SPECIAL SESSIONS
Submission of papers to special sessions:
Papers submitted to
Special Sessions must follow the same guidelines as the general conference
papers. See the Paper Submission page for detailed requirements and
instructions.
Important Dates:
March 23, 2007: Paper submission deadline (for all
papers).
List of Special Sessions, Organizers and Main Topics
1. Complex-Valued Neural Networks
Igor Aizenberg, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, USA,
igor.aizenberg(a.t)tamut.edu
Akira Hirose, University of Tokyo, Japan,
ahirose(a.t)ee.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Jacek M. Zurada, University of Louisville,
USA, jacek.zurada(a.t)louisville.edu
Papers that are related to all aspects of the CVNNs are invited. We seek
contributions of theoretical but also of applied nature. We also welcome
potential contributions form other areas that are on the boarders of the
proposed scope.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
Theoretical Aspects of CVNNs and Complex-Valued Activation
Functions
Complex-Valued Associative Memories
Dynamics of
Complex-Valued Neurons
Learning Algorithms for CVNNs
Feedforward
CVNNs
Spatiotemporal CVNNs Processing
Frequency Domain CVNNs
Processing
Phase-Sensitive Signal Processing
Chaos in Complex
Domain
Pattern Recognition, Classification and Time Series Prediction using
CVCNNs
Applications of CVNNs in Image Processing, Speech Processing,
Robotics and Bioinformatics
Quantum Computation and Quantum Neural
Networks
Quaternion and Clifford Networks
2. Emotion and Attention: Empirical Findings and Neural Models
Nienke Korsten, Kings College London, UK,
nienke.korsten(a.t)kcl.ac.uk
John Taylor, Kings College London, UK,
john.g.taylor(a.t)kcl.ac.uk
Papers related to the following topics are welcomed:
Emotional functionality through neuromodulatory mechanisms
Neural substructures underlying appraisal processes
Attentional aspects of
appraisal
Empirical findings related to the mechanisms underlying human
emotions / attention
Neurally plausible models related to particular
emotions (e.g. anger, fear)
The interplay between attention and
emotion
Computational models of emotional influences on attentional
processes
of attentional influences on emotional processes
How to
bridge the gap between appraisal and emotions
The involvement of
emotions in decision making
The learning of values of objects by
dopamine-based processes
The learning of values of affordances in terms of
rewarded actions or rewarded objects
The interaction between emotion and
language
3. Meta-Learning
Norbert Jankowski, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland,
norbert(a.t)is.umk.pl
Wlodzislaw Duch, Nicolaus Copernicus University,
Poland, wduch(a.t)is.umk.pl
Krzysztof Grabczewski, Nicolaus Copernicus
University, Poland, kgrabcze(a.t)is.umk.pl
Papers related to the following topics are welcomed:
Criteria and methods for automated search for best data
models.
Extraction of knowledge guiding the meta-learning process,
collection and re-use of information for learning.
Strategies for search
in parameter space in which data models are specified.
Methods of
discovering nontrivial solutions in reasonable time.
Control and selection
of optimal model complexity depending on various criteria.
Meta-learning
architectures: What is necessary to facilitate meta-search from the information
exchange point of view? Methods and data structures of abstract information
exchange in meta-learning. How to build, exploit and rearrange meta-knowledge?
Intermediate testing to estimate models quality and to direct further
learning.
All meta-learning computational intelligence approaches are
welcome, meta-learning is not limited to neural network models, although modular
neural models are of great interest.
This session is NOT devoted to applications of already known algorithms or development of single algorithms.
4. Understanding and Creating Cognitive Systems
John Taylor, Kings College London, UK, john.g.taylor(a.t)kcl.ac.uk
The session will accept papers attempting to model human cognitive powers as
well as those designing and testing cognitive systems based more loosely on such
powers but attacking hard information processing tasks in novel cognitive
manners. More general papers will also be called for which consider cognition as
composed of a broad raft of faculties: thinking, reasoning, imagining, planning,
creating new concepts, perceiving and deciding on responses. At the highest
level there is also the subtle phenomenon of consciousness, which cannot be left
out of any definition of cognition (and which enters critically in various
dictionary definitions of cognition). Thus implications of the development of
specific cognitive systems for understanding consciousness will be
welcomed.
Some of the basic questions needing to be studied in the papers
presented at the session are:
What is the nature of machine cognition or intelligence, as
beyond pattern matching, classification and prediction?
Is language
essential to such machine intelligence and if so how is it to be
implemented?
How can we otherwise bridge the sub-symbolic - symbolic
barrier? in this process
Is embodiment crucial to such machine
intelligence, and how complex should that be if it is regarded as crucial?
What are the most appropriate industrial applications of such machine
intelligence if and when it is attained?
What are natural software
architectures for creating such machine intelligence?
What role should and
would emotions play in such machine intelligence?
What are the ethical
problems involved in creating such machine intelligence?
Is consciousness
essential to the implementation of such machine intelligence?
5. Temporal synchronization and nonlinear dynamics in neural networks
Alessandro Villa, University of Grenoble, France, avilla(a.t)neuroheuristic.org
The session is aimed towards the understanding of nonlinear dynamics in
neural circuits by theoretical, computational and experimental means. This
concerns nonlinearities at synaptic, cellular and network levels. In particular,
the session would like to emphasize the role of synchronization as carrier of
information with respect to global activity patterns in the brain.
Papers
related to the following topics are welcomed:
Bifurcations in neural dynamics
Computational
neuroscience
Temporal analysis of the spike train
Detection of
deterministic chaos in brain
Topology of neural networks
Synchronization of neural activity
Oscillatory activity in cell
assemblies
Coupling of neural networks activity
Spike timining
dependent plasticity
Spreading of activity waves in the central nervous
system
Synfire chains
Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto