From c.clopath at imperial.ac.uk Wed Jul 1 06:38:46 2015 From: c.clopath at imperial.ac.uk (Claudia Clopath) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 11:38:46 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position in Computational Neuroscience in the Clopath lab. Message-ID: Postdoc position in Computational Neuroscience in the Clopath lab. ----------------------------------------------------- Computational Neuroscience Laboratory Headed by Dr. Claudia Clopath Department of Bioengineering Imperial College London -----------------Requirements:----------------- The Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, headed by Dr. Claudia Clopath, is looking for a talented Postdoc, interested in working in the field of computational neuroscience, specifically addressing questions of learning and memory. The perfect candidate has a strong mathematical, physical or engineering background (or equivalent), and a keen interest in biological and neural systems. A PhD in the field of computational neuroscience is a plus. PostDoc funding is secured for at least 2 years. -----------------Research topic:----------------- Learning and memory are among the most fascinating topic of neuroscience, yet our understanding of it is only at the beginning. Learning is thought to change the connections between the neurons in the brain, a process called synaptic plasticity. Using mathematical and computational tools, it is possible to model synaptic plasticity across different time scales, which helps understand how different types of memory are formed. The PostDoc candidate will be working to build those models of synaptic plasticity, and study the functional role of synaptic plasticity in artificial neural networks. ----------------- The lab:----------------------- The Computational Neuroscience Laboratory is very young and dynamic, and publishes in prestigious journals, such as Nature and Science. It is part of the Department of Bioengineering, which conducts state-of-the-art multidisciplinary research in biomechanics, neuroscience and neurotechnology. The lab is at Imperial College London, the 3rd ranked university in Europe, is in the top 10 worldwide, and is located in the city centre of London. More information can be found at: http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/c.clopath/lab/ ----------------- How to apply:----------------- Candidates should send a single pdf file, consisting of a 1-page motivation letter and CV (including publication list) to clopathlab.imperial at gmail.com, with the subject containing 'Postdoc2015'. In addition, candidates should organize two letters of reference to be sent to clopathlab.imperial at gmail.com. The position is open until filled but the earlier applications will be considered first. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shimon.whiteson at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 14:54:21 2015 From: shimon.whiteson at gmail.com (Shimon Whiteson) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 20:54:21 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Opening for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Reinforcement Learning at the University of Oxford Message-ID: Postdoctoral Researcher in Reinforcement Learning Fixed term for 2 years from 1 October 2015, or as soon as possible thereafter Grade 7: Salary ?30,434 ? ?37,394 p.a. An opening for a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher in Reinforcement Learning has arisen in the Department of Computer Science. The aim of this project is to develop a new class of reinforcement learning and sample-based decision-theoretic planning methods that overcome fundamental obstacles to the efficient optimisation of control policies for autonomous agents.?? Reporting to Professor Shimon Whiteson, the focus will be on policy-search methods for reinforcement learning, and techniques such as stochastic optimisation, Bayesian optimisation, and Bayesian quadrature are expected to play a key role. It offers an interesting balance of both theoretical work, as well as an extensive empirical analysis on challenging tasks from robotics and information retrieval. You should have a PhD in Computer Science or related area (or be very close to completion), with good knowledge of the current state-of-the-art in machine learning, evidenced by a track record of research in the areas of machine learning or decision-theoretic planning (or a related area). Experience of conducting large-scale experiments with large-scale datasets and knowledge of the current state-of-the-art in reinforcement learning and decision-theoretic planning are highly desirable. The closing date for applications is 12 noon on 29 July 2015. For further details and to apply please visit:?https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=119004? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From vembarasanv at um.edu.my Fri Jul 3 03:02:51 2015 From: vembarasanv at um.edu.my (Vembarasan Vaitheeswaran) Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2015 15:02:51 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: CFPs: Special Session on Computer and Deep Vision in 19th Asia Pacific Symposium on IES 2015 - reg Message-ID: The submission deadline is now extended to July 20, 2015 !!!! The final deadline for papers submission is fast approaching. Dear Professors/Researchers/Friends, We are organizing the "Special Session on Computer and Deep Vision" in conjunction with the 19th Asia Pacific Symposium on Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems (IES-2015), to be held in Bangkok from 22-25 November 2015. Overview of Special Session: Vision has always played an essential role in everyday human activities. In the past, images were, today they are, and in the future they will continue to be important information carriers. Recent advances in digital imaging and computer hardware technology have led to an explosion in the use of computer vision in a variety of scientific and engineering applications. These applications often arise from the interactions between fundamental scientific research and development of new and high-standard technologies. This symposium aims to provide an opportunity for researchers to describe scientific achievements and long-term research challenges, point to new research directions, or brave perspectives that pave the way to innovation. Subjects of interest are video and image processing, and aspects of related disciplines (such as machine learning, computer graphics, biological vision, mathematics) which illuminate the state of the art in video and image processing. Topics for contributions include, but not limited to, the following research areas: - Motion Estimation - Biometrics - Video Surveillance - Deep Learning - Image Processing - Pattern Recognition - Bio-medical Image Important dates: *Paper Submission Deadline: July 20, 2015* Notification of Acceptance: September 1, 2015 Camera-ready Deadline: September 15, 2015 Conference dates: 22-25th November 2015 Paper Submission: Submit your paper via the following site using your EasyChair login information: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ies2015 NOTICE: In submission page in the site, you must to choose a track from a list. For general session papers, IES 2015 should be chosen. For invited session papers, their invited session must be selected. All manuscripts submitted should be full papers and prepared according to the Springer conference paper templates (Click here ). The manuscript text should be in one-column page format. The length of the manuscripts prepared with the given template is 10 to 12 pages, up to 15 pages. All submissions will be checked by VeriGuide for originality. The IES 2015 proceedings will be published in Proceedings in Adaptation, Learning and Optimization (PALO), a Springer-Verlag book series. More information of PALO can be found at http://www.springer.com/series/13543 Selected papers from IES 2015 will be invited to extend and publish in Special Issues of SCI/SCIE/Scopus-indexed international journals. Accepted papers will be considered for the Best Paper Awards and the Best Student Paper Awards, which will be presented during the banquet. Special Session Organizers: Dr. Vembarasan Vaitheeswaran, University of Malaya, Malaysia Dr. Jonathan Chan, King Mongkut?s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand Dr. Weng Kin Lai, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Malaysia Dr. Chee Seng Chan, University of Malaya, Malaysia For more information, please contact us at inns at sit.kmutt.ac.th (or) Special Session Chairs at vembarasanv at um.edu.my (Dr. V. Vembarasan ); cs.chan at um.edu.my (Dr. Chan Chee Seng ). -- *With Regards,Dr. Vembarasan Vaitheeswaran,?HIR Postdoctoral FellowDepartment of Artificial Intelligence,Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology,University of Malaya,50603 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaMobile Number: +6-010-9462382 <%2B6-010-9462382>E-mail: vembarasanv at um.edu.my ; dr.v.vembarasan at ieee.org Website: https://sites.google.com/site/vembarasanv/ * -- " PENAFIAN: E-mel ini dan apa-apa fail yang dikepilkan bersamanya ("Mesej") adalah ditujukan hanya untuk kegunaan penerima(-penerima) yang termaklum di atas dan mungkin mengandungi maklumat sulit. Anda dengan ini dimaklumkan bahawa mengambil apa jua tindakan bersandarkan kepada, membuat penilaian, mengulang hantar, menghebah, mengedar, mencetak, atau menyalin Mesej ini atau sebahagian daripadanya oleh sesiapa selain daripada penerima(-penerima) yang termaklum di atas adalah dilarang. Jika anda telah menerima Mesej ini kerana kesilapan, anda mesti menghapuskan Mesej ini dengan segera dan memaklumkan kepada penghantar Mesej ini menerusi balasan e-mel. Pendapat-pendapat, rumusan-rumusan, dan sebarang maklumat lain di dalam Mesej ini yang tidak berkait dengan urusan rasmi Universiti Malaya adalah difahami sebagai bukan dikeluar atau diperakui oleh mana-mana pihak yang disebut. DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it ("Message") is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above and may contain confidential information. You are hereby notified that the taking of any action in reliance upon, or any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, printing or copying of this Message or any part thereof by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this Message in error, you should delete this Message immediately and advise the sender by return e-mail. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this Message that do not relate to the official business of University of Malaya shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by any of the forementioned. " -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marcus.hutter at gmx.net Tue Jul 7 14:31:12 2015 From: marcus.hutter at gmx.net (Marcus Hutter) Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2015 20:31:12 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Research Fellow Position Available at AI@RSCS@ANU Message-ID: <559C1AF0.9030403@gmx.net> Position: Research Fellow Intelligent Agents Group Research School of Computer Science Australian National University We are seeking an outstanding Research Fellow with excellent mathematical background and research expertise in * Machine Learning or * (Algorithmic) Information Theory or * (Bayesian) Statistics or * Artificial Intelligence or * related area. Possible backgrounds are a PhD, or near completion of a PhD, in mathematics, physics, computer science, engineering, or related. Position Description: The position holder will be member of the Intelligent Agents team lead by Professor Marcus Hutter, and primarily work on ARC DP project Unifying Foundations for Intelligent Agents. The project will drive forward the development of rigorous foundations for Intelligent Agents. The agent framework, the expected utility principle, sequential decision theory, and the information-theoretic foundations of inductive reasoning and machine learning have already brought significant order into the previously heterogeneous scattered field of artificial intelligence (AI). Building on this, in the last decade the CI has developed the theory of Universal AI. This project will investigate this information-theoretic approach towards a unifying foundation for intelligent agents, which recently even spawned impressive applications. The theory will provide a gold standard and valuable guidance for researchers working on smart software. * Location: Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia * The new employee will interact with Marcus Hutter and other people in the RSCS at the ANU. * The position is available immediately - fixed term - for 3 years - potential prolongation. * Salary Range for Research Fellow: Level B: A$90'000 - A$100'000 per year plus 17% superannuation. * Enquiries: Prof. Marcus Hutter, E: marcus.hutter at anu.edu.au, T: +61 2 6125 1605, F: + 61 6125 8651. * Closing Date: 1 October 2015 * Further information for applicants: http://www.hutter1.net/rsise/postdoc15.htm In case you attend ICML, you can find me at the EWRL workshop https://ewrl.wordpress.com/ewrl12-2015/ In case you attend ADT|AGI|CCR|UAI|ALT, please email me to arrange a meeting with one of my group members. Thanks for your interest, ______________________ Marcus Hutter, Professor Associate Director RSCS RSISE, Room B259, Building 115 Australian National University Corner of North and Daley Road Canberra ACT 2601, Australia Phone: +61(0)2 612 51605 (time zone GMT+10:00) Fax: +61(0)2 612 58651 Email: marcus.hutter at anu.edu.au http://www.hutter1.net/ ----------------------------------------------------- ABOUT RSISE. The Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering (RSISE) was established in 1996 as part of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia. RSISE focuses its work on research, research training and interaction with national and international communities. RSISE has now been rearranged into the Research School of Computer Science (RSCS). ABOUT ANU. The Australian National University (ANU) is located in the city of Canberra, the Federal Capital of Australia. The ANU consistently ranks top among all Universities in the southern hemisphere, third in the Asia/Pacific region, and in the top 50 worldwide. ABOUT CANBERRA. With a population of about 300'000, Canberra is a very clean and quiet city, surrounded by bush land and parks, and with Lake Burley Griffin in its geographical centre. It is a three-hour drive from Sydney, surfing beaches, and Australia's ski resorts. From jwaltz at mprc.umaryland.edu Wed Jul 8 13:42:46 2015 From: jwaltz at mprc.umaryland.edu (James Waltz) Date: Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:42:46 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position in the neural basis of decision making and reinforcement learning schizophrenia Message-ID: <559D28D602000042000146B4@MPRC.UMARYLAND.EDU> I wanted to alert recent PhD recipients to the following postdoctoral research opportunity: --- Postdoctoral Position Maryland Psychiatric Research Center Postdoctoral position in the cognitive neuroscience of schizophrenia Department of Psychiatry University of Maryland School of Medicine We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to work on an NIH-funded project at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), University of Maryland School of Medicine, that involves the use of fMRI and computational modeling methods to investigate decision making and reinforcement learning in schizophrenia. The work involves an extensive collaboration between MPRC investigators (James Waltz and James Gold) and the Brown University laboratory of Michael Frank. We are seeking a rather unique individual - someone with a strong computational background, but also with an interest in psychopathology. Funding is available for up to 2 years. The University of Maryland, Baltimore is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent in a neuroscience-related field. They should have a background in neuroimaging data analysis with strong quantitative skills and interests in reinforcement learning and psychopathology. NOTES: Additional Salary Information: Salary based on NIH Stipend Scale and depends on experience. Contact: Dr. James A. Waltz, Phd (jwaltz at mprc.umaryland.edu) Investigating Decision-Making and Reward in Schizophrenia Lab http://www.waltzlab.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From albert.li at disneyresearch.com Fri Jul 3 19:19:17 2015 From: albert.li at disneyresearch.com (Albert Li) Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2015 19:19:17 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Job Opportunity: Postdocs and Interns at Disney Research Pittsburgh Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I'm looking for postdocs and interns to work with me at Disney Research Pittsburgh. We will conduct research on narrative generation, natural language processing for story understanding, and interactive applications with children, and publish most results in top conferences and journals. Please see the attached pdf file for details. The desired research backgrounds for an intern include: story planning and classical planning, time series modeling and sequence modeling, and natural language processing. In particular, I'm looking for someone who can build a fast deterministic planner (e.g. using modern heuristics such as landmarks). Intern can start as soon as this Fall. Please submit a current CV along with a cover letter to careers at disneyresearch.com, and identify DR NI 2015 in the subject field. Feel free to cc me in order to maximize the speed of processing. Best regards, Albert Li Research Scientist, Disney Research http://www.boyangli.co -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Recruitment NI June 2015_Albert Li.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 212253 bytes Desc: not available URL: From terry at salk.edu Wed Jul 8 02:48:52 2015 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2015 23:48:52 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Spectrum of power laws for curved hand movements In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Spectrum of power laws for curved hand movements Dongsung Huh and Terrence J. Sejnowski http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/02/1510208112.abstract In curved hand movements around ellipses, the speed tends to scale inversely with the curvature with a power law having an exponent of -1/3. We examined whether this well-known regularity in motor planning holds for more general shapes. Using an optimality principle, we identified a set of basis shapes, each with a single characteristic angular frequency, which subjects drew with power laws whose exponents ranged from 0 to -2/3. More general movements exhibited linear mixtures of power laws. The speed of arbitrary doodling movements with a broad spectrum of frequencies could also be predicted from the curvature with high accuracy. Terry ----- From tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de Tue Jul 7 03:58:08 2015 From: tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de (Tarek R. Besold) Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2015 09:58:08 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Participation: NeSy'15, the 10th International Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (@IJCAI-15) Message-ID: <536F42CC-83CC-4848-9698-F91E35752E54@uni-osnabrueck.de> === Call for Participation for the === 10th International Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy?15) July 27, 2015 - http://www.neural-symbolic.org/NeSy15/ (Held in conjunction with IJCAI-15, Buenos Aires, Argentina, http://www.ijcai-15.org/) === The Workshop's Mission Statement === Artificial Intelligence researchers continue to face huge challenges in their quest to develop truly intelligent systems. The recent developments in the field of neural-symbolic integration bring an opportunity to integrate well-founded symbolic artificial intelligence with robust neural computing machinery to help tackle some of these challenges. The Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning is intended to create an atmosphere of exchange of ideas, providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of the key topics related to neural-symbolic integration. Topics of interest include: ? The representation of symbolic knowledge by connectionist systems; ? Neural Learning theory. ? Integration of logic and probabilities, e.g., in neural networks, but also more generally; ? Structured learning and relational learning in neural networks; ? Logical reasoning carried out by neural networks; ? Integrated neural-symbolic learning approaches; ? Extraction of symbolic knowledge from trained neural networks; ? Integrated neural-symbolic reasoning; ? Neural-symbolic cognitive models; ? Biologically-inspired neural-symbolic integration; ? Applications in robotics, simulation, fraud prevention, natural language processing, semantic web, software engineering, fault diagnosis, bioinformatics, visual intelligence, etc. === Keynote Speakers of NeSy'15 === Dan Roth, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Gary F. Marcus, New York University (NYU). === Workshop Schedule (July 27, 2015) === 09:00 - 09:30: Opening, welcome, short introductory round 09:30 - 10:10: Invited paper presentation George Konidaris et al.: "Symbol Acquisition for Probabilistic High-Level Planning" 10:10 - 10:40: Contributed paper presentation Rodrigo de Salvo Braz et al.: "Probabilistic Inference Modulo Theories" 10:40 - 11:00: Coffee break 11:00 - 12:00: Keynote lecture Gary Marcus 12:00 - 12:40: Invited paper presentation Dana Angluin et al.: "Learning Regular Languages via Alternating Automata" 12:40 - 14:00: Lunch break 14:00 - 15:00: Keynote lecture Dan Roth 15:00 - 15:30: Contributed paper presentation Luis Palacios et al.: "A Connectionist Network for Skeptical Abduction" 15:30 - 16:00: Coffee break 16:00 - 16:30: Contributed paper presentation Tarek R. Besold: "Same same, but different? Exploring differences in complexity between logic and neural networks" 16:30 - 17:00: Contributed paper presentation Ondrej Vadinsky: "Towards an Artificially Intelligent System: Possibilities of General Evaluation of Hybrid Paradigm" 17:00 - 17:30: Closing discussion 17:30: Farewell, end of workshop 17:40 - 18:00: Association Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning (NeSy) Business Meeting Evening: Dinner and drinks with interested workshop participants (self-pay) === Workshop Organizers === Tarek R. Besold (Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrueck, Germany) Thomas Icard (Stanford University, U.S.A.) Luis Lamb (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) Risto Miikulainen (University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A.) === Program Committee === Artur D'Avila Garcez, City University London, UK Ross Gayler, Melbourne, Australia Ramanathan V. Guha, Google Inc., U.S.A. Pascal Hitzler, Wright State University, U.S.A. Steffen Hoelldobler, Technical University of Dresden, Germany Frank Jaekel, University of Osnabrueck, Germany Kai-Uwe Kuehnberger, University of Osnabrueck, Germany Christopher Potts, Stanford University, U.S.A. Ron Sun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute, U.S.A. Jakub Szymanik, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Gerson Zaverucha, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tarek R. Besold Institute of Cognitive Science University of Osnabr?ck (Germany) tarek.besold at uni-osnabrueck.de https://sites.google.com/site/tarekbesold/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mehdi.khamassi at isir.upmc.fr Thu Jul 2 09:48:00 2015 From: mehdi.khamassi at isir.upmc.fr (Mehdi Khamassi) Date: Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:48:00 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?Call_for_posters/registration=3A_Orbito?= =?utf-8?q?frontal_Cortex_and_Cognition_in_the_City_of_Lights=2C_Sept_30_?= =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=93_Oct_2=2C_2015_=40_Paris=2C_France?= Message-ID: <5ecefa4796ef1d5fd97dc57dced51505@mailhost.isir.upmc.fr> [Please accept our apologies if you get multiple copies of this message] Dear colleagues, It is our great pleasure to invite you to the Third Quadrennial Meeting on Orbitofrontal Cortex Function, entitled "Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition in the City of Lights", which will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th ? Oct 2nd 2015. Online registration is now open at http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr The deadline for poster submission is: July, 31st. The deadline for registration is: August 31st. Registration fees (250 euros) also include the social event. Please circulate widely and encourage your colleagues and team members to attend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX AND COGNITION IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS (OFC 2015) Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015, Paris, France Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epini?re, H?pital La Piti? Salp?tri?re, Paris, France. & Universit? Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESENTATION: The Third Quadrennial Meeting on Orbitofrontal Cortex Function which will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th ? Oct 2nd 2015 at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epini?re, Paris, France. The objective of this three day meeting is to bring together researchers with a deep interest in the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in supporting cognition (behavior, learning, decision-making) across species. The meeting is the third, following up on similar meetings in 2007 and 2011. As such, it is intended to focus specifically on new ideas and research that has influenced the field over the past 4 years and that appear likely to lead the way into the next 4 years. The meeting consists of both invited talks and poster sessions. The invited talks are loosely organized into six different sessions that are titled to reflect the various stages of processing underlying cognition. Talks will be relatively short with ample time for questions and discussion after each talk and sub-group of talks. Poster sessions will be interspersed to allow participants to interact and present their own unique findings of relevance to advancing our understanding of this fascinating brain region. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Tim Behrens (Oxford University, UK) Yogita Chudasama (McGill University, Canada) Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University, USA) Lesley Fellows (McGill University, Canada) Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Shannon Gourley (Emory University, USA) Christina Gremel (UCSD, USA) Ben Hayden (University of Rochester, USA) Patricia Janak (John Hopkins, USA) Thorsten Kahnt (Northwestern University, USA) Daeyeol Lee (Yale University, USA) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Yael Niv (Princeton University, USA) John O'Doherty (Caltech, USA) Camillo Padoa-Schioppa (Washington Univ. St Louis, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM-ICM, France) Angela Roberts (Cambridge University, UK) Peter Rudebeck (Mount Sinai School, USA) Matthew Rushworth (Oxford University, UK) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) Wolfram Schultz (Cambridge University, UK) Matthew Shapiro (Mount Sinai School, USA) Philippe Tobler (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Jonathan Wallis (University of California at Berkeley, USA) Catharine Winstanley (University of British Columbia, Canada) IMPORTANT DATES: July 31, 2015 Deadline for Poster Submission August 31, 2015 Deadline for Registration Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015 Symposium Venue ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS / UPMC, Paris, France) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM / ICM, France) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) CONTACT INFORMATION : Website, registration, poster submission and detailed program: http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr Contact: ofc2015 [ at ] isir.upmc.fr / ofc2015-registration at isir.upmc.fr -- Mehdi Khamassi, PhD Researcher (CNRS) Institut des Syst?mes Intelligents et de Robotique (UMR7222) CNRS - Universit? Pierre et Marie Curie Pyramide, Tour 55 - Bo?te courrier 173 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France tel: + 33 1 44 27 28 85 fax: +33 1 44 27 51 45 cell: +33 6 50 76 44 92 http://people.isir.upmc.fr/khamassi From dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu Sun Jul 5 15:29:30 2015 From: dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu (DeLiang Wang) Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2015 15:29:30 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL NETWORKS, July 2015 Message-ID: <5599859A.4090003@cse.ohio-state.edu> Neural Networks - Volume 67, July 2015 http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks Adaptive intermittent control: A computational model explaining motor intermittency observed in human behavior Yutaka Sakaguchi, Masato Tanaka, Yasuyuki Inoue Construction and evaluation of an integrated dynamical model of visual motion perception Emilien Tlapale, Barbara Anne Dosher, Zhong-Lin Lu A spiking neural network based on the basal ganglia functional anatomy Javier Baladron, Fred H. Hamker Biomimetic race model of the loop between the superior colliculus and the basal ganglia: Subcortical selection of saccade targets Charles Thurat, Steve N'Guyen, Benoit Girard A bio-inspired stimulator to desynchronize epileptic cortical population models: A digital implementation framework Mohsen Piri, Masoud Amiri, Mahmood Amiri Modelling the insect Mushroom Bodies: Application to sequence learning Paolo Arena, Marco Cali?, Luca Patane, Agnese Portera, Roland Strauss A biological mechanism for Bayesian feature selection: Weight decay and raising the LASSO Patrick Connor, Paul Hollensen, Olav Krigolson, Thomas Trappenberg Incremental learning for image-Support Vector Regression Bin Gu, Victor S. Sheng, Zhijie Wang, Derek Ho, Said Osman, Shuo Li Further analysis of global image-stability of complex-valued neural networks with unbounded time-varying delays G. Velmurugan, R. Rakkiyappan, Jinde Cao Neural network operators: Constructive interpolation of multivariate functions Danilo Costarelli Robust stability of stochastic fuzzy delayed neural networks with impulsive time window Xin Wang, Junzhi Yu, Chuandong Li, Hui Wang, Tingwen Huang, Junjian Huang Low-dimensional recurrent neural network-based Kalman filter for speech enhancement Youshen Xia, Jun Wang From c.lorenz at donders.ru.nl Tue Jul 14 05:29:18 2015 From: c.lorenz at donders.ru.nl (Lorenz, C.M.) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 09:29:18 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Job posting: 5 PhD Positions in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' Message-ID: Job posting: 5 PhD Positions in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' We are looking for highly motivated PhD candidates to enrich a unique consortium of researchers that aims to unravel the neurocognitive mechanisms of language at multiple levels. The goal is to understand both the universality and the variability of the human language faculty from genes to behaviour. The Netherlands has an outstanding track record in the language sciences. This research consortium sponsored by a large grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) brings together many of the excellent research groups in the Netherlands with a research programme on the foundations of language. The research team consists of 43 Principal Investigators. In addition to the excellence in the domain of language and related relevant fields of cognition, our consortium provides state-of-the-art research facilities and a research team with ample experience in the complex research methods that will be invoked to address the scientific questions at the highest level of methodological sophistication. These include methods from genetics, neuroimaging, computational modelling, and patient-related research. This consortium realizes both quality and critical mass for studying human language at a scale not easily found anywhere else. Currently, the consortium advertises five PhD positions for a period of 4 years. These positions provide the opportunity for conducting world-class research as a member of an interdisciplinary team. Maximum salary: ?2,717 gross/month Closing date for application: 04 October 2015, 23:59 CET For more information on the PhD positions and how to apply:https://www.languageininteraction.nl/ThirdCallGeneral.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk Mon Jul 13 06:13:42 2015 From: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk (=?utf-8?Q?M=C3=A1t=C3=A9_Lengyel?=) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 12:13:42 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: postdoc in computational neuroscience Message-ID: Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Neuroscience University of Cambridge We are seeking a highly creative and motivated postdoctoral fellow (research associate or senior research associate) to work in the group of M?t? Lengyel (http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/Public/Lengyel/) at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge to work on circuit- and systems-level of memory, in particular the interaction between recollective and familiarity-based forms of recognition memory. The project involves collaboration with Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL), and also Richard Henson (MRC Cognition and Brain Unit, Cambridge) providing direct access to relevant behavioural and imaging data. More broadly, the group studies learning and memory from computational, algorithmic/representational and neurobiological viewpoints. Computationally and algorithmically, we use ideas from Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and reinforcement learning to characterize the goals and mechanisms of learning in terms of normative principles and behavioral results. We also perform dynamical systems analyses of reduced biophysical models to understand the mapping of these mechanisms into cellular and network models. We collaborate very closely with experimental neuroscience groups, doing in vitro intracellular recordings, multi-unit recordings in behaving animals, human psychophysical, and fMRI experiments. The successful candidate will have a strong analytical background and demonstrable interest in theoretical neuroscience. They should have or be close to completion of a PhD or equivalent in computational neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, machine learning or a related field. Previous experience in computational neuroscience is not required, but preference will be given to candidates with sufficient programming skills to run numerical simulations, or expertise with neural network models, analysis of dynamical systems, and Bayesian techniques. The position is funded for several years, with an initial one-year appointment and an expectation of extension to at least two years given satisfactory performance. Salary depends on experience and is in the range ?28,695 - ?48,743 p.a. Further information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7261/ http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7176/ For informal queries, please contact Mate Lengyel . Mate Lengyel -- Mate Lengyel, PhD Computational and Biological Learning Lab Cambridge University Engineering Department Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK tel: +44 (0)1223 748 532, fax: +44 (0)1223 765 587 email: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel From kendrick.kay at gmail.com Sun Jul 12 12:08:07 2015 From: kendrick.kay at gmail.com (Kendrick Kay) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2015 11:08:07 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Associate in Visual Neuroscience Message-ID: <5CEB7017-0050-4061-8AD6-15008364632E@gmail.com> Postdoctoral Associate in Visual Neuroscience University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA The University of Minnesota's Center for Magnetic Resonance Research is searching for a Postdoctoral Associate in Visual Neuroscience. This will be in the newly created laboratory of Dr. Kendrick Kay (http://cvnlab.net ). The laboratory studies representation, attention and perception in the human visual system using computational and neuroimaging methods. Ongoing projects are aimed towards revealing novel insights into the computational architecture of the visual system by exploiting the gains in spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio afforded by the high-field measurements. Applicants are required to have a Ph.D., strong quantitative and technical skills, and excellent spoken and written communication skills. Proficiency in MATLAB, or an equivalent programming language, and UNIX/Linux environments is also required. Prior experience in vision research, fMRI data collection and analysis, and/or computational modeling is desirable. Responsibilities include data collection, data analysis, development of software tools, and preparation of manuscripts. To apply, go to https://www.myu.umn.edu/employment/ and search for 302081. Application materials include a CV, a brief statement of research interests and how they may fit with the interests of the laboratory, a representative first-author paper, and the names and e-mail addresses of three references. Informal inquiries are welcome. The position can start as early as August 1, 2015. The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMTC), is among the largest public research universities in the country, offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional students a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Located at the heart of one of the nation's most vibrant, diverse metropolitan communities, students on the campuses in Minneapolis and St. Paul benefit from extensive partnerships with world-renowned health centers, international corporations, government agencies, and arts, nonprofit, and public service organizations. -- Kendrick Kay, PhD Assistant Professor (Aug 2015) Center for Magnetic Resonance Research University of Minnesota http://cvnlab.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de Tue Jul 14 12:04:31 2015 From: bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Barbara Hammer) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 18:04:31 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: NC^2 Message-ID: <55A5330F.7010000@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de> *** Apologies for cross-postings *** CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS The 6th Workshop New Challenges in Neural Computation and Machine Learning (NC^2) will be held in conjunction with GCPR'15 and VMV?15 (http://vmv2015.rwth-aachen.de/) at October, 10th, 2015, in Aachen, Germany. See: http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/~bhammer/GINN/NC2/ Submissions are welcome connected to the following non-exhaustive list of topics: * deep learning * nonlinear dimensionality reduction, blind source separation, and visualisation * models for very large or streaming data sets, life-long and online learning, * parallelization and hardware implementations * models for non-euclidean data * recursive models and dynamic systems * adaptive data representation * bio-inspired models * challenges in machine learning * challenges in applications Submission deadline is 31.July 2014. INVITED SPEAKERS: Christian Igel, Joschka Boedecker ORGANIZERS: Barbara Hammer, Thomas Martinetz, Thomas Villmann PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Michael Biehl, Kerstin Bunte, Benoit Frenay, Andrej Gisbrecht, Fred Hamker, Gunther Heidemann, Sven Hellbach, Christian Igel, Oliver Kramer, Paulo Lisboa, Alessio Micheli, Jaakko Peltonen, Frank-Michael Schleif, Fiedhelm Schwenker, Udo Seiffert, Peter Tino, Heiko Wersing, Rolf W?rtz -- Prof. Dr. Barbara Hammer CITEC centre of excellence Bielefeld University D-33594 Bielefeld Phone: +49 521 / 106 12115 Fax: +49 521 / 106 12181 From david.halliday at york.ac.uk Tue Jul 14 11:07:24 2015 From: david.halliday at york.ac.uk (David Halliday) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:07:24 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Software for Non-parametric directionality analysis Message-ID: Apologies for cross posting] MATLAB software to implement non-parametric directionality analysis for spike-train and time-series data is available for free download from the NeuroSpec archive. A user guide and demonstration scripts are included. http://www.neurospec.org/ An accompanying journal article is published in the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience: "Nonparametric directionality measures for time series and point process data", J. Integr. Neurosci., 14, 253-277 (2015). DOI: 10.1142/S0219635215300127 http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219635215300127 Abstract The need to determine the directionality of interactions between neural signals is a key requirement for analysis of multichannel recordings. Approaches most commonly used are parametric, typically relying on autoregressive models. A number of concerns have been expressed regarding parametric approaches, thus there is a need to consider alternatives. We present an alternative nonparametric approach for construction of directionality measures for bivariate random processes. The method combines time and frequency domain representations of bivariate data to decompose the correlation by direction. Our framework generates two sets of complementary measures, a set of scalar measures, which decompose the total product moment correlation coefficient summatively into three terms by direction and a set of functions which decompose the coherence summatively at each frequency into three terms by direction: forward direction, reverse direction and instantaneous interaction. It can be undertaken as an addition to a standard bivariate spectral and coherence analysis, and applied to either time series or point-process (spike train) data or mixtures of the two (hybrid data). In this paper, we demonstrate application to spike train data using simulated cortical neurone networks and application to experimental data from isolated muscle spindle sensory endings subject to random efferent stimulation. - David Halliday Department of Electronics University of York YORK YO10 5DD, UK. E-Mail: david.halliday at york.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ted.carnevale at yale.edu Mon Jul 13 14:07:41 2015 From: ted.carnevale at yale.edu (Ted Carnevale) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:07:41 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURON course and NSG Workshop at SFN 2015 meeting Message-ID: <55A3FE6D.5060307@yale.edu> Two events of particular interest to computational neuroscientists will be presented as satellite sessions to the 2015 SFN meeting in Chicago. Using NEURON to Model Cells and Networks Friday, Oct. 16 from 9 AM to 5 PM at a site in downtown Chicago This course provides a practical introduction to building and using models of neurons and networks with NEURON. Covered topics include basic concepts, workflow for building and using models, speeding up simulations with parallel hardware from multicore personal computers to massively parallel supercomputers, using Python with NEURON, and modeling reactive diffusion with the RxD class. Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulation Saturday, Oct. 17 from 9 AM to noon at a site in downtown Chicago This workshop combines didactic presentations with hands on instruction on how to use the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) for parallel simulations. NSG eliminates most adminstrative and technical barriers to using high performance computing resources--it even gives away free CPU time. Simulators that are currently installed on NSG include NEST, PyNN, Brian, GENESIS3, NEURON, and MOOSE. Also available is FreeSurfer, a set of tools for analysis and visualization of structural and functional brain imaging data. Friday, Oct. 2, is the registration deadline for both of these events, but you should sign up early because space is limited. See https://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/courses for more information and links to registration forms. --Ted From p.gleeson at ucl.ac.uk Mon Jul 13 08:58:10 2015 From: p.gleeson at ucl.ac.uk (Padraig Gleeson) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:58:10 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Workshop at CNS2015: Open Collaboration in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <55A3B5E2.5080802@ucl.ac.uk> [Apology for cross-postings] Announcing a workshop at the CNS2015 meeting in Prague, Thursday July 23: Open Collaboration in Computational Neuroscience http://opensourcebrain.org/docs/Help/Meetings#CNS_2015 Building and analysing biophysically and anatomically detailed neuronal networks is a complex and time consuming task, which ideally involves researchers with a range of backgrounds and technical skills. However, most labs cannot expect to have all of these researchers present at any given time. This can lead to stalled projects, lost data and software and needless repetition of experimental and computational work. A number of initiatives have been started which address these issues. Some are creating public resources with freely available data to constrain such models. Others are using best practices from open source software development to encourage building and sharing of models in a collaborative environment. This workshop will serve as an informative introduction to these projects as well as a discussion forum for getting feedback and gathering requirements from the community for the developers of these initiatives. There are still a number of slots available for *5-10 minute lightning talks*, so if you are involved in a project in this area and wish to publicise it, please get in contact. *Confirmed speakers:* Jan Antolik (CNRS) Collaboration in neuronal modelling: model sharing, workflows and provenance Nicholas Cain (Allen Brain Institute) Resources for Open Collaboration at the Allen Brain Institute Padraig Gleeson (University College London) NeuroML & the Open Source Brain Initiative Adrian Quintana (University College London) Geppetto : online visualisation & simulation for neuronal models Michael Sonntag (LMU M?nchen) The NIX Project: Comprehensive Storage of Neuroscience Data and Metadata Matteo Cantarelli (MetaCell Ltd) OpenWorm Aurel A. Lazar (Columbia University) Neurokernel : An Open Source Platform for Emulating the Fruit Fly Brain Bill Lytton (SUNY Downstate Medical Center) ModelDB Eilif Muller (EPFL) Human Brain Project resources for the integrative modelling community Shreejoy Tripathy (University of British Columbia) Open electrophysiology data and Neuroelectro.org ----------------------------------------------------- Padraig Gleeson Room 321, Anatomy Building Department of Neuroscience, Physiology& Pharmacology University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom +44 207 679 3214 p.gleeson at ucl.ac.uk ----------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.eppler at fz-juelich.de Tue Jul 14 10:07:33 2015 From: j.eppler at fz-juelich.de (Jochen Martin Eppler) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:07:33 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Tutorial on Interfaces in Computational Neuroscience Software Message-ID: <55A517A5.7010708@fz-juelich.de> [Sorry if you receive this mail through multiple channels] This is to inform you about the CNS2015 tutorial entitled "Interfaces in Computational Neuroscience Software". In the tutorial, Jochen M. Eppler (Research Centre J?lich, Germany), Mikael Djurfeldt (INCF and KTH PDC, Sweden) and Janne Moren (OIST and RIKEN AICS, Japan) will present the combined use of the tools NEST, CSA and MUSIC. Introductory talks will explain the concepts behind the tools and libraries, while hands-on sessions will allow the participants to gather some experience with them. The software for the hands-on sessions will be provided in the form of a virtual machine image readily usable on top of your laptop. More information on the tutorial can be found on the homepage of the meeting at http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-tutorials#t6 Looking forward to seeing you in Prague! Best regards, Jochen Eppler -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49 2461 61-9471 ---------------------------------- Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience J?lich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From tani1216jp at gmail.com Tue Jul 14 19:16:49 2015 From: tani1216jp at gmail.com (Jun Tani) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 08:16:49 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Self-organization of spatio-temporal hierarchy in learning dynamic vision Message-ID: <012d01d0be8b$2a8b05b0$7fa11110$@gmail.com> We announce a newly published paper which investigates how spatio-temporal hierarchy can be self-organized in learning of dynamic visual patterns by imposing multi-scales spatio-temporal constraints on neural activity in a dynamic neural network model. The following web page contains PDF, demonstrative video and source code. http://neurorobot.kaist.ac.kr/project.html Jung, M., Hwang, J., & Tani, J. (2015). Self-organization of spatio-temporal hierarchy via learning of dynamic visual image patterns on action sequences. PLoS One 10(7): e0131214. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131214. http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journ al.pone.0131214 &representation=PDF Abstract: It is well known that the visual cortex efficiently processes high-dimensional spatial information by using a hierarchical structure. Recently, computational models that were inspired by the spatial hierarchy of the visual cortex have shown remarkable performance in image recognition. Up to now, however, most biological and computational modeling studies have mainly focused on the spatial domain and do not discuss temporal domain processing of the visual cortex. Several studies on the visual cortex and other brain areas associated with motor control support that the brain also uses its hierarchical structure as a processing mechanism for temporal information. Based on the success of previous computational models using spatial hierarchy and temporal hierarchy observed in the brain, the current report introduces a novel neural network model for the recognition of dynamic visual image patterns based solely on the learning of exemplars. This model is characterized by the application of both spatial and temporal constraints on local neural activities, resulting in the self-organization of a spatio-temporal hierarchy necessary for the recognition of complex dynamic visual image patterns. The evaluation with the Weizmann dataset in recognition of a set of prototypical human movement patterns showed that the proposed model is significantly robust in recognizing dynamically occluded visual patterns compared to other baseline models. Furthermore, an evaluation test for the recognition of concatenated sequences of those prototypical movement patterns indicated that the model is endowed with a remarkable capability for the contextual recognition of long-range dynamic visual image patterns. Jun Tani, Ph.D Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST Building: N1, room: 516 http://neurorobot.kaist.ac.kr/tani.htm tani1216jp at gmail.com 042-350-7428 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jesus.malo at uv.es Thu Jul 16 02:21:39 2015 From: jesus.malo at uv.es (Jesus Malo Lopez) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 08:21:39 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc in Computational Visual Neuroscience (Alicante-Valencia, SPAIN) Message-ID: <18b3-55a74d80-7-1a8f80e0@149382367> The Neuroscience Institute of Alicante (CSIC) and the Universitat de Valencia are involved on a multiyear project to study neural computation and coding in visual cortex. We have an opening for a 3 year postdoc position to model information processing in the retina-cortex pathway. Job title: "The human camera: compressive sensing in brain networks and decoding from neural responses" (see additional information about the project at http://isp.uv.es/bmi.html ) Applications are invited for the above position to work with Dr. Luis Martinez (Neuroscience Institute of Alicante, CSIC, http://thevisualanalogylab.wix.com/valab) and Dr. Jes?s Malo (Image & Signal Processing Lab, Universitat de Valencia, http://isp.uv.es ). The aim of this work is understanding dimensionality reduction in the retina-cortex bottleneck and enabling image reconstruction from actual neural recordings at cortical level. The "Human Camera" could be seen as a new Brain Machine Interface for image transmission in which the nontrivial/adaptive feature extraction stage is done by a brain instead of by the conventional compression algorithm. The input signal should be reconstructed from the neural signal at the receiver. Candidates must be in possession of a doctoral degree in computational neuroscience, machine learning, physics, mathematics or engineering. Preference will be given to candidates with experience and genuine interest in vision science phenomena and models. Work will be developed both at the Neuroscience Institute of Alicante and at the Universitat de Val?ncia, with strong collaboration between the experimental and theoretical members of the team. Salary: according to CSIC Postdoc scales including social security, health insurance benefits, and travel money. Contact: Please email jesus.malo at uv.es or luis.m.martinez.otero at gmail.com for any queries about the position. From axel.hutt at inria.fr Thu Jul 16 09:51:04 2015 From: axel.hutt at inria.fr (Axel Hutt) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:51:04 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: Tutorial at the CNS 2015 in Prague: Neural Mass and Neural Field Models In-Reply-To: <1308024260.4172194.1437054636622.JavaMail.zimbra@inria.fr> Message-ID: <860017540.4172536.1437054664081.JavaMail.zimbra@inria.fr> Announcement ------------ Tutorial "Neural Mass and Neural Field Models" at the Computational Neuroscience Conference 2015 in Prague (see http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-tutorials#t1 for more details). The brain exhibits dynamical processes on different spatial and temporal scales. Single neurons have a size of tens of micrometers and fire during few milliseconds, whereas macroscopic brain activity, such as encephalographic data or the BOLD response in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, evolve on a millimeter or centimeter scale during tens of milliseconds. To understand the relation between the two dynamical scales, the mesoscopic scale of neural populations between these scales is helpful. Moreover, it has been found experimentally that neural populations encode and decode cognitive functions. The tutorial presents a specific type of rate-coding models which is both mathematically tractable and verifiable experimentally. It starts with a physiological motivation of the model, followed by mathematical analysis techniques for neural mass models in the presence of noise, and applications to general anaesthesia and cognitive functions. Program: 09:00 - 10:30 : Introduction to Neural Fields (Axel Hutt) 10:30 - 11:45 : Coffee break 10:45 - 12:15 : Nonlinear and Stochastic Analysis of Neural Fields Equations (Jeremie Lefebvre) 12:15 - 13:15 : Lunch Break 13:15 - 14:45 : Tutorial introduction to mean-field modelling of general anaesthesia (Alistair Steyn-Ross) 14:45 - 15:00 : Coffee Break 15:00 - 16:30 : Neural fields, a cognitive approach: attention, plasticity and decision (Nicolas Rougier) Room: RB 212, University of Economics, Prague (http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-venue) Hope to see you there. Axel -- PD Axel Hutt Directeur de Recherche INRIA CR Nancy - Grand Est Equipe NEUROSYS (Head) 615, rue du Jardin Botanique 54603 Villers-les-Nancy Cedex France http://www.loria.fr/~huttaxel From neurogirl at hotmail.com Fri Jul 17 14:21:33 2015 From: neurogirl at hotmail.com (neuro girl) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2015 14:21:33 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Computation, Dysfunction, and the Brain Workshop, CNS 2015, Prague In-Reply-To: References: , , , , Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, We would like to suggest the following workshop for your consideration: Computation, Dysfunction, and the Brain Date: Thursday, July 23, 2015 Time: 9 a.m. ? 5 p.m. Room: SB115 Prague, Czech Republic Confirmed speakers list: Viktor Jirsa (Aix-Marseille Universit? /CNRS) Christoph M. Michel (University of Geneva) Marc Goodfellow (University of Exeter) Anthony A. Grace (University of Pittsburgh) Giacomo Koch (Foundation of Santa Lucia) Rowshanak Hashemiyoon (University Hospital of Cologne) G?nter Schiepek (Paracelsus Medical University) Brief description: Increasing emphasis is being placed on circuitry and network function in the brain. Investigations are focused on the changes of the functional and anatomical features in a healthy brain as compared to dysfunctional brain states. Ideally then, theories of changes in neuronal coordination dynamics can be adapted to improve therapeutic strategies, while observations of the outcomes from these applications would in turn provide data about the neurophysiological and computational strategies employed by the brain. This workshop explores computation in both the healthy and dysfunctional brain to uncover what each state might reveal about the other. Findings from theoretical, experimental, and clinical studies will be interwoven to give a more complete understanding of the function and dysfunction of brain circuitry. The main topics that we will discuss are: What are the changes in normal information processing that lead to the aberrations which define disease states such as observed in various neurological disorders? How can we apply those theories to improve therapeutics? What strategies can we use to optimize the yield from the neurobiological data from empirical and clinical studies to elucidate our understanding of normal v. abnormal function? The full program is attached and more information is available at http://bit.ly/1fb9vI8. We look forward to seeing you in Prague! With best regards, Row Hashemiyoon & Christoph Michel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: CNS Workshop Agenda Final.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 112744 bytes Desc: not available URL: From alessandro.torcini at isc.cnr.it Sun Jul 19 16:13:36 2015 From: alessandro.torcini at isc.cnr.it (Alessandro Torcini) Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2015 22:13:36 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: WORKSHOP Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience, Turin 7-9 sept 2015 Message-ID: Deadline 30th August: Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience: from Physics and Biology to ICT to be held on September 07-09, 2015 in Turin, Italy Organizers: Fernando Corinto (Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy) and Alessandro Torcini (ISC-CNR, Florence, Italy) More information on the workshop can be found in the web page: http://www.neuro-eng-comp.polito.it/workshop/ Confirmed invited speakers include Cristina Becchio (University of Turin, Italy) Ruben Moreno Bote (CIBERSAM - Barcelona, Spain) George Bourianov (Intel/University of Texas at Austin, USA) Emilio Carbone (University of Turin, Italy) Stephen Coombes (University of Nottingham, UK) Steve Furber (The University of Manchester, UK) Julius Georgiou (University of Cyprus, Cyprus) Viktor Jirsa (INSERM - Marseille, France) Luke P. Lee (UC Berkeley, USA) Stefano Luccioli (ISC CNR - Florence, Italy) Maurizio Mattia (ISS - Roma, Italy) Benedetto Sacchetti (University of Turin, Italy) Maria Sanchez-Vives (IDIBAPS - Barcelona, Spain) Ronald Tetzlaff (TU Dresden, Germany) The poster can be downloaded from here http://goo.gl/CDY0Eg The workshop is kindly supported by the: SICC - Italian Society for Chaos and Complexity, IEEE CASS Outreach 2015 Initiative, CRT Foundation, Marie Curie Initial Training project NETT - Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy) From birgit at ifs.uni-linz.ac.at Tue Jul 21 05:19:31 2015 From: birgit at ifs.uni-linz.ac.at (Birgit Hauer) Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 11:19:31 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Open position for an Experienced Researcher at Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria Message-ID: <55AE0EA3.5090400@ifs.uni-linz.ac.at> Open position for an Experienced Researcher In February 2013 the Institute of Bioinformatics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, joined a European Project (Marie-Curie ITN) - Mr.SymBioMath (www.mrsymbiomath.eu) which is focused on the problem domain of Comparative Genomics. The contribution of the Institute of Bioinformatics in the context of this project is concentrated in the area of Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, and Genomics. In order to support this project we are looking for an Experienced Researcher. The Institute of Bioinformatics has a vacancy for an Experienced Researcher funded with full employee benefits for a period of 12 months. Applications will be accepted until Aug 14, 2015. Your field of work will be: Research in the domain of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Bioinformatics, and Comparative Genomics You should have experience in the following areas: Machine learning, Deep Learning, LSTM, R, Latent variable models, I/NI calls, SNPs, and Genetic variants Marie Curie FP7-People ITN benefits: Marie Curie Fellows will enjoy benefits of full social security, health insurance, pension, parental leave etc. Competitive monthly living and mobility allowance, yearly travel allowance, a career exploratory allowance, and coverage of the expenses related to your participation in research and training activities (contribution to research-related costs, meetings, conference attendance, training actions, etc.). http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/careers_en.htm Eligibility: The applicant will be required to satisfy the eligibility criteria for Marie Curie Experienced Researchers: Experienced Researchers must, at the time of recruitment or be in possession of a doctoral degree, independently of the time taken to acquire it or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience, including the period of research training, after obtaining the degree which formally allowed them to embark on a doctorate in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country of the host institution to which they are seconded or recruited (irrespective of whether a doctorate was envisaged or not). The researcher may not have resided or carried out his/her main activity in Austria for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to his/her appointment. Short stays such as holidays are not taken into account. The researcher must move to Linz. Please submit your application with resume/C.V., certificates, reports and letters of recommendation to: secretary at bioinf.jku.at or by post to: Johannes Kepler University Linz Institute of Bioinformatics Prof. Dr. Sepp Hochreiter Altenbergerstr. 69 A-4040 Linz, Austria For further information please contact: Sepp Hochreiter Phone: +43 732 2468 4521 Email: hochreit at bioinf.jku.at From terry at salk.edu Mon Jul 20 11:24:57 2015 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2015 08:24:57 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - August 1, 2015 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Volume 27, Number 8 - August 1, 2015 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/27/8 ----- Article A Statistical Framework to Infer Delay and Direction of Information Flow From Measurements of Complex Systems Johannes Schumacher, Thomas Wunderle, Pascal Fries, Frank Jakel, and Gordon Pipa *FREE* Letters An Empirical Model for Reliable Spiking Activity Wanjie Wang, Shreejoy J Tripathy, Krishnan Padmanabhan, Nathaniel N. Urban, and Robert E. Kass Inheritance of Hippocampal Place Fields Through Hebbian Learning: Effects of Theta Modulation and Phase Precession on Structure Formation Tiziano D'Albis, Jorge Jaramillo, Henning Sprekeler, and Richard Kempter Competitive STDP Learning of Overlapping Spatial Patterns Dalius Krunglevicius A Reward-Maximizing Spiking Neuron as a Bounded Rational Decision-Maker Felix Leibfried, Daniel A. Braun Optimality of Upper-Arm Reaching Trajectories Based on the Expected Value of the Metabolic Energy Cost Yoshiaki Taniai, Jun Nishii Active Learning Using Hint Information Chun-Liang Li, Chun-Sung Ferng, and Hsuan-Tien Lin Subsampled Hessian Newton Methods for Supervised Learning Chien-Chih Wang, Chun-Heng Huang, and Chih-Jen Lin Minimal Sign Representation of Boolean Functions: Algorithms and Exact Results for Low Dimensions Can Eren Sezener, Erhan Oztop ------------ ON-LINE -- http://www.mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2015 - VOLUME 27 - 12 ISSUES Student/Retired $75 Individual $134 Institution $1,075 MIT Press Journals, One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209 Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-cs at mit.edu ------------ From cookie at ucsd.edu Wed Jul 22 11:45:21 2015 From: cookie at ucsd.edu (Santamaria, Cookie) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:45:21 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE -- Applications due July 31, 2015 Message-ID: POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE The BioCircuits Institute (BCI) and Departments of Physics, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Bioengineering, and Psychology and Neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego invite applications for a postdoctoral position in systems neuroscience, for experiments leading to the neuromorphic engineering of cognitive abilities. The ideal candidate will have experience with electrophysiology, with awake behaving animals, with neural modeling, and/or with biologically inspired integrated circuits and systems. Close interaction with other project researchers in computational and theoretical neuroscience, nonlinear dynamical systems, and neuromorphic engineering is involved. We will accept applications immediately. To be considered, please submit your complete application by Friday, 31 July 2015. We will begin making selections from the completed applications on 3 August 2015. The Committee will continue to accept and review completed applications as they are received until the position is filled. Appointments are for two years (in one-year increments) with the possibility of a third. Send your statement of qualifications and interest with curriculum vitae, your two most significant publications and three letters of reference to Tim Gentner, Henry Abarbanel, Gert Cauwenberghs, Katja Lindenberg, Mikhail Rabinovich, and Terrence Sejnowski via email to: >. A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree is required prior to the appointment. UCSD is an EO/AA employer. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From simone.seeger at zi-mannheim.de Wed Jul 22 04:36:46 2015 From: simone.seeger at zi-mannheim.de (Seeger, Simone) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 08:36:46 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Bernstein Conference: Early registration ends on July 24, 2015 Message-ID: <68B5BBF569FEF84891D3AAB4D3141E45A7D919D3@ZIMAIL2.Zi.local> BERNSTEIN CONFERENCE 2015 in Heidelberg Early registration ends on July 24, 2015! Please register here. *************************************************************************** Satellite Workshops September 14, 2015 Main Conference September 15-17, 2015 *************************************************************************** The Bernstein Conference has become the largest annual Computational Neuroscience Conference in Europe and now regularly attracts more than 500 international participants. This year, the Conference is organized by the Bernstein Center Heidelberg-Mannheim and will take place in Heidelberg on September 15-17, 2015. In addition, there will be a series of pre-conference satellite workshops on September 14, 2015. The Bernstein Conference is a single-track conference, covering all aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, and sessions for poster presentations are an integral part of the conference. The Bernstein conference will also feature a series of satellite workshops on September 14, 2015. The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of timely research questions and challenges. For more information on the conference, please visit: http://www.bernstein-conference.de CONFERENCE DATE AND VENUE: Satellite Workshops September 14, 2015 Main Conference September 15-17, 2015 Venue: Neue Universit?t, Grabengasse 3-5, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany PHD STUDENT EVENT: September 17-18, 2015 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Peter Bastian Andreas Draguhn Daniel Durstewitz Martin Gerchen Joachim Hass Elke Jochum Peter Kirsch Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Christoph Schuster Simone Seeger We look forward to seeing you in Heidelberg in September! *** Simone Seeger, M.A. Administration Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Zentralinstitut f?r Seelische Gesundheit Postfach 12 21 20, 68072 Mannheim J5, 68159 Mannheim Telefon: 0621/1703-1326 oder 06221/54-8310 Fax: 0621/1703-2915 E-Mail: Simone.Seeger at zi-mannheim.de Internet: http://www.bccn-heidelberg-mannheim.de -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Jakob.Macke at caesar.de Fri Jul 24 10:12:01 2015 From: Jakob.Macke at caesar.de (Jakob Macke) Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 14:12:01 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc and graduate student positions in computational neuroscience and machine learning Message-ID: <03483ADC-FB94-4560-BBF6-DC9FAE797659@caesar.de> Postdoc and graduate student positions in computational neuroscience and machine learning We are seeking postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to join the recently established Max Planck Research Group ?Neural System Analysis? lead by Jakob Macke (www.mackelab.org) at research center caesar. Our group investigates how populations of neurons collectively process sensory input, perform computations and control behaviour. To this end, we develop statistical methods and machine learning algorithms for neural data analysis. We maintain close ties with experimental and theoretical research groups in Bonn and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience T?bingen (www.bccn-tuebingen.de), and extensively collaborate with laboratories performing measurements of neural activity and behaviour at various other locations. The center of advanced european studies and research (caesar) is an Institute of the Max Planck Society dedicated to the Neurosciences, Cell Biology, and Biophysics, and is embedded in the neuroscience community of the Max Planck Society and the University of Bonn. Caesar provides modern infrastructure and excellent scientific facilities in an attractive building located in the beautiful ?Rheinaue? park, in the southern part of Bonn. Caesar offers an international and family-friendly atmosphere, and supports individual development with training programs and seminars. Applicants should have a strong background in a quantitative discipline (e.g. maths, statistics, physics or computer science) and a genuine interest in understanding neural computation in biological or artificial systems. Prior exposure to machine learning and programming skills is advantageous. Applicants with interest in combining computational and experimental work in collaboration with the department of Jason Kerr at caesar are also encouraged to apply. We particularly encourage female students and researchers to apply. Screening of applications will begin August 15th. The starting date is flexible. Application materials should include a CV including university grades, a brief statement of research interests, contact details of two referees and one or two work samples-- anything that is genuinely the own work of the applicant, e.g. a thesis, computer code, a research manuscript or an essay. Please contact Jakob Macke (Jakob at caesar.de, www.mackelab.org) for informal enquiries, and submit your application at http://www.caesar.de/jobs-phd.html. Jakob Macke Max Planck Research Group Leader Neural Systems Analysis phone +49/228/9656170 fax +49/228/96569170 e-mail: jakob at caesar.de www.mackelab.org research center caesar an associate of the Max Planck Society Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2 53175 Bonn, Germany www.caesar.de Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience 72076 T?bingen, Germany www.bccn-tuebingen.de From mbeyeler at uci.edu Thu Jul 23 13:22:19 2015 From: mbeyeler at uci.edu (Michael Beyeler) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 10:22:19 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: CARLsim 3.0.2 released Message-ID: <55B122CB.20303@uci.edu> Dear colleagues, Many of you may be interested in our latest software release of the CARLsim simulator. CARLsim is an efficient, easy-to-use, GPU-accelerated library for simulating large-scale spiking neural network (SNN) models with a high degree of biological detail. Software and documentation can be found at: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma/CARLsim This release is in conjunction with our latest publications, which highlight CARLsim?s latest features. * Beyeler, M., Carlson, K.D., Chou, T.S., Krichmar, J.L., Dutt, N., (2015) CARLsim 3: A User-Friendly and Highly Optimized Library for the Creation of Neurobiologically Detailed Spiking Neural Networks. Paper presented at: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (Killarney, Ireland). * Beyeler, M., Richert, M., Dutt, N.D., and Krichmar, J.L. (2014). Efficient Spiking Neural Network Model of Pattern Motion Selectivity in Visual Cortex. Neuroinformatics. * Carlson, K.D., Nageswaran, J.M., Dutt, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2014). An efficient automated parameter tuning framework for spiking neural networks. Frontiers in Neuroscience 8. * Carlson, K.D., Richert, M., Dutt, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2013). Biologically Plausible Models of Homeostasis and STDP: Stability and Learning in Spiking Neural Networks. Paper presented at: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (Dallas, TX). If you have recently used CARLsim in one of your scientific publications, let us know so that we can add your paper to the list. CARLsim 3.0.2 Release Highlights --------------------------------------------- * improved platform compatibility (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows) * real-time and offline data analysis tools * an automated parameter tuning interface that utilizes evolutionary algorithms to construct functional SNNs * an expanded STDP implementation, which includes dopaminergic neuromodulation * an exhaustive User Guide and Tutorials * much improved code base, which includes a test suite for functional code verification Best regards from the CARLsim team, Michael Beyeler Kristofor Carlson Ting-Shuo Chou Nikil Dutt Jeff Krichmar -- Michael Beyeler Ph.D. Candidate Cognitive Anteater Robotics Lab (CARL) 2236 Cognitive & Behavioral Science Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100, USA http://sites.uci.edu/mbeyeler From commons at tiac.net Sat Jul 25 18:59:14 2015 From: commons at tiac.net (Michael Lamport Commons) Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2015 18:59:14 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc and graduate student positions in computational neuroscience and machine learning Message-ID: <25194311.1437865154659.JavaMail.root@mswamui-cedar.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From navlakha at salk.edu Tue Jul 28 22:39:36 2015 From: navlakha at salk.edu (Saket Navlakha) Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 02:39:36 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Biological Distributed Algorithms 2015 -- Call for participation Message-ID: <67FA1C8A-D48B-4EE2-9DDB-367F456632B3@salk.edu> ======================================================= The 3rd Workshop on Biological Distributed Algorithms (BDA 2015) August 18-19, 2015 in Boston, MA USA http://www.snl.salk.edu/~navlakha/BDA2015/ ======================================================= The 3rd workshop on Biological Distributed Algorithms (BDA). BDA is focused on the relationships between distributed computing and distributed biological systems. Such research can lead to better understanding of the behavior of the biological systems while at the same time developing novel computational algorithms that can be used to solve distributed computing problems. BDA 2015 will include invited and contributed presentations, as well as open discussions, on distributed algorithms related to a variety of biological systems, with special attention to communication and coordination in insect colonies and in the brain. ============ Registration ============ Please register for the conference at http://bda2015.eventbrite.com/ Early registration (by Aug 10) is $100. Late registration is $150. ================ Invited speakers ================ Yehuda Afek, Tel Aviv University: Faster task allocation by idle ants Ziv Bar-Joseph, CMU: Belief propagation in bacterial food search Spring Berman, Arizona State: Control and Estimation Techniques for Adaptive Robotic Swarms Jennifer Fewell, Arizona State: Division of labor: the organization and self-organization of work Istvan Karsai, East Tennessee State: Organization of work via the "common stomach" in social insects Simon Garnier, NJIT: An ant bridge too far Deborah Gordon, Stanford: Distributed algorithms in ant colonies: nestmate recognition and highway systems Pankaj Mehta, BU: Learning from collective behavior in Dictyostelium populations Nir Shavit, MIT and Tel-Aviv University: Connectomes on Demand? Les Valiant, Harvard: A computational model and theory of cortex ================= PROGRAM COMMITTEE ================= Ziv Bar-Joseph, CMU Anna Dornhaus, University of Arizona Yuval Emek, Technion (co-chair) Amos Korman, CNRS and University of Paris Diderot Nancy Lynch, MIT Saket Navlakha, Salk Institute (co-chair) Please refer to our website at http://www.snl.salk.edu/~navlakha/BDA2015/ for the complete schedule. From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Wed Jul 29 04:14:18 2015 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2015 08:14:18 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: INNS Deep Learning Workshop, San Francisco, Aug. 8, 2015 Message-ID: <4AD8F84F0AA4E1448BD8131BA7E55EB425FA5305@exmbw02.asurite.ad.asu.edu> INNS Deep Learning Workshop Saturday, 8 August 2015, San Francisco http://innsbigdata.org/workshops/deep-learning-workshop/ Deep Learning Workshop : http://innsbigdata.org/workshops/deep-learning-workshop/ As part of the workshop, there will be a two hour panel discussion on Deep Learning and Its Future addressing issues such as: * What are the inherent limitations of existing DL approaches? How to address them? * Do you see DL leading to generic AI? Why? * What potential of DL hasn't been revealed yet? * What are the possible new application areas? Participants: 1. Juergen Schmidhuber (IDSIA, Univ. of Lugano) 2. Dong Yu (Microsoft) 3. Pierre Baldi (Univ. of California, Irvine) 4. Jitendra Malik (Univ. of California, Berkeley) 5. Risto Miikkulainen (Univ. of Texas, Austin) 6. Ilya Sutskever (Google) 7. Xiaodong He (Microsoft) 8. Oriol Vinyals (Google) 9. Awni Hannun (Baidu) Further details are available on our website: http://innsbigdata.org/workshops/deep-learning-workshop/. Juergen Schmidhuber and Dong Yu are also doing a tutorial on Deep Learning on Aug. 8, Saturday. You can register just for the tutorials and workshops on Aug. 8 at http://innsbigdata.org/registration-2/ . We hope to see you in San Francisco! Asim Roy General Co-Chair INNS Conference on Big Data 2015 www.lifeboat.com/ex/bios.asim.roy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jyeatman at uw.edu Mon Jul 27 15:48:00 2015 From: jyeatman at uw.edu (Jason Yeatman) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 12:48:00 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position in the Brain Development & Education Lab at the University of Washington Message-ID: *Postdoc position at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences* The Brain Development and Education Lab will be in operation this fall at the University of Washington?s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. We are looking for a postdoc who is interested in studying the neurobiological basis of learning to read and/or developing new techniques for measuring the developing human brain. The lab combines quantitative MRI (diffusion, T1, etc.), functional MRI, MEG and behavioral measurements to model how changes in brain structure relate to changes in cortical computation and behavior. Our goal is understand how the brain?s reading circuitry develops in response to education and how targeted behavioral interventions prompt changes in the brain?s of children with dyslexia. See a list of ongoing projects here: http://depts.washington.edu/bdelab/projects/ Prospective postdocs should have strong computational skills and proficiency in MATLAB, Python, or and equivalent language. The nature of this position is interdisciplinary; a strong candidate will have good communication skills and be able to draw on expertise in multiple scientific domains including human neuroscience, education and engineering. Prior experience with acquisition and analysis of human neuroimaging data is desirable but not required. To apply for a postdoc position, please send curriculum vitae, a brief statement of research interests and contact information for three referees to: Jason Yeatman (jyeatman at uw.edu). Jason D. Yeatman, PhD Assistant Professor, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences University of Washington http://depts.washington.edu/bdelab/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rrosenb1 at nd.edu Mon Jul 27 12:24:28 2015 From: rrosenb1 at nd.edu (Robert Rosenbaum) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 12:24:28 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Four faculty positions in statistics and stochastics Message-ID: <2699DA0C-67F9-427B-8F27-32B6EA88B141@nd.edu> The Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics is seeking applications for a total of four faculty positions, three in statistics and one in stochastics. Ideally, one of the statistics positions will be at the post-tenure level (associate or full professor) and the remainder will be tenure track (assistant professor). The department is highly supportive of collaborative and interdisciplinary research and encourages applications from computational neuroscientists. Feel free to contact me (Robert.Rosenbaum at nd.edu) with general questions about the department, etc. Applicants for the post-tenure job are invited to contact the chair, Andrew Sommese (sommese at nd.edu). For more information and to apply, see here for statistics: http://apply.interfolio.com/30595 and here for stochastics: http://apply.interfolio.com/30609 ? Robert Rosenbaum Assistant Professor Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics University of Notre Dame From marcello.pelillo at gmail.com Mon Jul 27 03:11:15 2015 From: marcello.pelillo at gmail.com (Marcello Pelillo) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 09:11:15 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Two Samsung funded postdoc positions at the Univesity of Venice Message-ID: Applications are invited for two postdoc positions at the European Center for Living Technology (www.ecltech.org), a complex systems center based at the University of Venice, Italy, to undertake research in machine learning and computer vision. The positions are funded by Samsung within the Global Research Outreach program: http://www.sait.samsung.co.kr/saithome/Page.do?method=main&pagePath=01_about/&pageName=gro_overview The successful candidates will join the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition group, headed by Prof. Marcello Pelillo, and will work on a project that aims at developing context-aware models for machine learning and computer vision based on game theory: http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=193805 The group has an established international reputation with a track record of top-level publications, and it will be organizing ICCV 2017, which will be held in Venice in October 2017. Candidates should have a PhD in Computer Vision and/or Machine Learning (or should at least have submitted the thesis and awaiting the viva). A solid mathematical background and good programming skills are expected. The appointment will be for one year (renewable) starting from September/October 2015, and the salary will range from EUR 23,000 to EUR 35,000 per annum, according to the level of expertise. For further details or informal enquires please contact Marcello Pelillo ( pelillo at unive.it ). -- Marcello Pelillo, FIEEE, FIAPR Professor of Computer Science Ca' Foscari University Venice Director, European Centre for Living Technology (ECLT) Ca' Minich S. Marco 2940, 30124 Venezia, Italy Tel: (39) 041 2347588 - Fax: (39) 041 2347589 http://www.ecltech.org Head, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Lab DAIS - Campus Scientifico Via Torino 155, 30172 Venezia Mestre, Italy Tel: (39) 041 2348440 - Fax: (39) 041 2348419 http://www.dais.unive.it E-mail: marcello.pelillo at gmail.com URL: http://www.dsi.unive.it/~pelillo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From boracchi at elet.polimi.it Sun Jul 26 17:13:28 2015 From: boracchi at elet.polimi.it (Giacomo Boracchi) Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2015 23:13:28 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?IEEE_Computational_Intelligence_Magazin?= =?utf-8?q?e_=28CIM=29_Special_Issue=3A_=E2=80=9CModel_Complexity?= =?utf-8?q?=2C_Regularization_and_Sparsity=E2=80=9D?= Message-ID: *Call for Papers* *IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine* *Special Issue on ?Model Complexity, Regularization and Sparsity?* http://home.deib.polimi.it/boracchi/events/ModelComplexity.html *Aims and Scope* The effective management of solution complexity is one of the most important issues in addressing Computational Intelligence problems. Regularization techniques control model complexity by taking advantage of some prior information regarding the problem at hand, represented as penalty expressions that impose these properties on the solution. Over the past few years, one of the most prominent and successful types of regularization has been based on the *sparsity* prior, which promotes solutions that can be expressed as a linear combination of a few atoms belonging to a *dictionary*. Sparsity can in some sense be considered a ?measure of simplicity? and, as such, is compatible with many nature-inspired principles of Computational Intelligence. Nowadays, sparsity has become one of the leading approaches for learning adaptive representations for both descriptive and discriminative tasks, and has been shown to be particularly effective when dealing with structured, complex and high-dimensional data. Regularization, including sparsity and other priors to control the model complexity, is often the key ingredient in the successful solution of difficult problems; it is therefore not surprising that these aspects have also recently gained a lot of attention in big-data processing, due to unprecedented challenges associated with the need to handle massive datastreams that are possibly high-dimensional and organized in complex structures. This special issue aims at presenting the most relevant regularization techniques and approaches to control model complexity in Computational Intelligence. Submissions of papers presenting regularization methods for Neural Networks, Evolutionary Computation or Fuzzy Systems, are welcome. Submissions of papers presenting advanced regularization techniques in specific, but relevant, application fields such as data/datastream-mining, classification, big-data analytics, image/signal analysis, natural-language processing, are also encouraged. *Topics of Interest* ? Regularization methods for big and high-dimensional data; ? Regularization methods for supervised and unsupervised learning; ? Regularization methods for ill-posed problems in Computational Intelligence; ? Techniques to control model complexity; ? Sparse representations in Computational Intelligence; ? Managing model complexity in data analytics; ? Effective priors for solving Computational Intelligence problems; ? Multiple prior integration; ? Regularization in kernel methods and support vector machines. *Important Dates* ? 22nd January, 2016: Submission of Manuscripts ? 30th March, 2016: Notification of Review Results ? 30th April, 2016: Submission of Revised Manuscripts ? 15th June, 2016: Submission of Final Manuscripts ? November, 2016: Special Issue Publication *Submission Process* The maximum length for the manuscript is typically 20 pages in single column with double-spacing, including figures and references. Authors of papers should specify in the first page of their manuscripts the corresponding author?s contact and up to 5 keywords. Additional information about submission guidelines and information for authors is provided at the IEEE CIM website. Submission instructions can be found at http://home.deib.polimi.it/boracchi/events/ModelComplexity.html *Guest Editors* *Prof. Cesare Alippi,* Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Biongegneria, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, 20133, Italy email: cesare.alippi at polimi.it *Dr. Giacomo Boracchi*, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Biongegneria, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, 20133, Italy email: giacomo.boracchi at polimi.it *Dr. Brendt Wohlberg*, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM 87545, USA email: brendt at lanl.gov -- Giacomo Boracchi, PhD DEIB - Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria Politecnico di Milano Via Ponzio, 34/5 20133 Milano, Italy. Tel. +39 02 2399 3467 http://home.dei.polimi.it/boracchi/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From florian.roehrbein at in.tum.de Mon Jul 27 11:10:53 2015 From: florian.roehrbein at in.tum.de (=?utf-8?Q?Florian_R=C3=B6hrbein?=) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 17:10:53 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Posters: IROS Workshop on Advances in Biologically Inspired Brain-Like Cognition and Control for Learning Robot Message-ID: <4FBBAC0B-1842-45D3-B80D-4F1C104E8797@in.tum.de> CALL FOR POSTERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IROS Half-Day Workshop on Advances in Biologically Inspired Brain-Like Cognition and Control for Learning Robots http://neurorobotics.net/workshop/iros-workshop/ We encourage the submission of poster abstracts for our IROS 2015 workshop (see below for relevant topics of interest). Accepted submitters will not only get the chance to present their posters during this exciting event and meet other experts from the field but also to publish their work in a special issue of the journal frontiers in Neurorobotics (http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/neurorobotics ). Submitted abstracts should be 0.5 ? 2 pages long and will be reviewed by at least two peers. The selection of accepted posters will be done by the organizing committee, based on the reviews. We are looking forward to receiving your submission! PLACE & DATES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IROS 2015 2015 Hamburg, Germany (www.iros2015.org ) Abstract Submission Deadline: August 15 Notification of Acceptance: September 07 Workshop: October 02, 2015, Morning Session OBJECTIVES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even today?s most advanced robots perform poorly at simple everyday tasks carried out routinely by humans and animals. This has very early motivated researchers to adopt neurobiological principles of cognition and control in robotics, yielding numerous approaches based on artificial neural networks and machine learning. However, many of the originally proposed methods employ neural networks solely for the purpose of approximating and replicating standard control architectures. At the same time, research focusing more on biological plausibility severely suffered from limitations on size and accuracy of the neural simulations imposed by hardware constraints. In recent years, new theoretical insights and the increasing availability of cheap processing power have brought new momentum to the field which has evolved into two tracks of research with different goals and methods. In the new and emerging field of neurorobotics, the focus is on a close correspondence to experimental findings from neurosciences. Detailed simulations of spiking neural networks and the use biologically plausible neural learning rules are therefore more important than mathematical tractability or implementation efficiency and enable a seamless exchange of results between both disciplines. In contrast, new approaches extending the theory of classical artificial neural networks mostly rely on simpler neuron models but integrate them at much larger scales or embed them in novel network architectures. This workshop seeks to provide a platform to present and discuss advances in biologically inspired brain-like cognition and control for robotic applications based on both biologically plausible and artificial neural networks. By bringing together experts from both fields, we intend to foster a fruitful exchange between the different communities. The global scope of the workshop furthermore makes participation also equally attractive for researchers new to the field. Interactive demonstrations of tools and implementations will help to get all attendants actively involved. A dedicated poster session additionally offers enough room for individual discussion. TOPICS OF INTEREST ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neurorobotics Spiking neural networks for robotic applications Bio-inspired learning Self-organization Embodiment Applications of neuromorphic hardware designs in robotics Reservoir computing Deep learning INVITED SPEAKERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auke Jan Ijspeert, Biorobotics Laboratory, ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, Switzerland Joni Dambre, Reservoir Computing Lab, Ghent University, Belgium Manfred Hild, Neurorobotics Research Laboratory, Beuth Hochschule f?r Technik Berlin,Germany Herbert J?ger, Jacobs University, Germany Jason Yosinski, Cornell University, USA (tenative) ORGANIZERS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florian Walter, Technische Universit?t M?nchen, Germany Florian R?hrbein, Technische Universit?t M?nchen, Germany Stefan Ulbrich, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, Germany R?diger Dillmann, Karlsruher Institut f?r Technologie (KIT), Germany CONTACT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florian Walter Institut f?r Informatik VI, Technische Universit?t M?nchen Boltzmannstra?e 3, 85748 Garching b. M?nchen, Germany florian.walter at tum.de http://www.neurorobotics.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From h.glotin at gmail.com Mon Jul 27 17:22:11 2015 From: h.glotin at gmail.com (Herve Glotin) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:22:11 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: PhD pos.: Deep Learning for Speech / Bioacoustic Recognition Message-ID: 'PhD student position: Deep Learning for Speech / Bioacoustic Recognition' - please forward to whom it may concern DYNI / academic LSIS lab is seeking a PhD student in Toulon, France, to investigate deep learning for efficient bioacoustic representations, applied to human speech, bird and whales sound analyses and classification. Evaluation will be conducted on international benchmarks. Since 2012, DYNI heads the SABIOD consortium ( http://sabiod.org ) on Scaled Acoustic Biodiversity, joining several international teams expert in machine learning, signal processing and bioacoustics. DYNI chaired several workshops on machine learning meetings bioacoustics at ICML 2013 and 2014, NIPS 2013, and ICDM 2015. DYNI has the chair of Scene Analysis at Inst. Univ. de France (iuf.amue.fr), and th group is dedicated to multimodal scene analysis from signal to automatic indexing. DYNI maintains close ties with theoretical research groups in Paris (DATA team; Sorbonne Univ...), INRIA, Cornell Univ, NYU, Victoria Univ, Pavia Univ., and some deep learning community. DYNI has close ties with experimental research groups in Scaled Bioacoustic: Ocean Network Canada (UVIC), Antares deep sea platform... some ONGs (OrcaLab, XenoCanto), and industrial partnairs. Toulon campus provides scientific facilities and is located in the beautiful Provence C?te d'Azur area in France, between Marseille and Nice. LSIS lab actually gathers 200 researchers professors & PhD students in computer science and signal analysis and pattern recognition. Applicants should have a strong background in machine learning (maths, statistics, computer science) & a genuine interest in understanding neural computation in perceptual intelligence. Prior exposure to neural computation and machine learning & programming skills is advantageous. Applicants with interest in combining machine learning, feature learning & signal processing are encouraged to apply. Screening of applications will begin August 17th. The starting date of the 100% government grant (MRT) is October or at last December. The full grant lasts at least 3 years (french Phd program lasts usually 3 years). Application materials should include a CV (university grades, honors / awards, brief statement of research interests, contact details of 2 referees), + 1 or 2 work samples, anything that is genuinely the own work of the applicant (e.g. thesis, computer code, web site demo, research manuscript / essay). For informal inquiries, please contact the direction team of this project : Dr. Joseph Razik, Pr. Herv? Glotin and Dr. S?bastien Paris : razik at univ-tln.fr, h.glotin at gmail.com, sebastien.paris at lsis.org Submit your application (a single .PDF) before the 17th of August to: phd.application.dyni at gmail.com Sincerely, Herve' et coll. -- H. Glotin, Pr - http://glotin.univ-tln.fr - glotin at univ-tln.fr Institut Univ. de France (IUF), UMR CNRS LSIS, Univ. Toulon (UTLN) Head of Scaled Acoustic Biodiversity (http://sabiod.org) & DYNI projects From erzsebet at rice.edu Mon Jul 27 15:01:11 2015 From: erzsebet at rice.edu (Erzsebet Merenyi) Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:01:11 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: WSOM 2016 papers due July 31 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, A quick reminder that the paper submission deadline for WSOM 2016 is coming up at the end of this week. Check http://wsom2016.rice.edu/ for all details. We look forward to your papers, and to your participation in the conference in January. Be prepared for Texas style hospitality, banquet, and entertainment ;-) WSOM 2016 organizers -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu Fri Jul 31 14:13:44 2015 From: dwang at cse.ohio-state.edu (DeLiang Wang) Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:13:44 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL NETWORKS, Aug. 2015 Message-ID: <55BBBAD8.50508@cse.ohio-state.edu> Neural Networks - Volume 68, August 2015 http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks Discontinuous Lyapunov approach to state estimation and filtering of jumped systems with sampled-data Xiaoyang Liu, Wenwu Yu, Jinde Cao, Shun Chen Computer aided diagnosis of schizophrenia on resting state fMRI data by ensembles of ELM Darya Chyzhyk, Alexandre Savio, Manuel Grana Almost periodic solutions for a memristor-based neural networks with leakage, time-varying and distributed delays Ping Jiang, Zhigang Zeng, Jiejie Chen Analysis of connectivity in NeuCube spiking neural network models trained on EEG data for the understanding of functional changes in the brain: A case study on opiate dependence treatment Elisa Capecci, Nikola Kasabov, Grace Y. Wang Periodic solution for state-dependent impulsive shunting inhibitory CNNs with time-varying delays Mustafa Sayli, Enes Yilmaz Set selection dynamical system neural networks with partial memories, with applications to Sudoku and KenKen puzzles B. Boreland, G. Clement, H. Kunze Multistability in a class of stochastic delayed Hopfield neural networks Wu-Hua Chen, Shixian Luo, Xiaomei Lu Global asymptotical image-periodicity of a fractional-order non-autonomous neural networks Boshan Chen, Jiejie Chen Periodic synchronization control of discontinuous delayed networks by using extended Filippov-framework Zuowei Cai, Lihong Huang, Zhenyuan Guo, Lingling Zhang, Xuting Wan The transfer function of neuron spike Igor Palmieri, Luiz H.A. Monteiro, Maria D. Miranda From pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr Fri Jul 31 10:16:44 2015 From: pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr (Pierre-Yves Oudeyer) Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 16:16:44 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: [publication and call for dialog] IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development, Spring 2015 Message-ID: <2A7327D6-1E94-4654-9645-5FA55C68583A@inria.fr> Dear colleagues, I am happy to announce the release of the latest issue of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development (open access). This is the biannual newsletter of the computational developmental sciences and developmental robotics community, studying mechanisms of lifelong learning and development in machines and humans. It is available at: https://flowers.inria.fr/AMDNL-V12-N1.pdf Featuring dialog: === ?Will social robots need to be consciously aware?? === Dialog Initiated by Janet Wiles, with responses from Axel Cleeremans, Yasuko Kitano, Cornelius Weber and Stefan Wermter, Justin Hart and Brian Scassellati, Juyang Weng, Guy Hoffman and Moran Cerf. Several dimensions of the question stand out. First, as we are very far from understanding what ?consciousness? is, it appears that building robots capable of various forms of self- and other- awareness, and importantly how they can develop progressively these capabilities, can be very useful in the quest to unveil the underlying mechanisms. Second, as consciousness is a multiscale complex systems, multiple approaches and perspectives need to be taken in this process of robot building. Third, when one looks at applications, it is the function, and not the nature, of consciousness which becomes the relevant angle of analysis, and several ethical questions arise. Call for new dialog: === "Representational redescription: the next challenge?" === New dialog initiated by St?phane Doncieux It has long been known in AI that having a good representation is key for machines to solve complex problems. However, so far good representations have been pre-programmed by engineers. What technical approaches could we imagine to allow machines to select, and even more important to find, new spaces of representations? Are techniques like deep learning general enough for realising such a challenge for lifelong learning robots? Do we need other approaches such as Darwinian mechanisms operating in the brain, like in neural Darwinism? Those of you interested in reacting to this dialogue initiation are welcome to submit a response by October 30th, 2015. length of each response must be between 600 and 800 words including references (contact pierre-yves.oudeyer at inria.fr). You will also find news about the latest activities of the AMD Technical Committee and the ICDL-Epirob 2015 conference, and a call for candidates to become the new editor of the newsletter. As I have been editor of the newsletter for around 8 years, and I have now the AMD TC Chair duty, it is now time for other ideas and energies to take the lead of the newsletter. I take this opportunity to thank Fabien Benureau for his help as editorial assistant. Let me remind you that previous issues of the newsletter are all open-access and available at: http://www.cse.msu.edu/amdtc/amdnl/ I wish you a stimulating reading! Best regards, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development Chair of the IEEE CIS AMD Technical Committee on AMD Research director, Inria Head of Flower project-team Inria and Ensta ParisTech, France http://www.pyoudeyer.com https://flowers.inria.fr http://www.poppy-project.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: