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Welcome to the February 7, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.
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On Monday, the winner of the Vesuvius Challenge was announced after demonstrating the ability of three-dimensional computed tomography and machine learning algorithms to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old papyrus scripts that were charred during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and are too fragile to open. The winning entry reveals hundreds of words across more than 15 columns of text. Three students, from Egypt, Switzerland, and the U.S., will share a $700,000 grand prize.
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Nature; Jo Marchant (February 5, 2024)
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An analysis of data in Maryland found that a student taking a high-quality high school computer science (CS) course is 10% more likely to major in CS in college, and 5% more likely to complete a CS degree program. The study found that taking such a CS course had the greatest impact on female students, Black students, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
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EdSurge; Jeffrey R. Young (February 6, 2024)
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A 13-meter (42.6 feet) replica of a statue commissioned by Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century was unveiled in Rome on Tuesday. It was reconstructed to be as close to the original as possible using 3D modelling technology based on scans of the nine original parts of the marble statue that remain. “This whole dynamic about how you use technology to transform our understanding of and the importance of cultural heritage is the core mission of Factum Foundation,” said Adam Lowe of the Factum Foundation, which made the new statue.
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Associated Press (February 6, 2024)
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In a survey of technology hiring managers in Japan by recruiting firm Morgan McKinley, three-quarters of respondents found recruitment “very” or “quite” competitive last year, with a shortage of skilled candidates being the top reason reported. The report recommends an increase in recruiting of foreign workers, as 31% of tech hiring managers cited a lack of skilled candidates as their greatest anticipated challenge this year.
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Bloomberg; Mia Glass (February 6, 2024)
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China's Ministry of Science and Technology have issued an ethical guideline for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The guideline lays out the basic principles for conducting BCI research, including protecting health and improving well-being, respecting research subjects, moderately applying the technology, adhering to fairness, and ensuring equity, safety, and informed consent. The guideline further states BCI research should be avoided if it weakens human judgment and decision-making, or if it significantly interferes with human autonomy and self-awareness.
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People's Daily (China); Liu Caiyu (February 5, 2024)
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Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore's National Research Foundation, Infocomm Media Development Company, and 20 tech companies collaborated on the development of a datacenter testbed for tropical climates. Located at NUS, the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT) is being used to test methods to more reliably, efficiently, and sustainably cool datacenters in tropical climates. Researchers at STDCT are testing a StatePoint Liquid Cooling system, a desiccant-coated heat exchanger system, and direct-to-chip hybrid cooling systems.
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IEEE Spectrum; John Boyd (February 4, 2024)
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The New York Police Department (NYPD) has retired the Knightscope K5 robot from service inside the Times Square subway station, after the completion of its pilot deployment. The 5-foot, 3-inch-tall, 400-pound robot was intended to deter crime and allow passengers to request assistance in emergencies. However, the robot could not climb stairs, the NYPD had to assign officers to serve as its chaperones, and some officers and members of the public say they never saw the robot in action.
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The New York Times; Dana Rubinstein; Hurubie Meko; Maria Cramer (February 2, 2024); et al.
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Researchers at New York University found that a simple AI program could learn basic elements of language from the sensory input of a child's experience. The researchers used data from an Australian baby known only as Sam, who is now 11 years old, from the SAYCam database. Trained on just 61 hours of footage of Sam, including 600,000 video frames paired with 37,500 transcribed words, the AI was able to match basic nouns and images on par with an AI trained on 400 million captioned images.
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The Washington Post; Carolyn Y. Johnson (February 2, 2024)
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 Mozilla-commissioned researchers say that Microsoft uses "harmful design" and "dark patterns" to steer users away from browsers like Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome, and to Microsoft Edge. In a 74-page report, the researchers wrote, "Microsoft's harmful design practices mean users are unable to download, install, use, or set as default an alternative browser without interference." Among other things, the researchers cited preselected options that keep Edge as the default browser, and the use of gray colors to prevent users from noticing checkable boxes.
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PC Magazine; Kate Irwin (February 2, 2024)
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 A deep learning algorithm developed by researchers at the University of Maryland, New York University, and Israel's Tel Aviv University can predict user's choices based on raw eye-movement data. Tests showed the RETINA algorithm outperformed standard BERT, LSTM, AutoML, logistic regression, and other machine learning methods. Said University of Maryland's Michel Wedel, "Even before people have made a choice, based on their eye movement, we can say it's very likely that they'll choose a certain product. With that knowledge, marketers could reinforce that choice or try to push another product instead."
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Interesting Engineering; Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji Bello (February 2, 2024)
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Apple's open source "embeddable configuration language," Pkl, released Feb. 1, aims to facilitate "small to large, simple to complex, ad-hoc to repetitive configuration tasks." Pkl supports JSON, XML, and YAML property lists at launch to produce static configuration files; language support is available for Java, Kotlin, Swift, and Go. Apple said, "In the future, we hope to add support for other popular languages and platforms, realizing our vision of a polyglot config solution based on a single config language."
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TechRadar; Luke Hughes (February 5, 2024)
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The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), part of the U.K.’s Natural Environment Research Council, is testing pilotless drones at the Rothera Research Station on Antarctica. If the tests are successful, the drones could be used to survey marine ecosystems and glaciers with increased flight times, while achieving an approximate 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Said BAS' Tom Jordan, "Polar science urgently needs extensive new high-resolution datasets to understand the ways the Antarctic ice sheet is changing and how this will impact communities around the world."
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The Guardian (U.K.) (February 3, 2024)
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