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important example, however, is the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Using GIS, public health officials can create very effective procedures to do their tasks using information technology. Doing a feedback loop they can: measure, plan, act, and measure again. In this manner, officials can

identify a problem (e.g., cancer) by measuring data from a registry. Further, from the health care providers community, they can select a target population С(e.g., breast cancer) and develop an implementation strategy for an

intervention plan with the health care providers. Finally, by measuring again, GIS allows public health officials to evaluate the impact of the implementation plan on that data registry.

иupper respiratory infections [URI]). URIs are markers for some toxic biological agents. Furthermore, community outbreaks of infectious diseases

GIS is thus an information technology which can help improve health

care and public health in many areas such as disease tracking, outbreak

investigations, geostatistical analysis, and routing of health workers. As a

means of tracking, residential zip codes of patients who appear at different

producedбАto provide the likely extent of threats to public health. This mode of forecasting allows for the effective and efficient allocation of health care resources in a community.

clinics can be plotted with signs and symptoms of a selected diagnosis (e.g.,

such as measles can be quickly analyzed then using GIS tools. Color shading

can indicate areas with certain levels of morbidity probability or likeliness of

getting sick. Areas that require immediate interventions such as

immunizations can be depicted by a different shade. Geostatistical analysis is

one of the most powerful tools available to a public health department. With

a relatively small number of sampling points, predictive maps can be quickly Д

GIS can also help create disease focused databases representing

patients from a specific userdefined geographic area. In this fashion, the impact of a toxic release or exposure againstИa target population can be measured. GIS is a powerful tool for supplying immediate visualization of the likely geographic exposures, allows an analyst to examine the various variables that might effect the "fallout" of sprayings and to estimate its extent. Through the use of Computer Aided Design tools and GIS, medical centers as well as clinics are increasingly monitoring their patient care environments to assist managers evaluate risk for highly contagious diseases and implement control and isolation programs.

GIS helps health organizations visualizing diagnostic and geographic information simultaneously and dynamically. Over 14,000 ICD 9 and 10 codes describe medical diagnosis, treatment, and medical events worldwide. Public health clinics, hospitals, managed care, and health insurers use this application to conduct data mining on very large clinical and administrative data warehouses.

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RANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS

In public health education, GIS can be an analytical tool of choice for health promotions staff when deciding where to target the public health messages and warnings. GIS is also used to create interactive maps for health organizations required to publish information to the public. Health organizations require interactive maps depicting geographical areas and regions where infectious diseases and threats to the public's health are

Сimminent.

иmost secure encryption keys in a package tiny enough to use in a mobile device.

Random number generators are crucial to the encryption that protects our privacy and security when engaging in digital transactions such as buying products online or withdrawing cash from an ATM. For the first time, engineers have developed a fast random number generator

based onбАa quantum mechanical process that could deliver the world's

In The Optical Society's journal, Optica, the researchers report on their fully integrated device for random number generation. The new work represents a key advancement on the path to incorporating quantum-based random number generators - delivering the highest quality numbers and thus

the highest level of security - into computers, tablets and mobile phones. "We've managed to put quantum-based technology that has been used in high profile science experiments into a package that might allow it to be used commercially," said the paper's first author, Carlos Abellan, a doctoral student at ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, a member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Spain. "This is likely just one

example of quantum technologiesДthat will soon be available for use in real commercial products. It is a big step forward as far as integration is concerned."

The new device operates at speeds in the range of gigabits per second,

И

fast enough for real-time encryption of communication data, such as a phone or video calls, or for encrypting large amounts of data traveling to and from a server like that used by a social media platform. It could also find use in stock market predictions and complex scientific simulations of random processes, such as biological interactions or nuclear reactions.

Shrinking the truly random

The random number generators used today are based on computer algorithms or the randomness of physical processes - essentially complex versions of rolling dice over and over again to get random numbers. Although the numbers generated appear to be random, knowing certain

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information, such as how many "dice" are being used, can allow hackers to sometimes figure out the numbers, leaving secured data vulnerable to hacking.

The new device, however, generates random numbers based on the quantum properties of light, a process that is inherently random and thus impossible to predict no matter how much information is known. Although

Сother researchers have developed quantum random number generators, they have all been either larger or slower than the device reported in the Optica paper.

"We have previously shown that the quantum processes taking place иexhibit true randomness," said Valerio Pruneri, who led the collaborative research effort. "In this new paper, we made a huge technological advance by using a new design that includes two lasers that interfere with each other in a confined space. This makes the device smaller while keeping the same propertiesбАthat were used in the past experiments."

Creating a practical device

The researchers used photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology to create two quantum number generators that together measure 6 by 2 millimeters. PIC technology offers a way to integrate photonic components - such as the lasers and detectors used by the new quantum random generator - - onto a chip with a small footprint and low power consumption. Most importantly, PIC-based devices can be integrated with traditional electronics, which could allow the random number generator to be used with the driving, reading and processing electronicsДnecessary for computation or communications.

"We proved that quantum technologies are within practical reach by exploiting PICs," said Pruneri. "Quantum random number generation as well as quantum cryptography and other quantum-based technologies will benefit from PIC-based technology because it allowsИone to build commercial and innovative products. Ours is a first demonstration."

This work was a multi-institutional effort that included researchers from ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, VLC Photonics S.L., Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats, all in Spain, as well as Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

THE UBIQUITY OF SMARTPHONES AND THEIR

SOPHISTICATED GADGETRY

MAKE THEM AN IDEAL TOOL TO STEAL

SENSITIVE DATA FROM 3-D PRINTERS

That's according to a new University at Buffalo study that explores security vulnerabilities of 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing,

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which analysts say will become a multibillion-dollar industry employed to build everything from rocket engines to heart valves.

"Many companies are betting on 3-D printing to revolutionize their businesses, but there are still security unknowns associated with these

machines that leave intellectual property vulnerable," said Wenyao Xu, PhD, assistant professor in UB's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the study's lead author.

СиAustria.

Xu and collaborators will present the research, "My Smartphone Knows What You Print: Exploring Smartphone-based Side-channel Attacks Against 3D Printers," at the Association for Computing Machinery's 23rd annual Conference on Computer and Communications Security in October in

Not a cyberattack

Unlike most security hacks, the researchers did not simulate a cyberattack. Many 3-D printers have features, such as encryption and watermarks, designed to foil such incursions.

enough dataбАto enable the researchers to replicate printing a simple object, such as a door stop, with a 94 percent accuracy rate. For complex objects, such as an automotive part or medical device, the accuracy rate was lower but still above 90 percent.

Instead, the researchers programmed a common smartphone's built-in sensors to measure electromagnetic energy and acoustic waves that emanate from 3-D printers. These sensors can infer the location of the print nozzle as it moves to create the three-dimensional object being printed.

The smartphone, at 20 centimeters away from the printer, gathered

"The tests show that smartphones are quite capable of retrieving enough data to put sensitive information at risk," says Kui Ren, PhD, professor in UB's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, a co-

which accounted for about 80 percent of the useful data. The remaining data came from acoustic waves.

author of the study.	Д
The richest source of information came from electromagnetic waves,
	И

Ultimately, the results are eye-opening because they show how anyone with a smartphone - from a disgruntled employee to an industrial spy - might steal intellectual property from an unsuspecting business, especially "mission critical" industries where one breakdown of a system can have a serious impact on the entire organization.

"Smartphones are so common that industries may let their guard down, thus creating a situation where intellectual property is ripe for theft," says Chi Zhou, PhD, assistant professor in UB's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, another study co-author.

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Making 3-D printers more secure

The researchers suggest several ways to make 3-D printing more secure. Perhaps the simplest deterrent from such an attack is distance. The ability to obtain accurate data for simple objects diminished to 87 percent at 30 centimeters, and 66 percent at 40 centimeters, according to the study.

Another option is to increase the print speed. The researchers said that Сemerging materials may allow 3-D printers to work faster, thus making it more difficult for smartphone sensors to determine the print nozzle's

movement.

Other ideas include software-based solutions, such as programming the иprinter to operate at different speeds, and hardware-based ideas, such as acoustic and electromagnetic shields.

MOBILE DEVICES THAT SAVE DATA TO THE CLOUD

A new serviceбАdeveloped at Binghamton University, State University of

New York could improve performance of mobile devices that save data to the cloud.

Storage and computing power is limited on mobile devices, making it necessity to store data in the cloud. However, with the myriad of apps from a myriad of developers that use the cloud, the user experience isn't always smooth. Battery life can be taxed due to extended synchronization times and clogged networks when multipleДapps are trying to access the cloud all at the same time.

"We may be using many different apps developed by different developers that make use of cloud storage services, whereas on PCs we tend to use apps offered by the official providers. This app and developer diversity can cause problems due to a developer's inexperienceИand/or carelessness," said Yifin Zhang, assistant professor of computer science at Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Zhang and a team of Binghamton University researchers designed and developed StoArranger, a service to intercept, coordinate and optimize requests made by mobile apps and cloud storage services. StoArranger works as a "middleware system," so there is no change to how apps or an iPhone or Android-device run, just improved performance of both the device and the network overall. Essentially, StoArranger takes cloud storage requests -- either to upload a file or to open a file for editing -- and orders them in the best way to save power, get things completed as quickly as possible and minimize the amount of data used to complete the tasks.

Even though the work could affect millions of mobile devices and users -- e.g. Microsoft's cloud computing and storage system Azure had 10 trillion

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objects stored on its servers as of January 2015 - it is only a promising first step in the development of StoArranger, which isn't commercially available. Further research is scheduled for evaluation experiments, and a full paper will be submitted later this year.

"We are planning on developing an app for public use," Zhang said. "We are trying to solve problems without changing operating systems or the Сexisting apps, which makes our solution practical and scalable to existing

smartphone users."

Zhang presented the paper with Binghamton PhD candidates Yongshu

Bai and Xin Zhang, both co-authors of the paper, at theproceedings of the seventh ACM SIGOPS Asia-Pacific Workshopon Systems (APSys '16) in Hong Kong in August.

и proposedбАcould be a practical way to solve the problem."

"The programming committee thought the work presented is a good demonstration of the negative effects of the way that current cloud storage providers chose to deploy their services," said Zhang. "The solution we

This work was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

PLAYING A VIOLENT VIDEO GAME

CAN INCREASE AGGRESSION

Playing a violent video game can increase aggression, and when a player keeps thinking about theДgame, the potential for aggression can last for as long as 24 hours, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE).

Violent video game playing has long been known to increase

aggression. This study, conducted by Brad Bushman of The Ohio State University and Bryan Gibson of Central MichiganИUniversity, shows that at

least for men, ruminating about the game can increase the potency of the game's tendency to lead to aggression long after the game has been turned off.

The researchers randomly assigned college students to play one of six different video games for 20 minutes. Half the games were violent (e.g., Mortal Kombat) and half were not (e.g., Guitar Hero). To test if ruminating about the game would extend the games' effect, half of the players were told over "the next 24 hours, think about your play of the game, and try to identify ways your game play could improve when you play again."

Bushman and Gibson had the participants return the next day to test their aggressiveness. For men who didn't think about the game, the violent video game players tested no more aggressive than men who had played nonviolent games. But the violent video game playing men who thought about

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the game in the interim were more aggressive than the other groups. The researchers also found that women who played the violent video games and thought about the games did not experience increased aggression 24 hours later.

This study is the first laboratory experiment to show that violent video games can stimulate aggression for an extended period of time. The authors noted that it is "reasonable to assume that our lab results will generalize to the 'real world.' Violent gamers usually play longer than 20 minutes, and

Сinvolved in the game.

probably ruminate about their game play in a habitual manner."

But playing video games for an hour each day can improve subsequent performance on cognitive tasks that use similar mental processes to those

иwhere participants matched three identical objects or an agent-based virtual life simulation like The Sims, while others played action games or had to find hidden objects, as in Hidden Expedition.

Non-gamer participants played five different games on their

smartphones for an hour a day, five days of the week for one month. Each

cognitiveбАskills, the authors state that this is the first study that compared multiple video games in a single study and show that different skills can be

participant was assigned one game. Some played games like Bejeweled

After this month of 'training', the researchers found that people who had

played the action game had improved their capacity to track multiple objects

in a short span of time, while hidden object, match three objects and spatial

memory game players improved their performance on visual search tasks.

Though previous studies have reported that action games can improve

improved by playing different games. They add that video games don't appear to cause a general improvement in mental abilities. Rather like muscles that can be trained with repetitive actions, repeated use of certain

	cognitive processes in video games can improve performance on other tasks
	as well.	Д
		И

MECHANICAL FACULTIES

SUSPENSION

When people think of automobile performance, they normally think of horsepower, torque and zero-to-60 acceleration. But all of the power generated by a piston engine is useless if the driver can't control the car. That's why automobile engineers turned their attention to the suspension system almost as soon as they had mastered the four-stroke internal combustion engine.

The job of a car suspension is to maximize the friction between the tires and the road surface, to provide steering stability with good handling and to

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ensure the comfort of the passengers. In this article, we'll explore how car

suspensions work, how they've evolved over the years and where the design

of suspensions is headed in the future.

If a road were perfectly flat, with no irregularities, suspensions

wouldn't be necessary. But roads are far from flat. Even freshly paved

highways have subtle imperfections that can interact with the wheels of a car.

It's these imperfections that apply forces to the wheels. According to

Newton's laws of motion, all forces have both magnitude and direction. A

bump in the road causes the wheel to move up and down perpendicular to the

road surface. The magnitude, of course, depends on whether the wheel is

striking a giant bump or a tiny speck. Either way, the car wheel experiences a

vertical acceleration as it passes over an imperfection.

С

Without an intervening structure, all of wheel's vertical energy is transferred

to the frame, which moves in the same direction. In such a situation, the

wheels can lose contact with the road completely. Then, under the downward

force of gravity, the wheels can slam back into the road surface. What you

иneed is a system that will absorb the energy of the vertically accelerated

wheel, allowing the frame and body to ride undisturbed while the wheels

follow bumps in the road.

The study of the forces at work on a moving car is called vehicle

dynamics, and you need to understand some of these concepts in order to

appreciate why a suspension is necessary in the first place. Most automobile

engineers consider the dynamics of a moving car from two perspectives:

Ride - a car's ability to smooth out a bumpy road

HandlingбА- a car's ability to safely accelerate, brake and corner

These two characteristics can be further described in three important

principles - road isolation, road holding and cornering. The table below

describes these principles and how engineers attempt to solve the challenges

unique to each.

Д

Principle

Definition

Goal

Solution

The vehicle's abilityAllow

the

vehicle

Absorb

energy

Road

to

absorb

or

isolatebody

to

ride

from road bumps

and

dissipate

it

Isolation

road shock from theundisturbedИwhile

passenger

traveling

overwithout

causing

compartment

rough roads

undue oscillation

in the vehicle

The degree to whichKeep

the

tires

inMinimize

the

Road

a

car

maintainscontact

with

thetransfer

of

contact with the roadground,

because

itvehicle

weight

Holding

surface in

variousis

the

frictionfrom side to side

types of

directionalbetween

the

tiresand

front

to

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changes and in

aand the road

thatback,

as

this

straight

lineaffects

a vehicle'stransfer

of

(Example:

Theability

to

steer,weight

reduces

weight of a car willbrake

andthe tire's grip on

С

shift

from the rearaccelerate

the road

tires to the front tires

during

braking.

Because the nose of

the car dips

toward

the road, this type of

motion is known as

"dive." The opposite

effect

-- "squat"

--

occurs

during

acceleration,

which

shifts

the weight

of

иthe car from the

front

tires

to

the

back)

Minimize body roll,

which

occurs

as

centrifugal

forceTransfer

the

pushes

outward

onweight of the car

The

ability

of

Д

aa car's

center

ofduring

cornering

CorneringбАvehicle to travel agravity whilefrom the high

curved path

cornering,

raisingside

of

the

one side of thevehicle to the

vehicle

andlow side

lowering

И

the

opposite side

A car's suspension, with its various components, provides all of the solutions described.

The suspension of a car is actually part of the chassis, which comprises all of the important systems located beneath the car's body.

These systems include:

The frame - structural, load-carrying component that supports the car's engine and body, which are in turn supported by the suspension

The suspension system - setup that supports weight, absorbs and dampens shock and helps maintain tire contact

The steering system - mechanism that enables the driver to guide and direct the vehicle

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	The tires and wheels - components that make vehicle motion possible
	by way of grip and/or friction with the road
	So the suspension is just one of the major systems in any vehicle.
	With this big-picture overview in mind, it's time to look at the three
	fundamental components of any suspension: springs, dampers and anti-sway
	bars.
С		SPRINGS
	Today's springing systems are based on one of four basic designs:
	Coil springs - This is the most common type of spring and is, in
	essence, a heavy-duty torsion bar coiled around an axis. Coil springs
	compress and expand to absorb the motion of the wheels.
	Leaf springs - This type of spring consists of several layers of metal
	(called "leaves") bound together to act as a single unit. Leaf springs were first
	used on horse-drawn carriages and were found on most American
	automobiles until 1985. They are still used today on most trucks and heavy-
	иduty vehicles.
	Torsion bars - Torsion bars use the twisting properties of a steel bar to
	provide coil-spring-like performance. This is how they work: One end of a
	bar is anchored to the vehicle frame. The other end is attached to a wishbone,
	which acts like a lever that moves perpendicular to the torsion bar. When the
	wheel hits a bump, vertical motion is transferred to the wishbone and then,
	through the levering action, to the torsion bar. The torsion bar then twists
		Д
	along its axis to provide the spring force. European carmakers used this
	system extensively,бАas did Packard and Chrysler in the United States, through
	the 1950s and 1960s.
	Air springs - Air springs, which consist of a cylindrical chamber of air
	positioned between the wheel and the car's body, use the compressive
		И

qualities of air to absorb wheel vibrations. The concept is actually more than a century old and could be found on horse-drawn buggies. Air springs from this era were made from air-filled, leather diaphragms, much like a bellows; they were replaced with molded-rubber air springs in the 1930s. Based on where springs are located on a car -- i.e., between the wheels and the frame -- engineers often find it convenient to talk about the sprung mass and the unsprung mass.

The sprung mass is the mass of the vehicle supported on the springs, while the unsprung mass is loosely defined as the mass between the road and the suspension springs. The stiffness of the springs affects how the sprung mass responds while the car is being driven. Loosely sprung cars, such as luxury cars (think Lincoln Town Car), can swallow bumps and provide a super-smooth ride; however, such a car is prone to dive and squat during braking and acceleration and tends to experience body sway or roll

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