News

IndianExpress: ITS time to run again and in its 21st year, the Hutch Pune International Marathon will have over 30,000 participants. To be flagged off by Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, the participants will start from Khandojibaba Chowk, near Sambhajipool at Deccan Gymkhana, and finish at different points in the city. Governor of Bihar, R S Gavai, will give away the prizes at Nehru Stadium.

The run
The Marathon will have seven categories of runners. Participants in the wheelchair race (3 km) will be flagged off at 7.15 am, followed by those in the men’s marathon category (42.195 km). The women’s marathon (21.1 km), 10-kilometre run (men and women) and the under-19 (7.8 km), under-17 (5.5 km) and under-15 (4.4 km) categories will follow.

The senior citizens’ run, covering a distance of 3 km will be flagged off after that and the AIDS Charity Run will be flagged off at 8.30 am.

IndianExpress:  THE Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) will submit its report stressing on allocation of funds for rolling buses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

At the valedictory session of the two-day national workshop on Transport Infrastructure and Challenges for State Transport Units (STUs), programme coordinator Ashish Mishra from CIRT said the institution has a number of recommendations during the two-day workshop to be forwarded.

Apart from allocation of funds for rolling stock, Mishra said the state transport units would be asked to focus on macro issues and to increase the fleet size. It will also be highlighted that the motor vehicle and passenger taxes paid by several State Transport Units (STUs) should be reduced with provisions of tax concessions. Efforts should be made to increase the share of public transport in the automobiles plying on roads.

IndianExpress: THE Department of Biochemistry, Armed Forces Medical College, is hosting the 33rd National Annual Conference Association of Clinical Biochemists of India. With over 1,500 delegates from several countries in attendance, many renowned speakers will present their papers at the conference, which was inaugurated on Friday by Surgeon Vice Admiral VK Singh, director-general Armed Forces Medical Services and senior colonel commandant, Army Medical Corps.

Among those who will speak at the conference are Professor ZA Yang, president, Association of Clinical Biochemists, China, who will discuss recent research activities in China. Dr Peter Vervaat from Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, Australia will speak on ‘Direct measurement of Lipoprotein cholesterol’ while Dr Chris Lam from Hong Kong will speak on ‘Laboratory medicine of Infectious diseases’.

IndianExpress: FOREIGN students, tourists and those with long-term visas coming to Pune have to visit the Pune Police Commissionerate and register themselves at the Foreigners’ Registration Office (FRO) within 24 hours of their arrival. Others who want extension of visas, have to wait for days on end.

The procedure at the FRO is long-winded and tedious, with foreigners having to make several trips to complete all the formalities. Complaints about corrupt officials have often surfaced. All this is set to change in the next fortnight. The FRO has launched the Foreigners’ Record Management Software (FRMS) facility to make the entire system transparent and cut down on time by eliminating manual and paper work. The office recently digitised passport and visa records of over 15,000 foreigners.

IndianExpress:  CLOSE on the heels of the explosion at Pimpri, the Government Railway Police on Friday carried out surprise checks on the Pune-Mumbai Pragati Express, Hyderabad-Mumbai-Hyderabad Express, Chennai-Dadar Express and Nizamuddin-Kolhapur Express trains.

Inspector Ram Kondhalkar said the checks were carried out between 7.15 am and 10.15 am and would continue to curb thefts and sabotage. Supervised by Superintendent of Police Vitthal Jadhav, a team of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, an inspector, four assistant inspectors and 100 constables carried out the checks.

TechTree: Now, Prostheses can benefit from advancements in technology… At the upcoming “Texas Instruments Developers’ Conference India” to be held on Nov 30 and Dec 1 at Bangalore, Texas Instruments (TI) willl showcase the world’s first thought-controlled Boston Digital Arm or “Bionic Arm”.

The brainchild of Massachusetts-based Liberating Technologies, the “Bionic Arm” is driven using electrical/myoelectric signals sent from the brain, helping amputees rotate the wrist and arm, bend at the elbow, grip with the hand - everything just like a normal person would.

Its TI’s TMS320C2000 DSP-based digital signal controllers that provide the “Bionic Arm” with control-optimized performance and integration for processing signals from myoelectric sensors for controlling up to five motors, thereby allowing users perform tasks such as reaching for and grabbing an object at one and the same time.

TechTree: Asus has announced its S6 Leather Notebook  Series in the country, which is a fusion of technology and exquisite craftsmanship, promising to be the ultimate in digital fashion.

The S6 series sports hand-embossed leather, jeweled hinges, and polished keyboards, and according to Asus, is set to transform mere notebooks into something more human.

Andrew Tsui, Managing Director of Asus India, said, “The S6 leather notebook emphasizes our approach towards digital fashion. Brand and style matter to people as much as the technology itself, hence this unique offering by ASUS.”

BetaNews: Firing a shot over Adobe’s bow, Google on Wednesday launched a Web-based application for reading books digitized by the company’s Book Search project. Like Google Maps and Gmail, the interactive tool works directly in a Web browser and supports zooming as well as a fullscreen mode.

Books that are available through the search can still be downloaded in PDF format, but Google’s online utility replaces the need for the bulky Adobe Reader. Users can switch to a two-page view that appears like a physical book, or read one page per screen like a standard Web page. Scrolling through the book is instant using the mouse.

On the right side of the page, users can find a search and table of contents that lets them jump through to different sections of a book, as well as links to purchase the book from a number of online retailers. Google has also linked the application up to Google Scholar so users can locate works that reference the book.

TechTree: Scientists from India and the UK have reportedly decided to hold a joint program on Nano-science and Nano-technology.

Nano-science is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular, and macro-molecular levels, where properties differ significantly from those of materials and phenomena at macro levels. Nano-technology is the design, characterisation, production, application, and structure of this Science.

There is a huge investment coming from around the world towards Nano-technology as it can be used in a number of devices such as computer memory, digital cameras, mobile phones, flash drives, etc. On an international level, the Science attracts an investment of more than $10 billion.