A General Without A Mission

“I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.9) In the Bhagavad-gita, the most concise, complete and thorough treatise on spirituality ever revealed to the world, Lord Krishna, the enjoyer of sacrifice, the person whom we call out to in times of trouble, in accurately trying to convey His position in the world states that He is the life of various activities and practices. Included in the list is the penances of ascetics. A person who devotes their life to asceticism must have a singular practice that defines them. Since this practice is dedication to tapasya, or austerity, Krishna is that very defining element. Without the essence of something, an object cannot live up to its billing. For the soul, its dharma is to be a lover of God, but without a central aspect, a key force that maintains the essential characteristic, a living being cannot be said to be self-realized or living off of their natural position. Thankfully for us, Krishna is the life of everything, including the practicing devotee. For them, He takes on the form of the holy name. A nice way to understand Krishna’s position respective to a particular engagement or object is to analyze some common titles given to members of society. A general is especially noteworthy in an army. To defend the innocent public, a fighting class, one given to chivalry, bravery, and the protection of the innocent, is required. In an ideal world there would never be war, but from studying the history of human civilization, we see that there actually cannot be peace without some sort of definitive military victory. The nature of the mode of passion is such that desires can never be truly fulfilled. Therefore if one sect or group of citizens is given a particular area of land to live on, they will eventually crave more. If a particular ethnic group is assigned an area to live in, they will naturally ask the question, “Well, why can’t I get more land? What entitles everyone else to have more than we do?” These are certainly legitimate questions, for as soon as the governing authorities provide a preference or benefit to one group, they must behave the same way for others. Otherwise the government is not functioning properly, as each person has their right to life, freedom and the ability to pursue happiness granted to them by God. Historically, it’s been seen that whenever land is divided specifically based on religious affiliation, the result is an endless tug of war. Since the weaker party, the one unhappy about the amount of land they have been given, cannot achieve an overarching military victory, they must resort to other tactics, such as carefully crafted diplomacy and divide-and-conquer strategies. For peace to be maintained, the ability to defeat opposing elements, those that want conflict, must be there. On a smaller level, within all societies there will be individuals who simply refuse to obey the laws of the land, the social dictates that are meant to provide a peaceful coexistence. Natural laws such as prohibitions on violence against the innocent and the encroachment of others’ property are not always adhered to. When the criminals refuse to curb their ways, the strong arm of punishment, or danda, must take action in order for lawlessness to cease. In large scale military conflicts, the soldiers for a particular side are arrayed into groups that perform specific tasks. But in order for the soldiers to act in unison, where friendly fire is avoided and the best strategy for achieving victory is followed, a general, a leader of the group, must be present. It goes without saying that the general must be fully capable of leading other troops and remaining level headed. He must be very intelligent as well, for fighting never goes according to plan. Adjustments and new strategies need to be constantly crafted, as the winning party is the one that can best anticipate the next move of the opponent. Because of the difficulties in managing armed conflict, the general is given respect in society and by others in the military field. Now let’s say that we met someone who claimed to be a general. We’d probably ask them, “How many missions have you successfully led? How many conflicts have you been involved in? What has your experience on the battlefield been like?” Now, what would happen if the person responded with, “Well, I haven’t led any missions. I haven’t been on the battlefield in a long time. Nevertheless, I am still a general.”? Obviously these admissions would call into question their status. For the title of “general” to mean something, there must be a mission, a task where other soldiers are led into battle against an opposing force. In this sense we can think of the mission as being the life of the general. For similar purposes, employers ask to see a list of past work experience when hiring a new employee. A person can write whatever they want to on a resume, thus making it seem like they are fully qualified for the prospective position. Yet the claims of abilities are not as important as the actual exercise of them. After all, each previous work experience must have an accompanying title. Even if the title is informal and not very descriptive, there will nevertheless be one. If a person claims to have been a manager at a previous job and yet they didn’t actually manage any employees, their title is meaningless. The prospective employee won’t have anything to substantiate their claims of experience. When Lord Krishna says that He is the penances of the ascetics, it means that He is the life of those dedicated to an austere lifestyle aimed at furthering God consciousness. An ascetic stands out from a fruitive worker by their renunciation. By default, the conditioned living entity adopts the mindset of an animal at the time of birth. Therefore the first inclination is to meet the demands of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But we know that the human being has the potential to acquire the highest knowledge, which in turn leads to the sharpest intellect. With knowledge comes the ability to further a purpose. There are often debates as to what actually defines intelligence or someone being smart, but deciphering this properly is really quite easy. A smart person is one who can use their mental abilities to further their purpose. A smart worker is one who can do their job efficiently and correctly. An intelligent politician is one who can use their speechmaking and legislating abilities to maintain a strong surge of popularity with the voting public. Along the same lines, an intelligent human being is one who can make the most of the valuable human form of body. The potential for intelligence is lacking in the animals species for a reason. They are not intended to become God conscious or even transcend the effects of the senses. The human being has the full opportunity to rise above animal life and use their intelligence for furthering the highest gain, that of understanding God. This is why the famous Vedanta-sutras, the favorite scriptural work of mental speculators and Vedantists, opens with the aphorism, athato-brahma-jijnasa, which means “Now is the time for inquiring about Brahman.” The animal can never make this inquiry, nor can it even know what Brahman is. But the human being can, so when there is birth in a human species, this inquiry should be made as soon as possible. Brahman is truth; it is beyond the dualities of aversion and affection, love and hate, heat and cold, life and death, etc. Brahman is pure spirit, so it transcends the temporary manifestations of matter that delude the otherwise intelligent living being into adopting a substandard mode of life, one that fails to meet the true potential for greatness found in the human species. To make the inquiry about Brahman, the senses must be controlled. This shouldn’t be that difficult to understand. Would we ever think of taking an important exam while intoxicated? Is it wise to step behind the wheel of a car while we are angry, hungry, or suffering in some other way? To understand the most important truths of life, such as the differences between matter and spirit and what the constitutional position of the living entity is, sobriety is a prerequisite. What better way to gain this sobriety of mind than through strict austerities, penances which are difficult to adopt in the beginning stages but which lead to the highest benefit in the end. Though the human being has the ability to inquire about Brahman, which is just another feature of the Supreme Lord, not everyone will take up this study. Governments today may compel young children to attend school, but there is no instruction given about the makeup of the soul and the source of identity. Rather, the false identifications formed through the influence of false ego are fully endorsed. Citizens in one area identify with the color of their skin, while people in a different land take their identity from their country of origin. Every identification except “I am a spirit soul” is flawed, as the material elements are temporary and never representative of who we really are. The soul is immutable, unchanging and undying. It is not slain when the body is slain. “For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.20) Because the animalistic influences ensnare the majority of conditioned living entities, those who do actually try to learn about Brahman stand out even more. In days past, such inquiries were made through simultaneous adherence to a life of asceticism. Those interested in the Absolute Truth would seek refuge in the forests, where life was peaceful and quiet. The downside to leaving the civilized parts of the world is that you lose out on many amenities. For those living in cities and suburbs, if you get hungry you can just go to the supermarket. Because of the system of peaceable and voluntary exchange of goods and services, so many different options are available in the store. There are so many different types of food and drink suited to each person’s specific tastes. When the stores are closed there are still the restaurants and fast food places to get food from very quickly. For the ascetic roaming the forests, fruits and roots are all there is to eat. This is very meager food, and anyone who lives on this diet soon dons an emaciated figure. But eating well is not important to the ascetic, as less reliance on food keeps the mind sober. Too much eating leads to laziness and excessive sleep. Through strict austerities, the ascetic remains sober and thus has more time to contemplate on the Absolute Truth, read the Vedas, teach Vedic wisdom to others, perform sacrifices to propitiate the heavenly figures, and teach others how to perform sacrifices. Since the ascetics are so unique and praiseworthy, the central aspect of their life, that thing which defines them, becomes even more important and highlighted. Therefore it is not surprising that Lord Krishna, the object of sacrifice and worship, would rightfully claim to be the penances of the ascetic. While asceticism and study of Brahman lead to knowledge of the Absolute Truth, there is still a higher platform that must be reached. Knowledge of Brahman keeps the conditioned soul free from the effects of the senses drawn to material contact. But we know from our own experiences that simply alleviating distresses does not complete the picture. There must be an active engagement for the soul, a set of activities that provides transcendental happiness free of the defects of material sense gratification. That higher engagement is revealed to the sincere souls looking to elevate past the understanding of Brahman. Since Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, any system which seeks to connect with Him personally would have to be the one that stands head and shoulders above all others. Since Krishna is the reservoir of beauty, auspiciousness and good qualities, the discipline that seeks to connect with Him must involve love. Attraction is what extracts the loving sentiments from the soul, and since Krishna is the most attractive, only He is capable of evoking the strongest loving sentiments from the souls looking for a permanent engagement. Since it involves pure love, connecting with Krishna is known as bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. Devotion to the Divine is actually the ultimate objective, but one that is rarely attained. Searching after Brahman is difficult enough for the human being to accept as a necessity, but understanding the need to surrender fully to God, to make His satisfaction our primary interest in life, is even more difficult to accept. The phenomenal realm operates on selfishness, wherein the person residing within different bodies seeks out their own pleasure first. Yet even in this regard there is nothing to be lost with bhakti. Lord Chaitanya, the preacher incarnation of Godhead, says that the jiva soul, the living entity armed with a choice of either material or spiritual association, has an eternal form, or svarupa. This form is one of a devotee, a lover of God. Since our real form is actually that of a servant of God, by taking up bhakti dedicated to Krishna we actually serve our own interests at the same time. This is a little difficult to understand at first, as the whole point of unselfishness is to please others. Pleasing Krishna, however, is the best way to make ourselves happy. Many governments around the world say that they put their trust in God, but in order for this claim to be valid there must be a binding aspect, a life to the devotional efforts. Just as ascetics need penances and the generals their missions, the devotees need an active engagement to maintain their status as lovers of God. For the devotees of this age, their life and soul is the holy name of the Lord. Krishna is considered the original form of Godhead, but the Lord actually has thousands of names. The two most important and descriptive ones, Rama and Krishna, are nicely sequenced together in the famous maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. As He is the penances of the ascetics, Krishna is the holy name for the devotees. Without the ability to chant this sound vibration, especially in this day and age where the life of asceticism is very difficult to adopt, the devotees would be unable to maintain their link to the transcendental world. Therefore we should hold on to the holy names and the efficacious mantras in which they are found for dear life, as these sacred objects directly represent the Supreme Lord. Without regularly chanting Krishna’s names, our tongues are no better than serpents, and our mouths no more valuable than snake holes. The auspicious human form of body is meant for finding an outlet for love that never exhausts in the pleasure it provides. As Krishna is the very life of the pure lovers, His name keeps us linked to Him at all times.

புலம் பெயர்தல்!

புலம் பெயர்தல்!

-முனைவர் சி. சேதுராமன்.

அன்று தொட்டு இன்று வரை புலம் பெயர்தல் என்பது நிகழ்ந்து கொண்டுதான் இருக்கின்றது. புலம் என்பதற்கு இடம் எனப் பொருள் கொண்டு இடம் பெயர்தல் என்று இதனைக் குறிப்பிடலாம். இடம் பெயர்தல் என்பது மனிதன் தோன்றிய காலத்திலிருந்து நடந்து வரக்கூடிய ஒன்றாகும். நாகரிகமற்ற காலத்தில் மனிதன் நாடோடியாக ஒவ்வொரு இடமாகப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து வாழ்ந்து வந்தான்.

புலம்பெயர்தலும் இயற்கையும்

மனிதன் தனது தொடக்கக் காலத்தில் இருந்தே கூட்டம் கூட்டமாகப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து வாழ்தலைக் கடைப்பிடித்து வந்தான். பறவைகள், விலங்குகள் போன்றவை உணவிற்காகவும், நீருக்காகவும், வாழிடங்களுக்காகவும், இனப்பெருக்கத்திற்காகவும் இயற்கையாக இடம் பெயர்தல் உண்டு. இயற்கையே இதற்கு வழி ஏற்படுத்திக் கொடுத்துள்ளது எனலாம்.

வெளிநாட்டுப் பறவைகள் வேடந்தாங்கலுக்குப் பறந்து வந்து இங்கு தங்கி தனது இனத்தை விருத்தி செய்து கொண்டு மீண்டும் அது முடிந்தவுடன் தங்களது இருப்பிடங்களுக்குச் செல்கின்றன.

புலம்பெயரக் கூடியவை பெரும்பாலும் மீண்டும் தங்களது பூர்வீக இருப்பிடத்திற்குத் திரும்புவதுண்டு. இல்லையெனில் புதிதாகத் தாங்கள் வந்த இடத்திலேயே தங்கி விடுவதும் உண்டு. சில விலங்குகள் மற்றும் பறவையினங்கள் ஒவ்வொரு இடமாகப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து கொண்டு செல்வதுமுண்டு.

தொல்காப்பியம்-சங்க இலக்கியம் இவற்றில் புலம்பெயர்தல்

சங்க காலத்திலும் இப்புலம் பெயர்தல் என்பது அதகமாக நிகழ்ந்திருப்பதற்குச் சான்றுகள் உள்ளன. தொல்காப்பியத்தில் இடம்பெற்றுள்ள,

‘‘திணை மயக்குறுதலும் கடிநிலை இலவே”

என்ற நூற்பாவிற்கு உரை எழுதும் உரையாசிரியர்கள் ஒரு நிலத்திலுள்ளவை மற்றொரு நிலத்திற்கு வந்து திரியினும் அதனை நீக்க மாட்டார்கள்” என்று உரை எழுதுகின்றனர். இங்கு திரிதல் என்பதற்கு உலவி வருதல் என்று பொருள் கொள்ளலாம். வழக்கத்தில் ஒருவன் வீட்டில் தங்காது வெளியிடங்களுக்குச் சென்று வந்தால் அவனைப் பார்த்து வீட்டில் உள்ள பெரியோர்கள், ‘‘எங்கே போய் திரிந்து விட்டு வருகின்றாய்?“ என்று கேட்பர். இங்கு திரிதல் இடம் விட்டு இடம் சென்று வருதல் என்ற பொருளைக் குறிக்கின்றது. திணை மயக்கம் என்பது, மலையில் வசிக்கும் (குறிஞ்சி) பறவைகளோ, விலங்குகளோ, காடு, வயல் சார்ந்த இடங்களுக்கு இடம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று உறைந்து (தங்கி) வருவதனைக் குறிக்கும். இதனைப் புலம்பெயர்தல் என்று கூறலாம்.

நிலம் என்பதை இடம் எனக் கொண்டால் மலை (குறிஞ்சி), காடு (முல்லை), வயல் (மருதம்), கடல்(நெய்தல்), மணல் சார்ந்த இடம் (பாலை) என ஐந்நிலமும் ஐந்து வகையான நிலப்பகுதிகளைக் (இடங்களாக) குறிக்கும் எனலாம். முல்லை நில மக்கள் பால், தயிர், வெண்ணெய் உள்ளிட்ட பாற்பொருள்களை மருத நிலத்திற்கு எடுத்துச் சென்று விற்று வந்தனர். கடற்புரத்தில் வசித்த பரதவர், உமணர் போன்றோர் மீன், உப்பு ஆகியவற்றை மருத நிலத்திற்குக் கொண்டு சென்று உப்பையும், மீனையும் கொடுத்து விட்டு நெல்லையும், பிற உணவுப் பொருள்களையும் பெற்று வந்தனர். எனச் சங்க இலக்கியங்கள் குறிப்பிடுகின்றன.

பட்டினப்பாலை இத்தகு செய்திகளை விரிவாக எடுத்துரைக்கின்றது. இவை பெரும்பாலும் வணிகத்திற்காகப் புலம் பெயர்தலைக் குறிக்கின்றது. இங்ஙனம் வணிகத்திற்காகப் புலம் பெயர்தல் என்பது தற்காலிகமாகவோ அல்லது நிரந்தரமாகவோ நிகழ்வதுண்டு.

புலம்பெயர்தல் வகைகளும் அதற்கான காரணங்களும்

புலம்பெயர்தலை தற்காலிமாகப் புலம் பெயர்தல், நிரந்தரமாக இடம் பெயர்தல் என்று இரு வகையாகப் பகுக்கலாம். தற்காலிகமாக இடம் பெயர்தல் என்பது தாங்கள் கொண்டு சென்ற பொருள்களை ஓரிரு நாள்களில் விற்று விட்டு மீண்டும் தங்களிருப்பிடத்திற்கு வந்து விடுதலைக் குறிக்கும். சிலர் வணிகத்தின் பொருட்டுத் தங்களிருப்பிடத்தை விட்டு நெடுந்தொலைவு சென்று அங்கேயே தங்கி விடுவதும் உண்டு. இத்தகைய புலம்பெயர்தலைப் “பிரிவு” பற்றிக் குறிப்பிடும் போது தொல்காப்பியர் குறிப்பிடுகின்றார்.

“ஓதல் பகையே தூதிவை பிரிவே”

என கல்விக்காகவும், பகைப் புலம் நோக்கிப் படையெடுக்கும் காரணமாகவும், பொருள் காரணமாகவும், தூதுவராகச் செல்வதற்காகவும் (பணி காரணமாக இடம்பெயர்தல்) புலம் பெயர்தல் உண்டு. இத்தகைய புலப்பெயர்வுகள் தற்காலிகமானவையாகும். அவ்வாறு புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்றோர் தாங்கள் மேற்கொண்ட பணி முற்றுப் பெற்றவுடன் மீளத் தம்முடைய இருப்பிடத்திற்குத் திரும்பி வந்து விடுவர். போர் காரணமாகப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று மீண்டதை முல்லைப்பாட்டு, நெடுநல்வாடை போன்றவை குறிப்பிடுகின்றன.

சங்க காலத்தில் தமிழகம் சேர, சோழ, பாண்டிய நாடுகளாகப் பிரிக்கப்பட்டு மூவேந்தர்களால் ஆளப்பட்டு வந்தது. பாண்டிய நாட்டுப் புலவர் பிசிராந்தையார் நட்பின் காரணமாகத் தூண்டப்பட்டுப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து, சோழநாடு வந்து தனது நண்பன் கோப்பெருஞ்சோழன் இறந்த இடத்திலேயே இறந்தார். இஃது நிரந்தரப் புலம் பெயர்தலை சார்ந்ததாகும். குறிஞ்சி நிலமாகிய மலை நாட்டில் நண்பர் பாரியுடன் வசித்து வந்த கபிலர் தனது நண்பர் மூவேந்தர்களது சூழ்ச்சியினால் கொல்லப்பட்டவுடன் பரம்பு மலையை விட்டுப் புலம் பெயர்ந்தார். பாரியின் மகள்களை மணமுடித்துக் கொடுத்துவிட்டு மீண்டும் பரம்புமலைக்கு வந்து அங்கு வடக்கிருந்து உயிர் துறந்தார். தனது நண்பன் தன்னிடம் கொடுத்த கடமையை நிறைவேற்றி விட்டு மீண்டும் பரம்பு மலைக்கு வந்து அங்கு வடக்கிருந்து உயிர் துறந்ததைப் புறநானூறு தெளிவுறுத்துகின்றது. கபிலர் புலம் பெயர்ந்தது தற்காலிகப் புலம் பெயர்தலைச் சேர்ந்ததாகும்.

இங்ஙனம் புறநானூறு பல்வேறு வகையாக இப்புலம்பெயர்தலை எடுத்துரைக்கின்றது.

ஆற்றுப்படை நூல்கள் அனைத்தும் புலம் பெயர் மக்களைப் பற்றியதாக அமைந்திலங்குகின்றது. இவை ஒரு நிலத்தில் உள்ளோர் தங்களுக்கு அருகில் உள்ள நிலத்திற்குச் சென்று வாழ்ந்ததைக் குறிப்பிடுகின்றது.

“புலம்பெயர் மாக்கள் கலந்தினிது உறையும்”

என்று வெளிநாடுகளில் இருந்து புலம் பெயர்ந்து வந்து புகாரில் வாழ்ந்தவர்களைப் பற்றி பட்டினப்பாலை எடுத்துரைக்கின்றது.

“பதியெழு அறியாப் பழங்குடி கெழீஇய” (சிலம்பு)

எனப் புலம் பெயராது ஒரே இடத்தில் மக்கள் வாழ்ந்த செய்தியையும் செவ்வியல் இலக்கியங்கள் பதிவு செய்துள்ளது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது. தங்களின் வறுமையைப் போக்குவதற்குப் புலவர்கள், பாணர்கள், கூத்தர்கள், பொருநர், விறலியர் ஆகியோர் தங்களின் வாழிடத்தை விட்டு வள்ளல்கள் இருக்கும் இடத்திற்கு இடம் பெயர்ந்து சென்றதை ஆற்றுப்படை இலக்கியங்கள் தெளிவுறுத்துகின்றன. அங்ஙனம் சென்றவர்கள் பரிசில்களைப் பெற்று மீளத் தாம் வாழ்ந்த பகுதிகளுக்குச் சென்று வறுமையில் வாடியோரோடு தங்கள் பெற்ற செல்வங்களைப் பகிர்ந்து கொண்டு வாழ்ந்தனர்.

தலைவன் தான் விரும்பிய தலைவியை மணப்பதற்குரிய பொருளைத் தேடி வேறு புலத்திற்கு இடம்பெயர்ந்து சென்று பொருளீட்டி மீண்டு வந்து தலைவியை மணந்து கொண்டதையும், தன் மனையையும், தன்னைச் சேர்ந்தோரையும் வளமாக வாழ வைக்கக் கருதிய தலைவன் தனது தலைவியைப் பிரிந்து பொருளீட்டப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்றதையும் அக இலக்கியங்கள் குறிப்பிடுவது நோக்கத் தக்கதாகும். வணிகத்திற்காகத் தமிழர்கள் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்றதையும் இலக்கியங்கள் நன்கு புலப்படுத்துகின்றன.

காப்பியங்களில் புலம்பெயர்தல்

கண்ணகியுடன் புகாரை விட்டு நீங்கி மதுரைக்குக் கோவலன் சென்றது பொருளீட்டும் வகையில் அமைந்தது புலப்பெயர்வு நிகழ்வாகும். கணவனைப் பறிகொடுத்து விட்டு மதுரையைத் தீக்கிரையாக்கி விட்டு மனமொடிந்த நிலையில் பாண்டிய நாட்டிலிருந்து புலம் பெயர்ந்து சேரநாட்டிற்குச் சென்று கண்ணகி அங்கு தெய்வமாவதைச் சிலப்பதிகாரம் எடுத்துரைக்கின்றது.

மணிமேகலைக் காப்பியம் பிறருடைய பசிப்பிணியைப் போக்கிட ஆபுத்திரன், மணிமேகலை ஆகியோர் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்றதை விவரிக்கின்றது. மேலும் இதே காப்பியம் சாதுவன் வணிகத்தின் பொருட்டுப் புகாரிலிருந்து புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று மீளவும் பொருளுடன் புகாருக்கு வந்த தற்காலிகப் புலம்பெயர்தலை விவரிக்கின்றது.

சீவகசிந்தாமணியில் தனது குறிக்கோளை அடைவதற்காகச் சீவகன் ஒவ்வொரு நாடாகப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று மீண்டும் தனது நாட்டிற்கு வந்து பகை முடித்து அரசனாகின்றான். சீவகனது புலம் பெயர்வு நிகழ்வு தற்காலிகமானதும், காரிய வெற்றியைக் குறித்துமானதுமாகும்.

சங்க இலக்கியங்களும், காப்பிய இலக்கியங்களும் கூறக்கூடிய புலம் பெயர்தல் பொருளீட்டுதல், நாடுகாவல், பகை முடித்தல் உள்ளிட்ட தற்காலிகப் புலம் பெயர்தலாகும். சிற்றிலக்கியங்களுள் குறவஞ்சி இலக்கியங்ள் குறி சொல்லும் குறத்தி குறிசொல்லும் தன் திறனை வைத்துப் பல நாடுகளுக்கும் தன்னிருப்பிடத்தை விட்டுப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று பல்வேறு பரிசுப் பொருள்களைப் பெற்று மீண்டும் தன் இருப்பிடத்திற்கு வந்த்தை எடுத்துரைக்கின்றன.

புலம்பெயர் இலக்கியங்கள்

இன்றைய நிலையில் இலக்கியங்கள் கூறும் புலம்பெயர்தலுக்கான காரணங்கள் மிகுந்திருப்பினும், வேறு சில புதிய காரணங்களும் இதில் சேர்ந்துள்ளன. பொருளீட்டல், வேலை, கல்வி, மருத்துவம், சாதீயப் பூசல், வறுமை, வேலையின்மை, உள்நாட்டுப் போர், அயல்நாட்டாரின் படையெடுப்பு, அரசியல் ஆகிய காரணங்கள் புதிதாகப் புலம் பெயர்தலுக்குரியனவாக விளங்குகின்றன. இருப்பினும் உள்நாட்டுப் போர் காரணமாகவும், மனித உரிமை மீறல்களின் காரணமாகவும் மக்கள் தங்களது வாழிடங்களை விட்டு அயல்நாடுகளுக்குப் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்று அங்கேயே நிரந்தரமாக வாழத் தொடங்கி விடுகின்றனர்.

அதுபோல பொருளீட்டுவதற்காகப் புலம்பெயர்ந்தோரும் தாம் சென்ற நாடுகளிலேயே குடியுரிமை பெற்று நிரந்தராமாகத் தங்கி வாழ்கின்றனர். இவ்வாறு வாழ்வோர் தங்களது பண்பாட்டை மறவாது அதனைப் பின்பற்றி வாழ்கின்றனர். இவ்வாறு புலம் பெயர்ந்து வாழ்வோர் தங்களது நிலையையும், தங்களது தாயகத்தின் நினைவுகளையம், தங்களது கனவுகளையும், தாங்கள் புலம் பெயர்ந்து சென்ற போது அடைந்த துயரங்களையும், புலம் பெயர்ந்து வாழும் நாட்டில் தங்களது வாழ்க்கை நிலையையும் குறித்து பல்வேறு விதமான இலக்கியங்களைப் படைக்கின்றனர். இத்தகைய இலக்கியங்களே புலம் பெயர்ந்தோர் படைத்த இலக்கியங்களாகப் பரிணமிக்கின்றன.

ஈழத் தமிழர்களின் இலக்கியங்களும், மலேசியா, சிங்கப்பூர், அமெரிக்கா, மொரீசியஸ் உள்ளிட்ட பல நாடுகளிலும் புலம்பெயர்ந்து வாழ்கின்ற தமிழர்கள் படைக்கின்ற இலக்கியங்கள் அனைத்தும் புலம் பெயர் இலக்கியங்களாக விளங்கி அவை புதியதொரு இலக்கிய வரலாறாக அமைந்திலங்குகின்றன எனலாம்.

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வாழ்க்கைஎனும் படகில்
என் கண்களும், நெஞ்சமும்
தவித்திடும் தவிப்பு
இறைவன் மிகப் பெரியவன்..!

உலகில் யாரும் செய்வதில்லை
பொருள் இல்லாமல் சேவை!
வாழ்க்கையை வாழவே
பொருள் என்றும் தேவை

பசிவந்து வயிற்றைக் கிள்ள
அழுகை வந்தது!
இரக்கமில்லா மனிதர் மீது
வெறுப்பு வந்தது
அருளா? பொருளா?

வசதியான கண்கள் எல்லாம்
கனவு காணும் போது
கடுமையாய் உழைத்தும்
ஏழை கண்ணில் சோகம்
மலர் பறிக்க மரத்தையிங்கு
வெட்டலாகுமா?
ஏழை வயிற்றில் அடித்துப்
பிழைக்கலாகுமா?
அருளா? பொருளா?

இல்லாதவன் அழுகை கூட
அர்த்தமுள்ளதாகும்
இருப்பவன் அழுகையோ
குடிகெடுக்க கூடும்
இறைவன் வந்து ஏழையாக
வாழ வேண்டுமே!
வறுமை என்றால் என்னவென்று
உணர வேண்டுமே!
அருளா? பொருளா?

-விஷ்ணுதாசன்.

வினைத்திட்பம்!

முயற்சித் திருவினையைக் கண்டீரோ!
பயிற்சியின் உயர்ச்சியைக் கண்டீரோ!
அயர்ச்சியில்லாக் கால மயிலின்
வியப்புடைத் தோகை விரிப்பின்
நயம் கண்டீரோ! ஆனந்தம்!
வாய்ப்பின் அற்புதம் பரமானந்தம்!
ஆனந்தம்! அங்கீகாரம் ஆனந்தம்!
ஆனந்தம் சங்காரமின்றி வழங்கும்
அனந்த ஊக்கம் ஆனந்தம்!
ஓங்கார பலத்தில் ஓசையின்றி
ஓங்கிடும் வினைத் திட்பம்
சிங்காரமாய் அரங்கேறல் ஆனந்தம்!
நிலையூன்றும் சுயநலச் சுழிகள்,
அலையிழந்து சிக்கும் மனிதன்,
நிலையாகப் போராடி எட்டும்
கலையான வெற்றி கண்டீரோ!
விலையற்ற இலக்கு எட்டும்
நிலை வாய்ப்பு! ஆனந்தம்!.
உயிரோட்ட வாழ்வில் நிதம்
போராட்டம் பல விதம்.
தட்டுங்கள் திறக்கப்படும் வேதம்.
எட்டுங்கள் வாய்ப்பிற்கு நிதம்!
தேரோட்ட இலக்கின் நோக்கு
நீராட்டும் வாய்ப்பு வியப்பு!
பற்றும் வீரியக் கனவு
இற்றிடாது சிந்து பாடும்!
வற்றிடாக் கடலாய் உந்தும்!
உற்ற காலத்துத் திருவினையால்
வெற்றி காணலாம் வினைமனம்.

-வேதா. இலங்காதிலகம், ஓகுஸ், 

அவசரம்?

எழுத்துக்கள் வெடித்து
வார்த்தைகள் வழிந்தோடும்
காகிதத்தின் உஷ்னத்தில்
என் உறக்கம்!

காத்திருப்பின் கடிகாரமுட்களின்
நொடிப்பொழுது சத்தத்தில்
செதுக்குகிறேன் என்னை!

உறைந்த
வார்த்தை மிதவைகளின் கீழ்
மூழ்கி மூழ்கி
பரிசுத்தமாகிறேன் நான்!

குங்கும சூரியக்கதிரும்
மஞ்சள் மாலைப் பொழுதும்
கனவிலும் கொலு

விருக்கும்
என் கண்கள்!

வார்த்தைகள் எரிந்து
காயப்படுத்த வேண்டமென்ற
காகிதங்களின்
வெள்ளைக்கொடி போராட்டத்தால்
வருத்தம்!

என் இருகண்கள் அழுத
சுவடுகள் மறைந்தாழும்
ஒற்றைக்கண்ணால் அழும்
எழுதுகோலின் சுவடிருப்பதால் மகிழ்ச்சி!
எழுத நினைக்கும் வாசகமெல்லாம்
எங்கோ படித்ததாய்
ஏமாற்றம்!

சுமத்தலின் சுகமும்
பிறத்தலின் வலியும்
ஒருநொடியில் பலமுறைகள்!

எழுதிய நோட்டு புத்தகங்கள்
மூடி வைப்பதற்குள்
போர்வையில் உடல் போர்த்தும்
அவசரம்!

-தோழன் சபரிநாதன்

குறுங்கவிதைகள்!

முரண்
ஆசிரியரின் பாடம்
ஆறுவது சினமாம்
அடியோ மாணவனுக்கு

திருப்தி
ரோஜாவில் முள்ளா?
இல்லை! இல்லை!
முள்ளில் தானே ரோஜா!

விளைவு

கால்களும் சோர்ந்தன
கைகளும் சோர்ந்தன
அடக் கூலியுமா?

வேதனை

அன்னதானம் பற்றி
அரைமணி நேரம் பேச்சு
தலைவரோ கஞ்சம்!

எப்போது விடிவு?

வானில் நிலா
பூமியில் வெளிச்சம்
குடிசைக்குள் இருட்டு!

-முனைவர். மா.  தியாகராஜன், சிங்கப்பூர்.

How the brain assigns objects to categories

 Neuroscience 
New research from MIT neuroscientists suggests how the brain learns which category an object belongs to — for example, fruits or animals. Image: Christine Daniloff

The human brain is adept at recognizing similar items and placing them into categories — for example, dog versus cat, or chair versus table. In a new study, MIT neuroscientists have identified the brain activity that appears to control this skill.

The findings, published in the July 27 issue of the journal Neuron, suggest a potential explanation for why autistic children focus intently on details, but often seem unable to group things into broad categories, says Earl Miller, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience and senior author of the paper.

"We think what may happen in autism is the system may get out of balance … and as a result, the details overwhelm the category. Then you have a brain that's not only too good at memorizing details, it can't help but memorize the details," says Miller, a principal investigator at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT.

Miller and Picower postdoc Evan Antzoulatos focused their study on two brain regions, the prefrontal cortex and the striatum, which is part of a larger structure known as the basal ganglia. Both regions are known to be important for learning.

Until a few years ago, it was believed that the prefrontal cortex learns information quickly, then sends what it learns to the basal ganglia, which helps form habits, such as the ability to play a musical instrument. However, in 2005, Miller and colleagues showed that when monkeys learn simple tasks, their basal ganglia are more active early in the process, followed by a slower activation in the prefrontal cortex.

In other words, the striatum quickly learns the individual puzzle pieces, and the prefrontal cortex puts them together, Miller says. He and Antzoulatos theorized that the same pattern would be evident during category learning.

For the new Neuron study, Antzoulatos trained monkeys to assign patterns of dots into one of two categories. At first, the animals would see only two examples, or "exemplars," from each category — a small enough number that they could memorize the category to which each belonged, without having to learn the general category traits. After the animals learned the first two exemplars, the number would be doubled. Eventually, the number of exemplars became so great that it was impossible to memorize them, and the monkeys' brains would start picking up on general traits that characterize each category.

As they did so, brain activity shifted from the striatum, a more primitive brain region, to the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for high-level functions such as planning and decision making.

"What happens during category learning is the more primitive, faster basal ganglia can memorize the exemplars, but then it sends what it learns up to the prefrontal cortex. And the prefrontal cortex figures out what's common among all the exemplars, among all the individuals, and extracts the essence," Miller says.

Gregory Ashby, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, says the new study represents the "clearest picture yet" of the striatum's involvement in category learning. "We've known for quite a while that the striatum plays an important role in category learning, but it was not at all clear exactly what that role was," he says.

In future studies, the MIT researchers hope to test their theory that autism results from an imbalance between the striatum and prefrontal cortex by interfering with the normal balance between the two brain regions and observing the results.

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.

"How the brain assigns objects to categories." July 28th, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-brain-assigns-categories.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

The brain's connectome -- from branch to branch

 Neuroscience 

This is a reconstruction of 114 rod bipolar nerve cells from a piece of mouse retina. Each cell has a different color. The dense bundles are dendrites, and the sparser processes are axons. Credit: MPI for Medical Research

The human brain is the most complex of all organs, containing billions of neurons with their corresponding projections, all woven together in a highly complex, three-dimensional web. To date, mapping this vast network posed a practically insurmountable challenge to scientists. Now, however, a research team from the Heidelberg-based Max Planck Institute for Medical Research has developed a method for tackling the mammoth task. Using two new computer programs, KNOSSOS and RESCOP, a group of over 70 students mapped a network of more than 100 neurons – and they did so faster and more accurately than with previous methods.

With some 70 billion neurons and hundreds of thousands of kilometres of circuits, the human brain is so complex that, for many years, it seemed impossible to reconstruct the network in detail. Each neuron is linked to about a thousand others by means of finely branched projections called dendrites and axons, and communicates with them using electrical signals. The connections between the cells are critical for brain function, so neuroscientists are keen to understand the structure of these circuits – the connectome – and to reconstruct it in a three-dimensional map. Since no computer is powerful enough yet for the task, researchers are dependent on the human eye. However, the sheer number of cellular connections contained in even the tiniest fragment of tissue makes the undertaking seem pointless – unless it is shared among a large number of people.

This is a reconstruction of 114 rod bipolar nerve cells from a piece of mouse retina. The dendrites form dense bundles, where the bipolar cells receive signals from the photoreceptors. The cell bodies of the bipolar cells are indicated by gray spheres. Credit: MPI for Medical Research

Moritz Helmstaedter, Kevin L. Briggman and Winfried Denk, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, have now successfully tested this procedure. They developed a special software tool called RESCOP which summarises the results of several annotators to yield an overall picture. In this way, and with the support of over 70 students from Heidelberg University, they reconstructed a network of over 100 neurons from the retina in full detail.

The students used the KNOSSOS software developed by the team in Heidelberg to trace the connections between the neurons. It is no coincidence that the program is named after Crete's legendary palace, renowned for its elaborate labyrinth: "Tracing the connections in the brain is at least as hard as finding your way out of a mythological labyrinth", explains Moritz Helmstaedter.

In order to reconstruct a neural circuit, researchers start by staining the neurons of a section of tissue with heavy metals to make them visible. Using three-dimensional electron microscope images, they start at the cell body and follow the dendrites and axons, marking the branch point nodes on the screen. Then they use the computer to generate a three-dimensional image of the section. In this way, they work their way through the tangle of neurons bit by bit. It is a tedious undertaking: One person working alone with the currently available programs would take at least 30 years to reconstruct a path of 30 centimetres in length. Besides, these procedures are prone to error, since the branch points are not always easily recognised and the annotator's attentiveness decreases with time.

The KNOSSOS software considerably reduces the time required: It is about 50 times faster than other programs used up to now. In addition, the RESCOP program now makes it possible for dozens of people to work on the reconstruction at the same time. Since the method is easily learned, even non-experts can use it. Most of the students worked from home and sent their results to the scientists via e-mail. The scientists were able to establish that the error rate of the best students was no higher than that of experienced neurobiologists. Moreover, its sophisticated algorithms enable RESCOP to detect and average out inaccuracies. This means that the reconstruction is not only faster, but also more reliable than before.

"For the first time ever, these new programs could make it possible for us to unravel the complicated neural network of the brain – a task far more complex than decoding the human genome", says Winfried Denk. Next, the scientists plan to reconstruct a fragment of the mouse cerebral cortex, as this is where all the important mental processes occur.

More information: doi:10.1038/nn.2868

Provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

"The brain's connectome -- from branch to branch." July 28th, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-brain-connectome-.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

New fuel from tequila plant

THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

"The agave plant is probably one of the most promising crops we can grow to produce ethanol-based fuels." Image: maiteali/iStockphoto Large scale farms of the agave plant used to make the drink tequila could be established in Australia's arid inland as a novel and greenhouse-friendly solution to our transport fuel problems, a University of Sydney academic has found. In an article published today in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, plant physiologist Dr Daniel Tan and his University of Oxford collaborators have analysed the potential to produce bioethanol (biofuel) from the agave plant, a high sugar succulent widely grown in Mexico to make the alcoholic drink tequila. The agave plant has not yet been widely cultivated as a fuel source, but it promises some significant advantages over existing sources of ethanol such as sugarcane and corn, Dr Tan and his Oxford colleagues argue. "The agave plant is probably one of the most promising crops we can grow to produce ethanol-based fuels," said Dr Tan, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. "It can grow in arid areas without irrigation; it doesn't compete with food crops or put demands on limited water supplies." A pilot agave farm to produce ethanol has been established in Kalamia Estate, Queensland (near Ayr) but more work needs to be done. "Further research is obviously needed to improve the understanding of the agave plants and to develop the technology involved," the paper notes. Dr Tan and his co-authors - including Sir David King, a former chief scientific advisor to the UK Government - analysed the production of ethanol from the agave plant in a hypothetical farm and production facility and found it had a number of other benefits. "Ethanol derived from agave has a positive energy balance - the energy created is five times that required to produce it. This compares favourably to the highly efficient sugarcane, and to the less efficient corn as a source of biofuel," Dr Tan said. "It also compares favourably to sugarcane-derived ethanol for its ability to offset greenhouse gas emissions, which we calculated at 7.5 tons of CO2e per hectare per year - taking into account the crop's complete lifecycle, from planting and harvesting to production and processing." Xiaoyu Yan, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford said: "Our analysis highlights the promising opportunities for bioenergy production from agaves in arid or semi-arid regions, causing minimum pressure on food production and water resources. The results suggest that ethanol derived from agave is likely to be superior, or at least comparable, to that from corn, switchgrass and sugarcane in terms of energy and GHG balances (net GHG offset per unit land area), as well as ethanol output." An agave production facility would also be self-fuelling, with the plant's woody by-products (bagasse and residue) fuelling the production facility's energy requirements, says Dr Tan.

Discovery of a new magnetic order

Physicists at Forschungszentrum Juelich and the universities of Kiel and Hamburg are the first to discover stable magnetic skyrmions on a surface as opposed to in bulk materials. The tiny cycloidal spirals, made up of just 15 atoms with their spins, form a regular lattice. The diagram shows simulations of magnetic measurements with the aid of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in black and white. The orange, red and green arrows show the upward or downward orientation of the spins. The cube-shaped "peephole" designates a single skyrmion. Credit: University of Hamburg

Physicists at Forschungszentrum Jülich and the universities of Kiel and Hamburg are the first to discover a regular lattice of stable magnetic skyrmions – radial spiral structures made up of atomic-scale spins – on a surface instead of in bulk materials. Such tiny formations could one day form the basis of a new generation of smaller and more efficient data storage units in the field of information technology.

The scientists discovered the magnetic spirals, each made up of just 15 atoms, in a one-atomic-layer of iron on iridium. They present their results in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Physics.

The existence of magnetic skyrmions was already predicted over 20 years ago, but was first proven experimentally in 2009; a group of research scientists from the Technische Universität München (TUM) had identified lattices of magnetic vortices in manganese silicon in a weak magnetic field. Unlike these structures, the ones now discovered by physicists at Jülich, Kiel and Hamburg exist without an external magnetic field and are located on the surface of the materials examined, instead of inside them. Their diameter amounts to just a few atoms, making them at least one order of magnitude smaller than the skyrmions which have been identified to date.

"The magnetically-stable entities that we have discovered behave like particles and arrange themselves like atoms in a two-dimensional lattice", explains Prof. Stefan Blügel, Director at the Peter Grünberg Institute and the Institute for Advanced Simulation in Jülich. "This discovery is for us a dream come true". Already in 2007, the same scientific team had discovered a new type of magnetic order in a thin manganese film on tungsten and demonstrated the critical significance of the so-called Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction for the formation of its wave-like structure. The same interaction is also necessary for the formation of the spiral-shaped skyrmions.

The scientists did not discover the skyrmion lattice at first attempt. Originally, they wanted to prepare a one-atomic layer of chromium on iridium, in order to investigate the presumed existence of a different magnetic state. As the experiments were unsuccessful, they then tried with other metals. Using spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy in studies of iron on iridium at the University of Hamburg, the researchers noticed regular magnetic patterns that were not consistent with the crystalline structure of the metal surface. "We were sure straightaway that we had discovered skyrmions", says Blügel. Intricate calculations undertaken by the Jülich supercomputers subsequently proved him right.

The result is a model describing the formation of the spin alignment through a complex interplay of three interactions: the chiral Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, the conventional interaction between spins plus a non-linear interaction involving four spins. The model should help, in the future, to selectively influence magnetic structures on surfaces. "We are now planning to investigate the effect of electricity on skyrmions; how do the electron spins of an electric current "ride" the spirals, how do they influence resistance and how are the spirals affected?", says Blügel.

More information: "Spontaneous atomic-scale magnetic skyrmion lattice in two dimensions," Nature Physics, published online:

Revealing water's secrets

We drink it, swim in it, and our bodies are largely made of it. But as ubiquitous as water is, there is much that science still doesn't understand about this life-sustaining substance.

For example, unlike almost all other compounds, which typically shrink as they get colder, water expands when it freezes — which is why ice floats on water. Yet even the reasons for this unusual fundamental property remain elusive.

Now an MIT doctoral student and a team of researchers have carried out new experiments supporting a controversial theory about water's behavior that could help explain some of its mysteries.

Their findings, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have important implications for fields ranging from biology to construction, the researchers say, because the behavior of water affects so many important processes.

In this video clip, Yang Zhang PhD '10 demonstrates supercooled water, a key aspect of this research. An ordinary bottle of spring water was kept in the freezer overnight. Because it was kept still, the water reached a temperature well below the freezing point, but the water didn't freeze because it had no nucleation centers — such as ice crystals, bubbles or ripples — to start the freezing process. Then, when the bottle is subjected to a sudden impact, the shock wave causes almost all of the water to freeze instantly. Video: Yang Zhang

Water is "probably the most weird substance on Earth," says Yang Zhang PhD '10, lead author of the PNAS paper, which was based on his doctoral thesis research. "It behaves very differently from other materials," he says, with scores of anomalous characteristics. The work was done in collaboration with Zhang's doctoral supervisor, Sow-Hsin Chen, professor in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and six other co-authors.

All materials undergo phase transitions between the basic states of matter — solid, liquid and gas. At these transitions, a material's properties can change significantly and suddenly. A theory proposed about two decades ago explained some of water's odd behavior by suggesting that a similar transition may take place between two different liquid states, in which the arrangement of the water molecules changes so that the two states have very different densities.

The new research, which probed water's molecular structure under a wide range of pressures and temperatures, provided some evidence for the existence of this liquid-liquid transition, though the evidence falls short of proof.

Evidence for this posited transition has been very difficult to obtain because it occurs only at temperatures and pressures at which water normally could not exist in liquid form: For instance, the temperature at which the liquid-liquid transition may occur lies far below the normal freezing point, at about minus 60 degrees Celsius. So the researchers had to find a clever way to get around that limitation. 

One key trick: the use of tiny tubes of silica, in which the molecules of water were tightly confined so that they were unable to crystallize into ice. This tight confinement made it possible to maintain water in liquid form far below its normal freezing point.

With the water molecules in this state, Zhang, now the Clifford G. Shull Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was able to probe their density using a neutron beam from a reactor at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In the experiments, he gradually varied the pressure from normal sea-level atmospheric pressure (or 1 bar) up to about 3,000 times that amount, and varied the temperature over a range of 170 degrees Celsius. He found a difference in water's density by approaching the expected transition temperature from opposite directions, as predicted by the theory.

Pablo Debenedetti, a professor of engineering and applied science at Princeton University who was not involved in this research, says "these are beautiful experiments" that address "one of the most interesting open questions on the liquid state of matter, and in particular on water: the possible existence of a phase transition between two distinct phases of liquid water."

While the experiments support the theory, he says, interpretation is complicated because confined water might behave differently from water in bulk. "The theoretical tools needed to unambiguously relate observations in nanoscale confinement to the behavior of bulk water are not available at present," he says.

"Supercooled" water that remains liquid below the normal freezing point is relatively easy to produce; Zhang even filmed a short demonstration using an ordinary water bottle cooled in the refrigerator. Water can also be "superheated" in a microwave oven to well above the boiling point, flashing to a boil all at once only when it is disturbed in some way. (In both freezing and boiling, water usually needs a nucleation point, such as a bubble or a ripple, to trigger the change of phase.)

Because water is key to so many aspects of people's lives, these phenomena could have important consequences. For example, Chen delivered a keynote speech this July, at a conference on low-temperature agriculture, on the possible impact of these supercooled states on plant life. He believes the fact that living organisms apparently cannot be revived after being subjected to temperatures below about minus 45 C is explained by water's transition to a lower-density state that prevents proteins, the molecules on which living organisms are built, from functioning.

This density difference could also affect construction, because concrete contains tiny amounts of water that can cause buildings and roads in polar regions to suffer serious cracking when temperatures plunge below minus 45 C. If the theory is correct, this critical temperature could set a fundamental limitation for both organisms and concrete buildings.

"The building blocks of our bodies and the building blocks of our society," Zhang says, "both have a lower limit of temperature that is based on the properties of water." But by understanding those limits, he says, it might be possible to alter the water — for example, by dissolving certain chemicals in it — to change the transition points and lower that limit.

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Study finds that mobile phone technology helps patients manage diabetes

An interactive computer software program appears to be effective in helping patients manage their Type 2 diabetes using their mobile phones, according to a new study by University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers. The study is being published in the September issue of the journal Diabetes Care. The study, one of the first to scientifically examine mobile health technology, found that a key measure of blood sugar control – the amount of hemoglobin A1c in a person's blood – was lowered by an average of 1.9 percent over a period of one year in patients using the mobile health software. The findings support the further exploration of mobile health approaches to manage many chronic conditions, including diabetes.

"These results are very encouraging," says Charlene C. Quinn, Ph.D., R.N., an assistant professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the principal investigator. "The 1.9 percent decrease in A1c that we saw in this research is significant. Previous randomized clinical trials have suggested that just a 1 percent decrease in A1c will prevent complications ofdiabetes, including heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure."

The study indicates that using mobile phones, the Internet and other mobile communications technology to keep patients healthy may have broad applications to help patients and their physicians manage many health conditions.

"Mobile health has the potential to help patients better self-manage any chronic disease, not just diabetes," Dr. Quinn explains. "This is one of the first large, reported, randomized clinical studies examining the mobile health industry, which is rapidly growing. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration just last month released draft guidance on how it intends to regulate the field. Our results can help define the science behind this new strategy for disease management."

People with Type 2 diabetes either do not produce enough insulin to convert sugar into energy or their cells ignore the insulin. A key measure of blood sugar controlis the amount of hemoglobin A1c in a person's blood. A1c is a molecule in red blood cells that binds itself to blood sugar. The higher the level of sugar in the blood, the higher the level of A1c.

An A1c test provides a snapshot of a patient's average daily blood glucose levels over the previous two to three months. The American Diabetes Association recommends that a person's A1c be less than 7 percent. Most Americans with Type 2 diabetes have an average level of more than 9 percent, which greatly increases their risk for complications.

"We tell patients that they can meet these goals if they eat a healthy diet, exercise daily and take their medication as directed, but we don't really give them the tools to do that," says Dr. Quinn.

The yearlong study enrolled 163 patients with the help of 39 primary care doctors in Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Anne Arundel County. Patients were divided into four groups based on the research assignment of their physician. Three patient groups received mobile phones loaded with the diabetes management software and the fourth group served as a control group. All patients in the study received a free blood glucose meter and testing supplies.

The software examined in the research provided real-time feedback on patients' blood sugar levels, displayed medication regimens and served as a "virtual coach." A patient's blood sugar test results were sent wirelessly from a blood glucose monitor to the mobile phone. If the level was too low or too high, the software on the phone prompted the person to take steps to correct it. The system also analyzed blood sugar levels and other patient information and sent computer-generated logbooks and suggested treatment plans to the patients' primary care doctor.

Provided by University of Maryland Medical Center

One third of those surveyed said they will buy iPhone 5

According to Pricegrabber, of 2,852 online shoppers recently polled, thirty five percent of them plan to buy an Apple iPhone when it’s released sometime this fall. Furthermore, a full sixty nine percent of them, when asked which kind of smart phone they’d most like to receive as a gift, chose the iPhone 5, a smart phone that consumers have yet to even see.

Pricegrabber says the results are from a poll of online consumers, but doesn’t indicate if that only includes customers who visited the Pricegrabber website, which if true, would obviously offer skewed results. It might also be noted, that online consumers, as opposed to those that shop mainly via other methods (or aren’t shopping at all) are likely to be those oriented to buying a smart phone in general. Finally, according to a recent Pew report only 35% of all Americans own a smart phone of any kind, so unless they are going to all be replaced with the new iPhone, the figures quoted by Pricegrabber should be taken in a very narrow context. Still, no matter how you look at it, the results are impressive evidence of the loyalty many current iPhone owners have for the Apple brand.

Other data garnered from the study shows that of the consumers surveyed, fully fifty one percent plan to buy the iPhone 5 within the first year of its debut; thirty percent by the end of the first month, and seven percent sometime in the first week. Taking things a step further, Pricegrabber also asked those surveyed which phone OS they prefer and once again Apple won big. Forty eight percent of them chose Apple iOS, while only nineteen mentioned the Android OS. Next in line was Microsoft Windows with seven percent followed by six percent for RIM Blackberry.

Not bad for a phone line that has only been around since June of 2007.

In addition to asking consumers about which phone they want, they also asked which features they’d most like to see Apple incorporate in the next iteration of their smart phone. Most (59%) said better battery life, after that, consumerswanted to see lower cost (55%), 4G compatibility (46%), a larger display (45%) and a better camera (42%). When asked how they use their smart phones in general, the majority (88%) said for talking.

Though Apple has not said when the iPhone 5 will hit the market, most experts seem to believe it will be sometime in the fall, likely to take advantage of the holiday shopping crush. But since its Apple, no one really knows, and that’s most certainly the way the company likes it.

New X-ray camera will reveal big secrets about how chemistry works

Generation of X-ray laser flashes in an undulator. To generate the extremely short and intense X-ray laser flashes, bunches of high-energy electrons are directed through special arrangements of magnets (undulators). Credit: European XFEL

Designed to record bursts of images at an unprecedented speed of 4.5 million frames per second, an innovative X-ray camera being built with STFC's world-class engineering expertise will help a major new research facility shed light on the structure of matter.

The unique device will be delivered to the billion-euro European XFEL (X-ray Free-Electron Laser) next year and will contribute to drug discovery and other vital research once this facility starts operating in 2015.

The go-ahead for continuation of the £3 million prototype collaboration contract for the camera's construction has been confirmed following a visit to STFC by a delegation from the European XFEL's Detector Advisory Committee.

The decision to entrust construction of this crucial piece of equipment to STFC recognises the organisation's outstanding capabilities in advanced microelectronics and the design of high-tech imaging devices (e.g. for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN).

Now under construction near Hamburg in Northern Germany, the European XFEL is a 2-mile-long facility that will use superconducting accelerator technology to accelerate electrons which then generate X-ray flashes a billion times brighter than those produced by conventional X-ray sources. Each flash will last less than one hundred million billionth of a second. With the properties of laser light, these short, intense flashes will, for example, make it possible to take three-dimensional X-ray images of single molecules.

Current leading-edge X-ray cameras are designed to capture images when matter is bombarded by a constant beam of X-rays. But the extreme brevity and intensity of the flashes produced by the European XFEL means such cameras will not be suitable for use at the new facility.

STFC's new device, which is being built in collaboration with University of Glasgow, is specifically designed to work in conjunction with hyper-short, hyper-brilliant X-ray flashes. It will be installed in one of the first experimental endstations incorporated in the European XFEL.

The device will help ensure that the European XFEL provides a unique opportunity for science and industry to understand matter and its behaviour, mapping the atomic details of viruses, for instance, or pinpointing the molecular composition of individual cells.

Dr Tim Nicholls of STFC says: "We're delighted that the European XFEL has turned to STFC to build this pioneering camera. It demonstrates how the UK can provide the high-tech excellence that world markets need, leading to scientific advances that make a real difference to people's lives."

Dr Markus Kuster, Group Leader of European XFEL GmbH's Detector Development says: "The European XFEL will represent a major step forward in equipping Europe with a new generation of research infrastructure that can meet the requirements of the 21st century. STFC's unique skills are creating an imaging device which will help this remarkable facility realise its vast potential".