Indian-American engineer set to transform US power grid

Though the US power trade is one of the supreme engineering marvels, ageing technology and an increase in demand are creating problems for the power grid that needs fixing. Now, an Indian-American engineer is set to transform the way power is generated.

Venkat Selvamanickam, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston, is developing a technology with high temperature superconducting wires that is revolutionizing the way power is generated, transported and used.

It is expected that high-temperature superconducting wires could eliminate 131 million tones of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and equalize the emission of the equivalent of 40 conventional power-generating plants.

The country’s electric transmission grid currently consists of about 160,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, with forecasters predicting an additional 12,900 miles needed over the next five years to meet increasing demand, said Selvamanickam.

Superconducting power cables can spread up to 10 times more power than traditional copper cables without the major loss of traditional cables and are considered environmentally friendly.

Finisar, EXFO, and Ixia demonstrate 100G Ethernet optical link

Finisar Corp., maker of high-speed optical communications, jointly with EXFO Inc. and Ixia, demonstrated a standard-compliant 100G Ethernet (100GE) optical link at OFC in San Diego last week. The display consisted of an Ixia "K2" 100G tester and an EXFO 40G/100G Ethernet Packet Blazer tester communicating error-free at 103.1 Gb/s using Finisar's 100GE-LR4 CFP optical transceiver modules.

Error-free process was demonstrated by transmitting IP packets between the 100G testers over 20 kilometers of single-mode fiber, exceeding the 10 kilometer maximum distance being standardized for this application.

The Finisar FTLC1181R optical transceiver modules are compliant with the CFP Multi-source Agreement (MSA) and support the 100GBASE-LR4 (4 x 25 Gb/s) optical interface defined by the IEEE P802.3ba Draft standard. They are part of a family of Finisar CFP transceivers that also includes 40G Ethernet single-mode and multimode fiber versions. Finisar's entire portfolio of CFP transceiver modules employ internally developed integrated circuits and internally packaged optics.

Next Up, Learning

After more than a year when the focus remained fixed on the doctor's office and the hospital room, attention switches this week to the classrooms of America. Today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce the first-round winners of the Race to the Top, the $4 billion competition he set up to reward the states with the most motivated plans for improving their public schools.

When I asked Duncan last week what he hoped people would say about this extraordinary contest, he responded, so many were skeptical when we announced this a year ago as part of the stimulus package. I hope they recognize now that a very high bar has been set.

Duncan, the tall former Chicago schools chief who plays pickup basketball with the president, has been given what none of his predecessors in the Education Department ever had a giant chunk of cash, borrowed from abroad as part of the two-year, $787 billion effort to liberate the economy from subside. Fifteen of the 40 states that submitted plans were named as finalists in the Race to the Top earlier this month, along with the District of Columbia. The winners will pick up millions for their advance projects.

Oracle Is Quick to Recover

Oracle Corp. felt the recession effect later than most companies in the technology sector. But the software maker does not have to wait as long to recover.

The producer of database and business software posted a 17% raise in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, marking its second successive quarter of growth after a string of declines in the recession.

While Oracle's profit fell 11% in the quarter because of charges related to its achievement of computer-server maker Sun Microsystems Inc., which closed in late January, the company forecast strong growth. Oracle projected total revenue for the current quarter would jump 31% to 36% from a year earlier.

"Our channel is very strong in both software and hardware," said Safra Catz, Oracle's co-president.

The demand is coming from clients like Matthew Leeds, vice president of operations at digital media company Gracenote, a division of Sony Corp. Mr. Leeds thought he plans to buy software from Oracle and hardware from Sun before the end of the month. "I have the budget so I'm placing an order," he said.

Oil giants propose limiting federal lapse of fracturing

BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil Co. have provided Senate lawmakers with speech to include in a pending climate change bill that essentially would block federal oversight of hydraulic fracturing, a skill that's key to the current natural gas drilling boom.

The companies arranged the document, according to sources familiar with it, at the appeal of the Senate team that is drafting climate change law, which includes Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, and R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.
If integrated into the climate change law, it would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from striking regulations on fracturing, which is now regulated at the state level.

The document recommends that states adopt standards for disclosing the contents of hydraulic fracturing chemicals “to health professionals or state agencies” in order to protect health or environmental safety but maintain “the confidentiality of trade secret information” in the fluids.

Detecting bogus wine vintages: It's an (atomic) blast

Two decades of atomic bomb testing in the atmosphere are yielding an unexpected bonus for consumers, scientists reported here at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). It's a new test to decide whether that Bordeaux or burgundy is from a fine vintage year and commands premium price or actually is a counterfeit vine ordinaries or cheap plonk worth much less.

Graham Jones, Ph.D., who headed the research, said that misrepresenting the vintage the year the wine was made is an ongoing problem. He is with the University of Adelaide, Australia. Some years bring perfect rising conditions for vineyards in a country or region of a country and the grapes produce excellent wines that command premium prices. In other years, bad weather, such as heavy late-season rains that bloat grapes with water or long hot, dry spells at harvest, means poor quality wines. Some wine experts estimate that up to 5 percent of the fine wine sold today is fake.

Images of Catholic Health Association Notable Health Reform

Catholic Health Association Congratulates Nation's Leaders for Enacting Notable Health Reform

The Catholic Health Association applauds the U.S. House of Representatives and President Obama for enacting health care reform legislation that will bring security and health to millions of American families. The reform law will save and improve lives across our country. It represents great progress in the long effort to make health care available and affordable to everyone in the United States.

We call upon the U.S. Senate to move quickly to enact the accompanying correction legislation in order that the full benefits of reform become a reality.

While not perfect, the reform law notably expands coverage, especially to low-income and weak populations, and is a tremendous step toward protecting human pride and promoting the common good. The law will prevent insurance companies from denying policies to those with pre-existing conditions protect families from bankruptcy due to medical expenses help small businesses provide insurance for their workers improve Medicare drug benefit coverage by closing the doughnut hole and significantly cut the federal deficit. Most importantly, 32 million people who were previously uninsured will be able to obtain meaningful coverage at an affordable price.

New TSA consultant fights for Muslim rights

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Nawar Shora, the legal director for the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, has sparred with the federal government over what he saw as security abuses against minorities. Now, he is joining the Transportation Security Administration as a senior consultant for its office of civil rights and liberties.

Shora, 33, said the move next month to the Department of Homeland Security will back up what he has been telling interns for a decade, urging them to enter federal service.

"I'm finally practicing what I preach," said Shora, a self-described "Arab country boy" who was born in Syria and raised in Huntington, W.Va.

Airlines expand admittance to mobile boarding passes

Paper boarding passes could become an scarce species as more airlines offer boarding passes via mobile devices, which allow you to download a bar code to your Web-enabled phone or other device in place of printing a piece of paper.

United Airlines began offering the service last week in 13 airports. The airline expects to expand the service to 30 other airports by summer, according to a spokeswoman.

"It gives customers added convenience," said Sarah Massier, a United spokeswoman.
American Airlines last week added 19 new airports to the eight where it already had offered the service.

Hosted Drupal CMS intended for midyear

Acquia hopes to make a hosted description of its Drupal open-source content management system extensively available in about three months, the company's CTO said Wednesday.

The service, called Drupal Garden, is in beta testing now with a "couple of thousand" users, said Dries Buytaert, who created Drupal and cofounded Acquia to build a commercial business around it. The service will be based on Drupal 7, an upgrade to the CMS software that will be released at about the same time, Buytaert said at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Drupal is a software platform for publishing Web sites and managing text, images and other content on those sites. It has been used by folks to publish blogs and by larger organizations, including the White House and NASA, to run their Web sites.

Michelle Obama talks anti-corpulence to food giants

WASHINGTON | Michelle Obama is urging the nation’s largest food companies to speed up efforts to make healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

Obama asked the companies, gathered at a meeting of the Grocery Manufacturers Association on Tuesday, to “step it up” and put less fat, salt and sugar in foods.

“We need you not to just twist around the edges but totally rethink the products you are offering, the information that you provide about these products, and how you market those products to our children,” she said.

US consulate employees killed in Mexico drug wars

The drug wars in Mexico took a menacing turn over the weekend when a US consulate employee and her husband were killed as they left a children's birthday party in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city. Only minutes earlier gunmen also killed the Mexican husband of another member of the consular staff and wounded his two children.

While a number of US citizens have been killed in Mexico's increasingly bloody drug wars between rival cartels, it is the first time an American government employee has been killed.

President Barack Obama has expressed outrage over the killings, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon promised a swift investigation.

for more details refer website : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7061983.ece

American Airlines facing $787,500 in protection fines from FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration proposed fines of $787,500 against American Airlines Inc. on Friday for three cases involving improper maintenance.

American said it had seen the FAA's findings and plans to meet with FAA officials after it reviews them.

"American Airlines is very proud of our safety record and our employees' commitment to safety every day," spokesman Tim Smith said. "Safety is fundamental to the American Airlines culture and to our success."

The biggest penalty, $625,000, was for allowing a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to fly even though the aircraft had problems with one of its two central air data computers, the FAA said.

Auto parts firm Sensata's shares rise in debut

Hopes for a recovering auto industry buoyed car parts maker Sensata Technologies Holding in its market debut on Thursday, sending its shares up as much as 5.6 percent.

Sensate manufactures sensors for automakers, thermal circuit breakers for aircraft, temperature controllers for electric motors, and other industrial technology. In 2009 more than half of its revenue came from the auto industry.

"One of its biggest customers right now is Ford and Ford is cranking on all cylinders," said IPO Boutique Senior Managing Partner Scott Sweet.
Ford Motor Co's U.S. sales of cars and light trucks in February were 45.3 percent ahead of where they were a year ago.

For details refer website : http://in.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idINTRE62A31K20100312?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

IBM hopes to make mobile devices more accessible

IBM is embarking on a research project to design mobile gadgets that are easier to use for people who have disabilities or aren't fully cultured.
As part of the project, announced Wednesday, Big Blue will collaborate with India's National Institute of Design and the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

The goal is to develop a common interface for mobile devices that will make them easier to use. As digital information becomes more vital, IBM said, it believes the Internet needs to be more reachable to a wider range of people, including those who are illiterate, blind, deaf, and elderly, and those in developing countries.


"Through this collaborative research proposal, we will uncover real information convenience requirements and issues that the elderly and people in developing economies are facing today," Chieko Asakawa, an IBM Fellow and chief technology officer of IBM's accessibility research, said in a statement. "By focusing on mobile devices, which have a tremendous potential to empower them, we believe the findings will help us offer reasonable services to a large population, who are still deprived of access to key information sources."

Images of American Spaceship

Lost in Time, Letters Confine American Grief for a President

Days after President John F. Kennedy was killed, Dr. Ira Seiler sat at his desk and wrote a letter of concern to his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy.

“Today, on Thanksgiving, I wholeheartedly sense his death for it was just three years ago today that I forced my breath into the lungs of his newly born son,” Dr. Seiler wrote. John F. Kennedy Jr. was born premature, Dr. Seiler, a pediatric resident, said he placed a tube in the baby’s trachea and breathed air into his lungs.

“I met your husband only once after this but the part I played in saving his son’s life gave me a feeling of deep closeness to your husband,” Dr. Seiler wrote. He added “I only wish I had been able to give my life in place of that of your husband. He had so much to offer.”

For more details visit website : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/us/09kennedy.html

American falls to Lehigh, 79-57, in Patriot League men's basketball semifinals

Jeff Jones set the outline minutes after fourth-seeded American's 79-57 loss at top-seeded Lehigh in the Patriot League semifinals on Sunday when the Eagles coach told his team to enjoy the upcoming break from the season's conclusion, but understand what awaits this off season.
"In all of my years as a head coach," said Jones, who coached eight years at Virginia and has been at American for 10, "this will be by far the hardest off season of any team."
Jones said the players must "face adversity" and "grow up physically and mentally."

for more details visit site:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/07/AR2010030703784.html

American Airlines flight attendants may strike after talks

Flight attendants for the airline may strike subsequent a reported failure to reach an agreement with contract planning Dallas, Texas Flight attendants for American Airlines may strike following a failure to come to an agreement during contract discussions Wednesday night. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants recently spoke of plans to request that the National Mediation Board begin a 30-day cooling-off period, which could lead to a strike by the union.

Wireless-Wi-Fi Images

This images show a brief idea how wireless Wi-fi works and the block diagram.

Skype in train:America

For years, rail travel in North especiallyAmerica has seemed more like sea travel attractive, but not a vital part of the useful. However, in Europe and Asia, trains important way people get around. They’re fast and reliable, but most for the business traveler, you don’t have to switch off your phone when the train pulls out of the station. And increasingly, you don’t have to log off Face book either.
Onboard Wi-Fi in Europe has become as fast and reliable as the trains themselves, and this month, Amtrak in the U.S. is following suit The rail company launched limited service two days ago, and Via has decided service by the end of the year to upgrade its disappointing.

For more details refer site:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/skype-on-a-train/article1487226/

Almost a best Olympics for North America: McCollum's Column

The Winter Olympics ended perfectly for those in North America.
The last bureaucrat event was one of the greatest and most exciting Olympic ice hockey games ever played when Canada won the gold medal it had to win with the 2-1 sudden-death victory over the Americans.U.S. won most medals. Canada won most gold medals.
The Russians, who went home humiliated in hockey and failed to win a figure skating gold, went home to what we expect to be a rigorous training program or else (Siberia has a year-round winter climate) when it hosts in four years.

At the closing ceremony, the Canadians ran out just about every icon entertainer and every classic symbol of the country and found a way to work parts of “Oh Canada” (one of the best as national anthems) in almost all segments.

For more details refer website:http://thecabin.net/news/2010-03-01/mccollums-column-almost-best-case-olympics-north-america