Neural Information Processing

These two-volume books comprise the post-conference proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP 2007) held in Kitakyushu, Japan, during November 13–16, 2007. The Asia Paci?c Neural Network Assembly (APNNA) was founded in 1993. The ?rst ICONIP was held in 1994 in Seoul, Korea, sponsored by APNNA in collaboration with regional organizations. Since then, ICONIP has consistently provided prestigious opp- tunities for presenting and exchanging ideas on neural networks and related ?elds. Research ?elds covered by ICONIP have now expanded to include such ?elds as bioinformatics, brain machine interfaces, robotics, and computational intelligence. We had 288 ordinary paper submissions and 3 special organized session p- posals. Although the quality of submitted papers on the average was excepti- ally high, only 60% of them were accepted after rigorous reviews, each paper being reviewed by three reviewers. Concerning special organized session prop- als, two out of three were accepted. In addition to ordinary submitted papers, we invited 15 special organized sessions organized by leading researchers in emerging ?elds to promote future expansion of neural information processing. ICONIP 2007 was held at the newly established Kitakyushu Science and Research Park in Kitakyushu, Japan. Its theme was “Towards an Integrated Approach to the Brain—Brain-Inspired Engineering and Brain Science,” which emphasizes the need for cross-disciplinary approaches for understanding brain functions and utilizing the knowledge for contributions to the society. It was jointly sponsored by APNNA, Japanese Neural Network Society (JNNS), and the 21st century COE program at Kyushu Institute of Technology.