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GitHub Projects
by Dennis Terhorst 14 Apr '20

14 Apr '20

Dear NEST users and developers, some of you may already have noticed, that we recently updated a lot of issues and pull-requests in our repository. The changes are completely organizational and aim to provide a better overview and service to our community. In particular, we removed the "C:" category labels (Model, Kernel, PyNEST, Documentation, ...) and instead now make use of corresponding GitHub projects. There, issues and pull-requests are represented as "cards" on a Kanban-like board, which gives a comprehensive view on the current topics and enables dedicated discussions to focus more easily. For each project we assigned a contact person that will take care of organizing work for that subset of cards. You notice that also the "P:" progress labels have mostly been removed (except "blocked" and "won't fix"), as this is automatically tracked in the columns of the projects and is much easier to manage there. The change to GitHub projects enables us to discuss topics in a more focused fashion than detailed issue-by-issue, which will also be reflected in the Open NEST Developer Video Conference. Projects will give a general status update and can raise overarching questions into the discussion. The detailed issue-by-issue work on the other hand, is organized by the project groups separately and each group may decide to do separate meetings to discuss details. Besides the long-running projects corresponding to the category labels, larger short/mid-term activities are organized in "Feature-Projects". These projects aim to help developers to work on special or cross-cutting topics and are expected to be "finished" at some point. The open VC will cover them similar to the long-term projects if required. We hope these changes improve the overview over the work ongoing in all the many areas for users and developers, facilitate detailed discussions between relevant and interested people and make the work on the simulator more transparent. Best, Dennis

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Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday 13 April 2020 SKIPPED (Easter Monday)
by Dennis Terhorst 13 Apr '20

13 Apr '20

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to wish you all a happy Easter time and I hope you are all well despite the current circumstances. Since it is Easter Monday in some parts of the world, we will skip this meeting. I am looking forward to seeing you again in our next Open NEST Developer Video Conference on April 27th. Stay safe, best, Dennis Terhorst

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Custom input for neurons
by Nicolas Martorell 06 Apr '20

06 Apr '20

Dear all, I'm new at NEST, and I've been trying to recreate a neural system from my work. This involves an IAF neuron which receives two different stimuli (they would be represented by inputs to the neuron - increases in post-synaptic potential). Since these are stimuli I control in my experiments, I need to be able to control their dynamics as the simulation progresses (for example, one of the stimuli has an exponentially larger effect as time progresses). Therefore, it's important for me to be able to control the dynamic of these inputs. However, I have not been able to find a way to do this. One idea I've had is to set the amplitude of a noise-generator to change according to a function of my choosing (going back to the previous example, it would be an exponential function). But this would require for this parameter to be changed mid-simulation, or to be assigned to a function and interpreted by NEST. Is any of this possible? Or alternatively, do you know of another way of accomplishing this? Thank you! Nicolas

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Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday 30 March 2020 11:30 CEST (UTC+2)
by Dennis Terhorst 30 Mar '20

30 Mar '20

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next bi-weekly Open NEST Developer Video Conference, today Monday 30 March, 11.30-12.30 CEST (UTC+2). Given the current circumstances today's meeting will be again via video conference only, so please do not meet in person! Stay safe! We discuss development status of relevant pull-requests/issues for the upcoming releases. Agenda Welcome Review of NEST User Mailing List Projects & Branches Review of open Github Pull Request Review of open Github Issues The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2020-03-30-Open-NEST-Developer-… Looking forward to seeing you soon! best, Dennis Terhorst ------------------ Log-in information ------------------ We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you're in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase "Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten", just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. - Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): vc.dfn.net##97938800 or 194.95.240.2##97938800 - Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de - By telephone: +49-30-200-97938800 For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4

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Memory issues arising in small neural networks
by sternj＠college.harvard.edu 27 Mar '20

27 Mar '20

Hello all, Hope everyone is staying safe and well in these difficult times. I am an undergrad who is just getting started with this library, so I want to apologize in advance for the basic question. I am having issues I believe are memory-related when I call GetConnections on rather small networks. Here is my script: import nest # memory testing nest.ResetKernel() n = 5 # number of neurons epop1 = nest.Create("iaf_psc_alpha",n) epop2 = nest.Create("iaf_psc_alpha",n) nest.Connect(epop1,epop2,{'rule': 'all_to_all'}) # we can now query the synapses using GetConnections conns = nest.GetConnections(epop1,target = epop2) nest.GetStatus(conns,["target","weight"]) This runs fine for n < 5, but I get the following error with n >=5: Assertion failed: (source_lid < MAX_LID), function set_source_lid, file /usr/local/miniconda/conda-bld/nest-simulator_1583214474797/work/nestkernel/target_data.h, line 264. Abort trap: 6 I have run some of the example scripts like brunel_alpha_numpy with a few thousand neurons and they work just fine. Am I making an improper call to GetConnections here? And if so, what is a better way to dynamically check connectivity? Alternatively, might there be something wrong with my Nest environment? And if so, what should I look at to troubleshoot this? Thank you so much for your help. Best wishes, Josh

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Error message when installing with cmake
by benedikt.s.vogler＠tum.de 22 Mar '20

22 Mar '20

Hello everyone! I tried installing nest using cmake version 3.14 on ubuntu. This is the command I tried from the nest-simulator directory: cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=/home/bsvogler/Dokumente/nest /home/bsvogler/Dokumente/nest-simulator/nest I get the following two error messages and cannot find any information on how to resolve this issue ========= CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:97 (install): install TARGETS given no RUNTIME DESTINATION for executable target "nest". CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:106 (FILTER_HEADERS): Unknown CMake command "FILTER_HEADERS". CMake Warning (dev) in CMakeLists.txt: No cmake_minimum_required command is present. A line of code such as cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.13) should be added at the top of the file. The version specified may be lower if you wish to support older CMake versions for this project. For more information run "cmake --help-policy CMP0000". This warning is for project developers. Use -Wno-dev to suppress it. -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred! See also "/home/bsvogler/Dokumente/nest-simulator/nestinstall/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log". ======= I tried the master branch and the nest3 branch. I need a working nest 3 simulator. I managed to compile just yesterday but in the meantime, I reinstalled the operating system. Please help me out. Kind regards, Benedikt S. Vogler

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Using music_cont_in_proxy as current source
by Mohammadreza Mohagheghi Nejad 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

Dear all, I would like to receive a continuous stream of data via ‘music_cont_in_proxy’ and use it as input current to a neuron. I used ‘iaf_cond_alpha_mc’ as model neuron because I could specify the input that should target the neuron via the receptor_type that accepts current {‘receptor_type’: 7} (’soma_curr’: 7) and connected the ‘music_cont_in_proxy’ via this receptor to the neuron. Currently, for testing purposes, I used ‘constsource’ music binary continuous data stream, which is also used in NEST guides (https://bit.ly/2xBNfpO). As I imagined, it didn’t work maybe because the output type of the music port doesn’t match the input type of the receptor type (’the following error’). Does anyone know how I can overcome this problem (that I can use ‘music_cont_in_proxy’ as current source)? Thank you very much in advance. ########ERROR######## Traceback (most recent call last): File "./conttest.py", line 39, in <module> nest.Connect(mcip, mc, 'one_to_one', {'receptor_type': 7}) File "/local/work/Projects/closed-loop-learning/NEST/lib/python3.7/site-packages/nest/ll_api.py", line 246, in stack_checker_func return f(*args, **kwargs) File "/local/work/Projects/closed-loop-learning/NEST/lib/python3.7/site-packages/nest/lib/hl_api_connections.py", line 362, in Connect sr('Connect') File "/local/work/Projects/closed-loop-learning/NEST/lib/python3.7/site-packages/nest/ll_api.py", line 132, in catching_sli_run raise exceptionCls(commandname, message) nest.ll_api.UnexpectedEvent: ('UnexpectedEvent in Connect_g_g_D_D: Node cannot handle received event.', 'UnexpectedEvent', <SLILiteral: Connect_g_g_D_D>, ': Node cannot handle received event.’) ########ERROR######## Best wishes, Mohammad -- Mohammadreza Mohagheghi Nejad Postdoctoral researcher in computational neuroscience, Institute of Neural Computation, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany https://www.ini.rub.de/the_institute/people/mohammadreza-mohagheghi_nejad/

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MUSIC - music_cont_in/out_proxy - Guide
by Mohammadreza Mohagheghi Nejad 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

Dear all, I am trying to use music ports for my simulations, which requires continuous transmission of data to NEST. I would like to test them in a toy example before integrating them in my project to make sure I am using them as I should. So, under section "Receiving continuous data" in "Guides\Using NEST with MUSIC" ( https://nest-simulator.readthedocs.io/en/stable/guides/using_nest_with_musi…), I found a guide for this functionality of NEST, however, the binary "constsource" is not available. Does anybody have any idea where I can find it? Thank you very much in advance for your help, Best wishes, Mohammad -- Mohammadreza Mohagheghi Nejad Postdoctoral researcher in computational neuroscience, Institute of Neural Computation, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany https://www.ini.rub.de/the_institute/people/mohammadreza-mohagheghi_nejad/

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Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday 16 March 2020 11:30 CET (UTC+1)
by Dennis Terhorst 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next bi-weekly Open NEST Developer Video Conference, today Monday 16 March, 11.30-12.30 CET (UTC+1). Given the current circumstances today's meeting will be *via VIDEO CONFERENCE**ONLY*, so please do not meet in person! We will focus on the organization of our now even more decentralized work and discuss development status of relevant pull-requests/issues for the upcoming releases. Agenda Welcome Review of NEST User Mailing List Review of open Github Pull Request Review of open Github Issues The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2020-03-16-Open-NEST-Developer-… Looking forward to seeing you soon! best, Dennis Terhorst ------------------ Log-in information ------------------ We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you're in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase "Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten", just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. - Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): vc.dfn.net##97938800 or 194.95.240.2##97938800 - Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de - By telephone: +49-30-200-97938800 For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4

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Please merge master if you have open pull requests / Issue #1449
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 12 Mar '20

12 Mar '20

Dear NEST Developers! If you currently have an open pull request against the NEST master branch on Github, please merge the most recent updates from master into your branch. A bug described in #1449 and fixed by #1458 lead to non-deterministic test suite failures. Once you have merged master into your branch, please push again to Github to re-run the tests on Travis. Best, Hans Ekkehard -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Head, Data Science Section Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

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