Category Archives: Science & Technology

Meet Kanpur’s ‘calculator girl’

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
Dilpreet Kaur

_____________________________________________________________________
Highlights

Bagging 13 records in a year, Dilpreet Kaur set a history in Limca Book of Records.

She follows the ancient Abacus theory to solve bigger problems.

She holds the record for solving 11 calculation in 15.83 seconds to 1.36 minutes.

_____________________________________________________________________

Kanpur :

A class 10th student from the industrial town has sent the records tumbling , setting 13 Limca Book of records in just a year.

Nicknamed ‘Calculator Girl’, Dilpreet Kaur set 11 national and two world records for most number of mathematical calculations in a minute, that too in a short span of one year. She received her certificates for her feat on Saturday.

In an event organized and supervised by district administration, railway officials and others in the city on August 25, 2016, she had made 11 record by doing 11 mathematical calculations in a record time, ranging from 15.83 sec to 1.36 minute. All 11 records of Dilpreet were accepted in October last year.

In total, Dilpreet, till date had set 14 records which includes two world records, Limca Book of Records authorities said.

“She has become the first person to achieve the feat of bagging a maximum of 13 records in just a span of one year, which is a rare feat in the history of Limca Book of Records.

” Anant Kasibhatla, member of the Limca Book of Records team said her father Manjeet Singh, a mathematics teacher, encouraged her by giving her bigger numbers to solve. “To improve her skill, we suggested her to follow ancient Abacus theory to perform mathematical functions like multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square root and cube root,” Singh

The district administration has also written to ministry of child development to acknowledge her mother Simran Kaur, also a teacher, said.

The district magistrate has also made a recommendation to chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi for acknowledging her talent and rewarding her.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kanpur News / by Faiz Rahman Siddiqui / TNN / April 17th, 2017

‘Stove watcher’ developed by Meerut lads selected in CBSE’s national exhibition

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology

Meerut :

Gone are days when you have to keep a tab on your gas stove to save your foods from over cooking or burning. Now, just like a microwave, not only you will be able to set time of your gas stove, but can also keep the temperature under check — thanks to a ‘stove watcher’ developed by Class XI students Yash Bansal and Abiraam T.S of Dewan Public School here.

Their stove watcher is among 18 models chosen from nearly 500 models displayed by 450 schools at a national-level CBSE Science Exhibition in Delhi. Their model is also only one from Meerut to have made it to the list.

Taking about their feat, Yash, 17, said, “One day, my mother told me to keep a tab on the milk boiling on the gas stove, but I forgot and the vessel burnt. The idea to make a device to keep a check on the gas stove came to me from this incident. It took one month to complete the model, which is affordable and compatible with all gas stoves.”

The students have fitted a timer in the gas stove, which can be fixed to switch on the gas, thereafter it will be switched off automatically. Besides, a temperature sensor, which has been designed by them, can be fixed at the tip of the vessel to ensure that the food does not spill out or burnt in the process of cooking.

Geetika Gupta, science teacher and mentor of the project, said, “In the regional round, out of 300 schools, 18 were selected for the national level. At the national level, 18 schools were selected and awarded by CBSE. While the students received certificates, the school has been awarded Rs 3,000 cash prize. This is the second time in the past 10 years when our school has been selected in the national level CBSE science exhibition.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Meerut / by Ishita Bhatia / TNN / February 15th, 2017

Aero India 2017: Kanpur-based MKU showcasing its armouring solution Polyshield V6 that can cut helicopter weight 40%

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Indigenous companies to go full throttle. Kanpur-based MKU is showcasing its armouring solutions at the five-day aerospace exhibition.

Around 270 Indian companies and 279 foreign companies are expected to participate in the premium aerospace and aviation exhibition, which starts on February 14.

With the Make in India initiative on everyone’s mind, Aero India 2017 will be showcasing both Indian and international new technologies, including ultra light armour protection for helicopters, 3D printing for parts, nano technology, smart materials, AESA radar, infrared seeker and sensor technology, engines, and rotors. Around 270 Indian companies and 279 foreign companies are expected to participate in the premium aerospace and aviation exhibition, which starts on February 14.

Kanpur-based MKU Pvt Ltd is one of the Indian companies showcasing its cutting edge technology for mission critical modular protection for helicopters. Of all the factors that affect the performance of a helicopter, weight is the most important one, followed by lift, thrust and drag. MKU’s 6th Generation Polyshield V6 armouring technology uses advanced composite materials and techniques that reduce the weight of armour for aircraft and helicopters by approximately 40% compared to standard armouring solutions.

“Keeping the multi role operations and survivability of utility and assault helicopters in consideration, the company designs helicopter armour kits using the proprietary ‘Modular Schutz Technik’, which uses precision engineered composite armour panels along with patented aero-grade attachment systems,” said Neeraj Gupta, managing director, MKU. “These kits are installed in the existing structure of the helicopter, and do not require any structural changes or tampering with the aerodynamics of the helicopter. Hence, re-certification of the aircraft for airworthiness does not become an obligation.”

Given that aircraft and helicopters are big machines, they are prone to terminal attacks through armed fire from militants or enemy forces. The belly of the helicopter or aircraft, cockpit and the engine are most susceptible to attacks. Therefore, aircraft armouring solutions have been crucially important to decrease the susceptibility of the fixed wing and rotary aircrafts and their crew. Without the necessary protection, they can become flying death-traps, making armour protection an absolute necessity. Armour shield can protect against large-caliber anti-aircraft fire or armour piercing ammunitions typically with a great weight penalty, which affects the performance and load carrying capacity of the aircraft, among other things.

“We can armour any helicopter for the Indian Armed Forces as well as paramilitary forces, as we have done almost 20 different types of helicopters worldwide including MI-8/17; Lockheed C-130; Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter; Boeing CH-47; Eurocopter BO-105; Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk, UH60,UH 60M,” says Gupta. The Indian Air Force and BSF have evinced interest in this technology for their aircraft. Besides MKU, there are three major companies in the world that offer this technology including TenCate from Netherlands and Plasan Sasa from Israel.

At the Aero-India 2017, the UK based Rolls Royce is showing Advanced Military Fan Concept—a full scale model of military fan for a 5th generation fighter aircraft engine. This concept is designed to improve core efficiency while minimising installation effects. France’s Thales will demonstrate its mastery of advanced technology and industrial prowess by displaying a wide range of its cutting-edge products. It will provide insights into rocket systems, underwater systems (sonars), surveillance and fire control radars, surface warfare systems (missiles), among others.

US firm Textron Systems will display a full-size Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System, as well as models of the Shadow v2 Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS), Shadow M2, and models of Textron Systems’ precision-guided munitions.

source: http://www.financialexpress.com / The Financial Express / Home> Industry / by Huma Siddiqui / February 13th, 2017

Rare, bloodless removal of tumour at RML Hospital

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

In a rare feat, surgical oncologists at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences saved life of a 40-year-old woman with extremely complicated gall bladder tumour. Gall bladder cancers account for 25-30% cancer burden in north India, and this case was rare the tumor had penetrated to adjoining organs including liver, stomach and pancreas.

Dr Akash Agarwal, chief of the Hepato Biliary Cancer Clinic who headed the procedure said, “Surgery was performed after ultra sound confirmed tumour in gall bladder of 40-year-old Kusum, a native of Faizabad.” The case was complicated because multiple organs were affected. “As we reached the gall bladder, we found the tumour had penetrated all the adjoining organs which raised difficulty for us and increased the risk,” said Dr Agarwal.

He added that the procedure had to be stopped for a while to apprise family about the complication and to take their consent. Thus, the surgery that would have otherwise taken three hours was completed successfully in seven hours. “The patient is now stable and has been discharged,” he said.

Institute director Dr Deepak Malviya said “Not a drop of blood was wasted in the process.” Stones are one of the main causes of gall bladder cancer.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News> Civic News / TNN / February 13th, 2017

NBRI, CIMAP get CSIR award for diabetes drug

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow:

City-based laboratories National Botanical Research Institute and Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants jointly won the CSIR Technology Award 2016 in the life sciences category on Monday awarded for development of herbal composition for management of diabetes.

A team of seven scientists — four from NBRI and three from CIMAP — developed the composition after a research of five years.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Lucknow / TNN / September 27th, 2016

IVRI researcher develops safer, more effective vaccine against livestock disease

Agriculture, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bareilly :

A research scholar from the city-based Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) has developed a safer, more effective version of the currently available vaccine against brucellosis, a disease that inflicts 20% of livestock in India.

Brucellosis causes infertility and reproductive disorders among livestock. Pallab Chaudhury, head of the genetic engineering laboratory at IVRI, told TOI, “The disease is caused by the brucella bacteria. It occurs primarily in livestock, including cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats. Brucellosis can also be transmitted to humans through contaminated milk and unpasteurised dairy products. In humans, it causes fever, headache, joint pain and sweating.”

Chaudhury said the modified version of the vaccine is safer and provides greater immunity against the disease. “This has been proved in a laboratory model. The research scholar who developed the modified version, Jonathan Lalsiamthara, was conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Agriculture last month for his work. However, we will continue to pursue research on the vaccine to establish that it can be administered to cattle and buffaloes,” he said.

“Lalsiamthara, who pursued his PhD under my guidance, generated brucella with defective lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through genetic manipulation as part of his research. The modified organism is less virulent than the original bacteria,” said Chaudhury.

Chaudhury said the vaccine available at present is not very safe and cannot be used in adult animals. “A project has been under way at the genetic engineering laboratory for developing a safer and more potent vaccine.

It has been funded by the department of biotechnology.”

Lalsiamthara’s research paper was published in a reputed international journal. He is currently pursuing his post-doctoral research at Chonbuk National University, South Korea. IVRI director R K Singh congratulated Lalsiamthara for upholding the institute’s tradition of excellence by winning the Jawaharlal Nehru award.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bareilly / Priyangi Agarwal / August 16th, 2016

Lucknow gets UP’s first solar-powered collectorate

Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

On August 1, the district collectorate in Lucknow became the first solar powered collectorate in the state.

The Rs 98-lakh solar power plant is capable of supplying enough energy to power all of its 49-strong rooms.

With the solar power plant in place, the district collectorate is likely to save more than Rs 15 lakh in electricity bills. “Currently, the building consumes around 150 kilowatt of energy which costs more than Rs 70 lakh annually. Now, this bill would be reduced by almost 22% as the installed solar plant will produce around 135 kilowatt of energy,” said district magistrate of Lucknow Raj Shekhar.

Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Science, (RMLIMS), KGMU, Vikas Bhawan, Sadar tehsil office and the new proposed tehsil building of Sarojninagar would soon follow suit.The project was launched in May and completed on July 25.

According to the district administration, the solar-powered plant can produce 1.89 lakh units of electricity per year or about 500 units per day. The power plant contains 438 solar plates and four grid- connected solar inverters.

The solar grid would produce energy for the next 25 years.

The power plant also has a bi-directional meter which can return unused power to the grid.The Lucknow district collectorate building has 49 rooms, including courts, chambers, accounts and other departments. Every chamber of the magistrate is equipped with 1.5- 2.0 tonne capacity of air-conditioners, besides fans and LED lights, along with extra electronic devices.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / August 20th, 2016

Kanpur boy develops Web app, wins global competition

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Kanpur :

Simran Singh, a student of Class 12 of Sheiling House School, brought laurels to his parents and the institution by winning a global competition, ‘Imagine Cup-Earth’ which was conducted by Microsoft. Simran, who had been learning the basics of coding since 13 years of age, managed to design a web application (app) on algae named, ‘Project Vision’ which predicts algae levels and plots it in the form of an image on the desktop monitor or laptop screen.

Simran won the first prize in the competition and was awarded a cash prize of $3000 and a gift hamper. He also had the privilege of meeting Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft at an event of the company in New Delhi on May 31 where he introduced his web app to him. Simran had never thought of that he would ever get a chance to meet CEO of Mircosoft and when he got a mail from Mircosoft in which he was apprised about his meeting with the top boss of Microsoft, the boy could not believe this. He even practised for days what to say upon meeting Microsoft CEO.

The school which earned a name because of Simran, ensured felicitating this meritorious boy in the morning assembly. The parents of Simran are an extremely delighted lot who see a bright career for their son in coming future. Simran is now both preparing for his Class XII board exams and JEE Mains scheduled to be held next year.

“One day in the month of October 2015, I got a mail from Microsoft in which there was a mention about the global competition named ‘Imagine Cup-Earth’. As I knew coding, I decided to take part in the event and informed my parents about it. Due to my exams, I had to leave the task of developing the app in the midway. It was just two days before the deadline that the app could be readied. Once it was ready, I gained confidence of winning this competition and this proved to be true”, said Simran while talking to TOI.

He mentioned that there was a requirement of developing the web application and posting its three images and a video along with the link to access it on given website address for taking part in the competition. He also said that the friends proved to be of a great help in developing the web application.

On being asked about what this web application can do, Simran said that this app can predict the level of algae in the sea by providing certain details such as weather, level of salt in the water etc.

“I was asked by Microsoft CEO during our meeting in Delhi on May 31 about the future use of this web application to which I had apprised him that this app could be integrated with the computerised machines that do weather forecast. Along with the weather forecast, the level of algae could also be known. I told Satya sir about the functioning of the app,” Simran said.

He added that the level of algae in sea has to be at optimum level. “If algae increases in water it prevents the sunlight from penetrating deep inside the sea and this is harmful for the aquatic life. If the level of algae decreases, it reduces the dissolved oxygen in water,” informed Simran while talking to TOI.

“It was wonderful meeting Satya sir. I had never thought of getting this moment in my life. The school also felicitated me during the morning assembly. My parents are a proud lot and now I look forward to pursue BTech in Computer Science engineering from renowned IIT next year for which my preparations are underway,” said Simran, whose parents own a business in Jawahar Nagar.

Simran’s parents Jaspal Singh and Harvinder Kaur and school principal, Vanita Mehrotra could not stop praising this meritorious boy on achieving this feat.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra / TNN / August 06th, 2016

New batch of IITKanpur students attempt to make a world record of flying maximum paper planes

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Kanpur :

The new lot of undergraduate and postgraduate students who have just taken admission in IIT-Kanpur, attempted to make a new Guinness world record of flying maximum number of air planes. A total of 2100 paper planes were flown in the air on Tuesday afternoon by 1050 students. The unique activity undertaken was aimed at giving a social message to the students. The entire process was filmed by the drone cameras and was also manually monitored so that the authenticity of the paper flying event could be established before the office bearers of Guinness World Records. The event had been organised a day before the commencement of the classes of the new students by the ‘Counselling Service’ of IIT-Kanpur. The previous record attempted by was students of a college in Indore in 2015 in which 2000 air planes were flown.

Talking to TOI, head, Counselling Service, IITKanpur, Prof MK Ghorai said, “We attempted to break the record of flying 2000 air planes by a college in Indore last year. A total of 1050 students participated in the World Record bid of flying 2100 planes. Each student had been given two paper planes to fly and on each paper plane a unique social message was written. After the planes came down on the ground they were picked by the students who participated in the event. They then came across the messages that were written on them. The students vowed that they will follow these messages as a practice in their life.”

Prof Ghorai said that while students had written messages that they will donate their eyes, others had written that they will donate blood. He said that students wrote that they will help the poor and ensure that they teach students free of cost.

During the event senior officers of SBI and Union Bank of India were present as observors. On each participating first semester student, student guides (senior of second year) was appointed by the counselling service to monitor the attempt made to make a world record of flying maximum number of paper planes. This was done to maintain transperancy and to ensure that all the 2100 air planes took flight in air.

Dean of Students Affairs, Prof AR Harish said that the main purpose of the event was to give social message to the students who have just joined the institute and would be staying here for a duration of four years during their BTech course.

Prof Ghorai said that the soon the entire set of documents including the footages shot by the drone camera to the Guinness World Record office so that they could cross-check our game.

The event was held in the auditorium ground of the institute. The event turned out to be colourful one with 2100 paper planes taking flight. From Wednesday, the first semester students will have their first class and this activity had been planned in such a way that it could be executed a day before the start of the classes.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra / TNN / July 27th, 2016

World heritage tag for city scientist

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Lucknow:

Geologist from Lucknow S B Mishra’s research on fossils in an ecological park ‘Mistaken Point’ in Newfoundland, Canada has made it world heritage, the UNESCO declared in Istanbul on Sunday.

In a message to Mishra, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav stated that Mishra’s work has brought laurels to the state.

Mishra had gone to Canada as a geologist in 1967 and spotted some fossils in the Newfoundland in Canada.

He submitted a research paper highlighting the evolution of life on planet earth. On the basis of his studies, Canadian government had declared the region where fossils had been recovered an ecological park.

Speaking to TOI, Mishra said when he had started studying the single cell organism in the Newfoundland, it was totally inaccessible as the terrain on the seashore was nearly impossible to access.

But Mishra stayed there for months and completed his studies which got international acclaim.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / July 25th, 2016