That does not affect their electrical conductivity, but nanoscale particles like this are known to scatter and obstruct the passage of heat through imperfectly understood quantum-mechanical processes.

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Manufacturers in China would have a dreadful time producing good conventional film cameras, for example, because of the complex optical, chemical and mechanical processes that must be mastered.

ECONOMIST: Manufacturing in Japan

There are some physicists out there, such as Roger Penrose, who have hypothesized that our consciousness is, in fact, the result of quantum mechanical processes which might make a strong AI impossible.

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Dr. Ferrari: For one, we're working on lessening errors in shift changes at the hospitals, redesigning the mechanical and human processes in order to make that transition a safer one.

WSJ: Big Test at Johns Hopkins

Still, even to non-technical people, it was clear that there were logical processes that controlled the gears of mechanical systems or the circuits of computers in ways that were useful and not, at the time, obvious.

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