Mercedes bionic car

Mercedes bionic car at New York's Museum of Modern Art

The bratwurst-eating and beer-swilling engineers at Mercedes decided to make bionics a reality. However, in this case, "bionics" doesn't mean enhance jumping ability for humans -- it refers to the practice of taking "nature's solutions" to problems and adapting them for use by man. The Mercedes press release we've been reading all day cites examples like ship engineers copying the shape of a dolphin's nose and slapping that shape on a boat so that the boat can "cut" through the water a lot easier.

The odd-shaped vehicle you see here is Mercedes' stab at "bionics". Though it doesn't have an official name, everyone's calling it the "Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car".

...... From this......

Engineers at Mercedes were given the task of creating a car that was sleek and aerodynamic, which would allow the vehicle to get excellent fuel economy. However, this car also had to be structurally sound, to keep occupants safe. These German engineers decided to look to nature for an answer. The answer to the structural problem came from the waters of Australia, or more specifically, the boxfish.Though the boxfish looks all blocky and ill-proportioned, it is actually very streamlined. Well, it is according to the press materials provided by the silver star. Any-who, the boxy-looking Mercedes concept you see here has a drag coefficient of just 0.19. Of course, Mercedes is claiming that this is a super-low number - especially given the dimensions of the concept. Just to give you a little perspective: the McLaren F1 supercar has a drag coefficient of .032. If you want to compare the Bionic Car to another fuel sipper, the Prius has a drag coefficient of 0.26. Either way you look at it, the Mercedes Bionic Car just slips through the air.

...to this...

Why is "slipping through the air" important? Well, one reason is that less wind resistance equals less friction for the car. Less friction for the car means that the engine doesn't have to work as hard to get the car up to speed (and keep it there). In other words: less wind resistance equals higher gas mileage. The 140-horsepower diesel engine found in the Bionic Car is able to get over 70 miles per gallon thanks to the car's slippery shape. This fuel economy also combines with some new-fangled technology (including the spraying of a liquid called "AdBlue" into the exhaust) to the to reduce emissions by over 80 percent. This Bionic Car is sounding like a vehicle that Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr. can get behind!While our minds are still fresh from talking about the shape of the Bionic Car, we should mention that this odd design is super-rigid. Mercedes engineers studied the bone formation and plate-like construction of the boxfish's skin and applied it to the design of the Bionic Car's frame. The external door paneling and frame used in the Bionic Car make the car 40 percent stiffer than a similarly-sized car built using traditional manufacturing methods. In addition to the enhanced rigidity, the Bionic Car's construction also helps in weight savings; engineers estimate that this new construction technique helped them make the car about 33 percent lighter while retaining all of its crash-worthiness. Not too bad considering all of this came from a little fish...

...to this!

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

Although many factors influence how much sleep you really need, the common recommendation is eight hours a night. But individual needs vary greatly.

Although many factors influence how much sleep you really need, most young adults report sleeping about seven and a half hours on weekday nights and eight and a half hours on weekend nights. And the common recommendation is eight hours a night. But individual needs vary greatly. There are so-called short-sleepers and long-sleepers -- those who need as little as five and a half hours to as much as about nine and a half hours.

How much sleep you require depends on several factors including:

• Your inherited genetic need
• Your sleep hygiene (those daily activities you control, from drinking coffee or alcohol to smoking and exercise)
• The quality of your sleep
• Your 24-hour daily cycle known as the circadian rhythm

For example, smoking, drinking, and exercise can affect your sleep dramatically. What you actually do in bed (like reading or watching TV) and how much exposure to light you have (looking at that bright computer screen 'til midnight) will also significantly alter both the quality and quantity of your sleep. They all interact to determine how long you need to sleep to wake up feeling refreshed and remain alert throughout the day.

How did we get the age-old recommendation that we need a solid eight hours of sleep? In a classic study, researchers placed a volunteer in windowless, light-controlled room for 30 days. The light was on for 16 hours and off for eight hours, but the study participant could also turn the lights on and off at will.

Before the experiment began, the subject routinely got about six and a half hours of sleep. During the first night of the experiment he slept eight hours, the second night 10 hours, the third night 12 hours, and the fourth night 14 hours. Over the next several days, he began to reduce the number of hours slept, eventually falling to a steady eight hours and 13 minutes. This experiment was performed repeatedly with all types of people, with similar results, and this is where the recommendation of eight hours comes from.

Sleep Tips: Sweet Dreams

Seeking sound sleep ?
Try these tips for good night sleep:
» Throw your TV set and the computer out of the bedroom.
» Take a cool shower before jumping into the bed.
» Wear loose cotton clothes (preferable white) - no denims or trousers please.
» Fix a sleeping schedule and stick to the routine honestly.
» Is the pillow good enough ? In a lot of cases, pillows and incomforable mattress may lead to sleep disorders.
» Reduce intake of spices, chocolates and caffeine, especially after lunchtime.
» The old granny's trick - take a glass of warm milk just before going to bed.
» If you are worried about something that preventing your from sleeping, try to think of ways to resolve it. Opening a discussion with the partner may help.
» Do some physical work or Yoga exercises some 3-4 hours before the sleeping time.
» There should be a healthy gap between your dinner and sleeping time.
» Sex with your partner before bedtime will also aid in getting a good sleep.
» If your mind is flooded with ideas and tasks for the next day, jot them down on a piece of paper so that you get relaxed.
» When nothing helps, tune in to some Worldspace Radio station for soft, slow, relaxing music like jazz, folk or orchestral pieces.

I hope these sleeping tricks will help you sleep, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed next day. Sweet Dreams.

In & Out of Sleep....!

What would happen if we didn't sleep?
So why do we sleep? This is a question that has baffled scientists for centuries and the answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a chance to recuperate from the day's activities but in reality, the amount of energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule - about 50 kCal, the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.

We know how people look like when they sleep. In addition to the outward signs, the Heart slows down and the brain does some pretty funky things.

In other words, a sleeping person is unconscious to most things happening in the environment. The biggest difference between someone who is asleep and someone who has fainted or gone into a coma is the fact that a sleeping person can be aroused if the stimulus is strong enough. If you shake the person, yell loudly or flash a bright light, a sleeping person will wake up.
For any animal living in the wild, it just doesn't seem very smart to design in a mandatory eight-hour period of near-total unconsciousness every day. Yet that is exactly what evolution has done. So there must be a pretty good reason for it!
Reptiles, birds and mammals all sleep. That is, they become unconscious to their surroundings for periods of time. Some fish and amphibians reduce their awareness but do not ever become unconscious like the higher vertebrates do. Insects do not appear to sleep, although they may become inactive in daylight or darkness.
By studying brainwaves, it is known that reptiles do not dream. Birds dream a little. Mammals all dream during sleep.
Different animals sleep in different ways. Some animals, like humans, prefer to sleep in one long session. Other animals (dogs, for example) like to sleep in many short bursts. Some sleep at night, while others sleep during the day.

A good way to understand the role of sleep is to look at what would happen if we didn't sleep. Lack of sleep has serious effects on our brain's ability to function. If you've ever pulled an all-nighter, you'll be familiar with the following after-effects: grumpiness, grogginess, irritability and forgetfulness. After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and attention span shortens considerably.
With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected, practically shutting down. In fact, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine). This is the legal drink driving limit in the UK.
Research also shows that sleep-deprived individuals often have difficulty in responding to rapidly changing situations and making rational judgements. In real life situations, the consequences are grave and lack of sleep is said to have been be a contributory factor to a number of international disasters such as Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and the Challenger shuttle explosion.
Sleep deprivation not only has a major impact on cognitive functioning but also on emotional and physical health. Disorders such as sleep apnoea which result in excessive daytime sleepiness have been linked to stress and high blood pressure. Research has also suggested that sleep loss may increase the risk of obesity because chemicals and hormones that play a key role in controlling appetite and weight gain are released during sleep.

What we all know is that, with a good night's sleep, everything looks and feels better in the morning. Both the brain and the body are refreshed and ready for a new day.

Sleep and the Brain

If you attach an electroencephalograph to a person's head, you can record the person's brainwave activity. An awake and relaxed person generates alpha waves, which are consistent oscillations at about 10 cycles per second. An alert person generates beta waves, which are about twice as fast.
During sleep, two slower patterns called theta waves and delta waves take over. Theta waves have oscillations in the range of 3.5 to 7 cycles per second, and delta waves have oscillations of less than 3.5 cycles per second. As a person falls asleep and sleep deepens, the brainwave patterns slow down. The slower the brainwave patterns, the deeper the sleep -- a person deep in delta wave sleep is hardest to wake up.
At several points during the night, something unexpected happens -- rapid eye movement (REM) sleep occurs. Most people experience three to five intervals of REM sleep per night, and brainwaves during this period speed up to awake levels. If you ever watch a person or a dog experiencing REM sleep, you will see their eyes flickering back and forth rapidly. In many dogs and some people, arms, legs and facial muscles will twitch during REM sleep. Periods of sleep other than REM sleep are know as NREM (non-REM) sleep.
REM sleep is when you dream. If you wake up a person during REM sleep, the person can vividly recall dreams. If you wake up a person during NREM sleep, generally the person will not be dreaming.
You must have both REM and NREM sleep to get a good night's sleep. A normal person will spend about 25 percent of the night in REM sleep, and the rest in NREM. A REM session -- a dream -- lasts five to 30 minutes.
Medicine can hamper your ability to get a good night's sleep. Many medicines, including most sleeping medicines, change the quality of sleep and the REM component of it.
Missing out on a good night's sleep can seriously affect what happens when you're awake.

Missing Sleep
One way to understand why we sleep is to look at what happens when we don't get enough:
As you know if you have ever pulled an all-nighter, missing one night of sleep is not fatal. A person will generally be irritable during the next day and will either slow down (become tired easily) or will be totally wired because of adrenalin.
If a person misses two nights of sleep, it gets worse. Concentration is difficult, and attention span falls by the wayside. Mistakes increase.
After three days, a person will start to hallucinate and clear thinking is impossible. With continued wakefulness a person can lose grasp of reality. Rats forced to stay awake continuously will eventually die, proving that sleep is essential.
A person who gets just a few hours of sleep per night can experience many of the same problems over time.
Two other things are known to happen during sleep. Growth hormone in children is secreted during sleep, and chemicals important to the immune system are secreted during sleep. You can become more prone to disease if you don't get enough sleep, and a child's growth can be stunted by sleep deprivation.
But the question remains -- why do we need to sleep? No one really knows, but there are all kinds of theories, including these:
Sleep gives the body a chance to repair muscles and other tissues, replace aging or dead cells, etc.
Sleep gives the brain a chance to organize and archive memories. Dreams are thought by some to be part of this process.
Sleep lowers our energy consumption, so we need three meals a day rather than four or five. Since we can't do anything in the dark anyway, we might as well "turn off" and save the energy.
According to ScienceNewsOnline: Napless cats awaken interest in adenosine, sleep may be a way of recharging the brain, using adenosine as a signal that the brain needs to rest: "Since adenosine secretion reflects brain cell activity, rising concentrations of this chemical may be how the organ gauges that it has been burning up its energy reserves and needs to shut down for a while." Adenosine levels in the brain rise during wakefulness and decline during sleep.

DREAMS and SLEEP DISORDERS will be added soon.

Working of MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), formerly referred to as magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) or, in chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), is a non-invasive method used to render images of the inside of an object. On July 3, 1977, the first MRI exam was ever performed on a human being.

MRI TIME LINE

1946 MR phenomenon - Bloch & Purcell
1952 Nobel Prize - Bloch & Purcell
1950 NMR developed as analytical tool
1960
1970
1972 Computerized Tomography
1973 Backprojection MRI - Lauterbur
1975 Fourier Imaging - Ernst
1977 Echo-planar imaging - Mansfield
1980 FT MRI demonstrated - Edelstein
1986 Gradient Echo Imaging NMR Microscope
1987 MR Angiography - Dumoulin
1991 Nobel Prize - Ernst
1992 Functional MRI
1994 Hyperpolarized 129Xe Imaging
2003 Nobel Prize - Lauterbur & Mansfield

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique used primarily in medical settings to produce high quality images of the inside of the human body. MRI is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a spectroscopic technique used by scientists to obtain microscopic chemical and physical information about molecules. The technique was called magnetic resonance imaging rather than nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) because of the negative connotations associated with the word nuclear in the late 1970's. MRI started out as a tomographic imaging technique, that is it produced an image of the NMR signal in a thin slice through the human body. MRI has advanced beyond a tomographic imaging technique to a volume imaging technique.

Before beginning a study of the science of MRI, it will be helpful to reflect on the brief history of MRI. Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell, both of whom were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952, discovered the magnetic resonance phenomenon independently in 1946. In the period between 1950 and 1970, NMR was developed and used for chemical and physical molecular analysis. (much more to come)

Working of Credit Cards

Now a days Credit Card has become a status symbol of Economy. About 60% of shops in India (considering Hyderabad in general) publish a note infront of their shop which says "All Major Credit Cards Accepted". Every trader who owns a small stationary shop, perfers to accept credit card. This revolution was due to ICICI bank credit cards. Half of this Credit goes to ICICI bank. 80% of the shops here hold ICICI bank machines to accept Credit Cards.

Focussing on the way Credit Cards Work....

What is a credit card?

Physically, a credit card is a piece of plastic, 3-1/8” x 2-1/8”, that carries information that allows you to make purchases now, and pay for them later. This is gerally a swipe card, which offers you differnt types of benefits in shopping. Your Card can be used in two ways. One is for Purchasing things and other is to draw cash from ATM centers or Cash Points. Obviously there are also two types of limits for your card.

1. CREDIT LIMIT: This the amount up to which you can purchace your goods from traders/shops. This is higher than the other limit. Some banks indicate this including your cash limit. This limit depends on your security deposit. In some cases this depends on your salary if the card is a fecility due to your salary account in that perticular bank.

2. COST LIMIT: This is a bit less than the credit limit. This is the amount that can be drawn from ATM centers or Cash Points. This limit also depends on your security deposit.

How does a Credit Card Work?

The way how a credit card work is really interesting. The stripe on the back of a credit card is a magnetic stripe. The magstripe is made up of tiny iron-based magnetic particles in a plastic-like film. Each particle is really a very tiny bar magnet about 20 millionths of an inch long.

The Front side of a Credit card is shown here.

The numbers indicate...

1.Issuing Bank name and Logo

2.EMV chip(Europay MasterCard Visa)

3.Hologram of the Card Brand (VISA/MASTERCARD)

4.Credit Card Number.

5.Card Brand Logo.

6.Expiry date of the card.

7.Name of the card holder.

The image of the Card from back side is shown here.

The numbers indicate.

1. Magnetic Strip.

2. Card holders signature strip.

3. Card Security Code.

What do all those numbers mean?
Electronically, a credit card is a pretty complex device. Everything on a credit card is a code that stands for a specific bit of information. And there’s a ton of it – some that you can see, some that’s hidden. On the face of it, you’ll find a series of numbers. While these numbers as a group, identify you, individually they identify the financial institution you deal with – the one that issued you the card.

Let us see what they stand for.

Almost all credit card companies use a standardized system for tracking and billing their customers’ transactions. Since there are so many financial institutions using this system, to avoid confusion between credit card companies, the numbers on your credit card identify which institution “owns” each transaction. For example, the first few digits identify the financial institution, the next few are your account number, and the last digit is what’s called a “check digit”.

A check digit is an interesting security item. The process of checking your credit card number is done by multiplying the sum of the odd digits by 3, which is then added to the sum of the even digits which, when added to the check digit, will equal a multiple of 10. Amazing Technology isn`t it?

The magneticstripe can be Foematted because the tiny bar magnets can be magnetized in either a north or south pole direction. The magneticstripe on the back of the card is very similar to a piece of cassette tape fastened to the back of a card.Instead of motors moving the tape so it can be read, your hand provides the motion as you "swipe" a credit card through a reader.

There are three tracks on the magstripe. Each track is .110-inch wide. The ISO/IEC standard 7811, which is used by banks, specifies:
Track one is 210 bits per inch (bpi), and holds 79 six-bit plus parity bit read-only characters.
Track two is 75 bpi, and holds 40 four-bit plus parity bit characters.
Track three is 210 bpi, and holds 107 four-bit plus parity bit characters.

Generally we use track one and two only. Track three is a read/write track (that includes an encrypted PIN, country code, currency units, amount authorized), but its usage is not standardized among banks.

There are three basic methods for determining that your credit card will pay for what you're charging:
1.Merchants with few transactions each month do voice authentication, using a touch tone phone.
2.Electronic data capture (EDC) magstripe card swipe terminals are becoming more common -- so is having you swipe your own card at the checkout.
3.Virtual terminal on the Internet.

What happens when you "SWIPE" ?

This is how it works: After you or the cashier swipes your credit card through a reader, the EDC software at the point of sale (POS) terminal dials a stored telephone number via a modem to call an acquirer. An acquirer is an organization that collects credit authentication requests from merchants and provides a payment guarantee to the merchant.
When the acquirer company gets the credit card authentication request, it checks the transaction for validity and the record on the magstripe for:
*Merchant ID
*Valid card number
*Expiration date
*Credit card limit
*Card usage
Single dial-up transactions are processed at 1200-2400 bps, while direct Internet attachment uses much higher speeds via this protocol. In this system, the cardholder enters a personal identification number (PIN), using a keypad.

The merchant then enters the amount that is to be charged on your card using the Keypad. Then the charge slip of transaction is printed by the magstripe reader. The charge slip is to be signed by the card kolder to make the trasaction valid.

How is your credit card checked for validity?
When you go to use your credit card, there’s a process that needs to be followed to make sure that it really is your card, and that you haven’t overspent your limit. The smaller merchants will probably do this by phone, although technology has moved into most small establishments, replacing the phone calls with more modern technology. This technology comes in the form of an EDC (electronic data capture), which does exactly what it’s name says it does – it captures your data and sends it to the central system. EDCs are the standard today.
With the rapid growth of online shopping, your card needs to be validated online, as well. This becomes a little more complicated. But virtual terminals are being developed, enabling safe and secure transactions over the Internet.

How do you know your credit card information is secure?
When you use your card, a lot of your personal information is being sent through cables and cyberspace to the companies that process your transactions. One of the newest ways of protecting that information from identify theft, is to use a “smart” card. A smart card has a computer chip embedded in it and requires you to identify yourself every time you use the card. As soon as you’ve been positively identified, the chip in the card encrypts, or converts into code, all the information related to your transaction.

SMART CARDS

The low security of the credit card system presents countless opportunities for fraud. This opportunity has created a huge black market in stolen credit card numbers, which are generally used quickly before the cards are reported stolen.
The goal of the credit card companies is not to eliminate fraud, but to "reduce it to manageable levels", such that the total cost of both fraud and fraud prevention is minimized. This implies that high-cost low-return fraud prevention measures will not be used if their cost exceeds the potential gains from fraud reduction.
Most Internet fraud is done through the use of stolen credit card information which is obtained in many ways, the simplest being copying information from retailers, either online or offline. There have been many cases of crackers obtaining huge quantities of credit card information from company databases. It is not unusual for employees of companies that deal with millions of customers to sell credit card information to criminals.
Despite efforts to improve security for remote purchases using credit cards, systems with security holes are usually the result of poor implementations of card acquisition by merchants. For example, a website that uses SSL to encrypt card numbers from a client may simply email the number from the webserver to someone who manually processes the card details at a card terminal. Naturally, anywhere card details become human-readable before being processed at the acquiring bank is a security risk. However, many banks offer systems such as ClearCommerce, where encrypted card details captured on a merchant's webserver can be sent directly to the payment processor.
Controlled Payment Numbers are another option for protecting one's credit card number: they are "alias" numbers linked to one's actual card number, generated as needed, valid for a relatively short time, with a very low limit, and typically only valid with a single merchant.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the agency responsible for prosecuting criminals who engage in credit card fraud in the United States, but they do not have the resources to pursue all criminals. In general, they only prosecute in cases exceeding US$5,000 in value. Three improvements to card security have been introduced to the more common credit card networks but none has proven to help reduce credit card fraud so far. First, the on-line verification system used by merchants is being enhanced to require a 4 digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) known only to the card holder. Second, the cards themselves are being replaced with similar-looking tamper-resistant smart cards which are intended to make forgery more difficult. The majority of smartcard (IC card) based credit cards comply with the EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) standard. Third, an additional 3 or 4 digit code is now present on the back of most cards, for use in "card not present" transactions. See CVV2 for more information.
The way a credit card-owner pays off his/her balances has a tremendous effect on his/her credit history. All the information is collected by credit bureaus. The credit information stays on the credit report for 7 years and for bankruptcies – for 10 years. There are no legal ways to change credit information to improve credit history. Bad credit score might question your trustworthiness for employers, landlords and banks.

Uses

*The main advantage is "Buy now Pay Later". The only thing you need to do after the purchase is just sign the charge slip and collect the customer copy of the charge slip.

*Some banks provide 0% intrest on credit transations for a lilmited period of time.

*Special Revards can be enjoyed. Some Banks provide in the form of cash points and other in the form of gifts.

Drawbacks

*People spend more because of the PAY LATER fecility.

*Lack of knowledge may cause mis-use of the card.

*Chances of OVER BILING due to online Autions or Transactions because of online hackers.

Caution

*Check for bill amount to match your shopping amount.

*Inform immidiately the loss of credit card to stop misuse of the card.

*Do not disclose the PIN number with your Card.

My View of Things Working

After reading how a perticular thing work, from many websites, I planned of giving my views on those things. Hope you enjoy reading this...........