NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/comp/ai/neuraln/4575

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Subject: Neuron Digest V10 #23 (discussion + software + jobs)
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Neuron Digest   Monday, 14 Dec 1992
                Volume 10 : Issue 23

Today's Topics:
                    Beginning books on connectionism
       Dick and Jane in the land of fuzzy logic, ann's and chaos.
                              nn and vision
              Very Fast Simulated Reannealing version 6.20
                        VFSR v6.30 now in Statlib
       Re: Very Fast Simulated Reannealing (VFSR) via Ftp or Email
                      JOB OPENING AT UMASS(AMHERST)
                         Post-Doctoral Openings
                    Jobs in Chapel Hill & Durham, NC
                            Position Opening
Pre and Post-doc positions in Neural Processes in Cognition in Pittsburg
        PhD and Masters Programs at the Oregon Graduate Institute


Send submissions, questions, address maintenance, and requests for old
issues to "[e-mail]". The ftp archives are
available from cattell.psych.upenn.edu (130.91.68.31). Back issues
requested by mail will eventually be sent, but may take a while.

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

Subject: Beginning books on connectionism
From:    [e-mail] (William Bechtel)
Date:    Thu, 03 Dec 92 10:41:30 -0500

One more suggestion for your list of beginning books on connectionism.
        Bechtel, W. & Abrahamsen, A. (1991).  Connectionism and the Mind:
        An Introduction to Parallel Processing in Networks.  Oxford:
        Basil Blackwell.

Adele and I wrote this book with beginners, especially philosophers, in
mind.  We step through some of the very basic processes in connectionist
nets, and then discuss a broad range of conceptual/philosophical issues
(pattern recognition versus logical reasoning, intentionality, etc.), the
objections of Fodor and Pylyshyn and Pinker and Prince, and finally
conclude with a discussion of the relation of connectionist modeling to
the various cognitive science disciplines.  Hope this may be of use to
some people.  Cheers, Bill


William Bechtel
Department of Philosophy
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA  30303-3083
[phone]
Fax:  [phone]



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

Subject: Dick and Jane in the land of fuzzy logic, ann's and chaos.
From:    William Fulkerson <[e-mail]>
Date:    Sat, 05 Dec 92 14:11:46 -0600

          I would appreciate references on "Dick and Jane" stories
          that can be used to communicate an elementary understanding
          of topics such as Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks, and
          Nonlinear Dynamical Systems.  These stories
          should appeal to a class of people who are "quantitative
          disadvantaged" or even innumerant!  A cartoon approach would
          be quite acceptable!!!!

.............................
[e-mail]

- ---- mail ----
William F. (Bill) Fulkerson
Deere & Company Technical Center
3300 River Drive
Moline IL 61265-1792
USA

- ---- phone ----
[phone] voice
[phone] secretary
[phone] fax

- ---- e-mail  ----
[e-mail] Internet
[e-mail] MCI-mail



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

Subject: nn and vision
From:    [e-mail]
Date:    Mon, 07 Dec 92 23:37:49 -0500


        Does anyone have a suggested list of readings on applications of
        neural networks in vision?  Specifically, I am working on an
        algorithm to detect and classify bacteria given greyscale images
        from a microscope.

        Thank you,

        Richard Herrell

        Interesting Fact:

        When IBM's shares droped from aproximately $180 a share to its
        current levels of about $80-$60 a share, the loss of capital
        was greater than the combined values of Coke and Pepsi.


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

Subject: Very Fast Simulated Reannealing version 6.20
From:    Lester Ingber <[e-mail]>
Date:    Mon, 30 Nov 92 07:17:21 -0800

           VERY FAST SIMULATED REANNEALING (VFSR) (C)

             Lester Ingber [e-mail]
                               and
              Bruce Rosen [e-mail]

The good news is that the people who have gotten our beta version of
VFSR to work on their applications are very pleased.  The bad news is
that because of some blunders made in the process of making the code
user-friendly, the code has to be modified to use as a standalone
function call.  This bug is corrected and some other fixes/changes
are made in version v6.20.

This version is now updated in [e-mail].  It will
eventually find its way into the other NETLIB archives.

To access the new version:

Interactive
     local% ftp research.att.com
     Name (research.att.com:your_login_name): netlib
     Password: [type in your_login_name or anything]
     ftp> cd opt
     ftp> binary
     ftp> get vfsr.Z
     ftp> quit
     local% uncompress vfsr.Z
     local% sh vfsr

Electronic Mail Request
     local% mail [e-mail]
     [mail [e-mail]]
     [mail [e-mail]]
     [mail [e-mail]]
     [mail [e-mail]]
     send vfsr from opt
     ^D [or however you send mail]

Lester


  ||  Prof. Lester Ingber               [e-mail]  ||
  ||  P.O. Box 857                                                 ||
  ||  McLean, VA 22101       703-848-1859 = [10ATT]0-700-L-INGBER  ||


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

Subject: VFSR v6.30 now in Statlib
From:    Lester Ingber <[e-mail]>
Date:    Mon, 07 Dec 92 14:24:48 -0800

Very Fast Simulated Reannealing (VFSR)

vfsr v6.30 is now in Statlib (login as statlib to lib.stat.cmu.edu,
file vfsr is in directory general).  If you already have vfsr v6.25
from Netlib (login as netlib to research.att.com, file vfsr.Z is in
directory opt), this can be updated using a patch I'd be glad to send
on request.

v6.30 fixes a bug encountered for negative cost functions, and adds
some printout to make your bug reports and comments easier to decifer.

Lester

  ||  Prof. Lester Ingber               [e-mail]  ||
  ||  P.O. Box 857                                                 ||
  ||  McLean, VA 22101       703-848-1859 = [10ATT]0-700-L-INGBER  ||


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

Subject: Re: Very Fast Simulated Reannealing (VFSR) via Ftp or Email
From:    Lester Ingber <[e-mail]>
Date:    Wed, 09 Dec 92 02:25:31 -0800

        Very Fast Simulated Reannealing (VFSR) via Ftp or Email

My previous announcement did not specify the use of ftp, and
many people unfamiliar with the use of NETLIB and STATLIB were
understandably confused.  This announcement is to remedy that problem.

                STATLIB: vfsr v6.30
Interactive:
        ftp lib.stat.cmu.edu
        [login as statlib, your_login_name as password]
        cd general
        get vfsr
Email:
        mail [e-mail]
        send vfsr from general

                NETLIB: vfsr v6.25
Interactive:
        ftp research.att.com
        [login as netlib, your_login_name as password]
        cd opt
        binary
        get vfsr.Z
Email:
        mail [e-mail]
        send vfsr from opt

                PATCH: vfsr-diff-6.25-6.30.Z.uu
If you already have vfsr v6.25 from NETLIB, this can be updated using
a patch I'd be glad to send on request.
        strip out text between CUT HERE lines, save to savefile
        uudecode savefile
        uncompress vfsr-diff-6.25-6.30.Z
        mv vfsr-diff-6.25-6.30 VFSR ; cd VFSR
        patch -p1 < vfsr-diff-6.25-6.30

v6.30 fixes a bug encountered for negative cost functions, and adds
some printout to make your bug reports and comments easier to decifer.

Lester

  ||  Prof. Lester Ingber               [e-mail]  ||
  ||  P.O. Box 857                                                 ||
  ||  McLean, VA 22101       703-848-1859 = [10ATT]0-700-L-INGBER  ||


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

Subject: JOB OPENING AT UMASS(AMHERST)
From:    DAVID A ROSENBAUM <[e-mail]>
Date:    Tue, 01 Dec 92 16:11:20 -0500

Subject: Job Opening at UMass (Amherst)
From: David Rosenbaum
      Tobin Hall
      Department of Psychology
          University of Massachusetts
          Amherst, MA 01003 (USA)

I seek your assistance in finding someone for a position at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  I have been awarded a Research
Scientist Development Award (RSDA) from the National Institute of Mental
Health.  The award allows me to devote full time to research for 5 years
(beginning September 30, 1992).  It also provides funds to hire someone
to cover the courses I normally teach.  The person occupying the
replacement position is expected to engage in research that complements
my own.  My colleagues and I are therefore looking for someone to teach
in the area of cognitive/experimental psychology (3 courses per year,
typically one graduate and two undergraduate) and to do research related
to my interests.

Currently, I am working on a computational model of movement selection
(primarily for reaching and related behaviors).  My students and I are
testing predictions of the model with normal adult human subjects, using
an Optotrak recording system housed in our Department.  Ideally, we would
like to find someone with a strong background in cognitive or
experimental psychology who is well versed in computational approaches to
cognition and performance, especially, but not exclusively, in the domain
of motor control.  If you know of such a person and think he or she might
be interested in this opportunity, would you please bring it to his or
her attention?  A copy of the ad, which will be appearing soon in the APA
Monitor and APS Observer, is attached.

Our Psychology Department is an exciting place for someone with interests
in the cognitive substrates of motor control.  My colleague, Professor
Rachel Clifton, also holds an RSDA; one of her areas of study is infant
motor development.  We have close ties to biomechanists in the Exercise
Science Department, roboticists and connectionist modellers in the
Computer Science Department, and neuroscientists in our own department
and in Biology.  The UMass Psychology Department has a strong faculty in
cognitive and neuroscience generally.  There are frequent
interdisciplinary meetings involving the many people in the greater
Amherst area who are concerned with basic and applied issues related to
the control of action, and there are many other meetings as well
pertaining to other areas of cognitive science.

A word about the timing of the appointment is in order.  Funds are
available to hire someone immediately, although only on a temporary
basis; that is, the replacement position cannot be filled permanently
until September, following a full affirmative-action search.  Anyone
hired on a temporary basis will be expected to teach at least 1 and
possibly 2 courses in the Spring semester (which begins in late January).
Whether the person teaches 1 course or 2 depends on his or her abilities
and desires, as well as departmental needs.  The temporary appointment
can begin earlier than January, as far as I know.  In the best of all
worlds, the person hired temporarily will then stay on for the full 4
years, but this is not guaranteed.

I look forward to hearing from you or someone you might tell about this
position.  Please feel free to contact me at the above address or at any
of the numbers below for further information.  It is advisable to respond
quickly to this call.

Thank you for your kind attention.

David A. Rosenbaum
Professor of Psychology
413-545-4714
[e-mail]


Here is the ad that will appear soon in the APA Monitor
and the APS Observer:

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: The Department of Psychology at
the University of Massachusetts/Amherst anticipates an
opening for a non-tenure track position at the Assistant or
Associate Professor level, starting September 1993 and renewable
through August 1997.  Preference will be given for individuals
with primary interests in the cognitive substrates of human
motor control, perceptual-motor integration, or human
performance, although candidates focusing on other topics will
be considered.  Send vita, statement of interest, representative
papers, and at least three letters of recommendation to: Dr.
David A. Rosenbaum, Search Committee, Department of
Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.
Review of applications will begin January 18 and continue until
the position is filled.  The University of Massachusetts is an
Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution.



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

Subject: Post-Doctoral Openings
From:    "James L. McClelland" <[e-mail]>
Date:    Wed, 02 Dec 92 10:18:02 -0500


I have an opening in my laboratory for at least one post-doctoral fellow
and possibly two.  These would be two-year post-doctoral fellowships,
with the possibility of extension if the applicant can raise additional
funding for additional years.  The default start date is September 1
1993, but other dates may be possible.

I'm looking for individuals with strengths in the mathematical analysis
of neural networks who wish to apply these strengths to the development
of a computational framework for modeling human cognition.  Prior work
demonstrating these strengths and interests will be given considerable
weight.

Two specific areas of interest in my laboratory are:

1. Dynamics of information processing.  The goal here has been to develop
mathematical analyses of stochastic, symmetric, diffusion networks and apply
these in an effort to understand the time-course of human information
processing as this is exhibited in information processing tasks studied
extensively in the human cognitive psychology literature.  We are also
interested in further studies of learning in stochastic networks, building on
recent work in my laboratory (with Javier Movellan, a departing postdoc) and
elsewhere.

2. Learning and memory.  One goal here is to understand from a
computational point of view why humans have two memory systems.
Neuropsychological evidence suggests that one may loose the ability to
acquire new memories for specific facts and experiences, while at the
same time showing completely normal acquisition of various cognitive,
perceptuo-motor, and language processing skills.  The questions in this
area are, Why should there be two different kinds of learning in the
human brain, What are the essential properties of each, and how do they
work together.

Basically, I am looking for individuals who are interested in working on
some aspect of either of these broad problems.  My style in working with
post-docs is to find a specific problem of mutual interest and develop a
collaboration around that.

Please do not reply by email.

If you are interested please send me a letter along with a CV, your
publications or preprints, and the names, addresses and phone numbers of
two individuals who can comment on your work.  Send your materials by
December 20 to:

James L. McClelland
Department of Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Upon receipt of these materials I will reciprocate with recent papers from my
laboratory as a way of beginning a discussion of whether we can find a fit
between our interests.



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

Subject: Jobs in Chapel Hill & Durham, NC
From:    Jonathan A. Marshall <[e-mail]>
Date:    Wed, 02 Dec 92 16:42:52 -0500

The following two jobs are both open to strong vision researchers.  An
opportunity also exists for the new vision faculty member(s) to
participate in (and receive support from) a collaborative research effort
on models of human vision, under the MIP (Medical Image Presentation)
program project grant at UNC-Chapel Hill; contact Prof. Stephen Pizer,
[e-mail], for further information.  Researchers with interests in
computational and neurobiological models of cognition and of vision would
find several collaborative opportunities here in the Research Triangle
area of North Carolina.



1.  The Psychology Department of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill seeks to hire a cognitive psychologist in a tenure track
assistant professor position for the fall of 1993.  Responsibilities
include graduate and undergraduate teaching, research, and research
supervision.  Applicants in any area of cognitive psychology will be
considered.  Have 3 letters of recommendation sent and submit a
curriculum vitae, up to 3 (p)reprints, and a statement of teaching and
programmatic research interests to: Thomas S.  Wallsten, Cognitive Search
Committee, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270.  Applications must be received
by December 15, 1992.  UNC-CH is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity
Employer.  Questions can be directed to Tom Wallsten at
[e-mail].


2.  The Department of Experimental Psychology at Duke University has a
tenure-track assistant professor position beginning in the Fall, 1993 in the
general area of Behavioral Neuroscience with theoretical interests in neural
plasticity, learning, motivation, or sensory perception development.
Candidates with strong research and teaching interests should send a vitae,
representative reprints, and three or more letters of recommendation to:
Faculty Search Committee, Department of Experimental Psychology, Duke
University, Durham, NC, 27706.  Duke is an equal opportunity/affirmative
action employer.



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

Subject: Position Opening
From:    [e-mail]
Date:    09 Dec 92 09:03:40 -0500

The following ad describes a position opening at Dartmouth College in the
Neurosciences or Cognitive Neurosciences.  Please submit
applications/nominations to the address given.

****************************

David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professorship in Cognitive Science or
Cognitive Neuroscience

Dartmouth College seeks a distinguished individual in cognitive science or
cognitive neuroscience to be the first holder of the David T. McLaughlin
Distinguished Professorship. It is expected that the appointment will be made
at the tenured, full professor level in the Department of Psychology and that
the successful candidate will participate in the undergraduate and doctoral
programs of the Department. However, the interests and achievements of the
appointee should transcend the normal academic boundaries and should
encompass scholarship that integrates disciplines within Arts and Science
and/or the professional schools of medicine and engineering.

Candidates should possess an outstanding record of scholarship and a proven
ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment, to attract external
funding for their research, and to communicate their work to a diverse
audience.

In addition to participating in the activities of the cognitive science group
in the Psychology Department, the appointee would be expected to foster
interactions with other research groups, such as those in computer science
and engineering, signal processing, neurosurgery and molecular neuroscience.

Nominations and applications should be sent to the following address:

P. Bruce Pipes
Associate Provost for Academic Affairs
Dartmouth College
6004 Parkhurst Hall, Room 204
Hanover, NH 03755-3529

Formal consideration of candidates will begin February 1, 1992.

Dartmouth College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer.
Applications from and nominations of women and minority candidates are
strongly encouraged.


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

Subject: Pre and Post-doc positions in Neural Processes in Cognition in Pittsburg
From:    [e-mail]
Date:    Thu, 10 Dec 92 16:53:00 -0500

                   Program announcement for
      Interdisciplinary Graduate and Postdoctoral Training
            in Neural Processes in Cognition
   at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University

            Pre- and Post-Doctoral positions

The Pittsburgh Neural Processes in Cognition program, in its third
year is providing interdisciplinary training in brain sciences. The
National Science Foundation has established an innovative program
for students investigating the neurobiology of cognition.  The
program's focus is the interpretation of cognitive functions in
terms of neuroanatomical and neurophysiological data and computer
simulations.  Such functions include perceiving, attending,
learning, planning, and remembering in humans and in animals.  A
carefully designed program of study prepares each student to
perform original research investigating cortical function at
multiple levels of analysis.  State of the art facilities include:
computerized microscopy, human and animal electrophysiological
instrumentation, behavioral assessment laboratories,  fMRI and PET
brain scanners, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and a
regional medical center providing access to human clinical
populations.  This is a joint program between the University of
Pittsburgh, its School of Medicine, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Each student receives full financial support, travel allowances and
workstation support.

Applications are encouraged from students with interest in biology,
psychology, engineering, physics, mathematics, or computer science.
Last year's class included mathematicians, psychologists, and
neuroscience researchers.

Pittsburgh is one of America's most exciting and affordable cities,
offering outstanding symphony, theater, professional sports, and
outdoor recreation in the surrounding Allegheny mountains.  More
than ten thousand graduate students attend its universities.

Core Faculty and interests and affiliation

Carnegie Mellon University -Psychology- James McClelland, Johnathan
       Cohen, Martha Farah, Mark Johnson
Computer Science - David Touretzky

University of Pittsburgh
Behavioral Neuroscience - Michael Ariel
Biology - Teresa Chay
Information Science - Paul Munro
Mathematics - Bard Ermentrout
Neurobiology Anatomy and Cell Sciences - Al Humphrey
Neurological Surgery - Don Krieger, Robert Sclabassi
Neurology - Steven Small
Psychiatry - David Lewis, Lisa Morrow, Stuart Steinhauer
Psychology - Walter Schneider, Velma Dobson
Physiology - Dan Simons
Radiology - Mark Mintun

Applications:

To apply to the program contact the program office or one of the
affiliated departments.  Students are admitted jointly to a home
department and the Neural Processes in Cognition Program.
Postdoctoral applicants must have United States resident's status
and are expected to have a sponsor among the training faculty.
Applications are requested by February 1.  For information contact:

       Professor Walter Schneider
       Program Director
       Neural Processes in Cognition
       University of Pittsburgh
       3939 O'Hara St
       Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Or: call 412-624-7064 or Email to
 [e-mail].

In Email requests for application materials, please provide your
address and an indication of which department(s) you might be
interested in.


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

Subject: PhD and Masters Programs at the Oregon Graduate Institute
From:    John Moody <[e-mail]>
Date:    Tue, 08 Dec 92 15:22:00 -0800

Fellow Connectionists:

The Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology (OGI) has
openings for a few outstanding students in its Computer Science Masters
and Ph.D programs in the areas of Neural Networks, Learning, Speech,
Language, Vision, and Control.

Faculty in these areas include Etienne Barnard, Ron Cole, Mark Fanty, Dan
Hammerstrom, Todd Leen, Uzi Levin, John Moody, David Novick, Misha Pavel
(visiting), and Barak Pearlmutter. Short descriptions of faculty research
interests are appended below.

OGI is a young, but rapidly growing, private research institute located
in the Portland area. OGI offers Masters and PhD programs in Computer
Science and Engineering, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering,
Biology, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Environmental
Science and Engineering.

Inquiries about the Masters and PhD programs and admissions should be
addressed to:

Office of Admissions and Records
Oregon Graduate Institute of
    Science and Technology
19600 NW von Neumann Drive
Beaverton, OR 97006-1999

or to the Computer Science and Engineering Department at
[e-mail]  or [phone].

The final deadline for receipt of all applications materials is March 1, 1993.
Applications are reviewed as they are received, and applying early is strongly
advised.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology (OGI)
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Research Interests of Faculty in
Neural Networks, Learning, Speech, Language, Vision, and Control


Etienne Barnard:

Etienne Barnard is interested in the theory, design and implementation
of pattern-recognition systems, classifiers, and neural networks. He is
also interested in adaptive control systems -- specifically, the design
of near-optimal controllers for real- world problems such as robotics.


Ron Cole:

Ron Cole is director of the Center for Spoken Language Understanding at
OGI. Research in the Center currently focuses on speaker- independent
recognition of continuous speech over the telephone and automatic language
identification for English and ten other languages. The approach combines
knowledge of hearing, speech perception, acoustic phonetics, prosody and
linguistics with neural networks to produce systems that work in the real
world.


Mark Fanty:

Mark Fanty's research interests include continuous speech recognition for
the telephone; natural language and dialog for spoken language systems;
neural networks for speech recognition; and voice control of computers.


Dan Hammerstrom:

Based on research performed at the Institute, Dan Hammerstrom and
several of his students have spun out a company, Adaptive Solutions
Inc., which is creating massively parallel computer hardware for the
acceleration of neural network and pattern recognition applications.
There are close ties between OGI and Adaptive Solutions.  Dan is
still on the faculty of the Oregon Graduate Institute and continues
to study next generation VLSI neurocomputer architectures.


Todd K. Leen:

Todd Leen's research spans theory of neural network models, architecture
and algorithm design and applications to speech recognition. His theoretical
work is currently focused on the foundations of stochastic learning, while
his work on Algorithm design is focused on fast algorithms for non-linear
data modeling.


Uzi Levin:

Uzi Levin's research interests include neural networks, learning systems,
decision dynamics in distributed and hierarchical environments, dynamical
systems, Markov decision processes, and the application of neural networks
to the analysis of financial markets.


John Moody:

John Moody does research on the design and analysis of learning algorithms,
statistical learning theory (including generalization and model selection),
optimization methods (both deterministic and stochastic), and applications
to signal processing, time series, and finance.


David Novick:

David Novick conducts research in interactive systems, including
computational models of conversation, technologically mediated
communication, and human-computer interaction. A central theme of
this research is the role of meta-acts in the control of interaction.
Current projects include dialogue models for telephone-based
information systems.


Misha Pavel (visiting from NYU and NASA Ames):


Misha Pavel does mathematical and neural modeling of adaptive behaviors
including visual processing, pattern recognition, visually guided motor
control, categorization, and decision making.  He is also interested in
the application of these  models to sensor fusion, visually guided
vehicular control, and human-computer interfaces.


Barak Pearlmutter:

Barak Pearlmutter is interested in adaptive systems in their many
manifestations.  He currently works on neural network learning,
unsupervised learning, generalization, accelerating the learning
process, relations to biology, reinforcement learning and control,
and applications to practical problems.



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

End of Neuron Digest [Volume 10 Issue 23]
*****************************************