Welcome to the July 14, 2023, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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ACM Boasts Strong Impact Factor Performance in Latest Release
ACM
July 13, 2023
ACM's latest Journal Citation Reports release from U.K.-U.S. analytics company Clarivate indicated a strong showing among its publications. The report posted a record high impact factor of 22.7 for Communications of the ACM, ranking it first in all three of its categories. ACM Computing Surveys ranked third out of 111 journals in the Computer Science, Theory & Methods category with an impact factor of 16.6. Fifteen journals also received their inaugural impact factors, including four Proceedings of the ACM program journals. ACM's director of publications Scott Delman said, "We are delighted by these results, which are a testament to the hard work of our editors, authors, reviewers, and journal staff. As ACM continues its journey towards becoming a fully Open Access publisher by the end of 2025, it is gratifying to see the great value that the community places on our high-quality publications."
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Software Creates New Views from Existing Video
Cornell Chronicle
Patricia Waldron
July 11, 2023
An algorithm created by researchers at Cornell University and Google Research may allow filmmakers to produce new views from video without shooting new footage. The open source DynIBar software uses the original video's pixel information to generate new views. While current techniques utilize the two-dimensional pixel grid from a still photo to reassemble the three-dimensional configuration and semblance of each object in the image, DynIBar also calculates the objects' movements over time. The researchers applied image-based rendering to simplify four-dimensional view synthesis, which "makes our method able to handle really complex scenes and longer videos," said Cornell's Qianqian Wang.
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Rising C++ Closes In on C Language
InfoWorld
Paul Krill
July 11, 2023
The Tiobe index of programming language popularity ranked C++ as the third-most-popular programming language in July, just 0.76% behind C in second place. Tiobe's Paul Jansen said, "C dominated this area for a very long time, but it is not scalable. Now that systems tend to become larger, C++ is the way to go for fields such as automotive, financial markets (trading), medical, and semiconductors." The index found Python was the most-popular programming language in June, with Java, C#, JavaScript, Visual Basic, SQL, PHP, and MATLAB rounded out the top 10. Meanwhile, in the July rankings for the Pypl Popularity of Programming Language index, based on Google searches of language tutorials, Python was searched for most frequently, followed by Java, JavaScript, C#, C/C++, PHP, R language, TypeScript, Swift, and Rust.
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Unleashing the Digital Michelangelo from Your Smartphone
Johns Hopkins University Hub
Jaimie Patterson
July 12, 2023
The Neuroangelo algorithm created by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering and technology company Nvidia can render video footage of objects or scenes into three-dimensional (3D) models with submillimeter accuracy. Nvidia's Zhaoshuo Li launched the Neuroangelo project to make current 3D reconstruction techniques available to any smartphone user. The algorithm’s creators used numerical gradients in their multi-resolution hash grid representation to address the challenge of rendering large areas of homogenous colors, repetitive textures, and vivid color variations. The team said coarse-to-fine optimization allows Neuroangelo to enable realistic 3D reconstruction by "carving out" finer details. Li added that the algorithm can handle exposure variations occurring naturally in realistic video recording.
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Using Computation to Design Top-Performing HIV Antibodies
Duke University School of Medicine
Alissa Kocer
July 11, 2023
Researchers at Duke University and the U.S. National Institutes of Health are designing highly potent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-fighting antibodies using computational methods. Duke's Bruce Donald said, "This is perhaps the first time that there has been a systematic attempt to improve mechanisms of antibody breadth based on geometric and physical computation." The researchers designed protein structures with enhanced properties of naturally occurring, broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting HIV with the open source OSPREY computational software. Donald said the team used OSPREY "out of the box" to predict and test antibodies, showing they could target a broad virus series. Testing the augmented antibodies on 208 HIV strains revealed fourfold to between 100- and 1,000-fold greater potency.
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100x Faster Than Wi-Fi: Li-Fi, the Light-Based Networking Standard
Tom's Hardware
Mark Tyson
July 13, 2023
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has published the 802.11bb light-based wireless communications (Li-Fi) standard, which advocates say is 100 times faster and more secure than Wi-Fi. Proponents hope the standard's release will enable Li-Fi and Wi-Fi systems to become fully interoperable. In addition to supporting speeds purportedly as fast as 224 gigabits/second, Dominic Schulz at Germany's Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut said Li-Fi boosts reliability and lowers latency and jitter by operating in an exclusive optical spectrum. "Light's line-of-sight propagation enhances security by preventing wall penetration, reducing jamming and eavesdropping risks, and enabling centimeter-precision indoor navigation," Schulz added.
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Satellite Security Lags Decades Behind the State of the Art
Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany)
Julia Weiler
July 11, 2023
Researchers at Germany's Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) and CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security found a profound lack of modern security concepts implemented in low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. They examined three satellite systems and found they were missing security measures standard in modern cellphones and laptops, such as code and data separation. Software analysis revealed poor technical security could allow attackers to hijack the satellites by severing their ground control connection. RUB's Johannes Willbold said satellite developers' approach to security hinges on the lack of their systems' documentation. However, this does not make them any less vulnerable to attack methods like reverse engineering, added RUB's Moritz Schloegel.
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EU Looks to Take Lead in Metaverse World, Avoid Big Tech Dominance
Reuters
Foo Yun Chee
July 11, 2023
The European Commission (EC) has outlined a strategy for the European Union (EU) to assume a lead role in the metaverse sector and block its domination by technology giants. The group said its goal is to develop an accessible, interoperable EU metaverse through an industrial ecosystem established by creators, media companies, and other stakeholders. These collaborators would help companies evaluate the metaverse and launch skills development initiatives and virtual public services by creating regulatory testbeds. Said EC vice president Margrethe Vestager, "We need to have people at the center and shape it according to our EU digital rights and principles, to address the risks regarding privacy or disinformation. We want to make sure Web 4.0 becomes an open, secure, trustworthy, fair, and inclusive digital environment for all."
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Novel Biosensor Detects Neurogenerative Disease Proteins
EPFL News (Switzerland)
Michael David Mitchel; Titouan Veuillet
July 14, 2023
Researchers at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a biosensor that could allow for early diagnosis and improved treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Using surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy, ImmunoSEIRA can detect and analyze NDD-associated biomarkers. The biosensor is equipped with gold nanorod arrays with antibodies for specific protein detection and can perform real-time structural analysis of biomarkers from small samples, using neural networks to determine whether specific misfolded protein forms are present. EPFL's Hilal Lashuel said, "Unlike current biochemical approaches, which rely on measuring the levels of these molecules, our approach is focused on detecting their abnormal structures. This technology also allows us to differentiate the levels of the two main abnormal forms implicated in the development and progression of NDDs, oligomers, and fibrils."
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Your School's Next Security Guard May Be a Robot
The Wall Street Journal
Megan Tagami
July 8, 2023
Several technology companies have started offering security robots to U.S. schools, with the Santa Fe, NM school district now deploying an artificial intelligence-equipped robot from Team 1st Technologies to patrol campus grounds around the clock. Team 1st's Andy Sanchez said the robot infers normal activity patterns and detects individuals present after hours or who are acting aggressively. Sanchez said the unarmed robot could alert security teams, approach intruders, and send video footage to inform the officers' course of action. Stokes Robotics' Robert Stokes said his company has partnered with multiple school districts to deploy robots that could point laser beams at armed intruders and attempt to make them drop their weapons using flashing lights.
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Smart, 3D-Printed Concrete Wall for National Highways Project
University of Cambridge (U.K.)
July 13, 2023
Researchers at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge partnered with industrial collaborators to build a smart, three-dimensionally (3D)-printed concrete headwall for a National Highways project. The headwall incorporates Cambridge-designed sensors that provide real-time temperature, strain, and pressure readings. Using 3D printing allowed the researchers to design and build a curved hollow wall with geometry-imbued strength but requiring no formwork or steel reinforcement. Engineering company Versarien used a robot arm-based concrete printer to construct the wall in less than 60 minutes. A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system scanned the wall during printing to generate a digital twin that could help detect and fix incipient faults.
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Quantum Twist on Common Computer Algorithm Promises Speed Boost
New Scientist
Matthew Sparkes
July 12, 2023
Scientists at Switzerland's University of Zurich (UZH) and IBM have demonstrated that a quantum version of the popular Monte Carlo algorithm could eventually overtake versions running on classical computers. However, the researchers explained, attaining this speed advantage would probably require a quantum system with at least 1,000 quantum bits. Said UZH's Guglielmo Mazzola, "If this works, it's going to enhance, by a lot, the way in which we model systems and that, in turn, will allow us to make better predictions in a wide range of fields." However, he acknowledged that "we cannot exclude that our classical friends can devise something even better."
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Simulations Show Another Step in How Your Cells Assemble
University of Chicago News
Louise Lerner
July 10, 2023
Researchers at the University of Chicago (UChicago) used computer simulations to study how microtubules in a cell form and function, in the hope that understanding the behavior of microtubules, could pave the way for improved cancer drugs. They used quantum mechanics-based methods in their simulations of microtubule shrinkage, which took two years of computing time to run. The simulations showed that protein compaction in the microtubule accelerates GTP hydrolysis as certain amino acids get closer together, which creates instability and halts the assembly process. UChicago's Daniel Beckett said, "It was thought maybe the compaction was an aftereffect, but it looks like the compaction is actually a necessary factor for hydrolysis to occur."
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