Aircraft engine components must perform under extreme conditions. They must rotate more than 1,000 times in a single second, withstanding temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius and extreme pressures.

At the same time, they should be as lightweight as possible and yet satisfy the most stringent standards for safety.

Given all of these factors, the tasks of developing and servicing aircraft engines pose major challenges for engineers.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) in Aachen, Germany, use selective laser melting (SLM).

With this method, the part can be built up, layer by layer, on a building platform using a powder-based material. In essence, this process is comparable to that of a computer printer, except that it takes place in three dimensions.

Based on computer-generated design data for the planned part, the metal powder is applied to the appropriate areas of the substrate and then immediately melted into place with a high-power laser beam.

'With this process we can not only make perfect repairs to damaged engine parts but also build complete components that cannot be produced using conventional methods such as milling or casting,' said Konrad Wissenbach of ILT.

In the future, this will mean savings of up to 50 percent of the material required, and at least 40 percent of repair costs, said an ILT release.

Wissenbach is coordinator of the 6.5 million euro, EU-sponsored FANTASIA project - an acronym standing for 'flexible and near-net-shaped generative manufacturing chains and repair techniques for complex shaped aero engine parts'.

The project will conclude at the end of May. ILT researchers briefed the world of experts on the findings the project has generated at the 8th International Laser Technology Congress AKL'10 May 5-7 in Germany.

The recruits, five males and two females, are pilots between 35 and 30 years old. The male recruits were previously fighter pilots, while the women were transport plane pilots.

They all have excellent skills with good psychological qualities and are qualified both in clinical and space medicine, officials of the General Armament Department of Chinese People's Liberation Army said Friday.

Their training will begin soon to help them accustom with the space programme.

China began to select astronauts in 1998. In 2003, China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into outer space in the Chinese-made spacecraft Shenzhou-5.

Health Minister Kiran Walia said Nandini Devi will also be given the widow pension soon.

Prasad, 35, was exposed to Cobalt 60 radiation at a scrap dealer's shop in Mayapuri in west Delhi. He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) April 8 and died of multiple organ failure 19 days later.

The Delhi University also announced Rs.800,000 as compensation to the victim's family.

The finding is the outcome of a collaboration between two Penn State University researchers, Christopher Duffy, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Kirk French, lecturer in anthropology.

'Water pressure systems were previously thought to have entered the New World with the arrival of the Spanish,' they wrote.

'Yet archaeological data, seasonal climate conditions, geomorphic setting and simple hydraulic theory clearly show that the Maya (city) of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, had empirical knowledge of closed channel water pressure predating the arrival of Europeans,' they added.

The feature, first identified in 1999 during a mapping survey of the area, while similar to the aqueducts that flow beneath the plazas of the city, was also unlike them.

In 2006, an archaeologist returned to Palenque with a hydrologist to examine the unusual water feature. The area of Palenque was first occupied about the year 100 but grew to its largest during the Classic Maya period 250 to 600. The city was abandoned around 800.

'Under natural conditions it would have been difficult for the Maya to see examples of water pressure in their world,' said Duffy.

'They were apparently using engineering without knowing the tools around it. This does look like a feature that controls nature,' Duffy said.

Underground water features such as aqueducts are not unusual at Palenque. Because the Maya built the city in a constricted area in a break in an escarpment, inhabitants were unable to spread out. To make as much land available for living, the Maya at Palenque routed streams beneath plazas via aqueducts.

'They were creating urban space,' said French. 'There are streams in the area every 300 feet or so across the whole escarpment. There is very little land to build on.'

These spring-fed streams combined with approximately 10 feet of rain that falls during the six-month rainy season also presented a flooding hazard that the aqueducts would have at least partially controlled, said a Penn State University release.

These findings appeared recently in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The SMS facility was launched Thursday whereby one can seek help by sending a message on a designated 10-digit number - 9459100100.

'Now anyone can send SMS to the police on mobile number 9459100100 for any kind of assistance. The SMS will be immediately forwarded to the police officer concerned for necessary action,' Acting Director General of Police (DGP) D.S. Manhas told IANS Friday.

'One can lodge a complaint in case of any emergency like accidents, serious crime incidents and even cases of sexual harassment. Our aim is to make the police more accountable to the public,' he said.

Manhas said all SMSes, along with the action taken report received from the officials concerned, would be monitored by the DGP.

The SMS facility will be in addition to the existing services available for seeking police help, he added.

Fadia, 24, who has a bachelors degree in computer science from Stanford University in California, runs a consulting company called e-secure in Mumbai.

'In this hi-tech era when everyone is on one or the other social networking site and everything is available online, we cannot take internet security for granted. Even our politicians and celebrities are not safe on the internet and in some cases it can also pose a serious national security threat,' Fadia told IANS here.

'Therefore we have to take steps by disseminating knowledge about these hackers and about ways to pre-empt them. In the 21st century, we surely need a strong workforce of ethical hackers and we cannot afford to ignore it at any cost.'

An ethical hacker is an expert in computer securities and network systems, and is hired to check the vulnerability of an organisation's computer system to an outside breach or hacking.

He uses the same techniques that an unscrupulous hacker may apply. He then identifies the problems or loopholes in the system and drafts a solution for it.

'Hackers are seeing India as an easy target because we are not paying much heed to this area as compared to other countries like China. In India we have good cyber laws but normally people are not aware about them and easily fall victims to cyber attacks.

'Unfortunately our police personnel are also not conversant with the required skills,' said Fadia, who has been consulted by the US authorities to decode an encrypted e-mail sent by associates of Osama bin Laden.

He said the industry of ethical hacking is growing at a tremendous pace and offers a plethora of lucrative job opportunities for youngsters.

Last year it was estimated to be a $3.8 billion industry in the US alone.

'According to Nasscom findings, India will require at least 77,000 ethical hackers every year whereas at the moment we are producing only 15,000 in a year. Therefore it is still an unexplored field,' Fadia said.

For Fadia it was a hobby to learn hacking, which has now transformed into full-time career. He started learning hacking on his own, through internet, when he was only 12 and at the age of 13 he had hacked the website of Chip magazine.

'I had changed the home page of Chip magazine. But I was afraid that it could land me in jail; therefore I immediately sent a mail to the magazine editor and told him how prone his website was to hacking and I also provided him a solution for it,' said Fadia.

'He was so impressed that he offered me a job. But when I told him that I was just 13, he said that he would wait for five years before hiring me,' he said.

To educate people about the intricacies of hacking and to prevent their websites and e-mail accounts from being hacked, Fadia is also running a computer security training and certification course called 'Ankit Fadia Certified Ethical Hacker Programme'

'Over the last three years, we have trained nearly 20,000 people in China and South Asia and our students have been placed in top companies like Infosys and Wipro. We will also conduct classes in Punjab in July. The idea is to familiarise more people with ethical hacking,' said Fadia.

Fadia is consultant on cyber security with various companies, government bodies and security agencies both in India and abroad.

'In 2001, the US government had consulted me for decoding an encrypted e-mail sent by some associates of Osama bin Laden. I had also assisted the ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) men, to ascertain the origin of different mails and messages after the Mumbai terror attacks,' said Fadia.

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)

Israeli Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz announced the display of the pages at a ceremony marking the Jewish state's National Pavilion Day Thursday.

The two pages, selected from a total of 46, contains Einstein's famous equation which describes the relationship between energy (E), mass (M) and the speed of light (C). The equation defines energy as the product of mass and speed of light squared.

The document represented the Jewish people's great achievements in science and innovations, Steinitz was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Einstein's wife Elsa donated the 46-page manuscript to the Hebrew University during its opening in 1925, four years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The minister explained the cooperation between Israel and China in the technology sector on the pattern of Einstein's equation.

'Israel is a little country. We don't have much E, energy of natural resources, we don't have much M, mass production, but we have C, creativity and culture, and this is what we want to show to the Chinese people,' Steinitz said.

'China is a great nation with the advantage of E and M; we are expecting Chinese companies to notice the advantages and to put them together for future cooperation,' he added.

With the theme of 'Innovation for Better Life,' the Israel pavilion consists of three zones: the Whispering Garden, the Hall of Light and the Hall of Innovations.

The research shows that the way men and women deal with sexual health and stress in their later years varies greatly and that there isn't one solution that can help ease unhappiness caused by sexual problems.

The research was conducted by Ryo Hirayama, doctoral student in Oregon State University's (OSU) Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, and Alexis Walker, professor of gerontology and family studies at OSU.

The researchers looked at 861 people aged 57 to 85 who were married or had an intimate partner and who reported having at least one sexual problem.

The sexual problems reported by older adults included lack of interest in sex, inability to climax, physical pain during sex, maintaining an erection, or lubrication issues.

Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale from 1 to 3 how bothered they were by each problem they listed.

They also were asked about their well-being, which the researchers measured by using typical scales for happiness and for depressive symptoms.

The study yielded several surprising findings. First, fewer than half of older adults with sexual problems discussed these problems with their doctors, although men were more likely to do so than women.

In addition, whether older adults discussed these issues with their physicians did not make a difference in their well-being.

'This was our most unexpected outcome,' Hirayama said. 'Older adults are advised to talk to their doctors about sexual health issues, but not all people do so and talking with a physician is not as helpful as you might expect.'

However, confiding in a partner or in friends was found to be effective for many men. For women, this same benefit was not reported.

'In fact, women with higher levels of sexual stress who confided in their close friends reported lower happiness,' Hirayama said.

'What this tells is that women's sexual issues are complex and that complexity needs to be recognised,' Walker said.

'A woman with a great deal of sexual concerns could feel threatened by talking to her spouse about it or perhaps simply confiding in a friend is not enough.'

Since the largest effect size was seen with men who confided in both spouses and friends, the researchers said the result brings into critical focus the importance for men of confiding in family members and friends, said an OSU release.

These findings are slated for publication in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

'We are entering into an agreement with the Institution of Engineers (India) to exchange information and ideas for the advancement of science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) in the Indian subcontinent,' IET chief executive Nigel Fine told IANS here.

India has the world's third largest scientific and engineering talent pool.

'Though India has become a global brand in software services and products, the potential for excelling in other engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics is immense in a growing economy,' Fine said.

To create awareness about its professional offerings and promote its range of activities, IET is hosting a 'Global Engineering and Technology Leadership summit' in Bangalore from Thursday.

As a not-for-profit organisation, IET offers the maintenance of professional engineering standards. As a global network, the institution disseminates knowledge and information to its 150,000 members in 127 countries and through 100 local networks in 34 countries, including India.

Through its India local network, IET promotes engineering and technology and seeks to raise awareness of the profession, which occupies the centre-stage of a nation's economic development spawning infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, services and healthcare among others to improve living standards.

'Engineers inspire and make a difference to everything we do -- from doers who build, run and maintain systems to the thinkers who design and develop solutions, direct projects and decision-makers,' Fine observed.

In association with the Engineering Council UK, the regulatory authority for registration of professional engineers and technicians in Britain, IET will offer its Indian chapter members an assessment opportunity to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng), Engineering Technical (EngTech) or ICT Technician (ICTTech).

'We award these qualifications under licence from ECUK after a structured assessment of working engineers in various multi-disciplinary organisations. The certification demonstrates to peers and employers that members meet the UK standard of professional engineering competence,' Fine pointed out.

Besides recognition of one's expertise and hard work, the benefits of professional engineering qualification for Indian engineers are bright career prospects, greater influence within their organisation and industry and access to life-long learning.

With about 2,500 members, IET's India chapter plans to work with academia, research and development (R&D) organisations, large industries and manufacturing firms and state-run enterprises to create an eco-system for building high quality engineers and leverage the latest developments in science and technology to produce a world class talent pool.

'The impact of technology on economy is self-evident, as technology creates economic opportunities. Those who recognise technology trends in advance are able to reap rich benefits by harnessing the trends to create wealth,' Fine noted.

Fine asserted that revolutionary advances made by humankind in STEM would shape the 21st century.

'Core engineering is all about innovation while technology creates applications for practical solutions. Science, on the other hand, is a theoretical and practical study of nature as a phenomena for the benefit of humankind,' Fine explained.

'The summit creates a platform for chief executives to recognise the technology trends of tomorrow and create leadership opportunities for their organisations and themselves by having the ability to read the trends,' IET India head Shekhar Sanyal said.

The two-day summit will deliberate on how leadership in science and technology is changing the world through sessions on specific domains such as healthcare, aerospace, simulation practice and satellite.

But a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS that the launch is most likely to happen during the second week of June.

The 44-metre tall PSLV is a four-stage (engine) rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.

Originally scheduled for launch May 9, the ISRO decided to postpone the flight to a future date as it found 'a marginal drop in the pressure in the second stage of the vehicle during mandatory checks'.

At the time of postponement, the rocket was almost ready except for the loading of the satellites that have arrived at the launch centre.

According to ISRO officials, once the rocket is fully assembled and satellites loaded, around 10 days were needed to test the entire systems and sub-systems.

ISRO technicians meanwhile have dismantled the second stage and are carrying out tests and analysis to spot the failed component that needs to be replaced at the Sriharikota rocket launch centre, 80 km from here.

The second stage had to be dismantled as the faulty part is in an inaccessible area after the rocket was assembled fully.

ISRO official said once the faulty part is replaced, all the tests that were carried out earlier have to be done once again.

The main cargo of the rocket is the 690-kg Cartosat-2B satellite, which will carry a sophisticated panchromatic camera on board to take higher (0.8 metre) spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 9.6 km of specific spots for applications such as mapping, land information and geographical information system.

The rocket is also slated to ferry an Algerian Alsat communication satellite and two nano satellites, one each from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico satellite (under one kg) StudSat developed by college students in Bangalore and Hyderabad.