Data Science and AI in the Age of COVID-19
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Edsger Dijkstra: the Man Who Carried Computer Science on His Shoulders
INFERENCE / Vol. 5, No. 3 Edsger Dijkstra The Man Who Carried Computer Science on His Shoulders Krzysztof Apt s it turned out, the train I had taken from dsger dijkstra was born in Rotterdam in 1930. Nijmegen to Eindhoven arrived late. To make He described his father, at one time the president matters worse, I was then unable to find the right of the Dutch Chemical Society, as “an excellent Aoffice in the university building. When I eventually arrived Echemist,” and his mother as “a brilliant mathematician for my appointment, I was more than half an hour behind who had no job.”1 In 1948, Dijkstra achieved remarkable schedule. The professor completely ignored my profuse results when he completed secondary school at the famous apologies and proceeded to take a full hour for the meet- Erasmiaans Gymnasium in Rotterdam. His school diploma ing. It was the first time I met Edsger Wybe Dijkstra. shows that he earned the highest possible grade in no less At the time of our meeting in 1975, Dijkstra was 45 than six out of thirteen subjects. He then enrolled at the years old. The most prestigious award in computer sci- University of Leiden to study physics. ence, the ACM Turing Award, had been conferred on In September 1951, Dijkstra’s father suggested he attend him three years earlier. Almost twenty years his junior, I a three-week course on programming in Cambridge. It knew very little about the field—I had only learned what turned out to be an idea with far-reaching consequences. a flowchart was a couple of weeks earlier. -
The Turing Approach Vs. Lovelace Approach
Connecting the Humanities and the Sciences: Part 2. Two Schools of Thought: The Turing Approach vs. The Lovelace Approach* Walter Isaacson, The Jefferson Lecture, National Endowment for the Humanities, May 12, 2014 That brings us to another historical figure, not nearly as famous, but perhaps she should be: Ada Byron, the Countess of Lovelace, often credited with being, in the 1840s, the first computer programmer. The only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron, Ada inherited her father’s romantic spirit, a trait that her mother tried to temper by having her tutored in math, as if it were an antidote to poetic imagination. When Ada, at age five, showed a preference for geography, Lady Byron ordered that the subject be replaced by additional arithmetic lessons, and her governess soon proudly reported, “she adds up sums of five or six rows of figures with accuracy.” Despite these efforts, Ada developed some of her father’s propensities. She had an affair as a young teenager with one of her tutors, and when they were caught and the tutor banished, Ada tried to run away from home to be with him. She was a romantic as well as a rationalist. The resulting combination produced in Ada a love for what she took to calling “poetical science,” which linked her rebellious imagination to an enchantment with numbers. For many people, including her father, the rarefied sensibilities of the Romantic Era clashed with the technological excitement of the Industrial Revolution. Lord Byron was a Luddite. Seriously. In his maiden and only speech to the House of Lords, he defended the followers of Nedd Ludd who were rampaging against mechanical weaving machines that were putting artisans out of work. -
Coronavirus COVID-19 Outbreak in the EU – Fundamental Rights Implications”
Coronavirus pandemic in the EU – Fundamental Rights Implications Country: Sweden Contractor’s name: Emerga Institute Date: 2 July 2020 DISCLAIMER: This document was commissioned under contract as background material for a comparative report being prepared by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for the project “Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in the EU – fundamental rights implications”. The information and views contained in the document do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA. The document is made available for transparency and information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion. 1 Measures taken by government/public authorities 1.1 Emergency laws/states of emergency Provide information on emergency laws/declarations of states of emergency, including actions taken by police to enforce them and court rulings concerning the legality of such measures. Please include in particular information on developments relating to the protection of the right of association/demonstration; for example, with respect to the public gatherings that took place concerning the death of George Floyd, or other such events. In Sweden, the only constitutionally protected freedom or right that has been restricted for all inhabitants in connection with the spread of the corona virus is the freedom of assembly. According to section 1 of the Ordinance on prohibition on holding public gatherings and public events (Förordning [2020:114] om förbud mot att hålla allmänna sammankomster och offentliga tillställningar), general meetings and public events with more than 50 participants may not be held within Sweden until further notice.1 All other restrictions aimed at the public are posed as recommendations from the government and/or the relevant authorities and cannot be imposed by any actions taken by the police. -
CODEBREAKING Suggested Reading List (Can Also Be Viewed Online at Good Reads)
MARSHALL LEGACY SERIES: CODEBREAKING Suggested Reading List (Can also be viewed online at Good Reads) NON-FICTION • Aldrich, Richard. Intelligence and the War against Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. • Allen, Robert. The Cryptogram Challenge: Over 150 Codes to Crack and Ciphers to Break. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005 • Briggs, Asa. Secret Days Code-breaking in Bletchley Park. Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2011 • Budiansky, Stephen. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War Two. New York: Free Press, 2000. • Churchhouse, Robert. Codes and Ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma, and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. • Clark, Ronald W. The Man Who Broke Purple. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977. • Drea, Edward J. MacArthur's Ultra: Codebreaking and the War Against Japan, 1942-1945. Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1992. • Fisher-Alaniz, Karen. Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2011. • Friedman, William and Elizebeth Friedman. The Shakespearian Ciphers Examined. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957. • Gannon, James. Stealing Secrets, Telling Lies: How Spies and Codebreakers Helped Shape the Twentieth century. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2001. • Garrett, Paul. Making, Breaking Codes: Introduction to Cryptology. London: Pearson, 2000. • Hinsley, F. H. and Alan Stripp. Codebreakers: the inside story of Bletchley Park. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. • Hodges, Andrew. Alan Turing: The Enigma. New York: Walker and Company, 2000. • Kahn, David. Seizing The Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-boat Codes, 1939-1943. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2001. • Kahn, David. The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. -
Workshop Reports PDF 2.8 MB
Workshop reports Data science and AI in the age of COVID-19 Reflections on the response of the UK’s data science and AI community to the COVID-19 pandemic Below are the individual reports from the research. Another example of collaboration return to a context in which advances achieved workshops that were convened by The Alan between organisations was the development of during the pandemic would not be possible Turing Institute and the Centre for Facilitation adaptive clinical trials (e.g. RECOVERY8). once the COPI regulations come to an end, in November and December 2020, following despite evidence indicating public support for Challenges the Turing’s ‘AI and data science in the age of the use of health data in research.12 COVID-19’ conference. The workshops were The ability of the data science community to Workshop participants also reported that data summarised by the facilitators and theme respond more successfully to the challenge of sources could benefit from being better linked leads, and the editorial team of the primary the pandemic was hindered by several hurdles. to each other – despite more collaboration, report then applied light editing. These reports many UKRI-funded studies (ISARIC4C,13 are a reflection of the views expressed by Better standardisation and documentation PHOSP-COVID14) are still relatively standalone. workshop participants, and do not necessarily of clinical data (and other forms of data, e.g. Connecting expertise – the right people to reflect the views of The Alan Turing Institute. location) would have been beneficial. Some positive examples of standardisation could the right data to the right problem – was Several of the reports end with references have been replicated for far wider benefit. -
An Early Program Proof by Alan Turing F
An Early Program Proof by Alan Turing F. L. MORRIS AND C. B. JONES The paper reproduces, with typographical corrections and comments, a 7 949 paper by Alan Turing that foreshadows much subsequent work in program proving. Categories and Subject Descriptors: 0.2.4 [Software Engineeringj- correctness proofs; F.3.1 [Logics and Meanings of Programs]-assertions; K.2 [History of Computing]-software General Terms: Verification Additional Key Words and Phrases: A. M. Turing Introduction The standard references for work on program proofs b) have been omitted in the commentary, and ten attribute the early statement of direction to John other identifiers are written incorrectly. It would ap- McCarthy (e.g., McCarthy 1963); the first workable pear to be worth correcting these errors and com- methods to Peter Naur (1966) and Robert Floyd menting on the proof from the viewpoint of subse- (1967); and the provision of more formal systems to quent work on program proofs. C. A. R. Hoare (1969) and Edsger Dijkstra (1976). The Turing delivered this paper in June 1949, at the early papers of some of the computing pioneers, how- inaugural conference of the EDSAC, the computer at ever, show an awareness of the need for proofs of Cambridge University built under the direction of program correctness and even present workable meth- Maurice V. Wilkes. Turing had been writing programs ods (e.g., Goldstine and von Neumann 1947; Turing for an electronic computer since the end of 1945-at 1949). first for the proposed ACE, the computer project at the The 1949 paper by Alan M. -
Annual Report 2018–19
Annual report 2018–19 2018 –19 Annual Report 2018–19 Part 1 Our year 3 Part 2 Trustees’ and strategic report 74 Part 3 Financial statements 84 Our year 1.1 Chair’s foreword 1.2 Institute Director and Chief Executive’s foreword 1 1.3 Outputs, impact and equalities 1.4 Turing trends and statistics 1.5 Research mapping: Linking research, people and activities 3 Creating real world impact We have had yet another year of rapid growth Since 2016, researchers at the Institute have produced and remarkable progress. over 200 publications in leading journals and demonstrated early impacts with great potential. Some of the impacts The Alan Turing Institute is a multidisciplinary institute are captured in this annual report and we are excited to formed through partnerships with some of the UK’s see the translation of our data science and AI research leading universities. This innovative approach gives us into a real-world context. access to expertise and skills in data science and AI that is unparalleled outside of a handful of large tech platforms. We are witnessing a massive growth of data science Our substantial convening power enables us to work and AI. We are also seeing important challenges and across the economy: with large corporations, the public breakthroughs in many areas including safe and ethical sector including government departments, charitable AI, quantum computing, urban transport, defence, foundations and small businesses. These collaborations manufacturing, health and financial services. Across cut across disciplines and break through institutional the Institute we are leading the public conversation in boundaries. -
Biographies of Computer Scientists
1 Charles Babbage 26 December 1791 (London, UK) – 18 October 1871 (London, UK) Life and Times Charles Babbage was born into a wealthy family, and started his mathematics education very early. By . 1811, when he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, he found that he knew more mathematics then his professors. He moved to Peterhouse, Cambridge from where he graduated in 1814. However, rather than come second to his friend Herschel in the final examinations, Babbage decided not to compete for an honors degree. In 1815 he co-founded the Analytical Society dedicated to studying continental reforms of Newton's formulation of “The Calculus”. He was one of the founders of the Astronomical Society in 1820. In 1821 Babbage started work on his Difference Engine designed to accurately compile tables. Babbage received government funding to construct an actual machine, but they stopped the funding in 1832 when it became clear that its construction was running well over-budget George Schuetz completed a machine based on the design of the Difference Engine in 1854. On completing the design of the Difference Engine, Babbage started work on the Analytical Engine capable of more general symbolic manipulations. The design of the Analytical Engine was complete in 1856, but a complete machine would not be constructed for over a century. Babbage's interests were wide. It is claimed that he invented cow-catchers for railway engines, the uniform postal rate, a means of recognizing lighthouses. He was also interested in locks and ciphers. He was politically active and wrote many treatises. One of the more famous proposed the banning of street musicians. -
Read the Report As a PDF Exploring the Covid-19
Contents Contents 1 About 2 Executive summary 3 Introduction 5 Landscape review 5 Key findings at this stage 6 A number of symptom trackers in the ecosystem 6 Ecosystem structure 6 Lack of collaboration 6 Lack of transparency around data collection 6 Open data availability 6 User base 7 Specific types of users 7 Location 7 Data discovery 8 Types of data 8 Observations about types of data 9 Commonly asked questions 9 Data standards 9 Representation of communities 10 Changes over time 10 Mental health and wellbeing 11 Outputs 11 Individual guidance 11 Research insights 11 Improvements to existing services 11 How does the data collected relate to the outputs? 12 The symptom tracking data ecosystem 13 The UK symptom tracking data ecosystem 13 Where is value being created in this example? 14 Barriers to impact 14 Opportunities 15 International variations 15 A single source approach 15 A more collaborative approach 16 Where is value being created in this example 17 Open Data Institute 2020 / Report Exploring the Covid-19 symptom-tracking ecosystem 1 Discussion 18 Data discovery 18 Legal complexities 18 Technical barriers 20 Trust and trustworthiness 20 Recommendations 20 Standards for data 21 Enabling hub to facilitate interactions 21 Building trust with the public through ethical approaches 22 Appendices 23 About This report has been researched and produced by the Open Data Institute, and published in January 2021. Its lead author was James Maddison with contributions from Olivier Thereaux and Jeni Tennison. If you want to share feedback by email or would like to get in touch, contact the Open Covid-19 project team at [email protected]. -
STEM Education Centre E-Bulletin: March 2014
STEM Education Centre E-bulletin: March 2014 Welcome to the March e-bulletin from the University of Birmingham’s STEM Education Centre. It is designed to provide you with information about STEM-related events, resources, news and updates that may be of interest to you and your colleagues. STEM Policy and Practice News Budget 2014: Alan Turing Institute to lead big data research A £42m Alan Turing Institute is to be founded to ensure that Britain leads the way in big data and algorithm research, George Osborne has announced. Drawing on the name of the British mathematician who led code-breaking work at Bletchley Park during the World War II, the institute is intended to help British companies by bringing together expertise and experience in tackling problems requiring huge computational power. Turing’s work led to the cracking of the German "Enigma" codes, which used highly compl ex encryption, is believed to have saved hundreds or even thousands of lives. He later formed a number of theories that underpin modern computing, and formalised the idea of algorithms – sequences of instructions – for a computer. This announcement marks further official rehabilitation of a scientist who many see as having been treated badly by the British government after his work during the war. Turing, who was gay, was convicted of indecency in March 1952, and lost his security clearance with GCHQ, the successor to Bletchley Park. He killed himself in June 1954. Only after a series of public campaigns was he given an official pardon by the UK government in December 2013. Public Attitudes to Science (PAS) 2014 Public Attitudes to Science (PAS) 2014 is the fifth in a series of studies looking at attitudes to science, scientists and science policy among the UK public. -
Women in Computing
History of Computing CSE P590A (UW) PP190/290-3 (UCB) CSE 290 291 (D00) Women in Computing Katherine Deibel University of Washington [email protected] 1 An Amazing Photo Philadelphia Inquirer, "Your Neighbors" article, 8/13/1957 2 Diversity Crisis in Computer Science Percentage of CS/IS Bachelor Degrees Awarded to Women National Center for Education Statistics, 2001 3 Goals of this talk ! Highlight the many accomplishments made by women in the computing field ! Learn their stories, both good and bad 4 Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace ! Translated and extended Menabrea’s article on Babbage’s Analytical Engine ! Predicted computers could be used for music and graphics ! Wrote the first algorithm— how to compute Bernoulli numbers ! Developed notions of looping and subroutines 5 Garbage In, Garbage Out The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. — Ada Lovelace, Note G 6 On her genius and insight If you are as fastidious about the acts of your friendship as you are about those of your pen, I much fear I shall equally lose your friendship and your Notes. I am very reluctant to return your admirable & philosophic 'Note A.' Pray do not alter it… All this was impossible for you to know by intuition and the more I read your notes the more surprised I am at them and regret not having earlier explored so rich a vein of the noblest metal. -
COVID-19: Make It the Last Pandemic
COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city of area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Report Design: Michelle Hopgood, Toronto, Canada Icon Illustrator: Janet McLeod Wortel Maps: Taylor Blake COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic by The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness & Response 2 of 86 Contents Preface 4 Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 8 2. The devastating reality of the COVID-19 pandemic 10 3. The Panel’s call for immediate actions to stop the COVID-19 pandemic 12 4. What happened, what we’ve learned and what needs to change 15 4.1 Before the pandemic — the failure to take preparation seriously 15 4.2 A virus moving faster than the surveillance and alert system 21 4.2.1 The first reported cases 22 4.2.2 The declaration of a public health emergency of international concern 24 4.2.3 Two worlds at different speeds 26 4.3 Early responses lacked urgency and effectiveness 28 4.3.1 Successful countries were proactive, unsuccessful ones denied and delayed 31 4.3.2 The crisis in supplies 33 4.3.3 Lessons to be learnt from the early response 36 4.4 The failure to sustain the response in the face of the crisis 38 4.4.1 National health systems under enormous stress 38 4.4.2 Jobs at risk 38 4.4.3 Vaccine nationalism 41 5.