From gaute.einevoll at nmbu.no Mon Jun 1 12:33:08 2015 From: gaute.einevoll at nmbu.no (Gaute Einevoll) Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2015 16:33:08 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position in Computational Neuroscience/Biology in Oslo, Norway Message-ID: PHD-POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE/BIOLOGY IN OSLO, NORWAY Several PhD positions are available in the SUURPh (SIMULA-UiO-UCSD) collaboration: https://www.simula.no/education/suurph-collaboration PhD-candidates will expectedly spend about 3 years in Oslo (UiO or SIMULA) and about year at UCSD. Possible PhD-projects include: modeling of interaction between ion channels and psychoactive drugs, modeling of memory processing in hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, modeling of liquid flow in the brain, biophysical modeling of EEG and MEG signals, biomechanical modeling of the human brain. For more info on projects see: https://www.simula.no/suurph-projects Students interested in becoming a SUURPh fellow should consult the Applicant's page: https://www.simula.no/students-page. Here you will find all relevant information and instructions to submit your application. ********************************************** Professor Gaute T. Einevoll Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Aas, Norway; Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Ph. +47-64965433, Mobile: +47-95124536 email: Gaute.Einevoll at nmbu.no, web: compneuro.umb.no, cinpla.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk Tue Jun 2 11:55:48 2015 From: A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk (Angelo Cangelosi) Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2015 15:55:48 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Research Fellow in Computational Psycholinguistics, Plymouth University Message-ID: Research Fellow in Computational Psycholinguistics Plymouth University Location: Plymouth Salary: ?32,277 to ?37,394 Hours: Full Time Contract Type: Contract / Temporary Placed on: 29th May 2015 Closes: 14th June 2015 Job Ref: A4299 Faculty of Health and Human Sciences School of Psychology Ref: A4299 Salary: ?32,277 - ?37,394 ? Grade 7 A Research Fellow post is available to support the ESRC funded research project ?Lexicon development in bilingual toddlers? within the School of Psychology at Plymouth University which aims to investigate how young bilingual children develop language. The main role of this research fellow will be to create a computational model of bilingual language acquisition to generate predictions of word-to-word activation patterns within and across languages. This research will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Oxford (Prof Kim Plunkett), and will integrate data collected across a project network of other universities (Bangor, Birmingham, Kent, and Liverpool). You will have a PhD held in a relevant discipline that would allow the demonstration of strong practical experience of connectionist modelling and/or machine learning. Previous experience of computational psycholinguistics in the domain of lexical modelling or word learning would be highly beneficial, but not essential. You will be hired by Plymouth University with a full time work location in the Babylab in the School of Psychology. Recruitment and selection will be based on individual merit, however, we should particularly like to encourage applications from women, black and minority ethnic people who are under-represented in the University. Informal enquiries regarding the post, the project or the research details can be made to Dr Caroline Floccia, Reader and Head of the Babylab on caroline.floccia at plymouth.ac.uk or telephone 01752 584822 This is a full-time post on a fixed-term basis of 12 months starting 1st August 2015 to the 31st July 2016. Please note, previous applicants need not apply. Interviews are likely to be held around the 20st of June 2015. Closing date: 12:00 midnight, Sunday 14th June 2015 Plymouth University is committed to an inclusive culture and respecting diversity, and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. The University holds a Bronze Athena SWAN Award which recognises commitment to advancing women?s career in STEMM academia. http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ALG211/research-fellow-in-computational-psycholinguistics/ ________________________________ [http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/images/email_footer.gif] This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the recipient to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient then copying, distribution or other use of the information contained is strictly prohibited and you should not rely on it. If you have received this email in error please let the sender know immediately and delete it from your system(s). Internet emails are not necessarily secure. While we take every care, Plymouth University accepts no responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan emails and their attachments. Plymouth University does not accept responsibility for any changes made after it was sent. Nothing in this email or its attachments constitutes an order for goods or services unless accompanied by an official order form. From p.andras at keele.ac.uk Tue Jun 2 09:51:00 2015 From: p.andras at keele.ac.uk (Peter Andras) Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2015 14:51:00 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Research Associate position Message-ID: <06ee01d09d3b$290c7d20$7b257760$@keele.ac.uk> Research Associate Fixed Term for 2 Years Starting salary: Grade 7 ? ?31,342 Keele University wishes to appoint a Research Associate for the duration of 2 years starting on 1st August 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter, in order to conduct research on the development of novel voltage-sensitive dyes for neuroimaging. You will work in the group led by Professor Peter Andras in the Computer Science Research Centre and the School of Computing and Mathematics at Keele University and within a Leverhulme Trust funded project. The project runs in collaboration with the group of Professor Andrew Benniston from the School of Chemistry at Newcastle University. The aim of the project is to use rational molecular design to develop novel voltage-sensitive dyes with low toxicity and strong fluorescent signal in order to improve significantly the quality of neuroimaging data. You will work on the testing and evaluation of novel voltage-sensitive dyes for neuroimaging developed by our collaborators from Newcastle University. The novel dyes will be tested and evaluated by imaging neural activity in the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion and brain slices. You will be expected to contribute to the design of the experiments, run the experiments, collect and analyse the data, contribute to the writing of scientific papers and to present the results at conferences. You will be also encouraged to develop your leadership skills. You should have a PhD in a science subject (neuroscience, biology, computer science, physics, mathematics or similar), an interest in working on neuroscience experiments and a demonstrated aptitude for research. Experience in analysis of neuroimaging or similar data is essential and experience in micro-dissection and electrophysiology is highly desirable. For further enquiries please contact Professor Peter Andras at p.andras @keele.ac.uk. For full post details and to apply, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/RE15-12 Closing date for applications: 29th June 2015 Interview dates: 6 ? 7 July 2015 (to be confirmed) Interviews may be conducted remotely if needed (via skype or similar technology) --- Professor Peter Andras Professor of Computer Science and Informatics Head of Computing Division School of Computing and Mathematics Keele University Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG UK Tel. +44-1782-733412 Fax. +44-1782-734268 E-mail: p.andras at keele.ac.uk Web: www.scm.keele.ac.uk/staff/p_andras/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From smart at neuralcorrelate.com Wed Jun 3 10:56:30 2015 From: smart at neuralcorrelate.com (Susana Martinez-Conde) Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 10:56:30 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Countdown to the 11th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest In-Reply-To: <044901d09e0d$1e9885a0$5bc990e0$@neuralcorrelate.com> References: <044901d09e0d$1e9885a0$5bc990e0$@neuralcorrelate.com> Message-ID: <057801d09e0d$799efb50$6cdcf1f0$@neuralcorrelate.com> The Best Illusion of the Year Contest , hosted by the Neural Correlate Society , is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection (that means YOU!) can vote to pick the Top 3 Winners from the current Top 10 List. Ten novel illusions, submitted from five different countries, and selected by an international judge panel from dozens of entries, will compete for first, second, and third placement on June 11th-12th. The final rankings will be decided by worldwide online voting. The winning illusions will receive a $3,000 award for 1st place, a $2,000 award for 2nd place, and a $1,000 award for 3rd place. Worldwide voting will take place on the Best Illusion of the Year Contest website , from 7pm EST June 11th to 7pm EST June 12th. The Top 10 finalist illusions, listed below, will be publicly revealed at that time! Masashi Atarashi: "Snow Blind Illusion". Physics teacher at Aichi Prefectural Gojo Senior High School (Japan) Luke Bashford and Carsten Mehring: "The third hand illusion". Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg (Germany) Marco Bertamini and Nicola Bruno: "The Honeycomb Illusion". University of Liverpool (UK) Christopher Blair, Lars Strother, and Gideon Caplovitz: "The Wandering Circles". University of Nevada, Reno (USA) Nicolas Davidenko: "Motion Pareidolia". University of California, Santa Cruz (USA) Rosa Lafer-Sousa: "Disambiguating #theDress". Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) Michael Pickard: "The Day it Rained on Lowry". VisuallyDirectedDesign.com (UK) Arthur Shapiro: "The Star Wars Scroll Illusion". American University (USA) Kokichi Sugihara" "Ambiguous Garage Roof". Meiji University (Japan) Mark Vergeer: "Splitting Colors". KU Leuven (Belgium) ----------------------------------- Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology Director, Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience Scholar, Empire Innovator Program State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn NY 11203, USA Email: smart at neuralcorrelate.com Phone: +1 718-270-4520 http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pascal.fua at epfl.ch Thu Jun 4 04:30:01 2015 From: pascal.fua at epfl.ch (Pascal Fua) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 10:30:01 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Post-doctoral Position in Computer Vision at EPFL Message-ID: <55700C89.5050907@epfl.ch> EPFL's Computer Vision Laboratory (http://cvlab.epfl.ch/) has an opening for a post-doctoral fellow in the field of Microscopy. The position is initially offered for 1 year and can be extended for up to 4 years total. Description: The work will be performed in collaboration with EPFL's Centre for Electron Microscopy (http://cime.epfl.ch/) and will involve developing Computer-Vision techniques for automated detection of dislocations and other defects in crystals seen in Transmission Electron Microscopy. Position: The Computer Vision Laboratory offers a creative international environment, a possibility to conduct competitive research on a global scale and involvement in teaching. There will be ample opportunities to cooperate with some of the best groups in Europe and elsewhere. The centre for electron microscopy is a world leading center for scanning and transmission electron microscopy and develops innovative techniques for image acquisition. EPFL is located next to Lake Geneva in a beautiful setting 60 kilometers away from the city of Geneva. Salaries for post-doctoral fellows start from CHF 81,400 per year, the precise amount to be determined by EPFL's department of human resources. Education: Applicants are expected to have finished, or be about to finish their Ph.D. degrees, to have a strong background in Computer Vision and Biomedical Imaging, and to have a track record of publications in top conferences and journals. Strong programming skills (C or C++) are a plus. Good communication skills and ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment are important. French language skills are not required, English is mandatory. Application: Applications must be sent by email to Ms. Gisclon (josiane.gisclon at epfl.ch). They must contain a statement of interest, a CV, a list of publications, and the names of three references. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. P. Fua (Pascal.Fua at epfl.ch) Tel: 41/21-693-7519 FAX: 41/21-693-7520 Url: http://cvlab.epfl.ch/~fua/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- From cpeck at neuromentix.com Thu Jun 4 01:15:32 2015 From: cpeck at neuromentix.com (Chad Peck) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 01:15:32 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Research Staff Member opening at NeuroMentix Message-ID: <556FDEF4.1020301@neuromentix.com> NeuroMentix is seeking candidates for a Research Staff Member opening. NeuroMentix is an early stage start up dedicated to a new, groundbreaking class of artificial intelligence technologies closely modeled after the brain. The Research Staff Member will initially participate in government funded research to refine, adapt, and demonstrate the technology. As our approach has important implications for understanding and modeling global brain function, we believe a career with NeuroMentix has the potential for a truly transformative, positive impact on science, technology, and our world. Job Description The selected Research Staff Member will participate in the development, demonstration, and application of a new class of biologically-inspired, network-based artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The responsibilities include requirements analysis; network and component design, implementation, and testing; experimental design and analysis; documentation of inventions and scientific results through patents, technical reports and scientific publications; presentations and demonstrations to customers and other researchers. Required: * A PhD in computational neuroscience, computer science, machine learning, cognitive systems, electrical engineering, physics, or a related field * Two years of development experience with C/C++ * Two years of development experience in a UNIX/Linux environment * Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research * Working knowledge of functional neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, machine learning techniques, non-linear dynamical systems, and neural networks * Preferred availability by August 2015 Desired: * One year of experience with a computational neuroscience simulator (NEST is preferred) * Demonstrated expertise with generative neural networks, such as deep learning systems * Experience with robot control or software automaton design, development and testing * Demonstrated experience with team software development and integration practices * Expertise with key results and methodologies from experimental psychology If you are a highly driven, adaptable, and impactful researcher, please send your resume and contact information to employment at neuromentix.com. NeuroMentix is located in Newtown, CT, USA. More information about NeuroMentix can be found at www.neuromentix.com. NeuroMentix is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants must be a US citizen or possess US work authorization. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, or disability. NeuroMentix participates in E-Verify. From halici at metu.edu.tr Tue Jun 2 13:19:19 2015 From: halici at metu.edu.tr (Ugur Halici) Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2015 20:19:19 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: NEUROSCIENCE and NEUROTECHNOLOGY PhD PROGRAM, Application deadline June 19, 2015 Message-ID: <20150602201919.49168kf1xc0jt2mv@horde.metu.edu.tr> Dear All, Applications are now being accepted until June 19, 2015 for METU-HU, NEUROSCIENCE and NEUROTECHNOLOGY (NSNT) PhD PROGRAM A brief information about the program is given below. For more information and admission requirements please visit: http://nsnt.metu.edu.tr/en/ Best regards, Ugur Halici, Prof. Dr. Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara ---- Middle East Technical University ? Hacettepe University NEUROSCIENCE and NEUROTECHNOLOGY PhD PROGRAM http://nsnt.metu.edu.tr/en/ Neuroscience and Neurotechnology is a joint Ph.D. program conducted by Middle East Technical University (http://www.metu.edu.tr/) Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences (http://fbe.metu.edu.tr/), and Hacettepe University (https://www.hacettepe.edu.tr/) Institute of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry (http://www.norbil.hacettepe.edu.tr/) in order to support joint research between basic/clinical neurological sciences and related technologies. The target students for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Ph.D. Program are the graduates of Faculty of Medicine and graduates of undergraduate and graduate programs of Faculties of Science and Engineering. The program brings together academicians with different basic science, engineering and medicine backgrounds as biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, electric and electronics, computer, psychology, neurology, psychiatry to foster them possibilities to do education and research together. The aim of education and research of the program is to focus : ? to examine and understand ?nervous system, its components and functions?, referring to structures and their organizations taking place in central and peripheral nervous system, including sensory nervous system, and extending from sub neuronal level to brain, together with their signals, behaviors, mechanics, dynamics and information processing properties ? to use, improve and develop technologies to explain, represent and mimic nervous system, its components and functions ? to use and develop technologies that help observation, examination and analysis of nervous system, its components and functions or malfunctions for scientific and medical purposes ? to use and develop technologies to repair, replace, enhance, assist and rehabilitate nervous system, its componens and functions, by interacting with it, for healthcare and medical purposes ? to use and develop intelligent and efficient technologies inspired from nervous system, its components and functions ? to understand the psysiology and diseases of nervous system by the use of advanced imaging technologies and to develope advanced analysis methods in accordance ? to develope experimental and computational models for diseases of nervous system Education language is English. From clancykelly at gmail.com Tue Jun 2 07:45:54 2015 From: clancykelly at gmail.com (Kelly Clancy) Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2015 13:45:54 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Job announcements--Mrsic Flogel lab Message-ID: Hi all, the Mrsic-Flogel lab at the University of Basel, Switzerland is looking to fill 2 positions: a data scientist and a research associate. The official announcement is below. Thanks! Kelly *Data scientist position in the Mrsic-Flogel lab* The Mrsic-Flogel lab is seeking a highly motivated data scientist. The main focus of our research is to understand the visual cortex. The primary responsibilities for this position will be to design data analysis packages for processing large data sets. Our lab uses two-photon imaging of individual neurons, wide field imaging of the entire cortex, and electrophysiology to understand how neural activity relates to sensory perception and behavior. The successful candidate should have extensive experience working with large data sets, be highly organized and detail-oriented, be able to work both independently and within a team, and have a degree in physical or biological sciences (or several years of work experience). Experience with imaging data, and familiarity with sophisticated analysis techniques (e.g. dynamic causality modelling, machine learning, etc.) are ideal. Familiarity with MATLAB and/or LABVIEW a plus. Applications (in electronic form), including CV, a brief description of previous research experience/software projects, and contact information of two references should be addressed to Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland ( mrsic-flogel at googlegroups.com). Additional info Full-time position, starting immediately or upon agreement. The position is initially for 1-2 years. Salary and benefits according to University of Basel standards. The Biozentrum of the University of Basel is one of the leading institutes worldwide for molecular and biomedical basic research and teaching. It is home to more than 30 research groups with scientists from over 40 countries. Research at the Biozentrum focuses on the areas of Cell Growth & Development, Infection Biology, Neurobiology, Structural Biology & Biophysics and Computational & Systems Biology. With more than 550 employees, the Biozentrum is the largest department at the University of Basel?s Faculty of Science. Basel is an international city with people from 150 nations. Located on the border where three countries meet ? Switzerland-Germany-France, it is Europe?s most important life sciences hub. Basel provides a high standard of living and a rich and varied cultural atmosphere. *Research Associate Position in the Mrsic-Flogel lab* The Mrsic-Flogel lab is seeking a highly motivated research associate. The main focus of our research is to understand the visual cortex. The primary responsibilities for this position will include animal behavioral training, histology, and/or animal surgeries. The ideal candidate should have some research experience in a neuroscience or biology lab. Prior experience with data analysis software and/or imaging software would be advantageous. The successful candidate should be highly organized, detail-oriented and computer literate, have good written and verbal communication skills, be able to work both independently and within a team and have a bachelor's degree or higher in a neuroscience, biology or a related subject. Applications (in electronic form), including CV, a brief description of previous research experience/software projects, and contact information of two references should be addressed to Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland ( mrsic-flogel at googlegroups.com). Additional info Full-time position, starting immediately or upon agreement. The position is initially for 1-2 years. Salary and benefits according to University of Basel standards. The Biozentrum of the University of Basel is one of the leading institutes worldwide for molecular and biomedical basic research and teaching. It is home to more than 30 research groups with scientists from over 40 countries. Research at the Biozentrum focuses on the areas of Cell Growth & Development, Infection Biology, Neurobiology, Structural Biology & Biophysics and Computational & Systems Biology. With more than 550 employees, the Biozentrum is the largest department at the University of Basel?s Faculty of Science. Basel is an international city with people from 150 nations. Located on the border where three countries meet ? Switzerland-Germany-France, it is Europe?s most important life sciences hub. Basel provides a high standard of living and a rich and varied cultural atmosphere. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From giacomo.cabri at unimore.it Thu Jun 4 04:25:12 2015 From: giacomo.cabri at unimore.it (Giacomo Cabri) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 10:25:12 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: 3rd FoCAS Workshop on Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems (FoCAS@SASO 2015) Message-ID: <55700B68.3020407@unimore.it> 3rd FoCAS Workshop on Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems Monday 21st September @ SASO 2015, Boston, USA Submission hard deadline is July 11, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: July 31, 2015 Camera Ready: August 10, 2015 Workshop Best Student Paper Award: Prize 500EUR! Workshop website: http://www.focas.eu/saso-2015 -------- Call for Papers Collective Adaptive Systems (CAS) is a broad term that describes large scale systems that comprise of many units/nodes, each of which may have their own individual properties, objectives and actions. Decision- making in such a system is distributed and possibly highly dispersed, and interaction between the units may lead to the emergence of unexpected phenomena. CASs are open, in that nodes may enter or leave the collective at any time, and boundaries between CASs are fluid. The units can be highly heterogeneous (computers, robots, agents, devices, biological entities, etc.), each operating at different temporal and spatial scales, and having different (potentially conflicting) objectives and goals, even if often the system has a global goal that is pursued by means of collective actions. Our society increasingly depends on such systems, in which collections of heterogeneous ?technological? nodes are tightly entangled with human and social structures to form ?artificial societies?. Yet, to properly exploit them, we need to develop a deeper scientific understanding of the principles by which they operate, in order to better design them. This workshop solicits papers that address new methodologies, theories and principles that can be used in order to develop a better understanding of the fundamental factors underpinning the operation of such systems, so that we can better design, build, and analyse such systems. We welcome inter-disciplinary approaches. -------- Topics Suggested Topics (but not limited to): -Novel theories relating to operating principles of CAS -Novel design principles for building CAS systems -Insights into the short and long term adaptation of CAS systems -Insights into Emergent Properties of CAS -Insights into general properties of large scale, distributed CAS -Methodologies for studying, analysing and building CAS -Frameworks for analysing or developing CAS Case studies -Scenarios that can be used to investigate CAS properties -------- Submission Submission deadline is 11 July 2015 The length of a workshop paper may not exceed 6 pages including references and follow the IEEE Computer Society Press proceedings style guide. All papers should be submitted in PDF format using this EasyChair login page for FoCAS 2015: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=focassaso15 By submitting a paper, the authors confirm that in case of acceptance, at least one author will attend the workshop to present the work. -------- FoCAS Best Student Paper Award The FoCAS Coordination Action is also presenting a best student paper award. The prize is worth 500 EUR to reimburse travel and accommodation costs associated with attending the workshop. This Best Student Paper Award is open to any student who is first author of a paper submitted to the FoCAS workshop at SASO 2015. Winning announcements will be made on 21 September at the workshop and posted at www.focas.eu. The submission deadline is 11 July 2015 -------- Organization Program Chairs Giacomo Cabri (University of Modena & Reggio Emilia: giacomo.cabri at unimore.it) Nicola Capodieci (University of Modena & Reggio Emilia: nicola.capodieci at unimore.it) Jennifer Willies (Edinburgh Napier university: j.willies at napier.ac.uk) Full workshop details are available at: http://www.focas.eu/saso-2015 -- |----------------------------------------------------| | Prof. Giacomo Cabri - Ph.D., Associate Professor | Dip. di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche | Universita' di Modena e Reggio Emilia - Italia | e-mail giacomo.cabri at unimore.it | tel. +39-059-2058320 fax +39-059-2055216 |----------------------------------------------------| From maciej.jedynak at upf.edu Thu Jun 4 08:54:49 2015 From: maciej.jedynak at upf.edu (Maciej Jedynak) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 14:54:49 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: [ICSLANE] Registration deadline extension Message-ID: Registration deadline has been extended to the 20th of June. Fellowships for students presenting posters are available. Check our website for details. ?========================================================== On September 21st ? 23rd 2015, the *Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies * project celebrates the closing event with an *International Conference on System Level Approaches to * *Neural Engineering (ICSLANE*). *Eugene Izhikevich, *co-founder and CEO of Brain Corporation, USA, and *Nikos Logothetis, * Director of Max Planck Institute for Biol Cybernetics in Germany, participate in the event as keynote speakers. The program per day with its* outstanding list of confirmed speakers *is already available* here .* We invite you to *submit poster abstracts* *and apply for **contributed talks. * *Students *who submit posters will have a *fee reduction.* Program Registration Abstract submission The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together *theoretical and experimental * *neuroscientists, **roboticists and microfluidics experts* to present and discuss the state of the art in the field of *neural engineering*. It is designed to provide fertile grounds for establishing collaborations between classical neuroscientists and leaders in the up-and-coming robotics and microfluidics fields to develop novel neural engineering techniques and promote the understanding of the brain. *Location:* *Parc de Recerca Biom?dica de Barcelona* *Dr. Aiguader, 88* *08003, Barcelon**a* -- Maciej Jedynak, PhD student. Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies Universitat Polit?cnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona, Spain. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hava at cs.umass.edu Mon Jun 1 21:09:46 2015 From: hava at cs.umass.edu (Hava Siegelmann) Date: Mon, 01 Jun 2015 21:09:46 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: AI book In-Reply-To: References: <5566C1F8.2030507@inserm.fr> Message-ID: <556D025A.7020000@cs.umass.edu> Dear friends, I'm looking for an engaging AI book fitting to an UG class. I would like not to emphasize the history and searches but give some of this and mainly new stuff. Would like to hear advice. Regards - Hava -- Hava T. Siegelmann, Ph.D. Professor Director, BINDS Lab (Biologically Inspired Neural Dynamical Systems) Dept. of Computer Science Program of Neuroscience and Behavior University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA, 01003 Phone: 413-545-2744 Fax: 413-545-1249 LAB WEBSITE: http://binds.cs.umass.edu/ From lfranco at lcc.uma.es Thu Jun 4 04:38:22 2015 From: lfranco at lcc.uma.es (lfranco) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 10:38:22 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: CFP Foundations on Computational Intelligence Symposium IEEE SSCI 2015 Message-ID: Dear colleagues, Find below a call for papers for the FoCI 2015 IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computational Intelligence, affiliated to IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2015) 7-10 December 2015, Cape Town, South Africa http://ieee-ssci.org/ Cape Town hosts the sixth IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2015). This international event brings together at one location several symposia running concurrently, each highlighting various aspects of computational intelligence, and will attract top researchers, practitioners, and students from around the world to discuss the latest advances in the field of computational intelligence. Computational intelligence techniques have proven useful after numerous applications in real world problems. However, there is much work to be done in order to fully understand the theoretical foundations of such techniques. IEEE FOCI'15, provides an ideal forum for those who are interested in the fundamental issues of computational intelligence to exchange their ideas and present their latest findings. IEEE FOCI?15 will focus on fundamental theoretical and practical foundations of computational intelligence, including but not limited to neural networks, fuzzy logic, evolutionary computation, and other machine learning methods. The symposium will put equal emphasis on theoretical and practical work as long as it addresses the foundations of computational intelligence. IMPORTANT DATES: (First) Paper submission deadline: 14 Jun 2015 Decision: 04 Sep 2015 Final submission: 04 Oct 2015 Early Registration: 04 Oct 2015 ______________________________________________________________ Dr. LEONARDO FRANCO tel: +34-952-13 3304 Computer Science Department fax: +34-952-13 1397 ETSI Informatica email: lfranco at lcc.uma.es UNIVERSIDAD de MALAGA http://www.lcc.uma.es/~lfranco/ Campus de Teatinos Malaga - 29071 Spain From sml at essex.ac.uk Thu Jun 4 10:24:33 2015 From: sml at essex.ac.uk (Lucas, Simon M) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 14:24:33 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Studentships, University of Essex Message-ID: Dear all, We have two fully funded PhD studentships available for UK/EU students, closing date two weeks today (June 18). https://www.essex.ac.uk/csee/news_and_seminars/newsEvent.aspx?e_id=7722 Best wishes, Simon Lucas Professor Simon Lucas Head of School Computer Science and Electronic Engineering University of Essex, UK https://www.essex.ac.uk/csee/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From horn at post.tau.ac.il Thu Jun 4 14:06:48 2015 From: horn at post.tau.ac.il (horn at post.tau.ac.il) Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 21:06:48 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: AI book In-Reply-To: <556D025A.7020000@cs.umass.edu> References: <5566C1F8.2030507@inserm.fr> <556D025A.7020000@cs.umass.edu> Message-ID: <20150604210648.Horde.9grTdzpRoYRVcJO4C3UEdMA@webmail.tau.ac.il> Dear Hava, nice to see your name, and to discover that you are a BINDS Professor of CS... Best regards David Quoting Hava Siegelmann : > Dear friends, I'm looking for an engaging AI book fitting to an UG > class. I would like not to emphasize the history and searches but > give some of this and mainly new stuff. > Would like to hear advice. > > Regards - Hava > > -- > Hava T. Siegelmann, Ph.D. > Professor > Director, BINDS Lab (Biologically Inspired Neural Dynamical Systems) > Dept. of Computer Science > Program of Neuroscience and Behavior > University of Massachusetts Amherst > Amherst, MA, 01003 > Phone: 413-545-2744 Fax: 413-545-1249 > LAB WEBSITE: http://binds.cs.umass.edu/ From v.steuber at herts.ac.uk Thu Jun 4 12:38:34 2015 From: v.steuber at herts.ac.uk (Steuber, Volker) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 17:38:34 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral and PhD fellowships in artificial life/computational neuroscience In-Reply-To: <18EF08266D889C41A14D1099C7102CE2C9C4D860D6@UH-MAILSTOR.herts.ac.uk> References: <18EF08266D889C41A14D1099C7102CE2BDFC6EC5F0@UH-MAILSTOR.herts.ac.uk>, <18EF08266D889C41A14D1099C7102CE2C9C4D860D6@UH-MAILSTOR.herts.ac.uk> Message-ID: <18EF08266D889C41A14D1099C7102CE2C9C63813CD@UH-MAILSTOR.herts.ac.uk> Postdoctoral and PhD fellowships available in artificial life/computational neuroscience Several fellowships, both at the graduate and postdoctoral level are available in a project on bio-inspired computation and robotics. The project integrates models of computational networks (genetic networks, spiking neural networks) with models of mobile and soft robots. We will use a software platform for the evolution of computational networks created by the team led by Prof. Borys Wrobel at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland) in close collaboration with the group led by Dr. Volker Steuber at the University of Hertfordshire (UK). The positions are to be filled as soon as possible, with at least one to be filled before 15 June (see here for details: http://know-rna.amu.edu.pl/recruitment-02-15/, project 6). Applicants for the positions should have a degree (MSc or PhD) in a quantitative research-oriented discipline (e.g., computer science, mathematics, or physics), and good programming skills (C++ or Java, Python, Matlab), and a good level of English, both in writing and in speaking (English is the working language in both the labs, in Poland and the UK). Although the project requires an interest in biology, no previous formal background in life sciences is required. The financial support available will depend on background and experience, and the tax residency, but is generous relative to the average salary and expenses in Poland, and is expected to be about 3000 PLN/month per PhD students and about 7000 PLN/month for posdoctoral fellows. The post holders will spend most of their time in Poland, but frequent visits to the UK are expected (with additional funds available to cover the expenses during the visits). For more details, contact Prof. Borys Wr?bel directly (wrobel at evosys.org). From btuller at nsf.gov Thu Jun 4 16:29:05 2015 From: btuller at nsf.gov (Tuller, Betty K.) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 20:29:05 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Psychology faculty study Message-ID: Greetings: My colleagues at Rice University are looking for faculty to participate in a very short study. You will read one letter of recommendation and complete ratings about it afterward. They are hopeful that you might take ten minutes to participate ! They have IRB approval for recruiting a convenience sample and are trying to recruit people from psychology and STEM fields. Of course if you don't want to participate, that is fine too. They need 200 faculty participants. If you know of other folks who might be willing to participate, please forward to them. Thank you so much! http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~rct2/juan.html Randi Marton Rice University Rmartin at rice.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marcel.van.gerven at gmail.com Fri Jun 5 05:36:25 2015 From: marcel.van.gerven at gmail.com (Marcel van Gerven) Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 11:36:25 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD/Postdoc vacancies in computational modeling in neuroscience In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <13834FE8-F8C3-4988-851C-A30AC26ACDE2@gmail.com> Our lab (www.ccnlab.net ) recently received funding for a PhD and postdoc position at the interface between machine learning (deep learning, Bayesian modeling, computational linguistics) and neuroscience: http://www.ru.nl/english/working/job-opportunities/details/details-vacature/?taal=uk&recid=556419&pad=%2fenglish http://www.ru.nl/english/working/job-opportunities/details/details-vacature/?taal=uk&recid=556421&pad=%2fenglish The positions deal with the development of new computational models to probe how naturalistic representations are encoded across the cortical surface. For the PhD position, we are looking for candidates with a Master?s degree in cognitive (neuro)science, computational neuroscience or a related area of research. Candidates should have excellent programming skills, a strong mathematical background and prior experience with acquisition of neural data. For the postdoc position, we are looking for candidates with a PhD degree in machine learning, artificial intelligence, computational neuroscience, applied mathematics or a related area of research. Candidates with a degree in cognitive neuroscience and a strong mathematical background would also be eligible. Start of the project is negotiable but preferably September 2015. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From poma at mmmi.sdu.dk Thu Jun 4 17:12:08 2015 From: poma at mmmi.sdu.dk (Poramate Manoonpong) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 21:12:08 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: [meetings] SECOND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS- Workshop: Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior at SWARM2015 Message-ID: SECOND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS- Workshop: Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior at SWARM2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, October 28 (full-day), Kyoto University, Japan Deadline for poster abstract submission: June 30, 2015 Notification of acceptance: July 31, 2015 Workshop Overview ------------------ Animals show fascinating adaptive and versatile abilities. For example, they can move around and at the same time avoid obstacles in order to successfully navigate through their complex cluttered environment for finding their food source. While moving, they can also adapt their locomotion to deal with unknown situations. Furthermore, they can interact with each other to form collective behavior for anti-predator, enhanced foraging, and even increased locomotion efficiency. These complex achievements emerge from tightly as well as loosely coupled interactions between many ingredients including biomechanics (i.e., morphology, muscles, and materials), sensory feedback, centralized/decentralized mechanisms, and communication. Developing these key ingredients and implementing them in artificial systems to approach the level of performance of living creatures remains a grand challenge. To address these issues, our workshop at SWARM 2015 (http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/), "Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior" will bring together leading experts, working in the domains of bio-inspired robotics, swarm robotics, modular robotics, embodied AI, evolutionary robotics, and computational neuroscience, to present their recent developments on robot locomotion and collective behavior and discuss future directions to overcome this challenge. The full-day workshop is composed of the following parts: 1) Invited talks by experts from swarm robotics, bio-inspired locomotion control, and embodied AI, 2) poster presentations, 3) Discussion and future steps We are also pleased to invite contributions in the form of 1 page conf. style abstract http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/ on (but are not limited to) the following topics. The selected contributions will be presented in a form of a poster during the workshop. We particularly encourage young scientists to contribute and attend, even presenting their research at an early stage an engage in discussions. We also welcome live demonstrations on robot locomotion and collective behavior. Submissions have to be sent to poma at mmmi.sdu.dk in PDF format. One author per accepted workshop contribution (poster, demo) and attendee are required to register (http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/). The Workshop topics include (but are not limited to) the following: ------------------ - Bio-inspired robotics (e.g., walking robots, flying robots, etc.), - Locomotion control, - Collective behavior control, - Swarm and self-organizing systems (e.g., modular robots) ===================== Tentative List of Speakers: ? Dario Floreano (Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, EPFL, Switzerland) ? John Hallam (Centre for BioRobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, SDU, Denmark) ? Kasper St?y (IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark) ? Nora Ayanian (the Automatic Coordination of Teams Lab, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, USA) ? Koh Hosoda (Dept. of Adaptive Machine Systems, Grad. school of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan) ? Yulia Sandamirskaya (Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum, Germany) ? Shinya Aoi (Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan) ? Yuichi Ambe (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan) ? Poramate Manoonpong (Embodied AI & Neurorobotics Lab, Centre for BioRobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, SDU, Denmark) ===================== We hope that you will be able to attend and look forward to seeing you in Kyoto, Japan! The workshop organizers: Florentin W?rg?tter, Poramate Manoonpong, Yuichi Ambe, Shinya Aoi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Franklin.Chang at liverpool.ac.uk Fri Jun 5 12:20:40 2015 From: Franklin.Chang at liverpool.ac.uk (Franklin Chang) Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 17:20:40 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Fellow in Machine Learning/Computational Linguistics for the Study of Child Language Acquisition Message-ID: Hi, We are recruiting for post-doctoral fellow to work on the application of machine learning/computational linguistic techniques to child language acquisition. You should have a PhD in Computer Science/Engineering/Linguistics/Psychology and have experience with machine learning algorithms applied to language data and have published your work in conference proceedings or journals. Experience with auditory speech processing, connectionist/deep learning, cloud computing, and GPU programming is desirable. The post is available for 2 years. The computational community has developed a wealth of algorithms that can automatically discover linguistic units and dependencies between these units and these algorithms have been applied to language parsing and generation. In contrast, child language researchers often study child language using human coding of detailed linguistic information. The goal of this project is to develop a bridge between these two approaches. Machine learning techniques would give child language researchers ways to pull out relevant utterances that could be subject to greater processing. Child language analyses could be compiled into test sets that could be used to evaluate machine learning algorithms. In this post, you will develop machine learning algorithms for child language and also develop a web site that will enhance the ability of machine learning researchers and child language researcher to share data and algorithms. The research topics and approaches are open to negotiation. Children have some of the most advance language learning algorithms and understanding how they learn language could lead to new insights for computational approaches to language. This post offers the opportunity to join a thriving research group at the University of Liverpool and become a member of the new ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development, a multi-million pound collaboration between the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester and Lancaster. More information is available here: https://sites.google.com/site/sentenceproductionmodel/news - Employer: University of Liverpool - Title: Post-doctoral fellow - Topics: machine learning, computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, algorithm development, deep learning, speech processing - Deadline: 28th August 2015 - Date Posted: 2nd June 2015 - Apply: http://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/research/r-588063/ -- -- -------- http://sites.google.com/site/sentenceproductionmodel/cv/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rli at cs.odu.edu Sun Jun 7 09:57:31 2015 From: rli at cs.odu.edu (rongjian li) Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2015 13:57:31 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: KDD Workshop: BrainKDD CFP ---- Deadline Extended to June 10 Message-ID: [Apology for cross-postings] BrainKDD Call for Papers BrainKDD: International Workshop on Data Mining for Brain Science in conjunction with ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (SIGKDD'15) August 10, 2015, Sydney https://sites.google.com/site/brainkdd2015/ Understanding brain function is one of the greatest challenges facing science. Today, brain science is experiencing rapid changes and is expected to achieve major advances in the near future. In April 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama formally announced the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative, the BRAIN Initiative. In Europe, the European Commission has recently launched the European Human Brain Project (HBP). In the private sector, the Allen Institute for Brain Science is embarking on a new 10-year plan to generate comprehensive, large-scale data in the mammalian cerebral cortex under the MindScope project. These ongoing and emerging projects are expected to generate a deluge of data that capture the brain activities at different levels of organization. There is thus a compelling need to develop the next generation of data mining and knowledge discovery tools that allow one to make sense of this raw data and to understand how neurological activity encodes information. This workshop will focus on exploring the forefront between computer science and brain science and inspiring fundamentally new ways of mining and knowledge discovery from a variety of brain data. We encourage submissions in, but not limited to, the following areas: * Mining of in situ hybridization and microarray gene expression data * Mining of brain connectivity and circuitry data * Mining of structural and functional MRI data * Mining of EEG and related data * Mining of temporal developing brain data * Mining of spatial neuroimaging data * Integrative mining of multi-modality brain data * Mining of diseased brain data, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia * Segmentation and registration of neuroimaging data Important Dates: Workshop paper submissions: June 5, 2015 <<<<< Extended to June 10, 2015 Workshop paper notifications: June 30, 2015 Workshop date: August 10, 2015 All deadlines are at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time. Submission Instructions: Papers should be prepared using the ACM Proceedings Format http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates#aL2 and should be at most 9 pages long. Paper should be submitted in PDF format through the following link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=brainkdd2015 Publication: Accepted workshop papers will be invited to Brain Informatics, subject to additional peer review. From gros at itp.uni-frankfurt.de Mon Jun 8 06:43:37 2015 From: gros at itp.uni-frankfurt.de (Claudius Gros) Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 12:43:37 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: 4th edition availble, Complex and Adaptive Systems Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, It is a pleasure to announce the availability of the 4th edition of textbook Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems: A Primer (Springer Complexity, Softcover) ISBN: 978-3-319-16264-5 (Print) 978-3-319-16265-2 (Online) by Claudius Gros Complex and adaptive dynamical systems are ubiquitous and the brain constitutes a prominent example. The goal of this book is to provide a general entry point to complex and dynamical systems based on network architectures. ------------------------------------------------------- cover-text: ---------- This primer offers an introduction to the central concepts at the basis of our modern understanding of complex and emergent behavior, together with a detailed coverage of the mathematical methods. All calculations are presented step by step and are straightforward to follow. This new forth edition is fully reorganized and comes with new chapters, figures and exercises. The core of modern complex system sciences are presented in the first chapters, covering network theory, dynamical systems, bifurcation and catastrophe theory, chaos and adaptive processes together with the principle of self-organization in reaction-diffusion systems and social animals. Modern information theoretical principles are treated in further chapters, together with the concept of self-organized criticality, gene regulation networks, hypercycles and coevolutionary avalanches, synchronization phenomena, absorbing phase transitions and the cognitive system approach to the brain. Technical course prerequisites are the standard mathematical tools for an advanced undergraduate course in the natural sciences or engineering. Each chapter comes with exercises and suggestions for further reading, with the solutions to the exercises being provided in the last chapter. ------------------------------------------------------- content: -------- * Chapter 1: Graph Theory and Small-World Networks * Chapter 2: Bifurcations and Chaos in Dynamical Systems * Chapter 3: Dissipation, Noise and Adaptive Systems * Chapter 4: Self Organization and Pattern Formation * Chapter 5: Complexity and Information Theory * Chapter 6: Cellular Automata and Self-Organized Criticality * Chapter 7: Random Boolean Networks * Chapter 8: Darwinian Evolution, Hypercycles and Game Theory * Chapter 9: Synchronization Phenomena * Chapter 10: Elements of Cognitive System Theory * Chapter 11: Solutions to the exercises ------------------------------------------------------- Sincerely, Claudius Gros ***************************************** *** Prof. Dr. Claudius Gros *** *** +49 (0)69 798 47818 *** *** http://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~gros *** ***************************************** --------------------------------------------------------- --- Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems, A Primer --- --- A graduate-level textbook, Springer (08/10/13/15) --- --------------------------------------------------------- From tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de Wed Jun 10 10:04:27 2015 From: tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de (Tarek R. Besold) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 16:04:27 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 2nd Call for Papers: Neural-Cognitive Integration (NCI) @ KI 2015 Message-ID: <217E6994-CF89-450B-9F5B-2F90CCF62413@Uni-Osnabrueck.DE> === NEURAL-COGNITIVE INTEGRATION @ KI 2015 === 2nd Call for Papers for the Workshop on Neural-Cognitive Integration (TU Dresden, Germany, September 22, 2015) --- collocated with --- KI 2015, the 38th German Conference on Artificial Intelligence (TU Dresden, Germany, September 21 to 25, 2015). === WORKSHOP WEBPAGE === https://sites.google.com/site/nciki2015/home === KEYNOTE SPEAKERS === Steffen H?lldobler, Dresden University of Technology, Germany Herbert Jaeger, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany === WORKSHOP GOALS === The aim of the interdisciplinary workshop is to bring together recent work addressing questions related to open issues in neural-cognitive integration, i.e., research trying to bridge the gap(s) between different levels of description, explanation, representation, and computation in symbolic and sub-symbolic paradigms, and which sheds light onto canonical solutions or principled approaches occurring in the context of neural-cognitive integration. === WORKSHOP TOPIC & MOTIVATION(S) === A seamless coupling between learning and reasoning is commonly taken as basis for intelligence in humans and, in close analogy, also for the biologically-inspired (re-)creation of human-level intelligence with computational means. Still, one of the unsolved methodological core issues in AI, cognitive systems modelling, and cognitive neuroscience is the question of the integration between connectionist sub-symbolic (i.e., neural-level) and logic-based symbolic (i.e., cognitive-level) approaches to representation, computation, (mostly sub-symbolic) learning, and (mostly symbolic) reasoning. Researchers therefore have for years been interested in the relation between sub-symbolic/neural and symbolic/cognitive modes of representation and computation: The brain has a neural structure which operates on the basis of low-level processing of perceptual signals, but cognition also exhibits the capability to perform high-level reasoning and symbol processing. Against this background, symbolic/cognitive interpretations of ANN architectures seem desirable as possible sources of an additional (bridging) level of explanation of cognitive phenomena of the human brain (assuming that suitably chosen ANN models correspond in a meaningful way to their biological counterparts). Furthermore, so called neural-symbolic representations and computations promise the integration of several complementary properties: the interpretability, the possibilities of direct control, coding, and knowledge extraction offered by symbolic/cognitive paradigms, together with the higher degree of biological motivation, the learning capacities, robust fault-tolerant processing, and generalization capabilities to similar input known from sub-symbolic/neural models. Recent years have seen new developments in the modelling and analysis of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and in formal methods for investigating the properties of general forms of representation and computation. As result, new and more adequate tools for relating the sub-symbolic/neural and the symbolic/cognitive levels of representation, computation, and (consequently) explanation seem to have become available, allowing to gain new perspectives on and insights into the interplay and possibilities of cross-level bridging and integration between paradigms. Also, more theoretical and conceptual work in cognitive science and philosophy of mind and cognition has found its way into AI as exemplified, for instance, by the growing number of projects following an ?embodied approach? to AI, in doing so hoping to solve or avoid, among others, the current mismatch between neural and symbolic perspectives on cognition and intelligence. === WORKSHOP SCOPE === This workshop aims to gather researchers from different disciplines interested in (some of) the questions mentioned under "Topic and Motivation" and/or working on some aspect of neural-cognitive integration, either on a representational, computational, or explanatory level. The list of relevant topics includes but is clearly not limited to: ? Representations of symbolic knowledge by connectionist systems or the extraction of symbolic knowledge from connectionist systems; ? Neurally-inspired approaches to learning over symbolic representations; ? Integration of logic and probabilities; ? Structured and/or relational learning in neural paradigms; ? Integrated neural-cognitive approaches; ? Logical reasoning carried out by neural networks or classification/categorization done by symbolic systems; ? Biologically or cognitively inspired systems integrating (elements of) both perspectives; ? Applications of neural-cognitive systems especially to cognition-related tasks; ? Philosophical aspects of neural-cognitive interaction and/or integration. In order to allow for a maximally integrative approach and an open discussion this workshop encourages researchers not only to present research papers but also position papers, and to address controversial problems, questions, or perspectives. === DATES === The current schedule is: - Paper submission deadline: July 1, 2015 - Notification of acceptance: July 27, 2015 - Camera-ready versions due: August 10, 2015 - Workshop date: September 22, 2015 === SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS === In order to accommodate for the different publishing traditions in different fields, we invite submissions of papers and extended abstracts. Papers: Similar to the KI 2015 main conference, we invite papers which have to be in English and formatted according to the Springer LNCS style. Papers can be submitted in one of the two following categories: - Full technical papers (12 pages max., excluding references). - Technical notes (6 pages max., excluding references). For further details on the formatting and submission categories, please see the KI 2015 submission instructions ( http://ki2015.computational-logic.org/submission.php ). Extended abstracts: Abstracts (which have to be in English) should have a length of 600-1000 words (plus references) in plain text or PDF, plus a short abstract of up to 120 words. Abstracts should (similar to papers) also be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style. Submissions should be sent by the above stated deadline to Tarek R. Besold at tarek(dot)besold(at)uos(dot)de. === PUBLICATION === Accepted papers and abstracts will be published online in the ?Publication Series of the Institute of Cognitive Science? (PICS, ISSN 1610-5389), a scientific series from the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, unless the authors instruct us otherwise. Authors of the best papers will be invited to submit a revised and extended version of their papers to the Journal of Logic and Computation, Oxford University Press. === COMMITTEES === Workshop Co-Chairs - Tarek R. Besold, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany - Kai-Uwe K?hnberger, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany Program Committee - James Davidson, Google Inc., USA - Artur D'Avila Garcez, City University London, UK - Sascha Fink, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany - Luis Lamb, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - Francesca Lisi, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy - G?nther Palm, University of Ulm, Germany - Constantin Rothkopf, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany - Jakub Szymanik, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Carlos Zednik, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany ...more to come... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tarek R. Besold Institute of Cognitive Science University of Osnabr?ck (Germany) tarek.besold at uni-osnabrueck.de -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From t.heskes at science.ru.nl Wed Jun 10 16:13:06 2015 From: t.heskes at science.ru.nl (Tom Heskes) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 22:13:06 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Fully funded PhD position on Causal Discovery Message-ID: <55789A52.4020508@science.ru.nl> [with apologies for cross-posting] PhD position ------------ Radboud University Nijmegen invites applications for a fully funded PhD position. You will conduct research in the context of the NWO Top project Causal Discovery from High?Dimensional Data in the Large?Sample Limit, a joint project of Prof. Tom Heskes at Radboud University Nijmegen and Prof. Aad van der Vaart at Leiden University. Application deadline: July 31, 2015 Preferred starting date: September 1, 2015 Duration: 4 years The project ----------- Discovering causal relations from data lies at the heart of most scientific research today. The main challenge in this project is to develop robust algorithms and theory for establishing cause-effect relationships from observational data that scale up to large data sets. As a team, we will work not only on conceptual ideas, but also on more theoretical ideas and computational advances. The project will demonstrate and assess the power of these algorithms by applying them to ecological and biomedical data. Your research will focus on the development of novel algorithms and their application to real-world data. Work environment ---------------- You will perform research as part of the Machine Learning group within the Intelligent Systems section of the Institute for Computing and Information Sciences (iCIS). The Machine Learning group carries out fundamental and applied research on different aspects of machine learning. We care to show that our theories and algorithms work in practice, by applying them in various different domains, especially in neuroscience and bioinformatics. iCIS and Intelligent Systems received excellent ratings in the latest national research evaluation exercise for computer science. What we expect from you ----------------------- You must hold an MSc or equivalent, having demonstrated top performance in a field that is closely related to computer science, artificial intelligence, or mathematics. You should have an interest in conducting original scientific research, publishing the results at top conferences and in scientific journals, and participating in teaching activities. Maturity, self-motivation and the ability to work both independently and as a team player in local and international research teams are expected. You should have an excellent command of written and spoken English. Prior experience with machine learning or statistics will be considered an asset. Programming experience will definitely be helpful. What we have to offer --------------------- - competitive salary and additional benefits; - open, interactive, international working environment; - access to excellent computing facilities; - living in Nijmegen, a university town with extensive cultural offerings, scenic surroundings, and a historic center Would you like to know more? ---------------------------- For further information, including instructions on how to submit your application, see the official advertisement: http://www.ru.nl/english/working/job-opportunities/details/details-vacature/?recid=556121 Informal inquiries can be made to Tom Heskes (t.heskes at science.ru.nl). -- Tom Heskes tel: +31-(0)24-3652696 Machine Learning Group, Intelligent Systems http://www.cs.ru.nl/~tomh iCIS, Radboud University Nijmegen Mercator I, room 2.06b From julian.togelius at gmail.com Wed Jun 10 16:54:49 2015 From: julian.togelius at gmail.com (Julian Togelius) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 16:54:49 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?Postdoctoral_Research_Position_at_New_Y?= =?utf-8?q?ork_University=E2=80=99s_Game_Innovation_Lab?= Message-ID: Postdoctoral research position at New York University's Game Innovation Lab The Game Innovation Lab at New York University is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to work on game generation (the procedural generation of complete games) or other closely related topics at the intersection of artificial/computational intelligence and game design. Tasks would include collaborative research with an interdisciplinary team of faculty and PhD students at the forefront of game engineering, mentoring research students and contribute to further research proposals. The successful candidate would report to Professor Julian Togelius, and also be expected to collaborate with Professor Andy Nealen and other lab members. The ideal candidate for this position has a PhD focusing on applying AI techniques to games, a good understanding of game design, an inquisitive and open mind, and a willingness to work on ambitious goals. The NYU Game Innovation Lab is part of the School of Engineering and located in Downtown Brooklyn. The lab is focused on developing new technologies for games, and using technology to understand game design and playful interaction. The lab's faculty includes leading researchers in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, graphics and game design. A growing body of PhD students work on research problems in all of these fields, and interdisciplinary research collaboration is strongly encouraged. The lab also enjoys strong ties to the NYU Games Center, which houses leading games scholars and designers. The position is for one year initially. To apply, send a mail to julian at togelius.com including your CV, links to representative publications and a motivated statement. The subject of the mail should be "postdoc-nyu-2015". The position will be kept open until a suitable candidate is found; a decision is not likely to be made before July. -- Julian Togelius Associate Professor, New York University Department of Computer Science and Engineering mail: julian at togelius.com, web: http://julian.togelius.com From jose at rubic.rutgers.edu Tue Jun 9 11:29:09 2015 From: jose at rubic.rutgers.edu (Stephen =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jos=E9?= Hanson) Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2015 11:29:09 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: BRAIN IMAGING Search--Rutgers@Newark Message-ID: <1433863749.20804.52.camel@edison> The Department of Psychology at Rutgers University-Newark anticipates hiring at the assistant professor (tenure track) level. We seek applications from individuals with specializations in areas of Psychology and Neuroscience that primarily use fMRI as a methodology. Examples of research areas of special interest include social, developmental and cognitive neuroscience. Applicants that incorporatebrain connectivityconcepts in their research are encouraged to apply. Applicants will have access to the new Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center (RUBIC; Siemens 3T Trio). This position requires a Ph.D. in Psychology, Neuroscience, or related field. Highest priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate excellence in teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels, provide research mentorship to students, and have research programs that can be supported by external funding. Applicants should submit a CV, statement of research and teaching interests, 3 top pre/re-prints and 3 letters of recommendation to:facultysearch at psychology.rutgers.edu. We will give priority to applications received by October 15th but will continue the search until the position is filled. Diversity Mission: Rutgers/Newark is the most ethnically diverse research-oriented campus in America (16 consecutive years, US News & World Report). Applicants may include a brief statement in their cover letter explaining how their membership in our department will advance the University commitment to diversity.All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other classification protected by law. Rutgers-Newark is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and actively encourages applications from minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. Please contact me for questions about the position. Steve -- Stephen Jos? Hanson Director RUBIC (Rutgers Brain Imaging Center) Professor of Psychology Member of Cognitive Science Center (NB) Member EE Graduate Program (NB) Member CS Graduate Program (NB) Rutgers University email: jose at rubic.rutgers.edu web: psychology.rutgers.edu/~jose lab: www.rumba.rutgers.edu fax: 866-434-7959 voice: 973-353-3313 (RUBIC) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de Thu Jun 11 08:22:12 2015 From: bhammer at techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Barbara Hammer) Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:22:12 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: NC^2 Message-ID: <55797D74.2090300@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de> 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 m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk Fri Jun 12 05:32:06 2015 From: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk (=?utf-8?Q?M=C3=A1t=C3=A9_Lengyel?=) Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 11:32:06 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: postdoc in computational neuroscience Message-ID: <0F73C6BB-6699-45D5-911C-ECDF72CBC371@eng.cam.ac.uk> 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 jointly in the groups of Guillaume Hennequin and Mate Lengyel at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge (http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/). Our groups study dynamics and computation in neural circuits using a combination of approaches from dynamical systems, control theory, and statistical inference. The jointly led project will combine normative with bottom-up approaches to study the neural implementation of challenging computations. Areas of interest include balanced network dynamics, synaptic plasticity, and Bayesian inference. 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 appointment will be for 1 year initially (extendable subject to funding) starting 1 October 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. 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 Guillaume Hennequin or 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 332 662 email: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel From ogergo at brandeis.edu Wed Jun 10 17:39:27 2015 From: ogergo at brandeis.edu (Gergo Orban) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 23:39:27 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: two postdoctoral positions in recording and statistical analysis of population activity Message-ID: <5AAAE8C4-A711-4405-BBBA-41CBCFCA1A5A@brandeis.edu> We are inviting applications for two postdoctoral positions at the Pattern Research Group which is affiliated with the MTA Wigner ResearchCentre for Physics (Budapest, Hungary) and MTA Institute for Experimental Medicine and is sponsored by a prestigious National Brain Research Program grant. The primary focus of the research group is the characterization of activity patterns of large-scale neural populations in the hippocampus and the understanding of the computational principles underlying its dynamically changing states. The unparalleled performance of the nervous system is due to the fast and parallel processing of information that is achieved by the coherent activity of networks of neurons. Recent advancements in recording techniques provides access to high temporal resolution data from hundreds of identified neurons during task performance of animals. Understanding the organizational principles underlying the high-dimensional activity patterns has become a fundamental challenge of neurobiology. We are seeking highly motivated candidates for one post in computational/theoretical neuroscience and one in electrophysiology to work on a project that is based on a strong collaboration between neurophysiology and theoretical neuroscience. Details of the two posts can be found below. Postdoctoral fellow in theoretical/computational neuroscience The ideal candidate has a strong mathematical background, preferably with a PhD in physics, computer science, or mathematics or other quantitative disciplines. Besides mathematical skills, the position requires competence in programming (e.g. matlab, R, python, or C++). Candidates with training or research experience in statistics, machine learning, computational modelling, dynamical systems are especially encouraged to apply. Training in neuroscience is not required but the applicant has to demonstrate his/her willingness to acquire the necessary background for the project. High dimensional neuronal data is recorded by the experimental part of the group (Attila Gulyas, Institute for Experimental Medicine) but the candidate will have the opportunity get experience with cutting-edge neuronal recording techniques to design of novel experiments based on the analysis of the recorded data. The successful applicant will be co-supervised by Gerg? Orb?n and Andr?s Telcs. Postdoctoral fellow or PhD student in hippocampal electrophysiology The ideal candidate has a strong background in in vitro or in vivo electrophysiology or optical imaging to take part of this challenge and to work on a project that is based on a strong collaboration between neurophysiology and theoretical neuroscience. The primary task of the candidate will be to set up the equipment and to monitor the activity of large (>100) populations of hippocampal neurons in vitro, and later in head-restrained mice using optical imaging techniques and genetically expressed Ca2+ indicators. Preprocessing and to a given depth the analysis of the rough data also expected. The high-level analysis of the recorded data is performed by the theoretical part of the group (led by Andr?s Telcs and Gerg? Orb?n, MTA Wigner Centre for Physics) but basic knowledge of statistics is essential and previous experience with signal processing or programming (Igor, Python, Matlab or similar language) is advantageous and contribution to that part of the project is expected, based on the load of the experimental part. The applicant will be supervised by Attila Guly?s. The expected starting date of the position is 1 September 2015 but the start date of the position is negotiable. Initial appointment is made for one year but can be extended to three years upon successful evaluation. The work is based in the PATTERN lab at the MTA Wigner Institute (Budapest, Hungary) but requires regular interactions with the experimental partners at the Institute for Experimental Medicine (Budapest). For further information please visit the project website, http://pattern.wigner.mta.hu . For informal inquiries please contact Gergo Orban (orban.gergo at wigner.mta.hu ) or Andras Telcs (telcs.szit.bme at gmail.com ). Please send applications, including CV, a research statement and contact information of two references by email to Andr?s Telcs before 30 June. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From c.lorenz at donders.ru.nl Fri Jun 12 06:33:54 2015 From: c.lorenz at donders.ru.nl (Lorenz, C.M.) Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 10:33:54 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Job posting: PhD Traineeship in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' Message-ID: PhD Traineeship in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' Maximum salary: ? 2,717 gross/month Closing date: 05 July 2015, 23:59 CET More information: http://www.ru.nl/newstaff/vacaturebeschrijving?tk=uk&recid=556519 The Dutch research consortium 'Language in Interaction' invites applications for a 4-year PhD traineeship on the topic of computational cognitive models of psycholinguistic processes. You will carry out research as a member of one of the PI-groups of the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University under supervision of Dr. Stefan Frank. The Netherlands has an outstanding track record in the language sciences. The research consortium 'Language in Interaction', 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 consortium has representatives from seven universities and one research institute in the Netherlands. These are Radboud University (RU), University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Maastricht (UM), Leiden University (LU), Utrecht University (UU), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Tilburg University (TiU), and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI). Excellence in the domain of language and related relevant fields of cognition is combined with state-of-the-art research facilities and a research team with ample experience in complex research methods and utilization. Together, this consortium realizes both quality and critical mass for studying human language at a scale not easily found anywhere else in the world. The current position will be embedded in the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University. This centre conducts research in an international setting. English is the lingua franca. Your graduate training will take place in the International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences. Click here for more information on this PhD position and how to apply. http://www.ru.nl/newstaff/vacaturebeschrijving?tk=uk&recid=556519 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From alessandro.torcini at isc.cnr.it Fri Jun 12 08:24:18 2015 From: alessandro.torcini at isc.cnr.it (Alessandro Torcini) Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:24:18 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience, Turin 7-9 sept 2015 (few places left) Message-ID: Few places left for registration at SICC workshop on 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) This workshop "Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience: from Physics and Biology to ICT? offers an unique opportunity to meet researchers working across (and between) disciplines linked to Computational Neuroscience. In particular, computational neuroscients, neurophysiologists and neural engineers will have the opportunity to present their most recent results to a young audience, constituted mainly by PhD students, and to interact directly among them. The program ranges from nonlinear dynamical approaches to the understanding of neural computation to physiology, from the simulations of brain circuits to the development of engineering devices and platforms for neuromorphic computation. The speakers will be specifically advised to perform didactic presentations of their results in order to allow the active participation to the discussion of young PhD students from different disciplines as well as to researchers interested in the field of Computational Neuroscience. Specific poster sessions will be organized with the purpose on one side to allow the young participants to present their latest results and on the other side to increase the opportunity of networking among the participants and renowed experts of the discipline. This workshop represents the 10th of a series of tutorial workshops annually organized by the Italian Society of Chaos and Complexity (SICC) to explore the emergence of new research fields, where nonlinear dynamics and control theory can play a relevant role. These workshops have been traditionally devoted to an audience mainly constituted by PhD students or young researchers working in complex systems. A poster session will be running during all the event and aimed to let all the participants to present their recent results. 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 D.Zambrano at cwi.nl Thu Jun 11 08:40:46 2015 From: D.Zambrano at cwi.nl (Davide Zambrano) Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:40:46 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Deep Learning and Continuous Time Computing - Track at SAC 2016 - Call for Papers Message-ID: <85F3EB51-8323-429A-AC1D-B0DAAB051718@cwi.nl> Dear all, Please consider joining our track at SAC2016. Apologies for cross posting. Best regards. ????????????????????????????????????? ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) 2016 The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing in Pisa, Italy, April 3 ? 8, 2016. (webpage : http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/) Deep Learning and Continuous-Time Computing (webpage : http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/) ????????????????????????????????????? SAC 2016: For the past thirsty years, the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing has been a primary gathering forum for applied computer scientists, computer engineers, software engineers, and application developers from around the world. SAC 2016 is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP), and will be hosted by the University of Pisa and Scuola Superiore Sant?Anna University, Italy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the objectives of Machine Learning: how to create computers capable of intelligent behavior. Deep Learning in artificial neural networks represents a remarkable step toward this direction. Current state-of-the-art AI in the form of deep neural networks has recently demonstrated breakthrough performance in various AI-cognitive tasks, from image and speech recognition to natural language generation and playing ATARI games. However, in real-world applications like video processing or robot control, a deep neural network has then to be updated continuously, causing a high computational load. Specialized acceleration hardware is being developed for deep learning in continuous-time environments. In addition, or alternatively, Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) represent another possible solution for efficient continuous-time representation and computing in deep neural networks. This Track aims to consolidate the current state-of-the-art in deep learning, continuous-time computing, spiking neural networks and related acceleration hardware tools (such as GPUs, SpiNNaker or Neuromorphic Silicon systems) showing recent and future progresses of this rising and growing research field. ????????????????????????????????????? Topics of interests: Deep learning Continuous-time learning Spiking Neural Networks Asynchronous computation Large scale parallel simulations and computing Neuromorphic computing ????????????????????????????????????? Important Dates are published on the Conference or Track webpages. ????????????????????????????????????? Track Program Committee: Sander Bohte, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair ? email to s.m.bohte at cwi.nl ) Davide Zambrano, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair ? email to d.zambrano at cwi.nl ) Thomas Nowotny, University of Sussex (UK) Steven Furber, University of Manchester (UK) Karl Tuyls, University of Liverpool (UK) Shih-Chii Liu, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich (CH) Robert Babuska, Delft University of Technology (NL) Andre Gruning, University of Surrey (UK) Max Welling, University of Amsterdam (NL) Narayan Srinavasa, HRL Laboratories LLC (USA) Eleni Vasilaki, University of Sheffield (UK) ????????????????????????????????????? Important notice: Paper registration is required, allowing the inclusion of the paper, poster, or SRC abstract in the conference proceedings. An author or a proxy attending SAC MUST present the paper. This is a requirement for including the work in the ACM/IEEE digital library. No-show of registered papers, posters, and SRC abstracts will result in excluding them from the ACM/IEEE digital library. ????????????????????????????????????? Dr. Davide Zambrano PostDoc at CWI, Amsterdam (NL) MSc in Biomedical Eng. - PhD in Biorobotics D.Zambrano at cwi.nl Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) Science Park, 123 1098 XG - Amsterdam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marc.toussaint at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de Tue Jun 16 09:50:10 2015 From: marc.toussaint at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de (Marc Toussaint) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 15:50:10 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD or Postdoc position in 3D Computer Vision @ Univ. Stuttgart Message-ID: <55802992.608@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> PhD or Postdoc position in 3D Computer Vision at the Machine Learning & Robotics Lab, Univ. of Stuttgart The Machine Learning & Robotics Lab at University of Stuttgart is recruiting a highly-motivated researcher for PhD or as postdoc. The research will focus on fundamentals of 3D Perception Systems, with opportunities for cooperation with Daniel Cremers' lab @ TU Munich, as well as Andres Bruhn's @ U Stuttgart. Methodologically it will heavily employ mathematical programming formulations. Applicants should have strong interest and background in the following: * Formulation of 3D Computer Vision tasks (including 3D reconstruction, motion-based segmentation, etc) coherently in terms of optimization problems * Strong background in optimization * Strong experience in scientific coding On the PhD level, we will love to hire you if you are either a genius in mathematical programming formulations/methods and can also code, or a super hero in coding that can easily pick up the necessary maths. On the postdoc level, we expect a strong publication record on computer vision methods and experience with optimization-based 3D perception. For experienced postdocs we have the opportunity to hire on the highest salery level (Akademischer Rat, E14/A14) for assistants. The positions are started with a 24 months contract and may be extendable up to 48 months (or indefinitly for A14). Payment will be according to the German TVL E-13 or E-14/A-14 payment scheme, depending on the candidate's experience and qualifications. If interested in the position, please submit complete applications through the online application form at https://ipvs.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/mlr/jobs/ If your interested in the job but would like to discuss topics via Skype, please still submit your documents and drop me an additional note. The hiring process is continuous: We will consider all application on the fly. You will hear back from us within a weak and I am happy to discuss further questions with you once we have your initial application documents. The position will be filled as soon as possible. -- Marc Toussaint, Prof. Dr. Uni Stuttgart Universit?tsstra?e 38 70569 Stuttgart, Germany +49 711 685 88376 http://ipvs.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/mlr/marc/index.html From ASAHTan at ntu.edu.sg Thu Jun 18 03:09:41 2015 From: ASAHTan at ntu.edu.sg (Tan Ah Hwee (Assoc Prof)) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 07:09:41 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Research Associate/Assistant Position Available - SCE/NTU Message-ID: A new research position is open at the School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University for a newly funded project on computational modeling of biologically inspired cognitive systems The project will be under the direction of Dr. Ah-Hwee Tan http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/asahtan/ and the successful candidate will join a vibrant team of graduate students, software engineers and research scientists in the broad areas of cognitive and neural systems. The specific roles of the position shall include design and development of an autonomous cognitive system with self-awareness and episodic memory capabilities based on bio-inspired self-organizing neural networks. The system which will be realized on the NAO robot platform involves both research and development. Applicants for the research position must satisfy the following requirement. 1. A good Masters/Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Cognitive Science or a related discipline. 2. Research experience with neural networks and cognitive systems 3. Proficiency in Java/C++ programming and application prototype development. 4. Excellent writing, communication and interpersonal skills. 5. Experience with project management and coordination. The position is for an initial period of one year, with possibility for renewal annually. The commencing salary for the above post will be highly competitive and commensurate with the candidates' qualifications and experience. Suitably qualified applicants are invited to send in a cover letter, a detailed resume, and other supporting documents to asahtan at ntu.edu.sg. Email submission should use the subject heading of "Application for BICS Research Position". Application will remain opened until the position is filled. We regret that only short-listed candidates will be notified. Ah-Hwee TAN (Dr) | Associate Professor | School of Computer Engineering | Nanyang Technological University Block N4, Level 2, Section A, Room 25, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 Tel: (65) 6790-4326 GMT+8h | Fax: (65) 6792-6559 | Email: asahtan at ntu.edu.sg | Web: www.ntu.edu.sg/home/asahtan [SG50] ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY: This email is intended solely for the person(s) named and may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it, notify us and do not copy, use, or disclose its contents. Towards a sustainable earth: Print only when necessary. Thank you. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cottereau at cerco.ups-tlse.fr Mon Jun 15 01:50:30 2015 From: cottereau at cerco.ups-tlse.fr (cottereau at cerco.ups-tlse.fr) Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2015 07:50:30 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Post-doc fellowship on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision Message-ID: Post-doc fellowship with Benoit Cottereau on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Toulouse, France Starting date: September ? December 2015 A postdoctoral research position is available to work with Benoit Cottereau (CNRS Researcher) in the ECO-3D team of the CerCo laboratory (Toulouse, http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/?lang=en). The aim of the project is to develop new models of stereoscopic vision in primate that automatically become selective to the most frequently occurring 3D properties of their visual environment (e.g. 3D motion direction). These models will possibly be validated through experimental data (psychophysics and brain imaging in both human and non-human primates). The applicant should hold a solid background in computational neurosciences, signal processing as well as skills in programming. Knowledge on vision in primate would be highly appreciated. The city of Toulouse is an attractive city with high quality of life located in the south west of France (close to the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean sea and the Spanish border). The position is for 18 months with standard French salaries. Applications should be sent to benoit.cottereau at cerco.ups-tlse.fr including a CV and 2 names of references. From pfeiffer at ini.phys.ethz.ch Mon Jun 15 12:26:36 2015 From: pfeiffer at ini.phys.ethz.ch (Michael Pfeiffer) Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2015 18:26:36 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD/Postdoc positions for neural processor project NPP Message-ID: <557EFCBC.7090303@ini.phys.ethz.ch> We have a number of available PhD and postdoc positions available now for the Neuromorphic Processor Project (NPP). NPP is a 3 year project that started 1 May 2015. NPP will develop theory, architectures, and FPGA implementations targeting specific applications of deep neural network technology in vision and audition. Deep learning has become the state-of-the-art machine learning approach for sensory processing applications, and this project aims towards real-time, low-power, brain-inspired solutions targeted at full-custom SoC integration. A particular aim of the NPP is to develop efficient data-driven deep neural network architectures that can enable always-on operation on battery-powered mobile devices in conjunction with event-driven sensors. PhD and postdoc positions are available now in theory, hardware architectures, and applications of these networks. For the theory part of the project we are specifically looking for PhD candidates with experience in deep neural networks and/or spiking neural networks, or deep learning applications in vision and audition. The project team includes academic partners in the USA, Canada, and Spain. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI) at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich (www.ini.uzh.ch ). INI is a joint institute of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich and has been cited in IEEE Spectrum and Scientific American as one of the world?s leading organizations in the development of neuromorphic sensing and computing technology. The lead NPP PI is Prof. Tobi Delbruck. Other NPP PIs at INI are Dr. Shih-Chii Liu, Dr. Michael Pfeiffer, and Prof. Giacomo Indiveri. Please see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MLoZRAYu_--ZH2ORIoqLPLzJs2spXRM0kO2A2QZja_I/pub for more details and information on how to apply. Best regards, Michael Pfeiffer, Tobi Delbruck, Shih-Chii Liu, and Giacomo Indiveri -- ========================================= Dr. Michael Pfeiffer Group leader, Program coordinator NSC Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland Tel. +41 44 635 30 45 Fax +41 44 635 30 53 pfeiffer (at) ini.phys.ethz.ch http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~pfeiffer/ ========================================= From bazhenov at salk.edu Tue Jun 16 14:14:28 2015 From: bazhenov at salk.edu (Maxim Bazhenov) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 11:14:28 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience In-Reply-To: <52432E7B.3010309@salk.edu> References: <52432E7B.3010309@salk.edu> Message-ID: <55806784.80209@salk.edu> Applications are invited for post-doctoral research positions in the laboratory of Dr. Maxim Bazhenov at the University of California, Riverside to study role of sleep in memory and learning. This computational neuroscience project involves close collaboration with several experimental laboratories. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand how the interaction among brain areas during different stages of sleep leads to consolidation of memory for recent learning. The successful candidate will be responsible for the design of the anatomically realistic brain network models based on existing experimental data. These models will be used to understand network dynamics that are involved in the processes of memory consolidation, as well as guide data analysis and produce novel experimental predictions. Qualified applicants are expected to have experience in computational/theoretical neuroscience and neural modeling. Programming experience with C/C++ is required. Knowledge of PYTHON or MATLAB is a plus. The University of California offers excellent benefits. Salary is based on research experience. The initial appointment is for 1 year with a possibility of extension. Applicants should send a brief statement of research interests, a CV and the names of three references to Maxim Bazhenov at maksim.bazhenov at ucr.edu -- Maxim Bazhenov, Ph.D. Professor, Cell Biology and Neuroscience University of California Riverside, CA 92521 Ph: 951-827-4370 http://biocluster.ucr.edu/~mbazhenov/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shimon.whiteson at gmail.com Wed Jun 17 05:46:56 2015 From: shimon.whiteson at gmail.com (Shimon Whiteson) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 11:46:56 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Doctoral Studentship in Machine Learning at the University of Oxford Message-ID: Doctoral Studentship Department of Computer Science University of Oxford Supervisor: Professor Shimon Whiteson Start Date: October 2015 (later start maybe possible) The Machine Learning Group at Oxford University's Department of Computer Science is offering a fully funded D.Phil studentship which will pay fees at home/eu rate for three years and provide a stipend of at least ?14057 for three years. 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. Creating agents that are effective in diverse settings is a key goal of artificial intelligence with large potential implications in robotics, e-commerce, information retrieval, traffic control, etc. In particular, the project will develop a new approach that simultaneously optimises both policies and the distributions over stochastic events that are sampled from when evaluating those policies, with the aim of greatly reducing the currently prohibitive computational cost of evaluating policies. The focus of the project is on policy-search methods for reinforcement learning as well as closely related methods for sample-based decision-theoretic planning. Techniques such as stochastic optimisation, Bayesian optimisation, and Bayesian quadrature are expected to play a key role. The project will involve both theoretical work as well as an extensive empirical analysis on challenging tasks from robotics and information retrieval. We will consider applicants with a strong background in computer science or a closely related area. Excellent mathematical and programming skills are essential. Strong communication and organisational skills are also important. A background in machine learning and/or decision-theoretic planning is a plus. Applicants must in addition satisfy the usual requirements for studying for a doctorate at Oxford, see selection criteria here: http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-computer-science Please apply online here: https://apply.graduate.ox.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app_crs by 17th July quoting CS-SW-2015 as the studentship code. If you have any questions about the studentship or the application process please email: Julie.sheppard at cs.ox.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ASAHTan at ntu.edu.sg Thu Jun 18 03:21:52 2015 From: ASAHTan at ntu.edu.sg (Tan Ah Hwee (Assoc Prof)) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 07:21:52 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Scholarships Available - SCE/NTU Singapore Message-ID: Under a partnership between A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), Singapore and School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, several research scholarships leading to PhD degree are available for research and development in the fields of cognitive systems and visual computing. Applicants for the scholarship should satisfy the following requirement. 1. A good Master/Bachelor degree in Computer Science or a related discipline. 2. Skilled in programming and experienced in developing application prototypes. 3. Research interest and experience in cognitive systems, autonomous agents, computer vision, machine learning, and/or knowledge discovery. Each scholarship will be awarded for a period of four (4) years. The PhD candidature is subject to confirmation two year after the award of the scholarship. For more information, please refer to http://admissions.ntu.edu.sg/graduate/Research/Pages/default.aspx. Interested candidates should send a CV and other supporting documents to asahtan {at} ntu.edu.edu. with the subject heading of "Application for CSVC PhD Study". More information of the PhD study and scholarships can be found at http://sce.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/CurrentStudents/Graduate/Pages/PhD_CSVC_home.aspx Application will remain opened until the positions are filled. We regret that only short-listed candidates will be notified. Ah-Hwee TAN (Dr) | Associate Professor | School of Computer Engineering | Nanyang Technological University Block N4, Level 2, Section A, Room 25, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 Tel: (65) 6790-4326 GMT+8h | Fax: (65) 6792-6559 | Email: asahtan at ntu.edu.sg | Web: www.ntu.edu.sg/home/asahtan [SG50] ________________________________ CONFIDENTIALITY: This email is intended solely for the person(s) named and may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it, notify us and do not copy, use, or disclose its contents. Towards a sustainable earth: Print only when necessary. Thank you. From triesch at fias.uni-frankfurt.de Sun Jun 14 16:20:34 2015 From: triesch at fias.uni-frankfurt.de (Jochen Triesch) Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2015 22:20:34 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Interdisciplinary PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience of Vision: Active Efficient Coding (AEC) Message-ID: <4B6AE08F-3DC0-4AF6-A191-34E04214832C@fias.uni-frankfurt.de> Apologies for cross posting. Please forward to interested students. We have an open PhD student position in my lab (http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/de/neuro/triesch) at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) in Frankfurt, Germany to explore the new area of active efficient coding (AEC), a recently formulated generalization of the efficient coding hypothesis to active perception. The basic idea of AEC is that sensory systems learn to use their motor degrees of freedom to contribute to the efficient encoding of sensory signals. Along these lines, we have developed computational models for the self-calibration of active stereo and motion vision [1,2,3]. These models simultaneously learn a sensory representation with sparse coding approaches and controllers for their eye movements through reinforcement learning. Both learning components aim to maximize the overall coding efficiency of the system, which leads to fully self-calibrating sensory-motor loops for active stereo vision (dispartiy tuning and vergence control) and motion vision (motion tuning and pursuit movements). To the best of our knowledge, these models are the first ever to demonstrate how such self-calibration can emerge from a generic efficient coding objective. We have also validated the approach on robots such as the iCub (http://www.icub.org). The work will be performed in a stimulating interdisciplinary environment with ample opportunities for collaboration with neuromorphic engineers, neuroscientists, roboticists, psychologists, and clinicians across the globe. Possible research directions include better understanding how and why such self-calibration can go awry in clinical conditions such as strabism and amblyopia, implementations on neuromorphic hardware and many others. We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated PhD student for this project. Applicants should have obtained a Masters degree (or equivalent) in Computational Neuroscience or a related field. The ideal candidate will have excellent programming skills (Matlab, Python, C/C++), very good analytic skills, and a broad knowledge of computational neuroscience, machine learning, computer vision, robotics, signal processing and statistics. Furthermore, specific expertise in visual neuroscience, information theory, sparse coding models, and reinforcement learning are desirable. Experience with programming Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) would be a plus. The position can be filled immediately. The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies is a research institution dedicated to fundamental theoretical research in various areas of science. It is embedded into Frankfurt's recently established natural science research campus. Frankfurt itself is the hub of one of the most vibrant metropolitan areas in Europe. It boasts a rich culture and arts community and repeatedly earns highest rankings in worldwide surveys of quality of living. Applications should include a statement of research interests, CV and contact information for at least two references. Send applications to application at fias.uni-frankfurt.de. Review of applications will begin immediately. [1] A Unified Model of the Joint Development of Disparity Selectivity and Vergence Control. Zhao Y, Rothkopf CA, Triesch J, Shi B. IEEE Int. Conf. on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL), 2012. (Paper of excellence award.) http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6400876 [2] Robust active binocular vision through intrinsically motivated learning L. Lonini, S. Forestier, C. Teuli?re, Y. Zhao, B. Shi, J. Triesch, frontiers in Neurorobotics, 2013. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbot.2013.00020/full [3] Self-calibrating smooth pursuit through active efficient coding C. Teuli?re, S. Forestier, L. Lonini, C. Zhang, Y. Zhao, B. Shi, J. Triesch, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2014 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889014002486 -- Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch Johanna Quandt Research Professor Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/ Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611 From danko.nikolic at googlemail.com Thu Jun 18 12:42:00 2015 From: danko.nikolic at googlemail.com (Danko Nikolic) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:42:00 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Singularity interview Message-ID: <5582F4D8.1040109@gmail.com> An interesting interview with Nicolelis and Cicurel about their new book, The Relativistic Brain: https://www.singularityweblog.com/miguel-nicolelis-and-ronald-cicurel/ -- Prof. Dr. Danko Nikoli? Web: http://www.danko-nikolic.com Mail address 1: Department of Neurophysiology Max Planck Institut for Brain Research Deutschordenstr. 46 60528 Frankfurt am Main GERMANY Mail address 2: Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies Wolfgang Goethe University Ruth-Moufang-Str. 1 60433 Frankfurt am Main GERMANY ---------------------------- Office: (..49-69) 96769-736 Lab: (..49-69) 96769-209 Fax: (..49-69) 96769-327 danko.nikolic at gmail.com ---------------------------- From florian at coneural.org Tue Jun 16 06:48:20 2015 From: florian at coneural.org (Razvan Valentin Florian) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 13:48:20 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: call for proposals - funding of up to 2 milllion euros Message-ID: <557FFEF4.4040302@coneural.org> The Romanian Institute of Science and Technology invites applications for research projects to be funded with up to 2 million euros for up to 4 years with European structural funds awarded by the Romanian National Authority for Research and Innovation. The current call is targeted to fund projects led by scientists having research or doctoral experience outside Romania. About 50 projects will be funded. Machine learning and related fields, and especially deep learning, recurrent neural networks, Bayesian approaches, general artificial intelligence, curiosity-based learning, robotics, and computational neuroscience are strategic areas for our institute, although we welcome scientists working in all fields of science. The projects may include basic research and must include a component of applied research or development. Eligible application areas include analyzing and managing big data, internet of things, internet of the future, agricultural robotics, autonomous driving, autonomous transportation, intelligent cities, technologies and methods for software development, new computational models. Scientists are invited to send us an expression of interest at office at rist.ro by June 30, 2015, including a brief abstract of the project, a CV and a list of publications, or links to webpages including this information. Following the approval, scientists will write the full applications with the administrative assistance of our staff and the institute will submit the applications for assessment to the National Authority for Research and Innovation. The deadline for submitting the full proposals to the institute depends on the number of expressions of interest, and will likely be August 15, 2015. The deadline for the institute to submit the final applications is September 1, 2015. More information is available at http://rist.ro/en/details/news/call-for-scientists.html#pk_campaign=connectionists --- Razvan Valentin Florian Director, Romanian Institute of Science and Technology From terry at salk.edu Wed Jun 17 23:16:59 2015 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:16:59 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - July 1, 2025 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Volume 27, Number 7 - July 1, 2015 Available online for download now: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/neco/27/7 ----- Articles Unifying Blind Separation and Clustering for Resting-State EEG/MEG Functional Connectivity Analysis Jun-ichiro Hirayama, Takeshi Ogawa, and Aapo Hyvarinen Attentional Bias Through Oscillatory Coherence Between Excitatory Activity and Inhibitory Minima Sebastian Blaes, Thomas Burwick Letters Clusterless Decoding of Position From Multiunit Activity Using a Marked Point Process Filter Xinyi Deng, Daniel F. Liu, Kenneth Kay, Loren M. Frank, and Uri T. Eden A Hebbian/Anti-Hebbian Neural Network for Linear Subspace Learning: A Derivation From Multidimensional Scaling of Streaming Data Cengiz Pehlevan, Tao Hu, and Dmitri B. Chklovskii Learning Slowness in a Sparse Model of Invariant Feature Detection Thusitha N. Chandrapala, Bertram E. Shi On the Spike Train Variability Characterized by Variance-to-mean Power Relationship Shinsuke koyama Comments and Correction on "U-Processes and Preference Learning" (Neural Computation Vol. 26, Pp. 2896-2924, 2014) Wojciech Rejchel, Hong Li, Chuanbao Ren, and Luoqing Li ------------ 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 k.g.a.vervaeke at ibv.uio.no Fri Jun 19 04:56:56 2015 From: k.g.a.vervaeke at ibv.uio.no (Koen Gerard Alois Vervaeke) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 08:56:56 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD and postdoc positions in Norway Message-ID: 2 PhD Research Fellowships in Neuroscience. Two doctoral fellow positions are available at the Department of Physiology at the University of Oslo. The positions are associated with the laboratory of Associate Professor Koen Vervaeke for a period of 3 years. The positions are available from the 1st of October 2015. For more information about the lab: www.vervaeke-lab.org Job description We are searching for highly motivated candidates with a strong interest in cortical circuits. We study cortical circuit functions in fully awake behaving animals using optical and electrophysiological methods. One position is funded by the European Research Council to study the role of neural inhibition in sensory processing. The project aims to unravel the role of specific neuron types in the barrel cortex while animals perform a sensory perception task. The candidate will use state of the art in vivo two-photon imaging techniques to record neuronal activity, and optogenetic perturbations to identify cell-specific contributions to sensory processing. The second position is funded by the University of Oslo to study the role of the retrosplenial cortex in associative learning. This project aims to develop new behavior tasks in combination with two-photon imaging or extracellular recording to reveal novel functions of this enigmatic part of the cortex. We offer training possibilities in the required experimental methods within a stimulating academic environment. Qualifications Highly motivated students with a degree in biology, medicine, computer science or engineering are encouraged to apply. Experience in electrophysiology and/or optical imaging, or computational neuroscience is an advantage. Good programming skills (Matlab/Python/LabVIEW) and a critical and organized sense for data analysis are a big plus. Basic knowledge of the fundamentals of neuroscience is desired. 3-Year Postdoc position at the interface of systems- and cellular neuroscience funded by an ERC startup grant, to study the role of neural inhibition in sensory processing in mice performing perceptual tasks using two-photon functional imaging and electrophysiology. Ideal applicants should have a background in at least one of the following disciplines; electrophysiology, rodent behavior, two-photon microscopy or optogenetics. The experiments will be closely linked to computer simulations of dendritic integration in cortical pyramidal neurons that will be performed by other members of the lab. The candidate should have steady hands and be creative to trouble-shoot new rodent behavior protocols. Good programming skills (Matlab/Python/LabVIEW), being critical and organized in analyzing data, and experience with microcontrollers (ex. Arduino) or FPGAs are all a big plus. Highly motivated candidates that do not fulfill all the criteria will have the opportunity to learn the necessary skills in the lab, or will spent a training period abroad. Ideally, candidates should aim to start before November 2015. Koen Vervaeke www.vervaeke-lab.org www.cinpla.org/people/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hans.ekkehard.plesser at nmbu.no Fri Jun 19 04:10:45 2015 From: hans.ekkehard.plesser at nmbu.no (Hans Ekkehard Plesser) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 08:10:45 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: NEST, The Neural Simulation Tool, now available on GitHub Message-ID: <5AC0B8A3-EFE0-4E02-A766-CA3843F8946C@nmbu.no> Dear Colleagues! Development of the widely used Neural Simulation Tool NEST for large-scale spiking neuronal network models has now moved to GitHub at https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator The code on GitHub is based on the code base for the coming NEST 2.6.1 bugfix release and is available under GNU Public License version 2 or later. By cloning NEST from our GitHub repository, you will have immediate access to all improvements in the NEST master repository. We would also like to encourage community development contributions to NEST. If you would like to contribute to NEST, you should fork NEST on GitHub and submit your contributions via pull requests. More information: - About the NEST Simulator: http://www.nest-simulator.org - About contributing to NEST: https://nest.github.io/nest-simulator/ - About the NEST Initiative: http://www.nest-initiative.org - User mailing list: http://mail.nest-initiative.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nest_user - Video about NEST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YEiren7D0 About NEST: NEST is a simulator for spiking neural network models that focuses on the dynamics, size and structure of neural systems rather than on the exact morphology of individual neurons. The development of NEST is coordinated by the NEST Initiative. NEST is ideal for networks of spiking neurons of any size, for example: ? Models of information processing e.g. in the visual or auditory cortex of mammals, ? Models of network activity dynamics, e.g. laminar cortical networks or balanced random networks, ? Models of learning and plasticity. Best regards, Hans Ekkehard Plesser President, The NEST Initiative -- Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Associate Professor Section Head Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser at nmbu.no Home http://arken.umb.no/~plesser From birgit.ahrens at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Fri Jun 19 07:01:20 2015 From: birgit.ahrens at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Birgit Ahrens) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:01:20 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: BCF/NWG Course "Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology" 2015 at the Bernstein Center Freiburg, Germany Message-ID: <5583F680.60901@bcf.uni-freiburg.de> -- APPLICATION DEADLINE APPROACHING ON JUNE 30 -- BCF/NWG Course "Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology" Sunday, October 4 - Friday, October 9, 2015 Bernstein Center Freiburg, Hansastra?e 9a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany Aim of the course: The course is intended to provide advanced Diploma/Masters and PhD students, as well as young researchers from the neurosciences with approaches for the analysis of electrophysiological data and the theoretical concepts behind them. The course includes various topics such as: - Neuron Models and Point Processes (Prof. Stefan Rotter) - Local field potentials (Prof. Ulrich Egert) - Neural Coding (Dr. Robert Schmidt) - Neural Decoding (Prof. Carsten Mehring) The course will consist of lectures in the morning and matching exercises using Matlab and Mathematica in the afternoon. The participants should have a basic understanding of scientific programming. This course is designated especially for advanced diploma/master students and PhD students (preferentially in their first year). Application: Please apply by sending one pdf document containing your CV and a meaningful letter of motivation to nwg-course at bcf.uni-freiburg.de. The letter of motivation should refer to the following points: - Reasons for wanting to take this course - Background in mathematics - Background in scientific programming - Experience in using Matlab and Mathematica - Background in neuroscience The course is limited to 20 participants. Course fees: NWG members - 50?, others - 125? Application deadline: June 30, 2015 More information: http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/events/conferences-workshops/20151004-nwgcourse -- Dr. Birgit Ahrens Teaching & Training Coordinator Bernstein Center Freiburg University of Freiburg Hansastr. 9a D - 79104 Freiburg Germany Phone: +49 (0) 761 203-9575 Fax: +49 (0) 761 203-9559 From cookie at ucsd.edu Mon Jun 22 16:02:22 2015 From: cookie at ucsd.edu (Santamaria, Cookie) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 20:02:22 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE 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 stemmler at biologie.uni-muenchen.de Mon Jun 22 09:46:40 2015 From: stemmler at biologie.uni-muenchen.de (Martin Stemmler) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:46:40 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Decoding grid cells Message-ID: Dear connectionists, We?d like to announce an electronic preprint for a paper on how the activity of grid cells in medial entorhinal cortex can be read out. This read-out relies on a simple population vector average to yield ego-centric homing vectors. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/021204 Grid cells with lattices having multiple scales act in concert like the hour, minute, and second hands on an analog clock. Except that for mammalian navigation, the ?clock? for space lies on a torus. We show that the population vector average yields the maximum likelihood solution for dead reckoning (exactly in 1D, and to a very good approximation in the non-trivial extension to 2D). Population-vector decoding also predicts the discrete, modular arrangement of grid length scales, which form a geometric progression with a scale ratio of roughly 3/2. best regards, Martin Stemmler, Alexander Mathis, and Andreas Herz From erik at oist.jp Mon Jun 22 03:28:09 2015 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 16:28:09 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Development of model description languages Message-ID: <676926B5-3E75-4327-9B64-9C84F165C050@oist.jp> Postdoctoral researcher and staff scientist positions are available in the Computational Neuroscience Unit (https://groups.oist.jp/cnu) of Prof. Erik De Schutter at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. We are looking for a postdoc with a computer science or engineering background who is interested in the development of XML-based methods for model description and simulation. You will collaborate with international colleagues on further development of NIneML (http://nineml.net) and deploy it within the research group. Previous experience related to collaborative projects in computational neuroscience or systems biology preferred. You will interact with other researchers and students in the lab who are working on cerebellar modeling projects or analyzing cerebellar recordings. We offer attractive financial and working conditions in an English language graduate university that emphasizes interdisciplinary research, located on the beautiful subtropical island Okinawa. Send curriculum vitae, a summary of research interests and experience, and the names of three referees to Prof. Erik De Schutter at erik at oist.jp From thomaskreuz at gmail.com Sun Jun 21 19:07:04 2015 From: thomaskreuz at gmail.com (Thomas Kreuz) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 00:07:04 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?SPIKY_and_PySpike_=E2=80=93_Two_free_so?= =?utf-8?q?ftware_packages_for_monitoring_spike_train_synchrony?= Message-ID: Dear all, we would like to draw your attention to our two most recent papers and to two new software packages. *1. Two new papers:* This paper provides a detailed description of *SPIKY* (see 2.) and introduces our new measure *SPIKE-synchronization*: ? Kreuz T, Mulansky M, Bozanic N: SPIKY: A graphical user interface for monitoring spike train synchrony. JNeurophysiol 113, 3432 (2015) [PDF] . An overview of all three of our measures (*ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance and SPIKE-synchronization*) and their mathematical properties can be found in ? Mulansky M, Bozanic N, Sburlea A, Kreuz T: A guide to time-resolved and parameter-free measures of spike train synchrony. IEEE Proceedings (in press) and arXiv [PDF] (2015). *2. SPIKY, graphical user interface (Matlab) for monitoring spike train synchrony* Implementations of ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance, and SPIKE-Synchronization Distances, time profiles, distance matrices, selective averaging, triggered averages, dendrograms, etc. Plotting, movie generation Spike train generator, event detector (for continuous data such as EEG) Matlab with C backend (MEX) Matlab fallback if no MEX-compiler is not available Extensive documentation includes many illustrative movies Matlab source codes and all relevant papers are available on our *SPIKY download page* http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/Source-Code/SPIKY.html For further information about new features and updates please check the *SPIKY Facebook page* https://www.facebook.com/SPIKYgui Here you'll also find a lot of documentation including many images and movies that illustrate how to use SPIKY. All of these movies can also be found on the *SPIKY Youtube channel* https://www.youtube.com/user/SPIKYgui1 *3. PySpike, open source Python library hosted on github* Implementations of ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance, and SPIKE-Synchronization Library of functions to compute distances and profiles (bivariate and multivariate), distance matrices, selective averages, etc. Helper functions for plotting, spike train generation Cython backend for optimal performance (factor 100-200 over plain Python) Python fallback if Cython is not available Extensive unit-tests that cover the API as well as the numerics Automatic build and test runs Documentation The github issues system can be used to file bug reports or request new functionality and features. *PySpike webpage* http://www.pyspike.de *PySpike github page* https://github.com/mariomulansky/PySpike Any feedback on both the papers and the software packages is very welcome. Best wishes, Thomas Kreuz -- Institute for complex systems, CNR Via Madonna del Piano 10 50119 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy) Tel: +39-349-0748506 Email: thomas.kreuz at cnr.it Webpage: http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Sat Jun 20 11:43:29 2015 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:43:29 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: INNS Deep Learning Workshop, San Francisco, Aug. 8, 2015 - Early registration deadline extended to July 1, 2015 Message-ID: <4AD8F84F0AA4E1448BD8131BA7E55EB425F7D053@exmbt02.asurite.ad.asu.edu> INNS Deep Learning Workshop Saturday, 8 August 2015, San Francisco http://innsbigdata.org/workshops/deep-learning-workshop/ * Early-bird registration for the Deep Learning workshop and the INNS BigData conference is extended to 01Jul2015, which is also the last date for low hotel rates. * Microsoft has donated 30 k$ in prizes for the AutoML challenge. Related to this challenge, a Hackathon Bootcamp on "Automatic Machine Learning, Deep Learning and GPUs" is being held Tuesday 11Aug2015 at Stanford University in conjunction with the INNS-BigData conference. This is a unique opportunity to form teams with other people, and to realize your dream of building the perfect machine learning black box that can train predictive models without any human intervention. Deep Learning Workshop : http://innsbigdata.org/workshops/deep-learning-workshop/ We are pleased to have speakers from major IT companies such as Microsoft, Google, Baidu, as well as top academic pioneers in this area. Presentations will cover both academic and industrial perspectives. It is for people who want to : * get a picture of the potential and frontiers of Deep Learning * understand and break limitations of existing DL approaches * learn from people who are winning today's top benchmark challenges * exchange new ideas and techniques * lead DL research and/or applications of tomorrow Participation in the Deep Learning workshop is limited, and priority will go to regular conference attendees, after which attendance will be on a first come, first served basis. So register early, and let your colleagues and students know about this! 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 jbednar at inf.ed.ac.uk Tue Jun 23 08:42:09 2015 From: jbednar at inf.ed.ac.uk (James A. Bednar) Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 13:42:09 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Rapid image categorization via edge co-occurrences Message-ID: <21897.21537.198078.11269@hebb.inf.ed.ac.uk> We are pleased to announce the publication of an open-access paper demonstrating a novel method for categorizing images using the statistics of their edge co-occurrences. The success of this low-level method in matching both correct and incorrect classifications by humans suggests a reinterpretation of longstanding claims for rapid hierarchical processing in the visual cortex. Laurent U. Perrinet Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS James A. Bednar Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation University of Edinburgh _______________________________________________________________________________ Laurent U. Perrinet and James A. Bednar. Edge co-occurrences can account for rapid categorization of natural versus animal images. Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group, 5:11400, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11400 Abstract: Making a judgment about the semantic category of a visual scene, such as whether it contains an animal, is typically assumed to involve high-level associative brain areas. Previous explanations require progressively analyzing the scene hierarchically at increasing levels of abstraction, from edge extraction to mid-level object recognition and then object categorization. Here we show that the statistics of edge co-occurrences alone are sufficient to perform a rough yet robust (translation, scale, and rotation invariant) scene categorization. We first extracted the edges from images using a scale-space analysis coupled with a sparse coding algorithm. We then computed association for different categories (natural, man-made, or containing an animal) by computing the statistics of edge co-occurrences. These differed strongly, with animal images having more curved configurations. We show that this geometry alone is sufficient for categorization, and that the pattern of errors made by humans is consistent with this procedure. Because these statistics could be measured as early as the primary visual cortex, the results challenge widely held assumptions about the flow of computations in the visual system. The results also suggest new algorithms for image classification and signal processing that exploit correlations between low-level structure and the underlying semantic category. -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From Frances_Ng at meei.harvard.edu Tue Jun 23 16:40:17 2015 From: Frances_Ng at meei.harvard.edu (Ng, Frances) Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 20:40:17 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Please post- PostDoctoral Fellow Translational Vision Science Message-ID: <34D48FE637D52E45B0CF6DF086B0FFCFB72C7586@isvifmbxsvr02.meei.harvard.edu> Full Time Postdoctoral Fellow position available in translational vision science research Location: Schepens Eye Research Institute/Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA Start: September 1, 2015 Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in a translational vision science project at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. This project is supported by the Lions Foundation and will be conducted from September 1st, 2015 to June 30th, 2016. In the course of this interdisciplinary project, the postdoctoral fellow will collaborate with scientists with backgrounds in visual psychophysics, bioinformatical statistics, computer science, and ophthalmology. As a postdoctoral fellow, you will contribute with your specific area of expertise to the development of novel methods to diagnose eye diseases and to monitor disease progression. This may include, but is not restricted to, investigating the relationship between retinal physiology and functional vision, large scale data analysis by machine learning techniques, or developing new psychophysical tests for specific disease related impairments. A Ph.D. is required. The successful candidate will have background in either the field of mathematics/computer science, particularly statistics, machine learning, or image processing, or the field of vision science/ophthalmology. Candidates with backgrounds in life sciences are especially encouraged to apply if they have programming skills and experience with statistical analyses of large data sets. Candidates from the fields of computer science or mathematics are especially encouraged to apply if they have experience with medical research, vision science, or related fields. The Lions Foundation restricts its funding to this specific project which needs to be completed by June 30th, 2016. However, depending on the funding situation from other sources, an extension of the postdoctoral position might be possible if the candidate is interested in working on related projects, although it cannot be guaranteed at present time. Interested individuals should submit the current CV and brief statement of research interests in PDF format, together with the names of two referees to Tobias Elze (tobias_elze at meei.harvard.edu) as ell as submit their CV online at https://re12.ultipro.com/MAS1001/JobBoard/ListJobs.aspx, Req.#15-0323. Applications should be received before July 20th, 2015, but later applications will be considered until the position is filled. The Schepens Eye Research Institute is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and E-Verify Employer. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From compsens at medizin.uni-tuebingen.de Thu Jun 25 05:38:15 2015 From: compsens at medizin.uni-tuebingen.de (Compsens) Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 11:38:15 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: =?utf-8?q?Phd__Position=2C_University_of_T=C3=BCb?= =?utf-8?q?ingen=2C_Germany?= Message-ID: <20150625113815.Horde.PHGbtoNnmOwcF2QlvUzn6lT@webmail.uni-tuebingen.de> PHD POSITION: LEARNING OF COGNITIVE REPRESENTATIONS FOR HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION ============================================================ The Section for Computational Sensomotorics at the Center for Integrative Neurosciences and the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tuebingen invites applications for a Postdoc or a PhD student, preferably with a good mathematical background for a maximum duration of 4 years. The position is funded within the EC research project COGIMON that includes multiple other European partners. This highly interdisciplinary project aims at the development of control algorithms and strategies for the interaction between humans and humanoid robots, ultimately leading also to biomedical applications. The available project focuses on the development of machine learning algorithms for the representation and control of interactive full-body movements, in close interaction with experiments with human subjects. This includes work with human motion capture data and marker-less tracking, techniques from computer animation, and related problems in control, exploiting appropriate techniques from machine learning. Our group has long expertise with the modeling and perception of complex human body motion. We are part of the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Science (HIH), one of the leading European institutions in Clinical Neuroscience and of the Excellence Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) that hosts a large spectrum of experimental and theoretical groups in neuroscience at the University and the Max Planck Institutes. Ideal candidates should have the following qualifications: * Masters (PhD) degree in Computer Science, Electrical / Mechanical / Biomedical Engineering, Physics, or related fields with good mathematical training * programming experience (Matlab, C/C++, ...) * Knowledge about control theory or machine learning * English speaking and writing skills. Committed to Equal Opportunities. Please send applications preferentially electronically (including CV, marks and 2 letters of reference) as soon as possible to Prof. Dr. Martin Giese, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research & Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Otfried-M?ller. 25, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; email: martin.giese at uni-tuebingen.de ================================================== Section for Theoretical Sensomotorics Dept. for Cognitive Neurology Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research & Center for Integrative Neuroscience University of Tuebingen Otfried-M?ller Str. 25 D-72076 Tuebingen GERMANY Tel.: +49 7071 2989124 Fax: +49 7071 294790 Email: martin.giese at uni-tuebingen.de Web: http://www.compsens.uni-tuebingen.de/ ============================================== -- Mirjana Angelovska Abt. Kognitive Neurologie Sektion f?r theoretische Sensomotorik AG Prof. Giese Universit?tsklink T?bingen Centrum f?r Integrative Neurowissenschaften Hertie Institut f?r klinische Hirnforschung Otfried-M?ller-Str. 25 72076 T?bingen Tel: + 49 (0)7071-2989137 Fax: + 49 (0)7071-294790 e-mail:compsens at medizin.uni-tuebingen.de From A.Soltoggio at lboro.ac.uk Thu Jun 25 14:12:12 2015 From: A.Soltoggio at lboro.ac.uk (Andrea Soltoggio) Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 18:12:12 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Fully funded PhD position in Neural Learning / Robotics / Evolutionary Neural Networks Message-ID: A fully funded PhD position is available at the Deep Automation, Learning and Evolution Lab at Loughborough University, UK, on the topics of Neural Learning / Robotics / Evolutionary Neural Networks. Loughborough University is ranked 11th in the 2016 UK League Table Ranking (http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/loughborough/performance , and is located in Loughborough, a town well connected to London by a 1h20m journey by train. Research. The focus is on developing new neural learning algorithms with possible applications to a variety of automation and machine learning problems, e.g. vision, robotics, autonomous vehicles, manufacturing technology. We seek an outstanding candidate, capable of defining their own research project and bringing novel ideas and initiatives to the lab. Working environment. The student, based at the Computer Science Department, School of Science, will have access to a number of robotic platforms, from humanoid robots, to UAVs and a number of industrial and service robots, as well as a High Performance Computing cluster and GPUs. Interdisciplinary research is encouraged across laboratories, including Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, the Intelligent Automation Lab, and the Centre for Information Management. The research group collaborates with leading national and international industrial partners. Requirements. The ideal candidate holds (or is about to obtain) a first-class honour undergraduate/postgraduate degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or has authored publications in recognised conferences/journals. Independent working skills are valued as well as the capability of working in a team. Collegiality and interpersonal skills are essential. Excellent English language skills are highly desired (see requirements here http://www.lboro.ac.uk/international/englang/index.htm) Period/Scholarship. Start: October 2015. Duration: 3 years. Scholarship: ?14,057 per annum plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate (currently ?4,052 p.a.) Enquiries and applications. Interested candidates are invited to establish a preliminary contact with me (a.soltoggio at lboro.ac.uk), possibly including a CV, the names and addresses of two referees, and a statement of research interest (maximum 300 words), before submitting the full application at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/ Best regards, Andrea Soltoggio -- Dr. Andrea Soltoggio Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence Department of Computer Science and Centre for Information Management (CIM) School of Business and Economics Haslegrave Building, N.2.03 Loughborough University LE11 3TU, UK Phone: +44 (0) 1509 635748 Email: a.soltoggio at lboro.ac.uk Web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/compsci/staff/dr-andrea-soltoggio.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Patrick.Gallinari at lip6.fr Fri Jun 26 07:37:02 2015 From: Patrick.Gallinari at lip6.fr (Patrick Gallinari) Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:37:02 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position in Paris , France: Deep learning for multivariate and heterogeneous time series Message-ID: <558D395E.1070505@lip6.fr> Postdoc position in Paris , France: Deep learning for multivariate and heterogeneous time series. The machine learning group at University Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, is looking for a highly motivated postdoc on the topic ?Deep learning for multivariate and heterogeneous time series?. This work is part of a EU-RFCS project ?Predictive Sensor Data Mining for Product Quality Improvement? (PRESED). The general goal of the PRESED project is the improvement of quality of steel production plants by the online analysis of multiple sensor data. The sensors provide complex multivariate and heterogeneous time series covering the whole production chain. The objective of the postdoc is the development of new statistical methodologies based on deep learning and representation learning for the analysis of such time series. This topic offers a unique opportunity to explore and extend the field of deep learning on complex temporal data and will be conducted in close collaboration with ArcelorMittal Global R&D (coordinator of the European project). The successful candidate will have a strong background in machine learning, applied statistics or related fields. He should also have an experience in large size experimental data analysis. Preference will be given to candidates with sufficient programming skills. The appointment is initially for one year (extendable depending on work progress), between july and september 2015. Gross annual salary is in the range 30, 000 ? 35, 000 euros. UPMC is in the center of Paris and is one of the foremost scientific universities in France. The position is opened at the Machine Learning and Information Access (MLIA) team, whose core research is machine learning with applications in semantic (text and image) data analysis. The team is composed of 3 professors and 3 assistant professors plus around 10 PhDs and Postdocs. Candidates should send a CV and an accompanying letter to patrick.gallinari at lip6.fr . -- Prof. Patrick Gallinari UPMC - LIP6 Boite 169 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Tel: 33144277370, fax: 33144277000 http://www-connex.lip6.fr/~gallinar/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sorelle at cs.haverford.edu Thu Jun 25 14:17:24 2015 From: sorelle at cs.haverford.edu (Sorelle Friedler) Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 14:17:24 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: ICML Workshop on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in Machine Learning Message-ID: We hope you can join us for this upcoming workshop! ICML Workshop on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in Machine Learning Saturday, July 11th, 2015 - Lille, France www.fatml.org This interdisciplinary workshop will consider issues of fairness, accountability, and transparency in machine learning. It will address growing anxieties about the role that machine learning plays in consequential decision-making in such areas as commerce, employment, healthcare, education, and policing. Invited Speakers: Nick Diakopoulos --- Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency in Journalism Sara Hajian --- Discrimination- and Privacy-Aware Data Mining Salvatore Ruggieri --- Privacy Attacks and Anonymization Methods as Tools for Discrimination Discovery and Fairness Toshihiro Kamishima and Kazuto Fukuchi --- Future Directions of Fairness-Aware Data Mining: Recommendation, Causality, and Theoretical Aspects Accepted Papers: Muhammad Bilal Zafar, Isabel Valera Martinez, Manuel Gomez Rodriguez, and Krishna Gummadi --- Fairness Constraints: A Mechanism for Fair Classification Benjamin Fish, Jeremy Kun, and ?d?m D. Lelkes --- Fair Boosting: A Case Study Zubin Jelveh and Michael Luca --- Towards Diagnosing Accuracy Loss in Discrimination-Aware Classification: An Application to Predictive Policing Indr? ?liobait? --- On the Relation between Accuracy and Fairness in Binary Classification Closing Panel Discussion: Fernando Diaz, Sorelle Friedler, Mykola Pechenizkiy, Hanna Wallach, and Suresh Venkatasubramanian (Moderator) Looking forward to seeing you in Lille! The organizing committee, Solon Barocas (General Chair), Princeton University Sorelle Friedler (Program Chair), Haverford College Moritz Hardt, Google Josh Kroll, Princeton Unviersity Carlos Scheidegger, University of Arizona Suresh Venkatasubramanian, University of Utah Hanna Wallach, Microsoft Research and University of Massachusetts Amherst -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Tue Jun 30 08:33:44 2015 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:33:44 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: Increased Impact Factor (2014/15) and Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer): Vol.7, No.3 / June 2015 Issue Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 7, No.3 / June 2015 Issue, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 ================================================================ Important News: Increased Impact Factor & Six bi-monthly Journal Issues from 2015! ================================================================ As you will know, Cognitive Computation was selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter?s products and services in 2011. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ? Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch?) ? Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ? Current Contents?/Engineering Computing and Technology ? Neuroscience Citation Index? Cognitive Computation received its first Impact Factor (IF) of 1.0 in 2011 The IF for 2014 has increased to 1.44 (Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports? 2014) Many congratulations to the editors, reviewers and authors! Want to be part of the growing success? Visit the journal homepage (http:// springer.com/12559) for instructions on submitting your research. ================================= Quarterly to Bi-monthly Issues, from 2015!! ================================= Due to continuously growing number of high quality submissions, the number of Issues has increased from four (quarterly Issues) to six (bi-monthly Issues) each year, starting Feb 2015! ======================================== The June 2015 Issue comprises two invited papers - the first by Guang-Bin Huang: "What are Extreme Learning Machines? Filling the Gap Between Frank Rosenblatt?s Dream and John von Neumann?s Puzzle", and the second by Asim Roy: "On Findings of Category and Other Concept Cells in the Brain: Some Theoretical Perspectives on Mental Representation"). These are followed by eight regular papers. The full listing of published articles (Table of Contents) for this June 2015 Issue can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/3/ A list of the journal's most downloaded articles (which can always be read for FREE) can be found here: http://www.springer .com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?hideChart=1#realtime Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted All previous Volumes and Issues of the journal can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 ============================================ Reminder: Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has over 800 members already! We warmly invite you to join us at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048 For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Marleen Moore: Marleen.Moore at springer.com Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to peer review all papers within approximately six-eight weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues - four are already planned for 2015-16 (for CFPs, see: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?detailsPage=press ) With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Professor Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) Professor Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) (Imperial College, London, UK) http://www.springer.com/12559 NEW: Open Access Springer/BMC journal: Big Data Analytics ( http://www.bdataanalytics.com/) - Now accepting submissions! NEW: Springer Series on Socio-Affective Computing: http://www.springer.com/series/13199 Also consider your work for related Book Series: SpringerBriefs on Cognitive Computation: http://www.springer .com/series/10374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Alert -- Cognitive Computation Vol 7 No 3, June 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are Extreme Learning Machines? Filling the Gap Between Frank Rosenblatt?s Dream and John von Neumann?s Puzzle Guang-Bin Huang http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9333-0 On Findings of Category and Other Concept Cells in the Brain: Some Theoretical Perspectives on Mental Representation Asim Roy http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9307-7 Models for Computational Emotions from Psychological Theories Using Type I Fuzzy Logic Aladdin Ayesh, William Blewitt http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9287-7 Models for Computational Emotions from Psychological Theories Using Type-II Fuzzy Logic Aladdin Ayesh, William Blewitt http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9286-8 Is Attentional Refreshing in Working Memory Sequential? A Computational Modeling Approach Sophie Portrat, Beno?t Lemaire http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9294-8 Uncertain Graph Classification Based on Extreme Learning Machine Donghong Han, Yachao Hu, Shuangshuang Ai, Guoren Wang http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9295-7 Optimization of Multiuser MIMO Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks Yongqiang Hei, Wentao Li, Min Li, Zhuo Qiu, Weihong Fu http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9297-5 Word Polarity Disambiguation Using Bayesian Model and Opinion-Level Features Yunqing Xia, Erik Cambria, Amir Hussain, Huan Zhao http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9298-4 Imbalanced Learning for Air Pollution by Meta-Cognitive Online Sequential Extreme Learning Machine Chi-Man Vong, Weng-Fai Ip, Chi-Chong Chiu, Pak-Kin Wong http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9301-0 Daniel D. Hutto and Erik Myin: Radicalizing Enactivism: Basic Minds without Content Paulo De Jesus http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9306-8 --------------------------------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: --------------------------------------------------------- All previous Volumes and Issues can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 Alternatively, the full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/1/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Rodney Douglas, Giacomo Indiveri, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/4/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.1 / Mar 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/1/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.2 / June 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.3 / Sep 2012 (Special Issue on: Computational Creativity, Intelligence and Autonomy, Edited by: J. Mark Bishop and Yasemin J. Erden) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/3/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.4 / Dec 2012 (Special Issue titled: "Cognitive & Emotional Information Processing", Edited by: Stefano Squartini, Bj?rn Schuller and Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/4/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.1 / March 2013 Special Issue titled: Computational Intelligence and Applications Guest Editors: Zhigang Zeng & Haibo He, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.2 / June 2013 Special Issue titled: Advances on Brain Inspired Computing, Guest Editors: Stefano Squartini, Sanqing Hu & Qingshan Liu, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.3 / Sep 2013 Special Issue titled: In Memory of John G Taylor: A Polymath Scholar, Guest Editors: Vassilis Cutsuridis & Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.4 / Dec 2013, which includes regular papers (including an invited paper by Professor Ron Sun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, titled: Moral Judgment, Human Motivation, and Neural Networks), and a Special Issue titled: Advanced Cognitive Systems Based on Nonlinear Analysis. Guest Editors: Carlos M. Travieso and Jes?s B. Alonso, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.1 / Mar 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.2 / June 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.3 / Sep 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.4 / Dec 2014 (Special Issue on Modeling emotion, behaviour and context in socially believable robots and ICT interfaces, Guest Editors: Anna Esposito, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Giuseppe Lugano) can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 7, No.1 / Feb 2015 can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/1/ (with the first six papers part of a Special Issue on "Neural Signal Processing", Guest Edited by: Jordi Sole?-Casals, Francois-Benoit Vialatte, Justin Dauwels. The Guest Editorial titled: "Alternative Techniques of Neural Signal Processing in Neuroengineering" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9317-0) The full listing of Vol. 7, No. 2 / April 2015, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/2/ This comprises a Special Issue on "Sentic Computing", Guest Edited by: E. Cambria and A. Hussain. The Guest Editorial titled: "Sentic Computing" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9325-0 -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbaimon at sandia.gov Mon Jun 29 18:44:31 2015 From: jbaimon at sandia.gov (Aimone, James Bradley) Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 22:44:31 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Computational Neuroscience Positions at Sandia National Laboratories In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <30c882eb88f743609cfcde8fbfcf3355@ES06AMSNLNT.srn.sandia.gov> Colleagues, We are seeking computational neuroscientists to join an interdisciplinary research program focused on understanding neural computation at the circuit level. Preference will be given to candidates using computational approaches, broadly defined, to understand visual cortex and perception, but we welcome applicants from all areas of computational neuroscience. Example research topics of interest include computational models of visual cortex, neural circuitry underlying perception, and the neural basis of decision-making. Candidates should have a strong background in neuroscience, and an understanding of relations between neuroscience, cognitive science, and computation. Experience or familiarity with related machine-learning fields is also desired. Our department is part of a highly interdisciplinary community of researchers with interests spanning systems neuroscience and brain-inspired computing, engineering, and computer science. Successful applicants will be expected to conduct high-quality research, maintain a successful publication record in peer-reviewed journals, and develop collaborations with this vibrant and growing community. Staff members at Sandia are expected both to contribute to ongoing projects and to develop new lines of research with potential for application in solving complex problems. This position is located at Sandia's Albuquerque, NM, USA site. Multiple positions for varying levels of experience are available. For more information and to apply, visit http://www.sandia.gov/careers/ and click "View All Jobs". Go to the Advanced Search, then search for Job Opening ID 650198. For questions please contact Frances Chance (fschanc at sandia.gov) or Brad Aimone (jbaimon at sandia.gov). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de Sun Jun 28 19:02:39 2015 From: tbesold at uni-osnabrueck.de (Tarek R. Besold) Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 02:02:39 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: =?iso-8859-1?q?Neural-Cognitive_Integration_=28NC?= =?iso-8859-1?q?I=29_=40=A0KI_2015=3A_Extended_Submission_Deadline_=28July?= =?iso-8859-1?q?_10=2C_2015=29?= Message-ID: <61218034-B5F2-45E8-84E5-4E2FC19A9D9B@uni-osnabrueck.de> === NEURAL-COGNITIVE INTEGRATION @ KI 2015 === Final Call for Papers for the Workshop on Neural-Cognitive Integration (TU Dresden, Germany, September 22, 2015) --- collocated with --- KI 2015, the 38th German Conference on Artificial Intelligence (TU Dresden, Germany, September 21 to 25, 2015). === WORKSHOP WEBPAGE === https://sites.google.com/site/nciki2015/home === EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE === The submission deadline for NCI @ KI 2015 has been extended until Friday, July 10, 2015. === KEYNOTE SPEAKERS === Steffen H?lldobler, Dresden University of Technology, Germany Herbert Jaeger, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany === WORKSHOP GOALS === The aim of the interdisciplinary workshop is to bring together recent work addressing questions related to open issues in neural-cognitive integration, i.e., research trying to bridge the gap(s) between different levels of description, explanation, representation, and computation in symbolic and sub-symbolic paradigms, and which sheds light onto canonical solutions or principled approaches occurring in the context of neural-cognitive integration. === WORKSHOP TOPIC & MOTIVATION(S) === A seamless coupling between learning and reasoning is commonly taken as basis for intelligence in humans and, in close analogy, also for the biologically-inspired (re-)creation of human-level intelligence with computational means. Still, one of the unsolved methodological core issues in AI, cognitive systems modelling, and cognitive neuroscience is the question of the integration between connectionist sub-symbolic (i.e., neural-level) and logic-based symbolic (i.e., cognitive-level) approaches to representation, computation, (mostly sub-symbolic) learning, and (mostly symbolic) reasoning. Researchers therefore have for years been interested in the relation between sub-symbolic/neural and symbolic/cognitive modes of representation and computation: The brain has a neural structure which operates on the basis of low-level processing of perceptual signals, but cognition also exhibits the capability to perform high-level reasoning and symbol processing. Against this background, symbolic/cognitive interpretations of ANN architectures seem desirable as possible sources of an additional (bridging) level of explanation of cognitive phenomena of the human brain (assuming that suitably chosen ANN models correspond in a meaningful way to their biological counterparts). Furthermore, so called neural-symbolic representations and computations promise the integration of several complementary properties: the interpretability, the possibilities of direct control, coding, and knowledge extraction offered by symbolic/cognitive paradigms, together with the higher degree of biological motivation, the learning capacities, robust fault-tolerant processing, and generalization capabilities to similar input known from sub-symbolic/neural models. Recent years have seen new developments in the modelling and analysis of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and in formal methods for investigating the properties of general forms of representation and computation. As result, new and more adequate tools for relating the sub-symbolic/neural and the symbolic/cognitive levels of representation, computation, and (consequently) explanation seem to have become available, allowing to gain new perspectives on and insights into the interplay and possibilities of cross-level bridging and integration between paradigms. Also, more theoretical and conceptual work in cognitive science and philosophy of mind and cognition has found its way into AI as exemplified, for instance, by the growing number of projects following an ?embodied approach? to AI, in doing so hoping to solve or avoid, among others, the current mismatch between neural and symbolic perspectives on cognition and intelligence. === WORKSHOP SCOPE === This workshop aims to gather researchers from different disciplines interested in (some of) the questions mentioned under "Topic and Motivation" and/or working on some aspect of neural-cognitive integration, either on a representational, computational, or explanatory level. The list of relevant topics includes but is clearly not limited to: ? Representations of symbolic knowledge by connectionist systems or the extraction of symbolic knowledge from connectionist systems; ? Neurally-inspired approaches to learning over symbolic representations; ? Integration of logic and probabilities; ? Structured and/or relational learning in neural paradigms; ? Integrated neural-cognitive approaches; ? Logical reasoning carried out by neural networks or classification/categorization done by symbolic systems; ? Biologically or cognitively inspired systems integrating (elements of) both perspectives; ? Applications of neural-cognitive systems especially to cognition-related tasks; ? Philosophical aspects of neural-cognitive interaction and/or integration. In order to allow for a maximally integrative approach and an open discussion this workshop encourages researchers not only to present research papers but also position papers, and to address controversial problems, questions, or perspectives. === DATES === The current schedule is: - Paper submission deadline (extended): July 10, 2015 - Notification of acceptance: July 27, 2015 - Camera-ready versions due: August 10, 2015 - Workshop date: September 21 or 22, 2015 === SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS === In order to accommodate for the different publishing traditions in different fields, we invite submissions of papers and extended abstracts. Papers: Similar to the KI 2015 main conference, we invite papers which have to be in English and formatted according to the Springer LNCS style. Papers can be submitted in one of the two following categories: - Full technical papers (12 pages max., excluding references). - Technical notes (6 pages max., excluding references). For further details on the formatting and submission categories, please see the KI 2015 submission instructions ( http://ki2015.computational-logic.org/submission.php ). Extended abstracts: Abstracts (which have to be in English) should have a length of 600-1000 words (plus references) in plain text or PDF, plus a short abstract of up to 120 words. Abstracts should (similar to papers) also be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style. Submissions should be sent by the above stated deadline to Tarek R. Besold at tarek(dot)besold(at)uos(dot)de. === PUBLICATION === Accepted papers and abstracts will be published online in the ?Publication Series of the Institute of Cognitive Science? (PICS, ISSN 1610-5389), a scientific series from the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, unless the authors instruct us otherwise. Authors of the best papers will be invited to submit a revised and extended version of their papers to the Journal of Logic and Computation, Oxford University Press. === COMMITTEES === Workshop Co-Chairs - Tarek R. Besold, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany - Kai-Uwe K?hnberger, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany Program Committee - James Davidson, Google Inc., USA - Artur D'Avila Garcez, City University London, UK - Sascha Fink, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany - Luis Lamb, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - Francesca Lisi, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy - G?nther Palm, University of Ulm, Germany - Constantin Rothkopf, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany - Jakub Szymanik, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Carlos Zednik, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabr?ck, Germany ...more to come... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 eletankc at nus.edu.sg Tue Jun 30 22:29:09 2015 From: eletankc at nus.edu.sg (Tan Kay Chen) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 02:29:09 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence - Call for Papers Message-ID: <4464DC16E680CC44947A7C28277E52AB047CBB5C@MBX03A.stf.nus.edu.sg> Dear Colleagues, -----------------------------~********~-------------------------------- 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada 25-29 July 2016 www.wcci2016.org -----------------------------~********~-------------------------------- On behalf of the IEEE WCCI 2016 Organizing Committee, it is our great pleasure to invite you to the bi-annual IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI), which is the largest technical event in the field of computational intelligence. The IEEE WCCI 2016 will host three conferences: The 2016 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2016), the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2016), and the 2016 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2016) under one roof. It encourages cross-fertilization of ideas among the three big areas and provides a forum for intellectuals from all over the world to discuss and present their research findings on computational intelligence. IEEE WCCI 2016 will be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver is Canada's Pacific gem, offering a winning combination of world-class hotels, meeting venues, and restaurants in a setting of spectacular beauty. Few convention cities can offer such a wide range of cosmopolitan amenities in a downtown core that is safe, clean, pedestrian friendly, and stunning in its backdrop of mountains and ocean. IJCNN is a flagship conference of the International Neural Network Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. It covers a wide range of topics in the field of neural networks, from biological neural network modeling to artificial neural computation. FUZZ-IEEE is a premier conference in the field of fuzzy systems. It covers all topics in fuzzy systems, from theory to applications. IEEE CEC is a premier event in the field of evolutionary computation, and covers all topics in evolutionary computation from theory to applications. Papers for IEEE WCCI 2016 should be submitted electronically through the congress website, and will be refereed by experts in the fields and ranked based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality and clarity. IEEE Computational Intelligence Society has maintained its position as a leader of journals in computational intelligence. According to the 2014 Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports (JCR), CIS journals sustained their status as premier scholarly publications, earning high rankings in the Impact Factor report. * IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (IF: 4.291) * IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems (IF: 8.746) * IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation (IF: 3.654) * IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games (IF: 1.481) * IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development (IF: 1.478) * IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (IF: 2.571) -----------------------------~*******~----------------------------- Special Sessions, Tutorials, Competitions & Workshops -----------------------------~*******~----------------------------- Special Sessions: Special session proposals are invited to the 2016 IEEE WCCI. Special session proposals should include the title, aim and scope (including a list of main topics), and the names of the organizers of the special session, together with a short biography of all organizers. A list of potential contributors will be very helpful. All special sessions proposals should be submitted to the Special Sessions Chairs. Tutorials: The IEEE WCCI 2016 solicits proposals for tutorials aimed at researchers, students and practicing professionals. Tutorials offer a unique opportunity to disseminate in-depth information on specific topics in computational intelligence. If you are interested in proposing a tutorial, would like to recommend someone who might be interested, or have questions about tutorials, please contact one of the Tutorials Co-Chairs most appropriate to your topic (and copy your email to other Tutorials Co-Chairs). Competitions: Prospective competition organizers are invited to submit their proposals to the Competitions Chair. A common website for all accepted competitions will be provided on the congress website, for which a link to the homepage of each competition maintained by their organizers independently will be provided. Workshops: The IEEE WCCI 2016 invites proposals for workshops to be held in conjunction with the main event. The overall purpose of a workshop is to provide participants with the opportunity to present and discuss novel research ideas on active and emerging topics of Computational Intelligence. Topics of the proposed workshops should therefore be aligned with those set forth in the call for papers for the main event. Prospective workshop organizers are invited to submit their proposals to the Workshops Chair. -------~****~------- Important Dates -------~****~------- * Special Session & Workshop Proposals Deadline: 15 November 2015 * Competition & Tutorial Proposals Deadline: 15 December 2015 * Paper Submission Deadline: 15 January 2016 * Paper Acceptance Notification Date: 15 March 2016 * Final Paper Submission & Early Registration Deadline: 15 April 2016 * IEEE WCCI 2016: 25-29 July 2016 For more information on the congress, please visit: www.wcci2016.org 2016 IEEE WCCI General Co-Chairs, Kay Chen Tan, Gary G. Yen ________________________________ Important: This email is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify us immediately; you should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you.