May 5, 2016
Vol.1, No.1

APNNS NEWS

Autumn in Kyoto City -- Shinnyodo (Shinsho-Gokurakuji temple)
See Page 10: Information on the 23rd International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP), the Annual
Conference of Asia-Pacific Neural Network Society (APNNS)Vol.1, No.1 (May 2016)

Table of Contents

1. President’s message ............................................................................................................................ 1
2. Society Structure.................................................................................................................................... 2
3. Membership Information ................................................................................................................... 4
4. Column: AlphaGo and Sedol Lee Heralded a New Era ................................................... 7
5. ICONIP 2016 Kyoto .............................................................................................................................. 10
5.1 Kyoto in autumn ................................................................................................................................ 10
5.2 Conference information ..................................................................................................................11
6. Conferences and Meetings ............................................................................................................ 15
7. Call For Papers ...................................................................................................................................... 162016 Neural Networks Special Issue .............................................................................................. 16
ICONIP 2016 Kyoto ................................................................................................................................. 18

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1. President’s message

Let’s Start a New Era of Neural Networks
Akira Hirose, President, APNNSThe Asia-Pacific Neural Network Society (APNNS, http://www.apnns.org/ ) has started on January
1, 2016, as the successor to Asia-Pacific Neural Network Assembly (APNNA). It aims at local andglobal promotion of neural-network research and education with emphasis on:(1) Diversity: Support local events planned and held in affiliate countries/regions technically
and/or financially to promote the formation of neural network communities in the
countries/regions by laying weight on diversity.
(2) Transparency: Clarify the appointment and roles of governing board members and chairs tomake the society clearer to encourage young people and activate emerging fields.
(3) Stability: Conduct a part of routine works in holding ICONIP conference to improve andmaintain the quality of papers presented there and to help small-researcher-number
countries/regions to hold ICONIP.
The predecessor APNNA (http://www.apnna.net/) was assembled in 1993 by involving 13
countries and regions just to hold International Conference on Neural Information Processing(ICONIP) every year with each local organizing committee. Any fields and areas in science andtechnology have its up-and-downs more or less. APNNA has been promoting not only active fields
but also others at leveling off. In APNNS, we enhance the function in holding social interaction
events where the members who extended and moved into new/neighbor areas come back to talklivelily, discuss widely, to generate and cultivate novel seeds in neural networks and related fields.
Society members are invited to utilize APNNS for internationalization of local activities such asworkshops, seminars, schools and ad-hoc technical meetings in cooperation with APNNS. Pleasehold such activities jointly or in series with ICONIP. Then it is easy to hold such events withinternational people and to provide them of the event’s ideas, essence and technical know-how.
The community will extend. You may choose another schedule independent of ICONIP. Please tryout!
As a starter, let’s get together at ICONIP 2016 Kyoto, the first APNNS ICONIP, held from October
16 to 21 in Kyoto, Japan. See you soon!
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2. Society Structure

Irwin King, VP Administration
Dear APNNS Members,
After years of planning and discussing, the APNNS EXCO is pleased to share with you a few
highlights on the new APNNS structure based on the newly created bylaws. A complete APNNS
Bylaws (Version 1.3) is available at http://www.apnns.org/ .

The original goals for the APNNS’ bylaws given to the APNNA Bylaws Task Force were
To create a new structure based on our already strong APNNA’s tradition with consideration
with current and future needs of its members
To reflect the diverse interests from different regional and national technical communities andgrow this community together
To interface with other international societies with similar interests in order to enhance thevalue of the community
To address these points, the APNNA Bylaws Task Force labored over the bylaws through monthsof meeting and discussions to ensure that the bylaws is built to last for the uniqueness of theneural network technical communities in the Asia-Pacific region.
One of the cornerstones in the bylaws is the Governing Board structure of APNNS. To illustrate
the goal to reflect the diversity and also balance in the Asia-Pacific region, the bylaws set
specific guidelines to make up of the two-class Governing Board members with the Elected
Governors and Country/Region Governors.
general pool of available members.

The Elected Governors are elected from theMoreover, the maximum authorized number shall not be

more than 12 and the maximum authorized number of Elected Governors for eachcountry/region shall not be more than two.

Country/Region Governors shall be recommended

by Countries/Regions-at-Large, defined as the countries/regions whose regular members are
more than a certain number as specified by the Governing Board. The authorized number ofCountry/Region Governors for a Country/Region-at-Large shall not be more than one. Lastly,
the number of Countries/Regions-at-Large may be varied from time to time by resolution of theBoard of Governors, provided that the authorized number of Elected Governors andCountry/Region Governors in total shall be around 25. With this new structure, APNNS aims to
be inclusive and at the same time sensitive to the various needs of the representations of its
members.
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The nomination procedures for the Board of Governors and President-elect are through a
Nomination Committee (NC). The NC shall nominate a number of candidates for Elected
Governors and at least two candidates for the Office of President-elect. Each regular member(not student member) has one vote.

Those eligible candidates for Elected Governors who

receive the highest number of votes, up to the number of Elected Governors to be elected, shallbe elected as Elected Governors of APNNS.

Similarly, the eligible candidate for the Office ofPresident-elect who receives the highest number of votes for such Office shall be elected as
President-elect of APNNS.

We have also expanded and further clarified the roles of the APNNS Executive Committee(EXCO), which consists of the President, the President-elect, and four Vice-presidents (VPs), VP
of Administration, VP of Finance, VP of Membership, and VP of Conference to oversee the
day-to-day operation of APNNS. The President and President-elect shall hold office for theterm of one year, starting on January 1 of the year. For 2016, the EXCO consists of Prof. Akira
Hirose, President; Prof. Soo-Young Lee, President-elect;Prof. Irwin King, VP of

Administration, Prof. Seiichi Ozawa, VP of Finance, Prof. Jonathan Chan, VP of Membership,
and Prof. Derong Liu, VP of Conference.
The EXCO would like to thank the Ad Hoc APNNA Bylaws Task Force members: Prof. Akira
Hirose (Chair), Prof. Jonathan Chan, Prof. Irwin King, Prof. Minho Lee, Prof. Derong Liu, andProf. Seiichi Ozawa for their significant commitment and efforts in making the APNNS Bylaws
a reality. I would also like to thank the APNNA and APNNS Governing Board Members for theircontinuing support to seeing the process to its fruition.
It is our hope and belief that with the new structure, APNNS will continue to foster strong
supports from its members of diverse communities to expand and develop successfully thefield of neural networks, computational intelligence, and other related fields in the years tocome.

Akira Hirose

Soo-Young Lee

Irwin King

Seiichi Ozawa

President

President-elect

VP of

VP of

Jonathan Chan

Administration Finance

Derong Liu

VP of

VP of

Membership

Conference

Fig. 2.1 APNNS Executive Committee (EXCO) starting members.

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3. Membership Information

Jonathan Chan, VP MembershipAs the aim of APNNS is to provide a forum for scientific exchange of information and knowledge
related to brain processes and their applications, anyone who is interested and satisfies themembership criteria are welcome to join our society. Membership consists of regular and student
members. A regular member is someone who has either satisfied APNNS-specified educational
requirements and/or demonstrated professional competence in APNNS-designated fields ofinterest. More detailed information can be found at the APNNS Bylaws page at
http://www.apnns.org/bylaws.html, under Article 3 Members.
The benefits of an APNNS membership include skills and professional development throughexposure at our flagship ICONIP conference, access to a large network of experts in the neuralnetworks and related fields, and discounts at ICONIP and other APNNS conferences as well asother APNNS technically co-sponsored conferences.

Fig. 3.1 Banquet in ICONIP 2015 Istanbul.

A paid APNNS membership is an annual one based on the calendar year of January 1 to
December 31. The membership fee is 15 USD for a regular member and 10 USD for a student
member. The obvious incentive to join APNNS prior to the registration deadline of ICONIP is toreceive a significant discount. Besides, joining before August 1 would enable a regular member tovote for the President-Elect in the annual election as well as the Elected Governors for thefollowing year. Note that ICONIP delegates are entitled to a free APNNS membership for the4

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Back Coverfollowing calendar year. Regular registrant would receive a regular membership waiver andstudent registrants would receive a student membership waiver. However, the delegate needs tosend an email to membership@apnns.org to receive the membership waiver. For example, as adelegate of ICONIP 2015 in Istanbul, you are eligible for a 2016 APNNS membership waiver by
opting to join APNNS via email with the following information.
______________________________
To: membership@apnns.org
Subject: membership application(You must specify in Subject)Your Name (As shown in the registration of ICONIP 2015; Use capital letters for
LAST/FAMILY name)Your Present Affiliation
Your email addressCountry or Region of Your Residence (or Institute)Your Paper number or Registration number at ICONIP 2015 (please specify which
number)Your Student ID number (If you apply for a student member, please indicate yourstudent ID number. Students who currently pursue an academic degree, such as
bachelor, master or doctor, and have a valid ID of a college, an institute, ora school are eligible for the application to student member.)____________________________

As of December 31, 2015, APNNS has a total of 243 members spanning over 15
countries/regions globally. Of which just over 10% are student members. We look forward to
growing APNNS steadily, especially among students, and spreading the knowledge and expertisein the neural network and related areas in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Fig. 3.2 Small excursion in ICONIP 2013 Daegu.
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Back CoverFinally, APNNS is eagerly looking for members who would like to volunteer and get involved. E.g.
formation of a special interest group (SIG) or joining a specific APNNS committee. Please feel
free to contact any of the EXCO or Governing Board members if you are interested. See you in
Kyoto!

Fig. 3.3 Snapshots in recent ICONIP conferences, namely, 2015 Istanbul, 2014 Kuching, 2013 Daegu,
2012 Doha, 2011 Shanghai and 2010 Sydney.
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4. Column: AlphaGo and Sedol Lee Heralded a New Era

Soo-Young Lee, President-ElectAs far as the human society survives, March 9th, 2016, will be remembered as the day
when an intelligent machine, AlphaGo, first defeated a top-class human player, Sedol Lee,at Go game. It may also be remembered as a day heralding a new era of human-machine
co-existing society. Since the Go game is considered as the most intelligence-demanding
game even for highly intelligent people, the defeat of world’s fourth-rank player at the timeand also first-ranked for many previous years had generated public understanding thatthe era of intelligent machines is coming, if not already has arrived. Many industries
showed their interests in artificial intelligence (AI) based on neural information processing,and Korean Government also announced a plan to fund about 800 million US dollars on
research and development for the next five years.
In the Sumerian mythology, humans were created to free the gods from difficult andunending labor. The low-ranking gods, Anunnaku and Igigu, had undertaken the toil toprovide a decent living for the other gods. After a long and grievous suffering, these lesser
gods eventually rioted, and the High Council of Gods ordered the Mother-goddess,
Ninhursag or Nintu, to ‘create human beings to bear the yoke.’ To serve gods better, thesehuman servants needed to have some degree of intelligence.
History repeats itself. Now it is the humans who are creating intelligent machines to serve
their own society. After all, the word “robot” comes from the Slavic word “robu” meaningslave. Today, automatic doors greet us at every entrance, business is done by computer
agents alone, and soon cars will drive themselves. My smartphone serves as‘my-other-half’ who knows more about “me” than I do! In the near future, increasingly
intelligent agents will work with human beings, for human beings, at offices, at homes, atstores, with schools, as well as in factories.
When Ninhursag created humans, she did not start from nothing. Naturally, she utilized
what was available. She borrowed something from the gods for the humans. Yet evenwith this approach, she was only able to make a perfect human, Adama, after many trials
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Back Coverand errors. Similarly, many researchers in AI would like to learn from Mother Nature.
Especially, AI researchers have tried to understand information processing mechanisms
active in the human brain, and to model these mechanisms directly in designing intelligent
machines. One obstacle slowing this approach is that brain signal measurement
technologies are limited and do not provide enough detail functional information about thecircuits of information processing. Still, we must endeavor to understand the mechanisms
by filling in the blind-spots with information theory, and begin to understand how to“borrow” something from human for the intelligent machines of tomorrow.
The human brain receives information from five types of sensors, and from this input
generates speech and various other actions. Between these input and output processes,
the human brain structures the threads of the information flow through several importantcognitive functions, such as knowledge acquisition, identity formation, situation
awareness, and decision making. These high-level cognitive functions represent theactive goals of current AI research.
As with the Sumerian gods and their servants, it is critical that our artificial agents learn tounderstand both explicit and implicit human intention. Also, knowledge acquisition should
be autonomous. Artificial learning agents should be able to learn without humanintervention. They should learn to ask the questions necessary to improve theirknowledge, incorporating their answers into existing knowledge systems. The ability to
use language is tightly coupled to these knowledge systems. Self-consciousness andpersonal identity might emerge as these internal states change.
In the near future, intelligent machines will not be conscious, i.e., based on weak artificial
intelligence technology. They will be trained for specific applications. For example, aMedical Assistant should be able to learn the knowledge of medical doctors from medical
textbooks, and then employ this knowledge in helping human beings. Similarly, an Office
Assistant would help with office jobs such as coordinating telephone calls, creatively
employing data searches to solve freely anticipated scheduling problems, and preparing
documents for meeting attendees and board members.
It is not necessary to be afraid of job losses due to intelligent machines. Even with thehelp of less-intelligent machines, the Industrial Revolution resulted in much higher
production efficiency and a rising quality of human life. With the help of intelligent
machines, humans will be able to work with much higher productivity, while employing
remaining time for more creative and enriching activities.
To serve human better, intelligent machines will choose what to learn, and learning
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Back Covermachines eventually become conscious and have self-identity. Then, the era of strong AI
will come. Of course, social disruption due to self-conscious machine technologies
remains one of the most controversial issues affecting human civilization. Some of thesmartest scientists and engineers alive today, including Steve Hwaking and Bill Gates,
are concerned with a possible conflict between human and their intelligent machine.
However, intelligent machine is by no means more dangerous than human. As Microsoft’s
chatterbot Tay had proven, even intelligent agents with weak AI may become bad bylearning bad examples especially from bad people. In facts weak AI is more susceptible toinappropriate human than strong AI. Even though some people may regard intelligent
machines as mere slaves or toys, there always are other good people. Although
intelligent machine without consciousness may simply follow inappropriate people,
self-conscious machines may find that the co-existence will be more desirable thanmutual destruction. Provided that human beings treat intelligent machines as friends andfamily members from different worlds, rather than as dumb machines to be abused, we
will see a peaceful human-machine society prosper together. This does not mean that an
intelligent machine will always agree with human. Just as children may disagree withparents, human beings are still able to raise children and build happy families over thegenerations. Children learn from parents, and eventually parents learn from children.
It is worthwhile to note that the play of Go game and therefore AlphaGo do notnecessarily represent human intelligence. The game is very simple in principle, andrequires to evaluate results of many possible future sequences. The main difficulty comesfrom the huge search space beyond the capability of any single people and even 1000
computers with graphic processors. Therefore, brute force search is not feasible and, toreduce the search space, both human and AlphaGo utilize pattern recognition (orintuition), which is clearly an important capability of intelligence. However, AlphaGo had agreat advantage over human player on fast computation and memory for the searching. I
wonder how much the pattern recognition capability itself had contributed for the successof AlphaGo. Maybe the success came from the integration of human-like intelligence andnon-human computing capabilities.
As demonstrated by the Go game between human and AplphGo, the co-existence ofhuman and intelligent machines is not an option but a necessity, especially for aging
society with more old than young people. Intelligence to machines, freedom with to
mankind!
(Some part of this article had been included in an author’s article at Postech Times, December 2015.)

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5. ICONIP 2016 Kyoto

Seiichi Ozawa, VP Finance, Co-General Chair ICONIP 2016 Kyoto

5.1 Kyoto in autumn
The

23rd

International

Conferenceon

Information

Neural
Processing(ICONIP 2016) will be held in
Kyoto, Japan during October
16-21, 2016. The venue of
ICONIP

2016

is

Kyoto

University

Clock

Tower

Centennial

Hall,

which

locatedthenorth-east

inisregion of Kyoto city.
Kyoto is located in the central part of theisland of Honshu, Japan. Kyoto formerly
flourished as the imperial capital of Japan aslong as 1,000 years after 794 A.D., and known
as “The City of Ten Thousand Shrines.” There
are 17 sites (13 temples, 3 shrines, and 1
castle) in Kyoto that form the UNESCO World
Heritage

Listing

named

as

the

"Historic

Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji andOtsu Cities)". In addition, there are the threemajor festivals (Matsuri) in Kyoto, one of which,called “Jidai Matsuri”, will be held in October
22nd, after ICONIP 2016.
ICONIP 2016 will provide a high-levelinternational forum for scientists, researchers,
industrial

professionals,

andstudents

worldwide to present state of art research

Fig. 5.1 (top) Autumn foliage in Kyoto and(bottom) Kenninji temple rock garden.

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trendsinneuralinformation

processing

andapplications. This conference will feature invited
plenary talks by world-renowned scholars in theareas of neural network theory and applications,computational neuroscience, machine learning andothers. In addition to regular technical sessions withoral and poster presentations, the conference
program will include special sessions and tutorials
on topics of current interest.
ICONIP 2016 is the first international conferenceofThe

Asia-Pacific

NeuralNetwork

Society(APNNS), which will be established as the firstneural network society for Asia-Pacific countries in
November, 2015. Let’s get together to celebrate thismemorial event of our new society in Kyoto!

Fig. 5.2 Togetsukyo bridge and Arashi-yama.

5.2 Conference information
The 23rd International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP 2016)
Clock Tower Centennial Hall, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (16-21 Oct 2016)
http://www.iconip2016.org/
Co-Organizers:
Asia Pacific Neural Network Society (APNNS), Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS)
Sponsors:
KDDI Foundation, NICT International Exchange Program, SCAT
Important Dates
Deadline for paper submissions:

15 May 2016

Notification of acceptance:

7 July 2016

Camera-ready paper submission:

22 July 2016

Deadline for author registration:

22 July 2016

Deadline for early registration:

7 August 2016

Conference days:

16-21 October 2016 (Technical Tour: 21 Oct 2016)

Instruction for Paper Submissions
Please prepare your paper in the format as the sample paper for Lecture Notes in Computer
Science (LNCS) include reference format. In the Information for LNCS Authors site, you are able
to download the source files including LaTeX2e class file, sample file, word template.

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Topics of interest include, but not limited to:
Theory & Algorithms:
Neurodynamics, Machine learning, Deep neural networks, Computational intelligence,
Patternrecognition,

Computervision,Speechprocessing,Time

seriesanalysis,

Reinforcement learning, Bayesian networks, Computational & Cognitive
Neurosciences:Sensory perception, Motor control, Decision making, Social cognition, Emotion and reward,
Neuroeconomics, Computational psychiatry, Brain-machine interface, Neural data analysis
Applications:
Big

data

analysis, Robotics

andcontrol, Bioinformatics,

Biomedical

engineering,

Neuromorphic hardware, Data mining, Information security, Social networks, Computational
finance, Sports and rehabilitation, Special Sessions
Plenary Speakers-

Kunihiko Fukushima (Fuzzy Logic Systems Institute, Japan)-

Mitsuo Kawato (ATR, Japan)-

Irwin King (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)

Tutorial Speakers (included in registration fee)-

Nikola Kasabov (Auckland University of Technology, NZ)-

Stephen H. Scott (Queen's University, Canada)-

Aapo Hyvarinen (University of Helsinki, Finland)-

Okito Yamashita (ATR, Japan)

Special Sessions‑

Bio-Inspired/Energy-Efficient Information Processing: Theory, Systems, Devices andApplications (Organizers: Shigeru Nakagawa, IBM Research - Tokyo, Japan and Akira Hirose,
The University of Tokyo, Japan)‑

Whole Brain Architecture: Toward a Human Like General Purpose Artificial Intelligence(Takashi Omori, Tamagawa University, Japan and Hiroshi Yamakawa, DWANGO Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory, Japan)‑

Artificial Neural Networks and Pattern Recognition in Geosciences (Sid-Ali Ouadfeul, Algerian
Petroleum Institute, IAP, Algeria and Leila Aliouane, LABOPHYT, FHC, UMBB, Boumerdes,
Algeria)‑

Data-driven approach for extracting latent features from multi-dimensional data (Toshiaki
Omori and Seiichi Ozawa, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, Japa)‑

Topological and Graph based Clustering methods (Rushed Kanawati and Nistor Grozavu,
SPC University Paris 13, France)‑

Deep and Reinforcement Learning (Abdulrahman Altahhan and Vasile Palade, Coventry
University, UK)

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Data Mining and Cybersecurity Workshop 2016 ( http://www.csmining.org/cdmc2016/ )-Novel Approaches of Systems Neuroscience to Sports and Rehabilitation

Registration Fees

(To become an APNNS member, see 3. Membership Information above.)

APNNS Member

JPY 70,000

Late & On-site
Registration(after 7 Aug)JPY 80,000

Nonmember

JPY 75,000

JPY 85,000

APNNS Member

JPY 33,000

JPY 43,000

Nonmember

JPY 38,000

JPY 48,000

Early Registration(by 7 Aug)
Full Registration
Student Registration

Each paper requires one full registration (i.e., a student registration does not cover any papers).
Each full registration covers a maximum of two papers and additional charge JPY 30,000 per
paper is incurred for more than two papers with one full registration. A student registration can
only be applied if the registrant sends a copy of student ID to Seiichi Ozawa(ozawasei@kobe-u.ac.jp) within the next 7 days after registration. If you don’t provide copy ofyour student ID, you will be charged full rate. The extra page charge is JPY 10,000 per page. See
more details on the registration page.
Full & Student registrations include admission to all sessions (plenary / technical sessions /special sessions), tutorials, workshops, lunch and coffee breaks (Oct 17-Oct 20), one ticket forwelcome reception, one ticket for banquet, one copy of the program booklet, one USB
proceedings, one conference bag.
Student Travel Grants
ICONIP 2016 will offer a limited number of Travel Grants (JPY 55,000) for undergraduate students
and graduate students. The students who want to apply for this travel grants must declare inadvance on the paper submission page.
ICONIP 2016 Awards
We will present the two types of awards:-

Excellent Paper Awards-

Best Student Paper Awards

For Best Student Paper Awards, the finalists who are selected by the Awards Committee must
attend the Presentation Session for Best Student Paper Awards which will be held at theconference venue on October 16th, 2016. The recipient of each award will be given a certificate of
the award and a cash prize (JPY 55,000) to be presented during the conference banquet at
ICONIP 2016.

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Back CoverTechnical TourWe plan to conduct a paid technical tour to visit ATR (Advanced Telecommunications ResearchInstitute International) in Kyoto on October 21th, 2016. In ATR, you will visit the following threelaboratories:
1) Development of ATR Exoskeleton Robots：Dr. Jun Morimoto @BRI Experiment Room
We will introduce our newly developed ATR exoskeleton robots. In addition, we will demonstrate
how these exoskeleton robots work.
2) Introduction of Department of Neuroinformatics: Dr. Yukiyasu Kamitani @fMRI Prisma RoomBrain decoding and brain–machine interface
3) Network BMI system for supporting elderly and handicapped people: Dr. Takayuki Suyama @BMI House
For supporting elderly and handicapped people to become self-reliant in daily-life environments
such as home and clinic, we have developed the network BMI system to control real-world
actuators like wheelchairs based on human intention measured by a portable brain
measurement system.
After visiting ATR, we will visit Uji city, Byodoin, and the Fushimi Kizakura Memorial Museum.
See the following links for details:
Uji city: http://www.kyoto-uji-kankou.or.jp/index-en.html
Byodoin: http://www.byodoin.or.jp/en/guide.html
Fushimi Kizakura Memorial Museum: http://www.kizakura.co.jp/ja/en/index.html
The capacity of this technical tour is only 30 and we will accept participants on first-come firstserved basis. Please register as soon as the registration page is set up. The tour fair is JPY 5,300(including a lunch box) and should be paid on the ICONIP 2016 registration site.
Accommodation
The travel agency JTB will accept a limited number of accommodation requests shortly. However,
we strongly recommend you to reserve your accommodation yourself as soon as possible (evenbefore you get the acceptance notice). Please keep in mind that October is one of the most
crowded seasons in Kyoto. If your reservation is late, you may have to commute from outside of
Kyoto city.
If you have questions, feel free to contact the ICONIP 2016 Secretariat (iconip2016@gmail.com).

Fig. 5.3 (left) Nishiki market, (center) TOEI Kyoto Studio Park, and (right) Traditional tea service.
(C) Kyoto Convention & Visitors Bureau
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6. Conferences and Meetings

Derong Liu, VP Conferences

APNNS has approved the following technically co-sponsored conferences:
1. 13th International Symposium on Neural Networks
July 6-8, 2016
St. Petersburg, Russia
http://conference.cs.cityu.edu.hk/isnn/
2. 8th International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence
November 9-11, 2016
Porto, Portugal
http://www.ijcci.org/
3. Computational Intelligence in Information System Conference
November 18-20, 2016
Brunei
http://sites.google.com/site/ciisconference2016/
If you would like your conferences to be considered for technical co-sponsorship by APNNS,
please send the following required documents to APNNS Vice President for Conferences(derongliu@foxmail.com).
- Conference CFP and keywords of your conference;- List of organizing committee members, with APNNS members clearly identified;- Publication plan of your conference;- Any special benefits to APNNS members.

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7. Call For Papers
2016 Neural Networks Special Issue“Advances in Cognitive Engineering Using Neural Networks”
Guest Editors
Steven Bressler, Florida Atlantic University, USA
Robert Kozma, University of Memphis, USA
Minho Lee, Kyungpook National University, Korea (South)
Scope
Cognitive Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach to the development of principles, methods,
tools and techniques to guide the design of computerized systems intended to learn from andsupport of human cognitive performance. Cognitive Engineering draws on the disciplines ofcognitive science, computer science, systems engineering, human computer interaction, humanfactors, and related fields. The goal of Cognitive Engineering is to develop systems that are easy
to learn, easy to use, and lead to improved human-computer system performance.
Cognitive engineering has emerged in the past decades in response to the proliferation ofcomputers in everyday life. Safety-critical systems became more complex and increasingly
integrated with advanced computer technology; thus novel design principles were needed toensure that teams of human experts could operate computer systems safely and efficiently.
Cognitive engineering helps to develop human-friendly and reliable computer systems by
explicitly considering human processing characteristics in the context of the computer-assisted
tasks. In recent years, significant progress has been made in cognitive engineering by focusing on
howpeopleactuallyinteractwithcomplextechnical

systems,

includingadvancedhuman-computer interfaces. As a result, cognitive engineering has become a recognizedinterdisciplinary field at the interface of cognitive science, computer science and engineering.
The special issue of Neural Networks on “Advances in Cognitive Engineering Using Neural
Networks” aims at bringing together various research topics related to this field, discussing thepresent state-of-the-art, and outlining directions for future developments. We invite submissions
on the most recent developments in Cognitive Engineering systems, methods, and models usingneural networks, as well as various applications to real world tasks. We also welcome survey andoverview papers pertaining to Cognitive Engineering.

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Topics
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
Cognition in engineered systems
Cognitive engineering methods
Cognitive engineering models
Cognitive engineering and causality
Attention, selective attention
Intention understanding
Decision making and prediction
Awareness computing
Emotion recognition
Modeling creativity
Modeling mental constructs
Team cognition
Human-Computer Interfaces
Embodied cognitive engineering
Neuro-ergonomics
Operator behavior
Emergency response systems

Submission procedure
Prospective authors should follow standard author instructions for Neural Networks and submit
their manuscripts online at http://ees.elsevier.com/neunet/. During the submission process, there
will be steps to designate the submission to this special issue.
Time Frame
Call for papers out: March 10, 2016
Submission deadline: August 15, 2016
Notification of Acceptance: November 15, 2016
Final manuscripts due: January 15, 2017
For details:

mholee _at_ gmail.com

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ICONIP 2016 Kyoto
The 23rd International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP 2016)
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (16-21 Oct 2016)
http://www.iconip2016.org/

This is the Annual Conference of Asia-Pacific Neural Network Society.
Important Dates
Paper submissions:

15 May 2016 (Notification: 7 July 2016)

Camera-ready due:

22 July 2016

Author registration:

22 July 2016

Early registration:

7 August 2016

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:
Theory & Algorithms:
Neurodynamics, Machine learning, Deep neural networks,
Compulational intelligence, Pattern recognition,
Computer vision, Speech processing, Time series analysis,
Reinforcement learning, Bayesian networks, Computational & Cognitive
Neurosciences:Sensory perception, Motor control, Decision making,Social cognition, Emotion and reward, Neuroeconomics,
Computational psychiatry, Brain-machine interface,
Neural data analysis
Applications:
Big data analysis, Robotics and control,
Bioinformatics,
Biomedical engineering, Neuromorphic
hardware, Data mining,
Information security, Social networks,
Computational finance,
Sportsandrehabilitation,

SpecialSessions
Inquiry to:

Fig. 7.1 Kyoto University, the venue of ICONIP 2016.

iconip2016 _at_ gmail.com

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