From A.VanSchaik at uws.edu.au Fri May 4 05:41:27 2012 From: A.VanSchaik at uws.edu.au (Andre Van Schaik) Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 09:41:27 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Ref 442/12 Senior Research Lectureship in Computational Neuroscience or Neuromorphic Engineering, MARCS Institute Message-ID: Ref 442/12 Senior Research Lectureship in Computational Neuroscience or Neuromorphic Engineering, MARCS Institute MARCS Institute: Researching Brain, Behaviour and Computation MARCS Institute is a vibrant interdisciplinary research institute of the University of Western Sydney. Research at MARCS is conducted in five interdisciplinary research programs: Speech & Language, Music Cognition & Action, Bioelectronics & Neuroscience, Multisensory Processing, and Human Machine Interaction. MARCS is located on the Bankstown, Campbelltown, Kingswood and Parramatta Campuses. The Bioelectronics and Neuroscience Program would be complemented and strengthened by a researcher who will conduct and lead significant research and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students in the area of Computational Neuroscience or Neuromorphic Engineering. As well, the appointee will encourage interdisciplinary collaboration among existing faculty to leverage our intellectual capital, while building strong research teams and networks both internally and externally. The successful applicant is expected to be developing a strong international standing and research reputation, and have an excellent research background in the area of Computational Neuroscience and/or Neuromorphic Engineering, a demonstrated ability to win competitive research funding, and an excellent publication record. This position is fixed term for a period of three years. The position will be based at our Penrith campus. Remuneration Package: Academic Level C $123,713 to $141,913 p.a. (comprising Salary $104,645 to $120,200 p.a., 17% Superannuation and Leave Loading). Position Enquiries: Professor Andr? van Schaik, on (02) 4736 0668 or email a.vanschaik at uws.edu.au Closing Date: 17 June 2012 For a copy of the Position Description and information on how to apply, go to https://uws.nga.net.au/cp/ From gros07 at itp.uni-frankfurt.de Fri May 4 03:26:00 2012 From: gros07 at itp.uni-frankfurt.de (Claudius Gros) Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 09:26:00 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: Fully-funded PhD studentship in complex and cognitive system theory Message-ID: Open PhD-position : Complex Dynamical Systems / Cognitive System Theory At the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Frankfurt am Main, Field(s): complex systems, information routing, neural networks, Application deadline: June 28, 2012 Supervisor: Prof. Claudius Gros E-mail: cgr at itp.uni-frankfurt.de Address: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe University Frankfurt, Job description: Applications are invited for a PhD position at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Frankfurt University, with a TV-G-U E13 salary (50%), equivalent to about 1000 Euro monthly. The general focus of the research group is the development of the theory of complex and cognitive systems: generating principles, functionality and control. The field of research for the announced PhD position involves the study of information routing models, a novel class of dynamical network models. The candidates should have a Diploma/Master in physics with an excellent academic track record and good computational skills. Experience or strong interest in the fields of complex systems and/or artificial or biological cognitive systems is expected. The degree of scientific research experience is expected to be on the level of a German Diploma/Master. The appointments will start fall 2012, for up to three years. Interested applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, a list of publications and arrange for two letters of reference to be sent to the address below. Maripola Kolokotsa Institute for Theoretical Physics Goethe University Frankfurt Max-von-Laue-Str. 1 60438 Frankfurt am Main Germany cgr at itp.uni-frankfurt.de http://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~gros ***************************************** *** Prof. Dr. Claudius Gros *** *** +49 (0)69 798 47818 *** *** http://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~gros *** ***************************************** -------------------------------------------------------- --- Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems, A Primer --- --- A graduate-level textbook, Springer (2008/09/10) --- -------------------------------------------------------- From iead at rezek.info Wed May 2 17:11:29 2012 From: iead at rezek.info (Iead Rezek) Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 22:11:29 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: CFP (last): ICML '12 Workshop on Statistics, Machine Learning and Neuroscience. Message-ID: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS ICML '12 Workshop on Statistics, Machine Learning and Neuroscience. Date: July 1, 2012 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland https://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/stamlins Please take note of submission details Deadline: 13th May, 2012 (4 Pages extended abstract) Acceptance notification: 21st May, 2012. Workshop date: 1st July, 2012. Neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have revolutionised the field of neuroscience by providing non-invasive measurements of the brain activity. From the outset, classical statistical approaches were used for neuroimage analysis, using known models, offering good interpretability and the possibility to examine strength of hypotheses. Recently, however, analysis emphasis has changed towards data-driven (aka machine learning/multi-variate pattern analysis) approaches. By making minimal model assumptions, the learning algorithms are generally tuned for optimal prediction performance, automation and speed. A debate has ensued between the two respective strands of researchers about the relative benefits and downsides of each approach. The critique of data-driven methods, voiced by practitioners of classical statistics, include lack of interpretability/meaningfulness, non-existent power calculation for experimental design, and inability to deal with the "small N-large p" constraint. Conversely, users of data-driven methods point to the inappropriateness of the model choice for biological data, the arbitrariness of significance levels, and the post-hoc corrections for multiple hypothesis tests. The propose of this workshop is to bring together both approaches. The aim is to debate the strengths/weaknesses of classical statistical vs machine learning methods, and establish the parameters that would bring together hypothesis and data-driven approaches. While this workshop is to be driven by the practical needs of neuroscience research, more fundamental research into methods is also envisaged. Simultaneously, we expect that the need for improved methods will spark substantial contributions towards Predictive Medicine, Translational Medicine and Interpretational Models of Disease. For this purpose we have invited well-known experts and researchers in neuroscience methodology and application, notably Will Penny, Tom Nichols and Eugene Duff. We seek extended abstracts discussing or developing new methods designed to link hypothesis generalisation, experimental design and hypothesis validation. Example topics include - Interpretable neuroimage modelling/model validation, - Experimental design and power analysis (also for machine learning), - Variable selection / dimensionality reduction / sparsity, - Scalability/efficient/parallel (Bayesian) inference, - Model reproducibility and testing of computational theories, - Combined modelling of cellular neurophysiology, genetics, and behaviour, - Model selection in Bayesian and Classical methods, - Issues and experiences in implementing models for massive data-sets, - New models for Independent Component Analysis, - Classifiers and Brain Decoding. Workshop Schedule ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To achieve a 4-way interdisciplinary workshop, four invited speakers have agreed to give talks representing respectively, classical statistical methodologies, machine learning methodologies, applications of classical statistical tools and applications of machine learning tools. The preliminary workshop's schedule is as follows: - Eugene Duff (invited speaker): application of hypothesis-driven methods - Invited speaker (TBD): application of data-driven methods - Discussion - Will Penny (invited speaker): data-driven methodology - Tom Nichols (invited speaker): hypothesis-driven methodology - Discussion - Lunch - Spotlight presentations - Poster session - Discussion & roundup Submission Details ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We seek submission of extended abstracts at most 4 pages long and following the ICML paper format. All accepted submissions will be presented in form of poster presentations. Important Dates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Extended abstract submission deadline: 13th May, 2012. Acceptance notification: 21st May, 2012. Workshop date: 1st July, 2012. Workshop Organisation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Workshop Organisers: Iead Rezek, University of Oxford, UK Evangelos Roussos, University of Oxford, UK Christian Beckmann, MIRA Institute at the University of Twente, Netherlands. Program Committee Will Penny, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, UK Tom Nichols, University of Warwick Eugene Duff, University of Oxford Contact: ~~~~~~~ iead at rezek.info, eroussos7 at yahoo.co.uk From michael.vendetti at ucla.edu Thu May 3 15:24:16 2012 From: michael.vendetti at ucla.edu (Michael Vendetti) Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 12:24:16 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Research Position for Modeling of Analogical Reasoning Message-ID: Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Postdoctoral Positions Keith Holyoak and Barbara Knowlton at UCLA, in collaboration with John Hummel at the University of Illinois, are seeking 1 or possibly 2 post-doctoral fellows to help advance a joint research project. The project involves development of a neural-network model of analogical reasoning and learning closely tied to functions of prefrontal cortex and related circuitry. This training opportunity involves a variety of methods, close collaboration with the PIs, and is geared toward producing high impact theoretical contributions. The ideal candidates would have backgrounds in cognitive neuroscience and/or computational modeling of neural systems, including neural algorithms for Bayesian inference. One position will place greater emphasis on knowledge of neuroscience and higher cognition, the other on computational skills (including languages such as Python and Matlab). For the latter position, individuals from applied math, math, computer science, and related backgrounds with cognitive neuroscience interests will receive serious consideration. The project is funded by a multi-site contract involving computer scientists and cognitive neuroscientists at multiple institutions. Interaction with this highly collaborative community will provide unique opportunities for education and training to those interested in using computational methods to advance development of neurally-realistic models of human cognition. Salary and benefits will conform to NIH postdoctoral rates. The position is for one year with the possibility of extension for a second year. To apply, please email a statement of research interests, CV, sample publications, and a list of references to holyoak at lifesci.ucla.edu Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Appointments are subject to a final determination of the availability of funds. UCLA is an Equal-Opportunity/Affirmative-Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120503/4ee5449c/attachment-0001.html From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Fri May 4 00:55:44 2012 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 00:55:44 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: 2012 NEURON Summer Course openings Message-ID: <4FA36150.8080500@yale.edu> A very few seats remain open in the 2012 NEURON Summer Course, and one of them could be yours, but only if you act very quickly because the registration deadline is May 18, just 2 weeks from today! See the course description and link to the on-line registration form at http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nscsd2012/nscsd2012.html This course will feature new material on simulations using parallel hardware ranging from multicore laptop and desktop computers to supercomputers, and on the use of Python as an alternative interpreter for NEURON. --Ted From udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de Wed May 2 09:02:45 2012 From: udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de (Udo Ernst) Date: Wed, 02 May 2012 15:02:45 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in Psychophysics/Computational Neuroscience in Bremen, Germany (salary E13/2) Message-ID: <4FA13075.6050604@neuro.uni-bremen.de> *PhD position in Psychophysics/Computational Neuroscience in Bremen, Germany (salary E13/2) *The position is part of the newly established research group 'Rapid Parallel Configuration of Visual Information Processing'. The group is funded by the BMBF via the Bernstein Award for Computational Neurosciences (1.25 Mio. ?), granted to the group leader Dr. Udo Ernst. Research is divided into four interdisciplinary subprojects combining theory, simulation, and experimental work. Applications in either English or German language should include a letter of motivation, CV, copies of school and university certificates (master/diploma or equivalent), and should be sent to ajanssen at neuro.uni-bremen.de until *May 31st, 2012**.***For a more detailed description of the research project and other open positions, please visit our web site at http://www.bernstein.uni-bremen.de ** */Cognitive abilities and limits of functional configuration /*The goal of this subproject is to understand empirically the fundamental principles of parallel functional configuration in the visual system. In particular, the candidate shall investigate how well and how rapid human observers may switch between usual, and unusual,visual tasks, and which of these tasks require perceptual learning. For this purpose, the PhD student will conduct psychophysical experiments on human observers in collaboration with the group of Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle (http://www.humanbio.uni-bremen.de), and analyze the collected data. This includes preparation of the experimental setup, programming of different main paradigms and side paradigms for result, and the conduction of the experiment. Data analysis includes standard methods of Statistics (parametrical and non-parametrical tests, ANOVA, probabilistic assessment of individual behaviour). For a more detailed analysis, some of the experiments will be combined with imaging (EEG, fMRT) and analyzed accordingly (EVPs , source analysis, PCA, ICA, stimulus reconstruction). He or she should have a degree (master/diploma or equivalent) in natural sciences (e.g. Biology, Psychology) with focus on experimental work (preferably Psychophysics, visual system). Basic knowledge in programming and in formal methods/Computational Neuroscience is required, training in fMRI and/or VEP can be provided. We expect a high motivation for communicating and collaborating with the other subprojects. */General Information /*The group is hosted by the Center for Cognitive Sciences (Zentrum f?r Kognitionswissenschaften, ZKW; http://www.zkw.uni-bremen.de) in the new Cognium building on the campus of the University Bremen. Neuroscience is one of the special research foci at the university, which includes different labs working in Human Psychophysics, Electrophysiology, Neuropharmacology, Psychology, Computer Sciences and other related disciplines. Bremen is a nice little town in northern Germany with a rich maritime history. The city offers a vivid cultural life, with cinemas, performing arts, music events, and street festivals. Enjoy the cafes or bistros in charming old houses, discover the beauties of a landscape between water and sky on your bike, or visit the seashore with dunes and dikes! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120502/dc8d8b09/attachment.html From udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de Wed May 2 09:01:56 2012 From: udo at neuro.uni-bremen.de (Udo Ernst) Date: Wed, 02 May 2012 15:01:56 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in Electrophysiology/Computational Neuroscience in Bremen, Germany (salary E13/2) Message-ID: <4FA13044.80406@neuro.uni-bremen.de> *PhD position in Electrophysiology/Computational Neuroscience in Bremen, Germany (salary E13/2) *The position is part of the newly established research group 'Rapid Parallel Configuration of Visual Information Processing'. The group is funded by the BMBF via the Bernstein Award for Computational Neurosciences (1.25 Mio. ?), granted to the group leader Dr. Udo Ernst. Research is divided into four interdisciplinary subprojects combining theory, simulation, and experimental work. Applications in either English or German language should include a letter of motivation, CV, copies of school and university certificates (master/diploma or equivalent), and should be sent to ajanssen at neuro.uni-bremen.de until *May 31st, 2012**.***For a more detailed description of the research project and other open positions, please visit our web site at http://www.bernstein.uni-bremen.de ** */Neuronal mechanisms of rapid functional configuration /* Goal of this subproject is to investigate neural signatures and mechanisms of parallel functional configuration in multiple visual areas with massively parallel multielectrode recordings. The PhD student will conduct experiments on awake behaving macaque monkeys in collaboration with the group of Prof. Dr. Andreas Kreiter (http://www.brain.uni-bremen.de), and analyze the collected data. This includes familiarization and training of the monkeys, preparation of the experimental setup and recordings, implantation of the electrode arrays, and recording of the data under different visual perception tasks. For analyzing the data, he/she should be familiar with the following methods: filtering, Wavelet-analysis, cross- and autocorrelation, standard techniques of coherence analysis (phase coherency, spectral coherence, etc.), classification with methods from machine learning, and elementary concepts from information theory. Behavioural and electrophysiological data shall be rapidly preprocessed, and made available for the collaborators in other subprojects. He or she should have a degree (master/diploma or equivalent) in natural sciences (e.g. Biology) with focus on experimental work (preferably Animal Physiology). Basic knowledge in programming and in formal methods/Computational Neuroscience are required. We expect a high motivation for communicating and collaborating with the other subprojects. */General Information /*The group is hosted by the Center for Cognitive Sciences (Zentrum f?r Kognitionswissenschaften, ZKW; http://www.zkw.uni-bremen.de) in the new Cognium building on the campus of the University Bremen. Neuroscience is one of the special research foci at the university, which includes different labs working in Human Psychophysics, Electrophysiology, Neuropharmacology, Psychology, Computer Sciences and other related disciplines. Bremen is a nice little town in northern Germany with a rich maritime history. The city offers a vivid cultural life, with cinemas, performing arts, music events, and street festivals. Enjoy the cafes or bistros in charming old houses, discover the beauties of a landscape between water and sky on your bike, or visit the seashore with dunes and dikes! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120502/fa2df9f9/attachment-0001.html From vcutsuridis at gmail.com Wed May 2 03:54:37 2012 From: vcutsuridis at gmail.com (Vassilis Cutsuridis) Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 10:54:37 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: 2nd CFP: Cognitive Computation Journal: Celebrating the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor Message-ID: //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2nd Call for Papers Cognitive Computation - Celebrating the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor ////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////// * DESCRIPTION The scope of the special issue is to celebrate the work of the late Professor John G Taylor. Professor Taylor began his career in 1956 as a theoretical physicist and has contributed many seminal papers and books to high energy physics, black holes, quantum gravity and string theory. He held positions in leading Universities in the UK, USA and Europe in physics and mathematics. He created the Centre for Neural Networks at King?s College, London, in 1990, and was its Director until his death. He was appointed Emeritus Professor of Mathematics of London University in 1996. He was Guest Scientist at the Research Centre in Juelich, Germany, 1996-8, working on brain imaging and data analysis. He has acted as consultant in Neural Networks to several companies. He is the Director of Research on Global Bond products and Tactical Asset Allocation for a financial investment company involved in time series prediction. He is presently European Editor-in-Chief of the journal *Neural Networks *and was President of the International Neural Network Society (1995) and the European Neural Network Society (1993/4). Since 2009, he is founding Chair of the Advisory Editorial Board for the journal *Cognitive Computation*. Prof. Taylor worked in the field of Neural Networks since 1969. He has contributed ever since to all aspects of neural networks and cognitive computation including their applications to finance and robotics. Specifically, research topics Prof. Taylor contributed to include but are not limited to: -- Noisy nets, synapses and the pRAM chip -- Dynamics of learning processes -- Mathematical analysis of neural networks and their hardware implementations -- Neural network models of perception, attention, learning and memory, decision making, motor control, cognitive control, observational learning, emotions, thinking, reasoning, conceptualization, knowledge representation, language and consciousness -- Neural network applications to finance, robotics and brain imaging The issue will consider original research articles, review articles, letters and commentaries from former and current students, junior and senior colleagues of Professor Taylor. All submitted articles should clearly state in what way their work is based on Prof. Taylor?s previous research and how it extends it. * EDITORS The reviewing process will be supervised by guest Editors (VassilisCutsuridis and Amir Hussain), together with theeditorial Board of the Cognitive Computation journal. * DEADLINES Deadlines are as follows: -- Submission deadline: September 1, 2012 -- Review deadline: December 1, 2012 -- Author notification: December 2, 2012 -- Author?s response: February 1, 2013 -- Publication by journal: ~April, 2013 Electronic submissions for the Cognitive Computation journal can be found under http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559 Please indicate in your cover letter that your article is for the "S.I.: John G Taylor". Kind regards, Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120502/7bf52ebc/attachment.html From thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk Fri May 4 14:15:48 2012 From: thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk (Thomas Wennekers) Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 19:15:48 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Auditory Cognition Summerschool; 16-23rd July 2012, Plymouth, UK Message-ID: <201205041915.48192.thomas.wennekers@plymouth.ac.uk> Auditory Cognition ? Listening in the real world 2nd Summer School on Auditory Cognition 16-23rd July 2012, Plymouth, UK The 2nd EU-Cog sponsored Summer School on Auditory Cognition will be taking place between July 16th and July 23rd, 2012, in Plymouth, UK. The summer school is exclusively focused on the topic of "Auditory Cognition - Listening in the Real World" and will cover a wide range of subjects, from the basics of auditory perception to higher order cognitive processes, as well as practical applications and new approaches to understanding auditory cognition. The School will be suitable for late-stage Masters and PhD students with an interest in Auditory Cognition and will consist of a 6-day educational program (seminars and practical sessions) complemented by group work projects for the students and a wide range of social activities. The Summer School will be a combination of both theory and practice, covering many levels of auditory processing. This will be a fairly challenging syllabus, introducing topics such as bottom-up processing of sounds to modern theories of awareness, music cognition, speech perception and new approaches in cochlear implants. The practical sessions in the afternoons will allow participants to gain hands-on experience of some of the techniques and applications discussed during the seminar sessions. Students will learn to make recordings both in the field and the lab, run some key experiments and be introduced to the body of methodological techniques associated with this field; student?s will also have the opportunity to produce and participate in a sonic-art performance in Plymouth University?s Immersive Vision Theatre. This year, the teachers and topics to be addressed are: ? Rhodri Cusack: Neural correlates of conscious auditory perception ? Maria Chait: Discovering and representing patterns in sound sequences ? Henkjan Honing: Music cognition ? Annemarie Surlykke: Biosonar: Using sounds to probe the world ? Dick Botteldooren: Environmental acoustics ? Sophie Scott: Neurobiology of speech perception ? Bernhard Laback: New approaches in cochlear implants ? Matt Coombe and Neil Rose: Sound and Space The deadline for applications is the 27/05/12; successful applicants will be notified by 10/06/12. For more information and to make an application, please visit: http://www.acsummerschool.org/index.php For information related to the educational programme and eligibility for the school please contact Orsolya Szal?rdy: szalardy at cogpsyphy.hu For other enquiries related to accommodation etc. then please contact Lucy Davies: lucy.davies4 at plymouth.ac.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relevant links with further information: http://www.acsummerschool.org/index.php http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=38653 http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/science/elcetl/IVT.html From terry at salk.edu Sat May 5 19:53:05 2012 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Sat, 05 May 2012 16:53:05 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - June, 2012 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 24, Number 6 - June 1, 2012 Note A Proof of Convergence of the Concave-Convex Procedure Using Zangwill's Theory Bharath Sriperumbudur, and Gert R. G. Lanckriet Letters On the Relation Between Encoding and Decoding of Neuronal Spikes Shinsuke Koyama Analytical Integrate-and-fire Neuron Models With Conductance-based Dynamics and Realistic Postsynaptic Potential Time Course for Event-driven Simulation Strategies. Michelle Rudolph-Lilith, Mathieu Dubois, and Alain Destexhe Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods for State-space Models With Point Process Observations. Ke Yuan, Mark Girolami, and Mahesan Niranjan Adaptive Optimal Control Without Weight Transport Lakshminarayan V Chinta and Douglas Blair Tweed The Neural Representation of Time: An Information-Theoretic Perspective Joachim Hass, and J. Michael Herrmann The Successor Representation and Temporal Context Samuel Gershman, Christopher Moore, Michael Todd, Kenneth Norman, and Per Sederberg Learning Coefficient of Generalization Error in Bayesian Estimation and Vandermonde Matrix Type Singularity Miki Aoyagi, and Kenji Nagata ----- 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 Sat May 5 06:09:26 2012 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 11:09:26 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Springer's Cognitive Computation journal: Table of Contents, Vol.4, No.1 / Mar 2012 issue Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to the publication of Volume 4, No. 1 / Mar 2012, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 4, No. 1 / March 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/1866-9956/4/1/ A list of the most downloaded articles (which can always be read for free) can be found here: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559#realtime Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted ===================================== Reminder: Cognitive Computation indexing in ISI: ===================================== 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? As such, the first Impact Factor for Cognitive Computation will be available this year (in June/July 2012). ============================================ 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 nearly 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: 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) Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.4, No.1 / March 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Issue: Pointing at Boundaries: Integrating Cognition and Computation on Biological Grounds Guest Editors: Eduardo Massad, Alfredo Pereira and Nathaniel Bobbitt Editorial: Eduardo Massad, Alfredo Pereira and Nathaniel Bobbitt http://www.springerlink.com/content/5221483284356666/ >From Neuroelectrodynamics to Thinking Machines Dorian Aur http://www.springerlink.com/content/x1l7388475323758/ Introduction to the Fractality Principle of Consciousness and the Sentyon Postulate Erhard Bieberich http://www.springerlink.com/content/964347x7251k0p36/ Can Quantum Entanglement Between Ion Transition States Effect Action Potential Initiation? Gustav Bernroider and Johann Summhammer http://www.springerlink.com/content/1jku43r2w5352360/ Computational Algorithms Derived from Multiple Scales of Neocortical Processing Lester Ingber http://www.springerlink.com/content/j73336774733l183/ Perceptual Information Integration: Hypothetical Role of Astrocytes Alfredo Pereira http://www.springerlink.com/content/e31m62647n4543t4/ The "Where" and "Who" in Brain Science: Probing Brain Networks with Local Perturbations Cyrille C. Girardin and C. Giovanni Galizia http://www.springerlink.com/content/306v427r11792823/ On the Way to Large-Scale and High-Resolution Brain-Chip Interfacing Stefano Vassanelli, Mufti Mahmud, Stefano Girardi and Marta Maschietto http://www.springerlink.com/content/d547218154527uh1/ What Languages Tell Us About the Structure of the Human Mind Per Durst-Andersen http://www.springerlink.com/content/v0781nl164u2k145/ Protein Folding in the 2D Hydrophobic?Hydrophilic (HP) Square Lattice Model is Chaotic Jacques M. Bahi, Nathalie C?t?, Christophe Guyeux and Michel Salomon http://www.springerlink.com/content/4n3r6k086j64714l/ Mutuality in Discrete and Compositional Information: Perspectives for Synthetic Genetic Codes Romeu Cardoso Guimar?es http://www.springerlink.com/content/2p253h8l2605p614/ ------------------------------------------------ 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 Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, ?number SC 011159. -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From bower at uthscsa.edu Tue May 8 14:09:09 2012 From: bower at uthscsa.edu (james bower) Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 13:09:09 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Registration closing for meeting at Trinity College celebrating 60 year anniversary of Hodgkin Huxley action potential model Message-ID: <4A4BCBBF-B9DD-49DA-AFAA-17FDC4B6874E@uthscsa.edu> SECOND MEETING NOTIFICATION: ADVANCED REGISTRATION ENDS MAY 14 In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Hodgkin-Huxley model of the action potential. Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, July 12 - 13, 2012 Advanced registration for this congress celebrating the 60th anniversary of the original publication of the Hodgkin and Huxley model will close on May 14. The overall size of the meeting is restricted, and registration is therefore on a first come first serve basis. Registration includes meals and lodging at Trinity College Travel funds are available for student members of the Organization of Computational Neurosciences (OCNS) making poster presentations, also on a first come first serve basis. Meeting website for registration and complete agenda: http://www.cnsorg.org/hodgkin-huxley60 Confirmed Speakers include: Wilfrid Rall (NIH retired) Gordon Shepherd (Yale University) Daniel Gardner (Weill Cornell University) Biswa Sengupta (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India) Bruce Bean (Harvard University) David Attwell (University College London) Bertil Hille (University of Washington) Indira Raman (Northwestern University) Peter Jones (IST, Austria) Lorin Milescu (University of Missouri) Ilya Fleidervish (Ben- Gurion University) William Kath (Northwestern University) Harold Zakon (University of Texas Austin) James Bower (University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio) Idan Segev (Hebrew University) Michael Hausser (University College London) Andreas Herz (BCCN, Munich) Fred Wolf (Max Plack Institute ? Gottingen) Fernando Fernandez (University of Utah) Lyle Long (Pennsylvania State University) Hans Braun (University of Marburg, Germany) Hugh Robinson (University of Cambridge) Yuguo Yu (Yale University and Fudan University Shanghai) Sungho Hong (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) Michele Migilore (CNR, Palermo) Susanne Schreirber (Humboldt University) Cengiz Gunay (Emory University) Chrisitan Finke (University of Oldenburg) Kazuyuki Alhara (University of Tokyo) Michele Giugliano (University of Antwerp) Lech S. Borkowski (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland) Alessandro Torcini (CNR, Florence) Henry Tuckwell (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig) Principal organizers: James M. Bower (University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio) Idan Segev (Hebrew University) Michael H?usser (University College London) Simon O'Connor (Local Organizer) Supported by the Organization of Computational Neurosciences (OCNS), The Physiological Society, The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and the European Biophysical Societies Association (EBSA). Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D. Professor of Computational Neurobiology Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies. 15355 Lambda Drive University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas 78245 Department of Biology University of Texas - San Antonio Phone: 210 382 0553 Email: bower at uthscsa.edu Web: http://www.bower-lab.org twitter: superid101 linkedin: Jim Bower CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments to it may be privileged or contain privileged and confidential information. This information is only for the viewing or use of the intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of, or the taking of any action in reliance upon, any of the information contained in this e-mail, or any of the attachments to this e-mail, is strictly prohibited and that this e-mail and all of the attachments to this e-mail, if any, must be immediately returned to the sender or destroyed and, in either case, this e-mail and all attachments to this e-mail must be immediately deleted from your computer without making any copies hereof and any and all hard copies made must be destroyed. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by e-mail immediately. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120508/0152a70d/attachment-0001.html From rob.haslinger at gmail.com Tue May 8 13:37:40 2012 From: rob.haslinger at gmail.com (Rob Haslinger) Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 13:37:40 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: 2012 INCF training course on Advanced Statistical Modeling of Neuronal Data (July 22-28, 2012) Message-ID: Training course announcement (2nd call) (Apologies for duplicate postings) Dear Colleague, We invite you to apply for the ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2012 INCF training course on Advanced Statistical Modeling of Neuronal Data (July 22-28, 2012) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This course will take place in Osnabrueck, Germany, and will be hosted by the Institute of Cognitive Science (University of Osnabrueck). Details can be found at: http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/ Applications will be accepted until May 15, 2012. Those accepted will be notified by May 31st at which point a registration fee of 200 ? will be required. This fee covers attendance of the training course, coffee breaks, two dinners and team-building events. Accommodation costs are not included. The goal of the course is for attendees to gain a working knowledge of statistical techniques that have proven useful for neuroscientific data analysis. Broadly speaking, the course is composed of 5 main themes, one for each day: Statistical Analysis Basics, Encoding Models, Decoding Models, Neuronal Population Models and Large-Scale Imaging Models. As the emphasis is on practical applications, each analysis technique will first be motivated by introducing its usage with showcase applications from different neuroscientific fields. This will give participants without experience in a given field an understanding of what one wants to achieve with an analysis technique. After having established this common ground of applications, the methods themselves will be presented in lecture format. Students will then, in Matlab laboratory sessions, learn to apply the methods to real neuroscientific data sets. A detailed syllabus may be found on the course website. Organizers and Speakers ? Prof. Emery N. Brown, MIT, Cambridge, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA ? Prof. Gordon Pipa, Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabruck, Germany ? Dr. Stefan Kiebel, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany ? Dr. Robert Haslinger, Harvard Medical School, Boston and MIT, Cambridge USA. Best regards, Robert Haslinger (Organizing committee) -- Robert Haslinger, PhD Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Assistant in Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA Research Affiliate, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120508/161570ce/attachment.html From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Mon May 7 09:24:05 2012 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Mon, 07 May 2012 15:24:05 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: free places at the Brain Dynamics and Decision Making Conference, Ascona, May 27-31, Switzerland Message-ID: <4FA7CCF5.2060407@cns.unibe.ch> Dear Scientist ** There are still free places at the *International conference on 'Brain Dynamics and Decision Making'*. The meeting will be held on *27-31 May 2012* in the *Monte Verit? Conference Centre*located in *Ascona, Switzerland, *situated in a quiet and beautiful historical park and providing a venue for world-famous seminars and conferences. *Conference subject * *The overarching subject of the conference is "decision making*" and how it is achieved through and influenced by mechanisms on various levels in the brain. The meeting brings together *top international scientists* working in the related research fields. Decision making is a highly relevant subject that is currently a prominent research topic worldwide. The conference strengthens the exchange with the leading scientists from abroad and to foster further interactions between different disciplines such as *cellular neurobiology, theoretical neuroscience, neuroeconomics and behavioural economics*. It is orientated towards five main topics: i) novel /in vivo /tools for studies in behaving rodents, ii) bridging rodent and human studies, iii) role of uncertainty and risk, iv) linking theoretical concepts at cellular and brain area levels and v) Molecular and circuit dysfunction in addiction. *Speakers * We aim to bring together leading international scientists from diverse disciplines such as molecular and cellular neurobiology, theoretical neuroscience and neuro-economics, to provide a forum for discussion on brain dynamics during decision making across the various scales. The conference's invited speakers group includes: Carlos *Brody* (Princeton, USA), Christian *B?chel* (Hamburg,DE), Ernst *Fehr* (Z?rich, CH), Karl *Friston* (London, UK), Fritjof *Helmchen* (Z?rich, CH), Daniel *Huber* (Ashburn, USA), Alla *Karpova* (Ashburn, USA), Matthew *Larkum* (Berlin, DE), Christian *L?scher* (Geneva, CH), Zach *Mainen *(Lisbon, PO), Bijan *Pesaran*, (New York, USA), Carl *Petersen* (Lausanne, CH), Markus *Rudin* (Z?rich, CH), Christian *Ruff *(London, UK), Matthew *Rushworth* (Oxford, UK), Walter *Senn* (Bern, CH), Michael *Shadlen* (Seattle, USA), Klaas Enno *Stephan* (Z?rich, CH), David *Tank* (Princeton, USA), Philippe *Tobler* (Z?rich, CH), Xiao-Jing *Wang* (New Haven, USA), Bruno *Weber* (Z?rich, CH) and Anthony *Zador* (Cold Spring Harbour, USA). *Thematic sessions * Following thematic sessions will have a place during the conference: . Novel in vivo tools for studies in behaving rodents .Bridging rodent and human studies . Role of uncertainty and risk in decision-making . Linking theoretical concepts at cellular and brain area levels . Molecular and circuit dysfunctions in addiction *Registration * The registration deadline extended to *May 10^th 2012 *. To register to the meeting, please visit the following *website * to find further information. http://www.hifo.uzh.ch/events/upcoming/braindynamics-ascona12.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120507/8c8511b0/attachment.html From t.heskes at science.ru.nl Wed May 9 15:31:10 2012 From: t.heskes at science.ru.nl (Tom Heskes) Date: Wed, 09 May 2012 21:31:10 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Neurocomputing volumes 86-90 Message-ID: <4FAAC5FE.5040301@science.ru.nl> Neurocomputing volume 86 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231212X00067 ---------------- REGULAR PAPERS A parallel bi-directional self-organizing neural network (PBDSONN) architecture for color image extraction and segmentation Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, Ujjwal Maulik, Paramartha Dutta Temporal Spectral Residual for fast salient motion detection Xinyi Cui, Qingshan Liu, Shaoting Zhang, Fei Yang, Dimitris N. Metaxas Autonomous emotion development using incremental modified adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system Qing Zhang, Sungmoon Jeong, Minho Lee Fragmented edge structure coding for Chinese writer identification Jing Wen, Bin Fang, JunLin Chen, YuanYan Tang, HengXin Chen Feature extraction using fuzzy maximum margin criterion Yan Cui, Liya Fan Nonlinear time series modeling and prediction using functional weights wavelet neural network-based state-dependent AR model Garba Inoussa, Hui Peng, Jun Wu DCPE co-training for classification Jin Xu, Haibo He, Hong Man Biped locomotion control with evolved adaptive center-crossing continuous time recurrent neural networks Jos? Santos, ?ngel Campo Efficient neural networks for solving variational inequalities Suoliang Jiang, Deren Han, Xiaoming Yuan Robust stabilization of stochastic Markovian jumping dynamical networks with mixed delays Jinyong Yu, Guanghui Sun Cooperative coevolution of Elman recurrent neural networks for chaotic time series prediction Rohitash Chandra, Mengjie Zhang iFALCON: A neural architecture for hierarchical planning Budhitama Subagdja, Ah-Hwee Tan An evolutionary constructive and pruning algorithm for artificial neural networks and its prediction applications Shih-Hung Yang, Yon-Ping Chen Local similarity and diversity preserving discriminant projection for face and handwriting digits recognition Qiang Hua, Lijie Bai, Xizhao Wang, Yuchao Liu CIPCA: Complete-Information-based Principal Component Analysis for interval-valued data Huiwen Wang, Rong Guan, Junjie Wu Video-based non-uniform object motion blur estimation and deblurring Xiaoyu Deng, Yan Shen, Mingli Song, Dacheng Tao, Jiajun Bu, Chun Chen ------------- BRIEF PAPERS Two-dimensional margin, similarity and variation embedding Quanxue Gao, Haijun Zhang, Jingjing Liu An affine invariant discriminate analysis with canonical correlation analysis Rushi Lan, Jianwei Yang, Yong Jiang, Zhan Song, Yuan Yan Tang A compact neural network for training support vector machines Yun Yang, Qiaochu He, Xiaolin Hu -------------- Neurocomputing volume 87 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231212X00079 -------------- REGULAR PAPERS An improved recursive reduced least squares support vector regression Yong-Ping Zhao, Jian-Guo Sun, Zhong-Hua Du, Zhi-An Zhang, Yu-Chen Zhang, Hai-Bo Zhang H? mode-independent filter design for Markovian jump genetic regulatory networks with time-varying delays Mohammad Mohammadian, Amir Hossein Abolmasoumi, Hamid Reza Momeni Refining Gaussian mixture model based on enhanced manifold learning Jianfeng Shen, Jiajun Bu, Bin Ju, Tao Jiang, Hao Wu, Lanjuan Li Robust stability and robust passivity of parabolic complex networks with parametric uncertainties and time-varying delays Jin-Liang Wang, Huai-Ning Wu On the issue of separability for problem decomposition in cooperative neuro-evolution Rohitash Chandra, Marcus Frean, Mengjie Zhang Reconstructive discriminant analysis: A feature extraction method induced from linear regression classification Yi Chen, Zhong Jin Recognizing human actions using a new descriptor based on spatial?temporal interest points and weighted-output classifier Xunshi Yan, Yupin Luo Novel fast random search clustering algorithm for mixing matrix identification in MIMO linear blind inverse problems with sparse inputs David Luengo, Sandra Monz?n, Antonio Art?s-Rodr?guez Online sequential extreme learning machine with forgetting mechanism Jianwei Zhao, Zhihui Wang, Dong Sun Park Quantum evolutionary clustering algorithm based on watershed applied to SAR image segmentation Yangyang Li, Hongzhu Shi, Licheng Jiao, Ruochen Liu Human fringe skeleton extraction by an improved Hopfield neural network with direction features Xin Huang, Kuangrong Hao, Yongsheng Ding An evolving neuro-fuzzy technique for system state forecasting Wilson Wang, De Z. Li, Joe Vrbanek Clustering analysis using manifold kernel concept factorization Ping Li, Chun Chen, Jiajun Bu -------------- BRIEF PAPER Sensor selection schemes for consensus based distributed estimation over energy constrained wireless sensor networks Wen Yang, Hongbo Shi --------------- Neurocomputing volume 88 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231212X00080 ---------------- SPECIAL ISSUE (Intelligent and Autonomous Systems) Special issue on intelligent and autonomous systems (editorial) Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, Piotr J?drzejowicz, Geuk Lee Enhancing performance and accuracy of ontology integration by propagating priorly matchable concepts Trong Hai Duong, Geun Sik Jo Search modes for the cooperative multi-agent system solving the vehicle routing problem Dariusz Barbucha Adaptive critic-based neuro-fuzzy controller in multi-agents: Distributed behavioral control and path tracking Ramin Vatankhah, Shahram Etemadi, Aria Alasty, Gholamreza Vossoughi Semantic optimization of query transformation in a large-scale peer-to-peer network Jason J. Jung Decisional DNA: A multi-technology shareable knowledge structure for decisional experience Cesar Sanin, Carlos Toro, Zhang Haoxi, Eider Sanchez, Edward Szczerbicki, Eduardo Carrasco, Wang Peng, Leonardo Mancilla-Amaya Indirect adaptive tracking control of a nonholonomic mobile robot via neural networks Omid Mohareri, Rached Dhaouadi, Ahmad B. Rad Active leading through obstacles using ant-colony algorithm Ramin Vatankhah, Shahram Etemadi, Aria Alasty, Gholam-Reza Vossoughi, Mehrdad Boroushaki Host-based intrusion detection systems adapted from agent-based artificial immune systems Chung-Ming Ou Generalization of TORCS car racing controllers with artificial neural networks and linear regression analysis Kyung-Joong Kim, Jun-Ho Seo, Jung-Guk Park, Joong Chae Na -------------- Neurocomputing volume 89 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231212X00092 --------------- REGULAR PAPERS An overall-regional competitive self-organizing map neural network for the Euclidean traveling salesman problem Junying Zhang, Xuerong Feng, Bin Zhou, Dechang Ren Robust visual tracking using structural region hierarchy and graph matching Yi-Zhe Song, Chuan Li, Liang Wang, Peter Hall, Peiyi Shen A realistic dynamic facial expression transfer method Yanning Zhang, Wei Wei Incorporation of radius-info can be simple with SimpleMKL Xinwang Liu, Lei Wang, Jianping Yin, Lingqiao Liu Feature selection for MAUC-oriented classification systems Rui Wang, Ke Tang Exponential stability of impulsive stochastic fuzzy reaction?diffusion Cohen?Grossberg neural networks with mixed delays Changhong Wang, Yonggui Kao, Guowei Yang Complete local Fisher discriminant analysis with Laplacian score ranking for face recognition Hong Huang, Hailiang Feng, Chengyu Peng Local CCA alignment and its applications Lai Wei, Feifei Xu Incremental threshold learning for classifier selection Yanwei Pang, Junping Deng, Yuan Yuan Global exponential synchronization of generalized stochastic neural networks with mixed time-varying delays and reaction-diffusion terms Qintao Gan Analysis on equilibrium points of cells in cellular neural networks described using cloning templates Qi Han, Xiaofeng Liao, Tengfei Weng, Chuandong Li, Hongyu Huang Shape-based retrieval and analysis of 3D models using fuzzy weighted symmetrical depth images Kuan-Sheng Zou, Chee-Kooi Chan, Si-Xiang Peng, Ameersing Luximon, Zeng-Qiang Chen, Wai-Hung Ip Registering sets of points using Bayesian regression Demetrios Gerogiannis, Christophoros Nikou, Aristidis Likas The intrinsic phase response properties of an interneuron model Meili Lu, Donghui Li, Xile Wei, Bin Deng, Jiang Wang Boundedness and convergence of batch back-propagation algorithm with penalty for feedforward neural networks Huisheng Zhang, Wei Wu, Mingchen Yao Local and global structure preserving based feature selection Yazhou Ren, Guoji Zhang, Guoxian Yu, Xuan Li Can under-exploited structure of original-classes help ECOC-based multi-class classification? Yunyun Wang, Songcan Chen, Hui Xue Hybrid synchronization of the general delayed and non-delayed complex dynamical networks via pinning control Xiangjun Wu, Hongtao Lu Parameter estimation of fuzzy neural network controller based on a modified differential evolution Hung-Ching Lu, Ming-Hung Chang, Cheng-Hung Tsai Bogdanov?Takens bifurcation in a single inertial neuron model with delay Xing He, Chuandong Li, Yonglu Shu Human action recognition using a fast learning fully complex-valued classifier R. Venkatesh Babu, S. Suresh, R. Savitha ---------------- BRIEF PAPER ---------------- A new handwritten character segmentation method based on nonlinear clustering Jun Tan, Jian-Huang Lai, Chang-Dong Wang, Wen-Xian Wang, Xiao-Xiong Zuo ----------------- Neurocomputing volume 90 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231212X00109 ------------------ SPECIAL ISSUE (ESANN 2011) Advances in artificial neural networks, machine learning, and computational intelligence (ESANN 2011; editorial) John A. Lee, Petra Schneider, John Quinn Feature selection with missing data using mutual information estimators Gauthier Doquire, Michel Verleysen Probabilistic Fisher discriminant analysis: A robust and flexible alternative to Fisher discriminant analysis Charles Bouveyron, Camille Brunet Stochastic neighbor embedding (SNE) for dimension reduction and visualization using arbitrary divergences Kerstin Bunte, Sven Haase, Michael Biehl, Thomas Villmann A multiple kernel framework for inductive semi-supervised SVM learning Xilan Tian, Gilles Gasso, St?phane Canu Adaptive kernel smoothing regression for spatio-temporal environmental datasets Federico Montesino Pouzols, Amaury Lendasse Identification of spatial and temporal features of EEG Nisrine Jrad, Marco Congedo Approximation techniques for clustering dissimilarity data Xibin Zhu, Andrej Gisbrecht, Frank-Michael Schleif, Barbara Hammer Functional relevance learning in generalized learning vector quantization Marika K?stner, Barbara Hammer, Michael Biehl, Thomas Villmann Regularization and stability in reservoir networks with output feedback Ren? Felix Reinhart, Jochen Jakob Steil General bound of overfitting for MLP regression models J. Rynkiewicz From bowlby at bu.edu Fri May 11 09:00:32 2012 From: bowlby at bu.edu (Brian Bowlby) Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 09:00:32 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: 16th ICCNS conference: Final call for registration Message-ID: SIXTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS May 30 ? June 1, 2012 Boston University 677 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA http://cns.bu.edu/cns-meeting/conference.html Sponsored by the Boston University Center for Adaptive Systems, Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology (CompNet), and Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (CELEST) with financial support from the National Science Foundation This interdisciplinary conference is attended each year by approximately 300 people from 30 countries around the world. As in previous years, the conference will focus on solutions to the questions: HOW DOES THE BRAIN CONTROL BEHAVIOR? HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY EMULATE BIOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE? The conference is aimed at researchers and students of computational neuroscience, cognitive science, neural networks, neuromorphic engineering, and artificial intelligence. It includes invited lectures and contributed lectures and posters by experts on the biology and technology of how the brain and other intelligent systems adapt to a changing world. The conference is particularly interested in exploring how the brain and biologically-inspired algorithms and systems in engineering and technology can learn. Single-track oral and poster sessions enable all presented work to be highly visible. Three-hour poster sessions with no conflicting events will be held on two of the conference days. Posters will be up all day, and can also be viewed during breaks in the talk schedule. CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS Martin Banks (University of California, Berkeley) Combining depth information from disparity and blur Helen Barbas (Boston University) [Plenary Speaker] Prefrontal pathways and flexible behavior Nathaniel Daw (New York University) Reinforcement learning in humans: Beyond reinforcement Paul Glimcher (New York University) Cortical normalization and the neural mechanisms of decision-making Stephen Grossberg (Boston University) [Plenary Speaker] How can children (and robots) learn to follow gaze, share joint attention, imitate their teachers, and use tools during social interactions? Lori Holt (Carnegie Mellon University) Using speech to listen in on auditory processing Margaret Livingstone (Harvard Medical School) Functional modules: How do we get them and what good are they? Zhong-Lin Lu (Ohio State University) Functions and mechanisms of perceptual learning Christopher Pack (McGill University) Hierarchical processing of complex motion along the primate dorsal visual pathway Max Riesenhuber (Georgetown University) Object recognition in cortex: From pipelines to flying crossbodies Veit Stuphorn (Johns Hopkins University) The role of the Supplementary Eye Field in value-based decision-making Jeffrey Taube (Dartmouth College) Learning and memory in the head direction cell circuit: How head direction cells guide behavior CELEST WORKSHOP ON ?BUILDING AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS? Gary Bradski (Willow Garage) Perception tools and systems for autonomous robots Stefano Fusi (Columbia University) Constructing efficient neural representations for both biological and neuromorphic artificial systems Jeff Krichmar (University of California, Irvine) Design principles for biologically inspired cognitive robotics Greg Snider (Hewlett Packard Labs) Robot brains from dynamic fields Max Versace (Boston University) Intelligent machines or bust REGISTRATION FORM Sixteenth International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems May 30 ? June 1, 2012 Boston University 677 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA Fax: +1 617 353 7755 Mr/Ms/Dr/Prof:_____________________________________________________ Affiliation:_________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City, State, Postal Code:______________________________________________ Phone and Fax:_____________________________________________________ Email:____________________________________________________________ The registration fee includes a copy of the conference proceedings volume, a reception on Friday night, and 3 coffee breaks each day. CHECK ONE: ( ) $135 Conference (Regular) ( ) $85 Conference (Student) METHOD OF PAYMENT: [ ] Enclosed is a check made payable to "Boston University" Checks must be made payable in US dollars and issued by a US correspondent bank. Each registrant is responsible for any and all bank charges. [ ] I wish to pay by credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or Discover Card only) Name as it appears on the card:___________________________________________ Type of card: _____________________________ Expiration date:________________ Account number: _______________________________________________________ Signature:____________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120511/4464ea89/attachment-0001.html From t.nowotny at sussex.ac.uk Thu May 10 12:26:06 2012 From: t.nowotny at sussex.ac.uk (Thomas Nowotny) Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 17:26:06 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Computational Neuroethology workshop at University of Sussex, UK In-Reply-To: <4FABEBFB.3000307@sussex.ac.uk> References: <4FABEBFB.3000307@sussex.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4FABEC1E.6000007@sussex.ac.uk> Computational Neuroethology at Sussex: A One-Day Workshop In conjunction with the Mind and Brain theme, the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics would like to announce a one-day workshop, to be held on the 30th May, with a computational neuroethology theme: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ccnr/research/workshop The day will feature talks from external and internal speakers and cover a broad range of computational neuroscience and computational neuroethology. Computational neuroscience is a Sussex strength, with cutting-edge research across four schools. We hope the workshop, and associated social events, will be a great chance to bring people, with shared interests together External Speakers: Mark van Rossum (Edinburgh), Kevin Gurney (Sheffield) Seth Bullock (Southampton) Registration is free but is essential for catering reasons so please email Paul Graham (p.r.graham at sussex.ac.uk) to register. Posters accepted on first-come-first-served basis as space is limited so please ask for a poster spot when you register. We will be organising an informal pub-based social event in the evening (in Brighton), so book a room or plan on getting the last train!). Links to travel and accommodation information can be found on the website: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ccnr/research/workshop -- Dr. Thomas Nowotny RCUK Academic Fellow & Senior Research Fellow Phone: +44-1273-678593 CCNR, Informatics, Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny From christopher.pack at mcgill.ca Mon May 14 09:41:49 2012 From: christopher.pack at mcgill.ca (Christopher Pack, Dr.) Date: Mon, 14 May 2012 13:41:49 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: postdoctoral fellowship in systems neuroscience Message-ID: Applications are requested for a postdoctoral position in systems neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), which is part of McGill University's School of Medicine. The MNI is located in downtown Montreal, Canada, and provides a multifaceted neuroscience environment with clinical and research activities housed under one roof. The successful candidate will work in the lab of Christopher Pack to study the role of the extrastriate visual cortex in perception and behavior. The lab has facilities for multi-electrode recordings, human psychophysics, TMS, and eye movement monitoring. More information on our current research interests can be found at: http://packlab.mcgill.ca The candidate must have obtained a Ph.D. in neuroscience or a related field in the last 3 years and have prior research experience in one or more of the following areas: -computational/theoretical neuroscience -micro-electrode recording of neural activity -analysis of neural signals Starting date is negotiable. Please send curriculum vitae, brief statement of research interests and accomplishments, and names of two references to christopher.pack at mcgill.ca. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120514/f3435ec2/attachment.html From longlifelee at gmail.com Sun May 13 01:54:05 2012 From: longlifelee at gmail.com (Soo-Young Lee) Date: Sun, 13 May 2012 14:54:05 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Computational Models of Cognitive Functions: Special Session on ICONIP2012, Doha, Qatar Message-ID: You are cordianlly invited to submit a paper to Speccion Session on Computational Models of Cognitive Functions: Theory and Applications, at ICONIP2012, Doha Qatar, Nov. 12-15, 2012 Submission Deadline: June 1, 2012 Recently the computational models of cognitive functions had got a lot of attention from both cognitive science and neural networks communities. It aims to understand the cognitive mechanism in our brain and also develop intelligence machine based on the mechanism. Although the audio-visual perception had attracted attention before, recently people are also interested in the higher cognition function such as learning, emotion, attention, intention, situation awareness, decision making, consciousness, and behavior. At this Special Session we would like to present and discuss computational models of cognitive functions from theory to applications, and also from perception to higher cognitive functions. All accepted papers will be published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) and/or special issues of SCI journals. Already confirmed special issues will be published in the following SCI journals: -Cognitive Computation -Neural Computing and Applications -Neurocomputing Session Organizer: Soo-Young Lee Brain Science Research Center and Department of Electrical Engineering KAIST sylee at kaist.ac.kr From metzner at rob.uni-luebeck.de Mon May 14 08:44:10 2012 From: metzner at rob.uni-luebeck.de (Christoph Metzner) Date: Mon, 14 May 2012 14:44:10 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Multi-scale Modeling in Computational Neuroscience: Call for Registration Message-ID: *Multi-scale Modeling in Computational Neuroscience* To be held *September 3rd ? September 8th*, 2012, University of L?beck, L?beck Germany As the field of computational neuroscience continues to mature, it is clear that understanding the nervous system from a computational point of view will require modeling at multiple levels of scale from sub-cellular to systems and behavior. This hands-on workshop will consider both issues and techniques involved in modeling nervous systems at single levels of scale such as intracellular, single neuron and network models, as well as the opportunities for scientific discovery when models at these scales are linked. With a strong emphasis on hands on experience, the workshop will also include lectures focused on multi-scale modeling. The workshop is designed for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or faculty interesting in the practical application and development of multi-scale modeling techniques. Through simulation projects, participants will have the opportunity to create realistic neural models from sub-cellular to network levels. This will provide an excellent opportunity for those with previous experience in neural simulation to learn new techniques and strategies for multi-scale modeling. Although participants can use the simulator of their choosing, this workshop will also introduce GENESIS 3 (G-3), a modular reimplementation of the GENESIS neural simulator that has capabilities uniquely suited for multi-scale modeling. The international faculty includes: *Dr.** **James** **M.** **Bower* (University of Texas System) who has been involved in the development of software tools for multi-scale modeling for 30 years. *Dr.** **David** **Beeman** *(University of Colorado) who has supported multi-scale modeling both as an instructor in numerous international courses in computational biology as well as in his role as director of the GENESIS users group. *Dr.** **Avrama** **Blackwell* (George Mason University) who?s modeling and experimental expertise involves the investigation of molecular synaptic mechanisms. *Dr.** **Hugo** **Cornelis* (Lead GENESIS developer) with expertise both in the design and construction of multi-scale simulation systems as well as modeling at single cell and network levels. *Dr.** **Volker** **Steuber* (University of Hertfordshire) with expertise in biochemical, single cell, network and systems level modeling and analysis. *Mr.** **Armando** **Rodriguez** *(University of Texas San Antonio) an expert in interface design and interoperability in simulations systems. *Application** **deadline** **is** August 15th. * Applications and inquiries should be sent to: * gen3 at gradschool.uni-luebeck.de * Please see the website at: *https://www.gradschool.uni-luebeck.de/index.php?id=366* for the latest detailed information. The workshop is limited to 20 total participants and therefore, those interested should register as soon as possible. In addition to the scientific activities, several social activities have also been planned including a day spent on the shore of the Baltic Sea. -- ========================================================================================================= Institute for Robotics and Cognitive Systems -- University of Luebeck Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences -- University of Luebeck -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dipl. Math. Christoph Metzner tel: +49 451 317 931 12 University of Luebeck secretary: +49 451 500 5201 Institute for Robotics fax: +49 451 500 5202 Ratzeburger Allee 160 mail: metzner at rob.uni-luebeck.de D-23538 Luebeck, Germany www: http://www.rob.uni-luebeck.de // http://www.gradschool.uni-luebeck.de/ ========================================================================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120514/7ba2c86e/attachment-0001.html From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Thu May 24 04:31:16 2012 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 16:31:16 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: 19th ICONIP'2012, Qatar, 12-15 Nov, 2012: Special Session on Computationally Intelligent Techniques in Processing Neural Information Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. In the upcoming premier 19th International Conference on Neural Information Processing 2012 (ICONIP2012, http://www.iconip2012.org) to be held in Qatar, from 12-15 November 2012, there will be a special session on 'Computationally Intelligent Techniques in Processing Neural Information'. Selected papers from the session will be requested to extend for possible special issues in Cognitive Computation or Neural Computing and Applications or Neurocomputing. Call for Papers -------------------- Important dates: Submission deadline for regular and special session papers: June 1, 2012 Notification of acceptance: August 1, 2012 Camera-ready final paper submission: September 1, 2012 Special Session on: Computationally Intelligent Techniques in Processing Neural Information The brain as a part of the central nervous system (CNS) is specialized to process information simultaneously coming from many different sources. The neurons work as basic information processing units in the brain and interconnect to each other to form hierarchical and/or parallel pathways. These pathways are mainly involved in transforming information originated from one or more sources into either action (as in motor movements) or specialized information understood by the brain itself (as in cognitive functions). To have a detailed and complete understanding of these biological phenomena two approaches have been practiced by the research community ? experimental and theoretical studies. Also, some theoretical studies are inspired by the nature itself which reframes earlier computational techniques to suggest research on biophysical basis of brain research and its information processing capabilities. The focus of this invited session is to address the recent advances in computationally intelligent techniques in processing neural information. There has been a significance increase in research activities in these areas in diverse specialties including neuroengineering, computer, electrical and biomedical engineering. Developing computationally intelligent methods capable of deciphering brain?s information processing capability is one the biggest challenges in these fields. The objective of this special session is to provide updated information and a forum for the scientists and researchers who are looking for more relevant information in decoding brain functions using expert and computationally intelligent systems. This special session is expected to attract papers on recent research progress in the area of intelligent computational methods in processing neural signals. The focus areas include the following (but are not limited to): - Computationally Intelligent Techniques for Neuroscience Applications - Neural Systems Engineering and Technology - Brain Computer Interface and Neural Pathway - Neural Signal Processing and Modeling - Biologically Inspired Methods for Neuronal Network Analysis - Biologically Inspired Methods for Pattern Analysis in Neuronal Signals - Machine Learning Methods in Application to Brain Research - Measurement Methods with Application to Cognition Research Organizers: Mufti Mahmud, PhD NeuroChip Laboratory, University of Padova, 35131 ? Padova, Italy & Institute of Information Technology, Jahangirnagar University, 1342 ? Dhaka, Bangladesh Email: Mahmud at dei.unipd.it, website: http://www.muftimahmud.co.nr/ and Amir Hussain, PhD Cognitive Signal Image Processing & Control Systems Research (COSIPRA) Lab, Division of Computing Science, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK Email: ahu at ahu@cs.stir.ac.uk, website: http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/ Looking forward to see you at Qatar. -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120524/22326a48/attachment.html From antonio.chella at unipa.it Wed May 16 14:27:35 2012 From: antonio.chella at unipa.it (Antonio Chella 062003) Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 19:27:35 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: BICA 2012 Call for Papers Message-ID: <20120516182643.M62531@unipa.it> BICA 2012 CALL FOR PAPER Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA), Third Annual Meeting of the BICA Society Palermo, Italy, October 31st - November 3rd http://chilab.dinfo.unipa.it/bica2012/ The challenge of creating a real-life computational equivalent of the human mind, known as the BICA Challenge, calls for our joint efforts to develop biologically-inspired intelligent agents that can be accepted and trusted by the human society in various roles, on an equal footing with human agents. The main objective of BICA 2012 is to take a significant step forward towards the BICA Challenge. The topics of BICA 2012 will include (but will not be limited to): - models capable of inducing the sense of presence in artifacts; - the ?critical mass? of a human-level learner; - emotional competence and social intelligence in artifacts; - machine consciousness and BICA; - models of perception, cognition and action; - robust and scalable learning mechanisms; - realistic neural networks for BICA; - human-like episodic and semantic memory; - metacognition in BICA; - self-regulated, bootstrapped and meta-learning; - language acquisition and symbol grounding; - non-von-Neumann computational systems for BICA; - a roadmap to the BICA Challenge. Format: A two-day conference including keynote talks, paper presentations, panel discussions and exhibits. Chairs: General Chair: Antonio Chella (University of Palermo, Italy) Program Chairs: Kamilla J?hannsd?ttir (Reykjavik University, Iceland), Roberto Pirrone (University of Palermo, Italy) Local Organization Chair: Rosario Sorbello (University of Palermo, Italy) Confirmed keynote talks: Karlheinz Meier (University of Heidelberg, Germany) Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University, Japan) Giorgio Ascoli (George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA) Igor Aleksander (Imperial College, London, UK) Giulio Sandini (IIT and University of Genoa, Italy) Kristinn R. Th?risson (IIIM and Reykjavik University, Iceland) Ricardo Sanz (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain) Pentti Haikonen (University of Illinois at Springfield, USA) Christian Lebiere (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) Michele Migliore (CNR, Palermo, Italy) Soo-Young Lee (KAIST, Republic of Korea) Alexei Samsonovich (George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA) Raul Arrabales (Univerdidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain) Ignazio Licata (ISEM, Palermo, Italy) Submission categories are: - short abstracts; - extended abstracts; - position papers up to two pages; - research papers up to six pages. Submissions longer than six pages are welcome; a fee of 50 USD per extra page will be charged to authors. Paper and abstract submission: Please submit your paper using the EasyChair Conference System: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bica2012 The conference proceedings will be published in a volume of the Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing Book Series by Springer (indexed by ISI, Scopus, DBLP, among others). See Instructions for Authors: http://www.springer.com/series/4240 Extended versions of selected papers will be published after the conference in a special issue of the journal BICA (Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, published by Elsevier) and in a special issue of the International Journal of Machine Consciousness (published by World Scientific). Critical dates: April 1st : submission site opened; June 1st : submission deadline; June 30th : notification of acceptance; July 15th : camera ready papers due (Springer template mandatory); October 31st : pre-conference workshops and reception; November 1st - 2nd : BICA 2012 conference; November 3rd : Excursion. NOTE: Please submit paper abstract as soon as possible! Information about BICA 2012 can be found at http://chilab.dinfo.unipa.it/bica2012/ We are looking forward to seeing you in Palermo! Vi aspettiamo! From brandporter at gmail.com Wed May 23 03:14:56 2012 From: brandporter at gmail.com (Brandon Porter) Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 03:14:56 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: request Message-ID: We are a private neuroscience laboratory looking for someone with experience in physiological data analysis and artificial intelligence to help in an entrepreneurial project. Experience in sleep study analysis is a plus. Brandon Porter, MD, PhD Ethical Science Foundation brandporter at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120523/54d0f15e/attachment.html From daniele.marinazzo at gmail.com Wed May 23 08:10:07 2012 From: daniele.marinazzo at gmail.com (Daniele Marinazzo) Date: Wed, 23 May 2012 14:10:07 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position - brain connectivity and neuroimaging data analysis Message-ID: A PhD position is available at the department of Data Analysis, Ghent University, Belgium (http://www.da.ugent.be). The PhD project is focused on brain connectivity and will involve both theoretical research and application to specific neuroimaging datasets. The student will be part of a research group focusing on the development and validation of new methods for the analysis of neuroimaging data, in the framework of a multidisciplinary collaboration with psychologists and clinicians. The candidate has ideally a master degree in physics, mathematics or engineering, knows at least one programming language (matlab, R, C, etc) and has an interest for multidisciplinary research. The University of Gent hosts a vibrant research community and offers excellent facilities to students and employees. The starting date is October 1st 2012. Candidates are invited to send a motivation letter and the names of two referees to Daniele Marinazzo (daniele.marinazzo at ugent.be) Informal inquiries and requests for further information are most welcome. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120523/35fecb8e/attachment.html From horacio at math.bu.edu Thu May 17 08:14:27 2012 From: horacio at math.bu.edu (Horacio G. Rotstein) Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 08:14:27 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position - Mathematical & Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: The Department of Mathematical Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology has an opening for a post-doctoral appointment beginning September 1, 2012. Applicants should have a PhD in Applied Mathematics, Mathematics, or related fields. Ideal candidates would share research interests with our large group of math biologists, but would also be capable of pursuing their own independent research projects. Members of the Math Biology group have affiliations with the Department of Biological Sciences (Rutgers / NJIT) and the Behavioral Neuroscience Program at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN), Rutgers University. Details on how to apply for the position may be found at http://math.njit.edu/about/math_jobs.php Review of applications will begin immediately. Horacio G. Rotstein Associate Professor Department of Mathematical Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology Graduate Faculty Behavioral Neuroscience Program Rutgers University (NWK) "Az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeide" (yiddish expression) From jms at isep.ipp.pt Wed May 16 12:17:58 2012 From: jms at isep.ipp.pt (Jorge M. Santos) Date: Wed, 16 May 2012 17:17:58 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: POST-DOCTORAL GRANT on Reusable Deep Neural Networks Message-ID: <0e5f01cd337f$754dab60$5fe90220$@isep.ipp.pt> POST-DOCTORAL GRANT A Post-Doctoral Grant vacancy is now open under the project Reusable Deep Neural Networks: applications to biomedical data (Ref PTDC/EIA-EIA/119004/2010). More information available at http://www.eracareers.pt/opportunities/index.aspx?task=global&jobId=29840 __________________________________________________ Jorge M. Santos Assistant Professor, PhD Department of Mathematics ISEP, School of Engineering. Polytechnic of Porto. Portugal Rua Dr. Ant?nio Bernardino de Almeida, 431 P-4200-072 PORTO PORTUGAL -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120516/326b6cee/attachment.html From kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Mon May 21 06:17:59 2012 From: kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Janina Kirsch) Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 12:17:59 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for applications ----- BCF/NWG-Course: Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology, Freiburg, Germany References: <001401cb0d47$5fc842b0$1f58c810$@uni-freiburg.de> <000801cbf531$223d33b0$66b79b10$@uni-freiburg.de> <003d01cc2f55$dc5511b0$94ff3510$@uni-freiburg.de> Message-ID: <007f01cd373a$ffc7fde0$ff57f9a0$@uni-freiburg.de> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% BCF/NWG-Course: Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology %% %% October 7-12, 2012 %% %% Application deadline: June 30, 2012 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Aim of the course %% The course is intended to provide advanced Diploma/Masters and PhD students, as well as young researchers from the neurosciences with approaches for the analysis of electrophysiological data and the theoretical concepts behind them. http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/events/conferences-workshops/20121007-nwgcourse The course includes various topics such as ? Neuron models and spike train statistics ? Point processes and correlation measures ? Systems and signals ? Local field potentials and synaptic plasticity The course will consist of lectures in the morning and and matching exercises using Matlab and Mathematica. Experience with these software packages will be helpful but is not required for registration. The participants should have a basic understanding of scientific programming. This course is designated especially for advanced diploma/M.Sc.-students and PhD-students (preferentially in their first year). %% Faculty %% ? Dr. Stefan Rotter, Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg ? Dr. Sonja Gruen, Research Center J?lich ? Dr. Ulrich Egert, Biomicrotechnology, Department of Microsystems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Freiburg ? Dr. Ad Aertsen, Neurobiology & Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, %% Application %% Please apply by sending an email containing your CV and a meaningfull letter of motivation to nwg-course at bcf.uni-freiburg.de The course is limited to 20 participants. Course fees: NWG members: 50 Euro others: 125 Euro %% Course venue %% Bernstein Center Freiburg, Lecture Hall and Computerlab (ground floor), Hansastr. 9a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/contact/findus %% Contact %% Dr. Janina Kirsch, Bernstein Center Freiburg Germany Tel: +49 761 203 9575 Fax: +49 761 203 9559 Email: nwg-course at bcf.uni-freiburg.de From rapela at ucsd.edu Tue May 22 14:54:12 2012 From: rapela at ucsd.edu (Joaquin Rapela) Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 11:54:12 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position on motor control in Buenos Aires, Argentina Message-ID: <20120522185412.GA16327@sccn.ucsd.edu> Prof. Della-Maggiore, in the lively city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is looking for a postdoctoral scholar to work in his dynamic motor-control laboratory. Please contact her directly (vdellamaggiore at fmed.uba.ar) if interested. Cordially, Joaquin The Physiology of Action Lab (www.physiologyofactionlab.info) is looking for a candidate to fill a postdoctoral position in the Department of Physiology of the University of Buenos Aires. The Laboratory focuses on Human Behavioral Neuroscience, particularly in the area of motor control. We use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, EEG and psychophysics to study the neural mechanisms at the basis of different aspects of control motor. These include motor resonance and action understanding during action observation, online motor control and motor learning. Plastic changes induced by learning and stroke are also main interests of the lab. We are looking for a Ph.D with a background in motor control and, preferably, with experience in Magnetic Resonance imaging. Candidates with knowledge of Matlab would have priority. The postdoc is funded by a fellowship from the National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology (Argentina). Interested candidates could contact Dr. Valeria Della Maggiore at vdellamaggiore at fmed.uba.ar with a CV, a letter of interest and one or two references (email). Many thanks -- Valeria Della-Maggiore, Ph. D Department of Physiology, School of Medicine University of Buenos Aires Paraguay 2155, Capital Federal Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Argentina phone 54 11 5 950 9500 (2132) http://www.physiologyofactionlab.info ------------------------------------------------------------ being wild and disciplined at the same time.... -- Joaquin Rapela, PhD Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience University of California San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA 92093-0559 tel: (858) 822-7536 fax: (858) 822-7556 http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~rapela ---------------------------------- Meszla de noches y part?culas vol?tiles, la ciudad [Venecia] es finalmente la ?nica expresi?n de su voluntad. Sin doble ni duplicaci?n posible, es la quintaesencia de una forma de excepci?n: el desaf?o lanzado a la naturaleza, la suma del orgullo y la cultura llevados a su paroxismo. Es la producci?n de un pensamiento, el acabamiento y el cumplimiento de un proyecto de titanes que quisieron inscribir en el agua, en la laguna, en la superficie m?vil de la ci?naga, un sue?o petrificado: la mineralidad y su permanencia contra el equ?voco de los elementos desgastados por el tiempo. Sue?o de raz?n cumplido pese a todo, meditaci?n de temperamentos y caracteres que disfrutan con la provocaci?n de las mentalidades tristes que, siempre, retroceden ante los poderes de la determinaci?n y la tenacidad: Venecia es el resultado de los esponsales entre la resoluci?n y la energ?a. Igualmente, expresa la densidad, la concentraci?n de un m?ximo de desaf?o en un m?nimo de superficie. Contra y a pesar del agua, el oro y el m?rmol: las materias de la excelencia, las cualidades de la excepcionalidad y de la nobleza. La ciudad muestra la arrogancia acabada de los hombres contra la naturaleza, la poderosa eficacia de la voluntad sobre el destino. Me parece una met?fora estructurante. Michele Onfray La Estructura de s? From t.j.prescott at sheffield.ac.uk Sun May 20 21:25:13 2012 From: t.j.prescott at sheffield.ac.uk (Tony Prescott) Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 02:25:13 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Living Machines 2012: Call for Participation and Exhibits Message-ID: ___________________________________________________________ Call for Participation and Exhibits LIVING MACHINES 2012: The First International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems 9th-12th July 2012 La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain http://csnetwork.eu/conf2012 **Latest news: Call for papers now closed. Programme to be published shortly. Proceedings to be published by Springer LNCS Register by MAY 31ST FOR DISCOUNT RATE. Workshops on biohybrid systems, neuromorphics, and soft robotics Exhibition. Registered participants may bring a biomimetic or biohybrid system demo at no additional cost. Attractive rates and facilities for full exhibits. Please see further information at: http://www.csnetwork.eu/system/files/Exhibitor_sponsor_information_May1st-1.pdf ___________________________________________________________ ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2012 The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems. Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering. Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component?an existing living system?and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The development of either biomimetic or biohybrid systems requires a deep understanding of the operation of living systems, and the two fields are united under the theme of ?living machines??the idea that we can construct artefacts, such as robots, that not only mimic life but share the same fundamental principles; or build technologies that can be combined with a living body to restore or extend its functional capabilities. Biomimetic and biohybrid technologies, from nano- to macro-scale, are expected to produce major societal and economical impacts in quality of life and health, information and communication technologies, robotics, prosthetics, brain-machine interfacing and nanotechnology. Such systems should also lead to significant advances in the biological and brain sciences that will help us to better understand ourselves and the natural world. The following are some examples: ? Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can intelligently interact with their environments. ? Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair. ? Biomimetic computers?neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour. ? Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants. ? Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses. ? Organism-level biohybrids such as robot-animal or robot-human systems. ACTIVITIES The main conference, 10th?12th July, will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme that will include six plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems. The proceedings of the conference will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). Submissions will be in the form of full papers or extended abstracts. Submissions are also invited for an exhibition to feature working biomimetic or biohybrid systems and biomimetic/biohybrid art. Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are also invited to propose topics for 1-day tutorials or workshops on related themes, to be held on the 9th July. Plenary speakers are: Joseph Ayers (Northeastern University) on synthetic neuroethology; Dieter Braun (Ludwig Maximilians University) on synthetic life, Peter Fromherz (Max Plank Institute) on neuroelectronic hybrids; Toshio Fukuda (Nagoya University) on micro-nano biomimetic and biohybrid devices; David Lentink (Stanford University) on fluid dynamics of flight; and Barry Trimmer (Tufts University) on soft, invertebrate-inspired robots. ABOUT THE VENUE The organisers are delighted to have secured La Pedrera ( www.lapedreraeducacio.org/) as the venue for our conference. La Pedrera, designed by the modernist, nature-inspired Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, is a world heritage site, and one of the best known buildings in Barcelona. The conference will make use of the modern conference facilities provided by the La Pedrera Auditorium, whilst the exhibition will take place in the adjacent Gaudi Hall. La Pedrera is located within the fashionable Eixample district and within walking distance of Barcelona?s old city, including the Gotic quarter, the cathedral, and the Playa Catalunya. The workshops/tutorial day will be hosted at the University Pompeu Fabra, Campus Poblenou. DEADLINES May 31st. Close of early registration. July 9-12th 2012. Conference (9th July is workshops/tutorials) SPONSORSHIP Living Machines 2012 is sponsored by the Convergent Science Network (CSN) for Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems which is an EU FP7 Future Emerging Technologies Co-ordination Activity (FP7-ICT-CSN-248986). CSN currently organises two highly successful workshop series: the Barcelona Summer School on Brain, Technology and Cognition (http://bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt11/) and the Capoccaccia Neuromorphic Cognitive Engineering Workshop ( http://capocaccia.ethz.ch/capo/wiki/2011). The conference is delighted to be associated with the Institute of Physics journal Biomimetics & Bioinspiration who will have a stand at meeting. Other organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products to through conference publications, the conference web-site, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the conference organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We are looking forwards to seeing you in Barcelona. Conference Secretariat: info.csnetwork at upf.edu Laboratory Of Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive And Cognitive Systems - SPECS Institute Of Audio-Visual Studies (IUA) Universitat Pompeu Fabra Communication-Poblenou Campus (La Nau Building) Postal address: Roc Boronat, 138. 08018 Barcelona Phone: (34) 93 542 22 01 Fax: (34) 93 542 22 02 Organising Committee: Tony Prescott (co-chair) Paul Verschure (co-chair) Giacomo Indiveri Stefano Vassanelli Ian Gwilt Carme Buisan Nathan Lepora Anna Mura -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20120520/dae72dc7/attachment-0001.html From thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk Thu May 24 09:11:51 2012 From: thomas.wennekers at plymouth.ac.uk (Thomas Wennekers) Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 14:11:51 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Deadline approaching --: Auditory Cognition Summerschool; 16-23rd July 2012, Plymouth, UK Message-ID: <201205241411.51563.thomas.wennekers@plymouth.ac.uk> >>>> DEADLINE for applications 27 May 2012 <<<< Auditory Cognition ? Listening in the real world 2nd Summer School on Auditory Cognition 16-23rd July 2012, Plymouth, UK The 2nd EU-Cog sponsored Summer School on Auditory Cognition will be taking place between July 16th and July 23rd, 2012, in Plymouth, UK. The summer school is exclusively focused on the topic of "Auditory Cognition - Listening in the Real World" and will cover a wide range of subjects, from the basics of auditory perception to higher order cognitive processes, as well as practical applications and new approaches to understanding auditory cognition. The School will be suitable for late-stage Masters and PhD students with an interest in Auditory Cognition and will consist of a 6-day educational program (seminars and practical sessions) complemented by group work projects for the students and a wide range of social activities. The Summer School will be a combination of both theory and practice, covering many levels of auditory processing. This will be a fairly challenging syllabus, introducing topics such as bottom-up processing of sounds to modern theories of awareness, music cognition, speech perception and new approaches in cochlear implants. The practical sessions in the afternoons will allow participants to gain hands-on experience of some of the techniques and applications discussed during the seminar sessions. Students will learn to make recordings both in the field and the lab, run some key experiments and be introduced to the body of methodological techniques associated with this field; student?s will also have the opportunity to produce and participate in a sonic-art performance in Plymouth University?s Immersive Vision Theatre. This year, the teachers and topics to be addressed are: ? Rhodri Cusack: Neural correlates of conscious auditory perception ? Maria Chait: Discovering and representing patterns in sound sequences ? Henkjan Honing: Music cognition ? Annemarie Surlykke: Biosonar: Using sounds to probe the world ? Dick Botteldooren: Environmental acoustics ? Sophie Scott: Neurobiology of speech perception ? Bernhard Laback: New approaches in cochlear implants ? Matt Coombe and Neil Rose: Sound and Space The deadline for applications is the 27/05/12; successful applicants will be notified by 10/06/12. For more information and to make an application, please visit: http://www.acsummerschool.org/index.php For information related to the educational programme and eligibility for the school please contact Orsolya Szal?rdy: szalardy at cogpsyphy.hu For other enquiries related to accommodation etc. then please contact Lucy Davies: lucy.davies4 at plymouth.ac.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relevant links with further information: http://www.acsummerschool.org/index.php http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/view.asp?page=38653 http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/science/elcetl/IVT.html From v.steuber at herts.ac.uk Tue May 22 11:41:01 2012 From: v.steuber at herts.ac.uk (Steuber, Volker) Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 16:41:01 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD studentships in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <18EF08266D889C41A14D1099C7102CE2BDDC7AC6A8@UH-MAILSTOR.herts.ac.uk> PhD Positions in Computational Neuroscience Science and Technology Research Institute University of Hertfordshire UK We invite applications for PhD studentships in the Biocomputation Research Group at the Science and Technology Research Institute at the University of Hertfordshire. PhD projects will involve computer simulations of biologically detailed models of neurons and neuronal networks in order to study information processing in the brain. More details about our research can be found on our home page http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/ and in our publications, in particular: Johannes Luthman, Freek E. Hoebeek, Reinoud Maex, Neil Davey, Rod Adams, Chris I. De Zeeuw and Volker Steuber (2011). STD-dependent and independent encoding of input irregularity as spike rate in a computational model of a cerebellar nucleus neuron. Cerebellum, 10, 667-682. Volker Steuber, Nathan Schultheiss, R Angus Silver, Erik De Schutter and Dieter Jaeger (2011). Determinants of synaptic integration and heterogeneity in rebound firing explored with data-driven models of deep cerebellar nucleus cells. Journal of Computational Neuroscience 30, 633-659. Jason Rothman, Laurence Cathala, Volker Steuber and R. Angus Silver (2009). Synaptic depression enables neuronal gain control. Nature 457, 1015-1018. Applicants should have good computational and numerical skills and an excellent first degree in computer science, biology, maths, physics, neuroscience, or a related discipline. Previous experience in neuroscience is not required but would be an advantage. Successful candidates are eligible for a research studentship award from the University (approximately GBP 13,600 per annum bursary plus the payment of the standard UK/EU student fees). Applicants from outside the UK or EU are eligible, but will have to pay half of the overseas fees out of their bursary. Information about the current tuition fees can be found under http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/fees-and-funding/postgraduate/home.cfm. Research in Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire has been recognized as excellent by the latest Research Assessment Exercise, with 55% of the research submitted being rated as world leading or internationally excellent. The Science and Technology Research Institute provides a stimulating environment, offering a large number of specialised and interdisciplinary seminars as well as general training opportunities. The University of Hertfordshire is situated in Hatfield, just north of London. Please contact Dr Volker Steuber for informal enquiries. Application forms are available under http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/positions.html and should be returned to Mrs Lorraine Nicholls, Research Student Administrator, STRI, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB, Tel: 01707 286083. The short-listing process will begin on 22 June 2012. From wolpert at eng.cam.ac.uk Thu May 24 05:20:26 2012 From: wolpert at eng.cam.ac.uk (Daniel Wolpert) Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 10:20:26 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Fellows in Sensorimotor Control, University of Cambridge Message-ID: <7C84A98A-84AB-4841-BBC5-A0557A9BFC7C@eng.cam.ac.uk> Postdoctoral Fellows in Sensorimotor Control, University of Cambridge We seek Postdoctoral Fellows to join Daniel Wolpert's group to investigate human sensorimotor decision-making, learning, integration and control using computational and experimental approaches. Further details on http://tinyurl.com/bnz4s5t Application deadline: 26 June 2012 Starting date: earliest from September 2012 Daniel Wolpert Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK Email: wolpert at eng.cam.ac.uk Web: www.wolpertlab.com From chiestand at salk.edu Fri May 25 19:55:59 2012 From: chiestand at salk.edu (Chris Hiestand) Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 16:55:59 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS 2012 Call for Demonstrations Message-ID: <16784C9F-A457-401D-9629-E106B0B3AA02@salk.edu> Demonstration Proposal Deadline: Monday September 17, 2012 11:59 (UTC) The Neural Information Processing Systems Conference 2012 http://nips.cc/Conferences/2012/ has a Demonstration Track running in parallel with the evening Poster Sessions, December 3-5, 2012, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA. Demonstrations offer a unique opportunity to showcase: * Hardware technology * Software systems * Neuromorphic and biologically-inspired systems * Robotics * or other systems, which are relevant to the technical areas covered by NIPS (see Call for Papers http://nips.cc/Conferences/2012/CallForPapers). Demonstrations must show novel technology and must be run live, preferably with some interactive parts. Unlike poster presentations or slide shows, live action and interaction with the audience are critical elements. Submissions Submission of demo proposals at the following URL: https://nips.cc/Demonstrators/ You will be asked to fill a questionnaire and describe clearly: * the technology demonstrated * the elements of novelty * the live action part * the interactive part * the equipment brought by the demonstrator * the equipment required at the place of the demo Evaluation Criteria Submissions will be refereed on the basis of technical quality, novelty, live action, and potential for interaction. Demonstration chair: Thore Graepel Web URL: http://nips.cc/Conferences/2012/CallForDemonstrations From chiestand at salk.edu Fri May 25 19:48:15 2012 From: chiestand at salk.edu (Chris Hiestand) Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 16:48:15 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS 2012 Call for Workshops Message-ID: <28A45707-BBA7-4452-8C3F-5D2A9C9921C6@salk.edu> NIPS 2012 Call For Workshops Natural and Synthetic NIPS*2012 Post-Conference Workshops December 7 and 8, 2012 Hotel Harrahs and Harveys Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA Following the regular program of the Neural Information Processing Systems 2012 conference, workshops on a variety of current topics in neural information processing will be held on December 7 and 8, 2012, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA. We invite researchers interested in chairing one of these workshops to submit proposals for workshops. The goal of the workshops is to provide an informal forum for researchers to discuss important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, and comparisons of competing approaches are not only encouraged but preferred as workshop topics. Representation of alternative viewpoints and panel-style discussions are also particularly encouraged. Potential workshop topics include, but are not limited to: Active Learning, Attention, Audition, Bayesian Networks, Bayesian Statistics, Benchmarking, Biophysics, Brain-Machine Interfaces, Brain Imaging, Cognitive Neuroscience, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Computational Complexity, Control, Graph Theory, Graphical Models, Hippocampus and Memory, Human-Computer Interfaces, Implementations, Kernel Methods, Mean-Field Methods, Music, Natural Language Processing, Network Dynamics, Neural Coding, Neural Plasticity, Neuromorphic Systems, On-Line Learning, Optimization, Perceptual Learning, Robotics, Rule Extraction, Self-Organization, Signal Processing, Social Networks, Spike Timing, Speech, Supervised/Unsupervised Learning, Time Series, Topological Maps, and Vision. Detailed descriptions of previous workshops may be found at: http://nips.cc/Conferences/2011/Program/schedule.php?Session=Workshops There will be seven hours of workshop meetings per day, split into morning and afternoon sessions, with free time between the sessions for ongoing individual exchange or outdoor activities. Workshop organizers have several responsibilities, including: Coordinating workshop participation and content, including arranging short informal presentations by experts, arranging for expert commentators to sit on discussion panels, formulating discussion topics, etc. Providing the program for the workshop in a timely manner for the workshop booklet. The expected deadline for submitting final workshop programs is October 14th, 2012. The publication date for the booklet is November 12, 2012. Moderating the discussion, and reporting its findings and conclusions to the group during the evening plenary sessions. Writing a brief summary and/or coordinating submitted material for post-conference electronic dissemination. Submission Instructions A nips.cc account is required to submit the Workshops application. Please follow the url below and check the required format for the application well before the deadline for workshop proposals. You can edit your application online right up until the deadline. Interested parties must submit a proposal by **23:59 UTC on July 6th, 2012**. Proposals should be submitted electronically at the following URL: https://nips.cc/Workshops/ Preference will be given to workshops that reserve a significant portion of time for open discussion or panel discussion, as opposed to a pure "mini-conference" format, and to workshops with a greater fraction of confirmed speakers. We suggest that organizers allocate at least 50% of the workshop schedule to questions, discussion, and breaks. Past experience suggests that workshops otherwise degrade into mini-conferences as talks begin to run over. For the same reason, we strongly recommend that each workshop includes no more than 12 talks per day. We would like to attempt to partially unify the NIPS workshop important dates across all of the workshops. Therefore, please consider using the following date guidelines for your workshop in order to provide program information in time for publication: * Your workshop call should be publicized on or before August 19th, 2012. * Submission deadline should be on or before September 16th, 2012. * Acceptance decisions mailed out on or before October 7th, 2012. We stress that these dates are not mandatory, rather suggestions. If there are circumstances that would make your workshop difficult using these dates, you may use other dates. Also a call for contributions is not required and is orthogonal to the decision about workshop acceptance. NIPS does not provide travel funding for workshop speakers. In the past, some workshops have sought and received funding from external sources to bring in outside speakers. In any case, the organizers of each accepted workshop can name two individuals to receive free registration for the workshop program. Raquel Urtasun and M?t? Lengyel NIPS*2012 Workshops Chairs Web URL: http://nips.cc/Conferences/2012/CallForWorkshops From Daniel.Polani at mx01.srv.cs.cmu.edu Sat May 26 14:06:01 2012 From: Daniel.Polani at mx01.srv.cs.cmu.edu (Daniel.Polani@mx01.srv.cs.cmu.edu) Date: Sat, 26 May 2012 19:06:01 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Studentships in Information Processing/Self-Organization in Adaptive Systems at the University of Hertfordshire Message-ID: <20417.7049.231429.22752@thelma.stca.herts.ac.uk> ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// PhD Studentships Available on INFORMATION PROCESSING AND SELF-ORGANIZATION IN ADAPTIVE BIOLOGICAL AND ARTIFICIAL SYSTEMS Adaptive Systems Research Group School of Computer Science University of Hertfordshire, UK ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// PhD studentships are available in the Adaptive Systems Research Group at the University of Hertfordshire in the topics of Artificial Life, especially studying the principles behind information processing in adaptive, complex and self-organizing systems and the emergence and growth of complexity, a research area which has witnessed a dramatic increase of interest in the last years. We use mathematical methods, with particular emphasis on an arsenal of recently developed techniques based on Shannon's information theory, to describe, understand or construct such systems in the context of AI/robotics as well as biology. Questions of interest and possible research directions include, but are not limited to: - information-theoretic approaches towards a mathematically founded understanding of information processing and the perception-action loop in agents; fundamental quantitative constraints governing the interaction between an agent and its environment - theoretically grounded pathways towards a systematic way to generate self-organization and autonomous increase in complexity - biologically plausible, information-based methods for creating Artificial Intelligence systems from first principles - fundamental principles underlying biological (e.g. neural) computation (with opportunities to collaborate with the Biocomputation Research Group) The prospective candidates should have a keen interest in contributing to a new and highly dynamic research area and a strong background in Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics or another relevant computational discipline. In particular, they should demonstrate excellent programming skills in one or more major computer languages. A mathematical/numerical background would be desirable, ideally including probability theory and data modelling/neural network techniques. Successful candidates are eligible for a research studentship award from the University (which includes approximately GBP 13,600 per annum bursary and the payment of the standard UK student fees). The envisaged research will take place in the vibrant and enthusiastic research environment of the Adaptive Systems Research Group in the School of Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire which offers a large number of specialized and interdisciplinary seminars as well as general training opportunities. Research in Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire has been recognized as excellent by the latest Research Assessment Exercise, with 55% of the research submitted being rated as world leading or internationally excellent. The University of Hertfordshire is located in Hatfield, Hertfordshire UK which is considered the "northern green belt" of London. Hatfield is close to London (less than 25 minutes by train to Kings Cross), has convenient access to Stansted, Luton and Heathrow airports and is not far from the historic town of St. Albans. Contact for informal inquiries on the research topic: Dr. Daniel Polani (E-mail: d.polani at herts.ac.uk) Application forms are available from http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/ApplicationFormUHStudentship.doc and should be returned to Mrs Lorraine Nicholls, Research Student Administrator, STRI University of Hertfordshire College Lane Hatfield AL10 9AB Hertfordshire UK Tel: 01707 286083, Email: l.nicholls at herts.ac.uk. The shortlisting process will begin on 22. June 2012. From kmtn at atr.jp Tue May 29 00:37:01 2012 From: kmtn at atr.jp (Yukiyasu Kamitani) Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 13:37:01 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Brainliner Message-ID: <7F832060-D846-4327-B63C-3D66831CC94A@atr.jp> Dear Colleagues, Often neurophysiological experiments conclude with the publication of a paper, leaving the collected data sets dormant. However, many new discoveries could be potentially made by using this data. We created http://BrainLiner.jp as a web portal for sharing time-aligned brain and behavioral data, in order to make it easy for people to share data they have with the greater scientific community. We recently updated our portal to provide support for downloading data as Matlab (.mat) files, in addition to Neuroshare files. This allows anyone with Matlab, R, Python, or Java experience to easily read data stored in our standard file format. Examples of how to read Matlab files downloaded from BrainLiner can be found at http://www.cns.atr.jp/dni/en/brainliner/how-to-read-our-data-format/. Currently only Neuroshare (.nsn) files can be uploaded, but if anyone wants to provide us with data in another format, we will happily convert the data to Neuroshare for you. Please contact us at brainliner-admin at atr.jp or at www.facebook.com/brainliner if you have any questions or would like assistance in preparing a dataset to share. Yuki ------------------------------------------ Yukiyasu Kamitani, Ph.D. ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories URL: http://www.cns.atr.jp/dni/ twitter: ykamit ------------------------------------------ From antonio.chella at unipa.it Tue May 29 15:25:00 2012 From: antonio.chella at unipa.it (Antonio Chella 062003) Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 20:25:00 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: BICA 2012 Call for Papers - DEADLINE EXTENSION Message-ID: <20120529192248.M32800@unipa.it> BICA 2012 CALL FOR PAPER - DEADLINE EXTENSION ********************************************************** Due to many requests, the deadline for paper submission has been postponed to June 15 2012. ********************************************************** Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA), Third Annual Meeting of the BICA Society Palermo, Italy, October 31st - November 3rd http://chilab.dinfo.unipa.it/bica2012/ The challenge of creating a real-life computational equivalent of the human mind, known as the BICA Challenge, calls for our joint efforts to develop biologically-inspired intelligent agents that can be accepted and trusted by the human society in various roles, on an equal footing with human agents. The main objective of BICA 2012 is to take a significant step forward towards the BICA Challenge. The topics of BICA 2012 will include (but will not be limited to): - models capable of inducing the sense of presence in artifacts; - the critical mass of a human-level learner; - emotional competence and social intelligence in artifacts; - machine consciousness and BICA; - models of perception, cognition and action; - robust and scalable learning mechanisms; - realistic neural networks for BICA; - human-like episodic and semantic memory; - metacognition in BICA; - self-regulated, bootstrapped and meta-learning; - language acquisition and symbol grounding; - non-von-Neumann computational systems for BICA; - a roadmap to the BICA Challenge. Format: A two-day conference including keynote talks, paper presentations, panel discussions and exhibits. Chairs: General Chair: Antonio Chella (University of Palermo, Italy) Program Chairs: Kamilla Johannsdottir (Reykjavik University, Iceland), Roberto Pirrone (University of Palermo, Italy) Local Organization Chair: Rosario Sorbello (University of Palermo, Italy) Confirmed keynote talks: Karlheinz Meier (University of Heidelberg, Germany) Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University, Japan) Giorgio Ascoli (George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA) Igor Aleksander (Imperial College, London, UK) Giulio Sandini (IIT and University of Genoa, Italy) Kristinn R. Th?risson (IIIM and Reykjavik University, Iceland) Ricardo Sanz (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain) Pentti Haikonen (University of Illinois at Springfield, USA) Christian Lebiere (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA) Michele Migliore (CNR, Palermo, Italy) Soo-Young Lee (KAIST, Republic of Korea) Alexei Samsonovich (George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA) Raul Arrabales (Univerdidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain) Ignazio Licata (ISEM, Palermo, Italy) Submission categories are: - short abstracts; - extended abstracts; - position papers up to two pages; - research papers up to six pages. Submissions longer than six pages are welcome; a fee per extra page will be charged to authors. Paper and abstract submission: Please submit your paper using the EasyChair Conference System: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bica2012 The conference proceedings will be published in a volume of the Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing Book Series by Springer (indexed by ISI, Scopus, DBLP, among others). See Instructions for Authors: http://www.springer.com/series/4240 Extended versions of selected papers will be published after the conference in a special issue of the journal BICA (Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, published by Elsevier) and in a special issue of the International Journal of Machine Consciousness (published by World Scientific). NEW CRITICAL DATES: April 1st : submission site opened; June 15st : EXTENDED submission deadline; July 15th : EXTENDED notification of acceptance; July 30th : EXTENDED camera ready papers due (Springer template mandatory); October 31st : pre-conference workshops and reception; November 1st - 2nd : BICA 2012 conference; November 3rd : Excursion. NOTE: Please submit paper abstract as soon as possible! Information about BICA 2012 can be found at http://chilab.dinfo.unipa.it/bica2012/ We are looking forward to seeing you in Palermo! Vi aspettiamo! From jpezaris at gmail.com Tue May 29 14:55:01 2012 From: jpezaris at gmail.com (John Pezaris) Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 14:55:01 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: AREADNE 2012 -- 2nd Call for Registration Message-ID: AREADNE 2012 Research in Encoding and Decoding of Neural Ensembles Nomikos Conference Center, Santorini, Greece 21-24 June 2012 http://www.areadne.org info at areadne.org * * * 2nd CALL FOR REGISTRATION * * * AREADNE 2012 will be our fourth meeting at the Nomikos Conference Centre in Santorini, Greece. Continuing with the same highly successful format, the conference will bring scientific leaders from around the world to present their theoretical and experimental work on the functioning of neuronal ensembles. The meeting will provide an informal yet spectacular and inspirational setting in which attendees can discuss their recent discoveries and ideas, with a relaxed pace that emphasizes interaction. The registration deadline is 6 June 2012. If there are any remaining spots at that point, the fees increase substantially to our on-site rate. Register now! We have a very exciting list of speakers -- Yali Amit (U. Chicago) Dora Angelaki (Baylor College of Medicine) Sliman Bensmaia (U. Chicago) Davi Bock (HHMI Janelia Farm) Anne Churchland (Cold Spring Harbor) David Dickman (Baylor College of Medicine) Michael Hasselmo (Boston University) Nicholas Hatsopoulos (U. Chicago) Peter Latham (UCL) Jean Livet (INSERM) Jeff Magee (HHMI Janelia Farm) Dan Margoliash (U. Chicago) Tirin Moore (Stanford) John O'Keefe (UCL) Leslie Osborne (U. Chicago) John Pezaris (Harvard Med. School) Panayiota Poirazi (FORTH / IMBB) Hans Scherberger (DPZ) Elad Schneidman (Weizmann Institute) Idan Segev (Hebrew University) Shy Shoham (Technion) Eilon Vaadia (Hebrew University) To register, and for additional information about the meeting, please go to the conference web page http://areadne.org or send email to us at info at areadne.org. Please forward this message to interested colleagues. We hope to see you in Santorini! -- John Pezaris, Co-Chair Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Co-Chair AREADNE 2012 info at areadne.org From friedhelm.schwenker at uni-ulm.de Thu May 31 12:48:46 2012 From: friedhelm.schwenker at uni-ulm.de (Dr. Schwenker) Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 18:48:46 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Special Issue on Partially Supervised Learning Message-ID: <4FC7A0EE.5050602@uni-ulm.de> Dear Connectionists, subscribers to this list may be interested in the following Call for Papers for a PRL special issue on Partially Supervised Learning which includes plenty of topics rooted in the field of neural networks: Final Call For Papers Special Issue on "Partially Supervised Learning for Pattern Recognition" to be published in the journal Pattern Recognition Letters Description: Partially supervised learning (PSL) is a rapidly evolving area of machine learning. In many applications unlabeled data may be relatively easy to collect, whereas labeling the data is difficult and expensive. PSL is a general framework for learning with labeled and unlabeled data. vector and some information about its class. In traditional pattern classification a label (the correct class) is associated with each training pattern; in the PSL framework this label might as well be crisp, but it might also be paired with a confidence value, or it might be an imprecise and/or uncertain soft label (defined through certain types of uncertainty models), or it might be that such a label is not available at all. PSL thus generalizes, involves, or builds upon several kinds of learning paradigms that have also found application to pattern classification problems. Such paradigms include: supervised and unsupervised techniques; semi-supervised learning; transductive, transfer, and diffusion learning; policy learning in partially observable environments. Therefore PSL methods and algorithms for pattern recognition are of great interest in both practical applications and theory. Research in the field of PSL is still in its early stages and has great potential for further growth. This special issue invites paper submissions on the most recent developments in PSL research rooted in (or, aimed at) pattern recognition. Topics of interest include (yet, they are not limited to) the following issues: Methodological issues (as long as they relate to pattern recognition): ??? Combinations of supervised and unsupervised learning ??? Diffusion learning ??? Semi-supervised classification and clustering ??? PSL with deep architectures ??? Active leaning ??? PSL with vague, fuzzy, or uncertain teaching signals ??? PSL in multiple classifier systems and ensembles ??? PSL in neural nets, machine learning, or statistical pattern recognition ??? Transfer learning ??? Transductive learning Pattern recognition applications of PSL in: ??? Image and signal processing ??? Multimodal information processing ??? Information fusion ??? Data mining and web mining ??? Bioinformatics/Cheminformatics If you are not sure on whether your manuscripts matches the aims and scope of this special issue or not, do not hesitate to get in touch with the guest editors at any time. Paper submission: Papers must be submitted online via the Pattern Recognition Letters website (http://ees.elsevier.com/patrec/), selecting the choice that indicates this special issue (identifier: PSL-PR). Prepare your paper following the Journal guidelines for Authors (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505619/authorinstructions), which include specifications for submissions aimed at Special Issues. In particular, a maximum of 7500 words is admitted for special issue papers, without counting the References (plus at most 10 Figures/Tables in total). Priority will be given to the papers with high novelty and originality. *** Submission deadline: JULY 15, 2012 *** (note: electronic submission opens on JUNE 11, 2012) Guest editors: Friedhelm Schwenker, University of Ulm, Germany (friedhelm.schwenker at uni-ulm.de) Edmondo Trentin, University of Siena, Italy (trentin at dii.unisi.it)