From tewon at ucsd.edu Tue Sep 3 03:28:20 2002 From: tewon at ucsd.edu (Te-Won Lee) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 00:28:20 -0700 Subject: JMLR special issue on ICA References: <015701c20838$a288f2b0$0693ef84@redmond.corp.microsoft.com> Message-ID: <003b01c2531b$7aee5fa0$6401a8c0@redmond.corp.microsoft.com> Second Call for Papers: Submission deadline is in one month! Te-Won ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Journal of Machine Learning Research Special Issue on "Independent Component Analysis" Guest Editors: Te-Won Lee, Jean-Francois Cardoso, Erkki Oja, Shun-Ichi Amari CALL FOR PAPERS We invite papers on Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Blind Source Separation (BSS) for a special issue in the Journal of Machine Learning Research (on-line publication and subsequent publication from MIT Press). In recent years, ICA has received attention from many research areas including statistical signal processing, machine learning, neural networks, information theory and exploratory data analysis. Applications of ICA algorithms in speech signal processing and biomedical signal processing are growing and maturing and ICA methods are also considered in many other fields where this novel data analysis technique provides new insights. Recent approaches to ICA such as variational methods, kernel methods and tensor methods have lead to new theoretical insights. They permit us to relax some of the constraints in the traditional ICA assumptions yielding new algorithms and increasing the domains of application. Certain nonlinear mixing systems can be inverted, more sources than the number of sensors can be recovered, and further understanding of the convergence properties and gradient optimizations are now available. The ICA framework is an interdisciplinary research area. The combination of ideas from machine learning and statistical signal processing is a developing avenue of research and ICA is a first step into this new direction. We invite original contributions that explore theoretical and practical issues related to ICA. A list of possible topics include: Theory and Algorithms Bayesian methods Information theoretic approaches High order statistics Convolutive mixtures Convergence and stability issues Graphical models Nonlinear mixing Undercomplete mixtures Sparse coding Methodology and Applications Biomedical applications Speech signal processing Image processing Performance comparisons Model validation Dimension reduction and visualization Learning features in high dimensional data Important Dates: - Submission: October, 1st 2002 - Decision: January, 1st 2003 - Final: March, 1st 2003 Submission procedure: see http://rhythm.ucsd.edu/~tewon/JMLR.html For further details or enquiries, send mail to tewon at inc.ucsd.edu Links: http://www-sig.enst.fr/~ica99/ http://www.cis.hut.fi/ica2000 http://www.ica2001.org http://ica2003.jp From terry at salk.edu Tue Sep 3 19:19:19 2002 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 16:19:19 -0700 (PDT) Subject: NEURAL COMPUTATION 14:10 In-Reply-To: <200207292226.g6TMQHX88979@purkinje.salk.edu> Message-ID: <200209032319.g83NJJp43344@purkinje.salk.edu> Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 14, Number 10 - October 1, 2002 ARTICLE Information-Geometric Measure for Neural Spikes by Hiroyuki Nakahara and Shun-ichi Amari LETTERS Optimal Short-Term Population Coding: When Fisher Information Fails M. Bethge, D. Rotermund, and K Pawelzik Coupling an aVLSI Neuromorphic Vision Chip to a Neurotrophic Model of Synaptic Plasticity: The Development of Topography Terry Elliott and Jorg Kramer Hebbian Imprinting and Retrieval in Oscillatory Neural Networks Silvia Scarpetta, L. Zhaoping and John Hertz A New Discriminative Kernel from Probabilistic Models Koji Tsuda, Motoaki Kawanabe, Gunnar Raetsch, Soren Sonnenburg and Klaus-Robert Mueller Factorial Hidden Markov Models and the Generalized Backfitting Algorithm Robert A. Jacobs, Wenxin Jiang and Martin A. Tanner Bayesian Model Assessment and Comparison Using Cross-Validation Predictive Densities Aki Vehtari and Jouko Lampinen Robust Regression with Asymmetric Heavy-Tail Noise Distributions Ichiro Takeuchi, Yoshua Bengio and Takafumi Kanamori Many-Layered Learning Paul E. Utgoff and David J. Stracuzzi ----- ON-LINE - http://neco.mitpress.org/ SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2002 - VOLUME 14 - 12 ISSUES USA Canada* Other Countries Student/Retired $60 $64.20 $108 Individual $88 $94.16 $136 Institution $506 $451.42 $554 * includes 7% GST MIT Press Journals, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu ----- From thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr Thu Sep 5 03:19:02 2002 From: thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr (Simon Thorpe) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 09:19:02 +0200 Subject: Post-doc position in Toulouse, France Message-ID: 3 year EU funded Post-doc position Simon Thorpe has funding for a postdoc position at the Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition (http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr) in Toulouse, France. His group is interested in understanding the brain mechanisms involved in rapid scene processing, using both experimental work (using ERP and fMRI recording during the categorisation of complex scenes) and modeling based on asynchronously firing networks of spiking neurons. The modeling work is now being developed in collaboration with a hi-tech start-up company called SpikeNet Technology (http://www.spikenet-technology.com) that is using biologically inspired processing architectures to develop real-time image processing systems. The position is funded by the Perception for Recognition and Action (PRA) research training network, involving several other major european laboratories, and exchange visits between the different groups are strongly encouraged. Information about the network can be found on http://pra.psy.gla.ac.uk. Please note that there are some strict EU rules concerning eligibility. In particular, candidates have to be European nationals, but not from France. The precise program will depend on the candidate, but we would particularly like to find someone interested in both experimental and theoretical approaches to the visual system. Programming skills would be a clear advantage. We are looking for someone who can start in the next few months. For further information, please send an email to thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr. To apply, send a letter of motivation, a CV and the names of three referees to the same email address. -- __________________ Simon Thorpe Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition 133, route de Narbonne 31062 Toulouse France Tel 33 (0)5 62 17 28 03. Fax 33 (0)5 62 17 28 09 http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr __________________ From ramsoy at tiscali.dk Sun Sep 8 18:33:52 2002 From: ramsoy at tiscali.dk (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Thomas_Zo=EBga_Rams=F8y?=) Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 00:33:52 +0200 Subject: Science & Consciousness Review - latest news and reviews Message-ID: Dear member of this list, Science & Consciousness Review (http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/) has released new articles and reviews: _____________________ EDITORIAL IDA on Will: Its no Illusion - by Stan Franklin "The issue of free will is perhaps the most oft debated single issue in the history of philosophy. Whether philosophers or scientists, most modern materialists, believe the universe, at scales beyond the quantum, is deterministic. This leads them to class free will with magic. Its only an illusion." Counter to this notion, Professor Franklin here argues that free will is indeed more than an illusion. Drawing upon evidence from both artificial intelligence and neurophysiology, Franklin makes a valid case against what he sees as a "magical free will" notion. Read the full article at: http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/ED_Sep02_IDAFreeWill.htm _____________________ NEWS IN BRIEF - FREE: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - The neurophysics of consciousness - The cognitive neuroscience of sleep - Olfactory coding: precise timing - The unconscious you may be the wiser half - Mike or me? Self-recognition in the split-brain - All about Me: Left brain may shine spotlight on self - Attention and emotion - different brain systems - New reviews of consciousness books Full access at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/more_news.html _____________________ ARCHIVES Previous issues of Science & Consciousness Review can be found at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/archive.html We have now issues from April to August 2002, including all articles, reviews and news in brief. _____________________ ABOUT SCIENCE & CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW SCR is a community-building effort. Many scientific communities study how the human brain makes possible perception, memory, and even attention. But for historical reasons, we have no scientific community for exploring consciousness --- including our own experiences of the world, of each other and of ourselves. It is probably the most important neglected topic in science. Students and scientists all over the world are vitally interested. Hardly a week goes by without another major article in headline journals like Science and Nature. The flow of evidence has increased enormously. But so far we have few institutional resources for teaching, learning, and sharing this information. In the last decade we have seen new, high quality journals, professional societies, and regular meetings. They are vitally important. But many people feel that we need an international forum to build a sense of shared community. SCR is an effort in that direction. CONTRIBUTE! Please send your contributions to us. Instructions for authors can be found at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/author_instructions.html _____________________ Sincerely, Thomas Zoga Ramsy Managing Editor From dimi at ci.tuwien.ac.at Tue Sep 10 12:12:23 2002 From: dimi at ci.tuwien.ac.at (Evgenia Dimitriadou) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 18:12:23 +0200 (CEST) Subject: [nn-at] CI BibTeX Collection -- Update In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The following volumes have been added to the collection of BibTeX files maintained by the Vienna Center for Computational Intelligence: IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, Volumes 5/6-6/4 IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Volumes 1/1-5/4 and 9/5-10/4 IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, Volumes 12/6-13/5 Machine Learning, Volumes 47/1-49/3 Neural Computation, Volumes 13/12-14/9 Neural Networks, Volumes 14/10-15/7 Neural Processing Letters, Volumes 14/3-16/2 Most files have been converted automatically from various source formats, please report any bugs you find. The complete collection can be downloaded from http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/services/BibTeX.html ftp://ftp.ci.tuwien.ac.at/pub/texmf/bibtex/ Best, Vivi ************************************************************************ * Evgenia Dimitriadou * ************************************************************************ * Institut fuer Statistik * Tel: (+43 1) 58801 10773 * * Technische Universitaet Wien * Fax: (+43 1) 58801 10798 * * Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10/1071 * Evgenia.Dimitriadou at ci.tuwien.ac.at * * A-1040 Wien, Austria * http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~dimi* ************************************************************************ From dgw at MIT.EDU Tue Sep 10 15:57:16 2002 From: dgw at MIT.EDU (David Weininger) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 15:57:16 -0400 Subject: book announcement--Scheutz Message-ID: <2002091015571617687@outgoing.mit.edu> I thought readers of the Connectionists List might be interested in this book. For more information, please visit http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262194783/ Thank you! Best, David Computationalism New Directions edited by Matthias Scheutz Classical computationalism--the view that mental states are computational states--has come under attack in recent years. Critics claim that in defining computation solely in abstract, syntactic terms, computationalism neglects the real-time, embodied, real-world constraints with which cognitive systems must cope. Instead of abandoning computationalism altogether, however, some researchers are reconsidering it, recognizing that real-world computers, like minds, must deal with issues of embodiment, interaction, physical implementation, and semantics. This book lays the foundation for a successor notion of computationalism. It covers a broad intellectual range, discussing historic developments of the notions of computation and mechanism in the computationalist model, the role of Turing machines and computational practice in artificial intelligence research, different views of computation and their role in the computational theory of mind, the nature of intentionality, and the origin of language. Matthias Scheutz is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Contributors Philip E. Agre, B. Jack Copeland, Stevan Harnad, John Haugeland, Matthias Scheutz, Aaron Sloman, Brian Cantwell Smith. 6 x 9, 256 pp., cloth, ISBN 0-262-19478-3, $35.00 A Bradford Book ______________________ David Weininger Associate Publicist The MIT Press 5 Cambridge Center, 4th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 617 253 2079 617 253 1709 fax http://mitpress.mit.edu From schrott at in.tum.de Wed Sep 11 11:43:33 2002 From: schrott at in.tum.de (Dr. Gerhard Schrott) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 17:43:33 +0200 Subject: Post Doc Position Message-ID: <3D7F64A5.4030106@in.tum.de> Technical University of Munich Department of Computer Science The Department of Computer Science, Robotics and Embedded Systems Unit, invites applications for a Post-Doc Research Position as the scientific assistant to the coordinator of the new EU-funded Network of Excellence on Neuro-IT, which aims at building a critical mass of new interdisciplinary research excellence at the interface between NS (Neurosciences) and IT (Information Technologies) within the European Community and its Associated States. The objective is to complement and move beyond the already well established NI (NeuroInformatics), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and neuroscience/cognitive science domains by fostering research that will benefit both the NS and IT communities by helping to solve fundamental problems like those linked to the emergence and the modelling of cognitive and awareness processes. Applications would be particularly welcome from candidates with research interests (and a record of innovative research results) in one or more of the following areas: cognitive, epigenetic, evolutionary and/or sensor-based robotics; bioanalogue sensor data processing and sensor data fusion; human and machine learning; experimental brain research; neuromodeling; neuropsychology; theoretical biology. The successful candidate will have a doctoral degree in computer science or the neurosciences, together with practical experience in robotics. An excellent command of the English language is mandatory. Further details may be obtained from Prof. A. Knoll and Dr. G. Schrott, schrott at in.tum.de Closing date: 5 October 2001. Applications including the CV, certificates, publication list should be sent to: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Fakultaet fuer Informatik, LS VI Robotics and Embedded Systems, z.H. R. te Vehne, Boltzmannstrasse 3, D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany, or by E-mail to schrott at in.tum.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Gerhard Schrott Institut fr Informatik Technische Universitt Mnchen Boltzmannstrae 3, 85748 Garching Telefon: +89 289-18134 Telefax: +89 289-18107 E-mail : schrott at in.tum.de Internet: http://www6.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From schrott at in.tum.de Fri Sep 13 08:39:02 2002 From: schrott at in.tum.de (Dr. Gerhard Schrott) Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:39:02 +0200 Subject: Faculty Position at Techn. University Munich Message-ID: <3D81DC66.70601@in.tum.de> The Department of Computer Science of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications from candidates of international standing for the position of a Professor (C3) for Cognitive Robotics The successful candidate will be expected to pursue independent research and teaching in the field of cognitive robotics. Applicants are expected to have a very strong knowledge of practical and applied computer science and should have a particular interest in the design and programming of robot systems. They should have a prominent recognition in one or more of the following areas: - Integration of vision, language and action - Multimodal interaction with robot systems - Machine learning and issues of autonomy - Bio-analogous sensor data processing and sensor data fusion - Epigentic robotics and skill development based on instincts Computer Science at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen is one of the top ranked departments in Germany. We expect that the successful candidate will teach regularly scheduled courses, supervise undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students and exploit the potential for interdisciplinary interfaculty cooperation within the framework of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. Candidates must have a doctoral degree, post-doctoral training, outstanding communication and leadership skills. They must also have a record indicating demonstrated excellence in both research and teaching in or outside of academic institutions. Candidates must not be older than 52 years at time of the appointment, which is tentatively limited to five years. C3 posts are roughly equivalent to the US Associate Professor level. Applications should be received by September 27, 2002 and consist of CV, certificates, list of publications, selected papers, a brief description of research accomplishments and goals as well as teaching interests to: Dean of Fakultaet fuer Informatik, Prof. Dr. E. Mayr, Technische Universitaet Muenchen Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Gerhard Schrott Institut fr Informatik Technische Universitt Muenchen Boltzmannstrae 3, 85748 Garching Phonw: +89 289-18134 Fax: +89 289-18107 E-mail : schrott at in.tum.de Internet: http://www6.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From cindy at bu.edu Mon Sep 16 11:46:46 2002 From: cindy at bu.edu (Cynthia Bradford) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 11:46:46 -0400 Subject: Neural Networks 15(7) Message-ID: <200209161546.g8GFkkg12358@cns-pc75.bu.edu> NEURAL NETWORKS 15(7) Contents - Volume 15, Number 7 - 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES: ***** Psychology and Cognitive Science ***** Color constancy and the functional significance of McCollough effects Tony Vladusich and Jack Broerse ***** Neuroscience and Neuropsychology ***** Neural network models for the gaze shift system in the superior colliculus and cerebellum Xiaoxing Wang, Jesse Jin, and Marwan Jabri ***** Mathematical and Computational Analysis ***** A complex-valued version of Nagumo-Sato model of a single neuron and its behavior Iku Nemoto and Kei Saito Delay-dependent exponential stability analysis of delayed neural networks: An LMI approach Xiaofeng Liao, Guanrong Chen, and Edgar N. Sanchez Global stability of neural networks with distributed delays Yuming Chen ***** Engineering and Design ***** SpikCell: A deterministic spiking neuron C. Godin, M.B. Gordon, and J.D. Muller A feed-forward network for input that is both categorical and quantitative Roelof K. Brouwer ***** Technology and Applications ***** A spiking neuron model: Applications and learning Chris Christodoulou, Guido Bugmann, and Trevor G. Clarkson An intelligent sales forecasting system through integration of artificial neural networks and fuzzy neural networks with fuzzy weight elimination R.J. Kuo, P. Wu, and C.P. Wang BOOK REVIEWS Review of "Theory and the Brain" (R. Baddeley, P. Hancock, and P. Foldiak, editors) by R.P.N. Rao Review of "Learning Kernel Classifiers" (R. Herbrich, editor) by Robert Williamson ERRATUM Erratum to "The double queue method: A numerical method for integrate-and-fire neuron networks" [Neural Networks 14(6/7) 921-932] by Geehyuk Lee and Nabil H. Farhat CURRENT EVENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic access: www.elsevier.com/locate/neunet/. Individuals can look up instructions, aims & scope, see news, tables of contents, etc. Those who are at institutions which subscribe to Neural Networks get access to full article text as part of the institutional subscription. Sample copies can be requested for free and back issues can be ordered through the Elsevier customer support offices: nlinfo-f at elsevier.nl usinfo-f at elsevier.com or info at elsevier.co.jp ------------------------------ INNS/ENNS/JNNS Membership includes a subscription to Neural Networks: The International (INNS), European (ENNS), and Japanese (JNNS) Neural Network Societies are associations of scientists, engineers, students, and others seeking to learn about and advance the understanding of the modeling of behavioral and brain processes, and the application of neural modeling concepts to technological problems. Membership in any of the societies includes a subscription to Neural Networks, the official journal of the societies. Application forms should be sent to all the societies you want to apply to (for example, one as a member with subscription and the other one or two as a member without subscription). The JNNS does not accept credit cards or checks; to apply to the JNNS, send in the application form and wait for instructions about remitting payment. The ENNS accepts bank orders in Swedish Crowns (SEK) or credit cards. The INNS does not invoice for payment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Membership Type INNS ENNS JNNS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- membership with $80 (regular) SEK 660 (regular) Y 13,000 (regular) Neural Networks (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) $20 (student) SEK 460 (student) Y 11,000 (student) (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- membership without $30 SEK 200 not available to Neural Networks non-students (subscribe through another society) Y 5,000 (student) (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: _____________________________________ Title: _____________________________________ Address: _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________ Fax: _____________________________________ Email: _____________________________________ Payment: [ ] Check or money order enclosed, payable to INNS or ENNS OR [ ] Charge my VISA or MasterCard card number ____________________________ expiration date ________________________ INNS Membership 19 Mantua Road Mount Royal NJ 08061 USA 856 423 0162 (phone) 856 423 3420 (fax) innshq at talley.com http://www.inns.org ENNS Membership University of Skovde P.O. Box 408 531 28 Skovde Sweden 46 500 44 83 37 (phone) 46 500 44 83 99 (fax) enns at ida.his.se http://www.his.se/ida/enns JNNS Membership c/o Professor Takashi Nagano Faculty of Engineering Hosei University 3-7-2, Kajinocho, Koganei-shi Tokyo 184-8584 Japan 81 42 387 6350 (phone and fax) jnns at k.hosei.ac.jp http://jnns.inf.eng.tamagawa.ac.jp/home-j.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Wed Sep 18 13:10:24 2002 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:10:24 +0100 Subject: PhD studentship with Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan In-Reply-To: <20020422112301.A3358@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk>; from dayan on Mon, Apr 22, 2002 at 11:23:01AM +0100 References: <20020422112301.A3358@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20020918181024.A7382@miller.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> PhD Studentship Neuroscience Applications are invited for a research studentship on empirical and theoretical study of the neural basis of reinforcement learning, tenable as part of a collaboration between Wolfram Schultz, at the Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, and Peter Dayan, at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL. The Cambridge lab has long-standing experience in the recording and analysis of the activities of dopamine cells and their targets; the Gatsby Unit is one of the largest labs in the world devoted to computational neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, and a good honours degree in a relevant subject. The post will be based either in Cambridge or London though substantial interaction between the Gatsby Unit in London and the Anatomy Department at Cambridge (journey time approximately 90 minutes) will be required. The studentship will cover full tuition fees plus a competitive stipend. Applications should include a CV, a statement of research interests, full contact details for three referees, and should be made by 31st May 2002 by email to admissions at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Further information about Wolfram Schultz's lab can be found at http://www.anat.cam.ac.uk/pages/staff/academic/schultz/index.html and about the Gatsby Unit at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Wed Sep 18 13:20:56 2002 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:20:56 +0100 Subject: Erratum: PhD Studentship with Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan Message-ID: <20020918182056.C7382@miller.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Apologies: the closing date for the studentship should be 18th October 2002, not the 31st May. ----------------------------------------------------- PhD Studentship Neuroscience Applications are invited for a research studentship on empirical and theoretical study of the neural basis of reinforcement learning, tenable as part of a collaboration between Wolfram Schultz, at the Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, and Peter Dayan, at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL. The Cambridge lab has long-standing experience in the recording and analysis of the activities of dopamine cells and their targets; the Gatsby Unit is one of the largest labs in the world devoted to computational neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, and a good honours degree in a relevant subject. The post will be based either in Cambridge or London though substantial interaction between the Gatsby Unit in London and the Anatomy Department at Cambridge (journey time approximately 90 minutes) will be required. The studentship will cover full tuition fees plus a competitive stipend. Applications should include a CV, a statement of research interests, full contact details for three referees, and should be made by 18th Oct 2002 by email to admissions at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Further information about Wolfram Schultz's lab can be found at http://www.anat.cam.ac.uk/pages/staff/academic/schultz/index.html and about the Gatsby Unit at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk From lafferty at cs.cmu.edu Thu Sep 19 14:32:33 2002 From: lafferty at cs.cmu.edu (John Lafferty) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:32:33 -0400 Subject: AMS-IMS-SIAM conference on machine learning and statistics Message-ID: An AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference will be held on the topic of "Machine Learning, Statistics, and Discovery," with partial funding from the NSF. A preliminary announcement follows. Further information will be available from http://www.ams.org/meetings/src-shen.html Machine Learning, Statistics and Discovery Machine learning is an active and rapidly growing area of research that offers systematic and machine-implementable approaches to extracting information from vast and complex data sources. The goal of this conference is to assemble researchers from the disciplines of computer science and statistics around the topical themes of support vector machines and other large margin classifiers, boosting and ensemble methods, new extensions of classification and regression, methods for approximate inference, and application areas. A lively exchange between the two communities is anticipated, which hopefully will lead to cross-fertilization and new collaborations across traditional academic disciplines. Young researchers, graduate students, and underrepresented groups are encouraged to attend, as they will be important for forming lasting "bridges" across the two cultures in the future. The site for the 2003 conference series is Snowbird Summer Resort, located in the mountains of Snowbird, Utah. Check in is Saturday, June 21, and departure is Friday, June 27. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Accepted principal speakers: Peter Bartlett Leo Breiman Tom Dietterich David Heckerman Ralf Herbrich Tommi Jaakkola Michael Kearns Yi Lin Steve Marron Marina Meila Art Owen Tomaso Poggio Robert Schapire John Shawe-Taylor Grace Wahba Wing Wong ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tentative themes: Session 1: Overview of Machine Learning Session 2: Kernel Methods Session 3: Support Vector Machines Session 4: Boosting Session 5: Other Ensemble Methods Session 6: Extensions beyond Classification and Regression Session 7: Methods for Approximate Inference Session 8: Applications to Microarrays Session 9: Other Applications ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Organizers: Joseph Verducci Department of Statistics, Ohio State University Xiaotong Shen Department of Statistics, Ohio State University John Lafferty Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University From xwu at emba.uvm.edu Fri Sep 20 16:43:05 2002 From: xwu at emba.uvm.edu (Xindong Wu) Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 16:43:05 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Dorothean Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont Message-ID: <200209202043.g8KKh5M17956@mansfield.emba.uvm.edu> Dorothean Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont ==================================================================== The College of Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Vermont invites applications for the Dorothean Professorship (at the Full Professor or Associate Professor level) in Computer Science, commencing with the 2003-04 academic year. Tenure will be sought at time of appointment. The University of Vermont, one of the top public national universities, is located in Burlington, Vermont. It offers a supportive research environment in a relatively small city that repeatedly has drawn national attention for offering a high quality of life. The greater Burlington area includes 125,000 people, and is situated on the shores of Lake Champlain between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Burlington and the surrounding area provide an environment rich in cultural and recreational activities. The Department of Computer Science offers programs in the College of Engineering and Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a joint program with the School of Business Administration. Our existing faculty in Computer Science are involved in the forefront of research in knowledge and data engineering (such as data mining, database systems, pattern recognition, and knowledge-based systems), software engineering and verification (including programming languages), and computational sciences (including computational biology, discrete modeling, and numerical methods). We are seeking to complement and further strengthen our existing research and teaching activities in these areas. Candidates in these areas are most sought, and candidates in any other area of computer science will also be considered seriously. Candidates should have a distinguished research record, hold a doctorate in Computer Science or a closely related field, and have broad teaching abilities and interests. The successful applicant is expected to (1) play a major role in departmental research initiatives and the graduate program coordination, (2) strengthen and build interdisciplinary bridges between the Department of Computer Science and other departments within the University, and (3) take an active role in teaching computer science courses. Please send a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching experience and interests, a statement of research interests and aspirations to, and arrange for at least three letters of reference to be sent to Chair, Dorothean Professor Search Committee, Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405. Complete applications received by January 20, 2003 will be fully considered. For more information about the Department and the College please see http://www.cs.uvm.edu or email to cssearch at emba.uvm.edu. The University of Vermont is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and encourages applications from women and members of minority groups. From deniz at cnel.ufl.edu Tue Sep 24 14:23:03 2002 From: deniz at cnel.ufl.edu (Deniz Erdogmus) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 14:23:03 -0400 Subject: IEEE-TNN Special Issue on Information Theoretic Learning Message-ID: <3D90AD87.E60EBB9C@cnel.ufl.edu> There is an upcoming special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks on Information Theoretic Learning. Interested researchers can view the call for papers for this special issue at any one of the following two web sites: www.cnel.ufl.edu/~tnn_itl OR ieee-nns.org/pubs/tnn/special.html The call for papers also appeared in the September 2002 issue of TNN. The paper submission deadline is March 15th, 2003. Regards, Deniz Erdogmus From Wulfram.Gerstner at epfl.ch Tue Sep 24 05:14:01 2002 From: Wulfram.Gerstner at epfl.ch (Wulfram Gerstner) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 11:14:01 +0200 Subject: new book: Spiking Neuron Models Message-ID: <3D902CD9.244354E6@epfl.ch> I would like to announce a new book, Spiking Neuron Models - Single Neurons, Populations, Plasticity by W. Gerstner and W. M. Kistler. The book combines fundamentals (Hodgkin-Huxley model, two-dimensional neuron models, etc) with topics of current research such as spike-time dependent plasticity, neural coding, the role of noise, and population density methods. The book should be useful both for researchers interested in the theory of spiking neurons and for graduate students (e.g., as a background text for courses in computational neuroscience or neural modeling). The book is available from Cambridge Universtiy Press http://www.cup.org/titles/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521890799 or Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521890799/ref%3Ded%5Foe%5Fp/102-2490052-6800107 If you would like to browse through the book, see http://diwww.epfl.ch/~gerstner/BUCH.html Contents: Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Part I: Single Neuron Models Chapter 2: Detailed Neurom Models Chapter 3: Two-Dimensional Neuron Models Chapter 4: Formal Spiking Neuron Models Chapter 5: Noise in Spiking Neuron Models Part II: Populations of Spiking Neurons Chapter 6: Population Equations Chapter 7: Signal Transmission and Coding Chapter 8: Oscillations and Synchrony Chapter 9: Spatially Structured Networks Part III: Models of Synaptic Plasitity Chapter 10: Hebbian Models Chapter 11: Learning Equations Chapter 12: Plasticity and Coding Bibliography and Index -- Wulfram Gerstner Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne Professor Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, DI-LCN 1015 Lausanne EPFL Tel. +41-21-693 6713 wulfram.gerstner at epfl.ch Fax. +41-21-693 5263 http://diwww.epfl.ch/mantra From Ulrich.Hillenbrand at dlr.de Fri Sep 27 09:30:42 2002 From: Ulrich.Hillenbrand at dlr.de (Ulrich Hillenbrand) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 15:30:42 +0200 Subject: paper available: some news on neural dynamics Message-ID: <3D945D82.10E6FD52@dlr.de> Dear colleagues, the following recent article on dynamics of the neural membrane potential can be downloaded from my homepage at http://www.robotic.dlr.de/Ulrich.Hillenbrand [There are also some articles on the thalamocortical system and on machine vision available.] Regards, Ulrich Hillenbrand -- Title: Subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by stochastic synaptic input Author: Ulrich Hillenbrand Published: Physical Review E 66, 021909 (2002) Abstract: In the cerebral cortex, neurons are subject to a continuous bombardment of synaptic inputs originating from the network's background activity. This leads to ongoing, mostly subthreshold membrane dynamics that depends on the statistics of the background activity and of the synapses made on a neuron. Subthreshold membrane polarization is, in turn, a potent modulator of neural responses. The present paper analyzes the subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by synaptic inputs of stationary statistics. Synaptic inputs are considered in linear interaction. The analysis identifies regimes of input statistics which give rise to stationary, fluctuating, oscillatory, and unstable dynamics. In particular, I show that (i) mere noise inputs can drive the membrane potential into sustained, quasiperiodic oscillations (noise-driven oscillations), in the absence of a stimulus-derived, intraneural, or network pacemaker; (ii) adding hyperpolarizing to depolarizing synaptic input can increase neural activity (hyperpolarization-induced activity), in the absence of hyperpolarization-activated currents. -- Dr. Ulrich Hillenbrand Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics German Aerospace Center / DLR Oberpfaffenhofen 82234 Wessling Germany www.robotic.dlr.de/Ulrich.Hillenbrand +49 8153 28-3501 (phone) -1134 (fax) From hans.plesser at itf.nlh.no Fri Sep 27 14:35:07 2002 From: hans.plesser at itf.nlh.no (Hans Ekkehard Plesser) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 14:35:07 -0400 Subject: New paper: Linear mechanistic models for the dorsal LGN Message-ID: <15764.42203.231956.130460@math0232.math.ohio-state.edu> Dear Colleagues! We would like to bring to your attention a new article on Linear mechanistic models for the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of cat probed using drifting-grating stimuli by Gaute T. Einevoll and Hans E. Plesser Network: Comput. Neural Syst 13:503-530 (2002) The article can be retrieved free of charge from http://stacks.iop.org/0954-898X/13/503 until ca Oct 25, 2002, courtesy of IOP. Best regards, Gaute Einevoll & Hans Ekkehard Plesser Abstract. Experiments with sinusoidal visual stimuli in the early visual pathway have traditionally been interpreted in terms of descriptive filter models. We present an alternative mechanistic approach for interpretation of this type of data recorded from X cells in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of cat. A general, linear, rate-based mathematical expression for the geniculate transfer ratio, i.e. the ratio between the first-harmonic components of the output of a geniculate relay cell and its retinal input, is derived. In linear theory this ratio is independent of the signal processing occurring at the retinal level. Further, the ratio is straightforwardly accessible in experiments due to the presence of S-potentials, representing the retinal input, in extracellular recordings from dLGN. The expression accounts for feedforward inputs from retina and intrageniculate interneurons as well as feedback inputs from cortex and the thalamic reticular nucleus and can be used to experimentally test different mechanistic models for the geniculate circuitry. Two examples of this are considered: a purely feedforward model incorporating relay cell inputs from retinal ganglion cells and interneurons, and a model including cortical feedback inhibition of relay cells via intrageniculate interneurons. From maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at Sat Sep 28 07:52:30 2002 From: maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at (Wolfgang Maass) Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 13:52:30 +0200 Subject: PhD Position in Computer Science/Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <3D9597FE.6A6B9A2B@igi.tu-graz.ac.at> PhD Position in Computer Science/Computational Neuroscience Research Project: Computation and Learning in Cortical Microcircuits Research Goals: Evaluation of the computational power and learning capability of cortical microcircuits via theoretical analysis and computer simulations, as well as applications of simulated cortical microcircuits to adaptive robot control and other reinforcement learning tasks. This research is carried out by a team of 6 PhD students and Assistant-Professors at the Institut fuer Grundlagen der Informationsverarbeitung, Technische Universitaet Graz under the direction of Wolfgang Maass, http://www.igi.tugraz.at/maass/Welcome.html, in collaboration with several Institutes for Neuroscience (such as the Mind Brain Institute at EPFL Lausanne and the MPI for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen). Expected Qualifications: Diplom or Masters with very good grades (in an area such as Computer Science, Neuroscience, Mathematics, Physics, or Control), demonstrated research potential, interest in neural computation and learning, programming experience. Applications: should be sent -if possible- by email to maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at (attachments in pdf), otherwise by mail to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Maass Institut fuer Grundlagen der Informationsverarbeitung Technische Universitaet Graz Inffeldgasse 16 b/1 A-8010 Graz, Austria From marks at lcnl.wisc.edu Mon Sep 30 17:53:43 2002 From: marks at lcnl.wisc.edu (Mark Seidenberg) Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:53:43 -0500 Subject: marks@lcnl.wisc.edu Message-ID: <16594D55-D4BF-11D6-B85A-00039344F710@lcnl.wisc.edu> POSITIONS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Applications from readers of this list would be welcome. Informal inquiries can be directed to me. Mark S. Seidenberg Professor Department of Psychology University of Wisconsin 1204 W. Johnson St. Madison, WI 53706 phone: 608-263-2553 fax: 608-262-4029 The University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a cluster of three faculty positions in the interdisciplinary area of Cognitive Science. Appointments may begin as early as August 2003. The aim of the cluster is to build a concentration of research excellence in an area of Cognitive Science, building on or extending existing strengths. We are beginning by recruiting a tenured faculty member with an established, outstanding research record who will take a leadership role in fostering interdisciplinary Cognitive Science research on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and filling other positions in the cluster. However, applications from outstanding junior candidates are also encouraged. For tenure-track appointments, completion of the Ph.D. is required. Applications should include a CV and a statement describing research and teaching interests, accomplishments, and direction, as related to the description above. Names and contact information for three references should be included for tenured candidates, and three letters of recommendation should be sent for junior candidates. To ensure full consideration, applications should be received by January 1, 2003. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. Applications should be addressed to: Cognitive Science Cluster Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Attn: Carol Allen, 1202 W Johnson Street, Madison WI 53706-1696. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. From tewon at ucsd.edu Tue Sep 3 03:28:20 2002 From: tewon at ucsd.edu (Te-Won Lee) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 00:28:20 -0700 Subject: JMLR special issue on ICA References: <015701c20838$a288f2b0$0693ef84@redmond.corp.microsoft.com> Message-ID: <003b01c2531b$7aee5fa0$6401a8c0@redmond.corp.microsoft.com> Second Call for Papers: Submission deadline is in one month! Te-Won ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Journal of Machine Learning Research Special Issue on "Independent Component Analysis" Guest Editors: Te-Won Lee, Jean-Francois Cardoso, Erkki Oja, Shun-Ichi Amari CALL FOR PAPERS We invite papers on Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Blind Source Separation (BSS) for a special issue in the Journal of Machine Learning Research (on-line publication and subsequent publication from MIT Press). In recent years, ICA has received attention from many research areas including statistical signal processing, machine learning, neural networks, information theory and exploratory data analysis. Applications of ICA algorithms in speech signal processing and biomedical signal processing are growing and maturing and ICA methods are also considered in many other fields where this novel data analysis technique provides new insights. Recent approaches to ICA such as variational methods, kernel methods and tensor methods have lead to new theoretical insights. They permit us to relax some of the constraints in the traditional ICA assumptions yielding new algorithms and increasing the domains of application. Certain nonlinear mixing systems can be inverted, more sources than the number of sensors can be recovered, and further understanding of the convergence properties and gradient optimizations are now available. The ICA framework is an interdisciplinary research area. The combination of ideas from machine learning and statistical signal processing is a developing avenue of research and ICA is a first step into this new direction. We invite original contributions that explore theoretical and practical issues related to ICA. A list of possible topics include: Theory and Algorithms Bayesian methods Information theoretic approaches High order statistics Convolutive mixtures Convergence and stability issues Graphical models Nonlinear mixing Undercomplete mixtures Sparse coding Methodology and Applications Biomedical applications Speech signal processing Image processing Performance comparisons Model validation Dimension reduction and visualization Learning features in high dimensional data Important Dates: - Submission: October, 1st 2002 - Decision: January, 1st 2003 - Final: March, 1st 2003 Submission procedure: see http://rhythm.ucsd.edu/~tewon/JMLR.html For further details or enquiries, send mail to tewon at inc.ucsd.edu Links: http://www-sig.enst.fr/~ica99/ http://www.cis.hut.fi/ica2000 http://www.ica2001.org http://ica2003.jp From terry at salk.edu Tue Sep 3 19:19:19 2002 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 16:19:19 -0700 (PDT) Subject: NEURAL COMPUTATION 14:10 In-Reply-To: <200207292226.g6TMQHX88979@purkinje.salk.edu> Message-ID: <200209032319.g83NJJp43344@purkinje.salk.edu> Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 14, Number 10 - October 1, 2002 ARTICLE Information-Geometric Measure for Neural Spikes by Hiroyuki Nakahara and Shun-ichi Amari LETTERS Optimal Short-Term Population Coding: When Fisher Information Fails M. Bethge, D. Rotermund, and K Pawelzik Coupling an aVLSI Neuromorphic Vision Chip to a Neurotrophic Model of Synaptic Plasticity: The Development of Topography Terry Elliott and Jorg Kramer Hebbian Imprinting and Retrieval in Oscillatory Neural Networks Silvia Scarpetta, L. Zhaoping and John Hertz A New Discriminative Kernel from Probabilistic Models Koji Tsuda, Motoaki Kawanabe, Gunnar Raetsch, Soren Sonnenburg and Klaus-Robert Mueller Factorial Hidden Markov Models and the Generalized Backfitting Algorithm Robert A. Jacobs, Wenxin Jiang and Martin A. Tanner Bayesian Model Assessment and Comparison Using Cross-Validation Predictive Densities Aki Vehtari and Jouko Lampinen Robust Regression with Asymmetric Heavy-Tail Noise Distributions Ichiro Takeuchi, Yoshua Bengio and Takafumi Kanamori Many-Layered Learning Paul E. Utgoff and David J. Stracuzzi ----- ON-LINE - http://neco.mitpress.org/ SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2002 - VOLUME 14 - 12 ISSUES USA Canada* Other Countries Student/Retired $60 $64.20 $108 Individual $88 $94.16 $136 Institution $506 $451.42 $554 * includes 7% GST MIT Press Journals, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu ----- From thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr Thu Sep 5 03:19:02 2002 From: thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr (Simon Thorpe) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 09:19:02 +0200 Subject: Post-doc position in Toulouse, France Message-ID: 3 year EU funded Post-doc position Simon Thorpe has funding for a postdoc position at the Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition (http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr) in Toulouse, France. His group is interested in understanding the brain mechanisms involved in rapid scene processing, using both experimental work (using ERP and fMRI recording during the categorisation of complex scenes) and modeling based on asynchronously firing networks of spiking neurons. The modeling work is now being developed in collaboration with a hi-tech start-up company called SpikeNet Technology (http://www.spikenet-technology.com) that is using biologically inspired processing architectures to develop real-time image processing systems. The position is funded by the Perception for Recognition and Action (PRA) research training network, involving several other major european laboratories, and exchange visits between the different groups are strongly encouraged. Information about the network can be found on http://pra.psy.gla.ac.uk. Please note that there are some strict EU rules concerning eligibility. In particular, candidates have to be European nationals, but not from France. The precise program will depend on the candidate, but we would particularly like to find someone interested in both experimental and theoretical approaches to the visual system. Programming skills would be a clear advantage. We are looking for someone who can start in the next few months. For further information, please send an email to thorpe at cerco.ups-tlse.fr. To apply, send a letter of motivation, a CV and the names of three referees to the same email address. -- __________________ Simon Thorpe Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition 133, route de Narbonne 31062 Toulouse France Tel 33 (0)5 62 17 28 03. Fax 33 (0)5 62 17 28 09 http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr __________________ From ramsoy at tiscali.dk Sun Sep 8 18:33:52 2002 From: ramsoy at tiscali.dk (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Thomas_Zo=EBga_Rams=F8y?=) Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 00:33:52 +0200 Subject: Science & Consciousness Review - latest news and reviews Message-ID: Dear member of this list, Science & Consciousness Review (http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/) has released new articles and reviews: _____________________ EDITORIAL IDA on Will: Its no Illusion - by Stan Franklin "The issue of free will is perhaps the most oft debated single issue in the history of philosophy. Whether philosophers or scientists, most modern materialists, believe the universe, at scales beyond the quantum, is deterministic. This leads them to class free will with magic. Its only an illusion." Counter to this notion, Professor Franklin here argues that free will is indeed more than an illusion. Drawing upon evidence from both artificial intelligence and neurophysiology, Franklin makes a valid case against what he sees as a "magical free will" notion. Read the full article at: http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/ED_Sep02_IDAFreeWill.htm _____________________ NEWS IN BRIEF - FREE: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - The neurophysics of consciousness - The cognitive neuroscience of sleep - Olfactory coding: precise timing - The unconscious you may be the wiser half - Mike or me? Self-recognition in the split-brain - All about Me: Left brain may shine spotlight on self - Attention and emotion - different brain systems - New reviews of consciousness books Full access at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/more_news.html _____________________ ARCHIVES Previous issues of Science & Consciousness Review can be found at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/archive.html We have now issues from April to August 2002, including all articles, reviews and news in brief. _____________________ ABOUT SCIENCE & CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW SCR is a community-building effort. Many scientific communities study how the human brain makes possible perception, memory, and even attention. But for historical reasons, we have no scientific community for exploring consciousness --- including our own experiences of the world, of each other and of ourselves. It is probably the most important neglected topic in science. Students and scientists all over the world are vitally interested. Hardly a week goes by without another major article in headline journals like Science and Nature. The flow of evidence has increased enormously. But so far we have few institutional resources for teaching, learning, and sharing this information. In the last decade we have seen new, high quality journals, professional societies, and regular meetings. They are vitally important. But many people feel that we need an international forum to build a sense of shared community. SCR is an effort in that direction. CONTRIBUTE! Please send your contributions to us. Instructions for authors can be found at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/author_instructions.html _____________________ Sincerely, Thomas Zoga Ramsy Managing Editor From dimi at ci.tuwien.ac.at Tue Sep 10 12:12:23 2002 From: dimi at ci.tuwien.ac.at (Evgenia Dimitriadou) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 18:12:23 +0200 (CEST) Subject: [nn-at] CI BibTeX Collection -- Update In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The following volumes have been added to the collection of BibTeX files maintained by the Vienna Center for Computational Intelligence: IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, Volumes 5/6-6/4 IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Volumes 1/1-5/4 and 9/5-10/4 IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, Volumes 12/6-13/5 Machine Learning, Volumes 47/1-49/3 Neural Computation, Volumes 13/12-14/9 Neural Networks, Volumes 14/10-15/7 Neural Processing Letters, Volumes 14/3-16/2 Most files have been converted automatically from various source formats, please report any bugs you find. The complete collection can be downloaded from http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/services/BibTeX.html ftp://ftp.ci.tuwien.ac.at/pub/texmf/bibtex/ Best, Vivi ************************************************************************ * Evgenia Dimitriadou * ************************************************************************ * Institut fuer Statistik * Tel: (+43 1) 58801 10773 * * Technische Universitaet Wien * Fax: (+43 1) 58801 10798 * * Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10/1071 * Evgenia.Dimitriadou at ci.tuwien.ac.at * * A-1040 Wien, Austria * http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~dimi* ************************************************************************ From dgw at MIT.EDU Tue Sep 10 15:57:16 2002 From: dgw at MIT.EDU (David Weininger) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 15:57:16 -0400 Subject: book announcement--Scheutz Message-ID: <2002091015571617687@outgoing.mit.edu> I thought readers of the Connectionists List might be interested in this book. For more information, please visit http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262194783/ Thank you! Best, David Computationalism New Directions edited by Matthias Scheutz Classical computationalism--the view that mental states are computational states--has come under attack in recent years. Critics claim that in defining computation solely in abstract, syntactic terms, computationalism neglects the real-time, embodied, real-world constraints with which cognitive systems must cope. Instead of abandoning computationalism altogether, however, some researchers are reconsidering it, recognizing that real-world computers, like minds, must deal with issues of embodiment, interaction, physical implementation, and semantics. This book lays the foundation for a successor notion of computationalism. It covers a broad intellectual range, discussing historic developments of the notions of computation and mechanism in the computationalist model, the role of Turing machines and computational practice in artificial intelligence research, different views of computation and their role in the computational theory of mind, the nature of intentionality, and the origin of language. Matthias Scheutz is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Contributors Philip E. Agre, B. Jack Copeland, Stevan Harnad, John Haugeland, Matthias Scheutz, Aaron Sloman, Brian Cantwell Smith. 6 x 9, 256 pp., cloth, ISBN 0-262-19478-3, $35.00 A Bradford Book ______________________ David Weininger Associate Publicist The MIT Press 5 Cambridge Center, 4th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 617 253 2079 617 253 1709 fax http://mitpress.mit.edu From schrott at in.tum.de Wed Sep 11 11:43:33 2002 From: schrott at in.tum.de (Dr. Gerhard Schrott) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 17:43:33 +0200 Subject: Post Doc Position Message-ID: <3D7F64A5.4030106@in.tum.de> Technical University of Munich Department of Computer Science The Department of Computer Science, Robotics and Embedded Systems Unit, invites applications for a Post-Doc Research Position as the scientific assistant to the coordinator of the new EU-funded Network of Excellence on Neuro-IT, which aims at building a critical mass of new interdisciplinary research excellence at the interface between NS (Neurosciences) and IT (Information Technologies) within the European Community and its Associated States. The objective is to complement and move beyond the already well established NI (NeuroInformatics), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and neuroscience/cognitive science domains by fostering research that will benefit both the NS and IT communities by helping to solve fundamental problems like those linked to the emergence and the modelling of cognitive and awareness processes. Applications would be particularly welcome from candidates with research interests (and a record of innovative research results) in one or more of the following areas: cognitive, epigenetic, evolutionary and/or sensor-based robotics; bioanalogue sensor data processing and sensor data fusion; human and machine learning; experimental brain research; neuromodeling; neuropsychology; theoretical biology. The successful candidate will have a doctoral degree in computer science or the neurosciences, together with practical experience in robotics. An excellent command of the English language is mandatory. Further details may be obtained from Prof. A. Knoll and Dr. G. Schrott, schrott at in.tum.de Closing date: 5 October 2001. Applications including the CV, certificates, publication list should be sent to: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Fakultaet fuer Informatik, LS VI Robotics and Embedded Systems, z.H. R. te Vehne, Boltzmannstrasse 3, D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany, or by E-mail to schrott at in.tum.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Gerhard Schrott Institut fr Informatik Technische Universitt Mnchen Boltzmannstrae 3, 85748 Garching Telefon: +89 289-18134 Telefax: +89 289-18107 E-mail : schrott at in.tum.de Internet: http://www6.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From schrott at in.tum.de Fri Sep 13 08:39:02 2002 From: schrott at in.tum.de (Dr. Gerhard Schrott) Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 14:39:02 +0200 Subject: Faculty Position at Techn. University Munich Message-ID: <3D81DC66.70601@in.tum.de> The Department of Computer Science of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen invites applications from candidates of international standing for the position of a Professor (C3) for Cognitive Robotics The successful candidate will be expected to pursue independent research and teaching in the field of cognitive robotics. Applicants are expected to have a very strong knowledge of practical and applied computer science and should have a particular interest in the design and programming of robot systems. They should have a prominent recognition in one or more of the following areas: - Integration of vision, language and action - Multimodal interaction with robot systems - Machine learning and issues of autonomy - Bio-analogous sensor data processing and sensor data fusion - Epigentic robotics and skill development based on instincts Computer Science at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen is one of the top ranked departments in Germany. We expect that the successful candidate will teach regularly scheduled courses, supervise undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students and exploit the potential for interdisciplinary interfaculty cooperation within the framework of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. Candidates must have a doctoral degree, post-doctoral training, outstanding communication and leadership skills. They must also have a record indicating demonstrated excellence in both research and teaching in or outside of academic institutions. Candidates must not be older than 52 years at time of the appointment, which is tentatively limited to five years. C3 posts are roughly equivalent to the US Associate Professor level. Applications should be received by September 27, 2002 and consist of CV, certificates, list of publications, selected papers, a brief description of research accomplishments and goals as well as teaching interests to: Dean of Fakultaet fuer Informatik, Prof. Dr. E. Mayr, Technische Universitaet Muenchen Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748 Garching Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Gerhard Schrott Institut fr Informatik Technische Universitt Muenchen Boltzmannstrae 3, 85748 Garching Phonw: +89 289-18134 Fax: +89 289-18107 E-mail : schrott at in.tum.de Internet: http://www6.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From cindy at bu.edu Mon Sep 16 11:46:46 2002 From: cindy at bu.edu (Cynthia Bradford) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 11:46:46 -0400 Subject: Neural Networks 15(7) Message-ID: <200209161546.g8GFkkg12358@cns-pc75.bu.edu> NEURAL NETWORKS 15(7) Contents - Volume 15, Number 7 - 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES: ***** Psychology and Cognitive Science ***** Color constancy and the functional significance of McCollough effects Tony Vladusich and Jack Broerse ***** Neuroscience and Neuropsychology ***** Neural network models for the gaze shift system in the superior colliculus and cerebellum Xiaoxing Wang, Jesse Jin, and Marwan Jabri ***** Mathematical and Computational Analysis ***** A complex-valued version of Nagumo-Sato model of a single neuron and its behavior Iku Nemoto and Kei Saito Delay-dependent exponential stability analysis of delayed neural networks: An LMI approach Xiaofeng Liao, Guanrong Chen, and Edgar N. Sanchez Global stability of neural networks with distributed delays Yuming Chen ***** Engineering and Design ***** SpikCell: A deterministic spiking neuron C. Godin, M.B. Gordon, and J.D. Muller A feed-forward network for input that is both categorical and quantitative Roelof K. Brouwer ***** Technology and Applications ***** A spiking neuron model: Applications and learning Chris Christodoulou, Guido Bugmann, and Trevor G. Clarkson An intelligent sales forecasting system through integration of artificial neural networks and fuzzy neural networks with fuzzy weight elimination R.J. Kuo, P. Wu, and C.P. Wang BOOK REVIEWS Review of "Theory and the Brain" (R. Baddeley, P. Hancock, and P. Foldiak, editors) by R.P.N. Rao Review of "Learning Kernel Classifiers" (R. Herbrich, editor) by Robert Williamson ERRATUM Erratum to "The double queue method: A numerical method for integrate-and-fire neuron networks" [Neural Networks 14(6/7) 921-932] by Geehyuk Lee and Nabil H. Farhat CURRENT EVENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic access: www.elsevier.com/locate/neunet/. Individuals can look up instructions, aims & scope, see news, tables of contents, etc. Those who are at institutions which subscribe to Neural Networks get access to full article text as part of the institutional subscription. Sample copies can be requested for free and back issues can be ordered through the Elsevier customer support offices: nlinfo-f at elsevier.nl usinfo-f at elsevier.com or info at elsevier.co.jp ------------------------------ INNS/ENNS/JNNS Membership includes a subscription to Neural Networks: The International (INNS), European (ENNS), and Japanese (JNNS) Neural Network Societies are associations of scientists, engineers, students, and others seeking to learn about and advance the understanding of the modeling of behavioral and brain processes, and the application of neural modeling concepts to technological problems. Membership in any of the societies includes a subscription to Neural Networks, the official journal of the societies. Application forms should be sent to all the societies you want to apply to (for example, one as a member with subscription and the other one or two as a member without subscription). The JNNS does not accept credit cards or checks; to apply to the JNNS, send in the application form and wait for instructions about remitting payment. The ENNS accepts bank orders in Swedish Crowns (SEK) or credit cards. The INNS does not invoice for payment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Membership Type INNS ENNS JNNS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- membership with $80 (regular) SEK 660 (regular) Y 13,000 (regular) Neural Networks (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) $20 (student) SEK 460 (student) Y 11,000 (student) (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- membership without $30 SEK 200 not available to Neural Networks non-students (subscribe through another society) Y 5,000 (student) (plus 2,000 enrollment fee) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: _____________________________________ Title: _____________________________________ Address: _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Phone: _____________________________________ Fax: _____________________________________ Email: _____________________________________ Payment: [ ] Check or money order enclosed, payable to INNS or ENNS OR [ ] Charge my VISA or MasterCard card number ____________________________ expiration date ________________________ INNS Membership 19 Mantua Road Mount Royal NJ 08061 USA 856 423 0162 (phone) 856 423 3420 (fax) innshq at talley.com http://www.inns.org ENNS Membership University of Skovde P.O. Box 408 531 28 Skovde Sweden 46 500 44 83 37 (phone) 46 500 44 83 99 (fax) enns at ida.his.se http://www.his.se/ida/enns JNNS Membership c/o Professor Takashi Nagano Faculty of Engineering Hosei University 3-7-2, Kajinocho, Koganei-shi Tokyo 184-8584 Japan 81 42 387 6350 (phone and fax) jnns at k.hosei.ac.jp http://jnns.inf.eng.tamagawa.ac.jp/home-j.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Wed Sep 18 13:10:24 2002 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:10:24 +0100 Subject: PhD studentship with Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan In-Reply-To: <20020422112301.A3358@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk>; from dayan on Mon, Apr 22, 2002 at 11:23:01AM +0100 References: <20020422112301.A3358@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20020918181024.A7382@miller.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> PhD Studentship Neuroscience Applications are invited for a research studentship on empirical and theoretical study of the neural basis of reinforcement learning, tenable as part of a collaboration between Wolfram Schultz, at the Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, and Peter Dayan, at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL. The Cambridge lab has long-standing experience in the recording and analysis of the activities of dopamine cells and their targets; the Gatsby Unit is one of the largest labs in the world devoted to computational neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, and a good honours degree in a relevant subject. The post will be based either in Cambridge or London though substantial interaction between the Gatsby Unit in London and the Anatomy Department at Cambridge (journey time approximately 90 minutes) will be required. The studentship will cover full tuition fees plus a competitive stipend. Applications should include a CV, a statement of research interests, full contact details for three referees, and should be made by 31st May 2002 by email to admissions at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Further information about Wolfram Schultz's lab can be found at http://www.anat.cam.ac.uk/pages/staff/academic/schultz/index.html and about the Gatsby Unit at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Wed Sep 18 13:20:56 2002 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:20:56 +0100 Subject: Erratum: PhD Studentship with Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan Message-ID: <20020918182056.C7382@miller.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Apologies: the closing date for the studentship should be 18th October 2002, not the 31st May. ----------------------------------------------------- PhD Studentship Neuroscience Applications are invited for a research studentship on empirical and theoretical study of the neural basis of reinforcement learning, tenable as part of a collaboration between Wolfram Schultz, at the Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, and Peter Dayan, at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL. The Cambridge lab has long-standing experience in the recording and analysis of the activities of dopamine cells and their targets; the Gatsby Unit is one of the largest labs in the world devoted to computational neuroscience. Applicants should have a strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience, and a good honours degree in a relevant subject. The post will be based either in Cambridge or London though substantial interaction between the Gatsby Unit in London and the Anatomy Department at Cambridge (journey time approximately 90 minutes) will be required. The studentship will cover full tuition fees plus a competitive stipend. Applications should include a CV, a statement of research interests, full contact details for three referees, and should be made by 18th Oct 2002 by email to admissions at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Further information about Wolfram Schultz's lab can be found at http://www.anat.cam.ac.uk/pages/staff/academic/schultz/index.html and about the Gatsby Unit at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk From lafferty at cs.cmu.edu Thu Sep 19 14:32:33 2002 From: lafferty at cs.cmu.edu (John Lafferty) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:32:33 -0400 Subject: AMS-IMS-SIAM conference on machine learning and statistics Message-ID: An AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference will be held on the topic of "Machine Learning, Statistics, and Discovery," with partial funding from the NSF. A preliminary announcement follows. Further information will be available from http://www.ams.org/meetings/src-shen.html Machine Learning, Statistics and Discovery Machine learning is an active and rapidly growing area of research that offers systematic and machine-implementable approaches to extracting information from vast and complex data sources. The goal of this conference is to assemble researchers from the disciplines of computer science and statistics around the topical themes of support vector machines and other large margin classifiers, boosting and ensemble methods, new extensions of classification and regression, methods for approximate inference, and application areas. A lively exchange between the two communities is anticipated, which hopefully will lead to cross-fertilization and new collaborations across traditional academic disciplines. Young researchers, graduate students, and underrepresented groups are encouraged to attend, as they will be important for forming lasting "bridges" across the two cultures in the future. The site for the 2003 conference series is Snowbird Summer Resort, located in the mountains of Snowbird, Utah. Check in is Saturday, June 21, and departure is Friday, June 27. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Accepted principal speakers: Peter Bartlett Leo Breiman Tom Dietterich David Heckerman Ralf Herbrich Tommi Jaakkola Michael Kearns Yi Lin Steve Marron Marina Meila Art Owen Tomaso Poggio Robert Schapire John Shawe-Taylor Grace Wahba Wing Wong ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Tentative themes: Session 1: Overview of Machine Learning Session 2: Kernel Methods Session 3: Support Vector Machines Session 4: Boosting Session 5: Other Ensemble Methods Session 6: Extensions beyond Classification and Regression Session 7: Methods for Approximate Inference Session 8: Applications to Microarrays Session 9: Other Applications ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Organizers: Joseph Verducci Department of Statistics, Ohio State University Xiaotong Shen Department of Statistics, Ohio State University John Lafferty Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University From xwu at emba.uvm.edu Fri Sep 20 16:43:05 2002 From: xwu at emba.uvm.edu (Xindong Wu) Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 16:43:05 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Dorothean Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont Message-ID: <200209202043.g8KKh5M17956@mansfield.emba.uvm.edu> Dorothean Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont ==================================================================== The College of Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Vermont invites applications for the Dorothean Professorship (at the Full Professor or Associate Professor level) in Computer Science, commencing with the 2003-04 academic year. Tenure will be sought at time of appointment. The University of Vermont, one of the top public national universities, is located in Burlington, Vermont. It offers a supportive research environment in a relatively small city that repeatedly has drawn national attention for offering a high quality of life. The greater Burlington area includes 125,000 people, and is situated on the shores of Lake Champlain between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Burlington and the surrounding area provide an environment rich in cultural and recreational activities. The Department of Computer Science offers programs in the College of Engineering and Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a joint program with the School of Business Administration. Our existing faculty in Computer Science are involved in the forefront of research in knowledge and data engineering (such as data mining, database systems, pattern recognition, and knowledge-based systems), software engineering and verification (including programming languages), and computational sciences (including computational biology, discrete modeling, and numerical methods). We are seeking to complement and further strengthen our existing research and teaching activities in these areas. Candidates in these areas are most sought, and candidates in any other area of computer science will also be considered seriously. Candidates should have a distinguished research record, hold a doctorate in Computer Science or a closely related field, and have broad teaching abilities and interests. The successful applicant is expected to (1) play a major role in departmental research initiatives and the graduate program coordination, (2) strengthen and build interdisciplinary bridges between the Department of Computer Science and other departments within the University, and (3) take an active role in teaching computer science courses. Please send a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching experience and interests, a statement of research interests and aspirations to, and arrange for at least three letters of reference to be sent to Chair, Dorothean Professor Search Committee, Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405. Complete applications received by January 20, 2003 will be fully considered. For more information about the Department and the College please see http://www.cs.uvm.edu or email to cssearch at emba.uvm.edu. The University of Vermont is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and encourages applications from women and members of minority groups. From deniz at cnel.ufl.edu Tue Sep 24 14:23:03 2002 From: deniz at cnel.ufl.edu (Deniz Erdogmus) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 14:23:03 -0400 Subject: IEEE-TNN Special Issue on Information Theoretic Learning Message-ID: <3D90AD87.E60EBB9C@cnel.ufl.edu> There is an upcoming special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks on Information Theoretic Learning. Interested researchers can view the call for papers for this special issue at any one of the following two web sites: www.cnel.ufl.edu/~tnn_itl OR ieee-nns.org/pubs/tnn/special.html The call for papers also appeared in the September 2002 issue of TNN. The paper submission deadline is March 15th, 2003. Regards, Deniz Erdogmus From Wulfram.Gerstner at epfl.ch Tue Sep 24 05:14:01 2002 From: Wulfram.Gerstner at epfl.ch (Wulfram Gerstner) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 11:14:01 +0200 Subject: new book: Spiking Neuron Models Message-ID: <3D902CD9.244354E6@epfl.ch> I would like to announce a new book, Spiking Neuron Models - Single Neurons, Populations, Plasticity by W. Gerstner and W. M. Kistler. The book combines fundamentals (Hodgkin-Huxley model, two-dimensional neuron models, etc) with topics of current research such as spike-time dependent plasticity, neural coding, the role of noise, and population density methods. The book should be useful both for researchers interested in the theory of spiking neurons and for graduate students (e.g., as a background text for courses in computational neuroscience or neural modeling). The book is available from Cambridge Universtiy Press http://www.cup.org/titles/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521890799 or Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521890799/ref%3Ded%5Foe%5Fp/102-2490052-6800107 If you would like to browse through the book, see http://diwww.epfl.ch/~gerstner/BUCH.html Contents: Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Part I: Single Neuron Models Chapter 2: Detailed Neurom Models Chapter 3: Two-Dimensional Neuron Models Chapter 4: Formal Spiking Neuron Models Chapter 5: Noise in Spiking Neuron Models Part II: Populations of Spiking Neurons Chapter 6: Population Equations Chapter 7: Signal Transmission and Coding Chapter 8: Oscillations and Synchrony Chapter 9: Spatially Structured Networks Part III: Models of Synaptic Plasitity Chapter 10: Hebbian Models Chapter 11: Learning Equations Chapter 12: Plasticity and Coding Bibliography and Index -- Wulfram Gerstner Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne Professor Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience, DI-LCN 1015 Lausanne EPFL Tel. +41-21-693 6713 wulfram.gerstner at epfl.ch Fax. +41-21-693 5263 http://diwww.epfl.ch/mantra From Ulrich.Hillenbrand at dlr.de Fri Sep 27 09:30:42 2002 From: Ulrich.Hillenbrand at dlr.de (Ulrich Hillenbrand) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 15:30:42 +0200 Subject: paper available: some news on neural dynamics Message-ID: <3D945D82.10E6FD52@dlr.de> Dear colleagues, the following recent article on dynamics of the neural membrane potential can be downloaded from my homepage at http://www.robotic.dlr.de/Ulrich.Hillenbrand [There are also some articles on the thalamocortical system and on machine vision available.] Regards, Ulrich Hillenbrand -- Title: Subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by stochastic synaptic input Author: Ulrich Hillenbrand Published: Physical Review E 66, 021909 (2002) Abstract: In the cerebral cortex, neurons are subject to a continuous bombardment of synaptic inputs originating from the network's background activity. This leads to ongoing, mostly subthreshold membrane dynamics that depends on the statistics of the background activity and of the synapses made on a neuron. Subthreshold membrane polarization is, in turn, a potent modulator of neural responses. The present paper analyzes the subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by synaptic inputs of stationary statistics. Synaptic inputs are considered in linear interaction. The analysis identifies regimes of input statistics which give rise to stationary, fluctuating, oscillatory, and unstable dynamics. In particular, I show that (i) mere noise inputs can drive the membrane potential into sustained, quasiperiodic oscillations (noise-driven oscillations), in the absence of a stimulus-derived, intraneural, or network pacemaker; (ii) adding hyperpolarizing to depolarizing synaptic input can increase neural activity (hyperpolarization-induced activity), in the absence of hyperpolarization-activated currents. -- Dr. Ulrich Hillenbrand Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics German Aerospace Center / DLR Oberpfaffenhofen 82234 Wessling Germany www.robotic.dlr.de/Ulrich.Hillenbrand +49 8153 28-3501 (phone) -1134 (fax) From hans.plesser at itf.nlh.no Fri Sep 27 14:35:07 2002 From: hans.plesser at itf.nlh.no (Hans Ekkehard Plesser) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 14:35:07 -0400 Subject: New paper: Linear mechanistic models for the dorsal LGN Message-ID: <15764.42203.231956.130460@math0232.math.ohio-state.edu> Dear Colleagues! We would like to bring to your attention a new article on Linear mechanistic models for the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of cat probed using drifting-grating stimuli by Gaute T. Einevoll and Hans E. Plesser Network: Comput. Neural Syst 13:503-530 (2002) The article can be retrieved free of charge from http://stacks.iop.org/0954-898X/13/503 until ca Oct 25, 2002, courtesy of IOP. Best regards, Gaute Einevoll & Hans Ekkehard Plesser Abstract. Experiments with sinusoidal visual stimuli in the early visual pathway have traditionally been interpreted in terms of descriptive filter models. We present an alternative mechanistic approach for interpretation of this type of data recorded from X cells in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of cat. A general, linear, rate-based mathematical expression for the geniculate transfer ratio, i.e. the ratio between the first-harmonic components of the output of a geniculate relay cell and its retinal input, is derived. In linear theory this ratio is independent of the signal processing occurring at the retinal level. Further, the ratio is straightforwardly accessible in experiments due to the presence of S-potentials, representing the retinal input, in extracellular recordings from dLGN. The expression accounts for feedforward inputs from retina and intrageniculate interneurons as well as feedback inputs from cortex and the thalamic reticular nucleus and can be used to experimentally test different mechanistic models for the geniculate circuitry. Two examples of this are considered: a purely feedforward model incorporating relay cell inputs from retinal ganglion cells and interneurons, and a model including cortical feedback inhibition of relay cells via intrageniculate interneurons. From maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at Sat Sep 28 07:52:30 2002 From: maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at (Wolfgang Maass) Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 13:52:30 +0200 Subject: PhD Position in Computer Science/Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <3D9597FE.6A6B9A2B@igi.tu-graz.ac.at> PhD Position in Computer Science/Computational Neuroscience Research Project: Computation and Learning in Cortical Microcircuits Research Goals: Evaluation of the computational power and learning capability of cortical microcircuits via theoretical analysis and computer simulations, as well as applications of simulated cortical microcircuits to adaptive robot control and other reinforcement learning tasks. This research is carried out by a team of 6 PhD students and Assistant-Professors at the Institut fuer Grundlagen der Informationsverarbeitung, Technische Universitaet Graz under the direction of Wolfgang Maass, http://www.igi.tugraz.at/maass/Welcome.html, in collaboration with several Institutes for Neuroscience (such as the Mind Brain Institute at EPFL Lausanne and the MPI for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen). Expected Qualifications: Diplom or Masters with very good grades (in an area such as Computer Science, Neuroscience, Mathematics, Physics, or Control), demonstrated research potential, interest in neural computation and learning, programming experience. Applications: should be sent -if possible- by email to maass at igi.tu-graz.ac.at (attachments in pdf), otherwise by mail to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Maass Institut fuer Grundlagen der Informationsverarbeitung Technische Universitaet Graz Inffeldgasse 16 b/1 A-8010 Graz, Austria From marks at lcnl.wisc.edu Mon Sep 30 17:53:43 2002 From: marks at lcnl.wisc.edu (Mark Seidenberg) Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:53:43 -0500 Subject: marks@lcnl.wisc.edu Message-ID: <16594D55-D4BF-11D6-B85A-00039344F710@lcnl.wisc.edu> POSITIONS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Applications from readers of this list would be welcome. Informal inquiries can be directed to me. Mark S. Seidenberg Professor Department of Psychology University of Wisconsin 1204 W. Johnson St. Madison, WI 53706 phone: 608-263-2553 fax: 608-262-4029 The University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a cluster of three faculty positions in the interdisciplinary area of Cognitive Science. Appointments may begin as early as August 2003. The aim of the cluster is to build a concentration of research excellence in an area of Cognitive Science, building on or extending existing strengths. We are beginning by recruiting a tenured faculty member with an established, outstanding research record who will take a leadership role in fostering interdisciplinary Cognitive Science research on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and filling other positions in the cluster. However, applications from outstanding junior candidates are also encouraged. For tenure-track appointments, completion of the Ph.D. is required. Applications should include a CV and a statement describing research and teaching interests, accomplishments, and direction, as related to the description above. Names and contact information for three references should be included for tenured candidates, and three letters of recommendation should be sent for junior candidates. To ensure full consideration, applications should be received by January 1, 2003. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. Applications should be addressed to: Cognitive Science Cluster Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Attn: Carol Allen, 1202 W Johnson Street, Madison WI 53706-1696. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality.