Welcome to the September 18, 2023, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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Some Quantum Software Works Today. Down the Road, It Might Not
The Wall Street Journal
Isabelle Bousquette
September 16, 2023
Quantum software makers face the challenge of building software that will work for nascent systems and will continue to work as quantum hardware evolves. Said Antonio De Negri at U.K.-based capital market company Cirdan Capital, "It's incredibly hard because nobody actually knows what type of structure quantum computers will have in the next five years and probably not even the next one or two years—they have evolved so dramatically." Companies value identifying and testing key software use cases through simulators or early quantum computers, although De Negri said underlying quantum computer structure may change in unpredictable ways, so "it might be that the software written down doesn't 'speak' anymore in a language that the quantum computers will understand."
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Pose-Mapping Technique Could Remotely Evaluate Cerebral Palsy Patients
MIT News
Jennifer Chu
September 14, 2023
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University sought to develop a technique for analyzing skeleton pose data of patients with cerebral palsy. The researchers combined computer vision and machine learning methods into a pose-mapping algorithm that remotely assesses people's movement. They analyzed videos of more than 1,000 children with cerebral palsy using this approach, and found it could process and assign a clinical score to each video that matched the Gross Motor Function Classification System scores that clinicians gave patients during in-person visits with greater than 70% accuracy. The researchers found even mobile devices could run the algorithm and yield a clinical score from videos in near-real time.
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LLM-Powered Interactive Canvas for Generative Artists
Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered AI
Shana Lynch
September 13, 2023
Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered AI researchers have developed a tool that aims to improve the ideation and editing processes for generative artists. Based on the large language model (LLM) GPT-4, Spellburst allows artists to input an initial prompt, then change or modify parts of the resulting image using a panel of dynamic slides produced from the previous prompt. The tool lets them merge different versions of the images and move from prompt-based exploration to program editing, fine-tuning the image by tweaking the code. Spellburst is based on interviews with 10 expert creative coders and was tested by expert generative artists. Stanford's Hariharan Subramonyam said, "The feedback was overall very positive. The large language model helps artists bridge from semantic space to code faster, but it also helps them explore many different variations and take larger creative leaps." Spellburst is slated for an open-source release later this year.
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Israel Builds Airspace Network of Drones
The Times of Israel
Sharon Wrobel
September 14, 2023
Autonomous air taxis were demonstrated in Jerusalem, Israel, last week, taking off from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and flying over the city for less than half an hour before landing back at the medical center. The test flight of the two-seater electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, made by China's Ehang and operated by Dronery, a subsidiary of Israeli drone delivery fleet operator Cando Drones, was part of the Israel National Drone Initiative (INDI), which aims to relieve traffic congestion by using air taxis to transport passengers and heavy cargo. The EH216 aircraft can carry up to 551 pounds and fly for around 18 miles.
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Breakthrough Way to Train Neuromorphic Chips
Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands)
September 14, 2023
A research team from Northwestern University and the Netherlands' Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has developed a neuromorphic chip that does not require training via external software. Said TU/e's Eveline van Doremaele, "Our new chip can learn on-the-fly by processing patient data in real time, which certainly speeds up the training process and helps promote the use of the chip in real interactive bioapplications." The researchers showed that the chip’s smart biosensor can diagnose cystic fibrosis by detecting high levels of chloride in sweat samples, an indicator of the genetic disease. Van Doremaele said her team’s research had “solved a major problem with regards to the use of neuromorphic computers in healthcare.”
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See-Through Sensors Hide Eye-Tracking in Plain Sight
IEEE Spectrum
Prachi Patel
September 15, 2023
Semi-transparent image sensors developed by researchers at Spain's Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and image sensor provider Qurv Technologies could be incorporated into eyeglasses or curved windshields in front of a user's eyes, with their readout electronics positioned on the side. BIST's Frank Koppens said the technology could reduce the bulkiness of eye-tracking hardware, enable more accurate gaze detection, and streamline computational complexity. The sensors' approximately 90% transparent photodetectors use quantum dots that absorb and pass on photons to atoms-thick graphene for conversion into voltage. Koppens said this conversion is about 60% efficient, which is "quite high, comparable to conventional silicon photodetectors, and enough for eye-tracking."
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City-Wide Quantum Communication Network in China Is Most Advanced Yet
New Scientist
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
September 14, 2023
Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have built what was described as the most advanced city-wide quantum communication network to date. Spanning the city of Hefei, it features a central server connected to three quantum devices, each with its own processor and quantum memory made from extremely cold rubidium atoms controlled by lasers. The devices can be used to encode information into photons and transmit them to the server, which can entangle or otherwise manipulate the photons and send them on. Enabling information to be encoded into the atoms' quantum state means the photons can retain the information if it is lost or corrupted on the way to the server. The researchers were able to entangle photons from two distant nodes, and also determined the network could facilitate multiple, simultaneous secure quantum chats.
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Making AI Smarter with Artificial, Multisensory Integrated Neuron
Penn State News
Ashley WennersHerron
September 12, 2023
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) researchers have developed an artificial multisensory integrated neuron by combining tactile and visual sensors to enhance each other through their individual output, aided by visual memory. The researchers mated the tactile sensor to a molybdenum disulfide-based phototransistor, resulting in a sensor that can integrate visual and tactile cues by producing electrical spikes similar to neuronal information processing. The tactile sensor uses the triboelectric effect to simulate touch input, while shining a light into the phototransistor's simulated visual input. The researchers observed a stronger sensory response from the neuron when visual and tactile signals were weak, which Penn State's Saptarshi Das said could augment sensor efficiency and clear a path toward more eco-friendly artificial intelligence (AI).
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Modeling Social Media Behaviors to Combat Misinformation
William & Mary News
Antonella Di Marzio
September 14, 2023
Researchers led by the College of William and Mary's Alexander Nwala have unveiled Behavioral Languages for Online Characterization (BLOC), a universal language framework for modeling social media behaviors. Nwala and colleagues at the Indiana University Observatory on Social Media designed BLOC to proactively combat misinformation by providing a vernacular for describing social media behaviors, based on which potentially malicious actions can be more easily recognized. Nwala said researchers sample posts from a given social media account within a specific period and use specific alphabets to encode information. BLOC embodies user behavior in a manner that is easily adaptable to different social media platforms through action and content alphabets. Said Nwala, "We create models which capture machine and human behavior, and then we find out whether unknown accounts are closer to humans, or to machines."
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Trauma Surgeon Uses VR to Fix Shattered Bones
Interesting Engineering
Loukia Papadopoulos
September 17, 2023
Scottish trauma surgeon David Howie is using new software to mend broken bones in virtual reality (VR). Howie and collaborators at U.K.-based National Health Service Lanarkshire's Information Technology and University Hospital, Wishaw adapted Swiss VR platform Medicalholodeck's software for use in complex bone surgeries. Surgeons can better visualize and grasp patient fractures through the system, which Howie believes is more affordable than current market options. "You can clearly see where the fracture is, what the configuration is, all the other little bits of fragments, and it gives you a much better idea of where it is broken," he said. "And it really helps us plan how we are going to fix it."
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Ethereum's Successful Overhaul Sends Developers Scrambling for Another Fix
Bloomberg
Olga Kharif
September 16, 2023
Although last year's Merge overhaul of the Ethereum blockchain network made the transaction-ordering process more efficient, rising demand for the so-called staking feature could potentially swamp the network. The staking process involves "locking up" the network's underlying Ether tokens in digital wallets to help order transactions and earn returns. Data tracker Staking Rewards estimated roughly 20% of all circulating Ether has already been staked, and a study co-authored by Ethereum developer coordinator Tim Beiko concluded 100% could be staked by December 2024 if the current rate keeps up. Ethereum developers are scrambling to decelerate the staking influx by agreeing to cap the number of new staking wallet-operating validators permitted to join the network every six minutes as part of the next major software upgrade.
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