May 2011 - Vol. 54 No. 5

Features

Opinion May 1 2011

A conference paper submission constitutes privileged communication. In theory, reviewers should immediately "forget" what they have read. How could a program committee member not know the fundamental rules of scholarly reviewing?

Moshe Y. Vardi

Computing Applications

Opinion Letters to the editor May 1 2011

Preserve Privacy in Statistical Correlations

Many thanks for Cynthia Dwork's article "A Firm Foundation for Private Data Analysis" (Jan. 2011), explaining why, in trying to formalize what is perfect privacy, we cannot use the late University of Stockholm economist Tore E. Dalenius's criterion.

CACM Staff

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

News May 1 2011

In the Virtual Extension

To ensure the timely publication of articles, Communications created the Virtual Extension (VE) to expand the page limitations of the print edition by bringing readers the same high-quality articles in an online-only format.

CACM Staff

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

BLOG@CACM May 1 2011

Stonebraker on Data Warehouses

Data warehouses are not only increasing in size and complexity, but also in their importance to business. Michael Stonebraker shares 10 key ideas on the topic.

Michael Stonebraker

Computing Applications

Opinion CACM online May 1 2011

Let ACM Help You Find Your Next Job ‘Online’

For the most coveted jobs and for organizations looking to hire experienced and talented workers, few online resources are more valuable than ACM's own Career and Job Center (http://jobs.acm.org), the engine driving the Careers section of Communications Web site.

Scott E. Delman

Computing Applications

News May 1 2011

Sorting Through Photos

Teaching computers to understand pictures could lead to search engines capable of identifying and organizing large datasets of visual information.

Neil Savage

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

News May 1 2011

I, Domestic Robot

With recent advances in laser rangefinders, faster algorithms, and open source robotic operating systems, researchers are increasing domestic robots' semantic and situational awareness.

Gregory Goth

Architecture and Hardware

News May 1 2011

Data Optimization in Developing Nations

Artificial intelligence and machine learning could expand access to health care, improve the quality of education, and respond effectively to natural disasters in the developing world.

Leah Hoffmann

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

News May 1 2011

Deus Ex Machina

Computational metaphysics is helping philosophers answer age-old questions, such as whether God exists.

Marina Krakovsky

Computing Applications

News May 1 2011

Web Science Meets Network Science

A pair of divergent scientific communities discusses their similarities and differences, and search for common ground.

Alex Wright

Architecture and Hardware

Opinion Economic and business dimensions May 1 2011

Online Advertising, Behavioral Targeting, and Privacy

Studying how privacy regulation might impact economic activity on the advertising-supported Internet.

Avi Goldfarb and Catherine E. Tucker

Computing Applications

Online Advertising, Behavioral Targeting, and Privacy illustration

Opinion Education May 1 2011

Reaching Learners Beyond Our Hallowed Halls

Rethinking the design of computer science courses and broadening the definition of computing education both on and off campus.

Brian Dorn

Computing Applications

Reaching Learners Beyond our Hallowed Halls illustration

Opinion Law and technology May 1 2011

Bell Labs and Centralized Innovation

In early 1935, a man named Clarence Hickman had a secret machine, about six feet tall, standing in his office. Hickman was an engineer at Bell Labs, and his invention was, at the time, a device without equal on earth, way ahead of its time.

Tim Wu

Computing Applications

News Interview May 1 2011

An Interview with Steve Furber

Steve Furber, designer of the seminal BBC Microcomputer System and the widely used ARM microprocessor, reflects on his career.

Jason Fitzpatrick

Architecture and Hardware

Opinion Viewpoint May 1 2011

The Importance of Reviewing the Code

Highlighting the significance of the often overlooked underlying software used to produce research results.

Juan A. Añel

Computing Applications

The Importance of Reviewing the Code illustration

Practice May 1 2011

The One-Second War

Finding a lasting solution to the leap seconds problem has become increasingly urgent.

Poul-Henning Kamp

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Practice May 1 2011

Mobile Application Development: Web vs. Native

Web apps are cheaper to develop and deploy than native apps, but can they match the native user experience?

Andre Charland and Brian Leroux

Computing Applications

Mobile Application Development illustration

Practice May 1 2011

Weapons of Mass Assignment

A Ruby on Rails app highlights some serious, yet easily avoided, security vulnerabilities.

Patrick McKenzie

Computing Applications

distorted Marilyn Monroe photo/illustration

Research and Advances Contributed articles May 1 2011

Brain-Computer Interfaces For Communication and Control

The brain's electrical signals enable people without muscle control to physically interact with the world.

Dennis J. McFarland and Jonathan R. Wolpaw

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Contributed articles May 1 2011

The Future of Microprocessors

Energy efficiency is the new fundamental limiter of processor performance, way beyond numbers of processors.

Shekhar Borkar and Andrew A. Chien

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Contributed articles May 1 2011

Privacy-Preserving Network Forensics

Privacy-preserving attribution of IP packets can help balance forensics with an individual's right to privacy.

Architecture and Hardware

Clue game piece and Confidential envelope

Research and Advances Review articles May 1 2011

Proving Program Termination

In contrast to popular belief, proving termination is not always impossible.

Byron Cook, Andreas Podelski, and Andrey Rybalchenko

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights May 1 2011

Technical Perspective: Complex Financial Products: <i>Caveat Emptor</i>

CDOs are examples of financial derivatives, with a value that depends on the underlying assets with which they are linked. These kinds of complex financial products are the cause célèbre of the financial crisis, and many have called for their regulation or even elimination.

David C. Parkes

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights May 1 2011

Computational Complexity and Information Asymmetry in Financial Products

Securitization of cash flows using financial derivatives transformed the financial industry over the last three decades. Derivatives have attracted criticism, but others say problems with derivatives would disappear with use of more accurate financial models, more vigilance by buyers and better governmental oversight.

Sanjeev Arora, Boaz Barak, Markus Brunnermeier, and Rong Ge

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights May 1 2011

Technical Perspective: Images Everywhere Looking For Models

About 5,000 images per minute are uploaded to the photo-sharing site http://www.flickr.com/; over 7,000,000 a day. Such images often look noisy, blurry, and with the wrong colors or contrast.

Guillermo Sapiro

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights May 1 2011

Self-Similarity-Based Image Denoising

The search for efficient image denoising methods is still a valid challenge at the crossing of functional analysis and statistics. In spite of the sophistication of the recently proposed methods, most algorithms have not yet attained a desirable level of applicability.

Antoni Buades, Bartomeu Coll, and Jean-Michel Morel

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Last byte May 1 2011

Puzzled: Games, Roles, Turns

Welcome to three new puzzles. Solutions to the first two will be published next month; the third is (as yet) unsolved. In each, the issue is how your intuition matches up with the mathematics.

Peter Winkler

Research and Advances Contributed articles: Virtual extension May 1 2011

Challenges and Business Models For Mobile Location-Based Services and Advertising

Mobile advertising will become more pervasive and profitable, but not before addressing key technical and business challenges.

Subhankar Dhar and Upkar Varshney

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Contributed articles: Virtual extension May 1 2011

Is Open Source Security a Myth?

We became accustomed to acquiring software by procuring licenses for a proprietary, immaterial object. However, in recent years, this habit has begun to be accompanied by a model characterized by software that comes with a compilable source code. This is "open source software."

Guido Schryen

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Contributed articles: Virtual extension May 1 2011

Invisible Work in Standard Bibliometric Evaluation of Computer Science

Most of a computer scientist's production can go uncounted if a standard bibliographic service is used.

Jacques Wainer, Siome Goldenstein, and Cleo Billa

Computing Applications

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