ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Mobile apps take students into the laboratory Posted: 28 Jan 2015 09:54 AM PST Mobile apps have proved to be valuable educational tools, but laboratory instructors thus far have been limited to using mobile devices only for virtual laboratories with simulated experiments. Now, researchers have developed a series of mobile applications that allow students to remotely interact with real data and equipment in real laboratories. Students reported deeper engagement levels using mobile apps and the virtual lab.

Pacemakers with Internet connection, a not-so-distant goal Posted: 28 Jan 2015 08:37 AM PST An efficient security protocol has been designed to protect the information provided by pacemakers and similar medical devices connected to the Internet. Thanks to the latest advances in microelectronics and communications technologies, it is not difficult to imagine a future with medical sensors connected to the Internet. Now, thanks to a group of researchers, a little more progress has been made in the area of the remote monitoring of patients by means of implanted sensors.

A robot to help improve agriculture and wine production Posted: 28 Jan 2015 08:37 AM PST Agricultural researchers and computer scientists are working on the development of an unmanned robot, equipped with non-invasive advanced sensors and artificial intelligence systems, which will help manage vineyards. This robot will provide reliable, fast and objective information on the state of the vineyards to grapegrowers, such as vegetative development, water status, production and grape composition.

Researchers use sound to slow down, speed up, and block light Posted: 28 Jan 2015 06:35 AM PST How do you make an optical fiber transmit light only one way? Researchers have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, the phenomenon of Brillouin Scattering Induced Transparency (BSIT), which can be used to slow down, speed up, and block light in an optical waveguide. The BSIT phenomenon permits light to travel in the forward direction while light traveling in the backward direction is strongly absorbed. This non-reciprocal behavior is essential for building isolators and circulators.

Game theory explains social interactions of cancer cells Posted: 28 Jan 2015 05:20 AM PST The interactions of cancer cells may be explained by using game theory. The Public Goods Game is part of game theory and is used in economics as a model to analyze the provision of common goods. There is an imbalance in the consumption of these goods between those that provide them and pay the production costs and those that do not pay but consume anyway -- a situation that is known in economics as the free rider problem. The researchers now applied this model to the cooperation between producing and non-producing members of a cancer cell population, in order to examine if the model is also applicable to biological processes, such as carcinogenesis.

Nanoscale mirrored cavities amplify, connect quantum memories Posted: 28 Jan 2015 05:18 AM PST Constructing tiny "mirrors" to trap light increases the efficiency with which photons can pick up and transmit information about electronic spin states -- which is essential for scaling up quantum memories for functional quantum computing systems and networks.

Maximizing access to mobile networks by seamlessly 'offloading' some traffic Posted: 27 Jan 2015 06:58 AM PST Mathematical analysis reveals how to maximize access to mobile networks by seamlessly ‘offloading’ traffic to smaller Wi-Fi and cellular systems.

Business: Experts urge audit transparency: Many firms outsource audit work Posted: 26 Jan 2015 09:50 AM PST As major accounting companies increasingly outsource audit work to other firms, a new study from the University of Colorado Denver Business School says greater transparency is needed to help investors assess the quality of those audits.

Device for guided surgery of deviations in long bones patented Posted: 26 Jan 2015 08:22 AM PST A device that can be applied in surgeries to correct deviations in long bones has been patented by researchers. The research team found how to use the 3D reconstruction of an affected bone to determine the mathematical formula that in a given case is suitable to design such a device. This device is adjusted to a specific deviated bone and enables a surgeon to set the cutting angle that best suits the bone, and, also, to set the location and orientation of holes that accept the future addition of a corrective prosthesis. It enables realigning the body extremity that is operated on, and also increases precision, shortens the time required for the operation, and improves the operation’s functional results. The device has already been used with success in operations on animals and could have applications in orthopedic surgery on humans.

Stock market changes: Patents provide insight into Wall Street 'technology arms race' Posted: 26 Jan 2015 06:59 AM PST A new study has used US patent data to shed light on the technological roots behind Wall Street's ongoing 'technology arms race.' The way financial assets are traded, and the nature of the markets themselves, has dramatically changed over the last two decades, according to new research.