September 2021 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

New Job Posting | Scientific Software Engineer (Max Planck)

by Tanya Brown

The *Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics* in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, investigates the attentional, cognitive, and affective mechanisms of aesthetic perception and evaluation. The *Department of Neuroscience *invites applications for a *Scientific Software Engineer (m/f/x)* As part of an external funded project in collaboration with Dan Marcus, Wash. U; Sean Hill, CAMH; and members of the Cogitate Consortium, we are searching for a Scientific Data Engineer to contribute to the development of generic, cross-domain metadata management framework to foster the reuse of open datasets as well as reproducibility of cognitive neuroscience datasets i.e., metadata describing the experimental context of studies employing fMRI, MEEG, and ECoG. The successful candidate will also heavily contribute to the development of data infrastructure including storage, streaming and analysis tools for reproducible science based on the BIDS standard. Efforts will be devoted to develop tools for an efficient organization and exploration of raw and processed datasets. The position is ideal for networking in the open science community as it includes interaction with the open (neuro)science community; and is a unique opportunity for someone keen to contribute to the development of open-science and large-scale collaborations and aiming to contribute to community efforts and dissemination. *Your tasks in interdisciplinary research projects focus on:* · Review of existing approaches and tools, Requirement specification, Conceptual design, blueprint of implementation, Proof-of-concept application to Cognitive Neuroscience · Presentation and publication of the results · Exchange and networking within national (NFDI, MPDL) and international (RDA, EOSC) initiatives · Developing, testing and implementing scientific software i.e., standardized neuroscience data acquisition, reproducible analysis pipelines and data storage for open science building on the BIDS standard · Providing training and support for students and postdocs at varied levels of competence in modern, high quality, open science/source coding practices · Providing support and training for data management · Being the lab’s interface with the Institute’s core IT team *Your Profile:* · Completed university degree in natural sciences, engineering or a similar field (e.g., Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Physics, Informatics, Neuroscience) · Solid programming skills preferably in Python and/or C++ · Experience with Python libraries (e.g., NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, and pandas) is beneficial · Experience with software development (e.g., version control with Git) and data organization (e.g., data bases with SQL and MySQL) is preferable · Knowledge of relevant metadata standards and semantic techniques are beneficial (including W3C, schema.org, RDF, JSON-LD, etc) · Interest in interdisciplinary projects and cognitive and systems neuroscience · Familiarity or experience with scientific research methods · High degree of self-organization and independent work · Team spirit, reliability, and sense of responsibility · Complete spoken and written fluency in English; knowledge of German is a plus · Preference will be given to candidates with prior experience in any of these domains: BIDS standards, Open science tools, neuroimaging techniques and data analysis (especially fMRI and MEG/EEG) and/or XNAT We offer an exciting interdisciplinary field of engagement in an international scientific environment. The Institute is located in an attractive location with excellent infrastructure in Frankfurt’s Westend neighbourhood. You can expect a modern equipped workplace with flexible working hours (some remote working is possible) and the Opportunity to participate in (international) conferences and project meetings. Further development of your personal strengths, e.g. through direct interactions with the group of Dan Marcus and Sean Hill, as well as researchers forming part of the Cogitate Consortium (e.g., Christof Koch, Gabriel Kreiman, Ole Jensen, Sylvain Baillet among many others) is possible. The position *will begin earliest on December 1, 2021* and is initially limited to two years, with the possibility of an extension pending funding approval. Salary is paid in accordance with the collective agreement for the public sector (TVöD Bund), according to your qualifications and experience. The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity. We are also committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in our workforce. Therefore, applicants of all backgrounds are welcome. Your application should include: your detailed CV (including details of your educational background and skills); a cover letter that explains why this position interests you and how your skills and abilities are suitable; copies of relevant degrees and/or certificates. Please send these materials all together in a single PDF file, *before November 1, 2021*, by e-mail to job(a)ae.mpg.de using the code *“TWCF Engineer”* in the subject. Please feel free to contact job(a)ae.mpg.de or Tanya Brown < tanya.brown(a)ae.mpg.de <tanya.brown(a)ae.mpg.de?subject=TWCF%20Engineer>> if you have any questions about the position.

Sept. 30, 2021

PhD position in Numerical and Computational Analysis for Mathematical Neuroscience

by Avitabile, D.

Below you can find the details of a PhD position at Radboud University (The Netherlands) on Numerical and Computational Analysis for Mathematical Neuroscience, under the supervision of Prof. Gabriel Lord. The deadline for applications is the 29th of October 2021. https://www.ru.nl/english/working-at/vacature/details-vacature/?recid=11705… Daniele Avitabile Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam www.danieleavitabile.com

Sept. 27, 2021

Online Workshop: 30/09 - 01/10/2021 "Towards multipurpose neural network models II: Model testing and model fitting"

by Zélie Tournoud

Dear colleagues, The European Institute for Theroretical Neurosience (EITN) is happy to invite you all to its next online workshop taking place online this week from Wednesday to Friday. It is open to everyone upon registration. You will find all the information at the end of this email. Kind regards, Zélie, for the EITN team *_____* **** * * *Workshop on "Towards multipurpose neural network models II: Model testing and model fitting"* /Organized by Anton Arkhipov (Allen Institute, Seattle), Gaute Einevoll (NMBU/University of Oslo)/ *_Dates:_*Wednesday 29 September – Friday October 1st *_Time:_*5PM – 9.15PM (CET) <https://www.eitn.org/images/events/TMNNM-II-MTaMF_Flyer.pdf> Online workshop. Free to attend, but registration is mandatory. *REGISTER HERE.* <https://cnrs.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_saMXfg31Roe4tqHbWtTdFg> *https://cnrs.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_saMXfg31Roe4tqHbWtTdFg* *_Abstract:_* Starting with the work of Hodgkin, Huxley, Cole, Rall, Katz, Eccles and others in the 1950s and 1960s, we have a reasonably good understanding of the biophysical principles by which single neurons operate. For neural circuits the understanding is much more limited. Most network studies have considered stylized models with a few populations of identical neurons and focused on explaining a particular experimental phenomenon. However, real neural networks consist of a variety of neuron types and have structured synaptic connections. Furthermore, real networks typically perform multiple functions and can be characterized by a variety of readouts from various measurement modalities, including spiking activity, local field potentials, and others. How can we move towards multipurpose models that incorporate the true biological complexity of neural circuits and faithfully reproduce multiple observables in many different situations? The first workshop on the topic was arranged in August 2020 (see https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/events-training/allen-i… <https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falleninst…> for program and videos of talks). In this second (also virtual) workshop in the series we will focus on two key aspects of the overall endeavor: model testing and model fitting. Multipurpose network models mimicking real neural circuits will contain numerous model parameters that must be optimized. Efficient methods for fitting of model parameters to experimental data are thus needed. Further, the candidate models must be systematically tested against a variety of experimental data, requiring development of commonly accepted benchmarks and test suites. In the workshop these methodological challenges will be addressed from a variety of angles. *_Confirmed speakers:_*__ Anton Arkhipov (Allen Institute) Marcus Covert (Stanford) Sharon Crook (Arizona State U.) James DiCarlo (MIT) Gaute Einevoll (NMBU/U. Oslo) Julijana Gjorgjeva (Max Planck Institute and TUM) Peder Jedlicka (U. Giessen) Szabolcs Kali (Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary) Arvind Kumar (KTH Stockholm) Jacob Macke (U. Tübingen) Stefan Mihalas (Allen Institute) Aaron Milstein (Rutgers U.) Kanaka Rajan (Mount Sinai) Atle Rimehaug (U. Oslo) Frances Skinner (Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, and U. Toronto) Carsen Stringer (Janelia) Kristin Tøndel (NMBU) * * *Wednesday, September 29, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:15 am 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm Gaute Einevoll NMBU/U. Oslo Introduction 8:15 am – 8:55 am 5:15 pm – 5:55 pm Jacob Macke U. Tübingen *Keynote* Simulation-based inference: Bridging the gap between mechanistic models and machine learning. 8:55 am – 9:25 am 5:55 pm – 6:25 pm Aaron Milstein Rutgers U. Nested parallel simulation and multi-objective optimization of neuronal cell and circuit models 9:25 am – 9:40 am 6:25 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Atle Rimehaug U. Oslo Enhancing model constraints by utilizing current source densities 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Kristin Tøndel NMBU Facilitating optimization using metamodelling 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Frances Skinner Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, and University of Toronto Clarity in model development and goals leads to model linkages and biological insights 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._ *Thursday, September 30, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:15 am 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm Anton Arkhipov Allen Institute Introduction 8:15 am – 8:55 am 5:15 pm – 5:55 pm James DiCarlo MIT *Keynote* Reverse Engineering Visual Intelligence 8:55 am – 9:25 am 5:55 pm – 6:25 pm Sharon Crook Arizona State U. Testing the Data-driven Model 9:25 am – 9:40 am 6:25 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Szabolcs Kali Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary Systematic construction and evaluation of models of rodent hippocampal neurons 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Peter Jedlicka U. Giessen Building consistent and robust models of hippocampal granule cells and CA1 pyramidal cells 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Stefan Mihalas Allen Institute Computing with a mess: How nonstationary, heterogeneous and noisy components help the brain’s computational power 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._ *Friday, October 1, 2021* *Time (PDT)* *Time (CEST)* *Speaker* *Affiliation* *Title* 8:00 am – 8:40 am 5:00 pm – 5:40 pm Markus Covert Stanford *Special lecture* Simultaneous cross-evaluation of heterogeneous E. coli datasets via mechanistic simulation 8:40 am – 9:20 am 5:40 pm – 6:20 pm Kanaka Rajan Mount Sinai *Keynote* Data-constrained neural network models of adaptive learning in the brain 9:20 am – 9:40 am 6:20 pm – 6:40 pm Break 9:40 am – 10:10 am 6:40 pm – 7:10 pm Julijana Gjorgjeva Max Planck Institute and TUM Biologically plausible learning in developing networks 10:10 am – 10:40 am 7:10 pm – 7:40 pm Carsen Stringer Janelia Rastermap: Extracting structure from high-dimensional neural data 10:40 am – 10:50 am 7:40 pm – 7:50 pm Break 10:50 am – 11:20 am 7:50 pm – 8:20 pm Arvind Kumar KTH Stockholm Structure and activity dynamics relationship in biological neuronal networks: Measurements and models 11:20 am – 12:10 pm 8:20 pm – 9:10 pm _Panel debate – All participants of the day._

Sept. 27, 2021

Brain Mechanisms: Linking Cognitive Phenomena to Neuron Activity

by Andrew Coward

Dear colleagues, I would like to bring to your attention a book that has just been published. The book, Brain Mechanisms: Linking Cognitive Phenomena to Neuron Activity, describes how to understand higher cognition in terms of anatomical, physiological and chemical processes in the brain using techniques based on how we understand the operation of complex electronic systems. A brain has absolutely no resemblance to an electronic system. Nevertheless, how we go about understanding complex electronic systems has some important lessons for how to go about understanding the brain. Brains have huge numbers of neurons, and understanding obviously cannot be based on simultaneously imagining the ongoing activity of all these neurons. Some way must be found to organize all this information in a way humans can handle. A complex computing system can have hundreds of billions of components like transistors. Engineers could not design such systems by simultaneously imagining the activity of all the components that could be involved. Rather, the design information is organized in such a way that all design tasks are within the mental bandwidth of a human designer. The techniques to achieve this involve hierarchies of description, carefully managed use of approximation, and the ubiquitous use of just two types of information process: instructions and data read/writes. Natural selection pressures have resulted in brain architectures to which analogous techniques for organizing information can be applied. The pressures have resulted in the ubiquitous presence of two types of information processes in the brain, condition definition/detections and behavioural recommendation definition/integrations. These information processes are completely different from those in computing systems, but they allow creation of analogous hierarchies of description. Such hierarchies of description make it possible to achieve an intuitively satisfying understanding of human memory, consciousness and self-awareness in terms of the activity of the billions of neurons. A blog touches on some of these ideas. The book is available at Amazon.comDownload a sample chapterVideo of recent lecture at Florida State University Andrew CowardAustralian National UniversityCanberrahttps://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/coward-a

Sept. 23, 2021

PhD's and Postdoc positions at UVa

by Mario Negrello

Posting on behalf of Jorge Mejias: Dear all, I hope things are going well for all of you. I’m writing you because I’m looking for candidates with a strong quantitative background for a PhD position and a postdoc position at my lab, both for working on computational models of large-scale brain networks. If you know of anybody in your surroundings who might be interested, would you mind sharing this information with them? I think it’s especially important for the postdoctoral position, as the deadline is approaching (Sept 30) and we still don’t have a lot of candidates. The PhD position is focused on studying multisensory integration under noisy or uncertain conditions. The researcher will design and study computational models of large-scale brain networks of the mouse for this purpose, constraining the models with anatomical data and comparing the predictions with electrophysiological recordings from local colleagues at the Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience group at the UvA. The models will later inform other colleagues, also involved in the project, to build neuro-inspired algorithms for sensor fusion in self-driving vehicles and drones. More information and application procedure (with deadline October 15) can be found here: https://www.uva.nl/en/content/vacancies/2021/09/21-734-phd-position-in-comp… <https://www.uva.nl/en/content/vacancies/2021/09/21-734-phd-position-in-comp…> The postdoc position aims to uncover the mechanisms behind compulsive behavior. The researcher will build computational models of large-scale brain networks of mouse and human, using anatomical and electrophysiological data to constrain and test the models. This is a collaboration with Ingo Willuhn at the NIN, who will provide mouse electrophysiological and human clinical data to test the models for healthy and OCD subjects. The final goal is to use the model to investigate translational biomarkers for compulsive disorders. More information and application procedure (deadline September 30) can be found in this link: https://www.uva.nl/shared-content/uva/en/vacancies/2021/09/21699-postdoctor… <https://www.uva.nl/shared-content/uva/en/vacancies/2021/09/21699-postdoctor…> Thanks a lot for the help with spreading this around! Best, Jorge

Sept. 22, 2021

Call for Teaching Assistants for the Cape Town Imbizo, August 11th to September 4th 2022. Apply by October 11

by Tim Vogels

Dear Colleagues, We are looking for teaching assistants for the IBRO-Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo (#isiCNI), a computational neuroscience summer school held in Cape Town, South Africa. We are looking for post-doctoral or advanced PhD researchers to join our team as Teaching Assistants (TAs) for the #isiCNI2022 in August 2022. Please send your application to to isicn.imbizo(a)gmail.com <mailto:isicn.imbizo@gmail.com>. Include 1) CV and a 2) cover letter with a short motivational statement for why you would be a good fit, and what your favourite topics would be for teaching tutorials and supervising student projects. Additionally, 3) please provide the email address of one reference. We will start assessing applications on 11 October 2021. About the Imbizo: The school hosts 31 students for an amazing 25 days of lectures, tutorials, projects and parties. All this takes place on Noordhoek beach, between the mountain and the ocean. It's a spectacular location. The dates for the isiCNI2022 are August 11th to September 4th 2022. The Imbizo is a special experience, with students being totally immersed in academic, social, touristic and cultural activities, and has resulted in student and TA groups from previous schools becoming very close, personally and scientifically. This is fantastic, as a major goal of the isiCNI project is to help young African researchers grow their academic peer and friend group. About being a TA: Each TA runs one afternoon tutorial in the first week of the school, which they design themselves. Each TA will teach a different topic, which the TA's choose among themselves, to provide students with a broad exposure to problems and methods in computational neuroscience. Each TA is also assigned 5 students to supervise for project work during the last 2 weeks of the school. TAs will be asked to help processing student applications. TAs are integral in helping run the school. In addition to academic support, they foster good social interactions and academic discussions among students, and they help 'shy' students meet faculty. They also act as 'social glue’, helping to notice and support students who may be feeling ill, not fitting in socially, or generally having difficulties. To fulfil these roles, TAs need to be at all school meals and activities. What we provide: We cover a direct as possible, economy class ticket to Cape Town, as well as all board and lodging during the school. In addition, TAs will receive a cash budget for 'hosting purposes' during the school (e.g. for buying some beverages/ice-creams for students, train tickets, etc.). We also provide you with life-long memories of one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm interested, how do I apply: If you think you would like to join us for this amazing experience, please send us a brief CV (2 or 3 pages is fine) to isicn.imbizo(a)gmail.com <mailto:isicn.imbizo@gmail.com>. Please include (as a cover letter or in your email) a short motivational statement for why you would be a good fit, and what your favourite topics would be for teaching tutorials and supervising student projects. We will start assessing applications on 11 October 2021. A call for student application will follow soon. We hope to hear from you soon! Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks and regards Demba Ba, Peter E. Latham, Joseph Raimondo, Emma Vaughan, and Tim Vogels IBRO-Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo Committee 2022 #isicni2022 Twitter: @isicni

Sept. 22, 2021

"Brains Through Time" reading club

by Paul Cisek

Dear all, I would like to bring to your attention the Brains Through Time Reading Club I am co-organizing with people from the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante. As the name implies, the idea is to review the book Brains Through Time<https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/978019512568…>, by Georg Striedter<https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3006> and Glenn Northcutt<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Northcutt>. It is a masterful synthesis of much what is known about brain evolution, and I believe it offers great insights to anyone interested in a broad understanding of how the brain produces behavior. We will dedicate a ~90 minute session to each of the 7 chapters. The first session will be on the 6th of October (6pm CEST / 12 EST) and will include the participation of Georg Striedter<https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3006> (one of the authors), Luis Puelles<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nIoLKVAAAAAJ&hl=en> and Paul Cisek<https://cisek.org/pavel/>. If you are interested, please visit our web site<https://sites.google.com/view/bbtreadingclub/home> for more information and to register! Paul Cisek, PhD Département de neurosciences Université de Montréal Physical: 2960 chemin de la tour, local 4117 Montréal, QC H3T 1J4 CANADA Mailing: CP 6128 Succursale centre-ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7 CANADA e-mail: paul.cisek(a)gmail.com<mailto:paul.cisek@gmail.com> Web: www.cisek.org/pavel<http://www.cisek.org/pavel>

Sept. 20, 2021

[CFP] MDPI Molecules (IF: 4.411, ISSN: 1420-3049) - Special Issue "Practical Aspects of Molecular Communications"

by Murat Kuşcu

MDPI Molecules (IF: 4.411, ISSN: 1420-3049) Special Issue on Practical Aspects of Molecular Communications https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/molecular_communicati… --------------------------- CALL FOR PAPERS The Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) is an emerging technology that aims to extend our connectivity to nanoscale and biological environments with collaborative nanonetworks of artificial nanomachines and biological entities integrated into the Internet infrastructure. To enable the IoBNT and its groundbreaking applications, such as continuous intrabody health monitoring, it is imperative to devise low-complexity nanoscale communication techniques suitable for the envisioned nanomachines of simple architectures. The most promising communication technology for realizing the IoBNT is Molecular Communications (MC), as it ubiquitously manifests itself in many complex biological systems in the Universe, and thus, stands as one of the most common communication modalities, optimized from many aspects as a result of billions of years of evolutionary advancement. Making use of this naturally existing technology requires understanding its foundations through our existing modeling and analysis tools. This quest, which started almost 15 years ago, has received increasing attention from ICT researchers, which have been overly inspired by conventional electromagnetic communication technologies in their approach to this radically different paradigm. These theoretical approaches, however, have not always come with sufficient physical relevance. Currently, this emerging field has come to a critical turning point, as many researchers have started to report on initial MC experiments following different approaches and using different materials, while consistently pointing out a discrepancy between the obtained experimental results and the past theoretical work. This reveals the need to rethink the previous efforts and come up with new interdisciplinary strategies, thus building practical MC techniques and developing feasible MC system components, experimental testbeds, and prototypes in order to close the gap between theory and practice, and expedite the transfer of this emerging technology to the market. Among the challenges stated above, this Special Issue is particularly focused on the practical aspects of MC. Therefore, we are calling for technical papers that report on new research with the potential to move this field forward towards its practical applications, as well as surveys/tutorials focusing on the practical challenges of MC research. Hence, its scope encompasses a wide range of interdisciplinary research topics, with some examples listed as follows: ** The physical design, modeling, and implementation of MC system components (e.g., transmitter, receiver, channel); ** The design and implementation of MC testbeds; ** Practical and low-complexity MC methods (e.g., modulation, detection, channel estimation, synchronization, coding methods); ** The testing and validation of MC transceiver/channel models and MC methods; ** Applications of microfluidics, biosensors, and nanomaterials for MC system design; ** Bio-cyber interfaces between MC networks and conventional macroscale networks; ** Synthetic biology-based MC transceiver architectures; ** Optimization of ligand-receptor interactions for MC; ** Biocompatibility and co-existence challenges; ** Energy harvesting and power transfer techniques for MC networks; ** The design and demonstration of MC applications (e.g., those in healthcare, agriculture, biocomputing). --------------------------- Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2021 --------------------------- Guest Editors Murat Kuscu, Koc University, Turkey (mkuscu(a)ku.edu.tr) Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, TSSG/Walton Institute, Waterford Institute of Technology (sasi.bala(a)waltoninstitute.ie) Kerstin Lenk, Graz University of Technology, Austria (kerstin.lenk(a)tugraz.at ) Ergin Dinc, University of Cambridge, UK (ed502(a)cam.ac.uk) Michael Barros, University of Essex, UK (m.barros(a)essex.ac.uk) Bige D. Unluturk, Michigan State University, USA (unluturk(a)msu.edu) --------------------------- Paper submission Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website. Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI. Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions. --------------------------- Additional information: Please visit the MDPI Molecules Special Issue webpage at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/molecular_communicati… Inquiries can be addressed to Ms. Emity Wang at: emity.wang(a)mdpi.com, molecules(a)mdpi.com

Sept. 20, 2021

New "Developing Minds" global online lecture series; September 30: Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

by Jochen Triesch

What: New bi-monthly "Developing Minds" global online lecture series; inaugural lecture by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, INRIA, Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, France on "Developmental AI: machines that learn like children and help children learn better" When: Thursday, September 30, 13:00 UTC Where: online via zoom; please register at: https://sites.google.com/view/developing-minds-series Background: In 1950, Alan Turing asked "Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child's?" Today, over 70 years later, constructing a computer program that can learn like a child and that develops a human-like general intelligence is still considered a grand, if not the ultimate, challenge for artificial intelligence (AI). An interdisciplinary community of scientists from AI, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Engineering, and Neuroscience are tackling this grand challenge. In the Developing Minds global lecture series we showcase the progress being made. It is organized by the IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive and Developmental Systems of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. The inaugural lecture by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer is entitled: "Developmental AI: machines that learn like children and help children learn better" Abstract: Current approaches to AI and machine learning are still fundamentally limited in comparison with the amazing learning capabilities of children. What is remarkable is not that some children become world champions in certains games or specialties: it is rather their autonomy, open-endedness, flexibility and efficiency at learning many everyday skills under strongly limited resources of time, computation and energy. And they do not need the intervention of an engineer for each new task (e.g. they do not need someone to provide a new task specific reward function or representation). I will present a research program, which I call Developmental AI, that studies models of open-ended development and learning. These models are used as tools to help us understand better how children learn, as well as to build machines that learn like children with applications in educational technologies, automated discovery, robotics and human-computer interaction. I will ground this research program into several fundamental ideas proposed by developmental psychologists: 1) the child is autotelic, setting its own goals and spontaneously exploring the world like a curious little scientist (e.g. Piaget, Berlyne); 2) intelligence develops in a social context, where language and culture are internalized to become cognitive tools (e.g. Vygostky and Bruner); 3) intelligence is embodied and develops through self-organization of the dynamical system formed by the brain-body-environment interactions (e.g. Thelen and Smith). I will show how, together with many colleagues and students, we have worked on operationalizing these ideas in computer and robotic models, and explain how this has enabled to advance child development understanding, open new possibilities for AI systems (including for recent language-guided intrinsically motivated Deep RL systems and for training more classical Deep RL systems to foster generalization), and led to applications now used by thousands of children in the world to help them learn (educational technologies). Speaker Bio: Dr. Pierre-Yves Oudeyer has been Research Director at Inria, France, and head of the Flowers lab (Inria, Univ. Bordeaux, Ensta ParisTech). Before, he has been a permanent researcher in Sony Computer Science Laboratory for 8 years (1999-2007). He studies models of open-ended development and learning, at the frontiers of AI and cognitive sciences. These models are used as tools to help us understand better how children learn, as well as to build machines that learn like children within the field of developmental artificial intelligence. He has been developing models of intrinsically motivated learning, pioneering curiosity-driven learning algorithms working in real world robots, and developed theoretical frameworks to understand better human curiosity and autonomous learning. He also studied mechanisms enabling machines and humans to discover, invent, learn and evolve language. He is also working on applications in educational technologies, automated discovery, video games, robotics and human-computer interaction. He received several prizes for his work in developmental AI and on the origins of language. In particular, he is laureate of the Inria-National Academy of Science young researcher prize in computer sciences, and of an ERC Starting Grant EXPLORERS. Finally, he is also working actively for the diffusion of science towards the general public, through the writing of popular science articles and participation to radio and TV programs as well as science exhibitions. Web: http://www.pyoudeyer.com and http://flowers.inria.fr Upcoming speakers: Linda B. Smith, Indiana University Joshua B. Tenenbaum, MIT Please visit https://sites.google.com/view/developing-minds-series/home for up-to-date information. -- Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch Johanna Quandt Research Professor Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/ Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611

Sept. 19, 2021

CFP - Annual Conference of Cognitive Science (ACCS8) - Jan 20--22, 2022, India

by Shyam Diwakar

Dear All, As the local organizer, it is our pleasure to invite you to participate at ACCS8. Here's more details. ACCS8: Call for contributions 8th Annual Conference of Cognitive Science (ACCS8) Amrita University, India – 20 – 22 January 2022 https://www.amrita.edu/accs8 The 8th edition of ACCS, to be hosted by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Kollam, India will be held virtually. List of our invited speakers, TPC and other info will soon be made available at https://www.amrita.edu/event/accs8 CONFERENCE TOPICS Like in our previous years, the ACCS8 conference is open to all topics with Cognitive Science as a discipline, and in various areas of study, including Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Skilling, Medicine, Anthropology, Psychology, Philosophy, and Education. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We welcome submissions from all areas of cognitive science and from anyone worldwide. For the 2022 online event, we are accepting only abstracts containing the salient details of your study. Please copy and paste the title and abstract into the submission form. Contribution size limit for the abstract is 1000 words. We are not accepting any paper-length submissions this year, so do include all relevant details in the abstract itself. A small number of abstracts will be selected for oral presentations/talks. Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=accs8 For CFP: https://easychair.org/cfp/accs8 IMPORTANT DATES Abstract registration deadline November 25, 2021 Submission deadline November 25, 2021 BEST PAPER AWARDS We are planning some best poster and oral presentations. Please stay tuned. CONTACT All questions about submissions should be emailed to accs8conference(a)gmail.com<mailto:accs8conference@gmail.com> Previous ACCS events - https://www.amrita.edu/event/accs8/about With best regards, Shyam Diwakar -- Prof. Shyam Diwakar, Ph.D. Director - Amrita Mind Brain Center Faculty Fellow - Amrita Center for International Programs Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University) Amritapuri, Clappana P.O. Kollam, India. Pin: 690525 Ph:+91-476-2803116 Fax:+91-476-2899722 http://amrita.edu/mindbrain [https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1_nOxaCXob6wVcuQyYI5KVk1PhMgi…] [https://intranet.cb.amrita.edu/sig/RankingLogo.png] Disclaimer : The information transmitted in this email, including attachments, is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. Any views expressed in any message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and destroy any copies of this information.

Sept. 18, 2021