Archive for the ‘mathematics’ category: Page 130
Jul 28, 2016
Moving beyond semiconductors for next-generation electric switches
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: energy, mathematics, mobile phones, quantum physics, supercomputing
Computers use switches to perform calculations. A complex film with “quantum wells”—regions that allow electron motion in only two dimensions—can be used to make efficient switches for high-speed computers. For the first time, this oxide film exhibited a phenomenon, called resonant tunneling, in which electrons move between quantum wells at a specific voltage. This behavior allowed an extremely large ratio (about 100,000:1) between two states, which can be used in an electronic device as an ON/OFF switch to perform mathematical calculations (Nature Communications, “Resonant tunneling in a quantum oxide superlattice”).
Efficient control of electron motion can be used to reduce the power requirements of computers. “Quantum wells” (QW) are regions that allow electron motion in only two dimensions. The lines (bottom) in the schematic show the probability of finding electrons in the structure. The structure is a complex oxide (top) with columns (stacked blue dots corresponding to an added element) where the electrons are free to move in only two dimensions. This is a special type of quantum well called a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). (Image: Ho Nyung Lee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
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Jul 26, 2016
Can a Brain Scan Tell What You’re Thinking? — Pacific Standard
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: mathematics, neuroscience, space travel
Ever really wanted to know what folks truly are thinking about?
A new experiment advances the idea that brain scans can teach us something about how the human mind works.
By Nathan Collins
Continue reading “Can a Brain Scan Tell What You’re Thinking? — Pacific Standard” »
Jul 23, 2016
Scientists work toward storing digital information in DNA
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: biotech/medical, computing, education, mathematics
Her computer, Karin Strauss says, contains her “digital attic”—a place where she stores that published math paper she wrote in high school, and computer science schoolwork from college.
She’d like to preserve the stuff “as long as I live, at least,” says Strauss, 37. But computers must be replaced every few years, and each time she must copy the information over, “which is a little bit of a headache.”
It would be much better, she says, if she could store it in DNA—the stuff our genes are made of.
Jul 19, 2016
Will Computers Redefine the Roots of Math?
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: computing, mathematics
When a legendary mathematician found a mistake in his own work, he embarked on a computer-aided quest to eliminate human error. To succeed, he has to rewrite the century-old rules underlying all of mathematics.
Jul 18, 2016
No Man’s Sky will have a soundtrack written by algorithms
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: information science, mathematics, media & arts
Jul 11, 2016
Stanford University Researchers Help DARPA Create Mathematical Framework for Network Pattern Discovery
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: engineering, information science, mathematics
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has demonstrated a new mathematical framework that works to help researchers discover patterns in complex scientific and engineering systems. DARPA said Thursday researchers at Stanford University created algorithms designed to explore patterns in data in order to gain insights into network structure and function under the Simplifying Complexity in Scientific Discovery [ ].
Jul 9, 2016
Fighting ISIS With an Algorithm, Physicists Try to Predict Attacks
Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in categories: information science, mathematics, physics
A new mathematical model aims to track the activity of Islamic State sympathizers online and determine when groups will turn from talk to action.
Jul 9, 2016
Mathematical framework that prioritizes key patterns in networks aims to accelerate scientific discovery
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: biological, finance, information science, mathematics, military
Nice.
Networks are mathematical representations to explore and understand diverse, complex systems—everything from military logistics and global finance to air traffic, social media, and the biological processes within our bodies. In each of those systems, a hierarchy of recurring, meaningful internal patterns—such as molecules and proteins interacting inside cells, and capacitors and resistors operating within integrated circuits—determines the functions or behaviors of those systems. The larger and more intricate a system is, however, the harder it is for current network modeling techniques to uncover these patterns and represent them in organized, easy-to-understand ways.
Researchers at Stanford University, funded by DARPA’s Simplifying Complexity in Scientific Discovery (SIMPLEX) program, have made progress in overcoming these challenges through a framework they have developed for identifying and clustering what mathematicians call “motifs”: essential but often obscure patterns within systems that are the building blocks of mathematical modeling and that facilitate the computational representation of complex systems.
Jul 2, 2016
MND: Your Daily Dose of Counter-Theory
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: mathematics, neuroscience
Thomas Aquinas and other ludicrous pseudo-philosophers (in contradistinction with real philosophers such as Abelard) used to ponder questions about angels, such as whether they can interpenetrate (as bosons do).
Are today’s mathematicians just as ridiculous? The assumption of infinity has been “proven” by the simplest reasoning ever: if n is the largest number, clearly, (n+1) is larger. I have long disagreed with that hare-brained sort of certainty, and it’s not a matter of shooting the breeze. (My point of view has been spreading in recent years!) Just saying something exists, does not make it so (or then one would believe Hitler and Brexiters). If I say:” I am emperor of the galaxy known as the Milky Way!” that has a nice ring to it, but it does not make it so (too bad, that would be fun).
Given n symbols, each labelled by something, can one always find a new something to label (n+1) with? I say: no. Why? Because reality prevents it. Somebody (see below) objected that I confused “map” and “territory”. But I am a differential geometer, and the essential idea there, from the genius B. Riemann, is that maps allow to define “territory”: