Project management's correlation to research and technology

It is necessary to understand how the research on the topics of project management and in specific, enterprise resource planning are being is suggesting its evolution. Using a database as basis for information, enterprise resource planning systems can make use of different computer networks and resources to manage the communication between critical parts of a business (Khosrow–Puor 2006). Additionally resources like “Advanced planning and scheduling” supplement the enterprise resource planning as sets of technologies that ensure hardware compatibility of planned communication - the business processes and technologies are meant to make the company self sufficient (Naden 2000). Another possibility as per literature recommendation is the merging of project management theories through technologies. What if exotic project management theories from total quality management and enterprise resource planning were to be merged to ensure effective communication and quality assurance at the same time? Having critical effect on the business, these two practices as organizational planning efforts in combination with software applications based on cloud computing and total assurance of cooperation of everyone involved in the system based on quality control can help the business gain cutting edge competitive advantage in the market (Laframboise & Reyes 2005).

Research alludes wide range of sources that talk about the total quality management triggers to gain competitive advantage in a situation where they have been implemented together with communication and collaboration solutions like enterprise resource planning (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). The collaboration over the internet, even with the remote parts of the business, has been made easy due to cloud computing where the data is being stored and accessed from a central computer and allows multiple users to work together in the same environment with online collaboration tools. This can significantly benefit business communication (Clive 2008). Further hiring the right kind of staff for each project makes the project management less complex and more delegated; instead of wasting time over choosing the right qualifications, the focus on talent can help the projects be adequately equipped with excellent staff (Kathleen 2009). Enabling the organizations to use tools based on project management theories, the organizations can cope with the complexities of modern day market and competitive environment (Thamhain 2004). The advances in information systems and information technology presents project management with complete and optimal execution of projects in such a way (Thamhain 2004). The knowledge transfer is significantly affected by the incorporation of information technology in project management (Thamhain 2004); fast transfer of knowledge generally speeds up the process and helps achieve the desired outcomes in a shorter period of time. The modern project management culture based on project teams (Thamhain 2004) is further supported by collaboration systems that enable the technical staff to communicate with adequate tools over long distances. This makes it easier for physically manage projects at the desired sites as well as collaborate for technical assistance from the head quarters (Clive 2008; Computer News Middle East 2011).

Successful implementation of enterprise resource planning systems does not go without its perks, a multitude of companies in United States have started to implement the strategy and as a result reduced their business costs by automating information sharing enterprise wide (Krumwiede & Jordan 2000). Companies basing their projects on pricing strategies like those of low price and high volume, get to benefit the most from this implementation (Krumwiede & Jordan 2000); in short all companies managing mass production projects can get the most of this (Krumwiede & Jordan 2000). Research alludes to ease of processes like shipping, managing suppliers and paying for logistics to be enhanced by this strategy (Krumwiede & Jordan 2000). By successfully managing project oriented production; mass production or prototyping alike, information technology gives decreased project timings and costs with increased profits for the company. By developing accurate softwares that can manage the pre requisites as well as the in-processes resources, designing products can become a very simple task (Stellman & Greene 2005). The fast knowledge creation and sharing is a good resource that can be merged with project management theories like six sigma (Nold 2011). Research attributes it as a “Tell fast, fail fast, adjust fast” process, as quoted by Tom Peters, to improve the quality with speed (Nold 2011). This concept strains on the six sigma theory that the high speed change and dynamics of business evolution often have a slowing effect on businesses and adjusting to them in real time is critical for a business to succeed (Nold 2011). This drawback of dynamic business environments (ironically created by the modern technology’s speedy production) can be countered by employing project management strategies with technology supporting the fast generation, sharing and collaboration with respect to knowledge, technical know how and staff training (Clive 2008). Significant literature reports; academic and industrial, make it clear that a blend of project management strategies with latest technologies of information technology (possibly ones that merge with hardware like in the case of CNC machining) makes the project management succeed per se. The ‘inherent uncertainty’, as the research names it, becomes the main task that has to be correctly handled for the survival of the business in modern world dynamic economy and puts all its burden on the project leaders and managers (Nold 2011). The literature study in this regard supports a research based on project management & its communication with respect to evolving technology.

The purpose of detailing the project management tasks is to understand how project management is affecting a business so as to develop the basis for technology’s effect on these processes. To gain competitive advantage in the long run, companies need to be successful in project management (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). To gain the best out of project management, it needs to be employed at all levels of hierarchy in a business. Currently, project management is being used as an executive level function in a few organizations only but it is expected to be one of the standard practices in the future businesses (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Project management is not solely meant for manufacturing purposes and has its applications at much versatile levels. Objectives like product development and services are also a major part of project management and now the information technology itself has also become a part of project management other than contributing to it as a tool (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Businesses need to apply strategic practices and thorough planning so as to succeed in the enterprise competition. Project management involves detailed business management programs that cater for all the needs of the stakeholders and capturing product or service value by the use of project activities (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Where project management was once just about optimizing project timings and costs, it is now much more than that. It contributes to competitive advantage of the enterprise as well as gives it the opportunities for managing all other business task and might also involve business process re-engineering (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Project management is often deployed as an enterprise wide project. This means that the managing of ‘projects’ might be actually the managing of major components of business itself. Project management on the other hand is not a lone wolf. There are many other business processes that are going on in an enterprise. For example, operations management is one of the key process that controls a running business. Where the project management details how each categorized project is being (or is to be) managed, operations management focuses on the actual day to day tasks that are being carried out to fulfil the business or project requirements. These two often need to run smoothly in synchronization. To achieve this, project management has to be streamlined with operations management. Furthermore, processes from both sides; project management and operations management, need to be integrated to facilitate this (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Project management as a whole might be divided into sub concepts of governing the project to see if and how well the enterprise is involved in project management and how difficult related implementations are. The use of project management as a business process and furthermore as a competitive tool for the business as explained before is also a part of this understanding (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). The above mentioned integration of operations management and project management on the other hand are actually a standardization concept. This also involves the business or project level plans and policies as well as finding out what kind of procedures are required to support a level of project management that can be implemented enterprise wide (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). The next core concept of project management is the capability of the implementation. Can the project managers cater for the knowledge and skills that are required for effective completion of tasks and the project’s management and if the organization itself has the capabilities to either support technically or fund the project establish facts that decide of the project management is going to be successful. This also involves introducing career oriented campaigns that help to maintain a sturdy approach to education and training of involved staff, managers and practice of technical staff as well as acquisition of capabilities on par with organization’s acquisition of a portfolio (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Once the project manager is aware of the capabilities of the organization, the team and the equipment available, execution of the project takes over. Each project management process has to be translated into operations management procedure with clearly stated business objectives and all programs and portfolios need to be overseen. With operational planning taking care of day to day activities and the organization’s vision and policy dictating the long term aim, tactical and strategic planning take care of what more the project has to offer (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). A strategic leader is better defined as an entrepreneur than as a steward (Hargrove 2001); the aim is not to just bring equilibrium to the organization but also take risks. The modern advancements like internet and a connected economy do not threaten adequately equipped strategic leaders, rather they take it as an opportunity and take a plunge into the open door that invites the company to success (Hargrove 2001). In a connected economy of uncertainty and interdependence, managing the organization strategically is enables rapid deployment of corporate techniques to balance the worker motivation and business environment to ensure productivity (Hargrove 2001; Georgantzas & Acar 1995). The examples of those who have successfully managed organizations of different prospect; business and political alike, have known to have purposeful ideological concepts and management approaches that are not just theoretical but also support realistic and practical implications (Storey 2004). This puts the strategic leadership with regards to project management to be an essential task as well. After the execution per se, maturity of the project has to be taken into consideration. This includes evaluation and analysis of the project on the enterprise wide basis and the control of the enterprise’s operational costs with regards to the project in question (Bolles & Hubbard 2007). Knowing how project management proceeds conceptually in an enterprise, the project management’s improvement with technology can be understood in analytical terms. Whether or not, and to what extent, technology has favoured project management solutions in these conceptual terms and for improving strategic leadership advantages in projects or business as a whole can be compared against the core concepts of project management as explained above.

Looking at what traditional approach has been used to manage projects is the next step. The basic stepwise or phase wise project management techniques that are used in project management even without the use of technology are mostly business techniques or tools. For example phasing the projects in such a way that it is systematically phased in by initiation of the project follow by a detailed planning and design time and resource allocation, execution and construction of the actual project, controlling the system and then completing the project. This somehow turns out to be inline with the basic core project management aspects explained. Infact, this is simply to follow those procedures in the same order in a traditional approach without the use of any extra technological tools to complete the project as defined, satisfying all the core processes on the way. Industries use schematic design phases to depict project management into the way it is being phased. This approach, known as the ‘waterfall model’ in software development (Royce 1970), makes the linear sequence help the project manager align the project phases into a sequence. Comparing this traditional approach although possibly software aided (Royce 1970), with the more technologically supported methods gives a critical overview of technology’s contribution. Prince2 is a method that was released in 1996 as a project management methodology and tool for genericized purposes. Prince2’s combination of technologies provided a framework which provided full control over how to coordinate, supervise and manage the project (Science Letter 2009). Prince2 proved to be a successful tool that was later relaunched in 2009 with accredited trainings in order for related personnel (Science Letter 2009). On par with the traditional approaches to project management, Prince2 was used in 150 countries and 20,000 organizations with daily growth in its utilization (Science Letter 2009). Prince2 as a tool is also considered to be a lingua franca for the organizations and suppliers who might be having different internal procedures but are using Prince2 for their project management (Science Letter 2009). This helps them to deliver projects on time as well as accurately manage the quality, timing, risks, advantages, coverage and scope and costs of the projects (Science Letter 2009). Prince2 like other technological advances had its share of criticism which was duly addressed and remedies incorporated in the 2009 launch so as to satisfy the project managers. Such continuous improvement in project management technology which went so far as being lingua franca between organizations also became the best practice (Science Letter 2009). Additionally, 170 organizations are dedicated to delivering training required for Prince2 with examinations for this methodology being taken in 150 countries around the world (Science Letter 2009). As such this is a reknown technological improvement with significantly visible impacts on project management and communication. When a project management tool which is built and designed to improve project management per se, becomes the bridge language just because of standardization of the system, it might be a hint of the scale at which the technological advancements and standardizations would help inter-organizational project management communication even when the internal policies significantly differ, not to mention the improvement in internal project management communications and the usage of the tools which are actually made to improve project management communications (Science Letter 2009).

Where comparing project management concepts with technology development explains how the technology is blending into the project management, looking back again to see how project management changed with technology instead of how technology emphasized this change gives another perspective to view the scenario of technology contribution; that is, a reverse perspective. Project management was already trending with advancing modern age where more and more complex tasks were to be done under yet more complex circumstances. Understanding project environment and other project variables like product life cycles and systems approach are necessary to get a grasp of technology changes chronology (Schwalbe 2008). In 1950s, when holistic approach was needed to analyse and describe the problems that were complex in nature, systems approach was developed (Schwalbe 2008). It requires stepwise definition of the system and the problem, categorizing the problem into important and essential components, evaluation and identification of the issues, requirements, opportunities and drawbacks or limitations (Schwalbe 2008). With a complete analysis of this, systems approach aims to explore alternative solutions to provide the best for project management and resolve the issues (Schwalbe 2008). The target is to optimize, analyze and improve the situation of the system with the intention of changing the system itself for the improvement of the system (Schwalbe 2008). It might safely be assumed that the contribution of technology or information technology to effective project management is not a one way processes. It would be better identified as a two way recurring process where information technology is re-gaining from the improvement in project management. On contrary to other industrial projects, information technology projects can be versatile and diverse. They might involve a few hardware or software installations or they may involve a major analysis of a multitude of people, processes and organizations to design custom built software solutions or bespoke solutions (Schwalbe 2008). Improved project management technologies in this regard help the sophisticated information technology implementation and often even make it possible at all. It might safely be said that project management now overlaps with software based business process automation and solution provision with a unique context and a whole different set of issues and studies to be carried industrially and academically (Schwalbe 2008).

Looking further into research for how project management’s technological effects influence business, it is revealed that reinventing and improving project management is essentially a research and development process (Markham 2007). The reason for this is not the reinvention of the project management processes, it might not even cover the topics of actually managing projects, rather what reinventing project management results in is more critical than this; it relates project management to strategy (Markham 2007). Project management being a linear world of processes needs to be well integrated with comparatively complex world of strategic planning. As described, strategic planning is the way to make sure that realistic approaches are involved in managing the organization or the projects. Strategic leaders who are also to be taken as entrepreneurs (Hargrove 2001), when crossed over the redline to be the project managers would be able to reinvent strategies that would then be integrated at project levels keeping the projects on time with market requirements, keeping budgets in line and in control as well as managing projects retrospectively (Markham 2007). Improvement in project management technology is, hence, taken as the factor which dictates the fate of the project management. Based on what kind of technological improvements project management has gone through in an area, strategic planning’s incorporation into project management reduces uncertainty. This might more precisely be known as ‘Managing Project Management’ (Markham 2007). After seeing how technology and project management co relate in a cross knitted manner, it would be best to see how project management is best contributed to by the information age’s most favoured benefit - collaboration and central computing. Project management tools, as a result of information age technology, enable project managers to provide their staff with training, practice, education, online programs, workshops and online courses remotely. These tools enable sharing and collaboration of information no matter how far team members are from each other (Milman 2011). By using project management collaboration tools, effective communication is directly made possible where the mode of communication increase and provide a diverse set of choices (Milman 2011). Each choice suited for the required task, mode of communication is not limited to voice communication and file copying anymore. The computerized collaboration tools that allow voice and text chat in addition to file sharing go a step ahead to provide additional modes of communications to facilitate project management. The top benefit of these additional features are synchronous tools that enable simultaneous editing of the same content by the team members allowing them to edit together in collaboration or review later at will. Creating draft project presentations and discussing and analysing the efforts are seen to be effective tools to improve project handling by team members (Milman 2011). As such, information technology’s direct contribution to improving project management communication has been very significant (Milman 2011). Furthermore, project management tools help individuals project management tools also act as trackers that allocate suggested time to the tasks and facilitate project management communication by keeping the tasks on time and optimizing the communication gap (Milman 2011).

Information systems across organizations have been the most important factor in intra organizational communications. To improve this, enterprise resource planning systems and information management systems have been developed over the past decade (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). These systems integrate business features and activities across different platforms. They might be used to integrate finance and accounts related information flow to coordinate human resources against them or managing technical aspects of manufacturing in light of this information flow (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). Bringing the key aspects of the business to a common platform where the project manager or the relevant managers can manage all these aspects simultaneously and with insights about their counterparts, integration and linking of information in this manner provides valuable information to achieve goals at both inter and intra organizational level (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). To meet high flexibility and customer demands or to improve and enhance operational performance, communication across the production floor might be an important factor; communication across multiple departments, however, might be the factor that would just get the company the right kind of competitive advantage in the market (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). Improved communications in an organization also improve other aspects like making plans, controlling the processes, monitoring the business, and real-time reporting of financial factors (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). The gain of competitive advantage in the market by such factors is based on improving project effectiveness and efficiency by improving operations and strategies. Enterprise resource planning system, in this regard, is considered by academic literature to be an organization’s fundamental for survival in the market and growth as a business (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012). Project management is often to manage the resources and deploying them in the right manner. Enterprise resource planning defines the organization’s business processes by giving them the ability to deploy, manage, select, combine and integrate resources with input from all departments (Laonamtha & Ussahawanitchakit 2012).Strategic initiatives are basis of all business planning and go hand in hand with all kinds of modern project management. Integration being one of the modern enablers of communication through modern project management technology also suggests that the most critical processes be integrated in such a manner that the communication gap is removed and the efficiency of the underlying processes is increased (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). Total quality management’s aim in the business is normally to make the best of the quality resources in such a way that the products or services exceeds customers’ expectations. Process management and strategic planning also happen to be total quality management’s main aspects. Knowing that they go together with project management, it would be wise to integrate all these processes for a better cross platform management (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). As suggested and explained in the beginning of the literature review, such a merger would provide the best of two worlds. Total quality management and enterprise resource planning, both, have wide scopes and cover many major areas of a company’s processes (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). Combining systematic research and technology driven communication is a certain way to get the best quality with minimum expenditure. Where the main aim was to improve the quality, this integration will now enable to improve quality in a more efficient way where total quality management is actually also a way to cut budgets. Strategic resources can better be utilized with resource based review and hence gaining key competitive advantage in the market as a business (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). Such implementation of technology contributes to procurement, manufacturing and distribution related activities, all, being networked in a way where they are collectively responsive (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). As a positive side effect of this implementation and contribution of technology to project management communication, supply chain processes improve and strategic decision making and manufacturing ability of the firm is established in the market (Laframboise & Reyes 2005). Information technology’s integration into a single solution makes processes like materials requirements planning, total quality management and enterprise resource planning a single central management unit with enhanced functionality and better communication (Laframboise & Reyes 2005).

References

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Quantum Dot Nanosensors for Visual Sensing

As we advance into artificial sensing technology, it is pertinent that use of such technology be made to advance the interests of humans in general and improve the quality of life. Such motives have mostly been the driving force of technologies. For what is invented for space exploration helps fight diseases on earth and other examples include what was designed for war later supplementing great engineering technologies. The end result is usually the driving force or as a side motive at minimum. The advancement of nanotechnology means much more components in the same space and hence much smaller equipments. Sensors, were they small enough, could be used to replace the complicated biological and natural sensors in humans or animals and even be given to computers and robots.

Usage of Quantum Dots explore such a use of a nanosensor and design it so as to restore the vision of visually impaired humans or give eyesight to computers; not using something as crude and huge in size as a camera or a lens rather targeting the core of sensing itself. Inherently, this research targets the retina itself. An artificial replacement for retina would enable humans to benefit from a restored vision without invasive brain surgeries. Computers, at the same time, will be able to detect photons with a much much greater sensitivity than a normal digital camera based optical detection method. Photo-detection needs a complicated device or materials engineered to the extent that the sensor would not be a physical obstruction in terms of its size when placed in the human eye or as an attachment to it as well as be biocompatible. To keep up with both these de facto requirements and many others implications of them, extensive study of the mechanism and biocompatibility has been done in research work for the selection of the materials and the literature shows an in-depth detail on why the materials chosen would make graphene and graphite based quantum dots a great candidate combination for such sensors. They can be used with two routes in the basic design; the generation of photocurrent via quantum dots on detection of photons or polarization of human nerves to fire neurons via quantum dots whenever photons are detected.

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Nanotechnology for engineering applications

If you wish to deign alienware, you would be better off asking a science fiction author to suggest an approach for science. Which is why, yesterday's science fiction is today's technology.

A number of reasons have contributed to the fact that we are now looking towards the applications of smaller and smaller equipment. Nanotechnology can be used to compliment almost any other technology as it allows for 'more' literally. In some cases, nanotechnology is needed simply because only a component that small could fit in there without much disturbance or due to physical dimensions. Nanometer scale sensors make the possibilities of even the craziest ideas look real.

The idea of nano robots is one of the factors that drives nano scientists' motivation. It might be extremely useful to create a nano robot that is equipped with a nano scale sensor to measure localized real time stresses in structures. Structural integrity of a engineering equipment, constructions and large sized installations is vital in most cases. Materials engineers usually have to perform non destructive and destructive tests time and again to make sure that the structure will hold. This results in a lot of man hours and expenses. Furthermore, it is mostly mixed qualitative and quantitative decision by the engineer about when the structure needs to be reinforced, totally replaced or retested for cracks or failures again. An engineer might be wrong (human error) and might delay the test above a duration before which the structure might fail or the engineer might wrongly predict the duration period itself. This can result in catastrophic structural failures and result in either the equipment being shut down / totally replaced or even accidents.

To avoid such errors and to further add continuous monitoring, nano sensors can be placed within the structure itself which can then monitor the structure for local stresses. The combination of local stresses at different point can then give the overall view of stresses in the structure. When nano sensors are placed within the structure itself and are able to send the data to a monitoring computer, it would be able to not only monitor the real time stresses of the structure, but it would also give statistics for how the structure is used, what tasks put the most amount of stresses (and hence fatigue) on the structure. A higher fatigue would mean a higher degradation and early failure of the structure. Such statistics from actual real time monitoring rather than by timed testing can be of more use. As compared to the timed and scheduled testing, real time monitoring will give usage data of each second, enabling the computer to plot a graph of the statistics. This data will help engineers decide how to best use their equipment so that its structure gets minimum fatigue. In short, this will result in optimization and minimum wastage.

This can be easily done by using nano sensors that detect stresses. Piezoelectric materials would be a good category to start looking for the possible implementation materials and designs as they convert compression and tension into electricity (that can be used as the signal for computer to interpret).

R&D around the world

How R&D scores up for different countries.

Smell of new electronic equipment

A question I was asked a few years ago; what is the familiar smell in all electronic stores and in new electronic equipment. I asked some electronic engineers, they didn't know anything specific and had different theories about it. Then I came across a few concepts of electronic materials which I compiled to suggest the most precise reasons possible.

Smell of new electronic equipment (almost similar or atleast recognizable) depends on these major factors:

• Capacitor compounds.
• Lead vapors in small amounts from soldered points.
• Silicone (which is used in coating silicon wafers or protecting/damping circuits) "Cures" itself by reacting with moisture in the air to for acetic acid (smells a bit pungent like car hydraulics).
• Ozone in small amounts (in case they are ON).

(In old and running equipment it might be burning dust.)

...a mixture of above smells in variable quantities attributes to the smell of new electronic equipment. Smell might vary to some extent as the quantity of each factor changes.

Different compounds used in the manufacturing contribute in both old and new equipment. Adding ozone if its on and dust in old or stored new one. It's ozone that makes the rodents afraid to dwell behind the 'ON' electronic equipment. Ozone is toxic for humans too so sleeping while there's something sparking in a circuit board is dangerous.

I think present analyzers have the capacity to check which type of vapours are present in any air sample and this could further be verified.

Tensile testing a single molecule

Nanotechnology has enabled things like Atomic Forced Microscopy (AFM) to benefit materials scientists and engineers but there's a use of the same equipment a materials engineer would find extremely amazing and would probably not have thought of using AFM for; tensile testing a single molecule.

This can be done by combining AFM with a piezoelectric positioner. under the cantilever probe of the microscope. The molecule once attached / bound (chemically or otherwise), at one side to the probe and the other side to the positioner, can be stressed by the piezoelectric material which will change height with application of electricity and the tensile testing data will be recorded by AFM's sensors. Now how much information can be acquired by tensile testing a single molecule alone puts materials engineering to a nano scale perspective against the bulk and the macro properties which are often completely different.

Basic operation of the AFM. As the AFM cantilever probes the surface by moving its tip along its contours, or when it pulls on a protein, the movement of the cantilever is detected with a laser beam that is focused to beam to the head of the cantilever and refracts into a photodetecter. The movement, or deflection, of the cantilever deflects the laser correspondingly, and this creates an image or produces other data about the surface or the sample (which may be a molecule). In single molecule force spectroscopy, the cantilever is pressed against a layer of proteins attached to a substrate, and the tip adsorbs a single protein molecule, which is then extended. Extension of the molecule by retraction of the piezoelectric positioner results in deflection of the cantilever. [Oberhauser et al. PNAS (January 2001), Vol. 98 (2): 468-472]

 

Quantum confinement

Quantum confinement is to limit the size of the waves like you do in a guitar string by shortening the size of the string with your finger. Only in this case you are doing the same to the wave of light by limiting the wave by decreasing the size of the material to nano scale. That effect results in a change in the colour being emitted given that the colour differences are there due to the change in wavelengths. Hence you are getting a variety of different colours from the same material just like you can get a variety of tunes from the same string by shortening its length by holding it. This can have a wide range of applications (including sensors).

But why does nano gold look red when red has a longer wavelength than yellow? Shouldn't it shift to a colour with smaller wavelength due to quantum confinement? Here's a little Q/A session I had with Professor Daniel Mittleman of RICE University that clears things up a bit further with regard to gold being red in colour as nano particles and metals behaving in similar scenario:

Professor Mittleman: The reason that a chunk of gold is gold-colored has to do with the electronic level structure of the metal. In other words, it is a quantum effect, not easily explained by ordinary classical physics. 

When you make gold small, there are additional effects, completely unrelated to the electronic level structure, which dictate the color.  In other words, the reason that macroscopic gold is gold-colored has essentially nothing to do with the reason that nano-gold is red.  It is not as if this is a shift from yellow to red - instead, it is a completely different mechanism.  In the case of a metal like gold, the mechanism is the excitation of a plasmon, which is a collective oscillation of all the electrons in the nanoparticle.

The brief description of quantum confinement is applicable to semiconductors, where the number of free electrons is small (e.g., one per nanoparticle). When you have just one electron per nanoparticle, the dominant issue is the energy for that electron to be excited or de-excited - that is, the quantum confinement effect.  On the other hand, in a metal the number of electrons is large, even in a nanoparticle (e.g., one per atom), so the description is understandably quite different.  In that case, the electrons do not need to be excited out of chemical bonds in order to be free, so the energy of excitation is no longer an issue.  Instead, you have the possibility of having all the electrons oscillating together, like water sloshing back and forth in a jar.  That's a plasmon.  And that's why nano-gold is red.

Me: So does this mean that metals in general are exceptions to quantum confinement at nano scale given that metals will generally have much more than 1 free electron per nano particle or does this stand for gold only (why not other metals if in this case)? In short, the plasmon concept supersedes in case of all metals?

Secondly, does quantum confinement still have a partial effect on the net result when talking of gold? As in, a participation to a minor extent as the size of the particles still has been reduced? Or does quantum confinement has no effect at all in case of gold for the reasons you gave (having more free electrons) and the change in colour is fully credited to plasmon?

Professor Mittleman: To answer your specific questions:

1. I would not say that metals are an exception.  I would say it a slightly different way.  In semiconductors, the natural size of an electronic excitation (which is really both an electron and a hole, not just an electron) is in the range of 10 nanometers or larger, so quantum confinement is a big deal when your particle size is in that range.  In contrast, in metals, the effective size of a free electron is much smaller, so that they still behave the same even if the metal particle is only 2 nanometers across - they don't feel 'squeezed' at all by the small size of the particle, since they're smaller. Pretty much any metal will exhibit plasmon effects, similar to gold.  Gold is the one we talk about most often because it is one of the easiest nanoparticles to make.  But color changes due to plasmons can be seen in any nano-metal.
2. The change in color of metal nanoparticles is entirely due to plasmonic effects.  (Well, I guess I should say "almost entirely" just to hedge my bets, but I think it is really entirely.)  In other words, you can describe the change in color using purely classical physics, with no quantum mechanics at all (since plasmons are essentially a classical phenomenon).  Quantum confinement (in semiconductor particles) cannot be described using classical physics, so it is really a different thing entirely.

Now the question is how does quantum confinement affect the colour when the the applications of such do not actually go below the size of the atoms (which is ~ 0.1 nm) and actually don't directly squeeze the emission at atomic level? The relation is similar to a skier sking on a mountain and the height of the mountain. In this analogy, electron is the skier ofcourse. This can also be defined in semi conductors in relation to the exciton created by the absorption of light when electrons jump from their valance state to conducting state by absorbing energy. The electron leaves behind a hole and either drifts apart from it due to voltage or the hole and the electron start to orbit each other, hence creating an exciton. These excitons are much larger than a hydrogen atom and are the physical entity being directly affected by the quantum confinement in such cases as they may range from 2.3 nm (in ZnO) to 46 nm (in PbSe). Quantum confinement here directly affects their size and hence the levels at which they can exist due to the size of the material and this changes the colour the emit from red to green and to blue as the size gets smaller. This is also used to create 'quantum wells' by trapping excitons of different energy levels (say red trapped in green) in each other so that they can only travel in their plane and not in 3D. What use is a quantum well to us? They have a wide range of applications starting from DVD and CD lasers as well as the coloured (eg. red) lasers in laser pointers. Mass manufacturing the quantum well lasers are set of parallel processes which makes them inexpensive; a few rupees a piece.

Multiple uses and effects:

• Quantum confinement in 3D; quantum dots, can be used to form optical fibres with near zero energy loss (hence data loss) over long distances making a possibility for extremely reliable and high data transfer rates.
  
• Quantum confinement in 2D; quantum wires, to solve the 'wiring problem' in nanotechnology where we have the nano components but are limited to wire them using larger sized wiring, to create P-N junctions and hence transistors in a whole new paradigm or even to be used as sensors.
  
• Quantum confinement in 1D; quantum wells, can be used to create lasers and other light emitters as explained above.

Quantum confinement as a nano-physics concept can be applied to engineering applications that make life easier and technology the high end either in designing sensors or otherwise. Pakistan should soon take up its role on the high end of technology as these are concepts not far from the grasps of Pakistani engineers.

Energy Harvesting: Self Sufficient Technologies

When we talk of going green, using solar, wind and other 'green' technologies, mostly we are unknowingly talking about energy harvesting. Harvesting energy from ambiance might be a solution that has been staring at us since a long time. We can totally eliminate the need for powering our electronics with external sources; batteries or fuel. There are a multitude of methods well within our capabilities.

Pakistan can take a great boost by starting with the small but numerous devices. The multitude of dry batteries that we import would not even be needed. A TV remote control can be powered by the same energy that we apply to press the 'button' if we use a piezoelectric material which converts the movement into enough voltage to send the signal. Powering handy devices with body heat, solar cells, piezoelectrics, or even use the excessive background noise that we have in form of radio waves and wifi signals on hundreds of channels to power devices.

On a macro-scale, The vast deserts are a good source of solar, wind and other forms of energy harvesting. Also, humans had always been having good living conditions prior to advent of electricity. Passive solar building design can take down the carbon foot print of a building to near zero.

It's time Pakistan takes steps towards such technologies. It might seem that highly developed nations develop such technologies and then it is transferred to us, but the truth is, most innovative and energy efficient technologies come from developing countries because they have to make do with the least possible resources. There is a huge range of technologies which were either developed for or by developing nations and later introduced to the developed ones.

As I explained in the last post about programmable materials, the processing of information is being decentralized to make it more viable... the power overload may not be any different from the information overload. The fact is, we do not need to reduce our energy consumption, we just need to reduce the wastage. Recycling and harvesting the wasted energy and making most devices self sufficient in regards to power is the obvious solution.

Material Intelligence: The Programmable Matter

The new era is an epoch of smart materials where materials and non living things can have intelligence without any circuits, processing power, mechanical gadgets involved - it comes directly from the materials properties at nano-scale. Intelligent materials are being developed for a lot of purposes and include functionalities like:

• Piezoelectric materials - convert vibrations to electricity and converse.
• Shape memory alloys - remember their shape at temperature zones.
• Magnetostrictive materials - reshape under magnetic influence and converse.
• Magnetic shape memory alloys - change shape under significant magnetic field.
• Magnetocaloric materials - reversibly change their temperature in ratio to magnetic field.
• pH-sensitive polymers - change their volume with ambient pH.
• Temperature responsive polymers - respond to temperature changes.
• Halochromic materials - change colour with acidity.
• Chromogenic systems - change colour with electricity, heat or light. LCDs use such materials.
• Ferrofluids - strongly magnetizable fluids just by presence of magnetic field.
• Photomechanical materials - change shape with light.
• Polymorph materials - mold with hot water.
• Self-healing materials - heal their own wear and tear.
• Dielectric elastomers -  produce high strain with electricity.
• Thermoelectric materials - convert temperature difference to electricity and converse.

This opens the doors to a new science of programming matter itself. Using any combination of materials above or other such materials it is possible to program the material to achieve basic functionalities that would normally take a computer processor or human brain to perform. A BBC news article mentions discovery of shape memory alloys that can be reshaped indefinitely by heating and cooling without wear and tear. The martensite structure of the shape memory alloys allows the materials to 'decide' conditionally and by the use of conditional programming of the materials they can be used to perform functions like automatic window openers or even as the means to guide solar panels on the Hubble Space Telescope to always point towards sun.

The programming of materials opens a front at nano-scale physics that uses the skills of computing and materials science to acquire results with no complexity at the macro level.

Top 10 Space Weapons

While exotic weapons design and 'alien-ware' style weaponry is still a distant future but the speed our current technology and capabilities it is diversifying and moving towards that future is remarkable. Space.com lists top ten weapons that have yet been deployed by different nations to work from or in space as a form of space warfare to support operations on earth or a conflict in space. The list ranges from ICBMs, High altitude Non-nuclear EMPs, Cosmic satellites and China's satellite destroying missiles to Soviet Union's Almaz Space Station, DARPA's electromagnetism controlled stream of molten metal and the X-37B, the Orbital Vehicle with capabilities to throw Tungsten rods at targets on earth.

Read the the article on Top 10 Space Weapons for more.

Electronic insect

Engineers around the world keep inventing with inspirations from the nature. This one being an insect could be an excellent candidate for surveillance.

Electromagnetic Pulse Capacitor Comparison

Happy independence day to all Pakistanis. As a independence day gift, we are releasing high tech interest base research on electromagnetic pulse as a part of this blog.
 

Electromagnetic Pulse

The term electromagnetic pulse (sometimes abbreviated EMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that results from an explosion (usually from the detonation of a nuclear weapon) and/or a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field. The resulting rapidly changing electric fields or magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges.

In military terminology, a nuclear bomb detonated hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface is known as a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) device. Nuclear electromagnetic pulse has three distinct time components that result from different physical phenomena. Effects of a HEMP device depend on a very large number of factors, including the altitude of the detonation, energy yield, gamma ray output, interactions with the Earth’s magnetic field, and electromagnetic shielding of targets.

The case of a nuclear electromagnetic pulse differs from other kinds of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) in being a complex electromagnetic multi-pulse. The complex multi-pulse is usually described in terms of three components, and these three components have been defined as such by the international standards commission called the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

The three components of nuclear EMP, as defined by the IEC, are called E1, E2 and E3.

Capacitor Comparison for EMP use:

• Ceramic capacitors range from low to high voltage but are vulnerable to aging (and change in crystal structure over time) and have to be reheated up to curie point to reverse the aging effect.
• Polymeric capacitors produce up to 60,000V but temperature stability is poor; inappropriate for radio frequency applications due to excessive dielectric heating.
• Glass Capacitors although have a high working temperature and are very stable but their capacitance is in picofarads.
• Ultra-capacitors have a maximum working voltage upto 24.4 V and hence need a large amount to series connections to build up an EMP device.

Class II ceramic capacitors provide bet material for the EMP effect to successfully occur over a voltage of ~ 50,000V.

To further improve the dissipation rate electrical grade castor oil or similar high dielectric constant fluid can be used along with extended foil plates in combination with the ceramic capacitors to use their high voltage to generate EMP.

Featured re-post. Original post at Astroaviator.com as my first blog post there.

Drone hacking via GPS Spoofing; how Iran hacked the US drone

shared via Juggaar under CC-BY-NC-ND license.

The US stealth drone was captured by Iran spoofing its GPS coordinates tricking the bird to land within the Iranian territory instead of it's actual programmed landing zone, Afghanistan. Iranian engineers, only a few months back, claimed that the drone’s GPS was reconfigured which made it land inside Iran.

NATO monitors the long Iran-Afghan border for weapon smuggling into Afghanistan. Three years ago the Iranians claimed to have designed their own drone with a range of 300 miles reachable to Israel. The captured stealth drone has been built with very sophisticated technology. A same kind of stealth plane was monitoring the US raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. The captured stealth drone costed up to $6 million and was manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

According to the US officials, RQ in its name means that it is unarmed and some industry experts who have written about the Sentinel stealth is that its design makes it more of an operational platform not an intelligence gathering aircraft. It was used to fly support during the Bin Laden raid. However, according to the Iranian news, the drone was shot down and recovered almost completely intact which goes as a warning to the US.

According to an unnamed Iranian engineer who has been working on the US bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel, the spoofing method used allowed the Iranians to divert the landing of the bird without even hacking into the remote-control signals of the US control centre.

The GPS weakness of aircraft has been a concern for US since a long time. Such an attack is much more sophisticated than ECM jamming due to being executed under cover and finding out the hacker is not possible until the spoofing has already been done. The attack method allows the GPS receiver to send wrong GPS signals which makes the drone believe that it is located somewhere in space while it is flying at its normal altitude, making it to reduce altitude and actually land. The US officials lay the claim of their loss of the stealth drone on a supposed malfunction from their end.

The Iranian engineer, however, claims the GPS navigation to be the weakest point. After being “jammed” by sending noise over the normal communications, the bird automatically goes into autopilot mode and doesn’t know what to do next. It can then be tricked and commanded into doing whatever the controller wants.

None of the current GPS systems are “spoof proof” due to several reasons. The main reason being the near impossibility to validate consistently on a “one way” communications channel because of “replay attacks”. Therefore all the GPS sytems require an additional channel that is not possible to jam.

Claims have also been made that Iran has sold the stealth to China so that China may undertake serious investigations on the other hand Pakistan is also believed to have shared with China, the stealth technology from the stealth helicopter that crashed in Abbottabad attack.

Researchers create ‘an impossible material’ by mistake

shared via io9 and plosone under creative commons license.

In yet another example of scientific serendipity, Uppsala University researchers have created an unprecedented material with record-breaking properties. And most remarkable of all, this new material — which was thought impossible to make for over a century — was the result of an accident in the lab.

And indeed, the new magnesium carbonate material exhibits some remarkable properties.

Adsorption, Not Absorption

Called upsalite in honor of the university where it was discovered, the material features a surface area of 800 square meters per gram. It's got the highest surface area measured for a synthesized alkali metal carbonate. And in addition, upsalite is filled with empty pores all having a diameter smaller than 10 nanometers.

This means that it can absorb — or more accurately, adsorb — more water at low relative humidities than the most advanced materials currently in existence.

Unlike absorption, where fluids permeate or are dissolved by a liquid or solid, adsorption involves the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a gas, liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface. And it does so as a consequence of surface energy (similar to surface tension).

a) Scanning electron microscope view of upsalite. Scale bar, 1 µm. b) Higher magnification SEM of a region in a) showing the textural porosity of the material. Scale bar, 200 nm. c) image of upsalite showing contrast consistent with a porous material. The image is recorded with under-focused conditions to enhance the contrast from the pores. Scale bar: 50 nm.

Once refined, upsalite could significantly reduce the amount of energy required to control environmental moisture in electronics and in drug delivery. It could also be used in hockey rinks and warehouses. Perhaps more crucially, the material could be used to suck up toxic waste, dangerous chemicals, and oil spills.

Scientists have known about natural and ordered forms of magnesium carbonate, both with and without water structure, for quite some time. But creating a water-free disordered version has proven difficult. As early as 1906, German researchers concluded that the material could not be created in the same way as other disordered carbonates, namely by bubbling C02 through an alcoholic suspension. Other studies in 1926 and 1961 came to the same conclusion.

'We started to get excited'

But on one fateful Thursday afternoon in 2011 this all changed. A research team led by Johan Goméz de la Torre made some slight changes to the synthesis parameters of an earlier unsuccessful attempt to create a water-free disordered form of magnesium carbonate — and they left it in the reaction chamber by mistake! It sat there for the entire weekend, and when the researchers returned to the lab the following Monday, a rigid gel had formed.

Surprised and excited, they dried the gel and studied it further. They soon realized that they were onto something.

After a year of further experiments and refinements, upsalite was born. The new material featured an adsoprtion capacity about 50% larger than that of comparable materials at low relative humidities, and an ability to retain more than 75% of the adsorbed water when the humidity was decreased from 95% to 5% at room temperature.

“This places the new material in the exclusive class of porous, high surface area materials including mesoporous silica, zeolites, metal organic frameworks, and carbon nanotubes”, noted researcher Maria Strømme through a release. Indeed, it can adsorb more water at low humidities than the best materials available — and with less energy. “This, together with other unique properties of the discovered impossible material is expected to pave the way for new sustainable products in a number of industrial applications”, said Strømme.