Blog: Honeycombs of Magnets Could Lead to New Type of Computer Processing

Honeycombs of Magnets Could Lead to New Type of Computer Processing
Imperial College London (03/30/12) Simon Levey

Imperial College London researchers say they have developed a new material using nano-sized magnets that could lead to unique types of electronic devices with much greater processing capacity than current technologies. The researchers have shown that a honeycomb pattern of nano-sized magnets introduces competition between neighboring magnets and reduces the problems caused by these interactions by 66 percent. The researchers also found that large arrays of these nano-magnets can be used to store computable information. The research suggests that a cluster of many magnetic domains could be able to solve a complex computational problem in a single calculation. "Our philosophy is to harness the magnetic interactions, making them work in our favor," says Imperial College London researcher Will Branford. Previous studies have shown that external magnetic fields can cause the magnetic domain of each bar to ichange state, which affects the interaction between that bar and its two neighboring bars in the honeycomb. It is this pattern of magnetic states that could be computer data, according to Branford. "This is something we can take advantage of to compute complex problems because many different outcomes are possible, and we can differentiate between them electronically," he says.

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Blog: Engineers Rebuild HTTP as a Faster Web Foundation

Engineers Rebuild HTTP as a Faster Web Foundation
CNet (03/30/12) Stephen Shankland

At the recent meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, the working group overseeing the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) formally opened a discussion about how to make the technology faster. The discussion included Google's SPDY technology and Microsoft's HTTP Speed+Mobility technology. Google's system prefers a required encryption, while Microsoft's preference is for it to be optional. Despite this and other subtle differences, there are many similarities between the two systems. "There's a lot of overlap [because] there's a lot of agreement about what needs to be fixed," says Greenbytes' Julian Reschke. SPDY already is built into Google Chrome and Amazon Silk, and Firefox is planning on adopting it soon. In addition, Google, Amazon, and Twitter are using SPDY on their servers. "If we do choose SPDY as a starting point, that doesn't mean it won't change," says HTTP Working Group chairman Mark Nottingham. SPDY's technology is based on sending multiple streams of data over a single network connection. SPDY also can assign high or low priorities to Web page resources being requested from a server. One difference between the Google and Microsoft proposals is in syntax, but SPDY developers are flexible on the choice of compression technology, says SPDY co-creator Mike Belshe.

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Blog: Sanjeev Arora Named Winner of 2011 ACM-Infosys Award

Sanjeev Arora Named Winner of 2011 ACM-Infosys Award
CCC Blog (03/30/12) Erwin Gianchandani

Princeton University professor Sanjeev Arora has received the 2011 ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in Computing Sciences for his contributions to computational complexity, algorithms, and optimization. "Arora’s research revolutionized the approach to essentially unsolvable problems that have long bedeviled the computing field, the so-called NP-complete problems," according to an ACM-Infosys press release. Arora is an ACM Fellow and won the Gödel Prize in 2001 and 2010, as well as the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 1995. Arora also is the founding director of Princeton's Center for Computational Intractability, which addresses the phenomenon that many problems seem inherently impossible to solve on currently computational models. "With his new tools and techniques, Arora has developed a fundamentally new way of thinking about how to solve problems,” says ACM President Alain Chesnais. “In particular, his work on the PCP theorem is considered the most important development in computational complexity theory in the last 30 years. He also perceived the practical applications of his work, which has moved computational theory into the realm of real world uses.” The ACM-Infosys Foundation Award recognizes personal contributions by young scientists and system developers to a contemporary innovation and includes a $175,000 prize.

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Blog: Google Launches Go Programming Language 1.0

Google Launches Go Programming Language 1.0
eWeek (03/28/12) Darryl K. Taft

Google has released version 1.0 of its Go programming language, which was initially introduced as an experimental language in 2009. Google has described Go as an attempt to combine the development speed of working in a dynamic language such as Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language such as C or C++. "We're announcing Go version 1, or Go 1 for short, which defines a language and a set of core libraries to provide a stable foundation for creating reliable products, projects, and publications," says Google's Andrew Gerrand. He notes that Go 1 is the first release of Go that is available in supported binary distribution, identifying Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Windows. Stability for users was the driving motivation for Go 1, and much of the work needed to bring programs up to the Go 1 standard can be automated with the go fix tool. A complete list of changes to the language and the standard library, documented in the Go 1 release notes, will be an essential reference for programmers who are migrating code from earlier versions of Go. There also is a new release of the Google App Engine SDK.

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Blog: Algorithm Spells the End for Professional Musical Instrument Tuners

Algorithm Spells the End for Professional Musical Instrument Tuners
Technology Review (03/27/12)

University of Wurzburg researcher Hay Hinrichsen says he has developed an algorithm that makes it possible for electronic tuners to match the performance of the best human tuners. Hinrichsen's algorithm involves a process known as entropy minimization. First, Hinrichsen uses the equal temperament method and then divides the audio spectrum with a resolution that matches the human ear. The method then measures the entropy in the system and applies a small random change to the frequency of a note and measures the entropy again. Hinrichsen says the algorithm is comparable to the work of a professional tuner. He notes that the software can be added to the features of relatively inexpensive electronic tuners. "The implementation of the method is very easy," Hinrichsen says.

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Blog: Google Working on Advanced Web Engineering

Google Working on Advanced Web Engineering
InfoWorld (03/27/12) Joab Jackson

Google is developing several advanced programming technologies to ease complex Web application development. "We're getting to the place where the Web is turning into a runtime integration platform for real components," says Google researcher Alex Russell. He says one major shortcoming of the Web is that technologies do not have a common component model, which slows code testing and reuse. Google wants to introduce low-level control elements without making the Web stack more confusing for novices. Google's efforts include creating a unified component model, adding classes to JavaScript, and creating a new language for Web applications. By developing a unified component model for Web technologies, Google is setting the stage for developers to "create new instances of an element and do things with it," Russell says. Google engineers also are developing a proposal to add classes to the next version of JavaScript. "We're getting to the place where we're adding shared language for things we're already doing in the platform itself," Russell says. Google also is developing a new language called Dart, which aims to provide an easy way to create small Web applications while providing the support for large, complex applications as well, says Google's Dan Rubel.

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Blog: Robots to Organise Themselves Like a Swarm of Insects

Robots to Organise Themselves Like a Swarm of Insects
The Engineer (United Kingdom) (03/26/12)

A swarm of insects is the inspiration for a warehouse transport system that makes use of autonomous robotic vehicles. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) have developed autonomous Multishuttle Moves vehicles to organize themselves like insects. The team is testing 50 shuttles at a replica warehouse. When an order is received, the shuttles communicate with one another via a wireless Internet connection and the closest free vehicle takes over and completes the task. "We rely on agent-based software and use ant algorithms based on the work of [swarm robotics expert] Marco Dorigo," says IML's Thomas Albrecht. The vehicles move around using a hybrid sensor concept based on radio signals, distance and acceleration sensors, and laser sensors to calculate the shortest route to any destination and avoid collisions. Albrecht says the system is more flexible and scalable because it can be easily adapted for smaller or larger areas based on changes in demand. "In the future, transport systems should be able to perform all of these tasks autonomously, from removal from storage at the shelf to delivery to a picking station," says IML professor Michael ten Hompel.

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Blog: Computer Model of Spread of Dementia Can Predict Future Disease Patterns Years Before They Occur in a Patient

Computer Model of Spread of Dementia Can Predict Future Disease Patterns Years Before They Occur in a Patient
Cornell News (03/21/12) Richard Pietzak

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have developed software that tracks the manner in which different forms of dementia spread within a human brain. The model can be used to predict where and when a person's brain will suffer from the spread of toxic proteins, a process that underlies all forms of dementia. The findings could help patients and their families confirm a diagnosis of dementia and prepare in advance for future cognitive declines over time. "Our model, when applied to the baseline magnetic resonance imaging scan of an individual brain, can similarly produce a future map of degeneration in that person over the next few years or decades," says Cornell's Ashish Raj. The computational model validates the idea that dementia is caused by proteins that spread through the brain along networks of neurons. Raj says the program models the same process by which any gas diffuses in air, except that in the case of dementia, the diffusion process occurs along connected neural fiber tracts in the brain. "While the classic patterns of dementia are well known, this is the first model to relate brain network properties to the patterns and explain them in a deterministic and predictive manner," he says.

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Blog: 'Big Data' Emerges as Key Theme at South by Southwest Interactive

‘Big Data' Emerges as Key Theme at South by Southwest Interactive
Chronicle of Higher Education (03/15/12) Jeffrey R. Young

Several panels and speakers at this year's South By Southwest Interactive festival discussed the growing ability to use data-mining techniques to analyze big data to shape political campaigns, advertising, and education. For example, panelist and Microsoft researcher Jaron Lannier says companies that rely on selling information about their users' behavior to advertisers should find a way to compensate people for their posts. A panel on education discussed the potential ability of Twitter and Facebook to better connect with students and detect signs that that students might be struggling with certain subjects. "We need to be looking at engagement in this new spectrum, and we haven't," says South Dakota State University social-media researcher Greg Heiberger. Some panels examined the role of big data in the latest presidential campaigns. Although recent presidential campaigns have focused on demographic subgroups, future campaigns may design their messages even more narrowly. "They’re actually going to try targeting groups of individuals so that political campaigns become about data mining" rather than any kind of broad policy message, says University of Texas at Dallas professor David Parry.

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Blog: ACM Awards Judea Pearl the Turing Award for Work on Artificial Intelligence

ACM Awards Judea Pearl the Turing Award for Work on Artificial Intelligence
PC Magazine (03/15/12) Michael J. Miller

ACM announced that University of California, Los Angeles professor Judea Pearl is this year's winner of the A.M. Turing Award for his work on artificial intelligence. The award, considered the highest honor in computer science, recognizes Pearl for devising a framework for reasoning with imperfect data that has changed the strategy for real-world problem solving. ACM executive director John White says Pearl was singled out for work that "was instrumental in moving machine-based reasoning from the rules-bound expert systems of the 1980s to a calculus that incorporates uncertainty and probabilistic models." Pearl worked out techniques for attempting to reach the best conclusion, even when there is a level of uncertainty. Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf says Pearl's research "is applicable to an extremely wide range of applications in which only partial information is available to draw upon to reach conclusions." He also says the successful business models of companies that search the Internet owe a debt to Pearl's work. Pearl generated the framework for Bayesian networks, which provides a compact method for representing probability distributions. This framework has played a substantial role in reshaping approaches to machine learning, which currently has a heavy reliance on probabilistic and statistical inference, and which underlies most recognition, fault diagnosis, and machine-translation systems.

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Blog: Mario Is Hard, and That's Mathematically Official

Mario Is Hard, and That's Mathematically Official
New Scientist (03/14/12) Jacob Aron

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers recently analyzed the computational complexity of video games and found that many of them belong to a class of mathematical problems called NP-hard. The implication is that for a given game level, it can be very tough to determine whether it is possible for a player to reach the end. The results suggest that some hard problems could be solved by playing a game. The researchers, led by MIT's Erik Demaine, converted each game into a Boolean satisfiability problem, which asks whether the variables in a collection of logical statements can be chosen to make all the statements true, or whether the statements inevitably contradict each other. For each game, the team built sections of a level that force players to choose one of two paths, which are equal to assigning variables in the Boolean satisfiability problem. If they permit the completion of a level, that is equivalent to all of the statements in the Boolean problem being true. However, if they make completion impossible, it is equal to a contradiction. Many of the games proved to be NP-hard, which means that deciding whether a player can complete them is at least as difficult as the hardest problems in NP.

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Blog: Researchers Send 'Wireless' Message Using Elusive Particles

Researchers Send 'Wireless' Message Using Elusive Particles
University of Rochester News (03/14/12) Peter Iglinski

Researchers at the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University (NCSU) say they have sent a message using a beam of neutrinos. "Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," says NCSU professor Dan Stancil. Technology that uses neutrinos to send messages enables them to penetrate almost any material they encounter. The researchers used one of the world's most powerful particle accelerators and MINERvA, a multi-ton detector located 100 miles underground. The researchers note that significant work still needs to be done before the technology can be incorporated into a readily usable form. The message was translated into binary code, with the 1's corresponding to a group of neutrinos being fired and the 0's corresponding to no neutrinos being fired. The neutrinos were fired in large groups because they are so evasive that only about one in 10 billion neutrinos are detected. "Neutrinos have been an amazing tool to help us learn about the workings of both the nucleus and the universe, but neutrino communication has a long way to go before it will be as effective," says MINERvA's Deborah Harris.

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Blog: Hopkins Researchers Aim to Uncover Which Mobile Health Applications Work

Hopkins Researchers Aim to Uncover Which Mobile Health Applications Work
Baltimore Sun (03/14/12) Meredith Cohn

Johns Hopkins University has 49 mobile health studies underway around the world as part of its Global mHealth Initiative. The initiative aims to evaluate which mobile strategies can aid doctors, community health workers, and consumers in ways equal to traditional methods. Pew Internet & American Life Project's Susannah Fox notes that more than 80 percent of Internet users have looked online for health information. Many of the 40,000 applications already available have practical purposes, such as helping patients adhere to drug regimens, helping people change harmful behaviors, and aiding in weight loss through texts about specific goals and behaviors. There also are pill bottles that send text messages when a person forgets to take their medicine. Meanwhile, mHealth researchers have developed software to help educate medical students, doctors, and other workers about how to care for burn victims. The researchers also have developed apps to train health workers caring for those with HIV and AIDS and to screen and support victims of domestic abuse. "What they all have in common is they increase how often individuals think about their health," says mHealth director Alain B. Labrique. "There is evidence that suggests some apps can have an impact."

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Blog: Scientists Tap the Genius of Babies and Youngsters to Make Computers Smarter

Scientists Tap the Genius of Babies and Youngsters to Make Computers Smarter
UC Berkeley News Center (03/12/12) Yasmin Anwar

University of California, Berkeley researchers are studying how babies, toddlers, and preschoolers learn in order to program computers to think more like humans. The researchers say computational models based on the brainpower of young children could give a major boost to artificial intelligence research. "Children are the greatest learning machines in the universe," says Berkeley's Alison Gopnik. "Imagine if computers could learn as much and as quickly as they do." The researchers have found that children test hypotheses, detect statistical patterns, and form conclusions while constantly adapting to changes. “Young children are capable of solving problems that still pose a challenge for computers, such as learning languages and figuring out causal relationships,” says Berkeley's Tom Griffiths. The researchers say computers programmed with children's cognitive abilities could interact more intelligently and responsively with humans in applications such as computer tutoring programs and phone-answering robots. They are planning to launch a multidisciplinary center at the campus' Institute of Human Development to pursue their research. The researchers note that the exploratory and probabilistic reasoning demonstrated by young children could make computers smarter and more adaptable.

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Blog: W3C CEO Calls HTML5 as Transformative as Early Web

W3C CEO Calls HTML5 as Transformative as Early Web
Computerworld Canada (03/06/12) Shane Schick

World Wide Web Consortium CEO Jeff Jaffe says HTML5 will be among the most disruptive elements to hit organizations since the early days of the Internet. "We’re about to experience a generational change in Web technology, and just as the Web transformed every business, [HTML5] will lead to another transformation," Jaffe says. HTML5 features cross-browser capability, improved data integration, and a better way of handling video. Jaffe says HTML5 makes Web pages "more beautiful [and] intelligent," and also provides for improved accessibility for disabled users. “It won’t really be a standard until 2014, but in the Web ecosystem, nobody waits,” he says. “They’ll make minor adjustments once the standard is done.” For example, TeamLab recently launched the TeamLab Document Editor, an online word processing program. Document Editor uses Canvas, a part of HTML5 that allows for dynamic, scriptable rendering of two-dimensional shapes and bitmap images. Jaffe says HTML5 could benefit a range of industries, including retail, air travel, and the automotive industry.

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Blog: Simulations and Mathematics Suggest That There Always Be a Facebook

Simulations and Mathematics Suggest That There Always Be a Facebook
National Center for Nuclear Research (03/02/12)

National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) scientists are conducting research that could lead to the development of a field of mathematics focused on the theory of minority games. Minority games can be used to model social behavior patterns and reactions to financial markets, to optimize utilization of power distribution networks, and to analyze and manage road traffic. "Results obtained in many computer simulations done by us are not just interesting; we have also found some analytical expression to describe them," says NCBJ professor Wojciech Wislicki. Contrary to classical games, in minority games players do not know everything about the game and are reasoning inductively on the basis of their experience, a situation that more closely resembles reality. "The rules seem simple, but behavior of many agents governed by the rules exhibits very complex dynamics," notes NCBJ researcher Karol Wawrzyniak. The researchers also demonstrated how to use minority games theory to forecast winning moves by investigating the dependency of forecast accuracy on the number of participating players. They say groups in which players have transferred their individual strategies to one leader achieve the largest success.

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