Latest News – The India Looks -

17May, 2024

Kiara will represent India at the 77th Cannes Film Festival’s Women in Cinema event.

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place on the French Riviera starting on Tuesday, will include actress Kiara Advani representing the nation at the Red Sea Film Foundation Women in Cinema gala dinner.

Six women from all around the world will come together for the Vanity Fair-hosted dinner to celebrate their accomplishments in front of and behind the camera.

After making her feature debut in 2014 with “Fugly,” Kiara went on to play a variety of roles, including the self-reliant Naina in “JugJugg Jeeyo,” the complicated Nanki in “Guilty,” and Preeti, a weak woman entangled in a passionate but tumultuous romance in “Kabir Singh.”

After that, Kiara appeared in films like “Shershaah” and “Satyaprem Ki Katha,” where she showed off her acting prowess.

Looking ahead, Kiara is currently preparing for the premiere of S. Shankar’s political thriller “Game Changer,” which also stars Ram Charan. She is also working on “War 2” and “Don 3.” The actress was photographed by photographers when she arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, looking elegant.

She had her hair in a messy bun and was dressed in a cream-colored ensemble with a long, light-brown jacket and matching sneakers.

Kiara will speak on behalf of India on a panel on worldwide incentives and filming at La Plage Des Palmes on May 18 at the Red Cinema International Film Festival. She’ll also be at the Vanity Fair-hosted Cinema Gala dinner at Cannes.

This year’s Cannes Film Festival will also feature appearances by other actresses, including Shobita Dhulipala, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

With seven films being shown in various sections, India is well-represented at the esteemed film festival this year.

16May, 2024

Exercise can prevent cognitive deterioration and revitalize the brain: Study

According to a new study released on Wednesday, physical activity has a substantial impact on brain health and can both prevent and delay the cognitive decline that comes with aging in addition to rejuvenating the brain.

A group from Australia’s University of Queensland concentrated on the way that individual mouse brain cells expressed different genes.

The immune cells of the central nervous system that sustain brain function, called microglia, exhibit significant changes in gene expression in response to exercise, according to research published in the journal Aging Cell.

Significantly, the researchers discovered that exercise causes aging microglia’s gene expression patterns to change back to those of young mice.

“We were both surprised and excited about the extent to which physical activity rejuvenates and transforms the composition of immune cells within the brain, in particular the way in which it was able to reverse the negative impacts of ageing,” Jana Vukovic, a researcher at the University of Queensland,

The study, according to Vukovic, emphasizes the significance of “tailored exercise programmes”.

“Our findings should help different industries to design interventions for elderly individuals who are looking to maintain or improve both their physical and mental capabilities,” she stated.

Additionally, the research demonstrated that wheel running “prevented and/or reduced the presence of T cells in the hippocampus” in aged mice.

Immune cells called T-cells are known to proliferate with age. They discovered that the hippocampus, a part of the brain important in memory, learning, and emotion, needs microglia cells to function as a stimulant to help generate new neurons. Designing interventions to preserve or enhance older individuals’ physical and mental health can be aided by the study.

16May, 2024

Blinkit offers “free dhaniya” with vegetables, customers also request “hari mirch.”

Following the recommendation of a user’s mother who had to pay for “dhaniya” (coriander) on Blinkit while purchasing vegetables, Zomato’s grocery delivery service is now providing “free dhaniya” with vegetable orders.

Many customers have expressed gratitude to the company for this action, but they have also requested that “hari mirch,” or green chili, be added to the vegetables.

“Now it’s happening! Thank you everybody, Ankit’s mother. In the upcoming weeks, we will refine the feature,” Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa wrote on X.

The X user Ankit Sawant brought attention to the lack of freebies, such as “free dhaniya,” that are usual in traditional markets when purchasing veggies.

“When Mom had to utilize Blinkit to pay for Dhaniya, she had a tiny heart attack. Sawant commented, “@albinder-Mom is saying you should bundle it for free with a certain amount of veggies.”

“Will do” was the CEO of Blinkit’s immediate response after being tagged in the post. Later, Dhindsa revealed the launch of the “free dhaniya” option in a follow-up post, crediting the user’s mother with the idea.

With over 950K views and over 9,000 likes, this debate has gotten a lot of traction. Many people expressed gratitude for the change and requested the addition of the “hari mirch” option.

“Dhaniya ke sath mirchi bhi dal dete (add chilli along with coriander),” an individual wrote.

“Hi! + Hari Mirch + Dhaniya. No Sirf Dhaniya is permitted. (Coriander alone is prohibited),” a another user posted.

16May, 2024

Winning an Olympic gold medal is more valuable than breaking the 90-meter barrier: Neeraj Chopra

Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra declared he was determined to win at the Paris Olympic Games, which take place in France starting on July 26.

With a throw of 82.27 meters, the star javelin thrower easily won the gold medal in his first local tournament following his victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which were held in Japan in 2021.

According to the champion javelin thrower, “winning gold at the Olympics is more glorious than breaking the 90-meter barrier” on Wednesday. “I’m mentally, physically, and emotionally focused right now to make a big impression at the Paris Games, but I will definitely break that barrier (90 meters).”

“I thought Manu DP would provide strong competition. However, Manu DP was unable to establish a strong rhythm to reach 85 meters as the tournament went on, he clarified.

Karnataka’s Manu DP came in second. With a throw of 78.39 meters, Maharashtra’s Uttam Patil finished third.

With a throw of 75.49 meters, local hero and Asian Games medallist Kishore Kumar Jena came in fifth.

Another well-known thrower, Shivpal Singh, was eliminated in the first round. The medal round was only accessible to the top eight.

Neeraj Chopra started the 2024 season at the Doha Diamond League, finishing in second place with 88.36 meters.

He will compete in Europe following this domestic championship in Bhubaneswar in order to get ready for the Olympic Games in Paris.

He has drawn up his strategies in advance of the Olympic Games. He will compete in June in Turku, Finland, and on May 28 in Ostrava, the Czech Republic. He will then evaluate his level of fitness. He revealed, “I’ll wait to see how my body and mind respond to elite competitions before taking a call.”

In 2022, Neeraj Chopra set a new national record of 89.94 meters, which was also his personal best. The world champion thrower claimed he was training hard and should be able to throw over 90 meters on a good day. He clarified, “I prefer to win and not think of distance.”

Neeraj Chopra, dubbed the “golden boy” of Indian track and field, was thrilled to see young people attending sporting events at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. “Seeing so many fans and followers at the stadium makes me happy.”

16May, 2024

With a powerful punch and a toned abdomen, Kartik Aaryan is the “Chandu Champion”

‘Chandu Champion’, a new sports drama starring Kartik Aaryan, debuted its second poster on Thursday. Fans were astounded by his flawlessly toned body.

Kartik appeared on the first-look poster for “Chandu Champion” as a previously unseen avatar donning a “langot.”

The 33-year-old actor is seen in the new billboard showing off his toned abs while clenching his fist while wearing wrestling gloves. He is dressed in boxer shorts. The graphic black-and-white poster depicts Kartik’s eyebrows covered with blood and perspiration.

Kartik shared the poster on social media and commented, “To become a champion in life, you must battle till the very end… “You are the champion, right?”

In the movie, Kartik portrays Paralympic gold medallist Murlikant Petkar. Produced in collaboration with Kabir Khan and Sajid Nadiadwala is “Chandu Champion.” On June 14, the movie, which is helmed by Kabir Khan, will hit theaters.

15May, 2024

Sightsavers India’s Research on its RAAHI Programme Published in The International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health

The International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health (IJCMPH) has recently published a research on Sightsavers India’s RAAHI Programme. RAAHI (National Truckers Eye Health Programme) stands as one of the biggest eye health initiatives in India , catering to the needs of the overworked truck drivers’ community. With over 9 million truck drivers in India playing a significant role in freight transportation, addressing their unmet health needs, particularly concerning vision, has become imperative.

The publication of this research in the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health (IJCMPH) signifies a significant milestone. Peer-reviewed journals like IJCMPH undergo stringent evaluation processes by field experts, ensuring the credibility and quality of the research presented.

Through a mixed-methods approach, this research delves into the programme’s achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. Having screened over 540,000 beneficiaries across 54 locations, RAAHI has significantly contributed to raising awareness about prevalent health conditions and providing essential eye care services. It primarily focuses on truck drivers, addressing their unmet eye health needs and raising awareness about prevalent health conditions.

Feedback from beneficiaries highlighted overall satisfaction with RAAHI services, emphasizing the programme’s structured approach and immediate access to quality spectacles. Beneficiaries found the registration, screening, and spectacle distribution processes quick and easy.

The programme’s success in providing essential eye care services to truck drivers is crucial for road safety.Correcting even low refractive errors in truckers can help minimize adverse events, highlighting the importance of initiatives like RAAHI in ensuring safe driving practices.

“We are pleased to share the findings of our research, which represents the significance of the RAAHI programme in addressing the unmet eye health needs of truck drivers in India. Our comprehensive study reveals the impact of RAAHI in screening beneficiaries, providing essential eye care services, and raising awareness about the importance of eye health in improving road safety.

Through collaborative efforts and sustained initiatives like RAAHI, we aim to continue enhancing the well-being of truck drivers and promoting road safety across India’s transportation networks. We extend our gratitude to all stakeholders, including implementing partners and funders, for their support in making RAAHI a success.”— Authors behind the Research (Dr Ananta Basudev Sahu, Jatin Tiwari, Prasannakumar P. N., R. N. Mohanty)

15May, 2024

High-level object-oriented Python package for Digitizers and Generators

Spectrum Instrumentation presents a new open-source Python package (“spcm”) that is now available for the current line of all Spectrum Instrumentation test and measurement products. The new package makes the programming of all 200+ instruments, offering sampling rates from 5 MS/s to 10 GS/s, faster and easier. Python, popular for its simplicity, versatility and flexibility, boasts an extensive collection of libraries and frameworks (such as NumPy) that significantly accelerates programming development cycles.

The new spcm package allows users to take full advantage of the Python language by providing a high-level Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) interface that is specifically designed for the Spectrum Instrumentation Digitizer, AWG and Digital I/O products. It includes the full source code as well as a number of detailed examples. Available on GitHub, spcm is free of charge under the MIT license.

Spectrum’s Python package safely handles the automatic opening and closing of cards, groups of cards and Ethernet instruments, as well as the allocation of memory for transferring data to and from these devices. All the device specific functionality is capsulated in easy-to-use classes. This includes clock and trigger settings, hardware channel settings, card synchronization, direct memory access (DMA) and product features such as Block Averaging, DDS and Pulse Generator.

The package supports the use of real-world physical quantities and units (e.g. “10 MHz”) enabling the user to directly program driver settings in their preferred unit system. This removes the need for tedious manual conversions to cryptic API settings. Moreover, this package also includes support for calculations with NumPy and Matplotlib, allowing the user to handle data coming from, or going to, the products with the vast toolbox provided by those packages. Detailed examples can be found in the GitHub repository.

Installing the package is easy, thanks to its availability in the pip repository. Simply install Python and then the package with a single command: $ pip install spcm

Users can include the Spectrum Instrumentation Python package in their own programs, or fork to the repository to add more functionality. The package is directly maintained by Spectrum engineers and updates are released regularly offering bug-fixes and new features.

The example in the photo shows the opening of the first analog-output card (AWG) and programming of a simple 10 MHz sine-wave output using the DDS option.

The Spectrum Python repository is found under: https://github.com/SpectrumInstrumentation/spcm

15May, 2024

Beautiful Together’ campaign by Titan Raga celebrates sisterhood, starring Alia Bhatt

Titan Raga, a brand, known for its beautiful collection of timepieces and thoughtful narratives celebrating women, announces the launch of its latest campaign, ‘Beautiful Together’. Featuring the dynamic, Alia Bhatt, the TVC is a heartwarming representation of the enduring bond of sisterhood.

The campaign draws insight from the evolving role of beauty, a paradigm shift from fueling competition among women in the past; transforming into a shared experience that fosters discreet yet significant support among them, today. From creating connections over beauty hacks to extending support and collaborating with each other to shatter barriers across various domains, sisterhood is a thriving reality.

Taking a light-hearted and buoyant tone, Alia Bhatt is seen interacting with women around her. From complimenting a stranger in an elevator, sharing a tender moment of exchanging a Raga timepiece with a friend to enhance her attire, and to supporting another facing a fashion mishap at a social event. In true spirit, the campaign exudes warmth and emphasizes the value of female bonds. The voiceover captures the core thought with “Humaari khubsurati mein ek dusre ka haath hai,” shining a spotlight on beauty as a catalyst that evokes a sense of camaraderie, comfort, and community among women.

The campaign raises a toast to all the remarkable women who enable, support, and cheer each other on! It is a celebration of sisterhood, because we are ‘Beautiful Together’.

The TVC is now live

Aparna Ravi, Marketing Head, Titan Watches said, “Raga as a brand has consistently been driving deep and meaningful narratives about women. ‘Beautiful Together’ is our conscious effort to recognize a bond that’s often overlooked – the incredible strength and support women find in each other. We are thrilled to have Alia Bhatt on board, who perfectly epitomizes the spirit of sisterhood. We believe this campaign will resonate with our audience and inspire them to celebrate the amazing women in their lives.”

“Titan Raga has always fronted conversations that genuinely speak to women. Raga watches are designed to evoke beauty and femininity and these are pillars of all our Raga campaigns. Today femininity is evolving from being about individual choices to a collective hurrah. Women feel fulfilment and joy in celebrating each other not just for the big wins but also for the little things that earlier would not be noticed. This beautiful spirit of sisterhood is captured in our new campaign in which we see how the tiniest of moments can also become uplifting when women simply come together. We have deliberately chosen instances that are highly relatable like lending a helping hand in making wardrobe choices to paying a compliment to another woman in a trial room. The brand platform Beautiful Together resonated with our brand ambassador Alia Bhatt, known for her tightly knit circle of girlfriends and the infectious positivity they collectively generate. The essence of sisterhood she herself embodies made her the ideal candidate to advocate this heartwarming message, stated Tithi Ghosh, President and Head of Office, Ogilvy South.

14May, 2024

Myopia Awareness Week 2024: How Do Lifestyle Changes Impact Myopia?

Myopia, also known as near-sightedness and short-sightedness, occurs when light focuses in front of, rather than on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry, whereas nearby objects appear normal.

Myopia occurs when the length of the eyeball grows too long or, less commonly, the lens becomes too strong. This is a type of refractive error. Cycloplegics are used during an eye examination to make the diagnosis. Tentative evidence suggests that increasing young children’s exposure to the outdoors can reduce their risk of myopia.Myopia is the most common eye problem, affecting an estimated 1.5 billion people (22% of the global population).Rates vary significantly around the world.

A myopic person can see clearly up to a certain distance (the far point of the eye), but anything beyond that distance appears blurry.If myopia is severe enough, standard reading distances can be affected. On routine examination, the vast majority of myopic eyes appear structurally identical to nonmyopic eyes.Onset is common in school-aged children, and the condition worsens between the ages of 8 and 15.
The underlying cause is thought to be a mix of genetic and environmental factors. Risk factors include doing work that involves focusing on close objects, greater time spent indoors, urbanization, and a family history of the condition. It is also associated with a higher socioeconomic status and level of education.

Current lifestyle changes are increasing eye axial length, particularly after a pandemic. As a result, the prevalence of myopia is increasing, and many practitioners consider it an epidemic. By 2050, the prevalence of high myopia will rise to 50 to 55% worldwide, up from 33% today. Some consider myopia to be the most serious threat to eye health in the twenty-first century.

Human population studies indicate that genetic factors account for 60-90% of the variance in refraction. However, the currently identified variants account for only a small proportion of myopia cases, implying the presence of a large number of unidentified low-frequency or small-effect variants that underpin the vast majority of myopia cases. Insufficient light exposure, low physical activity, close proximity to work, and increased years of education are all environmental factors that increase the risk of myopia.

People, particularly children, who engage in more physical exercise and outdoor play have lower rates of myopia, implying that the increased magnitude and complexity of visual stimuli encountered during these activities slows myopic progression.

Myopia can be induced with minus spherical lenses, and overminus in prescription lenses can cause myopia progression. Overminus during refraction can be avoided using a variety of techniques and tests, including fogging, plus-to-blur, and the duochrome test.

Myopia is typically diagnosed by an eye care professional, such as an optometrist or ophthalmologist. This is accomplished by refracting the eye using cycloplegics such as atropine, and then recording responses when accommodation is relaxed. Progressive myopia requires regular eye examinations using the same method.

Several methods have been used in an attempt to slow the progression of myopia, but studies have yielded mixed results.

1. Outdoor activity for at least 2 hours
2. Increase the distance from the device, at least 30 cm away.
3. Maintain proper reading posture; avoid reading while lying down.
4. Good lighting; avoid using devices in the dark or reading in poor lighting.
5. Take a Break: The 20-20-20 rule states that after every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look 20 feet away from the screen.
6. Regular eye exams for all children, especially if their parents have myopia.

Keeping children indoors, whether to promote early academic activities, because urban development decisions leave no space for children to play outside, or because people avoid sunlight because they prefer lighter skin color, causes myopia. Treatment options may include various types of lenses such as bifocals, progressives, peripheral defocus lenses, and multifocal contact lenses, orthokeratology, or myopia-controlling eye drops, depending on the individual’s needs.

13May, 2024

Cisco Unlocks AI-Powered Intelligence for Self-Hosted Observability

Cisco today announced a new virtual appliance for its AppDynamics On-Premises application observability offering, enabling customers to use a self-hosted observability solution built on AI-powered intelligence for anomaly detection and root cause analysis, application security, and SAP monitoring. The latest innovations allow IT operations teams to detect application performance anomalies faster and with greater accuracy, protect against security vulnerabilities and attacks, and maintain the performance of SAP applications and business processes, all while retaining full control of their observability deployment. Cisco also announced AppDynamics Flex, a new licensing model that provides optionality for customers to choose between self-hosted and SaaS observability offerings and support them through the transition from self-hosted to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) when the time is right for their business.

While there has been a significant increase in demand for SaaS observability solutions in recent years, for many organizations, self-hosted observability solutions remain in high demand. Self-hosted observability – also referred to as customer-managed observability – includes on-premises deployments or cloud-based deployments where the customer retains control of all the data and associated operations. These needs are typically driven by regulations for data residency and sensitive data protection, and in geographies without a local SaaS point-of-presence. For companies in industries including the public sector, finance, manufacturing, healthcare and retail, the option to have cutting-edge, self-hosted application observability solutions ensures that they can continue to provide end-to-end monitoring of their most critical business systems, in turn, enabling them to deliver market-differentiating digital experiences to their customers and users.

“Many of our customers continue to rely on self-hosted observability to manage business critical applications, and we are thrilled to deliver these AI-powered innovations as part of Cisco AppDynamics On-Premises for the first time,” said Ronak Desai, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco AppDynamics and Full-Stack Observability. “Customers can now use this virtual appliance together with our Smart Agent capability to deploy new innovations faster and simplify lifecycle operations.”

The new innovations include:

AI-Powered Detection and Remediation with Cognition Engine: Improve the accuracy of anomaly detection by leveraging dynamic baseline performance to understand what normal looks like against historical trend data, in turn reducing the mean time to identify (MTTI) for application performance issues. Performance issues can then be resolved faster with root cause analysis and automated transaction diagnostics – analyzing a continuous stream of transaction snapshots that capture events used in proactive performance troubleshooting. This enables IT operations to home in on the problem area and make use of intelligent suggestive issue identification.
Application Security: Cisco Secure Application allows customers to locate and highlight application security vulnerabilities with application context, and then leverage an automated business risk score that combines application intelligence and security intelligence, allowing them to prioritize their response by business impact. The addition of Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) enables organizations to defend the business from exploits that target application vulnerabilities.
A Resilient SAP Landscape: Customers can ensure service availability and performance with full-stack observability for on-premises SAP and non-SAP environments, surfacing insights to address performance issues before they impact the business. Cisco brings resiliency into the SAP landscape with application performance, augmented by AI-powered intelligence for the Java stack, enabling SAP developers and BASIS admins to ensure service availability, align performance with SAP business outcomes, and discover SAP related security vulnerabilities to mitigate risk.
Self-Hosted Offerings in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure: In addition to on-premises deployments, customers can manage their own observability deployments in AWS or Microsoft Azure by using the Amazon Machine Instance (AMI) or Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) images of the virtual appliance. This is valuable when a SaaS instance is not available in the country where a sensitive workload needs to be monitored, or when a customer wants to retain full control of the observability solution.

The Transition to SaaS
As digital transformation strategies mature and the nature of observable workloads change, some IT teams will find themselves looking to garner operational efficiency by moving some or all of their observed workloads from the purview of a self-hosted observability solution to a SaaS solution. To help customers on this journey, Cisco is introducing AppDynamics Flex Licensing, designed to simplify the transition to AppDynamics SaaS. Cisco AppDynamics Flex Licensing allows organizations to value-shift their chosen on-premises observability investments to the corresponding SaaS offer as their requirements evolve, while reusing the same agent fleet.

“Many workloads today remain on-premises due to low-latency requirements, high cost, or higher-security requirements of performance-intensive computing workloads, especially for the government and finance sectors,” said Stephen Elliot, Group Vice President for IDC. “Many technology executives are interested in on-premises, self-hosted observability solutions. Incorporating AI to automatically detect anomalies and suspected root causes in application performance is a huge step forward for on-premises customers who prefer to retain full control of their observability deployment.”
“As a partner for Cisco AppDynamics and Full-Stack Observability, SG Solutions is committed to helping our joint customers with observability solutions for their applications wherever their business regulation requires,” said Jindřich Kasal, CEO, SG Solutions. “As many of our customers continue to have requirements for self-hosted observability, we are excited for the new virtual appliance for Cisco AppDynamics On-Premises and the value it brings to our customers in AI-driven intelligence and security.”

Employs AI in self-hosted observability deployments to automatically detect anomalies and suspected root causes in application performance, significantly reducing the time required to identify and resolve issues.
Detects and protects against application vulnerabilities and attacks, while business risk observability allows prioritization of the most significant software threats based on their likelihood of impacting business.
Builds greater resiliency into on-premises SAP landscapes ensuring service availability, application performance and improved business outcomes while also addressing SAP security risks.

New AI-Driven Capabilities Automate Anomaly Detection, Accelerate Root Cause Analysis and Secure Business-Critical Applications

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