From yann.renard at irisa.fr Fri Oct 1 10:02:21 2010 From: yann.renard at irisa.fr (Yann Renard) Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:02:21 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: New release of OpenViBE 0.8.0 Message-ID: <4CA5E9ED.3040200@irisa.fr> New release of *OpenViBE* 0.8.0 "Autumn edition" is now available for download at : === Overview ========================================= OpenViBE is an opensource platform that enables to design, test and use Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). Broadly speaking, OpenViBE can be used in many real-time Neuroscience applications. The OpenViBE platform stands out for its high modularity. It addresses the needs of different types of users (programmers and non-programmers) and proposes a user-friendly graphical language which allows non-programmers to design a BCI without writing a single line of code. OpenViBE is portable, independent of hardware or software targets, can run under Windows and Linux and is entirely based on free and open-source software. OpenViBE is compatible with MATLAB programming. OpenViBE comes with preconfigured scenarios and runs already existing applications such as : * BCI based on motor imagery * P300 speller * Neurofeedback * Real-time visualization of brain activity in 2D or 3D OpenViBE is available under the terms of the LGPL-v2+. The whole software is developed in C++. It consists of a set of software modules that can be integrated easily and efficiently to design BCI applications such as for Virtual Reality interaction. === Where to get more information ==================== If you want more details, check these links : *Website* *Quick introduction video* : *Software download* : *One-hour training session video* : *Screenshots and videos* : === What changed since 0.7.0 ? ======================= In this new release, you will find the following modifications (+ for adds, * for modifications, - for removes) : + Matthieu Goyat and Guillaume Lio contributed a box to join multiple signal streams in a single stream + Matthieu Goyat contributed an update to the Sound Player box to make it work on Windows + Yann Renard contributed a Brainamp Series driver using Brain Products low level API + We added a driver for the Emotiv EPOC + We implemented impedance check on the TMSi Refa driver + We updated the Brain Products VAmp driver to support FirstAmp8 + We multithreaded the acquisition server for better performance and synchronization + We significantly enhanced drift management in the acquisition server + We added a driver seketon generator for driver developers + We restored the handball VR application for interaction from the motor imagery BCI + We added a box to compute the power of a spectrum frequency band + We added a box to rename signal channels + We added a SVM classifier (based on libsvm) * We updated the ModularEEG driver * We updated the temporal filter box to correct errors - should be very close to MATLAB now * We moved from libglade to gtk_builder allowing upgrading GTK * We updated windows dependencies to it++ 4.0.7, vrpn 7.26, boost 1.42, cmake 2.8.2, gtk 2.16.6 * We updated the online documentation and tutorials * We updated many documentation pages * We fixed lots of bugs ! A more detailed list of the changelog can be found on the dedicated topic of the forum. === Special note ===================================== Due to licence limitations, the Emotiv EPOC driver is not included in the pre-compiled package for Windows. See for details about how to build this driver. === What's coming in the next release(s) ============= Here is a snapshot of what we are currently doing and what you can expect from the next release(s) : + An updated/stable Brain Products driver through Vision Recorder should be available + An EGI acquisition driver through AmpServer Pro should be available + Sample scenarios and VR demos should unable the use of SSVEP + Visual C++ Express 2010 will definitely be supported ... === Closing words ==================================== We want to thank Matthieu Goyat and Guillaume Lio for their contributions. We also want to thank again all the forum and bug tracker participants who help in making the software better every day. Feel free to join us and to contribute as Matthieu, Guillaume and others are doing... ! Looking forward to hearing your feedback, we hope you'll enjoy working with OpenViBE as we do. Best regards, The OpenViBE consortium *Contact* : Project Leader : Anatole L?cuyer, INRIA (anatole.lecuyer at irisa.fr) Lead Software Engineer : Yann Renard, INRIA (yann.renard at irisa.fr) From juergen at idsia.ch Mon Oct 4 06:17:58 2010 From: juergen at idsia.ch (Schmidhuber Juergen) Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 12:17:58 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: handwriting - fast deep nets & recurrent nets / formal theory of creativity / Nobels Message-ID: <4BB88E13-163D-4DA9-8E5C-C7C77D300A3F@idsia.ch> Neural networks achieved the best known performance in various handwriting recognition contests. (1) For isolated digits we use deep feedforward neural nets trained by an ancient algorithm: backprop. No fashionable unsupervised pre- training is necessary! But graphics cards are used to accelerate learning by a factor of 50. This is sufficient to clearly outperform numerous previous, more complex machine learning methods on the famous MNIST benchmark. (2) For connected handwriting we use our bi-directional or multi- dimensional LSTM recurrent neural networks, which learn to maximize the probabilities of label sequences, given raw training sequences. This method won several handwriting competitions at ICDAR 2009. There is an overview web page with papers in Neural Computation, IEEE Transactions PAMI, NIPS, ICDAR: http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/handwriting.html Do the recent results herald a rennaissance of good old-fashioned neural networks? --- Also available: a survey in IEEE TAMD (just came out) on the formal theory of creativity and what's driving science / art / music / humor - the simple algorithmic principles of artificial scientists & artists. Here the overview web page (with a video including attempts at applying the new theory of humor): http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/creativity.html Cheers, JS PS: Also available for those interested in the history of science: Evolution of National Nobel Prize Shares in the 20th Century. http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/nobelshare.html . Other recent events: http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/whatsnew.html From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Mon Oct 4 14:31:42 2010 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 19:31:42 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer): (Free Access) Vol. 2, No.3 / Sep 2010 References: <4586B0B1C8684434BE41413C36A645D8@cs.ad.stir.ac.uk> Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings!) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 2, No. 3 / Sep 2010, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 You will be pleased to know that ALL (full) published articles in Cognitive Computation are FREELY AVAILABLE for access/download through December 31, 2010. The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Sep 2010, (in PDF) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 2, No. 3 / Sep 2010, can be found at the end of this message (followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive). Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted ========================================== Reminder: New Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ========================================== To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have now set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group". Within this group you all have the possibility to start a discussion with your fellow researchers - e.g. on future topics in Cognitive Computation - or to post a job vacancy or news item - e.g. forthcoming conferences or seminars. On a regular basis you will also receive a digest of the group's activity (including the journal's Table of Contents Alert, Call for Papers for forthcoming Special Issues, lists of most cited, downloaded and On-line First published papers). For those of you unfamiliar with LinkedIn (the world's largest professional network site), you can find more information by visiting LinkedIn 101: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/LinkedIn+101.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-957440-0 - We are confident that this group will be an invaluable addition to the Cognitive Computation community and we warmly invite you to join our group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048! For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Dr. Martijn Roelandse: martijn.roelandse at springer.com 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 peer review all papers within approximately four weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues (five are already planned for 2010-11!). With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk 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.2, No.3 / Sep 2010 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All issues free access in 2010! Special Issue: Non-Linear and Non-Conventional Speech Processing; Guest Editors: Jordi Sol?-Casals, Vladimir Zaiats, and Enric Monte-Moreno Non-Linear and Non-Conventional Speech Processing: Alternative Techniques Jordi Sol?-Casals, Vladimir Zaiats and Enric Monte-Moreno http://www.springerlink.com/content/x72240653730k85t/ A Criterion for Analysis of Different Sensor Combinations with an Application to Face Biometrics Virginia Espinosa-Dur?, Marcos Faundez-Zanuy, Jir? Mekyska and Enric Monte-Moreno http://www.springerlink.com/content/l6kt182141665n45/ Phoneme Recognition by Means of a Growing Hierarchical Recurrent Self-Organizing Model Based on Locally Adapting Neighborhood Radii Chiraz Jlassi, Najet Arous and Noureddine Ellouze http://www.springerlink.com/content/gk24284138698523/ Autocorrelation of the Speech Multi-Scale Product for Voicing Decision and Pitch Estimation Mohamed Anouar Ben Messaoud, A?cha Bouzid and Noureddine Ellouze http://www.springerlink.com/content/q87t415115361whh/ Reducing Features Using Discriminative Common Vectors Carlos M. Travieso, Marcos del Pozo, Miguel A. Ferrer and Jes?s B. Alonso http://www.springerlink.com/content/pn94220842t15051/ Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Ataxia SCA-2 Using a Blind Source Separation Algorithm Rodolfo V. Garc?a, Fernando Rojas, Carlos G. Puntonet, Bel?n San Rom?n and Luis Vel?zquez, et al. http://www.springerlink.com/content/m8273xm1nh45q057/ Evaluation of Automatic Formant Tracking Method Using Fourier Ridges Imen Jemaa, Ka?s Ouni and Yves Laprie http://www.springerlink.com/content/486086104126wq83/ Bidirectional LSTM Networks for Context-Sensitive Keyword Detection in a Cognitive Virtual Agent Framework Martin W?llmer, Florian Eyben, Alex Graves, Bj?rn Schuller and Gerhard Rigoll http://www.springerlink.com/content/tm872274m2412516/ A Non-Linear VAD for Noisy Environments Jordi Sol?-Casals and Vladimir Zaiats http://www.springerlink.com/content/h3446531865k8223/ Cognitive Architectures for Affect and Motivation Darryl N. Davis http://www.springerlink.com/content/jt56541652366784/ First Words Learning: A Cortical Model Alessio Plebe, Marco Mazzone and Vivian De la Cruz http://www.springerlink.com/content/u60117668u672m21/ Flexible Latching: A Biologically-Inspired Mechanism for Improving the Management of Homeostatic Goals Philipp Rohlfshagen and Joanna J. Bryson http://www.springerlink.com/content/j4m2703116212727/ Experimental Case Studies for Investigating E-Banking Phishing Techniques and Attack Strategies Maher Aburrous, M. A. Hossain, Keshav Dahal and Fadi Thabtah http://www.springerlink.com/content/74jm3j1ww08g3716/ ----------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview ----------------------------------- The full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included 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 Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/1/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included 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/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From david.verstraeten at elis.ugent.be Sun Oct 10 09:30:28 2010 From: david.verstraeten at elis.ugent.be (David Verstraeten) Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:30:28 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: OrGanic Environment for Reservoir Computing (OGER) toolbox v1.0 released Message-ID: <06580698-860D-4994-93F9-D0A8BF8EED99@elis.ugent.be> We are glad to announce the first official release of OGER (OrGanic Environment for Reservoir computing), a Python toolbox for rapidly building, training and evaluating modular learning architectures on large datasets. OGER is available from http://organic.elis.ugent.be/oger . OGER builds functionality on top of the well-known Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP). Through MDP, Oger provides: ? Easily building, training and using modular structures of learning algorithms ? A wide variety of state-of-the-art machine learning methods, such as PCA, ICA, SFA, RBMs, .. The Oger toolbox adds functionality to this such as: ? Several additional nodes such as Reservoir Computing nodes, a ridge regression node, a Conditional RBM node and a perceptron node ? Easy parallelization on computing clusters ? GPU-based acceleration ? Cross-validation and grid-searching of large parameter spaces ? Processing of sequential or temporal datasets ? Recursive generation of sequences ? Gradient-based training of (deep) learning architectures ? Interface to the Speech Processing, Recognition, and Automatic Annotation Kit (SPRAAK) ? Interface to PyNN-compatible spiking neural network simulators Several tutorials and example datasets are provided to demonstrate the capabilities of OGER. The tutorials include: - Modeling of place-cells for a robot with a reservoir with SFA and ICA - Classification of MNIST data using a Deep-Belief Network with perceptron readout - Constructing and training a TRM (Temporal Reservoir Machine) modular architecture - ... The OGER toolbox has been funded by the EU FP7 project ORGANIC. ---------------------------------------- Dr. ir. David Verstraeten Reservoir lab Department of Electronics and Information Systems Ghent University Website: http://snn.elis.ugent.be/david Address: Sint Pietersnieuwstraat 41 B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Phone : +32 9 264 34 04 Fax: + 32 9 264 35 94 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101010/468ecdf9/attachment-0001.html From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Mon Oct 11 19:08:24 2010 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:08:24 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Training Fellowships @ Gatsby Message-ID: <20101011230824.GA1449@gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Postdoctoral Training Fellowship - Theoretical Neuroscience Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit invites applications for postdoctoral training fellowships in theoretical neuroscience and related areas. The Unit is a centre for theoretical neuroscience and machine learning. Present members have interests spanning the interpretation of neural data, population coding, perceptual processing, neural dynamics, neuromodulation, and learning. The Unit also has significant interests across a range of areas in machine learning. The Unit provides a unique environment in which a critical mass of theoreticians interact closely with each other and with other world-class research groups in related departments at UCL, including Anatomy, Computer Science, the Ear Institute, Functional Imaging, Physics, Physiology, Psychology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, and Statistics, and the cross-faculty Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning. The Unit's visitor and seminar programmes enable staff and students to engage with leading researchers from across the world. Candidates must have a strong analytical background and demonstrable interest and expertise in theoretical neuroscience. Main duties involve undertaking original high quality research produce publications, conference papers and other research outputs in the area of theoretical neuroscience and related fields. The appointment will be on UCL Grade 7. The salary range will be ?34,466 - ?38,441 per annum, inclusive of London Allowance. The post is initially funded for 2 years. Candidates must have a PhD in a relevant subject area by the agreed start date of the position and possess an expert knowledge of the field of theoretical neuroscience and associated research techniques and methodologies. For further details about the vacancy or to apply online see https://atsv7.wcn.co.uk/saf/login.cgi?owner=5041178&ownertype=fair&jcode=1160497&external=51530 The closing date is 29/10/2010. Interviews will be held around the 01/12/2010. If you have any enquiries regarding the vacancy please contact pel at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk; or the application process, please contact asstadmin at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk UCL Taking Action for Equality From b.telenczuk at biologie.hu-berlin.de Tue Oct 12 06:13:57 2010 From: b.telenczuk at biologie.hu-berlin.de (Bartosz Telenczuk) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:13:57 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Open PostDoc position @ Charite-Berlin Message-ID: <30384413-439C-4261-B3D8-6A61201F1A63@biologie.hu-berlin.de> Dear all, A new position on experimental/computational neuroscience has just been announced on FENS: http://fens.mdc-berlin.de/jobs/?status=valid&limit=10&action=read&jobid=26826 Topic: ?Spatio-temporal dynamics of ongoing neuronal oscillations in basal ganglia/ thalamus and their implications for movement disorders? A full-time postdoctoral position is available in the Neurophysics Group at the Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology of Charit? - University Medicine Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin. The aim of the project is to investigate complex spatio-temporal dynamics in LFP/EEG oscillations recorded in patients with electrodes implanted for Deep Brain Stimulation. The project will adapt concepts from statistical physics, fractal measures (e.g., long-range temporal correlations), synchronization, and entropy features of LFP/EEG in order to address cortico-subcortical mechanisms of motor and cognitive behavior. The position is integrated into a large clinical project focusing on mechanisms of therapeutic effects of Deep Brain Stimulation. The position is open for three years, starting November/December 2010. A candidate should hold a PhD, e.g., in neuroscience, psychology, computer science, biomedical engineering, physics, applied mathematics, or/and MD with experiences in clinical neurophysiology. Experience with multi-channel EEG/MEG/LFP recordings and data analysis (e.g. with Matlab/Python) is an advantage. Applications, including CV and contact information for 2 referees, should be sent to Dr. Vadim Nikulin; vadim.nikulin at charite.de From m.kaiser at newcastle.ac.uk Tue Oct 5 13:14:27 2010 From: m.kaiser at newcastle.ac.uk (Marcus Kaiser) Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 18:14:27 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 4-year PhD programme in Systems Neuroscience (Newcastle University) Message-ID: Dear all, our Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme in systems neuroscience, aimed at applicants from the physical sciences (physics, engineering, mathematics, or computer science), is now accepting applications for studentships starting in September 2011 (see below). Research areas include Neuroinformatics, Computational Neuroscience, Neuroimaging (fMRI, DTI, EEG, ECoG), Brain Connectivity, and Brain Dynamics (simulations and time series analysis). Best, Marcus Systems Neuroscience: From Networks to Behaviour - sponsored by the Wellcome Trust Programme Directors: Prof Miles Whittington, Prof Tim Griffiths and Dr Marcus Kaiser The Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University integrates more than 100 principal investigators across medicine, psychology, computer science, and engineering. Research in systems, cellular, computational, and behavioural neuroscience. Laboratory facilities include auditory and visual psychophysics; rodent, monkey, and human neuroimaging (EEG, fMRI, PET); TMS; optical recording, multi-electrode neurophysiology, confocal and fluorescence imaging, high-throughput computing and e-science, artificial sensory-motor devices, clinical testing, and the only brain bank for molecular changes in human brain development The Wellcome Trust?s Four-year PhD Programmes are a flagship scheme aimed at supporting the most promising students to undertake in-depth postgraduate research training. The first year combines taught courses with three laboratory rotations to broaden students? knowledge of the subject area. At the end of the first year, students will make an informed choice of their three-year PhD research project. This programme is based at Newcastle University and is aimed to provide specialised training for physical and computational scientists (e.g. physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) wishing to apply their skills to a research neuroscience career. Eligibility/Person Specification: Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a 1st or 2:1 degree, or equivalent, in a physical sciences, engineering, mathematics or computing degree. Value of the award: Support includes a stipend for 4 years, PhD registration fees at UK/EU student rate, research expenses, general training funds and some travel costs. How to apply: You must apply through the University's online postgraduate application form (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/ ) inserting the reference number IN042 and selecting PhD Faculty of Medical Sciences - Neuroscience (full time) as the programme of study. Only mandatory fields need to be completed (no personal statement required) and a covering letter, CV and (if English is not your first language) a copy of your English language qualifications must be attached. The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, quote the reference number ION64 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project. The deadline for receiving applications is 14 January 2011. You should also send your covering letter and CV to Helen Stewart, Postgraduate Secretary, Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, or by email to h.stewart at ncl.ac.uk . For more information, see http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ion/postgrad/research/wellcome/ -- Marcus Kaiser, Ph.D. Reader (Associate Professor) in Neuroinformatics School of Computing Science Newcastle University Claremont Tower Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK http://www.biological-networks.org/? From berens at tuebingen.mpg.de Tue Oct 12 12:47:00 2010 From: berens at tuebingen.mpg.de (Philipp Berens) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:47:00 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position: Neural Mechanisms of Perception and Learning Message-ID: Sent on behalf of Andreas Tolias, BCM. We have a position at the level of postdoctoral fellow or research associate available available to study the neuronal mechanisms that govern perception and learning. Our focus is to understand the mechanisms of these processes at the circuit level in the visual system. To this end, we employ methods that allow us to study the properties of network of neurons in vivo during behavior. Specifically, we use chronic arrays of tetrodes and in vivo two-photon imaging combined with psychophysical and computational methods. We have developed the capability to record from the same individual neurons across multiple days in awake, behaving primates that gives us the unique opportunity to study how circuits reorganize in vivo during learning. Our lab has also strong interest to develop new technologies to record from interconnected neural circuits using novel imaging and multi-electrode recording methods and also to develop methods ? including optogenetic and electrical microstimulatio! n tools - to manipulate the activity of circuits in vivo. The research scientist for this position will brain mechanisms of perception and learning using multi-electrode recordings methods and will have the possibility to combine them with optical methods. Baylor College of Medicine is an equal opportunity employer. Please contact Andreas Tolias, astolias at bcm.edu -- Philipp Berens - http://www.kyb.mpg.de/~berens Computational Vision & Neuroscience Group Max-Planck-Institut f?r Biologische Kybernetik, T?bingen Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX From christian.faubel at ini.rub.de Tue Oct 12 18:04:42 2010 From: christian.faubel at ini.rub.de (christian faubel) Date: 13 Oct 2010 00:04:42 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Doctoral and postdoctoral positions, Inst. f. Neuroinformatik, Univ. Bochum Message-ID: On behalf of Professor Sch?ner: Several research positions (doctoral student and postdoctoral levels) are available at the Institut fur Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum http://www.ini.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/top.html These positions are in the context of major research projects centered on human movement generation scene representations behavioral sequences Theoretical modeling work is structured by Dynamic Field Theory, a version of continuous neural activation dynamics at the population level. Principles of learning play a role as well. Experimental work is in autonomous robotics as well as in behavioral experimentation on human movement. We use cognitive robotics implementations of the theoretical models to test for feasibility, and scaling of theoretical ideas and to derive heuristics for human experiment. We also look at real-world applications. We are seeking individuals with varied backgrounds: = computer scientists or engineers with programming skills and no fear of mathematics = mathematicians or physicists with mathematical skill and interest in the cognitive sciences = psychologists, biologists, or cognitive scientists with experimental skills and no fear of mathematics Please apply by email to gregor.schoener at rub.de, including a statement of interest, a CV, and material that gives some information on grades achieved in your university education. Selection will begin immediately until all positions are filled. We encourage applications by women and minorities. -- Dr. Christian Faubel | Office: ND04/589a Institut f?r Neuroinformatik | Tel: +49 234 3224231 Theory of cognitive systems | FAX: +49 234 3214209 Ruhr-University Bochum | 44780 Bochum GERMANY | -------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101012/dd499e0a/attachment-0001.html From terry at salk.edu Tue Oct 12 18:12:11 2010 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:12:11 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - November, 2010 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 22, Number 11 - November 1, 2010 ARTICLE Comparing Classification Methods for Longitudinal fMRI Studies Tanya Schmah, Grigori Yourganov, Richard S. Zemel LETTERS How Are Lateral Chromatic Interactions Computed from Cone Signals? Christian Wehrhahn and Harald J. Teufel A Fast Lp Spike Alignment Metric Alexander J. Dubbs, Brad A. Seiler, and Marcelo O. Magnasco The Neuronal Replicator Hypothesis Chrisantha Fernando, Richard Goldstein, and Eors Szathmary Rademacher Chaos Complexity for Learning the Kernel Problem Yiming Ying and Colin Campbell A Conditional Entropy Minimization Criterion for Dimensionality Reduction and Multiple Kernel Learning Hideitsu Hino and Noboru Murata Window-Based Example Selection in Learning Vector Quantization A. W. Witoelar, A. Ghosh, J.J.G. de Vries, B. Hammer, and M. Biehl A Novel Recurrent Neural Network with Finite-Time Convergence for Linear Programming Qingshan Liu, Jinde Cao, and Guanrong Chen ----- ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2010 - VOLUME 22 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic only Student/Retired $65 $128 $60 Individual $115 $178 $107 Institution $962 $1,025 $860 Canada: Add 5% GST to USA prices 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 jaakko.peltonen at tkk.fi Wed Oct 13 13:04:01 2010 From: jaakko.peltonen at tkk.fi (jaakko.peltonen@tkk.fi) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:04:01 +0300 (EEST) Subject: Connectionists: CFP: ICANN 2011 - Machine learning re-inspired by brain and cognition Message-ID: =================================================================== First Call for Papers: ICANN 2011 The Twentieth Anniversary ICANN is back at its roots: Machine learning re-inspired by brain and cognition International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks 14 - 17 June 2011, Espoo, Finland http://www.cis.hut.fi/icann2011 IMPORTANT DATES: Submission of full papers: Jan 14, 2011 Notification of acceptance: March 1, 2011 Camera-ready paper and author registration: April 1, 2011 Advance registration before: April 15, 2011 =================================================================== The International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN) is the annual flagship conference of the European Neural Network Society (ENNS). In 2011, ICANN returns to its roots after 20 years. The very first ICANN in 1991 was organized at Helsinki University of Technology in Espoo, Finland. We invite all neural network researchers worldwide to join us in celebrating this 20th anniversary of ICANN and to see the latest advancements in our fast progressing field. ICANN 2011 will have two tracks: Brain-inspired computing and Machine learning research, with PC chairs from both worlds and a renewed reviewing system. Keynote speakers and competitions will highlight cross-disciplinary interactions and applications. CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS: Riitta Hari, Aalto University, http://ltl.tkk.fi/wiki/Riitta_Hari Geoffrey Hinton, University of Toronto, http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~hinton/ Aapo Hyvarinen, University of Helsinki, http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/ahyvarin/ ORGANIZATION: General chair: Erkki Oja Program co-chairs: Wlodzislaw Duch, Mark Girolami, Timo Honkela, Samuel Kaski Local chair: Amaury Lendasse Publicity chair: Jaakko Peltonen Organizing committee members: Francesco Corona, Krista Lagus, Yoan Miche, Ilari Nieminen, Mari-Sanna Paukkeri, Tapani Raiko, Ricardo Vigario VENUE: ICANN 2011 will be held in the Dipoli Congress Center located on the beautiful campus of Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology), in Espoo (8km west from the city centre of Helsinki). CONFERENCE TOPICS: ICANN 2011 will feature two main tracks: Brain inspired computing and Machine learning research, with strong cross-disciplinary interactions and applications. A non-exhaustive list of topics: - Brain inspired computing: Connectionist cognitive science, Neural and hybrid architectures and learning algorithms, Neural control and planning, Reinforcement learning, Computational neuroscience, Neural dynamics and complex systems, Self-organization, Neuro- cognitive architectures - Machine learning research: Graphical models, Bayesian networks, Kernel methods, Generative models, Relational learning, Online learning, Dynamical models, Reinforcement learning - Applications and cross-disciplinary connections: Data analysis, Pattern recognition, Signal and time series processing, Blind source separation, Hardware implementations and embedded systems, Intelligent multimedia, Knowledge management, Multimodal interfaces, Vision and image processing, Speech and language processing, Robotics applications, Intelligent control, Neuroinformatics, Bioinformatics, Biomedical applications, Brain- computer interfaces, Critical infrastructure systems, Complex networks WORKSHOPS: A call for workshops will be opened in October. WSOM 2011, the 8th Workshop on Self-Organizing Maps (13-15 June 2011) will be co-located with ICANN 2011. COMPETITIONS: Mind reading competition on MEG data META-NET Multimodal Machine Translation Challenge PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Details will be available soon on the web site. ICANN 2011 is supported by ENNS. ====== See http://www.cis.hut.fi/icann2011 for more details! ====== From jose at psychology.rutgers.edu Thu Oct 14 11:58:00 2010 From: jose at psychology.rutgers.edu (Stephen Hanson) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:58:00 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Neuroimaging Faculty Position Rutgers University- New Imaging Center RUBIC Message-ID: <75F6077A-96D6-4FAA-A3E6-2AEFFF2816FE@psychology.rutgers.edu> Please see attached for position details. Please send me any queries: jose at psychology.rutgers.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Search2010.pages Type: application/octet-stream Size: 123867 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101014/f3b4d899/Search2010-0001.obj From choe at cs.tamu.edu Thu Oct 14 13:35:14 2010 From: choe at cs.tamu.edu (Yoonsuck Choe) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:35:14 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Connectionists: IJCNN 2011 Call for neuroscience abstracts and full conference info Message-ID: * Apologies for cross-posting * Dear connectionists, This is sent on behalf or the IJCNN 2011 organizing commitee. This email is in two parts: (1) Call for neuroscience abstracts, and (2) call for regular papers. 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks San Jose, California July 31 - August 5, 2011 Website: http://www.ijcnn2011.org Deadlines: Abstracts: February 1, 2011. Papers: February 1, 2011 Tutorial/Workshop Proposals: December 1, 2010 Special Session Proposals: December 1, 2010 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /////// PART I: Call for neuroscience abstracts ///////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Call for Abstracts 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks – IJCNN 2011 San Jose, California July 31 - August 5, 2011 Abstract submissions are invited for a special Neuroscience and Neurocognition Track at IJCNN 2011. The abstracts must focus on areas broadly related to neurobiology, cognitive science and systems biology, including – but not limited to – the following: * Computational neuroscience. * Computational models of perception, cognition and behavior. * Models of learning and memory. * Brain-machine interfaces and neural prostheses. * Brain-inspired cognitive models. * Neuroinformatics. * Neuroevolution and development. * Models of neurological diseases and treatments * Systems and computational biology. Recognizing that some of the most exciting current research in neural networks is being done by researchers in neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and systems biology, the abstracts program seeks participation from the broader community of scientists in these areas by offering an accessible forum for the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. It will also provide researchers – especially doctoral students and postdocs – with an opportunity to showcase ongoing research in advance of its publication in journals. Abstracts must be no longer than 500 words plus as many as 5 bibliographic citations. No figures or tables can be included. Abstracts should be submitted through the IJCNN online submission system by February 1, 2011. Unlike full papers, abstracts will receive only limited review to ensure their appropriateness for IJCNN and consistency with the focus areas of the abstracts program. Authors of accepted abstracts will be guaranteed a poster presentation at the conference. The authors of a limited number of exceptionally high-quality abstracts will be invited to give oral presentations, and possibly to submit full papers for the IJCNN 2011 special issue of the Elsevier journal, Neural Networks. Abstracts will not be included in the conference proceedings, but will be published on-line by the International Neural Network Society along with abstracts for all presentations at IJCNN 2011. For details and updates, please check the conference website: http://www.ijcnn2011.org Chairs of the Organizing Committee: General Chair: Ali A. Minai (University of Cincinnati) Program Chair: Hava Siegelmann (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Technical Co-Chairs: Michael Georgiopoulos (University of Central Florida) Cesare Alippi (Politecnico di Milano) IJCNN 2011 is organized jointly by the International Neural Network Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /////// PART II: Call for papers //////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks San Jose, California July 31 - August 5, 2011 Website: http://www.ijcnn2011.org Submissions are invited for the 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks to be held at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose, California, July 31 – August 5, 2011. The conference is organized jointly by the International Neural Networks Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. The range of topics covered includes, but is not limited to: * Neural network theory & models. * Collective intelligence. * Computational neuroscience. * Pattern recognition. * Cognitive models. * Machine vision. * Brain-machine interfaces. * Hybrid systems. * Embodied robotics. * Self-aware systems. * Evolutionary neural systems. * Data mining. * Neurodynamics. * Sensor networks. * Neuroinformatics. * Agent-based systems. * Neuroengineering. * Computational biology. * Neural hardware. * Bioinformatics * Neural network applications. * Artificial life. The conference will feature: * Contributed technical talks and posters describing the latest research from around the world. * Plenary lectures by world-famous researchers in neural networks and related fields. * Special sessions covering topics of active current interest. * Pre-conference tutorials and post-conference workshops with presentations by experts. * Challenging competitions on applying neural networks to difficult computational problems. Submission Deadlines: Papers: February 1, 2011 Tutorial/Workshop Proposals: December 1, 2010 Special Session Proposals: December 1, 2010 Competition Proposals: August 31, 2010 Chairs of the Organizing Committee: General Chair: Ali A. Minai (University of Cincinnati) Program Chair: Hava Siegelmann (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Technical Co-Chairs: Michael Georgiopoulos (University of Central Florida) Cesare Alippi (Politecnico di Milano) Please check the conference website for updates: http://www.ijcnn2011.org --- Yoonsuck Choe, Ph.D. Dept. of Comp. Sci. & Engineering Associate Professor Texas A&M University Director, Brain Networks Laboratory 3112 TAMU Email: choe at tamu.edu, choe at cs.tamu.edu College Station, TX 77843-3112 WWW: http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/choe Phone: +1-979-845-5466 Lab: http://research.cs.tamu.edu/bnl Fax: +1-979-847-8578 From ctf20 at sussex.ac.uk Sun Oct 17 07:38:05 2010 From: ctf20 at sussex.ac.uk (Chrisantha Fernando) Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:38:05 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: The Neuronal Replicator Hypothesis In-Reply-To: <6B6D5897-942B-4E52-B880-B4AAB1991248@uni-oldenburg.de> References: <6B6D5897-942B-4E52-B880-B4AAB1991248@uni-oldenburg.de> Message-ID: Dear All, May I kindly draw your attention to our new paper on "The Neuronal Replicator Hypothesis". http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/NECO_a_00031?journalCode=neco Best Wishes, Chrisantha Fernando Sussex University http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ctf20/dphil_2005/publications.htm From m.hennig at ed.ac.uk Fri Oct 15 18:27:37 2010 From: m.hennig at ed.ac.uk (Matthias H. Hennig) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:27:37 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: RA position in next generation MEA data analysis Message-ID: <201010152327.37999.m.hennig@ed.ac.uk> A postdoctoral position is being offered under a BBSRC grant awarded to Dr Evelyne Sernagor (Newcastle), Dr Stephen Eglen (Cambridge) and Dr Matthias Hennig (Edinburgh). The aim of the project is to develop computational techniques for the analysis and visualisation of electrophysiological data recorded from 4096 electrode arrays. The cutting-edge technology high density multi-electrode array (MEA) has been developed by collaborators in Genova, Italy. The Research Associate is expected to implement and test novel algorithms for the high volume of data generated by these MEAs. The candidate is anticipated to work mainly in Newcastle, where the biological experiments will be performed, although it may be possible for him/her to be located in either Edinburgh or Cambridge. There will also be the possibility for the candidate to perform MEA recordings. The job will involve significant travel to project partners for algorithm development (including to Genova). The ideal candidate will have a first degree in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering or Computer Sciences, and a PhD in Computational Neuroscience or a closely-related discipline. He/She should have an interest in developmental neuroscience and will be expected to be able to interact with colleagues across disciplines. Experience in developing computational algorithms in C/Matlab/R is essential. Good communication skills are also essential. The post is funded for 11 months. Salary: Up to a maximum of ?28983 depending on experience/qualifications Informal enquiries can be made directly with any of the three investigators (evelyne.sernagor at ncl.ac.uk, S.J.Eglen at damtp.cam.ac.uk, m.hennig at ed.ac.uk). Formal applications must be made via the Newcastle University vacancies website. The post will be advertised on http://www.ncl.ac.uk/vacancies/jobs/ from the 17th of October. Please follow job reference A765R (IoN). Closing date: 20 November 2010 -- Matthias Hennig, IANC, Informatics, Univ Edinburgh http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mhennig/ The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From erik at tnb.ua.ac.be Thu Oct 14 07:52:21 2010 From: erik at tnb.ua.ac.be (Erik De Schutter) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:52:21 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: PhD and Postdoc positions in network modeling of the olivocerebellar system Message-ID: <5316D8EE-F4AF-4B6E-A0B9-BB692FFC9560@tnb.ua.ac.be> The Computational Neuroscience Unit of Dr. Erik De Schutter at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (http://www.irp.oist.jp/cns/people.html) has two positions for large scale network modeling of the olivocerebellar circuit available. We have built in parallel NEURON an anatomically detailed 3D network model of cerebellar cortex with physiologically realistic neural spiking and synaptic properties. The goal is on one hand to further refine the cerebellar cortex model and expand it to include cerebellar nuclei and olivary nucleus and more detailed representation of mossy finer input. Meanwhile the model will be used to simulate different aspects of the function of this network, including but not limited to population coding in the cerebellar cortex, effect of distributed synaptic plasticity on cerebellar learning and the interaction between the multiple feedback loops present. Candidates are expected to interact with other researchers and students in the lab who are working on related modeling projects at the molecular, cellular and systems levels. We offer attractive financial and working conditions in an English language environment located on a beautiful subtropical island. More information about the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology is available at http://www.oist.jp/ Both positions are available immediately and will remain open till filled. Postdoc candidates should have experience in data-driven neural network modeling, preferentially using the NEURON simulator, or in cerebellar physiology. They will be employed by OIST. PhD candidates should have backgrounds in either neuroscience/neurophysiology or in theoretical sciences or informatics, a firm interest in biologically driven modeling is required. PhD candidates will be recruited under the CEREBNET ITN network and registered as students in biomedical sciences at the University of Antwerp, with a division of time between Belgium and Japan that is negotiable. Initial contracts for 2 years, extensible. 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 ubi at rmki.kfki.hu Thu Oct 14 11:03:31 2010 From: ubi at rmki.kfki.hu (Ujfalussy Balazs) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:03:31 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Connectionists: Budapest: study abroad program in cognitive science Message-ID: The Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science (in short BSCS) is an undergraduate study abroad program established in 2003 for students from the US and other countries aimed at broadening their understanding of cognitive science from an interdisciplinary perspective. The Program is run by the Hungarian Cognitive Science Association, the BSCS-US LLC, and is affiliated with E?tv?s University of Budapest (Hungary). "Budapest is an hub of a wide range of interdisciplinary studies and research; and is a vibrant city that boasts a bustling Central European experience with a growing, English-speaking academic community centered around the city's numerous prestigious Universities and Institutes. The capital of Hungary therefore is not only an economic, cultural end educational center of the region, but has also successfully adapted herself to the new global realities of the 21st century." For the 2011 Fall Semester we accept pre-registrations by December 15, 2010, applicaions until April 15, 2011. For details, see http://www.bscs-us.org/ and the Program Description there. We ask you to publicize the program for your students, if you feel it is appropriate. Thank you. P?ter ?rdi Co-Director bscs at bscsus.org From ilafiete at mail.clm.utexas.edu Wed Oct 20 00:10:50 2010 From: ilafiete at mail.clm.utexas.edu (Ila Fiete) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:10:50 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: COSYNE 2011: important dates Message-ID: <4CBE6BCA.9080605@mail.clm.utexas.edu> ==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING WORKSHOPS 24 - 27 Feb, 2011 28 Feb - 1 Mar, 2011 Salt Lake City, Utah Snow Bird Ski Resort, Utah http://www.cosyne.org ==================================================== The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience. The MAIN MEETING is arranged in a single track. A set of invited talks are selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, computation with spiking networks. INVITED SPEAKERS: David Anderson Alison Barth EJ Chichilnisky Tom Clandinin Stanislas Dehaene David Kleinfeld Peter Latham Roberto Malinow Tirin Moore Anna Nobre Murray Sherman Anthony Zador IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission opens: 25 Oct 2010 Abstract submission deadline: 24 Nov 2010 ABSTRACT PREPARATION: When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Anthony Zador (CSHL) Alexandre Pouget (U Rochester) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Anne Churchland (UWashington) and Bartlett Mel (USC) Program Chairs: Rachel Wilson (Harvard) and Jim DICarlo (MIT) Workshop Chairs: Mark Laubach (Yale) and Brent Doiron (U Pittsburgh) Publicity Chair: Ila Fiete (UT Austin) ________________________________ Ila Fiete Assistant Professor Center for Learning and Memory The University of Texas at Austin Phone: 512.232.8439 From v.steuber at herts.ac.uk Fri Oct 22 07:32:42 2010 From: v.steuber at herts.ac.uk (Volker Steuber) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:32:42 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: International PhD project at the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland) and University of Hertfordshire (UK) Message-ID: <4CC1765A.6030608@herts.ac.uk> International PhD project at the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland) and University of Hertfordshire (UK): Integrating evolution, morphogenesis and behaviour: a road towards embodied intelligence We are recruiting candidates for a PhD project that will be a part of a larger team effort in several collaborating labs in Europe. This effort aims at building a software platform that brings together evolution, morphogenesis and behaviour, a platform that is based on the principle of genome-physics interaction in shaping the morphogenesis and on the paradigm of indirect genotype-phenotype relationship (evolvable and efficient encoding of the features of an organism). Such a platform will allow to model the coevolution of the shape of the multicellular organism ("the body") and the way its behaviour is controlled ("the mind"). We believe that truly embodied intelligence can only be possible when mind-body co-evolution is allowed. A suitable candidate would be interested in biology, but no previous formal background in life sciences is required. It is essential that he or she would have good knowledge of object-oriented programming (C++ and/or Java). For the timely development of the project, it will be necessary to modify existing models of evolving gene regulatory networks (controlling behaviour of single cells), models of cell division and differentiation, including differentiation into sensors, actuators and neurons, and/or models of controlling the movement of complex bodies in the environment. One or several issues will be tackled by the candidate, depending on his or her interest, background and abilities, in close collaboration with other members of an international team of researchers. As the project will involve collaborative software development, the willingness to work in such an environment and a good command of English will be an important factor. More information: http://mpd.amu.edu.pl/projects/10.htm The duration of the graduate fellowship will be up to 4 years (2 will be spent in the UK and 2 in Poland). The deadline for complete applications is November 22, 2010. For informal inquiries please contact: Dr Maria Schilstra (http://strc.herts.ac.uk/bio/maria/), Dr Volker Steuber (http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/ ) or Dr Borys Wr?bel (www.evosys.org ). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101022/c383dc12/attachment.html From kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de Fri Oct 22 03:11:15 2010 From: kirsch at bcf.uni-freiburg.de (Janina Kirsch) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:11:15 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" is inviting applications Message-ID: <000f01cb71b8$51483940$f3d8abc0$@uni-freiburg.de> Neuroinformatics combines neuroscience and informatics research to develop and apply computational tools and approaches that are essential for understanding the structure and function of the brain. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% %% %% PhD-Positions %% %% Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" %% %% %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" (European Study Programme in Neuroinformatics) is inviting applications from students with a background in biology, mathematics, physics, computer science, or neuroscience (at the Master level or equivalent), in all cases with quantitative skills. Documented interest in research activities (e.g. demonstrated in the form of Master thesis work, or participation in research related activities) is of large importance. Fluency in English is mandatory. The four partners (Computational Biology Department, KTH, Sweden; National Centre for Biological sciences, Bangalore, India; Department of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK; Bernstein Center Freiburg, Germany) are all research leaders in the Neuroscience field, with complementary strengths. In addition, two associated partners, the Honda Research Institute and Nordita, participate. Each student will spend most of the time in two of the partner universities, and receive a joint (or double) PhD degree following successful completion of the studies. The mobility periods, as well as the courses a student will follow, will be tailored individually. During the PhD period each student has one main supervisor from each of the two universities granting the PhD degree. In the application process, students are asked to indicate and motivate their preferences regarding the constellation of partners and project ideas/areas. Excellent scholarship are available for students accepted to an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate programme. A stipend or employment contract will be provided to all selected PhD students during the study time, which will be between 3-4 years. Application deadline for 2011 intake is November 30, 2010. If you are interested, please visit our homepage: www.kth.se/eurospin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: EuroSPIN.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 108264 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101022/8875ab71/EuroSPIN-0001.pdf From terry at salk.edu Wed Oct 27 01:19:29 2010 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:19:29 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: UCSD Computational Neuroscience Graduate Training In-Reply-To: Message-ID: UCSD COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE Neurosciences Graduate Training Program - University of California, San Diego http://neurograd.ucsd.edu/doctoral/cnspec.html http://compneuro.salk.edu/ Application deadline: December 1, 2010 http://neurograd.ucsd.edu/admissions/index.html The goal of the Computational Neuroscience Graduate Program at UCSD is to train researchers who are equally at home measuring large-scale brain activity, analyzing the data with advanced computational techniques, and developing new models for brain development and function. Candidates from a wide range of backgrounds are invited to apply, including Biology, Psychology, Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics. The three major themes in the training program are: 1. Neurobiology of Neural Systems: Anatomy, physiology and behavior of systems of neurons. Using modern neuroanatomical, behavioral, neuropharmacological and electrophysiological techniques. Lectures, wet laboratories and computer simulations, as well as research rotations. Major new imaging and recording techniques also will be taught, including two-photon laser scanning microscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 2. Algorithms and Realizations for the Analysis of Neuronal Data: New algorithms and techniques for analyzing data obtained from physiological recording, with an emphasis on recordings from large populations of neurons with imaging and multielectrode recording techniques. New methods for the study of co-ordinated activity, such as multi-taper spectral analysis and Independent Component Analysis (ICA). 3. Neuroinformatics, Dynamics and Control of Systems of Neurons: Theoretical aspects of single cell function and emergent properties as many neurons interact among themselves and react to sensory inputs. A synthesis of approaches from mathematics and physical sciences as well as biology will be used to explore the collective properties and nonlinear dynamics of neuronal systems, as well as issues of sensory coding and motor control. Participating Faculty include: * Henry Abarbanel (Physics): Nonlinear and oscillatory dynamics; modeling central pattern generators in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion. * Thomas Albright (Salk Institute): Motion processing in primate visual cortex; linking single neurons to perception; fMRI in awake, behaving monkeys. Director, Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology * Darwin Berg (Neurobiology): Regulation synaptic components, assembly and localization, function and long-term stability. * Ed Callaway (Salk Institute): Neural circuits, visual perception, visual cortex Genetic tools for tracing neural pathways. * Gert Cauwenberghs (Bioengineering/Biology): Neuromorphic Engineering; analog VLSI chips; wireless recording and nanoscale instrumentation for neural systems; large-scale cortical modeling. * Sreekanth Chalasani (Salk): C. elegans: genes, networks and behavior Optical recording of olfactory processing. * Andrea Chiba (Cognitive Science): Spatial attention, associative learning, cholinergic neuromodulaiton of behavior, amygdala recordings * EJ Chichilnisky (Salk Institute): Retinal multielectrode recording; neural coding, visual perception. * Garrison Cottrell (Computer Science and Engineering): Dynamical neural network models and learning algorithms * Virginia De Sa (Cognitive Science): Computational basis of perception and learning; multi-sensory integration and contextual influences * Mark Ellisman (Neurosciences, School of Medicine): High resolution electron and light microscopy; anatomical reconstructions. * Fred Gage (Salk Institute): Neurogenesis and models of the hippocampus; neuronal diversity, neural stem cells. * Timothy Gentner (Psychology): Birdsong learning. Neuroethology of vocal communication and audition * Robert Hecht-Nielsen (Electrical and Computer Engineering): Neural computation and the functional organization of the cerebral cortex. * Steve Hillyard (Neurosciences): EEG, perception, attention, memory, Event related potentilas, SSVEP * Harvey Karten (Neurosciences, School of Medicine): Anatomical, physiological and computational studies of the retina and optic tectum of birds and squirrels * David Kleinfeld (Physics): Active sensation in rats; properties of neuronal assemblies; optical imaging of large-scale activity. * William Kristan (Neurobiology): Computational Neuroethology; functional and developmental studies of the leech nervous system, including studies of the bending reflex and locomotion. Director, Neurosciences Graduate Program at UCSD * Herbert Levine (Physics): Nonlinear dynamics and pattern formation in physical and biological systems, including cardiac dynamics and the growth and form of bacterial colonies * Scott Makeig (Institute for Neural Computation): Analysis of cognitive event-related brain dynamics and fMRI using time-frequency and Independent Component Analysis * Javier Movellan (Institute for Neural Computation): Sensory fusion and learning algorithms for continuous stochastic systems * Mikhael Rabinovich (Institute for Nonlinear Science): Dynamical systems analysis of the stomatogastric ganglion of the lobster and the antenna lobe of insects * Pamela Reinagel (Biology): Sensory and neural coding; natural scene statistics; recordings from the visual system of cats and rodents. * John Reynolds (Salk): Visual attention, cortex, psychophysics, neurophysiology, neural modeling * Massimo Scanziani (Biology): Neural circuits in the somotosensory cortex; physiology of synaptic transmission; inhibitory mechanisms. * Terrence Sejnowski (Salk Institute/Neurobiology): Computational models and physiological studies of synaptic, neuronal and network function. * Tanya Sharpee (Salk): Statistical physics and information theory approaches to sensory processing in natural auditory and visual environments. * Gabe Silva (Bioengineering): Cellular neural engineering * Nicholas Spitzer (Neurobiology): Regulation of ionic channels and neurotransmitters in developing neurons and neural function. * Charles Stevens (Salk Institute): Synaptic physiology; theoretical models of neuroanatomical scaling. * Roger Tsien (Chemistry): Second messenger systems in neurons; development of new optical and MRI probes of neuron function, including calcium indicators and caged neurotransmitters * Jing Wang (Biology): Representation of olfactory information in the nervous system of Drosophila * Ruth Williams (Mathematics): Probabilistic analysis of stochastic systems and continuous learning algorithms * Angela Yu (Cognitive Science): Sensory processing, attentional selection, perceptual decision-making, sensorimotor integration, learning, and adaptation. On-line applications: http://neurograd.ucsd.edu/admissions/index.html The deadline for completed application materials, including letters of recommendation, is December 1, 2010. ----- From dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk Wed Oct 27 02:12:53 2010 From: dayan at gatsby.ucl.ac.uk (Peter Dayan) Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:12:53 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Gatsby PhD Programme In-Reply-To: <20061013122857.GA10331@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> References: <20061013122857.GA10331@flies.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20101027061253.GA10983@gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL 4 year PhD Programme The Gatsby Unit is a centre for theoretical neuroscience and machine learning, focusing on unsupervised, semi-supervised and reinforcement learning, neural dynamics, population coding, Bayesian and nonparametric statistics, kernel methods, and applications of these to the analysis of perceptual processing, neural data, natural language processing, machine vision and bioinformatics. It provides a unique opportunity for a critical mass of theoreticians to interact closely with each other, and with other world-class research groups in related departments at UCL (University College London), including Anatomy, Computer Science, Functional Imaging, Physics, Physiology, Psychology, Neurology, Ophthalmology and Statistics, and in the cross-faculty Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning. The Unit always has openings for exceptional PhD candidates. Applicants should have a strong analytical background, a keen interest in neuroscience and/or machine learning and a relevant first degree, for example in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physics, Psychology or Statistics. The PhD programme lasts four years, including a first year of intensive instruction in techniques and research in theoretical neuroscience and machine learning. All students are fully funded, regardless of nationality. The Unit also welcomes applications from students with pre-secured funding or who are currently soliciting other scholarship/studentships. Full details of our programme, and how to apply, are available at: http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/phd/ For further details of research interests please see http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/research.html and the individual faculty webpages at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/members.html Applications for 2011 entry (commencing late September 2011) should be received no later than 7th January 2011. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend interview in the week commencing 21st March 2011. From jlw at cs.bham.ac.uk Wed Oct 27 11:21:08 2010 From: jlw at cs.bham.ac.uk (Jeremy Wyatt) Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:21:08 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 4 Posts in Computational Neuroscience: Birmingham UK Message-ID: <5A9BE779-F81E-4FAC-A903-41EED6D08002@cs.bham.ac.uk> University of Birmingham UK, Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics A new Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics (CN- CR, www.psychology.bham.ac.uk/cncr) has been launched, with a multimillion pound investment. The Centre combines research on human cognition, sensory and motor systems, and computational modelling with research on robotic systems leading towards a better understanding of both brain function and advanced robotics. The research will also be translated into innovative treatments for brain injuries and those with degenerative or developmental neurological disorders. We now seek applications for up to four posts associated with this centre. Chair in Computational Neuroscience (1 or 2 posts). Competitive package for an outstanding candidate. (Ref: 38207) You should have an international research record and be making a cutting-edge contribution to the field. Senior Lectureships or Lectureships (equivalent to US Associate and Assistant Professor respectively) in Computational Neuroscience (2 posts). Salary from ?45,155 to ?68,302 a year or from ?36,715 to ?49,342 a year (Ref: 47252) You will have a growing reputation in the field, a strong publication record and the potential to become a world leader. Informal enquiries: Professor Glyn Humphreys (0121 414 4930; g.w.humphreys at bham.ac.uk), Professor Chris Miall, Head of School of Psychology (0121 414 2867; r.c.miall at bham.ac.uk) and/or Dr Jeremy Wyatt, School of Computer Science (0121 414 4788; j.l.wyatt at bham.ac.uk) To download the details and submit an electronic application online visit: www.hr.bham.ac.uk/jobs -- Dr Jeremy L Wyatt Intelligent Robotics Lab School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~jlw || +44 121 414 4788 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101027/314807cb/attachment.html From osporns at indiana.edu Mon Oct 25 17:00:48 2010 From: osporns at indiana.edu (Olaf Sporns) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:00:48 -0400 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers Message-ID: <4CC5F000.5030004@indiana.edu> Frontiers in Neuroinformatics http://www.frontiersin.org/neuroinformatics/specialtopics/mapping_the_connectome__multi_/109 Special Topic Mapping the connectome: Multi-level analysis of brain connectivity Hosted By: Claus C. Hilgetag Olaf Sporns, Indiana University, USA Trygve B. Leergaard, University of Oslo, Norway Deadline for submission: 01 Mar 2011 The brain contains vast numbers of interconnected neurons that constitute functional networks. Structural descriptions of neuronal network elements and connections make up ?the connectome? of the brain, and are important for understanding normal brain function and disease-related dysfunction. A long-standing ambition of the neuroscience community is to achieve complete connectome maps for the human brain as well as primate and rodent brains. Currently, a wide repertoire of experimental tools is available for neural connectivity mapping at multiple levels of scale, from tracing of major pathways and trajectories, mapping of axonal distribution patterns, to the identification of the molecular properties of individual synapses. But, despite numerous connectivity studies through many decades, we are still far from achieving comprehensive descriptions of the connectome. There is increasing awareness that new neuroinformatics tools and strategies are needed to achieve the goal of compiling the brain?s connectome, and that any such effort will require systematic, large-scale approaches. Initial attempts involving systematic literature mining have yielded promising results, but more coordinated efforts are needed to collect, organize and disseminate connectome data sets. To this end, there is an urgent need to develop and identify neuroinformatics approaches that allow different levels of connectivity data to be described, integrated, compared, and shared within the broader neuroscience community. With this Special Topic, we aim to bring together different levels of connectivity analysis (from MRI-based methods, through axonal tracing techniques, to detailed EM-level synapse reconstructions), to elucidate neuroinformatics-related challenges at the level of data management, data comparison and analysis, and use of connectome data for neurocomputational models. We invite contributions related to all aspects of brain connectomics, with particular focus on state-of-the art tools for mapping connectivity, data sharing and comparison, and integration across different levels of mapping. This Special Topic of Frontiers in Neuroinformatics is dedicated to the memory of Rolf K?tter, a pioneer in the field of brain connectomics. Abstract Submission deadline: November 7, 2010 (1 page abstract). Article Submission deadline: March 1, 2011 (full article submission). -- Olaf Sporns, PhD Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Programs in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 -- Sporns O. (2011) Networks of the Brain. MIT Press, Cambridge. -- From ecuadros at spc.org.pe Sun Oct 17 20:33:36 2010 From: ecuadros at spc.org.pe (Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:33:36 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: CFP INNS event in Peru (deadline in October) Message-ID: Dear Connectionists, INNS is organizing the 2011 INNS International Educational Symposium on Neural Networks in Peru http://inns-iesnn.org You are all invited to submit your articles considering the following dates: - 2010-10-31: Paper Submission Deadline. - 2010-11-30: Notification of Acceptance. - 2010-12-15: Camera-Ready Paper Deadline. - 2011-01-25: Conference Begins. Submissions: http://inns.ucsp.edu.pe/ Programm Committee - James Dankert (BAE Systems, USA), Program Chair - Ajith Abraham (Machine Intelligence Research Labs, USA) - Jose Aguilar (University of Los Andes, Venezuela) - Aluizio Araujo (Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil) - Andre Carvalho (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) - Dragan Djurdjanovic (University of Texas, USA) - Pablo Estevez (University of Chile, Chile) - Roseli Francelin (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) - Fred Ham (Florida Institute of Technology, USA) - Sebastien Helie (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) - Er Meng Joo (NanyangTechnical University, Singapore) - Nik Kasabov (Auckland University of Technology, Australia) - Zhao Liang (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) - Jacek Mandziuk (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland) - Klaus Obermayer (TU Berlin, Germany) - Jose Principe (University of Florida, USA) - Danil Prokhorov (Toyota Tech Center, USA) - Marley Maria Velasco (PUC-Rio, Brazil) - Brijesh Verma (CQ University, Australia) - Fernando Von Zuben (Campinas University, Brazil) - Juyang Weng (Michigan State University, USA) Proposal for plenary talks are welcome. Please contact chair: "James Dankert" , regards **************************************************************** Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas. PhD Head of the School of Computer Science San Pablo Catholic University, Arequipa-Peru(www.ucsp.edu.pe) Peruvian Computer Society, President http://socios.spc.org.pe/ecuadros (+51)959.341.932 (mobile) (+51)(54)608020 Ext 326 (Office) (+51)(54)281517(Fax) **************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20101017/a05738a6/attachment-0001.html From ilafiete at mail.clm.utexas.edu Sun Oct 24 10:49:26 2010 From: ilafiete at mail.clm.utexas.edu (Ila Fiete) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 09:49:26 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: COSYNE 2011: abstract submission opens TOMORROW (10/25) Message-ID: <4CC44776.1020304@mail.clm.utexas.edu> ==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING WORKSHOPS 24 - 27 Feb, 2011 28 Feb - 1 Mar, 2011 Salt Lake City, Utah Snow Bird Ski Resort, Utah http://www.cosyne.org ==================================================== The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience. The MAIN MEETING is arranged in a single track. A set of invited talks are selected by the Executive Committee, and additional talks and posters are selected by the Program Committee, based on submitted abstracts. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, computation with spiking networks. INVITED SPEAKERS: David Anderson Alison Barth EJ Chichilnisky Tom Clandinin Stanislas Dehaene David Kleinfeld Peter Latham Roberto Malinow Tirin Moore Anna Nobre Murray Sherman Anthony Zador IMPORTANT DATES: Abstract submission opens: 25 Oct 2010 Abstract submission deadline: 24 Nov 2010 ABSTRACT PREPARATION: When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting, due to space constraints. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Anthony Zador (CSHL) Alexandre Pouget (U Rochester) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Anne Churchland (UWashington) and Bartlett Mel (USC) Program Chairs: Rachel Wilson (Harvard) and Jim DICarlo (MIT) Workshop Chairs: Mark Laubach (Yale) and Brent Doiron (U Pittsburgh) Publicity Chair: Ila Fiete (UT Austin) ________________________________ Ila Fiete Assistant Professor Center for Learning and Memory The University of Texas at Austin Phone: 512.232.8439