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European company develops mobile robots that are autonomous and multi-tasking

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Madrid (Spain), September 19 (ANI): An European company has developed innovative robots which are mobile, multifunctional, collaborative, autonomous and polyvalent, suitable for a wide range of work from street cleaning and rubbish collection to accompanying elderly people.

According to a report carried out in www.basqueresearch.com, this new generation of robots have been developed by TECNALIA Technological Corporation, and are a part of the European DUSTBOT research project under the remit of the VI European Framework Programme and in which TECNALIA is participating.

These latest generation robots are suitable for the monitoring of large spaces (open and closed), as guides for persons in large shopping areas (indicating to them where a particular shop or product is within a shopping centre), for accompanying elderly people or those with certain disabilities (both at home and outside), thanks to their functions of orientation, navigation, communications with others or tele-assistance centres.

They can also be used as guides in teaching spaces (museums, visitor centres), and for transport, storage and transport and goods deliveries, besides the cleaning of both open and closed surfaces, which have either difficult or easy access.

DUSTBOT has collaborative, multifunctional and autonomous robots that are capable of operating in partially destructured environments/situations based on information provided by a map.

The robots can also facilitate working in large areas, stations, airports and other types of public buildings, without being any obstacle for the activity of these places, given its reduced size, and without being a danger for members of the public, thanks to the novel system for the detection and avoidance of obstacles.

The rail station of the Euskotren company in the Bilbao neighbourhood of Atxuri in Spain was chosen for the public presentation of these devices.

The demonstration of two robot models was undertaken: the DustCart and the DustClean.

The DustCart robot, measuring 1.45 metres high and 70 Kg in weight, has a humanoid form and is designed to interact with the user and for the collection of low demand waste.

The DustClean robot, in the form of a small vehicle and measuring 96 cm high and 250 Kg in weight, cleans streets of dirt and dust. Moreover, both control the quality of air in real time.

“These robots are the solution for cleaning areas of difficult access and for the collection of rubbish at the very front door of, above all, persons who have mobility problems when moving the rubbish to the communal waste containers,” said Inaki Inzunza, Director of the Business Unit at the Tecnalia Technological Corporation. (ANI)

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Higher earning women tend to do more housework

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 15 (ANI): Women who contribute more to the household finances, as compared to their husbands or partners, tend to do more housework, according to a study.

Led by Janeen Baxter and Belinda Hewitt, of the University of Queensland, the study showed that women contributing 70 per cent or more of the weekly income start doing more housework rather than less.

They put in a little more time cleaning and cooking than a woman who contributes half to the family finances.

The study has shown that as women’s earnings increase compared with their husbands’, they gain more leverage over who does the housework.

“No one wants to do housework but it has to be done. But as a woman earns more money, it gives her more say over how much domestic work she has to do,” Theage.com.au quoted Hewitt, as saying.

However, in few Australian households – about 5 per cent – where women contribute 70 per cent or more to the budget, other sensitivities come into play.

“For these women, doing extra housework is about compensating for their husbands not fulfilling the traditional male breadwinner role,” said Hewitt.

The research is based on 1306 married and partnered couples drawn from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. (ANI)

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A thirst for blood sparks toxic algal blooms

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have suggested that toxic algal blooms are created when aggressive algae kill and injure their competitors in order to absorb the nutrients they contain.

“The behaviour of the algae can be compared to that of blood-sucking insects,” said Per Jonsson of the Department of Marine Ecology.

The blooming of toxic algae in the oceans and lakes is a familiar health risk and causes problems every summer, leading to increased costs for water cleaning, water consumption and the tourist industry.

Scientists still do not know why algal blooms arise, and what it is that causes certain species of microalgae to multiply and form dense blooms.

Scientists within the research platform MARICE (Marine Chemical Ecology) at the Faculty of Science, the University of Gothenburg, present a new possible explanation of why algal blooms arise in a study.

Current theory postulates that the algae produce toxins not only in order to inhibit the growth of competing species, but also to protect themselves from predators.

The strategy of inhibiting competitors, however, is difficult to explain from an evolutionary perspective.

The turbulent ocean surface means, quite simply, that it is difficult for one algal species to obtain exclusive rights on the effect of a toxin that inhibits competitors.

The production of the toxin must be explained by other factors.

Marine ecologist Per Jonsson and his colleagues suggest that the inhibition of competitors that previous research had found is only a side-effect of a considerably more aggressive behaviour: toxic algae injure or kill competing algae in order to gain access to the nutrients in their cells.

“The way the algae absorb food is similar to that of blood-sucking insects, such as mosquitoes. Our study shows that this theft of nutrients may be an important mechanism in the formation of blooms of toxic plankton,” said Per Jonsson.

“The results will lead to several further experimental studies, and we hope that these will eventually contribute to solving the mystery of how algal blooms arise,” he added. (ANI)

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Cleaning agent may help in superbug battle

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, June 27 (ANI): A cleaning agent, developed to stop mould growth in bakeries and fish factories, has been found effective in killing hospital superbugs, say researchers.

The research team from Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) have found that agent Byotrol has cut levels of MRSA on wards by one third.

Byotrol, an antimicrobial technology developed by a Manchester-based paint firm, has a polymer-based structure, which enables it to kill bacteria, like MSRA, days after being first applied.

The polymer is said to create a surface tension effect, which operates like a flytrap that literally tears apart the bacteria when they come into contact.

“These are very impressive results. Our study has shown a reduction of one third in levels of MRSA in the ward when the new disinfectant was compared with the gold-standard NHS bleach-based cleaning agent,” the Telegraph quoted Dr Andy Dodgson, consultant microbiologist at the MRI who led the trial as saying.

“The new disinfectant has a clear role to play in helping hospitals in the battle to control HCASIs. Cutting the level of pathogens on the wards rescues the risk to patients of picking up an infection.

“The demonstration of a residual antibacterial effect is a major new discovery which will be an additional weapon for the NHS in the fight against superbugs,” he added.

Stephen Falder, the scientist who invented Byotrol, said: “I suppose you could say this is a prevention for superbugs that almost never happened. I began developing it as a protection to stop mould on paints. It grew from there.”

The study will be published in British Journal of Infection Control. (ANI)

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More than a third of men still think housework is women’s job

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, June 20 (ANI): More than a third of men still believe that housework is a job for the ladies, a new study has found.

The survey by cleaning experts Vileda of 1,853 men found although fathers and married men are the laziest, more than 70 per cent of all men do very little cleaning.

Another 38 per cent think domestic duties should naturally fall to women, reports The Daily Express.

Vileda spokesperson Lindsey Taylor added: “We were surprised to learn that the age-old opinions about who is responsible for the running of the home still hold weight with many men.

“We are supposed to be in an age of the ‘new man’ – but the men’s answers to our survey tell a very different story.”

When it came to women, the study revealed that two thirds of ladies believe that the extra pressures exerted by the credit crunch are actually turning their men into domestic gods.

Three-quarters said their men now clean the house more than they did six months ago. (ANI)

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MPs’ expenses: Claims would shame dictator, police tell Jacqui Smith

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 14 (ANI): Senior police officers have told Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that MPs are enjoying expenses that would not look out of place in a “Third-World dictatorship”.
Members of the Police Federation of England and Wales criticized Smith as she defended the expenses and allowances for all public servants, saying they were necessary for them to work effectively, reports The Telegraph.

Steve Morley, of the Metropolitan Police, questioned why police allowances, from dry cleaning to extra cash for working on rest days, had been dropped.
He said: “Can you explain for the benefit of my members, your electorate, why all our expenses and allowances have been taken away?” Morley added that some claims by MPs would be “jaw-dropping in a Third-World dictatorship let alone in the country of hope and glory”.

His comments at the federation’s annual conference were met with much applause.

Miss Smith, who admitted to having made a “big mistake” on expenses, said: “I think for people to be able to do their job they should get the expenses and allowances they need in all areas of public service. (ANI)

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Municipal authorities gears up to tackle monsoon rains in Mumbai

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, May 14 (ANI): Municipal authorities have undertaken cleaning up of clogged drains and manholes in Mumbai to avoid the problem of water logging during the ensuing monsoon season in the city.

The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation (GMMC) has undertaken the project in view of the chaos that prevails during the monsoon season due to clogged drains and manholes, plunging the city in a deluge.

With the monsoons predicted to be hitting early this year, the contractors involved in the cleaning process have been instructed to take up the cleaning of clogged drains urgently.

“Monsoon will be coming very early this year. So, they should do all major and minor drain cleaning very perfectly. All the contractors should be doing this drain cleaning very urgently and very perfectly,” said Subha Raul, Mayor, Mumbai.

More than 1,000 people were killed across Maharashtra in 2005 during floods that hit the metropolis. The civic authorities are now bracing themselves up for the June-September rains.

Two days of heavy rain in July 2005, showed up the pathetic infrastructure and dismal emergency response in Mumbai. By Sushil Parekh (ANI)

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Cleaning the oven is the worst household chore for Brit residents

May 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 9 (ANI): It’s not just you who hates scraping burnt food and grease off the inside of the cooker, for two-thirds of British residents also believe that cleaning the oven is the worst household chore, according to a report.

The survey by market analysts Mintel has revealed that almost 66 percent of homeowners in UK have claimed that the arduous job of scrubbing the over is the most loathed task

Second most dreaded job is ironing, with 56 per cent of Britons saying they hate that chore more than any other.

Third in the league of the most detested chore is the tedium of cleaning windows, with 39 per cent of UK residents claiming it to be the worst household chore.

“These non-daily jobs such as cleaning the oven and windows are among the nation’s most loathed chores,” the Daily Express quoted Alexandra Richmond, Mintel’s Senior Analyst, Beauty and Personal Care, as saying.

She added: “With just one in seven of us having a cleaning routine, for many the jobs build up to such a degree that the chores become totally unpleasant and overwhelming. There is no doubt that preventing the backlog or sharing the chore makes these tasks less daunting.” (ANI)

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Keep your hands clean to ward off swine flu

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 2 (ANI): For those wondering how to protect themselves from swine flu, the simplest and the most effective way is to wash hands regularly, say experts.

With the increasing concerns over the H1N1 virus spread, governments and health agencies all over the world are making significant attempts curb the outbreak.

It has killed as many as 179 people in Mexico and 1 in the US forcing the World Health Organisation (WHO) to concede that a global flu pandemic is imminent.

The Soap and Detergent Association is reminding families that disease prevention is in their hands.

“Cleaning your hands with soap and water is simple, safe, effective and inexpensive,” said Nancy Bock, SDA Vice President of Education.

“When it comes to preventing the spread of the flu, hygiene is your first line of everyday defense. Very simply put, clean hands save lives.

“Whether you’re using bar soap, liquid soap, or foam soap, just make sure you lather your hands and rub vigorously for at least 20 seconds,” she added.

For parents’ concerned over their children’s health in school SDA offers some quick tips for parents to help them stay healthy in school.

The parents are advised to make sure that the school has adequate supplies of soap, paper towels and surface cleaning and disinfecting products. It’s tough for students to keep their hands clean if bathrooms lack the basics.

And make sure there are sufficient and effective cleaning and disinfecting products available for school custodians, who are on the front lines of keeping our schools healthy.

Tuck some hand wipes along with your child’s packed lunch. Sometimes kids are so rushed during the day, they don’t wash their hands before they eat. Hands wipes are useful when kids are on the go.

Consider adding a hand sanitizer into your older child’s backpack.

Convenient, portable sanitizer products are great to have around when soap and water aren’t readily available. (Check with your school to make sure students are allowed to carry along a sanitizer.) (ANI)

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A drive to rid Srinagar of polythene

April 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Apr 21 (ANI): The municipal corporation of Srinagar, in association with the Trader’s Federation, has launched a massive cleaning drive to make the city free of polythene.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) joined the people in the city in their endeavor to rid the city of the rampant menace of polythene and started their campaign from Dal Lake and collected polythene bags from the lake.

“We have taken this initiative to clean the area surrounding Nehru Park and Dal lake and other places so as to clean the environment,” said Sunil Kumar, a CRPF personnel.

Raw sewage, land encroachment and years of neglect have been threatening the survival of the lake where visitors from across the world once enjoyed the idyllic stillness of fresh waters surrounded by mountains.

The initiative has been appreciated by the residents.

“The effort CRPF has taken is well appreciated and polythene is a menace, which should be banned all over the world,” said Shabir Ahmad, a shopkeeper.

Mohammad Sadiq Bakal, President, Traders And Manufacturers Federation, said that they would ban the second grade polythene bags as they are more hazardous.

“We have decided to ban the second grade polythene bags with Municipal Corporation,” said Bakal.

Kashmir water bodies have been under a tremendous threat due to the growing pollution and some experts say that nothing is bigger than the polythene alone.

There are increasing concerns about the unabated use of polythene in the state, particularly among young generation but hitherto government particularly the Srinagar Municipal Corporation has failed to ban the polythene use in the state.

Environmentalists are worried over high growth of polythene waste among the garbage. Use of cheap polythene bags has picked up momentum in recent years in India. But polythene bags, which are not biologically degradable, pose aanger to the environment. By Afzal Butt (ANI)

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George Bush keeps busy cleaning former First Dog’s poop these days!

April 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, April 20 (ANI): George Bush revealed how he recently played top pooper-scooper after taking the former First Dog, Barney, for a walk.

At the Boao Forum for Asia, a gathering for government, business and academic leaders, the ex- President of United Stated cracked jokes about his changed role and revealed he had even carried plastic bags to pack the terrier’s dropping.

“I was picking up what I had been dodging for eight years,” the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

The 62-year-old further shared jokes after giving up the Oval Office, narrating one incident when he had collapsed on the couch breathing a sigh of relief, saying: “Free at last”.

And his wife, Laura, replied: “You’re free to do the dishes.”

Bush later moved on to more serious topics like terrorism and the financial crisis, saying that he recalled calling Wall Street drunk and that it had given the country a hangover.

He joked: “Maybe the next time around, there won’t be enough booze.” (ANI)

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Pacific Building Care Janitorial Services Certified by Green Seal

April 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

COSTA MESA, Calif.–(Business Wire)–
Pacific Building Care (PBC) has recently achieved the major distinction of being
the first commercial janitorial company in California to be awarded Green Seal
(GS-42) Certification for their green cleaning programs and practices. This
program ratifies the PBC comprehensive sustainability services platform and its
practice of green cleaning that PBC performs, providing healthier workplaces
with a lower environmental impact across all types of commercial properties.

PBC successfully completed the rigorous and comprehensive application and audit
process administered by the Green Seal Organization. Green Seal, based in
Washington DC, is a third party verification provider that is recognized as the
standard bearer for green cleaning and environmental best practices in the
United States. “PBC`s success in achieving the Green Seal (GS-42) certification
differentiates the Company from competitors that claim green cleaning programs
but fail to deliver the highest standard and rigorous credibility imposed by the
green seal certification,” said Ian Bress CEO of PBC. “Our customers and others
in the property/facility management community can leverage PBC as a leader in
greening commercial real estate to position their facilities with green cleaning
programs that truly deliver a comprehensive sustainable solution.”

The GS-42 certification validates PBC`s services platform integrating all
meaningful aspects of a Green Cleaning Initiative into site specific customized
programs. Industry-recognized best practices for the safe application of Green
Seal certified cleaning products, dust containment systems, use of EPA
recommended environmentally preferred products, and high-performance vacuum
cleaners are each strategically orchestrated in the overall Green Cleaning Plan.

The PBC GS-42 Certified program drives cost savings that actually deliver
cleaner more productive workplaces. It is designed to contribute towards LEED
certification initiatives as well as improving indoor air quality, lowering
employee absenteeism, providing safer working conditions, while enhancing
employee morale and performance. The fully integrated PBC approach includes
lighting retrofits, water conservation, and energy consumption strategies that
drive significant cost savings in all types of commercial properties.

PBC is a leading commercial janitorial services company in the Western United
States, delivering green cleaning and lighting solutions to commercial,
municipal and industrial buildings. PBC employs over 3,200 associates servicing
over 105 million square feet focused on the goal of “greening commercial real
estate” through a comprehensive green cleaning approach that includes LEED
certification consulting and related environmental best practices. By achieving
the GS-42 Certification, PBC continues to rank as one the most innovative and
advanced companies in its environmentally sustainable practices which are
increasingly being demanded by the commercial real estate industry.

Pacific Building Care
Dana Holladay, 949-261-1234 x251
dholladay@pbcare.com

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Oz granny gets rogue tenant’s $1.3m toxic clean-up bill!

April 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, April 12 (ANI): An Australian grandmother has been ordered to pay a 1.3-million dollar bill after her absconding rogue tenant left behind 300 drums of toxic waste at her warehouse.

According to Ruth Browne’s children, Alf Browne and Bev Olbrick, the tenant had violated his EPA licence after piling 50 tonnes of dry cleaning chemical and waste on the premises as against the 1.2 tonnes guideline.

Alf claimed even though environmental regulator was timely informed about the breach, yet it was demanded that the 82-year-old, owner of the premises in Ebden St, Moorabbin in Melbourne, bear the clean-up bill.

Bev added that her distraught mother was ready to face the bars.

“She’s prepared to go to jail rather than pay the bill,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.

David Davis, opposition spokesman for the environment, has laid the entire blame on the EPA, saying it failed to fulfil its responsibility.

He said: “Because of the EPA’s failure to act at an early point, failure to enforce regulations and failure to guarantee that toxic chemicals were not stored in capacities above what was allowed by permits, a landlord is now faced with a very difficult position.

“The landlord here is being told she is responsible, despite her telling the EPA at an early point that they needed to act against a tenant who was breaking the law.”

“What is the point of having licences for the storage of toxic waste if the conditions of those licences are not enforced and breaches not prosecuted?” (ANI)

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Singapore acts to halt spread of hand, food and mouth disease

April 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Singapore – Child-care centres and kindergartens in Singapore are stepping up cleaning of classrooms as the number of children coming down with hand, foot and mouth disease nears the official “epidemic level,” a newspaper reported Thursday.

Last week, 653 people were affected by the disease, 12 short of the Health Ministry’s official epidemic level, the Straits Times said.

The number of cases was expected to rise from April to May, one of two traditional peak infection times for the disease with the other being August and October.

There were 4,926 hand, foot and mouth disease cases in the first 13 weeks of this year, compared with 4,423 for the same period last year when a 3-year-old boy died from an inflammation of the brain lining caused by the disease.

Seven Singapore children died from it during an outbreak from 2000 to 2001. Hand, foot and mouth disease usually hits children under 10.

The symptoms are usually mild and include ulcers and blisters in the mouth, rashes on the hands and feet, and fever.

The illness usually passes within a week without treatment, but a small minority of cases become life-threatening, mainly because of neurological complications – such as encephalitis, meningitis and paralysis – as well as lung haemorrhages.

The virus is highly infectious and transmitted through saliva, blister fluid and faeces. There is no vaccine.

For now, no child-care centres have been ordered to close because the cases have been spread out rather than clustered in any particular area. Authorities have closed them in the past several years during the worst outbreaks. (dpa)

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Zimbabwe prison officers arrested over prison scandal documentary

April 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Harare – Three prisons officers in Zimbabwe have been arrest on allegations that they helped film the shocking conditions in two of the country’s prisons for a documentary that was screened to international outrage last week, reports said Sunday.

The television documentary, Hell Hole, produced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, on Wednesday showed scores of skeletal prisoners dressed in rags and reportedly dying of malnutrition and HIV-AIDS in filthy institutions without food, medication or basic cleaning materials.

The SABC team said sympathetic warders had been supplied with secret cameras to film conditions in two institutions, Khami prison in the western city of Bulawayo, and one in the southern border town of Beitbridge. The documentary took three months to produce.

A senior police officer in Beitbridge was quoted Sunday in the independent weekly Standard newspaper as saying that warders Thabiso Nyathi, Siyai Muchechedzi and Thembinkosi Nkomo were arrested on Friday on charges under the Official Secrets Act, which prescribes lengthy jail terms for government employees who leak “state secrets.”

The film’s screening was greeted with uproar from human rights groups around the world and highlighted the situation of severe neglect of prisoners, many of them political detainees, that the new coalition government has inherited from the former regime of President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe and pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change formed a coalition government recently, with Mugabe staying on as president and Tsvangirai appointed prime minister.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who is in charge of the country’s prisons, last week denied the documentary had anything to do with Zimbabwean prisons. “The SABC is lying,” he said. “We don’t allow cameras in our prisons. We have made our investigations and found that the footage is not of Zimbabwe but other countries.”

Prison support groups report that 20 of the country’s 14,000 inmates die each day

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Meet the ‘Queen of Clean’ who can banish any grime

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Apr 5 (ANI): By using age-old household remedies for stubborn stains, Australia’s Shannon Lush has become the best-selling author with her book ‘Spotless’ and is being referred to as the ‘Queen of Clean’.

Lush can remove any stain, be it a dark carpet of bleach marks, a benchtop of ink, a wooden floor of nail polish or clothing of red wine.

Her book with journalist Jennifer Fleming, ‘Spotless’-the guide to fighting household grime-turned out to be so successful that it has sold more than 500,000 copies.

“It was just astonishing, it’s just a little book about dirt,” The Courier Mail quoted her as saying.

And now, the duo has even produced a follow-up, called ‘Spotless 2′, which provides solutions to common domestic disasters room by room.

‘Spotless 2′ has updated remedies, as well as many new ones, including a chapter devoted to clothing and shoes.

Lush, 52, swears by the old-fashioned approach of using the same products like our grandmothers.

And she is completely against the use of pre-mixed supermarket chemical cleaners.

In her opinion, the cleaning essentials every household should have are bicarb soda, vinegar, methylated spirits, oil of cloves, lavender oil, lemon oil, teatree oil and pantyhose.

They are all used in day-to-day cleaning, and there’s no need to go with “those nasty chemical mixes that tell you big lies,” she said.

The Sydney mother-of-two and grandmother revealed that her interest in stain removal is because of a background in chemistry, as well as a methodical approach. (ANI)

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Republican think tank sidelines Jindal as future GOP leader

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr.4 (ANI): The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank in Washington, has anointed Representative aul Ryan “the leader of the future of the conservative movement.”

According to Fox News, Ryan has sidelined Jindal, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.

At 39, Ryan has become the go-to-guy on policy.

“I’m the man of the hour because I’m the top Republican on the House Budget Committee,” he told Fox News in an interview.

Republicans are desperately seeking a new generation of leaders as it attempts to recover from two devastating election cycles that stripped them of power in Congress and the White House.

Elected to Congress in his 20s, Ryan is a self-described nerd.

A husband and father of three children, Ryan’s got a knack for simplifying complex budget concepts.

He’s confident, not cocky — he picks up his own dry cleaning — but he’s clearly being groomed.

Ryan, however, is wary of party elders. Like last year’s GOP presidential nominee, John McCain, he fancies himself a reformer, blaming “them” — the nameless Republican old guard — for abandoning principle and shrinking the party. (ANI)

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Scientists increase luminescence efficiency of carbon nanotubes by 20 percent

March 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 7 (ANI): In a new research, chemists at the University of Connecticut, US, have found a way to greatly increase the luminescence efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes by 20 percent, a discovery that could have significant applications in medical imaging and other areas.

The research was performed in the Nanomaterials Optoelectronics Laboratory at the Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs.

Increasing the luminescence efficiency of carbon nanotubes may someday make it possible for doctors to inject patients with microscopic nanotubes to detect tumors, arterial blockages and other internal problems.

Rather than relying on potentially harmful x-rays or the use of radioactive dyes, physicians could simply scan patients with an infrared light that would capture a very sharp resolution of the luminescence of the nanotubes in problem areas.

University of Connecticut Chemist Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos describes the discovery as a major breakthrough and one of the most significant discoveries in his 10 years of working with single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Although carbon is used in many diverse applications, scientists have long been stymied by the element’s limited ability to emit light.

The best scientists have been able to do with solution-suspended carbon nanotubes was to raise their luminescence efficiency to about one-half of one percent, which is extremely low compared to other materials, such as quantum dots and quantum rods.

By tightly wrapping a chemical ‘sleeve’ around a single-walled carbon nanotube, Papadimitrakopoulos and his research team were able to reduce exterior defects caused by chemically absorbed oxygen molecules.

“This process can best be explained by imagining sliding a small tube into a slightly larger diameter tube,” Papadimitrakopoulos said.

In order for this to happen, all deposits or protrusions on the smaller tube have to be removed before the tube is allowed to slip into the slightly larger diameter tube.

According to Papadimitrakopoulos, what is most fascinating with carbon nanotubes is the fact that in this case, the larger tube is not as rigid as the first tube, but is rather formed by a chemical “sleeve” comprised of a synthetic derivative of flavin (an analog of vitamin B2) that adsorbs and self organizes onto a conformal tube.

Papadimitrakopoulos said that this process of self-assembly is unique in that it not only forms a new structure but also actively “cleans” the surface of the underlying nanotube.

It is that active cleaning of the nanotube surface that allows the nanotube to achieve luminescence efficiency to as high as 20 percent. (ANI)

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Physical activity can improve mood of people with serious mental illnesses

January 15, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Washington, Jan 15 (ANI): A new study suggests that even the modest levels of physical activity can significantly improve the mood of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI), such as bipolar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia.

The researchers behind the study say that their study indicates that low levels of physical activity can be a regular part of psychiatric rehabilitation.

“We found a positive association between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate levels of physical activity are considered,” said study author Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU’s Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies.

“Physical activity interventions that require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with SMI experience throughout the day,” he added.

For this study, physical activity is considered most forms of sustained movement, such as house cleaning, gardening, walking for transportation or formal exercise.

The study notes that walking is one of the most frequently advocated forms of physical activity in psychiatric rehabilitation programs.

The study is published in International Journal of Social Psychiatry. (ANI)

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