Richard Karp, Renowned Computer Theorist, Wins 2008 Kyoto
Prize
University of California, Berkeley (06/20/08) Yang, Sara
University of California, Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and
computer sciences Richard Karp has been named a laureate of the 2008 Kyoto
Prize, Japan's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, awarded by the Inamori
Foundation. Karp is being recognized for his lifetime achievements in
computer theory. A senior research scientist at the International Computer
Science Institute in Berkeley, he is considered one of the world's leading
computer theorists. Karp's work has significantly advanced the theory of
NP-completeness, conceived in 1971 by former UC Berkeley math professor
Stephen Cook. Karp developed a standard method for characterizing
combinatorial problems into classes and identifying their level of
intractability. Combinatorial problems that are NP-complete are the most
difficult to solve. "Karp's theory streamlined algorithm design for
problem-solving, accelerated algorithm engineering, and brought
computational complexity within the scope of scientific research," says the
Inamori Foundation. NP-completeness theory has become a cornerstone in
modern theoretical computer science, and in the 1980s Cook and Karp
received an ACM A.M. Turing Award for their contributions to the concept of
NP-completeness. Karp has recently focused on bioinformatics and
computational biology, including the development of algorithms for
constructing various kinds of physical maps of DNA targets, and methods for
classifying biological samples on the basis of gene expression data.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Whatever Happened to Artificial Intelligence?
Network World (06/23/08) Gaskin, James E.
Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have underestimated the challenge
of reproducing human cognition, and progress toward AI--in terms of
self-aware, self-learning, and mobile systems--has floundered as a result,
writes James E. Gaskin. Nevertheless, AI is deeply incorporated into
everyday life in the form of telephone voice recognition systems, automated
product recommender services, robotic home appliances, search engines, and
other tools developed from research into intelligent systems. "Big AI
projects have largely gone by the wayside, but you can see effective
behavior that solves real world problems," says iRobot CEO Colin Angle.
Fullpower Technologies CEO Phillipe Kahn says his company focuses on
developing software that can translate raw data generated by sensors into
actionable information, and he speculates that sensor-enabled devices and
networks of such devices will facilitate the most practicable and
successful advances in machine vision. Another challenge is language
processing, but progress is being made in this area through the efforts of
companies such as EasyAsk Software, which translates more than 60,000
natural language questions into queries each month, says company founder
Larry Harris. He adds that advances in AI are incremental, while
Microsoft's Eric Horvitz says about 25 percent of all Microsoft's research
is committed to AI initiatives. The Vista operating system's kernel, for
example, uses machine learning to anticipate, by user, the next application
that will be opened, based on past usage and the time of the day and
week.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Intel Researchers Shine Light on Ray Tracing
CNet (06/19/08) Crothers, Brooke
Three-dimensional graphics rendered with complex light interactions--a
technique known as ray tracing--can yield crisper, brighter, and more
photorealistic images, and Intel is pursuing the refinement of this method
so that it may one day compete with traditional raster-based graphics.
Intel researcher Daniel Pohl says that ray tracing, for example, allows
reflections to be zoomed in on without any loss of resolution, because "the
rays get bounced off and follow the reflected path and that way we get the
physically correct reflection." Co-director of Intel's Tera-scale
computing research program Jerry Bautista says graphics generated through
ray tracing can be better handled when more processing cores are added.
Intel says ray tracing runs better on general-purpose processors than on
traditional graphics processors. Bautista describes ray tracing as
basically collision detection, as in the collision of light rays with
surfaces that employs fundamental physics. He says that physics comprises
a very general-purpose computing challenge, and thus matches well with a
general-purpose compute engine. Bautista predicts that ray tracing will
initially be incorporated into cutting-edge games, adding that "they all
initially appear on high-end things and then eventually find their way to
the masses." However, Bautista and Pohl do not think that ray tracing will
supplant raster-based graphics anytime soon, and that the two methods will
co-exist for quite a while.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Linux-Powered, Clarinet-Playing Robot Wins Prize
Computerworld Australia (06/19/08) Hendry, Andrew
Researchers at National ICT Australia (NICTA) and the University of New
South Wales (UNSW) have developed a Linux-based robot that plays the
clarinet. Project leader John Judge of NICTA says the robot is an embedded
computer system that uses specially constructed electronics to manipulate
actuators that control the keys and mouthpiece of the clarinet. Judge says
two CPUs control the robot, one that runs Linux to process the music and
set up a series of events, and a microcontroller that determines how much
pressure to exert on the mouthpiece and what keys to depress. "We're
actually sending a stream of midi-events to the microcontroller and it just
reacts to each event as a node-on/node-off type thing," Judge says. "The
software running on the microcontroller is our code written in C."
Controlling the reed and air pressure flowing through the clarinet was
accomplished by collaborating with students and professor Joe Wolfe from
UNSW's music acoustics lab. Playing a clarinet requires the right air
pressure and the right dampening at the same time, otherwise the instrument
will create an unpleasant squeak. The robot is not as good as a human
player, and has difficulty jumping from a very low note to a very high
note. It also has trouble playing notes cold or creating the warmth a
human player can. Still, it beat a Dutch-built robot-playing guitar to win
the Artermis Orchestra competition. In the competition, the robot was able
to play Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" and Ravel's "Bolero,"
both of which avoid large octave jumps and other difficult notes.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Birth of First Modern Computer Celebrated in
Manchester
University of Manchester (06/20/08)
The birth of the first modern computer is being celebrated at the
University of Manchester and the Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI). On
June 21, 1948, the Small Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) ran its first
program, marking the birth of the world's first stored program digital
computer. Nicknamed the Baby, SSEM was designed and built at the
University of Manchester by Tom Kilburn and Freddie Williams. The
celebration of the birth of the Baby was part of Digital 60 Day, which
included a large event for hundreds of students from across greater
Manchester and Britain, including the announcement of the U.K. Schools
Computer Animation Competition winners. The celebration also featured a
live video link to MOSI to broadcast a demonstration of the working Baby
replica housed at the museum. "The University is extremely proud of what
Tom Kilburn and Freddie Williams achieved in 1948," says University of
Manchester professor John Perkins says. "The birth of Baby changed the
world forever and we hope the Digital 60 Day celebrations will raise the
profile of computer science and encourage the brightest and best of the
next generation to engage in the challenges facing computing over the
coming decades."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Experimental Phone Network Uses Virtual Sticky
Notes
Duke University News & Communications (06/19/08) Merritt, Richard
Duke University engineers have created a "virtual sticky note" that
enables users to leave area-specific messages that others can pick up and
view on their mobile phones. Duke professor Romit Roy Choudhury says the
software system allows users to obtain location-specific, real-time
information, either passively or directly, from other mobile phone users
from around the world, allowing each individual access to information
through a virtual network. Virtual sticky notes could be used to leave
reviews about restaurants or notes on tourist attractions. The phones
could also detect movement and relay information to the network to create a
map indicating where traffic jams are. "We can now think of mobile phones
as a 'virtual lens' capable of focusing on the context surrounding it,"
Choudhury says. "By combining the lenses from all the active phones in the
world today, it may be feasible to build an Internet-based 'virtual
information telescope' that enables a high-resolution view of the world in
real time."
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Carnegie Mellon System Estimates Geographic Location of
Photos
Carnegie Mellon News (06/18/08) Spice, Byron; Watzman, Anne
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed the first
computerized method that can analyze a single photograph and identify where
the image was likely taken. The IM2GPS algorithm is made possible by
searching through millions of images on Flickr that are tagged with GPS
locations. The algorithm, developed by computer science graduate student
James Hays and professor Alexei A. Efros, analyzes the composition of the
photo, noting how textures and colors are distributed and recording the
number and orientation of lines in the photo. The algorithm then searches
Flickr for photos that are similar in appearance. Efros says the program
is simply trying to find other photos that look like it, which he says is
surprisingly effective. Hays and Efros discovered they could accurately
geolocate images within 200 kilometers for 16 percent of more than 200
photos in their test set, which is 30 times better than chance alone. Even
if the algorithm failed to identify the specific location, it was often
able to narrow the possibilities by identifying the locale. Hays says
estimating geographic information from images is a difficult but very
doable computer vision problem.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Scientific Group Develops Computer Software That Permits
Tourists to Customize Their Visits According to Their Preferences
Universidad de Granada (06/20/08)
Spanish researchers have developed SAMAP, software that is capable of
creating a tourist itinerary for travelers based on their preferences and
needs. The software has been incorporated with artificial intelligence to
enhance its effectiveness in combing a tourist database for artistic and
cultural events, dietary preferences, lifestyle, and favorite hours of an
individual traveler or group of tourists. Users can also have the software
search for events and locations that can accommodate the disabled, and they
can set their spending parameters. The Web-based tool is designed for use
on various computers, including mobile units and PDAs. SAMAP was developed
by the University of Granada, Technical College of Valencia, UNED (Spanish
Open University), Carlos III of Madrid, and the Research Institute on
Artificial Intelligence of the CSIC.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Sir Tim Talks Up Linked Open Data Movement
InternetNews.com (06/17/08) Joyce, Erin
During a keynote address at the Linked Data Planet conference, Sir Tim
Berners-Lee said the grass-roots linked open data movement, what some say
is the beginning of Web 3.0, is about information that is free to use in
the Linked Data format. Berners-Lee said that organizations can still
decide what information they make available to the public realm and what
they keep behind a firewall, and that the decision to not trade data should
be made because you do not want to, not because your data does not
understand or work with another party's data. Berners-Lee said that Web
3.0, the Semantic Web, and Linked Data enable one format to be used across
numerous applications. He said that with Web 3.0 shopping can be done
automatically, based on specific parameters and boundaries set by the user.
Berners-Lee urged attendees to look over their data, take an inventory of
it, and decide which data sets would be the most likely to be reused on the
Web. Data owners should determine their priorities, the benefits of data
reuse, and look for existing ontologies on the Web on how to reuse data,
Berners-Lee said. "If you're not going to give your data to me, let it be
because you decided to, not because you can't," he said.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Tiny Refrigerator Taking Shape to Cool Future
Computers
Purdue University News (06/19/08) Venere, Emil
Purdue University researchers are working on a miniature refrigeration
system that could significantly improve the cooling systems in computers
while simultaneously improving performance and reducing the size of
computers. Miniature refrigeration could significantly increase how much
heat can be removed from computers, says professor Suresh Garimella. The
Purdue researchers have developed an analytical model for designing tiny
compressors that pump refrigerants using diaphragms the size of a penny,
and have validated the model with experimental data. The elastic
diaphragms are made from ultra-thin sheets of a plastic called polyimide
and coated with an electrically conducting metallic layer, which allows
electrical charges to move the diaphragm back and forth and produce a
pumping action. Garimella says new types of cooling systems will be needed
for future computer chips that could generate 10 times more heat than
current microprocessors. Professor Eckhard Groll says refrigeration has a
significant advantage over other cooling systems because it can cool below
surrounding temperatures. However, miniature refrigeration systems will
require as many as 100 diaphragms operating in parallel to pump a large
enough volume of refrigerant.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Compressed Web Phone Calls Are Easy to Bug
New Scientist (06/12/08) Robson, David
Johns Hopkins University researchers say compressing Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) phone calls could expose them to eavesdroppers. The team
has developed eavesdropping software that can find chosen phrases in the
encrypted data, without decoding a conversation. The software is capable
of breaking down a typed phrase into its constituent sounds using a
phonetic dictionary, pasting together a version of the phrase from audio
clips of phonemes taken from a library of example conversations, and
showing how the phrase would look in a real VoIP stream. A close match
found in a real call prompts the software to alert the eavesdropper. The
software had an average accuracy rate of about 50 percent in testing, but
that increased to 90 percent for longer, more complicated words. "I think
the attack is much more of a threat to calls with some sort of professional
jargon where you have lots of big words that string together to make long,
relatively predictable phrases," says Charles Wright of the Johns Hopkins
team. Many service providers plan to implement the variable bitrate
compression technique to reduce bandwidth for VoIP calls. "We hope we have
caught this threat before it becomes too serious," Wright says.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
May We Have Your Attention, Please?
BusinessWeek (06/12/08) Jackson, Maggie
Computer scientists are developing tools to help people prioritize the
flood of information they face by developing software that blocks or
reroutes irrelevant pieces of information. New types of email and phone
messaging programs will wait for an opportune time to alert a user to a new
message. One program sends the user a "whisper" to signal the arrival of
an important message. Such innovations belong to a sub-branch of computer
science called attentional user interfaces, which strive to find a way to
obtain benefits from the data deluge without completely disturbing a user's
attention and concentration, says Carnegie Mellon University professor
Scott E. Hudson. One solution might be a work environment that is
supported by highly-observant, ultra-organized digital assistants.
Microsoft principal researcher Eric Horvitz has spent more than a decade
developing artificial intelligence systems that observe humans at work.
These systems watch and listen to a user, tracking digital calendars and
noting key contacts, and applying mathematical formulas known as Bayesian
probability models to predict the cost and benefit of interrupting someone
at work. Another effort being developed by IBM is an instant-message
answering machine that can sense when the user is away or busy based on
typing and mouse patterns, telling would-be interrupters that the user is
not available when working.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
EU to Double Its R&D Investment in Robots
Euroalert.net (06/10/08)
The European Commission (EC) says the European Union will double its
investment in robotics research between 2007 to 2010 in an effort to create
stronger links between academia and industry. The EC also plans to fund
widespread experimentation by academic researchers and industry and has
challenged the industry to intensify its efforts in producing critical
components in Europe to meet competition in Asia and avoid strategic
dependencies on other regions of the world. The robotics market's growth
rate will become an important part of the world economy within the next two
decades, and the International Federation of Robotics estimates the current
world market for industrial robots at about 4 billion euros and predicts a
4.2 percent increase per year until 2010. The EC is working to establish a
technology transfer scheme between academia and industry, which would allow
European research labs to use industrial-strength robots for large-scale
experimentation. Scientific knowledge obtained for this experimentation
will be directed back to participating companies.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
MU Researchers Enhancing Motion-Capture Technology to
Benefit Older Adults
University of Missouri (06/10/08) Smith, Emily
University of Missouri Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology
(CERT) researchers are using a $900,000 National Science Foundation grant
to help older adults live better by developing and evaluating
motion-capture technology that monitors the physical functioning of seniors
while preserving their privacy. CERT's Marge Skubic says frequent
assessment of physical function is a key indicator for detecting initial
decline of health in older adults, and the technology being developed by
CERT researchers will help health care providers identify potential health
problems, giving them a window of opportunity to intervene and obtain
treatment to alleviate problems before they become worse. CERT researchers
have used existing motion-capture methods to develop an exercise feedback
system to increase exercise effectiveness and safety for older adults. The
automated system uses standard Web cams to capture the silhouette sequences
of participants while exercising, and provides feedback on posture, gait,
stride, balance, and body position. The feedback is intended to help older
adults understand more about their posture and movement during exercise,
and lead to more effective and safer exercise regimens. CERT researchers
have also completed an evaluation of a video-based fall recognition system
for older adults, which preserves privacy by extracting silhouettes from
multiple cameras viewing the same scene. The silhouettes are used to build
a 3D object, which is then analyzed to distinguish between fall and
non-fall activities. The researchers will use the results of these
projects to study vision-based detection methods designed to capture
continuous and automated assessments of older adults' physical functioning
in multiple-person environments.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Supercomputing Experts Guide Myanmar Relief
Efforts
Arizona State University (06/06/08)
Arizona State University's High Performance Computing Initiative (HPCI) is
aiding humanitarian organizations attempting to provide disaster relief to
victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. HPCI has established a Web site to
provide aid organizations with up-to-date satellite images of conditions on
the ground in Myanmar. "The people planning relief efforts can use this
data to determine if and how aid workers can gain access to areas where
victims are," says HPCI director Dan Stanzione. "The imagery is sharp
enough so that they could determine if aircraft could land in an area, if
roads remain open or are blocked by debris or flooding, and if heavy
equipment is needed to open those roads." HPCI is providing highly
detailed geospatial visualization of Myanmar using digital imagery from
U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency satellites. HPCI
visualization director Perry Miller says the government generally does not
make such information available, but it is making an exception for the
disaster relief effort. HPCI's visualization team has developed a 3D
geospatial viewer called Minerva that can load large, geo-referenced images
onto a computer so users can zoom in and find areas damaged by the cyclone
and take screenshots for humanitarian aid workers to use. Aid groups can
download the images for free, and the data can be formatted and modified
for their particular purposes, says ASU's Joseph Adams.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Beware, Your Computer May Betray You
New Scientist (06/07/08) Vol. 198, No. 2659, P. 26; Barras, Colin
Non-repudiation is a system whereby sensitive data sent over the Internet
is digitally signed at the source with a signature that can be traced to
the user's computer as a safeguard against fraud, but Len Sassaman of the
Catholic University of Leuven warns that making this system the default
setting for all traffic on a network would enable authorities to trace the
source of any online activity and take away users' anonymity. Worse still,
Sassaman and University of Ireland colleague Meredith Patterson say that
the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) foundation is unintentionally engaged in
establishing such a system throughout the Third World by supplying
inexperienced users Internet-ready laptops. Theft of the laptops is
discouraged with a security model called Bitfrost in which each laptop
automatically phones an anti-theft server and sends its serial number once
a day so that it can get an activation key, and any machine reported stolen
is refused activation. Sassaman and Patterson caution that the security
model's use of non-repudiable digital signatures could be exploited by
oppressive regimes to identify and silence dissidents. "They may not
intend for the signatures to be used for non-repudiation, but it's possible
to use them for this purpose," Sassaman says. Although the OLPC laptops
are primarily intended to be used for educational purposes, which some
people claim would preclude government monitoring, Sassaman says it is
unlikely that the systems will be used solely by children, and that
conditions in some developing nations might actually encourage children to
act as whistleblowers. Sassaman and Patterson are modifying the Bitfrost
security model to enable the laptops to identify each other without
compromising their users' privacy, based on existing cryptographic methods
that cannot be employed for non-repudiation.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
Summit: Save STEM or Watch America Fail
eSchool News (06/01/08) Vol. 11, No. 6, P. 1; Stansbury, Meris
A national summit of education leaders, lawmakers, and cabinet members
recently concluded that the United States must make a greater investment in
math, science, and research programs. "Authorizations are not enough,"
said Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.). "We won't get anywhere without funding."
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) noted in an op-ed piece published prior
to the summit that the United States' neglect of its science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) education is starting to yield serious
consequences, such as China overtaking America as the world's biggest IT
product exporter. Federal funding has not been elevated in spite of such
trends, while policymakers have been unable to reach consensus on visa and
permanent resident green-card reform for highly educated professionals.
Wolf said the country lacks the funds to support STEM programs or give NASA
and the National Science Foundation more money because of depreciation of
the U.S. dollar and the country's $54 trillion debt. Sally Ride Science
CEO Sally Ride said there is a major lack of personal investment in STEM
education among parents and students, and Charles Vest of the National
Academy of Engineering cited complacency bred from the prosperity that
America enjoyed thanks to the advent of STEM education in the 1950s and
1960s. He added that a sense of urgency must be cultivated to jolt
policymakers into aggressively supporting STEM programs.
Click Here to View Full Article
to the top
