- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

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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RA position – Machine vision & automated behavioral analysis – Brown University (Providence, RI).
by Thomas Serre May 7, 2015

May 7, 2015

Computational (Thomas Serre) and developmental (Dima Amso) labs in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences are seeking an NIH-funded research assistant to work on the development of tools, including machine learning and computer vision, appropriate to examining naturalistic interactions in typical and atypical development. Candidates are expected to have solid background in computer vision and/or machine learning. Prior experience with depth sensors (kinect), tracking, object recognition and/or background subtraction algorithms would be a strong plus. An interest in development or cognitive science and applications of computer vision to the biological sciences would also be a 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. Requirements: Applicants are expected to have finished, or be about to finish a BS or MSc in computer science or related discipline. They must have a strong background in computer vision and/or machine learning and excellent programming skills (C/C++/Matlab/Python). Programming experience in CUDA and/or parallel computing would be a strong plus. Research groups: Our research groups are located within the Department of Cognitive Linguistic & Psychological sciences at Brown University. We maintain strong ties with the computer science, engineering and applied math departments as part of the Brain Institute. Through Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (https://www.ccv.brown.edu) our groups have access to a state-of-the-art computing facility with includes over 300K GPU cores and over 500 Teraflops of GPU computing power. Information about Dr. Serre and his research group can be found at http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu. Information about Dr. Amso and her research group can be found at http://research.clps.brown.edu/dcnl. Application: Please send your applications by email to dima_amso(a)correct_university_name.edu and 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 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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