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:

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.      

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.

Is it the Best Time to Study Electronics?

The rate of employment in the electronics sector is booming due to the steep growth of electronics industry in India. The past few years have witnessed a massive compound annual growth rate of more than 42%. The electronic markets around the world was valued at 1172 billion USD back in 2017 and is enlarging continuously. According to few reports the market for manufacturing semiconductors (consisting of machinery, substances, and solutions) is expected to enlarge from USD 440 bn in 2020 to USD 1 trillion by 2030. Reports indicated a prospect of about 80 bn dollars for the Indian semiconductor industry by 2030. A few articles also suggest massive growth for inventions and R & D in the Semiconductor production instruments–submodules, consumables and spares for the MSME industry in India. This year (2022) the semiconductor chip industry around the world is predicted to get as far as US$600 bn. In a recent conference Hon. PM (Shri. Narendra Modi) expected the consumption of semiconductor in India to go beyond $80 bn by 2026 and $110 bn by 2034. A few experts expect the global semiconductor industry to grow 10% in 2022 to over US$600 billion for the 1st time in history. In the year 2021, the market for semiconductors in India was evaluated at $27 bn. This market is expected to grow at a sensible CAGR of 16% between 2019 and 2026. Experts predict this market to cross $64 bn by 2026. The current estimate of the semiconductor trade for the telecom industry is greater than 2 bn and is predicted to enlarge at a CAGR of 34% between 2021-2026. There is a budding occasion for India to give as far as $85 bn – $100 bn of the $550 bn – $600 bn annual global opportunity by 2030 (17% of the market need around the world).

Opportunities:

The central govt. approved ₹76,000 crore under the PLI project to boost the semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosphere in India. A large number of incentives are provided to design companies to design chips in India. The govt. of India has also launched the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) estimates a steep growth of 24%, 23%, and 20% market share in wireless communications, consumer electronics, and automotive electronics respectively. The government is also in conversation with semiconductor manufacturing giants of Taiwan like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) or the United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) for developing the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India. The govt. is also in search of manufacturing sites along several cities in India. There has been an approval for $13 bn for allied sectors which contains ACC batteries, auto components, telecom and networking products, solar PV modules, and white goods. The PLI policies and the Make in India initiatives can aid the local procurement of semiconductor by over 17% by 2026. The 5G rollout in India is predicted to skyrocket the need for semiconductors manufacturing in India (as predicted by several telecom industries). The local production of semiconductors in India is presently low, India has a large capability to frame itself as a front runner supplier in the upcoming days provided that the talent/skill pool and resources are used precisely. The near future is expected to create opportunities for research and innovations in the semiconductor production submodules, consumer nondurables, and spares. India has also got an exceptional talent in the semiconductor design. Almost all best in the world semiconductor design firms have research and development units in India.

Threats:

The semiconductor global market is dominated by U.S. with almost 50% (worth $208 bn in 2020) of the market share. The U.S. counts the semiconductor as one of its top 5 exports with over 80% of the sales to overseas countries. The U.S. industry invests over 1/5th of its total revenue for research and development of semiconductors. Along with the U.S. China is also a major manufacturer of semiconductors. China has largely increased its semiconductor chip sales with an annual growth rate of 30.6% capturing 9% of the global market share, leaving behind Taiwan and Europe. The war among Ukraine and Russia may lead to shortage of Neon and Hexafluorobutadiene gases from Ukraine disturbing the supply chain of semiconductors. These issues in the supply chain may also adversely affect the automobile sector. A report states that less than 10% of the India’s semiconductor components were sourced locally. In the last two years, the global chip shortage has caused a revenue loss above US $500 bn around the globe. The continuing talent scarcity will increase by the inclusion of increased semiconductor manufacturing amenity outside Taiwan, China, and South Korea. The loftier need for software skills needed to program and integrate chips into fast-growing markets will further worsen the shortfall.

FUTURE PROSPECT OF MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNOLOGY

What is the Medical Lab Technology?

B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Technology is a 3-year undergraduate course to start a career as medical laboratory technologist. This course deals with the routine and sophisticated laboratory diagnostic techniques. Students who pursues this course get the knowledge of advanced diagnostic procedures in medical field.

Eligibility guidelines

  • Students must qualify their 10+2 exam with physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology with a minimum 60% aggregate marks (depends on different college) from the recognized educational board of the country.

Students can explore their career as follows-        

  • Laboratory technologist at various pathological laboratories, Pharmaceutical labs, Public Health Laboratories, Private Hospitals, Research and product development etc.
  • Research Scholar/Scientist
  • Blood Bank officer
  • Medical Officer
  • Laboratory Manager
  • Laboratory Technician at various field in Government sectors by HRB recruitments

Scope in higher study

Various college and universities are now offering higher studies in this course. Students who want to pursue higher study or want to stick to the academic line after completion of BMLT can opt for MMLT (masters in medical lab technology) or PhD in medical laboratory technology.

Internship

Students are trained and skilled in various specialty in the field of medical lab technology in well reputed tertiary care hospital for 6 months so that students become well versed in there technical and clinical expertise.

বানানের গোলকধাঁধা

বাংলা লিখতে গিয়ে আর পাঁচটা ভাষার মতোই বানান নিয়ে সমস্যা লেগে থাকে। তবে যাদের মাতৃভাষা বাংলা, তাদের ঠিক বানান লেখার দায় অনেক বেশি। ‘আম্ব্রেলা’-কে ‘আমরেলা’ বললে যতটা শোরগোল পড়ে, বাঙালিদের কাছে তার চেয়েও বেশি কষ্টের হয়ে ওঠে বিজ্ঞাপনের কুৎসিত বাংলা বানান। পরীক্ষার্থীদের জন্য বানান ভুলে নম্বর কাটা এখন আর প্রযোজ্য নয়। কিন্তু প্রশ্ন কি শুধু নম্বরের? নির্ভুল ভাষা লিখতে পারা তো ভাষাশিক্ষার অন্যতম গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অংশ। তাই রইল কিছু নিয়ম, যাতে চোখ বুলিয়ে নিলে অন্তত কিছু সমস্যা এড়ানো সম্ভব।

  • ‘কী’ হল ইংরেজির ‘হোয়াট’। বাকি সমস্ত ক্ষেত্রে ‘কি’ বসে। যেসব প্রশ্নের উত্তর হ্যাঁ বা না-তে দেওয়া সম্ভব, সেই ক্ষেত্রে ‘কি’ হবে। আর যে প্রশ্নের উত্তর বিস্তৃত, সে ক্ষেত্রে হবে ‘কী’। যেমন – ‘আমি কি খাব?’ এর উত্তরে হবে ‘হ্যাঁ, খাবে’ কিংবা ‘না, খাবে না’। কিন্তু ‘আমি কী খাব?’-র উত্তর একটা গোটা মেনুকার্ড হয়ে যেতে পারে!
  • ‘কী সুন্দর!’ বা ‘কী খারাপ’ প্রভৃতি সবসময় ‘কী’। যে কোনও আবেগ প্রকাশের ক্ষেত্রে দীর্ঘস্বরের ব্যবহার হয়। ‘এমনকি’ হ্রস্ব স্বর। কিন্তু ‘কী এমন ব্যাপার’ দীর্ঘ।
  • শব্দের শেষে বা শুরুতে অকারণ ঈ-কার, ঊ-কার, ও-কার বর্জন করা হয়। দিঘি, পাখি, বাড়ি, উনিশ। শুধু তখনই ও-কার বসে, যখন আমাদের অন্য কোনও প্রচলিত শব্দের সঙ্গে গুলিয়ে যাওয়ার সম্ভাবনা থাকে। যেমন – বলত। হত। করত। পারত। বলব। এবার মনে হতেই পারে যে ‘হত’ মানে তো নিহতও হয়। কিন্তু শব্দটি তুলনায় কম প্রচলিত। সেই কারণেই আমি ‘ভাল’ লিখি, ‘ভালো’ নয়। কিন্তু ‘কালো’-কে ‘কাল’ লেখা যাবে না। তাহলে আজ-কাল-এর সঙ্গে গুলিয়ে যাবে।
  • ‘মত’ হচ্ছে মতামত। ‘মতো’ হচ্ছে সাদৃশ্যমূলক।
  • কাপড় ‘পরা’। কারণ এটি ‘পরিধান’ থেকে এসেছে। ‘পঠন’ অর্থে ‘পড়া’, ‘পতন’ অর্থেও তাই।
  • হাসি, কাচ, ইট – এগুলিতে চন্দ্রবিন্দু হয় না।
  • ‘বাধা’ মানে বিপত্তি, অথবা বেধে যাওয়া। ‘বাধানো’ শব্দটা ঝগড়া বাধানো, গোলমাল বাধানো অর্থে বসে। ‘বাঁধা’ এসেছে বন্ধন থেকে। এর মানে ‘টু টাই আপ’। আর ‘বাঁধানো’ বসে দাঁত বাঁধানো, বই বাঁধাই, সোনা বাঁধানো এইসব ক্ষেত্রে।
  • ‘বেড়ানো’, ‘বেড়াতে যাওয়া’। কিন্তু ‘বেরনো’, ‘বেরিয়ে পড়া’। ‘বেরিয়ে পড়লাম’ আর ‘বেড়িয়ে এসে জ্বরে পড়লাম’- দুটো বাক্যেরই প্রথম শব্দগুলি ভিন্ন।
  • ‘আদেও’ বলে কোনও শব্দ নেই। শব্দটি ‘আদৌ’।
  • বিদেশি শব্দে কোনও দীর্ঘস্বর থাকে না। জাপানি, ফরাসি, দেশি, তির, হিরে, বিদেশি, স্বদেশি, হিন্দি, আলমারি, বাহাদুরি, সরকারি প্রভৃতি।
  • ‘আগামী’, কিন্তু ‘আগামিকাল’।
  • ‘হক’ মানে অধিকার। ‘হোক’ একটি ক্রিয়া। ‘আমার হক বুঝে নেব’ আর ‘আমার করোনা হোক, বুঝে নেব’ – বানানে অর্থের আকাশপাতাল তফাত হয়ে যায়। ঠিক তেমনি ‘তিনি আমার মামা হন’ – এখানে ‘হন’ মানে ‘হয়ে থাকেন’। কিন্তু, ‘গঙ্গায় স্নান করে পবিত্র হোন’- এর মানে বর্তমান কালে ‘হয়ে উঠুন’।
  • শ্রেণি, প্রাণি, কোশ – এই তিনটি শব্দ এইরকম বানানে লেখা হয়।
  • ‘কুল’ মানে বংশ, অথবা ইংরেজি শব্দটির লিখিত রূপ। কিন্তু ‘কূল’ মানে নদী, দিঘি বা সমুদ্রের পাড়। আবার ‘পাড়’ মানে তীরভূমি কিংবা শাড়ির পাড়, কিন্তু ‘পার’ হচ্ছে মূলত ক্রিয়াবাচক বিশেষ্য। যদিও এখন কূল অর্থেও ‘পার’ ব্যবহার হয়।
  • ‘ধারণা’। কিন্তু, ‘ধরন’।
  • ‘মূলত’, ‘ক্রমশ’, ‘সাধারণত’ – এসবের পর আর বিসর্গ বসে না।
  • কথ্য হালকা স্ল্যাং বা বিদেশি শব্দের ক্ষেত্রে শব্দ যথাসম্ভব সরল করে লেখা হয়। সেসব ক্ষেত্রে ণ্ড, ণ্ট বসে না। ন্ড, ন্ট বসে। যা ঢং করে বাজে তা ঘণ্টা। আর যা ষাট মিনিটে হয়, তা ঘন্টা। যা ঘাঁটা-র সমার্থক, তা ঘণ্ট। ‘মুণ্ড’, কিন্তু ‘মুন্ডু’। একই যুক্তিতে আরও কিছু বানান ভেদ আছে। যেহেতু তৎসম, তাই ‘কোণ’, ‘নীচ’, ‘রোগী’। কিন্তু যেহেতু কথ্য, তাই ‘কোনা’, ‘নিচু’, ‘রুগি’।
  • ‘মরা’ মানে মরে যাওয়া। ‘মড়া’ মানে মৃতদেহ। মড়া হয়ে উঠতে গেলে মরা আবশ্যক।
  • অভিধান দেখার ক্ষেত্রে অনেকেই আলাদা আলাদা নিয়ম মানেন। কিন্তু একটা নিয়ম সব ক্ষেত্রে প্রযোজ্য। অভিধানে কোনও শব্দের প্রথম যে বানান, সেটাই ওই বানানবিধিতে সর্বজনস্বীকৃত। তার পরের বানানগুলি হচ্ছে অঞ্চল বা উপভাষা-ভেদে প্রকার।
  • উদ্ধৃতি চিহ্নের মধ্যে তুলে আনা উক্তির ক্ষেত্রে মূল বইয়ের বানান হুবহু এক রাখতে হবে। তা সে যতই প্রাচীন বানান হোক। এছাড়া কোনও সংলাপ থাকলে সে ক্ষেত্রে বানানে কিছু ছাড় দেওয়া চলে। একজন সমাজবিরোধী যদি বলে ‘মেসিন ঠেকিয়ে খালাস করে দেব’, সেখানে ‘মেশিন’ বানান ভুল হলেও রাখা যাবে। ওটা তার শ্রেণির চরিত্র বহন করে।

বেশিরভাগ বানানের ক্ষেত্রেই একটা না একটা যুক্তি থাকে। সেই যুক্তিটা একবার বুঝে গেলে বানান মুখস্থ করার আর প্রয়োজন পড়ে না। আপনিই মনে থেকে যায়। আশা করি ওপরে লেখা কথাগুলি পরবর্তীকালে বাংলা লেখার ক্ষেত্রে কিছুটা হলেও সাহায্য করবে।     

Career growth in VLSI and Embedded System Design for B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering students after Pandemic

Learning areas of this course:

All students must learn advanced skills in high demand like VLSI and Embedded System Design and apply these skills to get a job. These transferable in-demand skills are so essential after post-pandemic. ECE offers new career opportunities to its engineers. All of our essential services are now projected to a new level. During a pandemic, we are shifting away from using offline platforms and toward online platforms. We are accustomed to using e-commerce to buy and sell goods or transfer funds via online platforms, and there is a large employment opportunity. Use of Embedded system design can be found in every industry, from medicine to manufacturing. An embedded system is a combination of hardware and software that performs a specific task within a specified time frame which means it should perform only one specific task. The main advantage of using an embedded system in an application is that it reduces the size and cost of the task while also improving its reliability and efficiency. Students studying Electronics and Communication Engineering will be able to find jobs in e-commerce by preparing themselves with the necessary skill sets.

Because of the pandemic, our demand for biomedical electronics has increased. We must develop more biomedical instruments and devices to ensure our survival in the healthcare system. There will be a huge opportunity to find work in the field of biomedical. Because these domains require knowledge of circuit theory, semiconductor device, analog circuits, digital circuits, and understanding of VLSI and Embedded System design, they are mostly open to students with an ECE background. As a result, they have more job opportunities.

 

Unique Aspects and strength of VLSI and Embedded System design:

Working in the core electronics industry is the dream of every ECE engineering students. VLSI and Embedded system design are two of the most important industries for an electronics engineer. However, in order to find work in these industries, one must be highly skilled, with a solid understanding of the fundamentals and a hands-on approach. The industry expects engineers to be familiar with industry standard EDA tools and fabrication but fabrication is beyond the scope of B.Tech course structure. Using Make in India, Digital India and Start-up India programme thrives to the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in India, many manufacturers are relocating to the country to establish their businesses. Making India a Semiconductor Hub for ESDM, the government invites applications for the Chips to Startup (C2S) Program. The Indian government has approved a comprehensive programme to develop an Integrated Circuit (IC)/ ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) design by using VLSI system design in the country. Many Start-ups and MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) are now interested to progress in this field.

 

Every year, India spends billions of dollars to bring electronic consumer devices to the country. VLSI and Embedded systems play a significant role in consumer electronics. As a result, VLSI and embedded systems are emerging domains in India. There will be a significant skill gap in these areas. Every year, India invested billions of dollars to import electronic consumer devices. VLSI and Embedded systems are important in consumer service electronics. As a result, VLSI and embedded systems are growing in popularity in World. There will be a significant skill gap in these following areas.

  1. SoC Desien
  2. ASIC Design
  3. Reusable IP Core(s) Design and Development 
  4. Application Oriented Working Prototype of ASICs and SoCs
  5. ASIC and FPGA Research and Development

With the emerging rise in the VLSI industry our processing speed increases to Intel Pentium P5 processor to recent core i9 processor and our mobile phone processor become thinner (4nm) to make mobile phone energy efficient and provide better performance.

Every new process node is evaluated based on three key metrics: power, performance, and area (PPA). Designers strive to balance and improve the three areas, but cost and time-to-market (collectively PPACT) are taken into account when chipmakers choose between process node options.

Industry 4.0 jobs are available through VLSI and Embedded System design. Smart homes are built with IoT and Embedded system design technology and smart electronics appliances such as a smart refrigerator, air conditioner, TV, microwave, and washing machine that can be controlled remotely via smartphone. IoT and Embedded system design technology play an important role in healthcare.

Students having the following skills for companies like Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, HCL Technologies, L&T etc.

  • Programming skills like Verilog/VHDL and
  • Exposure to VLSI Industry standard tools for ASIC and FPGA design
  • Embedded Programming skill like C, C++, Java, Embedded C++ and Python
  • Clear understanding of analog and digital circuit analysis and design.

If you want to work in technology, you must have certain skills. You must think like an engineer and learn engineering skills. Contrast “engineering labour” with “engineer.” If you believe you are an engineer, you must prove it before the rest of the world believes you. And proving it is difficult. However, believe me when I say that the VLSI Industry is in desperate need of Engineers. We have a demand, but no resources. We can find engineering labour but not engineers. It’s oversaturated for people who consider themselves engineers but perform engineering labour work. It has a bright future for those who are connected to technology and willing to learn on a regular basis. The future exists in all domains (analog – because world is analog, Digital – all computer works on binary, Mix-signal – because we are moving from integration of Real world and Computer world in form of AI, ML, AR-VR).

Future relocation area Memory that is fast and compact high-speed, low-power processor design.  Every individual must now determine what skills they possess and where they can contribute and whether or not the industry is saturated will be determined by this.

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