Welcome to the January 15, 2021 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.

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The ACM Fellows badge. 2020 ACM Fellows Recognized for Work That Underpins Today's Computing Innovations
ACM
January 13, 2021


ACM has named 95 members 2020 ACM Fellows for their significant contributions to fields including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, computer graphics, computational biology, data science, human-computer interaction, software engineering, theoretical computer science, and virtual reality. Their innovations cover a wide spectrum, including algorithms, networks, computer architecture, robotics, distributed systems, software development, wireless systems, Web science, and more. ACM president Gabriele Kotsis said, "These men and women have made pivotal contributions to technologies that are transforming whole industries, as well as our personal lives. We fully expect that these new ACM Fellows will continue in the vanguard in their respective fields."

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Mask-wearing travelers at the airport. Health, Tech Groups Aim to Create Digital Covid 'Vaccination Passport'
Financial Times
Hannah Kuchler
January 14, 2021


A coalition of health and technology groups is collaborating on a digital vaccination passport in the hope that businesses will accept it as proof that individuals have been immunized against Covid-19. The Vaccination Credential Initiative, whose members include the nonprofit Mayo Clinic and tech multinationals Microsoft and Oracle, is working to establish standards to confirm inoculations and block people falsely claiming to have been vaccinated. The organization is building on efforts by the nonprofit Commons Project to develop an internationally accepted certificate proving travelers have tested negative for the virus. The system, which will tap electronic medical records to create a digital card, also will be tasked with maintaining data security, with individuals holding their records in a digital wallet or accessing them via a printed quick response code.

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CES 2021: From Toilets to Coffee Tables, the Best Smart-Home Gadgets Hide the Tech
The Wall Street Journal
Nicole Nguyen
January 14, 2021


The all-virtual 2021 Consumer Electronics Show is highlighting smart-home gadgetry that blend into their surroundings, including a device that converts coffee tables into wireless charging stations, a touch-activated deadbolt lock, and a toilet whose a lid opens and closes automatically based on user proximity. Kew Labs' 30-watt wireless UTS-1 charger can be mounted to the underside of a nonmetallic surface with tape, and reportedly transmits power for device recharging through tables and nightstands up to an inch thick. The Level Touch smart deadbolt uses near-field communications to detect enabled smartphones in its proximity, then permits users to lock or unlock the door with the touch of a finger, or by tapping the lock with the phone or a registered keycard. Kohler’s touchless Innate toilet features a proximity sensor that automatically opens the lid as someone approaches, and auto-flushes and closes when they walk away.

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Puppet of man with megaphone, illustration. Social Media Manipulation by Political Actors an industrial Scale Problem
University of Oxford (U.K.)
January 13, 2021


A 2020 survey of 81 countries by the U.K.'s Oxford Internet Institute (OII) uncovered evidence of social media manipulation of political communications in each country, a 15% increase from 2019. Disinformation was a common tactic in 76 countries; OII’s Philip Howard said such misinformation is "now produced on an industrial scale." The OII team warned of skyrocketing levels of social media manipulation, with governments and political parties spending millions on private-sector "cyber troops" who suppress other voices, and using citizen influencers to spread doctored messages. The study also found evidence in 62 countries of government agencies using computational propaganda to steer public discourse. Howard said, "Social media companies need to raise their game by increasing their efforts to flag misinformation and close fake accounts without the need for government intervention."

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A marine microbes robot. Fleet of Robots Successfully Tracks, Monitors Marine Microbes
University of Hawaii News
Marcie Grabowski
January 13, 2021


Researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UH Manoa), the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have shown a fleet of autonomous robots can track and study a community of marine microbes. MBARI's Brett Hobson said the challenge was to figure a way to allow a team of robots to communicate with the researchers and each other while tracking and sampling phytoplankton in the open ocean’s deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) layer. Usually located more than 300 feet below the ocean's surface, investigating the DCM required technology that can embed itself in and around this layer, and monitor drifting microbes in open-ocean eddies. UH Manoa's David Karl said this accomplishment demonstrated "there is no limit to what can be achieved when you mate a team of collaborative scientists and engineers with a coordinated fleet of smart robots."

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Illustration of quantum particles in lattice form. Error-Pro­­tected Quantum Bits Entang­­led
University of Innsbruck (Austria)
January 14, 2021


Physicists at Austria's University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Academy of Sciences entangled two quantum bits (qubits) distributed over several quantum objects and teleported their quantum properties, a key step toward fault-tolerant quantum computers. The researchers used an ion-trap quantum computer, with logical quantum bits encoded within 10 ions. Innsbruck's Alexander Erhard said “lattice surgery” to combine two qubits into a larger one requires operations along the border of the encoded qubits, rather than on the full surface. Innsbruck's Nicolai Friis and the Austrian Academy's Hendrik Poulsen Nautrup said such lattice surgery shrinks the number of operations needed to entangle both encoded qubits.

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Drones Can Detect Covid-19 From the Sky, Sanitize Surfaces
The Hill
Anagha Srikanth
January 12, 2021


The Draganfly Smart Vital System adopted by Alabama State University and the Alabama State Senate for Covid-19 screenings can take contactless temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate readings from an aerial drone to detect potential Covid-19 cases, with those identified as being at risk directed to be tested. The university also uses Draganfly's drone technology to disinfect surfaces in its athletic stadiums and arenas with pathogen and virus sanitizer. Draganfly's Cameron Chell said the screening system was developed to operate from drones, "but where we've really seen traction is in fixed space cameras and even on cellphones for telemedicine." Chell said the system does not collect any personal information or perform facial recognition.

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Venice police stationed in their new control room. Venice Is Watching Tourists' Every Move
CNN
Julia Buckley
January 13, 2021


Officials in Venice, Italy, are using technology to track the number of tourists in the city, and where they go. The goal is to create a more sustainable tourism plan for the city of 50,000 inhabitants, which welcomed nearly 30 million visitors annually prior to the pandemic. In September, the city launched the Venice Control Room on the island of Tronchetto, featuring a CCTV room where police monitor images from cameras around the city. A Smart Control Room across the corridor also has cameras, but images generated by those cameras, along with aggregated phone data, are used to create visitor profiles. Said Marco Bettini, whose firm Venis built the system, "We know in real time how many people are in each part [of the city], and which countries they're from." The data is important given that city has had to close its main thoroughfares to non-locals at busy times to address overcrowding.

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Illustration of a faceless job candidate shaking hands with an interviewer. Job Screening Service Halts Facial Analysis of Applicants
Wired
Will Knight
January 12, 2021


Human resources software vendor HireVue is eliminating a feature of its hiring software that analyzes a job applicant’s facial expressions to identify certain characteristics. The software requires job applicants to answer questions via Webcam and feeds the resulting video of their behavior, intonation, and speech into an algorithm that purportedly identifies certain traits and qualities. While an "algorithmic audit" of the HireVue software last year indicated that it does not harbor bias, CEO Kevin Parker said the system’s analysis of facial expressions "was adding some value for customers, but it wasn't worth the concern." Brookings Institution's Alex Engler said machine learning potentially could help with parts of the hiring process, but stressed that modern artificial intelligence cannot make inferences about someone's ability.

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The back of an iMac on a desk. macOS Malware Used Run-Only AppleScripts to Avoid Detection for Five Years
ZDNet
Catalin Cimpanu
January 12, 2021


Researchers at California-based cybersecurity firm SentinelOne have identified the OSAMiner malware, which hijacks the hardware resources of infected macOS computers used to mine cryptocurrency. The malware, which has avoided detection since at least 2015, infects vulnerable systems via pirated games and software, and appears to target mainly Chinese and Asia-Pacific communities. Two Chinese security firms identified and analyzed older versions of the malware in 2018, but security researchers were unable to retrieve the malware's entire code at the time. SentinelOne's Phil Stokes noted the length of time it has been active, and the lack of attention given to the macOS.OSAMiner campaign, “shows exactly how powerful run-only AppleScripts can be for evasion and anti-analysis."

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The AQFP-based MANA microprocessor seated on a chip holder. Superconducting Microprocessors? Turns Out They're Ultra-Efficient
IEEE Spectrum
Michelle Hampson
January 13, 2021


Researchers at Japan's Yokohama National University (YNU) report the creation of the first prototype superconducting microprocessor, which they said has no electrical resistance. The Monolithic Adiabatic iNtegration Architecture (MANA) microprocessor was fabricated from superconducting niobium and relies on adiabatic quantum-flux-parametrons (AQFPs) that constitute more than 20,000 Josephson junctions. YNU's Christopher Ayala said the AQFPs “have been optimized to operate adiabatically such that the energy drawn from the power supply can be recovered under relatively low clock frequencies up to around 10 GHz. This is low compared to the hundreds of gigahertz typically found in conventional superconductor electronics." Ayala added that the AQFP is approximately 80 times more energy efficient than state-of-the-art semiconductor electronics, even when accounting for the cryogenic cooling needed to maintain the MANA microprocessor's superconducting temperatures.

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IBM Leads in Quantum Computing, Ford in Driverless Car Patents
Bloomberg
Susan Decker
January 12, 2021


Fairview Research's IFI Claims Patent Services said IBM received the most U.S. patents in machine learning and quantum computers during the past five years, while Ford Motor received the most patents in vehicle navigation and control systems over the same period. IBM in 2020 was the top patent recipient for the 28th year with 9,130 patents, and received the most patents in quantum computers, machine learning, and computer systems using neural networks that mimic the human brain. Fairview’s Mike Baycroft said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 352,013 patents last year, 1% fewer than the year before, a decrease probably attributable to work-flow changes resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

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FDA Releases AI/ML Action Plan
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
January 12, 2021


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week unveiled its first Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)-Based Software as a Medical Device Action Plan, designed to further agency oversight of the technology. Said Baku Patel at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health's Digital Health Center of Excellence, "The plan outlines a holistic approach based on total product lifecycle oversight to further the enormous potential that these technologies have to improve patient care while delivering safe and effective software functionality that improves the quality of care that patients receive." The plan, on which the FDA continues to accept feedback, specifies five intended FDA actions: further developing the proposed regulatory framework; backing development of good ML practices to assess and enhance ML algorithms; nurturing a patient-centered approach, including device transparency to users; devising ML algorithm development and improvement techniques; and advancing real-world performance tracking pilots.

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