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Trust In The Online Environment Link The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has produced a study which says "creating an online environment which builds trust amongst the users of ICT networks is an increasing priority for business,industry and governments and has been on the OECD agenda since the late 1990s." The aim of this report is to undertake a review of the data available from official, semi-official and private sources which can assist in informing developments and progress in this area. There is a need to be able to use relevant data to assess the effectiveness of public and private initiatives aimed at building trust among users. This is increasingly important as access to, and use of, the Internet continues to grow across the OECD area." Further,"One of the conclusions which can be drawn from the data gathered together in this report is that the direct economic costs of phenomena related to trust,such as security and privacy, are growing rapidly." [ permanent link to this entry ]
Mini Robots To Undertake Major Tasks? Link For some years now, the MICRON project team, funded by the European Commission’s FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) has set out to build a number of 'micro robots', just cubic centimetres in size. These micro-robots, with specific applications ranging cell manipulation to micro assembly, were designed as part of a networked system, otherwise known as a swarm. Individually, the robots are not very intelligent, or for that matter useful. As part of a collaborative system, controlled by a central robot control system they're a precise and very functional tool. In addition to the pure utility of the 'bots' themselves, their development has also brought forth a range of custom applications. One example being a wireless powering system, or as it is known, the "power floor," which allows the robot to get energy from its surroundings, by using a coil system to transmit the electricity through the air. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Nanofood Guidelines Link The Institute of Food Science & Technology has identified possible deficiencies in current regulations concerning the impact of nanotechology on food and packaging. Given how the word “nanoparticle” is often defined, one could say that a lot of our food is naturally made of nanoparticles. In an information statement issued this month, the UK-based institute argues that more safety data are needed before nanoparticles can be used in foods or food packaging materials. Current regulations address such substances by chemical makeup, not size — and size makes a difference in how ingredients behave inside the body. Even if these early guidelines are not perfect, they give us a starting point for further discussion. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Biology Inspires Perceptive Machines Link The European Sensemaker project is working to crack one of computer science's more perplexing problems -teaching a machine to sense its environment. It combined streams of sensory data to produce an adaptive, composite impression of surroundings in near real-time. The team brought together electronic engineers, computer scientists, neuroscientists, physicists, and biologists. It looked at basic neural models for perception and then sought to replicate aspects of these in silicon. SENSEMAKER took its inspiration from nature by trying to replicate aspects of the brain's neural processes, which capture sensory data from eyes, ears and touch, and then combines these senses to present a whole picture of the scene or its environment. For example, sight can identify a kiwifruit, but touch can help tell if that kiwifruit is ripe, unripe or over-ripe. [ permanent link to this entry ]
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