- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

Postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience (sensory processing & decision-making)

by Ralf Haefner

A postdoctoral position is available in the group of Ralf Haefner in the department for Brain & Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester (NY). The focus of our group is on understanding the neural basis of perceptual inference. Based on the assumption that the brain performs probabilistic inference using an internal model of the world, we ask questions such as: What is the nature of the internal model? How is it learnt? How are posterior beliefs represented by spiking responses of populations of neurons and what algorithm does the brain use to compute its beliefs? The position requires strong mathematical and good programming skills. The ideal candidate would also be familiar with (or quick to pick up) machine learning techniques, especially relating to probabilistic graphical models and MCMC sampling. Possible research projects range from purely theoretical to data-driven. Our collaborations with electrophysiology labs allow for the testing of theoretical models using state-of-the-art cortical population recordings in behaving animals and, if desired, the opportunity to record your own data. More information about past work is available here: http://tinyurl.com/rmhaefner and manuscripts indicating the group's research directions here http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.0257 and here: http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nn.3309 For details on current and possible future projects, and general information, please contact me directly. The successful candidate with join a highly collaborative department with a strong tradition in probabilistic modeling across a wide range from sensory processing to language learning (https://www.bcs.rochester.edu/research/index.html ). The city of Rochester is located on the shore of Lake Ontario in upstate New York and has a high quality of life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_York ). Start date and duration are flexible. Please send applications including a CV and names of 2-3 references by email. I'll be at COSYNE for both conference and workshops and available to meet there in person. Ralf Haefner Assistant Professor Brain & Cognitive Sciences University of Rochester (NY) rhaefner(a)bcs.rochester.edu

March 5, 2015

Last Mile: DATA ANALYTICS 2015 || July 19 - 24, 2015 - Nice, France

by Cristina Pascual

INVITATION: ================= The submission deadline is March 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 DATA ANALYTICS 2015. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org ================= ============== DATA ANALYTICS 2015 | Call for Papers =============== CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, PANELS DATA ANALYTICS 2015, The Fourth International Conference on Data Analytics July 19 - 24, 2015 - Nice, France General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/DATAANALYTICS15.html Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/CfPDATAANALYTICS15.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/SubmitDATAANALYTICS15.html Contributions: - regular papers [in the proceedings, digital library] - short papers (work in progress) [in the proceedings, digital library] - ideas: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - extended abstracts: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - presentations: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - demos: two pages [posted at www.iaria.org] - doctoral forum submissions: [in the proceedings, digital library] Proposals for: - mini-symposia: see http://www.iaria.org/symposium.html - workshops: see http://www.iaria.org/workshop.html - tutorials: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] - panels: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] Submission deadline: March 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 DATA ANALYTICS 2015 Topics (topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) Fundamentals for data analytics Tools, frameworks and mechanisms for data analytics; Open API for data analytics; In-database analytics; Pre-built analytics (pattern, time-series, clustering, graph, statistical analysis, etc.); Analytics visualization; Multi-modal support for data analytics; Google/FaceBook/Twitter/etc. analytics; High-performance data analytics Mechanisms and features Scalable data analytics; Big data analytics; Deep data analytics; Mass data analytics; Storing, dropping and filtering data; Relevant/redundant/obsolete data analytics; Volume vs. semantics analytics; Nomad analytics; Predictive analytics; Trust in data analytics; Legal issues analytics; Failure on data analytics Sentiment/opinion analysis Architectures for generic sentiment analysis systems; Sentiment analysis techniques on social media; Document-level analysis; Sentence-level analysis; Aspect-based analysis; Comparative-sentiment analysis; Sentiment lexicon acquisition; Optimizing sentiment analysis algorithms; Applications of sentiment analysis. Application-oriented analytics Statistical applications; Simulation applications; Crawling web services; Cross-database analytics; Forecast analytics; Financial risk management; ROI analytics Target analytics Business analytics; Malware analytics; Cyber-threats analytics; Mining user logs; Reputation analytics; User choice analytics; Branding analytics; Utility proximity-search analytics; Survey-based online asset analytics; Online employment analytics; Geology analytics; Global climate analytics; Remote learning analytics; Homecare analytics; Population growth and migration analytics; Food-borne illness outbreaks analytics Big Data Foundational models for Big Data; Big Data Analytics and Metrics; Big Data processing and management; Big Data search and mining; Big Data platforms; Big Data persistence and preservation; Big Data and social networks; Big Data economics Huge data Knowledge Discovery from Huge Data; Computational Intelligence for Huge Data; Linked Huge Data; Security Intelligence with Huge Data ------------- Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/ComDATAANALYTICS15.html ================================================

March 5, 2015

IJCAI’15 Workshop on Sensitivity Analysis and Robustness in Probabilistic Graphical Models (2nd CFP)

by Alessandro Antonucci

IJCAI’15 Workshop on Sensitivity Analysis and Robustness in Probabilistic Graphical Models Buenos Aires, July 25-27, 2015 - http://ipg.idsia.ch/wijcai15/ SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS Probabilistic graphical models are important tools in machine learning and artificial intelligence for reasoning with uncertainty. They provide means to represent large multivariate domains compactly and to perform sophisticated learning and reasoning efficiently. Examples of probabilistic graphical models are Bayesian networks, Markov Random fields, chain and factor graphs, Gaussian graphical models, to name but a few. The quantification of these models usually requires sharp (i.e., precise) assessments of the model local potentials and might be subject to robustness issues. For instance, perturbations of some parameter values may lead to different decisions from those which would be achieved by the unperturbed model, suggesting that decisions are not reliable. Reliability might also be in question because of missing data and assumptions behind the process. The workshop invites submissions of papers on all aspects of sensitivity analysis and robustness in probabilistic graphical models. Contributions may have a theoretical focus and/or an applied focus. A non-exhaustive list of topics follows. - Local and/or global sensitivity analysis. - Parameter-based and/or decision-based sensitivity analysis. - Design of robust learning, inference and/or decision making approaches. - Robust analysis and design of robustness measurements. - Extensions of probabilistic graphical models. - Reliable qualitative learning and reasoning. - Robust treatment of missing data. - Imprecise probability and other theories related to sensitivity analysis. - Computational complexity, exact and approximate algorithms. Each submission will be reviewed by peers using a double-blind process (please use the third person in self citations and take all necessary care not to identify yourselves). Accepted papers will be published electronically in a volume of the JMLR Workshop and Conference Proceedings series. There will be no rebuttal phase, but contributions considered worth publishing and needing substantial revision might be subject to a second round of reviewing/evaluation. All accepted papers will be presented at the workshop. At least one of the paper's authors should register and attend the workshop to present the work. Submissions must be formatted according to style and template files available for the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR) Workshop and Conference Proceedings - two-column version. The files are available at http://ipg.idsia.ch/wijcai15/sarpgm15.tar.gz. Papers (including figures, tables, references, etc) are expected to have between 6 and 10 pages. IMPORTANT DATES Apr 27, 2015 - Deadline for submissions of contributions May 20, 2015 - Workshop paper acceptance notification May 30, 2015 - Deadline for workshop camera-ready copy (in case of minor revision; contributions needing major revision might need additional time - this will be arranged case by case) PC MEMBERS Alessandro Antonucci*, IDSIA, Switzerland. Alessio Benavoli, IDSIA, Switzerland. Cassio P. de Campos*, Queen's University Belfast, UK. Arthur Choi, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Giorgio Corani*, IDSIA, Switzerland. Fabio Cozman, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Adnan Darwiche, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. Sebastien Destercke, Univ. de Technologie de Compiegne, France. Marek Druzdzel, University of Pittsburgh, USA. Johan Kwisthout, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Agnieszka Onisko, Bialystok University of Technology, Poland. Denis Maua, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Serafin Moral, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Silja Renooij, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands. Matthias Troffaes, University of Durham, UK. (*: Workshop organizers.) More details about the submission procedure are available online. http://ipg.idsia.ch/wijcai15/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (We apologize in case you receive multiple copies of this announcement, but yet we hope to reach the greatest possible number of people. Finding a trade-off is not an easy task.) -- _________________________________ Alessandro Antonucci IDSIA Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Via Cantonale (Galleria 2) CH-6928, Manno-Lugano, CH mail: alessandro(a)idsia.ch skype: alessandro.antonucci tel: +41 916108515 web: www.idsia.ch/~alessandro _________________________________

March 5, 2015

Ph.D. Studentship at the University of Ulster - Data Analytics in Mental Health

by Wong-Lin, Kongfatt

Applications are invited for the following DEL CAST studentship (Co-operative Awards in Science and Technology): Title: Extraction and modelling of mental health data: big data analytics approach With the increasing volume of datasets in neuroscience and mental health, data analytics and modelling will become indispensable. This project aims to use data analytics, probabilistic modelling, and high-performance computing to integrate and analyse available open but heterogeneous big data to extract patterns and predict Alzheimer’s disease. This timely, exciting and high-impact project is available in the University of Ulster’ Computer Science Research Institute (in collaboration with Asystec Ltd) and is tenable in the Faculty of Computing and Engineering at the Magee Campus. The successful PhD candidate will join an externally funded multidisciplinary research team, and will benefit from the expertise of Ulster’s computational neuroscience and intelligence, and Asystec’s big data management and analytics. The student will also have the opportunity to interact with other biomedical and translational/clinical researchers in the team. The student will gain valuable knowledge in data analytics, high-performance computing, mathematics/statistics and brain sciences, which are all essential in many areas of science, engineering and biology. This training will provide wide opportunities for finding skilled work, especially in the burgeoning field of data analytics. The student will have the opportunity to learn first-hand about advanced software development, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship with Asystec. Applicants should hold ordinary UK residence to be eligible for both fees and maintenance. Non UK residents who hold ordinary EU residence may also apply but if successful will receive fees only. All applicants should hold a first or upper second class honours (or equivalent) degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering or a related discipline. Applicants must be highly motivated and willing to pursue research and develop skills across disciplines. Successful candidates will enrol on a full-time research programme, of up to three years subject to satisfactory progress, leading to the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The studentship will comprise tuition fees and a maintenance award (subject to UK residence status) of not less than £15,057 per annum, funded by DEL (the Department for Employment & Learning in NI) and Asystec Ltd. The application process for the Ph.D. studentship is opened with a closing date for applications on the 30th April 2015, and interviews will be held in May 2015. The studentship is expected to start in September 2015. Further details can be found at: http://research.ulster.ac.uk/info/researchopp/DEL%20CAST%20Asystec.html If you wish to discuss your proposal or receive advice on the research project please contact: Dr KongFatt Wong-Lin, tel: +44 028 7167 5320, email: k.wong-lin(a)ulster.ac.uk ----------------------------- KongFatt Wong-Lin University of Ulster ________________________________ This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain information which is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at postmaster(a)ulster.ac.uk and delete this email immediately. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ulster University. The University's computer systems may be monitored and communications carried out on them may be recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. Ulster University does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure. Unless expressly stated in the body of a separate attachment, the text of email is not intended to form a binding contract. Correspondence to and from the University may be subject to requests for disclosure by 3rd parties under relevant legislation. The University of Ulster was founded by Royal Charter in 1984 and is registered with company number RC000726 and VAT registered number GB672390524.The primary contact address for Ulster University in Northern Ireland is Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT52 1SA

March 4, 2015

POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY

by Wilson Truccolo

POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY: Applications for NIH-funded post-doctoral positions are invited for the Laboratory of Dr. Wilson Truccolo in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. The positions are for the development of data-driven stochastic and biophysical models of multiscale neural dynamics in human epilepsy. Data consist of simultaneous intracortical microelectrode array recordings of ensembles of single neurons and local field potentials, as well as ECoGs, during seizure and non-seizure states in individuals with intractable epilepsy. The project involves a collaboration between the labs of Dr. Truccolo and Dr. Sydney Cash (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston). The ideal candidate will have a strong background in computational/theoretical neuroscience and modeling of stochastic neural dynamics. Related recent publications can be found on the Truccolo lab website ( http://www.truccololab.com/ <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/983891/Truccolo_home.htm>). Inquiries should be addressed to Dr. Truccolo (wilson_truccolo(a)brown.edu) Applications including a CV, statement of research interests, and the names and full contact details of three referees should be sent to wilson_truccolo(a)brown.edu. -- Wilson Truccolo, Ph.D. Pablo J. Salame '88 Goldman Sachs Assistant Professor of Computational Neuroscience Institute for Brain Science & Department of Neuroscience, Brown University Lab website: http://www.truccololab.com/

March 4, 2015

Post-doc at UPenn with Johannes Burge

by Johannes Burge

Postdoctoral position: Perception and neural computation with natural stimuli A postdoctoral position is available to study natural scene statistics, computational neuroscience, and behavioral measurements of performance in the laboratory of Johannes Burge at the University of Pennsylvania. In the lab, we use mathematics, computation, and psychophysics to investigate how vision works in natural conditions. We are broadly interested in how normative models of fundamental perceptual tasks and sub-tasks provide insight into behavioral performance and underlying neural mechanisms. Projects will focus on the processing of motion, stereo-disparity, motion-in-depth, defocus blur, and color in images of natural scenes. I am looking for applicants with strong experience in computational modeling, probability theory, numerical optimization, and psychophysical experimentation. The ideal applicant will also have a general interest in natural images, depth perception, and rigorous experimental work. Programming experience in Matlab, C/C++, OpenGL, and Psychtoolbox is strongly desired, as is an inclination to tinker with high-end display equipment. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with: i) a recently collected state-of-the-art, stereo-image database with occlusion-free co-registered laser range data, ii) a high-performance computing cluster, iii) a Vpixx ProPixx stereo-projector (1920x1080 resolution at 480Hz; 240Hz per eye). UPenn has a vibrant community of research groups on the leading edge of perception and systems neuroscience research. Additionally, our lab is affiliated with the newly formed Computational Neuroscience Initiative (CNI, http://cni.upenn.edu) so possibilities for collaboration are strong. Philadelphia is a multi-cultural, diverse, affordable city. Applicants should submit a CV, a 1-page research statement, two sample papers (published or in preparation), and the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of three people qualified to recommend you and your work. The position is for one year with a strong possibility of renewal for a second and third year. To apply or ask questions please contact Johannes Burge at the University of Pennsylvania. I will be attending the upcoming COSYNE conference in Salt Lake City, UT from March 5-7. Please contact me, if you would like to set up a meeting. ======================== Johannes Burge, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Neuroscience Graduate Group University of Pennsylvania http://burgelab.psych.upenn.edu jburge(a)sas.upenn.edu (215) 573 6528

March 4, 2015

ECMLPKDD 2015 : Call for Demos

by ECMLPKDD 2015

http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org For ECML PKDD 2015 in Porto, Portugal, we solicit submissions for demos. Submissions must describe working systems and be based on state-of-the-art machine learning and data mining technology. These systems may be innovative prototype implementations or mature systems that use machine learning techniques and knowledge discovery processes in a real setting. Systems that use basic statistics are not acceptable. Commercial software is not acceptable. The accepted papers for demos will be included in the conference proceedings, to be published by Springer Verlag in the "Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence" (LNAI) Series. The demos will be presented in a special demonstration session. At least one of the demo submitters must register for the conference, and perform the demo on site. Submission Guidelines All aspects of the submission and notification process will be handled online via the CMT conference management toolkit accessible from the conference web. Please choose the right track during the submission. Instructions concerning the submission, camera-ready formatting and copyright transfer for conference papers also hold for demo papers, unless otherwise specified. A demonstration submission must be up to 4 pages long. It must provide adequate information on the systems components and the way the system is operated, including e.g. screenshots. Submitters should keep in mind that the description of a demo has inherently different content than a research paper submitted to the main conference. A successful demonstration paper provides satisfactory answers the following questions: - What are the innovative aspects or in what way/area does it represent the state of the art? - Who are the target users and why is the system interesting/useful for them? - If there are similar/related pieces of software, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the presented one? The formatting guidelines of Springer Verlag for the LNAI series apply, and the author instructions and style files under http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html must be used. For inquiries concerning submissions please contact the Demo Track Chairs; contact data below. Important Dates - Demo submission deadline: 30 April 2015 - Notification of acceptance: 1 June 2015 - Camera-ready paper due: 15 June 2015 (aligned to the deadline of the main conference) Contacts For further information please contact the Demo Track Chairs: - Francesco Bonchi - Jaime Cardoso, INESC TEC and Univ. Porto - Myra Spiliopoulou, Univ. Magdeburg, http://www.kmd.ovgu.de/Team/Academic+Staff/Myra+Spiliopoulou.html 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

March 4, 2015

Last Mile: SEMAPRO 2015 || July 19 - 24, 2015 - Nice, France

by Cristina Pascual

INVITATION: ================= The submission deadline is March 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 SEMAPRO 2015. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org ================= ============== SEMAPRO 2015 | Call for Papers =============== CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, PANELS SEMAPRO 2015, The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Semantic Processing July 19 - 24, 2015 - Nice, France General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/SEMAPRO15.html Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/CfPSEMAPRO15.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/SubmitSEMAPRO15.html Contributions: - regular papers [in the proceedings, digital library] - short papers (work in progress) [in the proceedings, digital library] - ideas: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - extended abstracts: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: two pages [in the proceedings, digital library] - posters: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - presentations: slide only [slide-deck posted at www.iaria.org] - demos: two pages [posted at www.iaria.org] - doctoral forum submissions: [in the proceedings, digital library] Proposals for: - mini-symposia: see http://www.iaria.org/symposium.html - workshops: see http://www.iaria.org/workshop.html - tutorials: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] - panels: [slide-deck posed on www.iaria.org] Submission deadline: March 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 SEMAPRO 2015 Topics (topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) Basics on semantics Fundamental of semantics processing; Semantic-based techniques for feature selection; Semantic-based pruning; Semantic interoperability; Semantics uncertainty; Semantics pre-processing and post-processing; Semantics harmonization; Constraint-based semantics processing; Embedded semantics into the discovery process; Semantics in spatial and spatio-temporal models Ontology fundamentals for semantic processing Ontology learning; Ontology for semantic interoperability; Ontologies and data pre-processing; Ontology-based evaluation and semantic patterns; Global core ontologies; Progressive ontologies; Bridging semantics through ontologies; Ontology mapping and ontology visualization; Ontology in information systems; Ontology-based semantic mediation; Ontology design and maintenance for conceptual model integration; Reverse engineering of ontologies from conceptual model; Ontologies for explanation generation Semantic technologies Basics of Ontology and Semantic Web; Semantic storing, computing, representation, communications; Semantic-driven system design; Syntactic and semantic processing models; Hardware and software support for semantic processing; Microprocessors for semantic processing; Multi-model semantic systems; Semantic annotation of multimedia supports; Semantic multimedia information retrieval; Natural language semantic processing; Context-based semantic processing; Content-based semantic processing; Scalability to the Web level; Performance in semantic processing; Information security in semantic processing; Explaining semantic processing and its results Models and ontology-based design of protocols, architectures and services Fundamentals in theory; Modeling methodologies; Models and Ontology-driven Technologies (for the communications system design); Models and ontology relationships; Multi-models coherence. Models and ontology-based communications services and protocols; Semantics of services and service modeling; Protocol models and semantics; Application and quality of experience semantics; Services and protocols semantics; Models and ontology-based cross-layer services and architectures design; Models and ontology-based software frameworks; Composition of Services and Composability rules; Cross-layering services models, components and implementations Semantic Deep Web Ontology plug-in search; Information extraction from the Deep Web /e-commerce sites/; Semantic Deep Web annotation and indexing; Deep Web-based ontology; Semantic Deep Web crawlers; Semantic browsing and visualization; Semantic Deep Web data fusion; Semiautomatic ontology generation; Metrics for quality of ontology; Similarity measures for ontology alignment; Measurements for quality of search; Tools for semantic Deep Web; Experience extraction from the Web Semantic reasoning Reasoning methods; Reasoning for the Web; Ontology expressiveness; Ontology alignment, mapping and merging; Expressing formal semantics; Languages (RDF, RDF Schema, OWL, etc); Robustness of reasoning on the Web; Patterns on semantic reasoning; Querying and searching; Scalable and tolerant reasoning; Dynamic reasoning for the Semantic Web; Ontologies and problem-solving methods; Computational learning theory; Approximate reasoning/computing; Strategies for abstraction and compression of information; Cognitive semantic reasoning; Attention semantic scoping; Recency-based self-optimizing memory; Cost-benefit trade-off reasoning models; Negotiation in obtaining near-optimal reasoning results under bounded resources; Case-based reasoning Semantic content searching Methodologies for innovative information retrieval technologies; Combinatorial search; Massive search-spaces with heuristics (e.g., based on Monte Carlo simulations); Searching using metadata, semantics, and ontology; Advanced searching in digital libraries; Advanced use of RDF and OWL; Expressiveness of the content ontologies; Inherent inconsistency and incompleteness of data on the Web; Scalability of semantic processing; Specialized search engines (Hakia, Matrixware and seekda) Hypertext and hypermedia semantic Hypertext techniques and semantic applications; Hypertext and ontologies; Hypertext semantic models; Spatial semantic hypertext; Self-organized hypertext; Semantic adaptive hypertext; Web and hypertext link analysis; Hypertexts and semantic Web; Hypertext semantic applications Semantic voice-video-speech (VVS) searching Engines and methods for VVS advanced searching; Patterns in VVS searching; Contextual VVS searching; Rapid VVS searching; Accuracy in VVS searching; Noise in VVS searching; Performance in VVS searching; Metrics for VVS searching; Text and VVS searching; Applications of VVS Semantic multimedia Efficient storage of structured data that scale to a very large size; Automatic generation of multimedia presentations; Advanced process for multimedia information mining; Semantic metadata extraction; Annotation tools and methods for content semantics; Media ontology generation/learning/reasoning; Semantic multimedia streaming; Semantics enabled multimedia applications /annotation/browsing/storage/retrieval/visualization Semantic social media Community detection and evolution in social media; Recommendation and ranking systems; Search in social media; Event detection, trend identification and tracking in social media; Influence, trust and reputation in social media; Opinion/sentiment analysis, polarity identification; Feed distillation and ranking blogs; Mining microblogging and real time data; Folksonomy, tag semantics, clustering and usage; Advertising models for the social web; Indexing social media content, index freshness; Visualizing social network data; Spam detection, social network spam and profile spam Semantics for sentiment/opinion analysis Architectures for generic sentiment analysis systems; Sentiment analysis techniques on social media; Document-level analysis; Sentence-level analysis; Aspect-based analysis; Comparative-sentiment analysis; Sentiment lexicon acquisition; Optimizing sentiment analysis algorithms; Applications of sentiment analysis Semantic networking Semantic-based QoS (Quality of Service) control and scheduling; Semantic QoE (Quality of Experience) evaluation; Semantic-based Internet data streaming and delivery; Semantics enabled networking and middleware; Semantic routing; Semantic interfaces Domain-oriented semantic applications Semantics for managing pharmaceutical data; Semantic processing for biomedical knowledge; Speech, text and picture recognition; Semantic email workflow and content; Semantic blogs and wikis; Semantic email addressing; Semantic web and digital libraries; Semantic processing in e-Health; Semantic-driven tutoring systems Economics and governance of semantics technologies Organizational views; Legal; Business; Regulations; Assessment; Standards; Harmonization; Cross-nation mediation Semantic applications/platforms/tools Market for semantic technologies; Applications, services and systems based on semantic processing; User friendly semantic system integration tools; Ontology-based data transformation and data migration tools; Ontology mapping tools and languages; Ontology-enabled interoperability in e-science, life sciences, e-business, culture; Commercial cost models for semantic applications; Semantic solutions for business intelligence; Semantic processing platforms ; Supporting ontology platforms/tools (Prot�g�, etc); Semantic query languages (SPARQL, etc); Ontology-enabled search engines; Semantic Web search engines; Interoperability of data, systems, and organizations; Experiments and lessons learned; Standard activities ---------------------- Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/ComSEMAPRO15.html ================================================

March 4, 2015

Final Program of the Columbia Workshop on Brain Circuits, Memory and Computation

by Aurel A. Lazar

Columbia Workshop on Brain Circuits, Memory and Computation BCMC 2015 Monday and Tuesday, March 16-17, 2015 Center for Neural Engineering and Computation Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 Monday, March 16, 09:00 AM - 05:45 PM 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Yoshi Aso (HHMI Janelia), Mushroom Body Output Neurons Encode Valence and Guide Memory-based Action Selection 09:45 AM - 10:30 AM Barbara Webb (University of Edinburgh), A Computational Model of the Insect Mushroom Body Applied to Ant Navigation 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Co↵ee Break 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Wolfgang Maass (Graz University of Technology), A New Perspective of Synaptic Plasticity and Network Rewiring 11:45 AM - 12:30 PM Charles Randy Gallistel (Rutgers University), The Memory Coding Problem 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM Lunch Break 02:00 PM - 02:45 PM Charles D. Gilbert (Rockefeller University), The Dynamic Brain 02:45 PM - 03:30 PM Stefan Mihalas (Allen Institute for Brain Science), Computational Properties of Cortical Columns 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM Afternoon Break 04:00 PM - 04:45 PM Gary F. Marcus (New York University), The Atoms of Neural Computation 04:45 PM - 05:45 PM Panel Discussion: What Would a Good Theory of the Brain Actually Look Like? Tuesday, March 17, 09:00 AM - 05:45 PM 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Vivek Jayaraman (HHMI Janelia), A Donut that Means the World to the Fly 09:45 AM - 10:30 AM Daniel Coca (University of Sheffield), Fly Photoreceptors Detect Phase Congruency 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Co↵ee Break 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Damon A. Clark (Yale University), Tuning Neural Nonlinearities for Naturalistic Visual Motion Estimation 11:45 AM - 12:30 PM Aurel A. Lazar (Columbia University), Neurokernel: Building an in Silico Fruit Fly Brain 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM Lunch Break 02:00 PM - 02:45 PM Anthony Leonardo (HHMI Janelia), Neural Circuits Underlying Internal Models in Predictive Motor Control 02:45 PM - 03:30 PM Fabrizio Gabbiani (Baylor College of Medicine), Biophysics and Neural Computations Underlying Visually-Guided Collision Avoidance Behaviors 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM Afternoon Break 04:00 PM - 04:45 PM Dmitri ”Mitya” B. Chklovskii (Simons Foundation), A Biological Neuron as an Online Matrix Factorization Device 04:45 PM - 05:45 PM Panel Discussion: A Neuroscience Esperanto: Building a Better Bridge Between Modeling and Experimental Neurobiology Registration is free but all participants have to register at: https://bcmc15.eventbrite.com/ Workshop Website: http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu/workshops/bcmc/2015 Aurel http://www.bionet.ee.columbia.edu

March 4, 2015

First Announcement: International Conference on System Level approaches to Neural Engineering

by Alessandro Barardi

--------------------------------------- FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT --------------------------------------- International Conference on System Level approaches to Neural Engineering Dates: September 21st – 23rd , 2015 Venue: Barcelona Biomedical Research Park <http://www.prbb.org/>, Barcelona, Spain Website: http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together theoretical and experimental neuroscientists and roboticists to discuss the state of the art in the field of Neural Engineering. This three day long event is part of a series of training events organized by the Marie Curie Initial Training Network NETT (Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies). It will also give young researchers an opportunity to present their work. Theme panels are: * Neural Dynamics - mathematical description of neuronal activity * Brain-on-Chip - engineering of neuronal circuits in-vitro with emphasis on microfluidics * Neural Learning and Control - motion planning, controlling and learning neuro-inspired techniques for robotics * Neural Coding - investigation of neuronal strategies for encoding information * Optical Neurotechnology - imaging and engineering techniques that allow recording of neuronal activity --------------------------------------- CONFIRMED SPEAKERS --------------------------------------- Andre Bastos - The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT, Boston, MA, USA Romain Brette - Institut de la Vision, Paris, France Sophie Deneve - Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, LNC, Paris, France Dario Farina - Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Göttingen, Germany Albert Folch - Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Amanda Foust - Imperial College London, London, UK Sami Haddadin - Institute of Automatic Control, Hannover, Germany Kenneth Harris - Institute of Neurology and the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, UCL, London, UK Fritjof Helmchen - Brain Research Institute, Zürich, Switzerland Thibault Honegger - Laboratoire des Technologies de la Microelectronique, CNRS-CEA, Grenoble, France Eugene Izhikevich - Brain Corporation, San Diego, CA, USA Viktor Jirsa - Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France David Liley - Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia Benjamin Lindner - Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany Nikos Logothetis - Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany Yoonkey Nam - Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Adam Packer - University College London, London, UK Stefano Panzeri - Neural Computation Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy Eftychios Pnevmatikakis - Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Alexandre Pouget - CMU, Geneva, Switzerland Jan Schnupp - Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, Oxford, UK Gregor Schöner - Institut für Neuroinformatik Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany Reza Shadmehr - John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA Patrick van der Smagt - BRML labs, TUM, Germany John Terry - College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, UK International Conference on System Level Approaches to Neural Engineering conference is organised by the Fellows of the Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/> (NETT) consortium. On their behalf we cordially invite you to participate in this meeting that will take place in Barcelona, Spain, on September 21st – 23rd , 2015. The NETT consortium is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network involving neuroscience research laboratories from the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal and industrial partners. The network is coordinated by Professor Stephen Coombes from the University of Nottingham, UK. --------------------------------------- REGISTRATION --------------------------------------- Registration can be done on our registration form <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-conference-on-system-level-app…> . Registration opens: 1st March 2015 Registration deadline: 30th May 2015 Conference fee will be 200 euros plus 50 euros for an optional conference dinner. Details about the payment will be posted on the conference website. --- Call for posters --- Posters will be selected from half-page abstracts, which should be submitted by email to nett.barcelona.2015(a)gmail.com. Please specify in the object to which theme panel you are submitting your abstract. Abstract Submission opens: 1st of March 2015 Abstract Submission closes: 30th May 2015 Abstract Acceptance Notification: 30th June 2015 Best regards, On behalf of the NETT Fellows, Alessandro Barardi, PhD student. Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/> Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona, Spain.

March 3, 2015