voice of progress

I PRAY FOR PEACE

(This talk was given by Sri Chinmoy at Technical University; Berlin, Germany on 6 June 1986)

In the small hours of the morning every day I pray for peace—peace in my body, in my vital, in my mind and in my heart. I also pray for peace in the world, peace in the universe.

Peace is my mind’s only happiness. My mind’s happiness is my heart’s satisfaction. My heart’s satisfaction is my Lord Supreme’s stupendous Joy and Pride in me.

Every day I pray to my Lord Supreme to convince me that I am not burdened with the teeming problems and difficulties of the past. Every day I pray to my Lord Supreme to convince me that I am not burdened with the teeming, imaginary problems of the future. I also pray to my Lord Supreme to convince me that my life is not burdened with the problems of the present.

My Beloved Supreme tells me that I do not have to be burdened even with the problems of a single day; I have just to bear the vanishing problems of a few fleeting seconds. He tells me that all my problems lie in my thinking mind, so I must be on guard against uncomely, unhealthy thoughts. At every moment there is a battle going on between my doubting mind and my loving heart. Sleeplessly I must support my loving heart if I want to have peace of mind.

I must also be aware of the fight that has been going on since the beginning of my life-journey between fear and courage. I must sleeplessly support courage so that I can have ceaseless peace. At the same time, I must sympathise with the weak and inferior members of my earth-family in order to have harmony in my heart, mind, vital and body. I must not pity my weak body, vital, mind and heart. My pity will not be able to strengthen or cure their weakness. I must sympathise with them and, while I am doing so, in silence my Beloved Supreme will shower His Compassion, Light and Delight upon me. His Compassion, Light and Delight I shall offer to my weak body, vital, mind and heart. Once these members of my earth-family are strengthened to my soulful satisfaction, I shall have abiding peace not only in my inmost being, but also in my multifarious outer activities.

February 8, 2010

Soft Drink Consumption May Increase Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

Medical Sciences

Pancreatic cancer: is a malignant neoplasm (a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth) of the pancreas. Most patients with pancreatic cancer experience pain, weight loss, or jaundice. The pain is usually felt in the upper abdomen as a dull ache that radiates straight through to the back. Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically have a poor prognosis. This is because in the initial stages the cancer usually shows no symptoms. By the time the symptoms appear the cancer is in an advanced stage. Median survival from diagnosis is around 3 to 6 months; 5-year survival is less than 5%.

Soft Drink Consumption May Increase Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

According to scientists from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks.

Mark Pereira, Ph.D., senior author on the study and associate professor said, “The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth.”

For the current study, Pereira and colleagues followed 60,524 men and women in the Singapore Chinese Health Study for 14 years. During that time, there were 140 pancreatic cancer cases. Those who consumed two or more soft drinks per week (averaging five per week) had an 87 percent increased risk compared with individuals who did not.

But Susan Mayne, Ph.D., associate director of the Yale Cancer Center and professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, has certain reservations about the results of this study by Pereira and colleagues. She said, “Although this study found a risk, the finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and it remains unclear whether it is a causal association or not. Soft drink consumption in Singapore was associated with several other adverse health behaviors such as smoking and red meat intake, which we can’t accurately control for.”

Pereira points out that the findings are biologically plausible, held up in non-smokers, remained similar after taking other dietary habits into account and are consistent with findings in Caucasian populations.

Source: http://www.aacr.org/home/public–media/aacr-press-releases.aspx?d=1745

February 8, 2010

First germanium laser on silicon

Physics

Band Gap: It is the amount of energy required to free an outer shell electron from its orbit about the nucleus to become a mobile charge carrier, able to move freely within the solid material. The band gap generally refers to the energy difference (in electron volts) between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band which is found in insulators and semiconductors. The valence electrons are bound to individual atoms, as opposed to conduction electrons (found in conductors and semiconductors), which can move freely within the atomic lattice of the material.

Bandgap in semiconductor

In order for an electron to jump from a valence band to a conduction band, it requires a specific minimum amount of energy for the transition. The required energy differs with different materials. Electrons can gain enough energy to jump to the conduction band by absorbing either a phonon (heat) or a photon (light). A material with a small but nonzero band gap (arbitrarily defined as < 3 eV, although some definitions place the upper limit at 4 eV) is referred to as a semiconductor. A material with a large band gap is called an insulator. In conductors, the valence and conduction bands may overlap, so they may not have a band gap.

Direct band gap or an indirect band gap: In semiconductor physics, the band gap of a semiconductor is always one of two types, a direct band gap or an indirect band gap. In direct band gap semiconductor such as gallium arsenide an electron near the bottom of the conduction band annihilates a hole near the top of the valence band, releasing the excess energy as a photon. In case of semiconductors with indirect band gap this kind of electron hole recombination is almost impossible because the conservation of crystal momentum would be violated. For electron hole recombination to occur in an indirect band gap material, the process must also involve the absorption or emission of a phonon, where the phonon momentum equals the difference between the electron and hole momentum. The involvement of the phonon makes the process of electron hole recombination much less likely to occur in a given span of time. This is why light-emitting and laser diodes are almost always made of direct band gap materials, and not indirect band gap semiconductors like germanium and silicon.

Limitations of the existing electronic silicon chips: To increase a chips’ computational capacity higher-bandwidth connections are needed to send data to memory. But conventional electrical connections will soon become impractical, because they’ll require too much power to transport data at ever higher rates.

Emerging technology – Integrate optical and electronic components on silicon chips:

Transmitting data with lasers could be much more power-efficient, but this requires a cheap way to integrate optical and electronic components on silicon chips. For example monolithic lasers on Si are ideal for high volume and large-scale electronic-photonic integration. Chip assembly is a painstaking process in which layers of different materials are deposited on a wafer of silicon, and patterns are etched into them. Inserting a new material into this process is difficult: it has to be able to chemically bond to the layers above and below it, and depositing it must be possible at the temperatures and in the chemical environments suitable to the other materials. Monolithically integrated lasers on Si have long been one of the biggest challenges for Si-based electronic-photonic integration. Present day lasers made of materials such as gallium arsenide are difficult to integrate on to a Si chip.

First germanium laser

Now researchers from MIT have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium (on an Si wafer) that operates at room temperature and can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. They choose Ge because of its pseudo-direct gap properties and compatibility with Si complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. (Almost all major chip manufacturers have already begun integrating germanium into the manufacturing process, since the addition of germanium increases the speed of silicon chips.) The researchers have demonstrated at room temperature photoluminescence, electroluminescence and optical gain from the direct gap transition of band-engineered Ge-on-Si using tensile strain and n-type doping. They report the first experimental observation of lasing from the direct gap transition of Ge-on-Si at room temperature using an edge emitting waveguide device.

Geranium as such is a indirect band gap semiconductor. In order to make Geranium behave as a direct band gap semiconductor the researchers ‘doped’ Ge with phosphorous, which has five outer electrons. Germanium has only four outer electrons, “so each phosphorous gives us an extra electron,” says one of the researchers, Lionel C. Kimerling. The extra electron fills up the lower-energy state in the conduction band, causing excited electrons to, effectively, spill over into the higher-energy, photon-emitting state.

According to the researchers, phosphorous doping works best at 10 to the power of 20 atoms per cubic centimeter of germanium. So far, the group has developed a technique that can add 10 to the power of 19 phosphorous atoms to each cubic centimeter of germanium, “and we already begin to see lasing,” Kimerling says.

In their next step, in order to increase the likelihood of the excited electrons to spill over into the photon-emitting state the researchers “strained” the germanium i.e. pried its atoms slightly farther apart than they would be naturally — by growing it directly on top of a layer of silicon. Both the silicon and the germanium were deposited at high temperatures. But silicon doesn’t contract as much as germanium when it cools. The atoms of the cooling germanium tried to maintain their alignment with the silicon atoms, so they ended up farther apart than they would ordinarily be. Changing the angle and length of the bonds between germanium atoms also changed the energies required to kick their electrons into the conduction band.

According to Kimerling, “The ability to grow germanium on silicon is a discovery of this group and the ability to control the strain of those germanium films on silicon is a discovery of this group.”

The research team included, Jifeng Liu, Xiaochen Sun, Rodolfo Camacho-Aguilera, Lionel C. Kimerling, and Jurgen Michel.

Source: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/first-germanium-laser.html

February 5, 2010

Poetry of Sri Chinmoy – 9

Poetry

ABOVE AND BEYOND

Above the ignorance of birth and death he is.

Above destruction-night he is.

Beyond the world of suspicion his life of integrity is.

Beyond question his miracle-faith is.

Above all earth-awards he is.

Above all heaven-rewards he is.

Beyond the universal insecurity he is.

He embodies Eternity’s Cry.

He reveals Infinity’s Smile.

He manifests Immortality’s Life.

Earth loves his heart of dedication.

Heaven adores his feet of protection.

February 5, 2010

INNER PEACE AND WORLD PEACE

Talks by Sri Chinmoy

(This talk was given by Sri Chinmoy at University of Stuttgart; Stuttgart, Germany on 20 June 1980)

What is peace? Peace is satisfaction. This satisfaction can be achieved in the body, in the vital, in the mind and in the heart. Again, the satisfaction that the body will have may not or need not satisfy the vital, the mind or the heart. The body gets satisfaction when it sleeps or rests, whereas the vital gets satisfaction only when it is active and dynamic. The mind gets satisfaction when it can house a progressive, illumining and fulfilling thought, a thought that embodies vastness. The heart gets satisfaction when it feels closeness with an inner reality or a higher reality. So we see that each member of our inner family gets satisfaction only when it achieves something of its own, and this satisfaction is nothing other than peace.

In the ordinary human life, we feel that if we can multiply our earthly riches, then we can have satisfaction. But when we multiply our possessions, we see that multiplication is not the answer. Then we try to achieve satisfaction with addition. We try to add a few things to our lives. We feel that this is the way we will be able to achieve satisfaction, which is peace, fulfilling peace. Then, when addition fails, we try to see what division can do. We divide our realities here, there and elsewhere. When division fails to give us satisfaction, which is abiding peace, then we try subtraction. But there also we fail.

Multiplication does not help, addition does not help, division does not help, subtraction does not help. No! We think that, in order to get peace, either possession or renunciation is needed. If we are sincere in our inner life, we will see that by possessing, we can never be happy. From one car we will go to two cars, from one house we will go to two houses. Even if we are satisfied with the house that we live in, if we possess it and claim it as ours, still we are lost. The moment we claim a thing, we are possessed by that thing. While possessing, we are possessed; and satisfaction is nowhere to be found.

Again, by renouncing we can never be happy either. Today we renounce material wealth; tomorrow we shall renounce our mental faculties, vital faculties or physical faculties. We can renounce even the entire body. But then how are we going to get satisfaction? Satisfaction is delight and delight is God. If we say that the body is not aspiring, that the vital is not aspiring, that the mind is not aspiring, that even the heart is not aspiring, we can renounce them one by one. But will this give us peace, lasting peace? Will this give us satisfaction? No! So renunciation is not the answer either.

Possession is not the answer. Renunciation is not the answer. Addition, multiplication, division, subtraction—these are not the answers either. Then how can we have the satisfaction that we call peace? We can have peace only by accepting God’s Will. All the time we are praying fervently for God’s Peace, Light and Bliss. But right after our prayer, instead of getting peace, light and bliss, let us say, we are more agitated, more frustrated, more angry, more disappointed. Let us that say all the hostile forces have attacked us, and we have become perfect victims to wrong forces.

At this point, we may want to give up. We want peace from mankind, but we do not get peace. We pray to God for peace but, instead of peace, we get all wrong forces, destructive forces and so forth. But if we are true seekers, we shall not give up. We shall just place the results cheerfully at the Feet of God. Cheerfully if we can place all the wrong forces that have attacked us at the Feet of the Supreme and not find fault with Him, then only will we get peace.

Otherwise, at every moment we are acting like beggars. We are begging for something, and whoever is in the position to give us what we want may or may not give it to us. Or, he may give us something, but not in the quantity that we want. If it is a material thing, an earthly thing that we are praying for, then there will never be any happiness. If we ask for spiritual things and we are not surrendered to God’s Will, then again we may not be satisfied. But if we are sincere seekers, then we feel that whatever we get from God—even if it is just an iota of peace—is more than enough. For we know that this iota of peace God Himself has given to us. We also know that He is watching us to see if we are using it soulfully, devotedly, cheerfully and unreservedly for a special cause, or whether we are just misusing it. If we can have this kind of surrendered attitude, then satisfaction will be ours. If our surrender to God’s Will is complete, and if we can make ourselves feel that God thinks of us infinitely more than we can ever think of ourselves, then whatever God gives us will bring us satisfaction. For we know that the higher oneness, the deeper oneness, the more illumining oneness are all His responsibility. So we will leave it up to Him.

There is also another way to have satisfaction or peace, and that is to have the faith of a child. A child, knowing that his father is a multimillionaire, can ask his father for a million dollars. For his father to give him a million dollars is nothing, since the father is a multimillionaire. But the father knows that the child is not in a position to spend the money properly. He knows that if he gives the child more than ten dollars, the child will just misuse it. So the father does not give the child more than he knows how to handle properly. It is not that the father is insecure; it is not that he thinks, “Oh, if I give him all my money, then he will be in a position to challenge me.” No, it is the father’s wisdom that is operating. Just because the father has inner wisdom, he does not give his son more than ten dollars. The son is not sad that his father is not giving him a million dollars. He knows that what the father is doing is for his own good, and he knows that one day his father will give him all his wealth. So, he is satisfied to wait.

In the spiritual life also, many times it happens that a seeker asks for infinite Peace, but his inner vessel, his receptivity, is not big enough to hold this infinite Peace. Also, the seeker does not even know what he is asking for. ‘Infinite’ is a vague term. The mind is saying ‘infinite’, but what do we know about Infinity and Eternity? It is all a vague conception in our mind. But if we can feel that we are children, and that God, our eternal Father and Mother, is watching over us, then all our problems are solved. If a little child cries a few times during the day, what does the mother do? The entire day the mother looks after the child. Here also, from time immemorial God has been looking after earth. He is taking care of us in His inimitable Way, with His infinite Compassion, Love, Light and Bliss.

If we can have this kind of faith, then we are satisfied with whatever God gives us, for we know He is preparing us to receive His Infinity and Eternity. We may pray for years and not get an iota of peace, or we may get an iota of peace, but feel that it is not enough. We want peace in abundant measure, if not in boundless measure. But if we have receptivity, then God will give us His infinite wealth. God our eternal Father will give us abundant Peace and abundant Light when we have the receptivity to receive it.

God and man must have mutual faith and confidence in one another. The seeker in us must have confidence that God, at His choice Hour, will grant us without fail infinite Peace. Our role is only to pray and meditate soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally. God has taken it as His bounden Duty to help His seeker children, to guide them, mould them and shape them into His very Image. But He has His own choice Hour which, unfortunately, may not tally with our hour. If we have faith in God, that He will do everything for us, and if God has faith that we can be His perfect emissaries, His perfect representatives and instruments on earth, then perfection is bound to dawn. Only in perfection does satisfaction abide. Again, satisfaction is nothing short of peace. So peace is satisfaction; satisfaction is perfection.

When we think of perfection, we have to know that perfection does not have a fixed standard. We can never say that this is the final product, that there cannot be anything better or more illumining than this. No! Today’s conception of perfection will not and cannot be tomorrow’s conception of perfection. Since perfection is satisfaction, perfection has to be transcendence. Today’s satisfaction is to get a high school diploma; if we get it, that is our satisfaction and perfection. Tomorrow, we will think of a university degree and that will be our satisfaction and perfection. Then, after getting our university degree, we will see that we are still not satisfied, because we know that infinite wisdom abides in God’s universe. At that time, when we look at ourselves or dive deep within, we will see how helpless and hopeless we are in terms of infinite wisdom. Then, we will try to cultivate more wisdom so that we can achieve real satisfaction.

There is no end to the inner knowledge and inner peace that we can achieve, and there is no end to the satisfaction that we can get. Each moment, Infinity is transcending its own infinite Reality. Each time we achieve something new, that is our satisfaction and perfection. But, at the same time, a new hunger elevates us to a higher reality. This hunger is an inner hunger to receive more peace, more light, more bliss from Above so that we can be better instruments of higher realities.

In the ordinary human life, when we ask for things, we feel that these things will give us satisfaction, which is peace. But in the spiritual life, when we pray for peace, light and bliss, we are asking for these things not for our own satisfaction, but for the satisfaction of our Inner Pilot. We shall ask, and while asking we shall say: “If it is Your Will, God, grant me Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure, so that I can be Your perfect instrument.” But in the ordinary, unaspiring life, when we ask for something, we shall never say, “If it is Your Will, then give me two buildings or give me millions of dollars.” No! When we ask for something from the desire-world, we will never say, “If it is Your Will.” We will only die for the things that we need and want.

But when we ask for something from the aspiration-world, and when we are living in the aspiration-world, we will always say, “If it is Your Will, please give me Peace, Light and Bliss. We do not know what is good for us or what is bad for us. If such is Your Will, then give us what we need so that we can serve You more devotedly, more soulfully.” Here the prayer is totally different, and God listens to our soulful prayer with a loving Heart.

Here we are all seekers. At every moment we shall ask our Beloved Supreme for things divine and supreme. When we pray to God unconditionally for three boons—God-realisation, God-manifestation and God-satisfaction—then we are bound to be blessed by our Beloved Supreme. But while praying, while meditating, we have to keep or bring to the fore one sublime wish, one illumining goal: Him to please in His own Way.

We are praying for peace, inner peace, at His choice Hour. Once we have this inner peace, world peace can be achieved in the twinkling of an eye. Inside, if we feel a good thought, an illumining and fulfilling thought, then that very thought we will express and offer to our friends and dear ones. Our illumining, soulful, fulfilling thoughts will enter into our dear ones and then they, too, will have peace. So when we have inner peace, automatically it expresses itself. It spreads its qualities or capacities throughout the length and breadth of the world.

If we can prepare ourselves for God-realisation, God-manifestation and God- satisfaction in God’s own Way, then at every moment we will be inundated with inner peace. And this inner peace will spontaneously inundate the outer world. At that time, what we have within is bound to become part and parcel of our outer life.

A seeker is he who dives deep within in order to bring to the fore the reality that he has within. While bringing it to the fore, he discovers that his aspiration and his realisation are not two different things, but the same thing. He is bringing to the fore his infinite peace from within and, while bringing it forward, he discovers, to his utter surprise, that he is peace itself; eternally he is peace. Peace is nothing other than his own inner existence.

One can talk for hours on peace. The curious mind may get some satisfaction, but the crying heart cannot get any help from talking. The crying heart is the real reality within us, and that crying heart gets inner peace, everlasting peace, only through prayerful silence and soulful meditation. Only prayerful meditation and soulful prayer can bring about peace. If at every moment we can think that we are growing into a prayerful meditation and a soulful prayer, then Peace eternal will be ours.

February 2, 2010

Chemical exchange processes in an ultracold sample of cesium atoms directly observed

Physics

A research group led by Rudolf Grimm of the Institute for Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, have for the first time been successful in directly observing chemical exchange processes in an ultracold sample of cesium atoms and Feshbach molecules. (For more information on ultracold gases please refer to the following post: Study of ultra-cold degenerate Bosons and ultra-cold degenerate Fermions – Part 8). Rudolf Grimm and his team of physicists have now succeeded in directly observing and also energetically controlling an exchange process in a quantum gas. Grimm says, “Our experiment showed that it is possible to control exchange processes involving ultracold molecules”.

The scientists optically trap cesium atoms and cool them dramatically. A Feshbach association results in an ultracold particle cloud consisting of about 4,000 molecules and 30,000 atoms, where a part of the atoms are arranged in dimers. By applying a microwave pulse, the atoms are transferred into another quantum state without the molecules being modified. After preparing this mixture of molecules (A+A) and atoms (B), the physicists apply a certain magnetic field, which allows them to fully control the binding energy of the molecules. The collision of the molecules and atoms results in an exchange process when a certain threshold of binding energy is reached. The original molecules decay to atoms (A) and new molecules are produced (A+B). Grimm explains, “Since the energy produced in this exoergic process is very low, the reaction products remain in the trap. Thus, we were able to directly observe the chemical process for the first time ever.”

When a molecule (two blue spheres) collides with an atom (single red sphere), an atom can be exchanged. A new molecule is produced (red and blue spheres) and an atom (single blue sphere) is released. In the experiment performed in Innsbruck this process is observed at temperatures of less than one millionth above the absolute zero. The exchange is completely determined by the quantum nature of the matter and can be controlled by a magnetic field.

Image Source: Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) http://iqoqi.at/download

February 2, 2010

The first-ever all-solid-state Optical Refrigerator created

Physics

Optical refrigeration: The concept behind the Los Alamos Solid-State Optical Refrigerator (LASSOR) is that a diode laser beam pumps a cooling element which then radiates its heat through anti-Stokes fluorescence. That is, the cooling element absorbs photons at one wavelength and then emits photons at shorter wavelengths. The energy difference between the absorbed and emitted radiation is supplied by annihilating thermal phonons and thereby cooling the solid. The complete refrigerator also requires some way of disposing of the fluorescence and a means of attaching the load to the cooling element. These devices are vibrationless, compact, and free of electromagnetic interference.

LASSOR design

A design for a 1-watt LASSOR. Source: http://lassor.lanl.gov/pub5.pdf

The figure illustrates a 1-watt version of the Los Alamos Solid-State Optical Refrigerator (LASSOR) that might be used for cooling a spaceborne infrared detector or a germanium gamma-ray spectrometer to 77K.

This design is based on ytterbium doped ZBLAN glass. A diode laser coupled with an optical fiber delivers ~1020 nm pump radiation to the cooling element. The fiber carrying the pump radiation passes through the wall of the cryocooler and to a cylindrical block of Yb doped ZBLAN. Dielectric mirrors that reflect the pump radiation are deposited on both ends of the cooling element. The pump radiation enters the cooling element through a small hole in one of the mirrors. This radiation is directed parallel to the axis of the cylinder so that it is repeatedly reflected from the dielectric mirrors and from the sides of the glass cylinder (by total internal reflection). Ultimately, the pump radiation is absorbed by Yb ions, and the doped glass cools as it fluoresces. Most of the isotropic fluorescent radiation escapes from the cooling element and is absorbed by the warm walls of the cooling chamber. A metal mirror is attached on the back of the upper dielectric mirror creating a completely shadowed region where the cold finger can be mounted. The inner surfaces of the chamber walls contain a coating that readily absorbs 1 micron radiation while having a very high reflectivity for ~10 micron thermal emission. This coating would lessen the radiative heat load from the warm chamber walls.

According to the scientists at Los Alamos, optical refrigerator of the type could operate near 77 K with almost 0.5% efficiency (DC power to cooling power), weigh less than 2 kg/W and have a lifetime of 10 years of continuous operation.

Source: http://lassor.lanl.gov/pub5.pdf

The first-ever all-solid-state Optical Refrigerator created

A team led by University of New Mexico professor, Dr. Mansoor Sheik-Bahae have created the first-ever all-solid-state cryocooler that can be applied to airborne and spaceborne sensors. “Optical refrigeration or solid state optical refrigeration technology offers many advantages over currently used, bulky mechanical coolers because it is vibration free (no moving parts), compact, lightweight and agile (fast turn-on and off),” said Sheik-Bahae.

Graduate students Denis Seletskiy and Seth Melgaard designed and performed the experiments at UNM’s department of Physics and Astronomy in collaboration with researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Pisa, Italy.

Sheik-Bahae said, “We obtained cooling down to 155K using optical refrigeration. We expect that material research may lead to temperatures dipping below 77K (boiling point of liquid nitrogen) and in the future as low as 10K may be possible.”

Previously, only solid-state coolers based on standard thermoelectric devices were able to reach temperatures as low as 170K, and even so, only with minimal efficiency.

In order to increase the cooling efficiency of the device, the scientists besides growing pure crystals, using thin optical fibers and keeping their sample in thermal isolation inside a vacuum, also trapped laser light in a resonant space.

Now they plan to research product purity and new materials for cryocoolers. Sheik-Bahae said, “We are also pursuing optical pump sources that can further enhance cooling efficiency of the devices.”

Source: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123187569

January 29, 2010

Enhanced photocatalytic disinfection process

Chemistry

Doping Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a wide bandgap semiconductor that has been extensively used in selective oxidation and reduction, condensation reactions, polymerization catalysis, substitutional perfluorination of olefins, phosphines, and phosphates, photovoltaics, and in photo-degradation of organic and inorganic compounds. The high photoactivity, thermal and chemical stability, low cost, and nontoxicity of TiO2 present the compound as a good candidate for such applications.

Upon illumination of the TiO2 with light of equal or greater energy than the band gap such as UV light, charge transfer from valence band to conduction band occurs, creating a hole and a free electron. These species can either recombine or migrate to the surface and react with surface-bound adsorbates, typically oxygen or water in most photooxidative processes. Since UV light makes up of less than 5% of the solar spectrum that reaches the earth’s surface, the commercial application of these processes has been retarded (as visible light by itself cannot produce any photoactivity in TiO2).

In order to make the application of TiO2 commercially viable a number of methods of doping TiO2 (doping refers to the intentional introduction of impurities to the material for the purpose of modifying electrical characteristics) had been investigated. These methods required either expensive ion-implantation facilities or suffered from thermal instability and low quantum yields due to the continuum of interband states found in transitional metals.

Finally in 1985 it was Shinri Sato (Sato, S. Chem. Phys. Lett., 1986, 123, 126.) who correctly identified nitrogen as the right element to dope TiO2. After calcining a commercial source of Ti(OH)4, Sato found that the resulting TiO2 displayed improved photoactivity in the visible light region (434 nm) and absorbed light at longer wavelengths than typical of TiO2. After subjecting his original sample of Ti(OH)4 to analysis, he found that it contained NH4Cl as an impurity. Sato concluded correctly that it was the existence of nitrogen species originating from the NH4Cl that imparted the difference.

Source: http://www.bama.ua.edu/~chem/seminars/student_seminars/spring07/s07-papers/hennek-sem.pdf

Enhanced photocatalytic disinfection process

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed an enhanced photocatalytic disinfection process that uses visible light to destroy harmful bacteria and viruses, even in the dark. The disinfection process can be used to purify drinking water, sanitize surgical instruments and remove unwanted fingerprints from delicate electrical and optical components.

Jian Ku Shang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois and his team used titanium-oxide doped with nitrogen as a catalyst in the disinfection process. When visible light strikes this doped catalyst, electron-hole pairs are produced. The holes react with water to produce oxidizing agents, primarily hydroxyl radicals, which kill bacteria and viruses. However the electrons and holes quickly recombine, severely limiting the effectiveness of the catalyst.

To improve the efficiency of the catalyst, Shang and collaborators at the University of Illinois and at the Chinese Academy of Sciences added palladium nanoparticles to the catalyst. The palladium nanoparticles trap the electrons, allowing the holes to react with water to produce oxidizing agents that kill bacteria and viruses.

When the light is turned off, the palladium nanoparticles slowly release the trapped electrons, which can then react with water to produce additional oxidizing agents. Prof. Shang said “In a sense, the material remembers that it was radiated with light. This ‘memory effect’ can last up to 24 hours.” Although the disinfection efficiency in the dark is not as high as it is in visible light, it enables the continuous operation of a unique, robust catalytic disinfection system driven by solar or other visible light illumination.

Source: http://www.news.illinois.edu/news/10/0119photocatalyst.html

January 20, 2010

Knots in optical vortices

Physics

Phase singularities: In physics, wave propagation is traditionally analyzed by means of regular solutions of wave equations. These solutions often possess singularities, the points or lines in space at which mathematical quantities that describe physical properties of waves become infinite or change abruptly. For example, at the point of phase singularity, the phase of the wave is undefined and wave intensity vanishes. Phase singularities are now recognized as important features common to all waves. The earliest known scientific description of phase singularity was made in the 1830’s by Whewell, as discussed by M. Berry in “Making waves in physics,” Nature (London) 403, 21 (2000).While Whewell studied the ocean tides, he came to the extraordinary conclusion that rotary systems of tidal waves possess a singular point at which all cotidal lines meet and at which tide height vanishes.

Vortices: Waves that possess a phase singularity and a rotational flow around the singular point are called vortices. They can be found in physical systems of different nature and scale, ranging from water whirlpools and atmospheric tornadoes to quantized vortices in superfluids and quantized lines of magnetic flux in superconductors. In a light wave, the phase singularity forms an optical vortex: The wave rotates around the vortex core in a given direction; at the center, the velocity of this rotation is infinite and the light intensity vanishes (black spots). Because of the twisting (like a corkscrew around its axis of travel), the light waves at the axis itself cancel each other out. When projected onto a flat surface, an optical vortex looks like a ring of light, with a dark hole in the center. This corkscrew of light, with darkness at the center, is called an wave-front screw dislocations or optical vortex.

Understanding and controlling the properties of optical vortices could lead to numerous applications in the future, ranging from optical communications and data storage to the trapping, control, and manipulation of particles and cold atoms. Indeed, optical vortices provide an efficient way to control light by creating reconfigurable waveguides in bulk media. The study of phase singularities in optical parametric processes not only suggests new directions of fundamental research in optics but also provides links to other branches of physics. For e.g., the recent discovery of a rich variety of exotic topological defects in unconventional superfluids (such as 3He-A) and superconductors points to the likelihood that deep analogies exist between vortices in complex superfluids and multifrequency light waves. Recent theoretical analysis of two color parametric optical vortices has demonstrated that such vortices possess unexpected properties that make them even more exotic than quantized vortices in unconventional superfluids.

Source: http://wwwrsphysse.anu.edu.au/nonlinear/papers/pdf/OPN_2001_04_00026.pdf

Knots in optical vortices

Optical vortices can be created with holograms which direct the flow of light. A team of physicists working at the universities of Bristol, Glasgow and Southampton have designed holograms using knot theory – a branch of abstract mathematics inspired by knots in everyday life, such as those that occur in shoelaces and rope. Using these specially designed holograms they were able to create knots in optical vortices.

This new research demonstrates a physical application for a branch of mathematics previously considered completely abstract. Professor Miles Padgett from Glasgow University, who led the experiments, said: “The sophisticated hologram design required for the experimental demonstration of the knotted light shows advanced optical control, which undoubtedly can be used in future laser devices”. Dr Mark Dennis from the University of Bristol said “The study of knotted vortices was initiated by Lord Kelvin back in 1867 in his quest for an explanation of atoms. This work opens a new chapter in that history.”

Source: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/6792.html

January 18, 2010

SPIRITUAL STRENGTH

Talks by Sri Chinmoy

(This talk was given by Sri Chinmoy at University of Frankfurt; Frankfurt, Germany on 4 July 1973)

Dear sisters and brothers, I wish to offer my deepest joy and gratitude to Germany. Here in Germany, mind-power has reached its zenith. Right from my childhood, Germany has always been for me a country of determination and strength. Determination and strength we need in every sphere of life. In the spiritual life, too, at every moment we need abundant strength, for we have to fight bravely against fear, doubt, worry, jealousy and imperfection. Only a brave aspirant can conquer all his inner enemies.

Why do we enter into the spiritual life? Why do we need God? We need God because God alone can give us abiding and everlasting satisfaction. We cry for material wealth. Eventually, we acquire material wealth, but from material wealth we get practically no satisfaction. Today we have a house, tomorrow we want to have two houses, the next day we want three houses. We may get what we want, but in our acquisition there is no real satisfaction.

When we pray and meditate, we feel that there is something in us, someone in us who is more than eager to satisfy us. That something in us is our inner cry, and that someone in us is our Inner Pilot, God. From the spiritual life, which is the life of pleasing God, we can expect everything. We can and we do get everything if we can truly please God. If we pray to God most soulfully to give us a million dollars, if we can please Him with our sincere aspiration and our soulful prayer, there will come a time when He will make us really rich. Through our prayer, we can fulfil our desires.

But there is another type of prayer which we call aspiration. With aspiration we do not try to get anything. We just try to expand and liberate ourselves and to manifest the Divine on earth.

In the spiritual life, as I said before, will-power and strength are most important. We need strength in the physical, we need strength in the vital, we need strength in the mind, we need strength in the heart. When we have physical strength, when our physical body is full of dynamic energy, we do not fall sick. If we want to meditate early in the morning, the body is ready to help us. If we do not have a healthy, sound body, in spite of our best intention to meditate, the body will revolt and will offer us a stomach upset or a headache or some other ailment that will disturb us.

If we have strength in the vital, then we dare to hope, we dare to accomplish, we dare to conquer all negative forces within us and around us. Strength in the vital we can utilise either to build or to destroy. But we must use this vital strength to build the palace of light, peace and truth, and not to destroy anything.

Two things are constantly trying to destroy our mind: one is fear and the other is doubt. When we have strength in the mind, we do not allow fear or doubt to enter into our mind. Real death comes to us only once in life. But, in a sense, death comes to us almost every day when we allow fear and doubt to enter into our mind. When we welcome or cherish doubt, it is like drinking poison. Doubt negates all our divine possibilities and divine capacities. However, with our prayer and meditation, we strengthen our mind.

If a man does not have strength in the heart, he may have hundreds of friends, but he will feel lonely. He may be very wealthy, but he will feel insecure. But when one prays and meditates, he makes his heart strong and feels there the Presence of the Almighty God. And when one feels the Presence of God in his heart, how can he feel lonely or insecure?

When we have strength in the body, in the vital, in the mind and in the heart, we become fully ready to realise the Highest. God has given the capacity to each and every one of us to discover the real Divinity, the real Reality within us. But we need regular prayer and meditation in order to bring our capacity to the fore and utilise it. If one likes to pray, he can pray. If somebody else likes to meditate, he can meditate. If one wants both to pray and to meditate, he can do so.

It is only through prayer and meditation that we can eventually discover our Dearest, our absolutely Dearest One on earth and in Heaven. And who is this Dearest One? Is He somebody other than ourselves? No! He is our own highest and most illumined part. When we pray and meditate, we discover our own highest part. It is our feet discovering our head. It is a leaf discovering its source, the tree. It is the finite discovering its Source, the Infinite.

January 18, 2010

Emerging Technolog – ‘Wet’ computing systems

Physics

Dr Maurits de Planque and Dr Klaus-Peter Zauner at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) are working towards developing a new kind of information processing technology that is inspired by chemical processes in living systems. The project is entitled Artificial Wet Neuronal Networks from Compartmentalised Excitable Chemical Material.

Dr de Planque, a biochemist, and Dr Zauner, a computer scientist, will adapt brain processes to a ‘wet’ information processing scenario by setting up chemicals in a tube which behave like the transistors in a computer chip. To begin with the researchers are developing lipid-coated water droplets (that are very similar to biological cells), containing an excitable chemical medium. They will then connect the droplets into networks in which they can communicate through chemical signals. Their second objective is to design information-processing architectures based on the droplets and to demonstrate purposeful information processing in droplet architectures. Finally they want to establish and explore the potential and limitations of droplet architectures.

“What we are developing here is a very crude, minimal liquid brain and the final computer will be ‘wet’ just like our brain,” said Dr Zauner. “People realise now that the best information processes we have are in our heads and as we are increasingly finding that silicon has its limitations in terms of information processing, we need to explore other approaches, which is exactly what we are doing here.”

“Our system will copy some key features of neuronal pathways in the brain and will be capable of excitation, self-repair and self-assembly,” said Dr de Planque.

The project is being co-ordinated by Friedrich Schiller University Jena with other project partners, the University of the West of England, Bristol and the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.

Source: http://www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2010/jan/10_03.shtml

January 13, 2010

Poetry of Sri Chinmoy – 8

Poetry

TODAY’S MAN OF ACTION AND LIGHT

Today’s man of Action

Was Yesterday’s Dreamer.

Today’s man of Action

Shall be Tomorrow’s Path-finder.

Today’s man of Light

Was Yesterday’s Seeker.

Today’s man of Light

Shall be Tomorrow’s earth-Transformer.

January 13, 2010

HOW TO CONQUER FEAR

Talks by Sri Chinmoy

(This talk was given by Sri Chinmoy at American College; Paris, France on 13 November 1970)

Our body is limited; that is why the body has fear. Our vital is unconscious; that is why the vital has fear. Our mind is obscure; that is why the mind has fear. Our heart is not aspiring; that is why the heart has fear.

To free our body from fear, what we need is the glorious experience of our soul. To free our vital from fear, what we need is the dynamic and conscious expansion of our soul. To free our mind from fear, what we need is the transforming illumination of our soul. Finally, to free our heart from fear, what we need is the fulfilling perfection of our soul.

Man’s fear does not allow him to see the face of reality, the Ultimate Reality. Man’s fear does not allow him to reach the Golden Shores of the Beyond. Man’s fear does not allow him to fulfil God for God’s sake. But God, the Author of all good, has boundless Compassion, Concern, and Love for mankind.

God’s Compassion saves man.

God’s Concern liberates man.

God’s Love fulfils man.

When we unconsciously think of fear or cherish fear, fear smilingly shakes hands with us. When we consciously think of fear or cherish fear, fear triumphantly embraces us. But when we unconsciously think of our inner courage, God cries with His divine Cry, for He feels that here He has a chosen instrument of His.

Now, earth is afraid of Heaven’s Transcendental Light. Heaven is afraid of earth’s abysmal ignorance. God says to earth, “My son, do not act like a fool. Heaven’s Transcendental Light is not going to blind you. Heaven’s Light is not going to expose you. On the contrary, Heaven’s Light is going to illumine you. Heaven’s Light is going to transform you.”

God says to Heaven, “Do not be a fool. Earth’s abysmal ignorance cannot bind you. It cannot destroy you. On the contrary, earth’s ignorance will be offered to you. It is you who will transform the face of earth.”

God says, “I need both of you—Heaven and earth. Heaven! The message of realisation you will have to give to earth. Earth! The message of manifestation, My divine Manifestation, you will have to offer to Heaven.”

Fear comes from our deep-rooted ignorance. We do not see the light with our inner vision. We see the light with our outer, human, limited, earth-bound understanding.

Let me tell you a short story. An old man walking along the street one evening came across a rope. There was no light, and he thought the rope was actually a snake. He was all fear, and let out a scream, running as fast as he could. While running, he fell down and broke his leg. Some friends nearby heard him shouting and screaming, so they came with sticks. He was shouting all the time, thinking that there was a snake there. When his friends came, they too thought that it was a snake. In the dark they started striking the rope and, unfortunately, began hitting one another.

The shouting continued, and soon another party came with a light and discovered that it was just a piece of rope and not a snake.

Similarly, in our human life, when light enters into our physical consciousness, every kind of fear is bound to disappear. We are wanting in light. That is why fear, at every moment, consciously and deliberately looms large in our life of desire and in our life of aspiration.

But if we are sincere enough to go deep within and feel that inner courage belongs to us, inner courage can dawn at any moment. It is more than willing to come to the fore. Bringing this inner courage to the fore is the conscious awakening of our inner being. Everyone has this inner being. But, unfortunately, very few of us want to feed it. We feed our body in order to strengthen ourselves. We study books to feed our minds. We do many things to energise our outer being, but we do practically nothing to feed our inner being.

It is in our inner existence that we can grow into an adamantine will and, when we use our adamantine will, which we can easily have at our behest, we can conquer the very breath of fear. Here on earth our inner adamantine and indomitable will can and will reign supreme. Only one thing we need: a conscious awareness of the Divine Light which is ours. It is our birthright to realise and fulfil this inner Light.

There can be no fear, there cannot be even an iota of fear when we live in the effulgence of our soul. To live constantly in the divine effulgence of our soul only one thing is needed: a conscious inner cry. This inner cry is called aspiration, the mounting flame deep within us. When this flame rises up towards the highest, it illumines everything around it. Darkness is transformed into light, fear into strength, doubt into certainty, ignorance into wisdom, and death into Immortality.

January 11, 2010

Alda-1 can reactivate a mutated form of the enzyme ALDH2

Medical Sciences

ALDH2: ALDH2 is an enzyme that plays an important role in metabolizing alcohol and other toxins, including those created by a lack of oxygen in the wake of a heart attack. It also is involved in the metabolism of nitroglycerin, which is used to prevent chest pain (angina) caused by restricted blood flow and oxygen to the heart. People who carry a mutated form of the enzyme ALDH2 that does not carry out its intended functions well are at increased risk of cardiovascular damage.

Work done by scientists at Stanford and Indiana universities

Back in 2008, a research team at Stanford and Indiana universities schools of medicine, led by Daria Mochly-Rosen, Ph.D., professor of chemical and systems biology at Stanford, performed a study to understand cardioprotection to heart muscle cells from heart attack damage. The researchers found that a cellular signaling system activated ALDH2 that helps reduce heart muscle damage. They also found that a compound called Alda-1 could bypass the signaling process and activate the enzyme ALDH2 directly.

Now a team, led by Thomas Hurley, Ph.D., associate chair and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Indiana University, and Daria Mochly-Rosen, at Stanford, have discovered that the compound, Alda-1 can reactivate a mutated form of the enzyme ALDH2 to help ALDH2 enzyme carry out its intended functions well. They found that Alda-1 acts much like a shim to prop up a mutated form of ALDH2, restoring the enzyme’s function. Dr. Hurley says, “Because of the mutation in the gene, parts of the protein structure become loose and floppy. Alda-1 reactivates the enzyme by propping up those parts of the structure so they regain normal function.”

According to the researchers Alda-1 could lead to a new class of drugs to help reduce the muscle damage caused by heart attacks. According to Dr. Hurley, determining how the Alda-1 compound works will enable the researchers to begin working on alternative compounds that hold more promise as potential drugs. One primary improvement needed is the ability to give the drug orally, rather than by injection. He said, “Based on the information from these studies, we’re now ready to sit down with medicinal chemists and start designing new analogues by applying our understanding of what we need to leave alone and what we can modify to improve the properties of Alda-1.” Dr. Hurley predicted that alternative compounds could be available for testing by mid-2010.

Source: http://communications.medicine.iu.edu/body.cfm?id=106&oTopID=38

January 11, 2010

Accelerating drug screening on worms using mild electric field

Medical Sciences

C. elegans: Caenorhabditis elegan referred to as C. elegan is a free-living, transparent roundworm, about 1 mm in length. It lives in temperate soil environments. In the wild, it feeds on bacteria that develop on decaying vegetable matter. C. elegans is studied as a model organism because it is a multicellular organism that is simple enough to be studied in great detail. Strains are cheap to breed and can be frozen and when subsequently thawed they are able to live and grow, allowing long-term storage. In addition, C. eleagan is transparent, facilitating the study of cellular differentiation and other developmental processes in the intact organism. C. elegans is one of the few forms of life not known to have a natural virus. Also in the study of human diseases, C. eleagans is a proven animal model as it utilizes many of the same proteins and molecules as humans. It also has a generation time of approximately only four days and a lifespan of about two to three weeks. This accelerates the understanding of the function of disease-related proteins.

Accelerating drug screening on worms using mild electric field

Researchers at McMaster University have developed a way to propel and direct C. elegans along a narrow channel using a mild electric field. The researchers demonstrate movement of the worms forward and in reverse inside a microchannel, guided by the direction of the electric field (electrotaxis). The researchers also observed that the response of the worms was dependent on its age and neuronal development. This allows for large numbers of worms to be sorted and handled in an automated manner.

Assistant professor of biology, Bhagwati Gupta said, “This is the first time that worms have been stimulated to move in a micro-channel device in a very precise and directed way. It will allow researchers to study in real time how a proposed drug affects neurons and muscles that control motion of a live specimen.” Ravi Selvaganapathy, assistant professor of mechanical engineering said, “The electrotaxis of the worms has the potential to automate what is currently a slow, manual process for drug screening on worms (Currently, researchers observe worms individually under a microscope as they move in a random manner or in a direction forced by pressure). The system is fairly easy and inexpensive to scale up to conduct rapid screening of tens of thousands of chemicals in worms to identify drug candidates in a cost-effective manner. Such discovery could accelerate clinical trials in people by allowing scientists to focus only on relevant drugs and would use limited resources more efficiently.”

Source: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=6557

January 6, 2010

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