Monday 3 June 2019

Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity

To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated an experimental technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline, from acquisition to delivery, using artificial intelligence (AI).

* This article was originally published here

Research group finds way to turn plastic waste products into jet fuel

A research group led by Washington State University scientists has found a way to turn daily plastic waste products into jet fuel.

* This article was originally published here

In the aftermath of company scandals, auditors charge higher fees or leave

When thousands of fake Wells Fargo accounts came to light in 2016, the media scrutinized everyone behind the scandal, with the bank's external auditor, KPMG, sharing print space in nearly every article. A new study from researchers at University of Colorado Denver, Bentley University, and Northeastern University found that the media blowback related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) scandals is now landing on the shoulders of financial auditors. With their reputations increasingly tied in with the companies that contract their work, auditors are now increasing their fees or leaving altogether in the wake of company misconduct

* This article was originally published here

An AI taught itself to play a video game and now it's beating humans

Since the earliest days of virtual chess and solitaire, video games have been a playing field for developing artificial intelligence (AI). Each victory of machine against human has helped make algorithms smarter and more efficient. But in order to tackle real world problems—such as automating complex tasks including driving and negotiation—these algorithms must navigate more complex environments than board games, and learn teamwork. Teaching AI how to work and interact with other players to succeed had been an insurmountable task—until now.

* This article was originally published here

To tackle child labor, start with consumers

Consumer education campaigns that raise awareness about the use of child labour in global supply chains can be an effective countermeasure against the practice, according to new research published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

* This article was originally published here

Simplifying soft robots

A soft robot developed by researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) could pave the way to fully untethered robots for space exploration, search and rescue systems, biomimetics, medical surgery, rehabilitation and more.

* This article was originally published here

REPLAB: A low-cost benchmark platform for robotic learning

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a reproducible, low-cost and compact benchmark platform to evaluate robotic learning approaches, which they called REPLAB. Their recent study, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, was supported by Berkeley DeepDrive, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Google, NVIDIA and Amazon.

* This article was originally published here

The dangers of being a people-pleaser

(HealthDay)—Being thoughtful and caring are great qualities to have, but if you go out of your way to get people to like you, you could be a people-pleaser, with unfortunate consequences for your own well-being.

* This article was originally published here

A deep neural network that can maximize or minimize coloring to blend into or stand out against a background

A team of researchers at the University of Bristol has developed a deep learning neural network that can identify the best way to minimize or maximize coloring to allow for blending into a background or standing out. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team describes their network and possible uses for it.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers uncovers promising cancer target for liposarcoma

A study conducted by a team of researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore has revealed a close association between liposarcoma (LPS), a type of cancer that develops from fat cells, and the bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) protein family.

* This article was originally published here

Using a simulation framework to study spine behaviors of quadruped robots

Researchers at the Robert Bosch center for cyber physical systems in Bangalore, India, have recently proposed a simulation framework to systematically study the effects of spinal joint actuation on the locomotion performance of quadruped robots. In their study, outlined in a paper pre-published on arXiv, they used this framework to investigate the spine behaviors of a quadruped robot called Stoch 2 and their effects on its bounding performance.

* This article was originally published here

K-Athena: a performance portable magnetohydrodynamics code

Running large-scale simulations is a crucial aspect of modern scientific research, yet it often requires a vast amount of computational resources. As we approach the era of exascale computing, which will be marked by the introduction of highly performing supercomputers, researchers have been trying to develop new architectures and codes to meet the huge computational requirements of our times. An important property to consider when developing codes for the exascale computing era is performance portability, which prevents the repeated, non-trivial refactoring of a code for different architectures.

* This article was originally published here