VOLGA-DNEPR EXPECTS AN-124 PAINT JOB TO PRODUCE FUEL SAVINGS OF $100,000 PER YEAR PER AIRCRAFT

London, UK, 27 April,2015 - One of Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ unique An-124-100 freighters has been painted using a leading durable coating technology to increase the aircraft’s aerodynamic qualities and produce a fuel saving of over $100,000 a year.

Vladimir Drebnev, Senior Engineer, Continuing Airworthiness at Volga-Dnepr Airlines, stated, “The Base coat/clear coat system is widely used on aircraft around the world. The facial layer of the glaze is considered to have greater smoothness than i.e. polyurethane enamel, and protects the base layer of painting from the influence of ultra-violet rays. Due to this smoother effect, the air drag during a flight decreases and this can be measured in terms of fuel savings. As a result of using the coating, we expect to cut the aircraft’s fuel expenses by up to 1.5% or more than $100 000 per year. The base lacquer also gives a freshly painted look for a longer period so it also produces a saving in paint work too. The periods between washing of the aircraft can also be extended because the lacquer is more soil-resistant.”

The aircraft (RA82079) will be monitored by Volga-Dnepr’s technical experts to gauge the level of fuel savings. If the technology demonstrates the results the airline is hoping for, it will ultimately be applied to the rest of Volga-Dnepr’s An-124-100 fleet.

The painting of the aircraft was completed by Spectr-Avia Russia’s leading aircraft painting centre.

WHO gives emergency health kits, funds to quake-hit Nepal

New Delhi, India, 26 April, 2015 - The World Health Organization this morning handed over four emergency health kits comprising of medicines and medical supplies and US dollars 175 000 as the first tranche of emergency health funds to meet the immediate health needs of the earthquake affected people in Nepal.

“Within hours of the tragedy, WHO disbursed medical supplies to cover the health needs of 40 000 people for three months. These supplies are in the form of inter-agency emergency health kits and were given to hospitals in Nepal treating the injured,” WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.

WHO also immediately made available US dollar 175,000 to the Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal, as the first tranche of South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF). The SEARHEF funds are aimed at meeting immediate financial needs and to fill critical gaps in the aftermath of a disaster.

Simultaneously, WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal, to continue to assess the health needs of the affected people and the damage to health facilities. Senior officials from the WHO Regional office are in Kathmandu, to reinforce WHO Nepal Office’s support to the Government of Nepal.

Other than the injured, those rendered homeless by the earthquake and are in need of immediate support for regular public health services, water and sanitation and psycho social support to deal with the trauma caused by the tragedy.

The WHO emergency kits disbursed his morning include medicines, disposables and instruments. Each kit can meet the needs of 10 000 people for three months. Each kit has a basic and supplementary unit. The basic unit is intended for use by primary health care workers with limited training. It contains non-injectable drugs, medical supplies and some essential equipment accompanied by simple treatment guidelines. Basic equipment so has a complete sterilization set and items to help provide for clean water at the health facility. The supplementary unit contains drugs, renewable supplies and equipment needed by doctors working in first- or second-referral health facilities.

The kits to developed by WHO can also be used for initial supply of primary health care facilities where the normal system of provision has broken down.

Reiterating all possible support Dr Singh said WHO stands with the people and the Government of Nepal in this hour of crisis and would do everything to save lives.

WHO’s South-East Asia Region comprises the following 11 Member States viz Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

How We Turn Solar Energy Into Electricity

In 1873 an electrical engineer named Willoughby Smith discovered that the resistance of the element selenium, when in metal form, would vary dramatically whether or not it was being exposed to light. This meant that Selenium was a photoconductor, and its photoconductivity would eventually provide a method for converting images into electric signals -- which would allow for the greatest invention of all time: the television. A few years later, other scientists discovered selenium could be used to create electricity from sunlight. When photons hit a photoconductive metal, the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed, and a couple of electrons are released. Enough electrons, and you've got yourself an electrical current.

For the next century, scientists studied this photoelectric effect and discovered a number of other elements displayed photoelectric properties, and suddenly they were being used everywhere for everything: from TVs, telecommunications, fiber optics, infrared cameras, plus the solar panel and photovoltaic cell, which was invented in the 1950s and became popular when the space program started using them to power satellites. By the 1970s, the cells were modernized to the point where they could be used in commercial and residential power. At this point, consumers were still mainly using them for calculators, and watches.

Just like a battery, a photovoltaic cell has a positive and a negative end, which guide the electrons into the circuit. Each cell uses a pair of silicon wavers--one coated with phosphorous (negative) and one with boron (positive). Innovations, new materials, and government-subsidies have driven down prices considerably. A new study from the University of Queen Mary in London showed that they were able to create cheap solar panels out of crushed up old shrimp shells, which could decrease prices down even more! Do you have any solar power cells anywhere on your house? Any other questions, please feel free to ask 'em down below.

Air India connects Visakhapatnam to Port Blair

April 09, 2015 - Air India recently launched a direct flight to connect the coastal city of Visakhapatnam to Port Blair. The airline already connects Port Blair to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bhubaneswar.

This new flight will be in addition to Air India’s already existing flight viz. daily direct flights on the Kolkata - Port Blair sector with an A319; Chennai - Port Blair with A321 aircraft; between Delhi - Visakhapatnam with an A321 aircraft and another flight between Delhi and Port Blair via Bhubaneswar twice a week with a CRJ-700 aircraft.

This flight will help capacity addition to this tourist destination. The direct flight will be a time saver for travel between Visakhapatnam and Port Blair and give a fillip to tourism and industry at both the places. Earlier passengers wanting to travel between these two places had to either take the sea route or travel through other metros involving a night stay.

The flight AI487/488 will operate with an all economy 168 seater A320 aircraft. The flight will operate on the route Delhi-Visakhapatnam-Port Blair and return two days a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Flight AI487 will leave Delhi at 0700 hrs and land at Visakhapatnam at 0915 hrs, depart Visakhapatnam 0955 hrs and arrive Port Blair at 1210 hrs. The return flight AI488 will leave Port Blair at 1250 hrs, land Visakhapatnam at 1505 hrs, depart Visakhapatnam 1550 hrs and reach Delhi at 1805 hrs.

MIM gearing up for BMC polls, says Shiv Sena spewing 'real venom'

Mumbai, India, April 26, 2015 -  Upbeat with its impressive debut in Aurangabad municipal election, the MIM is now gearing up for Mumbai municipal polls to take on the saffron alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena, which is at the helm of the country's largest civic body.

Refuting the charge of Sena that MIM is "poisoning" the minds of Muslim and Dalit voters, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the "real potent venom" has been spewed by Sena leaders by demanding that Indian Muslims should be deprived of their voting rights. "They can continue with their pathological hatred for us. But what finally counts is what governance have they provided in the last six months in Maharashtra or 10 months in Delhi or the last many years in Aurangabad. That has been a great let down. The (Aurangabad) results show that this hatred against me or my party is not going to give them any political dividends anymore," Owaisi told PTI in an interview.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) made an impressive debut in Aurangabad, bagging 25 out of the total 113 seats in the municipal elections there. The Sena has not been able to digest the "humiliation" meted out by the BJP, he said, adding that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is only taking out the frustration that it has with its ally on the MIM.

"They keep saying I want to hoist a Pakistani flag in Aurangabad. What right do they have to question my nationalism? If I continue to fight the RSS and Shiv Sena, does it make me an anti-Indian and pro-Pakistani? What kind of nationalism is this that if we politically oppose the Sena, RSS and the BJP, my nationalism is questioned immediately?" asked the 45-year-old MP from Hyderabad.

Exuding confidence after the Aurangabad polls, Owaisi, the head of the Hyderabad-based MIM, said they would now contest more elections in the state and raise people's issues. "We will definitely contest every election in Maharashtra and we will put forward people's issues in future as well. We are the only political party in Aurangabad which fought on the issues of drainage, water, roads, toilets, etc. Tell them to show what work have they done there in the last so many years?" he said.

"The Sena should be cautious now for the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) election because their style of functioning of getting elected by calling others names has been rejected by the people. We will show them what politics actually means. You cannot win with an agenda of Hindutva. You have to ensure development of everybody," he said. The BMC polls are slated for 2017.

"The real potent venom has been spewed by the Sena in the form of Sanjay Raut's words when he demands cancellation of voting rights of Muslims. If they do not change their attitude, it will be the beginning of their end," Owaisi said. Criticising the Sena and the BJP further, Owaisi asked what they have done in Aurangabad? Their performance has been pathetic with regards to providing civic amenities in the district located in Marathwada region, he said.

"Corruption has been ruling the corporation and there is scarcity of water, and lack of proper roads and drainage. They have to understand that (effective) governance is very important which they have failed to deliver," he said. Owaisi said that MIM's six Dalit candidates won in Aurangabad and asked how many Sena nominees managed to get elected there.

"Why has not a single Muslim candidate won from the Shiv Sena? This shows the Sena-BJP is not trusted. You can't take away the voting rights of Muslims only because they do not trust you. If I am poisoning the minds of voters, a charge which I squarely refute, why did the Shiv Sena not give an anti-dote to it?" he asked.

He said that the saffron combine has failed to deliver in the 10 months of rule at the Centre and asserted that the MIM will continue to create competence in the parliamentary form of democracy. "The large number of youth participating in MIM's activities strengthens the country's democracy," he said. – PTI