Einstein's 'spooky' theory may lead to ultra-secure Internet

Could new research into Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' pave the way for a new ultra-secure quantum Internet? Credit: © Serg Nvns / Fotolia

Einstein's skepticism about quantum mechanics may lead to an ultra-secure Internet, suggests a new paper by researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and Peking University.

Associate Professor Margaret Reid from Swinburne's Centre for Quantum and Optical Science said Einstein's reservations about quantum mechanics were highlighted in a phenomenon known as "'spooky' action at a distance."

In 1935, Einstein and researchers highlighted a 'spooky' theory in quantum mechanics, which is the strange way entangled particles stay connected even when separated by large distances.

"Until now the real application of this has been for messages being shared between two people securely without interception, regardless of the spatial separation between them," Professor Reid said.

"In this paper, we give theoretical proof that such messages can be shared between more than two people and may provide unprecedented security for a future quantum Internet."

In the 1990s, scientists realised you can securely transmit a message through encrypting and using a shared key generated by Einstein's strange entanglement to decode the message from the sender and receiver. Using the quantum key meant the message was completely secure from interception during transmission.

Sending Einstein's entanglement to a larger number of people means the key can be distributed among all the receiving parties, so they must collaborate to decipher the message, which Professor Reid said makes the message even more secure.

"We found that a secure message can be shared by up to three to four people, opening the possibility to the theory being applicable to secure messages being sent from many to many.

"The message will also remain secure if the devices receiving the message have been tampered with, like if an iPhone were hacked, because of the nature of Einstein's spooky entanglement.

"Discovering that it can be applied to a situation with more parties has the potential to create a more secure Internet -- with less messages being intercepted from external parties."

Source: Swinburne University of Technology

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Internet addicts often suffer from additional disorders

Chatting via WhatsApp rather than meeting friends in real life, sharing holiday photos on Facebook rather than showing them in person, playing video games rather than going out. Digital media play an important role in our everyday lives. However, some people spend an excessive amount of time online, and they are unable to break free. Credit: Image courtesy of Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum

Internet addicts often suffer from concomitant disorders, most frequently from depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and ADHS. PD Dr med. Bert te Wildt studies this phenomenon at the Ruhr-Universität's LWL Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy.

Spectrum of concomitant disorders similar to that in alcohol addicts

The researcher from Bochum has compiled a so-called comorbidity profile of 25 Internet addicts. Each patient presented at least one concomitant disorder. Together with his colleagues, Bert te Wildt examined 25 alcohol addicts for comparison. Their comorbidity profile was quite similar. However, only every other patient in this cohort suffered from a concomitant disorder. "These results highlight the significance of comorbidity for Internet addiction," says te Wildt. He also points out: "This is not a one-way street, the disorders interact." In another study, he found evidence that in a number of patients Internet addiction may be traced back to similar personality structures.

Large numbers presumably undetected

According to estimates, 500,000 Germans in the age bracket from 14 to 64 years suffer from Internet addiction, which most commonly takes the shape of online gaming addiction. The studies conducted by Bert te Wildt's team at the media outpatient clinic in Bochum suggest that many cases remain undetected.

Source: Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum

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A smart fluorescent antenna for Wi-Fi applications

A charged argon gas in the fluorescent lamp emits Wi-Fi signals. Credit: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA

A new invention uses ionized gas in fluorescent light tubes to transmit Internet wireless frequency signals throughout a building with the aid of already existing electrical wiring.

Due to continuously evolving applications, the electronic communications industry requires high performance and speed efficient systems. However, the physical limitations of microwave devices limits further improvements in current technology. This predicament has led to growing interest in the use of plasma as a conductive element in microwave devices due to their unique and innovative properties, which corresponds with traditional metallic antennas.

Matter exists in four different states: solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Plasma is a type of gas in which the atoms are ionized -- they have both free negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. These charged particles can be controlled by electromagnetic fields, allowing plasmas to be used as a controllable reactive gas.

This invention employs an ionized gas enclosed in a tube as the conducting element of an antenna. When the gas is electrically charged or ionized to plasma, it becomes conductive and allows radio frequency signals to be transmitted or received. When the gas is not ionized, the antenna element ceases to exit.

The invention features a smart fluorescent antenna with a 3G/3.75G/4G router for Wi-Fi applications. The antenna operates at the 2.4 GHz frequency band, which is suitable for Wi-Fi applications. A commercially available fluorescent tube, measuring 0.61 metres in length by 0.25 metres in diameter, is used as the plasma antenna. The gas inside the tube is a mixture of argon and mercury vapour, in the ratio 9:1. The tube is energized by a 240 V current, provided by a standard AC power supply. A glowing tube indicates that the gas inside the tube has been ionized to plasma and forms a plasma column. In this state, the plasma column becomes highly conductive and can be used as an antenna.

A coupling sleeve is positioned at the lower end of the tube, which is used to connect the plasma tube to the router. The function of the coupling sleeves is to store the electrical charge. When the gas inside the tube is sufficiently ionized into a plasma state, it becomes conductive and allows radio frequency signals to be transmitted or received.

Measurements indicate that the plasma antenna yields a return loss over 10 dB in the 2.23 GHz to 2.58 GHz frequency band. The antenna's ability to operate as either a transmitter or receiver in this particular frequency band was verified through a series of wireless transmission experiments.

The performance of this antenna was measured using the Wi-Fi Received Signal Strength 
Indicator (RSSI) technique. The product was tested for a month in the Universiti Teknologi MARA's High Frequency Antenna Laboratory. Our results show that the signal is stronger and more stable compared to others signals.

One advantage of this product is its low cost. The Wi-Fi signal can be transmitted into other rooms using only one router with a splitter cable. The fluorescent tube has dual functionality, thereby reducing the cost of buying additional antennas. Commercial antennas are made from metal elements while this invention uses plasma element as its source of material. Normal antennas can only transmit and receive radio frequencies, while this product not only can be used for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals, but as a light emitting device as well.

Source: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)

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Li-fi protocol allows use of the Internet at the speed of light

Sisoft Company in Mexico has developed a technology that can illuminate a large work space, an auditorium or an office, while providing full mobile internet to every device that comes into the range of the light spectrum. Credit: SISOFT

Sisoft Company in Mexico has developed a technology that can illuminate a large work space, an auditorium or an office, while providing full mobile internet to every device that comes into the range of the light spectrum.

The Mexican group managed to transmit audio, video and Internet across the spectrum of light emitted by LED lamps. This new technology, called Li-Fi or light fidelity, is presented as an alternative to Wi-Fi because it will maximize the original provided speed of the internet to offer safer data transfer and a transfer rate of up to 10 gigabytes per second.

The Li-Fi device circulates data via LEDs that emit an intermittent flicker at a speed imperceptible to the human eye. "As Wi-Fi uses cables to spread our connections, wireless transmission Li-Fi uses LED lamps that emit high brightness light," said Arturo Campos Fentanes, CEO of Sisoft in Mexico.

Another advantage in comparison to Wi-Fi is that there is no way to hack the signal since the internet is transmitted by light, there is no way to "steal it." Furthermore, it can be installed in hospitals areas that use radiation apparatus and generally block or distort internet signal, Campos Fentanes said.

With this new technology expansion through the market is seeked, with lower costs and a service increased by five thousand percent internet speed. Currently in Mexico the highest transfer rate is 200 megabytes per second. Just to get an idea, with Li-Fi you could quickly download an entire HD movie in just 45 seconds.

Also known as visible light communications (VLC), this technology began with an internet speed of two Gigabits per second, but Sisoft along with researchers from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) adapted the system to be multiplied five times.

Campos Fentanes explained that the first experiments were conducted with audio, in which a cable is connected via 3.5 mm audio Jack from a smartphone to a protoboard table to transform the auditory signal in optical waves. That way a special emitter transmits data across the spectrum of light generated by an LED lamp and is captured by a receptor located in a speaker that reproduces sound.

For wireless internet transmission, the mechanics is similar. The station developed by Sisoft of Mexico stands above the router device that distributes the internet signal and a lamp-LED is incorporated to maximize the speed of data transfer. Light will emulate an antenna, but only the electronic apparatus that has the receptor for the "optical audio" signal and is inside the range of the halo of light will have a connection. 

Source: Investigación y Desarrollo

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The economy of bitcoins: New ways to study social action on markets

ETH's researchers decipher the dynamics behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Credit: © ulchik74 / Fotolia

Anyone who strolls around the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, can't help but notice them -- the small signs on the doors of shops and cafes "Bitcoins accepted." Customers pay for their shirt or their cappuccino with their Smartphone instead of with bank notes or credit cards. The digital currency Bitcoin makes all this possible.

"The image of Bitcoin has changed fundamentally," explains David Garcia, a post-doctoral researcher with the Chair of Systems Design held by Professor Frank Schweitzer. "Bitcoins used to be the reserve of hackers and computer nerds. Today, hipsters pay for drinks with them and they are accepted in the online shops of large companies." Garcia, together with his colleagues Claudio Tessone, Pavlin Mavrodiev and Nicolas Perony, has just published a study on the social dynamics of the Bitcoin economy in the Journal of the Royal Society: Interface.

Internet activity determines exchange rates

For research the success of the digital currency (see box) is a stroke of luck as all data on every transaction carried out in Bitcoin are available in anonymised form on the Internet. Consequently, Garcia and his colleagues are able to study the Bitcoin economy using corresponding algorithms. This idea saw the light of day when they noticed that the 50,000-fold market value increase in the digital currency in just three and a half years went hand in hand with a 10,000 percent increase in Google searches for Bitcoin. The researchers hypothesise that the increase in the value of Bitcoins is markedly accelerated by activities on the Internet, in particular the search for information and interaction in the social media.

To test their hypothesis the researchers examined four different socio-economic parameters: the development of the Bitcoin user base, the price developments of the currency over time, the search for information about Bitcoin on Google and in Wikipedia (more than six million inquiries) and the exchange of information about Bitcoin on Twitter (almost seven million Tweets). In fact, over the past three the researchers established years major correlations between price developments, the number of new Bitcoin users, searches on the Internet and Tweets.

At the same time, they discovered two positive feedback loops which basically reproduced the laws of the "analogous" economy. The growing popularity of Bitcoins on the Internet leads to growing demand which, in turn, encourages activity in the social media. This all results in a higher price for Bitcoins. The second feedback concerns the user base: the more users become part of the Bitcoin transaction network, the higher the price because Bitcoins are not issued in line with demand but in an automated fashion at regular intervals. This means it is possible to calculate the available amount at any time. One negative feedback is, however, surprising. Prior to a major slump in the price of the currency, there was a dramatic increase in Bitcoin activity on the Internet. "Big changes in Internet and social media activities lead to substantial price fluctuations," comments Nicolas Perony, co-author of the article.

Understanding markets and social dynamics

Perony is convinced that the quantitative analysis of social phenomena on the Internet has major potential. "With digital currencies we can observe aspects of the economy that we didn't have access to with cash. This gives us greater understanding of how markets actually function." According to the authors, the methodology described in the article could be applied to other areas in society, too. The Bitcoin mining network, which issues the currency, already harnesses computing power today which is three hundred times bigger than that of the 500 most powerful supercomputers together. "The big question is how such a high-performance system could be used for collaborative activities which go beyond the production of money," comments Perony. One possibility would be, for instance, collaborative research in a global network or the decentralised ownership of specific goods managed by a global network. Bitcoms do not belong to anyone. Buyers merely acquire the right to use a specific amount of them. This study already outlines today the tools for accurately quantifying and analysing the social dynamics of collaborative systems of this kind in the future.

The meteoric rise of Bitcoin

The Bitcoin success story began in 2008 with an article about an alternative, digital currency published under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In July 2010 Bitcoins were traded for the first time on the Internet exchange Mt. Gox at a rate of US$ 0.06 for 1 Bitcoin. The total value of all Bitcoins was US$ 277,000. By the end of 2013 the market value of all issued Bitcoins had climbed to more than US$ 14 billion whereby during spikes more than US$ 1,000 were paid for one Bitcoin. Today, over four million people use the digital currency. 

Bitcoins are traded in euros, dollars and in Chinese renminbi. Unlike conventional currencies there is no central bank for Bitcoins which has a monopoly for printing money. New Bitcoins are generated by what is known as mining via a global computer network -- currently at a rate of 25 Bitcoins every ten minutes. Transactions are likewise verified and carried out on this network. Even the bankruptcy of important Bitcoin trading exchanges and negative headlines about money laundering and drug purchases on the Internet were not able to undermine confidence in the currency. A few days ago the PC giant Dell announced that it will henceforth accept Bitcoins as payment for products in its online shop.

Source: ETH Zurich

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Three out of every four European banks fails in handicap accessibility of their websites

"The results reflect that only 26% of the banks show acceptable levels on their websites, and in more than 36% of cases analysed, serious obstacles to accessibility were found," Ana Belén Martínez, one of the researchers participating in the study, explained.

Three out of every four European banks fails in the accessibility of their websites Researchers from the University of Oviedo (Spain) have analysed the websites of nearly 50 banks from the EU to check whether any user, even if disabled, has equal access. The results show that this right is not fulfilled in 74% of cases, and therefore they demand greater interest from financial entities in this technological and social problem.

Web accessibility is the collection of technological innovations that guarantee fair access to the web for all users, regardless of disability or the device used. However, these facilities do not appear on the majority of web pages for European banks, according to an analysis carried out by computer specialists and economists from the University of Oviedo, Spain.
"The results reflect that only 26% of the banks show acceptable levels on their websites, and in more than 36% of cases analysed, serious obstacles to accessibility were found," Ana Belén Martínez, one of the researchers participating in the study, explained.

Javier De Andres, another of the authors, highlighted the consequences of the lack of accessibility: "People with disabilities find themselves with additional obstacles at the time of accessing electronic banking services, therefore often having to carry out certain steps in person, with the difficulties and discrimination that this implies."

The researchers offered some solutions to solve the problem: "The websites of the banks should provide text alternatives for all of their visual and auditory content, use units that facilitate understanding of style sheets, include input devices alternative to using the mouse, and clearly identify the language used on their website."

In order to carry out the study, published by the journal Information Processing & Management, a database made up of 49 banks from the EU -- 8 of them Spanish -- was used, whose actions form part of the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 stock index.

The authors have identified three factors that implement web accessibility. The first is operational, because of its contribution to the efficiency of the bank operations. "Those financial entities that want to improve a poor performance can adopt these applications, within a range of corrective measures," Martínez said.

Another factor is the size, in the way that the bigger banks have bigger information technology departments that provide a competitive advantage to adopt this technology, in relation to small banks. The third factor is that web accessibility can also be understood as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the entity, that is to say, its active and voluntary contribution towards social, economic and environmental improvement.

According to the results, neither the operational factors nor the size seem to have exercised a significant influence on the adoption of this technology by European banks. Regarding the CSR strategy, the results show a paradox whereby those less engaged with social corporate responsibility are precisely those that have more accessible websites.

"One possible reason is that the banks that do not appear in the indices that demonstrate high CSR commitment try to overcome this problem by participating in activities such as the adoption of web accessibility," Martínez pointed out.

The researchers concluded by indicating that neither web accessibility nor the advantages that it offers to the organisations are sufficiently known yet, and thus encourage the banks to improve in this sphere in order to guarantee fair access to all clients.

Source: Plataforma SINC

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Move over smart cities, the Internet of Things is off to the country

Smart sheep

 Lancaster University is about to take the concept of smart cities out of town. Computer scientists at Lancaster University are investigating how the Internet of Things could work in the countryside.

The Internet of Things - which enables object-to-object communication over the internet and real time data monitoring - has typically been associated with urban environments and until now the countryside has been left out in the cold.

Computer scientist Professor Gordon Blair of Lancaster University has won £171,495 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to lead a new project in Conwy, North Wales, which will investigate how the Internet of Things could work in the countryside.

Working with partners at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, The British Geological Survey and Bangor University, the project launched on December 1 and will run for 18 months.

Problems from flooding and agricultural pollution to animal movements and drought could all potentially benefit from smart technology in the sticks.

The Internet of Things, which takes everyday objects and hooks them up to the internet, represents a shift in the way we gather and engage with information. Applying this booming technology to the countryside presents challenges – for example how to build a network when there are mountains and trees in the way – but researchers believe the benefits could be huge.

Sheep with digital collars, sensors on riverbanks, rainfall and river flow monitors could all soon form part of the project.

Professor Blair said: “Cities have been the focus of much of the boom in this type of technology – it has been used to keep traffic flowing on our roads, monitor air pollution and even help us find a parking spot on a busy Saturday afternoon. But the countryside faces challenges of its own, from subtle environmental changes to catastrophic events such as flooding. The possibilities of bringing the Internet of Things to the countryside are limitless. The next step will be to identify exactly what will be of most use in the short term and how we will frame the project.”

Source: Lancaster University

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