When : Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - 16:00
Speaker : Dr. Federico Turkheimer
Affiliation : Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
SHORT BIO
Federico Turkheimer is Reader in Mathematical Neuroscience and is Head of the PET-Methodology Group at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre at Hammersmith Hospital. His main interest is in the application of mathematics and statistics to problems in neuroscience, particularly in imaging and genomics. He is an electronic engineer by training, holds a PhD in Nuclear Medicine and has worked in PET and neuroscience for the past 18 years holding appointments at the National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda), at the University of Cambridge and at the MRC Cyclotron Unit on the Hammersmith Campus.
ABSTRACT
Models do not only shape the way we analyze data but also frame the way we make inferences about the systems we observe. In Neurosciences two independent modelling views have alternated in driving the analytics applied to brain data, the locationist and the holist (connective). These established viewes of brain function have exclusively emphasized evidence for either functional segregation or for functional integration among components of the nervous system. Neither of these views alone adequately accounts for the multiple levels at which interactions occur during brain activity. The lecture will illustrate the application of techniques for the study of large scale collective properties that have a long tradition in statistical physics that are shedding light and opening a novel perspective on this old and perplexing conundrum.
When : Thursday, September 8, 2011 - 17:00
Speaker : Prof. David Taubman
Affiliation : University of New Southern Wales
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
SHORT BIO
David Taubman received the Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994. He joined the University of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1998, where he is currently a Professor. His current research interests include highly scalable image and video compression, inverse problems in imaging, perceptual modeling, joint source/channel coding, and multimedia distribution systems. Dr. Taubman received the University Medal from the University of Sydney, the Institute of Engineers Australia Prize, and the Texas Instruments Prize for Digital Signal Processing, all in 1998. He received two Best Paper Awards from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society.
ABSTRACT
Compression of image, video and multi-view content is essential for cost effective storage and delivery of this content to consumers. Traditionally, compression focused on minimizing the compressed size for a given quality or maximizing quality for a given compressed size. From this perspective, motion is used in video compression only as a tool to compress the frames more effectively. Similarly, information related to 3D geometry might be estimated and encoded solely with the aim of efficient joint compression of a collection of scene views. In this talk, we take the perspective that such information is best viewed as metadata (information that describes what can be found within the multimedia content). Some applications can benefit from a flexible framework for delivery of compressed content, in which the importance of this metadata depends upon an interactive user's interests. In some cases, the metadata may be more important than the video itself (e.g., tracking metadata in surveillance applications), so should be transmitted with higher priority than the video frames. In other cases, some of the metadata might be best synthesized at the receiver from video frame samples. We describe a flexible approach to the compression and delivery of multimedia content that allows such trade-offs to be made dynamically. We also describe various some novel ways to compress, record and communicate metadata that relates to motion and geometry.
When : Tuesday, June 7, 2011 - 17:00
Speaker : Dr. Federico Faggin
Affiliation : Foveon Inc.
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
SHORT BIO
Federico Faggin received the Laurea Degree in physics, summa cum laude, at the University of Padua (1965). At SGS Fairchild (Italy) he developed the first MOS process technology and integrated circuits. In 1968 he moved to Palo Alto (California) at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he created the MOS Silicon Gate technology with self-aligned gate and the world's first commercial integrated circuit. In 1970 he joined Intel where he developed the 4040 and 8080 microprocessors. Faggin left Intel at the end of 1974 to found Zilog. At Zilog, he conceived the Z80 microprocessor. He was Zilog's President and CEO until 1980. In 1982, he co-founded Cygnet Technologies, Inc., maker of the Cygnet CoSystem personal telecommunications device, and was President and CEO of the company until 1986. In 1986 he co-founded and was CEO of Synaptics a company which produces the most widely used touchpad in the industry. He then founded and was CEO of Foveon Inc., a company making image sensors with a novel technology. He received several prestigious awards including the Gold Medal for Science and Technology from the Italian Prime Minister (1988), the title of 'Grande Ufficiale' from the President of the Italian Republic (1988), the IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award (1994), the Kyoto Price on Technology (1997) and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from the U.S. President (2010).
ABSTRACT
Born in Vicenza and educated in Vicenza and Padua, dott. Federico Faggin emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1968, in the area that is now known as Silicon Valley. Faggin was one of the pioneers in the development of microelectronics during the period 1967-1980. He was also a successful high-tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley from 1975 until his retirement from business in 2008. In his Lecture he will describe the inside story of the many developments he led, like the MOS silicon gate technology, the first microprocessor and the touchpad -- among others -- all set in the Silicon Valley environment of the time. He will conclude with an account of the major lessons learned during his career of 40+ years as a researcher, inventor and entrepreneur.
When : Thursday, May 5, 2011 - 17:00
Speaker : Prof. Lamberto Maffei
Affiliation : Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Where : Aula Magna 'A. Lepschy'
Abstract :
SHORT Lamberto Maffei (Grosseto, March 21, 1936) is an Italian physician and scientist. Director of the Institute of Neuroscience of CNR from 1980 to 2008, since 2009 is president of the Lincei National Academy. He graduated in medicine at the University of Pisa, from 1988 to 2008 he taught Neurobiology Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and directed the local laboratory. He has held researching and teaching at many universities abroad, such as the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Cambridge University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the College de France, Oxford University. It is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research has focused mainly on the study of animal and human visual system. ABSTRACT In questa conferenza cercherò di dimostrarvi l'importanza dell'ambiente che ci circonda nello sviluppo e nella plasticità del cervello e cercherò anche di discutere i meccanismi molecolari che ne stanno alla base. Il problema di come natura e ambiente giocano nella costruzione del cervello non è ancora del tutto chiaro, tuttavia non c'è possibilità di dubbio che entrambi i fattori hanno un ruolo essenziale. Si potrebbe dire in termini molto approssimativi che i geni presiedono alla costruzione della macchina e che l'ambiente è come un maestro che insegna alla macchina come andare e dove andare. Cominciando a trattare della plasticità del sistema nervoso è opportuno distinguere due periodi, un primo periodo iniziale, subito dopo la nascita, di alta plasticità, quando funzione e struttura del cervello possono essere grandemente influenzati dall'ambiente e un secondo periodo di plasticità ridotta che caratterizza la vita adulta. Il primo periodo di grande plasticità è chiamato 'periodo critico' che in generale, nei diversi mammiferi, è in relazione alla durata della vita; più lunga è la durata della vita e più lungo il periodo critico Noi abbiamo dimostrato che anche nell'animale adulto è possibile ripristinare un rilevante grado di plasticità simile a quello dell'animale più giovane. Tra i fattori che abbiamo studiato, il fattore ambientale risulta essere assai rilevante e anche trattamenti farmacologici largamente usati nell'uomo come quello con fluoxetina (prozac) appaiono essere assai efficaci. Per quanto riguarda i meccanismi che stanno alla base di questo 'ringiovanimento' un fattore assai importante sembra essere la diminuzione dei processi inibitori.
