What if computers could think?

The question whether or not computers can think was first asked in print by Alan Turing in his seminal 1950 article. In order to avoid defining what a computer is or what thinking is, Turing resorts to the imitation game which is a test that allows us to determine whether or not a machine can think. That is, if an interrogator is unable to tell whether responses to his questions come from a human being or from a machine, the machine is imitating a human being so well that it has to be acknowledged that these responses result from its thinking. However, then as now, it is not an indisputable claim that machines could think, and an unceasing stream of papers discussing the validity of the test proves this point. There are many arguments in favour of, as well as against, the claims borne by the test, and Turing himself discusses some of them. In his view, there are mice possible objections to the concept of a thinking machine, which he eventually dismisses as weak, irrelevant, or plain false. However, as he admits, he can present no very convincing arguments of a positive nature to support my views. If I had I should not have taken such pains to point out the fallacies in contrary views.     

Hybrid image steganography method using Lempel Ziv Welch and genetic algorithms for hiding confidential data

Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing - Digital images are commonly used in steganography due to the popularity of digital image transfer and exchange through the Internet. However, the...     

Containerization technologies: taxonomies,applications and challenges

Modern scientific research challenges require new technologies, integrated tools, reusable and complex experiments in distributed computing infrastructures. But above all, computing power for efficient data processing and analyzing. Containers technologies have emerged as a new paradigm to address such intensive scientific applications problems. Their easy deployment in a reasonable amount of time and the few required computational resource make them more suitable. Containers are considered light virtualization solutions. They enable performance isolation and flexible deployment of complex, parallel, and high-performance systems. Moreover, they gained popularity to modernize and migrate scientific applications in computing infrastructure management. Additionally, they reduce computational time processing. In this paper, we first give an overview of virtualization and containerization technologies. We discuss the taxonomies of containerization technologies of the literature, and then we provide a new one that covers and completes those proposed in the literature. We identify the most important application domains of containerization and their technological progress. Furthermore, we discuss the performance metrics used in most containerization techniques. Finally, we point out research gaps in the related aspects of containerization technology that require more research.

     

Laser-treated austenitic steel and nickel alloy for human implants

The recent research in biocompatible materials has been useful in replacing and supporting the fractured natural human bones/joints. Under some condition, negative reaction like release of ions from the bare metal toward the human body fluid leads to corrosion. In this proposed research paper, the biocompatibility of the laser surface-modified austenitic stainless steel (SS316L) and nickel-based superalloy (Inconel 718) was studied. The investigation on laser-modified surfaces is evaluated through electrochemical polarization analysis using simulated body fluid (SBF). The samples subjected to electrochemical polarization analysis were characterized by optical image analysis, SEM, EDS, and XRD analysis. It was inferred that laser surface-modified materials provided enhanced corrosion resistance and bare nickel alloy is more susceptible to corrosion by SBF.     

Microstructure and Processing of 3D Printed Tungsten Microlattices and Infiltrated W–Cu Composites

Tungsten is of industrial relevance due its outstanding intrinsic properties (e.g., highest melting‐point of all elements) and therefore difficult to 3D‐print by conventional methods. Here, tungsten micro‐lattices are produced by room‐temperature extrusion‐based 3D‐printing of an ink comprising WO₃–0.5%NiO submicron powders, followed by H₂‐reduction and Ni‐activated sintering. The green bodies underwent isotropic linear shrinkage of ≈50% during the thermal treatment resulting in micro‐lattices, with overall 35–60% open‐porosity, consisting of 95–100% dense W–0.5%Ni struts having ≈80–300 μm diameter. Ball‐milling the powders and inks reduced the sintering temperature needed to achieve full densification from 1400 to 1200 °C and enabled the ink to be extruded through finer nozzles (200 μm). Partial sintering of the struts is achieved when NiO is omitted from the ink, with submicron interconnected‐porosity of ≈34%. Several tungsten micro‐lattices are infiltrated with molten copper at 1300 °C under vacuum, resulting in dense, anisotropic W–Cu composites with 40–65% tungsten volume fraction. Partially sintered struts (containing nickel) with submicron open porosity are also infiltrated with Cu, resulting in co‐continuous W–Cu composites with wide W struts/Cu channels at the lattice scale (hundreds of micrometers), and fine W–Cu interpenetrating network at the strut scale (hundreds of nanometers) allowing for the design of anisotropic mechanical and electrical properties.

     

Design and demonstration of a high-speed, multichannel, optical-sampling oscilloscope

Free-space digital optical systems have demonstrated the capability to provide thousands of optical connections between optoelectronic chips. This dense concentration of channels creates substantial challenges in monitoring individual connections for diagnostic purposes without compromising performance. Prom the concept of stroboscopic techniques, we have designed and constructed a multichannel optical diagnostic tool that operates analogously to an electronic-sampling oscilloscope. The tool is economically constructed by the use of commercially available video cameras and video-enhanced personal computers. An integrated software application operates the tool and displays multiple-channel waveforms. We demonstrate the oscilloscope-sampling optical waveforms of a two-dimensional optoelectronic modulator array operating at data rates from 0.5 to 4 Gbits/s.     

Overlooked physical diagnoses in chronic pain patients involved in litigation, Part 2. The addition of MRI, nerve blocks, 3-D CT, and qualitative flow meter

This study followed 120 chronic pain patients referred to a multidisciplinary pain center. The referral diagnosis for many patients, such as "chronic pain," "psychogenic pain," or "lumbar strain," was frequently found to be incomplete or inaccurate (40%) following a multidisciplinary evaluation that used appropriate diagnostic studies, including magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, nerve blocks, and qualitative flowmeter. Significant abnormalities were discovered in 76% of the diagnostic tests. An organic origin for pain was found in 98% of these patients. The patients were discharged with objective verification of diagnoses including facet disease, nerve entrapment, temporomandibular joint disease, thoracic outlet syndrome, and herniated discs.     

Interaction of guided light in rib polymer waveguides with dielectrophoretically controlled nanoparticles

This work demonstrates an optofluidic system, where dielectrophoretically controlled suspended nanoparticles are used to manipulate the properties of an optical waveguide. This optofluidic device is composed of a multimode polymeric rib waveguide and a microfluidic channel as its upper cladding. This channel integrates dielectrophoretic (DEP) microelectrodes and is infiltrated with suspended silica and tungsten trioxide nanoparticles. By applying electrical signals with various intensities and frequencies to the DEP microelectrodes, the nanoparticles can be concentrated close to the waveguide surface significantly altering the optical properties in this region. Depending on the particle refractive indices, concentrations, positions and dimensions, the light remains confined or is scattered into the surrounding media in the microfluidic channel.