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Workshop announcement: Supercomputing for Neuroscientists (Juelich, 3.11.2015)
by Abigail Morrison Sept. 7, 2015

Sept. 7, 2015

Supercomputing for Neuroscientists - How High-Performance Computing can help your neuroscience projects Date: 3 November 2015 Venue: Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany Registration deadline: 25 October 2015 This workshop aims at bringing neuroscientists interested in using HPC technology for their projects together with experts from the Jülich Supercomputing Centre’s Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience<www.fz-juelich.de:ias:jsc:slns> whose main goal is to bridge the gap between Computational Neuroscience and HPC. The workshop is primarily intended for PIs whose affiliation is in Germany and who may therefore apply for computing time on the Jülich supercomputers through the national GCS and NIC calls<http://www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc/EN/Expertise/Supercomputers/ComputingTime/…>, it will also touch on how European supercomputing resources, including those of Jülich, may be accessed by PIs from outside of Germany through the European PRACE access schemes<http://www.prace-ri.eu/hpc-access>. For detailed information on the workshop and registration, please visit: www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc/scn<www.fz-juelich.de:ias:jsc:scn> Organizer: SimLab Neuroscience (slns(a)fz-juelich.de) -- Prof. Dr. Abigail Morrison Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Functional Neural Circuits Group Jülich Research Center http://www.fz-juelich.de/inm/inm-6/ Office: +49 2461 61-9805 Fax # : +49 2461 61-9460 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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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Postdoc positions (Wolpert lab, University of Cambridge)
by Daniel Wolpert Sept. 7, 2015

Sept. 7, 2015

A Postdoc position is available in the Computational and Biological Learning Group, University of Cambridge to work on theoretical and/or experimental approaches to human sensorimotor control. The project is led by Professor Daniel Wolpert and involves investigating the processes involved in sensorimotor decision-making, learning, integration and control. Further details on http://www.wolpertlab.com <http://www.wolpertlab.com/> Closing date Sept 23rd

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CFP: MLINI 2015 - 5th NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging: Beyond the Scanner (corrected version)
by Irina Rish Sept. 6, 2015

Sept. 6, 2015

Call for Papers MLINI 2015 - 5th NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging: Beyond the Scanner https://sites.google.com/site/mliniworkshop2015/ December 11-12, 2015, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Submission deadline: Monday, October 12th, 2015 Workshop Overview: ----------------------- MLINI workshop focuses on machine learning approaches in neuroscience, neuroimaging, with an extension to behavioral experiments and psychology. This year, our focus is specifically on "Going Beyond the Scanner", which includes making inferences about mental states of a subject from ''cheaper'' (as opposed to fMRI) behavioral data such as subject's speech and/or text, audio, video, EEG and signals collected from various wearable devices. We believe that machine learning has a prominent role in shaping how questions in neuroscience are framed, and that the machine-learning mind set is now entering modern psychology and behavioral studies. It is also equally important that practical applications in these fields motivate a rapidly evolving line or research in the machine learning community. In parallel, there is an intense interest in learning more about brain function in the context of rich naturalistic environments and scenes. Efforts to go beyond highly specific paradigms that pinpoint a single function, towards schemes for measuring the interaction with natural and more varied scene are made. In this context, many controversies and open questions exist. The goal of the workshop is to pinpoint the most pressing issues and common challenges across the fields, and to sketch future directions and open questions in the light of novel methodology. The proposed workshop is aimed at offering a forum that joins machine learning, neuroscience, and psychology community, and should facilitate formulating and discussing the issues at their interface. Motivated by the previous workshops in this series, MLINI ‘11, MLINI’12, and MLINI’13, we will center this workshop around invited talks and a panel discussion. Triggered by the discussions, this year we plan to adapt the workshop topics to a less traditional scope neuroimaging scope and investigate the role of behavioral models and psychology, including topics such as psycholinguistics. Open questions and possible topics for contribution include, but are not limited to, the following: - How can we move towards more naturalistic stimuli, tasks and paradigms in neuroimaging and neuro-signal analysis? - What kind of mental states can be inferred from cheaper and easier to collect data sources (as an alternative to fMRI), such as text, speech, audio, video, EEG, and wearable devices? - How can we leave the lab when acquiring neuroimaging data, towards exploiting mobile acquisition (EEG and NIRS)? - What type of features should be extracted from naturalistic stimuli such as text, voice, etc., to detect specific mental states and/or mental disorders? - How can we combine traditional neuroimaging with naturalistic data collected from a subject or group of subjects? - In general, can we characterize situations when multivariate predictive analysis (MVPA) and inference methods are better suited for brain imaging analysis than more traditional techniques? - Given recent advances of deep learning in image analysis and other applications, a natural question to ask is whether neuroimaging analysis can benefit from such approaches? - How well can functional networks and dynamical models capture the brain activity, and when using network and dynamics information is superior to standard task-based brain activations? Workshop Format: -------------------------- In this two-day workshop we will explore perspectives and novel methodology at the interface of Machine Learning, Inference, Neuroimaging and Neuroscience. We aim to bring researchers from machine learning and neuroscience community together, in order to discuss open questions, identify the core points for a number of the controversial issues, and eventually propose approaches to solving those issues. Each session will be opened by several invited talks, and an in depth discussion. This will be followed by original contributions. Original contributions will also be presented and discussed during a poster session. The workshop will end with a panel discussion, during which we will address specific questions, and invited speakers will open each segment with a brief presentation of their opinion. Paper Submission: -------------------------- We seek for submission of original (previously unpublished) research papers. The length of the submitted papers should not exceed 8 pages in Springer format, excluding the references (LaTeX2e style files are available on the workshop page). Submission of previously published work is possible as well, but the authors are required to mention this explicitly. Previously published work can be presented at the workshop, but will not be included into the workshop proceedings (which are considered peer-reviewed publications of novel contributions). Moreover, the authors are welcome to present their novel work but choose to opt out of the workshop proceedings in case they have alternative publication plans. Important dates: -------------------------- - October 12, 2014 - paper submission - October 26, 2014 - notification of acceptance/rejection - December 11-12, 2014 - Workshop at Montreal, Quebec, Canada , following the NIPS conference Organizing Committee: -------------------------- Guillermo Cecchi (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) Kai-min Kevin Chang (Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University) Moritz Grosse-Wentrup (Max Plank Institute for Intelligent Systems) Georg Langs (Medical University of Vienna, CSAIL, MIT) Brian Murphy (Machine Learning Department, Carngie Mellon University) *Irina Rish (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) - main contact Leila Wehbe (University of California, Berkeley)

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Call for Abstracts: NIPS Workshop on Statistical Methods for Understanding Neural Systems
by Jascha Sohl-Dickstein Sept. 4, 2015

Sept. 4, 2015

NIPS WORKSHOP 2015 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Statistical Methods for Understanding Neural Systems Friday, December 11th, 2015 Montreal, Canada -------- Organizers: Allie Fletcher Jakob Macke Ryan Adams Jascha Sohl-Dickstein -------- Overview: Recent advances in neural recording technologies, including calcium imaging and high-density electrode arrays, have made it possible to simultaneously record neural activity from large populations of neurons for extended periods of time. These developments promise unprecedented insights into the collective dynamics of neural populations and thereby the underpinnings of brain-like computation. However, this new large-scale regime for neural data brings significant methodological challenges. This workshop seeks to explore the statistical methods and theoretical tools that will be necessary to study these data, build new models of neural dynamics, and increase our understanding of the underlying computation. We have invited researchers across a range of disciplines in statistics, applied physics, machine learning, and both theoretical and experimental neuroscience, with the goal of fostering interdisciplinary insights. We hope that active discussions among these groups can set in motion new collaborations and facilitate future breakthroughs on fundamental research problems. Call for Papers We invite high quality submissions of extended abstracts on topics including, but not limited to, the following fundamental questions: How can we deal with incomplete data in a principled manner? In most experimental settings, even advanced neural recording methods can only sample a small fraction of all neurons that might be involved in a task, and the observations are often indirect and noisy. As a result, many recordings are from neurons that receive inputs from neurons that are not themselves directly observed, at least not over the same time period. How can we deal with this `missing data' problem in a principled manner? How does this sparsity of recordings influence what we can and cannot infer about neural dynamics and mechanisms? How can we incorporate existing models of neural dynamics into neural data analysis? Theoretical neuroscientists have intensely studied neural population dynamics for decades, resulting in a plethora of models of neural population dynamics. However, most analysis methods for neural data do not directly incorporate any models of neural dynamics, but rather build on generic methods for dimensionality reduction or time-series modelling. How can we incorporate existing models of neural dynamics? Conversely, how can we design neural data analysis methods such that they explicitly constrain models of neural dynamics? What synergies are there between analyzing biological and artificial neural systems? The rise of ‘deep learning’ methods has shown that hard computational problems can be solved by machine learning algorithms that are built by cascading many nonlinear units. Although artificial neural systems are fully observable, it has proven challenging to provide a theoretical understanding of how they solve computational problems and which features of a neural network are critical for its performance. While such ‘deep networks’ differ from biological neural networks in many ways, they provide an interesting testing ground for evaluating strategies for understanding neural processing systems. Are there synergies between analysis methods for analyzing biological and artificial neural systems? Has the resurgence of deep learning resulted in new hypotheses or strategies for trying to understand biological neural networks? Confirmed Speakers: Matthias Bethge Mitya Chklovskii John Cunningham Surya Ganguli Neil Lawrence Guillermo Sapiro Tatyana Sharpee Richard Zemel Workshop Website: h <http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/%7Eafletcher/hdnips2013.html> ttps://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~afletcher/neuralsysnips.html <https://users.soe.ucsc.edu/%7Eafletcher/neuralsysnips.html> Email : smnips2015(a)rctn.org Submission details: Submissions should be in the NIPS_2015 format ( http://nips.cc/Conferences/2015/PaperInformation/StyleFiles) with a maximum of four pages, not including references. Submissions will be considered both for poster and oral presentation. Submit at https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/SMN2015/Protected/Author/ or via the link on the workshop website. Important dates: Submission deadline: 10 October, 2015 11:59 PM PDT (UTC -7 hours) Acceptance notification: 24 October, 2015

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Call for Participation: Bernstein Conference Satellite Workshop "In Vitro Neuronal Networks from 2D to 3D, " Sept. 14, 2015, Heidelberg, Germany
by Tanskanen Jarno Sept. 4, 2015

Sept. 4, 2015

Bernstein Conference Satellite Workshop no. 8 ** In Vitro Neuronal Networks from 2D to 3D ** September 14, 2015, 9:00 - 18:30 Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Neue Universität Universitätsplatz, Grabengasse 3-5, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany More Information and Registration http://www.bernstein-conference.de/ The program and workshop abstract as a pdf: http://goo.gl/D1hwou Welcome! Jari Hyttinen and Jarno Tanskanen Computational Biophysics and Imaging Group Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering Tampere University of Technology, BioMediTech Finland --- P R O G R A M Welcome & Introduction to 3D in Vitro Technologies - Case: 3DNeuroN Jari Hyttinen, Tampere University of Technology * Session 1: 3D and Controlled Culturing of Neuronal Networks 3D Neural Networks in Engineered Hydrogel Matrices Nicolas Broguiere, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Forming Neuron Networks with Controlled Topology in 2D and 3D Janos Vörös, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich * Session 2: Neuronal-astrocytic Networks and their Modeling Role of Astrocytes in Formation of Functional Neuronal Networks in Vitro Susanna Narkilahti, University of Tampere Computational Modeling of Neuronal-astrocytic Networks Kerstin Lenk, Tampere University of Technology * Session 3: Technology Signal Acquisition and Measurement System for Neural Networks in Vitro Peter Husar, Ilmenau University of Technology Technology and Material Developments for 3D Multielectrode Arrays Heike Bartsch, Ilmenau University of Technology Microbioreactor Designs with Integrated 3D MEA Devices for Cultivation of Neuronal Cells Andreas Schober, Ilmenau University of Technology * Session 4: Stimulation, Analysis, and 3D Network Modeling Investigation of Cultured Neuronal Networks and their Dynamics Induced by Novel Stimulation Paradigms Peter Husar, Fraunhofer IDMT Signal Analysis Methods for Neuronal Microelectrode Array Data Jarno Tanskanen, Tampere University of Technology Computational Modeling from 2D to 3D Networks Kerstin Lenk, Tampere University of Technology * Panel Discussion: From 2D to 3D * Closing of the Workshop Jari Hyttinen, Tampere University of Technology ****

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CFP: MLINI 2015 - 5th NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging: Beyond the Scanner
by Irina Rish Sept. 4, 2015

Sept. 4, 2015

Call for Papers MLINI 2015 - 5th NIPS Workshop on Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging: Beyond the Scanner https://sites.google.com/site/mliniworkshop2015/ December 11-12, 2015, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Submission deadline: Monday, October 12th, 2015 Workshop Overview: ----------------------- MLINI workshop focuses on machine learning approaches in neuroscience, neuroimaging, with an extension to behavioral experiments and psychology. This year, our focus is specifically on "Going Beyond the Scanner", which includes making inferences about mental states of a subject from ''cheaper'' (as opposed to fMRI) behavioral data such as subject's speech and/or text, audio, video, EEG and signals collected from various wearable devices. We believe that machine learning has a prominent role in shaping how questions in neuroscience are framed, and that the machine-learning mind set is now entering modern psychology and behavioral studies. It is also equally important that practical applications in these fields motivate a rapidly evolving line or research in the machine learning community. In parallel, there is an intense interest in learning more about brain function in the context of rich naturalistic environments and scenes. Efforts to go beyond highly specific paradigms that pinpoint a single function, towards schemes for measuring the interaction with natural and more varied scene are made. In this context, many controversies and open questions exist. The goal of the workshop is to pinpoint the most pressing issues and common challenges across the fields, and to sketch future directions and open questions in the light of novel methodology. The proposed workshop is aimed at offering a forum that joins machine learning, neuroscience, and psychology community, and should facilitate formulating and discussing the issues at their interface. Motivated by the previous workshops in this series, MLINI ‘11, MLINI’12, and MLINI’13, we will center this workshop around invited talks and a panel discussion. Triggered by the discussions, this year we plan to adapt the workshop topics to a less traditional scope neuroimaging scope and investigate the role of behavioral models and psychology, including topics such as psycholinguistics. Open questions and possible topics for contribution include, but are not limited to, the following: - How can we move towards more naturalistic stimuli, tasks and paradigms in neuroimaging and neuro-signal analysis? - What kind of mental states can be inferred from cheaper and easier to collect data sources (as an alternative to fMRI), such as text, speech, audio, video, EEG, and wearable devices? - How can we leave the lab when acquiring neuroimaging data, towards exploiting mobile acquisition (EEG and NIRS)? - What type of features should be extracted from naturalistic stimuli such as text, voice, etc., to detect specific mental states and/or mental disorders? - How can we combine traditional neuroimaging with naturalistic data collected from a subject or group of subjects? - In general, can we characterize situations when multivariate predictive analysis (MVPA) and inference methods are better suited for brain imaging analysis than more traditional techniques? - Given recent advances of deep learning in image analysis and other applications, a natural question to ask is whether neuroimaging analysis can benefit from such approaches? - How well can functional networks and dynamical models capture the brain activity, and when using network and dynamics information is superior to standard task-based brain activations? Workshop Format: -------------------------- In this two-day workshop we will explore perspectives and novel methodology at the interface of Machine Learning, Inference, Neuroimaging and Neuroscience. We aim to bring researchers from machine learning and neuroscience community together, in order to discuss open questions, identify the core points for a number of the controversial issues, and eventually propose approaches to solving those issues. Each session will be opened by several invited talks, and an in depth discussion. This will be followed by original contributions. Original contributions will also be presented and discussed during a poster session. The workshop will end with a panel discussion, during which we will address specific questions, and invited speakers will open each segment with a brief presentation of their opinion. Paper Submission: -------------------------- We seek for submission of original (previously unpublished) research papers. The length of the submitted papers should not exceed 8 pages in Springer format, excluding the references (LaTeX2e style files are available on the workshop page). Submission of previously published work is possible as well, but the authors are required to mention this explicitly. Previously published work can be presented at the workshop, but will not be included into the workshop proceedings (which are considered peer-reviewed publications of novel contributions). Moreover, the authors are welcome to present their novel work but choose to opt out of the workshop proceedings in case they have alternative publication plans. Important dates: -------------------------- - October 12, 2014 - paper submission - October 26, 2014 - notification of acceptance/rejection - December 11-12, 2014 - Workshop at Montreal, Quebec, Canada , following the NIPS conference Organizing Committee: -------------------------- Guillermo Cecchi (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) Kai-min Kevin Chang (Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University) Georg Langs (Medical University of Vienna, CSAIL, MIT) Brian Murphy (Machine Learning Department, Carngie Mellon University) *Irina Rish (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) - main contact Leila Wehbe (University of California, Berkeley)

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The ReScience journal
by Nicolas P. Rougier Sept. 4, 2015

Sept. 4, 2015

Following our "Long journey into reproducible computational neuroscience" (http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fncom.2015.00030/full) it's our great pleasure to announce the creation of "ReScience" which is a peer-reviewed journal that targets computational research and encourages the explicit replication of already published research, promoting new and open-source implementations in order to ensure that the original research is reproducible. To achieve such a goal, the whole editing chain is radically different from any other traditional scientific journal. ReScience lives on GitHub where each new implementation is made available together with comments, explanations and tests. Each submission takes the form of a pull request that is publicly reviewed and tested in order to guarantee that any researcher can re-use it. Students are strongly encourage to submit to ReScience. Even if the publishing model is a bit different from other academic journals, this will give them a first experience at peer-reviewed publishing where they have to use a rigorous and scientific approach. • More on the journal website: https://github.com/ReScience/ReScience/wiki • Current issue: https://github.com/ReScience/ReScience/wiki/Current-Issue • FAQ: https://github.com/ReScience/ReScience/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions • Follow us on twitter (@ReScienceEds): https://twitter.com/rescienceeds And if you're familiar with Git and GitHub, you can also become a reviewer: just contact us. Konrad Hinsen & Nicolas Rougier

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CFP: 1st International Workshop on Big Data Analytics for Healthcare and Well-being
by Youssef Iraqi Sept. 3, 2015

Sept. 3, 2015

Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. ________________________________________________________________ CALL FOR PAPERS 1st International Workshop on Big Data Analytics for Healthcare and Well-being 2016 January 18, 2016, Hong Kong, China http://kecidev.kaist.ac.kr/bigcomp2016/workshop/ In conjunction with the 3rd International Conference on Big Data and Smart Computing (BigComp) 2016 http://conf2016.bigcomputing.org/main/ Purpose and Scope Healthcare and well-being is an important area of research in many countries as one of the emerging application domains for both big data and smart computing. This workshop aims to create opportunities to share on-going works and enhance collaboration among healthcare researchers related to big data or data science, and to foster new innovations of big data and smart computing in the areas of mobile healthcare, smart homes, digital cities, innovations in healthcare and sensing devices, and other related areas. Prospective authors are cordially invited to submit their original contributions covering completed or ongoing work related to the area of big data analytics for healthcare and well-being. The topics include but are not limited to: - Smart health and big data - Data mining, graph mining and data science for healthcare - Big data analytics and social media for healthcare - Smart devices and hardware for healthcare - Smart location-based services for healthcare - Models and tools for smart computing in healthcare - Innovations in healthcare and sensing devices - Security and privacy for big data in healthcare - Cloud and grid computing for healthcare - Standards for big data in healthcare PAPER SUBMISSION Perspective authors are invited to submit their papers, up to 8 pages each, in the IEEE paper template. Papers must be formatted in PDF according to the IEEE two-column format for conference proceedings and submitted through EasyChair, http://www.easychair.org/. The direct link for paper submission is https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bigdata4healthcare IMPORTANT DATES Paper Submission Due: September 30, 2015 (23:59, HKT) Notification of Acceptance: November 15, 2015 Camera ready Papers: December 13, 2015 Workshop: January 18, 2016 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITTEE Workshop Chairs: Youssef Iraqi, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE Ho-Jin Choi, School of Computing, KAIST, Korea Min Song, Dept. of Library & Information, Yonsei University, Korea TPC Members: Ae Ran Kim, College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Korea Amjad Gawanmeh, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE Byeong-Soo Jeong, Dept. of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Korea Changseok Bae, SW.Content Research Laboratory, ETRI, Korea Ahsan Khandoker, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE Hani Saleh, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE Gwan-Su Yi, Dept. of Bio & Brain Engineering, KAIST, Korea Harish Bhaskar, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE Hyeoun-Ae Park, College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Korea Kyuchang Kang, SW.Content Research Laboratory, ETRI, Korea Tae-Min Song, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Korea Yong-Ik Yoon, Dept. of Multimedia Science, SookMyung Women’s University, Korea Yu-Chae Jung, Dept. of Multimedia Science, SookMyung Women’s University, Korea Nan Xiang, Dept. of Computer Science, Chongqing University of Technology, China Lingyun Zhu, Dept. of Internet of Things, Chongqing University of Technology, China Yong Wang, Dept. of Network Engineering, Chongqing University of Technology, China Dr. Youssef Iraqi Associate Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering Department [cid:logo.gif] PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE T +971 (0)2 501 8323 F +971 (0)2 447 2441 Youssef.Iraqi(a)kustar.ac.ae [cid:twitter.jpg]<https://twitter.com/KhalifaUni> [cid:fb.jpg] <https://www.facebook.com/KhalifaUniversity> [cid:youtube.jpg] <http://www.youtube.com/user/KhalifaUniversity> [cid:instagram.jpg] <http://instagram.com/khalifauni> [cid:linkedin.jpg] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/khalifa-university-?trk=biz-companies-cym> [cid:slogan.png]

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Job posting: 5 PhD Positions in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction'
by Lorenz, C.M. Sept. 3, 2015

Sept. 3, 2015

Job posting: 5 PhD Positions in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' We are looking for highly motivated PhD candidates to enrich a unique consortium of researchers that aims to unravel the neurocognitive mechanisms of language at multiple levels. The goal is to understand both the universality and the variability of the human language faculty from genes to behaviour. The Netherlands has an outstanding track record in the language sciences. This research consortium sponsored by a large grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) brings together many of the excellent research groups in the Netherlands with a research programme on the foundations of language. The research team consists of 43 Principal Investigators. In addition to the excellence in the domain of language and related relevant fields of cognition, our consortium provides state-of-the-art research facilities and a research team with ample experience in the complex research methods that will be invoked to address the scientific questions at the highest level of methodological sophistication. These include methods from genetics, neuroimaging, computational modelling, and patient-related research. This consortium realizes both quality and critical mass for studying human language at a scale not easily found anywhere else. Currently, the consortium advertises five PhD positions for a period of 4 years. These positions provide the opportunity for conducting world-class research as a member of an interdisciplinary team. Maximum salary: €2,717 gross/month Closing date for application: 04 October 2015, 23:59 CET For more information on the PhD positions and how to apply: https://www.languageininteraction.nl/ThirdCallGeneral.html <https://www.languageininteraction.nl/ThirdCallGeneral.html>

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SAC2016 - NeuroComputing Track - Paper submission DEADLINE EXTEDED
by Falotico Egidio Sept. 2, 2015

Sept. 2, 2015

Dear Community, The paper submission deadline of SAC2016 conference has been extended to September 21. Please consider to submit a contribution to the NeuroComputing track. ============================== NeuroComputing Track - Call For Papers ============================== The NeuroComputing Track has been proposed as a track of the Symposium on applied Computing (SAC2016) that will be held in Pisa from 4 to 8 April 2016. The ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) has been a primary gathering forum for applied computer scientists, computer engineers, software engineers, and application developers from around the world. SAC 2016 is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP). ============================== TRACK AIM The development of computation models of the nervous system and neural processes has risen at a rapid pace. Developing neuro-inspired computing paradigms that mimic nervous system function fosters our model understanding of the biological system and targets technical applications in artificial systems. Today, combined efforts in the fields of the neuroscience and computer science in interdisciplinary research projects like the Human Brain Project enable the simulation of spiking biological neural networks with millions of neurons. In order to deal with the complexity and scaling of such networks a new generation of appropriate tool is needed to simulate the neural network in real-time. Neuromorphic hardware and supercomputers are the ideal candidates on the hardware side, and on the software side tools should ease the development and support the researcher during the evaluation by offering a toolchain for the implementation and simulation. The aim of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) Track on NeuroComputing is to gather innovative works related to the application of computational techniques for the brain simulation, as well as the system software, middleware, interactive computational steering and visualization support necessary to create and simulate multi-scale brain models and to address the hard-scaling challenges of whole brain modelling. ============================== TRACK WEBSITE http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/tracks/sac2016 ============================== TOPICS OF INTEREST - Neuromorphic hardware - Large scale simulation of NN - Brain visualization tools - Neuro imaging software - Spiking neural networks - Bio-inspired learning mechanisms - Software applications for real-time neural network simulation - Software applications for real-time brain-body simulation - High performance computing for neural simulation - Neural simulators ============================== IMPORTANT DATES September 21, 2015 : Paper submission extended November 13, 2015 : Acceptance notification December 11, 2015 : Camera-ready submission ============================== TRACK CHAIRS Cecilia Laschi, The BioRobotics Institut,e Scuola Superiore SantAnna Pisa, Italy Egidio Falotico, The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore SantAnna Pisa, Italy Florian Röhrbein, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Marc-Oliver Gewaltig, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Paul Levi, Research Center for Information Technology,Karlsruhe, Germany Stefan Ulbrich Research Center for Information Technology,Karlsruhe, Germany -- Egidio Falotico Computer Scientist PhD in BioRobotics PhD in Cognitive Science The BioRobotics Institute Polo Sant'Anna Valdera - Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 34 - 56025 - Pontedera (PI) - Italy Phone: +39 050 883 457 e-mail: e.falotico(a)sssup.it

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Call for abstracts: Bounded optimality and rational metareasoning workshop @ NIPS
by Sam Gershman Sept. 2, 2015

Sept. 2, 2015

We are pleased to announce a NIPS workshop on bounded optimality and rational metareasoning, which will take place in Montreal, Canada on December 11, 2015. This workshop brings together computer scientists working on bounded optimality and metareasoning with psychologists and neuroscientists reverse-engineering the computational principles that make the human brain incredibly resource-efficient. The goal of this workshop is to synthesize these different perspectives on bounded optimality, to promote interdisciplinary interactions and cross-fertilization, and to identify directions for future research. We invite abstract submissions, due October 28: https://sites.google.com/site/boundedoptimalityworkshop/call-for-abstracts Tentative schedule: https://sites.google.com/site/boundedoptimalityworkshop/home Sam Gershman Assistant Professor Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science Harvard University http://gershmanlab.webfactional.com/index.html

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COSYNE 2016: Call for workshop proposals
by Tomas Hromadka Sept. 2, 2015

Sept. 2, 2015

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2016 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING Feb 25 - Feb 28, 2016 Salt Lake City, Utah WORKSHOPS Feb 29 - Mar 1, 2016 Snowbird Ski Resort, Utah www.cosyne.org ==================================================== ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PROPOSAL DEADLINE: 31 October, 2015. PRE-PROPOSALS: In an effort to coordinate submissions, the organizers are encouraged to submit a pre-proposal by October 1st, 2015. Pre-proposals will be shared among submitters. Pre-proposals are requested but not required. The organizers may submit the full proposal by its deadline. A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting (www.cosyne.org) The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals that differ substantially in content, scope, and/or approach from workshops of recent years (examples available at http://www.cosyne.org/c/index.php?title=Workshops) Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; functional neural circuits; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. Please note that in an effort to reduce the overlap between workshops, speakers are strongly discouraged from presenting talks at more than one workshop. WORKSHOP DETAILS: - There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. - Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people. - The workshops will be split into morning (8:00-11:00 AM) and afternoon (4:30-7:30 PM) sessions. - Workshops will be held at Snowbird, a ski resort located 30 miles (typically less than an hour) from the Salt Lake City airport. Buses from the main conference will be provided. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Deadline for pre-proposals: 01 October, 2015 Deadline for proposals: 31 October, 2015 Format: plain text only -- please no attachments email to: cosyne16workshops(a)gmail.com (Claudia Clopath, Alfonso Renart) PRE-PROPOSALS should include: - Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. - A title. - A brief description of 1) what the workshop will address and accomplish, 2) why the topic is of interest, 3) who is the targeted group of participants. - Names of potential invitees, with indication of confirmed speakers. Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed speakers. - Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please explain why. - A brief resume of the workshop organizer along with a short list of workshop-relevant publications (about half a page total). PROPOSALS should include the list of confirmed speakers in addition to components required for a pre-proposal. Workshop organizer responsibilities include coordinating workshop participation and content, scheduling all speakers and submitting a final schedule for the workshop program, and moderating the discussion. Organizers can be speakers but need not speak depending on scheduling constraints. SUGGESTIONS: Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. We recommend fewer than 10 talks. WORKSHOP COSTS: Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at www.cosyne.org. Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. All workshop speakers are expected to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. One complementary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. COSYNE 2016 WORKSHOP CHAIRS: Claudia Clopath (Imperial College London) and Alfonso Renart (Champalimaud Center Lisbon). QUESTIONS: email: cosyne16workshops(a)gmail.com

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Postdoc
by Pestilli, Franco Sept. 1, 2015

Sept. 1, 2015

Dear Community, We are looking for a talented individual to work on a large-scale neuroimaging project funded by the Indiana CTSI<https://www.indianactsi.org/>. The project aims at applying cutting-edge neuroimaging and connectomics methods (Pestilli et al., Nature Methods 2014<http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v11/n10/abs/nmeth.3098.html>; Mišić et al., Neuron 2015<http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(15)00474-2>) on the latest generation of data from Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center<http://iadc.medicine.iu.edu/>. The project is a collaboration between groups at Indiana <https://www.indiana.edu/> University Bloomington<https://www.indiana.edu/> (Franco Pestilli and Olaf Sporns), Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis (Andrew Saykin, Li Shen, and Yu-Chien, Wu) and Purdue University, Lafayette (Joaquin Goñi). The team has strong expertise in aging and Alzheimer’s disease, imaging genetics, network science, magnetic resonance imaging measurements and computational modeling. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Neuroscience, Informatics or Cognitive Science. Strong programming skills (e.g., in Python, MATLAB, or C/C++) and previous background in neuroimaging, computational modeling, or machine learning will be highly valued. The project will involve developing and publishing software products as well as contributing to ongoing software projects such as: https://francopestilli.github.io/life and https://sites.google.com/site/bctnet/. Preference will be given to candidates demonstrating successful productivity by means of scientific articles and software publishing. Interested candidates should send CV, statement of research interests, and names of three references to Dr. Franco Pestilli franpest(a)indiana.edu<mailto:franpest@indiana.edu>. Review of the applications will start immediately and continue until the position is filled. Dr. Pestilli and Professor Sporns will be available at SfN in Chicago for informal meetings with potential candidates. Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer and a provider of ADA services. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ethnicity, color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or identity, national origin, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status. Best regards, Franco Franco Pestilli, PhD Assistant Professor Psychology<http://psych.indiana.edu/>, Neuroscience<http://www.indiana.edu/~neurosci/> and Cognitive Science<http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/> Indiana Network Science Institute<http://iuni.iu.edu/> 𝞇 Indiana University, Bloomington<http://www.iub.edu/>, IN 47405<http://goo.gl/0uVOc8> francopestilli.com<http://www.francopestilli.com/> | franpest(a)indiana.edu<mailto:franpest@indiana.edu> Phone: +1 (812) 856 9967

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open positions in machine learning and computational neuroscience
by Turaga, Srinivas C Sept. 1, 2015

Sept. 1, 2015

The Turaga Lab is looking for exceptional postdoctoral researchers and programmers (and graduate students!) for research at the intersection of machine learning and neuroscience. https://www.janelia.org/lab/turaga-lab With recent technological advances in 3d electron microscopy, optogenetics and large-scale chronic in vivo neural imaging, it is now possible to measure and perturb the activity of large populations of neurons, and to map their connectivity. These new data can be used understand how the structure of a neural circuit gives rise to its function. Our lab develops machine learning algorithms to map neural connectivity, and statistical models to characterize neural activity and to relate activity to connectivity. We have pioneered the use of deep-learning based machine learning algorithms to map neural connectivity from 3d electron microscopic images of brain tissue, and we are now working to improve these methods. This involves solving interesting new problems in structured prediction, active learning and unsupervised learning at an unprecedented scale (imagine working with labeled training datasets with 10^9 examples in a 10^6 dimensional feature space and wanting to achieve accuracies of 99.999%!). We are also developing novel statistical methods to analyze large-scale calcium imaging datasets. This is with an eye towards combining such large-scale activity measurements with structural connectomes in order to relate neural activity to neural connectivity with statistical and mechanistic models. HHMI's Janelia Research Campus is a unique, world-class research community near Washington, D.C. dedicated to understanding the function of neural circuits and developing synergistic imaging technology. Our highly collaborative structure is designed to support interdisciplinary work in small lab groups. We seek candidates who are comfortable with risk and are able to think independently to develop novel approaches. Applicants should have a strong quantitative background with degrees or expertise in machine learning, computational neuroscience, applied mathematics, physics or related discipline. Excellent collaborative programming skills in Python, C/C++, Java or similar languages are essential. To apply, please send a CV and names and addresses of 2-3 references by email to Dr. Srini Turaga, turagas(a)janelia.hhmi.org.

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SFN 2015 Workshop: high performance computing via Neuroscience Gateway
by Ted Carnevale Sept. 1, 2015

Sept. 1, 2015

What: Workshop on the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG, http://www.nsgportal.org) When: 9AM - Noon on Saturday, October 17, 2015. Registration deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015. Where: Downtown Chicago (exact location announced to registrants) Speakers: Amit Majumdar, Subha Sivagnanam, Padraig Gleeson, Simon Rothmeier, Ted Carnevale, Alex Peyser, Hannah Bos. Agenda: Downloadable from http://www.nsgportal.org/workshop.html Why: If you have, or plan to start, a research project that involves computationally intensive modeling or data analysis, you should know about NSG. NSG is being developed with support from NSF to make it easy for neuroscientists to use high performance computing (HPC) resources in their research. Some of NSG's advantages: * Quick and easy account application and approval. * Free computing time. No cost to your account budget! * Simple user interface for uploading data, running simulations or data analysis tasks, and downloading results * Installed software includes MOOSE, GENESIS 3, NEST, NEURON, PyNN, the Freesurfer Software Suite, and the Virtual Brain Empirical Data Pipeline For more information or to sign up, see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2015/nsg2015.html or contact Ted Carnevale [ted dot carnevale at yale dot edu] or Amit Majumdar [majumdar at sdsc dot edu]

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Postdoctoral position in Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning and Computer Vision for the analysis of retinal electrophysiology in response to visual stimulation, with specific expertise in deep learning and sparse learning BC: 71326 - 71327
by Diego Sona Aug. 31, 2015

Aug. 31, 2015

Postdoctoral position in Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning and Computer Vision for the analysis of retinal electrophysiology in response to visual stimulation, with specific expertise in deep learning and sparse learning BC: 71326 - 71327 Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – IIT – was established by the Italian government to promote technological development and training in the scientific and technological field. Toward this end, IIT is implementing a detailed scientific program, which comprises integration across fundamental research and application. IIT’s research endeavour focuses on high-tech and innovation, representing the forefront of technology with possible application from medicine to industry, computer science, robotics, life sciences and nano-biotechnologies. One postdoctoral position in Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning is available in the department of Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision (PAVIS) at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) ,Genova, Italy. PAVIS department has consolidated expertise in image processing, computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning and aims at studying and designing intelligent systems for the analysis and understanding of real-world problems. PAVIS focuses in particular on activities related, but not limited, to surveillance and security, biomedical imaging, and bioinformatics. Project Description The research position is funded by the European project “RENVISION - Retina-inspired ENcoding for advanced VISION tasks” (http://www.renvision-fp7.eu/ <http://www.renvision-fp7.eu/>). The overall aim of the project is to achieve a comprehensive understanding of how the retina encodes complex visual scenes, and to use such insights to develop new computational models of retina and toapply them to high-level computer vision tasks, such as scene categorization and action recognition. The project is highly interdisciplinary, including neuro-engineering, electrophysiology, high-resolution microscopy imaging, computational modelling, data analysis, machine learning and computer vision. RENVISION is funded by the European Commission FP7 Future Emerging Technologies programme, under contract n. 600847. Description of the research The candidate will design novel methodologies and algorithms based on pattern recognition and machine learning techniques, aiming at analysing electrophysiological recordings in response to visual stimulation of retina. The main objective of the research is the discovery/determination of representative and/or discriminative features in retina coding allowing for high-level vision tasks, such as scene categorization and action recognition. To this purpose, deep learning, sparse and dictionary learning approaches are to be considered. Experience and Qualifications We are seeking a self-motivated individual with the ability to take day-to-day responsibility for the progress of the proposed work. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics, Electronic Engineering or a closely-related discipline, with competences on machine learning/pattern recognition/computer vision, coupled with a keen interest in neuroscience and biological data processing and analysis. Expertise in deep learning, compressive sensing, and/or dictionary learning is in general preferred. Experience in spiking networks or retinal function will be appreciated while not being a discriminating factor. A strong programming skill is required. Annual salary will depend on research experience and qualification. Closing Date The initial deadline for applications is September 7th , 2015, however please note that the search will continue until appropriate candidates have been identified. How to apply Completed application forms along with a curriculum listing all publications (possibly including pdfs of the most representative ones), names of 2 referees and a research statement (describing previous research experience and outlining its relevance to the above topics) should be sent by email to Prof. Vittorio Murino vittorio.murino(a)iit.it <mailto:vittorio.murino@iit.it> and/or Diego Sona diego.sona(a)iit.it <mailto:diego.sona@iit.it>, quoting PAVIS-PD 71327 – 71326 as reference number. For informal enquiries please write to Prof. Vittorio Murino vittorio.murino(a)iit.it <mailto:vittorio.murino@iit.it> or Diego Sona diego.sona(a)iit.it <mailto:diego.sona@iit.it>. In order to comply with Italian law (art. 23 of Privacy Law of the Italian Legislative Decree n. 196/03), the candidate is kindly asked to give his/her consent to allow Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia to process his/her personal data. We inform you that the information you provide will be solely used for the purpose of evaluating and selecting candidates in order to meet the requirements of Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Your data will be processed by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, with its headquarters in Genoa, Via Morego 30, acting as the Data Holder, using computer and paper-based means, observing the rules on the protection of personal data, including those relating to the security of data, and they will not be communicated to thirds. Please also note that, pursuant to art.7 of Legislative Decree 196/2003, you may exercise your rights at any time as a party concerned by contacting the Data Holder. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia is an Equal Opportunity Employer that actively seeks diversity in its workforce Diego Sona --------------------------------------------------------- Pattern Analysis & Computer Vision (PAVIS) Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30, 16163, Genova, Italy Phone: +39 010 71781 819 E-mail: diego.sona(a)iit.it www.iit.it/pavis.html ---------------------------------------------------------

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Postdoc/PhD Position in Recurrent Neural Network Architectures
by Herbert Jaeger Aug. 31, 2015

Aug. 31, 2015

The department of Computer Science at Jacobs University Bremen (http://www.jacobs-university.de) announces a POSTDOC / PHD RESEARCH POSITION IN MACHINE LEARNING / NEURAL NETWORKS / INTELLIGENT AGENT ARCHITECTURES (full-time, very competitive salary, 3 years, start December 1, 2015 or later) the MINDS research group of Herbert Jaeger (http://minds.jacobs-university.de) The position is created in the European Horizon 2020 integrated project "Neural Computing Architectures in Advanced Monolithic 3D-VLSI Nano-Technologies" (NeuRAM3). The project aim of NeuRAM3 is to design and fabricate a large-scale, highly configurable neuromorphic microchip. Based on spiking, recurrent neural dynamics, the microchip is similar in some ways to IBM's recent TrueNorth neurochip (http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/brain-chip.shtml) However, our project aims significantly further than TrueNorth, and IBM is one of the consortium partners. In particular, novel 3-dimensional chip manufacturing technologies will enable a much more complex and much more flexibly configurable on-chip neural architecture. Within this setting, the MINDS group develops *neural learning algorithms and architectures* which are tailored to the novel opportunities afforded by a 3-dimensional, spiking microchip. This line of research will be carried out in close collaboration with a consortium partner from computational neuroscience (Institute of Neuroinformatics, University Zurich and ETH Zurich). Currently in machine learning approaches of deep learning are attracting much attention. In several ways the research in the MINDS group is *complementary to deep learning*. The latter is grounded in high-precision gradient descent methods for training and can devour extremely large training datasets to learn extremely complex tasks. The price paid is very long training times and a lack of online adaptability. In contrast, *we aim for very fast (even instantaneous) learning, online adaptability and extensibility, robustness against noise and computations with low numerical accuracy*. Such properties will be crucial for the algorithms running on next-generation chipsets for mobile devices – and they are also crucial for biological neural systems. The background philosophy of this research is framed by reservoir computing (http://minds.jacobs-university.de/ESNresearch) and conceptors (http://minds.jacobs-university.de/conceptors) Eligible candidates must have a mindset inclined toward mathematical modeling, fluency in English, plus a solid background in at least one of the following areas: • dynamical systems theory, • signal processing and control, • machine learning, • computational neuroscience, • intelligent agent architectures. Details about the position and the NeuRAM3 project will be gladly supplied by Herbert Jaeger (h.jaeger(a)jacobs-university.de) upon request. Please submit applications by email to Herbert Jaeger. Applicants passing an initial screening will be asked to supply two letters of reference. Applications will be processed as long as the job announmcent is posted online at http://minds.jacobs-university.de/jobs. *Jacobs University Bremen* is Germany's only private university with a full range of academic programs from the natural and social sciences and engineering. Its student body is one of the most international conceivable: more than 100 nations are joined on our beautiful campus. Within its young history of only a little more than 10 years, Jacobs University has climbed to the top in many disciplines in Germany's most important university ranking (http://www.che-ranking.de/cms/?getObject=613&getLang=en) The language on campus is English. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Herbert Jaeger Professor of 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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Update 2: 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI 2016)
by IEEE WCCI 2016 Aug. 31, 2015

Aug. 31, 2015

Dear Colleague, Below please find some updated information about 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI 2016). 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational IntelligenceVancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada 25-29 July 2016 www.wcci2016.org*---------------~*******~-------------------* * Paper Submission is now OPEN* *---------------~*******~-------------------* IEEE WCCI 2016 paper submission is now OPEN. All papers should be submitted through the IEEE WCCI 2016 online submission system before the deadline of 15 January 2016. Click here for more information: http://www.wcci2016.org/submission.php *-----~*******~------* * Speakers* *-----~*******~------* World renowned computer scientist and computational theorist, Chair Professor at Harvard University, 2010 Turing Award winner, Professor Leslie Valiant will deliver a keynote at IEEE WCCI 2016. The 2016 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award winner, Professor Ronald R. Yager (IEEE Fellow), will receive his award and deliver a keynote at IEEE WCCI 2016. The 2016 IEEE CIS Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award winner and 2015 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award winner, Professor Marco Dorigo (IEEE Fellow), will receive his award and deliver a keynote at IEEE WCCI 2016. *---------~*******~---------* * Best Paper Awards* *---------~*******~---------* IEEE WCCI 2016 will present the Best Overall Paper Awards and the Best Student Paper Awards to recognize outstanding papers published in each of the three conference proceedings (IJCNN 2016, FUZZ-IEEE 2016, IEEE CEC 2016). The awards will be judged by an Awards Committee and the recipient of each award will be given a certificate of the award and a cash prize to be presented during the conference banquet at IEEE WCCI 2016. *--------~****~--------* * Travel Grants* *--------~****~--------* The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE CIS) will offer a limited number of travel grants for - Students (undergraduate or graduate students, from any country) - Professional researchers from developing countries who are presenting one or more papers at IEEE WCCI 2016. Click here for more information:http://www.wcci2016.org/sponsors.php *---------~****~---------* * Important Dates* *---------~****~---------* - Special Session & Workshop Proposals Deadline: 15 November 2015 - Competition & Tutorial Proposals Deadline: 15 December 2015 - *Paper Submission Deadline: 15 January 2016* - Paper Acceptance Notification Date: 15 March 2016 - Final Paper Submission & Early Registration Deadline: 15 April 2016 - IEEE WCCI 2016: 25-29 July 2016 For more information on the congress, please visit: [www.wcci2016.org] www.wcci2016.org *Alternatively we can also be reached on the following social media platforms:* - https://www.facebook.com/wcci2016; - https://twitter.com/wcci2016; - http://www.weibo.com/wcci2016; - http://t.qq.com/wcci2016 We look forward to welcoming you in Vancouver next year! Best wishes, Kay Chen Tan and Gary G. Yen 2016 IEEE WCCI General Co-Chairs

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Re: [Comp-neuro] Registration and Abstract submission Brain States Conference
by Bias Watch Aug. 29, 2015

Aug. 29, 2015

Brain States: Characterization and Neuromodulation by DBS Organizers: Rowshanak Hashemiyoon, Veerle Visser-Vandewalle Invited speaker gender ratio: 0 Females / 22 Males Estimated* base rate of females in the field: 20% BiasWatchNeuro rating: 0 out of 3 *Method of estimation: NIH RePORTER with text keyword “DBS”, count number of female first PIs in first 25 results for more information: www.biaswatchneuro.com > From: neuro girl <neurogirl(a)hotmail.com> > > Subject: [Comp-neuro] Registration and Abstract submission Brain States > Conference > > Date: August 27, 2015 3:15:33 AM EDT > > To: "comp-neuro(a)neuroinf.org" <comp-neuro(a)neuroinf.org> > > > > Dear All, > > > > Registration and abstract submission are now open! > > > > Brain States: Characterization and Neuromodulation by DBS > > November 11-13, 2015 in Cologne, Germany. > > > > Interdisciplinary contributions to the study of brain mechanics have > greatly advanced our theories of the neurodynamic operations employed by > the brain. Although the brain exhibits continuous ongoing activity, > variation in the spatiotemporal patterns of activation observed across > different brain regions during rest versus active processing provides > valuable information about functional connectivity and strategies for > information processing. > > > > This conference will explore the most up-to-date theories of normal > brain function and how these processes may be altered to produce > pathological states. Furthermore, it will explore the models and methods > used to describe the proposed neural strategies subserving these different > brain states. > > > > Our list of confirmed speakers include: > > Hagai Bergman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) > > Peter Brown (University of Oxford) > > Stephan Chabardes (University Hospital Grenoble) > > Alain Destexhe (CNRS) > > Emad N. Eskandar (Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School) > > John J. Foxe (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) > > Marc Goodfellow (University of Exeter) > > Anthony A. Grace (University of Pittsburgh) > > Rowshanak Hashemiyoon (University Hospital of Cologne) > > Jens Haueisen (Technische Universität Ilmenau) > > Viktor Jirsa (Aix-Marseille Université /CNRS) > > Jens Kuhn (University Hospital Cologne) > > Fernando Lopes da Silva (University of Amsterdam) > > Andres Lozano (University of Toronto) > > Cameron McIntyre (Case Western Reserve University) > > Christoph M. Michel (University of Geneva) > > Bart Nuttin (KU Leuven) > > Urs Ribary (Simon Fraser University) > > Günter Schiepek (Paracelsus Medical University) > > Wolf Singer (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research) > > Dimitri van de Ville (University of Geneva) > > Veerle Visser-Vandewalle (University Hospital of Cologne) > > Jürgen Voges (Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg) > > We are intentionally limiting attendance in order to ensure a collegial > atmosphere with excellent discussion. > > > > More information can be found on these websites http://bit.ly/1JVElkf > and https://dbs.veomed.net/. > > > > Hope to see you in Cologne! > > > > > > With kind regards, > > Row Hashemiyoon > > > > Rowshanak Hashemiyoon, PhD > > Chief, Behavioral Neurophysiology and Computational Neuroscience > > Klinik für Stereotaxie und Funktionelle Neurochirurgie > > Universitätsklinikum Köln > > Kerpener Str. 62 > > D - 50937 Köln > > Email: row.hashemiyoon(a)uk-koeln.de<mailto:row.hashemiyoon@uk-koeln.de> > > http://www.uk-koeln.de/de/stereotaxie > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Comp-neuro mailing list > > Comp-neuro(a)neuroinf.org > > http://www.neuroinf.org/mailman/listinfo/comp-neuro > >

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PhD studentships in computational neuroscience and machine learning
by Steuber, Volker Aug. 28, 2015

Aug. 28, 2015

Applications are invited for PhD studentships in the Biocomputation Research Group at the Science and Technology Research Institute at the University of Hertfordshire. PhD projects involve the development of computer simulations of neurons and neuronal networks to study information processing in the brain, and/or the application of machine learning techniques to analyse electrophysiological data. More details about our research and a list of potential projects can be found on our homepage (http://homepages.herts.ac.uk/~comqvs/research.html) Applicants should have good computational and numerical skills and an excellent first degree in computer science, biology, maths, physics, neuroscience, or a related discipline. Previous experience in neuroscience is not required but would be an advantage. Successful candidates are eligible for a research studentship award from the University (approximately GBP 13,800 per annum bursary plus the payment of the standard UK student fees). Applicants from outside the UK or EU are eligible, but will have to pay half of the overseas fees out of their bursary. Research in Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire has been recognized as excellent by the latest Research Assessment Exercise, with 55% of the research submitted being rated as world leading or internationally excellent. The Science and Technology Research Institute provides a very stimulating environment, offering a large number of specialized and interdisciplinary seminars as well as general training opportunities. The University of Hertfordshire is situated in Hatfield, in the green belt just north of London. Please contact Dr Volker Steuber (v.steuber @ herts.ac.uk) for informal enquiries. Application forms can be obtained from Mrs Lorraine Nicholls, Research Student Administrator, STRI, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB, Tel: 01707 286083, l.nicholls @ herts.ac.uk. The short-listing process will begin on 9 June 2014.

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Postdoctoral Position at The Rockefeller University
by George Reeke Aug. 27, 2015

Aug. 27, 2015

Postdoctoral position in Computational Neuroscience A postdoctoral position supported by the BRAIN initiative is available at The Rockefeller University under the guidance of George Reeke in collaboration with Charles Gilbert and Winrich Freiwald. The overall project will study cortical mechanisms of object recognition and more specifically the influence of top-down task-and attentional influences on cortical dynamics and perceptual learning in areas of the visual cortical pathway. The computational work will involve developing and running large-scale spiking models of cortical regions studied in the overall project, with the goal of developing an accurate theoretical understanding of the phenomena observed in the experimental research. The successful candidate should, ideally, have a Ph.D. in a relevant area of neuroscience with a strong knowledge of mammalian visual systems and neuronal systems modeling. The candidate will be expected to develop suitable software to supplement the available tools as needed and will be able to work both independently and as part of a team. Interested individuals should send a c.v. and the names of three references to Dr. George Reeke (reeke(a)rockefeller.edu) with a subject line "Computational Neuroscience postdoc position". The position is available immediately, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled. The Rockefeller University is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minorities/Women/Disabled/Veterans.

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Postdoctoral positions in Systems/Computational neuroscience [Univ Pittsburgh]
by Nathan Urban Aug. 27, 2015

Aug. 27, 2015

The lab of Dr. Nathan Urban, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Neurobiology and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition invites applications for two postdoctoral positions for projects on the analysis of olfactory system function and circuitry. Projects involve measuring of neural activity in vivo or in vitro using physiological and imaging approaches (whole cell patch clamp and calcium imaging in vitro and 2-photon imaging and physiology in vivo). We seek both experimentalists and computational neuroscientists interested in exploring the following topics in rodent model systems: The mechanisms and role of biophysical and circuit-level neuronal diversity Connections between biophysical and statistical models of neurons Sensory coding in control mice and in disease models Successful candidates will have a track record of publications and experience in experimental and/or computational neuroscience. Interests must be aligned with the broad interests of the lab and successful applicants will be expected to participate in ongoing collaborations with other groups in Pittsburgh and in other locations. Postdocs in the lab will have the opportunity to present their work at national and international meetings. Through mentoring and by creating opportunities for independent projects, postdocs will be in an excellent position to develop towards independent career objectives. Applicants can contact Dr. Urban via e-mail at nurban(a)pitt.edu and should apply via: http://goo.gl/forms/27qj1SJxw4 Qualifications: The successful candidate should have a PhD or equivalent degree in neuroscience, engineering, computer science or a related discipline. Clear evidence of research productivity and ability to work on collaborative projects is also essential. Feel free to forward to interested colleagues. ___________________________________________ Nathan Urban, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Special Projects 829 Cathedral of Learning Professor and Associate Chair - Department of Neurobiology http://www.neurobio.pitt.edu/ Co-Director Center for the Neural basis of Cognition www.cnbc.cmu.edu Associate Director Pittsburgh Brain Institute http://www.braininstitute.pitt.edu/ E1440 BSTWR 200 Lothrop Street University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-648-3396 nurban(a)pitt.edu

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Registration and Abstract submission Brain States Conference
by neuro girl Aug. 27, 2015

Aug. 27, 2015

Dear All, Registration and abstract submission are now open! Brain States: Characterization and Neuromodulation by DBS November 11-13, 2015 in Cologne, Germany. Interdisciplinary contributions to the study of brain mechanics have greatly advanced our theories of the neurodynamic operations employed by the brain. Although the brain exhibits continuous ongoing activity, variation in the spatiotemporal patterns of activation observed across different brain regions during rest versus active processing provides valuable information about functional connectivity and strategies for information processing. This conference will explore the most up-to-date theories of normal brain function and how these processes may be altered to produce pathological states. Furthermore, it will explore the models and methods used to describe the proposed neural strategies subserving these different brain states. Our list of confirmed speakers include: Hagai Bergman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Peter Brown (University of Oxford) Stephan Chabardes (University Hospital Grenoble) Alain Destexhe (CNRS) Emad N. Eskandar (Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School) John J. Foxe (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) Marc Goodfellow (University of Exeter) Anthony A. Grace (University of Pittsburgh) Rowshanak Hashemiyoon (University Hospital of Cologne) Jens Haueisen (Technische Universität Ilmenau) Viktor Jirsa (Aix-Marseille Université /CNRS) Jens Kuhn (University Hospital Cologne) Fernando Lopes da Silva (University of Amsterdam) Andres Lozano (University of Toronto) Cameron McIntyre (Case Western Reserve University) Christoph M. Michel (University of Geneva) Bart Nuttin (KU Leuven) Urs Ribary (Simon Fraser University) Günter Schiepek (Paracelsus Medical University) Wolf Singer (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research) Dimitri van de Ville (University of Geneva) Veerle Visser-Vandewalle (University Hospital of Cologne) Jürgen Voges (Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg) We are intentionally limiting attendance in order to ensure a collegial atmosphere with excellent discussion. More information can be found on these websites http://bit.ly/1JVElkf and https://dbs.veomed.net/. Hope to see you in Cologne! With kind regards, Row Hashemiyoon Rowshanak Hashemiyoon, PhD Chief, Behavioral Neurophysiology and Computational Neuroscience Klinik für Stereotaxie und Funktionelle Neurochirurgie Universitätsklinikum Köln Kerpener Str. 62 D - 50937 Köln Email: row.hashemiyoon(a)uk-koeln.de<mailto:row.hashemiyoon@uk-koeln.de> http://www.uk-koeln.de/de/stereotaxie

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PhD Position in Deep Learning & Visual Neuroscience
by Paul Zhutovsky Aug. 27, 2015

Aug. 27, 2015

Hi there, we at EyeQuant, a visual neuroscience / machine learning startup based in Berlin have teamed up with a Marie Curie training network to offer a fully salaried PhD candidate position at the rapidly advancing intersection of Deep Learning, Computer Vision and Visual Neuroscience, starting as soon as possible. This is a really unique opportunity to obtain a PhD through a prestigious programme while working with and at a successful technology software startup, enabling you to simultaneously advance your career prospects both inside and outside of academia. Your supervisor and PI will be neuroscientist and EyeQuant co-founder Prof. Dr. Peter König, who is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science and Head of the Neurobiopsychology Lab at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. You will be based in EyeQuant’s Berlin HQ, with regular trips to our Lab in Osnabrück. You can find more details and next steps here: http://www.eyequant.com/#!/jobs Please note that in order to be eligible for the MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE grant, you must not have carried out your main research activity for more than 12 months in Germany in the previous 36 months.

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Postdoctoral position in dendritic modelling, Poirazi lab, Crete
by Yiota Poirazi Aug. 27, 2015

Aug. 27, 2015

Can you please post this job opening in my lab to the list? Thank you! Yiota Poirazi ----------------------------------------- 1-2 Postdoctoral positions funded by the* ERC Starting Grant dEMORY <http://www.demory.gr/>*will be available as of* October 1st 2015* (the start date is flexible) at IMBB-FORTH <http://www.imbb.forth.gr/> in Crete, in the lab of Dr. *Panayiota Poirazi*. <http://www.dendrites.gr/> *Indicative application deadline: September 25th, 2015 (applications will be continuously screened until the positions are filled).* · Available for 2 years, with a *yearly *salary of 30,000-36,000 € (with benefits), depending on experience and career stage. · *Requirements: *Expertise in computational neuroscience, preferably in compartmental modeling and neural/dendritic computations. *THE PROJECT: Dissecting the Role of Dendrites in Memory* While memory is a function that has attracted the interest of the scientific community for several years, little is known about the rules underlying memory formation in the brain. Until recently, the single neuron was considered the main processing unit of the brain and memories were believed to be stored exclusively through plasticity modifications that take place in the synapses, the connecting sites between neurons. Over the last decade however, emerging evidence suggests that the neuron is no longer the key processing unit of the brain. The dendrites of individual neurons, which were thought as merely passive devices that allow neuronal communication, are currently the no 1 candidate for this role. The goal of this work is to characterize the role of dendrites in learning and memory processes so as to formulate a unifying theory regarding their contribution in memory formation across brain regions and abstraction levels. This will be achieved via the development of computational models that start at the single cell level and expand to the microcircuit and the network level, while varying in their degree of biophysical detail. Models will express a distinct memory function, specific to the region they belong to: the hippocampus the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala. By manipulating the biophysical, anatomical and plasticity properties of dendrites and tracking the effect on memory, the project aims to infer the key rules by which these thin structures shape mnemonic processes. These rules will then form the basis for deducing theoretical abstractions of trainable neurons with dendrites. The project has been running since 2012 and has already produced a number of outcomes which can be found at the following web sites: *www.demory.gr* <http://www.demory.gr/>*, * *www.dendrites.gr* <http://www.dendrites.gr/> *IMBB-FORTH* The Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas <http://www.forth.gr/> (FORTH) is one of the top European Research Centers. It has ranked 1st in terms of high impact publications in Greece and 12th in the number of FP7 grants in Europe. It should be noted that since the establishment of the ERC grant scheme in 2007, a total of 39 awards have been made to scientists working in Greek Institutions and 11 of them are located in Institutes of FORTH. The Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology <http://www.imbb.forth.gr/> (IMBB) at FORTH is the top Biological Institute in Greece, in terms of high quality personnel, publications, infrastructure and competitive grants. IMBB-FORTH is located in Heraklion, one of the most ancient and historical Greek cities, on the picturesque island of Crete. Crete, the homeland of major artists, such as El Greco and Nikos Kazantzakis, impressively combines the outstanding geophysical variety (forests, mountains, gorges, and beaches) with its rich history of thousands of years, resulting in the well-known Cretan culture and cuisine. *THE POIRAZI LAB* The Computational Biology Laboratory <http://www.imbb.forth.gr/people/poirazi/> at IMBB-FORTH performs research that is at the forefront of Computational Neuroscience. The work of Dr. Poirazi led to several high impact publications, some of which have shaped the field of dendritic computations. Her work received prestigious awards, including the EMBO Young Investigator Award in 2005, 2 Marie Curie Fellowships, a scientist-of-the year award in Greece in 2012, a European Research Council (ERC) starting grant in 2012, a nomination by EMBO to AcademiaNet—portal for outstanding female scientists in Europe (2013), and the "Manolis Christofides" Young Cypriot Investigator award in 2014. She is named Young Scientist of the World Economic Forum for its Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2014 and 2015. She is a member of the Young Academy of Europe since 2015 and currently the Chair of the FENS-KAVLI Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/> whose aim is to promote Neuroscience research and science policy in Europe and beyond. *TO APPLY:* Candidates that match the required profile will be continuously interviewed until the positions are filled. Candidates should send a *resume and two (2) reference letters* to *poirazi[at]imbb.forth.gr <http://imbb.forth.gr/>*. If possible, recommendations should be sent by the referees. -- Panayiota Poirazi, Ph.D. Research Director Computational Biology Laboratory Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) Vassilika Vouton, P.O.Box 1385, GR 70013, Heraklion, Crete GREECE Tel: +30 2810 391139 Fax: +30 2810 391101 Εmail: poirazi(a)imbb.forth.gr Lab site: www.dendrites.gr Chair, FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/>

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Interdisciplinary post-doctoral position in cognitive neuroscience
by Schurger Lab Aug. 26, 2015

Aug. 26, 2015

Brain-behavior forecasting: Neural antecedents of spontaneous self-initiated movement and the forecasting of behavior from brain activity Interdisciplinary post-doctoral position in cognitive neuroscience Starting date: Spring 2016 or Fall 2016 Duration: 2 years (renewable for one additional year) The French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) invites applications for a post-doctoral position in the Cognitive Neuroimaging Group, at the NeuroSpin Research Center near Paris, France, as part of the research team of Dr. Aaron Schurger. The Schurger lab focuses on understanding how decisions are made and actions initiated spontaneously, without an external sensory cue, and how time series of neural activity (now) can be used to forecast behavior (seconds or minutes from now). We pursue this research using a combination of behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, computational modeling, time-series analyses, and machine learning techniques. We are particularly interested in attracting applicants from meteorology, macroeconomics, machine learning, statistics and other disciplines that involve a mastery of time series analysis, statistical learning, forecasting, and/or forecast verification. Applicants should have a obtained a PhD in a relevant discipline prior to the starting date, and should have strong skills in at least some of the following areas: computer programming (MatLab, Python, C, C++), statistics, signal processing, computational, mathematical, and/or neural network modeling, statistical learning / machine learning / mutivariate pattern classification, time series analysis, forecasting. Resources available at NeuroSpin include Siemens 3T and 7T MRI scanners; high-density EEG (EGI Inc.); Elekta NeuroMag 306-channel MEG (allowing for the simultaneous recording of EEG); eye tracking (available for MRI, MEG, and behavioral experiments); an in-house team of experts in signal processing and statistical learning; a dedicated staff handling subject recruitment, scheduling, and payment; various Nespresso devices; and proximity to Paris. The salary is competitive, being aligned with that offered by Marie Curie fellowships. Applicants should send a CV, letter of motivation (max 2 pages), and a list of three references via e-mail to aaron.schurger(a)gmail.com. Review of applicants will begin immediately, and will continue until the positions are filled. The NeuroSpin Research Center is located on the campus of the CEA-Saclay, near Orsay, about 18 km southwest of Paris. For more information on the NeuroSpin Research Center and the Cognitive Neuroimaging Group: http://www-centre-saclay.cea.fr/fr/Visite-guidee-de-NeuroSpin http://meg-france.in2p3.fr/_lesCentres/Neurospin_en.php http://www-dsv.cea.fr/en/institutes/institute-of-biomedical-imaging-i2bm/de… http://www.unicog.org/pm/pmwiki.php -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [Comp-neuro] Two postdoc positions in behavioral neurophsyiology
by Nicho Aug. 25, 2015

Aug. 25, 2015

*Postdoctoral Position in Large-scale Neuronal Ensemble Recordings in Sensori-motor Cortices in Behaving Marmosets* A postdoctoral position is available starting in the fall of 2015 to characterize the spatio-temporal organization of sensori-motor cortical activity at multiple spatial scales associated with upper limb movements of behaving marmosets.This project involves high density multi-electrode array recordings as well as calcium fluorescence imaging from motor and somatosensory cortical sites in marmosets performing natural arm and hand movements.Facilities include a fully equipped electrophysiological laboratory with three 128-channel acquisition systems for multi-electrode recording and stimulation, calcium fluorescence imaging microscopes, and a camera-based, motion capture system.Expertise in multi-site, behavioral electrophysiology and/or calcium imaging is preferred.A strong mathematical, computational, or engineering background is also desirable.Applicants should send a CV and names and addresses of two or three references to Dr. Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57^th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 or by e-mail to nicho(a)uchicago.edu <mailto:nicho@uchicago.edu>. *Postdoctoral Position in Multi-Electrode Cortical Recording in Behaving Animals* A postdoctoral position is available starting in the winter of 2016 to investigate the neural basis of visuo-motor behavior.This project involves high density multi-electrode array recordings from motor and premotor cortical sites in monkeys performing complex arm and hand movements.Experiments seek to understand how large neuronal ensembles (single units and local field potentials) encode different aspects of these movements.These experiments also seek to develop decoding algorithms for possible application in brain-machine interfaces.Facilities include a fully equipped electrophysiological laboratory with three 128-channel acquisition systems, a two-link exoskeletal robot, and a camera-based, motion capture system. Expertise in multi-electrode, behavioral electrophysiology is preferred.A strong mathematical, computational, or engineering background is also desirable.Applicants should send a CV and names and addresses of two or three references to Dr. Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57^th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 or by e-mail to nicho(a)uchicago.edu <mailto:nicho@uchicago.edu>.

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Faculty Position in the Computational Neuroscience of Perception and/or Action
by Ila Fiete Aug. 25, 2015

Aug. 25, 2015

*Faculty Position in the Computational Neuroscience of Perception and/or Action* The Center for Perceptual Systems at The University of Texas at Austin is currently inviting applications for a full-time appointment at the Assistant Professor level. The expected employment date is September 1, 2016. We are particularly interested in candidates who will be able to establish a strong research program in the computational and experimental science of perception or perception and action. Candidates must have a Ph.D. or equivalent from an accredited institution and a demonstrated ability to pursue an independent research program. The successful candidate will hold an appointment in an appropriate university department (e.g., Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Integrative Biology), will be expected to develop and maintain an extramurally funded research program, will be expected to participate in teaching activities at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and will exhibit a commitment to service. For more information about the Center for Perceptual Systems see http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/cps/. (FRD: 6267) *Applicant Instructions:* Interested applicants should submit a letter of interest, current curriculum vita, representative scholarly publications, statement of research interests, evidence of excellence in teaching to: apply.interfolio.com/30070 <http://apply.interfolio.com/30070>. You should also have a minimum of three referees submit letters of recommendation to: apply.interfolio.com/30070 <http://apply.interfolio.com/30070>. Applications will be considered beginning November 1, 2015 and will continue to be reviewed until the position has been filled. Proof of conferred degree and a background check will be conducted on selected applicants. Position funding is pending final budgetary approval. Questions can be directed to the chair of the search committee, Dr. Wilson Geisler atw.geisler(a)utexas.edu <mailto:w.geisler@utexas.edu>. The University of Texas at Austin and the Department of Psychology strongly value multiculturalism and diversity. -- Ila Fiete Associate Professor Department of Neuroscience | Center for Learning and Memory The University of Texas at Austin http://clm.utexas.edu/fietelab/

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Postdoctoral position in dendritic modelling at the Poirazi lab, in Crete, Greece.
by Yiota Poirazi Aug. 24, 2015

Aug. 24, 2015

Apologies for multiple postings. ----------------------------------------- 1-2 Postdoctoral positions funded by the* ERC Starting Grant dEMORY <http://www.demory.gr>*will be available as of* October 1st 2015* (the start date is flexible) at IMBB-FORTH <http://www.imbb.forth.gr> in Crete, in the lab of Dr. *Panayiota Poirazi*. <http://www.dendrites.gr> * Indicative application deadline: September 25th, 2015 (applications will be continuously screened until the positions are filled).* · Available for 2 years, with a *yearly *salary of 30,000-36,000 € (with benefits), depending on experience and career stage. · *Requirements: *Expertise in computational neuroscience, preferably in compartmental modeling and neural/dendritic computations. *THE PROJECT: Dissecting the Role of Dendrites in Memory* While memory is a function that has attracted the interest of the scientific community for several years, little is known about the rules underlying memory formation in the brain. Until recently, the single neuron was considered the main processing unit of the brain and memories were believed to be stored exclusively through plasticity modifications that take place in the synapses, the connecting sites between neurons. Over the last decade however, emerging evidence suggests that the neuron is no longer the key processing unit of the brain. The dendrites of individual neurons, which were thought as merely passive devices that allow neuronal communication, are currently the no 1 candidate for this role. The goal of this work is to characterize the role of dendrites in learning and memory processes so as to formulate a unifying theory regarding their contribution in memory formation across brain regions and abstraction levels. This will be achieved via the development of computational models that start at the single cell level and expand to the microcircuit and the network level, while varying in their degree of biophysical detail. Models will express a distinct memory function, specific to the region they belong to: the hippocampus the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala. By manipulating the biophysical, anatomical and plasticity properties of dendrites and tracking the effect on memory, the project aims to infer the key rules by which these thin structures shape mnemonic processes. These rules will then form the basis for deducing theoretical abstractions of trainable neurons with dendrites. The project has been running since 2012 and has already produced a number of outcomes which can be found at the following web sites: *www.demory.gr* <http://www.demory.gr>*, * *www.dendrites.gr* <http://www.dendrites.gr> *IMBB-FORTH* The Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas <http://www.forth.gr> (FORTH) is one of the top European Research Centers. It has ranked 1st in terms of high impact publications in Greece and 12th in the number of FP7 grants in Europe. It should be noted that since the establishment of the ERC grant scheme in 2007, a total of 39 awards have been made to scientists working in Greek Institutions and 11 of them are located in Institutes of FORTH. The Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology <http://www.imbb.forth.gr> (IMBB) at FORTH is the top Biological Institute in Greece, in terms of high quality personnel, publications, infrastructure and competitive grants. IMBB-FORTH is located in Heraklion, one of the most ancient and historical Greek cities, on the picturesque island of Crete. Crete, the homeland of major artists, such as El Greco and Nikos Kazantzakis, impressively combines the outstanding geophysical variety (forests, mountains, gorges, and beaches) with its rich history of thousands of years, resulting in the well-known Cretan culture and cuisine. *THE POIRAZI LAB* The Computational Biology Laboratory <http://www.imbb.forth.gr/people/poirazi/> at IMBB-FORTH performs research that is at the forefront of Computational Neuroscience. The work of Dr. Poirazi led to several high impact publications, some of which have shaped the field of dendritic computations. Her work received prestigious awards, including the EMBO Young Investigator Award in 2005, 2 Marie Curie Fellowships, a scientist-of-the year award in Greece in 2012, a European Research Council (ERC) starting grant in 2012, a nomination by EMBO to AcademiaNet—portal for outstanding female scientists in Europe (2013), and the "Manolis Christofides" Young Cypriot Investigator award in 2014. She is named Young Scientist of the World Economic Forum for its Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2014 and 2015. She is a member of the Young Academy of Europe since 2015 and currently the Chair of the FENS-KAVLI Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/> whose aim is to promote Neuroscience research and science policy in Europe and beyond. *TO APPLY:* Candidates that match the required profile will be continuously interviewed until the positions are filled. Candidates should send a *resume and two (2) reference letters* to *poirazi[at]imbb.forth.gr <http://imbb.forth.gr>*. If possible, recommendations should be sent by the referees. -- Panayiota Poirazi, Ph.D. Research Director Computational Biology Laboratory Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) Vassilika Vouton, P.O.Box 1385, GR 70013, Heraklion, Crete GREECE Tel: +30 2810 391139 Fax: +30 2810 391101 Εmail: poirazi(a)imbb.forth.gr Lab site: www.dendrites.gr Chair, FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence <http://www.fens.org/Outreach/FENS-Kavli-Network-of-Excellence/>

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LASCON 2016 - VI Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience (Call for applications)
by Antonio C. Roque Aug. 23, 2015

Aug. 23, 2015

**** Apologies for cross-posting **** VI Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience - LASCON 2016 January 3 - 29, 2016, Sao Paulo, Brazil http://sisne.org/lascon APPLICATION DEADLINE: September 6 2015 SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT Dear Colleagues, Following the success of the previous editions of LASCON (Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience), I am pleased to announce the 6th LASCON, which will take place between January 3 - 29 2016 at the NeuroMat Center in the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. LASCON aims at introducing young researchers and graduate and advanced undergraduate students to the use of computational and mathematical methods for modeling neurons and neural networks. These models will be taught via a combination of theoretical lectures and hands-on tutorials with the use of the programs like neuroConstruct, NEURON, NEST, Brian, the Virtual Brain and Matlab. Students will have to work on small research projects (to be done in groups of two), which they will present orally at the end of the school. The following lecturers will be in charge of theoretical classes and tutorials: Arnd Roth, University College, London, UK Benjamin Lindner, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany Boris Marin, University College, London, UK Christophe Pouzat, Universite Paris Descartes, Paris, France Demian Battaglia, Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France German Mato, Centro Atomico Bariloche, San Carlos de Bariloche, RN, Argentina Hannah Bos, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany Jannis Schuecker, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany John Murray, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Marco Huertas, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX, USA Volker Steuber, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK William Lytton, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA There will also be some invited lectures. The current list of invited lecturers is: Andre Kohn, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Antonio Galves, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Cesar Renno-Costa, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil Fabio Simoes de Souza, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo Andre, SP, Brazil Julian Tejada, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Aracaju, SE, Brazil Leonardo Maia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, SC, Brazil Marco Idiart, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil Marcelo Reyes, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo Andre, SP, Brazil Mauro Copelli, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE Sakyasingha Dasgupta, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan Sergio Neuenschwander, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil The number of students is limited to 20 and applications should be made electronically via the application form in the school's web page ( http://sisne.org/?page_id=253&lang=en) Applicants are also requested to submit a detailed CV (in English) and to provide two letters of recommendation. The application deadline is September 6 2015 (until midnight, US Pacific time). There is no registration fee for the school. Costs for accommodation will be covered by the school organization. Travel costs have to be covered by the students. Sao Paulo is the major transportation hub in South America, so it is possible to fly from basically anywhere in the world to it. In the selection procedure, priority will be given to Latin-American students, but students from other parts of the world are encouraged to apply as well. LASCON 2016 is an activity of the FAPESP Center for Neuromathematics (NeuroMat -http://neuromat.numec.prp.usp.br) and is jointly organized by the University of Sao Paulo and the Federal University of ABC. I am looking forward to see you in Sao Paulo. Best regards, A. Roque LASCON Director -- Dr. Antonio C. Roque Professor Associado Departamento de Fisica FFCLRP, Universidade de Sao Paulo 14040-901 Ribeirao Preto-SP Brazil - Brasil E-mails: antonior(a)ffclrp.usp.br aroquesilva(a)gmail.com URL: www.sisne.org Tels: +55 16 3315-3768 (sala/office); +55 16 3315-3859 (lab) FAX: +55 16 3315-4887

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CFP :: ISACS 2015 - Intl. Symposium on ATTENTION IN COGNITIVE SYSTEMS :: at IROS 2015 (Hamburg, Germany)
by Paletta, Lucas Aug. 23, 2015

Aug. 23, 2015

-------------------------------------------------- FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS 8th International Symposium on ATTENTION IN COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ISACS 2015 (associated with IROS 2015) October 2, 2015, Hamburg, Germany http://isacs2015.joanneum.at/ --------------------------------------------------- DOWNLOAD THE CALL FOR PAPERS http://isacs2015.joanneum.at/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ISACS2015-CFP-poste… ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION AT https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isacs2015 associated with the 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems http://www.iros2015.org/ IMPORTANT DATES Full paper submission: September 4, 2015 Notification of acceptance: September 10, 2015 Final paper submission: September 18, 2015 Workshop day: October 2, 2015 SCOPE The capacity to attend to relevant information has been part of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems since the early days of the discipline. Currently, with respect to the design and computational modeling of artificial cognitive systems, selective attention has again become a focus of research, gaining importance for the organization of behaviors, for control and interfacing between sensory and cognitive information processing, and for the understanding of individual and social cognition in humanoid artifacts. While visual cognition plays a central role in human perception, findings from neuroscience and cognitive psychology have informed us on the perception-action nature of cognition. In particular, the embodiment in sensory-motor intelligence requires a continuous spatio-temporal interplay between interpretations from various perceptual modalities and the corresponding control of motor activities. In addition, the process of selecting information from the incoming sensory stream, in tune with contextual processing at the task and global levels, becomes a challenging control issue within the viewpoint of focused attention. Attention systems must operate at many levels and not only at interaction of bottom-up world interpretation and top-down information selection. Selective attention can be considered as part of the core of artificial cognitive system. These insights have already resulted in paradigm changes in several AI-related disciplines, including behavior-based robotics and computational modeling of animals. In engineering, the development of enabling technologies such as autonomous robot systems, miniaturized mobile - even wearable - sensors, and ambient intelligence systems involves the real-time analysis of very large quantities of data that have to be processed in an intelligent way to provide "on time delivery" of the required relevant information. This information has to indicate what needs to be paid attention to and how to respond to the target of attention in a meaningful way. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: Techniques, modelling, and concepts - Computational architectures for attention - Modelling of visual and auditory attention - Attention in multimodal information fusion - Biologically inspired attention - Attentive control in robotic systems - Aspects of attention in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy - Attention and control of machine vision processes - Etc. Application related topics of interest - Robotic Systems - Human-robot interaction - Attentive multimodal interfaces - Autonomous intelligent systems - Video surveillance - Video and image retrieval - Usability research - Etc. SYMPOSIUM CHAIRS Lucas Paletta, Joanneum Research, Austria Simone Frintrop, University of Bonn, Germany Bilge Mutlu, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA PROGRAM COMMITTEE Ulrich Ansorge, University of Vienna, Austria Christian Balkenius, Lund University, Sweden Anna Belardinelli, University of Tübingen, Germany Ralf Engbert, University of Potsdam, Germany Dietmar Heinke, University of Birmingham, UK Eileen Kowler, Rutgers University, USA Bärbel Mertsching Univ. of Paderborn, Germany Giorgio Metta, Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy Thies Pfeiffer, University of Bielefeld, CITEC, Germany Constantin A. Rothkopf, TU Darmstadt and FIAS, Germany Björn Schuller, Imperial College, UK Jochen Triesch Frankfurt IAS, Germany Hezy Yeshurun University of Tel Aviv, Israel AUTHOR GUIDELINES Submitted papers should be in IEEE format and with length of 3-5 pages. Appropriate style files can be downloaded from http://ras.papercept.net/conferences/support/support.php . Submissions should be in PDF format. The review process will be double-blind; authors should leave the author field and the acknowledgment section blank and cite their own prior work as if they are citing a third party. Authors must indicate double submissions in the submission form. PROCEEDINGS Presentation slides will be published on the ISACS website after the symposium. Authors will also have the option of including their paper in the electronic Symposium Proceedings in arxiv.org (with DOI) until December 2015. PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS OF THE WAPCV/ISACS SERIES ISACS 2014, Bielefeld, Germany (single event)http://isacs2014.joanneum.at/ ISACS 2013, Beijing, China (IJCAI) http://isacs2013.joanneum.at/ WAPCV 2008, Santorini, Greece (ICVS) http://dib.joanneum.at/wapcv2008 WAPCV 2007, Hyderabad, India (IJCAI) http://dib.joanneum.at/wapcv2007 WAPCV 2005, San Diego, USA (CVPR) http://dib.joanneum.at/wapcv2005 WAPCV 2004, Prague, Czech Rep.(ECCV) http://dib.joanneum.at/wapcv2004 WAPCV 2003, Graz, Austria (ICVS) http://dib.joanneum.at/wapcv2003 PRESENTATIONS Regular oral presentations will be 20 minutes in total, including approximately 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for discussion. INVITED TALKS CONFIRMED TO DATE Ali Borji, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, USA Michael Zillich, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Fiora Pirri University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy Christian Balkenius Lund University, Sweden Ralf Engbert University of Potsdam, Germany Jochen Triesch Frankfurt IAS, Germany CONTACT Lucas Paletta, Joanneum Research, Austria lucas.paletta(a)joanneum.at Simone Frintrop, University of Bonn, Germany frintrop(a)cs.uni-bonn.de Bilge Mutlu, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA bilge(a)cs.wisc.edu

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1st CfP: FUTURE COMPUTING 2016 || March 20 - 24, 2016 - Rome, Italy
by Cristina Pascual Aug. 22, 2015

Aug. 22, 2015

INVITATION: ================= Please consider to contribute to and/or forward to the appropriate groups the following opportunity to submit and publish original scientific results to: - FUTURE COMPUTING 2016, The Eighth International Conference on Future Computational Technologies and Applications The submission deadline is November 3, 2015. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended article versions to one of the IARIA Journals: http://www.iariajournals.org ================= ============== FUTURE COMPUTING 2016 | Call for Papers =============== CALL FOR PAPERS, TUTORIALS, PANELS FUTURE COMPUTING 2016, The Eighth International Conference on Future Computational Technologies and Applications General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2016/FUTURECOMPUTING16.html Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2016/SubmitFUTURECOMPUTING16.html Events schedule: March 20 - 24, 2016 - Rome, Italy 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: November 3, 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 FUTURE COMPUTING 2016 Topics (for topics and submission details: see CfP on the site) Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2016/CfPFUTURECOMPUTING16.html ============================================================ Special Sessions on Memristor-based Computation and Technologies Organizers: Ronald Tetzlaff, TU-Dresden, Germany Dietmar Fey Friedrich-Alexander-Universit�t Erlangen-N�rnberg, Germany Alon Ascoli, TU-Dresden, Germany Computational intelligence strategies Cognitive computing; Intelligent computation; Ambient computing; Unconventional computing; Indeterminist computing; Adaptive computation; Autonomic computation; Computation under uncertainty; Chaotic computation; Intentional computing; Anticipative computing; Evolutionary computing Mechanism-oriented computing Spatial computation; Elastic computing; Human-centered computing; Embedded computing; Entertainment computing; Time-sensitive/temporal computing; Soft computing (fuzzy logic, neural computing, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and probabilistic reasoning + belief networks, + chaos theory + learning theory) Large-scale computing strategies Distributed computing; Parallel computing; Macro- and micro-computing; Activity-based computing; Data intensive computing; Resource-constraint computing; Grid computing; Cloud computing; Cluster computing; On-demand computing; Ubiquitous/pervasive computing; Memristor Computing; Unconventional computing; Evolutionary computing Computing technologies Quantum computing; Optical computing; DNA (genetic) computing; Molecular computing; Reversible computing; Billiard Ball computing; Neuronal computing; Magnetic computing; Gloopware computing; Moldy computing; Water wave-based computing; Graphene-based computing Technology-oriented computing Peer-to-Peer computing; Mobile computing; Sensor-based computing; Wireless computing; Trusted computing; Financial computing; Genetic computation ------------------------ FUTURE COMPUTING 2016 Committee: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2016/ComFUTURECOMPUTING16.html ========================

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Postdoctoral positions in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience at Yale
by McCormick, David Aug. 21, 2015

Aug. 21, 2015

POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONs in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience The Swartz Center in Theoretical Neurobiology at Yale University invites applications for two postdoctoral positions in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience. We seek exceptional individuals with a quantitative background who wish to gain neuroscience research experience by collaborating directly with experimental biologists. The candidates will be expected to perform computational studies relevant to one or more laboratories of the Yale Swartz Center (http://medicine.yale.edu/neurobiology/swartz/corelabs.aspx) and will be encouraged to participate in an expanding quantitative biology environment. Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree. Please send a Curriculum Vitae, selected reprints, and a statement of research plans including the laboratories of interest. All application materials should be sent electronically to the following e-mail address: david.mccormick(a)yale.edu<mailto:david.mccormick@yale.edu>. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, but priority will be given to those received on or before September 15th 2015. Yale University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Yale values diversity in its faculty, students, and staff and especially welcomes applications from women and underrepresented minorities. David A. McCormick Professor, Neurobiology | Yale University School of Medicine Dept. Neurobiology 333 Cedar Street | New Haven, CT 06510 | 203.785.5981 www.mccormicklab.org<http://www.mccormicklab.org> | www.neurobiology.org<http://www.neurobiology.org>

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Increased Impact Factor (2014/15) and Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer Neuroscience, USA): Vol.7, No.4 / Aug 2015 Issue
by Dr Amir Hussain Aug. 21, 2015

Aug. 21, 2015

Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 7, No.4 / Aug 2015 Issue, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 ================================================================ Important News: Increased Impact Factor & Six bi-monthly Journal Issues from 2015! ================================================================ As you will know, Cognitive Computation was selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter’s products and services in 2011. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ♦ Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch®) ♦ Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ♦ Current Contents®/Engineering Computing and Technology ♦ Neuroscience Citation Index® Cognitive Computation received its first Impact Factor (IF) of 1.0 in 2011 The IF for 2014 has increased to 1.44 (Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® 2014) Many congratulations to the editors, reviewers and authors! Want to be part of the growing success? Visit the journal homepage (http:// springer.com/12559) for instructions on submitting your research. ================================= Quarterly to Bi-monthly Issues, from 2015!! ================================= Due to continuously growing number of high quality submissions, the number of Issues has increased from four (quarterly Issues) to six (bi-monthly Issues) each year, starting Feb 2015! ================================================================= The August 2015 Issue comprises an invited paper by Alessandro Vinciarelli and Anna Esposito, et al. titled: Open Challenges in Modelling, Analysis and Synthesis of Human Behaviour in Human–Human and Human–Machine Interactions. This is followed by six regular papers. The full listing of published articles (Table of Contents) for this August 2015 Issue can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/4/ <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/> A list of the journal's most downloaded articles (which can always be read for FREE) can be found here: http://www.springer .com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?hideChart=1#realtime Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted All previous Volumes and Issues of the journal can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 ============================================ Reminder: Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has over 800 members already! We warmly invite you to join us at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048 For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Marleen Moore: Marleen.Moore(a)springer.com Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to peer review all papers within approximately six-eight weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues - four are already planned for 2015-16 (including for the 7th international BICS'2015 Conference at Hefei, China, 11-13 Dec 2015, see: http://cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015 - for CFPs of other Special Issues, see: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?detailsPage=press ) With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Professor Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) Professor Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) (Imperial College, London, UK) http://www.springer.com/12559 NEW: Open Access Springer/BMC journal: Big Data Analytics ( http://www.bdataanalytics.com/) - Now accepting submissions! NEW: Springer Series on Socio-Affective Computing: http://www.springer.com/series/13199 Also consider your work for related Book Series: SpringerBriefs on Cognitive Computation: http://www.springer.com/series/10374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Alert -- Cognitive Computation Vol 7 No 4, August 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open Challenges in Modelling, Analysis and Synthesis of Human Behaviour in Human–Human and Human–Machine Interactions Alessandro Vinciarelli, Anna Esposito, Elisabeth André, Francesca Bonin, Mohamed Chetouani, Jeffrey F. Cohn, Marco Cristani, Ferdinand Fuhrmann, Elmer Gilmartin, Zakia Hammal, Dirk Heylen, Rene Kaiser, Maria Koutsombogera, Alexandros Potamianos, Steve Renals, Giuseppe Riccardi and Albert Ali Salah http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9326-z Towards Autonomous Robots Via an Incremental Clustering and Associative Learning Architecture Matthias U. Keysermann, Patrícia A. Vargas http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9311-y Visual Attention Model Based Vehicle Target Detection in Synthetic Aperture Radar Images: A Novel Approach Fei Gao, Ye Zhang, Jun Wang, Jinping Sun, Erfu Yang, Amir Hussain http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9312-x Correlation Coefficients of Hesitant Fuzzy Sets and Their Application Based on Fuzzy Measures Fanyong Meng, Xiaohong Chen http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9313-9 An Arterial Traffic Signal Control System Based on a Novel Intersections Model and Improved Hill Climbing Algorithm Fuyang Chen, Li Wang, Bin Jiang, Changyun Wen http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9314-8 Convergence Analysis of a New Self Organizing Map Based Optimization (SOMO) Algorithm Atlas Khan, Li Zheng Xue, Wu Wei, YanPeng Qu, Amir Hussain, Ricardo Z. N. Vencio http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9315-7 Concept-Level Sentiment Analysis with Dependency-Based Semantic Parsing: A Novel Approach Basant Agarwal, Soujanya Poria, Namita Mittal, Alexander Gelbukh, Amir Hussain http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9316-6 -------------------------------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: -------------------------------------------------------- All previous Volumes and Issues can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 Alternatively, the full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/1/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Rodney Douglas, Giacomo Indiveri, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/4/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.1 / Mar 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/1/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.2 / June 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.3 / Sep 2012 (Special Issue on: Computational Creativity, Intelligence and Autonomy, Edited by: J. Mark Bishop and Yasemin J. Erden) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/3/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.4 / Dec 2012 (Special Issue titled: "Cognitive & Emotional Information Processing", Edited by: Stefano Squartini, Björn Schuller and Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/4/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.1 / March 2013 Special Issue titled: Computational Intelligence and Applications Guest Editors: Zhigang Zeng & Haibo He, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.2 / June 2013 Special Issue titled: Advances on Brain Inspired Computing, Guest Editors: Stefano Squartini, Sanqing Hu & Qingshan Liu, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.3 / Sep 2013 Special Issue titled: In Memory of John G Taylor: A Polymath Scholar, Guest Editors: Vassilis Cutsuridis & Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.4 / Dec 2013, which includes regular papers (including an invited paper by Professor Ron Sun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, titled: Moral Judgment, Human Motivation, and Neural Networks), and a Special Issue titled: Advanced Cognitive Systems Based on Nonlinear Analysis. Guest Editors: Carlos M. Travieso and Jesús B. Alonso, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.1 / Mar 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.2 / June 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.3 / Sep 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.4 / Dec 2014 (Special Issue on Modeling emotion, behaviour and context in socially believable robots and ICT interfaces, Guest Editors: Anna Esposito, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Giuseppe Lugano) can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 7, No.1 / Feb 2015 can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/1/ (with the first six papers part of a Special Issue on "Neural Signal Processing", Guest Edited by: Jordi Sole´-Casals, Francois-Benoit Vialatte, Justin Dauwels. The Guest Editorial titled: "Alternative Techniques of Neural Signal Processing in Neuroengineering" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9317-0) The full listing of Vol. 7, No. 2 / April 2015, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/2/ This comprises a Special Issue on "Sentic Computing", Guest Edited by: E. Cambria and A. Hussain. The Guest Editorial titled: "Sentic Computing" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9325-0 The full listing of Vol. 7, No. 3 / June 2015, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/3/ ________________________________ -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Chaired Professors in Mathematical Psychology/Cognitive Sciences at UC Irvine
by Jeff Krichmar Aug. 21, 2015

Aug. 21, 2015

Dear Comp-Neuro colleagues, The following job posting may be of interest to many of you. ---------- University of California, Irvine Chaired Professors in Mathematical Psychology/Cognitive Sciences The Department of Cognitive Sciences (www.cogsci.uci.edu) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) invites applications for faculty positions associated with the Falmagne Endowed Chairs in Mathematical Psychology/Cognitive Sciences. Applicants should have an exemplary track record of implementing innovative mathematical approaches to important questions in psychology or cognitive science. We are especially interested in candidates at the advanced Associate or Full Professor level whose research focus is in either human cognition or visual perception, and related areas of specialization. Information about the Falmagne Endowed Chairs can be found at: http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/falmagnechairs.php. The online application includes: A cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements, 3 major publications, and contact information for 3-5 referees. Interested candidates can apply for the position at: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF03041. Application review will commence on December 1, 2015 and continue until filled. The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. ---------- Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

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CfP: ICLR 2016 - Conference Track
by Hugo Larochelle Aug. 20, 2015

Aug. 20, 2015

------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR 2016) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: http://www.iclr.cc/ Submission deadline for title and abstract: November 12th, 2015 Submission deadline for arXiv paper ID: November 19th, 2015 Location: Caribe Hilton, San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 2-4, 2016 Overview -------- It is well understood that the performance of machine learning methods is heavily dependent on the choice of data representation (or features) on which they are applied. The rapidly developing field of representation learning is concerned with questions surrounding how we can best learn meaningful and useful representations of data. We take a broad view of the field, and include in it topics such as deep learning and feature learning, metric learning, kernel learning, compositional models, non-linear structured prediction, and issues regarding non-convex optimization. Despite the importance of representation learning to machine learning and to application areas such as vision, speech, audio and NLP, there was no venue for researchers who share a common interest in this topic. The goal of ICLR has been to help fill this void. A non-exhaustive list of relevant topics: - unsupervised, semi-supervised, and supervised representation learning - metric learning and kernel learning - dimensionality expansion - sparse modeling - hierarchical models - optimization for representation learning - learning representations of outputs or states - implementation issues, parallelization, software platforms, hardware - applications in vision, audio, speech, natural language processing, robotics, neuroscience, or any other field The program will include keynote presentations from invited speakers, oral presentations, and posters. As usual, ICLR will feature two tracks: a Conference Track and a Workshop Track. However, this year, conference and workshop submissions will be reviewed separately, in two different periods. This call for paper is thus only for conference contributions. Workshop submissions will be received a few months before the conference and be subject to a lighter review. A future call for papers will be sent with more details on the Workshop Track. Also, the reviewing period for conference submissions will be separated into two short rounds (normally 2 reviews in the first round, 1 review in the second round). The first round will run as usual. The second round reviews, however, in addition to evaluating the submissions, will be required to include comments on the content of the first round reviews. By asking for such comments, we hope to ensure a minimum of discussion for every paper, and favour interactions that might either identify factual errors early or reveal a clearer consensus. Note that some of the submitted papers that are not accepted to the Conference Track will be invited to be presented under the Workshop Track. ICLR Submission Instructions ---------------------------- 1. By November 12th, authors are asked to enter in openreview.net the title, abstract and author list for their paper. 2. Then, as soon as possible, authors must post on arXiv their submission: http://arxiv.org . 3. Finally, by November 19th, authors must update their submission in openreview.net with the arXiv ID of their paper. Note that there can be up to 3 days of delay between sending a manuscript on arXiv and receiving your arXiv ID. It is thus important to post your submission on arXiv early. Note also that you can always update your submission on arXiv later on, anytime during the review process. Submissions without an arXiv ID after November 19th will be automatically removed from openreview.net. For more information on paper preparation, including style files and the URL for the openreview ICLR 2016 website, please see http://www.iclr.cc/doku.php?id=iclr2016:main Submission deadline: November 12th for title and abstract, November 19th for arXiv ID. Notes: i. Regarding the conference submission's 6-9 page limits, these are really meant as guidelines and will not be strictly enforced. For example, figures should not be shrunk to illegible size to fit within the page limit. However, in order to ensure a reasonable workload for our reviewers, papers that go beyond the 9 pages should be formatted to include a 9 page submission, with supplementary material appended at the end of the manuscript and clearly marked as an appendix, which will be optionally reviewed. ii. Paper revisions will be permitted, and in fact are encouraged, in response to comments from and discussions with the reviewers (see "An Open Reviewing Paradigm" below). An Open Reviewing Paradigm -------------------------- 1. Submissions to ICLR are posted on arXiv prior to being submitted to the conference. 2. Authors submit their paper to either the ICLR conference track or workshop track via the openreview.net ICLR 2016 website. 3. After the authors have submitted their papers via openreview.net, the ICLR program committee designates anonymous reviewers as usual. 4. The submitted reviews are published without the name of the reviewer, but with an indication that they are the designated reviews. 5. Anyone can openly (non-anonymously) write and publish comments on the paper. Anyone can ask the program chairs for permission to become an anonymous designated reviewer (open bidding). The program chairs have ultimate control over the publication of each anonymous review. Open commenters will have to use their real names. 6. Authors can post comments in response to reviews and comments. They can revise the paper as many times as they want, possibly citing some of the reviews. Reviewers are expected to revise their reviews in light of paper revisions. 7. The review calendar includes a generous amount of time for discussion between the authors, anonymous reviewers, and open commentators. The goal is to improve the quality of the final submissions. 8. The ICLR program and area chairs will consider all submitted papers, comments, and reviews and will decide which papers are to be presented in the conference track, which will be invited to be presented in the workshop track, and which will not appear at ICLR. 9. Papers that are presented in the workshop track or are not accepted will be considered non-archival, and may be submitted elsewhere (modified or not), although the ICLR site will maintain the reviews, the comments, and the links to the arXiv versions. Organizers ---------- Yoshua Bengio, Université de Montreal, General Chair Yann LeCun, New York University and Facebook, General Chair Hugo Larochelle, Twitter and Université de Sherbrooke, Senior Program Chair Brian Kingsbury, IBM Watson Group, Program Chair Samy Bengio, Google, Program Chair Contact ------- The organizers can be contacted at iclr2016.programchairs(a)gmail.com

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Postdoc position in Computational Brain Modelling at Ulster University UK
by McDaid, Liam Aug. 19, 2015

Aug. 19, 2015

Applications are invited for the post of Research Associate (RA) in Computational Brain Modelling (Ref: 1483428) based at the Intelligent Systems Research Center, Ulster University, UK. The RA post is for a 3½ year duration and is part of a collaborative project funded by EPSRC: our partners are the Department of Electronics, University of York. The RA post holder will be part of a team that aims to develop a brain-inspired self-repairing algorithm and subsequently map this self-repairing algorithm to hardware robotic controllers at the University of York. At Ulster we have previously shown that astrocyte cells interact with neurons to detect when a fault has occurred in the connections making up a network of neurons and how this interaction can oversee a repair strategy (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7001695) The RA post will work primarily on the development of a computational model that captures the interactions between neurons and astrocytes, and hence the repair process, and will interact with other team members to translate the self-repair strategy to hardware computing systems and robot controllers based at the University of York. The RA post is fixed-term based at Ulster University and runs from November 2015 until April 2019. The salary for the RA post is £26,289 - £29,568 and the closing date for applications is the 4th September 2015. Further information in relation to the post can be found on the following link: https://atsv7.wcn.co.uk/search_engine/jobs.cgi?owner=5043781&ownertype=fair… or you can contact Prof. Liam McDaid at lj.mcdaid(a)ulster.ac.uk<mailto:lj.mcdaid@ulster.ac.uk> We prefer to issue and receive applications via our on-line recruitment website at www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs<http://www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs> Hard copy applications can be obtained by telephoning 028 7012 4072 ________________________________ 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

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Phd or Post-Doc Robot Learning positions at INRIA Bordeaux
by Manuel Lopes Aug. 18, 2015

Aug. 18, 2015

To all interested, We are seeking applications for phd students (3years) and/or postdocs (2.5years) in the area of artificial intelligence and robot learning at Inria. Our interests are in developing machines that are able to learn novel skills and capable of natural and robust interaction with people. We focus our research on intelligent exploration techniques, robot learning and automatic learning of representation for artificial intelligence. One position is open to work in an international research project (with partners from Canada, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and France). The candidates will be involved in research in the areas of deep learning of action and state representations, and interactive machine learning. The candidates must have strong mathematical competences, experience in machine learning and programming proficiency (e.g. C/C++, Matlab, Python or Java). Knowledge of deep learning and/or experience with real robots is a plus. Inria is a highly reputed french national center for computer science and automation. It has more than 3000 researchers and is distributed among 8 centers. These positions are for the Flowers Team at Inria Bordeaux Sud-Ouest and will involve travelling for collaborating with the project partners. Bordeaux is a growing city with a wonderful natural landscape, a very active city life and with a booming economy. Is has a very privileged location: 3h from Paris, 2h from Toulose, 30 minutes from the sea and 2hours from the Pyreness mountains. It has very good travel connections with fast trains and international flights including low-cost companies. Interested candidates should send a detailed CV, and email addresses of three references to Manuel Lopes at manuel.lopes(a)inria.fr . Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Desired starting date is 1 of November 2015. http://flowers.inria.fr http://3rdhandrobot.eu/ http://www.inria.fr http://www.bordeaux.fr/ --------------------------------------------------------------- Manuel Lopes - Researcher flowers.inria.fr/mlopes FLOWERS team Phone: +33524574179 INRIA Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, Bat. A29 351 Cours de la Libération 33405 Talence, Cedex, France ---------------------------------------------------------------

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MSc program in Neural Systems and Computation - University of Zurich and ETH Zurich
by Michael Pfeiffer Aug. 17, 2015

Aug. 17, 2015

We are inviting applications for the MSc program in Neural Systems and Computation, an interdisciplinary program offered as a Joint Master Program by the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The program offers a theoretical and laboratory training in neural computation and systems neuroscience. It offers hands-on knowledge of data gathering, analysis and scientific presentation. Students join an international and interdisciplinary research community with expertise in neuroinformatics, advanced experimental techniques and neuromorphic engineering. Further information can be found on our homepage http://www.nsc.uzh.ch. We offer a specialized full-time Masters program open to students with a Bachelor’s degree in the following disciplines: neurosciences, information technology, electrical engineering, biology, physics, computer sciences, chemistry, mathematics, and mechanical/chemical/control engineering. The core courses (all offered in English) provide a common foundation for students with different educational backgrounds, and cover the following: 1. Systems Neurosciences 2. Neural Computation and Theoretical Neuroscience 3. Neurotechnologies and Neuromorphic Engineering The application deadline for students starting in Spring Semester 2016 is *September 15th 2015*. Details about the application process and required documents can be found here: http://www.nsc.uzh.ch/?page_id=10 Mentors of the program are Richard Hahnloser, Kevan Martin, Daniel Kiper, Giacomo Indiveri, Ruedi Stoop, Tobi Delbruck, Shih-Chii Liu, Klaas Enno Stephan, Fritjof Helmchen, Jean-Pascal Pfister, Fatih Yanik, Michael Pfeiffer, Matthew Cook, Valerio Mante, Arko Ghosh, and Wolfger von der Behrens. The program is affiliated with the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Faculty (MNF) at the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Information Technology and Electrical Engineering Department (D-ITET) of the ETH Zurich. All applications are handled by the University of Zurich. Application documents should be sent by email to nsc(a)ini.uzh.ch. Best regards, Michael Pfeiffer -- ========================================= Dr. Michael Pfeiffer Postdoc, Program coordinator NSC Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland Tel. +41 44 635 30 45 Fax +41 44 635 30 53 pfeiffer (at) ini.phys.ethz.ch http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~pfeiffer/ =========================================

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Update 1: 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence
by IEEE WCCI 2016 Aug. 17, 2015

Aug. 17, 2015

Dear Colleagues, Below please find some updated information about 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (IEEE WCCI 2016). 2016 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada 25-29 July 2016 www.wcci2016.org-------~*******~----------- Call for Special Sessions -------~*******~----------- Special session proposals are invited to the 2016 IEEE WCCI. Special session proposals should include the title, aim and scope (including a list of main topics), and the names of the organizers of the special session, together with a short biography of all organizers. A list of potential contributors will be very helpful. All special sessions proposals should be submitted to the Special Sessions Chairs. Click here to know more about provisionally accepted IEEE WCCI 2016 special sessions ( http://www.wcci2016.org/spsessions.php) -----~*******~------ Speakers -----~*******~------ World renowned computer scientist and computational theorist, Chair Professor at Harvard University, 2010 Turing Award winner, Professor Leslie Valiant will deliver a Keynote at IEEE WCCI 2016. The 2016 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award winner, Professor Ronald R. Yager (IEEE Fellow), will receive his Award and deliver a Keynote at IEEE WCCI 2016. ---------------~*******~------------------- Indexing of Conference Proceedings ---------------~*******~------------------- The IEEE WCCI conference proceedings (including previous IJCNN, FUZZ-IEEE and CEC) have been included in the IEEE Xplore and traditionally indexed by other important databases, such as Web of Knowledge ISI Thomson, SCOPUS, EI, etc. --------~****~-------- Venue Information --------~****~-------- Pinnacle Vancouver Harbourfront Hotel and Vancouver Marriot Pinnacle Downtown are the IEEE WCCI 2016 designated congress hotels. Special congress room rates are avaiable now. Make your reservations early to enjoy these special room rates (http://www.wcci2016.org/venue.php) -------~****~------- Important Dates -------~****~------- - Special Session & Workshop Proposals Deadline: 15 November 2015 - Competition & Tutorial Proposals Deadline: 15 December 2015 - *Paper Submission Deadline: 15 January 2016* - Paper Acceptance Notification Date: 15 March 2016 - Final Paper Submission & Early Registration Deadline: 15 April 2016 - IEEE WCCI 2016: 25-29 July 2016 For more information on the congress, please visit: www.wcci2016.org *Alternatively we can also be reached on the following social media platforms:* - https://www.facebook.com/WCCI2016; - https://twitter.com/wcci2016; - http://www.weibo.com/wcci2016; - http://t.qq.com/wcci2016 We look forward to welcoming you in Vancouver next year! Best wishes, KC Tan and Gary G. Yen 2016 IEEE WCCI General Co-Chairs

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High performance computing workshop at SFN 2015 Annual Meeting
by Ted Carnevale Aug. 17, 2015

Aug. 17, 2015

What: This workshop is intended for neuroscientists who are engaged in computationally intensive tasks such as large modeling projects or analysis of neuroimaging data. With support from NSF, we are developing and expanding the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG, http://www.nsgportal.org/) which eliminates most administrative and technical barriers involved in using high performance computing (HPC) resources. NSG offers free computing time and has a simple user interface so you can focus on productive research. Software currently installed includes the Freesurfer Software Suite, the Virtual Brain Empirical Data Pipeline (Schirner et al., 2015), and simulators such as Brian, MOOSE, GENESIS3, NEST, NEURON, and PyNN. This workshop will combine didactic presentations by NSG's developers, discussions with experienced users, and hands on instruction in how to use the portal. Where: Downtown Chicago, site TBA. When: 9AM - Noon on Saturday, October 17, 2015. Speakers: Amit Majumdar, Subha Sivagnanam, Padraig Gleeson, Simon Rothmeier, Ted Carnevale Registration deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015 For more information see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2015/nsg2015.html or contact Ted Carnevale [ted dot carnevale at yale dot edu] or Amit Majumdar [majumdar at sdsc dot edu] References: Schirner, M., Rothmeier, S., Jirsa, V.K., McIntosh, A.R., Ritter, P.. An automated pipeline for constructing personalized virtual brains from multimodal neuroimaging data. Neuroimage 117:343-357, 2015.

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Call for Papers: 7th International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS), 11-13 Dec 2015, Hefei, China
by Dr Amir Hussain Aug. 16, 2015

Aug. 16, 2015

BICS'2015 Call for Papers (with journal ONLY conference proceedings - see details below!) With apologies for any cross-postings, please help circulate this CFP to friends and colleagues. Thank you in advance. BICS'2015 CFP website: http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/cfp_e.html (ALL papers accepted (after a rigorous peer-review process) for presentation at the Conference will be published in the leading ISI-SCI indexed Springer journal: Cognitive Computation (http://springer.com/12559) as a multi-part Special Issue! - for more details, see the conference website, and below) Introduction to BICS'2015: The seventh 2015 International Conference on Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems (BICS 2015) will be held on December 11-13, 2015, in Hefei, Anhui, China, as a sequel of BICS 2004 - 2013. The first BICS 2004 was held in Stirling, Scotland, UK and the last BICS 2013 was held in Beijing, China, 9-13 June 2013 (http://www.conference123.org/bics2013/) The aim of BICS 2015 is to provide a high-level international forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present the state-of-the-art of brain inspired cognitive systems research and applications in diverse fields. The conference will feature plenary lectures given by world renowned scholars, regular sessions with broad coverage, and special sessions focusing on popular and timely topics. Proceedings Information: BICS 2015 will be unique in that there will be no conference proceedings. ALL accepted papers will be published (following a rigorous peer review process) in the leading ISI-SCI indexed Springer journal: Cognitive Computation (http://springer.com/12559) as a multi-part Special Issue. Conference Location The conference will be held in Anhui University in Hefei, China. Hefei, formerly known as Hofei, Luzhou, or Luchow, is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province in Eastern China. Hefei Xinqiao International Airport provides scheduled passenger service to major airports in China and international cities as well. Hefei plays an important role in scientific research in China. It has seven national laboratories, second only to Beijing. We would be delighted to welcome you to Hefei in December. For more details on the venue, including travel information, see: http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/venue_e.html Important Dates Full paper submission: 15 September 2015 First notification: 31 October 2015 Conference Dates: 11-13 December 2015 Revised/final manuscripts due: 31 December 2015 BICS'2015 Issue Publication Date: early 2016 Paper Submission: All prospective authors are invited to submit full-length papers (10-15 pages maximum) through the online Springer submission system (selecting the BICS2015 Special Issue), with a covering letter indicating the paper is being submitted for BICS'2015 (hhttp://www.editorialmanager.com/cogn/ <http://www.editorialmanager.com/cogn/>) - please indicate the relevant BICS Symposium name (see topics list on the Conference website). The submission of a paper implies that the paper is original and has not been submitted under review or copyright protected elsewhere. The authors of accepted papers will have an opportunity to revise their papers. If the paper is accepted, at least one of the authors listed on the paper (or his/her representative) must attend the conference and present the paper. On behalf of: BICS'2015 General co-Chairs: Professor Amir Hussain (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) and Professor Bin Luo (Anhui University, China) and BICS'2015 Organizing Committee ( http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/events/bics2015/committee_e.html ) For any enquiries, please email: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk or luobin(a)ahu.edu.cn -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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The Virtual Brain Node #3 Workshop - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
by Tanya Brown Aug. 14, 2015

Aug. 14, 2015

** *NODE#3* : Training Workshop Chicago, IL - SfN 2015 Conference *October 16, 2015* www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3 In this workshop we will explain the fundamental principles of full brain network modelling using the open source neuroinformatics platform *The Virtual Brain (TVB)*. This simulation environment enables the biologically realistic modelling of network dynamics using Connectome-based approaches across different brain scales. Configurable brain network models generate macroscopic neuroimaging signals including functional MRI (fMRI), intracranial and stereotactic EEG, surface EEG and MEG for single subjects. Researchers from different backgrounds can benefit from an integrative software platform including a supporting framework for data management (generation, organization, storage, integration and sharing) and a simulation core written in Python. The architecture of TVB supports interaction with MATLAB packages, for example, the well-known Brain Connectivity Toolbox. *Workshop Goals:* to create a conceptual and technical understanding of the various network modelling approaches in TVB; familiarization with TVB graphical user interface, Python and Matlab programming environment and data formats. *Workshop Format: * lectures and hands-on tutorials - *space is limited** ================================================================== *For more details and registration, please visit our website <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/>: * *http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3 <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/node3>* ================================================================== *Important Dates:* - August 10, 2015 – Registration Open - *space is limited** - October 9, 2015 – Registration Closed - October 16, 2015 – TVB NODE#2 Training Workshop *Location:* Hyatt Regency Chicago Downtown Hotel <http://chicagoregency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html> 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, IL, 60601, USA *Note: This is a Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2015 conference official satellite event.* With our best regards, *The TVB Team <http://www.thevirtualbrain.org/tvb/zwei/team>* -- *Tanya Brown* Program Manager - The Virtual Brain Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest 416-785-2500 x 2782 tbrown(a)research.baycrest.org

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Deep Learning and Continuous Time Computing - Track at SAC 2016 - Second CFP
by Davide Zambrano Aug. 14, 2015

Aug. 14, 2015

Dear all, This is a Second Call for Paper to join our track at SAC 2016. The deadline for the submission of papers and SRC research abstract is September 11, 2015. Apologies for cross posting. Best regards. ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) 2016 The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing in Pisa, Italy, April 3 – 8, 2016. (webpage : http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/ <http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/>) Deep Learning and Continuous-Time Computing (webpage : http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/ <http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/>) Topics of interests: Deep learning Continuous-time learning Spiking Neural Networks Asynchronous computation Large scale parallel simulations and computing Neuromorphic computing Important Dates are published on the Conference <http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/>or Track <http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/>webpages. Track Program Committee: Sander Bohte, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to s.m.bohte(a)cwi.nl <mailto:s.m.bohte@cwi.nl> ) Davide Zambrano, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to d.zambrano(a)cwi.nl <mailto:d.zambrano@cwi.nl> ) Thomas Nowotny, University of Sussex (UK) Stephen Furber, University of Manchester (UK) Karl Tuyls, University of Liverpool (UK) Shih-Chii Liu, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich (CH) Robert Babuska, Delft University of Technology (NL) Andre Gruning, University of Surrey (UK) Max Welling, University of Amsterdam (NL) Narayan Srinavasa, HRL Laboratories LLC (USA) Eleni Vasilaki, University of Sheffield (UK) Giacomo Indiveri, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich, (CH) Important notice: Paper registration is required, allowing the inclusion of the paper, poster, or SRC abstract in the conference proceedings. An author or a proxy attending SAC MUST present the paper. This is a requirement for including the work in the ACM/IEEE digital library. No-show of registered papers, posters, and SRC abstracts will result in excluding them from the ACM/IEEE digital library. Dr. Davide Zambrano PostDoc at CWI, Amsterdam (NL) MSc in Biomedical Eng. - PhD in Biorobotics D.Zambrano(a)cwi.nl Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) Science Park, 123 1098 XG - Amsterdam

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Reminder: Call for Papers: "Intelligent Music Systems and Applications" (Special Issue of the ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology)
by perfe Aug. 14, 2015

Aug. 14, 2015

Please re-distribute (and accept our apologies for any cross-posting) We are happy to announce the following call for papers: =========================================================== ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology Special Issue on Intelligent Music Systems and Applications http://www.cp.jku.at/journals/tist_imsa_2015_cfp.html =========================================================== With the advent of music information retrieval (MIR), intelligent technologies have become an essential part of music systems and applications. This is evidenced by today’s omnipresence of digital online music stores and streaming services, which rely on music recommenders, automatic playlist generators, and music browsing interfaces. A large amount of MIR research leading to intelligent music applications deals with the extraction of musical and acoustic information directly from the audio signal using signal processing techniques. Other strategies exploit contextual aspects of music, not present in the signal, for example, community meta-data and trails of user interaction, as found, for instance, on social media platforms. Recently, also user-centric aspects are being considered, such as affect, personality, and user context. Intelligent music systems have also been developed as music creation tools, in which case the modeling of a composer's preferences or of genre/stylistic features are required. Topics of interest ------------------ This special issue addresses all aspects of music information, i.e., music content, context, and user aspects. Highest quality research that has not been published, nor is under review elsewhere, targeting one or more of the following topics in the context of intelligent music systems and applications is welcome: • Music Information Systems • Music Recommendation and Playlist Generation • Intelligent Music and Audio Browsing Interfaces • Games Based on Intelligent Music Analysis • Automatic Accompaniment or Real-time Tracking of Performances • Music Synthesis • Automatic Composition • Automatic Lyrics Generation • MIR in the Music Production Domain • Semantic Content Analysis, Knowledge Extraction, and Music Indexing • Collaborative Tags, Social Media Mining, Network Analysis • User Modeling and Personalized Music Systems • Personality, Emotion, and Affect • Hybrid Systems using Content and Context • Multimedia Approaches to MIR and Cross-media Recommendation • Large-Scale Music Retrieval • Evaluation, Mining of Ground Truth, and Data Collections Schedule -------- Paper Submission Deadline September 27, 2015 Notification after First Review Cycle December 20, 2015 Paper Revisions Deadline February 21, 2016 Final Notification April 24, 2016 Submission of Camera Ready Paper May 22, 2016 Manuscript submission --------------------- Please submit your manuscript through the ACM TIST submission system at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tist (select "Special Issue: Intelligent Music Systems and Applications" as the manuscript type). Submissions must adhere to the ACM TIST instructions and guidelines for authors available at http://tist.acm.org/authors.html. Guest editors ------------- Markus Schedl Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria Yi-Hsuan Yang Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Perfecto Herrera Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Contact ------- If you have any further questions, please contact us via e-mail: Markus Schedl (markus.schedl(a)jku.at) Yi-Hsuan Yang (yang(a)citi.sinica.edu.tw) and Perfecto Herrera (perfecto.herrera(a)upf.edu)

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Postdoc job: Connectivity analysis in Brisbane, University of Queensland
by Ross Cunnington Aug. 14, 2015

Aug. 14, 2015

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Applications are invited for a position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute (www.qbi.uq.edu.au) and Science of Learning Research Centre (www.slrc.org.au) Brisbane Australia. Research will involve modelling of connectivity using graph theoretical analysis, applied to physiological data recorded from students in school classrooms. This is a large and unique collaboration between neuroscience and education, bringing brain connectivity modelling methods to examine inter-person connectivity in school classrooms. Applicants must have a PhD in cognitive or computational neuroscience or a related area and strong research experience in connectivity data modelling. This position would suit someone with experience in brain connectivity analysis looking to further develop techniques to apply in novel ways. See more details at: http://jobs.uq.edu.au/caw/en/job/497744/postdoctoral-research-fellow CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 28 AUGUST -+- A/Prof Ross Cunnington, Principal Research Fellow School of Psychology & Queensland Brain Institute University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Phone: +61 7 3346 6330

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desperately seeking neural data scientists
by Liam Paninski Aug. 12, 2015

Aug. 12, 2015

Hi all (apologies for the cross-post) - we have multiple postdoctoral positions open in statistical neuroscience and machine learning. Full details here: http://grossmancenter.columbia.edu/postdoc.html, and copied below. Please share with anyone who might be interested. L Postdoctoral positions in statistical neuroscience and machine learning Multiple postdoctoral positions are available immediately in Columbia University's Grossman Center for the Statistics of the Mind, a new center focusing on the intersection of neuroscience, machine learning, and statistics. The Grossman Center bridges Columbia's Statistics and Neuroscience departments, and is closely integrated with the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. The Grossman Center is part of Columbia's larger, growing initiatives in neuroscience and data sciences, all located in New York City. The principal appointments will be in the Statistics department, in the research groups of Liam Paninski and/or John Cunningham, with ample opportunities for interaction with an exceptional group of experimental and theoretical collaborators, including M. Churchland, L. Abbott, D. Blei, R. Yuste, R. Bruno, T. Jessell, K. Miller, E. Hillman, E.J. Chichilnisky, E. Simoncelli, K. Shenoy, M. Ahrens, and more. Requirements: Qualifications include primarily a strong research portfolio in computational neuroscience, statistical neuroscience, machine learning, or a related field. Backgrounds in analyzing large neural datasets, modeling complex neural systems, and cutting-edge machine learning will be particularly valuable. These positions are highly quantitative and highly interdisciplinary; applicants should have a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Statistics, Machine Learning, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or Computational Neuroscience. Appointment: The initial appointments will be for one year, and are renewable. Salaries will be set based on experience and skills. Applicants should send email to "grossman at stat dot columbia dot edu" providing: 1. a one-page description of past research experience 2. a one-page description of future research interests and goals 3. a resume of educational and research experience, including publications 4. names of at least two people that could provide letters of reference All materials should be in pdf or plain text. Applications will be reviewed as they arrive until the positions are filled; interested candidates are encouraged to express their interest early. Due to demand, we may not be able to reply to all applications.

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PhD scholarships in Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health
by Marc de Kamps Aug. 11, 2015

Aug. 11, 2015

PhD scholarships in Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health School of Computing, University of Leeds, UK Closing date for applications: 30 August 2015 The School of Computing, at the University of Leeds, ranked in the top 10 for research impact in the UK Research Excellence Framework REF2014, is offering up to five fully funded UK/EU PhD scholarships. This is an exciting opportunity for prospective UK/EU PhD students to engage in world class research from theoretical foundations of computer science through to highly applied computational modelling and systems engineering. Each scholarship covers fees, stipend and research training support. The scholarships are fully supported by School and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Science Research Council); however, requests for part-funding will also be considered where the balance is covered from elsewhere. We welcome applications within the research theme of Applied Computing in Biology, Medicine and Health: Our cross-disciplinary and highly collaborative research involves expertise spanning computer vision, data mining and visual analytics methods for Big Data, scientific computation, secure systems architectures, computational biology/neuroscience and bio-robotics. Topics include: Computational Neuroscience: development of cutting edge neuro-informatics frameworks; modelling dynamics of neural circuits and systems as part of the Human Brain Project; modelling adaptive sensory-motor control and biomechanics of animal behaviour; bio-robotic applications; Computational and Systems Biology: in-silico modelling of biological systems, from molecular and cellular dynamics to whole tissues, within basic biomedical research and as a pre-screening tool to accelerate the development of novel therapeutic products; Biomedical Image Analysis: development of novel image analysis techniques for computer assisted diagnosis, bio-mechanical modelling and surgical planning and training. Medical and Health Informatics: advanced process, text and data mining and novel visualization tools for analysing electronic health records, in the new £15m Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA). How to apply: Formal applications for research degree study should be made on-line through www.leeds.ac.uk/info/125187/applying_for_research_degrees Please state clearly on the funding section of the application form that you wish to be considered for scholarship 'PhD scholarship Computing (FAO Dr Raymond Kwan)'. Additional information: If English is not your first language, then candidates must also meet the University's English language requirements. Academic requirement: UK 2.1 Bachelor (or equivalent) and/or MSc with merit Web: http://www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/computing/

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Final Call for Goettingen's Advanced Computational Neuroscience Summer School
by Agostina Palmigiano Aug. 10, 2015

Aug. 10, 2015

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Applications are invited for the Advanced COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE Summer School in Göttingen, Germany September 02th - 12th, 2015 Application Deadline* August 17, 2015* %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The aCNS School is a 10-day intensive course in mathematical and computational neuroscience. It offers students working in computational neuroscience and already familiar with its interdisciplinary nature, an intensive pedagogy of advanced theoretical and computational tools, designed to qualify young researchers to push the frontiers of the field. The course counts with and introductory day + 4 two-day blocks in charge of the following researchers: * Yoram Burak, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel * Maneesh Sahani, Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL, Longon, England * Sara Solla, Nothwestern University, Chicago, USA * John Hertz, Niels Bohr Institute, Stockholm, Sweden * Moritz Helmstaedter, MPI for Brain research, Frankfurt, Germany The consecutive two day thematic blocks are dedicated to theoretical perspectives on neural assemblies. Each lecturer will give a self-contained introduction to a particular set of theoretical tools in a block of two morning lectures. In the afternoon, participants will work on problem sets designed to develop proficiency in these theoretical tools and approaches. An additional set of evening ‘easy’ lectures will give the opportunity to discuss significant advances in the field. These are held by: * David Hansel, University Paris Descartes, France * Walter Stühmer, MPI for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen, Germany * Alexander Gail, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany The course takes place at the Department of Nonlinear Dynamics of the Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen. There is no registration fee. Course language is English. We invite applicants to apply by filling out the application form at: http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events/cns-course <http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/events/cns-course> by *August 17, 2015* Organizers: Rainer Engelken, Joscha Liedtke, Agostina Palmigiano, Maximilian Puelma Touzel, Manuel Schottdorf Looking forward to seeing you in Göttingen, Agostina Palmigiano ___________________________ Agostina Palmigiano Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Am Fassber 17, 37077 Goettingen +49 551 5176 421 office +49 163 882 6689 mobile http://www.nld.ds.mpg.de/ <http://www.nld.ds.mpg.de/> ___________________________

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Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans
by Jeff Krichmar Aug. 10, 2015

Aug. 10, 2015

Dear Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to our recent publication on a model of Parietal Cortex and a methodology to construct neurobiologically plausible architectures. I think it might be of interest to many of you. Asher, D.E., Oros, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2015). The Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans. PLoS ONE 10, e0134669. http://www.plosone.org/article/citationList.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F… Substantial evidence has highlighted the significant role of associative brain areas, such as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in transforming multimodal sensory information into motor plans. However, little is known about how different sensory information, which can have different delays or be absent, combines to produce a motor plan, such as executing a reaching movement. To address these issues, we constructed four biologically plausible network architectures to simulate PPC: 1) feedforward from sensory input to the PPC to a motor output area, 2) feedforward with the addition of an efference copy from the motor area, 3) feedforward with the addition of lateral or recurrent connectivity across PPC neurons, and 4) feedforward plus efference copy, and lateral connections. Using an evolutionary strategy, the connectivity of these network architectures was evolved to execute visually guided movements, where the target stimulus provided visual input for the entirety of each trial. The models were then tested on a memory guided motor task, where the visual target disappeared after a short duration. Sensory input to the neural networks had sensory delays consistent with results from monkey studies. We found that lateral connections within the PPC resulted in smoother movements and were necessary for accurate movements in the absence of visual input. The addition of lateral connections resulted in velocity profiles consistent with those observed in human and non-human primate visually guided studies of reaching, and allowed for smooth, rapid, and accurate movements under all conditions. In contrast, Feedforward or Feedback architectures were insufficient to overcome these challenges. Our results suggest that intrinsic lateral connections are critical for executing accurate, smooth motor plans. Best regards, Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

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Postdoc position in machine vision – Serre lab, Brown University (Providence, RI)
by Thomas Serre Aug. 10, 2015

Aug. 10, 2015

The computational vision research group, headed by Dr. Thomas Serre at Brown University, has an opening for a postdoctoral fellow to work on the automated analysis of behavior. In particular, we are looking for a computer scientist interested in the development of computer vision algorithms to automate the video analysis of behavioral data with a range of applications from the study of bird cognition in the wild to rodents in their home cage to people in their homes. Candidates are expected to have a solid background in modern computer vision and machine learning methods. An interest in biology and applications of computer vision to the biological sciences would also be a strong plus but this is not a requirement for the position. 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. Representative recent work related to the project: H. Jhuang, E. Garrote, X. Yu, V. Khilnani, T. Poggio and A. Steele and T. Serre. Automated home-cage behavioral phenotyping of mice. In: Nature Communications 1(1), doi:10.1038/ncomms1064, 2010 H. Kuehne, A. Arlsan & T. Serre. The language of actions: Recovering the syntax and semantics of goal-directed human activities. In: Proceedings of 2014 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2014), IEEE Computer Society Press, Columbus, Ohio, 2014 Research group: Our research group is 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 group has 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. Requirements: Applicants are expected to have finished, or be about to finish their Ph.D. degrees. They must have a strong background in computer vision and/or machine learning, with a track record of relevant publications at top venues (such as NIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ICML or ECCV). Excellent programming skills are required (C/C++/Matlab/Python). Programming experience in CUDA and/or parallel computing would be a strong plus. Application: Please send your applications by email to thomas_serre(a)correct_university_name.edu where correct_university_name should be replaced by ‘brown'. Please include a brief statement of interests, a curriculum vita, a list of publications 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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2nd announcement: Summerschool "Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing", 14th to 18th of Sept. 2015, Aachen Germany
by Kröger, Bernd Joachim Aug. 10, 2015

Aug. 10, 2015

Summerschool: Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing 14th to 18th September 2015 Topic: Constructing a Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing Date: 14th to 18th of September 2015 Location: RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany Costs: Accommodation at RWTH Aachen University Guest House or A&O-Hostel or other hotel in Aachen city: round about 80€ (Single or Double) per day; Food round about 30€ per day. Workshop is free. Accommodation and food will be arranged by Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu. Please contact bkroeger(a)ukaachen.de Next airport to Aachen, Germany: Duesseldorf International Airport, Germany Planned schedule: 1st day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>): Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Production including learning szenarios occurring in speech acquisition. Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca<http://www.nengo.ca> or Neural Processing Toolboxes of your choice 2nd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>: Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Perception and Comprehension Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and Computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca<http://www.nengo.ca> or Neural Processing Toolboxes of your choice 3rd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>): Introduction to a physiological and acoustic model of speech production ( www.VocalTractLab.de<http://www.VocalTractLab.de> ) Afternoon 2-5pm: How to integrate VocalTractLab into an Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing 4th and 5th day: 9am-5pm: Programming exercises and introduction to available speech data bases Please contact: Prof. Dr. Bernd J. Kröger Department of Phoniatrics, Pedaudiology, and Communication Disorders Medical School, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany Email: bernd.kroeger(a)rwth-aachen.de Homepage: www.speechtrainer.eu<http://www.speechtrainer.eu>

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Call for posters/registration: Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition in the City of Lights, Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2015 @ Paris, France
by Mehdi Khamassi Aug. 7, 2015

Aug. 7, 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 Third Quadrennial Meeting on Orbitofrontal Cortex Function, entitled "Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition in the City of Lights", which will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th – Oct 2nd 2015. Online registration is now open at http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr The deadline for poster submission is: July, 31st. The deadline for registration is: August 31st. Registration fees (250 euros) also include the social event. Please circulate widely and encourage your colleagues and team members to attend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX AND COGNITION IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS (OFC 2015) Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015, Paris, France Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Hôpital La Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France. & Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESENTATION: The Third Quadrennial Meeting on Orbitofrontal Cortex Function which will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th – Oct 2nd 2015 at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France. The objective of this three day meeting is to bring together researchers with a deep interest in the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in supporting cognition (behavior, learning, decision-making) across species. The meeting is the third, following up on similar meetings in 2007 and 2011. As such, it is intended to focus specifically on new ideas and research that has influenced the field over the past 4 years and that appear likely to lead the way into the next 4 years. The meeting consists of both invited talks and poster sessions. The invited talks are loosely organized into six different sessions that are titled to reflect the various stages of processing underlying cognition. Talks will be relatively short with ample time for questions and discussion after each talk and sub-group of talks. Poster sessions will be interspersed to allow participants to interact and present their own unique findings of relevance to advancing our understanding of this fascinating brain region. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Tim Behrens (Oxford University, UK) Yogita Chudasama (McGill University, Canada) Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University, USA) Lesley Fellows (McGill University, Canada) Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Shannon Gourley (Emory University, USA) Christina Gremel (UCSD, USA) Ben Hayden (University of Rochester, USA) Patricia Janak (John Hopkins, USA) Thorsten Kahnt (Northwestern University, USA) Daeyeol Lee (Yale University, USA) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Yael Niv (Princeton University, USA) John O'Doherty (Caltech, USA) Camillo Padoa-Schioppa (Washington Univ. St Louis, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM-ICM, France) Angela Roberts (Cambridge University, UK) Peter Rudebeck (Mount Sinai School, USA) Matthew Rushworth (Oxford University, UK) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) Wolfram Schultz (Cambridge University, UK) Matthew Shapiro (Mount Sinai School, USA) Philippe Tobler (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Jonathan Wallis (University of California at Berkeley, USA) Catharine Winstanley (University of British Columbia, Canada) IMPORTANT DATES: July 31, 2015 Deadline for Poster Submission August 31, 2015 Deadline for Registration Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015 Symposium Venue ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS / UPMC, Paris, France) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM / ICM, France) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) CONTACT INFORMATION : Website, registration, poster submission and detailed program: http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr Contact: ofc2015 [ at ] isir.upmc.fr / ofc2015-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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Starlab is looking for a Neuroscience Data Scientist
by Aureli Soria-Frisch Aug. 7, 2015

Aug. 7, 2015

Starlab Barcelona is hiring! We are looking for a Data Scientist to help us achieve novel and challenging milestones. Starlab, a private R&D company based in Barcelona (Spain) and Oxford (UK), is looking for an exceptional data scientist with a very hands-on attitude to join our neuroscience team. The successful candidate will work at the forefront of neuroscience research with a focus on real-world applications in close contact with our sister company Neuroelectrics, a world leader in wireless neuromonitoring and neuromodulation technologies. See more at: http://www.starlab.es/js-2015-07-neuroscience-data-scientist/ ________________________________________ Aureli Soria-Frisch (Dr.-Ing.) R&D Manager Neuroscience Research - Starlab Consulting Division Barcelona Offices: Av. Tibidabo, 47 bis - 08035 Barcelona - Spain tel. +34 93 254 03 70, +34 93 254 03 66, Ext -39 United Kingdom Offices: Building R103 - Room 1-11 - Harwell Oxford - Didcot OX11 0QX - UK tel. +44 1865589777 skype aureli.soria-frisch e-mail aureli.soria-frisch(a)starlab.es linkedin es.linkedin.com/pub/aureli-soria-frisch/6/b93/294/ ________________________________________ Starlab, Living Science http://starlab.es Click here to read our e-mail confidentiality and data protection policy

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Workshop on parallel computing resource for modeling and brain image analysis
by Ted Carnevale Aug. 4, 2015

Aug. 4, 2015

What: Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulations A Satellite Symposium at the 2015 Society for Neuroscience Meeting Where: Lodation to be announced in downtown Chicago, IL When: 9 AM - Noon on Saturday, October 17, 2014 Speakers to include: Amit Majumdar, Subha Sivagnanam, and Padraig Gleeson Registration deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015 This workshop is for neuroscientists who need to use parallel supercomputers for large modeling projects, or analysis and visualization of brain imaging data. With support from NSF, we have been developing the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) http://www.nsgportal.org/, which * provides free CPU time on NSF-supported high performance computing resources * has a browser-based interface that simplifies the tasks of uploading models, specifying job parameters, monitoring job status, and storing and retrieving output data * already has many widely-used simulatiors optimally installed and configured, including NEST, Pynn, Brian, GENESIS3, NEURON and MOOSE. Also available is the FreeSurfer suite of tools for analyzing and visualizing structural and functional brain imaging data. The workshop will combine didactic presentations by NSG's developers, discussions with experienced users, and hands on instruction in how to use the portal. Come find out how the NSG can be useful in your own research! For more information and the online registration form see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2014/nsg2014.html --Ted

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Book: Bayes' Rule With MatLab
by James Stone Aug. 4, 2015

Aug. 4, 2015

I'd like to announce the publication of this book: Bayes' Rule With MatLab A Tutorial Introduction to Bayesian Analysis by JV Stone Reviews, synopsis, and table of contents can be found here: http://jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/BookBayes2012/BayesRuleBookMain.html regards, Dr Jim Stone University of Sheffield, UK. http://jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/BookBayes2012/books_by_jv_stone/index.html

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Job Posting: Research Engineer or Scientist in Machine Learning
by Behnood Gholami Aug. 4, 2015

Aug. 4, 2015

*Research Engineer/Scientist, Machine Learning* *AreteX Engineering – New York, NY* AreteX Engineering, a medical technology startup company accelerating the use of information technology in healthcare, has an immediate opening for a Research Engineer/Scientist in its office located in New York City, SoHo district. AreteX is a former resident of the Harvard Innovation Lab (ilab) and a current resident of the NYU Incubator. The company has received grants from the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. The position involves developing machine learning algorithms for innovative biomedical technologies involving physiological signal processing and big data. We are looking for a self-motivated, highly talented individual with an excellent background in machine learning (statistical learning theory). The successful candidate will work closely with a team of physicians, nurses, engineers, and scientists in designing new clinical decision support systems. Candidates with experience in the analysis of experimental data derived from---but not limited to---auditory/visual/cross-sensory psychophysical, EEG, ECG, and galvanic-skin conductance, data would be given a higher priority. *Minimum Requirements:* - MS or PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, applied mathematics, or a similar discipline. - Expertise and innovation in methods, theory, and application of machine learning and data mining with a broad understanding of methodological approaches and proficiency in practice. - Expert abilities to work with new data sets regardless of prior exposure to current topic. - Strong interest in research and learning new technologies. - Proficient at writing technical papers/reports/presentations. - Experience with Python. - Familiarity with large data sets, cloud-based development and deployment, open source practices and frameworks is a plus. - Applicants must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or U.S. permanent residents. *Responsibilities* - Collaborate with a team of machine learning, control engineering, and signal processing researchers. - Provide technical expertise to address supervised and unsupervised learning problems in an applied research environment. - Develop and deploy modern machine learning and statistical methods (CART and Random Forests, deep learning, clustering and classification algorithms, Bayesian models, neural networks, support vector machines, and probabilistic graphical models) for finding patterns and models from physiological data. *Preferred Qualifications:* - Prior expertise and exposure using non-invasive human physiological measures such as EEG, ECG, galvanic-skin conductance, or other categorically similar methodologies. - Prior experience in feature extraction from physiological signals. - Experience working with quantitative methods of neural data analysis. - Experience with speech, audio, or video technologies. Send your cover letter and CV to info(a)aretexeng.com. -- -- Behnood Gholami, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer AreteX Engineering 137 Varick St., 2nd Floor New York, NY 10013 Phone: (347) 774-1617

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The KARA ONE Database: Phonological Categories in imagined and articulated speech
by frank Aug. 3, 2015

Aug. 3, 2015

We are making 24 GB of a new dataset, called Kara One, freely available. This database combines 3 modalities (EEG, face tracking, and audio) during imagined and articulated speech using phonologically-relevant phonemic and single-word prompts. It is the result of a collaboration between the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (in the University Health Network) and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. In the associated paper (abstract below), we show how to accurately classify imagined phonological categories solely from EEG data. Specifically, we obtain up to 90% accuracy in classifying imagined consonants from imagined vowels and up to 95% accuracy in classifying stimulus from active imagination states using advanced deep-belief networks. Data from 14 participants are available here: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~complingweb/data/karaOne/karaOne.html [1]. If you have any questions, please contact Frank Rudzicz at frank(a)cs.toronto.edu. Best regards, Frank PAPER Shunan Zhao and Frank Rudzicz (2015) Classifying phonological categories in imagined and articulated speech. _In Proceedings of ICASSP 2015_, Brisbane Australia ABSTRACT This paper presents a new dataset combining 3 modalities (EEG, facial, and audio) during imagined and vocalized phonemic and single-word prompts. We pre-process the EEG data, compute features for all 3 modalities, and perform binary classiﬁcation of phonological categories using a combination of these modalities. For example, a deep-belief network obtains accuracies over 90% on identifying consonants, which is signiﬁcantly more accurate than two baseline support vector machines. We also classify between the different states (resting, stimuli, active thinking) of the recording, achieving accuracies of 95%. These data may be used to learn multimodal relationships, and to develop silent-speech and brain-computer interfaces. Links: ------ [1] http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~complingweb/data/karaOne/karaOne.html

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PhD Studentships – Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), Plymouth University, UK
by Roman Borisyuk Aug. 3, 2015

Aug. 3, 2015

PhD Studentships – Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), Plymouth University, UK Following on the exceptional performance of Plymouth University in the UK Research Excellence Framework 2014, the university is now advertising the availability of 50 PhD studentships for study commencing in 2015/16. Of these studentships, at least two will be allocated to research projects and supervisors of the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The first studentship can cover any topic within the CRNS research areas: * Cognitive and Humanoid Robotics * Computational Neuroscience * Artificial Intelligence The second studentship will focus on Autonomous Systems, possibly with relevance to unmanned marine systems, and will be in collaboration with the School of Marine Science and Engineering: For more details on the CRNS research projects, interests and supervisors, see: https://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/research/crns/Pages/default.aspx For general information on the studentships and application procedure, see: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/your-studies/the-graduate-school/fu… We recommend that in the application form and cover letter you specify a research topic and preferred supervisor. You are also encouraged to contact the individual supervisors before applying, for informal discussion. The application deadline is 15 September 2015 Roman Borisyuk, DSc, PhD Professor of Computational Neuroscience School of Computing and Mathematics University of Plymouth A224, Portland Sq Plymouth, PL4 8AA UK Phone: +44 (0) 1752 584949 E-mail: RBorisyuk(a)plymouth.ac.uk<mailto:RBorisyuk@plymouth.ac.uk> ________________________________ [http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/images/email_footer.gif]<http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/worldclass> This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the recipient to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient then copying, distribution or other use of the information contained is strictly prohibited and you should not rely on it. If you have received this email in error please let the sender know immediately and delete it from your system(s). Internet emails are not necessarily secure. While we take every care, Plymouth University accepts no responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan emails and their attachments. Plymouth University does not accept responsibility for any changes made after it was sent. Nothing in this email or its attachments constitutes an order for goods or services unless accompanied by an official order form.

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Call for participation NEUROMOD'2015, Neurotechnix'2015, 16-17 November, Lisbon
by Jaime Ibánez Pereda Aug. 2, 2015

Aug. 2, 2015

(Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this call) ******************************************************************************************* Dear colleagues, We are pleased to invite you to participate in the upcoming “Symposium on Neuromodulation-based Approaches for Neural Rehabilitation - NEUROMOD 2015”, to be held on November 16-17, at the Neurotechnix 2015 conference, in Lisbon. NEUROMOD website: http://www.neurotechnix.org/neuromod.aspx IMPORTANT DATES: Paper Submission: September 10, 2015 Authors Notification: September 25, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: October 6, 2015 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DESCRIPTION Neuromodulation is a rapidly-growing field, encompassing the application of targeted electrical/chemical/biological stimuli to the nervous system in order to improve function and quality of life. At present, an increasing number of implantable and non-invasive techniques are being proposed and made available to the clinicians, to stimulate CNS plasticity and foster recovery from motor, neurological and psychiatric disorders. Advancing in the field of neuromodulation represents challenges to build accurate neurophysiological models, understanding mechanisms of neuromodulation at cellular and systems levels, defining optimal engineering methodologies, and developing clinical application to treat patients. This session provides an opportunity for researchers/engineers/clinicians to present and discuss novel neurorehabilitation paradigms based on neuromodulation targeted at the spinal and/or supraspinal level. Top quality papers at NEUROMOD will be eligible for inclusion in the post-congress IOP journal of best papers or even for the best-paper award to be presented at the main congress, NEUROTECHNIX. This special session/symposium is part of the International Congress on Neurotechnology, Electronics and Informatics (NEUROTECHNIX - http://www.neurotechnix.org/) which is sponsored by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information and Control and Communication (INSTICC) and held in Cooperation with the Associacao Portuguesa de EEG e Neurofisiologia ClÌnica (APEEGNC), Neurotech Network, International Neural Network Society (INNS), Nansen Neuroscience Network, World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation (WFNR), Sociedade Portuguesa de Neurologia (SPN), International Neuromodulation Society (INS), International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN) and International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). All accepted Extended Abstracts will be published in the Book of Abstracts of the congress and on CD-ROM support, without ISBN. All accepted Complete Papers (full and short) will be published in the Congress Proceedings, under an ISBN reference, on paper and on CD-ROM support. All papers presented at the congress venue will also be available at the SCITEPRESS Digital Library. SCITEPRESS is a member of CrossRef and every paper is given a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). The Congress Proceedings will be submitted to appropriate indexes for indexation. A short list of presented papers will be selected so that revised and extended versions of these papers may be published by IOP Publishing on Journal of Neural Engineering. With this workshop we would like to bring together different researchers already active in the development of new neuromodulation techniques and protocols, with the goal of identifying the optimal developments and assessment strategies to be targeted in future studies and applications. Please check further details at the Special Session website available at: http://www.neurotechnix.org/neuromod.aspx Should you have any question or suggestions please don't hesitate to contact us. CO-CHAIRS: Stefano Piazza, Neural Rehabilitation Group, CSIC, Spain Jaime Ibanez, Neural Rehabilitation Group, CSIC, Spain Julian Taylor, HNP Toledo, Spain and Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research, United Kingdom

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[publication and call for dialog] IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development, Spring 2015
by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer July 31, 2015

July 31, 2015

Dear colleagues, I am happy to announce the release of the latest issue of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development (open access). This is the biannual newsletter of the computational developmental sciences and developmental robotics community, studying mechanisms of lifelong learning and development in machines and humans. It is available at: https://flowers.inria.fr/AMDNL-V12-N1.pdf Featuring dialog: === “Will social robots need to be consciously aware?” === Dialog Initiated by Janet Wiles, with responses from Axel Cleeremans, Yasuko Kitano, Cornelius Weber and Stefan Wermter, Justin Hart and Brian Scassellati, Juyang Weng, Guy Hoffman and Moran Cerf. Several dimensions of the question stand out. First, as we are very far from understanding what “consciousness” is, it appears that building robots capable of various forms of self- and other- awareness, and importantly how they can develop progressively these capabilities, can be very useful in the quest to unveil the underlying mechanisms. Second, as consciousness is a multiscale complex systems, multiple approaches and perspectives need to be taken in this process of robot building. Third, when one looks at applications, it is the function, and not the nature, of consciousness which becomes the relevant angle of analysis, and several ethical questions arise. Call for new dialog: === "Representational redescription: the next challenge?" === New dialog initiated by Stéphane Doncieux It has long been known in AI that having a good representation is key for machines to solve complex problems. However, so far good representations have been pre-programmed by engineers. What technical approaches could we imagine to allow machines to select, and even more important to find, new spaces of representations? Are techniques like deep learning general enough for realising such a challenge for lifelong learning robots? Do we need other approaches such as Darwinian mechanisms operating in the brain, like in neural Darwinism? Those of you interested in reacting to this dialogue initiation are welcome to submit a response by October 30th, 2015. length of each response must be between 600 and 800 words including references (contact pierre-yves.oudeyer(a)inria.fr) You will also find news about the latest activities of the AMD Technical Committee and the ICDL-Epirob 2015 conference, and a call for candidates to become the new editor of the newsletter. As I have been editor of the newsletter for around 8 years, and I have now the AMD TC Chair duty, it is now time for other ideas and energies to take the lead of the newsletter. I take this opportunity to thank Fabien Benureau for his help as editorial assistant. Let me remind you that previous issues of the newsletter are all open-access and available at: http://www.cse.msu.edu/amdtc/amdnl/ I wish you a stimulating reading! Best regards, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Autonomous Mental Development Chair of the IEEE CIS AMD Technical Committee on AMD Research director, Inria Head of Flower project-team Inria and Ensta ParisTech, France http://www.pyoudeyer.com https://flowers.inria.fr http://www.poppy-project.org

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Call for participation: SASO'15, 21-25 September, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
by F. Armetta July 29, 2015

July 29, 2015

(Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this call) ***************************************************************************************** CALL FOR PARTICIPATION The Ninth IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO 2015) MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 21-25 September 2015 https://saso2015.mit.edu/ Part of FAS* -- Foundation and Applications of Self-* Computing Conferences Co-located with: The International Conference on Cloud and Autonomic Computing (CAC 2015) The 15th IEEE Peer-to-Peer Computing Conference (P2P 2015) ***************************************************************************************** GREATLY REDUCED HOTEL RATES AVAILABLE TILL AUGUST 21! The 2015 edition of the SASO conference series will be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hosted by MIT in the week of September 21 to September 25, 2015. 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 ninth edition of the SASO conference embraces the inter-disciplinarity and the scientific, empirical and application dimensions of self-* systems; it thus aims to attract participants with different backgrounds, to foster cross-pollination between research fields, and to expose and discuss innovative theories, design principles, frameworks, methodologies, tools, and applications. -------------------- Registration -------------------- The Early Registration deadline is September 4, 2015. Deadline for reduced hotel rates is August 21, 2015. Registration is available at: https://saso2015.mit.edu/registration A single registration fee includes access to the main conference, tutorials, workshops, and the doctoral symposium. Moreover, it includes a conference kit with electronic proceedings, all coffee breaks, lunches, free entrance to the Welcome Reception and Conference Dinner. -------------------- Technical Program -------------------- We are happy to announce that we will be able to offer six keynotes together with CAC and P2P, including among others: * Albert-László Barabási, Center for Complex Network Research - Barabási Lab, Northeastern University Physics Department * Yang-Yu Liu, Harvard Medical School * Azer Bestavros, Boston University * Ozalp Babaoglu, University of Bologna. Full papers: * An Approach to Robust Resource Allocation in Large-Scale Systems of Systems * Multi-satellite mission planning using a self-adaptive multi-agent system * Distributed Recovery for Enterprise Services * Self-organising Zooms for Decentralised Redundancy Management in Visual Sensor Networks * Active Learning for Efficient Sampling of Control Models of Collectives * Distributed Current Flow Betweenness Centrality * Multi-agent Self-organization and Reorganization to Adapt M2M Infrastructures * Darwin in Smart Power Grids - Evolutionary Game Theory for Analyzing Self-Organization in Demand-Side Aggregation * A Generic Social Capital Framework for Optimising Self-Organised Collective Action * Foraging-inspired Self-organisation for Terrain Exploration with Failure-prone Agents * Efficient Engineering of Complex Self-Organizing Systems by Self-Stabilising Fields * PeerMatcher: Decentralized Partnership Formation * Combining Conflicting Environmental and Task Requirements in Evolutionary Robotics * Self-managed sensor network scheduling using Bayesian dynamic linear models Short papers: * A Mutual Influence Detection Algorithm for Systems with Local Performance Measurement * Value-Sensitive Design of Self-Organisation * Ashbian homeostasis as non-autonomous adaptation * Reciprocal Agents for Self-Organization in Large-Scale Allocation Problems Posters: * Social Amoeba Dictyostelium Discoideum As an Inspiration for Swarm Robotics * Creating Complex Applications Via Self-Adapting Autonomous Agents in an Intelligent System Framework * Self-directed weight management by feedback from a self-adaptive metabolic health monitoring system * Cyber-Physical-Social System Self-Organization: Ontology-Based Multi-Level Approach and Case Study * Citizen-driven flood mapping in Jakarta - A self-organising socio-technical system * Hierarchical Service-Oriented Architecture for Development of Autonomic Systems * Sustainable Safety in Mobile Multi-Robot Systems via Collective Adaptation * Towards a spatial language for run-time assessments in self-organizing systems Demo: * Towards Self-Adaptation on Real-World Hardware: a Preliminary Lightweight Programming Framework In addition, six workshops are planned to be available to conference attendees free of charge: * 3rd Workshop on Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems (FoCAS) http://focas.eu/saso-2015/ * 2nd Workshop on Quality Assurance for Self-Adaptive, Self-Organising Systems (QA4SASO) http://qa4saso.isse.de * 1st Workshop on Spatial and COllective PErvasive Computing Systems (SCOPES) http://www.spatial-computing.org/scopes * 9th Workshop on Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPL) http://www.lero.ie/dspl2015 * Workshop on Diagnosing, Reacting, Evading And Manoeuvring (DREAM) http://www.dollabs.com/saso2015ahansdreamworkshop * 3rd Workshop on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organising Socio-Technical Systems (SASO^ST) http://sasost.isse.de Several tutorials, including: * "Enabling Software-Defined Federations using CometCloud". Organizers: Javier Diaz-Montes, Manish Parashar (Rutgers University) * "Fundamentals of Autonomic Cloud Security". Organizer: Salim Hariri (University of Arizona) Doctoral symposium, including research ideas on: * Cross layer Anomaly based intrusion detection system * Testing Self-Organizing, Adaptive Systems * Incentive Mechanisms for Social Computing * Quality trade-offs in self-protecting systems * Network Attack Detection and Mitigation * Multi-Agent Collaboration in Distributed Self-Adaptive Systems * Keynote by Dr. Jeremy Pitt (Imperial College London): "How To Get a PhD in Self-Organizing Systems" The detailed program of scientific papers and posters is available at: https://saso2015.mit.edu/accepted-papers -------------------- Social events -------------------- Welcome Reception at the MIT Museum (Tuesday) http://web.mit.edu/museum/ Dinner Cruise in Boston Bay (Wednesday) -------------------- Venue and accommodation -------------------- The conference will take place at the Boston Marriott Cambridge Hotel at the edge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There are special rates available for participants. For more information, please refer to http://saso2015.mit.edu/venue Greatly reduced rates for rooms at the conference hotel are available until August 21. Details are available at http://saso2015.mit.edu/venue Hotels near the venue may be found at the MIT Institute Events site: http://web.mit.edu/institute-events/visitor/stay.html --------------------- Organisation --------------------- General Chairs Howard E Shrobe, MIT CSAIL, Cambridge, MA, USA Julie A McCann, Imperial College London, UK Programme Chairs Gregory Sullivan, Draper Labs, Cambridge, MA, USA Emma Hart, Director CEC, Edingurgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, University of Gothenburg and Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg, Sweden Local Arrangements Chair Paul Robertson, Dynamic Object Labs, Lexington, MA, USA

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Four faculty positions in statistics and stochastics
by Robert Rosenbaum July 27, 2015

July 27, 2015

The Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Notre Dame is seeking applications for a total of four faculty positions, three in statistics and one in stochastics. Ideally, one of the statistics positions will be at the post-tenure level (associate or full professor) and the remainder will be tenure track (assistant professor). The department is highly supportive of collaborative and interdisciplinary research and encourages applications from computational neuroscientists. Feel free to contact me (Robert.Rosenbaum(a)nd.edu) with general questions about the department, etc. Applicants for the post-tenure job are invited to contact the chair, Andrew Sommese (sommese(a)nd.edu) For more information and to apply, see here for statistics: http://apply.interfolio.com/30595 and here for stochastics: http://apply.interfolio.com/30609 — Robert Rosenbaum Assistant Professor Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics University of Notre Dame

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IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine (CIM) Special Issue: “Model Complexity, Regularization and Sparsity”
by Giacomo Boracchi July 26, 2015

July 26, 2015

*Call for Papers* *IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine* *Special Issue on “Model Complexity, Regularization and Sparsity”* http://home.deib.polimi.it/boracchi/events/ModelComplexity.html *Aims and Scope* The effective management of solution complexity is one of the most important issues in addressing Computational Intelligence problems. Regularization techniques control model complexity by taking advantage of some prior information regarding the problem at hand, represented as penalty expressions that impose these properties on the solution. Over the past few years, one of the most prominent and successful types of regularization has been based on the *sparsity* prior, which promotes solutions that can be expressed as a linear combination of a few atoms belonging to a *dictionary*. Sparsity can in some sense be considered a “measure of simplicity“ and, as such, is compatible with many nature-inspired principles of Computational Intelligence. Nowadays, sparsity has become one of the leading approaches for learning adaptive representations for both descriptive and discriminative tasks, and has been shown to be particularly effective when dealing with structured, complex and high-dimensional data. Regularization, including sparsity and other priors to control the model complexity, is often the key ingredient in the successful solution of difficult problems; it is therefore not surprising that these aspects have also recently gained a lot of attention in big-data processing, due to unprecedented challenges associated with the need to handle massive datastreams that are possibly high-dimensional and organized in complex structures. This special issue aims at presenting the most relevant regularization techniques and approaches to control model complexity in Computational Intelligence. Submissions of papers presenting regularization methods for Neural Networks, Evolutionary Computation or Fuzzy Systems, are welcome. Submissions of papers presenting advanced regularization techniques in specific, but relevant, application fields such as data/datastream-mining, classification, big-data analytics, image/signal analysis, natural-language processing, are also encouraged. *Topics of Interest* · Regularization methods for big and high-dimensional data; · Regularization methods for supervised and unsupervised learning; · Regularization methods for ill-posed problems in Computational Intelligence; · Techniques to control model complexity; · Sparse representations in Computational Intelligence; · Managing model complexity in data analytics; · Effective priors for solving Computational Intelligence problems; · Multiple prior integration; · Regularization in kernel methods and support vector machines. *Important Dates* · 22nd January, 2016: Submission of Manuscripts · 30th March, 2016: Notification of Review Results · 30th April, 2016: Submission of Revised Manuscripts · 15th June, 2016: Submission of Final Manuscripts · November, 2016: Special Issue Publication *Submission Process* The maximum length for the manuscript is typically 20 pages in single column with double-spacing, including figures and references. Authors of papers should specify in the first page of their manuscripts the corresponding author’s contact and up to 5 keywords. Additional information about submission guidelines and information for authors is provided at the IEEE CIM website. <http://cis.ieee.org/ieee-computational-intelligence-magazine/134-ieee-compu…> Submission instructions can be found at http://home.deib.polimi.it/boracchi/events/ModelComplexity.html <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ieeecim1116> *Guest Editors* *Prof. Cesare Alippi,* Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Biongegneria, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, 20133, Italy email: cesare.alippi(a)polimi.it *Dr. Giacomo Boracchi*, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Biongegneria, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/5, Milano, 20133, Italy email: giacomo.boracchi(a)polimi.it *Dr. Brendt Wohlberg*, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM 87545, USA email: brendt(a)lanl.gov -- 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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Special Issue on Applications of Operations Research in Neuroscience -- Deadline Extension to October 1.
by Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan July 24, 2015

July 24, 2015

Dear Colleagues, [We apologize if you have received multiple copies of this message] We would like to draw your attention to the special volume on "Applications of Operations Research for Neuroscience" in the Annals of Operations Research. We cordially invite researchers in neuroscience who use operations research methods and related mathematical fields to contribute to this special issue. Recent technological and theoretical advances offer promising opportunities for better understanding of the nervous system at the quantitative level. New optogenetic, in vitro and in vivo multielectrode recording, neuroimaging, brain imaging, and other modern techniques provide high-quality data that can be used in elucidating the fundamental mechanisms of information processing in neural system. The rapidly growing pool of experimental data has triggered the development of new mathematical models, which can provide new insights into the functioning of the nervous system at various scales ranging from that of molecular biology to that of the organizational principles of behavior and cognition. Sophisticated analyses of intracellular signalling or dynamics in heterogeneous neural networks, conditional behavior or connections of brain regions in decision-making lead to theoretical problems addressed by operations research. The special volume will cover a broad range of topics in the field of neuroscience, which use operations research approaches and methods. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas of neuroscience: * intracellular signaling and regulation * synaptic plasticity * dynamics in heterogeneous neural networks * intelligent systems and control * perceptual, cognitive and behavioral functions * learning and memory * spatio-temporal network analysis * combinatorial optimization * signal and information processing * neuroimaging and functional brain imaging processing * computational modelling and simulation The use of methods from modern operations research is a prerequisite for any paper submitted to this special volume to enter the reviewing process. Extended submission deadline of full papers: October 1, 2015. Submission Details: The format of manuscripts for the Annals of Operations Research as well as guidelines can be found on the web page of Springer, the publisher of the journal: http://www.springer.com/business/operations+research/journal/10479 Authors should submit a cover letter mentioning that the paper is for a special volume, along with and a manuscript via the journal's online submission site: http://www.editorialmanager.com/anor More details can be found in the Call for Paper attached to this e-mail. Annals of Operations Research is abstracted and indexed in the following databases: Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch), Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, SCOPUS, INSPEC, Zentralblatt Math, Google Scholar, EBSCO, CSA, ProQuest, ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide, Academic OneFile, Academic Search, Computer Abstracts International Database, Computer Science Index, CSA Environmental Sciences, Current Contents/Engineering, Computing and Technology, DBLP, ECONIS, Expanded Academic, International Abstracts in Operations Research, Mathematical Reviews, OCLC, SCImago, STMA-Z, Summon by ProQuest. Please consider sharing this call for papers with any researchers who might be interested in contributing. On behalf of special volume guest editors, Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan ------- Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan,Ph.D. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy Health Sciences Center Louisiana State University New Orleans, LA, 70112

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Summerschool on Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing in Aachen, Germany
by Kröger, Bernd Joachim July 24, 2015

July 24, 2015

Dear comp-neuro Please forward: Summerschool: Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing 14th to 18th of September 2015 Topic: Constructing a Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing Date: Starting 14th of September for one week Location: RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany Costs: Accomodation at RWTH Aachen University Guest House: round about 80€ (Single or Double) per day. Food: round about 30€ per day. Workshop is free. Accomodation and food will be arranged by Bernd Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu. Please contact bkroeger(a)ukaachen.de Next airport to Aachen, Germany: Duesseldorf International Airport, Germany Planned scedule: 1st day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu) Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Production including learning szenarios occurring in speech acquisition. Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca or other neural processing toolboxes 2nd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu) Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Perception and Comprehension Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and Computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca and other Neural Processing Toolboxes 3rd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu) Introduction to a physiological and acoustic model of speech production (www.VocalTractLab.de) Afternoon 2-5pm: How to integrate VocalTractLab into an Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing 4th and 5th day: 9am-5pm: Programming exercises and introduction to available speech data bases) Summerschool takes place with more than 5 üarticipants -- Prof. Dr. Bernd J. Kröger Department of Phoniatrics, Pedaudiology, and Communication Disorders Medical School, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany Email: bernd.kroeger(a)rwth-aachen.de Homepage: www.speechtrainer.eu

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Postdoc and graduate student positions in computational neuroscience and machine learning
by Jakob Macke July 24, 2015

July 24, 2015

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[Last CFP] Extended paper submission deadline to August 16 2015
by Teng Teck Hou July 24, 2015

July 24, 2015

(We apologize for multiples copies) - Please distribute this CFP among your colleagues and students IEEE Conference on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligence Systems - EAIS 2015 Douai, France, December 13, 2015 http://conference.mines-douai.fr/eais2015/ The paper submission deadline is extended to August 16, 2015 (Hard deadline, no more extension) * IMPORTANT DATES * ---------------------------------------------------------------- Paper Submission Due: Extended to August 16, 2015 (Hard deadline, no more extension) Notification of Acceptance: October 1st, 2015 Camera-Ready Papers Due: November 1st, 2015 Registration Deadline: November 1st, 2015 All accepted papers will be published in the conference Proceedings and submitted to IEEE for inclusion to IEEE Xplore. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions for possible inclusion in a special issue of the journal Evolving Systems (Springer). It is our pleasure to announce the two keynotes "Real Time Data Mining" and "Active online learning". The social program includes a visit to the prestigious museum of Le Louvre-Lens. A tour will be organized in "La Grande Galerie" exhibition space where you could discover some of the greatest masterpieces and the greatest artists of the Louvre museum. In addition, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality and cultural heritage of Douai (City town belfry historical building designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, the Chartreuse museum, the Northern French Cuisine ). * CONTEXT * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IEEE EAIS 2015 will be held in Douai, a beautiful city located in the north of France close to Brussels and Paris. IEEE EAIS 2015 will provide a friendly atmosphere and will be a leading international forum focusing on the discussion of recent advances, the exchange of recent innovations, and the outline of open important future challenges in the area of Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems. Over the past decade, this area has emerged to play an important role on a broad international level in todays real-world applications, especially those ones with high complexity and dynamics change. Its embedded modeling and learning methodologies are able to cope with real-time demands, changing operation conditions, varying environmental influences, human behaviors, knowledge expansion scenarios, and drifts in on-line data streams. EAIS 2015 is an IEEE sponsored conference which is organized by the IEEE Technical Committee on Evolving and Adaptive Intelligent Systems, SMC Society. EAIS conference series has a history starting in 2006 in Lake District, England. It was held after that in Germany, USA, France, Spain, Singapore and Austria. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to submit extended versions for a possible inclusion in a special issue of the journal Evolving Systems (Springer). * AREAS OF INTEREST * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Basic Methodologies Evolving Soft Computing Techniques Evolving Fuzzy Systems Evolving Rule-Based Classifiers Evolving Neuro-Fuzzy Systems Adaptive Evolving Neural Networks On-line Genetic and Evolutionary Algorithms Data Stream Mining Incremental and Evolving Clustering Approaches Adaptive Pattern Recognition Incremental and Evolving ML Classifiers Adaptive Statistical Techniques Evolving Decision Systems Advanced Concepts Drifts and Shifts in Data Streams Stability, Robustness, Convergence in Evolving Systems On-line Feature Selection and Dimension Reduction On-line Active and Semi-supervised Learning On-line Complexity Reduction Computational Aspects Interpretability Issues Incremental Adaptive Ensemble Methods On-line Bagging and Boosting Self-monitoring Evolving Systems Human-Machine Interaction Issues Hybrid Modeling Transfer Learning Reservoir Computing Real-world Applications EIS for On-Line Modeling and System Identification EIS for Time Series Prediction EIS for Data Stream Mining and Adaptive Knowledge Discovery EIS in Robotics, Intelligent Transport and Advanced Manufacturing EIS in Advanced Communications and Multi-Media Applications EIS in Bioinformatics and Medicine EIS in On-line Quality Control and Fault Diagnosis EIS in Condition Monitoring Systems EIS in Adaptive Evolving Controller Design EIS in User Activities Recognition EIS in Huge Database and Web Mining EIS in Visual Inspection and Image Classification EIS in Cloud Computing EIS in Multiple Sensor Networks EIS in Query Systems and Social Networks * SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS * --------------------------------------------------- Full papers - max. 8 pages IEEE style (double-column). Short Papers - max. 4 pages IEEE style (double-column). * INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE * ------------------------------------------------------------------ Plamen Angelov, Lancaster University, UK Dimitar Filev, Ford Motor Co., USA Nikola Kasabov, AUT, New Zealand * ORGANIZING PROGRAMME COMMITTEE * ------------------------------------------------------------ Chair: Moamar Sayed-Mouchaweh, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Co-chair: Stéphane Lecoeuche, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Publication Chairs: José A. Iglesias, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain Edwin Lughofer, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria Local Arrangement Chair: Anthony Fleury, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Muriel Morgan, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Web & Publicity Chairs: Teck-Hou Teng, School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Mihaly Petreczky, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Vincent Lecocq, Mines Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Houari * SPONSORED BY * ------------------------------------------------------------------------- IEEE Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society. * ORGANIZED BY * ------------------------------------------------------------------------- IEEE Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society Technical Committee on Evolving Intelligent Systems Ecole des Mines de Douai, Département Informatique et Automatique, France ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------

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CARLsim 3.0.2 released
by Michael Beyeler July 23, 2015

July 23, 2015

Dear colleagues, Many of you may be interested in our latest software release of the CARLsim simulator. CARLsim is an efficient, easy-to-use, GPU-accelerated library for simulating large-scale spiking neural network (SNN) models with a high degree of biological detail. Software and documentation can be found at: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma/CARLsim This release is in conjunction with our latest publications, which highlight CARLsim’s latest features. * Beyeler, M., Carlson, K.D., Chou, T.S., Krichmar, J.L., Dutt, N., (2015) CARLsim 3: A User-Friendly and Highly Optimized Library for the Creation of Neurobiologically Detailed Spiking Neural Networks. Paper presented at: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (Killarney, Ireland). * Beyeler, M., Richert, M., Dutt, N.D., and Krichmar, J.L. (2014). Efficient Spiking Neural Network Model of Pattern Motion Selectivity in Visual Cortex. Neuroinformatics. * Carlson, K.D., Nageswaran, J.M., Dutt, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2014). An efficient automated parameter tuning framework for spiking neural networks. Frontiers in Neuroscience 8. * Carlson, K.D., Richert, M., Dutt, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2013). Biologically Plausible Models of Homeostasis and STDP: Stability and Learning in Spiking Neural Networks. Paper presented at: International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (Dallas, TX). If you have recently used CARLsim in one of your scientific publications, let us know so that we can add your paper to the list. CARLsim 3.0.2 Release Highlights --------------------------------------------- * improved platform compatibility (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows) * real-time and offline data analysis tools * an automated parameter tuning interface that utilizes evolutionary algorithms to construct functional SNNs * an expanded STDP implementation, which includes dopaminergic neuromodulation * an exhaustive User Guide and Tutorials * much improved code base, which includes a test suite for functional code verification Best regards from the CARLsim team, Michael Beyeler Kristofor Carlson Ting-Shuo Chou Nikil Dutt Jeff Krichmar -- Michael Beyeler Ph.D. Candidate Cognitive Anteater Robotics Lab (CARL) 2236 Cognitive & Behavioral Science Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100, USA http://sites.uci.edu/mbeyeler

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PhD position announcement in computational neuroscience
by Mike X Cohen July 22, 2015

July 22, 2015

Mike X Cohen and Paul Tiesinga are searching for a PhD Candidate to work on a project entitled “Midfrontal Cortex Theta Oscillations: Causes and Consequences”. This project is funded by the European Research Council and is hosted by the Donders Centre for Neuroscience. Theta-band oscillations (~6 Hz) in the medial prefrontal cortex are a signature of several important cognitive functions, including behaviour monitoring, action adjustments and feedback-driven learning. Although this consistent finding has emerged in several species including humans, monkeys, and rats, little is known about the microcircuits in the medial prefrontal cortex that generate theta oscillations and the role of those oscillations in the neural computations underlying cognitive control functions. In this project, we aim to gain more insight into these processes by employing biophysically-informed computational models to simulate the genesis and significance of midfrontal theta for coordinating local and long-range network dynamics. Empirical experiments in humans and rodents may be incorporated into the research in order to test/refine the models. Please see http://www.ru.nl/overons/werken-radboud/details/details_vacature_0/?recid=5… for additional details. -- Mike X Cohen, PhD mikexcohen.com

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Bernstein Conference: Early registration ends on July 24, 2015
by Seeger, Simone July 22, 2015

July 22, 2015

BERNSTEIN CONFERENCE 2015 in Heidelberg Early registration ends on July 24, 2015! Please register here<https://mi3.lambdalogic.de/forms/Bernstein2015.do>. *************************************************************************** Satellite Workshops<http://www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-conference/2015/satellite-workshops> September 14, 2015 Main Conference<http://www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-conference/2015/program> September 15-17, 2015 *************************************************************************** The Bernstein Conference has become the largest annual Computational Neuroscience Conference in Europe and now regularly attracts more than 500 international participants. This year, the Conference is organized by the Bernstein Center Heidelberg-Mannheim and will take place in Heidelberg on September 15-17, 2015. In addition, there will be a series of pre-conference satellite workshops on September 14, 2015. The Bernstein Conference is a single-track conference, covering all aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, and sessions for poster presentations are an integral part of the conference. The Bernstein conference will also feature a series of satellite workshops on September 14, 2015. The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of timely research questions and challenges. For more information on the conference, please visit: http://www.bernstein-conference.de<https://mail.zi-mannheim.de/OWA/redir.aspx?C=mYOXLQcyKEWWGs2ITdwALYoLj0aoVt…> CONFERENCE DATE AND VENUE: Satellite Workshops September 14, 2015 Main Conference September 15-17, 2015 Venue: Neue Universität, Grabengasse 3-5, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany PHD STUDENT EVENT: September 17-18, 2015 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Peter Bastian Andreas Draguhn Daniel Durstewitz Martin Gerchen Joachim Hass Elke Jochum Peter Kirsch Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Christoph Schuster Simone Seeger We look forward to seeing you in Heidelberg in September! *** 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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CFP: ICDM Workshop HealthMining 2015 and HISS Special Issue (Deadline extended: Aug 3, 2015)
by william July 21, 2015

July 21, 2015

[Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email] CALL FOR PAPERS (Submission Deadline Extended: >>>Aug 3<<<, 2015) HEALTHMINING 2015 - The ICDM Workshop on Data Mining and Decision Analytics on Public Health and Wellness (URL: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~healthmining2015/) In conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2015) >>> SPECIAL ISSUE <<< Selected papers of the workshop will be invited for revision to be included in a special issue to be published in Health Information Science and Systems (URL: http://www.hissjournal.com/) AIMS and SCOPE For many years, data mining and decision analytics techniques have already been extensively applied to various domains, such as smart environments, social networks, marketing, and web technology. The focus of this workshop is mainly on the issues and challenges of data mining techniques with the purpose of improving human well-being and quality of life. It is expected that the workshop may increase the diversity of application areas that can benefit from data mining. At the same time, it is also desirable that the discussion and vision of this workshop would also offer further insights into, as well as new tools for, the issues of data collection, processing, system modeling, simulation and optimization arising from various public health topics. The objective of this workshop is to serve as a venue for researchers to discuss how data mining and analytics methods can contribute to improving public health quality in clinical, medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems in smart ways, including evidence-based medicine, personalized treatment and healthcare, assistive technology and active surveillance and control of diseases. In addition to mining statistical regularities, associations, or causalities from large-scale health-related datasets, it would be more desirable to further investigate how the results can effectively and efficiently support decision-making, system modeling, optimization, and simulation in various healthcare systems. TOPICS OF INTEREST - Large-scale data acquisition and management issues for public health - Social and other network-based analysis for public health - Medical big data mining and innovative applications - Mining risk patterns in medical data - Mental and physical health data integration - Biomarker discovery and biomedical data mining - Clinical data mining for practice knowledge building - Data mining from clinical decision-making, and practitioner reflection - Data mining from genetic data of diseases - Data mining for disease profiling and personalized treatment - Data mining for (active) syndromic surveillance - Data mining for infectious/chronic disease epidemiology and control - Data mining for exploring hidden patterns in clinical systems - Data mining for medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems - Data mining for assistive environments - Data modeling and information management forpervasive assistive environments - Data mining and knowledge modeling for wellness - Spatiotemporal data exploration and mining of diseases - Unstructured data mining in medicine and healthcare - Semantic data mining in medicine and healthcare - Scalable data integration in medicine and healthcare - Evidence-based decision-support systems - Healthcare knowledge abstraction, classification, and summarization - Healthcare knowledge computerization, execution, inference, and representation IMPORTANT DATES - Paper Submission Due: >>>Aug 3<<<, 2015 - Paper Notification Date: Sep 1, 2015 - Workshop Date: Nov 13, 2015 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - William K. Cheung, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Jiming Liu, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Parisa Rashidi, University of Florida, USA - Fei Wang, University of Connecticut, USA Department of Computer Science: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk HKBU Faculty of Science: http://www.sci.hkbu.edu.hk Disclaimer: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/disclaimer

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Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience - recent articles
by Stephen Coombes July 20, 2015

July 20, 2015

Dear all, The Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience publishes research articles on the mathematical modeling and analysis of all areas of neuroscience. The current list of journal articles is available at http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/ : Conditions for Multi-functionality in a Rhythm Generating Network Inspired by Turtle Scratching Snyder AC and Rubin JE http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/5/1/15 The Minimal k-Core Problem for Modeling k-Assemblies Wood CI and Hicks IV http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/5/1/14 Stochastic Synchronization in Purkinje Cells with Feedforward Inhibition Could Be Studied with Equivalent Phase-Response Curves Verduzco-Flores S http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/5/1/13 Orientation Maps in V1 and Non-Euclidean Geometry Afgoustidis A http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/5/1/12 On the Effects on Cortical Spontaneous Activity of the Symmetries of the Network of Pinwheels in Visual Area V1 Veltz R, Chossat P and Faugeras O http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/content/5/1/11 and see also the recent Special Issue on Stochastic Network Models in Neuroscience http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/series/SNMN<http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/series/UB> All articles are Open Access. Best regards, Steve ------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Coombes Professor of Applied Mathematics School of Mathematical Sciences Nottingham, UK Tel: 0115 846 7836 http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/~sc/ ------------------------------------------------------- This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.

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WORKHOP Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience, Turin 7-9 sept 2015
by Alessandro Torcini July 19, 2015

July 19, 2015

Deadline 30th August: Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience: from Physics and Biology to ICT to be held on September 07-09, 2015 in Turin, Italy Organizers: Fernando Corinto (Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy) and Alessandro Torcini (ISC-CNR, Florence, Italy) More information on the workshop can be found in the web page: http://www.neuro-eng-comp.polito.it/workshop/ Confirmed invited speakers include Cristina Becchio (University of Turin, Italy) Ruben Moreno Bote (CIBERSAM - Barcelona, Spain) George Bourianov (Intel/University of Texas at Austin, USA) Emilio Carbone (University of Turin, Italy) Stephen Coombes (University of Nottingham, UK) Steve Furber (The University of Manchester, UK) Julius Georgiou (University of Cyprus, Cyprus) Viktor Jirsa (INSERM - Marseille, France) Luke P. Lee (UC Berkeley, USA) Stefano Luccioli (ISC CNR - Florence, Italy) Maurizio Mattia (ISS - Roma, Italy) Benedetto Sacchetti (University of Turin, Italy) Maria Sanchez-Vives (IDIBAPS - Barcelona, Spain) Ronald Tetzlaff (TU Dresden, Germany) The poster can be downloaded from here http://goo.gl/CDY0Eg The workshop is kindly supported by the: SICC - Italian Society for Chaos and Complexity, IEEE CASS Outreach 2015 Initiative, CRT Foundation, Marie Curie Initial Training project NETT - Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy)

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Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience at IUPUI
by Yaroslav Molkov July 16, 2015

July 16, 2015

A postdoctoral/research associate position in computational neuroscience for the duration of up to two years is available in the externally funded project focusing on multiscale computational modeling of motor control mechanisms, involving interactions between basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, cortex, and spinal cord in connection with realistic simulation of pathological changes in motor control during Huntington’s disease. This collaborative project is performed jointly by the groups of Drs. Ilya Rybak (Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and Yaroslav Molkov (Dept. of Mathematical Science, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA). Applicants must have a PhD degree in Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related discipline, a *strong research record*, and excellent C++ programming skills. 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. I will be available to answer questions and discuss this job opportunity with potential candidates at the CNS’2015 meeting in Prague, Czech Republic (July 18-23). Please email me to arrange a meeting. ================================= Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Indiana University - Purdue University at 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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Postdoc in Computational Visual Neuroscience (Alicante-Valencia, SPAIN)
by Jesus Malo Lopez July 16, 2015

July 16, 2015

The Neuroscience Institute of Alicante (CSIC) and the Universitat de Valencia are involved on a multiyear project to study neural computation and coding in visual cortex. We have an opening for a 3 year postdoc position to model information processing in the retina-cortex pathway. Job title: "The human camera: compressive sensing in brain networks and decoding from neural responses" (see additional information about the project at http://isp.uv.es/bmi.html ) Applications are invited for the above position to work with Dr. Luis Martinez (Neuroscience Institute of Alicante, CSIC, http://thevisualanalogylab.wix.com/valab) and Dr. Jesús Malo (Image & Signal Processing Lab, Universitat de Valencia, http://isp.uv.es ). The aim of this work is understanding dimensionality reduction in the retina-cortex bottleneck and enabling image reconstruction from actual neural recordings at cortical level. The "Human Camera" could be seen as a new Brain Machine Interface for image transmission in which the nontrivial/adaptive feature extraction stage is done by a brain instead of by the conventional compression algorithm. The input signal should be reconstructed from the neural signal at the receiver. Candidates must be in possession of a doctoral degree in computational neuroscience, machine learning, physics, mathematics or engineering. Preference will be given to candidates with experience and genuine interest in vision science phenomena and models. Work will be developed both at the Neuroscience Institute of Alicante and at the Universitat de València, with strong collaboration between the experimental and theoretical members of the team. Salary: according to CSIC Postdoc scales including social security, health insurance benefits, and travel money. Contact: Please email jesus.malo(a)uv.es or luis.m.martinez.otero(a)gmail.com for any queries about the position.

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Special Issue on Emerging Spatial Competences: From Machine Perception to Sensorimotor Intelligence
by Agostino Gibaldi July 15, 2015

July 15, 2015

APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING. Dear Researcher, we are very glad to inform you that the Special Issue “Emerging Spatial Competences: From Machine Perception to Sensorimotor Intelligence” (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09218890) has been published on the Robotics and Autonomous System Journal (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/robotics-and-autonomous-systems) The aim of this special issue is to survey a state of the art of methodologies, concepts, algorithms and techniques that would serve as bricks on which to build and develop artificial agents with such a spatial competence; perceptual and cognitive understanding of space should emerge from sensorimotor exercise. The Special Issue includes 13 papers (acceptance rate 40%) plus the editorial: Emerging spatial competences: From machine perception to sensorimotor intelligence Agostino Gibaldi, Silvio P. Sabatini, Sylvain Argentieri, Zhengping Ji Self-calibrating smooth pursuit through active efficient coding C. Teulière, S. Forestier, L. Lonini, C. Zhang, Y. Zhao, B. Shi, J. Triesch Learning the visual–oculomotor transformation: Effects on saccade control and space representation Marco Antonelli, Angel J. Duran, Eris Chinellato, Angel P. del Pobil Autonomous learning of disparity–vergence behavior through distributed coding and population reward: Basic mechanisms and real-world conditioning on a robot stereo head Agostino Gibaldi, Andrea Canessa, Fabio Solari, Silvio P. Sabatini A developmental where–what network for concurrent and interactive visual attention and recognition Zhengping Ji, Juyang Weng Learning agent’s spatial configuration from sensorimotor invariants Alban Laflaquière, J. Kevin O’Regan, Sylvain Argentieri, Bruno Gas, Alexander V. Terekhov Trainable sensorimotor mapping in a neuromorphic robot Jörg Conradt, Francesco Galluppi, Terrence C. Stewart Cortically inspired sensor fusion network for mobile robot egomotion estimation Cristian Axenie, Jörg Conradt Deep unsupervised network for multimodal perception, representation and classification Alain Droniou, Serena Ivaldi, Olivier Sigaud Support relation analysis and decision making for safe robotic manipulation tasks Rasoul Mojtahedzadeh, Abdelbaki Bouguerra, Erik Schaffernicht, Achim J. Lilienthal Model-free incremental learning of the semantics of manipulation actions Eren Erdal Aksoy, Minija Tamosiunaite, Florentin Wörgötter Human motion based intent recognition using a deep dynamic neural model Zhibin Yu, Minho Lee Hybrid learning model and MMSVM classification for on-line visual imitation of a human with 3-D motions Chih-Lyang Hwang, Bo-Lin Chen, Hsing-Hao Huang, Huei-Ting Syu Interfacing robotic tactile sensation with human vibrotactile perception for digit recognition Anwesha Khasnobish, Shreyasi Datta, Dwaipayan Sardar, D.N. Tibarewala, Amit Konar Cordially, the Guest Editors: Agostino Gibaldi and Silvio P. Sabatini Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and System Engineering PSPC Lab (www.pspc.unige.it) University of Genoa, Italy Sylvain Argentieri Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University, Paris 06, France Zhengping Ji Advanced Image Research Laboratory (AIRL), Samsung, Pasadena, CA, USA

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Software for Non-parametric directionality analysis
by David Halliday July 14, 2015

July 14, 2015

[Apologies for cross posting] MATLAB software to implement non-parametric directionality analysis for spike-train and time-series data is available for free download from the NeuroSpec archive. A user guide and demonstration scripts are included. http://www.neurospec.org/ An accompanying journal article is published in the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience: "Nonparametric directionality measures for time series and point process data", J. Integr. Neurosci., 14, 253-277 (2015). DOI: 10.1142/S0219635215300127 http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219635215300127 Abstract The need to determine the directionality of interactions between neural signals is a key requirement for analysis of multichannel recordings. Approaches most commonly used are parametric, typically relying on autoregressive models. A number of concerns have been expressed regarding parametric approaches, thus there is a need to consider alternatives. We present an alternative nonparametric approach for construction of directionality measures for bivariate random processes. The method combines time and frequency domain representations of bivariate data to decompose the correlation by direction. Our framework generates two sets of complementary measures, a set of scalar measures, which decompose the total product moment correlation coefficient summatively into three terms by direction and a set of functions which decompose the coherence summatively at each frequency into three terms by direction: forward direction, reverse direction and instantaneous interaction. It can be undertaken as an addition to a standard bivariate spectral and coherence analysis, and applied to either time series or point-process (spike train) data or mixtures of the two (hybrid data). In this paper, we demonstrate application to spike train data using simulated cortical neurone networks and application to experimental data from isolated muscle spindle sensory endings subject to random efferent stimulation. - David Halliday Department of Electronics University of York YORK YO10 5DD, UK. E-Mail: david.halliday(a)york.ac.uk

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Tutorial on Interfaces in Computational Neuroscience Software
by Jochen Martin Eppler July 14, 2015

July 14, 2015

[Sorry if you receive this mail through multiple channels] This is to inform you about the CNS2015 tutorial entitled "Interfaces in Computational Neuroscience Software". In the tutorial, Jochen M. Eppler (Research Centre Jülich, Germany), Mikael Djurfeldt (INCF and KTH PDC, Sweden) and Janne Moren (OIST and RIKEN AICS, Japan) will present the combined use of the tools NEST, CSA and MUSIC. Introductory talks will explain the concepts behind the tools and libraries, while hands-on sessions will allow the participants to gather some experience with them. The software for the hands-on sessions will be provided in the form of a virtual machine image readily usable on top of your laptop. More information on the tutorial can be found on the homepage of the meeting at http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-tutorials#t6 Looking forward to seeing you in Prague! Best regards, Jochen Eppler -- Dr. Jochen Martin Eppler Phone: +49 2461 61-9471 ---------------------------------- Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience Jülich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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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CFP: The First International Workshop on Computational Models of the Visual Cortex (CMVC) as part of the BICT, New York, 3-5 Dec 2015
by George Azzopardi July 14, 2015

July 14, 2015

Dear All, We are pleased to announce The First International Workshop on Computational Models of the Visual Cortex (CMVC) as part of the BICT (Bio-inspired Information and Communication Technologies) conference, which will be held in New York City, New York, 3-5 December (http://bionetics.org/2015/show/home) Background Much has been advanced since the early works of the Nobel prize winners Hubel and Wiesel about the function of neurons in the primary visual cortex of cats’ brains. That work has been the source of inspiration of abundant neurophysiological studies to unveil the functionality of neurons in different areas of visual cortex. These experiments resulted in large amounts of data, which could then be used to design computational models to behave similarly to certain neurons in visual cortex. The contribution of such models is two-fold. They contribute to the better understanding of how visual information is processed in the brain, and they also contribute for the development of more robust algorithms in computer vision applications. The aim of this workshop is to bring together recent development of computational modelling of the visual cortex of the brain: Single cell modeling. Hierarchy of visual cortex areas Feedforward, feedback and inhibitory mechanisms. The appearance of neuronal properties: sparsity and selectivity. Circuitry: hierarchical representations and connections between layers. Selecting where to look: saliency and attention. Object recognition Contour detection Stereo Learning Important Dates Full papers due: July 31, 2015 Authors Notified: August 31, 2015 Camera-ready due: September 30, 2015 Paper submission We invite you to submit regular papers (up to 8 pages each), short papers (up to 4 pages each) or poster/demo papers (up to 2 pages each) in ACM's paper template. Up to two extra pages are allowed for each paper with extra page charges. See http://bionetics.org/2015/show/initial-submission for more details. Paper Submission Only PDF format is acceptable. Papers must be submitted to EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cmvc2015 For more information about the CMVC workshop please visit: http://cmvc.bionetics.org/2015/show/home Sincerely yours, Antonio Rodriguez-Sanchez, PhD George Azzopardi, PhD Co-chairs of CMVC’2015

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NEURON course and NSG Workshop at SFN 2015 meeting
by Ted Carnevale July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015

Two events of particular interest to computational neuroscientists will be presented as satellite sessions to the 2015 SFN meeting in Chicago. Using NEURON to Model Cells and Networks Friday, Oct. 16 from 9 AM to 5 PM at a site in downtown Chicago This course provides a practical introduction to building and using models of neurons and networks with NEURON. Covered topics include basic concepts, workflow for building and using models, speeding up simulations with parallel hardware from multicore personal computers to massively parallel supercomputers, using Python with NEURON, and modeling reactive diffusion with the RxD class. Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulation Saturday, Oct. 17 from 9 AM to noon at a site in downtown Chicago This workshop combines didactic presentations with hands on instruction on how to use the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) for parallel simulations. NSG eliminates most adminstrative and technical barriers to using high performance computing resources--it even gives away free CPU time. Simulators that are currently installed on NSG include NEST, PyNN, Brian, GENESIS3, NEURON, and MOOSE. Also available is FreeSurfer, a set of tools for analysis and visualization of structural and functional brain imaging data. Friday, Oct. 2, is the registration deadline for both of these events, but you should sign up early because space is limited. See https://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/courses for more information and links to registration forms. --Ted

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Workshop at CNS2015 on Dopamine neurons and the circuits they participate in
by Canavier, Carmen C. July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015

Title: Computational Models of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons and Dopaminergic Signaling Organizer: Carmen Canavier ccanav(a)lsuhsc.edu<mailto:ccanav@lsuhsc.edu> July 23, Prague, Room RB209 (subject to change) Description: This workshop features recent experimental and modeling work on SNc and VTA dopamine neurons in the context of addiction, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. Time Speaker Title 9-9:30 Alexey Kuznetsov A model for VTA circuitry: toolbox for the study of addictions 9:30-10 Eleftheria Pissadaki From the axons of the SNc dopamine neurons to their dendritic processes: further clues to susceptibility in Parkinson's disease 10-10:30 COFFEE BREAK 10:30-11 Rebekah Evans T type calcium channels trigger a hyperpolarization induced after depolarization (HI-ADP) in SNc dopamine neurons 11-11:30 Andy Oster VTA Dopamine Neuron Dynamics: response to ramping applied currents 11:30-12:00 Carmen Canavier Dynamic Diversity of Dopamine Neurons 12:00-1:30 LUNCH BREAK 1:30-2 Guillaume Drion Potential functional implications of a hidden variability in SNc DA neuron excitability 2-2:30 Jinyoung Jang Spontaneous firing system in the midbrain dopamine neu- ron 2:30-3 Boris Gutkin VTA circuit models and nicotine/alcohol effects on DA dynamics 3-3:30 DISCUSSION AND CLOSING REMARKS

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Workshop at CNS2015: Open Collaboration in Computational Neuroscience
by Padraig Gleeson July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015

[Apology for cross-postings] Announcing a workshop at the CNS2015 meeting in Prague, Thursday July 23: Open Collaboration in Computational Neuroscience http://opensourcebrain.org/docs/Help/Meetings#CNS_2015 Building and analysing biophysically and anatomically detailed neuronal networks is a complex and time consuming task, which ideally involves researchers with a range of backgrounds and technical skills. However, most labs cannot expect to have all of these researchers present at any given time. This can lead to stalled projects, lost data and software and needless repetition of experimental and computational work. A number of initiatives have been started which address these issues. Some are creating public resources with freely available data to constrain such models. Others are using best practices from open source software development to encourage building and sharing of models in a collaborative environment. This workshop will serve as an informative introduction to these projects as well as a discussion forum for getting feedback and gathering requirements from the community for the developers of these initiatives. There are still a number of slots available for *5-10 minute lightning talks*, so if you are involved in a project in this area and wish to publicise it, please get in contact. *Confirmed speakers:* Jan Antolik (CNRS) Collaboration in neuronal modelling: model sharing, workflows and provenance Nicholas Cain (Allen Brain Institute) Resources for Open Collaboration at the Allen Brain Institute <http://www.brain-map.org/> Padraig Gleeson (University College London) NeuroML <https://neuroml.org/> & the Open Source Brain Initiative <http://opensourcebrain.org/> Adrian Quintana (University College London) Geppetto <http://www.geppetto.org/>: online visualisation & simulation for neuronal models Michael Sonntag (LMU München) The NIX Project: Comprehensive Storage of Neuroscience Data and Metadata <https://github.com/G-Node/nix> Matteo Cantarelli (MetaCell Ltd) OpenWorm <http://www.openworm.org/> Aurel A. Lazar (Columbia University) Neurokernel <http://neurokernel.github.io/>: An Open Source Platform for Emulating the Fruit Fly Brain Bill Lytton (SUNY Downstate Medical Center) ModelDB <http://senselab.med.yale.edu/ModelDB/> Eilif Muller (EPFL) Human Brain Project <https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/> resources for the integrative modelling community Shreejoy Tripathy (University of British Columbia) Open electrophysiology data and Neuroelectro.org <http://neuroelectro.org/> ----------------------------------------------------- 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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postdoc in computational neuroscience
by Máté Lengyel July 13, 2015

July 13, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Neuroscience University of Cambridge We are seeking a highly creative and motivated postdoctoral fellow (research associate or senior research associate) to work in the group of Máté Lengyel (http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/Public/Lengyel/) at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge to work on circuit- and systems-level of memory, in particular the interaction between recollective and familiarity-based forms of recognition memory. The project involves collaboration with Peter Dayan (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL), and also Richard Henson (MRC Cognition and Brain Unit, Cambridge) providing direct access to relevant behavioural and imaging data. More broadly, the group studies learning and memory from computational, algorithmic/representational and neurobiological viewpoints. Computationally and algorithmically, we use ideas from Bayesian approaches to statistical inference and reinforcement learning to characterize the goals and mechanisms of learning in terms of normative principles and behavioral results. We also perform dynamical systems analyses of reduced biophysical models to understand the mapping of these mechanisms into cellular and network models. We collaborate very closely with experimental neuroscience groups, doing in vitro intracellular recordings, multi-unit recordings in behaving animals, human psychophysical, and fMRI experiments. The successful candidate will have a strong analytical background and demonstrable interest in theoretical neuroscience. They should have or be close to completion of a PhD or equivalent in computational neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, machine learning or a related field. Previous experience in computational neuroscience is not required, but preference will be given to candidates with sufficient programming skills to run numerical simulations, or expertise with neural network models, analysis of dynamical systems, and Bayesian techniques. The position is funded for several years, with an initial one-year appointment and an expectation of extension to at least two years given satisfactory performance. Salary depends on experience and is in the range £28,695 - £48,743 p.a. Further information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7261/ http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7176/ For informal queries, please contact Mate Lengyel <m.lengyel(a)eng.cam.ac.uk>. Mate Lengyel -- 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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Re: [Comp-neuro] Postdoc position in Large-scale Neuronal Ensemble Recordings in Sensori-motor Cortices in Behaving Marmosets
by Nicholas Hatsopoulos July 11, 2015

July 11, 2015

Postdoctoral Position in Large-scale Neuronal Ensemble Recordings in Sensori-motor Cortices in Behaving Marmosets A postdoctoral position is available starting in the fall of 2015 to characterize the spatio-temporal organization of sensori-motor cortical activity at multiple spatial scales associated with upper limb movements of behaving marmosets. This project involves high density multi-electrode array recordings as well as calcium fluorescence imaging from motor and somatosensory cortical sites in marmosets performing natural arm and hand movements. Facilities include a fully equipped electrophysiological laboratory with three 128-channel acquisition systems for multi-electrode recording and stimulation, calcium fluorescence imaging microscopes, and a camera-based, motion capture system. Expertise in multi-site, behavioral electrophysiology and/or calcium imaging is preferred. A strong mathematical, computational, or engineering background is also desirable. Applicants should send a CV and names and addresses of two or three references to Dr. Nicholas Hatsopoulos, Department of Organismal Biology, University of Chicago, 1027 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 or by e-mail to nicho(a)uchicago.edu<mailto:nicho@uchicago.edu>. Nicholas Hatsopoulos Professor Chair, Committee on Computational Neuroscience University of Chicago Culver Hall, Room 206 1027 East 57th street Chicago, IL 60637 773-702-5594 ________________________________

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ICDL-EpiRob 2015 - registration open
by Benjamin Rosman July 10, 2015

July 10, 2015

======================================================== REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 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/ Registration is now open at: http://www.tech.plym.ac.uk/SoCCE/CRNS/icdl-epirob//2015/registration.html In addition to the main conference, we will have both a preconference workshop and tutorial: Morning: "Introduction to Brains as Emergent Turing Machines" (Juyang Weng) Afternoon: "Mechanisms of learning in social contexts" (Michael Goldstein, Chen Yu) == 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 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. These will be presented during a special session. == Keynote speakers Prof. Dare Baldwin, Dept. of Psychology, University of Oregon, USA Prof. Kerstin Dautenhahn, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, UK Prof. Asif Ghazanfar, Dept. of Psychology, Princeton University, USA == 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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Postdoctoral Position in Cybersecurity, Fordham CIS
by Henry Han July 8, 2015

July 8, 2015

*Postdoctoral Position in Cybersecurity, Fordham CIS* *We invite applications for a postdoctoral researcher position in Cybersecurity in the Department of Computer and Information Science.*This position requires a Ph.D. in Computer Science or a closely related area with a specialization in cybersecurity. Those with expertise in network security, software security, cyber-physical systems, computer forensics, wireless security, biometrics-based security, e-Systems Security, and related areas of cybersecurity are encouraged to apply. This postdoctoral researcher will conduct high-quality research in cybersecurity and teach courses for MS program in Cybersecurity. The selected candidate can apply and compete for a tenure track position that will be available next year. *How to apply:* Send a detailed CV, research statement, teaching statement, and a list of info of 3-5 references with e-mail addresses in a single pdf file to xhan9(a)fordham.edu (Dr. Henry Han). Include job-code “POSTDOC-Cybersecurity” in subject line. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. The Department of Computer and Information Science is currently in the process of expanding its undergraduate and graduate programs in order to serve students entering the growing fields of computer science, information science, and interdisciplinary areas. Fordham's administration is committed to increasing the department's local and national distinction in research and science education. Additional new members will join the faculty in the coming years to build upon the faculty's wide range of expertise and to serve new programs. The faculty of the Department of Computer and Information Science represent a wide range of academic backgrounds, research and professional interests. Serving undergraduate majors in computer science, information science, and interdisciplinary programs in Fordham College at Rose Hill (Bronx), Fordham College at Lincoln Center (Manhattan), and the School of Professional and Continuing Education (all 3 campuses), the department also offers an MS program in Computer Science in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an MS in Cybersecurity in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. An MS program in Data Analytics is in its final process of development. In the thriving metropolis of New York, these programs are ideally situated for education and productivity in the computer and information sciences and industries. The department has a rich network of professionals and organizations, including loyal alumni, throughout the Metropolitan area, and students benefit from research, internship, and career opportunities afforded by the city's vast resources. Fordham University. With over 14,500 students in its 13 schools, Fordham's Carnegie classification is Research University (High Research Activity). U.S. News & World Report currently ranks Fordham 57th nationally, placing it among the Tier 1 universities. Fordham's New York City campuses in the center of Manhattan and the Bronx avail faculty and students of extraordinary resources for education, research, and service. Fordham offers its students a highly dedicated faculty, a productive research environment, emphasis on ethics and social justice, and respect for all individuals, religions, cultures, and creeds. Fordham University is an independent, Catholic University in the Jesuit tradition that welcomes applications from men and women of all backgrounds. Fordham University is committed to excellence through diversity and welcomes candidates of all backgrounds; it is an equal opportunity employer.

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CFP: ICDM Workshop HealthMining 2015 and HISS Special Issue (Deadline: July 20, 2015)
by william July 8, 2015

July 8, 2015

[Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email] CALL FOR PAPERS (Submission Deadline: July 20, 2015) HEALTHMINING 2015 - The ICDM Workshop on Data Mining and Decision Analytics on Public Health and Wellness (URL: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~healthmining2015/) In conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2015) AIMS and SCOPE For many years, data mining and decision analytics techniques have already been extensively applied to various domains, such as smart environments, social networks, marketing, and web technology. The focus of this workshop is mainly on the issues and challenges of data mining techniques with the purpose of improving human well-being and quality of life. It is expected that the workshop may increase the diversity of application areas that can benefit from data mining. At the same time, it is also desirable that the discussion and vision of this workshop would also offer further insights into, as well as new tools for, the issues of data collection, processing, system modeling, simulation and optimization arising from various public health topics. The objective of this workshop is to serve as a venue for researchers to discuss how data mining and analytics methods can contribute to improving public health quality in clinical, medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems in smart ways, including evidence-based medicine, personalized treatment and healthcare, assistive technology and active surveillance and control of diseases. In addition to mining statistical regularities, associations, or causalities from large-scale health-related datasets, it would be more desirable to further investigate how the results can effectively and efficiently support decision-making, system modeling, optimization, and simulation in various healthcare systems. TOPICS OF INTEREST - Large-scale data acquisition and management issues for public health - Social and other network-based analysis for public health - Medical big data mining and innovative applications - Mining risk patterns in medical data - Mental and physical health data integration - Biomarker discovery and biomedical data mining - Clinical data mining for practice knowledge building - Data mining from clinical decision-making, and practitioner reflection - Data mining from genetic data of diseases - Data mining for disease profiling and personalized treatment - Data mining for (active) syndromic surveillance - Data mining for infectious/chronic disease epidemiology and control - Data mining for exploring hidden patterns in clinical systems - Data mining for medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems - Data mining for assistive environments - Data modeling and information management forpervasive assistive environments - Data mining and knowledge modeling for wellness - Spatiotemporal data exploration and mining of diseases - Unstructured data mining in medicine and healthcare - Semantic data mining in medicine and healthcare - Scalable data integration in medicine and healthcare - Evidence-based decision-support systems - Healthcare knowledge abstraction, classification, and summarization - Healthcare knowledge computerization, execution, inference, and representation IMPORTANT DATES - Paper Submission Due: Jul 20, 2015 - Paper Notification Date: Sep 1, 2015 - Workshop Date: Nov 13, 2015 >>> SPECIAL ISSUE <<< Selected papers of the workshop will be invited for revision to be included in a special issue to be published in Health Information Science and Systems (URL: http://www.hissjournal.com/) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - William K. Cheung, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Jiming Liu, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Parisa Rashidi, University of Florida, USA - Fei Wang, University of Connecticut, USA Department of Computer Science: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk HKBU Faculty of Science: http://www.sci.hkbu.edu.hk Disclaimer: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/disclaimer

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New computational challenge on Big Data and neurodegenerative diseases
by Neta Zach July 7, 2015

July 7, 2015

Prize4Life, Sage Bionetworks and DREAM are proud to announce the launch of The DREAM ALS Stratification Prize4Life Challenge <https://www.synapse.org/#!Synapse:syn2873386/wiki/>. The prize, is a computational challenge inviting bioinformatics, statisticians, computation geeks and math geniuses to work on the PRO-ACT database and identify meaningful subgroups of ALS patients. The challenge offers a $28000 prize and journal partnership with Nature Biotechnology. You can read more about it here <http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Israel-base…> or join our Webinar about it on Wednesday <https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2656120293543998721> July 8 at 11am EST. While most ALS patients die with 3-5 years, but some patients, like Stephen Hawking, survive much longer. What differentiates the Stephen Hawkings from the Lou Gehrigs? Is ALs one disease or several sub-disease? the challenge invite participants to devleop algorithms that can stratify the ALS patient population into meaningful subgroups with distinct features. You can read more about it here <http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Israel-base…> . A previous Challenge, the ALS Prediction Prize <http://www.innocentive.com/prize4life-announces-50000-als-prediction-prize-…> which ran in 2012, using only a small subset of the full database, led to the creation of solutions that are able to reduce by 20% the number of patients needed for effective ALS clinical trials, a millions of dollars reduction in the costs of each future ALS clinical trials and are used by several drug companies. Furthermore, the Challenge’s winning algorithms identified novel features of ALS pathology that are predictive of disease progression. The Challenge summary was published in Nature biotechnology <http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n1/full/nbt.3051.html> and were also covered by Science News <http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/11/crowdsourcing-project-pre…> , Science Translational Medicine <http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/264/264ec204.full> and a News and views piece in Nature biotechnology <http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v33/n1/full/nbt.3118.html>. The ALS Stratification Challenge aims to go beyond the prediction prize and bring us one step closer to personalized medicine- to accurately and effectively identify meaningful subgroups of diverse ALS patients and the predictive models and features specific to these subgroups. Winners will win $28000 and the winning submissions with be published with a journal partnership from Nature Biotechnology. You can read more- and Join!- here <https://www.synapse.org/#!Synapse:syn2873386/wiki/> Neta Zach, PhD | Chief Scientific Officer

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PhD positions at LMU Munich
by Stefan Glasauer July 6, 2015

July 6, 2015

Two PhD positions are available at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München for a fixed term of 36 months, starting 1st September 2015. Both positions are linked to the research projects “Dynamic prior and contextual calibration”, which is a part of the newly funded German research group “active perception”. The project aims to uncover the mechanism underlying dynamic contextual calibration in multimodal environments, and to develop a general Bayesian framework describing the prior updating mechanisms in contextual calibration. In particular, we plan to focus on central tendency effects (for a review, see Shi, Church & Meck, 2013, Petzschner & Glasauer, 2015) in multimodal magnitude estimation. The project is expected to establish a general computational framework to examine whether the brain uses multiple modality-specific priors or an amodal prior in contextual calibration, and how the brain resolves inconsistencies among priors, as well as how action priors are taken into consideration in magnitude estimation. Successful candidates should have an excellent M.Sc. degree, or equivalent (or be currently working towards one) in a field of cognitive or computational neuroscience. Computational modeling and programming skills in MATLAB and R are essential. Good verbal and written communication skills in English, interest and some experience in multi-disciplinary research are highly desirable. Successful candidates will be paid according to German salary scale 65% TVL-13. One candidate will work in Department of Psychology, LMU under the supervision of Zhuanghua Shi, and the other candidate in the Center for Sensorimotor Research, LMU under the supervision of Stefan Glasauer. Applicants should send a completed application form along with a cover letter detailing their research experience and interests, a CV and two academic references electronically to either Zhuanghua Shi (shi(a)psy.lmu.de) or Stefan Glasauer (s.glasauer(a)lrz.uni-muenchen.de) The closing date for applications is August 1st, 2015. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview at the beginning of August. We regret that we may not be able to respond to all applications. Applicants who have not received an offer by the end of August 2015 should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. LMU Munich is an equal opportunity employer. Applications of women and disabled persons – given similar qualification – are preferred. Applicants with children are welcome. Part-time employment is possible in principle. ------------- Dr. Zhuanghua Shi Experimental Psychology, Department Psychologie LMU München Tel: (+49) 89 2180 5213 Fax: (+49) 89 2180 5211 Lab: http://www.psy.lmu.de/exp/mlab/

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Event-Driven Retina IC Designer Position
by bernabe July 6, 2015

July 6, 2015

Apologies for Cross-Posting --------------------------- The Sevilla Microelectronics Institute (www.imse-cnm.csic.es) from the Spanish Research Council (www.csic.es) is seeking a post-doc (or highly experienced researcher) with strong analog IC design experience, preferably in vision sensors (but not mandatory). The work to be carried out will be in collaboration with French company Chronocam (http://www.chronocam.com) with the goal of developing new generations of Event-Driven Dynamic Vision Sensors. Salary is negotiable depending on experience and qualifications. Contract is for one year, extensible to two. Later on, if progress is satisfactory, the contract could be extended further or the candidate could be incorporated into Chronocam's staff. Interested candidates please contact directly bernabe(a)imse-cnm.csic.es. -- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernabe Linares-Barranco, PhD, IEEE Fellow Full Professor (Profesor de Investigacion) CSIC Instituto Microelectronica Sevilla (IMSE) Phone: 34-954-466643/66 National Microelectronics Center, CNM-CSIC Fax: 34-954-466600 Av. Americo Vespucio s/n E-mail: Bernabe.Linares(AT)imse-cnm.csic.es 41092 Sevilla, SPAIN URL: http://www.imse-cnm.csic.es/~bernabe -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Post-doc in multimodal neuroimaging in Munich, Germany
by Igor Yakushev July 5, 2015

July 5, 2015

A postdoctoral position is available immediately in the Neuroimaging group (Head: Dr. Igor Yakushev) at the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich, Germany. Projects with include the modeling of cerebral networks and disease trajectories on the basis of brain images, as obtained using PET (amyloid, FDG), DTI, and fMRI. The group's clinical focus is neurodegenerative disorders, in particular Alzheimer’s disease. Existing data sets will provide the basis for prompt data analysis and publications. The research group is integrated into the TUM Neuroimaging Center, which possesses a broad methodological and thematic expertise: http://www.tumnic.mri.tum.de/tumnic/index.html The Dept. of Nuclear Medicine offers exciting opportunities for neuroimaging research in an interdisciplinary environment and access to state-of-the-art technology including a hybrid PET/MR scanner. You should hold a PhD or equivalent degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., computer sciences, engineering, physics, mathematics, neuroscience, medicine). Experience in image analysis tools (SPM, FSL, FreeSurfer) is desirable. Solid knowledge of programming (Matlab, Java) and statistics (SPSS, SAS, R) is advantageous. Salary is according to TV-L. The position is limited for two years, with a possibility of extension. Applications will be considered until the position has been filled. Interested researchers should submit their applications including CV, two recommendation letters (or names and contact details of personal references), and a brief letter of motivation to Dr. Yakushev at igor.yakushev(a)lrz.tum.de

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Autumn school on sensorimotor foundations of social cognition
by Alexander Maye July 3, 2015

July 3, 2015

"The sensorimotor foundations of social cognition" Autumn school Boltenhagen, Baltic Sea, Germany October 11-17, 2015 Description Sensorimotor approaches predict that social cognition does not primarily result from maintaining and running complex models of intentions and beliefs of other agents, but rather from patterns and regularities in the dynamic sensorimotor coupling between them. The school will take stock of concepts and models that follow this emerging view and illuminate them from the perspectives of relevant fields like social psychology, social cognitive neuroscience, robotics and philosophy of mind. Tangible outcomes of the school will be a set of articles on selected aspects of sensorimotor accounts of social cognition which will be authored by the participants and published in Scholarpedia (scholarpedia.org) The school will be the first in a series which is funded and organized by the EU H2020 project "Socializing sensorimotor contingencies - socSMCs" (socSMCs.eu). This year the school is organized by the Dept. of Neurophysiology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (uke.de/neurophysiology). The registration fee is 300Ä and covers participation in the school, accommodation in a single room, breakfast, lunch and three dinners. A reduced fee of 200Ä is requested from participants willing to share a double room. Participants will have to cover their own travel expenses. Content The five-day school will be structured around the following themes: * Enactive and embodied views on social cognition * Non-reductionist, interaction-based approaches to social cognition * Entrainment vs. emulation and mindreading * Dynamical systems theory and social cognition * Neural mechanisms of social interaction: toward a second-person neuroscience * Mutual prediction and adaptation in social interaction * Motor resonance during human-robot interaction The school will comprise keynote lectures in the mornings and discussion groups in the afternoons which serve for in-depth discussions of topics from the keynote lectures. Results from these discussions will be summarized and structured in drafts for Scholarpedia articles. Confirmed Speakers: Luciano Fadiga, University of Ferrara and IIT Genua, Italy Tom Froese, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico D.F. Mattia Gallotti, University College London, UK Peter E. Keller, University of Western Sydney, Australia Christian Keysers, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, John A Michael, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Albert Newen, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany Andreas Roepstorff, Aarhus University, The Netherlands Giulio Sandini, IIT Genua, Italy Cordula Vesper, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Kai Vogeley University of Cologne, Germany Date and location The school will take place from Oct. 11-17, 2015, in Boltenhagen, a nice little beach resort at the Baltic Sea and close to Hamburg (http://www.iberotel.de/iberotel-boltenhagen-ostsee-deutschland.html) Important dates: - Application deadline: August 2, 2015 - Notification of acceptance: August 14, 2015 - Summer school: October 11-17, 2015 - Technical program: October 12-16, 2015 How to apply: The school is open to PhD students and postdocs who are working on the themes addressed. Interested participants shall submit written information on their scientific background, projects involved, and motivation to attend. Admission will be on a competitive basis. Applications should be sent via email to school2015(a)socSMCs.eu. Please state on a single page (11pt font): - Your scientific background and degree - Your motivation to come to this school - The topic of your thesis (if appropriate) - Any prior knowledge in the field Further information: The forerunner project "Extending sensorimotor contingencies to cognition - eSMCs" (2011-2014) funded previous schools in this series like "The future of the embodied mind", held 2011 in San Sebasti·n, Spain (summerschool2011.esmcs.eu), the "Barcelona cognition, brain and technology summer school" in 2012 (bcbt.upf.edu/bcbt11, co-funded) and "Embodiment and Morphological Computation", held at the University of Zurich in 2013 (www.ifi.uzh.ch/ailab/summerschool2013) For further questions, please contact us: school2015(a)socSMCs.eu. -- _____________________________________________________________________ Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf; Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts; Gerichtsstand: Hamburg | www.uke.de Vorstandsmitglieder: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Göke (Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr. Dr. Uwe Koch-Gromus, Joachim Prölß, Rainer Schoppik _____________________________________________________________________ SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE PRINTING

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Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience at IUPUI
by Yaroslav Molkov July 2, 2015

July 2, 2015

A postdoctoral/research associate position in computational neuroscience for the duration of up to two years is available in the externally funded project focusing on multiscale computational modeling of motor control mechanisms, involving interactions between basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, cortex, and spinal cord in connection with realistic simulation of pathological changes in motor control during Huntington’s disease. This collaborative project is performed jointly by the groups of Drs. Ilya Rybak (Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and Yaroslav Molkov (Dept. of Mathematical Science, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA). Applicants must have a PhD degree in Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related discipline, a strong research record, and excellent C++ programming skills. 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. ================================= Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Indiana University - Purdue University at 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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Postdoc position in Computational Neuroscience in the Clopath lab.
by Claudia Clopath July 1, 2015

July 1, 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. PostDoc funding is secured for at least 2 years. -----------------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 PostDoc 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/lab/ <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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Increased Impact Factor (2014/15) and Table of Contents Alert: Cognitive Computation journal (Springer): Vol.7, No.3 / June 2015 Issue
by Dr Amir Hussain June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015

Dear Colleagues: (with advance apologies for any cross-postings) We are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 7, No.3 / June 2015 Issue, of Springer's Cognitive Computation journal - www.springer.com/12559 ================================================================ Important News: Increased Impact Factor & Six bi-monthly Journal Issues from 2015! ================================================================ As you will know, Cognitive Computation was selected for coverage in Thomson Reuter’s products and services in 2011. Beginning with V.1 (1) 2009, this publication is now indexed and abstracted in: ♦ Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch®) ♦ Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition ♦ Current Contents®/Engineering Computing and Technology ♦ Neuroscience Citation Index® Cognitive Computation received its first Impact Factor (IF) of 1.0 in 2011 The IF for 2014 has increased to 1.44 (Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® 2014) Many congratulations to the editors, reviewers and authors! Want to be part of the growing success? Visit the journal homepage (http:// springer.com/12559) for instructions on submitting your research. ================================= Quarterly to Bi-monthly Issues, from 2015!! ================================= Due to continuously growing number of high quality submissions, the number of Issues has increased from four (quarterly Issues) to six (bi-monthly Issues) each year, starting Feb 2015! ======================================== The June 2015 Issue comprises two invited papers - the first by Guang-Bin Huang: "What are Extreme Learning Machines? Filling the Gap Between Frank Rosenblatt’s Dream and John von Neumann’s Puzzle", and the second by Asim Roy: "On Findings of Category and Other Concept Cells in the Brain: Some Theoretical Perspectives on Mental Representation"). These are followed by eight regular papers. The full listing of published articles (Table of Contents) for this June 2015 Issue can be viewed here (and also at the end of this message, followed by an overview of the previous Issues/Archive listings): http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/3/ <http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/> A list of the journal's most downloaded articles (which can always be read for FREE) can be found here: http://www.springer .com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?hideChart=1#realtime Other 'Online First' published articles not yet in a print issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/121361/?Content+Status=Accepted All previous Volumes and Issues of the journal can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 ============================================ Reminder: Cognitive Computation "LinkedIn" Group: ============================================ To further strengthen the bonds amongst the interdisciplinary audience of Cognitive Computation, we have set-up a "Cognitive Computation LinkedIn group", which has over 800 members already! We warmly invite you to join us at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3155048 For further information on the journal and to sign up for electronic "Table of Contents alerts" please visit the Cognitive Computation homepage: http://www.springer.com/12559 or follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CognComput for the latest On-line First Issues. For any questions with regards to LinkedIn and/or Twitter, please contact Springer's Publishing Editor: Marleen Moore: Marleen.Moore(a)springer.com Finally, we would like to invite you to submit short or regular papers describing original research or timely review of important areas - our aim is to peer review all papers within approximately six-eight weeks of receipt. We also welcome relevant high quality proposals for Special Issues - four are already planned for 2015-16 (for CFPs, see: http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/12559?detailsPage=press ) With our very best wishes to all aspiring readers and authors of Cognitive Computation, Professor Amir Hussain, PhD (Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) E-mail: ahu(a)cs.stir.ac.uk (University of Stirling, Scotland, UK) Professor Igor Aleksander, PhD (Honorary Editor-in-Chief: Cognitive Computation) (Imperial College, London, UK) http://www.springer.com/12559 NEW: Open Access Springer/BMC journal: Big Data Analytics ( http://www.bdataanalytics.com/) - Now accepting submissions! NEW: Springer Series on Socio-Affective Computing: http://www.springer.com/series/13199 Also consider your work for related Book Series: SpringerBriefs on Cognitive Computation: http://www.springer .com/series/10374 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Alert -- Cognitive Computation Vol 7 No 3, June 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are Extreme Learning Machines? Filling the Gap Between Frank Rosenblatt’s Dream and John von Neumann’s Puzzle Guang-Bin Huang http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9333-0 On Findings of Category and Other Concept Cells in the Brain: Some Theoretical Perspectives on Mental Representation Asim Roy http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9307-7 Models for Computational Emotions from Psychological Theories Using Type I Fuzzy Logic Aladdin Ayesh, William Blewitt http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9287-7 Models for Computational Emotions from Psychological Theories Using Type-II Fuzzy Logic Aladdin Ayesh, William Blewitt http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9286-8 Is Attentional Refreshing in Working Memory Sequential? A Computational Modeling Approach Sophie Portrat, Benoît Lemaire http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9294-8 Uncertain Graph Classification Based on Extreme Learning Machine Donghong Han, Yachao Hu, Shuangshuang Ai, Guoren Wang http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9295-7 Optimization of Multiuser MIMO Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks Yongqiang Hei, Wentao Li, Min Li, Zhuo Qiu, Weihong Fu http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9297-5 Word Polarity Disambiguation Using Bayesian Model and Opinion-Level Features Yunqing Xia, Erik Cambria, Amir Hussain, Huan Zhao http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9298-4 Imbalanced Learning for Air Pollution by Meta-Cognitive Online Sequential Extreme Learning Machine Chi-Man Vong, Weng-Fai Ip, Chi-Chong Chiu, Pak-Kin Wong http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9301-0 Daniel D. Hutto and Erik Myin: Radicalizing Enactivism: Basic Minds without Content Paulo De Jesus http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-014-9306-8 --------------------------------------------------------- Previous Issues/Archive: Overview: --------------------------------------------------------- All previous Volumes and Issues can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/12559 Alternatively, the full listing of the Inaugural Vol. 1, No. 1 / March 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited authoritative reviews by leading researchers in their areas - including keynote papers from London University's John Taylor, Igor Aleksander and Stanford University's James McClelland, and invited papers from Ron Sun, Pentti Haikonen, Geoff Underwood, Kevin Gurney, Claudius Gross, Anil Seth and Tom Ziemke): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/1/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 2 / June 2009, can be viewed here (which included invited reviews and original research contributions from leading researchers, including Rodney Douglas, Giacomo Indiveri, Jurgen Schmidhuber, Thomas Wennekers, Pentti Kanerva and Friedemann Pulvermuller): http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/2/ The full listing of Vol.1, No. 3 / Sep 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/3/ The full listing of Vol. 1, No. 4 / Dec 2009, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/1/4/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 1 / March 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/1/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 2 / June 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/2/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 3 / Aug 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/3/ The full listing of Vol.2, No. 4 / Dec 2010, can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/2/4/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.1 / Mar 2011 (Special Issue on: Saliency, Attention, Active Visual Search and Picture Scanning, edited by John Taylor and Vassilis Cutsuridis), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/1/ The Guest Editorial can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/hu2245056415633l/ The full listing of Vol.3, No.2 / June 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/2/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 3 / Sep 2011 (Special Issue on: Cognitive Behavioural Systems, Guest Edited by: Anna Esposito, Alessandro Vinciarelli, Simon Haykin, Amir Hussain and Marcos Faundez-Zanuy), can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/3/ The Guest Editorial for the special issue can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4718567520t2h84/ The full listing of Vol. 3, No. 4 / Dec 2011 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/3/4/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.1 / Mar 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/1/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.2 / June 2012 can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/2/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.3 / Sep 2012 (Special Issue on: Computational Creativity, Intelligence and Autonomy, Edited by: J. Mark Bishop and Yasemin J. Erden) can be viewed here: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1866-9956/4/3/ The full listing of Vol. 4, No.4 / Dec 2012 (Special Issue titled: "Cognitive & Emotional Information Processing", Edited by: Stefano Squartini, Björn Schuller and Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/4/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.1 / March 2013 Special Issue titled: Computational Intelligence and Applications Guest Editors: Zhigang Zeng & Haibo He, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.2 / June 2013 Special Issue titled: Advances on Brain Inspired Computing, Guest Editors: Stefano Squartini, Sanqing Hu & Qingshan Liu, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.3 / Sep 2013 Special Issue titled: In Memory of John G Taylor: A Polymath Scholar, Guest Editors: Vassilis Cutsuridis & Amir Hussain, which is followed by a number of regular papers), can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 5, No.4 / Dec 2013, which includes regular papers (including an invited paper by Professor Ron Sun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, titled: Moral Judgment, Human Motivation, and Neural Networks), and a Special Issue titled: Advanced Cognitive Systems Based on Nonlinear Analysis. Guest Editors: Carlos M. Travieso and Jesús B. Alonso, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/5/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.1 / Mar 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/1/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.2 / June 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/2/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.3 / Sep 2014, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/3/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 6, No.4 / Dec 2014 (Special Issue on Modeling emotion, behaviour and context in socially believable robots and ICT interfaces, Guest Editors: Anna Esposito, Leopoldina Fortunati, and Giuseppe Lugano) can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/6/4/page/1 The full listing of Vol. 7, No.1 / Feb 2015 can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/1/ (with the first six papers part of a Special Issue on "Neural Signal Processing", Guest Edited by: Jordi Sole´-Casals, Francois-Benoit Vialatte, Justin Dauwels. The Guest Editorial titled: "Alternative Techniques of Neural Signal Processing in Neuroengineering" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9317-0) The full listing of Vol. 7, No. 2 / April 2015, can be viewed here: http://link.springer.com/journal/12559/7/2/ This comprises a Special Issue on "Sentic Computing", Guest Edited by: E. Cambria and A. Hussain. The Guest Editorial titled: "Sentic Computing" is available (for free download) here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12559-015-9325-0 -- The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Reminder: Summer school on nonlinear methods, application deadline 10th of July
by Michael von Papen June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015

Dear all, This is a reminder for the upcoming Cologne Summer School on non-linear analysis methods for master's degree and PhD students. Deadline for applications is 10th of July, 2015. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cologne Summer School 2015: *Non-Linear Methods for Complex Systems Analysis* Date: Mon-Fri 28.09-02.10.2015 Location: *University of Cologne*, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------- This one-week summer school brings together *master's degree and PhD students from international universities* for an interdisciplinary hands-on learning experience. The workshop will introduce non-linear analysis methods using the Python toolbox pyunicorn. With the techniques presented in the summer school, such as complex networks and phase space concepts, the students will be able to characterize highly complex systems. Such systems are frequently encountered, e.g., in *biology, chemistry, economics, geoscience, neuroscience, and physics*. Lectures and computer labs will be led by Dr. Reik Donner and Marc Wiedermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. For the complete program visit *complexsystems.uni-koeln.de/summerschool.html*. The application deadline is 10.07.2015. The summer school is organized by the Competence Area 3: Quantitative Modeling of Complex Systems of the University of Cologne. Contact: Dr. Michael von Papen (/vonpapen(a)geo.uni-koeln.de/) ------------------------------------------------------------------- *Information* The Competence Area 3: Quantitative Modeling of Complex Systems of the University of Cologne hosts a summer school to introduce novel and groundbreaking methods for the analysis of scientific data. For this matter, we bring together master's degree and PhD students from the University of Cologne and from international universities for an interdisciplinary learning experience. The aim of the summer school is not only to teach new analysis methods, but also to foster scientific collaboration and discussion between students of different fields of study. This year, the summer school of the Competence Area 3 will introduce non-linear analysis methods to study highly complex systems, which cannot be sufficiently characterized with linear methods. Such systems are frequently encountered, e.g., in biology, chemistry, economics, geoscience, neuroscience, and physics. The one-week summer school will take place from Monday to Friday, September 28 - October 2, at the University of Cologne, Germany. The strongly interdisciplinary hands-on course consists of lectures and computer labs and will provide the students with novel analysis techniques and concepts. Amongst others, the workshop will cover topics such as detrended fluctuation analysis, complex networks, scaling analysis, synchronization, transfer entropy, and causality, which help to characterize systems that are governed by non-linear processes. The summer school is led by *Dr. Reik Donner and Marc Wiedermann* from the *Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research* based on their lectures at the Humboldt University, Berlin, and their popular short-courses at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. They will introduce the Python toolbox /pyunicorn/ for non-linear analysis along with prominent examples of modern analysis frameworks highlighting the methodological variety of complex systems based data analysis (see program below). The techniques that are taught in the summer school will be illustrated by applications to real-world data from different fields of study. The course materials will be made available to the participants after the course, including example codes for the platform-independent open-source software Python and the toolbox pyunicorn. The course will be held in English. For questions, please contact Mitch von Papen (vonpapen(a)geo.uni-koeln.de) *Program* The summer school consists of approximately the same amount of lectures and computer labs. During the lectures, the basics of the analysis methods are explained. Subsequently, these methods are applied to synthetic and real-world data in computer labs. The students work on a project in small groups and present and discuss their results at the end of the workshop. The students are introduced to the concepts of several non-linear analysis methods and will gain experience in applying the toolbox pyunicorn as well as in interpreting the results. Ideally, the summer school will enable the students to use the learned techniques on their own scientific data after the summer school. The approximate schedule for the summer school is given below. Note however, that changes may occur due to group dynamics. /Monday, September 28th/ 09:00 a.m. | Lecture 1: Introduction - linear vs. non-linear methods, Stationarity, uni- and multivariate correlation analysis, classical early warning methods, non-linearity tests and surrogate data 11:00 a.m. | Lecture 2: Long-range dependence and scaling analysis, Persistence and anti-persistence, power spectrum, Hurst exponent, detrended fluctuation analysis 02:00 p.m. | Tutorial 1: Introduction to Python, Why Python in science?, important packages for scientific computing, common data types, structure of pyunicorn 04:00 p.m. | Tutorial 2: Assignment of group projects, (6 groups a 5 persons) 07:00 p.m. | Social get-together at local brewery /Tuesday, September 29th/ 09:00 a.m. | Lecture 3: Introduction to complex networks, Mathematical representation of networks, structural network characteristics, basic network models, identification of power-laws, interconnected and multi-layer networks 11:00 a.m. | Lecture 4: Inferring networks from data, Functional network analysis (correlation networks, examples from climatology, neurophysiology and economics), visibility graphs 02:00 p.m. | Tutorial 3: tbd 04:00 p.m. | Tutorial 4: tbd /Wednesday, September 30th/ 09:00 a.m. | Lecture 5: Information theory and entropy, Basic concepts, Shannon-, Renyi- and Tsallis-entropies as statistical quantifiers, Kolmogorov-Sinai (source) entropy and estimation via block entropies, order patterns and permutation entropy, mutual information, transfer entropy and causality, independent component analysis 11:00 a.m. | Lecture 6: Synchronization, Definition and types of synchronization, phase synchronization: order parameters and phase dynamics from data, generalized synchronization 02:00 p.m. | Tutorial 5: tbd 04:00 p.m. | Tutorial 6: tbd /Thursday, October 1st/ 09:00 a.m. | Lecture 7: Phase space concepts, Phase space of dynamical systems, embedding, fractal dimensions, correlation integral and relation with entropies, entropy estimates from embedded data 11:00 a.m. | Lecture 8: Recurrence analysis, Recurrence in phase space; recurrence plots, quantification analysis and networks; multivariate generalizations; applications: synchronization analysis, coupling direction 02:00 p.m. | Tutorial 7: tbd 04:00 p.m. | Tutorial 8: tbd /Friday, October 2nd/ 09:00 a.m. | Presentation and discussion of projects 1-3 from the tutorials 11:00 a.m. | Presentation and discussion of projects 4-6 from the tutorials 02:00 p.m. | Open discussion: Outlook on contemporary developments in the field 03:30 p.m. | End of day 5: Farewell -- ------------------------------------------ UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE Institute of Geophysics & Meteorology Coordinator of Competence Area III: Quantitative Modeling of Complex Systems Dr. Michael von Papen Pohligstr. 3 (R 3.224) 50969 Cologne Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-2841 Email: vonpapen(a)geo.uni-koeln.de http://complexsystems.uni-koeln.de

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Postdoctoral Positions in Computational Neuroscience at Sandia National Laboratories
by Chance, Frances S. June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015

Colleagues, We are seeking postdoctoral researchers to join an interdisciplinary research program focused on understanding neural computation at the circuit level. Example research topics of interest include computational models of visual cortex, neural circuitry underlying perception, and the neural basis of decision-making. Candidates should have a strong background in neuroscience, and an interest in understanding of relations between neuroscience, cognitive science, and computation. Experience or familiarity with related machine-learning fields is also desired. Our department is part of a highly interdisciplinary community of researchers with interests spanning systems neuroscience and brain-inspired computing, engineering, and computer science. Successful applicants will be expected to conduct high-quality research, maintain a successful publication record in peer-reviewed journals, and develop collaborations with this vibrant and growing community. This position is located at Sandia's Albuquerque, NM, USA site. To view the full job advertisement and to apply, visit http://www.sandia.gov/careers/ and click "View All Jobs". Go to the Advanced Search, then search for Job Opening ID 650197. Please contact Frances Chance (fschanc(a)sandia.gov<mailto:fschanc@sandia.gov>) or Brad Aimone (jbaimon(a)sandia.gov<mailto:jbaimon@sandia.gov>) with any questions.

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Computational Neuroscience Positions at Sandia National Laboratories
by Chance, Frances S. June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015

Colleagues, We are seeking computational neuroscientists to join an interdisciplinary research program focused on understanding neural computation at the circuit level. Preference will be given to candidates using computational approaches, broadly defined, to understand visual cortex and perception, but we welcome applicants from all areas of computational neuroscience. Example research topics of interest include computational models of visual cortex, neural circuitry underlying perception, and the neural basis of decision-making. Candidates should have a strong background in neuroscience, and an understanding of relations between neuroscience, cognitive science, and computation. Experience or familiarity with related machine-learning fields is also desired. Our department is part of a highly interdisciplinary community of researchers with interests spanning systems neuroscience and brain-inspired computing, engineering, and computer science. Successful applicants will be expected to conduct high-quality research, maintain a successful publication record in peer-reviewed journals, and develop collaborations with this vibrant and growing community. Staff members at Sandia are expected both to contribute to ongoing projects and to develop new lines of research with potential for application in solving complex problems. This position is located at Sandia's Albuquerque, NM, USA site. Multiple positions for varying levels of experience are available. For more information and to apply, visit http://www.sandia.gov/careers/ and click "View All Jobs". Go to the Advanced Search, then search for Job Opening ID 650198. For questions please contact Frances Chance (fschanc(a)sandia.gov<mailto:fschanc@sandia.gov>) or Brad Aimone (jbaimon(a)sandia.gov<mailto:jbaimon@sandia.gov>).

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Workshop on "Spike Initiation: Models & Experiments" at CNS2015 - 22/7/2015, Prague
by Giugliano Michele June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015

Apologies for cross-posting. We would like to announce the following event ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Workshop on "Spike Initiation: Models & Experiments"<http://www.namasen.net/drupal/sites/CNS2015Workshop/CNS2015_Workshop_-_Spik…> as part of the CNS2015<http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-prague> programme July 22nd, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The workshop gathers leading experimentalists and theoreticians to discuss a pivotal element for our quantitative understanding of neuronal excitability: the initiation of action potentials. Phenomenological, electrophysiological, and computational aspects of spike initiation will be discussed by addressing the following questions: · What models can quantitatively account for experimental observations? · How is spike initiation regulated at different time scales? · What is the role of the various ionic channels expressed in the axonal initial segment? · What is the significance of neuronal morphology and spatial distribution of channels? · What are the functional consequences of spike initiation properties? The workshop is organised as a symposium of the CNS2015 conference<http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-prague> (see here<http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-workshops-program>). Organizers: Romain Brette, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, Michele Giugliano, University of Antwerp (UA), Wilrijk, Belgium. Speakers: Romain Brette, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, Martina Michalikova, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Andreas Neef, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen, Germany. Florence Cotel, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Michele Giugliano, University of Antwerp (UA), Wilrijk, Belgium. Maarten Kole, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Christian Pozzorini, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. Nadim Farzan, Federated Dept Biological Sciences, NJIT & Rutgers Univ, Newark, USA. William Spain, Washington University, Seattle, Washington, USA. Find more information online: http://www.frontiersin.org/events/Spike_Initation_Models__Experiments/3036 Michele Giugliano and Romain Brette — Michele Giugliano, PhD Dept. of Biomedical Sciences University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken (CDE) - D.T.657 Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk (Belgium) url: http://www.uantwerpen.be/michele-giugliano

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Early bird registration extended: Swinburne Brain Imaging Symposium 2015: Principles and Applications of Magnetoencephalography
by David Liley June 29, 2015

June 29, 2015

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION EXTENDED TO 26th July 2015 Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, is hosting a workshop to promote the unique capabilities of magnetoencephalography for basic and clinical research and clinical decision making. Running over two days from 29 to 30 July 2015 it will feature invited talks from some of the fields most important research leaders and a MEG data analysis hands-on computer workshop. Invited Speakers: Mark Woolrich (Oxford) Krish Singh (Cardiff) Vladimir Litvak (UCL) Suresh Muthukumaraswamy (Auckland) Blake Johnson (Macquarie) In addition to the keynote speakers and computer workshop there will also be an open poster session for registrants to present their work in any of the following or related thematic areas: magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography, clinical monitoring, neuroimaging, TMS, tDCS, tACS or brain-computer interfaces Poster abstract submission deadline: CLOSED Invited Symposia & Cocktail Poster Session – 29-30 July 2015: Early bird registration: full: AU$300; Student/Post-docs: AU$80. Early bird registration deadline: 26th July 2015. Standard registration: full: AU$450; Student/Early Career Researcher: AU$120. Hands-on MEG Data analysis workshop (spaces limited to 30) – 30 July afternoon: SOLD OUT For further information on the invited speakers as well as the preliminary workshop program, and how to submit abstracts and register visit: http://www.research.swinburne.edu.au/our-research/events/neuroimaging-sympo… Please forward this notice to anyone that you think might be interested. On behalf of the organizing committee David Liley, MBChB, PhD Brian Cornwell, PhD Email: megsymposium(a)swin.edu.au<mailto:megsymposium@swin.edu.au> --------------------------- Prof David Liley Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre Swinburne University of Technology P.O. Box 218 Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia ph: +61 3 9214 8812<tel:%2B61%203%209214%208812>

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Fully funded PhD position available at Ulster University (UK), in Brain-inspired Self-repairing Electronic Systems.
by Harkin, Jim June 28, 2015

June 28, 2015

A fully funded PhD position is available at the Intelligent Systems Research Center, Ulster University, UK, in Brain-inspired Self-repairing Electronic Systems. Background Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in Brain-inspired Self-repairing Electronic Systems. The proposed PhD project work is part of the recently funded 3½ year EPSRC project ‘SPANNER’ (EP/N00714X/1) which investigates the development of brain-inspired self-repairing systems, and is in collaboration with the Department of Electronics, University of York. The PhD project will build upon existing investigations at Ulster into the development of highly reliable, large-scale computing systems, where hardware building block have been developed to support brain inspired hardware architectures. In particular, at Ulster we have shown that astrocyte cells interact with neurons to detect when a fault has occurred in the connections making up a network of neurons. We have also developed computer models that demonstrate not only how faults are detected but also how the brain performs repairs. The proposed PhD project will investigate the development of a novel self-repair strategy for computing systems. The concept will explore current thinking on how the human brain performs repair using “astrocyte” cells (glia cells), and will explore how the key principle of this mechanism can be used in the context of electronic systems to provide a novel repair strategy in hardware. Currently an existing software model of a self-repairing astrocyte-neuron network is available and this will be an initial functional specification for the self-repairing hardware strategy. The key research aim is to use the software model of the astrocyte-neuron network and explore how to effectively and efficiently map it to FPGA hardware. Synapse and neuron building blocks for FPGAs have been demonstrated by the Ulster team and will be initially used in the hardware design. The research will look to optimise the FPGA implementation for scalability and this will include the design of astrocyte cells, 3-terminal synapses and interconnectivity between cells, synapses and neurons. An FPGA-based implementation of a demonstrator will be explored to showcase the levels of resilience to injected faults. The successful candidate will be located at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre on the Magee campus of the Ulster University however, aspects of the work will require short research visits to collaborate with project partners at the University of York. Requirements Candidates should hold, or expect to hold a first or upper second class honours degree in Electronic/Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or a cognate area. Applications will be considered on a competitive basis with regard to the candidate’s qualifications, skills experience and interests. Successful candidates will enrol as of 1st October 2015, on a full-time programme of research studies leading to the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Award The studentship will comprise fees and an annual stipend of £14,057. It will be awarded for a period of up to three years subject to satisfactory progress and is tenable in the Faculty of Computing and Engineering. Further Information If you wish to receive further information please contact: Dr. Jim Harkin (jg.harkin(a)ulster.ac.uk<mailto:jg.harkin@ulster.ac.uk>) Procedure For more information on applying go to www.ulster.ac.uk/research<http://www.ulster.ac.uk/research> Apply online via www.ulster.ac.uk/applyonline<http://www.ulster.ac.uk/applyonline> Closing date and interviews The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 10th July 2015. Interviews will be held in July 2015. ________________________________ 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

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Post-doctoral research position in vision and memory (I2R, Singapore)
by Cheston Tan June 27, 2015

June 27, 2015

We are seeking an exceptional postdoctoral researcher in visual recognition, learning and memory. The position is available immediately, at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) in Singapore. The project is part of a large multidisciplinary grant (PI: Prof. Tomaso Poggio of MIT) involving multiple universities and research institutions in Singapore (SBIC/CIRC, Duke-NUS Medical School, NUS/NUH, NTU, SINAPSE). The candidate will work on visual recognition, learning and memory algorithms with a strong multidisciplinary team at I2R, and with Prof. Poggio. Collaborators include Prof. Brown Hsieh (Duke-NUS Medical School), Prof. Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard Medical School), Prof. Zhao Qi (National University of Singapore) and Dr. Demis Hassabis (Google/DeepMind). Candidates must have a PhD in computer science, neuroscience, engineering, psychology or related fields. Strong programming and quantitative skills are required. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English. Interest in biologically-inspired approaches preferred. The appointment will be for up to 2 years (possibly with extension), with internationally-competitive salaries and benefits. Other benefits include: - Funding for international conferences and training courses - Collaboration opportunities with an excellent network of international scientists - Opportunities for attachments at MIT and the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (http://cbmm.mit.edu/) Interested candidates should send a CV, statement of research interests and three references to Dr. Cheston Tan (cheston(a)alum.mit.edu) Position will be open until filled; send applications sooner rather than later if interested. More information: - Dr. Cheston Tan: http://www.mit.edu/~cheston/CV_short.pdf - Dr. Lim Joo-Hwee: http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/profile/dr-lim-joo-hwee - Institute for Infocomm Research: http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/ - Working in Singapore: http://www.contactsingapore.sg/professionals/why_singapore/

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ICDM Workshop HealthMining 2015 and HISS Special Issue (Deadline: July 20, 2015)
by william June 27, 2015

June 27, 2015

[Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email] CALL FOR PAPERS HEALTHMINING 2015 - The ICDM Workshop on Data Mining and Decision Analytics on Public Health and Wellness (URL: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~healthmining2015/) In conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2015) AIMS and SCOPE For many years, data mining and decision analytics techniques have already been extensively applied to various domains, such as smart environments, social networks, marketing, and web technology. The focus of this workshop is mainly on the issues and challenges of data mining techniques with the purpose of improving human well-being and quality of life. It is expected that the workshop may increase the diversity of application areas that can benefit from data mining. At the same time, it is also desirable that the discussion and vision of this workshop would also offer further insights into, as well as new tools for, the issues of data collection, processing, system modeling, simulation and optimization arising from various public health topics. The objective of this workshop is to serve as a venue for researchers to discuss how data mining and analytics methods can contribute to improving public health quality in clinical, medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems in smart ways, including evidence-based medicine, personalized treatment and healthcare, assistive technology and active surveillance and control of diseases. In addition to mining statistical regularities, associations, or causalities from large-scale health-related datasets, it would be more desirable to further investigate how the results can effectively and efficiently support decision-making, system modeling, optimization, and simulation in various healthcare systems. TOPICS OF INTEREST - Large-scale data acquisition and management issues for public health - Social and other network-based analysis for public health - Medical big data mining and innovative applications - Mining risk patterns in medical data - Mental and physical health data integration - Biomarker discovery and biomedical data mining - Clinical data mining for practice knowledge building - Data mining from clinical decision-making, and practitioner reflection - Data mining from genetic data of diseases - Data mining for disease profiling and personalized treatment - Data mining for (active) syndromic surveillance - Data mining for infectious/chronic disease epidemiology and control - Data mining for exploring hidden patterns in clinical systems - Data mining for medical/biomedical, and healthcare systems - Data mining for assistive environments - Data modeling and information management for pervasive assistive environments - Data mining and knowledge modeling for wellness - Spatiotemporal data exploration and mining of diseases - Unstructured data mining in medicine and healthcare - Semantic data mining in medicine and healthcare - Scalable data integration in medicine and healthcare - Evidence-based decision-support systems - Healthcare knowledge abstraction, classification, and summarization - Healthcare knowledge computerization, execution, inference, and representation >>> SPECIAL ISSUE <<< Selected papers of the workshop will be invited for revision to be included in a special issue to be published in Health Information Science and Systems (URL: http://www.hissjournal.com/) IMPORTANT DATES - Paper Submission Due: Jul 20, 2015 - Paper Notification Date: Sep 1, 2015 - Workshop Date: Nov 13, 2015 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - William K. Cheung, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Jiming Liu, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong - Parisa Rashidi, University of Florida, USA - Fei Wang, University of Connecticut, USA -- Dr. William K. Cheung Associate Professor and Associate Head CS Dept, Hong Kong Baptist University http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~william Tel: (+852) 3411-5965 Fax: (+852) 3411-7892 "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." --- Proverbs 17:22 Department of Computer Science: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk HKBU Faculty of Science: http://www.sci.hkbu.edu.hk Disclaimer: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/disclaimer Department of Computer Science: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk HKBU Faculty of Science: http://www.sci.hkbu.edu.hk Disclaimer: http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/disclaimer

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Fully funded PhD position in Neural Learning / Robotics / Evolutionary Neural Networks
by Andrea Soltoggio June 25, 2015

June 25, 2015

A fully funded PhD position is available at the Deep Automation, Learning and Evolution Lab at Loughborough University, UK, on the topics of Neural Learning / Robotics / Evolutionary Neural Networks. Loughborough University is ranked 11th in the 2016 UK League Table Ranking (http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/loughborough/performance , and is located in Loughborough, a town well connected to London by a 1h20m journey by train. Research. The focus is on developing new neural learning algorithms with possible applications to a variety of automation and machine learning problems, e.g. vision, robotics, autonomous vehicles, manufacturing technology. We seek an outstanding candidate, capable of defining their own research project and bringing novel ideas and initiatives to the lab. Working environment. The student, based at the Computer Science Department, School of Science, will have access to a number of robotic platforms, from humanoid robots, to UAVs and a number of industrial and service robots, as well as a High Performance Computing cluster and GPUs. Interdisciplinary research is encouraged across laboratories, including Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, the Intelligent Automation Lab, and the Centre for Information Management. The research group collaborates with leading national and international industrial partners. Requirements. The ideal candidate holds (or is about to obtain) a first-class honour undergraduate/postgraduate degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or has authored publications in recognised conferences/journals. Independent working skills are valued as well as the capability of working in a team. Collegiality and interpersonal skills are essential. Excellent English language skills are highly desired (see requirements here http://www.lboro.ac.uk/international/englang/index.htm) Period/Scholarship. Start: October 2015. Duration: 3 years. Scholarship: £14,057 per annum plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate (currently £4,052 p.a.) Enquiries and applications. Interested candidates are invited to establish a preliminary contact with me (a.soltoggio(a)lboro.ac.uk<mailto:a.soltoggio@lboro.ac.uk>), possibly including a CV, the names and addresses of two referees, and a statement of research interest (maximum 300 words), before submitting the full application at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/ Best regards, Andrea Soltoggio -- Dr. Andrea Soltoggio Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence Department of Computer Science and Centre for Information Management (CIM) School of Business and Economics Haslegrave Building, N.2.03 Loughborough University LE11 3TU, UK Phone: +44 (0) 1509 635748<tel:%2B44%20%280%29%201509%20635748> Email: a.soltoggio(a)lboro.ac.uk<mailto:a.soltoggio@lboro.ac.uk> Web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/compsci/staff/dr-andrea-soltoggio.html

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Job: Post-doctoral Scientist - Investigating the Feasibility of Controlling Hearing-aid Directionality Using In-Ear Electrodes to Measure Eye Position.
by Bernd Porr June 25, 2015

June 25, 2015

Dear all, this is something for somebody who has a strong background in signal processing / biomed signal processing. If interested please contact Owen Brimijoin <owen(a)ihr.gla.ac.uk>. Best /Bernd Porr -------------------------------------------------------------------- Salary: £27,084 – 29,567 Grade: MRC - 4a Contract Type: Fixed Term, 24 months Hours: Full Time Closing Date:31 July 2015 Interview Date: 26 August 2015 The successful applicant will be based at the MRC/CSO Institute of Hearing Research (IHR) in Glasgow within the Auditory Disability and Impairment group headed by Dr William Whitmer. The successful applicant will join a small group of researchers but will work most closely with Drs Owen Brimijoin (IHR), Bernd Porr (Glasgow Uni), and Graham Naylor (Oticon) on a project investigating the feasibility of using in-ear measurements of eye position to guide hearing aid directionality. The project will use electrooculograms (EOG), optical eye and head tracking, digital signal processing, microphone arrays, as well as our extensive audiological and auditory testing facilities. Your work will consist of writing signal-processing algorithms to combine the output of an EOG amplifier, gyroscopes, and other extra-cochlear signals to yield a reliable measure of eye position that can be used to aim the directional beam of an experimental hearing aid. The work will continue with implementing these algorithms in Matlab and/or C, designing experiments to test benefit, statistical analysis of results, and delivery of these results for dissemination (conference abstracts and presentations, invited lectures and seminars, and published manuscripts in specialized and generic journals). -- http://www.berndporr.me.uk http://www.linux-usb-daq.co.uk http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3293421/ +44 (0)7840 340069

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Deep Learning and Continuous Time Computing - Track at SAC 2016 - Call for Papers
by Davide Zambrano June 24, 2015

June 24, 2015

Dear all, Please consider joining our track at SAC2016. Apologies for cross posting. Best regards. ————————————————————————————————————— ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) 2016 The 31st Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing in Pisa, Italy, April 3 – 8, 2016. (webpage : http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2016/) Deep Learning and Continuous-Time Computing (webpage : http://event.cwi.nl/sac2016/) ————————————————————————————————————— SAC 2016: For the past thirsty years, the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing has been a primary gathering forum for applied computer scientists, computer engineers, software engineers, and application developers from around the world. SAC 2016 is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP), and will be hosted by the University of Pisa and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna University, Italy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the objectives of Machine Learning: how to create computers capable of intelligent behavior. Deep Learning in artificial neural networks represents a remarkable step toward this direction. Current state-of-the-art AI in the form of deep neural networks has recently demonstrated breakthrough performance in various AI-cognitive tasks, from image and speech recognition to natural language generation and playing ATARI games. However, in real-world applications like video processing or robot control, a deep neural network has then to be updated continuously, causing a high computational load. Specialized acceleration hardware is being developed for deep learning in continuous-time environments. In addition, or alternatively, Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) represent another possible solution for efficient continuous-time representation and computing in deep neural networks. This Track aims to consolidate the current state-of-the-art in deep learning, continuous-time computing, spiking neural networks and related acceleration hardware tools (such as GPUs, SpiNNaker or Neuromorphic Silicon systems) showing recent and future progresses of this rising and growing research field. ————————————————————————————————————— Topics of interests: Deep learning Continuous-time learning Spiking Neural Networks Asynchronous computation Large scale parallel simulations and computing Neuromorphic computing ————————————————————————————————————— Important Dates are published on the Conference or Track webpages. ————————————————————————————————————— Track Program Committee: Sander Bohte, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to s.m.bohte(a)cwi.nl ) Davide Zambrano, CWI Amsterdam (NL) (Track Chair — email to d.zambrano(a)cwi.nl ) Thomas Nowotny, University of Sussex (UK) Steven Furber, University of Manchester (UK) Karl Tuyls, University of Liverpool (UK) Shih-Chii Liu, University of Zurich/ETH Zurich (CH) Robert Babuska, Delft University of Technology (NL) Andre Gruning, University of Surrey (UK) Max Welling, University of Amsterdam (NL) Narayan Srinavasa, HRL Laboratories LLC (USA) Eleni Vasilaki, University of Sheffield (UK) ————————————————————————————————————— Important notice: Paper registration is required, allowing the inclusion of the paper, poster, or SRC abstract in the conference proceedings. An author or a proxy attending SAC MUST present the paper. This is a requirement for including the work in the ACM/IEEE digital library. No-show of registered papers, posters, and SRC abstracts will result in excluding them from the ACM/IEEE digital library. ————————————————————————————————————— Dr. Davide Zambrano PostDoc at CWI, Amsterdam (NL) MSc in Biomedical Eng. - PhD in Biorobotics D.Zambrano(a)cwi.nl Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) Science Park, 123 1098 XG - Amsterdam

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Gordon Research Conference on Eye Movements
by Emilio Salinas June 24, 2015

June 24, 2015

Readers of this list may be interested in the upcoming Gordon Research Conference on Eye Movements. This year's theme, "Integrating Perception and Action for Optimal Vision", promises to provide fresh perspectives on core oculomotor issues. The meeting is meant as an immersive experience in which participants share ideas over meals and jointly participate in scheduled and unscheduled social activities. The format provides unparalleled opportunity for participants at all career stages to share their most novel findings, foster new collaborative efforts, and chart the future directions of oculomotor research. WHAT: Call for applications for the 2015 Gordon Research Conference on Eye Movements (main meeting) and Gordon Research Seminar on Eye Movements (1-day forum for students and postdocs) DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: June 28th WHEN: July 26-31 (GRC), July 25-26 (GRS) WHERE: Bentley University, Waltham MA (just outside of Boston) HOW: Apply online - GRC application; GRS application DETAILS: http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?id=14523 Emilio Salinas, on behalf of Terry Stanford & John Van Opstal (GRC Chairs) Doug Crawford & Marc Sommer (GRC Vice-chairs) Jaime Kaminer and Martin Bohlen (GRS Chairs)

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Rapid image categorization via edge co-occurrences
by James A. Bednar June 23, 2015

June 23, 2015

We are pleased to announce the publication of an open-access paper demonstrating a novel method for categorizing images using the statistics of their edge co-occurrences. The success of this low-level method in matching both correct and incorrect classifications by humans suggests a reinterpretation of longstanding claims for rapid hierarchical processing in the visual cortex. Laurent U. Perrinet Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS James A. Bednar Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation University of Edinburgh _______________________________________________________________________________ Laurent U. Perrinet and James A. Bednar. Edge co-occurrences can account for rapid categorization of natural versus animal images. Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group, 5:11400, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11400 Abstract: Making a judgment about the semantic category of a visual scene, such as whether it contains an animal, is typically assumed to involve high-level associative brain areas. Previous explanations require progressively analyzing the scene hierarchically at increasing levels of abstraction, from edge extraction to mid-level object recognition and then object categorization. Here we show that the statistics of edge co-occurrences alone are sufficient to perform a rough yet robust (translation, scale, and rotation invariant) scene categorization. We first extracted the edges from images using a scale-space analysis coupled with a sparse coding algorithm. We then computed association for different categories (natural, man-made, or containing an animal) by computing the statistics of edge co-occurrences. These differed strongly, with animal images having more curved configurations. We show that this geometry alone is sufficient for categorization, and that the pattern of errors made by humans is consistent with this procedure. Because these statistics could be measured as early as the primary visual cortex, the results challenge widely held assumptions about the flow of computations in the visual system. The results also suggest new algorithms for image classification and signal processing that exploit correlations between low-level structure and the underlying semantic category. -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
by Santamaria, Cookie June 22, 2015

June 22, 2015

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE The BioCircuits Institute (BCI) and Departments of Physics, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Bioengineering, and Psychology and Neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego invite applications for a postdoctoral position in systems neuroscience, for experiments leading to the neuromorphic engineering of cognitive abilities. The ideal candidate will have experience with electrophysiology, with awake behaving animals, with neural modeling, and/or with biologically inspired integrated circuits and systems. Close interaction with other project researchers in computational and theoretical neuroscience, nonlinear dynamical systems, and neuromorphic engineering is involved. We will accept applications immediately. To be considered, please submit your complete application by Friday, 31 July 2015. We will begin making selections from the completed applications on 3 August 2015. The Committee will continue to accept and review completed applications as they are received until the position is filled. Appointments are for two years (in one-year increments) with the possibility of a third. Send your statement of qualifications and interest with curriculum vitae, your two most significant publications and three letters of reference to Tim Gentner, Henry Abarbanel, Gert Cauwenberghs, Katja Lindenberg, Mikhail Rabinovich, and Terrence Sejnowski via email to: <postdoc.muri(a)gmail.com<mailto:postdoc.muri@gmail.com>>. A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree is required prior to the appointment. UCSD is an EO/AA employer.

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Development of model description languages
by Erik De Schutter June 22, 2015

June 22, 2015

Postdoctoral researcher and staff scientist positions are available in the Computational Neuroscience Unit (https://groups.oist.jp/cnu) of Prof. Erik De Schutter at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. We are looking for a postdoc with a computer science or engineering background who is interested in the development of XML-based methods for model description and simulation. You will collaborate with international colleagues on further development of NIneML (http://nineml.net) and deploy it within the research group. Previous experience related to collaborative projects in computational neuroscience or systems biology preferred. You will interact with other researchers and students in the lab who are working on cerebellar modeling projects or analyzing cerebellar recordings. We offer attractive financial and working conditions in an English language graduate university that emphasizes interdisciplinary research, located on the beautiful subtropical island Okinawa. Send curriculum vitae, a summary of research interests and experience, and the names of three referees to Prof. Erik De Schutter at erik(a)oist.jp

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SPIKY and PySpike – Two free software packages for monitoring spike train synchrony
by Thomas Kreuz June 21, 2015

June 21, 2015

Dear all, we would like to draw your attention to our two most recent papers and to two new software packages. *1. Two new papers:* This paper provides a detailed description of *SPIKY* (see 2.) and introduces our new measure *SPIKE-synchronization*: • Kreuz T, Mulansky M, Bozanic N: SPIKY: A graphical user interface for monitoring spike train synchrony. JNeurophysiol <http://jn.physiology.org/content/113/9/3432> 113, 3432 (2015) [PDF] <http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/images/Kreuz_JNeurophysiol_2015…>. An overview of all three of our measures (*ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance and SPIKE-synchronization*) and their mathematical properties can be found in • Mulansky M, Bozanic N, Sburlea A, Kreuz T: A guide to time-resolved and parameter-free measures of spike train synchrony. IEEE Proceedings (in press) and arXiv [PDF] <http://arxiv.org/pdf/1502.02027v2.pdf> (2015). *2. SPIKY, graphical user interface (Matlab) for monitoring spike train synchrony* Implementations of ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance, and SPIKE-Synchronization Distances, time profiles, distance matrices, selective averaging, triggered averages, dendrograms, etc. Plotting, movie generation Spike train generator, event detector (for continuous data such as EEG) Matlab with C backend (MEX) Matlab fallback if no MEX-compiler is not available Extensive documentation includes many illustrative movies Matlab source codes and all relevant papers are available on our *SPIKY download page* http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/Source-Code/SPIKY.html For further information about new features and updates please check the *SPIKY Facebook page* https://www.facebook.com/SPIKYgui Here you'll also find a lot of documentation including many images and movies that illustrate how to use SPIKY. All of these movies can also be found on the *SPIKY Youtube channel* https://www.youtube.com/user/SPIKYgui1 *3. PySpike, open source Python library hosted on github* Implementations of ISI-distance, SPIKE-distance, and SPIKE-Synchronization Library of functions to compute distances and profiles (bivariate and multivariate), distance matrices, selective averages, etc. Helper functions for plotting, spike train generation Cython backend for optimal performance (factor 100-200 over plain Python) Python fallback if Cython is not available Extensive unit-tests that cover the API as well as the numerics Automatic build and test runs Documentation The github issues system can be used to file bug reports or request new functionality and features. *PySpike webpage* http://www.pyspike.de *PySpike github page* https://github.com/mariomulansky/PySpike Any feedback on both the papers and the software packages is very welcome. Best wishes, Thomas Kreuz -- Institute for complex systems, CNR Via Madonna del Piano 10 50119 Sesto Fiorentino (Italy) Tel: +39-349-0748506 Email: thomas.kreuz(a)cnr.it Webpage: http://www.fi.isc.cnr.it/users/thomas.kreuz/

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Research Associate Position in Computational Neural Modeling (Duke University)
by Angel V. Peterchev June 21, 2015

June 21, 2015

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE in COMPUTATIONAL NEURAL MODELING DUKE UNIVERSITY Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences An opportunity exists to join a research team working to understand and advance transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS is a non-invasive form of brain stimulation used widely as a neuroscience research tool as well as a treatment for psychiatric and neurological disorders (FDA approved for depression since 2008). We have an ongoing NIH-funded project that combines computational modeling at several scales with single neuron recordings in pre-clinical models. We seek a highly-motivated individual who is interested in developing and applying computational models of TMS. The parallel experimental component of the study provides unique opportunities to validate and calibrate computational models. This is a full-time position with University Benefits and provides exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary research and career development. This position will be jointly mentored by Angel V. Peterchev, PhD<https://sites.google.com/site/dukebrainstimulation/> (Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine) and Warren M. Grill, PhD<http://www.bme.duke.edu/faculty/warren-grill> (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering), providing exposure to both clinical and engineering research settings. A PhD in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, neuroscience, physics, or math is required, as are excellent communication skills. Previous experience in computational neural modeling is required, and previous experience with neural stimulation is desirable. For consideration submit a CV and the names and contact information of three professional references as a .pdf file attachment to: Angel V. Peterchev, PhD Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, and Electrical & Computer Engineering angel.peterchev(a)duke.edu<mailto:angel.peterchev@duke.edu> Duke University is an equal opportunity / affirmative action employer.

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Congratulations to the Winners of the 2015 Best Illusion of the Year Contest!
by Susana Martinez-Conde June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015

Congratulations to the winners of the 11th annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest <http://illusionoftheyear.com/> ! Online voters around the world chose the best illusions of the year from Thursday, June 11th 7pm EST to Friday, June 12th 7PM EST. First Place and an award of $3,000 USD went to "Splitting Colors <http://illusionoftheyear.com/2015/splitting-colors/> ," a color illusion by Mark Vergeer from KU Leuven, Belgium. Second Place and an award of $2,000 USD went to "Ambiguous Garage Roof <http://illusionoftheyear.com/2015/ambiguous-garage-roof/> ," a perspective illusion by Kokichi Sugihara from Meiji University, Japan. Third Place and an award of $1,000 USD went to "The Day it Rained on Lowry <http://illusionoftheyear.com/2015/the-day-it-rained-on-lowry/> ," a motion illusion by Michael Pickard from VisuallyDirectedDesign.com in the UK. Enjoy the winning illusions and all Top 10 Finalists <http://illusionoftheyear.com/cat/top-10-finalists/2015/> at http://illusionoftheyear.com Illusion submissions <http://illusionoftheyear.com/about-the-contest/submission-instructions/> are now accepted for the 12th edition of the Best Illusion of the Year Contest, to be held in 2016. 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 The Neural Correlate Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote the public awareness of neuroscience research. ----------------------------------- 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: <mailto:smart@neuralcorrelate.com> smart(a)neuralcorrelate.com Phone: +1 718-270-4520 <http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com/> http://smc.neuralcorrelate.com

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CFP 7th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence - IJCCI 2015
by Calendar Sites June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015

Please note that the dates of the UPCOMING DEADLINES have been slightly changed. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____ CALL FOR PAPERS 7th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence IJCCI 2015 Website: http://www.ijcci.org/ November 12 14, 2015 Lisbon, Portugal <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#11> <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#11> Regular Papers Paper Submission: July 14, 2015 (extended) Authors Notification: September 18, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: October 2, 2015 <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#12> <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#12> Position Papers Paper Submission: July 14, 2015 Authors Notification: September 21, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: October 5, 2015 <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#46> Doctoral Consortium Paper Submission: September 3, 2015 Authors Notification: September 17, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: September 29, 2015 <http://www.ijcci.org/Glossary.aspx#42> Special Sessions Special Session Proposal: June 26, 2015 Paper Submission: September 2, 2015 Authors Notification: September 17, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: September 25, 2015 Tutorials, Demos and panels Proposals: July 27, 2015 Sponsored by: INSTICC-Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication INSTICC is Member of: WfMC Workflow Management Coalition OMG Object Management Group FIPA Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents Technically Co-sponsored by: IFAC International Federation of Automatic Control IEEE SMC - Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society In Cooperation with: AI*IA Associazione Italiana per l'Intelligenza Artificiale INNS - The International Neural Network Society AAAI Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence EUSFLAT European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology APPIA Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence International Fuzzy Systems Association Logistics Partner: SCITEVENTS Science and Technology Events The purpose of IJCCI is to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners on the areas of Fuzzy Computation, Evolutionary Computation and Neural Computation. IJCCI is composed of three co-located conferences, each specialized in at least one of the aforementioned main knowledge areas. ECTA 2015 - 7th International Conference on Evolutionary Computation Theory and Applications PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Agostinho Rosa, IST, Portugal Juan Julian Merelo, University of Granada, Spain CONFERENCE TOPICS * Genetic Algorithms * Machine Learning * Cognitive Systems * Artificial Life * Representation Techniques * Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization * Game Theory and Applications * Evolution Strategies * Evolutionary Robotics and Intelligent Agents * Society and Cultural Aspects of Evolution * Concurrent Co-operation * Co-evolution and Collective Behavior * Biocomputing and Complex Adaptive Systems * Bio-inspired Hardware and Networks * Swarm/Collective Intelligence * Evolutionary Art and Design * Hybrid Systems * Memetic Algorithms FCTA 2015 - 7th International Conference on Fuzzy Computation Theory and Applications PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS António Dourado, University of Coimbra, Portugal José M. Cadenas, University of Murcia, Spain CONFERENCE TOPICS * Fuzzy Hardware, Fuzzy Architectures * Soft Computing and Intelligent Agents * Mathematical Foundations: Fuzzy Set Theory and Fuzzy Logic * Approximate Reasoning and Fuzzy Inference * System Identification and Fault Detection * Fuzzy Information Retrieval and Data Mining * Fuzzy Information Processing, Fusion, Text Mining * Learning and Adaptive Fuzzy Systems * Complex Fuzzy Systems * Pattern Recognition: Fuzzy Clustering and Classifiers * Fuzzy Image, Speech and Signal Processing, Vision and Multimedia * Industrial, Financial and Medical Applications * Type-2 Fuzzy Logic * Neuro-fuzzy Systems * Fuzzy Systems Design, Modeling and Control * Real-time Learning of Fuzzy and Neuro-fuzzy Systems * Fuzzy Control * Fuzzy Systems in Robotics: Sensors, Navigation and Coordination * Software for Fuzzy Systems and Control NCTA 2015 - 7th International Conference on Neural Computation Theory and Applications PROGRAM CHAIR Kurosh Madani, University of Paris-EST Créteil (UPEC), France António Ruano, University of Algarve, Portugal CONFERENCE TOPICS * Pattern Recognition * Industrial, Financial and Medical Applications * Computational Neuroscience * Neural Network Software and Applications * Neuroinformatics and Bioinformatics * Learning Paradigms and Algorithms * Supervised and Unsupervised Learning * Adaptive Architectures and Mechanisms * Support Vector Machines and Applications * Complex Artificial Neural Network Based Systems and Dynamics * Higher Level Artificial Neural Network Based Intelligent Systems * Bio-inspired and Humanoid Robotics * Image Processing and Artificial Vision Applications * Intelligent Artificial Perception and Neural Sensors * Modular Implementation of Artificial Neural Networks * Neural based Data Mining and Complex Information Processing * Neural Multi-agent Intelligent Systems and Applications * Self-organization and Emergence * Stability and Instability in Artificial Neural Networks * Neural Network Hardware Implementation and Applications * Neural Computation issues in Social Behaviour Emergence PUBLICATIONS All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings, under an ISBN reference, on paper and on CD-ROM support. SCITEPRESS is a member of CrossRef ( <http://www.crossref.org/> http://www.crossref.org/) and every paper is given a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). All papers presented at the conference venue will be available at the <http://www.scitepress.org/DigitalLibrary/Default.aspx> SCITEPRESS Digital Library . A short list of presented papers will be selected so that revised and extended versions of these papers will be published by Springer in a <http://www.springer.com/series/7092> SCI Series book. The proceedings will be submitted for indexation by Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (ISI), INSPEC, DBLP, EI (Elsevier Index) and Scopus. AWARDS The awards will be announced and bestowed at the conference closing session. Please check the websites for further information: http://www.ecta.ijcci.org/BestPaperAward.aspx <http://www.fcta.ijcci.org/BestPaperAward.aspx> http://www.fcta.ijcci.org/BestPaperAward.aspx <http://www.ncta.ijcci.org/BestPaperAward.aspx> http://www.ncta.ijcci.org/BestPaperAward.aspx IJCCI KEYNOTE LECTURES <http://www.ijcci.org/KeynoteSpeakers.aspx#1> Julian Togelius, New York University, United States <http://www.ijcci.org/KeynoteSpeakers.aspx#2> Yaochu Jin, University of Surrey, United Kingdom <http://www.ijcci.org/KeynoteSpeakers.aspx#3> Anna Esparcia-Alcázar, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain <http://www.ijcci.org/KeynoteSpeakers.aspx#4> Edwin Lughofer, Johannes Kepler University, Austria IJCCI CONFERENCE CHAIR Joaquim Filipe, Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal / INSTICC, Portugal Please check further details at the conference website ( <http://www.ijcci.org/> http://www.ijcci.org/) IJCCI SECRETARIAT Address: Av. D. Manuel I, 27A, 2º esq. 2910-595 Setúbal - Portugal Tel.: +351 265 100 033 Fax: +44 203 014 8813 e-mail: ijcci.secretariat(a)insticc.org

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BCF/NWG Course "Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology" 2015 at the Bernstein Center Freiburg, Germany
by Birgit Ahrens June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015

-- APPLICATION DEADLINE APPROACHING ON JUNE 30 -- BCF/NWG Course "Analysis and Models in Neurophysiology" Sunday, October 4 - Friday, October 9, 2015 Bernstein Center Freiburg, Hansastraße 9a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany Aim of the course: The course is intended to provide advanced Diploma/Masters and PhD students, as well as young researchers from the neurosciences with approaches for the analysis of electrophysiological data and the theoretical concepts behind them. The course includes various topics such as: - Neuron Models and Point Processes (Prof. Stefan Rotter) - Local field potentials (Prof. Ulrich Egert) - Neural Coding (Dr. Robert Schmidt) - Neural Decoding (Prof. Carsten Mehring) The course will consist of lectures in the morning and matching exercises using Matlab and Mathematica in the afternoon. The participants should have a basic understanding of scientific programming. This course is designated especially for advanced diploma/master students and PhD students (preferentially in their first year). Application: Please apply by sending one pdf document containing your CV and a meaningful letter of motivation to nwg-course(a)bcf.uni-freiburg.de. The letter of motivation should refer to the following points: - Reasons for wanting to take this course - Background in mathematics - Background in scientific programming - Experience in using Matlab and Mathematica - Background in neuroscience The course is limited to 20 participants. Course fees: NWG members - 50€, others - 125€ Application deadline: June 30, 2015 More information: http://www.bcf.uni-freiburg.de/events/conferences-workshops/20151004-nwgcou… -- Dr. Birgit Ahrens Teaching & Training Coordinator Bernstein Center Freiburg University of Freiburg Hansastr. 9a D - 79104 Freiburg Germany Phone: +49 (0) 761 203-9575 Fax: +49 (0) 761 203-9559

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NEST, The Neural Simulation Tool, now available on GitHub
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser June 19, 2015

June 19, 2015

Dear Colleagues! Development of the widely used Neural Simulation Tool NEST for large-scale spiking neuronal network models has now moved to GitHub at https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator The code on GitHub is based on the code base for the coming NEST 2.6.1 bugfix release and is available under GNU Public License version 2 or later. By cloning NEST from our GitHub repository, you will have immediate access to all improvements in the NEST master repository. We would also like to encourage community development contributions to NEST. If you would like to contribute to NEST, you should fork NEST on GitHub and submit your contributions via pull requests. More information: - About the NEST Simulator: http://www.nest-simulator.org - About contributing to NEST: https://nest.github.io/nest-simulator/ - About the NEST Initiative: http://www.nest-initiative.org - User mailing list: http://mail.nest-initiative.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nest_user - Video about NEST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YEiren7D0 About NEST: NEST is a simulator for spiking neural network models that focuses on the dynamics, size and structure of neural systems rather than on the exact morphology of individual neurons. The development of NEST is coordinated by the NEST Initiative. NEST is ideal for networks of spiking neurons of any size, for example: • Models of information processing e.g. in the visual or auditory cortex of mammals, • Models of network activity dynamics, e.g. laminar cortical networks or balanced random networks, • Models of learning and plasticity. Best regards, Hans Ekkehard Plesser President, The NEST Initiative -- Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Associate Professor Section Head Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no Home http://arken.umb.no/~plesser

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Post-doc position at QMUL in 3D vision
by Miles Hansard June 18, 2015

June 18, 2015

Post-doc position at Queen Mary, University of London: Geometric Evaluation of Stereoscopic Video. A research assistant is sought for this EPSRC project, which will develop a new approach to the evaluation of 3D content, based on computational models of visual perception. Ideas from computer vision will be used to model the geometry of binocular viewing, including the role of eye-movements. A prototype computer vision system will be developed, for the automatic analysis of disparity statistics in stereoscopic video. The output of this system will be targeted at depth-grading and other post-production tasks. The project is in conjunction with a high-profile graphics and visual effects company. There will also be opportunities to work on stereoscopic VR HMD applications. Expertise in scientific programming, including C++ and Matlab, is essential (OpenCV, R, and GPU programming would be useful). Previous work in augmented reality, 3D reconstruction, or psychophysical methods would be an advantage. Please contact Miles Hansard at Queen Mary, University of London (http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~milesh/) for further information. All nationalities are eligible to apply. For details and procedure see: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ATW277/research-assistant/ -- http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~milesh/

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Aspect of Neuroscience 2015 - invitation for the conference
by Daniel Borek June 18, 2015

June 18, 2015

Dear Friends, On behalf of the Board of the Neurobiology Student Scientific Association operating at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw I would like to invite you to the 5th International Conference " Aspects of Neuroscience" that will be held in Warsaw, Poland, from November 27th to 29th 2015. As in the following years, this time the Conference also consists of poster and report symposia. November symposia will be devoted to: Neurobiology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics. Each of the thematic symposium will be preceded by a lecture delivered by one of the guests, a specialist of a given domain. During the last editions of the conference we had privilege to host such outstanding neuroscientists as Prof. Semir Zeki, Prof. Richard Frackowiak or Prof. Bruce Graham. The conference is intended for students, doctoral students and research workers related to neuroscience. The student lectures will take place simultaneously in two rooms, in basic and extended version. The basic session provides an opportunity to present theoretical and review talks for the students who do not conduct their own research yet. We would like the conference to gather academics with different background and level of expertise, who share the common passion for neuroscience. Language of conference is English. Registration for the conference will be open from July 1st. More information about conference and the whole Project: www.neuronauka.org/eng Find us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AspectsOfNeuroscience?fref=ts Yours sincerely, Daniel Borek Neurobiology Student Scientific Association at the University of Warsaw Organizing Committee of the International Conference of Students and Young Scientists "The Aspects of Neuroscience"

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Open position in Juelich, Germany: Koordinator Software Development
by Martina Reske June 17, 2015

June 17, 2015

Das Forschungszentrum Jülich betreibt interdisziplinäre Spitzenforschung und stellt sich drängenden Fragen der Gegenwart. Es leistet Beiträge zur Lösung großer gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen in den Bereichen Energie und Umwelt sowie Information und Gehirn. Mit mehr als 5.500 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern gehört es als Mitglied der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft zu den großen interdisziplinären Forschungszentren Europas. Das Supercomputing Centre, als Standort eines der leistungsfähigsten Rechner, übernimmt eine führende Rolle in der europäischen Exascale Strategie. Das Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Medizin (INM) erforscht im Rahmen des Programms “Decoding the Human Brain” die Organisation des menschlichen Gehirns auf seinen verschiedenen räumlichen und zeitlichen Skalen. Die moderne neurowissenschaftliche Grundlagenforschung erfordert Modellierung und Simulation auf Hochleistungsrechnern, um der Komplexität des Gehirns zu begegnen und Einsicht in seine Arbeitsweise zu gewinnen. Das entstehende Wissen ermöglicht dann die Translation in die klinische Anwendung, um neurologische und mentale Erkrankungen besser zu verstehen, zu diagnostizieren und zu therapieren – Aufgaben, die in einer älter werdenden Gesellschaft von höchster Bedeutung sind. Darüber hinaus werden aber auch Impulse für neue Rechnergenerationen und deren Betrieb gegeben. Das INM-6, Computational and Systems Neuroscience, erstellt mathematische Modelle der Dynamik und Funktion neuronaler Schaltkreise. Dazu gehören die modellgetriebene Analyse der Aktivität und Struktur des Gehirns sowie die Simulation biologisch realistischer Modelle. Die Entwicklung entsprechender Simulationstechnologie und Analysewerkzeuge ist eine wesentliche Komponente der Forschung. Das INM-6 entwickelt zusammen mit seinen Partnern in einem Open Source Ansatz den führenden Code für Simulationen auf der Gehirnskala mit der Auflösung von Nervenzellen (NEST), ist gleichzeitig Teil des Institute of Advanced Simulation (IAS-6, Theoretical Neuroscience) und beherbergt die Coordination Site (BCOS) des nationalen Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience. Verstärken Sie diesen Bereich als Koordinator Software Entwicklung (w/m) Ihre Aufgaben: * Koordination der Roadmap und der Releases der Simulations-Software NEST * regelmäßige Vorbereitung von und Teilnahme an Koordinierungstreffen und Videokonferenzen zusammen mit oder in Vertretung der Institutsleitung * direkte Betreuung von Wissenschaftlerinnen/Wissenschaftlern und Doktorandinnen/Doktoranden in Bezug auf Software-Entwicklung * Erstellen von Projektberichten und Anträgen * Repräsentation der Simulations-Software auf internationalen Tagungen * Beteiligung an der Weiterentwicklung von Programmen zur Analyse neuronaler Vielkanaldaten * Vertretung des Koordinators Wissenschaftliches Rechnen Ihr Profil: * ein abgeschlossenes Hochschulstudium der Informatik, Mathematik oder Physik * tiefe Kenntnisse/Erfahrungen in C und C++, Python sowie parallelem und verteiltem Rechnen * Fähigkeit und Bereitschaft zu eigenverantwortlichem Handeln, Führungsfähigkeit * Fähigkeit und Bereitschaft selbstständig Projektberichte abzufassen * Erfahrung im Projekt- und Qualitätsmanagement * neurowissenschaftliche Grundkenntnisse, insbesondere neuronaler Dynamik sind von Vorteil * sicheres Auftreten und Kommunikationsvermögen sowie ausgeprägte Fähigkeit zur kooperativen Zusammenarbeit in einer interdisziplinären Arbeitsumgebung * hohe soziale Kompetenz und Fähigkeit zur kooperativen Zusammenarbeit im Team * Bereitschaft zu Reisen * strukturierte und systematische Arbeitsweise * überdurchschnittliches mündliches und schriftliches Kommunikationsvermögen in deutscher und englischer Sprache Unser Angebot: * Integration in ein interdisziplinäres und internationales Institut * Arbeit in einem kreativen Team mit internationaler Perspektive * Zugang zu modernsten Supercomputern und neuromorpher Hardware * die Möglichkeit, Design-Entscheidungen in einem großen Software-Projekt wesentlich mitzubestimmen und zu prägen * enge Zusammenarbeit mit dem Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) und seiner Exascale Strategie insbesondere dem Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience * hohe Sichtbarkeit durch Vertretung der Institutsleitung bei internationalen Projekttreffen * Beteiligung an Publikationen in der Spitzenforschung zur Simulationstechnologie * Arbeit auf Weltniveau an der Grenze zwischen Neurowissenschaft und Technologie an den komplexesten bekannten Systemen * ein grüner wachsender Campus mit den besten weltweit verfügbaren wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen, nahe den kulturellen Zentren Köln, Düsseldorf und Aachen * eine zunächst auf 2 Jahre befristete Stelle mit der Möglichkeit einer längerfristigen Perspektive * Vergütung und Sozialleistungen nach dem Tarifvertrag des öffentlichen Dienstes (TVöD-Bund) Das Forschungszentrum Jülich möchte mehr Mitarbeiterinnen in diesem Bereich beschäftigen. Wir sind daher an der Bewerbung von Frauen besonders interessiert. Bewerbungen schwerbehinderter Menschen sind uns willkommen. Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Bewerbung, möglichst über unser Online-Bewerbungssystemhttp://www.fz-juelich.de/SharedDocs/Stellenangebote/_common/dna/2015-126-DE-INM-6.html?nn=363560 bis zum 07.07.15 unter Angabe der Kennziffer 2015-126. -- 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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Postdoctoral Position in Computational Neuroscience at IUPUI
by Yaroslav Molkov June 17, 2015

June 17, 2015

A postdoctoral/research associate position in computational neuroscience for the duration of up to two years is available in the externally funded project focusing on multiscale computational modeling of motor control mechanisms, involving interactions between basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, cortex, and spinal cord in connection with realistic simulation of pathological changes in motor control during Huntington’s disease. This collaborative project is performed jointly by the groups of Drs. Ilya Rybak (Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and Yaroslav Molkov (Dept. of Mathematical Science, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA). Applicants must have a PhD degree in Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related discipline, a strong research record, and excellent C++ programming skills. 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. ================================= Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Indiana University - Purdue University at 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 position in computational neuroscience
by Maxim Bazhenov June 16, 2015

June 16, 2015

Applications are invited for post-doctoral research positions in the laboratory of Dr. Maxim Bazhenov at the University of California, Riverside to study role of sleep in memory and learning. This computational neuroscience project involves close collaboration with several experimental laboratories. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand how the interaction among brain areas during different stages of sleep leads to consolidation of memory for recent learning. The successful candidate will be responsible for the design of the anatomically realistic brain network models based on existing experimental data. These models will be used to understand network dynamics that are involved in the processes of memory consolidation, as well as guide data analysis and produce novel experimental predictions. Qualified applicants are expected to have experience in computational/theoretical neuroscience and neural modeling. Programming experience with C/C++ is required. Knowledge of PYTHON or MATLAB is a plus. The University of California offers excellent benefits. Salary is based on research experience. The initial appointment is for 1 year with a possibility of extension. Applicants should send a brief statement of research interests, a CV and the names of three references to Maxim Bazhenov at maksim.bazhenov(a)ucr.edu -- Maxim Bazhenov, Ph.D. Professor, Cell Biology and Neuroscience University of California Riverside, CA 92521 Ph: 951-827-4370 http://biocluster.ucr.edu/~mbazhenov/

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PhD in computational neuroscience, Zurich
by Jean-Pascal Pfister June 16, 2015

June 16, 2015

Applications are invited for one PhD student position at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (ETHZ, UZH) in Zurich. The position is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant entitled "Inference and Learning with Spiking Neurons". The PhD student will be supervised by Jean-Pascal Pfister in the Theoretical Neuroscience Group. There are several lines of evidence indicating that the human brain performs near Bayesian optimal inference in a wide range of tasks, but it remains unclear how this inference can be implemented in the brain. The aim of the project is to determine how Bayesian inference and learning can be implemented at the level of neurons and synapses. The Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zurich (which is a joint institute belonging to both the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) and the University of Zurich) offers an ideal environment for studying Computational Neuroscience due to the presence of multiple theoretical and experimental labs. The candidate should hold a Diplom/Master degree in Physics, Mathematics, Machine learning, Computational Neuroscience or a related field. He/she should have a very strong mathematical background, good programming skills and interests in theoretical neuroscience. The position is offered for a period of three years, starting before the 1st of September 2015. Salary scale is provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation (www.snf.ch) The applicant should submit (by email) a CV, a statement of research interests, 2 reference letters, marks obtained for the Diploma/Master, abstract of the Diploma/Master to Jean-Pascal Pfister (jpfister(a)ini.uzh.ch) Deadline for application is 15th of July 2015 or until the position is filled. Jean-Pascal Pfister --------------------------------- Prof. Jean-Pascal Pfister Theoretical Neuroscience Group Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 8057 Zurich, Switzerland www.ini.uzh.ch/~jpfister <http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~jpfister> Tel: +41 44 635 30 79

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PhD/Postdoc positions for neural processor project NPP
by Michael Pfeiffer June 15, 2015

June 15, 2015

We have a number of available PhD and postdoc positions available now for the Neuromorphic Processor Project (NPP). NPP is a 3 year project that started 1 May 2015. NPP will develop theory, architectures, and FPGA implementations targeting specific applications of deep neural network technology in vision and audition. Deep learning has become the state-of-the-art machine learning approach for sensory processing applications, and this project aims towards real-time, low-power, brain-inspired solutions targeted at full-custom SoC integration. A particular aim of the NPP is to develop efficient data-driven deep neural network architectures that can enable always-on operation on battery-powered mobile devices in conjunction with event-driven sensors. PhD and postdoc positions are available now in theory, hardware architectures, and applications of these networks. For the theory part of the project we are specifically looking for PhD candidates with experience in deep neural networks and/or spiking neural networks, or deep learning applications in vision and audition. The project team includes academic partners in the USA, Canada, and Spain. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI) at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich (www.ini.uzh.ch ). INI is a joint institute of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich and has been cited in IEEE Spectrum and Scientific American as one of the world’s leading organizations in the development of neuromorphic sensing and computing technology. The lead NPP PI is Prof. Tobi Delbruck. Other NPP PIs at INI are Dr. Shih-Chii Liu, Dr. Michael Pfeiffer, and Prof. Giacomo Indiveri. Please see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MLoZRAYu_--ZH2ORIoqLPLzJs2spXRM0kO2A2QZ… for more details and information on how to apply. Best regards, Michael Pfeiffer, Tobi Delbruck, Shih-Chii Liu, and Giacomo Indiveri -- ========================================= Dr. Michael Pfeiffer Group leader, Program coordinator NSC Institute of Neuroinformatics University of Zurich and ETH Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland Tel. +41 44 635 30 45 Fax +41 44 635 30 53 pfeiffer (at) ini.phys.ethz.ch http://www.ini.uzh.ch/~pfeiffer/ =========================================

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4th Edition of Complex Systems Primer available
by Claudius Gros June 15, 2015

June 15, 2015

Dear Colleagues, It is a pleasure to announce the availability of the 4th edition of the textbook Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems: A Primer (Springer Complexity, Softcover) ISBN: 978-3-319-16264-5 (Print) 978-3-319-16265-2 (Online) by Claudius Gros Complex and adaptive dynamical systems are ubiquitous and the brain constitutes a prominent example. The goal of this book is to provide a general entry point to complex and dynamical systems based on network architectures. ------------------------------------------------------- cover-text: ---------- This primer offers an introduction to the central concepts at the basis of our modern understanding of complex and emergent behavior, together with a detailed coverage of the mathematical methods. All calculations are presented step by step and are straightforward to follow. This new forth edition is fully reorganized and comes with new chapters, figures and exercises. The core of modern complex system sciences are presented in the first chapters, covering network theory, dynamical systems, bifurcation and catastrophe theory, chaos and adaptive processes together with the principle of self-organization in reaction-diffusion systems and social animals. Modern information theoretical principles are treated in further chapters, together with the concept of self-organized criticality, gene regulation networks, hypercycles and coevolutionary avalanches, synchronization phenomena, absorbing phase transitions and the cognitive system approach to the brain. Technical course prerequisites are the standard mathematical tools for an advanced undergraduate course in the natural sciences or engineering. Each chapter comes with exercises and suggestions for further reading, with the solutions to the exercises being provided in the last chapter. ------------------------------------------------------- content: -------- * Chapter 1: Graph Theory and Small-World Networks * Chapter 2: Bifurcations and Chaos in Dynamical Systems * Chapter 3: Dissipation, Noise and Adaptive Systems * Chapter 4: Self Organization and Pattern Formation * Chapter 5: Complexity and Information Theory * Chapter 6: Cellular Automata and Self-Organized Criticality * Chapter 7: Random Boolean Networks * Chapter 8: Darwinian Evolution, Hypercycles and Game Theory * Chapter 9: Synchronization Phenomena * Chapter 10: Elements of Cognitive System Theory * Chapter 11: Solutions to the exercises ------------------------------------------------------- Sincerely, Claudius Gros ***************************************** *** Prof. Dr. Claudius Gros *** *** +49 (0)69 798 47818 *** *** http://itp.uni-frankfurt.de/~gros *** ***************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------- --- Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems, A Primer --- --- A graduate-level textbook, Springer (2008/10/13/15) --- -----------------------------------------------------------

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Interdisciplinary PhD Position in Computational Neuroscience of Vision: Active Efficient Coding (AEC)
by Jochen Triesch June 14, 2015

June 14, 2015

Apologies for cross posting. Please forward to interested students. We have an open PhD student position in my lab (http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/de/neuro/triesch) at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) in Frankfurt, Germany to explore the new area of active efficient coding (AEC), a recently formulated generalization of the efficient coding hypothesis to active perception. The basic idea of AEC is that sensory systems learn to use their motor degrees of freedom to contribute to the efficient encoding of sensory signals. Along these lines, we have developed computational models for the self-calibration of active stereo and motion vision [1,2,3]. These models simultaneously learn a sensory representation with sparse coding approaches and controllers for their eye movements through reinforcement learning. Both learning components aim to maximize the overall coding efficiency of the system, which leads to fully self-calibrating sensory-motor loops for active stereo vision (dispartiy tuning and vergence control) and motion vision (motion tuning and pursuit movements). To the best of our knowledge, these models are the first ever to demonstrate how such self-calibration can emerge from a generic efficient coding objective. We have also validated the approach on robots such as the iCub (http://www.icub.org) The work will be performed in a stimulating interdisciplinary environment with ample opportunities for collaboration with neuromorphic engineers, neuroscientists, roboticists, psychologists, and clinicians across the globe. Possible research directions include better understanding how and why such self-calibration can go awry in clinical conditions such as strabism and amblyopia, implementations on neuromorphic hardware and many others. We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated PhD student for this project. Applicants should have obtained a Masters degree (or equivalent) in Computational Neuroscience or a related field. The ideal candidate will have excellent programming skills (Matlab, Python, C/C++), very good analytic skills, and a broad knowledge of computational neuroscience, machine learning, computer vision, robotics, signal processing and statistics. Furthermore, specific expertise in visual neuroscience, information theory, sparse coding models, and reinforcement learning are desirable. Experience with programming Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) would be a plus. The position can be filled immediately. The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies is a research institution dedicated to fundamental theoretical research in various areas of science. It is embedded into Frankfurt's recently established natural science research campus. Frankfurt itself is the hub of one of the most vibrant metropolitan areas in Europe. It boasts a rich culture and arts community and repeatedly earns highest rankings in worldwide surveys of quality of living. Applications should include a statement of research interests, CV and contact information for at least two references. Send applications to application(a)fias.uni-frankfurt.de. Review of applications will begin immediately. [1] A Unified Model of the Joint Development of Disparity Selectivity and Vergence Control. Zhao Y, Rothkopf CA, Triesch J, Shi B. IEEE Int. Conf. on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL), 2012. (Paper of excellence award.) http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6400876 [2] Robust active binocular vision through intrinsically motivated learning L. Lonini, S. Forestier, C. Teulière, Y. Zhao, B. Shi, J. Triesch, frontiers in Neurorobotics, 2013. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbot.2013.00020/full [3] Self-calibrating smooth pursuit through active efficient coding C. Teulière, S. Forestier, L. Lonini, C. Zhang, Y. Zhao, B. Shi, J. Triesch, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2014 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889014002486 -- Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch Johanna Quandt Research Professor Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies http://fias.uni-frankfurt.de/~triesch/ Tel: +49 (0)69 798-47531 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-47611

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CFP: 3rd International Workshop on Smart Sensor Protocols and Algorithms (SSPA 2015) - Munich, Germany, October 5-7, 2015
by Sandra Sendra June 13, 2015

June 13, 2015

[Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this email] *********************** CFP ******************************* 3rd International Workshop on Smart Sensor Protocols and Algorithms (SSPA 2015) http://jlloret.webs.upv.es/sspa2015/ in conjunction with The 8th IFIP Wireless and Mobile Networking Conference (WMNC' 15) Munich, Germany, October 5-7, 2015. http://www.wmnc2015.com/ SCOPE: Smart Sensor protocols and algorithms make use of several methods and techniques (such as machine learning techniques, decision making techniques, knowledge representation, network optimization, problem solution techniques, and so on), to establish communication between network devices. They can be used to perceive the network conditions, or the user behavior, in order to dynamically plan, adapt, decide, take the appropriate actions, and learn from the consequences of their actions. The algorithms can make use of the information gathered from the protocol in order to sense the environment, plan actions according to the input, take consciousness of what is happening in the environment, and take the appropriate decisions using a reasoning engine. Goals such as decide which scenario fits best its end-to-end purpose, or environment prediction, can be achieved with smart protocols and algorithms. Moreover, they could learn from the past and use this knowledge to improve future de! cisions. In this workshop, researchers are encouraged to submit papers focused on the design, development, analysis or optimization of smart sensor protocols or algorithms at any communication layer. Algorithms and protocols based on artificial intelligence techniques for network management, network monitoring, quality of service enhancement, performance optimization and network secure are included in the workshop. This conference edition once again targets to gather researchers from academia and industrial sectors to present analytical research, simulations, practical results, position papers addressing the pros and cons of specific proposals, and advances in sensor protocols and algorithms. The topics suggested by the conference can be discussed in term of concepts, state of the art, standards, deployments, implementations, running experiments and applications. TOPICS OF INTEREST: Authors are invited to submit complete unpublished papers, which are not under review in any other conference or journal, including, but are not limited to, the following topic areas: - Reasoning and learning techniques for sensing environment pollution - Smart route prediction in vehicular sensor networks - Smart data aggregation in vehicular sensor networks - Smart multimedia network protocols and algorithms for WSNs - Application layer, transport layer and network layer cognitive protocols - Cognitive radio network protocols and algorithms - Automatic protocols and algorithms for environment prediction - Algorithms and protocols to predict data network states - Intelligent synchronization techniques for sensor network protocols and algorithms - Smart sensor protocols and algorithms for e-health - Software applications for smart algorithms design and development in WSNs - Dynamic protocols based on the perception of their performance - Smart protocols and algorithms for Smartgrids - Protocols and algorithms focused on building conclusions for taking the appropriate actions - Smart Automatic and self-autonomous WSNs - Artificial intelligence applied in protocols and algorithms for WSNs - Smart security protocols and algorithms in WSNs - Smart cryptographic algorithms for communication in WSNs - Artificial intelligence applied to power efficiency and energy saving protocols and algorithms - Smart routing and switching protocols and algorithms in WSNs - Cognitive protocol and algorithm models for saving communication costs - Any kind of intelligent technique applied to QoS, content delivery, network Monitoring and network mobility management - Smart cooperative protocols and algorithms WSNs - Problem recognition and problem solving protocols for WSNs - Genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic and neural networks applied to WSNs IMPORTANT DATES: Submission deadline: 17th of July 2015 Author notification: 14th of August 2015 Camera-ready version: 27th of August 2015 Workshop Dates: 5-7th of October 2015 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Authors are invited to submit original and unpublished papers. Papers presenting original and unpublished work are invited and will be evaluated based on originality, significance, technical soundness, and clarity of exposition. All submissions should be written in English. Authors guidelines can be found at: http://jlloret.webs.upv.es/sspa2015/cfp.html The IEEE LaTeX and Microsoft Word templates, as well as related information, can be found at: http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/pubs/transactions/stylesheets.html. Only PDF files will be accepted for the review process and all submissions must be done through EDAS. To submit a paper, please click on the following link: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=19893&track=71089 SPECIAL ISSUES: The extended version of selected papers will be invited to submit to a Special Issue on Smart Protocols and Algorithms in the International Journal Network Protocols and Algorithms (1943-3581). Network Protocols and Algorithms is an online international journal, peer-reviewed, indexed by many prestigious data bases and published by Macrothink Institute. COMMITTEES: General Chairs Jaime Lloret Mauri, Universitat Polit�cnica Val�ncia, Spain TPC Chairs Miguel Garcia Pineda, Universidad de Valencia, Spain Sandra Sendra, Unviversitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain Web Chair Alejandro C�novas Solbes, Universitat Polit�cnica Val�ncia, Spain

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Tentative program now available for IWSP7: Epilepsy Mechanisms, Models, Prediction & Control
by Levin Kuhlmann June 13, 2015

June 13, 2015

The tentative full program of talks and events for the 7th International Workshop on Seizure Prediction (IWSP7: Epilepsy Mechanisms, Models, Prediction & Control; at Melbourne, Australia; 3-6 August 2015) is now available for download at the following link: http://www.iwsp7.org/program/IWSP7_MEMBC15_Tentative_Program.pdf At a glance, the first day on Monday August 3 will be an educational day, giving people an opportunity to learn more about epilepsy from the perspectives of the different disciplines of science, engineering & medicine. On the first night there will be a networking reception and the poster session. The next two days will involve a full schedule of talks with the conference dinner on the night of Tuesday August 4. On Thursday August 6 there will be an overlap day between IWSP7 and the Melbourne Epilepsy meeting (ME@MBC'15 - which brings together the best of Melbourne Epilepsy research). IWSP7 registrants will also have the option to freely participate in the ME@MBC'15 events including its second day on the morning of Friday August 7. A final full program for IWSP7 including abstracts will be available soon. Don't forget to register for IWSP7 before the early bird deadline of 30th June 2015 and save! Go to www.iwsp7.org<http://www.iwsp7.org> to register. More details on the conference are provided below. 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. Invited Speakers Catalina Alvarado-Rojas, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia (Cross-frequency coupling and seizure prediction) Samuel Berkovic, University of Melbourne, Australia (Genetics and individual-specific nature of epilepsy) Sydney Cash, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA (Cortical physiology and epilepsy) Antonio Dourado, University of Coimbra, Portugal (Seizure Prediction and the EPILEPSIAE project) Bin He, University of Minnesota, USA (EEG-based imaging to localise seizure and high frequency activity) Louis Lemieux, University College London, UK (Multi-modal imaging of human epileptic zone and networks) Liset Menendez de la Prida, Instituto Cajal - CSIC, Spain (Sources of functional heterogeneity in the cellular activity of hippocampal microcircuits in temporal lobe epilepsy) Martha Morrell, Stanford University, Neuropace, USA (Responsive seizure control and its clinical implications) Philippe Ryvlin, Lyon University, France (Vagal nerve stimulation and seizure prediction) Bjoern Schelter, University of Aberdeen, UK (Recent advances in data-based modelling and their role in epilepsy research) Steven Schiff, Penn State University, USA (Unification of spikes, seizures and spreading depression) Piotr Suffczynski, University of Warsaw, Poland (Modelling of neuronal and ionic dynamics during ictogenesis) John Terry, University of Exeter, UK (Modelling multiscale brain networks: seizure initiation, evolution and prediction) Gregory Worrell, Mayo Clinic, USA (Forecasting epileptic seizures in dogs) Abstract submission is now Closed. 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. 44 generous travel stipends have been awarded to participants submitting the best abstracts as determined by the IWSP7 Scientific Advisory Board. General topics covered: 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 the tentative conference program, and how to register visit: http://www.iwsp7.org Please forward this notice to anyone that you think might be interested. We would also like to draw your attention to two partner events: Melbourne Epilepsy which brings together Melbourne's best epilepsy researchers and will overlap at the same venue with IWSP7 on August 6th, and finish by 1pm on August 7th. Attendance is free for IWSP7 registrants. Swinburne Brain Imaging Symposium 2015: Principles and Applications of Magnetoencephalography is a meeting on MEG and neuroimaging occurring in Melbourne in the week preceding IWSP7 from June 29-30 2015. http://www.research.swinburne.edu.au/our-research/events/neuroimaging-sympo… We look forward to seeing you at IWSP7! On behalf of the local organizing committee Levin Kuhlmann, PhD David B. Grayden, PhD Mark J. Cook, MD Anthony N. Burkitt, PhD Dean R. Freestone, PhD Tatiana Kameneva, 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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Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience, Turin 7-9 sept 2015 (few places left)
by Alessandro Torcini June 12, 2015

June 12, 2015

Few places left for registration at SICC workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience: from Physics and Biology to ICT to be held on September 07-09, 2015 in Turin, Italy Organizers: Fernando Corinto (Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy) and Alessandro Torcini (ISC-CNR, Florence, Italy) This workshop "Nonlinear Dynamics in Computational Neuroscience: from Physics and Biology to ICT” offers an unique opportunity to meet researchers working across (and between) disciplines linked to Computational Neuroscience. In particular, computational neuroscients, neurophysiologists and neural engineers will have the opportunity to present their most recent results to a young audience, constituted mainly by PhD students, and to interact directly among them. The program ranges from nonlinear dynamical approaches to the understanding of neural computation to physiology, from the simulations of brain circuits to the development of engineering devices and platforms for neuromorphic computation. The speakers will be specifically advised to perform didactic presentations of their results in order to allow the active participation to the discussion of young PhD students from different disciplines as well as to researchers interested in the field of Computational Neuroscience. Specific poster sessions will be organized with the purpose on one side to allow the young participants to present their latest results and on the other side to increase the opportunity of networking among the participants and renowed experts of the discipline. This workshop represents the 10th of a series of tutorial workshops annually organized by the Italian Society of Chaos and Complexity (SICC) to explore the emergence of new research fields, where nonlinear dynamics and control theory can play a relevant role. These workshops have been traditionally devoted to an audience mainly constituted by PhD students or young researchers working in complex systems. A poster session will be running during all the event and aimed to let all the participants to present their recent results. More information on the workshop can be found in the web page: http://www.neuro-eng-comp.polito.it/workshop/ Confirmed invited speakers include Cristina Becchio (University of Turin, Italy) Ruben Moreno Bote (CIBERSAM - Barcelona, Spain) George Bourianov (Intel/University of Texas at Austin, USA) Emilio Carbone (University of Turin, Italy) Stephen Coombes (University of Nottingham, UK) Steve Furber (The University of Manchester, UK) Julius Georgiou (University of Cyprus, Cyprus) Viktor Jirsa (INSERM - Marseille, France) Luke P. Lee (UC Berkeley, USA) Stefano Luccioli (ISC CNR - Florence, Italy) Maurizio Mattia (ISS - Roma, Italy) Benedetto Sacchetti (University of Turin, Italy) Maria Sanchez-Vives (IDIBAPS - Barcelona, Spain) Ronald Tetzlaff (TU Dresden, Germany) The poster can be downloaded from here http://goo.gl/CDY0Eg The workshop is kindly supported by the: SICC - Italian Society for Chaos and Complexity, IEEE CASS Outreach 2015 Initiative, CRT Foundation, Marie Curie Initial Training project NETT - Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy)

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Job posting: PhD Traineeship in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction'
by Lorenz, C.M. June 12, 2015

June 12, 2015

PhD Traineeship in the Dutch Research Consortium 'Language in Interaction' Maximum salary: € 2,717 gross/month Closing date: 05 July 2015, 23:59 CET More information: http://www.ru.nl/newstaff/vacaturebeschrijving?tk=uk&recid=556519 The Dutch research consortium 'Language in Interaction' invites applications for a 4-year PhD traineeship on the topic of computational cognitive models of psycholinguistic processes. You will carry out research as a member of one of the PI-groups of the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University under supervision of Dr. Stefan Frank. The Netherlands has an outstanding track record in the language sciences. The research consortium 'Language in Interaction', sponsored by a large grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO), brings together many of the excellent research groups in the Netherlands with a research programme on the foundations of language. The consortium has representatives from seven universities and one research institute in the Netherlands. These are Radboud University (RU), University of Amsterdam (UvA), University of Maastricht (UM), Leiden University (LU), Utrecht University (UU), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Tilburg University (TiU), and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI). Excellence in the domain of language and related relevant fields of cognition is combined with state-of-the-art research facilities and a research team with ample experience in complex research methods and utilization. Together, this consortium realizes both quality and critical mass for studying human language at a scale not easily found anywhere else in the world. The current position will be embedded in the Centre for Language Studies at Radboud University. This centre conducts research in an international setting. English is the lingua franca. Your graduate training will take place in the International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences. Click here for more information on this PhD position and how to apply. http://www.ru.nl/newstaff/vacaturebeschrijving?tk=uk&recid=556519

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postdoc in computational neuroscience
by Máté Lengyel June 12, 2015

June 12, 2015

Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Neuroscience University of Cambridge We are seeking a highly creative and motivated postdoctoral fellow (research associate or senior research associate) to work jointly in the groups of Guillaume Hennequin and Mate Lengyel at the Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge (http://learning.eng.cam.ac.uk/) Our groups study dynamics and computation in neural circuits using a combination of approaches from dynamical systems, control theory, and statistical inference. The jointly led project will combine normative with bottom-up approaches to study the neural implementation of challenging computations. Areas of interest include balanced network dynamics, synaptic plasticity, and Bayesian inference. The successful candidate will have a strong analytical background and demonstrable interest in theoretical neuroscience. They should have or be close to completion of a PhD or equivalent in computational neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, machine learning or a related field. Previous experience in computational neuroscience is not required, but preference will be given to candidates with sufficient programming skills to run numerical simulations, or expertise with neural network models, analysis of dynamical systems, and Bayesian techniques. The appointment will be for 1 year initially (extendable subject to funding) starting 1 October 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. Salary depends on experience and is in the range £28,695 - £48,743 p.a. Further information: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7261/ http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/7176/ For informal queries, please contact Guillaume Hennequin <g.hennequin(a)eng.cam.ac.uk> or Mate Lengyel <m.lengyel(a)eng.cam.ac.uk>. Mate Lengyel -- 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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PhD positions in language and sensorimotor cognition, Otago University, New Zealand
by Alistair Knott June 11, 2015

June 11, 2015

We are seeking applications for PhD positions in neural network modelling of human language: specifically, in developing neural network models of the interface between language and the sensorimotor system. Projects include modelling the interface between language and visual attention/visual object classification mechanisms, and modelling the interface between language and action execution/action perception mechanisms. The positions are based at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Otago in New Zealand, under the supervision of Alistair Knott and Lubica Benuskova. The department has an active neural networks programme, with five academic staff working in this area, and two more working in related areas of computer vision. The PhD projects relate to an ongoing project funded by the New Zealand Marsden fund, Does language mirror the structure of sensorimotor cognition?, funded by the New Zealand Marsden Fund. Otago University’s PhD scholarships are open to qualified students from any country, and cover both course fees and living expenses. To be considered for a PhD scholarship, applicants must have at least a four-year undergraduate degree in Computer Science. Applicants must also have a research project worth at least 25% of a full-time load in their final year, and must have an 'A' average or better in their final year of study. To be considered for the current PhD projects, applicants must also have some experience in Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics or Cognitive Science. If you have questions about the PhD projects, please contact Alistair Knott (alik(a)cs.otago.ac.nz) If you wish to apply for a PhD position, please email Alistair Knott (alik(a)cs.otago.ac.nz) attaching an electronic copy of your transcript for your Bachelor's degree. If you have a Master's degree, or are currently enrolled in one, please attach your Master's transcript (up to the present) and, if possible, an abstract of your thesis. If you have publications, please select your single best publication and send a PDF version of that, identifying the conference or journal that accepted it in sufficient detail to allow verification. **Kindly don't send zip files, as our antivirus software quarantines them.** The deadline for applications is June 30th. Otago University is in Dunedin, a university town on the South-East coast of New Zealand's South Island. Dunedin sits on a spectacular harbour, with unspoiled beaches for wildlife and surfing, and lies within a few hours' drive of Queenstown and Wanaka in the Southern Alps. For more information about Otago, Dunedin, and our department: - http://www.otago.ac.nz/ - http://www.otago.co.nz/ - http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/

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CFP The 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - BIOSTEC 2016
by Calendar Sites June 11, 2015

June 11, 2015

CALL FOR PAPERS The 9th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies BIOSTEC 2016 Website: http://www.biostec.org/ 21 - 23 February, 2016 Rome, Italy Regular Papers Paper Submission: September 10, 2015 Authors Notification: December 2, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: December 16, 2015 Position Papers Paper Submission: November 2, 2015 Authors Notification: December 4, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: December 18, 2015 Workshops Workshop Proposal: September 11, 2015 Doctoral Consortium Paper Submission: December 3, 2015 Authors Notification: December 11, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: December 22, 2015 Special Sessions Special Session Proposal: September 23, 2015 Paper Submission: November 23, 2015 Authors Notification: December 9, 2015 Camera Ready and Registration: December 17, 201 <http://www.ic3k.org/Glossary.aspx#43> Tutorials, Demos and Panels Proposals October 16, 2015 Sponsored by: INSTICC - Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication INSTICC is Member of: WfMC Workflow Management Coalition OMG Object Management Group FIPA Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents In Cooperation with: AAAI Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence EUROMICRO ESEM - European Society for Engineering and Medicine ISfTeH - International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth BMES - Biomedical Engineering Society EURASIP - European Association for Signal Processing Logistics Partner: SCITEVENTS Science and Technology Events The purpose of BIOSTEC is to bring together researchers and practitioners, including engineers, biologists, health professionals and informatics/computer scientists, interested in both theoretical advances and applications of information systems, artificial intelligence, signal processing, electronics and other engineering tools in knowledge areas related to biology and medicine. BIOSTEC is composed of five co-located conferences, each specialized in a different knowledge area. BIODEVICES 2016 The 9th International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices Program Chair James Gilbert, University of Hull, United Kingdom CONFERENCE TOPICS * Emerging Technologies * Biomedical Instrumentation * Biomedical Equipment * Biomedical Sensors * Biomedical Metrology * Health Monitoring Devices * Low-power Design * Electrical Bio-impedance * Bio-electromagnetism * Biorobotics * Biocomputing and Biochips * Implantable Electronics * Wireless Systems and Biotelemetry * Biomaterials * MEMS * Nanotechnologies * Biomechanical Devices * Artificial Limbs * Technologies Evaluation * Electrocardiography and Heart Monitoring * Computational Physiology (virtual organs) * Brain-computer Interfaces * Spectroscopic Applications * Imaging and Visualization Devices * Rehabilitation Technology * Lab on a Chip and Microfluidic Devices * Mobile and Wearable Devices BIOIMAGING 2016 The 3rd International Conference on Bioimaging Program Chair Haim Azhari, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Israel CONFERENCE TOPICS * Medical Imaging and Diagnosis * Image Processing Methods * Image Fusion Methods * Feature Recognition and Extraction Methods * Biomechanical Imaging * Image Archiving and Communication * Telemedicine and Virtual Environments * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) * Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Fmri) * Single-photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) * Positron Emission Tomography (PET) * High Resolution Research Tomography (HRRT) * Magnetoencephalography (MEG) * Ultrasound and Optical Imaging * Optical Elastography * X-ray Microscopy * Biophotonics * Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) * Conventional Microscopy * Confocal Microscopy * Fluorescent Microscopy * Quantitative Bioimaging * Structural Biology * Brain Function Analysis * Hemodynamics Imaging * Histology and Tissue Imaging BIOINFORMATICS 2016 The 7th International Conference on Bioinformatics Models, Methods and Algorithms Program Chair Hesham Ali, University of Nebraska at Omaha, United States CONFERENCE TOPICS * Simulation * Computational Intelligence * Genomics and Proteomics * Sequence Analysis * Structural Bioinformatics * Image Analysis * Visualization * Databases and Data Management * Data mining and Machine Learning * Biostatistics and Stochastic Models * Pharmaceutical Applications * Systems Biology * Algorithms and Software Tools * Web Services in Bioinformatics * Computational Molecular Systems * Immuno- and Chemo-informatics * Pattern Recognition, Clustering and Classification * Structure Prediction * Model Design and Evaluation * Transcriptomics * Next Generation Sequencing * Structural Variations BIOSIGNALS 2016 The 9th International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing Program Chair Carla Quintão, FCT-UNL, Portugal CONFERENCE TOPICS * Speech Recognition * Neural Networks * Biometrics * Pattern Recognition * Medical Signal Acquisition, Analysis and Processing * Wearable Sensors and Systems * Real-time Systems * Evolutionary Systems * Acoustic Signal Processing * Time and Frequency Response * Wavelet Transform * Medical Image Detection, Acquisition, Analysis and Processing * Physiological Processes and Bio-signal Modeling, Non-linear Dynamics * Cybernetics and User Interface Technologies * Electromagnetic fields in biology and medicine * Fuzzy Systems and Signals * Monitoring and Telemetry * Cardiovascular Signals * Image Analysis and Processing * Detection and Identification * Motion Control HEALTHINF 2016 The 9th International Conference on Health Informatics Program Co-chairs Jan Sliwa, Independent, Switzerland Carolina Ruiz, WPI, United States CONFERENCE TOPICS * Datamining * Knowledge Management * Decision Support Systems * Interoperability * Telemedicine * Medical and Nursing Informatics * Confidentiality and Data Security * Wearable Health Informatics * Semantic Interoperability * Therapeutic Systems and Technologies * Physiological Modeling * Databases and Datawarehousing * Cognitive Informatics * Affective Computing * Human-machine Interfaces for Disabled Persons * ICT, Ageing and Disability * Design and Development Methodologies for Healthcare IT * Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Applications * Evaluation and Use of Healthcare IT * Healthcare Management Systems * E-Health * Development of Assistive Technology * Electronic Health Records and Standards * Software Systems in Medicine * Pervasive Health Systems and Services * e-Health for Public Health * Clinical Problems and Applications * Data Visualization * Pattern recognition and Machine Learning * Practice-based Research Methods for Healthcare IT BIOSTEC KEYNOTE LECTURE Hayit Greenspan, Tel Aviv University, Israel PUBLICATIONS All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings, under an ISBN reference, on paper and on CD-ROM support. SCITEPRESS is member of CrossRef ( <http://www.crossref.org/> http://www.crossref.org/) All papers presented at the conference venue will be available at the <http://www.scitepress.org/DigitalLibrary/Default.aspx> SCITEPRESS Digital Library. The proceedings will be submitted for indexation by Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (ISI), INSPEC, DBLP, EI (Elsevier Index) and Scopus. AWARDS The awards will be announced and bestowed at the conference closing session. Please check the websites for further information: http://www.biodevices.biostec.org/BestPaperAward.aspx http://www.bioimaging.biostec.org/BestPaperAward.aspx http://www.bioinformatics.biostec.org/BestPaperAward.aspx http://www.biosignals.biostec.org/BestPaperAward.aspx http://www.healthinf.biostec.org/BestPaperAward.aspx BIOSTEC CONFERENCE CO - CHAIRS Ana Fred, Instituto de Telecomunicações / IST, Portugal Hugo Gamboa, CEFITEC / FCT - New University of Lisbon, Portugal Please check further details at the conference website http://www.biostec.org/ BIOSTEC Secretariat Address: Av. D. Manuel I, 27A, 2º esq. 2910-595 Setúbal - Portugal Tel.: +351 265 100 033 Fax: +44 203 014 8813 e-mail: biostec.secretariat(a)insticc.org

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two postdoctoral positions in recording and statistical analysis of population activity
by Gergo Orban June 10, 2015

June 10, 2015

We are inviting applications for two postdoctoral positions at the Pattern Research Group which is affiliated with the MTA Wigner ResearchCentre for Physics (Budapest, Hungary) and MTA Institute for Experimental Medicine and is sponsored by a prestigious National Brain Research Program grant. The primary focus of the research group is the characterization of activity patterns of large-scale neural populations in the hippocampus and the understanding of the computational principles underlying its dynamically changing states. The unparalleled performance of the nervous system is due to the fast and parallel processing of information that is achieved by the coherent activity of networks of neurons. Recent advancements in recording techniques provides access to high temporal resolution data from hundreds of identified neurons during task performance of animals. Understanding the organizational principles underlying the high-dimensional activity patterns has become a fundamental challenge of neurobiology. We are seeking highly motivated candidates for one post in computational/theoretical neuroscience and one in electrophysiology to work on a project that is based on a strong collaboration between neurophysiology and theoretical neuroscience. Details of the two posts can be found below. Postdoctoral fellow in theoretical/computational neuroscience The ideal candidate has a strong mathematical background, preferably with a PhD in physics, computer science, or mathematics or other quantitative disciplines. Besides mathematical skills, the position requires competence in programming (e.g. matlab, R, python, or C++). Candidates with training or research experience in statistics, machine learning, computational modelling, dynamical systems are especially encouraged to apply. Training in neuroscience is not required but the applicant has to demonstrate his/her willingness to acquire the necessary background for the project. High dimensional neuronal data is recorded by the experimental part of the group (Attila Gulyas, Institute for Experimental Medicine) but the candidate will have the opportunity get experience with cutting-edge neuronal recording techniques to design of novel experiments based on the analysis of the recorded data. The successful applicant will be co-supervised by Gergő Orbán and András Telcs. Postdoctoral fellow or PhD student in hippocampal electrophysiology The ideal candidate has a strong background in in vitro or in vivo electrophysiology or optical imaging to take part of this challenge and to work on a project that is based on a strong collaboration between neurophysiology and theoretical neuroscience. The primary task of the candidate will be to set up the equipment and to monitor the activity of large (>100) populations of hippocampal neurons in vitro, and later in head-restrained mice using optical imaging techniques and genetically expressed Ca2+ indicators. Preprocessing and to a given depth the analysis of the rough data also expected. The high-level analysis of the recorded data is performed by the theoretical part of the group (led by András Telcs and Gergő Orbán, MTA Wigner Centre for Physics) but basic knowledge of statistics is essential and previous experience with signal processing or programming (Igor, Python, Matlab or similar language) is advantageous and contribution to that part of the project is expected, based on the load of the experimental part. The applicant will be supervised by Attila Gulyás. The expected starting date of the position is 1 September 2015 but the start date of the position is negotiable. Initial appointment is made for one year but can be extended to three years upon successful evaluation. The work is based in the PATTERN lab at the MTA Wigner Institute (Budapest, Hungary) but requires regular interactions with the experimental partners at the Institute for Experimental Medicine (Budapest). For further information please visit the project website, http://pattern.wigner.mta.hu <http://pattern.wigner.mta.hu/>. For informal inquiries please contact Gergo Orban (orban.gergo(a)wigner.mta.hu <mailto:orban.gergo@wigner.mta.hu>) or Andras Telcs (telcs.szit.bme(a)gmail.com <mailto:telcs.szit.bme@gmail.com>). Please send applications, including CV, a research statement and contact information of two references by email to András Telcs before 30 June.

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Postdoctoral position on assessing auditory cognition to implement neurofeedback in hearing aids
by Tobias Reichenbach June 10, 2015

June 10, 2015

Applications are invited for a Research Associate to work on project in auditory cognitive neuroscience at Imperial College London. The project is part of an exciting multi-centre effort with the Universities of Southampton and Manchester to employ neurofeedback for building 'smart' hearing aids. The successful candidate will join the group of Tobias Reichenbach (http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/reichenbach) The project is further embedded in the Centre for Neurotechnology at Imperial College (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/neurotechnology <http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/neurotechnology>). The project's goal is to develop experimental paradigms and associated data analytics to predict a person's speech comprehension based on non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of his or her brain activity in response to natural speech. This will employ advanced data analytics to correlate EEG responses to key aspects of speech, such as its envelope. The project will further investigate how these EEG assessments can be employed to fit and adapt the settings of a hearing aid in order to maximize its usefulness for a hearing-impaired person. Applicants should have a PhD (or equivalent) in computing, engineering, neuroscience or physical sciences with experience in signal processing as well as neuroimaging. For an informal discussion please contact Dr Tobias Reichenbach (email: reichenbach(a)imperial.ac.uk <mailto:a.kedgley@imperial.ac.uk>; telephone: +44 (0)20 759 46370). Our preferred method of application is online via our website http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/employment <http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/employment>. (Select “Job Search” then enter the job title or vacancy reference number into “Keywords”). Please complete and upload an application form as directed quoting reference number EN20150202FH. Alternatively, if you are unable to apply online, please email Edit Toth on etoth(a)imperial.ac.uk <mailto:etoth@imperial.ac.uk> to request an application form. The preferred starting date is September 2015. Applications received before the 6th of July 2015 will receive full consideration. ------------------------------------------- Tobias Reichenbach Lecturer, Biophysics of Hearing Editor, Heliyon Department of Bioengineering Imperial College London South Kensington Campus SW7 2AZ London, UK http://www.bg.ic.ac.uk/research/reichenbach/

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Postdoctoral position on real-time fMRI brain decoding
by Paolo Avesani June 9, 2015

June 9, 2015

Postdoctoral position: Real-time fMRI brain decoding Applications are invited for a funded Post-Doctoral position at the the Neuroinformatics Laboratory (NILab), a joint initiative of the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, and the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Italy. The position is part of a large grant (2.1 million Euro) awarded by the Autonomous Province of Trento to work on the topic "Characterizing and improving brain mechanisms of attention" (ATTEND). The position will be for an expert in multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI brain data. The activities will include the design, the implementation and the validation of real-time fMRI decoding methods to investigate the human visual attention system. The work will involve the integration of several aspects, including real-time MRI acquisition, multivariate brain decoding methods and adaptive stimulation protocols for visual perception and attention. Candidates should have a degree in Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with a strong mathematical and computational background. Ideally they should have experience with real-time brain fMRI experiments. The position will be available immediately. Informal inquiries can be addressed to info.nilab(a)fbk.eu. Interested applicants should send a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names and full contact details of two referees at http://hr.fbk.eu/jobs. Usful links: NILab - http://nilab.fbk.eu FBK - http://www.fbk.eu/ CIMeC - http://www.unitn.it/cimec ATTEND - https://www.attendproject.eu/

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Brain Imaging Faculty Search --Rutgers@Newark
by Stephen José Hanson June 9, 2015

June 9, 2015

The Department of Psychology at Rutgers University-Newark anticipates hiring at the assistant professor (tenure track) level. We seek applications from individuals with specializations in areas of Psychology and Neuroscience that primarily use fMRI as a methodology. Examples of research areas of special interest include social, developmental and cognitive neuroscience. Applicants that incorporatebrain connectivity concepts in their research are encouraged to apply. Applicants will have access to the new Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center (RUBIC; Siemens 3T Trio). This position requires a Ph.D. in Psychology, Neuroscience, or related field. Highest priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate excellence in teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels, provide research mentorship to students, and have research programs that can be supported by external funding. Applicants should submit a CV, statement of research and teaching interests, 3 top pre/re-prints and 3 letters of recommendation to:facultysearch@psychology.rutgers.edu. We will give priority to applications received by October 15th but will continue the search until the position is filled. Diversity Mission: Rutgers/Newark is the most ethnically diverse research-oriented campus in America (16 consecutive years, US News & World Report). Applicants may include a brief statement in their cover letter explaining how their membership in our department will advance the University commitment to diversity.All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other classification protected by law. Rutgers-Newark is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and actively encourages applications from minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. Please send queries to me (jose(a)rubic.rutgers.edu) > -- Stephen José Hanson Director RUBIC (Rutgers Brain Imaging Center) Professor of Psychology Member of Cognitive Science Center (NB) Member EE Graduate Program (NB) Member CS Graduate Program (NB) Rutgers University email: jose(a)rubic.rutgers.edu web: psychology.rutgers.edu/~jose lab: www.rumba.rutgers.edu fax: 866-434-7959 voice: 973-353-3313 (RUBIC)

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Deadline soon! Nominations for Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience
by Mark Goldman June 9, 2015

June 9, 2015

Dear Computational Neuroscience Community, We are now nearing the deadline (next week, Wednesday June 17) for soliciting nominations for the Society for Neuroscience's annual Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience. The Swartz Prize, supported by the Swartz Foundation, honors an individual whose activities have produced a significant cumulative contribution to theoretical models or computational methods in neuroscience or who has made a particularly noteworthy advance in theoretical or computational neuroscience. Recipients receive a $25,000 prize and complimentary registration, transportation (economy air or ground), and two nights hotel accommodations for the SfN annual meeting, as well as a lecture slot at the Dynamical Neuroscience Satellite Event (sponsored by NIMH). The SfN president presents the prize at a lecture at the SfN annual meeting. How to nominate an individual: *Submit all materials using SfN's award nomination site <http://www.sfn.org/Awards-and-Funding/Individual-Prizes-and-Fellowships/Nom…>, accessible through the Society for Neuroscience webpage:* *http://www.sfn.org/Awards-and-Funding/Individual-Prizes-and-Fellowships/Outstanding-Research-and-Career-Awards/Swartz-Prize-for-Theoretical-and-Computational-Neuroscience * *Please include the following:* * One nomination letter * Maximum of two optional letters of recommendation (one letter must include a summary of past, present, and future research, maximum of two pages) * Current CV * A list of publications and abstracts authored or co-authored by the nominee Best regards, Mark Goldman

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post-doc position: information and its relation to causation, emergence, adaptation, evolution, and consciousness (Prof. Giulio Tononi)
by albantakis June 5, 2015

June 5, 2015

A postdoctoral position is available at the center for sleep and consciousness science in the laboratory of Dr. Giulio Tononi (University of Wisconsin, Madison), to study the relation of information and causation within the framework of the integrated information theory of consciousness (Oizumi, Albantakis, Tononi 2014; Scholarpedia: Integrated Information Theory; see http://templeton.3bweb.com/projects/integrated-information-maximally-irredu… for a project description). Immediate funding is available for a range of projects related to foundational questions regarding the ontological status of information, and its relation to causation, emergence, adaptation, evolution, and consciousness. The successful candidate will work in the information integration theory group (http://integratedinformationtheory.org/) at the center for sleep and consciousness science, which is dedicated to a broad range of research problems focused on two neurobiological problems – the mechanisms and functions of sleep and the neural substrates of consciousness. Candidates are expected to have strong training in an analytically rigorous discipline such as theoretical biology/neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering. We explicitly encourage mathematicians to apply. Experience in information theory, complex systems, and an interest in the philosophy of information/causation are a plus. Programming experience is required (knowledge of MATLAB, Python, and/or C++ is of advantage). Appointments are renewable from year to year for up to 3 years, starting as soon as possible or until the positions are filled. Post-doc salaries correspond to the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipend schedule for postdoc trainees, based on number of years of postdoctoral experience. Candidates should send a CV, brief statement of previous research and future research interests, and email addresses and phone numbers of three references to: Giulio Tononi, gtononi(a)wisc.edu. Tononi G (2015) Integrated Information Theory. /Scholarpedia/. Albantakis L, Hintze A, Koch C, Adami C, Tononi G (2014) Evoluation of Integrated Causal Structures in Animats Exposed to Environments of Increasing Complexity. /PLoS Comput Biol/ 10(12):e1003966 Oizumi M, Albantakis L, Tononi G (2014) From the Phenomenology to the Mechanisms of Consciousness: Integrated Information Theory 3.0. /PLoS Comput Biol/ 10(5):e1003588 Hoel, E. P., Albantakis, L., & Tononi, G. (2013). Quantifying causal emergence shows that macro can beat micro. /PNAS/, /110/(49), 19790–19795. The scope of work will range from: -theoretical development and computational implementation of the notion of intrinsic causal information -causal analysis, including the systematic use of perturbations, counterfactuals, and irreducibility -analysis of complex systems in terms their causal/informational structure -meaning (understanding and control) from the intrinsic perspective of the system -actual causation (causal explanation) -examining similarities and differences between existing notions of information and causation (Shannon information, algorithmic information,…) -defining emergence in terms of the spatio-temporal grain size at which a system of elements achieves a maximum of causal power -evolutionary/adaptive aspects of information/causation including simulations based on small adaptive neural networks (animats), which evolve and adapt to an environment that requires sensitivity to context for survival -- Larissa Albantakis, PhD Department of Psychiatry University of Wisconsin 6001 Research Park Blvd Madison, WI 53719

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Cajal Advanced Neuroscience Training Course: Bioinformatics for the neuroscientist
by Padraig Gleeson June 5, 2015

June 5, 2015

Dear colleagues, Announcing a new neuroscience summer course - “Bioinformatics for the Neuroscientist”. This course is part of the CAJAL Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme sponsored by FENS and IBRO and hosted at the Bordeaux School of Neuroscience in Bordeaux, France. The Cajal Advanced Neuroscience Training “Bioinformatics for the Neuroscientist” will provide students with a practical knowledge of state of the art bioinformatics and modelling methods used to understand the molecular and cellular basis of neuronal function and pathologies. The course will feature introductory lectures about theory and tools, practical hands on sessions, and scientific seminars illustrating how bioinformatics answered specific neurobiological questions. We will cover genomics, epigenetics, functional genomics, biological pathways and models of biochemistry and electrophysiology of single neurons. Date and Location: 21 September – 2 October 2015 Bordeaux, France Course Directors: Nicolas Le Novère (Babraham Institute, UK) Marie-Claude Potier (CNRS-Inserm-UPMC, France) Macha Nikolski (University of Bordeaux, France) - On-site chair Faculty: Julio Banga (Instituto Investigationes Marinas, Spain) Aurélien Barré (Centre Bordelais de Bioinformatique, France) Sven Bergmann (University of Lausanne, Switzerland) Sandrine Caburet (Institut Jacques Monod, France) Claudine Chaouiya (Gulbenkian Insitute of science, Portugual) Benjamin Dartigues (Centre Bordelais de Bioinformatique, France) Laura Furlong (Pompeu Fabra University, Spain) Padraig Gleeson (UCL, UK) Pierre de la Grange (Genosplice, France) Justine Guégan (Institut du Cerveau et de la moëlle) Christophe Junot (CEA, France) Olivier Kirsh (Université Paris Diderot, France) Frédéric Lemoine (Institut du Cerveau et de la moëlle) Ivan Moszer (Institut du Cerveau et de la moëlle) Hayssam Soueidan (Centre Bordelais de Bioinformatique, France) Raluca Uricaru (Centre Bordelais de Bioinformatique, France) Reiner Veitia (Institut Jacques Monod, France) Alejandro Villaverde (Instituto Investigationes Marinas, Spain) Applications: http://www.fens.org/Training/CAJAL-programme/CAJAL-Trainign-Courses-in-2015…. *The application deadline is 12th June.* More information about the CAJAL Training programme: www.fens.org/Training/CAJAL-programme/ ----------------------------------------------------- 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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BIOPHYSICS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
by Roman Poznanski June 5, 2015

June 5, 2015

BEYOND THE FRONTIERS OF ARTIFICIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, 450pp , 25 color plates Pre-order your copy now ! http://www.amazon.com/Biophysics-Consciousness-A-Foundational-Approach/dp/9… The problem of how the brain produces consciousness, subjectivity and "something it is like to be" remains one of the greatest challenges to a complete science of the natural world. While various scientists and philosophers approach the problem from their own unique perspectives and in the terms of their own respective fields, Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach attempts a consilience across disparate disciplines to explain how it is possible that an objective brain produces subjective experience. This volume unites the crème de la crème of physicists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists in the attempt to understand consciousness through a foundational approach encompassing ontological, evolutionary, neurobiological, and Freudian interpretations with the focus on conscious phenomena occurring in the brain. By integrating the perspectives of these diverse disciplines with the latest research and theories on the biophysics of the brain, the book tries to explain how consciousness can be an adaptive and causal element in the natural world. Contents: •Preface •Foreword (Searle) •List of Contributors •Neurobiological Naturalism (Feinberg and Mallatt) •The Evolutionary Origins of Consciousness (Feinberg and Mallatt) •How Language Evolution Reshaped Human Consciousness (Arbib) •Consciousness by Surprise: A Neuropsychoanalytic Approach to the Hard Problem (Solms) •Can Qualitative Biophysics Solve the Hard Problem? (Pereira Jr. et al.) •The Causal Roots of Mental and Neural Integration (Manzotti and Chella) •The Two-Brains Hypothesis: Implications for Consciousness (Bercovich et al.) •On the Brain's Electromagnetic Field System as the Origin of Consciousness (Hales) •The Neurophenomenology of Consciousness (Poznanski et al.) •The Holoinformational Foundations of Consciousness (Di Biase) •Neural Transition Dynamics and Conscious Perceptive States (Bernroider) •The 'Quantum Underground': Where Life and Consciousness Originate (Craddock et al.) •Quantum Spin Formalism on Consciousness (Hu and Wu) •Consciousness in the Universe — A Review of the Orch OR Theory (Hameroff and Penrose) •Index Readership: Researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, biophysics and quantum physics investigating conscious phenomena occurring in the brain ------- Roman R. Poznanski Professor Laboratory of Biological Modeling The Rockefeller University 1230 York Avenue New York, NY 10065-6399 Office: (212) 327-7646 E-mail: rpoznanski(a)rockefeller.edu http://romanpoznanski.blogspot.com and Chief-Editor, Journal of Integrative Neuroscience http://www.worldscinet.com/jin/mkt/editorial.shtml

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Neural Metrics 2.0 : Deadline approaching (June 15th)
by Marcel van Gerven June 5, 2015

June 5, 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/ <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… <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/ <http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/practical-matters/housing/> Discounts : • 15% discount for students and PhD candidates from Radboud University and partner universities, Confirmed Speakers (alphabetical): > Misha Ahrens (HHMI, Janelia) > Matthias Bethge (University Tübingen) > Vincent Bonin (VIB, Leuven) > Romain Brette (Institut de la Vision, Paris) > Kevin Briggman (NIH, Bethesda) > Tansu Celikel (Donders Institute, Nijmegen) > Moritz Helmstädter (MPI for Brain Research, Frankfurt) > Henry Kennedy (INSERM, Lyon) > Timm Lochmann (TU Berlin) > David Norris (Donders Institute, Nijmegen) > Rémi Proville (Donders Institute, Nijmegen) > Andrew Reid (FZ Jülich) > Jan Schnupp (Oxford University) > Alessandro Treves (SISSA, Trieste) > Fleur Zeldenrust (Univ. Amsterdam)

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[meetings] SECOND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS- Workshop: Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior at SWARM2015
by Poramate Manoonpong June 4, 2015

June 4, 2015

SECOND CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS- Workshop: Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior at SWARM2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, October 28 (full-day), Kyoto University, Japan Deadline for poster abstract submission: June 30, 2015 Notification of acceptance: July 31, 2015 Workshop Overview ------------------ Animals show fascinating adaptive and versatile abilities. For example, they can move around and at the same time avoid obstacles in order to successfully navigate through their complex cluttered environment for finding their food source. While moving, they can also adapt their locomotion to deal with unknown situations. Furthermore, they can interact with each other to form collective behavior for anti-predator, enhanced foraging, and even increased locomotion efficiency. These complex achievements emerge from tightly as well as loosely coupled interactions between many ingredients including biomechanics (i.e., morphology, muscles, and materials), sensory feedback, centralized/decentralized mechanisms, and communication. Developing these key ingredients and implementing them in artificial systems to approach the level of performance of living creatures remains a grand challenge. To address these issues, our workshop at SWARM 2015 (http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/) "Embodied sensorimotor interaction: from locomotion to collective behavior" will bring together leading experts, working in the domains of bio-inspired robotics, swarm robotics, modular robotics, embodied AI, evolutionary robotics, and computational neuroscience, to present their recent developments on robot locomotion and collective behavior and discuss future directions to overcome this challenge. The full-day workshop is composed of the following parts: 1) Invited talks by experts from swarm robotics, bio-inspired locomotion control, and embodied AI, 2) poster presentations, 3) Discussion and future steps We are also pleased to invite contributions in the form of 1 page conf. style abstract http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/ on (but are not limited to) the following topics. The selected contributions will be presented in a form of a poster during the workshop. We particularly encourage young scientists to contribute and attend, even presenting their research at an early stage an engage in discussions. We also welcome live demonstrations on robot locomotion and collective behavior. Submissions have to be sent to poma(a)mmmi.sdu.dk<mailto:poma@mmmi.sdu.dk> in PDF format. One author per accepted workshop contribution (poster, demo) and attendee are required to register (http://www.ohk.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/SWARM2015/) The Workshop topics include (but are not limited to) the following: ------------------ - Bio-inspired robotics (e.g., walking robots, flying robots, etc.), - Locomotion control, - Collective behavior control, - Swarm and self-organizing systems (e.g., modular robots) ===================== Tentative List of Speakers: · Dario Floreano (Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, EPFL, Switzerland) · John Hallam (Centre for BioRobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, SDU, Denmark) · Kasper Støy (IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark) · Nora Ayanian (the Automatic Coordination of Teams Lab, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, USA) · Koh Hosoda (Dept. of Adaptive Machine Systems, Grad. school of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan) · Yulia Sandamirskaya (Institute for Neural Computation, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany) · Shinya Aoi (Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan) · Yuichi Ambe (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan) · Poramate Manoonpong (Embodied AI & Neurorobotics Lab, Centre for BioRobotics, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, SDU, Denmark) ===================== We hope that you will be able to attend and look forward to seeing you in Kyoto, Japan! The workshop organizers: Florentin Wörgötter, Poramate Manoonpong, Yuichi Ambe, Shinya Aoi

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FENS Featured Regional Meeting 2015 - Extended deadlines, preliminary programme and social events
by Dimitrios A. Adamos June 4, 2015

June 4, 2015

Only few months are left for the FENS Featured Regional Meeting , which will be held at Ioannis Vellidis Congress Center , Thessaloniki , from 7 to 10 October 2015!! Online you can find the analytic preliminary program at http://ffrm2015.com/programme/scientific-programme We would like to remind you that abstract submission deadline and early registration fees apply up to 30th of June! Please visit http://ffrm2015.com to register and submit your abstract online. Also , we would like to bring to your attention that during the congress two social events will take place : - Basketball Tournament(/free of charge/) The three organizing nations share a long history in Basketball, with numerous, unforgettable, exciting games conducted between national and associational teams. The city of Thessaloniki itself has a close relationship with basketball, as it has been largely known as the capital of modern Greek basketball. An indoors basketball tournament will be hosted at the Thessaloniki YMCA court. Students and older students are going to participate in the tournament in mixed teams. Medical support to ...older students will be kindly provided by the Aristotle University Medical School. Interested participants will be (almost) randomly allocated to four teams • Brainiacs • Synaptics • Connectomes • Old timers T-shirts will be provided to the players, who are kindly requested to bring their shoes and shorts. Two initial classification games will take place and the small and big finals will follow. The duration of the games will be 15 min each. The winners will have the opportunity to publish their papers in most international journals, under privileged reviewing processes. The Old timers are supposed to win, provided they make it through the tournament. When registering for the FFRM2015, do not forget to mention you wish to participate to the Basketball Tournament! It’s a no-brainer! *-Food Festival (*40€ per person / 30 € for undergraduate student) A Gastronomy Festival will be held at the area of the port, in a Warehouse at Pier A, an alternative and modern location of the city. The main objective of the event is a search of gastronomic identity of Thessaloniki in combination with Balkan flavors, on which so much is said and written. The street food “festival” will be accompanied by Greek and Balkan sounds from a live band. In case you are interesting to participate in one or both these events, please declare it during your registration online. For those who have already register and they decided to participate, please contact Meeting Secretariat at f.kyritsi(a)events.gr.

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Research Staff Member opening at NeuroMentix
by Chad Peck June 4, 2015

June 4, 2015

NeuroMentix is seeking candidates for a Research Staff Member opening. NeuroMentix is an early stage start up dedicated to a new, groundbreaking class of artificial intelligence technologies closely modeled after the brain. The Research Staff Member will initially participate in government funded research to refine, adapt, and demonstrate the technology. As our approach has important implications for understanding and modeling global brain function, we believe a career with NeuroMentix has the potential for a truly transformative, positive impact on science, technology, and our world. Job Description The selected Research Staff Member will participate in the development, demonstration, and application of a new class of biologically-inspired, network-based artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The responsibilities include requirements analysis; network and component design, implementation, and testing; experimental design and analysis; documentation of inventions and scientific results through patents, technical reports and scientific publications; presentations and demonstrations to customers and other researchers. Required: * A PhD in computational neuroscience, computer science, machine learning, cognitive systems, electrical engineering, physics, or a related field * Two years of development experience with C/C++ * Two years of development experience in a UNIX/Linux environment * Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research * Working knowledge of functional neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, machine learning techniques, non-linear dynamical systems, and neural networks * Preferred availability by August 2015 Desired: * One year of experience with a computational neuroscience simulator (NEST is preferred) * Demonstrated expertise with generative neural networks, such as deep learning systems * Experience with robot control or software automaton design, development and testing * Demonstrated experience with team software development and integration practices * Expertise with key results and methodologies from experimental psychology If you are a highly driven, adaptable, and impactful researcher, please send your resume and contact information to employment(a)neuromentix.com. NeuroMentix is located in Newtown, CT, USA. More information about NeuroMentix can be found at www.neuromentix.com. NeuroMentix is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants must be a US citizen or possess US work authorization. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, or disability. NeuroMentix participates in E-Verify.

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Intelligence for Embedded and Cyber-physical Systems (IntECS 2015) @IEEE SSCI: papers are due in 10 days
by Giacomo Boracchi June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015

**CALL FOR PAPERS** Symposium on "Intelligence for Embedded and Cyber-physical Systems" (IntECS 2015) at IEEE Symposium Series in Computational Intelligence 2015 7 - 10 December 2015, Cape Town, South Africa ( http://ieee-ssci.org.za/) *IntECS 2015 Web site*: http://ies.deib.polimi.it/events/intecs-2015-ieee-ssci/ ********************************************************** *IMPORTANT DATES* Paper submission: June 14, 2015 Author notifications: September 4, 2015 Camera-ready submission: October 4, 2015 Early registration: October 4, 2015 Conference Dates: December 7 - 10, 2015 *********************************************************** In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in designing embedded and cyber-physical systems featuring intelligent skills. Beside addressing the specific tasks they have been designed for, these systems are expected, for example, to autonomously make decisions/activate reactions, perform self-diagnosis, and learn from and interact with the operating environment. This symposium addresses novel and emerging computational-intelligence and machine-learning solutions to provide such an intelligent behavior to embedded and cyberphisical systems. IntECS aspires at providing a forum for researchers who are actively working on intelligent embedded and cyberphisical systems and, more in general, on computational intelligent solutions for real world applications. The symposium will be held within the IEEE 2015 Symposium Series in Computational Intelligence (7 - 10 Dec. 2015, Cape Town, South Africa) **Topics** . Intelligence for embedded systems . Intelligence for cyber-physical systems . Cognitive fault-diagnosis systems . Smart objects and Internet of Things . Intelligent sensor networks . Intelligent sensors and robotics . Intelligent measurement systems . Adaptive solutions to operate in evolving/changing environments . Intelligent systems for real-world applications . Computational intelligence techniques for smart buildings and critical-infrastructure monitoring **Keywords** Embedded systems, cyber-physical systems, fault-diagnosis systems, intelligent applications, intelligent sensors, intelligent sensor networks, Computational Intelligence, Internet of Things. **Symposium Organizers** - Cesare Alippi (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Italy)cesare.alippi(a)polimi.it - Giacomo Boracchi (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Italy)giacomo.boracchi(a)polimi.it - Manuel Roveri (Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Italy)manuel.roveri(a)polimi.it **Technical Program Committee** Demetrios Eliadis, KIOS Research Center, Cyprus Stavros Ntalampiras, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Maurizio Bocca, Bosch Research and Technology Center, CA (USA) Michalis Michaelidis, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus Huajin Tang, A*STAR, Singapore Joe-Air Jiang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan Stefano Squartini, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy Rami Abielmona, Larus Technologies, Canada Dongbin Zhao, University of Chinese Academy of Science, China Guillerme DeSouza, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA Ana-Maria Cretu, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada Vicenç Puig, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain **Paper Submission Procedure** Submissions must contain original, high quality, not submitted or elsewhere published work. Authors must submit their paper through the IEEE SSCI 2015 webpage http://ieee-ssci.org.za/ Accepted papers will be included in the IEEE SSCI 2015 proceedings and indexed through IEEExplore. Further information and Paper submission can be found at the IEEE SSCI 2015 webpage http://ieee-ssci.org.za/ *********************************************************** The call for papers as well as more detailed information can be retrieved from IntECS 2015 webpage http://ies.deib.polimi.it/events/intecs-2015-ieee-ssci/ and from the main SSCI 2015 webpage http://ieee-ssci.org.za/ Please make sure you select: "Intelligence for Cyber-physical and Embedded Systems" (IntECS 2015) during the submission process *********************************************************** -- 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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Brain Connectivity Workshop 2015!
by Jorge Riera Diaz June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015

Day-by-Day Registration Available for the 14th Brain Connectivity Workshop A number of places are available in the upcoming Brain Connectivity Workshop at UCSD (June 10-12) at a day-by-day late registration rate of $75. Those local or otherwise able to attend are welcome. Each day's program begins with a light breakfast at 8:00 am, with the first talks beginning at 8:30 am. Lunch, coffee/tea, and snacks are included. The meetings will be held in the San Diego Supercomputer Center annex on the UCSD campus. This will be the 14th international meeting of the Brain Connectivity Workshop, only the second held in the US and the first to focus on electrophysiological measures of distributed brain dynamics. Twenty-six leading scientific voices in the field will take part. A key feature of the Workshop are the unusually long general discussion periods following each workshop presentation - a chance to hear experts and all in attendance discuss topics of current strong interest to cognitive neuroscience. The Workshop program and other information is available at: http://sccn.ucsd.edu/BrainConnectivityWorkshop2015<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__sccn.ucsd.edu_BrainConn…> To indicate your interest in attending as a day-by-day registrant, please email Rhonda McCoy (rmccoy(a)ucsd.edu<mailto:rmccoy@ucsd.edu>) for detailed information. Scott Makeig (smakeig(a)ucsd.edu<mailto:smakeig@ucsd.edu>) Jorge Riera (Miami) Michael Breakspear (Brisbane) -- Scott Makeig, Research Scientist and Director, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0961, http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~scott<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__sccn.ucsd.edu_-7Escott&…>

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EvAAL 2015 Call for Competition - only one week left
by Francesco Potortì June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015

ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT FOR REGISTRATION ! EvAAL-ETRI on-site and off-site Indoor Localization Competition <http://evaal.aaloa.org/> In conjunction with IPIN 2015 Banff, Alberta, Canada 13-16 October 2015 ================================================================ We are pleased to announce the EvAAL Indoor Localization Competition, which is to be held during the IPIN 2015 Conference. The competition aims at bringing together academic and industrial research communities to work together on challenging open problems in indoor localization based on mobile devices and sensors, with the purpose of evaluating different approaches and envisioning new research opportunities. Recent years have witnessed increasing interest in location-based services and applications. In most cases, however, location information is limited by the accessibility to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which is largely unavailable in indoor environments. While the first commercial indoor positioning systems are starting to emerge, no standards exist yet and the field is quickly evolving. The competition will consist of two on-site and one off-site tracks, results will be presented during a dedicated session during the IPIN conference. Prizes will be awarded to the winners. Data collected from competitors' systems during the on-site tracks at the conference location will be published for the purpose of research and comparison. Track 1: Smartphone based positioning Track 2: Foot-mounted pedestrian dead reckoning positioning Track 3: Wi-Fi fingerprinting in large environments (off-site) For Track 1 "Smartphone based positioning", the competitors can use any sensor available on the smartphones used. For Track 2 "Foot-mounted positioning", the candidates can use MEMS sensors (inertial, compass and pressure sensors); electronic devices such as tablet, notebook, etc. can be used for control and monitoring. For Track 3 "Wi-Fi fingerprinting", the competitors will have access to a large Wi-Fi fingerprint database, to which they will apply their algorithms offline. The competition will take place during the IPIN conference and the on-ste tracks will be sponsored by ETRI, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute based in Korea. For the on-site tracks, competitors will be given the time to pre-test and setup their solutions prior to the test day, during which the systems will be measured in real-time. For the off-site track, the ground truth will be disclosed during the conference. Evaluation criteria for the competition, restrictions on the accepted technologies, technical rules to follow and a description of the benchmarks are detailed in the technical annex of this call (to be provided by mid-March). Possible refinements of the annex, also based on participating competitors' comments, will be timely distributed to all participants. The annex will include information such as the site map, the distribution of wireless communication devices and more. A "competitor" can be any individual or group of individuals working as a single team, associated to a single or a number of organizations. Competitors apply for admission to the competition by providing a short (2 to 4 pages) technical description of their system, including details on algorithms and protocols. The Program Committee will accept or refuse the application in a short time, based on technical feasibility and logistic constraints. In case of acceptance, competitors are invited to submit a paper to the conference. The paper will be subjected to peer review: accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of IPIN 2015. Competitors may choose to not submit a paper, but in any case they are required to make an oral presentation of their system during a dedicated session at the IPIN conference. Results from the competition and the raw data from the competitors' systems will be published after the competition. Application by guests, who will have the opportunity to test their systems in the same way as competitors, but whose results will not be disclosed, will be granted on an individual base. One full registration to the conference is required from each competitor or guest system; registration covers the presentation of a paper describing the system. The winners of the competition will be announced during the conference. ETRI will award a 2000$ prize to the best placed teams of tracks 1 and 2, together with a paid invitation to hold a talk at ETRI (KR). The winner of track 3 will receive a prize worth 500$. We encourage submissions from both academia and industry (there are no restrictions on the composition of competing teams) with the aim of seeking innovative solutions based on mobile devices and sensors for indoor applications. Please check the conference web site for more information and regular updates on the progress of the competition. Important Dates --------------------------------------------------------------- Admission request: 10 June 2015 Notification of admission and invitation to submit a paper: shortly after request --------------------------------------------------------------- Related links --------------------------------------------------------------- Submission site: <https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=20021> Technical annex: soon to be published on <http://evaal.aaloa.org> --------------------------------------------------------------- Organizing Committee -------------------- Competition chair: Francesco Potortì <Potorti(a)isti.cnr.it> Local chair: Kyle O'keefe (CA) On-site software chair: Michele Girolami (CNR-ISTI, IT) Off-site track chair: Joaquín Torres Sospedra (Universitat Castellón, ES) TPC chair (on-site): Paolo Barsocchi (CNR-ISTI, IT) TPC chair (off-site): Raúl Montoliu Colás (Universitat Castellón, ES) -- Francesco Potortì (ricercatore) Voice: +39.050.621.3058 ISTI - Area della ricerca CNR Mobile: +39.348.8283.107 via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa Skype: wnlabisti (entrance 20, 1st floor, room C71) Web: http://fly.isti.cnr.it

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[ICSLANE] Registration deadline extension
by Alessandro Barardi June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015

*Registration deadline has been extended to the 20th of June.* *Fellowships for students presenting posters are available. Check our website <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html> for details.* --------------------------------------------------------------- On September 21st – 23rd 2015, the *Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/>* project celebrates the closing event with an *International Conference on System Level Approaches to * *Neural Engineering (ICSLANE*). *Eugene Izhikevich, *co-founder and CEO of Brain Corporation, USA, and *Nikos Logothetis, * Director of Max Planck Institute for Biol Cybernetics inGermany, participate in the event as keynote speakers. The program per day with its* outstanding list of confirmed speakers *is already available* here <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html>.* We invite you to *submit poster abstracts* *and apply for **contributed talks. * *Students *who submit posters will have a *fee reduction.* Program <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html> Registration <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-conference-on-system-level-app…> Abstract submission <nett.barcelona.2015(a)gmail.com> The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together *theoretical and experimental * *neuroscientists, **roboticists and microfluidics experts* to present and discuss the state of the art in the field of *neural engineering*. It is designed to provide fertile grounds for establishing collaborations between classical neuroscientists and leaders in the up-and-coming robotics and microfluidics fields to develop novel neural engineering techniques and promote the understanding of the brain. *Location:* *Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona* *Dr. Aiguader, 88* *08003, Barcelon**a* --------------------------------------------------------------- On behalf of NETT fellows, Alessandro Barardi, PhD student. Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/> Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona, Spain

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CFP: Special Issue on Applications of Operations Research in Neuroscience
by Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Dear Colleagues, [We apologize if you have received multiple copies of this message] We would like to draw your attention to the special volume on "Applications of Operations Research for Neuroscience" in the Annals of Operations Research. We cordially invite researchers in neuroscience who use operations research methods and related mathematical fields to contribute to this special issue. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas of neuroscience: * intracellular signaling and regulation * synaptic plasticity * dynamics in heterogeneous neural networks * intelligent systems and control * perceptual, cognitive and behavioral functions * learning and memory * spatio-temporal network analysis * combinatorial optimization * signal and information processing * neuroimaging and functional brain imaging processing * computational modelling and simulation Please note that the use of methods from modern operations research is a prerequisite for any paper submitted to this special issue to be accepted for review. Important Dates: Submission deadline of full papers: August 1, 2015. Submission Details: The format of manuscripts for the Annals of Operations Research as well as guidelines can be found on the web page of Springer, the publisher of the journal: http://www.springer.com/business/operations+research/journal/10479 Authors should submit a cover letter mentioning that the paper is for a special volume, along with and a manuscript via the journal's online submission site: http://www.editorialmanager.com/anor More details can be found in the Call for Paper attached to this e-mail. Please consider sharing this call for papers with any researchers who might be interested. http://rutcor.rutgers.edu/CfP_Annals_of_Operations_Research.pdf On behalf of special volume guest editors, Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan ------- Ruben Tikidji-Hamburyan,Ph.D. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy Health Sciences Center Louisiana State University New Orleans, LA, 70112 A.B.Kogan Research Institute for Neurocybernetics Southern Federal University 344090, Russia

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Postdoctoral Research Associate position
by Peter Andras June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Research Associate Fixed Term for 2 Years Starting salary: Grade 7 £31,342 Keele University wishes to appoint a Research Associate for the duration of 2 years starting on 1st August 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter, in order to conduct research on the development of novel voltage-sensitive dyes for neuroimaging. You will work in the group led by Professor Peter Andras in the <http://www.keele.ac.uk/scm/research/centreforcomputerscienceresearch/> Computer Science Research Centre and the <http://www.keele.ac.uk/scm/> School of Computing and Mathematics at <http://www.keele.ac.uk/> Keele University and within a Leverhulme Trust funded project. The project runs in collaboration with the group of Professor Andrew Benniston from the School of Chemistry at Newcastle University. The aim of the project is to use rational molecular design to develop novel voltage-sensitive dyes with low toxicity and strong fluorescent signal in order to improve significantly the quality of neuroimaging data. You will work on the testing and evaluation of novel voltage-sensitive dyes for neuroimaging developed by our collaborators from Newcastle University. The novel dyes will be tested and evaluated by imaging neural activity in the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion and brain slices. You will be expected to contribute to the design of the experiments, run the experiments, collect and analyse the data, contribute to the writing of scientific papers and to present the results at conferences. You will be also encouraged to develop your leadership skills. You should have a PhD in a science subject (neuroscience, biology, computer science, physics, mathematics or similar), an interest in working on neuroscience experiments and a demonstrated aptitude for research. Experience in analysis of neuroimaging or similar data is essential and experience in micro-dissection and electrophysiology is highly desirable. For further enquiries please contact Professor Peter Andras at p.andras @keele.ac.uk. For full post details and to apply, please visit: <http://tinyurl.com/RE15-12> http://tinyurl.com/RE15-12 Closing date for applications: 29th June 2015 Interview dates: 6 7 July 2015 (to be confirmed) Interviews may be conducted remotely if needed (via skype or similar technology) --- Professor Peter Andras Professor of Computer Science and Informatics Head of Computing Division School of Computing and Mathematics Keele University Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG UK Tel. +44-1782-733412 Fax. +44-1782-734268 E-mail: <mailto:p.andras@keele.ac.uk> p.andras(a)keele.ac.uk Web: <http://www.scm.keele.ac.uk/staff/p_andras/> www.scm.keele.ac.uk/staff/p_andras/

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Job announcements--Mrsic Flogel lab
by Kelly Clancy June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Hi all, the Mrsic-Flogel lab at the University of Basel, Switzerland is looking to fill 2 positions: a data scientist and a research associate. The official announcement is below. Thanks! Kelly *Data scientist position in the Mrsic-Flogel lab* The Mrsic-Flogel lab is seeking a highly motivated data scientist. The main focus of our research <http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/research/groups-platforms/overview/unit/mrs…> is to understand the visual cortex. The primary responsibilities for this position will be to design data analysis packages for processing large data sets. Our lab uses two-photon imaging of individual neurons, wide field imaging of the entire cortex, and electrophysiology to understand how neural activity relates to sensory perception and behavior. The successful candidate should have extensive experience working with large data sets, be highly organized and detail-oriented, be able to work both independently and within a team, and have a degree in physical or biological sciences (or several years of work experience). Experience with imaging data, and familiarity with sophisticated analysis techniques (e.g. dynamic causality modelling, machine learning, etc.) are ideal. Familiarity with MATLAB and/or LABVIEW a plus. Applications (in electronic form), including CV, a brief description of previous research experience/software projects, and contact information of two references should be addressed to Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland ( mrsic-flogel(a)googlegroups.com) Additional info Full-time position, starting immediately or upon agreement. The position is initially for 1-2 years. Salary and benefits according to University of Basel standards. The Biozentrum of the University of Basel is one of the leading institutes worldwide for molecular and biomedical basic research and teaching. It is home to more than 30 research groups with scientists from over 40 countries. Research at the Biozentrum focuses on the areas of Cell Growth & Development, Infection Biology, Neurobiology, Structural Biology & Biophysics and Computational & Systems Biology. With more than 550 employees, the Biozentrum is the largest department at the University of Basel’s Faculty of Science. Basel is an international city with people from 150 nations. Located on the border where three countries meet – Switzerland-Germany-France, it is Europe’s most important life sciences hub. Basel provides a high standard of living and a rich and varied cultural atmosphere. *Research Associate Position in the Mrsic-Flogel lab* The Mrsic-Flogel lab is seeking a highly motivated research associate. The main focus of our research <http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/research/groups-platforms/overview/unit/mrs…> is to understand the visual cortex. The primary responsibilities for this position will include animal behavioral training, histology, and/or animal surgeries. The ideal candidate should have some research experience in a neuroscience or biology lab. Prior experience with data analysis software and/or imaging software would be advantageous. The successful candidate should be highly organized, detail-oriented and computer literate, have good written and verbal communication skills, be able to work both independently and within a team and have a bachelor's degree or higher in a neuroscience, biology or a related subject. Applications (in electronic form), including CV, a brief description of previous research experience/software projects, and contact information of two references should be addressed to Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, 4056 Basel, Switzerland ( mrsic-flogel(a)googlegroups.com) Additional info Full-time position, starting immediately or upon agreement. The position is initially for 1-2 years. Salary and benefits according to University of Basel standards. The Biozentrum of the University of Basel is one of the leading institutes worldwide for molecular and biomedical basic research and teaching. It is home to more than 30 research groups with scientists from over 40 countries. Research at the Biozentrum focuses on the areas of Cell Growth & Development, Infection Biology, Neurobiology, Structural Biology & Biophysics and Computational & Systems Biology. With more than 550 employees, the Biozentrum is the largest department at the University of Basel’s Faculty of Science. Basel is an international city with people from 150 nations. Located on the border where three countries meet – Switzerland-Germany-France, it is Europe’s most important life sciences hub. Basel provides a high standard of living and a rich and varied cultural atmosphere.

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Tenth Madrid UPM Advanced Statistics and Data Mining Summer School - Early registration deadline
by asdm＠fi.upm.es June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015

Dear colleagues, We would like to remind you that the early registration period for the tenth Madrid UPM Advanced Statistics and Data Mining Summer School finishes on June 7th. The summer school will be held in Boadilla del Monte, near Madrid, from June 29th to July 10th. As in previous years, the school comprises 12 week-long courses, of 15 lecture hours each, which are given during two weeks (i.e., with six courses given each week). Students are free to choose the courses according to their interests, with the only restriction being that courses which are given in parallel are mutualy exclusive. INOMICS has selected our summer school as one of the world's top ten summer schools in mathematics and statistics. You can read more at https://blog.inomics.com/top-10-summer-schools-in-math-stats/ 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, send 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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PhD position in Computational Neuroscience/Biology in Oslo, Norway
by Gaute Einevoll June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015

PHD-POSITIONS IN COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE/BIOLOGY IN OSLO, NORWAY Several PhD positions are available in the SUURPh (SIMULA-UiO-UCSD) collaboration: https://www.simula.no/education/suurph-collaboration PhD-candidates will expectedly spend about 3 years in Oslo (UiO or SIMULA) and about year at UCSD. Possible PhD-projects include: modeling of interaction between ion channels and psychoactive drugs, modeling of memory processing in hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, modeling of liquid flow in the brain, biophysical modeling of EEG and MEG signals, biomechanical modeling of the human brain. For more info on projects see: https://www.simula.no/suurph-projects Students interested in becoming a SUURPh fellow should consult the Applicant's page: https://www.simula.no/students-page. Here you will find all relevant information and instructions to submit your application. ********************************************** Professor Gaute T. Einevoll Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Aas, Norway; Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Ph. +47-64965433, Mobile: +47-95124536 email: Gaute.Einevoll(a)nmbu.no, web: compneuro.umb.no, cinpla.org

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postdoctoral position in Carmen Canavier's lab
by Canavier, Carmen C. June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015

A two (2) year Postdoctoral Researcher position is available in the lab of Carmen Canavier in the School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. The focus of the lab is computational neuroscience. The main project is to model bursting and tonic firing in midbrain dopamine neurons, in close collaboration with experimentalists. Additional projects focus on oscillations and synchrony in cortical and basal ganglia networks. The primary duties will involve linear and non-linear analyses, writing code, calibrating single neuron models, and generating predictions that lead to additional experiments. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in Engineering, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physics, Computer Science or a related field of study. Familiarity with nonlinear dynamics, writing code, running the simulation package NEURON, and modeling single neurons is preferred. Qualified candidates may submit resume along with cover letter and contact information for three references electronically to: SOM-recruits(a)lsuhsc.edu; reference 00049561. This appointment is a two (2) year assigned only. Applications should be received before July 1 to ensure consideration for the position. LSUHSC is an Equal Opportunity Employer for females, minorities, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

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Reminder: Post-doc fellowship on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision
by cottereau＠cerco.ups-tlse.fr June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015

Post-doc fellowship with Benoit Cottereau on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Toulouse, France Starting date: September December 2015 A postdoctoral research position is available to work with Benoit Cottereau (CNRS Researcher) in the ECO-3D team of the CerCo laboratory (Toulouse, http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/?lang=en) The aim of the project is to develop new models of stereoscopic vision in primate that automatically become selective to the most frequently occurring 3D properties of their visual environment (e.g. 3D motion direction). These models will possibly be validated through experimental data (psychophysics and brain imaging in both human and non-human primates). The applicant should hold a solid background in computational neurosciences, signal processing as well as skills in programming. Knowledge on vision in primate would be highly appreciated. The city of Toulouse is an attractive city with high quality of life located in the south west of France (close to the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean sea and the Spanish border). The position is for 18 months with standard French salaries. Applications should be sent to benoit.cottereau(a)cerco.ups-tlse.fr including a CV and 2 names of references.

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Reminder: NCCD-2015 registration deadline
by pedro goncalves May 31, 2015

May 31, 2015

New early registration deadline: June 4th. The list of oral and poster presentations can be found at http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/nccd/nccd15/abstracts/ *********************************************************** Neural Coding, Computation and Dynamics (NCCD) August 30 - September 2, 2015 Bilbao, Spain http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/nccd/nccd15/ The goal of this workshop is to bring together experimentalists and theoreticians who seek to understand how circuit dynamics underlies representation and function in the nervous system, and to foster real discussion. This year the workshop will focus on the interplay between excitation (E) and inhibition (I) in cortical circuits. The balance between E and I, an idea proposed twenty years ago to account for the stochastic nature of cortical activity, has been seminal in the understanding of basic principles of neural network dynamics. We are seeking talks that, building on this paradigm, present recent findings on topics such as neuronal variability and stochastic dynamics, the role of the different subtypes of interneurons, plasticity and structure in EI networks, brain state and network dynamics, etc. The workshop will be limited to about 70 people, the hope being to foster real interaction and discussion. Important dates: May 15: Abstracts due (there will be posters and contributed talks) June 4th: Early registration due Confirmed invited speakers: Dean Buonomano, University of California at Los Angeles Jess Cardin, Yale School of Medicine Sophie Denève, ENS Brent Doiron, University of Pittsburgh Andrea Hasenstaub, UCSF Mike Hausser, UCL Carl Petersen, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Karel Svoboda, Janelia Farm Tim Vogels, University of Oxford Fred Wolf, University of Gottingen Best, Peter Latham Jaime de la Rocha Maneesh Sahani Pedro Goncalves Co-organizers

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Machine Learning & Auditory Processing Position at TU Berlin
by Ivo Trowitzsch May 28, 2015

May 28, 2015

Technische Universitaet Berlin, department of Neural Information Processing, offers a position in an international collaborative project set in auditory processing and modeling, robotics and machine learning. The successful candidate will develop and apply machine learning and signal processing techniques in an active computational model of auditory perception in order to detect and annotate acoustic events in an auditory scene analysis and an quality of experience setting. Project and position are part of the TWO!EARS project which is funded through the EU FET Open scheme (see brief description below). Starting date: Immediate Salary level: E-13 TV-L The position is until the end of 2016. Candidates should hold a recent PhD-degree or Diplom-/Master- degree, should have excellent programming skills in an object-oriented language (MATLAB will be used) and good knowledge in the machine learning field. Research experience in machine learning or applications to auditory processing is an asset. Application material (CV, list of publications, abstract of PhD thesis (if applicable), abstract of Diplom-/Master/Thesis, copies of certificates and two letters of reference -- but those can also be handed in later) should be sent to: Prof. Dr. Klaus Obermayer MAR 5-6, Technische Universitaet Berlin, Marchstrasse 23 10587 Berlin, Germany http://www.ni.tu-berlin.de/ email: oby(a)cs.tu-berlin.de preferably by email. TUB seeks to increase the proportion of women and particularly encourages women to apply. Women will be preferred given equal qualification. Disabled persons will be preferred given equal qualification. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consortium Summary: TWO!EARS replaces current thinking about auditory modeling by a systemic approach in which human listeners are regarded as multi-modal agents that develop their concept of the world by exploratory interaction. The goal of the project is to develop an intelligent, active computational model of auditory perception and experience in a multi-modal context. Our novel approach is based on a structural link from binaural perception to judgment and action, realized by interleaved signal-driven (bottom-up) and hypothesis-driven (top-down) processing within an innovative expert system architecture. The system achieves object formation based on Gestalt principles, meaning assignment, knowledge acquisition and representation, learning, logic-based reasoning and reference-based judgment. More specifically, the system assigns meaning to acoustic events by combining signal- and symbol-based processing in a joint model structure, integrated with proprioceptive and visual percepts. It is therefore able to describe an acoustic scene in much the same way that a human listener can, in terms of the sensations that sounds evoke (e.g. loudness, timbre, spatial extent) and their semantics (e.g. whether the sound is unexpected or a familiar voice). Our system will be implemented on a robotic platform, which will actively parse its physical environment, orientate itself and move its sensors in a humanoid manner. The system has an open architecture, so that it can easily be modified or extended. This is crucial, since the cognitive functions to be modeled are domain and application specific. TWO!EARS will have significant impact on future development of ICT wherever knowledge and control of aural experience is relevant. It will also benefit research in related areas such as biology, medicine and sensory and cognitive psychology. -- Ivo Trowitzsch Research Assistant @ Neural Information Processing Group, TU Berlin

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CFP EUCOG 2015
by Prof. Dr. Jordi Vallverdú May 28, 2015

May 28, 2015

*Call for Papers* EUCOG2015 Annual Meeting of the European Society of Cognitive Systems (Meeting of the EUCognition Network) 25-26.09.2015 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ORGANISERS: Jordi Vallverdú & Vincent C. Müller http://www.eucognition.org/index.php?page=eacs-barcelona-2015-gen-info Program Commitee: Varol Akman, Bilkent University, Ankara Istvan Berkeley The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ron Chrisley Sussex University David Casacuberta Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Mark Coeckelbergh University of Twente Eric Dietrich Binghamton University James Fetzer University of Minnesota, Duluth Stefano Franchi Texas A&M University Antoni Gomila Universitat Illes Balears Claudius Gros Institute for Theoretical Physics Lorenzo Magnani University of Pavia, Italy Klaus Mainzer Technische Universität München Gualtiero Piccinini University of Missouri - St. Louis Oron Shagrir Hebrew University Mark Sprevak University of Edinburgh Ioannis Votsis Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf Tom Ziemke University of Skövde Max Talanov Kazan Federal University Manuel Bedia Universidad de Zaragoza Bruno Lara Universidad de Cuernavaca ========================================= ABSTRACTS We request anonymous abstracts of 600-1000 words (plus references) in plain text or PDF, plus a short abstract of up to 120 words. Accepted papers will be presented at the conference (orally or as posters) and published in the proceedings. (We plan to provide a copy of the proceedings to the corresponding author.) We foresee slots of at least 20 minutes per talk. All submissions will be reviewed double-blind by at least two members of the programme committee. Submission online at EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=eucog2015 Technical note: The EasyChair system will ask you for an "abstract" and a "paper". For us, "abstract" refers to the short abstract (up to 120 words) in plain text, while "paper" refers to the long abstract (600-1000 words), which can be submitted as a PDF or plain text. Accordingly, please do not use the check-box "Abstract Only". (The abbreviation "Corr. Auth." stands for "corresponding author".) *Send to:* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=eucog2015 ========================================= DATES & DEADLINES May 10th, 2015 Call For Papers, abstract submission opens June 1st, 2015 Congress registration opens July 1st, 2015 Deadline for submission of abstracts July 15th, 2015 Notifications of acceptance August 30th, 2015 Deadline for early registrations September 25th-26th EUCOG2015 ========================================= THEMES "Cognitive systems" is to be broadly understood as an interlinked research of natural and artificial cognitive systems. We welcome participants from all disciplines that are relevant for fundamental issues of present and future robotics and AI, especially cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience and philosophy. We are especially interested in bioinspired techniques, models and methods. • AI and cognitive science • autonomous vehicles • cognitive systems in industry • communication (verbal and non-verbal) • dynamical systems • embedded, situated, distributed cognition • embodiment, enaction, morphology • social impact of AI and robotics • goals, emotions, values, free will • grounded cognition • hybrid systems, cyborgs • interactive systems • learning, evolution • neuroscience and cognitive systems • multi-agent systems • perception, sensing • performance and intelligence testing • real-world systems • robotics • robustness and adaptability • ... ========================================= PUBLICATION Details on the publication for 2015 are not yet finalized but we will publish a volume of proceedings to include all accepted papers, planned to be published within 6 months of the event. Submission and presentation at the conference do not entail an obligation of the author(s) to publish in the conference proceedings. ========================================= Prof. Dr. Jordi Vallverdú, B. Phil, B. Mus, M.Sci, Ph.D. Room B7/104, Philosophy Dept. UAB 08193 Bellaterra (BCN) CATALONIA ------------------- FULL CV/Publications: https://uab.academia.edu/JordiVallverdu <https://uab.academia.edu/JordiVallverd%C3%BA> ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9975-7780 ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/K-5536-2014 Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jordi_Vallverdu

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Save the date! Next GDR Multielectrode/NeuralNet Conference and Minischool: Jan 5-8, 2016
by Blaise Yvert May 28, 2015

May 28, 2015

Dear colleagues, This is the first announcement that the next conference of the GDR Multielectrode - becoming soon (hopefully) GDR NeuralNet - will be held in Grenoble on January 6-8, 2016. We chose to delay a bit this edition in order to organize the conference in the Vercors mountain (http://www.escandille.com/) The conference will start on Jan 6 late afternoon and end on Jan 8 afternoon. Not sure there will be snow at this period, but we hope the calm of Vercors will foster creative thinking and interactions! Because lodging will be provided on site, a (reasonable) registration fee will be asked to cover the corresponding cost and secure the organization. The minischool preceding the conference will take place in downtown Grenoble on January 5-6 (lodging not provided). The program and registration organization is under preparation, but please save already these dates to make this new event as rich as possible ! Looking forward welcoming you all, Kind regards, Blaise on behalf of the organizing committee: Tetiana AKSENOVA Julien BASTIN Florent BOCQUELET Olivier DAVID Cécile DELACOUR Antoine DEPAULIS Samuel GARCIA Philippe KAHANE Sandrine MAUBERT Gaëlle OFFRANC PIRET Christophe POUZAT Anne QUESNEL-HELLMANN Blaise YVERT -- Blaise Yvert. Inserm Research Director Clinatec Laboratory UA01 Biomedical Research Center Edmond J Safra CEA-INSERM-UJF-CHU Grenoble Minatec Campus 17 rue des Martyrs 38054 Grenoble cedex 09 Tel. +33 4 38 78 91 38 / +33 6 32 88 75 90 Fax. +33 4 38 78 53 55 http://www.clinatec.fr (under construction)

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postdoctoral position in human connectomics
by Olaf Sporns May 27, 2015

May 27, 2015

*Postdoctoral/Assistant Research Scientist Position in Human Connectomics* Indiana University is making a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment to create and expand the infrastructure for research and training in network science through the establishment of the Indiana University Network Science Institute (IUNI – http://iuni.iu.edu ). IUNI seeks applicants for a postdoctoral position as Assistant Research Scientist in the area of Human Connectomics. This position will be appointed for a two-year term with the possibility of renewal based on exemplary performance and continued funding. The position involves close collaboration with the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (www.indiana.edu/~cortex <http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ecortex> – Head: Olaf Sporns) and the Indiana University Center for Neuroimaging (http://neuroimaging.medicine.iu.edu/ - Director: Andrew J. Saykin). Research goals focus on the application of sophisticated network analysis and modeling methods to multimodal human neuroimaging data sets, including advanced diffusion imaging, structural MRI and resting-state fMRI, in both healthy and clinical populations. A major application focus is on prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s disease and many other clinical populations, including TBI, non-CNS cancer and psychosis, are also being investigated.In addition to close collaboration with Drs. Sporns, Saykin and colleagues, the successful candidate will be encouraged to interact with IU’s growing community of network scientists. A full position description and instructions for how to apply can be found at: https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/hr/postings/1490 For informal inquiries please contact Olaf Sporns at osporns(a)indiana.edu <mailto:osporns@indiana.edu> -- Olaf Sporns -- @spornslab Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences Programs in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405

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20 scholarships: TIM-Telecom Italia and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna - Master in Digital Life & Smart Living
by Calogero Oddo May 27, 2015

May 27, 2015

Call for scholarship applications within the Master "Digital Life & Smart Living (SMART)" 2015-2016 (www.sssup.it/smart) 20 scholarships are offered to European citizens by TIM-Telecom Italia in partnership with Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. 2 scholarships are reserved for non European Union citizens. All admitted students will receive a total gross amount of € 12.000 scholarship payment to cover transportation and accommodation expenses. All Master tuition fees are covered by TIM-Telecom Italia. This Master is a post-graduate university programme designed for students that own a Master of Science degree. It trains students for a potential hiring in one of the most innovative new-technology multinationals in the world, TIM-Telecom Italia. 80% of participants to the first edition of the Master have been employed by TIM. Application is on-line: www.sssup.it/smart/application Submission deadline: June 18, 2015 The main goal of the Master is to train young graduate talented students who will acquire the competence to design, develop and manage communication systems and "Smart" innovative technologies. The graduated will have the capacity to manage and control advanced technologies in ICT, Robotics and Biorobotics, Software Engineering and Telecommunication Engineering, for the design and management of Smart Solutions. The 20 Master students will attend intensive and exciting series of lessons taught in English, alternating with laboratory experiments, company case-study experiences and seminars (600 hours). In the final stage, an internship at TIM-Telecom Italia will be provided in order to gain direct experience in the fields of business and technologies (750 hours). Total time commitment: Sept. 7, 2015 - Sept. 5, 2016 The Master Degree programme has been developed by TIM-Telecom Italia and faculty members of The BioRobotics Institute, the Institute of Management, and The Institute of Communication, Information and Perception Technologies of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy. For more information: www.sssup.it/smart www.santannaschool.eu Secretariat contacts: Federica Faldella Mail: master-smart(a)sssup.it Phone: +39 050 88 2671 Best regards, Calogero Oddo and Paolo Dario -- Calogero M. Oddo Assistant Professor of Biomedical Robotics Head of the Human Machine Nexus Laboratory, Neuro-robotics Area The BioRobotics Institute Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Polo Sant'Anna Valdera Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34 56025 Pontedera (Pisa) - Italy email: calogero.oddo(a)sssup.it http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/user/102 -- Paolo Dario Professor of Biomedical Robotics IEEE Fellow Director, The BioRobotics Institute Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Polo Sant'Anna Valdera Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34 56025 Pontedera (Pisa) - Italy email: paolo.dario(a)sssup.it http://sssa.bioroboticsinstitute.it/

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Available Slot for Intensive Talks at CNS 2015 Workshop on "Rate vs. Temporal Coding"
by Milad Lankarany May 26, 2015

May 26, 2015

The workshop on "Rate vs. Temporal Coding: Mutually Exclusive or Cooperatively Co-existing <https://sites.google.com/site/cnsworkshop2015ratevstime/>" will be held at CNS 2015 (Prague), on July 22nd. Our workshop hosts 8 prestigious speakers, presenting their recent researches in 30 minutes, as well as a few number of intensive talks, each lasting 10-12 minutes. Honestly speaking, this is a new schedule for our workshop that we want to try, for the first time, a workshop comprising larger talks (30 mins) + short intensive talks (10-12 mins). As the intensive talks are short, we would like to invite more speakers. So, any scientist that participates in CNS 2015 and is interested in our workshop can send me his/her request and the title of the presentation. Email: milad.lankarany(a)sickkids.ca. Many thanks, Milad Lankarany, Ph.D. <https://sites.google.com/site/miladlankarani/> Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Prescott Lab, Neuroscience & Mental Health, Peter Gilgan Center for Research & Learning, Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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open PhD position at INT-Marseille, France: Predicting and selecting sensory events: inference for smooth eye movements
by Laurent Perrinet May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015

Dear colleagues, Applications are welcome immediately and until the end of May for a PhD position at INT-Marseille, France: Predicting and selecting sensory events: inference for smooth eye movements In everyday life, we constantly need to track relevant moving targets in complex environments with our eyes such as, for instance, when we try to catch someone running in the crowd. However, this seemingly simple task demands to deal with several dynamic sources of uncertainty, related to intrinsic, target-related properties or to external, environment-related factors. In addition, one single object has to be selected at a time for accurate visual processing and ocular tracking in presence of a multitude of competing signals. The PhD project aims at understanding the /dynamic inference and decision processes underlying smooth eye movements/. The PhD fellow will conduct psychophysics and oculomotor recordings on healthy subjects, as well as modeling work, in order to elucidate the effects of sensory uncertainty on the accuracy and the dynamics of visuomotor decisions. Bayesian Inference will provide a general and solid framework for behavioral models. Oculomotor decision times, such as those characterizing the dynamic switch between smooth pursuit and saccades during motion tracking, or transitions between two alternative tracking solutions, will be modeled and benchmarked against the predictions of current models of choice reaction times ("accumulation-to-threshold" models). A potential development of the project, through the PACE European network’s collaborations and secondments (http://www.int.univ-amu.fr/-ITN-Marie-Curie-network-PACE) is to compare dynamic inference for smooth eye movements with other types of movements such as reaching, hitting or manual tracking.To obtain further information or send applications (including a full CV, a letter of motivation, 2 reference names), please contact: Anna.Montagnini(a)univ-amu.fr, Laurent.Perrinet(a)univ-amu.fr or Guillaume.Masson(a)univ-amu.fr. Applications are welcome immediately and until the end of May 2015. Site: InVIBE Team (Inference in Vision and Behavior) - Institut de Neuroscience de la Timone, CNRS & Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille FRANCE – http://www.int.univ-amu.fr/ PhD Supervisors: Guillaume Masson, Anna Montagnini and Laurent Perrinet Position details: This position is funded by the Marie Skodowska-Curie program of the H2020 European Union program, as part of the Innovative Training Network PACE (Perception and Action in Complex Environments). Eligibility : Applicants must hold a Master Degree in Neurosciences or Psychology, or equivalent. Application from students with a background in Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Sciences and willing to shift towards neurosciences are encouraged. Under-graduate students from Medicine are also encouraged to apply. Applicants must not have carried out Research activities for more than 4 years after their Master degree (or equivalent) and must not already hold a PhD degree. *EU Conditions of Mobility of Early-Stage Researchers:* Applicants can be of any nationality. They must comply with the rule for trans-national mobility: at the time of recruitment by the host organization, students must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in the country of their host organization for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date. Microsoft Word - ESR1_Description_new.doc Thanks for distributing this announcement to potential candidates, Laurent -- Laurent Perrinet - INT (UMR 7289)/CNRS http://invibe.net/LaurentPerrinet

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Postdoctoral Position in Human Intracranial Physiology at the National Institutes of Health
by Zaghloul, Kareem (NIH/NINDS) [E] May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015

A full-time post-doctoral position focused on understanding the neural correlates of human cognitive function is available in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH. This position involves studies focused on analyzing and manipulating human intracranial electrophysiological signals, including single-unit activity, local field potentials, and electro corticography (ECoG), captured from patients with medically refractory epilepsy and from patients receiving deep brain stimulation surgery. Manipulations of cortical signals include the use of electrical stimulation and real-time closed-loop feedback. Post-doctoral fellows will join a laboratory aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie human memory and decision making and at developing novel and innovative techniques to directly communicate with those circuits. We are seeking candidates that are highly creative, motivated, and independent with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, or a related field. Candidates must have a strong research background, with a record of relevant publications. Candidates will be encouraged and expected to participate in independent laboratory research, and will be expected to write scholarly manuscripts. Candidates must be able to lead and work well in a team. Candidates should have strong computational, quantitative, and/or engineering skills, with proficiency in developing custom code (Matlab, Python, etc.) for data analysis preferred. Past medical research is not required, but candidates must be willing to perform experiments in a clinical setting. Candidates will interact with clinical staff, graduate students, research fellows, and must have excellent spoken and written English skills. Applicants should submit a brief statement of research activities and interests, a current CV, and names and contact information of at least three references. Salary will be commensurate with experience and accomplishments. To arrange a meeting with the PI and to send materials required for consideration for this appointment please contact Dr. Zaghloul at: zaghloulka(a)mail.nih.gov<mailto:zaghloulka@mail.nih.gov> NIH, an agency of DHHS, is an equal opportunity employer.

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JNNS2015 Call for Papers
by Yoichi Miyawaki May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015

25th Annual Conference of Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS 2015) Call for Papers Date: September 2(Wed) – 4(Fri), 2015 Place: The University of Electro-Communications (Chofu, Tokyo) Web site:　https://jnns2015.im.uec.ac.jp/en/ Details of call for papers: https://jnns2015.im.uec.ac.jp/en/cfp/ 25th Annual Conference of Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS 2015) will be held at The University of Electro-Communications (Chofu, Tokyo) during September 2 (Wed) – 4 (Fri), 2015. This is an annual conference of Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS). In this year, the conference is jointly held with Japan Society for Fuzzy Theory and Intelligent Informatics (SOFT). === Plenary Lecture === Title: Neuromorphic Computing in IBM Speaker: Koichi Kajitani (IBM Research-Tokyo) === Invited Lecture === Title: TBA Speaker: Kunihiko Fukushima (Fuzzy Logic Systems Institute) === Symposium === 1. Present status and problems of brain and mathematical models, and future prediction Speakers: Shinya Nishida (NTT CS Lab), Shinji Nishimoto (CiNet/Osaka Univ.), Hiroshi Yamakawa (dwango) 2. High-performance computing technology accelerates neural network simulation Speakers: Jun Igarashi (OIST), Tetsuya Asai (Hokkaido Univ.), Hirotsugu Okuno (Osaka Univ.), Tadashi Yamazaki (The Univ. of Electro-Communications) 3. Approach of deep learning: from JNNS’s point of view Speakers: Hideki Aso (AIST), Masato Okada (The Univ. of Tokyo), Izumi Ohzawa (Osaka Univ.), Koichi Shinoda (Tokyo Inst. of Technology) === Call of Papers === Submissions are solicited for JNNS 2015 from wide areas of research topics with respect to neural systems, including physiology, psychology, brain imaging, sensation/perception, recognition, motor, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, robotics, mathematical models, learning theory, signal processing, data measurement/analysis technology, machine learning, hardware/software technology, high-performance computing, and algorithm. Members in JNNS or assent societies are eligible to be a presenter. Those who are joining in JNNS 2015 from abroad are welcome to be a presenter if they are non-members. Applicants can be a presenter for only one presentation, but can be listed as coauthors for multiple presentations. JNNS 2015 very welcomes active submissions from private companies as well as academic institutes. See https://jnns2015.im.uec.ac.jp/en/cfp/ for more details. === Schedule === Registration/submission start: May 8 (Friday), 2015 Registration/submission close: June 8 (Monday), 2015 Notice of acceptance (incl. results of talk selection): July 17 (Friday), 2015 Early registration deadline: July 31 (Friday), 2015 (for presenters) August 14 (Friday), 2015 (for others) === Organizing committee === Yutaka Sakaguchi (Chair, The Univ. of Electro-Communications) Shunji Sato (The Univ. of Electro-Communications) Hayaru Shouno (The Univ. of Electro-Communications) Yoichi Miyawaki (The Univ. of Electro-Communications) Tadashi Yamazaki (The Univ. of Electro-Communications) === Sponsor === Japanese Neural Network Society === Cosponsor === Japan Society for Fuzzy Theory and Intelligent Informatics (SOFT) === Contact address === E-mail： contact(a)jnns2015.im.uec.ac.jp

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BIH'15 @ Imperial College London: Bring the Human Brain Projects of the world to one place
by Caroline Li May 22, 2015

May 22, 2015

Call for Abstracts Co-Chaired by Prof Karl Friston & Prof Yike Guo @ Imperial College London (Aug 30 - Sep2, 2015), BIH'15 crosses the disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, signal processing, and neuroimaging. It also draws special attention to informatics for brain science, human behaviour and health. International Conference on Brain Informatics and Health (BIH'15) Venue: Imperial College London, London, UK, Time: Aug 30-Sep 2, 2015 www.braininformatics.london<http://www.braininformatics.london> Abstract Submission Deadline: June 16, 2015 ***************** Conference Theme: Brain informatics has emerged as a distinct field of research. It crosses the disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, signal processing, and neuroimaging technologies. The data driven nature of brain research made brain informatics an important field of data science. Following the success of past conferences in this series, BIH'15 will take place at Imperial College London, in UK. For the first time, BIH gathers the researchers from major international brain research projects to form a forum for reviewing the progress of brain informatics research and its applications to human health and building up international collaboration. The conference will also organise an exhibition from industrial and research community. BIH'15 draws special attention to informatics for brain science, human behaviour and health. BIH'15 will address informatics approaches to both the brain and behaviour research with a strong emphasis on emerging trends of big data analysis and management technology for brain research, behaviour learning, and real-world applications of brain science in human health and wellbeing. The distinguished speakers include: Keynote Speakers Allan Jones, CEO, Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA; Henry Markram, Director, Blue Brain Project; Coordinator, Human Brain Project, EPFL, Switzerland; David Van Essen, PI, Human Connectome Project, Washington University School of Medicine, USA; Feature Speakers Giorgio Ascoli, (Founding Director, Center for Neural Informatics, George Mason University, USA); Henry Kennedy, (Director of Research, Stem-cell and Brain Research Institute, France); Barbara Sahakian, (University of Cambridge, UK); Nelson Spruston, (Scientific Program Director, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), USA); Paul Verschure, (Director, the Lab of SPECS at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Spain); BIH'15 welcomes paper submissions (full paper and abstract submissions). Both research and application papers are solicited. All submitted papers will be reviewed on the basis of technical quality, relevance, significance and clarity. Accepted full papers will be included in the proceedings by Springer LNCS/LNAI. ================================= ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS & PUBLICATIONS: Submission Deadline: June 16, 2015 Each abstract is limited to 500 words. Experimental research is particularly welcome. Accepted abstract submissions will be included in the conference program, and will be published as a single, collective proceedings volume. Title: Include in the title of the abstract all words critical for a subject index. Write your title in sentence case (first letter is capitalized; remaining letters are lower case). Do not bold or italicize your full title. Author: List all authors who contributed to the work discussed in the abstract. The presenting author must be listed in the first author slot of the list. Be prepared to submit contact information as well as conflict of interest information for each author listed. Abstract: Enter the body of the abstract and attach any applicable graphic files or tables here. Do not re-enter the title, author, support, or other information that is collected in other steps of the submission form. Presentation Preference: Authors may select from three presentation formats when submitting an abstract: "poster only,", "talk preferred" or "no preference." The "talk preferred" selection indicates that you would like to give a talk, but will accept a poster format if necessary. Marking "poster only" indicates that you would not like to be considered for an oral-presentation session. Selecting "no preference" indicates the author's willingness to be placed in the best format for the program. Each abstract requires one sponsoring attendee (i.e. someone who registered and is attending the conference). A single attendee can not sponsor more than two abstracts or papers. Oral presentations will be selected from both full length papers and abstracts. *** Contact Information *** BrainInformatics2015(a)gmail.com<mailto:BrainInformatics2015@gmail.com>

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PhD grant on Computational Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis
by Diego Sona May 22, 2015

May 22, 2015

The Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) at the University of Trento and its research partners Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), will invite applications for an open PhD position covered by scholarship in the area of “Computational Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis”. The deadline for applications is May 27, 2015, before 14:00, CET. The PhD aims at carrying out research activity on machine learning methodologies for brain connectivity data analysis. The main goal is to design and to deploy machine learning algorithms for open challenges such as the detection of the main structural and functional pathways of the brain, the characterisation of the differences with respect to altered brain connections, the inter-individuals analysis of brain connectivity structures. The PhD grant is jointly supported by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). The research activity will take place at the Neuroinformatics Laboratory (NILab) in Trento and the Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision department (PAVIS) in Genova. NILab is an interdisciplinary laboratory raised as joint initiative between the Centre for Information Technology of FBK and the Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences of University of Trento (CIMeC). PAVIS is a computer vision department recently created in IIT. The University of Trento ranks 1st among the Italian Universities in the rankings of Times Higher Education and CIMeC ranks 1st for quality of research in the ranking of the Italian National for the Evaluation of Universities and Research (ANVUR). CIMeC has 6 ERC starting grants and 1 advanced grant. Trento ranks 1st in the annual survey on quality of life in Italian cities conducted by daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Details on the PhD School and a link to the online application are provided below. If you are interested, you may contact us in advance at the following address: info.nilab(a)fbk.eu <mailto:info.nilab@fbk.eu> & pavis(a)iit.it <mailto:info.nilab@fbk.eu> Links - PhD School: http://ict.unitn.it <http://ict.unitn.it/> - FBK: http://www.fbk.eu <http://www.fbk.eu/> - CIMeC: http://www.cimec.unitn.it <http://www.cimec.unitn.it/> - NILab: http://nilab.fbk.eu <http://nilab.fbk.eu/> - PAVIS: http://iit.it/pavis <http://iit.it/pavis> Diego Sona --------------------------------------------------------- Pattern Analysis & Computer Vision (PAVIS) Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30, 16163, Genova, Italy Phone: +39 010 71781 819 E-mail: diego.sona(a)iit.it www.iit.it/pavis.html ---------------------------------------------------------

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computational neuroscience PhD projects
by Andre Van Schaik May 21, 2015

May 21, 2015

I am looking for highly qualified PhD students for two computational neuroscience projects in the MARCS Institute at the University of Western Sydney, Australia to start in early 2016. The first project is on Bayesian Inference in Spiking Neural Networks in which we aim to build a computer model of how Bayesian Inference can be implemented in a network of spiking neurons. The second project aims to map a functional behaviour (such as pattern learning and inference) onto a model of cortex, and implement this on our FPGA based simulator, which is able to simulate many million of neurons in real-time. More details on the projects, and a host of other available projects can be found at: http://www.uws.edu.au/bioelectronics_neuroscience/bens/postgraduate/phd_opp…. The student would need to be self funded, or successfully obtain funding through one of two funding opportunities we currently have available: The University of Western Sydney offers scholarships and fee waivers to top local and international applicants. This scheme opens on June 10 and closes on June 26, 2015. (There will be a second round in October) http://www.uws.edu.au/graduate_research_school/grs/scholarships. The Australian government offers Endeavour Scholarships. This scheme is now open and closes on June 30, 2015. https://internationaleducation.gov.au/Endeavour%20program/Scholarships-and-…. These scholarships are competitive. Applicants should have at least an Honours 1 undergraduate degree, or equivalent, excellent English language skills. Having published in peer reviewed journals and conferences, and/or being about to finish, or having finished a Masters degree with a more than 50% research component will be a significant plus for these applications. If you are interested, please contact me at a.vanschaik(a)uws.edu.au. Andre van Schaik

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Postdoc position in Sleep and Cognition lab (EEG/ERP)
by Sara C. Mednick May 20, 2015

May 20, 2015

We are seeking a postdoc researcher in Sara Mednick’s Sleep and Cognition (SaC) Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. This researcher will be investigating mechanisms of memory formation during waking and sleep. Successful candidates may have any of the following skills: experience in memory or sleep research (human or animal), EEG/ERP methodologies, programming skills, applying signal processing and non-linear analysis techniques to EEG recordings. Position is available in the fall of 2015. Researchers must possess a doctoral degree. The University of California offers excellent benefits. Salary is based on research experience. The initial appointment is for 1 year with a possibility of extension. Please send your CV, statement of research interests and the names of three references or make inquires to Sara C. Mednick smednick(a)ucr.edu. -- Assistant Professor University of California, Riverside Department of Psychology Sleep and Cognition (SaC) Lab www.saramednick.com www.sleepandcognitionlab.org TEDx Talk <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MklZJprP5F0> Amandla awethu!

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PhD Positions on Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics
by Giulio Sandini May 20, 2015

May 20, 2015

9 PhD Positions (if you are truly interested in contributing to an interdisciplinary environment) Within the doctoral School on Bioengineering and Robotics the curriculum "Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation Technologies" offers interdisciplinary training at the interface between robotics and neuroscience. The general objective of the program is to form scientists and research technologists capable of dealing with multidisciplinary projects involving aspects of engineering, technology and life-sciences. The PhD themes offered this year by the "Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences" (RBCS) department of IIT (www.iit.it/rbcs<http://www.iit.it/rbcs>) are focusing on the SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF ACTION AND INTERACTION by addressing the study of the embodied and cognitive interaction between humans and machines and its technological and social outcomes. In RBCS we are merging top-level neuroscience research and top-level robotics research by sharing fundamental scientific objectives arising from the study of: * goal-directed action * speech recognition and language * the foundations of physical and social interaction * the exploitation of sensory and motor rehabilitation. RBCS is where the iCub humanoid robot is used to investigate the language of embodied, human-human and human-robot communication and it is also the place where studies of how visual, haptic and tactile integration develops in normal as well as sensory-impaired children. RBCS is where technologies for robotic rehabilitation devices are developed and tested in joint labs established in clinical environments such as the "Giannina Galsini" pediatric hospital, and the "Istituto Chiossone" for blind and low vision children in Genova, and the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) in Volterra. The ideal candidates are students with a higher level university degree willing to invest extra time and effort in blending into a multidisciplinary team composed of neuroscientists, engineers, psychologists, physicists working together to investigate brain functions and realize intelligent machines, rehabilitation protocols and advanced prosthesis. Some of the themes proposed offer the students the possibility of participating in international collaborations through EU supported exchange of researchers within dedicated Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. Application deadline: 10 June 2015, 12pm Italian time General Scientific Information: giulio.sandini(a)iit.it<mailto:giulio.sandini@iit.it> Administrative Information: Ilaria.dallorto(a)iit.it<mailto:Ilaria.dallorto@iit.it> See below the information about individual themes. HOW TO APPLY Applications must be submitted online, instructions for applicants are available here: http://phd.dibris.unige.it/biorob/index.php/how-to-apply (Cognitive Sciences, Interactive and Rehabilitation Technologies) The full description of the individual themes is available here: http://www.iit.it/images/phd-xxxi/RES.THEMES.COGNIROB.INTER.pdf) LIST OF THEMES PROPOSED BY IIT-RBCS (of the 13 themes only 9 will be assigned to the 9 best applicants) 1. ASSESSMENT OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE RESIDUAL SENSORY ABILITIES (Contacts: luca.brayda(a)iit.it<mailto:luca.brayda@iit.it> , fabrizio.leo(a)iit.it<mailto:fabrizio.leo@iit.it> ) 2. SIMULTANEOUS MULTIMODAL FORCE AND MOTION ESTIMATION (Contacts: francesco.nori(a)iit.it<mailto:francesco.nori@iit.it> ) 3. FAST AND ROBUST WHOLE-BODY MOTION WITH VARIABLE STIFFNESS ACTUATORS (Contacts: francesco.nori(a)iit.i<mailto:francesco.nori@iit.i> t, luca.fiorio(a)iit.it<mailto:luca.fiorio@iit.it> ) 4. SECOND-PERSON MOTOR COGNITION: HANDS IN INTERACTION (Contacts: cristina.becchio(a)unito.it<mailto:cristina.becchio@unito.it> ) 5. NEURAL AND MOTOR BASES OF SOCIAL INTERACTION (Contacts: thierry.pozzo@iit<mailto:thierry.pozzo@iit> ; alberto.inuggi(a)ii.it<mailto:alberto.inuggi@ii.it> ; alessandro.dausilio(a)iit.it<mailto:alessandro.dausilio@iit.it> ) 6. MULTISENSORY INTEGRATION AND CROSS-MODAL COMMUNICATION (Contacts: monica.gori(a)iit.it<mailto:monica.gori@iit.it> ) 7. AUGMENTED SENSORIMOTOR INTERACTION Contacts: alessandro.dausilio(a)iit.it<mailto:alessandro.dausilio@iit.it> ; leonardo.badino(a)iit.it<mailto:leonardo.badino@iit.it> ; luciano.fadiga(a)iit.it<mailto:luciano.fadiga@iit.it> ) 8. MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION (Contact: alessandra.sciutti(a)iit.it<mailto:alessandra.sciutti@iit.it> ) 9. SPEAKING IN CONCERT (Contacts: leonardo.badino(a)iit.it<mailto:leonardo.badino@iit.it> , alessandro.dausilio(a)iit.it<mailto:alessandro.dausilio@iit.it> , luciano.fadiga(a)iit.it<mailto:luciano.fadiga@iit.it> ) 10. THE CONTROL AND REPRESENTATION OF ARTICULATED OBJECTS: INSIGHTS FROM ROBOTS (Contacts: gabriel.baud-bovy(a)iit.it<mailto:gabriel.baud-bovy@iit.it> , francesco.nori(a)iit.it<mailto:francesco.nori@iit.it> ) 11. CONTROL AND REPRESENTATION OF ARTICULATED OBJECTS: HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN SIGHTED AND BLIND ADULTS AND CHILDREN (Contacts: gabriel.baud-bovy(a)iit.it<mailto:gabriel.baud-bovy@iit.it> , monica.gori(a)iit.it<mailto:monica.gori@iit.it> ) 12. MODELING OF THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING PROPRIOCEPTION FOR REHABILITATION (Contacts: valentina.squeri(a)iit.it<mailto:valentina.squeri@iit.it> , jacopo.zenzeri(a)iit.it<mailto:jacopo.zenzeri@iit.it> ) 13. DEVELOPMENT OF A RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING DATA SCIENCE IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENT (Contacts: marco.jacono(a)iit.it<mailto:marco.jacono@iit.it> , elisa.molinari(a)iit.it<mailto:elisa.molinari@iit.it> , alessandro.bruchi(a)iit.it<mailto:alessandro.bruchi@iit.it> ) -- Prof. Giulio Sandini Director Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Via Morego, 30 - 16163 Genova Italy http://www.iit.it/rbcs

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PhD position, University of Genoa, Italy – "Multidimensional peripersonal space sensing"
by Silvio P. Sabatini May 20, 2015

May 20, 2015

Applications are invited for one full-time PhD studentship (with scholarship) for a period of 3 years, at the PSPC-lab of the Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and System Engineering (DIBRIS), University of Genoa, Italy. * RESEARCH THEME "Integration of motion-in-depth multi-sensory information flows in the peripersonal space". Description: While there is a growing evidence that the space immediately around the body (i.e., the peripersonal space) is coded in a distributed way across several coexisting reference frames, our knowledge of how different representations are aligned, adapt, and interact is still in its infancy. Where, when, and how does the brain implement the internal models underlying the sensorimotor transformations that guide both our actions and perceptions? Is the encoding of sensory information static, or does it change dynamically as the action unfolds? Looking for answers to these questions should help understanding how an agent should use sensing and proprioception-like signals dynamically to build sensorimotor representations of peripersonal space and self-calibrate. Within the research framework developed in the PSPC lab at DIBRIS, the goal of the project is to investigate how different cross-modal information can enable arm and hand-related actions in the peripersonal space. Specifically, the focus will be on the development of a neuromorphic cognitive system for detecting/encoding motion-in-depth multimodal information flows relative to body parts. The underlying models, besides advancing experimental predictions about neuronal activity, are expected to drive learning of meaningful interactions with the environment thus achieving fluid multi-dimensional motor control in the presence of multiple sensory channels, and with minimal a priori knowledge. Requirements: background in bioengineering, computer science, physics or related disciplines, strong interest in computational and theoretical neuroscience. The project will provide the opportunity to work on neural modeling, visual psychophysics, robotics, or a combination of them. Experimental, modeling, and theoretical approaches might be pursued with a different accent according to personal attitude. Ongoing cooperation, at international level, with research groups of different disciplines, will ensure a highly interdisciplinary and stimulating environment. The position will start on Nov 1st 2015. * HOW TO APPLY Candidates must have: - a University degree at Master level (or expect to obtain it by 31 October 2015) in Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or related disciplines - strong interest in computational neuroscience, and an open mind for interdisciplinary research. Online application is available till June 10, 2015 at 12.00 noon (Italian time). Full details on the call and the application procedure will soon be available at: http://www.studenti.unige.it/postlaurea/dottorati/XXXI/ENG/ and http://phd.dibris.unige.it/biorob/index.php/how-to-apply Applicants are strongly requested to contact me (silvio.sabatini(a)unige.it) providing CV and qualifications, and a description of the research interests. * WHERE DIBRIS is a unique inter-school department of the University of Genoa, bridging together researchers from the former Science and Engineering Faculties. It offers an excellent multidisciplinary, interactive and collaborative research environment combining expertise in computer vision, computational neuroscience, neuromorphic computing, robotics and mechatronics. PSPC-Lab (www.pspc.unige.it) has a long-standing expertise in visual coding and multidimensional signal representation, robot perception and computer vision. In the last five years, the lab’s research activity focused on the analysis of the structural mechanisms of visuo-spatial cognition, responsible for orienting and interacting in the 3D space. Regards, -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Silvio P. SABATINI, PhD [PSPC Research Group] Professor of Bioengineering DIBRIS - University of Genova | e_mail:silvio.sabatini@unige.it Via Opera Pia, 11A | phone: +39 010 3532092/3532794 I-16145 Genova (ITALY) | fax: +39 010 3532289/3536533 URL:http://pspc.unige.it --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Imagination is more important than knowledge..." [Albert Einstein]

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Post-doctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania
by Joshua Gold May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015

The Gold lab (http://www.med.upenn.edu/goldlab <http://www.med.upenn.edu/goldlab>) at the University of Pennsylvania is looking for an energetic and talented post-doc to participate in funded studies of learning and decision-making in non-human primates. The work will combine psychophysics, single-unit electrophysiology, and computational modeling. A strong background in systems neuroscience is preferred. Anyone interested should contact Joshua Gold directly via e-mail (jigold(a)mail.med.upenn.edu <mailto:jigold@mail.med.upenn.edu>). Please include a CV and cover letter stating your research experience and reasons for applying to this position. Also please be prepared to provide contact information for up to three references upon request. Penn has a rich and interactive environment for both systems and computational neuroscience, with journal clubs, lab meetings, retreats, and other joint activities, many of which are organized by our new Computational Neuroscience Initiative (CNI: http://cni.upenn.edu <http://cni.upenn.edu/>). We also value diversity and seek talented individuals from diverse backgrounds (http://jobs.hr.upenn.edu <http://jobs.hr.upenn.edu/>).

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Strasbourg workshop 7-9 December 2015
by Stephen Eglen May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015

---------------------------------------------------------------------- From Maps to Circuits: Models and Mechanisms for Generating Neural Connections http://maps2015.org 7-9 December 2015 Strasbourg, France Understanding the development of the nervous system is a key challenge that has been approached by both experimental and theoretical neuroscientists. In recent years there has been a gradual move towards the two groups working more with each other. The idea of this workshop is to bring key people together who have shown an interest at combining theoretical and experimental techniques to discuss current problems in neuronal development, and plan future collaborative efforts. Time at the end of each day will be devoted to a group discussion about questions that have been raised during the day to identify possible research directions and people willing to pursue them. This meeting follows on from our first meeting on this theme held in Edinburgh, July 2014 (details at http://maps2014.org) a special issue of Developmental Neurobiology was devoted to papers related to work presented at this meeting, see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dneu.v75.6/issuetoc Confirmed speakers Jianhua Cang (Northwestern University) Claudia Clopath (Imperial College London), Robert Datta (Harvard Medical School) Stephen Eglen (University of Cambridge) Marla Feller (University California Berkeley) Patricia Gaspar (École des Neurosciences de Paris) David Holcman (École Normale Supérieure Paris) Andrew Huberman (University California San Diego) Siegrid Löwel (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) Christian Lohmann (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) Till Marquardt (European Neuroscience Institute, Göttingen) Filippo Rijli (Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel) Jennifer Rodger (University of Western Australia) Charles Stevens (Salk Institute) ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Bernstein Conference: Extended deadline for abstract submission
by Seeger, Simone May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015

***Deadline for abstract submission extended to May 29, 2015*** Call for Abstracts: Bernstein Conference 2015 ************************************************************** Satellite Workshops September 14, 2015 Main Conference September 15-17, 2015 ************************************************************** The Bernstein Conference has become the largest annual Computational Neuroscience Conference in Europe and now regularly attracts more than 500 international participants. This year, the Conference is organized by the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Heidelberg-Mannheim and will take place on September 15-17, 2015, in Heidelberg. In addition, there will be a series of pre-conference satellite workshops on September 14, 2015. The Bernstein Conference is a single-track conference, covering all aspects of Computational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, and sessions for poster presentations are an integral part of the conference. We now invite the submission of abstracts for poster presentations from all relevant areas. Accepted abstracts will be published online and will be citable via Digital Object Identifiers (DOI). Additionally, a small number of abstracts will be selected for contributed talks. DETAILS FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: For abstract submission visit: http://www.nncn.de/de/bernstein-conference/2015/abstracts Please note that the submission of an abstract does not replace the conference registration! Conference registration is possible here<http://www.nncn.de/en/bernstein-conference/2015/registration>. Abstract submission deadline extended to May 29, 2015! CONFERENCE DETAILS: Venue: Satellite Workshops and Main Conference, "Neue Universität", Grabengasse 3-5 ("Universitätsplatz"), 69117 Heidelberg, Germany Registration: Conference Registration started on April 27, 2015 Early registration deadline: July 24, 2015 For registration and for more information on the conference, please visit the website: http://www.bernstein-conference.de PUBLIC PHD STUDENT EVENT: September 17-18, 2015 PUBLIC LECTURE: September 15, 2015 FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Peter Bastian We look forward to seeing you in Heidelberg in September! *** 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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[WI-IAT 2015] Final extension of IAT'15 Paper Submission Deadline to Sunday, 31st May.
by Teng Teck Hou May 19, 2015

May 19, 2015

[Apologies if you receive this more than once] ####################################################################### FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS 2015 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT'15) Big Data in Global Brain and Social Networks December 6-9, 2015 / Singapore Homepage: http://wi-iat15.ntulily.org Sponsored By: IEEE Computer Society Web Intelligence Consortium (WIC) Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Memetic Computing Society (MC) (EXTENDED FULL PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: *** May 31, 2015 ***) ####################################################################### ++++++++++++++++ KEYNOTE SPEAKERS ++++++++++++++++ * Joseph Sifakis (Turing Award 2007) Professor at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) Director, Centre de Recherche Integrative (CRI) in Grenoble, France * Francis Heylighen Director, Global Brain Institute Professor at Free University of Brussels, Belgium * Steven E. Koonin Director, Center for Urban Science and Progress New York University, USA * Gee-Wah Ng Programme Director, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore * Sarit Kraus (AAAI, ECCAI and ACM Fellow) Professor of Computer Science, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland, USA * Dominik Slezak Professor at University of Warsaw, Poland Chief Scientist, Infobright Inc. The 2015 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT'15) will be held in Singapore on December 6-9, 2015, hosted by the Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly (LILY) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Living Analytics Research Centre at Singapore Management University (SMU). Co-located with the 2015 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI'15), IAT'15 is sponsored by IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Intelligent Informatics (TCII), Web Intelligence Consortium (WIC), ACM-SIGAI, and Memetic Computing Society. IAT'15 will feature special thematic workshops, technical sessions, tutorials and panels. Conference programme will further include a welcome reception, keynotes, demos, poster sessions, and a banquet. Attendees only need one registration to attend all technical events. TOPICS AND AREAS (INCLUDE, BUT NOT LIMITED TO) * Autonomy-Oriented Computing * Agent and Multi-Agent Systems Engineering * Agent and Multi-Agent Systems Modeling * Knowledge and Information Agents * Autonomous Auction and Negotiation * Distributed Problem Solving * Cooperation & Coordination * Agent Systems Applications ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PAPER SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IAT'15 solicits original work submitted as a regular paper (limited to 8 pages) or as short paper (limited to 4 pages) in IEEE 2-column format. Each paper will be peer-reviewed by at least three PC members on the basis of technical quality, relevance, originality, significance and clarity. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings by the IEEE Computer Society Press and indexed by EI. Selected IAT'15 papers will be further invited for expansion and publication in Web Intelligence and Agent Systems and other international Journals. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ CALL FOR TUTORIALS/PANELS +++++++++++++++++++++++++ IAT'15 solicits proposals for tutorials and panels on specific topics of interests, which will form an integral part of the conference program. Inquiries and submission of proposals should be addressed to the respective chairs. ++++++ AWARDS ++++++ Best Paper awards will be conferred at the conference on the authors of (1) the best research paper, (2) the best student paper. Application-oriented submissions will be considered for the best application paper award. +++++++++++++++ IMPORTANT DATES +++++++++++++++ Electronic Submission of Regular/Special Session Papers *** May 31, 2015 *** Tutorial Proposal Submission June 1, 2015 Workshop Paper Submission June 1, 2015 Demos and Posters Submission July 1, 2015 Notification on Conference Paper Acceptance *** July 15, 2015 *** Notification on Workshop Paper Acceptance July 15, 2015 Notification on Demo and Poster Acceptance August 1, 2015 ++++++++++++++++++++ ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ++++++++++++++++++++ General Chairs * Ah-Hwee Tan, Singapore * Yuefeng Li, Australia Program Chair * Ee-Peng Lim, Singapore Program Vice-Chairs * Atsuhiro Takasu, Japan * Hoong-Chuin Lau, Singapore * Chunyan Miao, Singapore IAT Technical PC Chairs * Sarvapali Ramchurn, UK * Anita Raja, USA * Bo An, Singapore Local Organizing Chair * Meng-Hiot Lim, Singapore * Sufen Cheong, Singapore * Di Wang, Singapore Finance Chair and CyberChair-Master * Juzhen Dong, Japan Industry and Sponsorship Chairs * Xiaoli Li, Singapore * Richi Nayak, Australia * Saurav Karmakar, India Workshop Chairs * Bryan Kian-Hsiang Low, Singapore * Einoshin Suzuki, Japan * Jason Watson, Australia Tutorial Chairs * Pradeep Reddy Varakantham, Singapore * Yue Xu, Australia Demo/Poster Chair * Zhiqi Shen, Singapore * Yiqiang Chen, China Publicity Chairs * Xiaohui Tao, Australia * Teck-Hou Teng, Singapore Panel Chairs * Hady Lauw, Singapore * Neil Yorke-Smith, Lebanon Award Chairs * Ee-Peng Lim, Singapore * Raj Sunderraman, USA Webmaster * Jun Lin, Singapore * Yilin Kang, Singapore

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NEURON course registration deadline is May 29!
by Ted Carnevale May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

Massive apologies for my previous erroneous email! The registration deadline for "NEURON Fundamentals" is Friday, _May_ 29. A few seats do remain open, so if you are interested see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nscsd2015/nscsd2015.html --Ted

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TOP 10 illusions of 2015
by Susana Martinez-Conde May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

The Best Illusion of the Year Contest <http://illusionoftheyear.com/> is happy to announce the TOP TEN illusions of 2015! The Best Illusion of the Year Contest is now an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection can participate! No matter where you live, you will be able to vote for the TOP THREE winners from the current TOP TEN list! Worldwide voting will take place in June - stay tuned for further information about the voting date and instructions! All TOP TEN finalists will receive a commemorative plaque. In addition, the TOP THREE winners will receive a $3,000 award for first place; a $2,000 award for second place, and a $1,000 award for third place. 2015 TOP TEN ILLUSION CONTESTANTS (alphabetical order by first author): Masashi Atarashi: "Snow Blind Illusion". Physics teacher at Aichi Prefectural Gojo Senior High School (Japan) Luke Bashford and Carsten Mehring: "The third hand illusion". Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg (Germany) Marco Bertamini and Nicola Bruno: "The Honeycomb Illusion". University of Liverpool (UK) Christopher Blair, Lars Strother, and Gideon Caplovitz: "The Wandering Circles". University of Nevada, Reno (USA) Nicolas Davidenko: "Motion Pareidolia". University of California, Santa Cruz (USA) Rosa Lafer-Sousa: "Disambiguating #theDress". Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) Michael Pickard: "The Day it Rained on Lowry". VisuallyDirectedDesign.com (UK) Arthur Shapiro: "The Star Wars Scroll Illusion". American University (USA) Kokichi Sugihara" "Ambiguous Garage Roof". Meiji University (Japan) Mark Vergeer: "Splitting Colors". KU Leuven (Belgium) 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 The Neural Correlate Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote the public awareness of neuroscience research. ----------------------------------- 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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Theory-Experiment postdoctoral position in Paris with Shihab Shamma and Srdjan Ostojic
by Chait, Maria May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

====================== Theory-Experiment postdoctoral position in Paris with Shihab Shamma and Srdjan Ostojic A theory-experiment postdoctoral position is available at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, on a collaborative project between the Shamma and Ostojic labs. The aim of the project is to investigate the neural bases of auditory discrimination in awake behaving ferrets by combining computational modeling, data-analysis and experimental recordings. The successful applicant will be based at the Group for Neural Theory, a highly interactive and dynamic environment situated in central Paris (see http://iec-lnc.ens.fr/group-for-neural-theory/) The Shamma lab is located right next doors (http://www.iec-lsp.ens.fr/spip.php?rubrique30) The ideal candidate would be a computational neuroscientist with strong interest in experimental neuroscience, or the other way round. Starting dates are flexible. The position is for two years. 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 * Maria Chait PhD m.chait(a)ucl.ac.uk Reader in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Lab site: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ear/research/chaitlab/ UCL Ear Institute 332 Gray's Inn Road London WC1X 8EE

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5th Bernstein Sparks Workshop in Tübingen
by Stefanie Wanner May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

Dear all, I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming… *********************************************************************************************************************************** *5th Bernstein Sparks Workshop: Neural models of decision making in natural inference tasks - from theory to experiment* *********************************************************************************************************************************** taking place in *Tübingen, June 11-12, 2015.* Abstract submission and registration deadline: *May 20, 2015 *(first come, first serve) Please find further information under the following link: http://www.bccn-tuebingen.de/events/5th-bernstein-sparks-workshop-2015.html Best, Stefanie Wanner -- Stefanie Wanner Executive Coordinator Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics http://www.bccn-tuebingen.de/about-bccn/contact.html Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076 Tübingen Tel: +49 7071 29 89019 Fax: +49 7071 29 25015

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PhD Scholarship on Computational Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis
by Paolo Avesani May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

PHD SCHOLARSHIP ON COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR BRAIN CONNECTIVITY ANALYSIS The Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) at the University of Trento and its research partners Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), will invite applications for an open PhD position covered by scholarship in the area of "Computational Methods for Brain Connectivity Analysis". The deadline for applications is May 27, 2015, before 14:00, CET. The PhD aims at carrying out research activity on machine learning methodologies for brain connectivity data analysis. The main goal is to design and to deploy machine learning algorithms for open challenges such as the detection of the main structural and functional pathways of the brain, the characterisation of the differences with respect to altered brain connections, the inter-individuals analysis of brain connectivity structures. The PhD grant is jointly supported by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). The research activity will take place at the Neuroinformatics Laboratory (NILab) and the Pattern Analysis and Computer Vision Laboratory (PAVIS). NILab is an interdisciplinary laboratory raised as joint initiative between the Centre for Information Technology of FBK and the Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences of University of Trento (CIMeC). The University of Trento ranks 1st among the Italian Universities in the rankings of Times Higher Education and CIMeC ranks 1st for quality of research in the ranking of the Italian National for the Evaluation of Universities and Research (ANVUR). CIMeC has 6 ERC starting grants and 1 advanced grant. Trento ranks 1st in the annual survey on quality of life in Italian cities conducted by daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Details on the PhD School and a link to the online application are provided below. If you are interested, you may contact us in advance at the following address: info.nilab(a)fbk.eu . Links - PhD School: http://ict.unitn.it - FBK: http://www.fbk.eu - CIMeC: http://www.cimec.unitn.it - NILab: http://nilab.fbk.eu - PAVIS: http://iit.it/pavis

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Call for TYPE-II papers - Brain Informatics and Health (BIH'15)
by Yi Zeng May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015

[Apologies for cross-postings] Call for TYPE-II papers (Abstract Submissions) Submission Deadline: June 16, 2015 ************************************************************* 2015 International Conference on Brain Informatics and Health (BIH'15) Venue: Imperial College London, London, UK, Time: Aug 30-Sep 2, 2015 www.braininformatics.london Submission Deadline: June 16, 2015 ************************************************************* Conference Theme: Brain informatics has emerged as a distinct field of research. It crosses the disciplines of neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, signal processing, and neuroimaging technologies. The data driven nature of brain research made brain informatics an important field of data science. Following the success of past conferences in this series, BIH'15 will take place at Imperial College London, in UK. For the first time, BIH gathers the researchers from major international brain research projects to form a forum for reviewing the progress of brain informatics research and its applications to human health and building up international collaboration. The conference will also organise an exhibition from industrial and research community. BIH'15 draws special attention to informatics for brain science, human behaviour and health. BIH'15 will address informatics approaches to both the brain and behaviour research with a strong emphasis on emerging trends of big data analysis and management technology for brain research, behaviour learning, and real-world applications of brain science in human health and wellbeing. The distinguished speakers include: Keynote Speakers ---------------- Allan Jones, CEO, Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA; Henry Markram, Director, Blue Brain Project; Coordinator, Human Brain Project, EPFL, Switzerland; David Van Essen, PI, Human Connectome Project, Washington University School of Medicine, USA; Feature Speakers ---------------- Giorgio Ascoli, (Founding Director, Center for Neural Informatics, George Mason University, USA); Henry Kennedy, (Director of Research, Stem-cell and Brain Research Institute, France); Barbara Sahakian, (University of Cambridge, UK); Nelson Spruston, (Scientific Program Director, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), USA); Paul Verschure, (Director, the Lab of SPECS at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Spain); BIH'15 welcomes paper submissions (full paper and abstract submissions). Both research and application papers are solicited. All submitted papers will be reviewed on the basis of technical quality, relevance, significance and clarity. Accepted full papers will be included in the proceedings by Springer LNCS/LNAI. Tutorial, Satellite symposium (workshop) and Special-Session proposals and Industry/Demo-Track papers are also welcome. ================================= PAPER SUBMISSIONS & PUBLICATIONS: TYPE-II (Abstract Submissions; Submission Deadline: June 16, 2015): Each abstract is limited to 500 words. Experimental research is particularly welcome. Accepted abstract submissions will be included in the conference program, and will be published as a single, collective proceedings volume. Title: Include in the title of the abstract all words critical for a subject index. Write your title in sentence case (first letter is capitalized; remaining letters are lower case). Do not bold or italicize your full title. Author: List all authors who contributed to the work discussed in the abstract. The presenting author must be listed in the first author slot of the list. Be prepared to submit contact information as well as conflict of interest information for each author listed. Abstract: Enter the body of the abstract. Do not re-enter the title, author, support, or other information that is collected in other steps of the submission form. Presentation Preference: Authors may select from three presentation formats when submitting an abstract: "poster only,”, “talk preferred" or "no preference." The “talk preferred" selection indicates that you would like to give a talk, but will accept a poster format if necessary. Marking "poster only" indicates that you would not like to be considered for an oral-presentation session. Selecting "no preference" indicates the author's willingness to be placed in the best format for the program. Each paper or abstract requires one sponsoring attendee (i.e. someone who registered and is attending the conference). A single attendee can not sponsor more than two abstracts or papers. Oral presentations will be selected from both full length papers and abstracts. *** Post-Conference Journal Publication *** Selected submissions will be considered for publication in special issues of international journals after their papers are extended to a full-length paper and pass a review process. More information can be found athttp://www.bih-amt.com/publications/ *** Topics and Areas *** Please find the topics and areas of interest of the 2015 International Conference on Brain Informatics and Health (BIH'15) athttp://www.bih-amt.com/call-for-papers/topics/ *** AMT'15 Session *** The advance of wearable sensor technology makes the monitoring of human behavior and life style becomes feasible. This development gives the active media technology a new dimension which is more closely related to the healthcare and cognitive studies. Following the success of past conferences in this series, AMT'15 will be jointly held with BIH’15 as a special session. *** Contact Information *** Chao Wu, Imperial College London, UK<c.wu09(a)imperial.ac.uk> Aldo Faisal, Imperial College London, UK<a.faisal(a)imperial.ac.uk> Conference Organisation: General Chairs: Karl Friston, (Scientific Director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, UK) Yike Guo, (Director of Data Science Institute, Imperial College London, UK) Program Chairs: Aldo Faisal, Imperial College London & MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, UK Sean Hill, EPFL, Switzerland Hanchuan Peng, Allen Institute for Brain Science, USA Workshop/Special-Session Chairs: Andreas Holzinger, Medical University Graz & Graz University of Technology, Austria Zhisheng Huang, Vrije University of Amsterdam, Netherlands David Powers, Flinders University of South Australia, Australia Publicity Chairs: Jessica Turner, Georgia State University, USA; Juan D. Velasquez, University of Chile, Chile Yi Zeng, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Local Organizing Chairs: Thomas Heinis, Imperial College London, UK Kai Sun, Imperial College London, UK Chao Wu, Imperial College London, UK Exhibition/Sponsorship Chair: Caroline Li, University of Kent, UK Steering Committee Co-Chairs: Ning Zhong, Maebashi Institute of Technology, Japan Jiming Liu, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

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LASCON 2016 - VI Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience (Call for applications)
by Antonio C. Roque May 14, 2015

May 14, 2015

**** Apologies for cross-posting **** VI Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience - LASCON 2016 January 3 - 29, 2016, Sao Paulo, Brazil http://sisne.org/lascon APPLICATION DEADLINE: September 6 2015 FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT Dear Colleagues, Following the success of the previous editions of LASCON (Latin American School on Computational Neuroscience), I am pleased to announce the 6th LASCON, which will take place between January 3 - 29 2016 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. LASCON aims at introducing young researchers and graduate and advanced undergraduate students to the use of computational and mathematical methods for modeling neurons and neural networks. These models will be taught via a combination of theoretical lectures and hands-on tutorials with the use of the programs like neuroConstruct, NEURON, NEST, Brian, the Virtual Brain and Matlab. Students will have to work on small research projects (to be done in groups of two), which they will present orally at the end of the school. The following lecturers will be in charge of theoretical classes and tutorials: Arnd Roth, University College, London, UK Benjamin Lindner, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany Boris Marin, University College, London, UK Christophe Pouzat, Universite Paris Descartes, Paris, France Demian Battaglia, Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France German Mato, Centro Atomico Bariloche, San Carlos de Bariloche, RN, Argentina Hannah Bos, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany Jannis Schuecker, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany John Murray, New York University, New York, NY, USA Marco Huertas, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX, USA Sam Neymotin, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA Volker Steuber, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK William Lytton, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA There will also be some invited lectures. The current list of invited lecturers is: Andre Kohn, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Antonio Galves, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Cesar Renno-Costa, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil Hilda Cerdeira, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Julian Tejada, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Aracaju, SE, Brazil Leonardo Maia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, SC, Brazil Marco Idiart, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil Marcelo Reyes, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo Andre, SP, Brazil Mauro Copelli, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, The number of students is limited to 20 and applications should be made electronically via the application form in the school's web page ( http://sisne.org/?page_id=253&lang=en) Applicants are also requested to submit a detailed CV (in English) and to provide two letters of recommendation. The application deadline is September 6 2015 (until midnight, US Pacific time). There is no registration fee for the school. Costs for accommodation will be covered by the school organization. Travel costs have to be covered by the students. Sao Paulo is the major transportation hub in South America, so it is possible to fly from basically anywhere in the world to it. In the selection procedure, priority will be given to Latin-American students, but students from other parts of the world are encouraged to apply as well. LASCON 2016 is an activity of the FAPESP Center for Neuromathematics (NeuroMat -http://neuromat.numec.prp.usp.br) and is jointly organized by the University of Sao Paulo and the Federal University of ABC. I am looking forward to see you in Sao Paulo. Best regards, A. Roque LASCON Director -- Dr. Antonio C. Roque Professor Associado Departamento de Fisica FFCLRP, Universidade de Sao Paulo 14040-901 Ribeirao Preto-SP Brazil - Brasil E-mails: antonior(a)ffclrp.usp.br aroquesilva(a)gmail.com URL: www.sisne.org Tels: +55 16 3315-3768 (sala/office); +55 16 3315-3859 (lab) FAX: +55 16 3315-4887

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Scientist I - Network Analysis Position
by Stefan Mihalas May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

Dear Colleague, The Allen Institute for Brain Science is embarking on a multiyear project to study neural computation and coding in the mouse cortex. We presently have an opening for a scientist to study structural connectivity of the mouse brain as well as its relation to cell types and mesoscopic measurements of neural activity. For more information or to apply please visit: http://alleninstitute.hrmdirect.com/employment/job-opening.php?req=251378&&… Sincerely, Stefan Mihalas Assistant Investigator T: 206.548.7192 M: 626.376.2414 [cid:image001.png@01D08D7F.230445F0] www.alleninstitute.org<http://www.alleninstitute.org/> Scientist I - Network Analysis This computational neuroscientist will study the organization of structural connectivity networks of the mouse brain. The primary project will focus on network analysis of structural connectivity data, including Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas. Additional projects will focus on the relation between the structural connectivity and measurements in different modalities. These may include comparisons with cell type characterizations and mesoscopic measurements of neural activity in behaving mice, with the long term goal of uncovering structure-function relation of cortical circuits. RESPONSIBILITES Perform graph theoretical analyses of mouse connectome data for detailed and specific descriptions of network architecture (e.g. hubs, modules, rich club organization) Perform analyses using mouse connectome data to classify connectivity patterns and characterize anatomical rules of cortico-cortical connectivity in mouse brain. Compare organization of mouse cortex with hierarchies described in other species. Perform comparative analyses, computing statistical differences between connectivity data and network architecture collected using different methods, different ages, or in disease models. Compare the connectivity patterns of similar cell types in different structures. Analyze the relation between structural connectivity and other mesocopic brain-wide measurements. Publish/present findings in peer-reviewed journals/scientific conferences. Present a periodic summary of progress to the research community within the organization. QUALIFICATIONS Ph.D. in applied mathematics, computational neuroscience or a related field. Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. Ability to meet aggressive timelines in a collaborative environment. Strong verbal and written communication skills. Ability to work independently and as a part of a team. Strong publication record.

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Post-doc at Edinburgh
by Matthias Hennig May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

Dear all We have a vacancy for post-doctoral research on machine learning models applied to neural data. The post is suited to applicants with a machine learning/computational statistics background and an interest in biological applications of statistical modelling. The project is an EPSRC award to develop statistical modelling methodologies for high density neural multi-electrode arrays (HD-MEAs). We will use recordings from a 4,096 channel array to get new insights on the interactions in large populations of neurons. It is led by Guido Sanguinetti and Matthias Hennig. Please get in touch with us for further information and informal inquiries; closing date is 08 June 2015. Details: https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobs… Best, Matthias -- Matthias H Hennig http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mhennig/ The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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Multiple open engineering positions in the open-source 3D printed Poppy Robotics project applied to education, at Inria Flowers Lab (Bordeaux, France)
by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

[Call for application] Multiple open engineering positions in the open-source 3D printed Poppy Robotics project applied to education, at Inria Flowers Lab (Bordeaux, France) Poppy is an open-source platform for the creation, use and sharing of interactive 3D printed robots. It addresses both beginners and experts in the fields of education, science, art, more generally makers. The Poppy platform is based on robust, flexible, easy-to-use and reproduce hardware and software. In particular, the use of 3D printing and rapid prototyping technologies is a central aspect of this project, and makes it easy and fast not only to reproduce the platform, but also to explore morphological variants. The platform, designed at Flowers robotics Lab at Inria and Ensta (France), allows creation and modification of robots of various morphologies, in particular humanoid robot morphologies such as for the robots Poppy Humanoid and Poppy Torso. The platform is also used to create simpler robots with variable morphologies, such as the Poppy Ergo robots, which aim to be at the same time reconfigurable, and easy to construct, plug and play. Web: http://www.poppy-project.org Forum: https://forum.poppy-project.org/categories (600 registered members) Inria Flowers Lab, Bordeaux, France: https://flowers.inria.fr Inria Flowers lab at Inria is now searching for excellent and highly motivated engineers to join the project and develop it towards educational applications, in the context of the project Poppy Education jointly funded by Inria, Région Aquitaine, and European Feder funds. The project Poppy Education targets the application of the Poppy platform to the world of education, both within schools/universities and outside school in networks of FabLabs. As detailed below, we have open positions in software development, web development, as well as design and experimentation of educational content/pedagogical kits, with Scratch-like visual programming tools. Poppy will constitute a major innovative pedagogical platform allowing to cultivate the understanding and creativity of students (and the wider public) to catch up with the current revolution of 3D printing and its integration with computer science, electronics and integrated design methodologies that are now thriving in industry. Within Poppy Education, both the platform, pedagogical content and its use cases will be developed in constant interaction with its end users within schools, universities, FabLabs and other structures acting to educate the wide public to science and technology, within an open-source methodology. Several open positions, described below, are available and will be located within Inria Flowers Lab in Bordeaux, France. Inria Flowers Lab is internationally reknown for its contribution to developmental robotics, on topics such as curiosity-driven learning in robots, imitation learning, robot acquisition of language, cognitive modelling, and applications to education and assistance. Inria: Public science and technology institution established in 1967, Inria is the only public research body fully dedicated to computational sciences. Combining computer sciences with mathematics, Inria’s 3,449 researchers strive to invent the digital technologies of the future. Educated at leading international universities, they creatively integrate basic research with applied research and dedicate themselves to solving real problems, collaborating with the main players in public and private research in France and abroad and transferring the fruits of their work to innovative companies. The researchers at Inria published over 4,500 articles in 2013. They are behind over 270 active patents and 110 start-ups. In 2013, Inria’s budget came to 235 million euros, 25% of which represented its own resources. Flowers Lab is located at the Inria Bordeaux site: http://www.inria.fr/en/centre/bordeaux/overview/discover-our-centre How to apply: send an email with your CV AND letter of motivation to poppy-jobs(a)inria.fr indicating the CODE of the mission for which you apply (see codes below). Detailed information and documents on projects realized by candidates will be appreciated. Code: Poppy Education 1 Job title: Engineer in software development for integrated development platform Experience: up to 8 years after engineering diploma (plutôt 2 à 8 ans d'experience ? je suis pas sûr qu'on veuille un IJD) Duration: 12 to 24 months Mission Develop and integrate software programming tools that allow users in education to discover and learn programming and robotics Job description: Extend and maintain the pypot python programming library (https://github.com/poppy-project/pypot) Extend and maintain the integration of pypot with Ipython and Jupyter Extend and maintain the integration of programming tools with physical Poppy robots and a simulator Develop installation tools allowing rapid "one-click" installation of programming tools on several platforms including Raspberry Pi, Windows, Mac Os, Linux Document developped tools Participate to animating the users community, both online through the forum and web site and through participating to live educational robotics events Candidate profile: Extended python programming experience Experience in embedded programming (e.g. Rasberry Pi, Arduino, Embedded Linux) Rich programming skills including javascript, C++ Multiplatform software installers technologies (Windows/MacOS/Linux) Experience of programming robots User-centered methodology for code development Experience in open-source projects Strong experience with versionning tool (Git) Excellent programming practices Code: Poppy Education 2 Job title: Engineer in web software technologies Experience: Up to 2 years after engineering diploma Duration: 12 to 24 months Mission Integration and development of web software technologies for the Poppy web sites Job description: Develop Wordpress plugins for http://www.poppy-project.org Develop plugins and personalization of Discourse-based Poppy forum: https://forum.poppy-project.org Integrate a wiki technology for Poppy Documentation Unify graphical design of web sites Setup maintainance methods for Poppy web sites (including update of supporting softwares) Document developped tools Daily update of web site content and animation of the community in the forum Candidate profile: Excellent javascript skills Experience in developping plugins for Wordpress Experience in web design and web site development Experience in open-source projects Strong experience with versionning tool (Git) Excellent programming practices Code: Poppy Education 3 Job title: Engineer in software development for web-based applications Experience: Up to 2 years after engineering diploma (+0 to +2 experience) Duration: 12 to 24 months Mission Develop web applications for educational robotics Job description: Develop web applications allowing the configuration of robots and checking the state of motors, sensors and electronics (accessible from browsers on computers and tablets) Extend and maintain a REST API for the pypot python programming library Develop a web applications allowing basic control of Poppy robots (launching behaviours, teleguiding robots) Extend and develop visual programming tools based on Snap! language (including developping extensions to Snap!) Develop compatibility with Scratch programming language Develop an app store allowing easy community sharing of programs written in python or visual programming languages Participate to animating the users community, both online through the forum and web site and through participating to live educational robotics events Candidate profile: Excellent programming skills in javascript and python Experience in web app architecture design Experience in interface design and user-centered methodology Experience in web communication technologies and APIs Experience in responsive and mobile friendly web design Strong experience with versionning tool (Git) Excellent programming practices Code: Poppy Education 4 Job title: Engineer for pedagogical design and experimentation of educational activities in robotics Experience: up to 8 years after engineering/university diploma (pareil +2, autant pas avoir un IJD) Duration: 12 to 24 months Mission Design, experiment and disseminate educational activities based on the Poppy robotic platform Job description: Analyze the educational needs of several populations of users (high-school students, university students, FafLab members, ...) Design pedagogical sequences and scenarios of activities targeted to different populations of students, based on visual programming and python programming tools Initiate contacts with users for experimentation Evaluate pedagogical activities in real contexts of use (in schools, universities and FabLabs) Produce integrated polished multimedia documents embedding "ready to use" pedagogical content Produce multimedia content to publicize educational uses of the platform Participate to events to promote educational uses of the platform Candidate profile: Experience in teaching computer science and technology Experience in user-centered methodologies Experience in python programming language (or other scripting languages) Familiarity with Scratch like visual, drag-and-drop programming language Interest in interdiciplinary collaborations (education, science, art, makers) Creative thinking to design motivating learning scenarios Code: Poppy Education 5 Job title: Engineer for coordination of pedagocial activities and events in Poppy Project Experience: senior level pedagogical expert Mission Coordinate the design and dissemination of pedagogical activitives, organization of educational dissemination events Job description: Build a focus group of pedagogical experts to design the specification of educational robotics activities Build a network of educational partner institutions to welcome experimentation of educational activities Coordinate the organization of experimentation and dissemination of pedagogical activities Design pedagogical sequences and scenarios of activities targeted to different populations of students, based on visual programming and python programming tools Candidate profile: Extended experience of teaching with/about digital technologies/ICT Extended experience of collaboration with educational institutions Experience in designing pedagocical content for various age ranges Knowledge of French education programs at high-school levels Pierre-Yves Oudeyer Research director, Inria Head of Flowers Laboratory Inria and Ensta Paris-Tech http://www.pyoudeyer.com https://flowers.inria.fr

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International Brain Connectivity Workshop, June 10-12, 2015 - last call
by Scott Makeig May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

*14th International Workshop on Brain Connectivity* The international Workshop on Brain Connectivity (WBC), to be held at the University of California San Diego (June 10-12, 2015), will focus for the first time primarily on the role of electrophysiological data in understanding the fine temporal scale underlying brain network dynamics as well as the mechanisms by which emergent dynamics originate from multi-scale interactions between brain areas, brain activity frequencies and timescales, and between brain activity and behavior. This focus reflects the growing realization that to understand how the brain supports behavior and experience requires imaging of distributed brain activity with fine temporal resolution. The first day of the Workshop will be dedicated to lectures, followed by two days of half-day workshop sessions. The WBC will bring together leading investigators in the fields of neuroimaging, cognitive and computational neuroscience to discuss current and forthcoming challenges for brain connectivity research based on electrophysiological data. Speakers include Klaas Stephen (Zurich), Carsten Wolters (Muenster), Eugene Izhekevich (San Diego), Stephan Kiebel (Leipzig), Matias Palva (Helsinki), Alain Destexhe (France), Charles Schroeder (Columbia U), Ryan Canolty (U Houston), Stefan Haufe (New York), M. Muthuram (Germany), Kathleen Poston (Stanford) and others. Its goals are to stimulate research students and scientists from diverse backgrounds for research in topics related to electrophysiology and brain connectivity, to promote larger international collaborations in these fields, and to inform the neuroscience community about emerging methods, and comprehensive theory and models for brain connectivity analysis, in particular from electrophysiological recordings. - for the organizers, Scott Makeig, Swartz Center, UCSD Registration (USD) Postdocs, Academics, Others 400 Students (Graduate and Undergraduate) 260 For more information and registration, visit *http://sccn.ucsd.edu/BrainConnectivityWorkshop2015 <http://sccn.ucsd.edu/BrainConnectivityWorkshop2015>* -- Scott Makeig, Research Scientist and Director, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0961, http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~scott -- Scott Makeig, Research Scientist and Director, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0961, http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~scott -- Scott Makeig, Research Scientist and Director, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0961, http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~scott -- Scott Makeig, Research Scientist and Director, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0961, http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~scott

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[journals] CFP: IEEE ToH Issue on Active Touch Sensing
by yon May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

A reminder of the June 1 deadline for the forthcoming special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics on “Active Touch Sensing in Robots, Humans, and Other Animals". We hope you will consider contributing. Please share this announcement with your colleagues. Thank you! Yon Visell Call for Papers IEEE Transactions on Haptics Special Issue on Active Touch Sensing in Robots, Humans, and Other Animals Submission deadline (EXTENDED): June 1 2015 First decision to authors: August 1 2015 Complete Details: http://re-touch-lab.com/ieee-toh-issue <http://re-touch-lab.com/ieee-toh-issue> Guest Editors: Yon Visell, Drexel University Vincent Hayward, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Mitra Hartmann, Northwestern University Nathan Lepora, University of Bristol Topical Summary: This special issue addresses the challenges posed by actively sensing and interacting with the world through the sense of touch, whether the latter is implemented through a technological or biological system. Active touch sensing is recovering information about the world by ‘touching’ rather than ‘being touched’ – by interpreting signals from sensors whose motion is deliberately controlled to facilitate information gain. The scope of this issue includes both biological and technological systems for active touch sensing, and implications for haptics. This issue will consider electronic systems for active touch sensing that are biologically inspired systems, in addition to other inherently active approaches to touch sensing. Biological systems for active touch sensing are highly capable, and, by comparison, the field of robotic touch sensing is in its infancy. The former demonstrate many valuable concepts for active touch sensing that are being intensively investigated. They have also illustrated ways that active touch sensing is enabled through specialized sensory transduction channels, biomechanics, structural morphology, behavioral, and control strategies that are implemented by biological systems, and through other advantages that they achieve, including robustness, adaptability, and power efficiency. Similar challenges must be overcome if technological systems are to one day achieve comparable levels of sensorimotor performance to biological systems. Specific topics of interest include: - The design of electronic or biological systems for active touch sensing, their principles of operation (electronic, biological, mechanical) and performance. - Biomechanical aspects of active touch sensing. - Relations between active touch sensing and behavior, especially motor activity. - Sensory information processing and sensorimotor control strategies in humans, animals, or robots related to active touch sensing, including behavioral, physiological or neuroscience investigations, and neural control. - Learning by active touch. - Applications to the design of haptic interfaces. Authors should specifically include a discussion of how their results shed light on fundamental aspects of active touch sensing rather than assuming that this can be inferred from context. Submission process: Visit http://www.computer.org/toh <http://www.computer.org/toh> to view formatting requirements, and submit your paper at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/th-cs <https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/th-cs>. When uploading your paper please select the appropriate special issue title under the category “Manuscript Type.” Further detail: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6901353 <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6901353> _________________________________________________________ Yon Visell, PhD Assistant Professor Drexel University | Electrical and Computer Engineering Philadelphia, USA www.re-touch-lab.com <http://www.re-touch-lab.com/> Office: +1 215 571 4507 Mobile: +1 267 800 8960 _________________________________________________________

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Postdoctoral position - in vivo multiphoton imaging
by Simon Schultz May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

Job Title Research Associate –Two Photon Imaging of Alzheimer’s Disease Department/Division/Faculty Department of Bioengineering - Centre for Neurotechnology Salary Range: £33,410 - £42,380 per annum South Kensington Campus Full time, fixed-term for 36 months The Centre for Neurotechnology forms part of the cross-departmental Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. The Centre, in association with the Department of Bioengineering, hosts world-class experimental facilities for research at the interface between neuroscience and engineering. The Centre has recently initiated a philanthropically funded project on the application of biomedical engineering principles to understand how the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease affects information processing in cortical circuits, and test new therapeutic interventions. Applications are invited for the above post to work with Dr Simon Schultz on in vivo two photon imaging of calcium signals in the dendrites of neocortical pyramidal cells. The aim of this work is to understand how synaptic integration changes during the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease, and to test the effects on dendrites of new therapeutic strategies being developed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s. Candidates must be in possession of a doctoral degree or equivalent in neuroscience, physics, engineering, or similar. Prior experience with in vivo two photon imaging is a requirement. Preference will be given to candidates with both a strong experimental background, and experience in quantitative neurophysiological data analysis using MATLAB. This post will be based at the South Kensington Campus. Closing Date 14 June 2015 (midnight BST) Email s.schultz(a)imperial.ac.uk for any queries about the position. How To Apply Our preferred method of application is online via http://www.imperial.ac.uk/job-applicants/ Please submit a CV as well as an application form for this post.

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Comp Neuro List Submission for jobs
by Ben Hayden May 13, 2015

May 13, 2015

The Hayden Lab at the University of Rochester is looking to hire two post-docs in systems and/or computational neuroscience. Our lab investigates the neuronal mechanisms of economic choice, reward cognition, and self-control. We are especially interested in the cingulate cortex, the orbital surface, and the striatum. We use simple gambling tasks, naturalistic foraging tasks and game theoretic decisions, including multi-monkey interaction. We are particularly interested in devising and testing computational models of economic choice, foraging decisions, and self-control, using attractor network, PDP network, and swarm cognition models. We focus on non-human primate recordings, although we are also looking for a purely theoretical post-doc as well. Prior experience in computer programming or statistics highly recommended. The successful candidate will build a portfolio either purely in theoretical/computational neuroscience or in single unit physiology. The University of Rochester is an equal opportunity employer. Standard NIH salary range applies. Lab website: http://haydenlab.com If interested, send an email to benhaydenlab(a)gmail.com.

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Post-doc fellowship on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision
by cottereau＠cerco.ups-tlse.fr May 12, 2015

May 12, 2015

Post-doc fellowship with Benoit Cottereau on computational neurosciences and stereoscopic vision Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Toulouse, France Starting date: September December 2015 A postdoctoral research position is available to work with Benoit Cottereau (CNRS Researcher) in the ECO-3D team of the CerCo laboratory (Toulouse, http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/?lang=en) The aim of the project is to develop new models of stereoscopic vision in primate that automatically become selective to the most frequently occurring 3D properties of their visual environment (e.g. 3D motion direction). These models will possibly be validated through experimental data (psychophysics and brain imaging in both human and non-human primates). The applicant should hold a solid background in computational neurosciences, signal processing as well as skills in programming. Knowledge on vision in primate would be highly appreciated. The city of Toulouse is an attractive city with high quality of life located in the south west of France (close to the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean sea and the Spanish border). The position is for 18 months with standard French salaries. Applications should be sent to benoit.cottereau(a)cerco.ups-tlse.fr including a CV and 2 names of references.

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5th Bernstein Sparks Workshop: Neural models of decision making in natural inference tasks - from theory to experiment
by Ralf M. Haefner May 12, 2015

May 12, 2015

5th Bernstein Sparks Workshop: Neural models of decision making in natural inference tasks - from theory to experiment June 11-12, 2015 in Tübingen, Germany Abstract submission and registration deadline: May 20, 2015 (attendance limited: first come, first served) Detailed information at http://www.bccn-tuebingen.de/events/5th-bernstein-sparks-workshop-2015.html Confirmed Speakers: • Wieland Brendel (University of Tuebingen) • David Cox (Harvard University) • Jaime de la Rocha (IDIBAPS, Barcelona) • Nicolas Heess (Google DeepMind) • Mate Lengyel (University of Cambridge) • Wolfgang Maass (Technical University Graz) • Hendrikje Nienborg (University of Tuebingen) • Andreas Tolias (BCM Houston) • Dan Yamins (MIT) • Rich Zemel (University of Toronto) The brain needs to extract behaviorally relevant information from sensory signals which contain only indirect, incomplete and highly variable information about the world. Beginning with the study of the neural basis of random dot motion discrimination in the late eighties, neural decision making has been studied extensively in neuroscience. However, the models used to reason about decision making do not account for the computational complexity of natural inference tasks such as object recognition, speech recognition or alike. Based on recent advances in machine learning more and more complex artificial neural networks are developed that become increasingly proficient in mimicking perceptual inference abilities of humans and animals. As a side effect of their popularity in technology, the increasing availability and diversity of high-performing neural network models opens a new door for studying the neural mechanisms of robust decision making. Important differences between these networks are the presence or absence of feedback connections, the presence or absence of stochasticity, and the diversity of different nonlinear mechanisms. The existence of this diversity mirrors important discussions in neuroscience on the role and effect of feedback signals is in the brain [1], whether the brain represents and computes with probabilities [2], whether feedback signals are essential for performing probabilistic inference in hierarchical models [3], and whether neural stochasticity can be interpreted in terms of sampling [4] or regularization such as dropout [5]. As a joint effort between theoreticians and experimentalists, the goal of this Sparks workshop will be to survey and discuss the role of these mechanisms for robust decision making in artificial and real neural networks and to derive discriminative experimental tests and tools that seem most promising to analyze them. [1] Gilbert & Li, Nat Rev Neuro 2013 [2] Pouget et al, Nat Rev Neuro 2013 [3] Lee & Mumford, JOSA 2003 [4] Fiser et al., TICS 2010 [5] Srivastava et al, JMLR 2014 Organizers: • Matthias Bethge (BCCN Tübingen) • Ralf Haefner (University of Rochester) • Richard Hahnloser (University of Zürich) • Bernstein Coordination Site (BCOS)

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ECMLPKDD 2015: Summer School on Data Sciences for Big Data - Resource Aware Data Mining
by ECMLPKDD 2015 May 11, 2015

May 11, 2015

>From 2nd to 5th of September 2015, the TU Dortmund University and LIAAD-INESC TEC will organize a Summer School on Data Sciences for Big Data - Resource Aware Data Mining. The School will be hosted at Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto and is collocated with <http://ecmlpkdd2015.org/> ECMLPKDD 2015 - European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/) For the summer school, world leading researchers in machine learning and data mining will give lectures on recent techniques dealing with huge amounts of data, spatio-temporal streaming data, distributed and graph data, sensors and embedded systems. The summer school is designed for Master and PhD students, and professionals who wanted to learn cutting edge techniques for data mining with constrained computational resources. For further details go to: <http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/summer-school/about> http://www.ecmlpkdd2015.org/summer-school/about

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ICSLANE: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND CONTRIBUTED TALKS
by Alessandro Barardi May 10, 2015

May 10, 2015

----------------------------------------- SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT --------------------------------------- International Conference on System Level Approaches to Neural Engineering (ICSLANE) Dates September 21st – 23rd 2015 Deadline registration 30th May Venue Barcelona Biomedical Research Park <http://www.prbb.org/>, Barcelona, Spain Website http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html We invite you to submit poster abstracts and apply for contributed talks We introduced a one-day participation option: now you can attend one day of the conference for 80 Euros. The program per day with its outstanding list of confirmed speakers is already available here: http://www.neural-engineering.eu/BarcelonaConference2015/index.html The aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together theoretical and experimental neuroscientists, roboticists and microfluidics experts to present and discuss the state of the art in the field of neural engineering. It is designed to provide fertile grounds for establishing collaborations between classical neuroscientists and leaders in the up-and-coming robotics and microfluidics fields to develop novel neural engineering techniques and promote the understanding of the brain. It will also give the researchers an opportunity to present their work by contributed talks or during poster sessions. ----------------------------------------------------- PROGRAM --------------------------------------------------- Keynote speakers Eugene Izhikevich - Brain Corporation, San Diego, CA, USA. Opening talk, Day 1 Nikos Logothetis - Director Max Planck Institute for Biol Cybernetics, Germany. Closing talk, Day 3 Day 1 Brain-on-chip - engineering of neuronal circuits in-vitro with emphasis on microfluidics Albert Folch - Department Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA Thibault Honegger - Laboratoire des Technologies de la Microelectronique, CNRS-CEA, France Yoonkey Nam - Department for Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST, South Korea Optical neurotechnology Methodology - imaging and engineering techniques that allow recording of neuronal activity Amanda Foust - Neural Coding Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK Fritjof Helmchen - Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland Adam Packer - Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, UCL, UK Eftychios Pnevmatikakis - Department of Statistics & Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, USA Day 2 Neural Dynamics - mathematical description of neuronal activity Viktor Jirsa - Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France David Liley - Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia Benjamin Lindner - Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience,Germany John Terry - College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, UK Neural learning and control - motion planning, controlling and learning neuro-inspired techniques for robotics Dario Farina - Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Germany Sami Haddadin - Institute of Automatic Control, Hannover, Germany Alexandre Pouget - CMU, Geneva, Switzerland Gregor Schöner - Institut für Neuroinformatik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany Reza Shadmehr - John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA Patrick van der Smagt - BRML labs, TUM, Germany Day 3 Neural Coding - investigation of neuronal strategies for encoding information Andre Bastos - The Picower Institute for Learning & Memory at MIT, Boston, USA Romain Brette - Institut de la Vision, Paris, France Sophie Deneve - Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, LNC, Paris, France Kenneth Harris - Institute of Neurology & Department of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, UCL, UK Stefano Panzeri - Neural Computation Lab, IIT, Rovereto, Italy Jan Schnupp - Auditory Neuroscience Group, Oxford, UK --------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION --------------------------------------------------- Deadline Registration 30th May Conference fee 200 Euros (plus 50 Euros for optional conference dinner) One-day Conference fee 80 Euros The single-day participation option still allows to apply for a contributed talk or a poster. Registration can be done on our registration form <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-conference-on-system-level-app…>. Details about the payment will be posted on the conference website. -------------------------------------- CALL FOR POSTERS AND TALKS ------------------------------------- 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. We invite you to apply for contributed talks. Please send a half-page abstract to nett.barcelona.2015(a)gmail.com. Selected talks will be scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Each talk should be about 15 minutes long. Abstract Submission closes: 30th May Abstract Acceptance Notification: 30th June This International Conference on System Level Approaches to Neural Engineering conference is organised by the Fellows of the NETT consortium (Neural Engineering Transformative Technologies <http://www.neural-engineering.eu/>). 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, and this three-days long event is part of a series of training events organised by the NETT consortium. 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.

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CNS*2015 Meeting in Prague, Early registration ends on May 14
by Tam, Nicoladie May 10, 2015

May 10, 2015

CNS*2015 Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic. Early registration for members ends on May 14, 2015, 11 pm, Pacific Time, USA, after which the registration price will increase. Meeting Info: Tutorial: July 18, 2015 Main Meeting: July 19-21, 2015 Workshop: July 22-23, 2015 http://www.cnsorg.org/cns-2015-prague See you all in Prague.

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new Purkinje neuron paper; alcohol action
by MICHAEL FORREST May 8, 2015

May 8, 2015

Group members may be interested in this new paper. Forrest MD (2015) Simulation of alcohol action upon a detailed Purkinje neuron model and a simpler surrogate model that runs >400 times faster. BMC Neuroscience 16(1):27.http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/16/27 Contributions of the paper: (1) New detailed computational model of the cerebellar Purkinje neuron (coded in NEURON and available in modelDB)(2) New reduced (2 compartment) model of the Purkinje neuron that runs >400 times faster than the detailed model. This reduced model replicates the behavior of the full model and can be used (a) in network simulations, to investigate how distinctive single neuron Purkinje behaviors are important to network and system function (b) as a proxy to find parameter values that will permit the full model to replicate new behavior (this is a massive help as parameter searches with the full model - that often have to be conducted manually - are typically very slow, given its large computational cost).(3) It shows a new reduction method - for producing a faithful 2-compartment surrogate model of a detailed multi-compartment model. We apply it to the Purkinje neuron but we envisage that it will be equally applicable to other neuron types - so please try it with your own neuron model investigations. The collapse NEURON code is included in the modelDB entry. (4) It further confirms our prior work which shows that the the sodium-potassium pump controls the intrinsic firing mode of Purkinje neurons; and that the sodium-potassium pump is a computational element in the cerebellum and the brain. This is a significant re-appraisal of the role of these pumps, which previously were thought to have no direct role in brain computations.(5) Why do people fall over when drunk? This paper suggests that alcohol corrupts body movements by inhibiting sodium-potassium pumps in the cerebellum. Kindest regards,Michael

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Summer school "Non-linear methods", University of Cologne, Germany, 28.9.-2.10.15
by Michael von Papen May 8, 2015

May 8, 2015

Dear all, I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming Cologne Summer School on non-linear analysis methods. Feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cologne Summer School 2015: *Non-Linear Methods for Complex Systems Analysis* Date: Mon-Fri 28.09-02.10.2015 Location: *University of Cologne*, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------- This one-week summer school brings together *master's degree and PhD students from international universities* for an interdisciplinary hands-on learning experience. The workshop will introduce non-linear analysis methods using the Python toolbox pyunicorn. With the techniques presented in the summer school, such as complex networks and phase space concepts, the students will be able to characterize highly complex systems. Such systems are frequently encountered, e.g., in *biology, chemistry, economics, geoscience, neuroscience, and physics*. Lectures and computer labs will be led by Dr. Reik Donner and Marc Wiedermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. For the complete program visit *complexsystems.uni-koeln.de/summerschool.html*. The application deadline is 10.07.2015. The summer school is organized by the Competence Area 3: Quantitative Modeling of Complex Systems of the University of Cologne. Contact: Dr. Michael von Papen (/vonpapen(a)geo.uni-koeln.de/) -- ------------------------------------------ UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE Institute of Geophysics & Meteorology Coordinator of Competence Area III: Quantitative Modeling of Complex Systems Dr. Michael von Papen Pohligstr. 3 (R 3.224) 50969 Cologne Tel.: +49 (0)221 470-2841 Email: vonpapen(a)geo.uni-koeln.de http://complexsystems.uni-koeln.de

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neuroscience summer school in Kyiv, Ukraine
by Sergiy Yakovenko May 7, 2015

May 7, 2015

Dear colleagues, I would like to promote the Xth Summer School "Achievements and Applications of Contemporary Informatics, Mathematics and Physics” in beautiful Kyiv, Ukraine this August 4-18. One of the streams is the Computational Neuroscience focused on models for cellular and system (neuromechanical) applications. The details about Xth Summer School program can be found at summerschool.ssa.org.ua/program. Registration is open until June 1, 2015. Students can also apply for registration discounts (see the “Discounts and scholarships” web page). Cheers, Sergiy -- Sergiy Yakovenko, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Neural Engineering Laboratory Exercise Physiology - Center for Neuroscience West Virginia University School of Medicine Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering PO Box 9227, Morgantown, WV, 26506-9227 t: +1 (304) 293-7316 (Office), +1 (412) 407-7792 (Mobile) https://sites.google.com/site/neuralengineeringlab/

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POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR: Matlab Analysis to Decode Brain Neuron Learning
by GJBrewer May 7, 2015

May 7, 2015

Salary: $42,840-$44,556 in beautiful Irvine, California The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, invites applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar in the area of network analysis of brain regions involved in learning and memory. You will perform experiments to decode information processing in live rat neuronal networks in culture under the direction of Dr. Gregory J. Brewer. His NIH funded project examines hippocampal subnetwork function reconstructed in MEM devices over electrode arrays. You will discover the statistical basis for spontaneous and evoked differences in subregion spike dynamics to reveal coding mechanisms in the brain. The initial appointment will be full-time for a 12 month period. Renewal of the contract will be contingent on the availability of adequate funding and performance. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Requirements: Ph.D. in neuroscience, information/signal processing, network systems analysis, statistical math or physics or related field. Matlab coding expertise is required. Experience in neurophysiology desirable. Application Procedure: Applicants will need to upload their curriculum vitae, a cover letter and names, affiliation and email for 3 references to Professor Gregory J. Brewer via our online RECRUIT system at https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF02808 Screening will begin June 15 and will continue until position is filled. The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. -- Grace to you, Gregory J. Brewer, Ph.D., Professor University of California Irvine, Dept Biomedical Engineering Institute for Memory Impairment and Neurological Disorders (MIND) Nat. Sci, 2, Rm 3101 GJBrewer(a)uci.edu, 217-502-4511 http://brewer.eng.uci.edu/

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[jobs] PhD Opening on Mutual Understanding in Human-Robot Interaction at the Italian Institute of Technology
by Alessandra Sciutti May 7, 2015

May 7, 2015

Apologies for cross-posting =========================================================================== PhD Opening on Mutual Understanding in Human Robot Interaction Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department (RBCS) - Italian Institute of Technology Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation technologies curriculum =========================================================================== In the spirit of the doctoral School on Bioengineering and Robotics, the PhD Program for the curriculum Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation Technologies provides interdisciplinary training at the interface between technology and biomedicine. The general objective of the program is to form scientists and research technologists capable of dealing with multidisciplinary projects involving aspects of engineering, technology and life-sciences. In RBCS we are merging top-level neuroscience research and top-level robotics research by sharing fundamental scientific objectives arising from the study of speech recognition and language, the foundations of physical and social interaction, the exploitation of sensory and motor rehabilitation. Among the different research themes proposed I would like to advertise the topic: "Mutual Understanding in Human Robot Interaction" The ideal candidates are students with a higher level university degree willing to invest extra time and effort in blending into a multidisciplinary team composed of neuroscientists, engineers, psychologists, physicists working together to investigate brain functions and realize intelligent machines, rehabilitation protocols and advanced prosthesis. International applications are encouraged and will receive logistic support with visa issues, relocation, etc. Below you can find more details related to the position and the instructions on how to apply. Best regards, Alessandra Sciutti ----------------------------------------- Alessandra Sciutti (PhD) Robotics Brain and Cognitive Sciences Dept. - Italian Institute of Technology Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy email: alessandra.sciutti(a)iit.it =========================================================================== Theme 8: Mutual Understanding in Human Robot Interaction Tutor: Dr. Alessandra Sciutti Department: RBCS (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) http://www.iit.it/rbcs =========================================================================== Description: As robots are making their way from factory floors into our everyday lives, the design of their interaction with humans is becoming more and more important and a key issue to address is how to transfer the excellent social skills exhibited by humans to human-robot interaction. Our approach to this challenge is based on leveraging on the neural and behavioral mechanisms naturally in place for human-human interaction to foster a seamless mutual understanding with humanoid robots. Hence, we use robots both as tools to stimulate human social interaction and as test beds for the derived models. In particular we focus on understanding in humans and implementing in a robotic platform the basic motor and perceptual skills supporting human collaboration, as gaze tracking [1], temporal coordination between partners [2], gesture and action understanding [3-5]. The activity we propose is twofold: on one side to further investigate how to establish efficient human robot collaboration by implementing models of social skills on the iCub robotic platform and on the other to assess these models in human-robot interactive scenarios by means of multiple techniques (e.g., eye-tracking, motion capture and force measurements). Requirements: Background in computer sciences, robotics, engineering is required, as also willingness to make experiments with human participants and strong motivation to work and adapt to a multidisciplinary environment. International opportunity: The successful candidate will have the opportunity to spend part of his/her PhD at Osaka University and the University of Tokyo in the framework of the Marie Curie IRSES collaborative project CODEFROR ( www.codefror.eu ). References: 1. O. Palinko, A. Sciutti, F. Rea, G. Sandini, Towards Better Eye Tracking in Human Robot Interaction Using an Affordable Active Vision System, HAI 2014 2. A. Bisio, A. Sciutti, F. Nori, G. Metta, L. Fadiga, G. Sandini, T. Pozzo, Motor Contagion during Human-Human and Human-Robot Interaction, PloS one, vol. 9, no. 8, 2014 3. N. Noceti, A. Sciutti, F. Rea, F. Odone, G. Sandini, Estimating human actions affinities across views, VISAPP 2015 4. A. Sciutti, L. Patanè, F. Nori, G. Sandini G., Understanding object weight from human and humanoid lifting actions, IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 80-92, 2014 5. A. Sciutti, A. Bisio, F. Nori, G. Metta, L. Fadiga, G. Sandini, Robots can be perceived as goal-oriented agents, Interaction Studies, 14:3 . xv, 179, pp. 329350, 2013 Contact: alessandra.sciutti(a)iit.it =========================================================================== How to apply =========================================================================== Please note that the positions are available through the PhD course of Bioengineering and Robotics, curriculum on Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation Technologies, offered jointly by IIT and the University of Genoa. The official call and application forms are available on the website of the University of Genoa. In particular: The official calls are available here: http://phd.dibris.unige.it/biorob/media/PhD%20Program%20in%20BioRob%20Cognit ive%20Robotics%202015%20def.pdf (Cognitive Robotics, Interaction and Rehabilitation Technologies curriculum. ) Applications must be submitted online, instructions for applicants are available here: http://phd.dibris.unige.it/biorob/index.php/how-to-apply Applicants are strongly encouraged to get in touch with Alessandra Sciutti ( alessandra.sciutti(a)iit.it ). ****** Application deadline: 10 June 2015, Noon, Italian time *******

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