Computer technology, advances

Although FCS has now been invoked in about 3,000 scientific publications, now at 400 per year, its use before about 1990 was limited by severe technological barriers involving instability of laser light sources, poor sensitivity of photon detectors, noisy electronics, and insufficient computer capacities for the correlation computations. These problems inhibited application of FCS, until suddenly about 1990 the electro-optical and computational technologies advanced so that it became feasible. These advances occurred in synchrony with our creation of Multiphoton Laser Scanning Microscopy, which has enabled effective research on the molecular dynamics of life in living tissues and animals [14]. 

Existing climate modeling is limited by computational power and the nonlinear nature of climate system phenomena. As computing technology advances and observational data of climate processes over longer time scales becomes available, flux compensations wUl be more accurately defined and the accuracy of future climate models will increase. Public acceptance of climate model predictions will remain complicated as long as politics and economics, rather than observational facts, are allowed to drive the climate change debate. 

This rapid increase in research interests is due largely to the growth in computer technology, particularly, in software and hardware advances in multiprocessor technology. 

Instmmentation advances have increased the power and quahty of the fundamental analytical techniques used in conjunction with LIMS. Unfortunately, these advances come at a price of increasing complexity and volume of information. Despite ah. of the architectural and technological advances of computer hardware and software, the demands of the information requirements still exceed the computing capabhities, so as to put continuing pressure on computer manufacturers to iacrease storage and processiag capabhities evea further. 

X-Ray Diffraction. Because of the rapid advancement of computer technology (qv), this technique has become almost routine and the stmctures of moderately complex molecules can be estabUshed sometimes in as Htde as 24 hours. An example illustrating the method is offered by Reference 24. The reaction of the acrylate (20) with phenyldiazo derivatives results in the formation of pyrazoline (21). The stereochemistry of the substituents and the conformation of the ring can only be estabUshed by single crystal x-ray diffraction. 

The relevance of photonics technology is best measured by its omnipresence. Semiconductor lasers, for example, are found in compact disk players, CD-ROM drives, and bar code scaimers, as well as in data communication systems such as telephone systems. Compound semiconductor-based LEDs utilized in multicolor displays, automobile indicators, and most recendy in traffic lights represent an even bigger market, with approximately 1 biUion in aimual sales. The trend to faster and smaller systems with lower power requirements and lower loss has led toward the development of optical communication and computing systems and thus rapid technological advancement in photonics systems is expected for the future. In this section, compound semiconductor photonics technology is reviewed with a focus on three primary photonic devices LEDs, laser diodes, and detectors. Overviews of other important compound semiconductor-based photonic devices can be found in References 75—78. 

The process improved. Computers became smaller, and today it is rare for a planning engineer to be void of computer power available at his desk many times greater than the early corporate computer could muster. Computer tools of the future can only be envisioned as technology advances. 

Five articles on polysaccharide helices solved prior to 1979 have appeared in the volumes published between 1967 and 1982.2-6 The first was a review on X-ray fiber diffraction and its application to cellulose, chitin, amylose, and related structures, and the rest were bibliographic accounts. Since then, X-ray structures of several new polysaccharides composed of simple to complex repeating units have been successfully determined, thanks to technological advances in fiber-diffraction techniques, the availability of fast and powerful computers, and the development of sophisticated software. Also, some old models have been either re-... 

The latter part of the 20th century has seen remarkable advances in science and technology. Accomplishments in biochemistry and medicine, computer technology, and telecommunications have benefited nearly everyone on Earth to one degree or another. Along with these advances that have improved our quality of life, scientific research into the study of the Earth has revealed a planetary system that is more complex and dynamic than anyone would have imagined even 50 years ago. The Earth and the environment have become one of society s greatest concerns, perhaps as the result of these discoveries combined with the quick dissemination of information that is now possible with modem telecommunications. 

Modem instmmental analysis is an outgrowth of the technological advances made in physics and electronics since the middle of this century. Statistics have been with us somewhat longer, but were impractical until the advent of powerful electronic data processing equipment in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and even then remained bottled up in the central computer department. 

Looking forward to the year 2000,1 expect that advances in computer technology will embody and accelerate some of the following trends that will affect R D in applied polymer science ... 

By the year 2000, advances in computer technology coupled with business and societal driving forces will indeed have a significant impact on applied polymer science R D. The focus will have shifted from implementation of new computer technology to extensive application in product R D and problem solving. 

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