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Newbie questions
by Roman Kalivoda 04 Nov '19

04 Nov '19

Hello Nest users, I recently started to work on my bachelor thesis and the first step is to find existing simulators of neural networks and analyze them. Regarding that, I have some questions about the Nest to which I cannot find answers. Is there some graphical interface for Nest? I have found a GitHub project called nest-desktop (https://github.com/babsey/nest-desktop), but I could not find it being mentioned anywhere in the nest simulator documentation. Does anyone have some experience with this? Is it reliable? What is it capable of? If there is not any official Nest GUI, how do you typically work on new simulations? Do you just write plain python scripts for PyNest interface? The last request is directed more to the developers, but maybe someone can lead me in the right way. My thesis lead would like to see some schema of the Nest architecture or some overview of how the simulator is designed. Thank you very much, Roman Kalivoda

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Re: parrot neurons PORT 1
by Charl Linssen 01 Nov '19

01 Nov '19

Dear Nikolas, Could the following example in NEST Simulator be what you're looking for? https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/blob/f28b138f469354264f65c3b5c9d05e5… """Check STDP protocol between two parrot_neurons connected by a stdp_synapse. Exact pre- and post-synaptic spike times are set by spike_generators connected to each parrot neuron. Additional spikes sent through the stdp_synapse are explicitly ignored in the postsynaptic parrot_neuron by setting the stdp_synapse to connect to port 1. """ With kind regards, Charl On Wed, Oct 30, 2019, at 11:58, Nikolaos Chrysanthidis wrote: > Hi Charl, > I want to test the weight change of a single synapse providing stimulation at 2 parrot neurons, so for that reason, > If I excite two pre-,post- parrot neurons (parrot_A,B) using port 0, then the parrot_A will excite the parrot_B as well, so the parrot_B will end up having more spikes than expected. > I think this can be overcome by using port1 of parrot_B in order to ignore the extra excitation from parrot_A. > Please, I'd be grateful if you could provide a way to avoid extra excitation from parrot_A onto parrot_B. > > Kind regards, > Nikolas > > *From:* Charl Linssen <nest-users(a)turingbirds.com> > *Sent:* 28 October 2019 12:11 > *To:* users(a)nest-simulator.org > *Subject:* [NEST Users] Re: parrot neurons PORT 1 > > Dear Nikolaos, > > I'm a little confused as to why you wish to use port 1 for this. A synapse is not aware of incoming or outgoing ports, so if you want to test a particular synapse model, you can connect it between port 0 of a presynaptic parrot neuron, and port 0 of a postsynaptic parrot neuron. Could you otherwise please clarify your use case a bit? > > With kind regards, > Charl > > > On Thu, Oct 17, 2019, at 17:00, Nikolaos Chrysanthidis wrote: >> Hi NEST users, >> >> I have a pre- and post-synaptic spike train and I want to impose these spike trains onto a plastic synapse to see the weight development. >> >> To this end, I thought of having 2 "parrot_neuron_ps" as pre- and post-synaptic neurons connected with the plastic synapse which uses AMPA receptor. >> By doing this, NEST yields the following error: "NESTError: UnknownReceptorType in Connect_g_g_D_D: Receptor type 1 is not available in parrot_neuron_ps." which in my case Receptor type 1 is the AMPA receptor. >> >> At the nest documentation about "parrot_neuron_ps" I found out that I can have the plastic synapse onto port 1 of the postsynaptic parrot neuron >> which I hope it will solve the error with the receptor. >> >> From nest documentation -> "Only spikes arriving on connections to port 0 will be repeated. Connections onto port 1 will be accepted, but spikes incoming >> through port 1 will be ignored. This allows setting exact pre- and post-synaptic spike times for STDP protocols by connecting >> >> two parrot neurons spiking at desired times by, e.g., a stdp_synapse onto port 1 on the post-synaptic parrot neuron." >> >> My query is, how to connect the 2 neurons using port 1 of the post synaptic neuron ? >> If this approach with parrot neurons doesn't seem the right choice, what is the most commonly used approach ? >> >> Thank you very much, >> Kind regards, >> Nikolas >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NEST Users mailing list -- users(a)nest-simulator.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave(a)nest-simulator.org >> >

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Random balanced network with conductance based synapses
by Adam Haber 31 Oct '19

31 Oct '19

Hi, I'm trying to port to NEST this "conductance-based" network from Brian: https://brian2.readthedocs.io/en/stable/examples/frompapers.Stimberg_et_al_… I'm unable to reproduce their results (qualitatively - I'm not expecting identical results since I assume RNGs, solvers and other implementation details differ in many ways). Is there any publicly available example of a random balanced network with conductance based synapses? From what I've seen, all the brunel-style example networks are current based (as in the original paper). Thanks in advance, Adam

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parrot neurons PORT 1
by Nikolaos Chrysanthidis 28 Oct '19

28 Oct '19

Hi NEST users, I have a pre- and post-synaptic spike train and I want to impose these spike trains onto a plastic synapse to see the weight development. To this end, I thought of having 2 "parrot_neuron_ps" as pre- and post-synaptic neurons connected with the plastic synapse which uses AMPA receptor. By doing this, NEST yields the following error: "NESTError: UnknownReceptorType in Connect_g_g_D_D: Receptor type 1 is not available in parrot_neuron_ps." which in my case Receptor type 1 is the AMPA receptor. At the nest documentation about "parrot_neuron_ps" I found out that I can have the plastic synapse onto port 1 of the postsynaptic parrot neuron which I hope it will solve the error with the receptor. From nest documentation -> "Only spikes arriving on connections to port 0 will be repeated. Connections onto port 1 will be accepted, but spikes incoming through port 1 will be ignored. This allows setting exact pre- and post-synaptic spike times for STDP protocols by connecting two parrot neurons spiking at desired times by, e.g., a stdp_synapse onto port 1 on the post-synaptic parrot neuron." My query is, how to connect the 2 neurons using port 1 of the post synaptic neuron ? If this approach with parrot neurons doesn't seem the right choice, what is the most commonly used approach ? Thank you very much, Kind regards, Nikolas

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Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday 28 October 2019 11.30 CET (UTC+1)
by Dennis Terhorst 28 Oct '19

28 Oct '19

Dear NEST Developers! I would like to invite you to our next bi-weekly Open NEST Developer Video Conference today (please excuse the late invitation) Monday 28 October, 11.30-12.30 CET (UTC+1). See below for information about how to log into the meeting. The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2019-10-14-Open-NEST-Developer-… Agenda 1. Welcome 2. Planning of HBP High-Level Support Event in Heidelberg <https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/education/participatecollaborate/infras…> next month 3. Review of NEST User Mailing List <https://www.nest-simulator.org/mailinglist/hyperkitty/list/users@nest-simul…> 4. Review of open Github Pull Request <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pulls> 5. Review of open Github Issues <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/issues> 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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ok
by 岳训 26 Oct '19

26 Oct '19

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Issues with make under OSX
by Benjamin Staude 25 Oct '19

25 Oct '19

Hi there, I am trying to install nest under OSX Mojave and run into the following cmake-error (see below for a full trace): -- Could NOT find OpenMP_C (missing: OpenMP_C_FLAGS OpenMP_C_LIB_NAMES) -- Could NOT find OpenMP_CXX (missing: OpenMP_CXX_FLAGS OpenMP_CXX_LIB_NAMES) -- Could NOT find OpenMP (missing: OpenMP_C_FOUND OpenMP_CXX_FOUND) I already tried various tricks (http://stechschulte.net/2016/03/20/openmp-osx-cmake.html, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48825416/missing-openmp-c-flags-openmp-…), but had no success. Does anybody have experience? Thanks in advance, Benjamin ######################################################### -- The CXX compiler identification is AppleClang 9.0.0.9000038 -- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 9.0.0.9000038 -- Check for working CXX compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/c++ -- Check for working CXX compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/c++ -- works -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done -- Detecting CXX compile features -- Detecting CXX compile features - done -- Check for working C compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/cc -- Check for working C compiler: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/cc -- works -- Detecting C compiler ABI info -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done -- Detecting C compile features -- Detecting C compile features - done -- Could NOT find Doxygen (missing: DOXYGEN_EXECUTABLE) -- Looking for include file inttypes.h -- Looking for include file inttypes.h - found -- Looking for include file mach-o/dyld.h -- Looking for include file mach-o/dyld.h - found -- Looking for include file mach/mach.h -- Looking for include file mach/mach.h - found -- Looking for include file memory.h -- Looking for include file memory.h - found -- Looking for include file stdint.h -- Looking for include file stdint.h - found -- Looking for include file sys/types.h -- Looking for include file sys/types.h - found -- Looking for C++ include istream -- Looking for C++ include istream - found -- Looking for C++ include ostream -- Looking for C++ include ostream - found -- Looking for C++ include sstream -- Looking for C++ include sstream - found -- Looking for stddef.h -- Looking for stddef.h - found -- Check size of long long -- Check size of long long - done -- Check size of u_int16_t -- Check size of u_int16_t - done -- Check size of uint16_t -- Check size of uint16_t - done -- Check size of u_int64_t -- Check size of u_int64_t - done -- Check size of uint64_t -- Check size of uint64_t - done -- Looking for NAN -- Looking for NAN - found -- Looking for isnan -- Looking for isnan - found -- Looking for M_E -- Looking for M_E - found -- Looking for M_PI -- Looking for M_PI - found -- Looking for expm1 -- Looking for expm1 - found -- Host triple: x86_64-apple-darwin -- Target triple: x86_64-apple-darwin -- Found LTDL: /usr/local/lib/libltdl.dylib (found version "2.4.6") -- Found Readline: /usr/lib/libreadline.dylib (found version "4.2") -- Found PkgConfig: /usr/local/bin/pkg-config (found version "0.29.2") -- Found GSL: /usr/local/Cellar/gsl/2.6/include (found version "2.6") -- Found PythonInterp: /Users/staude/.pyenv/shims/python (found version "3.7.2") -- Found PythonLibs: /Users/staude/.pyenv/versions/3.7.2/lib/libpython3.7m.a (found suitable exact version "3.7.2") -- Found Cython: /Users/staude/.pyenv/shims/cython (found version "0.29.13") -- Could NOT find OpenMP_C (missing: OpenMP_C_FLAGS OpenMP_C_LIB_NAMES) -- Could NOT find OpenMP_CXX (missing: OpenMP_CXX_FLAGS OpenMP_CXX_LIB_NAMES) -- Could NOT find OpenMP (missing: OpenMP_C_FOUND OpenMP_CXX_FOUND) CMake Error at cmake/ProcessOptions.cmake:452 (message): CMake can not find OpenMP. Call Stack (most recent call first): CMakeLists.txt:164 (nest_process_with_openmp)

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C/C++ interface
by Xavier Otazu 24 Oct '19

24 Oct '19

Hello, I would like to make a suggestion for future development. Now there is a Python interface, but some of us have been working with C/C++ for many years (and we have a lot of data processing software developed in this language). Please, could you include a C/C++ interface for NEST? Thanks a lot in advance! Xavier

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RGN
by Maryada Maryada 22 Oct '19

22 Oct '19

Hi all, I have a question regarding random number generator. I am intend to randomly choose neuron population but keep this same across multiple processes. (see attached) mpirun -np 4 python network_population.py However, seemingly I am missing something. Also, in case I try to use different population count I am getting error while connecting nodes with input or probes. (see mpi_example) -- Thanks and Regards *Maryada*

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precise firing events
by Nikolaos Chrysanthidis 22 Oct '19

22 Oct '19

Dear NEST users, I would like to ask you if there is any way to have an AdEx neuron model firing at specific times (ms) in NEST. Kind regards,

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