An additional 5,000 filters are slated for sales in Nepal, with further outreach into Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia

Technology helps Nepalese get safe water

Combating water contamination in Nepal with clay filters was a good idea. An MIT engineer working towards clean drinking water in Nepal describes in a recent issue of the Journal of International Development how people from developed and developing countries can work together to solve key humanitarian problems, ultimately meeting the basic human needs for security, broadly defined.
   Such a collaboration "begins with a relationship among partners in the global village, taking into consideration the specific conditions of the local culture, environment and location," said Susan Murcott, a senior lecturer at MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE).
   Murcott has personal experience of a global engineering partnership of this kind-she calls it "co-evolutionary engineering design"-through her work in developing countries.
   She and students in MIT's CEE master of engineering program have worked for years with citizens of Nepal and, since 2005, of Ghana, to design, test and distribute inexpensive household water filters that simultaneously remove arsenic and microbial contamination from the available water supply. Murcott notes that some 150 million people worldwide are affected by arsenic-tainted water, while an estimated 1 to 5 billion people worldwide lack access to microbially safe water.
   As of December 2006, more than 5,000 such filters are operating across Nepal, serving some 40,000 people. An additional 5,000 filters are slated for sales and distribution in 2007 in Nepal, with further outreach into Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh underway.
   Ceramic water filters are composed of basic materials readily available around the world - clay, water, and a combustible material such as sawdust or flour. The sawdust or flour particles vaporize during the firing, resulting in a porous material with pore sizes ideally ranging from 1 to 5 microns throughout the ceramic.
   Of the three main types of ceramic water filters (candle, pot, and disc), the candle filter is the most common. Water is poured into the upper container, filters through the candle, and trickles into the lower container. The ceramic filter physically traps microorganisms and pathogens in the tiny pores. Determining the optimal pore size is tricky because if the pores are too big, they won't remove pathogens, but if the pores are too small, it takes so long for water to work its way through that people won't bother with the system. Ceramic filters should be scrubbed out once or twice a week to remove the accumulated biofilm which clogs up the pores. Here again, behaviour and habits can turn a potentially helpful system into something useless or harmful. Some people use dirty water to rinse the filter, since they don't have clean water on hand after their filter clogs up. If people neglect to clean the filter for whatever reasons, the filters plug up and reduce the rate at which water passes through, making people less likely to wait for their clean water.
   One village had been given ceramic candle filters several years ago, but fewer than 10 percent of the recipients were still using them when Dies' group visited. "The main problems were that the filters broke, or they came in aluminium containers which rotted or became rusty. Some people bought a second filter, but if that also broke, they decided that they didn't want the aggravation and the expense of purchasing yet another filter."
   People generally showed interest in the candle filters and considered them helpful, according to the student surveys. Many felt that their health improved while using the filters. However, cost remains a huge deterrent. Imported filters from India range from $6 to $30, a formidable amount in one of the world's poorest countries where per capita income is generally cited as less than $300/year. The urban poor who were the most price sensitive were not willing to pay over $4 for a filter, according to an MEng survey. In addition, many of the filters tested by the MIT students were inefficient, poorly made, and fragile.
   Dies tested the tap water supplied by the tank on ENPHO's roof on one day and found that the water contained three coliform-forming units per 100 ml, "which is contamination, but not huge. A few days later, tests showed 1500 coliform units per 100 ml. They had run out of water in the tank and had refilled it from the municipal supply. One of Dies' local co-workers, Durgha, befriended the group during the course of their work. Toward the end of January, he invited the students to his village on the outskirts of Kathmandu, where Mt. Everest can be spotted far off in the distance.
   After his experience at the lab, Dies praises ENPHO enthusiastically. "ENPHO is doing fantastic research on environmental, water, and social issues in Nepal while operating on a totally different level in terms of budget. It's amazing how people get by with the resources they have, compared to what we have here. It was really neat to work with an organization where people have lived and grown up in Nepal."
   The Murcott team's efforts have been honored with several awards, including a Wall Street Journal Innovation Technology Award (environment category) and the World Bank Development Marketplace Competition.
   -Internet

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Rocco Moschetti

There is a wide range of opinion about these devices: some people claim that they work for them, others claim they are not effective. Electronic pest control devices remain a controversial topic.
   There are basically two types of electronic pest control devices widely available, these are Ultrasonic and Electromagnetic. Ultrasonic devices operate by emitting short wavelength, high frequency sound waves too high in pitch to be heard by the human ear - that is, all frequencies greater than 20,000 Hz. Humans can hear frequencies from 20 to 20,000 Hz but as we age, we become less sensitive to the higher frequencies. (Long wavelength, low frequencies - below 20 Hz - are called infrasound and are also inaudible to humans.) Although it's implied that ultrasound has special properties that make it more repellent than audible sound, there's no evidence to support this.
   Pets can hear the ultrasonic devices and a study done by the Purdue University Veterinary School found the devices cause hearing loss in dogs and cats.
   Some gadgets claim to create an ''electromagnetic field'' to repel pests, these devices do not produce a field of such intensity required to have any effect. There is no scientific evidence that any of these devices will work.
   Since these devices are often expensive and of questionable effectiveness, they cannot be recommended as a solution to rodent or insect problems.
   An advertisement says that it is a modern and clean way to keep mosquitoes away during summer nights without having to use potentially harmful chemical repellent. It is well known that only female mosquitoes bite. Research has proven that the sound produced by male mosquitoes makes females go away (except when they are in the mating period of course). This sound is what our little device produces and thus it keeps the mosquitoes away. Circuit has very low power consumption and battery will last for about one month of continuous use.
   Output frequency: 5KHz ; Maximum current: 1mA; Working voltage: 1.5Vdc battery; A Chinese solar-powered ultrasonic mosquito repellent LED keychain Model S2106C is priced at $ 9.95. The ebay.com says the company gives warranty. The weapon can remove blood-seekers repel mosquitos by emitting continuous ultrasonic frequencies, says Quasarelectronics.
   Applicable for camping and hiking. No battery to replace, special solar circuitry will recharge internal storage batteries (other cheaper models use short-life and expensive button on cells CR2031 etc.). Built-in LED light for night illumination on/off switch for super-bright LED or ultrasonic, plus mini-compass for handy navigation. Odourless, no chemicals, no candle burning. It claims the Chinese device will cause no harm to human beings or animals. Can be used in total darkness, both outdoors in doors. It is solar-rechargeable with variable ultrasonic frequencies.

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How Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 differ

Mike Tayler

File format converters are supplied with MS Excel. Select first, then choose a command In Lotus 1-2-3, you choose a command and then specify a range that the command will affect. In Excel, you select the cell, range, or object you want to work with and then choose a command to perform an action. For example, if you want to format a range of cells, select the cells and then click Cells on the Format menu.
   
   Microsoft Excel formats
   If you plan to share your workbook with users who have different versions of Excel, and you don't mind a larger file size, the most versatile Excel file format is the Microsoft Excel 97-2002 & 5.0/95 Workbook format. This format saves two versions of a workbook (one with the Microsoft Excel 97-2002 file format and one with the Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 file format) in the same .xls file. Users of Excel 2002 can continue to work in the workbook and use any of the features or formatting unique to this version. Users of Microsoft Excel version 5.0 or Microsoft Excel 95 can open and use the workbook without having to convert the file.
   Keys for moving around a worksheet The navigation keys you use to move around a worksheet differ between Excel and Lotus 1-2-3. For example, if you press the HOME key in Lotus 1-2-3, the cell in the upper-left corner of the worksheet is selected; in Excel, the first cell of the current row is selected. You can change the navigation keys in Excel to move around the worksheet in the same way as Lotus 1-2-3.
   
   Parsing text
   In Lotus 1-2-3, you use the Parse command to separate text strings in one column across several columns. When you open a text file in Excel, the Text Import Wizard will assist you in parsing the data into columns. If you need to parse data in one column across several columns on the worksheet, use the Text to Columns command (Data menu).
   Excel 2000 and later versions of Excel do not run Lotus 1-2-3 macros. If you want to rewrite Lotus 1-2-3 macros for Excel. you have to use VB.
   
   Excel Link for O-Matrix
   Aspire Software adds: The Excel Link for O-Matrix integrates the high-performance technical computing capabilities of O-Matrix with the convenient and well-known Microsoft Excel environment. Excel Link lets you exchange data between O-Matrix and Excel worksheets or VBA, (Visual Basic for Applications) macros.
   Transfer data and commands to and from O-Matrix using familiar Excel worksheet functions
   Enter, edit, and view data in the familiar point-and-click Excel environment
   Create end-user solutions using the Excel interface
   Combine the best language capabilities of O-Matrix and VBA
   Build VBA applications and GUIs that use O-Matrix as a numerics server
   Use the Excel Link to perform numerical analysis in Excel. This example uses O-Matrix to calculate a wavelet transform of data from Excel.

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Supercomputer thrusts a
varsity into top ranks

The University of Kentucky has acquired a new IBM (NYSE: IBM) supercomputer that places the university's research capability among the nation's leaders for public and private university research computing.
   The state-of-the-art IBM System Cluster 1350 offers a theoretical peak performance of 16 teraflops of calculation capacity, offering both greater speed and broader access for scientific research in a broad range of academic disciplines. This means the new machine can handle up to 16.3 trillion calculations per second.
   "UK has been a national leader in the use of supercomputing for scientific research for at least two decades, and this new machine will permit the university to maintain its leadership," UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. said.
   John Connolly, director of the UK Center for Computational Science, said that based on rankings released in November 2006, the new supercomputer would place UK among the top echelon of American universities with research supercomputers. The UK supercomputer also would rank among the world's military, governmental, industrial and academic supercomputers, based on the semi-annual listing prepared by the University of Tennessee and Mannheim University, Germany. The rankings will be updated in June 2007, and many of the agencies it includes may have upgraded their supercomputing capabilities when that listing is issued.
   "Since 1987, UK has made clear its commitment to providing its researchers with the tools they need to expand the boundaries of knowledge. This new supercomputer signals the university's continuing commitment," Connolly said. "The speed and flexibility of the IBM Cluster made it a logical choice for our centre. It will provide us with the capacity we need to springboard our research."
   "IBM is actively engaged with universities throughout the world, working to put the latest technology into the hands of leading researchers, and we are pleased to collaborate with UK on its new supercomputing cluster," said Wendy McGee, director, IBM Cluster Solutions. "UK was looking for a supercomputer that would provide its Center a leap in performance, while still meeting its space and budget requirements. And with its small footprint, leading-edge systems and networking, along with integrated power management tools, the Cluster 1350 does just that."
   The new supercomputer, which was unveiled today, replaces an HP supercomputer that had been able to handle 1 trillion calculations per second. The older supercomputer was acquired by UK in 2002, and at that time was considered state-of-the-art.
   Research areas that will benefit from the new supercomputer include biochemistry, pharmacy, medicine, mechanical engineering, physics and astronomy, and others.
   As part of a network of research supercomputers, UK will also permit researchers from other universities across the country and around the world to use the new supercomputer in their work.
   UK acquired the new machine under a two-year lease totaling $2.6 million.
   The IBM Cluster 1350 uses eight IBM Power5+ p575 servers along with IBM BladeCenter®, utilizing 340 IBM HS21 compute blades based on 3-gigahertz Intel dual-core processors, for a total of 1,488 compute cores. The cluster also features a System Storage™ DS4800 with 30 terabytes of storage and a 4X Infiniband Network from Voltaire. High performance computing clusters can range from as few as two to thousands of servers woven together to deliver high-speed performance demanded by a broad range of applications. IBM hardware offerings in this space include System x, System p™ and BladeCenter servers and IBM System Storage, as well as the IBM System Cluster 1350, an integrated, factory built and tested cluster with networking from leading vendors.
   For more information about IBM, go to: www.ibm.com
   In striving to become a Top 20 public research institution, the University of Kentucky is a catalyst for a new Commonwealth -- a Kentucky that is healthier, better educated, and positioned to compete in a global and changing economy.
   -Internet

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