Artificial Intelligence and Ethics

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ethics have become a topic of significant concern as AI technologies continue to advance and become more prevalent in various aspects of society. Addressing the ethical implications of AI is crucial to ensure that these technologies are developed and used responsibly and for the benefit of humanity. Here are some key ethical considerations related to AI:

  1. Bias and Fairness: AI algorithms learn from data, and if the training data contains biases, the AI system may perpetuate these biases in decision-making processes. Ensuring fairness and addressing bias in AI systems is essential to prevent discrimination and promote equity.
  2. Accountability and Transparency: As AI systems become more autonomous, it becomes essential to understand how these systems make decisions. The lack of transparency in AI algorithms can lead to challenges in holding AI systems accountable for their actions.
  3. Privacy and Data Protection: AI often relies on vast amounts of data to make predictions and decisions. Preserving individuals’ privacy and ensuring that personal data is protected are critical concerns when using AI technology.
  4. Autonomy and Human Control: The increasing autonomy of AI systems raises questions about who is responsible for the actions of AI and whether humans should always maintain control over these systems, especially in critical decision-making situations.
  5. Job Displacement and Economic Impact: AI’s potential to automate tasks and jobs raises concerns about job displacement and its impact on the workforce and the economy. Ensuring that AI is used to augment human capabilities rather than replace them is a significant ethical consideration.
  6. Safety and Security: AI systems, particularly those used in critical applications like autonomous vehicles or healthcare, must be designed with safety and security in mind to prevent harm to individuals or society.
  7. Human Dignity and Autonomy: Ethical AI development should respect human dignity and autonomy, ensuring that AI systems do not undermine human values or infringe on individuals’ rights and freedoms.
  8. Dual-Use Technology: AI technologies can be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes. Ethical considerations involve promoting the positive use of AI while preventing its misuse for malicious or harmful activities.

Addressing these ethical considerations requires collaboration among policymakers, AI researchers, industry stakeholders, ethicists, and the public. Establishing clear ethical guidelines and frameworks for AI development and use, promoting transparency and accountability, and ensuring diverse perspectives are included in AI research and decision-making processes are essential steps to navigate the ethical challenges of AI. Additionally, fostering public awareness and engagement on AI ethics can help ensure that AI technologies align with human values and serve the best interests of society as a whole.

Privacy and Security

Privacy and security are critical issues in today’s digital age, as technology plays an increasingly prominent role in our personal and professional lives. Here’s a closer look at these two important aspects:

Privacy:

  1. Personal Data Protection: Privacy concerns revolve around the protection of personal data, such as names, addresses, financial information, health records, and online activities. With the vast amount of data generated and stored by organizations and online services, ensuring the confidentiality and appropriate use of this data is paramount.
  2. Data Breaches and Cyberattacks: Data breaches and cyberattacks pose significant threats to privacy. When hackers gain unauthorized access to sensitive information, it can lead to identity theft, financial fraud, or other forms of exploitation.
  3. Online Tracking and Profiling: Internet companies and advertisers collect user data to deliver targeted advertisements and content. While personalization can improve user experiences, it also raises concerns about the extent to which user behaviors are tracked and profiles are created.
  4. Government Surveillance: Government surveillance programs, particularly those conducted without appropriate oversight, can infringe on individuals’ privacy rights and raise concerns about potential abuses of power.
  5. Internet of Things (IoT) Privacy: The proliferation of IoT devices raises privacy concerns as these interconnected devices may collect and share personal data without users’ full awareness or consent.

Security:

  1. Cybersecurity Threats: Cybersecurity is the protection of computer systems and networks from theft, damage, or unauthorized access. Cybersecurity threats include malware, phishing attacks, ransomware, and denial-of-service attacks.
  2. Software Vulnerabilities: Software vulnerabilities, such as bugs and coding errors, can be exploited by malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to systems.
  3. Insider Threats: Security breaches can also result from internal threats, such as employees with malicious intentions or those who inadvertently cause security incidents.
  4. Internet Scams and Frauds: Online scams, fraudulent websites, and social engineering attacks target individuals and organizations, leading to financial losses and compromised data.
  5. Cloud Security: As more data and services move to the cloud, ensuring the security of cloud environments becomes a critical concern.

Addressing Privacy and Security: Addressing privacy and security concerns requires a multi-faceted approach involving various stakeholders:

  • Legislation and Regulation: Governments and regulatory bodies play a crucial role in setting privacy and security standards, enforcing data protection laws, and ensuring organizations adhere to best practices.
  • Technological Measures: Developing secure software, implementing encryption, and adopting other cybersecurity technologies are essential for safeguarding data and systems.
  • User Education: Educating users about privacy best practices, recognizing online threats, and adopting strong security habits can empower individuals to protect their own data and privacy.
  • Ethical Considerations: Organizations must prioritize ethical practices when handling user data, ensuring transparency, and obtaining informed consent.
  • International Collaboration: Given the global nature of the internet, international collaboration on cybersecurity and data protection is vital to address cross-border challenges.

By taking privacy and security seriously, individuals, organizations, and policymakers can foster trust in digital technologies and create a safer and more secure online environment.

Issues in Computer Science

Computer science, like any field, faces various challenges and issues that researchers, professionals, and society must address. Some of the significant issues in computer science include:

  1. Privacy and Security: With the increasing digitization of information and the pervasive use of technology, protecting data privacy and ensuring cybersecurity have become critical concerns. Cyberattacks, data breaches, and the misuse of personal information pose serious threats to individuals, organizations, and governments.
  2. Artificial Intelligence and Ethics: As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, there are ethical considerations about its use. Questions arise about bias in AI algorithms, the potential for AI to automate jobs, and the impact on privacy and autonomy. Ensuring that AI is used responsibly and ethically is a complex challenge.
  3. Algorithmic Bias and Fairness: Algorithms, particularly those used in machine learning and AI systems, can reflect and perpetuate biases present in the data they are trained on. This raises concerns about fairness, equity, and the potential for discrimination in algorithmic decision-making.
  4. Digital Divide: Not everyone has equal access to technology and the internet, creating a digital divide between those who have access to information and resources and those who do not. Bridging this gap is essential to promote inclusivity and provide equal opportunities for all.
  5. Sustainability and Green Computing: The rapid growth in computing technology has led to increased energy consumption and electronic waste. Finding ways to design more energy-efficient systems and responsibly manage electronic waste is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the field.
  6. Data Overload and Information Management: The massive amount of data generated in today’s digital world presents challenges in terms of storage, processing, and extracting valuable insights. Effective data management and analysis are necessary to make sense of the vast amounts of information.
  7. Software Quality and Testing: Software systems are becoming increasingly complex, and ensuring their reliability and security is a significant challenge. Thorough testing, verification, and debugging are crucial to delivering high-quality software.
  8. Education and Workforce Development: The rapid pace of technological advancements requires a skilled workforce. Ensuring that computer science education is accessible and equipping students with relevant skills to meet industry demands is an ongoing challenge.
  9. Internet Governance and Regulation: The internet transcends national borders, making it challenging to govern and regulate its use effectively. Balancing the principles of freedom of expression, privacy, and cybersecurity while addressing harmful content and illegal activities remains a complex issue.
  10. Big Data and Data Privacy: The collection and analysis of big data offer tremendous opportunities for advancements in various fields. However, ensuring data privacy and protecting sensitive information is an ongoing challenge in the age of interconnected systems and widespread data sharing.

Addressing these issues requires collaboration among computer scientists, policymakers, industry stakeholders, and the broader society. Ethical considerations, responsible innovation, and a commitment to addressing societal challenges are essential to navigate these complex issues and harness the potential of computer science for the greater good.

Decay modes of 250 No

D. Peterson, B. B. Back, R. V. F. Janssens, T. L. Khoo, C. J. Lister, D. Seweryniak, I. Ahmad, M. P. Carpenter, C. N. Davids, A. A. Hecht, C. L. Jiang, T. Lauritsen, X. Wang, S. Zhu, F. G. Kondev, A. Heinz, J. Qian, R. Winkler, P. Chowdhury, S. K. Tandel, and U. S. Tandel

The fragment mass analyzer at the ATLAS facility has been used to unambiguously identify the mass number associated with different decay modes of the nobelium isotopes produced via 204Pb(48Ca,xn)252−xNo reactions. Isotopically pure (>99.7%) 204Pb targets were used to reduce background from more favored reactions on heavier lead isotopes. Two spontaneous fission half-lives (t1/2=3.7+1.1−0.8 and 43+22−15 μs) were deduced from a total of 158 fission events. Both decays originate from 250No rather than from neighboring isotopes as previously suggested. The longer activity most likely corresponds to a K isomer in this nucleus. No conclusive evidence for an α branch was observed, resulting in upper limits of 2.1% for the shorter lifetime and 3.4% for the longer activity.

https://journals.aps.org/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.74.014316

Microscopic description of fission in nobelium isotopes with the Gogny-D1M energy density functional

R. Rodriguez-Guzman, L.M. Robledo

Constrained mean-field calculations, based on the Gogny-D1M energy density functional, have been carried out to describe fission in the isotopes 250−260No. The even-even isotopes have been considered within the standard Hartree-Fock-Bogoliobov (HFB) framework while for the odd-mass ones the Equal Filling Approximation (HFB-EFA) has been employed. Ground state quantum numbers and deformations, pairing energies, one-neutron separation energies, inner and outer barrier heights as well as fission isomer excitation energies are given. Fission paths, collective masses and zero-point quantum vibrational and rotational corrections are used to compute the systematic of the spontaneous fission half-lives tSF both for even-even and odd-mass nuclei. Though there exists a strong variance of the predicted fission rates with respect to the details involved in their computation, it is shown that both the specialization energy and the pairing quenching effects, taken into account within the self-consistent HFB-EFA blocking procedure, lead to larger tSF values in odd-mass nuclei as compared with their even-even neighbors. Alpha decay lifetimes have also been computed using a parametrization of the Viola-Seaborg formula. The high quality of the Gogny-D1M functional regarding nuclear masses leads to a very good reproduction of Qα values and consequently of lifetimes.

Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)

Actinide chemistry using singlet-paired coupled cluster and its combinations with density functionals

Alejandro J. Garza, Ana G. Sousa Alencar, Gustavo E. Scuseria

Singlet-paired coupled cluster doubles (CCD0) is a simplification of CCD that relinquishes a fraction of dynamic correlation in order to be able to describe static correlation. Combinations of CCD0 with density functionals that recover specifically the dynamic correlation missing in the former have also been developed recently. Here, we assess the accuracy of CCD0 and CCD0+DFT (and variants of these using Brueckner orbitals) as compared to well-established quantum chemical methods for describing ground-state properties of singlet actinide molecules. The f0 actinyl series (UO2+2, NpO2+2, PuO2+2), the isoelectronic NUN, and Thorium (ThO, ThO2+) and Nobelium (NoO, NoO2) oxides are studied.

Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)

γ-vibrational states in superheavy nuclei

Yang Sun, Gui-Lu Long, Falih Al-Khudair, and Javid A. Sheikh

Recent experimental advances have made it possible to study excited structure in superheavy nuclei. The observed states have often been interpreted as quasiparticle excitations. We show that in superheavy nuclei collective vibrations systematically appear as low-energy excitation modes. By using the microscopic Triaxial Projected Shell Model, we make a detailed prediction on γ-vibrational states and their E2 transition probabilities to the ground state band in fermium and nobelium isotopes where active structure research is going on, and in 270Ds, the heaviest isotope where decay data have been obtained for the ground-state and for an isomeric state.

https://journals.aps.org/prc/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevC.77.044307

Rotational properties of nuclei around 254No investigated using a spectroscopic-quality Skyrme energy density functional

Yue Shi, J. Dobaczewski, P.T. Greenlees

Nuclei in the Z≈100 mass region represent the heaviest systems where detailed spectroscopic information is experimentally available. Although microscopic-macroscopic and self-consistent models have achieved great success in describing the data in this mass region, a fully satisfying precise theoretical description is still missing.
By using fine-tuned parametrizations of the energy density functionals, the present work aims at an improved description of the single-particle properties and rotational bands in the nobelium region. Such locally optimized parameterizations may have better properties when extrapolating towards the superheavy region.
Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov and Lipkin-Nogami methods were used to calculate the quasiparticle energies and rotational bands of nuclei in the nobelium region. Starting from the most recent Skyrme parametrization, UNEDF1, the spin-orbit coupling constants and pairing strengths have been tuned, so as to achieve a better agreement with the excitation spectra and odd-even mass differences in 251Cf and 249Bk.
The quasiparticle properties of 251Cf and 249Bk were very well reproduced. At the same time, crucial deformed neutron and proton shell gaps open up at N=152 and Z=100, respectively. Rotational bands in Fm, No, and Rf isotopes, where experimental data are available, were also fairly well described. To help future improvements towards a more precise description, small deficiencies of the approach were carefully identified.
In the Z≈100 mass region, larger spin-orbit strengths than those from global adjustments lead to improved agreement with data. Puzzling effects of particle-number restoration on the calculated moment of inertia, at odds with the experimental behaviour, require further scrutiny.

Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)

Deformations and quasiparticle spectra of nuclei in the nobelium region

Yue Shi, J. Dobaczewski, P.T. Greenlees, J. Toivanen, P. Toivanen

We have performed self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov calculations for nuclei close to 254No. Self-consistent deformations, including β2,4,6,8 as functions of the rotational frequency, were determined for even-even nuclei 246,248,250Fm, 252,254No, and 256Rf. The quasiparticle spectra for N=151 isotones and Z=99 isotopes were calculated and compared with experimental data and the results of Woods-Saxon calculations. We found that our calculations give high-order deformations similar to those obtained for the Woods-Saxon potential, and that the experimental quasiparticle energies are reasonably well reproduced.

Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)

Skyrme mean-field study of rotational bands in transfermium isotopes

M. Bender, P. Bonche, T. Duguet, P.-H. Heenen

Self-consistent mean field calculations with the SLy4 interaction and a density-dependent pairing force are presented for nuclei in the Nobelium mass region. Predicted quasi-particle spectra are compared with experiment for the heaviest known odd N and odd Z nuclei. Spectra and rotational bands are presented for nuclei around No252,4 for which experiments are either planned or already running.

Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)

Properties of nuclei in the nobelium region studied within the covariant, Skyrme, and Gogny energy density functionals

J. Dobaczewski, A.V. Afanasjev, M. Bender, L.M. Robledo, Yue Shi

We calculate properties of the ground and excited states of nuclei in the nobelium region for proton and neutron numbers of 92 <= Z <= 104 and 144 <= N <= 156, respectively. We use three different energy-density-functional (EDF) approaches, based on covariant, Skyrme, and Gogny functionals, each within two different parameter sets. A comparative analysis of the results obtained for odd-even mass staggerings, quasiparticle spectra, and moments of inertia allows us to identify single-particle and shell effects that are characteristic to these different models and to illustrate possible systematic uncertainties related to using the EDF modelling

Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)

Direct mapping of nuclear shell effects in the heaviest elements

E. Minaya Ramirez, D. Ackermann, K. Blaum, M. Block, C. Droese, Ch. E. Düllmann, M. Dworschak, M. Eibach, S. Eliseev, E. Haettner, F. Herfurth, F.P. Heßberger, S. Hofmann, J. Ketelaer, G. Marx, M. Mazzocco, D. Nesterenko, Yu.N. Novikov, W.R. Plaß, D. Rodríguez, C. Scheidenberger, L. Schweikhard, P.G. Thirolf, C. Weber

Quantum-mechanical shell effects are expected to strongly enhance nuclear binding on an “island of stability” of superheavy elements. The predicted center at proton number Z=114,120, or 126 and neutron number N=184 has been substantiated by the recent synthesis of new elements up to Z=118. However the location of the center and the extension of the island of stability remain vague. High-precision mass spectrometry allows the direct measurement of nuclear binding energies and thus the determination of the strength of shell effects. Here, we present such measurements for nobelium and lawrencium isotopes, which also pin down the deformed shell gap at N=152.

Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)