Using computer science in biology research

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Dr. Shaojie Zhang, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Central Florida (UCF), is using a complex computer program to analyze the structural motifs of human RNA. Zhang's work is part of the research group known as the UCF Computation Biology and Bioinformatics Group. Not much is known about RNA, especially compared to the vast knowledge that scientists have obtained about DNA from the Human Genome Project. Yet numerous biological studies have been made from the study of RNA. Zhang believes the specific motif he discovered could be critical to the function of ribosomes in the process of the conversion of RNA to proteins, the process taught in many high school biology classes. Zhang encourages computer science and electrical engineering students to be open-minded to the field of biological-related engineering, since many pharmaceutical companies hire people in these fields as well to analyze their biological data. From Centralfloridaculture.

Over in India the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed a new super computer called 'Biochrome' to help computational biological research. Rajendra Joshi, associate director and head of the bio informatics group, C-DAC, said, "Biochrome cluster can be accessed by researchers from industry and academia for research work. Such a dedicated high performance computing facility is one of the technology enablers, which can accelerate the process of analyzing or data mining and simulation of biological data. This tsunami of data has led to a sea change in the storage and computing requirements. Many biologists are adopting the use of cyber infrastructure." From the Business Standard.

Bioinformatics is a new field of research which combines computer science and software with biology and medicine.

IBM computer in medical applications

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Kohn, chief medical scientist of care delivery systems at IBM Research, gave the audience at FutureMed an in-depth look at the medical applications of Watson, which famously bested human competition in Jeopardy! about a year ago. While this IBM computer now only understands English, in the future it could understand multiple languages, which it can leverage to process even more data. This capability could be used to improve physicians' ability to practice evidence-based care. It could also be employed to help physicians navigate the much-discussed and ever-increasing sea of data. If a patient comes into a hospital complaining of feeling dizzy, Watson could suggest follow-up questions that the doctor could ask the patient to improve the chance of making the right diagnosis. From The Atlantic.

The IBM computer Watson could also could help clinicians sort through electronic health records (EHR) data to find out what is the most relevant to improve patient care. Meanwhile new EHR certification rules proposed by HHS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, will offer physicians and hospitals more flexibility in providing healthcare. Medical can use the same set of clinical quality measures to qualify both for the EHR incentive program and in applications for Medicare by the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS).

Hard Disk decryption protection

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A federal appeals court has ruled that the fifth amendment a la "no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," covers the forced decryption of a hard disk. In United States v. Doe, FBI agents wanted to decrypt hard disks seized from a man they were investigating, but when a grand jury ordered the man to produce the unencrypted contents of those encrypted disks, he invoked his protection under the Fifth Amendment. The court held him in contempt and sent him to jail. "The government's attempt to force this man to decrypt his data put him in the Catch-22 the 5th Amendment was designed to prevent – having to choose between self-incrimination or risking contempt of court," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Marcia Hofmann.

British pub wins case on screening football matches

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The Independent reports that a Portsmouth pub has won a legal battle overturning a previous conviction for violation of copyright laws. The pub landlady Karen Murphy used the Greek station Nova for screening Premier League football matches in her pub, while British broadcaster Sky has the actual copyright over the coverage in the UK. She paid £800 a year for a Greek decoder, saying she couldn't afford Sky's charge of £700 a month.

Mrs Murphy who runs The Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth, Hampshire, took her fight to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after being ordered to pay almost £8,000 in fines and costs. "It's great news for pubs," she said. "I hope it changes the face of football." Her previous conviction had been under section 297(1) of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. The case win was only partial because under the court ruling, while live matches were not protected by copyright - any surrounding media, such as any opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded films showing highlights of recent Premier League football matches and various graphics, were "works" protected by copyright.

Learning to use a computer

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It may seem hard to fathom that there are people even in the developed world who do not know how to operate a computer. 40/29 News reports that the grandmother of an Arkansas teen who went missing says that had she known how to use a computer, she would have tried to monitor her granddaughter's online activity. The NorthWest Arkansas Community College specializes in teaching the older generation how to use computers. "'How do I get on Facebook so I can talk to my grandchildren? How do I get on eBay and look for an unusual item?' We can give these specific directions and just (start from) the basics of how to turn (the computer) on," says Allison-Shiropshire, workplace education coordinator at the college.

In Canada the Montreal Gazette reports that computers are being used to improve general learning in schools. For example, rather than just reading about photosynthesis in a science class, with a computer simulation you can graphically display the increase or decrease in the amount of light or water to dynamically explain the phenomenon. But the problem with using computers as teaching aids is that while teachers in Quebec aren't very familiar with their use, their students are increasingly computer savvy. Therefore teachers have to constantly upgrade their skills with newer computer applications.

For the general population, computer skills are increasingly important because a lot of official work, like filling out tax forms, is done using the Internet. Libraries in the US offer free computer training, from basics like how to type a letter on the computer, use the internet to look something up, open an email account and use it, update your resume, or apply for that job online. More advanced learning is provided on how to use Word or Powerpoint, how to use search engines, and how to find directions on Google maps. Beginners also need to be guarded on how to protect their identity online, protect their computers from virus attacks, and avoid the spammers, fraudsters, and cheats.

Japanese USB hub

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Japanese company Buffalo has manufactured a new kind of USB hub that lets you connect your USB cords facing up or down. No need for trial and error insertions anymore!



In every other way these USB ports function normally, providing USB 2.0 data transfers and power. The Japanese USB hub is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Mac OSX 10.2 onwards and is priced at 1,806yen (US$23). Full story at Japanese PC Watch

Open source Isis browser

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HP's WebOS is a mobile operating system based on a Linux kernel, and the first pieces of this operating system were released to developers in the open source community a few weeks ago. HP has also unveiled the open source Isis browser for the WebOS. Fred Patton, editor-in-chief of the HP webOS Developer Portal, announced the news: "With the power of the components released today, a developer can create an immersive user environment that can be built on any Web platform." According to Fred, Isis is "extremely responsive" in benchmark tests compared with other general-purpose browsers, because of its fast rendering and JavaScript execution.

Isis offers extensive support for the HTML5 and CSS3 standards, Patton said, as well as for Adobe Flash and other Netscape Plug-in API (NPAPI) plugins. The company said the Isis browser was compatible with HP TouchPad devices running webOS 3.0.5.

Rugged laptops for military vehicles

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Rugged laptops deliver and process mission-critical information quickly, while being carried in military vehicles in tough terrain. In aircraft and helicopters they suffer from heavy vibrations, dust, and moisture. These rugged laptops have to be tough enough to survive being dropped. “A lot of improvements are around materials management, improving the durability and survivability of the system; how can we look at the way the plastics are designed to absorb more impact?” explains Joe Trickey, rugged mobility and digital forensics marketing manager at Dell Inc. in Round Rock, Texas. In addition to hardware improvements, new applications are being designed to provide more utility to warfighters. A recent example is the Biometric Automated Toolset (BATS) that scans fingerprints and documents at military checkpoints to keep IDs on suspects and keep track of movement. Panasonic’s Collins describes the BATS as “One of the greatest non-invasive tools available to warfighters.”

From Military & Aerospace

Computer spyware in spy wars

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Cyberwarfare is taking place in the conflict zones of the Middle-East. Symantec Corporation, a US based antivirus technology firm known best for its Norton antivirus software, has analyzed a spyware virus termed "backdoor.breut" which infected the computers of the opposition groups in Syria. Once on the victim's computer, the malware sends sends the information it pillages from infected computers to the IP address: 216.6.0.28 and does not hide this. "We checked the IP address that our engineer referenced and can confirm that it belongs to the STE (Syrian Telecommunications Establishment)," a Symantec representative reports. The malware launches when the user reboots the computer. The regime of the Syrian dictator is using computer spyware in spy wars! Full story at CNN.