IUBio

Urgent: Jan 20 Deadline for SCHOOL ON NEURAL INFORMATION PROCESSING

Jonathan Baxter jon at syseng.anu.edu.au
Mon Jan 18 17:47:48 EST 1999


                SCHOOL ON NEURAL INFORMATION PROCESSING


                              ( 3 - 28 May 1999 )




        A School on Neural Information Processing will be held at the
Abdus
Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, from 3 to
28
May 1999.  This Bulletin contains the preliminary programme of the
course,
request for participation form and miscellaneous information.


        DIRECTORS:

    J.A. Hertz (NORDITA, Copenhagen)
    S.A. Solla (Northwestern University, Evanston)
    R. Zecchina (The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste)





I.      PURPOSE AND NATURE


        The goal of the school will be to present a systematic
description
of the theoretical approaches that provide tools to investigate the
processing, transmission, and storage of information in the brain.
Techniques based on the principles of statistical physics and
information
theory will be presented and applied to the analysis of a variety of
problems in computational neuroscience, especially neural encoding and
sensory processing.  The lectures will be concentrated on biological
neural
networks, but will also cover some important developments in artificial
networks and optimization theory.
        The lectures presented during the school intend to offer a broad

and comprehensive training in order to provide a complete perspective of

the field.  In addition to the scheduled lectures (an average of 4
lectures
per day, 5 days per week) there will be formal and informal seminars on
a
variety of research topics by lecturers, participants and visiting
experts.
Computer experimentations will also be organized.




II.     PRELIMINARY LIST OF LECTURERS AND TOPICS

W. Bialek(NEC Research Institute, Princeton)Neural coding
M. Biehl (University of Wuerzburg)      The dynamics of learning
P. Dayan (University College, London)   Generative models
A. Engel (University of Magdeburg)      Statistical physics theory of
learning
D. Hansel (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)  Circuitry of the visual cortex
J. Hertz (Nordita, Copenhagen ) Neural computation and encoding
Li Zhaoping (University College, London)        Sensory processing
R. Monasson (Ecole Normale Superieure), Paris)  Optimization problems
J. Rinzel (New York University, New York)  Modelling of cell/network
dynamics
T. Sejnowski (The Salk Institute, San Diego)    Neural computation and
encoding
S. Solla(Northwestern University, Chicago)Neural networks for Bayesian
inference
M. Tsodyks (The Weizmann Institute, Rehovot)    Synaptic dynamics
L. van Hemmen (Technical  University, Munich)   Modelling neural
circuitry
R. Zecchina (ICTP, Trieste)                     Optimization problems



III.    PARTICIPATION

        Scientists and students from all countries that are members of
the
United Nations, UNESCO or IAEA can attend the School.  The main purpose
of
the Centre is to help research workers from developing countries through
a
programme of training activities within a framework of international
cooperation.  However, students and post-doctoral scientists from
developed
countries are most welcome to attend.  As the School will be conducted
in
English, participants should have an adequate working knowledge of that
language.
        Participants should preferably have completed several years of
study and research after a first degree.  Applications from graduate
students about to finish their PhD, fresh post-docs and young, active
faculty members are encouraged.
        As a rule, travel and subsistence expenses of the participants
are
borne by the home institutions.  However, some funds are available which

permit the Centre to grant a subsistence allowance to a limited number
of
people from developing countries who will be selected by the Organizers.

As scarcity of funds allows travel to be granted only in few exceptional

cases, every effort should be made by candidates to secure support for
their fares (or at least partial fare) by their home country.  Such
financial support is available only to those attending the entire
School.
Scientists from developed countries are welcome to join on their own
funds.
There is no registration fee for attending the School.

Deadline for the RECEIPT of request for participation form:     20
January 1999

        Candidates should complete and sign the attached  "Request for
Participation" form (also obtainable via e-mail:
smr1157 at ictp.trieste.it,
using as subject "get bulletin", or via WWW Server:
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/), and send it to:

International Centre for Theoretical Physics
School on Neural Information Processing
P.O. Box 586  (Strada Costiera 11: for courier delivery)
I-34100 Trieste, Italy

        Please note that no LATEX/TEX files are permitted.  Any
attachments
to the request for participation, relevant to extra information for
selection purposes, should not exceed 6 pages.

        The decision of the Organizing Committee will be communicated to

all candidates as soon as possible.




        UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
                                and
                        INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS (ICTP)

P.O. Box  586                   Telephone:   +39  040  2240111
I-34100 Trieste                 Telex:           +39 460392 ICTP I
Italy                           Telefax:         +39  040  224163

                        REQUEST     FOR     PARTICIPATION *)


                        School on Neural Information Processing

                                ( 3 - 28 May 1999 )
____________________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS

Each question must be answered clearly and              A recent photo
of the
completely. Type or print in ink. If more               candidate should
be
space is required, attach additional pages.             attached here,
signed                                                The request for
participation form should               legibly on the reverse.
be forwarded to the ICTP, School on Neural
Information Processing, P.O. Box 586, I-34100 Trieste, Italy,
to arrive before  20th January 1999
________________________________________________________________________________

                                PERSONAL DATA
               PLEASE NOTE THAT UNLESS ALL REQUESTED PERSONAL DATA ARE
PROVIDED,
                        THE ICTP CANNOT PROCESS ANY VISA REQUESTS
________________________________________________________________________________

        For women (if applicable)
SURNAME:             MAIDEN NAME:       First name:     Middle
name(s):   Sex:



Please also indicate SURNAME, NAME, on passport if different from above:

________________________________________________________________________________

Place of birth  (City and Country):   Present nationality:         Date
of
birth
                                                             Year -
Month - Day:

________________________________________________________________________________

Full name & address of permanent Institution:   Tel. No.        :
                Cable   :
                Telex   :
                Telefax :
                E-mail  :


________________________________________________________________________________

Full name & address of present Institution (if different from permanent)

Tel. No.        :
                        Cable   :
                        Telex   :
                        Telefax :
                        E-mail  :


until:
________________________________________________________________________________

Home address:           Tel. No.        :




________________________________________________________________________________

Mailing address -  please indicate whether:
Permanent Institute  __      Present Institute  __   Home address   __
________________________________________________________________________________

Name and address of person to notify  in case of emergency  -
Relationship:



________________________________________________________________________________

*)   PLEASE NOTE   that no request will be processed  unless the
permanent
address   (and  present
            address,  if different)   is clearly indicated.



EDUCATION     (higher degrees)
University or equivalent        Years attended                  Degrees
Name and place          From             to








________________________________________________________________________________

Seminars, summer schools, conferences or research

Name and place                                  Year







________________________________________________________________________________

SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT AND ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY

Research Institution or University   Period of duty             Academic

Name and place                       From           to
responsibilities







Present employment and duties, and foreseen employment upon return to
home
country after the activity:





________________________________________________________________________________

Have you participated in past ICTP activities:             Yes     ____
No
If yes, which?





Mention briefly your previous research experience, and explain your
reasons for wishing to participate in this activity:





NB: Our Scientific Information System keeps track of all applications
made
by the candidate to earlier ICTP activities.  As a consequence, when the

subject of the present activity is far from his/her previous
applications,
an explanation (not more than 200 words) of his/her change of interest
should be included.
________________________________________________________________________________

Kindly supply (strictly within indicated lengths) a keyword description
of
your current scientific activities as follows:


1) Area of research (e.g.  statistical physics, information theory):

         _______________________
         (no more than 15 characters)



2) Specific topic of interest (e.g.  learning theory, neural coding):



         ________________________________________________
              (no more than 30 characters)




                                        - 2

Present field of interest   (please indicate on the list below - up to 5

fields - underlining primary  field)



10.  PHYSICS OF CONDENSED MATTER        60.  PHYSICS TEACHING

        11.     Solid State Physics             61.     English
        12.     Atomic and Molecular Physics    62.     French
        13.     Materials Science               63.     Spanish
        14.     Surfaces and Interfaces         64.     Arab
        15.     Statistical Physics
        16.     Computational Physics in Condensed
                Matter                          80.   MISCELLANEOUS

20.  PHYSICS OF HIGH AND
       INTERMEDIATE ENERGIES                    81.       Others
                                                82.       Digital
Communications
                                                         and Computer
Networking
        21.     High Energy and Particle Physics
        22.     Relativity, Cosmology and Astrophysics
        23      Plasma Physics                  90.  PHYSICS OF THE
LIVING STATE
        24.     Nuclear Physics
                                                91.     Neurophysics
                                                92.     Biophysics
30.  MATHEMATICS                                93.     Medical Physics

        31.     Applicable Mathematics including:
        -       Mathematical Ecology,
        -       Systems Analysis,
        -       Mathematical Economy
        -       Mathematics in Industry AO.  APPLIED PHYSICS
        33.     Algebra
        34.     Geometry                A1.     Physics in Industry
        35.     Topology                A2.     Microelectronics
        36.     Differential Equations  A3.     Fibre Optics for
Communications
        37.     Analysis                A4.     Instrumentation
        38.     Mathematical Physics    A5.     Synchrotron Radiation
                                        A6.     Non-destructive
Evaluation
                                        A7.     Lasers
40.  PHYSICS AND ENERGY                 AA.     Applied
Superconductivity

        41.     Physics of Nuclear Reactors
        42.     Physics of Controlled Fusion
        43.     Non-Conventional Energy  (Solar, Wind and others)



50.  PHYSICS AND ENVIRONMENT            B1.     SPACE PHYSICS

        51.     Solid Earth Geophysics
        52.     Soil Physics
        53.     Climatology and Meteorology
        54.     Physics of the Oceans
        55.     Physics of Desertification
        56.     Physics of the Atmosphere, Troposphere
                Magnetosphere, Aeronomy
        57.     Environmental Monitoring and Remote
                Sensing
________________________________________________________________________________

List your scientific publications including books and articles (authors,

title, Journal) in the period 1992-1999
















                                - 3 -


Please respond to the following questions regarding your expertise with
computers.



1)  Which is the operating system you use most often?

_____ DOS - Windows            _____ Unix                _____ VMS


_____ MacOS

_____ Other (specify)




2)  How experienced are you with the Unix environment?

  _____  Very experienced        _____  Experienced

  _____  Somewhat familiar       _____   Never used




3)  Which programming languages are you familiar with?

              Very good            Good            Average
Poor
Fortran 77     _____               _____         _____
_____
Fortran 90     _____               _____         _____
_____
C              _____               _____         _____
_____
C++            _____               _____         _____
_____
Pascal         _____               _____         _____
_____
Other (specify _____               _____         _____
_____




4)  Have you written programmes for your research?      ____ Yes
_____ No

     If yes, briefly describe for what type of research applications:













Approximately how many lines had the longest programme (or piece of
programme) you ever wrote?_________




5)  Do you use computer programmes written by others (including
commercial
ones) for your research?

                                        _____ Yes       _____ No

     If yes, briefly describe for what type of research applications:














                                        - 4 -

Kindly state any positions you hold in the scientific administration of
your Institution or any of the national scientific Institutions.










If appropriate, especially for junior physicists, it would be of
assistance
to the Selection Committee if this request for participation were
accompanied by a letter of recommendation.
________________________________________________________________________________

Indicate below your proficiency in the English language

Reading:   Good    ___   Writing:     Good    ___     Speaking:
Good    ___
           Average ___                Average ___
Average ___
           Poor    ___                Poor    ___
Poor    ___
________________________________________________________________________________

APPLICABLE ONLY FOR CANDIDATES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES  (Important:
Please note that very few travel  grants  are  available,  and
preference
in  selecting participants  will  be  given  to  eligible  candidates
who
can guarantee travel coverage by own local sources).

                Please tick as appropriate:

    -   I can definitely find complete travel funds from local sources
____

or
    -   I  can  definitely  find  half  my  travel funds from local
sources ____

I am requesting financial support from the ICTP for:
-  Half travel        ____          -  Full travel       ____

-  Living allowance   ____




I am NOT requesting financial support from the ICTP     ___


                        I certify that if granted funds for my travel
                        I will attend the whole activity



...................................................
                        Signature

____________________________________________________________________________

________________________________

I certify that the statements made by me above are true and complete.
If
accepted, I undertake to refrain from engaging in any political or other

activities which would reflect unfavourably on the international status
of
the Centre.  I understand that any breach of this undertaking may result
in
the termination of the arrangements relating to my visit at the Centre.







_________________________________________
______________________

Signature of candidate                                  Date







                                        - 5 -







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