- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Network Plasticity as Bayesian Inference

by David Kappel

We would like to announce our new paper on stable network function through stochastic plasticity. Summary: Networks of neurons in the brain are exposed to a multitude of internal and external changes and perturbations, to which they have to respond quickly in order to maintain stable functionality. In addition, experimental data suggest that these networks are simultaneously able to maintain structural constraints such as the empirically found connection probability between specific types of neurons, and heavy-tailed distributions of synaptic weights. Other experimental data point to surprising ongoing fluctuations in dendritic spines and spine volumes, to some extent even in the adult brain and in the absence of synaptic activity. In our paper "Network Plasticity as Bayesian Inference" we have shown that stochasticity of synaptic connection may support stable network function. It enables networks to sample parameters from some low-dimensional manifold in a high-dimensional parameter space that represents attractive combinations of structural constraints and a good fit to empirical evidence (e.g., sensory inputs). The resulting new theory of network plasticity explains from a functional perspective the experimentally observed ongoing fluctuations and structural priors that previously appeared to be quite puzzling, and provides a viable alternative to existing models that propose convergence of parameters to point estimates of their optimal values, e.g. to maximum likelihood values. A preprint of the paper is available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.05143v1 The supplement at: http://www.igi.tugraz.at/kappel/pdfs/ms-541-suppl.pdf -- David Kappel Institute for Theoretical Computer Science Graz University of Technology Inffeldgasse 16b, A-8010 Graz, Austria Tel.: ++43/316/873-5847 http://www.igi.tugraz.at/kappel/

April 30, 2015

Final call for abstracts - FENS Featured Regional Meeting 2015

by Dimitrios A. Adamos

This is the final call for abstracts for the2015 FENS Featured Regional Meeting. The final abstract submission deadline of *Friday, May 15, 2015* is approaching! We invite you to participate by submitting your abstracts for poster presentation. For details on the abstract submission process, and to review the submission guidelines, please visit http://www.ffrm2015.com/abstracts. Meetings’ abstracts must be made using our online submission registration process. For further information, please visit the conference’s website http://ffrm2015.comand/or follow us in social media (http://facebook.com/ffrm2015, http://twitter.com/ffrm2015) ---- *FENS Featured Regional Meeting (FFRM) 2015* 7-10 October 2015, Thessaloniki, Greece http://ffrm2015.com The Federation of European Neurosciences Societies (FENS) and the National Hellenic, Israeli and Serbian Neuroscience Societies are honoured to announce that the International FENS conference - FENS Featured Regional Meeting (FFRM) will take place in Thessaloniki from October 7-10, 2015 at the «Ioannis Vellidis» congress centre. On a biennial basis, the FFRM enables interdisciplinary scientific interaction amongst leading neuroscientists and pioneering scientists of other disciplines with the aim of developing new techniques and technologies. It is our common belief that in Thessaloniki in 2015, the FFRM will unite the cultures of Greece, Israel and Serbia to address the common ambitions of their people for progress and distinction. The international organizing committee of the conference has prepared a scientific program that will bring to our country *over* *170 neuroscientists* *from all over the world*. To name a few: - The 2014 Nobel Prize laureate of Physiology or Medicine, *Professor John O’Keefe* from UCL. In a lecture open to the public at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Professor O’Keefe will present his fascinating discovery regarding the brain’s spatial navigation system (grid cells). - *Professor* *Nikos Logothetis*, Director at the Max Planck Institute in Tubingen, Germany. Professor Logothetis is a world-renowned researcher in the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). He will present his research regarding the elucidation of learning mechanisms in the human brain. - *Professor **Henry Markram* of the EPFL University of Switzerland, coordinator of the Human Brain Project - an ambitious venture with the goal of building a working mathematical model of the human brain using super computers. - *Professor Carmen Sandi* of the EPFL University of Switzerland, Head of the Behavioral Genetics Lab, who will discuss the emerging field of neuroeconomics in the effort to understand the brain’s functions involved in making economic decisions. - *Professor Evan Snyder* of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI) in the United States, a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine. Professor Snyder will describe promising results from the application of stem cells in neurodegenerative diseases. FFRM 2015 will be a conference focused on young scientists. Opportunity will be given to young researchers from all over the world to present their scientific projects along side accomplished colleagues. Hopefully the presence of the elite scientific community will provide inspiration and motivation for budding scientists of all ages. The main scientific topics that will be covered include: Molecular/Cellular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Neural Circuits and Systems, Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience, Neuroengineering and Computational Neuroscience. All are invited to participate and contribute their scientific work, ideas and novel approaches to these research topics. We invite those interested in participating to submit their abstracts for FFRM 2015 - a conference that will be accompanied by vibrant social events with the aim of being an unforgettable experience for all attendees.

April 30, 2015

Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer): Vol.7, No.2 / April 2015 Issue

by Dr Amir Hussain

Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 7, No.2 / April 2015 Issue, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 ================================================================ Important News: Increased Impact Factor & Six bi-monthly Journal Issues from 2015! ================================================================ As you will know, Cognitive Computation was selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter’s products and services in 2011. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ♦ Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch®) ♦ Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ♦ Current Contents®/Engineering Computing and Technology ♦ Neuroscience Citation Index® Cognitive Computation received its first Impact Factor (IF) of 1.0 in 2011. The IF for 2013/2014 increased to 1.1 (with a first 5 year IF of 1.387) (Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® 2013) Many congratulations to the editors, reviewers and authors! Want to be part of the growing success? Visit the journal homepage ( http://springer.com/12559) for instructions on submitting your research. ================================= Quarterly to Bi-monthly Issues, from 2015!! ================================= Due to continuously growing number of high quality submissions, the number of Issues has increased from four (quarterly Issues) to six (bi-monthly Issues) each year, starting Feb 2015! ======================================== The April 2015 Issue comprises a Special Issue on "Sentic Computing", Guest Edited by: E. Cambria and A. Hussain. The Guest Editorial titled: "Sentic Computing" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9325-0 The full listing of published articles (Table of Contents) for this April 2015 Issue can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/2/ <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/> You may also be interested in the last Special Issue of 2014 (Vol. 6, No.4 / Dec 2014) on "Modeling emotion, behaviour and context in socially believable robots and ICT interfaces", Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Giuseppe Lugano. The Guest Editorial is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9309-5 and the full listing of 24 articles can be found here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/page/1 <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1> This exciting Special Issue was the outcome of a strategic trans-disciplinary Workshop organized by EU COST (http://www.cost.eu/) on ‘‘The future concept and reality of social robotics: challenges, perception and applications. Role of social robotics in current and future society,’’ held in Brussels (Belgium). A list of the journal's most downloaded articles (which can always be read for FREE) can be found here: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?hideChart=1#realt… Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted All previous Volumes and Issues of the journal can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 ============================================ Reminder: Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has nearly 800 members already! We warmly invite you to join us at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048 For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Marleen Moore: Marleen.Moore(a)springer.com Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to peer review all papers within approximately six-eight weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues - four are already planned for 2015-16 (for CFPs, see: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?detailsPage=press ) With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Professor Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) Professor Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) (Imperial College, London, UK) http://www.springer.com/12559 Also consider your work for related Book Series: SpringerBriefs on Cognitive Computation: http://www.springer.com/series/10374 NEW: Springer Series on Socio-Affective Computing: http://www.springer.com/series/13199 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Alert -- Cognitive Computation Vol 7 No 2, April 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Issue on Sentic Computing Issue Editors: E. Cambria, A. Hussain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sentic Computing Erik Cambria, Amir Hussain http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9325-0 Propagating and Aggregating Fuzzy Polarities for Concept-Level Sentiment Analysis Mauro Dragoni, Andrea G. B. Tettamanzi, Célia da Costa Pereira http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9308-6 <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9308-6/fulltext.html> <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9308-6/fulltext.html> Resonance Elicits Diffusion: Modeling Subjectivity for Retweeting Behavior Analysis Songxian Xie, Jintao Tang, Ting Wang http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9293-9 <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9293-9/fulltext.html> Sentilo: Frame-Based Sentiment Analysis Diego Reforgiato Recupero <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Diego+Reforgiato%C2%A0Recu…>, Valentina Presutti <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Valentina+Presutti%22>, Sergio Consoli <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Sergio+Consoli%22>, Aldo Gangemi <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Aldo+Gangemi%22>, Andrea Giovanni Nuzzolese <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Andrea+Giovanni+Nuzzolese%…> http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9302-z Word Embedding Composition for Data Imbalances in Sentiment and Emotion Classification Ruifeng Xu <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Ruifeng+Xu%22>, Tao Chen <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Tao+Chen%22>, Yunqing Xia <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Yunqing+Xia%22>, Qin Lu <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Qin+Lu%22>, Bin Liu <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Bin+Liu%22>, Xuan Wang <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Xuan+Wang%22> http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9319-y AspNet: Aspect Extraction by Bootstrapping Generalization and Propagation Using an Aspect Network Yunqing Xia <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Yunqing+Xia%22>, Erik Cambria <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Erik+Cambria%22>, Amir Hussain <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Amir+Hussain%22> http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9305-9 Twitter Sentiment Analysis for Large-Scale Data: An Unsupervised Approach Rafeeque Pandarachalil <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Rafeeque+Pandarachalil%22>, Selvaraju Sendhilkumar <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22Selvaraju+Sendhilkumar%22>, G. S. Mahalakshmi <http://link.springer.com/search?facet-creator=%22G.+S.+Mahalakshmi%22> http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9310-z --------------------------------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: --------------------------------------------------------- All previous Volumes and Issues can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 Alternatively, the full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/1/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Rodney Douglas, Giacomo Indiveri, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/4/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.1 / Mar 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/1/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.2 / June 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.3 / Sep 2012 (Special Issue on: Computational Creativity, Intelligence and Autonomy, Edited by: J. Mark Bishop and Yasemin J. Erden) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/3/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.4 / Dec 2012 (Special Issue titled: "Cognitive & Emotional Information Processing", Edited by: Stefano Squartini, Björn Schuller and Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/4/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.1 / March 2013 Special Issue titled: Computational Intelligence and Applications Guest Editors: Zhigang Zeng & Haibo He, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.2 / June 2013 Special Issue titled: Advances on Brain Inspired Computing, Guest Editors: Stefano Squartini, Sanqing Hu & Qingshan Liu, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.3 / Sep 2013 Special Issue titled: In Memory of John G Taylor: A Polymath Scholar, Guest Editors: Vassilis Cutsuridis & Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.4 / Dec 2013, which includes regular papers (including an invited paper by Professor Ron Sun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, titled: Moral Judgment, Human Motivation, and Neural Networks), and a Special Issue titled: Advanced Cognitive Systems Based on Nonlinear Analysis. Guest Editors: Carlos M. Travieso and Jesús B. Alonso, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.1 / Mar 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.2 / June 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.3 / Sep 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/page/1 <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1> The full listing of Vol. 6, No.4 / Dec 2014 (Special Issue on Modeling emotion, behaviour and context in socially believable robots and ICT interfaces, Guest Editors: Anna Esposito, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Giuseppe Lugano) can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/page/1 <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1> The full listing of Vol. 7, No.1 / Feb 2015 can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/1/ <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/> (with the first six papers part of a Special Issue on "Neural Signal Processing", Guest Edited by: Jordi Sole´-Casals, Francois-Benoit Vialatte, Justin Dauwels. The Guest Editorial titled: "Alternative Techniques of Neural Signal Processing in Neuroengineering" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9317-0) -- The University of Stirling has been ranked in the top 12 of UK universities for graduate employment*. 94% of our 2012 graduates were in work and/or further study within six months of graduation. *The Telegraph The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

April 29, 2015

Research assistant job

by Fabián Soto

A research assistant position is available in the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at Florida International University. Research in the lab focuses on understanding the interplay between learning and visual processes in object categorization, using a combination of behavioral, computational and brain imaging techniques. Responsibilities will include programming and conducting behavioral and fMRI experiments, scheduling and screening human volunteers for participation in experiments, analyzing behavioral and neuroimaging data, working with computational models of vision and learning, and performing lab management tasks. A bachelor’s (or higher) degree in neuroscience, psychology, statistics, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, or other related field is required. Strong quantitative skills, computer programming skills (especially python; experience with R and/or C++ is a plus), and organizational skills are required. The preferred start date is September 1st, 2015. The position requires a commitment of two years. This position is ideal for someone interested in obtaining experience in cognitive neuroscience research, and improving quantitative and computational skills, with the goal of applying to graduate school. For informal inquiries, please send a CV, names of references, and a brief statement of background skills and interests to fabian.soto(a)fiu.edu Fabian A. Soto Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Florida International University Miami, FL

April 29, 2015

Reminder CfP : Barcelona Cognition, Brain and Technology Summer School 2015

by BCBT, Bústia Compartida

*Barcelona Cognition, Brain and Technology Summer School (BCBT2015)* University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. 31st August – 11th September, 2015 http://bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt15/ Join us for the annual *"Barcelona Cognition, Brain and Technology summer school - BCBT2015 *" to be held from 31st August to 11th September, 2015 in Barcelona Spain. The summer school is part of a series of events organized by the European coordination action Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (http://csnetwork.eu/) BCBT is positioned at the interface between biology and future and emerging technologies with an emphasis on the principles underlying brains and their translation to avant-garde technologies. BCBT promotes a shared systems-level understanding of the functional architecture of the brain and its possible emulation in artificial systems. This is the 8th year of BCBT, which ran with great success in previous years thanks to an excellent line-up of outstanding speakers (see bcbt.upf.edu for previous editions of the school). BCBT lectures are available online (see http://csnetwork.eu/) as well as the CSN *Podcast interviews *with many of the BCBT speakers. BCBT caters to the students and researchers involved in projects that are in the ambit of “Bio-ict convergence”, "Brain Inspired ICT", “Cognitive systems-robotics”. BCBT will offer up to 30 student slots for the practical workshops while as many researchers can register to attend the presentations and discussion sessions as are interested. For the lectures the limit will be placed at 60-70 given the capacity of the available lecture theatre. The atmosphere of the BCBT summer school is informal with the goal to stimulate in-depth discussion. There are presentations in the morning, usually 2, with the afternoons reserved for tutorials and projects for student participants and road-mapping workshops or further discussion for senior scientists. For the 2015 edition we plan a *1st week* of the school addressing *Evolutionary and Developmental aspects of nervous systems and behavior *(31 Aug - 5 Sept *)*, while the *2nd week* will include presentations aimed at the investigation of *Decision Making* (7-10 Sept). Friday 11 is reserved for the presentation of the student projects to which everybody is invited. *Application deadline: 27th July 2015* For more information and to apply, please go to http://bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt15 *BCBT offers a number of scholarships.* These are CSN scholarships <http://csnetwork.eu/scholarships> and may cover travel expenses, accommodation and registration fee. http://bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt15/ BCBT2014 is supported by the Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and Neurotechnology (http://csnetwork.eu/) Co-organized by Paul Verschure (BCBT Chair) ICREA and University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, ES Tony Prescott (BCBT Co-Chair) University of Sheffield, UK Leah Krubizer (week1 BCBT Co-Chair) UC Davis, CA, USA Gustavo Deco (week2 BCBT Co-Chair) ICREA University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, ES Anna Mura (BCBT Co-Chair) SPECS, University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, ES

April 29, 2015

2nd Ann. of SAMSI Comp Neuro Summer School:July 27-31, 2015

by Zhu, Hongtu

2nd Ann. of SAMSI Comp Neuro Summer School:July 27-31, 2015 Dear colleagues, This is the second announcment for the 2015 SAMSI CCNS Summer School on Computational Neuroscience. This week-long program will be held on July 27-31,2015 as part of the 2015-16 program on Challenges in Computational Neuroscience (CCNS) at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. ( http://www.samsi.info/CCNS ) The school will include courses on five major research topics in computational neuroscience by the following instructors: * Neural Spike Train Analysis Mark A. Kramer, Boston University Uri Eden, Boston University * Compressed Sensing for Signal Processing Justin Romberg, Georgia Tech * Functional Data Analysis for Medical Imaging Data Hans-Georg Muller, University of California, Davis Jane-Ling Wang, University of California, Davis * Big-biomedical Data Integration and Analysis Jeffrey S. Morris, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Yu-Ping Wang, Tulane University * Shape Analysis and Diffeomorphisms for Medical Imaging Data Laurent Younes, Johns Hopkins University This summer school is targeted for graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty from neuroscience, biomedical engineering, radiology, statistics, and applied mathematics. We may consider a limited number of applications from senior faculty. Applications will be considered until the enrollment limit is filled or until June 1. Limited financial support is available for qualified applicants. To submit an application please go to http://www.samsi.info/ccns-summer or email questions to CCNS(a)samsi.info

April 29, 2015

Reminder: Call for applications: Brains for Brains Young Researchers' Computational Neuroscience Award 2015

by Kerstin Schwarzwaelder

Dear colleagues, Please let me remind you that, for the sixth time, the Bernstein Association for Computational Neuroscience <http://www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-association> 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 2014 or 2015. 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 2015 in Heidelberg (www.bernstein-conference.de) and an individually planned visit to up to two German research institutions in Computational Neuroscience. Deadline for application is May 8, 2015 (5:00 p.m. CET). Detailed information about the application procedure can be found under: www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-association/brains-for-brains-2015 For inquiries please contact info(a)bcos.uni-freiburg.de Best regards, Kerstin Schwarzwälder -- Dr. Kerstin SchwarzwÃ¤lder Bernstein Coordination Site of the National Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg Hansastr. 9A 79104 Freiburg Germany phone: +49 761 203 9594 schwarzwaelder(a)bcos.uni-freiburg.de www.nncn.de

April 29, 2015

Deadline extension | INTELLI 2015 || October 11 - 16, 2015 - St. Julians, Malta

by Cristina Pascual

INVITATION: ================= Please consider to contribute to and/or forward to the appropriate groups the following opportunity to submit and publish original scientific results to INTELLI 2015. The submission deadline is May 24, 2015. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org ================= ============== INTELLI 2015 | Call for Papers =============== CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, PANELS INTELLI 2015, The Fourth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications October 11 - 16, 2015 - St. Julians, Malta General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/INTELLI15.html Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/CfPINTELLI15.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/SubmitINTELLI15.html Contributions: - regular papers [in the proceedings, digital library] - short papers (work in progress) [in the proceedings, digital library] - ideas: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - extended abstracts: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - presentations: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - demos: two pages [posted at www.iaria.org] - doctoral forum submissions: [in the proceedings, digital library] Proposals for: - mini symposia: see http://www.iaria.org/symposium.html - workshops: see http://www.iaria.org/workshop.html - tutorials: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] - panels: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] Submission deadline: May 24, 2015 Sponsored by IARIA, www.iaria.org Extended versions of selected papers will be published in IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org Print proceedings will be available via Curran Associates, Inc.: http://www.proceedings.com/9769.html Articles will be archived in the free access ThinkMind Digital Library: http://www.thinkmind.org The topics suggested by the conference can be discussed in term of concepts, state of the art, research, standards, implementations, running experiments, applications, and industrial case studies. Authors are invited to submit complete unpublished papers, which are not under review in any other conference or journal in the following, but not limited to, topic areas. All tracks are open to both research and industry contributions, in terms of Regular papers, Posters, Work in progress, Technical/marketing/business presentations, Demos, Tutorials, and Panels. Before submission, please check and comply with the editorial rules: http://www.iaria.org/editorialrules.html INTELLI 2015 Topics (topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) Fundamentals in intelligent systems and applications Intelligence by design Intelligent distributed systems Context-aware intelligent systems Symbolic intelligence Collective intelligence Ambient Intelligence Cooperative intelligent applications Formal ontology and semantics Persuasive intelligence Bio-inspired intelligence Cognitive systems and applications Real-time intelligence Hybrid artificial intelligent systems Heuristic search Automated planning Adaptive problem solving Intelligent signal processing Intelligent data analysis Web intelligence Intelligent web search engines Intelligent perception and intelligent machines Intelligent agents Patterns in intelligent applications Stability in intelligent systems Ethical evaluation of intelligent systems Intelligent communication networks Cognitive intelligence in vehicular networks Guidance systems Intelligent health systems Indoor special-awareness Intelligent systems for software computing Sensor-based intelligent systems Intelligent systems for wireless applications Intelligent transport systems Intelligent applications for disaster management Intelligence in medical decision applications Intelligent forecasting applications Intelligent human-computer interaction systems Intelligent multimedia Intelligent recommenders Intelligent security systems and applications Intelligent robotics Intelligent sensors and sensing applications Mobility intelligence and semantic applications ----------------------- Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/ComINTELLI15.html ================================================

April 29, 2015

Deadline Extension (8. May, 2015), Workshop “Information Theory in Artificial Life” at ECAL 2015, York

by Georg Martius

Dear colleagues, we are extending the deadline for our workshop on --------- Information Theory in Artificial Life ---------- at ECAL in York this year to the _8th of May_ 2015. If you want to participate or have any questions, send us an email or an abstract to itialife(a)gmail.com. Workshop webpage: http://www.mis.mpg.de/ay/workshops/ecal15ws.html Conference webpage: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/workshops.html Also, we are hosting an open special issue in the journal Entropy, associated with last year’s workshop, which is still open to submissions: www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/special_issues/information-theoretic Best Regards, and see you at ECAL 2015 Georg Martius, Christoph Salge, Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi and Daniel Polani -- Organization Team for the Workshop on Information Theory in Artificial Life, at ECAL 2015 web: http://www.mis.mpg.de/ay/workshops/ecal15ws.html email: itialife(a)gmail.com

April 29, 2015

job add: staff position as computer scientist/scientific programmer

by Andreas Kotowicz

Max Planck Institute for Brain Research Department of Neural Systems and Coding The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main/Germany is an innovative and growing research facility of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The Department of Neural Systems and Coding (Prof. Dr. Dr. Gilles Laurent) is part of the interdisciplinary neuroscience campus in Frankfurt/Riedberg where the new MPI building is located. Research in the Department aims to understand the physiology of perception with an experimental focus centered on neural computation, neuronal coding and integration. To support our international team of biologists, computer scientists and physicists, we invite applications for a full time staff position as Computer scientist/Scientific programmer starting as soon as possible, initially with a fixed-term contract for two years. We seek a self-driven and interactive individual with deep commitment to science. Excellent knowledge of and experience with MATLAB, algorithm development, data handling, processing and analysis are required. We further expect strong programming skills and experience with management, storage and access of large datasets, Linux and, Windows or MacOS platforms. Applicants should be familiar with a scientific environment. Knowledge of computational neuroscience and practice in computer vision, image processing, object recognition, automatic processing and control of behavioral experiments would be of advantage. Candidates are expected to hold a degree in a quantitative field involving computational work, such as computer science, physics, applied math, electrical engineering or comparable re-search experience. Graduate work at Masters or PhD level (science exposure) is a plus. We offer a competitive salary based on TVöD (Bund) (Collective Wage Agreement for Government Service Workers (Federal Government)) depending on qualifications and professional experience as well as various fringe benefits in accordance with public service provisions. You can expect an interesting, responsible and varied job in a young, international and interdisciplinary team. The Max Planck Society is an equal opportunity employer and is striving to increase the proportion of women in areas where they are under-represented. It therefore expressly encourages female applicants. The Max Planck Society is striving to employ more individuals with disabilities. It therefore expressly encourages applicants with disabilities. Please submit your application (in English, single PDF file) by email (HR(at)brain.mpg.de) until June 07, 2015 to Max Planck Institute for Brain Research -Human Resources- Max-von-Laue-Str. 4 60438 Frankfurt am Main HR(at)brain.mpg.de -- Dr. Andreas Kotowicz Max Planck Institute for Brain Research Max-von-Laue-Str. 4 60438 Frankfurt am Main Germany andreas.kotowicz(a)brain.mpg.de T: +49 69 850033 1700 T: +49 69 850033 2028 www.brain.mpg.de

April 28, 2015