A basic promise of AI research is that what we observe as human intelligence is in fact a computation either directly or as an emergent effect. An attempt at classifying and distinguishing types of AI researchers was to call them all either scruffy (those that wrote code and implemented systems) or neat (those that base AI on some formalism like first order predicate calculus). Out of necessity, researchers tend to focus on a particular aspect of intelligence to simulate. When this is done, the effect is to restrict the class of computations that are being considered. The goal is build pieces of intelligence.

AA AI is financially solvent. The conference revenues this year were outstanding; the gross revenues were approximately $391,000 for the tutorials and Technology Transfer Symposium, and $187,000 for the remainder of the conference. Assets of over $384,000 are projected for the end of the year Local Arrangements. The local arrangements committee will remain active throughout the year. A temporary employee will be hired several months prior to the conference to assist in preparation for the conference.

IAAI has been held annually since 1989 and has been collocated with the national (or international) AI conference since 1991. The proceedings were published in book form through 1992. Since 1993, a conference proceedings volume has been published, and selected papers have been republished as articles in AI Magazine. This introduction briefly discusses the 1995 IAAI award winners and presents goals and plans for next year's conference. IAAI features real, deployed AI applications, selected for their innovation.

Judging by the title, I particularly looked forward to information on how artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are or can be employed in psychiatric analysis, diagnosis, and management of patients or disorders. Upon reading Hand's preface, my hopes turned to enthusiasm. According to the author, the goals of the book are to "outline Artificial Intelligence methods in a way which is intelligible to psychiatrists (and to others] with no knowledge of computers" and to relate AI to psychiatry in general. Although the first goal meant reviewing familiar material, the second objective was certain to make reading the entire book a worthwhile effort. After all, I reasoned, some point might well be implied in the selection of material and its order of presentation.

The Atw office at 445 Burgess, Drive has been in operation for over a year; it has taken over responsibility for membership and the N Magazine, as well as continuing its management of conferences, tutorials, and exhibit, programs. The AAAI is financially solvent; asset,s of over $100,000 are projected for the end of the year; the organization is working toward a backup equivalent to one-year's expenses. Given a stable financial status, the AAAI can begin to explore other things to do with its resources (See next column for a statement summarizing AAAI finances as of 30 November.) John McCarthy will be President-Elect for 1982-1983; Saul Amarel, Michael Genescrcth, Peter Hart, and Raj Reddy, will serve on the Council for the period 1982-1985; Stan Rosenschein will complete McCarthy's term on the Council for 1982-1983. The membership is getting close to 2000; there were 1720 members listed before the conference, 160 of which were foreign; conference registrations should add 100-150.

A hybrid fuzzy knowledge-based system with crisp and fuzzy rules as well as numerical methods was developed for multiobjective optimization of power distribution system operation. The development process and knowledge-acquisition process for the fuzzy knowledge-based system are described in detail. Fuzzy sets are defined for recent temperature trend, line section loading, transformer aging, voltage-level guidelines, and the degree of desirability of a proposed switching combination. After a heuristic preprocessor proposes a list of switch openings that would seem to reduce system losses, network radiality rules consider whether to open a particular switch and find a corresponding switch that can be closed to maintain radiality. Network parameter rules determine whether the proposed switching combination will violate network integrity.

The Board of Directors American Association For Artificial Intelligence Menlo Park, California We have audited the statement of financial position of American Association for Artificial Intelligence as of December 31, 1996 and the related statements of activities, changes in net assets and cash flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Association's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement.

Arthur Samuel (1901-1990) was a pioneer of artificial intelligence research. From 1949 through the late 1960s, he did the best work in making computers learn from their experience. His vehicle for this work was the game of checkers. Programs for playing games often fill the role in artificial intelligence research that the fruit fly Drosophila plays in genetics. Drosophilae are convenient for genetics because they breed fast and are cheap to keep, and games are convenient for artificial intelligence because it is easy to compare a computer's performance on games with that of a person.

Cover: AI@50--We Are Golden, by James Gary, New York, New York. What Do We Know About Knowledge? Send all submissions to AI Magazine, AAAI, 445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025-3442. Electronic submissions should be submitted using the web-based submissions form. Submissions information is available at aimagazine.org. Although no particular style is required for submissions, electronic submissions must be in PDF form. Authors whose work is accepted for publication, will be required to revise their work to conform reasonably to AI Magazine styles. If an article is accepted for publication, a new electronic copy will also be required. Although AI Ma ga zine generally grants great deference to an author's work the Magazine retains the right to determine the final published form of every article. Calendar items should be posted electronically (at least one month prior to the event or deadline). News items should be sent to the News Editor, AI Magazine, 445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025-3442. Please do not send news releases via either email or fax, and do not send news releases to any of the other editors. Web-based job postings can be made using the job bank submissions form at aimagazine.org. Replacement copies (for current issue only) are available upon written request and a check for $10.00. Back issues are also available (cost may differ). Send replacement or back order requests to AAAI. Microform copies are available from ProQuest Information and Learning, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

AAAI has seen great ups and downs, based largely on the perceived success of AI in business applications. Great early success allowed AAAI to weather the "AI winter" to enjoy the current "thaw." Other challenges to AAAI have resulted from its success in spinning out international conferences, thereby effectively removing several key AI areas from the AAAI National Conference. AAAI leadership continues to look for ways to deal with these challenges. AAI began life intending to be completely different from the established professional societies (such as ACM).