CALL FOR PAPERS -- NIPS*98 Neural Information Processing Systems -- Natural and Synthetic Monday November 30 - Saturday December 5, 1998 Denver, Colorado This is the twelfth meeting of an interdisciplinary conference which brings together cognitive scientists, computer scientists, engineers, neuroscientists, physicists, and mathematicians interested in all aspects of neural processing and computation. The conference will include invited talks and oral and poster presentations of refereed papers. The conference is single track and is highly selective. Preceding the main session, there will be one day of tutorial presentations (Nov. 30), and following it there will be two days of focused workshops on topical issues at a nearby ski area (Dec. 4-5). Major categories for paper submission, with example subcategories (by no means exhaustive), are as follows: Algorithms and Architectures: supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms, model selection algorithms, active learning algorithms, feedforward and recurrent network architectures, localized basis functions, mixture models, belief networks, graphical models, Gaussian processes, factor analysis, topographic maps, combinatorial optimization. Applications: handwriting recognition, DNA and protein sequence analysis, expert systems, fault diagnosis, medical diagnosis, analysis of medical images, data analysis, database mining, network traffic, music processing, time-series prediction, financial analysis. Artificial Intelligence: inductive reasoning, problem solving and planning, natural language, hybrid symbolic-subsymbolic systems. Cognitive Science: perception and psychophysics, neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, development, conditioning, human learning and memory, attention, language. Implementation: analog and digital VLSI, optical neurocomputing systems, novel neurodevices, simulation tools. Neuroscience: neural encoding, spiking neurons, synchronicity, sensory processing, systems neurophysiology, neuronal development, synaptic plasticity, neuromodulation, dendritic computation, channel dynamics. Reinforcement Learning and Control: exploration, planning, navigation, Q-learning, TD-learning, dynamic programming, robotic motor control, process control, Markov decision processes. Speech and Signal Processing: speech recognition, speech coding, speech synthesis, auditory scene analysis, source separation, hidden Markov models, models of human speech perception. Theory: computational learning theory, statistical physics of learning, information theory, prediction and generalization, regularization, Boltzmann machines, Helmholtz machines, decision trees, support vector machines, online learning, dynamics of learning algorithms, approximation and estimation theory, learning of dynamical systems, model selection, complexity theory. Visual Processing: image processing, image coding, object recognition, visual psychophysics, stereopsis, motion detection and tracking. REVIEW CRITERIA: All submitted papers will be thoroughly refereed on the basis of technical quality, significance, and clarity. Novelty of the work is also a strong consideration in paper selection, but to encourage interdisciplinary contributions, we will consider work which has been submitted or presented in part elsewhere, if it is unlikely to have been seen by the NIPS audience. Authors should not be dissuaded from submitting recent work, as there will be an opportunity after the meeting to revise accepted manuscripts before submitting final camera-ready copy. PAPER FORMAT: Submitted papers may be up to seven pages in length, including figures and references, using a font no smaller than 10 point. Text is to be confined within a 8.25in by 5in rectangle. Submissions failing to follow these guidelines will not be considered. Authors are strongly encouraged to use the NIPS LaTeX style files obtainable by anonymous FTP at the site given below. Papers must indicate (1) physical and e-mail addresses of all authors; (2) one of the nine major categories listed above, and a subcategory if desired; (3) if the work, or any substantial part thereof, has been submitted to or has appeared in other scientific conferences; (4) the authors' preference, if any, for oral or poster presentation (this preference will play no role in paper acceptance); and (5) author to whom correspondence should be addressed. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Send eight copies of submitted papers to the address below; electronic or FAX submission is not acceptable. Include one additional copy of the abstract only, to be used for preparation of the abstracts booklet distributed at the meeting. SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MAY 22, 1998. From within the U.S., submissions will be accepted if mailed first class and postmarked by May 19, 1998. Mail submissions to: Sara A. Solla NIPS*98 Program Chair Department of Physiology Ward Building 5-003, MC211 Northwestern University Medical School 303 E. Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL 60611-3008, USA Mail general inquiries and requests for registration material to: NIPS Foundation Computational Neurobiology Laboratory Salk Institute for Biological Studies 10010 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037 FAX: (619)587-0417 E-mail: nipsinfo@salk.edu Copies of the LaTeX style files for NIPS are available via anonymous ftp at ftp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.206.173) in /afs/cs/Web/Groups/NIPS/formatting The style files and other conference information may also be retrieved via World Wide Web at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/Groups/NIPS NIPS*98 Organizing Committee: General Chair, Michael Kearns, AT&T Labs Research; Program Chair, Sara Solla, Northwestern University; Publications Chair, David Cohn, Harlequin; Tutorial Chair, Klaus Mueller, GMD First; Workshops Co-Chairs, Richard Zemel, University of Arizona, and Sue Becker, McMaster University; Publicity Chair, Jonathan Baxter, Australian National University; Treasurer, Bartlett Mel, University of Southern California; Web Master, Doug Baker, Carnegie Mellon University; Government Liaison, Gary Blasdel, Harvard Medical School; Contracts, Steve Hanson, Rutgers University, Scott Kirkpatrick, IBM, Gerry Tesauro, IBM. NIPS*98 Program Committee: Andrew Barto, University of Massachusetts; Joachim Buhmann, University of Bonn; Yoav Freund, AT&T Labs Research; Lars Kai Hansen, Danish Technical University; Nathan Intrator, Brown University; Robert Jacobs, University of Rochester; Esther Levin, AT&T Labs Research; Alexandre Pouget, Georgetown University; David Saad, Aston University; Lawrence Saul, AT&T Labs Research; Sara Solla, Northwestern University (chair); Sebastian Thrun, Carnegie Mellon University; Yair Weiss, MIT. DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF SUBMISSIONS IS MAY 22, 1998 - please post -