Community Technology Previews -

a device driver – дра́йвер - компьютерная программа, с помощью которой другая программа (обычно операционная система) получает доступ к аппаратному обеспечению некоторого устройства.

Windows Aero - это комплекс технических решений, применяемый в операционных системах Microsoft Windows Vista и Windows 7. Название является акронимом от Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.

peer-to-peer – децентрализованный

a digital media – носитель информации

NET Framework - программная технология, предназначенная для создания как обычных программ, так и веб-приложений (в качестве платформы для разработок впервые предложена корпорацией Microsoft).

API - Application programming interface - Интерфейс программирования приложений. Набор готовых констант, структур и функций, используемых при программировании пользовательских приложений и обеспечивающих правильное взаимодействие между пользовательским приложением и операционной системой.

a vulnerabilit y – уязвимость. В компьютерной безопасности, термин уязвимость используется для обозначения недостатка в системе, используя который, можно нарушить её целостность и вызвать неправильную работу

a susceptibility - восприимчивость, чувствительность

a malware - вредоносная программа - mal icious - злонамеренный и soft ware - программное обеспечение - злонамеренная программа, то есть программа, созданная со злым умыслом и/или злыми намерениями.

a buffer overflow - переполнение буфера - явление, возникающее, когда компьютерная программа записывает данные за пределами выделенного в памяти буфера.

digital rights management - технические средства защиты авторских прав - чаще программные, реже программно-аппаратные средства, которые затрудняют создание копий защищаемых произведений (распространяемых в электронной форме), либо позволяют отследить создание таких копий.

User Account Control – UAC - управление учетными записями пользователей. Компонент Microsoft Windows, впервые появившийся в Windows Vista. Этот компонент запрашивает подтверждение действий, требующих прав администратора, в целях защиты от несанкционированного использования компьютера. Администратор компьютера может отключить UAC в панели управления.

 

 

The Molecule Computer

High performance computing specialist Silicon Graphics has created a concept computer called Molecule using mostly off-the-shelf consumer electronics components that packs in 10,000 cores into a single rack. While the computer sounds like a powerhouse, it isn't real. But it’s a demonstration of how chips and memory using in personal computers can be brought together to create a powerhouse, says SGI. Engineers at the company's research labs say they drew up the system to show how consumer electronics technologies could be applied to overcome some of the limits supercomputers face today.

The Molecule computer can handle 20,000 threads of execution, about 40 times more than a single rack x86 cluster system and was designed around an Intel Atom N330 chip, says SGI. The computer would offer the computing power and memory bandwidth of more than 750 high-end PCs, yet it would consume less than half the power and less than 1.4 percent of the physical space. "The Molecule concept computer balances processor speed, sustained memory bandwidth and power consumption," says SGI in a statement. Most general purpose supercomputers have up to 512 cores in a rack but can expand to tens of thousands of CPUs. The largest supercomputers use up to 100,000 cores - or even more - spread across hundreds of racks to deliver very high floating point performance and application flexibility. The SGI Molecule concept computer is focused more on memory bandwidth, density and riding the evolution of consumer CPUs, says the company. ~1281

 

Comments:

off - the - shelf - готовый; имеющийся в наличии на складе

a powerhouse - источник энергии

a с luster - группа

SGI – (Silicon Graphics Incorporation) - создал в 1982 году Джим Кларк и Эбби Сильверстоун как компанию по производству графических терминалов.

a s ustained memory – продолжительная память

The Internet

The Internet is a magnificent global network with millions and millions of computers and people connected to one another where each day people worldwide exchange an immeasurable amount of information, electronic mail, news, resources and, more important, ideas.

It has grown at a surprising rate. Almost everyone has heard about it and an increasing number of people use it regularly. The current estimate is that over 70 million people are connected, in some way, to the Internet - whether they know it or not.

With a few touches at a keyboard a person can get access to materials in almost everywhere. One can have access to full-text newspapers, magazines, journals, reference works, and even books. The Web is one of the best resources for up-to-date information. It is a hypertext-based system by which you can navigate through the Internet. Hypertext is the text that contains links to other documents. A special program known as «browser» can help you find news, pictures, virtual museums, electronic magazines, etc. and print Web pages. You can also click on keywords or buttons that take you to other pages or other Web sites. This is possible because browsers understand hypertext markup language or code, a set of commands to indicate how a Web page is formatted and displayed.

Internet Video conferencing programmes enable users to talk to and see each other, exchange textual and graphical information, and collaborate.

Internet TV sets allow you to surf the Web and have e-mail while you are watching TV, or vice versa. Imagine watching a film on TV and simultaneously accessing a Web site where you get information on the actors of the film. The next generation of Internet-enabled televisions will incorporate a smart-card for home shopping, banking and other interactive services. Internet-enabled TV means a TV set used as an Internet device.

The Internet is a good example of a WAN. For long-distance or worldwide communications computers are usually connected into a wide area network to form a single integrated network. Networks can be linked together by telephone lines or fibre-optic cables. Modern telecommunication systems use fibre-optic cables because they offer considerable advantages. The cables require little physical space, they are safe as they don't carry electricity, and they avoid electromagnetic interference.

Networks on different continents can also be connected via satellites. Computers are connected by means of a modem to ordinary telephone lines or fibre-optic cables, which are linked to a dish aerial. Communication satellites receive and send signals on a transcontinental scale. ~ 2214

 

 

Comments:

a smart- card - смарт-карта, представляет собой пластиковую карту со встроенной микросхемой. В большинстве случаев смарт-карты обычно содержат микропроцессор, операционную систему, контролирующую устройство и доступ к объектам в его памяти.

WAN ( wide area network ) - глобальная вычислительная сеть, ГВС представляет собой компьютерную сеть, охватывающую большие территории и включающую в себя десятки и сотни тысяч компьютеров.

a fibre- optic cable – оптоволоконный кабель.

a n interference – интерференция, помехи.

a dish aerial – полусферическая, параболическая антенна.

 

 

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB. Recent development by Pioneer has pushed the storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using 20 layers.

Blu-ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. The format also has support from all Hollywood studios and countless smaller studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of catalog titles every month. For more information about Blu-ray movies, check out our Blu-ray movies and Blu-ray reviews section which offers information about new and upcoming Blu-ray releases, as well as what movies are currently available in the Blu-ray format. ~ 2045

 

Comments:

a high- definition (HD) – высокая четкость

DVD – ( Digital Versatile Disc— цифровой многоцелевой диск; также Digital Video Disc – цифровой видеодиск) - носитель информации, выполненный в виде диска, внешне схожий с компакт-диском, однако имеющий возможность хранить больший объём информации за счёт использования лазера с меньшей длиной волны, чем для обычных компакт-дисков.

DVD-R - (Recordable - записываемый) был самым первым стандартом записываемых DVD. Благодаря этому DVD-R диски сегодня совместимы с наибольшим количеством устройств записи и считывания DVD. Они являются носителями однократной записи. Информация, записанная на них один раз, изменена быть не может.

DVD+R - э то самый младший из существующих форматов DVD. Он основан на технологии DVD+RW и является ее вариантом с однократной записью.

DVD - RW – (ReWritable — перезаписываемый) представляет собой более современную технологию, основанную на DVD-R. Диски DVD-RW предоставляют возможность перезаписи не менее 1000 раз.

DVD+ RW -. (ReWritable — перезаписываемый). Позволяют осуществлять перезапись не менее 1000 раз. При использовании DVD+RW процесс записи может быть приостановлен и возобновлен без потери областей, связывающих сеансы записей (в отличие от DVD-RW).

DVD - RAM - (Read Access Memory — память с произвольным доступом). Отличается от всех остальных наличием картриджа, внутри которого сам диск и находится. Производитель гарантирует, по меньшей мере, 100 000 циклов перезаписи.

CD – compact disc- компакт-диск - оптический носитель информации в виде диска с отверстием в центре, информация с которого считывается с помощью лазера.

a n aperture - отверстие

a release - релиз, выпуск в свет

 

Computer Graphics

Computer graphics are pictures and drawings produced by computers. A graphics programme interprets the input provided by the user and transports it into images that can be displayed on the screen, printed on paper or transferred to microfilm. In the process the computer uses hundreds of mathematical formulas to convert the bits of data into precise shapes and colours. Graphics can be developed for a variety of uses including illustrations, architectural designs and detailed engineering drawings.

Mechanical engineering uses sophisticated programs for applications in computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). In the car industry CAD software is used to develop, model and test car designs before the actual parts are made. This can save a lot of time and money.

Basically, computer helps users to understand complex information quickly by presenting it in more understandable and clearer visual forms. Electric engineers use computer graphics for designing circuits and in business it is possible to present information as graphics and diagrams. These are certain to be much more effective ways of communicating than lists of figures or long explanations.

Today, three-dimensional graphics along with colour and computer animation are supposed to be essential for graphic design, computer-aided engineering (CAE) and academic research. Computer animation is the process of creating objects and pictures which move across the screen; it is used by scientists and engineers to analyze problems. With appropriate software they can study the structure of objects and how it is affected by particular changes.

A graphic package is the software that enables the user to draw and manipulate objects on a computer. Each graphic package has its own facilities, as well as a wide range of basic drawing and painting tools. The collection of tools in a package is known as a palette. The basic geometric shapes, such as lines between two points, arcs, circles, polygons, ellipses and even text, making graphical objects are called “primitives”. You can choose both the primitive you want and where it should go on the screen. Moreover, you can specify the «attributes» of each primitive, e.g., its colour, line type and so on. The various tools in a palette usually appear together as pop-up icons in a menu. To use one you can activate it by clicking on it.

After specifying the primitives and their attributes you must transform them. Transformation means moving or manipulating the object by translating, rotating and scaling the object.

Translation is moving an object along an axis to somewhere else in the viewing area. Rotation is turning the object larger or smaller in any of the horizontal, vertical or depth direction (corresponding to the x, у and z axis). The term «rendering» describes the techniques used to make your object look real. Rendering includes hidden surface removal, light sources and reflections.~ 2482

 

 

Comments:

computer- aided design (CAD) - система автоматизированного проектирования (САПР) - программный пакет, предназначенный для создания чертежей, конструкторской и/или технологической документации и/или 3D моделей.

computer - aided manufacturing (CAM) - подготовка технологического процесса производства изделий, ориентированная на использование ЭВМ. Под термином понимаются как сам процесс компьютеризированной подготовки производства, так и программно-вычислительные комплексы, используемые инженерами-технологами.

computer- aided engineering (CAE) - общее название для программ или программных пакетов, предназначенных для инженерных расчётов, анализа и симуляции физических процессов. Расчётная часть пакетов чаще всего основана на численных методах решения дифференциальных уравнений.

a palette – палитра, цветовая гамма

a polygon - многоугольник

a pop- up icon – всплывающее окно

a rendering – изложение, интерпретация

JPEG

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a lossy compression technique for color pictures. Pronounced "jay-peg", JPEG is an ISO/IEC group of experts that creates and maintains standards for a suite of compression algorithm for computer image files.

JPEG standards help image files to be compressed to around five percent of their original size, though some details are lost during compression. The commonly used file extensions for the JPEG format are.jpg,.jpeg,.jfif,.or jpe.

The extension JPEG specifies only how an image is transformed into a stream of bytes. JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format), another standard developed by the Independent JPEG Group, specifies how to create a file suitable for computer storage and transmission (like sending through the Internet) from a JPEG stream. There are also other JPEG-based file formats including JNG and the TIFF format which can carry JPEG data as well.

JPEG Image Formats

JPEG/JFIF is one of the most popular image formats used for storing and transmitting images on the Internet. The main reason behind this popularity is the extremely effective compression offered by the JPEG file formats. This compression enables people to quickly transmit (send or receive) image files over the Internet.

JPEG performs best on photographs and paintings of realistic scenes with smooth variations of color and tone. JPEG is not frequently used for charts, line drawings, and other iconic or textual graphics. This is because the compression method used by JPEG can distort these images. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) and GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) are used for these types of graphics. Since GIF has only eight bits per pixel, it is not well suited for color images. PNG can be used to losslessly store images; but the large size of PNG files makes it unsuitable for transmitting over the Internet.

JPEG Compression

JPEG is a lossy compression method performed using discrete cosine transformation, where some data from the original picture is lost. Though the amount of compression depends upon the original image, ratios of 10:1 to 20:1 do not typically cause noticeable loss in the original image.

In the JPEG compression method, compression is done by splitting the original image into minute pixel blocks, which are halved again and again to achieve the desired amount of compression. JPEG images can be created using software or hardware. JPEG compression hardware provides sufficient speed for realtime, on-the-fly compression. C-Cube Microsystems is credited with introducing the first JPEG chip.

When a JPEG file is created or an image is converted from another format to JPEG, the user must specify the desired quality of the image. If the user chooses to create the highest quality image possible, the file size will be large. If the user is willing to sacrifice image quality, the resulting JPEG file can be much smaller. ~ 2426

 

 

Comments:

JPEG – ( Joint Photographic Experts Group ) - объединённая группа экспертов в области фотографии. Она является широко используемым методом сжатия фотоизображений.

lossy compression - сжатие данных с потерями — это метод сжатия данных, когда распакованный файл отличается от оригинального, но «достаточно близок» для того, чтобы быть полезным каким-то образом. Этот тип компрессии часто используется в Интернете, особенно в потоковой передаче данных и телефонии.

ISO - (International Organization for Standardization) - международная организация по стандартизации, занимающаяся выпуском стандартов.

IEC - ( International Electrotechnical Commission) - международная электротехническая комиссия - международная некоммерческая организация по стандартизации в области электрических, электронных и смежных технологий. Некоторые из стандартов МЭК разрабатываются совместно с Международной организацией по стандартизации (ISO).

JNG - JPEG Network Graphic – основанный JPEG графический формат файла, который близко связан с PNG.

TIFF – ( Tagged Image File Format) - формат хранения растровых графических изображений.

PNG ( Portable Network Graphics ) - растровый формат хранения графической информации, использующий сжатие без потерь. PNG был создан как для улучшения, так и для замены формата GIF графическим форматом, не требующим лицензии для использования.

GIF, ( Graphic Interchange Format ) - формат для обмена изображениями; хранения графических изображений. Формат GIF способен хранить сжатые данные без потери качества в формате до 256 цветов.

on-the-fly compression – немедленное сжатие

C- Cube Microsystems – компания, которая была новатором в технологии сжатия видео изображения, первая предоставила рынку возможность преобразования изображения и видео данных из аналоговых в цифровые форматы.

 

 

Technology

Multimedia

Multimedia is simply multiple forms of media integrated together. Media can be text, graphics, audio, animation, video, data, etc. An example of multimedia is a web page on the topic of Mozart that has text regarding the composer along with an audio file of some of his music and can even include a video of his music being played in a hall.

Besides multiple types of media being integrated with one another, multimedia can also stand for interactive types of media such as video games CD ROMs that teach a foreign language, or an information Kiosk at a subway terminal. Other terms that are sometimes used for multimedia include hypermedia and rich media.

The term Multimedia is said to date back to 1965 and was used to describe a show by the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The show included a performance that integrated music, cinema, special lighting and human performance. Today, the word multimedia is used quite frequently, from DVD's to CD ROMs to even a magazine that includes text and pictures.

Multimedia Applications

Multimedia has become a huge force in American culture, industry and education. Practically any type of information we receive can be categorized as multimedia, from television, to magazines, to web pages, to movies, multimedia is a tremendous force in both informing the American public and entertaining us.

Advertising is perhaps one of the biggest industry's that use multimedia to send their message to the masses. Where one type of media, let's say radio or text can be a great way to promote an item, using multimedia techniques can significantly make an item being advertised better received by the masses and in many cases with greater results.

Multimedia in Education has been extremely effective in teaching individuals a wide range of subjects. The human brain learns using many senses such as sight and hearing. While a lecture can be extremely informative, a lecture that integrates pictures or video images can help an individual learn and retain information much more effectively. Using interactive CD ROM's can be extremely effective in teaching students a wide variety of disciplines, most notably foreign language and music.

Multimedia and the Future

As technology progresses, so will multimedia. Today, there are plenty of new media technologies being used to create the complete multimedia experience. For instance, virtual reality integrates the sense of touch with video and audio media to immerse an individual into a virtual world. Other media technologies being developed include the sense of smell that can be transmitted via the Internet from one individual to another. Today's video games include bio feedback. In this instance, a shock or vibration is given to the game player when he or she crashes or gets killed in the game. In addition as computers increase their power new ways of integrating media will make the multimedia experience extremely intricate and exciting. ~ 2457

 

 

Comments:

to date back - вести начало от чего-л.; восходить (к определенной эпохе

to immerse - погружать

intricate - запутанный, сложный, замысловатый; затруднительный

 

 

Optical Technology

One of the most interesting developments in telecommunication is the rapid progress of optical communication where optical fibers are replacing conventional telephone wires and cables. Just as digital technologies greatly improved the telephone system, optical communication promises a considerable increase in capacity, quality, performance and reliability of the global telecommunication network.

New technologies such as optical fibers will increase the speed of telecommunication and provide new, specialized information service. Voice, computer data, even video images, will be increasingly integrated into a single digital communication network capable of processing and transmitting virtually any kind of information. It is a result of combining two technologies: the laser, first demonstrated in 1960, and the fabrication 10 years later of ultra-thin silicon fibres which can serve as lightwave conductors. With the further development of very efficient lasers plus continually improved techniques to produce thin silica fibres of incredible transparency, optical systems can transmit pulses of light as far as 135 kilometers without the need for amplification or regeneration.

At present high-capacity optical transmission systems are being installed between many major US cities at a rapid rate. The system most widely used now operates at 147 megabits per second and accommodates 6,000 circuits over a single pair of glass fibres (one for each direction of transmission). This system will soon be improved to operate at 1.7 gigabits per second and handle 24,000 telephone channels simultaneously. A revolution in information storage is underway with optical disk technology. The first digital optical disks were produced in 1982 as compact disks for music. They were further developed as a storage medium for computers. The disks are made of plastics coated with aluminium. The information is recorded by using a powerful laser to imprint bubbles on the surface of the disk. A less powerful laser reads back the pictures, sound or information. An optical disk is almost indestructible and can store about 1000 times more information than a plastic disk of the same size. One CD-ROM disk (650 MB) can replace 300,000 pages of text (about 500 floppies), which represents a lot of savings in databases.

The future of optical storage is called DVD (digital versatile disk). ADVD-ROM can hold up to 17 GB, about 25 times an ordinary CD-ROM. For this reason, it can store a large amount of multimedia software and complete full-screen Hollywood movies in different languages. However, DVD-ROMs are «read-only» devices. To avoid this limitation, companies also produce DVD rewritable drives. Besides, it is reported that an optical equivalent of a transistor has been produced and intensive research on optical electronic computers is underway at a number of US companies as well as in countries around the world. It is found that optical technology is cost-effective and versatile. It finds new applications every day - from connecting communication equipment or computers within the same building or room to longdistance transcontinental, transoceanic and space communications. ~ 2705

 

 

Comments:

to accommodate - вменщать

to imprint – отпечатывать; ставить штамп

indestructible - неразрушимый

a floppy - гибкий магнитный диск, дискета

 

 

The Future of Cybernetics

The new science dealing with the problems of maximum control and governing of processes, known as cybernetics, occupies a leading place among the sciences of the future. The objective of this new science of controlling complicated natural processes and phenomena of society and industry is to increase the efficiency of human labour.

The field of research which has been attracting man's resources and effort for many centuries is our environment of living nature. However, progress in biology and medicine has been comparatively slow for developments in living organisms are extremely complicated.

Advances in instruments construction, the theory of information, mathematical logic’s, electronics and cybernetics open up great prospects of accelerating the pace of research in biology and medicine.

The part played by cybernetics in increasing the efficiency of those engaged in planning, finance, supply and other spheres of economic activity will also grow. This field of human endeavour is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly expanding and well planned socialist economy, in particular. We are facing the task of continuous planning and ensuring a well balanced development of all the branches of the national economy.

At present there are thousands of electronic computers in operation throughout the world.

The existence of hundreds of computing centres equipped with learning and rapid acting machines, and connected by automatic communication lines with industry, supply centres, transport and organs of finance will fundamentally change national economic management. Controlled by cybernetics, industrial enterprises will operate at their most efficient peak. This, in its turn, will effect tremendous economy of time and resources.

The comparatively simple methods of automation used for some technologies will become more and more complicated. As production techniques become more efficient, they can be more effectively controlled, with the aim of raising the quality and the quantity of manufactured goods and improving working conditions.

Despite the numerous results of research into cybernetics, opening up breath-taking prospects for science, industry and economics generally, it is still hard to predict the achievements this wonderful science may make in the near future, since the pace of technical progress is exceptionally great and continually increasing.

The advance in the technical progress is the outcome, primarily of the talent, inventiveness and the effort of man — this great re-maker and master of nature.~2173

 

 

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is the creation of functional materials, devices, and systems through control of matter on the nanometer (1 to 100+ nm) length scale and the exploitation of novel properties and phenomena developed at that scale.

A scientific and technical revolution has begun that is based upon the ability to systematically organize and manipulate matter on the nanometer length scale.

What is a nanometer?

A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (10-9 m). This is roughly ten times the size of an individual atom. A cube 2.5 NM on a side would contain about a thousand atoms. The smallest feature in an integrated circuit of today is 250 NM on a side, and contains one million atoms in a layer of atomic height. Proteins, the molecules that catalyze chemical transformations in cells, are 1 to 20 NM in size. For comparison, 10 NM is 1000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. There are as many nanometers in an inch as there are inches in 400 miles.

Why is this length scale so important?

There are five reasons why this length scale is so important:

· The wavelike properties of electrons inside matter are influenced by variations on the nanometer scale. By patterning matter on the nanometer length scale, it is possible to vary fundamental properties of materials (for instance, melting temperature, magnetization, charge capacity) without changing the chemical composition.

· The systematic organization of matter on the nanometer length scale is a key feature of biological systems. Nanotechnology promises to allow us to place artificial components and assemblies inside cells, and to make new materials using the self-assembly methods of nature. This is a powerful new combination of materials science and biotechnology.

· Nanoscale components have very high surface areas, making them ideal for use in composite materials, reacting systems, drug delivery, and energy storage.

· The finite size of material entities, as compared to the molecular scale, determine an increase of the relative importance of surface tension and local electromagnetic effects, making nanostructured materials harder and less brittle.

· The interaction wavelength scales of various external wave phenomena become comparable to the material entity size, making materials suitable for various opto-electronic applications.

How will the new technologies help solve society problems?

The new concepts of nanotechnology are so broad and pervasive, that they will influence every area of technology and science, in ways that are surely unpredictable. We are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the benefits that nanostructuring can bring:

· wear-resistant tires made by combining nanometer-scale particles of inorganic clays with polymers

· medicines as nanoparticles with vastly improved delivery and control characteristics

· greatly improved printing brought about by nanometer-scale particles that have the best properties of both dyes and pigments, and

· vastly improved lasers and magnetic disk heads made by controlling layer thickness to better than a nanometer.

Many further and greater advances resulting from nanotechnology are inevitable. Within a few decades, healthcare will be revolutionized by combining nanotechnology with biotechnology to produce ingestable systems that will be harmlessly flushed from the body if the patient is healthy but will notify a physician of the type and location of diseased cells and organs if there are problems.

Nanometer-scale traps will be constructed that will be able to remove pollutants from the environment and deactivate chemical warfare agents. Computers with the capabilities of current workstations will be the size of a grain of sand and will be able to operate for decades with the equivalent of a single wristwatch battery. Robotic spacecraft that weigh only a few pounds will be sent out to explore the solar system, and perhaps even the nearest stars.

What will government do for nanotechnology?

Government will play the key role in assuring that the enormous benefits of nanotechnology will be realized quickly and the U.S. will share the global benefits. The goals of nanotechnology are too long term (greater than ten years) for industry to take an immediate leadership role, although the high level of industry interest and concern for the field is almost unprecedented. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the development of nanotechnology requires creating teams of physicists, chemists, biologists, and engineers to tackle the problems and the funding agencies will need to be organized to foster this teamwork. The enabling infrastructure and technologies must be in place for industry to take advantage of nanotechnology innovations and discoveries. Industry is frequently reluctant to invest in risky research that takes many years to develop into a product. In the US the university and government research system fills this gap. The increasing pace of technological commercialization requires a compression of past time scales and parallel development of research and commercial products and a synergy among industry, university, and government partners. New infrastructure at the universities and national labs is required for the field to grow. A worldwide competition is underway, and the US response is fragmented in comparison to the approach of European and Asian countries. For all of these reasons, this is a moment of opportunity to create an inter-agency initiative in nanotechnology to catalyze academe, industry, health, business, and national security efforts.

Looking to the future

The total societal impact of nanotechnology is expected to be greater than the combined influences that the silicon integrated circuit, medical imaging, computer-aided engineering, and man-made polymers have had in this century. Significant improvements in performance and changes of manufacturing paradigms will lead to several industrial revolutions in the 21st century. Nanotechnology will change the nature of almost every human-made object. ~ 5107

 

 

Comments:

an assembly - соединение

a tension - упругость

pervasive - распространяющийся, проникающий, пропитывающий, заполняющий

to ingest - засасывать

a pollutant - загрязняющий агент

to tackle - энергично, с усердием браться, приниматься (за что-л.); набрасываться

to foster - воспитывать, обучать

reluctant - делающий что-л. с большой неохотой, по принуждению; сопротивляющийся

synergy - успешные совместные усилия; совместная деятельность

 

 

Quantum Teleportation

Teleportation refers to instantaneous transport of an object or matter from one place to a predetermined location. In this mode of travel, the object or matter being transported is broken down and immediately recreated somewhere else. In quantum teleportation, which is the favored teleportation type in laboratories, the properties of the origin quantum system are recreated in the destination quantum system even if the two quantum systems do not have physical contact.

Most people, however, hold to the belief that teleportation will forever remain fiction, with the more knowledgeable pointing to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as the primary obstacle to teleportation becoming a reality. This principle states that you cannot know the position of a particle and its speed at the same time; if you don't know where the particle is (its position), then how can you teleport it?

Quantum Teleportation Experiments

In 1993, a team of researchers at IBM, led by physicist Charles Bennet, theoretically confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible but only if the original material was destroyed. In 1998, teams from Caltech and Europe were able to successfully teleport a photon: reading the atomic structure of the photon, sending the information across a 3-foot coaxial cable, and creating a duplicate of the original photon, and - as Charles Bennet and the IBM team predicted - the original photon no longer existed when the duplicate was created.

The experiment involved a phenomenon called entanglement, a still unexplained phenomenon between paired particles where a change in one particle instantly causes a change in the other, with no concern for the distance between them.

The Caltech experiment involved three photons (labeled A, B and C) in which the latter two are entangled. The scientists extracted some information from photon A, and the remaining information is passed to photon B through entanglement and then, from B to C. The information from photon A is therefore passed to photon C which replicates A by combining information from B. In the process, photon A is unalterably changed and disappears.

In 2004, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado and the University of Insbruck in Austria, were able to transmit the quantum state of an atom to another atom without a direct link between the two, in effect transporting solid matter between two atoms.

In 2006, scientists at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen succeeded in teleporting information from a laser beam into a cloud of atoms - in effect, teleporting information between two different objects, light and matter where one (light) is the carrier of information, and the other (atoms) are the storage medium.

The experiments are seen as steps forward towards one goal of quantum teleportation - the development of quantum computers which would replace current binary bits (1s and 0s) with quantum bits or qubits, transmitting and processing data using entanglement instead of circuits. Eighty entangled qubits will contain an amazing 151 trillion gigabytes of processing power - around 2.3 trillion times faster than today's currently 'fast' 64-bit architecture. ~ 2705

 

 

Comments:

favored - привилегированный; пользующийся преимуществом, поддержкой, вниманием, благосклонностью; находящийся под покровительством

an entanglement - сцепленность

the latter - последний

to extract - вытаскивать, извлекать

 

 

Plastic Electronics

Plastic electronics is an offshoot of electronics which focuses on devices made from conductive plastics - otherwise known as organic polymers - rather than silicon.

Manufacturing Plastic Electronics

The "heart" of modern electronics are microchips - circuits and wiring "diagrams" are designed and micro-miniaturized to the point that thousands or even millions of circuits are contained in a one-inch square chip which is "burned" (or etched) onto ultra-thin inorganic materials like refined silicon using very high temperatures.

Plastic electronics, on the other hand, follow a different manufacturing process. The process starts with the manufacture of large sheets of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic - the flexible but tough material used in the production of plastic bottles. Circuits are then printed on these sheets using ink-jet printers or using techniques much like those used to print magazines and newspapers - resulting in a process that is cheap, easy to do and faster to produce.

The plastic circuits will be used as the "active-matrix back panes" for large but flexible electronic displays. In an active-matrix display, every dot on the display is managed by a switching element such as thin film transistors (TFT) and the signals on an array of intersecting row and column electrodes. Prior to plastic electronics, these TFTs have been produced using amorphous silicon deposited on a rigid glass substrate at high temperature through a complex series of production procedures.

It is the collection of switching elements and row-column electrodes which are put together on a substrate to form the active-matrix backpane, which is then combined with different front-plane technologies (e.g., Liquid Crystal Diode or LCD screens) to form the display.

For many electronic readers, the best front plane technology is electronic paper which looks like paper and only uses the unit's power when the image shifts or changes (a property called bi-stability). Sony Reader and the iRex Illiad both use electronic paper for their display screens.

Electronic paper, however, loses its thinness and flexibility when combined with a glass-based silicon backpane. The flexible backpane technology of plastic electronics allows the reader device to become flexible, light, thin and robust enough for a wide range of uses where no paper has gone before and to include large data storage capacities.

The Future of Plastic Electronics

The thin, flexible and robust capabilities of plastic electronics have a wide range of possible applications - from hospital bracelets that are automatically updated with relevant patient info when a medical file is changed, to packaging that will say if it has reached the expiration date and to flat panels that can project individually addressed advertising.

Two European companies - Britain's Plastic Logic and Polymer Vision are today developing flexible, portable text readers - devices that can let you carry your whole library on a sheet of plastic. Polymer Vision plans to market a five-inch screen that can be folded up to the size of a cell phone

The key to this is the extreme cheapness of the product to manufacture and install - and recycle, as is being done with PET bottles now. ~ 2727

 

 

Comments:

an offshoot - ответвление

etched - вытравленный; травлёный

refined - очищенный, рафинированный; освобожденный от примесей

a polyethylene terephthalate - синтетический компонент. Продукт нефтеперерабатывающей промышленности. Получают из этиленгликоля и терефталевой кислоты (terephthalic acid ).

amorphous - аморфный, бесформенный

rigid – твердый, недеформируемый

a backpane - (бекплейн) - приставка. Устройство, предназначенное, для расширение аппаратных средств сервера.

info - данные, информация

 

 

IMAX

IMAX, which stands for Image Maximum, is a motion picture format with the capacity for greater size and clearer resolution than standard movie systems. It was developed by the Canadian IMAX Corporation. It dramatically enhances image resolution by making use of larger film stock (70mm with 15 perforations per frame - 10 times larger than standard). This results in a movie with incredible clarity, even on huge screens that are the hallmark of IMAX theaters worldwide. This, combined with a six-channel sound system, results in an extraordinary movie-going experience.

The key to the IMAX experience lies in several elements working together in combination:

· The large film format which allows for much better resolutions and higher clarity (the dinosaurs in the IMAX movie T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous have five times the detail compared to Jurassic Park);

· A six-channel sound system that is separate from the film (conventional movies have the soundtrack integrated within the film strip). IMAX soundtracks are run on a Digital Theater Audio Control (DTAC) system which uses IMAX's proprietary software. The soundtrack is a single uncompressed audio file containing the six channels which are distributed directly to amplifiers, unlike other systems like Dolby Digital which requires a decoder;

· A unique projection system that is specifically designed and custom-built to accommodate the 70mm film stock - and "run" it at the standard 24 frames-per-second. This required a huge machine with a different approach to the conventional 35mm format, as well as more powerful lights to be able to project the film correctly;

· The theater itself which is designed in such a way that viewers are looking at the screen directly so their entire field of vision is engaged.

The large film size poses a challenge to producers and directors of IMAX films - an IMAX camera is a huge piece of equipment that is expensive to run and maintain. If ten setups or shots a day was standard when shooting with conventional film, three to four shots a day is going fast for IMAX.

Combine this slowness with higher quality computer-generated (CG) special effects (as noted, the IMAX T-Rex movie required five times more detail than Jurassic Park - which means five times more work and computer storage to get things right) and one has a very expensive movie.

The cost of producing an IMAX movie is the main reason it has never been seriously considered as a pure entertainment medium; most IMAX movies have been documentaries, although there have been efforts made in the past (T-Rex in 1998, Haunted Castle in 2001, both of which are IMAX 3-D films), The Old Man and the Sea, an Oscar winner in 1999, which is the first fully-animated film released on IMAX.

Feature films "in IMAX" are actually conventional movies (shot in 35mm) which were digitally blown-up using IMAX's proprietary Digital Re-Mastering (DRM) technology. Its first use was in 2002 with the conversion of Warner Brothers Apollo 13, followed by Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions in 2003. ~ 2547

 

 

Comments:

a hallmark - признак

cretaceous - меловой

a shot - кадр

Digital Re-Mastering (DRM) – цифровое обновление

 

 

WiMAX

What is WiMAX? Simply put WiMAX is, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, a technology standard that enables high speed wireless internet. In other words, WiMAX combines the high speed of a broadband connection with the convenience of mobile internet connectivity. WiMAX provides wireless broadband access up to a radius of 50 kilometers (30 miles) for fixed receivers and 5-15 kilometers (3-10 miles) for mobile receivers.

WiMAX needs setting up of a tower to establish microwave connections with the users. This operates in the same way as a cell phone tower. In the case of WiMAX, the tower is connected to internet through a high speed cable like a T3 line. The difference from broadband is that here the bandwidth does not have to be divided using wires.

WiMAX is in a way an advanced version of WiFi, a similar technology. Whereas WiFi allows a network within a radius of 30-100 meters (100-300 feet), WiMAX connectivity can be extended over a radius of up to 50 kilometers. This high speed data transfer over a much larger area is made possible by lessening interference using the IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard. Currently WiMAX operates on both licensed and non-licensed frequencies.

As it is possible to use WiMAX over longer distances, this technology may come in handy in creating city wide networks. It is also better suited than WiFi for large area public places like airports, college and university campuses and large office set ups. It also provides for greater mobility to users. This way WiMAX may be a good option for people on the move using gadgets like laptops, iPods and PDAs.

As WiMAX follows a point-to-multipoint architecture, it is an ideal solution for delivering broadband to places where it would not be viable to establish wired connections. Rural areas and high rises are examples for this situation. Currently this last mile part of the connectivity is the biggest stumbling block to broadband providers, in terms of cost and manpower requirements. WiMAX can bring down the costs and subsequently make internet connectivity cheaper to the end user.

Another advantage over some other wireless technologies is that WiMAX does not need a direct line of sight between the source and the receptor. It also has a comparatively high shared data rate at 70Mbps, which is good enough to reach about a thousand homes.

WiMAX is also an excellent saver of time. As it does not need cables to connect with the receptors, it is possible to establish connection to an entire campus or even city in a matter of a few days.

WiMAX also allows for greater convergence of diverse applications such as fixed and mobile telephony, apart from entertainment sectors like television.

That said, WiMAX need not come to eliminate wired connectivity altogether. In areas where wired broadband is already established, DSL still reigns supreme. Thus it is more likely that WiMAX will develop as a complementary to wired connectivity.

Secondly, the real potential of WiMAX is in the possibility of bringing diverse services such as telephony, mobile television and broadband internet under its umbrella. This requires that players from these different fields work together to provide single point service to the end user. Consumer billing and mutual settlement systems have to be extremely efficient to handle these requirements. ~2800

 

 

Comments:

an interoperability - возможность взаимодействия

a lessening – уменьшение, убывание, понижение; убавление; снижение, сокращение, спад

an gadget - приспособление, принадлежность

 

 

SCADA

SCADA is an acronym that stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. SCADA refers to a system that collects data from various sensors at a factory, plant or in other remote locations and then sends this data to a central computer which then manages and controls the data.

SCADA is a term that is used broadly to portray control and management solutions in a wide range of industries. Some of the industries where SCADA is used are Water Management Systems, Electric Power, Traffic Signals, Mass Transit Systems, Environmental Control Systems, and Manufacturing Systems.

SCADA as a System

There are many parts of a working SCADA system. A SCADA system usually includes signal hardware (input and output), controllers, networks, user interface, communications equipment and software. All together, the term SCADA refers to the entire central system. The central system usually monitors data from various sensors that are either in close proximity or off site (sometimes miles away).

For the most part, the brains of a SCADA system are performed by the Remote Terminal Units (sometimes referred to as the RTU). The Remote Terminal Units consists of a programmable logic converter. The RTU are usually set to specific requirements, however, most RTU allow human intervention, for instance, in a factory setting, the RTU might control the setting of a conveyer belt, and the speed can be changed or overridden at any time by human intervention. In addition, any changes or errors are usually automatically logged for and/or displayed. Most often, a SCADA system will monitor and make slight changes to function optimally; SCADA systems are considered closed loop systems and run with relatively little human intervention.

One of key processes of SCADA is the ability to monitor an entire system in real time. This is facilitated by data acquisitions including meter reading, checking statuses of sensors, etc that are communicated at regular intervals depending on the system. Besides the data being used by the RTU, it is also displayed to a human that is able to interface with the system to override settings or make changes when necessary.

SCADA can be seen as a system with many data elements called points. Usually each point is a monitor or sensor. Usually points can be either hard or soft. A hard data point can be an actual monitor; a soft point can be seen as an application or software calculation. Data elements from hard and soft points are usually always recorded and logged to create a time stamp or history

User Interface (HMI)

A SCADA system includes a user interface, usually called Human Machine Interface (HMI). The HMI of a SCADA system is where data is processed and presented to be viewed and monitored by a human operator. This interface usually includes controls where the individual can interface with the SCADA system.

HMI's are an easy way to standardize the facilitation of monitoring multiple RTU's or PLC's (programmable logic controllers). Usually RTU's or PLC's will run a pre programmed process, but monitoring each of them individually can be difficult, usually because they are spread out over the system. Because RTU's and PLC's historically had no standardized method to display or present data to an operator, the SCADA system communicates with PLC's throughout the system network and processes information that is easily disseminated by the HMI.

HMI's can also be linked to a database, which can use data gathered from PLC's or RTU's to provide graphs on trends, logistic info, schematics for a specific sensor or machine or even make troubleshooting guides accessible. In the last decade, practically all SCADA systems include an integrated HMI and PLC device making it extremely easy to run and monitor a SCADA system.

SCADA Software and Hardware Components

SCADA systems are an extremely advantageous way to run and monitor processes. They are great for small applications such as climate control or can be effectively used in large applications such as monitoring and controlling a nuclear power plant or mass transit system.

SCADA can come in open and non proprietary protocols. Smaller systems are extremely affordable and can either be purchased as a complete system or can be mixed and matched with specific components. Large systems can also be created with off the shelf components. SCADA system software can also be easily configured for almost any application, removing the need for custom made or intensive software development. ~