NIPS*98 Call for Papers

[Michael J. Kearns]

			CALL FOR PAPERS -- NIPS*98

	 Neural Information Processing Systems -- Natural and Synthetic 
		  Monday November 30 - Saturday December 5, 1998
			      Denver, Colorado

This is the twelfth meeting of an interdisciplinary conference which brings
together cognitive scientists, computer scientists, engineers, neuroscientists,
physicists, and mathematicians interested in all aspects of neural processing
and computation.  The conference will include invited talks and oral and
poster presentations of refereed papers.  The conference is single track
and is highly selective.  Preceding the main session, there will be one day
of tutorial presentations (Nov. 30), and following it there will be two days 
of focused workshops on topical issues at a nearby ski area (Dec. 4-5). Major
categories for paper submission, with example subcategories (by no means
exhaustive), are as follows:

Algorithms and Architectures: supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms,
model selection algorithms, active learning algorithms, feedforward and 
recurrent network architectures, localized basis functions, mixture models, 
belief networks, graphical models, Gaussian processes, factor analysis, 
topographic maps, combinatorial optimization.

Applications: handwriting recognition, DNA and protein sequence analysis,
expert systems, fault diagnosis, medical diagnosis, analysis of medical 
images, data analysis, database mining, network traffic, music processing, 
time-series prediction, financial analysis.

Artificial Intelligence: inductive reasoning, problem solving and planning,
natural language, hybrid symbolic-subsymbolic systems.

Cognitive Science: perception and psychophysics, neuropsychology, cognitive 
neuroscience, development, conditioning, human learning and memory, attention, 
language. 

Implementation: analog and digital VLSI, optical neurocomputing systems,
novel neurodevices, simulation tools.

Neuroscience: neural encoding, spiking neurons, synchronicity, sensory 
processing, systems neurophysiology, neuronal development, synaptic 
plasticity, neuromodulation, dendritic computation, channel dynamics. 

Reinforcement Learning and Control: exploration, planning, navigation, 
Q-learning, TD-learning, dynamic programming, robotic motor control, 
process control, Markov decision processes.

Speech and Signal Processing: speech recognition, speech coding, speech
synthesis, auditory scene analysis, source separation, hidden Markov 
models, models of human speech perception.

Theory: computational learning theory, statistical physics of learning,
information theory, prediction and generalization, regularization, 
Boltzmann machines, Helmholtz machines, decision trees, support vector 
machines, online learning, dynamics of learning algorithms, approximation 
and estimation theory, learning of dynamical systems, model selection, 
complexity theory.

Visual Processing: image processing, image coding, object recognition, 
visual psychophysics, stereopsis, motion detection and tracking.

REVIEW CRITERIA: All submitted papers will be thoroughly refereed on the
basis of technical quality, significance, and clarity.  Novelty of the work
is also a strong consideration in paper selection, but to encourage
interdisciplinary contributions, we will consider work which has been
submitted or presented in part elsewhere, if it is unlikely to have been seen
by the NIPS audience.  Authors should not be dissuaded from submitting recent
work, as there will be an opportunity after the meeting to revise accepted
manuscripts before submitting final camera-ready copy.

PAPER FORMAT: Submitted papers may be up to seven pages in length, including
figures and references, using a font no smaller than 10 point. Text is to 
be confined within a 8.25in by 5in rectangle. Submissions failing to follow 
these guidelines will not be considered. Authors are strongly encouraged to 
use the NIPS LaTeX style files obtainable by anonymous FTP at the site given 
below.  Papers must indicate (1) physical and e-mail addresses of all authors; 
(2) one of the nine major categories listed above, and a subcategory if desired;
(3) if the work, or any substantial part thereof, has been submitted to or has 
appeared in other scientific conferences; (4) the authors' preference, if any, 
for oral or poster presentation (this preference will play no role in paper 
acceptance); and (5) author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Send eight copies of submitted papers to the address
below; electronic or FAX submission is not acceptable.  Include one
additional copy of the abstract only, to be used for preparation of the
abstracts booklet distributed at the meeting.  SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED
BY MAY 22, 1998.  From within the U.S., submissions will be accepted if mailed
first class and postmarked by May 19, 1998.

Mail submissions to:

   Sara A. Solla 
   NIPS*98 Program Chair
   Department of Physiology 
   Ward Building 5-003, MC211
   Northwestern University Medical School 
   303 E. Chicago Avenue
   Chicago, IL 60611-3008, USA 

Mail general inquiries and requests for registration material to:

   NIPS Foundation
   Computational Neurobiology Laboratory
   Salk Institute for Biological Studies
   10010 North Torrey Pines Road
   La Jolla, CA 92037
   
   FAX: (619)587-0417
   E-mail: nipsinfo at salk.edu

Copies of the LaTeX style files for NIPS are available via anonymous ftp at

   ftp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.206.173) in /afs/cs/Web/Groups/NIPS/formatting

The style files and other conference information may also be retrieved via
World Wide Web at

   http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/Groups/NIPS

NIPS*98 Organizing Committee: General Chair, Michael Kearns, AT&T Labs
Research; Program Chair, Sara Solla, Northwestern University; Publications
Chair, David Cohn, Harlequin; Tutorial Chair, Klaus Mueller, GMD First;
Workshops Co-Chairs, Richard Zemel, University of Arizona, and Sue
Becker, McMaster University; Publicity Chair, Jonathan Baxter, Australian
National University; Treasurer, Bartlett Mel, University of Southern
California; Web Master, Doug Baker, Carnegie Mellon University; Government
Liaison, Gary Blasdel, Harvard Medical School; Contracts, Steve Hanson,
Rutgers University, Scott Kirkpatrick, IBM, Gerry Tesauro, IBM.

NIPS*98 Program Committee: Andrew Barto, University of Massachusetts; 
Joachim Buhmann, University of Bonn; Yoav Freund, AT&T Labs Research; 
Lars Kai Hansen, Danish Technical University; Nathan Intrator, Brown 
University; Robert Jacobs, University of Rochester; Esther Levin, AT&T 
Labs Research; Alexandre Pouget, Georgetown University; David Saad, Aston 
University; Lawrence Saul, AT&T Labs Research; Sara Solla, Northwestern 
University (chair); Sebastian Thrun, Carnegie Mellon University; Yair 
Weiss, MIT. 

	    DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF SUBMISSIONS IS MAY 22, 1998

			    - please post -