computers

Jun 13, 2012

Creating An Online Portal Into the Medieval World

Perhaps it is fitting that students and scholars interested in the medieval world have to grapple with fiefdoms in order to find information dating to the period – though that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. But the days of searching through scattered online resources will soon be history. Researchers are in the process of… 

May 22, 2012

Announcing the Android Malware Genome Project

Mobile security researchers are announcing a global effort to share data on malware targeting the Android platform, in an effort to improve our ability to defend against such attacks. The Android Malware Genome Project is the brainchild of Xuxian Jiang, a researcher at NC State who has already collected over 1,200 pieces of Android malware. The… 

May 9, 2012

Pursuing a Future for STEM Equality

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sina Bahram, a Ph.D. student in computer science at NC State who was honored as a “Champion of Change” by the White House May 7 for his efforts to make STEM accessible to people with disabilities. This post first ran on the White House blog. I would like… 

Mar 12, 2012

Local and Mobile

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Adriana de Souza e Silva, associate professor of communication in NC State’s Department of Communication, who is chairing an international conference, Local and Mobile, for researchers and students of mobility studies. We no longer enter the Internet. Instead, we carry it with us. We experience it as we… 

Dec 16, 2011

Trivial Pursuits: The Abstract’s 2011 Quiz

The Abstract staff will be taking off for a couple of weeks to prepare for 2012. In an attempt to amuse and entertain ourselves you, we’ve pulled together a quick quiz on some of the research we’ve written about over the past year. See how you do! Questions: 1). Until recently, researchers thought Greece was… 

Dec 14, 2011

Helping Museums Pursue Interactive Technology

In an attempt to better engage and educate the public about everything from space exploration to art history, museums are becoming increasingly interactive. But many museums lack the resources or expertise to take full advantage of emerging technologies. What to do? Researchers from NC State and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences are working to… 

Nov 4, 2011

Want To Study New Kinds Of Wireless Systems? Build Your Own

The idea of wireless mesh networks, which expand the reach of traditional Wi-Fi, is not new. But a lot of fundamental questions still need to be addressed (think design and security). To address those questions, one team of computer science researchers has decided to build their own mesh network – and to share that system… 

Nov 1, 2011

How Will Players Respond To Game Changes? Do The Math

Can user responses to changes in one game predict the response to changes in a different game? Apparently there’s math involved. When it comes to video games, imitation can be dangerous. If one game makes changes that players love, there’s no guarantee that players of a different game would welcome the same changes. So, do… 

Sep 2, 2011

Teaching A Computer To Have A Conversation Just Got Easier

Researchers have come up with a computer program that improves efficiency for authors creating natural language generation (NLG) systems. In other words, it is now easier for programmers to teach a computer how to write in lay English. NLG systems are used in an enormous number of applications, from video games and online tutorials to… 

Aug 31, 2011

Making Refactoring Tools More Attractive For Programmers

Researchers have come up with a new way to give programmers access to refactoring tools, hopefully making the process more intuitive and making it more likely that programmers will use the tools. Refactoring is when you change the structure of a piece of a code without changing what the code actually does – you might… 

Aug 30, 2011

Time Machine: See and Hear John Donne Preach (Sort Of)

While the time machine has not yet been invented to transport us back to 17th century England, a researcher named John Wall is attempting to use modern technology to do the next best thing – recreating an important scene involving politics, religion and literary figure John Donne. Best of all, he’s hoping to make it… 

Aug 25, 2011

Advances In Forensic Anthropology: Creating A Face

Note: This is the third of three posts outlining recent technological advances in forensic science, which were the focus of a workshop held earlier this month at NC State. The workshop, Advances In Forensic Anthropology, was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and organized by the National Forensic Science Technology Center. When trying to… 

Aug 23, 2011

Advances In Forensic Anthropology: Database For The Unidentified

Note: This is the second of three posts outlining recent technological advances in forensic science, which were the focus of a workshop held earlier this month at NC State. The workshop, Advances In Forensic Anthropology, was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and organized by the National Forensic Science Technology Center. When a loved… 

Aug 19, 2011

Advances In Forensic Anthropology: 3D-ID

Note: This is the first of three posts outlining recent technological advances in forensic science, which were the focus of a workshop held earlier this month at NC State. The workshop, Advances In Forensic Anthropology, was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and organized by the National Forensic Science Technology Center. Sometimes law enforcement… 

Aug 18, 2011

DroidKungFu Malware Evolves Again, Becomes More Difficult To Detect

DroidKungFu is continuing to evolve, with researchers detecting a new generation of the Android malware that incorporates new mechanisms to mask it from users and security software. This is the third version of DroidKungFu to be identified in the past two months. Like the previous generations of DroidKungFu, the latest iteration takes advantage of two…