From bengioy at iro.umontreal.ca Mon Sep 1 09:41:23 2014 From: bengioy at iro.umontreal.ca (Yoshua Bengio) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 09:41:23 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Deep Learning and Representation Learning Workshop at NIPS'2014 - Montreal Message-ID: Deep Learning and Representation Learning Workshop at NIPS'2014 - Montreal. Deadline for submissions: Oct 1 Call for papers:https://sites.google.com/site/deeplearningworkshopnips2014/call-for-papers Neural networks research is welcome. Organizers: Yoshua Bengio, Adam Coates , Roland Memisevic , Andrew Ng ? Yoshua Bengio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Mon Sep 1 02:59:11 2014 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 06:59:11 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers - Neural Networks special issue on Big Data Message-ID: <4AD8F84F0AA4E1448BD8131BA7E55EB41E2334EC@exmbw02.asurite.ad.asu.edu> Apologies for cross posting. Special Issue on Neural Network Learning in Big Data [Special Issue on Neural Network Learning in Big Data] Neural Networks Special Issue: Neural Network Learning in Big Data Big data is much more than storage of and access to data. Analytics plays an important role in making sense of that data and exploiting its value. But learning from big data has become a significant challenge and requires development of new types of algorithms. Most machine learning algorithms encounter theoretical challenges in scaling up to big data. Plus there are challenges of high dimensionality, velocity and variety for all types of machine learning algorithms. The neural network field has historically focused on algorithms that learn in an online, incremental mode without requiring in-memory access to huge amounts of data. The brain is arguably the best and most elegant big data processor and is the inspiration for neural network learning methods. Neural network type of learning is not only ideal for streaming data (as in the Industrial Internet or the Internet of Things), but could also be used for stored big data. For stored big data, neural network algorithms can learn from all of the data instead of from samples of the data. And the same is true for streaming data where not all of the data is actually stored. In general, online, incremental learning algorithms are less vulnerable to size of the data. Neural network algorithms, in particular, can take advantage of massively parallel (brain-like) computations, which use very simple processors, that other machine learning technologies cannot. Specialized neuromorphic hardware, originally meant for large-scale brain simulations, is becoming available to implement these algorithms in a massively parallel fashion. Neural network algorithms, therefore, can deliver very fast and efficient real-time learning through the use of hardware and this could be particularly useful for streaming data in the Industrial Internet. Neural network technologies thus can become significant components of big data analytics platforms and this special issue will begin that journey with big data. For this special issue of Neural Networks, we invite papers that address many of the challenges of learning from big data. In particular, we are interested in papers on efficient and innovative algorithmic approaches to analyzing big data (e.g. deep networks, nature-inspired and brain-inspired algorithms), implementations on different computing platforms (e.g. neuromorphic, GPUs, clouds, clusters) and applications of online learning to solve real-world big data problems (e.g. health care, transportation, and electric power and energy management). RECOMMENDED TOPICS: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: 1. Autonomous, online, incremental learning - theory, algorithms and applications in big data 2. High dimensional data, feature selection, feature transformation - theory, algorithms and applications for big data 3. Scalable neural network algorithms for big data 4. Neural network learning algorithms for high-velocity streaming data 5. Deep neural network learning 6. Neuromorphic hardware for scalable neural network learning 7. Big data analytics using neural networks in healthcare/medical applications 8. Big data analytics using neural networks in electric power and energy systems 9. Big data analytics using neural networks in large sensor networks 10.Big data and neural network learning in computational biology and bioinformatics SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Prospective authors should visit http://ees.elsevier.com/neunet/ for information on paper submission. During the submission process, there will be steps to designate the submission to this special issue. However, please indicate on the first page of the manuscript that the manuscript is intended for the Special Issue: Neural Network Learning in Big Data. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed according to Neural Networks guidelines. Manuscript submission due: December 15, 2014 First review completed: March 1, 2015 Revised manuscript due: April 1, 2015 Second review completed, final decisions to authors: April 15, 2015 Final manuscript due: April 30, 2015 GUEST EDITORS: Asim Roy, Arizona State University, USA (asim.roy at asu.edu) (lead guest editor) Kumar Venayagamoorthy, Clemson University, USA (gkumar at ieee.org) Nikola Kasabov, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand (nkasabov at aut.ac.nz) Irwin King, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China (irwinking at gmail.com) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 5272 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From gpipa at uos.de Mon Sep 1 11:21:23 2014 From: gpipa at uos.de (Gordon Pipa) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 17:21:23 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?iso-8859-1?q?3_open_PhD_psoitions_at_the_Neuroi?= =?iso-8859-1?q?nformatics_Lab_at_the_Institute_of_Cognitive_Scienc?= =?iso-8859-1?q?e=2C_University_of_Osnabr=FCck=2C_Germany_=5BRemind?= =?iso-8859-1?q?er=5D?= In-Reply-To: <0fc801cfc5f6$f9450330$ebcf0990$@uos.de> References: <0fc801cfc5f6$f9450330$ebcf0990$@uos.de> Message-ID: <100101cfc5f8$6492b050$2db810f0$@uos.de> The Neuroinformatics Research Group (Prof. Dr. Gordon Pipa) of the Institute of Cognitive Science invites applications for 3 Research Assistants (PhD student level), (Salary level E 13 TV-L 50%) to be filled as soon as possible for a period of three years. The position allows for further scientific qualification. We invite applicants that are interested in research in Neuroinformatics, with an emphasis on dynamical systems, machine learning, virtual reality, computational linguistics and electrophysiology. Candidates will participate in a highly international PhD program on cognitive science (with >40 currently enrolled students) and interdisciplinary research projects that can involve cooperation with other disciplines of our institute. Candidates should be highly motivated to understand the structure of neuronal coding and neuronal representations. To study this, we involve different research strategies that range from the development of highly sophisticated data analysis strategies, to modelling of neuronal processes on the level of recurrent networks. The qualification profile of the candidates can range from a purely mathematical neuroscientist, a dynamical systems researcher to interdisciplinary candidates that share interest in performing experiments with the virtual reality combined with EEG and sophisticated machine learning-based analysis of recorded activity (at http://ikw.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/ni/publications you find an overview of recent research topics). Description of Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be involved in several research projects that range from BSc to MSc projects. The position also involves teaching Cognitive Science courses at BSc and MSc level (2 hours/week). Required Qualifications: Candidates are expected to have an excellent academic degree (Master/diploma). Applicants should have an excellent knowledge in the field of machine learning, i.e. generalized linear and state space models, kernel methods, reservoir computing and deep learning. Experience or a strong interest in the fields of complex systems, computational neurosciences, dynamical systems theory and the concepts to study these, i.e. bifurcation and stability analysis, and delay- coupled differential equations, measurements of complexity, are encouraged. Experience or a strong interest in experimental methods such as EEG, and virtual reality are highly welcome. In addition, a strong interest or experience in the estimation of causal interactions from time series is welcome. As a certified family-friendly institution, Osnabr?ck University is committed to furthering the compatibility between work/studies and family life. As an employer, Osnabr?ck University is particularly concerned with creating equal opportunities for women and men. Women with relevant qualifications are therefore strongly encouraged to apply for the position. Preference will be given to women with equal qualifications. Furthermore, qualified applicants with disabilities will be favored. Applications with the usual documentation, including two letters of recommendation, should be submitted by e-mail in a single PDF file to the Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science ( office at ikw.uni-osnabrueck.de) no later than 08.09.2014. An electronic copy should be sent to Prof. Dr. Gordon Pipa ( gpipa at uni-osnabrueck.de) who can also be contacted for further information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Professor and Chair of the Neuroinformatics Department Dr. rer. nat. Gordon Pipa Institute of Cognitive Science, Room 31/404 University of Osnabrueck Albrechtstr. 28, 49069 Osnabrueck, Germany tel. +49 (0) 541-969-2277 fax (private). +49 (0) 5405- 500 80 98 home office. +49 (0) 5405- 500 90 95 e-mail: gpipa at uos.de webpage: http://www.ni.uos.de Projects: http://www.pipa.biz/Projects_and_Lectures/projects_and_lectures.html research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gordon_Pipa/?ev=prf_act google scholar: http://scholar.google.de/citations?user=joR6mgEAAAAJ Personal Assistent and Secretary of the Neuroinformatics lab: Anna Jungeilges Tel. +49 (0)541 969-2390 Fax +49 (0)541 969-2246 Email: anna.jungeilges at uni-osnabrueck.de visit us on http://www.facebook.com/CognitiveScienceOsnabruck https://twitter.com/#!/CogSciUOS -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu Mon Sep 1 13:48:41 2014 From: dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu (DeLiang Wang) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 13:48:41 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL NETWORKS, September 2014 Message-ID: <5404B179.40304@cse.ohio-state.edu> Neural Networks - Volume 57, September 2014 http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks Estimating the correlation between bursty spike trains and local field potentials Zhaohui Li, Gaoxiang Ouyang, Li Yao, Xiaoli Li Effect of hybrid circle reservoir injected with wavelet-neurons on performance of echo state network Hongyan Cui, Chen Feng, Yuan Chai, Ren Ping Liu, Yunjie Liu Noise model based image-support vector regression with its application to short-term wind speed forecasting Qinghua Hu, Shiguang Zhang, Zongxia Xie, Jusheng Mi, Jie Wan Using financial risk measures for analyzing generalization performance of machine learning models Akiko Takeda, Takafumi Kanamori Fast Gaussian kernel learning for classification tasks based on specially structured global optimization Shangping Zhong, Tianshun Chen, Fengying He, Yuzhen Niu Semi-supervised information-maximization clustering Daniele Calandriello, Gang Niu, Masashi Sugiyama Model-based policy gradients with parameter-based exploration by least-squares conditional density estimation Voot Tangkaratt, Syogo Mori, Tingting Zhao, Jun Morimoto, Masashi Sugiyama Periodicity and dissipativity for memristor-based mixed time-varying delayed neural networks via differential inclusions Lian Duan, Lihong Huang Comparing fixed and variable-width Gaussian networks Vera Kurkova, Paul C. Kainen Synchronization of memristor-based recurrent neural networks with two delay components based on second-order reciprocally convex approach A. Chandrasekar, R. Rakkiyappan, Jinde Cao, S. Lakshmanan Sudoku associative memory Jiann-Ming Wu, Pei-Hsun Hsu, Cheng-Yuan Liou Neural network for solving Nash equilibrium problem in application of multiuser power control Xing He, Junzhi Yu, Tingwen Huang, Chuandong Li, Chaojie Li A new switching design to finite-time stabilization of nonlinear systems with applications to neural networks Xiaoyang Liu, Daniel W.C. Ho, Wenwu Yu, Jinde Cao Image denoising using nonsubsampled shearlet transform and twin support vector machines Hong-Ying Yang, Xiang-Yang Wang, Pan-Pan Niu, Yang-Cheng Liu From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Mon Sep 1 16:39:30 2014 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 20:39:30 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers - Neural Networks special issue on Big Data Message-ID: <4AD8F84F0AA4E1448BD8131BA7E55EB41E23386C@exmbw02.asurite.ad.asu.edu> Apologies for cross posting. Special Issue on Neural Network Learning in Big Data [Special Issue on Neural Network Learning in Big Data] Neural Networks Special Issue: Neural Network Learning in Big Data Big data is much more than storage of and access to data. Analytics plays an important role in making sense of that data and exploiting its value. But learning from big data has become a significant challenge and requires development of new types of algorithms. Most machine learning algorithms encounter theoretical challenges in scaling up to big data. Plus there are challenges of high dimensionality, velocity and variety for all types of machine learning algorithms. The neural network field has historically focused on algorithms that learn in an online, incremental mode without requiring in-memory access to huge amounts of data. The brain is arguably the best and most elegant big data processor and is the inspiration for neural network learning methods. Neural network type of learning is not only ideal for streaming data (as in the Industrial Internet or the Internet of Things), but could also be used for stored big data. For stored big data, neural network algorithms can learn from all of the data instead of from samples of the data. And the same is true for streaming data where not all of the data is actually stored. In general, online, incremental learning algorithms are less vulnerable to size of the data. Neural network algorithms, in particular, can take advantage of massively parallel (brain-like) computations, which use very simple processors, that other machine learning technologies cannot. Specialized neuromorphic hardware, originally meant for large-scale brain simulations, is becoming available to implement these algorithms in a massively parallel fashion. Neural network algorithms, therefore, can deliver very fast and efficient real-time learning through the use of hardware and this could be particularly useful for streaming data in the Industrial Internet. Neural network technologies thus can become significant components of big data analytics platforms and this special issue will begin that journey with big data. For this special issue of Neural Networks, we invite papers that address many of the challenges of learning from big data. In particular, we are interested in papers on efficient and innovative algorithmic approaches to analyzing big data (e.g. deep networks, nature-inspired and brain-inspired algorithms), implementations on different computing platforms (e.g. neuromorphic, GPUs, clouds, clusters) and applications of online learning to solve real-world big data problems (e.g. health care, transportation, and electric power and energy management). RECOMMENDED TOPICS: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: 1. Autonomous, online, incremental learning - theory, algorithms and applications in big data 2. High dimensional data, feature selection, feature transformation - theory, algorithms and applications for big data 3. Scalable neural network algorithms for big data 4. Neural network learning algorithms for high-velocity streaming data 5. Deep neural network learning 6. Neuromorphic hardware for scalable neural network learning 7. Big data analytics using neural networks in healthcare/medical applications 8. Big data analytics using neural networks in electric power and energy systems 9. Big data analytics using neural networks in large sensor networks 10.Big data and neural network learning in computational biology and bioinformatics SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Prospective authors should visit http://ees.elsevier.com/neunet/ for information on paper submission. During the submission process, there will be steps to designate the submission to this special issue. However, please indicate on the first page of the manuscript that the manuscript is intended for the Special Issue: Neural Network Learning in Big Data. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed according to Neural Networks guidelines. Manuscript submission due: December 15, 2014 First review completed: March 1, 2015 Revised manuscript due: April 1, 2015 Second review completed, final decisions to authors: April 15, 2015 Final manuscript due: April 30, 2015 GUEST EDITORS: Asim Roy, Arizona State University, USA (asim.roy at asu.edu) (lead guest editor) Kumar Venayagamoorthy, Clemson University, USA (gkumar at ieee.org) Nikola Kasabov, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand (nkasabov at aut.ac.nz) Irwin King, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China (irwinking at gmail.com) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 5272 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From Hugo.Larochelle at USherbrooke.ca Tue Sep 2 08:58:47 2014 From: Hugo.Larochelle at USherbrooke.ca (Hugo Larochelle) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 12:58:47 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS 2014 - Final Call for Demonstrations Message-ID: The Neural Information Processing Systems Conference 2014 http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/ has a Demonstration Track running in parallel with some of the evening Poster Sessions, December 8-11, 2014, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Demonstration Proposal Deadline: Monday September 15, 2014, 11pm Universal Time (4pm Pacific Daylight Time). http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/CallForDemonstrations 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/2014/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: Hugo Larochelle > http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/CallForDemonstrations -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mark.laubach at american.edu Tue Sep 2 09:41:07 2014 From: mark.laubach at american.edu (Mark Laubach) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 09:41:07 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Faculty positions in Computer Science at American University Message-ID: American University, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Computer Science Computer Science (Assistant, Associate or Full Professor) The Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences at American University in Washington, DC invites applications for up to three tenure-track or tenured Assistant/Associate/Full Professors to form a collaborating research team. We seek either a group of researchers who will be hired together, or a senior individual with a vision for filling the other positions. The team?s research expertise may be in any area of computer science. Following the department?s strong recent hires in the interdisciplinary areas of computational neuroscience and persuasive gaming, the university seeks to build computer science?s core program areas, which may include algorithms and data structures, architecture, robotics, databases and information retrieval, human-computer interactions, numerical and symbolic computation, operating systems, programming languages, or software methodology and engineering. Preference will be given to teams or visions that contribute to more than one of the core program areas, and that contribute to the university?s capacity in the area of big data. The Computer Science Department is currently in a period of expansion, and is poised to become a leader in the university?s technology an innovation sectors. To support this trajectory, the department will soon be moving to a new building that is designed to promote inspiration, collaboration, creation and cultivation. QUALIFICATIONS All applicants should have a strong record of (or potential for) externally sponsored research. We are especially eager to recruit candidates with established research partnerships (or the ability to form such partnerships) in the Washington, DC area. Candidates should also have a record of excellence in teaching and mentoring students. Teaching responsibilities will include core courses in computer science and more advanced courses in the applicant?s area of specialty. The Ph.D. in Computer Science or a closely related field is required; post-doctoral or industry experience is preferred. At least one appointment will be at a senior level with tenure. Preference will be given to senior candidates who are able and willing to lead the department, including (but not limited to) the development of a Ph.D. granting program. APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS Applicants should include a statement (a joint statement for team applications) of research outlining the research focus (or foci) and future plans for developing a nationally competitive, externally funded research program at American University. In addition to a (joint, if applicable) research statement, each applicant should include statements of individual research and teaching experience, a CV, and the names of three references not in the proposed team. Please submit applications via: http://apply.interfolio.com/25813. Review of applications will begin November 3 and continue until the position is filled. From arthurjo at us.ibm.com Tue Sep 2 01:03:36 2014 From: arthurjo at us.ibm.com (John Arthur) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 22:03:36 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Multiple job listings in Brain-Inspired Computing at IBM Research - Almaden Message-ID: IBM?s Brain-Inspired Computing team at IBM Research - Almaden is building a first-of-a-kind modular, scalable, non-von Neumann, ultra-low power, cognitive computing architecture and associated end-to-end ecosystem. We are building state-of-the-art digital spiking neuromorphic Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and systems (large-scale and mobile) to solve real-time sensory problems. We have a number of positions in hardware, software, and other technical areas. http://modha.org/blog/2014/08/jobs_braininspired_computing.html To receive full consideration, please apply using the links below to ensure your resume/CV will be directed to the appropriate hiring manager. RES-0683225 Research Staff Member-ASIC and System Design https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683225 RES-0683232 Research Staff Member-Software and Applications https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683232 RES-0683057 Research Staff Member-Software and Applications https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683057 RES-0683578 Research Staff Member-Scalable Systems / Supercomputing Architect https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683578 RES-0683223 Hardware and Systems Engineer https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683223 RES-0683215 Systems Software Engineer https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683215 RES-0683211 Systems Software Engineer https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683211 RES-0683583 Software Engineer: Tools and Programming Languages https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683583 RES-0683592 Development & Delivery Engineer https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683592 RES-0683593 Software Trainer / Coach https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683593 RES-0683227 Technical Writer/Archivist https://jobs3.netmedia1.com/cp/faces/job_summary?job_id=RES-0683227 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From acoates at cs.stanford.edu Tue Sep 2 16:20:39 2014 From: acoates at cs.stanford.edu (Adam Coates) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 13:20:39 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Call for papers: Deep Learning Workshop at NIPS 2014 - Montreal Message-ID: Deadline for submissions: Oct 1 Call for papers: call for papers | nips dl workshop 2014 Organizers: Yoshua Bengio, Adam Coates, Roland Memisevic, Andrew Ng The Deep Learning and Representation Learning Workshop will be held in conjunction with Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) on December 12 or 13, 2014, in Montreal, Canada. Stay tuned to the workshop website for up-to-date information: www.dlworkshop.org or https://sites.google.com/site/deeplearningworkshopnips2014 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From osporns at indiana.edu Tue Sep 2 10:37:36 2014 From: osporns at indiana.edu (Olaf Sporns) Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 10:37:36 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position available Message-ID: <5405D630.4060609@indiana.edu> *Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab - Indiana University* *Postdoctoral Fellowship* Applications are invited for an open position as postdoctoral fellow in the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington. The core research focus of the lab is in the area of brain networks and connectomics. The lab works on anatomical and functional data sets from a number of species, with a strong emphasis on human brain connectivity and connectome data. Ongoing projects in the lab involve applications of models and tools from network science, graph theory, complex dynamics and information theory to basic and clinical/translational neurobiological questions. A description of the lab and current research areas can be found at www.indiana.edu/~cortex . Applicants should (a) have (or be in the final stages of obtaining) a PhD or equivalent degree in a field relevant to the research focus of the lab (e.g. neuroscience, neuroimaging, applied mathematics, computer science or bioengineering); (b) have a strong background in computational methods and programming (including advanced skills in Matlab); and (c) have strong enthusiasm for using computational approaches to understand neurobiological problems. Candidates with background in networks or graph theory, experience in processing and analyzing neuroimaging or electrophysiological recordings, exposure to "big data" approaches relevant to brain function, and a strong record of publication are especially encouraged to apply. The postdoctoral fellow will join a very active and interdisciplinary research group, and will be expected to engage and interact with a growing number of network and complex systems scientists at Indiana University and beyond. The lab maintains close ties and collaborations with scientists in the IU Imaging Research Facility (housing a 3T Siemens MR scanner), the Center for Complex Networks and Systems at the School of Informatics and Computing, the Medical School campus, and at other institutions nationally and internationally. All lab members have access to excellent computational facilities. The potential start date is negotiable, and the position is initially offered for a 1-year term which is renewable upon mutual agreement.Salary levels will follow NIH guidelines. Please email application materials (cover letter, a full CV with a list of publications, and 3 letters of reference) to Olaf Sporns at osporns at indiana.edu . -- Olaf Sporns -- @spornslab Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Programs in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From matostmp at gmail.com Wed Sep 3 08:35:01 2014 From: matostmp at gmail.com (Thiago Matos Pinto) Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 09:35:01 -0300 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?IWSYP=9214_-_I_International_Wor?= =?windows-1252?q?kshop_on_Synaptic_Plasticity?= Message-ID: <855F6C6B-4D9A-44E1-8B0C-08267AE6DC01@gmail.com> Dear colleagues, Please see the information below about an upcoming workshop on synaptic plasticity. Best wishes, Thiago *** I International Workshop on Synaptic Plasticity - IWSYP?14 *** University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, S?o Paulo State, Brazil Workshop dates: September 8th - 9th 2014 Organizers: Thiago Matos Pinto and Antonio Roque Participation is free of charge! This workshop is a satellite event of the XXXVIII Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC), which will be held on September 10-13 in B?zios, Rio de Janeiro. The SBNeC meeting will also feature big names in Neuroscience, and will be a preparatory event for the 9th World Congress of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), which will take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2015. Confirmed speakers: Chris De Zeeuw (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands & Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Freek Hoebeek (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Reinoud Maex (?cole Normale Sup?rieure, Paris, France) Ricardo Le?o (University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil) Thiago Matos Pinto (University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil) Gabriela Antunes (University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil) Giseli de Sousa (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florian?polis, Brazil) Cleiton Lopes Aguiar (University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil) Renan Oliveira Shimoura (University of S?o Paulo, Ribeir?o Preto, Brazil) Bruna Lanzillotta de Mattos (Fluminense Federal University, Niter?i, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) Luana Chagas (Fluminense Federal University, Niter?i, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) Querusche Zanona (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) Fabiana Santana (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) We look forward to seeing you in Ribeir?o Preto. With best wishes, Thiago Matos Pinto, IWSYP'14 Organizer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Roland.W.Fleming at psychol.uni-giessen.de Wed Sep 3 14:40:05 2014 From: Roland.W.Fleming at psychol.uni-giessen.de (Roland Fleming) Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 20:40:05 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PRISM 4: Perceptual Representation of Illumination, Shape and Materials Message-ID: FINAL CALL: Registration deadline FRIDAY 12th SEPTEMBER! PRISM 4: Perceptual Representation of Illumination, Shape and Materials 6th-9th October 2014 (for PRISM network members and International Advisory Board: 6th-10th for mid-term review) The 4th workshop of the PRISM network will take place in Ankara, Turkey. The purpose of this event is to bring together researchers from different fields to present their work related to illumination, shape, and materials. In the evenings, there will also be soft-skills training for students and participants. This meeting will host a number of invited talks and poster sessions featuring the latest work on the perception and representation of materials, illumination and 3D shape. Confirmed speakers include: SPEAKERS: Pascal Barla Jennifer Bizley Roland Fleming Karl Gegenfurtner Mel Goodale Julie Harris Anya Hurlbert Peter Jansen Larry Maloney Phillip Marlow Richard Murray Shin'ya Nishida Qasim Zaidi REGISTRATION The workshop is open to non-network members for participation. Space is limited, so apply early to secure you place! Registration closes FRIDAY 12th SEPTEMBER. The participation fee is 650 Euros. Payments will be made by international bank transfer following receipt of an invoice. To register, please send an email to Katja Doerschner (katja at bilkent.edu.tr), Dicle Dovencioglu (dicle at bilkent.edu.tr) and Roland Fleming (Roland.W.Fleming at psychol.uni-giessen.de). NOTE: PLEASE MAKES SURE YOU SEND TO ALL THREE ADDRESSES. Registration fees will include breakfast, dinner and coffee breaks, a reception at Bilkent University (location TBC) and a gala dinner on October 9th in the historic part of Ankara. Lunches are to be paid by the participants. In your email please include: The title and abstract of your poster, Whether you will attend the lunch and trip to the modern art museum on Thursday, and whether you need a vegetarian food option (Estimated cost about 15 Euros) Whether you will attend the gala dinner (Included in registration fees) and whether you need a vegetarian food option For further registration details please check the website http://prism-network.eu/. The meeting will be at the Hilton Hotel, downtown Ankara. Link to the city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankara Link to the venue: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/turkey/ankara-hiltonsa-ANKHITW/index.html Link to the gala dinner venue: http://www.divan.com.tr/ENG/Hotel-Destinations/Divan-Cukurhan/Food-and-Bevarage/ Link to the lunch event on Thursday: http://www.cermodern.org/en/ For questions regarding this event please contact Katja Doerschner (katja at bilkent.edu.tr), Dicle Dovencioglu (dicle at bilkent.edu.tr) or Roland Fleming (Roland.W.Fleming at psychol.uni-giessen.de). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From terry at salk.edu Thu Sep 4 08:15:55 2014 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 05:15:55 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - October 1, 2014 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 26, Number 10 - October 1, 2014 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/26/10 ----- Articles Efficient Sensory Encoding and Bayesian Inference With Heterogeneous Neural Populations Deep Ganguli, Eero P Simoncelli Dimensionality of Object Representations in Monkey Inferotemporal Cortex Sidney Lehky, Roozbeh Kiani, Hossein Esteky, and Keiji Tanaka Letters Hierarchical Control Using Networks Trained With Higher-Level Forward Models Gregory Duncan Wayne, Larry Abbott Spine Head Calcium as a Measure of Summed Postsynaptic Activity for Driving Synaptic Plasticity Bruce Graham, Ausra Saudargiene, and Stuart Cobb Design of Charge-Balanced Time-Optimal Stimuli for Spiking Neuron Oscillators Isuru Dasanayake, Jr-Shin Li Influence of External Inputs and Asymmetry of Connections on Information-Geometric Measures Involving Up to Ten Neuronal Interactions Yimin Nie, Jean-Marc Fellous, and Masami Tatsuno Fragility in Dynamic Networks: Application to Neural Networks in the Epileptic Cortex Duluxan Sritharan, Sridevi Vedula Sarma On Anti-periodic Solutions for Cohen-Grossberg Shunting Inhibitory Neural Networks With Time-varying Delays and Impulses Changjin Xu., Qiming Zhang Learning Rates of Lq Coefficient Regularization Learning With Gaussian Kernel Shaobo Lin, Jinshan Zeng, Jian Fang, and Zongben Xu ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2014 - VOLUME 26 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic Only Student/Retired $70 $193 $65 Individual $124 $187 $115 Institution $1,035 $1,098 $926 Canada: Add 5% GST MIT Press Journals, 238 Main Street, Suite 500, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu ------------ From hava at cs.umass.edu Thu Sep 4 06:24:53 2014 From: hava at cs.umass.edu (Hava Siegelmann) Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 06:24:53 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Workshop Message-ID: <54083DF5.7080201@cs.umass.edu> Dear Colleagues and Friends, We are going to organize an IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Workshop on "New Frontiers in Computational Intelligence: From Foundations to Applications," at the University of Rhode Island (URI) onOctober 3, 2014. This IEEE CIS workshop will feature numerous pioneers to discuss the new frontiers of Computational Intelligence (CI) research and development, covering all the key aspects from the foundations, principles, to real-world applications. The workshop is FREE to any one who is interested to attend, but registration is required for logistics arrangement purpose. Details about the workshop can be found at:http://egr.uri.edu/cisworkshop/ I hope you will join us at this exciting IEEE CIS Workshop at URI onOctober 3rd, 2014! Many thanks! -- Hava T. Siegelmann, Ph.D. Professor Director, BINDS Lab (Biologically Inspired Neural Dynamical Systems) Dept. of Computer Science Program of Neuroscience and Behavior University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA, 01003 Phone: 413-545-2744 Fax: 413-545-1249 LAB WEBSITE: http://binds.cs.umass.edu/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tmeeds at gmail.com Fri Sep 5 06:32:43 2014 From: tmeeds at gmail.com (Ted Meeds) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 12:32:43 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: ABC in Montreal Workshop at NIPS 2014 Message-ID: <5F92A53F-DB1E-494C-AB73-3F6DCAF62C57@gmail.com> CALL FOR PAPERS NIPS 2014 Workshop: ABC in Montreal December 12 or 13, 2014 Montreal, Quebec, Canada Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) or likelihood-free (LF) methods have developed mostly beyond the radar of the machine learning community, but are important tools for a large segment of the scientific community. This is particularly true for systems and population biology, computational psychology, computational chemistry, etc. Recent work has both applied machine learning models and algorithms to general ABC inference (NN, forests, GPs) and ABC inference to machine learning (e.g. using computer graphics to solve computer vision using ABC). In general, however, there is significant room for collaboration between the two communities. The workshop will consist of invited and contributed talks, poster spotlights, and a poster session. Rather than a panel discussion we will encourage open discussion between the speakers and the audience! Examples of topics of interest in the workshop include (but are not limited to): * Applications of ABC to machine learning, e.g., computer vision, inverse problems * ABC in Systems Biology, Computational Science, etc * ABC Reinforcement Learning * Machine learning simulator models, e.g., NN models of simulation responses, GPs etc. * Selection of sufficient statistics * Online and post-hoc error * ABC with very expensive simulations and acceleration methods (surrogate modeling, choice of design/simulation points) * ABC with probabilistic programming * Posterior evaluation of scientific problems/interaction with scientists * Post-computational error assessment * Impact on resulting ABC inference * ABC for model selection =========== Submission: =========== We invite submissions in NIPS 2014 format with a maximum of 4 pages, excluding references. Anonymity is not required. Relevant works that have been recently published or presented elsewhere are allowed, provided that previous publications are explicitly acknowledged. Please submit papers in PDF format abcinmontreal at gmail.com . =============== ISBA at NIPS =============== This workshop has been endorsed by ISBA. As part of their sponsorship, ISBA will be awarding a limited number of travel awards to PhD students and young researchers. The organizing committee may nominate particularly strong submissions for this award. In addition to the general ISBA endorsement, ABC in Montreal has been endorsed by the BayesComp section of ISBA. ================ Important Dates: ================ Submission Deadline: October 9, 2014 Author Notification: October 26, 2014 Workshop: December 12 or 13, 2014 ================= Invited Speakers: ================= Michael Blum, Laboratoire TIMC-IMAG Juliane Liepe, Imperial College London Vikash Mansinghka, MIT Frank Wood, Oxford =========== Organizers: =========== Neil Lawrence, University of Sheffield Ted Meeds, University of Amsterdam Christian Robert, Universit? Paris-Dauphine Max Welling, University of Amsterdam Richard Wilkinson, University of Nottingham Contact: The organizers can be contacted at abcinmontreal at gmail.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bengioy at iro.umontreal.ca Mon Sep 1 09:41:23 2014 From: bengioy at iro.umontreal.ca (Yoshua Bengio) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 09:41:23 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Deep Learning and Representation Learning Workshop at NIPS'2014 - Montreal Message-ID: Deep Learning and Representation Learning Workshop at NIPS'2014 - Montreal. Deadline for submissions: Oct 1 Call for papers:https://sites.google.com/site/deeplearningworkshopnips2014/call-for-papers Neural networks research is welcome. Organizers: Yoshua Bengio, Adam Coates , Roland Memisevic , Andrew Ng ? Yoshua Bengio -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From geri at robot-learning.de Sat Sep 6 08:36:22 2014 From: geri at robot-learning.de (Gerhard Neumann) Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2014 14:36:22 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 2nd CfP - NIPS 2014 Workshop on "Autonomously Learning Robots" Message-ID: <540AFFC6.3060702@ias.tu-darmstadt.de> 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS NIPS 2014 WORKSHOP on "Autonomously Learning Robots" =========================================================== == Quick Facts == Call For Papers: Authors can submit a 2-6 pages paper that will be reviewed by the organization committee. The papers can present new work or give a summary of recent work of the author(s). All papers will be considered for the poster sessions. Out-standing long papers (4-6 pages) will also be considered for a 20 minutes oral presentation. Submissions should be send per email to autonomous.learning.robots at gmail.com with the prefix [ALR-Submission]. Important Dates: * 1st Call for Papers: August, 26th, 2014 * Paper submission deadline: October, 3rd, 2014 (23:59 PST) * Paper acceptance notification: October, 27th, 2014 * Camera-ready deadline: November, 30th, 2014 Conference: NIPS 2014 (http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/) Location: Montreal, Canada Homepage: http://www.ias.tu-darmstadt.de/Workshops/NIPS2014 Organizers: Gerhard Neumann ( http://www.ias.tu-darmstadt.de/Team/GerhardNeumann) Joelle Pineau (http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~jpineau/ ), Peter Auer (http://personal.unileoben.ac.at/auer/) Marc Toussaint (http://ipvs.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/mlr/marc/) Topics: - More Autonomous Reinforcement Learning for Robotics - Autonomous Sub-Goal Extraction - Bayesian Parameter and Model Selection - Active Search and Autonomous Exploration - Autonomous Feature Extraction, Kernel Methods and Deep Learning for Robotics - Learning from Human Instructions, Inverse Reinforcement Learning and Preference Learning for Robotics - Generalization of Skills with Multi-Task Learning - Learning Forward Models and Efficient Model-Based Policy Search - Learning to Exploit the Structure of Control Tasks - Movement Primitives and Modular Control Architectures == Abstract == To autonomously assist human beings, future robots have to autonomously learn a rich set of complex behaviors. So far, the role of machine learning in robotics has been limited to solve pre-specified sub-problems that occur in robotics and, in many cases, off-the-shelf machine learning methods. The approached problems are mostly homogeneous, e.g., learning a single type of movement is sufficient to solve the task, and do not reflect the complexities that are involved in solving real-world tasks. In a real-world environment, learning is much more challenging than solving such homogeneous problems. The agent has to autonomously explore its environment and discover versatile behaviours that can be used to solve a multitude of different tasks throughout the future learning progress. It needs to determine when to reuse already known skills by adapting, sequencing or combining the learned behaviour and when to learn new behaviours. To do so, it needs to autonomously decompose complex real-world tasks into simpler sub-tasks such that the learned solutions for these sub-tasks can be re-used in a new situation. It needs to form internal representations of its environment, which is possibly containing a large variety of different objects or also different agents, such as other robots or humans. Such internal representations also need to shape the structure of the used policy and/or the used value function of the algorithm, which need to be flexible enough such to capture the huge variability of tasks that can be encountered in the real world. Due to the multitude of possible tasks, it also cannot rely on a manually tuned reward function for each task, and, hence, it needs to find a more general representations for the reward function. Yet, an autonomous robot is likely to interact with one or more human operators that are typically experts in a certain task, but not necessarily experts in robotics. Hence, an autonomously learning robot also should make effective use of feedback that can be acquired from a human operator. Typically, different types of instructions from the human are available, such as demonstrations and evaluative feedback in form of a continuous quality rating, a ranking between solutions or a set of preferences. In order to facilitate the learning problem, such additional human instructions should be used autonomously whenever available. Yet, the robot also needs to be able to reason about its competence to solve a task. If the robot thinks it has poor competence or the uncertainty of the competence is high, the robot should request more instructions from the human expert. Most machine learning algorithms are missing these types of autonomy. They still rely on a large amount of engineering and fine-tuning from a human expert. The human typically needs to specify the representation of the reward-function, of the state, of the policy or of other internal representations used by the learning algorithms. Typically, the decomposition of complex tasks into sub-tasks is performed by the human expert and the parameters of such algorithms are fine tuned by hand. The algorithms typically learn from a pre-specified source of feedback and can not autonomously request more instructions such as demonstrations, evaluative feedback or corrective actions. We belief that this lack of autonomy is one of the key reasons why robot learning could not be scaled to more complex, real world tasks. Learning such tasks would require a huge amount of fine tuning which is very costly on real robot systems. == Goal == In this workshop, we want to bring together people from the fields of robotics, reinforcement learning, active learning, representation learning and motor control. The goal in this multi-disciplinary workshop is to develop new ideas to increase the autonomy of current robot learning algorithms and to make their usage more practical for real world applications. In this context, among the questions which we intend to tackle are More Autonomous Reinforcement Learning - How can we automatically tune hyper-parameters of reinforcement learning algorithms such as learning and exploration rates? - Can we find reinforcement learning algorithms that are less sensitive to the settings of their hyper-parameters and therefore, can be used for a multitude of tasks with the same parameter values? - How can we efficiently generalize learned skills to new situations? - Can we transfer the success of deep learning methods to robot learning? - How do learn on several levels of abstractions and also identify useful abstractions? - How can we identify useful elemental behaviours that can be used for a multitude of tasks? - How do use RL on the raw sensory input without a hand-coded representation of the state? - Can we learn forward models of the robot and its environment from high dimensional sensory data? How can these forward models be used effectively for model-based reinforcement learning? - Can we autonomously decide when to learn value functions and when to use direct policy search? Autonomous Exploration and Active Learning - How can we autonomously explore the state space of the robot without the risk of breaking the robot? - Can we use strategies for intrinsic motivation, such as artificial curiosity or empowerment, to autonomously acquire a rich set of behaviours that can be re-used in the future learning progress? - How can we measure the competence of the agent as well as our certainty in this competence? - Can we use active learning to acquire improve the quality of learned forward models as well as to probe the environment to gain more information about the state of the environment? Autonomous Learning from Instructions - Can we combine learning from demonstrations, inverse reinforcement learning and preference learning to make more effective use of human instructions? - How can we decide when to request new instructions from a human experts? - How can we scale inverse reinforcement learning and preference learning to high dimensional continuous spaces? - Can we use demonstrations and human preferences to identify relevant features from the high dimensional sensory input of the robot? Autonomous Feature Extraction - Can we use feature extraction techniques such as deep learning to find a general purpose feature representation that can be used for a multitude of tasks. - Can recent advances for kernel based methods be scaled to reinforcement learning and policy search in high dimensional spaces? - What are good priors to simplify the feature extraction problem? - What are good features to represent the policy, the value function or the reward function? Can we find algorithms that extract features specialized for these representations? == Format == The workshop is designed to be a platform for presentations and discussion including the invited speakers, oral presentations of paper submissions and poster submissions. The scope of the workshop includes all all areas connected to autonomous robot learning, including reinforcement learning, exploration strategies, Bayesian learning for adjusting hyper-parameters, representation learning, structure learning and learning from human instructions. There will be a poster session where interested authors in the topic can present their recent work at the workshop. The authors have to submit a two page abstract which can present new work, or a summary of the recent work of the authors (6 pages) or also present new ideas for the proposed topics. The workshop will consist of seven plenary invited talks (30 minutes each) and short talks from selected abstract submissions. All accepted posters will be presented at two poster sessions (min. 60 minutes each). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Machine Learning News" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ml-news+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From grlmc at urv.cat Sun Sep 7 03:40:03 2014 From: grlmc at urv.cat (GRLMC) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 09:40:03 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: BigDat 2015: registration deadline 23 September Message-ID: <3C0B908C2A9849E083649CA8E9308560@Carlos1> *To be removed from our mailing list, please respond to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line* ***************************************************** INTERNATIONAL WINTER SCHOOL ON BIG DATA BigDat 2015 Tarragona, Spain January 26-30, 2015 Organized by Rovira i Virgili University http://grammars.grlmc.com/bigdat2015/ ***************************************************** --- 4th registration deadline: September 23, 2014 --- ***************************************************** AIM: BigDat 2015 is a research training event for graduates and postgraduates in the first steps of their academic career. It aims at updating them about the most recent developments in the fast developing area of big data, which covers a large spectrum of current exciting research, development and innovation with an extraordinary potential for a huge impact on scientific discoveries, medicine, engineering, business models, and society itself. Renowned academics and industry pioneers will lecture and share their views with the audience. All big data subareas will be displayed, namely: foundations, infrastructure, management, search and mining, security and privacy, and applications. Main challenges of analytics, management and storage of big data will be identified through 4 keynote lectures and 24 six-hour courses, which will tackle the most lively and promising topics. The organizers believe outstanding speakers will attract the brightest and most motivated students. Interaction will be a main component of the event. ADDRESSED TO: Graduate and postgraduates from around the world. There are no formal pre-requisites in terms of academic degrees. However, since there will be differences in the course levels, specific knowledge background may be required for some of them. BigDat 2015 is also appropriate for more senior people who want to keep themselves updated on recent developments and future trends. They will surely find it fruitful to listen and discuss with major researchers, industry leaders and innovators. REGIME: In addition to keynotes, 3 courses will run in parallel during the whole event. Participants will be able to freely choose the courses they will be willing to attend as well as to move from one to another. VENUE: BigDat 2015 will take place in Tarragona, located 90 kms. to the south of Barcelona. The venue will be: Campus Catalunya Universitat Rovira i Virgili Av. Catalunya, 35 43002 Tarragona KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Ian Foster (Argonne National Laboratory), tba Geoffrey C. Fox (Indiana University, Bloomington), Mapping Big Data Applications to Clouds and HPC C. Lee Giles (Pennsylvania State University, University Park), Scholarly Big Data: Information Extraction and Data Mining William D. Gropp (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), tba COURSES AND PROFESSORS: Hendrik Blockeel (KU Leuven), [intermediate] Decision Trees for Big Data Analytics Diego Calvanese (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano), [introductory/intermediate] End-User Access to Big Data Using Ontologies Jiannong Cao (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), [introductory/intermediate] Programming with Big Data Edward Y. Chang (HTC Corporation, New Taipei City), [introductory/advanced] >From Design of Distributed and Online Algorithms to Hands-on Code Lab Practice on Real Datasets Ernesto Damiani (University of Milan), [introductory/intermediate] Process Discovery and Predictive Decision Making from Big Data Sets and Streams Gautam Das (University of Texas, Arlington), [intermediate/advanced] Mining Deep Web Repositories Maarten de Rijke (University of Amsterdam), tba Geoffrey C. Fox (Indiana University, Bloomington), [intermediate] Using Software Defined Systems to Address Big Data Problems Minos Garofalakis (Technical University of Crete, Chania) [intermediate/advanced], Querying Continuous Data Streams Vasant G. Honavar (Pennsylvania State University, University Park) [introductory/intermediate], Learning Predictive Models from Big Data Mounia Lalmas (Yahoo! Research Labs, London), [introductory] Measuring User Engagement Tao Li (Florida International University, Miami), [introductory/intermediate] Data Mining Techniques to Understand Textual Data Kwan-Liu Ma (University of California, Davis), [intermediate] Big Data Visualization Christoph Meinel (Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam), [introductory/intermediate] New Computing Power by In-Memory and Multicore to Tackle Big Data David Padua (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), [intermediate] Data Parallel Programming Manish Parashar (Rutgers University, Piscataway), [intermediate] Big Data in Simulation-based Science Srinivasan Parthasarathy (Ohio State University, Columbus), [intermediate] Scalable Data Analysis Evaggelia Pitoura (University of Ioannina), [intermediate] Online Social Networks Vijay V. Raghavan (University of Louisiana, Lafayette), [introductory/intermediate] Visual Analytics of Time-evolving Large-scale Graphs Pierangela Samarati (University of Milan), [intermediate], Data Security and Privacy in the Cloud Peter Sanders (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), [introductory/intermediate] Algorithm Engineering for Large Data Sets Johan Suykens (KU Leuven), [introductory/intermediate] Fixed-size Kernel Models for Big Data Domenico Talia (University of Calabria, Rende), [intermediate] Scalable Data Mining on Parallel, Distributed and Cloud Computing Systems Jieping Ye (Arizona State University, Tempe), [introductory/advanced] Large-Scale Sparse Learning and Low Rank Modeling ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Adrian Horia Dediu (Tarragona) Carlos Mart?n-Vide (Tarragona, chair) Florentina Lilica Voicu (Tarragona) REGISTRATION: It has to be done at http://grammars.grlmc.com/bigdat2015/registration.php The selection of up to 8 courses requested in the registration template is only tentative and non-binding. For the sake of organization, it will be helpful to have an approximation of the respective demand for each course. Since the capacity of the venue is limited, registration requests will be processed on a first come first served basis. The registration period will be closed and the on-line registration facility disabled when the capacity of the venue will be complete. It is much recommended to register prior to the event. FEES: As far as possible, participants are expected to stay full-time. Fees are a flat rate covering the attendance to all courses during the week. There are several early registration deadlines. Fees depend on the registration deadline. ACCOMMODATION: Suggestions of accommodation will be provided in due time. CERTIFICATE: Participants will be delivered a certificate of attendance. QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: florentinalilica.voicu at urv.cat POSTAL ADDRESS: BigDat 2015 Lilica Voicu Rovira i Virgili University Av. Catalunya, 35 43002 Tarragona, Spain Phone: +34 977 559 543 Fax: +34 977 558 386 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Universitat Rovira i Virgili --- Este mensaje no contiene virus ni malware porque la protecci?n de avast! Antivirus est? activa. http://www.avast.com From sameer at cs.umass.edu Sun Sep 7 14:54:30 2014 From: sameer at cs.umass.edu (Sameer Singh) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 11:54:30 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: AKBC 2014: NIPS Workshop on Automated Knowledge Base Construction Message-ID: AKBC 2014 Call for Papers ======================= 4th Workshop on Automated Knowledge Base Construction (AKBC) at NIPS 2014 ======================= December 13, 2014, Montreal, Canada http://www.akbc.ws Knowledge Base Construction ======================= The advances in information extraction, machine learning, and natural language processing have led to the creation of large knowledge bases (KBs) from Web sources. Notable endeavors in this direction include Wikipedia-based approaches (such as YAGO, DBpedia, and Freebase), systems that extract from the entire Web (such as NELL, Knowledge Vault, and PROSPERA) or from specific domains (such as Rexa), and open information extraction approaches (TextRunner, PRISMATIC). This trend has led to new applications that make use of semantics. Most prominently, all major search engine providers (Yahoo!, Microsoft Bing, and Google) nowadays experiment with semantic tools. The Semantic Web, too, benefits from the new approaches. With this year?s workshop, we would like to resume the positive experiences from three previous workshops: AKBC-2010 (http://akbc.xrce.xerox.com/), AKBC-WEKEX-2012 (http://akbcwekex2012.wordpress.com/), and AKBC 2013 ( http://akbc.ws/2013). The AKBC-2014 workshop will serve as a forum for researchers working in the area of automated knowledge harvesting from text. By having invited talks by leading researchers from industry, academia, and the government, and by focusing particularly on vision papers, we aim to provide a vivid forum of discussion about the field of automated knowledge base construction. Call For Papers ======================= We welcome papers documenting previously unpublished research; ongoing and exciting preliminary work is perfectly fine. We are particularly interested in visionary paper submissions. We aim for papers that express intriguing and promising ideas -- focusing less on where science is today and more on where it should go tomorrow. Topic of interest include, but are not limited to: * information integration; schema alignment; ontology alignment; ontology construction * monolingual alignment, alignment between knowledge bases and text * joint inference between text interpretation and knowledge base * pattern and semantic analysis of natural language, reading the web, learning by reading * scalable computation; distributed computation; probabilistic databases * information retrieval; search on mixtures of structured and unstructured data * machine learning; unsupervised, lightly-supervised and distantly-supervised learning; learning from naturally-available data * human-computer collaboration in KB construction; automated population of wikis * dynamic data, online/on-the-fly adaptation of knowledge * inference; scalable approximate inference * languages, toolkits and systems for automated knowledge base construction * demonstrations of existing automatically-built knowledge bases Invited Talks ======================= * William Cohen, CMU * Oren Etzioni, Allen?s Institute for Artificial Intelligence * Ramanathan Guha, Google * Andrew McCallum, UMass Amherst * Tom Mitchell, CMU * Kevin Murphy, Google Research * Hoifung Poon, Microsoft Research * Chris Re, Stanford University * Amarnag Subramanya, Google Research * Jason Weston, Facebook Research Submission ======================= We welcome ongoing and exciting preliminary work. We are particularly interested in visionary paper submissions. We aim for papers that express intriguing and promising ideas ? focusing less on where science is today and more on where it should go tomorrow. Please format your papers using the standard NIPS Style files, and restrict it to 4 pages (excluding references). Since the reviewing will not be double blind, please include author information and the \nipsfinalcopy flag. Style files: http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/PaperInformation/StyleFiles Submission site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=akbc2014 Important Dates ======================= * Submission Due: **October 17**, 2014 (23:59 PDT, UTC-7) * Acceptance Notification: November 3, 2014 * Camera-ready Due: November 28, 2014 * Workshop: December 13, 2014 Organizers ======================= * Sebastian Riedel, University College London, UK * Sameer Singh, University of Washington, USA * Fabian M. Suchanek, T?l?com ParisTech University, France * Partha Pratim Talukdar, Indian Institute of Science, India -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu Sun Sep 7 18:16:01 2014 From: gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu (Mark Gluck) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 18:16:01 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Job Opening for Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University-Newark: Broad range of experimental approaches in humans, non-human primates, and/or rodents. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Friends & Colleagues: The Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University-Newark has recently posted the following broadly-pitched advertisement for a new junior faculty position. I would be particularly interested in seeing the position filled by someone with a focus on learning, memory, or decision making?a major locus of strength for Rutgers University across several units and campuses. Such a candidate might work at the cognitive neuroscience level using functional brain imaging and/or other methods with humans, or at a systems-neuroscience level, using non-human primates or rodents, within a research program that makes strong connections to behavioral and cognitive approaches. Brain imaging is supported internally by our research-dedicated Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center, RUBIC (see http://rubic.rutgers.edu) Candidates with research interests in this area are welcome to contact me directly at gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu and to cc me when they submit their formal application materials to the job-search email account noted below (see detailed instructions below on how to apply). (FYI: We also have both graduate fellowships and postdoctoral fellowships available for those seeking training in the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of learning and memory disorders; candidates for these training positions are encourage to contact me directly, as well). Finally ? Please note the October 20, 2014 deadline for the faculty position is coming up soon. - Mark Gluck gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu http://www.gluck.edu ---- The Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University-Newark seeks outstanding candidates for a tenure track Assistant Professor position in NEUROSCIENCE. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience or a related field and have completed at least two years of post-doctoral training. The ideal candidate for this position asks fundamental hypothesis-driven questions about brain structure and function and is open to establishing collaborative research efforts within the Rutgers neuroscience community. Research areas of particular interest are executive control, sensory-motor integration, learning and memory, and emotional regulation. The successful applicant will likely use a broad range of experimental approaches in non-human primates, humans, and/or rodents, and methods including electrophysiology, optogenetics, and functional imaging. The assistant professor will be expected to maintain an active externally-funded research program, to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in neuroscience, and to mentor Ph.D. students in the Behavioral and Neural Sciences program. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national public research university and the state's preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Rutgers is dedicated to conducting research that breaks new ground; to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; and to providing services, solutions, and clinical care that help individuals and the local, national, and global communities where they live. CMBN is located in Newark NJ, a short drive from New York City. CMBN is part of a large community of neuroscientists at Rutgers Newark, with additional researchers in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology as well as in the Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School. Collectively, these researchers represent all levels of analysis in neuroscience (http://www.neuroscience.newark.rutgers.edu). Applicants should apply as soon as possible, but no later than October 20, 2014. Rutgers is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and has a strong commitment to diversity. Women and members of underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Rutgers-Newark is noted for its exceptionally diverse student population. To receive detailed instructions on how to apply, please send an email to search at cmbn.rutgers.edu with the subject line 'How to apply'. ___________________________________ Dr. Mark A. Gluck, Professor Director, Rutgers Memory Disorders Project Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Rutgers University 197 University Ave. Newark, New Jersey 07102 Web: http://www.gluck.edu Email: gluck at pavlov.rutgers.edu Ph: (973) 353-3298 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From emmanuel.vincent at inria.fr Mon Sep 8 03:38:06 2014 From: emmanuel.vincent at inria.fr (Emmanuel Vincent) Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:38:06 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Cfp: LVA 2015 (12th International Conference on Latent Variable Analysis and Signal Separation) Message-ID: <540D5CDE.7040809@inria.fr> ---------------------------------------------- LVA 2015 - 12th International Conference on Latent Variable Analysis and Signal Separation August 24-26, 2015, Liberec, Czech Republic http://amca.cz/lva2015/ ---------------------------------------------- *About LVA* LVA 2015 will be the 12th in a series of international conferences which attracted hundreds of researchers and practitioners over the years. Since its start in 1999 under the banner of Independent Component Analysis and Blind Source Separation (ICA), the conference has continuously broadened its horizons. It encompasses today a host of additional forms and models of general mixtures of latent variables. Theories and tools borrowing from the fields of signal processing, applied statistics, machine learning, linear and multilinear algebra, numerical analysis and optimization, and numerous application fields offer exciting interdisciplinary interactions. *Highlights* The conference will be preceded by a Summer School on Latent Variable Analysis and Signal Separation and it will feature the much-awaited results of the 5th Signal Separation Evaluation Campaign (SiSEC 2015). Keynote talks will be given by three leading researchers: - T?lay Adali (University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA) - R?mi Gribonval (Inria, France) - DeLiang Wang (Ohio State University, USA) *Call for Papers* The proceedings will be published in Springer-Verlag's Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series (LNCS). Prospective authors are invited to submit original papers (up to 8 pages in LNCS format) in areas related to latent variable analysis and signal separation, including but not limited to: - Theory: sparse coding, dictionary learning; statistical and probabilistic modeling; detection, estimation and performance criteria and bounds; causality measures; learning theory; convex/nonconvex optimization tools - Models: general linear or nonlinear models of signals and data; discrete, continuous, flat, or hierarchical models; multilinear models; time-varying, instantaneous, convolutive, noiseless, noisy, over-complete, or under-complete mixtures - Algorithms: estimation, separation, identification, detection, blind and semi-blind methods, non-negative matrix factorization, tensor decomposition, adaptive and recursive estimation; feature selection; time-frequency and wavelet based analysis; complexity analysis - Applications: speech and audio separation, recognition, dereverberation and denoising; auditory scene analysis; image segmentation, separation, fusion, classification, texture analysis; biomedical signal analysis, imaging, genomic data analysis, brain-computer interface - Emerging related topics: sparse learning; deep learning; social networks; data mining; artificial intelligence; objective and subjective performance evaluation. *Special Sessions* The program will also feature special sessions on new or emerging topics of interest. Proposals for special sessions must include the session title, rationale, outline, and a list of 4 to 6 invited papers. To submit, see http://amca.cz/lva2015/. *Important Dates* Jan 16, 2015: Submission of special session proposals Jan 30, 2015: Special session decisions announced Mar 27, 2015: Paper submission deadline May 22, 2015: Notification of acceptance Jun 12, 2015: Submission of camera-ready papers Aug 26-28, 2015: Conference dates *Organizing Committee* General chairs: Zbynek Koldovsky (Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic) Petr Tichavsky (Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic) Program chairs: Arie Yeredor (Tel-Aviv University, Israel) Emmanuel Vincent (Inria, France) Special sessions: Shoji Makino (University of Tsukuba, Japana) SiSEC chair: Nobutaka Ono (NII, Japan) Overseas liaison: Andrzej Cichocki (RIKEN, Japan) From alessandro at idsia.ch Mon Sep 8 10:15:21 2014 From: alessandro at idsia.ch (Alessandro Antonucci) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014 16:15:21 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: researcher position at IDSIA/IPG Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, We have an opening for a researcher position at our imprecise probability group at IDSIA. Duties ------ The person hired on this position will evenly share her/his working time on two main activities: - basic research, aiming at publishing in highly rated journals and international conferences; and - applied research, by taking responsibility of cutting-edge projects in tight collaboration with companies. A cross-activity will be the search for funding opportunies of both basic and applied research. Requirements ------------ - This position is for a junior researcher. - Doctorate degree and master degree with top grades in mathematics, or physics, or engineering, or informatics, or statistics or other quantitative areas. - Excellent theoretical as well as applied knowledge of Bayesian networks and other graphical models (in particular of structure/parameter learning) and modern data mining algorithms (in particular for classification and clustering, but regression and time series are also desirable). These skills have to be backed up by a good record track of technical papers. - Excellent mathematical skills. - Excellent (software-engineer-level) programming skills (C, C++, Java), knowledge of operating systems (Unix, Linux, Mac, Windows) and development tools (e.g., Eclipse). - Good knowledge of specialized mathematical/statistical environments, such as MATLAB and R. - Good knowledge of computational complexity theory. (Soft skills) - Very good communication skills in spoken and written English. - Good knowledge of Italian or alternatively a commitment to learn it as soon as possible. - Ability to work in a team and in a collaborative environment. - Autonomy. Desirable but not strictly required ----------------------------------- - Knowledge of imprecise probability (e.g., credal networks, credal classification, uncertainty modeling with sets of distributions). - Good knowledge of (Bayesian) statistics. - Good record track of granted research projects as main applicant or co-applicant. - Past experience of leading/working in applied research projects in collaboration with companies. - Good knowledge of German and French. We offer -------- - A first two-year contract that constitutes an evaluation period (the evaluation period can possibly be extended). The positive feedback of performance appraisal leads to a permanent position. - A competitive swiss salary commensurate to the candidate's age and experience. - Travel funding to participate to conferences, workshops and the like. - An international working environment. - Collaboration with experts in data mining, Bayesian networks, imprecise probability, statistics: the hired candidate will join in particular the imprecise probability group at IDSIA (http://ipg.idsia.ch). - Opportunity to develop professional and scientific skills as well as career progression. For more information and details about the application procedure, please send a message to Marco Zaffalon (zaffalon at idsia.ch). http://www.idsia.ch/~zaffalon From ilya.nemenman at emory.edu Mon Sep 8 14:42:16 2014 From: ilya.nemenman at emory.edu (Ilya Nemenman) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014 14:42:16 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Faculty position in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Message-ID: <5E75C2FD-128E-4873-B447-A033A98550E1@emory.edu> Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience The Department of Biology in the Emory College of Arts and Science is seeking applications for a tenure-track position in theoretical and computational neuroscience. Current computational neuroscience research at Emory is anchored in the Department of Biology (http://www.biology.emory.edu) and is grounded in experimental preparations and neurobiological questions (http://compneurosci.college.emory.edu). The ideal candidate would be a theorist who bridges into experimental data analysis in systems neuroscience. Innovative approaches to understanding principles of neural coding, neural dynamics, learning, memory, and behavior are of particular interest. The successful candidate is anticipated to have a PhD and postdoctoral experience in a quantitative science, and is expected to contribute to the Biology Department's teaching mission in the context of programs in quantitative theory and methods (http://quantitative.emory.edu) and neuroscience (http://www.nbb.emory.edu). Interactions with experimentalists and other theorists within Emory?s rich, collaborative neuroscience community are encouraged. Emory has more than 120 laboratories participating in graduate programs in Neuroscience (http://biomed.emory.edu/PROGRAM_SITES/NS/) and Biomedical Engineering (http://www.bme.emory.edu), and spanning Emory College (Biology, Psychology, Physics, Anthropology), School of Medicine, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Georgia Institute of Technology. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a research statement, a teaching statement and three confidential reference letters. Applications and reference letters must be electronically uploaded through Interfolio. The deadline for applying is December 1, 2014; applications received after this date are not guaranteed full consideration. APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS Submit online via Interfolio.com at http://apply.interfolio.com/25348. Delivery of application materials to Interfolio's ByCommittee software will be at no charge to the applicant. Confirmation emails will be sent from @interfolio.com. http://apply.interfolio.com/25348 Emory University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Disability/Veteran employer. Women, minorities, persons with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply. From Vittorio.Murino at iit.it Tue Sep 9 05:54:24 2014 From: Vittorio.Murino at iit.it (Vittorio Murino) Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 11:54:24 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Riemannian Geometry workshop @ NIPS2014 Message-ID: <540ECE50.1040901@iit.it> Call for Participation RIEMANNIAN GEOMETRY IN MACHINE LEARNING, STATISTICS, AND COMPUTER VISION This workshop will be held in conjunction with Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2014), on Saturday December 13 2014, at the Palais des Congr?s in Montreal, Canada. http://www.riemanniangeometry2014.eu/ OVERVIEW Traditional machine learning and data analysis methods often assume that the input data can be represented by vectors in Euclidean space. While this assumption has worked well for many applications, researchers have increasingly realized that if the data is intrinsically non-Euclidean, ignoring this geometrical structure can lead to suboptimal results. In the existing literature, there are two common approaches for exploiting data geometry when the data is assumed to lie on a Riemannian manifold. In the first direction, often referred to as manifold learning, the data is assumed to lie on an unknown Riemannian manifold and the structure of this manifold is exploited through the training data, either labeled or unlabeled. Examples of manifold learning techniques include Manifold Regularization via the graph Laplacian, Locally Linear Embedding, and Isometric Mapping. In the second direction, which is gaining increasing importance and success, the Riemannian manifold representing the input data is assumed to be known explicitly. Some manifolds that have been widely used for data representation are: the manifold of symmetric, positive definite matrices, the Grassmannian manifold of subspaces of a vector space, and the Kendall manifold of shapes. When the manifold is known, the full power of the mathematical theory of Riemannian geometry can be exploited in both the formulation of algorithms as well as their theoretical analysis. Successful applications of these approaches are numerous and range from brain imaging and low rank matrix completion to computer vision tasks such as object detection and tracking. This workshop focuses on the latter direction. We aim to bring together researchers in statistics, machine learning, computer vision, and other areas, to discuss and exchange current state of the art results, both theoretically and computationally, and identify potential future research directions. INVITED SPEAKERS Thomas Fletcher, University of Utah Mark Girolami, University of Warwick Richard Hartley/Mehrtash Harandi, Australian National University/NICTA Suvrit Sra, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tuebingen Anuj Srivastava, Florida State University Bart Vandereycken, Princeton University FORMAT The workshop will consist of invited talks only, followed by a panel discussion together with the speakers. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Minh Ha Quang (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy) Vikas Sindhwani (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, New York) Vittorio Murino (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, and University of Verona, Italy) -- Vittorio Murino ******************************************* Prof. Vittorio Murino, Ph.D. PAVIS - Pattern Analysis & Computer Vision IIT Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Via Morego 30 16163 Genova, Italy Phone: +39 010 71781 504 Mobile: +39 329 6508554 Fax: +39 010 71781 236 E-mail: vittorio.murino at iit.it Secretary: Sara Curreli email: sara.curreli at iit.it Phone: +39 010 71781 917 http://www.iit.it/pavis ******************************************** From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Tue Sep 9 14:37:13 2014 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:37:13 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: 2014 SFN Meeting Workshop: NSG Portal for parallel simulations Message-ID: <540F48D9.2090203@yale.edu> What: Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulations A Satellite Symposium at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience Meeting Where: Location to be announced in downtown Washington, DC When: 9 AM - Noon on Saturday, November 15, 2014 Speakers to include: A. Majumdar, S. Sivagnanam, and T. Carnevale Registration deadline: Friday, October 31, 2014 Do you have a large scale modeling project that exceeds the speed or capacity of your local hardware? Have you tried to use high performance computing (HPC) resources at your own institution, but found the process too difficult because of administrative or technical barriers? If yes, this workshop is for you. In a single morning session, you will learn how to use the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) http://www.nsgportal.org/ which is designed for neuroscientists who need to use HPC resources for large modeling projects. It simplifies every aspect of the process, from getting allocations of free CPU time to uploading your model, launching and monitoring jobs, and downloading results. The NSG already has several parallel simulators installed, including Brian, NEST, NEURON, PGENESIS and PyNN. Space is limited, so sign up quickly. See http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2014/nsg2014.html for further details and the registration form. Support: The NSG project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. NSG provides its users free allocations of CPU time on HPC resources under the auspices of XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment), which is also supported by NSF. From ferran.diego at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de Wed Sep 10 03:41:55 2014 From: ferran.diego at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de (Ferran Diego) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:41:55 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for contributions NIPS Workshop on Large scale optical physiology Message-ID: <541000C3.6030204@iwr.uni-heidelberg.de> *NIPS Workshop on Large scale optical physiology: From data-acquisition to models of neural coding* Montreal, Quebec. December 12, 2014 _ - Scope:_ Obtaining a detailed understanding of brain function remains a significant challenge. Major advances in recording technologies -- e.g. imaging calcium signals with 2-photon, light-sheet, or light-field microscopy -- are beginning to provide measurements of neural activity at unprecedented scales. Analytical tools will critical for the high-throughput acquisition and analysis of such large-scale datasets. In particular, our field needs scalable, reproducible computational approaches that are general enough to share and coordinate across groups, but flexible enough to extract meaning from a variety of problem settings. We also need analyses that examine the full richness of both single-neuron and population-level response properties and dynamics. The goal of this workshop is to discuss challenges and opportunities for computational neuroscience and machine learning that arise from large-scale recording techniques: * What kind of data will be generated by large-scale functional measurements in the next decade? How will it be quantitatively or qualitatively different to the kind of data we have had previously? What will the computational bottlenecks be? * What are the key computational tools for high-throughput data acquisition, e. g. visualization/dimensionality reduction/information quantification? How can we identify the best algorithms and what are the limitations of existing techniques? * What can we learn from large-scale recordings that is fundamentally new? What theories could we test, if only we had access to recordings from more neurons? What kind of statistics will be powerful enough to verify/falsify population coding theories? What can we infer about network structure and dynamics? We have invited scientists whose research directly addresses these questions, including both experimental and computational neuroscientists. We hope to foster active discussion among this multidisciplinary group, to clarify priorities and perspective, and coordinate key directions for future research. The target audience includes industry and academic researchers interested in machine learning, neuroscience, big data and statistical inference. _- Link: _ http://hci.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de//Staff/fdiego/LargeScaleOpticalPhysiology/_ - Important Dates:_ Submission Opens: September 1, 2014 Abstract submission deadline (for poster presentations): October 9, 2014 Acceptance for poster presentation will be announced by October 23, 2014 Workshop Day: December 12, 2014 _- Call for Contributions:_ We invite abstract submissions for poster presentation at the workshop. Please submit abstracts (1 page max in pdf format) by email to *opticalphysiology(at)gmail.com*. _- Organizers:_ Ferran Diego (Heidelberg Collaboratory for Image Processing, University of Heidelberg) _-- primary contact_ Jeremy Freeman (Janelia Research Campus) Jakob Macke (Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tuebingen, Germany) Il Memming Park (Neural Coding and Computation Lab, University of Texas at Austin) Eftychios Pnevmatikakis (Department of Statistics and the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University) -- Multidimensional Image Processing Group University of Heidelberg, HCI Speyerer Str. 6, D-69115 Heidelberg Phone: +49 (0) 6221 -- 5280 E-Mail: ferran.diego at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de http://hci.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de/Staff/fdiego/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From giacomo.cabri at unimore.it Tue Sep 9 09:42:25 2014 From: giacomo.cabri at unimore.it (Giacomo Cabri) Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 15:42:25 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CfP: Special Issue on Collective Adaptive Systems Message-ID: <540F03C1.3070300@unimore.it> Scalable Computing Practice and Experience Special Issue on Collective Adaptive Systems URL: http://www.scpe.org/index.php/scpe/pages/view/Call-issue-3-2015 Collective Adaptive Systems (CAS) is a broad term that describes large scale systems that comprise of many units/nodes, each of which may have their own individual properties, objectives and actions. Decision-making in such a system is distributed and possibly highly dispersed, and interaction between the units may lead to the emergence of unexpected phenomena. CASs are open, in that nodes may enter or leave the collective at any time, and boundaries between CASs are fluid. The units can be highly heterogeneous (computers, robots, agents, devices, biological entities, etc.), each operating at different temporal and spatial scales, and having different (potentially conflicting) objectives and goals, even if often the system has a global goal that is pursued by means of collective actions. Our society increasingly depends on such systems, in which collections of heterogeneous ?technological? nodes are tightly entangled with human and social structures to form ?artificial societies?. Yet, to properly exploit them, we need to develop a deeper scientific understanding of the principles by which they operate, in order to better design them. The special issue will feature articles that concern different and interdisciplinary aspects of collective adaptive systems, as specified in the following list of topics. Topics: Areas of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to: ? Novel theories relating to operating principles of CAS ? Novel design principles for building CAS systems ? Insights into the short and long term adaptation of CAS systems ? Insights into Emergent Properties of CAS ? Insights into general properties of large scale, distributed CAS ? Methodologies for studying, analysing and building CAS ? Frameworks for analysing or developing CAS ? Case-studies/Scenarios that can be used to investigate CAS properties Important dates: ? Submission: December 15th, 2014 ? Author notification: January 31st 2015 ? Revised papers (for major revisions): February 28th 2015 ? Author notification (for major revisions): April 15th, 2015 ? Camera Ready papers due: May 15th, 2015 ? Expected publication: September, 2015 Submission: The special issue seeks original, unpublished work on technologies enabling collaboration. The authors of the best papers form FoCAS at SASO2014 will be invited to submit an extended version to this special issue. The SCPE journal has a rigorous peer-review process and papers will be sent to at least two independent referees. Papers that do not merit publication (for any reason) can be rejected by the Special Issue Editors without further review. Submitted papers must be formatted according to the journal's instructions, which can be found at: http://www.scpe.org/index.php/scpe/about/submissions#authorGuidelines Special issue guest editors: ? Prof. Giacomo Cabri. Universit? di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy, giacomo.cabri at unimore.it ? Prof. Emma Hart. Napier University, UK, E.Hart at napier.ac.uk -- |----------------------------------------------------| | Prof. Giacomo Cabri - Ph.D., Associate Professor | Dip. di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche | Universita' di Modena e Reggio Emilia - Italia | e-mail giacomo.cabri at unimore.it | tel. +39-059-2058320 fax +39-059-2055216 |----------------------------------------------------| From jesus.garrido at unipv.it Wed Sep 10 17:07:08 2014 From: jesus.garrido at unipv.it (=?UTF-8?Q?Jes=C3=BAs_Garrido?=) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 23:07:08 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in cognitive neuroscience in the University of Granada (Spain) Message-ID: *PhD position in the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC) in Granada (Spain)* We are looking for a highly motivated student to enroll in a 4 year PhD program (or 3 yr PhD + 1 yr postdoc) in the the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC; http://cimcyc.ugr.es/), a state-of-the-art multidisciplinary building which includes several research groups working on different topics ( http://cimcyc.ugr.es/pages/personal/grupos-de-investigacion). The CIMCYC is equipped with a 3T Siemens MR System, TMS, and several eye trackers and EEG recording systems. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Dr. Maria Ruz ( http://www.ugr.es/~mruz/eng), in an interdisciplinary research project centered on functional neuroimaging in humans, funded by the Spanish 'Ministerio de Econom?a y Competitividad' . Topics of study will be cognitive control, consciousness and/or interpersonal interactions. We encourage applicants with a strong interest in human neuroimaging research (especially in fMRI), with an educational background in any related discipline (i.e. neuroscience, computer science, physics, biomedical engineering, psychology, medicine or related fields). Programming skills (e.g. Matlab) and previous experience in human neuroimaging are highly desirable. Applicants must have at least 300 ECTS (60 of them at postgraduate level), hands-on research experience (equivalent to at least 12 ECTS), and be proficient in English. Start date will be the beginning of 2015. The application deadline is quite close (26th of September, 2014), and applications must be made through the online platform here: http://goo.gl/66ZBez. Interested candidates who fulfill all the criteria noted above should contact the IP in advance (mruz at ugr.es) including a statement of research experience and motivations, a CV and contact details of at least 2 referees. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jes?s A. Garrido Alc?zar Postdoctoral Researcher Dept. of Computer Architecture and Technology ETSI Inform?tica y Telecomunicaciones University of Granada email: jesusgarrido at ugr.es --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hartmut.fitz at gmail.com Mon Sep 8 16:14:03 2014 From: hartmut.fitz at gmail.com (Hartmut Fitz) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014 22:14:03 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in Neurocomputational modeling of language processing Message-ID: A PhD position is available at the Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, within the 'Language in Interaction' consortium. The PhD candidate will participate in a team effort to understand the neurobiology underlying language processing by building computer models for sentence processing based on recurrent networks of spiking neurons. The goal is to develop a model with processing memory based on vector representations of words which are incrementally interpreted in terms of thematic roles ("who did what to whom"). A core objective will be to investigate the computational role of different neuronal models, connectivity types, neurobiologically motivated adaptation mechanisms, and different methods for calibrating the model's read-out units. Closing date: 30 September 2014 For more information see: https://www.languageininteraction.nl/jobs/phd-positions.html https://www.languageininteraction.nl/jobs/id-2nd-phd-call-general.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jose at psychology.rutgers.edu Thu Sep 11 09:33:05 2014 From: jose at psychology.rutgers.edu (Stephen =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9?= Hanson) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:33:05 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Endowed Chair at Rutgers in Machine Learning Message-ID: <1410442385.20403.50.camel@edison> Please find attached the ad. Steve -- Stephen Jos? Hanson Director RUBIC (Rutgers Brain Imaging Center) Professor of Psychology Member of Cognitive Science Center (NB) Member EE Graduate Program (NB) Member CS Graduate Program (NB) Rutgers University email: jose at rubic.rutgers.edu web: psychology.rutgers.edu/~jose lab: www.rumba.rutgers.edu fax: 866-434-7959 voice: 973-353-3313 (RUBIC) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: HRTC.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 117283 bytes Desc: not available URL: From yael at Princeton.EDU Wed Sep 10 18:37:24 2014 From: yael at Princeton.EDU (Yael Niv) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 22:37:24 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position available in the Niv Lab at Princeton Message-ID: <66C50520-0A3D-4831-8CBB-A7519F857B7F@exchange.princeton.edu> A postdoctoral position is available in the lab of Dr. Yael Niv in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Psychology at Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/~nivlab), for a collaborative project with the lab of Geoffrey Schoenbaum at NIDA. Research in the Niv lab focuses on computational modeling of learning and decision making at the systems level (reinforcement learning, Bayesian inference), and model-driven behavioral and functional imaging experiments of human learning and decision making. Research in the Schoenbaum lab utilizes rodent models to study learning and decision making, as well as addiction. We seek an exceptionally talented candidate who is intensely interested in understanding decision making and addiction, has proven experience in empirical investigations of learning and decision making (and corresponding task design), has expertise in computer programming and modeling, and has a keen interest in reinforcement learning and normative models of behavior. Background in studies of addiction, functional imaging and/or rodent work is an advantage. Anticipated start date is January 2015 though there is considerable flexibility. This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal, pending satisfactory performance. Essential Qualifications: PhD in psychology, neuroscience or equivalent. Proven experience with computer programming. Preferred Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have robust experience with fMRI (event related designs and model-based analysis techniques) or with studies of rodent decision making (Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning), will be proficient in programming (Matlab or equivalent), and will have experience with computational modeling (machine learning, reinforcement learning, Bayesian models). To apply, please visit the website https://jobs.princeton.edu (requisition # 1400567) and create an online application. Applicants must submit a cover letter stating background and research interests and citations of at least two representative publications, a CV, and contact information for at least two references. Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is subject to the University?s background check policy. From bart at vision.rutgers.edu Thu Sep 11 09:43:03 2014 From: bart at vision.rutgers.edu (Bart Krekelberg) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:43:03 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Henry Rutgers Term Chair in Computer and Data Science Message-ID: Rutgers University - Newark (RU-N) seeks outstanding candidates to serve as Henry Rutgers Term Chair in Computer and Data Science, with a specific focus on computational methods in machine learning, or statistical modeling of complex data sets in the sciences, engineering, business, or medical fields. Recruitment is at the associate professor level; however, exceptional candidates qualifying for the full professor rank may be considered. This recruitment is part of the Rutgers University Strategic Plan to strengthen Rutgers leadership in burgeoning fields, and part of the new transdisciplinary research Institute for Data Science, Learning, and Applications (I-DSLA). I-DSLA brings together computer scientists, cognitive scientists, philosophers, and domain experts in neuroscience, environmental science, chemistry, medicine, business, and other professions. The new hire will be poised to leverage these experts as well as a new high performance computing cluster on the RU-N campus, to advance knowledge about learning from data. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computational Statistics, or a related field and have a record of excellent scholarship, as demonstrated by significant publications and funding. They should be open to collaborative research within the RU-N community and will be expected to help build a group of faculty in areas related to I-DSLA, maintain an active externally-funded research program, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, and mentor Ph.D. students. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national public research university and the state's preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, military service or any other category protected by law. As an institution, we value diversity of background and opinion, and prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of any legally protected class in the areas of hiring, recruitment, promotion, transfer, demotion, training, compensation, pay, fringe benefits, layoff, termination or any other terms and conditions of employment. Applicants should apply no later than November 1st, 2014. To receive detailed instructions on how to apply, please email hrsearch at rutgers.edu with the subject line 'How to apply'. -- --- Bart Krekelberg, PhD Associate Director, Center for Molecular and Behavioral and Neuroscience Associate Director, Rutgers Brain Imaging Center Associate Professor, Rutgers University Newark, NJ 07102 USA T: 973 353 3602 W: vision.rutgers.edu E: bart at vision.rutgers.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From murphyk at cs.ubc.ca Thu Sep 11 03:50:28 2014 From: murphyk at cs.ubc.ca (Kevin Murphy) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 00:50:28 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: CFP AAAI Spring Symposium on Knowledge Representation & Reasoning: Combining Statistical and Symbolic approaches Message-ID: We invite submissions to the AAAI Spring Symposium on "Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Integrating Symbolic and Distributional Approaches", to be held at Stanford University, CA, March 23-25, 2015. This will be a 2.5 day workshop in which we discuss methods for KR&R that can combine the strengths of symbolic approaches (e.g., knowledge bases, first order logic) with distributed approaches (e.g., deep learning, spectral embeddings), as well as hybrid variants thereof (e.g., hierarchical Bayesian models, probabilistic logic). We are interested in systems that can go beyond classifying inputs into one of a smallish set of labels, but instead can produce responses from an exponentially large set of possible answers (e.g., think of an open-domain question answering system, or a system that can predict the future behavior of a person given various sensory inputs). Our preliminary list of invited speakers includes Antoines Borde s, Leon Bottou, William Coh en, Noah Goodman, P ercy Liang, David McAllester, Josh Tenenbaum, Micha el Wittbrock, Luke Z ettlemoyer. Submission s should be up to 4 pages in PDF format, and are due by October 10, 2014. Please upload via https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=krr2015 ; no email submissions will be accepted. Author names and affiliations should be displayed on the first page. The organizers are Andrew McCallum (UMass), Ramanathan Guha (Google), Evgeniy Gabrilovich (Google), Kevin Murphy (Google). Further details can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/krr2015/. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From xaq at cns.bcm.edu Thu Sep 11 12:33:43 2014 From: xaq at cns.bcm.edu (Xaq Pitkow) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 11:33:43 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Wanted: Postdoc to catch fireflies Message-ID: POSITION: Xaq Pitkow's Computational Neuroscience group jointly at Rice University and the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas, is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher who will develop theory and analyses of dynamic neural representations in animal brains. This is for a newly funded project to test how neural computations enable animals to catch fireflies in a virtual reality environment. The project will require multiple interlocking theoretical components and hands-on engagement with neural data analysis. We aim to understand the interplay between vision, spatial navigation, and decision-making in the face of uncertainty during a naturalistic, continuous-time task. LAB ENVIRONMENT: Our research focuses on computational functions of neural networks, especially how they compute properties of the world using ambiguous sensory evidence. A few related topics include: distributed neural representations, biological algorithms for statistical inference, and computation by nonlinear recurrent networks. This project is a close collaboration with the labs of Dora Angelaki, Greg DeAngelis, and Paul Schrater, all highly quantitative researchers in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. QUALIFICATIONS: Important selection criteria include strong mathematical skills, practical knowledge of machine learning tools, and past research accomplishments. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in a relevant quantitative discipline, e.g. physics, math, machine learning, or statistics. Previous experience with neurobiology is advantageous but not essential. APPLYING: Applicants should email a letter of research interests and CV to Xaq Pitkow (xaq(a)rice.edu). The position is available immediately, and we look forward to reviewing applications as they arrive. From zoltan.szabo.list at gmail.com Thu Sep 11 17:08:35 2014 From: zoltan.szabo.list at gmail.com (Zoltan Szabo) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 22:08:35 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: NIPS 2014 workshop - Modern Nonparametrics 3: Automating the Learning Pipeline Message-ID: <54120F53.3000707@gmail.com> ================================================================= Call for Papers: /Modern Nonparametrics 3: Automating the Learning Pipeline/// held in conjunction with Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2014) December 13, 2014, Montreal, Canada https://sites.google.com/site/nips2014modernnonparametric/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview: ------------- Nonparametric methods (kernel methods, kNN, classification trees, etc) are designed to handle complex pattern recognition problems. Such complex problems arise in modern applications such as genomic experiments, climate analysis, robotic control, social network analysis, and so forth. There is a growing need for statistical procedures that can be used ?off-the-shelf?, i.e. procedures with as few parameters as possible, or better yet, procedures which can ?self-tune? to a particular application at hand. In traditional statistics, much effort has gone into so called ?adaptive? procedures which can attain optimal risks over large sets of models of increasing complexity. Examples are model selection approaches based on penalized empirical risk minimization, approaches based on stability of estimates (e.g. Lepski?s methods), thresholding approaches under sparsity assumptions, and model averaging approaches. Most of these approaches rely on having tight bounds on the risk of learning procedures (under any parameter setting), hence other approaches concentrate on tight estimations of the actual risks, e.g., Stein?s risk estimators, bootstrapping methods, data dependent learning bounds. In theoretical machine learning, much of the work has focused on proper tuning of the actual optimization procedures used to minimize (penalized) empirical risks. In particular, great effort has gone into the automatic setting of important tuning parameters such as ?learning rates? and ?step sizes?. Another approach out of machine learning arises in the kernel literature under the name of ?automatic representation learning?. The aim of the approach, similar to theoretical work on model selection, is to automatically learn an appropriate (kernel) transformation of the data for use with kernel methods such as SVMs or Gaussian processes. A main aim of this workshop is to cover the various approaches proposed so far towards automating the learning pipeline, and the practicality of these approaches in light of modern constraints. We are particularly interested in understanding whether large datasizes and dimensionality might help the automation effort since such datasets in fact provide more information on the patterns being learned. This workshop is third in a series of NIPS workshops on modern nonparametric methods in machine learning, which several of the present organizers were involved in running during NIPS 2013 and NIPS 2012 (see organizer biographies). These previous workshops focused on the challenges posed by large data sizes (e.g. time/accuracy tradeoffs) and large dimensionality (e.g. dimension reduction strategies). The main focus of the present workshop, automating the learning pipeline, builds on these previous workshops. Submission: ---------------- Papers submitted to the workshop should be up to four pages long, extended abstracts in camera-ready format using the NIPS style. They should be sent by email to ''nonparametric.nips2014 at gmail.com ''. Accepted submissions will be presented as talks or posters. Important Dates: ----------------------- submission deadline: Oct 9, 2014 (23:59 UTC) notification of acceptance: Oct 23, 2014 (23:59 UTC) workshop: Dec 13, 2014 Registration: ----------------- Participants should refer to the NIPS-2014 website for information on how to register for the workshop. -- Zoltan Szabo Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit University College London http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/~szabo/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From callforvideos at aaaivideos.org Fri Sep 12 11:54:01 2014 From: callforvideos at aaaivideos.org (AAAI Video Competition Call for Videos) Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 17:54:01 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: AAAI-15 AI Video Competition - Call for videos Message-ID: AAAI-15 AI Video Competition Date: January 25-29, 2015 Place: Austin Texas, USA Website: http://www.aaaivideos.org Submission Deadline: October 15, 2014 ------- Dear Colleagues, AAAI is pleased to announce the continuation of the AAAI Video Competition, now entering its ninth year. The video competition will be held in conjunction with the AAAI-15 conference in Austin Texas, USA, January 25-29, 2015. At the main AAAI-15 awards ceremony, authors of award-winning videos will be presented with "Shakeys", trophies named in honour of SRI's Shakey robot and its pioneering video. Top videos will be screened during the award ceremony and during a dedicated session. All videos will also be visible throughout the conference. The goal of the competition is to show the world how much fun AI is by documenting exciting artificial intelligence advances in research, education, and application. View previous entries and award winners at http://www.aaaivideos.org/past_competitions or watch last year?s videos on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aaaivideocompetition. The rules are simple: Compose a short video about an exciting AI project, and narrate it so that it is accessible to a broad online audience. We strongly encourage student participation. To increase reach, select videos will be uploaded to YouTube and promoted through social media (twitter, facebook, g+) and major blogs in AI and robotics. Last year?s videos were viewed over 10 000 times. This year, we will also be running a People?s Choice Award on Robohub ( http://robohub.org) where viewers on internet can vote for their favorite AI video. The AAAI Video Competition is also an ideal opportunity to give further visibility to contributions presented at AAAI-15. We therefore welcome videos associated with manuscripts submitted to AAAI-15 or with entries submitted to the Demo Track and to the Robotics Exhibitions. We will make sure to publicize your paper/demo/exhibit in the video proceedings and during the award ceremony. More information on these events can be found here: http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2015/ SOCIAL MEDIA For timely updates, please follow us on social media. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aaaivideocompetition Facebook: http://facebook.com/aaaivideocompetition Twitter: https://twitter.com/AAAIVideoComp Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/114475734676393336983 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From grlmc at urv.cat Sun Sep 14 03:41:34 2014 From: grlmc at urv.cat (GRLMC) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 09:41:34 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: LATA 2015: 3rd call for papers Message-ID: *To be removed from our mailing list, please respond to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line* **************************************************************************************** 9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE AND AUTOMATA THEORY AND APPLICATIONS LATA 2015 Nice, France March 2-6, 2015 Organized by: CNRS, I3S, UMR 7271 Nice Sophia Antipolis University Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC) Rovira i Virgili University http://grammars.grlmc.com/lata2015/ **************************************************************************************** AIMS: LATA is a conference series on theoretical computer science and its applications. Following the tradition of the diverse PhD training events in the field developed at Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona since 2002, LATA 2015 will reserve significant room for young scholars at the beginning of their career. It will aim at attracting contributions from classical theory fields as well as application areas. VENUE: LATA 2015 will take place in Nice, the second largest French city on the Mediterranean coast. The venue will be the University Castle at Parc Valrose. SCOPE: Topics of either theoretical or applied interest include, but are not limited to: algebraic language theory algorithms for semi-structured data mining algorithms on automata and words automata and logic automata for system analysis and programme verification automata networks automata, concurrency and Petri nets automatic structures cellular automata codes combinatorics on words computational complexity data and image compression descriptional complexity digital libraries and document engineering foundations of finite state technology foundations of XML fuzzy and rough languages grammars (Chomsky hierarchy, contextual, unification, categorial, etc.) grammatical inference and algorithmic learning graphs and graph transformation language varieties and semigroups language-based cryptography parallel and regulated rewriting parsing patterns power series string and combinatorial issues in bioinformatics string processing algorithms symbolic dynamics term rewriting transducers trees, tree languages and tree automata unconventional models of computation weighted automata STRUCTURE: LATA 2015 will consist of: invited talks peer-reviewed contributions INVITED SPEAKERS: Paola Inverardi (L?Aquila), Synthesis of Protocol Adapters Johann A. Makowsky (Technion, Haifa), Hankel Matrices for Graph Parameters and Graph Grammars Giancarlo Mauri (Milano Bicocca), Complexity Classes for Membrane Systems Andreas Podelski (Freiburg), Automated Program Verification Antonio Restivo (Palermo), The Shuffle Product: New Research Directions PROGRAMME COMMITTEE: Andrew Adamatzky (West of England, Bristol, UK) Andris Ambainis (Latvia, Riga, LV) Franz Baader (Dresden Tech, DE) Rajesh Bhatt (Massachusetts, Amherst, US) Jos?-Manuel Colom (Zaragoza, ES) Bruno Courcelle (Bordeaux, FR) Erzs?bet Csuhaj-Varj? (E?tv?s Lor?nd, Budapest, HU) Aldo de Luca (Naples Federico II, IT) Susanna Donatelli (Turin, IT) Paola Flocchini (Ottawa, CA) Enrico Formenti (Nice, FR) Tero Harju (Turku, FI) Monika Heiner (Brandenburg Tech, Cottbus, DE) Yiguang Hong (Chinese Academy, Beijing, CN) Kazuo Iwama (Kyoto, JP) Sanjay Jain (National Singapore, SG) Maciej Koutny (Newcastle, UK) Anton?n Ku?era (Masaryk, Brno, CZ) Thierry Lecroq (Rouen, FR) Salvador Lucas (Valencia Tech, ES) Veli M?kinen (Helsinki, FI) Carlos Mart?n-Vide (Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, ES, chair) Filippo Mignosi (L?Aquila, IT) Victor Mitrana (Madrid Tech, ES) Ilan Newman (Haifa, IL) Joachim Niehren (INRIA, Lille, FR) Enno Ohlebusch (Ulm, DE) Arlindo Oliveira (Lisbon, PT) Jo?l Ouaknine (Oxford, UK) Wojciech Penczek (Polish Academy, Warsaw, PL) Dominique Perrin (ESIEE, Paris, FR) Alberto Policriti (Udine, IT) Sanguthevar Rajasekaran (Connecticut, Storrs, US) J?rg Rothe (D?sseldorf, DE) Frank Ruskey (Victoria, CA) Helmut Seidl (Munich Tech, DE) Ayumi Shinohara (Tohoku, Sendai, JP) Bernhard Steffen (Dortmund, DE) Frank Stephan (National Singapore, SG) Paul Tarau (North Texas, Denton, US) Andrzej Tarlecki (Warsaw, PL) Jacobo Tor?n (Ulm, DE) Frits Vaandrager (Nijmegen, NL) Jaco van de Pol (Twente, Enschede, NL) Pierre Wolper (Li?ge, BE) Zhilin Wu (Chinese Academy, Beijing, CN) Slawomir Zadrozny (Polish Academy, Warsaw, PL) Hans Zantema (Eindhoven Tech, NL) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: S?bastien Autran (Nice) Adrian Horia Dediu (Tarragona) Enrico Formenti (Nice, co-chair) Sandrine Julia (Nice) Carlos Mart?n-Vide (Tarragona, co-chair) Christophe Papazian (Nice) Julien Provillard (Nice) Pierre-Alain Scribot (Nice) Bianca Truthe (Giessen) Florentina Lilica Voicu (Tarragona) SUBMISSIONS: Authors are invited to submit non-anonymized papers in English presenting original and unpublished research. Papers should not exceed 12 single-spaced pages (including eventual appendices, references, etc.) and should be prepared according to the standard format for Springer Verlag's LNCS series (see http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0). Submissions have to be uploaded to: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lata2015 PUBLICATIONS: A volume of proceedings published by Springer in the LNCS series will be available by the time of the conference. A special issue of the Journal of Computer and System Sciences (Elsevier, 2013 JCR impact factor: 1.0) will be later published containing peer-reviewed substantially extended versions of some of the papers contributed to the conference. Submissions to it will be by invitation. REGISTRATION: The period for registration is open from July 21, 2014 to March 2, 2015. The registration form can be found at: http://grammars.grlmc.com/lata2015/Registration.php DEADLINES: Paper submission: October 10, 2014 (23:59 CET) Notification of paper acceptance or rejection: November 18, 2014 Early registration: November 25, 2014 Final version of the paper for the LNCS proceedings: November 26, 2014 Late registration: February 16, 2015 Submission to the journal special issue: June 6, 2015 QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION: florentinalilica.voicu at urv.cat POSTAL ADDRESS: LATA 2015 Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC) Rovira i Virgili University Av. Catalunya, 35 43002 Tarragona, Spain Phone: +34 977 559 543 Fax: +34 977 558 386 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Nice Sophia Antipolis University Rovira i Virgili University --- Este mensaje no contiene virus ni malware porque la protecci?n de avast! Antivirus est? activa. http://www.avast.com From jkrichma at uci.edu Sun Sep 14 14:49:12 2014 From: jkrichma at uci.edu (Jeff Krichmar) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:49:12 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Faculty Position in Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, Irvine Message-ID: <263B6A25-2639-411A-BDF1-F0954E052D9E@uci.edu> Dear Connectionists, The following job position may be of interest to many of you. ************************** University of California, Irvine Faculty Position in Computational Neuroscience The Department of Cognitive Sciences (www.cogsci.uci.edu) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) invites applications for a faculty position at the Associate or Full Professor level. We are especially interested in candidates who use mathematical, computational, or robotics approaches to study the neural basis of cognition in any of these areas: (1) vision, hearing, and attention; (2) memory and decision-making; (3) learning and development; (4) language. Applicants whose research relates to human behavior are preferred. A strong record of publications and extramural funding is essential. Exceptional candidates at the Assistant Professor level will also be considered. The online application includes: A cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements, 3 recent publications, and contact information for 3-5 referees. Interested candidates can apply for the position at: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02452. To ensure full consideration, please complete the application by November 15, 2014. The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to excellence through diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. ************************** Best regards, Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma at uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma From viktor.jirsa at univ-amu.fr Mon Sep 15 05:00:52 2014 From: viktor.jirsa at univ-amu.fr (Viktor Jirsa) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 11:00:52 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: TVB NODE#2 :: training workshop on The Virtual Brain References: Message-ID: <337E42EB-B613-4D90-87FB-D945BE771B42@univ-amu.fr> Dear colleagues, please find below the announcement of our second training work shop on The Virtual Brain platform. it will happen just prior to SfN2014 in Washington DC. Best wishes, Viktor Jirsa Directeur adjoint, Institut de Neurosciences des Syst?mes UMR INSERM 1106 Aix-Marseille Universit? Facult? de M?decine, 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin 13005 Marseille, France tel : +33 (0) 491 29 98 14 http://ins.univ-amu.fr/ NODE#2 : Training Workshop, Washington DC, November 14, 2014 www.thevirtualbrain.org/node2 In this workshop we will explain the fundamental principles of full brain network modelling using the open source neuroinformatics platform The Virtual Brain (TVB). This simulation environment enables the biologically realistic modelling of network dynamics using Connectome-based approaches across different brain scales. Configurable brain network models generate macroscopic neuroimaging signals including functional MRI (fMRI), intracranial and stereotactic EEG, surface EEG and MEG for single subjects. Researchers from different backgrounds can benefit from an integrative software platform including a supporting framework for data management (generation, organization, storage, integration and sharing) and a simulation core written in Python. The architecture of TVB supports interaction with MATLAB packages, for example, the well-known Brain Connectivity Toolbox. Workshop Goals: to create a conceptual and technical understanding of the various network modelling approaches in TVB; familiarization with TVB graphical user interface, Python and Matlab programming environment and data formats. Workshop Format: lectures and hands-on tutorials - space is limited* ================================================================== For more details and registration, please visit our website: http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/node2 ================================================================== Important Dates: September 12, 2014 ? Registration Open - space is limited* October 31, 2014 ? Registration Closed November 14, 2014 ? TVB NODE#2 Training Workshop Location: Renaissance Washington, Downtown DC Hotel Congressional Ballroom C 999 Ninth St NW, Washington DC, US, 20001 With our best regards, The TVB Team ========================================================================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: tvb_node2_mailbanner.png Type: image/png Size: 10033 bytes Desc: not available URL: From johannes.kulick at ipvs.uni-stuttgart.de Mon Sep 15 10:36:17 2014 From: johannes.kulick at ipvs.uni-stuttgart.de (Johannes Kulick) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:36:17 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: Active Learning in Robotics Workshop at HUMANOIDS 2014 Message-ID: <20140915143617.15733.3099@quirm.robotics.tu-berlin.de> Apologies for cross-posting. ACTIVE LEARNING IN ROBOTICS WORKSHOP HUMANOIDS 2014 NOVEMBER 18th 2014 MADRID, SPAIN We invite interested researchers to submit abstracts to the Humanoids 2014 workshop on Active Learning in Robotics: Exploration Strategies in Complex Environments. SUMMARY The design of agents that can learn complex skills by themselves is still in its infancy. One bottleneck is the lack of labeled data. Datasets are often limited in size and coverage, since they need experiments on robots or expensive simulations. Thus an important capability of every robot in complex environments is to gather new data. To do this efficiently, intelligent robots need to be able to identify which task-relevant information is still missing. Only this ability enables agents to actively work towards a better understanding of the environment, the agent's state, and the task at hand, which will eventually lead to better performance. Active learning is an approach to gain this ability. Within this paradigm the agent chooses the next data point to achieve the best learning result with as few data points as possible. Such strategies can shorten the process of data gathering significantly and also lead to the important information more quickly. OBJECTIVES In this workshop, we want to discuss the state of the art of active learning in robotics, but also address important open questions, such as: * What representation of knowledge allows efficient reasoning about it? * What are successful strategies based on these representations? * How can we generalize or transfer experiences to decrease the need of data? * How to explore safely without damaging the robot and its environment? * How can existing approaches be `scaled up' to real world domains? We aim for this variety of topics to be represented by participants from the robotics and machine learning communities. CALL FOR POSTERS We invite authors who work on topics related to the workshop to submit 1-2-page abstracts. All abstracts will be considered for a poster session. Submissions should be send to active-learning-in-robotics at ipvs.uni-stuttgart.de before October 7th, 2014. Both theoretical findings as well as experimental results are encouraged to be submitted. The abstracts will be reviewed by the organizing committee. The review process is non-blind. We encourage work-in-progress to be submitted and will take this into account in the review process. Notifications of acceptance will be given by October 21st. DATE AND LOCATION November 18th 2014 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots Hotel Melia Castilla, Madrid, Spain WEBSITE AND SCHEDULE All information regarding the workshop will be published on the website http://www.robot-learning.de/Workshops/Humanoids2014ActiveLearning. Soon, the workshop schedule will be posted there as well. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The workshop will be funded by the DFG (German Science Foundation) within the priority program "Autonomous Learning" (SPP 1527). ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Johannes Kulick, University of Stuttgart Herke van Hoof, Technische Universit?t Darmstadt Marc Toussaint, University of Stuttgart and Jan Peters, Technische Universit?t Darmstadt & Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 473 bytes Desc: signature URL: From shelie at purdue.edu Mon Sep 15 14:03:51 2014 From: shelie at purdue.edu (Sebastien Helie) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:03:51 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Graduate student position in computational cognitive neuroscience Message-ID: <54172A07.2070507@purdue.edu> Dear Connectionists, Dr. Sebastien Helie is looking for new graduate students interested in the Mathematical and Computational Cognitive Science (MCCS) program to join the Purdue Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience in Fall 2015. The Purdue Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience is affiliated with the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, which is consistently ranked among the top 50 in the US. The Purdue Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience uses different methodologies from cognitive psychology, neuroimaging, and computational modeling to study the relation between the brain and cognitive processing. The goal of the Purdue Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience is to use empirical and computational methods to better understand categorization, automaticity, rule learning, sequence learning, skill acquisition, and intuition in decision-making. You can find more information about the Department of Psychological Sciences @ Purdue University here: http://www.purdue.edu/hhs/psy/ You can find more information about the Mathematical and Computational Cognitive Science (MCCS) program here: http://www.purdue.edu/hhs/psy/graduate/research_training_areas/mathematical/index.php You can find more information about The Purdue Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience program here: http://ccn.psych.purdue.edu/index.html Interested students should contact Dr. Helie at shelie at purdue.edu. -- ----------------------------------- Sebastien Helie, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychological Sciences Purdue University 703 Third Street West Lafayette, IN 47907-2081 -- Office: Peirce Hall, Room 359 Phone: (765) 496-2692 E-mail: shelie at purdue.edu Website: http://ccn.psych.purdue.edu/ ------------------------------------ From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Tue Sep 16 10:49:25 2014 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 10:49:25 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Fwd: NSG workshop at SFN, Washington D.C., Nov 15th, 2014; 9am - noon In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <54184DF5.6060703@yale.edu> This workshop is likely to be of interest if you have a computationally-intensive modeling project: easy-to-use, free CPU time on parallel supercomputers. --Ted -------- Original Message -------- Subject: NSG workshop at SFN, Washington D.C., Nov 15th, 2014; 9am - noon Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 05:01:54 +0000 From: Majumdar, Amitava To: nsgportal at sdsc.edu NSG Workshop: Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulations. A Satellite Symposium at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience Meeting. See the agenda (in progress) here: http://www.nsgportal.org/workshop.html When: 9 AM - Noon on Saturday, November 15, 2014 Registration deadline: October 31, 2014 (register here: http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2014/nsg2014.html ) Speakers: A. Majumdar, S. Sivagnanam, K. Yoshimoto (San Diego Supercomputer Center, UCSD), Ted Carnevale (Yale School of Medicine), Upi Bhalla (National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India), Ruben Tikidzhi-Khamburyan (Dept of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Health Science Center, Louisiana State University; A.B. Kogan Research Institute for Neurocybernetics, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia). NSG Team The NSG project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. NSG provides its users free allocations of CPU time on HPC resources under the auspices of XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment), which is also supported by NSF. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://lists.sdsc.edu/mailman/private/nsgportal/attachments/20140916/c1424fdc/attachment.html From mjaz at mit.edu Mon Sep 15 15:57:14 2014 From: mjaz at mit.edu (Mehrdad Jazayeri) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:57:14 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?Postdoc_position_=96_Neural_Basi?= =?windows-1252?q?s_of_Bayesian_Integration?= Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I'd appreciate if you share this open postdoc position with suitable candidates. Sincerely, -Mehrdad Jazayeri Mehrdad Jazayeri, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research Email: mjaz at mit.edu Postdoctoral position to study the neural basis of Bayesian integration in the non-human-primate model We have an exciting project that combines sophisticated behavioral tasks in non-human primates (NHP) with dense electrophysiological recordings to assess the neural basis of Bayesian sensorimotor integration. The ideal candidate will have experience using dense electrophysiological recordings techniques (e.g., Utah array) in awake, behaving NHPs. Candidates with no prior experience in in-vivo electrophysiology are unlikely to be considered. The position is open immediately. The project has a strong computational component as well, which involves the use of state-of-the-art statistical and dynamical systems analyses. The postdoc is encouraged to get involved with the computational aspects of the project, but is not expected to be an expert in computational modeling. Applicants should submit a CV, a 1-page description of their relevant background and expertise, a 1-page research statement of interest with respect to the project, and names and email addresses of three referees. To apply or ask questions, please contact Mehrdad Jazayeri at MIT. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: smime.p7s Type: application/pkcs7-signature Size: 1584 bytes Desc: not available URL: From bjoern.kindler at kip.uni-heidelberg.de Tue Sep 16 10:03:15 2014 From: bjoern.kindler at kip.uni-heidelberg.de (Bjoern Kindler) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:03:15 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: BrainScaleS 4th Frontiers in Neuromorphic Computing Conference on 2 October 2014 in Heidelberg (Germany) References: Message-ID: <922AD4C8-CE90-46AA-8BA3-A8C14BDC9874@kip.uni-heidelberg.de> Dear list members, for the BrainScaleS 4th Frontiers in Neuromorphic Computing Conference on Thursday, 2 October 2014 in Heidelberg (Germany) the registration is still open for another week. Invited speakers Chris Eliasmith, Jeff Hawkins, Tomoki Fukai, Sam Gershman, Tony Movshon and Thomas Schulthess and speakers from the BrainScaleS project (Wolfgang Maass, Gustavo Deco, Markus Diesmann, Johannes Schemmel, Yves Fregnac) will cover different aspects of Neuromorphic Computing from Modelling, HBP, Neuromorphic Computing Hardware and Neuro-Biology in their talks. Please find the talks abstracts and more infos on our conference page at http://brainscales.eu/4thFrontInNMC Kind regards, Bjoern Kindler -- Dr. Bjoern Kindler Administrative Project Officer BrainScaleS.eu Project and HBP Science and Technology Office Tel.: +49 6221 54 9127 Kirchhoff Institut fuer Physik Room 01.113 Im Neuenheimer Feld 227 D-69120 Heidelberg From marios.philiastides at gmail.com Wed Sep 17 11:19:53 2014 From: marios.philiastides at gmail.com (Marios Philiastides) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:19:53 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral fellow in multimodal neuroimaging of decision making Message-ID: We are looking to appoint one postdoctoral fellow to make a leading contribution to an ESRC funded project on the neurobiology of human decision making using multimodal neuroimaging. The post will be based at the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology (INP) at the University of Glasgow (ranked 2nd in the UK by the Guardian), which benefits from on-site access to the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (CCNi). The CCNi is a research-dedicated facility within the INP and it is equipped with state-of-the art brain imaging facilities comprising a 3T fMRI scanner (Siemens Trio), an MEG system, and several TMS and EEG systems, including MR-compatible recording options. Our group uses multimodal neuroimaging coupled with mathematical modelling to characterise the spatiotemporal dynamics and the computational principles of the brain networks underlying human decision making. Our analysis methods are heavily inspired by machine learning and statistical pattern recognition and are designed to exploit trial-to-trial variability in electrophysiologically-derived measures that can be used in conjunction with simultaneously acquired fMRI to tease apart the cascade of constituent cortical and subcortical processes involved in decision making. The primary focus of the project will be to unravel the neural correlates of learning and confidence during decision making, which will form the basis for further development of brain computer interfaces (BCI) for human-machine interaction. The latter will take place in close collaboration with Prof. Paul Sajda?s team at Columbia University in New York with whom the selected candidate will have the opportunity to interact regularly. Candidates must have a PhD (or equivalent) in neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science or in a related discipline. Candidates must have previous practical experience and working knowledge of human neuroimaging (including both EEG and fMRI) as evident by a strong track record of publications in international journals. The post holder must also have working knowledge of multivariate data analysis techniques, excellent programming skills in Matlab and previous experience in using either fSL or SPM analysis software. Previous experience in simultaneous EEG/fMRI experiments and computational modelling is desirable. This post will be available from 5th January 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter for three years. Salary: Grade 7 ?33,242 ? ?37,394 per annum. Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr. Marios Philiastides at marios.philiastides at glasgow.ac.uk. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted. For more details on our research interests visit http://decision.ccni.gla.ac.uk. Apply online at www.glasgow.ac.uk/jobs (Ref: 009415) Closing date: 19 October 2014 -- Marios G. Philiastides, Ph.D. Associate Professor Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging University of Glasgow Glasgow, G12 8QB Web: http://decision.ccni.gla.ac.uk/ Email: marios.philiastides at glasgow.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tomas.hromadka at gmail.com Thu Sep 18 04:58:12 2014 From: tomas.hromadka at gmail.com (Tomas Hromadka) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 10:58:12 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: COSYNE2015: Meeting Announcement and Call for Abstracts Message-ID: <541A9EA4.8090707@gmail.com> ================================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING WORKSHOPS Mar 5 - Mar 8, 2015 Mar 9 - Mar 10, 2015 Salt Lake City, Utah Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah http://www.cosyne.org ================================================================== The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is single-track. A set of invited talks are selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. This year we would like to foster increased participation from experimental groups as well as computational ones. Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to apply. Please note that the main Cosyne 2015 meeting will take place in a different venue (Hilton Salt Lake City Center) one week later than usual, see www.cosyne.org for details. IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission opens: 29 Sep 2014 Abstract submission deadline: 26 Nov 2014 CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Amy Bastian (Johns Hopkins) Matteo Carandini (UCL) Sophie Deneve (ENS) Florian Engert (Harvard) Marla Feller (UC Berkeley) Wulfram Gerstner (EPFL) Shawn Lockery (U Oregon) Liam Paninski (Columbia) Nicole Rust (U Penn) Tatyana Sharpee (Salk) Mariano Sigman (UBA) Emo Todorov (U Washington) When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Michael Long (NYU) and Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Program Chairs: Maria Geffen (U Penn) and Konrad K?rding (Northwestern) Workshop Chairs: Robert Froemke (NYU) and Claudia Clopath (Imperial College) Publicity Chair: Xaq Pitkow (Rice) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Anne Churchland (CSHL) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) CONTACT cosyne.meeting [at] gmail.com From michel.verleysen at uclouvain.be Thu Sep 18 10:45:12 2014 From: michel.verleysen at uclouvain.be (Michel Verleysen) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:45:12 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: ESANN 2015: announcement and call for papers Message-ID: ESANN 2015: European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning Bruges, Belgium, 22-23-24 April 2015 http://www.esann.org/ Call for papers The call for papers is available at http://www.esann.org/. The deadline for submitting papers is November 21, 2014. The ESANN conferences cover machine learning, artificial neural networks, statistical information processing and computational intelligence. Mathematical foundations, algorithms and tools, and applications are covered. In addition to regular sessions, 6 special sessions will be organized on the following topics: - Feature and kernel learning - Graphs in machine learning - Emerging techniques and applications in multi-objective reinforcement learning - Unsupervised nonlinear dimensionality reduction - Beyond classification: confidence, rejection, AUC optimization, etc. - Advances in learning analytics and educational data mining ESANN 2015 builds upon a successful series of conferences organized each year since 1993. ESANN has become a major scientific event in the machine learning, computational intelligence and artificial neural networks fields over the years. The conference will be organized in Bruges, one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Europe. Designated as the "Venice of the North", the city has preserved all the charms of the medieval heritage. Its centre, which is inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list, is in itself a real open air museum. We hope to receive your submission to ESANN 2015 and to see you in Bruges next year! ======================================================== ESANN - European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning http://www.esann.org/ * For submissions of papers, reviews, registrations: Michel Verleysen Univ. Cath. de Louvain - Machine Learning Group 3, pl. du Levant - B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve - Belgium tel: +32 10 47 25 51 - fax: + 32 10 47 25 98 mailto:esann at uclouvain.be * Conference secretariat d-side conference services 24 av. L. Mommaerts - B-1140 Evere - Belgium tel: + 32 2 730 06 11 - fax: + 32 2 730 06 00 mailto:esann at uclouvain.be ======================================================== -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From fjaekel at uos.de Thu Sep 18 12:40:36 2014 From: fjaekel at uos.de (=?windows-1252?Q?Frank_J=E4kel?=) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:40:36 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Vision Research Special Issue: Quantitative Approaches in Gestalt Perception Message-ID: <3A239C1D-B7D4-4264-8CD7-269F9FFBA6AE@uos.de> Vision Research Special Issue Call for papers: Quantitative Approaches in Gestalt Perception Reminder: The deadline for submissions is the 30th of November 2014. Submissions are invited for a special issue of Vision Research on Quantitative Approaches in Gestalt Perception. Gestalt Perception has been the topic of research for more than 100 years since Wertheimer?s seminal publication in 1912. Recently, quantitative approaches to study Gestalt phenomena helped to specify and clarify some of the early Gestalt notions, generating testable quantitative predictions lacking from much of the original Gestalt writings. This special issue aims to bring together the many diverse quantitative approaches to the study of Gestalt Perception. Contributions are sought from visual psychophysics, computer vision, cognitive psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, computational neuroscience as well as machine learning and theory. Papers are invited on all aspects of Gestalt Perception; given the aim of this Special Issue we have a preference for quantitative approaches, but may exceptionally consider purely experimental work as well as historical treatments and reviews if they specifically provide groundwork for future formal developments. Examples of specific topics include (but are not limited to): - Attention and Top-Down Effects on Gestalt Perception - Configural Superiority - Environmental and Image Statistics and Gestalts - Figure-Ground Segmentation - History and Review of Gestalt Perception - Learning and Development of Gestalt Perception - Models of Gestalt Phenomena - Neuronal Basis of Gestalt Effects - Object Formation - Object Recognition and Gestalt - Perceptual Grouping - Perceptual Organization of Motion, Form or Scenes - Shape Perception - Structural Representations The deadline for submissions is the 30th of November 2014, and the publication of the Special Issue is planned for July 2015. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/vision-research/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-quantitative-approaches-in-gestalt-percepti/ From pul8 at psu.edu Thu Sep 18 16:52:18 2014 From: pul8 at psu.edu (Ping Li) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:52:18 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Open Rank position in quantitative methods at Penn State Message-ID: http://psu.jobs/Search/Opportunities.html https://app2.ohr.psu.edu/jobs/hrr-mgr/Session/ISJdetail.cfm?vac=53563 https://app2.ohr.psu.edu/jobs/home_EJMS/ *Open Rank, Psychologist * Job Number: *53563* Date Announced: Work Unit: *College Of The Liberal Arts * Department: *Department Of Psychology* The Department of Psychology at Penn State (http://psych.la.psu.edu/) is recruiting (rank open) for a psychologist with expertise in advanced quantitative methods. This position is co-funded by Penn State's Institute for CyberScience through its cluster hiring initiative, which is recruiting outstanding faculty members whose work exploits 'big data' and 'big computing" in a variety of disciplines (see http://www.ics.psu.edu/hire.html). Examples of possible areas of research focus include (but are not limited to): (a) advanced analysis of imaging data, such as methods focused on connectivity or multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data; (b) analyses of archival or large-scale observational data, such as videotaped social interactions from multiple studies; (c) advanced methods and statistics for estimating intervention effects while accounting for the role of individual and contextual factors (e.g., Complex MLM, Mixture Modeling); and (d) cutting-edge methods (e.g., technology-based experience sampling, massive social media data) and statistics (e.g., time-series analysis, MLM, Dynamic Factor Analysis, SEM) for modeling dynamic behavioral, cognitive, social-affective, and psychophysiological processes and patterns of change over time using longitudinal and intensive repeated measures data or other big-data driven approaches. A PhD in psychology or related discipline is required. The ideal candidate will have a research program that fits within one or more of our core areas of graduate training (adult or child clinical, social, cognitive, developmental, industrial/organizational). We welcome candidates who can contribute to one or more of the cross-cutting emphases within our department: Culture and Context, Neuroscience/Biological Bases of Behavior, and Applied/Translational Research. Applicants who can contribute to an overarching department initiative to enhance diversity and our understanding of diversity are particularly encouraged to apply. Candidates are expected to have a record of excellence in research and teaching, and a history or promise of external funding. Rich opportunities exist for collaboration within the department and across the campus. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated ability to work across disciplines and in a team environment. Review of applications will begin October 2014 and will continue until the position is filled. Candidates should submit a letter of application including concise statements of research and teaching interests, a CV, and selected (p)reprints. Please arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent electronically to PsychApplications at psu.edu with the subject line of Quant Methods. Questions regarding the application process can be emailed to Judy Bowman, jak8 at psu.edu, and questions regarding the position can be sent to Aaron Pincus, alp6 at psu.edu. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From samuel.kaski at aalto.fi Thu Sep 18 12:45:33 2014 From: samuel.kaski at aalto.fi (Kaski Samuel) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:45:33 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc and research fellow positions in Helsinki Message-ID: <19F0B03B-71CE-4E4E-A1CF-63D3A5B4DB31@aalto.fi> Postdoctoral Positions in Computer Science in Helsinki, Finland Application deadline October 12, 2014 Topics include: Algorithms, Augmented Research, Bioinformatics, Distributed Algorithms, Distributed Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, Logic, Machine Learning, System Design, etc. More info at: http://www.hiit.fi/node/2856 Why Helsinki? The collaborating Aalto University and University of Helsinki form a leading hub of computer science and modelling. Helsinki region is a safe, pleasant and attractive place to live in, with well-functioning services such as public transport etc. Finland has a comprehensive social security and health care system, including exceptionally good parental leaves and children's day care services. Group leaders: Professor Keijo Heljanko, Dr. Antti Honkela, Professor Giulio Jacucci, Docent Tomi Janhunen, Professor Samuel Kaski, Professor Harri L?hdesm?ki, Professor David McGookin, Professor Petri Myllym?ki, Professor Jukka Suomela, Professor Hannu Toivonen and Professor Stavros Tripakis. From abs at eden.dei.uc.pt Thu Sep 18 13:46:32 2014 From: abs at eden.dei.uc.pt (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Anabela_Sim=F5es?=) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:46:32 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: GECCO 2015 TUTORIALS PROPOSALS In-Reply-To: <541B1057.8050305@isec.pt> References: <541B1057.8050305@isec.pt> Message-ID: <541B1A78.6010706@eden.dei.uc.pt> **** GECCO 2015 CALL FOR TUTORIALS PROPOSALS **** 2015 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2015) July 11-15, 2015, Madrid, Spain http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2015/ Organized by ACM SIGEVO The GECCO 2015 Organizing Committee invites proposals for tutorials to be held in conjunction with the 2015 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2015) in Madrid, Spain, July 11-15, 2015. ** Important Dates ** Deadline for Tutorials Proposals: November 5, 2014 Notification of Acceptance: November 28, 2014 ** Tutorial Proposals ** Tutorials at GECCO 2015 will be presented by domain experts to cover current topics relevant to evolutionary computation researchers and practitioners. Each tutorial will be 110 minutes long. We encourage the inclusion of interactive activities and demos. Tutorials will be free to all GECCO 2015 attendees. One instructor/presenter of each accepted tutorial will be able to register for GECCO at half the regular rate (there are no multiple discounts for each tutorial). It is expected that all the instructors involved in a tutorial will attend the conference. Accepted tutorials' slide sets will be collected by Sheridan/ACM Press, and published as part of a companion volume to the conference proceedings in the ACM Digital library. ** Submission Process ** Each tutorial proposal should include: 1. A half-page extended abstract (in plain text) that includes: the title of the tutorial, the name and affiliation of the instructor(s), and a description of the tutorial scope and content. 2. Short bio of the instructor(s) (about half page in plain text). 3. [Highly encouraged] A description of any interactive activity or demo planned within the tutorial presentation. ** Reviewing ** Tutorial proposals will be reviewed by the GECCO 2015 organizing committee, based on the GECCO attendees' likely interest in them, the breadth and depth of the topic(s), and the expertise and credentials of the instructor(s). ** Information and Submissions ** Anabela Sim?es, GECCO 2015 Tutorials Chair Institute Polytechnic of Coimbra Email: geccotutorials at sigevolution.org ******** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ghio.alessandro at gmail.com Thu Sep 18 12:04:29 2014 From: ghio.alessandro at gmail.com (Alessandro Ghio) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:04:29 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?iso-8859-1?q?=B3Advances_in_Learning_Analytics_?= =?iso-8859-1?q?and_Educational_Data_Mining=B2_-_CFP_ESANN_2015_Special_Se?= =?iso-8859-1?q?ssion?= Message-ID: *** Apologies for cross posting *** ESANN 2015 Special Session ? ?Advances in Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining? - CALL FOR PAPERS European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning (ESANN 2014). 23-25 April 2014, Bruges, Belgium ? http://www.esann.org Submissions are invited for next year ESANN Special Session "Advances in Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining". Organizers: Davide Anguita, Alessandro Ghio, Luca Oneto - University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy Mathias Funk, Matthias Rauterberg - Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands ESANN 2015 Special Session "Advances in Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining" webpage: http://esann2015.la.smartlab.ws Smartlab webpage on Learning Analytics activities: http://la.smartlab.ws ABSTRACT Thanks to the emerging of computer-assisted learning systems, the automatic information collection of interaction between the student and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) system has become increasingly common: data are now available and should be exploited to get more insights on students? attitudes, interactions and learning paths, as well as to improve the effectiveness of TEL methods in a virtuous loop framework. Such data availability has led to applications of Learning Analytics (LA) and Educational Data Mining (EDM) techniques in this domain, characterized by the capability of extracting non-trivial patterns from them: based on such information, actions can be undertaken in a proactive, rather than reactive, way. In this framework, the main issues are related to several factors such as the presence of contradictory data (due to the centrality of the human factors in data generation), or their potentially high-dimensionality (i.e. several variables describing the behavior of a limited number of students in a class). These features represent a significant challenge in the application of classical modeling techniques, for example, parametric statistics, thus enabling the necessity of switching towards more sophisticated approaches. Examples of such methods are: Visual Analytics methods, allowing the final user (e.g. the teacher) to discover common patterns and cross-correlations between variables in a user-friendly graphical, interactive, and appealing way; Descriptive Analytics methods, based on non-parametric statistics, where cross-fertilizations with analogous methodologies, developed in heterogeneous domains (e.g. retail), is fostered towards profiling students? learning activities and attitudes. Such activities could be inflated in several fields, spanning from university classes to corporate training, where TEL technologies are adopted. TOPICS In this special session, we would like to encourage submissions related to: ? the development of innovative LA/EDM techniques based on Machine Learning, Computational Intelligence, and Data Analytics approaches ? the application of LA/EDM approaches to real-world problems, both in academic and corporate training domains ? the development of new datasets for testing and validating innovative LA/EDM approaches ? the development of protocols for improving LA/EDM applications and TEL usage ? the development of Visual Analytics approaches to analyze and improve human-computer interaction with data gathered from TEL systems ? techniques for learner profiling and adaptive recommender systems ? techniques for supporting new teaching styles and contemporary learning activities, as well as the analysis thereof. SUBMISSION & IMPORTANT DATES We kindly invite you to submit a paper to this special session. Each paper will undergo to a peer reviewing process for its acceptance. Paper submission should be done exclusively through the ESANN portal following the instructions provided in: (http://www.elen.ucl.ac.be/esann/index.php?pg=submission) . Paper submission deadline : 21 November 2014 Notification of acceptance : 31 January 2015 ESANN 2014 conference : 22-24 April 2015 NOTES You can find details about the special session at http://esann2015.la.smartlab.ws. If you have any questions concerning the special session, please do not hesitate to contact us via email to: la at smartlab.ws More information about the Conference Program, accommodation facilities and registration fees is available on the ESANN website http://www.esann.org --- Dr. Alessandro Ghio, Ph.D. Research Fellow Smartlab - Polytechnic School ? University of Genoa Via Opera Pia 11a, I-16145 Genoa (Italy) T. +39-(0)10-3532192 F. +39-(0)10-3532897 @ Alessandro.Ghio @unige.it W http://smartlab.ws/ --- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From p.monaghan at lancaster.ac.uk Thu Sep 18 05:53:41 2014 From: p.monaghan at lancaster.ac.uk (Monaghan, Padraic) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:53:41 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: postdoc position in computational modelling of reading Message-ID: <98AE5771CD20C44BA5FA57B86A6AF4792384B3B2@EX-1-MB1.lancs.local> Postdoc in computational modelling of reading in Department of Psychology at Lancaster University http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AJL874/senior-research-associate-in-computational-language-modelling/ The post is for up to 3 years, commencing January 2015, working with Padraic Monaghan (Lancaster), Stephen Welbourne (Manchester), and Fernando Cuetos (Oviedo). The project involves constructing and testing computational models of reading, to determine the effect of early and late exposure to language on reading across the lifespan. The post will also involve testing the predictions of the model for readers in English and Spanish using psycholinguistic experimental methods. The project will design and analyse data from models learning to read in English and in Spanish, with particular focus on how incremental learning of the vocabulary has implications for interactions between meaning and phonology as reading proceeds. We are looking for a highly-motivated and independent researcher with experience in computational modeling, preferably using neural networks, and with an interest in psycholinguistics and/or reading. This post offers the opportunity to join a large developmental psychology and language research group in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University, together with an active group of researchers using computational techniques in several areas of cognitive psychology. This is a fixed term position for up to three years. The Department of Psychology at Lancaster University: The Department of Psychology comprises 35 faculty, along with a large and active group of research and technical staff. Our research facilities are excellent, including a dedicated building for research with a suite of labs for infant and child studies. We have extensive neurophysiological, experimental, and computational facilities for supporting our research. The Department includes one of the largest developmental psychology research groups in the UK, and language research is conducted within a rich collaborative network including the Departments of Linguistics and English Language and Computing. The Department co-hosts the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development, and the current post will benefit from alignment with the training provision and research facilities of this Centre. We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups. Please contact Padraic Monaghan - p.monaghan at lancs.ac.uk - if you require further information. http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/monaghan/index.html From teramae at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp Thu Sep 18 08:45:08 2014 From: teramae at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp (Jun-nosuke Teramae) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:45:08 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: Special session on Brain-inspired Information Communication Technologies, BICT 2014 Message-ID: <7613843E-A344-43C8-B607-097B277E643A@ist.osaka-u.ac.jp> Call For Papers: 8th International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies (BICT 2014, formerly BIONETICS) http://www.bionetics.org/ December 1 (Mon) - December 3, 2014 (Wed), Boston, MA, USA Special session on Brain-inspired Information Communication Technologies Scope: Recent rapid progresses of computational and experimental neuroscience are starting to uncover key principles by which neuronal systems realize robust information processing that can often outperform conventional approaches especially for ambiguous real-world tasks. Computation is an inseparable part of the communication among neurons and it is realized by the continuous transmission of spikes among neurons in extremely large-scale brain networks. Despite the rather unreliable nature of neurons and synapses, complex interaction between them finally forms robust and reliable communication, for which the topology of large-scale functional networks and noise-induced phenomena in the brain can be utilized. These remarkable features of communication in the brain seem similar with the requirements of currently considered future information networks that should be highly scalable to number of nodes, robust against perturbations, adaptive to environmental changes, and tolerant of noise and diversity. This session aims at bringing together researchers and scientists from various research fields including biology, neuroscience, and information science in an interdisciplinary way with the goal to foster research and development of new technologies in information networks of the future. Topics of Interest: 1. Application of brain-inspired models to sensor networks, ad-hoc networks, or self-organized communication network architectures, protocols, or services 2. Mathematical models of neural dynamics, brain networks, or cognitive processes with adaptive, robust/resilient, or self-organizing behavior 3. Energy-efficient mechanisms inspired by neural functions 4. Brain machine interface technologies for controlling information systems (and more) Paper Submission: Authors are invited to prepare ?Regular papers? up to 8 pages, or ?Short papers? up to 4 pages in ACM conference paper format. Paper templates are available at http://bionetics.org/2014/show/authors-kit. All papers should be submitted by email to Jun-nosuke Teramae (teramae at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp) and will be peer reviewed. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Important Dates: Paper Submission: Sep. 29, 2014 Notification of Acceptance: Oct. 9, 2014 Camera-ready Submission: Oct. 13, 2014 Conference: Dec. 1 - 3, 2014, Boston, MA, USA Special Session Co-Chairs: Naoki Wakamiya, Osaka University, wakamiya at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp Kenji Leibnitz, NICT, leibnitz at nict.go.jp Jun-nosuke Teramae, Osaka University, teramae at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp Please feel free to contact the co-chairs if you have any questions. -------------------------------------------------------------- Jun-nosuke Teramae Associate Professor, Bio-system analysis lab. Department of Bioinformatic engineering, Graduate school of information science and technology, Osaka University teramae at ist.osaka-u.ac.jp From g.goodhill at uq.edu.au Fri Sep 19 05:48:11 2014 From: g.goodhill at uq.edu.au (Geoffrey Goodhill) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 09:48:11 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Educational video available Message-ID: <59152300-4B42-494A-8618-F1E7AFC2CA8A@uq.edu.au> Dear Computational Neuroscientists, Although it didn't win anything from the Society for Neuroscience, you might be interested in this entry for SFN's Brain Awareness Video contest, entitled "What has Maths got to do with the Brain?". It's a stop motion animation of dolls (representing high school students) discussing what subjects they should study next year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bEU1J-CN-U This was a collaboration between myself (scriptwriter) and my daughter (everything else, plus some script editing). Geoff Professor Geoffrey J Goodhill Queensland Brain Institute and School of Mathematics & Physics University of Queensland St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia Phone: +61 7 3346 6431 Fax: +61 7 3346 6301 Email: g.goodhill at uq.edu.au http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/professor-geoffrey-goodhill -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From danko.nikolic at googlemail.com Fri Sep 19 14:59:23 2014 From: danko.nikolic at googlemail.com (Danko Nikolic) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:59:23 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: practopoiesis, a video Message-ID: <541C7D0B.3010602@gmail.com> Dear members, Recently, I gave an interview on Singularity 1 on 1 on the topic of practopoiesis. The video is available here: http://www.singularityweblog.com/danko-nikolic-practopoiesis/ I hope that some will find it helpful. Danko -- Prof. Dr. Danko Nikoli? Web: http://www.danko-nikolic.com Mail address 1: Department of Neurophysiology Max Planck Institut for Brain Research Deutschordenstr. 46 60528 Frankfurt am Main GERMANY Mail address 2: Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies Wolfgang Goethe University Ruth-Moufang-Str. 1 60433 Frankfurt am Main GERMANY ---------------------------- Office: (..49-69) 96769-736 Lab: (..49-69) 96769-209 Fax: (..49-69) 96769-327 danko.nikolic at gmail.com ---------------------------- From grlmc at urv.cat Sat Sep 20 12:06:52 2014 From: grlmc at urv.cat (GRLMC) Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 18:06:52 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: SLSP 2014: call for participation Message-ID: <44A7087E876D442788AD8ECEC67E5939@Carlos1> *To be removed from our mailing list, please respond to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line* ********************************************************************************** 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STATISTICAL LANGUAGE AND SPEECH PROCESSING SLSP 2014 Grenoble, France October 14-16, 2014 Organised by: ?quipe GETALP Laboratoire d?Informatique de Grenoble Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC) Rovira i Virgili University http://grammars.grlmc.com/slsp2014/ ********************************************************************************** PROGRAM Tuesday, October 14 9:00 - 10:00 Registration 10:00 - 10:15 Opening 10:15 - 11:05 Roger K. Moore: Spoken Language Processing: Time to Look Outside? - Invited Lecture 11:05 - 11:35 Coffee Break 11:35 - 12:50 Georgios Kontonatsios, Claudiu Mihaila, Ioannis Korkontzelos, Paul Thompson, and Sophia Ananiadou: A Hybrid Approach to Compiling Bilingual Dictionaries of Medical Terms from Parallel Corpora Wei Liu, Zhipeng Chang, and William J. Teahan: Experiments with a PPM Compression-based Method for English-Chinese Bilingual Sentence Alignment Chi-kiu Lo and Dekai Wu: BiMEANT: Integrating Cross-lingual and Monolingual Semantic Frame Similarities in the MEANT Semantic MT Evaluation Metric 12:50 - 14:20 Lunch 14:20 - 15:35 Mathias Verbeke, Vincent Van Asch, Walter Daelemans, and Luc De Raedt: Lazy and Eager Relational Learning using Graph-Kernels Mohamed Amine Boukhaled, and Jean-Gabriel Ganascia: Probabilistic Anomaly Detection Method for Authorship Verification Uli Fahrenberg, Fabrizio Biondi, Kevin Corre, Cyrille Jegourel, Simon Kongsh j, and Axel Legay: Measuring Global Similarity between Texts 16:00 - 18:00 Touristic visit Wednesday, October 15 9:00 - 9:50 Claire Gardent: Syntax and Data-to-Text Generation - Invited Lecture 9:50 - 10:05 Break 10:05 - 11:20 Borb?la Sikl?si and Attila Nov?k: Identifying and Clustering Relevant Terms in Clinical Records Using Unsupervised Methods Amine Abdaoui, J?r?me Az?, Sandra Bringay, Natalia Grabar, and Pascal Poncelet: Predicting Medical Roles in Online Health Fora Ekaterina Pronoza, Elena Yagunova, and Svetlana Volskaya: Corpus-based Information Extraction and Opinion Mining for the Restaurant Recommendation System 11:20 - 11:50 Coffee Break and Group Photo 11:50 - 13:05 Ra?l Ernesto Gutierrez de Pi?erez Reyes and Juan Francisco D?az-Fr?as: Informal Mathematical Discourse Parsing with Conditional Random Fields Waad Ben Kheder, Driss Matrouf, Pierre-Michel Bousquet, Jean-Fran?ois Bonastre and Moez Ajili: Robust Speaker Recognition Using MAP Estimation of Additive Noise in i-vectors Space Arseniy Gorin and Denis Jouvet: Structured GMM Based on Unsupervised Clustering for Recognizing Adult and Child Speech 13:05 - 14:35 Lunch 14:35 - 16:35 Visit to the Domus apartment Thursday, October 16 9:00 - 9:50 Martti Vainio: Phonetics and Machine Learning: Hierarchical Modelling of Prosody in Statistical Speech Synthesis - Invited Lecture 9:50 - 10:05 Break 10:05 - 11:20 G?bor Kiss and Kl?ra Vicsi: Physiological and Cognitive Status Monitoring on the Base of Acoustic-phonetic Speech Parameters Barbara Schuppler, Sebastian Grill, Andr? Menrath, and Juan A. Morales-Cordovilla: Automatic Phonetic Transcription in Two Steps: Forced Alignment and Burst Detection Mian Du, Matthew Pierce, Lidia Pivovarova, and Roman Yangarber: Supervised Classification using Balanced Training 11:20 - 11:50 Coffee Break 11:50 - 13:05 M?rius ?ajgal?k, Michal Barla, and M?ria Bielikov?: Exploring Multidimensional Continuous Feature Space to Extract Relevant Words Zhemin Zhu, Djoerd Hiemstra, and Peter Apers: Linear Co-occurrence Rate Networks (L-CRNs) for Sequence Labeling Th?odore Bluche, Hermann Ney, and Christopher Kermorvant: Handwriting Recognition with Deep and Recurrent Neural Networks 13:05 - 13:15 Closing --- Este mensaje no contiene virus ni malware porque la protecci?n de avast! Antivirus est? activa. http://www.avast.com From angelo.arleo at inserm.fr Fri Sep 19 08:50:20 2014 From: angelo.arleo at inserm.fr (Angelo ARLEO) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:50:20 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Two PhD positions in computational neuroscience at the Institute of Vision in Paris, France Message-ID: Two fully-funded PhD positions in Computational Neuroscience at the Institute of Vision in Paris, France Job description Applications are invited for two PhD positions in the Aging in Vision and Action laboratory at the Institute of Vision (INSERM-CNRS-University Pierre & Marie Curie) Paris, France. The gradual impairment of vision-dependent functions with age is at the core of our research. The main goal is to characterize how healthy visual aging shapes perceptual and cognitive functions in humans. PhD project n.1 The first PhD fellow will model age-related changes of low-level processing, coding and perception in the visual system.This project will be carried out under the supervision of Tim Masquelier & Angelo Arleo (Institute of Vision, Paris, France) and Simon Thorpe (Brain & Cognition Research Center, Toulouse, France). We will design a biologically detailed spiking neural network model of the primate early visual system. The model will have to process natural images and videos, and have self-learning capabilities. We will use this model to study the impact of healthy aging on visual processing and perception. The PhD student will work hand-in-hand with experimentalists in our Aging in Vision and Action lab performing visual psychophysics with elderly humans. We expect this project to bridge the gap between observations at the neuronal level (e.g. spontaneous activity increases, spike timing precision decreases with aging), and observations at the behavioral level (e.g. perceptual thresholds increase). PhD project n.2 The second PhD student will model age-related consequences on visual-based spatial cognition. This project will be carried under the supervision of Denis Sheynikhovich & Angelo Arleo (Institute of Vision, Paris, France) and Ricardo Chavarriaga (EPFL, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland). We will build a spatial learning model based on spiking neural networks accounting for existing knowledge on the neural substrates of spatial memory and navigation in animals and humans. We will use this model to study the impact of healthy visual aging on neural coding and adaptation mechanisms mediating spatial orientation and navigation. The PhD student will work hand-in-hand with experimentalists in our Aging in Vision and Action lab studying spatial orientation and navigation in elderly humans. Again, this project aims at cross-linking findings at multiple organisation levels. Requirements Applicants should have a strong quantitative background (physics, engineering, computer science, applied mathematics), and a keen interest in reverse-engineering the brain. Knowledge on computational neuroscience, machine learning, image processing and programming languages (Matlab, C or Python) are a plus, although not mandatory. Proficiency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of French is not mandatory. Successful candidates are expected to work in an interdisciplinary environment with collaborations with biologists, theoreticians and clinicians. They will be awarded a 3-year PhD fellowship from the University Pierre and Marie Curie Paris. Working environment and laboratory The Institute of Vision is one of the top international centers for integrated research on vision and eye diseases. It is located at the heart of Paris, on the campus of the National Hospital Center for Ophthalmology. The Institute of Vision includes multidisciplinary research groups, which share state-of-the-art platforms for human and animal experimentation. It also harbors a clinical investigation center, which fosters truly translational research activity. More information can be found online (http://www.institut-vision.org). The Institute of Vision and Essilor International, world leader in ophthalmic optics, have recently supported the creation of the laboratory of Aging in Vision and Action. This new laboratory aims at evaluating and understanding the functional aspects of the degeneration mechanisms related to visual aging. This research has the potential to produce fundamental knowledge suited for opening to assistive technological developments and rehabilitation solutions. The faculty members of the Aging in Vision and Action laboratory, led by Angelo Arleo, are specialized in visual psychophysics, neurobiology of spatial orientation, neural coding, neurocomputational modeling, and preclinical evaluation. The group has access to a wide range of state-of-the-art platforms including eye trackers, motion capture rooms, virtual reality environments, brain imaging, artificial street labs and home labs (http://www.streetlab-vision.com/en/). How to apply Candidates should send a single pdf file containing a motivation letter, a full CV, and names and contact information of at least two referees, to angelo.arleo at inserm.fr. Short listed candidates will be contacted for an interview (either face-to-face or via videoconference). For further inquiries, please contact Angelo Arleo, angelo.arleo at inserm.fr, phone: +33 (0)1 53 46 26 52. Angelo ARLEO Institute of Vision, Aging in Vision and Action Lab, CNRS - INSERM - University Pierre&Marie Curie, 17, rue Moreau F-75012 Paris, France Phone: +33 (0)1 53 46 26 52 Mobile: +33 (0)6 89 89 07 23 email: angelo.arleo at inserm.fr; angelo.arleo at upmc.fr -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mlblefari at gmail.com Mon Sep 22 10:06:27 2014 From: mlblefari at gmail.com (Maria Laura Blefari) Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:06:27 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Real-time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback Message-ID: <1DC5F945-A85F-4B48-9B57-ECD63760DD16@gmail.com> Dear all, We are very glad to announce that the abstract submission for the Real-time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback (rtFIN) conference is now open! The conference would be held in Gainesville (Florida, USA) during 12-13 February, 2015. You may find all relevant information regarding conference, registration and abstract submission here:http://reg.conferences.dce.ufl.edu/rtFIN. Note that the abstracts are due on or before October 17th, 2014. The format of the abstract is similar to that of the Society for Neuroscience (2300 characters). We are looking forward to seeing you all in Gainesville in February! Best regards, your co-organizers, Ranganatha Sitaram, University of Florida Maria Laura Blefari, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne Sven Haller, University of Geneva Jarrod Lewis-Peacock, University of Texas at Austin Frank Scharnowski, University of Geneva Luke Stoeckel, Harvard University / National Institutes of Health James Sulzer, University of Texas at Austin Nikolaus Weiskopf, University College London Maria Laura Blefari, PhD Chair in Non-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface Center for Neuroprosthetics Institute of Bioengineering School of Engineering Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, EPFL EPFL STI-CNBI ELB 140, Station 11 CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland Phone : +41-21-693-6985 Fax : +41-21-693-5307 mailto:marialaura.blefari at epfl.ch -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stephan.chalup at newcastle.edu.au Fri Sep 19 13:18:35 2014 From: stephan.chalup at newcastle.edu.au (Stephan Chalup) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:18:35 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: [meetings] Australasian Conference on Artificial Life and Computational Intelligence (ACALCI 2015) Message-ID: CfP: Australasian Conference on Artificial Life and Computational Intelligence (ACALCI 2015), 5-7 February 2015, The University of Newcastle, Australia http://www.newcastle.edu.au/ACALCI2015 PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 27 September 2014 (extended) NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: 27 October 2014 SCOPE: ACALCI 2015 will be organised in broad technical sessions that bring together experts from different fields in Artificial Life (AL), Computational Intelligence (CI) and associated areas. The forum aims to be very interdisciplinary. It also encourage ALCI applied research in domains as diverse as health, the creative arts and finance (to name a few). ACALCI encourages presentations, demonstrations, performances and discussions on new innovative research and interdisciplinary projects. Invited are high-quality papers relevant to AL or CI where the topics of interest include but are not limited to: Adaptive Ecologies, Affective Computing, ALCI in Design and Music, Algorithmic Concepts of Learning, Ant Colony Optimisation, Applications of ALCI, Autonomous Agents, Architecture and ALCI, Artificial Neural Networks, Artificial Societies and Markets, Augmented and Virtual Realities, Big Data, Bioinformatics, BCIs, Braintheory, Chatbots, Cognitive Neuroscience, Complex Systems, Computational Neuroscience, Consciousness and Mind, Creative Arts and CI, Data Mining, Deep Learning, Developmental Learning, Digital Societies, Dimensionality Reduction, Embodiment and Robotics, Emergence of Collaborative Behaviour, Emotional AI, Epidemiology Simulations, Ethics and Security in CI, Evolutionary Computation, Evolutionary Design, Facial Expression Analysis, Game Playing Agents, Human-Machine Interaction, Humanities and ALCI, Humanoid Robots, Implementation Techniques, Information Theoretic Learning, Intelligent Home Automation, Language Processing, Machine Learning, Medical Image Analysis, Memetic Algorithms, Metalearning, Models of Emotions, Multi-Agent Systems, Neuroadaptive Information Systems, Non-player Game Characters, Pattern Recognition, Philosophy of Artificial Life, Privacy and Security Aspects, Reservoir Computing, Self-Organisation, Serious Games, Simulation and Modelling, Smart Grid Techniques, Social Networks and ALCI, Statistical Learning Theory, Swarm Algorithms, Synthetic Life Computations, Visual Information Processing. SUBMISSION and PRESENTATION: Authors are invited to submit papers that have between 6 and 14 pages in Springer LNAI style including results, figures and references. Longer papers up to 20 pages can be considered in exceptional cases. All relevant papers will be fully peer-reviewed by at least three reviewers from the ACALCI 2015 International Program Committee before acceptance for publication in the proceedings. It is expected that submitted manuscripts are original and have neither been published nor submitted for publication elsewhere. The submitted papers and all their underlying research must comply with the professional standards of the discipline. All accepted papers that are presented at the conference will be published in the ACALCI 2015 proceedings as a LNAI volume by Springer-Verlag. The LNAI volumes are indexed by the following services: Scopus, Zentralblatt MATH, IO-Port, MathSciNet, ACM Digital Library, dblp, EI Engineering Index (Compendex and Inspec databases), and the ISI Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science (CPCI-S), included in ISI Web of Science. A special issue in the journal Connection Science will invite authors of some of the best papers to submit extended versions of their articles. It is planned to run the conference for three days as a single stream of high quality presentations with attached poster sessions, demonstrations and performances. In exceptional cases where an author cannot travel, a presentation (poster or oral) via skype or video conferencing can be organised. LOCATION and VENUE: The University of Newcastle Conservatorium of Music Concert Hall, Newcastle, Australia. This is a stylish venue about 2.5 hours north of Sydney. Williamtown Airport is a 25 minute taxi/car drive away. It is close to several hotels, YHA, and the beautiful Newcastle beaches. WORKSHOPS, TUTORIALS and PERFORMANCES: If you would like to organise a workshop, tutorial or performance in connection with ACALCI2015 please contact the organisers as soon as possible. CONFERENCE WEBPAGE with further details: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/ACALCI2015 CONTACT email of the conference chair: ACALCI2015 at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From veronica.bolon at udc.es Mon Sep 22 04:10:29 2014 From: veronica.bolon at udc.es (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Ver=F3nica_Bol=F3n?=) Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:10:29 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CFP Special session ESANN 2015 in Feature and Kernel Learning Message-ID: <9AB55049-FEA8-4AC1-BCB9-E0E3D376F694@udc.es> *** Apologies for cross posting *** ESANN 2015 Special Session ?Feature and Kernel Learning? - CALL FOR PAPERS European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks, Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning (ESANN 2015). 22-24 April 2015, Bruges Belgium http://www.esann.org Submissions are invited for next year ESANN Special Session ?Feature and Kernel Learning? Organizers: Veronica Bolon-Canedo (University of A Coru?a, Spain) Michel Donini, Fabio Aiolli (University of Padova, Italy) ABSTRACT: Feature selection and weighting has been an active research area in the last decades finding success in many different applications. With the advent of Big Data, the adequate identification of the relevant features has converted feature selection in an even more indispensable step. In particular, in kernel methods features are implicitly represented by means of feature mappings and kernels. It has been shown that the correct selection of a kernel is a crucial task. An erroneous selection of a kernel can lead to poor performance. Manually searching for an optimal kernel is a time-consuming and a sub-optimal choice. This special session is concerned with using data to learn features and kernels automatically. Furthermore, it also aims to offer a meeting opportunity for academics and industry-related researchers, belonging to the various communities of Computational Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Mining to discuss new areas of feature selection/learning and their application to real world problems or new challenges that need to be faced with the emerging "Big Dimensionality". We invite papers on feature and kernel selection/learning. In particular, topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Incremental or online feature learning - Learning features in extremely high dimensional domains - Learning features on real applications - Learning features on small sample domains - Feature ranking - Feature weighting - Multiple kernel learning - Kernel complexity - Scalability and efficiency of feature and kernel learning algorithms - Evaluation of feature learning - Multi-task and multi-view feature learning - Semi-supervised and unsupervised feature learning Submitted papers will be reviewed according to the ESANN reviewing process and will be evaluated on their scientific value: originality, correctness, and writing style. SUBMISSION AND IMPORTANT DATES: We kindly invite you to submit a paper to this special session. Each paper will undergo to a peer reviewing process for its acceptance. Paper submission should be done exclusively through the ESANN portal following the instructions provided in: http://www.elen.ucl.ac.be/esann/index.php?pg=submission Paper submission deadline: 21 November 2014 Notification of acceptance: 31 January 2015 ESANN 2015 conference: 22-24 April 2015 More information about the Conference Program, accomodation facilities and registration fees is available on the ESANN website http://www.esann.org Ver?nica Bol?n Canedo, Ph.D. LIDIA group Department of Computer Science Faculty of Informatics Universidade da Coru?a Campus de Elvi?a, s/n 15071 - A Coru?a, Spain Phone: +34 981 167150 Ext. 1305 Fax: +34 981 167160 e-mail: veronica.bolon at udc.es http://www.lidiagroup.org/veronica-bolon.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sp.sadeghi at gmail.com Mon Sep 22 15:11:59 2014 From: sp.sadeghi at gmail.com (sepideh sadeghi) Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 15:11:59 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: job openings at Tufts university Message-ID: There are two tenure-stream faculty openings (research area: ML) at Tufts, department of Computer Science for Sep 15. There is also another opening for an interdisciplinary professorship (Computer Science, Psychology, Philosophy), intended to bridge research and education across departments and schools. More information can be found at http://www.cs.tufts.edu/Jobs/employment-opportunities.html. *Full Time Faculty* *Faculty Positions in Computer Science* The Department of Computer Science in the School of Engineering at Tufts University invites applications for two tenure-stream faculty appointments to begin in September 2015. We are looking for engaged and engaging researchers with a strong vision who can build and maintain a high-quality funded research program at Tufts. We are seeking candidates at the rank of Associate Professor or full Professor, although exceptional candidates at the rank of Assistant Professor will also be considered. We are particularly interested in researchers in the areas of machine learning and data mining broadly interpreted to include related fields where data and its analysis are central. These include, for example, adaptive systems in robotics, computational linguistics, computational sustainability, and visual analytics, as well as research involving interdisciplinary collaborations and applications in science, engineering and the humanities. Senior-level applicants should have an internationally renowned research program and a strong track record of outside funding. Junior-level applicants must hold a PhD in Computer Science or closely related field at time of appointment, and are expected to develop a high-quality funded research program. At all levels, candidates must have a strong commitment to undergraduate and graduate teaching and mentoring. The Department of Computer Science has grown tremendously in the past decade in faculty and student size and in research expenditures. Located in the Boston area, the department benefits from outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, collaborative faculty, and cross-disciplinary research opportunities. Tufts University is one of the smallest universities ranked as a Research 1 university, and it offers the best of a liberal arts college atmosphere, coupled with the intellectual and technological resources of a major research university. Tufts University supports and encourages a culture of interdisciplinary research and there are numerous such opportunities within the School of Engineering, the School of Arts and Sciences, and through graduate and professional schools. Tufts' School of Engineering distinguishes itself by the interdisciplinary focus and integrative nature of its engineering education within the intellectually rich environment of a research university. Located only six miles from historic downtown Boston, faculty members on the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus have extensive opportunities for academic and industrial collaboration as well as participation in the rich intellectual life of the area. The School of Engineering is in the midst of a period of exciting growth that has seen recruitment of outstanding new faculty, a quadrupling of funded research over the last ten years, addition of new laboratory space, an emphasis on building diversity in engineering, and major curricular initiatives at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. We request that applications include the following materials: (a) a curriculum vitae, (b) a statement describing current and planned research, (c) a statement of teaching philosophy, (d) names and affiliations of three to five potential references, and (e) a sample of scholarly work. All these should be submitted online through Academic Jobs Online (AJO). Reference letters will be solicited only with the candidate's explicit approval. Applicants have the option of providing such approval and asking for their letters to be submitted through AJO. Review of applications will begin December 8, 2014 and will continue until the positions are filled. For more information about the department, the positions, and the application procedure please visit http://www.cs.tufts.edu/. Inquiries should be emailed to cssearch at cs.tufts.edu . Tufts University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our faculty. Members of underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. *Senior Faculty Position in Computer Science, Philosophy, and Psychology* The Departments of Computer Science , Philosophy , and Psychology at Tufts University will make an appointment at the level of Associate or Full Professor as part of the Cognitive Science Ph.D. Program . This interdisciplinary professorship is the first of its kind at Tufts, intended to bridge research and education across departments and schools. We are looking for applications from well-established scholars who could contribute to the ongoing research and teaching mission of the Cognitive Science Ph.D. Program, while expanding the intellectual output and visibility of at least two participating departments. Teaching and service obligations will be shared between the host departments most fitting to the successful candidate. The successful candidate will have achieved international stature in a subfield in cognitive science, and would ideally have an established track record of obtaining external funding and advising Ph.D. students. Any research area in cognitive science that combines some aspects of computer science, philosophy, linguistics, and psychology will be considered, for instance, cognitive or agent-based modeling and simulation, computational pragmatics, and situated embodied cognition. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a statement describing current and planned research, a statement of teaching philosophy, a writing sample, the names and affiliations of three to five potential references, and an e-mail address and phone number at which the candidate may be reached. Evidence of teaching experience and expertise is also welcome. All application materials should be submitted online throughInterfolio . Letters of recommendation will be solicited only with the candidate's explicit approval. Review of applications will begin in Spring 2014 and will continue until the position is filled. The Cognitive Science Ph.D. Program at Tufts was started in 2011 and currently enrolls over 20 students for joint degrees in cognitive science and one of the following Ph.D. granting departments: Child Development , Computer Science, or Psychology. The undergraduate major inCognitive and Brain Sciences was started in 2008; currently there are 62 majors. This bridge professorship is intended to enhance interdisciplinary research and collaboration in cognitive science at Tufts; the successful candidate will have the opportunity to engage research activity broadly at Tufts and to shape the future of both the graduate and the undergraduate programs. For more information about the programs, please visit the Cognitive Science departmental page. Inquiries about the position should be emailed to cogsci-search at tufts.edu . Tufts University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our faculty. Members of under-represented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From H.Abbass at adfa.edu.au Mon Sep 22 23:49:24 2014 From: H.Abbass at adfa.edu.au (Hussein Abbass) Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:49:24 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Special Issue on Computational Intelligence for Brain Computer Interfaces Message-ID: IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine Special Issue on Computational Intelligence for Brain Computer Interfaces Website: http://www.husseinabbass.net/ieeecimbci2016.html Guest Editors: Hussein A. Abbass, Cuntai Guan, Kay Chen Tan About IEEE-CIM: =============== With an impact factor of 2.706, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (CIM) is an influential media for publishing high-quality peer-reviewed research. CIM publishes peer-reviewed articles that present emerging novel discoveries, important insights, or tutorial surveys in all areas of computational intelligence design and applications, in keeping with the Field of Interest of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE-CIS). Selection of papers for the magazine is extremely competitive. Previous special issues had an acceptance rate as minimum as 6% of submitted papers. Aims and Scope: =============== Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) aims at establishing a one or two-way communication protocol between the human brain and an electronic device. The research umbrella of BCI has different names and overlaps with different research areas that evolved under the wider objective of connecting human data to an electronic device of some sort. Some of these areas include: adaptive automation, augmented cognition, brain-machine interface, human-machine symbiosis, and human-computer symbiosis. The last decade has witnessed a rise in the number of researchers working on BCI. With the advances of sensor technologies, efficient signal processing algorithms, and parallel computing, it was possible to finally realize the dream of many researchers who talked about the concept in one form or another in the sixties and seventies including J.C.R. Licklider, R.B. Rouse, and others. Different sensor and measurement technologies are evolving rapidly from the classical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near infrared (fNIR), Electroencephalography (EEG), to complex integrated psycho-physiological sensor arrays. Researchers in Computational Intelligence have been better situated than ever to extract knowledge from these signals, transform it to actionable decisions, and designing the intelligent machine that has long been promised and is now overdue. Success has been seen in many medical applications including assisting people on wheelchairs, stroke rehabilitation, and epileptic seizures. In the non-medical domain, BCI has been used for computer games, authentication in cyber security, and air traffic control. This special issue aims at showcasing the most exciting and recent advances in BCI and related topics. The guest editors invite submissions of previously unpublished, recent and exciting research on BCI. The special issue welcomes survey, position, and research papers Topics of Interest include: =========================== * Adaptive control schemes for BCI * Applications * Augmented cognition and adaptive aiding using BCI * Big data for brain mining * Collaborative multi-humans BCI environments * Computational intelligence applications for BCI * Data and signal processing techniques for BCI applications * Evolutionary algorithms for BCI * Fusion of heterogeneous psycho-physiological sensors * Fuzzy logic for BCI * Neuroplasticity induced by brain-computer interactions * Neural networks for BCI * Novel sensor technologies for BCI * Related computational intelligence methods for BCI * Situation awareness systems for BCI applications * Swarm techniques for BCI * Other closely related topics on computational intelligence for BCI Submission Process ================== The maximum length for the manuscript is typically 25 pages in single column format with double-spacing, including figures and references. Authors should specify on the first page of their manuscripts the corresponding author's contact and up to 5 keywords. Submission should be made via https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ieeecimbci2016 Important Dates (for February 2016 Issue) ========================================= 15th May, 2015: Submission of Manuscripts 15th July, 2015: Notification of Review Results 15th August, 2015: Submission of Revised Manuscripts 15th September, 2015: Submission of Final Manuscripts February 2016: Special Issue Publication Guest Editors ============= Professor Hussein Abbass School of Engineering and Information Technology, University of New South Wales, Canberra, Northcott Drive, ACT 2600, Australia Email: h.abbass at adfa.edu.au Professor Cuntai Guan Neural and Biomedical Technology Department, Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), 1 Fusionopolis Way, Fusionopolis, Singapore 138632 Email: ctguan at i2r.a-star.edu.sg Professor Kay Chen Tan Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore 117583 Email: eletankc at nus.edu.sg ________________________________ UNSW AUSTRALIA UNSW CANBERRA AT THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE ACADEMY PO Box 7916, CANBERRA BC 2610, Australia Web: http://unsw.adfa.edu.au CRICOS Provider no. 00100G This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and are not necessarily the views of UNSW. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Tue Sep 23 16:41:55 2014 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:41:55 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Recruitment: Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour Message-ID: <20140923204155.GC7760@gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour Under the Directorship of Professor John O?Keefe, the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at UCL will commence operations in early 2015 bringing together world-leading scientists to investigate how brain circuits process information to create neural representations and guide behaviour. The Centre has been created through substantial investment from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, and is being structured to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, enquiry and excellence. The Centre will be accommodated in a new, purpose-designed, seven-storey building located in Central London and offering an outstanding and unparalleled research environment through its provision of state-of-the-art research laboratories with integral biological services capability, cutting-edge scientific equipment, technologically-advanced prototyping and fabrication laboratories, significant in-house high-performance computing facilities and extensive data storage systems to support both experimental analysis and theoretical modelling. Neuroscientists working in the Centre will use the latest advanced molecular and cellular biology, imaging, electrophysiology and behavioural techniques. The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit will be located at the heart of the Centre, facilitating broad and deep collaborations in data analysis and computational modelling. The full complement of scientists in the Centre is expected to reach 150 together with around 50 dedicated support staff. Scientists joining the Centre will become part of UCL Neuroscience which brings together over 450 principal investigators located primarily within the UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences and offers extensive opportunities for interaction and collaboration. Neuroscience is a strategic priority for UCL as it positions itself to become the world?s leading neuroscience institution. The Centre will offer additional opportunities for collaboration, networking and intellectual stimulation through its visitor programme, regular seminar series and the hosting of world-class scientific conferences and workshops. Formal teaching commitments will be minimal allowing scientists to focus on their research. The Centre is recruiting high-achieving, highly-motivated collaborative scientists with backgrounds in neuroscience as well as related physical and biological sciences, at all career levels. We invite applications from outstanding, innovative scientists who can evidence the highest levels of academic excellence through substantial peer-reviewed publications and significant scientific achievement. Given the technologically- advanced research proposed for the Centre, we are particularly interested in scientists wishing to extend the boundaries of technological development in areas such as high-density electrophysiological probes, telemetry, optical recording, molecular and genetic tools, new anatomical mapping techniques, and the use of virtual reality and other novel behavioural approaches such as video image analysis. Recruitment will take place on a continuing ad hoc basis and at dedicated residential recruitment workshops. The first recruitment workshop has been scheduled for 3-4 November 2014 with a focus on Fellowship applications. Senior scientist interviews will be scheduled from November onwards. Competitive salaries, tailored research space and generous relocation and recruitment packages, including research support, will be offered. For further details about vacancies and how to apply online, please visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/swc/opportunities From itialife at gmail.com Tue Sep 23 07:04:49 2014 From: itialife at gmail.com (Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi) Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 13:04:49 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: Special Issue on "Information Theoretic Incentives for Cognitive Systems" Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, we would like to draw your attention to the forthcoming special issue on "Information Theoretic Incentives for Cognitive Systems " in the open access journal Entropy and invite you to contribute -- deadline February 28th, 2015. In recent years, ideas such as "life is information processing" or "information holds the key to understanding life" have become more common. However, how can information, or more formally Information Theory, increase our understanding of life, or life-like systems? Information Theory not only has a profound mathematical basis, but also typically provides an intuitive understanding of processes, such as learning, behavior and evolution terms of information processing. In this special issue, we are interested in both: a.) the information-theoretic formalization and quantification of different aspects of life, such as driving forces of learning and behavior generation, information flows between neurons, swarm members and social agents, and information theoretic aspects of evolution and adaptation and b.) the simulation and creation of life-like systems with previously identified principles and incentives. Topics with relation to artificial and natural systems: information theoretic intrinsic motivations information theoretic quantification of behavior information theoretic guidance of artificial evolution information theoretic guidance of self-organization information theoretic driving forces behind learning information theoretic driving forces behind behavior information theory in swarms information theory in social behavior information theory in evolution information theory in the brain information theory in system-environment distinction information theory in the perception action loop information theoretic definitions of life Christoph Salge Georg Martius Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi Daniel Polani - Guest Editors - Further Information: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/special_issues/information-theoretic With best wishes, Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi -- Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Dr. rer. nat. Information Theory of Cognitive Systems Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences phone: (+49) 341 9959 545, fax: (+49) 341 9959 555, office A11 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From M.vanWanrooij at donders.ru.nl Thu Sep 25 03:52:20 2014 From: M.vanWanrooij at donders.ru.nl (Marc van Wanrooij) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 09:52:20 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 2 Ph.D. candidate positions on auditory neuroscience Message-ID: Dear list I would like to bring to your attention a new Ph.D. candidate position on auditory neuroscience in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. For more details: see below, and http://www.healthpac.eu/index.php/vacancies/available-positions Sincerely Marc van Wanrooij Responsibilities As a Ph.D. candidate, you will do research on 1) the effectiveness of bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) or on 2) bimodal-hearing in the hearing-impaired. These two projects are part of a larger European Marie Curie project called HealthPAC. This is an integrated, international and interdisciplinary network of renowned perception-action research labs and clinical departments and industry. Its mission is to understand the neural mechanisms of sensory-motor control and its disorders, and utilize this knowledge to enhance the quality of life. You will perform behavioral and psychophysical studies evaluating auditory capacities in patients with current state of the art devices and strategies. Pilots, clinical trials, and fundamental research will be conducted to explore new possibilities to improve the auditory performance in sound localization and speech perception of implanted/aided patients. Work environment The Donders Institute at the Radboud University Nijmegen focuses on state-of-the-art cognitive neuroscience, in a multidisciplinary approach, and offers excellent lab and neuroimaging facilities, PhD supervision and courses and technical support. The project will be supervised by Prof. Dr Ad Snik and Dr. Emmanuel Mylanus of the Otorhinolaryngology department of the Radboud University Medical Center and Prof. Dr. John van Opstal of the Biophysics department at the Science faculty. The Donders Institute is an equal opportunity employer, committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and encourages applications from women and minorities. Radboud University offers a parental leave scheme and day care on campus. What we expect from you 1. You have a Master?s degree (in cognitive neuroscience, sensorimotor neuroscience, medicine, biomedical science, medical engineering, or related field. 2. Moreover, you are strongly motivated to conduct challenging interdisciplinary empirical and model-driven research. 3. Experience with psychophysical techniques, computational modeling, or quantitative data analysis (e.g. MatLab) is recommended. 4. Furthermore, affinity with clinical work is highly desirable. For eligibility criteria, see: http://www.healthpac.eu/index.php/vacancies/how-to-apply What we have to offer As a PhD within HealthPAC you will participate in research training programs, tailored to your individual interests, and are brought in intensive contact with European companies and institutes to improve and extend future career prospects. The HealthPAC team studies sensory-motor integration in an interdisciplinary setting with unique state-of-the art methodologies in research labs and clinical departments of 12 established neuroscientists. We offer you: - employment: 1,0 fte - in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus; - the starting salary is ?2,083 per month on a full-time basis, the salary will increase to ?2,664 per month in the fourth year; duration of the contract: 4 years; - you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years; - you will be classified as a PhD student (promovendus) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO); - as part of the contract, you will participate in teaching for approximately 10% of your work time. Starting date of the project is any time from now to December 2015. Would you like to know more? Dr M.M. van Wanrooij Telephone: +31 24 36 14235 E-mail: m.vanwanrooij at donders.ru.nl Applications Are you interested? Please include with your application: Application letter in which you motivate your project of choice CV that includes the full list of Bachelor and Master courses (with grades and credits, and wherever possible: used text books). Provide also your contact details (name/gender/age/ marital status/full home address/E-mail). Note: if you are selected by the program committee, an interview over Skype will be planned. Please, ensure you have access to Skype. Acknowledge that you understood the eligibility criteria, and that you are eligible. Scanned copy of your Master diploma. Include in your application letter two references (with contact details) who can be approached for interview and recommendation letters. For more details, see: http://www.healthpac.eu/ Dr. Marc M. van Wanrooij HealthPAC manager, Researcher e: M.vanWanrooij at donders.ru.nl w: www.neural-code.com w: www.healthpac.eu t: +31 24 36 14238 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From depireux at gmail.com Thu Sep 25 12:26:33 2014 From: depireux at gmail.com (Didier Depireux) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 12:26:33 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: New book on modern methods of analysis in Auditory Cortex Message-ID: Dear colleagues, if you are interested in recently developed techniques to extract and analyze auditory cortical data, consider the book "Handbook of Modern Techniques in Auditory Cortex", D.A.Depireux & M.Elhilali, eds. It can be acquired via Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Modern-Techniques-Auditory-Cortex/dp/162808894X or directly from the publisher at https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=45166 A host of new broadband methods have recently been developed in the study and modelling of the auditory pathway. These methods have allowed us to better understand how complex sounds are encoded along the auditory pathway in a noise-robust fashion, and the resulting cortical models have been used in a variety of problems, such speech recognition, speaker identification and noise reduction with great success. These techniques were developed and refined over the last 20 years, and as a result, the published literature offers a scattered, sometimes seemingly contradictory, account. This book is the first to present, in a single volume, the different broadband methods, their different philosophies, their relative advantages and disadvantages, and a methodology that will help the would-be-practitioner get started, navigate the literature, and chose the method most appropriate to her needs. Thank you, Didier Depireux & Mounya Elhilali Didier A Depireux depireux at gmail.com Inst. for Systems Research http://theearlab.org School of Engineering Ph: 410-925-6546 U Md College Park MD 20742 USA Adjunct, BioEngineering -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cie.conference.series at gmail.com Thu Sep 25 16:10:14 2014 From: cie.conference.series at gmail.com (CiE Conference Series) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:10:14 +0100 (BST) Subject: Connectionists: CiE 2015: Evolving Computability - Bucharest, 29/6-3/7/2015 Message-ID: -------------------------------------------------------------------- P R E L I M I N A R Y A N N O U N C E M E N T COMPUTABILITY IN EUROPE 2015: Evolving Computability Bucharest, Romania June 29 - July 3 http://fmi.unibuc.ro/CiE2015/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- CiE 2015 is the 11-th conference organized by CiE (Computability in Europe), a European association of mathematicians, logicians, computer scientists, philosophers, physicists and others interested in new developments in computability and their underlying significance for the real world. Previous meetings have taken place in Amsterdam (2005), Swansea (2006), Siena (2007), Athens (2008), Heidelberg (2009), Ponta Delgada (2010), Sofia (2011), Cambridge (2012), Milan (2013) and Budapest (2014) CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS Ann Copestake (University of Cambridge) Pawel Gawrychowski (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Informatik) Julia Knight (University of Notre Dame) Anca Muscholl (Universite Bordeaux) Gheorghe Paun (Romanian Academy) Alexander Razborov (University of Chicago and Steklov Mathematical Institute) Vlatko Vedral (University of Oxford) TUTORIAL SPEAKERS John Reif (Duke Unversity) Steve Simpson (Pennsylvania State University) SPECIAL SESSIONS on Representing streams (Organizers: Joerg Endrullis and Dimtri Hendriks) Automata, logic and infinite games (Organizers: Dietmar Berwanger and Ioana Leustean) Reverse mathematics (Organizers: Damir Dzhafarov and Alberto Marcone) Classical computability theory (Organizers: Marat Arslanov and Steffen Lempp) Bio-inspired computation (Organizers: Andrei Paun and Petr Sosik) History and philosophy of computing (Organizers: Christine Proust and Marco Benini) Evolution of the universe, and us within it, invite a parallel evolution in understanding. The CiE agenda - fundamental and engaged - targets the extracting and developing of computational models basic to current challenges. From the origins of life, to the understanding of human mentality, to the characterising of quantum randomness - computability theoretic questions arise in many guises. The CiE community, this coming year meeting for the first time in Bucharest, carries forward the search for coherence, depth and new thinking across this rich and vital field of research. In all cases we are looking for fundamental and theoretical submissions. In line with other conferences in this series, CiE 2015 has a broad scope and provides a forum for the discussion of theoretical and practical issues in Computability with an emphasis on new paradigms of computation and the development of their mathematical theory. We particularly invite papers that build bridges between different parts of the research community. The PROGRAMME COMMITTEE consists of: Marat Arslanov (Kazan), Jeremy Avigad (Pittsburgh), Veronica Becher (Buenos Aires), Arnold Beckmann (Swansea), Laurent Bienvenu (Paris), Gabriel Ciobanu (Bucharest), S Barry Cooper (Leeds), Laura Crosilla (Leeds), Liesbeth De Mol (Ghent), Walter Dean (Warwick), Volker Diekert (Stuttgart), Damir Dzhafarov (Storrs, Connecticut), Peter van Emde Boas (Amsterdam), Rachel Epstein (Harvard), Johanna Franklin (Storrs, Connecticut), Neil Ghani (Glasgow), Joel David Hamkins (New York), Rosalie Iemhoff (Utrecht), Emmanuel Jeandel (LORIA), Natasha Jonoska (Tampa, FL), Antonina Kolokolova (St.John's, NL), Antonin Kucera (Prague), Oliver Kutz (Bremen), Benedikt Loewe (Hamburg & Amsterdam), Jack Lutz (Ames, IA), Florin Manea (Kiel), Alberto Marcone (Udine), Radu Mardare (Aalborg), Joe Miller (Madison, WI), Russell Miller (Flushing, NY), Mia Minnes (La Jolla, CA), Victor Mitrana (Bucharest, co-chair), Dag Normann (Oslo), Ian Pratt-Hartmann (Manchester), Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (London), Anne Smith (St Andrews), Mariya Soskova (Sofia, co-chair), Paul Spirakis (Patras & Liverpool), Susan Stepney (York), Jacobo Toran (Ulm), Marius Zimand (Towson, MD). In a Call for Papers to be sent out in October 2014, the PC will invite all researchers in the area of the conference to submit their papers for presentation at CiE 2015. The best of the accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings within the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series of Springer (tbc), which will be available at the conference. ____________________________________________________________________ CiE 2015 http://fmi.unibuc.ro/CiE2015/ ASSOCIATION COMPUTABILITY IN EUROPE http://www.computability.org.uk CiE Conference Series http://www.illc.uva.nl/CiE CiE Membership Application Form http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/acie Computability (Journal of CiE) http://www.computability.de/journal/ CiE on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/AssnCiE Association CiE on Twitter https://twitter.com/AssociationCiE From aurel at ee.columbia.edu Sat Sep 27 11:50:34 2014 From: aurel at ee.columbia.edu (Aurel A. Lazar) Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 11:50:34 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Want to build a fly brain? Message-ID: <41483556-1D3D-4FD0-AD66-6BFC7A803846@ee.columbia.edu> Join us in an open-source collaborative effort aimed at (i) building in silico fruit fly brain circuits, and (ii) in vivo validation of these circuits. Neurokernel: An open source platform for emulating fruit fly brains on GPUs http://neurokernel.github.io Neurokernel Requests for Comments (RFCs): http://neurokernel.github.io/docs.html Aurel A. Lazar http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Justus-prof at piater.name Fri Sep 26 11:29:53 2014 From: Justus-prof at piater.name (Justus-prof at piater.name) Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:29:53 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: JOB: Assistant Professor in Computer and Biological Vision at U. Innsbruck Message-ID: <87k34qs8lq.fsf@pc130-c703.uibk.ac.at> The University of Innsbruck has an immediate opening for an Assistant Professor in computer and biological vision, situated at the Institute of Computer Science. The position is initially limited to 6 years, but can lead to a permanent position of Associate Professor subject to a successful performance evaluation. The earliest possible starting date is January 5, 2015. The successful applicant will conduct Research that contributes to and covers areas in both computer vision and biological vision, including computational modeling of biological vision at the level of neurons, neuronal populations and/or visual cortical areas, and in computer vision inspired by neuroscience, with a particular focus on vision for (animate and robotic) activity. Minimum qualifications include a doctoral degree in computer science or a related field, extensive research experience in the aforementioned research areas, and established research collaborations in both computer vision and visual neuroscience. Applications can be submitted until November 6, 2014. For more information see https://iis.uibk.ac.at/asstprof. The University of Innsbruck, Austria The history of the University of Innsbruck dates back to 1669. It offers a complete range of academic curricula and currently counts 28000 students. Founded in 2001, the Department of Computer Science is highly productive in diverse research domains, and is internationally very well connected. Innsbruck is home to 35000 students who imprint a distinctive, international student atmosphere upon this lively city of 125000. Beautifully located in the Tyrolean Alps, on the Inn river and surrounded by summits of up to 2718m, Innsbruck offers outstanding opportunities and quality of life all around the year. -- Prof. Justus Piater, Ph.D. Intelligent and Interactive Systems https://iis.uibk.ac.at/ Institute of Computer Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria From neumann at ias.tu-darmstadt.de Fri Sep 26 11:49:00 2014 From: neumann at ias.tu-darmstadt.de (Gerhard Neumann) Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:49:00 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 3rd CfP and Travel Scholarships - NIPS Workshop "Autonomously Learning Robots", Message-ID: <54258AEC.10603@ias.tu-darmstadt.de> 3rd CALL FOR PAPERS - important news on TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS NIPS 2014 WORKSHOP on "Autonomously Learning Robots" =========================================================== We are happy to announce that we can offer travel scholarships for students that want to attend the workshop. The scholarship will be at maximum 500? (approx. 630$) per student and will be handed out to the best 10 student submissions. Please indicate in the email of your submission whether the first author is a student and you want to apply for the scholarship. == Quick Facts == Call For Papers: Authors can submit a 2-6 pages paper that will be reviewed by the organization committee. The papers can present new work or give a summary of recent work of the author(s). All papers will be considered for the poster sessions. Out-standing long papers (4-6 pages) will also be considered for a 20 minutes oral presentation. Submissions should be send per email to autonomous.learning.robots at gmail.com with the prefix [ALR-Submission]. Important Dates: * 1st Call for Papers: August, 26th, 2014 * Paper submission deadline: October, 3rd, 2014 (23:59 PST) * Paper acceptance notification: October, 27th, 2014 * Camera-ready deadline: November, 30th, 2014 Conference: NIPS 2014 (http://nips.cc/Conferences/2014/) Location: Montreal, Canada Homepage: http://www.ias.tu-darmstadt.de/Workshops/NIPS2014 Organizers: Gerhard Neumann ( http://www.ias.tu-darmstadt.de/Team/GerhardNeumann) Joelle Pineau (http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~jpineau/ ), Peter Auer (http://personal.unileoben.ac.at/auer/) Marc Toussaint (http://ipvs.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/mlr/marc/) Topics: - More Autonomous Reinforcement Learning for Robotics - Autonomous Sub-Goal Extraction - Bayesian Parameter and Model Selection - Active Search and Autonomous Exploration - Autonomous Feature Extraction, Kernel Methods and Deep Learning for Robotics - Learning from Human Instructions, Inverse Reinforcement Learning and Preference Learning for Robotics - Generalization of Skills with Multi-Task Learning - Learning Forward Models and Efficient Model-Based Policy Search - Learning to Exploit the Structure of Control Tasks - Movement Primitives and Modular Control Architectures == Abstract == To autonomously assist human beings, future robots have to autonomously learn a rich set of complex behaviors. So far, the role of machine learning in robotics has been limited to solve pre-specified sub-problems that occur in robotics and, in many cases, off-the-shelf machine learning methods. The approached problems are mostly homogeneous, e.g., learning a single type of movement is sufficient to solve the task, and do not reflect the complexities that are involved in solving real-world tasks. In a real-world environment, learning is much more challenging than solving such homogeneous problems. The agent has to autonomously explore its environment and discover versatile behaviours that can be used to solve a multitude of different tasks throughout the future learning progress. It needs to determine when to reuse already known skills by adapting, sequencing or combining the learned behaviour and when to learn new behaviours. To do so, it needs to autonomously decompose complex real-world tasks into simpler sub-tasks such that the learned solutions for these sub-tasks can be re-used in a new situation. It needs to form internal representations of its environment, which is possibly containing a large variety of different objects or also different agents, such as other robots or humans. Such internal representations also need to shape the structure of the used policy and/or the used value function of the algorithm, which need to be flexible enough such to capture the huge variability of tasks that can be encountered in the real world. Due to the multitude of possible tasks, it also cannot rely on a manually tuned reward function for each task, and, hence, it needs to find a more general representations for the reward function. Yet, an autonomous robot is likely to interact with one or more human operators that are typically experts in a certain task, but not necessarily experts in robotics. Hence, an autonomously learning robot also should make effective use of feedback that can be acquired from a human operator. Typically, different types of instructions from the human are available, such as demonstrations and evaluative feedback in form of a continuous quality rating, a ranking between solutions or a set of preferences. In order to facilitate the learning problem, such additional human instructions should be used autonomously whenever available. Yet, the robot also needs to be able to reason about its competence to solve a task. If the robot thinks it has poor competence or the uncertainty of the competence is high, the robot should request more instructions from the human expert. Most machine learning algorithms are missing these types of autonomy. They still rely on a large amount of engineering and fine-tuning from a human expert. The human typically needs to specify the representation of the reward-function, of the state, of the policy or of other internal representations used by the learning algorithms. Typically, the decomposition of complex tasks into sub-tasks is performed by the human expert and the parameters of such algorithms are fine tuned by hand. The algorithms typically learn from a pre-specified source of feedback and can not autonomously request more instructions such as demonstrations, evaluative feedback or corrective actions. We belief that this lack of autonomy is one of the key reasons why robot learning could not be scaled to more complex, real world tasks. Learning such tasks would require a huge amount of fine tuning which is very costly on real robot systems. == Goal == In this workshop, we want to bring together people from the fields of robotics, reinforcement learning, active learning, representation learning and motor control. The goal in this multi-disciplinary workshop is to develop new ideas to increase the autonomy of current robot learning algorithms and to make their usage more practical for real world applications. In this context, among the questions which we intend to tackle are More Autonomous Reinforcement Learning - How can we automatically tune hyper-parameters of reinforcement learning algorithms such as learning and exploration rates? - Can we find reinforcement learning algorithms that are less sensitive to the settings of their hyper-parameters and therefore, can be used for a multitude of tasks with the same parameter values? - How can we efficiently generalize learned skills to new situations? - Can we transfer the success of deep learning methods to robot learning? - How do learn on several levels of abstractions and also identify useful abstractions? - How can we identify useful elemental behaviours that can be used for a multitude of tasks? - How do use RL on the raw sensory input without a hand-coded representation of the state? - Can we learn forward models of the robot and its environment from high dimensional sensory data? How can these forward models be used effectively for model-based reinforcement learning? - Can we autonomously decide when to learn value functions and when to use direct policy search? Autonomous Exploration and Active Learning - How can we autonomously explore the state space of the robot without the risk of breaking the robot? - Can we use strategies for intrinsic motivation, such as artificial curiosity or empowerment, to autonomously acquire a rich set of behaviours that can be re-used in the future learning progress? - How can we measure the competence of the agent as well as our certainty in this competence? - Can we use active learning to acquire improve the quality of learned forward models as well as to probe the environment to gain more information about the state of the environment? Autonomous Learning from Instructions - Can we combine learning from demonstrations, inverse reinforcement learning and preference learning to make more effective use of human instructions? - How can we decide when to request new instructions from a human experts? - How can we scale inverse reinforcement learning and preference learning to high dimensional continuous spaces? - Can we use demonstrations and human preferences to identify relevant features from the high dimensional sensory input of the robot? Autonomous Feature Extraction - Can we use feature extraction techniques such as deep learning to find a general purpose feature representation that can be used for a multitude of tasks. - Can recent advances for kernel based methods be scaled to reinforcement learning and policy search in high dimensional spaces? - What are good priors to simplify the feature extraction problem? - What are good features to represent the policy, the value function or the reward function? Can we find algorithms that extract features specialized for these representations? == Format == The workshop is designed to be a platform for presentations and discussion including the invited speakers, oral presentations of paper submissions and poster submissions. The scope of the workshop includes all all areas connected to autonomous robot learning, including reinforcement learning, exploration strategies, Bayesian learning for adjusting hyper-parameters, representation learning, structure learning and learning from human instructions. There will be a poster session where interested authors in the topic can present their recent work at the workshop. The authors have to submit a two page abstract which can present new work, or a summary of the recent work of the authors (6 pages) or also present new ideas for the proposed topics. The workshop will consist of seven plenary invited talks (30 minutes each) and short talks from selected abstract submissions. All accepted posters will be presented at two poster sessions (min. 60 minutes each). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Machine Learning News" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ml-news+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From m.hennig at ed.ac.uk Sun Sep 28 11:08:52 2014 From: m.hennig at ed.ac.uk (Matthias Hennig) Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 16:08:52 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Neuroinformatics, Computational Neuroscience PhD and MSc at Edinburgh Message-ID: <54282484.1070509@ed.ac.uk> PhD/MSc IN NEUROINFORMATICS, COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. We invite applications for the PhD and MSc programme in Neuroinformatics and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh. The MSc programme is a one year course introducing key concepts and applications through courses and a research project. It serves as preparation for a PhD or work in industry for students from quantitative disciplines with little or no previous exposure to neuroscience. A wide range of courses are available, including computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, machine learning, robotics and computer vision. This programme is self-funded. The PhD is a 3 year funded programme with a strongly interdisciplinary character and is ideal for students who want to apply their computational and analytical skills to problems in neuroscience and related fields. Often PhD projects are done in collaboration with one of the many affiliated departments and institutes, which includes experimental neuroscience groups in Edinburgh and beyond. The programme it fully funded and provides a stipend and fees. The PhD programme includes the following themes, where Edinburgh has a strong research community: - computational and mathematical studies of neural information processing - spiking computation and neurorobotics - advanced experimental data analysis - neural simulation and modelling PhD applications can be prepared in conjunction with one of the PhD supervisors in these research areas: - Douglas Armstrong - James Bednar - Matthias Hennig - Michael Herrmann - Peggy Series - Mark van Rossum - Ian Simpson - Barbara Webb For more information on faculty, visit: http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/neuroscience Examples of ongoing projects are listed here: http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/dtc/index.php?option=com_projects&completed=0 Students with a strong background in either computer science, mathematics, physics or engineering are particularly welcome to apply. Motivated students with other backgrounds will also be considered. This programme cannot normally consider non-EU applicants unless own funding such as an external studentship is available. Edinburgh has been voted as 'best place to live in Britain', and has many exciting cultural and student activities. Recruitment is a rolling process that ends on 13 March 2015, but for full consideration apply by 12 December 2014. To apply, visit: http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?r=site/view&id=489&cw_xml= -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From hudlicka at cs.umass.edu Sun Sep 28 20:53:39 2014 From: hudlicka at cs.umass.edu (Eva Hudlicka) Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:53:39 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: CFP: symposium on computational modeling of cognition-emotion interactions - (at BICA 2014; MIT - Nov 7) In-Reply-To: <36C6380A8F0A524D884A5BFB03B5B07719F0B3C2@MLBXv05.nih.gov> References: <96765516-8D04-4256-A3D1-BDCB4B674C1C@cs.umass.edu> <36C6380A8F0A524D884A5BFB03B5B07719F09B97@MLBXv05.nih.gov> <0C746A73-B71C-40E0-8093-9A87EBD77125@cs.umass.edu> <36C6380A8F0A524D884A5BFB03B5B07719F0B3C2@MLBXv05.nih.gov> Message-ID: <55DC21A5-DBEA-4E5C-8A57-48FA25B281F5@cs.umass.edu> Dear all I am organizing a symposium on computational modeling of emotion-cognition interactions. It will be part of BICA (Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures), held at MIT, Nov 7. The title is "Modeling the Mechanisms of Cognition-Emotion Interactions" and the web site is here: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~hudlicka/BICA-2014-cog-em.html (deadline obviously extended). Since one of the core themes is an improved understanding of the mechanisms of psychopathology and mechanisms mediating therapeutic action, I would especially like to encourage researchers in these areas to submit abstracts. Please forward to anyone else who may be interested, esp. people in the Boston area. The BICA site for the full conference is here: http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/ Thanks! Eva ---------------- Eva Hudlicka, PhD Psychometrix Associates, Inc. School of Computer Science - U.Mass.-Amherst psychometrixassociates.com https://www.cs.umass.edu/faculty/directory/hudlicka_eva From demian.battaglia at univ-amu.fr Mon Sep 29 04:22:14 2014 From: demian.battaglia at univ-amu.fr (Demian Battaglia) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 10:22:14 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Workshop on Neural Information Dynamics, Causality and Computation near Criticality (FIAS Frankfurt) Message-ID: <425E3394-FB55-4EC3-B2CB-CFE98EA18CA6@univ-amu.fr> Dear colleagues, please find below an invitation to a joint workshop by LOEWE-NeFF and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS). Best Regards, Michael Wibral Matthias Kaschube ----------------------- LOEWE-NeFF and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) jointly invite you to a ?Workshop on Neural Information Dynamics, Causality and Computation near Criticality? December 12-13th, 2014 The workshop is preceded by a ?Software course on Neural Information Dynamics with TRENTOOL, the Java Information Dynamics Toolkit and MuTE? December 10-11th, 2014 Venue: Workshop and student course will be held at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS, www.fias.uni-frankfurt.de), Ruth-Moufang-Stra?e 1, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany The workshop addresses the analysis of neural computation in large neural systems and covers three tightly related topics in the field of modern analysis of neural data: Causality The analysis of causal interactions yields important insights into the biophysical substrate of neural dynamics that enable emergent computation. It is one of the goals of the workshop to discuss the link between causal analysis and the analyses of information processing proper, in order to clarify the dividing line and the mutual benefit of these two types of analyses. Neural information dynamics Information theoretic quantities separate and measure key elements of distributed computation in neural systems, such as the storage, transfer, and modification of information. These concepts can help to better understand the computational algorithms implemented by the dynamics of a neural system, providing the link between these algorithms and their biophysical implementation. Large scale organisation and criticality Neural systems orchestrate the activity of a large number of interacting neurons to achieve their computational capabilities. Recent advances in recording technology make it possible to reveal the activity patterns of hundreds of neurons distributed across the brain. This offers the unique opportunity to identify the large-scale organising principles of neural activity, such as operation near a critical point, that support computation in the system. Confirmed speakers: Adam Barrett Demian Battaglia Sakyasingha Dasgupta Luca Faes Esther Florin Moritz Grosse-Wentrup Andreea Lazar Anna Levina Daniele Marinazzo Oliver Obst Gordon Pipa Alberto Porta Viola Priesemann Karin Schiecke Raul Vicente The supporting software course addresses young scientists who intend to apply information theoretic measures for neuroscience hands on, and that would like to contribute code to one of the open source toolboxes on the topic. Some minimal experience with MATLAB or GNU-Octave is necessary for participation. Some prior knowledge in information theory is a plus. Applications for the student course should include a brief statement of motivation. Student course faculty: Alessandro Montalto (MuTE) Michael Wibral (TRENTOOL, Java Information Dynamics Toolkit) Patricia Wollstadt (TRENTOOL) ---------------------------------------------------------- Please apply/register by email before October 24th to wibral at em.uni-frankfurt.de as places for course and workshop are limited. Registration fees Student course: 50,00 EUR Workshop: 75,00 EUR Course+Workshop: 100,00 EUR Upon successful registration please wire the registration fees to: Account holder: Universit?tsklinikum Account: 37 99 99, BLZ: 50050201 IBAN: DE 32 500 502 01 0000 37 9999 SWIFT-Code: HELADEF 1822 Reference: 21000521 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yael at Princeton.EDU Tue Sep 30 23:26:56 2014 From: yael at Princeton.EDU (Yael Niv) Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2014 03:26:56 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: RLDM2015: The 2nd Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making Message-ID: <04BF584D-197B-490B-80C6-5C939637A04A@exchange.Princeton.EDU> ====================================================== The 2nd Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM 2015) www.rldm.org June 7-10, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ====================================================== Over the last few decades, reinforcement learning and decision making have been the focus of an incredible wealth of research spanning a wide variety of fields including psychology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, operations research, control theory, animal and human neuroscience, economics and ethology. Key to many developments in the field has been interdisciplinary sharing of ideas and findings. The goal of RLDM is to provide a platform for communication among all researchers interested in "learning and decision making over time to achieve a goal". The meeting is characterized by the multidisciplinarity of the presenters and attendees, with cross-disciplinary conversations and teaching and learning being central objectives along with the dissemination of novel theoretical and experimental results. The first meeting, RLDM2013, was a huge success, with over 300 attendees. The second meeting will be single-track, and will consist of a mixture of invited and contributed talks, tutorials, and poster sessions. See below for a list of confirmed speakers. Submissions of 1-4 page extended abstracts describing original research, coming from any discipline or disciplines, describing empirical results from human, animal, robot or artificial agent experiments, and/or theoretical work, simulations and modeling will be peer-reviewed for quality and interdisciplinary communication. This is an abstract-based meeting, with no published conference proceedings. As such, work that is intended for, or has been submitted to, other conferences or journals is also welcome, provided that the intent of communication to other disciplines is clear. More information will be posted at www.rldm.org Important dates: Meeting: 7-10 June 2015 (tutorials on 7th, meeting proper 8-10th) Submissions open: 15 December 2014 Submissions close: 7 February 2015, midnight EST Notification of acceptance: 21 March, 2015 (foreigners needing to request visas can fast-track poster acceptance by request to program chairs) Early registration: 21 April 2015 To ensure that you receive future announcements about RLDM2015 please join our mailing list at http://tinyurl.com/RLDMlist (you must log in to google to see the "join list" button, and choose 'all emails' in the options). Please circulate widely and encourage your students and postdocs to attend. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Timothy Behrens Emma Brunskill Alison Gopnik Ann Graybiel Charles Isbell Sridhar Mahadevan David Parkes Elizabeth Phelps Alexandre Pouget Peter Stone Peter Thall Andrea Thomaz Claire Tomlin Ben Van Roy Ilana Witten PROGRAM CHAIRS Joelle Pineau Peter Dayan LOCAL CHAIR Richard Sutton GENERAL CHAIR Yael Niv EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Peter Dayan (UCL) Susan Murphy (U Michigan) Yael Niv (Princeton) Nicholas Roy (MIT) Satinder Singh (U Michigan) Richard Sutton (Alberta) From chen at cse.wustl.edu Mon Sep 29 23:18:47 2014 From: chen at cse.wustl.edu (Yixin Chen) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:18:47 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: [meetings] Deadline Extended to Oct 5, AAAI-15 Robotics Fellowships Message-ID: Dear AI researchers, Please note that deadline for Robotic Fellowship applications has been extended to Sunday, October 5. Included below is the full call for participation. We hope to see you in Austin! Best regards, Yixin Chen (chen at cse.wustl.edu) Publicity Chair, AAAI'15 --------------------------------- AAAI-15 ROBOTICS FELLOWSHIPS The Twenty-Ninth Conference on Artificial Intelligence January 25?29, 2015, Austin, Texas USA Call for Participation Application Deadline: October 5, 2014 We invite Ph.D. student applications for the AAAI-15 Robotics Fellowships. The fellowships aim to attract Ph.D. students from robotics labs that do not typically publish at artificial intelligence (AI) venues but would like to attend AAAI-15 and learn about AI techniques of relevance to robotics. The ideal candidates for the fellowships are Ph.D. students who are working on dissertation topics for which knowledge of artificial intelligence techniques is helpful but who have not yet had a chance to attend top AI conferences. The fellowships will cover up to $1,000 of the students' expenses (plus free conference registration) to attend AAAI-15 in Austin, Texas from January 25?29, 2015 (www.aaai.org/aaai15). The fellowships will form part of several robotics-related activities at AAAI-15, including a Robotics Exhibition, an AI Robotics Early Career Spotlight talk, and a celebration of the Shakey project. The students will give short talks in a dedicated session about their dissertation topics and be provided with a variety of opportunities to interact with artificial intelligence students and senior researchers throughout the conference. To apply, please send a single PDF to Brad Knox (bradknox at mit.edu) by October 1, 2014, which should include: A two-page summary of your dissertation topic, with a short explanation of the relevance of AI techniques; A half-page statement about what you hope to get out of attending AAAI-15; Your CV, including a listing of all conferences attended so far; and A letter of support from your dissertation supervisor. Please feel free to contact the Robotics cochairs if you have any questions. Brad Knox (bradknox at mit.edu) George Konidaris (gdk at csail.mit.edu) AAAI 2015 Robotics Cochairs Blai Bonet and Sven Koenig AAAI 2015 Program Cochairs -- Yixin Chen, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Computer Science Washington University in St. Louis http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~chen/ Phone: (314) 935-7528 From frank.ritter at psu.edu Tue Sep 30 19:02:51 2014 From: frank.ritter at psu.edu (Frank Ritter) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:02:51 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: CogModel notes: ICCM15/CogSci14 Proc/Mooc on AI/confs/Jobs Message-ID: This is the third emailing for ICCM 2015 in April 2015. Please forward if appropriate to your members and put appropriate links onto your web site, and so on. There are a lot of jobs going.... The ICCM 2015 announcement drives this email (it will be in Gronigen, NL, 8-11 April 2015, on its regular (15/18 month) schedule). There are several timely (or late) announcements that indicate new publication outlets, resources, and jobs in Cog Sci and in cognitive modeling. I have also included two unusual items, a Mooc and video for a book! Now in order: meetings, resources, jobs. If you would like to be removed, please just let me know. I maintain it by hand to keep it small. I take some announcements from the Soar group, the ACT-R group, and http://listserv.acm.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ACMLPX.CGI?LIST=CHI-JOBS http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro [Hypertext version available at http://acs.ist.psu.edu/iccm2015/iccm-mailing-sep2014.html] cheers, Frank Ritter frank.e.ritter at gmail.com http://www.frankritter.com **************************************************************** 1. International Conf. on Cognitive Modeling, 9-11 Apr 15, Gronigen, NL http://www.iccm2015.org/, submissions due 8 dec 2014 2. International Conf. on Cognitive Modeling, tutorial call, due 8 Dec 2014 http://www.iccm2015.org/submissions/tutorials/ ;;;; OTHER RESOURCES 3. Video (!) summary of Foundations for User-centered Design (HCI) book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0EyHQM6e8 4. Cognitive Science 2014 Proceedings available https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2014/ 5. MOOC on Developmental Artificial Intelligence http://liris.cnrs.fr/ideal/mooc (starts Oct 2014) 6. Survey on HCI education :::: OTHER CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS 7. AAAI 2015 special track on Cognitive Systems http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2015/aaai15cognitive.php 8. 2014 Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA 2014) 7-9 Nov 14 http://bicasociety.org/meetings/ 9. iConference 2015, 24-27 March 2015, various due dates https://www.conftool.com/iConference2015/ 10. Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences, papers due 1 oct 14 http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~comqpcl 11. Call for Papers: IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (CIM) Special Issue: "Computational Intelligence for Changing Environments" http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/IEEE-CIM-CICE2015.pdf 12. CALL FOR PROPOSALS: AISB Workshop Series http://aisb.org.uk/media/files/AISBWorkshops.pdf 13. AI Career Network Conference during AAAI-15 in Jan 2015 http://sigai.acm.org/cnc/cfp.html, due: 6 Oct 2014 ;;;; POSITIONS 14. Henry Rutgers Term Chair in Computer and Data Science (due 1 nov 14) 15. Full Professor of Applied CS (Ubiquitous Computing), Vienna U. of Tech. http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at (due 20 oct 14) 16. Tenure Track Asst. Prof of Cog Psy, UC/Riverside (due 10 oct 14) https://aprecruit.ucr.edu/apply/JPF00159 17. Faculty Position in Computational Neuroscience at UC/Irvine (due 15 Nov 14) https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02452 18. Research Lectureship in HCI, U. of St Andrews, Scotland (due 3 Oct 14) http://bit.ly/sachi_lectureship 19. Lecturer in HCI, U. of Birmingham (UK), Closes 5 Oct 14 http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AJJ517/lecturer-in-human-computer-interaction-hci/ 20. Faculty position in system dynamics, MIT Sloan School of Management https://sloanfacultysearches.mit.edu/sd/ 21. Asst. Prof - Embodied Cognitive Science, Cog Sci Program, Indiana https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/1006 (due 1 nov 14) 22. Open Rank Faculty Position, Indiana, School of Informatics & Computing http://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/971 due 1 Dec 2014 23. Full Prof for Applied Cog Psych, U of Ulm (due: 3 Oct 2014) 24. Faculty positions in Computer Science at American U http://apply.interfolio.com/25813 (due 3 Nov 2014) 25. Faculty Position in Comp Games & Virt Worlds @Concordia U. (due 1 dec 14) https://www.concordia.ca/encs/about/jobs/strategic-hire-computer-games-virtual-worlds.html 26. NIH-Wide Stadtman Tenure-Track Recruitment (30 sep 2015, annual?) http://irp.nih.gov/careers/faculty-level-scientific-careers/stadtman-tenure-track-investigators 27. Junior professorship to work in Germany, due 1 sep 14 and 1 sep 15? http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/skp_en 28. Post-doctoral fellow in computational cognitive modeling, Wright State http://jobs.wright.edu/postings/8101 (reviewed from 22 sep 14) 29. 3 year postdoc in London, modelling bee brains http://www.jobs.qmul.ac.uk/5111 (due 9 oct 14) 30. Junior position in Cognitive Science research group at ETS (ongoing) 31. Research Scientist Computational Neuroscience Position in Toronto (due 19 Oct 14) 32. PhD position in computational modelling at Max Planck/Leipzig http://www.o-brain-project.de (until filled) 33. KTP associate post-doc in workload for rail control http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=2328&forced=1 34. Web Developer for Databrary.org [until filled] http://Databrary.org 35. Cognitive Robotics Job, Army Res. Lab (until filled) **************************************************************** 1. International Conf. on Cognitive Modeling, 9-11 Apr 15, Gronigen, NL http://www.iccm2015.org/, submissions due 8 dec 2014 The International Conference on Cognitive Modeling will take place in 9-11 April 2015 at RU/Gronigen, the Netherlands. All paper, poster, symposium, and tutorial submissions are due on 8 Dec 2014, 11.59pm CEST [Central European Standard Time, +1GMT]. They should be submitted via our online submission system, which will be available closer to the deadline. There are three types of regular submissions: Papers: refereed papers of up to 6 pages. If a submission is accepted to be published as a paper, the paper will be presented at the conference either as a talk or as a poster. Posters: refereed poster abstracts of up to 2 pages. If accepted, the corresponding poster will be presented at the conference in a dedicated poster session. Symposia: refereed symposia abstracts of up to 2 pages. If accepted, the conference committee will contact the authors to help organize and schedule the symposium. The website has further details, and will have more as the conference approaches **************************************************************** 2. International Conf. on Cognitive Modeling, tutorial call, due 8 Dec 2014 http://www.iccm2015.org/submissions/tutorials/ The day before the conference (8 apr 15) will be devoted to tutorials on various cognitive modelling techniques and approaches. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a tutorial, please see the tutorial page for more information. Tutorial proposals will be evaluated by the organising committee on the basis of their estimated benefit for prospective participants and on their fit within the tutorials program as a whole. If you are interested in organising a tutorial, please send us an email at info at iccm2015.org by 8 Dec 2014 with the following information: - a 150 word description of the tutorial - duration (half-day or full-day) - who the tutors will be - any pre-requisites that participants need to follow the tutorial We will notify you of acceptance or rejection by 1 Feb 2015. **************************************************************** 3. Video (!) summary of Foundations for User-centered Design (HCI) book http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0EyHQM6e8 Our HCI book (http://www.frankritter.com/fducs) now has a video summary, which seems, ahh, interesting. For your education, edification, and amusement. I think it was automatically created: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER0EyHQM6e8 **************************************************************** 4. Cognitive Science 2014 Proceedings available https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2014/ The Cognitive Science Conference proceedings are now available: https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2014/ **************************************************************** 5. MOOC on Developmental Artificial Intelligence http://liris.cnrs.fr/ideal/mooc (starts Oct 2014) I was going to write to you to announce our MOOC on Developmental Artificial Intelligence: The teaser: http://youtu.be/kQPz9InhHjk The web page: http://liris.cnrs.fr/ideal/mooc The course will begin in Oct but participants may register already and start meeting the community. Please share this announcement widely! We are not only looking for participants but also for partners to provide inputs and collaborate on this occasion. I am also looking for suggestions of mailing lists or any idea to share this announcement. Olivier.Georgeon at gmail.com **************************************************************** 6. Survey on HCI education [perhaps dated and in HCI, but modeling is used in HCI] As part of our research focused on the international HCI curriculum, one of our PhD students, Ann Austin, is investigating the cognitive style of HCI students. In order to provide her with a benchmark against which to compare them, she is asking HCI professionals, both practitioners and educators, to complete the following survey. The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDFuWHRla0dWSDdjUEpLR0tUM2RuUnc6MA If you have other colleagues that would also be prepared to participate in this survey, please do pass on the URL of the link. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her: Ann.Austin at uwl.ac.uk Many Thanks! Jose Abdelnour Nocera, PhD Assoc Prof in Sociotechnical Design Inst for Practice and Interdisciplinary Research (INSPIRE) Head of Sociotechnical Centre for Innovation and User Experience U of West London St Mary's Road, Ealing - London W5 5RF https://soc.uwl.ac.uk/~jabdelno **************************************************************** 7. AAAI 2015 special track on Cognitive Systems http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2015/aaai15cognitive.php [This is an annual thing, and you might be interested in it next year] As you may know, AAAI 2015 will be held in January, with submissions due in September. This year it includes a Special Track on Cognitive Systems that is being co-chaired by Ken Forbus and Paul Rosenbloom. The blurb for the track is below, and the official webpage is http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2015/aaai15cognitive.php. We're looking for great papers on a variety of topics likely to be relevance to the Soar community. In an attempt to return to the original goals of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, this special track invites papers in human-level intelligence, integrated cognition, cognitive architectures, and related areas that aim to explain intelligence in computational terms and reproduce a range of human cognitive abilities in computational artifacts. Critically, the track will focus on cognitive capabilities "in the context of complete artificial cognitive systems," hence papers on individual component algorithms will only be accepted if they discuss these algorithms and their functions in conjunction with the rest of the integrated artificial cognitive system. Possible topics include the following, as well as other related integrated cognitive functions and issues: * memory storage and retrieval * motivation and emotion * social cognition and interaction * learning and knowledge capture * introspection and meta-cognition * methods of integration * conceptual inference and reasoning * problem solving and decision making * perception, imagery and motor control * natural language understanding and dialogue * efficiency and real-time performance (i.e., reaching the ~50 ms cog cycle time) Papers will be reviewed by qualified reviewers drawn from a special track committee, with general expertise in artificial cognitive systems and specific expertise in at least one of the above areas. We encourage authors to clearly explain how their paper fits into the Special Track on Cognitive Systems and how it answers the call for papers. In cases where a submitted paper is not deemed relevant, it may be considered for review for another special track or the general technical papers track at the discretion of the tracks and conference cochairs. **************************************************************** 8. 2014 Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA 2014) 7-9 Nov 14 http://bicasociety.org/meetings/ Fifth Annual Meeting of the BICA Society 7-9 Nov 14 (F-S): MIT http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/ http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/cfp/bica2014cfp.pdf PoC: Paul Robertson (paulr at dollabs.com) and Alexei Samsonovich (alexei at bicasociety.org Fifth Annual Meeting of the BICA Society Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) are computational frameworks for building intelligent agents that are inspired from biological intelligence. Biological intelligent systems, notably animals such as humans, have many qualities that are often lacking in artificially designed systems including robustness, flexibility and adaptability to environments. At a point in time where visibility into naturally intelligent systems is exploding, thanks to modern brain imaging and recording techniques allowing us to map brain structures and functions, our ability to learn lessons from nature and to build biologically inspired intelligent systems has never been greater. At the same time, the growth in computer science and technology has unleashed enough computational power at sufficiently low prices, that an explosion of intelligent applications from driverless vehicles, to augmented reality, to ubiquitous robots, is now almost certain. The growth in these fields challenges the computational replication of all essential aspects of the human mind (the BICA Challenge), an endeavor which is interdisciplinary in nature and promises to yield bi-directional flow of understanding between all involved disciplines. Scope With the scope of BICA 2014 covering all areas of BICA-related research listed below, the major thrusts will be Perception, Attention, and Language. Here the key questions are: * What can we learn from biological systems about how perception, attention, decision making, and action work together to produce intelligent behavior that is robust in natural environments? * What have we learned about information flow in biological systems that can aid us in building better artificial systems that combine perception, action, language, learning, and decision making in robots and intelligent agents? * What have we learned recently about information flow in the brain that can lead to better cognitive models that combine perception, attention, decision making, action, language, and learning? * What role is played by emotions in perception, attention, decision making, language, and learning? * How have we, or can we incorporate into cognitive architectures new evolving understandings about flow of information in biological cognitive systems? * What mathematical foundations are emerging today that can support perception and learning? In addition to these focus topic areas of BICA 2014, we encourage submission of papers in all areas of BICA research, especially in the following areas. Format and Agenda The format of the conference is a 3-day meeting including paper presentations, panel discussions, invited talks, and demonstration showcases. Symposia and other mini-events (special sessions, breakout groups, brainstorms, think-tanks, socials, contests, and more) as part of the conference will be added as needed (proposals are solicited). In addition, BICA 2014 will host a special track "Doctorial Consortium" for which a "best student paper" award will be presented. We will also host technology demonstrations, for which we solicit proposals, and a poster session. We solicit additionally proposals for panel topics. The working language is English. As a part of our rich social and cultural program included in the registration, we are planning a Welcome Reception and a boat trip into the Atlantic on Saturday night, with a banquet on the boat. Detailed program is not available yet. Please see our separate pages for Confirmed symposia planned as part of BICA 2014 (we are asking for additional proposals) http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/symposia/. Conference Venues: The conference will be held on the MIT campus in the Stata Building on Saturday and Sunday, 8-9 Nov; however, on F, 7 Nov 14, sessions will be held in the nearby Boston Marriott Cambridge hotel (2 Cambridge Center, 50 Broadway, Cambridge MA; 617-494-6600), which is also an official site of BICA 2014, in addition to the MIT campus. Submission and Publication Venues: Publication venues include: (1) the Elsevier journal BICA, http://www.journals.elsevier.com/biologically-inspired-cognitive-architectures/, papers may be distributed among several journal issues; and (2) a volume of _Procedia Computer Science, http://www.journals.elsevier.com/procedia-computer-science, indexed by Web of Science and Scopus. One EasyChair submission site will be used for all categories of submissions, including (1), (2) and also (3): stand-alone abstracts that will be included in the conference program brochure, without being published. All submissions will undergo one round of peer-reviews. The category may be changed based on reviews. All conference materials (including papers and abstracts) will be together made available locally for conference participants (included in the registration package) via USB and/or the Internet. Invited speakers are not required, but are encouraged to submit papers or abstracts. Other participants can have presentations accepted based on an abstract only, without a paper submission. Core Organizing Committee General Chair, Paul Robertson (DOLL, Inc.), http://www.dollabs.com/drpaulrobertson.htm Co-Chairs Patrick H. Winston (CSAIL/MIT), http://people.csail.mit.edu/phw Howard Shrobe (CSAIL/MIT), http://www.csail.mit.edu/user/796 Alexei Samsonovich (GMU), http://mason.gmu.edu/%7Easamsono/ PC Chair Antonio Chella: OC Member Christian Lebiere: OC Member Kamilla R. Johannsdottir: OC Member Michele Ferrante, mferr133 at gmail.com, (BU): OC Member Submission Preparation: please see this separate page http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/submission/ Important Dates *Proposals and ideas for special features and mini-events:** *Doctoral Consortium / Special Student & Young Faculty Track -- send now Paper and Abstract Submission: Submission is OPEN! http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/submission Late-breaking stand-alone abstracts due-- contact Alexis Registration and Conference: Registration is OPEN! http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014/registration Guest and non-presenting attendee online registration due -- 1 Oct 14 Sessions of the conference BICA 2014: November 7-9 **************************************************************** 9. iConference 2015, 24-27 March 2015, various due dates https://www.conftool.com/iConference2015/ *Now Accepting Submissions* 24-27 Mar 2015 Newport Beach, CA USA http://ischools.org/the-iconference/ We are now accepting submissions for iConference 2015. Submissions may be made on our secure submissions site at https://www.conftool.com/iConference2015/ The iConference is an international gathering of scholars and researchers concerned with critical information issues in contemporary society. The following submissions are invited: *Submission Type* *Deadline* *Notification* Papers http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/papers/ Fri 5 Sep 14, midnight PDT mid-Nov Posters http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/posters/ F 10 Oct 14, midnight PDT mid-Nov Workshops http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/workshops/ F 26 Sep 14, midnight PDT Mon 27 Oct 14 Interactive Sessions http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/sessions-for-interaction-and-engagement/ F 10 Oct 14, midnight PDT mid-Nov Doctoral Colloquium http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/doctoral-colloquium/ F 12 Sep 14, midnight PDT F 24 Oct 14 Social Media Expo http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/social-media-expo/ Participation commitment letter due 14 Oct 14 submissions due 15 Dec 14 Th 15 Jan 15 Dissertation Award http://ischools.org/the-iconference/program/dissertation-award/ W 15 Oct 14, midnight PDT Th 15 Jan 15 iConference 2015 http://ischools.org/the-iconference/ takes place March 24-27 in Newport Beach, CA. It is presented by the iSchools organization http://ischools.org and hosted by The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC/Irvine. All information researchers and scholars are welcome. Sample topics of past iConferences include the following: ? human-computer interaction ? digital humanities ? digital curation and preservation ? digital youth ? knowledge infrastructures ? information retrieval ? data, text and knowledge mining ? social computing ? computational social science ? data science ? network science ? information policy ? information economics ? information work and workers ? user experience and design ? information systems ? computer-supported cooperative work ? bibliometrics and scholarly communication ? social, cultural, health and community informatics ? information and communication technology for development Gary M. Olson Dept of Informatics Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences UC, Irvine 949-824-0077 / gary.olson at uci.edu **************************************************************** 10. Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences, papers due 1 oct 14 http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~comqpcl Conference on Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences, London School of Economics, London, UK, January 30-31 2015 Abstracts for paper and poster presentations are invited. Submission deadline is 1 Oct 2014. TOPICS OF INTEREST This interdisciplinary conference explores issues arising from scientific discovery in the social sciences. Keynote talks will be given by speakers from philosophy, psychology and computer science. Submissions are invited from a range of disciplines including the behavioural and social sciences, computer science, philosophy and statistics. Papers and posters covering all relevant techniques and approaches within this broad area are welcome. It is hoped that selected papers will appear in extended form as an edited volume. Examples of suitable topics are: - Computational methods for extracting information from data, including pattern recognition, with applications to scientific discovery in social science - Novel methods for automating the generation and refinement of social science theories and models - Computational simulation of and assistance with aspects of scientific discovery in social science such as induction, insight, creativity and theory formation - The extent to which computational methods of theory development challenge the idea that the construction of social science theories is an exclusively human activity - The degree to which methods of scientific discovery in social science suggest new philosophical perspectives about the difference between social and natural science, and the distinguishing characteristics of social science - Philosophical relationships in social science between scientific discovery, causation, explanation, inference and probability - The extent to which scientific discovery contributes to the interpretation and application of complex models in social science including the identification of model error - Experiments or case study analyses shedding light on the psychological mechanisms underpinning scientific discovery - Analyses reflecting on the history and sociology of scientific discovery HOW TO SUBMIT Submissions should be abstracts of up to 500 words. Please send your paper by email to: sdss at generating-theories.peterlane.info, no later than 23.59 GMT on Wednesday 1 October 2014. IMPORTANT DATES 1 Oct 2014: Deadline for submission of papers 1 Nov 2014: Notification of acceptance 30-31 January 2015: Conference ADDITIONAL INFORMATION If your abstract is accepted, at least 1 author must register and attend the conference. It is hoped that selected authors will be invited to submit full papers for an edited volume. Conference website: http://generating-theories.peterlane.info/sdss.html All queries to: sdss at generating-theories.peterlane.info PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Prof. Mark Addis, Birmingham City U. Prof. Fernand Gobet, Liverpool U. Dr. Peter Lane, U. of Hertfordshire Dr. Peter Sozou, Liverpool U. **************************************************************** 11. Call for Papers: IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (CIM) Special Issue: "Computational Intelligence for Changing Environments" http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/IEEE-CIM-CICE2015.pdf Call for Papers: IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (CIM) (http://cis.ieee.org/ieee-computational-intelligence-magazine.html) Special Issue on "Computational Intelligence for Changing Environments" (Submission Deadline: 15 Nov 2014) (http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/IEEE-CIM-CICE2015.pdf) Guest Editors: Amir Hussain, Dacheng Tao, Jonathan Wu and Dongbin Zhao Aims and Scope: Over the past decade or so, computational intelligence techniques have been highly successful for solving big data challenges in changing environments. In particular, there has been growing interest in so called biologically inspired learning (BIL), which refers to a wide range of learning techniques, motivated by biology, that try to mimic specific biological functions or behaviors. Examples include the hierarchy of the brain neocortex and neural circuits, which have resulted in biologically-inspired features for encoding, deep neural networks for classification, and spiking neural networks for general modelling. To ensure these models are generalizable to unseen data, it is common to assume that the training and test data are independently sampled from an identical distribution, known as the sample i.i.d. assumption. In dynamic and non-stationary environments, the distribution of data changes over time, resulting in the phenomenon of 'concept drift' (also known as population drift or concept shift), which is a generalization of covariance shift in statistics. Over the last five years, transfer learning and multitask learning have been used to tackle this problem. Fundamental analyses using probably approximately correct (PAC) and Rademacher complexity frameworks have explained why appropriate incorporation of context and concept drift can improve generalizability in changing environments. It is possible to use human-level processing power to tackle concept drift in changing environments. Concept drift is a real-world problem, usually associated with online and concept learning, where the relationships between input data and target variables dynamically change over time. Traditional learning schemes do not adequately address this issue, either because they are offline or because they avoid dynamic learning. However, BIL seems to possess properties that would be helpful for solving concept drift problems in changing environments. Intuitively, the human capacity to deal with concept drift is innate to cognitive processes, and the learning problems susceptible to concept drift seem to share some of the dynamic demands placed on plastic neural areas in the brain. Using improved biological models in neural networks can provide insight into cognitive computational phenomena. However, a main outstanding issue in using computational intelligence for changing environments and domain adaptation is how to build complex networks, or how networks should be connected to the features, samples, and distribution drifts. Manual design and building of these networks are beyond current human capabilities. Recently, computational intelligence methods has been used to address concept drift in changing environments, with promising results. A Hebbian learning model has been used to handle random, as well as correlated, concept drift. Neural networks have been used for concept drift detection, and the influence of latent variables on concept drift in a neural network has been studied. In another study, a timing-dependent synapse model has been applied to concept drift. These works mainly apply biologically-plausible computational models to concept drift problems. Although these results are still in their infancy, they open up new possibilities to achieve brain-like intelligence for solving concept drift problems in changing environments. Taking the current state of research in computational intelligence for changing environments into account, the objective of this special issue is to collate this research to help unify the concepts and terminology of computational intelligence in changing environments, and to survey state-of-the-art computational intelligence methodologies and the key techniques investigated to date. Therefore, this special issue invites submissions on the most recent developments in computational intelligence for changing environments algorithms and architectures, theoretical foundations, and representations, & their application to real world problems. We also welcome timely surveys & review papers. Topics of Interest include (but are not limited to): ? Computational intelligence methodologies and implementation for changing environments ? Transfer learning, Multitask learning, Domain adaption ? Incremental Learning architectures, Unsupervised and semi-supervised learning architectures ? Incremental Knowledge augmentation, Representation learning and disentangling ? Incremental Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy systems ? Incremental and single-pass data mining ? Incremental Neural Clustering & Regression ? Incremental Adaptive decision systems ? Incremental Feature selection and reduction ? Incremental Constructive Learning ? Novelty detection in Incremental learning Submission Process The maximum length for the manuscript is typically 25 pages in single column format with double-spacing, including figures and references. Authors should specify in the first page of their manuscripts the corresponding author's contact and up to 5 keywords. Submission should be made via: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ieee-cim-cice2015 Important Dates (for August 2015 Issue) 15 Nov 2014: Submission of Manuscripts 15 Jan 2015: Notification of Review Results 15 Feb 2015: Submission of Revised Manuscripts 15 Mar 2015: Submission of Final Manuscripts Guest Editors Prof Amir Hussain ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk http://cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/ U of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland UK Prof Dacheng Tao U. of Technology, Sydney dacheng.tao at uts.edu.au Prof Jonathan Wu U of Windsor, Canada jwu at uwindsor.ca Prof Dongbin Zhao dongbin.zhao at gmail.com Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences **************************************************************** 12. CALL FOR PROPOSALS: AISB Workshop Series http://aisb.org.uk/media/files/AISBWorkshops.pdf The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour (AISB) is the largest Artificial Intelligence Society in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1964, the society has an international membership drawn from both academia and industry and is a member of the European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence. Since September 2012, the AISB has been hosting a series of one or two day workshops across the country. The 5th workshop will take place at the U of Birmingham between 18th - 19th August 2014, with the theme "Figurative language: its patterns and meanings in domain-specific discourse". A number of publications have already arisen from these events, the most recent of which was a Symposium Issue of of the Journal of Consciousness Studies. If you are interested in hosting one of these events, you will find information on what you will need to do on this page: http://www.aisb.org.uk/events/members-workshop-series Please note that the events are abstract-only and free for all AISB members. Light refreshments are funded by the AISB. Current non-members would be able to host or attend these any of these workshops for the cost of AISB membership (which start at ?15 for concessionary fees and ?40 for UK members per year). The first two workshops were both held at Goldsmiths, the third was hosted at St Mary's U, while the most recent workshop was held in Bournemouth U. Further information about these previous events can be found on the AISB workshop pages listed above. To propose a workshop, you will need to complete a brief application with the following details: 1. Workshop title 2. Workshop abstract (200-400 words approx.) 3. Organiser(s) and main contact (include details of expertise in proposed topic) 4. Host Institution details (name, address) 5. Planned dates for event (please also include proposed deadlines for the following): Abstract Submission, Notification of Decision, Registration, Workshop 6.Possible speakers (e.g. do you plan to invite speakers?) 7.Where you would advertise (e.g. could you create a page on your institution website?) Details for hosting the workshops: http://aisb.org.uk/media/files/AISBWorkshops.pdf For more information, or to submit an application, please contact me directly at the following address (by removing the gaps): yj.erden @ smuc.ac.uk **************************************************************** 13. AI Career Network Conference during AAAI-15 in Jan 2015 http://sigai.acm.org/cnc/cfp.html, due: 6 Oct 2014 SIGAI, ACM's Special Interest Group in Artificial Intelligence, is launching its Early Career Network with a Career Network Conference in Austin during AAAI-15 in January. Details are at http://sigai.acm.org/cnc/cfp.html Preliminary Call for Abstracts and Participation ACM's Special Interest Group in AI (SIGAI) announces the launch of the SIGAI Career Network Conference (SIGAI CNC), a meeting that supports early-career scientists in their transition to independent research in academia, industry, or government. Participation is open to (and encouraged from!) researchers in AI, including vision, robotics, NLP, learning, etc. CNC will include: Research presentations from early career researchers to potential mentors and employers A career fair that showcases diverse career opportunities in academia, government, the non-profit sector, and industry Mentoring opportunities in small groups Brokered events that match researcher interests and expertise with career paths and potential employers The first SIGAI Career Network Conference will be held in Austin, TX, on 26 Jan 2015 the day before the start of the AAAI main conference, also in Austin. SIGAI CNC will be complemented by a Career Network website that serves as a community for support, information sharing, and networking among early-career AI researchers. One of the goals of the conference and the website is to coordinate the job matching process and improve the flow of information in the broader AI job market. Therefore, the website will provide facilities for both job seekers and potential employers, including the ability to view each others' profiles both before and after the conference. Attendees on both sides of the market are encouraged to reach out to each other both before the conference as well as after learning about each other during the conference. Call for abstracts and applications from students and postdocs (Deadline: 6 Oct 14) We welcome submissions from both PhD students who will complete their dissertations in Spring or Summer 2015 as well as postdocs who defended their dissertations in 2010 or later. In order to apply, please submit: An abstract (similar to a research statement) of up to three pages plus one page of references (see formatting instructions available on the website). A short description of your career interests and aspirations. An up-to-date academic CV. A letter of recommendation from your PhD or postdoctoral advisor. If accepted, only the abstract will be published in the proceedings. Detailed submission instructions will be available at sigai.acm.org/cnc/submit Your research abstract should be a description of the main thrust of your research, not a single paper. It should reference your publications and working papers, and put your research in context for a broad AI audience. We welcome submissions from any topic relevant to artificial intelligence, broadly defined. This includes, but is not limited to: Machine Learning Multi-Agent Systems Planning and Scheduling Robotics Interface of AI and Economics AI and the Web Natural Language Processing Computer Vision Interface of AI and Cognitive Science Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Search, Constraint Satisfaction, and Optimization In particular, we would like to emphasize that one of the goals of CNC is to bring together researchers from all areas of AI, including those who consider a conference other than AAAI or IJCAI their primary outlet. Call for job opening presentations Organizations (academic, government, industry) who seek to hire AI researchers may apply to advertise specific job openings and career paths at their institution. Selected organizations will also be invited to give a lightning talk at the conference. Booths will be available for organizations to advertise and interact with conference participants. The SIGAI Career Network site will also make the job opportunities listings and other materials available online. Call for participation We encourage anyone who wants to learn about research at the cutting edge of AI, as well as representatives of academic departments, companies, government agencies, and others interested in recruiting PhD level researchers, to join us at CNC. We also strongly encourage current students and postdocs who plan to be on the job market in future years to attend in order to learn about potential career paths and network with employers. Our collocation with AAAI makes this meeting both economical and convenient. Applications for travel support SIGAI will provide travel support for a significant number of participants with accepted abstracts. Requests for travel support should be included with the research abstract submission. Organizations (academic, government, industry) who seek to hire AI researchers may apply to advertise specific job openings and career paths at their institution. Selected organizations will also be invited to give a lightning talk at the conference. Booths will be available for organizations to advertise and interact with conference participants. **************************************************************** 14. Henry Rutgers Term Chair in Computer and Data Science (due 1 nov 14) Rutgers University - Newark (RU-N) seeks outstanding candidates to serve as Henry Rutgers Term Chair in Computer and Data Science, with a specific focus on computational methods in machine learning, or statistical modeling of complex data sets in the sciences, engineering, business, or medical fields. Recruitment is at the associate professor level; however, exceptional candidates qualifying for the full professor rank may be considered. This recruitment is part of the Rutgers U Strategic Plan to strengthen Rutgers leadership in burgeoning fields, and part of the new transdisciplinary research Institute for Data Science, Learning, and Applications (I-DSLA). I-DSLA brings together computer scientists, cognitive scientists, philosophers, and domain experts in neuroscience, environmental science, chemistry, medicine, business, and other professions. The new hire will be poised to leverage these experts as well as a new high performance computing cluster on the RU-N campus, to advance knowledge about learning from data. Applicants should hold a PhD in CS, Computational Statistics, or a related field and have a record of excellent scholarship, as demonstrated by significant publications and funding. They should be open to collaborative research within the RU-N community and will be expected to help build a group of faculty in areas related to I-DSLA, maintain an active externally-funded research program, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, and mentor PhD students. Applicants should apply no later than 1 Nov 2014. To receive detailed instructions on how to apply, please email hrsearch at rutgers.edu with the subject line 'How to apply'. --- Bart Krekelberg, PhD bart at vision.rutgers.edu Associate Director, Center for Molecular and Behavioral and Neuroscience Associate Director, Rutgers Brain Imaging Center Associate Prof, Rutgers U Newark, NJ (973) 353-3602 http://vision.rutgers.edu **************************************************************** 15. Full Professor of Applied CS (Ubiquitous Computing), Vienna U. of Tech. http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at (due 20 oct 14) Full Professor of Applied Computer Science (Ubiquitous Computing) Vienna U. of Technology The Vienna U. of Technology invites applications for a Full Professor position at the Faculty of Informatics. The open position is affiliated to the Institute of Design and Assessment of Technology. The successful candidate will have an outstanding research record in the field of Ubiquitous Computing and focuses on next generation ubiquitous computing systems and their application in authentic real world settings. Particular research topics of interest include sensor-rich environments; interactive and smart spaces; new interaction paradigms; Internet of Things; mobile and context-aware computing; awareness and privacy; and tangible, situated and embodied interaction. Besides research, the duties of a full professor at the Vienna U of Technology include graduate and undergraduate teaching (in English or German) as well as contributing to usual management and faculty service tasks. The Vienna U of Technology announces a tenured Full Professor position. The appointment will follow a two step procedure: The initial appointment will be for 5 years. The appointment will then be made permanent following a positive evaluation not earlier than the third year. The Vienna U of Technology is among the most successful technical universities in Europe, and is Austria's largest scientific-technical research and educational institution. The Faculty of Informatics, one of the eight faculties at the Vienna U of Technology, has an excellent reputation and plays an active role in national and international research. The main areas of research include Computational Intelligence, Computer Engineering, Distributed and Parallel Systems, Media Informatics and Visual Computing, as well as Business Informatics. Applicants are expected to have the following qualifications: Essential - PhD or doctoral degree. - Post-doctoral experience at a university or other research institution. - An outstanding research and publication record. - An excellent reputation as an active member of the international scientific community. - Teaching skills. Desirable - Experience in raising funds and in managing scientific research projects. - Leadership abilities. - Experience in university teaching. THE FACULTY OF INFORMATICS OFFERS - Excellent working conditions in an attractive research environment. - An attractive salary, including additional contributions to a pension fund. - Additional financial research support during the first few years (equipment etc.). - Support for relocating to Vienna. - A position in a city with an exceptional quality of life (e.g. ranked #1 in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey 2014) GENERAL INFORMATION For information about - the Faculty of Informatics, go to: http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at - the 5 main research areas of the Faculty of Informatics, go to: http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/research - the Vienna U of Technology, go to: http://www.tuwien.ac.at - the Institute of Design and Assessment of Technologies http://www.informatik.tuwien.ac.at/faculty/institutes/e187 APPLICATION The Vienna U of Technology is committed to increasing female employment in leading scientific positions. Female applicants are explicitly encouraged to apply. Preference will be given when equally qualified. People with special needs are equally encouraged to apply. Applications have to include - A detailed curriculum vitae. - A list of publications. - Copies of the applicant's five most important publications related to the position together with an explanation of their relevance. - A positioning statement, describing the applicant's vision 1) on the interplay between use, real world application, technology and theory; 2) on how to position and advance the field within the Faculty of Informatics in the areas of research and teaching, in particular in connection with the 5 main research areas of the Faculty of Informatics. The actual salary will be agreed between the successful applicant and the university, commensurate with qualifications and relevant experience. In accordance with the Austrian Collective Agreement for U Staff full professors receive a minimum salary of currently EUR 65.8k pa. Applications (in English) should be sent to the Dean of the Faculty of Informatics, Prof. Dr. Gerald Steinhardt, in digital form (a single pdf file to: dekan at informatik.tuwien.ac.at). Deadline: 20 Oct 14. **************************************************************** 16. Tenure Track Asst. Prof of Cog Psy, UC/Riverside (due 10 oct 14) https://aprecruit.ucr.edu/apply/JPF00159 The Department of Psychology, UC/Riverside, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Cognitive Psychology, beginning July 1, 2015. We seek applicants whose research examines language learning, at any time scale, and/or bilingualism. The ideal candidate will contribute to our emerging emphasis in experience- dependent change. Applicants should demonstrate a record of research excellence using methodological approaches involving human behavior, neuroimaging, and/or computational modeling. Applicants should be committed to excellence in undergraduate and graduate education. The PhD degree is required at time of hire. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience. Review of completed applications begins 10 Oct 2014 and continues until the position is filled. Interested candidates should send a cover letter describing research and teaching interests, their curriculum vitae, reprints and preprints, and arrange to have three letters of recommendation provided, all using the following link: https://aprecruit.ucr.edu/apply/JPF00159. Questions about the position should be directed to Professor Christine Chiarello, Chair, Cognitive Area Search Committee, at christine.chiarello at ucr.edu. The Riverside campus of the U of California is growing rapidly and has an excellent psychology department with a strong record of success in research, teaching and extramural funding. For information on the Department of Psychology, see our web site at: http://www.psych.ucr.edu. The campus is centrally located in Southern California, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles and less than an hour's drive from the area's mountains, deserts and beaches. ---- Aaron Seitz, PhD Professor Dept. of Psy (951) 827-6422 aseitz at ucr.edu UC/Riverside Riverside, CA http://faculty.ucr.edu/~aseitz/ **************************************************************** 17. Faculty Position in Computational Neuroscience at UC/Irvine (due 15 Nov 14) https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02452 UC/Irvine Faculty Position in Computational Neuroscience The Department of Cognitive Sciences (www.cogsci.uci.edu) at the UC/Irvine (UCI) invites applications for a faculty position at the Associate or Full Professor level. We are especially interested in candidates who use mathematical, computational, or robotics approaches to study the neural basis of cognition in any of these areas: (1) vision, hearing, and attention; (2) memory and decision-making; (3) learning and development; (4) language. Applicants whose research relates to human behavior are preferred. A strong record of publications and extramural funding is essential. Exceptional candidates at the Assistant Professor level will also be considered. The online application includes: A cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements, 3 recent publications, and contact information for 3-5 referees. Interested candidates can apply for the position at: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02452. To ensure full consideration, please complete the application by 15 Nov 2014. ---- Best regards, Jeff Krichmar jkrichma at uci.edu Dept. of Cognitive Sciences UC/Irvine http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma **************************************************************** 18. Research Lectureship in HCI, U. of St Andrews, Scotland (due 3 Oct 14) http://bit.ly/sachi_lectureship https://www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/ViewVacancy.aspx?enc=mEgrBL4XQK0+ld8aNkwYmCroIsQLrb+Qz4E/GcJyQ7hB9ylXmJU5bs+SpuGqzY9Aa7SSvPM6p7FbLpnUZ5k9ZiQTG/lzJ4eB0FvJHMzktbBfNRiRMOj2sntAFkB9RfytNb/avbPyvaqpHs6spn/nBA== We seek a colleague to join SACHI (http://sachi.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/) at the School of Computer Science, U of St Andrews. This is a full academic career track position, with research and teaching duties. The School of Computer Science provides a research-supportive environment, excellent facilities, great opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, integration with the larger excellence network of CS research in Scotland (SICSA), and access to the brightest students in the UK and internationally. This year the School was ranked 1st in the UK by the Guardian's University guide. We are interested in top early career researchers in any of the topics below (although we will consider top-researchers in other areas related to HCI and Data Science): - Input and Interaction methods - Information Visualisation or other techniques relevant to Data Science (e.g. machine learning) - Ubiquitous Computing or Systems - Digital Humanities Join one of the top CS departments in the UK, and the third oldest university in the English-speaking world. The University is integrated within the town of St Andrews on the East coast of Scotland: home of golf, and rich in history. The town offers a family-friendly environment at just over an hour from Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, and with easy access to all services and good public transport connections. See more information in the official vacancy announcement: http://bit.ly/sachi_lectureship (the Further Particulars document at the bottom will be particularly useful). For informal inquiries and questions, feel free to also e-mail Prof. Aaron Quigley (aquigley at st-andrews.ac.uk) or Miguel Nacenta (mans at st-andrews.ac.uk). Miguel Nacenta Lecturer, U of St Andrews mans at st-andrews.ac.uk http://nacenta.com @miguelnacenta **************************************************************** 19. Lecturer in HCI, U. of Birmingham (UK), Closes 5 Oct 14 http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AJJ517/lecturer-in-human-computer-interaction-hci/ Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) School of Computer Science U of Birmingham - College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Location: Birmingham Salary: ?38,511 to ?45,954 with potential progression once in post to ?51k pa. Placed on: 12 Aug 14 Closes: 5 Oct 14 Job Ref:52252 The U of Birmingham has made a strategic investment in the area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). A centre for HCI has recently been created, and now contains leading academics undertaking a wide range of research into HCI theories and applications. The successful applicant will become a key member of the HCI Research Centre. The vision for the Centre is based on a people-centred perspective on interaction and technology: it attempts to understand and create the future that we will inhabit and interact with digitally. Our approach to HCI is based on a rigorous scientific quantitative approach coupled with experimental validation. The role also offers a 2.5 year window to allow the post holder to focus on their research, with a reduced teaching load. It therefore offers an outstanding opportunity for leading international quality researchers to accelerate their research activity. After these 2.5 years, the candidate will transition to a standard lectureship and teaching load. Applicants should have an outstanding track record of international quality research in human-computer interaction. The ideal candidates will have a PhD in a discipline relevant to HCI, and will be able to demonstrate a multi-disciplinary approach to their research. They should be able to demonstrate an excellent and accelerating record of publications in journals and conferences, engagement with the HCI community nationally and internationally, and the ability to attract grant funding. We are also interested in nurturing and developing future stars who may not yet have established their reputation. Applicants who have recently achieved their PhD may also be considered, though a substantial publication record will still be required. Research areas that match, or strongly relate to, the areas identified in the job description are preferred, though we are willing to consider any recognised area of HCI. Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Russell Beale (R.Beale at cs.bham.ac.uk), +44 (0) 121 414 3729. Come and join us! - Russell Beale, Andrew Howes, Alan Dix, Chris Baber, Mirco Musolesi, Bob Hendley and all the researchers and PhDs in the HCI Centre. **************************************************************** 20. Faculty position in system dynamics, MIT Sloan School of Management https://sloanfacultysearches.mit.edu/sd/ The MIT Sloan School of Management invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in system dynamics, to begin July 2015 (or thereafter). Candidates should have excellent knowledge of the system dynamics simulation technique and/or related modeling methodologies, such as nonlinear dynamics, control theory, computer simulation or agent-based modeling, as well as research interests relevant to the management and/or behavioral sciences. Duties will include research and teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels. System dynamics at Sloan is closely affiliated with both the management sciences and organization studies. Applicants whose substantive research interests are interdisciplinary are particularly invited to apply, including applicants whose research involves the social and behavioral sciences. We especially want to identify qualified female and minority candidates for consideration in this position. Applicants should possess or be close to completion of a PhD in system dynamics or a relevant field by the start date of employment. Applicants must submit: 1) an up-to-date CV; 2) up to three representative publications; 3) a brief statement of objectives and aspirations in research and education; 4) an official graduate transcript; 5) information about teaching experience and performance evaluations; and 6) three letters of recommendation by 21 Oct 14. Submissions must be submitted via https://sloanfacultysearches.mit.edu/sd/ **************************************************************** 21. Asst. Prof - Embodied Cognitive Science, Cog Sci Program, Indiana https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/1006 (due 1 nov 14) The Cognitive Science Program at Indiana U seeks a tenure track junior level appointment in the area of embodied cognitive science. Successful applicants will take a leadership role in the ongoing development of embodied cognition as a research and teaching focus of the program. Indiana U has a strong history in this area, ranging from theoretical foundations to computational and robotics modeling, to experimental approaches in developmental psychology and neuroscience. Although the emphasis of the position is on computational and/or robotic modeling approaches to problems in embodied cognition, candidates are expected to engage with the breadth of experimental programs and philosophical discussion that make up this interdisciplinary research area. Applicants should have a PhD in Cognitive Science, Computer Science or a closely related field and will join the faculty of a department or school on the Bloomington campus appropriate to their specific background. Applicants are expected to have a record that demonstrates an excellent potential in the areas of research and teaching. Interested candidates should review the application requirements and submit their applications at https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/1006. Questions regarding the position or application process can be directed to Randall Beer, Cognitive Science Search Committee, 819 Eigenmann, 1900 E. 10th St., Indiana U, Bloomington, IN 47406-7512 orcogsrch at indiana.edu. Review of applications will begin on 1 Nov 14 and will continue until the position is filled. Information about the program and the university is available at http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/. -- Olaf Sporns -- @spornslab Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Programs in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Indiana U Bloomington, IN 47405 **************************************************************** 22. Open Rank Faculty Position, Indiana, School of Informatics & Computing http://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/971 due 1 Dec 2014 [I think these are different jobs, both at Indiana U.] Indiana U School of Informatics and Computing Bloomington Open Rank Faculty Position The School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana U, Bloomington, invites applications for a position beginning in Fall 2015 in the Department of Information and Library Science (all subareas). This position is open at all levels (assistant, associate, or full professor). Applications from senior leaders are especially encouraged. The Department of Information and Library Science (ILS), formerly the School of Library and Information Science, has a long, successful history, having graduated over 8,000 students since it opened its doors in 1946. In 2013, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Bloomington Information and Library Science program http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-library-information-science-programs/library-information-science-ranking eighth nationally. The School of Informatics and Computing is the first of its kind and among the largest in the country, with unsurpassed breadth. Its mission is to excel and lead in education, research, and outreach spanning and integrating computing and information technologies. In addition to ILS, the School includes the Department of Computer Science and Informatics and has a total of over 85 faculty, 900 graduate students, and 1,100 undergraduate majors on the Bloomington campus. Faculty research areas include bibliometrics; big data; computer-mediated communication; data science; digital libraries; information organization, retrieval, and visualization; science studies; semantic web, social informatics; text mining; web science; and more. Graduate degrees offered in the School include Master's degrees in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction Design, Information Science, Library Science, and Security Informatics, and PhD degrees in Computer Science, Informatics, and Information Science. The School is also known for its strong undergraduate programs. Basic qualifications: Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant area (or for junior level, expected before Aug 2015) and an established record (senior level) or demonstrable potential for excellence in research and teaching (junior level). Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, statements of research and teaching, and names of three references (junior level), or six references (senior level) using the University's online system below (preferred): http://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/971 or to Faculty Search, SoIC, 919 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408. For full consideration, completed applications must be received by 1 Dec 2014. Informal and confidential inquiries may be sent to the ILS Chair, Pnina Fichman, fichman at indiana.edu), or to any of the members of the search committee: Katy Borner (katy at indiana.edu), Susan Herring (herring at indiana.edu), Howard Rosenbaum (hrosenbau at indiana.edu). To: CHI-JOBS at LISTSERV.ACM.ORG **************************************************************** 23. Full Prof for Applied Cog Psych, U of Ulm (due: 3 Oct 2014) The Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science is seeking a Full Professor for Applied Cognitive Psychology (W3 mit Leitungsfunktion) for an immediate start. The successful candidate is expected to represent the field of applied cognitive psychology through research and teaching. This topic is closely connected to other themes currently present at the university and will help to further strengthen the interdisciplinary nature and applied orientation of the Institute of Psychology and Education within the Faculty of Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology. The candidate should have a profound research history concerning human information- processing aspects (attention, decision making, planning, deductive reasoning) in the context of human-technology interaction using an experimental and quantitative research approach. He or she should further be open to incorporating cognitive modelling in her or his empirical research and thus support the interdisciplinary research topic of the faculty "cognitive systems and human-machine interaction". Possibilities for cooperation are especially foreseen with the SFB/Transregio 62 project "a companion-technology for cognitive technical systems" or the research cluster for cooperative, highly-automated driver assistance and driving functions (f3) - both are located within the faculty. Teaching shall cover the whole range of Applied Cognitive Psychology topics and provide links to other disciplines, especially computer science. Contribution to the international and English study program "cognitive systems" (master level) is central for this position. Requirements We are looking for candidates who meet the following requirements: * A publication record in international peer reviewed journals, * Experience in successfully applying for funding (industrially sponsored projects as well as research grants), * Interest in promoting and further developing the study programs in psychology (bachelor- and master level) and cognitive systems and contribution to related university administrative processes. Conditions for appointment are a completed course of studies at a university, pedagogical aptitude, doctorate and additional academic achievements (? 47 LHG). The U of Ulm is committed to increase the share of women in research and teaching positions and therefore explicitly encourages female candidates to apply. You may apply for this position before 3 Oct 2014 by sending the usual documents all within one pdf-document via E-Mail to the faculty's dean: in.dekanat at uni-ulm.de. Please use the number 70 as the E-Mail subject line. Please also fill out and include the following questionnaire in your documents: http://www.uni-ulm.de/in/psy-paed/stellenangebote.html Physically disabled applicants receive favourable consideration when equally qualified. **************************************************************** 24. Faculty positions in Computer Science at American U http://apply.interfolio.com/25813 (due 3 Nov 2014) American U, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Computer Science Computer Science (Assistant, Associate or Full Professor) The Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences at American U in Washington, DC invites applications for up to 3 tenure-track or tenured Assistant/Associate/Full Professors to form a collaborating research team. We seek either a group of researchers who will be hired together, or a senior individual with a vision for filling the other positions. The team's research expertise may be in any area of computer science. Following the department's strong recent hires in the interdisciplinary areas of computational neuroscience and persuasive gaming, the university seeks to build computer science's core program areas, which may include algorithms and data structures, architecture, robotics, databases and information retrieval, human-computer interactions, numerical and symbolic computation, operating systems, programming languages, or software methodology and engineering. Preference will be given to teams or visions that contribute to more than one of the core program areas, and that contribute to the university's capacity in the area of big data. The Computer Science Department is currently in a period of expansion, and is poised to become a leader in the university's technology an innovation sectors. To support this trajectory, the department will soon be moving to a new building that is designed to promote inspiration, collaboration, creation and cultivation. QUALIFICATIONS All applicants should have a strong record of (or potential for) externally sponsored research. We are especially eager to recruit candidates with established research partnerships (or the ability to form such partnerships) in the Washington, DC area. Candidates should also have a record of excellence in teaching and mentoring students. Teaching responsibilities will include core courses in computer science and more advanced courses in the applicant's area of specialty. The PhD in Computer Science or a closely related field is required; post-doctoral or industry experience is preferred. At least one appointment will be at a senior level with tenure. Preference will be given to senior candidates who are able and willing to lead the department, including (but not limited to) the development of a PhD granting program. APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS Applicants should include a statement (a joint statement for team applications) of research outlining the research focus (or foci) and future plans for developing a nationally competitive, externally funded research program at American U. In addition to a (joint, if applicable) research statement, each applicant should include statements of individual research and teaching experience, a CV, and the names of three references not in the proposed team. Please submit applications via: http://apply.interfolio.com/25813. Review of applications will begin 3 Nov and continue until the position is filled. http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro From: Mark Laubach **************************************************************** 25. Faculty Position in Comp Games & Virt Worlds @Concordia U. (due 1 dec 14) https://www.concordia.ca/encs/about/jobs/strategic-hire-computer-games-virtual-worlds.html Concordia U. Computer Science and Software Eng Tenure Track Position in Computer Games and Virtual Worlds The Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science (ENCS) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, invites applications for a tenure-track strategic hire position in the area of Computer Games and Virtual Worlds for appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSE). The CSE department has an active research group in 3D Graphics in addition to a highly popular Computer Games degree option at the undergraduate level. The goal of the strategic hire program is to augment existing research capacity in the department through high profile interdisciplinary research in collaboration with members of Concordia,s Technoculture, Art and Games Research Centre (TAG). The successful candidate will receive an attractive research support and teaching package. For additional information about ENCS, CSE and TAG see www.encs.concordia.ca, www.cse.concordia.ca and www.tag.hexagram.ca. Applicants must have a PhD in computer science, software engineering or computer engineering or a related area and also possess research and development expertise in the area of computer games, 3D graphics and virtual worlds. A successful candidate is expected to provide academic leadership, establish a strong externally funded research program, demonstrated abilities to work in collaborative multidisciplinary settings and teach/develop both undergraduate and graduate courses. Strong commitment to the supervision of graduate student research and to excellence in teaching are essential. Relevant industrial experience is an asset. Excellent communication skills are required. Membership or eligibility for membership in a Canadian professional engineering association, preferably in the province of Quebec, is required. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and Permanent Residents will be given priority. Concordia is strongly committed to employment equity within its community, and to recruiting a diverse faculty and staff. Applications should consist of a detailed curriculum vitae, a statement concerning teaching and research interests, and the names of at least three referees. This appointment is expected to commence in the summer of 2015. Review of the applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Only short-listed applicants will be notified. Electronic applications are preferred and should be sent no later than 1 Dec 2014 to: Dr. Sudhir Mudur, Chair Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering mudur at cse.concordia.ca **************************************************************** 26. NIH-Wide Stadtman Tenure-Track Recruitment (30 sep 2015, annual?) http://irp.nih.gov/careers/faculty-level-scientific-careers/stadtman-tenure-track-investigators The National Institutes of Health is now accepting applications for tenure-track positions through the Earl Stadtman recruitment mechanism. Details are available here: http://irp.nih.gov/careers/faculty-level-scientific-careers/stadtman-tenure-track-investigators Sean Davis **************************************************************** 27. Junior professorship to work in Germany, due 1 sep 14 and 1 sep 15? http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/skp_en [date has passed, but appears to be annual] Submit an application if you are a successful top-rank junior researcher from abroad, only completed your doctorate with distinction in the last six years, and have published work in prestigious international journals or publishing houses. The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award allows you to spend five years building up a working group and working on a high-profile, innovative research project of your own choice at a research institution of your own choice in Germany. Scientists and scholars from all disciplines may apply directly to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The Humboldt Foundation plans to grant up to eight Sofja Kovalevskaja Awards. The award is valued at up to 1.65 million EUR. The application submission deadline is 1 sep 14. The selection is scheduled for March 2015. ---- Dear Sir or Madam, With the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is offering promising young researchers from all over the world attractive career prospects in Germany. Junior research talents of all disciplines from abroad are given the opportunity to establish working groups of their own at German research institutions. The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award recognises outstanding talent and creative research approaches with exceptional conditions: With an award amount of up to 1.65 million EUR each winner receives valuable starting capital to spend five years pursuing an innovative research project at a research institute of his or her choice - untroubled by administrative constraints. In addition, the establishment of their own junior research team enables the award winners to lay an important foundation for a promising academic career at a very early stage. Eight awards are expected to be granted. The programme is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Outstandingly qualified junior academics of all disciplines from abroad who completed their doctorate less than six years ago are eligible to apply for the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. It is also possible to submit applications immediately after finishing one's doctoral studies. Applications must be submitted by 1 Sep 2014. We should be grateful if you could support us in looking for suitable international research talents by disseminating this announcement at your institution. Also, we should very much appreciate if you could request further colleagues to draw the attention of suitably talented junior researchers to this academic award. Details of the application procedure for the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award can be found on our website at: http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/skp_en . For individual questions, you are also welcome to contact info at avh.de. Thank you very much in advance for your support. Sincerely yours, Georg Scholl Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Department Strategy and External Relations Division Press, Communications and Marketing Head of division **************************************************************** 28. Post-doctoral fellow in computational cognitive modeling, Wright State http://jobs.wright.edu/postings/8101 (reviewed from 22 sep 14) The Department of Psychology at Wright State U seeks applicants for a position of Postdoctoral Fellow in computational cognitive modeling to begin on Oct 1st 2014 or soon thereafter. Candidates must have a PhD in Cognitive Science, Computer Science, or a related discipline with training in computational cognitive modeling. Candidates must be actively engaged in a research program that uses computational cognitive modeling as its core methodology. Preference will be given to candidates who are conversant in at least one of the major cognitive architectures (e.g., ACT-R, Soar, EPIC). The post-doctoral fellow will be involved in a research project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research aiming to develop a comprehensive theory of trust dynamics. The fellow will be part of a research team including the Principal Investigator, Dr. Ion Juvina, graduate students, and researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The Department of Psychology is housed in the College of Science and Mathematics, offers a PhD in Human Factors and I/O Psychology, and has 3 undergraduate concentration areas: (1) Cognition and Perception, (2) Industrial/ Organizational, and (3) Behavioral Neuroscience. Wright State U was recently ranked among the "Best in the Midwest" universities by The Princeton Review, listed among 260 Best National Universities in the annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings by U.S. News and World Report, and ranked fourth nationally among universities with limited numbers of doctoral programs in the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index. For more information on this position contact Prof. Ion Juvina at ion.juvina at wright.edu. Applicants should visit the following link to upload CV and statement of research: http://jobs.wright.edu/postings/8101. In addition, please have three letters of reference sent directly to Ion Juvina, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, 313G Fawcett Hall, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Wright State U, Dayton, OH 45435. Review of complete applications will begin 22 Sep 14, and continue until the position is filled. **************************************************************** 29. 3 year postdoc in London, modelling bee brains http://www.jobs.qmul.ac.uk/5111 (due 9 oct 14) We have a 3-year postdoc position (HFSP funded) to work on a project entitled: "A neural circuit approach to cognition and its limits in microbrains". The postdoctoral fellow will focus on building computational models of the bee visual system and higher-level brain centres. See here: http://www.jobs.qmul.ac.uk/5111 Informal inquiries can be sent to l.chittka at qmul.ac.uk Lars Chittka, PhD, MSc Professor in Sensory & Behavioural Ecology *44 (0) 20 7882 3043 School of Biological & Chemical Sciences Queen Mary, U of London, UK http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/ **************************************************************** 30. Junior position in Cognitive Science research group at ETS (ongoing) [this process is fairly far along, but shows an application and ongoing location for cognitive modeling] I'm currently recruiting for a junior position in the Cognitive Science research group at ETS - someone about 0-2 years post-PhD. I'm particularly interested in folks with good cognitive task analysis and cognitive modeling skills, who are interested in issues of student learning and assessment. Programming skills, especially prototyping, are a strong plus. Please see the job description at http://bit.ly/ETS2014-Cognitive-Scientist for more information. Irvin R. Katz, PhD ikatz at ETS.ORG 609-734-5150 Director, Cognitive Sciences Group Educational Testing Service Princeton, NJ 08541 **************************************************************** 31. Research Scientist Computational Neuroscience Position in Toronto (due 19 Oct 14) The Toronto Western Research Institute of the University Health Network invites applicants to apply for a Scientist position in the area of Computational Neuroscience. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in a relevant field, have research experience and expertise in mathematical and computational modeling techniques, and research interests that complement those of the Institute in "Degenerative Disorders of Aging". Candidates whose research interests encompass modeling at multiple levels (molecular, cellular, network, systems), and who have experimental and/or collaborative experimental experience are especially encouraged. The successful candidate will have the ability to establish an independent, well-funded program and will be eligible for appointment at the appropriate level within the U of Toronto. Applications must be emailed by 19 Oct 2014 and should include: 1) CV, 2) Statement of research interests, and 3) Contact information (including email) for 3 referees Reply, by email only, and in confidence to: TWRIrecruitment at uhnresearch.ca with subject line: CompNeuro University Health Network thanks all applicants, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. [this is a lamentable practice that appears to arise when resources are not available] Frances Skinner, PhD frances.skinner at gmail.com TWRI/UHN and Univ Toronto http://www.skinnerlab.org **************************************************************** 32. PhD position in computational modelling at Max Planck/Leipzig http://www.o-brain-project.de (until filled) The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig and the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1052 "Obesity mechanisms" at the Leipzig U Hospital are offering a PhD studentship in computational modelling. Within the project, computational modelling is used to investigate leaning and decision-making in humans. The project is aimed at the multi-modal integration of available and newly acquired behavioral, structural/functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), PET and genetic data towards comprehensive computational and neurocognitive models of cognitive control over behavior. Work will be carried out at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig under the supervision of Dr Jane Neumann and Dr Annette Horstmann. Both Leipzig's long tradition in conducting neuroscientific research and the ultra-modern equipment at the Max Planck Institute provide an environment that offers new perspectives in neuroimaging research. Further, the position will be part of the CRCs Integrated Research Training Group. This graduate program offers interdisciplinary qualification in various research methods and transferable skills, and provides support in career planning and in establishing an own scientific network. Applicants should hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in one of the following disciplines: computational or cognitive neuroscience, computer science, maths, psychology, biology, cognitive science or related. Prior experience in the fields of computational neuroscience and/or neuroimaging are of great advantage. Sound knowledge of statistics and excellent programming skills are essential. A good command of written and spoken English is requested of all applicants. Please send your application as a single pdf-file to neumann at cbs.mpg.de referring to 'Modelling SFB 1052'. Complete applications include cover letter, CV, letter(s) of recommendation, and copies of university degrees and additional certificates. Informal enquiries should be made to Dr Jane Neumann (+49 (0) 341 99 40 26 21). For meeting Dr. Neumann and Dr. Horstmann at OHBM 2014, please send an email to neumann at cbs.mpg.de or horstmann at cbs.mpg.de including days and times when you are available during the conference. The salary is based on the German E 13 TV-L salary scale. In order to increase the proportion of female staff members, applications from female scientists are particularly encouraged. Disabled applicants are preferred if qualification is equal. Deadline for application: until position is filled Further details about the project can also be found at http://www.o-brain-project.de **************************************************************** 33. KTP associate post-doc in workload for rail control http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=2328&forced=1 I would like to bring your attention to a post-doc position in workload modelling. This is a TSB KTP associate position, between the U of Nottingham and TRE (The Railway Engineering company). The post will be based in Bradford on Avon, near Bath. We are looking for post-docs with knowledge of cognitive psychology / human factors / HCI in a topic such as workload, SA, vigilance etc. and ideally with some experience of a control domain - it could be rail, but could be ATC, process control, power etc. If you are aware of people who have recently completed, or are in the process of finishing up, we would be happy to receive an application. I would also be happy to answer any informal queries. Further details and application process is available at http://jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?id=2328&forced=1. (NB the location is Bradford on Avon, not Nottingham as currently stated on the vacancy listing). Dr David Golightly CPsychol David.Golightly at nottingham.ac.uk Senior Researcher in Human Factors Human Factors Research Group Faculty of Engineering U of Nottingham, England ******************************************************** 34. Web Developer for Databrary.org [until filled] http://Databrary.org About Databrary Databrary is a first-of-its-kind web-based data library where scientists who collect and analyze video can store and share their data openly with other researchers. The project is based at New York University (NYU) and Penn State. It has grant support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The overall goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery, improve scientific transparency and accountability, and transform research practices in psychology and developmental science. We are growing a team to design and build new open source solutions for science using the latest technologies. Web Developer position description The Databrary project seeks a motivated and flexible developer to help build a unique web-based data library. You will work with users and a small group of developers to design and build the front end UI and back end tools to enable behavioral researchers to collaborate, store, explore, and access research datasets in ways not possible with any existing tool. The ideal candidate will relish the challenge of building a uniquely powerful set of research tools while working on a small team in a diverse and intellectually stimulating academic environment. Responsibilities - Implement dynamic, modular, and responsive web interfaces to organize, present, and manipulate research materials. - Design, implement, test, and validate JavaScript across browsers and platforms. - Integrate feedback from UI experts and researchers (users) to identify and prioritize new features. - Learn, understand, and reorganize research data as needed for better integration with the site. Qualifications - Background in CS or other relevant field and 3+ years programming experience. - Knowledge of AngularJS or other modern web application frameworks. - Extensive experience with jQuery, JSON, HTML5, and CSS3. - Familiarity with standard UNIX development tools such as git. - Understanding of security and ethical concerns around sensitive data. Preferred - History of contributions to open source projects. - Comfortable with discussing and addressing UX/UI design issues. - Experience using RESTful interfaces for structured data. - Sensitive to performance considerations building big data interfaces. - Basic understanding of scientific practices and research tools, such as Matlab, SPSS, or R. To apply send the following to jobs at databrary.org: - One page cover letter (PDF). - Resume (PDF). - Links to your open source contributions or other samples of your work It will stay open until the position is filled. **************************************************************** 35. Cognitive Robotics Job, Army Res. Lab (until filled) We have an opportunity here to bring a new employee in to work directly on my Cognitive Robotics Program (SS-RICS) and with our network science team as a contractor here at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. We are looking for someone that has a strong C++, C# programming experience as well as a background in the use of cognitive architectures. The timeline is very tight. We are interviewing people over the next few weeks and will make a decision probably in the next month. This is a contractor position (DCS incorporated) and the job is located here at Aberdeen MD. The job is for a U.S. Citizen and requires a secret clearance. Already having a secret clearance would be a big plus. Troy D. Kelley Note new email: troy.d.kelley6.civ at mail.mil Cognitive Robotics and Modeling Team Leader Human Research and Engineering Directorate US Army Research Laboratory Aberdeen, MD Phone 410-278-5869 or 410-278-6748 **************************************************************** Footnote: all employment ads had diversity statements **************************************************************** -30-