Economic and Social Council: First Annual Report of the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force [pdf]
http://www.unicttaskforce.org/community/documents/764023199_UNICTTF_1stReport.pdf
This report from the United Nations' Information and Communication Technologies Task Force summarizes the group's objectives and findings in its first year of operation. It gives an enlightening view og the world's technological growth, with comparisons between developed, emerging, and impeded economies. Several notable trends are examined, and specific technologies, such as mobile telephones and the Internet, are addressed. The information is presented to serve as a resource for advancing "the global effort to bridge the digital divide and foster digital opportunity." [CL]
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Transportation Research Circular: Future Aviation Activities [pdf]
http://gulliver.trb.org/publications/circulars/ec051.pdf
The 12th International Workshop on Future Aviation Activities was held in September 2002, and this collection of presentation transcripts was released the following January. Many references to the September 11 terrorist attacks are made, especially concerning airport security measures and changes in the public's views of flying. Speakers also addressed long-term trends in air transportation, such as airspace capacity and general aviation growth. Nearly every kind of aviation was discussed; ranging from domestic to international activities and airports to manufacturers, the event had implications for the industry as a whole. [CL]
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BSA: Global Software Piracy Study [pdf]
http://global.bsa.org/globalstudy/
The Business Software Alliance published its eighth annual Global Software Piracy Study in June 2003, which reflects the spread of illegal copyrighted software distribution in many countries around the world. The study's homepage features regional highlights that summarize piracy rate trends, while the study itself can be viewed by following the easily overlooked link on the right side of the page. In addition to providing statistics for over 90 countries in 2002, the document also includes historical figures that show how each country has been affected by piracy over the previous eight years. [CL]
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Emerging Wireless Technologies: Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband [pdf]
http://www.bsu.edu/cics/iwi/whitepapers/Bluetooth&UltraWideband.pdf
Ball State University's Institute for Wireless Innovation is the source of this white paper that compares two of the most prominent wireless technologies. Rather than addressing each one simultaneously, the authors effectively separate the paper into two disjoint sections. The first deals with Bluetooth, a fairly well established communication specification that allows for fast and relatively inexpensive wireless links. Ultra-wideband is outlined in the second section. This technology has emerged as a wireless candidate much more recently, and it is still being developed for personal and commercial applications. The nearly 50-page paper is an outstanding introduction to the differences, both in benefits and drawbacks, of Bluetooth and ultra-wideband technologies. [CL]
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Integrating Content Management with Digital Rights Management [pdf]
http://www.xrml.org/reference/CM-DRMwhitepaper.pdf
This white paper, published in May 2003, explores the task of effectively managing digital content while incorporating and protecting the digital rights associated with the content. The authors begin by defining a content management system as it is discussed in their paper and outline the key components and capabilities of such a system. After touching on the foundations of digital rights, the paper then argues for the adoption of a "Rights Expression Language" to integrate digital rights information throughout every stage of content creation and distribution. [CL]
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Mimesis [pdf]
http://mimesis.csc.ncsu.edu/
As part of the North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science, Mimesis is a project that "explores the use of computer game engines...as test-beds for research in artificial intelligence, interactive entertainment and educational software." A detailed overview of the Mimesis system architecture can be found on its homepage, as well as a few examples of virtual worlds created with the system that demonstrates different application areas to which it can be applied. A large collection of recent research papers are available for public access, offering greater insight into the theory behind interactive narrative models and virtual cinematography. [CL]
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"Smart" Base Isolation Systems [pdf]
http://cee.uiuc.edu/sstl/papers/baseisolation.pdf
Published in the October 2002 issue of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, this research paper proposes a novel method of seismic base isolation. This technique is used to mitigate "the effects of an earthquake by essentially isolating the structure and its contents from potentially dangerous ground motion." The authors compare their method to several established base isolation strategies by simulating each under varying conditions for historical earthquakes. They show that the derived system provides significant improvement over the other candidates. [CL]
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Dartmouth Symposium on the Future of Computer Music Software: A Panel Discussion [pdf]
http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/pdf/cmj_26_4_13_0.pdf
This article, which appeared in the winter 2002 issue of the Computer Music Journal, is an edited transcript of the Dartmouth Symposium on the Future of Computer Music Software. The topics discussed at the event varied widely, but most were centered on experimental software as opposed to normative utilities like mixers and virtual studios. By following this subject track for the symposium, participants shared their viewpoints about the evolution of computer music software and highlighted current projects that are developing such software. Both panel members and audience participants contributed to the discussion, which allowed for a broad range of opinions and musical backgrounds. [CL]
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