27 c
27 b
27 a
26 b
26
NGO’s free plasma service
Mercy Mission, a coalition of NGOs working for COVID-19 relief in Bengaluru, that runs a helpline to meet plasma needs of COVID-19 patients, has sourced 400 units so far. It has partnered with Bangalore Medical Services Trust (BMST TTK blood bank) and Healing Touch, an NGO to provide the free service.
Safeer Mohammed, a volunteer with Mercy Mission, told The Hindu that over 70% of their donors are volunteers themselves. “We prioritise requests for plasma and to ensure the request is authentic, we do a thorough check,” he said. “We cater to patients’ requests round the clock and do not ask for replacements.”
Patients can contact the Covid Plasma Helpline 080-47191133 (press 2)/ +91 8792025246.
Individuals can also visit Mercy Mission’s Twitter page (MercyMission1) or websites -http://healingtouch-society. comandhttps://covidhelpline bangalore.com/
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – October 22nd, 2020
Before Maruti 800, there was the quirky Sipani Dolphin, a hit in motorsport circuits
The Dolphin’s two-door design and fibreglass body were some features that made it a hit among racing enthusiasts.
Much before the era of luxury cars in India, a small Bengaluru-based car manufacturer began rolling out a two-door car modelled after the British-made Reliant Kitten. The car came with a fibreglass body, power steering, air-conditioning and a four-cylinder engine with a four-speed manual transmission.
Sometime in between the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sipani Dolphin was launched by Sipani Automobiles Ltd, formerly Sunrise Automotive Industries, which has today diversified into real estate, fabrics and various other industries. According to the company website, the Dolphin was “technically the most advanced car in India at that time”. The company had earlier made the three-wheeled Sipani Badal, designed after the British-made Reliant Robin.
However, the Dolphin had its own appeal and, since it was launched before the Maruti 800, did not face much competition in the market immediately. As one Bengaluru resident remarked, “In its day Dolphin was the queen of the road… Heads would turn when I would take the car out.”
A hit in the motorsport circuit
The Dolphin’s two-door design not only spared parents the need for child locks, but also made it a hit among the motorsport circuit, mainly in the South of India. Racing drivers such as Vicky Chandok popularised the Dolphin after taking it out for a spin at the Rallye d’Endurance and the South India rally. In fact, Ramesh Sipani, son of company head RK Sipani, completed the 1982 Karnataka-1000 rally sitting in none other than the Dolphin.
Talking to ThePrint, Chandok says the car was priced reasonably at Rs 55,000-65,000. He adds that its aluminium engine had “phenomenal” mileage” and fibreglass body was “three times stronger than metal”.
However, he recalls, the car had a weakness — the rear axle tended to bend. “We provided the company with feedback about this and they got it repaired. After that, my rally service team was able to change the complete rear end of the car within seven minutes during an event,” he says.
The car quickly became associated with endurance rallying, which usually required four-wheelers that could cover large distances across states and last at least 10 days at a stretch.
The Dolphin’s fibreglass body gave it a very attractive power-to-weight ratio which, as former national rally champion Sagar Muthappa puts it, made the car “light and nimble”. “But by the time I got into the national-level motorsport, the Dolphin had been replaced by the quicker and more efficient Maruti 1000 and the Gypsy,” he tells ThePrint.
From queen of the road to oblivion
Unfoturnately for the Dolphin, its fortunes plummeted when the Maruti 800 entered the market in 1983 and ended up becoming the go-to get-around among the masses. For the Indian middle class seeking to switch up a scooter for four wheels, a two-door car seemed like “ less of a car”, unlike the Maruti 800.
This prompted Sipani to convert the Dolphin into a four-door version called the Montana, but given the Maruti’s technological superiority, it did not take off. Within two years of the launch, Sipani rolled out the Montana D1, referred to as a “mishmash of several automobiles”. Sipani tried a number of new innovations, but just could not keep pace with Maruti, and eventually, threw in the towel.
“I always had a lot of respect for Mr. RK Sipani but I think he was trying to run before he could walk,” says Chandok. “They should have stuck with the Dolphin. It had potential.”
source: http://www.theprint.in / The Print / Home> Features> Brandma / by Pia Krishnamkutty / October 24th, 2020
Mangalore University establishes facility for Carbon-14 dating of archaeological artefacts
The Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity (CARER) at Mangalore University has established a facility for Carbon-14 dating of archaeological artefacts or material of biogenic origin based on Liquid Scintillation Counting technique.
Carbon-14 dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was developed in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to this work in 1960.
Measuring the amount of Carbon-14 in a sample from a dead plant or animal, such as a piece of wood or a fragment of bone, provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died, a release from the university said on Thursday.
This facility has been established through financial support from the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Through a research project sanctioned by BRNS and with collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, the CARER had undertaken a study for standardising the method for Carbon-14 measurements in the vicinity of nuclear power plants, it said.
A team of scientists led by Karunakara N., a professor and coordinator, CARER, in collaboration with BARC has standardised a batch method for the thermal combustion of the samples by tube furnace system for Carbon-14 measurements. The spin-off application of this method is its application for determining the age of the material up to 30,000 years old, the release issued by K. Raju Mogaveera, Registrar (administration), said.
The CARER with state-of-the-art facilities has been established by the university as a national facility through financial support from BRNS. This is an advanced centre for radioecological and radiation protection research in the country with collaborations with many advanced laboratories of the world. The centre is serving the research needs of various research groups from national laboratories/institutions/universities.
Those who are interested in using this facility may contact through email carermu@gmail.com, or drkarunakara@gmail.com. Phone : 0824 2888754.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – October 22nd, 2020
First woman IAF officer Wing Commander Vijayalakshmi Ramanan dies at 96 in Bengaluru
She and her husband K V Ramanan, who was also an IAF officer and had persuaded her to join the Army Medical Corps, were also the first couple to serve in the Air Force
Bengaluru :
The first woman officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Wing Commander Vijayalakshmi Ramanan, passed away in Bengaluru on Sunday night at the age of 96.
She had pursued her MBBS from Madras Medical College in 1943. Awarded the best outgoing student in 1948, she went on to do her DGO and MD in obstetrics and gynaecology, and worked at Egmore Maternity Hospital, Chennai.
Later, she joined the Army Medical Corps in 1955 on Short Service Commission and was seconded to the Air Force as the first lady commissioned officer as a gynaecologist. She was posted in the Air Force Hospitals in Kanpur, Secunderabad and Bengaluru. During the wars in 1962, 1966 and 1971, she treated wounded soldiers.
She and her husband K V Ramanan, who was also an IAF officer and had persuaded her to join the Army Medical Corps, were also the first couple to serve in the Air Force. He passed away at the age of 47, in 1971, after battling cancer.
“Even until 11 days ago, she was alert and had written a note to her attending doctor. And until a few months ago, she was filing her income tax returns,” shares son-in-law SVL Narayan, a retired IT professional.
She pursued her interest in Carnatic music, having learnt from eminent musicians. “She was an AIR artiste from the age of 15 and represented her college in music competitions. She broadcast regularly from Delhi, Lucknow, Secunderabad and Bangalore,” says Narayan.
Ramanan was elated when one of her “interns” visited to seek her blessings last year. “Padma Bandopadhyay, who went on to become the first air marshal in the Air Force, was facing opposition from family when she wanted to marry her Bengali colleague. That’s when my grandfather intervened and oversaw the marriage in Secunderabad,” recalls her granddaughter Sukanya.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Vidya Iyengar / Express News Service / October 21st, 2020