Week 3 How China could shape the future of technology

 Dear Students,

The Edux platform has been improved and I would like us to work there. I have posted there just one article to read and comment on. Please comment on it on the Edux platform. I would like to see if it works properly and there are not technical issues. You should see it in the forum section.

Many thanks:)) 

 Week 3 [23.11-29.11.2020] Pilot’s time of reaction 

I would like to present the scientific article about prediction of pilot’s time of reaction based on EEG signals. Here is the link to the article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fninf.2020.00006/full 

I am a fan of flying so the topic seems to be very interesting. The authors write that the time of delay in reaction to an unexpected event can be predicted from brain activity before the event using EEG equipment. Authors conducted the experiment by means of simulation of aircraft flight and 19 participants took part in such experiment. They applied regression model to predict the reaction time. The obtained results are promising and the authors want to conduct the next experiment using more detailed equipment and higher number of participants and to take into consideration the artifacts related to eye-movement, or heart rate. They think about applying the Artificial Subspace Reconstruction algorithm (ASR) which allows to correct artifacts online. The constant monitoring of predicted reaction time might enable to monitor how pilot's capabilities change over the course of a flight. This solution might be applied as a trigger to alarm when the decrease in predicted reaction speed is expected and might enable to overview the level of fatigue. In the presented work authors created regression model for each participant separately, I hope that it might be possible to create subject – independent model in the future. The job of pilot is one of the most dangerous jobs and not everybody could be a pilot.
I often fly by plane and fortunately I did not observe the pilot lost the consciousness or pilot had a heart attack when I was a passenger in the plane. In my opinion the topic touched in the scientific paper is very important and I hope it could be possible to create such system not only for the pilots but also for ordinary people, so it could be predicted if something wrong can be appear …

Questions

1. Find and write a short description about real situation where pilot caused the crash of the airplane for example pilot had a heart attack, lose consciousness or was drunk etc.

2. In which jobs could such system, predicting what appears within several second/minutes, be applied?

3. Have you ever heard about situation where thanks to a pilot an airplane took off despite of a technical problem of the airplane? Please write what happened

4. How do you think, is it possible in the future that everybody will have own system which will predict and will warn if you want to do bad thing?

Week 3 [23-29.11.2020] Industry 4.0

    Industry 4.0 refers to a new phase in the Industrial Revolution that focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data. Industry 4.0, also sometimes referred to as IIoT or smart manufacturing, marries physical production and operations with smart digital technology, machine learning, and big data to create a more holistic and better connected ecosystem for companies that focus on manufacturing and supply chain management. While every company and organization operating today is different, they all face a common challenge—the need for connectedness and access to real-time insights across processes, partners, products, and people. 

    Please read the articles available here:

• https://www.epicor.com/en/resource-center/articles/what-is-industry-4-0 
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332440369_An_Overview_of_Industry_40_Definition_Components_and_Government_Initiatives

and answer the following questions.

1. What is the fourth industrial revolution for you?
2. What do you think about science supporting business and vice versa? Can one not function without the other?
3. How do you perceive the development of industry 4.0 in Poland?

Week 2 [16-22.11.20] Digital Transformation of HEIs

 Read the article at https://gathercontent.com/blog/when-and-where-do-you-start-with-digital-transformation-in-higher-education  and present your opinions on the digital transformation of Polish Higher Education Institutions. Do you believe we will come back to the traditional way of learning/teaching  when the pandemic ends? What does it depend on?

Week 2: Sensory Integration therapy through Virtual Reality

Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD (originally called Sensory Integration Dysfunction) is a neurological disorder in which the sensory information that the individual perceives results in abnormal responses.

Sensory processing refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into responses. For those with Sensory Processing Disorder, sensory information goes into the brain but does not get organized into appropriate responses. Those with SPD perceive and/or respond to sensory information differently than most other people. Unlike people who have impaired sight or hearing, those with Sensory Processing Disorder do detect the sensory information; however, the sensory information gets “mixed up” in their brain and therefore the responses are inappropriate in the context in which they find themselves. Some people are so mildly affected that the disorder is barely noticeable, while others are so impaired they have trouble with daily functioning. In addition, there are many general behaviors and traits that are associated with SPD, eg. agitation, frustration, aggression, low self-esteem, difficulty unwinding or sleeping and appearing out-of-sync with self or others and the environment.

As a help to people with SPD there are new ways of treatment, the one I would like us to discuss this week is done through A Virtual Reality Based Game. Pleas read an article:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326151682_Imaginator_A_virtual_reality_based_game_for_the_treatment_of_sensory_processing_disorders and answer questions below:

 1)  Where you aware of the general behavior change that SPD cause? Do you know anybody with that kind of disorders?

2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game ? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?

3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices ?

Week 1: The algorithm tackling the office space crunch

 Read the article at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201002-the-algorithm-tackling-the-office-space-crunch   and discuss its ideas.

Week 1 Digital Voting

 

Watch the video at https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-54736307 

and discuss what they say about digital voting. Present your experiences and knowledge and well. 

Week 1: Theory of imagination in AI (9-15.11)

Hi everybody!
I would like to share with you an article that seemed extremely interesting to me!
It tells how our brain analyzes the remembered information, seeks analogies and explanations for the phenomena we encounter every day (e.g. how a sequence of events "spilled fluid"->"broken vase"->"dog" is remembered. According to the theory of imagination, such a sequence should be remembered exactly the opposite).

Article (shortened version):
https://deepmind.com/blog/article/replay-in-biological-and-artificial-neural-networks

 
Full source:
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30640-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867419306403%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

 
The above research will result in a better understanding of human intelligence and the creation of an algorithm that brings us closer to its more faithful reproduction.

I am interested in your answers to the following questions:
1) Have you ever remembered a situation that did not happen (and you were sure it happened)?
2) Are you convinced by the presented theory of imagination in which the brain distorts the remembered information in order to keep it consistent? Why yes/no?
3) What else do you think is not reflected in the artificial intelligence algorithms currently being processed?
4) Does it make sense to introduce such improvements (distortions between events observed by the AI algorithm)? Why yes/no?

Winter Semester (2020/2021)

 

1. Each week  there will be presented texts/films and presentations, which I would like you to read/watch and comment on.

2.  You should also present a scientific article with your comments and questions for the group to discuss: you do not write it, you just find something of your interest online, present it and moderate the discussion of it.  Put your name on the list of blog moderators next to the date when you would like to do it.

3. At the end of the semester you will deliver a 10-minute presentation of your research area

Read How to Make an Oral Presentation of Your Research  at http://www.virginia.edu/cue/presentationtips.html
Use Steve Jobs's presentation techniques  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4UEJMuo0dA)

1. 09-15.11.20

2. 16-22.11.20

3. 23-29.11.20

4. 30-06.12.20

5. 07-13.12.20

6. 14-20.12.20

7. 11-17.01.21

Presentations (Microsoft Teams)

Dear Students,

Decide when you would like to deliver your presentation.
It should be from the area of your studies and it should be 10-13 minutes long. Do remember to prepare a PPT presentation.

You are going to present it on Microsoft Teams on chat. I have created there a group English for PhD Students
  


22. 06.2020

5.00 p.m.
5.20 p.m.
5.40 p.m.
6.00 p.m.
6.20 p.m.
6.40 p.m.


25.06.2020


5.00 p.m.
5.20 p.m.
5.40 p.m.
6.00 p.m.
6.20 p.m.
6.40 p.m.


 29.06.2020 




5.00 p.m. Sebastian Babushkin
5.20 p.m. Adam Słucki
5.40 p.m. Artur Chudzi (overdue)
6.00 p.m. Przemysław Latoch
6.20 p.m. Monika Berendt-Marchel
6.40 p.m. Artur Chudzik

7.00 p.m. Artur Arciszewski

Week 7 [15-21.06.2020] Cannabis Therapeutics and the Future of Neurology

Hi, medical marijuana has been legalized quite recently in Poland. I present an article about the therapeutic properties of this plant.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnint.2018.00051/full

The plant contains cannabinoids. This is a group of organic chemicals that affect cannabinoid receptors.

Cannabinoids after attaching to cannabinoid receptors, cells block the effect of calcium ions from the extracellular fluid to the cytoplasm and inhibit cAMP production. As a result, cell metabolism changes and changes occur in the release of hormones and neurotransmitters. These receptors are part of the endocannabinoid system - an organism system that is involved in many physiological processes, including energy management regulation, regulation of neurohormonal, neuroimmunological connections, motor activity, mood, motivation, hunger and satiety, energy use and control of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.

We currently have very well researched 2 cannabinoids: CBD and THC.

CBD has the same chemical composition as THC, but the atoms are arranged differently. This small difference causes THC to exhibit psychoactive effects, while CBD does not. Cannabis components may provide myriad benefits on target symptoms in this complex disorder:

• Agitation: THC, CBD, linalool

• Anxiety: CBD, THC (low dose), linalool

• Psychosis: CBD

• Insomnia / Restlessness: THC, linalool

• Anorexia: THC

• Aggression: THC, CBD, linalool

• Depression: THC, limonene, CBD

• Pain: THC, CBD

• Memory: alpha-pinene (Russo, 2011; Russo and March, 2017) + THC

• Neuroprotection: CBD, THC

• Reduced Aβ plaque formation: THC, CBD, THCA

I have a few questions:

1.What diseases , except for those I mentioned,can be treated with medical marijuana? (e.g. mentioned in the article) and have you heard of marijuana therapy for this diseases before?
2.Do you know anyone using medical marijuana therapy and How do you think,this therapy can be effective?

3.Would you be treated with medical marijuana?

Week 7 [15-21.06.2020] How to tell whether you’re the victim of a bad peer review

Hello,
Today I would like to ask you about Ph.D. craftsmanship and your experience with the process of publishing. Please, read the following article: https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2020/04/how-tell-whether-you-re-victim-bad-peer-review and share your history and feelings related to the peer-review process. For example, have you experienced a peer-review that was more personal rather than professional?

Week 7 [15-21.06.2020] Climate goals

Hello everyone!

Today, I will share with you a link to article about IEA’s Paris-aligned sustainable development scenario goals. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-clean-energy-tech-is-not-on-track-to-meet-climate-goals/

In this article you can read that most clean energy technologies and sectors are not advancing enough to meet the temperature goals set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Of 46 clean energy categories that the International Energy Agency sees as crucial for minimizing the impacts of climate change, only six are “on track” to meet the target of preventing global average temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius or more.

Please read this article and answer some questions:

1. In your opinion how could we avoid climate change?
2. Which categories mentioned in the article are not meeting goals and why? 
3. What do you think about renewable energy? Is worth to invest in this kind of source?
4. What do you think about IEA's Paris-aligned sustainable development scenario goals? Are they necessary? Maybe, we should try another way to prevent global average temperatures from rising?

Week 7 [15-21.06.2020] Technical debt in Machine Learning Systems

Today I'd like to share an interesting article from the Google research team. It was published in 2015 but I think it's still very relevant. It describes common problems with Machine Learning systems more from the engineering perspective.

Although many examples are closely related to Machine Learning, I think they still have many in common with general problems arising in software development. What makes the Machine Learning special is, in my opinion, that it's usually being considered the central part of any system using it. Numerous start-ups are trying to build their success on AI models themselves. So much attention is being put into Machine Learning part of the development that it's very easy to forget that in fact developing it is a tiny part of the process (as illustrated in Fig. 1. in the article). What's worse, even the actual programming aspect of the development Machine Learning models often can be belittled leading to substantial errors.

The article is available here: https://papers.nips.cc/paper/5656-hidden-technical-debt-in-machine-learning-systems.pdf
1. Do you care about code quality in your projects?
2. Do you think it's worth the effort to follow some software development standards or best practices while working on research projects?
3. Have you ever experienced or heard about scientific experiments leading to incorrect conclusions due to some problems with the programming code (or software)?

Week 6 [1-7.06.2020] Time Perception

Hello!
I have found an interesting article about time perception. I was impressed with the fact that time perception depends on our anatomy, neurotransmitters and how does the brain  process the information
https://www.exactlywhatistime.com/psychology-of-time/time-perception/

What are the other aspects that influence our time perception?

Have you ever noticed that time was passing longer than usual? Tell about this situations

Have you ever noticed that when you focus on something time passes faster?

Week 6 [1-7.06.2020] Data Driven Healthcare

Information about our individual health can now be gleaned from a variety of data sources – genomic profiles, electronic medical records, smart watches, social media, to name a few. Each data source can potentially inform us about our health at different levels of granularity, ranging from behavioral to physiological to genetic levels. The future of healthcare relies on integrating the available information to build effective descriptive, predictive and prescriptive models. However, the collected data is highly heterogeneous differing in a number of characteristics such as data types, scale, formats and noise levels. The era of big data opens up new opportunities in personalized medicine, preventive care, chronic disease management and in telemonitoring and managing of patients with implanted devices.

This week I want us to discuss about future of healthcare in terms of analytical approach. I came across interesting article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267734327_Data-driven_healthcare_From_patterns_to_actions where researches from Switzerland consider a specific aspect of data-driven systems that take action autonomously for the benefit of an individual patient through remote monitoring of electrocardio-gram (ECG)

I also found ted talks in this topic where predictive algorithms used as medical guidelines is shown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3phCyMynos

Please check out the materials and answer questions below:

1. Do you think that in future we will have more and more application to monitor ours health? Will you be willing to use such app?

2. What is your opinion in terms of using autonomous systems in healthcare applications? What kind of certification should these apps go through to be safely used?

3. What other use you can think of for big data technologies that could improve / revolutionized healthcare?

Week 5 [18-24.05.2020] Brain training

The brain is a unique organ that we often forget when exercising our body. The brain should be trained as well as our body to remain fully functional for a long time. Many research results indicate that aerobic exercise and cognitive reasoning training help to improve brain health. Such training in older people allows for better fitness in the hippocampus regions particularly vulnerable to aging and dementia. Despite research in a selected narrow-screen group of people between 56-75 years of age, researchers agree that we should begin to care for the efficiency of our brain much earlier, and not only when we experience significant cognitive loss.

For sure each of us has heard a lot that crosswords, Sudoku and similar games are the perfect training for our brains. There are many pros and cons. First of all, it's hard to measure how much playing such games affects neural connections. In addition, by solving a lot of crosswords, we become great at solving them, but they do not affect other brain functions such as making decisions or planning.

Dr. Chapman suggests that first of all we should eliminate bad habits acting against the healthy function of the frontal lobe, e.g. multitasking, studies show that the brain can do only one thing at a time. We should also take breaks from technology even for up to 30 minutes. By building good habits we will be able to improve e.g. innovate thinking or development of new solutions.

Quoting " Our brains become quickly jaded by routine so push past the predictable to better your brain health across the lifespan.”

Read the following articles:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/make-your-brain-smarter/201403/do-brain-games-really-boost-brainpower

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00338/full

 

1. Which training do you think has a better effect on our brain: aerobic or cognitive reasoning?

2. Do you play any games or solve crosswords to improve brain cognition? If not why?

3. Do you think that in a world full of technology and the ubiquitous rat race, can we afford to slow down, put down the phone and allow our brain to relax?

Week 5 [18-24.05.2020] Does the brain wash itself?

Deep, peaceful sleep is essential for our physical and mental health.  It is also necessary  for maintaining cognitive functions.  Slow waves in neural activity contribute to memory consolidation. Cerebrospinal fluid purifies the brain of metabolic products.  Now we have another argument that long and deep sleep is good for us: it triggers rhythmic waves of blood and cerebrospinal fluid that seems to work like a washing cycle, creating oscillations that in turn correlate with the flow of cerebrospinal fluid.  Such oscillations can help to clear the brain of toxic waste in real time. These results were recently published in the Science journal .  The authors of the study are the first to indicate that the brain, through its electrical activity during sleep, can trigger waves of cerebrospinal fluid.   Purifying itself in this way.  Further research into this phenomenon may help to explain why bad sleep or lack of it was previously associated with the spread of toxic proteins and worsening memory loss in people with Alzheimer's disease..

Questions

1. Are you satisfied with your sleep?
2. Did you have any physical or mental effects when you  pulled an all-nighter?
3. Is the combination of fmri and eeg a good idea? Only 13 people were examined in the study.  Is this enough to draw these conclusions? 
4. Do you like to work at night? If yes, do you think that's healthy?

http://212.182.24.236/nextcloud/index.php/s/b7Xna5yRy4CjEkB

Week 5 [18-24.05.2020] How does the brain link events to form a memory?

Hi, everyone!!!

Today I will share with you a link to article about brain.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200508112903.htm

The brain has a powerful ability to remember and connect events separated in time. A scientists at Columbia’s Zukerman Institute uncovered a mechanism by which hippocampus builds bridges across time. They done a research on mice.

Please read the article and answer a few questions

1. Have you ever witnessed an accident? Do you remember it?
2. Do you remember information easily?
3. What do you think about this article? 
4. How could we use the results presented in this article?

WEEK 4 [04.05 - 10.05] Viruss

Do you remember the WinCIH virus, also popularly known as Chernobyl? A lot of myths grew up about it, some of which were obviously not true. The virus itself is almost forgotten today - only older computer users have heard about it or even had the unpleasantness to experience it on their own equipment. The most interesting thing in its history is that it was never intended to spread and cause the damage it did.

1. Were you a victim of some kind of virus?

2. What types of virus do you think are the most dangerous?

3. What new types of viruses will emerge in the future? How and what will they attack?

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/04/26/20-years-ago-today-what-we-can-learn-from-the-cih-virus