Mount Desert Island Bio Lab unveils database
The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory has publicly released a prototype of the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD: http://ctd.mdibl.org). CTD aims to advance understanding about the impact of environmental chemicals on human health. It is the first database to provide centralized, integrated, and curated molecular and toxicology data from diverse organisms for scientists worldwide.
“It is becoming increasingly well a
Correcting for a time lag built into current Global Positioning System satellites can significantly enhance the accuracy of highly detailed GPS observations that are increasingly used to study Earth systems. Choi et al. report that existing satellite techniques often slightly misjudge the location of ground changes, such as seismic activity, ice sheet flow, and volcanic deformation, because researchers used the wrong time delay in the GPS satellites. The authors show that the orbit period
Penn State engineers have developed a new model for high-speed broadband transmissions over U.S. overhead electric power lines and estimate that, at full data rate handling capacity, the lines can provide bit rates that far exceed DSL or cable over similar spans. Dr. Mohsen Kavehrad, the W. L. Weiss professor of electrical engineering and director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research, led the investigation. He says, “Although broadband power line (BPL) service tri
A quiet revolution is coming our way. Recent successful trials of European semantic-Web applications suggest that machine-readable data will soon usher in an improved Web that will facilitate information reuse, and provide for painless building and maintenance of community portals.
“Computers struggle to attach meaning to information written in common Web languages such as Hypertext Markup Language [HTML],” says Libby Miller, coordinator of the IST SWAD-Europe project. “One way to h
Amid concern over fuel costs, parking and air quality, it’s time to reconsider carpooling. The new system called Dynamic Carpool offers the pros of ride-sharing without the cons.
Now in use at Amsterdam’s Schiphol business park, the mobile-phone-based system links riders and drivers in a flexible, hassle-free manner.
“For the first time, we offer real-time matching of trip requests and offers in an ‘eBay’ manner,” says Antti Hannula, CEO for Ecolane. The system enables commuter
ESI Group released today, at the EuroPAM conference, PAM-STAMP 2G version 2004, a cost-efficient sheet-metal stamping simulation software, which offers web-based reporting tools and advanced parametric re-engineering capabilities. PAM-STAMP 2G includes PAM-DIEMAKER for fast design and optimization of binder surface and die-addendum, PAM-QUIKSTAMP for rapid stamping evaluation, and PAM-AUTOSTAMP for forming process validation as well as quality and tolerance control. Offering unmatched busin
An international project is developing new technology that can be installed into high altitude platforms – such as solar powered aircraft or airships – to make Broadband Internet access available to remote areas and moving trains.
With the help of 3.1 million euros from the EU’s Framework Programme, the CAPANINA project brings together 13 partners from across Europe and Japan and is named after the restaurant in Italy where initial discussions were held. It will develop the equipmen
Can robots learn to communicate by studying and imitating humans’ gestures? That’s what MIRROR’s researchers aimed to find out by studying how infants and monkeys learn complex acts such as grasping and transferring it to robots.
“Our main motivation for the project was to advance the understanding of how humans recognise and imitate gestures,” says Professor Giulio Sandini, coordinator of the three-year IST-funded project, MIRROR. “We did that by building an artificial system t
The universal open system technology has been developed by Russian researchers with support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE). The new technology will help to finally achieve mutual understanding between computers even if one of them thinks and speaks the Unix language and the other – the language of Windows.
Computers connected to a single network will soon be able to communicate easily with each other thanks
EUREKA project E! 2774 FACTORY WELDERS’ PASSPORT has created an online passport that enables skilled welders to move and work freely throughout Europe.
“The Factory Welders’ Passport is a harmonisation of EWF (European Welders Federation) skills and training certificates that allows for the accreditation of welding related personnel, wherever they work in Europe,” says Erik Engh, manager of the Norwegian lead partner, Quality Management Software AS. “It ensures that appropriate w
Secrets that zip across offices through wireless computing networks all too easily also zip through office windows into the hands of competitors – now researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a method of producing tunable surfaces that can selectively block signals from wireless networks from spilling out of the office.
Dr Christos Mias, in the University of Warwick’s School of Engineering has developed a “dipole grid based frequency–selective surface” (also known as an F
A group of researchers from the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at the Universitat Jaume I is taking part in a project to improve realism in video games. The goal is to design software that makes the task of game programmers easier so that they can create more credible environments without having to carry out complex operations. The research, which has received financial help of 1,649,000 euros from the European Commission and is to last for 33 months, involves 11 other members from
When looking for a needle in a haystack, it’s helpful to know what a needle looks like. A new software tool developed by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) makes it possible to find chemical ’needles’ in data ’haystacks’ without having to know anything about the ’needle’ in advance.
The NIST software should be especially useful for analyzing ultrapure metals–recently shown to have superior strength, corrosion-resistance and other properties–
The map is not the territory, runs the famous quote, but maps do represent an unparalleled tool for emergency management. Nobody knows this better than humanitarian organisations like Médecins Sans Frontières, whose work often occurs within territories without any usable maps whatsoever.
ESA has been working in partnership with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Belgium to remedy this. The result is the Medical Humanitarian Disaster Mapping Service (HUMAN). Since last year the servi
New CICS products enable customers to more easily integrate business processes and transform their existing applications IBM today announced the release of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V3.1 which provides an enhanced Web Services solution. Also announced is CICS Transaction Gateway V6, which provides a J2EE standards-based connectivity solution. Following on the heels of the 35th anniversary of CICS earlier this year, this announcement enables businesses to fully exploit the agilit
ILOG JRules Enables Customization and Business Process Control For Faster Business Response Times
ILOG® (NASDAQ: ILOG; Euronext: ILO, ISIN: FR0004042364) today announced that QAD, Inc., (NASDAQ: QADI), a leading provider of enterprise applications for global manufacturers, has selected ILOG JRules™, a key offering in ILOG’s Business Rule Management System (BRMS) product line, to help streamline and simplify the management of business-rules within MFG/PRO, QAD’s flagship ERP produc
Feedback
