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Neuroscience Gateway Workshop at SFN 2016 meeting

by Ted Carnevale

Space is still open in the workshop Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulation which will be held Saturday, Nov. 12 from 9 AM to noon as a satellite to the 2016 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) is an NSF-supported resource with a simple, convenient user interface, that provides free time on high performance computing hardware for computationally intensive tasks such as large scale simulations and data analysis. Currently installed software includes Brian, GENESIS, MOOSE, NEST, NEURON, PyNN, Freesurfer, and the Virtual Personalized Multimodal Connectome Pipeline. The registration deadline for this workshop is Friday Oct. 28, but it is advisable to sign up early because space is limited. See http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2016/nsg2016.html for more information and a link to the registration form. --Ted

Aug. 10, 2016

[journals] CFP - Special Issue on "Symbol Emergence and Developmental Systems: Social Symbol Grounding and Embodied Cognition in Humans and Robots" - IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (TCDS)

by Amir Aly

CALL FOR PAPERS **Apologies for cross posting ** *IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (TCDS)*Special Issue on "*Symbol Emergence and Developmental Systems: Social Symbol Grounding and Embodied Cognition in Humans and Robots*" *I. Aim and Scope *Exploring human cognitive development constitutes a basic step towards endowing robots with high level human-like cognitive functions. Human embodied cognition follows a seamless process of development, which includes the development of sensorimotor skills, understanding concrete ideas and events, using concepts representing physical entities to describe objects, and coordinating multiple abstractions within complex representations. Investigating these aspects that bootstrap human cognitive development – through appropriate theoretical and computational cognitive modeling – allows for making robots capable of handling objects through the cumulative learning experiences that could develop sensorimotor skills, developing social skills through social learning strategies, grounding abstract concepts in the sensorimotor system, and developing linguistic skills in order to represent situations through language within interaction. A symbol system combines a group of tokens into structures and manipulates them through explicit rules to produce new expressions. The task of assigning a meaning to each meaningless symbol in a structure defines the "Symbol Grounding" problem, which has static physical and social components. The "Physical Symbol Grounding" allows an agent to form an internal explicit representation of an external-world referent so as to interpret symbols semantically. Whereas, the "Social Symbol Grounding" allows for developing a common lexicon of symbols grounded in perception information within a population of agents, which could lead to a gradual emergence of language through social interaction. A recent approach to semantically interpreting a symbol system is "Symbol Emergence", which accounts for the dynamic and self-organized nature of symbols that constitute human cognition. These complementary representations of a symbol system are still considered as real challenges in cognitive developmental robotics, and they require more elaborate theoretical and experimental studies in order to better understand the aspects of human behavior development. *II. Themes *This special issue aims to shed light on cutting-edge research lines in cognitive developmental robotics at the intersection of human cognitive science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, language science, and robotics research. Topics relevant to this special issue include, but are not limited to: - Human symbol systems and symbol emergence in robotics. - Cognitive modeling of human behavior. - Language and action development. - Learning from demonstration. - Action sequence learning. - Conceptual spaces for cognitive robotics. - Fluid and embodied construction grammar for cognitive robotics. *III. Submission * Manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal's “Information for Authors” instructions found at http://cis.ieee.org/publications.html, and submissions should be done through the IEEE TCDS Manuscript center: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tcds-ieee (please select the category “SI: Symbol Emergence”). *IV. Important Dates*15 December 2016 – Deadline for papers submission 31 March 2017 – First notification for authors 15 May 2017 – Deadline for revised papers submission 15 June 2017 – Final notification for authors *V. Guest Editors * 1. *Amir Aly*, Ritsumeikan University, Japan ( amir.aly(a)em.ci.ritsumei.ac.jp) 2. *Sascha Griffiths*, Queen Mary University of London, UK ( sascha.griffiths(a)qmul.ac.uk) 3. *Francesca Stramandinoli*, IIT, Italy (francesca.stramandinoli(a)iit.it) 4. *Tadahiro Taniguchi*, Ritsumeikan University, Japan ( taniguchi(a)em.ci.ritsumei.ac.jp <taniguchi(a)em.ci.ritsumei.ac.jp>) 5. *Paul Vogt*, Tilburg University, The Netherlands (p.a.vogt(a)uvt.nl) More details about the scope of this journal special issue and the guest editors are available on: IEEE_TCDS_SI_CFP.pdf <https://intelligent-robots-ws.ensta-paristech.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/08…> . ------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Amir Aly Postdoctoral Research Associate Emergent Systems Laboratory College of Information Science and Engineering - Ritsumeikan University 1-1-1 Noji Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577 Japan

Aug. 9, 2016

2nd CFP (ICDL-EPIROB 2016): WS on Development of Body Representations

by Matej Hoffmann

*Call for participation: Interdisciplinary workshop on the development of body knowledge in humans and machines.* 19^th September 2016, Cergy-Pontoise / Paris http://bodyschemaworkshop.blogspot.it <http://bodyschemaworkshop.blogspot.it/> held in the framework of ICDL-EPIROB 2016 conference (http://icdl-epirob.org/) Following the previous workshops on the development of body representations in humans and robots at ICDL-EPIROB, we have the pleasure to announce a forthcoming workshop in Cergy-Pontoise / Paris on the 19^th September 2016. The aim of this workshop is to spark collaboration between roboticists and developmental psychologists in order to address the origins of the sensorimotor maps that underlie own body representations in both infants and robots. The development of infants’ body knowledge is a primary object of discovery starting before birth. This construction ultimately enables the infant to efficiently interact with the environment. The specific goal of the organizers is to explore the possibility of developing robotic models inspired by the development of human infant body representations. Presentations will consider body knowledge acquisition from sensorimotor, neural and computational perspectives. After the presentations, the discussion will aim at establishing an integrative framework for understanding a) the development of body knowledge in infants, b) the mechanisms that underlie body knowledge acquisition and c) how robots can be used to replicate developmental patterns and progressions that have been found in human infants. On the one hand such robots can become new modeling tools for empirical sciences – expanding the domain of computational modeling by anchoring it to the physical environment and a physical body. On the other hand, robot controllers endowed with multimodal whole-body awareness typical of humans should increase robots’ autonomy. ___________________________________________________________________________ We invite contributions concerning the development of body knowledge in humans and/or machines. Please submit a one-page abstract describing your poster by *the 20th August 2016* to the following address: *icdlbodyworkshop(a)gmail.com* Presenters of a poster will be expected to be present on the 19th of September 2016 for a teasers-session and for the poster session. During the teasers-session each presenter will introduce their poster in a 2-minute oral presentation (with 2-3 pdf slides). During the poster session they will then have the opportunity to explain their poster and to hand out any leaflets or other information materials they have available for viewers of their poster. *___________________________________________________________________________* *Important dates * Abstract submission: August 20, 2016. Notification of acceptance: August 23, 2016. Submission of 2-3 slides (pdf): September 15, 2016. Workshop day: September 19, 2016. ___________________________________________________________________________ *Speakers* * Prof. Jeffrey Lockman, PhD. Department of Psychology, Tulane University, USA. * Kevin O’Regan, PhD. Research scientist, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. * Matej Hoffmann, PhD. Researcher, iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy. * Prof. Minoru Asada, PhD. Research director, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics, Institute for Academic Initiatives, Osaka University, Japan. * Andrew Bremner, PhD. Reader in psychology and head of department, Goldsmiths University, London, UK. * Gianluca Baldassare, PhD. Researcher, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy.** *____________________________________________ * ** *Venue* Cergy-Pontoise University: http://www.etis.ensea.fr/neurocyber/ICDL-EPIROB2016/home.php ___________________________________________________________________________ *Website* Please check the website <http://bodyschemaworkshop.blogspot.fr/>http://bodyschemaworkshop.blogspot.fr/for updated information about the workshop! ___________________________________________________________________________ *Organizers* Eszter Somogyi, PhD Postdoc researcher, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris Descartes University, France Matej Hoffmann <https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/home>, PhD Researcher, iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy Lorenzo Jamone <http://lorejam.blogspot.pt/>, PhD Associate researcher, VisLab, Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Lisbon, Portugal ___________________________________________________________________________ *Contact information* Eszter Somogyi, PhD Postdoc researcher, Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Paris Descartes University, France esomogyi(a)gmail.com <mailto:esomogyi@gmail.com> -- Matej Hoffmann, PhD Postdoctoral Researcher iCub Facility Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Via Morego, 30 16163 Genoa, Italy https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/home

Aug. 9, 2016

Postdoctoral positions in the Human Brain Project

by Andrew Davison

Two postdoctoral positions are available within the Brain Simulation Platform of the Human Brain Project, to work on systematic model validation and on standards for model representation and sharing. The postdocs will work with Dr Andrew Davison and his group in the CNRS UNIC laboratory, located in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. Both projects will involve extensive collaboration with other groups both within and external to HBP. The positions are available immediately, and are funded until 31st March 2018 with future extensions possible. Salary depends on experience, and will be on the standard French research scale. Qualifications: Applicants should have a PhD in computer science, physics, computational neuroscience, systems biology, electrical engineering, or a related discipline, or be nearing completion of PhD studies. Excellent skills in programming (preferably Python) are essential. Expertise in computational neuroscience would be helpful but is not essential, as many aspects of the projects are transversal across simulation-based science. Knowledge of French would be helpful but is not required, as English is the working language of the project. How to apply: Send your CV, a brief statement of research interests and contact information for two references to andrew.davison(a)unic.cnrs-gif.fr. Informal inquiries are also welcome. Further details: The Human Brain Project (HBP; https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/) is an EU Flagship initiative in which over 100 partner institutions are working together to build a completely new information computing technology infrastructure for neuroscience and for brain-related research in medicine and computing, catalysing a global collaborative effort to understand the human brain and its diseases and ultimately to emulate its computational capabilities. The Brain Simulation Platform is a subproject of HBP which aims to provide community-accessible infrastructure for data-driven neuroscience modelling and simulation and to support community-driven models of specific brain regions. The successful candidates will contribute to two tasks: 1. Validation framework. This task will (i) develop services and tools to facilitate validation of data-driven neuroscience models; (ii) collaborate with modelling communities both within and external to HBP to perform model validation. The brain regions currently being actively modelled within HBP include somatosensory cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus and basal ganglia. 2. Model representation and standards. Performant and standardised model representations and APIs are essential both for efficient HPC simulation workflows and for effective collaboration and sharing in the context of open science. This task will work with community partners and with model developers internal to HBP to adopt and/or develop standards for representing brain models, and for sharing them. The Task will work with the High Performance Computing and Neuromorphic Computing platforms of HBP to ensure that the APIs and model representations are consistent with high performance on both traditional HPC and neuromorphic computing systems. As far as possible the task will use and/or extend existing community standards (e.g. NeuroML, NineML, PyNN). UNIC (Unité de Neurosciences, Information et Complexité; http://www.unic.cnrs-gif.fr/) is a research unit of the CNRS, located on a parkland campus in Gif-sur-Yvette, about 40 minutes from central Paris. UNIC consists of seven research groups, with a shared focus on complexity in the dynamics of neocortical networks during sensory processing and perception, and using a range of experimental, theoretical and informatics approaches.

Aug. 8, 2016

Post Doc / PhD position: “Algorithms of the Neocortex” in Frankfurt and Göttingen

by Michael Wibral

Dear Comp-Neuro community, we'll be happy to welcome a PhD or Post-Doc in Frankfurt and Göttingen - see below. Please spread the word. Best Regards, Michael Wibral *Post Doc / PhD position: “Algorithms of the Neocortex” in Frankfurt and Göttingen* ** The group for neural information dynamics at the lab of Prof. Michael Wibral (Goethe University, Frankfurt, and Guest scientist at the MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Göttingen) invites applications for a Post Doc / PhD position in a project on “generic information processing algorithms of the neocortex” for an initial duration of 3 years (PhD), or 2 years (Post Doc) with the possibility of an extension. The goal of the project is to understand from an information theoretic perspective how and why the three elementary operations on information – active storage, transfer and modification – are assigned to the layers and cell types of six-layered cortex. The project will tackle this question via information theoretic analyses of massively parallel electrophysiological recordings from primates and intracellular recordings of pyramidal cells. These insights will inform simulations of neural networks with information theoretic goal functions. The project is a collaborative effort with several partners: The Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPIDS) in Göttingen is known for its achievements in theoretical and computational neuroscience; the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling are the source of important developments in the information theoretic understanding of neural systems; the University of Sydney is leading in the development of measures for local information dynamics. The ideal candidate should have strong mathematical and programming skills and a Master's degree or a PhD in theoretical/computational neuroscience, physics, computer science, cognitive science, or engineering. Previous experience in information theory and neural simulators (e.g. NEST) are a plus but not required. The group of Michael Wibral has been focused on information theoretic analyses of neural networks for many years and is the home of the TRENTOOL and IDTxl toolboxes. Both, Frankfurt and Göttingen offer exceptional scientific communities with leading neuroscience groups at Max Planck Institutes and Universities. At both cities, applicants at the Post Doc level will have the opportunity to teach in English in international Master programs in neuroscience. The Goethe university is an equal opportunities employer committed to increasing the share of women in science. Applicants should send their application, including a CV, all marks from their studies, 2 letters of reference, and a research statement to _wibral(a)em.uni-frankfurt.de <mailto:wibral@em.uni-frankfurt.de>_ . Applications will be accepted until Sept. 30th, 2016 or until the position is filled. Starting dates are flexible but preferably before Jan. 1^st , 2017.

Aug. 5, 2016

Research Fellow Position in Neuroinformatics

by Leon French

The Computational Neurobiology Laboratory at CAMH seeks a postdoctoral fellow to join our efforts to understand brain disease. We focus on mining datasets of connectivity, gene expression and epigenetics across the genome and the brain. We employ multifaceted approaches that gain information by using data that crosses scales, modalities, and species. We seek one postdoctoral fellow interested in bioinformatics and neuroscience. The primary project will be to create, explore, and test methods for mapping many genes across neuroanatomy and brain development. Given the polygenic complexity of mental illness, there are many exciting applications for these methods. Our current applications use genes associated with Parkinson’s disease, aging (collaboration with Dr. Etienne Sibille) and intellectual disability (with Dr. John B. Vincent). In addition to this project, there would be opportunities to pursue other research interests. Some of our frequently used keywords give a good description of our work: neuroinformatics, molecular neuroanatomy, genetics, epigenomics, population neuroscience, transcriptomics, machine learning, text mining, neuroimaging, software development, and connectomics. The ideal candidate should have a PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science or related field with extensive knowledge in genome-wide data integration. Significant interest in neuroscience and experience working with large datasets are requested. Writing manuscripts and applying for independent grants and fellowships will be strongly encouraged. Highly motivated individuals (Ph.D. and/or M.D.) should submit a curriculum vitae, names of 3 references and a cover letter explaining their interest, and a brief description of research experience. Send information to leonfrench+recruit(a)gmail.com You will support a healthy workplace that embraces diversity, encourages teamwork and complies with all applicable and regulatory requirements. This position will be located at 250 College Street, Toronto.

Aug. 3, 2016

PhD / Postdoctoral position on Network Dynamics and Information Processing, Max Planck Institute & UMG, Germany

by Viola Priesemann

PhD / Postdoctoral position "Network Dynamics and Information Processing in Health and Disease" * The project * The project addresses the physiological underpinning of neural network dysfunction in terms of dynamics and information processing in early onset neurological diseases. The successful candidate will combine theoretical approaches with experimental in vivo recordings and with in vitro preparations derived from monogenetic neurological disorders. The study will be backed up by manipulation of classical in vitro networks. Our aim is to gain a mechanistic understanding of disease induced network dysfunction, which allows to understand disease pathophysiology and to develop treatment approaches. * The position * The position is part of an interdisciplinary project between the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, the Bernstein Center and the University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany. It is embedded in the Göttingen Campus Physics-to-Medicine initiative, which brings together about 30 research groups in the field of physics, theoretical neurosciences, neurology and cardiology with the explicit objective of promoting quantitative biomedicine with a translational perspective. * The Göttingen campus offers * · a strong focus on experimental and theoretical neuroscience, including the Max Planck Institutes for Dynamics and Self-organization, Experimental Medicine, and Biophysical Chemistry, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, the European Neuroscience Institute, the German Primate Center, and the physics, biology and medical faculties of the Göttingen university. · the possibility of teaching and taking courses within the Neuroscience Graduate schools * The candidate should have * · a Master or PhD degree in theoretical or experimental Neuroscience, or related disciplines (Physics, Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine, …) · a strong interest to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to gain a quantitative understanding of neurons and networks in health and disease · strong English speaking and writing skills. German speaking skills are not required. * Your application * The Max-Planck society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. The Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. Questions can be addressed to Dr. Andreas Neef (andreas(a)nld.ds.mpg.de) Dr. Viola Priesemann (viola(a)nld.ds.mpg.de) or Dr. Hendrik Rosewich (hendrik.rosewich(a)med.uni-goettingen.de) If you are interested in joining our group, please send your CV, transcript of records, contacts of two referees, and a brief statement of interest, quoting reference no. 08-2016, by email in one pdf file to viola(a)nld.ds.mpg.de. Applications received before August, 23rd, 2016 will be given full consideration. -- Dr. Viola Priesemann Bernstein Research Fellow and Group Leader www.nld.ds.mpg.de/people/priesemann

Aug. 3, 2016

PostDoc / PhD position: “Algorithms of the Neocortex” in Frankfurt / Göttingen

by Viola Priesemann

*Post Doc / PhD position: “Algorithms of the Neocortex” in Frankfurt / Göttingen* ** The group for neural information dynamics at the lab of Prof. Michael Wibral (Goethe University, Frankfurt, and Guest scientist at the MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Göttingen) invites applications for a Post Doc / PhD position in a project on “generic information processing algorithms of the neocortex” for an initial duration of 3 years (PhD), or 2 years (Post Doc) with the possibility of an extension. The goal of the project is to understand from an information theoretic perspective how and why the three elementary operations on information – active storage, transfer and modification – are assigned to the layers and cell types of six-layered cortex. The project will tackle this question via information theoretic analyses of massively parallel electrophysiological recordings from primates and intracellular recordings of pyramidal cells. These insights will inform simulations of neural networks with information theoretic goal functions. The project is a collaborative effort with several partners: The Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPIDS) in Göttingen is known for its achievements in theoretical and computational neuroscience; the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling are the source of important developments in the information theoretic understanding of neural systems; the University of Sydney is leading in the development of measures for local information dynamics. The ideal candidate should have strong mathematical and programming skills and a Master's degree or a PhD in theoretical/computational neuroscience, physics, computer science, cognitive science, or engineering. Previous experience in information theory and neural simulators (e.g. NEST) are a plus but not required. The group of Michael Wibral has been focused on information theoretic analyses of neural networks for many years and is the home of the TRENTOOL and IDTxl toolboxes. Both, Frankfurt and Göttingen offer exceptional scientific communities with leading neuroscience groups at Max Planck Institutes and Universities. At both cities, applicants at the Post Doc level will have the opportunity to teach in English in international Master programs in neuroscience. The Goethe university is an equal opportunities employer committed to increasing the share of women in science. Applicants should send their application, including a CV, all marks from their studies, 2 letters of reference, and a research statement to _wibral(a)em.uni-frankfurt.de <mailto:wibral@em.uni-frankfurt.de>_ . Applications will be accepted until Sept. 30th, 2016 or until the position is filled. Starting dates are flexible but preferably before Jan. 1^st , 2017.

Aug. 3, 2016

Workshop in Copenhagen, Sept. 14-16

by Henrik Anders Lindén

Dear all, We still have a few free seats for the workshop "How does the brain work?" in Copenhagen, September 14th-16th 2016. This workshop will bring together leading experimentalists and leading theoreticians in neuroscience to openly discuss ideas for a common brain theory. Speaker list: - Dora Angelaki (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA) - Michael Brecht (Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Germany) - Gustavo Deco (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain) - Sophie Denève (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France) - Alain Destexhe (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France) - Adrienne Fairhall (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) - Riitta Hari (Aalto University, Finland) - John Hertz (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) - Viktor Jirsa (Aix-Marseille Université, France) - Per Roland (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) - Ranulfo Romo (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico) - Idan Segev (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) - Tatyana Sharpee (Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, USA) - Sara Solla (Northwestern University, Chicago, USA) - Misha Tsodyks (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel) For more information including registration details please see the workshop homepage: http://dsin.ku.dk/calendar/brain_workshop/ Best regards, Per Roland and Henrik Lindén Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen

Aug. 2, 2016

Computational Neuroscience workshop Cortona (Italy), September 12-16, 2016

by thierry nieus

Dear colleagues, it is my pleasure to announce the workshop: NeuroMath, Mathematical and Computational Neuroscience: cell, network and data analysis, that will take place in Cortona (Italy), September 12-16, 2016. We have an extensive list of confirmed speakers, experts in their field. These talks will span over several branches of the Neuroscience field with a common focus on the quantitative and mathematical questions lying behind the scientific questions. The workshop will bring together mathematicians, engineers, physicists and biologists and hopefully this will foster discussions across different research fields. The list of confirmed speakers is: http://www.mat.unimi.it/users/naldi/NeuroMath/ISpeakers.html We will allocate some slots for posters (e.g. Tuesday & Friday evening) and oral communications (10-25’, along the days). The accepted abstract will appear in the Springer INdAM series (http://www.springer.com/series/10283) A financial support can be provided for the stay at the meeting upon explicit request together with the submission of an abstract. Conference details: - Registration to the workshop is free but required - Conference registration starts on September 11, 2016 - Early registration deadline: August 31, 2016 - Web page: http://www.mat.unimi.it/users/naldi/NeuroMath/ - Latest news: http://rgs.mat.unimi.it/other-events Hope to see you there! Sincerely The organizing committee: Giovanni Naldi (Dept of Mathemtics, UNIMI, Milano) Thierry Nieus (Istituto Italiano Tecnologia, Genoa) Claudio Canuto (Politecnico of Turin). -- Thierry Nieus, PhD Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies Istituto Italiano Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30, 16163 Genoa Italy phone: +39 010 71781749 fax: +39 010 71781230 skype: thierry.nieus

July 31, 2016