UCLA Center for Communication Policy
http://ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp
On January 29, 2003, the third report of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy's Internet Project was released. The series of reports, collectively titled Surveying the Digital Future, seeks to understand and document "the impact of online technology on America." Many aspects of online behavior are analyzed in the January 2003 report, revealing several trends in Internet usage. It considers the effects of the Internet on a wide range of people, including consumers, children, and general users. It also discusses how people communicate and gather information online. [CL]
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Sandia National Laboratories: News Center [.pdf]
http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/publications/sandia-technology/index.html
Sandia National Laboratories publishes its quarterly journal of research and development at this Web site. Free to the general public, Sandia Technology summarizes current work related to national security, energy development and infrastructure, and various other advances made at the installation. The fall/ winter 2002 issue centers on sensors for all kinds of purposes. From sensors that monitor water supplies to air-sniffing devices that can detect chemical and biological toxins, Sandia is extremely adept in this area. All back issues of Sandia Technology are also available for browsing, which cover topics such as nuclear power and smart machines. [CL]
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Bridging the Vector Calculus Gap [.pdf, .tex]
http://www.physics.orst.edu/bridge/
A project underway at Oregon State University is attempting "to bridge the 'vector calculus gap' between the way vector calculus is usually taught by mathematicians and the way it is used by other scientists." Six papers and five presentations are available on the project's Web site; the documents explain the importance of the research and propose specific changes to current teaching methods. The Ideas section looks at four topics in calculus and considers how mathematicians approach them differently than other scientists. Some of the material in the Labs section requires a password, but everything else on the site is immediately accessible. [CL]
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Creating High-Level Components with a Generative Representation for Body-Brain Evolution [.pdf]
http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/pdf/alife_8_3_223_0.pdf
The journal Artificial Life from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology deals with virtual and physical creations that simulate life-like behavior. While the entire journal cannot be viewed online, this free sample paper proposes a way to encode artificial creatures based upon fundamental characteristics of programming languages. The paper "identifies a class of representations, called generative representations, and investigates their impact on the problem of evolving locomoting robots." The material is appropriate for researchers investigating similar topics. [CL]
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EROS: The Extremely Reliable Operating System [.pdf, .ps]
http://www.eros-os.org/
The Extremely Reliable Operation System (EROS) "is a capability-based operating system designed to support the security and reliability needs of active systems." The EROS homepage has documentation about the system's development and principles, as well as source code and links to download the software. Developers will find tutorials, installation instructions, and manuals on programming for EROS. John Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania are the two main contributors to the project. [CL]
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Using Geographic Information Systems to Map Crime Victim Services [.pdf]
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/geoinfosys2003/welcome.html
The US Department of Justice released this document in February 2003 about the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in law enforcement. "GIS is an application that links database software to graphics software to create visual images of various types of data in map format." The report outlines the applications of such systems in police cars and at victim assistance facilities, providing examples of situations where it has been used successfully and cases that could have benefited from GIS. Concerns about privacy and confidentiality related to GIS are also identified. [CL]
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Architectures for Intrusion Tolerant Database Systems [.pdf]
http://ist.psu.edu/s2/paper/itdb-archs.pdf
The Cyber Security Group at Pennsylvania State University is developing database software that can detect "attacks by malicious transactions" and repair the database with no interruption. This research paper proposes five different schemes for implementing such a system, with each one building on the previous. Some of the main goals for the schemes are automatic damage repair, attack isolation to prevent multiple attacks of the same type, and damage containment during the repair process. One of the most active faculty members of the research group, Assistant Professor Peng Liu, is the author of this paper, which was presented at a conference in December 2002. [CL]
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Advantage Warfighter: ERDC Research Gives US Forces the Edge [.pdf]
http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/pdf/warfighter.pdf
This report from the US Army Research and Development Center describes new technologies that "assist soldiers as they maneuver, deploy, sustain, survive, and train." Advanced techniques and equipment are highlighted in each of these five categories. For example, the Joint Rapid Airfield Construction program, as the name implies, is working on a method of quickly setting up a base for aircraft to land, possibly in unfamiliar territory. Another project is a protective structural system that can be easily transported and reconfigured. Many more technologies are outlined in the report. [CL]
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