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important example, however, is the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Using GIS, public health officials can create very effective procedures to do their tasks using information technology. Doing a feedback loop they can: measure, plan, act, and measure again. In this manner, officials can

identify a problem (e.g., cancer) by measuring data from a registry. Further, from the health care providers community, they can select a target population С(e.g., breast cancer) and develop an implementation strategy for an

intervention plan with the health care providers. Finally, by measuring again, GIS allows public health officials to evaluate the impact of the implementation plan on that data registry.

иupper respiratory infections [URI]). URIs are markers for some toxic biological agents. Furthermore, community outbreaks of infectious diseases

GIS is thus an information technology which can help improve health

care and public health in many areas such as disease tracking, outbreak

investigations, geostatistical analysis, and routing of health workers. As a

means of tracking, residential zip codes of patients who appear at different

producedбАto provide the likely extent of threats to public health. This mode of forecasting allows for the effective and efficient allocation of health care resources in a community.

clinics can be plotted with signs and symptoms of a selected diagnosis (e.g.,

such as measles can be quickly analyzed then using GIS tools. Color shading

can indicate areas with certain levels of morbidity probability or likeliness of

getting sick. Areas that require immediate interventions such as

immunizations can be depicted by a different shade. Geostatistical analysis is

one of the most powerful tools available to a public health department. With

a relatively small number of sampling points, predictive maps can be quickly Д

GIS can also help create disease focused databases representing

patients from a specific userdefined geographic area. In this fashion, the impact of a toxic release or exposure againstИa target population can be measured. GIS is a powerful tool for supplying immediate visualization of the likely geographic exposures, allows an analyst to examine the various variables that might effect the "fallout" of sprayings and to estimate its extent. Through the use of Computer Aided Design tools and GIS, medical centers as well as clinics are increasingly monitoring their patient care environments to assist managers evaluate risk for highly contagious diseases and implement control and isolation programs.

GIS helps health organizations visualizing diagnostic and geographic information simultaneously and dynamically. Over 14,000 ICD 9 and 10 codes describe medical diagnosis, treatment, and medical events worldwide. Public health clinics, hospitals, managed care, and health insurers use this application to conduct data mining on very large clinical and administrative data warehouses.

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In public health education, GIS can be an analytical tool of choice for health promotions staff when deciding where to target the public health messages and warnings. GIS is also used to create interactive maps for health organizations required to publish information to the public. Health organizations require interactive maps depicting geographical areas and regions where infectious diseases and threats to the public's health are

Сimminent.

иmost secure encryption keys in a package tiny enough to use in a mobile device.

Random number generators are crucial to the encryption that protects our privacy and security when engaging in digital transactions such as buying products online or withdrawing cash from an ATM. For the first time, engineers have developed a fast random number generator

based onбАa quantum mechanical process that could deliver the world's

In The Optical Society's journal, Optica, the researchers report on their fully integrated device for random number generation. The new work represents a key advancement on the path to incorporating quantum-based random number generators - delivering the highest quality numbers and thus

the highest level of security - into computers, tablets and mobile phones. "We've managed to put quantum-based technology that has been used in high profile science experiments into a package that might allow it to be used commercially," said the paper's first author, Carlos Abellan, a doctoral student at ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, a member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Spain. "This is likely just one

example of quantum technologiesДthat will soon be available for use in real commercial products. It is a big step forward as far as integration is concerned."

The new device operates at speeds in the range of gigabits per second,

И

fast enough for real-time encryption of communication data, such as a phone or video calls, or for encrypting large amounts of data traveling to and from a server like that used by a social media platform. It could also find use in stock market predictions and complex scientific simulations of random processes, such as biological interactions or nuclear reactions.

Shrinking the truly random

The random number generators used today are based on computer algorithms or the randomness of physical processes - essentially complex versions of rolling dice over and over again to get random numbers. Although the numbers generated appear to be random, knowing certain

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information, such as how many "dice" are being used, can allow hackers to sometimes figure out the numbers, leaving secured data vulnerable to hacking.

The new device, however, generates random numbers based on the quantum properties of light, a process that is inherently random and thus impossible to predict no matter how much information is known. Although

Сother researchers have developed quantum random number generators, they have all been either larger or slower than the device reported in the Optica paper.

"We have previously shown that the quantum processes taking place иexhibit true randomness," said Valerio Pruneri, who led the collaborative research effort. "In this new paper, we made a huge technological advance by using a new design that includes two lasers that interfere with each other in a confined space. This makes the device smaller while keeping the same propertiesбАthat were used in the past experiments."

Creating a practical device

The researchers used photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology to create two quantum number generators that together measure 6 by 2 millimeters. PIC technology offers a way to integrate photonic components - such as the lasers and detectors used by the new quantum random generator - - onto a chip with a small footprint and low power consumption. Most importantly, PIC-based devices can be integrated with traditional electronics, which could allow the random number generator to be used with the driving, reading and processing electronicsДnecessary for computation or communications.

"We proved that quantum technologies are within practical reach by exploiting PICs," said Pruneri. "Quantum random number generation as well as quantum cryptography and other quantum-based technologies will benefit from PIC-based technology because it allowsИone to build commercial and innovative products. Ours is a first demonstration."

This work was a multi-institutional effort that included researchers from ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, VLC Photonics S.L., Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, ICREA - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats, all in Spain, as well as Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

THE UBIQUITY OF SMARTPHONES AND THEIR

SOPHISTICATED GADGETRY

MAKE THEM AN IDEAL TOOL TO STEAL

SENSITIVE DATA FROM 3-D PRINTERS

That's according to a new University at Buffalo study that explores security vulnerabilities of 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing,

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which analysts say will become a multibillion-dollar industry employed to build everything from rocket engines to heart valves.

"Many companies are betting on 3-D printing to revolutionize their businesses, but there are still security unknowns associated with these

machines that leave intellectual property vulnerable," said Wenyao Xu, PhD, assistant professor in UB's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the study's lead author.

СиAustria.

Xu and collaborators will present the research, "My Smartphone Knows What You Print: Exploring Smartphone-based Side-channel Attacks Against 3D Printers," at the Association for Computing Machinery's 23rd annual Conference on Computer and Communications Security in October in

Not a cyberattack

Unlike most security hacks, the researchers did not simulate a cyberattack. Many 3-D printers have features, such as encryption and watermarks, designed to foil such incursions.

enough dataбАto enable the researchers to replicate printing a simple object, such as a door stop, with a 94 percent accuracy rate. For complex objects, such as an automotive part or medical device, the accuracy rate was lower but still above 90 percent.

Instead, the researchers programmed a common smartphone's built-in sensors to measure electromagnetic energy and acoustic waves that emanate from 3-D printers. These sensors can infer the location of the print nozzle as it moves to create the three-dimensional object being printed.

The smartphone, at 20 centimeters away from the printer, gathered

"The tests show that smartphones are quite capable of retrieving enough data to put sensitive information at risk," says Kui Ren, PhD, professor in UB's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, a co-

which accounted for about 80 percent of the useful data. The remaining data came from acoustic waves.

Ultimately, the results are eye-opening because they show how anyone with a smartphone - from a disgruntled employee to an industrial spy - might steal intellectual property from an unsuspecting business, especially "mission critical" industries where one breakdown of a system can have a serious impact on the entire organization.

"Smartphones are so common that industries may let their guard down, thus creating a situation where intellectual property is ripe for theft," says Chi Zhou, PhD, assistant professor in UB's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, another study co-author.

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Making 3-D printers more secure

The researchers suggest several ways to make 3-D printing more secure. Perhaps the simplest deterrent from such an attack is distance. The ability to obtain accurate data for simple objects diminished to 87 percent at 30 centimeters, and 66 percent at 40 centimeters, according to the study.

Another option is to increase the print speed. The researchers said that Сemerging materials may allow 3-D printers to work faster, thus making it more difficult for smartphone sensors to determine the print nozzle's

movement.

Other ideas include software-based solutions, such as programming the иprinter to operate at different speeds, and hardware-based ideas, such as acoustic and electromagnetic shields.

MOBILE DEVICES THAT SAVE DATA TO THE CLOUD

A new serviceбАdeveloped at Binghamton University, State University of

New York could improve performance of mobile devices that save data to the cloud.

Storage and computing power is limited on mobile devices, making it necessity to store data in the cloud. However, with the myriad of apps from a myriad of developers that use the cloud, the user experience isn't always smooth. Battery life can be taxed due to extended synchronization times and clogged networks when multipleДapps are trying to access the cloud all at the same time.

"We may be using many different apps developed by different developers that make use of cloud storage services, whereas on PCs we tend to use apps offered by the official providers. This app and developer diversity can cause problems due to a developer's inexperienceИand/or carelessness," said Yifin Zhang, assistant professor of computer science at Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Zhang and a team of Binghamton University researchers designed and developed StoArranger, a service to intercept, coordinate and optimize requests made by mobile apps and cloud storage services. StoArranger works as a "middleware system," so there is no change to how apps or an iPhone or Android-device run, just improved performance of both the device and the network overall. Essentially, StoArranger takes cloud storage requests -- either to upload a file or to open a file for editing -- and orders them in the best way to save power, get things completed as quickly as possible and minimize the amount of data used to complete the tasks.

Even though the work could affect millions of mobile devices and users -- e.g. Microsoft's cloud computing and storage system Azure had 10 trillion

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