Research
http://www.mle.ie/~ian/EuroHapticsNet/2003.shtml
Haptics is the science of incorporating touch and physical stimuli into computer applications. A haptics interface can allow the user to feel responses from a program, thereby providing an additional level of perception in a virtual environment, for example. This site hosts the proceedings of the 2003 EuroHaptics conference, which was held in July. Over 30 papers and several more poster presentations are available, spanning the areas of interaction, hardware, algorithms, and psychophysics. Proceedings of the 2001 and 2002 EuroHaptics conferences are also provided. [CL]
http://www.crnano.org/Nanofactory.pdf
This 86-page paper, published in October 2003, was written by the Director of Research at the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. He proposes "an architecture for combining large numbers of programmable mechanochemical fabricators into a manufacturing system, or nanofactory, capable of producing a wide range of human-scale products." Rather than calling for the development of entirely new technologies, the author attempts to describe a system that can be built with current engineering practices and that requires few scientific hurdles. A survey of previous work comprises the first part of the paper, and specifics of the nanofactory architecture follow. [CL]
A Canadian grid computing project is the focus of this website from the University of Victoria (UVic). The group of research physicists working on the project has "constructed a small Grid-enabled cluster as part of an effort to create a Canadian Grid testbed." Although the work is being conducted on a small scale, it is intended to serve as a model for future grid computing endeavors. The project's homepage provides an insightful overview of grid computing and its applications in high energy physics. Seven papers and nine slide presentations are also available, giving a detailed look at the issues of implementing and controlling massively parallel computing systems. [CL]
http://captology.stanford.edu/
"The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab creates insight into how computing products -- from websites to mobile phone software -- can be designed to change what people believe and what they do." This unusual field of study is called captology, and the subject is explored in detail on the lab's homepage. The Key Concepts section provides a brief overview of captology and links to another page with nine topic papers published by researchers at the lab. In a series of examples demonstrating how computers can be used to influence a person, the site's creators separate instances into macrosuasion and microsuasion. Specific websites and computer programs are highlighted to reveal these interesting marketing or motivational tactics. [CL]
http://mixedreality.nus.edu.sg/research-HP-infor.htm
Anyone who has ever played the classic arcade game Pacman will be amazed at this project of the National University of Singapore's Mixed Reality Lab. Human Pacman is "a real-world-physical, social, and wide area mobile entertainment system that is built upon the concepts of ubiquitous computing, tangible human-computer interaction, and wide-area entertainment networks." Players are equipped with wearable computers and head-mounted displays, and they can maneuver around real environments while seeing virtual power pellets floating in the air. The Human Pacman system is discussed and illustrated with pictures and video clips on this website. A research paper is also available, offering a much more technical description of the system. [CL]
1. Swede Helps Crack Historic Math Problem
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/world/article.jhtml?articleID=678371
2. Hilbert's Mathematical Problems [pdf, postscript, zip, dvi]
http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~kersten/hilbert/problems.html
In 1900, mathematician David Hilbert outlined 23 problems "as challenges for the 20th century." Now in the 21st century, three of the problems remain unsolved. However, the problems are one step closer to being resolved. As described in a November 27, 2003 new article, a Swedish mathematics student has developed a partial solution to one of them. The article discusses the achievement and provides links to the student's homepage and the text of Hilbert's original problems. A website from Bielefeld University in Germany lists all 23 problems and provides links to research papers devoted to their analysis and solution. [CL]
The Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (OpenSees) is a project of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. OpenSees is an open source "software framework for developing applications to simulate the performance of structural and geotechnical systems subjected to earthquakes." The project's homepage maintains resources for users and developers, including downloadable source code, extensive documentation, and instructions on how to contribute code. Several links to other research projects that are using the OpenSees tool are provided. Additionally, an OpenSees user's workshop was held in August 2003, and the presentations from the event are available. [CL]
http://mass.micro.uiuc.edu/publications/papers/93.pdf
Despite the likely first impressions created by the title, this paper does not hold the cure to balding. It does, however, describe a remarkable kind of sensor that measures fluid flow. Since "insects and fish use clusters of hair cells to monitor air or water flow," researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign developed an artificial haircell that behaves in a similar way. The paper introduces the manufacturing processes used to create the sensor and shows experimental results for a few configurations. The authors indicate that the flexibility of fabrication materials allows the artificial haircell sensor to be made on a layer of polymer skin. [CL]
