Monday 19 October 2015

Watch a Floating Green Ball of Water Effervesce in Space in Glorious 4K

Green_Ball_of_Water

NASA Astronauts aboard ISS Assessing 4 K Cameras


The astronauts of NASA, aboard the International Space Station- ISS, have been presently assessing a 4K camera for filming science experiments which means that the recording would be at higher frame rate, higher resolution than the usual HD camera and would be offering more information to researcher studying the recordings. Moreover, it would also add more fun together with interesting videos.

Most recent is the video starring astronaut Scott Kelly and the ball of changing colours is unique because of the first space videos which NASA shot in 4K ultra-high definitions HD. Kelly who is part of NASA’s crew, had spent a year in space instead of the standard six months, in order to scale the effects on the body of long term Mars mission, toying with water.

 Subsequent to the 8K UHD, 4K UHD is said to provide the highest resolution viewing experience one can get and is four times the definition which the standard 1080p HD television could offer. NASA has explained in a description of the video that astronaut Scott Kelly had taken on board the ISS, that the higher resolution images and higher frame rate videos seems to disclose more information when utilised on science investigations providing the researchers with valuable new tool aboard the space station.

Video Beautiful Highlighting Various Colours/Texture/Movements


His video is just not beautiful but tends to highlight various colours, textures as well as movements which show the high resolution camera’s tremendous potentials. Kelly has a globule of water in which is added things and is filming the effects.

Water floats in the air as quivering blobs, in microgravity, which tends to make for some experiments which the astronauts finds it fun, like the popping water balloons, or injecting air bubbles and watching how the water tends to move.

In July, Terry Virts, NASA astronaut had inserted an effervescent tablet in a ball of water to observe it dissolve and release gases in the water and in the air. In Kelly’s experiment, he tends to switch it a little wherein he creates the water globule first and then adds what seems like blue and yellow edible dye to colour the water into an algae green.

Camera – Huge Sensors/Potential of High Resolution Imaging


Thereafter he adds effervescent tablets that cause the green globule to bubble and distort as tablet tends to quickly break down producing carbon dioxide. One can observe individual pockets of water explode off the surface after the effervescent tablet has dissolved which is because as the tablet liquefies it generates bubbles of carbon dioxide gas in the water which would generally rise to the surface of a glass on Earth.

However in space it moves to the outer edge of the sphere increasing in size till the bubbles pop flinging bits of water everywhere.The camera – the Red Epic Dragon 4K has also been utilised in the production of films like Peter Jackson’s – the Hobbit, series. Rodney Grubbs, program manager for NASA’s Imagery Experts Program of the camera in July, informs that this is a big leap in camera technology for spaceflight.

These cameras tend to have huge sensors with the potential of very high resolution imaging at high frame rates. It seems like having a high speed 35MM motion picture film camera though it is compact and can use lenses which are already up there besides being digital.



How a 3 D Printer Changed a 4-Year Old's Heart and Life

3D printed heart

Mia’s Malformation Treated With 3-D Printer


Mia Gonzalez who had been suffering from malformation in her aorta, the vessel that pumps blood from the heart, had to spend the first three and a half years of her life missing on most of the activities in life. She had to miss out on day care as well as dance classes due to the condition of colds and pneumonia.

When she was unable to go out and play, she was easily breathless and had to take multiple asthma medication to aid in the breathing. After around 10 hospital stay she had been diagnosed of this ailment. This four year old was in need of an operation to block off the part of her aorta which was putting pressure on her windpipe, making it hard to breathe, swallow and get rid of phlegm whenever she got a cold.

Mia’s mother, Katherine Gonzalez informed that they got out, thinking that she had asthma only to be told that she needed to undergo open heart surgery. However, her malformations seemed to be complicating. The surgeons at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, treating Mia would have been apprehensive regarding the process if it was not for the new technology, the 3-D printer

Printer Use Images From MRI/CT Scan Images as Templates


The hospital had obtained a 3-D printer, earlier in the year, which makes the exact models of organs which the doctors could use to plan surgery as well as practice operations. The printer then to use images from patients’ MRI or CT scan images as template and lays down layers of rubber or plastic.

The director of paediatric cardiovascular surgery at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Dr Redmond Burke, considered the model of Mia’s heart for couple of weeks and showed it to his colleagues for their contribution regarding the same. He even carried it in his gym bag for quick reference.

He finally had the right insight and instead of making an incision on the left side of this kind of heart defect, known as double aortic arch, he cut into Mia’s chest from the right. Burke informed that without the model he would have been less certain about Mia’s operation and that would have led him in making a larger incision which would cause more pain with longer recovery time. He added that using the model there was no room for doubt and surgeons dislike doubts.

Model Saved Team/Patient – 2 Hours in Operation Theatre


He points that the model saved the team as well as the patient about two hours in the operation theatre since he was capable of having a clearer plan in performing the surgery. Though 3-D printers had been clinically utilised for the last 20 or 25 years in making prototypes for surgical tools as well as other usages, it only began with simulated organs in the last few years, according to Rader.

 Surgeons had utilised the simulated organs for preparing all types of complicated surgeries like the surgery to remove a brain tumour or to correct a severe cleft palate, informs Rader. He further adds that, doctors could operate on them with regular surgical tools again and again till they found the optimal way of doing the surgery.

 For Mia, four months thereafter, her mother informed that the surgery seemed like ancient history to her and she had forgotten all about the surgical scar and had little pain. Though she had some minor colds, none had given her reason to be in the hospital and a month later she was also in a position to participate in her dance performance

Friday 16 October 2015

Light Introduces Multi-Aperture Computational Camera

L16

L16 Launch by Light – Interesting Camera to Test & Shoot


Light was established to make attractive photography more accessible than before and presently the first step towards this goal has been brought about, by the launch of the Light 16 Camera. This being the first product launch for Light and as start-up founder will tell that the experience is similar to that of a first born, a nerve wrecking experience.

 The latest version in camera, L16 is a small camera which permits professional quality photos. Lori Grunin who covers digital imaging for sources has revealed on Light. According to her, it seems to be one of the most interesting cameras to test and shoot.

 It is the first multi-aperture computational camera which takes quality images and is small as well as light to be carried around. The company has advertised that the camera delivers the highest quality from the smallest possible device. It is considered like having a camera body, zoom and three fast prime lenses inside your pocket. Dave Grannan, Light CEO had mentioned in MIT Technology Review that he does not think that on day one consumers would drop their DSLR to buy one of these, though they think that here is a huge population of users who would appreciate the size, cost as well as the weight reduction.

First Multi Aperture Computational Camera


Light, the company behind the L16, is the first multi aperture computational camera which has a technology using a blend of folded optics with computational imaging algorithms. Light has informed that `with 16 individual cameras, ten have been firing simultaneously; the L16 tends to capture details of the shot at multiple fixed focal lengths.

The images are computationally fused to create a final image with about 52 megapixel resolution. The term `folded optics’ has been explained by Rachel Metz in MIT Technology Review that each camera module is placed on its side and light tends to come in through an aperture, hitting a mirror and then travelling down the barrel of the lens to an image sensor.

Since the camera modules have different focal lengths, various ones will fire at once based on how close one would want to zoom in, on a subject and how the mirrors within the modules move to grab light’. The focus and depth of field can be adjusted even after the shot is taken.

The L16 would be having three different focal lengths, five 35 millimeter ones, five 70 millimeter ones and six 150 millimetre ones and each of the modules of the camera would have a 13 megapixel image sensor.

Comes with Wi-Fi Built-in


Pre-orders are being taken by the company which is $1299 till November 6. Thereafter it would be going up to $1699. The camera is said to be shipped by late summer of 2016.

The L16 is also said to be dust and water resistant. It has been mentioned by Rob Triggs in Android Authority about some other features regarding the L16 which tends to be appealing both to nonprofessional as well as professional photographers.

The L16 comes with Wi-Fi built-in where photographers could share their images straight from the camera or instantly transfer them over the air to a PC. As per MIT Technology Review, Light is said to be working on the L16 since 2013 and since then has had a deal with Foxconn in bringing the device to smartphones, which is expected somewhere next year.

Electronics that Better Mimic Natural Light Promise More Vivid, Healthy Illumination

Light

Devices for Lighting – Similar to Natural Light


Inspite of technological leaps in up-to-date electronics, the excellence of lighting which they provide still tends to leave much scope for improvement. A joint team led by an associate professor Jian Li, of material sciences and engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, intends to change that.

According to Li, the team is expecting to produce devices for lighting which would be similar to natural light than the earlier technology, allowing user to view things in a healthier, brightly lighted atmosphere. One section of the research with possibility of solutions is aimed on creating advanced organic light emitting diodes known as OLEDs.

The updated OLEDS will not be emitting ultraviolet – UV which will not enable clearer vision but also help in preventing eyestrain which is often the outcome of constant exposure to the UV light that is emitted by the present devices according to Li.

These types of OLEDs would mainly be advantageous to museum, art galleries and other places since the UV lights hinders the human eye in discerning colour variations clearly as well as the texture of objects. Over a period of time, UV light also tends to dull colours of painting, causing gradual decomposition of the paints together with the other materials.

Provision of Grant of $875,000 – 2 Years


Li who is on the faculty of the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy has informed that the most important developments in the technology would extent to `a big milestone’ in the potential of effectively lighting our world. Operation on OLEDS headed by Li in the past decade had drawn continuous interest from government as well as industry and the most recent aid is a grant with provision of $875,000 over two years from the U.S.Department of Energy.

This would make provision for Li’s lab to enlarge its research with further development in collaboration with Universal Display Corporation, which is a leading developer of electronic display and lighting technologies on organic materials.

Li had informed that the Department of Energy contemplates the progress in OLEDs as a great priority which is the main part of its attempt in helping the world to become more energy efficient, expand into renewable energy resources as well as discover ways of offering more affordable energy.

More Control on Brightness of Lighting …


Next generation of OLED technology can be anticipated in improving the lighting presentation in the various solid state electronics from lighting for streets, parks, sports facilities to cell phones, digital watches, computer screen, television and flexible electronic displays together with home, industrial and commercial lighting.

The advanced OLEDs would permit more control on the brightness of lighting together with provision of more choices in moulding the shapes of the lighting devices, to determine the direction as well as the intensity of light and to regulate the colour of light.

Li’s research team have been working in the development of OLEDs which tend to utilise single emissive material in the creation of a white emission instead of the more difficult structures that depend on the utilisation of a mixture of blue, green and red emissive material which are designed to produce a working stable as well as pure white light than the other lighting technologies.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your IT to Other Companies


outsourcing
The ability to outsource to other companies and freelancers is a great gift to small businesses, who can’t always keep everything in-house. Even large businesses like to do this, as it just makes financial sense. IT, in particular, is a great one to consider outsourcing – so what are the benefits of doing this? Let’s take a look…

Full Control of Costs

IT bills can explode out of control. With a monthly, reliable expenditure, you can take back control of your IT costs, and limit the money flying out of your bank account. Knowing how much you need to spend per month (or year) is another worry off your shoulders. You will probably need to keep some form of IT personnel around to fix minor problems, but this means that your IT representative is less stretched, and that you hopefully won’t have to hire an entire team to take care of the many IT concerns (especially if your company is very internet dependent).

Your Staff Can Focus On Other Things

Your employees are one of your greatest assets and resources, but they are also one of your most troubling expenditures. So that everyone can do their job without interference, ensuring that your workers are focused on delivering great service to customers and clients, outsourcing your IT is a fantastic way to let your employees do what they do best, without being spread too thin. It should also save time in trying to figure out the problem in-house – make it someone else’s issue!

You Won’t Have To Provide Extra IT Training

Training and improvements will all be down to the outsourced company? New software or legal changes? They will have to adjust their skills and educate their employees - nothing extra will come out of your pocket. You also don’t have to keep abreast of all of the new developments either, which will save your teams a lot of time in trying to stay cutting edge – someone else can make sure that the software is up-to-date and competitive.

Staying Competitive

Often – especially for small businesses – it just makes sense to outsource your work. You can’t keep absolutely everything in-house and remain competitive. However, if you DO outsource a few parts of your business, you are remaining agile and fighting fit. Yes, the bigger companies have more flout, but you are versatile, new, exciting, and you can roll with the punches.

Risk Reduction

If ever there is an issue, it doesn’t have to drastically impact your business’ productivity. An outsourced company will have the responsibility to rectify the problem. There are plenty of companies out there that offer a wide variety of packages for IT departments – Exponential E is one of the more obvious choices for this kind of service – but look for something that will get you the most service for your payments. In order to make outsourcing feasible, you should ideally entrust the majority of the responsibilities to a separate set of professionals.