ERCIM News 99
October 2014
Special theme Software Quality
Guest editors Jurgen Vinju (CWI and TU Eindhoven) and Anthony Cleve (University of Namur)
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W3C held a workshop on the Web of Things in Berlin on 25-26 June, hosted by Siemens. There were just under 120 participants from around the World, attending on behalf of companies, research institutes, standards organizations, Industry Associations, and Government Institutions. There was broad agreement on the problems that currently face the Internet of Things (IoT). Until now, the focus has been on the devices and communications technologies. There is a growing awareness that the business opportunities will be centered on the associated services, moreover, the current situation is one of fragmentation with products being developed in isolation due to a plethora of IoT protocols and a lack of a shared approach to services.
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Proton therapy is considered the most advanced and targeted cancer treatment due to its superior dose distribution and reduced side effects. Protons deposit the majority of their effective energy within a precisely controlled range within a tumor, sparing healthy surrounding tissue. Higher doses can be delivered to the tumor without increasing the risk of side effects and long-term complications, improving patient outcomes and quality of life. The Belgian company IBA is the world leader in the field.
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Research shows that consideration for others does not always lead to the best outcome - that is, when it’s applied in game theory. Bart de Keijzer (CWI) studied algorithms for game theory, with a focus on cooperative aspects. He defended his PhD thesis ‘Externalities and Cooperation in Algorithmic Game Theory’ on 16 June at VU University. His research results can have applications in data and traffic networks, peer-to-peer networks and GSP auctions, such as used by Google Adwords.
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In August 2014 Tommaso Bolognesi, senior researcher at ISTI-CNR, Pisa, was awarded for the second time (the first was in 2011) a prize in the essay contest “How Should Humanity Steer the Future?”, launched by the U.S. institution FQXi (Foundational Questions Institute). His essay, entitled ‘Humanity is much more than the sum of humans’, ambitiously attempts to use ideas on the computational universe conjecture by Wolfram and others, on life as evolving software and on mathematical biology by G. Chaitin, and on integrated information and consciousness by G. Tononi, for providing some formal foundations to the cosmological visions of the French Jesuit and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The essay can be found and commented at: http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2014.