- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

postdoctoral position in cognitive and affective neuroscience

by Steven Greening

Applications are invited for a full-time postdoctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Greening on projects investigating the neural bases of emotion-cognition interactions. This position involves developing, running, and analyzing data on projects from healthy and mentally ill individuals, and presenting findings in peer-reviewed manuscripts and at conferences in collaboration with Dr. Greening. The research combines behavior and physiology with a multimodal MRI approach, FMRI and DTI, using univariate and multivariate analyses. This is a full-time one-year position with the possibility to renew for a second year. Apply online and view a more detailed ad at: www.lsusystemcareers.lsu.edu. Position #039259

April 6, 2016

Post-Doc Opening in Interactive Systems Integration for Assistive Technologies

by Giacinto Barresi

Post-Doc Opening in Interactive Systems Integration for Assistive Technologies Added on: 05/04/2016 - Expires on: 06/05/2016 Info: https://www.iit.it/careers/openings/opening/126-post-doc-opening-in-interac… The Biomedical Robotics Lab at the Department of Advanced Robotics (ADVR) at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), an English-speaking research Institute, is looking for a highly motivated, full-time postdoctoral researcher to work in the areas of interactive systems integration for assistive technologies. This position (within the project TEEP-SLA, funded by Fondazione Roma) is dedicated to research and development of solutions for integrating brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) with interactive systems (multisensory user interfaces, embedded devices) to provide feedback that eases the collection and interpretation of user’s data and commands. This is a new project that aims to create novel assistive technologies for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) patients. We are especially looking at satisfying the patients’ social interaction and communication needs with innovative patient interfaces and associated robotic technologies. We are looking for an outstanding scientist with a PhD in engineering, robotics, or other fields related to user interfaces and embedded programming. The successful candidate will mainly focus on the development and integration of BCIs with novel wearable sensors and feedback devices able to provide motor/tactile feedback. The scientist will work in a multidisciplinary team including roboticists, biomedical engineers, interaction researchers and healthcare professionals. Field studies (involving patients, their relatives, and healthcare professionals) will be an integral part of the work, serving both to refine system specifications and to assess new technologies. This research will advance the state of the art in BCI control, enabling greatly enhanced patient experience during the use of assistive communication and social interaction systems. The position includes theoretical and hands-on research, supervision of PhD students, and support to general lab activities. Desired qualifications: - PhD degree in engineering, robotics, or related fields. - Experience in user interface development and embedded programming, preferably for biosignals-related applications. - Excellent publication record in interactive systems and real-time embedded systems. - Experience with physical tactile/motor user interfaces. - Experience with interfacing computer systems and technological (e.g. robotic) devices. - Strong interest in assistive technologies and in-field studies. - Creativity and proactive attitude. - Strong communication and English language skills (written and oral) - Independent and persistent personality, strong team player - The salary will depend on qualifications and experience and will include additional health benefits. To apply, please send electronically a detailed CV with list of publications, University transcripts, your best first-author paper, a cover letter outlining motivation and statement of research interests/plan and contact information of at least two references to applications(a)iit.it by May 6th, 2016 stating “TEEP-SLA Post-Doc” in the subject of the e-mail. Only complete applications will be evaluated. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), with its headquarters in Genova, Italy, is a non-profit institution with the primary goal of creating and disseminating scientific knowledge and strengthening Italy’s technological competitiveness. The institute offers state-of-the-art equipment and a top-level interdisciplinary research environment focused on robotics and computer vision, neuroscience, drug discovery, nanoscience and technology. In order to comply with Italian law (art. 23 of Privacy Law of the Italian Legislative Decree n. 196/03), the candidate is kindly asked to give his/her consent to allow IIT to process his/her personal data. We inform you that the information you provide will be solely used for the purpose of assessing your professional profile to meet the requirements of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Your data will be processed by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, with its headquarters in Genoa, Via Morego 30, acting as the Data Holder, using computer and paper-based means, observing the rules on the protection of personal data, including those relating to the security of data. Please also note that, pursuant to art. 7 of Legislative Decree 196/2003, you may exercise your rights at any time as a party concerned by contacting the Data Manager. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia is an Equal Opportunity Employer that actively seeks diversity in the workforce. Info: https://www.iit.it/careers/openings/opening/126-post-doc-opening-in-interac… Contacts applications(a)iit.it Giacinto Barresi, PhD Post Doc Biomedical Robotics Laboratory Advanced Robotics (ADVR) Department Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego, 30 16163 Genova (Italy) Mobile: +39 331 9835396 Email: giacinto.barresi(a)iit.it Webpage: https://iit.it/people/giacinto-barresi

April 5, 2016

TEX2016 to close with keynote lecture by Yann LeCun

by Alessandro Treves

Our 9 days of cross-fertilization http://indico.sissa.it/e/tex2016 on language learning will close with the open-ended stimulation provided by a pioneer of the deep learning perspective (on July 15). Students are still invited to apply to the school, before April 15, (no extensions - enough applications already) and free participants are most welcome to join TEX2016 any time; but book your own accommodation! -- Alessandro Treves http://people.sissa.it/~ale/limbo.html SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy +39-040-3787623+39-040-3787623 Ambassador (BlaBlaCar) +39-349-2504602+39-349-2504602

April 5, 2016

MuTE software UPDATE: the graphical user interface is ready

by Alessandro Montalto

Dear all, I am very pleased to announce the availability of the updated version of MuTE, a toolbox that is able to detect directed dynamical influences among time series. This new open source software implements four entropy estimators in both uniform and non-uniform embedding approaches. *The graphical user interface is ready to be used.* Please download the latest version of MuTE here: http://mutetoolbox.guru/downloads/ The GUI has been developed by Frederik Van de Steen: http://mutetoolbox.guru/frederik-van-de-steen/ ******************* Subscribe to the newsletter if you want to be kept updated about future updates of MuTE or follow the toolbox improvements through - twitter: https://twitter.com/mutetoolbox - facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mutetoolbox Best regards, Alessandro Montalto

April 4, 2016

[ACM UMAP] Final Call for Tutorials

by Jie Zhang

Final Call for Tutorials ACM UMAP 2016 invites tutorials that address the interests of its varied audience: people new to the User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalisation researchers and practitioners who wish to learn new technologies, users of Personalized technologies, and representatives of government and funding agencies as well as potential private investors in Personalized technologies. We welcome submissions of tutorial proposals on all major topics related to user modeling and personalisation technologies. We especially solicit proposals for tutorials of the following types: -- Tutorials with a coherent theme providing an introduction to new user modeling technologies, methods, techniques, and trends (e.g. exploiting data-mining and big data analytics for user modeling, evaluation methodologies, data visualizationetc.) -- Tutorials describing the application of user modeling and personalization technologies in specific domains (e.g., health sciences, e-government, e-commerce, cultural heritage, education, internet of things, mobile, music, information retrieval, NLP, etc.). -- Tutorials presenting techniques from other fields that are of relevance for user modeling and personalization research, including social sciences, digital humanities, biomedical or cognitive science, and neuroscience research. Tutorials may focus on theoretical topics, however, we encourage organizers to incorporate hands-on sessions where appropriate. The tutorial should reach a good balance between the topic coverage and its relevance to the community. Tutorials can be half a day (3 hours) or full day (6 hours). Timeline for Tutorials Tutorial proposals due: *April 10, 2016* Notification of acceptance: May 5, 2016 Tutorial Days: 13 July (Wednesday) and/or 17 July (Sunday) 2016 Responsibilities Organizers of accepted tutorials are responsible for preparing the materials for attendees (slide sets, additional teaching material, software installation and usage guides for practical hands-on sessions, etc.) to the Tutorial Chairs. The UMAP 2016 Organizing Committee is responsible for providing publicity for the tutorials as part of the conference publicity activities, and on-site logistical support to the organizers and attendees. General Information In the interest of the overall quality of the conference, the Tutorial Chairs reserve the right to merge tutorials and/or adjust the scope thereof in case a minimum number of registrations is not reached by the early registration deadline. Submission details Tutorial proposals should not exceed 5 pages, and should contain the following information: -- Abstract. 200 words maximum, for inclusion on the UMAP2016 website. -- Tutorial description: objectives of the tutorial and relevance to UMAP2016; information about the scope and level of detail of the material to be covered; intended audiences; learning objectives; practical sessions. -- Tutorial length. The tutorial can be full or half day -- Specify other venues to which the tutorial or part thereof has been or will be presented, in addition to explaining how the current tutorial differs from the other editions. Links to the slides of previous tutorial editions (if applicable) should be included in the proposal. -- Brief professional biography of the presenter(s) indicating previous training and speaking experience (such as teaching and tutorial presentation). All proposals will be reviewed by the tutorial chairs and discussed within the organization committee of the UMAP2016. Submission Proposals should be submitted in PDF format by email to the tutorial chairs at workshopumap2016(a)gmail.com by April 10, 2016. Tutorials Chairs Federica Cena, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy, email: cena(a)di.unito.it Jie Zhang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, email: zhangj(a)ntu.edu.sg

April 4, 2016

Call for papers - NIAMS'16

by Tolga Tasdizen

Apologies for multiple receptions. Please share with your colleagues who might be interested. Call for papers Workshop on Neuroscientifc Image Analysis at the Microscopic Scale (NIAMS'16) The Workshop on Neuroscientific Image Analysis at the Microscopic Scale (https://sites.google.com/site/niams2016/ <https://sites.google.com/site/niams2016/>) will be held in conjunction with the MICCAI conference (http://www.miccai2016.org/en/ <http://www.miccai2016.org/en/>) on October 17, 2016 in Athens, Greece. Recent advances in labeling and microscopy techniques have revolutionized our ability to visualize neurons and synapses in living brain tissue. The quantitative analysis of vast amounts of imaging data has become a major bottleneck in neuroscience. This workshop focuses on current challenges in processing and analysis of microscopic images in neuroscience. We invite contributions ranging from novel algorithmic strategies in biomedical image processing to specific examples and solutions to key problems in neuroscience research, including: automatic detection, segmentation, tracking, reconstruction, shape analysis, and modeling of spines, dendrites, and neurons in confocal, two photon, super resolution, and electron microscopy data. We will accept the submission of full papers (8pages, LNCS style), which will be reviewed by the program committee consisting of the organizers and the advisory board. The deadline for paper submission is June 24, 2016. The highest quality papers will be selected for (oral and/or poster) presentation. We plan to publish hardcopy proceedings in Springer LNCS. In addition, we intend to organize a special issue in one of the top journals in the field where extended versions of the selected invited papers of the workshop will be published. Important dates Paper submission: June 24, 2016 Notification of acceptance: July 22, 2016 Workshop: October 17, 2016 Organizers Tolga Tasdizen, University of Utah Devrim Unay, İzmir University of Economics Inbal Israely, Champalimaud Foundation Valentin Nagerl, University of Bordeaux / CNRS If you have any questions, please contact Tolga Tasdizen (tolga(a)sci.utah.edu <mailto:tolga@sci.utah.edu>)

April 3, 2016

PhD offer in Paris South: Modeling and steering brain oscillations based on in vivo optogenetics data

by Antoine Chaillet

Antoine Chaillet, Alain Destexhe and Mario Sigalotti are proposing a PhD entitled "Modeling and steering brain oscillations based on in vivo optogenetics data", at the interface between control theory and computational neuroscience. Candidates should contact antoine.chaillet(a)centralesupelec.fr for more information. Description: Neuronal oscillations are ubiquitous in the brain, both in health and disease. Nonetheless, the precise role of these oscillations is still a matter of debate, and the mechanisms by which they are generated are still poorly understood. Technological advances offer unprecedented ways to acquire and influence these oscillations. Electrode arrays and electrodes with dense recording plots now provide excellent spatiotemporal resolution of local brain activity. Moreover, the recent advent of optogenetics is revolutionizing the way of stimulating brain structures. The combination of electrophysiological recordings and optogenetics is thus particularly appealing to decipher the mechanisms of oscillation generation, their role in brain functioning, and the development of closed-loop strategies to steer brain oscillations (especially pathological ones). This project aims at developing and validating ad hoc methodologies to model, identify, analyze and control brain oscillations with these experimental tools. The challenges in that direction are numerous due to the nonlinear and spatiotemporal nature of the processes involved. To address these challenges, this project proposes to adapt or develop methodologies from control theory to the brain dynamics specificities. The performance of the developed methodologies will be confronted to experimental data of pathological oscillations linked to parkinsonian symptoms, that were collected on healthy and parkinsonian primates under optogenetics in the ANR project SynchNeuro. The aim of this PhD thesis is to develop a methodological framework, based on control engineering, to address three challenges: 1) development of a spatiotemporal model of specific brain oscillations, whose parameters are identified based on experimental data 2) formal analysis of brain oscillations onset and characterization of their dynamics in terms of magnitude, frequency and phase 3) development of closed-loop photostimulation strategies to disrupt, attenuate, or steer brain oscillations. Supervision: The PhD thesis will be supervised by Antoine Chaillet (L2S), in collaboration with Alain Destexhe (UNIC) and Mario Sigalotti (CMAP). It will take place in Gif sur Yvette (south of Paris), France. Sought candidate: We are looking for a brilliant motivated student, eager to work on an interdisciplinary topic. Strong background in dynamical systems is needed, as well as interest for theoretical developments. Experience in identification based on experimental data, or numerical simulations would be appreciated. No French ability is required. Antoine Chaillet Associate Professor Univ. Paris Sud 11 - L2S - CentraleSupélec 3, rue Joliot Curie 91192 - Gif sur Yvette, France +33 1 69 85 13 83

April 2, 2016

EPFL: PhD student position in neuromechanical models of vertebrate locomotion

by Auke Ijspeert

PhD student position in neuromechanical models of vertebrate locomotion http://biorob.epfl.ch/openings The Biorobotics laboratory (Biorob, http://biorob.epfl.ch/) at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) anticipates to have one open PhD studentship in computational neuroscience and biorobotics. The goal of the project is to develop neuromechanical models of vertebrate locomotion, together with Marc-Olivier Gewaltig (computational neuroscientist) and Gregoire Courtine (neuroscientist). *The neuromechanical models will include numerical models of spinal cord circuits coupled to biomechanical models of the body. The first target animal will be the mouse; depending on progress, human models might be developed in a second stage. The spinal cord models might also be tested and validated in some of the quadruped robots developed by the Biorobotics laboratory. The position will be fully funded thanks to a grant from the Human Brain Project. EPFL is one of the leading Institutes of Technology in Europe and offers internationally competitive salaries and research infrastructure. Requirements: Candidates need to have a Master degree in a field related to computational neuroscience e.g. in physics or computer science. The ideal candidate for this position should have a strong math background (e.g. in dynamical systems), good programming skills, and interest/expertise in modeling neural circuits and biomechanical systems, and in locomotion. How to apply for the position: Step 1: The position is only open to applicants who have been accepted by the EPFL doctoral school (see http://phd.epfl.ch/) The first step is therefore to fill the applications for one of the relevant EPFL doctoral programs in robotics (http://phd.epfl.ch/EDPR) or neuroscience (http://phd.epfl.ch/neuroscience) Step 2: In parallel to step 1, or once accepted by one of the doctoral programs (please specify which doctoral program and the date of acceptance), the application to the position should be sent by email to Prof. Auke Ijspeert and consist of a motivation letter (explaining why you are interested in the project, and why you feel qualified for it) and a copy of the doctoral program application. Informal inquiries about the relevance of an application can be sent to auke.ijspeert(a)epfl.ch (e.g. before or while submitting an application to the doctoral school), but responses can be slow because of a heavy schedule and a filled mail box. Deadline and starting date: Applications will be considered continuously until the position is filled. The starting date is between April and September 2016 (the sooner the better). Note that the doctoral program in robotics (EDRS) has a deadline on April 15 2016, and the one in neuroscience (EDNE) on May 1st 2016. Contact: Information concerning the type of research carried out by the group can be found at http://biorob.epfl.ch/. You should send your application and any inquiry by email to: Prof. Auke Jan Ijspeert <http://biorob.epfl.ch/page38158.html>, auke.ijspeert(a)epfl.ch <mailto:auke.ijspeert@epfl.ch> -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Auke Jan Ijspeert Biorobotics Laboratory EPFL-STI-IBI-BIOROB EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Station 9, CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Office: ME D1 1226 Tel: +41 21 693 2658 Fax: +41 21 693 3705 www: http://biorob.epfl.ch Email: Auke.Ijspeert(a)epfl.ch -----------------------------------------------------------------

April 2, 2016

[IEEE ICCI*CC'16:] IEEE ICCI*CC’16 Deadline is Extended to April 30 @Stanford Univ. – Computational Intelligence/Cognitive Informatics/Cognitive Computing

by Yingxu Wang

Dear Colleagues, Upon numerous requests and due to the recent system instable status of the submission site, deadline for paper submission to IEEE ICCI'CC’16 (15th IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics & Cognitive Computing) has been extended to April 30, 2016 (http://www.ucalgary.ca/icci_cc/iccicc-16) Workshops, special sessions proposals, and short papers are welcome. The Proceedings of ICCI*CC'16 will be published by IEEE CS Press. Papers accepted in ICCI*CC’16 will be indexed by EI. Extended versions of selected papers will be published in several EI or SCI indexed journals. Full papers are expected to be around 5-8 pages in IEEE double column format. Short papers (3-4 pages) that report industrial experience, case studies, work in progress, or graduate students’ research are also welcome. Paper submission site is at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iccicc2016. The conference will be featured by four keynote speeches such as those of Prof. Lotfi A. Zadeh with UC Berkeley and Prof. Bernard Widrow with Stanford University, that highlight cutting-edge theories and novel technologies for cognitive systems and computational intelligence inspired by the brain. We look forward to meeting you at Stanford University during Aug. 22-23, 2016. Sincerely, IEEE ICCI*CC'16 Co-Chairs GENERAL CO-CHAIRS: Bernard Widrow (Stanford) and Yingxu Wang (UofC, Canada) PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS: Newton Howard (MIT) and Kostas Plataniotis (Univ. of Toronto, Canada)_______________________________________________ This message was sent to all subscribers of ieeeicci13-L To unsubscribe, see instructions at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/email/mailman E-mail: ieeeicci13-L(a)mailman.ucalgary.ca Homepage: http://mailman.ucalgary.ca/mailman/listinfo/ieeeicci13-l

April 1, 2016

Quantitative Analysis of Neuroanatomy special issue / ebook

by Stephen Eglen

On behalf of all the editors, I am pleased to announce the release of our special issue on the Quantitative Analysis of Neuroanatomy. All articles have been published in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. As of March 2016, all papers are now freely available as an Ebook either in PDF or EPUB format. The aim of this Research Topic is to examine theoretical and experimental work directed at a detailed and comprehensive quantitative understanding of neuroanatomy. Integrating such knowledge with functional data should provide a more complete understanding of how the nervous system in different animal species is organized to generate appropriate behaviour. Home page: http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/2028/quantitative-analysis-of-… Blog page: http://sje30.github.io/post/qan/ Table of contents Editorial: Quantitative Analysis of Neuroanatomy Julian M. L. Budd, Hermann Cuntz, Stephen J. Eglen and Patrik Krieger. A comparison of manual neuronal reconstruction from biocytin histology or 2-photon imaging: morphometry and computer modeling Arne V. Blackman, Stefan Grabuschnig, Robert Legenstein and P. Jesper Sjöström. Automated computation of arbor densities: a step toward identifying neuronal cell types Uygar Sümbül, Aleksandar Zlateski, Ashwin Vishwanathan, Richard H. Masland and H. Sebastian Seung. Functional connectivity estimation over large networks at cellular resolution based on electrophysiological recordings and structural prior Simona Ullo, Thierry R. Nieus, Diego Sona, Alessandro Maccione, Luca Berdondini and Vittorio Murino. Axonal and dendritic density field estimation from incomplete single-slice neuronal reconstructions Jaap van Pelt, Arjen van Ooyen and Harry B. M. Uylings. Slicing, sampling, and distance-dependent effects affect network measures in simulated cortical circuit structures Daniel C. Miner and Jochen Triesch A workflow for the automatic segmentation of organelles in electron microscopy image stacks Alex J. Perez, Mojtaba Seyedhosseini, Thomas J. Deerinck, Eric A. Bushong, Satchidananda Panda, Tolga Tasdizen and Mark H. Ellisman. Three-dimensional distribution of cortical synapses: a replicated point pattern based analysis Laura Anton-Sanchez, Concha Bielza, Angel Merchán-Pérez, José-Rodrigo Rodríguez, Javier DeFelipe and Pedro Larrañaga. The patterning of retinal horizontal cells: normalizing the regularity index enhances the detection of genomic linkage Patrick W. Keeley and Benjamin E. Reese Statistical analysis and data mining of digital reconstructions of dendritic morphologies Sridevi Polavaram, Todd A. Gillette, Ruchi Parekh and Giorgio A. Ascoli Towards a “canonical” agranular cortical microcircuit Sarah F. Beul and Claus C. Hilgetag Generation of dense statistical connectomes from sparse morphological data Robert Egger, Vincent J. Dercksen, Daniel Udvary, Hans-Christian Hege and Marcel Oberlaender Context-aware modeling of neuronal morphologies Benjamin Torben-Nielsen and Erik De Schutter The effects of neuron morphology on graph theoretic measures of network connectivity: the analysis of a two-level statistical model Jugoslava Aćimović, Tuomo Mäki-Marttunen and Marja-Leena Linne Homeostatic structural plasticity can account for topology changes following deafferentation and focal stroke Markus Butz, Ines D. Steenbuck and Arjen van Ooyen Parametric Anatomical Modeling: a method for modeling the anatomical layout of neurons and their projections Martin Pyka, Sebastian Klatt and Sen Cheng Saltatory conduction in unmyelinated axons: clustering of Na+ channels on lipid rafts enables micro-saltatory conduction in C-fibers Ali Neishabouri and A. Aldo Faisal

April 1, 2016