Monthly Archives: May 2013

Students wow railway authorities with their designs on safety

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Science & Technology
Teams interact with drivers and station masters before preparing the projects / The Hindu
Teams interact with drivers and station masters before preparing the projects / The Hindu

About 100 students designed projects on safety in railways including automatic coach guidance, signal control system and submitted a thesis to the South Central Railway (SCR) authorities.

The engineering students who designed the circuits and software programmes displayed them before the Vijayawada Division Railway officials at Railway Auditorium on Friday. The projects would be useful both for the railways and passengers, said the students.

Vijayawada Additional Divisional Railway Manager S. Subba Rao, SCR Women’s Welfare Organisation president Priti Awasthi and heads of various departments visited the software products exhibition. Ms. Awasthi praised the budding engineers for designing the projects with innovative ideas.

Alerts for driver

Four students of Electronics and Communication Engineering of Vignan University – Vamshi Krishna, Aravind, Siddhartha and Vara Prasad – prepared a circuit on Signal Control System, which would prevent accidents and provide safety for the passengers.

“In Signal Control System, we placed a monitoring device on the signal pole and receiver in the engine. The train drivers can know the signal position (from each pole) through the receiver at some distance. Signal Control System will be useful particularly during winter seasons when there is heavy fog,” said Mr. Vamshi Krishna.

If the train crosses the red signal, the system would automatically slow down the train and prevent any possible mishap. The device was prepared after discussing the problem with loco drivers, said Mr. Siddhartha.

The GPS on Fire Detecting System would alert the railway authorities, if there was any fire in the coaches. Likewise, the Rail Tracking System, designed by four students – T. Bhavya, D. Kavya, Ch. Kranthi and K. Srujana — of K.L. University, can alert the station master or superintendent of the next station through satellite system on the position of the tracks, location of train and at what time it was expected to arrive at the station. “We travelled in the train from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam and studied on implementation of Rail Tracking System, which can help reduce manpower and give accurate position of the train on tracks”, Ms. Srujana told The Hindu. Students also designed projects on digital caution order, power line failure, wireless energy meter, vigilance control device, and a digital eye for coach guidance automation.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Rajulauadi Srinivas / May 18th, 2013

Aditi Technologies acquires Hyderabad-based Get Cloud Ready

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

This is company’s second acquisition in cloud consulting space after acquisition of Cumulux in 2011

Bangalore-based Aditi Technologies  on Thursday said it has acquired Hyderabad-based cloud operations consulting firm ‘ Get Cloud Ready ‘  for an undisclosed amount.

This is the company’s second acquisition in the cloud consulting space after the acquisition of  Cumulux  in 2011.

The acquisition, would enable Aditi to expand its Amazon Web Services (AWS ) and Cloud Managed Services (CMS), the company said. Get Cloud Ready Consulting was founded by Janakiram MSV, a former Microsoft and Amazon employee in 2011.

The company also said, with the acquisition Get Cloud Ready employees will join Aditi Technologies.

Pradeep Rathinam, CEO Aditi Technologies said: “We are excited to welcome ‘Get Cloud Ready’ team into Aditi. Janakiram and his team bring exceptional cloud infrastructure migration and management expertise. With Get Cloud Ready, we seek to provide our customers with granular visibility into rapidly migrating and managing applications across multiple cloud platforms with minimal effort.”

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Pradeesh Chandra / Bangalore – May 16th, 2013

Guntur wins silver for e-governance

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

The State Government has announced Silver award for Guntur district in e-Governance category for 2012-13 for successfully implementing ‘Sampoorna Vidya Darsini’ programme.

The district has bagged another silver award for striving for achieving development through the e-governance platform. Mr. Suresh Kumar stated in a press release that the district got a total cash incentive of Rs. 4 lakh. The e-governance awards were instituted by the Department of Information Technology & Communications. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy will be presenting the awards to top officials representing the award-winning districts soon. In the e-governance category, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board won the platinum award and ‘Marpu’ programme of Karimnagar district got gold.

The awards are instituted by the Department of Information Technology & Communications.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Guntur, May 15th, 2013

India to launch first navigational satellite on June 12

Records, All, Science & Technology

India proposes to launch its first navigational satellite, which will provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management, on June 12.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A is slated to be launched on board home-grown rocket, PSLV-C22 XL at 1.01 am from Sriharikota spaceport on June 12.

The launch window will be open from June 10 to June 15, sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation here told PTI.

The 1425 kg IRNSS-1, which will have a life span of about ten years, will provide satellite-based terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services, and also help in disaster and fleet management and vehicle tracking, an ISRO official said.

Bangalore-headquartered ISRO has planned to have a constellation of seven satellites under IRNSS by 2014-15.

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system, and once all the spacecraft become operational, it would provide position accuracy, similar to Global Positioning System (GPS), of better than 10 metres over India and the region extending about 1,500 km around the country.

“It is designed to provide an accurate real time Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) services to users on a variety of platforms with 24×7 service availability under all weather conditions”, the official said.

IRNSS provides two basic services — standard positioning service for common civilian users and restricted service for special authorised users, the official said.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Bangalore –  May 17th, 2013

Rajahmundry bags State CEEP first, second ranks

Education, Records, All

For the first time in the history of Rajahmundry, two students got State first and second ranks in Common Entrance Examination for Polytechnic (CEEP).

S.S.S. Harsha from Tirumala Proactive School in Katheru in Rajahmundry rural mandal has bagged State first rank in the CEEP for which results were declared on Friday. G. Kirnanmayi from the same school got State second rank. The other significant rankers from the school are K. Bhargav Reddy State 5, Ch.V. Surya Krishna and P. Gopal 8 ranks. Nunna Tirumal Rao, Director, Tirumala educational Institutions informed that their students have got 17 State ranks out of 100.

He congratulated the students, teachers and staff for achieving great results.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Rajahmundry – May 18th, 2013

Women floriculturists turn entrepreneurs

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment
Women farmers collecting ‘Kanakambaralu’ from the fields in their village in Machilipatnam./ Photo: T. Appala Naidu / The Hindu
Women farmers collecting ‘Kanakambaralu’ from the fields in their village in Machilipatnam./ Photo: T. Appala Naidu / The Hindu

Defying illiteracy, 420 women floriculturists from Kotha Reddypalem and Patha Reddypalem villages in Machilipatnam have proved that they can be successful entrepreneurs

Flower sellers from two villages have turned successful women entrepreneurs-cum-farmers by engaging in floriculture – right from growing flower-bearing plants to marketing the flowers.

About 420 women from Kotha Reddypalem and Patha Reddypalem villages in Machilipatnam mandal to grow different kinds of flowers in their backyards. Finding a way to tap the market, they started growing flower-bearing plants in every available piece of land in their villages. “Middlemen in the market try to cheat us. So, we sell the flowers on the streets and roadsides in Machilipatnam,” says B. Padmavathi, an illiterate woman who grows half-a-dozen varieties of flowering plants in her seven cents of the land. “The lowest profit on a field of five cents is Rs. 6,000 to 7,000 per month, irrespective of the season,” Ms. Padmavathi tells The Hindu. Flowers such as firecrackers, Arabian Nights and plump varieties of jasmine and other winter varieties, are grown in the fields less than 15 cents.”

The entrepreneurs’ day starts with plucking of flowers, making garlands, and receiving new orders. “We often have to wait till 10 p.m. in the market till all the flowers are sold out,” says B. Venkateswaramma, who earns Rs. 1,200 on any given day, whether summer or winter. There are several tenant farmers and most of them experiment with growing new varieties of plants on their sandy soil. Men are only asked to dig puddles for water accumulation in the field. These puddles are the only source of water to irrigate the plants, even in mid-summer.

The first generation flower seller-turned-entrepreneur M. Nagamalleswaramma has her single-day transaction touching Rs. 60,000 even when the marketing is dull. She says: “I import decorative flowers and rose varieties from Banglore to meet the demand.”

“The successful rural folks are now adopting new marketing strategies as they have learnt a few technical aspects in floriculture and yield management” says V. Suresh, director of Nestham, an NGO.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Machilipatnam – May 14th, 2013

Kakatiya University plant research wows scientists

Nature, Science & Technology

Hyderabad :

In a rare feat for a rural Indian university, little known Infectious Diseases and Metabolic Disorders Lab (IDMDL) of Kakatiya University, Warangal, has attracted the attention of the global scientific community by discovering anti-diabetic and anti-HIV compounds in the extracts of herbs which are used by local tribes as a cure for various disorders. The lab, headed by a young scientist Estari Mamidala, extracted anti-diabetic chemical from a plant called Physalis Minima (budamma in Telugu; ban tipariya in Bengali; parpoti in Gujarati and tulati pati in Hindi ) and found anti-HIV properties in Tinospora Cordifolia (tippa teega in Telugu and giloe in Hindi) and Cassia Occidentalis (penta chennagi in Telugu and bendra lathi in Hindi).

After conducting an ethnobotanic survey for about a year, from July 2011 to August 2012, based on the local medical knowledge practices among the tribes in Mulugu Venkatapur, Regonda, Parkal, Shayampet, Hasanparthy areas of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh, the team led by Estari identified about 65 plants believed to have great curative value. His team studied extracts from various parts, leaves, stem, roots and flowers, for the medicinal properties and found amazing qualities. Estari says these experiments are expected to pave a new path for alternative medicines from plants extracts which are cheaper and safe to use.

The Estari team also found four more medicinal plants (Phyllanthus emblica, Eclipta alba, Tinospora cordifolia and Casia occidentalis) which have the ability to inhibit replication of HIV-1. The extracts of these four plants have the potential to be used as natural products in the chemotherapy of HIV infection, said Estari.

In the studies conducted on rats, it was found that the leaf and flower extract of Physalis Minima significantly lowered the fasting blood sugar. However, the stems have not shown such a property. Repeated experiments with flowers and leaves clearly exhibited more potent anti-diabetic activity by reducing the blood glucose level significantly compared with the root and stem extracts of P. Minima.

Similarly, Tinospora Cordifolia was found to have anti-HIV property comparable to the drugs available in the market. Another plant, Cassia Occidentalis has also exhibited HIV inhibiting properties in a significant way. Speaking to TOI from Warangal, Estari said the extracts of Cassia Occidentalis had exerted their anti-HIV property by inhibiting the HIV Reverse Transcriptase activity. The study seems to justify the traditional use of plant for the treatment of infectious disease of viral origin, he said. The plant has great potential for developing useful drugs, he added.

The results of IDMDL studies have been published in the International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research (Volume 3, Issue dated 7 June, 2012), Biology and Medicine (2013) and BMC Infectious Diseases (December, 2012).

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India  / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Jinka Nagaraju, TNN / May 15th, 2013

Affordable luxury

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
A young bride wears a paisley haram in terracotta designed by Harini Rao / The Hindu
A young bride wears a paisley haram in terracotta designed by Harini Rao / The Hindu

Wedding jewellery can be fun, lightweight, colourful and not necessarily in gold. Here’s how

“It took me a long time to develop this line,” says Harini Rao of Hearth Treasures, referring to terracotta jewellery pieces she designed for weddings, inspired by temple jewellery. You read it right. We are taking about terracotta and not gold, diamond or platinum. Hyderabad’s burgeoning appetite for luxury is unquestionable. The number of jewellery stores stands testimony to that. But there’s also a sizeable, growing segment of people experimenting with statement jewellery pieces in terracotta, silver and silver plated with gold.

Invitees and family members of brides in particular, are picking up these jewellery options for smaller functions associated with weddings. Occasionally, there are orders for gold-plated silver jewellery for weddings as well. These pieces come in handy for destination weddings, when one doesn’t want to risk travelling with precious jewellery. “I’ve designed for a few weddings, where orders were placed for gold plated silver jewellery — vankis, vadiyanam, neck pieces, earrings, bangles and pendants. Any jewellery piece that exists in gold can be done in silver too and it would work out much cheaper,” says Sumisha of Treasure Chest. Sumisha has also designed children’s jewellery and says, “With children, the sizes keep changing as they grow. I’ve had many parents who don’t want to buy gold and prefer silver for children.”

Elders don’t really frown upon terracotta or silver jewellery making it to the ‘it list’ of the bridal trousseau any more, say these jewellery designers. Bhargavi Sameeran of Sangama, who gets her line of silver and brass alloy jewellery pieces designed by karigars in Kolkata and Mumbai, agrees: “People are experimenting with neck pieces and earrings. Most of these designs are inspired by traditional kundan and temple jewellery. The paisley motif is an all-time favourite. Kundan and meenakari work are popular,” she says.

Harini Rao wears one of her creations / The Hindu
Harini Rao wears one of her creations / The Hindu

Harini recently designed a haram with a string of gold-coloured paisleys in terracotta.

“I encourage people to pick up colours like dull gold, red and green that will go with many South Indian outfits,” she says. Mangoes, elephants, peacocks, Durga and Ganesha often find representation in her jewellery.

Often, jewellery designers double up as stylists, helping their customers match their jewellery with their outfits. “When women come to me with heavy saris, I suggest they wear lighter neckpieces. Long chains in Bengali style, like what Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai wore in Devdas, are ideal for heavy outfits,” says Bhargavi.

As Harini sums up, “There’s no point in keeping your jewellery in lockers forever. You need to have a few easy-to-use pieces. Alternative jewellery also allows you to have customised pieces to match different outfits.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Fashion / by Sangeetha Devi Dundoo / Hyderabad – May 14th, 2013

Giving the jewellery tradition a facelift

Business & Economy

Trends come and go, but tradition is something India is deeply associated with. And talking about tradition, jewellery definitely tops the list in every Indian family. The love for all kinds of jewellery and the fact that India is counted among one of the fastest growing economies in the world, acts as a perfect combination. This inturn creates an interesting market for jewellers like Kapil Hetamsaria, who wish to cater to the jewellery needs of modern India, by perhaps adapting the road less taken – a combination of jewellery and technology called the ‘Velvetcase’.

Co-founded by Runit Shah, Velvetcase aims to provide a customised and transparent jewellery buying experience to its customers through its online and offline platforms. Built with a hassle-free and user friendly portal, it provides a high-resolution 360 degree view of all its products that will help understanding the designs better. The products are exclusively designed while considering the customers’ requirements in terms of material, cost and design.

An added feature to the portal is the Velvetcase app with an in-built electronic mirror. The app enables a person to  style and suit themselves with the jewellery on the website, before they plan on buying it.

“Our brand focuses on keeping in track with the changing trends. With a growing awareness of international trends and fashions in India, more and more people want designs and varieties of the global fashion and that is what we offer,” Kapil Hetamsaria mentioned. “Velvetcase is all about what the customers see and buy. The brand wishes to surpass all others with best possible customer experience, which has always remained our main focus,” he further added.

With over 1000 designs that are hand-picked by global experts in the trade, Velvetcase boasts of  their uniqueness attained through a combination of metals and jewels. It also provides a jewellery personalisation process like no other. Any buyer can send their designs to Velvetcase and get it designed by their personnel at their manufacturing facilities. “For example, if a customer wants a particular design that costs more than what he/she is ready to pay, we customise it accordingly,” Kapil explains.

With prices ranging from `1,000 to `3 lakh, the website also has jewellery categorised for different occasions, be it a wedding, a party or as a gifting options. From diamonds to pearls and uncut diamonds, Velvetcase also has collections designed in antique and other precious stones. The portal also has tie-ups with leading jewellery brands in India and the world, inlcuding Tiffany, Harry Winston, Tanishq, Kays and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Their target market being the trendy and fashion conscious India, the brand hopes to establish itself in the “revolving market of India,” as the jeweller puts it. The founder adds that the brand’s exclusivity in designs and transparency that separate it from others in the market.

Kapil adds that the company stands on three pillars – information, intelligence and integrity. “Buying jewellery is unlike a normal shopping experience. It’s costly and therefore requires more attention and knowledge. Hence, we believe in providing the customer with all the details and transacting through a transparent procedure.”

Not limiting it to just an e-commerce website, the makers of Velvetcase have also a section called the Learning Guides, where one can learn about diamonds, the manufacture of different kinds of jewellery, tips on how to chose the right kind of jewellery and also about how to keep your collection glittering forever.

For further details, log onto www.velvetcase.com/home

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Rohitha Edara – Hyderabad / May 14th, 2013

Pain free saliva-based diabetic test in the offing

Science & Technology

Hyderabad :

In what could come as a relief to thousands of  diabetic patients who have to regularly prick their fingers to test sugar levels in their blood, doctors at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) are set to roll out a prick free saliva-based test to detect and monitor diabetes.

The hospital’s endocrinology department has been researching on use of  saliva  as a substitute for blood to identify and monitor diabetes  since 2001. They said that saliva is directly filtered from blood into the mouth, so it will have a direct reflection of a person’s health and disease.

“Technology has improved so much that it is now possible to take small quantities of body fluids like saliva and perform lab test as with blood,” said Dr P V Rao, head of endocrinology, Nims.

This new test called ‘Glycosylated proteome’ is non-invasive, multi-analytic diagnostic test for accurate assessment of diabetes and is superior to the existing glucose-assessment blood test, he added.

Annually, a diabetic has to bear approximately 150 pricks and those who are insulin dependent need to take two shots daily. Many diabetics may not be monitoring their condition because of the discomfort involved in finger-pricking putting their lives at risk. This technique will be a boon for patients and reduce the burden of blood test pricks.

This new test for assessing blood glucose control over a period of seven days involves collection of saliva from the patient’s upper jaw with the help of a swab which is then squeezed out and the fluid is used for the test instead of blood.

“A saliva based test would eliminate the discomfort associated with monitoring blood sugar levels, and lead to greater regularity in testing,” he added.

Over the years, 300 children and 300 adults with type 1 diabetes were studied at Nims for saliva-based diagnostic test instead of blood test. Doctors found that they were able to see the same parameters in saliva as those in blood.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / May 12th, 2013