From michael.milford at qut.edu.au Thu Dec 1 20:00:43 2011 From: michael.milford at qut.edu.au (Michael Milford) Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2011 11:00:43 +1000 Subject: Connectionists: 2 PhD Positions in Brain-based Sensor Fusion for Navigating Robots Message-ID: <57D7B1E5B741584E8FCC51EDFCCFCFB7123A867974@QUTEXMBX02.qut.edu.au> I am seeking 2 PhD students in Computational Neuroscience, Robotics and Computer Science to work on a newly funded project: Brain-based Sensor Fusion For Navigating Robots This project will develop new methods for sensor fusion using brain-based algorithms for calibration, learning and recall. Current robotic sensor fusion techniques are primarily based on fusing depth or feature data from range and vision sensors. These approaches require manual calibration and are restricted to environments with structured geometry and reliable visual features. In contrast, rats rapidly calibrate a wide range of sensors to learn and navigate in environments ranging from a pitch-black sewer in Cairo to a featureless desert in America. The project will produce robots that, like rats, autonomously learn how best to use their sensor suites, enabling unsupervised, rapid deployment in a range of environments. An ideal student will be proficient in coding in C/C++ and Matlab, have experience with robot, sensor (cameras and range sensors) and computer vision hardware, strong writing and oral communication skills, and a background in robot navigation, neural networks and computational neuroscience. Candidates who are both experienced and interested in pursuing truly interdisciplinary research are desirable. Further details of the projects, scholarship opportunities and application process are available here: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/cyphy/Applications+Milford Details of the Project Leader are available here: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/cyphy/Michael+Milford Details of the QUT CyPhy laboratory are available here: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/cyphy Michael Milford * Recent Publications * * Navigating without GPS, using only a web camera - "Mapping a Suburb with a Single Camera using a Biologically Inspired SLAM System", IEEE Transactions on Robotics, link http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=4627450 * Continual mapping and navigation over a 2 week office delivery robot experiment - "Persistent Navigation and Mapping using a Biologically Inspired SLAM System", International Journal of Robotics Research, http://ijr.sagepub.com/content/29/9/1131.abstract * Combining robotics, neuroscience and animal navigation to manage uncertainty when navigating - "Solving Navigational Uncertainty Using Grid Cells on Robots", PLoS Computational Biology, http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000995 More information available at: https://wiki.qut.edu.au/display/cyphy/Michael+Milford Lecturer School of Engineering Systems Faculty of Built Environments and Engineering Queensland University of Technology Tel: +61 7 3138 9969 E-mail: michael.milford at qut.edu.au Linked in Profile: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/michael-milford/38/124/263 CRICOS No 00213J -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111201/a55fe0b9/attachment-0001.html From steve at cns.bu.edu Thu Dec 1 11:45:25 2011 From: steve at cns.bu.edu (Stephen Grossberg) Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 11:45:25 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: spiking laminar cortical circuits for 3D vision Message-ID: <7657986C-3805-488C-8A6B-27BC00F33694@cns.bu.edu> The following article is now available at http://cns.bu.edu/~steve about how spiking neurons in laminar cortical circuits may carry out 3D vision. This spiking LAMINART model shows how spiking laminar cortical circuits can compute key visual processes without a loss of analog sensitiivity, such as binocular fusion, 3D boundary completion, and 3D surface filling-in. Cao, Y., and Grossberg, S. (2011). Stereopsis and 3D surface perception by spiking neurons in laminar cortical circuits: A method of converting neural rate models into spiking models. Neural Networks, in press. Abstract A laminar cortical model of stereopsis and 3D surface perception is developed and simulated. The model shows how spiking neurons that interact in hierarchically organized laminar circuits of the visual cortex can generate analog properties of 3D visual percepts. The model describes how monocular and binocular oriented filtering interact with later stages of 3D boundary formation and surface filling-in in the LGN and cortical areas V1, V2, and V4. It proposes how interactions between layers 4, 3B, and 2/3 in V1 and V2 contribute to stereopsis, and how binocular and monocular information combine to form 3D boundary and surface representations. The model suggests how surface-to-boundary feedback from V2 thin stripes to pale stripes helps to explain how computationally complementary boundary and surface formation properties lead to a single consistent percept, eliminate redundant 3D boundaries, and trigger figure-ground perception. The model also shows how false binocular boundary matches may be eliminated by Gestalt grouping properties. In particular, the disparity filter, which helps to solve the correspondence problem by eliminating false matches, is realized using inhibitory interneurons as part of the perceptual grouping process by horizontal connections in layer 2/3 of cortical area V2. The 3D sLAMINART model simulates 3D surface percepts that are consciously seen in 18 psychophysical experiments. These percepts include contrast variations of dichoptic masking and the correspondence problem, the effect of interocular contrast differences on stereoacuity, Panum's limiting case, the Venetian blind illusion, stereopsis with polarity-reversed stereograms, da Vinci stereopsis, and perceptual closure. The model hereby illustrates a general method of unlumping rate-based models that use the membrane equations of neurophysiology into models that use spiking neurons, and which may be embodied in VLSI chips that use spiking neurons to minimize heat production. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111201/688cf8ca/attachment.html From A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk Mon Dec 5 07:19:43 2011 From: A.Cangelosi at plymouth.ac.uk (Angelo Cangelosi) Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 12:19:43 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: WCCI-2012 Special Session on BIO-INSPIRED DEVELOPMENTAL MECHANISMS Message-ID: <1038F6B357C5004FA619C32FB3DB99576997A917A2@ILS130.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> Please forward to the Connectionist mailing list. Thanks, angelo Call for Papers WCCI Special Session, Brisbane, 10-15 June 2012 BIO-INSPIRED DEVELOPMENTAL MECHANISMS www.robotdoc.org/bidm Introduction Developmental robotics (systems), also known as epigenetic robotics, is a growing approach to the understanding of autonomous mental development in natural systems (e.g., human babies and adults) and artificial systems (e.g., robots and computers) as well as the design and training of robots (systems) by taking direct inspiration from biological developmental mechanisms. This approach is based on the principles of embodied and situated developmental learning. An emphasis is on the emergence and bootstrapping of representation and intelligent behaviours. The special session will aim at the presentations of the latest developments in all the related fields, such as for the modelling of neural developmental mechanisms for the development of skills for perception, cognition, actions (e.g., locomotion, manipulation, classification, languages), emotional (e.g., pain avoidance, pleasure seeking, novelty seeking), and social interaction. Papers covering bio-inspired computational intelligence methods from the field of neural networks (IJCNN), evolutionary computations (CEC) and fuzzy logic (FUZZY-IEEE) are welcome. The special session also encourages submissions from the empirical developmental science disciplines such as child psychology, developmental linguistics and neuroscience. A special issue in the journal IEEE Transaction in Autonomous Mental Development will be organised, as a follow-up of the special session. Topics of Interest Developmental robotics Evolutionary robotics Epigenetic robotics Fuzzy control for robotics Computational intelligence for developmental models Modelling evolution and development Neurorobotics Perceptual and cognitive development in children and robots Language learning Embodied cognition Intrinsic motivation Neural development Emotions and cognition Social development in humans and robots Biologically inspired architectures for cognitive development and open-ended development Developmental linguistics Developmental psychology Paper Submission and Deadline Visit http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org/ for paper format guidelines and electronic submission deadline and links. Paper submission deadline is 19 December 2011 Organizers: Angelo Cangelosi, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK Juyang Weng, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA Programme Committee Alberto Acerbi, Stockholm University, Sweden (IEEE-CEC) Minoru Asada, Osaka University, Japan (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Christian Balkenius, Lund University, Sweden (IJCNN) Tony Belpaeme, University of Plymouth, UK (IJCNN) Luc Berthouze, University of Sussex, UK (IJCNN) Anna Borghi, University of Bologna, UK (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC) Angelo Cangelosi, University of Plymouth, UK (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC) Gordon Cheng, University of Munich, Germany (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Eduaord Coutinho, University of Geneva, Switzerland (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC) Kerstin Dautenhahn, Hertfordshire University, UK (IEEE-CEC, IJCNN) Ian Fasel, University of Arizona, USA (IJCNN) Christian Goerick, University of Bielefeld, Germany (IJCNN) J Fernando Fontanari, University of Sao Paolo Sao Carlos, Brazil (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC) Benjamin Kuipers, University of Michigan, USA (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC, FUZZ-IEEE) Honghai Liu, Portsmouth University, UK (FUZZY-IEEE) Davide Marocco, University of Plymouth, UK (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC) Giorgio Metta, University of Genoa and IIT, Italy (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Yukie Nagai, Osaka University, Japan (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Chrystopher Nehaniv, Hertfordshire University, UK (IEEE-CEC) Stefano Nolfi, ISTC-CRN, Italy (IEEE-CEC) Francesco Nori, IIT Genoa, Italy (IJCNN) Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, INRIA, Bordeaux, France (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC, FUZZ-IEEE) Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University and AFOSR, USA (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Danil Prokhorov, Toyota Research Institute North America, USA (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Katharina Rohlfing, University of Bielefeld, Germany (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Erol Sahin, Middle East Technical University, Turkey (IEEE-CEC, IJCNN) Brian Scassellati, Yale University, USA (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Matthew Schlesinger, Southern Illinois University, USA (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC, FUZZ-IEEE) Vadim Tikhanoff, IIT Genoa, Italy (IJCNN) Jochen Triesch, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany (IJCNN) Juyang Weng, Michigan State University, USA (IJCNN, IEEE-CEC, FUZZ-IEEE) Chenguang Yang, Plymouth University, USA (FUZZ-IEEE) Chen Yu, Indiana University, USA (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) Zhengyou Zhang, Microsoft Research, USA (IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111205/5719a2c4/attachment.html From andrea.maesani at epfl.ch Mon Dec 5 04:04:43 2011 From: andrea.maesani at epfl.ch (Andrea Maesani) Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 10:04:43 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS - IEEE CEC 2012 - Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics Message-ID: ------------------------------ --------------------------------- IEEE CEC 2012 -- Special Session on Evolutionary Robotics ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brisbane, Australia. 10-15 June, 2012 CALL FOR PAPERS General Chairs: --------------- Patricia A. Vargas (Heriot-Watt University - Scotland) Dario Floreano (EPFL - Switzerland) Phil Husbands (University of Sussex - England) Publicity and Programme Chairs: ------------------------------- Andrea Maesani (EPFL - Switzerland) Renan C. Moioli (University of Sussex - England) Website: http://lis2.epfl.ch/events/specialsessions/CEC12/ Evolutionary Robotics (ER) aims to apply evolutionary computation techniques, inspired by Darwin?s principle of selective reproduction of the fittest, to automatically design the control and/or hardware of both real and simulated autonomous robots. Having an intrinsic interdisciplinary character, ER is being employed towards the development of many fields of research, among which we can highlight neuroscience, cognitive science, evolutionary biology and robotics. Hence the objective of this special session is to assemble a set of high-quality original contributions that reflect and advance the state-of-the-art in the area of Evolutionary Robotics, with an emphasis on the cross-fertilisation between ER and the aforementioned research areas, ranging from theoretical analysis to real-life applications. Post Conference Publication: ---------------------------- Authors of best papers will be asked to contribute to a journal special issue on the topic of "Evolutionary Robotics". Paper Submission: ----------------- Submissions should follow the guidance given on the IEEE CEC 2012 conference website: http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org/ When submitting, please select : - submission to IEEE-CEC 2012 http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/cec2012/upload.php then as the main research topic the Special Session on ?Evolutionary Robotics? : S23 - Evolutionary Robotics. All submissions will be peer-reviewed with the same criteria used for other contributed papers. All accepted papers will be included and published in the conference proceedings. Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to): ------------------------------------------------------- . Evolution of robots which display minimal cognitive behaviour, learning, memory, spatial cognition, adaptation or homeostasis. . Evolution of neural controllers for robots, aimed at giving an insight to neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists or advancing control structures. . Evolution of communication, cooperation and competition, using robots as a research platform. . Co-evolution and the evolution of collective behaviour. . Evolution of morphology in close interaction with the environment, giving rise to self-reconfigurable, self-designing, self-healing, self-reproducing, humanoid and walking robots. . Evolution of robot systems aimed at real-world applications as in aerial robotics, space exploration, industry, search and rescue, robot companions, entertainment and games. . Evolution of controllers on board real robots or the real-time evolution of robot hardware. . Novel or improved algorithms for the evolution of robot systems. . The use of evolution for the artistic exploration of robot design. Important Dates: ---------------- Paper Submission: December 19, 2011 Notification of Acceptance: February 20, 2012 Camera-Ready Submission: April 02, 2012 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111205/1a75e80c/attachment.html From ASIM.ROY at asu.edu Sat Dec 3 21:48:26 2011 From: ASIM.ROY at asu.edu (Asim Roy) Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 19:48:26 -0700 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers - Neural Networks special issue on Autonomous Learning Message-ID: Apologies for cross posting. Neural Networks Special Issue: Autonomous Learning ======================================================================== ===================== Autonomous learning is a very broad term and includes many different kinds of learning. Fundamental to all of them is some kind of a learning algorithm. Whatever the kind of learning, we generally have not been able to deploy the learning systems on a very wide scale, although there certainly are exceptions. One of the biggest challenges to wider deployment of existing learning systems comes from algorithmic control. Most of the current learning algorithms require parameters to be set individually for almost every problem to be solved. The limitations of the current learning systems, compared to biological ones, was pointed out in a 2007 National Science Foundation (USA) report (( >). Here's a part of the summary of that report: "Biological learners have the ability to learn autonomously, in an ever changing and uncertain world. This property includes the ability to generate their own supervision, select the most informative training samples, produce their own loss function, and evaluate their own performance. More importantly, it appears that biological learners can effectively produce appropriate internal representations for composable percepts -- a kind of organizational scaffold - - as part of the learning process. By contrast, virtually all current approaches to machine learning typically require a human supervisor to design the learning architecture, select the training examples, design the form of the representation of the training examples, choose the learning algorithm, set the learning parameters, decide when to stop learning, and choose the way in which the performance of the learning algorithm is evaluated. This strong dependence on human supervision is greatly retarding the development and ubiquitous deployment autonomous artificial learning systems." This special issue of Neural Networks will be on the topic of autonomous learning, focusing mainly on automation of learning methods that can avoid the kinds of dependencies highlighted in the NSF report. We invite original and unpublished research contributions on algorithms for any type of learning problem. RECOMMENDED TOPICS: Topics of interest include - but are not limited to: * Unsupervised learning systems; * Autonomous learning of reasoning; * Autonomous learning of motor control; * Autonomous control systems and free will; * Autonomous robotic systems; * Autonomy as based on internal reward and value systems and their learning and development; * Autonomous systems and the human situation * Emergent models of perception, cognition and action * Emergent cognitive architectures * Developmental and embodied models of learning SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Prospective authors should visit http://ees.elsevier.com/neunet/ for information on paper submission. On the first page of the manuscript as well as on the cover letter, indicate clearly that the manuscript is submitted to the Neural Networks Special Issue: Autonomous Learning. Manuscripts will be peer reviewed using Neural Networks guidelines. Manuscript submission due: January 1, 2012 First review completed: April 1, 2012 Revised manuscript due: June 1, 2012 Second review completed, final decisions to authors: July 1, 2012 Final manuscript due: August 1, 2012 Guest editors: Asim Roy, Arizona State University, USA (asim.roy at asu.edu ) (Lead guest editor) John Taylor, King's College London, UK (john.g.taylor at kcl.ac.uk ) Bruno Apolloni, University of Milan, Italy (apolloni at dsi.unimi.it ) Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University and The Air Force Research Laboratory, USA (leonid at seas.harvard.edu ) Ali Minai, University of Cincinnati, USA (minaiaa at gmail.com ) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111203/19e820fd/attachment-0001.html From h.jaeger at jacobs-university.de Mon Dec 5 08:25:59 2011 From: h.jaeger at jacobs-university.de (Herbert Jaeger) Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 14:25:59 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: CfP: Workshop "Nonlinear Dynamics in Complex Neural Architectures", Lyon, France, March 2012 Message-ID: <4EDCC667.3060207@jacobs-university.de> Call for Participation, Call for Posters: Nonlinear Dynamics in Complex Neural Architectures http://conas2012.elis.ugent.be/ A two-day open workshop in Lyon, France, March 29 & 30, 2012 Animals are proof that complete cognitive systems can be realized in neural substrates. It is thus natural that engineers from AI and machine learning have tried to design advanced cognitive systems on the basis of artificial neural networks. This has led to illuminating concepts and architectures in fields like computational linguistics, dynamic pattern recognition, autonomous agents, or evolutionary robotics. However, if one takes a close and critical look, one finds that nowhere do artificial systems close to biological levels of performance. One important cause for this gap is a lack of appropriate mathematical concepts. Biological neural systems are high-dimensional, nonlinear, heterogeneous, multiscale, nonstationary, stochastic, and heavily input-driven - a cocktail of properties which overwhelms current dynamical systems theory. Inasmuch as we do not possess mathematical models for such systems, we cannot understand them; and inasmuch as we do not understand, we cannot engineer. This workshop will bring together researchers from three fields: 1. cognitive scientists, roboticists and machine learning engineers who develop complex, neural-network-based architectures; 2. computational neuroscientists who apply existing methods from dynamical systems theory to neural dynamics; 3. mathematicians who work on extensions of dynamical systems theory in directions that appear relevant for neurodynamics and complex neural learning architectures. Invited speakers: * Randall D. Beer, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA: Information and Dynamics in Brain-Body-Environment Systems * Chris Eliasmith, Univ. of Waterloo, Canada: How to Build a Brain: From Single Neurons to a Cognitive Architecture * Olivier Fauguras, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, France: Neural fields in Action: Mathematical Results and Models of Visual Perception * Tomas Gedeon, Montana State University, Bozeman, USA: Correspondence Maximization: a Potential Model for the Function of Multi-Layer Neural Architectures * Juergen Jost, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany: Information Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Recurrent Neural Processing * Christian Poetzsche, Alpen-Adria Univ. Klagenfurt, Austria: Nonautonomous Dynamics - A Biased Survey * Gregor Schoener, Univ. of Bochum, Germany: Dynamic Field Theory as a Framework for Understanding Embodied Cognition * Jun Tani, Riken Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan: Neuro-Dynamic Mechanisms for Predicting and Recognizing Compositional Acts * Jochen Triesch, Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies, Frankfurt, Germany: Self-organization Explains the Statistics and Dynamics of Synaptic Connection Strengths in Cortex Format of workshop in a nutshell: invited presentations (see above) only, much time for disussion in plenum and breaks, extended poster session particularly aimed at young researchers and/or themes fostering discussion. The workshop is funded through the European FP7 project Organic (http://organic.elis.ugent.be/). For details and further background see website http://conas2012.elis.ugent.be/. Program board: Herbert Jaeger, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (co-chair) Peter F. Dominey, INSERM Lyon, France (co-chair) Wolfgang Maass, Technical University Graz, Austria Jean-Pierre Martens, Gent University, Belgium Benjamin Schrauwen, Gent University, Belgium Welf Wustlich, Planet intelligent Sytems GmbH, Schwerin, Germany -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Herbert Jaeger Professor for Computational Science Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH Campus Ring 28759 Bremen, Germany Phone (+49) 421 200 3215 Fax (+49) 421 200 49 3215 email h.jaeger at jacobs-university.de http://minds.jacobs-university.de ------------------------------------------------------------------ From mvanross at inf.ed.ac.uk Tue Dec 6 11:26:01 2011 From: mvanross at inf.ed.ac.uk (Mark van Rossum) Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:26:01 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Phd studentships Neuroinformatics Stockholm, Bangalore, Freiburg, Edinburgh Message-ID: <1323188761.12719.97.camel@t61p> The Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral Program "EuroSPIN" is inviting applications for fully funded 4-year joint PhD studentships between KTH (Stockholm), the University of Edinburgh, NCBS (Bangalore), and the University of Freiburg in the field of Neuroinformatics. Neuroinformatics applies computational tools and approaches that are essential for understanding the brain. Neuroinformatics thus links neuroscience and the engineering, computational, and physical sciences. Sample project are listed on the website. The projects are collaborative and typically involve two of the four above institutes and will require some travel. Students should have a solid background in mathematics, physics, computer sciences, biochemistry or neuroscience (on a master level or equivalent) and excellent quantitative skills. An excellent academic record, documented interest in research and fluency in English are required. Experience in neuroscience is not required. If you are interested, go to www.kth.se/eurospin EXTENDED deadline for applications: 31st Dec 2011. -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From t.nowotny at sussex.ac.uk Wed Dec 7 09:23:03 2011 From: t.nowotny at sussex.ac.uk (Thomas Nowotny) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:23:03 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Fwd: PhD studentship available at University of Sussex. Message-ID: <4EDF76C7.3000001@sussex.ac.uk> A Ph.D. studentship is available in "Models of mixture coding and olfactory object recognition in honeybees" supervised by Dr. Thomas Nowotny and Dr. Jeremy Niven, Informatics and Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. Deadline: 5.00pm, Tuesday 31st January 2012 Start date: October 2012 Apply here: http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=36161&LID=1494 *The project:* Despite the large number of experimental studies on olfactory systems over the last 15 years, we still do not understand how olfaction works. Insect olfactory systems have emerged as excellent model systems for studying the basic computational mechanisms that underlie olfactory coding, learning and memory. The aim of this PhD project is to advance the theory of biological olfaction with multi-scale models of the honeybee antennal lobe (AL). The project involves combining computational modelling, theory and experiment to develop a specific model of the honeybee AL and use it to understand the dynamics of information processing. 1. Building a conductance based model for the honeybee AL Recent experiments enable us to formulate specific models of the honeybee AL, including implementing the correct numbers of neurons, their organization into identified glomeruli according to a morphological 3D atlas, and correct response profiles to numerous chemicals. Moving from generalised AL models to a specific honeybee model will allow us to simulate the input from actual chemicals and, therefore, to make concrete predictions about future experimental observations. This constrains the model more tightly and makes it falsifiable, a concept that is under-developed in computational neuroscience to date. The developed detailed model will be simulated using modern supercomputing methods in the form of general purpose GPU computing. 2. Building rate models and population mean field descriptions Once a detailed model has been formulated and implemented, we can identify methods to reduce it to rate equations and mean field population models allowing us to identify the dynamical structure underlying odour information processing in the honeybee AL. 3. Investigating incoherent mixtures and odour objects This is the core of the proposed research work and the most exciting and novel. Recent experimental evidence indicates that millisecond differences in the onset of odour stimuli can alter the resulting neuronal activity in the AL and can affect behaviour. This finding fundamentally alters our current understanding of odour processing. The AL could emerge as the brain region responsible for odour-background segregation based on the coherent spatio-temporal structure of the odour plume on millisecond scale. We may even call it odour object recognition. The work towards this objective will entail detailed models of the odour segregation ability of the AL, including a systematic assay of the potential network and cellular mechanisms underlying it. The multi-scale model stack developed in (2) can then be used to identify the underlying dynamical systems mechanisms. The successful student will be based in the laboratory of Dr Thomas Nowotny in the School of Informatics/Centre for Computational Neuroscience (CCNR) and Dr Jeremy Niven in the School of Life Sciences/CCNR at the University of Sussex. The student will also have the opportunity to work with the laboratory of Prof. Giovanni Galizia at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Applicants should have a 1st/high 2.1 in computer sciences, physical sciences or mathematics and good computer skills are required. Previous experience in C/C++ and/or CUDA/OpenCL is a plus. A keen interest in neural systems is essential, though direct experience is not required. *Funding Notes:* The South-East Biosciences Network (www.sebnet.org.uk) is advertising 33 Doctoral Studentships across the South-East of England. Applicants for this 4-year PhD, starting in October 2012, should possess or expect to be awarded an Upper Second or 1st Class Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject. Studentships are available to UK nationals and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements. The studentship will support the student?s stipend and tuition fees. Informal enquiries to Dr Thomas Nowotny: t.nowotny at sussex.ac.uk *References:* 1. P. Szyszka, J. Stierle, S. Biergans, T. Nowotny, C. G. Galizia. Honeybee neurons use millisecond time-differences in stimulus coherence for odor-object segregation. BC11 : Computational Neuroscience & Neurotechnology Bernstein Conference & Neurex Annual Meeting 2011, Freiburg, Germany, 4-6 Oct (2011). 2. C. L. Buckley and T. Nowotny. Transient Dynamics between Displaced Fixed Points: An Alternate Nonlinear Dynamical Framework for Olfaction. Brain Research, in press (2011). 3. C. L. Buckley and T. Nowotny, Multi-scale model of an inhibitory network shows optimal properties near bifurcation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106: 238109 (2011). 4. M. Papadopoulou, S. Cassenaer, T. Nowotny, G. Laurent. Normalization for Sparse Encoding of Odors by a Wide-Field Interneuron. Science, 332: 721-725 (2011). 5. J.A. Perge, J.E. Niven, E. Mugnaini, V. Balasubramanian, P. Sterling. Why do axons differ in diameter? J. Neurosci. in press (2011). 6. P.M.V. Sim?es, S.R. Ott, J.E. Niven. Associative olfactory learning in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. J. Exp. Biol. 214: 2495-2503 (2011). 7. B. Sengupta, M. Stemmler, S.B. Laughlin, J.E. Niven. Action potential energy efficiency varies among neuron types in vertebrates and invertebrates. PLoS Comput. Biol. 6: e1000840 (2010). -- Dr. Thomas Nowotny RCUK Academic Fellow & Senior Research Fellow Phone: +44-1273-678593 CCNR, Informatics, Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny From terry at salk.edu Wed Dec 7 17:28:39 2011 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - November, 2011 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents - Volume 23, Number 11 - November 1, 2011 VIEW Computing Confidence Intervals for Point Process Models Sridevi V. Sarma, David Nguyen, Gabriela Czanner, Sylvia Wirth, Matt Wilson, Wendy Suzuki, and Emery N. Brown LETTERS The Combinatorics of Neurite Self-Avoidance Elizabeth M. Forbes, Jonathan J. Hunt, and Geoffrey J. Goodhill Self-Organization of Topographic Bilinear Networks for Invariant Recognition Urs Bergmann and Christoph von der Malsburg Reward Weighted Regression with Sample Reuse for Direct Policy Search in Reinforcement Learning Hirotaka Hachiya, Jan Peters, and Masashi Sugiyama Estimating Parameters of Generalized Integrate-and-Fire Neurons from the Maximum Likelihood of Spike Trains Yi Dong, Stefan Mihalas, Alexander Russell, Ralph Etienne-Cummings, and Ernst Niebur A Model of Motion Transparency Processing with Local Center-Surround Interactions and Feedback Florian Raudies, Ennio Mingolla, and Heiko Neumann Synchronization and Redundancy: Implications for Robustness of Neural Learning and Decision Making Jake Bouvrie and Jean-Jacques Slotine Dependency Reduction with Divisive Normalization: Justification and Effectiveness Siwei Lyu A Spline Framework for Estimating the EEG Surface Laplacian Using the Euclidean Metric Claudio G. Carvalhaes and Patrick Suppes ----- ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2011 - VOLUME 23 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic only Student/Retired $67 $130 $62 Individual $118 $181 $110 Institution $986 $1,049 $882 Canada: Add 5% GST MIT Press Journals, 238 Main Street, Suite 500, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp ----- From yushan.mail at gmail.com Wed Dec 7 11:53:59 2011 From: yushan.mail at gmail.com (Yu Shan) Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 11:53:59 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: New paper: Higher-order interactions characterized in cortical activities Message-ID: Dear all, We would like to introduce our new paper entitled ?Higher-order interactions characterized in cortical activities?, which was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. In this paper, we demonstrated that the interaction structure in neuronal activities, including the higher-order interactions, is much simpler than preciously thought. By exploiting such a structure, we showed that a very simple method could be used to predict large scale population activities with surprisingly high accuracy. The paper can be found at the website of the Journal of Neuroscience: Yu S, Yang H, Nakahara H, Santos GS, Nikoli? D, Plenz D. Higher-Order Interactions Characterized in Cortical Activity. J Neurosci. 31(48):17514-17526 (2011) http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/48/17514.abstract Best wishes, Shan Yu, Ph. D Section on Critical Brain Dynamics Lab of Systems Neuroscience National Institute of Mental Health/NIH From ole.jensen at donders.ru.nl Thu Dec 8 04:13:28 2011 From: ole.jensen at donders.ru.nl (Ole Jensen) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:13:28 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD position at the Donders Institute, Nijmegen Message-ID: <4EE07FB8.4060204@donders.ru.nl> Dear colleagues, If you know of potential PhD candidates please forward them the job listing below. All the best, Ole Jensen -- Ole Jensen http://www.neuosc.com ------- PhD position on 'Bridging the Gap between Neuronal Activity and Neuroimaging' (1,0 fte) *Donders Institute, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging* *Maximum salary: EUR 2,612 gross/month* *Vacancy number: 30.08.11* *Closing date: 1 January 2012* *Responsibilities* The Neuronal Oscillation group and the MR Techniques in Brain Function group at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, have funding available for a PhD position, aimed at quantitative evaluation of neuroimaging signal characteristics resulting from activity of neurons in the working human brain. The human brain is composed of multiple regions that are flexibly engaged and disengaged depending on the cognitive task performed. Each of these regions comprises large numbers of neurons that interact non-linearly. A fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience is how the connections and interactions of the neurons shape the functional architecture of the working brain. At the Donders Institute this question is addressed experimentally by measuring cognitive signals by means of magneto-encephalography (MEG), electro-encephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). You will work on this project from a complementary perspective, using computer simulation to investigate which plausible networks of neurons can explain measured signals. You will use and extend numerical software developed at the institute and elsewhere. Your results will improve the interpretation of measured cognitive signals. You will focus on positive and negative spatial and temporal correlations between various signals obtained in cognitive experiments. *Work environment* The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour consists of the Centre for Cognition, the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging and the Centre for Neuroscience. The mission of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging is to conduct cutting-edge fundamental research in cognitive neuroscience. Much of the rapid progress in this field is being driven by the development of complex neuroimaging techniques for measuring activity in the human working brain - an area in which the Centre plays a leading role. The research themes cover central cognitive functions such as perception, action, control, decision making, attention, memory, language, learning and plasticity. The Centre also aims to establish how the different brain areas coordinate their activity with very high temporal precision to enable human and animal cognition. This internationally renowned centre currently employs more than 100 PhD students and post-doctoral researchers of more than 20 different nationalities, offering a stimulating and multidisciplinary research environment. The centre is equipped with three MRI scanners (7T, 3T, 1.5T), a 275-channel MEG system, an EEG-TMS laboratory, several (MR-compatible) EEG systems, and high-performance computational facilities. English is the lingua franca at the centre. You will work within a joint project of the Neuronal Oscillations group and the MR Methods for Cognitive Neuroscience group at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, and the Neuroinformatics department at the Centre for Neuroscience. *What we expect from you* You should have a Master's degree (or equivalent). Applicants with a background in neuroscience should be willing to acquire the mathematical and numerical skills required to simulate complex systems. Applicants with a background in mathematics, physics or computer science should be willing to develop in-depth knowledge of cognitive neuroscience and physiology. You are enthusiastic to understand the dynamic properties of the human brain and to probe the interaction between different regions, all on the basis of what is known of the physiology of the brain. Furthermore, you are prepared to take courses and workshops offered at the Donders Graduate School for Cognitive Neuroscience to bring your knowledge of cognitive neuroscience up to the standard required. You should be willing to work in a multidisciplinary environment in which the results and methods from various disciplines, ranging from natural to behavioural sciences, are integrated. And you are eager to work with us at the cutting edge of science, where your personal commitment and skills are both essential and appreciated. Proficiency in oral and written English is essential. You are expected to work in a team, sharing technical know-how and ideas. *What we have to offer* We offer you: - employment: 1,0 fte; - a maximum gross monthly salary of EUR 2,612 based on a 38-hour working week; - in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus; - The starting salary is EUR2,042 per month and will increase to EUR2,612 per month in the fourth year; - duration of the contract: 4 years. Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions ? *Other Information* This vacancy was advertised earlier this year in July/August. If you applied for this position at the time and were rejected, please do not apply again. *Would you like to know more?* Further information on: DCCN Prof. dr. Jan van der Eerden, project leader Telephone:+31 24 3614602 E-mail: j.vandereerden at donders.ru.nl Dr. Ole Jensen, PI Neuronal Oscillation group Telephone:+31 24 3610884 E-mail: ole.jensen at donders.ru.nl * * *Applications* Are you interested? Please submit an application letter, a CV, and the names of two persons who can provide references. Please explain your interest in neuroscience and the above mentioned scientific approaches in your application letter. It is Radboud University Nijmegen's policy to only accept applications by e-mail. Please send your application, /stating vacancy number 30.08.11/, to vacatures at dpo.ru.nl , for the attention of Prof. dr. Jan van der Eerden, before 1 January 2012. For more information on the application procedure:+ 31 24 3611173 -- Ole Jensen http://www.neuosc.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111208/bd094d7f/attachment-0001.html From pascualm at key.uzh.ch Thu Dec 8 05:53:56 2011 From: pascualm at key.uzh.ch (Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 19:53:56 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: pre-prints on brain connectivity methods Message-ID: Dear people, I'd like to share some pre-prints on brain connectivity that might hopefully be of interest: 1. An old one on pairwise electrophysiological connectivity measures (2007): http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.1455 that just got published and can be freely downloaded at: http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1952/3768.full 2. Cortical senders, hubs, receivers (2009): http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.0796 3. Distributed electrophysiological cortical networks (electrophysiological Resting State Networks and Any State Networks, across space, time, frequencies, 2011): http://arxiv.org/abs/1103.2852 4. Cortical connectivity by means of partial coherence fields (2011): http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.0251 Hope this helps, Best, Roberto ... Roberto D. Pascual-Marqui, PhD, PD The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research, University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich [pascualm at key.uzh.ch] Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kansai Medical University Hospital, Osaka [pascualr at takii.kmu.ac.jp] www.keyinst.uzh.ch/loreta www.researcherid.com/rid/A-2012-2008 From ckello at ucmerced.edu Thu Dec 8 13:05:01 2011 From: ckello at ucmerced.edu (ckello) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 10:05:01 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: connectionists posting request Message-ID: <20111208100501361.00000008100@ckello-lap> I would like to request the following job position be posted on the connectionists mailing list: Founding Director position available for the Center for Human Adaptive Systems and Environments (CHASE) at UC Merced The School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts invites applications from distinguished scholars and teachers at the Full/Associate Professor (tenured) level in Cognitive and Information Sciences. The position is for founding Director of the Center for Human Adaptive Systems and Environments (CHASE) at the new University of California, Merced campus. We seek candidates with interdisciplinary visions for research on human activity, including but not limited to (a) activity in both human-made and natural environments; (b) activity operating at multiple scales, for instance, from neural to behavioral to organizational to societal; or (c) activity situated and adapted to bodily, spatial, or other environmental contexts. Research approaches may be empirical, theoretical, or computational, and research programs spanning multiple methods and disciplines will be particularly well-suited to CHASE. Competitive applicants will have an excellent track record of external funding, substantial leadership experience, and clear interest in pioneering research on human-environment systems, broadly construed. The University of California at Merced is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer with a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of diversity among its faculty, staff, and students. The University is supportive of dual career couples. For more information, contact Christopher Kello, ckello at ucmerced.edu, or go to: http://jobs.ucmerced.edu/n/academic/position.jsf?positionId=3543 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111208/0652024a/attachment.html From erik at oist.jp Fri Dec 9 03:17:48 2011 From: erik at oist.jp (Erik De Schutter) Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 17:17:48 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course 2012 Message-ID: OKINAWA COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2012 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 11 - June 29, 2012. Okinawa, Japan http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc/2012 The aim of the Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to learn the latest advances in neuroscience, and for those with experimental backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling. We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate in the course, held from June 11th through June 29th, 2012 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Applications are through the course web page only; they will open January 9th and close February 12th, 2012. Applicants are required to propose a project at the time of application. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. Like in preceding years, OCNC will be a comprehensive three-week course covering single neurons, networks, and behaviors with ample time for student projects. The first week will focus exclusively on methods with hands-on tutorials during the afternoons, while the second and third weeks will have lectures by international experts. Students receive individualized tutoring for their projects. We invite those who are interested in integrating experimental and computational approaches at each level, as well as in bridging different levels of complexity. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and support travel for those without funding. We hope that this course will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental neuroscientists to meet each other and to explore the attractive nature and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan. Invited faculty: ? Abbott, Larry ? Arbuthnott, Gordon ? Bialek, William ? Buzsaki, Gyorgy ? Canavier, Carmen ? De Schutter, Erik ? Diesmann, Markus ? Doya, Kenji ? H?usser, Michael ? Ishii, Shin ? Izhikevich, Eugene ? Kuhn, Bernd ? Lee, Daeyeol ? Marder, Eve ? Stephens, Greg From mvanross at inf.ed.ac.uk Fri Dec 9 09:11:12 2011 From: mvanross at inf.ed.ac.uk (Mark van Rossum) Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:11:12 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Lectureship Computational Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh. Message-ID: <1323439872.3918.15.camel@t61p> Lectureship (comparable to US assistant professor) in Computational Neuroscience at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh has announced a number of prestigious 5-year Chancellor's Fellowships. Subject to satisfactory review after 3 years, the Fellow will move to a permanent academic post. Appointees can concentrate initially on research, acquiring full University Lecturer duties during the Fellowship. These prestigious awards are aimed at early career individuals of the highest potential who have begun to establish a reputation for the top quality research at the forefront of their discipline and who have a commitment to teaching at university level. One of the priority areas for Chancellor's Fellowships is Computational Cognitive Science which comprises Computational Neuroscience. Computational Neuroscience includes analysis and modelling of brain processes at all levels of organization with a particular focus on research which spans across levels. Research areas are broadly defined as the study of the neural foundations of perception, memory, cognition, and action and their underlying developmental processes. Research on these topics is conducted in the Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation (ANC, http://anc.ed.ac.uk/) which hosts the Doctoral Training Centre in Neuroinformatics and Computational Neuroscience (http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/dtc/). The institute is based in the School of Informatics, one of the world's top research leaders in computer science/informatics. The University of Edinburgh is one of the world's top research universities, in one of the UK's most pleasant cities. The official advert can be found at: http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/vacancies/index.cfm?fuseaction=vacancies.detail&vacancy_ref=3015150 Closing dates are: 16th January, 29th February and 16th April 2012. Note that Chancellor's Fellowships are available in other areas as well. Informal inquiries can be directed to Dr Mark van Rossum, mvanross- at nospam-inf.ed.ac.uk. Prof Chris Williams can answer informal inquiries at NIPS. -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. From a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk Thu Dec 8 04:58:08 2011 From: a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk (Anil Seth) Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:58:08 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Studentship at Sussex: Causality analysis of fMRI data Message-ID: <4EE08A30.7040800@sussex.ac.uk> Ph.D. studentship available: Identifying causal interactions in functional MRI data using statistical time series analysis Supervised by Dr. Anil Seth, Prof. Hugo Critchley, and Dr. Lionel Barnett. University of Sussex, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science Deadline: 5.00pm, Tuesday 31st January 2012 Start date: October 2012 Apply here: http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=36077&LID=1494 Our understanding of the brain has been revolutionized by functional neuroimaging, the ability to look at brain activity as a person is doing a task, or even while they do nothing at all. Traditionally, neuroscientists have used neuroimaging to localize different functions to different parts of the brain. However, brain functions depend on dynamical networks spanning many different brain regions. Identifying these networks, and especially networks that show causal interactions among their elements, is a major current challenge. This Ph.D. project will address this challenge for functional MRI (fMRI), the most popular neuroimaging method. fMRI measures time-varying changes in metabolic signatures of neural activity. To identify causal networks, we adopt the framework of Granger causality analysis (GCA) which assumes that causes both precede and help predict their effects. GCA applied to fMRI faces several challenges arising because the fMRI signal is an indirect and incompletely understood reflection of underlying neural activity, is sluggish, delayed, and is sampled only once every 2-3 seconds. The project will address these limitations by novel combinations of theory, modelling and experiment. A first objective will be to adapt recent theoretical findings showing invariance of GCA under filtering to the case of fMRI. A second objective will be to characterize the behavior of GCA on fMRI data via detailed computational models connecting neural activity to simulated fMRI responses. These models will be built by connecting existing large-scale spiking neuron simulations with forward models of hemodynamic responses. Third and finally, the resulting methods will be benchmarked on fMRI data obtained specifically for this purpose. The successful candidate will benefit from being part of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, a world-leading research group in computational neuroscience, functional analysis of neuroimaging data, and consciousness research. The student will enjoy collaborative input from the Department of Informatics, the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and the School of Psychology; will work within a thriving multidisciplinary group integrating many areas of neuroscience, and will have full access to state-of-the-art computational and neuroimaging facilities. Training in fMRI analysis and statistical methods will be provided. Applications should hold, or expect to obtain, a minimum upper-second honours degree (or equivalent) in a quantitative science discipline. Previous experience in neuroimaging and/or time series analysis is desirable but not required. Funding Notes:**The South-East Biosciences Network (www.sebnet.org.uk ) is advertising 33 Doctoral Studentships across the South-East of England. Applicants for this 4-year PhD, starting in October 2012, should possess or expect to be awarded an Upper Second or 1st Class Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant related subject. Studentships are available to UK nationals and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements. The studentship will support the student's stipend and tuition fees. Informal enquiries to A.K.Seth at sussex.ac.uk See also www.sussex.ac.uk/sackler Apply here: http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=36077&LID=1494 -- Anil K. Seth, D.Phil. Co-Director, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science School of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK W: www.anilseth.com, T: +44 1273 678549, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111209/7cf4f1fd/attachment-0001.html From a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk Fri Dec 9 15:30:44 2011 From: a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk (Anil Seth) Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:30:44 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: Modelling Natural Action Selection: book announcement Message-ID: <4EC4E3BE.2060804@sussex.ac.uk> We are delighted to announce publication of a major new edited collection, *Modelling Natural Action Selection*, published by Cambridge University Press on 10 November 2011 in the UK and Europe with USA release to follow shortly. The book is edited by Anil Seth, Tony Prescott, and Joanna Bryson. Action selection is the task of doing the right thing at the right time. It requires the assessment of available alternatives, executing those most appropriate, and resolving conflicts among competing goals and possibilities. Using advanced computational modelling, this book explores cutting-edge research into action selection in nature from a wide range of disciplines, from neuroscience to behavioural ecology, and even political science. It delivers new insights into both detailed and systems-level attributes of natural intelligence and demonstrates advances in methodological practice. Contributions from leading researchers cover issues including whether biological action selection is optimal, neural substrates for action selection in the vertebrate brain, perceptual selection in decision making, and interactions between group and individual action selection. This first integrated review of action selection in nature contains a balance of review and original research material, consolidating current knowledge into a valuable reference for researchers while illustrating potential paths for future studies. Contributors: Peter M. Todd, Anil K. Seth, Joanna J. Bryson, Tony J. Prescott, Alasdair I. Houston, John M. McNamara, Mark D. Steer, Frederick L. Crabbe, Rafal Bogacz, Marius Usher, Jiaxiang Zhang, James L. McClelland, Max Berniker, Kunlin Wei, Konrad Kording, Eddy J. Davelaar, James C. Houk, Paul Cisek, Thomas E. Hazy, Michael J. Frank, Randall C. O'Reilly, Matthew M. Botvinick, Yael Niv, Andrew Barto, Mark D. Humphries, Kevin N. Gurney, Anouk Scheres, Scott J. Sherman, Tom Stafford, Jonathan M. Chambers, Yasushi Ando, Hagen Lehmann, Russell A. Hill, Brian S. Logan, William I. Sellers, Julian Zappala, Michael Laver, Ernest Sergenti, Michel Schilperoord, James A. R. Marshall, Anna Dornhaus, Robert Planqu?, Tim Kovacs, Nigel R. Franks, Sean A. Rands, Richard A. Pettifor, J. Marcus Rowcliffe, Guy Cowlishaw Plesae visit www.cambridge.org/9781107000490 for more information and to order. The book is also available from Amazon as hardcopy and in Kindle form. Anil Seth, University of Sussex Tony Prescott, University of Sheffield Joanna Bryson, University of Bath -- Anil K. Seth, D.Phil. Co-Director, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science School of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK W: www.anilseth.com, T: +44 1273 678549, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111209/b129eaf7/attachment.html From fhamker at uni-muenster.de Tue Dec 13 07:33:08 2011 From: fhamker at uni-muenster.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?M=FCnster?=) Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:33:08 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Interdisciplinary College 2012 Message-ID: Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the Interdisciplinary College 2012 will be held from March 16 ?March 23 2012, in Guenne (Germany). Information about this event can be found at http://www.ik2012.de. This year's IK, chaired by Fred Hamker (Chemnitz Institute of Technology) and Justin London (Carleton College, USA), has a special focus theme on "Emotion and Aesthetics". Emotion and Aesthetics have received increasing attention from researchers in the brain sciences and artificial intelligence in the last decade. Recent work has shown how emotions are an integral part of brain functioning and behavior and that aesthetic considerations influence our perception and decision making. This has led to the development of "affective science", an area which combines neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, philosophy and art to explore the influence of emotions and aesthetics on human behavior. With its focus theme on "Emotion and Aesthetics", the IK 2012 will provide an interdisciplinary view of affective science with a range of courses from cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience and neural computation. Specific IK courses will address the neural correlates of emotion and aesthetics, the influence of emotions on behavior and motivation, and psychological and neurobiological approaches to music and film. There will be also courses on "affective computing", a newly developing field of methods to both understand, generate and communicate emotions in a human-machine framework, including approaches in robotics. The Interdisciplinary College (Interdisziplinaeres Kolleg, IK), which is held every spring, offers a dense, intensive and state-of-the-art course program in neurobiology, neural computation, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and related areas. It is aimed at graduate students, postgraduates, and researchers from academia and industry. By combining the humanities, science, and technology, the IK endeavors to promote dialogue and connectedness across the various disciplines. The IK attracts about 230 participants each year (maximum load of the conference site). All courses are taught in English. The preliminary program is appended below this email. Please note that ?early bird? registration ends on January 15, 2012. We look forward to meeting you all in Guenne! Prof. Dr. Fred H Hamker (Chemnitz Institute of Technology, Germany) and Prof. Justin London (Carleton College, USA) -------------------------------------------- Program IK2012 -------------------------------------------- Basic Courses BC1: Computational Neuroscience (Julien Vitay, Chemnitz Institute of Technology) BC2: Neurobiology (Ansgar B?schges, University of Cologne) BC3: Artificial Intelligence (Alexandra Kirsch, TU M?nchen) BC4: Philosophical issues in human affectivity (Achim Stephan and Wendy Wilutzky, University of Osnabr?ck) Method Courses MC1: Neuroimaging (Jessica Grahn, University of Western Ontario, Canada) MC2: Aesthetics (Kathleen Stock, University of Sussex, UK) MC3: Statistics: Significance and beyond (Peter Sedlmeier, Chemnitz Institute of Technology) MC4: Machine learning and neural networks (Herbert Jaeger, Jacobs University of Bremen) Special Courses: Emotional Neuroscience SC1: Neural Substrates for Action Selection: The Basal Ganglia (Mark Humphries, ENS Paris, France / University of Sheffield, UK) SC2: Neuroeconomics and pleasure (Oliver Hulme, University of British Columbia, Canada) SC3: Emotion and Neurorobotics (Paul Verschure, University Pompeu Fabra, Spain) SC4: Neural Mechanisms of Emotional Attention (Patrik Vuilleumier, University of Geneva, Switzerland) Special Courses: Psychology and Philosophy of Emotions and Aesthetics SC5: Music and the Brain (Manfred Spitzer, University of Ulm) SC6: Emotion in Music (Alexandra Lamont, Keele University, UK) SC7: Film and Emotion (Anne Hamker, Leipzig and R?diger Zill, Einstein Forum Potsdam) SC8: Communication of Emotions (Disa Sauter, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) Special Courses: Synthetic Emotions and Robotics SC9: Human-Robot Interactions (Kerstin Dautenhahn, University of Hertfordshire, UK) SC10: Affective Computing (Dirk Reichardt, DhBW Stuttgart) SC11: Social Robotics (Christian Werner Becker-Asano, University of Freiburg) SC12: Music Access and Interaction (Francois Pachet, CSL Sony Paris, France) Special Courses: General SC13: Digital Media (Rainer Malaka, University of Bremen) SC14: Computational Linguistics (Gerhard Heyer, University of Leipzig) SC15: Cognitive Flexibility and Basal Ganglia (Andrea Stocco, University of Washington, USA) SC16: Harmony of the Brain (Gerald Langner, TU Darmstadt) Practical Courses PC1: Programming Autonomy (Hana Boukricha and Nhung Nguyen, University of Bielefeld) PC2: Dance in the body, the mind and the brain (Bettina Bl?sing, University of Bielefeld) PC3: Aesthetics in Visual Perception (Gregor Hardiess, University of T?bingen) -------------------- Prof. Dr. Fred H Hamker Artificial Intelligence & Neuro Cognitive Systems Department of Computer Science Chemnitz University of Technology Strasse der Nationen 62 D - 09107 Chemnitz Germany Tel: +49 (0)371 531-37875 Fax: +49 (0)371 531-25739 email: fred.hamker at informatik.tu-chemnitz.de www: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/KI/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111213/4a58304b/attachment.html From haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Mon Dec 12 04:26:12 2011 From: haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk (Haline Schendan) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:26:12 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Research Technician Jobs (2 posts): Closing date 14 December 2011 Message-ID: <92129CEDFB679043810C974BC1D6962C430BDDE415@ILS133.uopnet.plymouth.ac.uk> FACULTY/ DIRECTORATE: Science & Technology JOB TITLE: Research Technician (2 posts) Job reference A2365 SALARY GRADE/ RANGE: Technical Grade 3: ?17677 to ?19261 GBP pa, pro rata The School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth wishes to recruit Research Technicians (2 posts) to work on projects in cognitive and social neuroscience funded by International Research, Networking and Collaboration grants from the University of Plymouth and EU Marie Curie grants. The post will be based in research labs at the Centre for Brain, Cognition & Behaviour (http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/). The primary duties involve collecting data for human neuroscience research (e.g., electroencephalogram [EEG] and/or cognitive psychology experiments) under the supervision of Dr Haline Schendan and collaborators. The projects involve cognitive neuroscience research on the brain basis of human semantic memory (i.e., meaning and conceptual understanding) and social neuroscience research on the brain basis of deception (known popularly as lie detection). The tasks will require both practical skills and computer literacy to run the equipment, software, and maintain records. Under the direction and supervision of supervisor(s) the post holder(s) will utilise and extend their current techniques and have an opportunity to develop skills in cognitive neuroscience, especially recording of EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs). You will have a good degree qualification or equivalent in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Psychology or related field, or at least 2 A-levels in Psychology, Biology or other relevant subjects, or equivalent vocational qualification. You should also have relevant experience of research in electroencephalography or relevant laboratory based experience. You will be competent in the scientific study of human cognition or neurophysiology, computer programming, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, or electroencephalography. You will have experience with at least one of the following: (a) conducting experimental research in Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology or a related field, (b) computer programming, (c) electroencephalography. Experience conducting electroencephalography experiments in cognitive neuroscience would be an advantage. You will have the following skills or abilities: Excellent computer skills (Windows OS or linux, MS Office), excellent organizational and interpersonal skills, ability to work to agreed deadlines and as part of a team, good time management skill, excellent attention to detail, excellent reading and spelling abilities, conscientiousness, meticulousness, and excellent manual dexterity to handle delicate and sensitive EEG equipment safely and without breakage. This is a fixed term position until 31 July 2012 (start date negotiable but ideally around 9 January 2012). Each position is for up to 37 hours per week, either to be worked by one person full-time or as a job-share by two people working part-time hours; due to the start of new grants in 2012, it is anticipated that similar new fixed-term positions will become available for up to 4 years following the end date of these positions. The closing date for completed applications is 14 December 2011. Interviews are expected to take place within 2 weeks of the closing date. Shortlisting to be completed by: Shortly after closing date. For informal discussion, contact Dr Haline Schendan (haline.schendan at plymouth.ac.uk) http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ADO125/research-technician/ http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/files/extranet/docs/JOB/A2365%20Job%20description.pdf ___________________________________________________________________ The Centre for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (CBCB) has 36 research active academic staff: http://psychology.plymouth.ac.uk/research/. This vibrant centre is well resourced. 5 dedicated technicians support the Centre's laboratories. The Centre houses 513m2 of lab space across 35 rooms with 95 networked computers for behavioral testing, including eye tracking, visuomotor affordance equipment, and virtual reality. Portable equipment, such as laptops, video-cameras and headphones, are available on demand. The Centre houses a state-of-the-art, multi-modal neuroimaging, computer lab. Cognitive neuroscience laboratories cover the full range of techniques. For EEG/ERP/psychophysiology, there are three fully-equipped, 128-channel, active-electrode systems and two 64-channel passive amplification systems, which can allow EEG recording during TMS. The fully-equipped TMS lab houses single pulse and repetitive stimulation with stereotactic positioning to integrate with fMRI data. The research-dedicated fMRI scanner is housed at the Peninsula Medical School (http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/pmrrc/) and has systems for stimulus delivery, response collection, and eye tracking. CBCB includes several EUCOGII members and links closely with the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS): http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/SOCCE/CRNS/ See also: http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/Neuroscience/ ............................................. Haline E. Schendan, Ph.D. School of Psychology Faculty of Science & Technology Plymouth University Drake Circus Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA United Kingdom Office: Portland Square A208 011 +44 (0)1752 584804 Haline.Schendan at plymouth.ac.uk Lecturer, Centre for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour Visiting Scientist, MGH Martinos Center http://www.psy.plymouth.ac.uk/research/HESchendan/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111212/6a91e13d/attachment-0001.html From hasselmo at gmail.com Wed Dec 14 13:07:07 2011 From: hasselmo at gmail.com (Michael Hasselmo) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:07:07 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: BOOK - How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory Message-ID: Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce publication of a book that may be of interest to you: How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory Michael E. Hasselmo MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (2012) http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12708 Description from the publisher: Episodic memory proves essential for daily function, allowing us to remember where we parked the car, what time we walked the dog, or what a friend said earlier. In *How We Remember*, Michael Hasselmo draws on recent developments in neuroscience to present a new model describing the brain mechanisms for encoding and remembering such episodes as spatiotemporal trajectories. He reviews physiological breakthroughs on the regions implicated in episodic memory, including the discovery of grid cells, the cellular mechanisms of persistent spiking and resonant frequency, and the topographic coding of space and time. These discoveries inspire a theory for understanding the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory not just as discrete snapshots but as a dynamic replay of spatiotemporal trajectories, allowing us to ?retrace our steps? to recover a memory. On the behavioral level, Hasselmo emphasizes the capacity to encode and retrieve spatiotemporal trajectories from personal experience, including the time and location of individual events. On the biological level, he focuses on the dynamical properties of neurons and networks in the brain regions mediating episodic memory, addressing the role of neural oscillations and the effect of drugs on episodic memory. In the main text of the book, he presents the model in narrative form, accessible to scholars and advanced undergraduates in many fields. In the appendix, he presents the material in a more quantitative style, providing mathematical descriptions appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in neuroscience or engineering. About the Author: Michael Hasselmo is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Computational Neurophysiology Laboratory at Boston University, where he is also a faculty memory in the Center for Memory and Brain and the Graduate Program for Neuroscience and principal investigator on grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Naval Research. -- Prof. Michael Hasselmo Center for Memory and Brain, Department of Psychology and Graduate Program for Neuroscience, Boston University, 2 Cummington St., Boston, MA, 02215, USA Tel: (617) 353-1397, e-mail: hasselmo at bu.edu, http://www.bu.edu/hasselmo Recent book release: Hasselmo (2012) How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12708 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111214/110af3e7/attachment.html From israel at cc.huji.ac.il Wed Dec 14 08:07:09 2011 From: israel at cc.huji.ac.il (Israel Nelken) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:07:09 +0200 Subject: Connectionists: Ph.D. program in computational neuroscience at ELSC/ICNC (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) Message-ID: The Alice and Jack Ormut Ph.D. Program in computational neuroscience of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC) and the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) at the Hebrew University is now accepting applications from international students. The mission of the Alice and Jack Ormut Ph.D. Program is to train students to address computation and information processing ? both in the brain and in advanced intelligent devices. The Program, which is targeted to exceptionally qualified students from diverse academic backgrounds, is designed to allow students to supplement their knowledge in areas in which they lack adequate academic training. The Program offers an advanced interdisciplinary curriculum and provides students with the opportunity to conduct ground-breaking research. The program provides students with expertise in: ? Neurobiology ? the relationships between the physiology and anatomy of the nervous system to its function and techniques used in modern research. ? Physics ? theory of dynamical systems with applications to neural networks, computation and learning. ? Computer science and engineering ? signal processing, statistical learning theory and information theory. ? Psychology ? with an emphasis on cognition, memory and perception. Students who have completed their bachelor's degree in any field with an average of 85 or higher, or those who have completed a master's degree in any field, are eligible to apply to the doctoral program. International students must have equivalent grades and degrees. Admission is contingent on the approval of the Program's admissions committee. Candidates should send the following information by electronic mail to Ms. Ruthi Suchi, the administrative director of the ICNC ( icnc at alice.nc.huji.ac.il): 1. Current CV 2. One-page statement of scientific interests and objectives 3. Two or more letters of recommendation 4. Transcripts from each university attended 5. Proof of English proficiency (required only for non-native speakers of English, details can be found http://icnc.huji.ac.il/phd/eng/registration/). The deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2012. Tuition for overseas students is approximately $4,000 per year for the first two years. Accepted students are entitled to a fellowship (which amounts to an annual stipend of approximately $10,000) and partial support towards tuition. Fellowships are made possibly by the generous support of the Alice and Jack Ormut Foundation. For further information, see http://icnc.nc.huji.ac.il/phd/eng/information/or contact Prof. Israel Nelken (director of the program), at israel at cc.huji.ac.il. Jerusalem offers an unparalleled mix of past and present culture. From world-class restaurants and caf?s to historical religious sites, the city is a melting pot of ancient roots and modern innovations. Jerusalem is rich in art galleries, museums, theaters and concert halls. Exciting festivals, exhibitions, sports competitions, and other special events are held throughout the year. For further information on life in Jerusalem, see http://tour.jerusalem.muni.il/. -- Prof. Israel Nelken Dept. of Neurobiology The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences Edmond Safra Campus, Givat Ram Jerusalem 91904, ISRAEL Tel: ++972-2-6584229 Fax: ++972-2-6586077 israel at cc.huji.ac.il -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111214/923a6b66/attachment.html From jkrichma at uci.edu Thu Dec 8 20:01:16 2011 From: jkrichma at uci.edu (Jeff Krichmar) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 17:01:16 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Final reminder for IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development Special Issue on Biologically-Inspired Human-Robot Interactions call for papers Message-ID: <0C4EFAD7-3388-4A38-8459-B0D53C9815BB@uci.edu> Dear Colleagues, This is the final reminder for submissions for: IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development Special Issue on Biologically-Inspired Human-Robot Interactions call for papers The submission deadline is December 31st, 2011. The webpage for the special issue can be found at: http://research.microsoft.com/~zhang/IEEE-TAMD/CFP-SI-HRI.html Call for Papers As robots become more common in our daily activities, human-robot interactions and human-computer interfaces are becoming increasingly important. Despite considerable progress in this relatively new field, very few researchers have paid attention to how the brain, cognition, and underlying biological mechanisms are involved in such interactions. This call requests papers that bring together fields of study, such as cognitive architectures, computational neuroscience, developmental psychology, machine psychology, and socially affective robotics, to advance the field of human-robot interaction. A robot that shares many of the attributes of the human it is interacting with would not only result in a more sophisticated robot, but it may also cause the human to respond more naturally, and be more willing to cooperate with such a robot. Submitted papers should further the field of Human-Robot Interaction through biologically inspired algorithms or methods. Topics may include, but are not limited to: ? Brain imaging during human-robot interaction ? Neurobiologically inspired models of human-robot interaction ? Cooperative behavior and/or teamwork with robots and humans ? Emotion and empathy in robotic systems ? Gesture recognition using neural systems ? Human brain activity while interacting with robotic systems ? Human and robot shared or joint attention ? Natural language communication ? Natural vision systems ? Robot imitation of human behavior ? Socially affective robots ? Social cognition ? Space sharing and co-existence between humans and machines ? Theory of mind in robots Editors: Frederick C Harris, Jr., University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, fredh at cse.unr.edu Jeffrey Krichmar, University of California, Irvine, Irvine CA, USA, jkrichma at uci.edu Hava Siegelmann, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA, hava at cs.umass.edu Hiroaki Wagatsuma, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, Japan, waga at brain.kyutech.ac.jp Two kinds of submissions are possible: ? Regular papers, up to 15 double column pages. ? Correspondence papers either presenting a "perspective" that includes insights into issues of wider scope than a regular paper but without being highly computational in style or presenting concise description of recent technical results, up to 8 double column pages. Instructions for authors: http://ieee-cis.org/pubs/tamd/authors/ We are accepting submissions through Manuscript Central at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tamd-ieee (please select ? Bio-inspired human robot interaction ? as the submission type) When submitting your manuscript, please also cc jkrichma at uci.edu, fredh at cse.unr.edu, hava at cs.umass.edu, andwaga at brain.kyutech.ac.jp Timeline: December 31, 2011 ? Deadline for paper submission February 15, 2012 ? Notification April 15, 2012 ? Final version May 1, 2012 ? Electronic publication June 15, 2012 ? Printed publication Best regards, Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma at uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111208/8a2fa7cd/attachment-0001.html From leent at ohsu.edu Wed Dec 14 16:05:18 2011 From: leent at ohsu.edu (Todd Leen) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:05:18 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Assistantship Message-ID: <4EE90F8E.2050600@ohsu.edu> PhD Graduate Research Assistantship in Machine Learning for Rare Event Detection Todd K. Leen, Professor Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine Oregon Health & Science University I have an immediate opening for a Ph.D. research assistantship to work on an NSF-funded project on developing and implementing algorithms to detect rare events. The project will develop active-learning approaches to sample selection for labeling, and statistical error detection. The successful candidate will have completed coursework at the masters level in machine learning and statistical modeling, with research experience that indicates capability of completing the PhD. Strong preference will be given to US residents. The department grants PhD degrees in Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering. For information on application procedure, go to http://ogi.edu/bme/graduate/. Please also forward your statement of interest, academic CV, GRE (and TOEFL if non-native English speaker) scores, up to two published manuscripts, and three letters of recommendation to me at leent at bme.ogi.edu. -- *** NOTE NEW EMAIL *** leent at ohsu.edu Todd K. Leen, Professor Dept. of Biomedical Engineering School of Medicine Oregon Health & Science University From m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk Wed Dec 14 11:21:38 2011 From: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk (=?iso-8859-1?Q?M=E1t=E9_Lengyel?=) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:21:38 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: postdoc in computational neuroscience Message-ID: <3140607F-231B-48D6-95FF-7C5500CE05C1@eng.cam.ac.uk> Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Neuroscience University of Cambridge We are seeking a highly creative and motivated postdoctoral fellow (at the research associate or senior research associate level) to work in the group of M?t? Lengyel (http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/Public/Lengyel/) at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. The group studies learning and memory from computational, algorithmic/representational and neurobiological viewpoints. Computationally and algorithmically, we use ideas from Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and reinforcement learning to characterize the goals and mechanisms of learning in terms of normative principles and behavioral results. We also perform dynamical systems analyses of reduced biophysical models to understand the mapping of these mechanisms into cellular and network models. We collaborate very closely with experimental neuroscience groups, doing in vitro intracellular recordings, multi-unit recordings in behaving animals, human psychophysical, and fMRI experiments. The successful candidate will have - a strong analytical background - demonstrable interest in theoretical neuroscience - obtained (or be close to the completion of) a PhD or equivalent in computational neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, machine learning or a related field Preference will be given to candidates with - previous experience in computational neuroscience - sufficient programming skills to run numerical simulations (eg. in C or MatLab) - expertise with neural network models, analysis of dynamical systems, and Bayesian techniques Applicants should email the following in pdf or plain text to Mate Lengyel and cc the CBL administrator Diane Unwin : - a CHRIS/6 cover sheet available from this page: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/forms/chris6/ - a statement of research interests - a CV, including the names and full contact details (including e-mail addresses) of three referees The deadline for receiving applications is 30 December 2011. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on 23 January 2012. The position is offered for a period of two years initially, starting on 1 May 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter. Salary is in the range ?27,428-?46,696 p.a. Mate Lengyel -- Mate Lengyel, PhD Computational and Biological Learning Lab Cambridge University Engineering Department Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK tel: +44 (0)1223 748 532, fax: +44 (0)1223 332 662 email: m.lengyel at eng.cam.ac.uk web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel From pmt6sbc at maths.leeds.ac.uk Wed Dec 14 05:25:02 2011 From: pmt6sbc at maths.leeds.ac.uk (S B Cooper) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:25:02 GMT Subject: Connectionists: Turing Fellowships - extended deadline, 21 Decemebr, 2011 Message-ID: <201112141025.pBEAP2cW028946@maths.leeds.ac.uk> The Turing Fellowships and Scholarships Competition - The final deadline is now: WEDNESDAY 21 DECEMBER 2011 - a small extension to the deadline in response to requests. The 3-year Turing Centenary Research Project - "Mind, Mechanism and Mathematics" starts in July 2012, and is funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. As part of the Alan Turing Year, proposals are invited for: *** Five Turing Research Fellowships for researchers no more than 10 years from the award of a PhD relevant to their proposed research, value 75,000 UK pounds each, and *** Three Turing Scholarships for gifted younger researchers of age up to 25 years old, value 45,000 UK pounds each over the three years. Each Award may be held at a location of the winner's choice, and may be held as a valuable supplement to other funding. For further details of eligibility etc, please see the How to Apply webpage at the Alan Turing Year website: http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/give-page.php?409 The Research Project will address a number of major questions related to the Turing legacy, and are listed at the Turing Centenary Research Project webpage: http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/give-page.php?408 under four main headings: 1. The Mathematics of Emergence: The Mysteries of Morphogenesis 2. Possibility of Building a Brain: Intelligent Machines, Practice and Theory 3. Nature of Information: Complexity, Randomness, Hiddenness of Information 4. How should we compute? New Models of Logic and Computation. Important Dates: Submission deadline December 21, 2011 Award Notification March 31, 2012 Award Ceremony Turing Centenary day, June 23, 2012 Commencement of the research project July 1, 2012 Completion of the research project June 30, 2015 Winners will be expected to attend the award ceremony at the Turing Centenary Conference in Manchester, 22 - 25 June, 2012. The members of the Competition Judging Panel are: Samson Abramsky (Oxford) Manindra Agrawal (Kanpur) Eric Allender (Rutgers) Rodney Downey (Wellington) Luciano Floridi (Hertfordshire/Oxford) Barbara Grosz (Harvard) Stuart Kauffman (Vermont/Santa Fe) Hans Meinhardt (Max Planck Institute) Cris Moore (New Mexico/Santa Fe) Gordon Plotkin (Edinburgh) Aaron Sloman (Birmingham) Robert I. Soare (Chicago) The Judging Panel is Chaired by S. Barry Cooper (Leeds) __________________________________________________________________________ From S.M.Bohte at cwi.nl Thu Dec 15 07:03:50 2011 From: S.M.Bohte at cwi.nl (Sander Bohte) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:03:50 +0100 (CET) Subject: Connectionists: CFP Special Session "Learning in Spiking Neural Networks: Beyond Hebbian Learning" at IJCNN 2012 In-Reply-To: <80f7729a-1989-4eff-bb8f-8a5dc7060c04@zembox01.zaas.igi.nl> Message-ID: <331131b8-5a77-484d-bb6d-fa7ff30197c6@zembox01.zaas.igi.nl> [apologies for double postings] Call for Papers: Special Session "Learning in Spiking Neural Networks: Beyond Hebbian Learning" IJCNN 2012, Brisbane 10--15/06/2012 Deadline: 19/12/2011 Submission: via IJCNN submission system at the IJCNN 2011 homepage at http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org/ Homepage: http://www.computing.surrey.ac.uk/personal/st/A.Gruning/ijcnn/special_session_spiking.pdf Keywords: Spiking Neural Networks Learning Algorithms Supervised Learning Unsupervised Learning. Organizers: Andre Gruning Scott Notley Yaochu Jin Nature-Inspired Computing and Engineering (NICE) Department of Computing, University of Surrey Email: [a.gruning|s.notley|yaochu.jin]@surrey.ac.uk This special session aims to bring together researchers from computational neuroscience, computational intelligence, machine learning and cognitive science to discuss new ideas and present efficient learning algorithms that go beyond Hebbian learning for feed-forward, recurrent and reservoir based spiking neural networks. Today much evidence has been found in neuroscience that learning in biological neural networks is correlation-based (Hebbian-style, e.g. spike time dependent plasticity (STDP)). However cognitive behaviour is often considered to be target-driven, which indicates a supervised approach to learning rather than pure correlation-based learning. While a large number of both supervised and unsupervised efficient learning algorithms have been developed and a wide range of applications have been found for artificial neural networks, most learning algorithms for spiking neural networks are still correlation-based with few exceptions and limited success has been reported on applying spiking neural networks to solving real-world problems. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: How can correlation-based learning on the neural level lead to supervised learning behaviour on a higher functional level? Can we implement learning algorithms that are technically efficient in a biologically plausible way in networks of spiking neurons? How synaptic, homeostatic and intrinsic plasticity rules influence dynamics and learning performance of spiking neural networks? What are typical applications of spiking neural networks where the spiking behaviour is a real plus over the standard use of rate neurons? Program Committee Sander Bohte, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Netherlands. Andre Gruning, University of Surrey, UK. Rasvan Florian, Coneural ? Center for Cognitive and Neural Studies, Romania. Yaochu Jin, University of Surrey, UK. Nikola Kasabov, AUT, Australia. Jian Liu, University of Goettingen, Germany. Yan Meng, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA Scott Notley, University of Surrey. Filip Ponulak, Brain Corporation, San Diego, USA. Peter Tino, University of Birmingham, UK. Pierre Yger, University College London, UK. From sen.cheng at rub.de Thu Dec 15 03:52:49 2011 From: sen.cheng at rub.de (Sen Cheng) Date: 15 Dec 2011 09:52:49 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience in Germany Message-ID: PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience Applications are invited for a PhD position in computational neuroscience in the research unit of Prof. Sen Cheng in the Mercator Research Group ?Structure of Memory? (MRG1) at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Our unit investigates the theoretical basis for learning and memory processes at the neuronal circuit level. Candidates should have an excellent Master degree, or equivalent, in neuroscience, physics, mathematics, engineering or a related field. Experience in mathematical or computer modeling is required. Familiarity with computational neuroscience would be a further asset. The Ruhr University Bochum is home to a vibrant research community in neuroscience. Students will be encouraged to join the International Graduate School of Neuroscience and interact with the Institute of Neuroinformatics. MRG1 is funded by the Stiftung Mercator and investigates episodic and semantic memory processes and their relation to other cognitive functions. MRG1 comprises a diverse and interdisciplinary team of philosophers and experimental as well as theoretical neuroscientists. The main language of communication in the group is English. For further information see www.rub.de/cns. To apply please send a letter stating your motivation and your research interests, a complete CV, transcripts, and at least two letters of recommendation to mrg1 at rub.de by January 08, 2012. The Ruhr University Bochum is committed to equal opportunity. We strongly encourage applications from qualified women and persons with disabilities. From t.heskes at science.ru.nl Wed Dec 14 16:07:34 2011 From: t.heskes at science.ru.nl (Tom Heskes) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:07:34 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Neurocomputing volume 78 (issue 1) Message-ID: <4EE91016.1000908@science.ru.nl> Neurocomputing volume 78 (issue 1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231211X00164 ----------- SPECIAL ISSUE (ISNN 2011) Data-driven optimal algorithms and their applications to pattern recognition (editorial) Huaguang Zhang, Cesare Alippi, Dongbin Zhao A three-network architecture for on-line learning and optimization based on adaptive dynamic programming Haibo He, Zhen Ni, Jian Fu Finite-horizon neuro-optimal tracking control for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems using adaptive dynamic programming approach Ding Wang, Derong Liu, Qinglai Wei Self-teaching adaptive dynamic programming for Gomoku Dongbin Zhao, Zhen Zhang, Yujie Dai Semi-supervised learning guided by the modularity measure in complex networks Thiago C. Silva, Liang Zhao Soft sensor for parameters of mill load based on multi-spectral segments PLS sub-models and on-line adaptive weighted fusion algorithm Jian Tang, Tianyou Chai, Lijie Zhao, Wen Yu, Heng Yue Extracting linguistic rules from data sets using fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms Dan Meng, Zheng Pei Group search optimizer based optimal location and capacity of distributed generations Qi Kang, Tian Lan, Yong Yan, Lei Wang, Qidi Wu Model of turbine optimal initial pressure under off-design operation based on SVR and GA Peifeng Niu, Weiping Zhang Performance of deterministic learning in noisy environments Chengzhi Yuan, Cong Wang Adaptive neural control of nonlinear MIMO systems with unknown time delays Tieshan Li, Ronghui Li, Dan Wang A cortex-like learning machine for temporal hierarchical pattern clustering, detection, and recognition James Ting-Ho Lo A fully complex-valued radial basis function classifier for real-valued classification problems R. Savitha, S. Suresh, N. Sundararajan, H.J. Kim Environmental robust speech and speaker recognition through multi-channel histogram equalization Stefano Squartini, Emanuele Principi, Rudy Rotili, Francesco Piazza Design of K-means clustering-based polynomial radial basis function neural networks (pRBF NNs) realized with the aid of particle swarm optimization and differential evolution Sung-Kwun Oh, Wook-Dong Kim, Witold Pedrycz, Su-Chong Joo Remote sensing image classification based on neural network ensemble algorithm Min Han, Xinrong Zhu, Wei Yao sEMG-based continuous estimation of joint angles of human legs by using BP neural network Feng Zhang, Pengfeng Li, Zeng-Guang Hou, Zhen Lu, Yixiong Chen, Qingling Li, Min Tan Global exponential convergence of periodic neural networks with time-varying delays Ailong Wu, Zhigang Zeng, Jine Zhang Global relative parameter sensitivities of the feed-forward loops in genetic networks Pei Wang, Jinhu L?, Maciej J. Ogorzalek ------------ JOURNAL SITE: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neurocomputing/ From Eugene.Izhikevich at braincorporation.com Thu Dec 15 16:24:10 2011 From: Eugene.Izhikevich at braincorporation.com (Eugene Izhikevich) Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:24:10 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: Industry job: Optic flow for robotics Message-ID: <7240006F-159A-4364-A66E-372ACC22C75A@braincorporation.com> Brain Corporation in San Diego, CA, has a full-time position for an expert in modeling visual system for navigation and motor control. In particular, we are interested in experts who use optic flow for navigation of robots. Submit your CV/resume and relevant papers to Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich, CEO, at [jobs AT braincorporation.com]. REQUIREMENTS: In addition to being an expert in optic flow algorithms for navigation, the candidate must be exceptionally good in any one of the following two areas: (1) Solid experience in spiking networks and spike-timing dynamics and plasticity. (2) Excellent programming skills in C/C++, Python or MATLAB. There are other positions at Brain Corporation, all involving spiking modeling for vision or motor control; see http://www.braincorporation.com Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich Chairman & CEO Brain Corporation San Diego, CA, 92121 From t.heskes at science.ru.nl Wed Dec 14 16:07:29 2011 From: t.heskes at science.ru.nl (Tom Heskes) Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:07:29 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Neurocomputing volume 77 (issue 1) Message-ID: <4EE91011.7090806@science.ru.nl> Neurocomputing volume 77 (issue 1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/271597-1-s2.0-S0925231211X00152 ----------- REGULAR PAPERS Robust lossless data hiding using clustering and statistical quantity histogram Lingling An, Xinbo Gao, Yuan Yuan, Dacheng Tao An adaptive wavelet differential neural networks based identifier and its stability analysis F. Jahangiri, A. Doustmohammadi, M.B. Menhaj Learning optimal spatial filters by discriminant analysis for brain?computer-interface Yanwei Pang, Yuan Yuan, Kongqiao Wang A method using long digital straight segments for fingerprint recognition Xiubao Jiang, Xinge You, Yuan Yuan, Mingming Gong Optimization techniques for improving power quality data mining using wavelet packet based support vector machine K. Manimala, K. Selvi, R. Ahila A multiscale numerical method for the heterogeneous cable equation Alexandre L. Madureira, Daniele Q.M. Madureira, Pedro O. Pinheiro Adaptive fuzzy backstepping output feedback control for strict feedback nonlinear systems with unknown sign of high-frequency gain Shaocheng Tong, Changliang Liu, Yongming Li Hierarchical behavior categorization using correlation based adaptive resonance theory Mustafa Yava?, Ferda Nur Alpaslan Wavelet packet energy, Tsallis entropy and statistical parameterization for support vector-based and neural-based classification of mammographic regions Juan F. Ramirez-Villegas, David F. Ramirez-Moreno Analysis and design of associative memories based on recurrent neural network with discontinuous activation functions Gang Bao, Zhigang Zeng Short-term potentiation effect on pattern recall in sparsely coded neural network Julius Stroffek, Petr Marsalek Improved delay-dependent stability criteria for neural networks with two additive time-varying delay components Junkang Tian, Shouming Zhong Kernel sparse representation based classification Jun Yin, Zhonghua Liu, Zhong Jin, Wankou Yang Learning the mean: A neural network approach Sergio Decherchi, Mauro Parodi, Sandro Ridella A clustering algorithm for radial basis function neural network initialization Di Wang, Xiao-Jun Zeng, John A. Keane Regularized locality preserving discriminant embedding for face recognition Ying Han Pang, Jin Teoh Andrew Beng, Fazly Salleh Abas Nonlinear system identification with continuous piecewise linear neural network Xiaolin Huang, Jun Xu, Shuning Wang Identifiability analysis and parameter estimation of a single Hodgkin?Huxley type voltage dependent ion channel under voltage step measurement conditions D?vid Csercsik, Katalin M. Hangos, G?bor Szederk?nyi An impulse control approach to spacecraft autonomous rendezvous based on genetic algorithms Xuebo Yang, Jinyong Yu, Huijun Gao Gaussian kernel-based fuzzy inference systems for high dimensional regression Qianfeng Cai, Zhifeng Hao, Xiaowei Yang Critical dynamics study on recurrent neural networks: Globally exponential stability Chen Qiao, Zongben Xu A fast convex hull algorithm with maximum inscribed circle affine transformation Runzong Liu, Bin Fang, Yuan Yan Tang, Jing Wen, Jiye Qian Attracting and quasi-invariant sets of non-autonomous neural networks with delays Daoyi Xu, Shujun Long Spectral clustering: A semi-supervised approach Weifu Chen, Guocan Feng Convergence of an online gradient method with inner-product penalty and adaptive momentum Hongmei Shao, Dongpo Xu, Gaofeng Zheng, Lijun Liu ----------- BRIEF PAPERS Using Sequential Unconstrained Minimization Techniques to simplify SVM solvers Sachindra Joshi, Jayadeva, Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Suresh Chandra Extended local tangent space alignment for classification Jing Wang, Wenxian Jiang, Jin Gou Adaptive neural control for strict-feedback stochastic nonlinear systems with time-delay Huanqing Wang, Bing Chen, Chong Lin Synchronization of stochastic Markovian jump neural networks with reaction-diffusion terms Guodong Shi, Qian Ma A unified supervised codebook learning framework for classification Congyan Lang, Songhe Feng, Bing Cheng, Bingbing Ni, Shuicheng Yan ------------ JOURNAL SITE: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neurocomputing/ From murphyk at cs.ubc.ca Fri Dec 16 11:53:23 2011 From: murphyk at cs.ubc.ca (Kevin Murphy) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:53:23 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: UAI 2012 Call For Papers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: UAI (the Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence) is the premier conference on issues relating to representation, inference, learning and decision making in the presence of uncertainty. It also publishes papers on deep learning, which includes various forms of neural networks, as well as papers related to human inference and learning. The 28th UAI conference will be located in Catalina Island (near Los Angeles), United States, on August 15-17, 2012. On August 14, before the main conference, there will be tutorials. On August 18, after the main conference, there will be workshops. We are currently soliciting papers which describe novel methodology, or non-trivial applications of existing methodology, related to modeling, inference, learning and decision making under uncertainty. The best way to get a sense for what kinds of papers are appropriate is to look at past UAIs (available online here: ? http://uai.sis.pitt.edu/home.jsp?mmnu=0&smnu=0). Authors of papers that win best paper awards will be invited to submit their papers to the Artificial Intelligence Journal, with special "fast track" status. Papers are due on 30 March, 2011. ?The reviewing process is double-blind. ?Authors will be notified of acceptance on June 1st. For detailed formatting instructions, please refer to ? http://auai.org/uai2012/cfp.shtml All accepted papers will be presented at the Conference either as contributed talks or as posters, and will be published in the Conference Proceedings (although authors may choose to designate their paper as "not for publication" if they wish to avoid conflicts with future journal publications). ?We hope that this mechanism will encourage authors from fields outside of computer science to submit relevant work to UAI. Papers that have already been published in a refereed venue, including conferences and journals, may not be submitted. Papers that are currently under review may be submitted, but only if you choose the "not for publication" option. Submissions should be significant extensions of prior published work. Papers that are deemed too similar to past work will be rejected on grounds of lack of sufficient novelty. Programme Chairs: Nando de Freitas, University of British Columbia Kevin Murphy, University of British Columbia / Google Research General Chair: Fabio Cozman, Universidade de Sao Paulo Local Arrangements Chair: David Heckerman, Microsoft Research Senior Program Committee: TBD From sen.cheng at rub.de Fri Dec 16 05:47:56 2011 From: sen.cheng at rub.de (Sen Cheng) Date: 16 Dec 2011 11:47:56 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience in the research unit of Prof. Sen Cheng in the Mercator Research Group ?Structure of Memory? (MRG1) at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Our unit investigates the theoretical basis for learning and memory processes at the neuronal circuit level. The postdoc will work on the project "Theory of the interplay between sensory cortices and hippocampus in memory formation and retrieval", which is funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the collaborative research center (SFB 874) "Integration and Representation of Sensory Processes". The salary will be on the standard German pay scale of TV-L E13. Candidates should have a doctoral degree in neuroscience, physics, mathematics, engineering or a related field. Competence in mathematical modeling and good programming skills are mandatory. Familiarity with computational neuroscience would be a further asset. The Ruhr University Bochum is home to a vibrant research community in neuroscience. Students will be encouraged to join the International Graduate School of Neuroscience and interact with the Institute of Neuroinformatics. MRG1 is funded by the Stiftung Mercator and investigates episodic and semantic memory processes and their relation to other cognitive functions. MRG1 comprises a diverse and interdisciplinary team of philosophers and experimental as well as theoretical neuroscientists. The main language of communication in the group is English. For further information see www.rub.de/cns. To apply please send a statement of your motivation and research interests, and a complete CV to mrg1 at rub.de by January 15th, 2012. Please, also request from at least two referees that they send letters of reference directly to the same email address. The Ruhr University Bochum is committed to equal opportunity. We strongly encourage applications from qualified women and persons with disabilities. From connectionists at turingbirds.com Fri Dec 16 10:45:44 2011 From: connectionists at turingbirds.com (Charl) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:45:44 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Fwd: [NeuroInformatics.NL] Workshop on Structure, Function and Modeling of Dendrites In-Reply-To: References: <4EDCDB99.5050801@donders.ru.nl> Message-ID: Dear Neuroinformatician, Thank you for making the 2011 NeuroInformatics.NL symposium in The Hague a great success (http://neuroinformatics.nl/?q=symposium2011). We think that in-person meetings are key to building a vivid community, and therefore we are committed to organize three thematic half day workshops and one full day Belgian/Dutch symposium in 2012. Here we focus on the upcoming workshop, entitled "Structure, Function and Modeling of Dendrites", which will take place on Friday, January 20th, 2012, at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Medical Center (VUmc), close to Amsterdam Zuid which has direct connections to Groningen, Eindhoven, Nijmegen etc. Since community building is the main aim of the workshop series, we aimed to compose an attractive program that, despite being centered around a theme, should attract a broad audience with both data-providers and data-users. In vivo recordings, health & disease, finite element modeling and electron microscopy are covered. A nicely formatted program with abstracts is here: http://neuroinformatics.nl/?q=workshop2012-1 In plain text, the program is: 13:30 - 14:00 Chat on arrival 14:00 ? 14:05 Welcome 14:05 ? 14:40 Dr. Christaan de Kock (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) ? ? ? ? ? ? ?The cortical column in silico 14:40 ? 15:15 Prof. Harry B.M. Uylings (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Lifespan and aging changes in human cortical dendrites 15:15 ? 15:35 Break with coffee and tea 15:35 ? 16:10 Espen Hagen / Torbjorn Ness (Aas university Norway) ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Models for signal propagation in dendritic structures 16:10 ? 16:45 Ben Lich (FEI Company) ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Dendrites seen by Scanning Electron Microscopes 16:45 ? 17:30 Chat with drinks We cordially invite you to attend, and alert students and colleagues to the meeting. Please do register here: http://neuroinformatics.nl/?q=workshop2012-1|registration For those who read all the way until here: All links in this mail point to our new website, which still contains elements of the transitional site. An abundance of navigational elements may occur on some pages. Suggestions for new content on the site are welcome at the address www-neuroinformatics at science.ru.nl Greetings and happy holidays, Rembrandt Bakker and Charl Linssen, on behalf of the organizing committee: Paul Tiesinga (head), Rembrandt Bakker, Charl Linssen (coord), Gea Hulzebos (secr), Moniek Lijster (NIHC) From etienne.roesch at gmail.com Fri Dec 16 05:50:53 2011 From: etienne.roesch at gmail.com (Etienne B. Roesch) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:50:53 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science, 27-28th Feb 2012 Message-ID: Dear colleagues, We are excited to announce the organisation of the conference "Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science", held February 27-28th, 2012. The conference is sponsored by the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, with the support of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. If you intend to participate (even if you do not plan to submit a poster or a talk), we kindly ask that you send us an email, as we need to make some arrangements with the venue. More information at: http://reading.ac.uk/cinn/enactivism Dr. Etienne Roesch (Goldsmiths Univ. London; Univ. of Reading) Dr. Slawomir Nasuto (Univ. of Reading) Prof. John Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths Univ. London) The pursuit of cognitive science is concerned with the scientific study of the mind. Interdisciplinary in nature, the discipline spans philosophy, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, social sciences, biology and physics - as well as any other discipline with a perspective on the workings of the mind. From the natural evolution of the concepts that formed the building blocks of cognitive science, arose the need for an integrative account of the interaction of the organism with the world, and recent years witnessed the emergence of what is believed to be a paradigm shift in the discipline: enactive cognitive science. Enactive cognitive science emerges from diverse research interests, and has yet to mature into a discipline on its own. It now faces the challenge of gathering these views and frameworks, which were merely critics of the classical paradigm, into cohesive research agendas: Enactive cognitive science distances itself from classical cognitivist and computational perspectives, by broadening the current focus on the brain and including the body and its relationship to the outside world. The objective of the conference is to gather as many researchers as possible, from all disciplines, with an interest in the development and the future of enactive cognitive science. Venue and accommodation ? The conference will be hosted in the unique setting of the Cumberland Lodge (http://cumberlandlodge.ac.uk), in the Great Park of Windsor. Participants will have the choice to stay for the night at the Lodge, or to stay in one of the nearby accommodations. The Cumberland Lodge is genuinely conducive for these types of meetings, and we hope this will maximize interactions between participants. The Lodge is conveniently located 25 minutes away from Heathrow airport. We reserved a number of rooms at the Lodge for Monday night, and we are told there will be rooms available for Tuesday night as well. The Lodge is fully licensed, and we encourage attendees to bring along their favourite music instrument.. :) Call for posters and talks ? Posters will be on display throughout the whole conference, and submitted talks will complement invited keynote addresses. If needed, attendance certificates will be provided. If you are willing to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max. 300 words) to Dr. Etienne Roesch by January 30th (of course you can send it before that date!), stating whether you would like to present a poster or give a talk, and if you will be staying at the Lodge or make your own arrangements. We hope to see you there! Best regards, Dr. Etienne Roesch Dr. Slawomir Nasuto Prof. John Mark Bishop From dejan at igi.tugraz.at Fri Dec 16 06:59:43 2011 From: dejan at igi.tugraz.at (Pecevski Dejan) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:59:43 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Probabilistic inference in general graphical models with noisy spiking neurons Message-ID: <4EEB32AF.1070404@igi.tugraz.at> Dear All, I would like to draw your attention to a newly published paper in PLoS Computational Biology, titled *Probabilistic Inference in General Graphical Models through Sampling in Stochastic Networks of Spiking Neurons* by Dejan Pecevski, Lars Buesing and Wolfgang Maass, available online at http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002294. The paper builds on the results of a recent paper by Buesing et al., published in PLoS Computational Biology and available online at http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1002211. Abstract: An important open problem of computational neuroscience is the generic organization of computations in networks of neurons in the brain. We show here through rigorous theoretical analysis that inherent stochastic features of spiking neurons, in combination with simple nonlinear computational operations in specific network motifs and dendritic arbors, enable networks of spiking neurons to carry out probabilistic inference through sampling in general graphical models. In particular, it enables them to carry out probabilistic inference in Bayesian networks with converging arrows (``explaining away'') and with undirected loops, that occur in many real-world tasks. Ubiquitous stochastic features of networks of spiking neurons, such as trial-to-trial variability and spontaneous activity, are necessary ingredients of the underlying computational organization. We demonstrate through computer simulations that this approach can be scaled up to neural emulations of probabilistic inference in fairly large graphical models, yielding some of the most complex computations that have been carried out so far in networks of spiking neurons. -- _______________________________________________ Dejan Pecevski, PhD Institute for Theoretical Computer Science Graz University of Technology Inffeldgasse 16b, A-8010 Graz, Austria Tel. +43 316 873 5849 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111216/ddfaee43/attachment-0001.html From yael at Princeton.EDU Fri Dec 16 15:55:05 2011 From: yael at Princeton.EDU (Yael Niv) Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:55:05 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Postdoctoral position: attention and learning across the lifespan Message-ID: Join a growing research group led by Dr. Yael Niv in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Department of Psychology at Princeton University. Research in the lab focuses on computational modeling of animal and human learning and behavior, and model-driven functional imaging experiments of decision making. Possible projects investigate the interaction between attention and learning across the lifespan. We seek exceptionally talented candidates with a strong background in functional imaging, expertise in computer programming and modeling, and a keen interest in reinforcement learning and normative models of behavior. Anticipated start date is June 2012 or later. This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal based on satisfactory performance. All applications should include a cover letter stating background and research interests, a CV, two representative publications, and contact information for at least two references. Essential Qualifications PhD in psychology, proven experience with functional neuroimaging. Preferred Qualifications The ideal candidate will have robust experience with fMRI (event related designs and model-based analysis techniques), will be proficient in programming (Matlab or equivalent), and will have some computational background (machine learning, reinforcement learning, Bayesian models). Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and complies with applicable EEO and affirmative action regulations. You may apply online to Requisition Number: 0110838 to http://jobs.princeton.edu. From info at epilepsy-database.eu Sat Dec 17 07:41:43 2011 From: info at epilepsy-database.eu (European Epilepsy Database) Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:41:43 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: European Epilepsy EEG database now available Message-ID: <0fce96d815a45761e6f27b36865f532e@mail.webfaction.com> Dear colleagues, It is our pleasure to present the European EEG database to the research community, which includes long-term EEG recordings of more than 250 epilepsy patients. Additionally, it contains extensive meta-data of clinical and technical details of the recordings and the patients. It was compiled by the European Union funded project EPILEPSIAE. Per patient, on average 10 seizures (range 4-94) occurred during the recordings which lasted on average one week (range 4 to 21 days). Sampling rates of 250-2500 Hz were used. Based on standardized annotations, comprehensive information about the recordings, the electrodes used, seizure semiology and seizure localization were compiled. In order to take a more detailed look at the content of the database, you are very welcome to visit www.epilepsy-database.eu, where exemplary EEG recordings and metadata are available. The datasets may not only be useful for the fields of seizure detection and prediction, but also for general neurophysiology, epileptology, computational neuroscience, as well as for teaching purposes. Due to the substantial workload necessary to maintain the database and to provide it to the public, we need to charge a fee for access to the datasets. During the initial period, a subset of 30 recordings with intracranial electrodes and 30 with surface electrodes will be available. We hope that the database is of considerable benefit for the research community. With best regards, Andreas Schulze-Bonhage (University Hospital Freiburg, Germany) and the team of the EPILEPSIAE project www.epilepsy-database.eu From EPNSugan at ntu.edu.sg Mon Dec 12 05:43:34 2011 From: EPNSugan at ntu.edu.sg (Ponnuthurai Nagaratnam Suganthan (Assoc Prof)) Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:43:34 +0800 Subject: Connectionists: "Ensemble Methods in Computational Intelligence" : CFP for a Special Session at WCCI 2012 Message-ID: <7085C89ACBD47E4B947F91A84B9EA9241E264C7871@EXCHANGE31.staff.main.ntu.edu.sg> Call for Papers "Ensemble Methods in Computational Intelligence " A Special Session at 2012 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence June 10 - 15, 2012, Brisbane, Australia Ensemble learning attempts to enhance the performance of systems (clustering, classification, prediction, feature selection, search, optimization, rule extraction, etc.) by using multiple models instead of using a single model. This approach is intuitively meaningful as a single model may not always be the best for solving a complex problem while multiple models are more likely to yield results better than each of the constituent models. Although in the past, ensemble methods have been mainly studied in the context of classification and time series prediction, recently they are being used in algorithms in other scenarios such as clustering, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, dimensionality reduction and so on. The aim of this special session is to bring together researchers and practitioners who are working in the overlapping fields of ensemble methods and computational intelligence. Papers dealing with theory, algorithms, analysis, and applications of ensemble of computational intelligence methods are sought for this special session. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: 1. Ensemble methods such as boosting, bagging, random forests, multiple classifier systems, ensemble neural networks, mixture of experts, multiple kernels, etc. 2. Ensemble methods for regression, classification, clustering, ranking, feature selection, etc. 3. Issues such as selection of constituent models, fusion and diversity of models in an ensemble, etc. 4. Hybridization of neuro-fuzzy-evolutionary ensemble systems 5. Applications of ensemble of computational intelligence methods in any field Paper Submission: Manuscripts should be prepared according to the standard format and page limit of regular papers specified in WCCI 2012 and submitted through the web link at WCCI 2012. Please select "Sxxx: Ensemble Methods in Computational Intelligence" as the main research topic when submitting your manuscripts. Special session papers will be treated in the same way as regular papers and included in the conference proceedings. Important Dates: For important dates such as Paper Submission deadline, Decision Notification, Final Camera-Ready Submission / Conference Registration, etc., please refer to WCCI 2012 web pages. Special Session Organizers: P. N. Suganthan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, epnsugan at ntu.edu.sg N. R. Pal, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkatta, India, nikhil at isical.ac.in Wenjia Wang, University of East Anglia (UEA), UK, Wenjia.Wang at uea.ac.uk CONFIDENTIALITY: This email is intended solely for the person(s) named and may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it, notify us and do not copy, use, or disclose its content. Towards A Sustainable Earth: Print Only When Necessary. Thank you. From bowlby at bu.edu Mon Dec 19 13:17:24 2011 From: bowlby at bu.edu (Brian Bowlby) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:17:24 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: 16th ICCNS conference: Call for Abstracts and Confirmed Invited Speakers Message-ID: SIXTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS May 30 ? June 1, 2012 Boston University 677 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA http://cns.bu.edu/cns-meeting/conference.html Sponsored by the Boston University Center for Adaptive Systems, Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology (CompNet), and Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (CELEST) with financial support from the National Science Foundation This interdisciplinary conference is attended each year by approximately 300 people from 30 countries around the world. As in previous years, the conference will focus on solutions to the questions: HOW DOES THE BRAIN CONTROL BEHAVIOR? HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY EMULATE BIOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE? The conference is aimed at researchers and students of computational neuroscience, cognitive science, neural networks, neuromorphic engineering, and artificial intelligence. It includes invited lectures and contributed lectures and posters by experts on the biology and technology of how the brain and other intelligent systems adapt to a changing world. The conference is particularly interested in exploring how the brain and biologically-inspired algorithms and systems in engineering and technology can learn. Single-track oral and poster sessions enable all presented work to be highly visible. Three-hour poster sessions with no conflicting events will be held on two of the conference days. Posters will be up all day, and can also be viewed during breaks in the talk schedule. CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS Martin Banks (University of California, Berkeley) Combining depth information from disparity and blur Helen Barbas (Boston University) [Plenary Speaker] Prefrontal pathways and flexible behavior Nathaniel Daw (New York University) Reinforcement learning: Beyond reinforcement Paul Glimcher (New York University) The emerging standard model of human decision-making Stephen Grossberg (Boston University) [Plenary Speaker] Social cognition: How do children learn to follow gaze, share joint attention, imitate their teachers, and use tools during social interactions? Lori Holt (Carnegie Mellon University) Using speech to listen in on auditory processing Margaret Livingstone (Harvard Medical School) Why do we have category specific domains and what good are they? Zhong-Lin Lu (Ohio State University) Functions and mechanisms of perceptual learning Christopher Pack (McGill University) Short-term plasticity of receptive fields and functional connectivity in primate visual cortex Max Riesenhuber (Georgetown University) Object recognition in cortex: From pipelines to flying crossbodies Veit Stuphorn (Johns Hopkins University) The role of the Supplementary Eye Field in value-based decision-making Jeffrey Taube (Dartmouth College) Learning and memory in the head direction cell circuit CELEST WORKSHOP ON ?BUILDING AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS? Gary Bradski (Willow Garage) Perception tools and systems for autonomous robots Stefano Fusi (Columbia University) The importance of conjunctive neural representations in high cognitive functions Jeff Krichmar (University of California, Irvine) Neuromorphic and brain-based robots Greg Snider (HP Labs) Inference and learning with dynamic fields Max Versace (Boston University) Intelligent machines or bust CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Session Topics: * vision * image understanding * audition * speech and language * unsupervised learning * supervised learning * reinforcement and emotion * sensory-motor control * cognition, planning, and attention * spatial mapping and navigation * object recognition * neural circuit models * neural system models * mathematics of neural systems * robotics * hybrid systems (fuzzy, evolutionary, digital) * neuromorphic VLSI * industrial applications * other Contributed abstracts must be received, in English, by January 31, 2012. Email notification of acceptance will be provided by February 29, 2012. A meeting registration fee must accompany each abstract. The fee will be refunded if the abstract is not accepted for presentation. Fees of accepted abstracts will be returned upon written request only until April 13, 2012. Abstracts must not exceed one 8.5"x11" page in length, with 1" margins on top, bottom, and both sides in a single-column format with a font of 10 points or larger. The title, authors, affiliations, surface, and email addresses should begin each abstract. A separate cover letter should include the abstract title; name and contact information for corresponding and presenting authors; requested preference for oral or poster presentation; and a first and second choice from the topics above, including whether it is biological (B) or technological (T) work [Example: first choice: vision (T); second choice: neural system models (B)]. Contributed talks will be 15 minutes long. Posters will be displayed for a full day. Overhead and computer projector facilities will be available for talks. Accepted abstracts will be printed in the conference proceedings volume. No extended paper will be required. Abstracts should be submitted electronically as Word files to cindy at bu.edu using the phrase ?16th ICCNS abstract submission? in the subject line or as paper hard copy (four copies of the abstract with one copy of the cover letter and the registration form) to Cynthia Bradford, Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02215 USA. Fax submissions of the abstract will not be accepted. REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Early registration is recommended using the registration form below. Student registrations must be accompanied by a letter of verification from a department chairperson or faculty/research advisor. REGISTRATION FORM Sixteenth International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems May 30 ? June 1, 2012 Boston University 677 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA Fax: +1 617 353 7755 Mr/Ms/Dr/Prof:_____________________________________________________ Affiliation:_________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City, State, Postal Code:______________________________________________ Phone and Fax:_____________________________________________________ Email:____________________________________________________________ The registration fee includes a copy of the conference proceedings volume, a reception on Friday night, and 3 coffee breaks each day. CHECK ONE: ( ) $135 Conference (Regular) ( ) $85 Conference (Student) METHOD OF PAYMENT: [ ] Enclosed is a check made payable to "Boston University" Checks must be made payable in US dollars and issued by a US correspondent bank. Each registrant is responsible for any and all bank charges. [ ] I wish to pay by credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or Discover Card only) Name as it appears on the card:___________________________________________ Type of card: _____________________________ Expiration date:________________ Account number: _______________________________________________________ Signature:____________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111219/d90a0e1a/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: brochure.doc Type: application/msword Size: 261120 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111219/d90a0e1a/brochure-0001.doc -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111219/d90a0e1a/attachment-0003.html From cie.conference.series at gmail.com Fri Dec 2 20:12:12 2011 From: cie.conference.series at gmail.com (CiE Conference Series) Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:12:12 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: TURING CENTENARY CONFERENCE Message-ID: ********************************************************************** SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?TURING CENTENARY CONFERENCE ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? http://www.cie2012.eu ? ? ? ? Computability in Europe 2012: How the World Computes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?University of Cambridge ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Cambridge, 18-23 June 2012 CiE 2012 is one of a series of special events, running throughout the Alan Turing Year, celebrating Turing's unique impact on mathematics, computing, computer science, informatics, morphogenesis, artificial intelligence, philosophy and computational aspects of physics, biology, linguistics, economics and the wider scientific world. CiE 2012 is planned to be an event worthy of the remarkable scientific career it commemorates. PLENARY SPEAKERS include: Andrew Hodges (Oxford, Special Invited Lecture), Ian Stewart (Warwick, Special Public Lecture), Dorit Aharonov (Jerusalem), Veronica Becher (Buenos Aires), Lenore Blum (Carnegie Mellon), Rodney Downey (Wellington), Yuri Gurevich (Microsoft), Juris Hartmanis (Cornell), Richard Jozsa (Cambridge), Stuart Kauffman (Vermont/ Santa Fe), James Murray (Washington/ Oxford, Microsoft Research Lecture), Stuart Shieber (Harvard), Paul Smolensky (Johns Hopkins) and Leslie Valiant (Harvard, jointly organised lecture with King's College). SUBMISSION OF PAPERS and informal presentations are now invited for this historic event. For submission details, see: http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/WScie12/give-page.php?12 The CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS will be published by LNCS, Springer-Verlag. Post-conference publications include special issues of APAL and LMCS. We encourage all researchers presenting papers of the highest research quality at CiE 2012 to submit their full papers to the CiE journal COMPUTABILITY where they will be handled as regular submissions. IMPORTANT DATES: Submission Deadline for LNCS: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Jan. 20, 2012 Notification of authors: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Mar. 16, 2012 Deadline for final revisions: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Apr. 6, 2012 Submission Deadline for Informal Presentations: ?May 11, 2012 CiE 2012 CONFERENCE TOPICS include, but not exclusively - * Admissible sets * Algorithms * Analog computation * Artificial intelligence * Automata theory * Bioinformatics * Classical computability and degree structures * Cognitive science and modelling * Complexity classes * Computability theoretic aspects of programs * Computable analysis and real computation * Computable structures and models * Computational and proof complexity * Computational biology * Computational creativity * Computational learning and complexity * Computational linguistics * Concurrency and distributed computation * Constructive mathematics * Cryptographic complexity * Decidability of theories * Derandomization * DNA computing * Domain theory and computability * Dynamical systems and computational models * Effective descriptive set theory * Emerging and Non-standard Models of Computation * Finite model theory * Formal aspects of program analysis * Formal methods * Foundations of computer science * Games * Generalized recursion theory * History of computation * Hybrid systems * Higher type computability * Hypercomputational models * Infinite time Turing machines * Kolmogorov complexity * Lambda and combinatory calculi * L-systems and membrane computation * Machine learning * Mathematical models of emergence * Molecular computation * Morphogenesis and developmental biology * Multi-agent systems * Natural Computation * Neural nets and connectionist models * Philosophy of science and computation * Physics and computability * Probabilistic systems * Process algebras and concurrent systems * Programming language semantics * Proof mining and applications * Proof theory and computability * Proof complexity * Quantum computing and complexity * Randomness * Reducibilities and relative computation * Relativistic computation * Reverse mathematics * Semantics and logic of computation * Swarm intelligence and self-organisation * Type systems and type theory * Uncertain Reasoning * Weak systems of arithmetic and applications We particularly welcome submissions in emergent areas, such as bioinformatics and natural computation, where they have a basic connection with computability. CiE 2012 will have a special relationship to the scientific legacy of Alan Turing, reflected in the broad theme: How the World Computes, with all its different layers of meaning. Contributions which are directly related to the visionary and seminal work of Turing will be particularly welcome. SPECIAL SESSIONS include: * The Universal Turing Machine, and History of the Computer Chairs: Jack Copeland and John Tucker * Cryptography, Complexity, and Randomness Chairs: Rod Downey and Jack Lutz Speakers so far: Eric Allender, Lance Fortnow, Omer Reingold, Alexander Shen * The Turing Test and Thinking Machines Chairs: Mark Bishop and Rineke Verbrugge Speakers: Bruce Edmonds, John Preston, Susan Sterrett, Kevin Warwick, Jiri Wiedermann * Computational Models After Turing: The Church-Turing Thesis and Beyond Chairs: Martin Davis and Wilfried Sieg Speakers: Giuseppe Longo, Peter Nemeti, Stewart Shapiro (tbc), Matthew Szudzik, Philip Welch, Michiel van Lambalgen * Morphogenesis/Emergence as a Computability Theoretic Phenomenon Chairs: Philip Maini and Peter Sloot Speakers: Jaap Kaandorp, Shigeru Kondo, Nick Monk, John Reinitz, James Sharpe, Jonathan Sherratt * Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information Chairs: Pieter Adriaans and Benedikt Loewe Speakers: Patrick Allo, Luis Antunes, Mark Finlayson, Amos Golan, Ruth Millikan Information of funding for students (including ASL grants) and the attendance of female researchers is to follow. There will be the annual Women in Computability Workshop, supported by a grant from the Elsevier Foundation. CiE 2012 will be associated/co-located with a number of other Turing centenary events, including: * ACE 2012, June 15-16, 2012 * Computability and Complexity in Analysis (CCA 2012), June 24-27, 2012 ?http://cca-net.de/cca2012/ * Developments in Computational Models (DCM 2012), June 17, 2012 ?http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/home/loewe/DCM2012/ * THE INCOMPUTABLE at Kavli Royal Society International Centre ?Chicheley Hall, June 12-15, 2012 ?http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/inc/ Contributed papers will be selected from submissions received by the PROGRAMME COMMITTEE consisting of: * Samson Abramsky (Oxford) ? ? ? ? ? ? * Pieter Adriaans (Amsterdam) * Franz Baader (Dresden) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? * Arnold Beckmann (Swansea) * Mark Bishop (London) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? * Paola Bonizzoni (Milan) * Luca Cardelli (Cambridge) ? ? ? ? ? ?* Douglas Cenzer (Gainesville) * S Barry Cooper (Leeds, Co-chair) ? ? * Ann Copestake (Cambridge) * Anuj Dawar (Cambridge, Co-chair) ? ? * Solomon Feferman (Stanford) * Bernold Fiedler (Berlin) ? ? ? ? ? ? * Luciano Floridi (Hertfordshire) * Martin Hyland (Cambridge) ? ? ? ? ? ?* Marcus Hutter (Canberra) * Viv Kendon (Leeds) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? * Stephan Kreutzer (Oxford) * Ming Li (Waterloo) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? * Benedikt Loewe (Amsterdam) * Angus MacIntyre (London) ? ? ? ? ? ? * Philip Maini (Oxford) * Larry Moss (Bloomington) ? ? ? ? ? ? * Amitabha Mukerjee (Kanpur) * Damian Niwinski (Warsaw) ? ? ? ? ? ? * Dag Normann (Oslo) * Prakash Panangaden (Montreal) ? ? ? ?* Jeff Paris (Manchester) * Brigitte Pientka (Montreal) ? ? ? ? ?* Helmut Schwichtenberg (Munich) * Wilfried Sieg (Carnegie Mellon) ? ? ?* Mariya Soskova (Sofia) * Bettina Speckmann (Eindhoven) ? ? ? ?* Christof Teuscher (Portland) * Peter van Emde Boas (Amsterdam) ? ? ?* Jan van Leeuwen (Utrecht) * Rineke Verbrugge (Groningen) The PROGRAMME COMMITTEE cordially invites all researchers (European and non-European) in computability related areas to submit their papers (in PDF-format, max 10 pages) for presentation at CiE 2012. We particularly invite papers that build bridges between different parts of the research community. ORGANISING COMMITTEE: Arnold Beckmann (Swansea), Luca Cardelli (Cambridge), S Barry Cooper (Leeds), Ann Copestake (Cambridge), Anuj Dawar (Cambridge, Chair), Bjarki Holm (Cambridge), Martin Hyland (Cambridge), Benedikt Loewe (Amsterdam), Arno Pauly (Cambridge), Andrew Pitts (Cambridge) The conference is sponsored by the ASL, EACSL, EATCS, Elsevier Foundation, IFCoLog, King's College Cambridge, The University of Cambridge and Microsoft Research. For a small poster to download and display: http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/WScie12/Images/cie12.poster.1000x1400.png Contact: Anuj Dawar - anuj.dawar(at)cl.cam.ac.uk ********************************************************************** From dst at cs.cmu.edu Sat Dec 24 06:23:32 2011 From: dst at cs.cmu.edu (Dave Touretzky) Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:23:32 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: Undergraduate Summer Program in Computational Neuroscience, Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh Message-ID: <4818.1324725812@cs.cmu.edu> Carnegie Mellon - University of Pittsburgh Joint Summer Undergraduate Program in Computational Neuroscience Undergraduates interested in receiving research training in computational neuroscience are encouraged to apply to an NIH-sponsored summer program at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition in Pittsburgh. The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition is a joint interdisciplinary program of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. The 2010 program will run from May 26 through August 4, 2012. The final deadline for application is Feb 10. All participants must be United States citizens or permanent residents, must be enrolled at a 4-year accredited institution, and must be in their sophomore or junior year at the time of application. Any undergraduate may apply, but we are especially interested in attracting students with strong quantitative backgrounds with some experience in calculus, statistics and/or computer programming. Experience in neuroscience is not required. Students from groups underrepresented in the sciences are encouraged to apply. The core of the program is the opportunity to carry out an individual mentored research project working closely with a faculty mentor. Other aspects of the scientific program include: 12 faculty lectures on computational neuroscience at the beginning, followed by student presentations and discussion of articles from the scientific literature, presentations on career options and scientific ethics, and a concluding symposium in which students present their research. Application form is available in http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/article/76-summercompneuro Application can be returned via email or regular mail (see addresses below). In addition to the application, the following items are required for evaluation: * A brief (one page) essay about your interest and experience in neural computation. * Official transcript from the institution you are attending * Two letters from professional references. You should contact your recommenders and ask them to mail or email a letter directly to us. * SAT/ACT scores (do NOT have to be official; photocopies are acceptable) Documents should be mailed to: Computational Neuroscience Summer Program Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Carnegie Mellon University 4400 Fifth Avenue Suite 115 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2617 CNBC-summer-UG at andrew.cmu.edu List of CMU-Pitt CNBC faculty working in computational neuroscience: John Anderson (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Aaron Batista (University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering) Marlene Behrmann (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Marlene Cohen (University of Pittsburgh, Neuroscience) Steve Chase (Carnegie Mellon, ECE/Biomedical Engineering) Justin Crowley (Carnegie Mellon, Biology) Brent Doiron (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) William Eddy (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Bard Ermentrout (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) Robert Kass (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Charles Kemp (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Tai Sing Lee (Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science) Tom Mitchell (Carnegie Mellon, Machine Learning) Carl Olson (Carnegie Mellon, Neural Basis of Cognition) David Plaut (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Steven Prescott (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Lynne Reder (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) Johnathan Rubin (University of Pittsburgh, Mathematics) Andrew Schwartz (University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering) Daniel Simons (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Matthew Smith (University of Pittsburgh, Ophthalmology) Michael Tarr (Carnegie Mellon, Psychology) David Touretzky (Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science) Robert Turner (University of Pittsburgh, Neurobiology) Valerie Ventura (Carnegie Mellon, Statistics) Douglas Weber (University of Pittsburgh, Physical medicine and Rehabilitation) Byron Yu (Carnegie Mellon, ECE/Biomedical Engineering) From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Wed Dec 21 04:33:14 2011 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:33:14 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Final Call for Papers: Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS 2012), Shenyang, China, July 11-14, 2012 Message-ID: Dear friends: On behalf of the General Chair, Professor Derong Liu, and the Program Chairs: Robert Kozma (USA), Amir Hussain (UK), Liang Zhao (Brazil) and Leslie Smith (UK), we are pleased to invite you to submit your work(s) to "The 2012 International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS 2012)" to be held in Shenyang, China, as a sequel of BICS 2004 (Scotland), BICS 2006 (Greece), BICS 2008 (Brazil), and BICS 2010 (Spain). Venue: Shenyang is the capital city of Liaoning Province with a long history and rich heritages. Shenyang was first used by the Manchu people as their capital in the 17th century and is today the biggest city in Northeastern China. Shenyang is now an important political, industrial, and cultural center, and serves as the transportation and commercial hub of Northeastern China. The city is well-known for its modern infrastructure, convenient land and air transport network, and abundant natural resources. Scope: BICS 2012 aims to provide a high-level international forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present the state-of-the-art in brain-inspired cognitive systems research and applications in diverse fields, under the following four Symposia/Tracks: Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS), Models of Consciousness (MoC), Neural Computation (NC) and Biologically Inspired System (BIS). The conference will feature plenary lectures given by world renowned scholars, regular sessions with broad coverage, and some special sessions focusing on popular and timely topics. All papers accepted by and presented at BICS 2012 will be published by Springer as multiple volumes of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) which will be indexed by EI and ISTP. Selected papers will be published in special issues of several SCI journals. Important Dates: Special session proposals deadline---------------------January 1, 2012 Paper submission deadline------------------------------- January 15, 2012 Notification of acceptance----------------------------------March 1, 2012 Camera-ready copy and author registration-----------April 1, 2012 Paper submission & Conference Proceedings: Prospective authors are invited to submit full-length papers (6-8 pages normally and 10 pages maximum) by the submission deadline - through the online submission system (http://bics2012.mae.cuhk.edu.hk). The submission of a paper implies that the paper is original and has not been submitted under review or copyright protected elsewhere and will be presented by an author if accepted. All submitted papers will be refereed by experts in the field based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality, and clarity. The authors of accepted papers will have an opportunity to revise their papers and take consideration of the referees' comments and suggestions. BICS 2012 Sponsors: Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences University of Stirling, Scotland Chinese University of Hong Kong University of Illinois at Chicago National Natural Science Foundation of China Springer, Germany (Technical sponsors): IEEE Computational Intelligence Society International Neural Network Society Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behavior (AISB) ICSC Interdisciplinary Research Further details about the Conference, including the on-line submission link for authors, can be found in the Conference website: http://bics2012.mae.cuhk.edu.hk/index.html -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk Sat Dec 24 08:50:50 2011 From: ahu at cs.stir.ac.uk (Dr Amir Hussain) Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:50:50 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Springer's Cognitive Computation journal: Table of Contents, Vol.3, No.4 / Dec 2011 issue (and ISI Indexing good news) Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings!) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 The individual list of published articles (Table of Contents) for Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://www.springerlink.com/content/h639124lp514/ A list of the most downloaded articles (which can always be read for free) can be found here: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559#realtime The journal is also freely available on Springerlink during December - through 31 Dec 2011. Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted ================================== New: Cognitive Computation indexing in ISI: ================================== We are delighted to inform you that Cognitive Computation has been selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter?s products and services. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ? Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch?) ? Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ? Current Contents?/Engineering Computing and Technology ? Neuroscience Citation Index? As such, the first Impact Factor for Cognitive Computation will be available next year (in June 2012). ============================================ Reminder: New Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has 200+ members already! We warmly invite you to join us 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 (four are already planned for 2012-13!) With our very best wishes for the New Year 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 (University of Stirling, Scotland) Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) John G. Taylor, PhD (Chair, Advisory Board: Cognitive Computation) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: Springer's Cognitive Computation, Vol.3, No.4 / December 2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An Improved Internal Model of Autonomous Robots by a Psychological Approach Takashi Kuremoto, Masanao Obayashi, Kunikazu Kobayashi & Liang-Bing Feng http://www.springerlink.com/content/l185p6421305274p/ Problem-solving and Quantum Computation Lu?s Tarrataca & Andreas Wichert http://www.springerlink.com/content/777487h4k2515j47/ Modeling the Development of Goal-Specificity in Mirror Neurons Serge Thill, Henrik Svensson & Tom Ziemke http://www.springerlink.com/content/pg63q26422408630/ BLISS: an Artificial Language for Learnability Studies Sahar Pirmoradian & Alessandro Treves http://www.springerlink.com/content/70h4w1381p71k784/ Spatial Memory Sequence Encoding and Replay During Modeled Theta and Ripple Oscillations Vassilis Cutsuridis & Michael Hasselmo http://www.springerlink.com/content/32318x68h753x116/ Walk on the Random Side Hector Zenil (ed): Randomness Through Computation. Some Answers, More Questions, Wolfram research Inc, USA, 2011 Chryssa Sdrolia http://www.springerlink.com/content/n12858u288r76p51/ ------------------------------------------------ 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 full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, ?number SC 011159. -- The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159. From jonrubin at pitt.edu Mon Dec 19 22:05:49 2011 From: jonrubin at pitt.edu (Jonathan Rubin) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:05:49 -0500 Subject: Connectionists: CNS*2012: Save the Date! Message-ID: <445FFAFB-89E7-4535-9527-83F532B7FB15@pitt.edu> Save the date! what: The 21st Annual Meeting of the Organization for Computational Neuroscience (OCNS) will be held at Agnes Scott College, within walking distance from trendy downtown Decatur, Georgia, and a short train ride from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The conference theme is "Computational Neuroethology". For up-to-date information, visit http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2012-atlantadecatur when: The main meeting (July 22nd ? 24th, 2012) will be preceded by a day of tutorials (July 21st) and followed by two days of workshops (July 25th ? 26th). Abstract submission will open Jan 16th, 2012. Registration will open April 1st, 2012. who: The keynote speakers for the meeting are Don Edwards, Georgia State University, USA Barbara Webb, University of Edinburgh, UK Malcolm MacIver, Northwestern University, USA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111219/303d5a5c/attachment.html From Jun.Li at uts.edu.au Sun Dec 18 17:03:12 2011 From: Jun.Li at uts.edu.au (Jun Li) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:03:12 +1100 Subject: Connectionists: Call for Papers: Special Issue of Signal Processing on Machine Learning in Intelligent Image Processing In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: We apologise if you have received multiple copies of this message. [Special Issue on Machine Learning in Intelligent Image Processing] Research on intelligent image processing has a long history, and a lot of algorithms have been developed to address different problems, such as image quality enhancement & evaluation, astronomical image analysis, biometrics, texture analysis, scene modelling, and controlled environment surveillance. In these problems, machine learning plays an important role for visual information processing. With the increasing attention in recent years, of interest to this special issue is research that demonstrates how machine learning algorithms have contributed, and are contributing to the research and applications of intelligent image processing. It is not difficult to enumerate a large number of successful examples of using machine learning in intelligent image processing, e.g., structured sparsity has been successfully applied to image and video modeling; human machine interactions significantly improve the performance of large scale image retrieval; sparse linear and multilinear subspace methods dramatically enhance the recognition rates in human behavior analysis and face synthesis; random fields and probabilistic graphical models show promising advantages in image and video analysis; graph cut and spectral clustering are widely applied to image segmentation; kernel machines, such as the support vector machines, are successfully used in visual tracking and handwriting recognition; and reinforcement learning is applied to visual texture synthesis. It is the time to motivate image processing researchers and machine learning researchers to work together and pay more attention to each other?s field. Therefore, there is a chance to obtain significant performance improvement for practical utilizations of intelligent image processing by developing particular learning algorithms, and to bring in interesting utilizations of machine learning algorithms for particular intelligent image processing. The editors expect to gather a set of recent research outputs together, to report the progress of what is going on, and to build a forum for researchers to exchange their innovative ideas on machine learning in intelligent image processing. To summarize, this special issue welcomes a broad range of submissions developing and using machine learning algorithms for intelligent image processing. We are especially interested in 1) theoretical advances as well as algorithm developments in machine learning techniques for particular intelligent image processing problems, 2) reports of practical applications and system innovations in intelligent image processing, and 3) novel data sets as test bed for new developments, preferably with implemented standard benchmarks. The following list contains topics of interest (but not limited to): * Compressed sensing for visual recognition and information compression * Intelligent image analysis and understanding * Intelligent object and event recognition * Intelligent visual surveillance * Intelligent visual information retrieval * Kernel machines and tensor machines for visual data modeling * Learning methods in image-based modeling * Manifold learning for visual recognition * Matrix completion and decomposition for image analysis * Probabilistic graphical models for image analysis and modeling * Sparse learning and structured sparsity for visual analysis * Statistical methods and learning for intelligent image processing * Subspace learning for intelligent visual information compression * Visual learning and cognitive vision [Important dates] Manuscript submission: January 25, 2012 R1 Version: April 25, 2012 Acceptance notification: May 15, 2012 Final manuscripts due: June 25, 2012 Anticipated publication: October 25, 2012 [Submission] Manuscripts (6-15 pages in the Elsevier Signal Processing publishing format) should be submitted via the Electronic Editorial System, Elsevier: http://ees.elsevier.com/sigpro/ Guide for authors can be found at: http://support.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/116 [Guest Editors] Dacheng Tao University of Technology, Sydney Australia dacheng.tao at uts.edu.au Dianhui Wang La Trobe University Australia dh.wang at latrobe.edu.au Fionn Murtagh Royal Holloway University of London United Kingdom fmurtagh at acm.org UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. 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From norbert at is.umk.pl Sun Dec 18 07:18:45 2011 From: norbert at is.umk.pl (Norbert Jankowski) Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:18:45 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: Meta-learning and hybrid systems for computational intelligence algorithms Message-ID: <002801ccbd7f$30d0d370$92727a50$@umk.pl> Call for papers Special session: Meta-learning and hybrid systems for computational intelligence algorithms World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI 2012), Brisbane, Australia Goals of this special session: This session will be devoted to approaches that integrate in an intelligent way various learning algorithms used in computational intelligence, especially in meta-learning and hybrid systems. Integration of machine learning algorithms becomes increasingly more important, especially in applications to hard problems which still wait to be solved, where application of specialized methods that do not use additional knowledge has led to limited success. Data mining packages contain hundreds of algorithms that may be composed in millions of ways, and are able to beat the "no-free lunch" theorem, but automatization of this process requires analysis of learning algorithms at the meta-level. Methods that extract various forms of useful knowledge, share and integrate it for intelligent information processing, are necessary to solve hard problems. Such methods may be inspired by the organization of the brain, or may be based on formal algorithms. One promissing direction is to use methods that construct new features, learning from successes of divers algorithms, extracting knowledge from indirect, partial learning and using it to build final potential solutions. Another interesting aspect in construction of complex computational intelligence methods is dealing with different levels of abstraction; useful meta-knowledge may come in the form of highly abstract heuristic knowledge directing search process for optimal model, or may be hidden in details of algorithm implementation. The main subjects of interest are: - Meta-learning algorithms and system architectures. - Meta-knowledge representation, acquisition, application, re-use and construction, analysis of the usefulness of knowledge. - Hybrid systems, their architectures and ways of integration of individual models. - Advanced architectures of data mining systems. - Ensemble algorithms, advanced data mining systems/algorithms, which integrate several methods of data analysis. - Deep learning algorithms. - Transfer learning, information/knowledge sharing methods between modules of meta-learning or hybrid systems. - Extraction and construction of new features that simplify the complex learning process, pre-processing methods, multimodal signal processing, extraction of information from specific types of data. - Methods of reasoning for automatic creation of hybrid systems, estimation of knowledge usefulness for given problem. - Methods of testing of complex systems, applications to challenging problems. The session is not strictly limited to the above subjects. Every aspects of meta-learning or other integration of learning algorithms and knowledge are welcome. Important dates: Paper submission deadline January 18, 2012 Paper acceptance notification date Feb 20, 2012 Final paper submission deadline April 2, 2012 (for more dates see http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org) Paper submission: Please REMEMBER to choose "Special session: Meta-learning and hybrid systems for computational intelligence algorithms" Author information (http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org/ieee-wcci2012/index.php?option=com_content&vie w=article&id=58&Itemid=67) Submission page (http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2012/upload.php) Organizers: Norbert Jankowski and W?odzis?aw Duch Department of Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University ul. Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Toru?, Poland {norbert,wduch} @ is.umk.pl Program Committee: Pavel Brazdil, Portugal, Andre C P L F de Carvalho, Brazil, Wlodzislaw Duch, Poland, Christophe Giraud-Carrier, USA, Krzysztof Grabczewski, Poland, Salman Halgamuge, Australia, Hisao Ishibuchi, Japan, Norbert Jankowski, Poland, Pavel Kordic, Czech Republic, Teresa Ludermir, Brazil, Ricardo Bastos C. Prudencio, Brazil, Rafa? Scherer, Poland, Carlos Soares, Portugal, Bruno F. Souza, Brazil, Joaquin Vanschoren, Belgium, Wang Wenjia, Great Britain. Web addresses: Special session: http://www.is.umk.pl/WCCI2012-meta, WCCI'12: http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111218/6fb1fab5/attachment.html From rsalakhu at cs.toronto.edu Sat Dec 3 23:22:35 2011 From: rsalakhu at cs.toronto.edu (Ruslan Salakhutdinov) Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:22:35 -0000 Subject: Connectionists: UAI 2012 - Call for Workshops In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ************************************************************ UAI 2012 - Call for Workshops Catalina Island, USA Important Dates: ----------------------------------------------- Workshop day: Saturday, August 18, 2012, Catalina Island Workshop proposal deadline: Saturday, March 10, 2012 Acceptance notification: Saturday, April 7, 2012 http://www.auai.org/uai2012/workshops.shtml Proposals are solicited for workshops to be held in conjunction with the conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI) 2012 in Catalina Island, USA. We plan to have 4-5 all-day workshops that will be held on Saturday August 18, following the regular program of the UAI conference on August 15-17, 2012. We invite researchers interested in chairing one of these workshops to submit proposals for workshops. The goal of the workshops is to provide an informal forum for researchers to discuss important research questions and challenges. Potential workshops should be related to cutting edge topics of interest to the UAI audience, including, but not limited to: Approximate Inference and Learning, Bayesian Statistics, Causality, Relational Learning, Graphical models, and Human Learning. Workshop organizers are expected to coordinate workshop participation and content, including arranging short informal presentations by experts, arranging for expert commentators to sit on discussion panels, and formulating discussion topics, etc. Submission Instructions: Proposals should provide adequate information to evaluate the quality and importance of the topic for the UAI community. When proposing a workshop, please include the following sections: 1. Description of the proposed workshop: Indicate what this workshop is about and why this is an interesting and significant subject for the UAI audience. 2. Target audience: Specify who the target audience is. Which areas do you expect potential participants to come from? How many participants do you expect? 3. Potential Speakers, Discussants and other Participants Include the list of potential speakers, discussants and participants for your proposed workshop. In case you already have an informal confirmation from some potential speakers, please indicate that in your proposal. 4. Format of the Workshop Specify the format of the workshop. How many invited/contributed talks do you expect to have? Are you planning to have a panel discussion? Are you planning to invite participants to submit posters on relevant topics to the proposed workshops. 5. Organizers' Qualifications Please include the names, e-mail addresses, and webpages of all organizers. In addition, outline the organizers' background and include a list of publications in the area relevant to the proposed workshop. Proposals should be sent by email (in plain text or pdf format) to uaiworkshops at gmail.com by Saturday, March 10, 2011. Workshop day: Saturday, August 18, 2012, Catalina Island, USA Workshop proposal deadline: Saturday, March 10, 2012 Acceptance notification: Saturday, April 7, 2012 http://www.auai.org/uai2012/workshops.shtml Ruslan Salakhutdinov Workshop Chair UAI 2012 Contact: uaiworkshops at gmail.com From t.j.prescott at sheffield.ac.uk Wed Dec 21 14:06:57 2011 From: t.j.prescott at sheffield.ac.uk (Tony Prescott) Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:06:57 +0000 Subject: Connectionists: Living Machines 2012: 2nd CfP and revised deadline 20th Feb Message-ID: ______________________________________________________________ 2nd Call for Papers for LIVING MACHINES 2012: The First International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems 9th-12th July 2012 La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain http://csnetwork.eu/conf2012 **Latest news: Proceedings to be published by Springer LNCS Revised submission deadline for paper submissions: 20th February 2012 (12th March for Workshop proposals) ______________________________________________________________ ABOUT LIVING MACHINES 2012 The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems. Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering. Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component?an existing living system?and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity. The development of either biomimetic or biohybrid systems requires a deep understanding of the operation of living systems, and the two fields are united under the theme of ?living machines??the idea that we can construct artefacts, such as robots, that not only mimic life but share the same fundamental principles; or build technologies that can be combined with a living body to restore or extend its functional capabilities. Biomimetic and biohybrid technologies, from nano- to macro-scale, are expected to produce major societal and economical impacts in quality of life and health, information and communication technologies, robotics, prosthetics, brain-machine interfacing and nanotechnology. Such systems should also lead to significant advances in the biological and brain sciences that will help us to better understand ourselves and the natural world. The following are some examples: ? Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can intelligently interact with their environments. ? Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair. ? Biomimetic computers?neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour. ? Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants. ? Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses. ? Organism-level biohybrids such as robot-animal or robot-human systems. ACTIVITIES The main conference, 10th?12th July, will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme that will include six plenary lectures from leading international researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems. The proceedings of the conference will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). Submissions will be in the form of full papers or extended abstracts. Submissions are also invited for an exhibition to feature working biomimetic or biohybrid systems and biomimetic/biohybrid art. Active researchers in biomimetic and biohybrid systems are also invited to propose topics for 1-day tutorials or workshops on related themes, to be held on the 9th July. Plenary speakers are: Joseph Ayers (Northeastern University) on synthetic neuroethology; Dieter Braun (Ludwig Maximilians University) on synthetic life, Peter Fromherz (Max Plank Institute) on neuroelectronic hybrids; Toshio Fukuda (Nagoya University) on micro-nano biomimetic and biohybrid devices; David Lentink (Wageningen University) on fluid dynamics of flight; and Barry Trimmer (Tufts University) on soft, invertebrate-inspired robots. ABOUT THE VENUE The organisers are delighted to have secured La Pedrera (www.lapedreraeducacio.org/ ) as the venue for our conference. La Pedrera, designed by the modernist, nature-inspired Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, is a world heritage site, and one of the best known buildings in Barcelona. The conference will make use of the modern conference facilities provided by the La Pedrera Auditorium, whilst the exhibition will take place in the adjacent Gaudi Hall. La Pedrera is located within the fashionable Eixample district and within walking distance of Barcelona?s old city, including the Gotic quarter, the cathedral, and the Playa Catalunya. The workshops/tutorial day will be hosted at the University Pompeu Fabra, Campus Poblenou. SUBMITTING TO LIVING MACHINES 2012 We invite both full papers (12 pages, LNCS format) and extended abstracts (2 pages, LNCS format). All contributions will be refereed. Full papers are invited from researchers at any stage in their career but should present significant findings and advances in biomimetic or biohybid research; more preliminary work would be better suited to extended abstract submission. Full papers will be accepted for either oral presentation (single track) or poster presentation. Extended abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation only. All submissions must be formatted according to Springer LNCS guidelines (http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0). Submissions of papers are invited in, but not limited to, the following topics and related areas. Biomimetics can, in principle, extend to all fields of biological research from physiology and molecular biology to ecology, and from zoology to botany. Promising research areas include system design and structure, self-organization and co-operativity, new biologically active materials, self-assembly and self-repair, learning, memory, control architectures and self-regulation, movement and locomotion, sensory systems, perception, and communication. Biomimetic research, particularly at the nano-scale, should also lead to important advances in component miniaturisation, self-configuration, and energy-efficiency. A key focus of the conference will be on complete behaving systems in the form of biomimetic robots that can operate on different substrates on sea, on land, or in the air. A further central theme will be the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour as explored through neuromimetics?the modelling of neural systems. Exciting emerging topics within this field include the embodiment of neuromimetic controllers in hardware, termed neuromorphics, and within the control architectures of robots, sometimes termed neurorobotics. Biohybrid systems usually involve structures from the nano-scale (molecular) through to the macro-scale (entire organs or body parts). Important implementation examples are: Brain-machine interfaces where neurons and their molecular machineries are connected to microscopic sensors and actuators by means of electrical or chemical communication, either in vitro or in the living organism. Intelligent prostheses such as artificial limbs, wearable exoskeletons, or sensory organ-chip hybrids (such cochlear implants, and artificial retina devices) designed to assist the disabled or elderly, or to aid in rehabilitation from illness. Implantable or portable devices that have been fabricated for monitoring health care or for therapeutic purposes such as artificial implants to control insulin release. Biohybrid systems at the organism level such as robot-animal or robot-human communities. Contributions from biologists, neuroscientists, and theoreticians, that are of direct relevance to the development of future biomimetic or biohybrid devices are also welcome, as are papers considering ethical issues and/or societal impacts arising from the advances made in this field. DEADLINES February 20th 2012. Paper submission deadline March 12th 2012. Workshop and tutorial proposals (but please contact us sooner if possible) April 16th 2012. Notification of acceptance April 30th 2012. Camera ready copy July 9-12th 2012. Conference (9th July is workshops/tutorials) SPONSORSHIP Living Machines 2012 is sponsored by the Convergent Science Network (CSN) for Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems which is an EU FP7 Future Emerging Technologies Co-ordination Activity (FP7-ICT-CSN-248986). CSN currently organises two highly successful workshop series: the Barcelona Summer School on Brain, Technology and Cognition (http://bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt11/) and the Capoccaccia Neuromorphic Cognitive Engineering Workshop (http://capocaccia.ethz.ch/capo/wiki/2011). The conference is delighted to be associated with the Institute of Physics journal Biomimetics & Bioinspiration who will have a stand at meeting. Other organisations wishing to sponsor the conference in any way and gain the corresponding benefits by promoting themselves and their products to through conference publications, the conference web-site, and conference publicity are encouraged to contact the conference organisers to discuss the terms of sponsorship and necessary arrangements. We are looking forwards to seeing you in Barcelona. Conference Secretariat: info.csnetwork at upf.edu Laboratory Of Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive And Cognitive Systems - SPECS Institute Of Audio-Visual Studies (IUA) Universitat Pompeu Fabra Communication-Poblenou Campus (La Nau Building) Postal address: Roc Boronat, 138. 08018 Barcelona Phone: (34) 93 542 22 01 Fax: (34) 93 542 22 02 Organising Committee: Tony Prescott (co-chair) Paul Verschure (co-chair) Giacomo Indiveri Stefano Vassanelli Ian Gwilt Carme Buisan Nathan Lepora Anna Mura Programme Committee Andy Adamatzky, Bristol Robotics Lab, UK Robert Allan, Southampton University. UK Joseph Ayers, Northeastern University, USA Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Jet Propulsion Lab, USA Jennifer Basil, Brooklyn College, CUNY, USA Frederic Boyer, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, France Dieter Braun, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany Darwin Caldwell, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Frederico Carpi, University of Pisa, Italy Maria Chiara Carrozza, Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna, Italy Hillel Chiel, Case Western Reserve University, USA Paul Cisek, University of Montreal, Canada Anders Lyhne Christensen, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal Roberto Cingolani, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Fred Claeyssens, University of Sheffield, UK Noah Cowan, Johns Hopkins University, USA Holk Cruse, University of Bielefeld, Germany Mark Cutkosky, Stanford University, CA, USA Paolo Dario, Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna, Italy Danilo de Rossi, University of Pisa, Italy Mathew Diamond, International School of Advanced Studies, Italy Stephane Doncieux, Universit? Pierre et Marie Curie, France Marco Dorigo, Universit? Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Volker Durr, University of Bielefeld, Germany Charles Fox, University of Sheffield, UK Michele Giugliano, University of Antwerp, Belgium Frank Grasso, Brooklyn College, CUNY, USA Roderich Gross, University of Sheffield, UK John Hallam, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark Jose Halloy, Universit? Diderot Paris VII, France Huosheng Hu, University of Essex, UK Auke Ijspeert. ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne,Switzerland Akio Ishiguro, Tohoku University, Japan Serge Kernbach, Universit?t Stuttgart, Germany Holger Krapp, Imperial College, London, UK Jeff Krichmar, University of California, Irvine, USA Maarja Kruusmaa, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia David Lane, Heriot Watt University, Scotland Andres Diaz Lantada, Universidad Polit?cnica de Madrid, Spain Cecilia Laschi, Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna, Italy David Lentink, Wageningen University, Belgium Nathan Lepora, University of Sheffield, UK Giorgio Metta, Universit? degli Studi di Genova, Italy Ben Mitchinson, University of Sheffield, UK Jiro Okada, Nagasaki University, Japan Tim Pearce, University of Leicester, UK Martin Pearson, Bristol Robotics Lab, UK Rolf Pfeifer, Universit?t Z?rich, Switzerland Andy Phillipides, University of Sussex, UK Tony Pipe, Bristol Robotics Lab, UK Roger Quinn, Case Western Reserve University, USA Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena, Imperial College London, UK Jonathan Rossiter, University of Bristol, UK Giulio Sandini, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Thomas Schmickl, Karl-Franzens-Universit?t Graz, Austria Andre Seyfarth, University of Jena, Germany Scott Simon, University of California, Davis, USA Mototaka Suzuki, Columbia University, USA Roland Thewes, Technical University of Berlin, Germany Jon Timmis, University of York, UK Julian Vincent, University of Bath, UK Barbara Webb, University of Edinburgh, UK Hartmut Witte, Technische Universit?t Ilmenau, Germany -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111221/fe4233f6/attachment-0001.html From terry at salk.edu Thu Dec 22 15:53:35 2011 From: terry at salk.edu (Terry Sejnowski) Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:53:35 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: NEURAL COMPUTATION - December, 2011 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 23, Number 12 - December 1, 2011 VIEW Reappraisal of the Somatosensory Homunculus and its Discontinuities Pasha Parpia ARTICLE Improved Similarity Measures for Small Sets of Spike Trains Richard Naud, Felipe Gerhard, Skander Mensi, and Wulfram Gerstner LETTERS Estimation of time-dependent input from neuronal membrane potential Ryota Kobayashi, Shigeru Shinomoto, and Petr Lansky Identification and continuity of the distributions of burst-length and inter-spike-intervals in the stochastic Morris-Lecar neuron Peter F. Rowat and Priscilla E. Greenwood Optimizing Time Histograms for Non-Poissonian Spike Trains Takahiro Omi and Shigeru Shinomoto Learning Rule of Homeostatic Synaptic Scaling: Presynaptic Dependent or Not Jin Liu Adaptive Decoding for Brain-Machine Interfaces through Bayesian Parameter Updates Zheng Li, Joseph O'Doherty, Mikhail Lebedev, and Migues Nicoleis Subthreshold Membrane Depolarization as Memory Trace for Perceptual Learning Osamu Hoshino Neural Mass Activity, Bifurcations and Epilepsy Jonathan Touboul, Fabrice Wendling, Patrick Chauvel, and Olivier Faugeras On the Relation of Slow Feature Analysis and Laplacian Eigenmaps Henning Sprekeler ----- ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2011 - VOLUME 23 - 12 ISSUES USA Others Electronic only Student/Retired $67 $130 $62 Individual $118 $181 $110 Institution $986 $1,049 $882 Canada: Add 5% GST MIT Press Journals, 238 Main Street, Suite 500, Cambridge, MA 02142-9902. Tel: (617) 253-2889 FAX: (617) 577-1545 journals-orders at mit.edu http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp ----- From tomas.hromadka at gmail.com Sun Dec 18 19:04:36 2011 From: tomas.hromadka at gmail.com (Tomas Hromadka) Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:04:36 +0100 Subject: Connectionists: COSYNE 2012: travel grants, registration, and hotels Message-ID: <4EEE7F94.30204@gmail.com> ================================================================= Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING WORKSHOPS Feb 23 - 26, 2012 Feb 27 - 28, 2012 Salt Lake City, Utah Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah http://www.cosyne.org ================================================================= REGISTRATION AND HOTELS: Online registration is currently open. Hotel booking is currently open. Early registration deadline: Feb 1, 2012 Deadline for discounted hotel rates (main meeting, Salt Lake city): Feb 1, 2012 Deadline for discounted hotel rates (workshops, Snowbird): Jan 10, 2012 For more detailed information, please visit www.cosyne.org TRAVEL GRANTS: Applications are now open for for travel grants to attend the conference. Each awardee will receive at least $500 to help offset the costs of travel, registration, and accommodations. Larger grants may be available to those traveling from outside North America. Special consideration is given to scientists who have not previously attended the meeting, underrepresented minorities, students who are attending the meeting together with a mentor, and authors of submitted Cosyne abstracts. For details on applying, see http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Travel_Grants INVITED SPEAKERS: John Assad Michael Brecht Emery Brown Nicolas Brunel Stefano Fusi Tom Griffiths Takao Hensch Zach Mainen Fred Rieke Rebecca Saxe Noam Sobel Sarah Woolley THE MEETING: The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. The MAIN MEETING is 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. The WORKSHOPS feature in-depth discussion of current topics of interest, in a small group setting. 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, and computation with spiking networks. WORKSHOP TITLES: Coding and computation in visual short-term memory. Perception and decision making in rodents (two day workshop). Neuromodulation: beyond the wiring diagram, adding functional flexibility to neural circuits. Is it time for theory in olfaction? (two day workshop). Understanding heterogeneous cortical activity: the quest for structure and randomness. Humans, neurons, and machines: how can psychophysics, physiology, and modeling collaborate to ask better questions in biological vision? Inhibitory synaptic plasticity. Neurophysiological and computational mechanisms of categorization. Sensorimotor processes reflected in spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal activity. Functions of identified cortical microcircuits. Characterizing neural responses to structured and naturalistic stimuli. Promise and peril: genetic approaches for systems neuroscience revisited. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: General Chairs: Rachel Wilson (Harvard) and Jim DiCarlo (MIT) Program Chairs: Nicole Rust (Penn) and Jonathan Pillow (UT Austin) Workshop Chairs: Brent Doiron (Pittsburgh) and Jess Cardin (Yale) Publicity Chair: Mark Histed (Harvard Medical School) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Anthony Zador (CSHL) Alexandre Pouget (U Rochester) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme) From inns.ni at gmail.com Thu Dec 29 00:57:24 2011 From: inns.ni at gmail.com (Natural Intelligence) Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:57:24 +0900 Subject: Connectionists: Natural Intelligence: the INNS Magazine Message-ID: <4efc0148.8908e70a.0f4e.ffffb70a@mx.google.com> The INNS (International neural Networks Society) had launched a new magazine, Natural Intelligence ( www.inns.org < http://www.inns.org> and www.ni-inns.info < http://www.ni-inns.info> ) from October 2011. We define ?Natural Intelligence? to include both ?intelligence existing in nature? and ?intelligence based on the state of things in nature (artificial neural networks)?. Therefore, the new INNS magazine ?Natural Intelligence? plans to cover ??experiments ??computational models ??applications of the intelligent functions in our brains. Also, there is an important need for well-written introductory papers targeting both young and established researchers from other academic backgrounds. The interdisciplinary nature of the many new emerging topics makes these introductory papers essential for research on Natural Intelligence. Therefore, the new INNS magazine will mainly publish ??review papers ??white papers ??tutorials. In addition, columns, news, and reports on the communities will also be included. We are now preparing for the second issue on January 2012, and the submission deadline is set to January 10, 2012. (to inns.ni at gmail.com and sylee at kaist.ac.kr ) YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO SUBMIT YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS AS (1) Review paper(s), white paper(s), and tutorials (up to 20 pages in double column single space). (2) Report(s) on SIG/RIG, national research program(s), and others, which may be of interest to neural network community. (3) Call for Papers for special issues or conferences. Also, we are inviting Guest Editor for specials issue with a featured topic. The Guest Editor(s) will have the sole responsibility to invite speakers and making decision on the papers. WE BELIEVE THE NEW MAGAZINE WILL BE OF GREAT HELP TO BRIDGE AMONG DIFFERENT ACADEMIC COMMUNITIES FROM SCIENCE TO ENGINEERING RELATED TO NEURAL NETWORKS. HOWEVER, WE NEED YOUR HELP. PLEASE HELP US TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL. Thanks in advance. Best regards, Soo-Young Lee Editor-in-Chief, Natural Intelligence: the INNS Magazine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://mailman.srv.cs.cmu.edu/mailman/private/connectionists/attachments/20111229/f32b478d/attachment.html From Eugene.Izhikevich at braincorporation.com Fri Dec 30 16:59:30 2011 From: Eugene.Izhikevich at braincorporation.com (Eugene Izhikevich) Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:59:30 -0800 Subject: Connectionists: New Open Scholarpedia (Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience) Message-ID: <8E919A7A-59CB-43B2-9B56-E5C530EA57BE@braincorporation.com> Scholarpedia - the peer-reviewed open access encyclopedia - has changed its rules to facilitate participation of experts and their students. As before, articles in Scholarpedia are written, peer-reviewed, and curated by the world's top experts and original inventors, who used to be invited by the editor-in-chief. Now, any user can nominate himself to write an article on any topic of his expertise. However, the user must obtain "sponsorship" from at least 2 existing Scholarpedia curators who would validate that the user is indeed the top world expert on the topic. (The number of required "sponsorships" is set to 1 temporarily). The new mechanism allows students and postdocs to pair-up with the greatest living experts to get sponsorship and co-author articles. Whereas the student's reward is an extra peer-review article with a famous person, the community benefits from having more topics covered by leading experts. More details are at http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Scholarpedia Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich - Editor-in-chief of Scholarpedia.