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Holiday Inn hotel made of key cards is world’s first

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Sep 18 (ANI): A Holiday Inn hotel made entirely of key cards has been unveiled in New York.

The 37-square-metre hotel, built by world record-holding Cardstacker Bryan Berg, is made from more than 200,000 key cards and weighs 1814 kilograms.

It includes a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, with life-sized furniture.

The design was created by Holiday Inn, the world’s largest hotel group, to mark the relaunch of 1200 of its hotels around the world.

“The Key Card Hotel is a fun and interactive way to showcase the changes happening at our hotels and is the only structure of its kind to ever be created by a hotel brand,” News.com.au quoted Kevin Kowalski, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Management, Holiday Inn, as saying.

Berg, who will also build a freestanding three-metre replica of New York’s Empire State Building in the lobby of the Key Card Hotel using Holiday Inn playing cards, said constructing the hotel has been a great challenge.

“This is my largest cardstacking challenge to date and the only card creation I have ever made at full human scale,” Berg added about the hotel.

The first 250 guests who attended the Key Card Hotel grand opening received a free night stay at any Holiday Inn.

The company’s 1 billion dollar relaunch is one of the largest in the history of the hospitality industry. (ANI)

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Findings from India’s Chandrayaan to provide new understanding of lunar surface

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 18 (ANI): India’s Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) has gathered data for a total of 30 solar flares, giving the most accurate measurements to date of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, and iron in the lunar surface.

Although contact was lost with Chandrayaan-1 last month, the enhanced performance of the C1XS instrument, which exceeded its design specification, means that the science team will be able to determine the geochemistry of new areas of the lunar surface, adding some vital pieces to the jigsaw of the mineralogy of the lunar surface.

The miniature C1XS instrument investigated the lunar surface using an effect whereby X-ray illumination from the Sun causes rocks to fluoresce, emitting light at a different wavelength.

This re-emitted light contains spectral peaks that are characteristic of elements contained in the rock, revealing its composition.

Solar flares act like a flash bulb, giving added illumination and allowing C1XS to ‘see’ more elements.

During normal conditions, C1XS could detect magnesium, aluminum, and silicon and collected data on the levels of these elements, enabling detailed mapping of areas of the lunar surface during its operational period.

During the 30 solar flares, C1XS detected calcium and iron (and sometimes titanium, sodium, and potassium) in key areas in the southern hemisphere and on the far side of the Moon.

The spectral resolution of 50 km was much better than previous missions.

According to Professor Grande, “The C1XS team will be analyzing the data collected during the Chandrayaan-1 mission over the next few months, and the results will help us further our knowledge of the Moon and planetary formation.”

In addition, the design of the instrument has been proved very successful in that it withstood passage through the Earth’s radiation belts and went on to produce these wonderful high-resolution spectra. We were able to separate clear peaks for each of the target elements, allowing us not only to identify where they are present but give an accurate estimate for how much is there,” he said.

“The technology developed for C1XS opens up some exciting opportunities for future missions,” he added. (ANI)

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Navy to induct stealth destroyer INS Kochi on Sep.18

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 16 (ANI): The Indian Navy will induct a stealth destroyer of Delhi class on September 18 to boost its maritime capabilities and safeguard India’s interests.

Madhulika Verma wife of Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Nirmal Verma, will launch the second of the three Project 15-A stealth destroyers on September 18.

The 6500-ton ship, to be named INS Kochi, is being built by Mazagon Docks Ltd in Mumbai. The Directorate of Naval Design has designed the destroyer indigenously. The existing Delhi Class destroyers are INS Delhi, INS Mysore and INS Mumbai.

The ship has advanced stealth features, which make it less vulnerable to detection by enemy radar and will be fitted with state-of-the-art weapon systems which include the supersonic BrahMos surface-to-surface missile, the LRSAM Long Range Surface-to-Air Missiles and the MFStar multi-function radar system providing accurate data on surface and air targets.

In addition, four AK-630 rapid-fire guns and a medium range gun will boost the ship’s close-range defence capability.

The ships will also be fitted with indigenously developed twin-tube torpedo launchers and anti-submarine rocket launchers.

The NPOL developed Humsa-NG hull-mounted sonar, and two multi-role helicopters adding punch to the ship’s anti-submarine capability. The maximum speed of the ship is above 30 Knots.

The destroyer will be launched using the pontoon-assisted launch technique, to be employed for the first time in the history of indigenous warship building.

This technique helps in overcoming slipway/ draft constraints and permits launching of heavier vessels. (ANI)

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Scientists make first high-resolution 3D images of a polymer solar cell’s insides

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 14 (ANI): Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Ulm in Germany have made the first high-resolution 3D images of the inside of a polymer solar cell.

This gives them important new insights in the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and its effect on the performance.

The investigations shed new light on the operational principles of polymer solar cells.

These solar cells do not have the high efficiencies of their silicon counterparts yet. Polymer cells, however, can be printed in roll-to-roll processes, at very high speeds, which makes the technology potentially very cost-effective.

Added to that, polymer cells are flexible and lightweight, and therefore suitable to be used on vehicles or clothing or to be incorporated in the design of objects.

In these hybrid solar cells, a mixture of two different materials, a polymer and a metal oxide are used to create charges at their interface when the mixture is illuminated by the sun.

The degree of mixing of the two materials is essential for its efficiency.

Intimate mixing enhances the area of the interface where charges are formed but at the same time obstructs charge transport because it leads to long and winding roads for the charges to travel.

Larger domains do exactly the opposite.

The vastly different chemical nature of polymers and metal oxides generally makes it very difficult to control the nanoscale structure.

The Eindhoven researchers have been able to largely circumvent this problem by using a precursor compound that mixes with the polymer and is only converted into the metal oxide after it is incorporated in the photoactive layer.

This allows better mixing and enables extracting up to 50 percent of the absorbed photons as charges in an external circuit.

The importance of the degree of mixing was clearly demonstrated by visualization of the structure of these blends in three dimensions.

Traditionally such visualization has been extremely challenging, but by using 3D electron tomography, the team has been able to resolve the mixing with unprecedented detail on a nanoscale.

From these images, the researchers at the Institute of Stochastics in Ulm have been able to extract typical distances between the two components, relating to the efficiency of charge generation, and analyze the percolation pathways, that is, how much of each component is connected to the electrode.

These quantitative analyses of the structure matched perfectly with the observed performance of the solar cells in sunlight. (ANI)

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Soon, ‘robobees’ that mimic bees’ behaviour

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 13 (ANI): A Northeastern University neurobiologist is collaborating with Harvard University researchers to develop micro flying robots that will emulate the bees’ brain, body and collective behaviour.

Biology professor Joseph Ayers would create robots, called the robobees, which would mimic the communal feeding behaviour of bee colonies.

The project will draw on the knowledge of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists to construct an electronic nervous system, a supervisory architecture and a high-energy source to power the innovative robots.

“This project will integrate the efforts and expertise of a diverse team of investigators to create a system that far transcends the sum of its parts. We expect substantial advances in basic science at the intersection of these seemingly disparate disciplines to result from this effort,” said Ayers.

Inspired by the biology of the bee and the insect’s colonial behaviour, the project aims to advance miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources.

The project would also spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors that mediate biomimetic control.

In addition, it would refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.

Ayers is widely known for his work in biomimetics- the science of adapting the control systems found in nature to inform design of engineered systems to solve real-world problems-including the development of RoboLobster and RoboLamprey.

The autonomous, biomimetic underwater robotic models emulate the operations of the animals’ nervous systems using an electronic controller based on nonlinear, moving models of neurons and synapses.

“Animals have evolved to occupy every environmental niche where we would hope to operate robots, save outer space. They provide proven solutions to problems that confound even the most sophisticated robots, and our challenge is to capture these performance advantages in engineered devices,” said Ayers. (ANI)

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Song birds have to deal with cover artists too

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 9 (ANI): Just like great singers among humans, birds too have to deal with cover artists who copy songs.

A new research has revealed that some bird species have evolved to sing the same tune as their rivals, in order to compete effectively.

Led by Dr. Joseph Tobias and Dr Nathalie Seddon from the Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, the research team analysed the calls and songs of two antbird species that were living side-by-side in the Amazon rainforest- the Peruvian warbling-antbird and the yellow-breasted warbling-antbird.

The study was aimed at investigating their similar songs, and, in particular, at testing the theory that the birds’ songs could become increasingly similar to enable effective communication between competing species.

The above notion has attracted controversy as many scientists have argued that convergence in territorial or mating signals results in needless confrontation or crossbreeding and the creation of hybrids.

“Biologists have long been fascinated by convergence in ecological traits as it offers tangible evidence of evolution and the forces of selection by which it operates, but until now there is no clear evidence that social competition between animal species can produce convergent signals. We examined this idea by analysing the structure and function of songs in two birds which we knew to be strong social competitors,” said Tobias.

The researchers studied the species in Peru and Bolivia at one site where they lived together, and two sites where they lived in isolation.

Firstly, they recorded three sets of signals-songs, calls, and plumage colour of both species (including a total of 504 songs from 150 individuals).

Later, they played them back to individuals of each species to test the significance of songs of both types.

The results showed that territorial songs of both species were extremely similar particularly where they lived together, such that territorial birds treated songs of both species as equally threatening.

In the meantime, they discovered that non-territorial signals like calls and plumage were highly divergent.

“In effect, the territorial songs of these birds are more or less interchangeable in design and function. Given that they last shared a common ancestor more than 3 million years ago, it is almost equivalent to humans and chimpanzees – which diverged around 5 million years ago – using the same language to settle disputes over resources” said Tobias.

“Our results provide the first compelling evidence that social interaction can cause convergent evolution in species competing for space and resources.

They also suggest that while competition drives convergence in territorial songs, this is offset by divergence in non-competitive signals such as plumage colour to promote species recognition and reduce the chance of interbreeding,” he added.

The study has been published in Evolution.(ANI)

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Manmohan Singh meets visiting WTO trade ministers

September 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 5 (ANI): Visiting trade ministers of more than 30 countries including US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and WTO director general Pascal Lamy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

During the meeting, the ministers held a discussion regarding various vital issues.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Pascal Lamy said that that certain differences existed between rich countries and developing nations.

“They (differences between rich and developing countries) remain the tough nut to crack in the negotiations and we shouldn’t underestimate this, what happened during last two days is the reality check. Do they (rich and developing countries) have the political will to conclude unanimously? The answer is yes and this ‘yes’ was extremely clear from the least developed countries, African Union,” Lamy added.

Lamy further said that new commitments were needed to solve various issues between developing and developed nations.

“A new layer of rules and market opening commitments is what this planet needs and the more we will go into the negotiations the more the views will share by developing countries,” Lamy added. Key trade ministers agreed to relaunch the stalled World Trade Organisation’s Doha talks with intensified negotiations later this month.

The negotiators will hold the meeting for a week beginning September 14.

Meanwhile, activists of various Left organizations staged a protest in Kolkata against the ongoing ministerial meeting of key WTO member.

Activist accused the WTO of following imperialistic policies.

“Every time we are opposing the imperialist design of the WTO, they have taken steps against the sovereignty of our country and third world countries,” said Rabin Deb, a communist leader. The Delhi meeting did not look at any of the specific issues that remain open, such as a safeguard to help farmers in poor countries cope with a flood of imports, or proposals to eliminate duties entirely in some industrial sectors.

The talks will resume on the basis of the draft negotiating texts issued in December 2008.

That should provide comfort to WTO members from Brazil to the European Union, who had feared that the United States wanted to unpick what has already been agreed over the past seven years, jeopardising the emerging deal. (ANI)

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Engineers design buildings that can stand plumb after violent quakes

September 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 3 (ANI): A team of engineers from the Stanford University has designed a new earthquake-resistant structural system for buildings, which will not only help a multi-story building hold itself together during a violent quake, but also return it to standing up straight on its foundation afterward, true and plumb, with damage confined to a few easily replaceable parts.

Professor Greg Deierlein, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, used the world’s largest shake table to test a new structural design that lets buildings rock during earthquakes, then pull themselves into plumb when the shaking stops, confining damage to replaceable steel “fuses.”

During testing on a massive shake table, the system survived simulated earthquakes in excess of magnitude 7, bigger than either the 1994 Northridge earthquake or the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California.

“This new structural system has the potential to make buildings far more damage resistant and easier to repair, so people could reoccupy buildings a lot faster after a major earthquake than they can now,” said Greg Deierlein, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, who led the team that designed the new system.

The system dissipates energy through the movement of steel frames that are situated around the building’s core or along exterior walls.

The frames can be part of a building’s initial design or could be incorporated into an existing building undergoing seismic retrofitting.

They are economically feasible to build, as all the materials employed are commonly used in construction today and all the parts can be made using existing fabrication methods.

“What is unique about these frames is that, unlike conventional systems, they actually rock off their foundation under large earthquakes,” Deierlein said.

The rocking frames are steel braced-frames, the columns of which are free to rock up and down within steel “shoes” secured at their base.

To control the rocking and return the frame to vertical when the shaking stops, steel tendons run down the center of the frame from top to bottom.

These tendons are made of high-strength steel cable strands twisted together and designed to remain elastic during shaking.

When shaking is over, they rebound to their normal length, pulling the building back into proper alignment.

At the bottom of the frame sit steel “fuses” designed keep the rest of the building from sustaining damage.

“The idea of this structural system is that we concentrate the damage in replaceable fuses,” Deierlein said.

The fuses are built to flex and dissipate the shaking energy induced by the earthquake, thereby confining the damage. (ANI)

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NASA’s Orion spacecraft passes significant design milestone

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 2 (ANI): NASA’s Orion spacecraft has passed a significant design milestone by completing the Orion Project’s preliminary design review (PDR), and thus taking a major step toward building the next crew exploration vehicle.

Orion is being designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and other destinations.

The preliminary design review is one of a series of checkpoints that occurs in the design life cycle of a complex engineering project before hardware manufacturing can begin.

As the review process progresses, details of the vehicle’s design are assessed to ensure the overall system is safe and reliable for flight and meets all NASA mission requirements.

The Orion features a capsule-shaped crew module designed for maximum crew operability and safety, a service module housing utility systems and propulsion components and a launch abort system for improved astronaut safety.

The preliminary design review evaluated the vehicle’s capability, as currently designed, to support three types of missions: flights to the International Space Station (ISS), weeklong missions to the moon and missions to the moon for up to 210 days.

“This is the successful culmination of all of the design trade studies and activities to date,” said Mark Geyer, manager of the Orion Project Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“As a project, a program and an agency, we are reviewing the design maturity, strategy and plans for NASA’s next human spacecraft and agreeing that this is the architecture we are going to build,” he added.

Teams representing each subsystem of Orion conducted focused reviews from February to July before proceeding to the overall vehicle-level review.

The preliminary design review lasted about two months and included reviewers from all 10 NASA field centers to evaluate the hundreds of design products delivered by the Lockheed Martin-led industry partnership.

According to Cleon Lacefield, vice president and Orion project manager at Lockheed Martin in Denver, “To date, we have completed more than 300 technical reviews, 100 peer reviews and 18 subsystem design reviews.”

The PDR process culminated with a review board that concluded on August 31 and established the basis for proceeding to the critical design phase of Orion.

NASA will continue the review process with an independent agency-level evaluation to validate the PDR results and gain formal approval to transition the project into the next life cycle phase. (ANI)

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Anand Jon’s sister seeks Govt. intervention, threatens hunger strike

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep.1 (ANI): Sanjana Jon, sister of celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon has appealed to the Government to intervene in the case of her brother, failing which she would observe hunger strike.

On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced Anand Jon to 59 years in prison for sexually assaulting aspiring models as young as 14 years in age.

Sanajana said that she would observe a hunger strike, if her pleas for help at the inter-governmental level were not paid heed to.

“My appeal is for intervention and I have said if I don’t get any help, my only resort, last resort would be to sit on a hunger strike till my voice is heard,” said Sanjana Jon.

In Bangalore, Anand Jon’s fashion designer friend and stage artiste, Prasad Bidappa expressed sorrow at the American court’s judgement.

“Anand Jon case, I find particularly sad because I feel he was truly a very good talent; somebody who, I think, was taking India’s torch forward in terms of fashion. I feel very sad that it had to come to an end like this,” said Prasad Bidappa.

Last November, thirty five-year-old Jon was found guilty of 16 counts, including rape, sexual battery and performing lewd acts on a child.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley sentenced Jon to 59 years to life after denying his motions for a new trial.

Prosecutors said the crimes started in 2001 when Jon set up a fashion design business through which he lured would-be models to Los Angeles.

Later, the police got involved in March 2007 after a woman said she was sexually assaulted at his Beverly Hills apartment.on, whose full name is Anand Jon Alexander, denied the charges. His lawyers said the girls and young women were revenge seekers who had made up their stories or who had ‘invited what happened’, and that in the case, there had been least physical evidence.

The Indian-born designer was profiled on the TV show ‘America’s Next Top Model’ in 2003 and selected by Newsweek magazine as one of the world’s most successful South Asians in 2004. (ANI)

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Saraswat takes charge as new DRDO chief

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 1 (ANI): Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, who is in charge of the development of missile and strategic systems in the country, today took charge as scientific adviser to Defence Minister AK Antony and will also serve as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Dr. Saraswat, who replaced the present incumbent M Natarajan on September 1, will also serve as Secretary Department of Defence Research and Development,.

He is presently Chief Controller Research and Development (Missiles and Strategic Systems) since November 2005 in DRDO.

In this capacity, he spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems, including the AGNI series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3000 kms.

Dr Saraswat, who has a doctorate in Combustion Engineering, started his career in DRDO in 1972 at Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad and was responsible for the development of country’s first Liquid Propulsion Engine.

As Project Director ‘PRITHVI’, he steered the design, development, production and induction of first indigenous Surface-to-Surface missile system ‘PRITHVI’, into armed forces.

The successful testing of DHANUSH missile on board a moving ship with high terminal accuracy brought new dimension in the national defence capability. Dr. Saraswat also pioneered the concept of theatre defence system and integration of national Air Defence elements.

He was Director RCI before taking over as CCR and D(MSS). He has headed various committees of national importance.

Dr Saraswat is forerunner in the development of number of critical missile technologies that were under denial due to Missile Technology Control regime, thus making India self-reliant in Missile Technologies.

He has received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by Systems Society of India.

International Academy of Engineering, Russia, elected Dr. Saraswat as Member of Academy and honoured him as an academician. (ANI)

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Modalities of BrahMos-II project to be finalized soon

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Tiruchirapalli, Sep. 1 (ANI): The modalities for developing hypersonic missile BrahMos-II by the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace are in the final phase of finalization.

BrahMos Aerospace CEO and managing director A Sivathanu Pillai told reporters here on Tuesday that a final shape of the project, aimed at developing the aerial version of BrahMos missile that could traverse at speeds between Mach 5 to Mach 7, would emerge shortly.

The design team had already been lined up and discussions would be held shortly between the joint venture partners on investments, sharing of technical responsibilities, administration and sharing of manufacturing facility infrastructure, he added.

Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, which has a capability of carrying 300 kilograms conventional warheads at a speed of around 2.8 Mach, has already been inducted by the Army and the Navy.

Work related to the design and development of this version had been fruitful and the advanced missile, which weighs 0.5 tonne less than that of the three-tonne land version BrahMos, was ready and the company awaited the modified SUKOI-30 MKI aircraft that would carry the weapon.

Pillai said he was hopeful that the target for induction of the air version set for 2012 would be achieved.

After being fitted on an aircraft, BrahMos will be the only cruise missile with the capability of being launched from land, sea and air, he said.

To a query on export potential of BrahMos missile, Pillai said a number countries evinced keen interest in it, but the priority was to meet the high domestic requirement.

For meeting the demand, the company was in the process of upgrading the production infrastructure at multiple locations besides enhancing component suppliers by including new large and medium sized industries.

On BrahMos Aeropsace’s Thiruvananthapuram facility, Pillai said seven acres of land in possession of Indian Air force adjacent to the main campus was expected to be handed over to BrahMos Aerospace shortly. (ANI)

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New ultrasensitive electronic sensor to speed up DNA testing (corrected)

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 1 (ANI): Singapore scientists have developed a new ultrasensitive electronic sensor that would speed up DNA testing for disease diagnosis and biological research.

The novel electronic sensor array would be rapid, accurate and cost-efficient.

According to lead researcher Dr Zhiqiang Gao, from Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the Nanogap Sensor Array has shown “excellent” sensitivity at detecting trace amounts of DNA.

“By saving time and lowering expenses, our newly developed Nanogap Sensor Array offers a scalable and viable alternative for DNA testing,” said Gao.

The biosensor translates the presence of DNA into an electrical signal for computer analysis.

The distinctively designed sensor chip has the ability to detect DNA more efficiently by “sandwiching” the DNA strands between the two different surfaces.

“The novel vertical nanostructure design and two different surfaces of the sensor allow ultrasensitive detection of DNA,” said Gao.

“This sensitivity is best-in-class among electrical DNA biosensors. The design of the sensor also took into consideration the feasibility of mass production in a cost-effective way for expanded usage,” the expert added.

Presently, human DNA is detected through the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which while effective, is also expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming for widespread use.

Although effective, tests involving PCR may not be optimal for situations such as a pandemic outbreak.

The biosensor captures DNA strands more effectively. This is possible because the two surfaces of the sensor are coated with a chemically treated “capture probe” solution through an electrochemical technique specially developed by IBN.

This allows DNA strands to “stick” more easily to the sensor, resulting in a faster and more accurate analysis.

“This new biosensor holds significant promise to speed up on-going efforts in the detection and diagnosis of debilitating diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular problems and infectious viruses,” said Dr Jackie Y. Ying, Executive Director of IBN, one of the research institutes of Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

“We aim to make healthcare accessible to the masses with early disease diagnosis as the critical driving force behind the research we undertake here at IBN,” she added.

The study appears in Journal of the American Chemical Society. (ANI)

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Scientists create world’s smallest semiconductor laser

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 31 (ANI): Researchers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have created the world’s smallest semiconductor laser, capable of generating visible light in a space smaller than a single protein molecule, an invention that breaks new ground in the field of optics.

The UC Berkeley team not only successfully squeezed light into such a tight space, but found a novel way to keep that light energy from dissipating as it moved along, thereby achieving laser action.

While it is traditionally accepted that an electromagnetic wave – including laser light – cannot be focused beyond the size of half its wavelength, research teams around the world have found a way to compress light down to dozens of nanometers by binding it to the electrons that oscillate collectively at the surface of metals.

This interaction between light and oscillating electrons is known as surface plasmons.

Scientists have been racing to construct surface plasmon lasers that can sustain and utilize these tiny optical excitations.

However, the resistance inherent in metals causes these surface plasmons to dissipate almost immediately after being generated, posing a critical challenge to achieving the buildup of the electromagnetic field necessary for lasing.

Zhang and his research team took a novel approach to stem the loss of light energy by pairing a cadmium sulfide nanowire – 1,000 times thinner than a human hair – with a silver surface separated by an insulating gap of only 5 nanometers, the size of a single protein molecule.

In this structure, the gap region stores light within an area 20 times smaller than its wavelength.

Because light energy is largely stored in this tiny non-metallic gap, loss is significantly diminished.

With the loss finally under control through this unique “hybrid” design, the researchers could then work on amplifying the light.

Trapping and sustaining light in radically tight quarters creates such extreme conditions that the very interaction of light and matter is strongly altered, the study authors explained.

“This work shatters traditional notions of laser limits, and makes a major advance toward applications in the biomedical, communications and computing fields,” said Xiang Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering and director of UC Berkeley’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.

The achievement helps enable the development of such innovations as nanolasers that can probe, manipulate and characterize DNA molecules; optics-based telecommunications many times faster than current technology; and optical computing in which light replaces electronic circuitry with a corresponding leap in speed and processing power.

Scientists hope to eventually shrink light down to the size of an electron’s wavelength, which is about a nanometer. (ANI)

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‘Toxic cocktail’ in tunnels can increase air pollution levels by up to 1,000 times

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 28 (ANI): A new study has found that a toxic cocktail of ultrafine particles, which is lurking inside road tunnels, can increase air pollution levels by up to 1,000 times, enough to harm drivers and passengers.

The study measured ultrafine particle concentration levels outside a vehicle travelling through the M5 East tunnel in Sydney.

According to study co-author and director of Queensland University of Technology’s International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Professor Lidia Morawska, road tunnels were locations where maximum exposure to dangerous ultrafine particles in addition to other pollutants occurred.

“The human health effects of exposure to ultrafine particles produced by fuel combustion are generally regarded as detrimental,” Professor Morawska said.

“Effects can range from minor respiratory problems in healthy people, to acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) in people with existing heart complaints,” she added.

Professor Morawska said the study involved more than 300 trips through the four kilometres of the M5 East tunnel, with journeys lasting up to 26 minutes, depending on traffic congestion.

“What this study aimed to do was identify the concentration levels found in the tunnel. It generated a huge body of data on the concentrations and the results show that, at times, the levels are up to 1000 times higher than in urban ambient conditions,” she said.

She said that drivers and occupants of new vehicles which had their windows closed were safer than people travelling in older vehicles.

“People who are driving older vehicles which are inferior in terms of tightness and also those riding motorcycles or driving convertibles, these people are exposed to incredibly high concentrations,” she said.

“When compared with similar studies reported previously, the measurements here were among the highest recorded concentrations,” she added.

Professor Morawska said that tunnels were becoming an increasingly necessary infrastructure component in many cities across the world.

“When governments are building tunnels for urban design reasons, they should also consider the impact these tunnels are having on the environment and to people’s health,” she said.

“The study highlights why governments need to consider how they are going to deal with the air pollution levels inside the tunnel and removal of ultrafine particles in the outside environment,” she added. (ANI)

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Saraswat appointed new scientific adviser to Defence Minister

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug 27 (ANI): Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat has been appointed as scientific adviser to Defence Minister AK Antony and will also serve as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Dr. Saraswat, who will replace the present incumbent M Natarajan on September 1, will also serve as Secretary Department of Defence Research and Development,.

He is presently Chief Controller Research and Development (Missiles and Strategic Systems) since November 2005 in DRDO.

In this capacity, he spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems, including the AGNI series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3000 kms.

As Project Director ‘PRITHVI’, he steered the design, development, production and induction of first indigenous Surface-to-Surface missile system ‘PRITHVI’, into armed forces.

He was Director RCI before taking over as CCR and D(MSS). He has headed various committees of national importance.

He has received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by Systems Society of India.

International Academy of Engineering, Russia, elected Dr. Saraswat as Member of Academy and honoured him as an academician. (ANI)

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Non-lethal blast waves can cause brain injuries even without direct head impacts

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 27 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have discovered that non-lethal blast waves can cause human brain injury even without direct head impacts, which could lead to an enhanced understanding of head injuries and improved military helmet design.

Using numerical hydrodynamic computer simulations, Lawrence Livermore scientists Willy Moss and Michael King, along with University of Rochester colleague Eric Blackman, have discovered that non-lethal blasts can induce enough skull flexure to generate potentially damaging loads in the brain, even without direct head impact.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from mechanical loads in the brain, often without skull fracture, and causes complex, long-lasting symptoms.

TBI in civilians is usually caused by direct head impacts resulting from motor vehicle and sports accidents. TBI also has emerged among military combat personnel exposed to blast waves.

As modern body armor has substantially reduced soldier fatalities from explosive attacks, the lower mortality rates have revealed the high prevalence of TBI.

But, TBIs resulting from blast waves without head impacts have not been well understood.

To tackle this puzzle, the research team used three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations to prove that direct action of the blast wave on the head causes skull flexure, producing mechanical loads in brain tissue comparable to those in an injury-inducing impact, even at non-lethal blast pressures as low as 1 bar above atmospheric pressure.

The Army’s Advanced Combat Helmet replaced the older Personal Armor System for Ground Troops helmet.

Its Kevlar shell provides ballistic and impact protection, and its reduced edge cut, although reducing area of coverage, improves soldiers’ field of vision and hearing.

In particular, the team showed that blast waves affect the brain very differently from direct impacts.

The primary source of injury from direct impacts is the force resulting from the bulk acceleration of the head.

In contrast, a blast wave squeezes the skull, creating pressures as large as an injury-inducing impact and pressure gradients in the brain that are much larger.

This occurs even when the bulk head accelerations induced by a blast wave are much smaller than from a direct impact.

“The blast wave sweeps over the skull like a rolling pin going over dough,” said King, LLNL co-principal investigator.

Although the simulations show that the skull is deformed only about 50 microns, “this is large enough to generate potentially damaging loads in the brain,” according to Moss.

“The possibility that blasts may contribute to traumatic brain injury has implications for injury diagnosis and improved armor design,” he added. (ANI)

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Narus continues to build leadership position in India

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Aug 26 (ANI/Business Wire India): Narus, the global leader in real-time traffic intelligence for the protection and management of large IP networks, has continued its strong momentum in India this year.

An expanded office with new hires, new partnerships, customer implementations and the INFOCOM CMAI National Telecom Award have already characterized 2009 as a banner year for Narus in India.

With two quarters left in the year and the company moving full-steam ahead, Narus is poised to continue its 200 percent plus revenue growth well into 2010.

Narus’ India operation has seen a 50 percent increase in staff, and the company plans another 30 percent increase in headcount in the coming year to keep up with its growing backlog of business in this region.

With an eye cast toward 2010, Narus will hold a job fair in Bangalore on September 5 and 6, 2009.

Positions available include GUI development engineers, network development engineers, software design engineers, and quality assurance engineers and managers.

In late 2008, Narus announced the opening of its New Delhi office and the appointment of two key members to its Indian executive team. Avinash Agrawal was appointed to lead Narus’ India operation as managing director, and DLN Shastri was appointed vice president of sales and business development.

Agrawal and Shastri bring a combined 50 years of experience to the company. The New Delhi office is Narus’ Asia Pacific regional headquarters, with sales, support and professional services represented.

Yogi Mistry, senior vice president, Narus, said, “Since the opening of our first office in India, Narus has committed to an investment in India by providing jobs in our engineering, support and sales organizations. Narus’ continued growth in the region ensures additional opportunities for our employees to work on cutting-edge technologies with leading partners and luminary customers.”

Narus continued its 2009 momentum with recognition for excellence in R andD in security services for the telecom industry with an INFOCOM CMAI National Telecom Award. his prestigious award salutes industry leaders that contribute to the growth of the telecom industry in India with groundbreaking services and solutions.

The Indian telecommunications industry is continuing to enjoy tremendous growth and is consequently providing great opportunities for sales and business development.

In May, Narus formed a strategic partnership with HCL Infosystems, Ltd., India’s premier information-enabling ICT system integration company, to assist the Indian government in the protection of its people and infrastructure.

Narus also implemented systems at India’s foremost integrated telecom service providers like Reliance, Sify, and Cable and Wireless. Narus is also proud to have implemented NarusInsight in the world’s third-largest telecommunications carrier as they launch their service offerings in India this year. (ANI)

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‘Teen-proof’ room cuts out the clutter

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 24 (ANI): The days of teenagers’ messy bedrooms may finally be over, courtesy an Edinburgh-based company, which has designed a room they can’t ruin.

Design firm IDP claims to have created the ‘teen-proof’ bedroom, which provides solution for the cluttered spaces that have enraged parents for decades, reports the Scotsman.

It features drawing pin friendly fabric wallpaper; a wipe-clean desk; a swivel chair with secret pockets for stashing chocolate and electronic gizmos; stain-resistant carpets; and enough space under the bed to hide a mountain of clothes and computer games and still leave room for a set of iPod speakers.

Gilly Corkery of IDP said: “It was an incredibly challenging project. How do you counteract the natural messiness of teenagers?”

The room includes shelves tailored to the size of CDs, along with compartments in the bed space so that electronic equipment such as stereos or PlayStations can be plugged in – great for easy access when the teens are still lounging in bed at noon.

The room will be exhibited at the Homes and Interiors Scotland Exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow next weekend.

The design firm is keeping some details a closely guarded secret – just releasing a rough sketch of a suspiciously tidy-looking room and a sample of some dog-themed furniture decor.

Corkery, who modelled the design on the taste and habits of her son Jamie, 12, said: “We’ve tried to do little quirky things that teenagers will think are quite cool,” says

“No self-respecting teenager wants to move for too long so we’ve designed a desk chair which has a pocket where they can keep a remote control, their iPod, pens, chocolate or whatever, without having to move.

“Then there’s the upholstery fabric on the walls, which means they can put posters up with drawing pins without leaving a mark,” Corkery added. (ANI)

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Sarabjit Singh’s family to take Vastu Shastra’s help for his release

August 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bhikhiwind (Punjab). Aug. 22 (ANI): The family of Sarabjit Singh, the Indian citizen on death row for last 19 years in Pakistan for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts incidents, had an unusual visitor on Saturday who suggested he could be released if certain corrective measures were undertaken in his native house’s basic design.

Andhra Pradesh-based renowned Vastu consultant, Sri Gouru Tirupai Reddy visited Sarabjit Singh’s house at Bhikhiwind and suggested the family to undertake some measures under Vastu Shastra, a traditional Hindu system of design based on directional alignments.

According to Sri Gouru Tirupai Reddy, if certain corrective measures were undertaken as per Vastu Shastra to improve the faults in design or construction of the house, it would have its influence on the victim’s release from Pakistani jail.

Reddy while talking to media said he inspected the house of Sarabjit and found major Vastu faults. “If these faults are removed, Sarabjit will surely return home safely, this is our opinion,” said Reddy.

Reddy claimed that he had already set the nationwide movement for raising funds for correcting the house faults so that Sarabjit could return home.

“The plot where Sarabjit’s house has been constructed is not rectangular and its north-east corner was cut off. Besides it had a toilet west of the south-west, which was at extending position and not accurate, as it should have been at 90 degree. South West of the house was down and open. The main gate of the house was in south of south-west and was wrongly placed, said Reddy.

“These are some of the major Vastu faults and need to be immediately corrected,” Reddy suggested.

The designer accompanying Reddy would design a new house map and would also suggest the estimated cost.

Dalbir Kaur, sister of Sarabjit Singh, said that after having seen news on Sarabjit on TV channel, Reddy approached her to undertake Vastu Shastra’s corrective measures.

“We are knocking at every door for the release of Sarabjit and will undertake the corrective measures suggested by Reddy. We hope it may help Sarabjit’s return,” said Kaur.

However she said that since they don’t have enough fund to reconstruct the house as per Reddy’s recommendation so she urges the Punjab Government to provide financial help.

Sarabjit Singh is an Indian citizen and convicted for his alleged involvement in 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people.

Though his family in Indian Punjab contends that it’s a case of sheer mistaken identity, as he is just a poor farmer, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border in an inebriated state.

He has been awarded death sentence by the Anti-Terrorist Court in 1991, but his hanging has repeatedly postponed. He is imprisoned in the Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

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