Computational Neuroscience: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

[Comp-neuro] IDEAL'2012 (Extended deadlines)

Dear Colleague,

We cordially invite you to submit papers for IDEAL 2012, attend

the conference and visit North-East of Brazil.

Please, see a promotional video about City of Natal and Rio

Grande do Norte State (Natal is where IDEAL2012 will be held

this year), check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXtgzh98KHI&context=C4da6aa0ADvjVQa1PpcFODBWZP13ZFb-IP4YcT1Hw9vLYnxCgW2UY=

Suggestion: skip the first 30 seconds to listen audio in English.

Bear in mind also that there are plenty of international direct flights

form Europe, South America and the USA to the nearby city of Recife

(well, nearby in Brazilian standards=30min flight), which is also a great

place to visit together with the paradisaical Island of "Fernando de

Noronha". Check the two clips below (and do expand your trip - it is

worthy!):

1) Recife (Capital of State of Pernambuco, Brazil)

=> http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_212258&src_vid=acNtcuRsFcI&feature=iv&v=i26DMY1f5do

2) "Fernando de Noronha" Island (one hour by plane out from Recife)

=> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jiNfvitbWA

Now the good news: the dealine of IDEAL will be postponed towards

the mid-end of April. This news will be featured soon in the web-site of the

congress => http://sbic.ct.ufrn.br/ideal2012/

-Come, we are waiting for your participation in IDEAL2012 !

Kind regards,

Jose Alfredo Costa (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN, Brazil)

Hujun Yin (University of Mancester, UK)

Guilherme Barreto ( Federal University of Ceara - UFC, Brazil )

Peter Tino (University of Birmingham, UK)

Marcelo Costa (Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG, Brazil)

Michal Wozniak (Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland)

Yang Yao (Nanjing University, China)

Alfredo Cuzzocrea (University of Calabria, Italy)

Emilio Corchado (University of Salamanca, Spain)

Fernando Buarque (State University of Pernambuco - UPE, Brazil)

IDEAL 2012 Organising Committee

Prof. Fernando Buarque, BSc MSc DIC PhD, Senior Member IEEE, PQ-2 CNPq
Adjunto da Escola Politécnica de Pernambuco, Universidade de Pernambuco (POLI/UPE)
Coordenador do Mestrado de Engenharia de Computação da UPE (PPG-EC/UPE)

Líder do Grupo de Inteligência Computaciona da UPE (CIRG @ UPE)
Coordenador Técnico do Núcleo de Telemedicina da UPE (NUTES/UPE)

Visiting Professor of University of Johannesburg - South Africa (Kingsway Campus)

Professeur Invité de l'INRIA - France (Paris-Rocquencourt)

Universidade de Pernambuco / Escola Politécnica de Pernambuco
Rua Benfica, 455 (Bl. 'C' 2. andar) * Bairro: Madalena
CEP 50720-001 * Recife, Pernambuco - Brasil
Fone: +55(0)81 3184-7542 * Fax: +55(0)81 3184-7581
WEB -> http://www.fbln.pro.br/ * WAP -> http://www.fbln.pro.br/wap.htm

"Se você quiser educar um homem, comece pela avó dele" (Victor Hugo).

Dear Colleague,

We cordially invite you to submit papers for IDEAL 2012, attend the
conference and visit North-East of Brazil.

Please, see a promotional video about City of Natal and Rio Grande do
Norte State (Natal is where IDEAL2012 will be held this year), check it
out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXtgzh98KHI&context=C4da6aa0ADvjVQa1PpcFODBWZP13ZFb-IP4YcT1Hw9vLYnxCgW2UY=

Suggestion: skip the first 30 seconds to listen audio in English.

Bear in mind also that there are plenty of international direct flights
form Europe, South America and the USA to the nearby city of Recife
(well, nearby in Brazilian standards=30min flight), which is also a great
place to visit together with the paradisaical Island of "Fernando de
Noronha". Check the two clips below (and do expand your trip - it is
worthy!):

1) Recife (Capital of State of Pernambuco, Brazil)
=>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_212258&src_vid=acNtcuRsFcI&feature=iv&v=i26DMY1f5do

2) "Fernando de Noronha" Island (one hour by plane out from Recife)
=> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jiNfvitbWA

Now the good news: the dealine of IDEAL will be postponed towards
the mid-end of April. This news will be featured soon in the web-site of
the congress => http://sbic.ct.ufrn.br/ideal2012/

-Come, we are waiting for your participation in IDEAL2012 !

Kind regards,

Jose Alfredo Costa (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte - *UFRN*,
Brazil)
Hujun Yin (University of *Manchester,* UK)
Guilherme Barreto (Federal University of Ceara - *UFC*, Brazil )
Peter Tino (University of *Birmingham*, UK)
Marcelo Costa (Federal University of Minas Gerais - *UFMG*, Brazil)
Michal Wozniak (*Wroclaw* University of Technology, Poland)
Yang Yao (*Nanjing* University, China)
Alfredo Cuzzocrea (University of *Calabria,* Italy)
Emilio Corchado (University of *Salamanca*, Spain)
Fernando Buarque (State University of Pernambuco - *UPE*, Brazil)

IDEAL 2012 Organising Committee

Friday, March 30, 2012

[Comp-neuro] New Paper: about Interaural Time Differences Detection

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to the following paper:

'Accurate Detection of Interaural Time Differences by a Population of Slowly Integrating Neurons',

Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 138104 (2012)

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.138104

by Viacheslav A. Vasilkov and Ruben A. Tikidji-Hamburyan

Abstract:

For localization of a sound source, animals and humans process the microsecond interaural time differences of arriving sound waves. How nervous systems, consisting of elements with time constants of about and more than 1 ms, can reach such high precision is still an open question. In this Letter we present a hypothesis and show theoretical and computational evidence that a rather large population of slowly integrating neurons with inhibitory and excitatory inputs (EI neurons) can detect minute temporal disparities in input signals which are significantly less than any time constant in the system.

########################################################

The paper can be downloaded from the following location:

http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.138104

Please also note the editor's comments:

http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.138104

Any comments and ideas regarding the results presented in the paper

will be highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Ruben.

---

Ruben A. Tikidji – Hamburyan, Ph.D.

Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy,

Health Sciences Center, Louisiana State University

New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.

Tel: 504 3279886

E-mail: rtikid@lsuhsc.edu

A.B.Kogan Research Institute for Neurocybernetics

Southern Federal University

Rostov-on-Don, 344090, Russia

E-mails: tikidji_ham@krinc.ru, rth@nisms.krinc.ru

web: http://nisms.krinc.ru/rth_en.html

[Comp-neuro] Neural Computation, May, 2012

Neural Computation - Contents -- Volume 24, Number 5 - May 1, 2012

Article

Stochastic Perturbation Methods for
Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity
Todd Leen and Robert Friel

Letters

Dynamical Synapses Enhance Neural Information
Processing: Gracefulness, Accuracy and Mobility
Si Wu, C. C. Alan Fung , K. Y. Michael Wong and He Wang

Reinforcement-based decision making in corticostriatal circuits:
Mutual constraints by neurocomputational and diffusion models.
Roger Ratcliff and Michael Frank

Statistical Mechanics of Reward-Modulated Learning in
Decision-making Networks
Kentaro Katahira, Kazuo Okanoya and Masato Okada

Learning invariance from natural images inspired by
observations in the primary visual cortex
Fred Hamker, Michael Teichmann and Jan Wiltschut

Meta-cognitive Learning in a Fully Complex-valued
Radial Basis Function Neural Network
Suresh Sundaram, Savitha Ramasamy and Sundararajan Narasimhan

Reduction from Cost-sensitive Ordinal Ranking to Weighted
Binary Classification
Hsuan-Tien Lin and Ling Li

Entropy Estimation in Turing's Perspective
Zhiyi Zhang

-----

ON-LINE - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/neco

SUBSCRIPTIONS - 2012 - VOLUME 24 - 12 ISSUES

USA Others Electronic only
Student/Retired $70 $193 $65
Individual $124 $187 $115
Institution $1,035 $1,098 $926

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@mit.edu
http://mitpressjournals.org/neuralcomp

-----
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[Comp-neuro] Call for Papers - Special issue on neural network simulation in Network: Computation in Neural Systems

Call for Papers - Special issue on neural network simulation in Network:
Computation in Neural Systems

Special issue on neural network simulation in Network: Computation in
Neural Systems

Editors:
Romain Brette (romain.brette@ens.fr)
Christian Leibold (leibold@bio.lmu.de)

Simulation of neural models is increasingly used in neuroscience. It
raises a number of issues, such as: how to efficiently simulate large
networks, how to describe and share models that are based on different
simulators, how to constrain and handle large parameter spaces, and how
to cope with the complexity and variety of biological models.
In this special issue of Network: Computation in Neural Systems
(http://informahealthcare.com/loi/net), we are inviting original
research contributions, reviews, and perspectives on all topics relevant
to the simulation of biological neural networks. Topics of interest
include but are not limited to:
* Simulation algorithms
* Data structures
* Parallel processing, for example on graphics cards
* Standardization, interfacing, model sharing
* Analysis and interpretation of simulated data

Contributions of reviews or perspectives should be proposed to Romain
Brette (romain.brette@ens.fr) prior to submission.

Manuscripts should be submitted online via
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ncns, mentioning the special issue in
the cover letter.

Manuscript submission due: 17.06.2012
First review completed: 31.07.2012
Revised manuscript due: 07.09.2012
Second review completed, final decisions to authors: 05.10.2012
Final manuscript due: 12.10.2012
Publication date: 07.12.2012

For further information, please contact the editors.

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[Comp-neuro] 2012 INCF training course on Advanced Statistical Modeling of Neuronal Data (July 22-28, 2012)

Training course announcement (1st call)

(Apologies for duplicate postings)

Dear Colleague,

We invite you to apply for the

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2012 INCF training course on Advanced Statistical Modeling of Neuronal Data
(July 22-28, 2012)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This course will take place in Osnabrueck, Germany, and will be hosted
by the Institute of Cognitive Science (University of Osnabrueck).

Details can be found at: http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/

Applications will be accepted until May 15, 2012. Those accepted will
be notified by May 31st at which point a registration fee of 200 €
will be required. This fee covers attendance of the training course,
coffee breaks, two dinners and team-building events. Accommodation
costs are not included.

The goal of the course is for attendees to gain a working knowledge of
statistical techniques that have proven useful for neuroscientific
data analysis. Broadly speaking, the course is composed of 5 main
themes, one for each day: Statistical Analysis Basics, Encoding
Models, Decoding Models, Neuronal Population Models and Large-Scale
Imaging Models. As the emphasis is on practical applications, each
analysis technique will first be motivated by introducing its usage
with showcase applications from different neuroscientific fields. This
will give participants without experience in a given field an
understanding of what one wants to achieve with an analysis technique.
After having established this common ground of applications, the
methods themselves will be presented in lecture format. Students will
then, in Matlab laboratory sessions, learn to apply the methods to
real neuroscientific data sets. A detailed syllabus may be found on
the course website.

Organizers and Speakers
• Prof. Emery N. Brown, MIT, Cambridge, and Massachusetts
General Hospital, Boston MA, USA
• Prof. Gordon Pipa, Institute of Cognitive Science,
Osnabruck, Germany
• Dr. Stefan Kiebel, Max Planck Institute for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
• Dr. Robert Haslinger, Harvard Medical School, Boston
and MIT, Cambridge USA.

Best regards,

Robert Haslinger (Organizing committee)

--
Robert Haslinger, PhD

Instructor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Assistant in Neuroscience, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA
Research Affiliate, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA

[Comp-neuro] Research Positions: Project "Reusable Deep Neural Networks: Applications to biomedical data"

Dear colleagues,

Two research positions (1 Post-Doc and 1 research assistant) are available at INEB (www.ineb.up.pt), Portugal, under the project "Reusable Deep Neural Networks: Applications to biomedical data". You can find more details here
http://www.eracareers.pt/opportunities/index.aspx?task=global&jobId=28919
and here
http://www.eracareers.pt/opportunities/index.aspx?task=global&jobId=28917
or at
www.ineb.up.pt (Positions Available)

The Call is open till April, 9.

Best wishes
Jorge Santos

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Thursday, March 29, 2012

[Comp-neuro] PhD / Post-Doctoral position – Neuroimaging of language and audition, University of Geneva

Applications are invited at the PhD or at the Post-Doctoral level at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, under the supervision of Professors Narly Golestani and Dimitri Van De Ville. Projects will include developing new methods to analyze aspects of brain morphology using structural MRI, and applying these in the context of normal variability, disease, and expertise.

Candidates should have a degree in Biomedical Engineering, Computational Neuroscience, or a related field, and experience with analysis of structural MRI data and with programming are highly desirable. Applicants should have a strong interest in neuroscience and ideally also in research on language and audition.

The position can start as early as April 1st 2012, and applications will be considered until the position is filled. Informal inquiries can be addressed to Narly Golestani (Narly.Golestani@unige.ch). Applications including a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names and full contact details of two referees should be sent to: Narly.Golestani@unige.ch.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

[Comp-neuro] Brown University -- Tenure Track Position in Computational Neuroscience

The Brown University Department of Neuroscience invites applications
for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in the area of
computational neuroscience. This appointment will be made in
conjunction with the interdepartmental Brown Institute for Brain
Science as part of an expansion that includes seven new faculty
positions. Candidates should have a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree,
postdoctoral research experience, and a record of research excellence.
We strongly encourage applications from women and minorities.
Applicants should be developing and using computational approaches to
address fundamental issues of neural information processing. We
encourage applications from candidates whose research can yield
insight into neurologic or psychiatric disorders. The successful
applicant will bridge areas of research strength within the Brown
Brain Science community and work collaboratively with engineers,
clinicians, mathematicians, computer scientists, and neuroscientists.
The applicant is expected to establish an independent research program
supported by external funds and will teach undergraduate, graduate,
and/or medical students. The appointment will be in the Department of
Neuroscience, with the possibility of a secondary appointment in
another Institute-affiliated department.

The search committee will give first consideration to applications
received by April 27, 2012. Applicants should submit a pdf version of
their curriculum vitae, research and teaching statements, and three
representative publications. They should also request that three
letters of recommendations be sent electronically to
compneurosearch@brown.edu.

David Sheinberg, PhD
Search Committee Chair
Department of Neuroscience
Brown University
Providence, RI

Brown University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer

Michael J Frank, PhD, Associate Professor
Laboratory for Neural Computation and Cognition
Brown University
http://ski.clps.brown.edu
(401)-863-6872
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[Comp-neuro] Industry jobs in modeling motor control

Multiple full-time positions are available immediately in modeling of sensorimotor control at Brain Corporation, San Diego, CA.

Submit your CV/resume and relevant papers to Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich [jobs AT braincorporation.com]. In your cover letter, please address the following requirements.

REQUIREMENTS:
We are seeking candidates who are exceptionally good in any two of the following three areas:
(1) modeling and simulation of sensorimotor processing, reinforcement learning, action selection, or motor control of robots;
(2) solid experience in spiking networks, spike-timing dynamics, and STDP;
(3) excellent programming skills in C/C++, PYTHON or MATLAB.

Of interest are candidates with substantial experience in constructing and simulating internal models and motor primitives; in modeling locomotion, reaching and grasping; in modeling biological vision for navigation and control; in modeling the oculomotor system, proprioceptive system, brainstem and spinal cord, locomotor CPG, cerebellum, basal ganglia, or motor cortex.

The employee compensation package includes stock options, matching 401k retirement contributions, and annual performance-based bonuses.

Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich

Chairman & CEO

Brain Corporation

San Diego, California

http://www.braincorporation.com

[Comp-neuro] Master Program Intelligent Systems - Swiss AI Lab IDSIA & University of Lugano, Switzerland

Starting Fall 2012:

Master's Degree in Informatics with a Major in Intelligent Systems (IS)

A master's in computer science, with a specialization in Artificial
Intelligence
(Neural Networks, Machine Learning & Pattern Recognition, Optimization,
Evolutionary Computation, Probabilistic Reasoning, Robotics ... )

Taught by award-winning experts of the Swiss AI Lab IDSIA
and the University of Lugano (USI), Switzerland.

More info / instructions / deadlines:

http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/aimaster.html

Jürgen Schmidhuber

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[Comp-neuro] Scientific programmer position

The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main,
Germany, seeks to hire a full-time Scientific Programmer for its
Scientific Computing Facility to support our international team of
biologists, computer scientists, engineers, and physicists.

In your cover letter, please address the following requirements.

REQUIREMENTS:
- exceptional programming skills in C or C++
- excellent programming skills in MATLAB
- excellent programming skills in PYTHON or JAVA
- experience with LABVIEW desirable
- experience with Windows, Mac, and Linux software development tools
- experience designing complex, extendable, cross-platform software
- experience working in a collaborative environment (software development teams)
- able to communicate clearly
- English language proficiency (German is a plus)
- self-motivated personality with excellent problem solving skills
- solid organizational, documentation, and multitasking skills
- at least MS degree in a quantitative field in science or engineering
(or equivalent)

Practical experience in GPU programming, FPGA programming,
computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, and neural network
modeling will be an advantage.

We offer an interesting, responsible and varied job in a young,
international and interdisciplinary team. Payment follows German TVöD
(Collective Wage Agreement for Government Service Workers - Federal
Government) depending on qualifications and professional experience as
well as various fringe benefits in accordance with public service
provisions. The position is available effective immediately and comes
with an initial, fixed-term contract of two years, with the
possibility of conversion to a permanent position afterwards.

The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunity employer and is
striving to increase the proportion of women in areas where they are
under-represented. It therefore expressly encourages female
applicants. The Max Planck Society is striving to employ more
individuals with disabilities. It therefore expressly encourages
applicants with disabilities.

Please submit your complete application as a single Pdf until April
30, 2012 to: HR@brain.mpg.de. Or by mail to: Max Planck Institute for
Brain Research - Human Resources, Deutschordenstraße 46, 60528
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

About the Institute:
The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am
Main/Germany is an innovative and growing research facility of the Max
Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The Institute is a
fundamental research and scientific training institution focused on
understanding the brain. It is located in the heart of the
interdisciplinary natural sciences campus of the Goethe University in
Frankfurt am Main (Riedberg).
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Re: [visionlist] CFP: Cognitive Computation Journal: Celebrating the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

Dear all,

Like many of you, I was shocked to learn that John passed away. I will be writing an obituary for the next issue of AISB Quaterly, the newsletter for the UK-based AI-related community. Feel free to contact me if you would like to share a remembrance note, a memory, picture and the like.

He will be missed. Our affection goes to his family.

Kind regards,

Etienne

On 28 Mar 2012, at 09:25, Vassilis Cutsuridis wrote:

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Call for Papers: Cognitive Computation - Celebrating
the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////

* DESCRIPTION

The scope of the special issue is to celebrate the work of the late Professor John G Taylor. Professor Taylor began his career in 1956 as a theoretical physicist and has contributed many seminal papers and books to high energy physics, black holes, quantum gravity and string theory. He held positions in leading Universities in the UK, USA and Europe in
physics and mathematics. He created the Centre for Neural Networks at King's College, London, in 1990, and is still its Director. He was appointed Emeritus Professor of Mathematics of London University in 1996. He was Guest Scientist at the Research Centre in Juelich, Germany, 1996-8, working on brain imaging and data analysis. He has acted as consultant in Neural Networks to several companies. He is the Director of Research on Global Bond products and Tactical Asset Allocation for a financial investment company involved in time series prediction. He is presently European Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neural Networks and was President of the International Neural Network Society (1995) and the European Neural Network Society (1993/4). Since 2009, he is founding Chair of the Advisory Editorial Board for the journal Cognitive Computation.

Prof. Taylor worked in the field of Neural Networks since 1969. He has contributed ever since to all aspects of neural

networks and cognitive computation including their applications to finance and robotics.

Specifically, research topics Prof. Taylor contributed to include but are not limited to:

-- Noisy nets, synapses and the pRAM chip
-- Dynamics of learning processes
-- Mathematical analysis of neural networks and their hardware implementations
-- Neural network models of perception, attention, learning and memory, decision making, motor control, cognitive control, observational learning, emotions, thinking, reasoning, conceptualization, knowledge representation, language and consciousness
-- Neural network applications to finance, robotics and brain imaging

The issue will consider original research articles, review articles, letters and commentaries from former and current students, junior and senior colleagues of Professor Taylor. All submitted articles should clearly state in what way their work is based on Prof. Taylor's previous research and how it extends it.

* EDITORS

The reviewing process will be supervised by guest Editors (Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain), together with the editorial Board of the Cognitive Computation journal.

* DEADLINES

Deadlines are as follows:

-- Submission deadline: September 1, 2012
-- Review deadline: December 1, 2012
-- Author notification: December 2, 2012
-- Author's response: February 1, 2013
-- Publication by journal: ~April, 2013
Electronic submissions for the Cognitive Computation journal can be found under http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559
Please indicate in your cover letter that your article is for the special issue "Celebrating the work of the late Prof. John G Taylor".

Kind regards,
Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain

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[Comp-neuro] Re: CFP: Cognitive Computation Journal: Celebrating the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

Dear all,

He will be missed. Our affection goes to his family.

Kind regards,

Etienne

On 28 Mar 2012, at 09:25, Vassilis Cutsuridis wrote:

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Call for Papers: Cognitive Computation - Celebrating
the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////

* DESCRIPTION

The scope of the special issue is to celebrate the work of the late Professor John G Taylor. Professor Taylor began his career in 1956 as a theoretical physicist and has contributed many seminal papers and books to high energy physics, black holes, quantum gravity and string theory. He held positions in leading Universities in the UK, USA and Europe in
physics and mathematics. He created the Centre for Neural Networks at King's College, London, in 1990, and is still its Director. He was appointed Emeritus Professor of Mathematics of London University in 1996. He was Guest Scientist at the Research Centre in Juelich, Germany, 1996-8, working on brain imaging and data analysis. He has acted as consultant in Neural Networks to several companies. He is the Director of Research on Global Bond products and Tactical Asset Allocation for a financial investment company involved in time series prediction. He is presently European Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neural Networks and was President of the International Neural Network Society (1995) and the European Neural Network Society (1993/4). Since 2009, he is founding Chair of the Advisory Editorial Board for the journal Cognitive Computation.

Prof. Taylor worked in the field of Neural Networks since 1969. He has contributed ever since to all aspects of neural

networks and cognitive computation including their applications to finance and robotics.

Specifically, research topics Prof. Taylor contributed to include but are not limited to:

-- Noisy nets, synapses and the pRAM chip
-- Dynamics of learning processes
-- Mathematical analysis of neural networks and their hardware implementations
-- Neural network models of perception, attention, learning and memory, decision making, motor control, cognitive control, observational learning, emotions, thinking, reasoning, conceptualization, knowledge representation, language and consciousness
-- Neural network applications to finance, robotics and brain imaging

The issue will consider original research articles, review articles, letters and commentaries from former and current students, junior and senior colleagues of Professor Taylor. All submitted articles should clearly state in what way their work is based on Prof. Taylor's previous research and how it extends it.

* EDITORS

The reviewing process will be supervised by guest Editors (Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain), together with the editorial Board of the Cognitive Computation journal.

* DEADLINES

Deadlines are as follows:

-- Submission deadline: September 1, 2012
-- Review deadline: December 1, 2012
-- Author notification: December 2, 2012
-- Author's response: February 1, 2013
-- Publication by journal: ~April, 2013
Electronic submissions for the Cognitive Computation journal can be found under http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559
Please indicate in your cover letter that your article is for the special issue "Celebrating the work of the late Prof. John G Taylor".

Kind regards,
Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain

_______________________________________________
Comp-neuro mailing list
Comp-neuro@neuroinf.org
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[Comp-neuro] CFP: Cognitive Computation Journal: Celebrating the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Call for Papers: Cognitive Computation - Celebrating
the legacy of the late Professor John G Taylor

////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////

* DESCRIPTION

The scope of the special issue is to celebrate the work of the late Professor John G Taylor. Professor Taylor began his career in 1956 as a theoretical physicist and has contributed many seminal papers and books to high energy physics, black holes, quantum gravity and string theory. He held positions in leading Universities in the UK, USA and Europe in

physics and mathematics. He created the Centre for Neural Networks at King's College, London, in 1990, and is still its Director. He was appointed Emeritus Professor of Mathematics of London University in 1996. He was Guest Scientist at the Research Centre in Juelich, Germany, 1996-8, working on brain imaging and data analysis. He has acted as consultant in Neural Networks to several companies. He is the Director of Research on Global Bond products and Tactical Asset Allocation for a financial investment company involved in time series prediction. He is presently European Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neural Networks and was President of the International Neural Network Society (1995) and the European Neural Network Society (1993/4). Since 2009, he is founding Chair of the Advisory Editorial Board for the journal Cognitive Computation.

Prof. Taylor worked in the field of Neural Networks since 1969. He has contributed ever since to all aspects of neural

networks and cognitive computation including their applications to finance and robotics.

Specifically, research topics Prof. Taylor contributed to include but are not limited to:

-- Noisy nets, synapses and the pRAM chip

-- Dynamics of learning processes

-- Mathematical analysis of neural networks and their hardware implementations

-- Neural network models of perception, attention, learning and memory, decision making, motor control, cognitive control, observational learning, emotions, thinking, reasoning, conceptualization, knowledge representation, language and consciousness

-- Neural network applications to finance, robotics and brain imaging

The issue will consider original research articles, review articles, letters and commentaries from former and current students, junior and senior colleagues of Professor Taylor. All submitted articles should clearly state in what way their work is based on Prof. Taylor's previous research and how it extends it.

* EDITORS

The reviewing process will be supervised by guest Editors (Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain), together with the editorial Board of the Cognitive Computation journal.

* DEADLINES

Deadlines are as follows:

-- Submission deadline: September 1, 2012

-- Review deadline: December 1, 2012

-- Author notification: December 2, 2012

-- Author's response: February 1, 2013

-- Publication by journal: ~April, 2013

Electronic submissions for the Cognitive Computation journal can be found under http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559

Please indicate in your cover letter that your article is for the special issue "Celebrating the work of the late Prof. John G Taylor".

Kind regards,
Vassilis Cutsuridis and Amir Hussain

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

[Comp-neuro] Postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience at Brown University

A postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience is available in to work jointly in the labs of Drs. Stephanie Jones and Christopher Moore in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University on the origin and function of neural rhythms, as part of the Boston Area Cognitive Rhythms Collaborative (CRC; please see http://cbd.bu.edu/positions.htm). We seek to train a postdoctoral researcher in biophysically principled computational neuroscience methods. The trainee will work side by side with experimentalists to receive interdisciplinary systems level neuroscience training in the integration of theory and experimentation. Model development and analysis will be under the mentorship of Dr. Jones and integration with experimental data under the direction of Dr. Moore. Fundamental to the research will be the development of modeling tools to transcend our understanding of rhythms across electrophysiological scales – e.g. single units, LFP, EEG/MEG. The trainee will work amongst the broader community of researchers integrating theoretical and experimental techniques to study neural rhythms as part of the CRC. Qualified candidates should have a strong mathematics background with experience in dynamical systems methods for simulating neural circuits. The application deadline for the position is ongoing and candidates will be considered until the position is filled. Interested candidates should send a CV, statement of research interests, and three letters of recommendation sent to Stephanie_Jones@Brown.edu.

[Comp-neuro] Call for participation eNTERFACE 2012

Call for participation to the 8th International Workshop on Multimodal Interfaces; July 2nd - July 27th, 2012; Supélec (Metz, France)

After the previous workshops which had an impressive success record and had proven the viability and usefulness of this original workshop, the 8th edition will take place in Supélec (Metz, France). eNTERFACE workshops aim at establishing a tradition of collaborative, localized research and development work by gathering, in a single place, a team of senior project leaders in multimodal interfaces, researchers, and (undergraduate) students, to work on a pre-specified list of challenges, for 4 weeks. Participants are organized in teams, attached to specific projects, working on free software. Each week will typically consist of working sessions by the teams on their respective projects plus a tutorial given by an invited senior researcher and a presentation of the results achieved by each project group. The last week will be devoted to writing an article on the results obtained by the teams plus a big session where all the groups will present their achievements.

This year, participants will be provided with an especially great technical infrastructure, the SmartRoom. In addition to basic network infrastructure and internet access, robots (Nao, Parrot drone, Koala, Rovio and Bioloid), multimedia devices (2d and 3d cameras, Kinect, array of microphones and even an holophonic room) and sensors (brain computer interfaces, eyetrackers and some biomedical sensors) will be available for the projects. For more details, see the website.

Senior researchers, PhD, MS, or undergraduate students are now invited to submit an application for participation at eNTERFACE'12. All those interested in participating at the workshop should send their application by emailing the organizing committee at enterface12@supelec.fr. The content of the application can be found on the website of the summer school (http://enterface12.metz.supelec.fr) . The deadline is fixed at the 30th of April. Applicants can choose up to three projects ordered by preference (see the website for the description of the projects and available positions in each of them). Selection of the applicants will be carried out by the project leaders.

Projects :
P1 - Speech, gaze and gesturing - multimodal conversational interaction with Nao robot,
P2 - Laugh Machine,
P3 - Human motion recognition based on videos,
P4 - Wave Front Synthesis Holophony - Star Trek's Holodeck,
P5 - M2M - Socially Aware Many-to-Machine Communication,
P6 - Is this guitar talking or what!?,
P7 - CITYGATE, The multimodal cooperative intercity Window,
P8 - Active Speech Modifications,
P9 - eyeTS: eye-tracking Tutoring Systems; Towards User-Adaptive Eye-Tracking Educational Technology,
P10 - ArmBand : Inverse Reinforcement Learning for a BCI driven robotic arm control.

Important dates :
* March 27th, 2012 Publication of the Call for Participation
* April 30th, 2012 Closing of the Call for Participation
* May 15th, 2012 Publication of the teams
* July 2nd - July 27th, 2012 eNTERFACE'12 Workshop
Website of the workshop : http://enterface12.metz.supelec.fr
Send correspondence to : enterface12@supelec.fr
The organizing committee of eNTERFACE'12 is looking forward for your applications.

[Comp-neuro] 7th Summer School on Advanced Statistics and Data Mining (Madrid, June 25th - July 6th, 2012)

(Apologies for multiple posting)

Dear colleagues,

The Technical University of Madrid (UPM) will once more organize the summer
school on 'Advanced Statistics and Data Mining' in Madrid between June
25th and July 6th. This year's programme comprises 12 courses divided
into 2 weeks. Attendees may register in each course independently.

Early registration is now *OPEN*. Extended information on course programmes,
price, venue, accommodation and transport is available at the school's
website:

http://www.dia.fi.upm.es/ASDM

Best regards,

-- The coordinators of the school.

*List of courses and brief description*

Week 1 (June 25th - June 29th, 2012)

Course 1: Bayesian networks (15 h)
Basics of Bayesian networks. Inference in Bayesian networks.
Learning Bayesian networks from data.

Course 2: Statistical inference (15 h)
Introduction. Some basic statistical test. Multiple testing.
Introduction to bootstrap methods. Introduction to Robust Statistics.

Course 3: Supervised pattern recognition (15 h)
Introduction. Assessing the performance of supervised classification
algorithms. Preprocessing. Classification techniques. Combining
multiple classifiers. Comparing supervised classification algorithms.

Course 4: Multivariate data analysis (15 h)
Introduction. Data Examination. Principal component analysis
(PCA). Factor Analysis. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS).
Correspondence analysis. Multivariate Analysis of Variance
(MANOVA). Canonical correlation.

Course 5: Neural networks (15 h)
Introduction. Perceptrons. Training algorithms. Accelerating
convergence. Useful tricks for MLPs. Deep networks.

Course 6: Feature Subset Selection (15 h)
Introduction. Filter approaches. Wrapper methods.
Embedded methods. Drawbacks and future strands.
Practical session.

Week 2 (July 2nd - July 6th, 2012)

Course 7: Time series analysis (15 h)
Introduction. Probability models to time series. Regression and
Fourier analysis. Forecasting and Data mining.

Course 8: Hidden Markov Models (15 h)
Introduction. Discrete Hidden Markov Models. Basic algorithms
for Hidden Markov Models. Semicontinuous Hidden Markov Models.
Continuous Hidden Markov Models. Unit selection and clustering.
Speaker and Environment Adaptation for HMMs.
Other applications of HMMs.

Course 9: Hot topics in intelligent data analysis (15 h)
Multi-label and multi-dimensional classification. Advanced
Bayesian classifiers. Advanced Clustering. Partially supervised
classification with uncertain class labels. Directional statistics.
Spatial point processes.

Course 10: Unsupervised pattern recognition (15 h)
Introduction. Prototype-based clustering. Density-based
clustering. Graph-based clustering. Cluster evaluation.
Miscellanea.

Course 11: Support vector machines and kernel methods (15 h)
Introduction. SVM models. SVM learning algorithms. Other kernel
methods: Kernel PCA, Kernel FDA, Kernel K-means. Practical
work.

Course 12: Regression (15 h)
Introduction. Simple Linear Regression Model. Measures of model
adequacy. Multiple Linear Regression. Regression Diagnostics and
model violations. Polynomial regression. Variable selection.
Indicator variables as regressors. Logistic regression.

_______________________________________________
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Comp-neuro@neuroinf.org
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Monday, March 26, 2012

[Comp-neuro] Two year postdoctoral position in mathematical neuroscience

We are looking for a postdoctoral associate with a background in applied mathematics
and/or computational/theoretical neuroscience. The successful applicant will work with
Dr. Josić at the University of Houston to examine how structure determines the dynamics
and function of neuronal networks.

This position is expected to run September 1, 2012 through August 31, 2014 with the
possibility of extension if additional funding is secured.

The position is offered at 75% time for the 9-month academic year and 100% time
for the 3 summer months. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to teach
one course per semester in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Houston
for an additional stipend.

Applications can be submitted at https://jobs.uh.edu/postings/12761

For further information contact Krešimir Josić <josic@math.uh.edu>.

The University of Houston is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
Employer. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are
encouraged to apply.

--
** Krešimir Josić
**
** Department of Mathematics
** University of Houston
** Houston, TX 77204-3008
**
** fax: (713) 743-3505
** http://math.uh.edu/~josic

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[Comp-neuro] AREADNE 2012 -- website access for Germany restored

AREADNE 2012
Research in Encoding and Decoding of Neural Ensembles
Nomikos Conference Center, Santorini, Greece
21-24 June 2012

http://www.areadne.org
info@areadne.org

* * * WEBSITE ACCESS FOR GERMANY RESTORED * * *

We have had sporadic reports of problems accessing the AREADNE web
site from locations in Germany. These problems have been cleared just
in time for the abstract submission deadline.

AREADNE 2012 will be our fourth meeting at the Nomikos Conference
Centre in Santorini, Greece. Continuing with the same highly
successful format, the conference will bring scientific leaders from
around the world to present their theoretical and experimental work on
the functioning of neuronal ensembles. The meeting will provide an
informal yet spectacular and inspirational setting in which attendees
can discuss their recent discoveries and ideas, with a relaxed pace
that emphasizes interaction.

We have a very exciting list of speakers -

Dora Angelaki (Baylor College of Medicine)
Sliman Bensmaia (U. Chicago)
Davi Bock (HHMI Janelia Farm)
Emery Brown (MIT)
Anne Churchland (Cold Spring Harbor)
Michael Dickinson (U. Washington)
David Dickman (Baylor College of Medicine)
Suzanne Haber (U. Rochester)
Michael Hasselmo (Boston University)
Peter Latham (UCL)
Jean Livet (INSERM)
Jeff Magee (HHMI Janelia Farm)
Dan Margoliash (U. Chicago)
Tirin Moore (Stanford)
John O'Keefe (UCL)
Leslie Osborne (U. Chicago)
John Pezaris (Harvard Med. School)
Panayiota Poirazi (FORTH / IMBB)
Hans Scherberger (DPZ)
Elad Schneidman (Weizmann Institute)
Idan Segev (Hebrew University)
Eilon Vaadia (Hebrew University)

Please see the Call for Abstracts for additional details, including
templates, at

http://areadne.org/call-for-abstracts.html

Submissions are now due by 28 March 2012; notifications will be
provided by 11 April 2012. We strongly encourage potential attendees
to submit an abstract as poster presenters have registration priority.

For information about the conference, refer to the main web page

http://areadne.org

or send email to us at info@areadne.org. Please forward this message
to interested colleagues.

We hope to see you in Santorini!

-
John Pezaris, Co-Chair
Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Co-Chair
AREADNE 2012
info@areadne.org
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[Comp-neuro] Bernstein Conference 2012 - Abstract Submission

Call for Abstracts: Bernstein Conference 2012

The Bernstein Conference

The Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience started out as the
annual meeting of the Bernstein Network (www.nncn.de) and has become the
largest European Conference in Computational Neuroscience in recent years.
This year, the Conference is organized by the Bernstein Center Munich and
will take place September 12-14, 2012, back-to-back with the
5th Neuroinformatics Congress of the International Neuroinformatics
Coordinating Facility (www.neuroinformatics2012.org).

The Bernstein Conference is a single-track conference, covering all
aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. We invite the
submission of abstracts for poster presentations from all relevant areas.
Abstracts will be published online in the journal Frontiers in
Computational Neuroscience.

For registration and abstract submission, please visit the Conference
Website:http://www.bccn2012.de

IMPORTANT DATES:
Abstract submission deadline: May 11, 2012
Early registration deadline: June 1, 2012

CONFERENCE DATE AND VENUE:
September 12-14, 2012
Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany

PhD STUDENT SYMPOSIUM:
September 15, 2012
Biozentrum, LMU Munich, Martinsried, Germany

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:
Henning Bier, Alexander Borst, Gordon Cheng,
Stefan Glasauer, Benedikt Grothe, Andreas Herz,
Christian Leibold, Harald Luksch, Thomas Wachtler

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Andreas Herz (General Chair)
Ellen Schmidt, Monika Volk, Thomas Wachtler

We look forward to seeing you in Munich in September!

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Sunday, March 25, 2012

[Comp-neuro] SSNC 2012: 2nd announcement

*To be removed from our mailing list, please respond to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject*

*********************************************************************

2012 INTERNATIONAL SPRING SCHOOL IN NATURAL COMPUTING

SSNC 2012

Tarragona, Spain

May 28 – June 1st, 2012

Organized by:

Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC)

Rovira i Virgili University

http://grammars.grlmc.com/ssnc2012/

*********************************************************************

AIM:

SSNC 2012 offers a broad and intensive series of lectures at different levels on selected topics in nature-inspired computing. The students choose their preferred courses according to their interests and background. Instructors are top names in their respective fields. The School intends to help students initiate and foster their research career.

ADDRESSED TO:

Graduate (and advanced undergraduate) students from around the world. Most appropriate degrees include: Computer Science, Biology, Neuroscience, Physics and Mathematics. Other students (for instance, from Engineering or Logic) are welcome too.

The School is appropriate also for people more advanced in their career who want to keep themselves updated on developments in the field.

There is no overlap in the class schedule.

COURSES AND PROFESSORS:

- Eric Bonabeau (Icosystem, Cambridge MA), Self-Organization in Natural and Artificial Systems [introductory, 4 hours]

- David W. Corne (Heriot-Watt), Swarm Intelligence Algorithms [introductory, 6 hours]

- Hisao Ishibuchi (Osaka Prefecture), Introduction to Fuzzy Rule-Based Classifier Design [introductory, 4 hours]

- Xiaodong Li (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Advances in Particle Swarm Optimization [introductory/advanced, 6 hours]

- Martin Middendorf (Leipzig), Social Insects and Organic Computing [introductory, 6 hours]

- Stefano Nolfi (CNR, Roma), Evolution and Development of Language in Robots [introductory/intermediate, 6 hours]

- Leandro Nunes de Castro (Mackenzie Presbiterian, São Paulo), Introduction to Evolutionary Data Clustering [introductory/intermediate, 10 hours]

- Tatsuya Suda (University Netgroup Inc., Irvine), Molecular Communication and the Bio-networking Architecture [introductory/intermediate, 6 hours]

- L. Darrell Whitley (Colorado State), Evolutionary Algorithms and Elementary Landscapes [introductory/intermediate, 6 hours]

- Xin Yao (Birmingham), Evolutionary Optimization and Co-evolutionary Learning [intermediate/advanced, 6 hours]

REGISTRATION:

It has to be done on line at

http://grammars.grlmc.com/ssnc2012/Registration.php

FEES:

They are variable, depending on the number of courses each student takes. The rule is:

1 hour =

- 10 euros (for payments until March 18, 2012),

- 15 euros (for payments after March 18, 2012).

PAYMENT PROCEDURE:

The fees must be paid to the School's bank account:

Uno-e Bank

bank’s address: Julian Camarillo 4 C, 28037 Madrid, Spain

IBAN: ES3902270001820201823142

SWIFT/BIC code: UNOEESM1

account holder: Carlos Martin-Vide GRLMC

account holder’s address: Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain

Please mention SSNC 2012 and your name in the subject. A receipt will be provided on site.

Remarks:

- Bank transfers should not involve any expense for the School.

- People claiming early registration will be requested to prove that the bank transfer order was carried out by the deadline.

- Students may be refunded only in the case when a course gets cancelled due to the unavailability of the instructor.

People registering on site at the beginning of the School must pay in cash. For the sake of local organization, however, it is much recommended to do it earlier.

ACCOMMODATION:

Information about accommodation is available on the website of the School.

CERTIFICATE:

Students will be delivered a certificate stating the courses attended, their contents, and their duration.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Announcement of the programme: February 12, 2012

Starting of the registration: February 12, 2012

Early registration deadline: March 18, 2012

Starting of the School: May 28, 2012

End of the School: June 1st, 2012

QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION:

Lilica Voicu:

florentinalilica.voicu@urv.cat

WEBSITE:

http://grammars.grlmc.com/ssnc2012/

POSTAL ADDRESS:

SSNC 2012

Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC)

Rovira i Virgili University

Av. Catalunya, 35

43002 Tarragona, Spain

Phone: +34-977-559543

Fax: +34-977-558386

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Diputació de Tarragona

Universitat Rovira i Virgili