Trieste Workshop
Jonathan Baxter
Jon.Baxter at syseng.anu.edu.au
Sun Jan 10 20:55:09 EST 1999
Apologies if you receive this announcement more than once.
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SCHOOL ON NEURAL INFORMATION PROCESSING
( 3 - 28 May 1999 )
A School on Neural Information Processing will be held at the Abdus
Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, from 3 to 28
May 1999. This Bulletin contains the preliminary programme of the course,
request for participation form and miscellaneous information.
DIRECTORS:
J.A. Hertz (NORDITA, Copenhagen)
S.A. Solla (Northwestern University, Evanston)
R. Zecchina (The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste)
I. PURPOSE AND NATURE
The goal of the school will be to present a systematic description
of the theoretical approaches that provide tools to investigate the
processing, transmission, and storage of information in the brain.
Techniques based on the principles of statistical physics and information
theory will be presented and applied to the analysis of a variety of
problems in computational neuroscience, especially neural encoding and
sensory processing. The lectures will be concentrated on biological neural
networks, but will also cover some important developments in artificial
networks and optimization theory.
The lectures presented during the school intend to offer a broad
and comprehensive training in order to provide a complete perspective of
the field. In addition to the scheduled lectures (an average of 4 lectures
per day, 5 days per week) there will be formal and informal seminars on a
variety of research topics by lecturers, participants and visiting experts.
Computer experimentations will also be organized.
II. PRELIMINARY LIST OF LECTURERS AND TOPICS
W. Bialek(NEC Research Institute, Princeton)Neural coding
M. Biehl (University of Wuerzburg) The dynamics of learning
P. Dayan (University College, London) Generative models
A. Engel (University of Magdeburg) Statistical physics theory of learning
D. Hansel (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris) Circuitry of the visual cortex
J. Hertz (Nordita, Copenhagen ) Neural computation and encoding
Li Zhaoping (University College, London) Sensory processing
R. Monasson (Ecole Normale Superieure), Paris) Optimization problems
J. Rinzel (New York University, New York) Modelling of cell/network dynamics
T. Sejnowski (The Salk Institute, San Diego) Neural computation and encoding
S. Solla(Northwestern University, Chicago)Neural networks for Bayesian inference
M. Tsodyks (The Weizmann Institute, Rehovot) Synaptic dynamics
L. van Hemmen (Technical University, Munich) Modelling neural circuitry
R. Zecchina (ICTP, Trieste) Optimization problems
III. PARTICIPATION
Scientists and students from all countries that are members of the
United Nations, UNESCO or IAEA can attend the School. The main purpose of
the Centre is to help research workers from developing countries through a
programme of training activities within a framework of international
cooperation. However, students and post-doctoral scientists from developed
countries are most welcome to attend. As the School will be conducted in
English, participants should have an adequate working knowledge of that
language.
Participants should preferably have completed several years of
study and research after a first degree. Applications from graduate
students about to finish their PhD, fresh post-docs and young, active
faculty members are encouraged.
As a rule, travel and subsistence expenses of the participants are
borne by the home institutions. However, some funds are available which
permit the Centre to grant a subsistence allowance to a limited number of
people from developing countries who will be selected by the Organizers.
As scarcity of funds allows travel to be granted only in few exceptional
cases, every effort should be made by candidates to secure support for
their fares (or at least partial fare) by their home country. Such
financial support is available only to those attending the entire School.
Scientists from developed countries are welcome to join on their own funds.
There is no registration fee for attending the School.
Deadline for the RECEIPT of request for participation form: 20 January 1999
Candidates should complete and sign the attached "Request for
Participation" form (also obtainable via e-mail: smr1157 at ictp.trieste.it,
using as subject "get bulletin", or via WWW Server:
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/), and send it to:
International Centre for Theoretical Physics
School on Neural Information Processing
P.O. Box 586 (Strada Costiera 11: for courier delivery)
I-34100 Trieste, Italy
Please note that no LATEX/TEX files are permitted. Any attachments
to the request for participation, relevant to extra information for
selection purposes, should not exceed 6 pages.
The decision of the Organizing Committee will be communicated to
all candidates as soon as possible.
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
and
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS (ICTP)
P.O. Box 586 Telephone: +39 040 2240111
I-34100 Trieste Telex: +39 460392 ICTP I
Italy Telefax: +39 040 224163
REQUEST FOR PARTICIPATION *)
School on Neural Information Processing
( 3 - 28 May 1999 )
____________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS
Each question must be answered clearly and A recent photo of the
completely. Type or print in ink. If more candidate should be
space is required, attach additional pages. attached here,
signed The request for
participation form should legibly on the reverse.
be forwarded to the ICTP, School on Neural
Information Processing, P.O. Box 586, I-34100 Trieste, Italy,
to arrive before 20th January 1999
________________________________________________________________________________
PERSONAL DATA
PLEASE NOTE THAT UNLESS ALL REQUESTED PERSONAL DATA ARE PROVIDED,
THE ICTP CANNOT PROCESS ANY VISA REQUESTS
________________________________________________________________________________
For women (if applicable)
SURNAME: MAIDEN NAME: First name: Middle name(s): Sex:
Please also indicate SURNAME, NAME, on passport if different from above:
________________________________________________________________________________
Place of birth (City and Country): Present nationality: Date of
birth
Year - Month - Day:
________________________________________________________________________________
Full name & address of permanent Institution: Tel. No. :
Cable :
Telex :
Telefax :
E-mail :
________________________________________________________________________________
Full name & address of present Institution (if different from permanent)
Tel. No. :
Cable :
Telex :
Telefax :
E-mail :
until:
________________________________________________________________________________
Home address: Tel. No. :
________________________________________________________________________________
Mailing address - please indicate whether:
Permanent Institute __ Present Institute __ Home address __
________________________________________________________________________________
Name and address of person to notify in case of emergency - Relationship:
________________________________________________________________________________
*) PLEASE NOTE that no request will be processed unless the permanent
address (and present
address, if different) is clearly indicated.
EDUCATION (higher degrees)
University or equivalent Years attended Degrees
Name and place From to
________________________________________________________________________________
Seminars, summer schools, conferences or research
Name and place Year
________________________________________________________________________________
SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT AND ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY
Research Institution or University Period of duty Academic
Name and place From to responsibilities
Present employment and duties, and foreseen employment upon return to home
country after the activity:
________________________________________________________________________________
Have you participated in past ICTP activities: Yes ____
No
If yes, which?
Mention briefly your previous research experience, and explain your
reasons for wishing to participate in this activity:
NB: Our Scientific Information System keeps track of all applications made
by the candidate to earlier ICTP activities. As a consequence, when the
subject of the present activity is far from his/her previous applications,
an explanation (not more than 200 words) of his/her change of interest
should be included.
________________________________________________________________________________
Kindly supply (strictly within indicated lengths) a keyword description of
your current scientific activities as follows:
1) Area of research (e.g. statistical physics, information theory):
_______________________
(no more than 15 characters)
2) Specific topic of interest (e.g. learning theory, neural coding):
________________________________________________
(no more than 30 characters)
- 2
Present field of interest (please indicate on the list below - up to 5
fields - underlining primary field)
10. PHYSICS OF CONDENSED MATTER 60. PHYSICS TEACHING
11. Solid State Physics 61. English
12. Atomic and Molecular Physics 62. French
13. Materials Science 63. Spanish
14. Surfaces and Interfaces 64. Arab
15. Statistical Physics
16. Computational Physics in Condensed
Matter 80. MISCELLANEOUS
20. PHYSICS OF HIGH AND
INTERMEDIATE ENERGIES 81. Others
82. Digital
Communications
and Computer Networking
21. High Energy and Particle Physics
22. Relativity, Cosmology and Astrophysics
23 Plasma Physics 90. PHYSICS OF THE LIVING STATE
24. Nuclear Physics
91. Neurophysics
92. Biophysics
30. MATHEMATICS 93. Medical Physics
31. Applicable Mathematics including:
- Mathematical Ecology,
- Systems Analysis,
- Mathematical Economy
- Mathematics in Industry AO. APPLIED PHYSICS
33. Algebra
34. Geometry A1. Physics in Industry
35. Topology A2. Microelectronics
36. Differential Equations A3. Fibre Optics for Communications
37. Analysis A4. Instrumentation
38. Mathematical Physics A5. Synchrotron Radiation
A6. Non-destructive Evaluation
A7. Lasers
40. PHYSICS AND ENERGY AA. Applied Superconductivity
41. Physics of Nuclear Reactors
42. Physics of Controlled Fusion
43. Non-Conventional Energy (Solar, Wind and others)
50. PHYSICS AND ENVIRONMENT B1. SPACE PHYSICS
51. Solid Earth Geophysics
52. Soil Physics
53. Climatology and Meteorology
54. Physics of the Oceans
55. Physics of Desertification
56. Physics of the Atmosphere, Troposphere
Magnetosphere, Aeronomy
57. Environmental Monitoring and Remote
Sensing
________________________________________________________________________________
List your scientific publications including books and articles (authors,
title, Journal) in the period 1992-1999
- 3 -
Please respond to the following questions regarding your expertise with
computers.
1) Which is the operating system you use most often?
_____ DOS - Windows _____ Unix _____ VMS
_____ MacOS
_____ Other (specify)
2) How experienced are you with the Unix environment?
_____ Very experienced _____ Experienced
_____ Somewhat familiar _____ Never used
3) Which programming languages are you familiar with?
Very good Good Average Poor
Fortran 77 _____ _____ _____ _____
Fortran 90 _____ _____ _____ _____
C _____ _____ _____ _____
C++ _____ _____ _____ _____
Pascal _____ _____ _____ _____
Other (specify _____ _____ _____ _____
4) Have you written programmes for your research? ____ Yes _____ No
If yes, briefly describe for what type of research applications:
Approximately how many lines had the longest programme (or piece of
programme) you ever wrote?_________
5) Do you use computer programmes written by others (including commercial
ones) for your research?
_____ Yes _____ No
If yes, briefly describe for what type of research applications:
- 4 -
Kindly state any positions you hold in the scientific administration of
your Institution or any of the national scientific Institutions.
If appropriate, especially for junior physicists, it would be of assistance
to the Selection Committee if this request for participation were
accompanied by a letter of recommendation.
________________________________________________________________________________
Indicate below your proficiency in the English language
Reading: Good ___ Writing: Good ___ Speaking: Good ___
Average ___ Average ___ Average ___
Poor ___ Poor ___ Poor ___
________________________________________________________________________________
APPLICABLE ONLY FOR CANDIDATES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (Important:
Please note that very few travel grants are available, and preference
in selecting participants will be given to eligible candidates who
can guarantee travel coverage by own local sources).
Please tick as appropriate:
- I can definitely find complete travel funds from local sources
____
or
- I can definitely find half my travel funds from local sources ____
I am requesting financial support from the ICTP for:
- Half travel ____ - Full travel ____
- Living allowance ____
I am NOT requesting financial support from the ICTP ___
I certify that if granted funds for my travel
I will attend the whole activity
...................................................
Signature
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________
I certify that the statements made by me above are true and complete. If
accepted, I undertake to refrain from engaging in any political or other
activities which would reflect unfavourably on the international status of
the Centre. I understand that any breach of this undertaking may result in
the termination of the arrangements relating to my visit at the Centre.
_________________________________________ ______________________
Signature of candidate Date
- 5 -
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