CALL FOR PAPERS -- NIPS*99 Neural Information Processing Systems -- Natural and Synthetic Monday November 29 - Saturday December 4, 1999 Denver, Colorado This is the thirteenth 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 as well as 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 (November 29), and following it there will be two days of focused workshops on topical issues at a nearby ski area (December 3-4). 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, hybrid symbolic-subsymbolic systems. Applications: handwriting recognition, sequence analysis, expert systems, fault diagnosis, medical diagnosis, analysis of medical images, data analysis, database mining, information retrieval, network traffic, music processing, time-series prediction, financial analysis. Cognitive Science/Artificial Intelligence: perception and psychophysics, neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, development, conditioning, human learning and memory, attention, language, natural language, reasoning, spatial cognition, emotional cognition, conceptual representation, neurophilosophy, problem solving and planning. Implementations: analog and digital VLSI, optical neurocomputing systems, novel neurodevices, computational sensors and actuators, simulation tools. Neuroscience: neural encoding, spiking neurons, synchronicity, sensory processing, systems neurophysiology, neuronal development, synaptic plasticity, neuromodulation, dendritic computation, channel dynamics, experimental data relevant to computational issues. Reinforcement Learning and Control: exploration, planning, navigation, Q-learning, TD-learning, state estimation, 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, applications of hidden Markov models to signal processing, models of human speech perception, auditory modeling and psychoacoustics. 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, 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. There will be an opportunity to revise accepted manuscripts after the meeting, before submitting a final camera-ready copy. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: NIPS is modifying its submission procedure, in the process of migrating to an electronic submission system. THE SUBMISSION PROCESS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE ONE USED IN THE PAST!! This year we require BOTH electronic and hard copy submissions. Please read carefully the instructions below, and follow them faithfully. Your collaboration is greatly appreciated, as it will help us through the implementation of a new system that will become fully electronic for NIPS*2000. PAPER FORMAT: Submitted papers may be up to seven pages in length, including figures and references. Authors are required to use the NIPS LaTeX style files obtainable by anonymous FTP at the site given below. THE STYLE FILES HAVE BEEN UPDATED; please make sure that you use the current ones and not previous versions. Submissions failing to follow these guidelines will not be considered. HARD COPIES: Please send FOUR copies of each submitted paper to Todd Leen, the NIPS*99 Program Chair, at the address indicated below. An accompanying front page must specify (1) name, physical address, and email address of all authors; (2) the name of the author to whom correspondence should be addressed; (3) the category to which the paper is being submitted, chosen among the nine major categories listed above; (4) the authors' preference, if any, for oral or poster presentation (this preference will play no role in paper acceptance); and (5) whether the work, or any substantial part thereof, has been submitted to or presented at any other scientific conference. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION: In addition to mailing four hard copies, you MUST enter your submission in the Electronic Submission Form available through the NIPS website listed below. This will be your PRIMARY submission, and the Electronic Submission Form must be completed in all cases. You will be asked to enter paper title, name of all authors, category, oral/poster preference, and data about the contact author (name, full address, telephone, fax, and email). You will also be able to upload an electronic (postscript or pdf) version of your paper. You MUST mail four hard copies of your paper to Todd Leen, the NIPS*99 Program Chair, even if you succeed at uploading the electronic version of your paper during electronic submission. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS MUST BE LOGGED BY MAY 21, 1999, AND HARD COPIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE SAME DATE. Hard copy submissions mailed from within the USA via first class mail will be accepted if postmarked on or before May 18, 1999. Mail hard copy submissions to: Todd K. Leen NIPS*99 Program Chair Department of Computer Science and Engineering Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology 20000 N.W. Walker Rd. Beaverton, OR 97006, USA The LaTeX style files for NIPS, the Electronic Submission Page, and other conference information are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/Groups/NIPS Copies of the style files are also available via anonymous ftp at ftp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.206.173) in /afs/cs/Web/Groups/NIPS/formatting For general inquiries or requests for registration material E-mail: nipsinfo@salk.edu or Fax: (619) 587-0417 NIPS*99 Organizing Committee: General Chair, Sara Solla, Northwestern University; Program Chair, Todd Leen, Oregon Graduate Institute; Publications Chair, Klaus Mueller, GMD First; Tutorial Chair, Joachim Buhmann, University of Bonn; Workshops Co-Chairs, Sue Becker, McMaster University, and Rich Caruana, Carnegie Mellon University; Publicity Chair, Lee Giles, NEC Research Institute; Local Arrangements, Arun Jagota, University of California at Santa Cruz; 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, and Gerry Tesauro, IBM. NIPS*99 Program Committee: Leon Bottou, AT&T Labs - Research; Gary Cottrell, University of California San Diego; Zoubin Ghahramani, University College London; Tommi Jaakkola, MIT; John Lazzaro, University of California Berkeley; Todd Leen, Oregon Graduate Institute (chair); John Moody, Oregon Graduate Institute; Barak Pearlmutter, University of New Mexico; Alexandre Pouget, University of Rochester; David Saad, Aston University; Lawrence Saul, AT&T Labs - Research; Sebastian Thrun, Carnegie Mellon University; Benjamin Van Roy, Stanford University; Paul Viola, MIT. PAPERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MAY 21, 1999 IMPORTANT: submission instructions have changed!! Please read carefully - Please Post -