From bazhenov at salk.edu Sun Jul 1 15:52:19 2012 From: bazhenov at salk.edu (Maxim Bazhenov) Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2012 12:52:19 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position in Computational/Theoretical Neuroscience Message-ID: <4FF0AA73.1040105@salk.edu> Applications for NIH-funded post-doctoral position are invited for laboratory of Dr. Maxim Bazhenov at the University of California, Riverside. This project aims at understanding how odors and odor concentrations are encoded in the insect olfactory system. It involves close collaboration with laboratory of Dr. Mark Stopfer at NIH. For relevant references see, Assisi et al., Neuron 2011, 69(2):373-86; Ito et al., Neuron 2009, 64(5):692-706; Assisi at al., Nature Neurosci, 2007, 10(9):1176-84. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand mechanisms and functions of biological rhythms and the role of neuronal oscillations and synchrony in information processing. Successful candidate will be responsible for design and analysis of the network models of olfactory system based on experimental data and data analysis. Qualified applicants are expected to have experience in computational/theoretical neuroscience and conductance-based neural modeling. Programming experience with C/C++ is required. Knowledge of PYTHON or MATLAB is a plus. The University of California offers excellent benefits. Salary is based on research experience. The initial appointment is for 1 year with a possibility of extension. Applicants should send a brief statement of research interests, a CV and the names of three references to Maxim Bazhenov at maksim.bazhenov at ucr.edu -- Maxim Bazhenov, Ph.D. Professor Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience University of California Riverside, CA 92521 Ph: 951-827-4370 http://biocluster.ucr.edu/~mbazhenov/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120701/564d8b4e/attachment.html From gert at ucsd.edu Sun Jul 1 15:38:23 2012 From: gert at ucsd.edu (Gert Cauwenberghs) Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2012 12:38:23 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: 8/27/2012, San Diego CA: IEEE EMB/CAS/SMC Workshop on Brain-Machine-Body Interfaces Message-ID: *IEEE EMB/CAS/SMC Workshop on Brain-Machine-Body Interfaces* ** *Monday August 27, 2012, San Diego, California, USA* ** *http://embc2012.embs.org/program/bmbi* ** *CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION* ** Brain-machine interfaces (BMI), or brain-computer interfaces (BCI), extend the capacity of the human brain in directly communicating and interacting with the environment. BMI/BCI research has traditionally focused on harnessing this capability for applications of neural prostheses in restoring communication and mobility of the motor impaired. A larger range of clinical applications are now emerging that extend the BMI/BCI and neural prostheses paradigms to brain-machine-body interfaces, harnessing benefits of neuromodulation and sensory feedback in interfacing across the central and peripheral nervous systems, facilitating closed-loop and minimally-invasive remediation of neurological and motor disorders, and more generally encompassing mind-body in health and wellbeing. This 3rd workshop in a series co-sponsored by the IEEE EMB, CAS, and SMC Societies highlights advances in brain-machine-body interface technology and its myriad applications promoting health and wellness that result from synergies between scientists, engineers, and clinical practitioners in this rapidly emerging field. Held on Monday August 27, 2012 in conjunction with EMBC 2012 (http://embc2012.embs.org) at the San Diego Bayfront Hilton, the workshop combines invited lectures by leading experts with an exciting and highly interactive program of solicited contributions. A limited number of student and postdoctoral fellow travel grants will be provided, and best poster and demonstration awards will be conferred at the workshop. One-page papers for poster and spotlight presentations and live interactive demonstrations are solicited on theoretical foundations, technology advances, and clinical and health-promoting applications covering all aspects of brain-machine-body interfaces including (but not limited to): - Brain-machine and brain-computer interfaces; - Closed-loop neuromodulation and deep-brain stimulation; - Remediation and rehabilitation of neurological and motor disorders; - Sensory feedback in motor prostheses; - Neuromorphic brain-machine and silicon-neuron interfaces; - Non-invasive and minimally invasive mobile brain/body functional imaging; - Transcranial magnetic and electrical stimulation; - Optogenetics for behaviorial neuroscience; - Neurofeedback and stimulation induced plasticity; - Electroacupuncture; - Body area networks for wireless health; etc. Submission instructions and more information are at the workshop URL: http://embc2012.embs.org/program/bmbi *KEY DATES:* July 15, 2012: Deadline for submission of one-page papers July 25, 2012: Notification of acceptance August 27, 2012: Workshop, San Diego Bayfront Hilton *CONTACT:* *Workshop Chair:* Gert Cauwenberghs, UC San Diego, USA, gert at ucsd.edu *Workshop Co-Chairs:* Maysam Ghovanloo, Georgia Tech, USA, mgh at gatech.edu Jos? del R. Mill?n, EPFL, Switzerland, jose.millan at epfl.ch *Organizing Committee:* Metin Akay, Univ. of Houston, USA Bin He, Univ. of Minnesota, USA Paul Sajda, Columbia Univ., USA Mohamad Sawan, Ecole Polytechnique de Montr?al, Canada Nitish Thakor, Johns Hopkins Univ., USA; National Univ. of Singapore James Weiland, Univ. of Southern California, USA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120701/707483e0/attachment-0001.html From hiro at brain.riken.jp Mon Jul 2 22:04:08 2012 From: hiro at brain.riken.jp (hiroyuki nakahara) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:04:08 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Positions available at RIKEN Brain Science Institute: computational and fMRI studies Message-ID: <20120703110406.6662.25DAB7C8@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. Our laboratory is interested in elucidating neural mechanisms of decision making, and value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior in particular, together with fostering computational foundations of neural interactions. We primarily use computational approaches (e.g., "modeling", "analyzing", and "developing"; see below) and also conduct human fMRI experiments. We seek enthusiastic and well-qualified scientists to join in our research activities, particularly under the following three topics: 1) Modeling neural computations of value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior 2) Analyzing neural data for our interest, and developing methods of analysis for understanding neural interactions 3) Human fMRI experiment to address value-based decision making, including social setting Please refer to the descriptions below for the details of each topic (and some more information follows the descriptions). 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. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Screening will be done on a rolling basis, and applications submitted by the mid of August, 2012 will be treated equally in the first screening. Informal inquiry should be sent to itninfo at brain.riken.jp. Please send your application to itninfo at brain.riken.jp with the following materials: (A) a cover letter specifying the job opportunity you are interested in, (B) curriculum vitae 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). 1) Modeling neural computations of value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior We build computational and mathematical models of neural processes for value-based decision making and reward-oriented behavior. We are particularly interested in adaptive or learning nature of the behavior, e.g., reinforcement learning. We also seek how value-based decisions or reward-oriented behavior 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 neuron functions, contribute to these functions, in relation to prefrontal areas and other subcortical areas (e.g., lateral habenula, amygdala). 2) Analyzing neural data for our interest, and developing methods of analysis for understanding neural interactions 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), or by our own in-house fMRI experiments. In addition, or possibly alternatively, we are interested in developing methods of analysis to make sense of massively simultaneously recorded neural data with an emphasis on understanding consequences of neural interactions, including higher-order interactions. In both the topics 1) and 2), applicants are expected to have a qualified record and research experience in computational neuroscience in the area described above or related area. A strong quantitative background in neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, statistics, machine learning, physics or related area is expected. The successful candidate should have good general computer skills, and especially good computer programming skills (e.g., Matlab). Close collaboration with experimental studies is emphasized; in-house fMRI and psychophysics experiments, and frequent collaborative research with experimental laboratories. 3) Human fMRI experiment to address value-based decision making, including social setting We conduct human fMRI experiment to investigate value-based decision making, reward-oriented behavior, and/or related behavior including social setting, e.g. social value-based decisions. For instance, using model-based analyses, we are interested in investigating how values associated with different options is processed in the brain before making decisions, and/or how an understanding of another person?s behavior affects one?s own value-based decisions. Under the topic 3), the ideal candidate should have a qualified record and research experience in human fMRI experiments in the research area described above 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. The successful candidate should have a strong training in experimental methodology with solid quantitative skills. Research using fMRI 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. 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, implying a good attitude toward balancing independence and inter-dependence, is required. Good communication skills are essential, also being fluent in spoken and written English (working language is English at RIKEN Brain Science Institute, while there are also opportunities to take Japanese classes.) RIKEN Brain Science Institute is located near Tokyo, Japan (http://www.brain.riken.jp). Starting salaries will be commensurate with relevant ability and experience. 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 jose.millan at epfl.ch Mon Jul 2 13:10:14 2012 From: jose.millan at epfl.ch (Jose del R. Millan) Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:10:14 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: ICNR 2012: Deadline Extension Message-ID: <4FF1D5F6.6030706@epfl.ch> ICNR 2012 http://www.icnr2012.org/ 2012 International Conference on Neurorehabilitation Converging Clinical and Engineering Research November 14-16, 2012, Toledo, Spain Pre-conference workshops: November 13, 2012 Post-conference workshops: November 17, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear colleague, It is our great pleasure to invite you to the "2012 Conference on Neurorehabilitation. Converging Clinical and Engineering Research (ICNR2012)" that will take place in Toledo, Spain, from November 14 to 16. The ICNR2012 is endorsed by the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) and IEEE EMBS and will bring together international keynote speakers, researchers and students from the fields of Clinical Rehabilitation, Applied Neurophysiology and Biomedical Engineering. At this time, we would like to inform you that submission deadline for regular contributions has been extended to July 15. Extended abstract (2 pages) contributions are welcome. All contributions will be peer reviewed. Accepted contributions will appear in Conference Proceedings. Selected papers will be invited to Special Issues in Referred Journals: Journal on Neuroengineering and rehabilitation (JNER) and Journal of accessibility and design for all (JACCES). We would also like to inform you that there will be an ICNR2012 Paper Competition for undergraduate and graduate students. All contributions will be peer-reviewed. Selected finalists will be asked to prepare a Poster as well as orally present their work in a Student Competition special session. The winner will be awarded with a free inscription to the 2013 Summer School on Neurorehabilitation, where he/she will have the opportunity to get in contact with world-class scientists, and to experience exciting hands-on courses on the most recent technologies (for more information about Summer School please visit the website of 2012 edition: www.ssnr2012.org). If you are a graduate or undergraduate student willing to participate, you should: - Submit your Extended Abstract, following to regular procedure described in "Submission Guideline" Section, by July 15. - During the submission process, please tick the "Student Paper Competition" check box. NOTE: If you wish to apply but you have already submitted your paper, you can re-enter your EasyChair submission by July 15, and tick the "Student Paper Competition" check box. WORKSHOPS WS1- Emerging Therapies in Spinal Cord Injury + VISIT WS2- Emerging Therapies in Stroke + VISIT WS3- Rehabilitation robotics for pediatric applications + VISIT WS4- Pathologic tremor: emerging therapies + VISIT WS5- Challenges for human centered assistive neuro-robotic devices: experience of the Mundus project WS6- Creating Intelligent Rehabilitation Technology: An Interdisciplinary Effort WS7- Extracting the neural strategies from the EMG and implications for myocontrol in neurotechnologies WS8- Neurorehabilitation Technology: a joint technical, clinical, and basic effort SPECIAL SESSIONS SS1- Games and Creativity for NeuroRehabilitation SS2- Systematic Rehabilitation based on brain rhythm, muscle synergies and tacit learning SS3- Wearable Robots SS4- Control strategies in rehabilitation robotics SS5- Movement analysis techniques in rehabilitation SS6- How to translate FES from the research to practice SS7- Improving cognitive and social skills of people with neurological disorders through assistive technologies SS8- Understanding musculoskeletal deformity and pathological gait: What can musculoskeletal modelling and dynamic gait simulations contribute? SS9- Sensory Restoration If you are interested in receiving more detail information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Looking forward to welcoming you in Toledo! -- Dr. Jos? del R. Mill?n, Defitech Professor Defitech Chair in Non-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface Center for Neuroprosthetics School of Engineering Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne (EPFL) EPFL STI-CNBI ELB 138. Station 11 CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland Tel: +41-21-6937391 Fax: +41-21-6935307 jose.millan at epfl.ch http://people.epfl.ch/jose.millan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120702/37d5f998/attachment.html From oby at cs.tu-berlin.de Mon Jul 2 09:07:06 2012 From: oby at cs.tu-berlin.de (Klaus Obermayer) Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 15:07:06 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: call for registration / call for posters Message-ID: Call for registration - Call for posters SYMPOSIUM "Neural Computation: From Perception to Cognitive Function" OPENING of the Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging Berlin, October 29th-31st 2012 Organised by: Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging Research Training Group "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" Charite Medical School With this event, the Bernstein Center Berlin and its Graduate Programs will celebrate two years of activities of the DFG-funded Research Training Group "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems". A highlight of the program is the opening of the Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging (BCAN), a new facility that houses two 3-Tesla MRI scanners and that promotes computational techniques in neuroimaging. For this joint occasion, there will be a number of excellent international speakers (see below). We also invite other neuroscientists from all over the world to discuss their most recent findings and hypotheses in the field of brain computation and neuroimaging. Confirmed Speakers: Peter Bandettini (National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD, USA) Richard Ehmann (Mayo Clinic, USA) Rainer Goebel (Maastricht University, Netherlands) Joshua Gold (University of Pennsylvania, USA) Peter Koenig (Osnabrueck University, Germany) Tai-Sing Lee (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) Mate Lengyel (University of Cambridge, UK) Leonard Maler (University of Ottawa, Canada) Wolfgang Maass (Graz University of Technology, Austria) Yael Niv (Princeton University, NJ, USA) Pieter Roelfsema (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands) Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA, USA) Klaas-Enno Stephan (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Alessandro Treves (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) Angela Yu (University of California, San Diego, CA, USA) Posters: Conference participants are welcome to contribute posters Program Committee: John-Dylan Haynes (BCCN Berlin, Charite Medical School) Benjamin Lindner (BCCN Berlin, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin) Klaus Obermayer (BCCN Berlin, Berlin University of Technology) Susanne Schreiber (BCCN Berlin, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin) Contact: Vanessa Casagrande Margret Franke Details and Registration: www.bccn-berlin.de/symposium-2012 From erik at oist.jp Wed Jul 4 22:23:38 2012 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 11:23:38 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Call for proposals to host the annual Computational Neuroscience (CNS) Meeting in 2015 Message-ID: After the successful CNS*2011 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden OCNS (http://www.cnsorg.org) requests proposals from candidate local organizers to organize the CNS meeting in 2015 in Europe. European CNS meeting tend to draw large crowds (more than 500 registrations). Groups or individuals interested in organizing the CNS*2015 meeting should submit a proposal with consideration of the on-line information (http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-local-organizer) and using the on-line template provided as a guide. The OCNS board, executive and program committee members will select/discuss the different proposals, contact the potential local organizers for more information if necessary and come to a timely agreement between OCNS and potential local organizers. Proposals should be emailed to the OCNS president at president at cnsorg.org no later than October 10, 2012. Decisions are expected by end of the year. Erik De Schutter OCNS President CNS*2012 Atlanta, USA, July 21-26, 2012 at the Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA CNS*2013 Paris, France, July 13-18, 2013 at the Universit? Paris Descartes CNS 2014 in Qu?bec City, Canada, July 26-31 at the Qu?bec City Convention Center. From jaakko.j.vayrynen at tkk.fi Thu Jul 5 08:37:14 2012 From: jaakko.j.vayrynen at tkk.fi (Jaakko =?iso-8859-1?Q?V=E4yrynen?=) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 15:37:14 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: META-NET Workshop: Machine Translation and Multimodal Contexts Message-ID: <20120705123714.GE2383@pc40.ics.hut.fi> === Call for Presentations === (apologies for cross postings) META-NET Workshop: Machine Translation and Multimodal Contexts Special session in ICANN 2012, Lausanne, Switzerland, Sep 11-14, 2012 (http://research.ics.aalto.fi/cog/MTMC2012/) DL for presentation proposals: 12th of August, 2012 Machine Translation can be considered to be one of the most challenging tasks computer science has ever taken. Statistical methods have been increasingly successful in providing efficiently MT solutions for many language pairs. However, there is a lot of room for improvement regarding the quality of translations. One central reason for the failures is that current systems take the context into account only in a limited manner. This is particularly true for multimodal contexts. This META-NET workshop is organized to foster exchange of ideas and results which combine machine translation and multilinguality challenges with multimodal processing and adaptive systems. The notion of context is meant to be understood broadly, including other modalities like vision in addition to the textual contexts. Therefore, we expect participants, e.g., from machine translation, machine learning, vision research and cognitive systems communities. Relevant topics include: * Specification and standardization of contextual information * Using textual context in Machine Translation * Visually informed Machine Translation: e.g. subtitle translation, personal mobile assistants, multilingual robotics,semantics of movement * Speech and sound content in multilingual systems: e.g. context-aware speech-to-speech Machine Translation, speaker-based speech adaptation, recipient-directed speech and translation adaptation, author and content based style adaptation * Use of situational and location data * Machine Translation of colloquial language in rapidly changing contexts * Effect of document type, genre, domain of application and medium on machine translations * Semantics versus pragmatics in multimodal and multilingual systems * Tools and corpora for context-aware Machine Translation * Representing Machine Translation problems in a suitable form for Neural Network and Machine Learning researchers * Machine Learning methods and tools for context-aware multilingual applications * Studies of human translation performance (with and without context) * Brain research results on context processing * Learning correspondences between several languages: e.g. Meta-learning and multi-task learning for multilingual systems === Submission of presentation proposals === We invite presentations in the domain of the workshop related to * completed research results, * work in progress, * strategic visions and plans, * promising ideas, and * META-NET Challenge: Context in Machine Translation (http://www.cis.hut.fi/icann11/con-txt-mt11/challenge.php) Please, send your presentation proposal to timo dot honkela at aalto dot fi and jaakko dot j dot vayrynen at aalto dot fi by 12th of August, 2012. Notification will be sent by 22nd of August. A presentation proposal consists of a title, presenter, and an abstract. === Program and advisory committee === Nicola Cancedda, Xerox, France Jussi Karlgren, SICS, Sweden Philipp Koehn, University of Edinburgh, UK Markus Koskela, Aalto University, Finland Mikko Kurimo, Aalto University, Finland Krister Lind?n, University of Helsinki, Finland Tapani Raiko, Aalto University, Finland Georg Rehm, DFKI, Germany Francois Yvon, LIMSI, France Pierre Zweigenbaum, LIMSI, France The workshop program and schedule will be published closer to the workshop. === Workshop chairs and contact information === Timo Honkela, Aalto University (http://users.ics.tkk.fi/tho/) Jaakko V?yrynen, Aalto University (http://users.ics.tkk.fi/jjvayryn/) From matthias.treder at gmail.com Thu Jul 5 09:07:22 2012 From: matthias.treder at gmail.com (Matthias Treder) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 15:07:22 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?BBCI_Summerschool_2012_=96_Advan?= =?windows-1252?q?ces_in_Neurotechnology?= Message-ID: !Please distribute! BBCI Summerschool 2012 ? Advances in Neurotechnology September 20-28, Berlin, Germany Call for Participation / announcement http://bbci12.ml.tu-berlin.de/summerschool ************************************************************************ Important Dates =============== Application and CV: 2012-08-08 Notification of Acceptance: 2012-08-13 Summerschool Date: 2012-09-20 - 2012-09-28 Organization ============ Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology (BFNT-B) Berlin Institute of Technology (TUB) Charit? - University Medicine Berlin Bernstein Center Computational Neuroscience Berlin (BCCN-B) Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Benjamin Blankertz (chair), Berlin Institute of Technology Matthias Treder, (co-chair), Berlin Institute of Technology Matthias L. Jugel, BFNT-B/Industry Imke Weitkamp, BFNT-B/Coordination Description =========== Subsequent to the BBCI Workshop 2012, we organize a Summerschool on selected topics in Brain-Computer Interfacing and Neurotechnology from September 20th to 28th. It has educational tutorials in the morning session (two tutorials of 1:30h each, held by internationally renowned researchers), and practical hand-ons sessions in the afternoon. The practical sessions are multi-track and will allow researchers in BCI/Neurotechnology to complement their expertise in the interdisciplinary field. In order to warrant an expedient atmosphere, the total number of participants is limited to 60. Furthermore, each practical session has its specific limit for participation. Upon application, preferences for the practical sessions can be specified after acceptance and we will do our best to provide a good match. Researchers interested in participation are asked to provide their CV for application. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out on August 13th. Submission ========== Please send your application and CV no later than 2012-08-08 to: bbci12office at ml.tu-berlin.de Confirmed Speakers ================== - Benjamin Blankertz, Berlin Institute of Technology - Gabriel Curio, Charit? - University Medicine Berlin - Peter Desain, Radboud University Nijmegen - Lars-Kai Hansen, Technical University of Denmark - Stefan Haufe, Berlin Institute of Technology - Aapo Hyvarinen, University of Helsinki - Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, University of Cambridge - Fabien Lotte, inria, Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, France - Jan Mehnert, Charit? - University Medicine Berlin - Guido Nolte, Universit?tsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf - Christoph Schmitz, Charit? / NIRx Medizintechnik GmbH - Andrew Schwartz, University of Pittsburgh - Jens Steinbrink, Charit? - University Medicine Berlin - Masashi Sugiyama, Tokyo Institute of Technology. - Ricardo Vig?rio, Aalto University School of Science - Felix Wichmann, Eberhard Karls Universit?t T?bingen Venue ===== Theoretical Part: H?rsaal im Hermann von Helmholtz-Bau, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Institut Berlin, Abb?str. 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany Practical Parts in different places. No Summerschool Fees ============= Lodging will be fully provided for all participants. We also provide food and beverage during the theoretical sessions. Travel expenses, however, cannot be covered. Funding ======= The workshop is supported by the Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology Berlin -- Imke Weitkamp, M.A. Berlin Institute of Technology Chair for Neurotechnolgy / Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology Sekr. FR 6-6, Room 6057, Faculty IV Franklinstr. 28/29 10587 Berlin Germany Fon: +49 30 314 78626 Fax: +49 30 314 78622 imke.weitkamp at tu-berlin.de -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120705/a617bb20/attachment.html From thomaskreuz at yahoo.de Wed Jul 4 11:03:25 2012 From: thomaskreuz at yahoo.de (Thomas Kreuz) Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2012 16:03:25 +0100 (BST) Subject: Connectionists: Two fully funded PhD fellowships (Early Stage Researcher) in Computational Neuroscience In-Reply-To: <1341410721.26758.YahooMailNeo@web132201.mail.ird.yahoo.com> References: <1341410721.26758.YahooMailNeo@web132201.mail.ird.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1341414205.96938.YahooMailNeo@web132205.mail.ird.yahoo.com> Two fully funded PhD fellowships (Early Stage Researcher) in Computational Neuroscience ? 1. Emergence of collective dynamics in scale-free neuronal networks?? ?(ESR14) ? 2.Measures of spike train synchrony??? (ESR15) ? within the Marie Curie Initial Training Network - ?Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies? (NETT) at the Institute of Complex Systems (ISC), CNR, Florence, Italy. ? Gross Salary per annum:? 42,028 ? (Living Allowance) plus 9,290 - 13,272 ? (Mobility Allowance) depending on circumstances ? Required titles:? MSc in Physics, Mathematics or Engineering ? Applications: The applications should be prepared and send as detailed on this webpage. ? Closing date for both positions: 1 September 2012 ? ? Applications are invited for the above posts to work with Dr. Alessandro Torcini and Dr. Thomas Kreuz in the Computational neuroscience group at ISC, Florence. This world leading group combines theoretical investigations (e.g., on nontrivial collective phenomena in neuronal populations) with practical applications (e.g., spike train analysis). The group is one of the main participants in the Center for the Study of Complex Dynamics (CSDC) created with the purpose of coordinating interdisciplinary training and research activities. CSDC researchers include physicists, control engineers, mathematicians, biologists and psychologists. Both full-time posts are available from 1st of January 2013 and will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of 36 months. ? The two successful candidates will register for a 3 year PhD degree at the University of Florence in Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (Course on Nonlinear Dynamics and Complex Systems). Candidates must be in the first 4 years of their research careers and not been awarded a doctorate degree. Preference will be given to candidates with experience in mathematical and computational neuroscience. As part of our commitment to promoting diversity we encourage applications from women. To comply with the Marie Curie Actions rule for mobility applicants must not have resided, worked or studied in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to Sept 2012. The fellowships will include international internships so the candidates must be able to move between countries as necessary. ? 1. Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Researcher (PhD fellowship) ? Emergence of collective dynamics in scale-free neuronal networks?? (ESR14) ? The successful candidate will work within the framework of nonlinear dynamics and computational neuroscience. His/her main task will be the study of the macroscopic and microscopic evolution of neural networks with various topologies. In particular, he/she should analyze the robustness of collective solutions in presence of an external feedback. One of the main tasks will be the development of efficient numerical codes to simulate the networks' dynamics and to develop tools to analyze their macroscopic properties. This fellowship includes a three-month secondment working with either Prof. Stephen Coombes at the School of Mathematical Sciences in Nottingham, UK, or Prof. Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain. It also includes a three-month internship with the project industrial partner, bioPmed in Piemonte near Turin, Italy. ? The candidates should have a strong background in at least one of the following fields: nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics or computational neuroscience as well as solid experience in scientific programming (with languages Fortran and/or C). ? Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr. Alessandro Torcini (alessandro.torcini at cnr.it). ? 2. Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Researcher (PhD fellowship) ? Spike train analysis from neuronal networks?? (ESR15) ? The successful candidate will work within the framework of computational neuroscience and signal processing. His/her main task will be the analysis of electrophysiological data, in particular recordings of single- and multi-unit spike trains as well as local field potentials and EEG all of which will be provided by the international partner institutions. One of the principal objectives will be the improvement of methods to estimate spike train synchrony and in particular the development and extension of a Matlab toolbox for spike train analysis. Furthermore, the candidate will help to adapt other nonlinear time series analysis tools to the specific needs of the collaborating nodes in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. This fellowship includes a three-month secondment to either Dr. Simon Schultz in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, UK or Prof. Bert Kappen at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands. It also includes a three-month internship in the third year with the project industrial partner, bioPmed in Piemonte near Turin, Italy. ? The candidate should have a strong background in computational neuroscience and? data analysis as well as solid experience in programming (Matlab). ? Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr. Thomas Kreuz (thomas.kreuz at cnr.it). Dr. Thomas Kreuz Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, CNR Via Madonna del Piano 10 50119 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy) Tel: +39-055-522-6630 Cell: +39-349-0748506 Fax: +39-055-522-6683 Email: thomas.kreuz at cnr.it Webpage: http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120704/c18d4b26/attachment-0001.html From wduch at is.umk.pl Thu Jul 5 03:06:29 2012 From: wduch at is.umk.pl (Wlodzislaw Duch) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 15:06:29 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: Which benchmark data is trivial? Message-ID: <00e201cd5a7c$b573eb90$205bc2b0$@is.umk.pl> Dear Connectionists, Learning methods with linear computational complexity O(nd), in number of samples n and their dimension d, often gives results that are better or at least not worse that more sophisticated and slower algorithms. This is demonstrated for many benchmark datasets downloaded from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. 32 out of 45 benchmark datasets were found trivial, either they contain no information or O(nd) methods reach the same accuracy as the most sophisticated methods. Such data should not be used as the only basis for evaluation of the new algorithms. Identification of trivial datasets is important to improve methodology of comparison of new methods in computational intelligence and machine learning. We suggest that the results reported in this short paper are quite relevant as a baseline for testing new methods that is a bit more difficult than the majority classifier baserates. Duch W, Maszczyk T, Jankowski N, Make it cheap: learning with O(nd) complexity. 2012 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 10-15.06.2012, pp. 132-135. Linked to: http://www.is.umk.pl/~duch/cv/papall.html Regards, Wlodek Duch _______________________________________________ Head, Dept of Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University SCE NTU Nanyang Visiting Professor, Singapore Google: W. Duch -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120705/dd31e8db/attachment.html From alessandro.torcini at cnr.it Thu Jul 5 12:18:07 2012 From: alessandro.torcini at cnr.it (Alessandro Torcini) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 18:18:07 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 2 Marie Curie PhD positions in in Computational Neuroscience at ISC-CNR Florence (Italy) Message-ID: Two PhD fellowships Computational Neuroscience 1. Emergence of collective dynamics in scale-free neuronal networks (ESR14) 2. Measures of spike train synchrony (ESR15) within the Marie Curie Initial Training Network - ?Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies? (NETT) at the Institute of Complex Systems (ISC), CNR, Florence, Italy. Gross Salary per annum: 42,028 ? (Living Allowance) plus 9,290 - 13,272 ? (Mobility Allowance) depending on circumstances Required titles: MSc in Physics, Mathematics or Engineering Applications: The applications should be prepared and send as detailed on this webpage: http://neuro.fi.isc.cnr.it/index.php?page=how-to-apply Closing date for both positions: 1 September 2012 Applications are invited for the above posts to work with Dr Alessandro Torcini and Dr Thomas Kreuz in the Computational neuroscience group at ISC, Florence. This world leading group combines theoretical investigations (e.g., on nontrivial collective phenomena in neuronal populations) with practical applications (e.g., spike train analysis). The group is one of the main participants in the Center for the Study of Complex Dynamics (CSDC) created with the purpose of coordinating interdisciplinary training and research activities. CSDC researchers include physicists, control engineers, mathematicians, biologists and psychologists. Both full-time posts are available from 01 January 2013 and will be offered on a fixed-term contract for a period of 36 months. The two successful candidates will register for a 3 year PhD degree at the University of Florence in Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (Course on Nonlinear Dynamics and Complex Systems). Candidates must be in the first 4 years of their research careers and not been awarded a doctorate degree. Preference will be given to candidates with experience in mathematical and computational neuroscience. As part of our commitment to promoting diversity we encourage applications from women. To comply with the Marie Curie Actions rule for mobility applicants must not have resided, worked or studied in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to Sept 2012. The fellowships will include international internships so the candidates must be able to move between countries as necessary. 1. Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Researcher (PhD fellowship) Emergence of collective dynamics in scale-free neuronal networks (ESR14) The successful candidate will work within the framework of nonlinear dynamics and computational neuroscience. His/her main task will be the study of the macroscopic and microscopic evolution of neural networks with various topologies. In particular, he/she should analyze the robustness of collective solutions in presence of an external feedback. One of the main tasks will be the development of efficient numerical codes to simulate the networks' dynamics and to develop tools to analyze their macroscopic properties. This fellowship includes a three-month secondment working with either Prof Stephen Coombes at the School of Mathematical Sciences in Nottingham, UK, or Prof Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain. It also includes a three-month internship with the project industrial partner, bioPmed in Piemonte near Turin, Italy. The candidates should have a strong background in at least one of the following fields: nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics or computational neuroscience as well as solid experience in scientific programming (with languages Fortran and/or C). Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr Alessandro Torcini (alessandro.torcini at cnr.it). 2. Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Researcher (PhD fellowship) Spike train analysis from neuronal networks (ESR15) The successful candidate will work within the framework of computational neuroscience and signal processing. His/her main task will be the analysis of electrophysiological data, in particular recordings of single- and multi-unit spike trains as well as local field potentials and EEG all of which will be provided by the international partner institutions. One of the principal objectives will be the improvement of methods to estimate spike train synchrony and in particular the development and extension of a Matlab toolbox for spike train analysis. Furthermore, the candidate will help to adapt other nonlinear time series analysis tools to the specific needs of the collaborating nodes in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. This fellowship includes a three-month secondment to either Dr Simon Schultz in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, UK or Prof Bert Kappen at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands. It also includes a three-month internship in the third year with the project industrial partner, bioPmed in Piemonte near Turin, Italy. The candidate should have a strong background in computational neuroscience and data analysis as well as solid experience in programming (Matlab). Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr Thomas Kreuz (thomas.kreuz at cnr.it). In order to apply please follow the detailed indications provided on this webpage: http://neuro.fi.isc.cnr.it/index.php?page=how-to-apply From marco.budinich at ts.infn.it Thu Jul 5 12:38:52 2012 From: marco.budinich at ts.infn.it (Marco Budinich) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 18:38:52 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: new paper "Neural Relax" by E. Benedetti and M. Budinich Message-ID: Dear Connectionists, we have a new paper, "Neural Relax", by E. Benedetti and M.B., due to appear in Neural Computation, which some of you could find interesting. You can download the preprint at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.5472v2 . Abstract - We present an algorithm for data preprocessing of an associative memory inspired to an electrostatic problem that turns out to have intimate relations with information maximization. The central idea is an electrostatics-like force that allows a layer of Perceptrons to find a max info solution minimizing a well shaped energy function. Any comment is most welcome. Sincerely, Marco Budinich +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Marco Budinich | | Dipartimento di Fisica Tel.: +39 040 558 3391 | | Via Valerio 2 Fax.: +39 040 558 3350 | | 34127 Trieste ITALY e-mail: marco.budinich at ts.infn.it | | | | www: http://www.ts.infn.it/~mbh/MBHgeneral.html | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ From terry at salk.edu Fri Jul 6 20:32:21 2012 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:32:21 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - August, 2012 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 24 Number 8 - August 1, 2012 Article An Efficient Learning Procedure for Deep Boltzmann Machines Ruslan Salakhutdinov and Geoffrey E Hinton Letters A Framework for Evaluating Pairwise and Multiway Synchrony Among Stimulus-Driven Neurons Robert E. Kass and Ryan Kelly Competition Through Selective Inhibitory Synchrony Ueli Rutishauser, Jean-Jacques Slotine and Rodney J. Douglas Information Recall Using Relative Spike Timing in a Spiking Neural Network Philip Sterne Neural Dynamics Bifurcations and Firing Rates in a Quadratic Integrate-and-fire Model With a Recovery Variable. I: Deterministic Behavior Eli Shlizeman and Philip Holmes Multinomial Bayesian Learning for Modeling Classical and Non-classical Receptive Field Properties Haruo Hosoya Learning Where to Attend With Deep Architectures for Image Tracking Misha Denil, Loris Bazzani, Hugo Larochelle and Nando de Freitas Chaotic Exploration and Learning of Locomotion Behaviours Yoonsik Shim and Phil Husbands Strictly Positive Definite Spike Train Kernels for Point Process Divergences Il Park, Sohan Seth, Murali Rao and Jose C. Principe ----- ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2012 - VOLUME 24 - 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 http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp ----- From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Fri Jul 6 19:28:43 2012 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2012 00:28:43 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Springer's Cognitive Computation journal: Table of Contents, Vol.4, No.2 / June 2012 issue & First ISI Impact Factor! Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 4, No. 2 / June 2012, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 4, No. 2 / June 2012 can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ 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 ======================================================= NEW: First ISI Impact Factor for Cognitive Computation of 1.000 for 2011! ======================================================= As you may know, Cognitive Computation was recently 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 now 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 400 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 2012-13, including a new special issue to celebrate the work of the late Professor John Taylor, founding Chair of Cognitive Computation's Editorial Advisory Board, CFP can be found here (with a submission deadline of 1 Sep 2012): http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/CogComp-Special-Issue-cfp-1-Vass-rev-Amir.doc?SGWID=0-0-45-1326237-p173836203 With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/) Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.4, No.2 / June 2012 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Time-Dependent Saliency Model Combining Center and Depth Biases for 2D and 3D Viewing Conditions J. Gautier & O. Le Meur http://www.springerlink.com/content/p487157836305731/ CO-WORKER: Toward Real-Time and Context-Aware Systems for Human Collaborative Knowledge Building Stefano Squartini & Anna Esposito http://www.springerlink.com/content/f69j56942733571u/ Extended Sparse Distributed Memory and Sequence Storage Javier Snaider & Stan Franklin http://www.springerlink.com/content/nw6327w8663q785t/ Qualitative Information Processing in Tripartite Synapses: A Hypothetical Model Bernhard J. Mitterauer http://www.springerlink.com/content/y135h23114j17u55/ An Information Analysis of In-Air and On-Surface Trajectories in Online Handwriting Enric Sesa-Nogueras, Marcos Faundez-Zanuy & Ji?? Mekyska http://www.springerlink.com/content/m43370741458736g/ Non-Classical Connectionist Models of Visual Object Recognition Tarik Hadzibeganovic & F. W. S. Lima http://www.springerlink.com/content/913t237184319875/ ------------------------------------------------ Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: ------------------------------------------------ The full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/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 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. From gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu Fri Jul 6 17:44:44 2012 From: gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu (Mark A. Gluck) Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2012 17:44:44 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Assistant Professor Opening in Cognitive Neuroscience/Brain Imaging at Rutgers University-Newark Neuroscience Message-ID: The Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University-Newark has an opening for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE/BRAIN IMAGING. The ideal candidate is someone who uses brain imaging to ask fundamental hypothesis-driven questions about brain structure and function. We are particularly interested in candidates who use imaging in combination with other methods such as behavioral methods, animal research, neurocomputational modeling, genetics, and/or clinical patient studies. The applicant would be expected to be an active member of the Rutgers Brain Imaging Center (RUBIC) and use our new NSF-funded research-dedicated Siemens 3T TRIO magnet located on the ground floor of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience in Newark. This facility can also be used for animal imaging. We seek a candidate who will interact well with a diverse community of neuroscientists including molecular, systems, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscientists. The candidate will be expected to contribute to undergraduate research training and teach graduate courses in neuroscience, mentor Ph.D. students in our Behavioral and Neural Sciences graduate program, and maintain an active externally-funded research program. Women and members of underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply; Rutgers-Newark is noted for its exceptionally diverse student population. Although not required, a candidate who has current and transportable external funding is preferred. For more information on neuroscience at Rutgers-Newark see http://www.neuroscience.newark.rutgers.edu. Additional information on our brain imaging center is at http://rubic.rutgers.edu/ . Applicants should apply as soon as possible, but preferably no later than September 15th, 2012. To apply, please create four PDF files: (1) Cover letter summarizing (a) past training, (b) future research and professional goals, (c) past honors, grants, and fellowship awards, current external grant awards with start and end dates, and plans for future grant submissions, (d) why you are a good fit for Rutgers/CMBN and visa versa, (e) names, affiliations, and email addresses of three people whom you have contacted for letters of recommendation, and (f) a one sentence precis of research interest and activities, (2) C.V., (3) Research Statement, (4) One representative first-authored paper. These four files should be emailed as PDF attachments to mri at cmbn.rutgers.edu with a header: ". Cog Neuro Faculty Application". In addition, all applicants should arrange for at least three letters of recommendation to be emailed directly to the same email address, with a header that reads: ": Recommendation from . -- ___________________________________________ Dr. Mark A. Gluck, Professor Director, Rutgers Memory Disorders Project Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Rutgers University Phone: (973) 353-3668/3298 197 University Ave. Newark, New Jersey 07102 Email: gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu Lab: http://www.gluck.edu Memory Loss & Brain Newsletter: http://www.memorylossonline.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120706/c922c604/attachment-0001.html From bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de Wed Jul 11 06:26:29 2012 From: bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Barbara Hammer) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:26:29 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: deadline extension for NC^2 Message-ID: <4FFD54D5.2060502@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de> Due to numerous requests, the deadline for the GI/GNNS-workshop New Challenges in Neural Computation - NC^2 will be extended until 22.7.2012. See http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/~bhammer/GINN/NC2/nc2.html The workshop will take place on 28.8.2012 accompanying DAGM in Graz, Austria. Submissions connected to all areas of Neural Computation are encouraged. As follow-up, a special issue of the journal Neurocomputing will be organized. Organizers: Barbara Hammer, Thomas Villmann Invited Speaker: Michel Verleysen International Program Committee: Michael Biehl, Colin Fyfe, Marco Gori, Fred Hamker, Sven Hellbach, Amaury Lendasse, Alessio Micheli, Thomas Martinetz, Jaakko Peltonen, Felix Reinhart, Martin Riedmiller, Frank-Michael Schleif, Udo Seiffert, Alessandro Sperduti, Marc Strickert, Peter Tino, Heiko Wersing, Rolf Wuertz -- Prof. Dr. Barbara Hammer CITEC centre of excellence Bielefeld University D-33594 Bielefeld Phone: +49 521 / 106 12115 Fax: +49 521 / 106 12181 From htlin at csie.ntu.edu.tw Wed Jul 11 03:40:05 2012 From: htlin at csie.ntu.edu.tw (Hsuan-Tien Lin) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:40:05 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: free video library on machine learning from Caltech Message-ID: A topic-by-topic video library on machine learning (free) has been launched at Caltech http://work.caltech.edu/library/ based on the popular online course. The library contains some interesting views on the biological plausibility of neural networks, Bayesian learning, error measures, and deterministic noise. From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Tue Jul 10 10:43:27 2012 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:43:27 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURON Course at 2012 SFN Meeting Message-ID: <4FFC3F8F.8070003@yale.edu> Using NEURON to Model Cells and Networks Satellite Symposium, Society for Neuroscience Meeting 9 AM - 5 PM on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 Speakers include M.L. Hines, N.T. Carnevale, and G.M. Shepherd The emphasis of this course is on practical issues that are key to the most productive use of NEURON, an advanced simulation environment for realistic modeling of biological neurons and neural circuits. Through lectures and live computer demonstrations, we will present the principles and techniques that are involved in creating and using models of cells and networks with NEURON. We will also show how to speed up simulations by taking advantage of parallel hardware ranging from multiprocessor personal computers and workstation clusters to massively parallel supercomputers. Partial list of topics to be covered: * Efficient design and implementation of models of neurons and networks. + Constructing and managing models with NEURON's GUI, hoc, and Python. + Using the built-in variable-order variable-timestep integrator for improved speed and accuracy. + Parallelizing models of cells and networks to take advantage of multicore PCs and Macs, workstation clusters, and parallel supercomputers. * Expanding NEURON's repertoire of biophysical mechanisms. * Databases for empirically-based modeling. Each registrant will receive a comprehensive set of notes. Registration is limited to 30 individuals on a first-come, first serve basis. Registration deadline is Friday, September 28, 2012. No on-site registration will be accepted. For more information see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nola2012/nola2012.html --Ted From jkrichma at uci.edu Mon Jul 16 15:50:25 2012 From: jkrichma at uci.edu (Jeff Krichmar) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:50:25 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Assistant Professor position in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Irvine Message-ID: Dear Connectionists, The following job position may be of interest. University of California, Irvine Assistant Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience Subject to budgetary authorization, the Department of Cognitive Sciences (www.cogsci.uci.edu) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) has available a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in cognitive neuroscience. Of particular interest are cognitive neuroscientists who combine experimental research with theoretical modeling or innovative analysis methods. The successful candidate will interact with a dynamic and growing community in cognitive, computational, and neural sciences within the Department and in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Irvine is located in Orange County on the Southern California coastline between Los Angeles and San Diego. The online application includes: A cover letter indicating primary research interests, CV, three recent publications, and 3-5 letters of recommendation. For further details and to apply, please visit: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply#SOCSCI. Review of applications will commence on 11/01/2012. Inquiries about the application process or position should be sent to: cogsci at uci.edu. UCI is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and strongly encourages applications from all qualified applicants, including women and minorities. UCI is responsive to the needs of dual career couples, is dedicated to work-life balance through an array of family-friendly policies, and is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE Award for gender equity. Best regards, 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 marcwhoward777 at gmail.com Sun Jul 15 15:58:55 2012 From: marcwhoward777 at gmail.com (Marc Howard) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:58:55 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Post-doctoral positions available at Boston University Message-ID: The Theoretical Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Boston University is seeking outstanding candidates for two post-doctoral positions. We develop mathematical descriptions of the collective activity of large numbers of neurons, using cognition as a constraint on neural function. We test theories empirically at both the behavioral and neural levels, taking advantage of collaborations with experimentalists in systems neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience. Our current topical interests center on how a scale-invariant neural representation of time could support different types of memory. Candidates should have strong computational and/or mathematical skills and at least a strong interest learning about neurobiology and cognition. Candidates with backgrounds in physics, computer science, and engineering are encouraged to apply. Candidates with backgrounds in cognitive science or psychology who possess strong technical skills are also encouraged to apply. There are multiple sources of funding to support these positions; well-qualified candidates could pursue a variety of topics of mutual interest. These topics include, but are not limited to: * The neural representation of place and time in the medial temporal lobe. * Statistical learning and prediction using a scale-invariant representation of internal time. * Scale-free models for timing and reinforcement learning. Starting dates are also negotiable. Interested candidates should contact Marc Howard (marc777 at bu.edu). More information about our work can be found at the lab website http://people.bu.edu/marc777/ The lab is affiliated with the Center for Memory and Brain and CompNet, BU's interdisciplinary center for computational neuroscience. The Center for Memory and Brain is a richly collaborative collection of experimentalists and theorists working at different levels of description to understand memory with special attention to the medial temporal lobe of the brain. From Harel.Shouval at uth.tmc.edu Sun Jul 15 14:08:43 2012 From: Harel.Shouval at uth.tmc.edu (Shouval, Harel) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:08:43 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: A Postdoc in Computational Neuroscience, The Shouval lab Message-ID: A Postdoc Positions in the Computational/Theoretical Neuroscience The Shouval lab has an openings for a Postdoc in Theoretical/Computational Neuroscience. This Postdoc will work on a collaborative project with the lab of Todd Sacktor to uncover the basis for the maintenance of long-term memory. Learning and memory can last a lifetime, yet the molecular substrates that underlie this memory last for periods of time shorter by several orders of magnitude. This is a fundamental problem in Neuroscience,which was first explored by Francis Crick in 1984, and various solutions have been offered through the years. However, there is no commonly accepted theory, with significant experimental support, which can account for the persistence of memory. Our lab has been studying this question for several years, in collaboration with experimental groups. This Postdoc position is part of this ongoing effort. The Postdoc hired will be involved in a collaborative project with the lab of Todd Sacktor in SUNY Downstate in NY. This Postdoc is funded by NIH grant: CRCNS: PKMzeta-dependent protein synthesis can account for the maintenance of synaptic plasticity. The aim of this project is to explain how memories are maintained despite the molecular turnover and diffusion of their substrates. Work on this project will include detailed modeling at the molecular level of the biochemical networks that ensure the stability of memory. To carry out this project, mass action and stochastic models will be simulated as well as bifurcation analysis and analytical approximate solutions of the fixed points and the dynamics. Additionally more abstract aspects ofsuch a process will be examined, including its impact on memory storage andlearning at the cellular and circuit level. We are seeking a Postdocs with a strong analytical and computational abilities and a background in Computational Neuroscience, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science or Engineering. Applicants with a background in dynamical systems, or chemical engineering are especially welcome. The salary will follow the NIH scale. The Shouval lab focuses on modeling synaptic plasticity, and its impact on learning memory and cortical dynamics. The lab is located in the department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. Houston has an excellent environment for conducting research inComputational Neuroscience (see the Gulf Coast Consortium in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience,http://gulfcoastconsortia.org/Research/Gulf_Coast_Consortium_for_Theoretical_and_Computational_Neuroscience.aspx). If you are interested in one of this position please contact me directly by email (harel.shouval at uth.tmc.edu), and attach your CV. I will attend the CNS conference in Atlanta from 7/22-7/25, and this will be happy to interview applicants during the conference. Harel Shouval http://nba.uth.tmc.edu/resources/faculty/members/shouval.htm From gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu Sun Jul 15 11:45:06 2012 From: gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu (Mark A. Gluck) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:45:06 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Just posted: "Functional specialization within the striatum along both the dorsal/ventral and anterior/posterior axes.. " Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, This paper from last year, a fMRI study with the Stark lab at UC Irvine, looked at striatal subregions activated during the reward-vs-punishment learning task used in our earlier Bodi et al. (2009) study of Parkinson's patients and dopaminergic drugs. It is has now been posted to our web site at: http://www.gluck.edu/pdf/2011_Mattfled_L&M.pdf Mattfeld, A. T., Gluck, M. A. and Stark C. L., (2011). Functional specialization within the striatum along both the dorsal/ventral and anterior/posterior axes during associative learning via reward and punishment. Learning and Memory. 8:703-711. The goal of the present study was to elucidate the role of the human striatum in learning via reward and punishment during an associative learning task. Previous studies have identified the striatum as a critical component in the neural circuitry of reward-related learning. It remains unclear, however, under what task conditions, and to what extent, the striatum is modulated by punishment during an instrumental learning task. Using high-resolution fMRI during a reward- and punishment-based probabilistic associative learning task, we observed activity in the ventral putamen for stimuli learned via reward regardless of whether participants were correct or incorrect (i.e., outcome). In contrast, activity in the dorsal caudate was modulated by trials that received feedback - either correct reward or incorrect punishment trials. We also identified an anterior/posterior dissociation reflecting reward and punishment prediction error estimates. Additionally, differences in patterns of activity that correlated with the amount of training were identified along the anterior/posterior axis of the striatum. We suggest that unique subregions of the striatum - separated along both a dorsal/ventral and anterior/posterior axis - differentially participate in the learning of associations through reward and punishment. Regards, Mark Gluck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120715/056681c2/attachment.html From apetrov at alexpetrov.com Tue Jul 17 16:26:33 2012 From: apetrov at alexpetrov.com (Alex Petrov) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:26:33 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Post-doctoral position available at Ohio State University Message-ID: <20120717152633.7lals8e1kcg0gc0o@webmail.opentransfer.com> A post-doctoral position will soon become available at the Laboratory of Cognitive Modeling and Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at the Psychology Department of the Ohio State University. The position is funded by an NIH grant aimed at developing a Dual-Process Model of Perceptual Learning (Dimple). The PI on the grant is Dr. Alex Petrov (OSU) in collaboration with Dr. Todd Maddox (U Texas at Austin). We seek a post-doctoral researcher with strong computational skills and interests in neural network modeling of spatial vision, perceptual learning, categorization, and/or decision making. This training opportunity involves a variety of methods, close collaboration with the PI, and is geared toward producing high-impact theoretical contributions. The initial appointment will be for 12 months, renewable for another year, and potentially longer depending on funding. The start date is expected to be in September or October 2012, pending final determination of the availability of funds. Salary and benefits will confirm to NIH postdoctoral rates. = Summary of Duties = The position involves working in close collaboration with the PI on the development and Matlab implementation of the Dimple model. As this is a neural-network model, expertise in connectionism and/or computational neuroscience is essential. As the model takes grayscale images as inputs, expertise in vision science, image processing, and/or computer vision is desirable. Dimple builds a bridge between the research literature on perceptual learning (PL) and that on perceptual categorization (PC) and perceptual decision making. Thus, familiarity with any of these fields will also be an asset. The post-doctoral researcher will conduct extensive simulations with various models using the resources of the Ohio Supercomputer Center. The researcher will also participate in the design and Matlab implementation of psychophysical experiments, the statistical analysis of behavioral data, and the empirical validation and testing of Dimple and related models. They will also be involved in the supervision of doctoral students and undergraduate research assistants, as well as in the preparation of papers for publication and presentation at seminars and conferences. = Qualifications = The applicants must have a PhD or an equivalent degree in computer science, psychology, cognitive science, theoretical neuroscience, or a related field, completed by their first day on the job. The applicants must also have first-hand experience in modeling -- preferably neural-network modeling of visual cognition, categorization, and/or decision making, although applicants with solid expertise in other domains (e.g., attention, memory) and other modeling frameworks (e.g., mathematical, Bayesian, production systems) will be considered as well. Programming skills are also required, preferably in Matlab, R, or Python. In addition to these strict requirements (PhD + modeling + programming), any prior experience with any of the following topics will be to the candidate's advantage: the Leabra architecture and the Emergent neural network simulator (http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent), the Neural Engineering Framework and the Nengo simulator (http://nengo.ca), the ACT-R cognitive architecture (http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu), OpenBUGS (http://www.openbugs.info), Psychtoolbox (http://psychtoolbox.org), diffusion model analysis toolbox (DMAT, http://ppw.kuleuven.be/okp/software/dmat/), machine learning, image processing, object recognition, statistical data analysis (e.g., the nlme package in R), visual psychophysics, eye tracking, experimental design, etc. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to gain skills in each of these areas. Most importantly, we seek creative individuals willing to work hard, explore new approaches, and push cognitive science forward. = Background = Detailed information about the lab is available at http://cogmod.osu.edu and from Dr. Petrov's web page (http://alexpetrov.com). Information about the Maddox Lab is available at http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/MaddoxLAB/index.htm. Representative publications related to the project: * Petrov, A. A., Dosher, B. A., & Lu, Z.-L. (2005). The Dynamics of Perceptual Learning: An Incremental Reweighting Model. Psychological Review, 112 (4), 715-743. http://alexpetrov.com/pub/perclearn/ * Ashby, F. G., Paul, E., & Maddox, W. T. (2011). COVIS. In E.M. Pothos & A.J. Wills (Eds), Formal approaches to categorization (pp. 65-87). New York: Cambridge UP. http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/MaddoxLAB/Publications/2010-2014/COVIS_Preprint.pdf * Petrov, A. A. (2012, abstract). A dual process model of perceptual learning. http://www.visionsciences.org/abstract_detail.php?id=1531 = How to Apply = Please send your application by email to apetrov [at] cogmod [dot] osu [dot] edu. Please include a brief statement outlining your research interests and highlighting your modeling experience. Also include a curriculum vitae and contact details for two or three references (no actual letters are required at this stage, but will be gladly received and read if available). Feel free to include (or point to) PDF reprints of one or two representative publications. The review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Appointments are contingent on the availability of funds. OSU is an equal-opportunity affirmative-action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. ------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander A. Petrov: apetrov at alexpetrov.com Associate Professor, Department of Psychology Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 http://alexpetrov.com It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. ------------------------------------------------------------- From gianni at idsia.ch Mon Jul 16 18:13:36 2012 From: gianni at idsia.ch (Gianni Di Caro) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:13:36 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: BIONETICS 2012, 7th Int. Conf. on Bio-Inspired Models of Network, Information, and Computing Systems Message-ID: <20120716221336.GA2535@NB-3122> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120716/6163ba91/attachment.html From stefan.harmeling at tuebingen.mpg.de Wed Jul 18 03:55:43 2012 From: stefan.harmeling at tuebingen.mpg.de (Stefan Harmeling) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:55:43 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Position in Vision Science Message-ID: <580DD3BA-2EB7-4323-BB14-4281C3698F84@tuebingen.mpg.de> In a collaboration with the recently established Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience T?bingen (http://www.bccn-tuebingen.de) we have an opening for a PhD-Student in the field of biological vision at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Empirical Inference Department (http://is.mpg.de/13163/de). The PhD project is concerned with the size and shape of pupils in the animal kingdom and how they influence perceptual abilities, image quality as well as image statistics in relation to biologically relevant behaviour. The PhD project will include human psychophysics. We are looking for someone with either a background in vision science --- preferably with knowledge about the optics of human or animal eyes --- or someone who is mathematically strong --- preferably with prior exposure to either machine learning, image processing, or computational photography --- but with a strong interest in biological optics and vision. The position is for 3 years and pay is in accordance with TV-L E13 50%, approx. EUR 1350 per month after tax. The Bernstein Center T?bingen and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems entertain close links to the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) in T?bingen (http://www.cin.uni-tuebingen.de), the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, and the Eberhard Karls University of T?bingen (in mid June the Eberhard Karls University of T?bingen was placed among Germany?s elite universities in the highly competitive "Excellence Initiative" of the German government and the German Research Foundation). The thriving local research community in vision science and the neurosciences is composed of around sixty labs with more than 150 postdocs and 300 PhD students. Possibilities exist for multiple interactions between neurobiological, psychophysical, and theoretical researchers. T?bingen itself is a beautiful medieval town and home to one of the oldest European universities. It boasts a rich cultural community and is situated close to the Black Forest within 2h train or driving distance to France, Switzerland and Austria. The deadline for applications is August, 30th, 2012. Please send your application as a PDF to Sabrina Rehbaum (sabrina.rehbaum at tuebingen.mpg.de). Informal enquiries can be addressed to: Stefan Harmeling --- image processing, computational photography stefan.harmeling at tuebingen.mpg.de or http://www.kyb.mpg.de/nc/employee/details/harmeling.html Frank Schaeffel --- optics of the eye, pupil shapes frank.schaeffel at uni-tuebingen.de or http://uak.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/frank/ Bernhard Sch?lkopf --- machine learning, overview over the project bs at tuebingen.mpg.de or http://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/nc/employee/details/bs.html Felix Wichmann --- human psychophysics felix.wichmann at uni-tuebingen.de or http://www.nip.uni-tuebingen.de _______________________________________________ visionlist mailing list visionlist at visionscience.com http://visionscience.com/mailman/listinfo/visionlist -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: smime.p7s Type: application/pkcs7-signature Size: 4426 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120718/15b0038b/smime-0001.bin From alexei at bicasymposium.com Wed Jul 18 13:32:19 2012 From: alexei at bicasymposium.com (Alexei Samsonovich) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:32:19 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: BICA 2012 late-breaking papers Message-ID: <545443D2-6CCC-424A-BAE5-EED8909F3C9F@bicasymposium.com> WHAT: Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures - 2012 WHERE: Palermo, Italy, October 31 - November 3 Greetings, At this time we solicit late-breaking papers and abstracts for presentation at BICA 2012. Details at http://chilab.dinfo.unipa.it/bica2012/instruct.html The deadline is August 1st. Registration is open at http://bicasociety.org/2012 Cheers, -Alexei P.S. Please forward. Sorry for duplicates. Alexei V. Samsonovich, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief, BICA (www.elsevier.com/locate/bica) Research Assistant Professor, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study George Mason University, Fairfax VA 22030, USA From dirk.jancke at rub.de Thu Jul 19 09:40:44 2012 From: dirk.jancke at rub.de (dirk jancke) Date: 19 Jul 2012 15:40:44 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD-position in Neuroscience =?UTF-8?B?4oCTIE9wdA==?= =?UTF-8?B?aWNhbCBJbWFnaW5n?= Message-ID: <50080E5C.1010104@rub.de> PhD-position in Neuroscience ? Optical Imaging German-Israeli Project Cooperation: We are seeking a highly-motivated candidate for a PhD position for our project ?Decoding visual content and perception from neuronal population activity in visual cortex: VSDI, fMRI and computational modelling?. This project includes in vivo voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) of the mammalian cortex. Further, we will compare neuronal processing dynamics, as captured by VSDI, with human fMRI-data. Keen interest in visual system neuroscience, a strong background in mathematics and programming are required. Intense interchange with our project partners in Israel and Berlin demands willingness to travel and high interest in interdisciplinary approaches. For more information see http://www.nncn.de/nachrichten-en/deutschisraelischesprojekt/ The successful candidate (Master or Diploma degree in Biology, Physics, or Neuroscience are required) will benefit from being part of the neuroscience community at the Ruhr-University (SFB 874 - http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sfb874/index_en.html and the Research Department of Neuroscience - http://www.rd.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/neuro/index.html.en). The student will enjoy collaborative input from the Institut f?r Neuroinformatik, and will have full access to state-of-the-art computational and optical imaging facilities. The position (E13 TV-L/50%) is presently available for 3 years. Application process will remain open until the position is filled. Applications: To apply, please send CV, personal statement of research background and interests and the name and contact of 2 referees (one pdf document) to dirk.jancke at rub.de PD. Dr. Dirk Jancke Bernstein Group for Computational Neuroscience Institut f?r Neuroinformatik, NB 2/27 Ruhr-University Bochum D-44780 Bochum Germany http://homepage.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Dirk.Jancke The Ruhr-University Bochum is committed to equal opportunity. We strongly encourage applications from qualified women and persons with disabilities. From ichi at sys.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp Wed Jul 18 04:30:14 2012 From: ichi at sys.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp (Shin-ichi Maeda) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:30:14 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Post-doc Researcher Position in image analysis or bioinformatics for neuroscience Message-ID: <50067416.1000001@sys.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp> Integrated Systems Biology Lab at Kyoto University invites applications for research position in the field of image analysis, or bioinformatics for neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong background in one or more of these areas: -Image processing -Bioinformatics -Statistical science -Machine learning We look forward to your applications and recommendations. The full advertisement is available below. Shin Ishii Integrated Systems Biology Laboratory, Department of Systems Science, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan ==================================== We are conducting a new research project which aims to reveal the neural control of the emotional system by constructing a computational model that integrates transdisciplinary studies over molecular-cellular-circuit level with our tenure track and post-doc researchers of various backgrounds including systems biology, bioinformatics, computational biology, mathematical engineering, and machine learning. Our laboratory also has a strong collaboration with other laboratories in Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), RIKEN, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and NYU, Langone Medical Center. The successful candidates will work on analysis for microscopic images of neurons and neural circuits or bioinformatics for neural proteomic data with our collaborators. Candidates should have a strong background in one or more of these areas: -Image processing: image super-resolution, segmentation, object identification -Bioinformatics: omics analysis, proteomics analysis, pathway analysis -Statistical learning: large-scale data-driven learning, data mining = Requirements = Applicants must: - have a Ph.D. (or be near completion). - have strong motivations and ambitions to take part in the research above. = Employment conditions = Position: Full-time Researcher / Full-time Research Engineer The position is open after September 1st 2012 (negotiable) Tenure: Single year based contract, renewable based on evaluation Treatment: Based on individual performance Work Location: Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan = Number of openings = One = Application materials = Please submit the following five materials to the contact address below, either in printed or electronic form: 1. CV 2. List of publications 3. Reprints of 1 to 3 major publications 4. Document (one or two pages in A4 or letter size) describing: - Summary of your previous research - Interests and proposal for research 5. Recommendation letters from two researchers * Original documents you submit will not be returned. = Deadline for application = August 31 2012 (will remain open if positions are not filled) = Contact = Shin Ishii Integrated Systems Biology Laboratory, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan Email: Shin Ishii http://hawaii.sys.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp/home/index_html From haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Tue Jul 24 17:57:59 2012 From: haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk (Haline Schendan) Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:57:59 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Research Technician (UK) Message-ID: <92129CEDFB679043810C974BC1D6962C44856C4EC8@ILS133.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> Plymouth University - School of Psychology Faculty of Science and Technology Ref: A2731 Salary: ?17,827 to ?19,411 pa pro rata- Grade 3 The School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth wishes to recruit a Research Technician to work on projects in cognitive and social neuroscience funded by a European Union FP7 Marie Curie grant. The post will be based in research labs at the Centre for Brain, Cognition & Behaviour (http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/) and the new Cognition Institute. The primary duties involve collecting data for human neuroscience research (e.g., electroencephalogram [EEG] , fMRI, TMS, and/or cognitive psychology experiments) under the supervision of Dr Haline Schendan. Dr Schendan conducts cognitive neuroscience research on the brain basis of human semantic memory (i.e., meaning and conceptual understanding). The tasks will require both practical skills and computer literacy to run the equipment, software, and maintain records. Under the direction and supervision of the line manager(s) the post holder(s) will utilise and extend their current techniques and have an opportunity to develop skills in cognitive neuroscience, especially recording of EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs). You will have a good degree qualification ( at least a 2:1) in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Psychology or related field, or at least 2 A-levels in Psychology, Biology or other relevant subjects, or equivalent vocational qualification, or 1 year or more of research in electroencephalography or relevant laboratory based experience. You will be competent in the scientific study of human cognition or neurophysiology, computer programming, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, or electroencephalography. You will have experience with at least one of the following: (a) conducting experimental research in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology or a related field, (b) computer programming, (c) electroencephalography. Experience conducting electroencephalography experiments in cognitive neuroscience would be an advantage. You will have the following skills or abilities: Excellent computer skills (Windows OS or linux, matlab, MS Office), excellent organizational and interpersonal skills, ability to work to agreed deadlines and as part of a team, good time management skill, excellent attention to detail, excellent reading and spelling abilities, conscientiousness, meticulousness, and excellent manual dexterity to handle delicate and sensitive electroencephalography equipment safely and without breakage. This is a full time position working 37 hours per week, however part time hours will be considered. The post is fixed term until 30 September 2013. Depending upon grant funding and satisfactory job performance, position may be renewed for up to 3 years. Applicants seeking a longer term position are especially encouraged to apply. Closing Date: 12 midnight, Friday 17 August 2012 To apply: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEV800/research-technician/ https://hrservices.plymouth.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/etrec105gf.open?wvid=1602750fTZ ___________________________________________________________________ The Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (CBCB) has 36 research active academic staff: http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/research/. This vibrant centre is well resourced. 5 dedicated technicians support the Centre's laboratories. The Centre houses 513m2 of lab space across 35 rooms with 95 networked computers for behavioral testing, including eye tracking, visuomotor affordance equipment, and virtual reality. Portable equipment, such as laptops, video-cameras and headphones, are available on demand. The Centre houses a state-of-the-art, multi-modal neuroimaging, computer lab. Cognitive neuroscience laboratories cover the full range of techniques. For EEG/ERP/psychophysiology, there are three fully-equipped, 128-channel, active-electrode systems and two 64-channel passive amplification systems, which can allow EEG recording during TMS. The fully-equipped TMS lab houses single pulse and repetitive stimulation with stereotactic positioning to integrate with fMRI data. The research-dedicated fMRI scanner is housed at the Peninsula Medical School (http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/pmrrc/) and has systems for stimulus delivery, response collection, and eye tracking. CBCB includes several EUCOGII members and links closely with the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS): http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/SOCCE/CRNS/. CBCB and CRNS are united within the multidisciplinary Cognition Institute that also includes a thriving Neuroarts community. ............................................. Haline E. Schendan, Ph.D. School of Psychology Faculty of Science & Technology Plymouth University Drake Circus Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA United Kingdom Office: Portland Square A208 Office Hours: Please email for an appointment 011 +44 (0)1752 584804 Haline.Schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Cognitive Neuroscience Centre for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour Plymouth Cognition Institute Visiting Scientist, MGH Martinos Center http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/HESchendan/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120724/d7413509/attachment-0001.html From haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Tue Jul 24 17:58:21 2012 From: haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk (Haline Schendan) Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:58:21 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 2 Professor/Chair jobs (UK) Message-ID: <92129CEDFB679043810C974BC1D6962C44856C4ECA@ILS133.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> Faculty of Science and Technology School of Psychology University of Plymouth Ref: A2690 Professor in Psychology (x2) Senior Managers Scale The School of Psychology is looking to recruit 2 new Professors of Psychology to further strengthen its current staffing. The School's research profile places it in the top third of psychology departments in the UK, with 85% of its research activity rated at international standard. We will appoint two world-leading Professors to further strengthen this profile. The School hosts the Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, which forms part of the multidisciplinary Cognition Institute. The centre has active research groups in Cognitive Neuroscience, Thinking and Reasoning, Memory, Vision and Action, Language Development, Social Psychology and Health and Well Being. These groups are housed in recently-built dedicated research facilities, and supported by a team of technicians and scientific officers. You will be expected to strengthen an existing research group or build a research programme that complements existing strengths. Preference for one of the professorial posts will be given to applications in the areas of Social, Developmental or Clinical Psychology. For the full Professor post you will have outstanding research track record with a publication and research funding profile that demonstrates an internationally excellent standing in your field. You will be research-leaders, demonstrating both personal research excellence, and the potential to drive forward the research agenda of the School of Psychology. http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/ A competitive salary and start up package will be available. This is a full-time position working 37 hours per week on a permanent basis. To apply, go to jobs.ac.uk and enter reference number A2690. For informal inquiries about this position, contact the Head of School, Professor Simon Handley hos at psy.plymouth.ac.uk Closing date: 12midnight, 5th September 2012 ___________________________________________________________________ The Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (CBCB) has 36 research active academic staff: http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/research/. This vibrant centre is well resourced. 5 dedicated technicians support the Centre's laboratories. The Centre houses 513m2 of lab space across 35 rooms with 95 networked computers for behavioral testing, including eye tracking, visuomotor affordance equipment, and virtual reality. Portable equipment, such as laptops, video-cameras and headphones, are available on demand. The Centre houses a state-of-the-art, multi-modal neuroimaging, computer lab. Cognitive neuroscience laboratories cover the full range of techniques. For EEG/ERP/psychophysiology, there are three fully-equipped, 128-channel, active-electrode systems and two 64-channel passive amplification systems, which can allow EEG recording during TMS. The fully-equipped TMS lab houses single pulse and repetitive stimulation with stereotactic positioning to integrate with fMRI data. The research-dedicated fMRI scanner is housed at the Peninsula Medical School (http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/pmrrc/) and has systems for stimulus delivery, response collection, and eye tracking. CBCB includes several EUCOGII members and links closely with the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS): http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/SOCCE/CRNS/. CBCB and CRNS are united within the multidisciplinary Cognition Institute that also includes a thriving Neuroarts community. ............................................. Haline E. Schendan, Ph.D. School of Psychology Faculty of Science & Technology Plymouth University Drake Circus Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA United Kingdom Office: Portland Square A208 Office Hours: Please email for an appointment 011 +44 (0)1752 584804 Haline.Schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Cognitive Neuroscience Centre for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour Plymouth Cognition Institute Visiting Scientist, MGH Martinos Center http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/HESchendan/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120724/b7ee4aa7/attachment-0001.html From haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Tue Jul 24 17:58:47 2012 From: haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk (Haline Schendan) Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:58:47 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Associate Professor in Psychology (UK) Message-ID: <92129CEDFB679043810C974BC1D6962C44856C4ECC@ILS133.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> Faculty of Science and Technology School of Psychology University of Plymouth Ref: A2692 Associate Professor in Psychology Salary ?45486 to ?52706 pa, Grade 9 The School of Psychology is looking to recruit an Associate Professor (Reader) in Psychology to further strengthen its current staffing. The School's research profile places it in the top third of psychology departments in the UK, with 85% of its research activity rated at international standard. The School is one of the largest in the UK delivering Psychology programmes to more than 900 students across all stages. We will be appointing an Associate Professor who will enhance our research profile and contribute to teaching excellence. The School hosts the Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, which forms part of the multidisciplinary Cognition Institute. The centre has active research groups in Cognitive Neuroscience, Thinking and Reasoning, Memory, Vision and Action, Language Development, Social Psychology and Health and Well Being. These groups are housed in recently-built dedicated research facilities, and supported by a team of technicians and scientific officers. This appointment will strengthen and complement existing research capacity in the School. http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/ You will have an excellent research track record demonstrating an international standing in their field. You will be a research-leader, demonstrating both personal research excellence, and the potential to drive forward the research agenda of the School. This is a full-time position working 37 hours per week on a permanent basis. To apply, go to jobs.ac.uk and enter reference number A2692. For informal inquiries about this position, contact the Head of School, Professor Simon Handley hos at psy.plymouth.ac.uk Closing date: 12midnight, 5th September 2012 ___________________________________________________________________ The Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (CBCB) has 36 research active academic staff: http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/research/. This vibrant centre is well resourced. 5 dedicated technicians support the Centre's laboratories. The Centre houses 513m2 of lab space across 35 rooms with 95 networked computers for behavioral testing, including eye tracking, visuomotor affordance equipment, and virtual reality. Portable equipment, such as laptops, video-cameras and headphones, are available on demand. The Centre houses a state-of-the-art, multi-modal neuroimaging, computer lab. Cognitive neuroscience laboratories cover the full range of techniques. For EEG/ERP/psychophysiology, there are three fully-equipped, 128-channel, active-electrode systems and two 64-channel passive amplification systems, which can allow EEG recording during TMS. The fully-equipped TMS lab houses single pulse and repetitive stimulation with stereotactic positioning to integrate with fMRI data. The research-dedicated fMRI scanner is housed at the Peninsula Medical School (http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/pmrrc/) and has systems for stimulus delivery, response collection, and eye tracking. CBCB includes several EUCOGII members and links closely with the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS): http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/SOCCE/CRNS/. CBCB and CRNS are united within the multidisciplinary Cognition Institute that also includes a thriving Neuroarts community. ............................................. Haline E. Schendan, Ph.D. School of Psychology Faculty of Science & Technology Plymouth University Drake Circus Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA United Kingdom Office: Portland Square A208 Office Hours: Please email for an appointment 011 +44 (0)1752 584804 Haline.Schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Cognitive Neuroscience Centre for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour Plymouth Cognition Institute Visiting Scientist, MGH Martinos Center http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/HESchendan/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120724/685c7f6c/attachment.html From sen.cheng at rub.de Mon Jul 23 10:30:02 2012 From: sen.cheng at rub.de (Sen Cheng) Date: 23 Jul 2012 16:30:02 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience in Germany Message-ID: PhD Stipends in Computational Neuroscience PhD Stipends in computational neuroscience are available in the research unit of Prof. Sen Cheng in the Mercator Research Group ?Structure of Memory? (MRG1) at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. The work will focus on computer simulations of neuronal networks to model learning and memory processes, particularly in the hippocampus. Candidates should have an excellent Master degree, or equivalent, in neuroscience, physics, mathematics, engineering or a related field. Excellent programming skills and experience with computer simulations are mandatory. Familiarity with computational neuroscience would be a further asset. The Ruhr University Bochum is home to a vibrant research community in neuroscience. Students will be able to join the International Graduate School of Neuroscience and interact with the Institute of Neuroinformatics. MRG1 is funded by the Stiftung Mercator and investigates episodic and semantic memory processes and their relation to other cognitive functions. MRG1 comprises a diverse and interdisciplinary team of philosophers and experimental as well as theoretical neuroscientists. The main language of communication in the group is English. For further information see www.rub.de/cns. To apply please send a letter stating your motivation and your research interests, a complete CV, academic transcripts, and at least two academic letters of recommendation to mrg1+jobs at rub.de as PDF files by August 19th, 2012. The Ruhr University Bochum is committed to equal opportunity. We strongly encourage applications from qualified women and persons with disabilities. --- Prof. Dr. Sen Cheng Ruhr-University Bochum Mercator Research Group "Structure of Memory" Universitaetsstr. 150 44801 Bochum Germany office: GA 04/48 | +49-234- 32 27136 | FAX: +49-234- 32 07136 sen.cheng at rub.de | http://www.rub.de/cns From dglanzma at mail.nih.gov Thu Jul 26 14:16:07 2012 From: dglanzma at mail.nih.gov (Glanzman, Dennis (NIH/NIMH) [E]) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:16:07 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Posters - 20th Annual Dynamical Neuroscience Meeting Message-ID: <87A69598824B3D4EBF14080B3F0906BE04908D65FB@NIHMLBX12.nih.gov> 20th Annual Dynamical Neuroscience Satellite Symposium Collective Cognition: The Neurophysiology of Social Neuroscience Preceding the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience Thursday and Friday, October 11-12, 2012 Harrah's Hotel, 228 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 The study of social behavior presents unique challenges to the neuroscientist because it requires us to move beyond the study of individual brains. Traditional behavioral and systems neuroscience focuses on an individual, manipulates stimuli affecting that individual, and measures the neurobiological outcome of those manipulations at the individual level. Physiological correlates of individual behavior can be obtained in real-time, using single unit recording, EEG/ERP's, fMRI BOLD, or PET. Dynamical neuroscientists have been examining temporal sequencing and correlated activity within a single brain for decades. Social neuroscience has recently begun to investigate the complex biological bases of human social cognitive and behavioral abilities, but the majority of studies have focused on studying brains in isolation using paradigms that examine social interactions from afar. Consequently, the two-way neural correlates and physiological underpinnings of real-time social interaction have remained elusive. This symposium will provide a platform for discussion of the challenges involved in understanding interacting brains and a window into the future of social neuroscience and its potential enhancement via computational and dynamical systems modeling. Invited Speakers Fabio Babiloni, Guillaume Dumas, Asif A. Ghazanfar, Naotaka Fujii, Christian Keysers, P. Read Montague, Michael A. Riley, Allan L. Reiss, Leonhard Schilbach, Linda B. Smith, Emmanuelle Tognoli and Stephanie A. White Keynote Address Recipient of the 5th Annual Swartz Prize for Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience Symposium Organizers J.A. Scott Kelso, Janine M. Simmons and Dennis L. Glanzman Poster Receipt Deadline: August 31, 2011 For logistical information please contact Nakia Wilson, The Dixon Group, Inc., (202)-281-2825, nwilson at dixongroup.com For programmatic information, please contact Dennis Glanzman, NIMH/NIH, (301) 443-1576, glanzman at nih.gov There is no fee to attend this meeting. Register and submit a poster at this website: http://neuro.dgimeetings.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120726/a9ffe399/attachment.html From enatalizio at deis.unical.it Fri Jul 27 22:03:47 2012 From: enatalizio at deis.unical.it (Enrico Natalizio) Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 04:03:47 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: BIONETICS 2012, 10-12 December 2012, Lugano, Switzerland Message-ID: <20120728040347.173646ywbr8geyww@mail2.deis.unical.it> Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CALL FOR PAPERS BIONETICS 2012 The 7th International Conference on Bio-Inspired Models of Network, Information, and Computing Systems 10-12 December 2012, Lugano, Switzerland www.bionetics.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thisevent is endorsed by the European Alliance for Innovation, a leadingcommunity-based organisation devoted to the advancement of innovation in the field of ICT. All accepted papers will be published by Springer and made available through SpringerLink Digital Library. Proceedings will be submitted for indexing by Google Scholar, ISI, EI Compendex, Scopus, etc. Journal special track publication in Swarm Intelligence, Natural Computing, and other journals will be made available to the best papers. *SCOPE* BIONETICS 2012aims to provide a world-leading and unique opportunity for bringing together researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplines that seek the understanding of the fundamental principles and design strategies in biological systems, and leverage on those understandings to build bio-inspired systems for problem-solving and engineering applications, with a special focus on: networking, distributed systems, information processing, multi-agent systems, single and multi-robot systems, biomimetics, optimization, bioinformatics, and modeling of biological and bio-synthetic systems. *TOPICS* BIONETICS 2012 solicits contributions dealing with the modeling and application of ideas from natural processes and systems. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): - Signal/information processing and communication models in biological systems - Coordination and cooperation models in biological systems - Bio-inspired formal models and methods - Bio-inspired algorithms and mechanisms - Bio-inspired software and hardware systems - Biomimetics, bioengineering, and synthetic biological systems - Modeling and simulation of bio-inspired systems, biological systems and synthetic biological systems - Self-properties in bio-inspired systems, biological systems and synthetic biological systems - Design and performance issues in bio-inspired systems and synthetic biological systems - Design of hybrid systems combining bio-inspired methods with methods from different domains - Tools, testbeds, and deployment issues in bio-inspired and synthetic biological systems - Real-world applications and standardization of bio-inspired systems and synthetic biological systems -Socially-aware, game theoretic, and other metaphor-driven interdisciplinary approaches to bio-inspired systems and synthetic biological systems - Change management, interoperability, and standards *SPECIAL TRACKS* - Organic computing systems - Bio-inspired cooperative networking - Engineering emergence: techniques, applications, and practice - Bio-inspired cooperation and coordination in swarm robotics and multi-robot systems - Bio-inspired learning mechanisms in single and multi-agent/component systems - Nano-scale communications and networking - Design and engineering of swarm systems - Bio-inspired intrusion detection in networks and multi-robot systems - Bio-inspired processing of audio and visual information - Modeling and application of gene regulatory networks - Bioinformatics *IMPORTANT DATES* Workshop proposals: August 7, 2012 Notification of acceptance for workshops: August 12, 2012 Paper submission: September 20, 2012 Notification of acceptance for papers: October 30, 2012 Camera-ready version: November 10, 2012 *PAPER SUBMISSION* The deadline for paper submission is September 20, 2012. Please refer to the www.bionetics.orgwebsite for the submission procedure. The maximum length for a paper is 15 pages in LNCS format. Papers will be reviewed by at least three reviewers according to a single blind peer process. *PUBLICATIONS* Acceptedpapers will be published in Springer's LNICST series and will appear in the SpringerLink, one of the largest digital libraries online that covers a variety of scientific disciplines, as well as in the ICST's own EU Digital Library (EUDL). LNICST volumes are submitted for inclusion to leading indexing services, including DBLP, Google Scholar, ACM Digital Library, ISI Proceedings, EI Engineering Index, CrossRef, Scopus. See http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-1068921-0 for more information about indexing. *JOURNAL FAST TRACK PUBLICATION* Authorsof the best papers will be invited to submit an extended version of their work for fast track publication either on Swarm intelligence (SJR 2010 impact factor 3.4) or Natural Computing (SJR 2010 impact factor 1.2), both published by Springer. *CONFERENCE ORGANISING COMMITTEE* /General Chair:/ Gianni Di Caro, IDSIA, Lugano, Switzerland, /Program Co-Chair:/ Guy Theraulaz, Universite' Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France /Workshops and Special Sessions Chair:/ Luca Gambardella, IDSIA, Switzerland /Publicity Chair:/ Enrico Natalizio, INRIA Lille, France /Publication Chair:/ Eduardo Feo, IDSIA, Switzerland /Web Chair:/ Jawad Nagi, IDSIA, Lugano, Switzerland /Steering Committee / Imrich Chlamtac (Commitee Chair), Create-Net and University of Trento, Italy Iacopo Carreras, Create-Net, Italy Falko Dressler, University of Erlangen, Germany Tadashi Nakano, Osaka University, Japan Tatsuya Suda, University of California, Irvine, USA Jun Suzuki, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA /Technical Program Commitee:/ (Incomplete list, under construction) Ozgur B. Akan, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Andrew Adamatzky, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Sasi Balasubramaniam, TSSG, Waterfors Institute of Technology, Ireland Jacob Beal, BBN Technologies, Cambridge, USA Paolo Bellavista, DEIS, University of Bologna, Italy Christian Blum, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain Pruet Boonma, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Marco Dorigo IRIDIA, Universit? Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Fabio D'Andreagiovanni, Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum fur Informationstechnik, Germany Falko Dressler, University of Erlangen, Germany Martin Drozda, Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany Sima Etaner Uyar, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey Niloy Ganguly, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India Simon Garnier, Princeton University, USA Hani Hamdan, SUPELEC, ?cole Sup?rieure d'Electricit?, France Tom Holvoet, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Daniel Howard, Howard Science Limited, UK Mark Jelasity, University of Szegad, Hungary Michal Kudelski, IDSIA, Lugano, Switzerland Pietro Li?, University of Cambridge, UK Jian-Qin Liu, Kobe Advanced ICT Research Center, Japan Ivan Lukovic, University of Novi Sad, Serbia Bernd Meyer, Monash University, Clayton, Australia Martin Middendorf, University of Leipzig, Germany Roberto Montemanni, IDSIA, Lugano, Switzerland Andrzej Pacut, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland Tahiry Razafindralambo, INRIA Lille, France Jun Suzuki, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA Vito Trianni, ISTC, Rome, Italy Thanos Vasilakos, University of Western Macedonia, Greece Nur Zincir-Heywood, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada Yuming Zhou, Nanjing University, China ABOUT EAI The European Alliance for Innovation is a dynamic eco-system for fostering ICT enabled innovation to improve European competitiveness and to benefit society. EAI uses open e-platforms to inspire grassroots collaboration among all relevant actors, from organizations to individuals, to stimulate community driven innovation to its institutional and individual members worldwide. Through EAI, organizations find ideas and talent, and individual innovators find organizations for their ingenuity and craft. Join the innovation community at www.eai.eu. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120727/7fd0eb9b/attachment-0001.html From kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Fri Jul 27 11:08:39 2012 From: kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Janina Kirsch) Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:08:39 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: NAMASEN Marie Curie Initial Training Network: PhD Position as a Marie Curie Fellowship Message-ID: <008d01cd6c09$b4365ee0$1ca31ca0$@uni-freiburg.de> NAMASEN Marie Curie Initial Training Network: PhD Position as a Marie Curie Fellowship The analysis of the electrical activity of neuronal networks is one of the core topics of neuroscience. To record such activity in the intact brain as well as in isolated networks in vitro extracellular recording is one of the most widespread tools, yielding signals across a wide frequency spectrum with a range of different properties and information contents. Considerable effort has gone into theoretical modeling of the relation of intracellular and extracellular dynamics, neuron and tissue structure and the relative contributions of input and output the local field potentials. Yet, it is not fully clear how to interpret the shape of spikes or LFPs recorded extracellularly and deduce information about network processes. The EU-funded training network NAMASEN exploits new tools for electrophysiology to improve the retrieval of information about intracellular and network dynamics from extracellular recordings. At the Laboratory for Biomicrotechnology, we use high-density microelectrode arrays to identify the functional connectivity of neuronal networks in vitro and map the spatio-temporal fingerprints of individual neurons in the network. Towards this, we analyze simultaneous intra- and extracellular recordings with novel large scale microelectrode arrays in vitro and compare them to the morphological structure of the networks. To support this we are offering a PhD Position as a Marie Curie Fellowship for a candidate with a background in neurophysiology, biology, medicine, or relevant fields in physics and electrical engineering. You should have a degree qualifying for PhD entry in one of these fields and significant knowledge in neuroscience. Besides the NAMASEN network you would be embedded in research at the Bernstein Center Freiburg and the Excellence Cluster ?BrainLinks ? BrainTools? at the University of Freiburg. PhD candidates will be appointed on a full-time temporary contract for a period of three years, including a two-to-six-month secondments at different NAMASEN partner. They will be a Marie Curie fellow and will profit from all Marie Curie benefits, including living, mobility, travel, and career exploratory allowances according to the Marie Curie Framework 7 requirements (http:// ec.europa.eu/mariecurieactions). Candidates must be, at the time of recruitment, in the first four years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree. This is measured from the date when they obtained the first degree that would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the research training is provided. In practice, this means they should not have obtained any degree before 31st August 2008 that would entitle them to enroll for a doctorate. In general, this is usually a suitably qualifying Masters degree. Candidates are normally required to undertake trans-national mobility (i.e. move from one country to another) when taking up their appointment. At the time of recruitment by the host organization, candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their host organization (i.e. depending on the NAMASEN network partner to apply for) for more than 12 months between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2012. Applicants for the position at NAMASEN may be nationals of any Member State of the European Union, of any Associated Country or of any other third country, but they may not be a national of the hosting country. Availability to travel (including internationally), for the purpose of the research and training activities, is a requirement for the positions. More information on the NAMASEN ITN Network and its job openings can be found at: http://www.namasen.net. Please see in particular further details on eligibility for Early Stage Researchers (ESR). Candidates are requested to submit their CV in English (max. 5 pages), max. 10 academic publications (in English), including an electronic copy of university diploma (translated to English). A cover letter is also required, where motivations to apply to the NAMASEN consortium in general and to an individual partner, in particular, must be stated clearly. Spam applications, i.e. applications that obviously do not qualify according to the criteria for background and eligibility, will be trashed. Formal applications should be made through the NAMASEN consortium and should be sent by means of the website http://www.namasen.net. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120727/21954a1d/attachment-0001.html From randy.oreilly at colorado.edu Sun Jul 29 23:23:02 2012 From: randy.oreilly at colorado.edu (Randall O'Reilly) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:23:02 -0600 Subject: Connectionists: CU Boulder Tenure Track Position: Computational Approaches to Cognition Message-ID: Computational Approaches to Cognition, tenure track position The Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position in computational approaches to cognitive and/or affective processes at the assistant professor level with a starting date of Fall 2013. The Institute is a multidisciplinary unit with representation from the departments of Psychology & Neuroscience, Computer Science, Education, Philosophy, Linguistics, Architecture & Planning, and Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences. We seek applicants with a strong research program in theoretical and technical aspects of computational science, preferably with prior experience or interest in integrating cognitive science with state-of-the-art computational approaches. For example, individuals who utilize machine learning and statistical techniques to understand cognitive processes, such as language or learning, or to analyze high dimensional data from methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, will be competitive for the position. Successful applicants could come from one of several fields, including cognitive science/cognitive neuroscience, computer science, statistics, biostatistics, physics, or other related disciplines. An ability for and commitment to interdisciplinary research is a priority, as is an approach that both exploits existing computational techniques to address questions relevant to cognitive science and advances machine-learning theory. Duties include research, research supervision, service, as well as graduate and undergraduate teaching. Applicants are directed to the CU online job application website: www.jobsatcu.com; Job Posting Number 818695. At this site you will be asked for a curriculum vitae, copies of representative publications, a teaching statement, a research summary, and letter from three referees. For fullest consideration, please apply by September 24th, 2012. Applications will continue to be accepted after this date until the position is filled. Email inquiries may be sent to Donna.Caccamise at colorado.edu. The University of Colorado is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to building a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans. Alternative formats of this ad can be provided upon request for individuals with disabilities by contacting the ADA Coordinator athr-ada at colorado.edu. The University of Colorado Boulder conducts background checks on all final applicants being considered for employment. - Randy From weng at cse.msu.edu Mon Jul 30 19:02:53 2012 From: weng at cse.msu.edu (Juyang Weng) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:02:53 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Computational Brain-Mind: A distance learning course Message-ID: <5017129D.608@cse.msu.edu> Dear Colleagues, This course will start from the following Monday. You might like to suggest that some of your advisees take it. Travel is not needed, since it is a distance learning course. Thanks. Best regards, -John Weng Instructor BMI 871: Computational Brain-Mind *A * *Distance Learning Course * August 6 - 24, 2012 http://www.brain-mind-institute.org/bmi-871.html Course Description This course introduces computational principles of biological brain, which give rise to the various functions of mind. An emphasis is on regarding the brain as a highly integrated developmental system so that the models and principles are applicable to small biological brains (e.g., fruit flies), large biological brains (e.g., humans), and artificial ones (e.g., machines and robots). The material integrates knowledge in computer science, neuroscience, psychology (also cognitive science), biology, electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, and other related disciplines. The course is suited for faculty, senior researchers, postdocs, and graduate students in any discipline --- natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences --- who are interested in studying how the brain-mind works. The subjects include: Computational development of biological brains. Machine's symbolic representations. Brain's emergent representations and architectures. Brain's spatial representations. Brain's temporal representations. Perception, cognition, attention (bottom-up and top-down), learning, behaviors, abstraction, reasoning, decision making. Vision, audition, touch, multimodality, and integration. Modulatory system: reinforcement, motivation and emotion. The above subjects are detailed down to neuronal computation, cutting across levels of molecules, synapses, cells, circuits, systems, brains, experience, functions, and group intelligence. Examples of fundamental discipline questions to be discussed: * *Biology*: How do individually autonomous cells interact to give rise to animal behaviors? * *Neuroscience*: From an overarching perspective, how does the brain self-organize? * *Psychology*: How does an integrated brain architecture realize many psychological learning models (e.g., classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning)? * *Computer Science*: Why is the automata theory a special case of the brain's neural network theory? * *Electrical Engineering*: How does a brain perform general-purpose nonlinear control, beyond Kalman filtering? * *Mathematics*: How does a brain perform general-purpose high-dimensional, nonlinear optimization? * *Physics*: How do meanings arise from physics? -- -- Juyang (John) Weng, Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering MSU Cognitive Science Program and MSU Neuroscience Program 3115 Engineering Building Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 USA Tel: 517-353-4388 Fax: 517-432-1061 Email: weng at cse.msu.edu URL: http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weng/ ---------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120730/8f294173/attachment.html From david at nld.ds.mpg.de Mon Jul 30 08:04:25 2012 From: david at nld.ds.mpg.de (David Hofmann) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:04:25 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?Application_deadline_approaching=3A_10t?= =?utf-8?q?h_Summer_Course_on_Computational_Neuroscience=2C_G=C3=B6ttingen?= Message-ID: <50167849.9080209@nld.ds.mpg.de> *Application deadline: 6th August* of the tenth summer course on COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE in G?ttingen, Germany September 03rd - 07th, 2012 organized by David Hofmann Agostina Palmigiano Maximilian Puelma-Touzel The course is intended to provide graduate students and young researchers from all parts of neuroscience with working knowledge of theoretical and computational methods in neuroscience and to acquaint them with recent developments in this field. The course includes tutorials and lectures of the following researchers: * Susanne Schreiber, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany * J. Michael Herrmann, University of Edinburgh, UK * Surya Ganguli, Stanford University, USA * Adrienne Fairhall, University of Washington, USA * Matthias Bethge, Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Germany The course takes place at the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics of the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, G?ttingen. A course fee of 100 Euro includes participation in the tutorials, study materials, and part of the social events. The number of participants is limited to 30. Course language is English. To apply please fill out the application form at: http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events/cns-course by *August 6, 2012* Best wishes and looking forward to seeing you in G?ttingen David Hofmann -- David Hofmann Phone: +49-(0)551-5176-417 Mobile: +49-(0)176-28275472 Homepage: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/119797.html Max Planck Institut for Dynamics and Self-Organization Department for Nonlinear Dynamics Am Fa?berg 17, 37077 G?ttingen From matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de Mon Jul 30 06:42:59 2012 From: matthias.jugel at tu-berlin.de (Matthias L. Jugel) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:42:59 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CfP: BBCI Workshop 2012 - Submission Extended Message-ID: ************************************************************************ Call for Participation Call for Poster Submissions BBCI Workshop 2012 on Advances in Neurotechnology September 17-19, Berlin, Germany Official: http://bbci12.ml.tu-berlin.de/ ************************************************************************ Important Dates =============== Submission Date: 2012-08-12 Notification of Acceptance: 2012-08-17 Workshop Date: 2012-09-17 - 2012-09-19 Organization ============ Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology (BFNT-B) Humboldt University Berlin (HU) Berlin Institute of Technology (TUB) Charit? - University Medicine Berlin Bernstein Center Computational Neuroscience Berlin (BCCN-B) - Benjamin Blankertz (chair), Berlin Institute of Technology - Ulrich Egert, University of Freiburg - Siamac Fazli (poster co-chair), Berlin Institute of Technology - Dario Farina, University of G?ttingen - Stefan Haufe (poster co-chair), Berlin Institute of Technology - Klaus-Robert M?ller (chair), Berlin Institute of Technology - Susanne Schreiber (co-chair), Humboldt University Berlin - Michael Tangermann (poster chair), Berlin Institute of Technology - Jochen Triesch, University of Frankfurt Matthias L. Jugel, BFNT-B/Industry Imke Weitkamp, BFNT-B/Coordination Description =========== Different approaches to Brain-Computer Interfaces have been developed, each one with specific solutions that range from understanding and explaining cognitive functions over communicating with real and virtual environments by thought alone to real-time monitoring of cognitive states. The Advances in Neurotechnology Workshop presents an overview, in-depth tutorials and discussions on the latest research at all levels of Neurotechnology and BCI research. What is presented will cover invasive recording, semi-invasive ECoG, non-invasive EEG, non-invasive NIRS and fMRI measurement and potential combinations of the different methods. Additional focus will be devoted to advances in data analysis. The poster session following the tutorials will cross over into the BBCI barbecue, smoothing discussions with drinks and food. Following the workshop there will be a summerschool on selected topics in BCI and neurotechnology from September 20th to 28th. It has educational tutorials in the morning session (two tutorials of 2h each, held by internationally renowned researchers), and practical hand-ons sessions in the afternoon. The practical sessions are partly multi-track and will allow researchers in BCI/neurotechnology to complement their expertise in the interdisciplinary field. Submission ========== Please send your posters (in PDF) or abstracts (max. 2 pages, PDF or plain text) to the poster chair Michael Tangermann , no later than 2012-07-30. Poster size should be a maximum of A0 (width x height: 841mm ? 1189mm) Confirmed Speakers ================== - Felix Biessmann, Berlin Institute of Technology - Benjamin Blankertz, Berlin Institute of Technology - Mark Cohen, UCLA - Tom Eichele, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway - Dario Farina, BFNT G?ttingen - Rainer Goebel, University Maastricht - John-Dylan Haynes, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience - Bo Hong, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China - Yukiyasu Kamitani, ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto - Motoaki Kawanabe, ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto - Christof Koch, California Institute of Technology - Andrea K?bler, Universit?t W?rzburg - Seong-Whan Lee, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea - Donatella Mattia, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Italy - Jos? del R. Mill?n, Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne (EPFL) - Klaus-Robert M?ller, Berlin Institute of Technology - Gernot M?ller-Putz, TU Graz - Gerwin Schalk, Wadsworth Center Venue ===== Audimax der Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6 / Dorotheenstr. 17-19, Berlin, Germany Workshop Fees ============= Business: 300 EUR Standard: 250 EUR * Early Registration Discount (until 2012-08-19) Academic : 200 EUR Bernstein: 100 EUR Students : 50 EUR Funding ======= The workshop is supported by the Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology Berlin. -- Matthias L. Jugel - Industry Liaison Manager Bernstein Focus: Neurotechnology Fon: +49 170 226 1897, +49 30 314 78626 Fax: +49 30 314 78622 Berlin Institute of Technology Faculty IV, Machine Learning Franklinstr. 28/29, Sekr. FR 6-9 D-10587 Berlin, Germany