June 2019 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Two related articles on Efficient Coding in the Brain
by Jeff Krichmar June 28, 2019

June 28, 2019

Dear Colleagues, I don’t usually like to post papers to these lists. But, I thought it was more than just a coincidence that two papers from our group on how the brain efficiently represents information came out today. Hope you enjoy. Feedback is most welcome. "Neural correlates of sparse coding and dimensionality reduction” M Beyeler, EL Rounds, KD Carlson, N Dutt, and JL Krichmar PLoS Computational Biology https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006… "Making BREAD: Biomimetic Strategies for Artificial Intelligence Now and in the Future” JL Krichmar, W Severa, MS Khan, JL Olds Frontiers in Neuroscience - Neuromorphic Engineering Section https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00666/full Best regards, Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

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Modeller's Workshop for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox, 1-19 July 2019.
by Stewart Heitmann June 27, 2019

June 27, 2019

Modeller’s Workshop for the Brain Dynamics Toolbox Online Course July 1-19, 2019 The Brain Dynamics Toolbox is an open toolbox for simulating dynamical systems in neuroscience. This on-line course is for researchers, students and instructors who wish to use the toolbox to build their own dynamical models. Participants learn the art of programming differential equations in Matlab and how to use the toolbox to solve those equations interactively. Topics include programming Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Delay Differential Equations, Stochastic Differential Equations, Auxiliary Plot Functions and command-line tools. Example code is provided in all cases. https://bdtoolbox.org/p/modellers-workshop/ Important Dates Early-bird enrolments ($100) close Friday 7th July, 2019. Late enrolments ($150) close Friday 19th July, 2019. Lifetime Access This is a self-paced on-line course. After enrolling, students have unlimited lifetime access to the course materials. Stewart Heitmann | Computational Scientist Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute | Lowy Packer Building | 405 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 Australia E: s.heitmann(a)victorchang.edu.au | @VictorChangInst ______________________________________________________________________ The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute's Email is scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.

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Postdoctoral position at the University of Pittsburgh
by Anna Manelis June 27, 2019

June 27, 2019

*Postdoctoral Position opening at the University of Pittsburgh in neuroimaging of mood disorders* Candidates are being considered for a post-doctoral associate position in the Anticipation, Cognition and Emotion lab ( www.ace.pitt.edu ) at the University of Pittsburgh (http://www.pitt.edu) to work with Dr. Anna Manelis and her team. A successful candidate will work on the NIMH funded research project that uses multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, MRI, DTI and fNIRS) to understand the contribution of anticipatory processing to cognitive and emotional dysfunction in individuals with mood disorders. Pittsburgh is a vibrant community which promotes diversity and collaboration within its university and medical systems. Our lab works in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to perform neuroimaging studies which will help us to better understand mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorders. *Required Qualification*s: we are seeking a highly motivated candidate with a PhD degree (or anticipated PhD degree) in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience or a related discipline. A strong research background in the analysis and interpretation of neuroimaging data is required. A successful candidate will have excellent writing and communication skills. Candidates with a strong computational background are encouraged to apply. Experience with FSL, Freesurfer and E-prime is preferred. The ability to program in Shell, Matlab, Python and/or R is preferred. Experience with fNIRS, graph modeling and pattern classification analyses is a plus. While prior experience with clinical populations is not necessary, we expect candidates to be interested in neuroimaging research of working and episodic memory and/or anticipatory and emotional processing in individuals with mood disorders. *Responsibilities*: · Help to run fMRI/fNIRS experiments · Analyze fMRI, MRI, DTI and fNIRS neuroimaging data · Write manuscripts · Present findings from studies at conferences This is a full-time position that can be extended to 3 years. We are looking for someone to join our lab in Fall 2019 (with some flexibility). This position is funded by the NIMH and salary will vary based on experience. If you are interested in this position, please send a CV, research statement, preprints/reprints of papers, and the names and contact information for two references to *Anna Manelis (manelisa(a)upmc.edu <manelisa(a)upmc.edu>).*

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Paper: Forward propagation closed loop learning
by Bernd Porr June 27, 2019

June 27, 2019

Dear all, we have a new paper out where we have propagated errors forwards (and not backwards): "For an autonomous agent, the inputs are the sensory data that inform the agent of the state of the world, and the outputs are their actions, which act on the world and consequently produce new sensory inputs. The agent only knows of its own actions via their effect on future inputs; therefore desired states, and error signals, are most naturally defined in terms of the inputs. Most machine learning algorithms, however, operate in terms of desired outputs. For example, backpropagation takes target output values and propagates the corresponding error backwards through the network in order to change the weights. In closed loop settings, it is far more obvious how to define desired sensory inputs than desired actions, however. To train a deep network using errors defined in the input space would call for an algorithm that can propagate those errors forwards through the network, from input layer to output layer, in much the same way that activations are propagated. In this article, we present a novel learning algorithm which performs such ‘forward-propagation’ of errors. We demonstrate its performance, first in a simple line follower and then in a 1st person shooter game." https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1059712319851070 The PDF of the accepted submission version can be found on my personal homepage: https://www.berndporr.me.uk/Porr_Miller_FCL_2019_Adaptive_Behaviour.pdf https://www.berndporr.me.uk/publications.php The code is available here: https://github.com/glasgowneuro/feedforward_closedloop_learning A video clip of the learning behaviour of a simple FPS agent is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLVDBdlAQLY Best, /Bernd Porr & Paul Miller -- www: http://www.tinnitustailor.tech http://www.attys.tech http://www.glasgowneuro.tech http://www.berndporr.me.uk Mobile: +44 (0)7840 340069

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LAST DAYS to register to the Summer School in Computational and Theoretical Models in Neuroscience, Venice, Italy
by suweis infn June 26, 2019

June 26, 2019

ConTaMiNEURO 2019 Summer school ,Venice, Italy (September 9th - September 14th, 2019) - LAST DAYS TO REGISTER I would like to bring to your attention to the Summer School in Computational and Theoretical Models in Neuroscience, ConTaMiNEURO 2019 <http://neuroschool19.liphlab.com/> Thanks to the support of our sponsor, in particular the University of Padova and the newborn Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC <http://pnc.unipd.it/>), the early bird registration fee for Ph.Ds students and Post Docs is 200 Euro, DEADLINE is 30 June 2019. FEW PLACES STILL AVAILABLE ConTaMiNEURO 2019 <http://neuroschool19.liphlab.com/> wants to convey central ideas, methods, and practices of modern computational neuroscience through a combination of lectures, tutorials and seminars. During the course’s mornings, distinguished international faculty deliver lectures and seminars on selected topics in computational neuroscience (see below). For the remainder of the time, students work on research projects under close supervision of tutors and faculty. Research projects will include data analyses and the development of theories to explain experimental observations. The School is will take place from 9 to 14 September at palazzo Ca Bottacin of the University Ca’Foscari, in the heart of Venice. All the details can be found at the school website: http://neuroschool19.liphlab.com/ <http://neuroschool19.liphlab.com/> ConTaMiNEURO 2019 <http://neuroschool19.liphlab.com/> is co-organized by Samir Suweis, Amos Maritan, Maurizio Corbetta, Marco Formentin, Stefano Vassanelli (University of Padova), Achille Giacometti (University of Venice) and Miguel A. Munoz (University of Granada). Invited Speakers Ken Miller, Columbia University, USA. Yiota Poirazi, IMBB-FORTH, Creta. Nicolas Brunel*, Duke University, USA. Andrea Brovelli, University of Marsille. Jordi Soriano, University of Barcellona Mazzuccato Luca, Columbia University & University of Oregon Stefano Panzeri, IIT Rovereto Jesus Cortes, IKERBASQUE: The Basque Foundation for Science Lucilla De Arcangelis, University of Naples Raffaella Burioni, University of Parma Gustavo Deco, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona Susanne Ditlevsen, University of Copenaghen Alessandro Treves, Trieste SISSA Misha Tsodyks, Weizmann Institute of Science Marco Zorzi, University of Padova Lamberto Ballan, University of Padova Eleni Vasilaki, University of Shieffield Marcello Pelillo, European Center of Living Techonology & University of Venice Tommaso Fellin, IIT Genova Maria Victoria Sánchez Vives , ICREA-IDIBAPS (Barcelona) Marco dal Maschio, University of Padova Serena del Santo, University of Granada Lorenzo Fontolan, Janelia Farm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ass. Prof. Samir Suweis Physics Dept., University of Padova www.liphlab.com @SamirSuweis Tel: +39 049 827 71 74

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The 3rd International Neural Dynamics Summer School 2019
by Conor Houghton June 26, 2019

June 26, 2019

We are offering twelve fully funded positions on the Wellcome Trust sponsored summer school for training and research experience in neural dynamics (TRENDs). This is an opportunity for undergraduate and Masters students to experience experimental and computational neuroscience research. More info can be found here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/neural-dynamics/information/trends/ 04/09/2019 – 06/09/2019 Bristol University, UK The training and research in neural dynamics summer school is an exciting Wellcome Trust funded course held at the University of Bristol. The aim is to introduce young scientists to experimental and computational techniques used in neuroscience research. The summer school will be a three-day course made up of a series of seminars and lab visits where successful candidates will get first hand experience of electrophysiological recordings (both in vitro and in vivo), EEG recordings, brain imaging, optogenetics, data analysis workshops and practical classes on learning to code in Python. No prior experience is necessary, but a keen interest is essential! We welcome applications from science undergraduates from a wide range of backgrounds (Physics, Engineering, Maths, Computer Science, Neuroscience, Psychology etc.). For successful applicants all costs to attend the course, including travel expenses within the UK, accommodation and food will be covered. Overseas travel expenses will be considered on a case by case basis. Deadline 3 July, 2019 All the best Conor

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3 year postdoc position available
by Dietmar Heinke June 25, 2019

June 25, 2019

The Computational Psychology Lab (https://comp-psych.bham.ac.uk/ ) seeks to recruit a full-time postdoctoral-level Research Fellow for a research project titled "Integrating vision and action through selection history". It is funded by two bodies, UK Research and Innovation (ESRC) and US-funding agency NSF (National Science Foundation). The US collaborator is Professor Joo-Hyun Song, Brown University https://www.brown.edu/academics/cognitive-linguistic-psychological-sciences… The project aims at advancing our understanding of how humans execute visually-guided reaching in multi-object environments. It takes a highly interdisciplinary approach by combining computational modelling and empirical work. The research will be based on earlier work published here: Strauss, S., Woodgate, P.J.W., Sami, S. A., & Heinke, D. (2015) Choice reaching with a LEGO arm robot (CoRLEGO): The motor system guides visual attention to movement-relevant information. Neural Networks, 72, 3-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2015.10.005<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2015.10.005> Informal enquiries should be directed to Dietmar Heinke at D.G.HEINKE(a)bham.ac.uk Closing date: 24 July 2019 An on-line application can be submitted at the bottom of this page: https://bham.taleo.net/careersection/external/jobdetail.ftl?job=19000076&tz… Main Duties/Responsibilities * Undertake work within the specified research grant (ES/T002409/1): * Extend CoRLEGO to model data collected by Professor Joo-Hyun Song * Compare models using Bayesian methods * Conduct behavioural experiments under guidance of Professor Joo-Hyun Song * Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars, etc. * Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline * Contribute to knowledge transfer in computational modelling and related areas that is of benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of the Principle investigator * Contribute to public engagement activities * Contribute to generating funding and writing bids Person Specification Skills and Knowledge: * Programming skills (preferably in MatLab), mathematical skills Experience in at least three of the following fields: * Robotics, computer vision, computational modelling, behavioural science (human vision or/and movement control), Bayesian statistics, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, Dynamic neural fields Generic skills: * Ability to communicate complex information clearly * Ability to work in an interdisciplinary project * Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes Qualifications * PhD preferably in electrical engineering, computer science, physics or mathematics

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WCCI2020 Glasgow, Scotland - Call for papers
by Stefan Wermter June 25, 2019

June 25, 2019

*IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence* WCCI2020 Facebook <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.facebook.com_wcci2…> WCCI2020 Twitter <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_wcci2020&d…> 19-24 July 2020, Scottish Event Campus <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sec.co.uk_&d=DwMFa…>, Glasgow. wcci2020.org <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wcci2020.org_&d=DwMFaQ…> On behalf of the WCCI Organizing Committee <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wcci2020.org_-3Fpage-5…>, it is our great pleasure to invite you to the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence. The 2020 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI 2020) is the world's largest technical event in the field of computational intelligence. IEEE WCCI 2020 will host three flagship conferences under one roof : * IJCNN - International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (cooperation between IEEE-CIS & INNS) * FUZZ-IEEE - IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems * IEEE-CEC - IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation This encourages cross-fertilisation of ideas among the three big areas and provides a forum for intellectuals from all over the world to discuss and present their research findings on computational intelligence. *Important deadlines: <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wcci2020.org_&d=DwMFaQ…>* 15Nov2019 Special Session & Workshop Proposals 15Dec2019 Competition & Tutorial Proposals 15Jan2020 Paper submission 15Mar2020 Paper Acceptance Notification 15Apr2020 Final paper submission & Early registration 19-24Jul2020 Conference Dates ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Calls: <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.wcci2020.org_wp-2D…>* (click to see pdf description) *Call for Papers <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.wcci2020.org_wp-2D…> : * Papers for IEEE WCCI 2020 should be submitted electronically using the Congress website www.wcci2020.org and will be refereed by experts in the fields and ranked based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality and clarity. *Call for Special Sessions: * IEEE WCCI 2020 solicits proposals for special sessions within the technical scope of the three conferences. Special sessions are to be organized by internationally recognized experts, aim to bring together researchers in special focused topics. Cross-fertilization of the three technical disciplines and newly emerging research are strongly encouraged. Inquiries regarding special sessions and proposals should be addressed to Special Sessions Chairs : Richard Duro, University of A Coruña. Spain <mailto:Richard Duro. Special Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof A Coru%C3%B1a. Spain<richard(a)udc.es>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20FUZZ%20Special%20Sessions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Humberto Bustince, Public University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain <mailto:Humberto Bustince. Special Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Public Uof Navarra. Pamplona. Spain<bustince(a)unavarra.es>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20CEC%20Special%20Sessions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> David Corne, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK <mailto:David Corne. Special Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Heriot-Watt U. Scotland. UK<dwcorne(a)gmail.com>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20IJCNN%20Special%20Sessions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Xiao-Jun Zeng, University of Manchester, UK <mailto:Xiao-Jun Zeng. Special Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof Manchester. UK<x.zeng(a)manchester.ac.uk>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Cross-disciplinary%20and%20Applications%20Special%20Sessions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> *Call for Tutorials: * IEEE WCCI 2020 will feature pre-Congress tutorials, covering fundamental and advanced topics in computational intelligence. A tutorial proposal should include title, outline, expected enrollment, and presenter/organizer biography. Inquiries regarding tutorials should be addressed to Tutorials Chairs : Barbara Hammer, Bielefeld University, Germany <mailto:Barbara Hammer. Tutorial Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Bielefeld U. Germany<bhammer(a)techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Tutorials%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Plamen Angelov, Lancaster University, UK <mailto:Plamen Angelov. Tutorial Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Lancaster U. UK<p.angelov(a)lancaster.ac.uk>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Tutorials%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Ponnuthurai Suganthan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore <mailto:Ponnuthurai Suganthan. Tutorial Session Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Nanyang TechU. Singapore<epnsugan(a)ntu.edu.sg>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Tutorials%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> *Call for Competitions: * IEEE WCCI 2020 will host competitions to stimulate research in computational intelligence. A competition proposal should include descriptions of the problem(s) addressed, evaluation procedures, and a biography of the organizers. Inquiries regarding competitions should be addressed to the Competitions Chairs : Huanhuan Chen, University of Science and Technology of China, China <mailto:Huanhuan Chen. Competition Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof Science and Technology of China. China<hchen(a)ustc.edu.cn>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Competitions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Jialin Liu, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China <mailto:Jialin Liu. Competition Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Southern UofS&T. Shenzhen. China<liujl(a)sustc.edu.cn>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Competitions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University, UK <mailto:Bill Buchanan. Competition Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Edinburgh Napier U. UK<B.Buchanan(a)napier.ac.uk>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Competitions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Christos Panayiotou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus <mailto:Christos Panayiotou. Competition Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof Cyprus. Cyprus<christospspamucy.ac.cy>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Competitions%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> *Call for Workshops: * The 2020 IEEE WCCI invites proposals for workshops to be held in conjunction with the main event. The overall purpose of a workshop is to provide participants with the opportunity to present and discuss novel research ideas on active and emerging topics of Computational Intelligence. Topics of the proposed workshops should therefore be aligned with those set forth in the call for papers for the main event. Prospective workshop organizers are invited to submit their proposals to the Workshops Chairs below: Ali Minai, University of Cincinnati, USA <mailto:Ali Minai. Workshop Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof Cincinnati. USA<ali.minai(a)uc.edu>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Workshops%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> Lipo Wang, National Technological University of Singapore <mailto:Lipo Wang. Workshop Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. National TechU. Singapore<elpwang(a)ntu.edu.sg>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20Workshops%20Inquiry&body=Add%20your%20[questions,%20comments],%20then%20send.> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Venue: * IEEE WCCI 2020 will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK - one of Europe's most dynamic cultural capitals and the "World's Friendliest City" [Rough Guide 2015]. Steeped in culture, rich in history and alive with an excitement you can sense as you walk through its elegant Victorian streets, squares, parks and gardens. The Conference will be held at the prestigious Scottish Event Campus (SEC) <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sec.co.uk_&d=DwMFa…>, which was a key venue for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * IEEE WCCI 2020 General Co-Chairs * Amir Hussain <mailto:Amir Hussain. General Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Edinburgh Napier U. Scotland. UK<hussain.doctor(a)gmail.com>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20General%20Inquiry&body=If%20your%20[questions,%20comments]%20are%20related%20to%20the%20Calls%20above,%20or%20to%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20Organizing%20Committee%20as%20listed%20at%20https://www.ijcnn.org/organizing-committee%20,%20please%20contact%20the%20appropriate%20Chair%20directly.%20%20I%20would%20be%20happy%20to%20answer%20%20your%20other%20[questions,%20comments].%20%20Please%20add%20them%20below,%20then%20send.> Founding Head of the Cognitive Big Data and Cybersecurity (CogBiD) Research Lab, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, Marios Polycarpou <mailto:Marios Polycarpou. General Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Uof Cyprus<mpolycar(a)ucy.ac.cy>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20General%20Inquiry&body=If%20your%20[questions,%20comments]%20are%20related%20to%20the%20Calls%20above,%20or%20to%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20Organizing%20Committee%20as%20listed%20at%20https://www.ijcnn.org/organizing-committee%20,%20please%20contact%20the%20appropriate%20Chair%20directly.%20%20I%20would%20be%20happy%20to%20answer%20%20your%20other%20[questions,%20comments].%20%20Please%20add%20them%20below,%20then%20send.> Director of the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Xin Yao <mailto:Xin Yao. General Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Southern Uof S&T. China<x.yao(a)cs.bham.ac.uk>?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20General%20Inquiry&body=If%20your%20[questions,%20comments]%20are%20related%20to%20the%20Calls%20above,%20or%20to%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20Organizing%20Committee%20as%20listed%20at%20https://www.ijcnn.org/organizing-committee%20,%20please%20contact%20the%20appropriate%20Chair%20directly.%20%20I%20would%20be%20happy%20to%20answer%20%20your%20other%20[questions,%20comments].%20%20Please%20add%20them%20below,%20then%20send.> Chair, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science & Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China *********************************************** Professor Dr. Stefan Wermter Chair of Knowledge Technology Department of Computer Science University of Hamburg Vogt Koelln Str. 30 22527 Hamburg, Germany Email: wermter AT informatik.uni-hamburg.de http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~wermter/ http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/WTM/ ***********************************************

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[meetings] Call for contributions: Workshop on "Role of movement-based active perception in navigation and its neurorobotic correlates" at SWARM 2019, Okinawa, Japan
by Danish Shaikh June 25, 2019

June 25, 2019

Call for contributions ----------------------------- Workshop on "Role of movement-based active perception in navigation and its neurorobotic correlates" at SWARM 2019: The 3rd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics, Okinawa, Japan Date: November 22, 2019 Location: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan Workshop url: https://arilab.unit.oist.jp/swarm2019/#ws Workshop overview ---------------------------- Active perception in animals involves executing behaviours that move sensory appendages (e.g. eyes, pinnae, antennae or whiskers) in space to increase flow of sensory stimuli as well as the sampled information content. This increased sampling can significantly improve the animal's understanding of its environment. In this context, perception (interpretation of sensory stimuli) and action (behaviours that move the sensory appendages) are tightly coupled. Several biological studies have identified the important role of movement-based active sensing for increasing sensory volumes and many robotic studies have investigated the principles underlying active perception in adaptive behaviour. Insects and rodents are very promising model organisms to study active perception, as they possess highly mobile sensory appendages, a wide variety of sensilla and a well-studied nervous system. The neurorobotic approach, i.e. developing robotic models of biological neural mechanisms, is well-suited for hypothesis-testing as it allows one to isolate and embed the neural mechanism of interest within an artificial body that can sense and act in the real world. This relieves scientists from the task of modelling the statistics of sensory stimuli, as the real world provides these statistics for free. This full day workshop brings together leading experts, from both biology and neurorobotics perspectives, to shed light on the principles underlying active antennal perception as well as its neural correlates and discuss the neurorobotic approach to modelling active perception. Learning outcomes: - Understanding the basic concepts and principles of active perception - Knowledge of neural correlates of active perception - Knowledge of embodied AI and the neurorobotic approach - Applying these concepts and knowledge in developing agents/robots that utilise actively moving antennae to execute navigation behaviours such as taxis The full-day workshop consists of: - Theory (lectures): Invited talks by experts from biology and neurorobotics, - Practice tutorial: Hypothesis-testing via neurorobots in simulated and/or real-world navigation tasks, - Discussion and future directions Submission guidelines ------------------------------ Contributions in the form of 1 page conf. style abstract on active perception. This includes both studies in biological organisms as well as in robots. All abstracts must be formatted in the SWARM conference style, templates for which can be found here - https://arilab.unit.oist.jp/swarm2019/#submission Selected contributions will be presented in a form of a poster during the workshop. We particularly encourage young scientists to contribute their research results (reporting early-stage research where results are not yet available is welcome as well). We also welcome live robot demonstrations on active perception models. Submissions have to be sent to danish[at]mmmi.sdu.dk (please replace [at] with @) in PDF format only. One author per accepted workshop contribution (poster and/or demo) is required to register for and attend the workshop to present the accepted abstract. Outstanding contributions might be selected for oral presentations. Relevant dates -------------------- Deadline for abstract submission: August 21, 2019 Anywhere on Earth time - https://time.is/Anywhere_on_Earth Notification of acceptance: September 21, 2019 Workshop: November 22, 2019 Tentative list of speakers ---------------------------------- - Einat Couzin-Fuchs (University of Konstanz, Germany) - Venkatesh N. Murthy (Harvard University, USA) - Danish Shaikh (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) - Alejandro Pequeño Zurro (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) Workshop organizers ----------------------------- Danish Shaikh Alejandro Pequeño Zurro Contact ----------- Danish Shaikh (danish[at]mmmi.sdu.dk) Assistant professor Embodied Systems for Robotics and Learning Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M Denmark Tel. (office): +45 6550 9526 www.sdu.dk

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Computational Neuroscience PhD and Postdoc Positions, University of Calgary
by Wilten Nicola June 23, 2019

June 23, 2019

The newly formed research group of Dr. Wilten Nicola, at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary invites applications for talented PhD and postdoctoral researchers commencing in the fall of 2019 or Winter of 2020. The Nicola lab is focused on the interplay between network connectivity, and dynamics in populations of spiking neurons.. We attack this problem using two general approaches: *Bottom Up*: Given a set of synaptic weights, what dynamics or phenomenon emerge in a network of neurons coupled by these weights? Potential methods*: Fokker-Planck systems, Mean-field approaches, Wilson-Cowan modelling. * *Top Down*: Given a desired dynamical system that a network should display, how should the individual neurons be coupled together such that the network displays these dynamics? *Potential methods: Inverse Problem Theory and Machine Learning approaches to training Recurrent Neural Networks.* *PhD Requirements:* An undergraduate/masters degree in Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Engineering, or other quantitative fields with a strong interest in neuroscience, or machine learning. *Postdoctoral Requirements*: A PhD in applied/pure mathematics, computational neuroscience, physics, or related quantitative fields. As part of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, an eagerness to collaborate with experimental researchers in the department is a must! Examples include Jaideep Bains, Cam Teskey, Stephanie Borgland, and Jonathan Epp. Calgary, Canada’s fastest growing major city, is vibrant and multicultural with a population of more than 1,000,000. Situated near the Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park and Lake Louise, Calgary offers great quality of life and outstanding recreational activities. *Interested candidates for the positions should submit, via email, a curriculum vitae, and a summary of research interests. PhD candidates should also submit undergraduate/masters transcripts. Postdoctoral candidates should submit reprints of (up to) their three most relevant publications by August 15th. Submit directly to * Dr Wilten Nicola Assistant Professor Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary Foothills Medical Center 1403 29th Street NW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 2T9 Email: nicolacompneurolab(a)gmail.com *Applications will be considered until all positions are filled.*

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