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LED streetlights best buy for cities, researchers report
University of Pittsburgh researchers have conducted the first cradle-to-grave assessment of light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights and determined that the increasingly popular lamps strike the best balance between brightness, affordability, and energy and environmental conservation when their life span—from production to disposal—is considered. LEDs consist of clusters of tiny, high-intensity bulbs and are extolled for their power efficiency and clear luminosity.
Engineers in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation based in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering compared LED streetlights to the country’s two most common lamps—the high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps found in most cities and metal halide lamps akin to those in stadiums—and the gas-based induction bulb, another emerging technology billed as bright and energy efficient. The team reported that LEDs may carry a formidable price tag, but in comparison to HPS and metal halide lamps consume half the electricity, last up to five times longer, and produce more light. Induction lights proved slightly more affordable and energy efficient than LEDs, but may also have a greater environmental impact when in use. The authors also noted that LED technology exhibits more potential for improvement and may surpass induction lamps in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
NIST develops experimental validation tool for cell phone forensics
Viewers of TV dramas don’t focus on the technology behind how a forensics crime team tracks a terrorist or drug ring using cell phone data, but scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology do. NIST researchers have developed a new technique aimed at improving the validation of a crime lab’s cell phone forensics tools. Early experiments show promise for easier, faster and more rigorous assessments than with existing methods.
Cell phones reveal much about our daily communications—the who, when and what of our calls and texts. A small chip card within most phones, called an identity module, stores this and other data for a subscriber. A subscriber identity module (SIM) accommodates phonebook entries, recently dialed numbers, text messages and cellular carrier information. Forensic examiners use off-the-shelf software tools to extract the data, allowing them to “connect the dots” in a criminal case such as identifying affiliations or detecting mobile phone activity around the time of an event.
But for this information to be used as evidence in court or other formal proceedings, the software tools that forensic teams employ are normally validated to determine suitability for use. Currently, preparing test materials for assessing cell phone tools is labor intensive and may require learning new command languages to perform the process. Read the rest of this entry »
Rethinking artificial intelligence: Researchers hope to produce ‘co-processors’ for the human mind
Posted by wideant in Computer Sciences on December 16, 2009
It is widely accepted that AI has failed to realize many of those lofty early promises. artificial-intelligence research (AI) have spent much of time wandering in the wilderness, swapping hugely ambitious goals for a relatively modest set of actual accomplishments. Now, The new project, launched with an initial $5 million grant and a five-year timetable, is called the Mind Machine Project, or MMP are gearing up for a massive ‘do-over’ of the whole idea. One of the project’s goals is to create intelligent machines — “whatever that means.” MMP group members span five generations of artificial-intelligence research, some of the pioneers of the field, joined by later generations of thinkers. Read the rest of this entry »