Interesting stuff from the WWW

Some very interesting stuff from the world wide web:

Equation to estimate the risk of satellite debris falling on your head!

Not just juhu beach, pockets and bi-lianes of amchi mumbai  but space is full of debris too. Since the launch of sputnik way back in 1957, humans have flung heavy mettalic ojects into space, without any regard w.r.t littering. Not much thought has gone into the aspect of planning for a return trip of all the satellites and other stuff left to float around in zero gravity. This one-way ticket model has resulted in 160,000 un-controllable  objects collectively weighing about 6000 tonnes.

As this debris moves around in low earth orbit , wafer thin sheets of air slowly decelerate these objects to a point where these then drop down to earth. Some of these satellites that are equipped with a rocket engine or a propeller tank, can be controlled and forced to fall in the no-man land or the ocean.

To determine if a satellite needs such an expensive deorbiting system, the FAA uses an equation to estimate if one such piece might actually someday land on someone's head! The equation is as follows:

Pf  x Ni x Pi (lat,inc) x A = Ec

Pf  = probability that a piece of space junk will survive re-entry. For things like falling satellites, the equation is run seperately for each chunk expected to result from its eventual breakup.

Ni = average population density in area i . For simplification, earth is divided into a grid of squares i and the distribution is assumed to be uniform across each grid

Pi = probability that the object will hit the areas i - a function of  latitude (lat) and inclination (inc) of the object's orbital path relative to the equator.

A = casuality area. The bigger the object, the larger the area. Multiplying this with Ni tells how many people would get wacked if it falls in area i.

Ec = expected casualities. This is evaluated for every area i and every distinct chunk from a given space craft.

If the sum total of Ec for the entire craft exceed .0001 i.e. 1 in 10,000 chance of a single casuality, then that craft requires investments in controlled de-orbit.
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Virtual Reality in Financial Services

If the findings of the researchers studying the proteus effect is indeed true, then we seem to take our avatars to heart. Their experiments have concluded that people who see their avatars growing fast are more likely to hit the gym than others / otherwise. If you constantly see your avatar cutting down trees you are likely to waster less paper. If you read the book "Infinite Reality" the co-author Bailenson who also heads the Stanford's virtual reality lab, you will find their claims that real world behavior can be altered by virtual experiences. Bailenson believes that avatars can get us to save money and compell us to invest in financial products rather than spend on lifestyle.

Today very few people like to live the moment and enjoy the present and hence seldom put away money saving for the rainy day. Bailenson and team have discovered that if people see a virtual version of themselves (their avatar) digitally aged by several decades, the hesitation to save up for the old age disappears instantly. they set up hypothetical retirement accounts for people as a part of this experiment to note their behavior. Contributions to this account went up by 30% as opposed to traditional advertising methods in the digital media. It would be interesting to check out Mahesh Murthy's views on this one.

Allianz (asset management business) seems to be taking this project very seriously. they plan to offer age-morphed photos for 401(k) enrollees during the upcoming holiday season , going by what I gathered on the web. Unique way to introduce their customers to the future!