From: Steven J. Schiff (sschiff@gmu.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 14 2000 - 16:27:23 MST
There will be an NIH sponsored 2 day conference on the role of Nonlinear
Synchronization in Neuroscience. It will be held May 19-20, 2000, at
the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at the George Mason University,
Fairfax, VA, near Washington, DC.
Over the past decade, a rich theoretical framework has been developed to
better understand the complex nature of the interactions of nonlinear
systems in nature. The problem is that nonlinear systems, if they are at
all dissimilar (and what in the natural world is not) never synchronize
with the simple linear relationships that we were all taught to test for
scientifically (e.g. testing for linear correlation or coherence). The
implications for Neuroscience are likely to be profound. Yet little
research has been done so far in attempting to apply these concepts to
neuronal systems. What has been explored so far suggests that this is
likely to be an important issue for us to grapple with.
The program outline and list of speakers is as follows:
FRIDAY 5/19/2000 SATURDAY
5/20/2000
9:00 Schiff (GMU) Varela
(Salpêtrière)
9:45 Pecora (NRL)
Abarbanel (UCSD)
10:30-11:00 Coffee Coffee
11:00 Sauer (GMU) Gerstein
(Upenn)
11:30 Kopell (BU) Yarom
(Hebrew Univ)
12:15-1:15 LUNCH (12:15-1:15) LUNCH (12-1)
1:15 Kurths (Potsdam) 45' Llinas (NYU)
1:30
Nicolelas (Duke)
2:00 Connors (Brown) 45' Kocerev
(UCSD)
2:30
Contreras (U Penn)
2:45-3:00 Coffee
3:00 Sirovich (Mt. Sinai) Josic
(BU)
3:30 Bressler (FAU) Wu (GT)
4:00 Tass (Juelich) Gross
(UNT)
4:30 Swadlow (Uconn) Mar (BU)
5:00 Norman (U Utah) [ Summary
]
5:30-7:30 Reception - Posters Adjourn
7:30-9:00 Dinner
My goal for this meeting is to have the Physicists and Mathematicians
who have developed this theory explain to the Biologists with extreme
clarity just what their methods and theories are, and what they can do
for them. The Biologists, all neuroscientists who are working with
preparations where synchronization is a major issue, will explain to the
Physicists and Mathematicians the questions they are trying to answer,
and the types of data that they are trying to analyze. One of the
objects here is to foster a sufficient level of interdisciplinary
communication so that new collaborations will result from this meeting.
Sharing of algorithms, and especially sample data sets, is strongly
encouraged in an effort to spark pilot projects.
Although the speaking slots are quite full, I would invite participants
to present POSTERS of their relevant research in this area, and I will
be sure to set aside adequate time for all to view and discuss these
posters.
A registration fee of $75 will be required in order to cover expenses,
which should include meals while at the meeting. We are trying to keep
local expenses to a minimum, and have blocks of rooms available for the
next several weeks. If you would like to attend, please contact Matt
Burdetsky, at Capital Meeting Planning, who is handling local
arrangements.
Matt Burdetsky * Capital Meeting Planning, Inc.
3222 Dye Drive * Falls Church, VA 22042
Phone: (703) 207-1703 * Fax: (703) 207-1704
E-Mail: matt@cmpinc.net; Web Site: www.cmpinc.net
Matt will also need your TITLES, and ABSTRACTS for your posters if you
wish to present one.
In order to help decide if Nonlinear Synchronization may be of interest,
and to illustrate several ways in which these ideas have been applied to
biological systems so far, I have archived several selected papers on
this topic, some theoretical, some biological (and one news article from
Physics Today for the faint of heart) at:
click on the Synchrony Meeting folder
enter PASSWORD which is ^Ósynchrony^Ô (lower case without quotes)
and you then have permission to enter the Synchrony Meeting folder.
The Krasnow Institute is located on the campus of George Mason
University. Good directions can be found at:
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/krasnow/location.htm
--
Steven J. Schiff
Krasnow Institute
Mail Stop 2A1
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
sschiff@gmu.edu
Tel: 703-993-4336 (Office)
703-993-4387 (Secretary, Joey Barreto)
Fax: 703-993-4440 (or 703-993-4325)
http://www.krasnow.gmu.edu/neuraldyn
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