- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

High performance computing workshop at SFN 2015 Annual Meeting

by Ted Carnevale

What: This workshop is intended for neuroscientists who are engaged in computationally intensive tasks such as large modeling projects or analysis of neuroimaging data. With support from NSF, we are developing and expanding the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG, http://www.nsgportal.org/) which eliminates most administrative and technical barriers involved in using high performance computing (HPC) resources. NSG offers free computing time and has a simple user interface so you can focus on productive research. Software currently installed includes the Freesurfer Software Suite, the Virtual Brain Empirical Data Pipeline (Schirner et al., 2015), and simulators such as Brian, MOOSE, GENESIS3, NEST, NEURON, and PyNN. This workshop will combine didactic presentations by NSG's developers, discussions with experienced users, and hands on instruction in how to use the portal. Where: Downtown Chicago, site TBA. When: 9AM - Noon on Saturday, October 17, 2015. Speakers: Amit Majumdar, Subha Sivagnanam, Padraig Gleeson, Simon Rothmeier, Ted Carnevale Registration deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015 For more information see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2015/nsg2015.html or contact Ted Carnevale [ted dot carnevale at yale dot edu] or Amit Majumdar [majumdar at sdsc dot edu] References: Schirner, M., Rothmeier, S., Jirsa, V.K., McIntosh, A.R., Ritter, P.. An automated pipeline for constructing personalized virtual brains from multimodal neuroimaging data. Neuroimage 117:343-357, 2015.

Aug. 17, 2015

Call for Papers: 7th International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS), 11-13 Dec 2015, Hefei, China

by Dr Amir Hussain

BICS'2015 Call for Papers (with journal ONLY conference proceedings - see details below!) With apologies for any cross-postings, please help circulate this CFP to friends and colleagues. Thank you in advance. BICS'2015 CFP website: http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/cfp_e.html (ALL papers accepted (after a rigorous peer-review process) for presentation at the Conference will be published in the leading ISI-SCI indexed Springer journal: Cognitive Computation (http://springer.com/12559) as a multi-part Special Issue! - for more details, see the conference website, and below) Introduction to BICS'2015: The seventh 2015 International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS 2015) will be held on December 11-13, 2015, in Hefei, Anhui, China, as a sequel of BICS 2004 - 2013. The first BICS 2004 was held in Stirling, Scotland, UK and the last BICS 2013 was held in Beijing, China, 9-13 June 2013 (http://www.conference123.org/bics2013/) The aim of BICS 2015 is to provide a high-level international forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present the state-of-the-art of brain inspired cognitive systems research and applications in diverse fields. The conference will feature plenary lectures given by world renowned scholars, regular sessions with broad coverage, and special sessions focusing on popular and timely topics. Proceedings Information: BICS 2015 will be unique in that there will be no conference proceedings. ALL accepted papers will be published (following a rigorous peer review process) in the leading ISI-SCI indexed Springer journal: Cognitive Computation (http://springer.com/12559) as a multi-part Special Issue. Conference Location The conference will be held in Anhui University in Hefei, China. Hefei, formerly known as Hofei, Luzhou, or Luchow, is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province in Eastern China. Hefei Xinqiao International Airport provides scheduled passenger service to major airports in China and international cities as well. Hefei plays an important role in scientific research in China. It has seven national laboratories, second only to Beijing. We would be delighted to welcome you to Hefei in December. For more details on the venue, including travel information, see: http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/venue_e.html Important Dates Full paper submission: 15 September 2015 First notification: 31 October 2015 Conference Dates: 11-13 December 2015 Revised/final manuscripts due: 31 December 2015 BICS'2015 Issue Publication Date: early 2016 Paper Submission: All prospective authors are invited to submit full-length papers (10-15 pages maximum) through the online Springer submission system (selecting the BICS2015 Special Issue), with a covering letter indicating the paper is being submitted for BICS'2015 (hhttp://www.editorialmanager.com/cogn/ <http://www.editorialmanager.com/cogn/>) - please indicate the relevant BICS Symposium name (see topics list on the Conference website). The submission of a paper implies that the paper is original and has not been submitted under review or copyright protected elsewhere. The authors of accepted papers will have an opportunity to revise their papers. If the paper is accepted, at least one of the authors listed on the paper (or his/her representative) must attend the conference and present the paper. On behalf of: BICS'2015 General co-Chairs: Professor Amir Hussain (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) and Professor Bin Luo (Anhui University, China) and BICS'2015 Organizing Committee ( http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/committee_e.html ) For any enquiries, please email: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk or luobin(a)ahu.edu.cn -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Aug. 16, 2015

The Virtual Brain Node #3 Workshop - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

by Tanya Brown

** *NODE#3* : Training Workshop Chicago, IL - SfN 2015 Conference *October 16, 2015* www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3 In this workshop we will explain the fundamental principles of full brain network modelling using the open source neuroinformatics platform *The Virtual Brain (TVB)*. This simulation environment enables the biologically realistic modelling of network dynamics using Connectome-based approaches across different brain scales. Configurable brain network models generate macroscopic neuroimaging signals including functional MRI (fMRI), intracranial and stereotactic EEG, surface EEG and MEG for single subjects. Researchers from different backgrounds can benefit from an integrative software platform including a supporting framework for data management (generation, organization, storage, integration and sharing) and a simulation core written in Python. The architecture of TVB supports interaction with MATLAB packages, for example, the well-known Brain Connectivity Toolbox. *Workshop Goals:* to create a conceptual and technical understanding of the various network modelling approaches in TVB; familiarization with TVB graphical user interface, Python and Matlab programming environment and data formats. *Workshop Format: * lectures and hands-on tutorials - *space is limited** ================================================================== *For more details and registration, please visit our website <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/>: * *http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3 <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3>* ================================================================== *Important Dates:* - August 10, 2015 – Registration Open - *space is limited** - October 9, 2015 – Registration Closed - October 16, 2015 – TVB NODE#2 Training Workshop *Location:* Hyatt Regency Chicago Downtown Hotel <http://chicagoregency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html> 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, IL, 60601, USA *Note: This is a Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2015 conference official satellite event.* With our best regards, *The TVB Team <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/tvb/zwei/team>* -- *Tanya Brown* Program Manager - The Virtual Brain Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest 416-785-2500 x 2782 tbrown(a)research.baycrest.org

Aug. 14, 2015

Deep Learning and Continuous Time Computing - Track at SAC 2016 - Second CFP

by Davide Zambrano

Dear all, This is a Second Call for Paper to join our track at SAC 2016. The deadline for the submission of papers and SRC research abstract is September 11, 2015. Apologies for cross posting. Best regards. ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) 2016 The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing in Pisa, Italy, April 3 – 8, 2016. (webpage : http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/ <http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/>) Deep Learning and Continuous-Time Computing (webpage : http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/ <http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/>) Topics of interests: Deep learning Continuous-time learning Spiking Neural Networks Asynchronous computation Large scale parallel simulations and computing Neuromorphic computing Important Dates are published on the Conference <http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/>or Track <http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/>webpages. Track Program Committee: Sander Bohte, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to s.m.bohte(a)cwi.nl <mailto:s.m.bohte@cwi.nl> ) Davide Zambrano, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to d.zambrano(a)cwi.nl <mailto:d.zambrano@cwi.nl> ) Thomas Nowotny, University of Sussex (UK) Stephen Furber, University of Manchester (UK) Karl Tuyls, University of Liverpool (UK) Shih-Chii Liu, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich (CH) Robert Babuska, Delft University of Technology (NL) Andre Gruning, University of Surrey (UK) Max Welling, University of Amsterdam (NL) Narayan Srinavasa, HRL Laboratories LLC (USA) Eleni Vasilaki, University of Sheffield (UK) Giacomo Indiveri, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich, (CH) Important notice: Paper registration is required, allowing the inclusion of the paper, poster, or SRC abstract in the conference proceedings. An author or a proxy attending SAC MUST present the paper. This is a requirement for including the work in the ACM/IEEE digital library. No-show of registered papers, posters, and SRC abstracts will result in excluding them from the ACM/IEEE digital library. Dr. Davide Zambrano PostDoc at CWI, Amsterdam (NL) MSc in Biomedical Eng. - PhD in Biorobotics D.Zambrano(a)cwi.nl Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) Science Park, 123 1098 XG - Amsterdam

Aug. 14, 2015

Reminder: Call for Papers: "Intelligent Music Systems and Applications" (Special Issue of the ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology)

by perfe

Please re-distribute (and accept our apologies for any cross-posting) We are happy to announce the following call for papers: =========================================================== ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology Special Issue on Intelligent Music Systems and Applications http://www.cp.jku.at/journals/tist_imsa_2015_cfp.html =========================================================== With the advent of music information retrieval (MIR), intelligent technologies have become an essential part of music systems and applications. This is evidenced by today’s omnipresence of digital online music stores and streaming services, which rely on music recommenders, automatic playlist generators, and music browsing interfaces. A large amount of MIR research leading to intelligent music applications deals with the extraction of musical and acoustic information directly from the audio signal using signal processing techniques. Other strategies exploit contextual aspects of music, not present in the signal, for example, community meta-data and trails of user interaction, as found, for instance, on social media platforms. Recently, also user-centric aspects are being considered, such as affect, personality, and user context. Intelligent music systems have also been developed as music creation tools, in which case the modeling of a composer's preferences or of genre/stylistic features are required. Topics of interest ------------------ This special issue addresses all aspects of music information, i.e., music content, context, and user aspects. Highest quality research that has not been published, nor is under review elsewhere, targeting one or more of the following topics in the context of intelligent music systems and applications is welcome: • Music Information Systems • Music Recommendation and Playlist Generation • Intelligent Music and Audio Browsing Interfaces • Games Based on Intelligent Music Analysis • Automatic Accompaniment or Real-time Tracking of Performances • Music Synthesis • Automatic Composition • Automatic Lyrics Generation • MIR in the Music Production Domain • Semantic Content Analysis, Knowledge Extraction, and Music Indexing • Collaborative Tags, Social Media Mining, Network Analysis • User Modeling and Personalized Music Systems • Personality, Emotion, and Affect • Hybrid Systems using Content and Context • Multimedia Approaches to MIR and Cross-media Recommendation • Large-Scale Music Retrieval • Evaluation, Mining of Ground Truth, and Data Collections Schedule -------- Paper Submission Deadline September 27, 2015 Notification after First Review Cycle December 20, 2015 Paper Revisions Deadline February 21, 2016 Final Notification April 24, 2016 Submission of Camera Ready Paper May 22, 2016 Manuscript submission --------------------- Please submit your manuscript through the ACM TIST submission system at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tist (select "Special Issue: Intelligent Music Systems and Applications" as the manuscript type). Submissions must adhere to the ACM TIST instructions and guidelines for authors available at http://tist.acm.org/authors.html. Guest editors ------------- Markus Schedl Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria Yi-Hsuan Yang Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Perfecto Herrera Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Contact ------- If you have any further questions, please contact us via e-mail: Markus Schedl (markus.schedl(a)jku.at) Yi-Hsuan Yang (yang(a)citi.sinica.edu.tw) and Perfecto Herrera (perfecto.herrera(a)upf.edu)

Aug. 14, 2015

Postdoc job: Connectivity analysis in Brisbane, University of Queensland

by Ross Cunnington

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Applications are invited for a position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute (www.qbi.uq.edu.au) and Science of Learning Research Centre (www.slrc.org.au) Brisbane Australia. Research will involve modelling of connectivity using graph theoretical analysis, applied to physiological data recorded from students in school classrooms. This is a large and unique collaboration between neuroscience and education, bringing brain connectivity modelling methods to examine inter-person connectivity in school classrooms. Applicants must have a PhD in cognitive or computational neuroscience or a related area and strong research experience in connectivity data modelling. This position would suit someone with experience in brain connectivity analysis looking to further develop techniques to apply in novel ways. See more details at: http://jobs.uq.edu.au/caw/en/job/497744/postdoctoral-research-fellow CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 28 AUGUST -+- A/Prof Ross Cunnington, Principal Research Fellow School of Psychology & Queensland Brain Institute University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Phone: +61 7 3346 6330

Aug. 14, 2015

desperately seeking neural data scientists

by Liam Paninski

Hi all (apologies for the cross-post) - we have multiple postdoctoral positions open in statistical neuroscience and machine learning. Full details here: http://grossmancenter.columbia.edu/postdoc.html, and copied below. Please share with anyone who might be interested. L Postdoctoral positions in statistical neuroscience and machine learning Multiple postdoctoral positions are available immediately in Columbia University's Grossman Center for the Statistics of the Mind, a new center focusing on the intersection of neuroscience, machine learning, and statistics. The Grossman Center bridges Columbia's Statistics and Neuroscience departments, and is closely integrated with the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. The Grossman Center is part of Columbia's larger, growing initiatives in neuroscience and data sciences, all located in New York City. The principal appointments will be in the Statistics department, in the research groups of Liam Paninski and/or John Cunningham, with ample opportunities for interaction with an exceptional group of experimental and theoretical collaborators, including M. Churchland, L. Abbott, D. Blei, R. Yuste, R. Bruno, T. Jessell, K. Miller, E. Hillman, E.J. Chichilnisky, E. Simoncelli, K. Shenoy, M. Ahrens, and more. Requirements: Qualifications include primarily a strong research portfolio in computational neuroscience, statistical neuroscience, machine learning, or a related field. Backgrounds in analyzing large neural datasets, modeling complex neural systems, and cutting-edge machine learning will be particularly valuable. These positions are highly quantitative and highly interdisciplinary; applicants should have a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Machine Learning, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or Computational Neuroscience. Appointment: The initial appointments will be for one year, and are renewable. Salaries will be set based on experience and skills. Applicants should send email to "grossman at stat dot columbia dot edu" providing: 1. a one-page description of past research experience 2. a one-page description of future research interests and goals 3. a resume of educational and research experience, including publications 4. names of at least two people that could provide letters of reference All materials should be in pdf or plain text. Applications will be reviewed as they arrive until the positions are filled; interested candidates are encouraged to express their interest early. Due to demand, we may not be able to reply to all applications.

Aug. 12, 2015

PhD scholarships in Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health

by Marc de Kamps

PhD scholarships in Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health School of Computing, University of Leeds, UK Closing date for applications: 30 August 2015 The School of Computing, at the University of Leeds, ranked in the top 10 for research impact in the UK Research Excellence Framework REF2014, is offering up to five fully funded UK/EU PhD scholarships. This is an exciting opportunity for prospective UK/EU PhD students to engage in world class research from theoretical foundations of computer science through to highly applied computational modelling and systems engineering. Each scholarship covers fees, stipend and research training support. The scholarships are fully supported by School and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Science Research Council); however, requests for part-funding will also be considered where the balance is covered from elsewhere. We welcome applications within the research theme of Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health: Our cross-disciplinary and highly collaborative research involves expertise spanning computer vision, data mining and visual analytics methods for Big Data, scientific computation, secure systems architectures, computational biology/neuroscience and bio-robotics. Topics include: Computational Neuroscience: development of cutting edge neuro-informatics frameworks; modelling dynamics of neural circuits and systems as part of the Human Brain Project; modelling adaptive sensory-motor control and biomechanics of animal behaviour; bio-robotic applications; Computational and Systems Biology: in-silico modelling of biological systems, from molecular and cellular dynamics to whole tissues, within basic biomedical research and as a pre-screening tool to accelerate the development of novel therapeutic products; Biomedical Image Analysis: development of novel image analysis techniques for computer assisted diagnosis, bio-mechanical modelling and surgical planning and training. Medical and Health Informatics: advanced process, text and data mining and novel visualization tools for analysing electronic health records, in the new £15m Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA). How to apply: Formal applications for research degree study should be made on-line through www.leeds.ac.uk/info/125187/applying_for_research_degrees Please state clearly on the funding section of the application form that you wish to be considered for scholarship 'PhD scholarship Computing (FAO Dr Raymond Kwan)'. Additional information: If English is not your first language, then candidates must also meet the University's English language requirements. Academic requirement: UK 2.1 Bachelor (or equivalent) and/or MSc with merit Web: http://www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/computing/

Aug. 11, 2015

Final Call for Goettingen's Advanced Computational Neuroscience Summer School

by Agostina Palmigiano

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Applications are invited for the Advanced COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE Summer School in Göttingen, Germany September 02th - 12th, 2015 Application Deadline* August 17, 2015* %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The aCNS School is a 10-day intensive course in mathematical and computational neuroscience. It offers students working in computational neuroscience and already familiar with its interdisciplinary nature, an intensive pedagogy of advanced theoretical and computational tools, designed to qualify young researchers to push the frontiers of the field. The course counts with and introductory day + 4 two-day blocks in charge of the following researchers: * Yoram Burak, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel * Maneesh Sahani, Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL, Longon, England * Sara Solla, Nothwestern University, Chicago, USA * John Hertz, Niels Bohr Institute, Stockholm, Sweden * Moritz Helmstaedter, MPI for Brain research, Frankfurt, Germany The consecutive two day thematic blocks are dedicated to theoretical perspectives on neural assemblies. Each lecturer will give a self-contained introduction to a particular set of theoretical tools in a block of two morning lectures. In the afternoon, participants will work on problem sets designed to develop proficiency in these theoretical tools and approaches. An additional set of evening ‘easy’ lectures will give the opportunity to discuss significant advances in the field. These are held by: * David Hansel, University Paris Descartes, France * Walter Stühmer, MPI for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany * Alexander Gail, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany The course takes place at the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics of the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen. There is no registration fee. Course language is English. We invite applicants to apply by filling out the application form at: http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events/cns-course <http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events/cns-course> by *August 17, 2015* Organizers: Rainer Engelken, Joscha Liedtke, Agostina Palmigiano, Maximilian Puelma Touzel, Manuel Schottdorf Looking forward to seeing you in Göttingen, Agostina Palmigiano ___________________________ Agostina Palmigiano Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Am Fassber 17, 37077 Goettingen +49 551 5176 421 office +49 163 882 6689 mobile http://www.nld.ds.mpg.de/ <http://www.nld.ds.mpg.de/> ___________________________

Aug. 10, 2015

Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans

by Jeff Krichmar

Dear Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to our recent publication on a model of Parietal Cortex and a methodology to construct neurobiologically plausible architectures. I think it might be of interest to many of you. Asher, D.E., Oros, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2015). The Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans. PLoS ONE 10, e0134669. http://www.plosone.org/article/citationList.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F… Substantial evidence has highlighted the significant role of associative brain areas, such as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in transforming multimodal sensory information into motor plans. However, little is known about how different sensory information, which can have different delays or be absent, combines to produce a motor plan, such as executing a reaching movement. To address these issues, we constructed four biologically plausible network architectures to simulate PPC: 1) feedforward from sensory input to the PPC to a motor output area, 2) feedforward with the addition of an efference copy from the motor area, 3) feedforward with the addition of lateral or recurrent connectivity across PPC neurons, and 4) feedforward plus efference copy, and lateral connections. Using an evolutionary strategy, the connectivity of these network architectures was evolved to execute visually guided movements, where the target stimulus provided visual input for the entirety of each trial. The models were then tested on a memory guided motor task, where the visual target disappeared after a short duration. Sensory input to the neural networks had sensory delays consistent with results from monkey studies. We found that lateral connections within the PPC resulted in smoother movements and were necessary for accurate movements in the absence of visual input. The addition of lateral connections resulted in velocity profiles consistent with those observed in human and non-human primate visually guided studies of reaching, and allowed for smooth, rapid, and accurate movements under all conditions. In contrast, Feedforward or Feedback architectures were insufficient to overcome these challenges. Our results suggest that intrinsic lateral connections are critical for executing accurate, smooth motor plans. 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

Aug. 10, 2015