CITRIS

UCSC scientist Marilyn Walker has been looking hard at how humans express themselves, not just at what they say–but also at how they say it–in an effort to develop algorithms that will enable computer animations to employ those same techniques to express themselves more richly and compellingly.

Opinion Space, launched on the Department of State’s main website on March 15, is an analysis and visualization tool  that employs dimensionality reduction algorithms to depict thousands of opinions on several issues in one simple, two-dimensional animated illustration.

California is highly dependent on groundwater to satisfy fresh water demands, but supplies are increasingly stressed and groundwater in many basins is overdrafted, leading to resource degradation and loss of storage. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is strategy by which excess surface water is infiltrated into the ground in natural or engineered structures, often as part of a broader effort to conjunctively manage and enhance linked surface water and groundwater resources.

There has been some debate regarding whether we are currently experiencing a nuclear energy renaissance. There are currently 10 contracts to build the Westinghouse AP1000: 4 in China and 6 in the US.

As electronic devices become smaller in volume and more specialized in functionality, a paradigm shift in energy storage design and manufacture is beginning to emerge and can be realized with the development of simple, low-cost, solutions-based processing methods to incorporate custom energy buffers directly onto a device.

Marilyn Walker’s research focuses on natural language processing, computer games, and the human-computer interaction.

One of the most pervasive technologies in the world –especially for the developing communities– comes in the form of mobile communication devices and associated services.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) for large scale bridges has been practiced over 10 years in Hong Kong, The SHM system for the new Stonecutters Bridge incorporates 1,505 sensors.

This presentation discusses the uses and limitations of these models for courts and agencies. Climate scientists have created a unique institutional system for assessing and improving models, going well beyond the usual system of peer review. Consequently, their conclusions should be entitled to considerable credence by courts and agencies.

The finalists in this year’s Big Ideas competition will present posters, and the winners are announced.

Are we investing too little in information security? Are we investing too much? Since Anderson and Varian posed these questions in 2002, much progress has been made in understanding rational decision-making in information security.

California ISO operates much of the California power grid. The ISO works with federal regulators, State agencies and market participants to conduct grid planning, improve system operations, and adapt wholesale markets for energy and ancillary services in anticipation of achieving a 20% renewable portfolio standard (by about 2013) and then a 33% renewable portfolio standard by 2020.

Although the Smart Grid promises to help meet goals of energy efficiency and renewability, incorporating IT into the electric grid poses new and substantial risks to individual privacy. At the same time, Smart Grid deployment is proceeding along a path that could make it difficult for individuals to control the flow of information about their energy use while also raising barriers in the market for in-home smart devices.

The collection of new data in any discipline does not, in general, lead to the creation of new knowledge. As a stream of data transforms to a deluge, the human role in scientific discovery, traditionally so important, must be partially fulfilled by powerful algorithms.

This talk will describe long-term trends in the electrical efficiency of computation that enabled the development of laptops and other mobile computing devices. If these trends continue, they presage continued further improvements in battery powered computers, sensors, and controls.

These days, GPS is used by all of us, and our application space is partially spanned by the following far-flung examples. Several hundred million GPS chip sets were shipped as part of cell phones last year, where they added about $2 to the bill or materials. These will support consumer applications like location specific advertising.

While there has been significant press attention towards the “smart grid”, there has been little public discussion of what a smart grid is, and the follow on question of why is it necessary. To many, smart grid means smart meters; however, meters are the tip of iceberg. Unravel the mystery as SDG&E, one of the leading utilities in the smart grid arena nationwide, provides a definition of the smart grid and, more importantly why it is imperative, particularly in California.