5.2 Workshop on Feedback and Synchronization in
Neuroscience
Contributed by: Antoine
Chaillet,antoine.chaillet@supelec.fr

Call for abstracts/financial support: Workshop on Feedback
and Synchronization in Neuroscience in ISSSMA 2013

ISSSMA 2013
Paris, France
June 3-4, 2013
http://isssma2013.sciencesconf.org
Submission deadline: *March 15th, 2013*

We are pleased to announce the workshop « Feedback and
Synchronization in Neuroscience » as a part of the
Interdisciplinary Symposium on Signals and Systems for
Medical Applications (ISSSMA 2013). This workshop aims at
gathering expertise from different disciplines
(neuroscience, control theory, and medicine) around four
sessions. It will take place at Institut Henri Poincaré
(Paris) on June 3-4, 2013 in parallel with:
- Workshop on modeling and analysis of cancer cell
dynamics
- Workshop on medical imaging.

Financial support will be provided to a selection of PhD
students (see website for application instructions).
The workshop is made of four invited sessions and a
contributed poster session.

The four invited sessions are:

Session 1: From neurons to neuronal populations dynamics
Boris Gutkin - ENS Paris (France), Alex Roxin - CRM
(Spain), Rodolphe Sepulchre - Liège Univ. (Belgium)

Session 2: Healthy and pathological oscillations in basal
ganglia
Rafal Bogacz - Univ. of Bristol (UK), Thomas Boraud -
CNRS, Univ. of Bordeaux (France), William Pasillas-Lépine
- CNRS, L2S (France)

Session 3: Synchronization in neuroscience
Constance Hammond - INSERM, INMED (France), Elena Panteley
- CNRS, L2S (France), Michael Rosenblum - Potsdam Univ.
(Germany)

Session 4: Identification and observer design in
neuroscience
Henk Nijmeijer - Tec. Univ. Eindhoven (The Netherlands),
Romain Postoyan - CNRS, CRAN (France), Sridevi V. Sarma -
John Hopkins Univ. (USA).

IMPORTANT DATES
- Poster submission Deadline (short abstract): March, 15th
2013
- Deadline for application to financial support: March,
15th 2013
- Notification of acceptance/rejection: April 2013
- Workshop: June 3-4, 2013.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

5.3 Workshop on Machine Learning For System Identification
Contributed by: Francesco Dinuzzo,
fdinuzzo@tuebingen.mpg.de

ICML 2013 Workshop on Machine Learning For System
Identification
http://mlsysid.tuebingen.mpg.de/

Call for Posters and Papers

We solicit submission of extendend abstracts or papers
discussing high quality research on all aspects of
dynamical system modeling and identification with machine
learning tools. Both theoretical and applied contributions
presenting recent or ongoing research are welcomed. The
list of tools, problems, and applications includes, but is
not limited to the following:
 
Tools: kernel methods, regularization techniques, Bayesian
estimation, deep learning, manifold learning, spectral
methods, causal inference, active learning, reinforcement
learning.
 
Problems: predictor estimation, state-space model
identification, impulse response modeling, non-linear
system modeling, experiment design.
 
Applications: robotics, automotive, process control,
motion tracking, system biology, computational
sustainability.
 
Submissions and Publication

An extended abstract suffices for a poster submission.
Additionally, we welcome position papers, as well as
papers discussing open problems and potential future
research directions. Both extended abstracts and
position/future research papers will be reviewed by
program committee members on the basis of relevance,
significance, and clarity. Submissions should be formatted
according to the ICML 2013 conference template. The length
of abstracts and papers should not exceed 8 pages.
 
Submission website:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mlsysid2013

Important Dates

Mar 20, 2013 - Deadline of Submission
Apr 15, 2013 - Notification of Acceptance
June 20-21, 2013 - Workshop

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

5.4 8th International Workshop on Multidimensional Systems
Contributed by: Rudolf Rabenstein, rabe@LNT.de

8th International Workshop on Multidimensional (nD)
Systems (nDS13)
Submission of papers and special session proposals April
28, 2013
Notification of acceptance or rejection May 27, 2013
Final Papers due June 30, 2013
Workshop dates Sept. 9-11, 2013

Call for Papers

Monday, September, 9 - Wednesday, September, 11, 2013
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen–Nuremberg,
Erlangen, Germany

Technically co-sonsored by the VDE ITG and the IEEE CAS
Society

The workshop presents the current state of the art and
recent advances
in the theory and applications of multidimensional
systems. It provides a
forum for bringing together researchers from a wide
variety of different sci-
entific areas and application fields.

The workshops features prominent plenary speakers from the
USA and from Europe

* Sankar Basu, National Science Foundation (USA)
* Augusto Sarti, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
* Christopher Freeman, University of Southampton (UK)

Topics of the workshop include

* Multidimensional signal reconstruction from partial
observations and projections
* Signal modelling
* Spectral analysis and transform techniques
* Robust analysis and control of uncertain
multidimensional models
* Multivariate approximation
* Multidimensional realization theory
* Multivariate polynomial and matrix factorization schemes
* Linear and nonlinear control, prediction and filtering
of multidimensional processes
* Repetitive processes
* Iterative Learning Control
* Image and video processing
* Analysis, processing, and reproduction of spatial sound
* Array processing
and other topics related to multidimensional systems
theory and applications.

Important Deadlines:

Submission of papers and special session proposals April
28, 2013
Notification of acceptance or rejection May 27, 2013
Final Papers due June 30, 2013

Call for Papers:
Please submit your manuscripts (4-6 pages) via EasyChair
at
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nds13.
Detailed instructions on paper submission are given at the
conference web site
http://www.LNT.de/nds13
The proceedings will be available at the VDE Publishing
House and at IEEE Xplore®
 
General Chairs: Rabenstein, R., Galkowski, K., Rogers, E.
Organizing Committee: Annibale, P., Hespelein, U., Rex, A.
Contact:
Chair of Multimedia Communication and Signal Processing
(LMS),
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg,
Cauerstr. 7, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
Fax ++49 9131 85 28849
Email nds13@LNT.de
Web site http://www.LNT.de/nds13

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6. Positions

6.1 PhD: Università del Salento (University of Lecce),
Italy
Contributed by: Giuseppe Notarstefano,
giuseppe.notarstefano@unisalento.it

The PhD School of Information Engineering at the
Università del Salento (University of Lecce), Lecce,
Italy, offers Ph.D. scholarships on different topics
related to ICT.

The school is looking for highly motivated students with
strong background in Mathematics and Physics and, among
others, background in control, optimization,
identification and estimation theory.

Control topics of interest include: distributed control of
multi-agent systems, distributed optimization, modeling
and trajectory optimization of aerial vehicles,
cooperative control of aerial vehicles, underwater
robotics, and fault/intrusion detection.

DEADLINE: 11 March 2013

For further information about the application procedure,
please contact the PhD school coordinator Prof. Luca
Mainetti (luca.mainetti@unisalento.it) or professors of
the Control Optimization and Robotics group
www.cor.unisalento.it.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6.2 PhD: LAAS-CNRS Toulouse University, France
Contributed by: Sophie Tarbouriech, tarbour@laas.fr

http://www.laas.fr

Title: Hybrid Techniques for Analysis and Design of
Limited Information Control Systems
Supervision: S. Tarbouriech and L. Zaccarian
Duration: from 09/2013 to 08/2016
Application Deadline: April 21, 2013

Subject:
LimICos is an interdisciplinary project funded by the
French National Research Agency (ANR) at the frontier of
control theory, information theory, and digital
communications. The objective of this project is to know
to what extent controlled systems are impacted by
imperfections due to communication between devices; the
main part of the proposal is dedicated to the
point-to-point scenario, which typically involves one
controller and one plant in communication but the case of
networked controlled system is also investigated. One of
the main goals of LimICos is to model these imperfections
and take them into account both in the performance
analysis and design of the control systems.
Within the LimICos project, a PhD thesis is considered,
which will use, within the scope of the project, Lyapunov
techniques inspired by the nonlinear hybrid dynamical
systems framework recently proposed by Teel and
co-authors. With these hybrid techniques, new modeling and
control design tools are available, which are especially
suited to address the continuous/discrete phenomena
arising in control networks. In particular, the proposed
PhD study will address event-triggered and self-triggered
control designs that reduce bandwidth usage in
communication networks, in combination with distributed
control systems that arise in some specific control
problems such as consensus of multi-agent systems and
control of peculiar distributed physical systems.
The expected outcome of this PhD study is a set of
analysis and design tools that could be assessed on a few
application studies, such as control applications in
computer networks, or consensus/synchronization of drones
in flight formations. In light of the envisioned
applications, it will be relevant to take into account
isolated nonlinearities (saturation, hysteresis, backlash)
within the PhD study.
 
Keywords:
Lyapunov tools, hybrid dynamical systems, distributed
control, consensus and synchronization, nonlinear systems
 
Requirements:
- Master degree in Control Engineering.
- Very good knowledge of feedback control systems,
nonlinear systems, and nonlinear control.
- Experience with MATLAB/SIMULINK.
- Effective communication skills in English both oral and
written.
- Experience with information theory will strengthen the
application.

The position is available in September 2013 for three
years. The PhD student will be appointed by public funding
with a salary of roghly 1400 Euros (free of charges).
 
Candidates should apply before April 21st, 2013 by sending
an email to Dr. Sophie Tarbouriech (tarbour@laas.fr) and
Dr. Luca Zaccarian (zaccarian@laas.fr) with:
- a CV summarizing university background and research
experiences
- a motivation letter of one page.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6.3 Post-Doc: CEA CADARACHE, France
Contributed by: Rémy Nouailletas, remy.nouailletas@cea.fr

POST-DOCTORAL POSITION AVAILABLE AT CEA CADARACHE, FRANCE

TITLE: Distributed control for magnetic fusion research

SUMMARY:

Fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) account for approximately
85% of the worldwide sources of primary energy today. But
they should run out with in some tens of years and they
are responsible for a climate change via the contribution
in the greenhouse effect of the CO2 generated by their
combustion. Magnetic fusion is one of the options being
studied in order to eventually provide an answer to these
issues. Several conditions have to be met to produce
fusion reactions: the fuels have to be heated up to very
high temperature (around 100 million degrees) in order to
overcome the electrostatic potential barrier between
positively charged nucleuses. To reach such a temperature,
the ionized gas or plasma must be confined, for example by
magnetic confinement in a so-called tokamak facility,
which seems to be the most promising way. The key world
project in the domain, ITER (www.iter.org)  is led by
seven partners (Europe, United States of America, Japan,
China, India, South Korea, Russia) accounting for one half
of the world population. The main objective of the ITER
project is to demonstrate the scientific feasibility of
magnetic fusion. The ITER tokamak facility is currently
under construction in Cadarache in France, with first
experiment scheduled for 2020.
Tokamak control issues are becoming more and more
important for the success of magnetic fusion research and
will be crucial for ITER. Feedback control of the main
plasma macroscopic parameters, such as plasma position and
shape, total current or density is now quite well mastered
in the different worldwide tokamaks. But the control of
internal plasma radial profiles is still in its infancy,
whereas it now appears to be crucial in order both to
ensure safe tokamak operation and to sustain high
performance plasma regimes. More precisely, it has well
known that the so-called safety factor profile is a key
parameter for the global stability of plasma discharges
and it has also been observed that some specific profiles
may generate some enhanced confinement of the plasma
energy, which may reduce the size and cost of future
fusion reactors. To control his infinite dimension
profile, model-based controllers seem to be necessary in
front of the complexity of studied physical phenomena and
the need of simulation validation before carry out any
real experiment.
The first step of plasma internal profile control is to
control the magnetic flux profile defined by a 1D
resistive diffusion equation. Several approaches have been
proposed and successfully tested in simulation, [1], [2]
and [3]. However, their efficiency has to be demonstrated
experimentally. The applicant will implement these
controllers on Tore Supra (French tokamak) using the
abilities offered by our new fast development tools (based
on Simulink coder). He may propose some improvement of the
controllers or propose some new ones based on the
resistive diffusion equation of the magnetic flux or on a
more complex model which couples flux diffusion and heat
transport equation. These controllers will be validated
and tuned on plasma equilibrium codes as METIS or CRONOS,
[4]. The work will be done in collaboration with our
different French and international partner universities
and so the applicant may trip to share knowledge and data
or experiment on other plants (in particular on TCV,
Swiss).
 
References
[1]: F. Bribiesca Argomedo and al. Model-based Control of
the Magnetic Flux Profile in a Tokamak Plasma, CDC,
Atlanta, USA, december 2010
[2]: O. Gaye and al. Sliding mode stabilization of the
current profile in Tokamak plasmas, CDC, Orlando, USA,
december 2011
[3]: H. Ouarit and al. Validation of plasma current
profile model predictive control in tokamaks via
simulations, Fusion Eng. Des., 2011
[4]: J.F. Artaud and al. The cronos suite of codes for
integrated tokamak modelling. Nuclear Fusion, 50, 2010.

CEA - IRFM
F - 13108 St Paul-lez-Durance, France
Phone number: +33(0)4 42 25 48 25
e-mail: remy.nouailletas@cea.fr

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6.4 Post-Doc:  Loughborough University, UK
Contributed by: Wen-Hua Chen; w.chen@lboro.ac.uk

Three Post Doc Research Associates: Signal Processing
Solutions for the Networked Battlespace
To work on an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC)-Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
(Dstl) funded project as part of the Loughborough, Surrey,
Strathclyde and Cardiff (LSSC) Universities consortium
within the MoD University Defence Research Centre (UDRC)
scheme in signal processing; in particular, to provide
signal processing solutions for the networked battlespace.
At Loughborough University, the lead of the LSSC
consortium, the work will be carried out jointly between
the School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems
Engineering and the Department of Aeronautical and
Automotive Engineering and will involve close
collaboration with academic and industrial partners
together with members of the lead consortium based at
Edinburgh and Heriott Watt Universities.
Candidates must have a PhD in signal processing, or a
related topic, or equivalent experience, as well as
experience of developing MATLAB software and familiarity
with related toolboxes. Working knowledge of at least one
of the following areas: adaptive signal processing,
Bayesian inference, communications, convex optimization,
game theory and statistical anomaly detection, would be
advantageous.
The nature of the modern battlefield is changing
dramatically. Electronic communication is allowing
unprecedented interchange of data and information between
platforms. Advances in electronics are allowing the
possibility of low cost networked unattended sensors.
Intelligent and robust processing of the very large amount
of multi-sensor data acquired from various networked
communications and weapons platforms is, therefore,
crucial to retain military advantage and mitigate smart
adversaries who present multiple threats within an
anarchic and extended operating area (battlespace). Hence
we have composed a unique consortium of academic experts
from Loughborough, Surrey, Strathclyde and Cardiff (LSSC)
Universities together with six industrial project partners
QinetiQ, Selex-Galileo, Thales, Texas Instruments,
PrismTech and Steepest Ascent, to develop transformational
new signal processing solutions to the benefit of Defence
Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Ministry of
Defence (MoD), and the UK in general.
Two of the RAs will be employed within the School of
Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering and one
will work within the Department of Aeronautical and
Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University. Their
technical focus will be twofold: to advance the current
state-of-the-art in terms of identifying and classifying
complex and transient anomalies in complex
high-dimensional network environments, including
interference, communications and video signals; and
cyber-attacks using tractable algorithms with predictable
accuracy; and to design new computationally efficient
Bayesian inference frameworks together with game theoretic
approaches to handle uncertainty and integrate domain
knowledge thereby providing advantage in an adversary rich
networked battlespace.
The principal investigator of the project is Professor
Jonathon Chambers. Informal enquiries for all the three
posts are welcomed and should be made to Professor
Jonathon Chambers, School of Electronic, Electrical and
Systems Engineering, Loughborough University,
Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU. Email:
J.A.Chambers@lboro.ac.uk. However, for the candidates who
have background in Bayesian inference or autonomous
vehicles and are interested in the RA position in Dept. of
Aeronautical and Automotive Eng, please contact Prof.
Wen-Hua Chen at w.chen@lboro.ac.uk.
These RA posts are for three years at the first instance
at Research Grade 6 (£27,854 - £31,331 per annum).

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6.5  Post-Doc: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Contributed by: Paul Barton, pib@mit.edu

A postdoctoral position is currently available in the
Process Systems Engineering Laboratory at MIT. The project
involves developing models, theory and algorithms for the
optimization under uncertainty of a class of energy
systems. The project is sponsored by a major international
corporation and the candidate's responsibilities will
include frequent interaction with and reporting to the
sponsor.
Candidates should have a Ph.D. in chemical engineering (or
related discipline) with expertise in mathematical
programming, particularly mixed-integer, nonconvex and
stochastic programming. Interested applicants should send
a detailed curriculum vitae and a list of at least three
referees to:
 
Paul I. Barton
Lammot du Pont Professor
Process Systems Engineering Laboratory
Department of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 66-464
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge
MA 02139
U.S.A.

Phone : +1-617-253-6526
Fax : +1-617-258-5042
email : pib@mit.edu

http://yoric.mit.edu

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

6.6  Post-Doc: Bethune-Cookman University, USA
Contributed by: Jing Wang, wangj@cookman.edu

There is an opening of postdoctoral researcher at the
Robotics and Controls Laboratory in the Department of
Computer Science and Computer Engineering of the
Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, Florida. The
position is expected to be available in April contingent
on funding being available. The initial appointment will
be for one year, with the possibility of renewing for
another year subject to satisfactory performance reviews
and continued funding.
The research to be conducted is in the areas of multiagent
task coordination, distributed optimization, adaptive
cooperative control and learning.
The candidate must have a strong background in cooperative
control, nonlinear systems, optimization, and multiagent
systems. Programming experience in C++ and Matlab will be
a plus. The annual salary will be in the range $25,000 to
$30,000 plus benefits. To apply, please send a cover
letter with CV and contact information for three
references to Dr. Jing Wang (wangj@cookman.edu).
Applications will be reviewed when they arrive until the
position is filled.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**