From erik at oist.jp Wed Jun 2 03:46:54 2010 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 16:46:54 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) Executive Director Message-ID: <3FF12935-6059-4AEF-8B3E-D4B69E935F63@oist.jp> INCF is an independent international organization created in 2005 through the Global Science Forum of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to further the development of a global neuroinformatics capability with regard to databases, tool development and modeling. The INCF has rapidly acquired a prominent role in developing and coordinating neuroinformatics worldwide. INCF has 15 member countries, from Asia, Europe, and North America. The Executive Director acts as the chief executive officer of the INCF. The INCF Secretariat is located at the Karolinska Institute Campus in Stockholm and is made up of the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director and a current staff of 11 individuals. The Secretariat interacts directly with the national neuroinformatics nodes hosted by the individual member countries. Detailed information about INCF and its governing board ? strategic overview, focus areas and reports - are to be found at the INCF portal (www.incf.org). The Executive Director should have a solid scientific and administrative background and be capable of developing and taking forward the INCF vision of neuroinformatics. Outstanding organizational and interpersonal skills are required. The position is full-time. The salary level is subject to negotiation and is expected to be up to 20% above that of a full professor in Sweden. Applications should contain a CV, a list of publications and a statement of why the candidate feels she/he is interested in this position. The review of the applications will start in July. For more information please contact: Professor Grillner, Chairman of the INCF Governing Board (sten.grillner at ki.se; tel:+46-8-52486900) or Professor Erik De Schutter, Chair of the Search Committee (erik at oist.jp; tel:+81-98-966-8727). Applications should be submitted to: INCF, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels v?g 15A, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden From nicolas.brunel at parisdescartes.fr Thu Jun 3 10:23:04 2010 From: nicolas.brunel at parisdescartes.fr (Nicolas Brunel) Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:23:04 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in theoretical modeling of the cerebellar network Message-ID: <4C07BAC8.3000207@parisdescartes.fr> PhD position in theoretical modeling of the cerebellar network A PhD position in computational neuroscience is available in the cerebellum group of the biology department of Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris, France), starting from September 2010. The PhD will be supervised by Boris Barbour, Nicolas Brunel and Stephane Dieudonne. Project: The mechanisms of operation of the cerebellar cortex remain elusive, in spite of extensive experimental and theoretical research in the last decades. The goal of this project is to advance our understanding of the dynamics of this structure using theoretical tools. The project will consist in: (1) build simplified models for each cell type of this structure, using experimental data obtained in ENS; (2) build a network model using previously obtained single cell models, known anatomy, and data about synaptic connectivity obtained in ENS; (3) investigate the dynamics of the network model, using both analytical tools and large-scale numerical simulations. The dynamics of the model will be compared with available in vivo data. For more details about the group, see: http://www.biologie.ens.fr/neurocb/ http://www.neurophys.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/~brunel/ Requirements: The applicant should have a strong background in physics and/or applied mathematics, and good programming skills. Previous exposure to neuroscience is preferred but not required. The applicant cannot be French, nor have resided in France in the last 3 years. To apply: Please send CV and letter of interest to the following three addresses: boris.barbour at ens.fr nicolas.brunel at parisdescartes.fr stephane.dieudonne at ens.fr Please also arrange for at least two reference letters to be sent to the same addresses. Deadline for application: June 30, 2010. -- Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology Universite Paris Descartes, CNRS UMR 8119 45 rue des Saints Peres 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Tel (33).1.42.86.20.58 - Fax (33).1.49.27.90.62 nicolas.brunel at parisdescartes.fr www.neurophys.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/~brunel From ckiw at inf.ed.ac.uk Fri Jun 4 11:47:17 2010 From: ckiw at inf.ed.ac.uk (Chris Williams) Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 16:47:17 +0100 (BST) Subject: Connectionists: PASCAL Visual Object Classes Recognition Challenge 2010 (VOC2010) - Training & test data available Message-ID: PASCAL Visual Object Classes Recognition Challenge 2010 (VOC2010) We are running the PASCAL Visual Object Classes Recognition Challenge again this year. As in 2009 there are 20 object classes for the main competitions. Participants can recognize any or all of the classes, and there are classification, detection and pixel-wise segmentation competitions. This year there is an action classification taster competition (new for 2010), as well as a taster competition on person layout (detecting head, hands, feet). There is also an associated large scale visual recognition taster competition organized by www.image-net.org. The development kit (Matlab code for evaluation, and baseline algorithms), training and test data are now available via: http://pascallin.ecs.soton.ac.uk/challenges/VOC/voc2010/index.html where further details are given. The timetable of the challenge is: * 8 May 2010: Development kit (training and validation data plus evaluation software) made available. * 24 May 2010: Test data made available. * 23 August 2010. Deadline for submission of results. * 11 September 2010: Workshop in association with ECCV 2010, Crete. Mark Everingham Luc Van Gool Chris Williams John Winn Andrew Zisserman -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From jose at psychology.rutgers.edu Thu Jun 3 14:06:53 2010 From: jose at psychology.rutgers.edu (Stephen =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9?= Hanson) Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:06:53 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEW FROM MIT PRESS Message-ID: <1275588413.3279.385.camel@max> New from MIT Press! Foundational Issues in Human Brain Mapping - The MIT Press Source: mitpress.mit.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100603/b88fa8a0/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: sig.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 41099 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100603/b88fa8a0/sig-0001.jpg From cl at cmu.edu Mon Jun 7 16:42:01 2010 From: cl at cmu.edu (Christian Lebiere) Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:42:01 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Research Positions in Cognitive Modeling at CMU Message-ID: Applications are welcome for research positions in the Psychology Department at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of Dr. Christian Lebiere. Positions include two postdoctoral researchers and a research programmer. The goals of the projects are to investigate the application of hybrid cognitive architectures consisting of symbolic, statistical and neural processes and representations to robotic control systems. The projects are funded by multi-year grants from the Army Research Laboratories (ARL) and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to: 1) Integrating symbolic and neural cognitive architectures (specifically ACT-R and Leabra). 2) Integrating symbolic reasoning and statistical learning processes. 3) Applying hybrid cognitive architectures to robotic control problems including autonomy and mixed human-robot teams. 4) Applying cognitive architectures to human-robot interaction problems including operator situation awareness and human-guided learning in robots. 5) Integrating computational and cognitive techniques for understanding complex visual scenes. Postdoctoral candidates should have a doctorate in cognitive psychology, cognitive science, computer science, or robotics, with a background in computational modeling and a strong interest in both basic research in cognitive science and its practical applications. Research programmer candidates should have a BS in computer science (MS preferred) or equivalent experience, with a background in modeling and simulation preferred. All candidates should submit their CV to the address below, and postdoctoral candidates should also include a letter describing their research interests and goals, and at least 2 letters of recommendation. These positions are open immediately and offer competitive salary and benefits. Carnegie Mellon University offers a stimulating research environment in livable Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To apply or obtain additional information, contact: Dr. Christian Lebiere Psychology Department Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Tel: 412-268-6028 Email: cl at cmu.edu From Yaochu.Jin at surrey.ac.uk Wed Jun 9 07:32:08 2010 From: Yaochu.Jin at surrey.ac.uk (Yaochu.Jin@surrey.ac.uk) Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 12:32:08 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?Surrey_Summer_School_on_Computat?= =?windows-1252?q?ional_Intelligence_=96_Theory_and_Industrial_Application?= =?windows-1252?q?s?= Message-ID: Call for Participation 2010 IEEE-CIS / Surrey Summer School on Computational Intelligence ? Theory and Industrial Applications August 9-13, 2010, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK 1. Aim and Target It is our pleasure to call for participation to the 2010 IEEE-CIS / Surrey Summer School on Computational Intelligence ? Theory and Industry Applications (SSS-TIA?2010). The main goal of the summer school is to provide senior undergraduate students, M.Sc. or PhD students, academics, and engineers from industry with hands-on knowledge on sophisticated CI algorithms and methods, most recent advances and developments in CI research, and substantial examples of successful CI applications to solving industry problems, thereby strengthening the connection between academia and industry. The courses will be given by both leading CI researchers from academia and experienced CI practitioners and managers from major industry. The summer school is co-sponsored by University of Surrey and the Education Committee of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. 2. Courses and Lecturers The courses consist of five modules of Computational Intelligence Methods (CIM), and five modules of Computational Intelligence Applications (CIA). Each CIM module is composed of two 1.5-hour lectures, while each CIA consists of one 2-hour lecture. The following speakers have already confirmed to give a lecture at SSS-TIA?2010: ? Prof. Xin Yao, University of Birmingham, UK ? Prof. Erkki Oja, Aalto University, Finland ? Dr Ke Chen, Manchester University, UK ? Dr Xiaojun Zeng, Manchester University, UK ? Dr Ricardo Baeza-Yates, VP for EMEA & LatAm, Yahoo! Research Barcelona ? Prof. Dr Bernhard Sendhoff, Honda Research Europe ? Dr Thomas Runkler, Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, Germany ? Dr Danil Prokhorov, Toyota Technical Center, USA 3. Registration and Accommodation The registration fee includes registration of the lectures, lunch and coffee during the breaks. We will be able to provide a limited number of rooms within our campus accommodation. The rate for these rooms including breakfast is 42.55 GBP per night. Late registration is possible, but we cannot guarantee the availability of campus accommodation. The registration fees are: ? Full-time students (early /late): 400.00 / 500.00 GBP ? Part-time students / Academics: (early / late): 500.00 / 600.00 GBP ? Industry (early / late): 900.00 / 1000.00 GBP The early registration deadline is July 12, 2010. Inquiries regarding registrations and accommodation should be directed to Mrs. Maggie Button (email: M.Burton at surrey.ac.uk, Phone: +44 1483 686140.) 4. IEEE CIS Student Travel Grants The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society is able to provide four student travel grants to participants of the SSS-TIA?2010, including one international student outside Europe, one from Europe outside UK, and two from UK. If you want to apply for a travel scholarship, please visit IEEE CIS Summer School Webpage at http://ieee-cis.org/edu/schools/. If you have any questions regarding student travel grant, you may contact Dr. Moufid Harb (Email: mharbh at ieee.org), Chair of the Summer School Subcommittee of the IEEE CIS. Please contact Prof Yaochu Jin (Email: Yaochu.Jin at surrey.ac.uk, Phone: +44 1483 686037), Department of Computing, University of Surrey, UK for general enquiries. From vidit at cs.umass.edu Wed Jun 9 13:40:45 2010 From: vidit at cs.umass.edu (Vidit Jain) Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 13:40:45 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Final Call for Papers: ECCV 2010 workshop on face detection (deadline: June 16th) Message-ID: <404E3A2E-EA43-405D-8575-9DF5A291098A@cs.umass.edu> (Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Face Detection: Where we are, and what next? (In conjunction with ECCV'10) September 10, 2010 Heraklion, Crete, Greece http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/fdWorkshop/ Submission Deadline: June 16th, 2010 Invited Speakers: Yann LeCun (New York University) Hartmut Neven (Google Research) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction: Face detection has been a core problem in computer vision for more than a decade. Not only has there been substantial progress in research, but many techniques for face detection have also made their way into commercial products. Despite this maturity, the algorithms for face detection remain difficult to compare, and somewhat brittle to the specific conditions under which they are applied. One difficulty in comparing different face detection algorithms is the lack of enough detail to reproduce the published results, which makes it important to establish better benchmarks of performance. In this workshop, we introduce a new, challenging data set of images (FDDB) with faces in unconstrained settings. A rigorous evaluation of different face detection algorithms on this benchmark will emphasize the two main objectives of this workshop: (1) establish the current state-of-the-art in face detection, and (2) identify new frontiers of research in face detection. To encourage an easy access of these face detection systems to the research community, this workshop will present a cash award for best performing face detector (see FDDB page for further details). Also, there will be a best paper award. Both of these awards are sponsored by Microsoft Research India. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Organizing Committee: Vidit Jain (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Gang Hua (Nokia Research Center Hollywood) Michael Jones (Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Call for papers: We solicit contributions in two broad categories: Category A: Novel approaches for face detection Papers in this category should present novel scientific contributions in face detection. We are particularly interested in the domain of unconstrained faces in which faces are not presented in a laboratory controlled setting. Category B: Face detection benchmark The goal of these submissions is to compare algorithms for the unconstrained face detection problem, and should present results on the FDDB benchmark, which is available at FDDB page. Authors may submit either a short paper or a regular paper in this category. A more detailed call for papers including specific areas of interest is available at: http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/fdWorkshop/cfp.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Important dates: Paper Submission : June 16, 2010 Acceptance Decisions : July 9, 2010 Camera-ready : July 14, 2010 Workshop Date : September 10, 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100609/c4e8d694/attachment-0001.html From madclam at gmail.com Wed Jun 9 19:02:26 2010 From: madclam at gmail.com (Maddi Clam) Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 16:02:26 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS demonstrations Message-ID: ========================================================================= NIPS 2010 DEMONSTRATIONS ========================================================================= Demonstration Proposal Deadline: Monday September 20, 2010 The Neural Information Processing Systems Conference 2010 http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/ has a Demonstration Track running in parallel with the evening Poster Sessions, December 6-8, 2010, in Vancouver, Canada. Demonstrations are an opportunity to showcase: ? Hardware technology ? Software systems ? Neuromorphic and biologically-inspired systems ? Robotics or other systems, which are relevant to the technical areas covered by NIPS (see Call for Papers http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/CallForPapers) . Demonstrations must show novel technology and must be live, preferably with some interactive parts. A demonstration is not just another poster presentation or a slide show, the action part is important. Submissions: Submission of demo proposals at the following URL: http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/DemoForm.php You will be asked to fill a questionnaire and describe clearly: ? the technology demonstrated ? the elements of novelty ? the live part ? the interactive part ? the equipment brought by the demonstrator ? the equipment required at the place of the demo Evaluation Criteria: Submissions will be refereed on the basis of technical quality, novelty, live action, potential for interaction. Demonstration chair: Isabelle Guyon -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100609/5856de65/attachment-0001.html From lamb at inf.ufrgs.br Thu Jun 10 10:41:47 2010 From: lamb at inf.ufrgs.br (Luis Lamb) Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:41:47 -0300 Subject: Connectionists: 6th Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning , (NeSy'10 at AAAI 2010, Atlanta) Message-ID: <4C10F9AB.9030007@inf.ufrgs.br> 6th Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy'10 at AAAI 2010, Atlanta) Sunday, 11 July 2010 http://www.neural-symbolic.org/NeSy10 http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/aaai10.php We're delighted to announce the NeSy'10 programme: Paul Thagard (University of Waterloo) How brains make mental models Gadi Pinkas (Center for Academic Studies, Israel) Can neurons be logical? Revisiting FOL in symmetric ANN Pedro Domingos (University of Washington) Markov logic networks Kristian Kersting (University of Bonn) Statistical relational mining Dragos Margineantu (Boeing, Seatle) Testing adaptive and learning models Leo de Penning, Artur d'Avila Garcez, Luis Lamb and John-Jules Meyer (TNO Defense Netherlands, City University London, UFRGS Brazil, Utrecht University) An Integrated Neural Symbolic Cognitive Agent Architecture for Training and Assessment in Simulators Sihle Wilson, Ronald Benson and Tyshun Jones (Florida A&M University) Autonomous Passenger Retrieval System for Automobiles Jim Prentzas and Ioannis Hatzilygeroudis (Democritus University of Thrace, University of Patras) An Explanation Mechanism for Integrated Rules We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta. Best regards, Artur Garcez Pascal Hitzler Luis Lamb From erik at tnb.ua.ac.be Thu Jun 10 22:09:16 2010 From: erik at tnb.ua.ac.be (Erik De Schutter) Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:09:16 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Two PhDs in Modeling and Analysis of the Cerebellum at University of Antwerp Message-ID: <4267B52A-3E9E-446A-B3F3-4E1BD2AA5473@tnb.ua.ac.be> The Theoretical Neurobiology group at the University of Antwerp has obtained funding from two ITN networks on the cerebellum (C7 and CEREBNET). In this context two CEREBNET PhD positions are available to work on modeling and analysis of the cerebellum. The modeling student will use and improve an anatomically and physiologically realistic network model of the olivocerebellar system developed by the Computational Neuroscience Unit of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) using parallel NEURON. Scientific questions to be addressed include population coding at different levels in the system, the effect of distributed synaptic plasticity on learning and linking the biophysical model to system level descriptions of human and animal behavior. The analysis student will use advanced image processing methods to massively reconstruct Purkinje cell dendritic trees at different developmental stages and contribute to developing a model of dendritic growth. Applicants should check whether they conform to the ITN regulations for Early-stage researchers. Accepted candidates will be enrolled as PhD students in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Salary is available for three years at standard rates and will be paid by the University of Antwerp. Positions will start in 2010 or 2011. Students are expected to make extended visits to the Computational Neuroscience Unit in Japan. Applicants should send a short motivation of their interest in this project, relevant experience, CV and names of references to Prof. E. De Schutter. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100610/62e28f15/attachment.html From matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de Fri Jun 11 02:40:56 2010 From: matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de (Matthias L. Jugel) Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:40:56 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CfA: BCCN 2010 - Berlin Sept 27 - Oct 1 Message-ID: <1C10E9B4-0A1C-43BF-A7A5-1CCBCE5AA748@tu-berlin.de> [Sorry for multiple posting] Topics include BCI. === Call for Abstracts === Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience (BCCN 2010) The Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) is an annual meeting of researchers working in Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. It has grown out of the annual Symposia of the German National Bernstein Network for Computational Neuroscience, which have been held since 2005. Now in its 6th year, organized by the Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology at the Berlin Institute of Technology, it has been opened as an international conference. The BCCN is a single track conference that covers all aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. We invite the submission of abstracts from all relevant areas. Selected abstracts will be published in the journal Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. The meeting is open for contributions from all relevant areas of computational neuroscience including, but not limited to: learning and plasticity, sensory processing, motor control, reward system, brain computer interface, neural encoding and decoding, decision making, information processing in neurons and networks, dynamical systems and recurrent networks, and neurotechnology. CONFERENCE DATE AND VENUE: September 27 - October 1, 2010 Technische Universit?t Berlin Berlin, Germany http://www.bccn2010.de/ PHD STUDENT-SYMPOSIUM: October 1st, 2009 Technische Universit?t Berlin Berlin, Germany IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission deadline: July 2, 2010 Poster submission deadline: July 2, 2010 Notification of acceptance: August 2, 2010 Early registration closes: August 18, 2010 CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS: Lars-Kai Hansen (Technical University of Denmark) Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich) Pascal Fries (Ernst Str?ngmann Institute) Peter Jonas (Albert-Ludwigs-Universit?t Freiburg) Misha Tsodyks (Weizmann Institute of Science) Gero Miesenb?ck (University of Oxford) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chair: Klaus-Rober M?ller Conference Office: Matthias L. Jugel, Imke Weitkamp PROGRAM COMMITTEE Demian Battaglia, Matthias Bethge, Armin Biess, Benjamin Blankertz, Axel Borst, Martin Burghoff, Gabriel Curio, Ulrich Egert, Roland Fleming, Alexander Gail, Jan Gl?scher, Tim Gollisch, Ralf Haefner, John-Dylan Haynes, Leo van Hemmen, Andreas Herz, Frank Hesse, Christian Igel, Dirk Jancke, Christoph Kayser, Richard Kempter, Peter K?nig, Christian Leibold, Sebastian M?ller, Klaus-Robert M?ller, Andreas Neef, Klaus Obermayer, Stefano Panzeri, Petra Ritter, Constantin Rothkopf, Gregor Sch?ner, Jens Steinbrink, Jochen Triesch, Thomas Wachtler, Felix Wichmann, Laurenz Wiskott, Annette Witt, Gabriel Wittum -- Matthias L. Jugel - Industry Liaison Manager Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology Fon: +49 170 226 1897, +49 30 314 78626 Fax: +49 30 314 78622 Berlin Institute of Technology Faculty IV, Machine Learning Franklinstr. 28/29, Sekr. FR 6-9 D-10587 Berlin, Germany From martin.giese at tuebingen.mpg.de Fri Jun 11 03:28:13 2010 From: martin.giese at tuebingen.mpg.de (Martin Giese) Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:28:13 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in Tuebingen (DE) Message-ID: PHD POSITION: PREDICTIVE REPRESENTATIONS IN ACTION PERCEPTION (University of Tuebingen, Germany) ================================================= For the newly founded Bernstein Center for 'Neural Mechanisms of Perceptual Inference' at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) we announce a PhD position at the Section for Computational Sensomotorics at the Center for Integrative Neurosciences and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tuebingen. The position is available immediately, with a maximum duration of 3 years. The project aims at the development and testing of neural and statistical predictive models for the processing of visual action stimuli in comparison with physiological, behavioral and imaging data, and data from neurological patients. Our group has worked extensively on neural mechanisms of body motion perception, combining modeling and different experimental techniques. A novel focus it the application of Bayesian statistical methods in the context of the representation and recognition of body motion and actions. We are part of the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Science, one of the leading European institutions in Clinical Neuroscience and of the Excellence Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), that hosts more than 40 experimental and theoretical groups at the University and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. The Bernstein Center hosts in total 15 collaborative projects, realized in close collaboration between theoretical neuroscientists and experimenters representing different theoretuical and experimental approaches. Ideal candidates should have the following qualifications: * Masters degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering,?Physics, or related fields * programming experience (Matlab, C/C++, ...) * Knowledge about visual perception, motor control, neural modeling, and machine learning * English speaking and writing skills. Committed to Equal Opportunities. Please send applications preferentially electronically (including CV, marks and 2 letters of reference) as soon as possible to Prof. Dr. Martin Giese, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research & Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Frondsbergstr. 23, 72070 Tuebingen, Germany; email: martin.giese at uni-tuebingen.de ================================================== Section for Theoretical Sensomotorics Dept. for Cognitive Neurology ?Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research & Center for Integrative Neuroscience ?University of Tuebingen ?Frondsbergstr. 23 ?D-72070 Tuebingen ?GERMANY ?Tel.: +49 7071 2989124 ?Fax: +49 7071 294790 ?Email: martin.giese at uni-tuebingen.de ?Web: http://www.compsens.uni-tuebingen.de/ ============================================== From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Fri Jun 11 12:20:07 2010 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:20:07 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Biological Cybernetics: vol 103, issue 1 Message-ID: <4C126237.9000305@cns.unibe.ch> Biological Cybernetics: vol 103, issue 1 --- Table of Content Prospects: "Optimality in mono- and multisensory map formation" Moritz B?rck, Paul Friedel, Andreas B. Sichert, Christine Vossen & J. Leo van Hemmen http://www.springerlink.com/content/q2m8278j51380h4k/ Original papers: "Path integration of head direction: updating a packet of neural activity at the correct speed using neuronal time constants" D. M. Walters & S. M. Stringer http://www.springerlink.com/content/g861631w72680h51/ "Intrinsic variability of latency to first-spike" Wainrib Gilles, Thieullen Mich?le & Pakdaman Khashayar http://www.springerlink.com/content/g47384k537731r4r/ "Maximizing contrast resolution in the outer retina of mammals" Mikhail Y. Lipin, Robert G. Smith & W. Rowland Taylor http://www.springerlink.com/content/p1550800224413t0/ "Analysis and design of asymmetric Hopfield networks with discrete-time dynamics" Pengsheng Zheng, Jianxiong Zhang & Wansheng Tang http://www.springerlink.com/content/7j8311mu62732705/ ---- Biological Cybernetics, all issues: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100465/ From tatsuno at uleth.ca Tue Jun 15 15:03:10 2010 From: tatsuno at uleth.ca (Tatsuno, Masami) Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:03:10 -0600 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in modeling motor-skill learning + PhD/postdoc position in brain dynamics Message-ID: <885DC6261BD3EF4FB36431DB03AA4BA8018E37FE@EXCHCL2.uleth.ca> (1) PhD position in modeling motor-skill learning at the University of Lethbridge, Canada One PhD position is available immediately in the lab of Prof. Masami Tatsuno at the Brain Dynamics Group of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Canada (http://lethbridgebraindynamics.com). A successful candidate will work on the project of modeling motor-skill learning, with the goal of understanding how spontaneous reactivation of motor sequences facilitates performance improvement. A high degree of interaction with the experimental team performing multi-electrode recordings in freely behaving animals is also expected. A successful candidate will partly participate in recordings to collect data from motor cortex (and related areas) and all modeling work will be informed by the recording data. The Lethbridge Brain Dynamics Group currently has 5 PIs (Bruce McNaughton, David Euston, Artur Luczak, Aaron Gruber and Masami Tatsuno), 8 postdoctoral fellows, 3 PhD students, 3 Master's students, 7 technical staff members and 5 undergraduate students. The highly interactive atmosphere in the group provides numerous opportunities for collaboration between experimental and computational projects. Applicants should have a strong programming (e.g., Matlab) and quantitative background (e.g., MS degree in physics, math or computer science etc.). Experience with neuronal modeling is a plus. Candidates should email a short letter of research interest and motivation including their skills and experience, CV, marks and the names of three references to Masami Tatsuno ( tatsuno at uleth.ca ) as soon as possible. Please do not have reference letters sent unless requested. Applicants should put "Modeling Motor Learning PhD recruitment" in the header of their email. Salary scales will be competitive with NIH standards. Lethbridge is located two hours from Calgary (http://www.hbi.ucalgary.ca/), 90 minutes from the Canadian Rockies ( http://www.watertonpark.com/ ; http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/index_e.asp) and is a safe, family friendly environment. (2) PhD/postdoc position in brain dynamics at the University of Lethbridge, Canada In addition to the PhD position described above, one PhD/postdoctoral position is open in the Lethbridge Brain Dynamics Group. Candidates who are interested in neuronal dynamics and information processing are encouraged to apply. Candidates should email a letter of interest describing their research career goals, skills and experience, CV, marks (if applying for a PhD position) and the names of three references to Masami Tatsuno ( tatsuno at uleth.ca ). Again, please do not have reference letters sent unless requested. Applicants should put "Lethbridge Brain Dynamics recruitment" in the header of their email. Salary scales will be competitive with NIH standards for postdoctoral and graduate trainees. *********************************************************** Masami Tatsuno, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Neuroscience iCORE Scholar in Neural Dynamics and Information Processing Department of Neuroscience Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Lethbridge 4401 University Dr W Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4 Canada Tel: 403-394-3998 Fax: 403-329-2775 Email: tatsuno at uleth.ca http://ccbn.uleth.ca/people/primary/Tatsuno.php *********************************************************** From kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Wed Jun 16 07:30:50 2010 From: kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Janina Kirsch) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:30:50 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Last call for applications ----- NWG-Course: Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology, Freiburg, Germany Message-ID: <001401cb0d47$5fc842b0$1f58c810$@uni-freiburg.de> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% NWG-Course: Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology %% %% October 10-15, 2010 %% %% Application deadline: June 30, 2010 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%   Aim of the course The course is intended to provide advanced Diploma/Masters and PhD students, as well as young researchers from the neurosciences with approaches for the analysis of electrophysiological data and the theoretical concepts behind them. http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/events/conferences/101010-nwgcourse The course includes various topics such as • Neuron models and spike train statistics • Point processes and correlation measures • Systems and signals • Local field potentials and synaptic plasticity • FIND: New tools and developments The course will consist of lectures in the morning and and matching exercises using Matlab and Mathematica. Experience with these software packages will be helpful but is not required for registration. The participants should have a basic understanding of scientific programming. This course is designated especially for advanced diploma/master-students and PhD-students (preferentially in their first year).   Organisation and teaching: • Dr. Stefan Rotter, Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg • Dr. Sonja Gruen, RIKEN Brain Science Institute • Dr. Ulrich Egert, Biomicrotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Freiburg • Dr. Ad Aertsen, Neurobiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Contact: Dr. Janina Kirsch, Bernstein Center Freiburg Germany Tel: +49 761 203 9575 Fax: +49 761 203 9559 Email: nwg-course at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Application Please apply by sending an email containing your CV and a letter of motivation to nwg-course at bcf.uni-freiburg.de The course is limited to 20 participants. Course fees: NWG members: 50 Euro others: 125 Euro Course venue: Bernstein Center Freiburg, Computerlab (ground floor), Hansastr. 9a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany From chiestand at salk.edu Tue Jun 15 15:52:42 2010 From: chiestand at salk.edu (Chris Hiestand) Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:52:42 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS 2010: Call For Demonstrations Message-ID: ========================================================================= NIPS 2010 DEMONSTRATIONS ========================================================================= http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/CallForDemonstrations Demonstration Proposal Deadline: Monday September 20, 2010 The Neural Information Processing Systems Conference 2010 http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/ has a Demonstration Track running in parallel with the evening Poster Sessions, December 6-8, 2010, in Vancouver, Canada. Demonstrations are an opportunity to showcase: ? Hardware technology ? Software systems ? Neuromorphic and biologically-inspired systems ? Robotics or other systems, which are relevant to the technical areas covered by NIPS (see Call for Papers http://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/CallForPapers) . Demonstrations must show novel technology and must be live, preferably with some interactive parts. A demonstration is not just another poster presentation or a slide show, the action part is important. Submissions: Submission of demo proposals at the following URL: https://nips.cc/Conferences/2010/DemoForm.php You will be asked to fill a questionnaire and describe clearly: ? the technology demonstrated ? the elements of novelty ? the live part ? the interactive part ? the equipment brought by the demonstrator ? the equipment required at the place of the demo Evaluation Criteria: Submissions will be refereed on the basis of technical quality, novelty, live action, potential for interaction. Demonstration chair: Isabelle Guyon From M.Montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Wed Jun 16 11:22:56 2010 From: M.Montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:22:56 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Manchester Neural Coding & Computation Workshop Message-ID: <4FAF3E08-E2E5-44B7-9CAD-815A832B33FF@manchester.ac.uk> Dear All, this is the second announcement of the workshop on Neural Coding and Computation that will take place at the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Manchester (UM). Understanding how the brain codes and processes information is one of the major challenges in neuroscience. The Manchester Neural Coding and Computation Workshop will address this fundamental problem by bringing together leading international speakers from computational, mathematical, and systems neuroscience. The aim of the workshop is to present cutting edge research on neural coding from a multidisciplinary perspective. The date, time, and venue for the workshop are as follows: 31August 2010, from 10:00am to 5:00pm The University of Manchester Faculty of Life Sciences Room G306, ground floor, Jean McFarlane Building The confirmed invited speakers are the following: Peter Dayan (Gatsby, London) Christoph Kayser (Max Planck Institute, Tuebingen, Germany) Miguel Maravall (Instituto de Neurociencias, Alicante, Spain) Simon Schultz (Imperial College, London) Simon Thorpe ( CNRS, France) Misha Tsodyks (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel) Some travel support will be available (priority will be given to PhD students and postdocs). The event is funded by the UK Neuroinformatics Node (www.neuroinformatics.org.uk), the Neuroscience Research Institute (UM), and the Faculty of Life Sciences (UM). Registration and attendance are free of charge. Buffet lunch will be provided. The full programme and registration information are available at http://www.neuroscience.manchester.ac.uk/research/researchgroups/computation/workshops/ Regards, The organisers -- Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro Faculty of Life Sciences University of Manchester Room 3.606 Stopford Building Oxford Road Manchester, M13 9PT UK phone: +44(0)161 306 3883 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100616/e60de52c/attachment.html From r.gayler at mbox.com.au Wed Jun 16 09:41:03 2010 From: r.gayler at mbox.com.au (Ross Gayler) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:41:03 +1000 Subject: Connectionists: Speakers and papers announced: CogSci 2010 Workshop - Compositional Connectionism in Cognitive Science II: The Localist / Distributed Dimension Message-ID: <86ACB53A8C4E420DBA2A3FE2C4CE4921@Corp.BayAdv> Subject: Speakers and papers announced: CogSci 2010 Workshop - Compositional Connectionism in Cognitive Science II: The Localist / Distributed Dimension CogSci 2010 Workshop - Compositional Connectionism in Cognitive Science II: The Localist / Distributed Dimension Portland, Oregon, USA 11 August, 2010 http://www.cs.wlu.edu/~levy/cogsci2010/ Dear list members, The aim of this workshop at the CogSci 2010 conference is to bring together researchers working with a wide range of compositional connectionist models, independent of application domain, with a focus on what commitments (if any) each model makes to localist or distributed representation. We expect vigorous and exciting debate on this issue. PROGRAMME The speakers and papers have been selected (listed below) and the full abstracts are available at http://www.cs.wlu.edu/~levy/cogsci2010/abstracts/ - Chris Eliasmith (Plenary) How to build a brain: From single neurons to cognition - John Hummel (Plenary) The proper treatment of symbols in a neural architecture - Jeff Bowers What is a grandmother cell? And how would you know if you found one? - Cynthia Henderson & James McClelland Complementary object processing systems: A PDP model of the simultaneous perception of multiple objects - Trent Kriete & David C. Noelle Generalization benefits of output gating in a model of prefrontal cortex - Mark Reimers Compositional connectionism - the view from biology - Patrick Simen A hybrid distributed/localist architecture for sequential decision making - Frank van der Velde & Marc de Kamps Compositional connectionist structures based on in situ grounded representations REGISTRATION The workshop is open to all registered attendees of the CogSci conference. Registration is now open and details are available at http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2010/registration.html A late fee of US$100 applies after 7 July, 2010. DATES 7 July, 2010: Last day before registration late fee applies 11 August, 2010: Workshop 12-14 August, 2020: CogSci 2010 conference Best, Simon -- Simon D. Levy Associate Professor and Department Head Computer Science Department 407 Parmly Hall Washington& Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 540-458-8419 (voice) 540-458-8255 (fax) levys at wlu.edu http://www.cs.wlu.edu/~levy From rsun at rpi.edu Wed Jun 16 14:36:35 2010 From: rsun at rpi.edu (Professor Ron Sun) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:36:35 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Call for participation; speakers and papers: CogSci2010 Workshop - Cognitive Social Sciences Message-ID: <8D6C68F5-F4AD-46D3-A0D4-6F821C039F8D@rpi.edu> CogSci2010 Workshop: Cognitive Social Sciences: Grounding the Social Sciences in the Cognitive Sciences Portland, Oregon, USA. 11 August, 2010 http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/wsp2010 This workshop is aimed at exploring the cognitive (psychological) basis of the social sciences and the possibilities of grounding the social sciences in cognition (psychology). The cognitive sciences have made tremendous strides in recent decades. In particular, computational cognitive modeling (i.e., computational psychology; Sun, 2008; Thagard, 1996) has changed the ways in which cognition/psychology is explored and understood in many profound respects. There have been many models of cognition/ psychology proposed in the cognitive sciences (broadly defined), leading to detailed understanding of many cognitive/psychological domains and functionalities. Empirical psychological research has also progressed to provide us with much better understanding of many psychological phenomena. Given the advances in the cognitive sciences, can we leverage the successes for the sake of better understanding social processes and phenomena? More fundamentally, can the cognitive sciences (including experimental cognitive psychology, computational psychology, social- personality psychology, developmental psychology, cultural psychology, psycholinguistics, philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, and so on) provide a better foundation for important disciplines of the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, as well as some "humanity" fields: religious studies, history, legal studies, literary studies, communication, and so on)? Thus far, although very much a neglected topic, there nevertheless have been various efforts at exploring this topic. Some of the efforts were computationally motivated (see, e.g., Sun, 2006: "Cognition and multi-agent interaction", published by Cambridge University Press). Some other efforts were more empirical or theoretical in nature (see, e.g, Turner, 2001: "Cognitive Dimensions of Social Science", published by Oxford University Press). There are both theoretical and practical rationales for developing "cognitive social sciences" (see Turner, 2001; Sun, 2006; DiMaggio, 1997; Camerer, 2003; Tetlock and Goldgeier, 2000). We contend that the social sciences may find their future in the cognitive sciences (at least in part), which may well lead to a powerful and productive combined intellectual enterprise. This combination or grounding may provide the social sciences with imaginative scientific research programs, hybridization/integration, new syntheses, novel paradigms/ frameworks, and so on, beside providing the cognitive sciences with new data sources and problems to address. PROGRAM The speakers and papers have been selected, including, among others, Paul Thagard, Mark Turner, Pascal Boyer, Selmer Bringsjord, Jun Zhang, Christian Lebiere, Cleotilde Gonzalez, Rosaria Conte, etc. The full schedule/papers/abstracts are available at http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/wsp2010 REGISTRATION The workshop is open to all registered attendees of the CogSci conference. Registration is now open and details are available at http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2010/registration.html (A late fee of US$100 applies after 7 July, 2010.) Please indicate clearly on the registration form that you intend to attend this workshop. DATES 7 July, 2010: Last day before registration late fee applies 11 August, 2010: Workshop 12-14 August, 2020: CogSci 2010 conference From g.goodhill at uq.edu.au Wed Jun 16 20:17:25 2010 From: g.goodhill at uq.edu.au (Geoffrey Goodhill) Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:17:25 +1000 Subject: Connectionists: 4th Australian Workshop on Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <22FE3C39-49F0-45A2-991D-10191D36C4F2@uq.edu.au> 4th AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOP ON COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE Queensland Brain Institute The University of Queensland Nov 4-5 2010 http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/upcoming-events-4th-australian-workshop-on-computational-neuroscience Confirmed speakers: Peter Dayan (University College London, UK) Alex Pouget (University of Rochester, USA) Michael Breakspear (Queensland Institute of Medical Research) Anthony Burkitt (University of Melbourne) Peter Robinson (University of Sydney) Mandyam Srinivasan (University of Queensland) Abstract submissions for poster presentation are encouraged. Some of these abstracts will be selected for oral presentation. ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sept 3rd 2010 Registration fees $220 Regular ($260 after Sept 3rd) $110 Student ($130 after Sept 3rd) More details will be posted on the conference website as they become available. Please direct any questions to: Professor Geoffrey J Goodhill Queensland Brain Institute and School of Mathematics & Physics University of Queensland St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia Phone: +61 7 3346 6431 Fax: +61 7 3346 6301 Email: g.goodhill at uq.edu.au http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/professor-geoffrey-goodhill Editor-in-Chief, Network: Computation in Neural Systems http://informahealthcare.com/net From fleischer at nsi.edu Wed Jun 16 21:53:33 2010 From: fleischer at nsi.edu (Jason Fleischer) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:53:33 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral opportunities at The Neurosciences Institute Message-ID: The Neurosciences Institute (http://www.nsi.edu) is seeking postdoctoral researchers in computational neuroscience to join an exciting, ongoing project to understand the biological bases of brain function. Successful candidates will be working with a multi-disciplinary team to create large scale spiking models of the mammalian nervous system incorporated into robotic devices. Neural systems addressed in this project include: sensory processing, neuromodulation, thalamocortical interaction, motor control, learning and memory, and cognitive aspects of decision making. Candidates should have a background in neuroscience and strong programming skills. Previous modeling experience will be favorably considered. The Neurosciences Institute is an independent, not-for-profit scientific research organization led by Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman. The Institute hosts thirty to forty scientists engaged in theoretical and experimental neurobiology. It is located within walking distance of other major centers of neuroscience, including The Scripps Research Institute, The Salk Institute, and the University of California San Diego. Salary is dependent upon relevant experience; a full benefit package is available. Send C.V. and cover letter to Dr. W.E. Gall, The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, California 92121 or e-mail them to jobs-postdoc at nsi.edu. Jason G. Fleischer, Ph.D. The Neurosciences Institute http://www.nsi.edu/users/fleischer 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive Tel: (858) 626-2069 San Diego, CA 92121 USA Fax: (858) 626-2099 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100616/2ec0ebf1/attachment.html From terry at salk.edu Sat Jun 19 02:06:28 2010 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 23:06:28 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - July, 2010 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 22, Number 7 - July 1, 2010 LETTERS First-spike Latency in Presence of Spontaneous Activity Zbynek Pawlas, Lev Klebanov, Viktor Benes, Michaela Prokesova, Jiri Popelar and Petr Lansky Learning Spike-based Population Codes by Reward and Population Feedback Robert Urbanczik, Johannes Friedrich, and Walter Senn Conditional Mixture Model for Correlated Neuronal Spikes Shun-ichi Amari On the Noise Enhancing Ability of Stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley Neuron Systems Bor-Sen Chen and Cheng-Wei Li Statistical Computer Model Analysis of the Reciprocal and Recurrent Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials in alpha-motoneurons Giedon Gradwhol and Yoram Grossman Decision Confidence and Uncertainty in Diffusion Models with Partially Correlated Neuronal Integrators Ruben Moreno-Bote Role of Homeostasis in Learning Sparse Representations Laurent Perrinet Hebbian Plasticity and Homeostasis in a Model of Hypercolumn of the Visual Cortex German Mato and Roman Rossi Pool Autonomous Evolution of Topographic Regularities in Artificial Neural Networks Jason Gauci and Kenneth Stanley Memory Dynamics in Attractor Networks with Saliency Weights Huajin Tang, Haizhou Li, and Rui Yan Norm-Observable Operator Models Ming-Jie Zhao and Herbert Jaeger ----- ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2010 - VOLUME 22 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic only Student/Retired $65 $128 $60 Individual $115 $178 $107 Institution $962 $1,025 $860 Canada: Add 5% GST to USA prices MIT Press Journals, 238 Main Street, Suite 500, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp ----- From sen.cheng at rub.de Tue Jun 22 06:42:25 2010 From: sen.cheng at rub.de (Sen Cheng) Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:42:25 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <5846BF3B-C444-42DC-8568-D56958612BCF@rub.de> Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience in the research unit of Prof. Sen Cheng at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Our unit investigates the theoretical basis for learning and memory processes at the neuronal circuit level. The postdoc will work on the project "Theory of the interplay between sensory cortices and hippocampus in memory formation and retrieval", which is funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the collaborative research center (SFB 874) "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes". The salary will be on the standard German pay scale of TV-L E13. Candidates should have (almost) completed their doctoral degree in neuroscience, physics, engineering or a related field. Competence in complex data analysis, related mathematical concepts and good programming skills are mandatory. We are part of the Mercator Research Group "Structure of Memory" that has been formed recently to investigate episodic and semantic memory processes and their relation to other cognitive functions. The group comprises a diverse and interdisciplinary team of philosophers and experimental as well as theoretical neuroscientists. The main language of communication in the group is English. The Ruhr University Bochum is home to a vibrant research community in neuroscience with many laboratories focusing on all aspects of neuroscience research. For further information see our website at www.rub.de/cns. To apply please send a statement of research interests and a complete CV to mrg1 at rub.de. Please, also request from three referees that they send letters of reference directly to the same email address. The Ruhr University Bochum is committed to equal opportunity. We strongly encourage applications from qualified women and persons with disabilities. From thomas.mctavish at yale.edu Tue Jun 22 16:30:15 2010 From: thomas.mctavish at yale.edu (Tom McTavish) Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:30:15 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURON + Python Hands-On Tutorial Message-ID: NEURON + Python Hands-On Tutorial 8am ? 12pm, Saturday, November 13, 2010 San Diego Training and Conference Center 350 10th Ave. Suite 950 San Diego, CA 92101 Organizers: Thomas McTavish, Michael Hines, Thomas Morse, Ted Carnevale, Gordon Shepherd On Saturday morning before the Society for Neuroscience meeting, we will lead a hands-on course for coding in Python using NEURON. In this 4-hr course, we will cover fundamental NEURON concepts and core Python commands to interface with NEURON. We will also demonstrate various Python tools for facilitating model development and libraries for data visualization and analysis. Additionally, we will demonstrate how we are exploiting the Python interface to NEURON to add features to the ModelDB database allowing NEURON models to be more extensively explored online. These enhancements increase the utility of contributing one?s models to ModelDB. The course will consist of a number of tutorials operating through a SAGE server that permits participants to enter Python commands into a web browser and save their notes and code in a digital lab notebook. In these tutorials, we will build and visualize properties of single- and multi-compartment models. We will also build a network model. With these models, we will run simulations and visualize results that are ready to print. In addition to covering essential Python commands, we will exploit parts of Scipy (Numpy, Matplotlib, Mayavi). We will also demonstrate how to contribute and share code through this server to foster collaborations. Participants may bring their own laptops or use the computers at the facility, which is just blocks away from the San Diego Convention Center. Registration is FREE, but space is limited. A continental breakfast will be provided. To register, email Thomas.McTavish at yale.edu. ----- Thomas S. McTavish, Ph.D. Thomas.McTavish at yale.edu Department of Neurobiology Yale University School of Medicine P.O. Box 208001 New Haven, CT 06520-8001 From kenji at ieee.org Tue Jun 22 18:39:58 2010 From: kenji at ieee.org (Kenji Suzuki) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:39:58 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Position at the University of Tsukuba Message-ID: <4C213BBE.2040501@ieee.org> * We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this announcement. [Job announcement] Postdoctoral Researcher Position in Cognitively Assisted Locomotion Center for Cybernics Research University of Tsukuba, Japan Ref: CCR01/P1006 The Center for Cybernics Research is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work in the group of Cognitively Assisted Locomotion (Dr Kenji Suzuki), a cognitive neuroscience approach to assisted locomotion. We provide new insights into the control of a exoskeleton robot based on the analysis of human locomotion. We are working together with a research group of exoskeleton robot (Robot suit HAL, Prof. Yoshiyuki Sankai), the spin-off company, Cyberdyne Inc, and a cognitive neuroscience research unit (College de France, Paris). The desired research area includes robotics, cognitive neuroscience, control, cyber-physical system and physical human-robot interaction. Experience in the analysis of human locomotion will be an added advantage. Applicants should send a cover letter briefly describing their background and career plans, a CV, and the names and contact information for at least two references. Please also include possible contribution to this project. The position is available immediately and is guaranteed for two years, with possible extension to a maximum of four years depending on achieved results. These documents should be submitted as pdf attachments to: jobs at ai.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp You should include the ref. number you are applying for in the header of your e-mail. For informal inquiries please contact: kenji at ieee.org The Center for Cybernics Research hosts interdisciplinary collaborations for research, education, and training in Cybernics. Cybernics is a new domain of human-assistive technology to enhance, strengthen, and support human cognitive and physical functions. Thus, we offer an attractive and stimulating research environment with interdisciplinary contacts to medical science, neuroscience, mechanical engineers computer science and robotics researchers. Review of applications: 11 July, 2010 (will continue until the positions are filled.) http://www.ai.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp/jobs/CCR01P1006.html Center for Cybernics Research (site will be ready soon) http://www.ccr.tsukuba.ac.jp/ --- Kenji Suzuki, Dr. Eng. kenji at ieee.org Assistant Professor University of Tsukuba, Japan http://www.iit.tsukuba.ac.jp/~kenji/ From p.gleeson at ucl.ac.uk Wed Jun 23 07:47:34 2010 From: p.gleeson at ucl.ac.uk (pgleeson) Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:47:34 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Publication on NeuroML, a model description language for computational neuroscience Message-ID: <4C21F456.50008@ucl.ac.uk> Dear all, A description of NeuroML (http://www.neuroml.org) has recently been published in PLoS Computational Biology: *NeuroML: A Language for Describing Data Driven Models of Neurons and Networks with a High Degree of Biological Detail* Padraig Gleeson, Sharon Crook, Robert C. Cannon, Michael L. Hines, Guy O. Billings, Matteo Farinella, Thomas M. Morse, Andrew P. Davison, Subhasis Ray, Upinder S. Bhalla, Simon R. Barnes, Yoana D. Dimitrova, R. Angus Silver http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000815 NeuroML is an XML-based language for describing anatomically and physiologically detailed cell and network models. It has multiple levels that define cell morphologies, ion channel kinetics, synaptic transmission (electrical and chemical) together with 3D network structure and connectivity. These features allow many of the existing conductance based neuron and network models to be defined in a simulator independent form. Complete models or model components defined in NeuroML can be mapped to a number of commonly used simulators. An increasing number of open source tools for computational neuroscience support the NeuroML language, see http://www.neuroml.org/tool_support.php. The paper describes in detail the structure of version 1.8 (Levels 1-3, MorphML, ChannelML, NetworkML), includes a detailed discussion of the elements present at each level (see supporting text: http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/fetchSingleRepresentation.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000815.s001) describes examples of NeuroML code, outlines current simulator support, and validates NeuroML based models by comparing the behaviour of a number of existing single cell and network models across simulators. These models are also included with the latest version of neuroConstruct (http://www.neuroconstruct.org), which can be used to generate scripts for NEURON, GENESIS, MOOSE, PSICS and PyNN compliant simulators. The NeuroML initiative is actively seeking input for version 2.0 of NeuroML, which will incorporate greater interaction with complex signalling pathways (via interactions with model elements in Systems Biology languages such as SBML and CellML) and more complex compact representations of network structures (in collaboration with the INCF Program on Multiscale Modelling). To find out more, please see the recent meeting minutes (News & Events on the homepage) and join the mailing list (https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/neuroml-technology) to be kept up to date on developments. Regards, The NeuroML Team Padraig Gleeson, Sharon Crook, Robert Cannon, Angus Silver From Yaochu.Jin at surrey.ac.uk Thu Jun 24 04:32:56 2010 From: Yaochu.Jin at surrey.ac.uk (Yaochu.Jin@surrey.ac.uk) Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:32:56 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Submissions: SAB'10 Workshop on 'Evolutionary transitions of brain-body couplings' Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, This is a follow-up reminder for the workshop on 'Evolutionary transitions of brain-body couplings', to be held on 24th August 2010 in Paris, as part of the 11th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour (SAB'10). A copy of the original call is given below. Due to organisational constraints we have the following important update: IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please inform us via a brief email () of your intention to submit a contribution no later than 30th June 2010. The original submission deadline of 9th July still applies. Original Call ------------- We are organising a workshop on 'Evolutionary transitions of brain-body couplings', which is part of the 11th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour (SAB'10) to be held in Paris, August 24-28, 2010. You are welcome to submit a relevant contribution in one of the following formats: - A position paper (2-3 pages) - A full paper (6-8 pages) - A demo video Please submit your contributions electronically to Dr Ben Jones per Email: () by Friday, 9th July 2010. All accepted contributions will be included on a workshop CD and contributors will be invited to give either an oral or a poster presentation on the Workshop. Overview -------------- In a nutshell, `evolutionary transitions of brain-body couplings' encompass those evolutionary events that led from the distinct nervous system body plan morphology couplings of a common ancestor to a diverse range of descendant nervous system body plan morphology couplings. Two types of animal morphology are typically cited in the literature ? those having radial symmetry, for example most jellyfish, and those having bilateral symmetry (e.g. the flatworm). Interestingly, these also often have very distinct types of neural architecture indicating that body morphology and control have become tightly coupled as a response to evolutionary selection pressure. It is often suggested that bilateral body symmetry has emerged secondarily to radial body symmetry and together with this, the nervous system has been pressured to become organised in a way that 'fits' (with the body morphology). The coupling between both is conjectured to have been driven by the niche of the animal, together with a need to expend a minimal amount of energy. Energy can be lost because of the metabolic processes of the animal, e.g. neural information processing, and, because of movement. Thus, we can take inspiration from the most 'basic' of animals (e.g. the hydra, flatworm, lamprey, c. elegans etc.) and develop animats embedded in strictly controlled environments; we can then visualise and analyse the evolutionary process, and the types of neural property (architectural and computational etc.) and body plan couplings that emerge. We can elucidate the mechanisms by which `brain' should become coupled to `body' (although note, we are more interested in `nervous system' since this is more primitive than `brain')and shed light on how the behavioural process emerges as a property of this coupling. For further details and ongoing updates, see http://www.bhjones.com/sabWorkshop/ For information about the conference itself, see http://www.sab2010.org/wiki Workshop Organizers: Ben Jones, University of Birmingham, UK Yaochu Jin, University of Surrey, UK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Yaochu Jin Head of the Nature-Inspired Computing and Engineering (NICE) Group Department of Computing, University of Surrey Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom Room 35 BB02 Phone: +44(0)1483 686037 Fax: +44(0)1483 686051 Email: yaochu.jin at surrey.ac.uk http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/computing/people/yaochu_jin/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paging and Bottom Toolbar --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Yaochu Jin Head of the Nature-Inspired Computing and Engineering (NICE) Group Department of Computing, University of Surrey Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom Room 35 BB02 Phone: +44(0)1483 686037 Fax: +44(0)1483 686051 Email: yaochu.jin at surrey.ac.uk http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/computing/people/yaochu_jin/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From triesch at fias.uni-frankfurt.de Fri Jun 25 04:16:20 2010 From: triesch at fias.uni-frankfurt.de (Jochen Triesch) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:16:20 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Associate Professorship (W2) in Computational Neuroscience / Computational Vision (tenure track) Message-ID: <60BDAD6E-708D-49C1-9EFD-26D4B2F3CFFC@fias.uni-frankfurt.de> The Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics at the Goethe University Frankfurt together with the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies invites applications to fill the position of a Associate Professorship (W2) in Computational Neuroscience / Computational Vision (tenure track) Applicants must have an excellent track record in Computational Neuroscience with emphasis on modeling the visual system. Successful acquisition of third party funding and collaborations in interdisciplinary project consortia are expected. This research professorship is part of the Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Frankfurt and the successful applicant shall collaborate actively within the Focus (http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/bernstein). Opportunities for collaborations in additional research areas of FIAS are strongly desired. The teaching obligations for this research professorship are 2 hours per week. The successful candidate will also be member of the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics or the Faculty of Physics. The designated salary for the position is based on ?W2? on the German university scale or equivalent. The Goethe University is committed to a pluralistic campus community through affirmative action and equal opportunity. For further information regarding the general conditions for professorship appointments, please see: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/aktuelles/ausschreibung/professuren/index.html. Qualified academics are invited to submit their applications accompanied by the usual documents (CV, degrees and certificates, list of publications, details on teaching and international experience, information on successful grant applications, a statement about your research goals in the context of the Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology within three weeks after publication of this advertisement to: Frau Gaby Schmitz, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Ruth-Moufang-Str. 1, D-60438 Frankfurt am Main, E-Mail: schmitz at fias.uni-frankfurt.de. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100625/04224052/attachment.html From pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr Fri Jun 25 06:28:28 2010 From: pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr (Pierre-Yves Oudeyer) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:28:28 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: [PhD and Postdoc positions] Intrinsically motivated RL, Developmental robotics, ICub Message-ID: Dear all, In the context of a 3 years project funded by the french research agency ANR, we are looking for highly skilled and motivated candidates for a PhD or a Postdoc in the fields of developmental robotics, machine learning and computer vision with evaluation on the iCub humanoid robot. The global project aims at addressing 4 complementary challenges that have been identified as crucial to the development of future humanoid robotics: * CHALLENGE 1: How can a robot learn efficient perceptual representations of its body and of external objects given initially only low-level perceptual capabilities? * CHALLENGE 2: How can a robot learn motor representations and use them to build basic affordant reaching and manipulation skills? * CHALLENGE 3: What guidance heuristics, based on intrinsic motivation, active learning and social guidance, should be used to explore vast sensorimotor spaces in unknown changing bodies and environments? * CHALLENGE 4: How can mechanisms for building efficient representations/abstractions, mechanisms for learning manipulation skills, and guidance mechanisms be integrated in the same experimental robotic architecture and reused for different robots? These 4 interrelated challenges are distributed over four partners: ENSTA-ParisTech (Paris) will lead challenge 1. The contact is David Filliat (david.filliat at ensta.fr). See http://cogrob.ensta.fr/ ISIR-UPMC-Paris 6 (Paris) will lead challenge 2. ISIR hosts the iCub humanoid robot on which the acheivements will be evaluated. The contacts are Olivier Sigaud and Vincent Padois (olivier.sigaud at upmc.fr). See http://www.isir.fr/ INRIA (FLOWERS team, Bordeaux) will lead Challenge 3. The contact is Pierre-Yves Oudeyer (pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr). See http://flowers.inria.fr/ and http://www.pyoudeyer.com (for this partner, postdoc applications will be preferred) The GOSTAI company (Paris) will lead Challenge 4. The contact is Jean-Christophe Baillie (baillie at gostai.com). See http://www.gostai.com/ The funding should be available by January 2011 or earlier. Specific schedules might be considered for specific candidates. Salaries will depend on the candidate experience and on the partner. The applicants should send a detailed CV and statement of motivation to the partner that is most relevant given their motivation. The topics being closely related, all candidates will be considered by all partners. Applicants should have strong competences on one or more of the following topics: developmental robotics, motor control, statistical inference, reinforcement learning, optimization, computer vision. Detailed information about this project will be provided on request. Don't hesitate to distribute this email to other relevant lists. Best regards, Jean-Christophe Baillie, David Filliat, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Vincent Padois and Olivier Sigaud -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100625/072da263/attachment.html From a.silver at ucl.ac.uk Fri Jun 25 13:21:54 2010 From: a.silver at ucl.ac.uk (Angus Silver) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:21:54 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Two PhD studentships available in the Silver Lab UCL Message-ID: <00aa01cb148a$e80d01c0$b8270540$@silver@ucl.ac.uk> Two PhD studentships are available in the Silver Lab in the Department of Neuroscience , Physiology and Pharmacology at University College London (UCL ) as part of the Marie Curie CEREBNET Project. The projects involve investigating information processing in the cerebelar cortex by combining electrophysiological and 2-photon imaging experiments with anatomically and biologically detailed 3D network modeling. Models will be built with neuroConstruct (Gleeson et al., Neuron 2007) and run using parallel Neuron. Models developed during this project will be made freely available in the simulator independent neural description language NeuroML . The projects will investigate how the cerebellar input layer (granule cell layer) transforms sensory input and how the spatio-temporal dynamics of granular layer activity is integrated by the molecular layer. The project will also involve active development of both neuroConstruct and NeuroML. Since the project involves both modeling and experimental approaches, the successful candidates could pursue a purely theoretical approach, combine experiments and modeling or focus on experiments and collaborate closely with theoreticians in the group (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/npp/as.html). Relevant recent papers From the Silver lab: 1) Neuronal Arithmetic, Nature Reviews Neuroscience . 2010;11(7):474-489. 2) NeuroML: A Language for Describing Data Driven Models of Neurons and Networks with a High Degree of Biological Detail (2010), PLoS Computational Biology 6(6): e1000815 3) A compact acousto-optic lens for 2D and 3D femtosecond based 2-photon microscopy (2010). Vol. 18, No. 12 / OPTICS EXPRESS 13721 4) Synaptic depression enables neuronal gain control. Nature. 2009, 457(7232):1015-8. Candidates will have an excellent degree in one of the Sciences, Maths, Computer Science or Engineering and have a strong motivation to pursue a career in neuroscience. Early Stage Researchers can be nationals of any country except UK and must not have resided, worked or studied in the UK for longer than 12 months during the past 3 years. Only EU citizens are eligible for fee support. Applicants should check whether they conform to the ITN regulations for Early-stage researchers. Salaries (3 years) are set at standard rates by UCL. Positions will start in 2010. Applicants should send a letter of application, highlighting their research interests, relevant training and experience, together with a CV and at least two references to Professor Angus Silver (a.silver at ucl.ac.uk). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100625/06b8e4a0/attachment-0001.html From erik at oist.jp Fri Jun 25 20:46:48 2010 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2010 09:46:48 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: New faculty positions at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Message-ID: <78049ECF-3C66-4DAB-830B-567FBD3A0ADC@oist.jp> The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST http://www.oist.jp) invites applications for new faculty positions as it enters a period of growth in preparation for transition to an international graduate university in 2012. Approximately 15 faculty positions will be filled during this search. OIST provides a world-class research environment in newly completed facilities in an area of distinctive culture, unique ecology, and outstanding natural beauty. Successful candidates will be given the opportunity to excel in their chosen area of research, and will be expected to contribute to graduate teaching, research supervision and other academic activities. Applicants should have a PhD or equivalent degree, and demonstrate excellence in research. The initial appointment will be as Principal Investigator (PI) or Independent New Investigator (INI) for a term of five years. When the transition to a graduate university is completed in 2012, it is planned that PI and INI positions will change to a tenure track system with Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors. Some appointments will be made on a joint or part-time basis. Substantial internal funding will be provided to support the faculty member?s research, based on a 5-year research plan, which is renewable after scientific review. This search is targeted broadly. The non-departmental structure of OIST and orientation toward interdisciplinary research permits flexibility in appointing applicants who are able to introduce new research areas or enhance existing areas. Established research areas include genomics, developmental biology, mathematical and computational biology, molecular and cell sciences and neuroscience. New research areas include structural biology, biological physics, biological chemistry, marine sciences, ecology and evolutionary biology, and microbial and plant genetics. Applicants with exceptional skills in the development of novel instrumentation, particularly instruments that will further revolutionize imaging of bio- and nano-systems, are also encouraged to apply. At a time when worldwide support for research is increasingly risk-averse, and grant funding places an ever-growing burden on faculty, OIST promotes innovative research in a highly facilitating and supportive environment. This is achievable because OIST has internal research funding, offers outstanding central research facilities, and consults faculty on the design of new laboratory space. Central research facilities at OIST include core facilities for genomics, rodent vivarium, radioisotope use, electron microscopy, and supercomputing facilities. OIST is committed to being international with more than 50% of faculty and researchers from outside Japan. The official language of OIST is English. OIST is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and encourages applications from women. More details regarding the aims of the search and advantages of working at OIST are available in the Information for Applicants in the application package that is downloadable from the website (http://www.oist.jp/en/newsevent/careers/542-faculty-positions.html). Applications should be submitted in accordance with the instructions in the application package. Applications for the current search close 31, July 2010. Interviews will take place in late August/September, with a view to making appointments early in 2011. From rsun at rpi.edu Sat Jun 26 22:17:06 2010 From: rsun at rpi.edu (Professor Ron Sun) Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:17:06 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: A tutorial on the CLARION cognitive architecture at CogSci 2010 Message-ID: <0F9B412A-F049-4F13-B450-C3D221945F14@rpi.edu> A tutorial on the CLARION cognitive architecture will take place on August 11, 2010, at the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society in Portland Oregon (http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2010/registration.html ) For participants attending the CogSci2010 conference, the tutorial is free. But Please indicate clearly on the registration form that you intend to attend this tutorial. This tutorial introduces participants to CLARION, a dual-process/dual- representation cognitive architecture that focuses on the distinction between explicit and implicit cognitive processes, as well as their synergistic interactions. CLARION is also integrative, involving cognition (reasoning, memory, learning, skill acquisition, etc.), motivation, metacognition, and so on. This presentation will provide an introductory description, along with simulations, advanced topics, and formal results. Although some prior exposure to cognitive architectures and artificial neural networks can be helpful, prior understanding of these areas is not required, as the tutorial includes a detailed presentation of basic, as well as advanced, topics related to cognitive modeling using the CLARION cognitive architecture. This tutorial will enable participants to apply the basic concepts, theories, and computational models of CLARION to their own work. For registration, go to: http://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference2010/registration.html For details of the CLARION cognitive architecture, go to: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/clarion.html From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Mon Jun 28 10:07:55 2010 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr. Amir Hussain) Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:07:55 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer) - Vol. 2, No.2 / June 2010 Message-ID: <4586B0B1C8684434BE41413C36A645D8@cs.ad.stir.ac.uk> Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings!) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 2, No. 2 / June 2010, of Springer's exciting multi-disciplinary journal in the neurosciences: "Cognitive Computation" - www.springer.com/12559 You will be pleased to know that ALL (full) published articles in Cognitive Computation are FREELY AVAILABLE for access/download through December 31, 2010. The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, (in PDF) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/jw626w5367k1/?p=f003ab8d49d248dd9053363750b27a73&pi=0 The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be found at the end of this message (followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive). Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted ========================================== Announcement: New Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ========================================== To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have now set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group". Within this group you all have the possibility to start a discussion with your fellow researchers - e.g. on future topics in Cognitive Computation - or to post a job vacancy or news item - e.g. forthcoming conferences or seminars. On a regular basis you will also receive a digest of the group's activity (including the journal's Table of Contents Alert, Call for Papers for forthcoming Special Issues, lists of most cited, downloaded and On-line First published papers). For those of you unfamiliar with LinkedIn (the world's largest professional network site), you can find more information by visiting LinkedIn 101: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/LinkedIn+101.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-957440-0 - We are confident that this group will be an invaluable addition to the Cognitive Computation community and we warmly invite you to join our group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048! For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Dr. Martijn Roelandse: martijn.roelandse at springer.com Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to peer review all papers within approximately four weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues (five are already planned for 2010-11!). With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) John Taylor, PhD (Chair, Advisory Board: Cognitive Computation) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.2, No.2 / June 2010 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quasi-Quantum Computing in the Brain? Pentti O. A. Haikonen http://www.springerlink.com/content/lq0538r831j8m86w/ Local Feature Based Geometric-Resistant Image Information Hiding Xinbo Gao, Cheng Deng, Xuelong Li and Dacheng Tao http://www.springerlink.com/content/a2t270287033l950/ Cognition and Emotion: Perspectives of a Closing Gap Claudius Gros http://www.springerlink.com/content/fw3n35th20351526/ 3D Object Recognition Based on Some Aspects of the Infant Vision System and Associative Memory Roberto A. V?zquez, Humberto Sossa and Beatriz A. Garro http://www.springerlink.com/content/93lp478g93572g13/ On Natural Based Optimization Amin Nobakhti http://www.springerlink.com/content/k17075023564t7p8/ A Video Quality Assessment Metric Based on Human Visual System Wen Lu, Xuelong Li, Xinbo Gao, Wenjian Tang, Jing Li and Dacheng Tao http://www.springerlink.com/content/aww340238n152528/ ----------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview ----------------------------------- The full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/w2826455k852/?p=603724902f224ec4ab2a0e52213f8d3e&pi=0 The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Giacomo Indiveri, Rodney Douglas, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/n6134575mg14/?p=0ae0e58e2b8444c48fc62261e6b6a13f&pi=0 The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://springerlink.com/content/m224t1178m77/?p=61f9d0eb786e434783d7e55414ff013f&pi=0 The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n0p15n7p7222/?p=dc8c1547af2641d38b3e2882e2f52dfa&pi=0 The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/ju877014765w/?p=ec2da5ba66c44d66889a041c25b684ec&pi=0 -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de Tue Jun 29 04:08:48 2010 From: matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de (Matthias L. Jugel) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:08:48 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Deadline: July 2, Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience 2010 - Berlin, Germany Message-ID: <932D91D8-7087-41E0-87A3-0CA7A94A8435@tu-berlin.de> *** Please be reminded that the deadline for abstract submission is July 2nd. ** Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience (BCCN 2010) The Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) is an annual meeting of researchers working in Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. It has grown out of the annual Symposia of the German National Bernstein Network for Computational Neuroscience, which have been held since 2005. Now in its 6th year, organized by the Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology at the Berlin Institute of Technology, it has been opened as an international conference. The BCCN is a single track conference that covers all aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. We invite the submission of abstracts from all relevant areas. Selected abstracts will be published in the journal Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. The meeting is open for contributions from all relevant areas of computational neuroscience including, but not limited to: learning and plasticity, sensory processing, motor control, reward system, brain computer interface, neural encoding and decoding, decision making, information processing in neurons and networks, dynamical systems and recurrent networks, and neurotechnology. CONFERENCE DATE AND VENUE: September 27 - October 1, 2010 Technische Universit?t Berlin Berlin, Germany http://bccn2010.de/ PHD STUDENT-SYMPOSIUM: October 1st, 2009 Technische Universit?t Berlin Berlin, Germany IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission deadline: July 2, 2010 Poster submission deadline: July 2, 2010 Notification of acceptance: August 2, 2010 Early registration closes: August 18, 2010 CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS: Lars-Kai Hansen (Technical University of Denmark) Ernst Fehr (University of Zurich) Pascal Fries (Ernst Str?ngmann Institute) Peter Jonas (Albert-Ludwigs-Universit?t Freiburg) Misha Tsodyks (Weizmann Institute of Science) Gero Miesenb?ck (University of Oxford) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chair: Klaus-Rober M?ller Conference Office: Matthias L. Jugel, Imke Weitkamp PROGRAM COMMITTEE Demian Battaglia, Matthias Bethge, Armin Biess, Benjamin Blankertz, Axel Borst, Martin Burghoff, Gabriel Curio, Ulrich Egert, Roland Fleming, Alexander Gail, Jan Gl?scher, Tim Gollisch, Ralf Haefner, John-Dylan Haynes, Leo van Hemmen, Andreas Herz, Frank Hesse, Christian Igel, Dirk Jancke, Christoph Kayser, Richard Kempter, Peter K?nig, Christian Leibold, Sebastian M?ller, Klaus-Robert M?ller, Andreas Neef, Klaus Obermayer, Stefano Panzeri, Petra Ritter, Constantin Rothkopf, Gregor Sch?ner, Jens Steinbrink, Jochen Triesch, Thomas Wachtler, Felix Wichmann, Laurenz Wiskott, Annette Witt, Gabriel Wittum From rinkus at comcast.net Tue Jun 29 10:43:04 2010 From: rinkus at comcast.net (gerard rinkus) Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:43:04 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: a new mechanism for immediate nearest-neighbor memory access (for both storage and retrieval) Message-ID: <88BA727044F1410AA406156351B66F56@brandeisd65800> Dear Connectionists, I would like to announce publication of a new paper "A cortical sparse distributed coding model linking mini- and macrocolumn-scale functionality" describing a new computational model of cortex. The article (http://frontiersin.org/neuroscience/neuroanatomy/paper/10.3389/fnana.2010.0 0017/) is published in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. Its primary focus is to offer a hypothesis as to the functions and relations of the minicolumn and macrocolumn. However, its core neural processing algorithm should be of more general interest to the computational community because it is a novel mechanism for doing immediate (i.e., no sequential search), nearest-neighbor access of stored memories. Thus, it is an alternative to other recent methods for achieving this goal, e.g., semantic hashing and locality-sensitive hashing. The abstract: No generic function for the minicolumn-i.e., one that would apply equally well to all cortical areas and species-has yet been proposed. I propose that the minicolumn does have a generic functionality, which only becomes clear when seen in the context of the function of the higher-level, subsuming unit, the macrocolumn. I propose that: a) a macrocolumn's function is to store sparse distributed representations of its inputs and to be a recognizer of those inputs; and b) the generic function of the minicolumn is to enforce macrocolumnar code sparseness. The minicolumn, defined here as a physically localized pool of ~20 L2/3 pyramidals, does this by acting as a winner-take-all (WTA) competitive module, implying that macrocolumnar codes consist of ~70 active L2/3 cells, assuming ~70 minicolumns per macrocolumn. I describe an algorithm for activating these codes during both learning and retrievals, which causes more similar inputs to map to more highly intersecting codes, a property which yields ultra-fast (immediate, first-shot) storage and retrieval. The algorithm achieves this by adding an amount of randomness (noise) into the code selection process, which is inversely proportional to an input's familiarity. I propose a possible mapping of the algorithm onto cortical circuitry, and adduce evidence for a neuromodulatory implementation of this familiarity-contingent noise mechanism. The model is distinguished from other recent columnar cortical circuit models in proposing a generic minicolumnar function in which a group of cells within the minicolumn, the L2/3 pyramidals, compete (WTA) to be part of the sparse distributed macrocolumnar code. Sincerely, Gerard Rinkus Gerard Rinkus, PhD President, Neurithmic Systems 1647 Beacon St., Suite 4 Newton, MA 02468 617-997-6272 Visiting Scientist, Lisman Lab Volen Center for Complex Systems Brandeis University, Waltham, MA http://people.brandeis.edu/~grinkus/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20100629/61b9961c/attachment-0001.html From andrew.j.smith1 at ge.com Wed Jun 30 05:18:20 2010 From: andrew.j.smith1 at ge.com (Smith, Andrew J (GE Aviation)) Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:18:20 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Connectionist jobs at GE, Southampton, UK Message-ID: <34AC8A6A56774E45ADECC31266969D7307C91539@CINMLVEM26.e2k.ad.ge.com> GE is a provider of information solutions to the aerospace, energy, defence and related high-technology industries. The Advanced Research and Technology Group at Southampton (UK) currently applies a range of information exploitation strategies to real-world systems such as on-board aircraft maintenance, off-board engine diagnostics and prognostics, and sophisticated web-based alerting systems for wind-farm and aircraft operators. Other areas include structures monitoring for UAV applications. Tools and techniques include neural networks, graphical models, anomaly modelling, predictive mdoelling, virtual sensing, reasoning, optimisation, signal processing and Bayesian networks for decision support. The technology group is looking to recruit from a strong academic background into this growing area. Contact: dlaviation.hrsoton at ge.com GE is an Equal Opportunity Employer