Technog - For Engineers

The Builders. :Magazine

2022-02-13T19:44:00.004+05:30

"Books give a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything".

ICI Students Chapter GEC Barton Hill in association with Technog - The Content Writers presents to you the first edition of "The Builders".

The Builders is a journey through the past, present and future of civil engineering. It is a beautifully presented technical magazine that allows you to delve into the technical world of civil engineering.

The magazine is available on Google Play Books the link for which is: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=adFbEAAAQBAJ

So, what are you waiting for? Do give the magazine a read and share your thoughts.

Join MAD!

2021-10-03T13:56:00.000+05:30

credits: MAD

Make a Difference is a registered society under the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955.

India has 35 million children in need of care and protection. Make a difference is now expanding their helping hands! Make A Difference mobilises young leaders towards ensuring equitable outcomes for children in need of care and protection.

You may know how it takes a village to raise a child. We are starting the hunt to form that village. We are looking for the next generation of change-makers!
Are you MAD enough to build a care-community?
Are you MAD enough to change the world?
Are you MAD enough to make a difference?
Then this is your chance to step up and be that amazing superhuman you always wanted to be.
You heard me right, MAD is recruiting.

- MAD

To join MAD apply at: https://bit.ly/join-MAD

Entrepreneurs #FriendshipForever

2021-10-03T10:21:00.016+05:30

Name : Entrepreneurs #FriendshipForever
Author : Gautham S
Language : English
Category : Novelette
Genre : Entrepreneurship, Fiction
Publisher : Technog - The Content Writers
Media Type   : eBook
Pages     : 24
Read Time      : 35 mins
Description    : Entrepreneurs #FriendshipForever, written by Gautham S, narrates a story of start-up that protagonist started during his college life and how it failed. Years after he decides to rebuilt start-up and ways through which it will be possible is presented through a conversation between two friends, meeting after nine years.

To read: {getButton} $text={Entrepreneurs #FriendshipForever} $icon={link} $color={>#0088ff}

How likely are Space Hotels?

2021-09-30T12:29:00.005+05:30

Shall we go for a tour and stay in space for a while. How and when it will be possible? How many people can enjoy there?

Muralee Krishnan Kartha P U

video credits: Orbital Assembly Corporation

Not so far in the future, the final frontier too will be a part of your vacation itinerary. Space tourism is no longer a sci-fi concept and investors, engineers and entrepreneurs around the world are jumping on board to capitalise on this new gold rush to service the uber rich’s journey and foray into space. And the biggest testament to this is the ambitious Voyager Station, set to become a reality in 2027.

To be built by the Orbital Assembly Corporation, headed by former pilot John Blincow, the Voyager Station aims to be the world’s first fully functional space hotel. With room for over 280 guests and 112 crew members and with all the luxuries you come to expect with a regular hotel, though with some limitations of course, the hotel aims to become the largest man made structure in space with rendered designs mimicking the station portrayed in Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The amenities on board match what the best has to offer here on the surface, with recreational facilities like basketball, a library, a cinema, all across 24 habitation modules spinning in a two ring truss system with spokes. The spinning enables the station to have a sort of artificial gravity wherein centrifugal force of the station spinning enables the occupants to experience about the same force on them as if they were on the moon. Spacious windows and viewing decks enable the high flying customers to experience a view of the entire earth every 90 minutes as the station zooms around our blue marble.

Now how likely are space hotels?

Orbital Assembly Corporation isn’t the only company looking into this lucrative field right now. Axiom Space and Orion Span are similar companies who also have solid plans to construct similar infrastructure. Orion Span’s “Aurora Station” aimed to begin construction this year and begin filling it up with guests in 2022 but have since delayed its plans. Major financial and technological challenges still plague the budding field and the pandemic has done no favours. The economy of upkeep and construction of such megastructures in space without having the coffers of an entire country to back you up has also come into question with experts doubting if high worth individuals are enough to turn a profit on the entire venture. The idea of using these stations as both tourists as well as research stations by renting out part of the station to various national space programs and research institutes have also come up as possible alternative revenue streams. In any case, space have never been so close, but only if you are obscenely rich.

UPSC Engineering Services Examination 2022

2021-09-30T12:14:00.007+05:30

Union Public Service Commission has released an official notification for the Indian Engineering Services (IES) exams 2022.

Harsha Mariam Shibu

Union Public Service Commission has released an official notification for the Indian Engineering Services (IES) exams 2022. Interested and eligible candidates can fill the application form at the official website upsconline.nic.in . The last date of application is October 12, 2021, till 6.00 pm. Recruitment of the candidates will take place in four categories — Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.

Stages of ESE

Stage I (Preliminary): The examination consist of two objective types (MCQ) question papers carrying maximum marks of 500 (Paper 1 – 200 marks and Paper II – 300 Marks). The preliminary exam shall be conducted on February 20, 2022.
Stage II (Main): It consist of conventional type papers in Engineering Discipline with a maximum mark of 600 (300 marks in each paper). The duration of the exam is for three hours.
Stage III: Personality test carrying 200 marks.

Negative marking is applicable for each wrong answer. One-third of the total mark of one question will be deducted as a penalty for each wrong answer. Syllabus of the UPSC IES is mentioned in the official notification of the website.

How to apply?

Visit the official website of UPSC: https://upsconline.nic.in/
Click on the link for UPSC ESE 2022 that is available on their homepage.
Complete the Part-I registration process followed by Part-II registration process.
Upload the necessary documents for the application and pay the application fees.

Lastly, submit the UPSC ESE 2022 application and save a pdf copy for future reference.

Eligibility Criteria

Candidate must have done B.E, B.Tech, or passed Sections A and B of the Institution Examinations of the Institution of Engineers (India)
A degree/diploma in Engineering from some government recognized foreign university, college or institution is also required.
Any candidate passed the Associate Membership Examination Parts II and III / Sections A and B of the Aeronautical Society of India.
Candidates, who have passed with the Graduate Membership Examination of the Institute of the Electronics and Telecommunication of Engineers of India.
Or Passed the Graduate Membership Examination from the Institution of Electronics and Radio Engineers, London took place after November 1959

Age limit

21 to 30 years (age relaxation will be given to reserved category candidates as per government rules)

Eligible

Indian citizens
Citizens of Nepal and Bhutan
Tibetan refugees
People of Indian origin who are from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, East African countries, and Vietnam and are willing to permanently settle in India.

There are 247 vacant posts across different categories.

Application fee: General/OBC category candidates will have to pay an application fee of INR 200 for registration.

Cosmic concrete: Made with blood, sweat and tears

2021-09-24T17:14:00.001+05:30

Scientists from UK have developed a new construction technique which uses blood, urine and sweat for construction in Mars and Moon.

Moon and Mars bio composite | credits: University of Manchester

Scientists from UK have developed a new construction technique in which the cosmic concrete is made from space dust and bodily fluids of Astronauts. As this technique, doesn’t involve shipping of building blocks from earth, it is considered to be the perfectly suited concrete, like material for construction work in extra-terrestrial. Environments such as Moon or Mars.

This technique seems to be cost effective on comparing it with the cost of bringing a brick to Mars as it may cost around $2M. Here, the bricks for these space colonies could be produced from construction site itself. This practice is known as In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU). The key fact is that, protein from blood plasma of human, serum albumin is combined with urea which is also waste product found in urine, sweat and tears. When these two are mixed with dust from Martian soil or Lunar. It results in a much stronger material than ordinary cement that we found on earth. This resulting material is termed as astrocrete. By adding urea, the compressive strength of this novel material have increased by over 300% and now the compressive strength of this material is almost 40MPa. Before adding urea the compressive strength of the material was 25MPa.

The idea for this concept comes from the ancient construction techniques that involved mixing of pig’s blood into lime mortar to act as the binding material. On further investigations conducted by the scientists revealed the underlying bonding mechanism and it was found that the blood proteins denature or curdle thus forming a extended structure with interactions known as beta sheets. These beta sheets tightly holds the materials together.

Scientists stated that this technique is having more advantages as compared to other proposed construction techniques. It is estimated that over 500kg of high strength Astrocrete can be produced by a crew of six astronauts over the course of a two year mission on the surface of Mars. Scientist Dr Roberts stated that the concept is literally blood-curdling.

Space Habitat Challenge Senior

2021-09-24T16:59:00.007+05:30

Space Habitat Challenge Senior, a competition for finding a new world where habitat is possible, for students from Kerala and Lakshadweep.

Sreedhu S S

VSSC | credits: ISRO

Find a new world, Build Infrastructure, Harness Energy and sustain life for the posterity.

This event is open to undergraduate students from Kerala and Lakshadweep. A team of 3 to 5 members (not essentially from the same college) can enter the challenge.

The event has two rounds

Preliminary round:

Submit a report detailing your design and ideas in not more than 30 pages.
The report shall include a concise mission proposal as well as an elaborate technical assessment on any specific area of your choice in the proposed mission.
More weightage shall be given to the area specific assessment.
Originality in content will be appreciated and citations shall be provided wherever applicable.

Final round:

5 teams selected from the preliminary round shall have the chance to present their design to us.
Online presentation shall be limited to a maximum of 45 minutes each.

Orientation session will be arranged for all registered teams to help you with your task!

Rules

Identify an extra-terrestrial body that can host human life for the years to come - planets, moons, exoplanets, asteroids….
Duration of travel from earth
Terrain
Conditions to support human life
Goldilocks zone
Resource availability

Design a permanent settlement for humans in the new world.

Habitat Designing

How communication can be done,

Define the choice of systems for communication among co-inhabitants.

Supporting life,

How do you produce oxygen, control humidity, shield from extreme temperature.

Shelter be like,

Technologies needed to provide shelter from radiation, shield from micro-meteorite impact and weather elements

Waste management should be,

Recycle Liquid Waste, Disposal of CO2 and solid waste

Travelling,

Travelling to the planet

Energy Source

The competitors are not restricted to import essential materials from Earth through multiple space missions, considering sustained human habitat, in-situ generation of energy is essential. Hybrid schemes of energy generation depending upon the selection of host body may be planned.

Things to do

Identify sustainable energy sources
Propose a power generation scheme
Device energy storage schemes
Power management and Distribution.

Food

Generate food and drinking water for a sustained human habitation on an extra-terrestrial body. Limitations on types of food, essential diets to be followed and preserving food for the low-power conditions are to be considered. A closed ecological system to be envisaged through proper recycling.

Challenge

Space farming as an extended version of ‘Veggie’
Extracting water from host body
Carrying packed food from Earth as buffer stock
Synthetic food and feasibilities of cooking

The registration begins on 15 September 2021 and closes on 25 September 2021.

The orientation webinar is on 20 September 2021.

Preliminary report submission: October 2 2021

Preliminary report submission: 6 October 2021

Final presentation: 9 October 2021

Participants should:

Identify a Suitable Name for your Team
Registration shall be done using the Gmail ID of the team leader
School ID or signed declaration from school shall be uploaded as part of registration
Report shall be submitted in pdf format (file size < 30Mb)
All communication/intimations will be through the registered Gmail ID, including confirmation of registration, link for orientation webinar and report submission

How to participate?

Participants get confirmation of registration by mail.

For details contact

Technology Challenge Committee

World Space Week - 2021

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

Thiruvananthapuram

Phone : 9895950853

Email : wswchallenge@vssc.gov.in

Website : https://wsweek.vssc.gov.in

JEE: Gateway to finest engineering institutions

2021-09-24T16:32:00.001+05:30

Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) that include Mains and Advanced a gateway for admission to the finest engineering institutions of India.

Gouri J S

Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is one of the key and prestigious entrance examinations in the country which provides a gateway for admission to the finest engineering institutions of India. It is constituted by two different examinations: JEE Mains and JEE Advanced.

JEE Main

This exam is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). It offers Two main papers: Paper 1 and Paper 2. A candidate may opt for either or both of them. Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) conducts the admission procedure to the prestigious institutions of the country which consists of the 31 National Institute of Technology (NITs), 25 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), and 28 Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs) based on the ranks obtained by the candidate in JEE Mains. For admission to the IITs, a candidate must appear and qualify the JEE Advanced examination.

Exam Pattern

JEE Main has two papers: Paper I and Paper II of which a candidate may opt for either or both of them.

Paper I is meant for admission to B.E/B.Tech courses while Paper II is for admission to B.Arch. and B.Planning courses. Both contain multiple choice questions and are conducted in online mode except for the ‘Drawing Test’ which is conducted in offline mode. Total marks for the exam is 300 (100 marks for each section). In January 2020, a notable change has been made in the pattern. According to this, there are 20 single choice questions and 5 Numerical questions each from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics of which % Numerical questions has to be attempted.

Marking scheme

For SCQs: +4 marks for correct answer, -1 for incorrect answer and 0 for not attempted.

For NQ: +4 marks for correct answer, 0 for incorrect answer.

Admission Procedure

The counselling is conducted by the Joint Seat allocation Authority (JoSAA), based on the results of JEE Main. For this, a candidate must follow the following steps.

Register for Counselling: The candidate must register themselves on the official website of JoSAA. Students must provide and verify the necessary details before submitting the registration.

Submission of choices: On completing the registration, candidates should fill their choice of courses and institutions. The students are allowed to select as many choices as they wish.

Mock Allotment: Two mock allotments which make students aware of their chances of getting admitted based on their preferences. Candidates may change their preferences in this stage.

Final Seat Allotment:

A total of seven rounds of seat allotment is conducted by JoSAA.
The allotment is done on the basis of merit, category preference of the candidate and the available number of seats.
After a seat has been allotted, a candidate will have 3 options:

FREEZE: Candidate is satisfied with the allotted seat and does not wish to participate in future rounds of counselling.
FLOAT: candidate is satisfied with the seat but like to participate in further counselling for admission to other institutions.
SLIDE: candidate has accepted the allotted seat but is also eligible to apply for admission to a higher preferred course in the same institution.

Payment of seat acceptance fee

After accepting the allotted seat, candidates shall report to the respective institute for document verification. Seat acceptance fee has to be paid through e-challan or SBI Net Banking.

Participating Institutions

JEE Main participating Institutes consists of the 31 NITs, 25 IIITs, and 28 GFTIs.

NITs are the premier autonomous public technical universities under Govt. of India. They offer around 23, 500 undergraduate seats in all the NITs put together.

IIITs are a group of 28 Interdisciplinary Technical Universities of higher education in India focused on Information Technology. They offer around 4,000 seats in various undergraduate programmes.

GFTIs are a list of 28 Technical institutes funded by the Govt. of India. Here, admissions are based on marks obtained in JEE Mains. They have around 5,650 seats across various institutions in the country.

JEE Advanced

JEE Advanced is conducted for providing admissions to the 23 Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and other prestigious institutions of the country like the IISC Bangalore, IIST Trivandrum etc.. The students must qualify JEE Mains in order to be eligible for JEE Advanced.

Every year, approximately 2 lakh candidates become eligible for JEE Advanced. The exam is conducted every year by any one of the IITs. In 2021, the exam was conducted by IIT Kharagpur and it will be conducted by IIT Bombay and IIT Guwahati in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Scope and college prediction

This year students with 87.8992241 percentile qualified for JEE Advanced under general or unreserved category which is lower than a 90.3765335 in 2020.

Top NITs of the country include:

NIT Rourkela
NIT Surathkal (Karnataka)
NIT Warangal
NIT Durgapur
NIT Calicut
NIT Allahabad
NIT Kurukshetra
NIT Trichy
NIT Jaipur

They offer courses in Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Technology, Dual degree comprising BS+MS and Dual degree comprising B.Tech and M.Tech .

In order to secure admission to any of these top NITs, a good score of 93-97 percentile is required and at the same time, candidates must feature among the top 15,000-20,000 rank.

Latest trends shows that the most sought- after course is Computer Science engineering for which a candidate must secure a rank of at least 4000 to ensure seat in a top NIT.

This is followed by other branches like Electronics and Communication Engineering for which a rank of approximately 7000 and below may fetch you a good seat.

Electrical and Electronics engineering and Mechanical Engineering are other popular choices and a candidate is expected to score a rank below 15,000 for the same.

For Civil engineering rank below 20,000 has more likely chance.

Therefore, a candidate falling below 10,000 ranks may expect their selected courses in preffered institutions.

IIITs on the other hand may provide admissions to candidates even up to the rank of 50,000. (All categories). Popular IIITs which include IIIT Kota, IIIT Vadodara, IIIT Jabalpur, IIIT Lucknow, IIIT Kurnool etc. are expected to offer admission to candidates up to a rank of 25,000.

Least popular NITs and IIITs are expected to have a closing ranks up to 50,000 or above based on the previous year’s analysis.

DRDO Recruitment 2021

2021-09-24T16:03:00.002+05:30

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has invited applications for Junior Research Fellow vacancies.

Harsha Mariam Shibu

Defence Research and Development Organisation that works in the area of cryptology has invited applications for 9 Junior Research Fellow vacancies. Candidates who are getting selected will receive a monthly salary of Rs 31,000 and they will be engaged initially for a period of 2 years, which may be extended up to 5 years based on the performance of the candidate.

Who can apply?

Candidates who have Postgraduate degree in mathematics with NET qualification.
Candidates who are BE or B.Tech in Computer science engineering, information technology or computer science with NET or GATE qualification or ME or M.Tech in Computer science engineering, information technology with first division at both graduate and postgraduate level
Candidates with BE or B.Tech in electronics engineering or electronics and communications engineering with NET or GATE qualification or ME or MTech in electronics engineering or electronics and communications engineering with first division at both graduate and postgraduate level.
It is also desirable for candidates to have a basic knowledge of computer programming in C, C++, Java, Python, cryptology, computer programming, VHDL or Verilog.

How to Apply ?

Interested and eligible candidates will have to submit online applications on the RAC website.

Applicants have to fill up all the required details and will have to upload all the scanned documents of the educational certificates. Selected candidates may also be allowed to pursue PhD in any university or institute.

Those who are interested to know more about the vacancies may go through the official notification or may write to pro@recruitment.drdo.in for further information.

BPCL Recruitment 2021

2021-09-24T15:55:00.005+05:30

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has invited applications for vacancies from eligible and desirous candidates.

Harsha Mariam Shibu

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has invited Online Applications for 87 vacancies from eligible and desirous candidates. Candidates who are looking for latest Central Govt Jobs can utilize this wonderful opportunity.

BPCL recruitment is done all over India. Application start from 9th September 2021 and ends on 24th September 2021. They invite 87 candidates for Graduate and Technician apprentice vacancies. A total of 42 vacancies are available for Graduate apprentice and 45 vacancies for Technician apprentice. A stipend of Rs. 18000 - 25000 will be provided for the selected candidates.

Educational Qualification

Category – I Graduate Apprentices: First Class Engineering Degree (full time course) in the respective discipline with 6.3 CGPA from a recognised Indian University/Institute (relaxed to 5.3 CGPA for SC / ST / PwD candidates and relaxation applicable for reserved posts only)
Category – II Technician (Diploma) Apprentices: First Class Diploma in Engineering (full time course) in the respective discipline with 60% marks from State Board of Technical Education/recognised Indian University (relaxed to 50% marks for SC / ST / PwD candidates and relaxation applicable for reserved posts only).

Selection Procedure:

Selection will be based on the marks obtained in the qualifying examination and interview. The final merit list will be prepared according to categories General / SC / ST / OBC / PWD on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates. Engagement for apprenticeship training will be subjected to the selected candidates clearing the medical examination.

How to apply?

Official website, is https://www.bharatpetroleum.com

For students who have already enrolled in the National Web Portal and have login details:

After verification of student enrolment by BOAT, a student will be able to login and apply. The steps are as follows,

Login
Click Establishment Request Menu
Click Find Establishment
Upload Resume
Choose Establishment name
Type “Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Mumbai Refinery” and search
Click apply
Click apply again.

Increasing popularity of Blockchain technology

2021-09-21T20:53:00.004+05:30

Unsorted data is often useless. When sorted, manipulated and stored it becomes one of the most valuable things on the earth.

Subramanian K

In 2020 alone, about 165 million records of data were exposed. Ever since the recording of data and then processing it to information, the gap created makes it viable to theft, copying and difficulties in finding the creator of the information. The solution to these issues lies in a technology called ‘Blockchain’.

Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack or cheat the system.

A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain. Each block in the chain contains a number of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger.

Image credits: Euromoney Learning

These are some of the properties of Distributed Ledger Technology @euromoney learning 2020. There are key areas where blockchain holds maximum uses, they are,

Accounting: Blockchain technology assists in automating asset and ledger record keeping duties.

Financial services: In the financial services industry, blockchain software is used for payment infrastructures, compliance and auditing, and credit scoring, to name a few.

Smart contracts: These are self executing contracts written and then coded. These are track-able, traceable and encrypted. They do not require a third party to frame the contract.

Storage management: Helps in the storing and saving of data in a decentralized network and uses storage spaces across the globe. This decentralized infrastructure acts as an alternative to cloud storage.

Security: Blockchain software allows for transactions to be almost impossible to alter or falsify, and are validated many times over.

Once a blockchain record is made, it cannot be altered by anyone except by the authority that scrutinized the blockchain. The blockchain is maintained on the bitcoin network, and is publicly shared with entities on that network, making it a public account of transactions. Some of the real benefits that we can get with blockchain are transparent and open transactions, accurate tracking and permanent irrevocable ledgers. Alongside, this highly efficient tool will help save millions of dollars that organizations otherwise spend on security and infrastructure inputs for financial transactions. Since no actual money is transported, there is no risk of theft.

Since the technology is relatively new, there are number of possibilities in the coming years.

In the current world the most prominent reason for the rising popularity of blockchain is decentralization. The technology came into limelight in 2008, after the first transaction using bitcoin captured the headlines.

Financial sector will be the prime sector that will increase the usage of blockchain. This is mainly because of the fact that the transactions will not need an intermediary like government agencies or central banks. From the graph by Statista it is evident that the blockchain technology is undoubtedly gaining its popularity with a projected substantial increase of 16.3 billion USD in just 5 years.

In addition to decentralization and security there are some other added benefits of blockchain.

With blockchain technology, the transparency of the transactions increase since multiple participants can view the database at a time. All transactions are immutability recorded, and are time-and date-stamped. Just like browsing history in a work computer every transaction will be available. Thus virtually eliminating possibilities of fraud.

The current day transactions are cumbersome. With many parties involved, innumerable number of paperwork, human errors and mediation the transactions are often inefficient. However with blockchain the paperwork can also be stored efficiently and accessed when required. There’s no need to reconcile multiple ledgers, so clearing and settlement can be much faster.

In the new world people get bored doing repetitive tasks and large corporates are trying to automate boring tasks. In blockchain technology the transactions can be automated with smart contracts. Once pre-specified conditions are met, the next step in transaction or process is automatically triggered. Smart contracts reduce human intervention as well as reliance on third parties to verify that terms of a contract have been met.

Examples of how some industries will potentially benefit from blockchain,

Blockchain benefits in supply chains and food chain
Healthcare blockchain benefits

The current problem is the lack of workflow, data flow and communication. In fact, about 14% of the worlds food is lost between harvest and retail. Using blockchain we can streamline the processes and resolve issues faster. Faster actions under events of disruptions. With it faster decisions and efficient transport and retail becomes possible. Thus eliminating financial burden on farmers and stoppage of food waste to an extent.

Healthcare is a service industry with one of the highest data breaches and data hunts. blockchain can help healthcare improve security for patient data and makes it easy to share and process data among the providers, payers and researchers. The data handling decisions can be collectively decided. Thus increasing the trust on the industry.

With these it is clear that the blockchain would definitely become an important method in which our finances and data gets shared and stored.

NHAI Internship 2021

2021-09-16T23:07:00.002+05:30

NHAI internship 2021 offers 5000 internship opportunities for engineers in association with the National Highways Authority of India at various locations.

Harsha Mariam Shibu

NHAI internship 2021 offers 5000 internship opportunities for engineers in association with the National Highways Authority of India at various locations such as New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. Selected candidates with relevant skills and interests will be available for a period of two months and will be paid a stipend of Rs 5000. Interns will also get a certificate on their successful completion of internship. Selected interns will be expected to contribute in the functioning of NHAI through their inputs such as empirical analysis, reports, papers, research through data and feedback collected during field visits.

Perks

Students pursuing Graduation/Post-Graduation/Research in Civil Engineering from AICTE affiliated Institutions or any recognised University/Institution within India and are currently in the final year or pre-final year/semester of their course.
Should have obtained overall 70% marks or equivalent grade in all the previous yearly/semester examinations and no backlogs (re-appears) of any subjects.

Who can apply?

Only those candidates who are from B.Tech./B.E. and specialisation from Civil Engineering and are available for a duration of 2 Months.

Important Guidelines to be followed:

Applicants will have to produce a letter from their supervisor, HOD or principal indicating their status in that institution and ‘No Objection’ certificate in order to allow the students to pursue their internship.
Interns must maintain a minimum of 75% attendance during their internship and in case if, less than 75% attendance, no extension of internship period will be allowed and experience certificate will not be issued.
Students need to submit a copy of the project report to their controlling or reporting officer in NHAI at the end of the Internship.
Interns will have to arrange their laptops and accommodation.

How to Apply ?

Students interested to apply for this opportunity will have to do so on the official website https://internship.aicte-india.org/internship-details.php?uid=GOVERNMENT_1613553711602ce02f01bff&level=3 before 30 September 2021.

Applicants will first have to register with the TULIP portal by providing details such as

Institute name
Student ID
Email ID
Mobile number and so on.

Once registered, students may log in using their email Id and password to apply for the internship.

Perseverance successfully collects its first rock samples

2021-09-16T20:04:00.001+05:30

Mars 2020 which aimed in learning more about the ancient life and for collecting rock and regolith samples from Mars become successful as its perseverance rover has successful.

Asiya S

'Rochette' After Perseverance Sampling | credits: NASA

NASA's mission named Mars 2020 which aims at learning more about the ancient life and for collecting rock and regolith samples from Mars become successful as its perseverance rover has successfully collected its first rock samples. The first sample named Montdenier was collected on September 6 and another sample named Montagnac was collected on September 8. Both the samples are expected to have journey back to Earth. And from the samples, scientists came to the conclusion that the region was prone to volcanic activity and water.

Perseverance was launched on July 30, 2020 and it landed on Mars on February 18, 2021 in Jazero Crater. According to the researches and photos available Jazero Crater was having a water body with deltas in the past which was the reason for landing Perseverance there. The main aim of the mission was to learn more about the planet and to collect more samples from Mars. Learning more about the planet and its ancient microbial life can help us to know about the possibilities of life in Mars. It is also trying to find any living organism present in the planet. The rover is designed in such a way that they could drill the samples from Mars and collect it in small tubes which are then sealed in individual tubes. These tubes are set on the surface for second ignition and if possible, they could reach the Earth on 2031 for further studies.

The samples are helping the team to better understand the past of the planet. The rock sample is basaltic in composition and they can be the product of lava flows which leads the team into the conclusion that the past of that land is marked by volcanic activity and water. These volcanic rocks may have crystalline minerals which can help in radiometric dating by which the scientists could know the date of their formation. Each sample can help the team to solve the chronological puzzle and could get the details of the events like formation of Jazero crater, emergence and disappearance of Jezero’s lake and about the change in the climate of the planet in the past.

Perseverance is now trying to find new samples to answer many unknown questions about the Mars past. The promising samples are sealed in titanium tubes which the rover carries in its chassis and will be stored there until they are retrieved. And NASA is planning to have more “depots” for the rover in the future to collect more samples from the planet from different places and soon we could wish for the secrets hidden in the planet to be known.

'HOPE': An affordable electric scooter by IIT Delhi start-up

2021-09-15T23:12:00.000+05:30

HOPE, an affordable electric scooter developed by Geliose Mobility, a start-up incubated at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Nithya Satheesh

HOPE | credits: IIT Delhi

Start-up incubated at IIT Delhi named Geliose Mobility has launched an affordable electric scooter ‘HOPE’ on 18th March, 2021. It has a running cost of about 20 Paisa per kilometre which makes 'HOPE' affordable even for common people. This falls in the exemption category with a top speed of 25 km/hr. It does even require a driving license for a person to drive on the road.

The initial motive of Aditya Tiwari, founder of Geliose Mobility, when he started this company in 2017 was to reduce the rising pollution and climate issues around us. He created HOPE so that it will be a sustainable vehicle and thereby helping in reducing pollution around us.

Team behind HOPE | credits: IIT Delhi

Even though the starting price of HOPE is Rs. 46,999, it still has features of electric vehicles that are available at higher prices. It has a portable charger and a portable Li-ion battery which can be charged using a socket found at your home. Only four hours is required to fully charge the battery. The vehicle is capable of running for about 75 km in a single charge. Customers can choose between the two different battery capacity options ranging between 50-75 Km as per their requirements.

This vehicle is also equipped with technologies like battery management system, data monitoring system and pedal assist unit. It can be connected to the internet and data can be accessed using an application. The battery management system makes HOPE unique as it gives the accurate battery percentage left and also shows the life of the battery. Since the data is available to the user, he can check the battery charge, voltage, GPS locations etc by logging into the application. Their main aim is to make this available for delivery and logistics companies in order to make their delivery requirements easier.

They conducted many surveys to get an idea what the user is looking for. All the ideas they got were then collated and many brainstorming sessions were conducted to make the design of the product. A total of 10 prototypes were designed and developed before the release of the final one. They added pedal assisted features mainly for the fitness enthusiasts as they can switch as per their comfort to either pedalling or throttling mode. For parking assistance, there is a special reverse mode in the vehicle.

The main motive of building this as stated by Aditya Tiwari is that they wanted to make something that is affordable to a lot of people, students and middle class families. They wanted this to serve as a source of income for delivery agents or personal commute.

GAIL Recruitment 2021

2021-09-15T22:48:00.005+05:30

GAIL(India) Limited has invited applications from candidates for different posts in the Maharashtra PSU and India's flagship Natural Gas company.

Sreedhu S S

GAIL(India) Limited has invited applications from candidates for different posts in the Maharashtra PSU and India's flagship Natural Gas company. Engineering graduates who scored GATE-2022 can apply for this.

GAIL Recruitment 2021 Vacancy Details Posts:

Executive Trainee (Instrumentation)
Executive Trainee (Mechanical)
Executive Trainee (Electrical)

Note: Category-wise number of vacancies in each disciple will be notified later.

How to apply for position of Executive Trainees in GAIL?

The candidates should appear GATE -2022 as per the timelines notified by GATE-2022 Organising Institute in one of the following relevant GATE examination papers as follows:-

Executive Trainee (Instrumentation) in Instrumentation Engineering.
Executive Trainee (Electrical) in Electrical Engineering.
Executive Trainee (Mechanical) in Mechanical Engineering.

By taking the scores of GATE-2022 and requirements, candidates are shortlisted for Group Discussion and/or Personal Interview for the position of Executive Trainee .

The candidates should indicate their GATE -2022 registration number in "careers" section.

AFCAT Recruitment 2021

2021-05-30T22:54:00.005+05:30

As per the recruitment notification of Indian Air Force, 334 candidates can fill their Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT).

Sradha Subash A

Indian Air Force flag at India Gate, New Delhi | credits: Wikipedia

As per the recruitment notification of Indian Air Force, 334 candidates can fill their Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) jobs in All over India. The aspirants who are in search of a Central Govt job can make use of this wonderful opportunity. The Online Application for the Indian Air Force AFCAT Recruitment 2021 will be open for candidates from 1st June 2021. Interested aspirants can apply for the post before 30th June 2021 for the latest vacancies in Indian Air Force. For more information about Indian Air Force Careers, aspirants can refer to the details given below. All the eligibility criteria like age limit, qualification, exam date, admit card, and application fee for the Indian Air Force AFCAT Recruitment 2021 are provided below.

Official website: https://afcat.cdac.in/AFCAT/

Vacancy Details

Indian Air Force has announced the following vacancy details by their recent recruitment notification 2021. They are going to invite 334 Candidates to fill their vacancies. The job vacancy details are as follows:

AFCAT Entry

Flying: SSC – 96
Ground Duty (Technical):

AE(L) : PC – 20, SSC – 78
AE(M) : PC – 08,SSC – 31

Ground Duty (Non Technical):

Admin: PC -10, SSC – 42
Edn: PC – 04, SSC - 17

NCC Special Entry

Flying: 10% seats of CDSE vacancies for PC and 10% seats out of AFCAT vacancies for SSC

Meteorology Entry

Meteorology: Met: PC– 06, SSC– 22

Salary: Flying Officer: Rs. 56100/- – 177500/-

Age Limit

Candidates who are applying for the Indian Air Force job must be of the following age limit. The notified aged candidates can apply for the job vacancy. Check the details of the age limit given below.

Flying Branch: 20-24 years (Candidate with a commercial pilot licence can apply till the age of 26 years)
Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical): 20-26 years

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Educational Qualification

Candidates are requested to check their educational qualification required for different Indian Air Force job opportunities. Before applying, aspirants are advised to go through the entire details of the latest Indian Air Force AFCAT Recruitment 2021. You can also check below for the educational qualification for Indian Air Force job.

Flying Branch

Candidates should have passed 10+2 level with a minimum of 50% marks, each Maths and Physics

graduation in any degree course (minimum of 3 years) from a recognized University with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent.

(or)

Four year BE/B Tech degree from a recognised University with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent.

(or)

Candidates who have passed Section A & B examination of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India from a recognised University with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent

Ground Duty (Technical) Branch

Aeronautical Engineer (Electronics)
Candidates having 50% marks or above, each in Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 level and also a minimum of four years degree graduation/integrated post-graduation qualification in Engineering/ Technology from any recognized University.

(or)

Passed Section A and B examination of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India or Graduate membership examination of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers by actual studies with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent in the following degrees like:

Communication Engineering
Computer Engineering/Technology
Computer Engineering and Application
Computer Science and Engineering/Technology
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electronics Engineering/Technology
Electronics Science and Engineering
Electronics
Electronics and Communication Engineering
Electronics and Computer Science
Electronics and/or Telecommunication Engineering
Electronics and/or Telecommunication Engineering (Microwave)
Electronics and Computer Engineering
Electronics Communication and Instrumentation Engineering
Electronics Instrument and Control
Electronics Instrument and Control Engineering
Instrumentation and Control Engineering
Instrument and Control Engineering
Information Technology
Spacecraft Technology
Engineering Physics
Electric Power and Machinery Engineering
Infotech Engineering
Cyber Security.

Ground Duty (Non-Technical) Branches.(aa) Administration

Passed 10+2 and Graduate Degree (Minimum three years degree course) with 60% marks in any discipline from a recognised university or should have cleared section A & B examination of Associate Membership of Institution of Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India from a recognised university with 60% or above marks.

NCC Special Entry (Flying)

Minimum 50% marks, each in Maths & Physics at 10 + 2 level. Secured graduation in a 3 year course (that can be of any discipline) from a recognised University with a minimum 60% marks or equivalent.

(or)

BE/B Tech (Four Year Course) from a recognised University with minimum 60% marks or equivalent

(or)

Cleared Section A and B examination of Associate Membership of Institute Engineers (India) or Aeronautical Society of India from a recognised University with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent. Final year/semester students are also eligible to apply if they do not have any backlogs at the time of AFSB Testing and also are able to produce Degree certificate issued by the University as per the date stipulated in the advertisement. NCC Air Wing Senior Division ’C’ certificate and validity of the certificate would be two years before the date of advertisement.

Meteorology Entry (Meteorology)

PG in any Science stream/Mathematics/Statistics/Geography/Computer Applications/Environmental Science/Applied Physics/Oceanography/Meteorology/Agricultural Meteorology/Ecology and Environment/Geophysics/ Environmental Biology with a minimum of 50% marks in aggregate of all papers put together (provided Maths and Physics were studied at Graduation Level with a minimum of 55% marks in each).

Application Fee Details

In order to apply for the 334 Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) job in Indian Air Force, the candidates are requested to pay the application fees by notified mode. Application fees should be paid online using credit card/debit card or through net banking. Payment by the candidates who have not submitted their application or whose application is rejected, will not be refunded. All application service charges shall be endured by candidates only.

Online testing will be conducted for AFCAT entry at different centres. Aspirants, who are registering for AFCAT entry will have to pay an amount of Rs. 250/- (non-refundable) as examination fee. However, candidates registering for NCC Special entry and Meteorology, do not have to pay the amount. Details regarding the conduct of exam, examination centres and mode of payment are available in the notification.

How To Apply For Latest Indian Air Force AFCAT Recruitment 2021?

Applicants can apply ONLINE in the prescribed application format available at https://afcat.cdac.in/AFCAT/. Click on the link “Apply Online''. Applicants are requested to keep your personal details, qualification details, details of references, experience details, other relevant details, and soft copy of the passport size photograph with you before starting the online application.

First 8K 3D Printer: Sonic Mega 8K

2021-05-28T11:45:00.004+05:30

Sonic Mega 8K, first-ever 8K 3D Printer now available in the market.

Hisana Thasneem

credits: Phrozen LCD 3D Printer

The first-ever 8K 3D Printer now available in the market. Sonic Mega 8K which is Phrozen’s most audacious and daring piece of work is finally here with its significantly large size and staggeringly high precision printing capabilities. It offers effortless printing for everything with astonishing 8K resolution.

The company mentioned that it has put a lot of effort and resources for this over past years, for those people who are truly passionate about bringing their most insane ideas to life. In the past few years printing out large models have to compromise on the quality of print. People have to print out large-scale & detailed models in multiple batches of 3D models and assembling them together for larger layouts and models in the past .

But Sonic Mega 8K is going to breaks every single limitation for commercial 3D printing so far faced by the users. With this users can now have both size and quality in one print, at the same time. From regular table sized ogres to a mega sized terrain that cover your whole table, thousand army soldiers, or even body armour for festivals such as Halloween, Sonic Mega 8K prints all of your works with a magnificent 8K resolution.

Apart from printing with ultimate resolution of 8K quality it also provides the largest printing area on the market. It also provides pre-calibrated building plate that is the user don't have to provide further calibration. It also has full metal exterior which enhances its safety. It also strengthens the entire structure, making it stronger, and more sustainable for long-term usage.

Some more features of SONIC MEGA 8K includes:

Printing Capabilities of 8K: Sonic Mega 8K dominates all other 3D printers on the market by customizing striking details at 43µm producing 3D models which that are almost twice as detailed as other large-scale 3D printers.
Mono-LCD Screen of 15": Sonic Mega 8K has the biggest Mono-LCD printing area on the market, with a 15" print surface, which is larger than the previous printing area of only 13.3".
Huge Printing Volume: It has has the largest area in XY printing with a 40cm tall Z-axis, which enable the user to print significantly larger models in one sitting.
Dual Linear Rail and Ball Screw Design: For an ultra-stable Z-axis, Sonic Mega 8K adopts this specific design so that large and heavy objects can be printed with no wobbling.
Full Integration with CHITUBOX: It is integrated with CHITUBOX which is a slicer software system, that helps in providing the ideal settings to print out models with the best details possible.
Multi-Fan Cooling System: It also has an extra feature to prevents overheating. It comes with two fans that work to regulate and release excess heat from the device.

KEAM 2021 to be held on July 24

2021-05-28T11:11:00.005+05:30

Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) entrance examination series for admission will be going to held on 24 July.

Dhaliya Nazreen

Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) entrance examination series for admission various professional degree college in Kerala. This examination is conducted by office of the Commissioner of Entrance Exams run by Government of Kerala. KEAM is the only entrance exam in India that is conducted by a State Government directly. If the candidate qualified this entrance exam he/she can be admitted to any of the professional engineering college that is affiliated under Kerala Technical University (KTU). Any KEAM disqualified candidates can write KEE exam organised by private engineering colleges association can apply seats under management quota.

KEAM 2021exams are decided to conduct on July 24 2021. Exam will be held from 10 am to 12:30 noon for Paper 1 (Physics and Chemistry) and for Paper 2 (Mathematics) from 2:30 pm to 5 pm. The application for KEAM will be releasing in the month of May 2021 on the official website (cee.kerala.gov.in). Candidates are required to go through the eligibility criteria,

a) Indian candidates are eligible to apply.

b) Candidates are categorised to Keralite, non-Keralite, non-Keralite Category I (NKI), II (NKII).

c) Candidates must complete age of 17 years on 31 Dec 2021. But there will be no upper age limit for architecture, B-Pham and engineering courses.

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All the candidate must pass 10, +2 level examination from a recognised board. For engineering courses, candidates must have physic and chemistry as there compulsory subjects. For B.Pham. courses, the candidates those are in their 12th class are eligible to apply. For medical allied courses, the score of NEET is also considered and admitted to medical colleges.

Fee structure for all courses,

For engineering or B.Pham.: Rs. 2,700 Rs. 300 (Category)
For architecture or Medical allied courses: Rs. 2,500 Rs. 200 (Category)
For both engineering or B.Pham and architecture or Medical allied courses: Rs. 900 Rs. 400 (Category)
For choosing exam centre on Dubai: Rs. 12,000 + Application fee

Google News Showcase can be now accessed on Desktop with new additional features

2021-05-28T10:15:00.002+05:30

Google New Showcase is a Google product and licensing program which was launched last year that pays publishers for bringing their voice and curation to the Google's news products.

Asiya S

Google News Showcase is a Google product and licensing program which was launched last year that pays publishers for bringing their voice and curation to the Google's news products. This $1 billion investment programme of Google has been introduced in countries like U.K, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Czechia and India. More than ninety percent of the publishers who represent local, regional or community newspapers of more than a dozen of countries had signed up for News Showcase.

Google had introduced new features like Extended Access during the launch of this product which gives more opportunities to read selected paid content of the publisher in order to show the value of high-quality news.

On May 24, Google announced a few new features for News Showcase. They introduced News Showcase to desktop users of Google News. Now every user of Google News could see the enhanced story panels of News Showcase using any device. This feature is now available on the eight countries where News Showcase was launched.

Google allows the readers and publishers to use News Showcase on desktop with some features. Most of the people could see the News Showcase panel on the right side of their Top stories page which is the first page that shows up on using Google News and these panels will have the latest news from the publishers they follow as well as from the publishers who they might be interested in.

Users can explore more using the News Showcase catalogue page which can be accessed by left-side navigation. Here, users can see panels from all the participating publishers of their country where they could find both national titles that covers issues regarding the country and the world, and small regional and local outlets covering the events around their locality and those places they care about.

Users who need to know deep about the news feeds can use a new feature called News Showcase section which directs the users to the homepage of the participating publisher within Google News. Readers could see all the News Showcase panel of the publisher using this feature including the latest Rundown panel which covers most of the important issues of a publisher every day and story panel where reader could get deeper context on the important articles.

These desktop experiences are seamless and help the users to access it without any additional work from the publisher partners.

Google News Showcase is a valuable resource for publishers like La Voz de San Justo. It allows our editors to select relevant content for our audience in an easy, effective and intuitive way. It's a product with multiple benefits.

Our editors can update the panels in a heartbeat to keep our audience informed, and after that they are able to get on with other work in the workflow of the newsroom. With Google News Showcase we present premium content to readers in a seamless way, even for a local publisher like us.

- Constanza Martínez, a Content manager from La Voz de San Justo, a local publisher in Argentina.

There are some other features in News Showcase panels where publishers can add context around their stories using linked bullet points in their panels which links to another content. Google assured to make this feature available on mobiles within few weeks.

The goal of the News Showcase panels is to assist users in discovering new publishers and developing strong relationships with them, ensuring that they receive the most up-to-date news from the publishers they trust. Google continues to expand and improve Google News Showcase to achieve this long-term goal.

Millions of users are now using News Showcase panel everyday and are getting better understanding of stories present on their newsfeeds, reports Google. There are more than 10 million clicks per month on Google showcase contents by the users to read full articles from the publisher’s site. People are demanding more articles from their favourite publishers and there was more than 460,000 taps on Follow button within some months to ensure they get regular updates from their favourite publishers. Google is working with publishers to learn more about how people engage with News Showcase to deliver their long term goal to strengthen their relationship between readers and publishers.

Google also partners with news publishers through the Google News Initiative, offering innovative solutions such as Subscribe with Google to help them earn long-term revenue and developing tools such as Journalist Studio to make finding and producing stories simple and affordable. They aim to provide high-quality journalism to the users and to the society and are trying to ensure a positive future with their products and investments.

FACT Recruitment 2021

2021-05-28T10:05:00.006+05:30

FACT Recruitment 2021. Offline applications are invited for various engineer graduate apprentice vacancies!

Archa Harikumar H

Panoramic view of FACT Cochin Division | credits: Wikipedia

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore has invited applications for the recruitment of Engineer Apprentice jobs in all over Kerala. Those who are aiming for the Government job can utilize this great opportunity, but this recruitment is not permanent. On the 17th of May 2021, offline applications for the FACT Recruitment 2021 commenced. Interested candidates could apply for the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd newest vacancies by the 28th of May 2021. Aspirants who want to get updated with further information about Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd Careers, can refer to the below details.

Their official website is http://fact.co.in/.

Salary package:

The selected candidates for the posts will be offered a consolidated pay of Rs.25,000/- per month and there will be an annual increase of 3% on consolidated pay. They will be eligible or Leave, Provident Fund, Shift allowance, A & DA for duty travel as per rules.

Eligibility Criteria:

Age limit

To apply the candidates required to attain the following age limit. The age limit for the candidate is 35 years .The age limit is relaxed by 5 years for SC/ST, 3 years for OBC, 10 years disabled persons (15 years for PWD-SC/ST and 13 years for OBC-PWD) and for Ex-S according to Government of India rules. The Relaxation in Upper Age limit for candidates will be provided as per the Government Rules.

Educational Qualifications

Candidates are requested to check the educational details carefully .The Candidate should have a BE/B.Tech in Civil Engineering from any recognized university/institute.

How to apply?

The applications should have the prescribed format giving. Name, photograph, date of birth, contact telephone number, communication and email address, qualification, experience, category {Gen/SC/ST/OBC(NCL)/EWS} and self-attested copies of certificates to verify age, qualifications, category, National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC)/Certificate of proficiency(COP), should be given to the office of the undersigned [Dy. General Manager (HR) Est, FEDO Building, The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, Udyogamandal.PIN-683 501]. It should reach on or before 28.05.2021. “Application for Empanelment for Fixed Tenure Contract engagement” must be superscripted on the envelope containing the application.

IIT Bombay researches to come up with a Novel piezoelectric material

2021-05-26T15:01:00.005+05:30

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay researches to come up with a Novel piezoelectric material.

Sradha Subash A

Nowadays, air travel has become comfortable for passengers due to the less vibrations from seats in the cabin. For dampening the vibrations from the huge aircraft turbine engines and the surrounding atmosphere, engineers installed palm-sized devices on the aircraft wings and cabin windows. These palm-sized devices are made up of piezoelectric materials, which are usually used to generate a large 'vibration-cancelling force', when an electric signal is applied.

Piezoelectric materials are used as sensors for moving parts that are controlled by electrical signals in the micrometre or nanometre range. Recently, researchers from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) have proposed a piezoelectric material which is having better response than the frequently used piezoelectric ceramics. What they meant by 'better response' is that the material has the capacity to produce large force from a small input electric signal. Now, their research, which was partially supported by IIT Bombay, got published in European Journal of Mechanics -AlSolids.

Graphene Reinforced Composite (GRPC), the novel material which they put forward has fibres of PZT (lead zirconate titanate). It is often used as a piezoelectric material. The graphene nanoparticles are embedded in an epoxy base. Since PZT is brittle, it requires epoxy to enhance the material's strength. Susmita Naskar, a Prof at IIT Bombay, explained that she chose epoxy, since this material is easily available in the market and is easy to handle.

The purpose of a piezoelectric material is to provide high piezoelectric response. Also it should have a high elastic coefficient, so that whenever vibration dampers on an aircraft, the device produces a larger force for the same quantity of electric signal and this keeps it stiff by maintaining the shape. Prof Naskar elaborated that the difference between a high and low elastic coefficient material is the same as that of the difference between Aluminium and Rubber. Therefore, a high elastic coefficient material is far better to be used in devices where larger opposing force is required.

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The team studied the piezoelectric response as well as elastic coefficient of GRPC using both theoretical and computational models. Theoretical models calculated the properties of materials by analysing the characteristics of each constituent material and their proportions. Some models also considered the interactions of various components with each other. Even Though the theoretical models can provide quick analysis, they are still bounded by assumptions which need to be explored further. Dr. Kishor Balasaheb Shigare from the same institution added that their computations are important since those models accounted for the various shapes and orientations of PZT fibre and graphene nanoparticles.

Dr Shingare examined and compared the properties of both GRPC and the conventional PZT-epoxy material which is a piezoelectric ceramic. In order to inspect for stress developed in the material, they applied an electric field and stretched the materials in different directions within the simulation. The observation that the conventional PZT-epoxy materials are better than GRPC, in both piezoelectric and elastic properties. Due to the presence of graphene, deformation in GRPC is difficult which helps GRPC devices to remain rigid and to maintain their shape even when double the force is produced in presence of an electric field. As Dr. Shingare explained, graphene is a light material, still it is stiff. Also, it has a large surface area for interaction with PZT fibre and epoxy and hence it contributes to the improved effective properties in GRPC.

In previous research, the piezoelectric response was studied only in the plane of the device but this work looks at the piezoelectric response in all possible directions. Prof. Naskar commented that they viewed a significant increase in the piezoelectric response of GRPC while considering every direction. This could be applied in artificial muscles of biomedical devices since it requires movements in multiple directions.

In future, this study might be helpful in making more effective piezoelectric-based devices. Researchers think that GRPC can be used to build robots or satellites where the demand for light materials which can serve multiple purposes are high.

Non-destructive Broadband Imager

2021-05-26T13:55:00.003+05:30

Associate Prof. Yukio Kawano and his colleagues from Tokyo Institute of Technology Introduces A New non-destructive broadband imager.

Nithya Satheesh

Associate Prof. Yukio Kawano | credits: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Associate Prof. Yukio Kawano and his colleagues from Tokyo Tech Japan recently published their study in Nature Communications. They developed a robot-assisted broadband photo-monitoring platform equipped with a light source and imager which can operate in a location-independent manner and switch between reflective and transmissive sensing.

Non-destructive imaging also referred to as non-destructive testing (NDT) is a process in which an object is imaged using light without inflicting any damage to it. This type of imaging is mainly for ensuring the safety and quality of products and thereby helping in improving demands for high performing imaging objects with arbitrary structures and locations.

Non-destructive imaging is one of the fastest growing technologies in the field of electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. It can now access visible light to as far as millimetre waves. Imaging systems have evolved to become more flexible and wearable, allowing for stereoscopic (3D) visualization of both plane and curved samples without creating a blind spot.

Even though there is advancement in non-destructive imaging technology, still some of the issues that were faced are probability of sensing modules, device operation, the bulkiness of cooling equipment. Prof. Yukio Kawano, from Tokyo Tech and Chuo University, stated that the unmanned or robot-assisted photo monitoring can help in doing operations like disconnection testing of power-transmission lines and exploring safe and sustainable cramped environments.

In the broadband developed by the scientist, they made use of physically and chemically enriched CNT thin films which can be used to act as uncooled imager sheets which in turn can make the photo thermoelectric effect to convert light into electric signals via thermoelectric conversion. CNTs have excellent absorption properties for a wide range of wavelengths due to which CNT show broadband sensitivity. Scientists will be able to detect minuscule defects in the structures by identifying the changes on the signals. Moreover, scientists will be able to extract both inner and outer surface features using THz and IR light.

Using a light-source-integrated compact sensing module, a 360 degree photo monitoring was achieved and which was then incorporated in a multi-axis robot-assisted movable arm that performed a high-speed photo-monitoring of a faulty miniature model of a winding road bridge.

The results of study according to scientists were that it can provide a roadmap for the realization of a sensing platform. They also added that this concept can be used to build sustainable, long term operating and user friendly products in the IOT system of sensor networks.

SpaceX Dragon - Carrier of Humans and Cargo to Outer space

2021-05-26T11:34:00.003+05:30

SpaceX Dragon, Carrier of Humans and Cargo to Outer space, developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company.

Dhaliya Nazreen

SpaceX Headquarters in December 2017 | credits: Wikipedia

SpaceX Dragon also known as Dragon 1 or Cargo Dragon was a class reusable cargo spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company. Dragon 1 was launched to orbit using Falcon 9 as the launching vehicle. SpaceX Dragon 2 replaced the former. It made its maiden flight in December 2010 and it becomes the first commercially built and operated spacecraft that recovered successfully to the orbit. SpaceX Dragon 1 was initially assigned to the purpose of the team operation of cargo variants. On May 25, 2012 it had successfully attached to International Space Station (ISS) for exchanging cargo for the first time.

SpaceX advanced its cargo spacecraft to pass anger spacecraft called SpaceX Dragon 2, which can carry 7 people to and from Earth a bit and beyond along with their cargo. More over it is the only currently available spacecraft the frequently exchange the cargo and also it is the first private spacecraft that transport humans to space station. SpaceX Dragon 2 have 2 variants Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon for transporting astronauts and cargo to outer space. This spacecraft reached outer space via Falcon 9 Block 5 and return via ocean splash down. Unlike Dragon 1 this spacecraft can autonomously dock to ISS instead of being berthed. Crew Dragon 2 is also expected to be used in flights by American space tourism company space adventures to shuttle space tourist.

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Overview of Dragon

Dimension

Diameter: 4 m (13 ft)

Height: 8.1 m (27 ft) (with trunk)

Side wall angle: 15°

Capsule volume: 9.3 m3/ 328 ft3
Trunk Volume: 37 m3/ 1300 ft3
Launch Payload Mass: 6000 kg
Return Payload Mass: 3000 kg

Commercial flight to both Earth and Lunar orbit have 4 missions:

a) Mission Earth Orbit: This gives an experience to enjoy Earth from over 300 km.

b) Mission Space Station: Transporting human to orbiting laboratory of sky.

c) Mission Moon

d) Mission Mars and Beyond

Dragon 2 is a partially reusable, potentially resulting in a significant cost of reduction. Cargo Dragon can carry around 3307 kg (7291 lb) to ISS and have a capacity of 7 astronaut. Splash down can be accomplished by 4 main parachute in both variants. The parachutes are fully designed from Dragon 1 capsule.

Crew Dragon have eight side mounted Super Drago engine provide Sault-tolerant propulsion for Dragon's launch escape system. The 8 Super Drago engines can power Dragon half a mile from the launch vehicle in less than 8 seconds.

Researchers develop High-sensitivity Gallium Nitride biosensors

2021-05-25T14:47:00.005+05:30

Researchers from Indian institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) develop High-sensitivity Gallium Nitride biosensors.

Harsha Mariam Shibu

credits: PhotoMIX Company from Pexels

Electrochemical biosensors are measuring equipment or devices that can produce electric current proportional to the concentration of specific molecules amongst many. They can also be used to detect cancers or any other diseases at the early stage, measure pollution, and can also detect food contamination. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a newer material in the semiconductor industry for producing high-density electronic circuits. This has become the most preferred material for control circuits in electric vehicles, thus enhancing the growth of GaN technology. As GaN transistors are much robust, sustain high voltages, and has the ability to switch faster, they can be used for high power and high-frequency application. These properties also allow them to sense even small changes in charge, thus making them a suitable candidate for electrochemical biosensors.

A GaN biosensor is mainly based on three-terminal nanodevice called bioHEMT (bio-high electron mobility transistor). It has two terminals, called source and drain, where both are connected by a current-carrying channel in the semiconductor material. The third terminal is called as gate, which controls the current flowing through the channel. A layer of bio recognition element is used to coat the gate and is then exposed to the analyte solution. The interaction between the analyte and detector molecules resulting in an electric charge that changes the gate voltage, thereby, changing the current through the transistor. The change in current is directly proportional to biomarker concentration and could therefore be used to measure it. “HEMTs make it possible to detect very minute changes in biomarker concentrations and could be used as early warning sensors to detect minute anomalies,” says Prof Siddharth Tallur, an author of the current study.

In the model which the researchers had created, they have derived a mathematical expression that calculates the current through the device based on the electrical and physical properties of the biosensor, the biomarker concentration and the voltage being applied at the gate. They followed a methodology which could be used for silicon devices. They also considered the charge layer at the interface while deriving this equation. To demonstrate this model, they used it to model the performance of a device in order to detect a molecule called prostate-specific antigen, the concentration of that antigen increases in the case of prostate cancer. For different molecular concentrations, the researchers calculated the current flowing through the device as the voltage at the gate varied.

The researchers tested their model against current values calculated using a computational model that takes into account the charge layer at the interface. The computational model does an independent analysis of this biosensor’s behaviour and calculates the value of the current through the device. The values calculated by the analytical model, being proposed by the designers are seen to be in good agreement with the values calculated by the computational method.

The researchers used their model to predict biosensor’s sensitivity, which is a measure of how much the current will change for a specific change in the target molecule concentration. A high value of sensitivity means that the biosensor can detect even a very small shift in concentration. They found that the sensitivity value predicted by their model is about 20% less than the value predicted by previous models that did not consider the effect of the charge layer at the interface. They also compared the sensitivity values empirically measured by other teams for a comparable setting with the sensitivity predicted using their model. They found out that the calculated sensitivity value showed a 10% deviation from the experimentally measured value.

We present a simple analytical formulation that will help designers optimise the device performance using just an equation. They don't need to use the expensive computational techniques to optimise the device design.

- Prof Tallur

The researchers comment that the model could be extended to accurately estimate sensitivity for biosensors that can detect other types of cancer and various diseases characterized by early warning biomarkers. Gallium nitride devices could operate in very harsh conditions, such as highly corrosive and high-temperature environments and which in turn makes the GaN devices as an appealing choice for developing robust and reliable, high sensitivity environmental monitoring sensors with long life service, such as agricultural sensors for water quality monitoring, “With the growing adoption of GaN-based chips across various industries, the application space for GaN-based biosensors is expected to grow significantly in the coming years,” concludes Prof Tallur.

Morpheus turns a Processor into a Rubik's cube to defeat hackers

2021-05-25T13:34:00.003+05:30

Morpheus turns a processor into a Rubik's cube to defeat hackers.

Vaishnavi U M

credits: University of Michigan

Have you heard about Morpheus?

Morpheus is a secure CPU. It was designed at the University of Michigan by a group of graduate students and some faculty of the university. It makes the computer into a puzzle that happens to compute.

About 580 cybersecurity researchers spent almost 13,000 hours to break in to a new type of processor but they were not able to complete that. Hack attack was a big test in US DARPA program with the aim to develop processors that are immune to all hardware vulnerabilities that can be done by a malware. They were able to find a total of 10 vulnerabilities in 5 processors which was developed for SSITH but not a single vulnerability on the University of Michigan processor was found. Todd Austin, Michigan professor of electrical engineering and computer science, told about what makes Morpheus so puzzling that the hackers are not able to find a single vulnerability.

The idea behind is just would essentially make it so mind bogglingly terrible to understand that the attackers would be discouraged from attacking this particular target. The challenge is, how do you make it mind bogglingly difficult to understand for an attacker, and It can detect an attack just by looking at what’s being looked at.