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

Feb. 18, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

5 PhD studentships in interdisciplinary infancy research for entry in October 2015 (Note: This programme takes a cognitive science approach to infant development, and computational modelling is explicitly part of the research methods.) Deadline for applications: 10 April, 2015 The Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Interdisciplinary Research on Infant Development is one of 14 Doctoral Programmes funded by the Leverhulme Trust over the next 5 years. The programme is based in the Psychology Department of Lancaster University (UK) which houses one of the largest infancy research groups in Europe, with researchers addressing infants’ cognitive, social and language development employing a large range of methods (eye tracking, EEG, computational modelling, NIRS). Links with other departments (Linguistics, Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics) are anticipated. Applications are now open for five fully funded PhD studentships for entry in October 2015. Four of the scholarships will cover UK/EU fees, and the fifth will additionally cover the higher overseas (international) fees. All scholarships provide a living stipend (currently £13,863) and a training allowance for three years. Studentships will have a strong interdisciplinary focus with the expectation to employ multiple methodologies. Awards will be made on the basis of academic excellence and potential for future achievement as demonstrated by your application and supporting references. In addition, you should consider how the research project you propose is aligned with the research interests of current academic staff involved in the Programme (see www.lancaster.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp <http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp>). You are strongly encouraged to informally contact individual staff members to discuss your specific interests and to develop a research proposal. PhD students will become part of the vibrant environment of the infancy research group and beyond with excellent research facilities and a first class supervision record. You will be encouraged to participate fully, targeting and presenting your work at international conferences, and you will have excellent opportunities to travel to our national and international partner laboratories, receive training in a range of psychological and neurophysiological techniques, participate in research and public engagement meetings, and meet with leading international scientists during an annual conference organized at Lancaster. Lancaster University is in the top 10 under-50-year-old universities internationally (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hu… <http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hu…>), and consistently ranks in the top 10 in the UK. The Psychology Department has a very strong and supportive research atmosphere with a large and active group of graduate students. Students receive their own research support budgets, which can be used to attend national and international conferences. We expect applicants to have excellent undergraduate and Masters degrees in Psychology or a related discipline. You should apply online here: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/ <http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/> for a PhD in Psychology by the deadline of 10 April 2015. In the application, please state that you are applying for the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme. We ask for a research proposal of up to 1000 words – note that this is different from standard applications because of the selection process involved. The application should identify an appropriate supervisor(s) and you must ensure that references have been provided by the deadline (otherwise the application may not be considered). After the deadline, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview, before award decisions are made. For further information concerning the studentships, please contact Prof. Gert Westermann (g.westermann(a)lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:g.westermann@lancaster.ac.uk>), and about postgraduate study more generally, please contact the Department of Psychology postgraduate office (postgraduate.psychology(a)lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:postgraduate.psychology@lancaster.ac.uk>). See the Lancaster Leverhulme Scholarship Programme website http://www.lancs.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp <http://www.lancs.ac.uk/leverhulme-dsp> for more information. Further information about PhD study at Lancaster can be found here www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/ <http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/>. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Gert Westermann Department of Psychology Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YF Phone: +44 (0)1524 592 942 Fax: +44 (0)1524 593 744 g.westermann(a)lancaster.ac.uk <mailto:g.westermann@lancaster.ac.uk> http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/gert-westermann <http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/gert-westermann> New book: Harris & Westermann: A Student’s Guide to Developmental Psychology. Psychology Press. <http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781848720169/>

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 17, 2015

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

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

Feb. 16, 2015

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

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

Feb. 16, 2015

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

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

Feb. 14, 2015

> > > >Dear colleagues, > >It is my pleasure to announce the 2015 CCNS Summer School on Computational >Neuroscience. This week-long program will be held on July 27-31,2015 as >part of the 2015-16 program on Challenges in Computational Neuroscience >(CCNS) at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute >(SAMSI) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. >( http://www.samsi.info/CCNS ) > > >The school will include courses on five major research topics in >computational neuroscience by the following instructors: > >* Neural Spike Train Analysis > Mark A. Kramer, Boston University > Uri Eden, Boston University >* Compressed Sensing for Signal Processing > Justin Romberg, Georgia Tech >* Functional Data Analysis for Medical Imaging Data > Hans-Georg Muller, University of California, Davis > Jane-Ling Wang, University of California, Davis >* Big-biomedical Data Integration and Analysis > Jeffrey S. Morris, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas > Hongtu Zhu, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill > Yu-Ping Wang, Tulane University >* Shape Analysis and Diffeomorphisms for Medical Imaging Data > Laurent Younes, Johns Hopkins University > >The instructors will give an in-depth overview of each topic followed by >problem/discussion sessions. Software packages will be introduced to >students with datasets to carry out some simple data analysis. This summer >school is targeted for graduate students, postdocs, and junior faculty >from neuroscience, biomedical engineering, radiology, statistics, >and applied mathematics. We may consider a limited number of applications >from senior faculty. > >The application deadline is Monday, June 1, 2015 > >For further information and to apply, see: > http://www.samsi.info/ccns-summer > >or email questions to CCNS(a)samsi.info

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

Feb. 14, 2015

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

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

Feb. 14, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 13, 2015

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

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

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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postdoc position
by Yuri Ivanenko Feb. 12, 2015

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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

Feb. 12, 2015

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

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