Happy Birthday Mouse!

On December 1 2008, the computer mouse turned 40. Mouse was first invented by a team of researchers at the Stanford Research Institute in California in the year 1968. The first-ever mouse, made by the team that was led by Doug Engelbart, was made from a wooden block with wheels mounted on its base. It has a red button on top of its case and a cable at its back. It is because of its resemblance to a mouse, it was nicknamed “mouse”. The mouse was the most dynamic input device of that time.

The mouse can be believed to an extension of the trackball that was invented by Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and Kenyon Taylor while working on the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR project in 1952. In the early 1960s, it was while studying the correlation between computers and humans, Engelbart had proposed the idea of making a mouse like device. The first working prototype of the device was developed by 1964, and a full-fledged working mouse was demonstrated in Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco in 1968.

Xerox launched the first commercial version of the mouse in the year 1981. The mouse gained recognition after Apple launched it with its Macintosh computer systems in 1984. Since then, the mouse has come a long way from having wheels that sense the movement to the mechanical mouse that had a ball to track the movement of the mouse. The latest developments in the mouse include the optical mouse that has photodiodes and LED’s that sense its movement. With the development in the wireless technology the mouse has even been liberated of the wire that attaches it to the computer.

Mouse has been an outstanding input device since the time of its development. However, the mouse is facing stiff competition from devices like touch pads, and touch screen devices. Go ahead and wish your mouse a happy birthday!

Shop Till Your Mouse Breaks..!!

The Monday immediately followed by the Black Friday is known as Cyber Monday. This year the Cyber Monday is on December 1st. Cyber Monday marks the ceremonial kick-off of the online shopping season in the United States. Cyber Monday is a busy day for online retailers just like the Black Friday for traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

The concept of Cyber Monday was started two years ago as a marketing gimmick by shop.org, which is part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation (NRF). The term was framed on the basis of a research in 2004 that showed that 77% of the online retailers reported a significant increase in their sales on the Monday after the Thanksgiving.

According to ComScore Networks, an e-commerce tracking firm, the online spending on Cyber Monday in the year 2005 was $485 million; this was a 26% percent increase from a year earlier. As per Akamai Technologies, even the total visits to shopping sites increased by 35 percent. Ecommerce sites have been reporting that the year’s busiest online shopping days are December 5 to December 15.

The basic premise of Cyber Monday was that consumers can shop from their offices when they return to work after the Black Friday Weekend. The basic idea still remains the same, but the online retailers are now offering lower prices and promotions to highlight their sales on Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday has helped the online retailers to promote their sales to unbelievable heights. So, it is that time of the year again when you get online and shop till your mouse breaks!

World AIDS day - December 1

Each year, December 1 is observed as World AIDS Day. More than 25 million people have been killed by AIDS between 1981 and 2007, and as of 2007, an estimated 33 million people worldwide live with HIV. It is one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. In spite of the recent improvements in the antiretroviral treatment and care, the AIDS epidemic has claimed about 2 million lives in 2007, out of which about 270,000 were children.

In the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes of AIDS prevention, the concept of a World AIDS Day was formulated. Since then, December 1, every year is being observed by the governments, international organizations and charities around the world as World AIDS Day. This day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

UNAIDS that was established in 2004, UNAIDS has led the World AIDS Day campaign around the world. UNAIDS chooses annual themes after consulting with other global health organizations. This responsibility was handed over to World AIDS Campaign (WAC) in the year 2005, who chose Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise is the main theme for World AIDS Day observances till 2010, with more specific sub-taglines chosen annually.

This year the theme is Keep the Promise: Lead - Empower - Deliver. This theme is used year-round in WAC's efforts to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness and is not just specific to World AIDS Day. Many “in country” campaigns are also conducted by World AIDS Campaign, like the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, which was an infection-awareness campaign that targeted young people throughout the UK.Memorials are held on this day to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS. Many programmes are conducted by the Government and health officials, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics, to observe World AIDS Day.

According to a mathematical model, the AIDS virus can be eliminated by 99% in about a decade. More on this can be found by reading a research article by Tomás Revillaa and Gisela García-Ramos.

Abstract:

A mathematical model examined a potential therapy for controlling viral infections using genetically modified viruses. The control of the infection is an indirect effect of the selective elimination by an engineered virus of infected cells that are the source of the pathogens. Therefore, this engineered virus could greatly compensate for a dysfunctional immune system compromised by AIDS. In vitro studies using engineered viruses have been shown to decrease the HIV-1 load about 1000-fold. However, the efficacy of this potential treatment for reducing the viral load in AIDS patients is unknown. The present model studied the interactions among the HIV-1 virus, its main host cell (activated CD4+ T cells), and a therapeutic engineered virus in an in vivo context; and it examined the conditions for controlling the pathogen. This model predicted a significant drop in the HIV-1 load, but the treatment does not eradicate HIV. A basic estimation using a currently engineered virus indicated an HIV-1 load reduction of 92% and a recovery of host cells to 17% of their normal level. Greater success (98% HIV reduction, 44% host cells recovery) is expected as more competent engineered viruses are designed. These results suggest that therapy using viruses could be an alternative to extend the survival of AIDS patients.

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