Application of the Catecholaminergic Neuron Electron Transport (CNET) Physical Substrate for Consciousness and Action Selection to Integrated Information Theory

A newly discovered physical mechanism involving incoherent electron tunneling in layers of the protein ferritin that are found in catecholaminergic neurons (catecholaminergic neuron electron transport or CNET) is hypothesized to support communication between neurons. Recent tests further confirm that these ferritin layers can also perform a switching function (in addition to providing an electron tunneling mechanism) that could be associated with action selection in those neurons, consistent with earlier predictions based on CNET. While further testing would be needed to confirm the hypothesis that CNET allows groups of neurons to communicate and act as a switch for selecting one of the neurons in the group to assist in reaching action potential, this paper explains how that hypothesized behavior would be consistent with Integrated Information Theory (IIT), one of a number of consciousness theories (CTs). While the sheer number of CTs suggest that any one of them alone is not sufficient to explain consciousness, this paper demonstrates that CNET can provide a physical substrate and action selection mechanism that is consistent with IIT and which can also be applied to other CTs, such as to conform them into a single explanation of consciousness.

Integrated Information Circle: The Challenge of Integrating the Civil and Military Police

ABSTRACT Context: the case narrates the creation of the Integrated Information Circle, a pilot project that took place in an area limited to the Rocinha community, led by managers of the civil and military police, which was carried out through a partnership between the 11th DP - Rocinha and the 28th UPP - Rocinha. This action sought to develop protocols for the exchange of information in a continuous, effective, and, above all, institutionalized manner between local police agencies. However, despite the good results achieved, the initiative has not been consolidated. Methodology: the information was collected from secondary data and interviews from the managers who participated in the process - Dr. Gabriel Ferrando, chief of the 11th DP, and Major Felipe Carvalho Barreto, then intelligence superintendent of the Pacifying Police Coordination (CPP). Objectives: To discuss how the civil and military police organize and act. Results: development of analyzes on aspects related to the organization and culture of police institutions about the theme of integration. Conclusion: the case allows us to understand the limits and potential of integration between the police, based on the discussion about the possible reasons why the Integrated Information Circle has been discontinued.

Círculo Integrado de Informação: O Desafio de Integração das Polícias Civil e Militar

ABSTRACT Context: the case narrates the creation of the Integrated Information Circle, a pilot project that took place in an area limited to the Rocinha community, led by managers of the civil and military police, which was carried out through a partnership between the 11th DP - Rocinha and the 28th UPP - Rocinha. This action sought to develop protocols for the exchange of information in a continuous, effective, and, above all, institutionalized manner between local police agencies. However, despite the good results achieved, the initiative has not been consolidated. Methodology: the information was collected from secondary data and interviews from the managers who participated in the process - Dr. Gabriel Ferrando, chief of the 11th DP, and Major Felipe Carvalho Barreto, then intelligence superintendent of the Pacifying Police Coordination (CPP). Objectives: To discuss how the civil and military police organize and act. Results: development of analyzes on aspects related to the organization and culture of police institutions about the theme of integration. Conclusion: the case allows us to understand the limits and potential of integration between the police, based on the discussion about the possible reasons why the Integrated Information Circle has been discontinued.

THE CONCEPT OF CREATING AN INTELLECTUAL CORE OF AN INTEGRATED INFORMATION AND ANALYTICAL SYSTEM FOR ACTION IN EMERGENCIES OF MAN-MADE NATURE

Subject matter. Informatization of processes of counteraction to man-made emergencies. Goal. Improving the effectiveness of the process of information support for decision-making in overcoming the consequences of man-made emergencies, in terms of its intellectualization, by creating a concept of integration of various software tools within a single, homogeneous space of knowledge about strategic, tactical and operational actions in a wide range of accidents and disasters related to the operation of technical facilities. Tasks. Develop a formal statement of the problem of decision-making in an emergency situation and justify the methodology of its implementation based on the integration of knowledge tools with various analytical models that describe the processes of emergency. Consider the application of the proposed methodology on a scenario that reproduces the situation on the site after the leakage of a highly toxic substance. Methods. System analysis - in the development of a comprehensive process model for decision-making in an emergency; software engineering - when creating the architecture of an integrated intelligent decision support system in emergencies of man-made nature; physics of the processes of distribution of toxic chemicals in the atmosphere - in the development of a scenario of the situation at the site in an emergency situation at an industrial site. Results. The concept of creating an integrated intelligent decision support system for overcoming the consequences of man-made emergencies, in particular, the formal formulation of a typical problem of decision-making in emergencies is described, as well as the basic principles of its solution, and the formulation of the problem of modeling management processes associated with man-made emergencies is developed. Conclusions. The concept of creating an integrated information-analytical system to support decision-making in man-made emergencies is presented. Within the framework of this concept, formal models of decision-making in man-made emergencies and an approach to the integration of diverse software within a single, homogeneous knowledge space on comprehensive measures to overcome the consequences of emergencies related to accidents and disasters at technical facilities infrastructure. The scenario example of the organization of intellectual support of decisions at release into the atmosphere of a toxic chemical is considered.

Ambiguous Body Ownership Experience Caused by Feeling–judgement Conflict: Evidence from Subjective Measurement in Rubber Hand Illusion using Integrated Information Theory

Human body awareness is malleable and adaptive to changing contexts. The illusory sense of body-ownership has been studied since the publication of the rubber hand illusion, where ambiguous body ownership feeling, expressed as "the dummy hand is my hand even though that is not true", was first defined. Phenomenologically, the ambiguous body ownership is attributed to a conflict between feeling and judgement; in other words, it characterises a discrepancy between first-person (i.e. bottom-up) and third-person (i.e. top-down) processes. Although Bayesian inference can explain this malleability of body image sufficiently, the theory does not provide a good illustration of why we have different experiences to the same stimuli -- the difficulty lies in the uncertainty regarding the concept of judgement in their theory. This study attempts to explain subjective experience during rubber hand illusions using integrated information theory (IIT). The integrated information Φ in IIT measures the difference between the entire system and its subsystems. This concept agrees with the phenomenological interpretation -- that is, there is conflict between judgement and feeling. By analysing the seven nodes of a small body--brain system, we demonstrate that the integrity of the entire system during the illusion decreases with increasing integrity of its subsystems. These general tendencies agree well with many brain-image analyses and subjective reports; furthermore, we found that subjective ratings were associated with the Φs. Our result suggests that IIT can explain the general tendency of the sense of ownership illusions and individual differences in subjective experience during the illusions.

How Morphological Computation Shapes Integrated Information in Embodied Agents

The Integrated Information Theory provides a quantitative approach to consciousness and can be applied to neural networks. An embodied agent controlled by such a network influences and is being influenced by its environment. This involves, on the one hand, morphological computation within goal directed action and, on the other hand, integrated information within the controller, the agent's brain. In this article, we combine different methods in order to examine the information flows among and within the body, the brain and the environment of an agent. This allows us to relate various information flows to each other. We test this framework in a simple experimental setup. There, we calculate the optimal policy for goal-directed behavior based on the “planning as inference” method, in which the information-geometric em-algorithm is used to optimize the likelihood of the goal. Morphological computation and integrated information are then calculated with respect to the optimal policies. Comparing the dynamics of these measures under changing morphological circumstances highlights the antagonistic relationship between these two concepts. The more morphological computation is involved, the less information integration within the brain is required. In order to determine the influence of the brain on the behavior of the agent it is necessary to additionally measure the information flow to and from the brain.