Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

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Amrita Centre for Advanced Research in Ayurveda Laboratory

Amrita Centre for Advanced Research in Ayurveda (ACARA) Laboratory at Amrita School of Ayurveda of Amrita Vishwa Vidhya Peetham, has been set up with the blessings of Amma. Inspired by Amma’s vision to foster the global acceptance of Ayurveda through world-class multidisciplinary research, the lab is constructed.

Ayurveda Research lab and studies will help
1. Understand the mechanism of action of Ayurvedic medicines.
2. To assess the efficacy of Ayurvedic medicines administered in humans
3. Interactions between Ayurvedic medicines and allopathic medicines can be checked.
4. The presence of heavy metals in Ayurvedic medicines and also to check their quality and consistency.

In the first phase of its operations, the ACARA Laboratory has acquired over 30 instruments to set up facilities for Chromatography (HPTLC), Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS and LC MS/MS), Microbiology, Cell Culture, Gel Documentation, Genetic Studies, Fluorescent Microscopy and other Analytical Techniques to test quality of Ayurvedic medicines.

This lab will cater to the needs of Ayurveda PG and PhD Scholars for the pursuit of their research projects, Scientists and researchers interested in multidisciplinary research in Ayurveda, Clinical researchers in the field of Ayurveda as well as the Ayurveda Pharma Industry.

The new lab was inaugurated at Amrita Shcool of Ayurveda in Amritapuri on 15 December 2017. 

 

Five new technologies and one very old one that will save the world

The United Nations has been focusing intently on the use of technology to solve global problems and drive development that’s both affordable and sustainable.

Amrita University itself is a lesson in innovation. It was founded not by scientists and scholars but by one of India’s most influential humanitarians and spiritual leaders, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, who serves as Chancellor of Amrita University and believes that integration of the latest technologies with spiritual principles is the right way forward.

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Amma gave the keynote address at the recent UNAI conference, stressing for the participants the Amrita University’s core tenet: progress that is driven by compassion and understanding for all people.

Amrita University has committed itself to the development of technologies to address these very concrete needs, without forgetting that human happiness and well-being also has a spiritual dimension.  Amrita have been joined in this mission by scientists and technologists from top institutions around the world, including Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, EPFL, Monash, Twente, and the National University of Singapore.

Amrita and our fellow researchers presented a few of these solutions-in-progress to over 700 representatives from 93 international universities at a conference on Technology for Sustainable Development that Amrita co-hosted with the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) program, a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the UN to advance sustainable development.

 

Nanotechnology

• Health and Medicine — The problem of increasing antibiotic resistance is a concern for people everywhere. We’re developing nanotechnology materials that can serve as a new type of antibiotic materials that will overcome resistance. We’re also developing more effective and nanotech-enabled vaccines and nano-therapeutics for diseases of the immune system, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes; new and less toxic nanomedicines for combatting drug resistance in cancer. We have shown the potential of a light-based diagnostic tool for early detection of oral cancer that can save countless lives.

• Clean Water — Hundreds of millions of people globally have limited access to clean water. Amrita’s research teams are using nano-textiles to create low-cost and effective filters that can remove disease-causing bacteria, parasites and viruses.

• Energy Storage – Many communities in India have little or no connection to an electric grid, but existing battery technologies have limitations of weight, cost, and storage. Nano-based solid-state thin-film energy-storage systems that our researchers are developing are capable of providing battery life of ten years or more and better storage capacity. The potential applications for better battery technology are exciting even for people with ready access to the grid.

Haptics & Robotics

• Education — The science of haptics is the science of touch and perception, using vibrations and other forces to simulate what it feels like to handle a tool or manipulate objects. Amrita and its fellow researchers are using haptic technology to address the need for effective and affordable training in construction and other hands-on vocational skills that men and women in developing communities need.

Sensors and Wireless Communications

• Disaster Management – Natural disasters have caused an estimated $1.7 trillion in damage and killed more than a million people, just since the year 2000. One of India’s biggest concerns is landslides, so Amrita scientists have developed a novel Deep Earth Probe that can sense when landslides are imminent and then send out warnings so people who live in high-risk areas can move to safer ground.

Traditional Medicine

• People have been practicing traditional medicine for thousands of years, notably in places such as China and India, and many of the herbal and nature-derived treatments are as effective or better than modern synthetic medicines. We are studying very carefully the mechanisms of action of these traditional medications and creating a new database that will help in bringing the curative aspects of these traditional medicines to the people. A good example is our demonstration of a traditional remedy for diabetic wound-healing made from the outer shell of the cashew nut that can potentially save many limbs from amputation due to incurable diabetic wounds.

– Dr. Shantikumar V Nair

Microbial Fuel Cell generating electricity from wastewater

27 Sep 2014, Amritapuri
Amritavarsham – Amma’s 61st Birthday Celebrations

The Amrita Center of Biotechnology introduced a Microbial Fuel Cell, which utilizes energy from bacterial growth in wastewater to generate electricity while simultaneously bringing about purification of the wastewater–an important step in addressing the sanitation and energy problems that are very relevant in our country.

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VS Sivakumar, Kerala Minister of Health unveiled the cell during Amma’s 61st Birthday celebrations.

Big Data Framework and Inter Operable Platform devices launched

27 Sep 2014, Amritapuri
Amritavarsham – Amma’s 61st Birthday Celebrations

Amrita Big Data Framework (ABDF) is an all-integrated framework for effortless Big Data analytics that can help one analyze large sets of data and eek out intelligence for improved decision-making allowing optimization and enhanced efficiency. ABDF has applications to diverse fields from medicine, engineering, social media and much more making it an extremely powerful tool.

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Amrita Internet of Things Platform (AIoTm) provides a scalable inter operable platform for devices to connect and communicate amongst themselves without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

CN Balakrishnan, Kerala Minister of Co-Operation unveiled both the above devices during Amritavarsham 61 celebrations.

GetVu’s augmented reality glasses

27 Sep 2014, Amritapuri
Amritavarsham – Amma’s 61st Birthday Celebrations

Imagine a fully interactive augmented reality–an extra layer on top of our world that we can see, grab and control. With GetVu’s platform, instead of using voice controls to indirectly interact with a virtual object, you could reach out and move it around with your hands. You could change the colors of a proposed building project on your city’s skyline or play foosball on your kitchen table or even explore architectural ruins. With augmented reality taken beyond the limits of the smartphone or tablet, you could look around, see the world for what it could be, and change it with a wave of your hand.

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Sri. Shekhar Kapur, award-winning filmmaker unveiled the glasses during the Amritavarsham celebrations

Unveiling of Amrita’s A-One Fuel-Maker and Solar Dryer

27 Sep 2014, Amritpauri — Amritavarsham61, Amma’s Birthday celebrations

The Amrita A-One Fuel-maker is an electricity-free machine for producing fuel briquettes from bio mass, like husk, sawdust, pine needles, dry leaves, etc. This patent-pending technology produces briquettes with bicycle power and is a great way to generate income as well as reduce fuel cost for rural Indian villagers.

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The Amrita All-Purpose Solar Dryer is for drying vegetables, fruits and herbal leaves using indirect passive heating technology, thereby preserving mineral and vitamin compositions.

Both were unveiled by KC Venugopal, MP on the occasion occasion of Amritavarsham61.

Amrita Spandanam: a real-time monitoring of cardiac patients

In order to help people with cardiac conditions avail of real-time, ECG-monitoring without hospitalization, Amrita WNA has designed a prototype for a low-cost, low-power, wearable ECG-monitoring device called Amrita Spandanam.

Amrita Spandanam will allow postoperative cardiac patients as well as people with cardiac conditions to avoid hospitalization for the sake of continuous vital-parameter monitoring.

Amrita Spandanam, which can be worn either as a necklace or as a belt, continuously monitors and analyzes a patient’s ECG. The ECG data is sent wirelessly, in real-time, to the patient’s cardiologist/doctor, with alerts if a patient seems to require examination. Doctors can avail of the live-feed through their mobile phone, making monitoring possible even when both the patient and the doctor are mobile.

According to Dr. Maneesha Sudheer, the head of Amrita WNA, “When discussing potential wireless R&D projects, Amma would lament the number of poor people she has seen die from cardiac conditions in their 40s and 50s. She told me, ‘It is science’s responsibility to give such people the 30 or 40 years back by which their lives are being cut short and help them to lead full, productive lives.’ It was with this end in mind that we started working on an affordable wearable wireless system for real-time monitoring of cardiac patients.”

The Amrita Spandanam prototype has been designed so that the data will also be automatically logged into Hospital Information System at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi.

The Amrita Spandanam prototype will be unveiled on September 26, 2013, at Amritavarsham60—The 60th Birthday Celebrations of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Amma.

Safety for women, Security for mentally challenged; a device by Amrita

appsHow can anyone live in fear? Most women are victimized for no fault of their own unable to travel and perform mundane activities. In discussions with Amrita University’s Centre for Cyber Security, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), stressed the need for developing technology to protect and make Indian women feel more safe.

According to Dr. Krishnashree Achuthan, the director of Amrita University’s Centre for Cyber Security Systems & Networks, “Amma told us that we should try to develop a device that women can wear secretly through which they can alert the police and family members if they become in danger. With Amma’s directive in mind, we came designed the Amrita Personal Safety System (APSS).”

The Amrita Personal safety system (APSS) device is wearable devices that will never make a women feel all alone anywhere anymore! This device will empower women to trigger communication with family and police when in distress. The device will remain inconspicuous to the offender and yet easily triggerable by the victim with multiple options to ensure stealthy and secure communication. With the ability to record conversations, and communicate immediately by the press of a button or using sms and voice calls to multiple destinations, this device also offers automated information on nearest police station, hospitals, fire stations to the victim to get immediate help. The device will also have ability to video tape events in the near future. The device is designed to function even in rural areas where the speed of the communication is very minimal. Also this device combines many location aware technologies intelligently, to be able to work in indoor and outdoor environments with minimal power consumption.

This customizable device developed by Amrita’s Centre for Cyber Security provides flexibility in design for wearability, and integrates over 15 features pertaining to safety and security of women and other potential victims.
This device can also be used as a safety device for mentally challenged citizens and children with many functionalities to quickly identify their whereabouts amongst other functions.

The APSS  will be dedicated to society during Amritavarsham60 —The 60th Birthday Celebrations of Amma, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Amrita University launches four research oriented projects

27 Sep 2012, Amritapuri – Amma’s 59th Birthday celebrations

During the 59th birthday celebrations of Amma, along with the many charitable projects, a number of new research-oriented projects of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham were inaugurated.

Wireless Landslide detection

Wireless technologies to alert people living in landslide at-risk areas by sending a sms when the possibility of landslides are high. The project, which has been active in the Sahya Mountain region of Kerala will now be employed in the Himalaya regions. {read more on the project}

Online labs
These online labs have been set up to assist the school children in attaining higher levels of success in the fields of science and technology. With the support of computer technology, these online labs have been installed in 27 schools on an experimental basis. {read more on this project}

Career Lab and English Language Lab
These two labs are designed to refine university students’ interview skills, vocabulary, and general competency in speaking, understanding and comprehending English.  The site includes Role Plays for developing confidence in speaking English, Speech Analysis and Pronunciation Tutor, Flash Card games and exercises to master upper level English vocabulary and a Resume Builder to guide students in creating a powerful resumes.  Labs can be accessed at www.amrita.edu/englishlabs

A new program to help school children study material such as physics, chemistry, biology, maths and environmental sciences via multimedia has been developed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. These programs will be available in both local languages—totally free of cost. They teach basic lessons in how to protect the environment. This computer program will opens the door of communication between people sitting in any corner of the world. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has developed this technology, with the aim of helping scientists share and discuss ideas. Amrita will provide this technology free of cost to educational and governmental institutions.

 

 

Cyber security

Amrita University also announced a program to provide cyber security, free of cost.

Inaugurating these projects, V.S. Sivakumar, Minister for Health, Family Welfare & Devaswom, gave a bouquet of acknowledgement to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for its virtual classroom program for setting up computers to communicate with students from around the world.”That is why the Central Government has chosen Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s global classrooms” he said. He also used the opportunity to thank Amma for sending the volunteers to clean Sabarimala. “With Amma’s blessings, the last Sabarimala pilgrimage season went very smoothly. Amala Bharatam Campaign workers sent by Amma kept the pilgrimage site very clean.”

When Science meets Spirituality

Dr. R. Chidambaram, the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India met with Amma during his visit to Amrita University for the International Conference on Wireless Technologies for Humanitarian Relief (ACWR2011) at Amritapuri on 19 December 2011. Along with Dr. Chidambaram, his colleague S. Chatterjee and Dr M.H. Mehta, Chairman of the National Bioshield Society also participated in the discussion.

 

Dr. Chidambaram, who is a renowned nuclear scientist and metallurgist, mentioned to Amma that his focus at the conference was to combine wired and wireless networks. He felt that Amrita University’s haptic technologies project had a lot of potential. Dr. Chidambaram was very much impressed by the landslide detection system developed by Amrita University and requested Amma to bring this technology to the Himalayan region of Uttarkashi where landslides are a regular phenomena. Amrita University had designed, built and deployed a real-time landslide warning system in the hills of Idukki district of Kerala and was even able to issue warnings on time.

Amma said that this system is designed to work in the Kerala mountains. She started by talking about the necessity of simulations before actual deployment and how mini-models need to be implemented for testing. Amma went on to talk about ‘pore pressure’ due to a large quantity of wide-spread rainfall on a hill. She outlined that each hill or mountain may have different types of soil every 10-20 feet and that this variety may yield more questions to study. She said that we need to consider the weather conditions and the soil/mountain quality before deploying in Northern regions. Upon hearing Amma pointing out these scientific matters in such detail, Dr. Chidambaram was indeed surprised.

Amma then began talking about mobile communication towers, “Because of the radiation of huge cell phone towers many small birds are not able to build nests and are disappearing. If we produce devices that are smaller in size and keep them in individual houses, connected to one another, such problems can be solved.”

Amma also mentioned that her motivation to pursue research at Amrita University originated from her seeing the suffering around – poverty, starvation, sickness, environmental pollution and contamination. She stated that multinational companies abroad give importance to research, but not so in India. Now the situation is changing. Amma also mentioned that other countries must grow and become happy. Another problem of India is the so-called ‘brain drain’. To this, Dr. Chidambaram replied by telling Amma that she had attracted a lot of talented people from abroad, which even the government finds hard to do.

Amma continued saying that the level of respect society shows for scientists should increase. When science is respected the motivation to serve and find cures for cancer and other diseases will automatically arise within, while the desire to make quick money will decrease.

Amma said “Nature is God’s form. In creation, nothing is insignificant. Everything is important. Creation and creator are not two, but one. The ocean and its waves are not different but the same. Gold and gold ornaments are the same. Clay and clay pots are of the same essence. That is what science tells us too. Everything (matter) is energy” Amma talked about seva (selfless service), science and education and how they benefit both the individual and society as a whole. She also mentioned about the need of quality education and the essence of values.

As the meeting was coming to an end, Amma asked how the attendees became interested in spirituality. Dr. Chidambaram talked of how science has its limits. He said that for any scientific law questions like ‘Why that law?’ ‘Will that law stand true in the future?’ still cannot be explained. The laws that connect living and non-living matter and determine the interaction between atoms are still a puzzle. Parabrahmam (Consciousness that pervades all matter) could be the explanation, he added.

Science can explain ‘how’ things are happening, but not ‘why’ they are happening. That’s where one turns to spirituality for the answers.
–Sakshi