computers

Jan 6, 2022

This is How Students Can Learn Problem-Solving Skills in Social Studies

An NC State study looked at the outcomes of using computational thinking in social studies.

Sep 24, 2014

Researchers Aim to Improve Educational Software through Speech and Emotion Detection

North Carolina State University researchers have won a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve educational software by enabling it to assess facial expression, body language, speech and other cues to better respond to a student’s emotional state during the learning process. “Educational software can be a valuable tool, but so far…

Sep 9, 2014

Researchers Advance Artificial Intelligence for Player Goal Prediction in Gaming

NC State researchers have developed artificial intelligence software that is significantly better than any previous technology at predicting what goal a player is trying to achieve in a video game. The work holds promise for helping game developers design new ways of improving the gameplay experience.

Aug 12, 2014

Researchers Roll Out Free Software to Advance Computer Chip Design

Engineering researchers have developed new software, called FreePDK15, to facilitate chip design – and are making it freely available in order to foster new research focused on pushing the frontiers of computer technology. “State-of-the-art transistors are now 15 nanometers (nm) long, and you can fit a billion of those transistors on a single chip,” says…

May 5, 2014

Dogs, Technology and the Future of Disaster Response

Imagine a team of humans, dogs, robots and drones swooping onto the scene in the aftermath of a disaster and working together to find and rescue anyone trapped in collapsed buildings. That’s the goal of a team of researchers from around the United States working on what they call the Smart Emergency Response System (SERS).…

Nov 18, 2013

Researchers Design Interactive Software to Target Teen Alcohol Use

If you want teens to avoid risky behavior, you can’t just give teenagers the facts – you have to get them to engage with the information, feel motivated to change, and have the confidence and skills to keep themselves safe. That’s the idea behind a project under way at NC State and the University of California,…

Nov 4, 2013

Many Android Vulnerabilities Can Be Traced to Manufacturer Modifications

Computer security researchers have found that Android smartphone manufacturers are inadvertently incorporating new vulnerabilities into their products when they customize the phones before sale, according to a recent study. On average, the researchers found that 60 percent of the vulnerabilities found in the smartphone models they evaluated were due to such “vendor customizations.” A paper…

Sep 12, 2013

How Computer Models Help Keep the Lights on In Kenya

In Kenya, water is power. Literally. And to keep the lights on, Kenyan authorities want to know how much water they can expect in upcoming rainy seasons. That’s where computer models come in. Fifty-eight percent of Kenya’s power supply stems from the country’s hydropower system in the Tana River basin. That system will shut down…

Aug 8, 2013

Writing the Book on How to Use ‘Big Data’

NC State students wrote the book on analyzing “big data” – sifting useful information out of the sea of business, personal and other data available online and elsewhere. Or at least they’ve written a book about mining that big data. Nagiza Samatova, a professor of computer science at NC State, and four Ph.D. students are co-editors of…

Nov 2, 2012

Researchers ID ‘Smishing’ Vulnerability in Android

Mobile security researchers have identified a new vulnerability in popular Android platforms, including Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. The vulnerability has been confirmed by Google, and will be addressed in a future Android release. Specifically, Xuxian Jiang’s research team at NC State has identified an SMS-phishing (“smishing”) vulnerability. If an Android user downloads an…

Sep 28, 2012

Researchers Unveil New Technique to Detect Bots in Casual Online Games

Casual online games, such as FarmVille and Fantastic Contraption, have thousands of enthusiastic followers – but the use of automated “bots” to give some players an advantage is short-changing the companies behind the games. Now researchers from NC State have developed a new technique to help companies identify these bots, and take action against them. Casual…

Sep 11, 2012

Putting the “Fore” in Forecasting

People love to complain about the weather – and especially about weather forecasters. But real, accurate forecasting beyond five to seven days is immensely complicated, due to the sheer volume of atmospheric processes and factors. Fortunately for us, advances in computing are making it possible for mathematicians, atmospheric scientists and statisticians to create “models of…

Aug 9, 2012

The Future of the Internet Is…a la Carte

A team of researchers from four U.S. universities is poised to lay out the key components for a networking architecture to serve as the backbone of a new Internet that gives users more choices about which services they use. The National Science Foundation (NSF) asked the researchers to design a blueprint for a future version…

Jul 2, 2012

Clickjacking Rootkits for Android: The Next Big Threat?

Mobile security researchers have identified an aspect of Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and earlier models that clickjacking rootkits could exploit. A research team led by Xuxian Jiang at NC State has been trying to identify potential weaknesses in various smartphone platforms as part of an overall effort to stay ahead of attacks from “black hat”…

Jun 26, 2012

Expediting Design Process May Boost Diversity in Multi-Core Processors

Researchers have developed a tool that makes it faster and easier to develop new cores – also known as central processing units – for computer processors. The new tool could spur the development of processors with many different types of specialized cores. “We’re optimistic that expediting this process will unleash innovation in processor design,” says…