Omega 3?

What is Omega 3? Two fats, which are essential to good health, are called Omega 3 and Omega 6. These belong to a family of polyunsaturated fatty acids known as “essential fatty acids” or EFAs. These fats are vital for good health and normal growth. These are called “essential” because the body cannot manufacture these fats, or store much of these fats. These fats have to be taken through the diet. In other words, they have to be eaten regularly. To make matters more complicated — Omega 3 and 6 only maintain their status as “Good Fats” when these are eaten in the right balance.
The typical diet that our children eat contains too much of Omega 6 and too little of Omega 3 fats. That’s way we need to increase our intake of Omega 3 in isolation, as our Omega 6 intake is normally sufficient. Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA) is the principal Omega 3 fatty acid, which a healthy human being will convert into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and later into docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and the gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) synthesised from linoleic (Omega-6) acid are later converted into hormone-like compounds known as eicosanoids, which aid in many bodily functions, including vital organ functions and intra-cellular activity.
Omega 3s are used in the formation of cell walls, making the walls supple and flexible, and improving circulation and oxygen uptake with proper red-blood cell flexibility and function. Omega 3 deficiencies are linked to decreased memory and mental abilities, tingling sensation of the nerves, poor vision, increased tendency to form blood clots, diminished immune function, increased triglycerides and “bad” cholesterol (LDL) levels, impaired membrane function, hypertension, irregular heartbeat, learning disorders, menopausal discomfort, itchiness on the front of the lower leg(s), and growth retardation in infants, children and pregnant women.

It was found that:

l Daily supplements of Omega 3 fatty acids will boost the brain development of children by three years in only three months. Scans showed their brains developed three years in as many months as nerve fibres grew additional branches.

l Children given capsules of Omega 3 grew additional “grey matter” which helps intelligence.

l Brain scans, which showed the evidence of changes, were reinforced by results in tests of reading, concentration and short-term memory.

l Children, who took part in the study, increased their reading ability by an average of a year and a quarter during the Omega 3 trial. The average increase in their reading age was a year and a quarter and their handwriting became more accurate

Tall claims

l Most of the cooking oils lay tall claims as being Omega 3 rich but the truth is that, either their percentage of Omega 3 is too less or the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 is badly skewed. The lower the ratio, the better the oil.

l Here are the Omega 3 content and ratios of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids in some common cooking oils:

l Canola oil like Jivo (content 11 per cent), Ratio 1:2

l Olive oils like Figaro and Leonardo (1 per cent), 1:13

l Sunflower oils like Sundrop and Sweekar (1 per cent), 1:71

l Safflower oils like Saffola 1:88

l Soybean oils like Fortune and Nature Fresh (7 per cent), 1:7

l Corn oils (1 per cent), 1:57

l Groundnut oils (negligible Omega 3) and

l Palm oils like Ruchi Gold (negligible Omega 3).

l Typical Western diets provide ratios between 1:10 and 1:30 - i.e., dramatically higher levels of Omega 6.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing refers to the use of multiple server-based computational resources through a digital network. In cloud computing, applications are provided and managed by the cloud server and data is also stored remotely in the cloud configuration. Users do not download and install applications on their own device or computer; all processing and storage is maintained by the cloud server. The online services may be offered from a cloud provider or by a private organisation. It operates on a pay-per-use model, helping companies to cut costs as they do not have to invest heavily in infrastructure.
Citing healthcare as an example where cloud services could come in handy, he said a national depository of health records could be created. The health data could be accessed by the hospitals or health practitioners through authentication. They could also update the records in future and these could be linked to insurance companies to process claims.

PRITHVI II

India on Thursday test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa as part of the user trial by the Army.

“The missile mounted on a mobile launcher was test-fired from the launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 0905 hours”, defence officials said on Thursday.

With a maximum striking range of 350 km, the missile is capable of carrying a pay-load of 500-1000 kg warhead.

“Prithvi-II missile had proved its robustness and accuracy during many trials earlier,” an official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.

“Taken from routine production lot during earlier users trials by the Army, the missile had achieved single digit accuracy reaching close to zero circular error probability (CEP),” they said.

The missile, which has features to deceive any anti ballistic missiles, had demonstrated flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km in 2008 users trial.

Similarly, as a part of the operational exercises by Armed forces, two Prithvi-II missiles, aimed at two different targets at 350 km from launch point of ITR, at Chandipur were successfully launched within minutes of each other on 12^thOctober 2009 and all the mission objectives were met.

The sleek missile once again proved its accuracy when the user, tried it in a salvo mode on 27^thMarch and 18^th June 2010 from Chandipur.

It was the fourth successful Prithvi-II flight within a period of eight months.

The test firing of the surface-to-surface missile, which has already been inducted into Indian armed forces, was a routine trial conducted by the personnel of “strategic force command” (SFC), defence officials said.

“The trial was conducted in the presence of senior officials as part of routine training exercises,” they said.

‘Prithvi’, the first ballistic missile developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), is propelled by liquid propulsion twin engine.

With a length of nine meter and one meter diameter, Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial navigation system with manoeuvring trajectory.

PSLV@17

IN the normal course, the launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Wednesday should have been a routine affair, considering that 16 other launches before it had been successful. In fact, only the first launch before that – way back in 1993 – was a failure and since then PSLV had become the workhorse of ISRO. What made every scientist watch the launch with bated breath was the fact that the last two launches of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) last year were failures and had anything gone wrong with the PSLV as well, it would have meant a serious loss of face. However, nothing of that sort happened and the PSLV put three satellites in orbit in a copybook fashion, with Director of the Liquid Propulsions Systems of ISRO S. Ramakrishnan describing the success as a “sweet seventeen” (referring to the 17th successful launch).

This morale-booster will hopefully help ISRO headed by K. Radhakrishnan in removing the glitches in the GSLV – which can carry much heavier payloads into the orbit. In the GSLV, the top two stages of the PSLV have been replaced with a cryogenic stage and the latter’s six solid-propellant strap-ons have been replaced with four Vikas-engine based ones. What must be remembered is that the first two launches of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) in late 1980s were also failures, but contributed considerably to the success of the PSLV which followed.
The PSLV will provide vital information about the natural resources, the state of snowcap and glaciers, changes in coastal areas and water bodies, among other inputs. It is a “global mission” indeed, considering that the remote-sensing images of the Resourcesat-2 satellite that it has put in orbit would be used by countries across the world. The PSLV is now the most reliable and cost-effective rocket in the world. Three more launches of it are scheduled this year, to be followed by a launch of the GSLV.

Renewable Energy In India

As per various studies undertaken in past, a potential of about 89,000 MW for power generation from different renewable energy sources is estimated excluding solar energy which has been estimated for most parts of the country at around 20 MW per square kilometer of open, shadow free area covered with solar collectors.

A total grid interactive renewable power generation capacity of around 18842 MW has been set up as on 31.01.2011, which is over 11% of the total power generation installed capacity from all sources in the country.

The initial capital investment in renewable energy projects is generally high and their viability is very much region / site specific. As such, the cost of renewable power generation is generally higher in comparison with the traditional sources.A capacity addition of 12,300 MW grid-interactive renewable power (comprising 9000 MW wind power, 1400 Small Hydro power, 1700 MW Biomass power, 80 MW Urban/ Industrial Waste-to-power and 50 MW Solar power) is targeted during the 11th Plan period based on Mid Term Appraisal. Against this target, around 5,282 MW capacity (comprising 3,797 MW wind power, 547 MW Small Hydro power, 917. MW Biomass power, 20 MW Urban/ Industrial Waste-to-power and 1 MW Solar power) has been set up during the plan period upto 31.10.2009.

Based on various studies and surveys, a potential of around 90,000 MW eq for power generation from different renewable energy sources (excluding solar) in the country has been estimated which include 48,561 MW from wind, 14,294 MW from small hydro and 26,367 MW from bio-power. The potential for solar energy is estimated for most parts of the country at around 20 MW per square kilometer of open, shadow free area covered with solar collectors.

DEVELOPMENT OF HYDROGEN FUEL

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing a broad based research, development and demonstration programme on hydrogen production, its storage and utilization as an alternative fuel for transport and decentralized power generation applications. The programme is being implemented through various academic and research organizations; laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; and public and private sector industry. As a result of these efforts, laboratory scale prototypes of hydrogen operated motorcycles, three-wheelers, small generators, catalytic combustion cookers and some fuel cell based systems have been developed and demonstrated.

A development cum demonstration project for use of hydrogen (up to 30% by volume) in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as fuel for automotive vehicles is under implementation through the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, New Delhi; R&D Centre of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Faridabad and five automobile manufacturers. In addition, IOCL has set up two hydrogen production and dispensing stations, one each at Faridabad in Haryana and at Dwarka in New Delhi. These stations are presently being used for providing hydrogen blended CNG fuel for some demonstration and test vehicles.

POWER FROM WASTE :

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is promoting setting up of projects on Energy Recovery from Urban and Industrial Wastes including garbage. The technologies being presently used are bio methanation and combustion followed by biogas engines or steam turbines for power generation.

The cost of power generation from urban and industrial wastes is about Rs.2.50 to Rs.4.00 per unit of electricity depending upon the type of wastes and the technology deployed. These costs are competitive with cost of power generated from conventional sources.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is supporting setting up of Waste-to-Energy projects under the programmes on municipal solid waste, other urban wastes and industrial wastes. The programmes provide for central financial assistance for setting up of Waste-to-Energy projects and other promotional measures such as capacity building and awareness creation. However, non-availability of source-segregated garbage is the main constraint in development of projects on power generation from municipal solid wastes. A total of 36 projects with an aggregate capacity of 83.13 MW power from urban and industrial wastes have so far been set up in the country.

FIRST PHASE OF SOLAR MISSION

Government has recently approved Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to develop solar energy technologies to make solar power competitive to conventional grid power. It aims at creating capacity of 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW of off-grid solar power including 20 million solar lights by 2022. In addition, it aims at installation of 20 million square metre solar thermal collector area by 2022. The Mission will be implemented in three phases. Government has approved the target, for the first phase of the Mission, to set up 1,100 MW grid connected solar plants, including 100 MW capacity plants as rooftop and small solar plants. In addition, 200 MW capacity equivalent off-grid solar applications and 7 million square metre solar thermal collector area are also proposed in the first phase of the Mission, till 2012-13. Mission will also support research and capacity building activities in solar energy. An amount of Rs. 4,337 crores has been approved for the first phase of the Mission

TIDAL ENERGY

A study was undertaken for the assessment of tidal energy potential in the country. According to the study, there is an estimated potential of tidal energy of the order of 8000 MW in the country. This includes about 7000 MW in the Gulf of Cambay and 1200 MW in the Gulf of Kutch in the State of Gujarat and about 100 MW in the Gangetic Delta in the Sunderbans region in the State of West Bengal.

The Ministry sanctioned a demonstration project for setting up 3.75 MW capacity tidal energy power plant at the Durgaduani Creek in Sunderbans region to West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA), Kolkatta. The project is being executed by NHPC Ltd.

The State Government of Gujarat formed a Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with public private partnership and sponsored a study for large scale exploitation of tidal energy across the coastline of Gujarat. One MoU for commissioning of 50 MW Tidal Power Project has been signed by M/s. Atlantis Resource Corporation (U.K.) and Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd., Govt. of Gujarat.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy considers providing financial incentives upto 50% of the cost to the State Government implementing Agencies for the development of tidal energy projects on cost sharing basis as technology demonstration projects in accordance with its R&D policy guidelines.

The country’s wind power potential has been estimated be 48,000 MW. A total of 10,904 MW wind power capacity has been installed in the country so far. Government has been promoting commercial grid connected wind power projects through private sector investment in wind potential states by providing fiscal incentives, loan from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and other financial institutions. Technical support, including detailed wind resource assessment to identify further potential sites, is provided by Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Chennai. This apart, preferential tariff is being provided to increase wind energy investment in the potential States. Recently, Government has approved a Generation Based Incentive for wind power projects to run concurrently with the benefit of accelerated depreciation but in a mutually exclusive manner during the 11th Plan.

Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant

Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant derived its name From Jaitapur lighthouse which is mentioned in many international maps. Government of India has decided to promote nuclear power at a large scale in view of rapidly rising demand for electricity, limited and depleting fossil resources, environmentally benign and safe nature of nuclear power etc. Accordingly, Government of India accorded its sanction in October 2005 to set up the Nuclear Power Plant at Jaitapur besides three other locations.

Technical and Economic Reasons for Selection of  Jaitapur Site

The Site Selection Committee recommended setting up a nuclear power plant at Jaitapur, based on the suitability of meeting criteria like  which include availability of land vs. population density, available source of cooling water , seismicity, safe-grade elevation at site (flood analysis etc), environment aspects and proper access for transportation of heavy/over-dimensional equipment to plant site. Along with these conditions and based on some other considerations the Government approved Jaitapur site for the establishment of the NPP.

The site selection for is carried out by the Site Selection Committee, notified by the Government of India which selects site for  setting up a nuclear power plant, revied various parameters as per the requirements laid down in the code of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and the laid-down criteria.

Earthquake-prone Site

The Jaitapur site is not considered earthquake-prone. As per seismic zoning map of Government of India, Jaitapur site falls within zone III. The longitude and latitude of the land covered for Jaitapur nuclear power project are given below:

Latitude of JNPP site: 16° 34’ 38” N to 16° 36’ 29” N

Longitude of JNPP site: 73° 19’ 02” E to 73° 20’ 48” E

As per the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) codal requirement, there should not be any active fault within 5 km radius from the proposed site of an NPP. Further, based on the studies carried out by various government institutes/ organisations, there is no active fault found up to 30 km radius from JNPP site. Hence, the site is not considered earthquake-prone. This is to further confirm that based on the available data of seismicity prevailing in the geographical region, all the structures, buildings and equipments of JNPP would be designed to qualify the “ground motion acceleration”

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of project are-

i) The project will augment electricity generation in the country, in a benign and environment-friendly way, which is the need of the hour.

ii) Development of areas around project site.

iii) Direct and indirect employment opportunities.

iv) Contribution of National Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) in social and community development of surrounding areas, especially nearby villages, in the field of education, health and infrastructure facilities.

Generation Capacity of JNPP

One unit of 1650 MWe plant operating at full capacity shall generate 36-39 million units per day. Presently, generation capacity of six units is 1650 MWe capacity each. Evolutionary Pressurised Reactors (EPR) from AREVA, France is under consideration of the Government of India.

Number  of Reactor Units

There will be six reactor units of 1650 MWe each at JNPP. The distance between each adjacent reactor unit is planned to be 250-300 meters.

Completion of Project

5 to 6 months’ time is required to declare commercial operation after completion of construction. The time required for completion of each unit is approximately six years  from the start date. Approximately all the six units of 1650 MWe each will be constructed in a twin-unit mode in phased manner and implemented in a period of 15-18 years.

Life Span of Each Plant

The guaranteed life of the proposed plant is 60 years.

Type of Fuel

This plant will be “PWR-type”, based on enriched uranium fuel. Irrespective of the fuel type, all the safety guidelines based on International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)/Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) regulations are strictly adhered to by NPCIL to ensure that there is no adverse effect on environment, health and life of people through air, sea and land as a result of the operation of the NPP.The uranium will be supplied by AREVA, France, which will be also supplying the reactor units.

Source of Fresh Water

The fresh water requirement of the plant units and the proposed residential complex of JNPP will be met from a desalination plant facility installed by (NPCIL).

Indian Space Programme- Unique Facts

The desire to probe the mysteries of nature and the universe is as old as the universe itself. It is this spirit of inquiry that has propelled humankind towards progress. This was understood very early on by our founding fathers, and they went out of their way to promote a scientific temper among our youth.

For one, it is completely indigenous, adapted to suit our needs and conditions. It has achieved self-reliance in the areas of design and development of satellites, launch vehicles and provision of space based services to the people. Indigenously developed satellite systems for earth observations and communications have become the mainstay of our space infrastructure.

Secondly, we have proved all those wrong who claimed that a space programme is a luxury that developing nations cannot afford. Our space programme has, in fact, helped us to leapfrog in technology and bring significant social, economic and industrial transformation to the most remote areas. With relatively modest financial outlays, we have put in place a space infrastructure that touches every aspect of an ordinary citizen’s life. It has reduced uncertainties and ignorance, and shrunk time and distance. It has brought Indians closer to each other than we have ever been.

Thirdly, our programme has generated widespread spin-offs in other fields of science and technology and in industry. ISRO has played a leadership role in the indigenization of strategic materials, increase in the level of technological skills and encouragement of a culture of partnership between government and the private sector.

Lastly, our space programme has earned international repute. We have achieved global standards in space technology and its applications. Recently, a visiting dignitary told me how impressed all the ASEAN countries were with our capabilities, and want to expand their cooperation with us in the field of space. I felt very proud to hear this.

The Indian National Satellite System is one of the largest constellations of communication satellites in the Asia Pacific region. Indian Remote Sensing satellites provide high resolution imaging capability not only over India, but also other parts of the globe. Our launch capabilities are recognised globally. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has had sixteen successful flights and put forty four satellites in orbit, twenty five of which belong to foreign parties. India has emerged as a world leader in building versatile satellites, such as the recently launched OCEANSAT-2.

Benefits of Space Technology

Large scale poverty is the foremost challenge facing our country. The unfortunate truth is that the fruits of our growth are not equally shared among different segments of our society. We have to be acutely conscious of regional disparities and imbalances within the country, and address the inequalities that exist.

Space based applications are a very potent means of bridging these divides in our society. It is therefore necessary that we work towards reducing the cost of access to space. This requires expediting the development of heavy lift launchers, advanced propulsion systems, including the cryogenic stage, and recoverable and reusable launch systems. We should pay greater attention to the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Programme.

As our economy expands, there will be growing pressure on our resources, whether it is land, water or minerals. Remote sensing applications for such purposes will be critical. Simultaneously, the processes of urbanization will gather speed and we will have to face the challenge of management of urbanization.

Food security and self-sufficiency in agriculture, particularly paying special attention to the needs of the small and marginal farmers, remains yet another fundamental goal.

In such a scenario, managing the environment and tackling climate change will be major challenges. Our disaster warning and response capabilities will have a major impact on livelihood security for our people. The role of space based observation systems, development of newer class of environment and monitoring sensors and study of weather related phenomena assume great importance in this regard.

Taken together, the space programme has a vital role to play in making the concept of sustainable development a reality.

The other major goal before us is the socio-economic empowerment of our people. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment, which was the brainchild of this Centre, demonstrated for the first time how space technology could be used for broadcasting and for reaching the benefits of education to the village level. Although we have come a long way since then, there is much more that needs to be done. Tele-education, tele-medicine and Village Resource Centre services deserve high priority. ISRO’s contribution to the monitoring of programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Accelerated Benefit Irrigation Programme and Bharat Nirman for regeneration of our rural economy is laudable.

Empowerment requires that we ensure space services are available to all sections of society. Access to information should be easy. In the years ahead ISRO should make a conscious effort to reach out to beneficiaries and consumers of space products so that they can extract maximum advantage from the technology that is available in the country.

The information and communications revolution is upon us. It is changing the lives of millions of our people across cities, towns and villages faster than we could have imagined. This transformation has been made possible in large measure due to the space infrastructure you have built. We should aim to master newer technologies for more sophisticated communication satellites. For example, satellite based broadband internet services could bring about a new technological revolution that directly benefits rural and remote areas.

ISRO is aiming to achieve self-reliance in the area of navigation through the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. This will enable secure transport and better air traffic management and search and rescue operations.

There have been some aberrations and setbacks in the space programme in the recent past. These are being dealt with in accordance with laid down procedures. It is however important that you work with renewed dedication, sincerity and zeal to fulfil the high expectations we have from our space programme.

“SAGA-220″ -India’s fastest supercomputer

Indian Space Research Organisation has built a supercomputer, which is to be India’s fastest supercomputer in terms of theoretical peak performance of 220 TeraFLOPS (220 Trillion Floating Point Operations per second). The supercomputing facility named as Satish Dhawan Supercomputing Facility is located at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram. The new Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) based supercomputer named “SAGA-220″ (Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS) is being used by space scientists for solving complex aerospace problems. The supercomputer SAGA-220 was inaugurated by Dr K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO today at VSSC.

“SAGA-220″ Supercomputer is fully designed and built by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre using commercially available hardware, open source software components and in house developments. The system uses 400 NVIDIA Tesla 2070 GPUs and 400 Intel Quad Core Xeon CPUs supplied by WIPRO with a high speed interconnect. With each GPU and CPU providing a performance of 500 GigaFLOPS and 50 GigaFLOPS respectively, the theoretical peak performance of the system amounts to 220 TeraFLOPS. The present GPU system offers significant advantage over the conventional CPU based system in terms of cost, power and space requirements. The total cost of this Supercomputer is about Rs. 14 crores. The system is environmentally green and consumes a power of only 150 kW. This system can also be easily scaled to many PetaFLOPS (1000 TeraFLOPS).

New developments in Indian space programme

In a morale-boosting success for its space programme after two consecutive GSLV setbacks,India put into orbit its sophisticated remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 and two micro satellites carried onboard its workhorse PSLV-C16 rocket from Sriharikota.

In a textbook launch, ISRO’s trusted PSLV in its 18th flight hurled the three satellites into an 822-km polar sun synchronous orbit a little over 18 minutes after lift-off in clear skies from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, 90 kms north of Chennai.

India’s advanced communication satellite, GSAT-8, was successfully launched at 02:08 hrs IST ON May 21, 2011 by the Ariane-V launch vehicle of Arianespace from Kourou. French Guiana. Ariane V placed GSAT-8 into the intended Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) of 35,861 km apogee and 258 km perigee, with an orbital inclination of 2.503 deg with respect to equator.

ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka acquired the signals from GSAT-8 satellite immediately after the injection. Initial checks on the satellite have indicated normal health of the satellite. The satellite was captured in three-axis stabilisation mode. Preparations are underway for the firing of 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) during the third orbit of the satellite on May 22, 2011 at 03:58 hrs IST as a first step towards taking the satellite to its geostationary orbital home