Soon, e-books to let you flip pages like paper-based magazines

Are you adapted to read on your computer? Of course its hard to read e-books than paper books. The problem has now been solved and you are able to read e-books easily in laptop, PCs or smartphone. Researchers have come up with a technology that will make reading on smartphone and tablet PCs easier than it is now.

"Smart E-book System", developed by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) headed by Howon Lee from the IT Convergence Research Institute, allows users of smartphones and tablet PCs to effortlessly flip through the pages of an e-book or cross-reference its contents, just as they would with paper-based books and magazines.

Unlike conventional displays and user interface technologies, where users' finger movements are locked within the screen of display, the Smart E-book System recognizes finger touches made beyond the screen.

In other words, this algorithm-based conversion technology detects "touch and entry events" on the circumference of smartphones and tablet PCs and connects them with the "events" occurring within the screen, thereby preserving compatibility with traditional e-book interfaces while providing users with new functions.

Therefore, users can readily flip the pages of an e-book from the start-up screen without entering any function keys or touching the screen.

Skimming through the pages of a book, a feature that was previously unavailable with e-books, is also possible through 3D rendering of the contents on the pages being flipped.

A bookmark function allows users to conveniently go back and forth between pages of interest. In addition, the system has a "multi-touch" function as well as a smart capability of recognizing dragging time, finger pressure, and finger gestures.

"I hope that our technology will accelerate the wider use of e-books and contribute to Korea's endeavours to lead the development of software application technology for mobile devices," Howon Lee said.

Lee and his research team have filed 11 patents for the Smart E-book System in Koreaand abroad.

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New Load Shedding Schedule of Nepal ( effective From 16th january 2012)

Dear residents of nepal , the Loadshedding hours in nepal have been increased and New Schedule will eb effective from  16th january 2012. So its necessary to know the schedule to perform the housework perfectly. So here is the new Schedule of Loadshedding that will be effective from today. Depending upon the condition, load-shedding could increase/decrease by one hour.

The load-shedding will be two more hours in the areas of the feeders where 40 to 50 per cent of electricity leakage is recorded.

The load-shedding will be three more hours in the areas of the feeders where more than 50 per cent of electricity leakage is recorded.So please inform the NEA authority if you find someone stealing electricity near your place and get less load shedding 

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Breast-fed babies cry more and laugh less

Breast-fed babies tend to cry more and laugh less when compared to their bottle-fed counterparts, who are the best behaved, a new study has revealed. A study of British infants also found that those who were breast-fed were harder to soothe and get off to sleep than their formula-fed babies.
However, the Cambridgeresearchers have asserted that the irritability linked to breastfeeding is only natural, and is not an indication of stress or even necessarily hunger.
Instead, it is the baby's way of bonding and seeking attention and security, the Daily Mail reported.
Apparently the bottle-fed babies look more content because they may simply have eaten too much.

Researchers said that a crying baby may merely be seeking the comfort and closeness of its mother.
In one of the first studies of its kind, the temperament of more than 300 babies was analysed when they were three months old.
This was done by asking their mothers to answer around 200 questions about their children from how they responded to being washed and dressed to how easy they were to get down to sleep.
Although the results varied little between boys and girls, socio-economic status of the parents or the mother's age, there was a clear relation with the method of feeding.
"If anything, what might account for the difference is that bottle-fed babies possibly get more nutrients than is typical," Researcher Ken Ong, of the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, said.
"Research suggests that these infants may be over-nourished and gain weight too quickly. Our findings are essentially similar to other stages of life; people often find that eating is comforting.

"Rather than being put off breast-feeding, parents should have more realistic expectations of normal infant behaviour and should receive better understanding and support to cope with difficult infant behaviours if needed," Dr Ong added.

The study has been published in the journal PLoS ONE.

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New Particle was discovered that could help to cool Earth

Scientists have discovered a particle that could "cool the planet" and naturally clean up the atmosphere.

According to researchers from The University of Manchester, The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories, Criegee biradicals are invisible chemical intermediates and are powerful oxidisers of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, produced by combustion.

Although these chemical intermediates were hypothesised in the 1950s, it is only now that they have been detected. Scientists now believe that, with further research, these species could play a major role in off-setting climate change.
The detection of the Criegee biradical and measurement of how fast it reacts was made possible by a unique apparatus, designed by Sandia researchers, that uses light from a third-generation synchrotron facility, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source.

Earth

The intense, tunable light from the synchrotron allowed researchers to discern the formation and removal of different isomeric species – molecules that contain the same atoms but arranged in different combinations.

The researchers found that the Criegee biradicals react more rapidly than first thought and will accelerate the formation of sulphate and nitrate in the atmosphere. These compounds will lead to aerosol formation and ultimately to cloud formation with the potential to cool the planet.

Carl Percival, Reader in Atmospheric Chemistry at The University of Manchester and one of the authors of the paper, believes there could be significant research possibilities arising from the discovery of the Criegee biradicals.

"Criegee radicals have been impossible to measure until this work carried out at the Advanced Light Source. We have been able to quantify how fast Criegee radicals react for the first time," Percival said.

"Our results will have a significant impact on our understanding of the oxidising capacity of the atmosphere and have wide ranging implications for pollution and climate change.

Evolution of Green house gases

"The main source of these Criegee biradicals does not depend on sunlight and so these processes take place throughout the day and night," he added.

The study has been published in Science.

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World's biggest Koran with 7ft-high pages is unveiled in Afghanistan

The completion of the world's largest Koran was hailed as a major achievement for the Afghanistan when it was officially unveiled in the nation's capital.

Measuring more than 7ft long and 10ft wide, the text's 218 pages are decorated in 30 different calligraphy designs and took almost five years to finish.

Its inauguration ceremony was held yesterday in front of key religious figures, clerics, scholars and government officials to coincide with the opening of Hakim Nasir Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center and arts exhibition in Kabul.

unvieling the world Larget Koran

According to Daily mail.co.uk The project was inspired and sponsored by His Excellency Alhaj Syed Mansoor Naderi, a well-known religious personality and leader of the Shia Ismailies in Afghanistan, it was reported on Khaama Press.

Calligrapher Mohammad Saber Yaqoti Hussaini Khedri and his students started the composition in September 2004, which involved at least two years of continuous work for the shafting and archiving.

All the 30 parts of Koran has been done in 30 different designs. It was finally completed in September 2009.

Speaking at yesterday's ceremony, Mansoor Naderi described the completion of the book as a major achievement for the Afghan nation and all Muslims around the world, according to Khaama Press.

world's Largest Koran

Those behind the project were then handed Appreciation Letters by Afghan Senate House speaker Fazal Hadi Muslimyar.

The Koran is the central religious text of Islam and is a record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad.

Muslims believe it was periodically revealed to Muhammad over the 23 years before his death at the age of 40 in 632AD.

It is divided into 114 suras which are classified either as Meccan or Medinan depending upon their place and time of revelation.

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