arc

Submit a Research Needs Statement about transportation and pandemics

As all aspects of transportation deal with the unfolding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are research needs, gaps, and potential ways to leverage innovation revealing themselves across all modes, systems, and disciplines in transportation. In keeping with the mission of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide trusted, timely, impartial, and evidence-based information exchange and research, TRB is issuing an urgent and directed call for Research Needs Statements sp...




arc

Bridging Transportation Researchers Online Conference: Papers due May 15*

The University of Texas at Austin is hosting Bridging Transportation Researchers (BTR) Online Conference  on August 11-12, 2020. TRB is pleased to cosponsor this event. This zero-carbon, zero-cost conference will host multiple Zoom-based tracks to virtually and globally unite transportation engineers, planners, and policymakers to discuss a wide range of transportation research topics and results, including: Multi-modal transportation network and systems Travel demand forecasting, including connecte...




arc

TR News 326: March-April 2020 table of contents now online

The March-April 2020 issue of TR News (#326) - including a cover feature on TRB's "century of progress and foundation for the future" of transportation research - is available in hard copy and digital copy for subscribers. For those who are not subscribers, the table of contents is available. Other feature articles in the issue include ones on whether research processes can keep up, accessible rail sleeper compartments, drones and lasers for railroad bridges, implications of California wildfires, and muc...




arc

Historická obec Čičmany: Světově proslulý architektonický skvost středního Slovenska

Pletení, to přece není práce pro chlapa, řeknete si. Ovšem ve slovenských Čičmanech (a vůbec v celé oblasti Horního Pováží) by mnozí nesouhlasili. Tady bývalo pletení ponožek z ovčí vlny výsostnou činností tamních bačů. V dnešní době je ovšem takový pletač nadmíru vzácný.




arc

Cosappzsearch.online Redirect

Cosappzsearch.online redirect removal instructions

What is cosappzsearch.online?

Cosappzsearch.online is a useless, fake search engine. As a rule, such search engines are promoted through potentially unwanted applications (PUAs), browser hijackers. Apps of this type promote fake search engines by changing certain browser's settings. It is common that they gather browsing data and/or other information as well. Quite often users download and install potentially unwanted apps unknowingly, accidentally.




arc

Ossearch.online Redirect

Ossearch.online redirect removal instructions

What is ossearch.online?

Ossearch.online is one of the many fake search engines that do not generate individual results. As a rule, their addresses are promoted through potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that are classified as browser hijackers. In most cases apps of this type are designed to promote some fake search engine by changing browser's settings and collect browsing-related (and/or other) information. Browser hijackers are categorized as PUAs because users often download and install them inadvertently.




arc

Pdfsearchhouse.com Redirect

Pdfsearchhouse.com redirect removal instructions

What is pdfsearchhouse.com?

Pdfsearchhouse.com is an address of a fake search engine which is promoted through a potentially unwanted application (PUA), a browser hijacker. Typically, fake search engines are promoted by changing certain browser's settings. Additionally, apps of this type often are designed to collect various information related to user's browsing activities. Browser hijackers are categorized as PUAs because in most cases users download and install them unintentionally.




arc

CapitaSearch Browser Hijacker

CapitaSearch browser hijacker removal instructions

What is CapitaSearch?

CapitaSearch is a piece of software, classified as a browser hijacker. Following successful infiltration, it modifies browser settings in order to promote search.capita.space - a fake search engine. Additionally, CapitaSearch adds the "Managed by your organization" feature to Google Chrome browsers. Most browser hijackers spy on browsing activity. Since most users download/install CapitaSearch unintentionally, it is also considered to be a PUA (Potentially Unwanted Application). One of the dubious methods used to distribute CapitaSearch is via illegal software activation ("cracking") tools. It is noteworthy that these tools are often used to proliferate malicious content as well (e.g. ransomware, trojans and other malware).




arc

UB chemist awarded $2 million NIH grant for enzyme research

A University at Buffalo-led research team is studying the details of how enzymes perform their job. The focus of the project is on understanding the molecular interactions that enable enzymes to accelerate chemical reactions.




arc

Scientists Find Record Warm Water in Antarctica, Pointing to Cause Behind Troubling Glacier Melt

A team of scientists has observed, for the first time, the presence of warm water at a vital point underneath a glacier in Antarctica--an alarming discovery that points to the cause behind the gradual melting of this ice shelf while also raising concerns about sea-level rise around the globe.




arc

Smaller Detection Device Effective for Nuclear Treaty Verification, Archaeology Digs

Most nuclear data measurements are performed at accelerators large enough to occupy a geologic formation a kilometer wide. But a portable device that can reveal the composition of materials quickly on-site would greatly benefit cases such as in archaeology and nuclear arms treaty verification. Research published this week in AIP Advances used computational simulations to show that with the right geometric adjustments, it is possible to perform accurate neutron resonance transmission analysis in a device just 5 meters long.




arc

Harrisburg University Researchers Claim Their 'Unbiased' Facial Recognition Software Can Identify Potential Criminals

Given all we know about facial recognition tech, it is literally jaw-dropping that anyone could make this claim… especially without being vetted independently.

A group of Harrisburg University professors and a PhD student have developed an automated computer facial recognition software capable of predicting whether someone is likely to be a criminal.

The software is able to predict if someone is a criminal with 80% accuracy and with no racial bias. The prediction is calculated solely based on a picture of their face.

There's a whole lot of "what even the fuck" in CBS 21's reprint of a press release, but let's start with the claim about "no racial bias." That's a lot to swallow when the underlying research hasn't been released yet. Let's see what the National Institute of Standards and Technology has to say on the subject. This is the result of the NIST's examination of 189 facial recognition AI programs -- all far more established than whatever it is Harrisburg researchers have cooked up.

Asian and African American people were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men, depending on the particular algorithm and type of search. Native Americans had the highest false-positive rate of all ethnicities, according to the study, which found that systems varied widely in their accuracy.

The faces of African American women were falsely identified more often in the kinds of searches used by police investigators where an image is compared to thousands or millions of others in hopes of identifying a suspect.

Why is this acceptable? The report inadvertently supplies the answer:

Middle-aged white men generally benefited from the highest accuracy rates.

Yep. And guess who's making laws or running police departments or marketing AI to cops or telling people on Twitter not to break the law or etc. etc. etc.

To craft a terrible pun, the researchers' claim of "no racial bias" is absurd on its face. Per se stupid af to use legal terminology.

Moving on from that, there's the 80% accuracy, which is apparently good enough since it will only threaten the life and liberty of 20% of the people it's inflicted on. I guess if it's the FBI's gold standard, it's good enough for everyone.

Maybe this is just bad reporting. Maybe something got copy-pasted wrong from the spammed press release. Let's go to the source… one that somehow still doesn't include a link to any underlying research documents.

What does any of this mean? Are we ready to embrace a bit of pre-crime eugenics? Or is this just the most hamfisted phrasing Harrisburg researchers could come up with?

A group of Harrisburg University professors and a Ph.D. student have developed automated computer facial recognition software capable of predicting whether someone is likely going to be a criminal.

The most charitable interpretation of this statement is that the wrong-20%-of-the-time AI is going to be applied to the super-sketchy "predictive policing" field. Predictive policing -- a theory that says it's ok to treat people like criminals if they live and work in an area where criminals live -- is its own biased mess, relying on garbage data generated by biased policing to turn racist policing into an AI-blessed "work smarter not harder" LEO equivalent.

The question about "likely" is answered in the next paragraph, somewhat assuring readers the AI won't be applied to ultrasound images.

With 80 percent accuracy and with no racial bias, the software can predict if someone is a criminal based solely on a picture of their face. The software is intended to help law enforcement prevent crime.

There's a big difference between "going to be" and "is," and researchers using actual science should know better than to use both phrases to describe their AI efforts. One means scanning someone's face to determine whether they might eventually engage in criminal acts. The other means matching faces to images of known criminals. They are far from interchangeable terms.

If you think the above quotes are, at best, disjointed, brace yourself for this jargon-fest which clarifies nothing and suggests the AI itself wrote the pullquote:

“We already know machine learning techniques can outperform humans on a variety of tasks related to facial recognition and emotion detection,” Sadeghian said. “This research indicates just how powerful these tools are by showing they can extract minute features in an image that are highly predictive of criminality.”

"Minute features in an image that are highly predictive of criminality." And what, pray tell, are those "minute features?" Skin tone? "I AM A CRIMINAL IN THE MAKING" forehead tattoos? Bullshit on top of bullshit? Come on. This is word salad, but a salad pretending to be a law enforcement tool with actual utility. Nothing about this suggests Harrisburg has come up with anything better than the shitty "tools" already being inflicted on us by law enforcement's early adopters.

I wish we could dig deeper into this but we'll all have to wait until this excitable group of clueless researchers decide to publish their findings. According to this site, the research is being sealed inside a "research book," which means it will take a lot of money to actually prove this isn't any better than anything that's been offered before. This could be the next Clearview, but we won't know if it is until the research is published. If we're lucky, it will be before Harrisburg patents this awful product and starts selling it to all and sundry. Don't hold your breath.




arc

GitHub Codespaces: VS Code was 'designed from the get-go' for this, says Microsoft architect

A compelling addition to repo house – but is the Redmond flavour too strong?

GitHub had a lot to say about its plans at its virtual Satellite event yesterday, but the most far-reaching was the advent of Codespaces, the ability to edit code online, integrated into the GitHub user interface.…




arc

NJBP Concert Archives I ~ANCIENT FESTIVAL~

-Album Details- Title: NJBP Concert Archives I ~ANCIENT FESTIVAL~ Publisher: SuperSweep Catalog Number: SRVD-5001 Release Date: July 6th, 2019 Ripped by: Razakin -Info- Recording of the New Japan BGM Philharmonic Orchestra’s Ancient Festival concert, which was full of Yuzo Koshiro goodness from the Scheme to Streets of Rage and Etrian Odyssey, and as a main […]




arc

Review of The Simpsons (Arcade)

A review by Medio DeCritici (165). What I Can Remember - 90s Arcade & The Simpsons (Arcade, 1991)




arc

Featured - What is the biggest difference between academic research and industrial research?

I would like to thank AGreenMonster for these great questions for discussion. I am going to answer these from my perspective, which is from a life science company. I welcome anyone to give their feedback as well. In fact, if any of the readers out there feels like they have a lot to share, I would be happy to host your article on my blog so that you may provide more details. Just drop me a line.Hi; (read more)

Source: Suzy - Discipline: BioTech




arc

Featured - How Products are Born: What exactly is going on in research and development anyway?

OK, let’s pick up our discussion where we left off last week, at feasibility.  You did it. You successfully convinced a room full of vice presidents and directors, or maybe even the CEO that they should take your fabulous product idea to the next level.  You’ve got marketing on board, excited to promote it and now it’s time for the work to begin.You are the lead scientist s; (read more)

Source: Suzy - Discipline: BioTech





arc

Apple Arcade's Latest Game Combines Turn-Based RPG With Strategy Board Game

The Label's "The_Otherside" is this week's addition to Apple Arcade on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. The game is described as both a turn-based RPG and a strategy board game:

Otherside is a turn based RPG and strategy board game where you will control four survivors who hope to push back the shadowy threat. Make your way through each level solving puzzles, fighting monsters, and destroying the spirit anchors that threaten our dimension.

Do you have what it takes to restore the town back to normal and save the day?
"The_Otherside" is available on the App Store with an Apple Arcade subscription. The service provides iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac users with access to over 100 games with no in-app purchases or ads for $4.99 per month.
This article, "Apple Arcade's Latest Game Combines Turn-Based RPG With Strategy Board Game" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums







arc

Is the DNC Afraid of Democracy? Clinton WH Counselor Says Party a “Dead Carcass” for Stifling Debate

"This is supposed to be a political party. In a healthy society, there would be a democratic process in the Democratic Party, by which elected people would be overseeing these issues by making sure there wasn’t just nepotism and insider dealing," Curry says. "That the political party itself — which is supposed to be the progressive party — has become mortgaged to a small group of Washington insiders, who raise money from large corporate PACs, [and] has become just a dead carcass of what it once was, is the most important piece of information that this contretemps over the data files has emphasized. It’s time for progressives in this country to stand up and demand a genuinely democratic process." Continue reading




arc

Linkdump: March 2020

Dial Indicator Clock Anatomy of a rental phishing scam The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever Recipe Fixie Clock with OLED based “fake NIXIE” tubes The placebo effect and veterinary care Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600s A list of projects that took an exceptionally long time Trash Amps: Nifty DIY speaker and guitar amp … Continue reading Linkdump: March 2020




arc

IBM Research Opens in South Africa; Cognitive Computing and the IoT help Track Diseases and Forecast Air Quality

IBM Research today opened its second research location on the African continent and announced several new project collaborations in the areas of data driven healthcare, digital urban ecosystems and astronomy.




arc

IBM and Citizen-Scientists Poised to Contribute Equivalent of up to $200 Million for Climate & Environmental Research

As climate change accelerates, IBM is galvanizing the global science community with a massive infusion of computing resources, weather data, and cloud services to help researchers examine the effects of climate change, and explore strategies to mitigate its effects. IBM pledges to help direct the equivalent of up to $200 million for up to five climate-related projects judged to offer the greatest potential impact, and will then broadly share the experiments' results.




arc

IBM & Apple Expand Partnership to Help Transform Medical Research

IBM today announced its Health Cloud and Watson cognitive computing capabilities will support health data entered by customers in iOS apps using Apple's ResearchKit and HealthKit frameworks. The move, which complements IBM’s new Watson Health business unit, will arm medical researchers with a secure, open data storage solution, as well as access to IBM’s most sophisticated data analytics capabilities.




arc

Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM Research Collaborative Campus at Hartree Centre Receives Royal Seal of Approval

Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM today announced the opening of a new building for the collaborative research facility at The Hartree Centre in Daresbury. The building, opened by the Duke of York, is the latest evolution of the long-running collaboration between Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM.




arc

IBM Research and UC San Diego Collaborate to Advance the Use of Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living

IBM and the University of California San Diego have announced a multi-year project to enhance quality of life and independence for aging populations through the new Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center (AIHL), located on the campus of UC San Diego. The groundbreaking center will bring together the technology, artificial intelligence and life sciences knowledge of IBM and UC San Diego to promote critical research and applications in two thematic areas: Healthy Aging and the Human Microbiome.




arc

IBM Announces Collaboration with Leading Fortune 500 Companies, Academic Institutions and National Research Labs to Accelerate Quantum Computing

IBM today announced the first clients to tap into its IBM Q™ early-access commercial quantum computing systems to explore practical applications important to business and science. They include: JPMorgan Chase, Daimler AG, Samsung, JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oxford University and University of Melbourne.




arc

IBM and MIT to Pursue Joint Research in Artificial Intelligence, Establish New MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab

IBM and MIT today announced that IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT. The lab will carry out fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI. The collaboration aims to advance AI hardware, software and algorithms related to deep learning and other areas, increase AI’s impact on industries, such as health care and cybersecurity, and explore the economic and ethical implications of AI on society. IBM’s $240 million investment in the lab will support research by IBM and MIT scientists.



  • Healthcare and Life Sciences

arc

Weed Hoax Architecture

[Image: Weeds, via Wikipedia.] This story, from July 1988, feels unexpectedly timely today, given our new era of experimental sci-fi building materials, from mushroom bricks to translucent wood. “Two brothers were convicted by a federal jury Thursday on charges that they organized an elaborate hoax in which they duped investors of $3 million with claims … Continue reading "Weed Hoax Architecture"




arc

IBM to Invest $100 Million in Mobile Communication Research

IBM today announced it plans to shift $100 million investment over the next five years into a major Research effort which aims to advance mobile services and capabilities for businesses and consumers worldwide.




arc

IBM Increases University of Canterbury’s Research Capability with Supercomputer Upgrade

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today it will upgrade the University of Canterbury’s BlueFern High Performance Computing (HPC) facility, enhancing its ability to deliver quality science and technology outcomes and significantly increasing New Zealand’s research capacity.




arc

IBM Completes Software Research Project for the Square Kilometre Array Global Telescope

IBM has successfully prototyped a new software architecture for automating data management, potentially making it easier for researchers to collect usable information from mega-scale data collection projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) global telescope which aims to address unanswered questions about our universe.




arc

IBM redefine relación cliente-marca con Watson

IBM (NYSE: IBM) dio a conocer las más recientes novedades de su sistema de computación cognitiva Watson, aplicado al comercio, el marketing y la cadena de suministro, con el objetivo de crear una experiencia única para los consumidores, en el marco de IBM Amplify en Las Vegas (Estados Unidos), evento al que se dieron cita más de 3.000 personas.




arc

Hot Sale: el desafío es de las marcas

IBM reveló los resultados de un estudio global sobre las experiencias digitales de los consumidores en donde el interés de las marcas por ofrecer experiencias únicas, la adopción de lo digital de acuerdo con la edad y disparidad entre lo que los ejecutivos de las marcas piensan y lo que realmente los clientes quieren, fueron algunos de los hallazgos.




arc

IBM Helps NeSI Make Supercomputers More Widely Available for Research

IBM has provided extra high performance computing (HPC) capacity to the Universities of Auckland and Otago within a new collaboration called the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) that makes large-scale scientific computing more widely available to New Zealand researchers.




arc

IBM announces two new partnerships with MoleMap New Zealand and Melanoma Institute Australia to advance research in melanoma identification

IBM Research has announced a research agreement with MoleMap New Zealand to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. It builds on planned research with Melanoma Institute Australia. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma. The New Zealand and Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.




arc

IBM'S World Community Grid Unveils Research Projects on Three Continents to Improve Water Quality

IBM's World Community Grid, a worldwide network of PC owners helping scientists solve humanitarian challenges, today announced several computing projects aimed at developing techniques to produce cleaner and safer water, an increasingly scarce commodity eluding at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.



  • Energy & Utilities

arc

Lignes de Nazca et Intelligence Artificielle : IBM découvre des indices de taille pour résoudre un des plus anciens mystères archéologiques

Cette semaine, des chercheurs d’IBM Research et de l’Université de Yamagata au Japon ont annoncé leur collaboration pour utiliser l’IA d’IBM, couplée à des algorithmes de machine learning et des données géospatiales, afin d’en découvrir davantage à propos de ces mystérieux anciens géoglyphes. Grâce à IBM Power Systems, ce partenariat a déjà abouti à la découverte d’un nouveau géoglyphe à figure humaine avec trois éléments décoratifs sur la tête, le premier grâce à l’IA.




arc

IBM brings technology expertise to Australia’s first Smart Transport Research Centre

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has partnered with academia, government and industry to launch the Smart Transport Research Centre (STRC) based at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which is being opened today by the Minister for Transport, the honourable Annastacia Palasczuk. IBM will contribute its global consulting expertise and technology in developing smarter traffic solutions to help make Australia’s transportation infrastructure smarter, improve commuter experiences and reduce environmental impact.



  • Travel & Transportation

arc

IBM Research and Thiess Use Data ‘Vital Signs’ to Predict Mining Equipment Health and Drive Business Performance

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new collaboration with Thiess, one of the world’s largest contract miners, to use Big Data to improve machine availability and operational productivity utilizing predictive analytics and modeling technologies. This initial collaboration focuses on Thiess’ Mining haul trucks and excavators, and will help unify asset management and business operations.




arc

IBM Research Announces Breakthrough in Protecting Personal Data using the Cloud

Today on Data Privacy Day, IBM is announcing an innovative cloud-based technology for developers to help consumers better protect their personal data online such as their date of birth, home address and credit card numbers. As cybersecurity threats and identity theft continue to threaten both consumers and businesses, IBM scientists have been developing a clever cryptographic algorithm which enables transactions to occur without involuntarily sharing any personal data.




arc

IBM announces two new partnerships with Melanoma Institute Australia and MoleMap to advance research in melanoma identification

IBM Research in Australia has announced plans to undertake research with Melanoma Institute Australia to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. This planned research builds on IBM’s existing research agreement with Molemap, which uses advanced visual analytics to analyse more than 40,000 data sets including images and text. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma1. The Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.




arc

IBM Research is training Watson to identify eye retina abnormalities

Advancements in assistive image analytics and deep learning technology could in the future help doctors in the fight against preventable blindness.




arc

Foundation for Young Australians builds smarter research with IBM

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the Foundation for Young Australians has successfully integrated IBM’s SPSS analytics platform into its research capabilities, resulting in significant boosts to the organisation’s reputation as a national leader in its field.




arc

Australian Research Report Shows Global Expansion Main Driver for Business Process Outsourcing

IBM Australia (NYSE: IBM) and The Sauce, today published the first Australian BPO Report 2012 (ABPO Report), which investigates the current state of business process outsourcing in Australia and points to future trends. Global expansion is seen to be the key driver and benefit of outsourcing decisions amongst 71 percent of organisations surveyed. The report also showed significant anticipated growth in business process outsourcing activity among large organisations with between 1,000 to 5,000 employees (this constituted one-third of all respondents). This group of Australian organisations is expecting an increase of 20 percent over the next two years.



  • Services and solutions

arc

IBM appoints Professor Iven Mareels as new Lab Director of IBM Research-Australia

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the appointment of Professor Iven Mareels as Lab Director of IBM Research-Australia.




arc

20aliens: Home of Architect Colin St. John Wilson, Cambridge,...



20aliens:

Home of Architect Colin St. John Wilson, Cambridge, England 1972.