The World's Leading Computer Scientists Descend on
Imperial for Inaugural Conference
Imperial College London (09/19/08) Smith, Colin
The British Computer Society's inaugural "Visions of Computer Science"
conference is uniting academics from around the world this week to discuss
the latest research advances and challenges in computer science. At the
conference, hosted at Imperial College London, seven ACM A. M. Turing Award
recipients will address the gathering of over 100 scientists. Imperial
College London's Edith Ngai and Erol Gelenbe will present their research on
novel computer algorithms for managing networks of wireless sensors.
Gelenbe believes his technology has several applications, including
assisting law enforcement. "Suppose a network is monitoring the number
plates of all cars in a large city; most of the data is routine and not
important," Gelenbe says. "But when the number plate of a stolen car is
recognized by a camera this data could be forwarded very urgently over the
computer network to the police to help them apprehend the suspect." A
group of Imperial College researchers will discuss their research into
computer hardware that can be adapted or reconfigured to rapidly solve
complex scientific problems by operating multiple computer processors in
tandem. The team says their multiple processors will be 10 times faster
than conventional processors and could be used to analyze a variety of
biological problems, such as how genes might mutate and develop into
cancer.
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Electoral Apocalypse? E-Voting Woes Remain as Election
Nears
Ars Technica (09/21/08) Sanchez, Julian
Two recent reports suggest that efforts to modernize the U.S. electoral
system are falling short of their objectives. The U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report that summarized the
findings of a year-long performance audit of the Election Assistance
Commission (EAC), which was established by the Help America Vote Act of
2002 to help states upgrade their voting systems. The EAC is supposed to
provide a federal-level certification process for voting systems. The EAC
has 12 certifications pending, but none are finalized, meaning states must
rely on their own procedures. The GAO report says the EAC has failed to
"define its approach for testing and certifying electronic voting systems
in sufficient detail to ensure that its certification activities are
performed thoroughly and consistently." The problem of vague criteria and
procedures appears to plague EAC in a variety of areas, the report says.
The EAC has failed to establish an effective and efficient repository for
certified versions of voting system software for states and local
jurisdictions to use to verify that their voting systems match systems the
EAC has certified. A second report, issued by the Century Foundation and
the advocacy group Common Cause, notes that technological changes are
presenting new difficulties for states. For example, in an electoral
dry-run in Colorado earlier this year, officials discovered ongoing
problems with lag and connectivity in the centralized voter registration
systems used to check in voters with their local polling stations. Even
when machines function properly, the Common Cause study found that user
confusion with electronic systems could create a problem if states have not
taken adequate steps to familiarize voters with the new machines.
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Queensland Universities Supercomputer Consortium Receives
$8.5M
Queensland Government (09/16/08)
Australia's Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) will receive
$8.5 million in government funding to build supercomputers that will boost
research projects ranging from cancer detection, to boat design, to
digitally reconstructing an Egyptian mummy. QCIF, which includes James
Cook University, Central Queensland University, Griffith University,
Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, and the
University of Southern Queensland, was established in 2001 to increase
Queensland's innovative capacity using supercomputers, high-capacity data
archives, visualization, and networking. The research involves about 60
projects and 340 researchers across the six universities working in areas
such as nanotechnology, drug design, security, biosecurity, mining and
environmental engineering, and medical imaging. One project, led by James
Cook University professor Sean Connolly, is using QCIF-funded
high-performance computing to explore and solve the challenges facing coral
reefs, extremely complex ecosystems in which thousands of species interact
with one another. James Cook University also operates an Automatic Weather
Station to measure water temperature, solar radiation, salinity, and
pollution levels to help understand marine biological processes and predict
future coral bleaching events. The new QCIF funding will go toward
upgrading the computer infrastructure, expanding the project's Industry
Outreach Program, and creating a program to tackle infrastructure
challenges such as urban congestion and water management.
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New IBM Center to Focus on Social Software
Triangle Business Journal (09/17/08) Noblett, Jackie
IBM has launched the IBM Center for Social Software in Cambridge, Mass.,
to identify the next big thing in Web 2.0 business software and discover
the best business models for the applications. "We started looking at ways
to integrate social software into our business and those experiences have
been so successful it has convinced the company that we needed more
resources in social software," says center director Irene Greif. The
center will collaborate with Harvard University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Media Lab to pursue research projects on whether
the social applications help improve the efficiency of businesses and boost
the morale of workers. "The idea here is we're sitting on a gold mine of
data when it comes to how social software is used by businesses," Greif
says. IBM also will work with companies on specific projects, hire
additional staff for the lab, and offer internships throughout the academic
year.
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Computers to Be 'Aware'
Financial Times Digital Business (09/17/08) P. 8; Shillingford, Joia
Cisco futurologist Dave Evans says quantum computing will be the next
major advancement in computing, and he expects big advances in many areas
of technology will come sooner than people think as developments advance
exponentially. "People think technology will change at a linear rate. But
we're now getting into the phenomenon of large numbers doubling very fast,"
Evans says. "There's an avalanche of change on the way and it's going to
be very disruptive." He says that by 2012, Internet-protocol traffic will
reach half a zettabyte, 250,000 times more than in 2003, and more devices
will be connected to the Internet. In 50 years, the cost of a megabyte of
storage has fallen from $65,000 to about a tenth of a cent. Extrapolate
that trend 20 years into the future, and 6.3 petabytes will be available
for $100. Businesses will use computers that autonomously manage routine
tasks, giving employees more time for strategic thinking. A widespread
connection to the Web, along with telepresence applications where people
can see the same information over the Web at the same time, will give
people a greater chance of obtaining a good education. We also could see
the use of smart dust, or motes and specks, that monitor environmental
factors such as air flow, humidity, and pollution. An increasing number of
devices, including vehicles and even entire buildings, will be connected to
the Internet, and there will be more devices connected than people at any
given time. By 2010, the amount of information on the Internet will double
every 11 hours, and in 10 years it will double every 11 seconds. Evans
says the limits in silicon chips means quantum computing will sustain
Moore's law, and by 2050 there will be computers that have the processing
power of all human brains on earth.
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Taming Europe's Robots
ICT Results (09/19/08)
The European Robotics Network (EURON) is working to strengthen the links
between individual labs and between labs and industry in an effort to
broaden Europe's industrial base in the robotics sector. EURON aims to
strengthen Europe's academic community, foster technology transfer,
identify obstacles, and propose possible solutions. EURON has established
a special technology prize to highlight particularly strong technology
transfer demonstrations. One award winner, the iDroid, is a fully
functioning, humanoid robot that consumers can build on their own. EURON
also established a fund to enable labs and teams to carry out a feasibility
study for specific pieces of research. One example, called PHRIDOM,
examined the potential for research in physical human robot interactions.
EURON also identified two obstacles to closer cooperation between labs and
companies looking to undertake research projects--investment and trust.
"It can take three person months to prepare a project proposal that has
just a 15 percent chance of success," says EURON's Bruce Siciliano. "SMEs
and systems integrators in the industry cannot afford to dedicate personnel
to that." Similarly, many companies are hesitant to invest money and
personnel in unusual research. Trust may be an even bigger issue, as
technical solutions to some robotics problems are the focus of intense
competition between manufacturers. Technical breakthroughs represent an
enormous commercial advantage, and some manufacturers will not give
research partners access to special technology. EURON has made significant
progress in solving these issues and will continue to foster industry
collaboration.
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Smart Desks Make Sci-Fi a Reality in the Classroom
Durham University (UK) (09/17/08)
Durham University researchers at the Technology-Enhanced Learning Research
Group are designing new learning environments that use interactive
multi-touch desks to create an interactive classroom. The desks look and
act like a large version of an Apple iPhone. The researchers observed how
students and teachers interact in classes and how technology could improve
collaboration. The researchers then designed an interactive classroom
solution called SynergyNet to reflect the group's goals of achieving active
student engagement through sharing, problem solving, and creating. The
team is working with manufacturers to design software and desks that
recognize multiple touches on the desktop using vision systems that detect
infrared light. The multi-touch desk will be the central component of
SynergyNet, with desks networked and linked to a main smartboard. Several
students will be able to work together at one desk, since the desks can
detect simultaneous screen contact by multiple users using either their
fingers or pens. A single work desk can function as a set of individual
work spaces or a large screen that enables students to cooperate on a task.
Software will be used to link everything together in an interactive
classroom system of desks and smartboards. Teachers will be able to
instantly display samples of good work on the main smartboard, and tasks
can be assigned for each individual desk. Once finished, the SynergyNet
software will be available to schools as free open source code.
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New Self-Steering Vehicle Designed to Mimic Movements of
Ants
AlphaGalileo (09/17/08)
The way that ants find the shortest distance to their anthill or sources
of food is serving as the model for keeping a self-steering vehicle on the
correct path along a road. Engineers from the University of La Laguna
(ULL) in the Canary Islands have developed a new algorithm, called Ant
Colony Optimization (ACO), to resolve "problems of combinatory
optimization" to help a driverless vehicle sense road surfaces. Ants leave
a trail of pheromones as they move, and other members of the colony smell
and follow the chemical substances. "The ACO technique is based,
similarly, on a colony of artificial ants, in other words computational
agents that work cooperatively and communicate with each other by means of
artificial pheromone trails," says ULL's Rafael Arnay. The team is
developing Verdino, a prototype driverless vehicle that uses a camera to
gather visual data to apply the algorithms and an internal control system
to process the data in real time. Verdino is being tested as an internal
transport system for a housing development, and the team believes such a
self-guided system could be used at tourist attractions, sporting venues,
shopping centers, and also as part of remote security systems.
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Sun Aims at Google With Open-Source Project Hosting
Site
IDG News Service (09/15/08) Kanaracus, Chris
Sun Microsystems has established Project Kenai, an open-source project
hosting site similar to Google Code and Github. Developers can host their
projects for free at Kenai, which enables the use of the Subversion and
Mercurial version-control systems as well as provides issue tracking,
forums, and other features. Sun's Nick Sieger says the primary goal is to
nurture and grow Sun's open source communities, to demonstrate credibility
in building on top of more traditional LAMP/SAMP Web stacks, and to show
off the viability of Sun technologies and hardware for next-generation Web
applications. Sieger says Sun will not exercise any control over projects
on the site. He says the Kenai site will serve as a test of Sun's ability
to produce next-generation Web applications, as it is built with the
popular Ruby on Rails development framework, along with a variety of open
source components and Sun technology. Sun believes that Kenai's overall
architecture will solve problems associated with Ruby on Rails' reputation
for scalability and reliability. "We hope to help ensure that other people
won't have to feel the pain we went through to build on top of this stack,
because now that we've got it up and running, we think this could be a
great base for building highly scalable Web applications," Sieger says.
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From Xbox to T-Cells: Michigan Tech Researchers Borrow
Video Game Technology to Model Human Biology
Michigan Technological University (09/16/08) Goodrich, Marcia
Michigan Technological University researchers are using graphical
processing units designed for use in video-game machines to develop
supercharged agent-based modeling techniques. Agent-based modeling
simulates the behaviors of complex systems and can be used to predict the
outcomes of anything from viral outbreaks to the price of pork bellies.
The group aims to model complex biological systems, such as the human
response to tuberculosis bacterium (TB). Michigan professor and leader of
the project Roshan D'Souza says the model is several orders of magnitude
faster than state-of-the-art agent modeling toolkits, but it is still only
the beginning. "We can do it much bigger," D'Souza says. "This is nowhere
near as complex as real life." D'Souza plans to model how a TB infection
could spread from the lung to the lymphatic system, blood, and vital
organs. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor's Denise Kirschnewr, who
developed the TB model for D'Souza's team, says agent-based modeling has
not replaced test tubes yet, but it is a powerful new tool for medical
research. Kirschnewr says computer models allow for research that would
otherwise be impossible, such as creating a mouse with multiple missing
genes to see what effects those genes have, or virtually testing the human
response to serious maladies such as injury and infection.
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Nat'l Science Foundation Awards C.U. $10M Grant
Cornell Daily Sun (NY) (09/16/08) Parandekar, Nikhita
Cornell University's new Institute for Computational Sustainability has
been awarded a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
"Our vision is that computer scientists can, and should, play a key role in
increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the way we manage and
allocate our natural resources, while enriching and transforming computer
science," says Cornell professor and institute director Carla Gomes.
"Problems concerning the environment and sustainability are optimization
problems, which computer science is good at solving." Gomes says the term
computational sustainability was almost unheard of before the creation of
the institute, and she hopes the institute will play a significant role in
eventually making computer science a field of study in which computational
models are used to work through the complex problems of sustainability.
Cornell professor and institute associate director David Shmoys says the
institute also aims to advance the field of computer science, as the kind
of problems involved in sustainability are an excellent test bed for
pushing the understanding of computation. Although the institute will be
based at Cornell, researchers from Oregon State University, Howard
University, Bowdoin College, the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory, and the Conservation Fund also will participate.
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US Focusing Cybersecurity on Backdoors in Tech
Products
IDG News Service (09/15/08) Gross, Grant
Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the White
House, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence unveiled new
details about President Bush's National Cybersecurity Initiative at a
recent cybersecurity conference. Among the officials in attendance at the
conference was DHS deputy secretary Paul Schneider, who noted that the U.S.
government needs to better protect its supply chain from hidden
vulnerabilities and Trojan horses in some commercial technology products
made overseas. Some credit-card point-of-sale machines, for example, have
stolen credit card numbers and passwords. Schneider noted that the
government plans to work with private vendors to protect its supply chain,
and will implement stringent acquisition rules for commercial technology
products. In addition to addressing concerns about the supply chain,
Schneider noted that the government is also planning to upgrade its
perimeter defense scanner, Einstein. The system is largely a passive
monitoring system that alerts the government that it has been attacked
after the fact. The new version of the system will allow the government to
anticipate where threats will come from and prevent cyber criminals from
launching attacks. Officials at the conference also noted that the
National Cybersecurity Initiative will focus on other issues, including
improving the sharing of information about cyberattacks and sharing
government defense capabilities with private companies.
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TI's Kilby Labs to Focus on Chip Advances That 'Make a
Difference'
EDN (09/12/08) Mutschler, Ann Steffora
Texas Instruments (TI) has launched Kilby Labs, a new research and design
center that will unite university researchers and leading TI engineers to
discover and develop life-changing opportunities for semiconductor
technology. The lab is inspired by TI's original lab, where Jack Kilby
first designed the chip that opened the door to 3G cell phones, portable
ultrasound machines, and automotive antilock braking systems. TI
emphasizes that Kilby Lab researchers will focus on chip advances that make
a difference in the world. "The power to help make the world healthier,
safer, greener, and more fun is what gets us excited about chip innovation,
and why we come to work every day at TI," says TI Chairman Rich Templeton.
"It's what motivated Jack Kilby to build the first IC and why he was able
to transform the world through his ideas and inventions." TI senior VP and
the lab's executive sponsor Gregg Lowe says Kilby Labs will combine TI's
experience in developing new chip technologies and the company's
understanding of customer needs with the dreams of a new generation of
innovators. Lowe says the best way to celebrate Kilby's contributions is
by providing people with the opportunity to continue his work and find new
ways of improving millions of lives around the world through chip
innovations.
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Software Spots the Spin in Political Speeches
New Scientist (09/17/08)No. 2674, P. 22; Hutson, Stu
Queen's University researcher David Skillicorn has created an algorithm
that evaluates word usage within the text of a conversation or speech to
ascertain whether a person is being truthful. The program counts usage of
first person nouns, seeks out phrases that offer qualifications or
clarifications of more general statements, and looks for increased rates of
action verbs and negatively charged words, which signal higher levels of
spin. Skillicorn used the algorithm to study speeches of 2008 presidential
contenders John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, and determined
that the level of spin in their addresses reflected the occasion. Voice
analysis is another technique for determining spin, and Vox Institute
founder Branka Zei Pollermann uses auditory analysis software to build a
voice profile by mapping seven parameters of a person's speech and then
comparing the profile with the speaker's facial expressions by using
researcher Paul Ekman's Facial Action Coding System as a guide.
Pollermann's analysis of McCain's speeches demonstrates that the
candidate's flat tone and mismatched facial expressions could work against
him, while Obama, who exhibits greater pitch modulation and closer
correlation between speech and facial expressions, is a more politically
astute speaker. Meanwhile, University of Tokyo researcher Yoshimasa Ohmoto
and colleagues are working on a facial recognition system for robots and
artificial intelligence agents that studies basic eye, nose, and mouth
movements to determine whether a person is lying.
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