NATO Conference Announcement

[R09614%BBRBFU01.BITNET@vma.CC.CMU.EDU]

ANNOUNCEMENT:

_______________________________________
NATO Advanced Research Workshop on

Self-organization, Emerging Properties
and Learning.

Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and
Complex Systems
The University of Texas
Austin, Texas, USA

March 12-14, 1990
_______________________________________
Topics
------
- Self-Organization and Dynamics in Networks of Interacting
Elements
- Dynamical Aspects of Neural Activity: Experiments and
Modelling
- From Statistical Physics to Neural Networks
- Role of Dynamical Attractors in Cognition and Memory
- Dynamics of Learning in Biological and Social Systems

The goal of the workshop is to review recent progress on self-
organization and the generation of spatio-temporal patterns in
multi-unit networks of interacting elements, with special
emphasis on the role of coupling and connectivity  on the observed
behavior. The importance of these findings will be assessed from
the standpoint of information and cognitive sciences, and their
possible usefulness in the field of artificial intelligence will be
discussed. We will compare the collective behavior of model
networks with the dynamics inferred from the analysis of
cortical activity. This confrontation should lead to the design of
more realistic networks, sharing some of the basic properties of
real-world neurons.

Sponsors
--------
- NATO International Scientific Exchange Programmes
- International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry,
Brussels, Belgium
- Center for Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems, The
University of Texas at Austin
- IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin

International Organizing Committee
--------------------------------
Ilya Prigogine, The University of Texas at Austin and Free
University of Brussels
Gregoire Nicolis, Free University of Brussels
Agnes Babloyantz, Free University of Brussels
J. Demongeot, University of Grenoble, France
Linda Reichl, The University of Texas at Austin

Local Organizing Committee
-------------------------
Ilya Prigogine, George Kozmetsky, Ping Chen, Linda Reichl,
William Schieve, Robert Herman, Harry Swinney, Fred Phillips

For Further Information Contact:
-----------------------------
Professor Linda Reichl
Center for Statistical Mechanics
The University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712, USA

Phone: (512) 471-7253; Fax: (512) 471-9637;
Bitnet: CTAA450 at UTA3081 or PAPE at UTAPHY