Yes, the Tech Skills Shortage Is Real
InformationWeek (01/12/08) Luftman, Jerry; Kempaiah, Rajkumar; Bullen,
Christine
There is a profound shortage of IT-skilled professionals in the United
States, and this situation is only going to worsen as massive numbers of IT
pros retire over the next 15 years, writes Stevens Institute of Technology
professor Jerry Luftman. The demand for experienced IT pros between the
ages of 35 and 45 will surge by 25 percent over the next 30 years, while
supply will decline by 15 percent, predicts McKinsey. A survey of top IT
management sponsored by the Society for Information Management learned that
there is a still a strong need among employers for IT professionals with
both technical and business-related skills, with respondents worried about
the scarcity of such talent. Research indicates definite expansion in the
market for IT-skilled individuals, with the growth centered both globally
and domestically in IT organizations within client companies that purchase
IT products and sourcing services, and in IT service providers. The
National Center for Education found that there have been dramatic declines
in graduate science degrees awarded in the United States and undergraduate
computer science enrollments, and children are deciding not to pursue IT
careers because of a lack of communication or encouragement from teachers,
counselors, and parents. Many Asian and European nations are more
successful than the United States in educating and training their upcoming
workforce in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills
that the marketplace demands, and Luftman argues that "universities in the
United States should continue to augment these [STEM] skills along with the
skills being demanded by employers--such as business, industry,
communications--to ensure that these candidates are prepared for the
challenges and opportunities that await them." He says the key U.S.
stakeholders--private industry, educational systems, and government
agencies--must cooperate on the revitalization of the IT candidate pipeline
in order to guarantee the continuance of U.S. global economic
leadership.
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Avoiding Plane Crashes by Crunching Numbers
Washington Post (01/13/08) P. A1; Wilber, Del Quentin
For years, the role of aviation authorities was similar to that of
homicide detectives, examining the scene of an accident or crash and trying
to reconstruct what happened. Now, with so few crashes in recent years,
air carriers and regulators have adopted a new strategy to prevent
accidents. Instead of searching debris, aviation authorities are using
data mining technology to search through computer records, including data
from thousands of daily flights, to identify potential problems and trouble
spots. The computerized research has found safety problems such as unsafe
landing and takeoff procedures, difficult landing approaches, and even
unsafe conditions, like a large bulge in the runway of a Vermont airport.
"We have improved our safety so much from having this data," says US
Airways pilot Matt Merillat, one of the company's data analysts. "There is
no doubt that by using this data we have prevented an accident." US
Airways and 16 other airlines have data monitoring initiatives approved by
the Federal Aviation Administration known as flight operations quality
assurance programs, and the FAA has launched its own effort to monitor
flight data. The programs combine data from flights, including airspeed,
pitch angles, engine temperatures, and movements, with pilot reports to
spot precursors, an industry buzzword that describes events that often go
unnoticed until they cause an accident.
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Big Brother Really Is Watching
Computerworld (01/14/08) Mitchell, Robert L.
The Department of Homeland Security is investing in Project Hostile
Intent, an initiative whose goal is to detect unfriendlies posing as
benevolent parties through the automatic identification and analysis of
behavioral and physiological cues affiliated with deception. However,
critics contend that the behavioral profiling system's development will
take much longer than the DHS is expecting, assuming that it works at all.
Current areas of research include recognition of gestures and microfacial
expressions, analysis of variations in speech, and grading of physiological
characteristics, which the DHS hopes to integrate in order to boost the
predictive accuracy rate higher than what other deception detection
techniques yield. The accuracy rate of deception detection technologies
under development as part of Project Hostile Intent varies according to
cultural background and personality type, while lab testing may not
necessarily mirror real-world situations. Developers of microexpression
recognition technologies complain that they need more psychological data in
order to optimize the algorithms that associate expressions with deception,
while rules also need to be applied in the proper context. Another project
being pursued by DHS' human factors division is an effort to model violent
intent via the application of social behavior theory in order to help
analysts extract relevant information as they review documents. Privacy
advocates are also concerned that Project Hostile Intent's collection of
personal data and its risk of generating false positives could be
detrimental for innocent people, including racial and ethnic minorities,
who are wrongly singled out as suspicious. The behavior profiling systems
developed through Project Hostile Intent may eventually be used by the
Transportation Security Administration.
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New Predictive Approach Seeks to Stay Ahead of
Hackers
EE Times (01/11/08) Riley, Sheila
Military and academic researchers from the Rochester Institute of
Technology, the University of Buffalo, Pennsylvania State University, and
the U.S. Air Force are working on CUBRIC, an intrusion prediction project
that uses mathematical models and algorithms to predict a hacker's probable
moves after having penetrated a network. "We want to be one step ahead of
them and predict what they are going to do," says RIT computer engineering
professor Shanchieh Jay Yang. "When they first get in, we try to observe
what they are doing, and use that information to forecast their probable
future actions." The goal of CUBRIC is to provide information on how an
intruder will react to particular network defenses and architectures so
that administrators can lessen damage and better protect their systems.
Intrusion prediction modeling is meant to be a part of a larger network
protection plan and is designed to defend against the different tactics
used by network intruders, such as interrupting service or stealing data.
CUBRIC is capable of following individual attackers, or tracking multiple
attackers, and will have both commercial and military applications.
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South Carolina Officials See No Problems With
Touch-Screen Voting Machines
Anderson Independent-Mail (SC) (01/12/08) Williams, David
Election officials in Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens South Carolina report
that they do next expect to have any problems with the electronic voting
machines used in those counties. Officials anticipate a smooth voting
process for both the Republican presidential primary on Jan. 19 and the
Democratic primary on Jan. 26, and say that tampering with the voting
machines is nonexistent. "I would say it would be quite remarkable if
anyone did attempt it," says Pickens County Registration and Elections
Commission director Ashley Harris. "There is security to prevent tampering
in place, including the poll workers and poll watchers for the candidates
and the parties." However, Clemson University computer science professor
Eleanor Hare says there are problems with the machines, as shown by the
study of Ohio's voting machines, and that replacing the counties'
iVotronics machines with a paper ballot scanned into a computer would
ensure a more accurate and verifiable vote count. "Computer scientists
have been saying for 10 years that elections are much too important to
trust to a computer that you can't verify," Hare says. "It is not enough
to trust that the machine tallied the vote accurately. You should also be
able to verify that the tally is correct."
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Prof. Kale to Lead Project for Advanced Computing
Institute
HPC Wire (01/11/08)
An inaugural project of the new Institute for Advanced Computing
Applications and Technologies at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign will focus on the development of petascale parallel
programming tools and petascale applications. Computer science professor
Laxmikant Kale will team up with materials science and engineering
professor Duane Johnson for an initiative that could combine codes for
astrophysical (FLASH) and biomolecular (NAMD) simulation and for
determining the electronic-structure of materials (QMCpack and MECCA) with
computer science research. Adaptive runtime systems that automate dynamic
load balancing and fault tolerance, best-practice software engineering to
petascale applications via refactoring tools, productive programming
environments that integrate performance analysis and debugging tools, and
automatically tuned libraries will also draw the attention of researchers.
"Our major goal is to focus on applications having impact on challenging
physical problems of broad community interest and that could really show
sustained petascale performance given the right computer science tools and
libraries on the planned hardware," Johnson says. "Concerted effort
between the physical and computer scientists is critical for this to
happen--not all square blocks fit into the same round hole."
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Ambient Intelligence: Snowboarding to the New
Frontier
ICT Results (01/07/08)
Research in ambient intelligence may one day lead to sensors in our
clothing, or even our skin, that are capable of alerting emergency services
the moment an accident or injury occurs, or automatically reveals to
friends the type of mood you are in. However, before people can fully
interact in a responsive electronic environment, several hurdles need to be
solved, such as the development of miniaturized, unobtrusive hardware,
unique interfaces, secure data systems, autonomous and flexible network
protocols, and more efficient wireless infrastructures. "The idea is to
integrate sensor networks into wireless communication systems and to
'capture' the user's environment, perhaps using a mobile phone as a
gateway, and then transmit this context to a service platform to deliver a
personalized service and act on situations," says Laurent Herault, project
coordinator of the e-Sense project, a research scheme developing new ways
of capturing ambient intelligence. Potential applications include
entertainment, e-health and safety, and remote asset monitoring. Systems
could be created to improve the response of emergency services to car
crashes and other accidents, as well as leisure and sporting applications.
"We can measure the feelings you experience while skiing, such as
acceleration, speed, and happiness," Herault says. "This can be useful if
you want to share your experiences with friends."
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Ancient Roman Road Gets Virtual Life
Associated Press (01/08/08) David, Ariel
The Virtual Museum of the Ancient Via Flaminia, unveiled Tuesday and
developed over two years by a project team supported by Italy's National
Research Council, is a virtual reconstruction of the ancient Via Flaminia,
one of the arteries that led into ancient Rome. The virtual world allows
visitors to wander through rebuilt monuments and to interact with ancient
Rome's political elite. Users can also switch between a reconstruction of
ancient Rome and how the monuments look today. The virtual reconstruction,
which cost more than $1.1 million, is hosted in Rome at the Museum of the
Diocletian Baths. "It's a voyage through the past and the present," says
project leader Maurizio Forte. He say a team of 20 archaeologists,
architects, and computer experts used laser scans, satellite imagery, and
ancient texts to reconstruct the ancient road. In a darkened room, four
visitors can control their avatars using joysticks, while a larger audience
can watch on a movie screen. In addition to educational and entertainment
value, the virtual world is also beneficial to researchers. "Besides what
you see on the movie screen, which is of interest to the public, we have
reams of data, scans, and maps that are of help to archaeologists and
historians," says archaeologist Augusto Palombini.
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CES - A Sensitive Arm Is the Next Big Thing for
Robots
Network World (01/10/08) Shah, Agam
Microsoft robotics group general manager Tandy Trower says that robots
with fully functioning arms will be able to set tables, load dishwashers,
and pick up delicate objects. "That will be the tipping point," Trower
says. "Once robots can manipulate things in our environment in a safe way,
they can do virtually anything a human can possibly do physically." The
hardware may be ready in as little as five years, but the real challenge
will be the programming, Trower says. Software that allows robots to
understand surface textures and to identify objects will require complex
code that will take a long time to write, Trower cautions, adding that
while a fully functioning arm is reasonable, real artificial intelligence
is another matter. "The artificial intelligence community has struggled
for years to create models that allow technology to be more expansive," he
says. "What we find today are crude things." To improve the quality of
programmers with specialized skills, universities are trying to introduce
mainstream robotics courses. For example, Carnegie Mellon has started a
course based on Microsoft's Robotics Studio. Another challenge is creating
interoperability between various software platforms and tools used in robot
programming. Trower says moving away from proprietary systems will make it
easier to exchange ideas and software code and help develop reliable,
usable robots.
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Computer Brings Science Up a Gear
BBC News (01/14/08)
Edinburgh University has unveiled Hector (High End Computing Terascale
Resources), a new supercomputer that is four times faster than its
predecessor. Hector is capable of performing 63 million million
calculations a second and handling the work of about 12,000 desktop
systems. Hector, part of six-year project, is housed at Edinburgh's
advanced computing facility. Edinburgh scientists will use Hector to
develop life-saving drugs, design new materials, model epidemic patterns,
and forecast changes in climate and ocean currents. British scientists
will remain at the forefront of their fields because of Hector, says Dr.
David Henty, group manager at Edinburgh University's parallel computing
center. "Nowadays, a new strand is to write computer programs to simulate
things that are as small as a sub-atomic particle, through to things that
are as big as the whole universe," Henty told Radio Scotland. "It really
can do whatever you want it to do."
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Accenture Labs Gets in Your Head
CMP Channel (01/10/08) Bosavage, Jennifer
Accenture's research group is pursuing human-computer interaction research
in its Personal Performance Coach, a personal feedback device that is
capable of monitoring the behavior of a user and making recommendations
that will lead to desired results. The Accenture Technology Labs in Palo
Alto, Calif., is developing the Personal Performance Coach, which makes use
of a mobile phone, wearable GPS and digital bio sensors, and software.
Users wear a wireless head set with a cell phone that serves as the service
delivery channel. The device is capable of determining if a user is not
listening enough or not exhibiting good conversational behaviors during a
sales call, and can send voice prompts to the earpiece such as "slow down"
or "speak up." The technology is also capable of sensing whether the user
is in a research conference room for a meeting, or in the coffee room at
the snack machine. Users can program the device, so a dieter could even
have it remind them that they are on a diet and to buy fruit instead. The
Personal Performance Coach is still in the prototype stage, but clients who
have seen the device are coming up with different uses, such as a training
tool.
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Bank Card Attack: Only Martians Are Safe
ZDNet Australia (01/11/08) Tung, Liam
Security researchers from Cambridge University have discovered a way to
attack chip and PIN cards. Cambridge students Steven J. Murdoch and Saar
Drimer recently demonstrated that the cards do not need to be cloned to be
compromised, crippling the banking industry's claim that the cards can only
be compromised through card holder error. By tampering with a chip and PIN
terminal, Murdoch was able to use a "relay attack" to capture
authentication information sent from the merchant's point of sale terminal
to the bank. The compromised information can be transmitted over
Bluetooth, GPRS, or GSM networks to someone who then uses the information
for a fraudulent transaction. Once the information is obtained, the
fraudulent transaction must occur within the time that the legitimate
cardholder's card is being read by the terminal. Murdoch says he alerted
the banks to this possible exploit a few years ago, but that it was
dismissed. "The banks general response to this, and, in fact, to
everything we do, was that the people from Cambridge are very smart and we
find it very amusing but these are lab conditions and it's not going to
work in the real world," Murdoch says. Murdoch proposes several
adjustments that would make the chip and PIN cards more secure, such as
making terminals tamper-resistant, ensuring the numbers embossed on the
card match the receipt, and imposing time constraints on the
authentication.
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9 Questions for Carnegie Mellon Robot Chief Matthew
Mason
Popular Mechanics (01/10/08)
Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute director Matthew Mason says we probably
entered the Age of Robotics in the mid 1990s as machines are being built
that show an "awareness of the physical world and the ability to take
effective action." Mason says that everyone asks when they will have a
personal robotic assistant to cook and clean, but he notes that there are
already noticeable, important ways in which robots have improved our lives.
One example is Project Listen, which has developed a device that uses
voice recognition to listen to children read and to guide them when they
are having difficulties. Mason says that people will have personal robotic
assistants someday because there is such a high demand for it, but that the
technology has to become more affordable, and that other developments such
as the driverless car and medical robots will one day be a reality for the
average person. Mason says one of the biggest challenges for designing
intelligent robots is dealing with the uncertainty of the real world.
Humans are well designed for dealing with uncertainty and have a kind of
common sense physics we use to solve problems and create answers in a few
seconds. This type of intelligence is exactly what robots have a very hard
time with. If robots are ever able to solve such problems at a human
level, it would imply a kind of common sense understanding of how the world
works and make it possible to assign new tasks to robots without them
having to be completely reprogrammed.
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Ant Antics to Help Piggery Communications
FarmingUK (01/08/08)
Farmex in Reading is conducting research into wireless communication
methods that could be used to improve the performance of systems that are
used to monitor pigs. Computer systems specialist David Dobson will lead
the two-year project to come up with a better way to establish reliable
links for farming in difficult environments. Dobson plans to create a
self-healing mesh system that will function in all atmospheric conditions.
"Wireless connection will make the monitoring of crucial performance
indicators, such as feed and water consumption, cheaper and easier," says
Farmex's Hugh Crabtree. "With ever-tightening margins in pig production
this will become increasingly important." The U.K. government is
contributing nearly 70 percent of the funding of the project, and the
technology also could be used to monitor potatoes, grain stores, or
lagoons.
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Women in Computer Science
The Triangle (01/11/08) Kurtz, Josh
The Center for Women & Information Technology says the number of females
majoring in computer science in the United States has dropped significantly
in recent years, as has the number of women applying for professorships in
the field. In the early 1980s, computer science was considered a subject
that could potentially serve as a model for gender equity, the Boston Globe
writes, but now women earn less than 30 percent of all bachelor's degrees
in computer science, according to the National Science Foundation. Drexel
professor of computer science Yuanfang Cai says the gender difference in
computer science is a well known problem that partially stems from the time
constraints the field requires, which makes it difficult for women who want
to have families to stay in the field because new material must constantly
be learned to stay competitive. Cai says that women who enjoy the subject
can overcome such obstacles, and that China, where Cai attended college, is
more encouraging of women interested in computer science. The Boston Globe
writes that educators do not feel the need to dispel the popular image of
computer science as male-dominated, which also discourages women from
pursuing computer science, because the field was so popular in the
1980s.
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Q&A: New Technologies Pose Online Privacy Uncertainties,
Rotenberg Claims
Computerworld (01/02/08) Thibodeau, Patrick
In terms of the new perspective on privacy held by Facebook-using young
people, Electronic Privacy Information Center executive director Marc
Rotenberg feels the true privacy issue is that social networking sites
covertly gather information to utilize for marketing purposes. In general,
Rotenberg asks the question "Are companies being fair with what they do
with the data they collect?" to determine whether rules need to be
established to protect customer privacy. Privacy law advocates are often
simply calling on companies to provide more disclosure about their
practices of data collection and use. In terms of RFID tags, Rotenberg
explains that many individuals in the privacy and security communities are
unhappy about the Department of Homeland Security's new "vicinity read"
RFID tag standard. Such tags remove the individual's ability to identify
when the tag's data is being read, which breaches the principle of basic
access control, says Rotenberg. Remote RFID tags could be exploited in
many ways; credit card numbers that have not been encrypted, medical data,
and information on overseas U.S. travelers could all be pulled by hackers,
according to Rotenberg, which is why the e-Passport proposal from the U.S.
State Department had to be overhauled. Rotenberg adds that EPIC has been
critical of many new proposals from DHS regarding personal identification,
border control, and video surveillance. Rotenberg claims many of these
proposals, such as the Real ID card, have not been fully thought through,
and contain many fundamental security problems. Overall, secure systems of
information are those which are only utilized for their premeditated
purposes.
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What Coders Can Learn from Supercomputing
Government Computer News (01/07/08) Vol. 27, No. 1, Jackson, Joab
Software programmers that need to develop parallel programs could learn a
lot from the high-performance computer community, which has had to divide
its programs into large clusters across hundreds or even thousands of
processors. One of the most popular approaches is a library called the
Message Passing Interface (MPI), an open-source library of bindings that
can coordinate tasks between various processors when used in programs. MPI
is an interface that allows hardware to send intra-program messages to
improve parallel processing. However, hardware can hinder performance
based on how fast the network retrieves data and competition among
processors for shared resources such as memory and communication buses.
MPI was designed to help the programmer reduce the number of
inter-processor communications created by a program. "If you can get the
number of program communications down, you can get the best performance,"
says University of Maryland Baltimore County mathematics professor Matthias
Gobbert. While many older vector-based and shared-memory computer systems
divided work automatically, MPI allows programmers to improve performance
by identifying particular parts of a program best suited for simultaneous
execution. MPI does not greatly alter a programmer's environment, allowing
for Fortran, C, and C++ applications, and the program code stays a single
file, even if different processes are divided for different processors.
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