Its time to enjoy!

Yes finally i made my first research publication in one international journal. ( i think its my second, yes earlier one was conference publication). When i started that work i felt iam going to sink! but with the constant support and motivation form my Master Dr. A Mukhopadhya,  some how i managed to brought me up. He says writing a review article is not so easy! but intially i felt easy but later when i started to do in depth analysis about the material, i really enjoyed (of course with little struggle!!). Its about four months of hard review work and six months of constant updation and three months of copyrights and publication efforts. Oh such a huge time gap.

I beleive time is a factor which influences us in many ways. The feeling of delayed publication is like a period of maternity!

Yes i enjoyed that feeling! As my master Dr. A Mukhopadhyaya says, “make your work in international publication” with his constant and hard support i / sorry we made it in the international pubvlication. Yet this is another feather in my professor Dr Mukhopadhyay’s crown and a stepping stone for me!

CHeck my publication:

Published a Review paper on, “Surgical Sutures Performance, Development and Use”, International Journal of Biomimetics Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Vol 1, August 2008. http://www.scientific.net/0-00000-026-4/

Co-authored for the paper, “Enhancement of Surface Filtration”, presented by Dr. A Mukhopadhyay at Fiber Society Spring Conference 2007 – USA. http://www.thefibersociety.org/Assets/Past_Meetings/BooksOfAbstracts/2007_May_BookAbstracts.pdf (Page No: 44)

From the book of “Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful”,By William Dalrymple:

In the words of Deen Darvish, a nineteenth-century Kashmiri Sufi of the same tradition as Dara Shikoh:

The Hindu says, “I am superior”;
The Musalman says I.
Two halves of a grain of mung they are;
Which, then, is greater than the other?
Don’t quarrel over who is superior;
And who is not;
The one is a devotee of Ram, the other of Rahman.
the two unite in one ocean;
There is only one Lord of all.
The Hindu and the Musalman are one.

என்று இந்த உண்மை நமக்கு புரியுமோ?

RIGHT TIME TO DECIDE!!!

The rupee appreciation hit the Ready Made Garment business heavily. However Indian textile manufacturers are having high potential to tackle. According to my perception Indian textile professionals must concentrate on the opportunities available in the functional garments. The growing Indian economy surely makes our existing buyers to shift their business to our neighboring countries. This situation surely affects the Indian industries which are not ready to diversify their production / products. There is and will a good scope for the functional products production. Apart from the fashion apparel garments, there is a wide scope for the technical textiles / garments, like thermal garments, sports garments, and special- application oriented garments etc. If one can catch such business in the years, surely will yield a good profit. The production of such special garment / products is easy for us because of our existing highly build technology and skills; which our counterparts/ Neighbors may not.

Further to this blog I will write in day or two!!!

Your suggestions and comments are welcomed to : manoigr@gmail.com  //+91 -09965588178

Raman Azhahia Manavalan

CONQUEST – Tirupur

Dyes and regulation

It is undeniable statement that; clothing industry playing a leading role in the export growth of our Asian zone. Of course one can clearly states that international trade depends on the economic condition, government policies and industries responsibility towards the sustainable production techniques. The sectoral studies series report of UNIDO states that, the apparel sector is identified as a buyer – driven value chain which contains three types of lead firms; retailers, marketers and branded manufacturers. In the growing market conditions every part of the chain must concentrate to build the capabilities to meet the requirement and they have to upgrade themselves with their social responsibilities. The main advantage for India is its position as the third largest cotton producer in the world and well equipped spinning and weaving sectors. However these advantages won’t help us to overcome some issues like rupee appreciation and emerging competitiveness from our neighboring countries. The other general factors which may influence the sourcing are the lack of skilled labour force, technical skills, cost for the production and energy, time schedule for the delivery, capacity to meet the demand and lack of well equipped market based research team. The above said issues can be nullified only if the industries are adapting the social accountability, sustainable way of production with the consideration of energy conservation and the social responsibilities. Industries have to focus mainly on the eco-friendly and pollution free production in all stages of manufacturing to attract the foreign buyers.

Azhahia Manavalan Raman

Executive – Team Technical

CONQUEST – Tirupur.

Kindly have a look over the interview given by Dr R K Pachauri; about our indian shopping malls.

Indian shopping malls are not environment friendly: Pachauri

R K Pachauri

Indiaprwire, 27 June, 2007

Gigantic shopping malls that are mushrooming across India’s big and small cities are ‘environmentally disastrous’, says Rajendra K. Pachauri, chief of the UN  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). ‘The shopping malls in India are environmentally disastrous and their designs are not suitable for India’s climatic conditions,’ Pachauri, who is also director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), told IANS in an interview. ‘Why can’t we as society use our brains without blindly replicating the Western models of shopping malls? Why can’t we understand that those models might suit their kind of climatic condition, not ours?’ asked a visibly concerned Pachauri. According to Pachauri, India is not taking the consequences of climate change seriously even though there is a growing trend of awareness among the people. ‘We need to chart out a different path for ourselves altogether that will be suitable to our resources for our own benefit and for global benefit. We need to drive fuel-efficient cars and build a systematic transport sector.’

‘Why do we need to take a plane to travel smaller distances, like travelling from Delhi to Jaipur or Delhi to Amritsar? Why can’t we build faster fuel-efficient trains that will cover these short distances faster?’ he asked. India is among the world’s top 10 emitters of carbon dioxide, but its per capita emission is still one-sixth of the global average, says an official report. Thus, even if it has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it has escaped binding emissions targets.  However, it is estimated that India’s carbon dioxide emissions will increase almost 2.5 times by 2030. Climate change could also lead to a decline in India’s agricultural produce by about 30 percent by 2050, says the World Bank. This, IPCC predicts, would happen primarily due to the humongous melting of Himalayan glaciers, resulting in the shrinking of large tracts of agricultural lands. ‘Developing countries like India have to find alternative solutions for effective usage of energy and that can start with adapting a different lifestyle and not following what Western or developed countries do,’ Pachauri said. ‘The first steps towards creating a healthy environment have to be taken by developing countries. It’s important they do not consume energy the same way as developed countries do.’  He also believed that the Indian corporate community should also take necessary steps in creating an environmentally sound business plan. ‘They (Indian industry leaders) have to understand that the price of energy is going to increase in the future and it’s to everyone’s benefit that they should fight the disastrous consequences of climate change,’ he stressed.

Pachauri, as chief of IPCC, has been instrumental in creating three reports on the consequences of global climatic change that have made academicians, decision-makers, think tanks, politicians, businessmen and common man sit up and think. A fourth report, which would be a synthesis of the previous three, would be launched in India in November this year. According to the IPCC reports, heat waves, dry monsoons and melting of glaciers would be a common thing in India, which would also witness drier monsoons wreaking havoc not just on the country’s agricultural sector but also several agro-based industries. The reports also highlight certain incredulous facts such as large-scale erosion of coastal areas, melting of Himalayan glaciers that would spell catastrophe for millions of people who would be affected by frequent floods, which in turn would increase the ground water salinity of costal areas. ‘The government of India is undoubtedly aware of its consequence and are taking necessary steps towards it, ‘Pachauri told IANS referring to Finance Minister P.Chidambaram’s budget speech where he recommended setting up of an expert committee that would study the impact of climate change in India and the necessary measures required to be adopted in the future. He also lauded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s efforts in setting up a council on climate change, a high level advisory group. It has been given the task of coordinating action plans for assessment, adaptation and mitigation of climate change and advise the government to introduce measures that would help in facing the adverse effects of climate change. According to a report by an expert committee of the Planning Commission, India would need to sustain an 8-10 percent economic growth rate over the next 25 years to eradicate poverty and achieve human development targets.

Recently i have visited the CSIRO page, in which i have noticed about one invention, the detailed information i have presented over here for the readers, 

“Carbon Nano-tubes could go antiballistic”

As we know well the existing body armour is heavy to wear as well as having some limitation over the design aspect. To overcome this, Principal Research Scientist of CSIRO Textile and Fiber Technology, Dr Stephen Hawkins, invented one innovative technique for the mankind. He developed Carbon Nano Tubes as Ballistic resistant material, Further in that report he said, “Generations of polymers and ceramics have been developed to keep pace with the threat and lessen the burden of the armour but now a new material – carbon nanotubes or CNTs – is set to move ballistic protection into new territory,” .

CSIRO’s Carbon Nanotubes for Ballistic Protection project was one of eight selected as part of the latest round of Defence CTD Program funding. Dr Hawkins says CNTs are amongst the first of the new wave of nano-structured materials and offer extraordinary properties of strength, stiffness and lightness. CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology has established a capability to produce very highly specified CNTs with the unique characteristic of being able to be drawn directly into yarn.  This in combination with other advanced materials will form the basis of the new antiballistic structures. “No single material has all of the properties required for ballistic protection, so a successful application of CNTs would see them as part of an integrated system with greater strength and flexibility and reduced weight,” Dr. Hawkins says. “CNTs are fibres of pure carbon that are only 1 to 100 nanometres in diameter but up to millimetres in length.” For further info kindly have a look over http://www.csiro.au/news/antiballistic.html.  

Recently i have gone through one news, which i have presented here, kindly have a look…. 

Cuban scientists have developed a drug from scorpion venom, which they say could go a long way in fighting cancer, Spanish news agency Prensa Latina reported on Thursday.

“The researchers have been studying the breeding, handling and use of scorpion venom in their Cienfuegos breeding centre, which has 400 scorpions at present but would increase to 5,000 next year,” team leader Fabio Linares of the Pharmaceutical Biological Laboratories in Havana said Wednesday.

The drug can be used to treat brain tumours, pancreas and prostate cancer.

Linares said the idea of researching the possibility of scorpion venom as cure for cancer and other diseases gained in strength after it was realised that local doctors had been using it for centuries.

A container from the colonial era preserving scorpion venom in Havana’s French Pharmacy indicates that it was used in country since the 18th Century, the scientist said.

That was one fine evening; when I switched on our TV I saw a movie explaining about the space exploration. I got astonishment when I saw the astronaut’s costume. Even I never had a thought that, ill be studying about the textiles in future. During my B.Tech time I had a dream to write about the space textiles, many people said textiles fits every where and textiles are in part with many basic activities, but no one clarified my doubts, of course except my teacher Dr A Mukhopadhyay. Recently I got an idea to share my thoughts about textiles. Even I have uploaded about the thermal garments. In that series, here I would like to write about the space garments, however her I have given you the main idea and little bit literature, the space garment design is information is vast and in a single blog. So here I have described its principles, know how, etc. However at present the space garments reached the third stage as researchers are trying to send man to mars. Let us come to the topic.

As we know NASAs space explorers are called as “astronauts”, so for the convenience I will mention in the same manner. When they traveling through space they meet complex environment nature, from the basic science one can know that the Earth’s gravitational attraction holds a dense atmosphere of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor in a thick manner surrounding Earth’s entire surface. The weight of this atmosphere exerts pressure, and its movements distribute heat from the Sun to balance global temperatures. Earth atmosphere protects us from these various factors. When Earth astronauts leave the surface of our planet and travel into space, they must be ready to meet the environment which is available there. The astronauts travel to the space with the help of spacecraft, which is designed with high performance metal, glass, plastic and composites. What will be the design of the dress wore by the astronauts. Before discussing the design of the suit, I would like to discuss the atmospheric condition of the space.

Outer space is like a void, through this, environment radiation and objects can pass freely. An unprotected human or other living being placed in the outer space environment would perish in a few moments. The environment of outer space is the vacuum or nearly total absence of gas molecules. The gravitational attraction of large bodies in space, such as planets and stars, pulls gas molecules close to their surfaces leaving the space between virtually empty. Some stray gas molecules are found between these bodies, but their density is so low that they can be thought of as practically non existent. On Earth, the atmosphere exerts pressure in all directions.

In space, the pressure is nearly zero. With virtually no pressure from the outside, air inside an unprotected human’s lungs would immediately rush out in the vacuum of space. Dissolved gases in body fluids would expand, pushing solids and liquids apart. The skin would expand much like an inflating balloon. Bubbles would form in the bloodstream and render blood ineffective as a transporter of oxygen and nutrients to the body’s cells. Furthermore, the sudden absence of external pressure balancing the internal pressure of body fluids and gases would rupture fragile tissues such as eardrums and capillaries. The net effect on the body would be swelling, tissue damage, and a deprivation of oxygen to the brain that would result in unconsciousness in less than 15 seconds.

The temperature range found in outer space provides a second major obstacle. The sunlit side of objects in space at Earth’s distance from the Sun can climb to over 120° Celsius while the shaded side can plummet to lower than minus 100° Celsius. Maintaining a comfortable temperature range becomes a significant problem, so the sit should be of thermal insulation as well as thermal resistant.

Other environmental factors encountered in outer space include: microgravity, radiation of electrically charged particles from the Sun, ultraviolet radiation, and meteoroids. Meteoroids are very small bits of rock and metal left over from the formation of the solar system and from the collisions of comets and asteroids. Though usually small in mass, these particles travel at very high velocities and can easily penetrate human skin and thin metal. Equally dangerous is debris from previous space missions. A tiny paint chip traveling at thousands of kilometers per hour can do substantial damage, so the armor should capable of higher impact resistance.

NASA’s spacesuit engineers developed a reusable Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The Shuttle EMU has 14 layers to protect astronauts. It contains layers of structures to perform thermal insulation, resistance, moisture vapor absorbing layer, etc. The inner layers comprise the liquid-cooling and ventilation garment. First a liner fabric made up of Nylon tricot (knitted) over which a layer of spandex fabric laced with plastic tubing. Next the pressure bladder layer of urethane-coated nylon and fabric layer of pressure re straining Dacron. Above the bladder and restraint layer is a liner of Neoprene coated Nylon Rip stop. This is followed by a seven layer thermal micro meteoroid garment of aluminized Mylar, laminated with Dacron scrim. The outer layer of the suit is made of Ortho-Fabric which consists of a blend of Gore-tex, Kevlar, and Nomex materials. The design of the body armour is shown in figure. However I haven’t discussed much in detail but those who are beginner, can able to understand the basic idea of space suites.

Source: NASA’s Beginners Guide

Human capital is one of the most important and influential asset in this century. This capital should be recognized by the industries of course they are doing it. In textile industry intelligent human capital is important one as this industry mainly driven by the foreign imported machineries, technological backup, even testing apparatuses. What is the reason behind this status? Is this is the failure of the institutes or industries?.

Setting up an research and development team and product diversification is important one as our economy is getting strengthen. In this blog I would like to discuss various issues right from the zero point.  The critical need for the industry is to entitle managerial  executives with  knowledge and skills to analysis the global economic scenario and current research areas to promote the products.

With the influence of America whole world is getting as the copy of the American economic policies. Due to the change in economic conditions many peoples are now enjoying the taste of Mc Donald’s dinner. But many Indians are far away from the taste of Burger and Pizza, their search is for one complete square meals for a day. People of India are far away  from the economic reforms and the latest technologies.

The industry has to review many of its old plans and operating principles. They have to invest huge capital for the research and development – which we haven’t done yet. Our system runs only the quality control department not the R&D. secondly the industry institute interaction – which our Indian textile industries are limiting up to the level of providing samples for the research work. This is not the way to promote the research, however many industries may not able to carry out the research with their facilities, they have to tie up with the institute to promote themselves. Even highly developed industries are not considering over the research, they are doing research on the market and profit not over the product / materials. We have to take a view over the pre and post cold war era, the period which provided many of the technologies to the world; majority of the technologies were developed by the joint venture of institute and industries. See in a practical aspect, in a single industry there may be few minds to work for the problem but in institute you can find plenty of young minds who can percept beyond the spectrum of the industry. (of course to some extend.) Thirdly the ways to meet the crisis. As the dollar value decreased those who are dealing with the dollar they might be facing huge profit losses  (not true exactly, as they wont share the profit with the employees but if loss occurs, employees will be losing their monetary benefits – as we are like caterpillar; yes caterpillar never enjoys the silk but it keep on spinning.) they have to think innovative to approach this crisis. Apart from the estimating the dollar for the least value, industry has to view with the broader spectrum, they have to look expenditures for energy, water, opportunities to invest in foreign. Industries can try the natural energy sources, recycling of water, effective utilization of water resources or can promote the awareness about water resource up keeping. In the mean time industry can thing about the foreign opportunity to invest / start their industry there. Finally the government has to think about keeping the stable currency as well as balanced budget, of course we are successfully doing this, but apart from this, country has to monitor over the balance of international trade with in the various industries.

Apart from all, industry has to secure / capture young brilliant minds with their industry, which they never imagine to do and even they wont do. Why iam saying this means many of our young professionals are changing their field after their graduation. The main reason for this is the low wages. Yes that’s true, who  will work with dedication for 10$ per day? Is it right salary for the intelligent kids who are having big dreams to achieve?, is it possible for them to eat two diets while their counterparts are enjoying Pizza and Burger? No not at all. I would like to disclose about one of my friend, who developed a unique software for the fabric design which possess many good features which are not available with the common available package, but when he approached for the job he came to know that he has to work for 7$ per day. He just collapsed and left this textile field and joined in softwares and earning  25$ per day. This is the scenario.  

what is the future plan for the industry and professional if this situation gets worst?. However each industry has its own consultant or adviser but what happen for the small scale industries?. What kind of initiative should have done by the Indian ministries? Industry really need real research activity;

Which they haven’t carried out so far. This research should focus in  a multi direction with the dream to bring back the pride which many of our textile professionals lost in the past years. Let us bring the world attention by doing some thing different and make our professionals to feel proud like their counterparts.