ERCIM News 146 Special Theme: "Quantum Technology"

Dear ERCIM News reader,

Quantum technology is increasingly becoming part of real-world systems. 

This issue looks at quantum algorithms, secure communication, hybrid computing, software and sensing, highlighting recent advances and the challenges of putting them into practice. The Special Theme was guest edited by Miroslav Dobsicek (RISE), Sebastian Raubitzek (SBA Research) and Filippo Vella (CNR-ICAR).

Introduction

by Miroslav Dobsicek (RISE),  Sebastian Raubitzek (SBA Research) and Filippo Vella (CNR-ICAR)

In recent years, major advances in quantum hardware, algorithms and software have created great  opportunities for scientific discovery and industrial innovation. What can be observed is that quantum technology is entering a new phase where systems are becoming the central focus. Progress is no longer defined only by better qubits, individual algorithms or isolated demonstrations, but increasingly by whether quantum components can be integrated with classical computing, software, networks, sensing platforms and real applications. This transition, from quantum components to quantum systems, is changing both the research questions and the criteria by which progress should be judged

Read more ...

Includes:

Quantum Retina: A Quantum Eye on the Brain and Other Things, pp.43-44. (brain imaging, Parkinson's disease)

Read the October 2026 Issue

This issue in PDF

Next Issue

No. 147 — January 2027
Special Theme: Data Spaces
Call for Contributions

See also:

https://www.ercim.eu/events (AI - ethics, ...)

My source with thanks: peter.kunz AT ercim.eu

Prof. George William Brown OBE, FBA (1930–2026)

"George Brown was a huge figure in sociology and social psychiatry. At a time when social science and psychiatry were so riven with conceptual differences they could not work constructively, George’s approach was collaborative, courageous and imaginative. His work addressed real-world problems and in so doing greatly enriched mental health research."

Professor Matthew Hotopf, Executive Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/professor-george-william-brown-obe-fba-19302026

Starting in Warrington School of Nursing (Winwick Hospital) as a student mental health nurse in October 1977 you can how that curriculum and programme of study came about; and influences on Brian Hodges' early career.

 

Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model

 

 An individual's 'health career' is impacted by their life chances and life events.

 

 

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

Individual Psychology Life events PSYCHIATRY psycho-	Life events EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHIATRY
social Group Psychology Life events SOCIAL & CULTURAL  PSYCHIATRY	LIFE EVENTS  PSYCHO-POLITICAL PSYCHIATRY

See also:

Wing, J.K., & Brown, G.W. (1970). Institutionalism and Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study of Three Mental Hospitals 1960–1968. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. 

Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar 

Brown G.W. & Harris, T. (1979) Social origins of depression: a study of psychiatric disorder in women, London: Tavistock Publications.

Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (Eds.). (1989). Life events and illness. The Guilford Press.

My source: Patrick Kidd. Forum, Obituary, The Observer. 20th September, 2026, p.42.
https://observer.co.uk/profile/obituary/article/george-brown-the-former-post-office-boy-who-unlocked-the-mystery-of-depression

Previously: 'social sciences' : 'psychiatry' : 'determinants'

'Healing grid' - the penultimate?

Healing grid by Ryota Kanai

Hodges' model is surely a clear winner 'healing grid'? Acting not only in healing, but in recovery, rehabilitation, reablement, palliative, illness and well-being too.

Quite a grid all-in-all (which also fascinate grandchildren).

My source: 

Great to see this on X. This is something I created during my PhD time 20 years ago. https://t.co/7mpU0D1tW5

— Ryota Kanai (@kanair) April 10, 2026

Previously: 'grids' : 'perception' : 'vision' : 'lines' : 'geometry'

#ArtemisSafeReturn #PrecisionGridManoeuvres

'Writing Samer'

Molly Fairhurst

 

... across the domains

"Diagnosed with a terminal cancer, Samer Iskandar couldn't find the words to describe what he was living through. Instead, he proposed an unusual collaboration." p.33.

 

Individual
   |

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

Group

"Samer's cancer^ is like all cancers in that it pitches the self into a battle against the non-self, - * "Memory, language, attention and cognition all erode to ultimately leave you somewhere east of your prior self and west of someone new." p.34.

- atavistic alien cells invading their host from within. But it is unlike most cancers in how directly this cellular plunder correlates to the personal one."  It is like all cancers in that its lexical field is that of topography, malignancies spreading, diffusing and gaining ground. It is unlike them in that these movements are finally technical, gears cramped within the clock of a terminal diagnosis." p.34.

^glioblastoma

*discuss

Youmna Melham Chamieh, Writing Samer, FT Weekend Magazine, 24/25 February, 2024, Issue 1,062, pp.32-37.

Illustrations by Molly Fairhurst

https://mollyfairhurst.com/Financial-Times (above source).

The conjunction of reality and simulation?

 "Models are approximations of reality, constructed by scientists to address specific questions of natural phenomena using the language of mathematics. Mathematical equations allow the practitioner to decide the level of abstraction needed to tackle a given problem, thus transcending the 'billiard ball' approach." p.198.

 

INDIVIDUAL
  |

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

"In practice, simulations are often limited by a dynamic range problem, meaning that one runs out of computing power to simulate behavior at all scales. The discretization of mathematical equations in order to program them into a computer introduces subtleties such as numerical dissipation - an artificial side effect of differential equation calculations that does not arise from physics. It is also likely that one needs different numerical methods to simulate behavior on different scales, and a single method may be insufficient for all spatial scales. Perhaps the advent of AI will allow us to overcome some of these limitations, but for now emulations remain an aspiration." p.199.  "

"Generally, examining the microscopic components of a complex system in order to understand how macroscopic behaviour emerges falls short - think biology and economics. Implicitly, this brute-force approach suggests that one may study complex systems without having a scientific question in mind, and if enough computing power is deployed then insight naturally emerges. The billion-euro Human Brain Project is a spectacular example of the limitations of such an approach. Essentially, their  simulations have failed to replace laboratory experiments. As has been noted by climate scientist Isaac Held, there is a tension between simulation and understanding.  We simulate in order to mimic as much of an observed phenomenon as possible. But we achieve understanding by using idealized models to capture the essence of the phenomenon. By design, idealized models necessarily employ assumptions." p.198.

Heng, K., Approximating Reality, American Scientist - Special Issue: Scientific Modelling, July-August 2023. 111:4,198-199.

When 'containment' and 'protection' meet injury

INDIVIDUAL

|

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

"MANUEL SUFFERED two serious brain injuries as a child in Denver, Colorado." p.54.

The function of the skull is . . ? "Brain injuries affect about 8.5% of the general population but rates among prisoners are far higher. Kim Gorgens, a neuropsychologist at the University of Denver, reckons that between 50% and 80% of prisoners and those on parole in America have brain injuries. A review of research in America, Australia and Europe suggests that the average reported rate is around 46%. Research conducted in 2010 by Huw Williams of the University of Exeter put the rate among men in British prisons at 65%. A study published in 2017 found that nearly half of all prisoners in New Zealand had been hospitalised for a traumatic brain injury before committing their crime. Researchers suspect that the numbers may be even higher in poorer countries because road-traffic accidents and violence are generally more common." p.54.

"A report in 2016 by the Centre for Mental Health estimated that in Britain the cost of traumaic brain injury in a 15-year old who goes on to offend is around £345,000 ($475,000). The cost to those affected and society more widely - is incalcuable." p.55.

The function of prison is . . ? "They are more troublesome while in prison and more likely to reoffend on release. This is especially true for those, like Manuel, who are injured as children." p.54. "Acknowledging the link between brain injuries and criminal behaviour is not to excuse lawbreaking. Most people with such injuries are capable of taking responsibility for their actions. However, it is easier to curb crime if you understand the factors that make it more likely, of which neurodisabilities are an important and neglected one." p.13.

Banged up. International, The Economist, March 27th 2021. pp.54-55;
And: Leaders. Knocked out and locked up. 438:9238, p.13.

See also:

UK Prisons Strategy White Paper

Headway: Brain injury and the criminal justice system

Review ii - "Brainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain―And How They Guide You"

Brainscapes

Now I know how Umami (p.87) an "example food magazine website to demonstrate some of the features of Drupal core" - got its name. I'm sure this was explained at a Drupal Meetup. Savoury indeed!

There had to be two! The brain has two strategies: brain maps and distributed codes.

"Representing information with a distributed code is entirely different from representing it with brain maps. In a brain map, neighboring neurons represent neighboring regions in space, frequency, time, and so forth. And brain maps essentially represent information using location, or where in the brain area the neurons are most active. In contrast, there is no consistent relationship between neighboring neurons in brain areas that use distributed codes. These areas represent information through the distributed pattern of activity across that entire region of the brain, rather than through the location of activity within it. This pattern of activity is a kind of code." pp.93-94.

This distinction is significant for Hodges' model, as the distributed codes act to deal with novelty, what is new - ongoing (lifelong) learning (p.95). Hodges' model can help distinguish between subjective and objective concerns. Schwarzlose unifies the two - via a catfish (also a goal here - but not necessarily with such an assistant).

"The map in the olfactory bulb is organised into odor zones based on molecular structure, an objective property of these compounds in the physical world. But the second map is organized into zones based on the significance of the odors to the animal." p.100.

Chapter 6 'On the Move: Brain Maps for Action' would have been useful as a student nurse at Winwick Hospital, the history in the book brings back many reminders - late 1970s. Epilepsy, then was less well understood, and managed. In describing the M1 brain map and movement I wondered about consent, but can see that is a distraction. Chapters -

6. On the Move: Brain Maps for Action | 107
7. Maps in the Making: How Brain Maps Develop and Adapt | 131
8. Knowing Again: Brain Maps for Recognition | 151

- offer much to relate to clinical encounters: movement, reaching, infant versus the brain in adults, the senses and catastrophic events such as cerebrovascular accident - stroke. Morphologically there is much still to learn (brain maps are 'primed' before birth), which perhaps is why we recognise the remarkable nature of gestation and birth. 'Maps in the Making' provides wondrous insights, including the need in hospitals to rethink the sensory environment and experience for premature infants.

While reading - I was struck at the experience of the newborn and mothers in Ukraine. The 'health career' model concerns life chances - from birth to later life...

As a community mental health nurse I have found subtle and less-subtle impacts on a person affected by semantic dementia (p.204) and their family. Given the ongoing invasion and war, I also thought about people living with dementia and having to flee their homes. The multiple contexts that pertain in such a crisis situation when considering 'maps' and sense-making. Especially, when the need for action is preemptive - preventive and so must be explained and justified, not once but perhaps repeatedly?

We are all innate mathematicians even if we feel we have no ability. 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=mathematics+in+catching+a+ball

I take some succor in this (p.127).

There's a hodgepodge in here too (p.161 hb). The myriad of objects we encounter and their recognition calls for the combination of brain maps and distributed codes. Chapter 8 is more psychological, touching :-) how we categorise objects, dimensions and scales, size and animacy. Galton's contribution is discussed, his ideas on eugenics also acknowledged. Visual perception, mental imagery and visual learning style remain subjects of note for researchers. I'm not sure why figure 32 stood out ( :-) - please pardon the quality of the photo. Paul Kim's illustrations are an excellent support for the prose.):

FIGURE 32 A comparison of visual perception and mental imagery in
the V1 visual map. Paul Kim

Somewhere I've saved an article on mental imagery from New Scientist I think, about this ability - the mind's eye and how it is missing for some 'brilliant' people (p.182) and posted previously:

In my mind's eye I can picture care: Frame by Frame

I might read Chapter 9 again, attention, action and perception in combination. 

Chapter 10 had me thinking again about 'Conceptual Spaces' (quality dimensions) and threshold concepts (not in the book - but this is a positive!):

"Many of the concepts that rule our financial, social, and emotional well-being have no shape, no color, no odor or weight. How do we grasp these intangible concepts? As it turns out, we often do so by aligning abstract concepts with physical dimensions and then putting our brain maps to work." p.191.

There is a 'mental number line', vertical too, and culture is a factor in how we learn and the brain associates space and quantities, in which L-R, low-high are also brought into play. The question remains here: Is Hodges' model culturally neutral? 

Still with h2cm - mind reading, writing and 'drawing' perhaps? p.236. In "Fortune-Telling with the Brain" we read about how fMRI is allowing us to learn how the brain maps employ teamwork. There is an architecture whose stability can inform predictions of future abilities - reading is described. Reading this you see ethical implications (as Schwarzlose warns p.238), but it may help to target personalised learning, as an adjunct to personalised medicine? I double checked (index) and the connectome is not mentioned, but the benefits of this research is still to be realised. In 'prison health' here in the UK (and globally?) it is long overdue but it is encouraging to hear about the focus on investigation for previous brain injury within the prison population. Remember - lead in fuel and the socio-economic impacts of pollution (ongoing - air and plastic pollution)?

Corporations have literally only 'scratched the surface' of the future potential to 'read' us individually. Through Hodges' model I can qualify and justify the model's increasing relevance. Technology and science not only call for SOCIO-technical approaches. The brain-computer interface and AI (p.239) demands we also consider the several forms of literacy and informatics that are needed in the 21st century: bio-informatics, bio-political, psycho-political and more.

This is very informative and timely read - the diagrams too. This is a book for all. For student nurses specifically, it will enable them to maximize learning in their practical placements and throughout their course of study.

Writing this review I can also see the important messages in chapter 12 - recognition of infancy and the opportunities this affords.

Many thanks to Rebecca Schwarzlose and Profile Books for my review copy.

Schwarzlose, R. (2021) Brainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain―And How They Guide You". London: Profile Books.

The cognitive map ...

"... in infra-humans should be viewed as a spatial map in which representations of objects experienced in the environment are ordered within a framework generating a unitary space. However, the central property of the locale system is its ability to order representations in a structured context. We hope to show, in this final section of the book, that mapping structures can represent verbal, as well as non-verbal, information. For both of these forms the locale system will be shown to be central to a particular form of memory: that concerned with the representation of experiences within a specific context. We shall argue that memory comes in two basic varieties: (1) memory for items, independent of the time or place of their occurrence; (2) memory for items or events within a spatio-temporal context." p.380-381.

John O'Keefe and Lynn Nadel. (1978) The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Chapter 14, An extension of the theory to humans. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp.380-410.

The Hippocampus as a
Cognitive Map

(with a dedication)

TO
E. C. TOLMAN
Who first dreamed of cognitive maps in rats and men
D. O. HEBB
Who taught us to look for those maps in the brain
AND
A. BLACK
Who insisted that we pursue our route with rigour

 

 

Source: my notes mid-1990s.

Book cover: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2645838-the-hippocampus-as-a-cognitive-map

Review i - "Brainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain―And How They Guide You"

Brainscapes

 

A marvellous cover (US too), a fascinating, clearly written and hence readable book. As expected today the layout, print size and design add enjoyment to the time invested.

As a nurse with an interest in science you are aware of much of the content in broad terms but 'Brainscapes' provides more detail and made me wonder about the prospects to follow from improvements in brain imaging, The Connectome, new technologies and techniques. Rebecca maintains the focus throughout.

I'm pleased to add this to my CPD reading list.

Nature and science are humbling. It is still quite recent that we realised the milky way is one of billions of galaxies. Now we can appreciate not only the complexity of the brain, but how it is embodied in mind, body and our experience of reality.

There is history here to begin. Russia and Japan were at war in 1904. Russia had a new high-velocity rifle with smaller bullets, 7.6mm reaching speeds of 620 meters per second. Whether co-incidence, and/or ironic, there are of course many brains trying to make sense of the current conflict in Eastern Europe. A change in injuries followed with these bullets capable of passing straight through the skull, sparing the life of the soldier and yet with life altering injuries. 

As triage was founded on the battle-ground. So aftercare is grounded in the journey back 'home' for those who can make it and the extent to which 'veterans' and their families are recognised.* This lead to investigations (Inouye, see below) as soldiers experienced localised damage to the brain. Soldiers suffered scotomas affecting their vision, stimulating research and new approaches, devices 'cranio-coordinometer'. There are illustrations and some photographs throughout, the illustrator Paul Kim, adding to the text.

In 'Maps of You' maps are everywhere especially on screens, and yet as Schwarzlose notes the map's materials matter little. On p.17 "All I need is a pen and a scrap paper" I smiled - given the 'map' that Hodges' model provides, on paper, sand, black/whiteboard and mind's eye. Mental imagery is there too. Salience, figures early p.19 and with brain maps, visual maps and where we direct our gaze prompts more detailed consideration of context. The explanations of the sensory brain maps is fascinating, especially how the brain has evolved to deal with constraints of space, energy, distance and organisation. At the fovea in the eye, the map is magnified. 

Perhaps in Hodges' model there are two fovea? One is the center of the model, the person-centred nexus an assurance function/correction as the fovea that is context shifts and jumps in response to the dynamics of the situation. Reading about the audio map, p.73 I thought about the 'timbre of care' (Yes, I've a bad case of h2cm-meme-mapitis). As a further sign of the times, chapter 5 (A Body Under Siege) on taste and smell and the protective function of what we do or don't ingest, I travelled from the individual to the national and the binary choices (yes or no) being exercised right now.

More to follow ...

Alexander P. Leff (2015) Tatsuji Inouye (1881–1976), Discovery UCL.
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1491645/1/Leff_tatsuji_inouye_1881-1976.pdf

Many thanks to Rebecca Schwarzlose and Profile Books for my review copy.

*Apologies for digression...

By the quarters ... Rugby

Player
|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------------- mechanistic  

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

Team Player - Professional Sportsperson

"World Rugby"

Mild head injuries, which often cause concussion, are the most common reported match injury in professional rugby union in England, ALAMY

"Sir Ian McGeechan has led calls for radical change before a rugby union player dies on the pitch, branding the game unnecessarily dangerous and saying that World Rugby would be accused of negligence if it allows the situation to continue. In a strongly worded letter to Bill Beaumont, the World Rugby chairman, McGeechan and other British and Irish Lions greats, have urged the governing body to reduce the number of available replacements from eight to four to limit the impact that fresh players can make by coming off the bench in the final quarter." p.1.

"Almost a quarter of professional rugby players may have brain damage, the first study of its kind suggests.

Scientists used advanced brain imaging and analysis to compare elite rugby players with rowers and other noncontact athletes as well as people who played no sport.

Using methods often applied to the study of patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s,, the team found that rugby players had significant damage to their brain’s white matter, its 'wiring'."
The Times, Thursday July 22 2021.

Hathaway, A., Lions legends: Make rugby safer, Sport, The Times, 14 August, 2021, p.1.

Image source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/quarter-rugby-players-brain-damage-study-0m8fzrqbg

 

 

ERCIM News No. 126 Special Theme: "Privacy-Preserving Computation"

Dear ERCIM News reader,

ERCIM News No. 126

ERCIM News No. 126 has just been published at https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/

The Special Theme of this issue focuses on current research on privacy-preserving computation, coordinated by our guest editors Rudolf Mayer (SBA Research) and Thijs Veugen (TNO and CWI).

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested.

Next issue:
No. 127,  October 2021
Special Theme: "Smart and Circular Cities" (submissions welcome!)

Peter Kunz  (with thanks)
ERCIM Office

2004, Route des Lucioles
BP93
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex

https://www.ercim.eu
--------------------------------
@ercim_news
http://twitter.com/ercim_news

join the ERCIM Linkedin Group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/81390/

[I have edited to reduce the number of links.]

Arts for Brain Health: 'Social Prescribing as Peri-Diagnostic Practice for Dementia'

Thursday and Friday 20-21 May 2021, 9.20 am – 5 pm

D-IAGNOSIS! Arts to Preserve Wellbeing (Jane Frere, 2019, pastel)

An opportunity for GPs, social prescribers, arts and health organisations, educationalists and funders, innovative and creative ageing specialists, local authorities and policy makers to come together and revolutionise the world of social prescribing for brain health.

Cultural and creative activity can be transformational for those at the start of their journey with dementia.

In this conference we explore how social prescribing can unlock access to the arts and dramatically improve wellbeing and brain health.

We look at the impact of engaging in weekly creative and wellbeing activity

and examine the potential for normalising social prescribing as diagnostic practice around the UK

Bringing together leading experts in the fields of arts, culture, health and wellbeing,
this online conference will highlight cross-sector referral and funding partnership practice
for sustainable social prescription programmes,
presenting evidence for creative ageing and debating the way forward.

More info ...

 My source: @Arts4Dementia

Tracking the Alzheimer's-Down syndrome connection

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Communication, speech self expression personhood identity memory personality mood Extend meaningful quality of life

Age 40 most people with Down syndrome develop beta amyloid plaques in the brain — a key characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists believe this is because they have an extra copy of chromosome 21, which carries an amyloid-producing gene.Major international research effort, (ages 25+) plus siblings over five years. Multisite Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Consortium — Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) study Biomarkers, genetic background, environmental, metabolic and other physiological factors

Intergenerational angst if parent/family member a primary carer? Help families prepare for what’s going to happen potentially with their loved one

Funded by a $109 million grant from the National Institutes of Health

 My source:

Tracking the #Alzheimers-#DownSyndrome connection https://t.co/rVgyhio2LI#dementia #science @BonniBK @BlueTeamGA @NJdoc @MaryHNJ @kenjaques @tammymay1985 @chladek_david @DenzilMclaren @FromGreenhills @monibhachu @HJAhere @h2cm @RoseGold177 @WaterWorxUK @louisebrady17 @avecozave pic.twitter.com/CzqpnaPooZ

— Ian Kremer (@LEAD_Coalition) April 12, 2021

 Learn more about the study at mind.uci.edu/adrc/about

 

ERCIM News No. 125 Special theme: "Brain-inspired Computing"

Dear ERCIM News reader,

ERCIM News No. 125 has just been published at https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/

The Special Theme of this issue highlights ongoing brain-inspired computing research with contributions from some of the leading academic and industrial research laboratories in Europe, coordinated by our guest editors Robert Haas (IBM Research Europe) and Michael Pfeiffer (Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence).

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested.

Next issue:
No. 126,  July 2021
Special Theme: "Privacy-preserving computation"

Announcements in this issue:

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Call for Proposals: Dagstuhl Seminars and Perspectives Workshops
Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik is accepting proposals for scientific seminars/workshops in all areas of computer science, in particular also in connection with other fields. https://www.dagstuhl.de/dsproposal

---

ERCIM "Alain Bensoussan" Fellowship Programme - postdoctoral fellowships available at leading European research institutions.
Simple application procedure. Next application deadline: 30 April 2021
https://fellowship.ercim.eu/

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ERCIM News
is published quarterly by ERCIM, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics.
With the printed and online edition, ERCIM News reaches more than 10000 readers.

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About ERCIM
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Peter Kunz*                  	
ERCIM Office
2004, Route des Lucioles
BP93
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex 

*With many thanks.

Includes: 

 

Higher Cognitive Functions in Bio-Inspired Artificial Intelligence 

by Frédéric Alexandre, Xavier Hinaut, Nicolas Rougier and Thierry Viéville (Inria) 

"From a modelling point of view, this organisation of architecturally similar loops is very interesting because it implies that similar computing principles (implemented in the circuitry of cortico-basal loops) are exploited on different kinds of information to implement different kinds of behaviour (reflexive and reflective)." p.20.

http://www.imn-bordeaux.org/en/teams/mnemosyne-mnemonic-synergy/ 

 

ERCIM News No. 108 Special theme: "Computational Imaging"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 108 has just been published at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en108

This issue features:

ERCIM News 108

• A Special Theme "Computational Imaging" with 21 articles providing an insight in the many complex facets of computational imaging, coordinated by the guest editors Joost Batenburg (CWI) and Tamas Sziranyi (MTA SZTAKI) .
• Keynote "Imaging as a Ubiquitous Technique: New and Old Challenges" by Andy Götz, Head of Software at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and Armando Solé, Head of Data Analysis at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
• A "Research and Innovation" section with news about research activities and innovative developments from European research institutions

This issue is also available for download in pdf and ePUB

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Next issue: No. 109, April 2017 Special Theme: "Autonomous Vehicles"

Best regards,
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News editor in chief

Book: SUPERHUMANS bio-enhancement

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

	Make Way for the Superhumans

My source: July 9 2016, The Times

Phi and the cruellest cut

"The measure of how a system integrates information is called phi.

One way of calculating phi involves dividing a system into two and calculating how dependent each part is on the other. One cut would be the "cruellest", creating two parts that are the least dependent on each other. If the parts of the cruellest cut are completely independent, then phi is zero, and the system is not conscious." p.10

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

Consciousness:	an Integrated Information Theory

Reference:
Ananthaswamy, A. (2016) The 1-second test of consciousness, New Scientist, 20 February, 229: 3061, p.10.

arxiv.org/abs/1601.02626

ERCIM News No. 97 Special theme: "Cyber-Physical Systems"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 97 has just been published at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en97

Special theme: "Cyber-Physical Systems"
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en97/special/

Guest editors:
- Maria Domenica Di Benedetto, University of L’Aquila, Center of Excellence DEWS
- Françoise Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, CNRS, Laboratoire des Signaux et Systèmes
- Erwin Schoitsch, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology/AARIT.

Keynote: "The Importance of Cyber-Physical Systems for Industry" by Clas Jacobson, Chief Scientist for United Technologies Systems & Controls Engineering, USA

This issue is also available for download as:
pdf:  http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN97/EN97-web.pdf
epub: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN97/EN97.epub

Next issue: No. 98, July 2014 - Special Theme: "Smart Cities"
(the call will be published shortly at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News.
Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Best regards,
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor

Includes:
Optogenetics to Unravel the Mechanisms of Parkinsonian Symptoms
Big Data in Healthcare: Intensive Care Units as a Case Study
SEMEOTICONS: Face Reading to Help People stay Healthy

ERCIM News No. 89 Special Theme: "Big Data"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 89 has just been published at
 http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/

Special Theme: "Big Data"

Guest editors: Stefan Manegold, Martin Kersten, CWI, The Netherlands, and Costantino Thanos, ISTI-CNR, Italy
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en89/special

Keynote: "E-Infrastructures for Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges" by Kostas Glinos, European Commission
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en89/keynote/e-infrastructures-for-big-data-opportunities-and-challenges

Next issue: No. 90, July 2012 - Special Theme: "Cybercrime and Privacy Issues"
(see preliminary call at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor

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ERCIM "Alain Bensoussan" Fellowship Programme
ERCIM offers fellowships for PhD holders from all over the world. The next round is now open!
Deadline for applications: 30 April
http://fellowship.ercim.eu/

Issue 89 includes:
Performance Analysis of Healthcare Processes through Process Mining
by Diogo R. Ferreira
A-Brain: Using the Cloud to Understand the Impact of Genetic Variability on the Brain
by Gabriel Antoniu, Alexandru Costan, Benoit Da Mota, Bertrand Thirion and Radu Tudoran

ERCIM news latest issue "The Digital Patient"

Hello everyone

This research publication c/o European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics is excellent - especially the latest issue:

Introduction to the Special Theme: The Digital Patient

View online.

Enjoy - a marvellous publication.