From redish at umn.edu Sat Dec 1 08:20:28 2012 From: redish at umn.edu (David Redish) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2012 07:20:28 -0600 Subject: Connectionists: IGERT training opportunities in neural engineering at the University of Minnesota Message-ID: The Neuroengineering IGERT Training Program at the University of Minnesota, funded by the National Science Foundation, is inviting outstanding students to apply through the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and the Biomedical Engineering programs. The IGERT program is aimed at training the next generation of scientific and technical leaders in the interface of engineering and systems neurosciences, as broadly defined. The training themes include: 1) Neural decoding - Computational and theoretical neuroscience and neuroengineering studies on decoding theory, methods, as pursued via animal models or human studies. Neuroimaging is also pursued as means of brain decoding. 2) Neural modulation - Mechanisms of neuromodulation in brains for both deep brain stimulation and transcranial stimulations. 3) Neural interfacing - Mechanisms of motor control and learning as applied to brain-machine interface, as pursued in animal models and humans. Outstanding training opportunities include mentoring by co-advisors from over 40 faculty across engineering and brain sciences, a new neuroengineering minor curriculum, industrial and international internships, and general stipend ($30,000/year for two years on IGERT program) and tuition coverage. Visit the IGERT program website to find out more: http://www.igert-ne.umn.edu/ Neuroscience applicants should apply through the Graduate Program in Neuroscience (application deadline 5/December). http://www.neuroscience.umn.edu/ Biomedical engineering applicants should apply through the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program (application deadline 15/January). http://bme.umn.edu/grad/index.html From hiro at brain.riken.jp Tue Dec 4 18:53:28 2012 From: hiro at brain.riken.jp (hiro at brain.riken.jp) Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:53:28 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Positions available, Laboratory for Integrated Theoretical Neuroscience at RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan Message-ID: <20121205085325.4879.HIRO@brain.riken.jp> Dear colleagues, Applications are invited for opening positions for postdoctoral scientists to work at the Laboratory for Integrated Theoretical Neuroscience (Lab Head: Hiro Nakahara; http://www.itn.brain.riken.jp), RIKEN Brain Science Institute. The goal of our laboratory is to discover the computational principles that underlie the way that brain mechanisms realize intelligent behaviors. We use computational approaches and/or conduct human fMRI experiments. We work on two areas: decision making and neural coding ? primary and secondary interest; in particular, the postdoctoral scientists are expected to work under any of the following three topics: 1) Modeling neural computations of value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior 2) Conducting human fMRI experiment to address value-based decision making, including social setting 3) Analyzing neural data for our interest, and developing methods of analysis for understanding neural interactions Applicants should have, or be expecting to receive, a Ph.D., and have research interest and background in the area of (or related to) research described below. Please send your application to itninfo at brain.riken.jp with the following materials: (A) a cover letter specifying the research topic of your interest, (B) CV including publication list, (C) research statement describing your past achievements and future interests, (D) the names and contact information of three references (including the current supervisor, if available) with a brief description of your relationship to each reference, and (E) (optional) any additional information you think might be useful (e.g. additional skills and background, general interests, and so on). Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Start date is flexible, but an early starting time is preferred. Informal inquiry should also be sent to itninfo at brain.riken.jp. Each research topic is described briefly in the following, together with experience and skills expected for applicants: 1) ?Modeling neural computations.? We build computational and mathematical models of neural processes for value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior. We are particularly interested in their adaptive nature (e.g., reinforcement learning). We also seek how such behaviors are supported by neural processing and representation of the environment and potential outcomes, and further by representational and structural learning of those. Circuit-wise, we are interested in how the basal ganglia circuit, including dopamine neurons, contribute to these functions, in relation to prefrontal areas and other subcortical areas (e.g., lateral habenula, amygdala). Applicants are expected to have a qualified research experience in computational neuroscience in the area or related area. A strong quantitative background is expected, including good computer and programming skills (e.g., Matlab). Close collaboration with experimental studies is emphasized. 2) ?Conducting human fMRI experiment?. We investigate value-based decision making, reward-oriented behavior, and social value-based decision-making and learning. For instance, using model-based analyses, we are interested in investigating how values associated with different options is processed in the brain to reach a final decision, and/or how learning about another person affects one?s own value-based decisions. The ideal candidate should have a qualified research experience in human fMRI experiments in the area or related area, but candidates with a strong record and experience in different research areas, using fMRI, psychophysics or related technique (e.g., single-unit neurophysiology) are also considered. Candidates who wish to pursue experimental studies by linking experimental and computational approaches are encouraged to apply. Solid quantitative skills are appreciated. Research is conducted by using RIKEN BSI's 4 Tesla MRI system, in collaboration with Dr. Kang Cheng (RIKEN BSI, fMRI Support Unit) and other excellent collaborators. 3) ?Analyzing neural data? and ?developing methods of analysis?. We analyze neural data with our interest described in the topic 1), wherein the data is often supplied from by our collaborators (e.g. data of dopamine neural activity from behaving animals? experiment). In addition, we are interested in developing methods of analysis for simultaneously recorded neural data with an emphasis on understanding consequences of neural interactions, including higher-order interactions. Expected backgrounds and skills for ideal candidates are similar to those under theme 1) described above. For all the topics 1)-3), the successful candidate will be expected to conduct independent research as well as work closely in a team; therefore, a good balance of self-reliance and collegiality is required. Good communication skills are essential (working language is English at our institute.) RIKEN Brain Science Institute (2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, Japan) is located in greater Tokyo area, about 30 min from the center of the city by train (http://www.brain.riken.jp). Starting salaries will be commensurate with relevant ability and experience. Commuting and housing allowances will be provided. Social insurance will be applied. Subsequent contracts, including salary adjustment, will be determined and renewed annually, upon review, for up to five years. Best wishes, Hiro Hiroyuki Nakahara, Ph.D. Laboratory for Integrated Theoretical Neuroscience RIKEN Brain Science Institute http://www.itn.brain.riken.jp -- hiroyuki nakahara http://www.itn.brain.riken.jp From thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk Mon Dec 3 08:26:50 2012 From: thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk (Thomas Wennekers) Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 13:26:50 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: "The Lure of the New" at Plymouth Cognition Institute Message-ID: <201212031326.50724.thomas.wennekers@plymouth.ac.uk> Dear all The annual conference of the Cognition Institute, Plymouth University, is now open for registration, and for the submission of abstracts for oral sessions and posters. This years conference is entitled: The Lure of the New and details can be found here: http://cognition.plymouth.ac.uk/annual-conference-lure-new/ >From the conference website you can follow the links to the on-line registration or go directly from here: http://estore.plymouth.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&prodid=414&deptid=9&catid=21 Regards MC -- Martin Coath Outreach Research Fellow Cognition Institute Plymouth University www.mcoath.net ----------------------------------------- From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Mon Dec 3 05:30:23 2012 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:30:23 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Biological Cybernetics: Special Issue on "Multimodal and Sensorimotor Bionics" Message-ID: <50BC7F3F.10701@cns.unibe.ch> Biological Cybernetics: vol 106, number 11 --- Table of Content Special Issue on "Multimodal and Sensorimotor Bionics": 2 Reviews, 7 Prospects, 2 Original Papers http://link.springer.com/journal/422/106/11/page/1 Foreword for the special issue on Multimodal and Sensorimotor Bionics J. Leo van Hemmen, Patrick van der Smagt & Barry E. Stein http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0535-1 Reviews: "Coping with flow: behavior, neurophysiology and modeling of the fish lateral line system" Joachim Mogdans & Horst Bleckmann http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0502-x "Using individual-muscle specific instead of across-muscle mean data halves muscle simulation error" Marcus Bl?mel, Christoph Guschlbauer, Scott L. Hooper & Ansgar B?schges http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0525-3 Prospects: "Palisade endings and proprioception in extraocular muscles: a comparison with skeletal muscles" Karoline Lienbacher & Anja K. E. Horn http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0519-1 "Stimulus-specific adaptation, habituation and change detection in the gaze control system" Yoram Gutfreund http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0497-3 "Predictability of visual perturbation during locomotion: implications for corrective efference copy signaling" Boris P. Chagnaud, John Simmers & Hans Straka http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0528-0 Original Papers: "Model approach to neurological variants of visuo-spatial neglect" Thomas Brandt, Marianne Dieterich, Michael Strupp & Stefan Glasauer http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0517-3 "Hebbian mechanisms help explain development of multisensory integration in the superior colliculus: a neural network model C. Cuppini, E. Magosso, B. Rowland, B. Stein & M. Ursino http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0511-9 Further Prospects: "Time scales of memory, learning, and plasticity Christian Tetzlaff, Christoph Kolodziejski, Irene Markelic & Florentin W?rg?tter http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0529-z "Dynamic primitives of motor behavior" Neville Hogan & Dagmar Sternad http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0527-1 "Human hand modelling: kinematics, dynamics, applications" Agneta Gustus, Georg Stillfried, Judith Visser, Henrik J?rntell & Patrick van der Smagt http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0532-4 "Optimal isn?t good enough" Gerald E. Loeb http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00422-012-0514-6 ---- Biological Cybernetics, all issues: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100465/ From sandayci at rub.de Tue Dec 4 07:49:25 2012 From: sandayci at rub.de (Yulia Sandamirskaya) Date: 4 Dec 2012 13:49:25 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Research position in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: We are offering a research position at the PhD level starting as soon as possible. Our research deals with fundamental problems of information processing in neural systems and artificial autonomous systems. It comprises the fields of computational neuroscience, autonomous and cognitive robotics, and computer vision. The position is offered in the context of the German-Japanese Program on Computational Neuroscience funded by the DFG-JSPS Project "Haptic Learning". Thus, work will be conducted by a close collaboration between Ruhr-University Bochum (Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya) with the Georg-August Universit?t G?ttingen(Prof. Dr. F. W?rg?tter) as well as Universit?t Bielefeld (Prof. Dr. H. Ritter) and (ATR Computation Neuroscience laboratories, Kyoto, Japan (Prof. Dr. J. Morimoto). The successful candidate will develop a computational model of haptic learning and motor control derived from haptic feedback combing methods of dynamic neural fields, self-organizing maps, and temporal sequence learning. Within the collaborative project, the model will be evaluated in neural-behavioral experiments, as well as in robotic implementations. We are seeking a candidate with a background in either -- Computer science or engineering -- Mathematics or physics -- Psychology or cognitive science. No fear of mathematics, interest in cognitive sciences, and good programming skills are prerequisites for a successful candidate. Work will mostly take place at the Ruhr-University Bochum, but ? as described above ? this project takes place in close collaboration with G?ttingen, Bielefeld and Kyoto and requires (and offers!) the opportunity to work for longer periods of time also at these institutions. Further information can be obtained from Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya (yulia.sandamirskaya at ini.rub.de), to whom applications should be sent. Applications should include a statement of interest, a CV, and material that provides information on grades achieved during your university education. ---- Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya Institut f?r Neuroinformatik Theory of cognitive systems (NB/3/26) Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany Tel: +49-234-32-27996 (office) +49-177-789-0330 (mobile) Fax.: + 49-234-3214210 E-mail: yulia.sandamirskaya at ini.rub.de http://www.ini.rub.de/institute/people/yulia.sandamirskaya.html.en http://sandamirskaya.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Thu Dec 6 19:32:32 2012 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 00:32:32 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: A new brain theory, a Phys.org story on the theory and a response to James McClelland and David Plaut's comments in the Phys.org story Message-ID: <4AD8F84F0AA4E1448BD8131BA7E55EB40AFBF616@exmbw02.asurite.ad.asu.edu> The following article appeared in Frontiers of Cognitive Science on Dec. 4: Roy A. (2012). "A theory of the brain: localist representation is used widely in the brain." Front. Psychology 3:551. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00551 It's a very short article, just 2000 words. Here's the link to the article: http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/FullText.aspx?s=196&name=cognitive_science&ART_DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00551 Phys.org wrote a feature story on the new theory titled: "Do brain cells need to be connected to have meaning?" Here's the link to the story: http://phys.org/news273783154.html James McClelland of Stanford University and David Plaut of Carnegie Mellon University have long comments about the theory in the Phys.org story. I have posted a separate response to their comments on the Lifeboat site. Here's the link to the response: http://lifeboat.com/blog/2012/12/response-to-plaut-and-mcclelland-on-the-phys-org-story With best regards, Asim Roy Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona www.lifeboat.com/ex/bios.asim.roy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dst at cs.cmu.edu Sat Dec 8 02:30:44 2012 From: dst at cs.cmu.edu (Dave Touretzky) Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2012 02:30:44 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: CMU/Pitt summer undergrad program in computational neuroscience Message-ID: <8750.1354951844@cs.cmu.edu> Carnegie Mellon - University of Pittsburgh Joint Summer Undergraduate Program in Computational Neuroscience Undergraduates interested in receiving research training in computational neuroscience are encouraged to apply to an NIH-sponsored summer program at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition in Pittsburgh. The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition is a joint interdisciplinary program of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The 2013 program will run from May 28 through August 2, 2013. The final deadline for application is Feb 11. All participants must be United States citizens or permanent residents, must be enrolled at a 4-year accredited institution, and must be in their sophomore or junior year at the time of application. Any undergraduate may apply, but we are especially interested in attracting students with strong quantitative backgrounds with some experience in calculus, statistics and/or computer programming. Experience in neuroscience is not required. Students from groups underrepresented in the sciences are encouraged to apply. The core of the program is the opportunity to carry out an individual mentored research project working closely with a faculty mentor. Other aspects of the scientific program include: 12 faculty lectures on computational neuroscience at the beginning, followed by student presentations and discussion of articles from the scientific literature, presentations on career options and scientific ethics, and a concluding symposium in which students present their research. Application form is available at: http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/summercompneuro Application can be returned via email or regular mail (see addresses below). In addition to the application, the following items are required for evaluation: * A brief (one page) essay about your interest and experience in neural computation. * Official transcript from the institution you are attending * Two letters from professional references. You should contact your recommenders and ask them to mail or email a letter directly to us. * SAT/ACT scores (do NOT have to be official; photocopies are acceptable). Documents should be mailed to: Computational Neuroscience Summer Program Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Carnegie Mellon University 4400 Fifth Avenue Suite 115 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2617 CNBC-summer-UG at andrew.cmu.edu List of CMU-Pitt CNBC faculty working in computational neuroscience: John Anderson (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Aaron Batista (University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering) Marlene Behrmann (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Marlene Cohen (University of Pittsburgh, Neuroscience) Carol Colby (University of Pittsburgh, Neuroscience) Steve Chase (Carnegie Mellon, ECE/Biomedical Engineering) Justin Crowley (Carnegie Mellon, Biology) Brent Doiron (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) William Eddy (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Bard Ermentrout (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) Julie Fiez (University of Pittsburgh, Psychology) John Horn (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Robert Kass (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Charles Kemp (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Seong-Gi Kim (University of Pittsburgh, Radiology) Sandra Kuhlman (Carnegie Mellon, Biology) Tai Sing Lee (Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science) Tom Mitchell (Carnegie Mellon, Machine Learning) Carl Olson (Carnegie Mellon, Neural Basis of Cognition) Anne-Marie Oswald (University of Pittsburgh, Neuroscience) Monica Perez (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology & Rehabilitation) David Plaut (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Steven Prescott (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Lynne Reder (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Erik Reichle (University of Pittsburgh, Psychology) Johnathan Rubin (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) Walt Schneider (University of Pittsburgh, Psychology) Andrew Schwartz (University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering) Daniel Simons (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Matthew Smith (University of Pittsburgh, Ophthalmology) Peter Strick (University of Pittsburgh, Psychiatry) Michael Tarr (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Dave Touretzky (Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science) Robert Turner (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Nathan Urban (Carnegie Mellon, Biology) Valerie Ventura (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Timothy Verstynen (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Douglas Weber (University of Pittsburgh, Physical medicine and Rehabilitation) Byron Yu (Carnegie Mellon, ECE/Biomedical Engineering) From terry at salk.edu Tue Dec 11 17:40:59 2012 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:40:59 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - January, 2013 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 25, Number 1 - January 1, 2013 Letters Dynamics of Feature Categorization Daniel Marti, John Rinzel Stochastic Hodgkin-Huxley Equations With Colored Noise Terms in the Conductances Marifi Gueler Statistical Computer Model Analysis of the Reciprocal and Recurrent Inhibitions of the Ia-EPSP in alpha-Motoneurons Gideon Gradwohl, Yoram Grossman Point Process Principal Components Analysis via Geometric Optimization Victor Solo, Syed Ahmed Pasha A Spiking Neural Model for Stable Reinforcement of Synapses Based on Multiple Distal Rewards Michael J. O'Brien, Narayan Srinivasa A Model of the Differential Representation of Signal Novelty in the Local Field Potentials and Spiking Activity of the Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Jung Hoon Lee, Joji Tsunada, and Yale Cohen Computing Sparse Representations of Multidimensional Signals Using Kronecker Bases Cesar Federico Caiafa, Andrzej Cichocki ANUBIS - Artificial Neuromodulation Using a Bayesian Inference System Benjamin J. H. Smith, Chakravarthini M Saaj, and Elie Allouis Multi-Layer Perceptron Classification of Unknown Volatile Chemicals From the Firing Rates of Insect Olfactory Sensory Neurons and Its Application to Biosensor Design Luqman Ramadhana Bachtiar, Charles P. Unsworth, Richard D. Newcomb, and Edmund J. Crampin ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2013 - VOLUME 25 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic Only Student/Retired $70 $193 $65 Individual $124 $187 $115 Institution $1,035 $1,098 $926 Canada: Add 5% GST 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 ------------ From ws234 at cam.ac.uk Sat Dec 8 14:12:23 2012 From: ws234 at cam.ac.uk (Wolfram Schultz) Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2012 19:12:23 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Four Postdoctoral Positions in Neuroeconomics: Neurophysiology, Neuroimaging, Behavioural Economics and Computational Neuroscience of Reward, Risk and Decision-Making, University of Cambridge Message-ID: <51EDBB07-83CB-43E8-8B5F-E6D356EDE1BA@cam.ac.uk> Four Postdoctoral Positions in Neuroeconomics: Neurophysiology, Neuroimaging, Behavioural Economics and Computational Neuroscience of Reward, Risk and Decision-Making University of Cambridge Following recent major awards from the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council (ERC), we are expanding our research activities and offer at least four postdoctoral positions in neuroeconomics: 1) Behavioural single cell neurophysiology 2) Behavioural economics and/or human neuroimaging (fMRI) 3) Computational neuroscience Some of these positions can be allocated to graduate (PhD) students for whom full financial support will be provided. Neuroeconomics is a rapidly expanding new field investigating the neuronal foundations of economic (reward-based) learning and decision making. It derives rationales, behavioural tasks and data interpretations from animal learning theory and economic decision theory. We offer innovative projects for experimentally minded, theory driven, or general neuroscience / neuroeconomics candidates. Our experiments investigate behavioural and brain processes for basic decision variables (reward value, economic utility, probability and its distortions, risk, action value, object value, specific axioms), mechanisms of learning and decision making, and social reward processing (inequity, cooperation). Our projects benefit from collaborations with experimental psychologists and behavioural economists in Cambridge and abroad. Candidates are encouraged to combine own ideas with the demands of our grants and to interact well in our group. Postdoctoral candidates should have published experience, and predoctoral candidates should have strong interest, relevant for the desired position. Additional training will be provided in all areas necessary for successful work. Excellent social, computer and writing skills are required. For details on our group, see http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/staff/schultz/. Initial deadline for applications is January 15, 2013, although the search will continue until appropriate candidates have been identified. Start date is flexible. Initial appointments will be two years, extendable. Postdoctoral annual salary will be ?33,734 - 37,012 depending on research experience (Cambridge Univ pay scales 46-49, with ~25% deductions for taxes, insurance and health care). Predoctoral salary will be ?23,661 - 26,629 (pay scales 34-38) plus student fees. Details on the individual positions: 1) Single cell neurophysiology in rhesus monkeys performing in well controlled behavioural tasks provides unique opportunities to investigate individual and social neuroeconomic processes in the main reward structures including dopamine neurons, striatum, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, and in associated brain structures. We are particularly interested in straightforward experimental tasks and thorough behavioural testing. Experience in behavioural neurophysiology (neuronal recordings, optogenetics), human neuroimaging (fMRI), quantitative analysis of behaviour, behavioural economics, or computational neuroscience would be particularly appreciated. 2) Behavioural economics and human neuroimaging (fMRI). Experiments are designed, and largely interpreted, on the basis of single neuron data from neurophysiological experiments in monkeys and informed by formal modelling, on which interested candidates may also participate. We have access to three Siemens 3T research scanners. Candidates need to have published experience in behavioural economics and/or human neuroimaging (fMRI). Additional knowledge in behavioural economics, primate behavioural neurophysiology or computational neuroscience would be an asset, as is experience with quantitative testing in controlled behavioural tasks, advanced statistics including multivariate classifiers, reinforcement model-based regressions or Bayesian updating. 3) Computational neuroscience. We like to advance formal theoretical and computational models for adaptive reinforcement learning and economic decision making. We also seek candidates interested in accessing our large collection of behavioural and neuronal data for formal modelling or data analysis with advanced statistical techniques (e.g. classifiers and support vector machines). There are opportunities to participate in, and shape, ongoing behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging (fMRI) experiments. Experience in formal mathematical modelling, good biological intuition and knowledge of neurobiological systems is required. Additional experience in behavioural neurophysiology, neuroimaging (fMRI), quantitative analysis of behaviour or behavioural economics would be an asset. Our well equipped and supported laboratories are located on the Downing Site in gorgeous downtown Cambridge which offers more than enough daily seminars and plenty of charming pubs and coffee shops. The huge and open minded university provides lots of social, intellectual and cultural stimulation. London is an hour away by train. The villages and rural towns around Cambridge, the wide East Anglia sky, and the North Sea are splendid for day tours. Applications should include CV, list of publications, half page description of research experience specific for the desired post (including computer skills), half page description of research interests, and contact details of two referees. Please address applications to Wolfram Schultz, Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, UK, ws234 at cam.ac.uk. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dorris at stanford.edu Wed Dec 12 03:12:01 2012 From: dorris at stanford.edu (Michael Dorris) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:12:01 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Adkodas: a different kind of data analysis system Message-ID: <20121212081201.GA25069@adkodas.gateway.2wire.net> Want to try an alternative feedforward neural network? Check out our networks at Adkodas (A Different Kind Of Data Analysis System): http://adkodas.com We offer networks with: * Results often as good as 90% and better correct classification, compared to 60% for backpropagation. * Deterministic training time. Training time is finite because we don't train by using error rate minimization hence no local minima problem. * No over learning problem: data redundancy is no problem for us * When you run the network, if the network doesn't know the answer, it can tell you. * The network will reproduce what it has learned with 100% accuracy. * Perfect recall of learned data is no obstacle to generalization: in fact, our network generalizes better than other feedforward network strategies, check some of our results at our site: http://adkodas.com Adkodas is offering a limited-time beta-release registration period to interested users -- initial registration prices are deeply discounted for the first 25 academic and non-academic registrants. Be among the first to test our neural networks -- as well as first in line to try our automated rule extraction capabilities. From akozlov at nada.kth.se Fri Dec 7 08:30:07 2012 From: akozlov at nada.kth.se (Alexander Kozlov) Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 14:30:07 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD positions in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <4eb12f27fe6087547cf02d9e6e42a9ef.squirrel@webmail.csc.kth.se> The Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" (European Study Programme in Neuroinformatics) is inviting applications from students having a solid background in mathematics, physics, computer sciences, biochemistry or neuroscience (on a master level or equivalent), in all cases with computer science skills. Documented interest in research like activities (e.g. demonstrated in the form of master thesis work, or participation in research related activities) is of large importance. Also fluency in English is requested. Four partners participate: - Bernstein Center Freiburg, Germany - KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden - National Centre for Biological Science, India - University of Edinburgh (UoE), UK They are all research leaders in the Neuroinformatics field, but they have complementary strengths. Each student will spend most of the time at two of the partner universities, and also receive a joint (or double) PhD degree following a successful completion of the studies. The mobility periods, as well as the courses a student will follow, are tailored individually based on: a) the PhD students background; b) which constellations of partners that are involved, as well as c) the specific research project. During the PhD period each student has one main supervisor from each of the two universities that grant the PhD degree. There are excellent scholarship opportunities for students accepted to an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate programme. An employment contract will be given to all selected PhD students during the study time, which is 4 years. If you are interested, go to our webpage: http://www.kth.se/eurospin If you have questions, contact us at . EuroSPIN Coordinators, Stockholm, SWEDEN. From gianluca.baldassarre at gmail.com Mon Dec 10 06:06:01 2012 From: gianluca.baldassarre at gmail.com (Gianluca Baldassarre ) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:06:01 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Frontiers in Cognitive Science special issue + Workshop: Intrinsic motivations and open-ended development Message-ID: Dear colleagues, In collaboration with Frontiers in Cognitive Science, we are currently organizing a special issue (there called ''Research Topic'') with the title "Intrinsic motivations and open-ended development in animals, humans, and robots" ( http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognitive_Science/researchtopics/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open/1326 ). *** The special issue is organised in coordination with the ''International Workshop on Intrinsic motivations and Open-Ended Development in Animals, Humans, and Robots" (Rome, 6-8 June 2013; for details: http://www.im-clever.eu/announcements/events/cnr-workshop-on-intrinsic-motivations). Please use the abstract (see submission instructions below), or an email, to manifest your interest to participate in the workshop. *** The proposed structure of the Research Topic is provided below, together with links to the instructions to submit an abstract (deadline: 21 January 2013) and a final paper (deadline: 21 May 2013). *** Topic Editors: Gianluca Baldassarre, Andrew Barto, Marco Mirolli, Peter Redgrave, Richard Ryan, Tom Stafford *** Description: The aim of this Research Topic for Frontiers in Cognitive Science is to present state-of-the-art research, whether theoretical, empirical, or computational investigations, on open-ended development driven by intrinsic motivations. The topic will address questions such as: How do motivations drive learning? How are complex skills built up from a foundation of simpler competencies? What are the neural and computational bases for intrinsically motivated learning? What is the contribution of intrinsic motivations to the wider cognition? Autonomous development and lifelong open-ended learning are hallmarks of intelligence. Higher mammals, and especially humans, engage in activities that do not appear to directly serve the goals of survival, reproduction, or material advantage. Rather, a large part of their activity is intrinsically motivated - behavior driven by curiosity, play, interest in novel stimuli and surprising events, autonomous goal-setting, and the pleasure of acquiring new competencies. This allows the cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skills that can later be used to accomplish ?tness-enhancing goals. Intrinsic motivations continue during adulthood, and in humans artistic creativity, scientific discovery, and subjective well-being owe much to them. The study of intrinsically motivated behavior has a long history in psychological and ethological research, which is now being reinvigorated by perspectives from neuroscience, artificial intelligence and computer science. For example, recent neuroscientific research is discovering how neuromodulators like dopamine and noradrenaline relate not only to extrinsic rewards but also to novel and surprising events, how brain areas such as the superior colliculus and the hippocampus are involved in the perception and processing of events, novel stimuli, and novel associations of stimuli, and how violations of predictions and expectations influence learning and motivation. Computational approaches are characterizing the space of possible reinforcement learning algorithms and their augmentation by intrinsic reinforcements of different kinds. Research in robotics and machine learning is yielding systems with increasing autonomy and capacity for self-improvement: artificial systems with motivations that are similar to those of real organisms and support prolonged autonomous learning. Computational research on intrinsic motivation is being complemented by, and closely interacting with, research that aims to build hierarchical architectures capable of acquiring, storing, and exploiting the knowledge and skills acquired through intrinsically motivated learning. Now is an important moment in the study of intrinsically motivated open-ended development, requiring contributions and integration across a large number of fields within the cognitive sciences. This Research Topic aims to contribute to this effort by welcoming papers carried out with ethological, psychological, neuroscientific and computational approaches, as well as research that cuts across disciplines and approaches. Original research advancing specific aspects of the state-of-the art and review/theoretical papers aiming to systematize the field are both suitable for this Topic. *** Abstract Submission Deadline: 21 January 2013 *** Article Submission Deadline: 21 May 2013 *** Frontiers Research Topics are designed to be an organized, encyclopedic coverage of a particular research area, and a forum for discussion and debate. Contributions can be of different article types (Original Research, Methods, Hypothesis & Theory, and others). Several outstanding researchers are expected to contribute to the call and participate in the Workshop. Our Research Topic has a dedicated homepage on the Frontiers website, where contributing articles are accumulated and discussions can be easily held. Once all articles are published, the topic will be compiled into an e-book, which can be sent to foundations that fund your research, to journalists and press agencies, and to any number of other organizations. As the ultimate reference source from leading scientists, Frontiers Research Topic articles become highly cited. Frontiers is a Swiss-based, open access publisher. As such an article accepted for publication incurs a publishing fee, which varies depending on the article type. The publishing fee for accepted articles is below average compared to most other open access journals - and lower than subscription-based journals that apply page and color figure charges. Moreover, for Research Topic articles, the publishing fee is discounted quite steeply thanks to the support of the Frontiers Research Foundation. Details on Frontiers? fees can be found at: http://www.frontiersin.org/about/PublishingFees. When published, your article will be freely available to visitors to the Frontiers site, and will be indexed in PubMed and other academic archives. As an author in Frontiers, you will retain the copyright to your own paper and all figures. *** For more information about this Topic and Frontiers in Cognitive Science, please visit: http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognitive_Science/researchtopics/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open/1326 *** For information on the abstract submission procedure, click on the ''Info for Authors'' tab within this web-page: http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognitive_Science/researchtopics/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open/1326 *** To submit an abstract and, if this is accepted, the related article use the following link: http://www.frontiersin.org/submissioninfo (Here choose: ''Submit an abstract/article'' and ''Start submission''; then Domain:Science, Field:Psychology, Journal-section:Cognitive-Science ...then follow instructions...). Best regards, Gianluca Baldassarre, Andrew Barto, Marco Mirolli, Peter Redgrave, Richard Ryan, Tom Stafford Guest Associate Editors, Frontiers in Cognitive Science (www.frontiersin.org ) -- .|.CS...|.......|...............|..|......US.|||.|||||.||.||||..|...|....... Gianluca Baldassarre, Ph.D., Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (LOCEN-ISTC-CNR), Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, I-00185 Roma, Italy E-mail: gianluca.baldassarre at istc.cnr.it Web: http://www.istc.cnr.it/people/gianluca-baldassarre Learn from the past, live in(tensely) the present, dream for the future ...CS.|||.||.|||.||..|.......|........|...US.|.|....||..|..|......|......... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de Wed Dec 12 09:20:52 2012 From: udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de (Udo Ernst) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:20:52 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: IJCAI -13 Workshop - Intelligence Science: Call for Papers Message-ID: <50C892C4.8080101@neuro.uni-bremen.de> IJCAI-13 WORKSHOP: INTELLIGENCE SCIENCE ================================================== August 3-4, 2013, Beijing, China Call for Papers =============== Artificial Intelligence research has made substantial progress since the 1950s. However, many state-of-the-art intelligent systems are still not able to outperform human intelligence. To advance the research in artificial intelligence, it is beneficial to investigate intelligence, both artificial and natural, in an interdisciplinary context. The objective of this workshop is to bring together researchers from brain science, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence to explore the essence and technology of intelligence. This workshop provides a platform to discuss some key issues in intelligence science: (1) What new methodologies and ideas may cognitive science and brain science bring into the research of artificial intelligence? (2) What are the underlying algorithmic principles and circuitry wiring of the observed intelligent behaviors? (3) How are intelligent behaviors realized as hierarchical organization of functions across multiple modalities and time scales? (4) What are the key problems of intelligence science that requires joint research in brain science, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence? This workshop takes advantage of IJCAI-13 by hoping to attract participants from academia and industry worldwide. The communication among researchers from these fields will strongly boost the understanding of intelligence, provoke new theories on intelligent behaviors and lead to new experiments or systems. The workshop is to be held at the beginning of IJCAI-13, August 3-4, 2013. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to meet and discuss issues with a selected focus ? providing an informal setting for active exchange among researchers and developers on topics of common interest. Topics of interest related to Intelligence Science include but are not limited to the following areas: ? Basic process of neural activity in brain ? Perceptual representation and feature binding ? Coding and retrieval of memory ? Linguistic cognition ? Learning and synaptic plasticity ? Exploration and active sampling ? Thought and decision making ? Emotion and affection ? Development and adaptation of intelligence ? Nature of consciousness ? Mind modeling ? Cognitive computing and simulation ? Brain-computer integration ? Intelligent robots and virtual humans ? Brain-like machine ? Creativity ? Abstraction ? Integration of aspects of intelligence Submissions process: ===================== Authors should submit their papers through the Easychair system using the IJCAI formatting guidelines. If you would like to participate, submit either a full paper of no more than 6 pages (or 6,000 words); a short paper, or problem instance (at most 3 pages or 3,000 words); or a position statement (1 page). Short papers may address an important problem for further research. Important Dates: ================== Paper submission deadline: March 31, 2013 Acceptance Notification: May 1, 2013 Final Version: May 20, 2013 Workshops date: August 3-4, 2013 General Chairs ================== Randal A. Koene (Boston University, USA) Xiaowei Tang (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, China) Jean-Daniel Zucker (IRD and University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France) Program Chairs: ================== Zhongzhi Shi (Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) Paul S. Rosenbloom (Dept. of Computer Science and Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California) Udo Ernst (Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bremen, Germany) Program Committee: ==================== A. Aamodt (Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway) F. Battaglia (University of Amsterdam?Netherlands) G. Bi (University of Science and Technology of China, China) W. Chen (Zhejiang University, China) S. Ding (China Mining University, China) F. Dylla (Computer Science, University Bremen, Germany) G. Li (Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) L. Li (Hangzhou Dianzi University, China) J. Liang (Shanxi University, China) F. Neri (University of Naples Federico Ii, Italy) B. Si (Dept. of Neurobiology Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) X. Tian (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin Medical University, China) S. Vadera(University of Salford, UK) G. Wang (Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, CAS, China) J. Weng (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, USA) S. Wu (Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing Normal University, China) C. Zhang (Tsinghua University, China) L. Zhang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China) X. Zheng (Zhejiang University, China) C. Zhou (Xiamen University, China) X. Zhou (Peking University, China) Y. Zhou (Shanghai Normal University, China) Local Organization: ============================ Contact Person: Zhongzhi Shi shizz at ics.ict.ac.cn Tel? 86-10-82610254 Secretary: Jianhua Zhang zhangjh at ics.ict.ac.cn From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Tue Dec 11 09:39:06 2012 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:39:06 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Run parallel simulations via the Neuroscience Gateway Message-ID: <50C7458A.1040003@yale.edu> Computational neuroscientists are invited to use the Neuroscience Gateway portal http://www.nsgportal.org (NSG) to run parallel simulations on high performance computing (HPC) resources. We are developing the NSG, with support from NSF, as a means to reduce the administrative and technical barriers that keep many users from employing HPC. NSG users do not have to divert time and effort from their own research, because there is * NO formal request for allocation of CPU time--in fact, no paperwork at all, and no charges since the NSG employs HPC resources that are already supported by NSF and other agencies * NO need to install or configure software * NO need to wrestle with HPC system software or job scheduling Instead the NSG provides a simple web-based interface that makes it quick and easy to create an account, upload model code, run simulations, and get back results. To get started, go to http://www.nsgportal.org, click on the "Go to the NSG Portal" button, and follow the instructions in the sentence New users who are interested in getting an account should fill out the form and email it to nsgprod at sdsc.edu on that page. Currently the NSG has the latest version of NEURON installed, and we plan to make other simulators such as GENESIS, MOOSE, and NEST available in the next few months. Investigators who have already obtained allocations on HPC resources, and would like to use the NSG as a convenient interface for using those allocations, are also invited to contact us to facilitate this. For any questions related to the NSG portal, please contact us at nsghelp at sdsc.edu From kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Sat Dec 15 09:14:34 2012 From: kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Janina Kirsch) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:14:34 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD positions in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <002a01cddace$82ecfd60$88c6f820$@bcf.uni-freiburg.de> The Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" (European Study Programme in Neuroinformatics) is inviting applications from students having a solid background in mathematics, physics, computer sciences, biochemistry or neuroscience (on a master level or equivalent), in all cases with computer science skills. Documented interest in research like activities (e.g. demonstrated in the form of master thesis work, or participation in research related activities) is of large importance. Also fluency in English is requested. Four partners participate: - Bernstein Center Freiburg, Germany - KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden - National Centre for Biological Science, India - University of Edinburgh (UoE), UK They are all research leaders in the Neuroinformatics field, but they have complementary strengths. Each student will spend most of the time at two of the partner universities, and also receive a joint (or double) PhD degree following a successful completion of the studies. The mobility periods, as well as the courses a student will follow, are tailored individually based on: a) the PhD students background; b) which constellations of partners that are involved, as well as c) the specific research project. During the PhD period each student has one main supervisor from each of the two universities that grant the PhD degree. There are excellent scholarship opportunities for students accepted to an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate programme. An employment contract will be given to all selected PhD students during the study time, which is 4 years. If you are interested, go to our webpage: http://www.kth.se/eurospin If you have questions, contact us at . EuroSPIN Coordinators, Stockholm, SWEDEN. From cl at cmu.edu Fri Dec 14 17:33:16 2012 From: cl at cmu.edu (Christian Lebiere) Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:33:16 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Research Positions at CMU Message-ID: Applications are open for research positions in the Psychology Department at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of Dr. Christian Lebiere. Positions include several postdoctoral researchers and a research programmer. The research positions involve the application of cognitive architectures to cognitive robotics, cognitive neuroscience, visual intelligence, network science and game theory.? A brief description of the group?s research can be found at http://fms.psy.cmu.edu/about/.? Publications, software, tutorials and other information can be found at http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/. Specific research projects include: - model networks of cognitive agents to understand the emerging dynamics that arise from the interaction of human decision-makers as well as large networks of artificial agents, cognitive models and human nodes.? This research is funded by a 5-year MURI (Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative) grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and a 5-year grant from DTRA. - integrate cognitive architectures with traditional robotic techniques to improve autonomy, enhance human-robot interaction and provide metacognitive abilities to plan missions, monitor execution and remediate problems.? This research is funded by the Robotic Collaborative Technology Alliance (http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=392), a large 5-10-year partnership between academic, government and industry laboratories to develop the next generation robotic architectures, and a grant from the Office of Naval Research. - develop integrated symbolic-neural architectures that combines the capabilities of symbolic architectures such as ACT-R with those of connectionist frameworks such as Leabra to model complex, open-ended tasks such as sensemaking or instruction-driven interaction.? This research is funded by IARPA project ICArUS (http://www.iarpa.gov/Programs/ia/ICArUS/icarus.html) and by a grant from the Office of Naval Research. Postdoctoral candidates should have a Ph.D. 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.? Programming experience, especially in Lisp, and a background in artificial intelligence or cognitive modeling are preferred but not essential.? 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 (email preferred): ? Dr. Christian Lebiere Psychology Department Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Tel: 412-268-6028 Email: cl at cmu.edu From eero at cns.nyu.edu Wed Dec 12 16:14:55 2012 From: eero at cns.nyu.edu (Eero Simoncelli) Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:14:55 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Tenure-track faculty position at NYU Message-ID: <93D9036A-DBB9-47FA-AEA6-3D729421DAD3@cns.nyu.edu> Dear Colleagues, The Center for Neural Science at New York University invites applications for a junior-level tenure-track faculty position from candidates with research programs in systems neuroscience. We are particularly interested in scholars whose research involves computational and/or theoretical approaches. The deadline for applications is January 7, 2013. Further information is available at http://www.cns.nyu.edu/faculty-search/ Eero Simoncelli Center for Neural Science New York University From yann at cs.nyu.edu Sat Dec 15 16:49:50 2012 From: yann at cs.nyu.edu (Yann LeCun) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:49:50 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Faculty positions in Data Science at NYU - Courant Institute In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50CCF07E.4090008@cs.nyu.edu> Faculty Positions at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University invites applications for tenured or tenure-track faculty in the Department of Computer Science and in the Department of Mathematics. Two appointments at the Assistant Professor level will be considered for positions beginning in September 2013. We will also consider outstanding candidates at the senior level. Candidates will be affiliated with the newly formed Center for Data Science, a multidisciplinary initiative hosted at the Courant Institute which brings together faculty, scientists, and students engaged in research on the automatic extraction of knowledge from data. The CDS will offer graduate degrees in Data Science starting in September 2013. We seek to fill one position with a primary affiliation in Computer Science in the area of machine learning, computational statistics, and AI. We seek to fill another position with a primary affiliation in Mathematics in areas of the mathematical sciences connected with data science, particularly statistics. We will also consider applications for joint positions between the Courant Institute and NYU departments engaged in research on data science, including but not limited to biology, business, economics, medical informatics, neuroscience, physics, and the social sciences. Faculty members are expected to be outstanding scholars and to participate in teaching at all levels from undergraduate to doctoral. New appointees will be offered competitive salaries and startup packages, with affordable housing within a short walking distance of the department. New York University is located in Greenwich Village, one of the most attractive residential areas of Manhattan. The Computer Science Department has 34 regular faculty members and several clinical, research, adjunct, and visiting faculty members. The department's current research interests include algorithms, cryptography and theory; computational biology; distributed computing and networking; graphics, vision and multimedia; machine learning; natural language processing; scientific computing; and verification and programming languages. The Mathematics Department has 57 regular faculty members and occupies a leading position in analysis and applied mathematics. A special feature of the department is its highly interdisciplinary character. The department?s current research interests include partial differential equations, differential geometry, dynamical systems, probability and stochastic processes, statistics, scientific computation, mathematical physics, and fluid dynamics. Collaborative research with industry is facilitated by geographic proximity to numerous industry R&D centers including AT&T Labs, Bell Labs, Exxon, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, NEC, Siemens, SRI, Yahoo, the financial and pharmaceutical industries, and a large number of startup companies. Candidates for the Computer Science positions should apply at https://cs.nyu.edu/webapps/facapp/register Candidates for the Mathematics positions should apply at http://www.mathjobs.org To guarantee full consideration, applications should be submitted no later than January 15, 2012; however, this is not a hard deadline, as all candidates will be considered to the full extent feasible, until all positions are filled. New York University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. -- _____________________________________________________________________ Yann LeCun, Silver Professor of Computer Science and Neural Science Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences; Center for Neural Science New York University, 719 Broadway, Room 1220, New York, NY 10003, USA http://yann.lecun.com email: yann[at]cs.nyu.edu tel:+1(212)998-3283 From jkrichma at uci.edu Sat Dec 15 17:03:48 2012 From: jkrichma at uci.edu (Jeff Krichmar) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:03:48 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Call for posters: International Workshop on Neuromorphic and Brain-Based Computing Systems (NeuComp 2013) Message-ID: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apologies in advance for any duplicate announcements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR POSTER ABSTRACTS: NeuComp2013 International Workshop on Neuromorphic and Brain-Based Computing Systems (NeuComp 2013) http://www.neucomp2013.org/ http://www.date-conference.com/conference/workshop-w3 Friday March 22, 2013, Grenoble, France held in conjunction with DATE'13 conference (http://www.date-conference.com) **Description** Biological neural systems are well known for their robust and power-efficient operation in highly noisy environments. Biological circuits are made up of low-precision, unreliable and massively parallel neural elements with highly reconfigurable and plastic connections. Two of the most interesting properties of the neural systems are its self-organizing capabilities and its template architecture. Recent research in biologically-plausible neural networks has demonstrated interesting principles about learning and neural computation. Understanding and applying these principles to practical problems is only possible if large-scale neural simulators or circuits can be constructed. This workshop will outline key modelling abstractions for the brain and focus on recent neural network models. Aspects of neuronal processing and computational issues related to modelling these processes will be discussed. Hardware and software solutions readily usable by neuroscientists and computer scientists and efficient enough to construct very large networks comparable to brain networks will be presented. **Target Audience and Workshop Format** The workshop is designed to attract both newcomers to neuromorphic computing, as well as neuromorphic researchers who wish to interact with the DATE community to stimulate new ideas, topics and collaborations. Since this is a hot area but one that is probably new to a large segment of the DATE community, half of the workshop will be devoted to a comprehensive introduction to Neuromorphic and Brain-Based Computing, where the audience will be exposed to basic definitions, key concepts, abstractions, design flows, and design constraints; also some highly visible research projects will be presented as exemplars to provide an overview of existing and emerging solutions in this domain. The other half of the event will create a forum for interactive discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences between researchers through posters and demonstrations, with the goal of highlighting details on applicability, performance, and strengths of current solutions. Our aim is for attendees to learn about emerging Neuromorphic and Brain-Based computing techniques, highlight publicly available modelling and simulation tools, and view directions for longer term research. **Topics of interest** Authors are invited to submit original unpublished works on topics from a wide range of Neuromorphic and Brain-Based computing areas, including but not limited to: - Formal models - Hardware architectures - Software tools - Systems and applications - Simulation Infrastructures **Submission** Submissions are invited in the form of 2-page extended abstract describing the novelties and advantages of the work. Submissions must be done through Easychair at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=neucomp2013 All submissions will be evaluated with regard to their suitability for the workshop, originality and technical soundness. Selected submissions will be accepted for oral presentation and/or poster/interactive presentations. This workshop does not require blind submissions. Informal proceedings with accepted papers will be made available at the workshop as detailed below. **Important NEW dates** - Submission deadline Friday, January 4, 2013 - Notification of acceptance Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - Final program Wednesday, January 16, 2013 **Informal Workshop Digest** NeuComp 2013 will distribute an informal workshop digest to all workshop participants. NeuComp 2013 presenters are encouraged to submit papers for inclusion in this informal workshop digest. Note that since the informal workshop digest is only distributed to workshop participants (and is not archived as part of DATE or ACM/IEEE digital libraries), authors are free to submit their work to other archival conferences and journals. **Workshop format** The workshop will combine oral and interactive sessions (posters and demonstrations) together with invited talks representing major neuromorphic research projects (e.g., BrainScaleS, NeuCod, SpiNNaker, SyNAPSE). The event will be designed to be highly interactive, with ample time for discussion and cross-disciplinary engagement. **Confirmed Invited speakers** - Claude Berrou (Telecom Bretagne, FR) - Daniel Hammerstrom (DARPA and Portland State University, USA) - Sean Hill (INCF, USA) - Steve Furber (Manchester University, UK) - Jeff Krichmar (UC Irvine, USA) - Karlheinz Meier (Heidelberg University, GER) - Vijay Narayanan (Pennsylvania State University, USA) - Emre Neftci (UCSD, USA) - Narayan Srinivasa (HRL, USA) **Technical Program Committee** Jeff Krichmar University of California-Irvine, Irvine, USA (Technical Program Co-Chair) Philippe Coussy Universite de Bretagne-Sud/Lab-STICC, FR (Technical Program Co-chair) Angelo Arleo (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, FR) Claude Berrou (Telecom Bretagne/Lab-STICC, FR) Romain Brette (ENS Paris, FR) Gert Cauwenberghs (UCSD, USA) Yiran Chen (University of Pittsburgh, USA) Jorg Conradt (TU Munich, GER) Nikil Dutt (UC Irvine, USA) Steve Furber (Manchester University, UK) Karlheinz Meier (Heidelberg University, GER) Vijaykrishnan Narayanan (Pennsylvania State University, USA) Narayan Srinivasa (HRL, USA) Massimiliano Versace (Boston University, USA) **Organizers** Philippe Coussy, Universite de Bretagne-Sud/Lab-STICC, Lorient, FR Nikil Dutt, University of California - Irvine, Irvine, CA USA If you have any questions about paper submission or the workshop, please contact philippe.coussy at univ-ubs.fr and dutt at ics.uci.edu. -- Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma at uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma From m.hennig at ed.ac.uk Sat Dec 15 19:49:58 2012 From: m.hennig at ed.ac.uk (Matthias H. Hennig) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2012 00:49:58 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Position in Retinal Coding, Edinburgh UK Message-ID: <1355618998.10951.59.camel@darkrai> A postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience is available in the group of Matthias Hennig in the Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation at the University of Edinburgh (UK). The position is part of the EU project RENVISION, a collaboration including also the Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy (Vittorio Murino, Diego Sona, Luca Berdondini, Alessandro Maccione, Aberto Diaspro, Francesca Cella), Newcastle University, UK (Evelyne Sernagor), and the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, Nice, France (Pierre Kornprobst, Bruno Cessac). The overall aim of this interdisciplinary project is to understand how retinal ganglion cells encode complex visual scenes. Research will include electrophysiology and imaging, neuroengineering, data analysis, computational modelling and machine vision. At Edinburgh, activities will focus on the analysis of high density 4,096 channel multielectrode array data recorded in Newcastle and Genova, and on computational modelling of retinal processing. There is scope for development of new innovative methodology to analyse high density array recordings. Generous travel funds are available to visit the project partners, to enable effective collaboration. The candidate would join one of the leading institutes for computational neuroscience, neuroinformatics and machine learning in the UK. We are seeking a self-motivated individual with the ability to take day-to-day responsibility for the progress of the proposed work. The ideal candidate has a first degree in Physics, Mathematics, Engineering or Computer Science and a PhD in Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning or a closely-related discipline. A strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience and the ability to closely collaborate with the experimental partners in the project are essential. Background knowledge in visual neuroscience and/or the analysis of electrophysiological data are desirable. The initial deadline for applications is January 28, 2013, although the search will continue until appropriate candidates have been identified. Funding for this post is currently available until February 2016, and start date is flexible. Annual salary will be on grade UE07, in the range ?30,122 - ?35,938 depending on research experience. Informal enquiries may be directed to Matthias Hennig: m.hennig at ed.ac.uk For further information and to apply, go to (job ref 007884): https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=007884 -- Dr Matthias Hennig, IANC, Informatics, Univ Edinburgh http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mhennig/ -- Matthias Hennig, IANC, Informatics, Univ Edinburgh http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mhennig/ The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From yael at Princeton.EDU Sun Dec 16 13:55:20 2012 From: yael at Princeton.EDU (Yael Niv) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:55:20 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Two open postdoc positions in the Niv Lab at Princeton Message-ID: <869A79F3C6245A45BB3561B2216C9023175A56A1@CSGMBX200W.pu.win.princeton.edu> Dear colleagues, Please see below ads for two postdoc positions in my lab. Feel free to circulate widely to relevant candidates. Happy holidays, --Yael -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two funded postdoctoral positions are available at the lab of Dr. Yael Niv in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Psychology at Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/~nivlab). Research in the lab focuses on computational modeling of learning and decision making at the systems level (reinforcement learning, Bayesian inference), and model-driven functional imaging experiments of human decision making. Position 1: This position will be funded by a collaborative HFSP-funded project that investigates the role of striatal acetylcholine from a theoretical and empirical perspective. We seek exceptionally talented candidates with a strong computational background, and a keen interest in reinforcement learning and normative models of behavior. Anticipated start date is January 2013 or later. This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal, pending satisfactory performance and funding. Essential Qualifications: PhD in computer science, psychology, neuroscience or equivalent. Proven experience with computational modeling. Preferred Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have robust experience with computational modeling at the systems level (machine learning, reinforcement learning, Bayesian models). Additional desirable qualifications are experience with behavioral experiments (decision making/psychophysics) and model-based data analysis and/or experience with fMRI (event related designs and model-based analysis techniques). To apply, please visit the website https://jobs.princeton.edu (requisition #1200845) and create an online application. Applicants must submit a cover letter stating background and research interests and citations of two representative publications, a CV, and contact information of at least two references. Position 2: This position will be part of an NIMH-funded project investigating the interaction between attention and reinforcement learning in the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia. We seek exceptionally talented candidates with a strong background in functional imaging, expertise in computer programming and modeling, and a keen interest in reinforcement learning and normative models of behavior. Anticipated start date is January 2013 or later. This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal, pending satisfactory performance and funding. Essential Qualifications: PhD in psychology, neuroscience or equivalent. Proven experience with computer programming. Preferred Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have robust experience with fMRI (event related designs and model-based analysis techniques), will be proficient in programming (Matlab or equivalent), and will have experience with computational modeling (machine learning, reinforcement learning, Bayesian models). To apply, please visit the website https://jobs.princeton.edu (requisition #1200844) and create an online application. Applicants must submit a cover letter stating background and research interests and citations of two representative publications, a CV, and contact information of at least two references. Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and complies with applicable EEO and affirmative action regulations. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From davrot at neuro.uni-bremen.de Mon Dec 17 10:23:32 2012 From: davrot at neuro.uni-bremen.de (David Rotermund) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:23:32 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 1st Bernstein Sparks Workshop on Cortical Neurointerfaces (March 6 - 10, 2013) Message-ID: <50CF38F4.9020108@neuro.uni-bremen.de> Dear colleagues, wewould like to draw your attention to the 1st Bernstein Sparks Workshop on Cortical Neurointerfaces (March 6 - 10, 2013 in Northern Germany (close to Bremen). The Organisers were able to win speakers from all relevant disciplines, viz.: Barrese, James (Brown University, USA) Bellamkonda, Ravi (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) Gohvanloo, Maysam (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) Harrison, Reid (Intan Technologies, USA) Hierlemann, Andreas (ETH Z?rich, Switzerland) Kipke, Daryl (University of Michigan, USA) Kn?pfel, Thomas (Riken, Japan) Lang, Walter (University of Bremen, Germany) Logothetis, Nikos (BCCN T?bingen, MPI for Biological Cybernetics, Germany) Manoli, Yiannos (University of Freiburg, Germany) Nurmikko, Arto (Brown University, USA) Ortmanns, Maurits (University of Ulm, Germany) Rabaey, Jan (UC Berkeley, USA) Schalk, Gerwin (Wadsworth Center, USA) Scherberger, Hansj?rg (German Primate Center and University of G?ttingen, Germany) Schwartz, Andrew (University of Pittsburg, USA) Schwarz, Cornelius (Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, BCCN T?bingen, D-USA Collaboration, Germany) Solzbacher, Florian (University of Utah, USA) Stieglitz, Thomas (University and BCF Freiburg, Germany) Tass, Peter (Research Center J?lich, Germany) Thewes, Roland (TU Berlin, Germany) Trieu, Khiem-Hoc (Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Germany) Walker, Ross (Stanford University, USA) For more information please visit http://www.nncn.de/termine-en/corticalneurointerfaces . Topic of the workshop: Interfaces that reliably connect the brain with electronic devices hold huge promises for basic research and medical applications. While there is encouraging progress current technologies are still far from realising the vision of chronically and simultaneously connecting to large numbers of individual neurons enabling either direction of information flow. On the one hand this would e.g. allow to carefully monitor cortical activity leading to progress in understanding brain functions and laying ground for long term neuroprosthetic applications. On the other hand, the ability to selectively induce specific neuronal activities will reveal yet unknown neuronal processes and can e.g. help to re-establish lost sensory inputs. To reach these objectives, numerous challenges, ranging from cutting edge basic research in neuroscience to novel technological developments from diverse engineering fields, have to be met. Besides basic problems of recording and stimulation, also problems ranging from biocompability via microelectronics to fluid-proof and flexible structures have to be solved. Last but not least, also the development of neuroprosthetic devices, e.g., replacing lost body functions, poses challenges for data analysis and robotics. The aim of this meeting will be to bring together leading researchers from these disciplines and research fields, gain an overview over most recent developments, enable fruitful exchanges and discussions and, last but not least identify interesting new directions of research. The specific topics to be covered include the neuroscientific foundations, neuro-electronic interfaces, integrated circuits for neural interfaces and complete recording and stimulation systems. Besides talks by these main speakers, there will be plenty of time for discussions and poster demonstrations. Please find the preliminary program here: http://www.nncn.uni-freiburg.de/pdfs/sparksworkshopprogram Best regards David Rotermund -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Mon Dec 17 16:53:36 2012 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:53:36 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?Postdoctoral_position_=96_Learni?= =?windows-1252?q?ng_and_forgetting_in_the_fruit_fly?= Message-ID: <50CF9460.7040109@cns.unibe.ch> A postdoctoral position is available in the Computational Neuroscience lab of Walter Senn (University of Bern, Switzerland). The position is part of a joint project with the Drosophila Neurogenetics lab of Simon Sprecher (University of Fribourg, Switzerland). The project investigates neuronal mechanisms of learning and forgetting in the fruit fly on different time scales. It combines a theoretical approach to the phenomenon of active forgetting with behavioral and neurogenetic experiments. The theory of reinforcement learning with spiking neurons shall be extended to cope with a dynamically changing environment, and a mechanistic network model shall be developed to explain behavioral data. The position provides a highly competitive salary for a duration of 3 years, extendable, with Bernas the capital of Switzerlandbeing a beautiful and interesting place to live. Starting date flexible, if possible early 2013. Ideal candidates have a PhD in computational neuroscience with a strong background in theory (machine learning, reinforcement learning, neuronal / Bayesian modeling). Please email CV with scientific record, a statement of research interests (maximally 1 page) and 2 reference letters to Walter Senn (http://www.physio.unibe.ch/~senn/group/). Reviewing of the applications starts on January 7, 2013. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pascal.hitzler at wright.edu Mon Dec 17 13:43:21 2012 From: pascal.hitzler at wright.edu (Pascal Hitzler) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:43:21 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: NeSy'13 workshop at IJCAI 2013 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <50CF67C9.6080104@wright.edu> First Call for Papers 9th International Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy?13) (3 or 4 Aug 2013) http://neural-symbolic.org/NeSy13 In conjunction with IJCAI-13 Beijing, China Artificial Intelligence researchers continue to face huge challenges in their quest to develop truly intelligent systems. The recent developments in the field of neural-symbolic integration bring an opportunity to integrate well-founded symbolic artificial intelligence with robust neural computing machinery to help tackle some of these challenges. The Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning is intended to create an atmosphere of exchange of ideas, providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of the key topics related to neural-symbolic integration. Topics of interest include: The representation of symbolic knowledge by connectionist systems; Integrated neural-symbolic learning approaches; Extraction of symbolic knowledge from trained neural networks; Integrated neural-symbolic reasoning; Neural-symbolic cognitive models; Biologically-inspired neural-symbolic integration; Integration of logic and probabilities in deep networks; Structured learning and relational learning in neural networks; Applications in robotics, simulation, fraud prevention, semantic web, software engineering, fault diagnosis, bioinformatics, visual intelligence, etc. Submission Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit original papers that have not been submitted for review or published elsewhere. Submitted papers must be written in English and should not exceed 6 pages in the case of research and experience papers, and 4 pages in the case of position papers (including figures, bibliography and appendices). All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality, relevance, originality, significance, and soundness. Papers must be submitted through easychair at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nesy13. Presentation Selected papers will be presented during the workshop. The workshop will include extra time for audience discussion of the presentation allowing the group to have a better understanding of the issues, challenges, and ideas being presented. Publication Accepted papers will be published in official workshop proceedings, which will be distributed during the workshop. Authors of the best papers will be invited to submit a revised and extended version of their papers to the Journal of Logic and Computation, OUP. Important Dates Paper submission deadline: March 15, 2013 Notification of acceptance: April 19, 2013 Camera-ready papers due: May 3, 2013 Workshop day: 3 or 4 Aug 2013 IJCAI-13 main conference: Aug 3 ? 9, 2013 Workshop Organisers Artur d?Avila Garcez (City University London, UK) Pascal Hitzler (Wright State University, USA) Luis Lamb (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) Programme Committee (to be confirmed) Keynote speaker(s) (to be confirmed) Additional Information General questions concerning the workshop should be addressed to a.garcez at city.ac.uk For additional information, please visit the workshop website at http://www.neural-symbolic.org/ Please join the neural-symbolic mailing list (http://maillists.city.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/nesy) for announcements and discussions - it's a low traffic list. -- Prof. Dr. Pascal Hitzler Kno.e.sis Center, Wright State University, Dayton, OH pascal at pascal-hitzler.de http://www.knoesis.org/pascal/ Semantic Web Textbook: http://www.semantic-web-book.org Semantic Web Journal: http://www.semantic-web-journal.net From mhb0 at lehigh.edu Tue Dec 18 11:17:02 2012 From: mhb0 at lehigh.edu (Mark H. Bickhard) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:17:02 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Interactivist Summer Institute 2013 Message-ID: Interactivist Summer Institute 2013 August 1 - 4, 2013 University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Join us in exploring the frontiers of understanding of life, mind, and cognition. There is a growing recognition - across many disciplines - that phenomena of life and mind, including cognition and representation, are emergents of far-from-equilibrium, interactive, autonomous systems. Mind and biology, mind and agent, are being re-united. The classical treatment of cognition and representation within a formalist framework of encodingist assumptions is widely recognized as a fruitless maze of blind alleys. From neurobiology to robotics, from cognitive science to philosophy of mind and language, dynamic and interactive alternatives are being explored. Dynamic systems approaches and autonomous agent research join in the effort. The interactivist model offers a theoretical approach to matters of life and mind, ranging from evolutionary- and neuro-biology (including the emergence of biological function) through representation, perception, motivation, memory, learning and development, emotions, consciousness, language, rationality, sociality, personality and psychopathology. This work has developed interfaces with studies of central nervous system functioning, the ontology of process, autonomous agents, philosophy of science, and all areas of psychology, philosophy, and cognitive science that address the person. The conference will involve both tutorials addressing central parts and aspects of the interactive model, and papers addressing current work of relevance to this general approach. This will be our seventh Summer Institute; the first was in 2001 at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, the second in 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the third in 2005 at Clemson University, South Carolina, USA, the fourth in 2007 at The American University in Paris, the fifth in 2009 at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver., and the sixth on Syros, Greece. The Summer Institute is a biennial meeting where those sharing the core ideas of interactivism will meet and discuss their work, try to reconstruct its historical roots, put forward current research in different fields that fits the interactivist framework, and define research topics for prospective graduate students. People working in philosophy of mind, linguistics, social sciences, artificial intelligence, cognitive robotics, theoretical biology, and other fields related to the sciences of mind are invited to send their paper submission or statement of interest for participation to the organizers. ISI 2013 web site: http://www.lehigh.edu/%7einteract/isi2013web/index.htm Mark H. Bickhard Lehigh University 17 Memorial Drive East Bethlehem, PA 18015 mark at bickhard.name http://bickhard.ws/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From baveja at umich.edu Tue Dec 18 11:55:04 2012 From: baveja at umich.edu (Satinder Baveja) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:55:04 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Announcing RLDM2013: The 1st Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making Message-ID: The 1st Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making RLDM 2013 Oct 25-27, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA ====================================================== Over the last few decades, reinforcement learning and decision making have been the focus of an incredible wealth of research spanning a wide variety of fields including psychology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, operations research, control theory, animal and human neuroscience, economics and ethology. Key to many developments in the field has been interdisciplinary sharing of ideas and findings, yet there is no single conference that brings all these communities together. The focus of this meeting can be broadly construed as "decision making over time to achieve a goal". Our aim is to inaugurate a recurring meeting characterized by the multidisciplinarity of the presenters and attendees, with cross-disciplinary conversations and teaching and learning being central objectives along with the dissemination of novel theoretical and experimental results. The first meeting will be single-track, with 8 talk sessions and 2 poster sessions over the course of 2.5 days. This meeting will consist mostly of invited talks and contributed posters (future meetings will concentrate on contributed talks and posters, tutorial sessions and workshops). Please mark your calendars -- Oct 25-27, Princeton -- more information, including a "Call for Contributions", will follow (note that we will not publish proceedings; papers submitted to RLDM can be freely submitted elsewhere for publication). Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to attend. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Peter Dayan (UCL) Yael Niv (Princeton) Elizabeth Phelps (NYU) Nicholas Roy (MIT) Satinder Singh (U Michigan) Richard Sutton (Alberta) CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (more to be announced): Pieter Abbeel Deanna Barch Craig Boutiller Colin Camerer Anne Churchland Jonathan Cohen Roshan Cools Nathaniel Daw Thomas Dietterich Joseph Kable Richard Lewis John O'Doherty Randy O?Reilly Joelle Pineau Doina Precup Stuart Russell Stefan Schaal Geoffrey Schoenbaum Daphna Shohamy Elke Weber From erik at tnb.ua.ac.be Tue Dec 18 11:32:14 2012 From: erik at tnb.ua.ac.be (Erik De Schutter) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:32:14 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course 2013 Message-ID: <79FDF5C9-0AE4-40EA-9642-2CC3F9625FA3@tnb.ua.ac.be> OKINAWA COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2013 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 17 - July 4, 2013. Okinawa, Japan new website: https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc The aim of the Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to learn the latest advances in neuroscience, and for those with experimental backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling. We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate in the course, held from June 17th through July 4th, 2013 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. Applications are through the course web page only; they will open January 7th and close February 10th, 2013. Applicants are required to propose a project at the time of application. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. Like in preceding years, OCNC will be a comprehensive three-week course covering single neurons, networks, and behaviors with ample time for student projects. The first week will focus exclusively on methods with hands-on tutorials during the afternoons, while the second and third weeks will have lectures by international experts. We invite those who are interested in integrating experimental and computational approaches at each level, as well as in bridging different levels of complexity. There is no tuition fee. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and may support travel for those without funding. We hope that this course will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental neuroscientists to meet each other and to explore the attractive nature and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan. Invited faculty: ? Angelo Arleo (Universit? Pierre & Marie Curie, France) ? Avrama Blackwell (George Mason University, USA) ? Erik De Schutter (OIST) ? Karl Deisseroth (Stanford University, USA) ? Sophie Deneve (Ecole Normale Sup?rieure, France) ? Kenji Doya (OIST) ? Gaute Einevoll (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) ? Mike Hasselmo (Boston University, USA) ? Mitsuo Kawato (ATR, Japan) ? Bernd Kuhn (OIST) ? Henry Markram (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland) ? Jonathan Pillow (University Texas Austin, USA) ? Idan Segev (Hebrew University, Israel) ? Jeff Wickens (OIST) ? Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama (OIST) From pl219 at cam.ac.uk Tue Dec 18 09:02:38 2012 From: pl219 at cam.ac.uk (Pietro Lio') Date: 18 Dec 2012 14:02:38 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: MONACOM 2013 Message-ID: Dear All, The 3rd IEEE International Workshop on Molecular and Nanoscale Communications workshop (MoNaCom 2013) will be held in conjunction with the International Conference on Communications (ICC), June 9-13, 2013 in Budapest, Hungary. The general chair of the workshop is Prof. Falko Dressler from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. TPC co-chairs are Pietro Lio' from the University of Cambridge, UK, and Michael Moore from Osaka University, Japan. As before, the workshop is focused on nano and molecular networks that interconnect nanomachines. The full CFP is available at: http://monacom.tssg.org/cfp/. In order to have a successful workshop, we would appreciate your submission of workshop papers, distributing the CFP to colleagues, and encouraging colleagues to submit. IMPORTANT DATES: Registration of Abstracts for Workshops: 4 January 2013 Submission Deadline for Workshops: 11 January 2013 Notofication of Acceptance for Workshops: 22 February 2013 Camera-ready deadline: March 8, 2013 Topics of the workshop include: - Design and engineering of nanomachines for nano/molecular communication: Protein machines; Artificial cells; Synthetic cells; DNA machines; Nano-bio sensors and actuators - Infrastructures for nano/molecular communication: Calcium signaling; Viral transport; Carbon Nano Tubes (CNT); Membrane nanotube; Flagellated Bacteria; Molecular motors over microtubules; Neural networks; Electromagnetic nanonetworks - Network theory: Mobility in nano/molecular networks; Energy models for nano machines; Information processing in nano/molecular networks; Protocols and architectures for nano/molecular communication; Network controls of nano/molecular communication; Addressing, switching and routing at nano/molecular scale; Coding in nano/molecular networks; Security of nano/molecular networks - Nano/molecular network design: Robust design and architecture; Network design by moleware; Emergent behaviour in nano/molecular networks (e.g. self-assembly, self-organisation); Programming for moleware communication; Planning of nano/molecular networks; Networks of nanocomputers; integrating and monitoring nanonetworks with larger-scale networks - Natural Computing in nano/molecular communication: Molecular computing; DNA computing; membrane computing; Integration of computational and communication capabilities in nano/molecular networks - Tools to support nano/molecular network design: Wetware communication by simulation in silico; Network simulators (e.g. ns2, ns3) for nano/molecular networks - Applications of nano/molecular networks: Healthcare, e.g., Drug delivery, Nanomedicine, Telecommunications, Energy, Biotechnology, Bioremediation and Environment, Nano robots communication. Submission guideline: Prospective authors are encouraged to submit a standard IEEE conference style paper via the EDAS submission system (http://edas.info/N13467). Papers should be written in English with a standard length of five (5) printed pages (10-point font) including figures, without incurring additional page charges (maximum 1 additional page with extra charge if accepted). Dr Pietro Lio' PhD In Genetics, PhD in Engineering Computer Laboratory University of Cambridge tel +44 (0)1223 763604; Fax: +44 (0)1223 33467; email: pl219 at cam.ac.uk; www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pl219 From zemel at cs.toronto.edu Tue Dec 18 16:13:31 2012 From: zemel at cs.toronto.edu (Richard Zemel) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:13:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: Connectionists: Machine Learning faculty position at the University of Toronto Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I would like to bring this faculty search to your attention. The Computer Science Department at the University of Toronto has some faculty positions open this year: one is in Machine Learning, and one is in Computational Biology, which could have a significant ML component. The Machine Learning position is for any area within machine learning, at the rank of Assistant Professor. More information about the positions are available below. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Zemel Professor Dept. of Computer Science URL: www.cs.toronto.edu/~zemel University of Toronto Tel: (416) 978-7497 Toronto, ON M5S 3H5 CANADA Fax: (416) 978-1455 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto invites applications for a tenure-stream position in the area of Machine Learning. The appointment is at the rank of Assistant Professor and will begin on July 1, 2013. Candidates should have (or be about to receive) a Ph.D. in Computer Science or a related field. We seek outstanding applicants with demonstrated excellence in research at the highest level and with potential for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. Salaries are competitive with our North American peers and will be determined according to experience and qualifications. Toronto is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city, one of the most desirable in the world in which to work and live, and a major centre for advanced computer technologies. The Department of Computer Science is an international leader in research and teaching, with recognized strength in most areas of Computer Science. The department also has close interdisciplinary ties to other units within the University and strong interactions with the computer industry. Applicants should apply online at http://recruit.cs.toronto.edu, and include curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a research and teaching statement, and the names and email addresses of at least three references. Other supporting materials may also be included. We will not accept applications submitted by post. If you have any questions regarding this position, please contact Sara Burns at recruit at cs.toronto.edu. Review of applications will commence on January 7, 2013 and continue until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration, applications should be received by February 4, 2013. For more information on the Department of Computer Science, see www.cs.toronto.edu. The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. ----------------------------- The Department of Computer Science and the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto invite applications for a tenure-stream position in Computational Biology or Bioinformatics. The appointment is at the rank of Assistant Professor and will begin on July 1, 2013. We seek outstanding applicants with demonstrated excellence in research at the highest level and with the potential for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. Although we expect candidates to have a PhD and postdoctoral training in the computational sciences (computer science, computational biology and quantitative biology), exceptional candidates with recent or imminently-expected PhDs will be also considered. The Department of Computer Science is an international leader in research and teaching, with recognized strength in most areas of computer science. The Donnelly Centre is an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Toronto with the mandate to create a research environment that encourages integration of biology, computer science, engineering and chemistry, and that spans leading areas of biomedical research. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to take advantage of the University's strengths in biology and bioinformatics---and computational, medical and biological sciences more broadly---and to facilitate further interaction with other units. To facilitate such interactions, the successful candidate will hold a joint appointment in the Department of Computer Science (51%) and in the Donnelly Centre (49%). Salaries are competitive with our North American peers and will be determined according to experience and qualifications. Toronto is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city, one of the most desirable in the world in which to work and live, and a major centre for advanced computer, medical and biological technologies with strong ties to the University. Applicants should apply online at http://recruit.cs.toronto.edu/, and include curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a research and teaching statement, and the names and email addresses of at least three references. Other supporting materials may also be included. We will not accept applications submitted by post. If you have any questions regarding this position, please contact Sara Burns at recruit at cs.toronto.edu. Review of applications will begin on January 7, 2013 and continue until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration applications, should be received by February 4, 2013. For more information on the Department of Computer Science see www.cs.toronto.edu and for the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research see www.thedonnellycentre.utoronto.ca The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. From tomas.hromadka at gmail.com Wed Dec 19 08:18:58 2012 From: tomas.hromadka at gmail.com (Tomas Hromadka) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:18:58 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: COSYNE 2013: Travel Grants submission is now open Message-ID: <50D1BEC2.8070803@gmail.com> ================================================================= Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING WORKSHOPS Feb 28 - Mar 3, 2013 Mar 4 - 5, 2013 Salt Lake City, Utah Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah http://www.cosyne.org ================================================================= REGISTRATION AND HOTELS: Travel grants submission is currently open. Online registration is currently open. Hotel booking is currently open. Travel grant application deadline: Jan 16, 2013, 11.59PM EST Early registration deadline: Jan 31, 2013, 11.59PM EST Deadline for discounted hotel rates (main meeting, Salt Lake city): Feb 6, 2013 Deadline for discounted hotel rates (workshops, Snowbird): Jan 19, 2013 For more detailed information, please visit www.cosyne.org TRAVEL GRANTS: Applications are now open for for travel grants to attend the conference. Each awardee will receive at least $500 to help offset the costs of travel, registration, and accommodations. Larger grants may be available to those traveling from outside North America. Special consideration is given to scientists who have not previously attended the meeting, underrepresented minorities, students who are attending the meeting together with a mentor, and authors of submitted Cosyne abstracts. For details on applying, see (http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Travel_Grants). INVITED SPEAKERS: William Bialek (Princeton) Kwabena Boahen (Stanford) Carlos Brody (Princeton) Ila Fiete (U Texas, Austin) Yves Fregnac (CNRS-UNIC) Deborah Gordon (Stanford) Eve Marder (Brandeis) J Anthony Movshon (NYU) Paul Schrater (U Minnesota) Terrence Sejnowski (Salk) Barbara Shinn-Cuningham (Boston U) THE MEETING: The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks are selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. WORKSHOP TITLES: The awake and anesthetized cortex ? similar or different? Beyond optogenetics: new approaches for systems neuroscience. Dendritic computation in neural circuits. Furry statisticians ? how rodents infer the meaningful properties of unreliable environments. Large-scale neuronal simulations ? science, languages and platforms. Neural mechanisms for orienting decisions across the animal kingdom. Neural mechanisms of foraging decisions. A new chapter in the study of functional maps in visual cortex. Priors in perception, decision-making and physiology. Reticular microcircuits: from structure to function. Reward-based decision-making. Understanding the brain by building one: New neuroscience on VLSI hardware. Why does neocortex need six layers and even more cell types? ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Jonathan Pillow (UT Austin) and Nicole Rust (Penn) Program Chairs: Marlene Cohen (U Pittsburgh) and Peter Latham (UCL) Workshop Chairs: Jessica Cardin (Yale) and Tatyana Sharpee (Salk) Communications Chair: Kanaka Rajan (Princeton) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Anne Churchland (CSHL) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) From t.stafford at sheffield.ac.uk Fri Dec 21 09:52:32 2012 From: t.stafford at sheffield.ac.uk (Tom Stafford) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:52:32 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: 3 PhD studentships: "Decision making under uncertainty: brains, swarms and markets" Message-ID: <50D477B0.2010704@shef.ac.uk> "Decision making under uncertainty: brains, swarms and markets" The cross-disciplinary neuroeconomics network at the University of Sheffield is seeking applications for PhD studentships as part of the project: "Decision making under uncertainty: brains, swarms and markets" - Tutition fees at UK/EU rate, annual maintenance at the standard RCUK rate (?13,726 for 2013-14), and a contribution towards research and travel expenses of ?1,000 p.a. - World-leading research environment https://www.shef.ac.uk/ - Deadline for applications 15 February, to start between August 1st and December 1st 2013 - Initial enquiries via http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychology/prospectivepg/funding Project overview: How do we make decisions in uncertain situations? And what is the right thing to learn from the outcome of such decisions? Most of our decisions involve insufficient knowledge and a certain degree of risk. To study such decisions comprehensively is the goal of 'neuroeconomics', which brings to bear the insights of computational theory, neuroscientific evidence and behavioural experiment. We have assembled a local team of internationally renowned experts in a diversity of disciplines (Computer Science, Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, Psychology and Management). Together we will combine theoretical insights with tests in practical domains to advance the field. Strategically, the study of brain systems in decision-making has potential benefits in engineering and the digital economy in particular. The network therefore presents a unique opportunity for multi-disciplinary post-graduate training in a topic of increasing interest with multiple applications inside and outside academia. The common thread to all three projects is understanding decision making using computational models of information processing. Our methodology will involve the validation of three specific hypothesis, by (i) translating psychophysical experiments to computational models, (ii) using computational models to interpret financial data and (iii) further test decision-making hypotheses in embodied (robotic) systems. This work extends to a number of different areas, i.e. psychophysics experiments, high level modelling, finance and robotics, offering a unique possibility for synchronized interaction of all these leading experts in a topic whose timeliness requires fast results. This is a chance to receive postgraduate training in an exciting and important field. You will interact with academics from multiple fields and be required to integrate insights from different literatures, as well as develop the research skills appropriate for your project. Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, a first or upper second class UK honours degree or equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK in an appropriate area of study. Awards are open to UK, EU and international applicants. International applicants will be required to prove that they have sufficient funds to cover the difference between the UK/EU and Overseas tuition fees. For exceptional international candidates there may be opportunities for additional fee waivers (these will be subject to the policies of the individual departments involved in each project). * Project 1: "Experimental validation of a new computational theory of adaptive decision-making." - Principle Supervisor: Tom Stafford, Department of Psychology http://www.tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/ - Co-supervisor: James Marshall, Department of Computer Science http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/J.Marshall/lab/About_Us.html All behaviour involves selecting one option over others, or over the option of doing nothing. It is therefore of fundamental interest how this selection process operates in our own brains. Tightly controlled experimental investigations can look at measures such as how fast decisions are made, or how often the decision is incorrect, to constrain theories of the underlying processes which generate these decisions. Additional evidence is available from neuroscientists who can investigate the brain structures and connections that might support decision-making, and make recordings of brain cell activity during decision-making. A powerful alternative perspective on decision-making is from computational theory, which can refine our understanding of how decisions should be made, separately from how decisions actually are made. This proposed studentship focuses on using behavioural experiments to test a new theory of how decision-making should be made. Recent work on the computational theory of decisions has focussed on an algorithm called the Sequential Probability Ration Test (SPRT). This algorithm is provably optimal, in the sense of allowing the ideal combination of incoming evidence concerning a decision to make the fastest and least likely to be wrong decision. There are circumstances, however, where this "information optimal" decision-making may not be the best strategy. An important example is when the available options are closely matched and both acceptable. In such circumstances all time spend trying to resolve the difference between the options is time lost to enjoying one of them. Our computational theory suggests that an evolutionary optimal decision maker, such as we suppose the human brain to be, should be able to switch between modes of decision making depending on circumstance. This studentship will develop experiments that generate and define these circumstances. By doing this we will advance the general theory of decision making, as well as revealing new facts about the operation of decision making in the human brain. The work will also make an important scientific contribution with potential high impact, because it will support a major reconceptualisation of a dominant theory of human decision-making. * Project 2: "'Herding cats': Visually guided decision making with target swarms" - Principle Supervisor: Kevin Gurney, Department of Psychology http://www.abrg.group.shef.ac.uk/ - Co-supervisor: Roderich Gross, Automatic and Control Systems Engineering http://naturalrobotics.group.shef.ac.uk/ How do we decide 'what to do next'? We are constantly bombarded by a plethora of sensory information and have to decide, moment-to-moment, how to act in order to achieve our goals. One key aspect of this process is that we must have access to the relevant sensory information; if we were approaching traffic lights and were completely colour blind it would be harder to make the right driving decision. Another key aspect of decision-making is that we must be able to map sensory information onto the right actions. Thus, if we could see the traffic light colours perfectly well, but had not learned the code (red is stop etc) then we could not make correct decision at all. In this project we aim to investigate both aspects of decision-making in a naturalistic setting based on shepherding-flock relationships using artificial (robotic) agents. Here, multiple moving agents form a 'crowd' or 'swarm' that must be 'shepherded' by a single agent that is trying to coax them to safety. The swarm will be in constant motion and provide a visual sensory 'flow field' to the shepherding agent. This is of particular interest because there are specific areas of the brain devoted to the analysis of such optic flow. We will investigate the perceptual 'bonus' for decision-making supplied by having optic flow detection. We will also see if there is advantage in having special purpose optic flow detectors 'tuned' to the swarm's motion, rather than some set of standard, 'off the shelf' detectors. Our decision-making mechanisms will mimic those in the brain which are based on a set of structures lying underneath the cortex called the basal ganglia. We will use our existing models of basal ganglia to see if the shepherding agent can learn to use the visual motion information to decide which, out of a range of possible 'shepherding actions' it should deploy in each situation. This project will make specific contributions to application areas requiring monitoring and action with dynamic flows of people and animals, including: evacuation scenarios and large-scale public events, and large scale animal husbandry, This work will contribute to our understanding of decision making in the brain, and, in particular, the way we use our senses to help make decisions. * Project 3: Reinforcement learning and the equity premium puzzle - Principle Supervisor: Jane Binner, Accounting and Financial Management http://www.shef.ac.uk/management/staff/binner - Co-supervisor: Eleni Vasilaki, Department of Computer Science : http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/E.Vasilaki/site/Profile.html Humans often make decisions based on their desire to maximize profit orreward. Such decision take place within changing environments, where optimal choices in the past may differ from those in the present. For example, choosing a tracker-rate mortgage might have been at some time in the past a better option than a fixed-rate but today this may have changed. Moreover, these choices are typically made under uncertain situations and involve a degree of risk. Though the specifics of decision-making mechanisms are still not fully understood, it is evident that fundamentally the human brainis able to identify information sequences that could also correlate with reward. Interestingly investors, and in particular low to intermediate income investors make decisions based on short horizons of information and in what is in essence a na?ve "reinforcement learning" approach, i.e. a profitable action in the past will lead again to profit. They expect that investments profitable in the near past are likely to be profitable in the future, attributing often their gain or loss to random factors, fluctuations etc. We propose to study and develop a data driven framework for understanding decision-making types of investors, and the key ingredients of making successful investment decisions. We hypothesise that investor profiles have a component of na?ve reinforcement learning principles and a component of more sophisticated reinforcement learning principles. We ask the question whether the choices of successful investors have indeed a higher component of sophisticated principles versus the unsuccessful investors, and whether different mixtures of the two models can account for different investor strategies. We anticipate that the system of investors may not be well described by memory-less components, as typically assumed in many modelling approaches, and in our approach, we will also employ novel reinforcement learning techniques that are not restricted by this limitation. We anticipate that our results would be of immediate interest to finance institutions that may want to use our models to extract information about their clients' profiles in order to provide customized financial training or making decisions about investor loans. Further details are available upon request -- Tom Stafford Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Science Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TP, UK t.stafford at shef.ac.uk Room 2.27 Tel +44 (0) 114 22 26620 http://www.tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/ Our special topic at Frontiers is now accepting submissions: http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognitive_Science/researchtopics/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open/1326 NOTES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: please read this before emailing me http://tomstafford.staff.shef.ac.uk/email.htm --------------------------------------------------------------- From m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk Fri Dec 21 10:30:30 2012 From: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk (=?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E1t=E9_Lengyel?=) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:30:30 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Tenure-track faculty position at University of Cambridge Message-ID: <3E4FFA2A-04BB-4E7D-AB88-7E5E732866E0@eng.cam.ac.uk> Tenure-track faculty position in Computational Neuroscience / Computational Cognitive Science Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK The Computational and Biological Learning Lab (cbl.eng.cam.ac.uk) combines expertise in computational neuroscience and cognitive science (Daniel Wolpert, Mate Lengyel, Rich Turner) and machine learning (Zoubin Ghahramani, Carl Rasmussen). We expect to have an opening (to be advertised in February 2013) for a junior level tenure-track faculty position in the broad area of Computational Neuroscience, including Computational Cognitive Science. The successful applicant?s research will use computational / theoretical approaches or combine these approaches with behavioral experiments. Informal enquiries are welcome to: Daniel Wolpert wolpert at eng.cam.ac.uk Mate Lengyel m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk Rich Turner richard.e.turner at gmail.com From israel at cc.huji.ac.il Fri Dec 21 01:48:04 2012 From: israel at cc.huji.ac.il (Israel Nelken) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:48:04 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Ph.D. program in computational neuroscience at ELSC/ICNC (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) Message-ID: The Alice and Jack Ormut Ph.D. Program in computational neuroscience of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC) and the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) at the Hebrew University is now accepting applications from international students. This is the third year of the international program. Students of the program learn to apply state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical approaches to address computation and information processing both in the brain and in advanced intelligent devices. The program is targeted to exceptionally qualified students from diverse academic backgrounds, including biology, psychology, computer science, physics and mathematics. It is designed to allow students to supplement their knowledge in areas in which they lack adequate academic training. The Program offers an advanced interdisciplinary curriculum and provides students with the opportunity to conduct ground-breaking research. Students who have completed their bachelor's degree in any field with an average of 85 or higher, or those who have completed a master's degree in any field, are eligible to apply to the doctoral program. International students must have equivalent grades and degrees. Admission is contingent on the approval of the Program's admissions committee. Candidates should send the following information by electronic mail to Ms. Ruthi Suchi, the administrative director of the ICNC ( icnc at alice.nc.huji.ac.il): 1. Current CV 2. One-page statement of scientific interests and objectives 3. Two or more letters of recommendation 4. Transcripts from each university attended 5. Proof of English proficiency (required only for non-native speakers of English, details can be found http://icnc.huji.ac.il/phd/eng/registration/). The deadline for applications is J <2012>an. 18, 2013. Tuition for overseas students is approximately $4,000 per year for the first two years. Accepted students are entitled to a fellowship (which amounts to an annual stipend of approximately $10,000) and partial support towards tuition. Fellowships are made possibly by the generous support of the Alice and Jack Ormut Foundation. For further information, see http://elsc.huji.ac.il/phd or contact Prof. Israel Nelken (director of the program), at israel at cc.huji.ac.il. Jerusalem offers an unparalleled mix of past and present culture. From world-class restaurants and caf?s to historical religious sites, the city is a melting pot of ancient roots and modern innovations. Jerusalem is rich in art galleries, museums, theaters and concert halls. Exciting festivals, exhibitions, sports competitions, and other special events are held throughout the year. For further information on life in Jerusalem, see http://tour.jerusalem.muni.il/. -- Prof. Israel Nelken Dept. of Neurobiology The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences Edmond Safra Campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, ISRAEL Tel: ++972-2-6584229 Fax: ++972-2-6586077 israel at cc.huji.ac.il -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From etienne.roesch at gmail.com Wed Dec 19 07:00:29 2012 From: etienne.roesch at gmail.com (Etienne B. Roesch) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:00:29 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: CfP "Enaction: Challenges and Successes" AISB'13, Exeter UK, April 2-5th 2013 Message-ID: <3A543B99-CB2F-49A5-B41F-7B032890C714@gmail.com> CALL FOR PAPERS: Enaction: Challenges and Successes We are pleased to announce the AISB symposium "Enaction: Challenges and Successes" to take place during the AISB Annual Convention 2013, Univ. Exeter, UK, April 2-5th, 2013. http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/computer-science/research/aisb/ Enaction represents one alternative to "good old-fashion cognitive science", in the form of a change of focus for models of cognition: from computation to interaction, from the brain-in-a-vat to the embodied brain in the world. This extension, dubbed enactive cognitive science, arises from both the inability of current theoretical frameworks to account for recent data in the social and life sciences, and from growing debates on the defining features of a cognizant organism in its environment. The symposium will foster discussions around 1) the challenges that any alternative to current frameworks will have to overcome, and 2) the successes from enactive cognitive science that respond to shortcomings in the orthodox frameworks. The outcome of this symposium will be a critical perspective of the state of the field today, as well as a tentative roadmap for the future. It will be organised around talks and panel discussions. Papers should be no more than 7000 words, including refs and figures. All accepted papers will be provided to the AISB'13 delegates on memory sticks at the beginning of the Convention and, subject to a sufficient number of high-quality submissions, proceedings of the symposium will be published in a more formal outreach, like the Springers series Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics (SAPERE). Submissions should be made using the EasyChair portal for the symposium: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=aisb13enaction Timeline: ? Submission of full papers: 14th January 2013 ? Notification of acceptance: 11th February 2013 ? Camera-ready for inclusion in proceedings: 4th March 2013 The symposium is a sequel to the workshop "Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Sciences", which took place in Windsor, on February 27-28th, 2013, sponsored by the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, at the University of Reading. More information and update can be found at: http://reading.ac.uk/cinn/enactivism Dr. Etienne B. Roesch (Univ. Reading) Prof. Slawomir Nasuto (Univ. Reading) Prof. J. Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths Univ. London) From djaeger at emory.edu Fri Dec 21 07:25:44 2012 From: djaeger at emory.edu (Jaeger, Dieter) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:25:44 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Sites: European Advanced Course in computational neuroscience (ACCN) Message-ID: <5A5A0407AFA3CE489A16D5CF16661836791E9021@e14mbx11n.Enterprise.emory.net> Second call for site proposals for the European Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience (ACCN) Due date: February 15, 2013 The organizing committee of the Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is looking for applications for sites to host the course for 3 years (2014-2016). The course, which is now in its seventeenth year, each year selects 30 graduate students and postdocs from around the world. They are taught by 5-7 tutors and approximately 25 invited faculty. The course is usually held in July/August in a European (or Associated) country. The ideal site will be isolated from other large groups of people (e.g. not consist of a resort hotel) to ensure intimacy and quietness, and will be in an attractive location. Previous courses have been held at: Crete, Greece 1996-1998 Trieste, Italy 1999-2001 Obidos, Portugal 2002-2004 Arcachon, France 2005-2007 Freiburg, Germany 2008-2010 Bedlewo, Poland 2011-2013 The course has attained a high profile over the years, and will generate high international visibility to any new location. It is expected to attract considerable visibility to any emerging new center of computational neuroscience in Europe. Our specific requirements are: - a local organizer who is responsible for arranging lodging, food, transportation, and lecture and computer facilities; - a lecture room with a seating capacity of about 50; - computer room(s), that can fit laptop computers for about 20 people, and allows a fast internet connection and wireless; as well as about 10-15 supplied workstations for students without sufficient own computing resources. - affordable lodging for about 50 people for four weeks, close to the lecture/computer rooms (university accommodation would be fine) - affordable food (restaurant or other) for about 50 people, close to the lecture/computer rooms. In addition, it would be nice to have: - a kitchen/dining room that students can use during the weekends and breaks; - a secretary who can handle communication with students and faculty during the months preceding the school; - a full-time systems manager for the computer network during the school; - internet access in the hotel rooms; - local funding. The availability of substantial local funding will greatly influence the selection of our future training site. Local funding would for instance be raised towards inviting faculty and/or subsidizing local housing and food plans. Anyone interested is strongly encouraged to contact Mate Lengyel (m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk) for detailed information about ACCN and on how to apply to be our next host site. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE (see also http://www.neuroinf.pl/accn) The Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is a high-level, 4-week intensive course on the computational aspects of the central nervous system function, from the cellular to the systems level. It is taught by invited faculty, who are both experimentalists and theoreticians and are among the best in their fields (see http://www.neuroinf.org/courses/EUCOURSE/B12/index.shtml web site for current and previous programs). The course is highly selective - we receive typically around 90 applications every year, and only 30 students are selected. Students are typically mid-term PhDs or postdocs, with backgrounds ranging from pure theory to pure experiment. The course provides the students with a solid theoretical background in topics that are important for understanding the complexity of the nervous system, and exposes them to the approaches that have been used in theoretical studies. Students do a research project during the course, with the help of the invited faculty and tutors. The selection of students is based on a CV, proposed project, letters of recommendation, and the advice of three independent referees. The current course directors: Yifat Prut (Jerusalem, Israel); Carl van Vreeswjik (Paris, France); Dieter Jaeger (Atlanta, USA); Mate Lengyel (Cambridge, UK), and current local organizer Daniel Wojcik are available to answer questions by potential site applicants. Dieter Jaeger, Professor Department of Biology, Emory University 1510 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322 404 727 8139, e-mail: djaeger at emory.edu http://www.biology.emory.edu/research/Jaeger ________________________________ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Thu Dec 27 05:36:24 2012 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:36:24 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer): Table of Contents, Vol.4, No.4 / Dec 2012 Issue Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 4, No.4/Dec 2012, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 The main part of this Issue comprises a Special Issue titled: "Cognitive & Emotional Information Processing", Edited by: Stefano Squartini, Bj?rn Schuller and Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers. The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 4, No. 4 / Dec 2012 can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): *http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/4/4/page/1* A list of the most downloaded articles (which can always be read for FREE) can be found here: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559#realtime Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted All previous Volumes and Issues of the journal can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 ======================================================= NEW: First ISI Impact Factor for Cognitive Computation of 1.000 for 2011! ======================================================= As you may know, earlier this year, Cognitive Computation was selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter?s products and services. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ? Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch?) ? Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ? Current Contents?/Engineering Computing and Technology ? Neuroscience Citation Index? Cognitive Computation has also recently received its first Impact Factor of 1.000 (Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports? 2011) in 2011 ============================================ Reminder: New Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has over 500 members already! We warmly invite you to join us 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 six weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues - five are already planned for 2013-14, including a new special issue to celebrate the work of the late Professor John Taylor, founding Chair of Cognitive Computation's Editorial Advisory Board. With our very best wishes for the New Year to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Professor Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) Professor Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) (Imperial College, London, UK) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.4, No.4 / Dec 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Issue: Cognitive and Emotional Information Processing Guest Editors: Stefano Squartini . Bj?rn Schuller . Amir Hussain Cognitive and Emotional Information Processing for Human-Machine Interaction Stefano Squartini, Bj?rn Schuller, Amir Hussain Pages 383-385 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9180-1 Real-Time Activity Detection in a Multi-Talker Reverberated Environment Emanuele Principi, Rudy Rotili, Martin W?llmer, Florian Eyben, Bj?rn Schuller Pages 386-397 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9133-8 Speaker-Characterized Emotion Recognition using Online and Iterative Speaker Adaptation Jae-Bok Kim, Jeong-Sik Park, Yung-Hwan Oh Pages 398-408 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9132-9 Supervised Learning and Codebook Optimization for Bag-of-Words Models Mingyuan Jiu, Christian Wolf, Christophe Garcia, Atilla Baskurt Pages 409-419 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9137-4 Sentence-Level Emotion and Valence Tagging Dipankar Das, Sivaji Bandyopadhyay Pages 420-435 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9173-0 Affect Sensing Using Linguistic, Semantic and Cognitive Cues in Multi-threaded Improvisational Dialogue Li Zhang, John Barnden Pages 436-459 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9170-3 Blame the Opponent! Effects of Multimodal Discrediting Moves in Public Debates Francesca D'Errico, Isabella Poggi Pages 460-476 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9175-y Sentic Album: Content-, Concept-, and Context-Based Online Personal Photo Management System Erik Cambria, Amir Hussain Pages 477-496 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9145-4 A Collaborative Video Annotation System Based on Semantic Web Technologies Marco Grassi, Christian Morbidoni, Michele Nucci Pages 497-514 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9172-1 Regular Papers: ----------------------- Optimal Path Computation for Autonomous Aerial Vehicles R. Samar, W. A. Kamal Pages 515-525 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-011-9117-0 Multi-Robot Exploration in Wireless Environments Anshika Pal, Ritu Tiwari, Anupam Shukla Pages 526-542 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9142-7 Fault Self-repairing Flight Control of a Small Helicopter via Fuzzy Feedforward and Quantum Control Techniques Fuyang Chen, Bin Jiang, Gang Tao Pages 543-548 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9143-6 Physiological LQR Design for Postural Control Coordination of Sit-to-Stand Movement Asif Mahmood Mughal, Kamran Iqbal Pages 549-562 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9160-5 Letter: --------- Comments on Aur's "From Neuroelectrodynamics to Thinking Machines" Jaime Gomez-Ramirez Pages 563-565 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-012-9128-5 --------------------------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: --------------------------------------------------- All previous Volumes and Issues can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 Alternatively, 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/1866-9956/1/1/ 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 Rodney Douglas, Giacomo Indiveri, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/4/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.1 / Mar 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/1/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.2 / June 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.3 / Sep 2012 (Special Issue on: Computational Creativity, Intelligence and Autonomy, Edited by: J. Mark Bishop and Yasemin J. Erden) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/3/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The University of Stirling is ranked in the top 50 in the world in The Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 table, which ranks the world's best 100 universities under 50 years old. The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. -- The University of Stirling is ranked in the top 50 in the world in The Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 table, which ranks the world's best 100 universities under 50 years old. The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rogrady at ulb.ac.be Fri Dec 21 15:58:41 2012 From: rogrady at ulb.ac.be (Rehan O'Grady) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:58:41 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: AAAI Video Competition 2013 - Call For Videos Message-ID: Dear Colleague, AAAI is pleased to announce the continuation of the AAAI Video Competition, now entering its seventh year. The video competition will be held in conjunction with the AAAI-13 conference in Bellevue, Washington, July 14?18, 2013. At the award ceremony, authors of award-winning videos will be presented with "Shakeys", trophies named in honour of SRI's Shakey robot and its pioneering video. Award winning videos will be screened at this ceremony. The goal of the competition is to show the world how much fun AI is by documenting exciting artificial intelligence advances in research, education, and application. View previous entries and award winners at http://www.aaaivideos.org/past_competitions. The rules are simple: Compose a short video about an exciting AI project, and narrate it so that it is accessible to a broad online audience. We strongly encourage student participation. VIDEO FORMAT AND CONTENT Either 1 minute (max) short video or a 5 minute (max) long video, with English narration (or English subtitles). Consider combining screen shots, interviews, and video of a system in action. Make the video self-contained, so that newcomers to AI can understand and learn from it. We encourage a good sense of humor, but will only accept submissions with serious AI content. For example, we welcome submissions of videos that: * Highlight a research topic - contemporary or historic, your own or from another group * Introduce viewers to an exciting new AI-related technology * Provide a window into the research activities of a laboratory and/or senior researcher * Attract prospective students to the field of AI * Explain AI concepts - your video could be used in the classroom Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Novel ideas for AI-based videos, including those not necessarily based on a "system in action", are encouraged. No matter what your choice, creativity is encouraged! (Please note: The authors of previous, award-winning videos typically used humor, background music, and carefully selected movie clips to make their presentations come alive.) Please also note that videos should contain only material for which the authors have copyright. Clips from films or television and music for soundtrack should only be used if copyright permission has been granted by the copyright holders. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Submit your video by making it available for download on a (preferably password-protected) ftp or web site. Once you have done so, please fill out the submission form ( http://www.aaaivideos.org/aaaistatic/submission/aaai_video_comp_2013_submission_form.txt) and send it to us by email (submission at aaaivideos.org). All submissions are due no later than April 30, 2013. REVIEW AND AWARD PROCESS Submitted videos will be peer-reviewed by members of the programme committee according to the criteria below. Videos that receive positive reviews will be accepted for publication in the AAAI Video Competition proceedings, published on the dedicated website (http://www.aaaivideos.org). The best videos will be nominated for awards. Winners will be revealed at the award ceremony during AAAI-13. All authors of accepted videos will be asked to sign a distribution license form. Review criteria: 1. Relevance to AI (research or application) 2. Excitement generated by the technology presented 3. Educational content 4. Entertainment value 5. Presentation (cinematography, narration, soundtrack, production values) AWARD CATEGORIES Best Video, Best Short Video, Best Student Video, Most Jaw-Dropping Technology, Most Educational, Most Entertaining and Best Presentation. (Categories may be changed at the discretion of the chairs.) AWARDS Trophies ("Shakeys"). KEY DATES * Submission Deadline: April 30, 2013 * Reviewing Decision Notifications & Award Nominations: May 31, 2013 * Final Version Due: June 16, 2013 * Screening and Award Presentations: TBD FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact us at info at aaaivideos.org We look forward to your participation in this exciting event! Marco Dorigo, Mauro Birattari and Rehan O'Grady Co-Chairs, AAAI Video Competition 2013 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Vittorio.Murino at iit.it Sun Dec 23 14:09:04 2012 From: Vittorio.Murino at iit.it (Vittorio Murino) Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:09:04 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Open postdoc position in computer vision and pattern recognition @ Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision (PAVIS), IIT, Genova, Italy Message-ID: <50D756D0.7030609@iit.it> One postdoctoral position in computer vision and pattern recognition is available in the department of Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision (PAVIS) at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) of Genova, Italy. PAVIS department was launched three years ago with expertise on image processing, computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning to study and design intelligent systems for the analysis and understanding of real-world problems. PAVIS focuses in particular on activities related but not limited to surveillance and security, biomedical imaging, and bioinformatics. Job Title 1: Postdoctoral position in computer vision for 3D reconstruction of neuronal connectivity from microscopy imaging. Project Description: The research position is part of the EU project RENVISION (Retina-inspired ENcoding for advanced VISION tasks) awarded within the initiative of Future Emerging Technologies: Neuro-Bio-Inspired Systems (NBIS). The project is highly interdisciplinary, including neuroengineering, electrophysiology, high-resolution microscopy imaging, computational modelling, data analysis, machine learning and computer vision. More information is provided at the end of this ad. Description of the research: The candidate will design novel analysis methodologies and algorithms based on pattern recognition, computer vision and machine learning techniques, aiming at reconstructing the 3D structure of neuronal connectivity between amacrine and ganglion cells from microscopy 3D imaging data of lower retinal layers. Experience and Qualifications: We are seeking a self-motivated individual with the ability to take day-to-day responsibility for the progress of the proposed work. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics, Electronic Engineering or a closely-related discipline, with competences on machine learning/pattern recognition/computer vision, coupled with a keen interest in neuroscience and biological data processing and analysis. Expertise on (Bayesian) graphical models, deep learning and/or dictionary learning is in general preferred. Experience on spiking networks or retinal function will be appreciated while not being a discriminating factor. Strong programming skill is required. Duration of hiring: 3 years, starting date 1 March 2013 or the first useful date afterwards. Closing Date: The initial deadline for applications is February 01, 2013, although the search will continue until appropriate candidates have been identified. Annual salary: in the range ? 37,000 - ? 43,000, depending on research experience and qualification. How to apply: Informal enquiries regarding the post should be directed to Prof. vittorio[dot]murino[at]iit[dot]it or diego[dot]sona[at]iit[dot]it. Interested applicants should send a CV (including a list of publications) and contact information for 3 references to Vittorio[dot]Murino[at]iit[dot]it. Further information on the project, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and PAVIS department can be found at: http://www.iit.it/ http://www.iit.it/pavis.html ==================================================================== RENVISION Project description: The research position is part of the EU project RENVISION awarded within the initiative of Future Emerging Technologies: Neuro-Bio-Inspired Systems (NBIS). The project is highly interdisciplinary, including neuroengineering, electrophysiology, high-resolution microscopy imaging, computational modelling, data analysis, machine learning and computer vision. The consortium consists of the following partners: ? Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, IT (Coordinator) ? Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, IT ? Nanophysics, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, IT ? Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, UK ? Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, UK ? Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Nice, FR. The overall aim of the project is to achieve a comprehensive understanding of how the retina encodes complex visual scenes, and to use such insights to develop new computational models of retina and to apply them to high-level computer vision tasks, such as scene categorization and action recognition. To this aim, the integration of recent advances in high-resolution 3D light microscopy and high-density multi-electrode array (MEA) technologies, will put the project in an unprecedented position to investigate pan-retinal signal processing at high spatio-temporal resolution, integrating these two technologies in a novel experimental setup. This will allow for simultaneous recording from the entire population of ganglion cells and functional imaging of inner retinal layers at near-cellular resolution, combined with 3D structural imaging of the whole inner retina. The analysis and fusion of these complex datasets will require the development of novel multimodal analysis methods. On these neuroscientific and computational grounds, the project will generate new knowledge on retinal processing at various developmental stages. In particular, structural imaging of retina and its functional recordings will be analysed using computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning techniques in order to reconstruct the neuronal connectivity and to capture the intrinsic functionalities of retina in response to a range of visual stimuli, from simple lighting patterns to real scenes. Ultimately, the project will advance pattern recognition and computer vision technologies by shedding new light on the internal structure of retina and how the retinal processing allows solving complex vision tasks. ==================================================================== -- Vittorio Murino **************************** Prof. Vittorio Murino, Ph.D. PAVIS - Pattern Analysis & Computer Vision IIT Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Via Morego 30 16163 Genova, Italy Phone: +39 010 71781 504 Mobile: +39 329 6508554 Fax: +39 010 71781 236 E-mail: vittorio.murino at iit.it http://www.iit.it/pavis.html *************************************************************************** From smart at neuralcorrelate.com Thu Dec 27 19:40:22 2012 From: smart at neuralcorrelate.com (Susana Martinez-Conde) Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:40:22 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: call for illusion submissions: the world's 9th annual Best illusion of the Year Contest Message-ID: <00c801cde493$f376b160$da641420$@com> ****CALL FOR ILLUSION SUBMISSIONS: THE WORLD'S 9TH ANNUAL BEST ILLUSION OF THE YEAR CONTEST**** http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com *** We are happy to announce the world's 9th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest!!*** Submissions are now welcome! The 2013 contest will be held in Naples, Florida (Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, http://www.thephil.org/) on Monday, May 13th, 2013, as an official satellite of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) conference. The Naples Philharmonic Center is an 8-minute walk from the main VSS headquarters hotel in Naples, and is thus central to the VSS conference. Past contests have been highly successful in drawing public attention to perceptual research, with over ***FIVE MILLION*** website hits from viewers all over the world, as well as hundreds of international media stories. The First, Second and Third Prize winners from the 2012 contest were Roger Newport, Helen Gilpin and Catherine Preston (University of Nottingham, UK), Jason Tangen, Sean Murphy and Matthew Thompson (The University of Queensland, Australia), and Arthur Shapiro, William Kistler, and Alex Rose-Henig (American University, USA). To see the illusions, photo galleries and other highlights from the 2012 and previous contests, go to http://illusionoftheyear.com. Eligible submissions to compete in the 2013 contest are novel perceptual or cognitive illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2012) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.) in standard image, movie or html formats. Exciting new variants of classic or known illusions are admissible. An international panel of impartial judges will rate the submissions and narrow them to the TOP TEN. Then, at the Contest Gala in Naples, the TOP TEN illusionists will present their contributions and the attendees of the event (that means you!) will vote to pick the TOP THREE WINNERS! Illusions submitted to previous editions of the contest can be re-submitted to the 2013 contest, so long as they meet the above requirements and were not among the TOP THREE winners in previous years. Submissions will be held in strict confidence by the panel of judges and the authors/creators will retain full copyright. The TOP TEN illusions will be posted on the illusion contest's website *after* the Contest Gala. Illusions not chosen among the TOP TEN will not be disclosed. As with submitting your work to any scientific conference, participating in to the Best Illusion of the Year Contest does not preclude you from also submitting your work for publication elsewhere. Submissions can be made to Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde (Illusion Contest Executive Producer, Neural Correlate Society) via email (smart at neuralcorrelate.com) until February 15, 2013. Illusion submissions should come with a (no more than) one-page description of the illusion and its theoretical underpinnings (if known). Illusions will be rated according to: . Significance to our understanding of the mind and brain . Simplicity of the description . Sheer beauty . Counterintuitive quality . Spectacularity Visit the illusion contest website for further information and to see last year's illusions: http://illusionoftheyear.com. Submit your ideas now and take home this prestigious award! On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society: Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse ---------------------------------------------------------------- Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Executive Producer, Best Illusion of the Year Contest President, Neural Correlate Society Columnist, Scientific American Mind Author, Sleights of Mind Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience Division of Neurobiology Barrow Neurological Institute 350 W. Thomas Rd Phoenix AZ 85013, USA Phone: +1 (602) 406-3484 Fax: +1 (602) 406-4172 Email: smart at neuralcorrelate.com http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Bill at BillHowell.ca Fri Dec 28 22:09:02 2012 From: Bill at BillHowell.ca (Bill Howell. home email. Ottawa) Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:09:02 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: IJCNN 2013 Update In-Reply-To: <3B877464-4B92-4E45-9A39-901F30518247@reesgroupinc.com> References: <3B877464-4B92-4E45-9A39-901F30518247@reesgroupinc.com> Message-ID: <50DE5ECE.8050407@BillHowell.ca> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From C.Campbell at bristol.ac.uk Thu Dec 20 04:55:24 2012 From: C.Campbell at bristol.ac.uk (Dr. Colin Campbell, Intelligent Systems Laboratory, University of Bristol) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:55:24 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position in machine learning Message-ID: Postdoctoral Position in Machine Learning and Bioinformatics University of Bristol, United Kingdom We are seeking to appoint an outstanding postdoctoral researcher, interested in machine learning and bioinformatics, for a 3 year fixed term contract position. Based in the Intelligent Systems Laboratory, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, you will be interested in the development and application of machine learning methods to the interpretation of biomedical datasets. Within this project we will devise novel and use established methods from modern machine learning including Bayesian techniques and probabilistic graphical methods, kernel-based methods and other approaches. We are keen to develop active learning approaches in which bioinformatics methods are used to infer maximally informative biological experiments with the results in turn used to improve a hypothesis. Algorithm development will be pursued with Dr. Colin Campbell of the Intelligent Systems Laboratory. Our main collaborators on the biological side are Prof. David Murphy and Dr. Charlie Hindmarch of the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Bristol, who have an interest in understanding the hypertensive state in humans. Apart from using bioinformatics methods to highlight the role of particular genes in this condition, they are interested in understanding and mapping regulatory pathways. Thus, the candidate may also have some interest in network inference, both using unsupervised and supervised methods. Eligible candidates should ideally have a background in machine learning, statistics or bioinformatics and should have excellent mathematical and computational skills. This post is hosted within the Intelligent Systems Laboratory (the ISL) of the University of Bristol. The ISL has 16 staff members and about 50 postdoctoral researchers and research students and pursues a broad programme of research across machine learning and related disciplines. Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Colin Campbell: Tel: +44 (0)117-33-15620 E-mail: C.Campbell at bris.ac.uk The successful applicant for this vacancy may be appointed either on a fixed term or a permanent contract depending on the extent of their previous relevant research experience, in line with the University?s Fixed Term Contract Agreement. Further information can be found at www.bristol.ac.uk/hr/ftc/ Job number: ACAD100154 Division/School: Merchant Venturers' School of Engineering Contract type: Fixed-term contract staff Working pattern: Full time Salary: ?34223 - ?38522 Funder: EPSRC Closing date for applications: 20-Jan-2013 Full details are at: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/ using job number reference: ACAD100154 and direct link: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details.html?nPostingID=582&nPostingTargetID=1492&option=28&sort=DESC&respnr=1&ID=Q50FK026203F3VBQBV7V77V83&JobNum=ACAD100154&Resultsperpage=10&lg=UK&mask=uobext ---------------------- ICG Campbell, Engineering Mathematics C.Campbell at bristol.ac.uk From eliassi at cs.rutgers.edu Fri Dec 21 01:32:42 2012 From: eliassi at cs.rutgers.edu (Tina Eliassi-Rad) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 01:32:42 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Tenure-track faculty position at Rutgers University Message-ID: <1F2ADA40-8447-4851-B175-FA9005300549@cs.rutgers.edu> The Department of Computer Science and the Department of Statistics and Biostatistics at Rutgers University are seeking applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position starting September 2013. We are particularly interested in candidates with research and teaching interests in ?big data? ? problems concerning data whose scale and diversity challenge the theory and practice of computer science and/or statistics. Candidates conducting their research in domains such as biomedical informatics, business, climate and environment, engineering, imaging and multimedia, and social analytics are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants for this position must, at minimum, be in the process of completing a Ph.D. dissertation in Computer Science, Statistics, or a closely related field. Hired candidates who have not defended their Ph.D. by September 1, 2013 will be hired at the rank of Instructor, and must complete the Ph.D. by December 31, 2013 to be eligible for tenure-track title retroactive to start date. Applicants should go to http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/employment/ and submit their curriculum vitae, a research statement addressing both past work and future plans, a teaching statement, and contact information for at least three references who will provide letters of recommendation. For questions and issues, please contact: Mary Hoffman Computer Science Department Rutgers University 110 Frelinghuysen Rd Piscataway, NJ 08854 mth at cs.rutgers.edu 848 445 7062 Applications should be received by January 18, 2013 for full consideration. Rutgers subscribes to the value of academic diversity and encourages applications from individuals with varied experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. Females, minorities, dual-career couples, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Rutgers is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. _______________________________ Tina Eliassi-Rad Associate Professor Dept. of Computer Science Rutgers University http://eliassi.org From Johan.Suykens at esat.kuleuven.be Fri Dec 21 08:57:19 2012 From: Johan.Suykens at esat.kuleuven.be (Johan Suykens) Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:57:19 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: ROKS-2013 July 8-10, 2013, Leuven, Belgium Message-ID: <50D46ABF.2080802@esat.kuleuven.be> ROKS-2013 International workshop on advances in Regularization, Optimization, Kernel methods and Support vector machines: theory and applications July 8-10, 2013, Leuven, Belgium http://www.esat.kuleuven.be/sista/ROKS2013 SCOPE One area of high impact both in theory and applications is kernel methods and support vector machines. Optimization problems, learning and representations of models are key ingredients in these methods. On the other hand considerable progress has also been made on regularization of parametric models, including methods for compressed sensing and sparsity, where convex optimization plays a prominent role. The aim of ROKS-2013 is to provide a multi-disciplinary forum where researchers of different communities can meet, to find new synergies along these areas, both at the level of theory and applications. The scope includes but is not limited to: - Regularization: L2, L1, Lp, lasso, group lasso, elastic net, spectral regularization, nuclear norm, others - Support vector machines, least squares support vector machines, kernel methods, gaussian processes and graphical models - Lagrange duality, Fenchel duality, estimation in Hilbert spaces, reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces, Banach spaces, operator splitting - Optimization formulations, optimization algorithms - Supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised learning, inductive and transductive learning - Multi-task learning, multiple kernel learning, choice of kernel functions, manifold learning - Prior knowledge incorporation - Approximation theory, learning theory, statistics - Matrix and tensor completion, learning with tensors - Feature selection, structure detection, regularization paths, model selection - Sparsity and interpretability - On-line learning and optimization - Applications in machine learning, computational intelligence, pattern analysis, system identification, signal processing, networks, datamining, others - Software CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The ROKS-2013 program will feature invited plenary talks, oral sessions and poster sessions. Interested participants are cordially invited to submit an extended abstract (max. 2 pages) for their contribution. After the workshop a number of selected contributions will be invited for an edited book. For further information see http://www.esat.kuleuven.be/sista/ROKS2013 . IMPORTANT DATES - Extended abstract submission website opens: Jan 9, 2013 - Deadline extended abstract submission: March 4, 2013 - Notification of acceptance: April 8, 2013 - Deadline for registration: June 3, 2013 - International Workshop ROKS-2013: July 8-10, 2013 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Chair: Johan Suykens (KU Leuven) Andreas Argyriou (Ecole Centrale Paris), Kris De Brabanter (KU Leuven), Moritz Diehl (KU Leuven), Kristiaan Pelckmans (Uppsala University), Marco Signoretto (KU Leuven), Vanya Van Belle (KU Leuven), Joos Vandewalle (KU Leuven) Co-sponsored by ERC Advanced Grant From jordan at eecs.berkeley.edu Sat Dec 29 06:37:23 2012 From: jordan at eecs.berkeley.edu (Michael Jordan) Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2012 03:37:23 -0800 (PST) Subject: Connectionists: Research Fellowships (including postdocs) on Big Data at the Simons Institute at UC Berkeley Message-ID: The new Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing (http://simons.berkeley.edu) will begin organizing semester-long programs starting in 2013. One of our first programs, set for Fall 2013, will be on the "Theoretical Foundations of Big Data Analysis". The organizers of this program are Michael Jordan (chair), Stephen Boyd, Peter Buehlmann, Ravi Kannan, Michael Mahoney, and Muthu Muthukrishnan. See http://simons.berkeley.edu/program_bigdata2013.html for more information on the program. The Simons Institute has created a number of "Research Fellowships" for young researchers (within at most six years of the award of their PhD) who wish to participate in Institute programs, including the Big Data program. Individuals who already hold postdoctoral positions or who are junior faculty are welcome to apply, as are finishing PhDs. Please note that the application deadline is January 15, 2013. Further details are available at http://simons.berkeley.edu/fellows.html . Mike Jordan From mlsp at neuro.kuleuven.be Wed Dec 19 09:19:47 2012 From: mlsp at neuro.kuleuven.be (2012 IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning fo Signal Processing) Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:19:47 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers - 2013 IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning For Signal Processing (MLSP) Message-ID: <50D1CD03.2010503@neuro.kuleuven.be> This year Latent Variable Analysis (LVA) Conference will take place as a two-day track within the MLSP Workshop: MLSP (September 1-4) and LVA Track (September 4-5) The 23rd MLSP workshop in the series of workshops organized by the IEEE Signal Processing Society MLSP Technical Committee will present the most recent and exciting advances in machine learning for signal processing through keynote talks, tutorials as well as special and regular single-track sessions. Prospective authors are invited to submit papers on relevant algorithms and applications including, but not limited to: ? Learning theory and techniques ? Graphical models and kernel methods ? Data-driven adaptive systems and models ? Pattern recognition and classification ? Distributed, Bayesian, subspace/manifold and sparsity-aware learning ? Multiset data analysis and multimodal data fusion ? Perceptual signal processing in audio, image and video ? Cognitive information processing ? Applications, including: Speech, audio and video; Music processing; Biomedical imaging; Communications; Bioinformatics; Computational genomics; Social networks; Biometrics; Energy and smart grid. Data Analysis and Signal Processing Competition is being organized in conjunction with the workshop. The goal of the competition is to advance the current state-of-the-art in theoretical and practical aspects of signal processing domains. The problems are selected to reflect current trends, evaluate existing approaches on common benchmarks, and identify critical new areas of research. Winners will be announced and awards given at the workshop. Paper Submission Procedure: Prospective authors are invited to submit a double column paper of up to six pages using the electronic submission procedure at http://mlsp2013.conwiz.dk. Accepted papers will be published on memory sticks to be distributed at the workshop. Deadlines: Submission of full paper: May 1, 2013 Notification of acceptance: June 20, 2013 Advance registration before: July 15, 2013 Camera-ready paper: August 1, 2013 MLSP 2013 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Suleyman S. Kozat Tulay Adali Alper T. Erdogan Program Chairs: Jeronimo Arenas-Garcia Taylan Cemgil (LVA Track Chair) Special Session Chairs: Gustavo Camps-Valls Deniz Erdogmus Publicity Chairs: Marc Van Hulle Aydin Alatan Raviv Raich Fernando P?rez-Cruz Web and Publication Chair: Jan Larsen Local Organization Chairs: Orhan Arikan Ethem Alpaydin Omer Nezih Gerek Salih Ergut From Bill at BillHowell.ca Mon Dec 31 11:14:22 2012 From: Bill at BillHowell.ca (Bill Howell. home email. Ottawa) Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:14:22 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: IJCNN 2013 Update Message-ID: <50E1B9DE.7090506@BillHowell.ca> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edwin.de.jong at quintiq.com Thu Dec 27 14:53:58 2012 From: edwin.de.jong at quintiq.com (Edwin de Jong) Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:53:58 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: R&D position available Message-ID: <50DCB5660200002700002673@mail.quintiq.nl> Dear machine learning researcher, A position for a researcher is available at Quintiq's R&D department in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. A recent PhD in machine learning or statistical pattern recognition would be considered highly relevant experience for this position. See: http://www.quintiqcareers.com/job-vacancies/predictive-analytics-researcher-den-bosch-191.html Best regards, Edwin de Jong __ Dr.ir. Edwin de Jong Quintiq R&D Predictive Analytics Team Lead www.quintiq.com From hoxta at hotmail.com Mon Dec 31 11:56:07 2012 From: hoxta at hotmail.com (Xiaohui Tao) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 02:56:07 +1000 Subject: Connectionists: [Deadline Extension] CfP: Data Analytics for Targeted Healthcare 2013 (at PAKDD '13) Message-ID: [Apologies if you receive this more than once] ################################################################## The First International Workshop on Data Analytics for Targeted Healthcare (DANTH '13) Gold Coast, Australia 14 April 2013 CALL FOR PAPERS ################################################################## The first International Workshop on Data Analytics for Targeted Healthcare (DANTH '13) in Conjunction with the 17th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Gold Coast, Australia 14 April 2013. Homepage: http://www.sci.usq.edu.au/danth13 ################################################################## # Full paper submission (Extended): *** 06 January 2013 *** # Notification of acceptance: 31 January 2013 # Camera-ready submission: 15 February 2013 # Workshop: 14 April 2013 ################################################################## To succeed in transforming healthcare, many countries will need to move to more targeted healthcare. Successful migration must encourage innovation, provide access to more complete patient information and incorporate advanced clinical knowledge into clinical decision-making. Aiming at successfully transforming healthcare, some interdependent challenges need to be overcome, such as prevalence of tightly coupled applications and data; inadequate data and knowledge standards; insufficient analytics capabilities; unsatisfactory security and privacy methodologies; absence of a clinical decision-making foundation. Knowledge discovery and data mining techniques, especially data analytics, have been proven holding much promise for solving these problems. Providers can use health care data analytics to learn about patient populations, enhance preventive care and drive business decisions by accessing key data such as demographics and chronic conditions. Therefore, nowadays the healthcare industry requires a much more open, robust health information technology environment than ever existed, especially the techniques and methodologies in knowledge discovery and data mining. Targeting on these interesting questions, the workshop focuses on how data analytics can improve information management in healthcare. The workshop will bring together researchers from different countries and regions to foster dissemination, increase the share of knowledge cross different domains, and strengthen the research on data analytic techniques and related applications to healthcare problems. +++++++++++++++++++ Topics of Interest +++++++++++++++++++ TOPICS AND AREAS INCLUDE, BUT NOT LIMITED TO - Healthcare Management Systems - Databases and Data Management - Data mining, knowledge discovery, decision making support - Pattern recognition, Sequence Analysis, and Machine Learning - System interoperability, ontology and standardization - Bioinformatics - Brain informatics - Image Analysis and Processing - Neural Networks - Medical Signal Acquisition, Analysis and Processing - Telemedicine - Semantic Interoperability - Health information visualization - Computational Molecular Systems - Support tools and languages for health information-system development - Medical Data Collection and Processing - Human-Machine Interface / Ambient Intelligence - Modelling of Physical and Conceptual Information - User Profiles and Personalised Healthcare - Social, Privacy, and Security Issues in Healthcare - Evaluation and use of Healthcare IT - Software Systems in Medicine - Pervasive Health Systems and Services - Practice-based Research Methods for Healthcare IT - Web Services in Bioinformatics - Fuzzy Systems and Signals - Infodemiology, public health surveillance +++++++++++++++++++ Keynote Speakers +++++++++++++++++++ Professor Pei Jian, Ph.D School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada Professor Ning Zhong, Ph.D Department of Life Science and Informatics, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Japan ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On-Line Submissions and Publication ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Each submitted paper should include an abstract up to 200 words. It should not longer than 12 single-spaced pages with 10pt font size. Authors are strongly encouraged to use Springer LNCS/LNAI manuscript submission guidelines (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) for the initial submissions. Note that submitting a paper to the workshop means that if the paper is accepted, at least one author should attend the workshop to present the paper. The accepted papers will be published in a LNCS/LNAI post Proceedings of PAKDD Workshops published by Springer in the second half of 2013. Published papers will be indexed by ISI, EI-Compendex, SCOPUS, DBLP and EBSCO, among others, and will be available in the SpringerLink Digital Library. Top papers with extensive work will be published in Health Information Science and Systems, Biomed and Springer, as the special issue of the workshop. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Special Issue ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Health Information Science and Systems, Biomed and Springer (http://www.hissjournal.com/) ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Organising Committee ++++++++++++++++++++++++ GENERAL CHAIR * Yanchun Zhang Victoria University, Australia * Michael Ng Hong Kong Baptist University, China PROGRAM CO-CHAIR * Xiaohui Tao University of Southern Queensland, Australia * Guandong Xu University of Technology, Sydney, Australia * Yidong Li Beijing Jiaotong University, China * Hongmin Cai South China University of Technology, China * Prasanna Desikan Allina Health, United States * Harleen Kaur United Nations University, International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), Malaysia PROGRAM COMMITTEE * Ritu Chauhan Amity Institute of Biotechnology, India * Ling Chen University of Technology, Sydney, Australia * Peter Dolog Aalborg University, Denmark * Kazuyuki Imamura Maebashi Institute of Technology, Japan * Al?pio Jorge University of Porto, Portugal * Ritu Khare National Institutes of Health, USA * Yan Li University of Southern Queensland, Australia * Xue Li University of Queensland, Australia * Zhiyong Lu National Institutes of Health, USA * Mohd Saberi Mohamad Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia * Mohyuddin King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Saudi Arabia * Chaoyi Pang CSIRO, Australia * Jeffrey Soar University of Southern Queensland, Australia * Weighing Su United International College, Hong Kong * Shusaku Tsumoto Shimane University, Japan * Guoyin Wang Chongqing Uni of Posts and Telecom, China * Jie Wan University College Dublin, Ireland * Xin Wang University of Calgary, Canada * Zhiang Wu Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, China * Zongda Wu Wenzhou University, China * Xiaoyin Xu The Brigham Women?s Hospital, USA * Yue Xu Queensland University of Technology, Australia * Zhenglu Yang University of Tokyo, Japan * Neil Yen The University of Aizu, Japan * Ji Zhang University of Southern Queensland, Australia * Yanchang Zhao RDataMining.com, Australia * Xiaobo Zhou The Methodist Hospital, USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Contact Information ++++++++++++++++++++++++ * Xiaohui Tao xtao at usq.edu.au * Guandong Xu guandong.xu at uts.edu.au * Yidong Li ydli at bjtu.edu.cn * Hongmin Cai hmcai at scut.edu.cn * Prasanna Desikan prasanna at gmail.com * Harleen Kaur harleen_k1 at rediffmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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