Education – Page 5 – Global Records India

** IIT-M researchers develop zinc-air batteries

It is an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras are developing mechanically rechargeable zinc-air batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles (EV). They have filed for patents for their technology and are collaborating with major industries to develop the batteries.

As zinc-air batteries are economical and have longer shelf-life, they can be used in two and three-wheel EVs, the researchers say.

Aravind Kumar Chandiran, assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Institute, and his team is working on zinc-air batteries as zinc is a widely available resource in the country. Currently India imports lithium-ion batteries from China. “Our research team is developing a futuristic model for zinc-air batteries for EVs. The team has developed zinc-air cells and is working to develop zinc-air packs for EVs,” he said

Prabhakar Kore receives honorary degree of PhD from USA’s Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, USA-based Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Science to Prabhakar Kore, KLE society chairman.

Richard Haverstick Jr. Interim President and CEO, Thomas Jefferson University and Mark L. Tykocinski, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Vice Chancellor gave the honorary degree at the University Convocation held on May 25.

It is a matter of pride for India as such an award is the first for any Indian, said a release by KLE society.

KLE has multiple academic collaborations with international institutes like Thomas Jefferson University, University of North Carolina, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Kings college and others.

The key focus of the TJU collaboration has been on reduction in the burden of mortality/morbidity during pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood development. The TJU-JNMC Research Unit funded by NICHD Global Network, has led community-based, multi-centre, multi-country trials for prevention of pre-term birth and mortality during childbirth. The results have had far reaching impact at the grassroot levels and have been incorporated in the guidelines by the Ministry of Health, Govt of India and the World Health Organization. Furthermore it is now a “WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Maternal and Perinatal Health”.

The Academic and Research collaboration between KAHER and TJU in the areas of Public Health, Urology and Integrative Medicine commenced in July 2017 and has been expanded to include specialties of Neurology, Radiology, Neonatology, Psychiatry, Nursing and Physiotherapy. The Faculty and student exchange, research grants as well as the upcoming establishment of the India Centre at Thomas Jefferson University on 26th May 2022 is a testimony of the strong academic bond between KLE and TJU, said the release.

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** Learn about India’s biodiversity from this card game created by Chennai students

A new game developed by Chennai students spreads awareness about different ecosystems, species and what we can do to help them

Can a game of cards increase environmental awareness? A group of educators and students seem to think so. Having worked for five months on a project by city-based Palluyir Trust, they now present The Wilderness game.

The game is essentially a pack of cards — think cricket or wrestling cards — but with sea creatures instead of The Undertaker, and a flood of real-world information thrown in. Environmentalist M Yuvan and Chennai students Nanditha Ramsatagopan, Charlotte Jeffries and Rohit Srinivasan, designed it for people above the age of 10. The gameplay format keeps in mind millennial and Gen-Z mindsets.

** Women make their families proud as they march out of the Indian Naval Academy as officers

What makes the likes of Brahmjot Kaur tick? She holds a B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communications and could have opted for a job in the private sector. Yet, it was that attraction for the uniform that prevailed. On Saturday, she was one of 30 women who marched out of the Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala, Kerala, as a sub lieutenant of the Indian Navy.

“It is great that the number of women opting for the Navy as a career is going up. As it is, the Navy has the largest percentage (6.2 per cent) of women officers among the three armed forces in the country. In the batch that passed out on Saturday, there were 210 men and 30 women. That means that this batch had 12.5 per cent women. We also have women pilots serving on ships now,” a senior naval officer said.

While Brahmjot is from the Naval Armament Inspectorate Cadre (NAIC), there are other women in her batch who will go on to become logistics officers, law officers, observers and naval constructors after further training at other bases. The last 5-odd months at Ezhimala have been gruelling, Brahmjot says but she is ready for more.

Her grandfather is Wing Commander Swarn Singh Birdi (retd) and her father is Group Captain Simranpal Singh Birdi. Her maternal grandfather is Lt Col K.S. Cheema (retd).

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** PM Modi inaugurates India’s first 5G testbed

The 5G testbed has been developed as a multi-institute collaborative project by eight institutes led by IIT Madras

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 17 inaugurated the country’s first 5G testbed to enable startups and industry players to test and validate their products locally and reduce dependence on foreign facilities.

The testbed has been set up at a cost of around ₹220 crore.

Speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the Prime Minister said the 5G testbed is an important step for self-reliance in the direction of critical and modern technologies.

** Andhra Pradesh: The golden girl : Goldsmith’s daughter bags six gold medals

Daggolu Supraja, an Electrical an Electronics Engineering graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur, bagged six gold medals at the 12th Convocation of the University on Saturday. Incidentally she is the daughter of a goldsmith Siva Prasad hailing from Nellore town.

While Ms. Supraja was in her final year of engineering, her father passed away and mother Saroja is a homemaker. Despite financial constraints, she completed her graduation in flying colours by bagging the best engineering student gold medal, best outgoing girl student in all branches, and best academic performance.

She not only topped her EEE branch with 9.14 CGPA score, but also topped students from all the departments in the university. Receiving the gold medals and degree certificate from the Governor was an ecstatic experience for her and parents’ dream fulfilled, she said

** 1946 Last War of Independence Royal Indian Navy Mutiny review: The 1946 naval uprising

Pramod Kapoor transforms a footnote in history into a remarkable account of a rebellion that convinced the British it was time to leave India

As rightly remarked by Shyam Benegal, a footnote in the history of the freedom movement has been turned into an exciting and important account in Pramod Kapoor’s 1946 Last War of Independence: Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. Pramod himself stumbled onto this forgotten story while researching for his book on Gandhi: “After the draft of the Gandhi book was done, I re-read the Royal Indian Navy mutiny episodes and realised the magnitude of the event.”

Reports of the revolt

When Pramod began his research, he discovered hundreds of reports by British admirals, commanding officers of ships and shore establishments, cables and letters exchanged between London and Delhi, proceedings in the British parliament and debates in the Legislative Council in India. They were “honest,” but were told from the British point of view. For another view, Pramod waded through hundreds of newspaper reports and documents at libraries, met people with knowledge of the revolt and toured HMIS Talwar, the signal school of the Navy at Colaba, where “inflammatory slogans” had been written on the walls and “seditious pamphlets” were circulated. A tour of the dockyard and areas of Navy Nagar in Mumbai helped him understand the “history and geography of the area where the uprising took place.”

In February 1946, ratings, or the lowest rung of sailors in the Royal Indian Navy hierarchy, staged a revolt. The young sailors were protesting against the fact that things they were promised at the time of recruitment had not been honoured: living conditions were horrible; the food worse and there was rampant racial discrimination. Also, says Pramod, inspired by the Indian National Army (INA), they were politically charged and keen to play a part in India’s freedom movement. Within 48 hours, the strength of the mutineers grew to 20,000, and they took over ships afloat and on-shore establishments. Servicemen in the army and air force, and civilians joined the protests.

** CET obtains patent for compound with anti-cancer properties

The compound has been derived from the medicinal plant Koduveli

The College of Engineering Thiruvananthapuram (CET) has bagged a patent for inventing a pharmaceutical agent that is expected to have immense potential in cancer treatment.

The newly synthesised compound, 3-([4-Chloro-3(Trifluoromethyl) Phenyl] Amino)-5-Hydroxy-2-Methyl-1,4-Dihydronapthalene-1,4-Dione, was the result of the five-year long research jointly undertaken by Shyni P. Laila and Arunkumar B.

The researchers were guided by Annette Fernandez, the former head of the Department of Chemistry at CET who had retired as Principal of the Government College of Arts and Science, Pathirippala, in Palakkad few years ago.

** VVCE students design low-cost cooling solution to keep fruits and vegetables fresh

The model requires the vendors to charge it once in a day at home

A low-cost cooling solution harnessing solar power to help vegetable vendors in keeping the perishable produce fresh has been designed by four students of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering in Mysuru.

H.V.Naveen, Shubham Sain, S.Supreeth and Vivek Chandrashekar who took up the project are students of Mechanical Engineering branch and are in the sixth semester. The project addresses one of the major problems that vegetable vendors face every day: that of keeping the vegetables fresh when they are out in the market selling it under the scorching sun.

The students have designed the cart in such a way that the refrigeration of the cart can be maintained in a temperature range between 0 degree C and 10 degree C. Generally, a temperature in the range of 5 degree C to 10 degree C is required to keep the vegetables fresh. But the students have gone a step ahead and have extended the utility of the cart to help those selling diary products as well.

** IIT Madras honours 22 alumni for their achievement

Former director Bhaskar Ramamurthi presented Lifetime Achievement Award

A total of 22 alumni were honoured with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for their achievement in industry and academia during the 63rd Institution Day celebrations of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

The celebrations were held on Tuesday in the physical mode after two years owing to COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief guest Lakshmi Narayanan, former Vice Chairman of Cognizant Technologies, said the need of the hour is “collaborative research between industry and academia which can result in phenomenal outcomes.” He praised the institute for “pioneering upskilling of virtual education”, its virtual B.Sc degree programme and innovative platforms such as NPTEL that are benefiting the community.” The institute’s research park had fostered an innovative ecosystem, he said.

He also presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to former director Bhaskar Ramamurthi. It was during his tenure that the institute topped in several national-level rankings besides being selected as Institution of Eminence.

Director V. Kamakoti said the pandemic had not stopped the institute’s growth – be it in research, consultancy and execution of corporate social responsibility projects; placements, internships or patents filed.

Among the alumni who received the distinguished alumnus award in person were Mridula Nair, research fellow, Eastman Kodak Company, USA; Mahesh Wagle, founder director Cybernetik Technologies, India; Girija Vaidyanathan, former chief secretary of Tamil Nadu; Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, chief technical officer, Energy and Mobility, Microsoft R&D India and Azure Global, India; and Vijay B. Shenoy, associate professor, Centre for Condensed Matter, Indian Institute of Science.

On the occasion the Extra Mural Lecture yearbook was released. Awards were also presented to faculty for excellence in teaching, and for research and development work.