Records – Page 25 – Karnataka First

Researchers at IISc. develop algorithm to study connectivity in brain

Researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have developed a new graphic processing unit (GPU) based machine learning algorithm called Regularised, Accelerated, Linear Fascicle Evaluation (ReAl – LiFE), which will help to obtain a better understanding and in the prediction of connectivity between different regions of human brain.

This algorithm can help analyse extensive data generated from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) scans which helps scientists study the connectivity in the brain at a speed, which is 150 times higher than a regular desktop computer or existing state-of-the-art algorithms. The study has been published in the journal Nature Computational Science.

“Even though it is difficult to pinpoint the connectomes, we are trying to infer information highway network by looking at traffic flow patterns (if molecules are like cars). We look at the movement of water molecules in the brain and we try to infer where the wires are. The water molecules have to travel along the length of the cables (axons), which have connected various parts of the brain. By measuring these lengths of water molecules, we are able to infer which areas are connected,” explained Devarajan Sridharan, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neuroscience (CNS), IISc., and corresponding author of the study.

BEL signs MoU with Belarus-based Defense Initiatives

Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) signed an MoU with Defense Initiatives (DI), Belarus, and Defense Initiatives Aero Pvt. Ltd., India, a subsidiary of DI Belarus, for supply of Airborne Defense Suite (ADS) for the helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The cooperation between these companies is also aimed at exploring various business opportunities for India and global markets for ADS, said BEL in a statement on Friday.

State’s first exclusive park for specially-abled children opens

On Saturday, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot inaugurated the State’s first disabled-friendly park in Jawaharlal Bal Bhavan (JBB), Cubbon Park, built for children with disabilities by Mindtree and Bal Bhavan Society.

Built at a cost of ₹3 crore under the guidance of health and child development experts, the park provides a safe, inclusive, and physiotherapeutic place where children with multiple forms of special abilities can play uninhibited by their mobility aids or the risk of accidents, officials said.

Designed in the shape of a turtle, the park consists of different zones for a wide range of physical, mental, therapeutic, and touch and feel activities. The park has a specially designed sand table for children on wheelchairs and a special swing. Tactile pathways make it easier for visually-challenged children to navigate their way around the park. To mitigate injuries from falls, all playing surfaces are made of a synthetic, non-toxic, and skid-proof rubber called EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer).

Prahlad Agasanakatte Award presented

Research student Nagaraj Kori was honoured with the Dr. Prahlad Agasanakatte Student Story Award at a function in Hubballi on Sunday.

Felicitating the young writer after presenting the award in the function jointly organised by Akshara Sahitya Vedike and KIMS, Hubballi, on Sunday, writer Allamaprabhu Bettadur termed the initiative of identifying and honouring student writers as crucial. Nagaraj Kori’s story, Kalavalada Deegi Kunidittavva, was chosen for the award.

Mr. Bettadur said that writers of North Karnataka have desi (indigenous) sensitivity and because of its distinct regionalism, it has found base in Kannada literature. Judge of the contest Chidanand Kammar spoke on the award-winning story.

Guinness World Record Attempt made in Gadag

They have successfully made an attempt to create a new Guinness World Record in “Most consecutive wheel-style skips by a pair”

Students of KLE Society’s Jagadguru Tontadarya College, Gadag-Betageri have successfully made an attempt to create new Guinness World Record in “Most consecutive wheel-style skips by a pair”.

In the record attempt made on Thursday, postgraduate students of English literature Akasha B. Jogaraddi and Shravankumar Kindri were able to achieve 5024 skips within 40 minutes and 20 seconds.

As per Guinness Book of World Records, the present record is held by a Japanese pair Yu Okamoto and Norihisa Taguchi, who achieved 1,559 skips in Asaka, Saitama, Japan, on 14 November 2019. In their record attempt Akasha and Shravankumar were able to achieve skips that are nearly three times of the earlier record. The record attempt has Guinness World Record Reference number 210227175217mcws.

NIT-K faculty member gets patent for producing cement mortar brick having self-healing property upon cracking

A faculty member at the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, has received an Indian patent for producing cement mortar brick with inclusion of bacteria in combination.

The brick thus made claims to be superior than the conventional ones in terms of strength and life of the structure and possess a self-healing property.

T. Palanisamy, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the institute, had applied for the patent in 2014 and it was granted in June 2022.

According to Mr. Palanisamy, microbialcreat composite is a new-age material with the property of self-healing upon cracking. This action is by the precipitation of lime (calcium carbonate) by the non-pathogenic bacteria used in the composite, upon coming into contact with air and water through the crack. The precipitated lime will cover the crack, thereby improving the stability of the surface.

Will offer knowledge, market intelligence to startups: ISRO Chairman

He was speaking at the opening session of a one-day national conference titled ‘Development of Space Start-up Ecosystem in India.’

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will offer encouragement, knowledge and market information to startups to ensure the growth and development of the space industry, said S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space here on Friday.

“The industry has been having a strong association with the Indian Space Programme all along. ISRO will offer support to startups in terms of encouragement, knowledge, ability to identify the market outside and provision of a conducive environment to ensure the growth of the space sector,’‘ he said while speaking at the opening session of a national conference on ‘Development of Space Start-up Ecosystem in India.’

Forty years of Corner House: Narayan Rao on how he built Bengaluru’s beloved icecream brand

During my conversation with Narayan Rao, the founder of Bengaluru’s popular icecream brand Corner House, I tell him, rather unwittingly, “Corner House is a legacy brand–”

It is, however, not preposterous to assume that Corner House is, indeed, a legacy brand in Bengaluru. It has, after all, 19 parlours across the city and two more in Mysuru. It has been around for 40 years, withstanding competition from other international icecream brands. It sells, on average, 1.5 lakh litres of ice cream every month.

The first was on a hot June afternoon in Delhi in 1980. Rao had just returned from Canada after studying hotel management. He was waiting outside the office of the general manager of a five-star hotel for his interview when he met his schoolmate, who was the personal secretary to the manager. She had a hunch that he would not like working there. “She said, ‘If you ask me, you should just turn around and walk out of here.’ I did just that. .” If he had not bumped into her, he might not have come to Bengaluru and started Corner House. “Forty years later, I called and thanked her.”

The second moment of serendipity came a few years after he started Corner House, which was then a fast-food joint. Business was stuttering. He ran out of the money he borrowed from his father. Banks, then, were not liberal with loans as they are now. He had no collateral, either. He was at a restaurant, contemplating the future of his fledgling food business over a coffee, when a fellow diner joined him. They exchanged pleasantries. It turned out that the guy sitting across the table was a bank manager whose brother was Rao’s classmate. Seven days later, Rao got the money he needed to keep his business afloat.

“Bangalore has always been good to me,” he says. It is where he met the love of his life, whom he is married to for 41 years. It is where he established his livelihood. For someone born and brought up in Delhi, it is now his home.

Intellectual Property Rights Cell inaugurated at JSS AHER

Focus would be on innovations, research

The JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research in the city in association with the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) has established an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cell.

It was inaugurated on Thursday and the objectives of the IPR Cell are to strengthen and expand human resources and institutions for training, research, and skill building in Intellectual Property (IP), to raise awareness about IP, catalyse commercialisation of IP, and to promote respect for IP rights.

The authorities said this would be a unique cell as the focus of this IPR cell at JSS AHER would be on innovations, IPR and commercialisation in the health sciences sector, medical devices, and patient care.

K.S.Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, highlighted the importance of scientific research and outcomes in terms of IPR wherein he cited his own example of how out of the 7,000 molecules that he worked on, he could patent 12 products and 2 of these have been commercialised which are generating revenue for the IPR cell of the University of Mysore.

Kempegowda International Airport bags best regional airport in South Asia award

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport), on Friday said it has bagged the best regional airport in India and South Asia title in the 2022 Skytrax World Airport Awards.

The awards ceremony was held at Passenger Terminal EXPO in Paris, France, on June 16. “The event is one of the most prestigious quality awards for the airport sector, with CEOs, Presidents, and senior management from airports across the world in attendance,” according to the statement.