Enabling Scalable Neurocartography: Images to Graphs for Discovery

In recent years, advances in technology have enabled researchers to ask new questions predicated on the collection and analysis of big datasets that were previously too large to study. More specifically, many fundamental questions in neuroscience require studying brain tissue at a large scale to discover emergent properties of neural computation, consciousness, and etiologies of brain disorders. A major challenge is to construct larger, more detailed maps (e.g., structural wiring diagrams) of the brain, known as connectomes. Although raw data exist, obstacles remain in both algorithm development and scalable image analysis to enable access to the knowledge within these data volumes. This dissertation develops, combines and tests state-of-the-art algorithms to estimate graphs and glean other knowledge across six orders of magnitude, from millimeter-scale magnetic resonance imaging to nanometer-scale electron microscopy. This work enables scientific discovery across the community and contributes to the tools and services offered by NeuroData and the Open Connectome Project. Contributions include creating, optimizing and evaluating the first known fully-automated brain graphs in electron microscopy data and magnetic resonance imaging data; pioneering approaches to generate knowledge from X-Ray tomography imaging; and identifying and solving a variety of image analysis challenges associated with building graphs suitable for discovery. These methods were applied across diverse datasets to answer questions at scales not previously explored

Society seen through the prism of space: outline of a theory of society and space

Two questions challenge the student of space and society above all others: will new technologies change the spatial basis of society ? And if so, will this have an impact on society itself ? For the urbanist, these two questions crystallise into one: what will the future of cities have to do with their past ? Too often these questions are dealt with as though they were only matters of technology. But they are much more than that. They are deep and difficult questions about the interdependence of technology, space and society that we do not yet have the theoretical apparatus to answer. We know that previous �revolutions� in technology such as agriculture, urbanism and industrialisation associated radical changes in space with no less radical changes in social institutions. But we do not know how far these linkages were contingent or necessary. We do not, in short, have a theory of society and space adequate to account for where we are now, and therefore we have no reasonable theoretical base for speculating about the future. In this paper, I suggest that a major reason for this theoretical deficit is that most previous attempts to build a theory of society and space have looked at society and tried to find space in its output. The result has been that the constructive role of space in creating and and sustaining society has not been brought to the fore, or if it has, only in a way which is too general to permit the detailed specification of mechanisms. In this paper I try to reverse the normal order of things this by looking first at space and trying the discern society through space: by looking at society through the prism of space. Through this I try to define key mechanisms linking space to society and then use these to suggest how the questions about the future of cities and societies might be better defined

Quantum Field Theory

I discuss the general principles underlying quantum field theory, and attempt to identify its most profound consequences. The deepest of these consequences result from the infinite number of degrees of freedom invoked to implement locality. I mention a few of its most striking successes, both achieved and prospective. Possible limitations of quantum field theory are viewed in the light of its history.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 3 figures. Will appear in Centenary issue of Rev. of Mod. Phys., March 1999. Incorporated minor corrections suggested by edito