Mathematics simplified in beads

By Karthik Madhavan  

Coimbatore, India.

Abacus can help visually challenged master the subject

 

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Use of abacus has helped in bringing

mathematics in to focus

‘ICEVI is ready to provide training in abacus

to anybody who is interested’

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— Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Maths made easy: Abacus can be used to solve multiple problems.

COIMBATORE: Conquering numbers is no joke. The numerophobics will vouch for it. And so will the visually challenged.

Be it learning addition, subtraction or any other basic operation, the visually challenged have always found the going tough. For, mathematics is not a subject that can be memorised and written.

It is not true, counters M.N.G. Mani, Secretary General, International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI). The visually challenged can easily learn and master the subject by making use of abacus and Taylor Frame.

“Abacus is an excellent tool to learn mathematics because it helps in more ways than one,” says Mr. Mani, who has not only taught mathematics but also authored a book on how to teach the subject to visually challenged students.

“Abacus is tactile in nature, contributes to the development of mental arithmetic, increases speed, has a reference point, to which one can return in case of error in solving a problem and can be used to solve multiple problems.”

He says the use of the abacus has helped in bringing mathematics in to focus, for, for long teachers neglected the subject.

Special education

“Until integrated education was introduced in the 1980s in schools, special education teachers were not taking mathematics and abacus seriously because they, perhaps, believed that the subject cannot be taught to the students,” Mr. Mani says.

R. Srinivasan, a visually challenged retired professor of English, recalls that he was not taught abacus during his school days.

One of the reasons for teachers feeling so was that they had not mastered abacus and did not know how to teach mathematics using abacus, Mr. Mani says.

To solve the problem the Rehabilitation Council of India amended the special education teacher training syllabus.

It introduced abacus in the syllabus and ensured that those who passed out with a special education certificate had the knowledge to use abacus.

Today, special education courses have at least 12 hours dedicated to methodology of teaching mathematics to visually challenged students.

Once the teachers learnt to use abacus they were able to impart the skill to the students, says Mr. Mani.

“It is good that the teachers to-be are learning abacus but they should not learn it in theory but in practice as a skill development programme.”

Enquiries with special education teachers, however, reveal that it is not taken seriously and that only a few institutes are keen on teaching the use of abacus to the teachers to-be.

Mr. Mani says the ICEVI is ready to provide training in abacus to anybody who is interested.

Reference Link : http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/20/stories/2011012051020200.htm

Courtesy : The Hindu

Creating a new way of life

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DDRO wants to promote entrepreneurship among differently-abled

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Thanks to PMEGP:S. Ramakrishan of Pollachi has set up a travel agency, thanks to assistance from DDRO.

COIMBATORE: R. Sakthivel, 37, of Vellamadai, is busy with his sweet and savouries business. In addition he has a grocery store. And the income has given his family a sense of security and decent living.

A few years ago, however, the differently-abled was working at a savouries shop for a paltry Rs. 300 a month. He was struggling to make both ends meet. “Those days were difficult, for mine is a family of six,” he recalls. The change has come about because of the loan he got under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and the assistance he received from the District Disabled Rehabilitation Office ( DDRO) to set up the unit.

“I applied for a loan under the PMEGP and received Rs. 10 lakh for purchasing machines to prepare savouries and sweets.”

In getting the loan amount released, Mr. Sakthivel had to pay five per cent of the project cost as beneficiary’s contribution, which is where the DDRO came into picture. “I did not pay even my share because the State Government, through the DDRO, took care of my contribution owing to my special status.” District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer C. Jasmine says the Government pays beneficiaries’ contribution. “In the last financial year, the Coimbatore office has assisted three differently-abled entrepreneurs paying Rs. 64,000.” S. Ramakrishnan, also a beneficiary, has set up a travel agency in Pollachi. His father V.R. Sundaram says his worries about his son’s future have more or less been wiped out thanks to the PMEGP loan and the DDRO assistance. The visually challenged youth offers ticketing assistance for train and air travel. He operates computers with the help of a special software called, JAWS.

The third beneficiary Sumathy of Vellakinaru has set up an areca nut plate manufacturing unit.

Ms. Jasmine says the DDRO wants to promote entrepreneurship among differently-abled persons and the Government’s decision to pay the beneficiary contribution is a major step in that regard.

This one-time intervention will go a long way in helping the challenged people and also boosting their confidence, she adds.

Reference Link : http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/30/stories/2010053050420200.htm

Courtesy : The Hindu

Youth awaits chance for promoting Tamil ambigrams at Tamil meet

Photo:

AWAITING A CHANCE:S. Gowtham displaying his Tamil ambigrams.

Coimbatore: Even as the entire State is gearing up for the World Classical Tamil Conference, here is S. Gowtham, a student of Computer Science at Amrita School of Engineering with a series of Tamil ambigrams that can take the language a step forward.

Ambigram is a design or art form that may be read as one or more words when looked at angles of 90 or 180 degrees. The words readable in the other angles may be the same or different from the original words. One such ambigram that Gowtham has created is Kalaignar that can also be read as Muthalvar (Chief Minister).

“Tamil can be a very flexible language for ambigrams,” says Gowtham. He adds that the language is older than the ambigrams and has the ability to blend itself with other languages which could help in mutual understanding between people of different nationalities, thus, helping break language barriers. With ambigrams, proficiency in a particular language would no longer be an issue.

Ambigrams came into focus after the release of books by Dan Brown namely the ‘Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’. They can be very helpful in passing secret messages between defence personnel and networking services.

Gowtham says that there are many English ambigrams available on the Net but when it comes to Tamil, there are hardly any. He has done around 20 Ambigrams, a few of them being The Hindu-Unmai (Genuine), DMK-Tamil, out of his passion for the language and wishes to get them into the World Classical Tamil Conference and prove that Tamil is one of the best Asian languages ever.

Gowtham looks forward to creating ambigrams that can be used to compress text. One of the main features of ambigrams is that it can compress and encrypt the text in a single step. He says that with the help of ambigrams one can compress a given text to half of its size. Gowtham is currently working on his book for ambigrams that will contain 676 combinations of letters.

The World Classical Tamil Conference that will contain great Tamil literary works can have a space for Tamil ambigrams that can generate curiosity amongst the public. He looks forward to a chance to draw the attention of the scholars to do more Tamil ambigrams with their help. At present, he is on his own and there are no set standards or guidelines for preparing Tamil ambigrams. “I want these ambigrams to become popular to take Tamil to more people and make them understand the rich legacy of this language.”

He is at present knocking the doors of the Collector and officials involved in World Classical Tamil Conference arrangements for a chance in the form of a small corner in the exhibition hall. Once ambigrams make a foray into Tamil, they will become more popular, he says. For details, contact Gowtham at 9865249072 or 9865162509.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/28/stories/2010052859570200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Family takes initiative to donate organs of brain dead person

COIMBATORE: A will to save three lives with one that was lost was on display at K.G. Hospital here on Tuesday and Wednesday when the family of 32-year-old B. Krishnakumar of Pollachi offered to donate his organs after he was declared brain dead.

Hospital sources said Krishnakumar sustained severe brain injury when he fell off his motorcycle at Nanjegoundenpudur near Pollachi on May 23. A panel, comprising neurosurgeon M. Natarajan and neurologist T.C.R. Ramakrishnan, declared him brain dead early on Wednesday.

The first of the two mandatory examinations was conducted on Tuesday night.

His condition dealt a double blow to his family; his father Balasubramaniyan had died only 19 days ago. Overcoming their trauma, Krishnakumar’s mother and other relatives agreed to donate his kidneys, liver and eyes.

One kidney was transplanted on a patient at K.G. Hospital. The other was taken to Sri Ramakrishna Hospital here. The liver was taken to Apollo Hospital in Chennai. The eyes were donated to the eye bank at K.G. Eye Hospital.

“The hope that he will live in others who receive these organs made us take the decision to donate,” N. Chandrakumar, a cousin of Krishnakumar, said. “We had almost fixed his wedding as the elders in the family said an auspicious event should happen in the family after the death of the father. But, the accident took place on the 16th day after his father’s death. Krishnakumar was returning from the family’s farmhouse near Pollachi.”

Hopes of his survival evaporated when doctors said the brain stem had been severely injured.

“The idea of donating the organs struck me when I heard one of our relatives mention it,” Mr. Chandrakumar said. “But, we had to get the approval of Krishnakumar’s mother Chandramani. Though benumbed by the tragedy, she gave her consent quickly.”

The hospital said it was overwhelmed by the family’s gesture. “We never initiated it. The entire family came to us expressing the desire to donate his organs,” nephrologist R. Balasubramaniam said.

Led by hospital Chairman G. Bakthavathsalam, a team of doctors harvested the organs. Transplant co-ordinator at the hospital C.B. Chandrasekar oversaw the process. A team of surgeons from Apollo Hospital, led by Anand Khakhar, harvested the liver and left for Chennai by a flight around 4 p.m. Even as the team landed at the Chennai airport, the liver recipient was being prepared for the transplantation at the hospital, Dr. Balasubramaniam said.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/27/stories/2010052755450500.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Girl attempts world record with longest drawing

Fully engrossed:C.S. Bala Soundarya Lakshmi making an attempt to enter the Guinness World Records in the ‘Longest Drawing by an Individual’ category in Coimbatore on Monday.

COIMBATORE: This 14-year-old is all concentration in achieving the goal she has set for herself: an attempt to enter the Guinness World Record and the Limca Book of Records with the longest drawing.

C.S. Bala Soundarya Lakshmi, standard IX student of Yuva Bharathi Public School, is making colourful strokes on a roll of chart paper. Each roll runs to 328 ft. She expects to consume five such rolls for her attempt. Ms. Soundarya began her bid for the record at 6 a.m. on Monday and looks forward to completing it at 5 p.m. on May 5.

Farooque Sha, art teacher, Art World, who trained Soundarya for four years, says he motivated her to make the attempt because she has the ability to draw for long hours. “I identified this capability and encouraged her to prepare for the attempt. Since there is already a record for the longest painting, we decided to train her for the longest drawing,” he says.

With the support of her parents C.B. Shivvakumar and Lekha, Soundarya applied to the Guinness in 2009 and obtained the permission to make an attempt in the “Longest Drawing by an Individual” category.

According to her businessman father, she is not only the first individual, but also the first minor to apply in the category. Once the permission was received, the family, along with the art teacher decided on choosing a concept/theme for drawings. Accordingly, the concept of underwater ecology was selected. Scores of underwater pictures were downloaded from the Internet and printed. Soundarya has these pictures for reference for her drawings. All her drawings depict sea life – the flora and fauna. They are alive with scores of fishes, snakes and octopuses.

She uses colour pencils, pastels, crayons, and sketch pens. Paints are not allowed since it is a drawing. Soundarya looks well prepared for the event, not only in the sense of the art, but also for withstanding the pressure of drawing continuously for many hours. Even though she is sitting in a kalyana mandapam amid quite a number of people, she is oblivious to her surrounding and sounds.

She never lifts her eyes from the drawing to look at people who come to cheer her or to look at her drawing. There is always somebody sitting next to her to keep her company and make quite conversation. But, she is only the listener and not the conversationalist. Maybe this is why she does not take the stipulated 10-min break for every one hour and rather chooses to accumulate them to take a long break once in a while.

Soundarya’s drawing is shot on video and sent once in half-an-hour via web cam to the Guinness office to show the continuity. Taking pride in her attempt, Mr. Shivvakumar says: “It is not about the record, but the effort she has taken at this age that overwhelms us.”

Those interested in taking a look at Soundarya’s drawing, can do as at Sri Sowdambikai Amman Thirumana Mandapam, AKS Nagar Main Road, Gandhipark.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050450230200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Entrepreneur shares experience with children

Role model:Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Food King E. Sarath Babu speaking at the valedictory function of ‘Junior Einstein’, a science workshop organised by the Rotary Club of Coimbatore East and Sharp Industrial Training Centre in Coimbatore on Saturday.

COIMBATORE: “When I was studying under a kerosene lamp, I realised that I couldn’t see anything else but the book, whereas my classmates, studying in the comfort of their concrete houses, could also see other things and thereby lose concentration,” entrepreneur E. Sarath Babu said here on Saturday.

“This made me realise that I could concentrate much more and score better,” he told the young participants of Junior Einstein summer camp. He was sharing his success story on the final day of the camp.

“Similarly, when I was preparing hard to crack the Common Admission Test, I used to work on vehicle numbers even while waiting at traffic signals,” the Pepsi-MTV Youth Icon told the students about how he got into the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

There had been many occasions he wanted to quit but continued looking at the sufferings of his mother, who, for long, went to bed with just glasses of water. “This,” he said, “made me sacrifice whatever little comfort I had to study harder.” “I started sleeping on the floor so that the chillness helped me get up early to study.”

Making his narration interactive by engaging the students with questions, Mr. Babu, who rose from the slums of Chennai, said once he secured a seat at BITS, Pilani, he dreamt of a fat salary and a car for the seven days of a week. But after completing MBA, he stuck to his dream of starting a company and providing employment to as many people as possible.

“I started with Rs. 2,000 and an employee. Now Food King, Chennai, is worth a few crores and employs around 250 personnel. The aim is to increase the number of employees to one lakh.”

He also said he wanted to encourage as many people as possible to turn entrepreneurs and had so far helped around 50 persons.

Sharing details about his running in the elections, he asked students not to lose sight of their duty towards society and the nation while trying to make it big in their career. At the end of the interaction, when the floor was thrown open for students, a participant asked: having made it big did he possess a Monday car, Tuesday car and Wednesday car as he had dreamt? Mr. Babu said he had only one car and was utilising the money he had saved on cars to educate poor students. Organiser of the summer camp Parthiban Ramaswamy said economically weaker students from Government schools had also been included in the camp.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050252400200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Loan target fixed for women SHGs

Coimbatore: District Collector P. Umanath has announced that Rs. 95 crore has been fixed as the target for extending loans to women self-help groups in the district during the fiscal 2010-2011.

Speaking at the district-level bankers’ meeting held at the Collector, Dr. Umanath said that last year, the financial assistance for women self-help groups was utilised well and extended his appreciation to the bankers for the performance. The Central Government has directed for extending banking services in villages that had a population of more than 2,000. Hence, bankers should gear up for the same before March 2011.

The Collector also instructed the bankers to speed up the processing of loan applications under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Scheme, THADCO, Urban and Rural Employment Schemes and for education loan disbursement.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050158780200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Foundation gesture to poor

Coimbatore: Kovai City Baithulmal Welfare Foundation organised a free marriage for 25 poor young girls recently. The couple were provided with five sovereigns of gold and all other house hold items essential for starting a newly married life.

The foundation is also planning to provide interest free loan to the poor and needy people and medical aid to those ailing and who could not afford the cost of medical treatment. The foundation is also donating a Rs 5 lakh worth of dialysis machine to the Coimbatore Medical College hospital. For further details 99449-88766 and 93631-03265.

Course conducted

On directions from the Additional Director-General of Police (Prisons), K.R. Shyam Sunder, a course was conducted at the Coimbatore Central Prison to inculcate thoughts about principles of life in a bid to transform the lives.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/27/stories/2010042758750200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

First of its kind gene bank at TNAU

Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University P. Murugesa Boopathi (third right) takes a look at ‘K. Ramiah Gene Bank’ which was opened at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in the city on Friday.

COIMBATORE, India: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has established a gene bank, first of its kind, in its premises at a cost of Rs. 1.2 crore. It has been named after K. Ramiah, the first Indian Paddy Specialist, and the Founder Director of Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack.

Sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the gene bank has been set up in the newly incepted Department of Plant Genetic Resources of the university.

Inaugurating the state-of-the-art facility, Vice-Chancellor of the university P. Murugesa Boopathi said it was the first of its kind in any State Agricultural University in the county.

The bank was meant for conservation of genetic resources.

Germ plasm collection of cultivars, land races and wild species would be maintained.

Pointing out the salient features of the bank, Director of the Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics K. Thiyagarajan said it had 3,000 cubic feet of cold storage space for medium and long term storage of plant genetic resources.

“It is planned to store nearly 50,000 germ plasm entries apart from commercially cultivated varieties of crops like rice, millets, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, forages, fruits, vegetables, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants, trees, and bio-energy crops”.

Storage

Explaining the storage process, he said the seeds of the germ plasm accession intended to be stored would be processed adopting scientific principles of seed storage in a precision-controlled-programmed de-humidified chamber and hermetically (air-tight) sealed with trilaminated aluminium pouches before depositing them in the cold room.

The estimated storage life of seeds without loss of viability was likely to be five to 20 years depending upon the nature of the seed.

Plant breeders of the university could reduce the frequency of rejuvenation by depositing the seeds in the gene bank. “They can not only save resources, but also reduce the chance of genetic deterioration that occurs due to out-crossing and admixtures commonly encountered while raising crops in the field,” Mr. Thiyagarajan added. Head of the Department of Plant Genetic Resources P. Shanmugasundaram said the gene bank would also be equipped with facilities to characterise and document germ plasm resources.

It was also planned to create an Internet-based database of the university’s germ plasm resources to promote exchange and utilisation among plant breeders and crop scientists.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/24/stories/2010042461830200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Admission to children's home

COIMBATORE, India: Mahatma Gandhi Ashram, which runs a destitute children’s home, has invited applications for taking in children aged between four and 12.

A release says children without parents, children with a parent, who is unable to work, children with parents but living in extreme poverty or suffering from crippling disease, children with parents or a parent with disability, wards of bonded labourers, children of convicted prisoners and child labourers are eligible to be members of the home, which is near Pollachi.

Gender, caste, religion are not a bar for admission, the release says and adds that education, food and shelter will be provided free of cost.

Details of the eligible child are to be written on a white sheet and sent to the Managing Trustee, Mahatma Gandhi Ashramam, Anaimalai 642 104.

Information can also be given over phone at 04253-282072.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/21/stories/2010042160450300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu