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Neuron Digest   Tuesday, 11 Feb 1997                Volume 97 : Issue 5

Today's Topics:
                            Duplicate ND sent
                              The Neuro Ring
                       research associate position
    II CFP Special Issue of AI in Medicine Journal (DAI over the WWW)
                           Call for Tricks ;-)
                CNBC summer undergraduate research program
                             PhD Scholarships
                POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP available
              faculty position in computational neuroscience
Workshop on Automata Induction, Grammar Inference, and Language Acquisition


Send submissions to "neuron@psych.upenn.edu". Send administrative
questions and [un]subscribe requests to "neuron-request@psych.upenn.edu".
The ftp archives (including back issues) are available from
psych.upenn.edu in pub/Neuron-Digest or by sending a message to
"archive-server@psych.upenn.edu".

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Duplicate ND sent
From:    "Neuron-Digest Moderator, Peter Marvit" <neuron@CATTELL.psych.upenn.edu>
Date:    Tue, 11 Feb 1997 00:13:20 -0500

Dear ND subscribers,

I just realize that I resent an old Neuron Digest today. My
apologies. Here is the new one with items currently in a LIFO order.

        -Peter "head not screwed on completely, apparently" Marvit
         Neuron DIgest Moderator


------------------------------

Subject: The Neuro Ring
From:    Matt Fraser <mattf+@pitt.edu>
Date:    Mon, 10 Feb 1997 04:39:27 -0500


Dear Listowner/Listmanager,

Please forgive this intrusion, but I thought that some of your 
membership might be interested in The Neuro Ring.  Any of them that have 
Neuroscience (including Basic Science, Clinical, Neurology, Behavioral)
Web sites could benefit by joining The Neuro Ring, which is community of
websites that are interlinked.  It is another mechanism by which all
involved can increase their site's exposure on the internet. 
Anyone interested can find out more at:

    <http://www.pitt.edu/~mattf/NeuroRing.html>

Thanks,

Matt 

http://www.pitt.edu/~mattf/Research.html

  ________________________________________________________________

Matt Fraser                               "The Real World is very 
                                            complex and chaotic,
mattf+@pitt.edu                         so that, in order to survive,
                                   humans find it necessary to construct   
                                           an illusion of reality."
                        
                                               Author Unknown


------------------------------

Subject: research associate position
From:    meunier@orphee.polytechnique.fr (Claude Meunier)
Date:    Mon, 10 Feb 1997 14:03:53 +0100

Research associate
Center for Theoretical Physics
Ecole Polytechnique, France

The Center for Theoretical Physics invites applications for a possible one
year position of research associate (no teaching duties), starting Fall
1997. Six month stays may also be considered. Candidates are expected to
carry out their research in the framework of our existing research programs
in:
- - computational neurosciences
- - condensed matter
- - field theory and particle physics
- - plasma physics

Applicants should submit a resume with publications list, statement of
research interests, and two letters of references to:
Dr. M.-N. Bussac
Centre de Physique Th=E9orique
Ecole Polytechnique
91128 Palaiseau cedex France
=46ax: 00 33 01 69 33 30 08
E-mail: bussac@cpth.polytechnique.fr

Send requests of information on this temporary position and post doctoral
positions in theoretical physics at Ecole Polytechnique to the same
address.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is March 15, 1997.



------------------------------

Subject: II CFP Special Issue of AI in Medicine Journal (DAI over the WWW)
From:    Marco Ramoni <M.Ramoni@open.ac.uk>
Date:    Mon, 10 Feb 1997 16:04:29 +0100


Just a reminder. Submission deadline is March 30, 1997.

Marco
___________________________________________________________________________

         Special Issue of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

           Distributed Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
                       over the World Wide Web


                          Call for Papers


It is hard to believe that, less than five years ago, the World Wide
Web (WWW) did not even exist. In such a short time, the WWW has
dramatically changed the way in which knowledge is produced,
delivered, used and - most of all - regarded.  Artificial Intelligence
(AI) could not be left aside by this revolution: several efforts have
been undertaken to explore the opportunities and accept the challenges
offered by the WWW revolution.  Medical applications have always
played a leading role in the development of AI research and it is
therefore not surprising that some of the pioneering efforts to
exploit the potential of the WWW for AI research are coming from the
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine community.  Time is now up for a
check point.

The Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Journal invites submissions to
a special issue devoted to Distributed Artificial Intelligence in
Medicine over the World Wide Web.  The aim of this special issue is to
summarize the current state of the art in the field in order to
provide future reference and a firmer ground for further developments:
we want the issue to be an up-to-date and authoritative source of
information about the main results achieved so far in the field.

The issue will include papers investigating aspects of the enabling
potential of the WWW to support the development of distributed AI
applications in Medicine, such as:


    o Distributed AI architectures in medicine over the WWW.
    o Integration and negotiation of AI applications over the WWW.
    o Distributed access to medical knowledge and data bases.
    o Intelligent medical terminology servers over the WWW.
    o Agent-based medical applications using the WWW.
    o Distributed medical reasoning systems over the WWW.
    o Distributed medical ontologies over the WWW.


Papers addressing broad interest methodological issues - supported by
at least proof-of-concept applications - and papers describing
cutting-edge applications with highly innovative content are
especially welcome. Manuscripts will be evaluated by originality,
technical quality and clarity of presentation by at least two
independent referees who are authorities in the field.

Papers should be submitted by March 30th, 1997 in one of the following ways:

Surface Mail:     Send 5 (five) copies of the manuscript to the guest editor
                  at address below.
Electronic Mail:  Send an electronic version to M.Ramoni@open.ac.uk.
Ftp:              Upload an electronic version to

             ftp://kmi.open.ac.uk/pub/marco/projects/wai/aimj/submissions

      Login as ftp using your email address as password. Then, notify
      your submission via email to the guest editor at the address below.


Electronic versions of papers can be submitted in any format,
including LATEX, Postscript, MSWord, RTF, and should be preferably
compressed in .Z, .zip, or .gz format. If you submit a compressed file
via Electronic Mail, be sure to uuencode it for proper transmission.

Perspective authors are strongly encouraged to contact the guest editor at:


                        Marco Ramoni
                        Knowledge Media Institute
                        The Open University
                        Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
                        United Kingdom MK7 6AA
                        Phone: +44 (1908) 655721
                        Fax: +44 (1908) 653169
                        Email: M.Ramoni@open.ac.uk


Important dates are:

March 30th, 1997:       Submission of full paper.

July 15th, 1997:        Notification of acceptance or rejection.

September 15th, 1997:   Submission of final manuscript.



The Special Issue is expected to appear by mid 1998. Until the
publication of the Special Issue, a WWW site will report information
about the submission, review, and publication process at:

                   http://kmi.open.ac.uk/~marco/projects/wai/aimj

Guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts are available from the
WWW site or from the guest editor.



______________________________________________________________________________
Marco Ramoni
Knowledge Media Institute          Phone: +44-1908-65-5721
The Open University                Fax:   +44-1908-65-3169
Walton Hall                        Email: M.Ramoni@open.ac.uk
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA              URL:   http://kmi.open.ac.uk/~marco
UNITED KINGDOM                     CUSeeMe: 137.108.81.18



------------------------------

Subject: Call for Tricks ;-)
From:    "Klaus-R. Mueller" <klaus@prosun.first.gmd.de>
Date:    Mon, 10 Feb 1997 19:22:12 +0100



        *********************************************
        *              Call for Papers              *
        *            Tricks of the Trade            *
        *********************************************

Dear Colleagues,

At the Nips*96 workshops we had a workshop called "Tricks of the
Trade: How to Make Algorithms Really Work".  As a follow-up to this
workshop, we are collecting papers for a "Book of Tricks" (this is
our working title), which will be tentatively published in the LNCS
State-of-the-Art Surveys series. We would like to invite you to
contribute. 

What is a Trick?:

A technique, rule-of-thumb, or heuristic that
        * is easy to describe and understand
        * can make a real difference in practice
        * is not (yet) part of well documented technique
        * has broad application and may or may not (yet) have a
          theoretical explanation.

Content and Format:

In order to keep everything focussed, we suggest the following main
topics of the book:

        1. architectural tricks
        2. sampling and data preprocessing
        3. speeding learning procedures
        4. improving generalization and optimization

To give consistency across papers, we would like there to be a
structural similarity in the contents which is based on the outline
we proposed for the talks:

        - intro/motivation
        - trick
        - where has it been tried and how well does it work?
        - why does it work?
        - possible theoretical explanation (if any),
        - heuristic explanation (if any) & discussion


For More Details:

Please look at the call for papers on our web site:
In the US: 
http://www.willamette.edu/~gorr/tricks/guidelines.html
In Europe:
http://www.first.gmd.de/persons/Mueller.Klaus-Robert/CALL.html 

If you have questions, please email to: 

        Jenny Orr (gorr@willamette.edu)
        Klaus-Robert M"uller (klaus@first.gmd.de)
        Rich Caruana (caruana@cs.cmu.edu)

------------------------------

Subject: CNBC summer undergraduate research program
From:    Dave_Touretzky@DST.BOLTZ.CS.CMU.EDU
Date:    Sun, 09 Feb 1997 21:50:39 -0500

The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, a joint program of Carnegie
Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, is seeking applications
from top-quality undergraduates interested in pursuing summer research in
cognitive or computational neuroscience.  The CNBC summer training program
is a ten week intensive program of lectures, laboratory tours, and guided
research.  State of the art facilities include computerized microscopy;
laboratories for human and animal electrophysiological recording;
behavioral assessment laboratories for rat, primate, and human
experimentation; MRI and PET scanners for brain imaging; the Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center; and a regional medical center providing access to
human clinical populations.  The Summer Training Program is a National
Science Foundation sponsored program; we expect to support ten students in
each of the next five years.  Applications are encouraged from students
with interests in biology, neuroscience psychology, engineering, physics,
mathematics, computer science, or robotics.  To be eligible, students must
not yet have completed their bachelor's degree at the time they
participate.

The application deadline is March 15, 1997.  For more information about the
program, and detailed application instructions, see our web site at:
   http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/Training/summer/index.html

In addition to its summer program, the Center for the Neural Basis of
Cognition (CNBC) offers an interdisciplinary training program for Ph.D. and
postdoctoral students in collaboration with various affiliated departments
at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.  This
training program is the descendant of the Neural Processes in Cognition
program started in 1990 under the National Science Foundation.  We now have
thirty six graduate students and thirty five faculty affiliated with the
CNBC.  The program focuses on understanding higher level brain function in
terms of neurophysiological, cognitive, and brain imaging data complemented
with computational modeling.  Individually designed programs of study
encompass cellular and systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience,
cognitive modeling, and brain imaging.

For a brochure describing the graduate training program and application
materials, contact us at the following address:
        Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
        115 Mellon Institute
        4400 Fifth Avenue
        Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Telephone:  (412) 268-4000      Fax: (412) 268-5060      
Email: cnbc-admissions@cnbc.cmu.edu

This material is also available on our web site at http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu

Faculty:  The CNBC training faculty includes: German Barrionuevo (Pitt
Neuroscience):  LTP in hippocampal slice; Marlene Behrmann (CMU
Psychology): spatial representations in parietal cortex; Pat Carpenter (CMU
Psychology): mental imagery, language, and problem solving; Jonathan Cohen
(CMU Psychology): schizophrenia; dopamine and attention; Carol Colby (Pitt
Neuroscience): spatial reps. in primate parietal cortex; Bard Ermentrout
(Pitt Mathematics): oscillations in neural systems; Julie Fiez (Pitt
Psychology): fMRI studies of language; John Horn (Pitt Neurobiology):
synaptic learning in autonomic ganglia; Allen Humphrey (Pitt Neurobiology):
motion processing in primary visual cortex; Marcel Just (CMU Psychology):
visual thinking, language comprehension; Eric Klann (Pitt Neuroscience):
hippocampal LTP and LTD; Alan Koretsky (CMU Biological Sciences): new fMRI
techniques for brain imaging; Tai Sing Lee (CMU Comp. Sci.): primate visual
cortex; computer vision; David Lewis (Pitt Neuroscience): anatomy of
frontal cortex; James McClelland (CMU Psychology): connectionist models of
cognition; Carl Olson (CNBC): spatial representations in primate frontal
cortex; David Plaut (CMU Psychology): connectionist models of reading;
Michael Pogue-Geile (Pitt Psychology): development of schizophrenia; John
Pollock (CMU Biological Sci.): neurodevelopment of the fly visual system;
Walter Schneider (Pitt Psychology): fMRI studies of attention and skill
acquisition; Charles Scudder (Pitt Neurobiology): motor learning in
cerebellum; Susan Sesack (Pitt Neuroscience): anatomy of the dopaminergic
system; Dan Simons (Pitt Neurobiology): sensory physiology of the cerebral
cortex; William Skaggs (Pitt Neuroscience): representations in rodent
hippocampus; and David Touretzky (CMU Comp. Sci.): hippocampus, rat
navigation, animal learning.
 

Walter Schneider                David Touretzky
Professor of Psychology         Computer Science Department
University of Pittsburgh        Carnegie Mellon University


------------------------------

Subject: PhD Scholarships
From:    Joachim Diederich <joachim@fit.qut.edu.au>
Date:    Fri, 07 Feb 1997 15:48:56 +1000



               NEUROCOMPUTING RESEARCH CENTRE
         QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (QUT)
                    BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

                   FOUR PhD SCHOLARSHIPS

QUT  is  offering  PhD   scholarships   in   the   area   of
Neurocomputing   and   Artificial   Intelligence.   Research
activities  will  include  natural   language   acquisition,
grammar  induction  and  connectionist  forms  of analytical
learning.

The scholarships include an annual tax-free living allowance
as  well  as  the  tuition  fees  for  students from outside
Australia/New Zealand.

The successful applicants are expected to have  a  four-year
degree  in  Computer  Science/Cognitive Science (e.g. upper-
levels Honours or Masters).  Good  knowledge  of  artificial
neural  networks and symbolic machine learning is essential;
good programming skills are desirable.

The scholars will work in the Neurocomputing Research Centre
and  will  be  part of a high-profile team comprising senior
researchers  and  other  PhD  students.  The  centre  offers
state-of-the-art  computing  facilities  including networked
Unix   workstations   plus   support   for   national    and
international conference travel.

Potential  applicants  should  contact   Professor   Joachim
Diederich,    Neurocomputing    Research   Centre,   e-mail:
joachim@fit.qut.edu.au.  Enquiries should  include  a  brief
resume  plus  a  reference  to  the scholarship of interest.
These positions will be filled immediately.

                       SCHOLARSHIP 1
        NEUROCOMPUTING AND NATURAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

QUT is offering a  PhD  scholarship  in  neurocomputing  and
natural language learning as part of a collaborative project
with  the  University  of  California,  Berkeley   and   the
Australian National University.

Research   activities   will   include    theoretical    and
experimental   aspects  of  Connectionist  Natural  Language
Processing, in  particular,  language  learning.   A  strong
background    in    computer   science   is   required   and
qualifications in linguistics are an advantage.

                       SCHOLARSHIP 2
   COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

This project investigates computerised  techniques  for  the
support  of  primary  industies.  In particular, statistical
methods,   neurocomputing   and   artificial    intelligence
techniques  are  evaluated.  The  comparison will be done by
methods such as cross-validation and bootstrap, as  well  as
by  the  use  of "real world scenarios." The objective is an
integrated   information   system   which   combines   these
techniques  and  aims  at  a  performance  which  cannot  be
achieved by any of the above mentioned methods in isolation.

                       SCHOLARSHIP 3
    RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORKS AND CONTEXT-FREE LANGUAGES

Various kinds of simple recurrent networks (SRNs) and  their
learning  strategies  will be evaluated and compared towards
the implementation of a recogniser of context free languages
modelled  on  a  pushdown  automaton. Starting with a Giles-
style higher order network at the core, it  is  expected  to
devolve  into  a higher order recurrent network and a number
of SRNs each with clearly delineated responsibilities.

                       SCHOLARSHIP 4
       CONNECTIONIST SYSTEMS AND ANALYTICAL LEARNING

This  project  will  focus  on   connectionists   forms   of
analytical     learning     such     as    explanation-based
generalisation. Connectionist systems for the representation
of  structured  knowledge  will  be  used  for deduction and
learning.


               Neurocomputing Research Centre
            Queensland University of Technology
                 Box 2434, Brisbane Q 4001
                         AUSTRALIA
                   Phone: +61 7 3864-2143
                   Fax:   +61 7 3864-1801
               http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/NRC/

------------------------------


Subject: POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP available
From:    Kuno Wyler <wyler@iam.unibe.ch>
Date:    Fri, 07 Feb 1997 17:01:39 +0100


                       POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
                       --------------------------------


                       Neural Computing Research Group

               Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics

                       University of Bern, Switzerland


The Neural Computing Research Group at the University of Bern is looking for
a highly motivated individual for a two year postdoctoral research position 
as project manager in the area of development of a neuromorphic perception 
system based on multi sensor fusion. 

The aim of the project is to develop a neurobiologically plausible perception 
system for novelty detection in a real world environment (e.g. quality 
control in industrial production lines or supervision of security zones) using
the fusion of audio and video information and fast learning algorithms for the
dynamic binding of signal features.

Potential candidates should have good skills in applied optical sciences
with a sound background in mathematics and signal processing, and working 
knowledge in neurobiology and neural networks. Further knowledge of 
programming (Matlab, LabView or C/C++) or VLSI technology is highly desirable
but not required. Project management includes the supervision and the 
scientific leading of the collaborators (1 Postdoc/ 2 PhD candidates). The 
position will begin May 1, 1997, with possible renewal for an additional two 
years. The initial salary is SFr. 70'000/year (approx. $50'000).

To apply for this position, send your curriculum vitae, publication list with
one or two sample publications and two letters of reference before
March 15, 1997, by surface mail to (applications by e-mail will not be
accepted)

        Neural Computing Research Group
        Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
        attn. Mrs. M. Aberegg
        Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics
        University of Bern
        Neubrueckstrasse 10
        CH-3012 Bern
        Switzerland


For further information you can send e-mail to wyler@iam.unibe.ch or
mueller@iam.unibe.ch.

------------------------------

Subject: faculty position in computational neuroscience
From:    Reza Shadmehr <reza@bme.jhu.edu>
Date:    Fri, 07 Feb 1997 12:40:39 -0500

 

                   JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
                    BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins
University invites applications for a tenured or tenure-track faculty
position in computational neuroscience. The successful candidate must
be able to establish an independently funded research program that
builds on or complements existing research programs.  The candidate
will also participate in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate
students. For more information on our department see:
http://www.bme.jhu.edu.

Interested applicants should send their CV and names of three referees to:

       Dr. Murray B. Sachs 
       Faculty Search 
       Department of Biomedical Engineering 
       710 Traylor Building 
       720 Rutland Avenue 
       Baltimore, MD 21205 

The Johns Hopkins University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Institution.

------------------------------

Subject: Workshop on Automata Induction, Grammar Inference, and Language Acquisition
From:    Vasant Honavar <honavar@cs.iastate.edu>
Date:    Fri, 07 Feb 1997 11:44:38 -0600

 
 
 Call for Papers:  Workshop on 
 Automata Induction, Grammatical Inference, and Language Acquisition
 
 The Fourteenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML-97)
 July 8-12, 1997, Nashville, Tennessee
 
 
 The Automata Induction, Grammatical Inference, and Language Acquisition 
 Workshop will be held on Saturday, July 12, 1997 during the Fourteenth 
 International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML-97) which will be
 co-located with the Tenth Annual Conference on Computational Learning Theory
 (COLT-97) at Nashville, Tennessee from July 8 through July 12, 1997. 
 Additional information on ICML-97 and COLT-97 can be found at:
 http://cswww.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~mlccolt/ 
 
 
 Objectives
 
 Machine learning of grammars, variously referred to as automata induction,
 grammatical inference, grammar induction, and automatic language acquisition, 
 finds a variety of applications in syntactic pattern recognition, 
 adaptive intelligent agents, diagnosis, computational biology,
 systems modelling, prediction, natural language acquisition,
 data mining and knowledge discovery.
 
 The workshop seeks to bring together researchers working on
 different aspects of machine learning of grammars in a number
 of different (and until now, relatively isolated) areas including
 neural networks, pattern recognition, computational linguistics,
 computational learning theory, automata theory, and language acquisition 
 for fruitful exchange of the relevant recent research results.
 
 
 Workshop Format
 
 The workshop will consist of 3--5 invited talks offering different
 perspectives on machine learning of grammars, interspersed with
 short (10--15 minute) presentations of accepted papers. The workshop
 schedule will allow ample time for informal discussion.
 
 
 Topics of Interest
 
 Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
 
 Different models of grammar induction:
        e.g., learning from examples, 
              learning using examples and queries, 
              incremental versus non-incremental learning,
              distribution-free models of learning,
              learning under various distributional assumptions
              (e.g., simple distributions).
 
 Theoretical results in grammar induction: 
        e.g., impossibility results,
              complexity results, 
              characterizations of representational and search
              biases of grammar induction algorithms.
 
 Algorithms for induction of different classes of languages and 
 automata:  
        e.g., regular, 
              context-free, and  
              context-sensitive languages,
              interesting subsets of the above under additional
              syntactic constraints, tree and graph grammars,
              picture grammars, multi-dimensional grammars,
              attributed grammars, etc.
 
 Empirical comparison of different approaches to grammar induction.
 
 
 Demonstrated or potential applications of grammar induction in
              natural language acquisition,
              computational biology,
              structural pattern recognition,
              adaptive intelligent agents,
              systems modelling, 
              and other domains.
 
 
 
 Submission Guidelines 
 
 Full paper submissions are highly recommended although
 extended abstracts will also be considered.
 The manuscript should be no more than 10 pages
 long when formatted for generic 8-1/2 x 11 inch pages using the 
 formatting macros and templates available at:
 http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Templates/macros-link.html
 
 Postscript versions of the manuscripts should be emailed 
 so as to arrive by March 15, 1997 at:  
 honavar@cs.iastate.edu, pdupont@cs.cmu.edu, giles@research.nj.nec.com.
 
 
 Deadlines
 
 
 Deadline for submission of manuscripts: March 15, 1997
 
 Decisions regarding acceptance or rejection emailed to authors: April 1, 1997 
 
 Final versions of the papers due: April 15, 1997
 
 
 Selection Criteria
 
 Selection of submitted papers will be on the basis of review
 by at least two referees. Review criteria include: originality, technical
 soundness, clarity of presentation, relevance of the results and 
 potential appeal to the workshop audience.
 
 
 Workshop Proceedings
 
 Workshop proceedings will be published in electronic form on the world-wide
 web. Authors of a selected subset of accepted workshop papers might also be
 invited to submit revised and expanded versions of their papers for possible
 publication in a special issue of a journal or an edited collection of papers
 to be published after the conference.
 
 
 Workshop Organizers:
 
 
 Dr. Vasant Honavar
 Department of Computer Science
 226 Atanasoff Hall
 Iowa State University
 Ames, IA 50011
 honavar@cs.iastate.edu
 
 
 Dr. Pierre Dupont
 Department of Computer Science
 Carnegie Mellon University
 5000 Forbes Ave
 Pittsburgh, PA 15213
 pdupont@cs.cmu.edu
 
 
 Dr. Lee Giles
 NEC Research Institute
 4 Independence Way
 Princeton, NJ 08540
 giles@research.nj.nec.com
 

------------------------------

End of Neuron Digest [Volume 97 Issue 5]
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