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Deadline Extension: AAAI Workshop on Incentives and Trust in Electronic Communities (WIT-EC) 2014

by Jay Zhang

Sorry for multiple copies. The submission deadline of the AAAI WIT-EC 2014 has been extended to April 25, 2014. CALL FOR PAPER AAAI 2014 WORKSHOP ON INCENTIVE AND TRUST IN E-COMMUITIES (WIT-EC'14) http://trust.sce.ntu.edu.sg/wit-ec14/ The 3nd WIT-EC workshop will be held together with the Twenty-Eighth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'14), July 27-31, 2014, in Quebec, Canada. Trust and incentive have bidirectional relationships. As trustworthiness measures are used as part of incentive mechanisms to promote honesty in electronic communities, incentive mechanisms motivate participants to contribute their truthful opinions that are useful for trust modeling. Hence, trust and reputation systems should not only provide a means to detect and prevent malicious activities but also design a mechanism to discourage dishonesty attitudes amongst participants. The evidential success of combining these two concepts inspires and encourages researchers in the trust community to enhance the efficacy and performance of trust modeling approaches by adopting various incentive mechanisms. The main objective of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners of both fields, to foster an exchange of information and ideas, and to facilitate a discussion of current and emerging topics relevant to building effective trust, reputation and incentive mechanisms for electronic communities. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Social, cognitive trust, reputation - Computational trust, reputation - Incentive Mechanisms - Cross-cultural approaches - Components and dimensions of sociotechnical trust - Game theoretic approaches to trust and reputation - Game theory and trusting behaviours - Risk management and trust-based decision making - Trust management dynamics - Trust, regret, and forgiveness - Economic drivers for trustworthy systems - Trust and economic models - Trust metrics assessment and threat analysis - Context-aware trust assessments - Trust-aware recommender systems - Evolution of trust - Trust-based incentive mechanisms - Robustness of trust and reputation systems - Trust metrics assessment and threat analysis - Robustness of incentive mechanisms - Deception and fraud, and its detection and prevention - Attacks on, and defences for, trust, reputation and incentive mechanisms - Testbeds and framework of trust - User interfaces to incentive mechanisms - Real-world applications for virtual communities (e.g. e-commerce, social network, e-health, e-learning, blog, online tutoring systems) Previous Workshops: Reacting to the strong needs and trend, the first Workshop on Incentives and Trust in E-Commerce (WIT-EC'12) was organized with the 13th ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce (EC'12), on June 4-8, 2012, in Valencia, Spain, to bring together researchers in both the area of game theory for designing incentive mechanisms and the area of trust and reputation modeling, towards the design of more effective trust, reputation and incentive mechanisms for creating safe e-marketplace environments. The second Workshop on Incentive and Trust in E-commerce has been held together with the 23rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI'13), on August 3-9, 2013, in Beijing, China. Following up the success of the WIT-EC'12 workshop, we invite eight accepted papers to the special issue of Computational Intelligence on Incentives and Trust in E-Commerce ( http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/zhangj/doc/cfp-ci-si-trust.pdf ) aiming to further elicit articles in a more comprehensive and extended form that contribute to the resolving of the above mentioned challenges. Workshop Co-Chairs Stephen Marsh, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada Jie Zhang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Christian Jensen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark Zeinab Noorian, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Program Committee Sviatoslav Braynov, University of Illinois at Springfield, USA Chris Burnett, University of Aberdeen, UK Robin Cohen, University of Waterloo, Canada Babak Esfandiari, Carleton University, Canada Rino Falcone, Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, CNR, Italy Carol Fung, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA Audun Josang, University of Oslo, Norway Sama Khosravifar, University of Tehran, Iran Siyuan Liu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Tim Muller, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Masakatsu Nishigaki, Shizouka University, Japan Thanasis Papaioannou, EPFL, Switzerland Sarvapali Ramchurn, University of Southampton, UK Thomas Tran, University of Ottawa, Canada Kewen Wu, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Contact Info Zeinab Noorian z.noorian(a)unb.ca Important Dates Paper Submission Deadline : April 25, 2014 Notification of Acceptance: May 1, 2014 Camera-ready Paper: May 15, 2014 Workshop Date: July 27, 2014 Submission and Proceedings Papers must be formatted according to the AAAI 2014 style guide. We solicit short and long papers as well as research demos. Long papers (6 pages) present original research work; short papers (4 pages) report on work in progress or describe demo systems. All the selected papers will be published in an AAAI technical report volume. Submissions will be reviewed for relevance, originality, significance, validity and clarity. All articles selected for publication will be reviewed by at least two reviewers with expertise in the area. As previous years, we plan to invite the best papers for a journal special issue.

April 16, 2014

Computational Modeling of Cognition-Emotion Interactions - Quebec City - July 23, 2014

by Jean-Marc

CFP: Workshop on ***"Computational Modeling of Cognition-Emotion Interactions: Relevance to Mechanisms of Affective Disorders and Psychotherapeutic Action"*** To be held at the 36^th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society July 23, 2014 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in developing computational models of emotion and emotion-cognition interaction, within the emerging area of computational affective science.At the same time, emotion theorists and clinical psychologists have been recognizing the importance of moving beyond descriptive characterizations of affective disorders, and identifying the underlying mechanisms that mediate both psychopathology and psychotherapeutic action. Computational models of cognition-emotion interactions have the potential to facilitate more accurate assessment and diagnosis of affective disorders, and to provide a basis for more efficient and targeted approaches to treatment, through an improved understanding of the mechanisms of therapeutic action. In spite of the significant synergy that could result from a dialogue among researchers and practitioners in affective modeling, emotion research and clinical psychology, limited interaction exists among these communities. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum for interdisciplinary dialog among the members of these research communities, and explore how computational models of emotion-cognition interaction can help elucidate the mechanisms mediating affective disorders, as well as the mechanisms of therapeutic action. Workshop Format To facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions and interaction, the workshop format will emphasize moderated panels, small working groups, and open discussion, in addition to the traditional paper sessions. To this end, we encourage submissions of proposals for discussion topics, panels and small working groups. Keynote address:Keith Oatley, University of Toronto-- "The cognitive bases of emotions, emotional disorders and psychotherapy." *Submission Guidelines* Interested participants should submit extended abstracts (1-3 pages), discussion and working group topics (1 page), or panel proposals (1-2 pages) to hudlicka(a)cs.umass.edu <mailto:Hudlicka@ieee.org> by *June 1*.Relevant topics include: ·Which processes mediating cognition-emotion interactions are sufficiently well understood to support computational modeling (e.g., affective biases on attention & perception; emotion regulation; cognitive appraisal)? ·How can models of these processes contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms of therapeutic action, across different types of psychotherapies (e.g., cognitive, psychodynamic, emotion-focused)? ·What are the relative benefits and drawbacks of the dominant theoretical perspectives on emotion with respect to computational models of emotion-cognition interaction and therapeutic action (e.g., discrete / categorical models, dimensional models (PAD), componential models)? ·What are the best representational and reasoning approaches for modeling cognitive-affective schemas and their transformation during therapy?Can we characterize the differences in these transformations across distinct therapeutic approaches (e.g., cognitive, metacognitive, emotion-focused, motivational interviewing, psychodynamic)? ·What are the most appropriate computational methods for modeling the distinct modalities of affective processes (e.g., physiological / somatic, expressive /behavioral, cognitive)? ·How can we model intermodal interactions across processes operating at different time scales? ·What types of data are necessary to develop these models, and how can these be obtained? ·For a given affective process and modality, what criteria determine the best level of model resolution (e.g., models of lower-level processes via connectionist methods vs. higher-level symbolic models)? ·How can we validate computational models of cognition-emotion interactions and therapeutic action, and what are the limits of this validation (e.g., validation of detailed symbolic models hypothesizing specific internal mental constructs, such as goals or plans, may not be possible with current technologies). Addressing these questions from a multi-disciplinary perspective will provide the context within which concrete gaps in both theoretical knowledge and methodologies can be identified, and research priorities established. Submitters will receive notification of acceptance/rejection by *June 15.* For more information see: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~hudlicka/cogsci2014-cog-em.html Post-Workshop Publication The workshop papers will be published as a separate report, and both the papers and the presentations will be made available on the workshop web site. The workshop organizers will also pursue the possibility of a special issue of a relevant journal (TBD) and/or an edited volume in the Affective Science Series published by Oxford University Press. Program Committee Eva Hudlicka, Chair, Psychometrix Associates & University of Massachusetts-Amherst Michael Arbib, University of Southern California Jorge Armony, McGill University Luc Beaudoin, Simon Fraser University Jean-Marc Fellous, University of Arizona Ian Horswill, Northwestern University Richard Lane, University of Arizona

April 15, 2014

Poster submission deadline extended to the Fourth International Symposium on Biology of Decision-Making, 26-28 May 2014 @ Paris, France

by Mehdi Khamassi

[Please accept our apologies if you get multiple copies of this message] Dear colleagues, The deadline for poster submission is extended to April 30 for the Fourth Symposium on Biology of Decision Making which will take place in Paris, France, on May, 26-28th 2014. Poster submission and online registration can be done on the dedicated website: http://sbdm2014.isir.upmc.fr Please circulate widely and encourage your colleagues to attend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FOURTH SYMPOSIUM ON BIOLOGY OF DECISION MAKING (SBDM 2014) May 26-28, 2014, Paris, France Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle, Hôpital La Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France. & Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France. & Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. http://sbdm2014.isir.upmc.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESENTATION: The Fourth Symposium on Biology of Decision Making will take place on May 26-28, 2014 at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle, Paris, France, with a satellite day at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France. The objective of this three day symposium is to gather people from different research fields with different approaches (economics, ethology, psychiatry, neural and computational approaches) to decision-making. The symposium will be a single-track, will last for 3 days and will include 6 sessions: (#1) Who is making decisions? Cortex or basal ganglia; (#2) New computational approaches to decision-making; (#3) A new player in decision-making: the hippocampus; (#4) Neuromodulation of decision-making; (#5) Maladaptive decisions in clinical conditions; (#6) Who is more rational? Decision making across species. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Elsa Addessi (ISTC-CNR, Italy) Bernard Balleine (Sydney University, Australia) Karim Benchenane (CNRS-ESPCI, France) Roland Benoit (Harvard, USA) Matthew Botvinick (Princeton University, USA) Anne Collins (Brown University, USA) Roshan Cools (Radboud Univ. Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Molly Crockett (UCL, UK) Jean Daunizeau (INSERM-ICM, France) Nathaniel Daw (NYU, USA) Kenji Doya (OIST, Japan) Philippe Faure (CNRS-UPMC, France) Lesley Fellows (McGill University, Canada) Aldo Genovesio (Universita La Sapienza, Italy) Ben Hayden (University of Rochester, USA) Tobias Kalenscher (Universität Düsseldorf, Germany) Etienne Koechlin (CNRS-ENS, France) James Marshall (Sheffield University, UK) Genela Morris (Haifa University, Israel) Camillo Padoa-Schioppa (Washington Univ. St Louis, USA) Alex Pouget (Rochester University, USA) Pete Redgrave (Sheffield University, UK) Jonathan Roiser (UCL, UK) Masamichi Sakagami (Tamagawa University, Japan) Daphna Shohamy (Columbia University, USA) Klaas Stephan (Univ. Zurich & ETH Zurich, Switzerland) IMPORTANT DATES: April 30, 2014 Deadline for Poster Submission (extended deadline) May 1, 2014 Deadline for Registration May 26-28, 2014 Symposium Venue ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Thomas Boraud (CNRS, Bordeaux, France) Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde (La Sorbonne, Paris, France) Kenji Doya (OIST, Okinawa, Japan) Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS - UPMC, Paris, France) Etienne Koechlin (CNRS - ENS, Paris, France) Mathias Pessiglione (ICM - INSERM, Paris, France) CONTACT INFORMATION : Website, registration, poster submission and detailed program: http://sbdm2014.isir.upmc.fr Contact: sbdm2014 [ at ] isir.upmc.fr Questions about registration: sbdm2014-registration [ at ] isir.upmc.fr -- Mehdi Khamassi, PhD Researcher (CNRS) Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (UMR7222) CNRS - Université Pierre et Marie Curie Pyramide, Tour 55 - Boîte courrier 173 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France tel: + 33 1 44 27 28 85 fax: +33 1 44 27 51 45 cell: +33 6 50 76 44 92 http://people.isir.upmc.fr/khamassi

April 15, 2014

2 Post-doc positions on the relation of information and causation (Prof. Giulio Tononi)

by albantakis

Up to 2 postdoctoral positions are available at the center for sleep and consciousness science in the laboratory of Dr. Giulio Tononi (University of Wisconsin, Madison), to study the relation of information and causation within the framework of the integrated information theory of consciousness (Balduzzi & Tononi, 2008; Tononi, 2012). Immediate funding is available for a range of projects related to foundational questions regarding the ontological status of information, and its relation to causation, emergence, adaptation, evolution, and consciousness (see detailed scope of work below). Successful candidates will work at the center for sleep and consciousness science, dedicated to a broad range of research problems focused on two neurobiological problems -- the mechanisms and functions of sleep and the neural substrates of consciousness. Candidates are expected to have strong training in an analytically rigorous discipline such as theoretical biology/neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering. For at least one of the positions, we explicitely encourage mathematicians to apply. Experience in information theory, complex systems, and an interest in the philosophy of information/causation are a plus. Programming experience is required (knowledge of MATLAB, Python, and/or C++ is of advantage). Appointments are renewable from year to year for up to 3 years, starting as soon as possible or until the positions are filled. Post-doc salaries correspond to the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipend schedule for postdoc trainees, based on number of years of postdoctoral experience. Candidates should send a CV, brief statement of previous research and future research interests, and email addresses and phone numbers of three references to: Giulio Tononi, gtononi(a)wisc.edu. Balduzzi D, Tononi G (2008) Integrated information in discrete dynamical systems: motivation and theoretical framework. /PLoS Comput Biol/ 4:e1000091. Hoel, E. P., Albantakis, L., & Tononi, G. (2013). Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro. /PNAS/, /110/(49), 19790--19795. Tononi G (2012) Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness: An Updated Account. /Arch Ital Biol/ 150:56--90. The scope of work will range from: -theoretical development and computational implementation of the notion of intrinsic causal information -causal analysis, including the systematic use of perturbations, counterfactuals, and irreducibility -analysis of complex systems in terms their causal/informational structure -meaning (understanding and control) from the intrinsic perspective of the system -actual causation (causal explanation) -examining similarities and differences between existing notions of information and causation (Shannon information, algorithmic information,...) -defining emergence in terms of the spatio-temporal grain size at which a system of elements achieves a maximum of causal power -evolutionary/adaptive aspects of information/causation including simulations based on small adaptive neural networks (animats), which evolve and adapt to an environment that requires sensitivity to context for survival

April 15, 2014

Neuroimaging and Modelling Research Associate Posts at the University of Ulster

by Wong-Lin, Kongfatt

The School of Computing and Intelligent Systems at the University of Ulster has two available 2-year fixed term research associate posts. One of the posts will involve research in the general area of neuroimaging using magnetoencephalography (MEG), particularly in mild cognitive impairment. The other post will involve research in the general area of computational modelling of neuromodulatory effects on MEG signals. Interested applicants are welcomed to apply at: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AIJ303/research-associate/ http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AIJ301/research-associate<http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AIJ301/research-associate/>/ Note that the closing date is on 28 April 2014. Successful applicants will be based primarily at the Functional Brain Mapping facility at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) with opportunities to interact with other related research teams at the ISRC (e.g. Brain-Computer Interface and Assistive Technologies, Computational Neuroscience, Bio-Inspired and Neuro-Engineering, and Cognitive Robotics), research groups from the (5* research rating) Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, and the recently developed Centre for Stratified Medicine. ------ Dr. KongFatt Wong-Lin Computational Neuroscience Research Team Intelligent Systems Research Centre School of Computing and Intelligent Systems University of Ulster ________________________________ This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information which is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at postmaster(a)ulster.ac.uk and delete this email immediately. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Ulster. The University's computer systems may be monitored and communications carried out on them may be recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. The University of Ulster does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of a separate attachment, the text of email is not intended to form a binding contract. Correspondence to and from the University may be subject to requests for disclosure by 3rd parties under relevant legislation. The University of Ulster was founded by Royal Charter in 1984 and is registered with company number RC000726 and VAT registered number GB672390524.The primary contact address for the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland is,Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT52 1SA

April 14, 2014

2nd call for papers: NCPW14 - 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop, Lancaster UK

by Gert Westermann

2nd call for papers: NCPW14 - 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop, Lancaster UK * Apologies for cross-posting * Dear colleague, We cordially invite you to participate in NCPW14, the 14th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop, to be held at Lancaster University, UK, from August 21-23, 2014: http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/ncpw14 This well-established and lively workshop aims at bringing together researchers from different disciplines such as artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, neurobiology, philosophy and psychology to discuss their work on models of cognitive processes. Often this workshop has had a theme, and this time it is ‘Development across the lifespan’, but also submissions that do not fall under this theme are welcome. Papers must be about emergent models - frequently, but not necessarily - of the connectionist/neural network kind, applied to cognition. The NCPW workshops have always been characterized by their limited size, high quality papers, the absence of parallel talk sessions, and a schedule that is explicitly designed to encourage interaction among the researchers present in an informal setting. NCPW14 is no exception. The scientific program will consist of keynote lectures, oral sessions and poster sessions. Furthermore, this workshop will feature a unique set of invited speakers: James McClelland, Stanford University. Bob McMurray, University of Iowa. Michael Thomas, Birkbeck College, London. Abstract submission Please submit one-page abstracts (pdf) by email to ncpw14conf(a)gmail.com, stating whether you want to present as a talk, poster, or talk/poster. Please also indicate whether you would like to be considered for a Rumelhart Memorial Travel Award (see below). Rumelhart Memorial Travel Awards The Rumelhart Memorial Travel awards, generously funded by Professor Jay McClelland, will provide funding to support travel costs for students/post docs presenting at the conference. Awards of US$250 are available to students or post docs from Western European countries, and US$750 for students or post docs from elsewhere. Decisions will be based on the quality of the submission. Eligibility criteria: The first author of the submission is a student or Post-doctoral fellow who will attend the meeting and will present the submission if chosen to receive a travel award. Location Lancaster is situated in the north west of England, approximately one hour from Manchester and Liverpool airports. Lancaster is surrounded by spectacular scenery, hiking and climbing country. The Yorkshire Dales national park is 10 miles away. The Lake District national park is 20 miles away, http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk. The stagecoach 555 bus (http://www.stagecoachbus.com) takes you directly from Lancaster through the heart of the Lakes. The Trough of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is 2 miles away. Important dates to remember Abstract deadline: 15 May Notification of abstract acceptance: 7 June Early registration deadline: tbc Online registration deadline: tbc Conference dates: 21-23 August, 2014 Looking forward to your participation! Organizing Committee Gert Westermann, Lancaster University Padraic Monaghan, Lancaster University Katherine E. Twomey, Liverpool University Alastair C. Smith, MPI Nijmegen -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Gert Westermann Department of Psychology Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YF Phone: +44 (0)1524 592 942 Fax: +44 (0)1524 593 744 g.westermann(a)lancaster.ac.uk http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/gert-westermann -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Gert Westermann Department of Psychology Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YF Phone: +44 (0)1524 592 942 Fax: +44 (0)1524 593 744 g.westermann(a)lancaster.ac.uk http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/Gert-Westermann.html

April 14, 2014

Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme 'Systems Neuroscience: From Networks to Behaviour' (second round)

by Marcus Kaiser

Dear all, our Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme in systems neuroscience, aimed at applicants from the physical sciences (physics, engineering, mathematics, or computer science), is now accepting applications for studentships starting in September 2014 (see below). Research areas include Neuroinformatics, Computational Neuroscience, Neuroimaging (fMRI, DTI, EEG, ECoG in rodents, non-human primates, and humans), Brain Connectivity, Clinical Neuroscience, Behaviour and Evolution, and Brain Dynamics (simulations and time series analysis). Strong interactions between clinical, experimental, and computational researchers are a key component of this programme. Best, Marcus *Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD programme 'Systems Neuroscience: From Networks to Behaviour'* Programme Directors: Prof. Stuart Baker, Prof. Tim Griffiths, and Dr Marcus Kaiser The Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University integrates more than 100 principal investigators across medicine, psychology, computer science, and engineering. Research in systems, cellular, computational, and behavioural neuroscience. Laboratory facilities include auditory and visual psychophysics; rodent, monkey, and human neuroimaging (EEG, fMRI, PET); TMS; optical recording, multi-electrode neurophysiology, confocal and fluorescence imaging, high-throughput computing and e-science, artificial sensory-motor devices, clinical testing, and the only brain bank for molecular changes in human brain development. The Wellcome Trust's Four-year PhD Programmes are a flagship scheme aimed at supporting the most promising students to undertake in-depth postgraduate research training. The first year combines taught courses with three laboratory rotations to broaden students' knowledge of the subject area. At the end of the first year, students will make an informed choice of their three-year PhD research project. This programme is based at Newcastle University and is aimed to provide specialised training for physical and computational scientists (e.g. physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) wishing to apply their skills to a research neuroscience career. Eligibility/Person Specification: Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a 1st or 2:1 degree, or equivalent, in a physical sciences, engineering, mathematics or computing degree. Value of the award: Support includes a stipend for 4 years (£20k/yr tax-free), PhD registration fees at UK/EU student rate, research expenses, general training funds and some travel costs. Applications will be accepted and considered upon receipt until the deadline of the 30 of May 2014 or until a suitable candidate has been appointed. You must apply through the University's online postgraduate application form (*http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/funding/search/list/in065 <http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/funding/search/list/in065>* ) inserting the reference number IN065 and selecting 'Master of Research/Doctor of Philosophy (Medical Sciences) - Neuroscience' as the programme of study. You should also send your covering letter and CV to Helen Stewart, Postgraduate Secretary, Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, or by email to *ion-postgrad-enq(a)ncl.ac.uk <ion-postgrad-enq(a)ncl.ac.uk>* . For more information, see *http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ion/study/wellcome/ <http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ion/study/wellcome/>* -- Marcus Kaiser, Ph.D. Associate Professor (Reader) in Neuroinformatics School of Computing Science Newcastle University Claremont Tower Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK Lab website: http://www.biological-networks.org/ Neuroinformatics@Newcastle: http://research.ncl.ac.uk/neuroinformatics/

April 14, 2014

Reminder: Call for applications: Brains for Brains Young Researchers' Computational Neuroscience Award 2014

by Kerstin Schwarzwälder

Dear colleagues, Please let me remind you that, for the fifth time, the Bernstein Association for Computational Neuroscience is announcing the "Brains for Brains Young Researchers' Computational Neuroscience Award". The call is open for researchers of any nationality who have contributed to a peer reviewed publication (as coauthor) or peer reviewed conference abstract (as first author) that was submitted before starting their doctoral studies, is written in English and was accepted or published in 2013 or 2014. The award comprises 500 € prize money, plus a travel grant of up to 2.000 € to cover a trip to Germany, including participation in the Bernstein Conference 2014 in Göttingen (www.bernstein-conference.de) and an individually planned visit to up to two German research institutions in Computational Neuroscience. Deadline for application is April 25, 2014. Detailed information about the application procedure can be found under: www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-association/brains-for-brains-2014 For inquiries please contact info(a)bcos.uni-freiburg.de Best regards, Kerstin Schwarzwälder -- Dr. Kerstin Schwarzwälder Bernstein Coordination Site of the National Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg Hansastr. 9A 79104 Freiburg Germany phone: +49 761 203 9594 fax: +49 761 203 9585 schwarzwaelder(a)bcos.uni-freiburg.de www.nncn.de Twitter: NNCN_Germany <http://twitter.com/NNCN_Germany> YouTube: Bernstein TV <http://www.youtube.com/user/BernsteinNetwork> Facebook: Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience, Germany <https://www.facebook.com/BernsteinNetwork> LinkedIn: Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience, Germany <http://www.linkedin.com/company/bernstein-network-computational-neuroscienc…>

April 14, 2014

early registration discounts for NEURON Summer Course

by Ted Carnevale

Good news for all who are interested in the NEURON Summer Course! Applicants who sign up by Friday, May 9, are now eligible for early registration discounts that range from $100 to $200 depending on which course components they request. NEURON Fundamentals June 21-24 This addresses all aspects of using NEURON to model individual neurons, and also introduces parallel simulation and the fundamentals of modeling networks. Parallel Simulation with NEURON June 25-26 This is for users who are already familiar with NEURON and need to create models that will run on parallel hardware. After Course Early May 9 ====== ===== ===== Fundamentals $1050 $1200 Parallel 650 750 Both 1600 1800 Registration is limited, and the registration deadline is Friday, May 30, 2014. For more information regarding NEURON courses see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/courses --Ted

April 14, 2014

Conference on meditation and science

by Pedro Resende

CONFERENCE ON MEDITATION AND SCIENCE TIME AND PLACE: Monday, May 5, 2014, from 18:30 to 20:30, at Auditorium of Biblioteca Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portugal SPEAKER: Matthieu Ricard (PhD, Buddhist Monk - http://www.matthieuricard.org) PANEL DISCUSSION: - Alexandre Castro Caldas (Director of Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Univ. Católica, Portugal) - João Relvas (Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Univ. Porto, Portugal) - João Forjaz de Lacerda (Faculdade de Medicina, Univ. Lisboa, Portugal), moderator DESCRIPTION: During the past 20 years, neuroscientists have learned that the plasticity of the human brain is greater than previously known, and that it can be modified by both internal and external factors via the exposition to new events and training processes. In this conference, Matthieu Ricard will present the benefits of meditation - mind training - for overcoming the power that obsessive thoughts and negative emotions have over our minds, a power which undermines our well being and ultimately is the deep cause of suffering. He will describe work carried out by neuroscientists at prestigious research centers in the USA, such as Madison, Princeton, and Berkeley, and in Europe, such as the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, among others, and results showing that mind training can bring deep changes to our personalities. The talk will be followed by a panel discussion with Prof. Alexandre Castro Caldas (Univ. Católica), Dr. João Relvas (Univ. Porto), and Prof. João Forjaz de Almeida (Univ. Lisboa) as moderator. REGISTRATION (SCIENTIFIC ATTENDEES): If you would like to attend please send an email to office(a)krfportugal.org containing your name, scientific affiliation, and email address. The available space is limited, and seats will be assigned on a first come first served basis. There is no registration fee. REGISTRATION (GENERAL PUBLIC): Seats will also be available to non-scientific attendees, and tickets can be purchased from http://ticketline.sapo.pt/evento/meditacao-e-ciencia-8546. ORGANIZATION: Fundação Kangyur Rinpoche, Songtsen INFORMATION: office(a)krfportugal.org, (+351) 936 812 484 SUPPORT: Centro de Apoio ao Sem Abrigo (CASA, IPSS), Multicare, Câmara Municipal do Porto Any profits resulting from this event will be donated to CASA.

April 13, 2014