Green wonder: This erasable paper can be used 260 times

Taipei: “i2R e-Paper” is paper but not paper as we know it — not yet, anyway, say its Taiwan developers.

The product uses a thermal printer, the same kind as that used in fax machines. When the message is no longer needed, the paper can be erased with the flip of a switch — ready to be used up to 260 times. Researchers at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, where the paper was developed, say it is the ideal replacement for the paper signs and posters that are now produced by the millions around the world.

“I think the greatest breakthrough was that traditional display devices usually require electricity to write, but our technology made it closer to how we would use normal paper,” said John Chen, Vice President of the Institute and general director of the Display Technology Center. “First, it does not require patterned electrodes — it is very light, soft and rewritable. This is a true e-paper.”

What makes “i2R e-paper” stand out is its coating is a plastic film covered with cholestric liquid crystal, a type of liquid crystal structured similarly to cholesterol molecules. REUTERS

Thin band of anti-matter enveloping Earth found It Confirms Magnetic Field Can Trap Anti-Protons: Experts

London: Planetary scientists claim to have for the first time spotted a thin band of anti-matter particles, called anti-protons, enveloping the Earth. The find, published in the ‘Astrophysical Journal Letters’, confirms theoretical work that predicted the Earth’s magnetic field could trap antimatter, according to a team led by the University of Bari.

The astronomers say that a small number of anti-protons lie between the Van Allen belts of trapped “normal” matter. The antiprotons were spotted by the Pamela satellite launched in 2006 to study the nature of high-energy particles from the Sun and from beyond our Solar System — so-called cosmic rays, the ‘BBC’ reported.

These cosmic ray particles can slam into molecules that make up the Earth’s atmosphere, creating showers of particles. Many of the cosmic ray particles or these “daughter” particles they create are caught in Van Allen belts, doughnut-shaped regions where Earth’s magnetic field traps them.

The new analysis shows that when Pamela passes through a region called the South Atlantic Anomaly, it sees thousands of times more anti-protons than are expected to come from normal particle decays, or from elsewhere in the cosmos. The astronomers say this is evidence that bands of anti-protons, analogous to Van Allen belts, hold anti-protons in place — at least until they encounter the normal matter of atmosphere, when they “annihiliate” in a flash of light.

The band is “the most abundant source of anti-protons near the Earth”, said Alessandro Bruno, team member.
“Trapped anti-protons can be lost in the interactions with atmospheric constituents, especially at low altitudes where the annihilation becomes the main loss mechanism. Above altitudes of several hundred kilometres, the loss rate is significantly lower,” he added. PTI

MISSION ADMISSION

Hat-trick of delays: Most FYJC colleges to start only by mid-Aug

Shreya Bhandary & Yogita Rao | TNN

It’s the second week of August, but first-year junior college (FYJC) lectures across almost all city colleges have yet to begin, with more than 5,000 students still waiting to be assigned a seat. Principals are worried that with another list scheduled to be announced on August 12, before offline admissions begin on August 16, lectures will be delayed even further. The fact that professors have to cover a revised syllabus means that pressure on students and faculty members will intensify.
A few colleges such as St Xavier’s and HR Colleges in south Mumbai have already started lectures, but they are the exceptions. In fact, most principals say that with the delays in the online admission process, they don’t even know how many seats are vacant or the total number of students who have secured their seats.

M B Kekare, principal of Patkar Varde College in Goregaon (W) said that lectures will begin only by mid August. “We don’t believe in starting lectures before students have been allotted seats. Once the online admission process is over, our vacant seats will be put up for offline admissions. Our classes won’t begin until all students secure a seat,” said Kekare.

Many colleges are now waiting for a circular from the office of the deputy director of education (school) before they announce the induction programs for their students.

Apart from the delay in the admission process, the coming long weekend from August 13 to 15 has many colleges wondering how they will complete the admission process in time.

A handful of colleges, however, have already started classes with whatever strength that has been allotted to their respective streams. “We arranged the induction session for the new batch last weekend itself and started classes on Monday. We will conduct remedial classes for those students whose names appear in the fifth list,” said Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, principal of St Xavier’s College. H R College at Churchgate, also started their first day of lectures on Monday. “We had very few seats left for the last list and were surprised and happy to see our classes full on the first day itself,” said Deepika Bhatia, vice-principal of H R College.

Over 5K students left out in ‘last’ list

For The First Time Since Admissions Went Online 3 Yrs Ago, Edu Dept To Issue Special Merit List For Those Without Colleges

Cut-Offs For Science & Arts Fall Drastically, But Only A Marginal Dip In Commerce

Yogita Rao and Shreya Bhandary | TNN

Mumbai: More than 5,000 students have still not been allotted seats in junior colleges even after the third and final general merit list was announced on Monday. For the first time since the online admission system was introduced three years ago, the school education department will put up a ‘special’ merit list on August 12 for these students. Last year, despite technical glitches and confusion over the Best-5 policy, a relatively fewer number of students—around 4,400—were not allotted seats online. Parents and students are not amused and said that this time round, there was no excuse for the education department to not account for all the students.

“Every year, the education department says there’s no reason to worry as there are more seats than students. Yet every year, thousands of students are left out of the online system. Why is that?” asked one angry parent.

A total of 48,944 students were allotted seats in the third general list; of these 28,524 students were assigned colleges for the first time while the rest were those who were eligible for the betterment option. It’s worth noting that while cutoffs in the science and arts streams have dropped noticeably in the third list, cut-offs among commerce colleges are still on the higher side—reflecting the popularity of the course.

The third merit list left many students—especially those who had chosen commerce—disappointed as they were unable to get a seat in a top-rung college. The admissions at NM College, for instance, closed at a high 92.50%. At HR College, the cut-off was 90%.

Kirti Narain, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate, said: “We have 60-70 seats still vacant in the commerce stream. The cut-off for commerce has gone down by just over one percent, but the science list has dropped from 91.86% to 86.54%.” The college has more than 200 vacant seats in all the streams.

Cut-offs for science at K J Somaiya College in Vidyavihar dropped by 4%. Principal Vijay Joshi said, “There are too many cancellations happening because of the betterment option. Students who have already sought admissions in bifocals are getting repeated allotments in the general list as well, which is why the cut-offs were high in the previous lists. But many students finally secured their seats, the cut-offs dropped drastically.” “The merit list was the last chance for students to exercise the betterment option. Once they secure their seat, we will know exactly how many seats are vacant. We can then accommodate the remaining 5,191 students,” said an official from the office of the deputy director of school education. “We will come out with the special list at 10am on August 12. Students will have to secure their seats by August 13.”

Admission In Numbers

Students who were allotted seats for the first time in the third list: 23,333 n Students with betterment options: 25,611

Students who have not been assigned any seat: 5,191

What next?
A special list will be announced on August 12 at 10am for students who have not been assigned a college. There is no betterment option for this list n Students who have been allotted seats in the special list will have to finalize admissions on August 12 and 13 Offline admissions | Will start on August 16 Students eligible for offline admissions

More than 22,000 students who have failed in either one or two subjects can avail the keep term (ATKT) scheme n Students from international schools affiliated with the Cambridge International Examination (CIE) boardn Students who have not managed to secure their seat in the online process even after the August 12 list Times View

For students, the path to junior college should herald a stimulating and exciting experience. Instead, it has become a harrowing experience for families, as students—after the stress of sitting for a board exam—are made to jump through hoops to secure a seat. Despite no last-minute government policies and no technical glitches, the online admission process was delayed for the third consecutive year. What’s worse is that thousands of students have been left out yet again. Instead of enjoying their first few months of college and participating in campus festivals, they will now have to make up for lost time to cover the upgraded syllabus. In other states, the authorities are looking at ways to ensure that teenagers are not put through unnecessary angst. In Mumbai, though, the education department has yet to get its act together.