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

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)

Army hosts yacht training camp for school children

Nainital, Sep 18 (ANI): With an aim to revive yacht sailing in the country, a 15-day camp is being organised in Nainital district of Uttarakhand where in school children are being trained in yacht sailing.

Over 40 school students from the various parts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are taking part in the camp, which is being conducted under the aegis of Indian Army’s Central Command.

The Lucknow based Central Command is conducting such adventure camps for school children from over a decade.

The participants are receiving guidance in the yacht sailing by a team of 11 Army instructors.

“This yacht sailing is a great sport because these days it’s becoming extinct. Most of the people do not want to take part and people of Nainital are also not taking so much interest in yacht sailing. But I feel it’s a very adventurous sport and a great sport,” said Karel Caprini, a participant.

Many of the participants also feel that the training would open up new job opportunities for them.

“We have come here to revive this sport and as far as I can say it’s a very good sport and there is a lot of job opportunity in it. If we do well and learn the technique, we can make our career in the sports,” said Deep, another participant.

According to the Chief instructor of the camp, Mahip Singh the main motive behind the camp is to popularise the dying sport among youth.

“Basic purpose is that sailing is an international sport and the facilities available in Uttaranchal especially, which comes under the central command. We have got our sailors, who have participated in international levels and we got the expertise. So to give the young building up generation a chance to gain knowledge and finally if they have the interest, so excel in the sport. That’s why we have organised the camp,” said Singh.

Despite being considered as a sport at the international level, yacht sailing in India is still at its nascent stage. (ANI)

Clark hopes next generation of Oz cricketers value country above the dollar

Sydney, Sep.17 (ANI): Experienced Australian seamer Stuart Clark has warned that he can only hope the next generation of Australian cricketers values playing for their country ahead of chasing the almighty dollar on offer in the Indian Premier League and next month’s Champions League.

Skipper Ricky Ponting, who said he expected more people to follow in the footsteps of English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and pursue the shorter version of the game, backed up Clark.

According to the Daily Telegraph, former one-day star Michael Bevan also weighed into the money-v-country debate when he questioned how much longer cricketers would be prepared to support the Test scene now that there were lucrative alternatives.

“What scares me the most is where does it leave the game if people just go chasing large sums of money for a bit of hit-and-giggle,” Clark told The Big Sports Breakfast.

“I think we as players all owe it to Test cricket to try and keep it afloat. I know the administration is working hard at it, but I personally hold grave fears for where the game is heading,” he added.

Clark said he had noticed youngsters at NSW getting excited about the money at next month’s Champions League in India, which offers a three million dollar purse to the winner and could earn the players 130,000 dollars each – the equivalent of a top-end state contract.

Ponting said more players could snub Test cricket to copy Flintoff.

“I think it probably could happen more and more especially with guys retiring from Test match cricket and wanting to play only the shorter versions of the game,” he said.

Bevan, who scored nearly 7000 runs in 232 one-dayers for Australia, told The Daily Telegraph: “I’d like to hope there is a strong allegiance shown by the players to Test cricket, but up until what point they continue to do that I’m not sure.” (ANI)

Madhya Pradesh gets over hundred crore grant for tribal development

New Delhi, Sep 16 (ANI): The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has sanctioned a grant in aid of Rs. 116.90,50,000/- for Madhya Pradesh as regular allocation to bring rapid development in tribal areas of the state.

The first instalment of grant-in-aid of Rs. 58,00,00,000/- has been released to the State Government towards Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub Plan for the current fiscal.

Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub Plan is provided by the Tribal Affairs Ministry to the States as an additive to the state plan to bring about a more rapid economic development of tribal in the States.

The tribal sub plan cover the employment-cum-income generation activities and the infrastructure incidental thereto not only family-based, but also run by the Self-Help Groups.

The fund release for Tribal Dub plan are based on the population and area of the scheduled Tribes (STs) in the States concerned.

From the last fiscal the projects and activities are being approved by the Tribal Affairs Ministry prior to release of funds. (ANI)

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

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)

Chidambaram says Maoists seeking alliance with north-east insurgent groups

New Delhi, Sep 14 (ANI): Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that Maoists are seeking an alliance with northeast insurgent groups.

Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day conference on internal security threats, Chidambaram said the Maoists have been sought alliances with secessionists and insurgentse also said that terrorist groups, including the LeT and the JeM, are persisting with their endeavours to launch terror attacks.

“The Communist Party of India-Maoist besides targeting inimical forces was laying a greater emphasis on targeting infrastructure like roads, bridges,” he added

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will address the conference on Tuesday. He will also present police medals for meritorious services.

The conference provides an interactive platform for senior police professionals and security administrators to freely discuss and debate diverse national security related issues, as also the various operational, infrastructural and welfare related problems faced by them.

Its deliberations would also include formulation and sharing of professional practices and processes in tackling challenges relating to crime control and law and order management.

The conference offers opportunities for generation and exchange of new ideas on capacity building for the police in respect of manpower, training, logistics and advanced technology.

The Intelligence Bureau organised the first ever conference of IGPs in India in 1920 and since then, these conferences have been held regularly at New Delhi in the post-independence period. The first conference was organised in 1950.

To begin with, it was a biennial event, but after 1973, it became an annual meeting for the Heads of Police Organisations in the States/Union Territories and of the Central Police Organisations. Director, Intelligence Bureau, is the ex-officio Chairman of the conference. (ANI)

DGPS/IGPs conference to deliberate on major internal security issues

New Delhi, Sep 14 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the DGPs/IGPs Confernce-2009 here today.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will address the conference on the second day and also present police medals for meritorious services.

The conference is expected to deliberate on major internal security threats, including left wing extremism, terrorism, coastal security, insurgency in the north-east and circulation of fake currency notes in the country.

The agenda also includes presentations on important policing issues such as the National Police Mission, corporate fraud and security arrangements being planned for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The conference provides an interactive platform for senior police professionals and security administrators to freely discuss and debate diverse national security related issues, as also the various operational, infrastructural and welfare related problems faced by them.

Its deliberations would also include formulation and sharing of professional practices and processes in tackling challenges relating to crime control and law and order management.

The conference offers opportunities for generation and exchange of new ideas on capacity building for the police in respect of manpower, training, logistics and advanced technology.

The intelligence Bureau organised the first ever conference of IGPs in India in 1920 and since then, these conferences have been held regularly at New Delhi in the post-independence period. The first conference was organised in 1950.

To begin with, it was a biennial event, but after 1973, it became an annual meeting for the Heads of Police Organisations in the States/Union Territories and of the Central Police Organisations. Director, Intelligence Bureau, is the ex-officio Chairman of the conference. (ANI)

DGPS/IGPs conference to deliberate on major internal security issues

New Delhi, Sep 11 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will inaugurate the DGPs/IGPs Confernce-2009 on September 14.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will address the conference on the second day and also present police medals for meritorious services.

The conference is expected to deliberate on major internal security threats, including left wing extremism , terrorism, coastal security, insurgency in the north-east and circulation of fake currency notes in the country.

The agenda also includes presentations on important policing issues such as the National Police Mission, corporate fraud and security arrangements being planned for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The conference provides an interactive platform for senior police professionals and security administrators to freely discuss and debate diverse national security related issues, as also the various operational, infrastructural and welfare related problems faced by them.

Its deliberations would also include formulation and sharing of professional practices and processes in tackling challenges relating to crime control and law and order management.

The conference offers opportunities for generation and exchange of new ideas on capacity building for the police in respect of manpower, training, logistics and advanced technology.

The intelligence Bureau organised the first ever conference of IGPs in India in 1920 and since then, these conferences have been held regularly at New Delhi in the post-independence period. The first conference was organised in 1950.

To begin with, it was a biennial event, but after 1973, it became an annual meeting for the Heads of Police Organisations in the States/Union Territories and of the Central Police Organisations. Director, Intelligence Bureau, is the ex-officio Chairman of the conference. (ANI)

Saving the historical monuments to preserve cultural heritage of Punjab

Amritsar, Sep.10 (ANI): An endeavour is underway to preserve various heritage buildings of Punjab State in a bid to treasure the cultural heritage including historical monuments, which can help in boosting tourism in Punjab.

The palaces and Havelis across Punjab bespeak glorious heritage. These historically important buildings include religious places belonging to different faiths and can attract tourists to Punjab.

The Sheesh Mahal and Qila Mubarak at Patiala, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s summer palace at Amritsar or ancestral home of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan – they are important sites that need to be preserved for the coming generations.

“Every community, society has a very precious heritage which has to be and can be transferred to the next generation and this is the responsibility of any civil society to transfer that heritage to the coming generation if you don’t perform that duty, that is a sin, that’s crime,” said Dr. Sukhdev Singh, Punjab State convener, Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

To spread awareness about preservation of these heritage sites, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage recently organized a workshop on the theme ‘Cultural Heritage and Media’ in Amritsar.

The event highlighted the fact that popularizing existing heritage buildings and protecting sites of cultural importance, presently in ruins due to negligence and development activities, ought to be the main priority.

There were proposals to convert heritage sites into museums and heritage hotels for tourists to get a glimpse of Punjab’s rich cultural heritage.

It was suggested that the restored monuments could be commercially used on public-private partnership basis.

“Nuclear families have become more common than joint families and it has resulted in a big change in the whole system. Like in our system, the kids are taught to respect elders and follow the path of honesty. People get equal share in all institutions like in home, office and agriculture but today they are aware of especially one aspect of their lives,” said Paramjeet Singh , Prof. Of Architechture, Gurunanak University, Amritsar.

“There is a significant relation between tourism and the heritage sites because some tourists surely have some interest in what’s the history of people and what’s the culture of people. They don’t come here just to see the huge marble buildings. They don’t want to see the modern architecture, which infact is mostly western, they come here to know about the past of this place, so it surely encourages tourism,” said Dr. Sukhdev Singh.

Amritsar is the heritage city of Punjab. The city is known globally for the revered Golden Temple, one of the pilgrimage centers, which stands intact and was built nearly 400 years ago.

The heritage tour in Amritsar remains incomplete without visiting the old city, known for its traditional market and centuries old residential houses.

Be it the historic Jallianwala Bagh or the Summer Palace, the royal residence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, they take every visitor here to the era they stand testimony of. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

Oz bosses bringing back 1950s style of management

Melbourne, Sep 10 (ANI): A survey has shown that bosses are cutting costs and dropping the collaborative management style of the early 2000s in favour of the 1950s-style.

Social researcher and leadership expert Avril Henry said that employers are doing everything from cutting out biscuits to banning hot food from the office.

They are also telling employees to snack on fruit outside in a bid to cut cleaning costs and cope with strained budgets, and are also micromanaging and bossing their staff around, rather than engaging with them.

“It sends a signal to employees that ‘I don’t trust you can do the job without being closely supervised’, it equates not seeking input from anybody below senior executive level,” News.com.au quoted Henry as saying.

The South African-born public speaker and author of Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders Today says examples of tight, bossy behaviour began emerging at the end of last year amid the deepening financial crisis.

“In the process of cutting costs we often do things that alienate the employees,” she said.

“You can cut the biscuits and you can tell people ‘we’re not providing tea and coffee, bring in your own’, but we still pay senior executives and CEOs huge bonuses,” she stated.

Henry says the leadership style is putting bosses on a direct collision course with Generation Y.

“Gen Y just go ‘I’m not working for a boss like that’,” she said of the generation born between 1980 and 1995.

“Gen Y will leave a job without another job to go to even in the current environment.

“They will do a job with less money, not necessarily in the same industry they were in, or equating to what they’re qualified to do, to work in environment where they are happy and they feel valued, not only as employees but as human beings,” she said.

Many generation X-ers (born 1965 to 1979), now in management roles, see this as “entitlement mentality”, but Henry thinks it’s a positive backlash to “toxic” workplace conditions.

“I think that (attitude is) what’s going to change workplace culture,” Henry, who is also a trained accountant, said.

“We have too many workplaces which are toxic, by toxic I mean people aren’t valued.

“Every organisation says ‘people are our greatest asset’ – my immediate response to that is then why do most organisations treat their employees like liabilities?” she stated.

“Bosses who cop a pay cut or ask their staff for thrifty suggestions show they’re ‘willing to share the pain’,” she added. (ANI)

Machines can’t recognise images like humans as yet

Washington, Sep 10 (ANI): Computers might have reached a point where they can replicate many aspects of human behaviour, but still they cannot recognize distorted images like humans do, says a team of Penn State researchers.

James Z. Wang, along with Ritendra Datta and Jia Li at Penn State, explored the difference in human and machine recognition of visual concepts under various image distortions.

“Our goal is to seek a better understanding of the fundamental differences between humans and machines and utilize this in developing automated methods for distinguishing humans and robotic programs,” said Wang.

The researchers used those differences to design image-based CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart), visual devices used to prevent automated network attacks.

Many e-commerce web sites use CAPTCHAs, which are randomly generated sets of words that a user types in a box provided in order to complete a registration or purchasing process. This is done to verify that the user is human and not a robotic program.

In the study, a demonstration program with an image-based CAPTCHA called IMAGINATION was presented on imagination.alipr.com.

Both humans and robotic programs were observed using the CAPTCHA.

While the scope of the human users was limited, the results of the study proved that robotic programs were not able to recognize distorted images.

In other words, a computer recognition program had to rely on an accurate picture, while humans were able to tell what the picture was even though it was distorted.

Wang said that he is hoping to work with developers in the future to make IMAGINATION a CAPTCHA program that Web sites can use to strengthen the prevention of automated network attacks.

Although machine recognizability does not exceed human recognizability at this time, Wang is optimistic that it would be possible in the future.

“We are seeing more intelligently designed computer programs that can harness a large volume of online data, much more than a typical human can experience in a lifetime, for knowledge generation and automatic recognition. If certain obstacles, which many believe to be insurmountable, such as scalability and image representation, can be overcome, it is possible that one day machine recognizability can reach that of humans,” said Wang.

The study has been presented in the latest issue of IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security. (ANI)

Barrage of small meteorite impacts cause the moon to “hum”

London, September 9 (ANI): A new research has suggested that a steady barrage of small meteorite impacts cause the moon to “hum”.

But, no seismometers sent to the moon to date have been sensitive enough to hear the “hum”.

According to a report in New Scientist, Philippe Lognonne at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris and colleagues decided to work out how loud the ring is.

The team estimated the meteorite population in the solar neighbourhood, and calculated the likely seismic signals that would be created by a range of meteorite sizes and velocities as they strike the moon.

To determine how the vibrations from these impacts would be seen by seismometers, the team used data taken by Apollo seismometers four decades ago.

These measured the vibrations created by the landings of lunar modules and spent rocket stages.

Since the precise locations and timing of these landings were known, they could be used to gauge how long it would take vibrations caused by meteorite impacts to travel through the moon, and how much the signals might dim.

Their calculations revealed space rocks with masses ranging from a gram to a kilogram do indeed create a hum, but it is subtle.

Earth’s hum, created by pounding waves, is more than 1000 times louder.

“This shows that all planets may hum, those with and those without atmosphere,” said Lognonne.

“The moon-hum’s quietness means future lunar seismometers should be able to peek deep within the moon without the hum creating problematic background noise, he added.

Instead, seismometers can focus on measuring waves created by moonquakes, tremors created by a variety of sources, including the tidal tug of the Earth.

Because seismic waves are sensitive to the type, arrangement and density of rocks they pass through, studying the quakes can reveal more about the moon’s interior.

The network of seismometers left by the Apollo missions has been shut down since 1977, so Lognonne hopes more sensitive instruments will be sent to the moon soon.

These could reach deeper than the Apollo network to measure the size of the moon’s core.

“I think the study is a great idea,” said Clive Neal of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, who was not associated with the research.

“Estimating the actual background noise is critical for designing the next generation of seismometers to go to the moon,” he added. (ANI)

Rose McGowan loses elbow part during new film stunt

Washington, Sep 9 (ANI): Rose McGowan has lost some part of her elbow after suffering serious injury on the sets of her new film ‘Red Sonja’, which is being directed by her fiance Robert Rodriguez.

While last year, the ‘Scream’ star was quite upbeat about her stunts in the she-devil comic book adaptation, but now her injury has brought the production to a standstill.

“I had wrist and elbow surgery and they took part of my elbow out. I had really bad nerve damage from doing stunts – I do a lot of my own stunts,” Fox News quoted McGowan as saying.

“I could no longer use my arm, but now I can hold a fork and drive so we’re working our way up. It’ll probably be another six months of rehab, but It’s the price you pay for being really limber and being able to do back flips!” she added.

However, despite her Hollywood success, the 35-year-old actress had initially thought being an actress was a pretty pathetic profession.

“I wasn’t trying to be an actor, I was standing outside of a gym waiting for my friend to come out and this woman he knew kept saying, ‘She should be in this movie blah blah blah’ and I was like, ‘Gross, I don’t want to be an actor! Ew!’ and then I found out they would pay me enough money for a down payment on an apartment,” said McGowan.

“Otherwise I would have had to go back and live with dad in Seattle. The film, ‘The Doomed Generation,’ became this huge cult movie and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and I’ve been following the Yellow Brick Road ever since…” she added. (ANI)

Malaysian Indian Congress working committee has two Punjabis candidates

Kuala Lumpur, Sep. 7 (ANI): In an unprecedented move, the Malaysian Indian Congress has kept two Punjabi hopefuls on the preferred list of candidates for the party’s central working committee (CWC).

MIC President S. Samy Vellu has endorsed J. Randhir Singh from Johor and G. Jaspal Singh from Selangor among 27 candidates, who will be part of party’s decision making body.

According to a part source, one of the two was being groomed by Samy Vellu to fill the vacancy left by former vice president K.S. Nijhar.

“But it will be an uphill task since both are newcomers and are going for the same allocation. And there are only a few north Indian delegates,” the New Strait Times quoted him, as saying.

“There are many candidates vying for the 23 CWC seats and these two are newcomers. They have so little time and the delegates want to get to know them more. They will have to work hard in whatever little time they have,” said another source.

Though popular in their own states, the two candidates are relatively unknown at the national level.

But Randhir is not letting that hamper his chances. He is leveraging on his father Jasbir Singh’s popularity, who has been the Pontian division chairman for the past 45 years.

“I am using the picture with my father because many people recognise my father for his long service to the party. I want to tell them that I am the second generation who will continue what he has been doing for the community,” Randhir said of an appeal in newspapers which shows him along with his father.

Being a non-Tamil speaking candidate in a predominantly Tamil speaking party is a non-issue, as far as he is concerned.

“My father doesn’t speak Tamil as well and he has been division chairman for 45 years. Language is not a barrier. What is important is your ability and willingness to work for the betterment of the community,” he said.

Being on Samy Vellu’s list of endorsed candidates showed that the president recognises the work of non-governmental organisations, he said. (ANI)

Malaysian Indian Congress working committee has two Punjabis candidates

Kuala Lumpur, Sep. 7 (ANI): In an unprecedented move, the Malaysian Indian Congress has kept two Punjabi hopefuls on the preferred list of candidates for the party’s central working committee (CWC).

MIC President S. Samy Vellu has endorsed J. Randhir Singh from Johor and G. Jaspal Singh from Selangor among 27 candidates, who will be part of party’s decision making body.

According to a part source, one of the two was being groomed by Samy Vellu to fill the vacancy left by former vice president K.S. Nijhar.

“But it will be an uphill task since both are newcomers and are going for the same allocation. And there are only a few north Indian delegates,” the New Strait Times quoted him, as saying.

“There are many candidates vying for the 23 CWC seats and these two are newcomers. They have so little time and the delegates want to get to know them more. They will have to work hard in whatever little time they have,” said another source.

Though popular in their own states, the two candidates are relatively unknown at the national level.

But Randhir is not letting that hamper his chances. He is leveraging on his father Jasbir Singh’s popularity, who has been the Pontian division chairman for the past 45 years.

“I am using the picture with my father because many people recognise my father for his long service to the party. I want to tell them that I am the second generation who will continue what he has been doing for the community,” Randhir said of an appeal in newspapers which shows him along with his father.

Being a non-Tamil speaking candidate in a predominantly Tamil speaking party is a non-issue, as far as he is concerned.

“My father doesn’t speak Tamil as well and he has been division chairman for 45 years.

Language is not a barrier. What is important is your ability and willingness to work for the betterment of the community,” he said.

Being on Samy Vellu’s list of endorsed candidates showed that the president recognises the work of non-governmental organisations, he said. (ANI)

Scientists using laser light to generate underwater sound

Washington, September 6 (ANI): The United States Naval Research Laboratory is working on a new technology that uses flashes of laser light to remotely create underwater sound.

Researchers behind the project say that the new technology has the potential to expand and improve both Naval and commercial underwater acoustic applications, including undersea communications, navigation, and acoustic imaging.

Dr. Ted Jones, a physicist in the Plasma Physics Division, is leading a team of researchers from the Plasma Physics, Acoustics, and Marine Geosciences Divisions in developing this acoustic source.

The researchers used a 532 nm laser pulse for their study at the Salt Water Tank Facility.

They also used air bubblers and controlled water and air temperatures to create ocean-like conditions in the laboratory.

The research team could efficiently convert light into sound by concentrating the light sufficiently to ionize a small amount of water, which then absorbed laser energy and superheats.

They said that the result was a small explosion of steam that could generate a 220 decibel pulse of sound.

Given that the driving laser pulse has the ability to travel through both air and water, the researchers say that a compact laser on either an underwater or airborne platform can be used for remote acoustic generation.

They believe that their method would be a significant addition to traditional direct backscattering acoustic data. (ANI)

High-performance, low-cost green LEDs to brighten up the future

Washington, September 6 (ANI): A scientist is aiming to develop a high-performance, low-cost green LED (Light-emitting diode).

According to Christian Wetzel, professor of physics and the Wellfleet Professor of Future Chips at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), “Going green means different things to different people. For companies, going green means making a profit by selling equipment and services that allow one’s customers to be more efficient and reduce costs.”

“I’m doing both of those, but I’m also trying to make an LED that literally shines green light,” he said.

First discovered in the 1920s, LEDs are semiconductors that convert electricity into light.

When switched on, swarms of electrons pass through the semiconductor material and fall from an area with surplus electrons into an area with a shortage of electrons.

As they fall, the electrons jump to a lower orbital and release small amounts of energy. This energy is realized as photons – the most basic unit of light.

Unlike conventional light bulbs, LEDs produce almost no heat.

The color of light produced by LEDs depends on the type of semiconductor material it contains.

“We have high-performance red LEDs, we have high-performance blue LEDs, and if we paired them with a high-performance green LED we would be able to produce every color visible to the human eye – including true white,” said Wetzel.

“Every computer monitor and television produces its picture by using red, blue, and green. That means developing a high-performance green LED would likely lead to a new generation of high-performance, energy-efficient display devices,” he added.

“The problem, however, is that green LEDs are much more difficult to create than I, or anyone else, imagined,” he explained.

Simple preliminary attempts to create green LEDs, by merely adding more indium (In) to the gallium nitride (GaN) materials that composed blue LEDs, were unsuccessful.

The resulting green LEDs just weren’t strong or bright enough to stand toe-to-toe with red or blue.

Wetzel and his research group have been working to tweak precisely how to add more indium, and how to grow the structure more carefully into a device, with the goal of boosting the strength and light output of green LEDs.

“They’re endeavoring, he said, to close the green gap,” said Wetzel.

Once they overcome the challenge of developing efficient green LEDs, Wetzel envisions LED technology will quickly evolve from its current applications in signs and small displays and grow into a universally adopted, globally used replacement for traditional light bulbs and compact fluorescence tubes. (ANI)

Here’s what ups amyloid beta production in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains

Washington, September 4 (ANI): A new class of medicines to effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease may soon be available, for an international research group has shed light on how a fragment of a protein increases the production of the amyloid beta protein in the brain.

The researchers say that knowing that the N60 fragment of the RanBP9 protein increases the production of the amyloid beta protein, which is present in excessive amounts in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, gives scientists a more specific focus for developing new drugs.

Most experts believe that if the creation of amyloid beta protein can be halted or slowed, the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s disease may also be stopped or slowed too, according to background information in a research article published in the FASEB Journal.

David Kang, assistant professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the researchers involved in the work, said: “Our study suggests that targeting RanBP9 expression and/or N60 fragment generation may lead to novel strategies to combat this devastating disease.”

During the study, Kang and his colleagues examined extracts from brains with Alzheimer’s disease and age-matched healthy controls.

The researchers found that the N60 section of RanBP9 was increased in Alzheimer’s brain.

“Alzheimer’s might seem hopeless to some, but this research shows that we’re closer than ever to unraveling both the protein tangles and mysteries surrounding this devastating disease,” said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, the Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. (ANI)

Popular sculpting statue in Sikkim

Gangtok, Sep 3 (ANI): An art school is preserving the oldest form of traditional and religious art of statue making, influenced by Buddhist teaching in Sikkim.

The Traditional Arts School for Thangka Painting at 5th mile, a half an hour drive from state capital Gangtok, is under the supervision of Ecclesiastical Affairs Department, Government of Sikkim. The school is exclusively for the monks (boys).

Monks from different monasteries located throughout the state come to the institute and learn the art free of cost.

The school was started as a separate branch of Enchey School, which was a monk school then in 1909 for teaching the art of statue making to monks at the time of Chogyal (King).

However during 1950s, the school came under the Ecclesiastic Affairs Department.

Ndar Lama, an instructor at the Vocational Arts School, Gangtok, revealed that the art of making the statues came from Bhutan.

However, to popularise the art among local monks, the state government felt the need to set up one institute in Sikkim, Lama said.

“The art of making this mud statue came from Bhutan. Earlier, Chogyal (King) used to call the instructors from Bhutan and they used to make the statues. In fact, most of the statue in big monasteries here was made by the Bhutanese. Even I learnt the art from one Bhutanese person. But now the government of Sikkim felt the need to open one such vocational training institute even in Sikkim,” Lama added.

Students at the school said that they hope to teach the art to the future generation so as to keep the Buddhist culture alive.

“After learning the art of statue making, I will go to the monastery and teach the art to our future generation so as to keep our Buddhist culture and art of statue making alive,” said Dawa, a student.

Besides teaching the art, the school also helps the monks in becoming self-reliant. (ANI)

Alonso reveals real reason behind his decision to quit Liverpool

London, Sep 3 (ANI): Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, who knew that his time at Liverpool was up a year ago, has now revealed the full details behind a dramatic 28 million pounds Anfield exit.

Alonso admits the decision to skip a Champions League match for the birth of his son almost three years ago caused a rift with manager Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez.

And the midfielder admits he found it hard to accept being classed as a cash cow when Benitez tried to sell him a year ago, The Sun reports.

Alonso, 27, is now one of the next generation of Real Madrid ‘Galacticos’ after his switch last month. But only now has he spoken out about his relationship with fellow Spaniard Benitez – and the joy of feeling wanted at Real.

“It was a tough call and a very difficult decision to make after five years at the club. I have always said that it has been a professional relationship. I have always tried to do what he asked me to do, to try to deliver on the pitch, to do the talking on the pitch,” he said.

Benitez made no secret of wanting to bring Gareth Barry to the club from Aston Villa last year.

Alonso was identified as the valuable asset to fund the move. The deal did not materialise and Barry ended up joining Manchester City in the most recent transfer window.

“Last summer when the club proposed I had to be sold to get funds to sign new players. It was difficult to accept that. I accept it as a professional but that moment probably changed my mind – and I thought, maybe, from that moment it was maybe time for a change,” Alonso said.

Benitez did little to disguise his displeasure with playmaker Alonso when he opted out of a Champions League last-16 second leg at Inter Milan with Liverpool leading 2-0 to be with his pregnant wife.

Alonso said: “When the birth of my child happened, I had to make a decision. I had to be with my family as it was a very important moment.” (ANI)