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<TITLE>NN2006 - Summer School on Neural Networks in Classification Regression and Data Mining</TITLE>
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<P><I><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Apologies for multiple copies.</FONT></I>
<BR><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">We appreciate if you can forward this Announcement to potential candidates.</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><BR>
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</FONT><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">SUMMER SCHOOL NN2006</FONT></B>
<BR><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">NEURAL NETWORKS in CLASSIFICATION, REGRESSION and DATA MINING</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> </FONT>
<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">July 3-7, 2006, ISEP - Porto, Portugal<BR>
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<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.nn.isep.ipp.pt"><SPAN LANG="pt"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">http://www.nn.isep.ipp.pt </FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> email: </FONT></SPAN><A HREF="mailto:nn-2006@isep.ipp.pt"><SPAN LANG="pt"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">nn-2006@isep.ipp.pt</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">GENERAL INFORMATION </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The Summer School will be held at Porto, Portugal, jointly organized by the Polytechnic School of Engineering of Porto (ISEP) and the Faculty of Engineering, Porto University (FEUP). </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Following last year experience, this year's edition also includes a WORKSHOP SESSION providing a discussion forum where the participants can obtain peer guidance for their projects.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">PROGRAMME COMMITTEE (PROVISIONAL) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Carlos Soares (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economy, University of Porto, Portugal) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Christopher Bishop (Professor, Assistant Director, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, U.K.) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Danilo Mandic (Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College, U.K.) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Fernando Sereno (Adjunct Professor, School of Education, Porto Polythecnic Institute, Portugal) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Joaquim Marques de Sá (Associate Professor, Dept.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Electr. and Comp. Engineering, Fac. of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal) </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Luís Alexandre (Assistant Professor, Beira Interior University, Portugal) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Mark Embrecht (Associate Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI Troy, New York, U.S.A.) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Noelia Sánchez Maroño (Assistant Professor, Coruna University, Spain) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Paulo Cortez (Assistant Professor, University of Minho, Portugal) </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Robert Legenstein (Assistant Professor, Institute for Theoretical Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Austria) </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">• Steve Gunn (Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, U.K.)</FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">COURSE CONTENTS </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Neural networks (NN) have become a very important tool in classification and regression tasks. The applications are nowadays abundant, e.g. in the engineering, economy and biology areas. The Summer School on NN is dedicated to explain relevant NN paradigms, namely multilayer perceptrons (MLP), radial basis function networks (RBF) and support vector machines (SVM) used for classification and regression tasks, illustrated with applications to real data. Specific topics are also presented, namely Spiking Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, Modular Neural Networks and Data Mining using NN.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Classes include practical sessions with appropriate software tools. The trainee has, therefore, the opportunity to apply the taught concepts and become conversant with a broad range of NN topics and applications. A special workshop session will provide a discussion forum where the participants can obtain peer guidance for their projects. Official language is English. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">A preliminary programme and further information about the classes are available at the school webpage (</FONT></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.nn.isep.ipp.pt"><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">http://www.nn.isep.ipp.pt</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">) </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">IMPORTANT DEADLINES </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Early Registration: 15 May 2006 </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Hotel booking: 15 June 2006 </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Summer School: 3-7 July 2006 </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">All participants are required to register prior to the start of the School - until the June 15 - even if you choose to pay the late registration fee at the registration desk.<BR>
Please note that only a LIMITED number of participants can be accepted. </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">REGISTRATION </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">In order to attend the School you must fill in the registration form, available at the School web page. Please note that if you have any guests who would like to take part in the social programme, you must register them as well, by filling in the corresponding field in the registration form. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">SCHOOL FEES </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The registration fee for participants amounts to: </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">- Early registration fee (paid before the 15th of May) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> * 330 Euro (students, ISEP and FEUP staff) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> * 380 Euro (all other participants) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">- Late registration fee (paid after the 15th of May) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> * 380 Euro (students, ISEP and FEUP staff) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> * 430 Euro (all other participants) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The registration fee includes: </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">* school package (manuscripts, CD)<BR>
* coffee breaks<BR>
* daily lunch<BR>
* welcome reception<BR>
* school banquet </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">NOTE: The registration fee for those who attended previous editions amounts to 25/30 euro per lecture and includes the school package and coffee-breaks. Please, contact the LOC for further details. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (LOC) </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">- Ana Cristina Meira - Assistant, Dept. Mathematics, ISEP, Portugal </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">- Jorge M. Santos - Assistant, Dept.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Mathematics, ISEP, Portugal </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">- Rui Chibante - Assistant, Dept. Mathematics, ISEP, Portugal </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">CONTACT ADDRESS </FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Local Organizing Committee (LOC) - Summer School NN2006<BR>
Departamento de Matemática<BR>
Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto<BR>
Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida 431<BR>
4200-072 PORTO / PORTUGAL<BR>
Email: nn-2006@isep.ipp.pt </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">NN2006 Secretariat</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Ms. Gabriela Afonso<BR>
Email: gafonso@fe.up.pt </FONT></SPAN>
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<P><SPAN LANG="pt"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Programme Chair:<BR>
Prof. Joaquim Marques de Sá<BR>
Tel. 225081828 - Email: jmsa@fe.up.pt </FONT></SPAN>
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