Angry French doctors and health workers staged a protest march across the capital Sunday, gathering more than 40,000 people according to organizers and 19,000 according to police.
Doctors, interns, nurses and dentists have been protesting for weeks, with some staging a two-week stoppage before Christmas, to amend a controversial health bill that goes before a parliamentary committee from Tuesday.
An interns' association claimed 50,000 people took part in the rally while a surgeons' group put the numbers at 46,000.
The draft legislation notably provides for doctors to be paid in full by the state-run social security system by 2017, rather than the current system under which patients pay doctors and are then refunded by the system.
Medics fear the proposed change will hugely add to their paper-work, cause payment delays and open the door to administrative meddling in medical affairs.
More than 1 million protesters hit the streets across Brazil in a major show of anger against leftist president Dilma Rousseff, who faces a growing number of crises from a faltering economy to a massive corruption scandal at state oil giant Petrobras.
The demonstrators called for the impeachment of Ms Rousseff, less than six months after she was narrowly returned to power in the most bitterly fought presidential race since the end of a military dictatorship in 1985.
The biggest demonstration took place in Sao Paulo, where 1 million people rallied, according to police estimates.
Many of them wore the distinctive yellow and green colours of Brazil's national football team.
Demonstrations also took place in 83 cities and towns around the country, including major protests in the capital Brasilia and in Rio de Janeiro.
The numbers matched the vast rallies that roiled Brazil in June 2013, when protesters angry at the cost of hosting the 2014 World Cup, demanded an end to corruption and more spending on transportation, health and education.
Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.
"We are thousands and thousands of people who order the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff," Rubens Nunes, 26, said in Sao Paulo.
The protests were significantly larger than those convened on Friday in support of Ms Rousseff and Petrobras by unions and social movements related to her ruling Workers' Party (PT).
In the capital Brasilia alone, police estimated between 45,000 and 50,000 people marched towards the Congress, according to police estimates.
The leader of Brazil's main opposition, Aecio Neves, said in a statement online that demonstrations marked a day when Brazilians "went to the streets to reunite with their virtues, their values and also with their dreams".
Mr Nevez was defeated by Dilma Rousseff in October's presidential election.
In a statement on Saturday, president Rousseff said she supported the rights of the marchers.
She said she hoped the demonstrations, timed to coincide with the thirty year anniversary of the end of a two-decade military dictatorship, would illustrate Brazil's "democratic maturity."
In Rio de Janeiro, people waved Brazilian flags along the coastal Copacabana avenue behind a truck blaring slogans against president Rousseff.
"Out Dilma, out PT!" people chanted. A few protesters even called for military intervention to end the PT's 12 years in power.
Rita Souza, a 50-year-old television producer, carried a banner reading: "Military intervention now."
"I'm not asking for a coup, but a constitutional intervention to call new fair elections," Souza said. "They can all go to Cuba!"
Construction contractor Alessandro Braga, 37, attended the rally in Brasilia with his wife and son.
"I support the departure of Dilma," he said. "The biggest corruption scandals occurred during her administration and she said nothing."
Dozens of political figures, including close allies of president Rousseff, and former Petrobras executives are under investigation over a kickback and money laundering scheme that saw an estimated $US3.8 billion siphoned off inflated contracts over a decade.
While no one has been convicted yet, some of the alleged wrongdoing took place while Ms Rousseff was chairman of the Petrobras board.
Twenty-two deputies, 13 senators and two governors have been implicated in the bribe-taking allegations, although the Brazilian president was not being investigated.
In addition to the corruption scandal at Petrobras, Ms Rousseff is also facing rising inflation and a Brazilian economy that is on the brink of recession.
Government deficits have widened and the real has lost 30 per cent of its value against the US dollar in the last 12 months.
President Rousseff has pledged to implement austerity measures to stem the government's rising debt, a move criticised by some in her own party. AFP/Reuters
France's proposed crackdown on thin models purports to be about healthy body image, but it's also a reminder to girls that they are permanently being judged on their appearance.
Curious where the global money has been flowing in the past quarter? Then the following Deutsche Bank global heatmap showing the 3-month flows into equity funds (including ETFs) should help answer that question.
Some more detailed observations from DB on the main catalyst behind global asset flows in the past few months.
The ECB's QE helps sustain the inflow momentum for European mandates across asset classes. The ECB’s QE has started this week and triggered 2-yr high weekly inflows for European sovereign and credit bond funds, thereby dragging 10-yr Bunds lower to an all-time record low of 0.2% (mid-week). This lower benchmark rate forced fwd equity multiples higher and put the SXXP index level (395.5) in reach of its all-time highs seen in Mar’00 (405.5) and Jun’07 (400.3), backed by another week of strong flows into equity funds.
* * *
Across asset classes – Flows into MM (++), bonds (+) vs. equities (~): Despite the fact that flows for total equity funds (+0.0% of NAV, ETFs: +0.0%, MFs: +0.0%) remained subdued over the past week (wed-wed), we see the rotation out of US into European and Japanese mandates holding up and, with it, the YTD delta expanding (US at -1.1% vs. Europe at +3.7% and Japan at +3.2%). Total bond funds on the other hand sustained inflows for a 10th straight week, albeit at a declining pace (+0.1% vs. a 4-week average of +0.2%). MM fund
In other words, everyone is merely doing what they have been conditioned to do for the past 7 years: frontrun central bank money printing. No surprise there.
And some more detail fund flow charts:
And since its a "momentum"-driven world, here is a summary of where flow momentum has been biggest across time.
You are here:HomeNewsOptical fibers demonstrate brain-like computing
Optical fibers demonstrate brain-like computing
March 16, 2015
(Left) A biological neuron transmits information through electrical and chemical signals between neurons by propagation of action potentials through the axon and release of neurotransmitters at synapses, causing excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (spikes) that propagate in the postsynaptic axon. (Right) The photonic axon and synapse transmit information with optical pulses that propagate along an optical fiber. Changes of light intensity create inhibitory or excitatory action potentials in the postsynaptic axon. (credit: Behrad Gholipour et al./Advanced Optical Materials)
UK and Singapore researchers have simulated neural networks and synapses in the brain using optical pulses as information carriers over fibers made from light-sensitive chalcogenide glass.
The research, published in Advanced Optical Materials, has the potential to allow faster and smarter optical neuromorphic (brain-like) computers capable of learning, the researchers say.
Compared to biological systems, today’s computers are “up to a billion times less efficient — simulating 5 seconds of brain activity takes 500 seconds and needs 1.4 MW of power,” they note.
The researchers, from the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton, UK, and Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies (CDPT) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, developed a proof-of-concept system that demonstrated optical equivalents of brain functions. These include holding a neural resting state and simulating the changes in electrical activity in a nerve cell as it is stimulated.
The changing properties of the glass act as the varying electrical activity in a nerve cell, and light provides the stimulus to change these properties. This enables switching a light signal, the equivalent to a nerve cell firing.
The research paves the way for scalable brain-like computing systems that enable “photonic neurons” with ultrafast signal transmission speeds, higher bandwidth, and lower power consumption than their biological and electronic counterparts, including “non-Boolean computing and decision-making paradigms that mimic brain functionalities,” the researchers say.
The project, funded under Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Advanced Optics in Engineering programme, was conducted within The Photonics Institute (TPI), a recently established dual institute between NTU and the ORC. Abstract of Amorphous Metal-Sulphide Microfibers Enable Photonic Synapses for Brain-Like Computing
In the pursuit of all-optical brain-like computing, optical axons and photonic synapses are demonstrated using metal-sulphide microfibers, which allow the generation and propagation of optical action potentials. This gives rise to an all-optical implementation of a number of interneuronal and intraneuronal communication protocols that underlie learning and cognition in the brain.
The statement that “Compared to biological systems, today’s computers are up to a billion times less efficient” doesn’t mean much without context. Obviously, “5 seconds of brain activity takes 500 seconds” is not a billion to 1 difference and is completely meaningless unless the computer and brain are processing the same data in the same way and getting the same result, and this cannot be happening because nobody has created a fully functioning AI yet.
In addition, much of the processing the brain goes through could be unnecessary
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