Lab Comes One Step Closer to Building Artificial Human
Brain
Guardian Unlimited (UK) (12/20/07) Witchalls, Clint
Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in
Switzerland, working with IBM, have successfully completed the first part
of an ambitious project to reproduce a functioning brain on a supercomputer
by replicating a rat's neocortical column. The neocortical column is the
basic building block of the neocortex, the high functioning part of the
brain that is responsible for functions such as reasoning and
self-awareness. Blue Brain project director Henry Markram believes it is
possible to build an entire rat's neocortex, which is the next phase of the
Blue Brain project, and eventually a cat, monkey, and even human brain, if
Moore's law holds true. Markram is not trying to build a conscious silicon
brain, but rather a model to help scientists understand the brain and
disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Many doubt that
a human brain can be successfully modeled, arguing that the integration
between different regions of the brain is too complex for computer
simulation, but Markram argues that many people thought the project would
never be able to accomplish anything. "The critics were unbelievable, says
Markram. "Everybody thought we were crazy. Even the most eminent
computational neuroscientists and theoreticians said the project would
fail."
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Virtual Extras
Technology Review (12/19/07) Graham-Rowe, Duncan
UCLA professor Demetri Terzopoulos has developed software that can create
computer-generated crowds for movies and video games that behave much more
realistically because the software gives each character a unique and
complex personality. Terzopoulos says each individual created by the
software demonstrates complex, rational behaviors that collectively create
a much more lifelike representation of human activity. Until recently,
crowd-animation algorithms were generally based on some type of flocking
activity, which had each character base its actions off of what neighboring
characters were doing. This technique worked well for animal behavior, but
simulated humans should be able to portray a better level of cognitive
capacity. The "autonomous pedestrians" designed by Terzopoulos and
graduate student Wei Shao are controlled by three different layers of
behavior. A motion layer controls basic movement such as walking, running,
standing, and sitting. On top of the motion layer, a reactive layer allows
characters to respond to obstacles and other characters, as well as more
complex movements such as walking around an object or sitting down. The
final layer, the cognitive layer, adds the realistic complexity by creating
scenarios characters need to accomplish. Norm Badler, director of the
Center for Human Modeling and Simulation at the University of Pennsylvania,
says Terzopoulos' software makes it easier for animators to assign goals
than with other cognitive animation software, and that it is also possible
to create longer scenes with up to 1,400 realistic characters. In addition
to movies and games, there is an increasing interest in crowd simulation
for emergency simulations.
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Japan Robot Prize Goes to Mechanical Arm
Associated Press (12/20/07) Kageyama, Yuri
A mechanical arm capable of grabbing 120 items in a minute from a conveyor
belt won Japan's Robot of the Year award, one of Japan's recent efforts to
display the country's advanced robotics technology. Other entries included
a walking humanoid and a clear torso for simulating surgery. The award,
now in its second year, was given to the assembly line arm for its
practicality, and shows that utility and business, instead of entertainment
or academia, are the focus of Japan's robotic push. The robotic arm from
Fanuc is already being used at food and pharmaceutical plants, where
sanitation is critical and human error can have disastrous effects. The
Fanuc robots have no exposed wiring and are easily washed and sanitized.
"The trend these days is to try to avoid having human workers at all.
People can get dirty and introduce unwanted objects," says Fanuc manager
Ryo Nihei. The surgery robot, called Eve, costs $2,200. "We made it
affordable because we want as many people to take advantage of this as
possible," says Seiichi Ikeda, head of a university-sponsored project to
create a tool for improving doctors' surgery skills. A 24-inch tall human
robot by Fujitsu was one of the more popular entries, and NASA and the
University of Hamburg, among others, have already bought the $53,000 robot,
which is designed to aid research in artificial intelligence. A
firefighting robot by machinery-maker Komatsu was also on display. The
tank-like robot can be remotely controlled into dangerous areas, and can
send 1,300 gallons of water as far as 110 yards, more than three times
farther than a human is capable of.
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A New Generation of Web Savvy
'Super-Communicators'
InternetNews.com (12/19/07) Corbin, Kenneth
The Pew Internet Project study "Teens and Social Media" shows that 64
percent of Internet users between 12 and 17 years old create and post some
type of online content. These teenage "super-communicators" have advanced
beyond email to new forms of communication, largely due to the rise of
social networking sites and other Web 2.0 tools. The super-communicators,
which represent 28 percent of teenagers, use all types of technology for
these communications, including cell phones, text messaging,
social-networking cites, and as a last resort, email. "Access to social
networks and cell phones has opened up new channels for today's teens,"
says study co-author Mary Madden. "New technology increases the overall
intensity and frequency of their communication with friends, with email
being the one glaringly uncool exception in their eyes." Social networks
have evolved beyond a self-publication forum, with 41 percent of teens who
are on social networks saying they use the networks regularly to send
messages to their friends. The Pew study found teenagers posting blogs,
videos, and other content are trying to start conversations just as much as
they are trying to find a creative output. "For teens, the beauty of the
Internet, particularly social-networking Web sites, is that content can be
created and easily shared among a network of friends," says study co-author
Amands Lenhart. "Even more compelling is that people in those social
networks can easily comment and give feedback on shared content."
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UCLA Scientists Working to Create Smaller, Faster
Integrated Circuits
UCLA News (12/19/07) Wolpert, Stuart
UCLA scientists have successfully used computer-aided design software
based on better mathematical algorithms to design substantially improved
integrated circuits. "We can get circuits designed with 30 percent less
wire length using improved optimization than what we had demonstrated three
years ago, based on circuits that were samples from industry," says UCLA
professor Jason Cong. "We believe that when you apply these methods to
current industry circuits, you will see similar gains. Industry says even
5 percent is very significant." Traditionally, smaller, faster integrated
circuits are made by using smaller transistors and thinner wires, but Cong
and fellow UCLA processor Tony Chan focused on improving the design of the
chip itself. Cong says part of the challenge is placing the nodes on a
two-dimensional surface while minimizing the total interconnections between
nodes. Cong's laboratory has found strong evidence that existing
computer-aided programs for integrated circuit design are far from optimal,
and the researchers believe their work will lead to improved software for
enhanced chip design.
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E-Voting Activists Praise Ohio Plan to Fix E-Voting
System
Computerworld (12/18/07) Weiss, Todd R.
E-voting activists from three e-voting watchdog groups recently praised a
report from Ohio that calls for major security and election
integrity-related changes, but urged state officials to proceed cautiously
when implementing changes for next year's presidential primary and general
election. The analysts' concern is that moving too quickly without
adequate analysis could create new problems without solving the existing
ones, and that many of the recommendations made in the Ohio report cannot
be implemented before the 2008 elections. "We're concerned about some of
the recommendations, particularly because they would be implemented in a
short time before two critical elections," says Lawrence Norden, counsel in
the Brennan Center for Justice Program at the New York University School of
Law. One of the recommendations made by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer
Brunner is that the state begin counting vote totals in a centralized
location, instead of at each individual voting place. Norden says the
problem with centralized vote counting is that a hardware or software
glitch could lead to system-wide problems that cause large-scale vote
losses. "I'm concerned this would make voting less secure in Ohio," says
Norden. He is also concerned over a recommendation that would allow voters
to cast ballots by mail on a larger scale, arguing that there are security
issues with counting ballots in one place without an audit, and that Ohio
post offices do not have enough experience delivering ballots by mail to
ensure they system will be secure and accurate. Verified Voting Foundation
President Pamela Smith says that instead of implementing some of the more
controversial recommendations in the report, Ohio should focus on
short-term improvements that are realistic.
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Defense Report Looks at Unmanned Systems Future
Scoop (NZ) (12/19/07) Gilmore, Gerry J.
A new report from the Department of Defense titled "Unmanned Systems
Roadmap: 2007-2032" examines how the U.S. military should advance in the
development, acquisition, and integration of air-, land-, and sea-based
unmanned technology over the next 25 years, according to Dyke
Weatherington, deputy director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force.
"The publication of this most-recent roadmap will further our strategic
planning and our overall objective of developing, procuring and integrating
unmanned systems into the force structure of the Department of Defense to
support our various military mission capabilities," says Weatherington.
The report is the result of more than 18 months of work between the
Department of Defense and various military and government agencies. Drone
aircraft and ground-based robots have already been successfully deployed in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and combat commanders contributed to the report by
pointing out possible improvements to such systems. Weatherington says
among commanders' recommendations is the need to develop an integrated
infrastructure that would allow information and intelligence data collected
by unmanned systems to be more rapidly and readily shared among users,
including allies and coalition partners. The commanders' also emphasized
the need for better sensor technology for use on unmanned systems to
identify underwater mines and land-based improvised explosive devices. The
report also says the continued development of artificial intelligence and
robot technologies may eventually lead to autonomous, "thinking" unmanned
systems that could, for example, be used in aerial platforms to suppress
enemy air defenses.
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Unlocking Encryption Management
InfoWorld (12/19/07) Hines, Matt
More and more organizations are turning to standalone encryption platforms
to augment IT security, including the Career Education Corporation (CEC), a
postsecondary education provider that operates more than 75 institutions
worldwide. The increase in use is fueled by the growing number of
regulations being implemented to guard sensitive data and the wider
availability of products that address issues that served as barriers to use
in the past, including policy enforcement and key management. "From my
previous experience with e-mail encryption, I had two major concerns with
using the tools: Key management and any dependence on the end-user to make
the systems work right," says Michael Gabriel, corporate information
security officer for CEC. "I haven't ever seen an encryption project where
management wasn't a major sticking point, that has been the history of the
technology, but it seems that the vendors are finally getting it right."
CEC is using encryption in combination with data leakage prevention and
e-mail filtering to guard sensitive data. Gabriel says that the best
aspect of the encryption technology, provided by global data protection
company PGP, is its embedded key management capabilities, a feature that
was not available in past products.
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New Specialization Will Focus on Supercomputing
Purdue University News (12/17/07) Medaris, Kim
Purdue University is currently developing courses that focus on
high-performance computing, making Purdue one of a few universities in the
country to offer such courses. The supercomputing curriculum will include
a course this spring in which each student will build a high-performance
computing about four times more powerful than a standard personal computer.
"As high-performance computing becomes more commonplace in industry,
businesses are finding that they need employees who know how to assemble
and maintain these machines," says Department of Computer and Information
Technology professor Thomas Hacker. "There is a huge unmet demand.
Students who go through our program will have a definite advantage in the
workplace." The special curriculum is still under development, but courses
in bioinformatics are already available. Future courses will be determined
by student demand, but could include courses in software development,
computational biology, molecular pharmacology, and data management. In the
spring course, students will assemble a supercomputer from recycled
computers for the College of Technology and the Rosen Center for Advanced
Computing. Each supercomputer will be built from four nodes, and students
will learn how to link each node and combine all four computers.
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Ohio E-Voting System Security Bashed in New State
Report
Computerworld (12/17/07) Weiss, Todd R.
The findings of a study requested by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer
Brunner show that e-voting in Ohio has numerous shortcomings that are a
danger to the accuracy of elections and require a variety of changes in
security, equipment, and processes. Between Oct. 5 and Dec. 7, teams of
academic researchers and accredited e-voting system testing scientists
evaluated Ohio's e-voting hardware and software, and made several
recommendations for improvement as part of the Evaluation & Validation of
Election-Related Equipment, Standards & Testing (EVEREST) project. "The
findings appearing in the reports necessitate that Ohio's voting process be
modified to eliminate as many known risks to voting integrity as possible,
while keeping voting accessible to Ohio's voters," the study states. The
report says the main problem is that while security and privacy standards
generally exist for critical technology systems, the computer-based voting
systems in Ohio do not meet computer industry security standards and are
vulnerable to breaches of security that could jeopardize the integrity of
the voting process. The report recommends that Ohio switch to a
centralized counting system where all ballot choices are sent
electronically, rather than tracking votes in individual precincts. The
report also suggests that the state switch from the direct-recording
electronic (DRE) touch-screen e-voting machines it current uses to
optical-scan machines that use a paper ballot that is electronically
scanned at tabulated, which creates a paper-verifiable record so the voter
can confirm the correct votes are about to be recorded. Additionally, the
report suggests that counties that use DRE machines offer paper ballots to
voters who do not want to use touch screen machines. Patrick Gallaway with
Brunner's office says the report will be reviewed by the state legislature,
the governor, county election officials, and others to decide what changes
to make, and that the recommendations are "in no way set in stone."
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The Semantic Web In Action
Scientific American (12/07) Vol. 297, No. 6, P. 90; Feigenbaum, Lee;
Herman, Ivan; Hongsermeier, Tonya
The Semantic Web is a series of languages and formats that analyze data on
the World Wide Web and enable people to understand all types of useful
online information, and a diverse assortment of Semantic Web applications
are coming out, and some of the most advanced and innovative systems are
the result of scientific research. Possibly the most visible examples of
the Semantic Web are tagging systems in which people choose common terms to
describe information they find or post on certain Web sites, which allow
Web programs and browsers to locate and comprehend the tagged information
in a limited fashion, although scalability is an issue because the tags are
not interoperable between systems. Increasing the accessibility and
ease-of-use of the Semantic Web is the goal of standards development being
carried out by companies and universities working through the World Wide
Web Consortium. Some of the biggest Semantic Web advances are occurring in
the life sciences and health care fields. For instance, personalized
medical treatments will come closer to realization through the integration
of various data sets, and a research team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Medical Center is applying semantic capabilities toward the creation of a
system that can pinpoint the genetic causes of heart disease. Eli Lilly
researchers are also using Semantic Web technology to gain a complete
perspective of the must probable drug targets for a given disease, which
would be immensely helpful for drug discovery. Meanwhile, the nonprofit
organization Science Commons provides Semantic Web tools for affixing
legally binding copyright and licensing information to openly posted
research data. Some people are concerned that the interlinking of data
from disparate sources could infringe on privacy, but Semantic Web
supporters claim that the protections remain consistent across the linked
and non-linked domains.
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Sshhh, It's Listening: Totally New Computer
Interfaces
ICT Results (12/12/07)
European scientists working with the Tangible Acoustic Interfaces for
Computer-Human Interaction (TAI-CHI) project have used acoustic sensors to
turn wooden tabletops and even three-dimensional, everyday objects into a
new type of computer interface. By attaching sensors to solid materials,
the researchers were able to locate and track acoustic vibrations. Tapping
on certain areas of a whiteboard could generate musical notes on a
computer, and tracking the sound of a finger writing words on a sheet of
hardboard could be recorded, in real time, as handwriting on a computer
screen, eliminating the need for interfaces like keyboards. Sensing
vibrations in a solid material and converting them to electrical signals is
easy, but exactly locating the source of the vibration has been difficult
due to the complex structures of solids and the variations they cause in
wave propagation. For example, knots in wood will alter how acoustic
vibrations travel. The TAI-CHI team explored four different technologies
including Time Delay of Arrival (TDOA), time reversal, Multi-Sensor
Tracking through the Reversal of Dispersion, and in-solid acoustic
holography. Tangible acoustic interfaces will not replace keyboards and
mice anytime soon, but there are certain situations that would benefit from
having alternative interfaces, such as in dirty environments or hospitals
where keyboards could becoming hiding places for bacteria and viruses.
"Time reversal is a beautiful technology," says researcher Ming Yang.
"Unlike TDOA, it works with any object and does note require special
materials. Because it needs only a single sensor and a normal computer, it
is very simple and cost effective. One spin-off company from the
University of Paris is working on commercial applications for this."
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Light Speed Communications for Supercomputers
PhysOrg.com (12/17/07)
Through a U.S. Department of Energy/NNSA project, researchers at IBM and
Corning have successfully used optical networks to transfer data using
light, demonstrating the most advanced and powerful optical packet switch.
The optical switch is capable of transmitting 2.5 terabits of data, the
equivalent of about 20 high-definition movies, in a single second. IBM
researchers have been exploring the use of light for data transmissions in
different computer parts, including on chips, between two processors, and
throughout complex communication networks. Optical transmission has the
ability to transfer data with minimum losses over larger distances and with
less power consumption than with conventional techniques. Computer
scientists at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory and optical engineers at
Corning concentrated on developing optical communication components,
specifically focusing on the switches that control data flow and prevent
congestion within the complex network. The four-year project, called
OSMOSIS for Optical Shared MemOry Supercomputer Interconnect System,
culminated in the demonstration of the most powerful optical packet switch,
which combines 64 optical data links, each running at 40 Gbps, which
results in transmissions up to 2.5 terabits per second. "We will need such
powerful optical interconnect systems in the future if we want to scale
supercomputing capabilities and efficiency well beyond the petaflop range,"
says OSMOSIS project leader at IBM's Zurich Research Lab Ronald Luijten.
One of the challenges preventing such systems is a lack of optical memory,
as it is not yet known how to store and retrieve optical data easily and in
a cost-effective manner. Luijten's team overcame this issue by adopting a
hybrid electro-optical approach that uses electronics to buffer and
schedule data and optics for the transmitting and switching process. The
team also developed a state-of-the-art electronic controller that computes
an optimal switch configuration during each packet slot of 51.2
nanoseconds, essentially allowing bufferless operation while maximizing
throughput and reliability.
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Congress Slow on Tech Issues in '07
IDG News Service (12/18/07) Gross, Grant; `
Some in the tech community say it is still too early to judge the current
session of Congress, even though only a few bills lobbied by the industry
were passed this year. The tech community experienced some success as
Congress passed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote
Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act, which became law in
August; and approved a free-trade agreement with Peru in December.
However, the seven-year extension to a moratorium on access taxes and other
taxes unique to the Internet, passed by Congress in October, and the
one-year extension to a research and development tax credit for U.S.
companies, passed by the Senate in December, are partial victories. What
is more, Congress failed to act on patent reform, H-1B visas, data
breaches, and net neutrality, and did not move forward on tougher penalties
for copyright infringement. The session, which went through a change in
party control, continues through 2008, and still has a chance to take
action on tech issues, considering many are not partisan. "I think we have
a lot of interest [from lawmakers], and this has the potential to be a
tech-friendly Congress," says Kevin Richards, federal government relations
manager at cybersecurity vendor Symantec.
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For Chips, the Next Step Is a Great Leap
Government Computer News (12/10/07) Jackson, William
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has teamed up with
Semiconductor Research Corp.'s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) to
explore the development of next-generation semiconductors that will
overcome the inevitable physical limits of current CMOS chip technology.
NIST announced three months ago that it would apportion nearly $3 million
in research grants for NRI projects this year as the first stage in a
five-year program to supply over $18 million in semiconductor research
funding. NRI director Jeff Welser stressed the importance of NIST's
involvement, noting that the research needs a government program's
long-term vision and financing, while expertise in highly sophisticated
testing and measurement is essential in turning a theory into an commercial
product. "This is very much what NIST is good at," said Welser. Figuring
out a way to represent the ones and zeroes used in digital processing is a
major point of inquiry, and researchers are considering concepts such as
electron spin and molecular conformational technology. The ability to make
accurate measurements is crucial to comprehending and commercially
replicating technology, according to Joaquin Martinez at NIST's Office of
Microelectronics Programs.
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Digital Libraries Are Taking Form
IEEE Distributed Systems Online (12/07) Vol. 8, No. 12, Goth, Greg
Mass-market penetration of digital libraries and book digitization
projects is on the horizon, but cooperation between commercial, nonprofit,
and publicly funded resource organizations will be essential to ensuring
that materials are easily accessible to users across projects. Internet
Archive co-founder Brewster Kahle says the real challenge in advancing
digital libraries will be in convincing communities that the technology is
not costly, and they do not have to cede the responsibility to commercial
entities. "At 10 cents a page, or $30 a book, the idea of taking 1,000
books or 10,000 books that are important to a community, library, or
individual is now easy," he notes. More important is preventing the
digitization process and access to content from being rigidly monopolized
by corporations. The World Digital Library (WDL) is a joint venture
between the U.S. Library of Congress and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization that seeks to digitize unique
cultural artifacts from throughout the world and make them freely and
globally accessible online. Unlike other multinational projects, the WDL
intends not to use copyrighted content, while its partner institutions will
use the same technological platform, which promotes interoperability. A
gap has opened up between supporters of open access and proponents of
commercial library-scanning efforts, with the public generally losing out
in the latter instance in terms of access to materials, according to Kahle.
He thinks the early commercially funded book digitization projects may
eventually stumble as libraries start adapting traditional, unconstrained
funding mechanisms for their new digital requirements.
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