[comp.ai.neural-nets] NEURON Digest V3 #6

NEURON-Request@ti-csl.csc.ti.COM (NEURON-Digest moderator Michael Gately) (02/22/88)

NEURON Digest	Sun Feb 21 18:38:24 CST 1988   Volume 3 / Issue 6
Today's Topics:
 Neural Network Simulator on Atari ST..??
 Boston University Graduate Program
 Help explain the concepts of the future
 Seminar: The One Thousand Node Mieko NN Engine (UTA)
 Short Course: OCCAM at UTA
 Workshop - 1st Joint Tech Wkshp on NNs and Fuzzy Logic (Houston)
 MBL summer course
 NEURAL NETS
 Abstract for the NEURON DIGEST

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Date: 16 Feb 88 22:48:43 GMT
From: Aspen2 - VAXstation II <aspen2.dec.com!boiko@decwrl.dec.com>
Subject: Neural Network Simulator on Atari ST..??
 
 
	Does anyone know if there is a NN simulator on the Atari ST..? I 
believe that this would be a very cost effective way to explore NN on a 
low cost and fairly quick personal system. I know that there are NN simulators
available for the Mac and IBM...but what about the ST..?
 
	Any info would be helpful...
							Thanks
							-mike-
 
	Phone #: (603) 894-2659

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Date: Fri, 12 Feb 88 00:45:10 EST
From: Michael Cohen <mike%bucasb.bu.edu@bu-it.bu.edu>
Subject: Boston University Graduate Program
 
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
M.A. AND PH.D. PROGRAM IN COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS 
 
Boston University will offer an M.A. and Ph.D. program in 
Cognitive and Neural Systems starting in September, 1988, 
pending final approval. This program will present an integrated 
curriculum offering the full range of psychological, neurobiological, 
and computational concepts, models, and methods in the broad field 
variously called neural networks, connectionism, parallel distributed 
processing, and biological information processing, in which Boston 
University is an acknowledged leader. Each student will also be required 
to take an equal number of carefully selected courses in one or more core 
departments, such as psychology, biology, computer science, mathematics, 
or engineering. A limited number of full-time graduate research fellowships 
are expected to be available. For application materials, write 
 
    Prof. Stephen Grossberg, Chairman
    CNS Program
    Center for Adaptive Systems
    Boston University
    111 Cummington Street
    Boston, MA 02215 USA
 
For further information, call (617) 353-7857 and ask for CNS information.

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Subject: Help explain the concepts of the future
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 88 07:38:08 -0500
From: G B Reilly <reilly@louie.udel.edu>
 
    The Franklin Institute Science Museum* will be opening
the Futures Center in 1990.  This is not a copy of EPCOT
Center or a futuristic living room.  It is exhibits to
explain the new concepts in science and technology that will
affect people's lives in the coming years.
 
    One section explains the concepts of robotics, computing,
and artificial intelligence.  We are interested in hearing
what you believe the public needs to know about these areas
and how they will affect their life in the next decade.
 
    Thank you for your cooperation.
 
 
Brendan Reilly
Curator
 
----
* The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest science museums
in the country and has hands-on exhibits explaining science
and technology which are visited by over one million people annually.

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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 88 17:54:36 CST
From: gately@resbld.csc.ti.com (Michael T. Gately)
Subject: Seminar: The One Thousand Node Mieko NN Engine (UTA)
 
 
The Automation & Robotics Research Institute cordially invites you to 
CORPORATE DAY

Date: 26 February, 1988 
Time: 2-5pm.  
Place: The Automation & Robotics Research Institute
       (affiliated with Universit of Texas at Arlington)
       7300 Jack Newell Blvd South
       Fort Worth, Texas
 
The Automation & Robotics Research Institute was established to
coordinage the technological research of the College of Engineering
of The University of Texas at Arlington with the needs of business
and industry. 
 
Corporate Day's featured speaker will be Dr. D. J. Wallace, F.R.S.,
Tait Professor of Mathematical Physics of The University of Edinburgh,
addressing the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, in the 
Institute auditorium at 3:15pm.

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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 88 18:09:40 CST
From: gately@resbld.csc.ti.com (Michael T. Gately)
Subject: Short Course: OCCAM at UTA
 
 
OCCAM SHORT COURSE
 
24 February, 1988 @1:00pm   to   26 February, 1988 @ 12:00noon
 
Location: The Automation and Robotics Research Institute
          7300 jack Newell Blvd South
          Fort Worth, TX  76118
 
Cost:     $350 per person.  
          Subsequent offerings will cost ~$600 per person.
 
For further information:
          Tom Rethard
          Manager of Computer Systems
          The Automation and Robotics Institute
          The University of Texas at Arlington
          (817) 284-6103

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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 88 09:00:35 CST
From: gately@resbld.csc.ti.com (Michael T. Gately)
Subject: Workshop - 1st Joint Tech Wkshp on NNs and Fuzzy Logic (Houston)
 
 
ANNOUNCEMENT
 
1988 First Joint Technology Workshop on Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic
 
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Gilruth Recreation Center
Houston, Texas
2-3 May 1988
 
Co-sponsored by NASA - Johnson Space Center and the
                University of Houston - Clear Lake
 
Nobel laureate Leon Cooper will address the workshop as
keynote speaker discussion Artificial Neural Systems and
their impact on technology development.
 
Topics to be discussed by the foremost experts in their
respective fields include:
 o Learning Algorithms
 o Network Architectures
 o Vision
 o Robotics
 o Neurobiological Connections
 o Speech Recognition and Synthesis
 o Fuzzy Set Theory and Applications
 o Control and Dynamics Processing 
 o Space Applications
 o Fuzzy Logic and Neural Network Computers
 
For further information or registration, please contact:
 Sandy Griffin
 AI Section - FM7
 NASA - Johnson Space Center
 Houston, TX  77058
 (713) 483-8071

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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 88 09:04:36 CST
Subject: MBL summer course
 
                              Announcement
 
                            summer course in:
 
 
                  Methods in Computational Neuroscience
 
                                   at
 
                     The Marine Biological Laboratory
 
                         Woods Hole, Massachusetts
 
 
                          August 14 - September 3
 
 
 
Description:
 
     This three week course will survey basic computer modeling techniques
used to study the nervous system at both single cell and neural network
levels.  Emphasis will be placed on using these models to explore the
information processing capabilities of neural circuits.  The principle aim
of the course is to provide participants with the tools to simulate the
functional properties of neural systems of interest to them and to
understand the general advantages and pitfalls of this approach to
understanding the nervous system.
 
     The first section of the course will focus on simulating the electrical
properties of single neurons (compartmental models, active currents,
interactions between synapses, calcium buffering and diffusion).  The
second part of the course will consider the numerical and graphical
techniques necessary for modeling simple and complex networks of
neurons.  Examples of such simulations will be drawn from the
invertebrate and vertebrate literature (visual system of the fly,
swimming in Tritonia, learning in Hermissenda, mammalian olfactory and
visual cortices).  In the final section of the course, connectionist
networks potentially relevant to perception and learning in real neural
networks will be discussed and analyzed. Throughout the course, the actual
machinery involved in modeling neural networks, including parallel
computers like the Hypercube and Connection Machine will also be
discussed.
 
     Between more formal lectures on these subjects, students will
implement and test their own simulations in the computer laboratory. 
State-of-the-art single-user color work stations (6 Sun3-260s) will be
provided for this purpose.  These computers will run the general-purpose
neural network simulating software that has been developed at Caltech,
reducing the need for fundamental code writing.
 
Students:
 
     The course is designed for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral
fellows in biology, computer science, electrical engineering, physics, or
psychology with an interest in computational neuroscience.  Because of the
heavy computer orientation of the Lab section of the course, a good
computer background is highly desirable (preferably UNIX, C or PASCAL). 
In addition, students are expected to have a basic background in
neurobiology. Course enrollment is limited to 12 students. 
 
Course Directors:
 
     James M. Bower and Christof Koch, Divisions of Biology and Engineering
and Applied Science, Caltech.
 
Course Faculty:
 
     Paul Adams (Stony Brook), Peter Getting (Iowa), John Hopfield (Caltech)
Rudolfo Llinas (NYU), Richard Andersen (MIT), Idan Segev (Jerusalem),
Terry Sejnowski (Johns Hopkins), David Van Essen (Caltech).
 
Application:
 
    Requests for applications should be sent to:
 
                  Office of Instruction
                  Marine Biological Laboratory
                  Woods Hole, Massachusetts   02543
 
 
     Application Deadline: June 1, 1988
 
     Board and Tuition: $1000  (Some fellowships are available)

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Date: Wed 17 Feb 88 15:31:53-PDT
From: HOSEIN@pluto.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: NEURAL NETS
 
 
		Marc P. Hosein
		Intelligent Systems Technology Branch
		NASA Ames Research Center
		Mail Stop 244-4
		Moffett Field, CA.  94035
		(415) 694-6526
 
	TO: Neural Network and Connectionist Researchers
 
    I am a research scientist in the Intelligent Systems Technology
Branch of the Information Sciences division of NASA Ames Research
Center.  I am currently working on the Spaceborne VHSIC Multiprocessor
System (SVMS) project under Dr. Henry Lum.  In organizing a poster session
on Neural Networks for the 1988 SOAR conference, I am gathering
information on the current state of the field, as well as various technical
and non-technical papers for distribution at the conference.
 
    The SOAR (Space Operations Automation and Robotics) workshop in
automation and robotics is sponsored by NASA in conjunction with the
USAF.  The main objectives of the workshop are:
 
	1) To establish communications between individuals and
	   organizations involved in similar research and technology
 
	2) To bring together project/program managers in open exchange
	   through presentation of technical papers and panel discussions
 
	3) To document in the proceedings a snapshot of
	   USAF/NASA efforts in automation and robotics
 
If you have papers or information to be included in a summary of the neural
networks field, please mail them to me at the above address or on the
arpanet.  Even more importantly, I am looking for papers on research done
or currently being done to incorporate as supplemental information and
distribution material at the conference and beyond.  Please feel free to
call me at (415) 694-6526 or send mail on the arpanet to
HOSEIN@AMES-PLUTO.ARPA if you have specific questions about the poster
session or the conference.
 
 
						Thank you,  Marc P. Hosein

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Date: Mon, 15 Feb 88 14:10:20 EST
From: jahir@athena.mit.edu
Subject: Abstract for the NEURON DIGEST
 

	"A Methodology to Select Appropriate Learning Rate Parameters
			In Feed-Forward Networks"
 
			      Jahir Pabon
		      Graduate Research Assistant
 
			     David Gossard
			  Associate Professor
		  Mechanical Engineering Department
		Massachusetts Institute of Technology
			  Cambridge, MA 02139
 
Abstract
	The generalized delta rule was proposed by Rumelhart to modify the
	weights of the connections between units in adaptive feed-forward
	networks. This article presents a method to select appropriate
	values for the learning rate parameter used in the generalized delta
	rule. The validity of the method was evaluated through computer 
	simulations of an adaptive network to control the orientation of an 
	artificial eye. Several encoding parameters and output activation 
	functions were tried. The optimal learning parameter value in each 
	case was in good agreement with the value predicted by our method. 
	Another important observation from the computer simulations was that
	a simple linear output activation function performed better than 
	nonlinear ones.
 
-----
Request for copies of this paper should include name and land address.
Please send requests to JAHIR@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
 

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End of NEURON-Digest
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