Friday, June 29, 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
IIT-Bombay leads country in global university rankings
The Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) emerged the best ranked institute in the
country as per the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World rankings, the results of
which were declared on Wednesday night.
The institute’s
position improved significantly from last year, moving up by 17 places, from
179 to 162. With an overall score of 48.2 out of 100, it scored 52.5 in
academic reputation, 72.9 in employer reputation, 54.1 in citation per faculty,
43.3 in faculty student ratio, 4.4 in international faculty and 1.8 in
international students, all scores out of a maximum of 100 points.
Among these six
parameters, employer reputation is the strongest one with a global rank of 93.
Professor Devang Khakhar, director, IIT-B said, “The increase in rank is a
reflection of continuous improvement in all spheres of our activity”.
Indian Institute
of Science (IISc) Banglaore bagged the 170th position, while IIT Delhi followed
at 172nd place. Meanwhile, like last few years, Mumbai University failed to
feature in the top 100, making it to the bottom of the list (800-1000).
Indian
institutes did well when it comes to research citations per faculty.
http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2018-6-08&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2
Forest dept app to keep track of rescues
In a first major move to not only streamline wildlife rescue,
but also bring wildlife rescuers on a common platform, the Thane territorial
forest department has launched a smartphone application — Praani Mitra on
Monday. The application will help the forest department keep a hawk’s eye on
all the rescue activity being carried out in its jurisdiction.
As per senior forest
officials, systematic gathering of data didn’t happen that left forest
department with little information of what animals were rescued and released
from Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan area.
“After an initial screening of wildlife organisations as well as individuals
working on wildlife rescue the forest department will give them access to use
the applications. Every rescuer will have to first alert the forest department
about a rescue call and then after the rescue give details about the species
rescued, photographs of it as well as details of the person who alerted them
using the app and also have to submit details of the release,” said a forest official
stating that this was the brainchild of Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar, Deputy
Conservator of Forest (DCF) Thane Territorial.
Pawan Sharma, Honorary
Wildlife Warden for Thane welcoming the move said that this app would play a
very important role in managing the rescue activity. “The app will facilitate
in generating crucial data andwill also help in understanding the dynamics of
rescue. Over the years we can even have details like which are the species that
are the most rescued and which are the areas from where the maximum rescue
calls are generated,” said Sharma.
http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2018-5-22&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2
Book lovers are all ears as authors skip print - Audiobooks are gaining popularity as a creative medium
When Michael
Lewis had an idea for his next book, a contemporary political narrative, he
decided he would test it out first as a 10,000-word magazine article, as he
often does before committing to a yearslong project.
But this time he
made a surprising pivot. Instead of publishing the story inVanity Fair ,
where he has been a contributing writer for nearly a decade, he sold it to
Audible, the audiobook publisher and retailer.
“You’re not going
to be able to read it, you’re only going to be able to listen to it,” Mr. Lewis
said. “I’ve become Audible’s first magazine writer.”
Exploding market
Mr. Lewis is
part of a growing group of A-list authors bypassing print and releasing
audiobook originals, hoping to take advantage of the exploding audiobook
market. It’s the latest sign that audiobooks are no longer an appendage of
print, but a creative medium in their own right. But the rise of stand-alone
audio has also made some traditional publishers nervous, as Audible strikes
deals directly with writers, including best-selling authors like historian
Robert Caro and novelist Jeffery Deaver.
Audible, which
is owned by Amazon and the biggest player with more than 425,000 titles in its
online store, has an enormous advantage in this increasingly crowded arena.
Joining the
bandwagon
Amazon has been
pushing audiobooks on its platform, listing them as “free” with a trial Audible
membership, which costs $15 a month, and includes a book each month. (The
typical price of a la carte audiobooks ranges from about $15 to $40 depending
on the length.)
In the past five
years, Hachette has doubled the number of audiobooks it produces; it will
release about 700 titles this year. Penguin Random House will put out roughly
1,200 audio titles, up from 652 in 2014, and now has 15 recording studios.
Macmillan Audio will release 470 audiobooks this year, a 46% increase over 2017.
Two of the company’s biggest recent hits are the audiobooks for James
Comey’s A Higher Loyalty , which has sold more than 167,000 copies,
and Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury , which sold about 320,000.
Ellen Archer,
president of HMH Trade Publishing, said she expects the audio release will
boost print sales, rather than cannibalizing them.
“The marketing
muscle they’re going to put behind this book is going to drive interest in the
print version,” she said.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/book-lovers-are-all-ears-as-authors-skip-print/article24074666.ece
Telegram app finally gets an iOS update
Apple has
approved an updated version of the Telegram messaging service a day after
Telegram complained that it had been prevented from getting software
improvements into the hands of iPhone owners worldwide.
Telegram Chief
Executive Pavel Durov announced the turnabout on Twitter, thanking Apple and
CEO Tim Cook for getting the latest Telegram version “to millions of users,
despite the recent setbacks.” On Thursday, Durov had said Apple had refused to
allow updates in its App Store since April. Apple has so far resisted a Russian
order that month to remove the app from the store entirely, and the update
delay sparked concern that Apple was moving to appease authorities there.
Without an
update, not all Telegram features worked on the latest iPhone software, and
Telegram also said it was running afoul of new European data privacy laws. If
the ban had become permanent, Telegram would have grown unsafe over time.
Neither Apple nor Telegram explained the reason for the prior lack of approval
or for the reversal.
This Assam kid, aged 4, is ‘Youngest Author of India’
Lakhimpur
(Assam): At an age when children can barely string two sentences together,
four-year old Ayan Gogoi Gohain of Assam’s North Lakhimpur district has earned
the rare distinction of ‘Youngest Author of India’.
The India Book
of Records has bestowed the title on Gohain, a student of St Mary’s School in
North Lakhimpur, for his book ‘Honeycomb’, published in January.
The book, priced
Rs 250, comprises 30 anecdotes and accompanying illustrations by the toddler.
India Book of
Records documents extraordinary feats by individuals across the country. It
awarded Gohain with a plaque and a certificate in January for his achievement.
According to the
blurb of the book, the preschooler took to painting at the age of one. By
three, he could “compose stories” all by himself.
“The amazing
journey of Honeycomb started when he began to address his insatiable love for
words, colours, sounds, tastes and sights with his keen observation,” it read.
Gohain, who
lives with his grandparents, said he writes about everyday things that catches
his fancy. His parents are based in Mizoram.
“I see what is
happening around and write about it. It could be anything a chat with my
grandfather, or something new I just learned,” the toddler said. The
four-year-old boy considers his grandfather Purno Kanta Gogoi his ‘best friend
and ‘hero’.
“My grandfather
inspires me to paint and write about new stuff every day. He is my story
teller, a rock star and a football lover. He is my best friend. My Chocolate
Man!” Gohain gushed.
“He is a wonder
kid. I remember he had once seen a rainbow and composed a poem, comparing its
seven colours with the seven notes of music,” Gogoi recounted.
Indian entrepreneurs win $1 mn prize for safety device - Smart button concealed in wearables can send alerts in case of emergency
A group of young
Indian entrepreneurs have won a $1 million dollar prize by developing a
wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if
threatened or assaulted.
New Delhi-based
Leaf Wearables was among the five finalists selected from 85 teams hailing from
18 countries for the ‘Women’s Safety XPRIZE’ instituted by Indian-American
philanthropists Anu and Naveen Jain.
The technology
start-up, founded by students of IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University,
won the prize for their project ‘Safer Pro’, an enhanced version of their
earlier safety devices.
“Women safety is
a global problem, it’s a global epidemic. A safe environment for women is a
fundamental human right, it should not be considered a luxury and yet in
today’s world, with so much advancement in technology and innovation, we still
haven not been able to solve this problem,” Anu Jain said at the award ceremony
organised in the United Nations on Wednesday.
Teams
participating in the challenge had to create a device, costing no more than $40
and able to work without Internet, that can inconspicuously trigger an
emergency alert if a woman is facing a threat and transmit information to a
network of community responders, all within 90 seconds.
Leaf Wearables’
Manik Mehta, Niharika Rajiv and Avinash Bansal collected the prize for their
innovation. “It was in 2012 that the Nirbhaya rape took place in Delhi,” Mr.
Mehta said, adding that it was then that they decided: “Enough is enough. Delhi
is unsafe and things are not changing at all. We have got to solve this
problem.”
The start-up has
previously launched two wearable devices. “We are not saying we have made the
perfect device. We are saying we are working on the problem and we are going to
make one billion families safe and connected,” Mr. Mehta said. Ms. Rajiv said
the prize money would help jump-start all their efforts.
Audio recordings
The smart device
by Leaf Wearables will also be able to make audio recordings, which could be
used as evidence.
Naveen Jain,
founder of several technological companies including Moon Express, Viome and
Bluedot said that none of the solutions and projects required cell phones or
wifi, so even if a person’s phone was taken away, the devices could help track
the person’s exact location. All solutions were tested live in front of the
judging panel and in simulated testing environments in April 2018 — including
on public transportation in Mumbai — taking routes unknown to the teams to test
the mobility and advanced functionality of their devices.
The finalists
were Artemis from Switzerland, led by Nicee Srivastava and Katerina Zisaki, who
developed data analytics for wearables and IoT devices, which provide a way to
improve women’s safety via the ability to trigger an alert through gestures and
physiological signals.
Globally, one
out of every three women and girls experiences physical or sexual violence — or
both — from an intimate partner, or sexual violence by a non-partner, the
United Nations estimates. The figure is twice as high in some countries.
The first round
of competition had 85 teams, including app developers, technology researchers,
schools and start-ups.
One team of
finalists developed a device that could “detect a user’s panic, fear and
stress” by monitoring speech and physiological changes.
Finalists also
included a device “camouflaged as a fashion accessory” that could send
hands-free alerts. Another drew on global positioning services, cellular data
and Bluetooth to connect women to emergency services.
A team from
Switzerland, led by Nicee Srivastava and Katerina Zisaki, developed data
analytics for wearables.
The finalists
other than the winning team received prizes of $50,000 each from contributions
by two other donors who each gave $100,000.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-life/indian-entrepreneurs-win-1-mn-prize-for-safety-device/article24108282.ece
Monday, June 25, 2018
Glenmark introduces inhaler in Denmark
Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd. has unveiled a generic version of Seretide
Accuhaler in Denmark. Glenmark on Wednesday said this was the company’s first
inhaled respiratory product introduction in Europe. It is the first generic
firm to get regulatory approval for substitution in Denmark for the generic
version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Seretide Accuhaler, according to a statement from
Glenmark.Glenmark had entered into a strategic development and licensing
agreement with Celon Pharma S.A. to develop and market the generic version –
Fluticasone/Salmeterol dry powder inhaler in 15 European countries.
The
Fluticasone/Salmeterol dry powder inhaler is a combination product for the
treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glenmark
had already received National Marketing Authorisations for the product in
Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland.
“Denmark is the
first country in Europe where Glenmark has launched its generic
Fluticasone/Salmeterol Dry powder Inhaler (DPI) and we plan to commercialize
this product across the Nordics in the near future,” said Achin Gupta,
Executive Vice President and Business Head of Europe and Latin America,
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
The release,
quoting IQVIA data, said Fluticasone/Salmeterol DPI had sales of $ 864 million
in Europe during the 12 month ended September 2017.
http://www.thehindu.com/business/glenmark-introduces-inhaler-in-denmark/article23906183.ece
Friday, June 22, 2018
More breast cancer patients can skip chemo, says study - It focusses on the response of women with early-stage of cancer to gene therapy
Some
70% of women with early-stage breast cancer and an intermediate risk of cancer
recurrence can safely skip chemotherapy after their tumours have been removed,
U.S. researchers said on Sunday.
“This
is a major finding,” said Dr. Larry Norton, a breast cancer expert at Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who helped organise the
government-funded study more than a decade ago.
“It
means that maybe 100,000 women in the U.S. alone do not require chemotherapy,”
Mr. Norton said.
The
research, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting
in Chicago, studied how to treat women with early-stage breast cancer that
responds to hormone therapy.
Women
were deemed to have a medium level risk of the cancer coming back based on a 21-gene
panel known as Oncotype DX from Genomic Health. The test predicts the
likelihood of cancer recurrence within 10 years. Those who score low on the
test — from zero to 10 —are already told to skip chemotherapy after their
tumours are removed and they receive hormone therapy. Those who score high — 26
to 100 — receive both hormone therapy and chemotherapy.
The
study, dubbed TAILORx, was also published in the New England Journal of
Medicine. It involved more than 10,000 women with breast cancer that had not
spread to nearby lymph nodes and whose tumours respond to hormone therapy and
test negative for the HER2 gene. Of those, 6,711 scored in the intermediate
range of 11-25, and were randomly assigned hormone therapy alone or hormone
therapy plus chemotherapy.
The
study found that all women over 50 with this type of breast cancer could skip
chemotherapy, a group that represented 85% of the study’s population. In
addition, women 50 and younger who scored between zero and 15 could be spared
chemotherapy and its toxic side effects.
Some
benefits
However,
chemotherapy did offer some benefit to women aged 50 and younger who had a
cancer recurrence score of 16-25, researchers found. Dr. Steven Shak, chief
scientific officer at Genomic Health, said about four in 10 women in the U.S.
with early stage breast cancers are not tested for recurrence risk. He expects
the study’s results will change that practice.
“This
is going to provide the highest level of evidence now for our test being
indispensable in clinical practice,” Dr. Shak said.
The
company currently provides tests to more than 900,000 patients in more than 90
countries, Dr. Shak said. In the United States, the test costs $4,000 and is
covered by Medicare and all major private insurers.
China commences testing of heavy-ion cancer treatment - Radiation treatment is capable of killing cancer cells with high-energy electrons
Beijing: Chinese researchers have begun clinical testing
of heavy-ion medical accelerators capable of killing cancer cells with
high-energy electrons, officials said on Sunday.
Researchers said that the
accelerators entered clinical testing for cancer patients in the northwest
Gansu province in May.
Cancer radiation treatments
employing heavy-ion accelerators can bombard a target with high-energy
electrons to kill cancer cells.
Xiao Guoqing, head of the
Institute of Modern Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said it is
widely considered the most effective way of fighting tumours.
Compared to the traditional
therapy such as radiation, heavy-ion treatment is considered to have more
balanced properties with less radiation on healthy cells.
The treatment period is
shorter and the therapy could more effectively control cancer cells.
The institute in Lanzhou,
capital of the northwest Gansu province, developed the accelerators in 2015.
It took two years for the accelerators to undergo medical
equipment testing. Registration and testing were completed in April and
clinical tests began, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Currently, the institute has
produced two sets of the cancer treatment equipment, one each in Lanzhou and
Wuwei City, which has a high rate of stomach cancer.
Patients were selected from
Gansu Provincial Cancer Hospital and Wuwei Cancer Hospital.
Testing is underway for
cancer treatment for the head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis and limbs.
In order to ensure the
safety of the tests, 36 leading doctors in cancer treatment were assigned to
oversee the tests.
Xiao said the domestically
developed equipment marks the end of China’s dependence on imports. The
institute started basic research into the technology in 1993.
Currently, very few hospitals
in China offer heavy-ion cancer treatment in China.
Source:DNA-28th May,2018
Researchers find a cure for pulmonary fibrosis
Washington: Developing new medicines to treat pulmonary fibrosis, one of
the most common and serious forms of lung disease, is not easy.
However, researchers from
the University of Buffalo have worked to develop a biotechnology that could
streamline the drug-testing process.
The one reason for
developing a treatment for pulmonary fibrosis is that it’s difficult to mimic
how the disease damages and scars lung tissue over time, often forcing
scientists to employ a hodgepodge of time-consuming and costly techniques to
assess the effectiveness of potential treatments.
The innovation relies on the same technology used to print electronic chips, photolithography.
Only instead of semiconducting materials, researchers placed upon the chip
arrays of thin, pliable lab-grown lung tissues - in other words, its
lung-on-a-chip technology.
“Obviously it’s not an
entire lung, but the technology can mimic the damaging effects of lung
fibrosis. Ultimately, it could change how we test new drugs, making the process
quicker and less expensive,” said lead author Ruogang Zhao.
With limited tools for
fibrosis study, scientists have struggled to develop medicine to treat the
disease. To date, there are only two drugs - pirfenidone and nintedanib -
approved by the US Food and Drug Administration that help slow its progress.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
July-Dec 2018 Semester NPTEL Online Certification courses
NPTEL (National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning)is a joint initiative of the IITs and IISc. Through this initiative, we offer online courses and certification in various topics.
Online course: Free for all, Certification exam: For a nominal fee.
Learn anytime, anywhere! Only requirement: Interest and enthusiasm to learn :)
July-Dec 2018 Semester NPTEL Online Certification courses:
We will be offering around 260+ courses for certification during July-Dec 2018 Semester.
Tentative course list for July-Dec 2018 have been published : Click here to view
Enrollments will open shortly.
Details about each course can be found in the Course introduction page - please click on any course to know more.
IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER:
1. Online Course: Free for all.
2. Certification Exam: For a nominal fee.
3. Number of Courses: 260 + (may increase, keep watching!)
4. Duration of Courses: 4,8,12 weeks.
5. This site uses your Google account for authentication. You will need to login (top right) to enroll for any course by clicking the "JOIN" button.
6. After enrollment you will be able to see the course contents as and when they are made available by the course instructors.
7. For any questions about courses and exam registration: Please read the FAQ's given
Online course: Free for all, Certification exam: For a nominal fee.
Learn anytime, anywhere! Only requirement: Interest and enthusiasm to learn :)
July-Dec 2018 Semester NPTEL Online Certification courses:
We will be offering around 260+ courses for certification during July-Dec 2018 Semester.
Tentative course list for July-Dec 2018 have been published : Click here to view
Enrollments will open shortly.
Details about each course can be found in the Course introduction page - please click on any course to know more.
The start/end dates and exam dates are as follows:
Explore courses available for Certification : https://onlinecourses.nptel.
Start/End/Exam Date
|
4 weeks
|
8 weeks
|
12 weeks
|
4 weeks
|
8 weeks
|
Start of course
|
13-Aug-18
|
6-Aug-18
|
30-Jul-18
|
27-Aug-18
|
27-Aug-18
|
End of course
|
7-Sep-18
|
28-Sep-18
|
19-Oct-18
|
21-Sep-18
|
19-Oct-18
|
Exam dates
|
Oct
-7, 2018
(2 Sessions: 9am-12 noon; 2pm-5pm) |
Oct
-28, 2018
(2 Sessions: 9am-12 noon; 2pm-5pm) |
|||
Explore courses available for Certification : https://onlinecourses.nptel.
The Certification Exam will be on 4, 8 & 12 weeks course, whose contents are available on the NPTEL website.
CERTIFICATE:
1. E-Certificate will be given to those who register and write the exam.Certificate will have your name,photograph and the score in the final exam. It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT's
2. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc
1. E-Certificate will be given to those who register and write the exam.Certificate will have your name,photograph and the score in the final exam. It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT's
2. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc
IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER:
1. Online Course: Free for all.
2. Certification Exam: For a nominal fee.
3. Number of Courses: 260 + (may increase, keep watching!)
4. Duration of Courses: 4,8,12 weeks.
5. This site uses your Google account for authentication. You will need to login (top right) to enroll for any course by clicking the "JOIN" button.
6. After enrollment you will be able to see the course contents as and when they are made available by the course instructors.
7. For any questions about courses and exam registration: Please read the FAQ's given
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Saturday, June 09, 2018
Friday, June 08, 2018
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Monday, June 04, 2018
Saturday, June 02, 2018
Friday, June 01, 2018
10-year-old youngest to scale 13800 ft in the Himalayas
A tough and a demanding trek at minus 8 degrees temperature
and wind speed of 30 to 40 nautical miles. All this didn’t deter 10 year old
girl Urvi Anil Patil who with her father Anil Patil completed the trek by
climbing over 13,800ft Sar Pass in Shivalik ranges of Himalayas.
Urvi’s father Anil Patil
is a Zee media representative in Goa and resides in Panjim.
10 year old Urvi is a
multifaceted child. She has been undergoing training in Bharat Natyam dance and
also learning to strum the guitar. She is a good swimmer and right now busy in
shooting a film. She is also a shell collector with a keen interest in wild
life.
Her father Anil said that
he is a regular trekker and has done many expeditions including the ones in
Himalayas. Since his daughter wanted to complete this trek, he also undertook
it through Youth Hostels Associations of India. Underlining the significance of
his daughter’s success, Anil Patil told, `She is the first 10 year old to
complete this trek since generally permission for this trek is given for those
who are above 15 year old.’Anil and Urvi completed the trek between May 7’th
and May 16’th, 2018.
As a preparation for the
trek Urvi used to walk on the beach for one and a half hours in the morning.
She also did yoga and exercise for achieving physical fitness. The ice guides
also accept that it for the first time that they have witnessed a ten year old
take such a difficult trek. While scaling Sar Pass. Urvi told that even though
the trek was not easy, she could do it since she was with a group and they used
to sing songs and made the trek joyful.
Source: DNA-30th May,2018
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