Category Archives: Science & Technologies

Neutrino project on right track, say scientists

Education, Science & Technologies

Madurai:

Pre-project work on the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) will be completed by this year, say scientists working on INO.

A group of scientists working on INO in the West Bodi Hills in Theni district who were in Madurai to participate in a seminar at The American College said a nodal centre would soon be established for INO near Madurai Kamaraj University in Madurai.

The Rs-1,356 crore underground Neutrino Observatory is one of the world’s biggest pure science research projects coming up in Bodi Hills, about 110 km west of Madurai.

Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the workshop titled “Pathway to  Higgs Boson”, M V N Murthy of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai said the neutrino project, one of the big initiatives of the country in pure science, was on the right track. “The team of scientists is working on pre-project works now, which will be completed by 2012-end. Environment and pollution control board clearances have been obtained for 40 acres in Pottipuram village where the project is coming up,” he said. Excavation of a two-km tunnel in the hills for establishment of the observatory would commence after that.

Murthy further said a nodal centre was being established near Madurai for INO. “Work is in progress to obtain another 30 acres in Vadapalanji village near Madurai Kamaraj University where the nodal centre for the observatory will be constructed.

G Rajasekaran, scientific steering committee member of INO, said the pre-project works included setting up of necessary basic infrastructure in Pottipuram village like fencing the land, creating drinking water facilities and access roads. “The scientists team is working on creating a magnetic detector which will be placed inside the cavern in a two km tunnel which will be excavated in the mountain,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / August 29th, 2012

From IIT-M, nano-scale device to detect big explosives

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, (IIT-M) have developed a novel device that can visually detect even a single molecule of TNT used in the making of powerful explosives. Apart from national security, this ultra-sensitive and highly selective detection method will have applications in early identification of diseases and in radiation prevention, the IIT researchers claim.

IIT-M creates nano-scale device to detect explosions

Chemistry professor Thalappil Pradeep and his students Ammu Mathew and P.R. Sajanlal reporated the principle behind this device in the online issue of the leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie on Aug 22.

They are now building the device that may be put to practical use soon. The science behind this explosive detector is rather involved and difficult to explain. In simple terms, the detector works somewhat like an alert traffic cop who spots a violator by simply looking at the traffic signal. In other words, if the suspected sample being tested is clean, the detector gives off a red glow on being irradiated with light of a particular wavelength. But if the sample contains the explosive TNT (trinitrotoluene), the signal changes to with a fluorescence microscope has been demonstrated by the IIT team to take place in the presence of even just one molecule of TNT — a lower limit that has not been achieved by any detector so far.

Pradeep heads IIT’s nanoscience centre and naturally the TNT sensor that his team has developed uses a combination of gold and silver nano-particles, which are particles of extremely small dimensions.

The entire detector system is just four millionths of a metre in size and its distinct star shape is of particular advantage because it is easy to unmistakably identify the colour change under the microscope, says Pradeep. According to the scientists, their novel approach “can be considered a single-particle, single-molecule detection technique which is probably the ultimate in ultra-trace sensitivity“.

The researchers have demonstrated that they can also detect extremely low levels of mercury – an environmental contaminant — using the same sensor strategy. They say the concept could also be used for the detection of very low concentration of other substances by incorporating appropriate molecules called “ligands’ on their sensor thereby opening up applications in catalysis, bio-imaging and other areas.

IANS

source: http://www.tech2.in.com / Home> News> Science & Technology / August 28th, 2012

Fashion guru’s herbal garments heal

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Science & Technologies

A professor of Fashion Technology in Coimbatore has come up with trendy herbal solutions to nagging ailments. He heals sinuses by giving patients handkerchiefs treated with sandalwood and offers neem T-shirt to cure Psoriasis.

Professor K. Chandrasekaran is making good use of the benefits of coming from a family of Siddha doctors even after branching out into fashion technology.

Heading the department of Fashion Technology at PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, Prof Chandrasekaran teamed up with two other teachers and carried out research into the effect of using 16 medicinal herb extracts like neem, sandalwood, turmeric and tulsi to treat garments used by people suffering from ailments such as chronic headache, asthma, sinus, liver disorders and joint pains.

Qualified naturopathy doctors in Coimbatore monitored the subjects and found remarkable improvements and tests showed that the garments retained the antibacterial performance of the herbal substance for 10-15 washes.

“The results have been hugely encouraging. Patients showed remarkable recovery in 48 days, which constitutes one mandalam in alternative medicine,” Prof Chandrasekaran told this newspaper.

He added that patients had been advised to wear the curative garments
next to their skin for 10-12 hours a day, especially during sleeping, for better results.

The research work was published in the prestigious Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge in its July 2012 edition.

Prof Chandrasekaran said he would soon complete the research and introduce his healing garments in the market. A welcome byproduct would be the elimination of chemical dyes and growing more trees and herbs.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Chennai / by Pramila Krishnan / DC, Chennai, August 14th, 2012

Web research and cloud computing’

Education, Science & Technologies, World Opinion

Hari Vasu tells Sangeeta Yadav that there is a lot on offer to the students under the collaboration between Yahoo India R&D and IIT Madras

What is the main agenda behind this collaboration?

Supporting the academic community is a top priority at Yahoo. And we achieve this through scientific leadership, new research, business collaborations, online products and employment opportunities. Our collaboration with IIT – Madras is an example of Yahoo’s global commitment to leveraging industry-academia relationships to deliver breakthrough technology and innovations. We have been working closely for the last three years and our collaboration has now reached a milestone in the form of the Yahoo! grid computing lab launch which aims to spur research in big data problems in areas such as search, personalisation and digital advertising.

What is Yahoo! Grid Computing Lab all about?

Under this partnership, IIT-Madras researchers will have access to web-scale data and conduct research in the area of distributed computing, cloud computing, machine learning and big data. The grid computing infrastructure consists of 30 high end servers and is already operational. Unlike many other Hadoop clusters donated earlier by Yahoo to IITs, which were used to do problems on top of Hadoop, this is a first of its kind experimentation cluster by Yahoo which will allow research on core systems and help discover some new paradigms in the area of large scale distributed computing.

How will this benefit the students of IIT?

This cluster of high-end servers at the lab will allow students and researchers to access web-scale data and conduct research on big data and cloud computing systems. The partnership will support researchers at IIT-Madras to process and analyse huge volumes of structured and unstructured data which, to date, has been limited due to significant cost barriers in getting large computing systems operational. We will supplement this with invaluable data access and promote awareness of hard technical challenges through ‘tech talks’ by some of the best minds at Yahoo. Our hope is to catalyse and align research agenda at these premier institutes by providing a level playing field to co-invent next generation web technologies.

Is there any fee or eligibility required to enroll under this programme?

The lab is absolutely free and any student or researcher interested in pursuing research on Grid Computing at the IIT-Madras can access the lab.

What are the other projects Yahoo India has launched to facilitate cloud computing?

We previously established a Hadoop Cluster lab at the IIT Bombay campus. The lab is helping students, researchers and faculty in the domain of Web-scale data research including web search, text mining, data management and natural language processing. With this facility, students, faculty and researchers are getting exposure to cloud computing environment and are supporting research study of advance searching and ranking techniques.

How does this open up a new arena of exciting opportunities for the students?

Yahoo’s collaboration with premier institutes like the IITs will provide some of the brightest minds in India and the world to access raw computing power, web-scale software technology and rich data sets. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. For the students it is now easy to play around with web scale data and get exposure to some real world scientific challenges. For Yahoo, the research that goes in academic institutions like IIT Bombay directly benefits Yahoo who depends on such critical innovation and cannot do everything by itself.

source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / Home> Avenues / Pioneer / Thursday, August 14th, 2012

Tanuvas starts b tech poultry production tech

Education, Science & Technologies

The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) on Thursday announced the introduction of a four-year undergraduate programme, B.Tech Poultry Production Technology, from this academic year.

The university plans to develop new-generation vaccines to protect livestock from new and existing diseases, said Dr R. Prabakaran, the vice-chancellor of the varsity on Thursday.

The veterinary sciences universtity is also conducting 154 research projects this year, while last year 53 research projects were carried out with an outlay of `45.11 crore, said the vice-chancellor.

The varsity had established a nano technology center for advanced research projects and a corpus would be raised to provide grants to young scientists, the vice-chancellor said at a press conference here.

TANUVAS will hold its 15th convocation on Friday, Prabakaran said, adding that a total of 225 graduates will be awarded degrees.

As many as 99 medals will be awarded to graduates at the convocation for academic excellence.

Governor K. Rosaiah will preside over the function, while Prof A.K. Srivastava, director and vice-chancellor, National Dairy Research Institute, Haryana, would deliver the convocation address.

source: http://www.AsianAge.com / Home> Metros> Chennai / by Prasanth Vijayakumar, DC- Chennai / August 03rd, 2012

Tuticorin engineer weaves silk from banana plants

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Madurai:

Soon, one may be able to wear their favourite silk saris, dhoties and shirts that are spun not of a silkworm thread, but from the banana plant, which can be easily separated using the banana yarn separator.

Invented by a Tuticorin-based mechanical engineer, K Murugan, the banana yarn separator machine was granted the patent in July 2012 after a six-year long wait. According to him, the large quantity of banana fibres that went waste in his hometown of Tuticorin prompted him to try to find a solution to use this product. The machine took shape after failing 40 times and in 2006, it bagged the LRamp award of excellence given by the IIT-Madras.

“The banana plant is one where almost every part has a use. The fibres from the plant are used to tie garlands and string flowers, the leaves are used for eating, the fruits and flowers are consumed and even the inner most part of the stem is edible and has rich medicinal properties. But, I have seen the plants being cut after the fruit is harvested and allowed to rot. This disturbed me, because it was not the best way to dispose it,” he said.

He said the stem of the banana plant has 15 layers, with the outermost used for tying garlands. According to him, the other 14 layers can be used for silk production. The fibre equals the silkworm silk, in lustre and tension strength.

Dr Dev Pura, head, department of textile technology, IIT-Delhi and others who inspected his product certified it as an excellent invention and commended him for his efforts during their recent visit to Tuticorin. Once he gets the go ahead from the department of biotechnology, New Delhi, Murugan says he can start his production.

His machine can process 60 lakh banana plants per year and he says that two saris can be spun using the banana silk fibres from a single tree. It would be very eco-friendly and is adaptable to natural dyes.

The Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology has certified his silk as one of good quality with a tenacity of 37 gm/text.

The new technology is one way of making good use of the banana plants grown in over 12,000 hectares in Tuticorin district, which is the largest banana cultivating district in India. It would also bring good returns to farmers. Murugan has made shawls, including one that was presented to former chief minister M Karunanidhi, a few years ago and a shirt.

This would be a material that would even get the nod of animal activists like PETA, because unlike the other silk, this does not involve the killing of a life for the silk extraction, he adds.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / July 28th, 2012

Cancer treatment gets a fillip with 250 more beds

Science & Technologies

Chennai:

The city will get 250 more beds for cancer patients by the end of the year. While this addition would increase the patient bed ratio for cancer patients, medical experts say it is important that the services are offered at an affordable rate.

Chennai has more than five special cancer care hospitals, and the latest will be the MIOT Institute for Cancer Cure that opens on Sunday. Global Hospital’s cancer special hospital will open later this year.

“Our hospital will have 100 beds exclusively for cancer patients, the building will have 500 beds from which a few more will be allotted if required,” said MIOT Hospitals, Managing Director P V A Mohandas. Global Hospitals’ cancer center will have 150 beds. With the number of cancer patients increasing by 1% every year, this trend of private health care centres stepping forward to provide specialized cancer care treatment may in the long run provide more options for patients coming to the city for treatment. “Across the country, patients feel they are safe when treated in Chennai. This is the reason we have a huge influx of patients from across the country, Asia and the UAE visiting us,” said Dr K S Shekhar, head of the oncology department at Global Hospitals in Chennai.

Private hospitals in the city are not only employing more oncologists on board but are also investing in state-of-the-art equipment such as ‘True Beam,’ which costs Rs 40 crore. “The technology is four times faster, and takes a maximum of 15 minutes. It specially targets tumors in moving organs like the lungs and liver,” said Dr Rajini D, oncologist with MIOT hospitals, which has got the machine. India is the fourth country in the world to import the German technology. These developments are a far cry from the early 1990s when cancer patients in the city had to depend on only a couple of hospitals for treatment.

Medical experts say studies have in the past shown that special cancer centres have a better success rate than a general hospital. “Cancer affects so many facets of the body, and so requires a multi-disciplinary treatment (MDT). A specialized center that has all facilities that a patient requires can only qualify as cancer care,” says Dr V Shanta, chairperson,  of  Adyar Cancer Institute.

While experts say private health care centres that earlier focused more on heart and cardio specialization now looking at cancer is a positive sign, the benefit should be passed on to people of all socio-economic backgrounds. “Today everyone cannot afford treatment in a corporate hospital,” said Dr Shanta.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / July 22nd, 2012

The life of Pi

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies

It’s one of the most mysterious numbers in mathematics, and clearly one of the most loved. Well, how else did the little pi manage to wrangle two celebratory days a year – Global Pi Day, March 14, to represent pi’s decimal value of 3.14 and coincidentally Albert Einstein’s birthday; and Pi Approximation Day, July 22, to represent its fractional avatar 22/7.

Even as you read this, T-shirts, mugs and other memorabilia are being sold in various parts of the world to celebrate the world of pi ( ). In mathematics, pi denotes the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and was first given its 22/7 formulation by Archimedes.

In India, there may not be memorabilia but the day is being marked with lectures and seminars on the mystery of pi as well as its Indian connection. “As this is also the Year of Mathematics in India, being Srinivasa Ramanujam’s 125th birth anniversary, mathematicians have been giving a series of lectures over the weekends in different parts of Chennai,” says R Sivaraman, of the Pie Mathematics Association, who will be speaking on Ramanujam’s life and contributions next week.

“Ramanujam provided great insight into the computation of pi through his power series formulae,” says Sivaraman. “Thanks to his formulae, for the first time, the pi value could be accurately calculated up to 17.5 million digits. No one had managed that before,” says Sivaraman. Now, of course, thanks to Ramanujam’s formulae, computers can calculate the pi decimal value up to 1.24 trillion digits. “Pi is central to every mathematician’s research. You just cannot steer clear of it,” says  Professor Rajeeva L Karandikar,  director, Chennai Mathematical Institute.

“You need pi for everything, right from digging a well to sending satellites into space,” says Sivaraman, who adds he believes that the more you know of pi, the more secrets of nature you can unlock. Incidentally, ancient Indian mathematicians Aryabhatta and Bhramagupta also cut into pi. Astronomer-mathematician Aryabhatta of the sixth century AD calculated its value up to four places, while Bhramagupta in the eighth century AD, used 3 as a “practical” value of pi, and the square root of 10 as an “accurate” value of pi.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Chennai / by Kamini Mathai, TNN / July 22nd, 2012

TN Govt to set up fisheries technology institute

Education, Science & Technologies

Chennai:

An institute of fisheries technology that would offer diploma courses in various disciplines connected with fishing will be set up by the Tamil Nadu Government in neighbouring Tiruvallur district.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had sanctioned administrative approval for the Rs 34.08 crore project at Ponneri.

The institute would offer diploma courses in various disciplines such as prawn-rearing, fish-breeding and equipment management among others, an official release here said, adding 20.78 acres of land had been earmarked for it.

Jayalalithaa, who had last year announced setting up a Fisheries University in Nagapattinam, has allocated an initial sum of Rs seven crore towards the latest initiative taken as part of her government’s efforts for the betterment of the fishing community.  / PTI

source: http://www.zeenewsindia.com / Home> News> Tamilnadu / Friday, July 20th, 2012

Safety device jams driver’s mobile phone

Education, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion

Researchers at the Anna University of Technology in Chennai, India have prototyped another system to prevent drivers from using their mobile phones when driving.

According to articles about the research at Smithsonian and Phys.Org, the system detects when a car is in motion and then uses a “jammer” to block the driver’s cell phone signal but not the passenger. It’s not entirely clear to me how that’s possible (unless the phone is tethered to the device), and unfortunately the full research paper is only for paid subscribers of the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management

. Not only does their system limit use, it reportedly also employs RFID to “transmit the vehicle number plate information stored in RFID tag to RFID reader buffer, when driver use of cell phone was detected. Data collected from the reader will be transmitted from car and displayed at traffic signal post containing LCD so that police can take legislative action against the driver.” Of course, if the jammer actually works, that entire part of the system would be unnecessary.

Yeah, so… I’m a bit unclear on the details of this. But the tl;dr is, don’t be distracted by your mobile phone when you’re driving. “Technology to prevent mobile phone accidents”

source: http://www.boingboing.net / by David Pescovitz / Monday, July 09th, 2012