How To Detect Art Forgeries

The Economist article on art forgeries + new technological advancements in detection and profiling + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/science/tm/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11877571 was brilliant. A must read.

Useful links:
www.ieee.org
http://infolab.stanford.edu/~wangz/home
www.kmm.nl
http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl

Giant Kites = Renewable Energy

Alok Jha's article on sourcing renewable energy via giant kites + the experimental versions by researchers in Europe/USA @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy was interesting and insightful. Who would have thought that childhood pastime of flying kites would become a potential source for renewable energy!

Useful links:
www.makanipower.com
www.bwea.com
www.foe.co.uk
www.lr.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=8d16d19a-e942-45aa-9b52-48deb9312e92&lang=en

The World's Best Airport

According to an annual survey conducted by Skytrax, a U.K-based consultancy, the Hong Kong International Airport (www.hongkongairport.com) was named the world's best for the seventh year.

Congratulations!

Go to www.skytraxresearch.com for further information.

Imitation Jewelry Update

We are seeing a new trend in the jewelry market in India. Price-sensitive rural and middle classes are opting for imitation jewelry, and the market has grown considerably over the years. The choices are there + designs and prices are beautiful and sweet. Thanks to soaring gold prices. Signs of the time, I guess.

Useful link:
www.rangeelaexports.com

Edinburgh Festival

(via Wiki) Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for several simultaneous arts and cultural festivals which take place during August each year in Edinburgh, Scotland. These festivals are arranged by a number of formally unrelated organizations, meaning there is no single event officially termed the Edinburgh Festival.

Useful link:
www.eif.co.uk

A must visit.

Kimberley Process Update

The Kimberley Process has released 2007 statistical data on diamond output, exports and imports. Go to www.kimberleyprocess.com for further information.

Sustainable Energy Solutions: Theory + Practice

Ad van Wijk is the Founder/Chairman of Econcern, an international energy company providing solutions for renewable energy/sustainable energy via solar energy, wind energy, bioenergy.

Ormat is an interesting Israeli company run by husband and wife (Lucien/ Dita Bronicki) dedicated to engineering geo-thermal energy plants and producing power from them, in several parts of the world.

Useful links:
www.econcern.com
www.ormat.com

What's interesting is that both companies are finding ways of creating sustainable energy solutions and putting them in to practice.

Pearl Testing: Analytical Methods

Pearl testing at times can be very difficult. Experts use a combination of different methods for positive identification. For instance freshwater pearls typically may contain high concentration of manganese, and the high manganese concentration in the specimens can be detected by trace element analysis (Laser Ablation ICP-MS) or by X-ray luminescence methods, which may also help differentiate between freshwater and marine pearls. Provenance determination in a pearl can be achieved by Laser Ablation ICP-MS. Infrared/Raman spectroscopy can also be used to identify modifications of calcium carbonate in pearls to identify the origin of pearl color + naturally colored Tahiti cultured pearls and naturally colored freshwater cultured pearls can be distinguished from their artificially dyed counterparts by Raman spectroscopy. Natural pearls can be differentiated from cultured pearls by different X-radiography tests that reveal the internal structures from a manufactured nucleus. Several radiograms may have to be taken to study varying depths within the pearl's internal growth structures to create a profile. It's not always easy. Lately the application of tabletop X-ray tomograms have improved pearl testing dramatically.