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Monday, December 14, 2009

Google demonstrates quantum computer image search

Google's web services may be considered cutting edge, but they run in warehouses filled with conventional computers. Now the search giant has revealed it is investigating the use of quantum computers to run its next generation of faster applications.

Source : New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18272-google-demonstrates-quantum-computer-image-search.html

MIT gestural computing makes multi-touch look old

The MIT Media Lab, home to Big Bird's illegitimate progeny, augmented reality projects aplenty, and now three-dimensional gestural computing. The new bi-directional display being demoed by the Cambridge-based boffins performs both multitouch functions that we're familiar with and hand movement recognition in the space in front of the screen -- which we're also familiar with, but mostly from the movies.

Source : Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/mit-gestural-computing-makes-multitouch-look-old-hat/

Flexible solar cell implant could restore vision

The first flexible retinal implant could restore some vision to people with certain forms of visual impairment.

Conditions such as age-related macular degeneration occur when some of the photoreceptors in the eye stop functioning properly. But as other parts of the eye still work, it should be possible to restore vision using an implant that mimics the photoreceptor layer, says Rostam Dinyari at Stanford University in California.

Source : New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18275-flexible-solar-cell-implant-could-restore-vision.html

Our atmosphere came from outer space

Comets from outer space may have created Earth's atmosphere – not volcanoes spewing out gases from deep within the planet.

The origin of the gases in Earth's atmosphere has long been a puzzle. One of the main theories is that the gases bubbled up out of the mantle via volcanoes.

Greg Holland of the University of Manchester, UK, and colleagues have arrived at a different theory after collecting samples of the noble gas krypton from several hundred kilometres beneath New Mexico.

Source : New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18277-our-atmosphere-came-from-outer-space.html

Homosexual selection: The power of same-sex liaisons

NOT long ago, the news was full of reports about two male Humboldt penguins at a zoo in Germany that adopted an egg, hatched it and reared the chick together. It seems like every time you turn around, the media spotlight has fallen on another example of same-sex liaisons in the animal kingdom.

Source : New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427370.800-homosexual-selection-the-power-of-samesex-liaisons.html

Early-bird dinosaur found in New Mexico

The remains of a two-legged meat-eating predator that roamed the Earth at the dawn of dinosaurs have been uncovered in an ancient bone bed by fossil hunters.

The feathered beast, named Tawa hallae, was the size of a large dog and sported a long neck and tail, a slender snout, and sharp, curved teeth to catch and kill its prey.

Source : guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/10/tawa-hallae-feathered-theropod-mexico

Pregnant women develop emotion-reading superpowers

RAGING hormones during pregnancy prompt mood swings, but may also lead to a heightened ability to recognize threatening or aggressive faces. This may have evolved because it makes future mothers hyper-vigilant, yet it could also make them more vulnerable to anxiety.

Source : New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427384.200-pregnant-women-develop-emotionreading-superpowers.html

Monday, November 30, 2009

Race is on to use embryonic stem cells in humans

TISSUE grown from human embryonic stem cells, the most prized, and most controversial, cells ever grown in a lab, could at last make it into the human body.

After a decade of scientific and political wrangling, several therapies are now edging towards human trials. Which will be first?

Read More :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427364.400-race-is-on-to-use-embryonic-stem-cells-in-humans.html

How to make ZZZs = memory

Sounds played as you sleep can reinforce memories, suggest Ken Paller and his colleagues at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

They asked people to memorise which images and their associated sounds – such as a picture of a cat and a miaow – were associated with a certain area on a computer screen and then to take a nap. They played half the group the sounds in their sleep, and these people were better at remembering the associations than the rest when they woke up.

Paller hopes sounds can be used to improve all kinds of memory and next he'll be figuring out if we can learn languages while we snooze.

Read More :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18199-sleep-success-how-to-make-zzzs--memory.html

Cern's Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions

Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the very first time.

The step was described as a "great achievement" for those working on the huge physics experiment.

The low-energy collisions came after researchers circulated two beams simultaneously in the LHC's 27km-long tunnel earlier on Monday.

Read More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375486.stm

Romantic Jealousy

"I found myself sitting curled up in the bushes, following every movement seen through the curtains in her lit-up window. I knew her boyfriend was there, and the knowledge caused me excruciating pain. It was a cold winter night, and once in a while it would drizzle. I said to myself: "I know I am a sane, well-adjusted, responsible adult. What in the world is happening to me? Have I totally lost my mind?" And yet, I continued sitting in those bushes for hours. I didn't leave until the light in the window was gone. A force larger than myself held me hypnotized to the light and to her. I have never in my life felt so close to madness."

Read More a
thttp://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/romantic-jealousy

Saturday, November 21, 2009

3D mapping drone fires lasers from a mile away

"The MIT Technology Review has unearthed a new laser-based 3D mapping robot that can produce results similar to those obtained from $100,000 systems at about a fifth of the cost. Funded by the US Army, researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have now demonstrated the Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System (ROAMS, for short), which employs a mirror-based LIDAR system that bounces a laser off a rapidly rotating mirror and gleans environmental information from how long it takes for each pulse to bounce back."

Source : Engadget

URL
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/18/3d-mapping-drone-fires-off-lasers-from-a-mile-away-video/

Beyond the LHC

"The Large Hadron Collider is by no means the last of the particle smashers. A group at CERN recently explored the various scenarios that might emerge from the atomic debris in Geneva – and how they would shape what colliders we build next. We draw out the key points about each of the scenarios."

Source : New Scientist 


URL : http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427354.900-future-colliders-beyond-the-lhc.html

See this also : http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/20/large-hadron-collider-is-online-higgs-boson-be-damned/

Medibots: The world's smallest surgeons

"A MAN lies comatose on an operating table. The enormous spider that hangs above him has plunged four appendages into his belly. The spider, made of white steel, probes around inside the man's abdomen then withdraws one of its arms. Held in the machine's claw is a neatly sealed bag containing a scrap of bloody tissue."

Source : New Scientist

URL
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427351.100-medibots-the-worlds-smallest-surgeons.html

Sunday, November 15, 2009

NASA :Innovative Partnership Tests Fuels of the Future

It’s exactly what everyone’s looking for: an engine that works on cheaper, less toxic, more readily available fuels.

This engine just happens to be for a rocket.

Read More about it at
:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/lox_methane_engine.html

SWINE FLU TIME LINE


This article is for the ones who are interested in researching into the history of Swine Flu. New Scientist's timeline explains how the origins of the H1N1 pandemic go back more than a century!

Link
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18063-timeline-the-secret-history-of-swine-flu.html

Swine Flu: Eight Myths That Could Endanger Your Life

"The second wave of the swine flu pandemic is now under way in the northern hemisphere. Case numbers are climbing fast and in some places vaccination has begun.

So what's the big deal? The virus hasn't evolved into the monster that some feared and most cases are mild. Were all those pandemic warnings just scare-mongering?

The Butcher family of Southampton, UK, wouldn't say so. In August, their daughter Madelynne, 18, became sick and short of breath after returning from a holiday. Two weeks later, she died in hospital.

Neither would the Parker family of Baltimore, Maryland. In September, their healthy 14-year-old daughter Destinée started having trouble breathing within minutes of arriving at school. She was rushed to hospital. A week later she was dead.

There has been complacency-mongering, too. This pandemic is very far from the worst-case scenario, but it is not normal flu either. Many more people than usual will catch flu this year. The vast majority will be fine but some of us, including young, otherwise healthy people, will die. You can help protect yourself and your family by learning the latest on swine flu, from how to spot a serious case to the facts about the vaccines."

Source : New Scientist

Link :
 http://www.newscientist.com/special/swine-flu-myths-that-could-endanger-your-life


LET'S FIGHT IT OFF!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Emotiv EPOC human-computer interface supposedly on track to ship next month

Remember that Emotiv EPOC mind-controlled USB controller from last year? Well, we've been dreaming of controlling a game of pong with merely our thought waves ever since, and it looks like our wish might at last be granted. According Emotiv's site, the $299 headgear will be shipping in limited quantities to US customers on December 21st, just in time for your thoughts of the holidays to coalesce into a concentrated, computer-controlling tip. The device works with 14...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/10/emotiv-epoc-human-computer-interface-supposedly-on-track-to-ship/

What The LHC is Really Looking For

AS DAMP squibs go, it was quite a spectacular one. Amid great pomp and ceremony - not to mention dark offstage rumblings that the end of the world was nigh - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's mightiest particle smasher, fired up in September last year. Nine days later a short circuit and a catastrophic leak of liquid helium ignominiously shut the machine down.

Now for take two. Any day now, if all goes to plan, proton beams will start racing all the way round the ring deep beneath CERN, the LHC's home on the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland.


Read More : http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427341.200-in-susy-we-trust-what-the-lhc-is-really-looking-for.html

Giant crack in Africa formed in just days!

A crack in the Earth's crust – which could be the forerunner to a new ocean – ripped open in just days in 2005, a new study suggests. The opening, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, presents a unique opportunity for geologists to study how mid-ocean ridges form.

The crack is the surface component of a continental rift forming as the Arabian and African plates drift away from one another. It began to open up in September 2005, when a volcano at the northern end of the rift, called Dabbahu, erupted.


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18114-giant-crack-in-africa-formed-in-just-days.html

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Are you asleep? Exploring the Mind's Twilight Zone

"EARLIER this year, a puzzling report appeared in the journal Sleep Medicine. It described two Italian people who never truly slept. They might lie down and close their eyes, but read-outs of brain activity showed none of the normal patterns associated with sleep. Their behaviour was pretty odd, too. Though largely unaware of their surroundings during these rest periods, they would walk around, yell, tremble violently and their hearts would race. The remainder of the time they were conscious and aware but prone to powerful, dream-like hallucinations...."

Source : New Scientist

Link : http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427291.000-are-you-asleep-exploring-the-minds-twilight-zone.html

Lab Makes Renewable Diesel Fuel!

Today, scientists all over the globe are working to create fuels with the same properties but without that pesky 100 million-year wait. And "renewable petroleum" is now a reality, on a small scale, in some laboratories.

The biotech company LS9 Inc. is using single-celled bacteria to create an oil equivalent. These petroleum "production facilities" are so small, you can see them only under a microscope.



Source : CNN.com

Link : http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/12/bug.diesel/index.html

New camera promises to capture your whole life!

"A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm.

Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer's disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create "lifelogs" that archive their entire lives.

Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer. It can fit 30,000 images onto its 1-gigabyte memory.

The ViconRevue was originally developed as the SenseCam by Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, for researchers studying Alzheimer's and other dementias. Studies showed that reviewing the events of the day using SenseCam photos could help some people improve long-term recall."


Source : New Scientist

Read More :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17992-new-camera-promises-to-capture-your-whole-life.html

First black hole for light created on Earth! But nobody raps about it...

"An electromagnetic "black hole" that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time.

The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity."

Source : New Scientist

Read More at :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17980-black-hole-for-light-created-on-earth.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=physics-math

Will your smartphone rat you out?

"THERE are certain things you do not want to share with strangers. In my case it was a stream of highly personal text messages from my husband, sent during the early days of our relationship. Etched on my phone's SIM card - but invisible on my current handset and thus forgotten - here they now are, displayed in all their brazen glory on a stranger's computer screen.

I've just walked into a windowless room on an industrial estate in Tamworth, UK, where three cellphone analysts in blue shirts sit at their terminals, scrutinising the contents of my phone and smirking. "If it's any consolation, we would have found them even if you had deleted them," says one.

Worse, it seems embarrassing text messages aren't the only thing I have to worry about..."

Source : New Scientist

Read More :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427301.100-the-pocket-spy-will-your-smartphone-rat-you-out.html

Saturday, October 31, 2009

How green is your pet?

"SHOULD owning a great dane make you as much of an eco-outcast as an SUV driver? Yes it should, say Robert and Brenda Vale, two architects who specialise in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. In their new book, Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living, they compare the ecological footprints of a menagerie of popular pets with those of various other lifestyle choices - and the critters do not fare well."

Source : New Scientist

Link :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.600-how-green-is-your-pet.html

How Your Brain Creates The Fourth Dimension : TIME

"THE MAN dangles on a cable hanging from an eight-storey-high tower. Suspended in a harness with his back to the ground, he sees only the face of the man above, who controls the winch that is lifting him to the top of the tower like a bundle of cargo. And then it happens. The cable suddenly unclips and he plummets towards the concrete below.

Panic sets in, but he's been given an assignment and so, fighting his fear of death, he stares at the instrument strapped to his wrist, before falling into the sweet embrace of a safety net. A team of scientists will spend weeks studying the results...."

Source : New Scientist

Link :
 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.300-timewarp-how-your-brain-creates-the-fourth-dimension.html

A Chip That Mimics Neurons, Firing Up the Memory

"IN the 2001 movie ''Memento,'' the hero cannot hold onto any new memories. He forgets whatever he sees or hears within moments, distracted by new events that he also forgets in turn.

Profound amnesia like this comes about in real life, too, from trauma or disease to the hippocampus, the cortical section of the brain where memories are formed.

One day, though, a computer chip may do some of the work of a damaged hippocampus, replacing living neurons with silicon ones..."

Source : New York Times

Link
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/technology/what-s-next-a-chip-that-mimics-neurons-firing-up-the-memory.html

Sunday, October 4, 2009

How to live to 100... and enjoy it

"Perhaps you think you stand no chance of clocking up a century. You know that longevity depends in large part on having the right genes, and one glance at the family tree may reveal that yours just won't pass muster. If so, think on this: centenarians are the fastest-growing demographic group across much of the developed world. Assuming there hasn't been a miraculous Methuselah mutation in the human genome in the past hundred-odd years, we can draw only one conclusion: the way we live is stretching our lifespans. So, what are the secrets of a long and happy life?"

Seem like there are 9!

The New Scientist knows em all!

"New Scientist plunders the emerging science of longevity to find out how you can maximise your tally at the final checkout, without compromising any urges you might have to dance in the aisles on the way there."



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Link : http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025541.500-how-to-live-to-100-and-enjoy-it.html?full=true

===================================


AND how about some pictures of some famous centenarians?

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/lessons-in-longevity/1

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BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW HOW FLASH MEMORY WORKS?

Know it here: http://www.howstuffworks.com/flash-memory.htm

===================================

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Mayans 'Played' Pyramids to Make Music

This is a great article to read. I'm sure everyone will enjoy.



SIT on the steps of Mexico's El Castillo pyramid in Chichen Itza and you may hear a confusing sound. As other visitors climb the colossal staircase their footsteps begin to sound like raindrops falling into a bucket of water as they near the top. Were the Mayan temple builders trying to communicate with their gods?

The discovery of the raindrop "music" in another pyramid suggests that at least some of Mexico's pyramids were deliberately built for this purpose. Some of the structures consist of a combination of steps and platforms, while others, like El Castillo, resemble the more even-stepped Egyptian pyramids.

Researchers were familiar with the raindrop sounds made by footsteps on El Castillo - a hollow pyramid on the Yucatán Peninsula. But why the steps should sound like this and whether the effect was intentional remained unclear.

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Source : New Scientist

Link : 
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327266.200-mayans-played-pyramids-to-make-music-for-rain-god.html


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Friday, September 18, 2009

100 Years From Now!

US science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson thinks British science fiction is in a golden age. It's time it won some literary awards – and for everyone to give it a go...

The new guest editor of 'NewScientist' Kim Stanley Robinson challenged eight leading British SF authors to write flash fiction about the world 100 years from now. So if you are also a science fiction writer, you can submit your flash SF at

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17779-new-scientist-flash-fiction-competition-2009.html


============================


And of course, here are 8 of the stories submitted by various SciFi authors so far...



1. Reflective Surface
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.300-reflective-surfaces-by-ken-macleod.html

2. A Little School
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.400-a-little-school-by-ian-mcdonald.html


3. 2109: The reality?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.500-2109-the-reality.html


4. Acid Rain
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.600-acid-rain-by-nicola-griffith.html


5. Kelvin 2.0
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.700-kelvin-20-by-stephen-baxter.html


6. Penance
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327263.800-penance-by-paul-mcauley.html


7. A Virtual Population Crisis
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327264.400-a-virtual-population-crisis-by-ian-watson.html


8. One Shot
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327264.500-one-shot-by-justina-robson.html

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Bermuda Triangle

From the book, mysteries of the world, these are theories and attempts at explanation of bermuda triangle. The following theories have been proposed:

1) Aliens from Venus have built a base some 3000 feet deep under the ocean where pressure conditions correspond to those on their home planet. They use strong magetic fields that cause matter to dematerialize.

2) the lost continent of Atlantis lies under this part of the sea. Atlantis sank during an inundation that followed an ancient atomic war.

3) the laws of physic work differntly here becuase of a disturbance in teh time-space continuum. The objects that disappeared reappear in the future in the past in another part of hte world or alternately can be found floating around the universe.

4) The effects of the mysterious "philadelphia Experiment" conducted by the US Navy in 1943 are reponsible.

5) Aliens have kidnapped people and taken objects back to their planet for study.

6) Aliens from a desert planet come here to soak up water, inadvertently sucking up hapless ships and airplanes at the same time.

7) A colony of unknow, human-like beings lives underwater here. They are reponsible for all of these events.

8) there is a kind of hole in the firmament directly over this area. This causes space to curve, pulling everyting that passes beneath it out into space.

9) Unknown, highly readioactive gases are emitted here from the center of the earth, destroying ships and airplanes adn inducing a trance-like state in people.

Eventhough i love the alien theory: soaking up water and sucking up ships and airplanes, for me it a tied between 4 and 9. what are ur theories?

Sangaha Sutta: The Bonds of Fellowship

Sangaha Sutta: The Bonds of Fellowship 
translated from the Pali by 
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
© 1997–2009 

"There are these four grounds for the bonds of fellowship. Which four? Generosity, kind words, beneficial help, consistency. These are the four grounds for the bonds of fellowship."

Generosity, kind words, beneficial help,
& consistency in the face of events,
in line with what's appropriate
in each case, each case.
These bonds of fellowship [function] in the world
like the linchpin in a moving cart.


Now, if these bonds of fellowship were lacking,
a mother would not receive
the honor & respect owed by her child,
nor would a father receive
what his child owes him.
But because the wise show regard
for these bonds of fellowship,
they achieve greatness
and are praised.

DEFINITION OF SCIENCE

The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge.

How do we define science? According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is "knowledge attained through study or practice," or "knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world."

What does that really mean? Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it.

What is the purpose of science? Perhaps the most general description is that the purpose of science is to produce useful models of reality.

Most scientific investigations use some form of the scientific method.

Science as defined above is sometimes called pure science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of research to human needs.

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:
- Natural sciences, the study of the natural world, and
- Social sciences, the systematic study of human
behavior in the society.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The right honourable computer, barrister-at-law

ALIS, a digital legal eagle. © treenabeena - Fotolia.comEuropean researchers have created a legal analysis query engine that combines artificial intelligence, game theory and semantics to offer advice, conflict prevention and dispute settlement for European law, and it even supports policy.
European law is complex, many layered and expanding. There are thousands of regulations, so many that compliance is difficult, time-consuming and expensive.
While harmonisation is underway, the process itself demands that individuals, companies and law firms often have to relearn the system.
Meanwhile, areas like intellectual property rights (IPR) and digital rights regulation that seek to combat piracy are becoming evermore complex to understand and apply consistently across Europe.

A lawyer called ALIS

Thankfully, help is at hand. The ALIS project has developed a computerised platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI), game theory and semantic technologies to ‘understand’ and track the regulations in a large, and expanding area of expertise – in this case IPR.
ALIS sought to develop a working system in IPR to tackle the fundamental technological challenges before expanding it to more areas later on.
The system is much more than a simple database of relevant legal regulations. It uses insights from game theory to help contentious parties come to an amicable agreement, either through conflict prevention or dispute resolution, and it can assist lawmaking too.
Game theory looks at how strategic interactions between rational people lead to outcomes reflecting real player preferences. In the Ultimatum game, for example, two players decide how a sum is to be divided. The proposer suggests what the split should be, the responder either can accept or reject this offer. But if the responder rejects the split, both players get nothing.
Researchers have found that often proposers offer 50:50, even though the responder might accept less. They also found that responders always reject splits where they get less than 20 percent. In economics, this would be considered irrational, because the responder loses too, but this illustrates that fairness is a very important element in strategic interactions.
These types of interactions can be rendered mathematically thanks to game theory, and the concept is so powerful that it has migrated from applied mathematics to social sciences like economics, political science, international relations and philosophy, as well as hard sciences like biology, engineering and computer science.
Game theory can be used to develop algorithms that find equilibria in games, markets, computational auctions, peer-to-peer systems, security and information markets. And, now with ALIS, it is available for legal systems too. This concept of equilibria supports conflict prevention, dispute resolution and offers decision support for lawmaking.
A key factor in the system is its test for regulatory compliance. This is very powerful. It can help citizens, companies and lawyers quickly scan the relevant legal corpus to discover if they are compliant. It is a key factor for the other roles in the ALIS system as well.
For conflict prevention, dispute resolution and lawmaking, the ALIS first establishes if the parties, or the proposed legislation, are compliant with current law. Once compliance is established, the system can present a series of options based on an analysis of the potential conflict or dispute, or it can provide information to further assist lawmakers to formulate policy.
Similarly, the tool aims to rapidly speed up the work done by lawyers, helping to resolve relatively straightforward cases faster, so they can concentrate on more complex problems.
Here, semantic technologies play a key role by establishing a machine-readable annotation of copyright law for several European countries. 

Exploiting the system

The ALIS project’s exploitation and dissemination activities are noteworthy. Mailings, brochures, as well as many presentations and meetings have taken place between potential customers and beneficiaries of the ALIS system.
There are two primary customers or users; software providers who could benefit from the methods, logic and innovative information processing techniques developed within ALIS; and legal service providers, lawyers, solicitors and others who can use the system to keep them up to date with a rapidly evolving legal framework and speed up query handling for clients.
In all, ALIS has created a platform that should help ensure legal compliance by citizens, companies and lawyers. And it will help improve the efficiency of justice, by contributing to conflict prevention and dispute resolution, keeping cases out of overworked courts.
But ALIS’ true genius is that it creates a powerful technological platform to access legal knowledge, a platform that will become stronger over time.
The ALIS project received funding from the ICT strand of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for research.

Plasmobot

"THOUGH not famed for their intellect, single-celled organisms have already demonstrated a surprising degree of intelligence. Now a team at the University of the West of England (UWE) has secured £228,000 in funding to turn these organisms into engineering robots.

In recent years, single-celled organisms have been used to control six-legged robots, but Andrew Adamatzky at UWE wants to go one step further by making a complete "robot" out of a plasmodium slime mould, Physarum polycephalum, a commonly occurring mould that moves towards food sources such as bacteria and fungi, and shies away from light."


Read More at New Scientist.com by following the link below...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327245.100-plasmobot-the-slime-mould-robot.html

Friday, September 11, 2009

BEng (Honours) - Electronic Engineering - Sheffield Hallam University

BEng (Honours) - Electronic Engineering - Sheffield Hallam University


All organisations, from hospitals and factories to banks, offices and small industrial concerns, increasingly depend on electronic technology. This technology is used in everything from production to administration and financial control.

This degree develops the specialised technical skills needed by employers in these fields.

You study electronic engineering, computing and electronic systems, while concentrating on the principles of electronic engineering. You also gain an appreciation of company structure and quality control.

The course includes specifics about systems applications, and software and hardware technologies. Other studies include computer modelling and mathematics for electronic engineering.

You learn the principal themes of • digital and analogue electronics • electronic systems design • signal processing • engineering analysis. These themes support further study of specialist applications of electronics to computer, communication and control systems. You can also design and build working devices, and evaluate commercial electronic products.

The course is vocational and produces engineers who can meet the needs of the wide range of industries that use new technology. The ever developing application of technology means there is a growing demand for engineering graduates.

All students take the first year core modules. These provide a common foundation of engineering principles, knowledge and key skills, while addressing the areas of engineering applications and personal skills development.

It also allows you to change your mind about which course you want to study at the end of the first year.

Mature students with relevant work experience and international students normally take the three year route.

You work in our electronic laboratories designing hardware and developing your practical skills.


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Thursday, July 9, 2009

SLIIT


Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology was established in 1999 by an Act of Parliament, with ability to award degrees following amendments to the Universities Act the same year. Thus gaining recognition from the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka and it is also a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). SLIIT was established primarily to educate and train information technology professionals required by the fast growing IT industry in Sri Lanka. SLIIT is a governmental institution with initial funding from the government. It is a statutory board and a company by guarantee. Although still remaining a public institute under the purview of the Ministry of Science and Technology, unlike other state universities it does not depend on government funding and therefore has a great deal of autonomy. Since its conception it has become the leading degree-granting institute in Sri Lanka for information technology, producing 600 graduates annually. 

SLIIT has expanded its IT education from Colombo and its suburbs to various other parts of the Sri Lanka, including Kandy and Matara, making the SLIIT accessible in 5 locations throughout Sri Lanka. Presently, SLIIT operates two Campuses and two Centres viz. the Malabe Campus at Malabe and the Metropolitan Campus at Kollupitiya, Colombo, the Kandy Centre at Kandy and the Matara Centre at Matara. 

SLIIT VISION
 “ To be a Center of Excellence to advance and disseminate knowledge, foster and promote innovation and produce world-class intellectuals in the field of Information and Communication technologies to best serve the nation and beyond. ”

SLIIT MISSION 
“ To ensure that Sri Lanka profits from Information Technology, by providing education and training, conducting and promoting research and development, provide consultancy and software services, nurturing IT ventures, thus ensuring the availability of a rich pool of experts in IT. ”

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Royal College (My Alma Matter)


The Royal College of Colombo (commonly known asRoyal College) was founded in January 1835. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri LankaThe oldest public school in the country, it is a National School, meaning that it is controlled by the central government as opposed to the Provincial Council and provides both primary and secondary education.

Royal College has produced many distinguished personalities, including two Presidents of two countries, a Sultan, three Prime Ministers and many intellectuals.

Situated in a quiet residential suburb of Colombo known as the Cinnamon Gardens, it occupies an area of 34 acres. The college is funded by the Ministry of Education, which appoints its Principal. The Principal is the head of the administration of the College and is assisted by a Vice Principal. The school is divided in to three sections for administrative purposes, these are the primary school (the former Royal College Preparatory School), middle school and the upper school, each coming under a deputy principal (the head of the primary school is know as the Headmaster/Headmistress). The college educates close to 9000 students in both secondary and primary education.