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Community Session on reproducibility in the neurosciences - 11th Göttingen meeting of the NWG
by Andrea Huber Brösamle March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015

----------------------------------------------------------- Community Session Reproducibility in the neurosciences Novel tools and links to the Human Brain Project (HBP) platforms and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) ----------------------------------------------------------- We invite you to attend a Community Session on Reproducibility in the neurosciences taking place during the 11th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society. Date and Time: March 19th, 2015, 14:30-16:30h Location: University of Göttingen, Main Lecture Building, Room 1.141 Snacks and beverages will be served Recently, experiments gathering neuronal data in behaving animals as well as the corresponding data analysis workflows have dramatically gained in complexity. At present, this creates a lack of reproducibility impairing the reliability and efficiency of research. In this community session, the status and approaches to address this challenge will be reviewed and discussed. *Speakers:* Sonja Grün (Jülich Researach Centre & RWTH Aachen) Thomas Wachtler (G-Node, LMU Munich) Jeff Muller (EPFL, Lausanne) We are looking forward to seeing you in Göttingen. Community Session organizer: Sonja Grün (Jülich Researach Centre & RWTH Aachen)

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3rd CFP: EXTENDED DEADLINE Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment, ECAL'15
by Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015

3rd CALL FOR PAPERS *** EXTENDED DEADLINE *** 13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2015) Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment Session paper submission deadline: Monday, 16 March 2015 Notification of acceptance of papers: Friday, 24 April 2015 Paper Camera-Ready-Copy deadline: Monday, 18 May 2015 Conference convenes: 20-24 July 2015, York, United Kingdom Conference website: http://ecal2015.alife.org <http://ecal2015.alife.org/> Special Session website: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html <http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html> There is a growing acknowledgement in the artificial life and artificial intelligence community that embodiment is a key for the understanding of cognitive systems. Despite the consensus about the importance of embodiment, there is no clear definition of what the agent’s embodiment actually is. We believe that a quantitative approach can help to answer this open question. This is inspired by Einstein’s answer to the question ”What is time?”, to which he replied ”Time is what clocks measure”. Although this seems to be a trivial answer, it reveals that what we mean by time depends on the way we measure it. We are interested in quantifications of embodiment from various view points and different fields. A non-exclusive list of examples is: • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on sensing • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on cognitive processes • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on acting • Quantifications of brain-body-environment separation We are open to quantifications from any formal approach. Examples are information theory and dynamical systems, but others are highly welcome too. The ideal outcome of the special session would be a good overview of different concepts and quantifications of embodiment and an understanding how they overlap and differ, thereby leading to a better understanding and a clearer picture of what embodiment actually is. Papers are submitted via the ECAL paper submission form and published in the conference proceedings. You need to select “Quantifying Embodiment” when you are submitting your paper. Special Session Chairs: Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Christoph Salge, Georg Martius, Daniel Polani

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PhD and Postdoc positions (eye-movements, stereo) at QMUL
by Miles Hansard March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015

PhD Studentship: Computational Analysis of Eye-Movements. School of EECS, Queen Mary, University of London. Applications are invited for a fully-funded PhD studentship, to conduct research into human eye-movements. The project will develop new computational models of visual behaviour, based on recent ideas from computer vision, spatial statistics and time-series analysis. The models will be tested in psychophysical experiments, and implemented in an open-source tool-kit. Supervised by Miles Hansard (computer vision, http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~milesh/) and Isabelle Mareschal (experimental psychology). All nationalities are eligible to apply, for details see: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AKO352/phd-studentship-in-eye-movement-analysis/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Research Assistant: Geometric Evaluation of Stereoscopic Video. School of EECS, Queen Mary, University of London. This new project will develop a new approach to the evaluation of 3D content, based on computational models of human binocular vision. Disparity statistics will be computed from stereoscopic video, by a prototype system, for use in depth-grading and other post-production tasks. To work with Miles Hansard (http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~milesh/) in conjunction with a high-profile graphics and visual effects company. All nationalities are eligible to apply, for details see: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ATT437/research-assistant/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~milesh/

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INCF Nodes Workshop in Warsaw, April 16-17
by Daniel Wójcik March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015

Dear Colleagues, Each Spring, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF; http://www.incf.org) holds the INCF Nodes Workshop. This is the main event bringing representatives from each Node country together to present their activities, begin and continue collaborations, and inspire the future directions of INCF: http://incf.org/activities/workshops/node-workshops/node-workshops The next workshop will be organized by the Polish Node of INCF, and will spotlight Polish neuroinformatics research in areas from molecular neuroscience to brain-computer interfaces and supercomputing. It will be held at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (http://en.nencki.gov.pl/) in Warsaw, 16-17 April 2015, and will be the first Nodes Workshop open to the wider scientific community. Registration is free. Deadline for registration: * March 16* Workshop details: http://bit.ly/incf2015spring Looking forward to welcoming you in Warsaw, Daniel Wojcik On behalf of the Polish Node of INCF -- Daniel K. Wojcik, PhD, DSc Laboratory of Neuroinformatics, Head PhD Studies, Head Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology 3 Pasteur St, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland tel: (+48 22) 5892348 fax: (+48 22) 8225342 skype: danek8317 http://dwojcik.pl/ http://neuroinflab.wordpress.com/ http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0812-9872

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Systems and Computational Neuroscience Down Under (SCiNDU)
by Geoffrey Goodhill March 1, 2015

March 1, 2015

SCiNDU: SYSTEMS AND COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE DOWN UNDER qbi.uq.edu.au/scindu<http://qbi.uq.edu.au/scindu> December 15-17th, 2015, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia This conference will bring together international leaders in understanding the computational principles underlying how neural circuits decode sensory information, make decisions, and learn from experience. Abstract submissions for poster presentation are welcome. Deadline for abstracts and early registration is Oct 16th 2015. Some abstracts will be selected for short talks. Confirmed invited speakers include: Ehsan Arabzadeh (ANU) Mark Bear (MIT) Michael Breakspear (QIMR) Allen Cheung (QBI) Yang Dan (UC Berkeley) Peter Dayan (UCL) Geoffrey Goodhill (QBI) Zach Mainen (Champalimaud) Jason Mattingley (QBI) Linda Richards (QBI) Peter Robinson (Sydney) Marcello Rosa (Monash) Pankaj Sah (QBI) Mandyam Srinivasan (QBI) Greg Stuart (ANU) Stephen Williams (QBI) Li Zhaoping (UCL) On December 15th the conference will be preceded by tutorials including: Mark Bear: Experience-dependent synaptic plasticity Peter Dayan: Neural reinforcement learning Jason Mattingley: Brain stimulation, attention and plasticity Li Zhaoping: Vision, efficient coding and salience We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Queensland Brain Institute and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. Professor Geoffrey J Goodhill Queensland Brain Institute and School of Mathematics & Physics University of Queensland St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia Email: g.goodhill(a)uq.edu.au<mailto:g.goodhill@uq.edu.au> http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/professor-geoffrey-goodhill

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Reminder: MBL Methods in Computational Neuroscience Course 2015: applications due March 5
by Mark Goldman March 1, 2015

March 1, 2015

Applications are open for the Methods in Computational Neuroscience course at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The course will run from July 29 to August 26, 2014, and the online application form can be found at: http://ws2.mbl.edu/studentapp/studentapp.asp?CourseID=MCN. The course application deadline is March 5. The course covers a range of topics in computational neuroscience including neuronal biophysics, neural coding & information processing, circuit dynamics, learning & memory, motor control, and cognitive processing & disease. In addition, numerous tutorials and problem sets will cover a broad range of computational and mathematical modeling methods. The course strongly emphasizes the collaboration between theory and experiment in solving neuroscience problems, and lectures will be given by a mixture of theorists and experimentalists. The final weeks of the course are primarily reserved for development and work on projects that students design in collaboration with the resident faculty. Further information can be found on the MCN website: http://www.mbl.edu/mcn/ 2015 Course Directors: Michale Fee, MIT Mark Goldman, UC Davis 2015 Confirmed Faculty: Larry Abbott, Columbia University Steve Baccus, Stanford University Jeff Beck, Duke University William Bialek, Princeton University Dmitri Chklovskii, HHMI Janelia Farm Peter Dayan, University College London Bard Ermentrout, University of Pittsburgh Adrienne Fairhall, University of Washington Ila Fiete, UT Austin Loren Frank, UCSF Michael Frank, Brown University Surya Ganguli, Stanford University John Huguenard, Stanford University David Kleinfeld, UC San Diego Nancy Kopell, Boston University John Lisman, Brandeis University Eve Marder, Brandeis University Bartlett Mel, University of Southern California Jonathan Pillow, Princeton University Maneesh Sahani, University College London Terry Sejnowski, Salk Institute Michael Shadlen, Columbia University Josh Shaevitz, Princeton University Sara Solla, Northwestern University Haim Sompolinsky, Hebrew University David Tank, Princeton University Josh Tenenbaum, MIT Srini Turaga, Janelia Farm Xiao-Jing Wang, NYU Daniel Wolpert, Cambridge University Ryohei Yasuda, Duke University

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a neural architecture for autonomous spatial and object attention, invariant object category learning and recognition, and Where’s Waldo search with freely moving eyes
by Stephen Grossberg Feb. 27, 2015

Feb. 27, 2015

The following series of articles progressively develop a neural architecture for autonomous spatial and object attention, invariant object category learning and recognition, and Where’s Waldo search with freely moving eyes: ARTSCAN View-invariant object category learning and recognition with freely moving eyes in a 2D scene Fazl, A., Grossberg, S., and Mingolla, E. (2009). View-invariant object category learning, recognition, and search: How spatial and object attention are coordinated using surface-based attentional shrouds. Cognitive Psychology, 58, 1-48. http://cns.bu.edu/~steve/FazGroMin2008.pdf pARTSCAN View-, position-, and size-invariant object category learning and recognition with freely moving eyes in a 2D scene Cao, Y., Grossberg, S., and Markowitz, J. (2011). How does the brain rapidly learn and reorganize view- and positionally-invariant object representations in inferior temporal cortex? Neural Networks, 24, 1050-1061. http://cns.bu.edu/~steve/NN2853.pdf dARTSCAN ARTSCAN with transient and sustained distributed attention and prefrontal priming in a 2D scene Foley, N.C., Grossberg, S. and Mingolla, E. (2012). Neural dynamics of object-based multifocal visual spatial attention and priming: Object cueing, useful-field-of-view, and crowding. Cognitive Psychology, 65, 77-117. http://cns.bu.edu/~steve/FolGroMin2012.pdf ARTSCAN SEARCH Solution of Where’s Waldo Problem: finding a valued object in a 2D scene Chang, H.-C., Grossberg, S., and Cao, Y. (2014) Where's Waldo? How perceptual cognitive, and emotional brain processes cooperate during learning to categorize and find desired objects in a cluttered scene. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, doi: 10.3389/fnint.2014.0043. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2014.00043/full 3D ARTSCAN ARTSCAN of a 3D scene whose 3D perceptual representations remain stable as the eyes move Grossberg, S., Srinivasan, K., and Yazdanbakhsh, A. (2014). Binocular fusion and invariant category learning due to predictive remapping during scanning of a depthful scene with eye movements. Frontiers in Psychology: Perception Science, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01457. http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01457/full Stephen Grossberg Wang Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems Professor of Mathematics, Psychology, and Biomedical Engineering Director, Center for Adaptive Systems http://www.cns.bu.edu/about/cas.html http://cns.bu.edu/~steve steve(a)bu.edu

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ECMLPKDD 2015 : Call for Papers, Tutorials and Workshops
by ECMLPKDD 2015 Feb. 27, 2015

Feb. 27, 2015

The European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD) will take place in Porto, Portugal, from September 7th to 11th, 2015 (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org) This event is the leading European scientific event on machine learning and data mining and builds upon a very successful series of 25 ECML and 18 PKDD conferences, which have been jointly organized for the past 14 years. ECMLPKDD 2015 will host three tracks, tutorials and a set of workshops. Therefore, we invite all researchers and practitioners from different communities to submit papers and/or present tutorial and workshop proposals. ************************* CALL FOR PAPERS ************************* JOURNAL TRACK ********************* Articles for this track are submitted all year long directly to either Machine Learning or Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, and are reviewed like regular journal articles. Accepted articles appear in full in the journal and the authors are given a presentation slot at the conference. Articles deemed insufficiently mature for journal publication may be accepted for inclusion in the proceedings. Submissions to the journal track will be managed by the Guest Editorial Board. Paper Submission: Cut-off dates for the bi-weekly batches are 18 Jan, 1 Feb, 15 Fev, 1 Mar, 15 Mar, 29 Mar, 12 Apr, 26 Apr of 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/journal-track RESEARCH PROCEEDINGS TRACK ******************************************* The research proceedings track, which is organized in the traditional way. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/research-proceedings-track INDUSTRIAL, GOVERNMENTAL & NON-GOVERNMENTAL PROCEEDINGS TRACK **************************************************************************** ************************** The NEW industrial, governmental & non-governmental (NGO) proceedings track is independent and distinct from the Research Track. Submissions to this track should solve real-world problems and focus on engineering systems, applications, and challenges. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/industrial-proceedings-track ***************************************************************** CALL FOR TUTORIAL AND WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ***************************************************************** TUTORIALS ************** The tutorials are intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to established or emerging research topics of interest for the machine learning and the data mining community. These topics include related research fields or applications. The ideal tutorial should attract a wide audience. It should be broad enough to provide a basic introduction to the chosen research area, but it should also cover the most important topics in depth. We welcome half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-tutorials WORKSHOPS **************** The workshops will be on relevant and current topics in Machine Learning and Data Mining. The scope of the proposal should be consistent with the conference themes as described in the ECMLPKDD 2015 Call for Papers (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission) Interdisciplinary workshops that bring together researchers and practitioners from different communities are especially welcome. We encourage workshops that bridge the gap between theoretical advances and important and/or innovative applications of machine learning and data mining. We welcome both full and half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Workshop Websites and Call for Papers Online: March 27, 2015 Workshop Proceedings (Camera-ready): August 3, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-workshop-proposals Hope to see you all soon in Porto, Portugal!!! The publicity chairs of the ECMLPKDD 2015, Carlos Abreu Ferreira Ricardo Campos --- Este e-mail foi verificado em termos de vírus pelo software antivírus Avast. http://www.avast.com

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Postdoctoral position in Computational Neuroscience at IUPUI
by Yaroslav Molkov Feb. 27, 2015

Feb. 27, 2015

A postdoctoral/research associate position in computational neuroscience is available immediately in the NIH funded project focusing on multiscale computational modeling of interactions between respiratory central pattern generator and sympathetic nervous system as it relates to neurogenic hypertension. This collaborative project is performed by the groups of Yaroslav Molkov (Dept. of Mathematical Science, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA), Ana Abdala (University of Bristol, UK) and Daniel Zoccal (Sao Paulo State University, Brazil). Excessive sympathetic activity plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of hypertension. Such autonomic dysfunction is observed in hypertensive patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Chronic exposure to intermittent hypoxia (CIH) that occurs in OSA is the main factor leading to sympathetic overactivity and hypertension. A CIH-driven increase in sympathetic output is largely dependent on the emergence of active expiratory pattern. The respiratory central pattern generator (rCPG) is composed of two interacting oscillators. The first occupies Bötzinger/pre-Bötzinger complexes and generates self-sustained respiratory rhythm controlling the diaphragm to provide inspiration. The second oscillator, the parafacial respiratory group (pFRG), resides in the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN). The RTN/pFRG oscillations emerge in hypoxic and hypercapnic conditions, and drive motor output to abdominal muscles for active (forced) expiration. Interactions of these respiratory circuits with the sympathetic neurons of the rostral and caudal ventrolateral medulla evoke respiratory-related oscillations in sympathetic efferent drive. Exposure to CIH leads to alterations in excitability of RTN/pFRG neuronal population and/or modifications in synaptic connections between respiratory oscillators and sympathetic neurons which ultimately results in the elevated baseline sympathetic activity and arterial pressure. This interdisciplinary project aims to reveal the mechanisms that couple breathing and control of blood pressure in the brain in health and disease, and for the first time translate them into a realistic computational model. Such a model will have the unprecedented potential for generating effective non-pharmacological means of controlling blood pressure and breathing via implantable biofeedback devices (e.g. vagus nerve stimulation) and non-invasive devices for guided control of autonomic function (e.g. device-guided paced respiration). Furthermore, it will provide a robust scientific substrate for evaluating the usefulness and safety of alternative medicine interventions, such as controlled breathing practices, for lowering blood pressure and improving heart rate variability. Applicants must have a PhD degree in Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related discipline and have excellent programming skills (C++, Matlab, UNIX). Previous experience in computational neuronal modeling is a plus. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Dr. Molkov ( ymolkov(a)iupui.edu) by email. To apply, please send an email along with (1) curriculum vitae; (2) a cover letter describing previous research experience and interests; (3) the names and contact information of three references. Application processing will begin immediately and the search will remain open until the position is filled. Best Regards, Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis Department of Mathematical Sciences 402 N. Blackford St, LD 270, Indianapolis, IN 46202 Office: LD 224U Phone: (317) 274-6934 Fax: (317) 274-3460 Email: ymolkov(a)iupui.edu

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Postdoctoral positions available in Sophie Deneve's team, Group for Neural Theory, Ecole Normale supérieure, Paris
by Sophie Deneve Feb. 26, 2015

Feb. 26, 2015

Two postdoctoral positions are available in the group of Sophie Deneve, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris. Positions are for one year, renewable one year, and comes with competitive salary and generous equipment and travel funds. The team is part of the “Group for neural theory” ( http://iec-lnc.ens.fr/group-for-neural-theory/) and surrounded by top-level theoretical and experimental labs. Candidates are expected to have a solid training in the field of computational neuroscience, proven quantitative and programming skills and a strong interest in integrative/cognitive neuroscience. Starting dates are flexible, but should preferentially occur before September 2015. Possible projects include: Starting from the hypothesis that biological networks are optimally tuned to maximize coding efficiency and robustness, we will design new tools to analyze their dynamics and function. We will identify functionally relevant, low-dimensional structures in large neural datasets (spontaneous and stimulus-driven multi-unit activity in retina, visual cortex, and/or in Zebrafish whole brain recordings). Sensory neurons are often described in terms by their receptive fields. On the other hand, “generative models” (and more generally, efficient coding) assume that neurons collectively try to predict their stimuli. In such scenarios, prior assumptions, metabolic constrains and context deeply reshape neural selectivity. We will consider implications for learning, attentional modulation and/or hierarchical neural processing. Candidates should send their application to sophie.deneve(a)ens.fr by *March 31, 2015*. Please mention “postdoctoral candidate” in the subject of the email. Application should take the form of a single PDF file, containing a CV, motivation letter, names and email addresses of 2 to 3 referees. No official letter of recommendations are required, as the referee will be contacted directly. Best wishes, -- Dr Sophie Deneve Group for Neural Theory Laboratoire de Neurosciences cognitives ENS-INSERM 29, rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France Tel. (+33) (0)1 44 32 26 35

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New Paper on Network Dynamics of the Human Brain
by Xerxes D. Arsiwalla Feb. 26, 2015

Feb. 26, 2015

Dear Colleagues, For your interest, our paper on dynamics of the human connectome is now available open access. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fninf.2015.00002/abstract Network Dynamics with BrainX3: A Large-Scale Simulation of the Human Brain Network with Real-Time Interaction Arsiwalla XD, Zucca R, Betella A, Martinez E, Dalmazzo D, Omedas P, Deco G and Verschure PFMJ (2015) Front. Neuroinform. 9:02. doi: 10.3389/fninf.2015.00002 Abstract BrainX3 is a large-scale simulation of human brain activity with real-time interaction, rendered in 3D in a virtual reality environment, which combines computational power with human intuition for the exploration and analysis of complex dynamical networks. We ground this simulation on structural connectivity obtained from diffusion spectrum imaging data and model it on neuronal population dynamics. Users can interact with BrainX3 in real-time by perturbing brain regions with transient stimulations to observe reverberating network activity, simulate lesion dynamics or implement network analysis functions from a library of graph theoretic measures. BrainX3 can thus be used as a novel immersive platform for exploration and analysis of dynamical activity patterns in brain networks, both at rest or in a task-related state, for discovery of signaling pathways associated to brain function and/or dysfunction and as a tool for virtual neurosurgery. Our results demonstrate these functionalities and shed insight on the dynamics of the resting-state attractor. Specifically, we found that a noisy network seems to favor a low firing attractor state. We also found that the dynamics of a noisy network is less resilient to lesions. Our simulations on TMS perturbations show that even though TMS inhibits most of the network, it also sparsely excites a few regions. This is presumably due to anti-correlations in the dynamics and suggests that even a lesioned network can show sparsely distributed increased activity compared to healthy resting-state, over specific brain areas.

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Workshop announcement: HBP Hippocamp CA1
by Szabolcs Káli Feb. 26, 2015

Feb. 26, 2015

Dear Colleagues, Registration is now open for the workshop "HBP Hippocamp CA1: Collaborative and Integrative Modeling of Hippocampal Area CA1", to be held March 31st - April 1st, 2015 at UCL School of Pharmacy in London, supported by the Human Brain Project (www.humanbrainproject.eu) In short, the aims of the workshop are two-fold. First, to engage the larger community of experimentalists and modelers working on hippocampus, and highlight existing modeling efforts and strategic datasets for modeling hippocampal area CA1. Second, to define and bootstrap an inclusive community-driven model and data-integration process to achieve open pre-competitive reference models of area CA1 (and, ultimately, the rest of the hippocampus), which are well documented, validated, and released at regular intervals (supported in part by IT infrastructure funded by HBP). Involvement from the community interested in characterization and modeling of the hippocampus is highly encouraged. To keep the meeting focused on the task, participation will be limited to ~30 people, so registration is required. Please consult the meeting website at http://neuralensemble.org/meetings/HippocampCA1/ for registration and further details. Organizing committee: Jo Falck (UCL), Szabolcs Káli (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Sigrun Lange (UCL), Audrey Mercer (UCL), Eilif Muller (EPFL), Armando Romani (EPFL) and Alex Thomson (UCL). Best regards, Szabolcs Káli Laboratory of Cerebral Cortex Research Institute of Experimental Medicine Hungarian Academy of Sciences H-1083 Budapest Szigony utca 43. Phone: +36-1-2109413 Fax: +36-1-2109412 E-mail: kali.szabolcs(a)koki.mta.hu www.koki.mta.hu

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Tenth Advanced Statistics and Data Mining Summer School (Madrid, June 29th - July 10th, 2015)
by asdm＠fi.upm.es Feb. 26, 2015

Feb. 26, 2015

Dear colleagues, The Technical University of Madrid (UPM) will once more organize the 'Advanced Statistics and Data Mining' summer school. The summer school will be held in Boadilla del Monte, near Madrid, from June 29th to July 10th. This year's edition comprises 12 week-long courses (15 lecture hours each), given during two weeks (six courses each week). Attendees may register in each course independently. No restrictions, besides those imposed by timetables, apply on the number or choice of courses. Early registration is now *OPEN*. Extended information on course programmes, price, venue, accommodation and transport is available at the school's website: http://www.dia.fi.upm.es/ASDM Please, forward this information to your colleagues, students, and whoever you think may find it interesting. Best regards, Pedro Larranaga, Concha Bielza, Bojan Mihaljevic and Laura Anton-Sanchez. -- School coordinators. *** List of courses and brief description *** * Week 1 (June 29th - July 3rd, 2015) * 1st session: 9:45-12:45 Course 1: Bayesian Networks (15 h) Basics of Bayesian networks. Inference in Bayesian networks. Learning Bayesian networks from data. Real applications. Practical demonstration: GeNIe, Weka, Bayesia, R. Course 2: Time Series(15 h) Basic concepts in time series. Descriptive methods for time series. Linear models for time series. Extensions. Practical demonstration: R. 2nd session: 13:45-16:45 Course 3: Supervised Pattern Recognition (15 h) Introduction. Assessing the performance of supervised classification algorithms. Preprocessing. Classification techniques. Combining multiple classifiers. Comparing supervised classification algorithms. Course 4: Bayesian Inference (15 h) Introduction: Bayesian basics. Conjugate models. MCMC and other simulation methods. Regression and Hierarchical models. Model selection. Practical demonstration: R and WinBugs. 3rd session: 17:00 - 20:00 Course 5: Neural Networks and Deep Learning (15 h) Introduction. Training algorithms. Learning and Optimization. MLPs in practice. Deep Networks. Course 6: Unsupervised Pattern Recognition (15 h) Introduction to clustering. Data exploration and preparation. Prototype-based clustering. Density-based clustering. Graph-based clustering. Cluster evaluation. Miscellanea. Conclusions and final advise. Practical session: R. * Week 2 (July 6th - July 10th, 2015) * 1st session: 9:45-12:45 Course 7: Statistical Inference(15 h) Introduction. Some basic statistical test. Multiple testing. Introduction to bootstrap methods. Introduction to Robust Statistics. Practical demonstration: R. Course 8: Bayesian Classifiers (15 h) Discrete predictors. Gaussian Bayesian networks-based classifiers. Other Bayesian classifiers. Bayesian classifiers for: positive and unlabeled data, semi-supervised learning, data streams, temporal data. Practical session: R. 2nd session: 13:45-16:45 Course 9: Text Mining (15 h) Introduction. Fundamentals. Language Modeling. String Processing. Text Classification. Information Extraction. Practical session: GATE (optionally, python). Course 10: Feature Subset Selection (15 h) Introduction. Filter approaches. Embedded methods. Wrapper methods. Advanced topics. Practical session: R and Weka. 3rd session: 17:00-20:00 Course 11: Support Vector Machines and Convex Optimization (15 h) Introduction. SVM models. SVM learning algorithms. Convex non differentiable optimization. Course 12: Hidden Markov Models (15 h) Introduction. Discrete Hidden Markov Models. Basic algorithms for Hidden Markov Models. Semicontinuous Hidden Markov Models. Continuous Hidden Markov Models. Unit selection and clustering. Speaker and Environment Adaptation for HMMs. Other applications of HMMs. Practical session: HTK.

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Call for Papers ( Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience): Special Issue on Neuropsychology through the lenses of Computational Modelling
by Eirini Mavritsaki Feb. 26, 2015

Feb. 26, 2015

Call for Papers Special Issue in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 'Neuropsychology through the lenses of Computational Modelling' Extended Deadline for Abstract Submission 16th of March Computational modelling may provide an increasingly important tool for furthering neuropsychology and understanding brain impairments – but there remain many issues: how can different types of lesion be best modelled? What are the differences between damage to grey matter and to fibre tracts? What the effects of learning within damaged systems or systems where there is an imbalance in neurotransmitters? For this reason a special issue that brings together state-of-the-art papers on the computational modelling of neuropsychological disorders, with papers covering different levels of modelling (from spiking neurons to higher-level connectionist modelling), using imaging as well as behavioural data, and addressing a number of different disorders (attention, language, memory etc.) is expended to contribute significantly to the field of Neuropsychology and Computational Neuroscience. In collaboration with Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, we are organizing a Research Topic titled "Neuropsychology through the lenses of computational modelling”, hosted by Eirini Mavritsaki, Glyn Humphreys. As host editor, I would like to encourage you to contribute to this topic. Frontiers, a Swiss open-access publisher, recently partnered with Nature Publishing Group to expand its researcher-driven Open Science platform. Frontiers articles are rigorously peer-reviewed, can be disseminated freely and are widely read by your colleagues and by the broader scientific and medical research communities. The idea behind a research topic is to create an organized, comprehensive collection of several contributions, as well as a forum for discussion and debate. Contributions can be articles describing original research, methods, hypothesis & theory, opinions, etc. We have created a homepage on the Frontiers website (Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience) where all articles will appear after peer-review and where participants in the topic will be able to hold relevant discussions: http://www.frontiersin.org/Computational_Neuroscience/researchtopics/Neurop…. Frontiers will also compile an e-book, as soon as all contributing articles are published, that can be used in classes, be sent to foundations that fund your research, to journalists and press agencies, or to any number of other organizations. As such, a manuscript accepted for publication incurs a publishing fee, which varies depending on the article type. Research Topic manuscripts receive a significant discount on publishing fees. Please take a look at this fee table: http://www.frontiersin.org/about/PublishingFees. Once published, your articles will remain free to access for all readers, and will be indexed in PubMed and other academic archives. As an author in Frontiers, you retain the copyright to your own papers and figures. I would be delighted if you considered participating in this Research Topic. Should you choose to participate, please confirm by sending me a quick email and then your abstract no later than Feb 16, 2015 using the following link: http://www.frontiersin.org/Computational_Neuroscience/researchtopics/Neurop… Please note that the deadline for manuscript submission is on: Jun 30, 2015 Since I am using the Frontiers system to manage this topic, I would really appreciate if you could also please indicate your decision by clicking on one of the links below. <<Variable for accept/decline links – do not edit!>> With best regards, Eirini Mavritsaki Guest Associate Editor, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience www.frontiersin.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eirini Mavritsaki, Ph.D., CPsychol Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Psychological Research (CAP Research) Business Development Coordinator for Social Sciences Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology Faculty of Business Law and Social Sciences Birmingham City University D 3.17 Dawson Building City North Campus Perry Bar, Birmingham B42 2SU eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 331 6361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Master's program Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition
by Alex Ossadtchi Feb. 25, 2015

Feb. 25, 2015

National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow invites applications for a 2-year Master's program Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition” The 2-year Master’s Program “Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition” invites highly-motivated students to apply. The English-speaking Master's Program is designed for students interested in connecting cognition, neuroscience and computer science. The earliest applications have the higher chances to get the total tuition fee exemption. Scholarships are also available. Leading European and Russian scientists form the HSE research center of excellence teach cognitive science, neuroimaging and modeling. Program’s Web site http://psy.hse.ru/cogito Application period for non-residents: January 1, 2015 - July 15, 2015. Early applications (before March 30) are encouraged. Location: The Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. Additional info: http://www.hse.ru/ma/cogito/announcement Email: cogito(a)hse.ru

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Job opportunity
by jose luis perez velazquez Feb. 25, 2015

Feb. 25, 2015

Please, post this job opportunity. Thanks Our group at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University Health Network in Toronto is offering a full-time research position for 2 years to work on the neurophysiological bases of hypnosis, starting around May 2015, with a stipend of $40,000/year. In this project we will investigate the neurophysical alterations that accompany hypnotic stages and simple memory tasks using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) in individuals undergoing standard clinical assessment for their epilepsy. While several studies have advanced the view that hypnosis results in the dissociation, or “disconnection”, between frontal cortices and other brain areas, this evidence has been mainly obtained with non-invasive recordings such as functional neuroimaging. iEEG provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate with high spatial and temporal resolution changes in activity associated with alterations in cognitive states, thus overcoming typical problems that arise during source reconstruction from non-invasive recordings. The experimental procedures that the incumbent will carry out include the preparation and coding of the tasks to be presented to patients during control and mental imagery relaxation states. The incumbent will thus be taught how to administer mental imagery relaxation techniques and associated technicalities involved in such activities. Data analysis will require experience with typical digital signal processing for brain recordings such as power spectra and coherence, among others. Some scripts are already available in MATLAB and FieldTrip for signal processing, and the incumbent will have the chance, and would be encouraged to create his/her own codes, with the assistance of the members of the team. There are two *absolute requirements* for the incumbent: first, an excellent knowledge of coding in MATLAB and willingness to implement experimental tasks using Presentation, PsychoPy, or Psychtoolbox and, second, the ability to learn how to put patients at ease and coach them through the mental imagery relaxation technique that will be taught by one of the members of our team who practices this in his clinic. Specific knowledge of neurophysiology is not required but it will facilitate the project. Nevertheless, the incumbent will have plenty of opportunities to become familiar with neurophysiological techniques, concepts and analysis. The combined expertise of our team, that includes electrophysiological recordings, brain coordination dynamics and psychology, plus the several activities in our institutions, offer an excellent environment for a motivated student of the brain and behaviour. We think that this is a very interesting and innovative project and thus we are seeking a person who is not afraid of facing advanced brain recording methods and analysis of the psychophysics of altered states of consciousness. Those interested should contact and submit a CV to Jose Luis Perez Velazquez, jlpv(a)sickkids.ca, or jose-luis.perez-velazquez(a)sickkids.ca. A couple of potential references may be added to the CV.

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*** ICCM 2015 – Call for Participation ***
by ICCM 2015 Feb. 25, 2015

Feb. 25, 2015

Dear all, We would like to invite you to the 13th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling: the premier conference for research on computational models and computation-based theories of human cognition. ICCM 2015 will take place from April 9-11 in Groningen, the Netherlands, with tutorials on April 8. We are pleased to announce three world-class invited speakers: Pieter Roelfsema (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience), Mark Steyvers (University of California, Irvine), and John Anderson (Carnegie Mellon University). In addition to these keynotes, we will have three symposia, 27 research talks, and two poster sessions. A preliminary schedule is available on www.iccm2015.org/schedule, and registration is open. More information can be found on http://www.iccm2015.org. We hope to see you in Groningen! Niels Taatgen Marieke van Vugt Jelmer Borst Katja Mehlhorn

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Masterclass, rTMS and Neurofeedback training courses
by Martijn Arns Feb. 25, 2015

Feb. 25, 2015

Masterclass Neuromodulation, Neurofeedback and rTMS View this email in your browser<http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7edd46d&id=c068f6a6e8…> [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7edd46d/images/663f9d66-cd0…] * 2nd Masterclass Neuromodulation<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7e…> * 4-day Neurofeedback Training<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7e…> * 2-day rTMS course<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7ed…> Dear colleague, Due to a successful sold out Masterclass Neuromodulation and Personalized Medicine<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7ed…> last January, we have just planned a second edition of this Masterclass on September 25-26, 2015. So when interested in getting a full update on neuromodulation techniques such as rTMSand neurofeedback and imaging updates on QEEG, ERP's, Personalized medicine in ADHD and Depression and the default mode network: Sign-up now<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7e…>, there are only a limited number of places! Furthermore, there are still some places for the upcoming 4-day Neurofeedback in ADHD and Insomnia training course on April 21-24 and 2-day rTMS in Depression and OCD training course on June 11-12, also see our website<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7ed…>. These courses are intended for academics, researchers and clinicians who want to learn to apply these techniques in clinical practice and research settings, or who want to further specialize in these techniques or disorders. Kind regards, Martijn Arns, PhD Twitter: @Brainclinics Research Institute Brainclinics Brainclinics Education URL: www.brainclinics.com<http://brainclinics.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7ed…> [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/3bac2a7f26a60f0ffa7edd46d/images/9014488f-a41…]

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Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course 2015 -- Deadline March 5, 2015
by Kreiman, Gabriel Feb. 23, 2015

Feb. 23, 2015

Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course 2015 http://www.mbl.edu/education/special-topics-courses/brains-minds-and-machin… When: August 13 – September 3, 2015 Where: Woods Hole, Massachusetts (MBL) Directors: Gabriel Kreiman, Tomaso Poggio (L. Mahadevan, honorary director) Application deadline: March 5, 2015 This intensive three-week course will give advanced students a “deep end” introduction to the problem of intelligence – how the brain produces intelligent behavior and how we may be able to replicate intelligence in machines. Today’s AI technologies, such as Watson and Siri and Deep Learning, are impressive, but their domain specificity and reliance on vast numbers of labeled examples are obvious limitations; few view this as brain-like or human intelligence. The synergistic combination of cognitive science, neurobiology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science holds the promise to build much more robust and sophisticated algorithms implemented in intelligent machines *and* to begin understanding how the brain produces the mind. The goal of this course is to help produce a community of leaders that is equally knowledgeable in neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science. The first half of the course will focus on the intersection between biological and computational aspects of learning and vision. The second half will focus on high-level social cognition and artificial intelligence, as well as audition, speech and language processing. Throughout the course, students will participate in tutorials to gain hands on experience with these topics. The course will include presentations by world leaders in the field, discussions with relevant industrial companies interested in AI, hands-on tutorials, evening debates and discussions. Additionally, students will be working on cutting-edge research projects directly guided and mentored by the faculty. This course is organized by the Center for Minds, Brains and Machines: https://cbmm.mit.edu/ Course instructors will include: Tomaso Poggio Gabriel Kreiman Nancy Kanwisher Winrich Freiwald Matt Wilson Josh Tenenbaum Liz Spelke Boris Katz L Mahadevan Jim DiCarlo Aude Oliva Josh McDermott Gabriel Kreiman klab.tch.harvard.edu Use "9265358979" anywhere in the message body to ensure that your message navigates through anti spam filters

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Junior faculty position in Computational Neuroscience at GSU
by Andrey Shilnikov Feb. 23, 2015

Feb. 23, 2015

Hello, please post this information on the forum. Thank you. Junior faculty position in Computational Neuroscience at GSU The Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University (GSU) invites applications for a tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor pending budgetary approval. The ideal candidate will establish a research program that synergizes with existing key strengths in the Neuroscience Institute in behavioral neuroscience, computational neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, and neuroplasticity. Preference will be given to researchers with expertise and a publication record using state-of-the art methodologies. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or M.D. in a discipline related to neuroscience and should demonstrate the ability to establish a vigorous, externally funded research program and to mentor Ph.D. graduate students. Excellence in teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels is also expected. Candidates should have an outstanding record of accomplishment and a strong desire for research collaboration. The successful candidate would become a core member of the Neuroscience Institute, which is a thriving department housed in the Petit Science Center that provides world-class facilities and an interdisciplinary and collaborative research environment (see http://neuroscience.gsu.edu) A highly competitive salary, start-up funds and laboratory space will be provided. Applications should include a full curriculum vita, names and contact information for three references, and statements of research interests and teaching philosophy. Applications can be submitted either electronically in PDF format to ni-selection-committee(a)gsu.edu<mailto:ni-selection-committee@gsu.edu> or in hard copy to: Chair of the Neuroscience Institute Faculty Search Committee, Neuroscience Institute, PO Box 5030, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-50310. Application processing will begin immediately and the search will remain open until the positions are filled. Georgia State University, a Research University of the University System of Georgia, is an EEO/AA employer and encourages applications from women and under-represented minority groups. Offers of employment will be conditional upon background verification. With best regards, Andrey Andrey Shilnikov, PhD Professor Neuroscience Institute Department of Mathematics & Statistics Georgia State University 100 Piedmont Ave Atlanta GA 30303 tel 404.413.6423 e-mail: ashilnikov(a)gsu.edu<mailto:ashilnikov@gsu.edu> http://www.ni.gsu.edu/~ashilnikov

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2nd CFP: Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment, ECAL 2015
by Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi Feb. 22, 2015

Feb. 22, 2015

*** 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS *** 13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2015) Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment Session paper submission deadline: 2 March 2015 Notification of acceptance of papers: 17 April 2015 Paper Camera-Ready-Copy deadline: 18 May 2015 Conference convenes: 20-24 July 2015, York, United Kingdom Conference website: http://ecal2015.alife.org <http://ecal2015.alife.org/> Special Session website: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html <http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html> There is a growing acknowledgement in the artificial life and artificial intelligence community that embodiment is a key for the understanding of cognitive systems. Despite the consensus about the importance of embodiment, there is no clear definition of what the agent’s embodiment actually is. We believe that a quantitative approach can help to answer this open question. This is inspired by Einstein’s answer to the question ”What is time?”, to which he replied ”Time is what clocks measure”. Although this seems to be a trivial answer, it reveals that what we mean by time depends on the way we measure it. We are interested in quantifications of embodiment from various view points and different fields. A non-exclusive list of examples is: • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on sensing • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on cognitive processes • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on acting • Quantifications of brain-body-environment separation We are open to quantifications from any formal approach. Examples are information theory and dynamical systems, but others are highly welcome too. The ideal outcome of the special session would be a good overview of different concepts and quantifications of embodiment and an understanding how they overlap and differ, thereby leading to a better understanding and a clearer picture of what embodiment actually is. Papers are submitted via the ECAL paper submission form and published in the conference proceedings. Special Session Chairs: Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Christoph Salge, Georg Martius, Daniel Polani

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[Call for applications] *Graduate Programs ín Computational Neuroscience* in Berlin; MSc and PhD; 7 PhD scholarships; *Three weeks until deadline*
by Robert Martin Feb. 22, 2015

Feb. 22, 2015

[Apologies for cross-posting] *Doctoral* and *Master Program* "Computational Neuroscience" at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin in Berlin, Germany Application deadline: *March 15, 2015* *THREE WEEKS TO GO* Begin of courses: October 2015 Internet: www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de _Doctoral Program_ The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin and the TU Berlin invite applications for *7 fellowships* of the Research Training Group "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" (GRK 1589/2, https://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/grk_15891/menue/sensory_computation_in_neural…) The *scientific program* of the research training group combines techniques and concepts from machine learning, computational neuroscience, and systems neurobiology in order to specifically address sensory computation. Doctoral candidates will work on interdisciplinary projects investigating the mechanisms of neural computation, address the processes underlying perception on different scales and different levels of abstraction, and develop new theories of computation hand in hand with well-controlled experiments in order to put functional hypotheses to the test. The training group offers structured supervision complemented by a teaching and training program. Each student will be supervised by two investigators with complementary expertise and will be associated with the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (https://www.bccn-berlin.de/) a leading research center dedicated to the theoretical study of neural processing. Candidates are expected to hold a Masters degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject (e.g., neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, physics, mathematics, etc.) and have the required advanced mathematical background. Candidates selected in the first application step will be invited for lab visits and an interview, expected to take place in June 2015. The *fellowships of 1468 €/month* - with additional children allowances if applicable---will be granted for up to three years. _Master's Program_ The tuition-free Master program in Computational Neuroscience offers *15 places* per year, has a duration of 2 years and is fully taught in English. The *curriculum* is subdivided into ten modules, whose content includes theoretical neuroscience, programming, machine learning, cognitive neuroscience, acquisition, modelling, and computational analysis of neural data, with a strong focus on a complementary theoretical and experimental training. Three lab rotations and a Master's thesis are accomplished in the second year. The aim of the program is to provide the students with an interdisciplinary education and an early contact to the neurocomputational research environment. *Requirements* BSc or equivalent degree in a relevant subject (typically in the natural sciences, in an engineering discipline, in cognitive science, or in mathematics), certificate of English proficiency, proof of sufficient mathematical knowledge (at least 24 ECTS credit points). ~~~ _For more information_ ... ... see: www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de ... or e-mail: graduateprograms(a)bccn-berlin.de . Best regards, Robert Martin -- Robert Martin, PhD Teaching Coordinator Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin Philippstr. 13 House 6; 10115 Berlin; Germany Phone/Fax +49 (0)30 2093 6773/6771 http://www.computational-neuroscience-berlin.de GRK 1589/1, Sensory Computation in Neural Systems Technische Universitaet Berlin Sekretariat MAR 5-6; Marchstr. 23; 10587 Berlin Phone/Fax +49 (0)30 314 72006/73121 http://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/grk_15891/

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CNS 2015 Abstract submission deadline extended to March 1, 2015
by Tam, Nicoladie Feb. 22, 2015

Feb. 22, 2015

CNS 2015 Abstract Submission Deadline extended to March 1, 2015. Organization for Computational Neurosciences (OCNS) 24th Annual Meeting Prague, Czech Republic July 18-23, 2015 The main meeting (July 19-21) will be preceded by a day of tutorials (July 18) and followed by two days of workshops (July 22-23). Invited Keynote Speakers: Jack Cowan, University of Chicago, USA Gustavo Deco, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain Adrienne Fairhall, University of Washington, USA Wulfram Gerstner, EPFL, Switzerland Registration will open on January 14, 2015. Abstract submission will open on January 15, 2015 and close on extended deadline on March 1, 2015. (This will be the last extension of deadline.) Workshop proposals are now being accepted. Note that one of the authors has to register as sponsoring author for the main meeting before abstract submission is possible. In case the abstract is not accepted for presentation, the registration fee will be refunded. For up-to-date conference information, please visit http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-prague

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Phd Neural robots
by Mark Elshaw Feb. 22, 2015

Feb. 22, 2015

Dear all Please see the PhD Studentship at Coventry University in the area of neural robots. http://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-students/research-studentships/… If you would like to discuss this PhD. Do not hesitate to contact me at mark.elshaw(a)coventry.ac.uk<mailto:mark.elshaw@coventry.ac.uk>. Best regards Mark ------------------------- Dr Mark Elshaw Lecturer in Computer Science Coventry University

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RA position – Computer vision and automated behavioral analysis – Brown University (Providence, RI)
by Thomas Serre Feb. 21, 2015

Feb. 21, 2015

RA position – Computer vision and automated behavioral analysis – Brown University (Providence, RI) Computational (Thomas Serre) and developmental (Dima Amso) labs in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences at Brown university are seeking an NIH-funded research assistant to work on the development of machine learning and computer vision tools, appropriate to examining naturalistic interactions in typical and atypical development. Candidates are expected to have some knowledge of computer vision and/or machine learning methods. The initial appointment is for 12 months, renewable for another year, and potentially longer depending on funding. The start date is negotiable though an early start is strongly preferred. Salary is commensurate with experience and is competitive. Research groups: Our research groups are located within the Department of Cognitive Linguistic & Psychological sciences at Brown University. We maintain strong ties with the computer science, engineering and applied math departments as part of the Brain Institute. Through Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (https://www.ccv.brown.edu) our groups have access to a state-of-the-art computing facility with includes over 300K GPU cores and over 500 Teraflops of GPU computing power. Information about Dr. Serre and his research group can be found at http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu. Information about Dr. Amso and her research group can be found at http://research.clps.brown.edu/dcnl. Requirements: Applicants are expected to have finished, or be about to finish a BS or MSc in computer science or related discipline. They must have some background in computer vision and/or machine learning. Excellent programming skills are required (C/C++/Matlab/Python). Application: Please send your applications by email to dima_amso(a)correct_university_name.edu where correct_university_name should be replaced by ‘brown'. Please include a brief statement of interests, a curriculum vita and contact details for 2-3 letters of reference (no letters required at this stage). There is no deadline for the application but applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as the position will be filled as soon as a suitable applicant is found.

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SAND7 DEADLINE REMINDER
by Barbara Dorney Feb. 20, 2015

Feb. 20, 2015

The seventh international workshop on Statistical Analysis of Neural Data (SAND7) will take place May 27-29, 2015, in Pittsburgh, PA. DEADLINE MARCH 1: Any young investigator interested in presenting their work as a talk should submit an abstract by MARCH 1. Talks by young investigators (graduate students or postdocs/faculty members within 5 years of Ph.D.) will be selected on a competitive basis. DEADLINE MARCH 15: Partial travel support is available! Requests for financial support should be made by MARCH 15. Please see our website: http://sand.stat.cmu.edu <http://sand.stat.cmu.edu/> There will also be a poster session, to which all participants are invited to contribute. Talks and posters may involve new methodology, investigation of existing methods, or application of state-of-the-art analytical techniques. The organizers are Emery Brown, Elizabeth Buffalo, Rob Kass, Liam Paninski, Sri Sarma and Jonathan Victor.

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Deadline extension for CAMP@Bangalore 2015
by U.S.Bhalla Feb. 20, 2015

Feb. 20, 2015

In response to requests, we have extended the deadline for application for CAMP@Bangalore 2015 by one week. Applications are now due on 1 March 2015. CAMP@Bangalore 2015 will run from 27 June 2015 to 12 July 2015. Please see the course website at http://camp.ncbs.res.in/ CAMP @ Bangalore (Computational Approaches to Memory and Plasticity at NCBS, Bangalore) is a 16-day summer school on the theory and simulation of learning, memory and plasticity in the brain. The course will start with remedial tutorials on neuroscience / math / programming and then work upwards from sub-cellular electrical and chemical signaling in neurons, onward to micro-circuits and networks, all with an emphasis on learning, memory and plasticity. Students worldwide are encouraged to apply. Accommodation and food will be free for the selected students. There is no registration fee. Students are advised to obtain independent travel grants. Instructors include: Ad Aertsen (Bernstein Center, Freiburg) Dan Johnston (UT-Austin) Sumantra Chattarji (NCBS, Bangalore) Suhita Nadkarni (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune) Michael Hausser (University College, London) Stefano Fusi (Columbia University, New York) Raghav Rajan (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune) Eric DeWitt (Champalimaud, Lisbon) Mohan Raghavan (Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad) Course Organizers: Upinder Bhalla (NCBS, Bangalore) Arvind Kumar (KTH Stockholm) Rishikesh Narayanan (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) Thank you, Upi Bhalla

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on behalf of Sean Hill - postdoctoral position Geneva
by Reinoud Maex Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

Please reply to sean.hill(a)epfl.ch. Post-doctoral Researcher : Thalamocortical circuit reconstruction and modeling The Hill Lab of the Centre for Brain Simulation in Geneva, Switzerland, led by Prof. Sean Hill, seeks outstanding candidates for the position of Post-doctoral Researcher Thalamocortical circuit reconstruction and modeling The selected candidate will report directly to the Neuroinformatics section manager. Specific responsibilities include: Gather and integrate data about thalamocortical circuitry from literature, whole brain and in vitro studies Leverage the Blue Brain infrastructure to build thalamocortical circuits and design, implement, analyze and explore novel in silico experiments on network structure, dynamical state regimes and network response properties Contribute to the on-going development, refinement and validation of data-driven unifying brain tissue models Interact with wet-lab to validate and confirm model predictions Interact with engineering teams on visualization, high performance computing and brain simulation portal integration of analyses Profile: PhD in neuroscience, computational neuroscience, physics or related field Expert in scientific computing (python, scipy, numpy, hdf5, gsl, Linux, etc.) Familiar with algorithmic/manual reconstruction of neuron morphologies A strong publication record Experience in supervision of students and teaching Strong team player and fluent English in speech and writing Excellent written and spoken English What we offer: An internationally visible and rising project in simulation-based research in neuroscience using supercomputers A young, dynamic, inter-disciplinary, and international working environment A modern working environment, based at the Biotech Campus in Geneva Secheron. Start date: as soon as possible. Deadline for application: position open until filled. Ref: HG1 Activity rate: 100%. Duration of contract: 1 year, renewable. Applicants should submit a cover letter and a detailed CV in PDF format only, with file name “Surname_position applied to _Cover Letter” and “Surname_position applied to _CV” electronically to jobs.bbp(a)epfl.ch. Please use the position title and the reference in the “object” field.

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Post-Doc Position Opening
by Samir Suweis Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

Position Title: Postdoctoral Fellow Position location: Padova, Italy, 35131 Subject Area: Statistical Physics/Neuroscience/Complex Systems Position ID: LIPh lab, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova The LIPh Group of the University of Padua invites applications for a postdoctoral position within the project “Emergence of criticality in the brain” (see Summary below). Appointment duration: 18 months, with possible extension. Start: May 2015 or earlier. Salary will be competitive on European standards, depending on candidate’s experience and qualifications. Profile: strong background on statistical physics. Candidates with both analytical and numerical (e.g. GPU computing / Data Analysis) skills will be favored. Past research experience on brain network modeling / neuroscience is preferable, although not mandatory. The LIPH group, headed by prof. Amos Maritan, is active on a broad spectrum of subjects and it is a vibrant, interdisciplinary research team that benefits greatly from collaboration from all around the world. More information can be found at: http://www.pd.infn.it/~maritan Within the project, the candidate will also work in collaboration with Vassanelli’s ‘NeuroChip’ Lab (www.vassanellilab.eu) where experimental measurements of neuronal network activity will be performed using advanced high-resolution recording techniques. Interested applicants are requested to submit a CV, publication list, a brief cover letter (max 1 pages) and at least two letters of recommendation. All material should be sent to suweis(a)pd.infn.it. For further information please contact A. Maritan (maritan(a)pd.infn.it) The deadline for applications is April 25, 2014. Later applications will also be considered until the positions are filled Summary of the project “Emergence of criticality in the brain”. The project will address the more fundamental question on how and why living systems are often found to be tuned near a critical state. Our approach will try to justify the ubiquitous critical behavior of living systems in terms of its evolutionary advantage. In particular we will expand abstract and general theoretical framework developed in [1] to the context of Boolean networks and by building adaptive evolutionary models on heterogeneous complex networks. In this way we will be able to have a more physical and close description of the particular system under study, i.e. the interaction networks of real neurons. We will then verify and characterize the emergence of criticality in brain networks by analyzing neuronal activity and its propagation as measured in Vassanelli’s lab. Criticality and power law behavior will be assessed by looking at the presence of activity avalanches of firing neurons, taking advantage of the high-resolution and large-scale features of the new recording method. The topological architectures of neural network evolved under different stimuli and the corresponding degree distribution will be also studied. In the first year, we will mainly focus on investigating the spontaneous emergence of criticality in neuronal cultures from the rat cortex. In the second year, networks in slices form the somatosensory barrel cortex will be assessed. [1] Hidalgo, J., Grilli, J., Suweis, S., Muñoz, M. A., Banavar, J. R., & Maritan, A. (2014). Information-based fitness and the emergence of criticality in living systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(28), 10095-10100. ------------------- Samir Suweis, Ph.D. https://impactstory.org/SamirSuweis twitter: @SamirSuweis ------------------- Post-Doc Researcher @ Liph Lab Physics Department, Padova University http://www.pd.infn.it/~maritan/index.html Tel: 049 827 72 51

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5 year funded Research Fellow post in Psychology (Birmingham City University)
by Eirini Mavritsaki Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Department of Psychology Research Fellow Fixed purpose post available for five years Ref No: 022015-62 £31,269 - £36,852 per annum You will join the Centre for Applied Psychological Research which is part of the School of Social Sciences as a post-doctoral research fellow to undertake high quality research into the areas of Social, Health, Cognitive and/or Developmental Psychology. You will join an experienced team of researchers and be given the opportunity to lead on some aspects of current research projects. You will receive training and be given the opportunity to establish yourself as an independent researcher by winning bids and building a publication record. For further information please contact Dr Eirini Mavritsaki (eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk>) or Dr Matt Tonkin (matthew.tonkin(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:matthew.tonkin@bcu.ac.uk> ) Closing Date: 19th March 2015 For details of how to apply please visit https://jobs.bcu.ac.uk Birmingham City University promotes Equality of Opportunity and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Birmingham City University seeks to be a single status employer and benefits include up to 32 days annual holiday, and index linked contributory pension scheme and an employee medical scheme. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eirini Mavritsaki, Ph.D., CPsychol Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Psychological Research (CAP Research) Business Development Coordinator for Social Sciences Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology Faculty of Business Law and Social Sciences Birmingham City University D 3.17 Dawson Building City North Campus Perry Bar, Birmingham B42 2SU eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 331 6361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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PhD funded position in Psychology (Birmingham City University) -New insights into ADHD through behavioural and modelling studies
by Eirini Mavritsaki Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

PhD Student Bursary, School of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology. 3 year funded bursary. REF BLSS PhD PSYCH 1 - New insights into ADHD through behavioral and modelling studies There are many limitations on the behaviour of complex neural systems, but one primary constraint is to filter incoming input in order that actions can be programmed to behaviourally relevant stimuli. This is the limit of ‘attention’. A major challenge for current researchers is to understand how (and why) these limitations arise, especially in conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) where the attentional system is dysfunctional. The projects main aims are to access differences in visual attention between children diagnosed with ADHD and typically functioning children and the role of diet in this. We aim to do this using a novel interdisciplinary approach, behavioral and computational modelling study together with a food diary. The PhD is part of a bigger research project that is in collaboration with The University of Oxford (Prof. Glyn Humphreys) and Russell Hall Hospital (Dr Chrysavgi Tsakona). The successful applicant will join the newly-established Centre for Applied Psychological Research (CAP Research) within the Division of Psychology at Birmingham City University. This centre is part of a vibrant and rapidly expanding research community, which offers applicants with an excellent opportunity to develop their research career. This can include the opportunity to gain teaching experience, to participate in research seminars and to co-supervise undergraduate projects. Lead Supervisor - Dr Eirini Mavritsaki (eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk>). For further information please visit http://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/social-sciences ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eirini Mavritsaki, Ph.D., CPsychol Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Psychological Research (CAP Research) Business Development Coordinator for Social Sciences Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology Faculty of Business Law and Social Sciences Birmingham City University D 3.17 Dawson Building City North Campus Perry Bar, Birmingham B42 2SU eirini.mavritsaki(a)bcu.ac.uk<mailto:eirini.mavritsaki@bcu.ac.uk> 0121 331 6361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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CfP: Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction 2015 in Berlin
by Matthias Schultze-Kraft Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

* Call for Participation and Contributions * International Workshop on Symbiotic Interaction Berlin, 7th and 8th of October 2015 Technische Universität Berlin, Germany www.symbiotic2015.org The Symbiotic Workshop presents an overview of the symbiotic relationships between humans and computers as well as novel advancements therein. There will be organized sessions and room for free discussions to shape the concepts, goals, and directions of this new field of research. The idea of symbiotic systems put forward in this workshop capitalises on the computers’ ability to implicitly (even subliminally) detect the users goals and psycho-physiological states and thereby enhancing human-computer interaction (HCI) without subducting control from the human. A special focus of this year’s Symbiotic Workshop will be on physiological computing approaches, e.g. using brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Call for Contributions include Research Papers (12 pages including references) or Posters and Demos (6 pages) that contribute to an emergent community investigating Symbiotic Interaction as a future paradigm with theories and conceptual frameworks, experimental paradigms and user studies, multi-modal data analysis and design driven research. Submission guidelines are available from www.symbiotic2015.org. The proceedings (including research papers as well as short papers for posters and demos) will be published in LNCS Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Contributions can be submitted at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=symbiotic15. Important dates =============== Submission Deadline: Wednesday, May 25, 2015 Notification of acceptance: Tuesday, July 5, 2015 Submission of final papers: Monday, July 25, 2015 Organization ============ * General Chairs - Benjamin Blankertz, Technische Universität Berlin - Giulio Jacucci, University of Helsinki * Program Chairs - Luciano Gamberini, University of Padova - Anna Spagnolli, University of Padova - Jonathan Freeman, Goldsmiths University * Program Committee (to be completed) - Laura Acqualagna, Technische Universität Berlin - Oswald Barral, University of Helsinki - Benjamin Blankertz, Technische Universität Berlin - Marc Cavazza, Teesside University - Ricardo Chavarriaga, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Cristina Conati, University of British Columbia - Peter Desain, Radboud University Nijmegen - Manuel Eugster, Aalto University - Stephen Fairclough, Liverpool John Moores University - Siamac Fazli, Korea University - Jonathan Freeman, Goldsmiths University - Luciano Gamberini, University of Padova - Hans Gellersen, Lancaster University - Dorota Glowacka, University of Helsinki - Giulio Jacucci, University of Helsinki - David Kirsh, UC San Diego - Juan C. Moreno, Cajal Institute, CSIC - Anton Nijholt, University of Twente - Andreas Riener, Johannes Kepler University Linz - Tuukka Ruotsalo, Aalto University - Paul Sajda, Columbia University - Erin Solovey, Drexel University - Michiel Sovijärvi-Spapé, Aalto University - Anna Spagnolli, University of Padova - Paul Verschure, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona - Markus Wenzel, Technische Universität Berlin For queries about the conference, please contact: - Benjamin Blankertz <benjamin.blankertz(a)tu-berlin.de> or - Giulio Jacucci <giulio.jacucci(a)helsinki.fi>

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Summer School on Neurorehabilitation - September 13-18, 2015
by Pilar Raya Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We apologize if you receive multiple copies of this announcement ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Summer School on Neurorehabilitation El Saler (Valencia), Spain September 13-18 www.ssnr2015.org info(a)ssnr2015.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear colleagues, On behalf of all the organizers it is our pleasure to invite you to the 5th SUMMER SCHOOL ON NEUROREHABILITATION (SSNR2015) that will take place in El Saler (Valencia, Spain) from September 13 to 18 of 2015. SSNR2015 will provide in depth education on advanced procedures for neurorehabilitation of motor dysfunction following stroke, SCI, CP and other neurological conditions, covering practical applications based on neuroprosthetics, robotics interfaces and other combinational and technological approaches. World-class experts in various related disciplines will deliver plenary talks and a set of hands-on workshops will be organized. We are looking forward to welcoming you in Spain September 2015! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Registration - Prospective applicants must fill in the Application Form by May 15, 2015. The admission to the School will be decided upon a selection made by the Steering Committee. Applications received before March 31, 2015 will be given priority. The Steering Committee will select a first group among these early applications. Selected participants will be notified by April 15, 2015 and the registrations must be completed before May 15, 2015. Remaining positions will be allocated among the rest of applications received until May 15, 2015 - Important deadlines - Early Application: March 31, 2015 Early Notification: April 15, 2015 Early Payment: May 15, 2015 Application: May 15, 2015 Notification: June 1, 2015 Payment: July 1, 2015 - Plenary speakers- Metin Akay. University of Houston, USA José Carmena. University of California, Berkeley, USA Gregoire Courtine. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Switzerland Volker Dietz. Balgrist University Hospital, Switzerland Bernhard Graimann. Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH, Germany David Guiraud. INRIA research scientist, leader of DEMAR team, France Bin He. University of Minnesota, USA Ilse Jonkers. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Hermano Igo Krebs. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Maryland, USA Silvestro Micera. Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and EPFL Eric Perreault. Northwestern University, USA Dejan Popovic. University of Belgrade, Serbia Zev Rymer. Northwestern University, USA Aiko K. Thompson. Medical University of South Carolina, USA Jonathan Wolpaw. Wadsworth Center. University of New York, USA -Workshops- WS1 - Neural interfaces and Wearable robotics in rehabilitation: a clinical perspective Organizer: Jose L. Pons, CSIC. Co-Organizers: Jose L. Contreras-Vidal, U. Houston, and Gerard E. Francisco, UTHealth WS2 - Muscle synergies: Looking into the CNS Organizer: Diego Torricelli, CSIC WS3 - Workshop on Functional Electrical Stimulation Organizer: Thierry Keller, Tecnalia Research and Innovation WS4 - (TENTATIVE) Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation Organizer: Belinda Lange, U. Southern California WS5 - Human neuromusculoskeletal modeling Organizers: Massimo Sartori, University Medical Center Goettingen, and Monica Reggiani, University of Padova WS6 - Brain Computer Interfaces: principles and applications in neurorehabilitation Organizer: Arnau Espinosa, Guger Technologies OG WS7 - Operant Conditioning of Spinal Reflexes in Human Subjects Organizers: Aiko Thompson (Medical University of South Carolina) and Jonathan Wolpaw (Univ of New York) For further and up-to-date information, please visit the conference website: www.ssnr2015.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pilar Raya López Neural Rehabilitation Group, Cajal Institute. Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) Avda. Doctor Arce, 37. 28002. Madrid http://www.neuralrehabilitation.org

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Call for posters/registration: Fifth International Symposium on Biology of Decision-Making (SBDM), 11-13 May 2015 @ Paris, France
by Mehdi Khamassi Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

[Please accept our apologies if you get multiple copies of this message] Dear colleagues, It is our great pleasure to invite you to the Fifth Symposium on Biology of Decision Making which will take place in Paris, France, on May, 11-13th 2015. Online registration is now open at http://sbdm2015.isir.upmc.fr The deadline for poster submission is: March, 31st. The deadline for registration is: April 30th. Registration fees (150 euros) include lunches, coffee breaks and social event. Please circulate widely and encourage your colleagues and team members to attend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FIFTH SYMPOSIUM ON BIOLOGY OF DECISION MAKING (SBDM 2015) May 11-13, 2015, 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://sbdm2015.isir.upmc.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESENTATION: The Fifth Symposium on Biology of Decision Making will take place on May 11-13, 2015 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) Beyond two: Multi-alternative and multi-attribute choices; (#2) Shaky business: Neural sources of choice variability; (#3) Looking for causality: Choice bias following brain manipulation; (#4) The dark side of choice: Delay, effort and punishment; (#5) Choosing the unknown: The route to exploration; (#6) More brains: Choice in social context. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Thomas Boraud (CNRS - Université Bordeaux 2, France) Colin Camerer (California Institute of Technology, USA) Peter Dayan (Gatsby Unit, University College London, UK) Mauricio Delgado (Rutgers University, USA) Jan Drugowitsch (Université de Genève, Switzerland) Sylvie Granon (Université d'Orsay - CNRS, France) Hauke Heekeren (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) Laurence Hunt (University College London, UK) Masud Husain (University of Oxford, UK) Quentin Huys (ETH Zurich - University of Zurich, Switzerland) Brian Knutson (Stanford University, USA) Kenway Louie (New York University, USA) John O'Doherty (California Institute of Technology, USA) Mitsuhiro Okada (Keio University, Japan) Emmanuel Procyk (CNRS - INSERM, France) Christian Ruff (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Aldo Rustichini (University of Minnesota, USA) Liane Schmidt (INSEAD, France) Christopher Summerfield (University of Oxford, UK) Mark Walton (University of Oxford, UK) Melissa Warden (Cornell University, USA) Valentin Wyart (Ecole Normale Supérieure, France) Makiko Yamada (National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Japan) IMPORTANT DATES: March 31, 2015 Deadline for Poster Submission April 30, 2015 Deadline for Registration May 11-13, 2015 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://sbdm2015.isir.upmc.fr Contact: sbdm2015 [ at ] isir.upmc.fr / sbdm2015-registration(a)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

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Radboud Summer School Neural Metrics 2.0 : Connectomics & Large-Scale Methods
by Zeldenrust, Fleur Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

Neural Metrics 2.0 : Connectomics & Large-Scale Methods The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour/Radboud University is organizing a summer school on neural metrics with the aim to get participants acquainted with the quantitative analysis of neural organisation and function. In Neural Metrics 2.0 we will build on the success from the previous year, focussing on methods for understanding brain networks such as connectomics as well as large scale and Bayesian methods, with world class speakers, hands-on tutorials, student projects and an interactive debate. The topics covered range from cellular connectomics to human functional connectomics. The course is designed for PhD students and starting postdoctoral researchers working at the interface between cognitive neuroscience and the application of advanced methods. Please consult the Radboud Summer school website (http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/) for details on the program, social events and registration. Further details for the Neural Metrics Summer School can be found below and on the website (http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/courses/brain-behaviour/@972443/neural…) Dates : Monday 10 August - Friday 14 August 2015 (1 week) Application Deadline : 15 June 2015 Course leaders : Bernhard Englitz, Marcel van Gerven, Fleur Zeldenrust, Tansu Celikel Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour & Radboud University Participant profile : This course was developed for PhD students and early postdoctoral researchers working at the interface between cellular and cognitive neuroscience requiring advanced methods of analysis. This includes research in the field of Neuroscience with an MSc in Biology, Computer Science, Psychology, Physics, Al, Mathematics, Engineering or a similar major. Admission requirements : As part of the admission procedure, we ask you to send us your CV and a brief motivation letter in which you explain your interest in our course. Course fee : 600 Euros The course fee includes the registration fee, course materials, access to library and IT facilities, coffee/tea, lunch, and a number of social activities. Accommodation is available for the course participants (additional charges apply). For details please see http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/practical-matters/housing/ Discounts : • 15% discount for students and PhD candidates from Radboud University and partner universities, • 10% Early bird discount deadline: 1 April 2015

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postdoc position ad
by Evelina Fedorenko Feb. 19, 2015

Feb. 19, 2015

Please post. Thanks, Ev POSITION OPENING: We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher for a 1-year position (possibly extendable by another year), to work in an interdisciplinary project investigating the representation of semantic information in the brain and how it is used during sentence comprehension. The project is a collaborative effort across the labs of Ev Fedorenko (MGH/MIT) and Nancy Kanwisher (MIT), within a team in the IARPA Knowledge Representation in Neural Systems program, led by Francisco Pereira (Siemens). The ultimate goal of the team is to build a computational model of the process of language comprehension at the sentence and/or text level, and validate it with behavioral and brain imaging data. Target start date is as soon as possible. RESPONSIBILITIES: Leading one or more components of the project, including designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data (plus overseeing data collection / analyses carried out by graduate students / lab tech working on this project), presenting the results at conferences, and writing up the results for publication. The interdisciplinary nature of the project means that we will be carrying out experiments to inform the building of models of semantic representation of words and sentences from text corpora and curated resources. These will, in turn, be used to help design more informative experiments or carry out other analyses. This presents a unique opportunity for a postdoc to acquire new skills; for example, if the postdoc has a cognitive neuroscience background s/he will be expected to interact closely with the model developers in the team and learn about and leverage the techniques that they use. REQUIREMENTS: We are looking for individuals with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychology, Cognitive Science, or related fields. Strong quantitative skills are a must. Other desirable knowledge / skills include: i) machine learning, ii) natural language processing, and iii) collection, preprocessing and analysis of brain imaging data (using SPM, FSL or AFNI). SEND APPLICATIONS TO: Ev Fedorenko (evelina9(a)mit.edu) Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled.

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Application Deadline Thursday, February 26, 2015, NIMH Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Research Program Chief
by Dennis Glanzman Feb. 18, 2015

Feb. 18, 2015

Please see the following job announcement published on the USA Jobs website: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/394555400 Note that this is a blanket announcement, listing about 75 different positions, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience is one of them. -- Dennis Glanzman

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PhD and Postdoc positions at the Kavli Institute in Trondheim
by Yasser Roudi Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

Postdoctoral and PhD positions are available at the Kavli Institute/Centre for Neural Computation, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway. We ware interested in developing and studying statistical models of high-dimensional data, network inference and reconstruction techniques. We study both the statistical and computational aspects of the learning problem as well as the applications to biological networks for which the successful candidate will have access to a wealth of experimental data collected at the Kavli Institute. The group enjoys close ties with NORDITA- The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, ICTP and the Department of Statistics at the City University of New York (group of Kamiar Rahnama Rad). Travel funds are available for collaborations and visits. Our work is highly quantitative and interdisciplinary; applicants should have a strong background in Statistics/Machine Learning, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computational Neuroscience or similar fields. Interested applicants should send a CV, a short description of past experiences/achievements and future research interests, and arrange for two letters of recommendation to be emailed directly to <yasser.roudi at ntnu dot no>. Questions about the position should also be sent to the same email address.

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joint postdoctoral position at the Kavli Institute & Nordita
by Yasser Roudi Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

A postdoctoral position jointly funded by NORDITA- The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics in Stockholm and the Kavli Institue for Systems Neuroscience in Trondheim is available for studying neural mechanisms of spatial navigation and space memory, and in particular the mechanisms of grid cell and place cell formation. Our work is highly quantitative and interdisciplinary; applicants should have a strong background in statistical/condensed matter physics, computational neuroscience or related fields. Interested applicants should send a CV, a short description of past experiences/achievements and future research interests, and arrange for two letters of recommendation to be emailed directly to Prof. Yasser Roudi < yasser.roudi at ntnu dot no > or Prof. Alexander Balatsky < balatsky at kth dot se >. Please also contact the same email addresses if you have any questions about the position.

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A Long Journey into Reproducible Computational Neuroscience
by Nicolas P. Rougier Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

Dear all, We've just published a short commentary on what we think is a recurrent problem in computational science concerning the reproducibility and accessibility of models in the literature. We think the case we report (in full cooperation with original authors) is not an isolated case but we would be interested in knowing how serious the problem is from your point of view. Nicolas Rougier --- Computational neuroscience is a powerful ally in our quest to understand the brain. Even the most simple model can shed light on the role of this or that structure and propose new hypothesis concerning the overall brain organization. However, any model in Science is doomed to be proved wrong or incomplete and replaced by a more accurate one. In the meantime, for such replacement to happen, we have first to make sure that models are actually reproducible such that they can be tested, evaluated, criticized and ultimately modified, replaced or even rejected. This is where the shoe pinches. If we cannot reproduce a model in the first place, we're doomed to re-invent the wheel again and again, preventing us from building an incremental computational knowledge of the brain. Full text at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fncom.2015.00028/full

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Final call for registration (Feb 27th): Integrated Systems Neuroscience Workshop, March 23-24th, Manchester, UK
by Mark Humphries Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

[with apologies for cross-posting] A final reminder for registration for the 2-day workshop on "Integrated Systems Neuroscience", at the University of Manchester, March 23-24th 2015. (Organisers: Mark Humphries & Rasmus Petersen) Registration deadline is Friday, February 27th. Register here: http://www.isn2015.ls.manchester.ac.uk/registration/ We have a maximum capacity of 200, so please do register in good time. The programme begins at 12:45 on March 23rd, and ends at 16:45 on March 24th, allowing ample time for travel to and from Manchester, respectively. Numerous inexpensive hotels are located within walking distance of the venue - some suggestions are here: http://www.isn2015.ls.manchester.ac.uk/location/ The goal of this workshop is to showcase the state-of-the-art in integrated systems and computational approaches to key neural circuits. Each session of the programme will comprise a pair of talks presenting complementary experimental and computational work on the same circuit theme. A poster session with wine reception will be held on the first evening. Forty-one posters have been accepted, covering a rich mixture of experimental data and computational approaches; the draft abstract booklet is here: http://www.isn2015.ls.manchester.ac.uk/programme/ Speakers and their themes include: Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit) & Alex Thiele (University of Newcastle) - Attentional circuits Daniel O'Connor (John Hopkins University) & Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris) - Functional cortical networks Peter Magill (MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit) & Rafal Bogacz (Oxford) - Basal ganglia Michael Orger (Champalimaud Institute, Lisbon) & Gasper Tkacik (IST Austria) - Large-scale dynamics Matteo Carandini (UCL) & Ken Harris (UCL) - Cortical circuits The MRC's Programme Manager for the Neuroscience and Mental Health Board (Emily Gale) will be attending both days, and will be discussing the MRC's role in this area at the end of the second day. For more information, please visit the website: http://www.isn2015.ls.manchester.ac.uk/ Sponsors: we gratefully acknowledge the support of the Medical Research Council and Company of Biologists. Dr Mark Humphries MRC Senior non-Clinical Research Fellow AV Hill Building Faculty of Life Sciences University of Manchester http://www.systemsneurophysiologylab.ls.manchester.ac.uk/

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PhD studentships in infancy research (including computational modelling) at Lancaster University, UK
by Gert Westermann Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

5 PhD studentships in interdisciplinary infancy research for entry in October 2015 (Note: This programme takes a cognitive science approach to infant development, and computational modelling is explicitly part of the research methods.) Deadline for applications: 10 April, 2015 The Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Interdisciplinary Research on Infant Development is one of 14 Doctoral Programmes funded by the Leverhulme Trust over the next 5 years. The programme is based in the Psychology Department of Lancaster University (UK) which houses one of the largest infancy research groups in Europe, with researchers addressing infants’ cognitive, social and language development employing a large range of methods (eye tracking, EEG, computational modelling, NIRS). Links with other departments (Linguistics, Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics) are anticipated. Applications are now open for five fully funded PhD studentships for entry in October 2015. Four of the scholarships will cover UK/EU fees, and the fifth will additionally cover the higher overseas (international) fees. All scholarships provide a living stipend (currently £13,863) and a training allowance for three years. Studentships will have a strong interdisciplinary focus with the expectation to employ multiple methodologies. Awards will be made on the basis of academic excellence and potential for future achievement as demonstrated by your application and supporting references. In addition, you should consider how the research project you propose is aligned with the research interests of current academic staff involved in the Programme (see www.lancaster.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp <http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp>). You are strongly encouraged to informally contact individual staff members to discuss your specific interests and to develop a research proposal. PhD students will become part of the vibrant environment of the infancy research group and beyond with excellent research facilities and a first class supervision record. You will be encouraged to participate fully, targeting and presenting your work at international conferences, and you will have excellent opportunities to travel to our national and international partner laboratories, receive training in a range of psychological and neurophysiological techniques, participate in research and public engagement meetings, and meet with leading international scientists during an annual conference organized at Lancaster. Lancaster University is in the top 10 under-50-year-old universities internationally (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hu… <http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hu…>), and consistently ranks in the top 10 in the UK. The Psychology Department has a very strong and supportive research atmosphere with a large and active group of graduate students. Students receive their own research support budgets, which can be used to attend national and international conferences. We expect applicants to have excellent undergraduate and Masters degrees in Psychology or a related discipline. You should apply online here: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/ <http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/> for a PhD in Psychology by the deadline of 10 April 2015. In the application, please state that you are applying for the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme. We ask for a research proposal of up to 1000 words – note that this is different from standard applications because of the selection process involved. The application should identify an appropriate supervisor(s) and you must ensure that references have been provided by the deadline (otherwise the application may not be considered). After the deadline, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview, before award decisions are made. For further information concerning the studentships, please contact Prof. Gert Westermann (g.westermann(a)lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:g.westermann@lancaster.ac.uk>), and about postgraduate study more generally, please contact the Department of Psychology postgraduate office (postgraduate.psychology(a)lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:postgraduate.psychology@lancaster.ac.uk>). See the Lancaster Leverhulme Scholarship Programme website http://www.lancs.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp <http://www.lancs.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp> for more information. Further information about PhD study at Lancaster can be found here www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/ <http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/>. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 <mailto:g.westermann@lancaster.ac.uk> http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/gert-westermann <http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/gert-westermann> New book: Harris & Westermann: A Student’s Guide to Developmental Psychology. Psychology Press. <http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781848720169/>

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ICDL-EpiRob 2015 CFP
by Benjamin Rosman Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

======================================================== Call for Papers, Tutorials and Thematic Workshops New Conference Feature: BABYBOT CHALLENGE IEEE ICDL-EPIROB 2015 The Fifth Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA August 13-16, 2015 http://www.icdl-epirob.org/ == Conference description The past decade has seen the emergence of a new scientific field that studies how intelligent biological and artificial systems develop sensorimotor, cognitive, emotional and social abilities, over extended periods of time, through dynamic interactions with their physical and social environments. This field lies at the intersection of a number of scientific and engineering disciplines including Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computational Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotics. Various terms have been associated with this new field such as Autonomous Mental Development, Epigenetic Robotics, Developmental Robotics, etc., and several scientific meetings have been established. The two most prominent conference series of this field, the International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL) and the International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob), are now joining forces for the fifth time and invite submissions for a joint conference in 2015, to explore and extend the interdisciplinary boundaries of this field. == BABYBOT CHALLENGE -- CASH PRIZES FOR THE TOP SUBMISSIONS We are excited to announce a new ICDL-EpiRob conference feature: the BABYBOT CHALLENGE. The goal of the challenge is to use the tools of developmental robotics to replicate and extend the key findings from one of three selected human-infant studies. Please visit www.icdl-epirob.org for the full announcement, including the three target studies, details on the submission process, and a description of how the winning submissions will be judged and selected. == Keynote speakers (confirmed) Prof. Dare Baldwin, Dept. of Psychology, University of Oregon, USA Prof. Kerstin Dautenhahn, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK Prof. Asif Ghazanfar, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, USA == Call for Submissions We invite submissions for this exciting window into the future of developmental sciences. Submissions which establish novel links between brain, behavior and computation are particularly encouraged. == Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): * the development of perceptual, motor, cognitive, emotional, social, and communication skills in biological systems and robots; * embodiment; * general principles of development and learning; * interaction of nature and nurture; * sensitive/critical periods; * developmental stages; * grounding of knowledge and development of representations; * architectures for cognitive development and open-ended learning; * neural plasticity; * statistical learning; * reward and value systems; * intrinsic motivations, exploration and play; * interaction of development and evolution; * use of robots in applied settings such as autism therapy; * epistemological foundations and philosophical issues. Any of the topics above can be simultaneously studied from the neuroscience, psychology or modeling/robotic point of view. == Submissions will be accepted in several formats: 1. Full six-page paper submissions: Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings and will be selected for either an oral presentation or a featured poster presentation. Featured posters will have a 1 minute "teaser" presentation as part of the main conference session and will be showcased in the poster sessions. Maximum two-extra pages can be acceptable for a publication fee of $100 per page. 2. Two-page poster abstract submissions: To encourage discussion of late-breaking results or for work that is not sufficiently mature for a full paper, we will accept 2-page abstracts. These submissions will NOT be included in the conference proceedings. Accepted abstracts will be presented during poster sessions. 3. Tutorials and workshops: We invite experts in different areas to organize either a tutorial or a workshop to be held on the first day of the conference. Tutorials are meant to provide insights into specific topics as well as overviews that will inform the interdisciplinary audience about the state-of-the-art in child development, neuroscience, robotics, or any of the other disciplines represented at the conference. A workshop is an opportunity to present a topic cumulatively. Workshops can be half- or full-day in duration including oral presentations as well as posters. Submission format: two pages including title, list of speakers, concept and target audience. 4. Babybot challenge (Deadline June 15, 2015): Special submissions are invited for the Babybot challenge, which is for the first time introduced to this conference. For detailed information please visit www.icdl-epirob.org and navigate to “Babybot Challenge.” All submissions will be peer reviewed. Submission website through paperplaza at: http://ras.papercept.net == Important dates March 9, 2015, paper submission deadline May 15, 2015, author notification July 1, 2015, final version (camera ready) due August 13th-16th, 2015, conference == Program committee General Chairs: Matthew Schlesinger (Southern Illinois Univ.) Dima Amso (Brown University) Bridge Chairs: Jeffrey Krichmar (UC Irvine) Bertram Malle (Brown University) Program Chairs: Anne Warlaumont (UC Merced) Clemént Moulin-Frier (INRIA) Publications Chairs: Lisa Meeden (Swarthmore College) Publicity Chairs: Lola Cañamero (Univ. of Hertfordshire) Matthias Rolf (Osaka University) Benjamin Rosman (CSIR) Local chairs: David Sobel (Brown University) Thomas Serre (Brown University) Finance chairs: Clayton Morrison (University of Arizona) -- This message is subject to the CSIR's copyright terms and conditions, e-mail legal notice, and implemented Open Document Format (ODF) standard. The full disclaimer details can be found at http://www.csir.co.za/disclaimer.html. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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2015 Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop- Call For Applicants
by Ralph Etienne-Cummings Feb. 17, 2015

Feb. 17, 2015

*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Telluride Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop* *2015 Neuromorphic Cognition Engineering Workshop* *Telluride, Colorado, June 28th - July 18th, 2015* CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Deadline is April 2nd, 2015 NEUROMORPHIC COGNITION ENGINEERING WORKSHOP www.ine-web.org Sunday June 28th - Saturday July 18th, 2015, Telluride, Colorado ine-web.org/workshops/workshops-overview/index.html and the workshop wiki is at https://neuromorphs.net/ GOALS: Neuromorphic engineers design and fabricate artificial neural systems whose organizing principles are based on those of biological nervous systems. Over the past 18 years, this research community has focused on the understanding of low-level sensory processing and systems infrastructure; efforts are now expanding to apply this knowledge and infrastructure to addressing higher-level problems in perception, cognition, and learning. In this 3-week intensive workshop and through the Institute for Neuromorphic Engineering (INE), the mission is to promote interaction between senior and junior researchers; to educate new members of the community; to introduce new enabling fields and applications to the community; to promote on-going collaborative activities emerging from the Workshop, and to promote a self-sustaining research field. FORMAT: The three week summer workshop will include background lectures on systems and cognitive neuroscience (in particular sensory processing, learning and memory, motor systems and attention), practical tutorials on emerging hardware design, mobile robots, hands-on projects, and special interest groups. Participants are required to take part and possibly complete at least one of the projects proposed. They are furthermore encouraged to become involved in as many of the other activities proposed as interest and time allow. There will be two lectures in the morning that cover issues that are important to the community in general. Because of the diverse range of backgrounds among the participants, some of these lectures will be tutorials, rather than detailed reports of current research. These lectures will be given by invited speakers. Projects and interest groups meet in the late afternoons, and after dinner. In the early afternoon there will be tutorials on a wide spectrum of topics, including analog VLSI, mobile robotics, vision and auditory systems, central-pattern-generators, selective attention mechanisms, cognitive systems, etc. *2015 TOPIC AREAS:* *Human Auditory Cognition: Communicating with EEG and Virtual Reality Links (The Matrix)*: Shihab Shamma (UM-College Park), Malcolm Slaney (Microsoft), Edward Lalor (Trinity College, Dublin), and Alain de Cheveigne (UPMC, France) *Manipulation Actions: Movements, Forces and Affordances: *Cornelia Fermüller (UMCP), Michael Pfeiffer (INI-UZH), Ryad Benosman (UPMC, Paris), and Andreas Andreou (JHU) *Neuromorphic Natural Language Processing:* John Harris (UFL, Gainesville) and Chris Huyck (Middlesex University) *Spike-Based Cognitive Computing: Seeing, Hearing, and Thinking with Spikes: *Arindam Basu (NTU, Singapore) and John Arthur (IBM Research Almaden) *Computational Neuroscience (invitational mini-workshop)* : Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute) LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENTS: The summer school will take place in the small town of Telluride, 9000 feet high in southwest Colorado, about 6 hours drive away from Denver (350 miles). Great Lakes Aviation and America West Express airlines provide daily flights directly into Telluride. All facilities within the beautifully renovated public school building are fully accessible to participants with disabilities. Participants will be housed in ski condominiums, within walking distance of the school. Participants are expected to share condominiums. The workshop is intended to be very informal and hands-on. Participants are not required to have had previous experience in analog VLSI circuit design, computational or machine vision, systems level neurophysiology or modeling the brain at the systems level. However, we strongly encourage active researchers with relevant backgrounds from academia, industry and national laboratories to apply, in particular if they are prepared to work on specific projects, talk about their own work or bring demonstrations to Telluride (e.g. robots, chips, software). Wireless internet access will be provided. Technical staff present throughout the workshops will assist with software and hardware issues. We will have a network of PCs running LINUX and Microsoft Windows for the workshop projects. We encourage participants to bring along their personal laptop. No cars are required. Given the small size of the town, we recommend that you do not rent a car. Bring hiking boots, warm clothes, rain gear, and a backpack, since Telluride is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Unless otherwise arranged with one of the organizers, we expect participants to stay for the entire duration of this three week workshop. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS: Notification of acceptances will be mailed out around the April 15th, 2015. The Workshop covers all your accommodations and facilities costs for the 3 weeks duration. You are responsible for your own travel to the Workshop, however, sponsored fellowships will be available as described below to further subsidize your cost. Registration Fees: For expenses not covered by federal funds, a Workshop registration fee is required. The fee is TBD per participant for the 3-week Workshop. This is expected from all participants at the time of acceptance. Accommodations: The cost of a shared condominium, typically a bedroom in a shared condo for senior participants or a shared room for students, will be covered for all academic participants. Upgrades to a private rooms or condos will cost extra. Participants from National Laboratories and Industry are expected to pay for these condominiums. Fellowships: This year we will offer one Fellowship program to subsidize your costs: The EU-CSNII Fellowship (http://csnetwork.eu/) which is funded by the 7th Research Framework Program FP7-ICT-CSNII-601167. The top 8 EU applicants will be reimbursed for their registration fees ($1250), subsistence/travel subsidy (up to Euro 2000) and accommodations cost ($1500). The registration and accommodation costs will go directly to the INE (the INE will reimburse them). We invite applications for a three-week summer workshop that will be held in Telluride, Colorado. Sunday June 28th - Saturday July 18th, 2015. The application deadline is Wednesday, April 2nd and application instructions are described at the bottom of this document. The 2015 Workshop and Summer School on Neuromorphic Engineering is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Neuromorphic Engineering, DARPA, Office of Naval Research, The EU-Collaborative Convergent Science Network (CNS-II), University of Maryland - College Park, Institute for Neuroinformatics – University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, University of Western Sydney and the Salk Institute. Directors: Cornelia Fermuller, University of Maryland, College Park Ralph Etienne-Cummings, Johns Hopkins University Shih-Chii Liu, Institute of Neuroinformatics, UNI/ETH Zurich, Switzerland Timothy Horiuchi, University of Maryland, College Park Workshop Advisory Board: Andreas Andreou, Johns Hopkins University Andre van Schaik, University Western Sydney, Australia Avis Cohen, University of Maryland Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Boston University Giacomo Indiveri, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Jonathan Tapson, University Western Sydney, Australia Malcolm Slaney, Microsoft Research Jennifer Hasler, Georgia Institute of Technology Rodney Douglas, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Shihab Shamma, University of Maryland Tobi Delbruck, Institute of Neuroinformatics, Uni/Eth Zurich, Switzerland Previous year workshop can be found at: <http://ine-web.org/workshops/workshops-overview/index.html> participant’s registration fees after receipt from CSNII), while the subsistence/travel reimbursement will be provided directly to the participants by the CSNII at the University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. HOW TO APPLY: Applicants should be at the level of graduate students or above (i.e. postdoctoral fellows, faculty, research and engineering staff and the equivalent positions in industry and national laboratories). We actively encourage women and minority candidates to apply. Anyone interested in proposing or discussing specific projects should contact the appropriate topic leaders directly. The application website is (after February 23rd, 2015): ine-web.org/telluride-conference-2015/apply-info Application information needed: Contact email address. First name, Last name, Affiliation, valid e-mail address. Curriculum Vitae (a short version, please). One page summary of background and interests relevant to the workshop, including possible ideas for workshop projects. Please indicate which topic areas you would most likely join. Two letters of recommendation (uploaded directly by references). Applicants will be notified by e-mail. 23rd February, 2015 - Applications accepted on website 2nd April, 2015 - Applications Due 15th April, 2015 - Notification of Acceptance -- Ralph Etienne-Cummings, PhD, FIEEE Professor and Chairman Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Computational Sensor Motor Systems Lab Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD [image: cid:image001.png@01CFC064.B58B46A0]

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Intrinsic motivations: announcement of several works
by Gianluca Baldassarre <gianluca.baldassarre＠istc.cnr.it> Feb. 16, 2015

Feb. 16, 2015

I announce the publication of various collections of papers and activities on intrinsic motivations (IMs). Please find below a list of brief explanations and links to them. Further below I also briefly introduce intrinsic motivations for those who are not familiar with them. *** Collections of papers and activities on IMs *** Lately I co-edited a special issue (`Topic') of Frontiers. The articles of the Topic were published in part with `Frontiers in Psychology - Cognitive Science' (19 articles): http://journal.frontiersin.org/ResearchTopic/1326 and in part with `Frontiers in Neurorobotics' (6 articles): http://journal.frontiersin.org/ResearchTopic/1797 All articles of the Topic, including an editorial that briefly introduces IMs and summarises the contributions, can be downloaded with one click from this web page as a `Frontiers eBook' (1 pdf file of 45 MB): http://www.frontiersin.org/books/Intrinsic_motivations_and_open-ended_devel… Before the Topic, we edited a Springer book collecting other 17 papers on IMs: `Baldassarre G., Mirolli M. (eds) (2013). Intrinsically motivated learning in natural and artificial systems. Berlin: Springer.' You can see the titles, abstracts, authors of the book chapters, and other information on the book, here: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-642-32375-1 We also edited a second Springer book collecting further 14 papers: `Baldassarre G., Mirolli M. (eds) (2013). Computational and Robotic Models of the Hierarchical Organisation of Behaviour. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.' Hierarchical architectures represent a key problem for IMs as the knowledge and skills accumulated under the drive of IMs has to be stored in suitable hierarchical systems. You can see the titles, abstracts and authors of the book chapters, and other information on the book, here: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-642-39875-9 The three collections above were prompted and partially funded by a 4-year EU-funded project, now terminated, called `IM-CLeVeR -- Intrinsically Motivated Cumulative Learning Robots'. The project was funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), ICT Challenge 2 `Cognitive Systems and Robotics' (grant agreement no. ICT-IP-231722). The web-site of the project is here: http://www.im-clever.eu/ In the project web-site you can find information on the project activities and other material on IMs, for example a summary of main results and publications of the project: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-results a final digest of the project insights: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-digest/final-digest and a `tool-box' of information for those who are interested in IMs: http://www.im-clever.eu/project/final-toolbox/final-toolbox I hope these works contribute to attract an increasing attention of... clever and strongly intrinsically-motivated researchers from different disciplines on intrinsic motivations, a great topic of investigation so important for humans and for technology. *** Brief introduction to intrinsic motivations (IMs) *** Intrinsic motivations are related to things such as curiosity, the interest for novel stimuli and surprising events, and the motivation to learn new behaviours (think about children at play). It has been proposed that the adaptive value of IMs is to motivate and guide the cumulative acquisition of knowledge and skills that can be later used (e.g., in adulthood) to accomplish goals that enhance biological fitness. IMs continue to operate also during adulthood and indeed in humans they underlie life-long learning and typically human activities such as art and scientiﬁc discovery. IMs are also at the core of processes that strongly aﬀect human well-being, such as the sense of competence, self-determination, and self-esteem. Recent neuroscientiﬁc research is starting to uncover the basic brain mechanisms underlying IMs, although under research agendas not directly addressing IMs. For example, IM mechanisms have been related to learning signals based on dopamine, novelty detection in hippocampus, and prediction errors in various parts of brain. In the last decade, IMs have also been introduced in machine learning and autonomous robotics as a means for developing artiﬁcial systems that can autonomously learn several diﬀerent skills in an open-ended, cumulative fashion. The idea is that intelligent machines and robots could autonomously acquire skills and knowledge under the guidance of IMs, and later exploit such knowledge and skills to accomplish the tasks that are useful for the user in more eﬃcient and faster ways than if they had to acquire them from scratch. This possibility would especially enhance the utility of intelligent artiﬁcial systems when operating in real-life environments posing challenges that cannot be foreseen at design time. Although the possible functions and mechanisms of IMs are still debated and seen differently by the different research communities involved, and although the recognition of IMs as a research field per se is only partially accomplished, their link with some of the most sophisticated aspects of human cognition (curiosity, art, science, well-being), and their potential for applications make them an interesting and important research field that deserves additional research efforts. Kind Regards, Gianluca Baldassarre -- .|.CS...|.......|...............|..|......US.|||.|||||.||.||||..|...|....... Gianluca Baldassarre, Ph.D., Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (LOCEN-ISTC-CNR), Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, I-00185 Roma, Italy E-mail: gianluca.baldassarre(a)istc.cnr.it Web: http://www.istc.cnr.it/people/gianluca-baldassarre Tel: +39 06 44 595 231 Fax: +39 06 44 595 243 Learn from the past, live in(tensely) the present, dream for the future ...CS.|||.||.|||.||..|.......|........|...US.|.|....||..|..|......|.........

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Subject: ECMLPKDD 2015 : Call for Papers, Tutorials and Workshops
by ECMLPKDD 2015 Feb. 16, 2015

Feb. 16, 2015

The European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD) will take place in Porto, Portugal, from September 7th to 11th, 2015 (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org) This event is the leading European scientific event on machine learning and data mining and builds upon a very successful series of 25 ECML and 18 PKDD conferences, which have been jointly organized for the past 14 years. ECMLPKDD 2015 will host three tracks, tutorials and a set of workshops. Therefore, we invite all researchers and practitioners from different communities to submit papers and/or present tutorial and workshop proposals. ************************* CALL FOR PAPERS ************************* JOURNAL TRACK ********************* Articles for this track are submitted all year long directly to either Machine Learning or Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, and are reviewed like regular journal articles. Accepted articles appear in full in the journal and the authors are given a presentation slot at the conference. Articles deemed insufficiently mature for journal publication may be accepted for inclusion in the proceedings. Submissions to the journal track will be managed by the Guest Editorial Board. Paper Submission: Cut-off dates for the bi-weekly batches are 18 Jan, 1 Feb, 15 Fev, 1 Mar, 15 Mar, 29 Mar, 12 Apr, 26 Apr of 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/journal-track RESEARCH PROCEEDINGS TRACK ******************************************* The research proceedings track, which is organized in the traditional way. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/research-proceedings-track INDUSTRIAL, GOVERNMENTAL & NON-GOVERNMENTAL PROCEEDINGS TRACK **************************************************************************** ************************** The NEW industrial, governmental & non-governmental (NGO) proceedings track is independent and distinct from the Research Track. Submissions to this track should solve real-world problems and focus on engineering systems, applications, and challenges. Accepted papers will be published in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) of Springer, after reviewing by the programme committee. Abstract Submission Deadline: March 26, 2015 Paper Submission Deadline: April 2, 2015 Paper Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2015 Paper Camera Ready Submission: June 15, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/industrial-proceedings-track ***************************************************************** CALL FOR TUTORIAL AND WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ***************************************************************** TUTORIALS ************** The tutorials are intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to established or emerging research topics of interest for the machine learning and the data mining community. These topics include related research fields or applications. The ideal tutorial should attract a wide audience. It should be broad enough to provide a basic introduction to the chosen research area, but it should also cover the most important topics in depth. We welcome half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-tutorials WORKSHOPS **************** The workshops will be on relevant and current topics in Machine Learning and Data Mining. The scope of the proposal should be consistent with the conference themes as described in the ECMLPKDD 2015 Call for Papers (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission) Interdisciplinary workshops that bring together researchers and practitioners from different communities are especially welcome. We encourage workshops that bridge the gap between theoretical advances and important and/or innovative applications of machine learning and data mining. We welcome both full and half day workshop proposals. Proposal Deadline: March 2, 2015 Proposal Acceptance Notification: March 23, 2015 Workshop Websites and Call for Papers Online: March 27, 2015 Workshop Proceedings (Camera-ready): August 3, 2015 Web Page: http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/submission/call-for-workshop-proposals Hope to see you all soon in Porto, Portugal!!! The publicity chairs of the ECMLPKDD 2015, Carlos Abreu Ferreira Ricardo Campos --- Este e-mail foi verificado em termos de vírus pelo software antivírus Avast. http://www.avast.com

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Subject:SAMSI CCNS Computational Neuroscience Summer School:July 27-31, 2015
by Zhu, Hongtu Feb. 14, 2015

Feb. 14, 2015

> > > >Dear colleagues, > >It is my pleasure to announce the 2015 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 > >The instructors will give an in-depth overview of each topic followed by >problem/discussion sessions. Software packages will be introduced to >students with datasets to carry out some simple data analysis. 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. > >The application deadline is Monday, June 1, 2015 > >For further information and to apply, see: > http://www.samsi.info/ccns-summer > >or email questions to CCNS(a)samsi.info

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Postdoctoral Fellowships in in System and Computational Neuroscience
by Majid Mohajerani Feb. 14, 2015

Feb. 14, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellowships in System and Computational Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge A position as Postdoctoral Fellow is now open for an outstanding postdoctoral associate to conduct research in the field of neural network functions at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge, in Lethbridge, Canada. Our goal is to understand cellular and brain system mechanisms of memory and memory disorders associated with aging and brain damage. Brain regions to be investigated include frontal, parietal cortex and hippocampus, with a view to achieving a whole picture of how these brain structures work together dynamically to process, store, and transfer information to one another. The project is a collaborative effort between the research groups of Majid Mohajerani and Bruce McNaughton. Applicants are welcome to contact one of the investigators for more information. Successful candidates will join the highly collaborative and interdisciplinary Brain Dynamics group (http://lethbridgebraindynamics.com/) which has outstanding research strengths in the areas of learning and memory, decision making, information coding and related diseases such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, addiction and stroke. Salary scales will be competitive with NIH standards for postdoctoral researchers. Post-doctoral fellow with experience in in-vivo imaging techniques and two-photon imaging, in particular, will be an ideal candidate. Good communication skills are a must. Experience in MATLAB will be an asset. Candidates should be prepared to learn and use cutting-edge physiological, anatomical, and computational techniques, such as virtual reality-based rodent behavioral systems, optogenetic manipulations, and statistical methods for the analysis and modeling of data. This research will be supported by state-of-the-art facilities in the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, including advanced two-photon imaging, voltage sensitive dye imaging, and high density multi-unit electrophysiological recording and optogenetic techniques. Interested applicants must send an email to Dr. Mohajerani ( <mailto:mohajerani@uleth.ca> mohajerani(a)uleth.ca) and include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a brief statement of research interests, and contact information of three references. Majid H. Mohajerani, PhD. Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience The University of Lethbridge 4401 University Dr W Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 Canada Office: +1(403)394-3950 Lab: +1(403)394-3951 Fax: +1(403)329-2775

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Job Announcement: Chief, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Research Program, NIH
by Dennis Glanzman Feb. 14, 2015

Feb. 14, 2015

Dear Colleagues, After 23 years running this program I retired from the NIH effective December 31, 2014. The position is expected to be filled soon, and the announcement should be posted on the NIH Jobs website next week. *"NIH anticipates a recruitment announcement for health science administrators (program officers) in the following areas of science: neurosciences, computational neuroscience, computational biology, neurocircuits, cognitive neuroscience. Please check http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/ <http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/> for the additional information and upcoming announcements."* It's been a great pleasure working with all of you in the Computational Neuroscience community! -- Dennis Glanzman

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New book "Understanding Vision: theory, models, and data"
by Zhaoping Li Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

This book "Understanding Vision: theory, models, and data" is published by Oxford University Press in May 2014 and, by now, it is available from various online sites and shops worldwide. For more information, go to http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/zhaoping.li/VisionBook.html The book's Table of Contents can be viewed at http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/zhaoping.li/prints/TableOfContents.pdf Teaching and learning support for the book (e.g., ppt files for the figures in the book) is also available and will be updated at http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/zhaoping.li/VisionBook.html . Readership: Computational neuroscientists, visual psychologists/cognitive scientists, Visual neuroscientists/physiologists/anatomists, Researchers in machine vision or computer vision or robot vision The book is written in such a way that vision scientists, unfamiliar with mathematical details, should be able to conceptually follow the theoretical principles and their relationship with physiological, anatomical, and psychological observations, without going through the more mathematical pages. For those with a physical science background, especially those from machine vision, this book serves as an analytical introduction to biological vision. It can be used as a textbook or a reference book in a vision course, or a computational neuroscience course for graduate students or advanced undergraduate students. It is also suitable for self-learning by motivated readers. In addition, for those with a focused interest in just one of the topics in the book, it is feasible to read just the chapter on this topic without having read or fully comprehended the other chapters. In particular, Chapter 2 presents a brief overview of experimental observations on biological vision; Chapter 3 is on encoding of visual inputs, Chapter 5 is on visual attentional selection driven by sensory inputs, and Chapter 6 is on visual perception or decoding. Please let me know if you need more information. best wishes, Li Zhaoping

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NIH recruiting program officers in computational neuroscience
by Giancarlo La Camera Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

(Posted on behalf of Janine Simmons @ NIMH, details below) NIH anticipates recruitment announcement for health science administrator (program officers) in the following areas of science: neurosciences, computational neuroscience, computational biology, neurocircuits, cognitive neuroscience. Please check http://www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment/ for additional information and upcoming announcements. Please note that the potential position will be included in an HHS-wide announcement to be open *Feb 17-26, 2015* (note the brief time window). Please share this information widely with any PhD-level scientists with appropriate expertise who may be interested in joining an extramural funding team. I am also happy to provide additional information to interested potential applicants. Thanks, Janine -- Janine M. Simmons, M.D., Ph.D. Affect, Social Behavior & Social Cognition Program National Institute of Mental Health (301) 443-1576

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Postdoctoral position in computational/theoretical neuroscience
by Odelia Schwartz Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in computational/theoretical neuroscience, in the lab of Odelia Schwartz at the University of Miami. Our lab employs tools of computational and theoretical neuroscience, to study systems from the neural level through to perception and behavior. For example, we develop models of sensory processing based on the hypothesis that images, movies, and sounds have predictable and quantifiable statistical regularities to which the brain is sensitive. The models are constructed through interplay with physiological and psychophysical data. Example projects include but are not limited to: (1) Modeling of how neurons and percepts are affected by contextual information in time dynamically; (2) Modeling of hierarchical cortical processing. For more information about the lab and recent publications, see: http://www.cs.miami.edu/~odelia/ The candidate should have a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, a strong quantitative background, and an interest in neuroscience. Prior experience would ideally include areas such as computational neuroscience, machine learning, statistics and/or signal processing. University of Miami offers a vibrant interdisciplinary environment, with a growing emphasis on a brain sciences initiative. The position will be in the Department of Computer Science, with opportunities to collaborate with Psychology, Biology and the School of Medicine. The university is located in beautiful Coral Gables, and surrounded by Miami. Initial appointment is for one year with possible yearly renewal for a total period of three years. Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience. Please apply online for position # 050932 : UM Careers website http://um.hodesiq.com/job_start.asp Send inquiries; or a CV, a short statement of research interests, and names and contact information of 3 references to: Odelia Schwartz odelia(a)cs.miami.edu The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental benefits, tuition remission, vacation, paid holidays and much more. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. The University of Miami is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Females/Minorities/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities are encouraged to apply. Applicants and employees are protected from discrimination based on certain categories protected by Federal law.

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Deadline for RLDM2015 *postponed* to 20th Feb, midnight EST
by Yael Niv Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

In response to a number of requests, we have, exceptionally, postponed the deadline for submission of abstracts to RLDM2025 by one week, to midnight EST on the 20th Feb 2015. We apologise for the short notice. Do please submit - and we hope to see you in Edmonton in June! -------------------------------- The 2nd Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM2015) www.rldm.org<http://www.rldm.org/> June 7-10, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ====================================================== Submissions to RLDM2015 are now being accepted at https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/RLDM2015 Deadline: 20th February 2015, midnight EST We invite extended abstracts for contributed poster presentations and oral presentations. We welcome submissions of original research related to “learning and decision making over time to achieve a goal”, coming from any discipline or disciplines, describing empirical results from human, animal or animat experiments, and/or theoretical work, simulations and modeling. Contributions should be aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, but not at the expense of technical excellence. This is an abstract-based meeting, with no published conference proceedings. As such, work that is intended for, or has been submitted to, other conferences or journals is also welcome, provided that the intent of communication to other disciplines is clear. Submissions should consist of a summary (max 2000 characters; text only), and an extended abstract of between one and four pages (including figures and references). LaTeX and RTF templates, and sample submissions, are available from http://rldm.org/rldm2015/submission-procedure/ Note: Only the summary will be made available in the (electronic) abstract booklets. The extended abstract will be used for reviewing, and will be available online only pending on authors’ separate explicit permission. Online availability will have no bearing on the review process and authors are encouraged to include new, unpublished, findings which they do not want to make publicly available. To submit your abstract please go to https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/RLDM2015 Submissions will be reviewed for relevance to the topic and for quality. Exceptional abstracts will be selected for oral presentations and for poster spotlight presentations. IMPORTANT DATES: Submissions close: 20 Feb 2015, 11:59pm EST Notification of acceptance: by March 28, 2015 (expedited reviewing for those needing an international visa can be requested) Early registration: 28 April 2015 (see http://rldm.org/rldm2015/registration/) Meeting: 7-10 June 2015, Edmonton, Alberta (*NEW* this year: Tutorials on the 7th) RLDM2015 Invited speakers: http://rldm.org/rldm2015/invited-speakers2015/ RLDM2015 Tutorials: http://rldm.org/rldm2015/tutorials/ RLDM2015 Programme Committee: http://rldm.org/rldm2015/committees/rldm2015-program-committee/

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[CfP SASO'2015] 21-25 September 2015 - Boston Massachusetts
by Frédéric Armetta Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

****************************************************************************************** CALL FOR PAPERS The Ninth IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2015) Boston Massachusetts; 21-25 September 2015 https://saso2015.mit.edu/ ****************************************************************************************** Part of FAS* - Foundation and Applications of Self* Computing Conferences Collocated with: The International Conference on Cloud and Autonomic Computing (CAC 2015) The 15th IEEE Peer-to-Peer Computing Conference (P2P 2015) ------------------- Aims and Scope ------------------- The aim of the Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing systems conference series (SASO) is to provide a forum for the foundations of a principled approach to engineering systems, networks and services based on self-adaptation and self-organization. The complexity of current and emerging networks, software and services, especially in dealing with dynamics in the environment and problem domain, has led the software engineering, distributed systems and management communities to look for inspiration in diverse fields (e.g., complex systems, control theory, artificial intelligence, sociology, and biology) to find new ways of designing and managing such computing systems. In this endeavor, self-organization and self-adaptation have emerged as two promising interrelated approaches. They form the basis for many other self-* properties, such as self-configuration, self-healing, or self-optimization. Systems exhibiting such properties are often referred to as self-* systems. The ninth edition of the SASO conference embraces the inter-disciplinarity and the scientific, empirical, and application dimensions of self-* systems and welcomes novel results on both self-adaptive and self-organizing systems research. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Self-* systems theory: theoretical frameworks and models; biologically- and socially-inspired paradigms; inter-operation of self-* mechanisms; - Self-* systems engineering: reusable mechanisms, design patterns, architectures, methodologies; software and middleware development frameworks and methods, platforms and toolkits; hardware; self-* materials; - Self-* system properties: robustness, resilience and stability; emergence; computational awareness and self-awareness; reflection; - Self-* cyber-physical and socio-technical systems: human factors and visualization; self-* social computers; crowdsourcing and collective awareness; human-in-the-loop; - Applications and experiences of self-* systems: cyber security, transportation, computational sustainability, big data and creative commons, power systems; swarm systems and robotics. - Self-* in education: experience reports; curricula; innovative course concepts; methodological aspects of self-* systems education Contributions must present novel theoretical or experimental results; novel design patterns, mechanisms, system architectures, frameworks or tools; or practical approaches and experiences in building or deploying real-world systems and applications. Contributions contrasting different approaches for engineering a given family of systems, or demonstrating the applicability of a certain approach for different systems, are equally encouraged. Likewise, papers describing substantial innovation or insights in the use and communication of self-* systems in the classroom are welcome. Where relevant and appropriate, accepted papers will also be encouraged to participate in the Demo or Poster Sessions. -------------------- Important Dates -------------------- Abstract submission: May 8, 2015 Paper submission: May 22, 2015 (There will be no extensions of this deadline!) Notification: June 30, 2015 Camera ready copy due: July 17, 2015 Conference: September 21-25, 2015 ---------------------------- Submission Instructions ---------------------------- All submissions should be 10 pages and formatted according to the IEEE Computer Society Press proceedings style guide and submitted electronically in PDF format. Please register as authors and submit your papers using the SASO 2015 conference management system that will be announced on the website. The proceedings will be published by IEEE Computer Society Press, and made available as a part of the IEEE Digital Library. Note that a separate Call for Poster Submissions will also be issued. --------------------- Review Criteria --------------------- Papers should present novel ideas in the cross-disciplinary research context described in this call, clearly motivated by problems from current practice or applied research. We expect both theoretical and empirical contributions to be clearly stated, substantiated by formal analysis, simulation, experimental evaluations, comparative studies, and so on. Appropriate reference must be made to related work. Because SASO is a cross-disciplinary conference, papers must be intelligible and relevant to researchers who are not members of the same specialized sub-field. Authors are also encouraged to submit papers describing applications. Application papers are expected to provide an indication of the real world relevance of the problem that is solved, including a description of the deployment domain, and some form of evaluation of performance, usability, or comparison to alternative approaches. Experience papers are also welcome but they must clearly state the insight into any aspect of design, implementation or management of self-* systems which is of benefit to practitioners and the SASO community. ------------------------------- Conference General Chairs ------------------------------- Howard E Shrobe MIT CSAIL, Cambridge, MA, USA Julie A McCann Imperial College London, UK -------------------- Program Chairs -------------------- Emma Hart Edinburgh Napier University Gregory Sullivan BAE Systems AIT Jan-Philipp Steghöfer University of Gothenburg, Sweden

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Reminder: Bernstein Conference 2015 – Call for Workshops
by Seeger, Simone Feb. 13, 2015

Feb. 13, 2015

The National Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience invites proposals for Satellite Workshops directly preceding the Bernstein Conference 2015 in Heidelberg ********************************************************************************** Call for Workshop proposals: Workshops: September 14, 2015 (Main Bernstein Conference: September 15-17, 2015) Deadline of proposal submission: March 15, 2015 Notification of acceptance: April 20, 2015 Conference Registration starts: April 27, 2015 Early Registration Deadline: July 21, 2015 ********************************************************************************** The Bernstein Conference started out as the annual meeting of the National Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience and has become the largest single-track Computational Neuroscience conference in Europe in recent years. Since 2013, the Bernstein Conference hosts pre-conference workshops, which have developed swiftly into a well-attended event. They supply a stage to debate topical research questions and challenges in Computational Neuroscience and related fields, different points of view and scientific approaches in an informal setting. Workshops addressing controversial issues, open problems, and comparisons of competing approaches are encouraged. SCHEDULE: September 14, 2015, 9:00 – 18:30. You may apply for either half-day or full-day workshops. Workshop costs: The Bernstein Conference does not provide financial support, but workshop organizers and speakers are offered free workshop registration and reduced fees for the main conference. For further information about the conference, please visit the conference website<http://www.bernstein-conference.de>. DETAILS FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS: The Workshop Proposal form can be downloaded here<http://www.nncn.de/de/bernstein-conference/2015/satellite-workshops/worksho…>. Deadline for submission of Workshop Proposals: March 15, 2015 We are looking forward to meeting you in Heidelberg! THE WORKSHOP PROGRAM COMMITTEE Matthias Bethge (Bernstein Center Tübingen) Upinder Bhalla (NCBS, Bangalore) Carlos Brody (Princeton University) Gustavo Deco (University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) Andreas Draguhn (Bernstein Center Heidelberg-Mannheim) Daniel Durstewitz (Bernstein Center Heidelberg-Mannheim) Gaute Einevoll (Norvegian University of Life Sciences, Aas) Andreas Herz (Bernstein Center Munich) Peter Kirsch (Bernstein Center Heidelberg-Mannheim) Sara Solla (Northwestern University, Evanston) *** Simone Seeger, M.A. Administration Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit Postfach 12 21 20, 68072 Mannheim J5, 68159 Mannheim Telefon: 0621/1703-1326 oder 06221/54-8310 Fax: 0621/1703-2915 E-Mail: Simone.Seeger(a)zi-mannheim.de<mailto:Simone.Seeger@zi-mannheim.de> Internet: http://www.bccn-heidelberg-mannheim.de<http://www.bccn-heidelberg-mannheim.de/>

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Postdoctoral positions at the Hebrew University: The Gatsby Program in Theoretical Neuroscience
by Yoram Burak Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

The Gatsby Program in Theoretical Neuroscience at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) is inviting applications for postdoctoral fellowships from students who are finishing, or have recently finished, their Ph.D. studies in mathematics, physics, computer science, computational neuroscience, or related fields. Preference will be given to postdocs who perform collaborative research mentored jointly by theorists and experimentalists. A priority area for the Program is sponsoring activities that strengthen the ties between this Program and the two partner centers: the Gatsby Unit for Computational Neuroscience (UCL, London) and the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience (Columbia University, NY). These activities include joint meetings, exchange of students, postdocs and faculty, and collaborative research. Research at ELSC offers a vibrant scientific environment and excellent opportunities for interaction with researchers interested in systems and computational neuroscience. For additional information, see: http://elsc.huji.ac.il. For further information about the Gatsby Program at ELSC, see: http://elsc.huji.ac.il/gatsby. *The Gatsby Fellows Program* In addition to regular postdoctoral fellowships, the program provides special fellowships for outstanding junior researchers at their senior postdoctoral level working on theoretical and computational neuroscience at the Hebrew University. Fellows are admitted to the Program based on their credentials and are free to choose their research agenda and their host lab in the course of their first semester in residence. In addition to upgraded salaries and housing support, Fellows receive modest research funds aimed primarily for travel to other labs or conferences. Fellows are expected to actively participate in initiatives that strengthen Tri-Center interactions. *Applications* Candidates for postdoctoral fellowships and applicants for the Fellows Program are invited to send their CV and research statement, and to arrange for three letters of reference to be sent to Ms. Irit Dagan: irit.dagan1(a)mail.huji.ac.il. *Theoretical Neuroscience at the Hebrew University * Haim Sompolinsky, Program Director (Physics, ELSC) Yoram Burak (Physics, ELSC) Amir Globerson (Computer Science) Yonatan Loewenstein (Cognition, Neurobiology, ELSC) Idan Segev (Neurobiology, ELSC) Naftali Tishby (Computer Science, ELSC) Daphna Weinshall (Computer Science) Yair Weiss (Computer Science, ELSC)

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call for illusion submissions: the 11th Best Illusion of the Year Contest
by Susana Martinez-Conde Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

****CALL FOR ILLUSION SUBMISSIONS: THE WORLD'S 11TH ANNUAL BEST ILLUSION OF THE YEARSM CONTEST**** http://illusionoftheyear.com *** We are happy to announce the 11th edition of world's Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest!!*** Submissions are now welcome! Starting this year, the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest will bring the creativity of the illusion creator community all around the world. To accomplish this, the Contest will become an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection can participate! No matter where you live, you can participate as a contestant, and/or vote for the Top 3 winners yourself! Contestants are invited to submit 1-minute videos featuring novel illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2014) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.), in mp4 format. The content of the 1-minute video presenting your illusion is solely up to you, and the only requirement is that it wows all viewers! Some examples include, but are not limited to, a: * Slide presentation, or succession of images, with a voice over (or written text, if you prefer) * Video of yourself describing your illusion * Video of your illusion, expressed in interpretative dance (just kidding -or not-, but you get the idea!) An international panel of impartial judges will rate all the videos and narrow them down to the Top 10. Then, online voters around the world will choose their favorite illusions from the Top 10 finalists. All Top 10 finalists will receive a commemorative plaque. In addition, the Top 3 winners will receive cash prizes: $3,000 for first place; $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. The Judge Panel will rate illusions according to: * Significance to our understanding of the human mind and brain * Simplicity of the description * Sheer beauty * Counterintuitive quality * Spectacularity Submissions will be held in strict confidence by the Judge Panel and the authors/creators will retain copyright of their works. The Top 10 illusions will be posted online to allow worldwide voting. As with submitting your work to any conference, participating in the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest does not preclude you from also submitting your work for publication elsewhere. Illusions submitted to previous editions of the Contest can be re-submitted to the 2015 Contest, as long as they meet the above requirements and were not among the Top 10 illusions in previous years. You can send your 1-minute video to Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde via email ( <mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com> smart(a)neuralcorrelate.com) until April 1, 2015. On behalf of the Executive Board of the Neural Correlate Society: Jose-Manuel Alonso, Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde, Luis Martinez, Xoana Troncoso, Peter Tse ---------------------------------------------------------------- Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Physiology & Pharmacology Director, Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience Scholar, Empire Innovator Program State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn NY 11203, USA Email: smart(a)neuralcorrelate.com <mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com> Phone: +1 718-270-4520 http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com <http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com/>

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Postdoc position in Computational Neuroscience in the Clopath lab.
by Claudia Clopath Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

Postdoc position in Computational Neuroscience in the Clopath lab. ----------------------------------------------------- Computational Neuroscience Laboratory Headed by Dr. Claudia Clopath Department of Bioengineering Imperial College London -----------------Requirements:----------------- The Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, headed by Dr. Claudia Clopath, is looking for a talented Postdoc, interested in working in the field of computational neuroscience, specifically addressing questions of learning and memory. The perfect candidate has a strong mathematical, physical or engineering background (or equivalent), and a keen interest in biological and neural systems. A PhD in the field of computational neuroscience is a plus. -----------------Research topic:----------------- Learning and memory are among the most fascinating topic of neuroscience, yet our understanding of it is only at the beginning. Learning is thought to change the connections between the neurons in the brain, a process called synaptic plasticity. Using mathematical and computational tools, it is possible to model synaptic plasticity across different time scales, which helps understand how different types of memory are formed. The PhD candidate will be working to build those models of synaptic plasticity, and study the functional role of synaptic plasticity in artificial neural networks. ----------------- The lab:----------------------- The Computational Neuroscience Laboratory is very young and dynamic, and publishes in prestigious journals, such as Nature and Science. It is part of the Department of Bioengineering, which conducts state-of-the-art multidisciplinary research in biomechanics, neuroscience and neurotechnology. The lab is at Imperial College London, the 3rd ranked university in Europe, is in the top 10 worldwide, and is located in the city centre of London. More information can be found at: http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/c.clopath/ ----------------- How to apply:----------------- Candidates should send a single pdf file, consisting of a 1-page motivation letter and CV (including publication list) to clopathlab.imperial(a)gmail.com, with the subject containing 'Postdoc2015'. In addition, candidates should organize two letters of reference to be sent to clopathlab.imperial(a)gmail.com. The position is open until filled but the earlier applications will be considered first.

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Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience, University of Surrey, UK
by Thomas Nowotny Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

On behalf of Dr. Andre Gruening, University of Surrey: Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience, University of Surrey, UK We are looking for a Research Fellow (Post-Doc) to work on a cross-disciplinaryresearch project in the fields of computational neuroscience, nature-inspired computation and machine learning on "Structures of Learning Algorithms for Spiking Neural Networks" with Dr Andre Gruning at the Computing Department of the University of Surrey. This post and research project are funded by the European Union's high-profile flagship "Human Brain Project", and the researcher will become part of the vibrant community of the Human Brain Project (https://www.humanbrainproject.eu<https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/>) and is expected to proactively interact within other research groups within the Human Brain Project. The researcher will be based at the University of Surrey, but will also be given the opportunity to spend significant amounts of her/his research time at the European Institute for Theoretical Neuroscience at Paris (www.eitn.eu) or with other collaborating Human Brain Project partners. The post holder is expected to hold a PhD (or be close to completion of a PhD) in a relevant area such as Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics or Engineering. Programming skills in C/C++ and/or Python are a must as well as excellent mathematical and analytical skills. Expertise in computational and mathematical modelling of spiking neural networks and their learning algorithms is a plus. Experience with standard neural network modelling tools such as PyNN and NEST are also highly desirable as are excellent scientific writing skills. Mathematical experience should include differential equations, partial derivatives and basic stochastics. Start date: 1st March 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. The appointment is until 31st March 2016 in the first instance. Interviews for the post are planned for February 2015. Informal enquires are encouraged directly to Dr Andre Gruning (e-mail:a.gruning@surrey.ac.uk<mailto:a.gruning@surrey.ac.uk>, tel: +44-1483-68-2648). A more detailed project description is available on request. Please apply online at https://jobs.surrey.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=005015 -- Prof. Thomas Nowotny CCNR, Sussex Neuroscience Phone: +44-1273-678593 Engineering and Informatics Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny

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postdoc position
by Yuri Ivanenko Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

I would like to advertise a postdoc position in 'Development of interactive locomotion', see below the job description. Thanks, Yuri Ivanenko ********************** Postdoc position in DEVELOPMENT OF INTERACTIVE LOCOMOTION -- Rome, Italy A postdoctoral position is available in the research group led by Yuri Ivanenko (y.ivanenko(a)hsantalucia.it) in the Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology of the Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome, Italy, to conduct studies in the area of human interactive locomotion. The postdoctoral researcher will be involved in a new interdisciplinary project (CogIMon), funded by the H2020 program of the European Union, aiming at a step change in human-robot interaction. The consortium comprises leading robotics, computational neuroscience, and human motor control European research groups. Research will be focused on investigating human sensorimotor strategies for coordination and control of human-human interactive locomotion including agents of different sizes (children, adults). Experiments will be conducted to understanding the acquisition of locomotor patterns when in physical contact with others. Applicants should have a recent Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, a real interest in development of human locomotion and sensorimotor control, and strong quantitative and programming skills. Experience with collection and analysis of experimental data, online data processing/control, and modeling of sensorimotor processes are valuable assets. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Applicants should provide a statement of research interests, a curriculum vitae, and contact information for references. The position is available starting on April 1^st 2015 and open until filled. _____________________ Yuri P. Ivanenko, PhD Head of Gait Laboratory, Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 306 via Ardeatina, 00179 Rome, Italy tel ++39 06.51.50.14.75 fax ++39 06.51.50.14.82 e-mail: y.ivanenko(a)hsantalucia.it Le informazioni contenute in questo messaggio sono riservate e destinate esclusivamente alla/e persona/e o all'ente sopra indicati. E' vietato ai soggetti diversi dai destinatari qualsiasi uso, copia e diffusione di quanto in esso contenuto sia ai sensi dell'art. 616 del codice penale che ai sensi della L. 196/03 (privacy). Se questo messaggio Vi e' pervenuto per errore, Vi preghiamo di non leggerlo, di distruggerlo e di comunicarci l'errone via e-mail o telefonanicamente. The information contained in this message is confidential and is intended for the exclusive use of the person(s) or company(s) above addessed. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you are expressly prohibited from using, copying and distributing this message or any part of it in accordance with art. 616 of the Italian criminal code and the Italian law 196/03 (privacy). If you received this message by mistake please don't read it but destroy it and then inform us by e-mail or by phone.

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Re: [Comp-neuro] New computational neuroscience paper on human postural control system in PLoS Comput Biol.
by André Fabio Kohn Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

Mesoscale neural model of human spinal cord, muscle receptors, muscle dynamics and standing control biomechanics. This recently published paper starts from neuronal ionic channels to model spinal cord neurons and ends at studying human postural control during quiet stance. It represents a closed loop system, with feedback achieved through appropriate muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organ models. It is a mesoscale model and it was successfully validated both at the individual level and the overall behavior level. Spinal cord neurons (motoneurons and excitatory and inhibitory interneurons) are modeled based on ionic channel dynamics, synapses have dynamic properties, afferent and efferent axons introduce delays, muscles and tendons are modeled based on human data, appropriate models of muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs provide sensory feedback to the spinal cord. Brain commands on the spinal cord are modeled through Gamma point processes with appropriate parameters. >From an overall theoretical view, the system is composed of nonlinear elements, it is stochastic and has delays and is described by approximately 5000 differential equations. Among its many new results, one is that a mixture of intermittent and continuous motor control may arise from the overall dynamics of the closed loop system, without influence from the brain. Elias, L.A., Watanabe, R.N. Kohn, A.F., 2014 (November). Spinal Mechanisms May Provide a Combination of Intermittent and Continuous Control of Human Posture: Predictions from a Biologically Based Neuromusculoskeletal Model http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.10039… Andre Fabio Kohn, Ph.D. Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience University of Sao Paulo, Brazil www.leb.usp.br 2015-01-30 18:36 GMT-02:00 André Fabio Kohn <andfkohn(a)gmail.com>: > This recently published paper starts from neuronal ionic channels to model > spinal cord neurons and ends at studying human postural control during > quiet stance. It represents a closed loop system, with feedback achieved > through appropriate muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organ models. It is a > mesoscale model and it was successfully validated both at the individual > level and the overall behavior level. Spinal cord neurons (motoneurons and > excitatory and inhibitory interneurons) are modeled based on ionic channel > dynamics, synapses have dynamic properties, afferent and efferent axons > introduce delays, muscles and tendons are modeled based on human data, > appropriate models of muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs provide > sensory feedback to the spinal cord. Brain commands on the spinal cord are > modeled through Gamma point processes with appropriate parameters. > > From an overall theoretical view, the system is composed of nonlinear > elements, it is stochastic and has delays and is described by approximately > 5000 differential equations. > > Among its many new results, one is that a mixture of intermittent and > continuous motor control may arise from the overall dynamics of the closed > loop system, without influence from the brain. > > > > Elias, L.A., Watanabe, R.N. Kohn, A.F., 2014 (November). Spinal Mechanisms > May Provide a Combination of Intermittent and Continuous Control of Human > Posture: Predictions from a Biologically Based Neuromusculoskeletal Model > > > http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.10039… > > > > Andre Fabio Kohn, Ph.D. > > Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience > > University of Sao Paulo, Brazil > > www.leb.usp.br >

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Reminder - Feb. 15 Application Deadline for 2015 Summer School on Large-Scale Brain Modelling
by Peter Blouw Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

[All details about this school can be found online at http://www.nengo.ca/summerschool] The Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo is inviting applications for our 2nd annual summer school on large-scale brain modelling. This two-week school will teach participants how to use the Nengo simulation package to build state-of-the-art cognitive and neural models. Nengo has been used to build what is currently the world's largest functional brain model, Spaun <http://www.nengo.ca/build-a-brain/spaunvideos> [1], and provides users with a versatile and powerful environment for simulating cognitive and neural systems. We welcome applications from all interested graduate students, research associates, postdocs, professors, and industry professionals. No specific training in the use of modelling software is required, but we encourage applications from active researchers with a relevant background in psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, engineering, computer science, or a related field. For a look at last year's summer school, please see this short video: http://goo.gl/BXJ3x5 [1] Eliasmith, C., Stewart T. C., Choo X., Bekolay T., DeWolf T., Tang Y., Rasmussen, D. (2012). A large-scale model of the functioning brain. Science. Vol. 338 no. 6111 pp. 1202-1205. DOI: 10.1126/science.1225266. [ http://nengo.ca/publications/spaunsciencepaper] ***Application Deadline: February 15, 2015*** Format Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas for projects, which may focus on testing hypotheses, modelling neural or cognitive data, implementing specific behavioural functions with neurons, expanding past models, or provide a proof-of-concept of various neural mechanisms. More generally, participants will have the opportunity to: - build perceptual, motor, and cognitive models with spiking neurons - model anatomical, electrophysiological, cognitive, and behavioural data - use a variety of single cell models within a large-scale model - integrate machine learning methods into biologically oriented models - use Nengo with your favorite simulator, e.g. Brian, NEST, Neuron, etc. - interface Nengo with various kinds of neuromorphic hardware - interface Nengo with cameras and robotic systems - implement modern nonlinear control methods in neural models - and much more… Hands-on tutorials, work on individual or group projects, and talks from invited faculty members will make up the bulk of day-to-day activities. There will be a weekend break on June 13-14, and fun activities scheduled for evenings throughout. A project demonstration event will be held on the last day of the school, with prizes for strong projects! Date and Location: June 7th to June 19th, 2015 at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Applications: Please visit http://www.nengo.ca/summerschool, where you can find more information regarding costs, travel, lodging, along with an application form listing required materials. If you have any questions about the school or the application process, please contact Peter Blouw (pblouw(a)uwaterloo.ca)

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Announcing Allen/UW Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain 2015
by Adrienne Fairhall Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

Applications are now open for the second Allen Institute for Brain Science/UW Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain. Directed by Christof Koch and Adrienne Fairhall, this course takes place on beautiful San Juan Island, WA, from Aug 23-Sept 6. The course features lectures in basics of experimental and theoretical neurobiology along with practical sessions on coding, big data, modeling and the use of the Allen Institute tools for neuroanatomical exploration and model development. Students will also have access to new high-throughput data sets collected by the Institute in the past year with which to carry out an independent project. Deadline April 1. For details and link to application, see one of: http://alleninstitute.org/summerworkshop http://courses.washington.edu/braindyn/

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New Book: Information Theory
by Jim Stone Feb. 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015

I'd like to announce the publication of this book: Information Theory: A Tutorial Introduction by JV Stone Reviews, synopsis, and table of contents can be found here: http://jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/BookInfoTheory/InfoTheoryBookMain.html Note that the examples explored in the final chapter are especially relevant to computational neuroscience and biology. regards, Dr Jim Stone University of Sheffield, UK. http://www.jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/

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Postdoctoral position at Group for Neural Theory, Paris
by Srdjan Ostojic Feb. 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015

A postdoctoral position is available in Srdjan Ostojic’s team at the Group Neural Theory, Paris, France (see http://iec-lnc.ens.fr/group-for-neural-theory/) to investigate dynamics and computations in spiking neural networks, combining theoretical approaches, simulations and analysis of neurophysiological datasets. The Group for Neural Theory is a highly interactive and dynamic environment situated in central Paris, and embedded within the strong Parisian theoretical neuroscience community. The ideal candidate should have a strong quantitative background, e.g. in computational neuroscience, physics, applied maths, computer science. Previous experience in neuroscience is preferred but not required. Starting dates are flexible. The position is for two years, with a possible extension for a third year. Candidates should send a letter of motivation (2 pages max), the contact information of 2 to 3 referees and their CVs to srdjan.ostojic at ens.fr *BEFORE March 20th, 2015*. I will be available at Cosyne for informal inquiries. Srdjan Ostojic Group for Neural Theory Ecole Normale Superieure Paris 29, rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris, France

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Open PhD position in MEG/EEG research at Research Center Juelich, Germany
by Martina Reske Feb. 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015

We have an open PhD student position in our collaborative project entitled “From spike trains to whole-brain dynamics – Bottom-up and top-down processing during active vision” to fill. This project addresses the question how visual input is processed in extremely short time cycles of fixations and saccades through interaction of various cortical areas. MEG recordings from human subjects performing free viewing tasks will allow for the simultaneous observation of neuronal activities from different cortical areas during active vision. Analysis of subjects’ performance and brain activity on these visual tasks enables us to study the information flow through various cortical areas, and to identify top-down components interacting with bottom-up processes. What we expect from you: * We seek for a highly motivated candidate with curiosity and persistence * A preferable candidate will have background and strong Master degree in physics, neuroscience, electrophysiology, biology, computer science or a closely related field of natural science, preferably in the field of MEG/EEG biophysics, data acquisition and analysis, biostatistics, MEG/EEG biophysics or signal processing * Obligatory: excellent educational records in the related field, good programming and data processing skills, time series analysis and M/EEG source estimation * Substantial expertise in scientific programming (preferable languages: Python, C, C++ ) and substantial knowledge of Linux and Windows * Strong motivation to carry out neuroimaging studies utilizing MEG and to perform source and connectivity analysis * Beneficial: basic knowledge of neuroscience concepts * Ability and willingness to work independently and proactively * Confident appearance and ability to work cooperatively in an interdisciplinary environment * Good interpersonal and communication skills, structured and systematic working style * Fluent in English (spoken and written); beneficial: knowledge of German The candidate will primarily be based at the Jülich Research Center. What we offer: We offer a position in a creative and international team, themes ranging from computational neuroscience, simulation technology and multimodal imaging, see www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de> and http://www.fz-juelich.de/inm/inm-4/EN/Forschung/MEG-Physik/_node.html. The Jülich Research Center is one of the largest research centers in Germany, with excellent scientific equipment, located on a green campus, and near the cultural centers Köln, Düsseldorf, and Aachen. The PhD position is available for 3 years. Applications, including a letter clearly motivating your application, CV, publication list, copies of university certificates, and one reference letter should be sent as a single PDF email attachment (max. 10MB) mentioning the internal reference code CSC-GID latest until March 31st , 2015, to should be sent to: Dr. Martina Reske (m.reske(a)fz-juelich.de<mailto:m.reske@fz-juelich.de>) – Scientific Coordinator. Project leaders will be: Prof. Dr. Sonja Grün (INM-6/IAS-6), Dr. Junji Ito (INM-6/IAS-6), Dr. Jürgen Dammers (INM-4) Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6, INM-4), Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6), Jülich Research Center and JARA52425 Jülich, Germany, www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de> -- Dr. Martina Reske Scientific Coordinator Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neuroscience Jülich Research Centre and JARA Jülich, Germany Work +49.2461.611916 Work Cell +49.151.26156918 Fax +49.2461.619460 www.csn.fz-juelich.de<http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Ikerbasque Research Fellow ("Tenure"). Methods in Neuroimaging, Bilbao (Spain)
by Jesus Cortes Feb. 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015

Dear researcher, One position for "Ikerbasque Research Fellow" will be host by the new emerging group of Computational Neuroimaging in Biocruces. http://www.biocruces.com/web/biocruces/bc5.08 More information about the position, "Ikerbasque Research Fellow" at http://www.ikerbasque.net/fellows More information about Biocruces http://www.biocruces.com/ Interested researchers must contact me before April 1, 2015. Feel free in contacting me for any further question or comment. Provide a copy of an updated CV remarking best 5 publications. Prof. Jesus M Cortes Ikerbasque Research Professor Head of the Computational Neuroimaging Lab Biocruces Health Research Institute

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Introductory Workshop on Computational Methods in Neuroscience, June 10 – 19, 2015
by Artur Luczak Feb. 11, 2015

Feb. 11, 2015

Campus Alberta Neuroscience is pleased to announce the second annual Introductory Workshop on Computational Methods in Neuroscience. This ten-day workshop is comprised of lectures and hands-on Matlab exercises to introduce students to neuronal data analysis methods. Workshop is aimed for graduate students with little priory experience in quantitative methods who wants to learn Matlab and its application for data analyses. Most costs – including registration fees, travel to Lethbridge, accommodation, and most meals – will be covered for Alberta trainees. Individuals from outside of Alberta are encouraged to apply, but must cover their own costs. These costs are estimated to be around $1300 (excluding travel). Registration for the workshop is now open – complete applications must be received by March 10, 2015 at albertaneuro(a)uleth.ca . Workshop will take place at University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, June 10 – 19, 2015. Course Director is Dr. Bruce McNaughton and course instructors include Drs David Euston, Aaron Gruber, Artur Luczak, Masami Tatsuno and Majid Mohajerani. Further information and application details are available at: www.albertaneuro.ca/workshop Cheers, Artur ------------------------------------------------ Artur Luczak, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada tel.: (403) 394-3974; fax: (403) 329-2775 http://lethbridgebraindynamics.com/artur_luczak

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Berkeley course in mining and modeling neuroscience data, July 6-17, 2015
by Jeff Teeters Feb. 10, 2015

Feb. 10, 2015

Call for applications: We invite applicants to the 2015 summer course in "Mining and modeling of neuroscience data" to be held July 6-17 at UC Berkeley. A description of the course is below and also at: http://crcns.org/course Application deadline is April 6 (or March 1, for MSRI's sponsored students). ----- Berkeley summer course in mining and modeling of neuroscience data July 6-17, 2015 Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley Organizers: Fritz Sommer, Bruno Olshausen, Jeff Teeters (HWNI, UC Berkeley); Christos Papadimitriou (Simons Institute, Berkeley); Ingrid Daubechies (MSRI, Duke). Scope This course is for students and researchers with backgrounds in mathematics and computational sciences who are interested in applying their skills toward problems in neuroscience. It will introduce the major open questions of neuroscience and teach state-of–the-art techniques for analyzing and modeling neuroscience data sets. The course is designed for students at the graduate level and researchers with background in a quantitative field such as engineering, mathematics, physics or computer science who may or may not have a specific neuroscience background. The goal of this summer course is to help researchers find new exciting research areas and at the same time to strengthen quantitative expertise in the field of neuroscience. The course is sponsored by the National Science Foundation from a grant supporting activities at the data sharing repository CRCNS.org, the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing and the Mathematical Science Research Institute. Format The course is “hands on” in that it will include exercises in how to use and modify existing software tools and apply them to data sets, such as those available in the CRCNS.org repository. Course Instructors Vitaly Feldman, IBM Almaden Research Center Sonja Grün, Juelich Research Center, Germany Robert Kass, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Maneesh Sahani, Gatsby Unit, University College London Odelia Schwartz, University of Miami Eric Shea-Brown, University of Washington Frederic Theunissen, UC Berkeley Course Moderators Fritz Sommer and Jeff Teeters, Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience Speakers To complement the main course instruction there will be lectures in the evenings by local Berkeley and UCSF neuroscientists presenting their research using quantitative approaches. Requirements Applicants should be familiar with linear algebra, probability, differential and integral calculus and have some experience using MatLab and Python. Each student should bring a laptop with the software installed. Cost There is no cost to attend. Assistance for travel, housing and food costs is in general not provided, (except for students who are sponsored by MSRI or the Simons Institute; see below). Potential financial support Support for a limited number of students to attend will be provided through both MSRI and the Simons Institute for the Theory of computing. Applicants who are at a MSRI partner institution can be admitted to the course and receive support for attending through MSRI as described at: http://www.msri.org/web/msri/scientific/workshops/summer-graduate-school Applicants with a Computer Science background are invited to apply for support by the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing and the Computer Community Consortium (CCC). See “How to Apply” section. Housing There may be some limited dorm housing available. Cost is $742 per person in a shared double room, which includes an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner on evenings that meals are not supplied with the course. We will help coordinate sharing of dorm rooms for those who wish to stay in the dorms. Other housing options include: a hostel near campus ( http://berkeleyhostel.com) which is $32 / night for a bed in shared dorm room; nearby hotels (http://visitberkeley.com/stay) and accommodations advertised through craigslist.org and airbnb.org. We will help students setup groups to search for shared housing together. Food Most meals are not included with the course, although breakfast items, snacks and some dinners will be provided. Food for other meals can be purchased at the dorm cafeteria and local restaurants. How to apply There are two methods of applying. Method 1) Students at a MSRI partner institution can be admitted to the course and receive support for attending through MSRI as described at: http://www.msri.org/web/msri/scientific/workshops/summer-graduate-school Method 2) All non-MSRI applications are submitted via the online form linked from: http://crcns.org/course. A curriculum vitae and a letter of recommendation are required. Those applying using method 1 can also apply using method 2 (in case the MSRI supported positions are all taken). Applicants with a computer science background who wish to apply for support from the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing must apply using method 2 and include additional information as instructed on the application form. The course is limited to 25 students. Deadlines Applications must be received by April 6 (or March 1, for MSRI’s sponsored students). Notifications of acceptance will be given by the end of April. If staying in dorm housing, and not sponsored by MSRI or the Simons Institute, payment for housing and the meal plan must be received one week before the start of the course. Questions Questions about the course can be sent to course [at] crcns.org. Topics covered Basic approaches: - The problem of neural coding - Spike trains, point processes, and firing rate - Statistical thinking in neuroscience - Theory of model fitting / regularization / hypothesis testing - Bayesian methods - Spike sorting - Estimation of stimulus-response functionals: regression methods, spike-triggered covariance - Variance analysis of neural response - Estimation of SNR. Coherence Information theoretic approaches: - Information transmission rates and maximally informative dimensions - Scene statistics approaches and neural modeling Techniques for analyzing multiple-unit recordings: - Cross-correlation and JPSTH - Sparse coding/ICA methods, vanilla and methods including statistical models of nonlinear dependencies - Unitary event analysis - Methods for detection of higher-order correlations - Correlation approaches for massively parallel spike trains - Proper surrogates for spike synchrony analysis - Methods for assessing functional connectivity - Advanced topics in generalized linear models - Low-dimensional latent dynamical structure in network activity–Gaussian process factor analysis/newer methods Towards building a theory of the brain: - Applications of mathematical analysis of dynamical systems in neuroscience - Approaches based on methods from theoretical computer science

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Final program, qbio seminar in Bilbao, February 17-18, 2015
by Jesus Cortes Feb. 10, 2015

Feb. 10, 2015

This is the final program for the BCAM workshop in Quantitative Biomedicine next week Tuesday, February 17, 2015 9:30-11:30. Session 1. 09:30-10:10 Joanna Tyrcha. Stochastic stability and dynamic behavior of a compound cell-cycle model 10:10-10:50 Mathieu Desroches. Mixed-Mode Bursting Oscillations (MMBOs): slow passage through spike-adding canard explosion 10:50-11:30 Albert Granados. The period adding phenomenon in periodically driven hybrid spiking models 11:30-12:10. Coffee Break 12:10-14:10 Session 2. 12:10-12:50 Edward J. Vigmond. Cardiac Applications of Computational Electrophysiology 12:50-13:30 Pablo Lamata. Extraction of diastolic biomarkers through personalization of computational models 13:30-14:10 Aciel Eshky. Condition Monitoring of Athletes with a Wearable Heart Rate Variability Sensor 14:10-15:20 Lunch 15:20-18:00. Session 3. 15:20-16:00 Cesar Caballero. The power of haemodynamic deconvolution for mapping brain dynamics with BOLD functional MRI 16:00-16:40 Andrea Fuster. Geometric framework for diffusion MR images of the brain: theory and applications 16:40-17:20 Ernesto Sanz-Arigita. Multimodality MRI in different groups at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease: towards multidimensional brain imaging biomarkers. 17:20-18:00 Pierrick Coupe. New patch-based estimators for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease Wednesday, February 18, 2015 9:30-11:30. Session 4. 09:30-10:10 Bert Kappen. Explaining missing heritability with Gaussian Process regression 10:10-10:50 Alberto Llera. Efficient Gaussian/Inverse Gammas mixture-models: a new tool for thresholding ICA statistical maps from fMRI data 10:50-11:30 Estibaliz Garrote. Computer vision applied to digital pathology: image search engine based on clinical similarity 11:30-12:10 Coffee Break 12:10-14:10. Session 5. 12:10-12:50 Michael Wibral. Information transfer and causal interactions - Conceptual differences and combined analyses strategies 12:50-13:30 Luca Faes. Dynamics of Information Storage, Transfer and Modification in the Cardiovascular System 13:30-14:10 Adam Barrett. Synergistic and redundant information sharing in Gaussian systems 14:10-15:20 Lunch 15:20-18:00. Session 6. 15:20-16:00 Ruedi Stoop. Power-law size distribution of activated avalanches - what do they really mean? 16:00-16:40 Daniele Marinazzo. Tracking slow modulations in synaptic gain using dynamic causal modelling: Validation in epilepsy 16:40-17:20 Paolo Paradisi. Intermittency-based complexity measures in brain EEG data 17:20-18:00 Jordi Soriano. Experiments in Neuronal Cultures: Exploring Open Questions in Physics and Medicine

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Fellowships in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania
by Vijay Balasubramanian Feb. 10, 2015

Feb. 10, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellowships in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience University of Pennsylvania The Computational Neuroscience Initiative (CNI, http://cni.upenn.edu) of the University of Pennsylvania seeks exceptional candidates for two CNI Postdoctoral Fellowships. Candidates with strong quantitative skills from a variety of fields including neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, physics, mathematics, and engineering will be considered. The selected Fellows will join an inter-disciplinary research environment in historic Philadelphia. CNI Fellows will be encouraged to foster collaborative research between multiple labs. The CNI supports inter-disciplinary and collaborative research at the frontier of knowledge about the brain, behavior, and the mind. We focus on systems-level approaches that integrate theory and computation with experiment. Our members include faculty, post-docs, and students from multiple programs and departments including neurobiology, cognitive science, psychology, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science. Our research and training spans the three major elements of the field of Computational Neuroscience: 1) Theory -- understanding the brain as an information-processing machine; 2) Experiments -- providing quantitative methods to aid in the design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation of empirical studies that probe all levels of brain function, from molecules to behavior; and 3) Applications -- including robotics, brain-machine interfaces, and new clinical tools. Applications should be submitted by email to compneuro(a)sas.upenn.edu <mailto:compneuro@sas.upenn.edu> and should consist of a CV and a cover letter stating the candidate's research experience and reasons for applying to this Fellowship. Please arrange for up two three letters of recommendation to be sent to the same email address with the candidate's name in the subject line. Review of applications will begin on February 30 and continue on a rolling basis until the positions are filled. The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented individuals from diverse backgrounds (http://jobs.hr.upenn.edu <http://jobs.hr.upenn.edu/>). Vijay Balasubramanian, Director David Brainard, Co-Director Joshua Gold, Co-Director

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Call for Abstracts – IWSP7: Epilepsy Mechanisms, Models, Prediction & Control
by Levin Kuhlmann Feb. 10, 2015

Feb. 10, 2015

The 7th International Workshop on Seizure Prediction (IWSP7: Epilepsy Mechanisms, Models, Prediction & Control) will bring together world leading epileptologists, engineers, physicists, mathematicians, neurosurgeons and neuroscientists to focus on epilepsy research in Melbourne Australia from 3-6 August 2015. Abstract submission deadline: 16th April 2015. Notification of acceptance: 31st May 2015. Early bird registration: full: AU$465; Student/Early Career Researcher: AU$165. Early bird registration deadline: 30th June 2015. Standard registration: full: AU$565; Student/Early Career Researcher: AU$265. Over 30 generous travel stipends will be awarded to participants submitting the best abstracts as determined by the IWSP7 Scientific Advisory Board. The majority will be awarded to undergraduate or postgraduate students and early career researchers (people who completed their PhD within the period of the 3 years preceding 3rd August 2015). Topics for abstracts include, but are not limited to: seizure prediction, detection and control; seizure mechanisms, animal models and human neurophysiology; neuroimaging of epilepsy/seizure localisation; computational modelling of epilepsy; epilepsy networks; high frequency oscillations; model-based estimation, statistical signal processing or control theory applied to epilepsy. For information on invited speakers and the preliminary conference program, and how to submit abstracts and register visit: www.iwsp7.org<http://www.iwsp7.org> Please forward this notice to anyone that you think might be interested. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting! On behalf of the local organizing committee Levin Kuhlmann, PhD David B. Grayden, PhD Mark J. Cook, MD Dean R. Freestone, PhD Alan Lai, PhD Elma O'Sullivan-Greene, PhD Andre Peterson, BSc(hons) Email: organizingcommittee(a)iwsp7.org<mailto:organizingcommittee@iwsp7.org>

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SAND 7 Workshop Announcement
by Barbara Dorney Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

The seventh international workshop on Statistical Analysis of Neural Data (SAND7) will take place May 27-29, 2015, in Pittsburgh, PA. Partial travel support is available. Requests for financial support should be made by MARCH 15. There will be talks by senior investigators and junior investigators. The talks by young investigators (graduate student or postdoc/faculty within 5 years of Ph.D.) will be selected on a competitive basis. Any young investigator interested in presenting their work as a talk should submit an abstract by MARCH 1. Please see our website: http://sand.stat.cmu.edu There will also be a poster session, to which all participants are invited to contribute. Talks and posters may involve new methodology, investigation of existing methods, or application of state-of-the-art analytical techniques. Here are the confirmed keynote speakers: Gyorgy Buzsaki (NYU) Marlene Cohen (University of Pittsburgh) Adrienne Fairhall (University of Washington) Bruce Rosen (Harvard, MGH) Mark Schnitzer (Stanford) Sebastian Seung (Princeton) This workshop series is concerned with analysis of neural signals from various sources, including EEG, fMRI, MEG, 2-Photon, and extracellular recordings. It aims to define important problems in neuronal data analysis and useful strategies for attacking them; foster communication between experimental neuroscientists and those trained in statisti- cal and computational methods encourage young researchers, including graduate students, to present their work; and expose young researchers to important challenges and oppor- tunities in this interdisciplinary domain, while providing a small meeting atmosphere to facilitate the interaction of young researchers with senior colleagues. The organizers are Emery Brown, Elizabeth Buffalo, Rob Kass, Liam Paninski, Sri Sarma and Jonathan Victor. -- Barbara Dorney Assistant to the Co-Director CNBC - Carnegie Mellon University 115 Mellon Institute 4400 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 268.6557 (412) 268.5060 (fax)

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Navigation workshop, April 11th, Edinburgh
by Barbara Webb Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

We are pleased to announce a workshop "Spatial computation: from neural circuits to robot navigation". The workshop will take place in the Informatics Forum in Edinburgh on April 11th from 9 am to 6 pm. This is the day immediately before start of the British Neuroscience meeting in Edinburgh. The workshop will address approaches to computations underlying navigation from the perspectives of neuroscience and robotics. A list of confirmed speakers and a link for registration are here: http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/spatialcomputationworkshop/ -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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2nd CFP - Special Session on Transfer Learning - International Work Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, 10-12 June, 2015
by Jorge M. Santos Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

(Deadline Extension) Please consider to contribute to the Special Session on Transfer Learning International Work Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, 10-12 June, 2015 - http://iwann.ugr.es/2015 Transfer Learning (TL) aims to transfer knowledge acquired in one problem, the source problem, onto another problem, the target problem, dispensing with the bottom-up construction of the target model. The TL approach has gained significant interest in the Machine Learning (ML) community since it paves the way to devise intelligent learning models that can easily be tailored to many different domains of applicability. The following aspects have recently contributed to the emergence of TL: Generalization Theory: TL often produces algorithms with good generalization capability for different problems; Efficient TL algorithms: TL provides learning models that can be applied with far less computational effort than standard ML methods; Unlabeled data: TL can be advantageous since unlabeled data can have severe implications in some fields of research, such as in the biomedical field. Some examples of topics for this special session: Big Data with Deep Neural Networks; Generalization Bounds; Domain Adaptation or Covariate Shift; Algorithms for TL; New advancements in TL; Real-world applications. Deadline: 23 February 2015 Organizers Luís M. Silva, Dep. of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, Portugal - lmas(a)ua.pt Jorge M. Santos, Dep. of Mathematics, School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal - jms(a)isep.ipp.pt

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PhD student position in the lab of Susanne Schreiber (Computational Neurophysiology), Berlin
by Margret Franke Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

PhD student position in the lab of Susanne Schreiber (Computational Neurophysiology) in Berlin www.neuron-science.de We are currently looking for a motivated PhD student to join us in the exploration of computational properties of neurons. Our group is embedded in the Department of Biology at Humboldt-University Berlin and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, located on the beautiful Campus Nord in the center of the city. We are particularly interested in how cell-intrinsic physiological processes affect neuronal computation in single neurons and networks. To this end we use theoretical approaches in combination with the analysis of experimental data (obtained by experimental collaborators in vertebrate and invertebrate systems). Many of our projects take the evolutionary perspective into account, with the aim to improve our understanding of how constraints, such as limited energetic resources or fluctuating environmental variables (like temperature), shaped the design of neuronal systems. The PhD project will involve biophysical modeling of neurons, intending to derive principles that generalize across multiple brain areas or nervous systems. The PhD student will be given the opportunity to cooperate with experimental groups in the Berlin area. Moreover, suitable candidates may participate in the structured PhD program "Sensory Computation in Neural Systems" (GRK 1589, https://www.bccn-berlin.de/Graduate+Programs/2_Doctoral+Program/) providing lively interactions with other research groups and students in the fields of computational neuroscience, systems neurobiology, and machine learning. A strong background in physics, biophysics, computational neuroscience, or computational biology is recommended. Moreover, candidates should have solid experience in programming (python or matlab to solve ODEs/SDEs), analytical skills, and a keen interest in neurophysiological questions. If interested, please send an email to Susanne Schreiber (email: s.schreiber :AT: hu-berlin.de) including a letter of motivation, a CV, and a copy of the current academic transcripts. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. In order to apply for a scholarship in the structured PhD program, please contact us as soon as possible. The official deadline for this program is March 15th, 2015. -- Margret Franke Managing Director Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin phone: (030) 2093-9110 fax: (030) 2093-6771

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Kosice Neuroscience Workshop 20-24 April 2015
by Norbert Kopco Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

SAVE THE DATE! The Second Workshop and Lecture Series on */"Cognitive neuroscience of auditory and cross-modal perception"/* 20 - 24 April 2015 Kosice, Slovakia http://pcl.upjs.sk/ Objectives: This workshop and lecture series will include introductory lectures and advanced research talks on a range of topics related to the */neural processes of auditory, visual and cross-modal perception/*. The talks will illustrate the */multidisciplinary character of cognitive neuroscience research/*, covering behavioral, neuroimaging, and modeling approaches, as well as applications of the research in auditory prosthetic devices. The workshop is aimed at */early-stage and advanced students and young researchers/*, and it will provide ample opportunities for direct interactions between the lecturers and the attendees. *Format* Lectures 20 - 22 April, Consultations 23 – 24 April *Venue* Historicka aula, P. J. Safarik University, Srobarova 2, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia *Organizers* Norbert Kopco, PhD. (norbert.kopco(a)upjs.sk <mailto:norbert.kopco@upjs.sk>) Frederick Gallun, PhD. (Frederick.Gallun(a)va.gov <mailto:Frederick.Gallun@va.gov>) *Organizing team and contact* Beata Tomoriova, Lubos Hladek, Perception and Cognition Lab <http://pcl.upjs.sk>,**kogneuro(a)gmail.com <mailto:kogneuro@gmail.com> *Speakers (lecture topics TBA, see last year’s topics at *http://pcl.upjs.sk/workshop2014/*)* Simon Carlile (University of Sydney) Pierre Divenyi (Stanford University) Christopher Stecker (Vanderbilt University) Bernhard Laback (Austrian Academy of Sciences) Volker Hohmann (University of Oldenburg) Arash Yazdanbakhsh (Boston University) Aaron Seitz (University of California, Riverside) Frederick (Erick) Gallun (US Dept. of Veterans Affairs and Oregon Health & Science University) Istvan Winkler (Hungarian Academy of Science) Travel, accommodation, visitor information Attendees are kindly requested to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. /Travel: /The Kosice Airport <http://www.airportkosice.sk/en/> (http://www.airportkosice.sk/en/) is served by Austrian Airlines <http://www.austrian.com/> (http://www.austrian.com/) and Czech Airlines <http://www.csa.cz> (http://www.csa.cz/) via Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, and by low-cost airline Wizzair <http://wizzair.com/en-GB/Search> (http://wizzair.com/en-GB/Search) from London Luton Airport. Alternatively you can fly to Budapest and take a 3.5-hr shuttle bus to Kosice, for example, using the cassoviaexpres <http://cassoviaexpres.sk/en/> (http://cassoviaexpres.sk/en/) shuttle bus. From Krakow you can take the 4-hr shuttle bus operated by Airtrans.sk <http://airtrans.sk/en/>. More information about how to get to Kosice (also by train or bus) can be found at http://www.visitkosice.eu/en/to-get-there/arriving-to-the-city . /Accommodation:/ There are several hotels close to workshop venue, for example Hotel Teledom <http://www.hotelteledom.sk>, Villa Regia <http://villaregia.sk/en/>, Doubletree by Hilton <http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/slovak-republic/doubletree-by-hilto…>, Hotel Yasmin <http://www.hotel-yasmin.sk/>, Hotel Maraton <http://www.hotelmaraton.sk/> (for more hotel options please see http://www.booking.com, http://www.hotels.com, for hostels see: http://www.hostels.com, http://www.hostelworld.com) /Visitor information and current events:/ see http://www.visitkosice.eu/ , http://www.slovaktours.eu/, http://www.mickosice.sk/ <http://www.mickosice.sk/index.php?lang=eng>, http://slovakia.travel/ , or http://www.slovakia.com/ * Registration* The workshop is open to all interested students/scientists. Registration is free of charge but required (mostly for organizational reasons). In order to register, please send an email to kogneuro(a)gmail.com stating your name and affiliation, dates on which you are planning to attend. In case you would like to have a presentation please send us an abstract (up to 200 words) and an indication whether you prefer poster or oral presentation no later than April 10, 2015. -- doc. Norbert Kopco, Ph.D. Assoc Professor / Senior Researcher: Inst of Computer Sci, Faculty of Science, Safarik Univ, Kosice, Slovakia Adjunct: Ctr for Computational Neurosci (CompNet), Boston University & Martinos Ctr for Biomed Imaging, Harvard Med School - Mass Gen Hospital P: +16175759556 F: +14847279884, kopco(a)bu.edu, http://cns.bu.edu/~kopco

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Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience 2015
by Máté Lengyel Feb. 9, 2015

Feb. 9, 2015

ADVANCED COURSE IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE 9-29 August 2015, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal + pre-school 5-7 August 2015 http://www.accn.pt Applications deadline: 15 March 2015 DIRECTORS * Gilles Laurent (Max Plank Institute for Brain Research, Germany) * Máté Lengyel (University of Cambridge, UK) * Christian Machens (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) This three-weeks school teaches the central ideas, methods, and practice of modern computational neuroscience through a combination of lectures and hands-on project work. Each morning will be devoted to lectures given by distinguished international faculty on topics across the breadth of experimental and computational neuroscience. During the rest of the day, students will work on research projects in teams of 2-3 people under the close supervision of expert tutors and faculty. Research projects will be proposed by faculty before the course, and will include the modeling of neurons, neural systems, behavior, the analysis of state-of-the-art neural data (behavioral data, multi-electrode recordings, calcium imaging data, connectomics data, etc.), and the development of theories to explain experimental observations. The course is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, physics, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics and psychology. Students are expected to have a keen interest and basic background in neurobiology, a solid foundation in mathematics, as well as some computer experience. An optional three-day pre-school in mathematics and programming is available to students who want to catch up on or fine-tune their math and programming skills. Essential details: * Course size: 24 students maximum * Fee (which covers tuition, lodging, and meals): 2250 EUR (+ 245 EUR for optional pre-school) * Scholarships and travel stipends are available. * Application deadline: 15 March 2015 * Notification of results: April 2015 Information and application http://www.accn.pt Contact address: Tânia Li Chen <tania.chen(a)neuro.fchampalimaud.org> FACULTY * Nicolas Brunel (University of Chicago, USA) * Claudia Clopath (Imperial College London, UK) * Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience, UCL, UK) * David Fitzpatrick (Max-Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, USA) * Boris Gutkin (École Normale Supérieure, France) * Michael Hausser (Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, UCL, UK) * Moritz Helmstaedter (MPI Brain Research, Germany) * Claus Hilgetag (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany) * Matthias Kaschube (Frankfurt Institute for Advanced studies, Germany) * Simon Laughlin (University of Cambridge, UK) * Gilles Laurent (MPI Brain Research, Germany) * Máté Lengyel (University of Cambridge, UK) * Jennifer Linden (Ear Institute, UCL, UK) * Christian Machens (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Tony Movshon (New York University, USA) * Michael Orger (Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Portugal) * Alexandre Pouget (University of Geneva, Switzerland) * Maneesh Sahani (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience, UCL, UK) * Eero Simoncelli (New York University, USA) * Daniel Wolpert (University of Cambridge, UK) -- Mate Lengyel, PhD Computational and Biological Learning Lab Cambridge University Engineering Department Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK tel: +44 (0)1223 748 532, fax: +44 (0)1223 765 587 email: m.lengyel(a)eng.cam.ac.uk web: www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~m.lengyel

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CFP: Signal Processing Special Issue on Big Data Meets Multimedia Analytics
by 刘伟锋 Feb. 8, 2015

Feb. 8, 2015

Dear all, Sorry for the cross posting of this CFP message. CFP: Signal Processing Special Issue on Big Data Meets Multimedia Analytics With the rapid development of computing and sensing technologies, such as the emergence of social networking websites and wearable devices, many new research opportunities and challenges for multimedia content analysis have arisen. Many big data modeling methods, computing algorithms, and signal processing technologies have recently been successfully developed and applied to multimedia content analysis: for example, multi-view learning algorithms have been proposed for exploring the variety of multimedia content; sparse and manifold learning have been developed for high dimensional multimedia data representation; deep learning has produced promising results in large scale multimedia retrieval; and compressive sensing and new sampling schemes have been investigated for big data analytics. Motivated by the inclination to collect a set of recent advances and results in these related topics, provide a platform for researchers to exchange their innovative ideas on big modeling and computing solutions for multimedia content analytics, and introduce interesting utilizations of modeling and computing algorithms for particular social/personal media applications, this special issue will target emergent big modeling and computing methods for multimedia signal processing and understanding (with a special focus on social media and personal data). To summarize, this special issue welcomes a broad range of submissions on the development and use of artificial intelligence and computing techniques for multimedia analytics. We are especially interested in: 1) theoretical advances as well as algorithm developments in big data technology for specific social/personal media analytics problems; 2) reports of practical applications and system innovations in social/personal media analytics; and 3) novel datasets as test beds for new developments, preferably with implemented standard benchmarks. The following list suggests (but is not limited to) possible topics of interest: · Big Data Technology Specifically for Multimedia Analytics · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Annotation, Tagging and Classification · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Abstraction and Summarization · Big Data Technology for Multimedia Indexing and Retrieval · Big Data Technology and Computing for Social Media Analytics · Big Data Technology and Computing for Biological Data · Big Data Technology and Computing for Personal Data Mining · Modeling of Wearable Device Sensor Streams · Personal Data based Social Network Analysis and Web Mining · Cloud Computing for Social Intelligence and Personal Data · Deep Learning for Social Media Analytics · Deep Learning for Security in Social Media Important dates: Manuscript Submission: May 01, 2015 Initial Decision: August 01, 2015 R1 Version: October 01, 2015 Acceptance Notification: November 01, 2015 Final Manuscripts Due: November 15, 2015 Anticipated Publication: January 01, 2016 Submission: Manuscripts (Please follow Signal Processing publishing format, details can be found athttp://www.elsevier.com/ journals/signal-processing/0165-1684/guide-for-authors) should be submitted via the Electronic Editorial System of Elsevier: http://ees.elsevier.com/sigpro/. Please make sure to select the "SI: BDMA" as Article Type during the submission process.

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INCF Short Course on Information Processing in Neural Systems
by Frank Jäkel Feb. 5, 2015

Feb. 5, 2015

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INCF Short Course on Information Processing in Neural Systems -- From Single Neurons to Large-Scale Models of Cognition -- May 2-10, 2015 @ Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabrück, Germany +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One of the big challenges in neuroinformatics is bridging the gap between our biophysical understanding of single cells and of networks of neurons on the one side, and the cognitive functions that are characterized in terms of information processing on the other side. This INCF Short Course will provide lectures and hands-on tutorials ranging from dynamical systems theory to cognitive modeling. Target Audience: PhD candidates and post-docs with backgrounds in neuroinformatics, theoretical neuroscience, complex systems, machine learning, applied mathematics/statistics or cognitive modeling. Topics: Dynamical systems: attractors, bifurcations, etc. (Herbert Jäger) Single neuron dynamics, networks, and computation (Nicolas Brunel) Mean-field theory, neurodynamics, and decision-making (Gustavo Deco) Probabilistic models of population coding and perception (tba) Reservoir computing in simple cognitive systems (Gordon Pipa) Learning of sensory representations in neural systems (Peter König) Neural architectures for biological cognition (tba) Neural networks, kernel methods, and categorization (Frank Jäkel) A tutorial on reservoir computing (Pipa & Jäger) A tutorial on large-scale simulations in Nengo (tba) A tutorial on information processing models with NEST (Marc-Oliver Gewaltig) The yearly, two-day OCCAM workshop (www.occam-os.de) is integrated into the INCF course and participants of the INCF course will also take part in the workshop. Applications will be accepted until March 7, 2015. The registration fee is 250 Euros. We can offer a limited number of travel stipends to support students. More information on the course and on application details can be found on the course webpage: http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/

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Osnabrueck Computational Cognition Alliance Meeting (OCCAM 2015)
by Frank Jäkel Feb. 5, 2015

Feb. 5, 2015

Dear Colleague, we would like to invite you to register for the 5th +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Osnabrück Computational Cognition Alliance Meeting (OCCAM 2015) "From Simple Neurons to Large-Scale Models of Cognition" May 6-7, 2015. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ List of invited speakers: Nicolas Brunel Gustavo Deco Wolfgang Einhäuser Virginia Flanagin Sonja Grün Marc-Oliver Gewaltig Herbert Jäger Gordon Pipa Kai Vogeley The workshop will take place in Osnabrück, Germany, and will be hosted by the Institute of Cognitive Science (University of Osnabrück). Details can be found below and on the following webpage: http://www.occam-os.de The registration deadline is March 7, 2015 (first come first served). The registration fee is 100,- Euros. This year the OCCAM workshop is co-located with an INCF Short Course on the same topic (http://www.incf.ni.uos.de/) The OCCAM workshop series aims at understanding the principles of information processing in the brain with a particular focus on 3 major topics: 1. Neural coding and representation in hierarchical systems 2. Self-organization in dynamical systems 3. Mechanisms for probabilistic inference There will also be a poster session where conference participants will have the opportunity to present their work. The deadline for submitting an abstract for a poster presentation is also March 7. Best regards, Frank Jäkel, Peter König, Gordon Pipa (Organizing committee)

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Reminder: UAI 2015 - Call for Workshops
by Irina Rish Feb. 4, 2015

Feb. 4, 2015

UAI 2015 - Call for Workshops http://www.auai.org/uai2015/workshops.shtml Proposals are solicited for workshops to be held in conjunction with the The Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in July 2015. The workshops will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2015 (tentative date). These workshops present an excellent opportunity to address a specific topic of your choice on the intersection of knowledge representation, machine learning and reasoning under uncertainty. We are looking for half-day or full-day workshop proposals. Important dates Workshop proposal deadline February 19, 2015 Proposal acceptance notification March 2, 2015 Workshop submissions due May 8, 2015 (suggested date) Workshop author notification May 22, 2015 (suggested date) Workshop day: July 16, 2015 (tentative) Workshops are a great format for active research on new topics. The ideal workshop covers a compelling subject of current or upcoming research, and includes an impressive set of speakers with diverse backgrounds to discuss the subject. Discussion via panels and identification of open problems and challenges are great components to include. Organization The format, style, and content of accepted workshops is under the control of the workshop organizers and largely autonomous from the main conferences. The workshops can be up to seven hours long, split into morning and afternoon sessions. Workshop organizers are expected to manage the workshop content, specify the workshop format, be present to moderate the discussion and panels, invite experts in the domain, and maintain a website for the workshop. Workshop registration will be handled centrally by the main conference. Submission Instructions Proposals should clearly specify the following: Workshop title (what is it called?) Topic (what is it about?) Motivation (why a workshop on this topic?) Impact and expected outcomes (what will having the workshop do?) Potential list of invited speakers (who might come?) List of related publications (where can we learn more?) Main workshop organizer (who is making it happen?) Other organizers (who else is making it happen?) Bio for each organizer (who are you?) Workshop URL (where will interested parties get more information?) Detailed descriptions of last year's workshops can be found at: http://auai.org/uai2014/workshopsDetails.shtml. Workshop proposals should be submitted via email in PDF format to uai2015.workshops(a)gmail.com by February 19, 2015 (earlier submissions are encouraged as well). Soon after submission, proposers should expect to receive a verification of receipt. Irina Rish Contact: irina.rish(a)gmail.com Workshops chair UAI 2015

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Last Mile: IMMM 2015 and DATASETS 2015 || June 21 - 26, 2015 - Brussels, Belgium
by Cristina Pascual Feb. 4, 2015

Feb. 4, 2015

INVITATION: ================= The submission deadline is extended to February 18, 2015. Please consider to contribute to and/or forward to the appropriate groups the following opportunity to submit and publish original scientific results to: - IMMM 2015, The Fifth International Conference on Advances in Information Mining and Management - DATASETS 2015, The International Symposium on Challenges for Designing and Using Datasets Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org ================= ============== IMMM 2015 | DATASETS 2015 | Call for Papers =============== CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, PANELS IMMM 2015, The Fifth International Conference on Advances in Information Mining and Management General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/IMMM15.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/SubmitIMMM15.html DATASETS 2015, The International Symposium on Challenges for Designing and Using Datasets General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/DATASETS.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/DATASETS.html#SubmitAPaper Events schedule: June 21 - 26, 2015 - Brussels, Belgium 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: February 18, 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 IMMM 2015 Topics (for topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/CfPIMMM15.html ============================================================ Mining mechanisms and methods Data mining algorithms; Media adaptive mining; Agent-based mining; Content-based mining; Context-aware mining; Automation of data extraction; Data mining at a large; Domain-driven data mining; Graph-based data mining; Multilabel information; Multimodal mining; Cloud-based mining; Mining using neurocomputing techniques Mining support Querying for mining; Questions for digital investigation; Similarity search; User-generated content; Visualizing data mining; Internationalization and localization techniques for profile/context-based visualization Type of information mining Concept mining; Process mining; Concept mining; Knowledge mining; Knowledge discovery; Mining image and video; Mining patterns; Opinion mining; Graph mining; Ontology mining; Semantic annotations and mining; Document mining; Spatial mining; Speech mining; Text mining; Web mining; XML data mining Pervasive information retrieval Context and location information retrieval; Mobile information retrieval; Geo-information retrieval; Context-aware information retrieval; Access-driven information retrieval; Location-specific information retrieval; Spacial information retrieval; Semantic-driven retrieval Automated retrieval and mining Automated information extraction; Agent-based data mining and information discovery; Agent-based knowledge; Datamining-based agents and multi-agent systems; Agent-mining intelligent applications and systems; Automated retrieval of multimedia streams; Automated retrieval from multimedia archives; Automated copyright infringement detection and watermarking; Automated content summarization; Automatic concept detection, categorization, and genre detection; Automatic speech recognition; Automated cross-media linking Mining features Dimensionality reduction; Feature weighting; Subset selection; Feature extraction; Feature construction; Data streams and time series; Selection in high-dimensional domains; Multilingual data mining; Multimedia mining; String processing and data mining; Mining association rules; Mining social relationships; Mining linked data; Mining sequential episodes from time series; Mining time-dependent data; Un-supervised data mining; Semi-structured data; Mining location-sensitive data; Concept-drift in data mining Information mining and management Data cleaning; Data updating; Segmentation and clustering; Mining transient information; Warehousing; Web syndication; Data filtering and aggregation; Optimal pruning; Data summarization; Knowledge injection, discovery and classification; Uncertainty removal; Managing incompleteness Mining from specific sources Bio data mining; Climate data mining; Data mining in medicine and pharmacology; Data mining in special networks (grids, sensors, etc.); Data management for mobile systems; Data management for sensors; Data mining and management for wireless systems; Dynamic network discovery; Mining from multiple sources; Mining personal semantic data; Mining from social networks; Mining from deep web; Mining from Wikipedia Data management in special environments Data management in sensor and mobile ad hoc networks; Data management in mobile peer-to-peer networks; Data management for mobile applications; Data management in mobile/temporal social networks; Management of community sensing/participatory sensing data; Managing pervasive data, sensor data streams and user devices; Managing mobile semantic data; Manging data-intensive mobile computing; Management of real-time data; Managing security data streams; Managing Mobile Web 2.0 data; Managing data in mobile clouds; Data replication, migration and dissemination in mobile environments; Web data processing and security on mobile devices; Resource advertising and discovery techniques Mining evaluation Statistics on mining; Ranking of mining results; Provenance; Privacy issues; Patterns for mining; Credibility on data mining; Performance of mining information; Data mining and computational intelligence; Intelligent data understanding; Intelligent data analysis Mining tools and applications Data mining applications; Data mining tools and enabling software; Interoperability of information mining tools; Applications for large-scale mining; Content segmentation tools (e.g., shot and semantic scene segmentation); Evaluation methods for TV and radio content analysis tools; Tools for data sets and standard resources DATASETS 2015 Topics (for topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) CfP: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/DATASETS.html#CallForPapers ========================== THEORY The anatomy of designing Datasets Designing context-based Datasets Metadata for Datasets Challenges in designing very large Datasets Updatable and updating Datasets Reference Datasets Datasets families Repositories of Datasets Criteria for selecting appropriate Datasets TYPES Public and private Datasets Open Datasets Big Data and Datasets Trusted Datasets Mining massive Datasets FEATURES Testing and validating Datasets Pitfalls with Datasets Reputation of Datasets Accuracy estimation of Datasets Data links in Datasets APPLICATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS Context-aware Datasets in the Internet of Things Datasets for data mining Datasets used in statistics and machine learning Online Datasets on collective behavior Datasets for analytics and knowledge discovery Regression Datasets Climate Datasets Gene Datasets Health Datasets Economic Datasets Social Datasets Transportation Datasets Urban Datasets Education/scholar Datasets ------------------------ IMMM 2015 Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/ComIMMM15.html DATASETS 2015 Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/DATASETS.html#Committees ==================

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Open Source Brain 2015: Building and sharing standardised neuronal models
by Padraig Gleeson Feb. 4, 2015

Feb. 4, 2015

(Apologies for cross postings) Announcing the third annual Open Source Brain Workshop, May 12-14th 2015, Alghero, Sardinia. http://opensourcebrain.org/docs/Help/Meetings#OSB_2015 The Open Source Brain initiative aims to encourage collaborative, open source model development in computational neuroscience and is primarily supported by the Wellcome Trust. As with past OSB meetings <http://www.opensourcebrain.org/docs#Meetings> this workshop will bring together experimentalists, theoreticians and tool developers who are interested in creating open, community developed models of neuronal systems. Researchers interested in building and sharing models of any brain region and from any species are welcome to attend the meeting. There will be presentations on the latest developments and functionality of the OSB resource and associated technologies including NeuroML and LEMS. There will also be a special focus session on Wed 13th May on *creating and sharing experimentally constrained models of the hippocampus*. *Confirmed speakers* Giorgio Ascoli, Krasnow Institute, George Mason University, USA Tiago Branco, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK Claudia Colpath, Imperial College London, UK Michael Hines, Yale University, USA Peter Jonas, Institute of Science and Technology, Austria Troy Margrie, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK Michele Migliore, National Research Council, Italy & Yale University School of Medicine, USA Yiota Poirazi, Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, Foundation for Research & Technology Hellas, Greece Stefan Remy, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany Nelson Spruston, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Virginia, USA Full details of the workshop can be found here: http://opensourcebrain.org/docs/Help/Meetings#OSB_2015. The meeting is free to attend, but registration is required (deadline April 15th). The OSB 2015 organising committee Sergio Solinas Padraig Gleeson Angus Silver Boris Marin ----------------------------------------------------- Padraig Gleeson Room 321, Anatomy Building Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom +44 207 679 3214 p.gleeson(a)ucl.ac.uk -----------------------------------------------------

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Faculty position opening in software engineering
by Jun Suzuki Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Computer Science Assistant/Associate Professor The Computer Science Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites applications for one full-time position in Software Engineering at the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor, to begin September 1, 2015. We offer an ABET-accredited BS in Computer Science, a BS in Information Technology, an MS with an emphasis on software engineering, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science. Current faculty interests include bioinformatics, computer and human vision, data mining, databases, graphics, networks, security, software engineering, system modeling, and theoretical computer science. A PhD in computer science or a related area is required. A successful candidate at the Assistant Professor level is expected to establish a highly-recognized, externally-funded independent research program at UMass Boston. Candidates at the Associate Professor level should have a well-established research program with a significant funding record. We offer a competitive salary and start-up package. A complete application consists of a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statements about research and teaching, and the names and email addresses of three references. Please submit your application at: http://goo.gl/ZjMvYV Our campus overlooks Boston harbor; our faculty and students enjoy professional life in a center of academia and the software industry. For more information, visit us at http://www.cs.umb.edu Review of applications has begun and will continue until the position is filled. UMass Boston is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Title IX employer. -- Jun Suzuki Associate Professor of Computer Science University of Massachusetts, Boston jxs(a)cs.umb.edu http://www.cs.umb.edu/~jxs/ http://dssg.cs.umb.edu/ @JunSuzukiBoston

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IJCNN 2015, final CFP: Papers are due on February 5th, 2015
by Giacomo Boracchi Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

IJCNN 2015 - International Joint Conference on Neural Networks July 12-17, 2015, Killarney Convention Center, Killarney, Ireland http://www.ijcnn.org This is the final Call for Papers, which are due in 3 days : Thursday, February 5th, 2015!! IJCNN is the premier international conference in the area of neural network theory, analysis, and applications. Co-sponsored by the International Neural Network Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, over the last three decades this conference and its predecessors has hosted [past, present, and future] leaders of neural network research. In an era when neural networks are widely used and reported in many areas, scientists, engineers, educators, and students from all over the world can get the best overall view of neural networks, from neuroscience to advanced control systems to cognition, at the IJCNN. *Competitions are underway!* A winning certificate and free registration will be provided to the winner of each competition who attends IJCNN 2015. Remember to submit and related papers (if that is your intent) through the regular IJCNN2015 paper submission system. If you need any other information about the general organisation of the competitions, please do not hesitate to contact : Abir Hussain. IJCNN2015 Competition Chair. Liverpool John MooresU. UK 1) ChaLearn AutoML challenge http://www.codalab.org/AutoML Here is your chance to realize the dream of many researchers in data science: create the "perfect black box", i.e. a learning machine capable of learning from examples without any human intervention. Until June we are progressively introducing 30 classification and regression tasks, with datasets pre-formatted in feature representations. Until February 14 you can win 2 sets of prizes in the: . Round 0 Tweakathon: result or code submission on well known sample datasets (preparation phase) . Round 1 AutoML: code submission on binary classification problems (novice phase) See the challenge website website for submissions, and for questions contact : Isabelle Guyon ClopiNet. California. USA guyon(a)clopinet.com 2) Speech-Music discrimination algorithms in the context of unseen audio data https://sites.google.com/site/aggelospikrakis/ijcnn Without making any assumptions with respect to the origin of the signals. Although the Speech-Music classification problem is already almost two decades old and several algorithms have been proposed over the years, there still remains to answer the question whether the proposed solutions can address audio streams from diverse sources or audio streams that suffer from (mild) spectral and time-stretching distortions. Most published work focuses on evaluating the respective methods on radio broadcasts over the Internet or, in general, on non-reproducible audio streams. To enter the competition, send an email to : Aggelos Pikrakis Uof Piraeus. Greece pikrakis(a)unipi.gr 3) Predict pathological cases in pregnant women during labour using cardiotography data. The challenge is to detect with high accuracy when a child is genuinely compromised before medical intervention is considered. For this competition, participants will be given an open dataset containing 552 intrapartum recordings, which can be access online via physionet.org. Contact : Paul Fergus. IJCNN2015 Competition on pathological pregnanacies. Liverpool John MooresU. UK p.fergus(a)ljmu.ac.uk 4) Neural Network based Weather Prediction Competition The importance of being able to accurately predict Weather cannot be overstated; beyond predicting catastrophic events such as storms or unusually severe spells of cold or heat, weather has a dramatic effect on a population's day to day health and behaviour and a significant impact on the economy. This competition involves the prediction of minimum maximum Temperatures The Dataset covers historic daily values for the period between 1st January 2007 and 30th September 2014, for the Oak Park Weather Station, which is the closest weather station to the IJCNN2015 conference venue. . 20th April 2015: Brief description of the algorithm used and generalisation results. . 20th May 2015: Announcement of the competition results Inquiries and submissions should be made through : David Reid. Liverpool Hope University. UK, reidd(a)hope.ac.uk Hissam Tawfik. IJCNN2015 Weather Competition. Liverpool Hope University. UK tawfikh(a)hope.ac.uk * PLENARY SPEAKERS - Steve Furber, The ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester "The SpiNNaker Project" - Vincenzo Piuri, Professor in Computer Engineering at the University of Milan, Italy "Computational Intelligence Technologies for 3D Surface Reconstruction" - Lee Giles, The David Reese Professor at the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University "Machine Learning and Data Mining for Scholarly Big Data" - Marios M. Polycarpou, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Cyprus "Fault Detection and Isolation in Uncertain Big-Data Environments" - Barak Pearlmutter, Professor, Department of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Ireland "Critical Dynamics and Pathological Phenomena in the Brain" - Giacomo Rizzolati, Professor of Human Physiology at the University of Parma, Italy "The double life of the motor system: Action production and action understanding" * Deadlines for Submission: - Paper submission deadline: February 05, 2015 (EXTENDED) - Paper Decision notification: March 25, 2015 - Camera-ready submission: April 25, 2015 - Conference: July 12-17, 2015 * Hotel Reservations: The Killarney region is an extremely popular tourist destination, and rooms that have been reserved for IJCNN 2015 will likely disappear as soon as the contracted booking date has passed. For that reason we strongly recommend that you book your hotel room by 01May2015! (see the IJCNN2015 home page for our accommodations at the Gleneagle Hotel, the Brehon Hotel and the River Apartments). * IJCNN Killarney site video: Marianne van Wagner, Executive Co-ordinator of the International Neural Network Society (INNS), commissioned this delightful promotional video for IJCNN2015, based on her own photographs : Killarney tour. It's well worth looking at for the local Irish scenery, and for background information about the conference. (You may have to download it if your internet connection is slow.) Keep working on your paper submissions, and submit your proposals for Tutorials and Workshops SOON! Email any of the Chairs if you wish to discuss your ideas for proposals. IJCNN General Chair De-Shuang Huang, Tongji University, China, Director - Machine Learning and Systems Biology Laboratory IJCNN Program Chair Yoonsuck Choe, Texas A&M University Director, Brain Networks Laboratory Many thanks to our Sponsors and Contributors: - International Neural Network Society - IEEE Computational Intelligence Society - Failte Ireland, National Tourism Development Authority. -- Giacomo Boracchi, PhD DEIB - Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria Politecnico di Milano Via Ponzio, 34/5 20133 Milano, Italy. Tel. +39 02 2399 3467 http://home.dei.polimi.it/boracchi/

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Masters in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems at University of Sussex
by Thomas Nowotny Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

Dear comp-neuro community, The Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems MSc is open for applications. One of its core strengths is Computational Neuroscience. For the first time the University of Sussex is offering additional scholarships to MSc students this year. For more information see the EASy MSc website<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/smsc>, download the Flyer<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/documents/easymscposter2015.pdf> or read on below. If you have students who may be interested in this opportunity, please pass this information on and/or consider posting the Flyer<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/documents/easymscposter2015.pdf>. With best regards, Thomas Nowotny -- Prof. Thomas Nowotny CCNR, Sussex Neuroscience Phone: +44-1273-678593 Engineering and Informatics Fax: +44-1273-877873 University of Sussex Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ http://sussex.ac.uk/informatics/tnowotny — Detailed information: Since 1996, the University of Sussex has offered a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (EASy). The study of natural and articial evolutionary and adaptive systems is at the heart of rapidly developing areas from articial intelligence, adaptive behaviour and autonomous robotics to computational neuroscience, consciousness and cognitive science. Sussex is internationally renowned for its research in these areas. The EASy MSc provides a solid foundation with topics including: articial life, adaptive systems, computational neuroscience, neural networks, biologically inspired robotics, dynamical systems approaches to cognition, mathematics of complex systems, neuroscience of consciousness, evolutionary computation and biological Modelling. The well established EASy programme is taught by leading experts and there are many opportunities to interact with the thriving Sussex research community, including the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR), the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Sussex Neuroscience and the Centre for Cognitive Science (COGS). Students have access to specialist facilities including robotics labs, high-performance computing and neuroscience research facilities. Students take eight taught courses, followed by an individual research project during the summer. The project is supervised by a member of faculty. It is not unusual for dissertation work to be published in international conference proceedings or journals. Of the large number of students who have graduated from the EASY MSc, 50% have later obtained doctorates and some have gone on to glittering careers in research. Others have forged thriving business careers, with several setting up highly successful companies. Grants of up to £10,000 are available at Sussex (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/money/scholarships/ ). Additionally, due to a generous donation from Andrew Pegge, two Pegge Scholarships are awarded annually to EASy MSc students. The scholarships are open to all, and awarded on merit. How to Apply: To apply to the EASy MSc please go to: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/applying/ and choose the EASy MSc taught programme. Is EASy Right for Me? Are you excited by fundamental questions in adaptive behaviour, biology and technology such as: How are insects so successful despite their tiny brains? Or, can we build machines as intelligent as animals? Are you interested in embodied AI? The origin of consciousness? Complexity? Whatever your background, if you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, our MSc is right for you. More information: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/easy/smsc or email Andy Philippides <andrewop(a)sussex.ac.uk>

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PostDoc position: stochastic signal processing and probability computation
by Pierre Bessière Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

PostDoc position: stochastic signal processing and probability computation Position available at ISIR (Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique) from Sorbonne Université - Université Pierre et Maris Curie, 4 place Jussieu, Paris: http://www.isir.upmc.fr/ <http://www.isir.upmc.fr/> Context: The framework of this position is the FP7-ICT European project BAMBI (Bottom-up Approaches to Machines dedicated to Bayesian Inference) launched in January 2014 for 3 years: https://www.bambi-fet.eu/ <https://www.bambi-fet.eu/> Content: The objective of the position is to develop theoretical studies and simulations of several ways to encode probability distribution with stochastic signals and to process these signals to implement probabilistic inferences. These studies should be done in strong interaction with our partners of the project working in the fields of fundamental electronics and spintronics. The researcher will have first to do a review of existing studies, including ongoing works done in our group and partners. He will then propose methods for the evaluation of building blocks performing basic probabilistic computation with stochastic signals, with a special focus on dynamic properties. Outcomes of these works will be published in international conferences and project deliverables. Competences: Good mathematical proficiency, especially in the field of probability theory and Markov models, is required. A perfect mastering of programming languages (C/C++, Python, Matlab) is also necessary. Duration: One year starting in spring 2015, with a possible prolongation until the end of the project (December 2016). Salary: Around 2500 euros/month, depending on previous research experience. Please submit CV and references by mail to Pierre Bessière (pierre.bessiere(a)isir.upmc.fr <mailto:pierre.bessiere@isir.upmc.fr>) and Jacques Droulez (jacques.droulez(a)isir.upmc.fr <mailto:jacques.droulez@isir.upmc.fr>). _________________________________ Pr. Pierre Bessière - CNRS ********************** SORBONNE Universités - UPMC - ISIR http://bayesian-programming.org <http://bayesian-programming.org/> Tel: +33 1 44 27 51 54 Skype: Pierre.Bessiere Pyramide - T55/65 CC 173 - 4 Place Jussieu 75005 Paris FRANCE _________________________________

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Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS)
by Tomas Hromadka Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

Dear colleagues, Please find below an announcement about the fourth edition of the Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS). We would be very grateful if you could forward this announcement to potentially interested people. Transylvanian Experimental Neuroscience Summer School (TENSS) June 1-19, 2015. The Pike Lake, Transylvania, Romania www.tenss.ro TENSS will concentrate top-level international expertise to teach a dozen students techniques and concepts in experimental systems neuroscience. We will focus on modern optical and electrophysiological methods to study the connectivity and function of neuronal circuits. The course is designed to be intensive and highly interactive, including both lab sessions and theoretical lectures. Coursework will take place in a land of myth and legend, beyond large forests (Transylvania), on the shores of a picturesque natural reserve called Pike Lake. Applications are welcome from interested (and interesting) graduate students and postdocs. Please note that the registration fee has been reduced and there is a significant number of full and half waivers available for supporting our applicants. Application deadline -- March 1st, 2015 Notification of acceptance -- March 21st, 2015 Summer School -- June 1-19th, 2015 Confirmed lecturers: Acsády, László -- Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Albeanu, Florin -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA Battaglia, Francesco -- Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands Bhalla, Upinder -- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India Burrone, Juan -- King's College, London, UK Engert, Florian -- Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA Gradinaru, Viviana -- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA Häusser, Michael - University College, London, UK Hofer, Sonja -- Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland Hromádka, Tomáš -- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic Hübener, Mark -- Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany Ji, Na -- HHMI, Janelia Farm, USA Kampff, Adam -- Champalimaud Foundation, Institute for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal Keller, Georg -- Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland Mrsic-Flögel, Tom -- Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland Muresan, Raul -- Coneural, Romanian Institute of Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Monyer, Hannah -- University of Heidelberg, Germany Murthy, Venkatesh -- Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA Nikolic, Danko -- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany Roska, Botond -- Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland Rumpel, Simon -- University of Mainz, Germany Singer, Wolf -- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany Whitlock, Jonathan -- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Trondheim, Norway Organizers: Muresan, Raul -- Coneural, Romanian Institute of Science and Technology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Kampff, Adam -- Champalimaud Foundation, Institute for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal Albeanu, Florin -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA Information about how to apply can be found here: http://tenss.ro/apply/. Best regards, TENSS Organizing Committee contact(a)tenss.ro

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Call for Participation: VISUM Summer School (25 days until deadline)
by Ricardo Gamelas Sousa Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

Apologies for cross-posting. --- Call for Participation 3^rd VISion Understanding and Machine intelligence summer school, Porto, Portugal First Computer Vision Summer School with an industrial track 2-9 July, 2015 http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/|Facebook: http://goo.gl/FbVNtq *Important Dates* Application Deadline March 1, 2015 Decision March 8, 2015 Early Registration April 10, 2015 Late Registration May 8, 2015 Summer School July 2-9, 2015 *Visum will comprise three main tracks* 1.Fundamental subjects 2.Examples of computer vision applications 3.Industrial session Each one with extensive practical “hands-on” sessions* * *Topics* Randomised Decision Forests and Tree-structured Algorithms in Computer Vision Tae-Kyun Kim, Imperial College London, UK Local Features Extraction and Description Jiri Matas, Czech Technical University, CZ Document Image Analysis Alicia Fornes, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ES Scene Understanding Martial Hebert, CMU, USA Automatic Facial Expression Recognition Michel Valstar, University of Nottingham, UK RGB-D Cameras Thomas Whelan, Imperial College London, UK *Applications* Point Clouds 3D* João P. Costeira, IST, PT ** *Tentative titles *Industry Track* http://asap54.com/ Daniel Heesch www.enermeter.pt/en Manuel João Ferreira www.philips.com Jacek Kustra *Venue* visum will take place in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city, European Best Destination 2012 and Lonely Planet’s top 10 for 2013. Here, you can find famous baroque style monuments, the worldwide known Port Wine cellars, always having the World Heritage Douro River as the background of this youthful, active and charming city. visum’s program includes social activities. *Accommodation*** *Tattva Design Hostel* Students will have 10% of discount. The prices include: Buffet breakfast, Wi-Fi all over the building, 4 computers in Lounge area, free linen, free locks, free City Maps, free Luggage Storage, free Portuguese Lessons, free Walking Tours, Happy Hour (exclusive prices for TattvaBar for guests). *Hotel da Música* All accepted participants will have a special price included in visum’s fees. Hotel da Música is a luxurious 4-star property set in a prime location in the centre of Porto. Local tourist attractions such as Rotunda da Boavista, Casa da Musica and Hospital Militar are not far from the hotel. Hotel da Música is equipped with free wifi. For more details please follow the link: http://www.hoteldamusica.com/and do not forget to check the special conditions at http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/ Please visit our webpage for up to date information: http://www.fe.up.pt/visum/. We are looking forward for your participation! visum organising committee Tiago Esteves, INEB, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Kelwin Fernandes, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Eduardo Marques, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Ana Rebelo, INESC TEC, Universidade do Porto Ricardo Sousa, INEB, Universidade do Porto Luís Teixeira, INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/visum/402527539813446 Google+: https://plus.google.com/104076275960053201744/posts Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/visumschool

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Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course 2015: application deadline soon
by Erik De Schutter Feb. 2, 2015

Feb. 2, 2015

OKINAWA/OIST COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COURSE 2015 Methods, Neurons, Networks and Behaviors June 8 - June 25, 2015 Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc The aim of the Okinawa/OIST Computational Neuroscience Course is to provide opportunities for young researchers with theoretical backgrounds to learn the latest advances in neuroscience, and for those with experimental backgrounds to have hands-on experience in computational modeling. We invite graduate students and postgraduate researchers to participate in the course, held from June 8th through June 25th, 2015 at an oceanfront seminar house of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. Applications are through the course web page (https://groups.oist.jp/ocnc) only; they will close February 8th, 2015. Applicants will receive confirmation of acceptance in March. The course has a strong hands-on component based on student proposed modeling or data analysis projects, which are further refined with the help of a dedicated tutor. Applicants are required to propose their project at the time of application. Like in preceding years, OCNC will be a comprehensive three-week course covering single neurons, networks, and behaviors with ample time for student projects. The first week will focus exclusively on methods with hands-on tutorials during the afternoons, while the second and third weeks will have lectures by international experts. We invite those who are interested in integrating experimental and computational approaches at each level, as well as in bridging different levels of complexity. There is no tuition fee. The sponsor will provide lodging and meals during the course and may support travel for those without funding. We hope that this course will be a good opportunity for theoretical and experimental neuroscientists to meet each other and to explore the attractive nature and culture of Okinawa, the southernmost island prefecture of Japan. Invited faculty: • Gordon Arbuthnott (OIST) • Axel Borst (MPI, Münich, Germany) • Erik De Schutter (OIST) • Kenji Doya (OIST) • Eugene Izihikevich (Brain Corporation, USA) • Bernd Kuhn (OIST) • Peter Latham (Gatsby Unit, UCL, UK) • Miguel Nicolelis (Duke University, USA) • Steve Prescott (University of Toronto, Canada) • John Rinzel (New York University, USA) • Jackie Schiller (Technion, Israel) • Greg Stephens (OIST) • Jeff Wickens (OIST) • Taro Toyoizumi (RIKEN BSI, Japan) • Xiao-Jing Wang (New York University, USA) • Wako Yoshida (ATR, Japan)

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European Spring School on Integrated Cognitive Systems (Herbert Jaeger)
by Herbert Jaeger Feb. 1, 2015

Feb. 1, 2015

Invitation to Participate: INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLEGE 2015 www.interdisciplinary-college.de An intense, decidedly interdisciplinary Spring School in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning, Psychology, AI and Philosophy. Guenne, Lake Moehne, Germany - March 6-13, 2015 Chairs: Herbert Jaeger, Ansgar Bueschges Fokus theme 2015: From Neuron to Person: Assembling Behavior and Cognition *The Interdisciplinary College* (IK) is an annual European one-week spring school, now in its 18th year. It offers a dense, rich, 4-track state-of-the-art course program in the wider sciences of intelligent/cognitive systems. The perspective and mission is decidedly interdisciplinary. The IK is also a unique social and networking event. Minds meet, music is played, and friends are made in long evening and night sessions in the welcoming conference site at Lake Moehne. Each IK is centered on a *focus theme*. In 2015 the focus is on integrated, complex cognitive systems. Research in the wider cognitive and neurosciences (including AI, machine learning and robotics) often deals with specific subsystems or functions, like "motor control", "object recognition", "working memory", etc. There are numerous reasons for this fragmentation: a divide-and-conquer strategy of isolating subsystems has been very successful in the sciences; commercially relevant applications mostly are centered on single functionalities; interdisciplinary research is not easy in practice. Defying these obstacles, the IK 2015 will cast its focus on complete, autonomous agents -- animals, humans, robots, and software characters. An offering of 25+ courses (each course 4-6 hours) is grouped under the following perspectives: - *Modeling cognitive architectures*: theoretical / mathematical / computational frameworks to analyse or design complete intelligent agents - *Person, Identity, Dignity*: philosophical / psychological / ethics perspectives on sentient beings - *Engineering Agents*: technological approaches to build robots and software agents - *Neurons, Muscles, Bodies*: "bottom-up" modeling of sensing and motor control in neurobiology, genetics and motor science - *Language and Thought*: "top-down" modeling of higher cognitive capacities in cognitive psychology and linguistics Please visit www.interdisciplinary-college.de for the detailed program, venue and registration and everything else, including the IK's 30-year-long history. Participants from outside Europe are of course most welcome too! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Herbert Jaeger Professor for Computational Science Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH Campus Ring 28759 Bremen, Germany Phone (+49) 421 200 3215 Fax (+49) 421 200 49 3215 email h.jaeger(a)jacobs-university.de http://minds.jacobs-university.de ------------------------------------------------------------------

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Call for Applications: School on Neurotechnologies 2015 (March 23-27, 2015) at Padova, Italy.
by Mufti Mahmud Jan. 31, 2015

Jan. 31, 2015

Dear All, Sorry for the cross posting of this message. I am glad to communicate that the NeuroChip Laboratory of University of Padova, Padova, Italy is organizing a School on Neurotechniques with special emphasis on "Tools for Investigating the Function of Neural Circuits". The school will be held from March 23 – 27, 2015 and the deadline for application is February 20, 2015. The following topics will be covered in the school: 1. Multi-electrode and multi-transistor arrays 2. Implantable brain probes for acute and chronic recording 3. Calcium imaging 4. Voltage sensitive dye imaging 5. Optogenetics 6. Transcranic magnetic stimulation and EEG 7. Mixed electrophysiology, genetics and behavior approaches 8. Information theory and the analysis of neuronal population signals 9. Closed-loop electrophysiology and hybrid neuromorphic-neural systems Thank you for your attention. Best regards, Mufti Mahmud Call for participation ------------------------- School on Neurotechniques 2015: The toolbox for investigating the function of neural circuits 23-27 March 2015 NeuroChip Lab, University of Padova, Italy Website: http://www.vassanellilab.eu/school-neurotechniques/ OBJECTIVE Investigating information processing and identifying operational rules of brain neural circuits relies on the capability to selectively record and stimulate multiple neurons within a network. The toolbox of available techniques conceived to meet this need is rapidly expanding. The CSN School on Neurotechniques 2015 will offer an overview on advanced electrical- and light-based recording methods of neuronal excitability, focusing on those that are most relevant for the investigation of neural networks ‘in vitro’ and ‘in vivo’ and for application in neuroprosthetics. Techniques derived from information theory for the analysis of neuronal population signals will be presented and practical demonstrations of experimental recording sessions provided. The school targets doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, scientists working in the related fields. Since the school's topics are interdisciplinary covering neurobiology, neuronal biophysics, microscopy, and electronics, preliminary knowledge in these fields is highly recommended. SPEAKERS Luca Berdondini, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Paolo Del Giudice, National Institute of Health, Italy Stefano Ferraina, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy Marta Giacomello, University of Padova, Italy Michele Giugliano, University of Antwerp, Belgium Bernd Kuhn, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology, Japan Gabriele Losi, CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, Italy Sergio Martinoia, University of Genova, Italy Marcello Massimini University of Milan , Italy Silvestro Micera, EPFL, Switzerland & SSSUP, Italy Ofer Yizhar, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Stefano Panzeri, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy Patrick Ruther, University of Freiburg, Germany Roland Thewes, University of Berlin, Germany Paul Verschure, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain Guenther Zeck, NMI at the University of Tuebingen, Germany Ralf Zeitler, MPI for Intelligent Systems, Germany REGISTRATION To apply, please register at ( http://www.vassanellilab.eu/school-neurotechniques/registration/) on or before February 20, 2015. If you have any further questions, please contact silviamaria.lattanzio(a)unipd.it or stefano.vassanelli(a)unipd.it The registration is FREE, however, the number of places are limited. The registration is sponsored by the European Commission, Project CSNII csnetwork.eu (GA No 601167, FP7, FET Proactive, Neuro-Bio-Inspired Systems). Travel and accommodation costs are not funded. LOCATION The school will be hosted by the NeuroChip Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via f. Marzolo 3, 35131 - Padova, Italy. The location is very close the city centre and is easily reachable from the railway or bus station of Padova. WHEN March 23-27, 2015. Target audience (N = ~25 active full-time): PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, scientists, members of associated EC CSNII consortia.

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Workshop announcement at the EITN March 2-4 2015
by EITN Jan. 30, 2015

Jan. 30, 2015

More information and registration on the following website http://eitnconf-020315.sciencesconf.org/ *Due to a limited number of seats, the registration is free however mandatoty **March 2nd-4th 2015, EITN Paris 1^st community workshop HBP network simulator* *“Are we building the right thing? – Requirements from theory for simulation environments and neuromorphic computing”* http://www.eitn.org Organized by Andrew Davison, Jeff Muller, Jochen Eppler, David Lester, Abigail Morrison and Markus Diesmann in collaboration with the EITN.** ***Abstract* The HBP creates novel ICT infrastructure for the neuroscience community. Simulation engines in software and hardware for different levels of description are accessible through a unified collaboration portal (UP) providing version control and provenance tracking. The simulation engine for networks of abstract spiking neuron models called the network simulator provided by the software NEST particularly targets theoretical neuroscience and neurorobotics. This workshop presents the capabilities of the network simulator and the corresponding PyNN expressions as available at the end of the ramp-up phase of the HBP in March 2016. Neuromorphic hardware provided by the NM-PM1 (Heidelberg) and SpiNNaker (Manchester) systems enable the translation of a restricted set of software models to a platform with accelerated speed and reduced power consumption for high-throughput studies and interaction with the real world. With this background, the main part of the workshop is reserved for a discussion of the scientific challenges and plans of theoretical neuroscience to derive future requirements on the simulation engine. This will help developers to optimize the roadmap of the second phase of the HBP with the aim to maximize usefulness, uptake, and impact.

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CFP: Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment, ECAL 2015
by Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi Jan. 30, 2015

Jan. 30, 2015

*** CALL FOR PAPERS *** 13th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL 2015) Special Session on Quantifying Embodiment Session paper submission deadline: 2 March 2015 Notification of acceptance of papers: 17 April 2015 Paper Camera-Ready-Copy deadline: 18 May 2015 Conference convenes: 20-24 July 2015, York, United Kingdom Conference website: http://ecal2015.alife.org <http://ecal2015.alife.org/> Special Session website: http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html <http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/nature/ecal2015/embodiment.html> There is a growing acknowledgement in the artificial life and artificial intelligence community that embodiment is a key for the understanding of cognitive systems. Despite the consensus about the importance of embodiment, there is no clear definition of what the agent’s embodiment actually is. We believe that a quantitative approach can help to answer this open question. This is inspired by Einstein’s answer to the question ”What is time?”, to which he replied ”Time is what clocks measure”. Although this seems to be a trivial answer, it reveals that what we mean by time depends on the way we measure it. We are interested in quantifications of embodiment from various view points and different fields. A non-exclusive list of examples is: • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on sensing • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on cognitive processes • Quantifications of the embodiment’s effect on acting • Quantifications of brain-body-environment separation We are open to quantifications from any formal approach. Examples are information theory and dynamical systems, but others are highly welcome too. The ideal outcome of the special session would be a good overview of different concepts and quantifications of embodiment and an understanding how they overlap and differ, thereby leading to a better understanding and a clearer picture of what embodiment actually is. Papers are submitted via the ECAL paper submission form and published in the conference proceedings. Special Session Chairs: Keyan Ghazi-Zahedi, Christoph Salge, Georg Martius, Daniel Polani

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New book: Analysis and modeling of multi-neuronal activity
by Tatsuno, Masami Jan. 29, 2015

Jan. 29, 2015

* Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email * Dear Colleagues, Some of you might be interested in our recent book, Analysis and Modeling of Coordinated Multi-neuronal Activity (Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, Vol. 12). The book covers - State-of-the-art introduction of multi-electrode recordings and how they contribute to the understanding of hippocampal memory - Overview of the modeling approach to hippocampal memory - Presentation of hippocampal local circuits and hippocampal-cortical interactions http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/book/978-1-4939-1968-0 http://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Coordinated-Multi-neuronal-Computational-Neu… Best regards, Masami Tatsuno (Editor) University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada ----- Table of Contents 1. Techniques for Large-Scale Multiunit Recording; H. Steenland and B. McNaughton 2. Silicon Probe Techniques for Large-Scale Multiunit Recording; H. Steenland and B. McNaughton 3. Overview of Neural Activity in the Awake and Sleeping Hippocampus; M. Eckert and M. Tatsuno 4. Associative Reactivation of Place-Reward Information in the Hippocampal-Ventral Striatal Circuitry; C. Lansink and C. Pennartz 5. Hippocampal Sequences and the Cognitive Map; A. Wikenheiser and D. Redish 6. Reorganization of Hippocampal Place- Selective Patterns During Goal-Directed Learning and Their Reactivation During Sleep; D. Dupret and J. Csicsvari 7. Causal Relationship Between SPWRs and Spatial Learning and Memory; G. Girardeau and M. Zugaro 8. Packets of Sequential Neural Activity in Sensory Cortex; A. Luczak 9. Coordinated Sequence Replays Between the Visual Cortex and Hippocampus; D. Haggerty and D. Ji 10. Memory Consolidation, Replay, and Cortico- Hippocampal Interactions; E. Holleman and F. Battaglia 11. Memory Reactivation in Humans; J. Farthouat and P. Peigneux 12. Models and Theoretical Frameworks for Hippocampal and Entorhinal Cortex Function in Memory and Navigation; N. Schultheiss, J. Hinman, and M. Hasselmo 13. Information Encoding and Reconstruction by Phase Coding of Spikes; Z. Nadasdy 14. Reinforcement Learning and Hippocampal Dynamics; A. Johnson and S. Venditto 15. Off-Line Replay and Hippocampal- Neocortical Interaction; S. Káli

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postdoc in decision-making at Princeton
by Carlos Brody Jan. 29, 2015

Jan. 29, 2015

Postdoc in computational neuroscience of decision-making. My group <http://brodylab.org/> at Princeton University is looking for a talented computational postdoc to work on theory-driven modeling and data analysis of the neurophysiology of decision-making. We carry out both computational modeling (e.g., Brunton et al., Science 2013 <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6128/95.full>) and experiments (e.g., Hanks, Kopec et al., Nature 2015 <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14066.html>), and this computational position will provide a powerful opportunity to influence and help direct experiments as they are conceived and develop. The data to be worked with will focus on simultaneous multi-neuron recordings, both electrophysiological and using two-photon cellular-resolution imaging (e.g., Scott et al., Neuron 2013 <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627313007125>), in decisions driven by accumulation of evidence. We are working towards single-trial, population-level understanding of the neural circuit mechanisms underlying decision-making. A background in quantitative sciences (e.g., machine learning, physics, math, computer science) is preferred and a strong interest in neuroscience is required. Please contact me directly at brody(a)princeton.edu <mailto:brody@princeton.edu> with a brief email describing your interests, your CV, and the names and contact info for two references. I look forward to hearing from you! Carlos Brody http://brodylab.princeton.edu <http://brodylab.princeton.edu/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Carlos Brody (609) 258-7645 brody(a)princeton.edu <mailto:brody@princeton.edu>Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Princeton University Princeton Neurosci. Inst. & Dept. of Molecular Biology 155 Princeton Neuro Inst, Washington Rd, Princeton NJ 08544 http://brodylab.princeton.edu <http://brodylab.princeton.edu/> -----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Tangermann lab (Freiburg) -- PhD position in BCI
by Michael Tangermann Jan. 29, 2015

Jan. 29, 2015

Dear colleagues, I have an interesting open PhD position in my lab in Freiburg. Would you please circulate it in your labs and on email lists? Thanks a lot and snowy greetings from the Black Forrest, Michael --- snip --- PhD Position: Brain-Computer Interfaces in Cognitive Rehabilitation after Stroke BrainStateDecoding Lab of Dr. Michael Tangermann (Computer Science Dept.); payment level: TV-L E13 (65%); duration: 3/2015-2/2017 Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems make use of machine learning methods to cope with the challenges which appear during the decoding of individual brain signals in real-time. Within the BrainLinks-BrainTools cluster of excellence at the University of Freiburg (Germany), we evaluate whether BCI methods can be applied clinically outside of classical control paradigms. The PhD student will explore the use of BCI methods to support neurological rehabilitation training of speech and attention-related deficits after stroke. Scientific challenges comprise the development and investigation of brain signal analysis methods capable to describe rapid fluctuations of brain states and to assess the dynamics of network structures connecting brain areas. Working Areas (among others): * Theories (statistics, mathematics) and algorithms in the field of machine learning, with special emphasis on adaptive methods for the real-time decoding of mental states; software implementations thereof. * Conducting EEG studies with healthy controls and stroke patients. * Analysis of EEG experiments. * Supervision of Bachelor students. * Scientific dissemination of results (conferences, publications). Requirements: * Excellent Master studies on Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Cognitive Science or closely related fields. * Knowledge in theory and methods of machine learning / artificial intelligence; very good math knowledge (specifically in probability theory, statistics, linear algebra). * Good knowledge about the design, the analysis and implementation of algorithms; experience with mathematical software (e.g. Matlab). * Hands-on experience in the design, execution and analysis of electrophysiological experiments, and in signal processing of EEG-, EMG-, EOG- or ECoG data. * Excellent communication skills in English The BrainStateDecoding Lab: The international lab is embedded into the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools at the University of Freiburg. The cluster provides supporting career actions for PhD students. Tight collaborations with other BLBT groups are the basis for investigating novel machine learning approaches for the real-time analysis of brain signals. The activities range from theory development to BCI applications in a clinical context and for healthy users. Implementing an equal-chances policy and family-friendly working conditions, we explicitly encourage applications of female researchers. Handicapped applicants will be given priority to non-handicapped applicants, if they have comparable qualifications. Further information: www.bsdlab.uni-freiburg.de, www.brainlinks-braintools.uni-freiburg.de and via Dr. Tangermann. How to apply: Please state the position code BCI-4 when sending your application documents (including a CV, statement of your research interests, list of publications, references, Master and Bachelor degrees and course lists) as a single PDF document via email to Dr. Michael Tangermann (michael.tangermann(a)blbt.uni-freiburg.de) -- Dr. Michael Tangermann Phone: +49.(0)761.2038423 Fax : +49.(0)761.2038417 University of Freiburg BrainLinks-BrainTools Excellence Cluster Brain State Decoding Lab Albertstr. 23, Room 0.003 79104 Freiburg, Germany http://www.bsdlab.uni-freiburg.de

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Postdoctoral fellowships in computational neuroscience and neuroengineering at U. Washington
by Adrienne Fairhall Jan. 28, 2015

Jan. 28, 2015

We invite applications for the Washington Research Foundation Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowships in Neuroengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. These fellowships are offered through the UW Institute for Neuroengineering, which aims to stimulate research excellence in the development of novel approaches to the understanding and manipulation of brain function. These highly selective fellowships fund research in computational and engineering approaches to neuroscience; joint mentoring between faculty in different disciplines (CS, engineering, mathematics, biology) is strongly encouraged. Applications are due by March 13, 2015. Please see http://uwin.washington.edu/post-docs/ for more details.

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PhD position in decoding algorithms for PNS - closing soon
by Simon Schultz Jan. 28, 2015

Jan. 28, 2015

The following PhD studentship (part of the new Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology at Imperial College) is closing very soon (30th January). I would like to encourage applicants with good theoretical skills (e.g. math/physics/electrical-engineering) to apply. Peripheral nerve decoding algorithms for bioelectronic medicines Simon Schultz (Bioengineering), Nick Jones (Maths), Hannah Tipney (GSK) Bioelectronic medicine, in which devices connected to groups of individual nerve fibres are used to control the patterns of electrical signals to restore health to organs and biological functions, has been suggested to have the potential to make major advances in the treatment of conditions resistant to drugs, including diabetes, obesity, hypertension and pulmonary diseases (Famm et al, Nature 496:159-61, 2013). The development of bioelectronic medicines, however, is contingent upon the existence of suitable technology for monitoring and perturbing activity in peripheral nerve fibres; in particular, being able to “read out” and interpret signals carried by a peripheral nerve fibre is an essential milestone. In this project, we will develop decoding algorithms capable of reading out both continuous physiological signals, and discrete “events”, from peripheral nervous system (PNS) electrical signals. These algorithms will be applied to a variety of datasets collected by members of a research network in Bioelectronic Medicines that has been established by GlaxoSmithKline, plc. The project will involve two phases. The first year will comprise an MRes Project, in which the student will gain a deep understanding of the different approaches that can be taken to decoding physiological signals, testing algorithms on simulated data, which will be generated in the course of the project; we expect this computational model of a peripheral nerve to be a major output of the MRes year. In the following years, and exploiting and advancing a new signal processing architecture, the student will develop refined decoding algorithms optimised for use with peripheral nerve signals at several spatial scales, and will work with research groups across the GSK network to apply these algorithms to real PNS datasets. To apply, see the Centre for Neurotechnology website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/neurotechnology/cdt/application

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