People constantly apply acquired knowledge to new learning tasks, but machines almost never do. Research on transfer learning attempts to address this dissimilarity. Working within this area, we report on a procedure that learns and transfers constraints in the context of inductive process modeling, which we review. After discussing the role of constraints in model induction, we describe the learning method, MISC, and introduce our metrics for assessing the cost and benefit of transferred knowledge. The reported results suggest that cross-domain transfer is beneficial in the scenarios that we investigated, lending further evidence that this strategy is a broadly effective means for increasing the efficiency of learning systems. We conclude by discussing the aspects of inductive process modeling that encourage effective transfer, by reviewing related strategies, and by describing future research plans for constraint induction and transfer learning.

Planetary exploration by autonomous robotic systems cannot be carried out successfully unless significant testing of the underlying computer vision algorithms is performed. In our previous work, we have demonstrated the use of a wearable computer system, the Cyborg Astrobiologist, capable of testing computer-vision algorithms as part of semi-autonomous exploration systems at remote geological and astrobiological field sites (McGuire et al., 2004, 2005). In that work, we showed that the exploration system, which was based upon newly-developed'uncommon maps' and previously-developed'interest maps' (Rae et al., 1999; McGuire et al., 2002), could viably and robustly be utilized during remote field missions to localize interesting geochemical or hydrological features. Our system carries out the navigation process using the lower end of the spectral resolution, making use of three colour imagery to distinguish between regions of unusual colour. Navigation using higher spectral resolution spectrometry, for example, navigation based on mineralogical differences, will yield more interesting results but this is beyond the scope of the current work.

The Modified Antarctic Mapping Mission MAMM) was conducted from September to November 2000 onboard RADARSAT. The mission plan consisted of more than 2400 synthetic aperture radar data acquisitions of Antarctica that achieved the scientific objectives and obeyed RADARSAT's resource and operational constraints. Mission planning is a time- and knowledge-intensive effort. It required over a workyear to manually develop a comparable plan for AMM-1, the precursor mission to MAMM. This article describes the design and use of the automated mission planning system for MAMM, which dramatically reduced mission-planning costs to just a few workweeks and enabled rapid generation of what-if scenarios for evaluating alternative mission designs.

Antarctica contains the most fertile meteorite hunting grounds on Earth. The pristine, dry and cold environment ensures that meteorites deposited there are preserved for long periods. Subsequent glacial flow of the ice sheets where they land concentrates them in particular areas. To date, most meteorites recovered throughout history have been done so in Antarctica in the last 20 years. Furthermore, they are less likely to be contaminated by terrestrial compounds.

Antarctica contains the most fertile meteorite hunting grounds on Earth. The pristine, dry and cold environment ensures that meteorites deposited there are preserved for long periods. Subsequent glacial flow of the ice sheets where they land concentrates them in particular areas. To date, most meteorites recovered throughout history have been done so in Antarctica in the last 20 years. Furthermore, they are less likely to be contaminated by terrestrial compounds.

"Among the new languages for instructing computers is a remarkable one called LISP. The name comes from the first three letters of LIST and the first letter of PROCESSING. Not only is LISP a language for instructing computers but it is also a formal mathematical language, in the same way as elëmentary algebra when rigorously defined and used is a formal mathematical language.The LISP language and its implementation on the IBM 7090 computer were worked out by a group including John McCarthy, Stephen B. Russell , Daniel J. Edwards, Paul W. Abrahams, Timothy P. Hart, Michael I. Levin, Marvin L. Minsky, and others.LISP is designed primarily for processing data consisting of lists of symbols. It has been used for symbolic calculations in differential and integral calculus, electrical circuit theory, mathematical logic , game playing, and other fields of intelligent handling of symbols."Information International, Inc, Cambridge, Mass.