Washington, February 29:
Spanish software developers have written a program that can process 30 images per second to read a person’s face in real time, and categorize them into six facial expressions—namely anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.
The new algorithm results from the efforts of collaborators from the Technical University of Madrid’s School of Computing (FIUPM) and the Rey Juan Carlos University.
The software’s makers say that it can be applied to video sequences in realistic situations, and even to identify the facial expression of a person seated in front of a computer screen.
They also say that, though their software is just a prototype, it is still capable of working on a desktop computer or even on a laptop.
For determining a person’s facial expression, the system monitors the user’s facial movements, and compares them with expressions captured from different people (333 sequences) from the Cohn-Kanade database.
The system’s success rate on the Cohn-Kanade database is 89%, and it can work under adverse conditions where ambient lighting, frontal facial movements or camera displacements produce major changes in facial appearance.
The makers of the software say that it may help advance human-computer interfaces by enabling the construction of avatars that really do simulate a person’s facial expression, something that may be of interest to the video games industry.
The technology may also benefit electronic commerce (E-commerce) by enabling a seller to identify through a person’s facial expressions whether he is likely to make a purchase, or even to gauge customers’ satisfaction.
The results of this research were published in the journal Pattern Analysis and Applications.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Jet-fighter tech vehicle at 340mph
London, February 28:
The world’s fastest-ever road vehicle can pick up the speed of 300mph in just 30 seconds before hitting a maximum of 340mph.
Well, this vehicle is neither a car nor a motorcycle, but something in between.
Acabion, the creator of the Acabion GTBO concept car, describe it as a “road streamliner”.
The manufacturer applies jet fighter and Formula One technology in the super-light two-seater dream machine, comprising a turbo-charged 1300cc engine.
Two stabilisers have been fitted at the back of the vehicle, similar to those used in toddlers’ bikes, so as to keep it steady at low speeds.
Dr Peter Maskus, a former Porsche engineer who is developing the GTBO in Britain and Switzerland, says that he is “remixing the whole automotive recipe”.
“The Acabion does not even want to be a car, nor a bike. It is a new class – a road streamliner,” the Sun quoted him as saying.
Dr Maskus has plans to launch the GTBO in the UK and USA within three years.
He says that the vehicle may be priced at a whopping 1.5 million pounds.
So far, the fastest road car is America’s SSC Ultimate Aero TT, which can run at a speed of 257mph.
The world’s fastest-ever road vehicle can pick up the speed of 300mph in just 30 seconds before hitting a maximum of 340mph.
Well, this vehicle is neither a car nor a motorcycle, but something in between.
Acabion, the creator of the Acabion GTBO concept car, describe it as a “road streamliner”.
The manufacturer applies jet fighter and Formula One technology in the super-light two-seater dream machine, comprising a turbo-charged 1300cc engine.
Two stabilisers have been fitted at the back of the vehicle, similar to those used in toddlers’ bikes, so as to keep it steady at low speeds.
Dr Peter Maskus, a former Porsche engineer who is developing the GTBO in Britain and Switzerland, says that he is “remixing the whole automotive recipe”.
“The Acabion does not even want to be a car, nor a bike. It is a new class – a road streamliner,” the Sun quoted him as saying.
Dr Maskus has plans to launch the GTBO in the UK and USA within three years.
He says that the vehicle may be priced at a whopping 1.5 million pounds.
So far, the fastest road car is America’s SSC Ultimate Aero TT, which can run at a speed of 257mph.
`STOP terrorism` software unveiled
Washington : February 28, 2008:
An Indian origin researcher at the University of Maryland's Institute of Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) has unveiled software that may facilitate faster analysis and forecasting of terrorism.
VS Subrahmanian, a computer science professor who heads that project, calls the new program the SOMA Terror Organization Portal (STOP).
He says that the new program will allow analysts to query automatically learnt rules on terrorist organization behaviour, forecast potential behaviour based on such rules, and, most importantly, to network with other analysts examining the same subjects.
SOMA (Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents) is a formal, logical-statistical reasoning framework that uses data about past behaviour of terror groups in order to learn rules about the probability of an organization, community, or person taking certain actions in different situations.
In collaboration with computer scientists and political scientists, SOMA has generated tens of thousands of rules about the likely behaviour of each of about 30 groups, which include Hezbollah, Hamas, and Hezb-I-Islami.
"SOMA is a significant joint computer science and social science achievement that will facilitate learning about and forecasting terrorist group behaviour based on rigorous mathematical and computational models," said Subrahmanian.
"But even the best science needs to work hand in hand with social scientists and users. In addition to accurate behavioural models and forecasting algorithms, the SOMA Terror Organization Portal acts as a virtual roundtable that terrorism experts can gather around and form a rich community that transcends artificial boundaries," he added.
So far, the SOMA Terror Organization Portal has users from four defence agencies.
Besides performing queries and running a prediction engine, the users can also mark rules as useful or not useful, and leave comments about the rules. This feature of the program will enable them to learn what others have found useful, and to identify interesting rules and comments.
"Security analysts need more than piles of data. It takes a network to fight a network. Analysts need to learn from other analysts. This system allows multiple users to arrive at a shared understanding of how a terror group operates and what it might do in the future. Using the queries analysts can examine the underlying data and then, using the forecasting capabilities, test their theories," says UMIACS researcher Aaron Mannes.
The project was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
An Indian origin researcher at the University of Maryland's Institute of Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) has unveiled software that may facilitate faster analysis and forecasting of terrorism.
VS Subrahmanian, a computer science professor who heads that project, calls the new program the SOMA Terror Organization Portal (STOP).
He says that the new program will allow analysts to query automatically learnt rules on terrorist organization behaviour, forecast potential behaviour based on such rules, and, most importantly, to network with other analysts examining the same subjects.
SOMA (Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents) is a formal, logical-statistical reasoning framework that uses data about past behaviour of terror groups in order to learn rules about the probability of an organization, community, or person taking certain actions in different situations.
In collaboration with computer scientists and political scientists, SOMA has generated tens of thousands of rules about the likely behaviour of each of about 30 groups, which include Hezbollah, Hamas, and Hezb-I-Islami.
"SOMA is a significant joint computer science and social science achievement that will facilitate learning about and forecasting terrorist group behaviour based on rigorous mathematical and computational models," said Subrahmanian.
"But even the best science needs to work hand in hand with social scientists and users. In addition to accurate behavioural models and forecasting algorithms, the SOMA Terror Organization Portal acts as a virtual roundtable that terrorism experts can gather around and form a rich community that transcends artificial boundaries," he added.
So far, the SOMA Terror Organization Portal has users from four defence agencies.
Besides performing queries and running a prediction engine, the users can also mark rules as useful or not useful, and leave comments about the rules. This feature of the program will enable them to learn what others have found useful, and to identify interesting rules and comments.
"Security analysts need more than piles of data. It takes a network to fight a network. Analysts need to learn from other analysts. This system allows multiple users to arrive at a shared understanding of how a terror group operates and what it might do in the future. Using the queries analysts can examine the underlying data and then, using the forecasting capabilities, test their theories," says UMIACS researcher Aaron Mannes.
The project was funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Atlantis Takes Off for Space Station
Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Thursday Feb. 7, 2008. Atlantis' seven member crew is on a 11-day mission to deliver Columbus, a laboratory module built by the European Space Agency, to the international space station
Shuttle Atlantis took off in fiery pursuit of the international space station, carrying Europe's $2 billion Columbus lab into orbit after two months of technical delay.
Every circling of Earth brought Atlantis and its seven astronauts closer to the space station on Friday. The shuttle was due to arrive there Saturday.
European space officials cheered and shed tears Thursday afternoon as Atlantis rocketed away, overcoming fuel gauge trouble that prevented it from launching in December. The weather also cooperated; rain and thunderstorms stayed well to the west.
"We're all as excited as heck," said Alan Thirkettle, the European Space Agency's station program manager. "I've lost about 500 grams (about 1 pound) so far, and that's just been tears."
Twenty-three years in the making, Columbus is Europe's primary contribution to the space station. The lab has endured space station redesigns and slowdowns, as well as a number of shuttle postponements and two shuttle accidents.
Atlantis' commander, Stephen Frick, and his U.S., German and French crew will begin installing Columbus on Sunday. Three spacewalks are planned during the flight, scheduled to last 11 or, more likely, 12 days.
Columbus will join the U.S. lab, Destiny, which was launched aboard Atlantis exactly seven years ago. The Japanese lab Kibo, or Hope, is so big it will take three shuttle trips to get everything up, beginning in March.
"Certainly, no launch can be any more momentous than the launch of Columbus, which brings to the space station truly international capability and participation," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said.
To NASA's relief, all four fuel gauges in Atlantis' external fuel tank worked properly during the final stage of the countdown. The gauges failed in December because of a faulty connector, and NASA redesigned the part to fix the problem, which had been plaguing the shuttles for three years.
Thursday's launch kept NASA on track for six shuttle flights this year. The space agency faces a 2010 deadline for finishing the station and retiring the shuttles. That equates to four or five shuttle flights a year between now and then, something Griffin considers achievable.
"We're coming back, and I think we are back, from some pretty severe technical problems that led to the loss of Columbia. We understand the foam now," Griffin said, referring to the chunks of insulating foam that kept breaking off the fuel tanks.
Later in the day, Mission Control informed the crew that cameras spotted at least three pieces of foam or other debris coming off the fuel tank two minutes after liftoff. There was no evidence that the debris hit Atlantis, but the astronauts planned to pull out their laser inspection pole Friday to survey their spaceship, as per the normal procedure.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Cellphones could sniff out 'dirty' bombs
A NETWORK of cellphones fitted with radiation detectors could monitor cities for "dirty" bombs.
So say Andrew Longman and colleagues at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They have equipped phones with detectors so small they add only an imperceptible weight to a regular smartphone, and just a few dollars to the cost. Readings from thousands of phones, plus their location, can be combined to produce a "radiation map" of a city, says Longman. "Every cellphone sold should be carrying a detector," he says, to guard against terrorist bombs.
In 2004, cellphones containing sophisticated radiation detectors (New Scientist, 11 December 2004, p 21) were designed. But they were so big and expensive, they could only be carried by police and would not have blanketed a city.
Weapons Technology - Keep up with the latest
So say Andrew Longman and colleagues at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They have equipped phones with detectors so small they add only an imperceptible weight to a regular smartphone, and just a few dollars to the cost. Readings from thousands of phones, plus their location, can be combined to produce a "radiation map" of a city, says Longman. "Every cellphone sold should be carrying a detector," he says, to guard against terrorist bombs.
In 2004, cellphones containing sophisticated radiation detectors (New Scientist, 11 December 2004, p 21) were designed. But they were so big and expensive, they could only be carried by police and would not have blanketed a city.
Weapons Technology - Keep up with the latest
NASA to announce new commercial space partner
NASA is set to announce a new commercial partner that will try to develop a spaceship to service the International Space Station. The new partnership is possible because the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has officially upheld NASA's decision to sever a previous partnership with aerospace company Rocketplane Kistler.
With the space shuttle set to retire in 2010, NASA is looking for alternative ways to transport
In 2006, NASA signed agreements earmarking $485 million to be split between two companies trying to develop vehicles to service the orbital outpost. As part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, it set aside $278 million for SpaceX, based in El Segundo, California, and $207 million for Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City, both in the US.
The money was to be gradually doled out between 2006 and 2010 – as long as the two companies kept meeting performance milestones along the way. But after Rocketplane Kistler failed to raise a required $500 million in private financing, NASA cancelled its agreement with the company in October 2007.
The space agency wanted to quickly sign an agreement with another company to take Rocketplane Kistler's place, but the company disputed the cancellation, filing a complaint with the GAO.
No appealThe company argued that NASA was required by US law to sign traditional procurement contracts with the COTS partners, rather than the "Space Act" agreements it actually signed. Those agreements allow NASA to back out of its partnerships without penalty if certain milestones are not met.
But the GAO rejected Rocketplane Kistler's argument. It pointed out that the law Rocketplane Kistler referred to only applies when the goods or services involved are intended to directly benefit the government.
The GAO agreed with NASA that the COTS programme is instead meant merely to "encourage, support and stimulate the development of a commercial market for space transportation, from which NASA could potentially acquire orbital transportation services".
The GAO's decision clears the way for NASA to select a new COTS partner in addition to SpaceX, whose partnership with NASA continues. Only $32 million was paid to Rocketplane Kistler, leaving $175 million for new partnerships.
"We're on track to award an additional partnership later in the month," NASA spokesperson
With the space shuttle set to retire in 2010, NASA is looking for alternative ways to transport
In 2006, NASA signed agreements earmarking $485 million to be split between two companies trying to develop vehicles to service the orbital outpost. As part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, it set aside $278 million for SpaceX, based in El Segundo, California, and $207 million for Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City, both in the US.
The money was to be gradually doled out between 2006 and 2010 – as long as the two companies kept meeting performance milestones along the way. But after Rocketplane Kistler failed to raise a required $500 million in private financing, NASA cancelled its agreement with the company in October 2007.
The space agency wanted to quickly sign an agreement with another company to take Rocketplane Kistler's place, but the company disputed the cancellation, filing a complaint with the GAO.
No appealThe company argued that NASA was required by US law to sign traditional procurement contracts with the COTS partners, rather than the "Space Act" agreements it actually signed. Those agreements allow NASA to back out of its partnerships without penalty if certain milestones are not met.
But the GAO rejected Rocketplane Kistler's argument. It pointed out that the law Rocketplane Kistler referred to only applies when the goods or services involved are intended to directly benefit the government.
The GAO agreed with NASA that the COTS programme is instead meant merely to "encourage, support and stimulate the development of a commercial market for space transportation, from which NASA could potentially acquire orbital transportation services".
The GAO's decision clears the way for NASA to select a new COTS partner in addition to SpaceX, whose partnership with NASA continues. Only $32 million was paid to Rocketplane Kistler, leaving $175 million for new partnerships.
"We're on track to award an additional partnership later in the month," NASA spokesperson
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