Software could help prevent disaster in sinking cities
A Nottingham University researcher has been awarded funding to help China prevent human disaster as some of its fastest-growing cities sink under the weight of towering skyscrapers.
Dr Andrew Sowter, a mathematician and scientist at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China (UNNC), is developing a computer program that will help Chinese authorities identify with greater accuracy exactly where, and by how much, structures are moving.
The UNNC scientist’s software will analyse satellite images gathered over several years to reveal how much land has moved, in millimetres, across the entire city.
Shanghai, like several other coastal cities in China, is built on marshy soil, making it vulnerable to sinking. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, it is believed to be sinking at an average rate of 2-4cm a year, putting pressure on underground pedestrian and railway tunnels, and building foundations.
In 2003, subsidence was blamed for the collapse of an eight-storey building in Shanghai’s inner-city Bund region, which is known for its iconic commercial real estate.
The pumping of groundwater to cater for a massive, growing population has been a significant contributor to subsidence. The problem has been exacerbated by the country’s decades-long building boom amid rapid urbanisation, said Sowter.
Sowter is working in collaboration with Shanghai’s Tongji University, which is gathering ground information to confirm the results of data gathered from space.
’We are advancing and refining existing computer programs so that we can identify risks with greater confidence of the accuracy of the results. Rather than just measuring the problem, we are also improving the models to map and identify priority areas,’ he said.
The Nottingham Ningbo scientist has also commenced research on the coastal city of Ningbo to assess the extent to which it might be sinking. An underground rail system is being constructed to accommodate the estimated eight-million-plus population of greater Ningbo, which, like Shanghai, has developed rapidly and is on water-logged land.
Sowter said that the technology he is developing can be applied to other risks associated with land, such as earthquake zones, high-risk flood areas, land deformation from mining, and glacier movements. It can, for example, help authorities prevent landslides by detecting where land is starting to move at the stage when changes are slight.
Reference Link
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/software-could-help-prevent-disaster-in-sinking-cities/1007102.article
Courtesy
The Engineer
Indian neutrino lab to boast world's biggest magnet
A major neutrino observatory set to be built in India cleared a major hurdle this week, when the Ministry of Environment and Forests formally approved the project.
The $250 million underground laboratory, called the Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO), will be built in the Bodi West Hills Reserved Forest in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The hills there rise very steeply, so workers will have to tunnel only about 2 kilometres horizontally to provide the laboratory with about 1300 metres of high-quality granite cover above. The rock cover is needed to shield the neutrino detector from particles called muons that form when cosmic rays hit the atmosphere.
INO will be made of 50,000 tonnes of magnetised iron, dwarfing the 12,500-tonne magnet in the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. “It’ll be the most massive magnet [ever built],” says team member M. V. N. Murthy of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Anti-neutrinos too
Neutrinos will interact with the iron – which will be layered in sheets – and spew out charged particles, whose paths will be bent by the iron’s magnetic field. About 30,000 detectors sandwiched between the sheets of iron will track these charged particles, providing information about the incident neutrinos.
INO will initially study atmospheric neutrinos, which are produced when cosmic rays smash into the upper atmosphere.
Unlike most neutrino detectors, such as the Super-Kamiokande in Japan or the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada, INO will be sensitive to both neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, which interact with matter in different ways.
Neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts oscillate between three types: electron, tau and muon. INO should help physicists understand which of the three types is the lightest and which is the heaviest.
Elephants and tigers
INO scientists hope the observatory will also be used to detect neutrinos beamed from specialised neutrino factories that might be built at CERN or Fermilab near Chicago, Illinois. “We are uniquely situated to look at those neutrinos,” says Murthy.
Because the source of neutrinos from those sites would be highly controlled, physicists could study how neutrinos oscillate from one type to another as they pass through the Earth to INO.
This was not the first time the INO team has tried to get environmental clearance for its laboratory. Previously, project leaders had selected a site in the Nilgiri Mountains in Tamil Nadu. The site already boasted an underground power station with 13 kilometres of tunnels, but the access road to reach it crossed an elephant corridor.
Even as physicists worked out how to minimise disruptions to wandering elephants, a wildflife sanctuary nearby was declared a tiger reserve in 2008. The observatory would have been perilously close to the reserve’s 5-kilometre-wide buffer zone, so the project was denied clearance at that site.
Reference Link
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19620-indian-neutrino-lab-to-boast-worlds-biggest-magnet.html
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Reed Business Information Ltd.
Oil spill: Indian-origin scientist offers a solution
| In the form of non-woven cotton carbon absorbent wipes |
Fibertect is different from cotton absorption technologies in its combination with carbon
Fibertect is all-natural,100 p.c. biodegradable and one sheet can be wrung and reused five times
Houston: As British Petroleum struggles to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an Indian-origin scientist from Texas University has created a special cotton fabric that can clean up crude oil up to 40 times its weight and help in cleaning efforts.
Seshadri Ramkumar, Associate Professor of the Texas Tech Institute of Environmental and Human Health, has created a non-woven, environment-friendly cotton carbon absorbent wipes called Fibertect. “Cotton fibre contains 0.5 per cent wax, which enables it to soak up 40 times its weight.”
“The chemistry of cotton makes it the ideal material for oil absorption with its waxiness, strength when wet, absorption capacity and ability to biodegrade,” said Professor Ramkumar, who described his discovery as “a blessing in an ironic situation.” “The synthetic booms soak up only a third of what cotton absorbs and are not biodegradable. You take those plastics and where do you put them? In landfills. They will stay put forever,”he added. “Add chemicals and it could absorb up to 70 times its weight,” he said.
All-natural way
Through his research with non-woven cotton, Professor Ramkumar may have found an all-natural way to absorb oil from spills.
Rather than spending money and effort on containment structures and synthetic materials, he recommends utilising cotton.
“We are the only ones.. to my knowledge…focused on taking cotton to oil absorption using non-woven technology,” he said.
Unlike apparel production, there is no need to go through the expensive processes of dyeing, bleaching and weaving the cotton.
One cotton product Professor Ramkumar invented last year was Fibertect, a commercially sold non-woven decontamination wipe that absorbs toxic chemical substances.
This is significant because now that the oil has reached the coastline, the non-woven cotton technologies could be doubly beneficial.
“Any wildlife rehabilitation that will occur we believe could be assisted with the Fibertect invention as well as other non-woven applications from his lab,” said Ronald Kendall, founding director of Tech’s environmental institute.
“There are just so many applications of Professor Ramkumar’s technology to take cotton and turn into products that we never even thought of before,” he added.
Several million feet of booms, lightweight tubes used to recover oil, have already been tossed into the ocean, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
What makes Fibertect different from other cotton absorption technologies, however, is its combination with carbon.
It is a three-layer design consisting of a top and bottom layer of cotton to absorb oil and a middle layer of carbon that absorbs hydrocarbons and harmful carcinogenic vapours released from the oil.
Why absorption needed?
Professor Ramkumar said his unique use of activated carbon fabric in oil clean-up is extremely beneficial because the toxic vapours could potentially destroy ecosystems and cause cancer in humans if they are not absorbed.
Professor Ramkumar said he and other researchers are simply taking what nature provides and applying it in new ways.
“Mother Nature has given cotton wax to protect it,” he said.
“The natural wax on the cotton helps to hold the oil together. So, wax has affinity towards oil, and then the carbon has affinity towards vapour, it holds the vapour.” Because Fibertect is all-natural, unlike synthetic plastic booms previously used to clean oil spills, it is 100 per cent biodegradable and one sheet can be wrung and reused up to five times.
According to http://www.propublica.org, the only cleaning method currently being used by BP is dispersants, which is an aerial spraying technique.
Samples of Fibertect have been sent to the BP but no decision has been made on whether or not to use it. — PTI
Reference Link : http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/15/stories/2010061561002400.htm
Courtesy : The Hindu
Scientists find clues to kidney transplant success
(Reuters) – European scientists have found a full range of markers in the blood of kidney transplant patients which could predict whether their new organ will be a success and whether they need large amounts of medication to help it.
The researchers said on Tuesday the finding may help doctors to give more personalized care to transplant patients and to modify the amount of powerful immunosuppressant drugs they have to take to prevent their bodies from rejecting a new kidney.
The scientists, led by Maria Hernandez-Fuentes at King’s College London, studied various groups of kidney transplant patients in Europe, including 11 patients who had stopped taking their drugs after the transplant but did not reject the donor organ since they appeared to have a natural “tolerance” for it.
They carried out detailed tests of blood samples and found differences in the immune systems particular to these patients.
“We hope that now we can start to look at screening other patients to see if they also have similar markers in their blood,” said Rachel Hilton, a renal consultant at Guy’s Hospital in London and co-author of the study.
“There may be many more patients out there who potentially could reduce or stop their medication if we can screen them to see if their immune systems looks similar,” she said in a telephone interview.
Kidney transplants are the most common type of major organ transplant worldwide — around 1,550 are carried out in Britain and around 18,000 in the United States every year. The average lifespan of a transplanted kidney is 12 years, rising to around 20 years in some cases if the kidney is from a living donor.
For many patients, a kidney transplant opens up a new life, but it also means they must take immunosuppressants — which have a wide-range of side effects — for the rest of their lives to make sure the new organ is not rejected.
Novartis’s Neoral, Myfortic and Sandimmune, Roche’s Cellcept, Pfizer’s Rapamune and Prograf from Astellas Pharma are among some of the leading branded drugs given to prevent transplanted organ rejection.
“If you’re on these transplant drugs for life, then you have the side effects for life as well as the benefits,” said Hilton.
“The main side effects are increased risk of infection and a higher risk of future cancers, so they are very undesirable side effects in both the short- and the long-term.”
The European team compared the 11 patients who had a natural tolerance of the new kidney against patients who were taking varying amounts of immunosuppressants, as well as patients who were taking the drugs but also showing signs of rejecting the donor organ, and a group of healthy volunteers.
They described what they found what as a “full set” of markers which made “tolerance fingerprint” in some patients.
The findings were later corroborated in another study by the Immune Tolerance Network in the United States and both studies were published by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
But the findings do not mean transplant patients should stop taking their medication without talking to a doctor.
“It is vitally important..that transplant recipients do not stop taking their immunosuppression on the back of these research findings,” Hilton said. “Any reduction in medication needs to be very carefully managed and clinically monitored.”
Reference Link
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N5TR20100524?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100
Courtesy
Thomson Reuters
Israeli scientists to train Krishnagiri farmers
Climate in the district suitable for mango cultivation, says Collector Photo: Special Arrangement
Sharing views:Israeli diplomat Avribarzur (left), Counselor – MASHAV (Science & Agriculture) at its embassy in New Delhi, holding discussion with Collector V.K. Shanmugam in Krishnagiri recently. —
KRISHNAGIRI: Israeli scientists will give training to farmers of Krishnagiri on latest technologies available in agriculture sector, Collector V.K. Shanmugam said here recently.
Israeli diplomat Avribarzur, Counselor – MASHAV (Science & Agriculture) at its embassy office in New Delhi, visited the district two days last week. During his stay here, he went round the poly green-houses and studied cultivation of vegetables and flowers under horticulture in Krishnagiri, Hosur and Kelamangalam areas.
He inspected the poly green-houses set up with government subsidy in Chinna Vellatharapalli, Pennapalli and Achettipalli areas in Hosur.
He enquired about the cultivation of capsicum and rose on small land holdings by the farmers with the help of the Agriculture Department.
Methods
With regard to methods of cultivation and fertilization, Mr. Avribarzur advised the farmers to reduce the application of fertilizers and liquefied fertilizers.
He also visited the agriculture fields where cabbage and beans are being cultivated using the precision farming method.
Later, he visited the mango orchards at Veppalampatti, Mahadevagollahalli and Jagadevi near Krishnagiri.
Later, he interacted with Mr. Shanmugam and officials from Agriculture, Horticulture and Agriculture Engineering Departments at the Collectorate.
Mr. Shanmugam said that the salubrious climate in the district was suitable for mango cultivation.
Hence, he requested Mr. Avribarzur to give training to the farmers on latest technologies to reap maximum benefits and extend technical know-how available in Israel.
Mr. Avribarzur said that he would send a team of agriculture experts in July this year to give training to the farmers in Krishnagiri district.
During the inspection, R Subbaian, Additional Director of Horticulture, accompanied Mr. Avribarzur.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/21/stories/2010052159960300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Budding scientists design combat device
The device gives an idea about the place under siege
It was dedicated to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed during 26/11
The system developed by the students can be used even by fire-fighters using fire-filters
Anantapur: Students of information Technology (third year), Gates Institute of Technology under the leadership of P. Bharath have worked on an innovative project code named “Advanced communication and navigation system”. The students using their creative thinking and skills designed a Rover named SUK-26 in memory of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed in action during Mumbai attacks.
Other students who worked with Bharath included U. Bindu, K. Prajna, G. Ramesh Babu and G. Harish Kumar Reddy.
The students prepared a command control network called HKS command network. The system helps in studying the location and topography of the area. The commandos will get an idea of the location and the conditions inside the place under siege by the terrorists. The response time of the operation can be reduced to a maximum extent. This helps in saving the lives of people and policemen trapped in an alarming situation. The system developed by the students can be used even by fire-fighters using fire-filters.
Team leader Bharath told “The Hindu”, he and his colleagues were inspired to undertake designing of the engineering and surveillance technology after they studied the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the vulnerability of people and security personnel under siege. The Research and Analysis Wing of India had warned of similar attacks by the terrorists and hence the students ventured to design the model.
Gates Institute chairman Thomas Reddy, MD G. Raghunath Reddy, correspondent V.K. Sudheer Reddy, V.K. Padmavathi, director, Dr. A. Ramesh, principal and D. Venkatesh, head of department helped the students in designing the model.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050159320200.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
Women scientists inspire students
Interaction:A former Young Scientist award winner addressing students and researchers at the Kerala Science Congress-Women Young Scientists’ Meet organised by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment in the city on Wednesday. –
Thiruvananthapuram, India: Dr. T. Girija, scientist at the College of Horticulture under the Kerala Agricultural University, was twice unlucky, but she has no regrets.
Participating in an interactive programme organised by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) here on Wednesday, the former Young Scientist award winner recalled how she had twice missed the bus to a foreign university for research.
“Once I had the opportunity to go to the U.K. for research but had to forgo the chance due to various compulsions. I completed my research at Bangalore instead. Family responsibilities prevented me from taking up a research assignment in the Netherlands at a later stage in my career,” said Dr. Girija who works on the phytochemistry of weed control. “My responsibilities as a mother held me back but I have no regrets. I derive satisfaction from my job.”
Women, she said, have a different approach to a problem. Unlike men, they look at the little things also which help them gain a different perspective.
As many as 26 women who were former winners of the Young Scientist award instituted by the Kerala Science Congress turned up for the programme organised by the Women Scientists’ Cell of the KSCSTE. Many of them recounted how family responsibilities and other compulsions prevented them from taking up higher studies and research abroad. But most felt that they faced no difficulties or discrimination in working with their male counterparts.
Dr. K.G. Thara, faculty head, Institute of Land and Disaster Management who won the Young Scientist award in 1993 for her paper on the origin of the Palakkad gap, said disaster management offered immense scope for women scientists. She stressed the need for women researchers to focus on recycling of waste materials.
Dr. Kamalakshan Kokkal, joint-director, KSCSTE, chaired the technical session. Dr. R.V.G. Menon and Planning Board member Mridul Eapen offered felicitations to the women scientists.
Climate change
Inaugurating the programme, Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy called upon women scientists in Kerala to come forward to contribute to research on the impact of climate change, elimination of plastic waste and drinking water scarcity. She said the increase in the number of cancer cases in Kuttanad necessitated research to identify the cause.
Dr. K.R. Lekha, Head, Women Scientists’ Cell; Dr. Laly A. Pothan, winner of the Dr. S. Vasudev award, Kerala Science Congress – 2010; and Dr. P.G. Latha, scientist, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, were present.
Students from various schools and colleges also attended and interacted with the scientists.
Dr. Lekha said the day-long programme was organised with the objective of preparing a database on ‘ Women Achievers in Science in the State of Kerala.’ “The database will provide a platform for students to continue their interaction with the scientists. Thereby they develop a passion for science and are motivated to take up science as a challenging profession,” she said.
Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/22/stories/2010042261720300.htm
Courtesy
The Hindu
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