Plastic degrades

There is a teenager of name Daniel Burd. He solved a problem that was there on the wall for decades and others just sat on it.

Bio-degradation of Plastic.

As if a word from God Himself, we assumed the word from text books that plastic takes thousands of years to degrade as true. This guy had guts to not believe it. He found microbs that do this to degree of 50% in 6 weeks time, with only water and miniscude CO2 as by-product. You can read more of his systematic report at http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/WWSEF/08Awards/08BurdReport.pdf.

Barcamp IdeaCampPune

I would like people to discuss an Idea or Problem as you might call it. Every holiday i.e. Diwali, season, there are score of people who go back to their native places. All transport company's are just too busy during that period. One of the busiest place at that time is Shivajinagar bus stand. Pure chaotic. I personally could not get on to bus, though I'd reached bus stop full 20 minutes before time, though I had reserved the ticket.

Imagine an Airport where every minute a plane is taking off, and person has go little idea of which terminal he has to catch his plane on..... This is the kind of problem that I think can be solved and can have impact in general lives of people.

And how do we do it?
With integration of various technologies like GPS/GPRS from tracking of vehicles and their details, fully integrated reservation systems, display systems,

And by introducing some new practices like
1. stopping giving bus tickets inside bus at the time of pick season,
2. current booking while knowing how many seats are vacant half an hour before bus is to come to stop.

This problem might look local from its description, but the same solution can be applied to all the bus terminals across the country...

So log onto the website http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/IdeaCampPune and join the force...

Portable Genetic Testing Unit

A month has not passed after unveiling of Tata Nano, and we have news about another such product that is bound to improve quality of life for millions of people.

What is it: A Portable Genetic Testing Unit.

So what?: Well, prior to this innovation, genetic testing meant 2 to 3 days for result on very expensive testing equipments that resulted in cost for single test upto 10000 to 100000 Rs. The new device itself costs 50000 Rs with time for test result at 30 minutes at the time of release of the article. Further innovation has brought down the cost to 4000 Rs. It now gives results in few minutes.

Following is the abstract of the paper titled "An inexpensive and portable microchip-based platform for integrated RT–PCR and capillary electrophoresis" [Reference:Govind V. Kaigala, Analyst, 2008, DOI: 10.1039/b714308g ]:

We present an inexpensive, portable and integrated microfluidic instrument that is optimized to perform genetic amplification and analysis on a single sample. Biochemical reactions and analytical separations for genetic analysis are performed within tri-layered glass–PDMS microchips. The microchip itself consists of integrated pneumatically-actuated valves and pumps for fluid handling, a thin-film resistive element that acts simultaneously as a heater and a temperature sensor, and channels for capillary electrophoresis (CE). The platform is comprised of high voltage circuitry, an optical assembly consisting of a laser diode and a charged coupled device (CCD) camera, circuitry for thermal control, and mini-pumps to generate vacuum/pressure to operate the on-chip diaphragm-based pumps and valves. Using this microchip and instrument, we demonstrate an integration of reverse transcription (RT), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and capillary electrophoresis (CE). The novelty of this system lies in the cost-effective integration of microfluidics, optics, and electronics to realize a fully portable and inexpensive system (on the order of $1000 in component costs) for performing both genetic amplification and analysis – the basis of many medical diagnostics. We believe that this combination of portability, cost-effectiveness and performance will enable more accessible healthcare.

More to follow on possible applications on this.

G. Kaigala, V. Hoang, A. Stickel, J. Lauzon, D. Manage, L. M. Pilarski, C. J. Backhouse, An inexpensive and portable microchip-based platform for integrated RT-PCR and capillary electrophoresis, Analyst, DOI:10.1039/B714308G (Accepted, December, 2007).
http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayHTMLArticleforfree.cfm?JournalCode=AN&Year=2008&ManuscriptID=b714308g&Iss=Advance_Article

University of Alberta (2008, January 29). Lab On A Chip Developed For Cheap, Portable Medical Tests.ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 30, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2008/01/080129125449.htm

Lab on a chip developed at University of Alberta for cheap, portable medical tests. Eureka Alert
Retrieved January 30, 2008 from
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uoa-loa012808.php

Website of Govind V Kaigala, lead author of the article. http://www.ee.ualberta.ca/~govind/

A Week After the Tata Nano

Its now sinking in the effects of Tata Nano. The debate is still on. If one thing that has come to forefront in this debate is urgent need of Public Transport. I was out on the weekend to a small town of Dhule for cousin's wedding and had an opportunity to get in the views from the people of that area. This is what people in small cities feel:

• Sure there is apprehension that it will clog the streets.
• But still people would buy Tata Nano.
• Main reasons are
• To be on Four Wheel
• It provides them more protection than helmet on the Road
• The Price
• Status (In cities Nano may be symbol of reverse status, thats not the case in small towns)
• They will not use Nano as frequently as bikes, given bikes average is much more than Nano.

So it looks like to be Huge Hit is the small towns. Back yesterday night, I had c0mpuslsive feeling to go through the weekend papers to find columns on Nano. And I was not disappointed. Both ToI and IE carried columns on them. Expetedly both the columns were not about the Tata Nano itself, but its impact.

ToI's columns Second Opinion made scathing attack on those who criticized Tata for providing such a cheap car that will worsen the road situations. It said Not elitists but neo-casteists hate the Nano.

IE column was more of post analysis. Nano lessons for change. This encapsulates what I wrote on the night of Tata Nano's announcement. May be the answer lies in better public transport and unsubsidized fuel rates.

Another column I found on net was from HT. It speaks the same as above and some more. Find it here: Not 'either/or' but 'and'!

A rather old NYT column says No, No, No, Don't Follow Us. It brings to light what problem we might face if we go in for US like car-a-person model, and ponders on scale factor in public transport or mass transit system as well.

Tata Nano Fallout: Greater Thrust on Public Transport

Pune is already feeling the heat of the rise in private vehicles. With Tata Nano round the corner, which can convert huge bike population into car, local government is trying to strengthen public transport. Read more here.