Bus CCTV could predict assaults

CCTV security systems could soon spot an assault on a bus before it happens, according to a major research project.

The system, part of which has already been tested in laboratory conditions, looks for suspicious behaviour associated with crime.

It would be able to send live CCTV pictures to operation rooms, from where controllers would be able to intervene.

The Queens University Belfast team say the software could make a significant impact on crime on transport.

Although much of the work is currently at the theoretical stage, the team from the university’s newly-founded Centre for Secure Information Technologies predict that within five years their software will be able to profile people as they board a bus.

The system would then compare who it thinks these people are, and what they are doing, with more general data on the bus’s location, time of day and historic crime rates.

Once it has sifted this data, it could be able to conclude whether someone is about to commit an assault and send live pictures to controllers.

Dr Paul Miller, head of the research project, said there were millions of CCTV cameras in the UK doing very little to fight crime.

“Their impact on anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour is negligible – assaults on buses are a major problem and very little CCTV material is analysed in real-time,” he said.

Dr Miller said the 15-strong team were still developing initial databases to identify an individual’s gender and body shape.

via BBC NEWS | Technology | Bus CCTV could predict assaults.

Brilliant. And if the computer deems the person a sufficient threat, built in stun guns could zap them unconscious when they sit in the seat. If they do not sit, or if the person of a particular ethnicity reaches into his or her pocket to get some “gum”, for example, the computer could decide to shoot them in the head, killing them instantly with swivel mounted guns which would be built in to several locations on the bus.  I feel so much safer.

G20 protesters blasted by sonic cannon

US police spark outrage by using wartime acoustic weapon to disperse G20 protesters in Pittsburgh

Friday, 25 September 2009

Only a few hundreds protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh to mark the opening day of the G20 summit of world leaders, but the police were taking no chances.

Sonic weapons or long-range acoustic devices have been used by the US military overseas, notably against Somali pirates and Iraqi insurgents.

But US security forces turned the piercing sound on their own citizens yesterday to widespread outrage. Pittsburgh officials told the New York Times that it was the first time “sound cannon” had been used publicly.

The sonic weapon appear to be more effective than the Metropolitan police’s highly contentious kettling tactics used against G20 protesters in London. But it is equally controversial.

It is feared the sounds emitted are loud enough to damage eardrums and even cause fatal aneurysms.

via UTV News – G20 protesters blasted by sonic cannon.

Pittsburgh police on Thursday used an audio cannon manufactured by American Technology Corporation (ATCO), a San Diego-based company, to disperse protesters outside the G-20 Summit — the first time its LRAD series device has been used on civilians in the U.S.

An ATC sales representative confirms to DailyFinance that Pittsburgh police used ATC’s Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). “Yes, we sold one LRAD unit to a government agency — I don’t know which one — which was used in Pittsburgh,” the representative said. American Technology Corp.’s stock was trading up over 15 percent in heavy activity late Friday.
ATC calls itself “a leading innovator of commercial, government, and military directed acoustics product offers” that offers “sound solutions for the commercial, government, and military markets.”

Pittsburgh officials said yesterday they believe this to be the first use of a LRAD “sonic cannon” against civilians in U.S. history.

“The police fired a sound cannon that emitted shrill beeps, causing demonstrators to cover their ears and back up,” The New York Times reported. For years, similar “non-lethal” products designed by ATC have been used at sea by cruise ships to ward off pirates.

“LRAD creates increased stand off and safety zones, supports resolution of uncertain situations, and potentially prevents the use of deadly force,” ATC spokesperson Robert Putnam told DailyFinance. “We believe this is highly preferable to the real instances that happen almost every day around the world where officials use guns and other lethal and non-lethal weapons to disperse protesters.”

Still, Putnam acknowledged the potential for physical harm. “If you stand right next to it for several minutes, you could have hearing damage,” he said. “But it’s your choice.” He added that heavy-duty ear-phones can render the weapon less effective. – dailyfinance

35 Million Americans on Food Stamps: 12 Percent of U.S. Population on Food Stamps Highest Since Records Kept in 1969.

… This is the highest percentage of Americans receiving food stamps since records started being kept back in 1969.  The average person receiving assistance now receives $133 per month but even a number this low with such a high number of participants is costing the government $56 billion on an annualized basis.

Here are the top 5 states:

-1. Texas –                 3.068 million participants

-2. California -           2.99

-3. New York -           2.57

-4. Florida -                1.77

-5. Illinois -                1.71

What is telling with the data above is that Texas has 24 million people while California has 37 million yet Texas has more people receiving food stamps. Florida and Illinois have nearly the same amount of participants although Florida has 18 million people while Illinois has 13 million people.

When we look at food stamp participation we see the real pain in the economy. I drive around many local areas in California. In many lower to middle class areas you will see department store traffic down to levels unseen in decades. Yet if you look at local dollar stores they are booming with traffic. People are asking about tent cities or soup lines but some of the “hidden” pain is mitigated by people simply buying at lower priced stores. After all, you can buy a loaf of bread, some sliced ham, a few cans of soup, and feed your family for a week. Although this is living on the margins you won’t be starving either but might explain why we haven’t seen a gigantic jump in tent cities or soup lines.

Yet there is a significant jump in traffic to local charities and shelters as you would expect in any deep recession. Those receiving food stamps will pump practically all the money back into the local economy. With $133 a month there isn’t much you can do. Yet it might be enough to provide a tiny buffer. I can only imagine how our country would look like right now if there were no food stamps or unemployment insurance. Can you imagine 35 million people out on the street in the United States of America?

via 35 Million Americans on Food Stamps: 12 Percent of U.S. Population on Food Stamps Highest Since Records Kept in 1969..

How would Einstein use e-mail?

You’re not as different from Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin after all, at least when it comes to patterns of correspondence.

A new Northwestern University study of human behavior has determined that those who wrote letters using pen and paper — long before electronic mail existed — did so in a pattern similar to the way people use e-mail today.

The study, published today (Sept. 25) by the journal Science, demonstrates the similarity of these two seemingly different activities, with the underlying pattern of human activity linking letters and e-mails.

The researchers examined extensive letter correspondence records of 16 famous writers, performers, politicians and scientists, including Einstein, Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Ernest Hemingway, and found that the 16 individuals sent letters randomly but in cycles.

The same mathematical model the Northwestern team used in a previous study to explain e-mail behavior now has been shown to apply to the letter writers. This refutes the rational model, which says that people are driven foremost by responding to others.

No matter what their profession, all the letter writers behaved the same way. They adhered to a circadian cycle; they tended to write a number of letters at one sitting, which is more efficient; and when they wrote had more to do with chance and circumstances than a rational approach of writing the most important letter first.

“We are interested in identifying and understanding patterns of human behavior, in learning how we make choices,” said Luís Amaral, professor of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Amaral led the research. “There are patterns to how we spend our days, and these models of probability, of how people allocate their time to do certain tasks, can be applied to many different areas.”

“People are not that rational,” added Amaral, who also is an Early Career Scientist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

via How would Einstein use e-mail?.

Infant pain, adult repercussions

… Endogenous opioid peptides, such as beta-endorphin and enkephalin, function to inhibit pain. They’re also the ‘feel good’ substances that are released following high levels of exercise or love. Since these peptides are released following injury and act like morphine to dampen the experience of pain, LaPrairie and Murphy tested to see if the rats, who were injured at birth, had unusually high levels of endogenous opioids in adulthood.

To test this hypothesis, LaPrairie and Murphy gave adult animals that were injured at the time of birth a drug called naloxone. This drug blocks the actions of endogenous opioids. After animals received an injection of naloxone, they behaved just like an uninjured animal.

The scientists then focused on the periaqueductal gray region to see if inflammation at birth altered the natural opioid protein expression in this brain region. Using a variety of anatomical techniques, the investigators showed that animals that were injured at birth had endogenous opioid levels that were two times higher than normal.

While it’s beneficial to decrease pain sensitivity in some cases, it’s not good to be completely resilient to pain.

“Pain is a warning sign that something is wrong,” Murphy explained. “For example, if your hand is in water that’s too hot, pain warns you to remove it before tissue damage occurs.”

Interestingly, while there is an increase in endorphin and enkephalin proteins in adults, there is also a big decrease in the availability of mu and delta opioid receptors. These receptors are necessary in order for pain medications, such as morphine, to work. This means that it takes more pain-relieving medications in order to provide relief as there are fewer available receptors in the brain. Studies in humans are reporting the same phenomenon.

The number of invasive procedures an infant experienced in the NICU is negatively correlated with how responsive the child is to morphine later in life; the more painful procedures an infant experienced, the less effective morphine is in alleviating pain.

The study by LaPrairie and Murphy has major implications for the treatment of infants in neonatal intensive care. On average, a prematurely born infant in a neonatal intensive care unit will experience 14 to 21 invasive procedures a day, including heel lance, insertion of intravenous lines, and intubation. All of these procedures are quite painful and are routinely conducted without prior analgesics or anesthetics.

“It’s imperative that pain be treated,” Murphy said. “We once assumed that a newborn infant is insensitive to pain, and this is clearly not the case. Even at that period of time, the central nervous system is able to respond to pain, and our studies show that the experience of pain completely changes the wiring of the brain in adulthood.” ….

via Infant pain, adult repercussions.

Comprehensive Understanding of Bacteria Could Lead to New Insights into Many Organisms

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), University of California, San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and other institutions have constructed a complete model, including three dimensional protein structures, of the central metabolic network of the bacterium Thermotoga maritima (T. maritima). This is the first time scientists have developed such a comprehensive model of a metabolic network overlaid with an atomic resolution of network proteins. The analysis of the model, among others, highlights the important role of a small number of essential protein shapes, lending new insights into the evolution of protein networks and the functions within these networks. The study was published in the journal Science on September 18.

Combining biochemical studies, structural genomics and computer modeling, the researchers deciphered the shapes, functions and interactions of 478 proteins that make up T. maritima’s central metabolism. The team also found connections between these proteins and 503 unique metabolites in 562 intracellular and 83 extracellular metabolic reactions.

“We have built an actual three dimensional model of every protein in the central metabolic system,” said Adam Godzik, Ph.D., director of Burnham’s Bioinformatics and Systems Biology program. “We got the whole thing. This is analogous to sequencing an entire genome.”

With this data, scientists can simulate metabolism simultaneously on a biochemical and molecular level. This information has the promise to expand computer modeling to allow investigators to simulate the interactions between proteins and various compounds in an entire system. Furthermore, the procedure developed in this study could be applied to study many other organisms, including humans.

via Comprehensive Understanding of Bacteria Could Lead to New Insights into Many Organisms [Jacobs School of Engineering: News & Events].

Ants vs. worms: Computer security mimics nature

In the never-ending battle to protect computer networks from intruders, security experts are deploying a new defense modeled after one of nature’s hardiest creatures — the ant.

Unlike traditional security devices, which are static, these “digital ants” wander through computer networks looking for threats, such as “computer worms” — self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines. When a digital ant detects a threat, it doesn’t take long for an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate.

The concept, called “swarm intelligence,” promises to transform cyber security because it adapts readily to changing threats.

“In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully,” explains Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp, an expert in security and computer networks. “They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system.”

Current security devices are designed to defend against all known threats at all times, but the bad guys who write malware — software created for malicious purposes — keep introducing slight variations to evade computer defenses.

As new variations are discovered and updates issued, security programs gobble more resources, antivirus scans take longer and machines run slower — a familiar problem for most computer users.

Glenn Fink, a research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., came up with the idea of copying ant behavior. PNNL, one of 10 Department of Energy laboratories, conducts cutting-edge research in cyber security.

Fink was familiar with Fulp’s expertise developing faster scans using parallel processing — dividing computer data into batches like lines of shoppers going through grocery store checkouts, where each lane is focused on certain threats. He invited Fulp and Wake Forest graduate students Wes Featherstun and Brian Williams to join a project there this summer that tested digital ants on a network of 64 computers.

Swarm intelligence, the approach developed by PNNL and Wake Forest, divides up the process of searching for specific threats.

“Our idea is to deploy 3,000 different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat,” Fulp says. “As they move about the network, they leave digital trails modeled after the scent trails ants in nature use to guide other ants. Each time a digital ant identifies some evidence, it is programmed to leave behind a stronger scent. Stronger scent trails attract more ants, producing the swarm that marks a potential computer infection.”

via WFU | Window on Wake Forest | Ants vs. worms: Computer security mimics nature.

Embryo mix-up woman gives birth

A US woman who was implanted with the wrong embryo in a fertility treatment mix-up has given birth to a boy.

Carolyn Savage and her husband Sean said in a statement that the baby was delivered at St Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio.

Mrs Savage, who had been told about the mix-up in February, said the family was “going through a very difficult time”.

The Savages have decided to give the baby to his biological parents, Shannon and Paul Morell from Michigan.

The Savages, who have three children, offered their “heartfelt congratulations” to the Morells.

‘Nightmare’

“Our family is deeply grateful for the support and prayers of so many people from around the world,” the Savage statement said.

“We also would like to thank the medical professionals who provided superior care and treatment throughout the pregnancy and delivery.”

Mrs Savage, 40, said earlier this week that her husband told her the news of the mix-up in February, after receiving a phone call from the clinic that had implanted the embryo.

“I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in my life. It was such a nightmare and, in a way, I felt violated,” Carolyn was quoted as saying by CNN.

via BBC NEWS | Americas | Embryo mix-up woman gives birth.

Water Confirmed on the Moon

… Archived data from Cassini, which passed by the moon in 1999 on its way to Saturn, provided confirmation of this water/hydroxyl signal. The water would have to be absorbed or trapped in the glass and minerals at the lunar surface, Roger Clark of the U.S. Geological Survey wrote in a study detailing Cassini’s findings.

The Cassini readings show a global distribution of the water signal, though it also appears stronger near the poles (and low in the lunar maria).

Finally, the Deep Impact spacecraft, as part of its extended EPOXI mission, made infrared detections of water and hydroxyl as well. Those observations were made at the request of the M3 team, as part of a calibration exercise during several close approaches of the Earth-moon system en route to its planned flyby of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 in November 2010.

Deep Impact detected the signal at all latitudes above 10 degrees N, though once again, the poles showed the strongest signals. With its multiple passes, Deep Impact was able to observe the same regions at different times of the lunar day. At noon, when the sun’s rays were strongest, the water feature was lowest. The feature was strongest during the lunar morning.

“The Deep Impact observations of the moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water/hydroxyl] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day,” the authors wrote in their study.

The findings of all three spacecraft “provide unambiguous evidence for the presence of hydroxyl or water,” Paul Lacey of the University of Hawaii said in an essay accompanying the three studies. Lacey was not involved in any of the missions.

The new data “prompt a critical reexamination of the notion that the moon is dry. It is not,” Lacey wrote.

Combined, the findings show that the moon’s hydration process is a dynamic one, driven by the daily changes in solar radiation hitting any given spot on the surface.

The sun might also have something to do with how the water got there.

Where the water comes from

There are potentially two types of water on the moon: icy material brought from outside sources, such as water-bearing comets striking the surface, or water that has its source on the moon. This endogenic water may arise from the interaction of the solar wind with moon rocks and soils. – msn

Martian Ice Confirmed, Exposed by Meteorite Impacts

Meteorites recently striking Mars have exposed deposits of frozen water not far below the Martian surface. Pictures of the impact sites taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that frozen water may be available to explorers of the Red Planet at lower latitudes than previously thought.”This ice is a relic of a more humid climate from perhaps just several thousand years ago,” says Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona, Tucson.Byrne is a member of the team operating the orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, which captured the unprecedented images. Byrne and 17 co-authors report the findings in the Sept. 25 edition of the journal Science.

[Images]: A fresh, 6-meter-wide, 1.33-meter-deep crater on Mars photographed on Oct. 18, 2008, and again on Jan. 14, 2009, by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera. The bright material is ice, which fades from Oct. to Jan. because of sublimation and obscuration by settling dust.

“We now know we can use new impact sites as places to look for ice in the shallow subsurface,” adds Megan Kennedy of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, a co-author of the paper and member of the team operating the orbiter’s Context Camera.

So far, the camera team has found bright ice exposed at five Martian sites with new craters that range in depth from approximately half a meter to 2.5 meters (1.5 feet to 8 feet). The craters did not exist in earlier images of the same sites. Bright patches darkened in the weeks following initial observations, as freshly exposed ice vaporized into the thin Martian atmosphere.

The finds indicate water-ice occurs beneath Mars’ surface halfway between the north pole and the equator, a lower latitude than expected in the dry Martian climate.

During a typical week, the spacecraft’s Context Camera returns more than 200 images of Mars that cover a total area greater than California. The camera team examines each image, sometimes finding dark spots that fresh, small craters make in terrain covered with dust. Checking earlier photos of the same areas can confirm a feature is new. In this way, the team has found more than 100 fresh impact sites. …

via Nasa.gov