From asuncion at ics.uci.edu Fri Jan 4 13:57:34 2008 From: asuncion at ics.uci.edu (Arthur Asuncion) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:57:34 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: New Web Site and Features for the UCI Machine Learning Repository Message-ID: <477E819E.9000806@ics.uci.edu> UCI MACHINE LEARNING REPOSITORY: NEW WEB SITE AND FEATURES We are very pleased to announce the launch of a newly revamped web site for the UCI Machine Learning Repository*, online at: http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/ We have developed a new search portal that allows for faceted browsing of over 160 different data sets, using criteria such as data type, attribute type, number of instances, and number of attributes. The web site allows users to easily find data sets that satisfy particular criteria, such as "show all data sets containing only real-valued attributes and rank by number of instances." In collaboration with Rexa.info, the site now also provides links to published papers that have cited each data set. We are always interested in new data set donations. If you have a data set that you would like to make available to the entire machine learning community, please feel free to donate using our automated web form. We thank all the previous donors for making this Repository a success. Arthur Asuncion, David Newman University of California, Irvine *Funding support from the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged, under a Computing Research Infrastructure grant, award number CNS-0551510 (PIs: Andrew McCallum, University of Massachusetts, and Padhraic Smyth, University of California, Irvine). From m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Wed Jan 9 04:25:59 2008 From: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 09:25:59 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: MSc programme in Computational Neuroscience, The University of Manchester, UK Message-ID: MSc programme in Computational Neuroscience at the University of Manchester Computational Neuroscience represents a new and exciting interdisciplinary field where ideas and methods from Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Biology are synergistically applied to understand brain function. The MSc in Computational Neuroscience at Manchester is designed to enable top students from numerate and biological sciences to gain the necessary tools and training to advance our knowledge about the brain. About the programme Quantitative methods are becoming increasingly important at the cutting edge of research in biology, in general, and neuroscience, in particular. Complex experimental data sets demand new mathematical methods for their analysis. Mathematical and computer modelling are powerful tools for bridging levels of investigation from molecules, cells, and tissues, through to the whole brain. You will be based in the top-rated faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester, working as part of the Computational Neuroscience and Neuroinfomatics Group. The teaching staff is highly interdisciplinary with backgrounds spanning Neuroscience, Physics, Mathematics, Psychology, Biology, and Computer Science. A few fully funded studentships are available due to financial support from the UK Medical Research Council. The duration of the course is 12 months, and starts September 2008. Entry Requirements Applicants should hold (or be about to obtain) a first or upper second class honours degree, or the overseas equivalent. In certain circumstances, a lower second class honours degree supplemented with appropriate relevant work experience may be acceptable. For overseas applicants whose first language is not English the minimum English language requirement is IELTS 6.5, TOEFL 577 (paperbased), 233 (computer-based) or 90 (internet-based). Please, for further information visit, www.manchester.ac.uk/lifesciences/computationalneuroscienceandneuroinformaticsmsc or write to s.panzeri at manchester.ac.uk For matters relating the application process you can contact directly the graduate office at pg.lifesciences at manchester.ac.uk, or call +44 (0)161 275 5608. Best regards, -- Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro Faculty of Life Sciences University of Manchester Jackson's Mill, G7 PO Box 88 Sackville St Manchester M60 1QD United Kingdom phone : +44(0)161 306 3883 fax : +44(0)161 306 3887 e-mail: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk From m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Wed Jan 9 04:22:14 2008 From: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 09:22:14 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD in Computational Neuroscience, The University of Manchester, UK Message-ID: Applications are invited for a PhD position at the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Manchester, UK, starting September 2008. The student will be part of the Computational Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics group, and will work on the project "Cortical information processing by Local Field Potentials and spikes". Project outline: Local Field Potentials (LFP) correspond to the lower frequency range of the extracellular signal captured by a low impedance microelectrode located sufficiently away from any individual neuron. It is believed that LFP reflect mostly the summed dendritic activity of neurons that lie within a sphere of radius 50-300?m centred at the tip of the electrode. At variance with spikes, which reflect the output of a given area, LFP are thought to be more correlated with the input to it. In most models of cortical computation it is assumed that information is mainly encoded in the action potentials fired by neurons. However, there is increasing evidence that oscillations in the extracellular electric fields (LFP) may have an important role in the encoding of information about external stimuli. For instance, LFP may encode different information to that carried by spikes, or they may provide a local time frame that can facilitate the decoding of the information carried by spikes. The main goal of this project is to understand the mechanisms of information processing and transmission by action and Local Field Potentials, using models of cortical activity and advanced data analysis. The project will involve the development of novel data analysis methods, their application to real and simulated data, and the design of large computer simulations of networks of neurons with different degrees of biophysical realism. The project is highly interdisciplinary and will draw on methods and techniques from Computational Neuroscience, Neuroinformatics, Information Theory, and Biophysics. In addition to excellent programming skills (C / Fortran and Matlab), the candidate should have basic knowledge of Neuroscience and good Physics / Mathematics background. Entry requirements: Applicants should hold (or be about to obtain) a first or upper second class honours degree, or the overseas equivalent. For applicants whose first language is not English the minimum English language requirement is IELTS 6.5, TOEFL 577 (paper-based), 233 (computer-based) or 90 (internet-based). Studentships: There are studentships available for UK or other EU nationals. All UK students and EU nationals who have studied in the UK for 3 years or more are eligible for fees and stipend. EU students who have not studied in the UK for 3 years are only eligible for fees. For those eligible, the net stipend for 2008-09 will be approximately ?12,900 for the year. Further information: For more information about he application process please contact the Graduate Office: email:pg.lifesiences at manchester.ac.uk pone: (+44) (0)161 275 5608 For matters relating the scientific project contact the project supervisor Dr. Marcelo Montemurro at m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Best regards, -- Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro Faculty of Life Sciences University of Manchester Jackson's Mill, G7 PO Box 88 Sackville St Manchester M60 1QD United Kingdom phone : +44(0)161 306 3883 fax : +44(0)161 306 3887 e-mail: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk From terry at salk.edu Wed Jan 2 16:47:45 2008 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:47:45 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - February 2008 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 20, Number 2 - February 1, 2008 Letters Inhomogeneities in Heteroassociative Memories with Linear Learning Rules David Sterratt and David Willshaw A Neural Network Model of the Eriksen Task: Reduction, Analysis, and Data Fitting Philip Holmes, Yuan Liu, and Jonathan Cohen Second Order SMO Improves SVM Online and Active Learning Tobias Glasmachers and Christian Igel Gamma Oscillations and Stimulus Selection Christoph Boegers and Nancy Kopell STDP Provides the Substrate for Igniting Synfire Chains by Spatio-Temporal Input Patterns Ryosuke Hosaka, Osamu Araki, and Tohru Ikeguchi A-type K+ Current Can Act as a Trigger for Bursting in the Absence of a Slow Variable Natalia Toporikova, Joel Tabak, Marc Freeman, and Richard Bertram Design of Continuous Attractor Networks with Monotonic Tuning Using a Symmetry Principle Christian Machens and Carlos Brody Brain Reading Using Full Brain Support Vector Machines for Object Recognition: There is no "Face" Identification Area. Stephen Jose Hanson and Yaroslav Halchenko Neural Network Models for Conditional Distribution under Bayesian Analysis Tatiana Miazhynskaia, Sylvia Fruewirth-Schnatter, and George Dorffner Efficient Tracking of the Dominant Eigenspace of a Normalized Kernel Matrix Geert Gins, Ilse Y. Smets, and Jan F. Van Impe Robust L1 Principal Component Analysis and Its Bayesian Variational Inference Junbin Gao Generation of Optimal Artificial Neural Networks Using a Pattern Search Algorithm: Application to Approximation of Chemical Systems Matthias Ihme, Alison Marsden, and Heinz Pitsch ----- ON-LINE - http://neco.mitpress.org/ SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2008 - VOLUME 20 - 12 ISSUES Electronic only USA Canada* Others USA Canada* Student/Retired $60 $63.60 $123 $54 $57.24 Individual $110 $116.60 $173 $99 $104.94 Institution $849 $899.94 $912 $756 $801.36 * includes 6% GST MIT Press Journals, 238 Main Street, Suite 500, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp ----- From bard at math.pitt.edu Wed Jan 9 16:42:34 2008 From: bard at math.pitt.edu (G. Bard Ermentrout) Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:42:34 -0500 (EST) Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc positions: University of Pittsburgh Message-ID: RTG Post-Doctoral Associate (www.math.pitt.edu/~cbsg -- coming soon!) The Department of Mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh invites applications for postdoctoral appointment starting the Fall Term 2008 subject to final funding approval. The appointment is renewable annually to a maximum of three years. The position will likely be funded jointly by the University of Pittsburgh and a new NSF Research Training Group (RTG) grant on Complex Biological Systems across multiple space and time scales. The research areas covered by the RTG include (i) the development and analysis of mathematical models and computational algorithms for solving spatio-temporal problems arising in biology and (ii) the applications of these and other methods to problems arising in inflammation and neuroscience. To be successful, a candidate must demonstrate excellence in research, and must also have strong commitment to excellence in teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Candidates should be willing to work closely with experimentalists and clinicians. All applications must include the following: (1) a curriculum vita, (2) a personal statement addressing their research agenda, (3) a statement of teaching philosophy, (4) a completed AMS Standard Cover Sheet form and (5) at least three letters of recommendation. Applications should be submitted electronically through http://www.mathjobs.org. If the candidate is unable to submit electronically, materials may be sent to: Postdoctoral Search Committee in Complex Biological Systems, Department of Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Review of completed files will begin on January 10, 2008 and continue until the position is filled. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia are especially encouraged to apply. NSF restrictions require that eligible candidates must be US citizens or permanent residents. From anton.chizhov at mail.ioffe.ru Thu Jan 10 08:08:13 2008 From: anton.chizhov at mail.ioffe.ru (Anton Chizhov) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:08:13 +0300 Subject: Connectionists: PENS Spring School: Models in neuroscience: turning experiments into knowledge Message-ID: <478618BD.4020409@mail.ioffe.ru> Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that PENS Neuroscience School Models in Neuroscience: turning experiments into knowledge will be held in St.Petersburg, Russia from April, 27 to May, 5 2008. The school will emphasize the role of modeling as a knowledge structuring tool.The lectures will describe the use of mathematical model-based approaches to infer knowledge from the experimental data and statistical models used for establishing significance of findings. Additional goals of the school are to bridge the gap between future cellular and cognitive neuroscientists and to attract the students majoring in physics and math to the field of computational neuroscience. We welcome applications from advanced Ph.D. students and young post-docs with interest in all fields of neuroscience as well as students with physics/math major. A total of 30 students will be accepted. Meals and accommodation are covered for all accepted students, limited number of travel awards is available. Application deadline, February, 15, 2008. Registration fee: 100 Euro (fee can be waived for students with advanced records) Cellular neuroscience: biophysics of ionic channels, synaptic and circumneuronal signal transmission, synaptic plasticity, techniques of imaging and electrophysiology Cognitive neuroscience: memory, attention, language, brain imaging, multi-modal integration in cognitive data analysis, event-related potentials and fields Computational neuroscience: single-neuron and neural population modeling, dynamic causal modeling (DCM), non-parametric statistical analysis of EEG/MEG data For more information, please, visit http://www.neuroscience.spb.ru/school Ekaterina Volokhonskaya on behalf of the organizing committee From hamid at isys.uni-klu.ac.at Tue Jan 1 05:26:51 2008 From: hamid at isys.uni-klu.ac.at (Abdelhamid Bouchachia) Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:26:51 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?Announcement_of_a_workshop_on_no?= =?windows-1252?q?nlinear_dynamics_and_synchronization_=28INDS=9208=29?= Message-ID: <477A156B.6070307@isys.uni-klu.ac.at> Dear Colleague, Please kindly include the following CFP in the next mailing list announcement. Many many thanks & Best wishes for the new year. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Abdelhamid Bouchachia Dept. of Informatics-Systems Group of Software Engineering & Soft Computing Alps-Adriatic University of Klagenfurt Universitaetsstrasse 65 A-9020 Klagenfurt, Austria phone: +43 (0)463-2700 3525 fax: +43 (0)463-2700 3599 mailto: hamid at isys.uni-klu.ac.at -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- First International Workshop on nonlinear dynamics and synchronization (INDS?08) July18-19, 2008 (Klagenfurt, Austria) The First International Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS?08) is a two-day international workshop bringing together international researchers, developers and practitioners from different horizons to discuss the latest advances in nonlinear dynamics and synchronization. INDS?08 will serve as a forum to present current and future works as well as to exchange research ideas pertaining to various aspects in this field of nonlinear dynamic systems and synchronization. INDS?08 will feature contributed as well as invited papers and will include poster and demo sessions. Keynote Speakers: G. Chen, City Univ. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong L.O. Chua, University of California, USA D. Helbing, ETH Z?rich, Switzerland J. Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland W. Mathis, University of Hannover, Germany D. Ruan, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Belgium The major focus of this inter-disciplinary workshop lies on the following areas: * Theoretical fundamentals of synchronization * Nonlinear systems and synchronization * Experiments of nonlinear dynamics and synchronization * Simulation of nonlinear dynamics and synchronization * Applications of nonlinear dynamics and synchronization: o Self-organized traffic management systems o Self-organized intelligent supply chains and logistics systems o Cybernetics o Systems control o Robotics o Cooperative advanced driver assistance systems o Pattern recognition o Computational intelligence models (soft computing and machine learning) o Cellular neural networks and applications o Image processing (incl. scene analysis) o Signal processing (incl. speech processing and recognition) o Self-reconfigurable systems o Self-healing systems o Self-testing systems o Coupled oscillatory systems o Bio-computing, neuro-computing, biology, bio-chemistry o Chaos control o Communication (wired and wireless), networking and sensor networks o Cryptography and security o Social sciences, psychology, business and management* * Important dates: * Extended abstract submission: 28.02.2008 * Acceptance notification: 15.04.2008 * Full paper submission: 30.04.2008 * Early registration deadline: 25.05.2008 Submission of papers: Researchers are invited to submit an extended abstract (min. 3-4 pages) before 28.02.2008. After review and acceptance of the extended abstracts authors will be invited to submit a 6-8 page full paper version. For submission please follow the link: http://edas.info/6155. Camera-ready full papers will be included in the workshop proceedings, which will be published by ?Shaker Verlag? (Germany) and distributed to the participants at the workshop. Post-workshop publications: The best contributions, based upon the quality, novelty and relevancy, will be invited to submit a longer paper (10-14 pages). After undergoing a thorough review process selected papers will be published in two books (one with Springer and the second with World Scientific Publisher). Moreover two special issues of journals are also planned: one with ?The Open Cybernetics and Systemics Journal? published by Bentham publishing, and the second with the ?International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems?, published by Atlantis Press. The first special issue will be on ?Nonlinear Dynamics, Synchronization, and Applications?. The second special issue will select 7 papers related to soft computing issues/applications in the context of nonlinear dynamics and synchronization. General Chair: K. Kyamakya (Austria) Program Co-Chairs: G. Chen (Hongkong) W. Halang (Germany) D. Ruan (Belgium) Organization Chairs: A. Bouchachia (Austria) J. C. Chedjou (Austria) Z. Li (Germany) * * Technical Program Committee (to be extended): G. Auer (Germany) A. Bagula (South Africa) C. Bettstetter (Austria) C. Bobda (Germany) A. Bouchachia (Austria) G. Casati (Italy) J. C. Chedjou (Austria) G. Chen (Hong Kong) D. Cheng (China) L.O. Chua (USA) M. Ding (USA) S. Elaydi (USA) J. Gallas (Germany) J.E. Garcia (Spain) C. Gershenson (USA) W. Halang (Germany) M. Hofbaur (Austria) Y. Hong (China) M. Huemer (Austria) H. Hwarng (Singapore) J. Kacprzyk (Poland) K. Kyamakya (Austria) H. Leung (Canada) W. Mathis (Germany) P. McClintock (UK) J. T. Mendon (Portugal) V. Nguyen (Vietnam) J. Pilz (Austria) V.Romanovski (Slovenia) D. Ruan (Belgium) P. Siarry (France) R. Stoop (Switzerland) K. Takatsuka (Japan) C. M. Takenga (Germany) K.S. Tang (Hong Kong) K. Umeno (Japan) From petkov at cs.rug.nl Wed Jan 2 13:43:34 2008 From: petkov at cs.rug.nl (Nicolai Petkov) Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 19:43:34 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD student position in Computer Science - Biologically motivated object recognition Message-ID: <000e01c84d6f$61276720$af337d81@iwi175> A full-scholarship PhD position in Computer Science at a leading European university. http://www.cs.rug.nl/~petkov/vacancies/2007PhDstudent_shape.html PhD student position in Computer Science - Intelligent Systems - Biologically motivated object recognition Institute of Mathematics and Computing Science University of Groningen Topic of research The objective of the project is to develop an object recognition technique that is motivated by the function of the visual cortex. Major aspects are representation and learning. Type and level of the position This is a temporary research position at the level of a PhD student for a period of maximum four years. The tuition fees will be waived and the student will receive a full scholarship. In this period the student will follow relevant courses and prepare and defend a PhD thesis. The position is embedded in the research group Intelligent Systems. The tradition of the group is that PhD theses are based on excellent papers in high imact journals so that our PhD graduates have a very strong competative position on the academic market. Thesis director and supervisor will be professor N. Petkov. The University of Groningen is a leading European research university. Our requirements on your qualifications You are a university graduate (at the level of diploma or master of science level) in one of the following disciplines: computer science, artificial intelligence, computational neuroscience, electrical engineering, biophysics, physics. You have a demonstrated interest in the neurosciences. You have an excellent academic record (GPA) and belong to the top 5% of the graduates of your year and preferrably have a graduation with a distinction such as honors or cum laude. You are fluent in English language and able to write scientific articles and reports (to be proven by your graduation thesis or another comparable report or co-authorship of published scientific articles). How to apply Send the following information: 1) an application letter with a CV, 2) a specification of GPA and transcript of records, 3) an indication of your position in the class and year (e.g. 1st in a class of 20), 4) evidence of excellence (e.g. graduation with honors) and a list of relevant awards, 5) proofs of involvement in research (e.g. co-authorship of scientific articles), 6) a description of your ideas for research in the specified area, 7) names and email addresses of three scientists (typically your former professors) who can give a reference for you. to prof.dr. Nicolai Petkov (petkov at cs dot rug dot nl). Applicants will be asked to do a short assignment in order to demonstrate their research abilities. The position will be open until a suitable candidate is found. From christopher.kermorvant at a2ia.com Fri Jan 4 04:50:39 2008 From: christopher.kermorvant at a2ia.com (Christopher Kermorvant) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:50:39 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Open position in Paris, France : research scientist in handwriting recognition Message-ID: <477E016F.80202@a2ia.com> A2iA (Artificial Intelligence & Image Analysis) is the worldwide leading developer of natural handwriting recognition, Intelligent Word Recognition (IWR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) technologies and products for the payment, mail, document and forms processing markets. We are looking for a Handwriting recognition Scientist for our R&D Department in Paris. This position requires a person with a strong background in machine learning methodology, algorithms for recognition (speech, handwriting), and software development. The primary responsibilities are to conduct research and software development for handwriting recognition using statistical machine learning methods. ESSENTIAL DUTIES: * Develop new algorithms for handwriting recognition based on statistical machine learning techniques. * Responsible for the development and implementation of core computational routines in C++ and python interface, automated test and validation routines, and related documentation such as help files and user's guide. * Develop tests to verify the algorithms and the robustness of the methodologies and software in the areas of handwriting recognition in a wide variety of real world applications. * Author technical papers related to algorithms, methodology, and case study results. * Interest and willingness to conduct novel research in handwriting recognition and machine learning. ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS: Education and Training: Ph.D. in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or related field. SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS: * Strong background data mining and statistical machine learning. * Demonstrated work experience C++ and python * Experience with Windows and UNIX development platforms. * Excellent written and oral communication skills, as demonstrated by term papers, technical publications, or conference presentations For additional questions or to send your resume directly please contact career at a2ia.com or visit us at www.a2ia.com From D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk Tue Jan 8 02:03:22 2008 From: D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk (David R. Hardoon) Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 07:03:22 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Reminder: Connection Science Special Issue on "Music, Brain & Cognition" Message-ID: Apologies, the submission date is February 18'th and not 4'th. -------------- Connection Science Special Issue on "Music, Brain & Cognition" Call for Papers CONNECTION SCIENCE Special Issue on MUSIC, BRAIN & COGNITION Music is one of the most widespread of human cultural activities, existing in some form in all cultures throughout the world. The definition of music as organised sound is widely accepted today but a na?ve interpretation of this definition may suggest the notion that music exists widely in the animal kingdom, from the rasping of crickets' legs to the songs of the nightingale. However, only in the case of humans does music appear to be surplus to any obvious biological purpose, while at the same time being a strongly learned phenomenon and involving significant higher order cognitive processing rather than eliciting simple hardwired responses. Until recently, the issue of musical representation had focused primarily on symbolic notation of musical information and structure, and on the representation of musical performance. Research on how we represent musical experience in the brain is emerging as a rich area of investigation thanks to ongoing advances in brain-scanning technology such as EEG and fMRI. In particular music cognition models of three phenomena are of interest: 1) Emergence of categories in music and sound perception, 2) Attention as a top-down mechanism of modulating perception, 3) Goal-directed action in sound and music generation. How can machine learning be used for simulating these processes? Graphical models, recurrent networks, clustering and visualization methods have been suggested so far. In some instances the question arises how modeling approaches from language and vision can be transferred/adapted to music. Submitted articles must not have been previously published and must not be currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: -Machine learning based models for learning the structure of music -Models for predicting style of performers -Analysis and models of fMRI/EEG/MEG scans from musical stimuli (as opposed to simplistic auditory stimuli) -Predicting music generated patterns in fMRI/EEG/MEG -Strategies for embedding representations of musical experience into generative music / performance systems -Methods for generative musical performance and composition -Generative music and/or performance systems based on models of brain functioning -Similar and further models for learning and analysing the structure of music -Computational models of cognitively inspired sound processing -Top down control of musical processing of pitch, onset, timbre -Models of musical memory, saliency, attention -Models of music development and learning -Computer aided sound design -Models as above, applied to other domains (e.g. speech and vision) with potential application in music Submission procedure: Manuscript should follow the standard guidelines of the Connection Science journal. Guidelines for formatting papers can be found in the Guide for Authors at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/ccosauth.asp Manuscripts should be submitted to D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk and hpurwins at iua.upf.edu Important dates: Manuscript submission deadline: February 18, 2008 First notification: April 21, 2008 Revised manuscript submission: May 26, 2008 Notification of final decision: July 7, 2008 Final manuscript due: August 4, 2008 Publication of special issue: December, 2008 - Issue 4, Volume 20. Guest Editors: David R. Hardoon Hendrik Purwins Special Editorial Board: Klaus Obermayer Eduardo Reck-Miranda Xavier Serra John Shawe-Taylor Contact: David R. Hardoon University College London London, UK e-mail: D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk Hendrik Purwins Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain e-mail: hpurwins at iua.upf.edu Information on the Special Issue are also available at http://homepage.mac.com/davidrh/MBCworkshop07/Journal.html From isabelle at clopinet.com Fri Jan 11 18:48:12 2008 From: isabelle at clopinet.com (Isabelle Guyon) Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:48:12 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Causality challenge Message-ID: <4788003C.8070909@clopinet.com> ================= A challenge on causality has started... ========== CAUSATION AND PREDICTION Deadline April 30, 2008 ======================================================= http://www.causality.inf.ethz.ch/challenge.php ======================================================= This challenge bridges the gap between data mining/machine learning and causal discovery. Several datasets drawn from real data, or emulating real data, are provided, with the goal of making predictions under "manipulations". The setting is very similar to a usual machine learning setting: We have a training set and a test set; a target variable, whose values are concealed in test data, must be predicted. But, the test data are not distributed like the training data: some variables in test data are "manipulated" by an external agent, i.e. set to given values instead of being drawn from the "natural" distribution. Such problems are encountered in many application domains: In medicine to predict the effect of a new treatment, in economy or ecology to predict the consequences of new issued policies, in marketing to predict customer response to marketing campaigns. Feature selection researchers should be particularly interested in that challenge. The problems posed by the challenge require finding subsets of predictive variables, taking into account whether such variables remain predictive when manipulations are performed. We anticipate that this should require the knowledge of causal relationships between variables since acting on causes of the target may result in a response change while acting on consequences should not. However, we encourage participants to enter the challenge with other approaches to the problem. ======================================================= This challenge is part of the EC Pascal challenge and the WCCI 2008 competition programs and is funded by the NSF Grant N0 ECCS-0725746. The results of the challenge will be discussed at a WCCI workshop (June 2008) and the proceedings will be published in JMLR. Several prizes will be awarded to top ranking participants. From Eugene.Izhikevich at nsi.edu Mon Jan 14 13:21:17 2008 From: Eugene.Izhikevich at nsi.edu (Eugene M. Izhikevich) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:21:17 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: =?windows-1252?q?Call_for_abstracts=3A_COSYNE_Wor?= =?windows-1252?q?kshop_=93Spiking_Networks_and_Reinforcement_Learning=94?= Message-ID: <478BA81D.3060409@nsi.edu> COSYNE 2008 2-day Workshop Announcement/Call for Abstract Spiking Networks and Reinforcement Learning ORGANIZERS: Botond.Szatmary at nsi.edu Eugene.Izhikevich at nsi.edu SPEAKERS: Michael Hasselmo Moshe Abeles Peter Latham Wulfram Gerstner Walter Senn Gloster Aaron Ken Harris Guoqiang Bi Sebastian Seung Florentin Worgotter Maxim Bazhenov Eugene Izhikevich DESCRIPTION This two-day workshop will bring together eminent experimental biologists and theoretical scientists to discuss learning in spiking networks. There have been abundant experimental and theoretical results on the dynamics of spiking neurons and networks, emphasizing the importance of precise firing patterns. Likewise, reinforcement learning has a long history as a research topic in machine learning. However, there have only been a few attempts to connect this theory to neuroscience and express reinforcement learning in a framework of spiking neurons. The goal of this workshop is to enable the participants to catch up on the most recent experimental data, to introduce new theories, and to see if we can bring the theory and experimental data more closely into agreement with each other. There is a possibility to include a few more speakers. Please, submit your abstract to Botond.Szatmary at nsi.edu. Deadline for submission: Thursday, January 31, 2008. The talks will be 30 minutes long with 10-15 minutes additional discussion time. For further details and updated information please visit the http://cosyne.org/ and http://cosyne.org/wiki/Cosyne08_Spiking_Networks_and_Reinforcement_Learning web sites. -- Eugene M. Izhikevich, Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology PhD, Mathematics, http://www.nsi.edu/users/izhikevich The Neurosciences Institute, Editor-in-Chief at scholarpedia.org 10640 John J. Hopkins Drive tel:(858) 626-2063 San Diego, CA, 92121, USA fax:(858) 626-2099 From L.vanderMaaten at MICC.unimaas.nl Mon Jan 14 16:11:49 2008 From: L.vanderMaaten at MICC.unimaas.nl (Maaten L (van der) (MICC)) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:11:49 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Matlab Toolbox for Dimensionality Reduction (v0.4b) Message-ID: Dear Connectionists, A new version of the Matlab Toolbox for Dimensionality Reduction (v0.4b) is now available online, containing numerous new techniques, bug fixes, and speed improvements. Currently, the toolbox comprises 29 dimensionality reduction techniques, out-of-sample extensions for all major techniques, 6 intrinsic dimensionality estimators, and functions for data generation and prewhitening. The toolbox (as well as two accompanying papers) can be obtained from http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/l.vandermaaten/dr. With best regards, Laurens van der Maaten From retienne at jhu.edu Mon Jan 14 16:43:09 2008 From: retienne at jhu.edu (Ralph Etienne-Cummings) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:43:09 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: 2008 Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop Announcement Message-ID: <478BD76D.1030007@jhu.edu> NEUROMORPHIC COGNITION ENGINEERING WORKSHOP Sunday, JUNE 29th - Saturday, JULY 19th, 2008 Telluride, Colorado Call for Applications Deadline: March 23rd, 2008 Avis COHEN (University of Maryland) Rodney DOUGLAS (Institute of Neuroinformatics, UNI/ETH Zurich, Switzerland) Ralph ETIENNE-CUMMINGS (Johns Hopkins University) Paul HASLER (Georgia Institute of Technology) Timmer HORIUCHI (University of Maryland) Giacomo INDIVERI (Institute of Neuroinformatics, UNI/ETH Zurich, Switzerland) Tobias Delbruck (Institute of Neuroinformatics, UNI/ETH Zurich, Switzerland) Terrence SEJNOWSKI (Salk Institute and UCSD) Shihab SHAMMA (University of Maryland) Barbara SHINN-CUNNINGHAM (Boston University) Andre van SCHAIK(University of Sydney) We invite applications for a three week summer workshop that will be held in Telluride, Colorado from Sunday, June 29th to Saturday, July 19th, 2008. The application deadline is Friday, March 23rd, and application instructions are described at the bottom of this document. The 2008 Workshop and Summer School on Neuromorphic Engineering is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Institute for Neuroinformatics - ETHZ, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland - College Park, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, University of Sydney, and the Salk Institute. Last year's workshop was an exciting event and a great success. We strongly encourage interested parties to browse through the previous workshop web pages at: http://ine-web.org/workshops/past-workshops GOALS: Neuromorphic engineers design and fabricate artificial neural systems whose detailed architecture, design, and computational principles are based on those of biological nervous systems. Over the past 12 years, this research community has focused on the understanding of low-level sensory processing and systems infrastructure; efforts are now expanding to apply this knowledge and infrastructure to addressing higher-level problems in perception, cognition, and learning. The annual three-week intensive Workshop (held in Telluride, Colorado) consists of background lectures (from leading researchers in biological, cognitive, computational, engineering and learning sciences), practical tutorials (from state-of-the-art practitioners), hands-on projects (involving established researchers and newcomers/students), and special interest discussion groups (proposed by the workshop participants). In this workshop and through the Institute for Neuromorphic Engineering (INE), the mission is to promote interaction between senior and junior researchers; to educate new members of the community; to introduce new enabling fields and applications to the community; to promote on-going collaborative activities emerging from the Workshop, and to promote a self-sustaining research field. */ /* FORMAT: The three week summer workshop will include background lectures on systems and cognitive neuroscience (in particular sensory processing, learning and memory, motor systems and attention), practical tutorials on analog VLSI design, mobile robots, hands-on projects, and special interest groups. Participants are required to take part and possibly complete at least one of the projects proposed. They are furthermore encouraged to become involved in as many of the other activities proposed as interest and time allow. There will be two lectures in the morning that cover issues that are important to the community in general. Because of the diverse range of backgrounds among the participants, many of these lectures will be tutorials, rather than detailed reports of current research. These lectures will be given by invited speakers. Participants will be free to explore and play with whatever they choose in the afternoon. Projects and interest groups meet in the late afternoons, and after dinner. In the early afternoon there will be tutorial on a wide spectrum of topics, including analog VLSI, mobile robotics, auditory systems, central-pattern-generators, selective attention mechanisms, cognitive systems, etc. Projects that are carried out during the workshop will be centered in a number of working groups, including: * active vision * audition * motor control and locomotion * robotics * multichip communication * analog VLSI * learning and memory * neuroprosthetic systems * cognitive neuroscience and attention LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENTS: The summer school will take place in the small town of Telluride, 9000 feet high in Southwest Colorado, about 6 hours drive away from Denver (350miles). Great Lakes Aviation and America West Express airlines provide daily flights directly into Telluride. All facilities within the beautifully renovated public school building are fully accessible to participants with disabilities. Participants will be housed in ski condominiums, within walking distance of the school. Participants are expected to share condominiums. The workshop is intended to be very informal and hands-on. Participants are not required to have had previous experience in analog VLSI circuit design, computational or machine vision, systems level neurophysiology or modeling the brain at the systems level. However, we strongly encourage active researchers with relevant backgrounds from academia, industry and national laboratories to apply, in particular if they are prepared to work on specific projects, talk about their own work or bring demonstrations to Telluride (e.g. robots, chips, software). Internet access will be provided. Technical staff present throughout the workshops will assist with software and hardware issues. We will have a network of PCs running LINUX and Microsoft Windows for the workshop projects. We also plan to provide wireless internet access and encourage participants to bring along their personal laptop. No cars are required. Given the small size of the town, we recommend that you do not rent a car. Bring hiking boots, warm clothes, rain gear, and a backpack, since Telluride is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Unless otherwise arranged with one of the organizers, we expect participants to stay for the entire duration of this three week workshop. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT: Notification of acceptances will be mailed out around mid April 2008. The Workshop covers all your accommodations and facilities costs. You are responsible for your own travel to the Workshop. For expenses not covered by federal funds, a Workshop registration fee is required. The fee is $500 per participant, however, due to the difference in travel cost, we offer a discount to the non-US participants. European registration fees will be reduced by $250; non-US/non-European registration fees will be reduced by $400. The cost of a shared condominium will be covered for all academic participants but upgrades to a private room will cost extra. Participants from National Laboratories and Industry are expected to pay for these condominiums. HOW TO APPLY: Applicants should be at the level of graduate students or above (i.e. postdoctoral fellows, faculty, research and engineering staff and the equivalent positions in industry and national laboratories). We actively encourage women and minority candidates to apply. The application website is (after February 15th, 2008): http://ine-web.org/telluride-conference-2008/apply/ Application will include: * First name, Last name, Affiliation, valid e-mail address. * Curriculum Vitae. * One page summary of background and interests relevant to the workshop. * Two letters of recommendation (uploaded directly by references). The application deadline is Friday, March 23, 2008. Applicants will be notified by e-mail by the end of April. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Etienne-Cummings Associate Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 105 Barton Hall/3400 N. Charles St. Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 21218 Email: retienne at jhu.edu E URL: http://etienne.ece.jhu.edu/~etienne Tel: 410 - 516 - 3494 Fax: 410 - 516 - 5566 From daniela.pelz at bccn-berlin.de Mon Jan 14 05:22:21 2008 From: daniela.pelz at bccn-berlin.de (Daniela Pelz) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:22:21 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: International MSc and PhD Program in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <478B37DD.9060709@bccn-berlin.de> International Master of Science or PhD in Computational Neuroscience Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Germany The Berlin University of Technology, the Charit? Medical School and the Humboldt University of Berlin solicit applications for an international Master and PhD program in Computational Neuroscience within the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (http://www.bccn-berlin.de). The Master program is full-time for two years, the PhD program is full-time for three years. Course language is English. There are no tuition fees. Application deadline for both programs is March 15, 2008. Courses start in October 2008. The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin comprises 24 research groups working on all levels from single cell to macroscopic, both experimentally and theoretically. It offers a unique scientific environment to the students within the program. The master program is unique within Germany, offering students the opportunity to work early on in their career in a cutting edge interdisciplinary research field. Teaching staff includes the four newly appointed young Bernstein professors. The program currently offers 10 places with an excellent teacher to student ratio and a familiar atmosphere among students. The Master?s degree is jointly awarded by the Technische Universit?t Berlin and the Humboldt Universit?t zu Berlin. Teaching and Training follow a ?one day, one location? principle. The PhD program offers students to do research in one of the centers 24 research groups giving them a broad choice of topics and methods. At the same time, they are embedded in a scientific network where they regularly meet international scientists from their field of research. Furthermore, they have the opportunity to build up a network of their own with PhD students form other neuroscience programs within Berlin and within the Germany-wide National Network for Computational Neuroscience. All students who are interested in neuroscience and have a strong mathematical background are welcome to apply. In accordance with the interdisciplinary nature of Computational Neuroscience, the program encourages students form diverse disciplines such as natural sciences, engineering, or mathematics to apply. For further information please check www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de or send an email to graduateprograms at bccn-berlin.de -- Dr. Daniela Pelz Teaching Coordinator Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt University Philippstr. 13 House 6 10115 Berlin phone: (030) 2093-6773 fax: (030) 2093-6771 From jkroger at nmsu.edu Mon Jan 14 11:12:29 2008 From: jkroger at nmsu.edu (Jim Kroger) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:12:29 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Graduate student positions in computational and EEG BCI Message-ID: <20080114161236.D76D79001F@ccserver1.nmsu.edu> We are seeking graduate students at the Masters and PhD. levels interested in research in EEG-based Brain-Computer Interfaces and computational modelling of scalp electrical fields in BCI. We have a state of the art laboratory with 2 Biosemi Active-2 128 channel EEG systems, one in an immersive virtual reality environment. We are interested in all approaches to BCI. We seek students from a variety of backgrounds, including psychology, neuroscience, mathematics, engineering, computer science, or physics. We are a collaboration of Jim Kroger in the Psychology Departments at New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico, Joe Lakey in the NMSU Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Chuck Creusere and Kwong Ng in the NMSU Department of Electrical Engineering. We are currently funded by Los Alamos National Laboratories, where we collaborate with John George and other neuroscientists; Sandia National Laboratories, in collaboration with their cognitive systems group, and by the National Institutes of Health. Besides our BCI research, we conduct basic research into neural systems for high-level cognition, using EEG in our laboratory, and combined EEG/fMRI in collaboration with MIND Network, and 7-Tesla fMRI at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. Prospective students may contact Jim Kroger in the NMSU Department of Psychology or contact the department for application materials. Jim Kroger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Kroger Department of Psychology, NMSU 220 Science Hall, Rm 326 MSC 3452 Las Cruces, NM 88003 575-646-2243 jkroger at nmsu.edu Our lab: http://www-psych.nmsu.edu/~jkroger/lab/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From v.steuber at herts.ac.uk Mon Jan 14 13:12:55 2008 From: v.steuber at herts.ac.uk (Volker Steuber) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:12:55 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: postdoc position in computational neuroscience Message-ID: <478BA627.80703@herts.ac.uk> Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience Science and Technology Research Institute University of Hertfordshire ?23,000 - ?25,100 p.a. 3 years fixed term contract in the first instance Closing date: 6 February 2008 Applications are invited for a three year postdoc position in computational neuroscience. The project will focus on information processing in the vestibular cerebellum and involve the construction of a detailed model of the cerebellar cortex in 3D that is based on new physiological and morphological data. The position is funded by a Systems Biology Fellowship from the BBSRC (UK) and the ANR (France) and requires close collaboration with experimental and theoretical neuroscientists at UCL, the Ecole Normale Sup?rieure, Universit? Paris Descartes and Universit? Paris 5. More details about our research interests can be found under http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/ and in these recent publications: Steuber, V., Mittmann, W., Hoebeek, F.E., Silver, R.A., De Zeeuw, C.I., Hausser, M. and De Schutter, E. (2007). Cerebellar LTD and pattern recognition by Purkinje cells. Neuron 54, 121-136. Gleeson, P. Steuber, V. and Silver, R.A. (2007). neuroConstruct: A tool for modeling networks of neurons in 3D space. Neuron 54, 219-235. You should have a PhD in computational neuroscience or a related discipline. Previous experience in biologically realistic modelling and knowledge of simulation tools such as NEURON or GENESIS is not required, but would be an advantage. Good scientific communication and writing skills and the ability to work as part of a team are essential. The UH Science and Technology Research Institute has been rated as 4 (national excellence with evidence of international excellence) at the last UK university research assessment exercise. It is located in Hatfield in Hertfordshire, just north of London. The University offers a range of benefits including a final salary pension scheme, professional development, family friendly policies, child care vouchers, waiving of course fees for the children of staff at UH, discounted memberships at the Hertfordshire Sports Village and generous annual leave. Closing Date: 6 February 2008 Quote Reference: EN8363 The position is open starting from 1 March 2008. For informal enquiries contact Dr Volker Steuber (v.steuber at herts.ac.uk , Tel +44 1707 284350). Apply online at http://recruitment.herts.ac.uk/recruit or request an application pack from Human Resources on 01707 284802 (24hr voicemail), quoting the appropriate reference number. Dr Volker Steuber Senior Lecturer (Research) in Biocomputation School of Computer Science Science and Technology Research Institute University of Hertfordshire College Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB UK Tel +44 (0) 1707 284350 v.steuber at herts.ac.uk From richard.naud at epfl.ch Mon Jan 21 06:48:59 2008 From: richard.naud at epfl.ch (Richard Naud) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:48:59 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Single-Neuron Modeling award and competition - Second Posting Message-ID: <04D0BE90-D48E-424A-81FB-61FA87CAE168@epfl.ch> Quantitative Single-Neuron Modeling Competition 2008 http://lcn.epfl.ch/QuantNeuronMod2008/ - 1st prize: The Swiss Single-Neuron Modeling Award (10 000 CHF*) - 2nd prize: The EPFL-Brain Mind Institute Neuron Modeling Award (500 CHF*) for details see http://lcn.epfl.ch/QuantNeuronMod2008/ PLEASE NOTE DATA UPDATE IN CHALLENGE A. Important Dates - February 15th 2008 : Submission deadline. - March 3rd-4th 2008 : Presentation of the results at the workshop on Data sharing and modeling challenges in neuroscience taking place during Cosyne 2008 meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. The organizers of the competition Wulfram Gerstner (EPFL) Thomas Berger (EPFL) Arnd Roth (UCL) From zoubin at eng.cam.ac.uk Tue Jan 15 14:46:30 2008 From: zoubin at eng.cam.ac.uk (Zoubin Ghahramani) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:46:30 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: New machine learning mailing list Message-ID: <956AB3AC-D371-41F9-8C09-DE3D08C5CDDA@eng.cam.ac.uk> (Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email.) For many years, there has been a need for an email distribution list for machine learning research. Although "connectionists", "ml-list", and "kdnuggets" have been useful, each has had policies that limited their value to the broader machine learning community. The International Machine Learning Society (IMLS; www.machinelearning.org) has therefore decided to create a new list, known as "Machine Learning News". This will be an appropriate place to post announcements of jobs, calls for papers, announcements of machine-learning-related events, software releases, paper abstracts, etc. As a member of the machine learning community, you are invited to subscribe to ML-News. This list is managed as a Google group, and you will need a Google account to join. The group will be moderated and maintained by IMLS. Group details: * Name: Machine Learning News * Home page: http://groups.google.com/group/ML-news?hl=en * Email address: ML-news at googlegroups.com Tom Dietterich, President, IMLS Soumya Ray, moderator, ML-news Zoubin Ghahramani, board member, IMLS From L.Berthouze at sussex.ac.uk Sat Jan 12 06:42:23 2008 From: L.Berthouze at sussex.ac.uk (Luc Berthouze) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:42:23 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: CFP Epigenetic Robotics 2008 Message-ID: <8E8EC4E6-A41C-4FDC-8227-C47A1FB5898F@sussex.ac.uk> CALL FOR PAPERS: Epigenetic Robotics 2008 31 July - 2 August, 2008, Brighton, UK Eighth International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems http://www.epigenetic-robotics.org Email: epirob08 at epigenetic-robotics.org ***2008 Conference Theme*** Evolution and Development: Related Processes of Change Location: University of Sussex, Brighton, UK Important Dates: ---------------- 1 April 2008: Deadline for submission of papers & posters 31 May 2008: Notification of acceptance of papers & posters 30 June 2008: Deadline for camera ready papers 31 July - 2 August 2008: EpiRob08 @ Brighton Keynote Speakers ----------------- Prof. Eva Jablonka (Tel Aviv University, Israel) Prof. Susan Oyama (John Jay College, New York, USA) Dr. Domenico Parisi (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy) (more to be announced) Conference Theme: ------------------ In the past 7 years, the Epigenetic Robotics annual conference has established itself as a unique place where original interdisciplinary research from developmental sciences, neuroscience, biology, cognitive robotics, and artificial intelligence is being presented. Psychological theory and empirical evidence is being used to inform epigenetic robotic models, and these models can be used as theoretical tools to make experimental predictions in developmental psychology. As in previous years, we encourage submissions from researchers whose work broadly intersects the fields (and subdisciplines) of developmental science, robotics, and neuroscience. As a special feature, this year we are also highlighting a specific organizational theme: evolution and development as related processes of change. The particular focus of this theme is on the dynamic interplay between ontogeny and phylogeny. In other words, how do new abilities and skills that emerge during development influence the path of evolution, and how do subsequent evolutionary changes help to create new developmental trajectories? This is a question that fits well within the mission of epigenetic robotics, as it spans not only a wide range of research areas and academic disciplines (e.g., biology, psychology, AI and machine learning, linguistics, anthropology, etc.) but also a broad spectrum of spatial and temporal scales (e.g., neurons, brains, social communities, cultures, etc.). We are especially interested in submissions that will enhance the emerging dialog between evolutionary and developmental perspectives. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: - Artificial embryology - Morphogenesis, differentiation, and regulation - Behavioral inheritance and social learning - The evolution of language acquisition - Phylogenetic constraints on perceptual processing (e.g., face perception) - Neuroplasticity and the evolution of cognition - Evolutionary influences on mother-infant bonding - Modularity of mind (evolutionary constraints on neural processing) - Tool-use and problem-solving in humans, non-human primates, and machines Modes of Submission: -------------------- (1) Regular Submission (8-page max). After review, regular submissions will either be accepted or rejected (no revision as short papers or posters). Regular submissions will be allocated 8 pages in the Proceedings. (2) Abstract Submission (1-page max). After review, selected authors will be invited to present a poster. Abstract submissions will be allocated 2 pages in the Proceedings. Submission instructions will be available from the EpiRob website: http://www.epigenetic-robotics.org. Email submissions and/or questions regarding the submission process to epirob08-PC at epigenetic-robotics.org. Related Events: --------------- Note that "Artificial Life XI" (http://www.alifexi.org/) will be hosted in Winchester, UK (5-8 August 2008), and that we encourage participants to attend both meetings. Organizing Committee: --------------------- Christian Balkenius (Lund University, Sweden) Luc Berthouze (University of Sussex, UK) Lola Ca?amero (University of Hertfordshire, UK) Matthew Schlesinger (Southern Illinois University, USA) --- Dr Luc Berthouze, Senior Lecturer Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) Department of Informatics University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH, UK Tel: +44 1273 877206 Fax: +44 1273 877873 From remi.munos at inria.fr Mon Jan 14 03:00:07 2008 From: remi.munos at inria.fr (Remi Munos) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:00:07 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON REINFORCEMENT LEARNING (EWRL) 2008 Message-ID: <200801140900.07085.remi.munos@inria.fr> Please distribute to anyone who may be interested: (apologies for multiple postings) ************************************************************ Call for Contributions EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON REINFORCEMENT LEARNING (EWRL) 2008 June 30 - July 3, 2008 INRIA Lille-Nord Europe, France http://ewrl08.futurs.inria.fr INFORMATION ----------- European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning (EWRL) is a (biennial) series of events that is being organized since 1994. To date, the sequential decision making problem with delayed rewards has been studied, under various guises, by various communities: machine learning, control, economics, applied mathematics, psychology and biology to name the foremost. EWRL'08, the eighth workshop in the series as well, aims to serve as a forum to discuss the current state-of-the-art and future research directions in this continuously growing field. We intend to make this an exciting event not only for the European RL community but also international researchers from related areas with many opportunities to share new knowledge and encourage collaborative work. We also hope to help the emergence of European projects in the 7th framework program that fall into the scope of RL. EWRL'08 is planned to be a theme oriented event in which each main theme will be allocated a half-day session including (i) an overview or tutorial, (ii) technical contributions in the form of long and short papers, followed by (iii) discussions. There will be two special sessions; a general discussion session entitled "Where are we heading? - Current and Future Trends in RL", and a demonstration session entitled "Real-life Applications of RL". Prof. Rich Sutton, University of Alberta, will also be our special guest. Topics of interest include but not limited to: * Exploration vs Exploitation Trade-off * (Function) Approximation in RL * Knowledge Representation in RL * Theoretical RL (Convergence and performance bounds, Complexity issues, Sensitivity analysis) * Multi-Agent RL * Regret-minimization Algorithms in Games * Direct Policy Search and Policy Gradient Methods * Reward design and inverse RL * Bayesian vs Frequentist Approaches * RL and Statistical Learning * Metrics for Empirical Comparisons in RL * Reducing RL to Inference, Regression and Classification * RL to Sequence Prediction * RL from Biological and Psychological Perspectives More information about the event can be found at EWRL'08 web site http://ewrl08.futurs.inria.fr SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ------------------ Peter Auer Peter Dayan Kurt Driessens Alain Dutech Yaakov Engel Damien Ernst Frederick Garcia Mohammad Ghavamzadeh Daniel Kudenko Michail G. Lagoudakis Francisco Melo Ann Nowe Martijn van Otterlo Jan Peters Pascal Poupart Martin Riedmiller Daniil Ryabko Regis Sabbadin Bruno Scherrer Olivier Sigaud Rich Sutton Csaba Szepesvari Chris Watkins Shimon Whiteson Marco Wiering Jeremy Wyatt Martin Zinkevich EWRL'08 is organized by the team-project SequeL of INRIA Lille-Nord Europe. (http://sequel.futurs.inria.fr) IMPORTANT DATES --------------- Submission Deadline: March 31, 2008 Notification of Acceptance: April 15, 2008 Workshop: June 30 - July 3, 2008 (The week before ICML'08 together with COLT'08 and UAI'08 in Helsinki) SUBMISSION ---------- * Paper: Papers should be prepared in LNCS format (at most 8 pages). A poster may be designed alongside a presentation. Posters will be exhibited during the workshop so as to help people interactions. Papers submitted to other conferences can be submitted to EWRL'08, regardless of their acceptance in these conferences. Please check out EWRL'08 web site for more information about submission. * Tutorial: Please provide the title, speaker, abstract, and a plan/draft for the tutorial. An electronic version (pdf) of the presentation should be provided on the workshop website. It should be delivered at least a week beforehand. * Demonstration: Please provide the title and abstract of your demonstration, as well as any multimedia document that can illustrate it. LOCATION -------- The workshop will take place at IRCICA building, around the scientific campus of Lille, northern France. REGISTRATION FEE AND GRANTS --------------------------- EWRL'08 is a free event, there won't be any registration fee. Limited travel grants are available to help fund travel and accommodation for (PhD) students. Please visit our web site or contact us for more information. From alessandro at idsia.ch Tue Jan 15 12:49:59 2008 From: alessandro at idsia.ch (Alessandro Antonucci) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:49:59 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: 3rd SIPTA School on Imprecise Probabilities: 1st announcement Message-ID: <20080115174959.GA12150@idsia.ch> 3rd SIPTA School on Imprecise Probabilities: 1st announcement [All our apologies for cross-posting.] Third school of the Society for Imprecise Probability: Theories and Applications (SIPTA), July 2-8, 2008, Montpellier, France. Dear colleagues, The Society for Imprecise Probability: Theories and Applications (SIPTA) organizes the 3rd edition of its school in Montpellier, France, during 2-8 July 2008, the local organization being handled by the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Robotique et de Microelectronique (LIRMM) of the university of Montpellier. The city of Montpellier is located in the south of France, on the Mediterranean coast, and the school will be held at the Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique, which is located in the very centre of Montpellier. The aim of SIPTA schools is to introduce interested students and researchers with the basics of imprecise probability topics, both theoretical and applied. Some of the best specialists in different aspects of imprecise probabilities lecture, during one week time, on the main concepts and techniques associated to their area of expertise, in a friendly environment favouring interactions between participants. Topics & Lecturers Imprecise probability is used as a generic term to cover all mathematical or statistical models which measure chance or uncertainty without sharp numerical probabilities. Imprecise probability models are needed in inference problems where the relevant information is scarce, vague or conflicting, and in decision problems where preferences may also be incomplete. The topics covered this year will include: - Coherent lower previsions (Enrique Miranda, Spain, and Gert De Cooman, Belgium) - Predictive inference: from Bayesian inference to Imprecise Probability (Jean-Marc Bernard, France) - Imprecise immediate predictions (Gert De Cooman, Belgium) - Independence concepts in Imprecise Probability (Fabio Cozman, Brazil) - Possibility theory (Didier Dubois, France) - Algorithms & approximation methods for Imprecise Probability (Fabio Cozman, Brazil) - Game-theoretic probability and its link with Imprecise Probability (Glenn Shafer, USA) The final program should be announced shortly on the summer school website. Pre-registration Since the number of participants is limited, we recommend you to inform us of your intention to participate to the school as soon as possible, by pre-registering by means of a simple reply to this email, indicating your name, email, status and affiliation, or by filling the pre-registration form at the school website. More information is available at the school website: http://www.lirmm.fr/SIPTASchool08/ We are looking forward to meeting you in Montpellier. We also welcome you to circulate this announcement around you. Best regards, Jean-Marc Bernard Kevin Loquin (for the scientific and organizing committees) From mbethge at tuebingen.mpg.de Thu Jan 17 11:27:02 2008 From: mbethge at tuebingen.mpg.de (Matthias Bethge) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:27:02 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: CVN Symposium, Tuebingen, 7-8 April 2008 Message-ID: Dear colleagues, To promote the interchange of ideas about principles of neural information processing in the visual system we are organizing a two- day symposium on April 7+8. The symposium will be held at the Max- Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen. It will start on Monday at 2 p.m. with a welcome reception and the official program ends on Tuesday with lunch. The time after lunch is free for discussions. Confirmed speakers are: Jozsef Fiser (Brandeis University) Eero Simoncelli (New York University (NYU)) Jonathan Victor (Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY) Fred Wolf (Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Goettingen) Eberhart Zrenner (University Eye Hospital Tuebingen) In addition to the talks we will also have a poster session with an award for the best student poster. The registration fee is 40 Euro which includes dinner on Monday and lunch on Tuesday. For registration and further details see http://www.kyb.mpg.de/bethgegroup/symposium/ Please register as soon as possible as we can accommodate only a limited number of participants due to space constraints. We look forward to seeing you in Tuebingen -- Matthias Bethge ___________________________________________ Dr. Matthias Bethge, Group Leader Computational Vision & Neuroscience Group MPI for Biological Cybernetics, T"ubingen [ http://www.kyb.mpg.de/bethgegroup/ ] From Stephen.R.Welbourne at manchester.ac.uk Fri Jan 18 05:04:04 2008 From: Stephen.R.Welbourne at manchester.ac.uk (Stephen Welbourne) Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:04:04 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: (no subject) Message-ID: <20080118100404765.00000002892@MS000D56C41D75> Connectionists may be interested in the following PhD opportunity:- Algorithms for large scale parallel distributed modelling of cognitive processes Dr Stephen Welbourne & Professor Steve Furber The Neuroscience Research Institute invites applications for a distinguished three-year PhD studentship commencing October 2008. The studentship is open to UK/EU nationals only due to the nature of the funding and will attract an annual stipend of ?12, 940 in addition to tuition fees. Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models are widely used to model cognitive processes. These models are attractive to neuroscientists because they capture critical aspects of true neural processing, where computation is achieved through the interaction of a large number of simple processing units acting in parallel. Unfortunately, PDP models of cognitive systems are invariably modelled using serial hardware where the activations and weight updates for each component are computed sequentially. Consequently, as the networks become more complex the time required to train them increases, roughly in proportion to the square of the number of units. This places major limitations on the size of models that can be used, which in turn limits the types of cognitive behaviour that can be studied. However, through collaboration with the School of Computer Sciences we have a unique opportunity to tackle the problem directly, by utilising a novel parallel processing machine being developed as part of the EPSRC funded SpiNNaker project. The machine is designed for the modelling of spiking neural systems of up to a billion neurons. Consideration of the current PDP algorithms has shown that they too will map effectively onto the SpiNNaker hardware and its event driven model. In addition to the standard implementation of backpropagation, it will also be possible to use the system to explore more biologically realistic learning mechanisms such as hebbian learning. Recent work suggests that multilayer generative models based on hebbian learning may allow for efficient learning even for very large networks with a deep structure. The SpiNNaker hardware will provide the perfect platform with which to explore this. It is anticipated that the successful candidate will develop an extremely valuable combination of skills in parallel systems programming, computational neuroscience and machine learning. The project would therefore suit a numerate graduate with strong programming skills and an interest in neuroscience. Applicants should hold a minimum 2:1 (or equivalent) degree in computer science, engineering or mathematics. Experience of using neural network models would be desirable. Interested candidates should submit a CV, two references and detailed covering letter outlining their suitability for the project to Vicky Catterall, the NRI co-coordinator at Dr Stephen Welbourne Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU) School of Psychological Sciences (Zochonis Building) University of Manchester Brunswick Street Manchester UK, M13 9PL Tel 0161 3060442 ? From gabbiani at bcm.edu Tue Jan 22 09:15:28 2008 From: gabbiani at bcm.edu (Fabrizio Gabbiani) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:15:28 -0600 Subject: Connectionists: 2008 undergrad summer internships: Rice U/TX Med Center Message-ID: <4795FA80.1090901@bcm.edu> Undergraduate Summer Internship in Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience at Rice University, Houston, TX Application Deadline is February 29, 2008 Research training in theoretical and computational neuroscience **** Leadership, mentorship and social retreats **** Special seminars and career development workshops **** A $4,500 stipend and up to $800 in travel support For details see: http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/gcc/neuro_about.cfm?doc_id=12025 -- Fabrizio Gabbiani phone: (713) 798 1849 Department of Neuroscience fax: (713) 798 3946 Baylor College of Medicine email: gabbiani at bcm.edu One Baylor Plaza, web: glab.bcm.tmc.edu Houston, TX 77030 From roland.baddeley at bristol.ac.uk Tue Jan 22 05:30:08 2008 From: roland.baddeley at bristol.ac.uk (Roland Baddeley) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:30:08 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: A masters level research program (an MRes in Vision Sciences) is available at the University of Bristol, U.K. In-Reply-To: <478B37DD.9060709@bccn-berlin.de> References: <478B37DD.9060709@bccn-berlin.de> Message-ID: <00f101c85ce1$c2a6fde0$47f4f9a0$@baddeley@bristol.ac.uk> A masters level research program (an MRes in Vision Sciences) is available at the University of Bristol, U.K. The course is based in the Department of Experimental Psychology but takes an interdisciplinary approach, with significant contribution from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Computer Science and Electronic and Electrical Engineering. These departments form the core of the interdisciplinary Bristol Vision Institute (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/vision-institute/), along with many others within the University of Bristol, plus the Bristol Royal Infirmary Eye Hospital, the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory at the University of the West of England, and Hewlett-Packard's Bristol-based research labs. The MRes will run for 12 months from October 2008, and includes a range of units providing both a theoretical understanding and practical experience of vision research. Students will spend 2/3 of their time carrying out two research projects, each of which may be based in any of the four core departments listed above. The course offers the opportunity to gain an insight into contemporary vision research from a number of viewpoints, and is an ideal preparation for a PhD. Four studentships, covering fees and maintenance, are available for EU applicants. Applicants should have a good first degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. biology, computer science, engineering, optometry, psychology). For further details (e.g. detailed course content, a list of potential research project supervisors), please consult the course website: http://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/pgrad/Vision.htm For an application form, please contact the postgraduate secretary, Janet Woolway-Allen: janet.woolway at bris.ac.uk or +44 117 928 8452 The closing date for applications is 31 July 2008. ============== From pascualm at key.uzh.ch Tue Jan 22 16:30:31 2008 From: pascualm at key.uzh.ch (Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:30:31 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: brain imaging & connectivity Message-ID: <6f86eb970801221330i11f1be1bn6b0b71d203cc4a54@mail.gmail.com> Dear Colleagues, Hoping this might be of interest to Connectionists, please note that there is one e-preprint on EEG/MEG based neuroimaging, and two e-preprints on definitions and methods for estimating brain connectivity at: 1. Discrete, 3D distributed, linear imaging methods of electric neuronal activity. Part 1: exact, zero error localization http://arxiv.org/abs/0710.3341 2. Coherence and phase synchronization: generalization to pairs of multivariate time series, and removal of zero-lag contributions http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1776 3. Instantaneous and lagged measurements of linear and nonlinear dependence between groups of multivariate time series: frequency decomposition http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.1455 -- Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui, PhD, PD The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, Switzerland pascualm at key.uzh.ch www.keyinst.uzh.ch/loreta From D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk Wed Jan 23 07:03:14 2008 From: D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk (David R. Hardoon) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:03:14 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: LATEX Update: Connection Science Special Issue on "Music, Brain & Cognition" Message-ID: <2DE3BFE0-6887-4E1A-BC4D-2517D932E0CD@cs.ucl.ac.uk> Deal All, Please note that LATEX submissions are possible for ------ Connection Science Special Issue on "Music, Brain & Cognition" Call for Papers CONNECTION SCIENCE Special Issue on MUSIC, BRAIN & COGNITION ------ More information as well as templates and guidelines at http://homepage.mac.com/davidrh/MBCworkshop07/Journal.html As a side-note the MBC NIPS 07 workshop talks are now available online, info at http://homepage.mac.com/davidrh/MBCworkshop07/Workshop.html Best regards, David R. Hardoon ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Who dares... wins" Dr. David R. Hardoon The Centre for Computational Statistics & Machine Learning Intelligent Systems Research Group Dept. of Computer Science University College, London Gower Street London, UK WC1E 6BT Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 0425 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7387 1397 Email: D.Hardoon at cs.ucl.ac.uk www: http://homepage.mac.com/davidrh/ From gbrown at cs.man.ac.uk Thu Jan 24 11:08:18 2008 From: gbrown at cs.man.ac.uk (Gavin Brown) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:08:18 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Funded PhD places in Machine Learning in Bristol and Manchester Message-ID: <4798B7F2.7050003@cs.man.ac.uk> ================================================================ Two (2) PhD Studentships available in Machine Learning ================================================================ Applications are invited for 2 PhD studentships, one at the University of Manchester, and one at the University of Bristol. Please see details below. Applications will be pooled so it is not necessary to apply twice but if you are only willing to study in one place or the other please indicate so. ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== PhD Studentship in Machine Learning (Manchester) Applications are invited for a fully funded three year PhD studentship in the Machine Learning Group at the School of Computer Science, University of Manchester. The successful applicant will work with Machine Learning methods on the ADEPT (Adaptive Dynamic Ensemble Prediction Techniques) project, under the supervision of Dr Gavin Brown. Closing date: February 29, 2008 (although applications received before March 10 may be considered). Manchester is the largest University in the UK, with the School of Computer Science ranked at the highest possible grade of 5* in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The PhD position is open in the Machine Learning Group, working with Dr Gavin Brown. The post is supported by the newly-funded ADEPT project (http:// www.cs.man.ac.uk/~gbrown/adept/) to start soon in Bristol and Manchester. Fees will be paid at an EU equivalent level plus an annual stipend of 12600 UKP for a three year period. The PhD can commence at any time between approximately June and October 2008. You should have (or be about to obtain) a first class Undergraduate or strong Masters degree in Computer Science or a related discipline and an interest, or ideally experience, in Machine Learning / Pattern Recognition. This is primarily a scientific, rather than engineering, project so you will need a scientific mindset. You will need to have or develop excellent oral and written communication skills. Programming, software engineering and mathematical skills will be major assets. Student fees will be paid at the EU-national level. Yearly fees for non-EU nationals are approximately 6000 UKP higher and you will either need to pay this yourself, or win an overseas research scholarship (ORS): http://www.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/ international/funding/awardschemes/ in order to make up the difference. The ORS is highly competitive and to be successful you are likely to need at least one relevant publication before starting the PhD. For informal queries please contact Dr. Brown http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~gbrown/ To apply, email Dr. Brown: - your full CV - transcripts of courses taken - 2 academic references - a page discussing your interests in machine learning - optionally a 2-page sample of your written work Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 10 days of the closing deadline. ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== PhD Studentship in Machine Learning (Bristol) Applications are invited for a fully funded three year PhD studentship in the Machine Learning and Biological Computation Group at the Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol. The successful applicant will work on Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning methods on the ADEPT (Adaptive Dynamic Ensemble Prediction Techniques) project under the supervision of Drs. Kovacs and Marshall. Closing date: February 29, 2008 (although applications received before March 10 may be considered). The Machine Learning and Biological Computation group in Computer Science at the University of Bristol has a vacancy for a motivated, full-time PhD student. The Department has an outstanding international reputation for research and teaching; it was rated 5A at the last RAE and currently occupies 3rd place in The Times league table of departments within the UK. The post is supported by the newly-funded ADEPT project (http:// www.cs.man.ac.uk/~gbrown/adept/) to run in Bristol and Manchester. Fees will be paid at an EU equivalent level plus an annual stipend of 12600 UKP for a three year period. The PhD can commence at any time between approximately June and October 2008. You should have (or be about to obtain) a first class Undergraduate or strong Masters degree in Computer Science or a related discipline and an interest, or ideally experience, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Pattern Recognition. This is primarily a scientific, rather than engineering, project so you will need a scientific mindset. You will need to have or develop excellent oral and written communication skills. Programming, software engineering and mathematical skills will be assets. Student fees will be paid at the EU-national level. Yearly fees for non-EU nationals are approximately 6000 UKP higher and you will either need to pay this yourself, or win an overseas research scholarship (ORS): http://www.bristol.ac.uk/studentfunding/ overseas_pg/ors.html in order to make up the difference. The ORS is highly competitive and to be successful you are likely to need at least one relevant publication before starting the PhD. For informal queries contact Dr. Kovacs http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~kovacs/ To apply, email Dr. Kovacs: - your full CV - transcripts of courses taken - 2 academic references - a page discussing your interests in machine learning - optionally a 2-page sample of your written work Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 10 days of the closing deadline. ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== ======================================================================== From darioringach at mac.com Sat Jan 26 14:55:03 2008 From: darioringach at mac.com (Dario Ringach) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:55:03 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position: Modeling of cortical micro-circuitry Message-ID: <8C3956D0-F257-4EEF-946A-D99B34C02A57@mac.com> An NIH-funded postdoctoral position to conduct theoretical studies of cortical wiring and map organization is available immediately in Dr. Dario Ringach's Laboratory in the Department of Neurobiology at UCLA. The goal of the project is to investigate the hypothesis that the basic organization of receptive fields and cortical maps is linked to the spatial statistics of retinal ganglion cell mosaics along with simple statistical thalamo-cortical rules of connectivity (for a background on this topic see: Ringach, Haphazard wiring..., J. Neurophysiology, 2004; Ringach, PLoS ONE, 2007). Candidates should have a strong research background in computational neuroscience and have a PhD and extensive research experience. Applicants should send their CV, research statement and names of three references to: dario at ucla.edu This position has no restriction on nationality or California residency status. Salary and rank will be commensurate with experience and at NIH levels. UCLA has a vibrant biological/mathematical vision, cognitive and imaging community (see http://visciences.ucla.edu/), great cultural events right on-campus (such as http://www.uclalive.org/ and http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/screenings/screenings.html) and, needless to say, beautiful weather and beaches. Dario Ringach, Associate Professor Department of Neurobiology and Psychology Biomedical Engineering Program Jules Stein Eye Institute David Geffen School of Medicine University of California, Los Angeles dario at ucla.edu | http://web.mac.com/darioringach From j.sitte at qut.edu.au Sun Jan 27 18:48:15 2008 From: j.sitte at qut.edu.au (Joaquin Sitte) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:48:15 +1000 Subject: Connectionists: 2nd CFP Speciai Issue: Dynamics and learning in Recurrent Neural Networks Message-ID: 2nd Call for Papers Special issue of Advances in Artificial Neural Systems on http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aans Dynamics and Learning in Recurrent Neural Networks Advances in Artificial Neural Systems welcomes original research papers and authorative reviews for a special issue on Dynamics and Learning in Recurrent Neural Networks scheduled for publication in October 2008. Deadline for submissions: 1 April 2008. First round of review: 1 July 2008 Tentative Publication: 1 October 2008 Feedback connections are ubiquitous in natural neural system, especially within the layers of the neocortex. From mathematical models of networks of simple neural elements with feedback connections we know that these can in principle reproduce the behaviour of almost any dynamical system. These networks can exhibit from limit point to strange attractor dynamics and have been found to be able to perform useful functions such as associative memory, pattern recognition, optimization, central pattern generators and more. While feedforward neural Networks are well understood, our understanding of recurrent neural network is still rather rudimentary. This special issue of Advances in Artificial Neural System will highlight the current state of the knowledge on how to configure the connectivity of the artificial neural networks to produce a desired dynamic behaviour. In this context, the discovery of learning methods, understood as the automatic configuration driven by sensor inputs, is a primordial objective recurrent neural network research. The scope of his special issue includes discrete and continuous state networks in simulation and hardware realization. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, Attractor Networks, Cooperative-Competitive networks, Recurrent Support Vector Machines, Echo-state and Liquid-state networks, Bayesian Inference and Belief Networks, Patchy cortical networks, Spike-based plasticity in recurrent networks and neuromorphic implementations of recurrent networks. Dr. Joaquin Sitte, Associate Professor. School of Software Engineering and Data Communication Faculty of Information Technology Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Q 4001 Australia Phone +61 7 3138 2755 Fax +61 7 3138 1801 e-mail: j.sitte at qut.edu.au homepage http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~sitte Dr. Joaquin Sitte, Associate Professor. Faculty of Information Technology Queensland University of Technology GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Q 4001 Australia Phone +61 7 3138 2755 Fax +61 7 3138 1801 e-mail: j.sitte at qut.edu.au homepage http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~sitte From charlie.kemp at bme.gatech.edu Sun Jan 27 21:49:57 2008 From: charlie.kemp at bme.gatech.edu (Charlie Kemp) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:49:57 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: ICDL 2008: Call for Papers Message-ID: <479D42D5.202@bme.gatech.edu> 7th International Conference on Development and Learning Asilomar Conference Center, Monterey, California August 9th-12th, 2008, http://www.icdl08.org/ Call for Papers The scope of development and learning covered by this conference includes perceptual, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and all other mental capabilities that are exhibited by humans, higher animals, artificial systems and robots. Investigations of the biological and computational mechanisms of mental development are expected to improve our understanding of the working of the whole range of mental capabilities in humans and to enable autonomous development of these highly complex capabilities by robots and other artificial systems. The International Conference on Development and Learning strives to bring together researchers in neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence and robotics and other related areas to encourage understanding and cross-fertilization of the latest ideas and results from the different disciplines. ICDL 2008 will accept two types of submissions: 1) Full six-page paper submissions. Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings and will be selected for either an oral presentation or as a featured poster presentation. Featured posters will have a 1 minute "teaser" presentation as part of the main conference session and will be showcased in the poster sessions. 2) One-page poster abstract submissions. To encourage late-breaking results or for work that is not sufficiently mature for a full paper, ICDL will accept 1-page abstracts. These submissions will NOT be included in the conference proceedings. Accepted abstracts will be presented during the evening poster sessions. Important dates: Feb. 15 Special session proposals due March 14 Full 6-page paper submissions due March 21 Tutorial proposals due April 14 Notification of accept/reject April 18 1-page poster abstracts due May 9 Camera-Ready Copy due Plenary Speakers: * Richard Aslin, U. of Rochester * Terry Jernigan, UCSD * Andrew Ng, Stanford General Chairs: * Jay McClelland, Stanford * Juyang Weng, Michigan State Program Chairs: * Gedeon Deak, UCSD * Brian Scassellati, Yale Sponsored by: * IEEE Computational Intelligence Society * Cognitive Science Society For more information please check the conference web site: http://www.icdl08.org/ From dancoisne at bccn.uni-freiburg.de Tue Jan 29 03:40:58 2008 From: dancoisne at bccn.uni-freiburg.de (Florence Dancoisne) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:40:58 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 13th ACCN - second announcement - registration open Message-ID: <479EE69A.9080706@bccn.uni-freiburg.de> 13th ADVANCED COURSE IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE (A Bernstein/Gatsby Neuroscience School) Second Announcement August 4th - 29th, 2008 Freiburg, Germany DIRECTORS: * Israel Nelken (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) * Nicolas Brunel (CNRS Paris) * John Rinzel (NYU, New York, USA) * Peter Latham (University College London, UK) LOCAL ORGANIZER: * Florence Dancoisne (Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg) After three years in Arcachon (France), the Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience will be held in Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany) this year for its 13th edition, and until 2010. The Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are interested in learning the essentials of the field. The course has two complementary parts. Mornings are devoted to lectures given by distinguished international faculty on topics across the breadth of experimental and computational neuroscience. During the rest of the day, students are given practical training in the art and practice of neural modelling, by pursuing a project of their choosing under the close supervision of expert tutors. The first week of the course introduces students to essential neurobiological concepts and to the most important techniques in modelling single cells, networks and neural systems. Students learn how to solve their research problems using software packages such as MATLAB, NEST, NEURON, XPP, etc. During the following three weeks the lectures cover specific brain areas and functions. Topics range from modelling single cells and subcellular processes through the simulation of simple circuits, large neuronal networks and system level models of the brain. The course ends with project presentations by the students. The course is designed for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, physics, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics and psychology. Students are expected to have a keen interest and basic background in neurobiology as well as some computer experience. Students of any nationality can apply. A maximum of 30 students will be accepted. The current fee for the course will be EUR 500; this will cover tuition, lodging, breakfast and dinner. There will be a limited number of course fee scholarships, and travel stipends available for students who need financial help for attending the course. We specifically encourage applications from researchers who work in the developing world. These students will be selected according to the normal submission procedure. Applications, including a description of the target project must be submitted electronically (see below) and will need to be accompanied by the names and email details of two referees who have agreed to furnish references. Applicants will need to ensure that their referees have submitted their references. Applications will be assessed by a committee, with selection being based on the following criteria: the scientific quality of the candidate (CV) and of the project, the recommendation letters, and evidence that the course will afford substantial benefit to the candidate. Please apply electronically using a web browser. More information and access to the application database: http://www.neuroinf.org/courses/EUCOURSE/F08/index.shtml Contact address: * Fiona Siegfried Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg Hansastrasse 9A 79104 Freiburg Germany * mail: siegfried at bccn.uni-freiburg.de Application deadline: March 28th, 2008 Deadline for letters of recommendation: March 28th, 2008 Notification of results: April 25th, 2008 INVITED FACULTY (* = confirmed) Ad Aertsen, U. Freiburg, Germany* Amos Arieli, Weizmann Institute, Israel* Jeff Beck, U. of Rochester, USA* Nathaniel Daw, NYU, USA* Erik De Schutter, OIST, Japan Alain Destexhe, CNRS Gif, France* Wulfram Gerstner, EFPL, Switzerland Marc-Oliver Gewaltig, Honda, Germany* Zhaoping Li, UCL, UK* David Hansel, CNRS Paris, France* Yael Niv, Princeton, USA* Stefano Panzeri, U. of Manchester, UK* Jonathan Pillow, UCL, UK* Yifat Prut, Hebrew U. Israel* Yasser Roudi, UCL, UK* Idan Segev, Hebrew U., Israel* Haim Sompolinsky, Hebrew U., Israel Karl Svoboda, Cold Spring Harbor, USA Alex Thomson, UL, UK* Mark Van Rossum, U. of Edinburgh, UK* TUTORS(all confirmed) Janet Best, Ohio State, USA Hermann Cuntz, UCL, UK Moritz Helias, U. Freiburg, Germany Alex Lerchner, UCL, UK Tim Vogels, Columbia, USA more to be invited SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR -- Florence Dancoisne Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Freiburg Administrative Coordinator Hansastr. 9A D-79104 Freiburg http://www.bccn.uni-freiburg.de phone: + 49 761 203 9314 fax: + 49 761 203 9559 From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Wed Jan 23 02:28:35 2008 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:28:35 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: New Paper: "Connectionism, controllers and a brain theory" Message-ID: (My apologies if you get multiple copies of this.) The following paper has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A. It essentially invalidates significant parts of connectionism. There were numerous public debates over the past decade on connectionism, some at international neural net conferences and some online through various mailing list. Some of the debate summaries are available at the CompNeuro archive site and listed below. TITLE: Connectionism, controllers and a brain theory AUTHOR: Asim Roy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4606, USA ABSTRACT: This paper proposes a new theory for the internal mechanisms of the brain. It postulates that there are controllers in the brain and that there are parts of the brain that control other parts. Thus the theory refutes the connectionist theory that there are no separate controllers in the brain for higher-level functions and that all control is "local and distributed" at the level of the cells. Connectionist algorithms themselves are used to prove this theory. Plus there is evidence in the neuroscience literature to support this theory. Thus the paper proposes a control theoretic approach to understanding how the brain works and learns. That means that control theoretic principles should be applicable to developing systems similar to the brain. =============================================================================================================== For those interested, summaries of prior debates on the basic ideas of connectionism are available at the CompNeuro archive site. Here is a partial list of the debate summaries that are available . - Some more questions in the search for sources of control in the brain - BRAINS INTERNAL MECHANISMS - THE NEED FOR A NEW PARADIGM - COULD THERE BE REAL-TIME, INSTANTANEOUS LEARNING IN THE BRAIN? - CONNECTIONIST LEARNING: IS IT TIME TO RECONSIDER THE FOUNDATIONS? - DOES PLASTICITY IMPLY LOCAL LEARNING? AND OTHER QUESTIONS - Connectionist Learning - Some New Ideas/Questions =================================================================================================== From m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Thu Jan 24 06:52:58 2008 From: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:52:58 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Manchester Workshop on Local Field Potentials Message-ID: Dear all, we are pleased to invite you to attend the Workshop "Local field potentials as a vista on the function of neural circuits: Advances and challenges for computational and mathematical Neuroscience", funded by the EPSRC through the UK Mathematical Neuroscience Network , the Manchester Neuroscience Research Institute, and the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Manchester. The event will bring together a number of leading international speakers to present cutting edge research on brain oscillations from a broad perspective. The date, time and venue for the workshop are as follows: 4 April 2008, from 10:30 to 17:30 The University of Manchester Faculty of Life Sciences Smith Building, Lecture Theatre, Rumford Street St. Further details and travel information can be found at http://neuralcoding.googlepages.com/manchesterlfpworkshop Registration and attendance are free. However, places are limited, so we suggest that you register as soon as possible by sending an email to neuralcoding at gmail.com (complimentary buffet lunch will be provided). Confirmed speakers: * Stuart Baker (University of Newcastle): Correlating LFP with the periphery: corticomuscular coherence and directed coherence * Nicolas Brunel (University of Paris V) : Fast oscillations in network models. * Jozsef Csicsvari (University of Oxford): The role of network oscillations in organising hippocampal cell assemblies. * Alain Destexhe (CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette): The 1/f frequency scaling of local field potentials and its relation to neuronal activity * Rosalyn Moran (University College London): Bayesian Inference on population synaptic physiology using Neural Mass Models of Local Field Potentials * Stefano Panzeri (University of Manchester): The information content of local field potentials and spikes in visual cortex A limited number of small bursaries to support the travel of PhD students and postdocs are available for participants traveling within the UK. To apply, send an email to neuralcoding at gmail.com. Regards, Marcelo Montemurro Stefano Panzeri Rasmus Petersen -- Dr. Marcelo A. Montemurro Faculty of Life Sciences University of Manchester Jackson's Mill, G7 PO Box 88 Sackville St Manchester M60 1QD United Kingdom phone : +44(0)161 306 3883 fax : +44(0)161 306 3887 e-mail: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk From hitzler at aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de Tue Jan 29 12:50:05 2008 From: hitzler at aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de (Pascal Hitzler) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:50:05 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 1st CfP: ECAI-08 Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning, NeSy'08 Message-ID: <479F674D.6020706@aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de> FourthInternational Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning Workshop at ECAI2008, Patras, Greece, July 2008 http://www.neural-symbolic.org/NeSy08/ NeSy'05 took place at IJCAI-05 NeSy'06 took place at ECAI2006 NeSy'07 took place at IJCAI-07 Call for Papers --------------- Artificial Intelligence researchers continue to face huge challenges in their quest to develop truly intelligent systems. The recent developments in the field of neural-symbolic integration bring an opportunity to integrate well-founded symbolic artificial intelligence with robust neural computing machinery to help tackle some of these challenges. The Workshop on Neural-Symbolic Learning and Reasoning is intended to create an atmosphere of exchange of ideas, providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of the key topics related to neural-symbolic integration. Topics of interest include: * The representation of symbolic knowledge by connectionist systems; * Learning in neural-symbolic systems; * Extraction of symbolic knowledge from trained neural networks; * Reasoning in neural-symbolic systems; * Biological inspiration for neural-symbolic integration; * Neural networks and probabilities; * Applications in robotics, semantic web, engineering, bioinformatics, etc. Submission Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit original papers that have not been submitted for review or published elsewhere. Submitted papers must be written in English and should not exceed 5 pages in the case of research and experience papers, and 2 pages in the case of position papers (including figures, bibliography and appendices) in ECAI2008 format as described in the ECAI2008 submissions and style guide (http://www.ece.upatras.gr/ecai2008/substyles.htm). All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality, relevance, originality, significance, and soundness. Papers must be submitted directly by email in PDF format to nesy at soi.city.ac.uk Presentation Selected papers will have to be presented during the workshop. The workshop will include extra time for audience discussion of the presentation allowing the group to have a better understanding of the issues, challenges, and ideas being presented. Publication Accepted papers will be published electronically in the CEUR workshop proceedings (bearing an ISSN number). Hardcopies will be distributed during the workshop. Authors of the best papers will be invited to submit a revised and extended version of their papers to the Journal of Logic and Computation, OUP. Important Dates Deadline for submission: May 9th, 2008 Notification of acceptance: May 30th, 2008 Camera-ready paper due: June 6th, 2008 Workshop date: July 21st or 22nd, 2008 ECAI2008 main conference dates: 21st to 25th of July, 2008 Workshop Organisers Artur d'Avila Garcez (City University London, UK) Pascal Hitzler (University Karlsruhe, Germany) Programme Committee (incomplete) Sebastian Bader, TU Dresden, Germany Howard Blair, Syracuse University, U.S.A. Luc de Raedt, KU Leuven, Belgium Marco Gori, University of Siena, Italy Barbara Hammer, TU Clausthal, Germany Ioannis Hatzilygeroudis, University of Patras, Greece Steffen H?lldobler, TU Dresden, Germany Ekaterina Komendantskaya, Sophia Antipolis, France Kai-Uwe K?hnberger, Osnabr?ck, Germany Luis Lamb, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Roberto Prevete, University of Naples, Italy Dan Roth, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A. Anthony K. Seda, University College Cork, Ireland Frank van der Velde, Leiden University, The Netherlands Gerson Zaverucha, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Keynote speakers Kai-Uwe K?hnberger, Osnabr?ck, Germany Additional Information General questions concerning the workshop should be addressed to nesy at soi.city.ac.uk. -- PD Dr. Pascal Hitzler Institute AIFB, University of Karlsruhe, 76128 Karlsruhe email: hitzler at aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de fax: +49 721 608 6580 web: http://www.pascal-hitzler.de phone: +49 721 608 4751 http://www.neural-symbolic.org From jwmbrown at indiana.edu Thu Jan 31 11:44:18 2008 From: jwmbrown at indiana.edu (Joshua W Brown) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:44:18 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position available Message-ID: <145101c86428$85d61b50$74c24f81@ads.iu.edu> Postdoctoral position available Computational Cognitive Neuroscience of Cognitive Control Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN The Cognitive Control lab at Indiana University is recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to develop computational cognitive neuroscience models of cognitive control, especially the interactions of the anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in tasks involving executive function and decision-making under risk. The models will be validated against human behavioral and fMRI data and monkey neurophysiological data, and they will be scaled up and applied to real-time decision-making in simulated autonomous agents. Intensive computational modeling will be supported with access to Big Red, Indiana University's 1024 core computing cluster. A 3T fMRI facility is available on-site for full-time research. Information about the lab is available at http://www.indiana.edu/~cclab. A Ph.D. and background in cognitive neuroscience and computation, broadly defined, are required. Applicants must have significant training in computational modeling, including neural networks, machine learning, and/or computational neuroscience. Experience with Linux/unix, matlab, and c++ preferred. The position is available to start immediately, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled. To apply, send a CV, statement of research background and interests, and 3 letters of recommendation to: Prof. Joshua W. Brown, Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E Tenth St., Bloomington, IN 47405. Email: jwmbrown at indiana.edu. Applications from women and minorities are encouraged. Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer.