Call for KDD07 Participation
ACM (07/09/07)
The Thirteenth ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery
and Data Mining will take place in San Jose from August 12 through 15,
2007. The conference provides a forum for academic researchers, industry,
and government innovators to share their results and experiences. The 2007
program includes the research track and industrial paper and panel
presentations, implemented software demos, posters, workshops, and
tutorials followed by the KDD Cup competition. New to the conference this
year are Birds of Feather (BOF) sessions organized by topics as suggested
by conference attendees in which researchers working on similar projects
can meet face to face at BOF roundtables during lunches. KDD07 will also
feature presentations on such topics as social network analysis, visual
data mining, security and privacy issues, semantic web mining, temporal and
spatial mining, novel algorithms, high performance and grid computing, text
and semi-structured data mining. Meanwhile, workshops offered at the
conference include Data Mining and Audience Intelligence for Advertising
(ADKDD'07), Data Mining in Bioinformatics (BIOKDD'07), KDD Cup and Workshop
2007, and Multimedia Data Mining.
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Lawmakers to DHS: Spend More on Cybersecurity
Federal Computer Week (07/03/07) Miller, Jason
The House Homeland Security Committee wants the Department of Homeland
Security's Science and Technology Directorate to allocate more funding
toward cybersecurity research and development efforts. The directorate
currently has $37 million allocated toward cybersecurity R&D through the
year 2011. During a June 27 hearing, committee members peppered the
directorate's undersecretary, Jay Cohen, with pointed questions about the
funding efforts, stating that current funding levels are insufficient.
Cohen explained that the DHS assistant secretary of cybersecurity, Greg
Garcia, has mandated that just 1 percent of the directorate's funds be
allocated toward cybersecurity research. During the hearing, Cohen
acknowledged that 1 percent is too low of a figure, explaining that he
would welcome more input from Garcia and DHS CIO Scott Charbo on the types
of solutions they need. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) says he intends to
create a bill forcing the DHS to assess the nation's cybersecurity
vulnerabilities. Cohen replied that he supports such a mandate, so long as
it also applies to all other federal agencies. Cohen urged entrepreneurs
and inventors to approach the DHS "with opportunities to solve
problems."
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Murat Arcak Receives 2007 SIAG/CST Prize
EurekAlert (07/05/07)
The SIAM Activity Group on Control and Systems Theory (SIAG/CST) honored
Murat Arcak for his research contributions involving large networked
systems during an awards ceremony on Sunday, July 1, 2007, in San Francisco
at the SIAM Conference on Control and Its Applications. Arcak, the winner
of the 2007 SIAG/CST Prize, has had a positive impact on the performance
and robustness of wireless and biological networks, as well as the way
resources are allocated for the Internet. Arcak is an associate professor
in the Electronic, Computer & Systems Engineering Department in the School
of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., but is
currently a visiting scholar at MIT through August 2007. He delivered an
address, entitled "Structure and Passivity in Networks of Dynamic Systems,"
after the awards ceremony.
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A Smarter Car
Technology Review (07/06/07) Boyd, Clark
IBM's collaborative driving research effort is an initiative spearheaded
by its Haifa, Israel, lab to cut traffic congestion and prevent accidents
by tapping sensors and communications technologies that should be embedded
in roads and vehicles within a relatively short timeframe. IBM researcher
Oleg Goldschmidt says the company can integrate computer modeling and
driving simulations to better ascertain how all the data produced by
present-day high-tech cars and roadways can be collected and structured,
and then processed and prioritized in a way that best helps the motorist.
Jim Misener with Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways explains that
the field of information arbitration covers this kind of research, but the
prioritization of the road data is no simple feat, according to Motorola
Intelligent Systems Research director Mike Gardner. "A smart vehicle has
to collect all this raw sensor data, fuse it, and then analyze it with
something like pattern recognition," he notes. "Then it has to decide, 'Is
that a person in front of the car, or is that just fog?'" Tim Brown of the
University of Iowa's National Advanced Driving Simulator stresses the
importance of integrating different warning systems. "Trying to figure out
communication between warning systems such that certain warnings get
suppressed under certain circumstances is critical to providing the driver
with the information he needs to respond appropriately in a collision
event," he says.
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US Government Prepares for Cyber War Games
Ars Technica (07/05/07) Reimer, Jeremy
The colossal distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) on Estonia's Web
sites in May 2007 prompted the United States to both assist Estonia in the
aftermath and to review America's own level of readiness for such an
attack. Currently, to help scrutinize attack-generated data, the United
States is sending an investigative team to Estonia. The team will also
train Estonian IT professions in safeguarding their network infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government established the "Cyber Command," a group
that will plan the country's response to similar cyberattacks. In
addition, a federal exercise developed to test pandemic preparedness has
been revised to incorporate a cyberterrorism response simulation. Because
critical services--such as routing infrastructure and DNS--in Estonia were
unscathed by the attacks, the significance of the assault seems to lie in
the response roused in other nations. Whether or not the Russian
government was involved in the DDoS attack, the Estonia incident may be
deemed the first international "cyberwar," and as such may raise awareness
of modern society's vulnerabilities. The attacks did, however, illustrate
the usefulness of international teamwork, for NATO member nations offered
assistance and security professionals responded in real time from all over
the world. President George W. Bush recently thanked Estonia's president
for disclosing data about the attacks that could help other countries
protect their infrastructures from comparable assaults.
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Want to Be a Computer Scientist? Forget Maths
iTWire (07/05/07) Corner, Stuart
A new book aims to dispel the belief that mathematics is a necessary
foundation for computer science and programming, specifically for the
algorithms used in computer science. Theseus Research CEO Karl M. Fant
says the notion of the algorithm "has been largely ineffective as a
paradigm for computer science." Fant says because mathematicians, notably
John Von Neumann and Alan Turing, were involved in the early development of
digital electronic computers in the 1940s, a mathematical model of
computation was installed, including the algorithm, in the early days of
computer science. Fant argues that the mathematical perspective is
creating and approaching questions from the wrong point of view.
"Mathematicians and computer scientists are pursuing fundamentally
different aims, and the mathematician's tolls are not as appropriate as was
once supposed to the questions of the computer scientists," Fant says.
"The primary questions of computer science are not of computational
possibilities, but of expressional possibilities. Computer science does not
need a theory of computation; it needs a comprehensive theory of process
expression." The idea of "process expression," according to Fant, is a
common thread that runs through various disciplines of computer science.
"The notion of the algorithm," Fant concludes, "simply does not provide
conceptual enlightenment for the questions that most computer scientists
are concerned with."
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Technology's Untanglers: They Make It Really Work
New York Times (07/08/07) Whitaker, Barbara
The usability industry continues to play a more significant role in a
variety of industries, helping to examine end user's habits and fix any
potential problems, such as Web site creators who assume the users know
more than they do or software designers who are unable to predict user
behavior that could unintentionally destroy an entire database. When the
federal government was developing its informational Web site usa.gov, it
hired usability experts to look for flaws. By observing users, the site's
developers discovered that users were having trouble finding individual
agencies' Web sites because they did not know which department to look
under. Usability expert Janice Redish, who specializes in Web sites and
software interfaces, says the usability industry has significantly expanded
over the past three to five years. "I think the Web has really made
companies and agencies understand they are in a conversation with their
customers," Redish says. Usability research can deploy very sophisticated
techniques, using equipment such as eye-tracking software to precisely
analyze what users are looking at on screen, but the work generally relies
on solid observation and interview skills. In response to a growing demand
for usability job candidates, schools are offering degrees in areas such as
human computer interaction, new media, and accessible Web design. However,
much of the training for usability jobs is happening in the workplace.
"People come into it from many different areas," Redish says.
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Happy, Sad, Angry or Astonished?
PhysOrg.com (07/05/07)
New facial recognition technology, developed by the Fraunhofer Institute
for Integrated Circuits IIS, can quickly recognize a person's sex and their
present mood. When using the image analysis system, for example, a small
video camera implanted behind an advertisement can quickly capture the
faces of passersby, apply complex algorithms, and determine their facial
expressions and corresponding emotions. IIS project manager Dr. Christian
Kublbeck notes, "The special feature of our facial analysis software is
that it operates in real time." The system examines the eyes, face,
eyebrows, and nose--the contours of which are compared to over 30,000
characteristics already known--and with the help of a standard PC, mood
changes can be tracked in real time. Advertising psychologists and others
can use the software to determine whether advertisements are pleasing,
computer software is user-friendly, or whether learning programs are
challenging users.
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EU Project Develops Human-Computer Dialogue System
Cordis News Service (07/05/07)
A consortium led by Manfred Pinkal of the Saarland University has created
a dialogue system enabling humans to simply tell computers what to do. The
TALK project stemmed from the developers' belief that new technology should
simplify life, a concept that is often undermined by the difficult user
manuals that accompany technology. The dialogue system is grounded in
speech recognition and interaction, elements that the developers merged
with a graphical interface and standard keys. Users can choose their own,
everyday words, and can speak to the computer in brief commands or full
sentences. Moreover, the system adapts to its user's conversational
behavior as well as to the situation. The interactive process is therefore
well suited to a range of applications, from smart homes to intelligent
cars.
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Smart Suit Doesn't Miss a Beat
University of South Australia (07/03/07)
Scientists at the University of South Australia (UniSA) are developing
smart clothes that incorporate integrated electronic technology. When
placed on electronic hangers, the smart garments can download stored data
such as heart and respiration rates to a computer and be recharged for
continued wearing. "For continuous monitoring, you can take off one
garment and put on another smart garment so, instead of having just one
heart monitor, you can have a wardrobe of them," says professor Bruce
Thomas, researcher and director of UniSA's Wearable Computer Laboratory. A
special cabinet for the clothes features a touch screen on the outside as
well as a hanging rail with conductive metal bands, all linked to a
computer at the base of the cabinet. Electronic hangers that are placed on
the rail are detected by the computer as well as the smart clothes. For
instance, the computer can identify that a particular hanger has a
particular coat on it that has heart monitoring data that needs to be
downloaded. The smart wardrobe can monitor people's vital statistics and
energy levels as well as faulty equipment and cleaning schedules, and can
also preload news, schedules, and music into smart garments.
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Games That Fit Into Daily Life Are Serious
Business
IT University of Copenhagen (06/28/07)
Casual video games, games designed to be easily played and learned within
the first few minutes of playing, are becoming increasingly popular. IT
University of Copenhagen researcher and video game theorist Jesper Juul
says, "These new games are quick to learn and the focus is on fun rather
than on making games difficult or time consuming." Juul says playing a
game is largely related to feelings. "Even if you flip a coin with another
person, it is difficult to avoid being a little happy if you win or a bit
unhappy when you lose," Juul says. "When you play a game, you enter into a
contract where you promise to be happy if you win and unhappy if you lose."
Juul says casual games place more emphasis on the strategy the player
uses, rather than the amount of time played, which forces players to
redefine their strategies to stay competitive and creates a continuous and
constantly changing challenge. While all types of people are attracted to
casual games, Juul says the most surprising aspect of casual games is that
they primarily attract women players ages 35 to 50. A part of the
explanation is that these women are looking for a different type of game
than the young men who traditionally play computer games. "The new players
are not interested in using hours or days on getting started. They want to
have fun in the first few minutes of play," Juul says.
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Gender-Bending Avatars Inspire Less Trust
New Scientist (07/05/07) Inman, Mason
A new study by Kristine Nowak and Christian Rauh of the University of
Connecticut discovered that people view androgynous digital personas as
being less trustworthy than avatars with a recognizable gender. After
designing an assortment of computer-drawn images to function as avatars,
the researchers assigned the personas to a group of volunteers. Each pair
of volunteers chatted online for 20 minutes and then evaluated their
partners. The individuals represented by more genderless avatars were
ranked lower in terms of trustworthiness. The same results came about when
a different group of people judged each digital persona simply by looking
at it. The researchers contend that genderless avatars are perceived as
less human, and therefore as less credible. The experiments imply that the
opinions people form about avatars powerfully affect their impression of
the individual behind the character. Gender roles are a key element of
online interactions, as they provide information that removes some of the
uncertainty inherent in online communication, explains Judith Donath of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Avatars must therefore be
conscientiously designed to make the appropriate impression, say the
researchers, for people are increasingly making friends and developing
communities through 3D virtual worlds. The study by Nowak and Rauh will
appear in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
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ISU Experts Weigh in on Identity Theft Through New
Wireless Technologies
Iowa State University News Service (07/03/07)
Cell phones, BlackBerrys, and other new wireless technologies are being
exploited by identity thieves and extortionists, and Iowa State University
faculty and staff experts offer commentary on this growing problem. ISU
electrical and computer engineering professor Doug Jacobson reports that
identity theft is becoming more common as criminals learn how to reap
profits from data collected from the Internet, and he comments that these
persons "are targeting people directly through social engineering using
email messages that lure us into providing information that can be used to
steal an identity." In addition, criminals are attempting the direct theft
of information from computers through the use of rogue programs, and
Jacobson recommends that people should be vigilant of what information they
disclose to others online, and what programs they download. Meanwhile, ISU
associate CIO Maury Hope believes victims of identity theft should consult
the Federal Trade Commission's National Resource on Identity Theft Web site
or a site hosted by Visa; he can offer suggestions for preventing identity
theft and warns of a new phishing scam that lures victims with a "greeting
card emailed by a family member or friend." Accenture Faculty Fellow in
Management Information Systems Anthony Townsend, who co-authored the book
"Information Technology and the World of Work," notes that the growing use
of technology that records communication, such as wireless products,
generates the potential for messages getting intercepted. His advice is to
"be cautious about all conversations over telephones, be doubly cautious
about email and instant messaging, and use encryption for private
correspondence."
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Warning of Data Ticking Time Bomb
BBC News (07/03/07)
The obsolescence of old digital file formats could mean a major loss of
knowledge for society, warned U.K. National Archives CEO Natalie Ceeney at
an event to mark the launch of an alliance between her organization and
Microsoft designed to ensure that legacy formats remain accessible. The
National Archives preserves nine centuries' worth of written material and
over 580 terabytes of data in older file formats that are no longer
commercially available. Ceeney lamented that some digital documents have
disappeared for all time because the programs that could read them are no
longer extant. "We have worked very hard to embrace open standards,
specifically in the area of file formats," stated Microsoft U.K. director
Gordon Frazer, who said a "digital dark age" is on the horizon unless an
effort is made to maintain the readability of legacy formats. Microsoft
devised the Open XML document file format, which is used to preserve files
from programs such as Excel, Word, and Powerpoint, with this goal in mind.
Frazer described Open XML as an independently controlled open international
standard, but some critics wonder at Microsoft's decision to design its own
standard instead of embracing the competing Open Document Format system.
Open Rights Group director Ben Laurie claimed the move is an attempt at
vendor lock-in. The National Archives will be able to access older file
formats in the format in which they were originally recorded by running
mimicked versions of the older Windows operating system on present-day PCs
via virtualization.
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A Feel for the Future
The Engineer Online (07/02/07)
Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) researchers are trying to make robots
move more like humans and make robot-human interaction safer. The
researchers plan to "soften" the movement of robots that interact with
humans. "There's a certain paradox if we manufacture robots for service
robotics--if a robot is powerful enough to be useful, it is also powerful
enough to be dangerous," says BRL director Chris Melhuish. "There are
physical and behavioral safety factors, and underlying it all is control."
Dr. Guido Herrmann is researching humanoid-controlled robotics using a
hand-arm assembly that sends feedback through haptic sensors. "The best
way for a human to move is to minimize the muscle effort, and that's what
we want to implement in robots," Herrmann says. "So we must measure that
in humans and model it for our robots." While BRL is interested in all
aspects of robotics, a human-robotic interface (HRI), particularly creating
an interactive upper torso and head, is the most important goal. "If two
humans are carrying out a task together, for example making a cup of coffee
where one takes the cup and the other pours, it's simple enough to
perceive, but the actions and interactions are difficult to implement in a
robot--there's a huge amount of effort," Melhuish says. Humanoid HRI
service robots could provide companionship, medical therapy, and
rehabilitations applications. The torso could even be programmed to use
sign language for deaf people. Starting with a single arm, the researchers
hope to model the dynamics of the robot and design a controller that does
the mechanical work quickly. The goal is to create controllers for both
arms with some sensing ability in the hands, and to solve safety
problems.
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NCSA: A Look Inside One of the World's Most Capable
Supercomputer Facilities
TG Daily (07/02/07) Hodgin, Rick C.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the
University of Illinois in Urbana is the biggest public supercomputing
facility in the country, and innovations facilitated through NCSA's close
relationship with the academic community have morphed into industry
standards. The center's total maximum theoretical computing capacity is
146 teraflops spread out across a quintet of primary machines, while Rick
C. Hodgin estimates that its capacity for raw computing is 37,000 times
greater than those of high-end PCs. Complementing the computing power of
the facility is an immense teamwork effort and on-hand expertise, and a
number of machines at the center are part of Teragrid, which employs a 30
Gbps network to communicate between itself. The National Science
Foundation and the university are the primary underwriters of the center,
and people who wish to use its systems must submit to a peer-review
applications process. "Sites like the NCSA literally drive high-speed
hardware innovation and seamless software integration initiatives
worldwide," notes Hodgin. NCSA's cooling system uses four massive air
chillers that feature air filters, heat exchangers, and exhaust vents that
flush cold air into a false floor underneath the supercomputers, while its
fire safety system is water-based. The single-building supercomputers
require 1.7 Megawatts of uninterrupted input to satisfy their power and
cooling needs, and 6 percent of the university's 30 Megawatt power budget
is devoured by the NCSA's supercomputing building. NCSA is often utilized
as a testbed for vendors' machines, and the center preserves all data it
has ever computed for its clientele by means of a tape backup.
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Daniel Reed: It's Software at the Core
Government Computer News (07/02/07) Vol. 26, No. 16, Jackson, Joab
Renaissance Computing Institute (RCI) director Daniel Reed explains in an
interview that his institute's goal is to push the computer science
envelope, and that its first priority is to explore computer technology's
impact on wide-ranging social problems and cross disciplinary lines to
facilitate collaboration. One area of RCI's current focus is the rapid
expansion of populations in environmentally sensitive regions, and this
effort requires teamwork by people in multiple fields and of differing
backgrounds through the institute's provision of computing, software, and
expertise. "Our role is to be a catalyst for innovation," Reed states.
"And that spans everything from traditional computer science to supporting
the humanities or performing arts." Software and how it will be affected
by the phenomenal growth of multicore processors will be a major problem
for computer science to contend with, according to Reed. He notes that RCI
has initiated various projects attempting to create software capable of
automatic parallelism management, only to end up abandoning them after
several years. "The hope is [that] emergence of multicore [commodity
processors] will force those issues out in the open, and the commercial
market will have to deal with them, and that success will trickle up to the
high-end computing," Reed says. He also cites a lack of solid mechanisms
to design resilient computer systems as another major challenge.
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