Business & Economy – Page 19

** BMRCL to run indigenously built trains soon

First indigenously built coaches of Namma Metro have been recently given the green signal to be inducted into operations by the Railway Board. The seven brand new trains with 42 coaches, readied by BEML, are stationed at Peenya.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) now has a fleet of 57 trains with six cars each. They will be mainly used on the Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield line, which is set to be launched by year-end.

The Railway Board communicated to the BMRCL director on May 18 that the coaches have been cleared to run at a maximum speed of 80kmph. It has also given permission to use the rolling stock for the Purple and Green Line corridors.

BMRCL MD Anjum Parwez said, “We will utilise these trains for the Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield line and between Kengeri and Challaghatta”

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Megaravalli student’s innovative system selected for national level

Sushanth N. Prabhu developed a system that can prevent a bike chain from getting loose

An innovative project presented by a high school student of Government Junior College at Megaravalli in Thirthahalli taluk of Shivamogga has been selected for the national-level exhibition and project competition. Sushanth N. Prabhu, a SSLC student, has developed a ‘self chain adjustment system’ for bikes.

The competition, popularly known as Inspire Awards – Manak, is conducted by the National Innovation Foundation of the Department of Science and Technology. Sushanth presented the model for district level and state level competitions under the guidance of his mentor Raghavendra A.Bhat, a teacher in the school. Now it has been selected for the national level competition.

Ahead of the competition, the student and the mentor have been invited to take part in the mentoring workshop to be held at National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Suratkal in Dakshina Kannada on May 24.

** Mangaluru: Three-day Indian Open of Surfing to begin on May 27

A three-day Indian Open of Surfing (national surfing championship 2022) will begin from May 27 to 29 at Panambur beach, informed deputy commissioner Dr K V Rajendra.

The event is organized by the state tourism department, Surfing Federation of India and Mantra surfing. The tourism department has funded Rs 15 lac for the event. More than 75 top surfers of India are expected to take part, while 70 surfers have confirmed their participation.

Surfing and stand up paddling across different categories which are male open, female open and male and female (U16). The preparation work has commenced to beautify the beach prior to the event.

** Inspired by Modi’s life, Hubballi firm comes up with tea dispenser

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s life from a tea seller at Vadnagar railway station in Gujarat to become the Prime Minister who advocates for innovations and start-ups, Steira Technovations, a company from Hubballi, has come up with mobile tea dispensers to help poor tea vendors at railway stations and bus depots.

The tea vendors and sellers carry the hot tea or coffee in stainless steel containers. Holding the heavy container is tiring, and to reduce the burden, an insulated container with a capacity of 5 litres will be placed in a durable heat-resistant backpack attached to a cup dispenser.

Steira Technovations engineer Ganesh Balikai told TNIE that the company is not pursuing profits but it wants to solve the problems in the society. “We wanted to help the tea vendors who carry heavy containers to sell tea or coffee. The situation is the same in hotels and offices,” he said. Balikai said that the product can be carried easily on the back.

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** Film made in Bengaluru goes to Cannes

The 15-minute film, mostly in English, is a lighthearted social satire that looks at different generations of men through a woman’s eyes

Bengaluru-based Shruthi Raju, a first-time filmmaker, will be among the Indians participating in the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival in southern France. Her short film What’s Up With Indian Men? will be shown in Cannes Court Metrage online Video Library on May 25 during the festival.

The 15-minute film, mostly in English, is a lighthearted social satire that looks at different generations of men through a woman’s eyes.

After working on more than 120 original theatre shows across south India under the banner of Underdog Entertainment, which she co-founded, Shruthi recently ventured into films. The short film is adapted from a play she wrote and acted in.

First successful bone marrow transplant performed at Kidwai

The State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology has successfully conducted its first Autologous Stem Cell transplantation on an eight-year-old boy from Tumkuru.

The patient, Jeevan Kumar, had been diagnosed with Refractory Hodgkins Lymphoma, S4, nine months ago. The transplantation was done on April 28 and the patient was discharged on Monday.

A team of doctors comprising Vasundhara Kailasnath, Linu Jacob, Smitha Saldanha and Gayatri from the Bone Marrow Transplantation unit at the hospital performed the surgery. The unit was inaugurated on February 15 on the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Day.

“We initially collected the healthy stem cells from the patient and cyropreserved (a process in which the cells are stored at minus 80 degree celsius). Subsequently, the patient was given high dose chemotherapy to kill the residual cancer cells and the stored stem cells were transfused back into the patient. This procedure is called Autologous Stem Cell transplantation,” said Dr. Kailasnath.

“The entire process has taken about 20-24 days and the patient has done well through the procedure. Autologous Stem Cell transplantation enables us to give very dose chemotherapy to the patient,” she said.

** Digitisation Of ORI’s Rare Manuscripts Begins

Mysore/Mysuru:

The first stage of conserving rare and priceless palm leaf scripts and paper manuscripts of many centuries stored at Oriental Research Institute (ORI), governed by the University of Mysore (UoM), has begun.

ORI, established 130 years ago, is a repository of about 70,000 manuscripts that date back to more than 700 years in languages including Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. It also has 41,000 rare printed and other types of manuscripts.

These manuscripts of ancient and mediaeval India are preserved by way of literary works and treatise on various subjects. UoM has signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Bengaluru’s Mythic Society for digitisation of manuscripts.

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** Nanobots to prevent recurrence of infections after root canal

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has designed a nanobot that helps prevent recurrence of infections after a root canal.

The researchers, who also belong to IISc-incubated startup Theranautilus, were able to devise a way to remove all infection-causing bacteria left behind after a root canal procedure.

The procedure needs to be undertaken when the flesh or ‘pulp’ inside a tooth becomes infected due to bacteria. The procedure involves removing the infected pulp or tissue and cleaning out residual bacteria. The bacteria often hides within microscopic canals in the tooth.

“The dentinal tubules are very small and bacteria reside deep in the tissue. Current techniques are not efficient enough to go all the way inside and kill the bacteria,” said Shanmukh Srinivas, one of the founders of the startup and a research associate at IISc.

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** Over 130 participate in challenge to build robot janitors

Janitorial tasks include vacuuming, mopping, sanitising restrooms, taking out trash, recycling, washing and cleaning windows and mirrors

India may soon witness robot janitors in washrooms, if the initiatives carried out by city-based not-for-profit foundation, AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) find success.

A not-for-profit foundation received over 130 applications from across India in response to a challenge that required robots to demonstrate janitorial tasks that would be typically performed in a public washroom.

The challenge was posted by Bengaluru-based not-for-profit foundation AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) as part of a mission to support, nurture and co-create a robotics ecosystem to make India the global leader in robotics platforms and technologies.

** NITK faculty gets patent for cashew apple wine

The faculty of NITK, Surathkal has received a patent for producing wine using cashew apple and raisins.

The technology is developed by Dr Prasanna Belur Devarabhatta, associate professor in the department of chemical engineering. The patent is titled ‘A process for production of an alcoholic beverage from cashew apple and raisins and the alcoholic beverage produced thereof.”

The NITK had filed an application for the patent in 2012 and received it on May 4, 2022.

Now, NITK is looking forward to transferring the technology (licensing) to the interested entrepreneurs/companies. Further, the NITK will also provide required technical support to the licensee during the implementation of the said technology.