 |
|
| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
|
|
|
Is your building green?
Prof Yash
Pal
Trends |
|
|
Is your building green?
Mounting concerns for environment protection have at last a softening effect on the rough and tough construction sector also. The infrastructure world is waking up to the concept of Green buildings now. First, it were the demolition techniques that were made highly sophisticated to cause least pollution. Then, trench-less technology was promoted to minimizese dust boiling. Now, focus is on adopting such techniques and utilising such materials that help a building achieve the ‘Green Building rating’.
A green building is one that makes best possible use of natural light and air and least possible consumption of energy and water. It uses industrial byproducts, believes in recycling of waste water, harvesting of rain water, least use of air-conditioning, least production of CO2 and tries to support environment protection every
possible way. Making a building green begins at the time of laying the first brick itself. The aim has to be kept in mind throughout the construction period. Post-construction, it is not possible to make a building green. And it is no less achievement to switch over from simple ‘development’ to ‘sustainable development’. Keeping in view the fast pace of development, soon, it may become mandatory for all commercial, industrial and institutional buildings to achieve green building rating. In order to achieve Green Building status for a building under construction, some guidelines need to be listed and followed. US based Green Building Council has been working on the issue but India needs to develop its own guidelines keeping her climatic conditions in view. A few listed here, if followed, are sure to help a building in achieving Green Building status: Some Features of Green
Buildings 1. Use of Fly Ash. 1. Effort should be made to use Fly ash Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) produced by taking full quality
control measures. 2. Instead of using bricks, autoclaved aerated concrete blocks should be used for better insulation and heat rejection in India. 3. Expanded polystyrene roof insulation should be used. Alternatively, terrace should be covered with reflective roof paints so that there is minimum load on Air-conditioning. 4. Whatever wood is used in door frames and shutters, should be from a forest resource where 20 or more trees are planted for every tree cut. Such wood is duly certified to be from such a resource. 5. In windows, Aluminium glazing should be used with double glazing. Double glazing should be heat strengthened with 12 mm air cavity and outer glazing coated with low e-coating. 6. Maximum effort should be made in use of recycled materials in the construction of the building. 7. Locally available materials within a radius of 150 km should be used. 8. Only energy efficient lights like CFLs, slim tubes and CFL luminaires should be used. Building design and orientation should make maximum use of natural light. 9. Fluidised Aerobic Bioreactor sewage treatment plant should be used. 10. Landscaping should be water efficient. Endemic plants requiring less water and pesticides should
be selected. 11. All air conditioning should be CFC-free. 12. Maximum recycling of
wastewater should be done for landscaping purpose. 13. Rain water harvesting should be used and zero drainage to municipal storm water drainage system should
be ensured. 14. Carbon Dioxide monitoring sensors should be installed in the building and regular check on them should be made. 15. Underground parking should be preferred to reduce Heat Island effect and to keep the vehicles cool so that less use of ACs is made. 16. Separate dustbins for paper and plastic should be provided in the building and area. 17. Use of bi-cycles should be promoted. Making provision of shower and change rooms with lockers for the cyclists is recommended for promotion of cycling. 18. Use of solar water heaters should be made.
|
|
Meningitis B breakthrough
In the most significant advance in a decade, researchers say they have obtained powerful immune responses in 150 British infants on whom the vaccine was tested, suggesting it would be protective against the group B type of
the disease. An effective vaccine against meningitis B is the holy grail of meningitis research and could virtually eliminate the devastating bacterial infection from Britain and other European countries. Vaccines against group C meningitis, which was introduced in 1999, and Hib meaningitis in 1992, have reduced these causes of the disease by more than 90 per cent. Ray Borrow, the head of the vaccine evaluation department at the Health Protection Agency in Manchester, said: “I believe we should be very excited indeed. Ten years ago we had success with a vaccine against group C disease but, so far, we have had no real prospect of controlling group
B disease. “There are 20,000 to 80,000 cases of meningitis B globally and roughly 1,200 cases in the UK each year, of which 10 per cent result in death. The prospect of one vaccine that protects infants worldwide against [meningitis B] would be a key achievement in global disease prevention of our time.” Generations of parents have lived in terror of meningitis because it targets the young, strikes with unnerving speed and ferocity, and kills one in 10 of those it infects. Among those who survive, many suffer permanent disability including deafness, neurological problems and loss of fingers and limbs. The meningitis bacterium lives harmlessly in the noses and throats of one in 10 people but, for reasons that are not fully understood, can erupt into a life-threatening illness that causes inflammation of the membrane around the brain — the “meninges” — and leads to death within hours. With vaccines already available against group C and Hib meningitis, group B is the dominant strain in England, accounting for 84 per cent of the 1,283 cases of meningococcal disease recorded last year. Developing an effective group B vaccine has presented a much bigger challenge because there are scores of different strains circulating in Europe and most parts of the world. Group B vaccines have been developed and are in use in Cuba and New Zealand but these are only effective against the single strains circulating in
those countries. The new vaccine contains multiple “antigens” - bacterial proteins designed to counter different strains - developed from a study of 85 strains of group B disease. It has so far been tested against three “representative” strains in the
current trial. — The Independent, London
|
|
This Universe
Have humans really landed on the Moon? I understand that reflection of light does not occur on the Moon’s surface. However, in many published photographs, reflections are clearly visible in the visors of astronauts. Could Moon landing be a
fraudulent claim?
You are a very suspicious guy. I have heard a number of people say that the Americans created a show to fool the world. Many of the same people believe that India had airplanes and remote sensing capability in days of Ramayana and Mahabharata! I do not understand what you mean by saying that on the Moon there can be no reflection. If moon did not reflect, or scatter light, you would not see it. If you meant to say that there should be no shadows on the moon, you would be wrong again. The moon is just a piece of rock, much like the earth (though quite a bit smaller), and the laws of nature apply there as they do everywhere else in
the universe. I may mention that I have personally met the guys who have been to the Moon, as also others whose instruments, placed on the Moon by these astronauts, have yielded valuable scientific results. I also have friends who have done valuable work on the moon rocks brought back by the astronauts. Skepticism is good, but groundless suspicion is corrosive, besides being petty. Since our body too is made up of atoms, so do atomic spectra
influence our body in some way? We are creatures of the universe, specifically of this planet. All the laws of the universe are as applicable to us as to the so-called non-living things. Atomic spectra are a consequence of the structure of atoms. It is true that we live in a sheltered environment, where the light that comes down to earth without much obstruction has the same spectral range to which our eyes are most sensitive. We are protected from ultraviolet part of the spectrum by the atmosphere and the ozone layer. The heat radiation emitted by the earth is partially retained within the atmosphere because the structure and spectra of carbon dioxide and water vapour are suited to absorbing this radiation. Why are the keys of a computer keyboard arranged the way they are? It has something to do with the frequency with which various letters occur in the English language. The letters that occur more frequently are placed such that the fingers of two hands can more easily access them — provided, of course, you are doing touch typing. Why do large lakes not produce waves as seen in the ocean? Waves arise from the action of wind on the surface of water. For big waves to form, a steady wind needs to act over a significant expanse of water. So the only answer that I can give you is that your large lake is not
large enough. Readers wanting to ask Prof Yash Pal a question can e-mail him at Dr.yshpl@rediffmail.com
|
|
Trends
The process is called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed 16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers. No funeral homes in the U.S. — or anywhere else in the world, as far as the equipment manufacturer knows — offer it. In fact, only two U.S. medical centers use it on human bodies, and only on cadavers donated for research.
— AP
Files on UFO sightings
The men were air traffic controllers. Experienced, calm professionals. Nobody was drinking. But they were so worried about losing their jobs that they demanded their names be kept off the official report. No one, they knew, would believe their claim an unidentified flying object landed at the airport they were overseeing in the east of England, touched down briefly, then took off again at tremendous speed. Yet that’s what they reported happened at 4 p.m. on April 19, 1984. The incident is one of hundreds of reported sightings contained in more than 1,000 pages of formerly secret UFO documents released Wednesday by Britain’s National Archives. It is one of the few that was never explained. The air traffic controllers’ “Report of Unusual Aerial Phenomenon” was filed from an unspecified small airport near the eastern coast of England.
— AP
|
The annual scourge of deaths and severe illness caused by meningitis could be consigned to the history books after scientists announced startling results from trials of a potential vaccine.
Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest — dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain.