Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Multiple-planet solar system discovered
Planetary scientists have discovered what they claim is an unusual multiple-planet solar system containing a ‘super-Earth’ and two Neptune-sized planets orbiting in resonance with each other. A team led by Bill Cochran of The University of Texas at Austin, used NASA’s Kepler spacecraft to discover the multi -planet system.
The planets have been designated b, c, and d. All three planets orbit much closer to Kepler-18 , a star similar to the sun , say the scientists.
Planet b weighs in at about 6.9 times the mass of Earth, and is twice Earth’s size and considered a super-Earth with a 3.5-day period; planet c has a mass of about 17 Earths, is about 5.5 times Earth’s size and orbits Kepler-18 in 7.6 days. Planet d weighs in at 16 Earths, at 7 times Earth’s size, and has a 14.9-day orbit.
The planets have been designated b, c, and d. All three planets orbit much closer to Kepler-18 , a star similar to the sun , say the scientists.
Planet b weighs in at about 6.9 times the mass of Earth, and is twice Earth’s size and considered a super-Earth with a 3.5-day period; planet c has a mass of about 17 Earths, is about 5.5 times Earth’s size and orbits Kepler-18 in 7.6 days. Planet d weighs in at 16 Earths, at 7 times Earth’s size, and has a 14.9-day orbit.
New planet found with water and ice
Astronomers have discovered a mysterious little dwarf planet which they believe is covered in ice and may sport the wispy remnants of an atmosphere. The planet, nicknamed “Snow White”, lies outside Neptune and is orbiting the Sun as part of the Kuiper belt—the ring of icy bodies that orbit the sun beyond Neptune.
Officially known as 2007 OR10, it is actually red, half of its surface is covered by water ice that probably spewed from ancient cryo-volcanoes, researchers said.
It’s believed that the dwarf planet’s reddish hue likely comes from a thin layer of methane, the last gasps of an atmosphere that has been bleeding off into space for eons.
Officially known as 2007 OR10, it is actually red, half of its surface is covered by water ice that probably spewed from ancient cryo-volcanoes, researchers said.
It’s believed that the dwarf planet’s reddish hue likely comes from a thin layer of methane, the last gasps of an atmosphere that has been bleeding off into space for eons.
Asia’s largest solar farm commissioned
Moser Baer energy Limited (MBCEL) has successfully commissioned the 30 MW solar farm at Gunthawada, District Banaskantha, Gujarat. It is the largest solar energy farm of Asia, built on 305 acres of land, using 2,36,000 thin film modules. The project will generate 52 million KWh energy per year, and will help save about 50,000 tonnes of carbon emission annually.
Major Himalayan Rail Projects
The Planning Commission is considering the early execution of five major railway projects in the Himalayan region, as it has directed the railway ministry to prepare a blueprint of the estimate on funds, technical inputs and prospective time for their completion. The commission plans to allocate funds for the projects in the 12th Five Year Plan that starts from April 2012.
The railway projects include the 125-km Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line involving a project cost of Rs 4,295 crore, the 154-km Rs 2,791-crore Tanakpur-Bageshwar line (both in Uttarakhand), the Rs 13,631-crore Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch railway link covering 233 km in Jammu and Kashmir, the 498-km Bilaspur-Mandi railway link in Himachal Pradesh and the 110-km Rupai-Parasuramkund railway link in Arunachal Pradesh.
These five main railway projects are part of the 14 such Himalayan-region projects that have been hanging fire for long because of strategic issues.
The railway projects include the 125-km Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line involving a project cost of Rs 4,295 crore, the 154-km Rs 2,791-crore Tanakpur-Bageshwar line (both in Uttarakhand), the Rs 13,631-crore Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch railway link covering 233 km in Jammu and Kashmir, the 498-km Bilaspur-Mandi railway link in Himachal Pradesh and the 110-km Rupai-Parasuramkund railway link in Arunachal Pradesh.
These five main railway projects are part of the 14 such Himalayan-region projects that have been hanging fire for long because of strategic issues.
World’s Highest Webcam Installed on Everest
The world’s highest webcam has been installed in the Nepalese Himalayas, beaming live images of Mount Everest back to scientists studying the effects of climate change on the planet’s tallest peak.
The solar-powered camera, set at 5,675 metres on Kala Patthar, a smaller mountain facing Everest, will withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and operates during daylight hours.
The device, developed by German surveillance firm Mobotix, is more than a kilometre higher than the previous record for a high-altitude webcam set by a 4,389-metre-altitude camera at the base camp of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
The image is updated every five minutes, allowing climatologists to track the movement of the clouds around the mountain’s summit.
The camera uses a wireless connection to transmit images to the Ev-K2-CNR Pyramid Laboratory, located at an altitude of 5,050 metres. The footage is then analysed by scientists in Italy who hope to learn more about climate change and global warming using the images in conjunction with meteorological data gathered from Everest.
The exact height of the world’s tallest peak is also being re-measured in a separate Nepali project attempting to end confusion on the issue.
The solar-powered camera, set at 5,675 metres on Kala Patthar, a smaller mountain facing Everest, will withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and operates during daylight hours.
The device, developed by German surveillance firm Mobotix, is more than a kilometre higher than the previous record for a high-altitude webcam set by a 4,389-metre-altitude camera at the base camp of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
The image is updated every five minutes, allowing climatologists to track the movement of the clouds around the mountain’s summit.
The camera uses a wireless connection to transmit images to the Ev-K2-CNR Pyramid Laboratory, located at an altitude of 5,050 metres. The footage is then analysed by scientists in Italy who hope to learn more about climate change and global warming using the images in conjunction with meteorological data gathered from Everest.
The exact height of the world’s tallest peak is also being re-measured in a separate Nepali project attempting to end confusion on the issue.
Sanskriti Awards, 2011
Vinayak Lohani, a graduate from IIT Kharagpur and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta, is the recipient of Sanskriti Award for social achievement. Inspired by the ideals of Swami Vivekananda, Lohani had set up an organisation in 2003 to take care of destitute and street children.
Murad Ali, a sixth generation Sarangi player from Moradabad, hailed as one of the most promising Sarangi players in the country, has been chosen for the award in the category of performing arts.
Bangalore-based Abhishek Hazra (Art), an assistant editor with the periodical ‘Tehelka’, Rana Ayyub (Journalism) and a Kashmiri poetess and short story writer Shahida Shabnum (Literature) are the other recipients of the award.
Sanskriti Awards are given to people in the 25-35 years age group, in the fields of literature, journalism, art, performing arts and social achievement.
Murad Ali, a sixth generation Sarangi player from Moradabad, hailed as one of the most promising Sarangi players in the country, has been chosen for the award in the category of performing arts.
Bangalore-based Abhishek Hazra (Art), an assistant editor with the periodical ‘Tehelka’, Rana Ayyub (Journalism) and a Kashmiri poetess and short story writer Shahida Shabnum (Literature) are the other recipients of the award.
Sanskriti Awards are given to people in the 25-35 years age group, in the fields of literature, journalism, art, performing arts and social achievement.
Nobel Prizes, 2011
For Peace: Declaring women’s rights vital for world peace, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to three indomitable campaigners against war and oppression. Africa’s first freely elected female head of State Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf shares the prize with compatriot Leymah Gbowee, who led a “sex strike” among her efforts against Liberia’s civil war and Arab activist Tawakul Karman, who hailed the award as a victory for democracy in Yemen.
For Literature: Tomas Transtromer, a Swedish poet whose surrealistic works about the mysteries of the human mind won him acclaim as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since World War II. His works have been translated into more than 50 languages and influenced poets around the globe, particularly in North America. Born in Stockholm in 1931, Transtromer started writing poetry while studying at the Sodra Latin school in Stockholm.
For Medicine: American Bruce Beutler and French biologist Jules Hoffmann, who studied the first stages of immune responses to attack, share the award with Canadian-born Ralph Steinman, whose discovery of dendritic cells in the 1970s is key to understanding the body’s next line of defence against disease. Their work has opened up new avenues for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases
However, Steinman was not lucky enough to taste the fruit of his success. He won the Nobel for medicine for work on fighting cancer, but died of the disease himself just three days before he could be told of his award.
For Physics: American Saul Perlmutter shares the award with US-Australian Brian Schmidt and US scientist Adam Riess, for their studies of exploding stars that revealed that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Working in two separate research teams during the 1990s, Perlmutter in one and Schmidt and Riess in the other, the scientists raced to map the universe’s expansion by analysing a particular type of supernovas, or exploding stars. They found that the light emitted by more than 50 distant supernovas was weaker than expected, a sign that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate.
For Chemistry: Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman, for his discovery of quasicrystals, a mosaic-like chemical structure that researchers previously thought was impossible. Shechtman’s discovery in 1982 fundamentally changed the way chemists look at solid matter. Contrary to the previous belief that atoms were packed inside crystals in symmetrical patterns, Shechtman showed that the atoms in a crystal could be packed in a pattern that could not be repeated. Since then, quasicrystals have been produced in laboratories and a Swedish company found them in one of the most durable kinds of steel, which is now used in products such as razor blades and thin needles made specifically for eye surgery.
For Literature: Americans Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims share the prize for work that helps governments and central banks weigh up responses to crises, though it offers no immediate answer to current global problems.
For Economics: Americans Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims shared the Nobel prize in economics, for work that helps governments and central banks weigh up responses to crises, though it offers no immediate answer to current global problems.
The economics prize is the only one of the six Nobels that was not originally included in the 1895 will of the creator of the prize, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. It was created by the Swedish central bank, the Riksbank, in 1968, to commemorate its tercentenary and was first handed out in the year 1969.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Vivek Express is the longest running train in India
Vivek Express is the longest running train in India, and 8th longest in the world. This weekly train runs a total distance of 4,286 km from Dibrugarh in upper Assam, to Kanyakumari at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu, that will be covered in 82:30 hours. There are 52 halts spanning across a total of 615 intermediate railway stations Himsagar Express was previously the longest running train in India.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Manmohan discusses civil nuclear deal with Barack Obama
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has declared that there were “no irritants” in Indo-US ties as he met the US President, Mr Barack Obama, here and discussed the ways to implement the civil nuclear deal.
Dr Singh, who met Mr Obama for the first time after latter’s trip to India last November, also talked about strengthening the bonds of strategic ties put in place during the historic visit of the US President to India in November last year.
“I am very happy to report to you that today there are no irritants whatsoever in our working together in multiplicity of areas both bilaterally and on global issues,” he said in his opening remarks.
Emerging after their over an hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summits, Dr Singh said that he explained to Mr Obama the law of the land on liability issue regarding the civil nuclear deal.
“I explained to him that we have a law in place. Rules have been formulated. These rules will lie before our Parliament for 30 days. Therefore, we have gone some way to respond to the concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land, we are ready to address any specific grievances,” the Prime Minister said.
He also said India was ready to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
“I also told him (Obama) that we’ll ratify the Supplementary Convention... that’s where the matter stands,” he said.
Recalling the “historic visit” of Mr Obama to India during the same time last year, Dr Singh said: “In the last one year, we have made progress in every direction, strengthening our bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, higher education, clean energy and defence.”
The Prime Minister noted “we have strengthened in many ways the path set out during the historic visit, whether it’s civil nuclear cooperation, whether it’s humanitarian relief, in disaster management, or maritime security, all the issues which unite us in our quest for a world free from war.”
In his opening remarks, Mr Obama referred to his “extraordinary” trip to India during which the two sides strengthened the bonds of friendship, commercial links and security cooperation.
“We continue to make progress on a wide range of issues. The bonds between our two countries are not just at the leadership level but also at personal levels,” he said.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for us to continue to explore how we can work together not only on bilateral front but also at multilateral level,” Mr Obama said, identifying some of the issues as maritime security, non-proliferation and terrorism.
The two leaders exchanged pleasantries while expressing immense happiness on meeting each other once again.
Ahead of the meeting, India asserted that its domestic laws with regard to nuclear liability and compensation will have to prevail and any contention otherwise would not be realistic after the Fukushima incident.
The sources said the rules should address concerns that any foreign company could have as these make it clear that liability cannot be unlimited or unending.
G Ramaswamy, President, ICAI Elected as IFAC Board Member
G Ramaswamy, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been elected as the Board Member of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) at the IFAC Council Meeting held at Berlin, Germany yesterday ( 17th November 2011). IFAC is a global organization for the accountancy profession, dedicated in serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 167 members and associates in 127 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament viz., The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 in the year 1949 for regulating the profession of Chartered Accountants in the country. The main functions of the Institute are prescribing qualifications for membership, holding examination and arranging practical training of candidates, enrolment of members, publication and maintenance of register of members qualified to practice the profession, carrying on activities for development of the profession and regulation and maintenance of status and standard of professional qualification of the members. The Institute, which functions under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has 5 Regional Councils and 126 branches covering the length and breadth of the country. In addition, it has also set up 21 chapters outside India.
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament viz., The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 in the year 1949 for regulating the profession of Chartered Accountants in the country. The main functions of the Institute are prescribing qualifications for membership, holding examination and arranging practical training of candidates, enrolment of members, publication and maintenance of register of members qualified to practice the profession, carrying on activities for development of the profession and regulation and maintenance of status and standard of professional qualification of the members. The Institute, which functions under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has 5 Regional Councils and 126 branches covering the length and breadth of the country. In addition, it has also set up 21 chapters outside India.
India re-elected to U.N.’s International Law Commission
India was today re-elected to the International Law Commission for a five year term beginning January 1, 2012.
U.N. General Assembly re-elected India’s Narinder Singh as a member of the Commission.
A member of the ILC since 2007, Singh is currently legal adviser and Head of the Legal and Treaties Division of Ministry of External Affairs.
He has served as coordinator of the meeting of legal advisers of foreign offices of the U.N. member states since 2002.
Over the past two decades, Singh has represented India in a number of key conferences on international law and has been a regular participant in the work of the Sixth Committee of the U.N. General Assembly that deals with legal affairs.
ILC consists of 34 members who must be experts on international law. They are elected by the General Assembly from a list of candidates nominated by governments of member states in the U.N.
The other candidates elected from the Asia-Pacific Group come from Japan, China, Jordan, Korea, Indonesia, Qatar and Thailand.
The Commission was established by the General Assembly in 1948 for the “promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification.”
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