Information Technology

Microchip miniaturization is making quality control-related measurement of features during the production process increasingly difficult. New National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) software and research results* should help manufacturers reduce errors in measuring microchip features which today measure less than 37 nanometers (about 1.5 millionths of an inch) in width and are expected to shrink to 25 nanometers (about 1 millionth of an inch) by 2007.

Currently, most semicondu

Project will examine potential for artificial intelligence

A project jointly led by Cardiff University and Salford University will examine whether it is possible for a computer to make a judgement about the acoustic quality of a space, such as a concert hall or pop music arena.

Professor Jonathon Chambers of the School of Engineering at Cardiff and Professor Trevor Cox at Salford’s Acoustics Research Centre aim to discover whether an artificial intelligence system could

’Virtual’ technology could change how experiments are done

Tidewater Community College has found a groundbreaking way to “virtualize” real-life experiments through cutting-edge software programs. Determined to mine the latest technology for better – and affordable – learning methods, professors in TCC’s electronic engineering technology (EET) program have succeeded in bringing “virtual instruments” to life for their students.

The result: a virtually functionin

An error in a spreadsheet or Web page calculation sounds harmless enough, unless you’re the person whose retirement funds, credit history or medical treatment rely on decisions based on that calculation. A six-campus team of computer scientists led by Margaret Burnett at Oregon State University is working to help exterminate the bugs that infest the spreadsheets and other “programs” created by millions of computer users. You may not think of yourself as a programmer, but that’s jus

Computer security – or the apparent lack of it – is increasingly a worry for network administrators. But viruses and other such vulnerabilities are no mystery for Europe’s Computer Security Incident Response Teams, now also finding their feet in the European Union’s newest Member States.

Creating and managing Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) is just one of the topics at this year’s Computer Security Incident Handling Conference. Organised by FIRST (Forum of

The fastest known cryptographic system based on transmission of single photons—the smallest pulses of light—has been demonstrated by a team at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The transmissions cannot be intercepted without detection, so that messages encrypted with the system can be kept secret.

The NIST “quantum key distribution” (QKD) system transmits a stream of individual photons to generate a verifiably secret key–a random seri