E-commerce makes it possible for a customer to order a mix of books, CDs and videos which will be shipped within 48 hours. Increasing “B2C” (business-to-customer) e-commerce and other ordering methods requires a new mailing and packaging philosophy. The partners in EUREKA project E! 2550 MAILPACK have developed a new mail management and packaging system to meet this challenge.
“Currently such orders are fulfilled by hand, or semi-automatic systems,” explains Ad Linssen, Financial Manager at
NSF sensors activities in focus at AAAS annual meeting in Seattle
In the 1990s, the Internet connected us to a planet-wide web of information-all the zillions of bits that are stored in computer memories and hard drives. But now, thanks to an ongoing revolution in highly miniaturized, wirelessly networked sensors, the Internet is reaching out into the physical world, as well.
“We call it ’the Embedding of the Internet’,” says Deborah Estrin, who is a computer scien
Security mechanisms also must protect what goes out
Passwords to guard entry aren’t enough to protect complex data – security mechanisms also must protect what goes out
“Data can easily find itself in danger of being accessed by ’bad guys,’” says emeritus professor of computer science Gio Wiederhold, who will speak about trusted information databases Feb. 14 in Seattle at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). “Pa
Equipped with cutting-edge techniques to track the activity of tens of thousands of genes in a single experiment, biologists now face a new challenge – determining how to analyze this tidal wave of data. Stanford Associate Professor of Computer Science Daphne Koller and her colleagues have come to the rescue with a strategic approach that reduces the trial-and-error aspect of genetic sequence analysis.
’’What we’re developing is a suite of computational tools that take reams
In these days of heightened security and precautions, surveillance cameras watching over us as we cross darkened parking lots or looking over our shoulders at airports may seem reassuring, but they’re only of use if someone is watching them. Researchers at the University of Rochester’s computer science laboratories have found a way to give these cameras a rudimentary brain to keep an eye out for us, and the research is already been licensed to a Rochester company with an aim toward homeland security.
Semantic Web emerges as commercial-grade infrastructure for sharing data on the Web
Today, the World Wide Web Consortium announced final approval of two key Semantic Web technologies, the revised Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL). RDF and OWL are Semantic Web standards that provide a framework for asset management, enterprise integration and the sharing and reuse of data on the Web. These standard formats for data sharing span application, enterp
’Smart vivarium’ could enable better care of laboratory animals
Computer scientists and animal care experts at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have come up with a new way to automate the monitoring of mice and other animals in laboratory research. Combining cameras and distributed, non-invasive sensors with elements of computer vision, information technology and artificial intelligence, the Smart Vivarium project aims to enhance the quality of animal research, while at
The convergence of information and communication technologies into a national “cyberinfrastructure” is poised to revolutionize the environmental sciences and many other disciplines in the coming years, according to researchers presenting at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle. The two Feb. 13 sessions on cyberinfrastructure were organized by the heads of two National Science Foundation (NSF) directorates.
The speakers will describe a very near future in which computing capabilities will pr
Dartmouth researchers have developed an algorithm that might someday be used to analyze blood for diagnostic purposes. Using data from a mass spectrometer, a device that generates a molecular fingerprint of biological samples, the Dartmouth team’s calculations can distinguish healthy blood from diseased blood.
This study by Ryan Lilien, a Dartmouth M.D./Ph.D. student, Hany Farid, Assistant Professor of Computer Science , and Bruce Donald, the Foley Professor of Computer Science, appeare
Cornerstone to the W3C Speech Interface Framework is Nearly Complete
Giving voice to the Web, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published VoiceXML 2.0 as a W3C Proposed Recommendation. The goal of VoiceXML 2.0 is to bring the advantages of Web-based development and content delivery to interactive voice response applications.
Advancement of a W3C technical report to Proposed Recommendation indicates that the Working Group has successfully completed both public and W3C Wo
Determining the three-dimensional position of Mars Express in space with as much precision as possible, at a distance of 155 million kilometres away from Earth, is no simple business.
If the Solar System were shrunk down so that Earth was only the size of a soccer ball, then Mars Express would be a speck of dust floating well over two kilometres away!
ESA ground stations have kept track of the spacecraft’s range and velocity ever since launch.
By measuring the ‘Doppl
Scientists are finding a computer program called Elves to be a nearly magical solution to the tedious and time-consuming task of determining the 3-D shape of proteins – a major focus of cutting-edge proteomics today – from X-ray diffraction data.
According to Elves developer James Holton, who recently received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, researchers can unleash Elves on a set of X-ray diffraction data and go on to other things – or take a nap – while the computer
Since most criminals only strike when they aren’t being watched, reliable surveillance of homes and businesses is a round-the-clock job. A University of Rhode Island researcher has made that job considerably easier and less expensive, thanks to a new technology he developed that can automatically track moving objects in real time.
Using low-cost, commercially available hardware, the Automatic Image Motion Seeking (AIMS) camera follows a moving object and keeps the target at the center of the
What if a personal computer knew how its user is feeling?
That computer on your desk is just your helper. But soon it may become a very close friend. Now it sends your e-mails, links you to the Web, does your computations, and pays your bills. Soon it could warn you when you’re talking too much at a meeting, if scientists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Concepts Group have their way. Or it could alert others in your group to be attentive when you have something imp
Until recently, researchers and their assistants spent countless hours poring over seemingly endless volumes of journals and scientific literature for information pertinent to their studies in fields such as cancer, AIDS, pediatrics and cardiology.
But thanks to new software developed by bioinformatics researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, scientists can now easily identify obscure commonalities in research data and directly relate them to their studies, saving money and
Grid computing is one of the hot topics in distributed computing. Using a Grid of computers, located around the world, it is possible to carry out truly massive calculations. To achieve this requires a high level of interoperability between computer systems. Addressing this is IST project GRIP. Its system will be used to enable the European Weather services to share resources and allow applications the resources for which are beyond the capabilities of a single service.
Grid computing is o
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