Sunday 23 December 2012

China to open world's longest high-speed rail line


BEIJING/ZHENGZHOU: China will open the world's longest high-speed rail line next week when a link between Beijing and the southern metropolis of Guangzhou is inaugurated, officials said on Saturday, underscoring its commitment to a trouble-plagued transport scheme.
The 2,298-km (1,428-mile) line, parts of which are already in operation, will begin full service on Wednesday, halving travel time to less than 10 hours on trains which will run at 300 kph (186 mph).
The new route offers a chance for China’s railways ministry, which has been dogged by scandals and missteps, to redeem itself.
A July 2011 crash of a high-speed train killed 40 people and raised concerns about the safety of the fast-growing network and threatened plans to export high-speed technology.
“We have developed a full range of effective measures to manage safety,” Zhou Li, head of the ministry’s science and technology department, told reporters on a trial run from Beijing to the central city of Zhengzhou.
“We can control safety management,” he added.
Last year’s accident near the booming eastern coastal city of Wenzhou occurred when a high-speed train rammed into another stranded on the track after being hit by lightning.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End


the end of the world as we know, however, it will be another winter solstice.

Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the claims behind the end of the world quickly unravel when pinned down to the 2012 timeline.

Below, NASA Scientists answer questions on the following 2012 topics:



Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
 Answer (A):The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.


Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?

 A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.


Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?

 A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.


Q: Is NASA predicting a "total blackout" of Earth on Dec. 23 to Dec. 25?

 A: Absolutely not. Neither NASA nor any other scientific organization is predicting such a blackout. The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of "alignment of the Universe" will cause a blackout. There is no such alignment (see next question). Some versions of this rumor cite an emergency preparedness message from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. This is simply a message encouraging people to be prepared for emergencies, recorded as part of a wider government preparedness campaign. It never mentions a blackout.
›Watch the Video


Q: Could planets align in a way that impacts Earth?

 A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. One major alignment occurred in 1962, for example, and two others happened during 1982 and 2000. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.
› More about alignment

"There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there..."
- Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?

 A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.


Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the Earth's crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?

 A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-switch to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. Scientists believe a magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia.
› More about polar shift


Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?

 A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.


Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of the world ending in 2012?

 A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.
› Why you need not fear a supernova
› About super volcanoes


Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?

 A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.
› Video: Solar Storms
› More about solar storms



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Tuesday 18 December 2012

Growth in farm yield to boost economy



 Agriculture experts have emphasized the need for credible evidence, transparency and clarity in research evaluation and impact assessment in order to obtain positive results in agricultural research mechanism.
“Nevertheless, despite high returns to agricultural research, available funds are limited. There is an increasing demand from stakeholders, especially donors, for national and international research organisations to show that they are wisely investing the research money that have been entrusted to them,” said Prof. Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, while addressing a 10-Day Australian Centre of International Agricultural Research, ACIAR-UAF Training Workshop on “Concepts and Tools for Agricultural Research Evaluation and Impact Assessment”.
Dr Khan urged the scientists they should apply impact assessment and research evaluation approaches with self-assessment of their inner self.
Professor Dr Iqbal Zafar, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences said that it is not enough just to have a tool kit of evaluation methods that can be readily applied to a diverse research portfolio.
“Nor will the development of the necessary knowledge and skills ensure the application of priority setting methods at the institute level,” he maintained.
He said that self-assessment would enable them with more enthusiastic scientific approaches. He maintained that basic and applied sciences could not be succeeded without building bridges between knowledge and the end-user with social, scientific tools.

Windows 8 to be introduced in Urdu soon: Sherif Morsi



Microsoft is working on introducing Urdu as a language option on Windows 8 and it is expected to be released very soon in the market probably by the end of this year.
Pakistan is as important to Microsoft as any other market in the world. There are huge opportunities in Pakistan for many reasons. There’s a huge population, huge developer community. Pakistan is also big in terms of PC shipments which present us with a huge opportunity with current installed base.
This was stated by Sherif Morsi, Business Group Lead Pakistan in an interview with The News Tribe
What is the contribution of Pakistani developers towards Windows 8?
Pakistani developers are highly talented and we seek to engage them with our softwares. Pakistani developers can build and develop apps for Windows 8.
GMaps developed by a Pakistani developer has the highest number of downloads in MEA Middle East & Africa) region. For Instance, Popcorn Time is another movie-based app developed by Pakistani developers. We will be featuring a lot more apps developed by Pakistani developers in near future. For us, it is extremely important for the content to be relevant to the local market. We want to make sure this happens in Pakistan also.
We have marketplace in Pakistan. We have Pakistani developers publishing apps for the Pakistani market. We are expecting 100s of Pakistani relevant apps coming in the market and here we are after quality not quantity as a lot of apps have been rejected due to poor quality
What makes Windows 8 better than other operating systems?
Windows 8 gives you the best experience with work and play. You can do both at the same time on a single device.
The beauty of Windows 8 is that you can easily upgrade your current versions to Windows 8 as long as device fulfills the basic minimum requirement. The upgrade offer is there to encourage consumers to use Windows 8.
With Windows 8, there are no compromises, it is fast and fluid. It gives people the ability to choose from a wide variety of services and apps.
Windows 8 is essentially the re-imagination of the PC concept. We have entered the PC Plus era where people are consuming not just Desktop PCs but also other internet-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones. This is the new phase for PC. To compliment these emerging trends, we have developed Windows 8 as truly smart software. Windows 8 is very fast, very fluid. There’s no compromising on Windows 8. It has been optimized for work and play at the same time on the same device.
How do you encourage use of genuine Windows products?
Whenever we have upgrade offers we want to make sure these are available in Pakistani also so that consumers here can benefit from such offers.
We give special importance to the local market:
o        We build secure products
o        We ensure that we help local community to build local apps. For this reason, we are engaging with developers on regular basis to guide them to develop locally relevant apps.
We also give special attention to students. We try to engage with Colleges and Universities and offer them comprehensive Microsoft solutions. We also provide them with customized apps that would help in improved learning. These apps include our e-learning suite and Microsoft telescope. Also Windows 8 on tablets can be managed securely to enable learning that is optimized, safe and secure.
How do you deal with piracy issues in Pakistan?
We are seeking progress in Pakistan in this area. At the same time, we are trying to make consumers more aware of the value of genuine Windows. It leads to a secure and best user experience.
We also make consumers aware of their licensing rights and how they can drive maximum benefits out of genuine Windows products.
The genuine software will give a customer all option for its benefits besides it protects the data which is valuable to everyone from company to individual. So a genuine software secures your data and give you satisfaction of security.

Saturday 15 December 2012

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Wednesday 5 December 2012

US drone kills at least 3 militants in Pakistan’s N Waziristan


USdrone_AFP670
Drones circled the area prior to the attack.— 
MIRANSHAH: A US drone fired two missiles at a compound in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal district of North Waziristan early Thursday, killing at least three militants, local security officials said.
The missiles hit a house in Mubarak Shahi village, in Mir Ali, 20 kilometres  east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district, which is a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants.
“Militants were using this house as a compound. At least three militants were killed in this drone strike,” a security official based in the northwestern city of Peshawar told AFP.
Four missiles were fired at a compund, killing four militants and injuring several others, according to a DawnNews report.
The covert US attacks are unpopular in Pakistan, where the government criticises them as a violation of sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon against Islamist militants.