Slashdot Mirror
Domain: dur.ac.uk
Stories and comments across the archive that link to dur.ac.uk.
Stories · 11
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First-Person Shooter Modified For Fire Drill Simulation
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator using the Source engine (the 3D game engine used to drive Half-Life 2), and created a virtual model of one of the university's departments. Dr. Shamus Smith said that although 3D modeling software was available, modifying a video game was faster, more cost effective, and had better special effects. 'We were interested in using game technology over a customized application and the Source Engine, from Half-Life, is very versatile,' said Smith. 'We used the simulation to see how people behaved in an actual fire situation and to train people in "good practice" in a fire.' The team says the virtual environment helped familiarize people with evacuation routines and could also help identify problems with a building's layout. One problem, however, was that while the simulation worked for most people, those who played a lot of video games did some unusual things when using the simulation. 'If a door was on fire, [the gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit,' said Smith." This makes me wonder to what extent entertainment software will fill the role of non-entertainment software as the tools and engines become more and more powerful. Ars mentions related news that the US Dept. of Naval Research is dumping millions of dollars into "virtual reality-like simulations of small-scale urban conflicts." It's unclear whether this is related to the US Army's similar program. -
New Map of Carved Up Arctic
thepacketmaster writes "The International Boundaries Research Unit has recently published a new jurisdictional map of the Arctic, using geographic and legal definitions. Now it appears Santa Claus could potentially be Danish. But as pointed out in an article at The Star, more important than St. Nick is 'an area thought to contain one-fifth of the world's undiscovered and recoverable oil and gas resources,' and from this map, Russia has a huge claim in that." -
New Map of Carved Up Arctic
thepacketmaster writes "The International Boundaries Research Unit has recently published a new jurisdictional map of the Arctic, using geographic and legal definitions. Now it appears Santa Claus could potentially be Danish. But as pointed out in an article at The Star, more important than St. Nick is 'an area thought to contain one-fifth of the world's undiscovered and recoverable oil and gas resources,' and from this map, Russia has a huge claim in that." -
Using Computers To Morph Deformed Fossils
crem_d_genes writes "At the University of Buffalo, Tammy Dunlavey, a master degree candidate in the Department of Geology has used a technique called geometric morphometrics to produce restored images of fossils that had been deformed by the processes of preservation. The computer program - 'MsWellwood' (named for a structural geologist) - calculates the degrees and forms of deformations, and should be capable of providing a clearer view of what the organisms looked like when alive." -
EU Says Microsoft's Abuses Are Ongoing
levell writes "Although the legal difficulties Microsoft was having in the US seem to be drawing to a close, it's not yet over in the EU. In this story, the BBC reports that the EU says it is still abusing its monopoly with Windows Media Player, and perhaps more interestingly from a Linux point of view, also in the low-end server market. The story is also being covered on CNN, Ananova, Reuters, etc." The EU's press release is informative. -
Mozilla 1.4RC2 Released
levell writes "Mozilla 1.4RC2 has been released. It looks like the final version of 1.4 may be out soon. It looks good although there are some problems with java on old linux systems (discussed here). 1.4 will be a long lived branch that some distributors will base versions of their own software on (e.g. Netscape planned release, codenamed "buffy"). 1.4 will be the last version of Mozilla released as a suite, after that the switch to separate browser, e-mail etc. applications will take place." -
Anger as a Software Design Philosophy
Chilliwilli writes "Spending more time cursing your code than writing it? Well now there's an answer. feckfeck (a language in the vein of Whitespace and Brainf*ck) will help you get back that precious time by converting your foul words into code. You've heard the hype surrounding VLIWs, well here are FLIWs (4 letter instruction words). The great thing is the more angry you get the more code you'll write. For those programmers on performance related pay this is great news." -
New Whitespace-Only Programming Language
foobarbazquux writes "Introducing whitespace, a language designed to compensate for the "white-space doesn't count" culture of contemporary programming languages. Amaze your friends by hiding programs in your web-pages! Astound colleagues by putting a virus in your text file!" (And for those who prefer obfuscation to invisibility, Koshatul writes "This article in the Sydney Morning Herald, tells of a new programming language which 'makes it impossible to express a security vulnerability in a program's source code.'") -
Nanoscale Magnetic Processors
Gorgeous Si writes "Researchers in the University of Durham Nanoscale Magnetics Group are working on magnetic microchips. These new chips "could be 40,000x better than conventional chips while using 1,000,000 times less energy." I assume this actually means 40,000 times denser than conventional methods allow. Also worth lookig at for the pretty pictures. " -
Nanoscale Magnetic Processors
Gorgeous Si writes "Researchers in the University of Durham Nanoscale Magnetics Group are working on magnetic microchips. These new chips "could be 40,000x better than conventional chips while using 1,000,000 times less energy." I assume this actually means 40,000 times denser than conventional methods allow. Also worth lookig at for the pretty pictures. " -
Nanoscale Magnetic Processors
Gorgeous Si writes "Researchers in the University of Durham Nanoscale Magnetics Group are working on magnetic microchips. These new chips "could be 40,000x better than conventional chips while using 1,000,000 times less energy." I assume this actually means 40,000 times denser than conventional methods allow. Also worth lookig at for the pretty pictures. "