Werabe University

Institute of Technology

Introduction to Emerging
Technologies (EmTe 1012)
Chapter 7: Other Emerging
Technologies

February, 2025
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 Content Outlines:
• Nanotechnology
• Biotechnology
• Block-chain technology
• Cloud and quantum computing
• Autonomic computing
• Computer vision
• Embedded systems
• Cyber security
• Additive Manufacturing & 3D printing
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 Nanotechnology
• Nanotechnology is science, engineering,
and technology conducted at the Nano-scale,
which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.
• Nano science and nanotechnology are the
study and application of extremely small things
and can be used across all the other science
fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics,
materials science, and engineering.

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 Nanotechnology
• The ideas and concepts behind Nano science and

nanotechnology started with a talk entitled “There’s

plenty of room at the bottom” by physicist.

• Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society

meeting at the California Institute of Technology

(Caltech) on December 29, 1959, long before the

term nanotechnology was used.

• Physicist Richard Feynman, the father of nanotechnology

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 Nanotechnology
• He described a process in which scientists
would be able to manipulate and control
individual atoms and molecules.
• Over a decade later, in his explorations of
ultraprecision machining, Professor Norio
Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology.
o It wasn't until 1981, with the development
of the scanning tunneling microscope
that could "see" individual atoms, that
modern nanotechnology began.

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 Fundamental concepts
Nanotechnology
• It’s hard to imagine just how small
nanotechnology is.

• One nanometer is a billionth of a meter or 10-9 of

meters.
For example:
o There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch.
o A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.
o On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer,
then one meter would be the size of the Earth.
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 Nanotechnology
• Nano science and nanotechnology involve
the ability to see and to control
individual atoms and molecules.
• Everything on Earth is made up of atoms — the
food we eat, the clothes we wear, the
buildings and houses we live in, and our
own bodies.

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 Nanotechnology
• But something as small as an atom is impossible to
see with the naked eye .
• The microscopes needed to see things at the
nanoscale were invented relatively, recently about 30
years ago.
• An atom has a diameter of about 0.1 nm.

• An atom's nucleus is much smaller about 0.00001

nm.
• Atoms are the building blocks for all matter in our
universe.
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 Application of
Nanotechnology
A. Medicine: customized nanoparticles the size of

molecules that can deliver drugs directly to

diseased cells in your body.

B. Electronics: it has some answers for how we might

increase the capabilities of electronics devices

while we reduce their weight and power

consumption.

C. Food: it has an impact on several aspects of food

science, from how food is grown to how it is

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Application of Nanotechnology
D. Agriculture: nanotechnology can possibly change

the whole agriculture part and nourishment

industry anchor from generation to preservation,

handling, bundling, transportation, and even

waste treatment.

E. Vehicle manufacturers: Much like aviation, lighter

and stronger materials will be valuable for making

vehicles that are both quicker and more secure.

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 Biotechnology
• Biotechnology is a technology based on
biology.
• It harnesses (binds) cellular and biomolecular
processes to develop technologies and
products that help improve our lives and the
health of our planet.
• We have used the biological processes of
microorganisms for long time to make useful
food products, such as bread and cheese, and
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 Biotechnology
• Brewing and baking bread are examples of processes that fall
within the concept of biotechnology (use of yeast (= living
organism) to produce the desired product).
• One example of modern biotechnology is genetic
engineering
• Genetic engineering is the process of transferring individual
genes between organisms or modifying the genes in an
organism to remove or add a desired trait or characteristic.
• In modern biotechnology, researchers modify DNA and proteins
to shape the capabilities of living cells, plants, and animals
into something useful for humans.

• Today, biotechnology covers many different disciplines (e.g.

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genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, etc.)
 Application of Biotechnology
A. Agriculture (Green Biotechnology):
• Biotechnology had contributed a lot to modify the
genes of the organism known as Genetically
Modified Organisms such as Crops, Animals,
Plants, Fungi, Bacteria, etc.
• Genetically modified crops are formed by the
manipulation of DNA to introduce a new trait
into the crops.

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 Application of Biotechnology
B. Medicine (Medicinal Biotechnology):
• This helps in the formation of genetically modified insulin
known as humulin.
• This helps in the treatment of a large number of diabetes
patients.
• It has also given rise to a technique known as gene
therapy.
• Gene therapy is a technique to remove the genetic defect
in an embryo or child.

C. Aquaculture Fisheries:
• It helps in improving the quality and quantity of fishes.
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 Application of Biotechnology
D. Environment (Environmental
biotechnology):
• Is used in waste treatment and pollution
prevention.
• Environmental biotechnology can more
efficiently clean up many wastes than
conventional methods and greatly reduce our

dependence on methods for land-based disposal .

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 Blockchain Technology
• A Blockchain is a time-stamped series of
immutable records of data that is managed by a
cluster of computers not owned by any single
entity.
• Each of these Blocks of data (i.e. block) is secured
and bound to each other using cryptographic
principles (i.e. chain).
• “Blocks” on the Blockchain are made up of digital
pieces of information.
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 Blockchain Technology
Specifically, they have three parts:
1. Blocks store information about transactions like
the date, time, and dollar amount of your most
recent purchase from Amazon.
2. Blocks store information about who is
participating in transactions.
3. Blocks store information that distinguishes
them from other blocks.
• Much like you and I have names to distinguish us from one
another, each block stores a unique code called a “hash” that
allows us to tell it apart from every other block.
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 Blockchain Technology
• When a block stores new data it is added to
the blockchain.
• In order for a block to be added to the
Blockchain, however, four things must happen:
1. A transaction must occur
2. That transaction must be verified
3. That transaction must be stored in a block
4. That block must be given a hash

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 Blockchain Technology
• By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of
the data.
• It is "an open, distributed ledger that can record
transactions between two parties efficiently and in
a verifiable and permanent way".
• The block chain network has no central authority;
it is the very definition of a democratized system.
Since it is a shared and immutable ledger, the
information in it is open for anyone and everyone to
see. 19
 Blockchain Technology
The Three Pillars of Blockchain Technology

1. Decentralization:

• In a decentralized system the information is not

stored by one single entity. In fact, everyone in the

network owns the information.

• In a decentralized network, if you wanted to interact

with your friend then you can do so directly without

going through a third party.

• That was the main ideology behind Bitcoins. 20

 Blockchain Technology
2. Transparency:
• One of the most interesting and misunderstood concepts in

blockchain technology is “transparency.”

• Some people say that blockchain gives you privacy while

some say that it is transparent.

• A person’s identity is hidden via complex cryptography

and represented only by their public address.

• So, if you were to look up a person’s transaction history, you
will not see.
– “Bob sent 1 BTC” instead you will see
“1MF1bhsFLkBzzz9vpFYEmvwT2TbyCt7NZJ sent 1 BTC”.
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 Blockchain Technology
3. Immutability
• Immutability, in the context of the
blockchain, means that once something has
been entered into the blockchain, it cannot
be tampered (altered) with.
• The reason why the blockchain gets this
property is that of the cryptographic
hash function. 22
 Blockchain Technology
• In simple terms, hashing means taking an input
string of any length and giving out an output
of a fixed length.
• In the context of crypto currencies like bitcoin, the
transactions are taken as input and run through a
hashing algorithm (Bitcoin uses SHA-256) which
gives an output of a fixed length.

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 Application of blockchain
A. The sharing economy
• With companies like Uber and Airbnb
flourishing, the sharing economy is already
a proven success .
B. Crowd funding
• Crowd funding initiatives like Kickstarter
and GoFundMe are doing the advance work
for the emerging peer-to-peer economy.
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 Application of blockchain
C. Governance

• By making the results fully transparent and publicly

accessible, distributed database technology could bring full

transparency to elections or any other kind of poll

taking.

D. Supply chain auditing

• Consumers increasingly want to know that the ethical claims

companies make about their products are real. Distributed

ledgers provide an easy way to certify that the backstories

of the things we buy are genuine.

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 Application of blockchain
E. File storage
• Decentralizing file storage on the internet
brings clear benefits.
• Distributing data throughout the network
protects files from getting hacked or lost.
• Interplanetary File System (IPFS) makes it
easy to conceptualize how a distributed web
might operate.
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 Cloud and quantum computing
o Cloud computing is a means of networking remote servers
that are hosted on the Internet.
o Rather than storing and processing data on a local server, or a PC's hard
drive, one of the following three types of cloud infrastructure is used .

• Public cloud:- third-party provider manages the servers,

applications, and storage much like a public utility.
• Private cloud:- hosted on business or organization onsite
datacenter. This might be hosted on their on-site data center,
although some companies host through a third-party provider
instead.
• Hybrid cloud:- Here private clouds are connected to public
clouds, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.

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 Advantages of cloud computing
• Cheap computing power
• No need for the initial costly capital
investment
• Energy costs are shared
• Cloud providers have vast resources of
computing power at their fingertips
• Allows you and multiple users to
access your data from any location
• Smartphone, laptop, desktop,
wherever you are, you can access the
data you need at any time
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 Quantum computing
• Quantum computers: truly do represent the
next generation of computing
• Unlike classic computers, they derive their
computing power by harnessing the power of
quantum physics.
• Currently, the only organization which provides
a quantum computer in the cloud is IBM
• They allow free access to anyone who wishes to
use their 5-qubit machine.
• Earlier this year they installed a 17-qubit
machine.
• So far over 40,000 users have taken advantage
of their online service to run experiments .
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 Advantages of quantum computing:

• Getting a quantum computer to function usefully

is an exciting prospect for scientists.
• Their gargantuan (huge) computing power
would allow them to crunch very long numbers.
• They would be able to make complex
calculations that would only overwhelm classic
computers.

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 Autonomic computing (AC)
• Autonomic computing (AC) is an approach to
address the complexity and evolution problems in
software systems.
• It is a self-managing computing model named
after, and patterned on, the human body's autonomic
nervous system.
• The goal of autonomic computing is to create systems
that run themselves, capable of high-level
functioning while keeping the system's complexity
invisible to the user.
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 Characteristics of Autonomic Systems
o Autonomic systems/applications exhibit eight defining
characteristics
• Self-Awareness: “knows itself” and is aware of its state
and its behaviors.
• Self-Configuring: should be able to configure and
reconfigure itself under varying and unpredictable
conditions.
• Self-Optimizing: should be able to detect suboptimal
behaviors and optimize itself to improve its execution.
• Self-Healing: should be able to detect and recover from
potential problems and continue to function smoothly.
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 Cont’d…
• Self-Protecting: should be capable of detecting and
protecting its resources from both internal and external
attacks and maintaining overall system security and
integrity.
• Context-Aware: should be aware of its execution
environment and be able to react to changes in the
environment.
• Open: must function in a heterogeneous world and should
be portable across multiple hardware and software
architectures. Consequently, it must be built on standard and
open protocols and interfaces.
• Anticipatory: should be able to anticipate to the extent
possible, its needs and behaviors and those of its context,
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 Computer vision
• It is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals

with how computers can be made to gain a high-

level understanding of digital images or videos.

• Computer vision tasks include methods for:

o acquiring, processing, analyzing and

understanding digital images, and

o extraction of high-dimensional data from the real

world in order to produce numerical or symbolic

information, e.g. in the forms of decisions

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 How computer vision works
1. Acquiring an image: Images, even large sets, can be
acquired in real-time through video, photos or 3D
technology for analysis.

2. Processing the image: Deep learning models

automate much of this process, but the models are often
trained by first being fed thousands of labeled or pre-
identified images.

3. Understanding the image: The final step is the

interpretative step, where an object is identified or
classified.
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 Cont’d…
There are many types of computer vision that are used in different ways:
• Image segmentation partitions an image into multiple regions or
pieces to be examined separately.
• Object detection identifies a specific object in an image.
• Facial recognition is an advanced type of object detection that not
only recognizes a human face in an image but identifies a specific
individual.
• Edge detection is a technique used to identify the outside edge of an
object or landscape to better identify what is in the image.
• Pattern detection is a process of recognizing repeated shapes, colors
and other visual indicators in images.
• Image classification groups images into different categories.
• Feature matching is a type of pattern detection that matches
similarities in images to help classify them.
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 Applications of computer vision
o Computer vision is being used today in
a wide variety of real-world
applications, which include:
• Optical character recognition (OCR): reading
handwritten postal codes on letters (Figure 7.5a) and
automatic number plate recognition (ANPR);
• Machine inspection: rapid parts inspection for
quality assurance using stereo vision with specialized
illumination to measure tolerances on aircraft wings or
auto body parts (Figure 7.5b) or looking for defects in
steel castings using X-ray vision
• Retail: object recognition for automated checkout
lanes
(Figure 7.5c)
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 Cont’d…
• Medical imaging: registering pre-operative and
intra-operative imagery (Figure 7.5d) or
performing long-term studies of people’s brain
morphology as they age;
• Automotive safety: detecting unexpected
obstacles such as pedestrians on the street, under
conditions where active vision techniques such as
radar or lidar do not work well. (Figure 7.5e).
• Surveillance: monitoring for intruders, analyzing
highway traffic (Figure 7.5f), and monitoring pools
for drowning victims;
• Fingerprint recognition and biometrics: for
automatic access authentication as well as forensic
applications.

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 Embedded systems
• It is a controller with a dedicated function within a larger
mechanical or electrical system, often with real-time computing
constraints.

• Specific purpose computer.

• It is embedded as part of a complete device often including

hardware and mechanical parts.

• Embedded systems control many devices in common use

today
• Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers
(i.e. microprocessors with integrated memory and
peripheral interfaces), but
o Ordinary microprocessors (using external chips for memory and
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 Advantages and disadvantages of
embedded system
Advantages of Embedded:
• Easily Customizable
• Low power consumption
• Low cost
• Enhanced performance
Disadvantages of Embedded systems:
• High development effort
• Larger time to market

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 Basic Structure of an Embedded
System:
• Sensor − It measures the physical quantity and
converts it to an electrical signal which can be
read by an observer or by any electronic instrument
like an A2D converter.
o A sensor stores the measured quantity to the memory.
• A-D Converter − An analog-to-digital converter
converts the analog signal sent by the sensor into
a digital signal.

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 Cont’d…
• Processor & ASICs − Processors process the
data to measure the output and store it to the
memory.
• D-A Converter − A digital-to-analog converter
converts the digital data fed by the processor to
analog data.
• Actuator − An actuator compares the output given
by the D-A Converter to the actual (expected)
output stored in it and stores the approved
output. 43
 Cybersecurity
o It is the protection of computer systems from
the theft of or damage to their hardware,
software, or electronic data, as well as from the
disruption or misdirection of the services they
provide.
o It is the protecting computer systems from
unauthorized access.
o Cyber security is becoming more important due to:
• Increased reliance on computer systems.
• The Internet and wireless network standards
such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. and due to the
growth of smart devices, including
smartphones, televisions, and the various
devices that constitute the Internet of Things.
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 Cont’d…
• Cybercrime is any criminal activity
(unlawful activity) that involves a
computer, network devices or a network.
o It is often committed by the people of
destructive and criminal mindset either for
revenge, greed or adventure.

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 Cyber security measures

Some of cyber security measures to be taken

to prevent cybercrime .
• Staff awareness training: - Human
error is the leading cause of data
breaches, so you need to equip staff
with the knowledge to deal with the
threats they face.
• Application security: - Web application
vulnerabilities are a common point of
intrusion for cybercriminals. As
applications play an increasingly critical
role in business, it is vital to focus on web
application security. 46
 Cont’d…
• Network security: - is the process of protecting the
usability and integrity of network and data. This is
achieved by conducting a network penetration test,
which scans your network for vulnerabilities and
security issues .
• Leadership commitment: - is the key to cyber
resilience. Without it, it is very difficult to establish
or enforce effective processes. Top management
must be prepared to invest in appropriate
cybersecurity resources, such as awareness training.
• Password management :-provides guidance to
ensure that individuals or organizations create
strong passwords and keep them secure

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 Types of cyber security threats
• Ransomware: - It is a type of malicious software. It is designed
to extort money by blocking access to files or the computer
system until the ransom is paid. Paying the ransom does not
guarantee that the files will be recovered or the system restored.
• Malware:- it is a type of software designed to gain
unauthorized access or to cause damage to a computer.
• Social engineering: - it is a tactic that adversaries use to trick
you into revealing sensitive information. They can solicit a
monetary payment or gain access to your confidential data.
• Phishing: - it is the practice of sending fraudulent emails that
resemble emails from reputable sources. The aim is to steal
sensitive data like credit card numbers and login information.
• It’s the most common type of cyber-attack.

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 Benefits of utilizing cybersecurity
Benefits of utilizing cybersecurity include:
• Business protection against malware, ransomware,

phishing, and social engineering

• Protection for data and networks

• Prevention of unauthorized users

• Improves recovery time after a breach

• Protection for end-users

• Improved confidence in the product for both developers

and customers
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 Cyber security vendors

Cyber security vendors

• Vendors in cyber security fields will
typically use endpoint, network and
advanced threat protection security as
well as data loss prevention.
• Three commonly known cybersecurity
vendors include Cisco, McAfee, and
Trend Micro.
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 Additive manufacturing (3D
Printing)
Let’s start by considering what the experts have to
say about AM (3D printing )
• The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
equates the two terms in their definition: “Additive
manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, uses
computer-aided design to build objects layer by
layer.”
• Wikipedia says, “Today, the precision, repeatability,
and material range has increased to the point that 3D
printing is considered as industrial production
technology, with the name of additive
manufacturing.”
• Author Deve Turbide puts it simply, suggesting that
additive manufacturing is “the industrial version of
3D printing”.
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 Cont’d…
3D Printing: It's All About the Printer
• When MIT invented binder jet printing in the
1980s, they wrote: “three-dimensional
printing is a process under development at
MIT for the rapid and flexible production of
prototype parts, end-use parts, and
tools directly from a CAD model.”
• Today our concept of “3D printing” is much
broader, but the term is often associated
with filament-based plastic printers.
o But there are also binder jet printers, laser metal
3D printers, as well as glass and clay 3D printers.

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 Cont’d…
Additive Manufacturing:
• “Additive manufacturing” (AM) is a big-
picture term more at home in the boardroom
than the factory floor or garage. Naturally,
AM separates itself from older, subtractive
technologies like milling.
• Additive manufacturing (AM) describes types
of advanced manufacturing that are used to
create three-dimensional structures out
of plastics, metals, polymers and other
materials that can be sprayed through a
nozzle or aggregated in a vat
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Thank you

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