Archive for category Science
Clinical Research Workshop organised jointly by SRU
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Departments, Health, Information, Other, Science, hospital, programme on May 10th, 2010
Clinical research is being carried on human beings and of late, this branch of science has become a huge business, said Dr Vasantha Muthuswamy, former deputy director general of ICMR.
She was delivering a special address at the inauguration of a clinical research workshop organised jointly by Sri Ramachandra University (SRU) and Pfizer Ltd on college premises at Porur.
.
She called upon clinical scientists to watch patients under observation for better trial management. ‘Physician scientists must be vigilant and continuously watch the progress of their patients during their clinical experiments,’ she said.
Pfizer group regulatory head Dr Manish Pallwall welcomed the gathering. SRU Pro-Chancellor Dr S P Thyagarajan spoke on Pfizer’s Preferred Research Centre being set up at college premises.
SRU has entered into an agreement with Pfizer in September 2009 with an objective to promote educational and research related activities in the field of clinical research.
SRU Vice-Chancellor Dr S Rangaswami spoke on the need to adopt ethical practices in clinical research and focus on ‘inverted perspective’ in today’s clinical management.
Business firms to utilise solar power to light up illuminating hoardings
Posted by ganesh in Communication, Information, Madurai, Other, Science, businesses, government, programme on May 7th, 2010
The Central Government is offering generous subsidies to encourage advertisers and business firms to utilise solar power to light up hoardings. A 100 Watt power (Wp) solar module being used for illuminating a hoarding would get a subsidy of Rs.15,000.
A solar powered 1,000-Wp system to illuminate a hoarding would cost around Rs. 2.2 lakh, of which, it is eligible for a subsidy of Rs. 1.5 lakh or nearly 70 per cent of the total cost, Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) Deputy General Manager (Madurai Region), S.E.S. Syed Ahamed, told ‘The Hindu’ on Thursday. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) ‘Solar Off-grid Application’ scheme is being implemented in Tamil Nadu by TEDA. The major benefit of such a system was that it could result in saving over 4,000 units of power per year. The advertiser could recover the cost of establishing the unit within three years.
He said that the TEDA would render consultancy and all technical assistance required for such ventures. “In view of the prevailing power situation, promoting such power conservation systems will be of tremendous help. Efforts are on to popularise solar power systems.”
The popularity of solar power is rising in recent times due to the increased awareness of Centre’s schemes such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and Rooftop Power and Stand alone Small Grid-connected Power Plant .
In the TEDA Madurai Region alone, which comprises 11 southern and Central districts from Kanyakumari to Tiruvarur, 43 firms have submitted ‘expression of interest’ to establish SPV Grid Interactive Power Plants of capacity ranging from one to 10 megawatt. Their approval was pending for want of final MNRE’s guidelines, said Mr. Syed. The application of a firm in Sivakasi to establish a 1MW SPV plant under RPSSGP had been forwarded to the TEDA headquarters,
Indian space agency is expected to launch June 5 its Polar Satellite
Posted by ganesh in Airways, Communication, Departments, Information, Other, Science, government, programme on May 6th, 2010
The Indian space agency is expected to launch June 5 its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15), carrying a cartography satellite and a couple of other payloads, according to the US-based space consultancy firm Futron Corp.
But a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS that the launch is most likely to happen during the second week of June.
The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.
Originally scheduled for launch May 9, the ISRO decided to postpone the flight to a future date as it found “a marginal drop in the pressure in the second stage of the vehicle during mandatory checks”.
At the time of postponement, the rocket was almost ready except for the loading of the satellites that have arrived at the launch centre.
According to ISRO officials, once the rocket is fully assembled and satellites loaded, around 10 days were needed to test the entire systems and sub-systems.
ISRO technicians meanwhile have dismantled the second stage and are carrying out tests and analysis to spot the failed component that needs to be replaced at the Sriharikota rocket launch centre, 80 km from here.
The second stage had to be dismantled as the faulty part is in an inaccessible area after the rocket was assembled fully.
ISRO official said once the faulty part is replaced, all the tests that were carried out earlier have to be done once again.
The main cargo of the rocket is the 690-kg Cartosat-2B satellite, which will carry a sophisticated panchromatic camera on board to take higher (0.8 metre) spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 9.6 km of specific spots for applications such as mapping, land information and geographical information system.
The rocket is also slated to ferry an Algerian Alsat communication satellite and two nano satellites, one each from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico satellite (under one kg) StudSat developed by college students in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
T-29 Hour countdown for the launch in GSLV-D3
Posted by ganesh in Airways, Communication, Information, Other, Science, electronic, government, programme, release on April 15th, 2010
India’s space programme is all set to soar to new height when the third developmental mission of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), carrying indigenous crygogenic stage, lifts off from the spacesport of Sriharikota tomorrow.
The T-29 hour countdown for the launch, scheduled at 1627 hrs tomorrow evening, began at 1127 hrs today.
ISRO sources told UNI that the countdown started at 1127 hrs and it was progressing smoothly.
With this launch, ISRO is all set to cross yet another milestone in its more than four-decade-long scientific tryst with the ether world as the historic mission would witness the test flight of India’s indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS).
Tamil Nadu frontrunner research projects funding of ironically drops down
Posted by ganesh in Communication, Departments, Information, Other, Science, businesses, electronic, government, illegal, tamilnadu on April 1st, 2010
Tamil Nadu may be a frontrunner when it comes to the sheer volume of research projects currently underway in the state. But when it comes to funding of such reserach it ironically drops down the order and stands fifth among states.
Tamil Nadu gets the country’s second largest number of research projects sanctioned by the Union Ministry of science and technology after Maharashtra but the state stands fifth when it comes to funds sanctioned. While Maharashtra’s spending is Rs 191 crore, Tamil Nadu’s is Rs 116 crore, less than the money spent by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
The ministry invites applications for research projects in all streams of science including agriculture, veterinary, poultry, medical, pharmaceutical, engineering, nuclear and space. The statement of purpose and research methodology is scrutinised before the research project is approved by the funding committee. Last year, the ministry sanctioned 3,500 research projects across the country with a funding of Rs 11,000 crore. While Maharastra’s institutes and research units got 448 projects approved, Tamil Nadu stood second with 372 projects. But the funding approved for the projects in the state is only Rs 116 crore against Rs 191 crore for Maharastra, Rs 151 crore for Karnataka (326 projects), 139 crore for Andhra Pradesh (209 projects) and 130 crore for Delhi (359 projects).
“It does not mean that research in Tamil Nadu is not good enough. But the state can do better with so many institutions and researchers. It has the largest number of deemed universities, a good number of government and private colleges and hence potential is much bigger,” says ministry’s advisor and head (technology development and transfer division) G J Samathanam said.
The state’s major scientific projects were being carried by Central Leather Research Institute, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, leading hospitals like Sri Ramachandra University, Cancer Institute and Sankara Nethralaya.
In Maharastra, maximum funds were allotted to institutes like Baba Atomic Research Centre and Tata Memorial Hospital while in Bangalore it has mainly gone to Indian Institute of Science and medical institutes like St John’s Medical College and NIMHANS.
IIT-M director M S Ananth said his institute since 2003 has been working on socially relevant research projects. “It’s being done with a vision of bringing dynamic equilibrium with our social environment,” he said. “For instance, though we are a technology institute, we have been working on a series of medical research. In a country where the doctor-patient ratio is small and doctors have very little time for research, it’s vital for institutions like ours to collaborate. We have the capacity to do more with more such colloborations,”
US-based Momentive Performance Materials R and D centre in Chennai
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Departments, Information, Science, businesses, electronic, meeting, programme on March 31st, 2010
US-based silicones manufacturer Momentive Performance Materials is planning to set up a research and development (R and D) centre in Chennai to meet local customer needs.
“We have a global R and D centre in Bangalore with 30 scientists. Though they are employees of General Electric they do dedicated work for us. There is a plan to set up an R and D centre in Chennai to meet the local customer needs,” V.P. Nalin, managing director of Momentive’s Indian subsidiary, told IANS.
“We are also studying at the options of consolidating our Indian R and D activities in Chennai or have two centres – one in Bangalore and one in Chennai,” he added.
The company’s products are used in a wide range of industries like automotive, telecom and personal care.
According to him, the company has invested USD 25 million in its Indian plant located at Oragadam near here.
The US parent, which experienced a 21 percent dip in turnover in 2009, is focussing on speciality products where the margins are better than commodity products.
“Some of the speciality product lines catering to sectors like personal care were not affected by the recession. We have decided to look at speciality products for growth,” Michael Modak, chief commercial officer of the company, told IANS here.
About sales trend, he said the first quarter of 2010 had been better than the last quarter of 2009.
Asia is the fastest growing market for the company followed by America and Europe.
Videocon Telecommunications hopes to make profits in two years time.
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Information, Mobiles, Other, Science, businesses, competition on March 25th, 2010
Aiming at the third slot in the Indian mobile telephony services sector with a subscriber base of 100 million and investing Rupees 14,000 crore, Videocon Telecommunications hopes to make profits in two years time.
“As we add subscribers and roll out value added services (VAS), the company will make profits. By 2013, the company revenue will be $3.4 billion (Rs.1,420 crore),” Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal N. Dhoot told reporters here Thursday.
According to Dhoot, the group is targeting a turnover of $10 billion (Rs.4,500 crore) by 2013 up from the current $4 billion (Rs.1,800 crore).
The company plans to roll out its services in 100 cities across India over the next 100 days.
“We will be connecting major 100 cities in the next 100 days. We will roll out our VAS one after another and we are confident of breaking even in two years,” Sunil Tandon, chief marketing officer, told IANS.
Videocon Telecommunications will be unveiling its services across Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra including Mumbai.
To start with the company has around 70,000 base stations comprising of owned and shared ones.
Launching the company’s global system for mobile (GSM) communication service here, Dhoot said the company apart from new customers will also target subscribers of other service providers once the number portability (a system of changing the service provider while retaining the old number) comes into operation.
He said in five years time India’s population will be around 120 crore and around 20 crore people will have multiple connections.
The mobile telephony subscriber base in India will grow to 80 crore by 2015, he said.
He said a banking consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) has agreed to lend Rs.7,000 crore for the group’s telephony venture while the balance will be funded through equity and other sources.
Marine Aquarium and Museum at the ZSI to be upgraded
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Departments, Health, Information, Museum, Other, Science, government, modification, programme on March 23rd, 2010
The marine aquarium and museum at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) premises in Foreshore Estate here are to be upgraded. The work is expected to begin next month.
An order allocating Rs.50 lakh towards the upgradation of the aquarium and Rs.10 lakh for improving the museum was issued recently by ZSI Director Ramakrishna, according to K.Venkataraman, officer-in-charge and Director, Marine Biology Regional Centre, Chennai.
18 TANKS
The aquarium now has 18 tanks, each four feet high and eight feet long. Their controls are manual. As part of the project, the control of the tanks would be made semi-automatic and provision would be made to accommodate many other species, sensitive to changes in their habitat. Wave-like conditions would be created in the tanks and removal of waste would be done using protein skimmers, he said.
A touch tank will also be installed. The marine organisms in it could be touched and felt by visitors, Dr. Venkataraman said, adding that the upgradation work would be completed in three months.
On the proposed work at the museum, he said over two lakh collection holdings of attractive species would be displayed. These include the skeleton of a dugong, which was bitten by a sting ray and found dead in the Gulf of Mannar region. Apart from this a variety of corals found in the Gulf of Mannar and the Chennai coast would be exhibited, he said.
A new attraction in the aquarium is Jelly Fish, which formed part of a fisherman’s catch near the Napier Bridge recently.
Dr. Venkataraman said not many studies have been conducted on this marine organism and the ones done show that they swarm the sea when the temperature is warm.
Their body is composed of 90 per cent of water and their umbrellas are gelatinous in nature.
There is need to study the impact of climate change on the marine eco system,
Empower India-2010 exhibition on June 25 – 27
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Culture, Information, Science, businesses, exicipition on March 19th, 2010
‘Empower India-2010′, a unique event with symposium and an exhibition on Energy Efficient products and systems, would be held here from June 25 to 27 this year.
The event would be jointly organised by M/s Urjavaran Foundation, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, and Energy and Fuel Users’ Association of India (ENFUSE), and would be supported by the Ministry of Power-Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The expo would showcase various energy efficient products and building materials specified under ECBC, and Renewable Energy initiatives.
It would also highlight star rated products approved by the BEE.
As part of the ”Empower India 2010,” a quiz competition and a R and D Project competition, amongst the engineering college students, together with a poster design competition among the Fine Arts students in Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry, would be organised.
Anna University, which had assumed the role of knowledge partner for the event, and its Department of Energy Studies, would coordinate the conduct of the quiz and the R and D Project programmes.
The Tamil Nadu Electrical Inspectorate State Designated Agency for Energy Conservation would provide necessary support for the conduct of the poster competition along with wind power major Vestas.
Raising the curtains up for the forthcoming event, Mr Micheal Hogedal, VP and MD Vestas Technology, said Tamil Nadu was making use of wind energy through its coastal belt to produce clean energy in a big way.
Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency CMD Dr R Christodas Gandhi, speaking at the function here last evening, said the State was a leader in the field of energy efficiency, be it in wind energy, bio gas or any other energy efficiency method.
Hindusthan Educational Institutions will organise a walk-in interview
Posted by ganesh in Coimbatore, College, Communication, Education, Information, Science, examination, programme, student on March 11th, 2010
Hindusthan Educational Institutions will organise a walk-in interview for process associates at Hindusthan College of Arts and Science on March 13 at 9.30 a.m.
Experience
According to a release, BA, B. Com., BCA, BBA, BBM, B. Sc., M.Sc. (non-IT), and MA graduates who have passed out in the 2006-09 batches with no backlog are eligible to attend. They should also have experience in financial services’ industry / shared services / Knowledge Process Outsourcing. The positions are based in Chennai. Interested candidates should walk in with a copy of their resume and passport size photograph.
Recent Comments