From jonathan at sit.kmutt.ac.th Tue Jun 2 06:20:57 2009 From: jonathan at sit.kmutt.ac.th (Jonathan Chan) Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:20:57 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: 3rd CFP ICONIP'09 - 16th International Conference on Neural Information Processing Message-ID: <4A24FB81.2010300@sit.kmutt.ac.th> (Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement) --------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd CALL FOR PAPERS 16th International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP'09) Challenges and Trends of Neural Information Processing Bangkok, Thailand, December 1-5, 2009 http://www.iconip09.org/ *** Due to numerous requests for extension and some minor difficulties with our handling of the (relatively new) Springer online submission system, the paper submission and special sessions proposal deadline is extended to June 30, 2009. *** Full manuscript submission deadline: June 30, 2009 (extended) Notification of acceptance: August 15, 2009 (extended) Camera-ready manuscripts and early bird registration: September 6, 2009 (extended) TECHNICAL HILIGHTS - Keynote speech by Shun-ichi Amari - Plenary talks by Jun Wang, Nik Kasabov, Kunihiko Fukushima, Ron Sun, DeLiang Wang, Chidchanok Lursinsap - Invited talks by Soo-Young Lee, Wlodzislaw Duch, Shiro Usui, Masumi Ishikawa, Yuzo Hirai, Bao-Liang Lu, Zhi-Hua Zhou, Minho Lee, Andrew Chi-Sing Leung - Six tutorials which are inclusive with an ICONIP'09 registration. - More details can be found at the conference website. (http://www.iconip09.org/) TECHNICAL CO-SPONSORS International Neural Network Society (INNS) Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS) European Neural Network Society (ENNS) IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE-CIS) ICONIP'09 solicits contributions from the following non-exclusive list of topics in neural information processing and related areas: - Cognitive science - Computational neuroscience - Mathematical Modeling and Analysis - Learning Algorithms - Support Vector Machines - Self-Organizing Map - Independent Component Analysis - Pattern Classification - Face Analysis and Processing - Image Processing - Signal Processing - Computer Vision - Hybrid Systems - Forecasting and Prediction - Evolutionary Computation - Hardware - Fuzzy Systems - Information Security - Data and Text Processing - Financial Applications - Manufacturing Systems - Control and Robotics - Other Emerging Computational Methods - Bioinformatics and Biomedical Applications PAPER SUBMISSION Prospective authors are invited to submit original, high quality manuscripts of up to eight A4-pages electronically. The submission must conform to the Springer LNCS format. All accepted papers will be able to be published in proceedings of ICONIP'09 as a Springer LNCS volume. Extended version of selected papers will be invited for publication in special issues of international journals after the conference. The ICONIP'09 online submission system is at Springer's Online Conference Service (OCS). More information can be found at the paper submission site of ICONIP'09. (http://www.iconip09.org/submit.php) SPECIAL ISSUES The following special issues have been confirmed thus far: - Int. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience (American Scientific Publisher) - Neural Computing and Applications (Springer) - Neurocomputing (Elsevier) - Evolving Systems (Springer) More special issues in high quality journals will be announced at the conference website later on. CALL FOR SPECIAL SESSIONS Proposals are solicited for ICONIP'09 special sessions. The special sessions will consist of both invited and contributed papers. In addition to the core fields of neural information processing, specific areas such as cognitive modeling, computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, computer vision, financial applications, and so on, are strongly encouraged. All accepted papers will appear in the ICONIP'09 conference proceedings. Each proposal for special sessions should include the following information: * Title of the special session * Special session organizer and affiliation * Subject areas to be covered by the special session * Potential authors Important Dates (deadlines extended): Deadline for special session proposal submission: June 30, 2009 Notification of acceptance: July 7, 2009 Deadline for special session papers submission: July 28, 2009 Notification of acceptance: August 15, 2009 Camera-ready manuscripts and pre-registration: September 6, 2009 The proposal should be submitted to one of the following Special Sessions Chairs: Masumi Ishikawa (ishikawa [at] brain.kyutech.ac.jp) Tom Gedeon (tom [at] cs [dot] anu [dot] edu [dot] au) Shaoning Pang (spang [at] aut [dot] ac [dot] nz) CALL FOR COMPETITIONS Please submit proposals to John Sum, Competitions Chair (pfsum [at] nchu [dot] edu [dot] tw) by June 15, 2009 (deadline extended). Decision on the competition proposals will be made by June 30, 2009. POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS There is currently one approved post ICONIP'09 conference workshop at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to be held on December 7, 2009: Workshop on Advances in Intelligent Computing (http://waic09.utar.edu.my/) Please direct your inquiries to the Workshops Chairs, Lai Weng Kin (lai [at] mimos [dot] my) or C. P. Lim (cplim [at] eng [dot] usm [dot] my). COLLOCATED CONFERENCE The 3rd International Conference on Advances in Information Technology (IAIT2009) will be collocated with The 16th International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP'09) in Bangkok, Thailand. From A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk Thu Jun 4 14:46:04 2009 From: A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk (Angelo Cangelosi) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 19:46:04 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Abstracts/Papers - Special Topic on "Action and language integration in cognitive systems" (Frontiers in Neurorobotics) Message-ID: <1038F6B357C5004FA619C32FB3DB99574A0DC2363E@ILS130.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> Dear Colleague, The journal "Frontiers in Neurorobotics" is seeking submissions of new articles in the topic of action and language integration both in natural cognitive systems (e.g. humans and animals) and in artificial cognitive agents (robots and simulated agents). Manuscripts can regard new theoretical and computational investigations, as well as new neuroscientific and psychological investigations. Review articles in this topic are also welcome. Authors interested in submitting an article on this topic are invited to send first an abstract of the proposed manuscript to acangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk within the deadline of July 1st 2009. The subsequent deadline for submission of full papers will be on December 1st. For full information on the special topic, follow this link: http://frontiersin.org/neurorobotics/specialtopics/33/ Please feel free to circulate this Call for Abstracts to your colleagues and friends. Ciao, angelo ---------------- Angelo Cangelosi, PhD ---------------- Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognition Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition Research Group School of Computing, Communications & Electronics University of Plymouth Portland Square Building (A316) Plymouth PL4 8AA (UK) E-mail: acangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/soc/staff/angelo (tel) +44 1752 586217 (fax) +44 1752 586300 Visit: italkproject.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20090604/78b6c615/attachment.html From erik at oist.jp Fri Jun 5 01:42:54 2009 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 14:42:54 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc position in cerebellar network modeling Message-ID: A postdoctoral position is available in the Computational Neuroscience Unit of Dr. Erik De Schutter at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan (http://www.irp.oist.jp/cns/) to study cerebellar function using network modeling. The candidate will contribute to a team effort to build an extensive large-scale network model of the olivocerebellar system using conductance-based neuron models and detailed connectivity (NEURON simulator). Population coding and role of distributed synaptic plasticity will be investigated at multiple levels of the system in the context of different behavioral functions. Candidates should have experience with single cell or network modeling. There will be ample opportunity to interact with other modelers in the lab who are working on several Purkinje cell and LTD projects and with other scientists at OIST. We offer attractive financial and working conditions in an English language environment. Duration of initial appointments will be two years, appointments can be extended. More information about the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology is available at http://www.oist.jp/ Send curriculum vitae, summary of research interests and experience, and the names of three referees to Dr. Erik De Schutter at erik at oist.jp From jbednar at inf.ed.ac.uk Tue Jun 2 05:47:12 2009 From: jbednar at inf.ed.ac.uk (James A. Bednar) Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:47:12 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: LAST CALL -- Edinburgh PhD studentships in Neuroinformatics and Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <18980.60144.865598.327465@cortex.inf.ed.ac.uk> PhD studentships in Neuroinformatics and Computational Neuroscience, Edinburgh This is the final call for applications for fully-funded PhD studentships at the University of Edinburgh Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in Neuroinformatics and Computational Neuroscience for 2009-2010. The DTC is a world-class centre for research at the interface between neuroscience and the engineering, computational, and physical sciences. Several places remain open for exceptional candidates. Our four-year programme is ideal for students with strong computational and analytical skills who want to employ cutting-edge methodology to advance research in neuroscience and related fields. The first year consists of courses in neuroscience and informatics, as well as lab projects. This is followed by a three-year PhD project done in collaboration with one of the many departments and institutes affiliated with the DTC. The DTC focuses on research into understanding the brain and the nervous system using computational models and experiments, and also includes applying findings from neuroscience to build better software and hardware (robots and microcircuits), and using advanced methods to improve data handling and analysis including clinical diagnosis. PhD topics fall into five main areas: * Computational neuroscience: Using analytical and computational models, potentially supplemented with experiments, to gain quantitative understanding of the nervous system. Current projects focus on the development and function of sensory and motor systems, including neural coding, learning, and memory. * Cognitive science: Studying human cognitive processes and analysing them in computational terms. * Biomedical imaging algorithms and tools: Using advanced data analysis techniques, such as machine learning and Bayesian approaches, for imaging-based diagnosis and research. * Software systems and applications: Using discoveries from neuroscience to develop software that can handle real-life data. * Neurorobotics and VLSI: Using insights from neuroscience to help build better hardware, such as neuromorphic VLSI circuits and robots that perform robustly under natural conditions. Edinburgh has a world-class research community in these areas and leads the UK in creating a coherent programme in neuroinformatics and computational neuroscience. Edinburgh has been voted 'best place to live in Britain', and has many exciting cultural and student activities. Students with a strong background in computer science, mathematics, physics, or engineering are particularly welcome to apply. Highly motivated students with other backgrounds will also be considered. Up to 12 full studentships (12,973-14,766 UK pounds/year) are available to UK students and a small number of EU students. Non-EU/non-UK applicants are also encouraged, but will need to provide their own funding and evidence thereof. Further information and application forms can be obtained from: http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/dtc For consideration for entry in September 2009, the final deadline for applications to be completed is 30 June 2009. -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Tue Jun 16 09:52:04 2009 From: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:52:04 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Manchester Workshop on Neural Coding and Computation Message-ID: Dear all, this is a pre-announcement of the upcoming workshop on Neural Coding and Computation that will take place at the University of Manchester. The event will bring together a number of leading international speakers to present cutting edge research on neural coding. The date, time and venue for the workshop are as follows: 8 September 2009, from 10:00 to 17:00 The University of Manchester Faculty of Life Sciences Smith Building, Lecture Theatre Registration and attendance will be free. We'll soon announce the web address and instructions for registration. The confirmed Invited speakers are the following: Matteo Carandini (UCL) Steve Coombes (University of Nottingham) Jason Kerr (Max Planck, Tuebingen) Marcelo Magnasco (Rockefeller University) Magnus Richardson (University of Warwick) Mark Van Rossum (University of Edinburgh) Some travel support will be available (priority will be given to PhD students and postdocs). Regards, Rasmus Petersen Marcelo Montemurro From s.crone at lancaster.ac.uk Wed Jun 10 14:08:47 2009 From: s.crone at lancaster.ac.uk (Forecasting Training) Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:08:47 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Workshop on Neural Networks for Time Series Prediction, Stellenbosch, South Africa Message-ID: <20090610.KXUTFILJQQYBKPZO@lancaster.ac.uk> Call for participation ================================================ 1st Hands-on Training Workshop on Forecasting & Time Series Predictions with Artificial Neural Networks 17-19 September 2009 Wallenberg Centre, Institute of Advanced Study Stellenbosch University, South Africa www.bis-lab.com/tutorials/orssa09_tutorial.html ================================================= You are invited to participate in a 3-day training workshop on Forecasting and Time Series Prediction with Artificial Neural Networks, to be held in conjunction with the 38th Annual Conference of the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA'09), Stellenbosch, South Africa (www.orssaconf.co.za). ===================== Course description: ===================== Artificial neural networks (NN) have revolutionized the way researchers and practitioners solve complex, real-world problems in business, finance, economics, and engineering. Today, NNs are being routinely used by specialists in a wide range of predictive tasks such as forecasting electrical load, financial data, consumer packaged goods in retail and supply chain management, call volumes in call centres etc. However, their modelling and specification requires expert knowledge often not available in companies. We are pleased to announce the first 3-day NN training workshop on time series prediction and forecasting to be held right here in South Africa. ===================== Course design: ===================== The course will be 3 full days of maths-lite lectures and hands-on exercises using a free NN software simulator ? so bring along your laptop to run experiments! ===================== Target audience: ===================== Whether you are a demand planner, engineer, financial analyst, researcher, or student, the course is designed to help you acquire the knowledge, the skills and the competence you need to utilize this cutting-edge technology for solving predictive problems. You will be exposed to the theoretical concepts and hands-on applications of NN that will be invaluable in your day-to-day decision-making processes. The hands-on format will allow you to follow the course even without a sound mathematical or statistical background. Even if you are already familiar with ANN, you will learn tricks-of-the-trade and explore or develop your own. Don?t miss out! Get your organisation ahead of the competition by equipping yourself with this futuristic technique. ===================== Course Coverage: ===================== History of neural networks, specifying neural network architectures (number of layers, number of nodes, feedback etc.), Backpropagation and other learning algorithms for neural networks, Applications of neural networks in function approximation, linear and nonlinear time series prediction, and nonlinear system identification, hands-on examples in time series and causal modelling, Fundamentals of time series forecasting, Modelling neural networks for smoothing and regression, Evaluating Neural Network forecasting accuracy, Out-of-Sample Empirical Design of Neural Network Experiments ===================== Your Lecturer: ===================== The course will be taught by Dr. Sven F. Crone, Assistant Professor in Management Science at Lancaster University Management School and deputy director of the Lancaster Centre for Forecasting, one of the world?s largest research units dedicated to forecasting. With a PhD in neural forecasting, he frequently speaks at international conferences and runs forecasting competitions. Sven regularly teaches forecasting, both at university, in practitioners courses and in tutorials for IBF and IEEE CIS. He has over 8 years of corporate experience, having consulted with companies incl. retailer Tesco UK, manufacturer of FMCG Beiersdorf GER, Chemicals producer Celanese USA, copper producer Codelco Chile, and insurance AXA Switzerland etc. ===================== Software to be used: ===================== Intelligent Forecaster offers industry-grade software (made in Germany) developed exclusively and specifically for time series forecasting with the most up-to-date and advanced methods from Artificial Intelligence: Support Vector Regression (SVR) and artificial Neural Networks (NN). These allow unprecedented accuracy from nonlinear, data-driven and non-parametric prediction. The software provides various expert features (i.e. input-variable & lag-identification, data-preprocessing, ensembles) for multiple forecasting horizons across fixed forecasting horizon, rolling origin evaluation across a set of multiple error measures). [Read more ...] ===================== Acknowledgement: ===================== The workshop is supported by the NRF under the KISC grant scheme. The idea of hosting the NN workshop in South Africa was conceptualised by Dr. Chipo Mlambo during her time as a lecturer in Business Forecasting at the Universiy of Stellenbosch (USB), and it is here that the funding was initially granted. We are grateful to the NRF and colleagues at USB for their kind support of the workshop. ===================== Costs & Registration ===================== Registration Fee for 3 full days: ZAR 3000 (ca. ?260/$365), before 31 July 2009 ZAR 3900 (ca. ?340/$475), after 31 July 2009 The fee includes a NN software simulator on CD for experiments, data, stationery & coffee/tea & lunches. Accommodation is not included - for a list of accommodations please visit the ORSSA conference website (see left) held at the same venue For any enquiries and reservations please contact Dr. Chipo Mlambo via email: Dr Chipo Mlambo University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business Tel: +27 (0)21 406 1442 Fax: +27 (0)21 406 1412 chipo.mlambo at gsb.uct.ac.za From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Mon Jun 15 16:55:51 2009 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr. Amir Hussain) Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:55:51 +0100 (BST) Subject: Connectionists: Announcing "Cognitive Computation" (Springer, USA), Vol.1, No.2, June 2009: Table of Contents Message-ID: <19700.78.148.96.205.1245099351.squirrel@www.cs.stir.ac.uk> Dear Colleagues: We are delighted to announce the publication of the second (quarterly) Issue of Springer's exciting new multi-disciplinary journal in the neurosciences: "Cognitive Computation" - www.springer.com/12559 The list of published articles (Table of Contents) can be found at the end of this message. You will also be pleased to know that ALL (full) articles in Cognitive Computation will be FREELY AVAILABLE for access through December 31, 2009! Please ask your library to subscribe for 2010 and beyond! The full listing of Issue 2 can be viewed here (which includes invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Giacomo Indiveri, Rodney Douglas, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/n6134575mg14/?p=0ae0e58e2b8444c48fc62261e6b6a13f&pi=0 The full listing of the Inaugural Issue 1 can be viewed here (which includes invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Kevin Gurney, Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/w2826455k852/?p=603724902f224ec4ab2a0e52213f8d3e&pi=0 Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted For further information and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559 Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to review all papers within approximately six weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant proposals for Special Issues. With our very best wishes for all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) John Taylor, PhD (Chair, Advisory Board: Cognitive Computation) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.1, No.2, June 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Full listing of Articles, in PDF, is available here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n6134575mg14/?p=0ae0e58e2b8444c48fc62261e6b6a13f&pi=0 ) Articles Artificial Cognitive Systems: From VLSI Networks of Spiking Neurons to Neuromorphic Cognition Giacomo Indiveri, Elisabetta Chicca and Rodney J. Douglas On the Natural Hierarchical Composition of Cliques in Cell Assemblies Thomas Wennekers Hyperdimensional Computing: An Introduction to Computing in Distributed Representation with High-Dimensional Random Vectors Pentti Kanerva Recruitment and Consolidation of Cell Assemblies for Words by Way of Hebbian Learning and Competition in a Multi-Layer Neural Network Max Garagnani, Thomas Wennekers and Friedemann Pulverm?ller Ultimate Cognition ? la G?del J?rgen Schmidhuber Time-Scale Feature Extractions for Emotional Speech Characterization Applied to Human Centered Interaction Analysis Mohamed Chetouani, Ammar Mahdhaoui and Fabien Ringeval ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.1, No.1, March 2009 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Full listing of Articles, in PDF, is available here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/w2826455k852/?p=603724902f224ec4ab2a0e52213f8d3e&pi=0 ) Articles Cognitive Computation : An Introduction Amir Hussain Cognitive Computation John G. Taylor Is a Machine Realization of Truly Human-Like Intelligence Achievable? James L. McClelland Designing Conscious Systems Igor Aleksander Reverse Engineering the Vertebrate Brain: Methodological Principles for a Biologically Grounded Programme of Cognitive Modelling Kevin N. Gurney The Role of Associative Processing in Cognitive Computing Pentti O. A. Haikonen Explanatory Correlates of Consciousness: Theoretical and Computational Challenges Anil Seth Cognitive Processes in Eye Guidance: Algorithms for Attention in Image Processing Geoffrey Underwood Cognitive Computation with Autonomously Active Neural Networks: An Emerging Field Claudius Gros Motivational Representations within a Computational Cognitive Architecture Ron Sun On the Role of Emotion in Embodied Cognitive Architectures: From Organisms to Robots Tom Ziemke and Robert Lowe -- Academic Excellence at the Heart of Scotland. The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From fleischer at nsi.edu Thu Jun 18 19:36:13 2009 From: fleischer at nsi.edu (Jason Fleischer) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:36:13 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience at The Neurosciences Institute Message-ID: <43FF0D24-3B25-4DE5-BC46-CCE18F5BEE18@nsi.edu> The Neurosciences Institute (http://www.nsi.edu) is seeking postdoctoral researchers in computational neuroscience. The successful candidate will be working with a team of researchers to create large scale spiking models of the mammalian nervous system controlling a robotic device. Candidates should have a background in neuroscience, previous modeling experience, and strong programming skills. Experience in any of the following is highly desirable: spiking neural models, neuroanatomy, neural plasticity, parallel computing, and robotics. A wide variety of research areas will be of interest, including but not limited to: sensory processing, neuromodulatory systems, corticothalamic interaction, decision making and reward, brainstem and spinal cord function, and motor control. The Neurosciences Institute is an independent, not-for-profit scientific research organization dedicated to furthering our knowledge of the biological bases of brain function. The Director of the Institute is Dr. Gerald M. Edelman, who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1972 for his studies on the structure and diversity of antibodies. The Institute hosts thirty to forty scientists engaged in theoretical and experimental neurobiology. It is located within walking distance of other major centers of neuroscience, including The Scripps Research Institute, The Salk Institute, and the University of California San Diego. Salary is dependent upon relevant experience; a full benefit package is available. Send C.V. and cover letter to The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, California 92121 or e-mail them to jobs5 at nsi.edu. Jason G. Fleischer, Ph.D. The Neurosciences Institute http://www.nsi.edu/users/fleischer 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive Tel: (858) 626-2069 San Diego, CA 92121 USA Fax: (858) 626-2099 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20090618/86a02cd2/attachment-0001.html From antonior at ffclrp.usp.br Tue Jun 16 13:52:19 2009 From: antonior at ffclrp.usp.br (Antonio Carlos Roque da Silva Filho) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:52:19 -0300 Subject: Connectionists: LASCON 2010: Third Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience (call for applications) Message-ID: <002c01c9eeab$31ad5070$83dc6b8f@pentium4a870f7> **** Apologies for cross-posting **** 3rd Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience - LASCON 2010 January 17 - February 9, 2010, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil http://neuron.ffclrp.usp.br/LASCON FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT Dear Colleagues, Following the success of the previous two editions of LASCON (Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience), held in 2006 and 2008, I am pleased to announce the 3rd LASCON, which will take place between January 17th and February 9th 2010 in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. LASCON aims at introducing advanced undergraduate and graduate students to the use of computational and mathematical methods for modeling neurons and neuronal circuits. These models will be ilustrated with the use of programs like neuroConstruct, GENESIS, NEURON, XPPAUT and Matlab. The school will last for 24 days, and will consist of theoretical lectures and hands on tutorials given by the lecturers and computational exercises made by the students. Students also will have to work on individual research projects, which they will present orally at the end of the school. Lectures and tutorials will be organized into three tracks: Track 1: Realistic neural modeling; Track 2: Simplified neural modeling and phase-plane methods of analysis; Track 3: Plasticity and Learning The following people will be in charge of lectures and tutorials: Alessandro Treves Arnd Roth Avrama Blackwell David Beeman Gennady Cymbalyuk Reynaldo Pinto Volker Steuber William Lytton There will also be some invited lecturers and tutors (mostly former LASCON students) who will help students and lecturers during the school. The number of students is limited to 22 and applications should be made electronically via the application form in the school's web page (http://neuron.ffclrp.usp.br/LASCON). Applicants are also requested to submit a detailed CV (in English) and to provide two letters of recommendation. Costs for accommodation and meals will be covered by the school organization. In the selection procedure, priority will be given to Latin-American students, but students from other parts of the world are encouraged to apply as well. The application deadline is September 10th 2009. I am looking forward to see you in Ribeirao Preto. Best regards, A. Roque, LASCON Organizer Antonio Roque Departamento de Fisica e Matematica FFCLRP, Universidade de Sao Paulo 14040-901 Ribeirao Preto-SP Brazil - Brasil Tels: +55 16 3602-3768 (office); +55 16 3602-3859 (lab) FAX: +55 16 3602-4887 E-mails: antonior at neuron.ffclrp.usp.br antonior at ffclrp.usp.br URL: http://neuron.ffclrp.usp.br From a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk Wed Jun 17 05:48:22 2009 From: a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk (Anil K Seth) Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:48:22 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Barcelona Cognition, Brain, and Technology Summer School (BCBT) Message-ID: <4A38BBE6.2020308@sussex.ac.uk> Dear Colleague (sorry for any cross posting) We want to invite you and your co-workers to participate in the Barcelona Cognition, Brain, and Technology (BCBT) summer school to be held at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra from September 7 to18, 2009 (http://www.iua.upf.edu/bcbt09) BCBT'09 is a two-week event focusing on the understanding, development and deployment of biomimetic and biohybrid systems with emphasis on the analysis and synthesis of mind and brain. It will be of great interest to students and researchers in cognitive science, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and allied disciplines. This is the 2nd year of BCBT which ran with great success in 2008. BCBT'09 combines lectures with hands-on skill acquisition and experimentation. It is composed of 6 different but interrelated sessions: (i) Hybrid-like brain systems, (ii) Replication, simulation, validation, and emulation of biological systems, (iii) Principles and technology of biologically based cognitive architectures, (iv) Learning, development, and adaptation, (v) Systems-level explanation of brain function, and (vi) Consciousness: mechanisms and functions. For a full list of speakers, visit http://www.iua.upf.edu/bcbt09/. BCBT is a bottom-up activity supported by a number of FP6 & FP7 projects in the areas of cognitive systems and bio-ict convergence (see http://www.iua.upf.edu/bcbt09 for a list). All members of these and similar projects are invited to participate supported by their respective projects. In addition, BCBT has a number of student scholarships available. To apply, please register at http://www.iua.upf.edu/bcbt09/. Please note that the deadline for registration is soon, i.e. June 30. If you have any further questions, please contact bcbt at iua.upf.edu. We look forward to welcoming you at BCBT'09, Paul Verschure (chair) Tony Prescott Anil Seth Tom Ziemke BCBT is supported by: ReNaChip Neurochem ICEA Synthetic Forager (SF) BIOTACT Foundation Phonos Institute of Audiovisual Studies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra -- Anil K Seth, D.Phil. Senior Lecturer, EPSRC Leadership Fellow Dept of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK W: www.anilseth.com T: +44 1273 678549, F: +44 1273 877873 From gaute.einevoll at umb.no Fri Jun 19 02:21:46 2009 From: gaute.einevoll at umb.no (Gaute Einevoll) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:21:46 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: postponed deadline for special issue om modeling of extracellular potentials in J Comp Neurosci Message-ID: <9E92E19F09561E489F365365882C2C670145B92D57A2@exch01.ans.umb.no> Due to several requests, we have decided to postpone the deadline of the special issue in Journal of Computational Neuroscience on "Modeling of Extracellular Potentials", edited by Gaute Einevoll, Daniel Wojcik and Alain Destexhe. The new deadline is August 1st 2009. The goal of this special issue in Journal of Computational Neuroscience is to gather work on modeling and theoretical analysis of the origin and interpretation of extracellular potentials such as local field potentials generated by neural activity. Papers that include experimental work are especially encouraged, although purely theoretical studies are also acceptable. The papers submitted to the special issue should be of moderate size (no more than 6 figures). The subject of the papers must fit the Aims & Scope of the journal, and must in particular not be purely methodological but also illustrate results that advance our understanding of brain function in a broad sense. The papers must contain new material, but we encourage the authors to also include review material to help the reader fully understand the context of the study. Anyone is welcome to submit a contribution as long as it fits the above criteria. The papers will be reviewed by the editorial board of the journal, with the same criteria as for normal articles submitted to the journal. Submission information: all papers must be submitted electronically as explained in the instructions for authors at the web site of the journal http://www.springer.com/10827 When submitting the paper, choose the option "special issue on modeling extracellular potentials". All the formatting instructions are as for regular papers in the journal (except for the moderate size as explained above). Submission deadline: August 1st, 2009. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Gaute T. Einevoll, Physics Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences P.O.Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway; ph: +47-64965433, fax: +47-64965401, mobile: +47-95124536 e-mail: Gaute.Einevoll at umb.no URL: http://arken.umb.no/~gautei/ From lubica at cs.otago.ac.nz Fri Jun 19 22:33:45 2009 From: lubica at cs.otago.ac.nz (Lubica Benuskova) Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:33:45 +1200 (NZST) Subject: Connectionists: Postdoc in fMRI analysis in New Zealand Message-ID: <53678.139.80.123.34.1245465225.squirrel@chasm.otago.ac.nz> POSTDOCTORAL POSITION AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY FOR THE PERIOD OF 6 MONTHS We are seeking a Postdoctoral fellow who will use the graph theory to perform the topological analysis of functional networks formed during various brain states. The fMRI datasets will be supplied by Assoc. Prof. Liz Franz from the Department of Psychology and the work will be carried out at the Department of Computer Science, University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. The candidates should have an experience in using the graph theory to study topological characteristics of networks like small world and scale-free properties, modularity, hierarchical organisation, etc. Experience with analysis of fMRI data would be an asset but is not necessary. We offer attractive working conditions in the country with top touristic attractions, salary according to the university scale and the purchase of the air ticket if applicable. Queries and applications that include a CV, including your past experience, the list of publications, and names and contacts of 2 referees should be emailed to Dr. Lubica Benuskova: lubica at cs.otago.ac.nz, not later than 15 July 2009. -- Lubica Benuskova, PhD phone: +64 (0)3 479 8587 other contact details http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/department/staff/lubica.html From benjamin.schrauwen at elis.ugent.be Mon Jun 22 16:39:14 2009 From: benjamin.schrauwen at elis.ugent.be (Benjamin Schrauwen) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:39:14 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Open position for PhD/postdoc position at Ghent University Message-ID: <887D58B4-130E-4AB1-8689-A56110EAEE2D@elis.ugent.be> One open PhD or postdoc position in "learning dynamic feature hierarchies using reservoir computing" is available at the Reservoir Lab (http://reslab.elis.ugent.be), part of the Electronics and Information Systems Department, faculty of Engineering of the Ghent University, Belgium (http://ugent.be). The research will take place in the recently started ?Self-organized Recurrent Neural Learning for Language Processing? (ORGANIC) project, funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program. Details about the project can be found at the preliminary reservoir computing website (http://reservoir-computing.org). Current state-of-the-art speech & handwriting recognition systems still perform much worse than human beings who can effortlessly decode the speech or handwriting of most people, even in fairly adverse conditions (e.g. the presence of noise in case of speech recognition). The fact that the human brain works so efficiently is owed to its self- organizing capacity, the deeply hierarchical approach, the adoption of unsupervised and supervised learning strategies, and the capacity to adapt almost instantly to new circumstances. Why not try to build an automatic speech recognizer and handwriting recognition engine that incorporates the same principles? The research concerns the investigation of architectures and algorithms for the efficient learning of large recurrent neural networks hierarchies based on the Reservoir Computing concept (where only a linear readout layer is learned in a supervised way whereas the recurrent connections are fixed or trained in an unsupervised way). Important research topics are the unsupervised learning of a large hierarchy of recurrent sub-layers, and the integration of various adaptation techniques. The application domain is mainly speech recognition, but also off-line handwriting recognition. Candidates should have a Masters or PhD degree in Electrical, Computer or Physics Engineering; or in Physics, Mathematics, Computational Neuroscience or Computer Science. A good knowledge of English is essential. The ideal candidates have some acquaintance with Machine Learning, programming (Python, Matlab, ...), statistics, signal processing, speech recognition, or control engineering. We offer an opportunity to perform three years of research and to obtain a doctoral degree in this domain (if applicable). There will be ample opportunities for establishing international contacts (stays at partner universities, participation to international conferences). As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary, as well as excellent secondary benefits (holiday allowance, etc.). Belgium was ranked first on the ?Best Countries for Academic Research? worldwide list (The Scientist, 2007), and Ghent University was appointed second place on the ?Best Places to Work in Academia? non-US list (The Scientist, 2006). To apply, please send an email to Benjamin Schrauwen (Benjamin ?dot? Schrauwen ?at? UGent ?dot? be) with: a detailed curriculum vitae (with your course program and grades), and a brief introduction of your research interests and plans. The position is available now. With kind regards, Benjamin Schrauwen ---------------------------- - Dr. ir. Benjamin Schrauwen - - Reservoir Lab, Electronics and Information Systems Department - Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ghent University - - St. Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium - work phone: +32-9-264.95.26 - website: http://reslab.elis.ugent.be/ ---------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20090622/2987ee63/attachment.html From mjhealy at ece.unm.edu Mon Jun 22 19:37:36 2009 From: mjhealy at ece.unm.edu (mjhealy@ece.unm.edu) Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:37:36 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Connectionists: Complete account of category-theoretic ART modification Message-ID: Our full account of an application of colimits and limits to improving the performance of the ART 1 neural architecture with complement coding is to appear in the journal Neurocomputing. A preprint is available on my website, http://www.ece.unm.edu/~mjhealy , or by contacting me for a copy. Applying Category Theory to Improve the Performance of a Neural Architecture Michael J. Healy, Richard D. Olinger, Robert J. Young, Shawn E. Taylor, Thomas P. Caudell, and Kurt W. Larson Abstract: A recently developed mathematical semantic theory explains the relationship between knowledge and its representation in connectionist systems. The semantic theory is based upon category theory, the mathematical theory of structure. A product of its explanatory capability is a set of principles to guide the design of future neural architectures and enhancements to existing designs. We claim that this mathematical semantic approach to network design is an effective basis for advancing the state of the art. We offer two experiments to support this claim. One of these involves multispectral imaging using data from a satellite camera. Keywords: Category theory; Mathematical semantics; ART 1; Stack intervals; Multispectral imaging From d.mareschal at bbk.ac.uk Thu Jun 25 09:42:06 2009 From: d.mareschal at bbk.ac.uk (Denis Mareschal) Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:42:06 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Academic jobs in London Message-ID: Dear all, The following jobs may be of interest to the readers of this list. Please circulate appropriately. Best regards, Denis Mareschal ==================================================== Three Psychology Lecturers Department of Psychological Science School of Science Birkbeck College University of London We are looking for a three lecturers (equivalent to US Assistant Professor) to join our Psychology Department. Applications are invited from candidates with specialist interests in the core research areas supported by the Department , i.e . , developmental psychology (especially gene X environment interactions), cognitive neuroscience, computational/cognitive modelling, health psychology (especially quantitative researchers wishing to work collaboratively with qualitative and quantitative psychologists in the department, as well as pursue their own independent studies) . Evidence of an established or developing tr a c k r e c o r d i n r e s e a r c h , i n c l u d i n g q u a l i t y j o u r n a l p u b l i c a t i o n s , i s e s s e n t i a l . Y o u w i l l b e l e c t u r i n g a n d s u p e r v i s i n g o n t h e B S c P s y c h o l o g y , a n d / o r o n o t h e r p r o g r a m m e s , w i t h a d m i n i s t r a t i v e r o l e s a s a p p r o p r i a t e . Y o u w i l l a l s o p r o v i d e r e s e a r c h a n d t e a c h i n g i n a n a r e a o f P s y c h o l o g y t h a t p r o v i d e s s y n e r g y w i t h e x i s t i n g a c t i v i t i e s w i t h i n t h e D e p a r t m e n t . T h e s e j o b s a r e t h r e e y e a r f i x e d t e r m i n t h e f i r s t i n s t a n c e . S a l a r y w i l l b e ? 3 3 , 5 0 1 r i s i n g t o ? 4 6 , 5 2 9 p e r a n n u m o n t h e L e c t u r e r s a l a r y s c a l e s . T h e i n i t i a l g r a d e a n d s a l a r y a w a r d w i l l b e d e p e n d e n t o n s k i l l s a n d e x p e r i e n c e . For further information and to apply for this post please click here : https://www15.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_birkbeckcollege01.asp?newms=jj&id=29627& or visit : http://www.bbk.ac.uk/jobs/ . The closing date for completed applications is Friday 3r d of July 2009 . B i r k b e c k i s a n e q u a l o p p o r t u n i t i e s e m p l o y e r a n d e n c o u r a g e s a p p l i c a t i o n s f r o m a l l c a n d i d a t e s i r r e s p e c t i v e o f g e n d e r , e t h n i c i t y , a g e , d i s a b i l i t y , r e l i g i o u s b e l i e f a n d s e x u a l p r e f e r e n c e . http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/TS189/Three_Psychology_Lecturers/ -- ================================================= Professor Denis Mareschal Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development School of Psychology Birkbeck College University of London Malet St., London WC1E 7HX, UK tel +44 (0)20 7079-0751/7631-6582 reception: 7631-6207 fax +44 (0)20 7631-6312 http://www.bbk.ac.uk/psyc/staff/academic/dmareschal Neuroconstructivism books: http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198529910 http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198529934 ================================================= -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20090625/9be8476f/attachment-0001.html From fitz at science.uva.nl Fri Jun 26 08:48:44 2009 From: fitz at science.uva.nl (Hartmut Fitz) Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:48:44 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: Amsterdam Symposium on Connectionist NLP, July 1 2009 Message-ID: <10392.94.212.4.183.1246020524.squirrel@webmail.science.uva.nl> Symposium on Connectionist Natural Language Processing Date and time: Wednesday, July 1, 14:00-17:00 Location: Oudemanhuispoort, room C1.17, Universiteit van Amsterdam, NL Participation is free and registration is not required. Programme: 14:00 Stefan Frank (ILLC, Amsterdam) Systematic Sentence Comprehension in a World-Embedded Connectionist Model 15:00 Franklin Chang (Hanyang University, Seoul) Learning to Order Words: A Connectionist Account of Japanese and English Sentence Production 16:00 Morten H. Christiansen (Cornell University, Ithaca, and Santa Fe Institute) A Usage-Based Approach to Recursion in Sentence Processing Abstracts can be found at: http://staff.science.uva.nl/~fitz/cnlp Contact: fitz at science.uva.nl --------- From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Sat Jun 27 07:24:35 2009 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:24:35 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Special issue of Biological Cybernetics on" Neuronal Dynamics of Sensory Coding" Message-ID: <4A460173.4020707@cns.unibe.ch> Dear colleagues: Biological Cybernetics has launched a special issue on ?Nonlinear Dynamics of Sensory Coding? that is dedicated to Jose Segundo and edited by: Andr? Longtin (editor of Biol Cyber) and John Rinzel (co-editor-in-chief of Biol Cyber). This special issue highlights insights that can emerge from considering the temporal aspects of coding. Sensory systems in particular offer opportunities for exploring the role of neuronal dynamics because sometimes we know what constitutes a relevant input and for what the output might be used. The contributions to this issue while not comprehensive represent various different aspects of sensory dynamics including its relation to information theory, memory and motor systems. Jose Pedro (Pepe) Segundo, Professor Emeritus at UCLA, is a pioneer in the field having assimilated time and again emerging concepts in dynamical systems theory and time series/point process analysis in order to apply them to neuroscience. His work focuses on different firing patterns and their functional implications, including their correlations, and on the dynamical phenomena of phase locking, feedback, transients, noise and multi-stability. He pioneered the reverse correlation technique and used it both as a modeling technique and to measure the reliability of firing times. The special issue (Volume 100, Number 6, June 2009) will be available for public access and free downloading through July, 2009: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100465/ The Table of Contents: Editorial ?Neuronal dynamics of sensory coding: the legacy of Jose Pedro Segundo? Author(s): Andr? Longtin, John Rinzel Page: 409 - 411 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMa.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDEKcFRP0 BC Forum ?Afternoons with Segundo? Author(s): George P. Moore Page: 413 - 415 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMc.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDERQFRR0 Reviews ?The systems analysis approach to mechanosensory coding? Author(s): Andrew S. French Page: 417 - 426 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMe.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDEYEFRT0 ?Neural coding and contextual influences in the whisker system? Author(s): Rasmus S. Petersen, Stefano Panzeri, Miguel Maravall Page: 427 - 446 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMg.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDEeYFRV0 ?Stochasticity, spikes and decoding: sufficiency and utility of order statistics? Author(s): Barry J. Richmond Page: 447 - 457 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMi.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDFFMFRX0 Original Papers ?Combining frequency and time domain approaches to systems with multiple spike train input and output? Author(s): D. R. Brillinger, K. A. Lindsay, J. R. Rosenberg Page: 459 - 474 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMk.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDFMAFRZ0 ?Feedback-induced gain control in stochastic spiking networks? Author(s): Connie Sutherland, Brent Doiron, Andr? Longtin Page: 475 - 489 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMm.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDFSUFRb0 ?Visual perception of ambiguous figures: synchronization based neural models? Author(s): Roman Borisyuk, David Chik, Yakov Kazanovich Page: 491 - 504 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMo.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDFZIFRd0 ?Role of spike-frequency adaptation in shaping neuronal response to dynamic stimuli? Author(s): Simon Peter Peron, Fabrizio Gabbiani Page: 505 - 520 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMq.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDFfcFRf0 ?Bilateral matching of frequency tuning in neural cross-correlators of the owl? Author(s): Brian J. Fischer, Jos? Luis Pe?a Page: 521 - 531 http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMs.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDGGQFSB0 The current volume 100, number 6 of "Biological Cybernetics" on the SpringerLink web site: http://springer.r.delivery.net/r/r?2.1.Ee.2Tp.XiYqZ.ByKOmS..N.HvMS.3C6u.bW89MQ%5f%5fDCcQFRB0 _______________________________________________ Comp-neuro mailing list Comp-neuro at neuroinf.org http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro From nicolas.brunel at univ-paris5.fr Mon Jun 29 05:59:25 2009 From: nicolas.brunel at univ-paris5.fr (Nicolas Brunel) Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:59:25 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Call for site proposals, ACCN Message-ID: <4A48907D.3090906@univ-paris5.fr> Call for site proposals for the Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience (ACCN) Due date: December 1, 2009 The organizing committee of the Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is looking for applications for sites to host the course for 3 years (2011-2013). The course, which is now in its fourteenth year, consists of 30 graduate students and postdocs from around the world. They are taught by 6 tutors and approximately 25 invited faculty. The course is held in August in a European (or Associated) country. The ideal site is relatively remote and small to ensure intimacy and quietness, and is in an attractive location. Previous courses have been held at: Crete, Greece 1996-1998 Trieste, Italy 1999-2001 Obidos, Portugal 2002-2004 Arcachon, France 2005-2007 Freiburg, Germany 2008-2010 Our specific requirements are: - a local organizer who is responsible for arranging lodging, food, transportation, and lecture and computer rooms; - a lecture room with a seating capacity of about 50; - computer room(s), that can fit computers for about 50 people, with a fast internet connection and wireless; - affordable lodging for about 50 people for four weeks, close to the lecture/computer rooms (university accommodation would be fine) - affordable food (restaurant or other) for about 50 people, close to the lecture/computer rooms. In addition, it would be nice to have: - a kitchen/dining room that students can use during the weekends and breaks; - a secretary who can handle communication with students and faculty during the months preceding the school; - a full-time systems manager for the computer network during the school; - internet access in the hotel rooms; - local funding. Currently, funding for the course comes from PENS and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Anyone interested should email Peter Latham (pel at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk) for information on how to apply. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE The Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience is a high-level, 4-week intensive course on the computational aspects of the central nervous system function, from the cellular to the systems level. It is taught by invited faculty, who are both experimentalists and theoreticians and are among the best in their fields (see http://www.neuroinf.org/courses/EUCOURSE/F09/index.shtml web site for previous programs). The course is highly selective - we receive between 90 and 120 applications every year, and only 30 students are selected. Students are mid-term PhDs or postdocs, with backgrounds ranging from pure theory to pure experiment. The course provides the students with a solid theoretical background in topics that are important for understanding the complexity of the nervous system, and exposes them to the approaches that have been used in theoretical studies. Students do a research project during the course, with the help of the invited faculty and tutors. The selection of students is based on a CV, research statement, letters of recommendation, and the advice of three independent referees. -- Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology Universite Paris Descartes, CNRS UMR 8119 45 rue des Saints Peres 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Tel (33).1.42.86.20.58 - Fax (33).1.49.27.90.62 nicolas.brunel at univ-paris5.fr www.neurophys.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/~brunel From hecke at nld.ds.mpg.de Sun Jun 28 15:43:16 2009 From: hecke at nld.ds.mpg.de (Hecke) Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:43:16 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: 09/21/09-09/25/09 fall course on computational Neuroscience in Goettingen, Germany Message-ID: Applications are invited for the seventh fall course on COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE in Goettingen, Germany September 21 - 25, 2009 organized by H. Schrobsdorff The course is intended to provide graduate students and young researchers from all parts of neuroscience with working knowledge of theoretical and computational methods in neuroscience and to acquaint them with recent developments in this field. The course includes tutorials and lectures of the following researchers: * Michele Giugliano: In vivo-like, noisy stimulation paradigms in in vitro cellular electrophysiology * Robert G?tig: (working title) Spike-timing based sensory coding and processing * Jason Kerr: Population imaging in vivo: from the awake to the anesthetized * Benjamin Lindner: Interspike interval statistics and response properties of neurons in the fluctuation driven regime * Siegrid L?wel: Dynamics and organization of visual cortical circuits The course takes place at the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics of the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Selforganization, Bunsenstr. 10, D-37073 Goettingen. A course fee of 100 Euro includes participation in the tutorials, study materials, and part of the social events. The number of participants is limited to about 30. Course language is English. To apply please fill out the application form at: http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events-1/cns-course by August 15, 2009. Best wishes and looking forward to seeing you in Goettingen Hecke -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20090628/8a8377ee/attachment.html From announce at ccnconference.org Mon Jun 29 10:09:38 2009 From: announce at ccnconference.org (ccnc-announce) Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:09:38 -0600 Subject: Connectionists: CCNC 2009 Online Abstract Submission Now Open! Message-ID: <200906290809.38788.announce@ccnconference.org> ~ Online Abstract Submission Open ~ 4th CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE www.ccnconference.org To be held in conjunction with the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, MA. CCN CONFERENCE DATES: Wed-Thu November 18 & 19, 2009 All three of our previous meetings have been a great success, two as satellites to Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (2005, 2007) and in 2006 with Psychonomics. Attendance has ranged from 115-250. ____________________________________________________________________________ * EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: Friday, July 31, 2009 Abstracts are to be submitted online via the website www.ccnconference.org. * Look for an announcement regarding online registration opening soon. As in past years, there will be two categories of submissions: -Poster only -Poster, plus short talk (15 min) to highlight the poster Abstracts should be limited to 250 words. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Reviewing of posters will be inclusive and only to ensure appropriateness to the meeting. Short talks will be selected on the basis of research quality, relevance to conference theme, and expected accessibility in a talk format. Abstracts not selected for short talks will still be accepted as posters as long as they meet appropriateness criteria. * NOTIFICATION OF POSTER ACCEPTANCE: Approx. August 15, 2009 * CONTRIBUTED SHORT TALK SELECTION: Approx. September 15, 2009 __________________________________________________________________________ Program: * 2009 Keynote Speakers: Neil Burgess, University College London Josh Tenenbaum, MIT * Three symposia, each including a mixture of modelers and non-modelers and focused on a common theme or issue: ** Top-Down Mechanisms of Visual Attention Moderator: Steven Bressler, Florida Atlantic University ** Our Vision for the Word: Modeling Orthographic Processing Moderators: Carol Whitney, University of Maryland, College Park Jonathan Grainger, CNRS, France ** Context, Memory, and the Brain Moderators: Michael Hasselmo, Boston University Ken Norman, Princeton University * Approximately 12 short talks will be chosen featuring selected posters. * Poster sessions * We are again planning another special issue of Brain Research for selected papers from this meeting -- no need to indicate interest with your abstract submission at the present time. * We plan to award a limited number of competitive travel fellowships for students -- look for a notice by late summer. We especially encourage applications from members of underrepresented minorities. * Registration fees: $175 ($75 for students). ____________________________________________________________________________ 2009 Planning Committee: Suzanna Becker, McMaster University Carlos Brody, Princeton University Nathaniel Daw, New York University Michael Hasselmo, Boston University David Noelle, University of California, Merced Ken Norman, Princeton University Maximilian Riesenhuber, Georgetown University Ex officio: Randall O'Reilly, University of Colorado, Boulder Jonathan Cohen, Princeton University Executive Organizer: Thomas Hazy, University of Colorado, Boulder For more information and to sign up for the mailing list visit: www.ccnconference.org From zhaoping at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Mon Jun 29 20:09:18 2009 From: zhaoping at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Dr Zhaoping Li) Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:09:18 +0100 (BST) Subject: Connectionists: Call for participation --Beijing International Symposium on computational neuroscience, July 24-25, 2009 Message-ID: See details for participation in http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/Zhaoping.Li/BeijingMeeting2009.html The program is: Day 1: 9:00-9:15 Welcome and Opening remarks 9:15-9:55 Ning Qian (Columbia University, USA): Physiologically based models of binocular depth perception 9:55-10:10 Yongjie Li, Chi Zeng, and Chaoyi Li (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) Contour detection via an integration field model with adaptive facilitatory-inihibitory interactions. 10:10-10:25 Michel Vidal-Naquet & Sergei Gepshtein (RIKEN, Japan): Adaptive template matching for stereoscopic vision. 10:25 - 10:55 Coffee Break 10:55-11:35 Misha Tsodyks (Weizmann Institute, Israel), Synaptic theory of working memory. 11:35-11:50 Ziqiang Wei and Dahui Wang (Beijing Normal University): A cortical network for sustainning multiple items during working memory task 11:50-12:05 Jian K Liu and Dean V. Buonomano (UCLA, USA): Embedding multiple trajectories in recurrent neural networks in a self- organizing manner. 12:05-14:00: On site lunch and poster viewing (Posters from all oral presenters are also available in all poster sessions). 14:00-14:40 Jean Pierre Nadal (Ecole Normale Superieure, France): Population coding: an information theoretic approach 14:40-15:10 Laurent Bonnasse-Gahot (Ecole Normale Superieure, France) : Behavioral and neural consequences of category learning: an information theoretic approach 15:10-15:40 Coffee and poster 15:40-16:20 Tomoki Fukai (RIKEN, Japan): Irregular neuronal firing and the minimal conditional entropy principle 16:20-16:35 Xiangying Meng, Qishao Lu, & John Rinzel (Beihang University, Beijing): Pauses and delayed firing of auditory neurons, a minimal model. 16:35-16:50 Wei Wei and Fred Wolf ( Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamic and Self-Organization, Germany): Influence of action potential onset rapidness to dynamic response of cortical neurons. 16:50 - 18:30 Poster viewing. 19:00 Banquet Day 2: 9:00-9:40 Peter Dayan (University College London, UK): Reinforcement Learning and Computational Psychiatry 9:40-9:55 Danting Liu and George Sperling (UC Irvine, USA): Perceived Motion Direction of high-temporal frequency plaids 9:55-10:30 Coffee break 10:30-11:10 Si Wu (Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai): Routing information in neural circuitry. 11:10 - 11: 25: Yoonsuck Choe, Yoon H. Bai, Cheeyoul Choi, and Choongseog Park (Texas A&M University, USA): Nature of texture: Visual or tactile. 11:25-11:40 Yong Liu and Tianzi Jiang (Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences): Altered functional connectivities in early blind. 11:40- 14:00: On site lunch and poster viewing. 14:00-14:30 Yuan Liu (Salk Institute, USA): Models and Dynamical Analyses of Neural Systems for a Decision Making Task 14:30-15:00 Juan Gao (Stanford University, USA): Can humans dynamically adjust decision strategies when faced with unbalanced rewards and uncertain stimuli? 15:00-15:30 Coffee break 15:30-16:10 Li Zhaoping (University College London/Tsinghua University): Relative contributions by V1 and V2 to visual attentional guidance. 16:10-16:25 Yicong Meng, Eric K.C. Tsing, Stanley Y.M. Lam, and Bertram E. Shi (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) Cortically inspired visual processing for robotics with the HKUST multimap system. >From 16:25 Symposium Ending Activities (such as round table, socializing, TBA), etc. Enquiries: Symposium organizer: Li Zhaoping, email: z.li at ucl.ac.uk, symposium secretary: Ms. Li Zhou, email: lizhou at itp.ac.cn From opossumnano at gmail.com Tue Jun 30 09:25:04 2009 From: opossumnano at gmail.com (Tiziano Zito) Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:25:04 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Modular toolkit for Data Processing 2.5 released! Message-ID: <20090630132504.GB1988@notami.bccn-berlin> We are glad to announce release 2.5 of the Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP). MDP is a Python library of widely used data processing algorithms that can be combined according to a pipeline analogy to build more complex data processing software. The base of available algorithms includes, to name but the most common, Principal Component Analysis (PCA and NIPALS), several Independent Component Analysis algorithms (CuBICA, FastICA, TDSEP, JADE, and XSFA), Slow Feature Analysis, Restricted Boltzmann Machine, and Locally Linear Embedding. What's new in version 2.5? -------------------------------------- - New nodes for XSFA, Linear Regression, Histogram, Cutoffs - The parallel package has grown more features - Tons of bug fixes Resources --------- Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=116959 Homepage: http://mdp-toolkit.sourceforge.net Mailing list: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=116959 -- Pietro Berkes Volen Center for Complex Systems Brandeis University Waltham, MA, USA Niko Wilbert Institute for Theoretical Biology Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany Tiziano Zito Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany