WHAT'S NEW @ IEEE IN COMPUTING

VOLUME 6 NUMBER 12 DECEMBER 2005
Read this issue online:
<http://www.ieee.org/products/whats-new/wncomp/wncomp1205.xml>


6. PERVASIVE COMPUTING CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
The Fourth IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computer and Communications (PerCom) will act as a platform for pervasive computing researchers to swap ideas and interact through a variety of workshops. The conference will place special emphasis on the significance of pervasive computing as the natural outcome of advances in wireless networks, mobile computing, distributed computing, and other technologies, and will provide individual workshops and work-in-progress sessions for attendees who wish to better understand some of the current technologies contributing to these rapid advancements. PerCom will convene in Pisa, Italy, from 13 to 17 March 2006. For more information, or to register to attend, visit:
<http://cnd.iit.cnr.it/percom2006/index.html>

9. COMPUTER GUIDANCE COULD INCREASE SPEED AND ACCURACY IN NEUROSURGERY
A new system of computerized brain-mapping techniques may greatly improve a neurosurgical technique used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis, say its developers at Vanderbilt University. Called deep brain stimulation (DBS), the process involves implanting electrodes deep in the brain, typically one electrode in each hemisphere, a difficult and expensive operation that can take as long as 12 hours per electrode. The new system works from a three-dimensional brain atlas that combines the scans of 21 post operative DBS patients using sophisticated computer-mapping methods, the Vanderbilt team says, then superimposing the atlas on a new patient's scan. The new system automates the most difficult part of the operation: precisely locating pea-sized targets deep in the brain which are not visible in brain scans or to the naked eye, and doing do more quickly and accurately than experienced neurosurgeon, according to researchers writing in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. Read more:<http://www.news-medical.net/?id=14604>

11. SPRAY-ON COMPUTERS IN THE WORKS
According to D.K. Arvind of the Institute for Computing Systems Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, tiny grain-sized network semiconductors could one day be sprayed onto surfaces to give computer access to places out of reach. Dubbed the "Speck-net", each tiny sensor will have its own processor, about two kilobytes of memory, and a program that gives it the ability to extract information from the environment. Each "speck" would be able to communicate wirelessly with one another, to gather information and create a larger picture of a problem. The system is currently under simulation at the Speckled Computing Consortium in the UK. Arvind hopes that one day the Speck-net can be used for real applications, such as detecting structural failures in airborne planes and in helping prevent strokes.