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Showing posts from January, 2018

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Four Beautiful Towns of France & Germany----a photo essay

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Four Lovely neighbours of Heidelberg Four lovely neighbours of Heidelberg A pictorial journey   Wyssembourg, France Wyssembourg is a small town in France. It is on the border with Germany and not far from Heidelberg, Germany's university town. We had taken a train that touched Mannheim and Landau on the way. When the train pulled up at Wyssembourg station, an almost empty platform soaked by drizzles preceding our arrival greeted us. An absolute beauty! Right from there it was a comfortable saunter through a picturesque, pretty, clean and graceful little town. I was so awed that even this potpourri of adjectives is not enough to describe the photogenic French town. A little river Lauter flows through the town. It is so small and so narrow that on first view it gives an impression of a narrow canal flowing through the town. Not far from its larger counterpart Strasbourg, this cute town is rich in history. Born in the seventh century, the town grew up around ...

A Caledonian Experience--- 2

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Scottish Highlands, Castles & Whisky As our guide drove towards the city of Stirling, he told us about Scottish Highlands-Lowlands divide and their history . We approached Stirling Castle through the wynds of the old town. The attractive 14 th  century castle atop an intrusive crag appeared to be sheltering and dominating the old town with ancient  buildings and cobbled streets. It was windy and drizzling. Inside there were the wonderfully preserved Great Hall and Great Kitchen of the Royal Palace built by King James V. Mary, Queen of Scots, is among the many Kings and Queens of Scotland who have been crowned as well as lived there. Even the legendary hero of the folklore King Arthur’s name is linked. Although a 5 th  century character, King Arthur’s Round Table was discovered on the castle ground by archaeologists. Despite the naturally strong and defensive position of the castle, history recorded eight sieges. Only Romans bypassed Stirling. Instead, ...

Human Centric Lighting - Prof Warren Julian's presentation

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What is Human Centric Lighting? - An illuminating talk by Professor Warren Julian Human Centric Lighting Design is an old Concept, given that our circadian clock runs on a 24-hour cycle. But It was difficult to maintain the circadian entrainment effectively with traditional lights. With the advent of LED, having expanded color capabilities, and seamless control on color changes and dimming, a lot of research is underway to make our visual system respond more effectively to the light stimulus. Dynamic Tunable LED, varying lighting   has always been human-centric  Spectrum from 6500K to 2700K has increased the circadian effectiveness of the human system. Increasing daytime alertness and nighttime sleep can be addressed in the near future by acutely synchronizing the circadian system of human beings with proper doses of red and blue light. A brilliant presentation on Human Centric Lighting was made at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair 2017 by Professor Warre...