- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

SAND 7 Workshop Announcement

by Barbara Dorney

The seventh international workshop on Statistical Analysis of Neural Data (SAND7) will take place May 27-29, 2015, in Pittsburgh, PA. Partial travel support is available. Requests for financial support should be made by MARCH 15. There will be talks by senior investigators and junior investigators. The talks by young investigators (graduate student or postdoc/faculty within 5 years of Ph.D.) will be selected on a competitive basis. Any young investigator interested in presenting their work as a talk should submit an abstract by MARCH 1. Please see our website: http://sand.stat.cmu.edu There will also be a poster session, to which all participants are invited to contribute. Talks and posters may involve new methodology, investigation of existing methods, or application of state-of-the-art analytical techniques. Here are the confirmed keynote speakers: Gyorgy Buzsaki (NYU) Marlene Cohen (University of Pittsburgh) Adrienne Fairhall (University of Washington) Bruce Rosen (Harvard, MGH) Mark Schnitzer (Stanford) Sebastian Seung (Princeton) This workshop series is concerned with analysis of neural signals from various sources, including EEG, fMRI, MEG, 2-Photon, and extracellular recordings. It aims to define important problems in neuronal data analysis and useful strategies for attacking them; foster communication between experimental neuroscientists and those trained in statisti- cal and computational methods encourage young researchers, including graduate students, to present their work; and expose young researchers to important challenges and oppor- tunities in this interdisciplinary domain, while providing a small meeting atmosphere to facilitate the interaction of young researchers with senior colleagues. The organizers are Emery Brown, Elizabeth Buffalo, Rob Kass, Liam Paninski, Sri Sarma and Jonathan Victor. -- Barbara Dorney Assistant to the Co-Director CNBC - Carnegie Mellon University 115 Mellon Institute 4400 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 268.6557 (412) 268.5060 (fax)

Feb. 9, 2015

Navigation workshop, April 11th, Edinburgh

by Barbara Webb

We are pleased to announce a workshop "Spatial computation: from neural circuits to robot navigation". The workshop will take place in the Informatics Forum in Edinburgh on April 11th from 9 am to 6 pm. This is the day immediately before start of the British Neuroscience meeting in Edinburgh. The workshop will address approaches to computations underlying navigation from the perspectives of neuroscience and robotics. A list of confirmed speakers and a link for registration are here: http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/spatialcomputationworkshop/ -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

Feb. 9, 2015

2nd CFP - Special Session on Transfer Learning - International Work Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, 10-12 June, 2015

by Jorge M. Santos

(Deadline Extension) Please consider to contribute to the Special Session on Transfer Learning International Work Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, 10-12 June, 2015 - http://iwann.ugr.es/2015 Transfer Learning (TL) aims to transfer knowledge acquired in one problem, the source problem, onto another problem, the target problem, dispensing with the bottom-up construction of the target model. The TL approach has gained significant interest in the Machine Learning (ML) community since it paves the way to devise intelligent learning models that can easily be tailored to many different domains of applicability. The following aspects have recently contributed to the emergence of TL: Generalization Theory: TL often produces algorithms with good generalization capability for different problems; Efficient TL algorithms: TL provides learning models that can be applied with far less computational effort than standard ML methods; Unlabeled data: TL can be advantageous since unlabeled data can have severe implications in some fields of research, such as in the biomedical field. Some examples of topics for this special session: Big Data with Deep Neural Networks; Generalization Bounds; Domain Adaptation or Covariate Shift; Algorithms for TL; New advancements in TL; Real-world applications. Deadline: 23 February 2015 Organizers Luís M. Silva, Dep. of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, Portugal - lmas(a)ua.pt Jorge M. Santos, Dep. of Mathematics, School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal - jms(a)isep.ipp.pt

Feb. 9, 2015

PhD student position in the lab of Susanne Schreiber (Computational Neurophysiology), Berlin

by Margret Franke

PhD student position in the lab of Susanne Schreiber (Computational Neurophysiology) in Berlin www.neuron-science.de We are currently looking for a motivated PhD student to join us in the exploration of computational properties of neurons. Our group is embedded in the Department of Biology at Humboldt-University Berlin and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, located on the beautiful Campus Nord in the center of the city. We are particularly interested in how cell-intrinsic physiological processes affect neuronal computation in single neurons and networks. To this end we use theoretical approaches in combination with the analysis of experimental data (obtained by experimental collaborators in vertebrate and invertebrate systems). Many of our projects take the evolutionary perspective into account, with the aim to improve our understanding of how constraints, such as limited energetic resources or fluctuating environmental variables (like temperature), shaped the design of neuronal systems. The PhD project will involve biophysical modeling of neurons, intending to derive principles that generalize across multiple brain areas or nervous systems. The PhD student will be given the opportunity to cooperate with experimental groups in the Berlin area. Moreover, suitable candidates may participate in the structured PhD program "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" (GRK 1589, https://www.bccn-berlin.de/Graduate+Programs/2_Doctoral+Program/) providing lively interactions with other research groups and students in the fields of computational neuroscience, systems neurobiology, and machine learning. A strong background in physics, biophysics, computational neuroscience, or computational biology is recommended. Moreover, candidates should have solid experience in programming (python or matlab to solve ODEs/SDEs), analytical skills, and a keen interest in neurophysiological questions. If interested, please send an email to Susanne Schreiber (email: s.schreiber :AT: hu-berlin.de) including a letter of motivation, a CV, and a copy of the current academic transcripts. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. In order to apply for a scholarship in the structured PhD program, please contact us as soon as possible. The official deadline for this program is March 15th, 2015. -- Margret Franke Managing Director Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin phone: (030) 2093-9110 fax: (030) 2093-6771

Feb. 9, 2015

Kosice Neuroscience Workshop 20-24 April 2015

by Norbert Kopco

SAVE THE DATE! The Second Workshop and Lecture Series on */"Cognitive neuroscience of auditory and cross-modal perception"/* 20 - 24 April 2015 Kosice, Slovakia http://pcl.upjs.sk/ Objectives: This workshop and lecture series will include introductory lectures and advanced research talks on a range of topics related to the */neural processes of auditory, visual and cross-modal perception/*. The talks will illustrate the */multidisciplinary character of cognitive neuroscience research/*, covering behavioral, neuroimaging, and modeling approaches, as well as applications of the research in auditory prosthetic devices. The workshop is aimed at */early-stage and advanced students and young researchers/*, and it will provide ample opportunities for direct interactions between the lecturers and the attendees. *Format* Lectures 20 - 22 April, Consultations 23 – 24 April *Venue* Historicka aula, P. J. Safarik University, Srobarova 2, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia *Organizers* Norbert Kopco, PhD. (norbert.kopco(a)upjs.sk <mailto:norbert.kopco@upjs.sk>) Frederick Gallun, PhD. (Frederick.Gallun(a)va.gov <mailto:Frederick.Gallun@va.gov>) *Organizing team and contact* Beata Tomoriova, Lubos Hladek, Perception and Cognition Lab <http://pcl.upjs.sk>,**kogneuro(a)gmail.com <mailto:kogneuro@gmail.com> *Speakers (lecture topics TBA, see last year’s topics at *http://pcl.upjs.sk/workshop2014/*)* Simon Carlile (University of Sydney) Pierre Divenyi (Stanford University) Christopher Stecker (Vanderbilt University) Bernhard Laback (Austrian Academy of Sciences) Volker Hohmann (University of Oldenburg) Arash Yazdanbakhsh (Boston University) Aaron Seitz (University of California, Riverside) Frederick (Erick) Gallun (US Dept. of Veterans Affairs and Oregon Health & Science University) Istvan Winkler (Hungarian Academy of Science) Travel, accommodation, visitor information Attendees are kindly requested to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. /Travel: /The Kosice Airport <http://www.airportkosice.sk/en/> (http://www.airportkosice.sk/en/) is served by Austrian Airlines <http://www.austrian.com/> (http://www.austrian.com/) and Czech Airlines <http://www.csa.cz> (http://www.csa.cz/) via Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, and by low-cost airline Wizzair <http://wizzair.com/en-GB/Search> (http://wizzair.com/en-GB/Search) from London Luton Airport. Alternatively you can fly to Budapest and take a 3.5-hr shuttle bus to Kosice, for example, using the cassoviaexpres <http://cassoviaexpres.sk/en/> (http://cassoviaexpres.sk/en/) shuttle bus. From Krakow you can take the 4-hr shuttle bus operated by Airtrans.sk <http://airtrans.sk/en/>. More information about how to get to Kosice (also by train or bus) can be found at http://www.visitkosice.eu/en/to-get-there/arriving-to-the-city . /Accommodation:/ There are several hotels close to workshop venue, for example Hotel Teledom <http://www.hotelteledom.sk>, Villa Regia <http://villaregia.sk/en/>, Doubletree by Hilton <http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/slovak-republic/doubletree-by-hilto…>, Hotel Yasmin <http://www.hotel-yasmin.sk/>, Hotel Maraton <http://www.hotelmaraton.sk/> (for more hotel options please see http://www.booking.com, http://www.hotels.com, for hostels see: http://www.hostels.com, http://www.hostelworld.com) /Visitor information and current events:/ see http://www.visitkosice.eu/ , http://www.slovaktours.eu/, http://www.mickosice.sk/ <http://www.mickosice.sk/index.php?lang=eng>, http://slovakia.travel/ , or http://www.slovakia.com/ * Registration* The workshop is open to all interested students/scientists. Registration is free of charge but required (mostly for organizational reasons). In order to register, please send an email to kogneuro(a)gmail.com stating your name and affiliation, dates on which you are planning to attend. In case you would like to have a presentation please send us an abstract (up to 200 words) and an indication whether you prefer poster or oral presentation no later than April 10, 2015. -- doc. Norbert Kopco, Ph.D. Assoc Professor / Senior Researcher: Inst of Computer Sci, Faculty of Science, Safarik Univ, Kosice, Slovakia Adjunct: Ctr for Computational Neurosci (CompNet), Boston University & Martinos Ctr for Biomed Imaging, Harvard Med School - Mass Gen Hospital P: +16175759556 F: +14847279884, kopco(a)bu.edu, http://cns.bu.edu/~kopco

Feb. 9, 2015

Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience 2015

by Máté Lengyel

ADVANCED COURSE IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE 9-29 August 2015, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal + pre-school 5-7 August 2015 http://www.accn.pt Applications deadline: 15 March 2015 DIRECTORS * Gilles Laurent (Max Plank Institute for Brain Research, Germany) * Máté Lengyel (University of Cambridge, UK) * Christian Machens (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) This three-weeks school teaches the central ideas, methods, and practice of modern computational neuroscience through a combination of lectures and hands-on project work. Each morning will be devoted to lectures given by distinguished international faculty on topics across the breadth of experimental and computational neuroscience. During the rest of the day, students will work on research projects in teams of 2-3 people under the close supervision of expert tutors and faculty. Research projects will be proposed by faculty before the course, and will include the modeling of neurons, neural systems, behavior, the analysis of state-of-the-art neural data (behavioral data, multi-electrode recordings, calcium imaging data, connectomics data, etc.), and the development of theories to explain experimental observations. The course is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, physics, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics and psychology. Students are expected to have a keen interest and basic background in neurobiology, a solid foundation in mathematics, as well as some computer experience. An optional three-day pre-school in mathematics and programming is available to students who want to catch up on or fine-tune their math and programming skills. Essential details: * Course size: 24 students maximum * Fee (which covers tuition, lodging, and meals): 2250 EUR (+ 245 EUR for optional pre-school) * Scholarships and travel stipends are available. * Application deadline: 15 March 2015 * Notification of results: April 2015 Information and application http://www.accn.pt Contact address: Tânia Li Chen <tania.chen(a)neuro.fchampalimaud.org> FACULTY * Nicolas Brunel (University of Chicago, USA) * Claudia Clopath (Imperial College London, UK) * Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience, UCL, UK) * David Fitzpatrick (Max-Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, USA) * Boris Gutkin (École Normale Supérieure, France) * Michael Hausser (Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, UCL, UK) * Moritz Helmstaedter (MPI Brain Research, Germany) * Claus Hilgetag (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany) * Matthias Kaschube (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced studies, Germany) * Simon Laughlin (University of Cambridge, UK) * Gilles Laurent (MPI Brain Research, Germany) * Máté Lengyel (University of Cambridge, UK) * Jennifer Linden (Ear Institute, UCL, UK) * Christian Machens (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Tony Movshon (New York University, USA) * Michael Orger (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Alexandre Pouget (University of Geneva, Switzerland) * Maneesh Sahani (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience, UCL, UK) * Eero Simoncelli (New York University, USA) * Daniel Wolpert (University of Cambridge, UK) -- Mate Lengyel, PhD Computational and Biological Learning Lab Cambridge University Engineering Department Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK tel: +44 (0)1223 748 532, fax: +44 (0)1223 765 587 email: m.lengyel(a)eng.cam.ac.uk web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel

Feb. 9, 2015

CFP: Signal Processing Special Issue on Big Data Meets Multimedia Analytics

by 刘伟锋

Dear all, Sorry for the cross posting of this CFP message. CFP: Signal Processing Special Issue on Big Data Meets Multimedia Analytics With the rapid development of computing and sensing technologies, such as the emergence of social networking websites and wearable devices, many new research opportunities and challenges for multimedia content analysis have arisen. Many big data modeling methods, computing algorithms, and signal processing technologies have recently been successfully developed and applied to multimedia content analysis: for example, multi-view learning algorithms have been proposed for exploring the variety of multimedia content; sparse and manifold learning have been developed for high dimensional multimedia data representation; deep learning has produced promising results in large scale multimedia retrieval; and compressive sensing and new sampling schemes have been investigated for big data analytics. Motivated by the inclination to collect a set of recent advances and results in these related topics, provide a platform for researchers to exchange their innovative ideas on big modeling and computing solutions for multimedia content analytics, and introduce interesting utilizations of modeling and computing algorithms for particular social/personal media applications, this special issue will target emergent big modeling and computing methods for multimedia signal processing and understanding (with a special focus on social media and personal data). To summarize, this special issue welcomes a broad range of submissions on the development and use of artificial intelligence and computing techniques for multimedia analytics. We are especially interested in: 1) theoretical advances as well as algorithm developments in big data technology for specific social/personal media analytics problems; 2) reports of practical applications and system innovations in social/personal media analytics; and 3) novel datasets as test beds for new developments, preferably with implemented standard benchmarks. The following list suggests (but is not limited to) possible topics of interest: · Big Data Technology Specifically for Multimedia Analytics · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Annotation, Tagging and Classification · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Abstraction and Summarization · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Indexing and Retrieval · Big Data Technology and Computing for Social Media Analytics · Big Data Technology and Computing for Biological Data · Big Data Technology and Computing for Personal Data Mining · Modeling of Wearable Device Sensor Streams · Personal Data based Social Network Analysis and Web Mining · Cloud Computing for Social Intelligence and Personal Data · Deep Learning for Social Media Analytics · Deep Learning for Security in Social Media Important dates: Manuscript Submission: May 01, 2015 Initial Decision: August 01, 2015 R1 Version: October 01, 2015 Acceptance Notification: November 01, 2015 Final Manuscripts Due: November 15, 2015 Anticipated Publication: January 01, 2016 Submission: Manuscripts (Please follow Signal Processing publishing format, details can be found athttp://www.elsevier.com/ journals/signal-processing/0165-1684/guide-for-authors) should be submitted via the Electronic Editorial System of Elsevier: http://ees.elsevier.com/sigpro/. Please make sure to select the "SI: BDMA" as Article Type during the submission process.

Feb. 8, 2015

INCF Short Course on Information Processing in Neural Systems

by Frank Jäkel

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INCF Short Course on Information Processing in Neural Systems -- From Single Neurons to Large-Scale Models of Cognition -- May 2-10, 2015 @ Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabrück, Germany +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One of the big challenges in neuroinformatics is bridging the gap between our biophysical understanding of single cells and of networks of neurons on the one side, and the cognitive functions that are characterized in terms of information processing on the other side. This INCF Short Course will provide lectures and hands-on tutorials ranging from dynamical systems theory to cognitive modeling. Target Audience: PhD candidates and post-docs with backgrounds in neuroinformatics, theoretical neuroscience, complex systems, machine learning, applied mathematics/statistics or cognitive modeling. Topics: Dynamical systems: attractors, bifurcations, etc. (Herbert Jäger) Single neuron dynamics, networks, and computation (Nicolas Brunel) Mean-field theory, neurodynamics, and decision-making (Gustavo Deco) Probabilistic models of population coding and perception (tba) Reservoir computing in simple cognitive systems (Gordon Pipa) Learning of sensory representations in neural systems (Peter König) Neural architectures for biological cognition (tba) Neural networks, kernel methods, and categorization (Frank Jäkel) A tutorial on reservoir computing (Pipa & Jäger) A tutorial on large-scale simulations in Nengo (tba) A tutorial on information processing models with NEST (Marc-Oliver Gewaltig) The yearly, two-day OCCAM workshop (www.occam-os.de) is integrated into the INCF course and participants of the INCF course will also take part in the workshop. Applications will be accepted until March 7, 2015. The registration fee is 250 Euros. We can offer a limited number of travel stipends to support students. More information on the course and on application details can be found on the course webpage: http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/

Feb. 5, 2015

Osnabrueck Computational Cognition Alliance Meeting (OCCAM 2015)

by Frank Jäkel

Dear Colleague, we would like to invite you to register for the 5th +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Osnabrück Computational Cognition Alliance Meeting (OCCAM 2015) "From Simple Neurons to Large-Scale Models of Cognition" May 6-7, 2015. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ List of invited speakers: Nicolas Brunel Gustavo Deco Wolfgang Einhäuser Virginia Flanagin Sonja Grün Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Herbert Jäger Gordon Pipa Kai Vogeley The workshop will take place in Osnabrück, Germany, and will be hosted by the Institute of Cognitive Science (University of Osnabrück). Details can be found below and on the following webpage: http://www.occam-os.de The registration deadline is March 7, 2015 (first come first served). The registration fee is 100,- Euros. This year the OCCAM workshop is co-located with an INCF Short Course on the same topic (http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/) The OCCAM workshop series aims at understanding the principles of information processing in the brain with a particular focus on 3 major topics: 1. Neural coding and representation in hierarchical systems 2. Self-organization in dynamical systems 3. Mechanisms for probabilistic inference There will also be a poster session where conference participants will have the opportunity to present their work. The deadline for submitting an abstract for a poster presentation is also March 7. Best regards, Frank Jäkel, Peter König, Gordon Pipa (Organizing committee)

Feb. 5, 2015

Reminder: UAI 2015 - Call for Workshops

by Irina Rish

UAI 2015 - Call for Workshops http://www.auai.org/uai2015/workshops.shtml Proposals are solicited for workshops to be held in conjunction with the The Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in July 2015. The workshops will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2015 (tentative date). These workshops present an excellent opportunity to address a specific topic of your choice on the intersection of knowledge representation, machine learning and reasoning under uncertainty. We are looking for half-day or full-day workshop proposals. Important dates Workshop proposal deadline February 19, 2015 Proposal acceptance notification March 2, 2015 Workshop submissions due May 8, 2015 (suggested date) Workshop author notification May 22, 2015 (suggested date) Workshop day: July 16, 2015 (tentative) Workshops are a great format for active research on new topics. The ideal workshop covers a compelling subject of current or upcoming research, and includes an impressive set of speakers with diverse backgrounds to discuss the subject. Discussion via panels and identification of open problems and challenges are great components to include. Organization The format, style, and content of accepted workshops is under the control of the workshop organizers and largely autonomous from the main conferences. The workshops can be up to seven hours long, split into morning and afternoon sessions. Workshop organizers are expected to manage the workshop content, specify the workshop format, be present to moderate the discussion and panels, invite experts in the domain, and maintain a website for the workshop. Workshop registration will be handled centrally by the main conference. Submission Instructions Proposals should clearly specify the following: Workshop title (what is it called?) Topic (what is it about?) Motivation (why a workshop on this topic?) Impact and expected outcomes (what will having the workshop do?) Potential list of invited speakers (who might come?) List of related publications (where can we learn more?) Main workshop organizer (who is making it happen?) Other organizers (who else is making it happen?) Bio for each organizer (who are you?) Workshop URL (where will interested parties get more information?) Detailed descriptions of last year's workshops can be found at: http://auai.org/uai2014/workshopsDetails.shtml. Workshop proposals should be submitted via email in PDF format to uai2015.workshops(a)gmail.com by February 19, 2015 (earlier submissions are encouraged as well). Soon after submission, proposers should expect to receive a verification of receipt. Irina Rish Contact: irina.rish(a)gmail.com Workshops chair UAI 2015

Feb. 4, 2015