Latvias ehealth system hit by cyberattack from abroad
Digital prescriptions became compulsory on January 1, 2018 in Latvia Explore further Three Latvia regions under emergency due to African swine fever Citation: Latvia’s e-health system hit by cyberattack from abroad (2018, January 16) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-01-latvia-e-health-cyberattack.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Latvia said its new e-health system was on Tuesday hit by a large-scale cyberattack that saw thousands of requests for medical prescriptions pour in per second from more than 20 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the European Union. © 2018 AFP No data was compromised, according to health officials, who immediately took down the site, which was launched earlier this month to streamline the writing of prescriptions in the Baltic state.”It is clear that it was a planned attack, a widespread attack—we might say a specialised one—as it emanated from computers located in various different countries, both inside the European Union and outside Europe,” state secretary Aivars Lapins told reporters. “We received thousands of requests in a very short space of time. That’s not the normal way the system works,” he said, adding that an investigation is under way. The site was back up and running within a couple of hours but with reduced functionality, forcing Latvia to provisionally revert to the previous paper system that was kept as a backup after digital prescriptions became compulsory on January 1.
Provided by Frontiers A computer built to mimic the brain’s neural networks produces similar results to that of the best brain-simulation supercomputer software currently used for neural-signaling research, finds a new study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. Tested for accuracy, speed and energy efficiency, this custom-built computer named SpiNNaker, has the potential to overcome the speed and power consumption problems of conventional supercomputers. The aim is to advance our knowledge of neural processing in the brain, to include learning and disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: CC0 Public Domain “SpiNNaker can support detailed biological models of the cortex—the outer layer of the brain that receives and processes information from the senses—delivering results very similar to those from an equivalent supercomputer software simulation,” says Dr. Sacha van Albada, lead author of this study and leader of the Theoretical Neuroanatomy group at the Jülich Research Centre, Germany. “The ability to run large-scale detailed neural networks quickly and at low power consumption will advance robotics research and facilitate studies on learning and brain disorders.”The human brain is extremely complex, comprising 100 billion interconnected brain cells. We understand how individual neurons and their components behave and communicate with each other and on the larger scale, which areas of the brain are used for sensory perception, action and cognition. However, we know less about the translation of neural activity into behavior, such as turning thought into muscle movement.Supercomputer software has helped by simulating the exchange of signals between neurons, but even the best software run on the fastest supercomputers to date can only simulate 1% of the human brain.”It is presently unclear which computer architecture is best suited to study whole-brain networks efficiently. The European Human Brain Project and Jülich Research Centre have performed extensive research to identify the best strategy for this highly complex problem. Today’s supercomputers require several minutes to simulate one second of real time, so studies on processes like learning, which take hours and days in real time are currently out of reach.” explains Professor Markus Diesmann, co-author, head of the Computational and Systems Neuroscience department at the Jülich Research Centre.He continues, “There is a huge gap between the energy consumption of the brain and today’s supercomputers. Neuromorphic (brain-inspired) computing allows us to investigate how close we can get to the energy efficiency of the brain using electronics.”Developed over the past 15 years and based on the structure and function of the human brain, SpiNNaker—part of the Neuromorphic Computing Platform of the Human Brain Project—is a custom-built computer composed of half a million of simple computing elements controlled by its own software. The researchers compared the accuracy, speed and energy efficiency of SpiNNaker with that of NEST—a specialist supercomputer software currently in use for brain neuron-signaling research.”The simulations run on NEST and SpiNNaker showed very similar results,” reports Steve Furber, co-author and Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Manchester, UK. “This is the first time such a detailed simulation of the cortex has been run on SpiNNaker, or on any neuromorphic platform. SpiNNaker comprises 600 circuit boards incorporating over 500,000 small processors in total. The simulation described in this study used just six boards—1% of the total capability of the machine. The findings from our research will improve the software to reduce this to a single board.”Van Albada shares her future aspirations for SpiNNaker, “We hope for increasingly large real-time simulations with these neuromorphic computing systems. In the Human Brain Project, we already work with neuroroboticists who hope to use them for robotic control.” Citation: A new brain-inspired computer takes us one step closer to simulating brain neural networks in real-time (2018, July 11) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-07-brain-inspired-closer-simulating-brain-neural.html Explore further
Journal information: Frontiers in Neuroscience This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Researchers find algorithm for large-scale brain simulations More information: Sacha J. van Albada et al, Performance Comparison of the Digital Neuromorphic Hardware SpiNNaker and the Neural Network Simulation Software NEST for a Full-Scale Cortical Microcircuit Model, Frontiers in Neuroscience (2018). DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00291
Citation: Nvidia buys Israeli chipmaker Mellanox for $6.9 bn (2019, March 11) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-03-chipmaker-nvidia-mellanox-billion.html US computer graphics giant Nvidia said Monday it is acquiring Israeli data center firm Mellanox for $6.9 billion, to expand its presence in the high performance computing segment. Explore further Fiserv buys First Data for $22B, creating fintech giant The combined firm will have the capacity to “optimize data center” performance for applications in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, according to a statement by the firms.”The emergence of AI and data science, as well as billions of simultaneous computer users, is fueling skyrocketing demand on the world’s data centers,” said Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of California-based Nvidia.”Addressing this demand will require holistic architectures that connect vast numbers of fast computing nodes over intelligent networking fabrics to form a giant data center-scale compute engine.”The all-cash deal is expected to close later this year subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.The deal will expand the offerings of Nvidia, which produces chips and other technologies for video games, facial recognition systems and autonomous vehicles.The companies have previously collaborated in building the world’s two fastest supercomputers, Sierra and Summit, operated by the US Department of Energy.Eyal Waldman, co-founder and CEO of Mellanox, told a news conference in Tel Aviv he believes the tie-up can “build the future architecture of the future computing rooms.””Together we will be able to create much more efficient systems of computing, of connectivity and of storage,” Waldman said.
© 2019 AFP This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. California-based Nvidia struck a deal to acquire Israeli chipmaker Mellanox to create a bigger presence in high-performance computing
rivers The Tamil Nadu Government had turned down the request saying the century-old reservoir was ‘safe’ enough to store water up to 142 feet. water (natural resource) COMMENTS Kerala SHARE Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has said rumours are being spread over the stability of Mullaperiyar dam with an aim to create a wedge between the people of the State and Kerala, asserting that the reservoir is ‘safe’ to store water up to 142 feet.“Experts have opined that water could be stored upto 142 ft.. There is no need to fear.. The dam is strong.. the dam will not be affected even if there is a tremor or quake,” Panneerselvam told reporters here last night, after visiting the Kumuli road, which got damaged due to a landslide. “People of Kerala are our brothers and sisters.. Some people are trying to create misunderstanding between us,” he said referring to the rumours doing rounds on social media platforms that the Mullaperiyar dam has developed some cracks.The Deputy Chief Minister’s statement comes following a plea made by flood-hit Kerala on August 15, for reducing the water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir to 139 feet over safety concerns in view of heavy inflows.The Tamil Nadu Government had turned down the request saying the century-old reservoir was ‘safe’ enough to store water up to 142 feet.Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also sought the Centre’s intervention due to concerns over the dam’s safety in view of the swelling inflows.The Supreme Court had on August 16 directed the disaster management sub-committee of Mullaperiyar dam to consider reducing the water level up to 139 feet from the present 142 feet, considering the “grave” flood situation in all the 14 districts of Kerala.The two States are locked in a dispute over the storage level in the dam, situated in the high-range Idukki district of Kerala, which has been raising concerns about the safety of people living downstream.
SHARE SHARE EMAIL Tamil Nadu COMMENT Published on August 19, 2018