Ten short papers about simple rules to keep in mind

1. Ten Simple Rules for Doing Your Best Research, According to Hamming
2. Ten Simple Rules for Selecting a Postdoctoral Position
3. Ten Simple Rules for a Successful Collaboration
4. Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations
5. Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published
6. Ten Simple Rules for Getting Grants
7. Ten Simple Rules for Reviewers
8. Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation
9. Ten Simple Rules for Organizing a Scientific Meeting
10. Ten Simple Rules for Aspiring Scientists in a Low-Income Country

What do people mean when they say “computational x”?

Inman started off a discussion in the CCNR mailing list after Emails announcing two new Journals: Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, and Cognitive Computation. He wonders what is meant by computation in those titles, and provides four possible options:

(A) That subset of intelligence we display when we are doing computations, in Turing’s sense of the word. I.e. when we are following explicit algorithms, such as doing long division. I.e. ‘computational’ limits the domain of intelligence being studied.

(B) Studying intelligence (not so limited) with the working assumption that the brain is some form of computer. I.e. using a computer and computations as a model for the brain.

(C) Studying intelligence (not so limited) in ways that make the use of computers a practical tool, allowing types of studies unavailable (or more difficult) without their assistance. I.e. using computers as tools.

or indeed (D) any further variation you might propose.

At least two people in the post have suggested most people mean the same thing.

With his permission, I have converted Inman’s Email into a poll. I have made three different ones. I think the term that follows “computation” might change the results.

The idea of the poll is, of course, not to sort out the mess by popular vote. I’d like to see if – as some suggest – one of the options is indeed the most common answer throughout (but also because I really wanted to test the poll tool).

……

……

Thanks for voting! And importantly, if you voted for the option “other”, then please tell us what you mean.

Word cloud of my PhD thesis

Quick post. I just discovered Worlde. The site lets you generate word clouds from any text.

Continuous-time recurrent ‘neural’ network as a model of intracellular signalling

This is a bit of a long post (took me the better part of today). It shall serve as my initial train of thought on something that I would like to refine, extend, and publish somewhere more seriously. So, if you find the post interesting, and/or you think you can help me shape it such that it becomes so, then don’t hesitate to contact me.

Catching up

Getting around to writing this post has taken even longer than the usual. I will attempt to briefly catch up. What have I done so far this year? In terms of writing first.

Thesis, the economy, and writing

For the last couple of months I have been spending most time working on my thesis. It has been actually very enjoyable, for the most part. There have been some days where it has been somewhat painful. The quick update is that it is going well and that I still hope to submit very soon. As expected, there are many experiments, and tasks, and analysis that I would like to expand into. But I’m going to have to leave it for later. As Inman keeps reminding me, there is no such thing as a finished thesis…

Journals

Journals checked regularly (in no particular order):

Behavioral Neuroscience
Journal of Experimental Biology
Journal of Neurophysiology
Journal of Neurobiology

Usual update while ECAL is still fresh in my body

Before I move on to my daily research routine I will first attempt to reflect on the conference. Hopefully this way I can reduce the chances of forgetting it ever happened. I won’t go into much depth but only some of the things I remember most clearly.

A second level of ‘interestingness’ and a more minimal non-monotonic transfer function

The following is a follow-up to my transfer function post a couple of days ago. Two persons have suggested using a simpler non-monotonic function such as the Gaussian. I will incorporate results with that transfer function. Also, I will add one more category to my previous minimalistic categorizationof asymptotic dynamics: point attractors versus other dynamics. I am now including periodic orbits. Still very minimalistic.

Random thoughts

I will try to express here two worries that I have had dancing around in my head (and probably body too) for some time now, but which I had not been too explicitly aware of until relatively recently. These preoccupations have arisen from general conversations with people in CCNR-related environments and have occurred with more than one person in different contexts, but it is not aimed at any one person in particular.