University of Bath scientists have developed a biometric system for identifying people based on their nose shape. The researchers used a photographic system called PhotoFace to scan the three-dimensional shape of volunteers’ noses and used software to analyze them according to six main nose shapes. The researchers focused on the ridge profile, the nose tip, and the section between the eyes at the top of the nose. The researchers say their system offers a good recognition rate and a faster rate of image processing than whole face recognition techniques. “The technique is able to achieve a level of detail that is beyond current competing technologies and can be extended to a myriad of other applications, ranging from industrial surface inspection to cosmetics,” says University of West England professor Melvyn Smith. The researchers plan to build a larger database of noses to test the software to see if it can identify individuals from a bigger group of people or from blood relatives.
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Researchers at Tel-Aviv and Zhejiang universities have developed software that identifies the key features of an image based on the color and shape. The elements’ positioning is used to judge a photo, then changed to improve it, says Tel-Aviv’s Lior Wolf. The software uses color and shape to isolate objects in an image. The program then decides which are the most important or salient to the image. “For example, if there are many lines or contrasting colors in a region, then it would have a high saliency score,” Wolf says. These salient features are judged against composition rules commonly included in camera manuals, such as the rule of thirds. The system also tweaks the position of prominent diagonal lines and positions important objects around the central point of the image. The researchers tested the system by manually altering photos to destroy their aesthetics. The software changed the images to make them similar to the originals. The program fits with a recent trend for easy-to-use creative software, says Nanyang Technological University’s Martin Constable.

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The Rugged Software Development Initiative (RSDI) was recently launched by security experts in an effort to ensure that the software writing process includes thinking about security from the very start. RSDI will encourage developers to create resilient software capable of withstanding attacks while performing its normal functions, says The 451 Group’s Joshua Corman, who helped developed the initiative along with OWASP chair Jeff Williams and the Monterey Group’s David Rice. They describe RSDI as a value system for writing secure software, as opposed to a compliance program, and they hope to incorporate the tenets of rugged code development into computer science programs at universities. Unlike other security initiatives, RSDI does not include any new frameworks for secure coding. Instead, Corman says it will serve as an “on-ramp” for secure software development. He envisions the initiative leading to scenarios such as programmers voluntarily pledging to be Rugged software developers or developing an Underwriters Laboratory label for measuring a software’s ruggedness.

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Thales Research and Technology (TRT) researchers have created a development platform that enables applications to tackle the increasing complexity of modern computer systems. Model driven engineering (MDE) is emerging as the most promising paradigm for complex systems, says TRT’s Sebastien Praud. TRT’s MODELPLEX project has developed a platform to handle the entire lifecycle of development, including interoperability, substitutability, and traceability. MDE creates models of the required functions related to the specific domain. Linking the model to the specific domain enables engineers to account for industry-specific needs. The software design refers to real-world functions rather than algorithms, helping non-experts comprehend the information. The model also can go down to any level of detail, from an overview to specific data inputs, functions, and outputs. Praud says MDE will lead to faster software development because programmers have a clear idea of the necessary functions and how it relates to other aspects of the system.

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New modeling software called Qlucore is being used by researchers at King’s College to study how genes react to toxins. The gene-modeling software can sort through thousands of entries in a spreadsheet very quickly and produce results in hours rather than days or weeks, as was the standard with earlier techniques. One gene test can generate 100,000 or more data points, but Qlucore has significantly reduced the time it takes to analyze that data. “We moved within one year from getting one gene a week to getting information on thousands of genes in a matter of hours. That put a lot of challenges to us,” says King’s College’s Thoas Fioretos, Qlucore’s developer. “If you do not have this type of software, it’s like sitting in front of an Excel spreadsheet with 6,000 pages. You cannot find patterns in that, you cannot ask if this gene is expressed with another.” Despite the success of the modeling technique, researchers say their understanding of how genes work together, or even individually, is not yet complete, says King’s College’s Stephen Sturzenbaum.

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The European Union-funded ReDSeeDS project has created a set of tools designed to simplify the development and writing of new software programs by enabling developers to reuse pieces of previously written code. ReDSeeDS has developed a system that enables developers to search a central software repository to extract software “artifacts” from existing systems for use in new systems. ReDSeeDS project coordinator Michal Smialek says previous efforts to build software repositories did not feature the automation of the new system, so there was still a great deal of work involved for software designers. “The big difference with our platform is that it allows you to simply sketch out the requirements of your proposed new system and then these are automatically compared with the requirements and capabilities of existing systems,” Smialek says. “The results are displayed to you with the differences and similarities between the old and new systems highlighted.” The automation allows a developer to pick and choose what software artifacts he wants to take from existing systems and insert into the new system. Although some adaptation work may be needed to make the older pieces work in the new system, Smialek says it is still much faster and more efficient than starting from scratch for each project.

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