In its original
sense, 'nanotechnology' refers to the projected ability to construct
items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today
to make complete, high performance products.in simple words, we can say
that Nanotechnology is a group of emerging technologies in which the
structure of matter is controlled at the nanometer scale, the scale of small
numbers of atoms, to produce novel materials and devices that have useful and
unique properties. Some of these technologies impose only limited control of
structure at the nanometer scale, but they are already in use, producing useful
products. They are also being further developed to produce even more
sophisticated products in which the structure of matter is more precisely
controlled. The Foresight Nanotechnology Challenges focus on applying these
developing technologies to solving important world problems.
Grid Computing
A form of networking. Unlike conventional networks that focus on
communication among devices, grid computing harnesses unused processing cycles
of all computers in a network for solving problems too intensive for any
stand-alone machine.
Grid computing (or the use of a computational grid) is applying the
resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time -
usually to a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of
computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data. A well-known
example of grid computing in the public domain is the ongoing SETI (Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence) at Home project in which thousands of people are
sharing the unused processor cycles of their PCs in the vast search for signs
of "rational" signals from outer space. According to John Patrick,
IBM's vice-president for Internet strategies, "the next big thing will be
grid computing."
Grid computing appears to be a promising trend for three reasons: (1) its
ability to make more cost-effective use of a given amount of computer
resources, (2) as a way to solve problems that can't be approached without an
enormous amount of computing power, and (3) because it suggests that the
resources of many computers can be and managed as a collaboration toward a
common objective.
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing.
Quantum computing
A quantum computer is a
computation device that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena, such
as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. Quantum
computers are different from digital computers based on transistors. Whereas
digital computers require data to be encoded into binary digits (bits), quantum
computation uses quantum properties to represent data and perform operations on
these data.
Quantum computing is the
area of study focused on developing computer technology based on the principles
of quantum theory, which explains the nature and behavior of energy and matter
on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level.
Quantum Theory
Quantum theory's
development began in 1900 with a presentation by Max Planck to the German
Physical Society, in which he introduced the idea that energy exists in
individual units (which he called "quanta"), as does matter. Further
developments by a number of scientists over the following thirty years led to
the modern understanding of quantum theory.
The Essential Elements
of Quantum Theory:
• Energy, like matter, consists of discrete units, rather
than solely as a continuous wave.
• Elementary particles of both energy and matter, depending
on the conditions, may behave like either particles or waves.
• The movement of elementary particles is inherently random,
and, thus, unpredictable.
• The simultaneous measurement of two complementary values,
such as the position and momentum of an elementary particle, is inescapably
flawed; the more precisely one value is measured, the more flawed will be the
measurement of the other value.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/quantum-computing
Semantic web
The Semantic Web is the
extension of the World Wide Web that enables people to share content beyond the
boundaries of applications and websites. It has been described in rather
different ways: as a utopic vision, as a web of data, or merely as anatural
paradigm shift in our daily use of the Web. Most of all, the Semantic Web has
inspired and engaged many people to create innovative semantic technologies and
applications.
An extension of the
current Web that provides an easier way to find, share, reuse and combine
information. It is based on machine-readable information and builds on XML
technology's capability to define customized tagging schemes and RDF's
(Resource Description Framework) flexible approach to representing data. The Semantic
Web provides common formats for the interchange of data (where on the Web there
is only an interchange of documents). It also provides a common language for
recording how data relates to real world objects, allowing a person or a
machine to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of
databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing.
A form of networking.
Unlike conventional networks that focus on communication among devices, grid
computing harnesses unused processing cycles of all computers in a network for
solving problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine.
Grid computing (or the
use of a computational grid) is applying the resources of many computers in a
network to a single problem at the same time - usually to a scientific or
technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or
access to large amounts of data. A well-known example of grid computing in the
public domain is the ongoing SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
@Home project in which thousands of people are sharing the unused processor
cycles of their PCs in the vast search for signs of "rational"
signals from outer space. According to John Patrick, IBM's vice-president for
Internet strategies, "the next big thing will be grid computing."
Grid computing appears
to be a promising trend for three reasons: (1) its ability to make more
cost-effective use of a given amount of computer resources, (2) as a way to
solve problems that can't be approached without an enormous amount of computing
power, and (3) because it suggests that the resources of many computers can be
and managed as a collaboration toward a common objective.
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