Bir süredir sınavlarım dolayısıyla bir şey yazamıyordum, fakat bu süre içerinde tam olarak da boş durdum denemez, şimdi büyük bir heyecanla ilk güzel adımımdan bahsetmek istiyorum. CSE Club (Marmara Üniversitesi Bilgisayar Mühendisliği Kulübü) ve MUIEEE (Marmara Üniversitesi IEEE Mühendislik ve Doğa Bilimleri Kulübü) nin yönetim kuruluna girdim ve bunun ilk meyvesi “cse-dergi” kulüp toplantısında sunduğum bir fikirdi katılım sağlanır mı sağlanmaz mı diye çekincelerimin dışında yine de güveniyordum bir şeyler yapabileceğimize. Hem arkadaşlar hemde kulübümüzün danışman hocasının bu fikre sıcak bakmasıyla böyle bir e-dergi serüvenine başlamış olduk. Bende derginin hem editörü hem de yazarıyım. İlk sayımızı yeniyılla beraber çıkarmayı istiyoruz ve şu anda katılım benim tahmin ettiğimden çok daha iyi durumda. Hatta az önce ilk sayımızın ilk yazısı elime ulaştı, bunları yazarken bile inanın çok heyecanlıyım çünkü Marmara Üniversitesi Bilgisayar Mühendisliği öğrencileri olarak ortaya çok güzel bir çalışma çıkaracağımıza inanıyorum.
Dergimiz henüz çıkmadığı için ayrıntıları şimdiden anlatmak istemiyorum, inşallah Ocak ayında buradan dergimizin linkini yollayacağım:)

Our paper NTrace: Function Boundary Tracing for Windows on IA-32 from WCRE 2009 has now been published on computer.org:

Abstract:

For a long time, dynamic tracing has been an enabling technique for reverse engineering tools. Tracing can not only be used to record the control flow of a particular component such as a piece of malware itself, it is also a way to analyze the interactions of a component and their impact on the rest of the system. Unlike Unix-based systems, for which several dynamic tracing tools are available, Windows has been lacking appropriate tools. From a reverse engineering perspective, however, Windows may be considered the most relevant OS, particularly with respect to malware analysis. In this paper, we present NTrace, a dynamic tracing tool for the Windows kernel, drivers, system libraries, and applications that supports function boundary tracing. NTrace incorporates 2 novel approaches: (1) a way to integrate with Windows Structured Exception Handling and (2) a technique to instrument binary code on IA-32 architectures that is both safe and more efficient than DTrace.

http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/WCRE.2009.12

If you do not feel like reading the paper, you can also take a look at the screencasts:

Part 1. Kernel Mode NTrace:
Tracing NTFS and the I/O manager

Part 2. User Mode NTrace:
Tracing COM loading a DLL

Leadership ≠ Management
Richard Thompson
Nov 16, 2009 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Yesterday evening I attended a talk lead by Dr. Thompson of the Telecom department at the SIS school. The talk was an IEEE sponsored program that focused on defining leadership and clarifying whether management and leadership could be classified as the same concept. He first posed the question, “Is there such a thing as bad leadership?” He argued that bad leadership just isn’t leadership, as in there is no such thing as bad beauty or bad honesty. It is either one but not the other. He then listed some of his favorite leaders, which included George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, among others.
He then spoke about a study done by Yale University in 1961 called the “Milgram’s Experiment.” In this study there were three participants: someone leading the experimenter (designated as the authority figure), a teacher, and a student. The teachers were told that the experiment was designed to test how well students would react to being shocked after reciting an incorrect answer to a question. The shocks would increase in strength, starting at 50 volts, increasing by 50 volts, and would go to a maximum of 450 volts. The hitch was that the experiment was actually being performed on the teachers, where the students were acting out the voltages and the experimenter were measuring how far the teachers would push the voltage just because an “authority figure” was telling them it was OK to do. Out of the 40 participants, only 1 stopped prior to 300 volts, even though it was quite apparent the students were being hurt by each increasing voltage. This experiment demonstrated that when there is a strong “authority figure” participants will continue to blindly be lead as long as they are being told it is OK.
There were many points of interests: one was analyzing various definitions of leadership or the verb “to lead”. Lead, as defined by Webster’s dictionary, starts with three separate terms, either to guide, to direct, or to be designated as the first. Another was how Wikipedia defined their difference between leadership and management and how many thought one was superior to the other, but that finding both qualities simultaneously was a very rare circumstance. Even though this topic was not a typical research colloquium I thought it was incredible stimulating and something to keep mind while progressing through my doctorate degree.

Everything is now cloud computing. (I bought a new cloud connected can opener yesterday, it will tell the grocery store what I am opening on a daily basis and notify can makers if I use the opener incorrectly so they can send a service technician). In fact I was at the animal shelter and they offered me a cloud connected cat.

Interesting concept, cloud computing. Perhaps we should change the name, calling it internal (or company owned) data center solutions and external (someone else owned and managed) data centers.

Like anything in its early stages, cloud computing is screaming for a foundation. That foundation should come from a group like IEEE. The reason for a third part to engage and define the name and process is that it will force people to build their solutions within the initial boxes of “cloud” computing.

One of the things that I feel we should improve during this great cloud transition we are about to undergo is the consistency of solutions. The true value proposition of a cloud solution that you reach out to is that your data is secure but it is also common – in the same format as the other people you are working with.

1. Cloud solutions = this to this (with both this’s being end points)
2. Experimental Cloud solutions = this and beyond or this and beyond (where either this is the end point listed above) and should denote that they are experimental clouds.

Hopefully someone with authority is reading this

.Doc

See the new interface and functionalities for the IEEE Xplore database, which will be unveiled sometime in 2010.  The new changes will include:

• Simpler, cleaner interface
• Improved browsing features – making looking for particular journals and conferences easier
• Enhanced searching capabilities, including faceted browsing and refining

I was reading IEEE Spectrum today and there was a fascinating article on the company Zink.  It’s a company that started with a group of people in the research department of Polaroid, but became its own entity with Polaroid’s bankruptcy.  Zink itself stands for zero-ink, something that Polaroid was pretty known for while I was growing up.  They’ve been developing essentially the next-gen Polaroid paper.  Instead of ink cartridges, the paper itself contains ink crystals, which respond to heat.

After I realized my own inkjet printer is choking on its own ink, I’ll be happy to never have to deal with ink in the future.

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The 6′ 4 pin to 6 pin Belkin IEEE 1394/Firewire cable does exactly what it says it should for relatively cheap. As long as you’re at the 400 MB/s standard as this is, there’s no need to spend $50 on a gold plated connector and superheavy isolation like the Monster cables. Firewire is designed to function up to 15′ without signal degradation, and unlike analog signals the 0 and 1s of digital signals aren’t subject to manipulation by electrical fields. Either they get through or they don’t, so as long as these are certified under the standard you save money by not buying useless frills. It’s shiny translucent silver, not black, but if you care that much about cable color you probably already have your cables hidden anyway.

The 4 pin models work with most electrical powered devices; the 6 pin models usually are for devices that need battery power. (The extra two pins carry current.) For those looking for an adapter for Comcast/Motorola HDTV-ready digital boxes, this is the cable you need. For some reason Motorola decided to use a 6 pin adapter, where almost all HDTVs and DVHS VCRs use a 4 pin. (PCs typically use 6.) I’ve used one for a while now to run flawless 1080i signals between my Comcast HDTV box and my DVHS VCR. Recommended.

This Belkin 6′ IEEE 1394 cable is a very solid cable, with a male 4-pin (“i.Link”) connector on one end and a male 6-pin (“Firewire”) connector on the other. It supports the full speed (400Mbps) of the IEEE 1394 specification, and looks durable.

You should beware of the no free shipping policy on this cable when sold by Amazon — it does not count toward the $25 free shipping promotion. I used 1-click to order this and was charged close to six bucks for shipping. Ouch. Still, the total was much less than the cheapest price elsewhere, on the web or in stores.

On my Brain Robot Blog, I start writing about mind reading using Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). There is a mailing list about it. I found something interesting in IEEE Spectrum about Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) in the 19th century.

Just visit my blog!

Saludos!

Se les invita a todos a pasar por la página de la BIBLIOTECA,             para que accedan la nueva base de datos con temas de Ingeniería de IEEE.

Kent Beck estará dando una conferencia online sobre metodologias Agiles.
Es un poco tarde para los interesados en escucharla pero en compensación voy a tratar de resumir lo visto en el siguiente post.
La conferencia es libre y gratuita gracias a una colaboración entre IEEE Computer Society, Blackduck Software y Wiley-Blackwell.

Extracto:
Agile software development is generally most valuable when used to reduce the release cycle. The key advantage of agile development is being able to more closely track changing business and market needs. The costs and risks of applying agile development are most productively applied to becoming more responsive.

Assuming you are going to release more frequently, what is likely to happen? In this talk I present sketch quarterly deployment, monthly deployment, weekly deployment, daily deployment, and finally hourly deployment, including the technical, social, and business implications.
Fecha: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Hora: 19:00 GMT
Duración: 1 hour

ABSTRACT

A Fixed–power wireless sensor networks are cost effective and prevalent, and they are facing lots of problems like RF interference, node failure from environmental noise and energy constraints. A routing protocol for Fixed – power wireless sensor networks must overcome these problems. Because it have to achieve reliability, energy efficiency and scalability in message delivery. In this paper, we propose an efficient and reliable routing protocol (EAR) that achieves reliable and scalable performance with minimal compromise of energy efficiency. The routing design of EAR is based on four parameters – expected path length and a weighted combination of distance traversed, energy levels and link transmission success history, to dynamically determine and maintain the best routes. We will evaluate the performance of efficient and reliable routing protocols for such networks.

If you are you interested in this seminar topic, mail to us to get

the full report * of the seminar topic.

Mail ID: - contact4seminars@gmail.com 

* conditions apply

– OR –

Click here for Quick Contact (Request for Topics)

ABSTRACT

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become a popular alternative to traditional public-switched telephone network (PSTN) networks that provides advantages of low cost and flexible advanced “digital” features. The flexibility of the VoIP system and the convergence of voice and data networks brings with it additional security risks. These are in addition to the common security concerns faced by the underlying IP data network facilities that a VoIP system relies on. The result being that the VoIP network further complicates the security assurance mission faced by enterprises employing this technology. It is time to document various security issues that a VoIP infrastructure may face and analyze the challenges and solutions that may guide future research and development efforts. In this paper, we examine and investigate the concerns and requirements of VoIP security. After a thorough review of security issues and defense mechanisms, we focus on attacks and countermeasures unique to VoIP systems that are essential for current and future VoIP implantations. Then, we analyze two popular industry best practices for securing VoIP networks and conclude this paper with further discussion on future research directions. This paper aims to direct future research efforts and to offer helpful guidelines for practitioners.

If you are you interested in this seminar topic, mail to us to get

the full report * of the seminar topic.

Mail ID: - contact4seminars@gmail.com 

* conditions apply

– OR –

Click here for Quick Contact (Request for Topics)

In another article in the on-going New York Times series on the risks of using wireless devices while driving, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) indicates that text messaging while driving a truck makes the risk of a crash or near crash event 23.2 times higher than that when not texting.

According to VTTI press release, the study found that the risk of a crash or near crash event was the following:

Light Vehicle/Cars

• Dialing Cell Phone – 2.8 times as high as non-distracted driving
• Talking/Listening to Cell Phone – 1.3 times as high as non-distracted driving
• Reaching for object (i.e. electronic device and other) – 1.4 times as high as non-distracted driving

Heavy Vehicles/Trucks

• Dialing Cell phone – 5.9 times as high as non-distracted driving
• Talking/Listening to Cell Phone – 1.0 times as high as non-distracted driving
• Use/Reach for electronic device – 6.7 times as high as non-distracted driving
• Text messaging – 23.2 times as high as non-distracted driving

VTTI says that it combined several large–scale, naturalistic driving studies (using sophisticated cameras and instrumentation in participants’ personal vehicles) that provided a good understanding of driver distraction and cell phone use under real–world driving conditions. Combined, these studies continuously observed drivers for more than 6 million miles of driving.

The NY Times story also points out that while people understand texting while driving is dangerous, many do so anyway. It cites a AAA survey of 2,501 drivers this spring, of which 95 percent said that texting was unacceptable behavior, yet 21 percent of drivers said they also had recently texted or e-mailed while driving.

Article by Robert Charette for IEEE Spectrum

Cosa starà succedendo all’interno di quelle quattro mura?
E’ una domanda che ognuno di noi si è posto almeno una volta nella vita, invidiando la vista a raggi x di Superman.

Joey Wilson, ricercatore presso la University of Utah, e il suo faculty advisor Neil Patwari, entrambi in attività presso lo SPAN laboratory della principale università di Salt Lake City, hanno provato a dare una risposta grazie all’immagine tomografica radio (RTI) basata sulla varianza, e i risultati dei loro studi dovrebbero presto essere pubblicati anche sull’IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.

Ricordando che la forza di un segnale in ciascun punto di una rete è data dalla somma dei contributi di tutti i cammini che le onde radio possono percorrere per arrivare al ricevitore, l’idea alla base della tecnica proposta dai due ricercatori è che ogni variazione nel volume di spazio attraverso cui i segnali si propagano, come quella che può essere causata dal movimento di una persona, provoca una variazione della forza stessa del segnale nel punto di osservazione. Perciò, interrogando il volume in esame attraverso più segnali, raccolti da più ricevitori, è possibile ricostruire un’immagine del movimento al suo interno.

A differenza di quanto succede nelle applicazioni RADAR, in cui la posizione e la velocità di spostamento di un oggetto sono rilevate grazie all’eco di ritorno dei segnali radio che vi “urtano” contro, l’immagine tomografica radio misura le “ombre” nelle onde radio che si creano quando esse passano attraverso un corpo, e in questo senso è affine alle omonime tomografia assiale computerizzata e tomografia sismica.

Un vantaggio non da poco rispetto a sistemi di immaging ottici o a infrarossi è dato dall’utilizzo di segnali a radio frequenza, in grado di passare attraverso ostacoli, come muri, alberi e fumo.
Inoltre l’immagine tomografica radio non solo può sopperire alle basse prestazioni dei sistemi video in condizioni di scarsa illuminazione ma li può sostituire laddove non sono implementabili per motivi di privacy, visto che l’RTI consente solo di individuare la posizione di una persona, non di identificarla.

Wilson e Patwari hanno testato la loro tecnica attraverso una LR-WPAN (Low Rate – Wireless Personal Area Network, standard IEEE 802.15.4) a 34 nodi al di fuori di un soggiorno tipo, ottenendo risultati attendibili nel raggio di un metro circa.
Questo evidenzia gli attuali limiti di copertura, ma rassicura anche sull’eventuale rischio da bombardamento di onde radio per la salute, in quanto la potenza dei segnali utilizzati è di circa 500 volte inferiore a quella di un cellulare tipo.

I found this cool video (below), provided by IEEE Spectrum Online the other day. Josh Romero, it’s narrator, must have experienced the robot revolution at this year’s NIWeek, as much of the video footage is taken from the Day 3 keynote. Here’s the full, extended version of Dr. Bewley’s talk about the work being done at the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab.

This small treaded robot can climb stairs with ease and balance itself on a point.

Josh brings up a good point in his video: automatic feedback control can be the difference between simple, ordinary robots and incredibly sophisticated dynamic systems. Take Switchblade, for example. The robot performs low-level control on a dedicated, embedded processor (in this case, a 2M gate FPGA on a SingleBoardRIO) to automatically balance itself on a point. There is an additional, real-time processor that performs additional tasks like maneuvering up a flight of stairs. With it being so small and having such a wide spectrum of mobility, it puts search-and-rescue robots like the PackBot to shame. See you at the top of the stairs, PackBot!

Ok, I take that back. Let’s avoid “shaming” PackBot. Please don’t shoot me, PackBot.

Stay tuned for a closer look at how Switchblade works in a future post.

If that title seems a bit LSD-fueled, the subject matter warrants it. Here comes some Chemistry gone wild!

First, have a look at this bizarre video. It stars a soft robot, or chemical robot – “ChemBot.” Even the experienced geeks at IEEE Spectrum are calling it “by far one of the coolest and weirdest robot prototypes we have ever seen.”

This particular prototype by iRobot and University of Chicago researchers was just unveiled, at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems this past week. (More on the conference here.) It was built in response to DARPA’s interest in chemical robots, a program run by Dr. Mitchell Zakin.

The DARPA “ChemBots” page describes the program as creating “a convergence between materials chemistry and robotics through the application of any one of a number of approaches, including gel-solid phase transitions, electro- and magneto-rheological materials, geometric transitions, and reversible chemical and/or particle association and dissociation.”

What’s the anticipated DoD mission use? In DARPA’s words, “With ChemBots, our warfighters can gain access to denied spaces and perform tasks safely, covertly, and efficiently.”  Or, as CNet’s “Crave” gadget blog puts it, “the weird little blob inflates and deflates parts of its body, changing size and shape–and scaring the living daylights out of us. We don’t know exactly when ChemBot will join the Armed Forces, but we can only beg: please, oh please, keep it away from us.”

 Does Mitch Zakin Dream of Electric Sheep?

With that kind of geeky appeal, this video has been gathering some Internet buzz over the weekend, appearing on several tech blogs. But the better story is the scientist behind the science. Several of us have been following Mitch Zakin’s work for a while, primarily because he is also the PM for the Programmable Matter Program — the “novel physics” of “a new functional form of matter, based on mesoscale particles, which can reversibly assemble into complex 3D objects upon external command.”

There is revolutionary promise for such composability in multiple fields, not just defense. Zakin described it several years ago in a speech as “a concept so simple, yet so revolutionary that it pushes even the DARPA envelope. A vision that has profound implications for how we think about chemistry and materials. A vision that could provide our warfighters with meaningful technological surprise.”

Zakin is a demonstrably brilliant scientist, of the sort you expect to find at DARPA. Indeed, in that same speech (“The Next Revolution in Materials“) which he gave at DARPA’s 25th Systems and Technology Symposium a couple of years ago, Dr. Zakin said: “I joined DARPA because it is unfettered by conventional wisdom.” 

One area where he has been exploring beyond traditional boundaries is in developing “the infochemistry project,” which combines the powers of chemistry and information technology. In an exotic illustration, Dr. Zakin is directing a research program on “Chemical Communications,” which I’m not sure I fully understand but which sounds like some sort of holographic persistent Twitter:

The Chemical Communications Program is exploring innovative methods to develop self-powered chemical systems that can encode an input string of alphanumeric characters (i.e., a message), convert the message to a modulated optical signal, and transmit it repetitively to a receiver. 

The ultimate goal of this program is to develop a small replicator device, with the form factor of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or cell phone that―

• Permits the user to input an arbitrary 60-character alphanumeric message.
• Translates the message into an appropriate set of modulated chemistries.
• Embeds these chemistries into a disposable substrate (the transmitter).
• Ejects the substrate for deployment.

The replicator device will enable warfighters to generate disposable optical transmitters in real time, each with a user-specified message.  It will be compact, lightweight, and powered by batteries or solar cells.                        – DARPA website, Chemical Communications Program

With projects like these under his belt, Zakin is credited with reviving the chemistry discipline at DARPA, which had fallen away over the years. But now he’s scheduled to leave the agency in 2010. He is uncertain where he’s heading, but perhaps he can be persuaded to spend some time with like-minded souls in Microsoft Research; I suspect many there would find his infochemistry approach very appealing.  

An interesting profile of Dr. Zakin in the journal Analytical Chemistry notes that “Academia is one option. Venture capitalism is another. Zakin has launched so many basic science research projects that have the potential of becoming commercial products that he says, ‘it’s almost a sin not to look at all that from the other side.’ ”

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