Current status and future trends of nanoscale technology and its impact on modern computing, biology, medicine and agricultural biotechnology D Dutta Majumder, Christian Ulrichs, Debosmita Majumder, Inga Mewis, Ashoke Ranjan Thakur, R L Brahmachary, Rajat Banerjee, Ayesha Rahman, Nitai Debnath, Dipankar Seth, Sumistha Das, Indrani Roy, Amrita Ghosh, Prity Sagar, Carsten Schulz, Nguyen Quang Linh and Arunava Goswami Abstract- Nanoscale technologies have gone from being just an ambitious concept to being a rapidly advancing area of interdisciplinary science with immense practical importance Feynman’s vision on nanoscience provided great impetus to the development of nanophysics, nanochemistry, nanoelectronics and nanotechnology in general [1] High resolution microscopic devices such as scanning tunneling microscope, transmission electron D Dutta Majumder is with ECSU, Indian Statistical Institute, India E-mail: ddm@isical.ac.in / ddmdr@hotmail.com / ddmdr@rediffmail.com D Dutta Majumder, Debosmita Majumder, Nitai Debnath, Prity Sagar and Amrita Ghosh are with the Institute of Cybernetics System and Information Technology (ICSIT), Kolkata, 155, Ashoke Garh, Kolkata, Pin700108, India Christian Ulrichs and Inga Mewis are with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute für Gartenbauwissenschaften, Fachgebiet Urbaner Gartenbau, Lentzeallee 55, 14195 Berlin, Germany E-mail: [C U.] / christian.ulrichs@agrar.hu-berlin.de inga@entomology.de [I M.] Ashoke Ranjan Thakur and Indrani Roy are with West Bengal University of Technology, BF-142, Sector-I, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700 064, West Bengal, India Email: vcwbut@sify.com [A R T.] / debroy@isical.ac.in [I R.] R L Brahmachary is a retired professor of biology, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) and presently works with Dr Arunava Goswami of ISI as guest researcher Rajat Banerjee is with Glass Science Section, Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute, Jadavpur, Kolkata-700 032, India E-mail: rajatbanerjee@hotmail.com/drrajatbanerjee@gmail.com Carsten Schulz is with Humboldt University Berlin, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, Philippstr 13, Haus 9, 10115 Berlin, Germany Nguyen Quang Linh is with Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, 24 Phung Hung Str., Hue City, Vietnam Dipankar Seth, Ayesha Rahman and Sumistha Das were 2006 short term visiting students in the laboratory of Dr Arunava Goswami at ISI Arunava Goswami is with Biological Sciences Division, ISI, 203 B Road, Kolkata 700 108, West Bengal,India.agoswami@isical.ac.in/Arunava_Goswami@brow n.edu microscope and atomic force microscope etc in mid1980s allowed researchers to see individual atoms on surfaces and arrange them at will [2, 3] The authors (nanobiologists, computer scientists, biotechnologists and material scientists) will attempt to provide a review of the state of the art in the field of nanoscale technologies and its impact on various fields of research like computation, basic biology, medicine and agricultural biotechnology Imprints of memory mechanisms [3] in living systems operating at different levels (e.g biochemical, immunological and neuronal) has provided inputs to design and fabricate `bioinspired’ nanoelectronic devices suitable for various applications Several examples of such nanoscale technology based frameworks and devices will be presented in the scenario of their potential role in the development of future nanoscale technologies Nanoscale technologies might finally revolutionize computational intelligence and thinking The power and limits of computing processes govern the intelligence, knowledge acquisition and thinking process of human and machine Present computational methods and models provide us courage to study the problem, but these tools are not yet sufficient to answer the following riddles of machine intelligence- What can computers better than humans? What can humans better than computers? And the most important one- what is computable? The authors will try to present evidences that will show bio-inspired nanoscale technologies might gain the power in helping us to go deeper into these challenges of research in future Index TermsAgriculture, Alzheimer’s disease, biotechnology, cancer, computational biology, consciousness, cybernetics, genomics, HIV, hydrophobic nanosilica, lipophilic nanosilica, machine learning, malaria, metabolomics, Nanoscience, nanosilica, neuronal network, pervasive computing, quantum mechanics, reversible computing I NanoComputer Systems Engineering (NCSE) NCSE is an interdisciplinary study of the engineering analysis and optimization of complex, highperformance computer systems composed of nanoscale components Using these methods, it has been projected that by mid-century if not earlier, future generations of nanocomputers using reversible computing will be thousands of times more cost-effective Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 II Thermodynamics of information erasure and the concept of reversible computing In a thermodynamically reversible chain, individual nanoscale logical devices that are performing computational operations in a nanocomputer is expected to constitute a system with zero entropy [4] The reversible version of the logical AND operation B=A·C is called a Toffoli gate (it was first described by Tomasso Toffoli then at MIT, now at Boston University) and it has been implemented successfully in quantum computing setups [5] Using this technology is considered to be the only way to increase the information storage capacity for a system, which we not much today Keeping such a system cool, however, will require reversible computing [6] III Moore's Law and Nanocomputing The smallest features on today's commercially available, state-of-the-art integrated circuits have linear dimensions of about 350 nanometers (0.35 microns) Intel reports research on 250 nm, 180 nm and 130 nm chips for continuing on the Moore's Law curve for next 20 years [7] It is hoped that nanometer-scale replacements will allow vast increases in memory density, power, and performance At least four distinct types of nanometer scale computational mechanisms have been proposed: mechanical, chemical, quantum and electronic [8] IV CNN visual computer with bio-inspired nanosensor technology The CNN (cellular neural / nonlinear network) paradigm developed in early 1990s resembles closely to the functional vertebrate retina [9] Retina inspired CNN platforms has enabled us to make highly efficient image processing platform for many applications [10] CNN visual microprocessor operates at a rate of trillion operations per second [11, 12] However recent results from neurophysiological studies show clearly that due to limits of microelectronics we are far from mimicking the feature extraction, motion, visual blinking and color vision performance capability of the human eye Therefore, in order to mimic human retina, sensory systems should be equipped with following- (1) sensors must be small enough without increasing real estate, (2) sensitive in the VIS and IR region, (3) fast enough to perform real time temporal analysis, (4) with spectral purity for sensor fusion function, (5) dynamic control with nanotechnology aided novel sensor fusion and gain control demonstrating synergies emerging from the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information and cognitive science [11, 12] Mechanical computers would use tiny moving components called nanogears to encode information Such a machine is reminiscent of Charles Babbage's analytical engines of the 19th century [13] For this reason, mechanical nanocomputer technology has sparked controversy; some researchers consider it unworkable Prospects: Quantum mechanics assures that molecular-scale moving parts should not be subject to the large frictional effects Problems: How you manufacture it? How you power it? How you program it? In early 80’s one of the present author in his book “Digital Computers: Memory Technology” authored a detailed chapter on “Limitation of Existing Memory Technology” and provided a technical review of the then state-of-the-art continuous discrete and semiconductor for memory systems along with memory properties of the animals and came to the conclusion the “Role of Chemical Codes” in information processing must be considered both for human and machine [14] In 1994, Leonard Adleman took a giant step towards a different kind of chemical or artificial biochemical computer [15] Prospects: Speed due to massively parallel computation, energy efficiency, memory capacity Problems: Limited problem domain, lacking efficient input and output techniques A 100 nm feature size small-scale quantum mechanical effects make the existing transistor designs useless with shrinkage of depletion regions, tunneling, heat dissipation and vanishing bulk properties and could be overcomed by a number of nanometer-scale replacements Problems: How you fabricate these nanoelectronic computers? Possible techniques Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 include: mechanosynthesis, chemosynthesis, chemical self-assembly, lithography, and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) Will the machines execute computations serially or in parallel? How will the individual parts of a nanocomputer physically communicate with one another (what type of interconnects will be used)? How will error correction be implemented? In addition, currently all these quantum effect electronic devices only operate at cryogenic temperatures [16] Quantum computing relies on quantum physics by taking advantage of certain quantum physics properties of atoms or nuclei that allow them to work together as quantum bits, or qubits, to be the computer's processor and memory A quantum computer has the potential to be much more powerful than a classical computer of the same size In using only a single processing unit, a quantum computer can naturally perform myriad operations in parallel [17] V Nanoscale technologies in Medicine Usually a disease is composed of many biologically different phenotypes and heterogeneity rampant within individual cells of a single macroscopic cancer High surface areas of nanowires are suitable as ultra-sensitive sensors in sub-50 nm range Combination of nanocomputing, functional genomics and mathematical modeling might provide one of the most powerful methods for diagnosing and monitoring diseases Nanomaterials used in medicine could be classified into four major types, viz Carbon-based materials, Metal-based materials, Dendrimers and Composites [18] Development and application of nano-structured materials for medicine is expected to go through four overlapping phases, viz [a] First Generation [~20042010 (coded as passive nanostructure generation phase)]: This stage is on the verge of completion [b] Second Generation [~2005 onwards (coded as active nanostructure generation phase)]: High performance nanocomposites, ceramics, metals etc [c] Third Generation (~2012 onwards): Novel robotics, devices, 3D networks, biomimetic materials etc [d] Fourth generation (~2018 onwards): This generation will specialize in molecule-by-molecule design and self assembly capabilities, e.g graphite film systems [19] Nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) have been found to be potentially much more compatible with biology In NEMS, the order of scale is 1-500 nm These processes mimic nature’s ability to produce such fantastic materials as pearls, coral, calcite micro-lens and collagen In case of quantum dots, the fluorescence has been shown to be permanent for the lifetime of the particle VI Nanotechnologies in cancer research The silicon dioxide coating has been functionalized with an antibody, a tumor specific ligand, or a coating to improve biocompatibility or targeting specificity In the first ever human NEMS controlled trial, iron oxide nanoparticles have been used to identify metastatic lymph nodes in patients with prostate cancer Colloidal gold, iron-oxide crystals, and quantum dots (QDs) and semiconductor nanocrystals having sizes 1–20 nm and have shown unique diagnostic applications in malaria, HIV and cancer Nanoparticles have been used to monitor gene expression or detect pathologies such as cancer, brain inflammation, arthritis, or atherosclerotic plaques "Stealth" technologies with nanoparticles (20–150 nm) have been used to target solid tumors via extravasation FDA has already approved long circulating liposomes with entrapped doxorubicin for management/treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma, refractory ovarian cancer, and metastatic breast cancer [20] VII Post-genomic era in biology and nanoscale technologies in Agricultural Biotechnology The path to achieve nutritional security for all is complex Two Indian world leaders in Economics and Agriculture, Prof Amartya K Sen [21] and Dr M S Swaminathan, the father of the green revolution in India [22] have researched extensively with their expertise There exists huge debate in the whole world today that whether inside the genetically modified (GM) crops plant metabolome has changed due to introduction of foreign gene This could be answered by metabolomics studies and machine learning Throughout India, there is a major thrust Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 now to find novel usage of plants Identification of a novel 14 KD isoform of peroxidase empowered us to make a biotech kit, which is currently undergoing a rigorous field trial in Ethiopia This kit has been welcomed by the Indian paper industry [23] The development of newer and sophisticated nanoelectronics systems are needed for the following specialties of the plants, viz assays for many metabolites with many different chemistries are difficult We present here results from the pioneering experiments on surface modified nano-structured silica developed by the scientists of the international nano-silica network Scientists working in this project from the Indian Statistical Institute act as the nodal agency for all the network programs in the Asian countries This particular result has tremendous impact in poultry industries in South East Asia in particular, where mortality of young chickens due to malaria is very high A d rbe bso ids sa Lip get of ca n li i io S rp t o s Ab B VIII Nutritional security and Nanotechnology We used coal fly ash, and then silica derived from the cell walls of phytoplanktons, called `diatomaceous earth’ (DE), as stored grain insect killers [Fig 1] We have developed a variety of nano-structured particles from the diatom cell silica, which kills insects effectively One of them is a unique formulation of nanoparticles having hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties We has recently shown that these lipophilic nano-particles also can reduce serum triglycerides and VLDL in chickens artificially infected with bird malarial parasite (Plasmodium gallinaceum) [Fig 7] [24-26] and thereby causing significant reduction in the poultry chicken mortality Fig.2 Panel A: Hydrophobic and lipophilic surface modified nanosilica can absorb cuticular lipid efficiently Panel B: Ultrastructural demonstration of cuticular lipid layer rupture by FS 90.0s series nanosilica developed by us These nanostructured materials have been recently found to be non-toxic to a variety of organisms like human, fish, silkworm and Bracon hebetor (A Goswami, D Seth, I Roy, N Debnath, A Rahman, R L Brahmachary, A Das, A Samanta and S K Mukhopadhayay, unpublished data) [Fig 7] [27] Hybridization of the soft computing methods in the design of the nanoparticles, nanosilica mediated gene delivery in plants and pest control are bringing revolution in the scientific world now electro statically applied Fig.1 A number of different sources of natural silica were tested by us for their insecticidal efficacy against a range of agricultural insect pests Few of them were found to be positive Pak-choi (Brassica chinensis) FOSSIL SHIELD® - DE based Fig.3 Different field application techniques for modified nanosilicas were developed with the help of scientists from ZALF, BBA of Germany Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 photosynthesis [mmol CO2/m²*s], transpiration (mg/m²*s) control DE treated DE washed of AL06 treated Transpiration Photosynthese compete with the cheapest pesticides available in the Indian markets [28] 1 A -1 -2 5.1.06 6.1.06 7.1.06 8.1.06 9.1.06 10.1.06 11.1.06 B Fig.4 FS 90.0 s and AL-series nanosilicas not alter the incident plants’ photosynthesis and respiration rate The larger dataset from these studies will be analyzed by using machine learning tools A White flies in tomato production D C B Scale insects in indoor greenings FossilShield 90.0s reduced white fly population in controlled chamber experiments within 24 h to 60 % Fig.5 Challenges ahead: The white flies in tomato could be effectively controlled (panel A; 100% control within 24 hours; 30-90% humidity) by FS90.0s But scale insects could not be controlled by our present set of nanosilica as the scale insects have different kinds of lipid constituents on the cuticle Coconut mite is causing havoc at present throughout India We expect these nanosilicas to exhibit excellent efficacy against coconut mite as well In studies on plants, these nanosilicas did not show any adverse effect on the plant physiology [Fig 1-9], fish and silkworm physiology [I Roy, B Weishaupt, C Ulrichs, I Mewis and A Goswami, unpublished data (plant); A Das, A Samanta, N Debnath, A Rahman and A Goswami, unpublished data (silkworm); D Seth, S K Mukhopadhayay and A Goswami, unpublished data (fish)] Our work resulted into a number of patent applications of FossilShield Inc., which funded our work worldwide To the best of our knowledge, we are the pioneers worldwide on the use of these surface modified nanoparticles in urban horticultural settings [Fig.1-9] Therefore study on the mode of the action of these nanoparticles might unravel yet unknown molecular processes Further modification of the nano-silica needs a large body of soft computing based modeling studies using fuzzy logic Using these novel modeling methodologies will lower the cost of production of these nanosilica to a very low level and thereby the products could even Fig Study of the insect tracheal and neuronal networks by using FS90.0s and AL series nanosilica particles (Ch Ulrichs, A Goswami and I Mewis; © International nanosilica network) Panel A (column 1): immunohistochemical mapping of the tracheal connectivity network in control insects; Panel A (column 2) shows the network connectivity after treating the insects with FS90.0s and AL series nanosilica particles; Panel B and C: immunohistochemcial mapping of insect sensory apparatuses (panel B) and higher brain regions (panel C) after treatment of surface modified nano-structured silica molecules; panel D: Mapping of the higher brain region of the insect (as shown in panel C) with fluorescent dye coupled to anti-HGL antibodies after treating the insect with nanosilica A B C D Fig.7 Panel A: Splenic peroxidase in control chickens; Panel B: Splenic peroxidase in chickens artificially infected bird malaria; Panel C and D Splenic peroxidase in malaria infected chickens treated with low dose (20 ppm) and high dose (200 ppm) of surface modified FS90.0s nanosilica [Dipankar Seth, Christian Ulrichs, Inga Mewis and Arunava Goswami; © International Nano-silica network] The images were processed for semiquatitative measurements in vivo using NIH ImageJ, version 1.36 image processing software on Mac and PC platforms IX Nanomaterials in modulation and altered physiological development of neuronal networks Spinal chord injury repair is the most challenging areas of experimental biology and biotechnology [29] Specialized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) made of novel graphite were found to be well suited in the design and fabrication of novel neural biomaterials [30] Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 A B C Pak-choi (Brassica chinensis) PA910® - synthetic Pak-choi (Brassica chinensis) D Pak-choi (Brassica chinensis) AL-06* - organic E F Fig.8 Panel A: Insect treated with FS90.0s nanosilica (upper) and the SEM picture of the nanosilica used to treat the insects (inset in the panel D) for mapping of the neural and tracheal network; Panel B: overview of the tracheal network in insect; Panel C: insects treated with AL-series organic nanosilica particles; Panel E and F: SEM of the PA910 synthetic nanoaprticles and AL-06 organic nanoparticles respectively © International nano-silica network and Fossilshield Inc A B C D Fig.9 Study of the insect tracheal and neuronal networks by using FS90.0s and AL series nanosilica particles (Ch Ulrichs, A Goswami and I Mewis; © International nanosilica network) Panel A (column 1): immunohistochemical mapping of the tracheal connectivity network in control insects; Panel A (column 2) shows the network connectivity after treating the insects with FS90.0s and AL series nanosilica particles; Panel B and C: immunohistochemcial mapping of insect sensory apparatuses (panel B) and higher brain regions (panel C) after treatment of surface modified nano-structured silica molecules; panel D: Mapping of the higher brain region of the insect (as shown in panel C) with fluorescent dye coupled to anti-HGL antibodies after treating the insect with nanosilica Recently chemically modified multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs) were found to control neurite outgrowth in vitro, by modulating interactions between neurons and its extracellular matrices [31, 32] Attempts are currently underway in many laboratories towards preparation of a glass substrate covered by “asproduced MWNT” or AP-MWNT The major challenges in this direction are as follows (1) Poor adherence of AP-MWNT to glass This is necessary during the neurite growth so that most of the neurites could be kept floating around (2) The use of a glass substrate covered with AP-MWNT experiments should be reproducible in terms of neurite growth rate and elongation kinetics (3) AP-MWNTs should be devoid of impurities, such as amorphous carbon and especially metallic nanoparticles, which, apparently, help neither neurite growth nor elongation Functionalized MWNTs (f-MWNT) could be dissolved in dimethylformamide (DMF) and these MWNTs could then be used as successful nanomaterials for neural therapeutics Neural circuits usually are capable of generating spontaneous electrical activity These spontaneous activities depend on the electrophysiological properties of their constituent neurons and connections, which could be measured by single-neuron patch-clamp recordings [33, 34] Researchers have recorded spontaneous postsynaptic currents (PSCs) from hippocampal neurons plated directly on peptide-free borosilicate glass coverslips (n = 15 cultures) as measured by inward rectified currents of fluctuating amplitude with a frequency of 1.1 ± 0.2 Hz The result shows that CNTs could be effectively used in the paradigm for neural network systems The efficiency of neural signal transmission could be modulated by specific inherent properties of CNTs materials, such as using nanomaterials with high electrical conductivity This will be possible as transmembrane voltage could modify voltage-dependent membrane processes Nanotube could also be used as a pathway which allows direct electrotonic current transfer in the neural networks, which ultimately affects redistribution of charge along the surface of the membrane [35] X Nanoscale technology based platforms for Alzheimer’s Dementia Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 Alzheimer’s disease causes dementia in aged people and affects millions of people worldwide [36-38] Brain pathology in patients suggests that a sensitive method to detect ADDLs in body fluid could provide a viable clinical laboratory diagnosis platform for Alzheimer’s disease At present, no such laboratory test exists [39] LSPR nanosensor based spectroscopy was used recently for demonstration of the sensitivity of ADDL-functionalized nanoparticles to anti-ADDL antibodies and will be revolutionizing this area of clinical medicine in near future Here, nanosphere lithography (NSL) was used to create monodisperse, surface-confined silver nanotriangles Atomic force microscope (AFM) images were collected using a Digital Instruments Nanoscope IV microscope and Nanoscope IIIa controller operating in tapping mode Resulting AFM linescan analysis reveals that the bare nanoparticles are triangular, have ~90 nm perpendicular bisectors, and are ~28-29 nm tall (0.4 nm Cr, 25 nm Ag, 2.5-3.5 nm increase in height due to nanoparticle restructuring) This approach should have important implications for understanding the mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease and the loss of memory mechanisms leading to the understanding of the brain areas involved in memory storage and retrieval [36-38] XI Consciousness and Quantum Physics: Biotechnology of neural networks Quantum mechanics has always been studied in relation to consciousness For years, quantum mechanics has helped us to understand mechanism of brain activity For a long time, researchers were curious to understand how migratory birds use their retinal receptors not only for normal vision, but also to 'visualize' longer distances by measuring the direction and strength of the earth's geomagnetic field Quantum mechanics theories have been used to describe two mechanisms for this `magnetoreception’ phenomenon They are radical-pair mechanism and magnetite-based mechanisms and these two operating systems work in complementary fashion In 2006, researchers have shown evidences that radical-pair mechanism provides directional information that is comparable to that from a magnetic compass, whereas the magnetite-based mechanism provides positional information as it measures the strength of the signal, which varies with location Efforts are underway to elucidate fully how the brain coordinates, compensates for and processes information from the two magnetic sources with normal vision But the major challenge of this century is to demonstrate the robustness of such a seemingly classical phenomenon within our higher brain activities like emotion, cognition and consciousness [40] The threshold of complexity for consciousness could be traced back to 540 million years ago in small worms, such as nematodes Their neuronal network was sufficient to create quantum tunnel effects involving 100–1,000 neurons, which scientists consider enough for generation of a single conscious event This single event could have a pre-conscious time of 500 milliseconds The basis for magneto-perception described above might have evolved even earlier, given that plants and animals have been shown to suffer when shielded from the Earth's magnetic field If quantum mechanics is the basis of reality, then it might be intimately involved in all kinds of biological processes like sensation (olfaction, gustation etc.) and cognition [41-44] For example, nano-optics and nano-photonics using on single quantum mechanical phenomena has made tremendous progress in recent years based on the ever improving understanding of how to tune the properties of nanoparticles (i.e geometrical shape and material composition) and how to manipulate the incident light in the right way to achieve desired effects, such as extreme local-field enhancement or controlling the flux of light at subwavelength dimensions Simultaneously, emergence of modern nano-fabrication techniques for material processing on the nanometer scale, such as highresolution focused-ion-beam milling of novel and more complex (prototype) material structures could be used to prepare nano structured particles with novel surface properties [27] XII Computational thinking Computer scientists always have always drawn inspiration from biological processes governing memory, consciousness and also evolution through patterned and non-patterned genetic variation This is essential to understand the limits and power of Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 computing processes either by animals in real life or machines The major goal of cybernetics is therefore to provide control and modulation of parameters for the complex network processes like magnetoreception (early consciousness) described earlier This is indeed a complex problem The realm of computational thinking (CompuT) encompasses following properties in general CompuT (a) is a fundamental skill of machine and man to read, write and to arithmetic, (b) involves problem solving, designing systems and understanding human behaviors like sensation (c) is thinking recursively and therefore involves parallel processing (d) uses abstraction and decomposition when analyzing a complex problem Usually, computer science deals with the study of computation, viz., what is computable and how Therefore, CompuT (1) involves programming and conceptualizing (2) includes both fundamental and mechanical routine of the computation (3) it follows the way human thinks and solves problems (4) complements and combine mathematical and engineering thinking beyond physical world [45, 46] XIII Cybernetics and high end computational biological approach for cancer treatment: A system biology approach In this direction, studies from one of the present authors on mathematical modeling of auto-regression and long term arrest of cancerous tumors lead to the development of knowledge based medical diagnostics against cancer earlier Following specific theoretical and experimental research is worth mentioning (a) Study of cancer auto-regression, self remission and tumor instability using cybernetic analysis; (b) application of cybernetic approach to medical technology with knowledge based framework and multi-modal medical image processing for diagnosis and treatment planning using – CT, MR (T1), MR (T2), SPECT, USG etc for detection and grading of malignancy / benignancy with oncological data (c) development of a novel feature selection and gene clustering from gene expression data established on a real life molecular cancer dataset (e) study of evolution of cancer and its mathematical modeling Our future plan include development of (1) advanced level `Multimodal Medical Image Processing Research’ towards development of more efficient diagnostics and therapeutic regimens for early detection of cancer and subsequent management principles in different paradigms (2) theoretical study using `Fuzzy Dynamical approach’ for modeling of complex systems with data of various types of malignancy, to study the progression and regression of malignancy from the perspective of `NonEquilibrium Computational Dynamics and Thermodynamic Stability’ theory and correlation with the clinical results (3) study of the fitness of the computational mathematical models on the drug induced progression and regression of tumors (4) generation of early screening methods for high risk cancer patient groups (5) development of plant, animal derived molecule based therapy and immunotherapeutics for regression of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo with the help of scientists from international nanosilica network [47-59] XIV Conclusion In this article we have cited numerous examples from computation, basic biology, medicine and agricultural biotechnology showing that nanoscale technologies based framework, platforms, devices and reagents are being used by interdisciplinary researchers for understanding complex insect and human behaviors and perceptions respectively (e.g consciousness and lethality) [27] In the field of agricultural biotechnology, pioneering development of surface modified lipophilic nanosilica by the researchers of `international nanosilica network’ have been welcomed by Indian as well as international business communities resulting into world patents’ application by EU industrial partners of the network It is worthwhile to mention here that machine learning has transformed statistics in recent times Statistical learning is now widely used for studying problems on a scale (both in terms of data size and dimensions), unimaginable even a decade ago Let us close with the expectation with which we started this paper Computer scientists’ interest in biology is driven by their belief that biological processes could be used as template to study difficult problems in computing like computational thinking Computational thinking has Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 influenced heavily other scientific disciplines and vice versa On the other hand, computer scientists’ contribution to biology would go much further way than the pattern recognition in large sequence databases Advent of modern methods of nano computing method based controlled synthesis of nano-assemblies and nano-platforms will allow us to decipher codes for higher order brain behaviors and high level computation forming an effective bridge between much sought after man-machine 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unified view of pattern recognition, mage analysis, computer vision and artificial intelligence,” Proc NATO advanced research workshop on Pyramidal systems for Image processing and computer vision, (ed Levialdi), Fienum press, MarateaNaples, Italy, May 1986 [45] D D Majumder, “A unified approach to artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, image processing and computer vision in fifth generation computer system“, Int J Of Inf Sci., vol 45, pp 391-431, Elsevier Science, N Y., 1988 [46] D D Majumder, “Mind-body duality: its impact on pattern recognition and computer vision research,” Third APRDT, ISI, P C Mahalanobis birth centenary volume, pp 3-17, December 1993 [47] D Dutta Majumder, P Roy, R Kozma and J Biswas, “A Cybernetic Approach to Spontaneous Cancer Remission: Exploring a New Paradigm for Cancer Treatment,” In R Vallee & J Rose (ed), Recent Advances in Cybernetic and Systems ICCS Series World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics, Paris, 1999 [48] D Dutta Majumder and P Roy, “Cancer Self-remission And Tumour Instability – A Cybernetic Analysis: Towards a Fresh Paradigm for Cancer Treatment,” Kybernetes, vol 29, nos 7-8, (Frank George Research Award Winning Paper II), pp 896 – 925, 2000 [49] P K Roy, D Dutta Majumder and P K Sen, “Spontaneous Cancer-Regression - Theory based on Thermodynamic Laws & Stability Theory,” Fifth International Conference on Anticancer Research : President's Symposium on Spontaneous Cancer Regression, Organization of Comparative Oncology, Silver Spring, Maryland, October, 1995 [50] P K Roy, D Dutta Majumder and P K Sen, “The Paradox of Spontaneous Cancer Regression: Therapeutic Duplication and Foundations of A Theory Using Thermodynamic Laws & Stability Theory”, Anticancer Research, vol 15, no 5A, pp 1792 – 1795, 1995 [51] P Roy, J Biswas and D Dutta Majumder, “Paradox of Spontaneous Cancer Regression: Implications for Fluctuation Radiotherapy and Radiothermy,” Indian Journal of Physics, vol 73-B, no 5, pp 777-793, 1999 [52] P Roy, J Biswas, D Dutta Majumder, K Tomita, H Tsuchiya and H Mohri, “Thermal Fever Induced Spontaneous Regression and Prolonged Arrest of Tumour, Implications for a Radiotherapy,” Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Engineering, Paper log #573, International Centre for Theoretical Physics/ International Atomic Energy Agency, Trieste, 1996 [53] M Bhattacharya and D Dutta Majumder, “Breast Cancer Screening Using Mammographic Image Analysis,” Sixteen International CODATA Conference, New Delhi, 8-12 November 1998 [54] M Bhattacharya and D Dutta Majumder, “Cancer Screening Using Image Analysis,” Seminar on ‘Computers in Medical Technology’ in collaboration with Birla Industrial Technological Museum and Science Association of Bengal, Calcutta, 4-5 December, 1998 [55] D Dutta Majumder and M Bhattacharya, “Cybernetic Approach to Medical Technology: Application to Cancer Screening and Other Diagnostics, Millennium Issue in the journal Kybernetes, U.K (Frank George Research Award Paper), vol 29, no 7-8, pp 871 – 895, 2000 [56] D Dutta Majumder, “Multimodal Image Processing, Registration & Fusion: Mathematical Tools and Application,” keynote paper, International Conference on Advances in Pattern Recognition, ISI & IAPR, 2003 [57] P Mitra and D Dutta Majumder, “Feature Selection and Gene Clustering from Gene Expression Data,” 17th IAPR, Cambridge University, 2001 [58] D P Mukherjee and D Dutta Majumder, “Tongue Image Analysis Software,” Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, series: Advances in Soft Computing, Springer XVIII, pp 403-412, 2003 [59] D Dutta Majumder and M Bhattacharya, “Cybernetic Approach to Medical Technology for Diagnosis and Therapy Planning,” Proceedings to Eleventh International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems, World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics, Brunel University, Uxbridge Middlesex, West London, pp 103-109, August 1999 Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing: Theory and Applications (ICCTA'07) 0-7695-2770-1/07 $20.00 © 2007 View publication stats ... nanotechnology aided novel sensor fusion and gain control demonstrating synergies emerging from the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information and cognitive science [11, 12] Mechanical... state -of- the-art continuous discrete and semiconductor for memory systems along with memory properties of the animals and came to the conclusion the “Role of Chemical Codes” in information processing... inspiration from biological processes governing memory, consciousness and also evolution through patterned and non-patterned genetic variation This is essential to understand the limits and power of