Kostas Chatzikokolakis, TUE, The Netherlands Yuxin Deng, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China Derek Dreyer, MPI-SWS, Germany Daniele Gorla, Sapienza Universit=E0 di Roma, Italy Jean Goubault-Larrecq, ENS Cachan, France Joshua Guttman, MITRE, USA Matthew Hennessy, TCD, Ireland Jean Krivine, Harvard Medical School, USA Achim Jung, University of Birmingham, UK Pasquale Malacaria, Queen Mary University of London, UK Keye Martin NRL, USA Catherine Meadows, NRL, USA Mike Mislove, Tulane University, USA MohammadReza Mousavi, TUE, The Netherlands Joel Ouaknine, Oxford Catuscia Palamidessi, INRIA, France (chair) Prakash Panangaden, McGill University, Canada Peter Selinger, Dalhousie University, Canada Daniele Varacca, Universit=E9 Paris Diderot, France from submissions received in response to this Call for Papers. SUBMISSIONS The submissions are now open, and they are organized through =20 EasyChair. To submit a paper for the meeting, point your browser at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?c=3D.120373;conf=3Dmfps25 IMPORTANT DATES: - January 9 Title and Short Abstract submission deadline - January 16 Paper submission deadline - February 20 Notification to authors - March 13 Preliminary proceedings version due Mathematical Foundations of Programming Semantics http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mfps From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 26 09:00:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:00:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LGCG7-0007EY-BU for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:57:43 -0400 Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:37:05 +0100 From: Thomas Bolander MIME-Version: 1.0 To: undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: categories: CFP: 6th workshop on "Methods for Modalities" (M4M-6) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Thomas Bolander Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 79 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS 6th Workshop on "Methods for Modalities" (M4M-6) http://m4m.loria.fr/M4M6 Copenhagen, Denmark November 12-14, 2009 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Scope ----- The workshop "Methods for Modalities" (M4M) aims to bring together researchers interested in developing algorithms, verification methods and tools based on modal logics. Here the term "modal logics" is conceived broadly, including temporal logic, description logic, guarded fragments, conditional logic, temporal and hybrid logic, etc. To stimulate interaction and transfer of expertise, M4M will feature a number of invited talks by leading scientists, research presentations aimed at highlighting new developments, and submissions of system demonstrations. We strongly encourage young researchers and students to submit papers, especially for experimental and prototypical software tools which are related to modal logics. More information about the previous editions can be found at http://m4m.loria.fr/ M4M-6 will be preceded by a two-day mini-course aimed at preparing PhD students and other researchers for participation in the workshop. The mini-course is associated with the FIRST research school (http://first.dk). Paper Submissions ------------------ Authors are invited to submit papers in the following three categories. - Regular papers up to 15 pages, describing original research. - System descriptions of up to 12 pages, describing new systems or significant upgrades of existing ones. - Presentation-only papers, describing work recently published or submitted (no page limit). These will not be included in the proceedings, but pre-prints or post-prints can be made available to participants. Submissions should be made via EasyChair at the following address: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=3Dm4m6 Final versions of accepted papers will be published online in a volume of Elsevier Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS). A preliminary version of the proceedings will also be available at the workshop. Invited speakers ----------------- To be announced. =20 Important dates --------------- Deadline for submissions: August 24, 2009 Notification: October 5, 2009 Camera ready versions: October 26, 2009 Workshop dates: November 12-14, 2009 Program Committee -----------------=20 Carlos Areces, INRIA Lorraine Lars Birkedal, IT University of Copenhagen Patrick Blackburn, INRIA Lorraine Thomas Bolander (co-chair), Technical University of Denmark Julian Bradfield, University of Edinburgh Torben Bra=FCner (co-chair), Roskilde University Balder ten Cate, University of Amsterdam Stephane Demri, ENS de Cachan Hans van Ditmarsch, University of Otago Melvin Fitting, City University of New York John Gallagher, Roskilde University Mai Gehrke, Radboud University Nijmegen Silvio Ghilardi, University of Milano Valentin Goranko, University of the Witwatersrand Rajeev Gor=E9, ANU, NICTA Michael R. Hansen, Technical University of Denmark Andreas Herzig, IRIT Wiebe van der Hoek, University of Liverpool Martin Lange, LMU M=FCnchen Carsten Lutz, Dresden University of Technology Angelo Montanari, University of Udine Valeria de Paiva, Cuill Inc. Renate Schmidt, University of Manchester Thomas Schneider, University of Manchester Carsten Sch=FCrmann, IT University of Copenhagen Gert Smolka, Saarland University Anders S=F8gaard, University of Copenhagen J=F8rgen Villadsen, Technical University of Denmark Frank Wolter, University of Liverpool Thomas =C5gotnes, Bergen University College =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Dec 26 09:00:53 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:00:53 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LGCH4-0007HI-Ma for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:58:42 -0400 Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:55:46 +0000 (GMT) From: Andrzej Murawski To: categories@mta.ca, Appsem@lists.tcs.ifi.lmu.de, list@prooftheory.org Subject: categories: GALOP IV @ ETAPS 2009 CfP Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Andrzej Murawski Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 80 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GaLoP IV 4th Workshop on Games for Logic and Programming Languages (satellite event of ETAPS 2009) *** CALL FOR PAPERS *** York, United Kingdom 28-29 March 2009 http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/galop09/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GaLoP is an annual international workshop on game-semantic models for logics and programming languages and their applications. This is an informal workshop that welcomes work in progress, overviews of more extensive work, programmatic or position papers and tutorials as well as contributed papers. Accordingly, we ask for submission of both short abstracts outlining what will be presented at the workshop and longer papers describing completed work, either published or unpublished. The fourth GaLoP will be held in York (UK) between March 28 and 29 and will be part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software (ETAPS 2009). Contributions are invited on all pertinent subjects. Typical (but not exclusive) areas are: - games and categorical semantics, - algorithmic aspects of games, - programming languages and full abstraction, - semantics of logics and proof systems, - proof search, - program verification and model checking, - program analysis, - theories of concurrency. There will be no formal proceedings. In previous years, a special issue of the Annals of Pure and Applied Logic has been produced, and this possibility will be pursued again this year. * Submission Link http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=galop09 * Important Dates Submission deadline: January 25 Notification date: February 6 Workshop: March 28-29 * Program Committee Ugo Dal Lago, Bologna Paul Levy, Birmingham Guy McCusker, Bath (co-chair) Dale Miller, Palaiseau Andrzej Murawski, Oxford (co-chair) Olivier Serre, Paris Nicolas Tabareau, Paris From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 27 16:20:11 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:20:11 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LGfcF-0001Im-UA for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:18:31 -0400 From: Gaucher Philippe To: categories@mta.ca Subject: categories: topological closure of a category Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:04:58 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Gaucher Philippe Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 81 Dear all, I have the following situation and I'd like to know whether there is a name for it, or whether someone knows examples like that. That would be helpful. 1) a locally presentable category C 2) a topological locally presentable category D 3) a left adjoint F:C-->D 4) F is faithful but not full (i.e. one-to-one on morphisms) and essentially surjective. So F is not an equivalence of categories. Could D be a kind of "topological closure" of C ? Thanks in advance. pg. From rrosebru@mta.ca Sat Dec 27 16:20:11 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:20:11 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LGfbB-0001H3-SL for categories-list@mta.ca; Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:17:25 -0400 Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:17:10 +0000 (GMT) From: Bob Coecke To: categories@mta.ca, quantum_list@maillist.ox.ac.uk Subject: categories: Call for abstracts: Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL VI), Oxford, April 8-9, 2009. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Bob Coecke Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 82 6th QPL workshop on Quantum Physics and Logic April 8-9, 2009, Oxford, UK This event has as its goal to bring together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing and spatio-temporal causal structures, and in particular those that use logical tools, ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages, semantical methods and other computer science methods for the study physical behaviour in general. Over the past couple of years there has been a growing activity in these foundational approaches together with a renewed interest in the foundations of quantum theory, which complement the more mainstream research in quantum computation. A predecessor of this event, with the same acronym, called Quantum Programming Languages, was held in Ottawa (2003), Turku (2004), Chicago (2005) and Oxford (2006). The first QPL under the new name Quantum Physics and Logic was held in Reykjavik (2008); with the change of name and a new program committee we emphasise the intended much broader scope of this event, aiming to nourish interaction between modern computer science logic, quantum computation and information, models of spatio-temporal causality, and quantum foundations, which resulted in an attractive program. The event proceeds MFPS 2009, also in Oxford, at which there will a series of tutorials to enable MFPS participants to also attend and comprehend the QPL talks. Invited speakers: Reinhard Werner (Braunschweig) Giacomo Mauro D'Ariano (Pavia) TBA (-) Workshop co-chairs: Bob Coecke (Oxford) Prakash Panangaden (McGill) Peter Selinger (Dalhousie) Program Committee: Howard Barnum (Los Alamos) Dan Browne (UCL - Londen) Paul Busch (York) Bob Coecke (Oxford) Andreas Doering (Imperial) John Harding (NMSU) Viv Kendon (Leeds) Keye Martin (NRL) Prakash Panangaden (McGill) Peter Selinger (Dalhousie) TBA (-) Deadlines: February 13: Submission February 27: Notification of authors March 20: Corrected papers due Webpage: http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/people/Bob.Coecke/QPL_09.html Webpage of previous Quantum Physics and Logic: http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/people/Bob.Coecke/DCM_QPL_08.html Papers at previous Quantum Physics and Logic: http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/people/bob.coecke/DCM_QPL_08_accepted.html Webpage of MFPS XXV: http://www.math.tulane.edu/~mfps/mfps25.htm Submission procedure. Prospective speakers are invited to submit a 2-5 pages abstract which provides sufficient evidence of results of genuine interest and provides sufficient detail to allows the program committee to assess the merits of the work. Submissions of works in progress are encouraged but must be more substantial than a research proposal. We both encourage submissions of original research as well as research submitted elsewhere. Authors of accepted original research contributions will be invited to submit a full paper to a special issue of a journal yet to be decided on. Submissions should be in Postscript or PDF format and should be sent to Bob Coecke by February 13, with as subject line QPL Submission. Receipt of all submissions will be acknowledged by return email. Accepted contributors will be able to publish extended versions of their 2-5 abstracts in Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. The workshop enjoys support from: EPSRC Network Semantics of Quantum Computation (EP/E006833/1) EPSRC ARF The Structure of Quantum Information and its Applications to IT (EP/D072786/1) EC Foundational Structures for Quantum Information and Computation (FP6 STREP QICS) From rrosebru@mta.ca Mon Dec 29 12:35:22 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:35:22 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LHL2e-0007IY-LZ for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:32:32 -0400 From: "Perspectives of System Informatics" To: psi09-list@iis.nsk.su Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:23:08 +0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: categories: PSI 2009 Call For Papers Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Perspectives of System Informatics" Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 83 [apologies for cross-posting] CALL FOR PAPERS Seventh International Andrei Ershov Memorial Conference PERSPECTIVES OF SYSTEM INFORMATICS 15-19 June, 2009, Novosibirsk, Akademgorodok, Russia http://psi.nsc.ru/psi09/index.shtml [AIMS AND SCOPE] PSI is a forum for academic and industrial researchers, developers and users working on topics relating to computer, software and information sciences. The conference serves to bridge the gaps between different communities whose research areas are covered by but not limited to foundations of program and system development and analysis, programming methodology and software engineering, and information technologies. The PSI forum provides a venue for such communities at which common problems, methods and methodologies can be discussed and explored. In doing so, PSI aims to support researchers in their quest to improve the reliability, flexibility and efficiency of methods, algorithms and tools for developing computer, software and information systems. The first six conferences were held in 1991, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2006, respectively, and proved to be significant international events. The PSI 2009 Conference is dedicated to the memory of a prominent scientist academician A.P. Ershov and to a significant date in the history of computer science in the country, namely, to the 50th anniversary of the Programming Department (http://pd.iis.nsk.su/, in Russian) founded by him. Initially, the Department was a part of the Institute of Mathematics and later, in 1964, it joined the newly established Computing Center of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A.P. Ershov, who was responsible for forming the Department, gathered a team of young graduates from the leading Soviet universities. The first significant project of the Department was aimed at the development of ALPHA system, an optimizing compiler for an extension of Algol 60 implemented on a Soviet computer M-20. Later the researchers of the Department created the Algibr, Epsilon, Sigma, and Alpha-6 programming systems for the BESM-6 computers. The list of their achievements also includes the first Soviet time-sharing system AIST-0, the multi-language system BETA, research projects in artificial intelligence and parallel programming, the integrated tools for text processing and publishing, and many others. The scope of problems facing the Programming Department was widening in time, its organizational structure changed and there appeared new research directions, school informatics and mixed computation among them. Founded in 1990, the Institute of Informatics Systems is justly considered to be a successor of the Programming Department keeping its main research directions and maintaining its best traditions. [CONFERENCE CHAIR] Alexander Marchuk A. P. Ershov Institute of Informatics Systems & Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia [STEERING COMMITTEE] Manfred Broy Institut fuer Informatik, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany Bertrand Meyer ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Eiffel Software, USA Andrei Voronkov The University of Manchester, UK [HONORARY MEMBERS] Tony Hoare Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK Niklaus Wirth Departement Informatik, ETH Zurich, Switzerland [PROGRAMME COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS] Amir Pnueli New York University, USA & The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Irina Virbitskaite A.P. Ershov Institute of Informatics Systems & Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia Andrei Voronkov The University of Manchester, UK [CONFERENCE SECRETARY] Natalia Cheremnykh A.P. Ershov Institute of Informatics Systems 6, Acad. Lavrentiev pr., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia tel.: +7-383-3307352 fax: +7-383-3323494 e-mail: cher@iis.nsk.su psi09@iis.nsk.su [CONFERENCE TOPICS] Conference topics include: 1. Foundations of Program and System Development and Analysis - specification, validation, and verification techniques, - program analysis, transformation and synthesis, - semantics, logic and formal models of programs, - partial evaluation, mixed computation, abstract interpretation, compiler construction, - theorem proving and model checking, - concurrency theory, - modeling and analysis of real-time and hybrid systems, - computer models and algorithms for bioinformatics. 2. Programming Methodology and Software Engineering - object-oriented, aspect-oriented, component-based and generic programming, - programming by contract, - program and system construction for parallel and distributed computing, - constraint programming, - multi-agent technology, - system re-engineering and reuse, - integrated programming environments, - software architectures, - software development and testing, - model-driven system/software development, - agile software development, - software engineering methods and tools, - program understanding and visualization. 3. Information Technologies - data models, - database and information systems, - knowledge-based systems and knowledge engineering, - bioinformatics engineering - ontologies and semantic Web, - digital libraries, collections and archives, Web publishing, - peer-to-peer data management. In addition to papers in the above list of topics, papers both bridging the gap between different directions and promoting mutual understanding of researchers are welcome. Papers defining the general prospects in computer science are also encouraged. [PROGRAMME COMMITTEE MEMBERS] Konstantin Avrachenkov, HP Labs Russia Janis Barzdins, Univ. of Latvia, Riga, Latvia Igor Belousov, HP Labs Russia Frederic Benhamou, Univ. Nantes, France Eike Best, Univ. Oldenburg, Germany Stefan Brass, Univ. Halle, Germany Kim Bruce, Pomona College, California, USA Mikhail Bulyonkov, IIS SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia Hans-Dieter Burkhard, Humboldt Univ., Berlin, Germany Albertas Caplinskas, IMI, Vilnius, Lithuania Gabriel Ciobanu, Inst. Comp. Sc. RA, Iasi, Romania Javier Esparza, TUM, Muenchen, Germany Jean Claude Fernandez, Univ. J. Fourier, Grenoble, France Chris George, UNU/IIST, Macau Jan Friso Groote, Eindhoven Univ. of Tech., The Netherlands Heinrich Herre, University of Leipzig, Germany Victor Ivannikov, IPS RAS, Moscow, Russia Victor Kasyanov, IIS SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia Joost-Pieter Katoen, RWTH Aachen Univ., Germany Alexander Kleshchev, IACP RAS, Vladivostok, Russia Nikolay Kolchanov, IC&G, Novosibirsk, Russia Gregory Kucherov, CNRS/LIFL/INRIA, Lille, France Rustan Leino, Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA Johan Lilius, Abo Akademi Univ., Turku, Finland Pericles Loucopoulos, Loughborough Univ., UK Audrone Lupeikiene, IMI, Vilnius, Lithuania Andrea Maggiolo-Schettini, Univ. Pisa, Italy Klaus Meer, Cottbus, Germany Dominique Mery, Univ. Henri Poincare, Nancy, France Torben Mogensen, Univ. Copenhagen, Denmark Bernhard Moeller, Univ. Augsburg, Germany Hanspeter Moessenboeck, JK Univ. Linz, Austria Peter Mosses, Swansea Univ., Wales, UK Peter Mueller, Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA Fedor Murzin, IIS SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia Valery Nepomniaschy, IIS SB RAS, Russia Nikolaj Nikitchenko, Nat. Univ. Kiev, Ukraine Jose R. Parama, Univ. A Coruna, Spain Francesco Parisi-Presicce, Univ. "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy Wojciech Penczek, Inst. Comp. Sci., Warsaw, Poland Jaan Penjam, Tallinn Tech. Univ., Estonia Peter Pepper, Tech. Univ. Berlin, Germany Alexander Petrenko, IPS RAS, Moscow, Russia Jaroslav Pokorny, Charles U., Prague, Czech Republic Vladimir Polutin, HP Labs Russia Wolfgang Reisig, Humboldt Univ., Berlin, Germany Viktor Sabelfeld, Swisscom Schweiz AG, Bern, Switzerland Donald Sannella, University of Edinburgh, UK Timos Sellis, Nat. Tech. Univ. Athens, Greece Alexander Semenov, Intel, Novosibirsk, Russia Klaus-Dieter Schewe, Massey Univ, PN, New Zealand David Schmidt, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, USA Nikolay Shilov, IIS SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia Alexander Tomilin, IPS RAS, Moscow, Russia Mark Trakhtenbrot, Holon Inst. of Technology, Israel Alexander L. Wolf, Imperial College, London, UK Tatyana Yakhno, Dokuz Eylul Univ., Izmir, Turkey Wang Yi, Uppsala Univ., Sweden [INVITED SPEAKERS] Samson Abramsky (Oxford University, UK) Dines Bjorner (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) John McCarthy (Stanford University, USA) Kim Guldstrand Larsen (Aalborg University, Denmark) Wolfram Schulte (Microsoft Research, USA) Lothar Thiele (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) [SUBMISSIONS] Paper submissions must: - Contain original contributions that have not been published or submitted to other conferences/journals in parallel with this conference. - Clearly state the problem being addressed, the goal of the work, the results achieved, and the relation to other works. - Be in PS or PDF and formatted according to Springer LNCS Instructions for Authors: http://www.springeronline.com - Have a length that does not exceed 12 pages for a regular paper and 7 pages for a short paper. - Be in English and in a form that can be immediately included in the proceedings without major revision. - Be sent electronically (as a PostScript or PDF file) using website http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=psi09 not later than January 23, 2009. [CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS] A preliminary book of tutorials, invited and accepted contributions will be available at the conference. The final versions of the papers presented at the conference will be published by Springer-Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series after the conference. One can find the proceedings of the previous five conferences in LNCS, Vol. 1181, 1755, 2244, 2890 and 4378, respectively. Information on the previous conference and some pictures can be found at the conference web site: http://psi.nsc.ru/psi06/index_e.shtml [LOCATION] The conference will be held in Akademgorodok (Academy town), 30 km South from Novosibirsk, the largest city of Siberia. Akademgorodok is located in a picturesque place near the Ob lake. It is surrounded with birch and pine forests and pleasant not only for work but for recreation as well. Silence, beautiful landscape, and pure air are the factors promoting scientific activity and creativity. [TRAVELLING] You can fly to Novosibirsk via Moscow by Aeroflot, Transaero or S7. Direct S7 flights will bring you from Frankfurt, Hannover, Seoul or Beijing to Novosibirsk and back. Now you can buy electronic tickets on Aeroflot, S7 and Transaero flights via the websites and pay by VISA and other popular cards. All participants will be met at the Novosibirsk airport and brought to Akademgorodok by a special transport. [WEATHER] The weather in Novosibirsk in the middle of June is normally quite warm and sunny with the temperatures in the range of 25-30 C. Night swimming in the Ob lake is guaranteed. [SATELLITE WORKSHOPS] N.B. Four satellite workshops will be held in conjunction with PSI'09: - Science Intensive Applied Software, - Informatics of Education, - Program Understanding, - History of Computer Science in Siberia (commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Programming Department, Computing Center, Novosibirsk) They will be announced later. [IMPORTANT DATES] January 16, 2009: submission deadline of abstracts January 23, 2009: submission deadline of papers April 7, 2009: notification of acceptance 15-19 June, 2009: the conference dates September 1, 2009: final papers due From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 31 09:07:44 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:07:44 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LI0ks-0004xK-8U for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:04:58 -0400 Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:04:33 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Barr To: Categories list Subject: categories: Elsevier quality control... (fwd) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Barr Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 84 My daughter (who works for the Nature Publishing Group) sent me the following, which is worth reading for knowing the kind of journals Elsevier publishes. Follow the link to John Baez' blog (from which the comments are taken): http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_case_of_m_s_el_naschie.html or just go directly there and save the middle man. I assume that this journal is indexed by ISI. Good grief, imagine that granting agencies are taking that crock of dung seriously. Michael ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:34:16 -0500 (EST) From: Rebecca Barr To: Michael Barr Subject: Elsevier quality control... http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/12/22/publish_your_work_the_easy_way.php From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 31 11:48:06 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:48:06 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LI3Hm-0004LM-CM for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:47:06 -0400 From: "George Janelidze" To: "\"Categories\"" Subject: categories: Second Announcement of CT2009 Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:19:01 +0200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "George Janelidze" Message-Id: Status: RO X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 85 SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT OF CT2009 IN CAPE TOWN Dear Colleagues, Wishing you a Happy New Year, and we - the organizers of CT2009 - look forward to seeing you in Cape Town: Please could you confirm your attendance at the conference as soon as possible and certainly before February 1 by answering the following questions by email to registration@ct2009.info 1. Name, Address/Affiliation, Email Address? (As you would like it to appear in the list of participants) 2. Arrival and Departure dates? (There will be a reception on the evening of Sunday, June 28. The opening and conference talks will begin at 9:00 on Monday, June 29. The conferenc= e will close at 13:00 on Saturday, July 4. However, we expect that Cape Tow= n with all its attractions will entice many participants to prolong their s= tay by either arriving early or staying on after the conference. In particula= r, depending on the weather, we plan to organize excursions on Table Mountai= n and/or Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope on Saturday, July 4, and on Sunda= y, July 5. And any additional information about your plans and wishes would = be helpful) 3. Would you like to give a talk? (If yes, please submit your abstract before April 15. If you are familiar with TeX please submit your abstract in the following form: \documentclass[12pt]{article} \def\references#1{\vspace*{5mm}\noindent{\sc References}\list {[\arabic{enumi}]}{\settowidth\labelwidth{[#1]}\leftmargin\labelwidth \advance\leftmargin\labelsep \usecounter{enumi}} \def\newblock{\hskip .11em plus .33em minus .07em} \sloppy\clubpenalty4000\widowpenalty4000 \sfcode`\.=3D1000\relax} \let\endthebibliog=3D\endlist \begin{document} \begin{center} {\LARGE Title} \bigskip {\large Author\\\small joint work with Coauthor(s)} \end{center} \medskip Abstract \begin{references}{99} \bibitem{1} Reference 1 \bibitem{2} Reference 2 \end{references} \bigskip\bigskip\noindent{\it Address/Affiliation\\ Email} \end{document} We hope that the selection process will end up with all submitted abstrac= ts accepted with enough time for everyone to give either a 30 min or a 15 mi= n talk. Accordingly, there will be up to three parallel sessions.) 4. Would you like to stay at a residence on campus? (The preferred residence is the recently built Graca Machel Hall, normall= y used as a residence for female students. It has "clusters" of rooms: each such cluster consists of two double rooms, four single rooms, shared bathroom, and one or two shared toilets. The price per day per person sho= uld be 181 Rands (at today's exchange rate this is less than 14 Euros) + 37 Rands (less than 3 Euros) for breakfast. Walking from Graca Machel Hall t= o the conference venue will take about 15 minutes but there will also be a shuttle bus. Our lunches will be organized at the University Club, but ot= her meals can be organized at Graca Machel Hall. A hotel would be more comfortable of course, and Internet will show you infinitely many hotels = and small guest houses in Cape Town with infinite (but not below 500 Rands) range of prices. The only problems with a hotel are: (a) higher prices; (= b) non-walking distances from the conference venue; (c) public transport is = not easily convenient. Those of you who prefer a hotel and do not intend to r= ent a car, might prefer to stay near the Waterfront (see http://www.waterfront.co.za ), or near the city centre. The city centre i= s about 15 minutes by car from the University. If you choose to do this the= n further information on transport will be forthcoming) 5. Number of accompanying persons? (And small children among them?) The Conference Fee does not have to be paid by February, but it is: Regular: 2250 Rands by April 15, or 3000 Rands after April 15; Student: 1500 Rands by April 15, or 2000 Rands after April 15; Accompanying person (if it is not a small child): 1200 Rands by April 15,= or 1600 Rands after April 15 The conference fee includes the cost of the Reception, Lunches, Conferenc= e Dinner, and Wednesday Excursion. The payment details are Account Holder: University of Cape Town Name of Bank: Standard Bank of S.A LTD Address: Riverside Centre, Belmont Road, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa Bank Telephone: +27 21 689 8353 Fax: +27 21 686 8025 Branch: Rondebosch Bank Account Number: 071503854 Branch Code Number: 025009 Bank Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ Reference: CT2009 and name of Conference participant Please note that in order for the University to be able to track your payment the following is essential: 1. You reference the payment with CT2009 and your name, and 2. Immediately after you make the payment please send the proof of paymen= t by email to registration@ct2009.info or by fax to +27216502334 The First Announcement is copied below for your convenience. Please also = see http://ct2009.info Please do not hesitate to ask any questions, also by email to questions@ct2009.info George Janelidze ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Janelidze" To: ""Categories"" Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 11:14 PM Subject: categories: First Announcement of CT2009 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF CT2009 AT CAPE TOWN Dear Colleagues, As many of you know from several preliminary announcements, The International Conference in Category Theory CT2009 will be held at th= e University of Cape Town (South Africa) during the week June 29-July 4 of 2009, which is approved by International Steering Committee in Category Theory. The conference will be dedicated to Saunders Mac Lane, who would turn 100 years old on 4 August 2009. INVITED SPEAKERS: Dominique Bourn Marino Gran Peter T. Johnstone F. William Lawvere Ross H. Street Walter Tholen SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: Jiri Adamek Dominique Bourn Marino Gran Marco Grandis George Janelidze Peter T. Johnstone Stephen Lack A. John Power Manuela Sobral Ross H. Street Walter Tholen Richard J. Wood Each member of this committee will choose 30 min and 15 min talks for a particular section (although for the first two sections it will be teams = of four and three respectively) as follows : GENERAL CATEGORY THEORY: D. Bourn, M. Gran, G. Janelidze, M. Sobral TWO-DIMENSIONAL CATEGORICAL ALGEBRA: S. Lack, A. J. Power, R. J. Wood MONOIDAL AND HIGHER DIMENSIONAL CATEGORIES: R. H. Street TOPOS THEORY AND POINTFREE TOPOLOGY: P. T. Johnstone CATEGORICAL TOPOLOGY - Section dedicated to G. C. L. Brummer's 75th Birthday: W. Tholen HOMOTOPICAL ALGEBRA - Section dedicated to K. A. Hardie's 80th Birthday: = M. Grandis APPLICATION OF CATEGORIES IN PHYSICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE: J. Ad=E1mek ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Dharmanand Baboolal Bruce Bartlett Guillaume C. L. Brummer Themba Dube John L. Frith Partha Pratim Ghosh Christopher R. A. Gilmour James R. A. Gray Keith A. Hardie David Holgate George Janelidze Tamar Janelidze Zurab Janelidze Hans-Peter A. Kunzi Zechariah Mushaandja Inderasan Naidoo Peter Ouwehand Ingrid Rewitzky Anneliese Schauerte Peter J. Witbooi This large committee includes almost everyone from the Universities of Ca= pe Town, Stellenbosch, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, South Africa (UNISA), an= d Witwatersrand, working or interested in category theory, from senior professors to PhD students. The website of the conference with all relevant information will be made before December 2008. George Janelidze From rrosebru@mta.ca Wed Dec 31 19:05:16 2008 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:05:16 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LIA6B-0000fx-Hk for categories-list@mta.ca; Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:03:35 -0400 From: Michael Fourman To: Michael Barr Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: categories: Elsevier quality control... (fwd) Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:28:55 +0000 References: Content-Disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Michael Fourman Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 86 Hi Mike! This is scary, particularly since our Research Evaluation in the UK is=20= =20 moving from peer review to citation-based metrics. Maybe this will prove useful fodder for our arguments against reliance=20= =20 on Thomson ... CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS is indeed covered : http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi?PC=3DMAST= ER&Word=3Dchaos CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALSSemimonthlyISSN: 0960-0779PERGAMON-ELSEVIER=20=20 SCIENCE LTD, THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD,=20=20 ENGLAND, OX5 1GB =95 Coverage =95 Science Citation Index =95 Science Citation Index Expanded =95 Current Contents - Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences Best wishes for the new year, Michael Fourman On 31 Dec 2008, at 01:04, Michael Barr wrote: > My daughter (who works for the Nature Publishing Group) sent me the > following, which is worth reading for knowing the kind of journals > Elsevier publishes. Follow the link to John Baez' blog (from which=20=20 > the > comments are taken): > http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/11/the_case_of_m_s_el_naschie.ht= ml > or just go directly there and save the middle man. > > I assume that this journal is indexed by ISI. Good grief, imagine=20=20 > that > granting agencies are taking that crock of dung seriously. > > Michael > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:34:16 -0500 (EST) > From: Rebecca Barr > To: Michael Barr > Subject: Elsevier quality control... > > http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/12/22/publish_your_work_the_eas= y_way.php > > > > _______________________________________________ > categories mailing list > categories@inf.ed.ac.uk > http://lists.inf.ed.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/categories > --=20 The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Jan 2 14:54:05 2009 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:54:05 -0400 Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1LIp7B-0001xS-GD for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:51:21 -0400 Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:55:58 -0800 From: PETER EASTHOPE Subject: categories: Re: Elsevier quality control... (fwd) To: categories@mta.ca MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-language: en Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Reply-To: PETER EASTHOPE Message-Id: Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 87 Michael Fourman wrote, mf> ... Research Evaluation in the UK is moving from peer review to citation-based metrics. More automation, more technological complexity, more resources consumed. Less substance. Ie. decreasing efficiency in human endeavour. A trend throughout the industrialized world since about 1950 and so sign of the trend changing. Regards, ... Peter E. -- http://members.shaw.ca/peasthope/ http://carnot.yi.org/ = http://carnot.pathology.ubc.ca/