text_combined: bert kappen qpkcdaosciencerunl dear last january organized interface meeting switzerland researchers field machine learning statistical physics topic common interest approximate inference particular message passing methods meeting interesting sides clearly machine learning benefits statistical physics methods also reverse true particular concerns development robust algorithms challenging applications iop journal statistical mechanics published focus issue meeting find httpwwwioporgejjournalpageextrafocus2jstat bert kappen manfred opper riccardo zecchina ruedi stoop bert kappen snn radboud university nijmegen url wwwsnnkunnlbert netherlands tel 31 24 3614241 fax 31 24 3541435 qpkcdaosciencerunl wed 06 aug 2008 214652 0100 uai jstat special issue approximate inference