MONKEYPOX – A THREATENING RECURRENCE OF A FORGOTTEN AILMENT

On 23rd May 2022, the world stood alarmed once again, when the increasing number of cases of the rare Monkeypox infections were reported to stand at 131 from 18 non-endemic countries, although there has been no recent associated death.

The Monkeypox virus (MPXV) which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family is made up of double-stranded DNA and is zoonotic in nature. Due to its maintenance in the wild animal population, it is far less sensitive to common eradication methods.  Certain risk factors associated with MPXV infection include increase in geographical range and cessation of vaccination of the host. Environmental factors like increasing risk of animal-host transmission and frequency of contact with potential host may also contribute to viral transmission.

Back in 1958, the MPXV was first identified as a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus by the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was isolated first from vesiculo-pustular lesions of infected cynomolgus macaques. In 1970, first human infection was detected in the remote area of Democratic Republic of Congo. 6 deaths were reported in 1996 along with 71 clinical cases. In 2003, first case of MPX in the USA was initiated by exotic pets imported from Ghana. Reemergence of MPXV occurred in 2017 in Nigeria after 39 years of no reported case. In 2018, 3 individual patients were diagnosed with MPX in the UK.

MPXV originated from progenitor pox virus and shares similarities with the variola virus. It has two origins, one of which is the West African variant, exhibiting lower virulence and are less transmissible to humans. The only few cases were reported from certain West African nations. The other strain originates from Central African which prohibits inflammatory cytokine production in infected patients by preventing T-cell receptor-mediated activation and hence is far more virulent.

Specimens for clinical diagnosis purposes include that from skin lesions and swabs. The dermis might exhibit papular lesions. Keratinocytes exhibit vasculitis and viral inclusions apart from spongiosis. Detection of immune responses to the presence of other OPXV makes serological testing unsuitable for MPXV diagnosis, although it may provide evidence of viral exposure.  Injection of anti-poxvirus antibodies into unvaccinated infected individual may aid in diagnosis of MPX. All cases from Nigeria, Singapore, UK and Israel were identified as West African MPXV using PCR and genetic sequencing.

Direct or indirect contact with infected animals (live or dead), for e.g. hunting of small animals for food is the main cause for the transmission of virus in humans, while in animals, aerosol transmission has been detected. Due to increase in T-cell response and production of antiviral antibodies during the course of infection, the development of highly-sensitive diagnostic techniques may help cure patients faster.

The impact of the existing smallpox vaccine on MPXV infections will play an important role in the prevention of the disease, due to concerns regarding its adverse effects in an immunocompromised population. Till now, the Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) has been found to confer protection against lethal doses of MPXV except for cases in which severely diminished T-cell protection has been observed in the primates.

Contrasting SARS-COV2 MPXV which spreads though aerosols and is more contagious, MPXV spreads though contact and is less contagious. Nevertheless, an extended chain of person-to-person transmission of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo is an indication of the potential of the virus to infect immunocompromised individuals, which may cause its evolution and independent maintenance in the human population. Groups of population including pregnant women and immunocompromised persons are at higher risk of getting infected. Due to diversity of taxa supporting MPXV replication, more species of animals are prone to the risk of viral infection. Although, there is a lack of information regarding the species causing the viral transmission, certain approaches may be useful in detecting and better understanding the origin, transmission and risk factors of MPXV. These include predictive risk modelling across different landscapes and scales, theoretical mathematical modelling studies, population genetic studies, ecologic risk mapping studies and surveys.

Pandemic to Prospect: New Avenues of Human Geography

Pandemic has heated hard the entire world as well as the academic field. But the social researchers found new ways of doing research within this fatal situation also. Covid 19 itself has become one of the key issues of research in the gamut of human geography. New research topics have come up with high research potential.

The world is constantly struggling with the demonic Covid 19. Academicians are also the worriers who are constantly dealing with the pandemic situation with utter positivity. The whole world has been locked within the four walls of the abode. But the mind of man can roam about here and there without having any restrictions of lockdown. The researchers are among those people, whose minds are freely moving in the alleys of new research scopes. The researchers from different domains have proved that the problems can be transformed into possibilities with structured and designed thinking.

Human geographers are always concerned about the minute tribulations of society. The intricacies of human nature and its reflections are the focal theme of research for human geographers. In the pandemic situation, the entire subjectivity of the social response and bonding has been changed in so many ways that human geographers got plenty of new research topics in their purview of knowledge. The research works based on Covid 19 are not only focusing on the epidemiological dimensions of it but human responses towards the pandemic are playing a role of pivotal research interest. The community-based studies on the pandemic situation, deriving simulation models based on human behavioural changes within this pandemic situation, and sustainable planning practices (especially in urban setups) are some highly focused issues in the domain of human geography after the pandemic has trickled.

Human geography has taken a new turn during this pandemic situation. Researchers have taken their ideas into various dimensions where the pandemic has created an abyssal impact. The major trends within this pandemic are quite challenging and interesting.

  • Works on migration and mobility are the leading aspect to which most of the research work in human geography is being devoted.
  • Policy research is one of the major aspects of research in the domain of human geography which took a new momentum. Ample of scopes have been created in terms of policy research starting from fiscal policy review to health policy recommendations.
  • Changes in human-nature interaction and their changing dynamics with the ecological system are the very dynamic aspect of research in growing demand.
  • A new form of web-based crime has grown in this pandemic situation. This sort of criminological study has huge scope and relevance for the betterment of society.
geography
Source: Dimension Database, 2022

The number of publications regarding pandemics in the domain of human geography has reached new heights after 2020. The rise is quitter sterling. Looking at the graph, the uprising trend of research in human geography after the pandemic is quite evident. Smithsonian Institution of the United States is leading in this field of research in the arena of human geography regarding the pandemic.

 Adamas University is one of the eminent places for high-end research in India. Department of Geography has taken up research issues related to pandemics. This department has organized one international conference entitled “Health and Environment: Frontiers Ahead”. This conference was devoted to the research works from various domains on the Pandemic situation across the world. Students from the department of geography started preparing research articles on the impact of Covid on various aspects of human society.

Reference:

Roger Frutos, Laurent Gavotte, Jordi Serra-Cobo, Tianmu Chen, Christian Devaux (2021), COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases: The society is still unprepared for the next pandemic, Environmental Research, Volume 202

https://app.dimensions.ai/

Know the Game: Augment your career with Skills, Competencies, and Expertise in the niche segment of Health Geo-Informatics

The WHO has taken pledge to help countries and partners in making informed public health choices more quickly and to spread geospatial knowledge throughout the organization by connecting maps, apps, data, and people. Because of this change in emphasis, organizations all around the world are depending more and more on location intelligence to make smarter public health decisions. Human services and health geoinformatics occupations are in greater demand than ever.

John Snow’s ground-breaking work serves as an example of the effectiveness of mapping and geographic systems in addressing the cholera pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a long history of analyzing spatial distribution and risk factor patterns, identifying, preventing, and controlling diseases, and enhancing the effectiveness of public health initiatives. Making timely and trustworthy judgments that have the potential to save many lives is made possible by using GIS to connect spatial representation and public health planning. To name a few, 15 of the 17 health-related SDGs rely on GIS, for example, by monitoring air, water quality, and sanitation, neglected tropical diseases (malaria, guinea worm, snake bites), Polio, as well as health emergencies. Geoinformatics is defined as an academic discipline or career of working with geographical data for better understanding and interpretation of human interaction with the earth’s surface. It encompasses several technologies, approaches, processes, and methods to interpret and discourse spatial questions that necessitate spatial sense to address it. ESRI comments that “Hundreds of thousands of organizations in virtually every field are using GIS to make maps that communicate, perform analysis, share information, and solve complex problems around the world. This is changing the way the world works.”

Geoinformatics – Future Science
Figure 1. Geoinformatics – Future Science (Conceptualized and compiled by Dr. Anu Rai)

With its underlying capacity, Geoinformatics is emerging as a billion-dollar industry and offers lucrative opportunities to its professionals and trainers. In order to promote better public health planning and decision-making, geospatial technology, namely Health Geoinformatics, offers spatial representation of data. It is a niche segment of Geoinformatics and has significant uses in the fields of medicine and global health, but many nations currently limited or no access to these advantages in order to improve their health information systems. However, in post pandemic era, WHO and partner countries aggressively acknowledge and recommend the application of Geoinformatics in addressing public health issues.  WHO has taken pledge to help countries and partners in making informed public health choices more quickly and to spread geospatial knowledge throughout the organization by connecting maps, apps, data, and people. The WHO GIS Centre for Health wants to have a direct and long-lasting influence on the public by increasing its engagement with partners. Supporting geospatial data and analytics to enhance adherence and stewardship with WHO Standard Operating Procedures for maps and Web GIS applications are a few examples of the specific services offered by WHO. The purpose of such services is to improve national, regional, and analytical data as well as the health information system in order to boost the Member States’ and Partners’ effective use of GIS. Because of this change in emphasis, organizations all around the world are depending more and more on location intelligence to make smarter public health decisions. Human services and health geoinformatics occupations are in greater demand than ever. In order to forecast and evaluate industry trends utilizing a range of data and pro-actively build solutions and messaging to address important issues, drivers, and challenges, health GIS analysts or public health solution managers work closely with teams in varied domains of public health, human services, hospitals, insurance, managed health care systems, and environmental health. Despite corporate and public jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, GIS analysts are highly engaged in investigating, understanding, and developing new businesses in areas underserved or not currently served with GIS applications in the health and human services space. This creates a new field of opportunity for work with product development as a customer advocate for the requirements of the health and human services sector.

In my academic career as an educator of Geography and Geoinformatics, I have often noticed curiosity among youngsters about career opportunities with the Health Geography and Geoinformatics, irrespective of the discipline and domain of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees they hold. I would answer that if you are interested to play with the nuts and bolts of spatial health science, the Post Graduate Program on Geography and Geoinformatics is a good option for you. You may select diverse fields of Health Geoinformatics depending on the expertise of the domain varying from map making to app development. You can also opt for jobs in Public Health firms that include diverse skill-based jobs in the field of marketing development and testing and even entrepreneurship. Research-based course experience also opens huge job prospects in development and planning commission, scientists in HRD, and other research institutions in India and abroad. Application of neo-geographical tools, statistical algorithms, machine learning, multi-criterion decision-making techniques, computer-programming, SQLs, text-analytics and learning and practices of GIS and statistical packages that enable GI Scientists to solve the multifaceted real-life problem has opened extensive career opportunities to practitioners of geoinformatics in the field of public health data science as well. Health data scientists, data analysts, big data analysts, spatial data analysts, etc. are some of the lucrative jobs paying high salary packages to deserving candidates. So, if spatial logic of health attracts you, Health Geoinformatics is the best option to augment your career with skills, competencies, and expertise.

For such more examples you may also visit the sites of:

How to Make Pharmacy Graduate Resume

Pharmacists are at a pinnacle in the ability to manage, cure and prevent disease. Today, the pharmacist plays an essential role as part of the healthcare management team along with doctors. The post covid episode of the market produce a huge requirement of fresher students in healthcare management system especially in sterile manufacturing like vaccine or other injectables like monoclonal antibodies. India practically ensures a bright future for the fresher students who are entering the profession. Sooner the fourth-year students will graduate from Pharmacy school. There is only one step left between the students and the job of their dreams. And there should not be any mistake for getting ready for the interview. Foremost part to entry through the gateway to get those positions in industry required one small document the Resume. Listed below are some basic steps involved in writing of a standard quality resume:

  1. The resume should represent about the candidate but it should do so in a certain format and cover specific areas sometimes specified by the school also.
  2. The information in resume should be clear, succinct and mistake-free. grammatical errors that a fresh pair of eyes might catch that’s why review by other persons is needed. using white or off-white paper for your resume is essential.
  3. Reachable contact numbers and email id should be provided along with the full name.
  4. Any kind of unethical practice like exaggerating or claiming things like research activities or scholarships that you are not involved with can put candidates blacklisted to the company, that’s why fabrication of the resume unethically is not good and unwise.
  5. Try to incorporate the research activities you have done in your b. schooling in your resume. If you have published any review or research article in peer review journal may be with your teachers or you have received any prize please mention. There is nothing wrong with describing these or any awards you have received.
  6. get register your name in students’ pharmaceutical associations or may be in IPA, IPGA etc. this kind of membership also increases the friend circle of the newcomer.
  7. Place the most important information about yourself first, but make sure your honours and awards are near the top of the list as well. Describe anything different about your strong point like leadership capability that will allow you to get interested to the recruiter.
  8. If you’re appearing for an interview where experience is mandatory for a particular field just make caps or bold the areas related to that.
  9. In the cover letter the reason for applying the job is required to mention and which should be brief and to the point. Sometimes the recruiter asked to mention the exact position applied like executive or sr. executive so that also should be written.
  10. Though the length of your resume varies depending on an individual’s experiences, but generally it should be within one page or two maxima. All the details you are providing should be pointwise and in a brief manner. The skill and strength should be mentioned in case of fresher candidate and using the powerful words like Detail-orientated, Communication, Time-management, Empathy, Teamwork 
  11. References can be provided along with the addresses and mobile numbers but better to give the contacts of some senior faculty or managers you know.
  12. some other points should not get missed out like experience in MS word, excel, and database management system etc. and reverse chronological order for writing.
  13. Lastly the status of the pharmacy license of PCI should also be mentioned.

Digitalization in Marketing Process-A New Skill in Marketing Specialization

Marketing is the process that satisfies human and social needs. It is nothing but a value-creation process. If we look into the marketing process, the job of most marketers is to design and develop the value in such a way that attracts customers and makes them happy buying. But this scenario is changing very rapidly due to the pandemic and the huge development of digital technology. Now market and marketing processes are more digitalized than the conventional marketing system. The job of a salesman is changing to the digital selling process. Marketers need not make a flow-up plan, it is automatically set up by the technology and responses are coming within a specific time. So, the process becomes more hybrid through embarked digitalization in the system. Therefore, it is imperative that using of digital technology in marketing and its associated function is a substitute for marketing success. Looking into this, concept marketers are focusing more on digital expert professionals than the salesman. Due to the huge demand for this, manpower is scarce. This is one part of the other way the process of marketing is also changing. Like the development of promotion strategy, communicate with the customers and find out the most effective methods for approaching customers. Though all these are experience stages, on the other side to get succeed in the fast-paced environment they always look into the audience’s requirements, it is difficult to stay ahead of the audience because market nature is monopolistic.

The recent trend in the Marketing Process:

Mass marketing converted into customized marketing and especially influencer marketing which is more common through digital technology like artificial intelligence, and machine learning, Marketers identify the preference of buying of customers and they try to influence them by offering more customized products. Therefore, targeting an individual is much easier than the conventional process. Development of user-generated content is another tool to identify prospects, it is a technique that allows the customer to design their product, and using digital space marketers publish those products on the web and counts the most effective design out of the available design and makes the product based on these design.  Companies also do marketing through publicize the video content and using web analytics they publish it through various social media like various web pages, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and personalizing the email. This video makes confidence the buyer about product information, brand, service, and other components associated with the product. It applies to business to business and business to consumer and both the process learn and evaluate the impact of promotion using video content in social media which makes their marketing promotion faster.   The current market depends on millennials and Gen Z, they are more inclined toward digital process and most of them prefer digital buying process, not only digital buying but also other parts of marketing, they prefer digitalization. Therefore, to enhance their buying power, there is a need for mobile-optimized digital services which may be an important part for business owners and houses who are looking to attract fast-paced tech-savvy generations.

Ephemeral content is a new arena of digital marketing. Here company publishes its information through social media and they always stay on social media through standard posts, videos, and live events. Customer is not able to show the message if they do not save it or achieve it. Therefore, it makes curiosity customers give more concentration on the information. It is an effective platform for marketing campaigns.

Application of Digital Technology in Marketing

 Artificial Intelligence in marketing is mainly developed with the help of three main marketing disciplines research, strategy, and action, and three levels of AI intelligence, that is, mechanical, thinking, and feeling AI. While mechanical AI entails automation of repetitive and routine tasks mainly covering market research, strategy, and standardization, thinking AI relates to processing data for new insights and decision-making, and feeling AI refers to interactions with humans or analyzing human feelings and emotions. Another, important techniques are big data analytics, using these techniques marketers predict the outcome of the customers and it also techniques which help marketers to identify the preference, maintain inventory management, and manage distribution and logistics system. Machine learning is another digitalized technique that helps marketers to do proper market segmentation, it processes customer data and analyzes it for discovering recurring patterns across various features. It helps to do proper clustering of different various demographic segments and helps to measure the preference difference between various demographic segments. Using blockchain analysis marketers maintain the logistics system of the firms and maintain a smooth and faster delivery system. One other important area used by blockchain technology like user verification, Blockchain can be employed through advertisement networks and reduce the interface of agents and middlemen and help those users who want the information by clicking through the ad system and combat fraud. It helps advertisers to identify the source of fraud and advertisers can make more user interface design.

Therefore, digital technology must be not only an effective tool for modern marketing but in the future, it should be the only way for business growth and survival. Most large-scale firms have started their marketing practices and maintain all the marketing processes from taking the order to supplying feedback through digital space. In India, most middle-order firms were trying to adopt the blended process, with a few parts of technology-based and another part traditional because of the nature of Indian consumers. It is a challenging task for a small firm because its market and investment level is low. Therefore, the marketing professionals need to develop some skills that small firms can be benefitted without much more investment. Last but not the list, it can be commented that the traditional skill of marketing will not work for long. Digitalized skills need to learn by the marketing professionals at the time of career selection. Few specialized skills need to be imparted to get a better market understanding.  

Potentiality of Corn Bio-Fuel in Indian Future Mobility

Corn is grown and appropriated not as a food but also put to use to generate ethanol, which can be used as fuel to operate internal combustion engines in order to avoid the usage of exhaustible resources. The price of the liquid fuels has been increasing gradually in India, it causes harmful emissions as well, and the effect can be noticed if we see the air quality index of different states. In order to search for an alternative, we need to shift our view towards bio-diesel which can be used as the substitute of the exhaustible resources and it produces less harmful gases. One of the potential resources for producing bio-diesel in India is corn, which is largely cultivated crop in Northern India. The total number of vehicles have been increased from 5.4 million to 210 million between 2005 and 2015 in India. Due to the uncontrolled mobility in urban areas, the environment has been affected from the exhaust gases so badly in many states. In few major metropolitan cities, the pollution level has crossed the permissible limit of PM2.5, which is set up by WHO. According to the WHO database, 14 out of 15 most polluted cities in the world, belongs to India only, Kanpur tops the list of the most polluted cities in the entire world with 173 micrograms per cubic meter and Delhi secures the sixth position with pollution level of 141 micrograms per cubic meter according to the PM2.5 database in 2016. Total 11% of the carbon emission is accounted from the transportation; it was 24% in 1971. The effective move, which was taken by the Indian government, was switching to CNG and India operates maximum buses on the road, fuelled by CNG. This country owns 11.75% of total natural gas operated vehicles and holds the third place, running behind China (23%) and Iran (17%). By 2030, India is aiming to be the third largest automobile manufacturing country after USA and China and this is the high time to impart innovations to this specific domain, which can cause less PM, CO2, NOx and SOx emission. Biofuels have great future prospects in developing nations due to energy insecurity. Large agricultural sector can be a good support in order to produce biodiesels from crops. Shuit et. Al [3] stated that the fourth assessment report of IPCC concludes that the reason behind global warming for last 50 years, mostly due to emission of harmful CO2, nitrous oxide and methane. Transportation has been identified as the major source of air pollution in megacities since last century. The bad effect of motorization leads more petroleum-based fuels to be used in road transport that directly affects the human health. On the basis of an analysis, which has been done by taking data of 50 countries and 35 urban areas that vehicle per capita has been increased at the same rate as income per capita. Countries like India, China and Pakistan where growth rate of passenger cars are double than that of income per capita. India has secured the place in top 10 among biggest emitters of atmospheric pollutants. Road fuel consumption is nearly doubled in every ten years since 1975. Biofuel can be used to meet the future needs of mobility and it can safeguard the environment and human health as it does not contain any sulphur or metals, which contribute to the acid rain by producing sulphuric acid. Peng et al. investigated different parameters and the limited data projected that exhaust emission in terms of total vapour phase hydrocarbons, total carbonyl compounds, total poly aromatic hydrocarbons etc. were lower when biodiesel was used. Global energy demand will be increased by 4.6%, almost 70% of it will be utilized in global emerging markets and developing economics. Global CO2 emission is heading towards the second largest annual increase ever in 2021, coal demand is set exceed the demand of 2019 and approaching towards the 2014 peak. Utilization of natural gas is being increased by 3.1% in 202. Renewable sources retain the success in these days in power, industry, transport and heating sectors. A report named Net Zero by 2050: A road map for the global energy sector stated that 7 Gt of CO2 has been emitted from global transport sector in 2019 and it is expected that it will be around 5.5 Gt by 2030 if we use the other environment friendly fuel and 0.7 Gt by 2050.  As per the report published by Indian government on World Bio-Fuel Day named Bio-Fuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat  it is concluded that biodiesels can enhance India’s energy security and reduce petroleum dependency. Few potential resources have been identified in order to get bio fuel from the crops and government is implementing policies to spread the awareness among citizens. India aiming to produce 20% ethanol blended biofuel by 2030 and 3% contributor to global ethanol production. Therefore, many initiatives have been taken to produce bio-fuel at higher rate in India using different techniques and waste management strategies.

Apart from USA and Brazil, many countries have been producing bio-ethanol to meet the continuously increasing need. In India, per year 426 crore litres bio-ethanol is being produced from molasses-based distilleries and 258 crore from grain-based distilleries. It has been proposed to increase 760 crore and 740 crore respectively. Indian government has given emphasize on producing bio-ethanol from grains in last few years.

The world’s corn production capacity is near about 1.05 million thousand tons, whereas the USA tops the list of producing corn which is estimated at 360,252 thousand tons. In 2020, India has produced 30,250 thousand tons of corn. It was 5101 thousand tons in 1971 and it is growing at the rate of 4.67%. According to ICAR, India secures 4th in area and 7th in production among the maize producing countries. Corn production area has been increased to 9.2 million ha during 2018-2019. Average productivity has increased by 5.42 times from 547 kg/ha to 2965 kg/ha, productivity in India is almost half of the world.

Madhya Pradesh (15%) and Karnataka (15%) clench the first position in terms of highest cornfield area accompanied by Maharashtra (10%), Rajasthan (9%) and Uttar Pradesh (5%). Whereas Andhra Pradesh secures the top position in terms of corn production, it is as high as 12 tonne per ha. Looking at the statistics of corn production and the potentiality for bio-ethanol to be used as fuel, it is said that corn can be one of the major grain resources in India to produce ethanol. Chemical composition of corn revels that it contains 72% starch, 9.5% fiber,9.5% protein and 4.3% oil. It is investigated that 56 lbs of corn can produce 30.7 lbs of starch or 35 lbs of sweeteners or 21 lbs of polylactic acid polymers and can produce 2.87 gallons of ethanol. This ethanol can be used with diesel to improve the emission and it also fulfils the need of the alternative fuel in the automobile sector in India.

Ethanol production from corn: Farm to Fermentation

Corn has to undergo many processes to be considered ready for ethanol production. The first step is to remove the kernels from the cob, this process is known as postharvest where all the stones, soil, sticks, etc. are removed by means of scalpers. A huge bio-technical is associated followed by three steps –

  • Starch is to be converted to fermentable sugar by means of milling, liquefaction, and saccharification (enzyme-based).
  • Fermentation, where yeast helps these sugars to convert into ethanol.
  • Generated ethanol is taken out from other by-products using the distillation process.

Fig. 2: Schematic diagram of ethanol production from corn [icon courtesy: www.nounprojects.com]

Milling is the first step of the biotechnical process and it can be classified into two main categories namely wet milling and dry milling. The main purpose of the process is to break-down the starch into simple sugar components whereas the liquefaction process is done in order to make the simple sugar soft for an efficient enzymatic digestion. Indian government has paid attention to establish such plants to produce ethanol to be used with diesel to meet the demand. And, obviously corn can be the one of the resources for the same.

Better Emission

This is the need of the hour to replace authentic fuel in automobiles as it emits harmful components like CO, CO2, NO2 etc. Bio-fuel helps engine to perform and emit less pollutant. Many additives can be used to improve the performance in terms of power generation and speed.  Manigadan S. et al. [12] investigated the emission characteristics of corn oil blended with methyl ester and oxygenated additives. In this study, BSFC and BP have been increased by 6.3% and 22.01% respectively. And, 16% reduction in NOx emission has been observed, Titanium di-oxide (TiO2) has been used as additive. But, many oxygenated nanoparticles like aluminium oxide etc. can be used to improve the performance, as well.

 

Career Prospects in Cyber security

Multinational companies are spending fortunes to protect and secure their systems, sensitive data, networks, and privacies from cybercriminals. After the pandemic, with proliferation of internet use and technology use, these cyber attacks become more refined and inventive, forcing the organizations to depend on the proficiency of the cybersecurity professionals.

As per CyberSeek report, around half million cybersecurity professionals are required to fulfill the gap. It is best time to become a cybersecurity professional because of this rising demand and small talent pool. There are some lucrative job opportunities available for those persons with relative technology focused skill. Even if someone does not have prior experience in cyber security domain, getting a job in this domain is possible. With the increase of frequency in cyber-attacks, almost all the organizations are recruiting to defend against these kinds of threats. There are various career paths available for the students who interested in making the career out of cyber security professional.

Like machine learning and data science, Cyber security career paths are also multidirectional as well as non-linear. Once someone enters the domain, his/her career can go in any direction. Along with that there are also feeder roles like risk analyst, software engineer, network administrator which can be used as a beginner level cyber security professional.

When anyone thinks of cybersecurity jobs, generally the first think comes into our mind is someone trying penetrate the networks or systems which is basically penetration testing or ethical hacking. But this notion is nothing but the tip of an iceberg. Cybersecurity is bigger than that. It contains various sub categories and specialization and all of these can be broadly categories in to two parts i.e., Infrastructure management and Security and Risk Management.

Infrastructure Security

Networking infrastructures are extremely important to multinational business organizations. Cybercriminals can readily access and exploit sensitive resources and information if they are not properly protected. Cybersecurity specialists must design, firewalls, virtual private networks, application security, and many more to mitigate security and data breaches.

Common job roles for the protection of infrastructure are given below:

  • Security Operations Center (SOC) analyst
  • Security infrastructure engineer
  • Cybersecurity engineer
  • Security architect
  • Cloud security engineer

Security and Risk Management

Security and risk management actually constitute ensuring that businesses follow security regulations and procedures, as well as undertaking risk assessment to determine security flaws in tangible infrastructure, business applications, and data. Penetration testing and compliance are useful roles in this niche. In fact, compliance has become so critical that some industries even have entire squad devoted entirely to data governance and privacy protection.

Common job roles for Security and Risk Management are given below:

  • Penetration tester
  • Data privacy and security analyst
  • Security compliance analyst
  • Information security analyst
  • Cyber Security Incident Response Analyst

Skill requirement for cybersecurity

Even though cybersecurity jobs may appear to be extremely specialized and computational-intensive, these skilled persons have the know-how of various different but interrelated domains. It is expected that these professionals have some specific skill sets in both hard skill sets which are scripting, system administration and networking and soft skill sets which are creative thinking and communication. Basically, one needs to constantly reinvent and learn upcoming technologies.

Technical Skills:

  • In terms of essential cybersecurity skills, Networking tops the list. If one wants to aspire to become a penetration tester or network security engineer, that person needs to fully grasp underlying mechanisms various networking protocols and principles.
  • Most network components and intrusion prevention systems run Linux as their operating system. Learning Linux helps to collect security data and perform security toughening.
  • System administration is indispensable for cyber security specialists. Can user, for example, dictate what happens after downloading malware on windows operating system or extract files from a pc without knowing the log in credentials?
  • To detect security loopholes in networks or security devices, it is necessary to have an outlook like a cybercriminal. White hat hackers try to safeguard data from both outside and inside threats by identifying vulnerabilities in systems that could be reduced. White hats are mainly utilized by the intended system’s owner and are handsomely compensated for their efforts. Their practice is not illegal since it is performed with the approval of the system owner.
  • To become a cybersecurity practitioner, you wouldn’t need to be an extremely skilled programmer, but you must handle situations with an algorithmic mindset. Scripting is a wonderful way to learn the underlying working principles of hardware and software.
  • Even though you wouldn’t want to become a programmer, it’s important to understand enough to read code.
  • To run malware analysis, cybersecurity professionals ought to be accustomed with all virtual machine platforms.

 Soft Skills

  • Communication: You will need to invest a considerable amount of time training end users on how to set up their machines or implement security measures.
  • New security hazards emerge all the time, so you must be able to continuously acquire new skills and techniques.
  • On a regular basis, cybersecurity entails finding solutions to issues. If you really do not like to indulge in solving problems, a profession in cybersecurity is probably not just for you.

 Top Cybersecurity Job roles: From beginner level to executive level

There are many high-paying, versatile full-time job vacancies in the industry. Due to the sheer world – wide scarcity of skilled talent pool, numerous recruiters are offering entry-level salaries ranging from Rs. ₹10L to ₹12L. Cybersecurity directors and chief information security officers (CISOs), for example, can obtain more than ₹90L per year.

  • Cybersecurity Analyst: Security Operations Centre (SOC) analyst concentrates on the front-line attack detection. Cybersecurity analysts work in dedicated security hubs and must be competent in a variety of areas such as log analysis, Wireshark, malware analysis, and programming. A SOC analyst’s primary responsibility is to monitor network data. This particular job role has the potential to be used as a fantastic launchpad for next level of the roles.
  • Penetration Tester: Penetration testers, also known as white hat hackers, are one of the most in-demand job positions in the cybersecurity industry. They are in charge of identifying and analyzing security flaws in organizational IT infrastructure along with that a penetration tester are asked to prepare a detailed report about their observations and procedures. Penetration testing is not a low-wage job rather it attracts one of the most handsome salaries in the industry.
  • Cybersecurity Engineer: Cybersecurity engineers, like software engineers, create technologies that protect computer architecture. Their commitment is to foresee network security loopholes, which necessitates the installation of firewalls, the use of encryption software, and the revamping of patches. A few years of experience and a strong command in various scripting languages are required to become a cybersecurity engineer.      

Post–Pandemic Career opportunities in Digital Content Creation as YouTuber and Vlogger

In this digital age, given a boost of two years of pandemic digital content creation became a very lucrative career option. According to a report by Oxford Economics, YouTube’s creative ecosystem supported 6,83,900 full-time equivalent jobs and contributed INR 6,800 CR to the economy of India in 2020. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are some of the biggest platforms facilitating digital content creation all around the world. In 2005, the world’s first YouTube video titled Me at the Zoo was uploaded by YouTube’s co-founder Jawed Karim and got around 171 million views. Nearly a decade later in 2014, India had about 16 YouTube channels that had crossed the million-subscriber threshold. Today, there are more than 2,500 YouTube channels with over one million subscribers. 

Indian YouTube channels lead the YouTube game globally with Indian music label and movie studio T-Series having 216 million subscribers, the world’s largest number of subscribers on YouTube, followed by PewDiePie (110 million subscribers). The top five of the top 20 YouTube channels around the world are Indian—SET India (133 million subscribers), Zee Music Company (84 million), Zee TV (62.2 million) and so on. Arvind Arora, who owns the short videos channel A2 Motivation (13.7 million subscribers), is an individual YouTuber with more than four billion views, the highest in India. (The report is according to the Financial Express).

According to YouTube verticals like music, entertainment, food, beauty, comedy, lifestyle, and technology continue to gain momentum, and creators like Bhuvan Bam, Prajakta Kohli, Ashish Chanchlani, Nisha Madhulika, Kabita’s Kitchen, and Technical Guruji have shown immense growth in the last few years. Content around vocational skills like gardening and photography has also expanded with creators like Mad Gardener and Pixel Village gaining popularity. Gaming is yet another genre that has seen phenomenal growth in the last couple of years, with creators like Carry Minati, Dynamo Gaming and Mortal reaching millions of subscribers.  

It is one of the leading social media platforms and has taken the world of the Internet by storm. A platform that provides you with the golden opportunity to ‘make it big’, show the world your concealed creative side and express your opinions at a global level. With the world becoming digitized by the second and the boom of smartphones, this red and white play button has given birth to a new profession called YouTuber.

YouTubing is one of the most upcoming and promising careers in contemporary times. It is a field that offers tremendous scope for growth and other benefits such as flexibility of work, the ability to express yourself, opportunities to showcase your creativity, and a shot at earning popularity and fame.

While it may not be a full-time career option right off the bat, over time you can make it your profession like the many other YouTubers before you.

How to Start a Career as a YouTuber?

Creating a channel and making it successful would require a lot of hard work and perseverance on your part. Making a career out of YouTube is not about coming up with a single viral video and getting shot up to fame, it requires careful content development, distribution, and promotion to be sustainable.

  • Choose the Genre and Motive for your Channel

This is a crucial step as it will help you choose the type of content you’ll create and will reflect the message you want to send out to the masses. It can be anything ranging from beauty and fashion to comedy, gaming or technology. The most common categories/genres of content on YouTube channels such as Beauty, Fashion, Animation, Kids, Comedy, Vlog, Pranks, Music (including covers), Travel, Dance, Education, Information/Knowledge, Art and DIYs, Cookery, Technology, Gaming, Sports, News, Motivation/Inspiration, Health.\

  • Determine a unique Style and Voice

YouTube channel’s style will often be a reflection of the personality and unique individuality. It can come from the way you talk, the views you express, any catchphrases/taglines, your dressing style, or even the causes you stand for. A fresh and original voice are an essential element for making your channel stand out from the noise.

  • Develop and polish the Content

Content is the heart and soul of any YouTube video. The video cannot get by on presentation alone, and there needs to be strong content backing it up. One must spend proper time conceptualizing your ideas, writing content/script, and editing it to polish and perfect it. It should be relevant 

  • Use the Right Equipment

Poor video or audio quality sends a message to the user that very little work has been put into the development of the content. Thus, it is highly suggested you invest in a good camera (DSLR/ point-and-shoot), quality lighting and sound equipment (microphone). Even a good quality mobile is enough to shoot. 

  • Work on Filming and Editing Techniques

Good editing and filming can go a long way in increasing the virality of videos. They are the two most crucial elements that determine the final quality of your videos, and thus cannot be ignored.

Make it a point that you use the right lighting settings and filming techniques while filming your videos. Knowledge of the basics of photography and filming (camera angles, lighting, aperture, shutter speed, framing, etc.) 

  • Customize the Channel Page

YouTube gives the chance to reflect the voice and identity of your channel through your channel page too. There are many ways to personalise the page – you can edit the layout so that visitors see the content you want them to see first, add a channel trailer, post a custom thumbnail to give your channel its identity, and also display vibrant artwork as your cover picture to make it look fresh and draw attention.

  • Choose Relevant Titles and Tags

The title of your video and the tags you use help to ensure that your video gets featured in searches and ultimately starts getting noticed by a wider audience. Tags are basically descriptive keywords you can add to your video to tell YouTube what your video is about, and thus increase the likelihood of it being displayed in searches related to those keywords. There are many relevant free keyword tools available online. The title of the video is equally important since it conveys to the audience what your video is about. A clickable, descriptive and attractive title also helps in ranking your content on YouTube search.

  • Use social media for better promotion

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, not only help to increase the reach of your content, these will also help to stay in touch with your fans and get more likes, comments and shares. Any popular YouTube channel or YouTuber, and would see that they maintain an active presence on multiple online channels. 

  • Stay Engaged with the viewers and Subscriber

YouTubers leverage their fame and subscribers to gain popularity for their videos, distribute their content, and highlight other brands’ products to make more money in addition to what they make off YouTube. For this reason, an engaged and supportive audience is essential. Engage with your followers regularly by regularly replying to comments and messages, asking them questions and taking up their suggestions. It is important to keep on thinking of such ways to increase your fan base and build a supportive community of followers.

YouTubing is a field where one needs to keep expanding constantly expertise and content and not be afraid to try new things. If being creative and thinking outside of the box is what gets your heart pumping, then this may be your go-to profession.

New Era of Construction Engineering and Management

During the recent time of pandemic when the world is paused for almost all regular activities so is the situation for the academics and industries. The time demands new era construction engineering mangers to develop and run a system where employees can be engaged to their respective fields with all safety measures to maintain the pace of the project.

Here, a brief discussion is done on the importance and opportunities of Construction Engineering and Management for the next generation engineering graduates.

History:

It all started at the time when people used to live in the caves of jungles or forests. Then one or few of them observed nature and got an idea to build a house of leaves. That incident may be called as the first example of construction in the human history. As the time went past, new techniques were developed and the infrastructure of the society also improved to upgrade the living standard of the citizens.

In fact even few decades ago, if anyone is asked to call an engineer, he/she at first used to the think of a civil engineer or more specifically a construction engineer. Construction Engineering and Management is basically a part of Civil Engineering which requires technical and scientific knowledge with critical thinking. Sometimes it requires design and execution of new techniques to solve the critical problems and help to improve safety and efficiency in production.

Roles and Responsibility:

A construction engineer must be aware of rules and regulations, facts of different codes of practices, should be up to date with the latest safety measurement techniques. A good construction project manager increases the productivity of the organization by completing the project efficiently with in the time allocated. Construction Engineering and Management is a bridge between construction and execution of all the activities of the project and management of all the resources of it. An engineering manager may need to investigate the job site, check environmental regulations and other laws of the local administration and sometimes may work with the labors. A construction manager prepares report on the work progress, availability of the resources, and figure out appropriate solutions to critical problems. The position need to deals with the wide range of people like contractors, suppliers, environmental and govt. agencies. Apart from on-site jobs, a construction manager may take help of software to analyze and find out important facts of the project.

Generally the role of a construction project manager can be classified into the following three phases:

  • Pre-construction Phase: This phase consist of project planning and organizing. Before starting the execution process plan, schedule and budget allocation of materials, human, equipment should be done.
  • Construction Phase: During construction the optimum of all the resources will be used. So it requires close monitoring of construction manager. The engineering knowledge and skill of the construction manager is helpful during this phase of construction management. Constant communication is built among all the levels of employees in order to run this process smoothly.
  • Post Construction Phase: The construction engineering manager is the technical person who will prepare the project progress report and clarify it to the owners as well as to the other govt. institutions.

Scope and Opportunities:

The engineers placed in the construction projects can only understand the criticality of the challenges and determine the actual requirement of human resources as well as material resources. Based on the experience and/or knowledge, only construction engineering managers can solve various challenges in construction sites. In current situation where the pandemic hit society is struggling to run its regular life, the new age construction engineers can be a silver lining to all. They can propose and encourage government and other organizations to continue development woks and can create modern day infrastructure needs by using cutting edge technologies invented till date. The use of the modern techniques will serve the society in two way. One is by using modern equipment, projects can be completed quickly than usual time and will save huge amount of labor cost. On the other hand, it will create a new set of employment sector where new technicians will be required to operate modern equipment.

To avail all these pride and opportunities, one must have a valid degree or experience in civil/construction engineering. For the information of all aspirants, it must be mentioned that there are very few institutions who offer construction engineering & management in west Bengal. Adamas University is one of the prime university among them in the eastern zone of India with world class facilities where students from abroad comes to build their career. Here you will find a set of talented experienced faculties and all laboratory supports to pursue your dream into reality.

EXPLORE A CAREER AS A MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN AND OPTOMETRIST

What is the Medical Lab Technology?

Bachelor in Medical Lab Technology is a 3-year undergraduate course designed to equip eligible candidates with an advanced learning in both routine and sophisticated laboratory diagnostic procedures. Students enrolled to the course are taught to perform tests that aid in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Students who wish to enroll B.Sc MLT course have to qualify their 10+2 in the area of science.
  • The candidate should pass their 10+2 with a minimum percentage of 50 or equivalent (depends on different colleges) from the recognized education board in the country.

Career opportunities for the students       

  • Laboratory technologist at pharmaceutical laboratories, Pathology labs, Public Health Laboratories, Hospitals, Research and product development etc.
  • Research Scholar/Scientist
  • Blood Bank
  • Medical Officer
  • Laboratory Manager
  • Assistant Professor
  • Laboratory Technician at Government Hospitals by HRB recruitments

EXPLORE A CAREER AS A OPTOMETRIST

What is Optometry?

  • A health care profession that involves examining the eyes and applicable visual system for defects or abnormalities as well as prescribing the correction for refractive error with glasses or contact lenses and treatment of the diseases.
  • Duration Of Course: 3 years theory +1 year internship In reputed hospital

Eligibility Criteria

  • Students who wish to pursue B. Optom course have to qualify their 10+2 in the area of science.
  • The candidate should pass their 10+2 with a minimum aggregate of 50% marks or equivalent (depends on different colleges) from the recognized education board.

Career opportunities for the students:

  • Students after completing their 4 year Bachelor in Optometry Course can work in
  • Reputed Eye Hospital
  • Start their own Private Practice
  • Work as a Consultant Optometrist in Retail Outlet
  • Consultant Optometrist in Multi-national Companies
  • Research Optometrist
  • Assistant Professor and Professor in Reputed Optometry Colleges across the countries.
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