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发表于 2011-1-11 21:36:26
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本帖最后由 xuyongchen 于 2011-1-21 18:59 编辑
来推了。
Your computer as an earthquake sensor
By John D. Sutter, CNN
September 17, 2010 -- Updated 1328 GMT (2128 HKT) | Filed under: Innovation
A group put sensors on computers in Christchurch, New Zealand, the site of a recent quake. Points on the map indicate sensors.一个小组将感应器置于新西兰克赖斯特彻奇市的计算机内，这里最近才发生率地震。地图上的定位点表示感应器的位置。
STORY HIGHLIGHTS文章大意
Researchers aim to use laptops to detect earthquakes研究者们计划使用笔记本电脑来探测地震
Sensors inside the computers detect vibrations计算机内的感应器可探究震动
The vibration data from a single computer may not be useful单一计算机的震动数据可能缺乏实际作用
But researchers say large networks of computers could help with warning systems但是研究者们称大型的计算机网络阵对于预警系统将有很大的作用。
RELATED TOPICS相关主题
Earthquakes地震
IBM Corporation IBM公司
Computer Technology 计算机技术
Science and Technology 科技
(CNN) -- The laptop that might be in front of you is an unused earthquake sensor.你眼前的笔记本电脑可能是尚未使用的地震感应器。
If properly employed -- and connected to a large network of similar computers -- it could be used to map out the aftermath of an earthquake quickly, speeding up the work of emergency responders and potentially saving lives.如果恰当使用计算机（当然要接入到网络中），就能很快绘制出地震受灾图(aftermath)，从而提高救灾人员的工作（效率），挽救更多人的生命。
That's the vision put forth by tech researchers and scientists who are trying to "crowdsource" the detection of earthquakes.这一愿景(vision)正在技术研发人员与科学家的共同努力下，得以逐步实现。他们的做法就是，打一场监测地震的“人民战争”（"crowdsource"）！
"The world is just littered with data," said Bob Friedlander, an IBM "master inventor" who is has patented software to analyze seismic data collected by computer hard drives. "The hard part is figuring out what it can be used for."“世界仅仅是被数据弄得支离破碎，”IBM总设计师鲍勃·弗里德兰德（Bob Friedlander）说道，他已经为一种分析由硬盘收集到的地震数据的软件申请了专利。“最困难的部分是发现它可以被用来做什么。”
Here's how the system works:系统工作原理如下：
Many laptops these days are fitted with accelerometers, tiny motion-sensing devices that are used to tell the computer if it's being dropped and should protect itself before hitting the ground.最近很多笔记本装备有加速度计，小型的运动感知设备。这些将被用于告知电脑有无发生掉落并将在碰到地面之前进行自我保护。
Those sensors also detect vibrations. And researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Riverside, have linked more than 1,400 such sensors together as a way to gather data about how the earth is shaking.这些感应器也可以探测震动。斯坦福大学以及加州大学河边分校的研究员们已经连接了1400个这种探测器，作为一种收集地球如何震动数据的方法。
Individually, these sensors don't tell scientists much about earthquakes. If one computer is shaking, the co-worker who just bumped your desk could be to blame. But in aggregate, these crowdsourcing scientists say, all of the data adds up to produce a clear picture of what's happened in a disaster.这些探测器单独不会告诉科学家们太多关于地震的信息。如果一台电脑发生了震动，碰了你的桌子的合作者会被批评。但是总的来看，这些密集数据科学家说道，所有的这些数据将被添加以便生成一幅显示灾难情况的图片。
That may not be as big of a deal in a place such as the San Francisco Bay Area in California, where the ground is planted with much more sensitive seismic instruments that are owned by the government.对于例如旧金山海湾地区这可能不会非常昂贵。该地区被相当多属于政府的地震探测器。
But Elizabeth Cochran, an assistant professor of seismology at the University of California, Riverside, said these networks would prove especially valuable in countries that have virtually none of that expensive seismic equipment.但是Elizabeth Cochran，一位加州大学河边分校的地震学助教伊丽莎白·科克兰（Elizabeth Cochran），认为这些网络将被证明在那些没有昂贵的地震设备的国家更有用。
Cochran is a co-founder of the Quake-Catcher Network, which has deployed networks of computer sensors in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and, most recently, in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck September 3. Cochran's aim there is to record aftershocks.科克兰是 the Quake-Catcher Network的创建者之一。该项目已经在墨西哥，哥伦比亚，智利，以及最近在新泽西州的基督堂市部署了电脑感应器网络。该市九月3日刚刚经历了一场7.0级的地震。Cochran的目标是震后可以留下记录。
Some of the sensors used by the Quake-Shaker Network are already embedded in laptop computers; others are added via USB port to desktop computers that don't have the sensing equipment already. The Quake-Shaker Network项目的部分感应器已经被嵌入笔记本电脑中了；其他的将通过USB接口与那些没有感应器的桌面电脑连接。
Those add-ons are tiny -- about the size of two U.S. quarters -- and cost about $50, she said. Formal seismic equipment can cost from $5,000 to more than $10,000, she said, so these computer networks are much more affordable to countries that are starting from scratch.那些附加设备很小 — 大约两枚1/4美元的尺寸，花费大约50美元，她说道。传统的地震设备将花费5000到10000美元不等，她说，所以这些电脑网络在那些刚刚开始进入这一领域的国家而言非常划算。
"We've had a lot of interest from countries that really can't afford a lot of high-quality seismic stations," she said. "This is one way of getting some semblance of a seismic network going in their country without spending millions of dollars." “我们对于那些无力负担高质量地震基站费用的国家非常感兴趣。”她说道。“这是一种不需要花费数百万美元便能引进一种地震网络的方法。
A desktop-computer sensor, installed in Chile, may be one of the only readings used to determine the exact location of a major February earthquake, Cochran said.一台在智利的台式机感应器可能是读出终端中的一个，它们可以测定一个major February earthquake的准确位置。科克兰说道。
Ideally, she said, networks of thousands of sensors would be placed in large cities. The cost of such a project would be relatively low, she said, since so many laptops have the sensors built in, and since the desktop add-ons are cheap. Her group is investigating how to use smartphones as sensors, too.最理想的情况是数千个感应器组成的网络会被安置在大城市内，她说道。该项目的花费将很低，因为已经有很多笔记本内置了感应器，而且台式机的外设也非常便宜。她的小组正在调研如何把智能手机做成感应器。
Meanwhile, IBM recently patented software that could be used to analyze all of the data the vibrating computers produce.同时，IBM最近为一款能够分析震动的电脑所生成的数据的软件申请了专利。
Researchers said those calculations could be done in less than a minute.研究员们称那些计算可以在一分钟内完成。
There are doubts, however, that these crowdsourced systems will be able to provide data that is valuable to scientists -- an issue that is especially pressing in emergency situations such as an earthquake response.不过，争议尚存。这些密集资源系统能够在诸如地震这类紧急情况下为科学家提供有价值的数据吗？
Laptops and computer hard drives, on their own, are not capable of sensing and relaying useful information about an earthquake, said David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in California.笔记本和硬盘，均没有能力感知并传输关于地震的有效信息，美国加州地质调查局的地震学家戴维·奥本海默（David Oppenheimer）说道。
"I don't think there's any value in casually enlisting the public to install this software and expect to get any really useful seismological or structural data out of it," he said, adding that sensors need to be attached to the ground or to structural parts of a building to give the most useful readings.“我不认为有必要随意的募集公众（资源）安装该软件并期待能够获得任何有用的地震学或结构学的资料。”他说道，感应器需要接触大地或楼房的结构部分以便获得有用的读数。
The desktop computer sensors in the Quake-Catcher Network are attached to the ground, but laptops are not. The Quake-Catcher Network项目的台式机感应器是接触大地的，但是笔记本并不是。
The IBM researchers intend for their system to supplement a national network of formal earthquake sensors. They say more data is always a good thing.IBM的研究员们希望他们的系统可以成为国家地震感应器网络的支援项目。他们认为更多的数据总归是一件好事。
But Oppenheimer said the data from the computers would just clutter people's thinking in the aftermath of an earthquake.但是，奥本海默却认为，来自计算机的数据只会干扰人们对地震后的情况进行分析判断。
"You don't need thousands of stations because the waves are traveling so fast," he said. "Thousands of stations actually complicate the matter because you have so much processing to do. It's overkill and unnecessary." “你们不需要上千台基站因为地震波传输的太快了”他说道，“上千台基站实际上将问题复杂化了因为你们有太多的处理要完成，这是不必要的重复。”
Researchers remain hopeful, though.不过研究员们然持乐观态度。
Jim Kraemer, who also helped develop the IBM software, which has not been named or priced, said tapping into the data that already is out there in the world can only be a good thing. The formal sensing systems are important, he said, but there's power in information from the crowd.吉姆·克雷默（Jim Kraemer）曾经为IBM的软件开发出过力（该软件未立项，无资金投入），他认为深入挖掘世界上已经有的数据只会是好事。原先的感应系统很重要，但是群众信息也很重要。
Data is "flowing by in a stream," he said. "If we can just cup it out and use it, that's what we're looking to do."数据就像“流动的溪流一般”（具有时效性）他说道，“我们想做的就是将其抓住并利用。”
2011-1-18由refla提出两个句子的修改意见。已修改。非常感谢！
2011-1-20由refla提出6条修改意见，修正5条，一条咨询进一步意见。（已修正）非常感谢！ |
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