Geek Gazette spring-2010 by Geek Gazette

spring 2010

geek gazette

INDEX

Team

GeekSpeak

To Do When Running on Low Charge

Branch Counsellor : Prof. S.N. Sinha

Timeline Operating Systems

President Divyanshu

Vice President Prashant Chaturvedi

WITRICITY The future of Charging

Crazy Firefox

Geek Crossword

MAGLEV The Next Level of Railways

Quantum Computing

Editorial Ankur Agrrawal Rose ketty tete Mayank Garg Krati Verma Kumar Ishan Gaurav Jain Tushar Gupta Mukul Kumar Jain Pranav Kapoor Siddharth Bathla Abhay Gupta Pushpender Tomar

Finance Gunjan Sharma Muraka Vivek Anand Ghanshyam Prateek Batla Mayank Agarwal Abhanshu Mohit Pahuja Rajat Prakul Shagun Akarsh Nitin Nandwani

INVISIBILITY : Is it Possible ?

UR Desktop Understands UR Language

WIFI Registration THE INSIDE STORY

Cover Story : INSTITUTE INSTRUMENTATION CENTRE

12-14

Teleportation

CHEMISTRY - It Is

DO IT YOURSELF Make Your Own Speakers

17-18

NANOSATELLITE

TRRAM

Time Travel

Mobile Codes

Ultrafast Laser Technology

Design Chandranshu Garg Peeyush Goyal Shubham Jaiswal Piyush Jalan Putta Ramakanth Rohet Karverkar Sushmita Maltare Cashmira Pramnaik News Pratul Yadav Arnav Thakur Ankur Aggarwal Nitin Agarwal Amik Singh T Shivanand Shashank Shekhar Samrat Gavale Rahul Singh Rahul Tiwari Pranay Kapoor Shrishti Ranjan Kumar

IEEE IITR Council Mohit Kalra Prashant Chaturvedi Arpit Gupta Shashikant Pandey Yogeshwar Singh

S P R I N G

2 0 1 0

G ee kS p ea k We humans are inquisitive by our very nature. The desire to know the unknown and to explore the unexplored is something that surfaces frequently. Yet we have a tendency to neglect the things that are near us and take it for granted that we know everything about them. Our Cover Story on the Institute Instrumentation Center is the result of realization of the same fact. Many of us have been at IIT R for almost four years now and we still don't know about all the facilities that are present at our institute. The Cover Story tries to spread general awareness about the Center and who knows, it might just provide the initial inspiration for an interdisciplinary research project at our institute. As school students we used to get fascinated by Faraday's ingenuity in carrying out his experiments in Electrostatics. Application is perhaps one of the most important features of Science. Then we have articles on upcoming technologies like Transparent RAM, Nanosatellite and MAGLEV. Having the ability to 'teleport' from one location to another almost instantly is perhaps the childhood fantasy of many of us. The article on 'Teleportation' gives an overview of the scientific advances and the current work going on in this exciting field. Coming on to the Campus News, the article on Wi-Fi Registration attempts to put an end to the rumors that have been going around in the campus regarding the same. The main objectives behind taking this step are mentioned, along with the future benefits. All good things come to an end. And so has our journey with the Geek Gazette team. Though it has only been a 3 issue long journey, it has been one filled with lots of experiences and incidents and will leave many memories and reminisces to take forward with us. With a heavy heart we bit adieu to our readers and pass on the baton to the new team which we are sure will take this venture to newer heights. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Faculty Advisor Prof. S.N. Sinha for being the source of inspiration and help right from the beginning.

Regards The GeekGazette Team

To Do When Running

low on charge

How many times has it happened to you that somewhere at the bottom right corner of your screen you see in red 7% remaining, and you become crippled as the power cord isn't with you? Then this one should be a must read for you. GEEK GAZETTE in its constant endeavor to bring genuinely useful tips for your laptops comes up with this article on tips to increase laptop battery power by incorporating some general habits. 1. Defragment Regularly Regular defragmentation helps to arrange data more efficiently thus making the hard drive work less to access the data. The quicker the moving hard drive works, lesser is the load placed on the battery. Thus, your battery can last longer. 2. Kill the resource gobblers End the background processes that are not vital. Monitor the resource usage through a 'Ctrl-Alt-Del' which brings up the Windows Task Manager (in Windows). If you're not on the internet, it is safe to shut down the immediate non-essential programs running in the taskbar like the antivirus and the firewall. Weed out unnecessary programs running as startups by launching the System Configuration Utility from Run – Msconfig – Tab: Startup. Uncheck the programs which you don't want to launch and reboot the computer once. 3. Pause the scheduled tasks It may be a defragmentation or a virus scan, but make sure it is scheduled for a time when you are near a power outlet. If not then avoid them for the moment. 4. Unplug external devices USB devices are the biggest drainers of battery power. Unplug all external devices like an external mouse, PC cards, Wi-Fi, external speakers, Bluetooth and even an attached iPod. 5. Empty the CD/DVD Drives Even if you don't intend to use it, don't leave any CD/DVDs as leftovers in the drives. A spinning drive sucks battery power like a sponge. 6. Lower the lights The LCD screen of a laptop is another huge power sink. Calibrate the brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate using the Function key toggles or using the Display Settings applet in the Control Panel. 7. Kill the sounds Mute the speakers and try avoiding the use of multimedia software to maximize the battery life. Installed sound schemes also drain a battery perceptibly.

8. Rid the screensaver To maximize battery life by a little, switch off the screensaver. 9. Visit Power Options Get familiar with power management through the 'Power Options' applet in the Control Panel. In all windows OS there is an option of power saver which effectively increases battery life through advanced power management features which shut off components like the monitor and/or the hard drive after specified intervals 10. Turn off the looks Keeping your windows theme to classic windows may also be of some help. 11. Hibernate is better than Sleep In the Stand By mode (or sleep mode), the computer turns off the hard drive and the display but memory remains active while the CPU slows down. This draws on the battery. In contrast, hibernation mode is better because the computer saves the current state and shuts itself down completely thus saving power. 12. Get the most…work on the least Working on too many programs while on the battery is a sure fire power drainer. Keep use of graphic intensive applications to a minimum. To increase the life of the battery, open just one or two programs concurrently. 13. Ram in more RAM Adequate RAM reduces the load on Virtual memory which by default resides on the hard drive. Though every extra bit of RAM uses up more power, it increases overall savings by short cutting access to the power hungry hard drive. 14. Keep it clean A laptop with blocked air vents will generate more heat thus reducing the life of the battery. Clean the air vents regularly to keep operating temperatures low. Allow for open space around the vents for air to circulate freely. Keep the area around the laptop clean to avoid entry of dust. 15. Temperature is a silent killer Undue heat kills off a battery slowly but surely. Avoid leaving the laptop under direct sunlight or inside a closed car.

Operating systems - TIMELINE 1954 : MIT's operating system made for UNIVAC 1103

1993). However it took some time to people to figure out which is real Windows.

1955 : General Motors Operating System made for IBM 701

1989 : After leaving Apple and starting NEXT Inc. Steve Jobs takes his career to the next level with the release of NeXTStep.

1964 : Disk Operating System/360, also DOS/360, or simply DOS, was an operating system for IBM mainframes. It was announced by IBM on the last day of 1964, and it was first delivered in June 1966.

1991 : Norse OS god Linus Torvalds releases an opensource, Unix-like OS kernel and names it Linux which is officially pronounced as "leen-ooks" to reflect its Finnish origins.

1969 : AT&T designed Unix, a computer operating system, in 1969. The company also licensed Unix to a number of universities for non-commercial use.

1995 : Windows 95 appears, to great fanfare and later Windows 98, Me(Millenium edition).

1976 : Intergalactic Digital Research's maverick brain Gary Kildall creates CP/M, a simple microcomputer operating system for simple microcomputers. It would be the model for commandline DOS variations for two decades.

1996 : The arrival of Macintosh System 7.6 heralds a new name -Mac OS -- and a new game called Waiting for Copland. In the end, we abandon the wait for Copland when Apple buys NeXT and adapts its operating system instead.

1977 : The godfather of open source is born when the Computer Systems Research Group at UC Berkeley releases a variant on Unix called the Berkeley Software Distribution.

2001 : Apple abandons its old OS core and introduces Mac OS X. The X is the Roman numeral for 10, but some think it's a nod to X Window (which is in there) and the NeXT operating system (which is also in there). Microsoft responded to it by releasing Windows XP family.

1978 : Apple DOS 3.1 debuts; it will run the Apple II series of computers for the next five years.

2002-04 : Saw advent of new players like Red Hat Enterprise, Plan 9, Solaris, Debian 3.0, Fedora Core 1, Dragon fly, Suse, AIX, Morph OS,Ubuntu 4.10 in OS field.

1981 : Aug 12 The IBM PC is born, and so are PC-DOS and its alter ego, MS-DOS. 1983 : Apple Lisa, a personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc.

2006 : Microsoft releases Vista which later became the greatest disaster as it saw its significant number of consumers shifting towards Mac and Linux derivatives.

1985 : Microsoft Windows 1.01 retails, at a list price of $99.The Atari ST appears, running a color graphical user interface: GEM, from Digital Research. Few months later Amiga appears. Its operating system is built on a kernel that handles preemptive multitasking. The OS also contains a disk operating system, an API layer called Intuition, and a graphical user interface called Workbench.

2009-10 : Microsoft releases Windows 7, a much stable and secure version than Vista on October 22, 2009. Apple releases MAC OSX "Snow Leopard" on August 28, 2009. Google is all set with its new OS Google Chrome in later half of 2010. Google promises that Chrome OS will make shut down to reading your email in 7 sec which is significantly very fast as compared to best computers available in the market which takes 45 sec to boot up thanks to all those firmware, initializing various drives and ports and looking for external devices.

1987 : IBM and Microsoft agreement fall apart. OS\2 became IBM product and MS name its graphical operating system as Windows NT(officially released in

We all are familiar with the symbol showing wireless networks available at the bottom right corner of our windows laptops, but just imagine a symbol showing wireless charging source available in vicinity. Sounds cool!!!

Witricity

the future of Charging echnology based companies in their constant endeavour to make life easier are inventing new gadgets and one hot topic is wireless charging. Research in this topic has been going on for some years now, with some success too.

and on the other end, another coil act as the receiver resonates with the generated magnetic field and convert the energy back to electricity which then be used to power up the laptop continuously.

While writing this, I did some patent search and to my surprise found some applications for wireless charging methods but none of them is as yet ready to be marketed. So here I write down about WiTricity, which is an invention by a group of MIT researchers. The invention looks set to be a great breakthrough with a demonstration of a 60W light bulb powered up from a power source located two meters away wirelessly. WiTricity is based on the simple physics principal that energy can be transferred wirelessly by utilizing magnetically coupled resonance. It involved a pair of copper coils for the energy transmission. One coil, acts as the transmitter, generates a magnetic field oscillating in MHz range

The advantage of using this method of transferring energy is that it is more efficient, ~40-45% efficient and less hazardous to human body as compared to electromagnetic radiation. Furthermore, there is no line-of-sight requirement which tend to degrade the efficiency significantly with obstacles. This invention is not only about wireless charging, it has opened avenues for research in the field of transfer of electricity without wires and the day someone invents such a technology, it will be a boon to mankind. So be prepared to enter a future free from wires, already we enjoy (though we don't really 'enjoy' it in our campus) the luxury of wireless internet and who knows 5 years from now, we will finally be able to get rid of power cords and our mobile phones and laptops will truly become portable.

C ra zy Fi r e F o x

chrome://browser/content/browser.xul :: Opens another Firefox inside a tab in the the existing Firefox window. chrome://browser/content/preferences/preferences.xul :: Opens the Options dialog box inside the Firefox tab. chrome://browser/content/bookmarks/bookmarksPanel.xul :: Opens the Book Marks Manager inside a tab in the Firefox window. chrome://browser/content/history/history-panel.xul :: Opens the History Panel in the Firefox tab. chrome://global/content/alerts/alert.xul :: Dancing Firefox. chrome://browser/content/preferences/cookies.xul :: Opens the cookies window inside a tab in the Firefox window. chrome://browser/content/preferences/sanitize.xul :: Opens the Clear Private Data window inside the current tab. chrome://browser/content/aboutDialog.xul :: Opens the About Firefox Dialog box inside the tab. chrome://browser/content/credits.xhtml :: A scrolling list of names. The ones who we must thank for creating Firefox chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=extensions :: Opens the Extensions window in the current tab.

GEEK CROSSWORD

DOWN : 1.

Answers on Page 17 1 2

5 6

9 11

Protocol used by IEEE 802.11 devices for media acess control in DCF mode 2. 1 followed by one hundred zeros in decimal representation 4. Greek word for wisdom or 2007 prize winning search engine developed at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland in partnership with St. Petersburg State University, Russia 5. Who single handedly built the first Apple computer that launched the personal computing era? 7. What do we call people who register domain names with the hope of selling them for a profit? 8. XML orginated from this language 9. This inventor named his heating process after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, and was $200,000 in debt when he died 11. Processor architecture used by mobile handheld devices 12. Into how many zones are DVD's divided worldwide? 17. UNIX command or Tiger's wood peg

ACROSS :

16 17

6. 19

10. 13. 14. 15. 16. 18. 19.

HTTP is .... protocol in contrast to SMTP which is .... protocol A company of Indian origin that maintains tier 1 ISP, which is backbone of internet New API developed by Google to read out a home's electricity use over the course of a day HTML tag to override default text direction or summer music festival Down Under Programmers & ethicists write it What is the name of Linux's Mascot (a penguin)? The land of Opportunity Chess-playing computer developed by IBM that defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997? This is a file sharing aplication that uses hybrid of P2P and client-server architecture

(MAGLEV)

the next level of railways ---------------------------------------------

owadays in an era of increasing fuel crisis and ever-growing transportation needs, there is a need of a transportation system fast and fuel efficient. And the answer is in Maglev. Maglev transportation was first proposed more than a century ago, but the first commercial maglev train made its test debut in Shanghai, China, in 2002. The same lines made its first open-to-the-public commercial run about a year later in December of 2003. Several other countries have plans of building their own maglev trains .Maglev is a much better way to move people and freight than any other existing modes. It is cheaper, faster, not congested, and has a much longer service life. Maglev does not burn oil, but instead consumes electricity, which can be produced by coal-fire, nuclear, hydro, fusion, wind, or solar power plants (the most efficient source now being nuclear). As compared to a 10 kmph auto that carries 1.8 people (the national average) at around 100 kmph, at 240 kmph in the atmosphere Maglev consumes only 0.1 of a mega joule per passenger mile, which is just 2 percent of the energy consumption of a typical 100 kmph auto. Maglev has very high energy efficiency. Also Maglev vehicles are much quieter than autos, trucks, and airplanes. A maglev train rail system comprises three components: A large electrical power source, metal coils lining a guide-way or track and large guidance magnets attached to the underside of the train The magnetized coil running along the track, called a guide-way, repels the large magnets on the train's undercarriage, allowing the train to levitate between 0.39 and 3.93 inches (1 to 10 cm) above the guide-way. Once the train is levitated, power is supplied to the coils within the guide-way walls to create a unique system of magnetic fields that pull and push the train along the guide-way. The electric current supplied to the coils in

the guide-way walls is constantly alternating to change the polarity of the magnetized coils. This change in polarity causes the magnetic field in front of the train to pull the vehicle forward, while the magnetic field behind the train adds more forward thrust. Engineers have developed an electromagnetic suspension (EMS) system, called Transrapid. In this system, the bottom of the train wraps around a steel guide-way. Electromagnets attached to the train's undercarriage are directed up toward the guide-way, which levitates the train about 1/3 of an inch (1 cm) above the guide-way and keeps the train levitated even when it's not moving. Other guidance magnets embedded in the train's body keep it stable during travel. If the vehicle is pushed down towards the guide-way, the levitation force automatically increases, preventing contact. Japanese engineers are developing a competing version of maglev trains that use an electrodynamics suspension (EDS) system, which is based on the repelling force of magnets. The key difference between Japanese and German maglev trains is that the Japanese trains use super-cooled, superconducting electromagnets. Basically, superconducting magnets are extremely powerful and lightweight than permanent magnets. Since they have zero electrical resistance, therefore even when they carry currents of hundreds of thousands of amperes, their power consumption is zero. This kind of electromagnet can conduct electricity even after the power supply has been shut off. In the EMS system, which uses standard electromagnets, the coils only conduct electricity when a power supply is present. By chilling the coils at frigid temperatures, Japan's system saves energy. The Japanese trains levitate nearly 4 inches (10 cm) above the guide-way. One potential drawback in using the EDS system is that maglev trains must roll on rubber tyres until they reach a liftoff speed of about 100 kmph.

Quantum Computing The massive amount of processing power generated by computer manufacturers has not yet been able to quench our thirst for speed and computing capacity. Many have made predictions about the amount of computing power that would support our growing technological needs. However the large amounts of data generated by scientific research, the proliferation of personal computers and the emergence of the Internet have only fuelled our need for more, more and more computing power. Will we ever have the amount of computing power we need or want? If the number of transistors on a microprocessor continues to double every 18 months, the year 2020 or 2030 will find the circuits on a microprocessor measured on an atomic scale. And the logical next step will be to create quantum computers, which will harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations significantly faster than any silicon-based computer.

Quantum computing was first theorized less than 30 years ago. In 1981, Paul Benioff for the first time in history applied quantum theory to computers. He theorized about creating a quantum Turing machine. Most digital computers today are based on the Turing Theory. The Turing machine is a theoretical device that consists of tape of unlimited length that is divided into little squares holding a symbol (1 or 0) or left blank. A read-write device reads them & gives the machine its instructions to perform a certain program. Well, in a quantum Turing machine, the difference is that the tape exists in a quantum state, as does the read-write head. This means the symbols on the tape can be either 0 or 1 or a superposition of 0 and 1(for all points in between) at the same time. While a normal Turing machine can do one calculation at a time, a quantum Turing machine can perform many at once. Today's computers, like a Turing machine, work by manipulating bits that exist in one of two states: a 0 or a 1. Quantum computers aren't limited to two states; they encode information as quantum bits, or Qubits. Qubits represent atoms, ions, photons or electrons and their respective control devices that are working together to act as computer memory and a processor. Quantum computers have the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers. This superposition of qubits is what gives quantum computers their inherent parallelism. This parallelism allows a quantum computer to work on a million computations at once. A 30-qubit quantum computer would equal the processing power of a conventional computer that could run at 10 teraflops (trillions of floating-point operations per second). One problem with the idea of quantum computers is that if you try to look at the subatomic particles, you could bump them, and thereby change their value. To make a practical quantum computer, scientists have to devise ways of making measurements indirectly to preserve the system's integrity. This has solution in a process called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Entanglementâ&#x20AC;?. This allows scientists to know the value of the qubits without actually looking at them. The most advanced quantum computers have not gone beyond manipulating more than 16 qubits, far from practical application. Several key advancements have been made in quantum computing in the last few years. If functional quantum computers can be built, they will be valuable in factoring large numbers, and therefore extremely useful for decoding and encoding secret information. If one were to be built today, no information on the Internet would be safe. Our current methods of encryption are simple compared to the complicated methods possible in quantum computers. Quantum computers could also be used to search large databases in a fraction of the time that it would take a conventional computer. Other applications could include using quantum computers to study quantum mechanics, or even to design other quantum computers. But quantum computing is still in its early stages of development, and many computer scientists believe the technology needed to create a practical quantum computer is years away. Quantum computers must have at least several dozen qubits to be able to solve real-world problems, and thus serve as a viable computing method. Quantum computers could one day replace silicon chips, just like the transistor once replaced the vacuum tube. But for now, the technology required to develop such a quantum computer is beyond our reach. Most research in quantum computing is still very theoretical.

INVISIBILITY : IS IT POSSIBLE ?

J.K. Rowling would have never imagined that her idea of the “Invisibility cloak” could be tangible. A team of researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai claims that the unique fabric can now be fabricated by 'Muggles' and is no longer confined to the pages of fiction.

he key to its development is a suspension of silverplated nanoparticles in water, which majorly consists of balls of magnetite (Fe3O4) 10 nanometres in diameter, coated with a 5 nanometre thick layer of silver, possibly with polymer chains attached to keep them from clustering. The above proposition is backed by the following theory: In the absence of a magnetic field, such nanoparticles would simply float in water. If a field is introduced, the particles will assemble themselves into chains. The length of the chains will depend upon the strength of the magnetic field, and the chains can also attract one another to form thicker columns, acting as obstacles to light. This declaration has given the prospect of development of novel invisibility devices a new hope. This technology can be used to create gadgets that direct light around an object so that it appears as if nothing is there.

In a similar development, in December 2009, researchers at the FOM Institute in the Netherlands successfully managed to power an energy transfer between nano-electromagnets with the magnetic field of light for the first time in human history – planting a significant step forward in the evolution of magnetic 'meta-materials' - materials which are able to deflect light rays in every possible direction. These are made up of incredibly tiny U-shaped metal 'nano-rings', in which an electromagnetic field of light induces an alternating current, with the mini-magnet's north and south poles alternating 500 billion times per second. Till now, it seems it is only a matter of time before our highly ambitious, intellectual scientists are able to find a way to extract the 'Invisibility Cloak' from the world of wizardry and make it available to all of mankind. And once this is achieved, the use of such a marvel can only be limited by imagination.

UR Desktop understands UR Language

atural Language Processing (NLP) by machines has always been a desire for human race. Sometimes it is required to help physically challenged people and at other times it is required just as a fancy. Earlier the clause “Natural Language” in NLP used to be restricted to only the verbal and written languages, but now gestural language has also joined the race. Gestural language can have either 2D or 3D domain. ATM machines, camcorders, iPhones, etc are so much pervasive in our world that we hardly notice their uniqueness. But can you imagine playing games with motion of your hand or accessing internet by your hand movements (that is shifting from one web page to other by gestures). Recent advances have allowed for Motion Sensing Gaming and multi touch screens, but that's not the end of crave for technology and that's where NLP for gestural language in 3D domain comes into picture. Let's have a look at the latest advancements in technologies that can turn this uniqueness into reality… One such technology uses embedded optical sensors to track the movement of the user's fingers. This makes possible the movement of 3D objects whichever way we want to see them… great fun indeed. However the problem with this technology is that it involves having a roomful of expensive cameras or wearing tracking tags on your fingers. Wearing tracking tags in fingers is really burdensome. As far as cameras are concerned, they are generally offset from the center of the screen and don't work well at short distances. Thus they can't provide a seamless transition from gestural to touch screen interactions. Cameras set far enough behind

the screen can provide that transition, as they do in Microsoft's Second Light, but they add to the display's thickness and require costly hardware to render the screen alternately transparent and opaque. To overcome such limitations, recently goal of such technologies has shifted to incorporate the gestural display into a thin LCD device like a cell phone and to be able to use it without wearing gloves or anything of the sort. A recent technology that fulfills this goal requires an array of liquid crystals, as in an ordinary LCD display, with an array of optical sensors right behind it. The liquid crystals serve, in a sense, as lens, displaying a black-and-white pattern that lets light through to the sensors. However, instead of an LCD, an array of pinholes is placed in front of the sensors. Light passing through each pinhole will strike a small block of sensors, producing a low-resolution image. Since each pinhole image is taken from a slightly different position, all the images together provide a good deal of deep information about whatever lies before the screen. An array of liquid crystals could simulate a sheet of pinholes simply by displaying a pattern in which, say, the central pixel in each 19X19 block of pixels is white (transparent) while all the others are black. However, the problem with pinholes is that they allow very little light to reach the sensors.

REGISTRATION

THE INSIDE sTORY

Do you get frustrated when your Facebook chat shows 'sending' or when Gmail standard view doesn't load? And at some places in campus, even Channel I doesn't load during peak hours. Well this is a pretty grim situation but the recent effort by administration to register users is all aimed at bettering the situation. But will the situation actually improve or worsen cannot be said. So GEEK GAZETTE brings to you the inside story about the much hyped registration process.

he reason according to Mr. Naveen Shukla , Scientific Officer, ISC for this registration is that according to government policies, authentication of internet users is required to avoid cyber crimes, and in the present system anyone from outside the campus can use IITR wifi, so this unauthorized usage will now be a thing of the past. Sir also told us that in areas outside campus near Govind Bhawan, outsiders are using IITR wifi and the same situation exists near Azad and Rajendra Bhawan. Another reason for the implementation of this system is that the administration has full right to know who is surfing what which will be possible after registration process. The benefits of this new system will be that cyber crimes will be easily tracked and there will be no unauthorized use of net, hence bandwidth will not get shared unnecessarily. But like any other system this one too has its own shortcomings, like there is some ambiguity regarding the use of wifi from cell phones as two users will have to be registered for one student(which may or may not be possible). Also using net at places other than your bhawan will not be possible on your own laptop, though the services are expected to get centralized in later stages.

Recently there have been many rumours regarding limited download, but Mr. Naveen clarifies that neither any limits are being put nor any websites getting filtered. But regular monitoring will take place and anyone found guilty of cyber crimes will be strictly dealt with. Also now onwards the data transfer between the laptop and the router shall be encrypted. Another main concern is the degrading quality of hubs and routers, but Mr. Naveen revealed that though hubs and routers are getting older, they are of such quality that there is no need to replace them for another 3-4 years. Also another fact that we came across is that servers being used for the Bhawan internets are old Pentium 4 machines which is another reason for the poor performance of internet in the Bhawans. Currently almost all the Bhawans are now working under the encrypted internet scheme but the response has not been that good from the Bhawans. So finally, wishing us all luck for the new system of internet. Note : In case you are facing any problems with the internet contact ISC at extn number 5778

Grave Deeds of Great Scientists >>> Sir Humphrey Davy: A catalog of disasters Sir Humphrey Davy, the brilliant British chemist and inventor, got a very bumpy start to his science career. As a young apprentice he was fired from his job at an apothecary because he caused too many explosions! When he eventually took up the field of chemistry, he had a habit of inhaling the various gasses he was dealing with. Fortunately this bad habit led to his discovery of the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. But, unfortunately, this same habit led to him nearly killing himself on many occasions. The frequent poisonings left him paralysed for the remaining two decades of his life. During this time he also permanently damaged his eyes in a nitrogen trichloride explosion.

Karl Scheele died from tasting his discoveries Scheele was a brilliant pharmaceutical chemist who discovered many chemical elements â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the most notable of which were oxygen (though Joseph Priestley published his findings first), molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, and chlorine. He also discovered a process very similar to pasteurization. Scheele had the habit of taste testing his discoveries and, fortunately, managed to survive his taste-test of hydrogen cyanide. But his luck was to run out: he died of symptoms strongly resembling mercury poisoning.

Are you the one who has an illusion that you have discovered the whole of 360 acres campus of IIT Roorkee? Check this out, may prove you wrong.

INSTITUTE

INSTRUMENTATION

CENTRE Institute Instrumentation Centre (IIC), the heart of IIT Roorkee still remains unknown to many students of the institute. This centre was established in 1984 by the name of University Science Instrumentation Centre (USIC). The main reason for its initiation was to create a central repository of all the expensive instruments used for research in the institute.

Instruments at IIC can be used not only by people belonging to research community at IIT Roorkee, but also by outsiders at reasonable tariffs.

Reasons for Centralization of Instruments

1. S o p h i s t i c a t e d a n d e x p e n s i v e instruments require high level of maintenance which is not possible at each department individually. Staff at IIC is trained technically to maintain these instruments.

1. The sum total of costs of instruments at IIC is several crores of rupees. 2. SQID( Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device) is available only at 3 places in North India, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee. However, it is not freely accessible for research at these places except at IIT Roorkee. So, even people from IIT Delhi use the instrument at IIT Roorkee for their research work.

2. IIC is one of the few places in the institute which never ever experiences power outage because of the strong backup provided. 3. In general an instrument is bought to any institute because of the project requirements of a researcher. Later on the instrument can be used only by the researcher or by people having good relations with him. This restricts free accessibility of instruments to the researchers of the institute. So, centralization of the equipments helps in avoiding such problems. 4. Centralization of instruments promotes interdisciplinary research.

3. IIC is the only place in North India to possess EPMA(Electron Probe Micro Analyzer). IIC comprises of 3 autonomous units, namely ? Macromolecular Crystallographic Unit (MCU) ? Analytical Section ? Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Unit

Analytical Section This subunit of IIC provides the facility of characterization of substances. It is mainly used by the departments of Electrical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Metallurgy, Earth Sciences. Various instruments available at Analytical Section are as follows: 1. Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) – It is used to separate out isotopes of an element. A major application of this instrument is determination of age of a rock sample. The instrument at IIC can separate at most 5 isotopes at a time. 2. Lifetime Measurement System – This instrument is used to measure the amount of time that the electrons of the phosphorus coating of screens such as LCD and TFT will take to return back from excited state after stimulation. This instrument costs around Rs 40 lakhs. 3. Liquid Nitrogen Plant – Liquid nitrogen is required by almost all instruments at IIC. This plant generates liquid nitrogen from atmospheric nitrogen and thus saves our money and effort in purchasing liquid nitrogen from market. This plant costs around Rs 10 lakhs. 4. X Ray Diffractometer (XRD) – Three types of XRD are available at IIC a) Powder XRD – It is used for determination of crystal orientation and phase (hexagonal, cubic, rhombic, etc) of a sample. The cost of this instrument is around Rs 1.25 crores. b) Thin Film XRD – Sometimes film of sample is so thin that when one tries to obtain its graph from XRD one gets the spectrum for substrate instead. This instrument overcomes this problem by sending X-rays at grazing angle and by making the detector mobile. This instrument costs around Rs 80 lakhs. c) Single Crystal XRD – This instrument gives detailed information about the internal lattice of crystalline substances, including unit cell dimensions, bond-lengths, bond-angles, and details of site-ordering. 5. Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) – If any magnetic material is there then this instrument can detect it. The instrument at IIC can work with fields from -7 to +7 Tesla in temperature range of 1.9 K to 400 K and can give results with sensitivity of 10^-8 emu. The instrument at IIC is recently upgraded to ever cool technology from the earlier used liquid helium technology for cooling so there is no worry of emptying of cylinder. With this change the cylinder which needed to be replaced twice in a month earlier, now lasts for 2 years. This instrument costs around Rs 3 crores. 6. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) – Its use is same as that of SQUID, but it operates in temperature range of 77K to 300K and field range of -1 to +1 Tesla. 7. Instruments for elemental analysis - Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) is used for detection of surface morphology of a sample and for its elemental analysis as well. It costs around Rs 2 crores. Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA) is used for elemental analysis of solid samples or films. It is more accurate than XRD. 8. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) - It forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. It costs around Rs 1 crore. It comprises of 3 parts: a) Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) – It can be used for conducting surfaces and for non-conducting surfaces as well. b) Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) – It is used only for conducting samples. c) Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) – It is used to see magnetic domains in samples. 9. Gas Chromatography (GC) – It is used for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. It can be used for testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture (the relative amounts of such components can also be determined). 13

Macromolecular Crystallographic Unit MCU, which comprises of instruments with a total cost of Rs 4 crores, is used specifically to determine 3D structure of protein, DNA, RNA, virus and ribosome. Revelation of 3D structures of such molecules can be of great use. Firstly, it can be used in designing effective drugs with minimal side effects. Traditionally drug design was done using estimates. By knowing 3D structure of a virus we can know its active sites and manipulate it in order to activate or stop disease causing reactions. Thus we can design effective inhibitor for the virus. Furthermore MCU finds its application in agriculture too. In agricultural fields weeds grow along with crops and thus unnecessarily reduce the production. By obtaining 3D structures of enzymes responsible for growth of plants using MCU, we can design enzymes that can kill weeds but not crops. In addition MCU finds its application in bioremediation. Generally bacteria decompose wastes partially, but if we can get 3D structures of bacteria using MCU we can engineer bacteria in such a way that it can decompose waste materials completely. There are several other applications of MCU which makes it highly significant in our research institute. This unit is used mainly by departments of chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology, civil engineering and paper and pulp technology. Various instruments available at MCU are as follows: PCR – It is used for replication of DNA. Centrifuge – It is used to separate out debris and proteins. Sonicator - It is used to break a tissue into several samples. Purification system – It is used to separate out one protein from a group of proteins obtained using centrifuge. 5. Vibration free crystallization chamber – Protein atoms can't settle in periodic arrangement in presence of vibrations. So this instrument is used for proper crystallization of protein. 6. X-ray generator and detector – It is used for collection of data (related to phase and intensity of X-ray diffraction pattern) for structure analysis of the molecules. 7. Workstations which are used for modeling and simulation. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Unit This unit is used mainly by researchers of the departments of biotechnology, chemistry and chemical engineering. Three major instruments available here are as follows: 1. NMR Spectrometer – It is used for structural analysis of DNA, protein and similar organic compounds. It can also be used to study bindings between drug and DNA. At IIC the instrument is of frequency 500 MHz, whereas the highest frequency instrument yet is at France (installed last month only) with frequency of 1000 MHz and India's highest frequency installation is of 900 MHz. Greater is the frequency, greater will be the number of atoms in the sample for which it can work well and better will be the resolution of spectrum obtained. The instrument at IIC costs around Rs 4.8 crores. 2. Circular Dichroism Spectrometer – It is used to analyze secondary structure of protein and DNA. It costs around Rs 50 lakhs. 3. Electron Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometer (ESIMS) – It is used to obtain mass of a compound and that of its constituent ions.

TELE :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PORTATION Human Teleportation We are years away from the development of a human teleportation machine. Various Laws of physics would have to be violated to make this transporter. Firstly it would require travelling at the speed of light and secondly, a machine would have to be build that can pin point and analyse all of the 1028 atoms that make up the human body. This machine would then have to send this information to another location, where the person's body would be reconstructed with exact precision. Molecules couldn't be even a nanometre out of place, otherwise the person will arrive with some severe neurological or physiological defect. If such a machine were possible, it's unlikely that the person being transported would actually be "transported." It would work more like a fax machine -- a duplicate of the person would be made at the receiving end, but with much greater precision than a fax machine. One theory suggests that teleportation would combine genetic cloning with digitization. In this bio digital cloning, tele-travellers would have to die, in a sense. Their original mind and body would no longer exist. Instead, their atomic structure would be recreated in another location, and digitalization would recreate the traveller's memories, emotions, hopes and dreams. So the travellers would still exist, but they would do so in a new body, of the same atomic structure as the original body, programmed with the same information. But, in spite of all the hurdles in the way, scientists strongly feel that it can be made possible in future, thanks to the rapidly developing technical world. Teleportation has the capability of revolutionising the world and the way by which we travel.

ransportation today requires crossing a physical distance which may take any amount of time depending upon the starting and end points. But what if the physical distances were removed and within seconds we were to travel across the globe. As we enter into the fantasy land of such travelling, there are scientists working right now on such a method of travel, combining properties of telecommunications and transportation to achieve a system called T E L E P O R TAT I O N . Te l e p o r t a t i o n involves dematerialising an object at one point, and sending the details of that object's precise atomic configuration to another location, where it will be reconstructed. Initially, this idea existed only in fiction such as in Star Trek television series (1966-69). In 1993, the idea of teleportation moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the world of theoretical possibility. It was then that physicist Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible, but only if the original object being teleported was destroyed.

Teleportation: Recent Experiments In 1998, physicists at the California Institute of Technology, along with two European groups, turned the IBM ideas into reality by successfully teleporting a photon. The Caltech group was able to read the atomic structure of a photon, send this information across 1 meter of coaxial cable and create a replica of the photon. As predicted, the original photon no longer existed. Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle proved to be the main barrier for teleportation of objects larger than a photon. But then if you don't know the position of a particle, how can you teleport it? Here the phenomenon of ENTANGLEMENT was brought into use. In entanglement, at least three photons are needed to achieve quantum teleportation. Here, a photon A is teleported to another photon C through a third photon B which keeps C entangled providing its precise location. In 2002, researchers at the Australian National University successfully teleported a laser beam. The most recent successful teleportation experiment took place on October 4, 2006 at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Eugene Polzik and his team teleported information from a laser beam into a cloud of atoms. According to Polzik, "It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage mediumâ&#x20AC;?. The information was teleported about 0.5 meters.

CHEMISTRY it Is

V. Ramakrishnan Thomas A. Steitz

The last Indian origin recipient of the Nobel Prize was Dr. V.S. Naipul, who won it for literature back in 2001. The 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry jointly won by three scientists one of whom is of Indian origin makes it the first one for Chemistry. The three laureates Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, UK; Dr. Thomas A. Steitz, USA and Dr. Ada E. Yonath, Israel, received it “for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome”. Dr. Ramakrishnan now a US citizen was born in 1952 in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. Presently he is a structural biologist in MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Ada E. Yonath

The Central Dogma of life suggests that DNA makes RNA which in turn makes Proteins. During the translation process (RNA into Proteins), the ribosome reads the information in the messenger RNA and based upon this information it produces proteins. At the atomic level, mapping of ribosome is one of the cell's most complex machineries. It is only when translation occurs and proteins are synthesized that life reaches its full complexity. Dr. Yonath did her research through X-ray Crystallography. The ribosome is one of the most complicated protein/RNA complexes. It is divided into two parts, “the small subunit” and “the large subunit”. Each of the subunits consists of thousands of nucleotides and thousands of amino acids, which in turn consist of hundreds of thousands of atoms. Ada Yonath wanted to establish the exact location of each and every one of these atoms in the ribosome. In 1980, she had already managed to generate the first threedimensional crystals of the ribosome's large subunit. It took another 20 years of hard work before Ada Yonath managed to generate an image of the ribosome where she could determine the location of each atom. At the beginning of the 1990s, Ada Yonath's crystals had sufficient quality. The pattern of black dots (obtained by X-ray Crystallography) was detailed enough to determine the location of the atoms in the ribosome crystal. There remained a considerable obstacle, however. It was the “phase problem” of X-ray crystallography. This mathematical information is related to the location of the atoms in the crystal. A trick frequently employed by scientists in order to determine phase angles, is to soak the crystal in heavy atoms, e.g. mercury. The heavy atoms attach to the surface of the crystal's ribosome. By comparing the dotted patterns

from crystals with and without heavy atoms, scientists can establish the phase angle. However, as the ribosomes are so large, too many heavy atoms attached to the ribosome, and it was difficult to immediately determine the phase angle. It was Thomas Steitz who finally solved the problem. He used images of the ribosome, generated by Joachim Frank, a specialist in electron microscopy. With the help of those images, Thomas Steitz could find out how the ribosome were oriented and located within the crystal (but the resolution did not allow him to see individual atoms). This information, together with the information from the heavy atoms, finally yielded the phase angle.

In 1998, Thomas Steitz published the first crystal structure of the ribosome's large subunit. It resembled a dim photograph, and had a resolution of 9 Ångström. It was not possible to see individual atoms, but one could detect the ribosome's long RNA molecules. This was a decisive breakthrough. Now all that remained was to improve the crystals and collect more data, in order to increase the sharpness of the image. The Nobel Laureates reached the finishing line almost simultaneously. In August and September 2000, they published crystal structures with resolutions that allowed interpretation of the atomic locations. Thomas Steitz managed to obtain the structure of the arge subunit from Haloarcula marismortui. 16

Ada Yonath and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan obtained the structure of the small subunit from Thermus thermophilus. Thus it was possible to map ribosome functionality at the most basic, atomic level. A property of the ribosome, that has fascinated scientists for a long time, is that it seldom makes any errors when it translates DNA/RNA-language into protein language. If an amino acid is incorrectly incorporated, the protein can entirely lose its function, or perhaps even worse, begin to function differently. For the correct amino acid to be selected depends primarily on the base pairs formed between tRNA and mRNA (transfer and Messenger RNA respectively). Venkatraman Ramakrishnan's crystal structures of the ribosome's small subunit have been crucial for the understanding of how the ribosome achieves its precision. He identified something that could be described as a molecular ruler. Nucleotides in the small sub-unit's rRNA (ribosomal RNA) measure the distance between the codon (a set of three nucleotides) in mRNA and the anti-codon in tRNA. If the distance is incorrect, the tRNA molecule falls off the ribosome. Using the ruler twice, the ribosome double-checks that everything is correct. This ensures that errors only occur about once per 100 000 amino acids. The role of the large subunit in the ribosome is primarily to synthesize new protein. It triggers the peptide bond formation between the amino acids. Thomas Steitz has managed to freeze different moments of the chemical reaction. He has crystallized the large

subunit with molecules resembling those that are involved in peptide bond formation. With the help of these structures, scientists have been able to determine which of the ribosome's atoms are important to the reaction, and how the reaction occurs. The Laureates of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry have forged an understanding at the atomic level of how nature can transform something as simple as a four letter code into something as complicated as life itself. And research driven by curiosity can also, as so many times before, be of practical use. This time it proves useful in the search for new antibiotics. The three Nobel Laureates in chemistry have all produced structures that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. Some of them block the tunnel through which the growing proteins leave the ribosome; others prevent the formation of the peptide bond between amino acids. Still others corrupt the translation from DNA/RNA-language into protein language. Several companies now use the structures of the ribosome in order to develop new antibiotics. Some of these are currently undergoing clinical tests, in order to come to grips with the problem of multiresistant bacteria (e.g. MRSA).The understanding of the ribosome's structure and function is of great and immediate use to humanity. The discoveries that Ada Yonath, Thomas Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan have made, are important both for the understanding of how life's core processes function, and in order to save lives.

Grave Deeds of Great Scientists >>> Bonus Louis Slotin killed himself with an accidental fission reaction Canadian born Slotin worked on the Manhattan project (the US project to design the first nuclear bomb). In the process of his experimentation he accidentally dropped a sphere of beryllium on to a second sphere causing a prompt critical reaction (the spheres were wrapped around a plutonium core). Other scientists in the room witnessed a “blue glow” of air ionization and felt a “heat wave”. Slotin rushed outside and was sick. He was rushed to hospital and died nine days later. The amount of radiation he was exposed to was equivalent to standing 4800 feet away from an atomic bomb explosion. This accident prompted the end of all hands-on assembly work at Los Alamos.

Answers to Crossword ACROSS: 3.PullPush 6.TATACommunications 10.PowerMeter 13.BDO 14.Code 15.Tux 16.Mars 18.DeepBlue 19.Napster DOWN: 1.CSMACA 2.Googol 4.Sophia 5.SteveWozniak 7.CyberSquatters 8.SGML 9.GoodYear 11.RISC 12.EIGHT 17.TEE

i dyourself ot Make Your Own Speakers Items Required ? · Foam plate. ? · Two strips of paper. ? · Two business cards. ? · Copper wire, AWG 32 (enameled) ? · Tape. ? · Glue. (Hot glue works great) ? · Neodymium magnet ? A stereo or a mono plug

6. Make about 50 turns of wire (AWG 32). If you don't have copper wire AWG 32, then use AWG 30 but be sure the coil has at least 7 ohms. After you finish the coil, remove the magnet and the inner paper cylinder. Discard the inner paper cylinder and try not to damage the second one. The inner cylinder is only used to create a gap between the magnet and the coil. 7. Fold and Paste the Business Cards as shown :

PROCEDURE : 1. First, roll one strip of paper over the magnet. Use tape. Do not tape the paper to the magnet. 2. Roll the second paper strip over the first one. Do not tape the paper with the first roll.

8. Glue the cards to the foam plate. Try to align both parallel. 9. Put some glue on magnet and each business card.

3. Remove the magnet after the paper cylinder is ready. You should have something as shown:

10. Put the plate so that the business cards and the magnet stick to the base. The "base" can be a solid cardboard or wood. Anything flat and rigid works fine. I did use a cardboard. Using wood, the sound is better as wood vibrates less than cardboard.

4. Glue the paper cylinder to the plate. Try to glue it exactly at the center of the plate.

11. Check the wires, keep the wires away of the business cards otherwise it may cause some noise and/or a rattle noise. So try to keep both wires separated.

5. Start making the coil, keeping the magnet inside so that you don't crush the paper cylinder.

Testing The Speakers This step may help you to determine if the home-built speaker is working. Just touch the sides of ANY AA or AAA battery with both ends from the speaker wire. Do not hold the wires, just touch the battery sides slightly. While doing this, the speaker should produce a noise. If there is no sound coming from the speaker that means the wire setup is not good or there is a short circuit. Diagram shows how it is connected to the plug. If you are using a MONO plug, just connect one end of the wire to the center connector and the other end to the side connector of the plug.

If your speaker sounds Horrible, check: ? · Nothing touches the wires. The wires should move freely. ? · The cards are completely glued, apply glue on ALL AREAS and no corners are left unglued. ? · The coil has no loose wires. Try to keep the coil tight enough and secure it with glue or tape. Loose wire may vibrate and cause distortion. ? · The coil should not touch the magnet. Try to make the coil wider. Also, the coil should not touch the base of the speaker. ? · If the foam plate is too soft, it may not work well. It should not be folded, bent or have cuts. Loose parts can cause distortion. If the sound is not loud enough (don't expect miracles or it to be louder than a commercial speaker)

NanoSatellite : IIT Kanpur G

enerally the idea of a nanosatellite is confused with the concept of nanotechnology. Small processing unit nanosatellites are appealing because of their small size which make them affordable and open up the potential for a swarm of satellites. From a military perspective, a nanosatellite may be useful for the redundancy it could offer. Its small size might also help it avoid detection . One of the earliest uses of the term "nanosatellite" was by NASA in reference to their volleyball-sized Miniature Autonomous Extravehicular Robotic Camera (Mini AERCam) satellites, which weigh about ten pounds. Taking a big leap in its technological quest, IIT Kanpur has developed a nanosatellite which shall take high resolution photographs and hence is expected to provide real-time data on drought, flood, vegetation and forestation. The satellite, designed and developed by a group of students of the institute, will be handed over to ISRO, which is expected to launch it by the end of the year. In 2008, IIT Kanpur and ISRO signed a MoU under which the engineering institution was to build a nanosatellite. The satellite, costing Rs 2.5 crores, has been developed by a team of students led by Santanu Agrawal, an M. Phil. student. The nanosatellite, which is named 'Jugnu', has a mass of less than 10 kg. It will piggyback on larger launches, avoiding the need for a dedicated launch. IIT Kanpur embarked on this innovative venture after the ISRO started accepting satellites developed by other countries and universities. This satellite is not geosynchronous and will have low earth orbit. The data can be accessed when the satellite will be visible from the tracking station. The three kg satellite is one-foot long and 10 centimeter wide and will be launched by a Polar Satellite

Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota. Scientists from the institute informed that the satellite, which was handed over to the space agency at a function in the presence of President Pratibha Patil to celebrate the institute's golden jubilee, is expected to last for about a year and will help combat natural disasters like droughts and floods. The Nanosatellite of IITK would cater the following applications: 1. Micro Imaging System 2. GPS receiver for locating the position of satellite in the orbit 3. MEMS based IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) The Primary Objectives of the mission are: 1.To initiate research activities towards development of MEMS based Nanosatellite. 2.To test new low-cost solutions for the future cost effective space missions. 3.To set the path for future up gradations and study such validation concepts for possible up gradations. Long term Objectives of the mission are: 1.To develop competence in design, fabrication and usage of micro satellites. 2.Complement the development efforts of the country's satellite application requirements through technology development and validation at the micro satellite level 3. Development and training of human resources. 4.Strengthen activities in MEMS sensor based technology applications.

TRRAM

The new milestone of transparent electronic systems

Ever wondered you could use totally transparent electronic devices say computer monitors and televisions. Clear electronic devices may make your room or wall more spacious by allowing electronic devices to be consolidated and stacked in small clear spaces. The new transparent devices will drive electronics in a new direction. TRRAM (Transparent Resistive Random Access Memory) is basically the first and the most important part involved in making a transparent electronic device.

group of scientists at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have fabricated a working computer chip that is almost completely clear - the first of its kind. The new chip is similar in type to an existing technology known as complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory - common commercial chips that provide the data storage for USB flash drives and other devices. Like CMOS devices, the new chip provides "nonvolatile" memory, meaning that it stores digital information without losing data when it is powered off. The Korean team is also developing a TRRAM using flexible materials. By integrating TRRAM device with other transparent electronic components, a total see-through embedded electronic system can be created. Technically, TRRAM devices rely upon the existing technology known as Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM), which is already in commercial development. RRAM is built using metal oxide materials, which are transparent. TRRAM chip is built by sandwiching these metal oxide materials between equally transparent electrodes and substrates and hence it contributes to the transparent look of the RAM.

TRRAM will become one of the alternative devices to the current CMOS-based flash memory in the near future. The new devices have the potential to be manufactured cheaply because any transparent material can be utilized as substrate and electrode. They also may not require incorporating rare elements such as Indium. With transparent chips it will be possible to implement electronic hardware into the windshield of a car; it can be used in sunglasses or highly-fashioned transparent cell phones. It widens the area in which electronic devices can be implemented, making many concepts look much closer to the real life. Bendable screens, transparent chips all these improvemens are making electronics more flexible, stylish and easy to use. This development can truly revolutionize the world of modern devices and gadgets. But transparent chips have some disadvantages too. Transparent phones would be much easier to hide or lose, and soldering a fully transparent chip is also not easy. Also the durability of these chips is in question. So let us see how this technology works out. Though this technology doesn't have major disadvantages or drawbacks at present that may prevent it from being widely used but still it may take time for TRRAM to be used as a working prototype.

Grave Deeds of Great Scientists >>> Galileo Galilei blinded himself Galileo's work on the refinement of the telescope opened up the dark recesses of the universe for future generations, but it also ruined his eyesight. He was fascinated with the sun and spent many hours staring at it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; leading to extreme damage to his retinas. This was the most likely cause of his near blindness in the last four years of his life.

Marie Curie Died of radiation exposure In 1898, Curie and her husband, Pierre, discovered radium. She spent the remainder of her life performing radiation research and studying radiation therapy. Her constant exposure to radiation led to her contracting leukemia and she died in 1934. Curie is the first and only person to receive two Nobel prizes in science in two different fields: chemistry and physics. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris.

MOBILE CODES TIME TRAVEL ..................................... Have you thought that someone from the future might be standing right next to you or wondered sometime about travelling to the past and meeting your ancestors before your birth? It is possible through time travel. The foundation for the theoretical possibility of time travel was laid with the advent of Einstein's theory of relativity . Time is often defined as the fourth dimension of our universe. Space and time are woven together in a symbiotic manner in space-time continuum, which means that any event that occurs in the universe involves both space and time. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time slows as an object approaches the speed of light. Scientists have discovered that even at speed of space shuttle, astronauts can travel a few nanoseconds into the future. Some ideas can turn time travel into very much a reality. Cosmic Strings: These string-like objects that were formed in the early universe may line the entire length of the universe and are under immense pressure. These cosmic strings, which are thinner than an atom, would generate an enormous amount of gravitational pull on any object that would pass near them. Objects attached to a cosmic string could travel at incredible speeds, and because their gravitational force distorts space-time relation, they could be used for time travel. A spacecraft could be turned into a time machine by using the gravity produced by the two cosmic strings, or the string and black hole, to propel itself into the past. To do this, it would loop around the cosmic strings. Wormholes: These are another type of tunnel-like structure existing in the universe that could be used as a time travel portal. Wormholes, also called Einstein-Rosen Bridges, are considered to have large potential for time travel (if they do exist). Not only could they allow us to travel through time, they could also allow us to travel many lightyears from Earth in only a fraction of the amount of time that it would take us with conventional space travel methods. So the next time you see someone unnatural around you, he could be one from another time...

For mobile phones of all brands: *#06# : IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) Number. Information you get from the IMEI XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X TAC FAC SNR SP TAC = Type approval code of your mobile FAC = Final assembly code of your mobile SNR = Serial number of your mobile SP = Spare NOKIA *3370# - Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR) activation. Increase signal strength, better signal reception. It also help if u want to use GPRS and the service is not responding or too slow. #3370# - (EFR) deactivation. Phone will automatically restart. Increase battery life by 30% because phone receives less signal from network. *#92702689# - takes you to a menu where you may find some of the information below: 1. Displays Serial Number. 2. Displays the Month and Year of Manufacture 3. Displays (if there) the date where the phone was purchased. 4. Displays the date of the last repair - if found (0000) 5. Shows life timer of phone (time passes since last start) SAMSUNG Note - Some phones work with 0206 or 9998 in place of 8999. *#8999*8376263# : All Versions Together. *#8999*8378* : Test mode. You Can increase the speaker volume of your phone by changing values in audio settings. *#9998*523# or *#9998*0523# or *#0523# : Adjust Display Contrast *#875108# : Radio without headset SONY ERICSSON > * < < * < * : Service menu. > means press joystick or arrow keys to right < means press joystick or arrow keys to left LG Test mode : 2945#*# Secret menu : 2945*#01*# IMEI and SW : *#07# Software version : *8375# MOTOROLA *#300# OK List the Software and Hardware version *#307# OK Engineering Test Mode [pause] [pause] [pause] 1 1 3 [pause] 1 [pause] [ok] : To activate RBS(Radio Base Station): ([pause] means the * key held in until box appears) You now have to press the [MENU] and scroll to the 'Eng Field Options' function with the keys, and enable it. [pause] [pause] [pause] 1 1 3 [pause] 0 [pause] [ok] : To de-activate RBS. Uses of RBS: Distance From Base Station â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Place a call, when it is answered, press [MENU] until 'Eng Field Option' is displayed, press [OK], select 'Active Cell', press [OK], press [MENU] until 'Time Adv xxx' appears, where xxx is a number. Multiply this number by 550, and the result is the distance from the RBS (Radio Base Station), in meters. Signal Quality â&#x20AC;&#x201C; press [MENU] until 'Eng Field Option' is displayed, press [OK], select 'Active Cell', press [OK], press [MENU] until 'C1' appears. This is the signal quality. If it becomes negative for longer than 5 seconds, a new cell is selected. NotE -All the codes have to be typed when the phone is in idle mode.

Ultrafast Laser Technology On 16 Feb'10, Sae Chae Jeoung, a researcher with the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) delivered a lecture on 'Application of ultrafast spectroscopy and Âľ-processing in material and biomedicine' at the Placement Complex. This is a brief account of the lecture, as Pratul Yadav and Nitin Agarwal interview Dr. Jeoung... he talk began with light and the importance of coherence in laser technology. This area which has been a centre of research for many centuries dates back to 220 BC when sunlight was used in the 2nd Phoenix war to destroy enemies by concentrating the sunlight on enemy's ships. But as Dr. Jeoung says, the story doesn't end here and research is still under processing stage for using the same phenomenon in the development of a LASER weapon. LASER is also used in Chemical identification of very thin layered organic structures. In his present research with the help of laser, he was able to break a 10Âľm polystyrene bead into two parts suspended inside liquid. Time resolved laser flash photography can be used to capture the pictures of these beads. 'ns-laser' works as chisel and can be used to cut material slowly and accurately. Lasers can also affect the properties of material like shear stress and are used in various stages of solid plasma formation process viz. Photo Ionization, Inverse Bremstralung absorption, ion ionization, and avalanche of growth of electrons.

Further, Dr. Jeoung talked about another area of his research, the developments of optical tweezers, which lead to the study of optical interference and manipulation and measurement of material properties. An optical tweeze is a scientific instrument that uses a focused laser beam to provide an attractive or repulsive force (typically of the order of pico-newton), depending on the refractive index mismatch to physically hold and move microscopic dielectric objects. Several skin-related problems which occur due to old age can be solved using this technology in future. Also his lecture threw some light on PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) surface. PDMS belongs to a group of polymeric organo-silicon compounds which are commonly referred to as silicones. PDMS is the most widely used siliconbased organic polymer, and is particularly known for its unusual rheological (or fluid) properties. Its applications range from contact lenses and medical devices to elastomers; in shampoos (as dimethicone to make hair shiny and silky) to caulking, lubricating oils and heat resistant tiles. A small water droplet can move, rotate and bounce on PDMS surface without applying any external force. This surface is made by conjugated layers of different material properties. Dr. Jeoung concluded by mentioning the vast field and unlimited applications of laser in different areas of science which could soon develop into a huge area of study.

Grave Deeds of Great Scientists >>> Robert Bunsen blinded himself in one eye Robert Bunsen is probably best known for having given his name to the bunsen burner which he helped to popularize. He started out his scientific career in organic chemistry but nearly died twice of arsenic poisoning. Shortly after his near-death experiences, he lost the sight in his right eye after an explosion of cacodyl cyanide. These being excellent reasons to change fields, he moved in to inorganic chemistry and went on to develop the field of spectroscopy.