Covid-19 Pandemic Archives | Adamas University

Is Operations Research useful in Data Science?

“Operations research (OR) is defined as the scientific process of transforming data into insights to making better decisions.”

–The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)

Introduction:

In the twenty-first century, especially in the last decade, the most trending domain of study is may be Data Science and Data Analytics. In this domain of study, people work with data from different fields and they use different tools and techniques from the domain of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science to study and analyze the data. Then make some conclusion from the data and use them to predict the future of the phenomenon under study. Before the rise of data science as a domain of study, Operations Research analyst and Statisticians are used to do the similar kind of job. Due to these facts, the overlap between the domain of Data Science and the domain of OR is misunderstood. Also, there is a common perception that OR is not useful in for Data Science or Data Analytics. Actually, the marketing of OR products and services which are applied to solve the real world problems leads to this kind of misconception, as most of the time the end-users do not have an understanding or background of OR and data science. Another possible reason may be that the availability of machine learning models which are available as packages of several platforms like Python and do not really contain specific any OR models. In practical, OR tools and techniques are applicable to data science. In fact, a lot of ideas which are used in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science problem solving, have cross-pollinated from OR due to the large overlap in the techniques and methods used. In this blog, I try to explore these relations of OR with Data Science and Data Analytics.

Operations Research and Data Science:

Before going to the discussion on the role and relation between Data Science and OR, let us try to understand another very important term called Analytics. According to INFORMS, Analytics is the application of scientific & mathematical methods to the study & analysis of problems involving complex systems. There are three distinct types of analytics:

i) Descriptive Analytics gives insight into past events, using historical data;

ii) Predictive Analytics provides insight on what will happen in the future; and

iii) Prescriptive Analytics helps with decision making by providing actionable advice [https://www.informs.org/Explore/Operations-Research-Analytics]. In an INFORMS podcast, depending on organizational backgrounds, Glenn Wegryn divides Analytics into two distinct camps: Data Centric Analytics where data is used to find interesting insights and information to predict or anticipate what might happen; and Decision Centric or Problem Centric Analytics which is used to understand the problem, then determine the specific methodologies and information needed to solve the specific problem. This data centric analytics are done by using Data Science whereas problem centric analytics are done by Operations Research. The above mention figure clearly give an idea about this. From the figure, it is very clear that there is a common point of interest from both the domain. Hence OR plays a very important role in Data Science domain.

Operations Research and Machine Learning:

Machine learning is the area of data science where most of the OR tools and techniques are used. Linear programming and Optimization techniques are fundamental part of the overall machine learning lifecycle. Some of the examples of OR are:

Enabling smart human resource management by forecasting human resource requirements and optimizing daily schedule for resource persons (linear programming model)
Increasing TV program viewership by optimal scheduling of programs’ promotion (linear programming model)
Enabling supply chain transformation by providing AI/machine learning-based recommendations for optimized product utilization
AI-enabled forecasting for retail and eCommerce applications to optimize funnel and customer traffic
Data-driven optimization models for automated inventory management where we need to do warehouse management, inspection and quality control

Operations Research and Artificial Intelligence:

Another important area of data science is Artificial Intelligence where we can observe the use of OR algorithm. AI is used to build an automated system. Now, any real-life system have many decision variables and parameters, so if we want to build an automated system then we have to deal with a lot of decision variables. That’s why operations research algorithm must be a core engine in the system.

An Artificial Intelligence development lifecycle consists of the following steps: (Link)

Descriptive and Predictive steps:

In the first step, we need to define the problem to be solved
In the next step, we need to understand the current state of the problem and accordingly we have to define the work scope
Next we need to develop a Machine Learning model, where the machine learning solution is developed and tested.

Prescriptive steps:

Machine learning outputs or the predictions obtained using machine learning are given as OR inputs. Here, the OR techniques are used to make recommendations based on the outputs from the ML model. This is a critical step for the entire life cycle.
Finally, the solution output is delivered to the client.

Covid-19 impact:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever, data science has become a powerful weapon in combating an infectious disease epidemic and arguably any future infectious disease epidemic. Computer scientists, data scientists, physicists and mathematicians have joined public health professionals and virologists to confront the largest pandemic in the century by capitalizing on the large-scale ‘big data’ generated and harnessed for combating the COVID-19 pandemic. (Zhang, Qingpeng, et al. “Data science approaches to confronting the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative review.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 380, No. 2214 (2022)). Covid-19 has a big impact on supply chain strategies also. People from data science community are analyzing “lessons learned” from the pandemic to better prepare and more efficiently and effectively respond to the next disaster, interested people can visit the following for a discussion on it (Link1).

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it is very much clear that Data Science and Operations Research have some overlapping objectives with clear line of difference between these two domains of study. Also, we observe that there are several OR techniques and algorithms which have important role to play in different topics of data science. In my opinion, operations research together with data science and analytics is going to play a very important role to build the future of us.

Nanofibers: A potent drug delivery system

Successful delivery of drug occurs only if the proper drug carrier has been chosen. Nanofibers act as a good drug delivery system and they are biodegradable, biocompatible. They can be prepared either by using a single polymer solution or a blend of different polymeric solutions. Due to the large surface area and high aspect ratio nanofibers are widely used for different biomedical purposes. Nanofibers act as a suitable drug delivery system for low solubility and low permeability drugs. Nanofibers act as a controlled release drug delivery system by delivering drugs over a fixed period with minimum side effects. Electrospinning is a voltage-dependent process in which nanofibers are prepared either from a single polymeric solution or from a blend of different polymeric solutions. The basic setup for this process is a syringe with a needle containing a polymeric solution which acts as a reservoir, a pump, a high voltage power source and a collector. When electrostatic repulsion becomes higher than the surface tension of the loaded polymer solution then it results in the formation of Taylor Cone, which elongates and is ultimately deposited on the collector as nanofibers mat.

Nanofibers are small lightweight fibers whose diameter is in the nanometer range. Nanofibers have some excellent properties such as a high surface area to volume ratio, small, better porosity. Nanofibers find their use in the chemical, biotechnological, pharmaceutical industries. Due to several functions of nanofibers, they have achieved immense interest in the sectors of power storage as well as power production, pharmaceutical field, fabrics, numerous biological devices, treatment of water as well as in maintaining ecological balance. The extremely conventional technique to form the nanofiber mat is done by electrospinning. Electrospinning is a voltage-dependent process where nanofibers are made from a polymer solution or a mixture of polymer solutions when placed in an electric field which results in the elongation of the solution into a jet-like structure and ultimately forms Taylor Cone. When electrostatic repulsion becomes higher than the surface tension of the liquid then a conical-shaped structure is formed at the tip of the needle which is called the Taylor cone. Nanofibers can be prepared using polymers or a mixture of various polymeric solutions. PVA is not a natural polymer but it is miscible with water. PVA is colorless, odorless, non-toxic. PVA is biodegradable and biocompatible. PVA is utilized for various purposes which comprise the making of membranes, films, also in biomedical fields, as a carrier for the delivery of drugs as well as polymer composites. PVA also finds its use in paper cutting, coating of fabrics, gums, preparation of fibers. HPMC falls into the class of cellulose ethers. HPMC is a hydrophilic, recyclable and biocompatible type of polymer which have numerous functions in cases of delivery of drug, colors, cosmetics, gums, coating agent, in agricultural fields as well as in textile industries. Chitosan which is a linear polysaccharide is made up of linking between D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. Chitosan is made up by treating chitin shells with alkaline substances. Chitosan provides many functions which in turn makes it appropriate for different uses like in the pharmaceutical field, biomedical purposes, as a carrier for delivery of drugs, foodstuffs, in treatment of water.

Nanotechnology has therefore emerged as an important field in medicine that has significant therapeutic benefits. There is also a need to control the delivery of the drug with respect to the site of action as well as dose to lower adverse effects. There are a large number of nano-drug delivery systems (NDDS) that act as potential drug carriers to treat cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular defects. Nanocarriers or nano vehicles act as effective drug delivery systems providing many advantages. Nanofibers possess a greater surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, nanofibers can be used where a large surface area is required. They can be formed using a wide variety of polymers. Polymeric nanofibers can be used in bone tissue engineering, cartilage tissue engineering, ligament, tendon tissue engineering. Nanofibers can also be used in lithium-air batteries, transistors, diodes, capacitors, composite for aerospace structures, optical sensors, air filtration. Nanofibers are also good carriers for effective gene delivery and expression.

Nanofibers are very small which provides them unique physical and chemical properties and allows them to be used in very small places. Nanofibers have a huge surface area compared to their volume. They possess the adaptability to change themselves to a broad variety of shapes as well as sizes respectively. Nanofibers are small, lightweight fibers whose diameter is in the nanometer range. Nanofibers are prepared by using a polymer or blend of different polymers. The diameter of the nanofibers relies upon the category, nature of the polymer used in the process of formation of nanofibers. Different methods which include drawing, electrospinning, self-assembly, template synthesis are used to prepare nanofibers while electrospinning is the most commonly used method. Nanofibers have attained extreme interest due to their utilization in various biomedical purposes over the last few decades due to their distinctive functional properties like greater surface area and high aspect ratio, which ultimately have a crucial role in cellular and molecular activities, maintaining their structure similar to the local cellular microenvironment. Instead of their numerous advantages, few biomedical purposes require the use of nanofiber composites due to their perfect, superior structural and tunable functional properties compared to single-phase nanofibers. Nanofiber composites are a relatively modern, distinctive, special, versatile group of nanomaterials. The nanofiber composite approach has remarkably increased the cell attachment and cellular role with respect to the single-phase nanofiber approach. Nanofibers have attained extreme interest due to their extensive usage in the storage and production of energy, chemical and biological detectors, pharmaceutical industries as well as textile industries, purification of water, and preventing environmental damage. Even though much work has been done for the fabrication of transition metal oxide nanofibers, but still their incorporation at definite positions into nano-matric requires nanofibers to be synthesized with fine reproducibility, suitable-controlled orientation, tunable size, and great aspect ratio. The big-scale production of nanofibers with such features is still a challenging work as the mostly used electrospinning methods have some disadvantages which are namely less yield, great operating voltage, and problems in acquiring in situ deposition of nanofibers on various substrates. The formation of nanofibers can be enlarged using the electrospinning setup with numerous needles or by utilizing needleless electrospinning. Nanofibers are fibers of the nanometer scale. Nowadays there are a large number of techniques for the generation of nanofibers which include self-assembly, electrospinning, template synthesis, and phase separation methods. Besides, nanofibers can be prepared using different types of polymers which include keratin, collagen, silk fibroin, cellulose, gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), polylactic acid (PLA), polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate (PEVA) and polysaccharides like alginate and chitosan respectively. Nanofibers are regarded as essential, significant by many researchers because of the benefits they offer, such as being lightweight and having less diameter, possessing greater surface-to-volume ratios, manageable pore structures.

What is Biochemistry- more of Biology or more of Chemistry

After your 10+2 examination, it is the time to choose your carrier path and you need to decide on a subject for your under graduation study. You need to choose a subject wisely, which you can fall in love with, has a good job perspective, a versatile curriculum and you can have a carrier that is fulfilling to your intellectual and curious mind and most importantly serves society in a way that no other profession can substitute it. Here I am going to suggest to you the subject Biochemistry.

Now before you sought ‘Eureka’ and jump into this Biochemical soup; let us understand what Biochemistry really is and what the carrier opportunities are for a student studying Biochemistry. First, let us understand if Biochemistry is more of chemistry or Biology or if both of them in equivalent. The subject Chemistry mostly deals with atoms and molecules, which are the constituents of our whole universe. Chemistry describes the different properties of every individual element in the periodic table, also describes how the atomic-level structure of those elements is responsible for these special characteristics. By doing so, it opens up new possibilities to design new materials and molecules with novel functions that have never existed in our universe or some improved version of the existing materials. Therefore, chemistry discovers the basic theories or rules of chemical science to invent new materials and molecules. These rules are followed by every element and chemical reaction in nature including all the living entities. The subject Biochemistry uses those rules to explain all the reactions and phenomena of the biological world. Consider us, Humans, the way our eyes see light follows the basic rules of photochemistry, the way we breadth it follows basic chemical rules of diffusion and osmosis. All the metabolic reaction that generates energy, produces biomolecules, polymerization of DNA, RNA and proteins follow basic rules of chemical reactions. So, you may ask, is there anything special in Biochemistry or it is just that old chemistry in a new wrapper? Biochemistry deals with the structure and functions of bio-macromolecules, which are more complex than simple elementary chemistry. Biological reactions are remarkably accurate, specific (Stereospecific/regiospecific), and high yield. Moreover, all the reactions occur at 37 degrees centigrade with no scope of heating or cooling. Therefore, although the biochemical reactions are following basic elementary chemical principles, it uses sophisticated biological machinery (like ribosome to synthesize proteins, motor proteins for cellular transport and different enzymes for biochemical synthesis, etc) to make the reactions more efficient. The subject Biochemistry deals with these machinery to explain how it works and how malfunction of it can cause a deadly disease. The scope of biochemistry extends even further to identify or invent molecules that have medicinal properties to cure the disease. So, therefore, the subject biochemistry has the equivalent amount of Biology and Chemistry and also includes small parts of Physics too. However, the curriculum for B. Sc Biochemistry includes associated subjects like Microbiology, Cell Biology, Biotechnology, Molecular biology, Recombinant DNA technology, Immunology, Human Physiology, Genetics, etc. So, as a whole, the course Biochemistry has little more Biology than Chemistry.

You might be wondering after you finished your B. Sc in Biochemistry, what are the jobs that are available to you. Now a day, Indian bio-industries are growing like never before and everyone knows these names like Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, and Biocon. These big bio-industries which produces vaccine, enzymes, antibody-based immunotherapy for cancer (Biologics), etc recruits Biochemistry undergraduates. All medicine companies like Dr. reddy’s laboratories, Cipla, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin limited, etc recruit Biochemistry undergraduates as laboratory associates as well as medical representatives. Different food processing, breweries and bioprocess companies recruit Biochemistry undergraduates as quality control experts. Other than industry, you can appear for all those government jobs that require a bachelor’s degree.

However, the most interesting and intense carrier opportunity a Biochemistry undergraduate can have is pursuing higher study and research. There are different competitive examinations like National eligibility test (NET) and Graduate aptitude test for engineers (GATE) after you complete your M. Sc in Biochemistry to join a research lab as a PhD student in India. Alternatively, you can appear in Graduate Record Examination (GRE)/ Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and choose to go abroad (USA, Germany, Canada, UK, Singapore, etc) to pursue your PhD. The focus of research in Biochemistry lab all over the world are mainly to understand the molecular basis of life. The area like protein Biochemistry identifies and understands proteins and enzymes and characterizes the function and their role in a biochemical reaction. Structural Biology is the area to understand the three-dimensional structures of bio-machineries at atomic level resolution using sophisticated techniques like X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy and NMR. Researchers are also working on cell biology, cancer biology, synthetic biology/bio-printing, antibiotic resistance, drug discovery, Bioinformatics/computational biology, immunology/antibody engineering, Virology/vaccine development, Bioelectronics/Biosensor and many more interesting topics.

Although we know a lot about basic chemistry that explains some of the most complex phenomena in the universe but unfortunately, we still do not know everything about ourselves and the biological systems around us. We need thousands of trained biochemists (like you would be) to solve the most challenging problems in biological science. Right now burning problems are antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria, the development of therapeutics for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, resolving unknowns about the human brain and its functions, etc. We need biochemists to contribute to our current development of gene therapy techniques to cure diseases associated with congenital genetic disorders like Haemophilia, Muscular dystrophy, Thalassemia, and many more. You can also contribute to human sustainability in the era of environmental crisis by implementing genetic engineering to improve food production, recycling water using microorganisms, developing new ways to control heavy metal and plastic pollution, development of biofuel/Hydrogen/microbial fuel cells as an alternative to overcome fast depletion of natural fuel resources, etc. Please keep in mind that the path of biological research is not smooth at all; you have to be prepared for continuous failure, unsuccessful experiments and plans, sleepless nights, irregular lunch and diners and many more. However, the role you are going to serve as a Biochemist for the benefit of humankind is unique and invaluable for the well-being of all of us.

Career Prospects Post Pandemic – What prerequisites to know around Advertising Research?

What is Advertising Research?

As it has been known to all this advertising research falls under the gamut of marketing communication as paid form and sponsored ideas intrigues with this.

The moment we say that it falls under marketing communication, the potentials for knowing the market and its underlying category (customer/consumer/clients/audience); all is needed is research. The best meaning can be got through is ‘Research’; which helps the need of the consumer as well as to get the pulse of the competitors in and around.

There are few synonymous for this term such as Market research, marketing research, Brand Communication research.

Background and History of Advertising Research- The history of advertising research states us moderately a jiffy about its contemporary position. Although approximately advertising agencies have had research departments from the beginning, the actual affluent days came between the 1930s and the 1970s.

During this period, advertising agencies espoused research departments for two basic Reasons:

(1) The propagation of advertising research in the culture during this period suggested its necessity, and

(2) Other advertising agencies had research departments.

Various dimensions of Advertising Research-

Types of Advertising Research

Advertising research should be intended to tell you how operative your advertising plan is at reaching and coaxing customers.

This research is beneficial no matter what form of advertising you use, including print, television, radio, and digital. Advertising research can focus on different areas of the advertising process, including:

Target Market

It is all about doing research to know the habits and preferences of your target customers to ensure the advertising campaign. This eventually helps to identify and know who customers are, what difficulties they have, what assistances they are look for, and what type of messaging will reverberate with them.

Researching your target market can be cooperative if:

To attract new customers.
To retain potential consumers.
You are escalating your business market.
Your advertising is not reverberating with your set target market.

Another important aspects of advertising research is ‘Brands’ which are not defined just by their products or services. A brand is made up of much more; it has its own personality (contributed to by its employees), its own mission statement, its own goals, its own ethos, even its own humour (see Innocent drinks for an example). However, a brand’s perception is not owned by the brand itself, rather it is owned by the customer, based on how they see and feel it.

Response to Ads

Understanding how tangible customer/consumer in your aim demographic respond to ads can help you create a strong and effective advertising campaign. In this type of research, customers are shown different ads and are asked what they think about the products that are featured, whether they would consider purchasing them, and how well they understand the product after seeing the ad.

Outcomes and Success

Generally, research is done to measure the success of each advertising campaign. Understanding the effect advertising has on sales, customer perception, and lead generation, along with reoccurrence on venture also need to be taken into consideration, it further helps in saving time and resources. You can further go for comparative analysis of advertising across diverse media or markets. This can help your business comprehend whether it needs to revise its advertising strategy.

A clear benchmarking needs to be done for successful campaign for any ads to track customer response, such as exclusive assembling codes, coupons, or web links.

Well-articulated advertising research won’t just influence your advertising strategy. As with any constituent of your marketing mix, the eventual goal is to upsurge sales and grow your business.

The question or thoughts get provoked in following points

What is advertising analysis?

What’s the difference between a ad audit and ad analysis?

What is a ad association, attribute or perception?

What’s more important, understanding the tangible or intangible elements of an ad?

Importance of Advertising Research-

Questions such as- “Why netizens follow every trend of advertisements on a serious note?” “Who is a consumer?” “Why digital ads become viral?” “Why people believe whatever they see ads online?” can be answered only through advertising research. Advertising Research helps in- understanding the vehicles of media better, recognizing and empathetic negative effects of ad messages, and developing advertising literacy content. Ad research has the potential to bring another phenomenon to create ‘Acts’ instead of Ads. And so, there is a calamitous need to investigate the nature of advertising along with studying the audience in depth in order to understand its impact and reach. Now just think and feel how you perceive and feel about doing or be a part of this advertising research? Is it essential? Research is an continuous determination that requires lots of human power (knowledge to pulse of the audience) and hence “the supplementary, the additional”. I urge all the aspire students who have inclination towards advertising should know more about research to join this interesting and very much relevant field. To conclude I would like to end with a quote – ‘advertising is a story unfolding across all customers touch points!!!”.

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.

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/

Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: A New opportunity to build Career

In lockdown era of Covid-19 outbreak, creates a recession in different working sectors and numerous people lost their jobs in different areas. After pandemic, new job opportunities have been opened up. Among them, AI in health care is considered as one of the promising one. In the context of covid-19 pandemic there exist shortage of health care personnel and this not fulfilling the diagnosis response at the emergency stage. Integration of AI in health care can be considered as a promising option to overcome the shortage of health care personnel. Now question is that how a computer Engineer can incorporate AI in health care. The applications of AI into health care have been categorized into three groups.

Patient-oriented AI
Clinical oriented AI
Administration and operational Oriented AI

The Patient oriented AI system can directly improve the patient care. According to the report of UK Govt., if the AI-enabled symptoms checker is coupled with the telemedicine technology, reduced number of physicians visits in hospitals. Different Machine Learning and deep learning-based (ML/DL) algorithms have been considered to train the aforementioned AI-enabled symptoms checker system where the several symptoms of the common diseases have been considered as the training data.

Apart from this, several organizations adopted the chatbot system to improve the patient care. Chatbot is a software program that automatically chat with the patients through text or voice messages. A chatbot system, initially collects information from patients. After analyzing this information using different Computer vision techniques, provides the information regarding the present conditions of the disease as well as, what he will do. In some places, the chatbot systems are not capable of collecting the patients’ information, a wearable device can play an important role. These wearable devices sense the patient’s disease information through some sensors and AI-based methodologies provide the actual conditions of the disease. Another noteworthy fact is that AI can improve the accuracy in disease detection.

In developing countries like India, the doctor and patient are low and an individual clinician works nearly 14-18 hours in a day. Due to this extensive workload, clinicians may overlook the early sign of the disease. A computer aided diagnosis system (CAD) can assist doctors to detect these symptoms at the early stages. The researchers from University of Calcutta said that their implemented CAD system is capable of detecting lung nodules at early stages which may indicate lung cancer if it is detected at later stages.

Furthermore, AI can also increase the efficacy of the targeted therapy. AI is capable of identifying the accurate effected area of the abnormal tissue. By supervising the effected area through computers, a clinician can provide the drug to the patients.

Apart from the computer vision techniques, the natural language processing (NLP) also improves the clinical outcomes. In daily clinical practice, clinicians often required previous disease history, medications doses and the family history of the disease to prepare appropriate diagnose plan. In health sector, the data are stored in an unstructured manner i.e., the health sector-maintained paper-based work. Due to extensive workload these data may lost. The Electronic Medical Record or EMR is a software where the NLP techniques can store large number of clinical text data in a structured form. In present context, the existing EMR software is very costly. This necessitates the AI-based health care industry to implement a low cost and more accurate EMR tool for improved diagnosis procedures. The Norway based Globus.ai’s AI enabled EMR system shows that it fills clinical data 90% more faster than the human work. Another interesting application of AI in health care is robotic surgery. In this application, different computer algorithms have been automated for different surgeries. However, the general decisions are still taken by the surgeon.

Beside the clinical outcomes, AI can also improve the patient safety. It has been observed that, several patients suffer from adverse drug effects i.e., the drug is not suited for the patient body. Israel’s MedAware’s patient safety platform considered different ML algorithms to detect and reduce the risk of medication error.

This discussion reveals that to provide improved health care, participation of AI engineers in heal care industry become an inevitable option. This creates huge job opportunities to the engineers.

Post-COVID Alteration of Teaching-Learning Process in Chemistry

It’s no secret that many students and educators struggled to adjust to last year’s rapid change to remote learning. Both groups faced a variety of obstacles, including lost lab time and increasing knowledge gaps, as well as learning loss and disengagement.

As a result, it’s unclear how much mastery pupils gained in their classes during the pandemic, and how much retention they’ll show when we return to class. Which begs the question: how can chemistry teachers prepare themselves (and their students) for success with a new school year approaching and so much uncertainty still hanging in the air?

Challenges To Be Faced In 2022

With so much ambiguity surrounding immunizations, the constant threat of new variations, and the general health concerns linked with in-classroom learning, educators must adapt at breakneck speed. This might result in abrupt changes to curriculum design or the need to plan for unexpected changes in teaching approaches.

As a result of this unprecedented demand on educators, one out of every four instructors polled said they were considering retiring by the conclusion of the 2020-2021 school year. This could result in a last-minute shortage of certified instructors for higher college courses such as chemistry, which require specific skills to teach.

From the perspective of the students, many are trapped between wanting to keep themselves and their loved ones safe by staying at home and grappling with the many limits that a year of remote learning imposed. For a variety of reasons, staying at home may also imply sacrificing their level of mastery (access or familiarity with technology, difficulty staying engaged, etc).

Chemistry Education Has Evolved

In 2022, there will be more alternatives for remote teaching than ever before (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Classroom to name a few). While these tools are great for remote meetings, they lack the kind of functionality that helps teachers teach highly conceptual (and technical) subjects like chemistry.

Fortunately, the rise of new educational technologies has been one of the most favourable things to occur in the recent 12 months. Beyond the basics of remote access, new technologies that focus on active learning and skill development have been fast emerging and will only improve in the future. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for bridging learning gaps and engaging students more effectively.

Possibilities For the Future

In 2022, teaching will entail being prepared to recognise and address student knowledge and learning gaps while also incorporating flexibility and adaptability into your course design. It also entails utilising chemistry-specific, student-centred instructional technology tools, such as Active Chemistry, to provide students with actively engaging information, concept visualisation, and practise.

Finally, instructors that incorporate a student response mechanism that can be used both in-person and online will be ahead of the game and prepared for any eventuality.

Career Prospects in New-Age Journalism: Deconstructing the Need for News Content in the Post-Pandemic Era

Over the past one decade or so, we have been hearing about it, talking about it and experiencing it as well. Indeed, digital is the way forward in journalism. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, new media had emphatically established itself as the primary journalistic platform. If at all there was a tinge of doubt vis-à-vis the primacy of online news content, the pandemic sealed it for once and all.

However, we are not here to talk about digital journalism. Enough has been said about it and to the extent that anything in the given domain would prove unabashedly repetitive. Instead, what would be an infinitesimally better discourse is to talk about the changes that we are experiencing in the world of digital journalism over the past two years and how the changes have uncovered newer opportunities for prospective journalists. More particularly, we are talking about journalism career opportunities. Without any further ado, let us take a closer look:

YouTube Journalism: Many reputed and mainstream journalists including the likes of Barkha Dutt and Faye D’Souza have opened their YouTube channels that are constantly streaming news and views. In fact, going by the sheer content quality, it would not be an overstatement if we were to say that these YouTube channels are likely to replace the mainstream news channels very shortly. Owing to the fact that these YouTube channels are largely independent, the news that are being transmitted through these channels are largely unbiased and censorship-free. Given the scenario, young and bright journalists can think about opening their own YouTube channels instead of following the beaten track. One also needs to consider that the amount of investment that one needs to make to open such a channel is minimal.
Vlog and Podcast Journalism: Industry veterans often talk about how vlogs and podcasts are gaining in popularity with each passing day. Topical vlogs and independent podcast sites could be a great way for an upcoming journalist to leverage their knowledge and expertise. As alternative media is pushing its envelope, the content quality of these vlogs and podcast sites is improving at an exponential rate.
Freelance Mobile Journalism (MoJo): There have been umpteen discussions on mobile journalism or MoJo and the discussions keep getting intense. However, what everybody seems to have forgotten is the growth potential for freelance mobile journalism. Mobile news content has the capacity to make journalism a lot more encompassing that what is currently the case. As we are trudging through an economically depressed post-pandemic time, journalism of tomorrow will be largely mobile. Cheap technology and easy navigability of content will create all the difference.
Data Journalism: Moving ahead, data is set to be the key. Surfing through data and making sense out of it will become the most important skill for a journalist. Therefore, technology and numerical skills would distinguish a successful journalist from a not so successful one. When we talk about data, we also talk about the seamless and palatable representation of data.
Journalism through Infographics and Animation: In a world that has seen the unbelievable growth of technology, it is only natural that the traditional modes of news content delivery would cease to be effective. Therefore, text, photographs and videos are no longer enough to impress and hold audiences. One also needs infographics and animation clips to make a news package more incisive and consumable. Journalists who can create meaningful and impactful infographics and animation would be in high demand in the next few years.
Spatial Journalism: Before we discuss the possibilities in spatial journalism, we need to understand what it exactly is. Spatial journalism can be loosely defined as a novel form of journalism that juxtaposes the concepts of place, space and location into traditional journalistic practices. The location can be physical, augmented or virtual. It involves new storytelling formats such as the ones that include Augmented Realities (AR), Virtual Realities (VR) and Mixed Realities (MR). What is clear though is the primordial role of technology in the entire process. Subject to the fact that immersive storytelling has better chances of retaining news consumers, spatial journalism can be safely considered to be biggest thing in journalism.
Modular Journalism: Modular journalism is the practice of looking at a story not as a monolith but as a collection of bits and parts. The process of crafting a story by including only those parts that are consumable and interesting is called modular journalism. At a time when the attention time among news consumers is consistently shrinking and content creation is becoming increasingly difficult, modular journalism is set to be a panacea. Therefore, journalists who know the pulse of their audience and can accordingly create a story without bothering much about the older traditions in journalism are destined to be more successful than the rest.
Human Interest Journalism: Over a period of time, young and aspiring journalists have been made to believe that stories that encapsulate the pulse of the common people do not create much public interest. However, recent trends in journalism has proved it wrong. Therefore, empathetic storytellers who understand the finer nuances of humanity would be in demand. The pandemic has shown the vulnerability of the human race in the face of natural adversity and hence people throughout the world have started understanding the importance of documenting human frailties. This is a marked opportunity for young and sharp minds in journalism to explore storytelling with humanity at the core of it.
Health Journalism: With the pandemic having changed the dominant global discourse, health journalism and health journalists would continue to become increasingly more relevant. Therefore, young scribes who are interested in health journalism can ride the tide and become successful in practically no time.
Technology Journalism: With technology set to become even more encompassing in the days to come, journalists who understand technology have a greater chance of making it big in the news content market. In very simple terms, reportages that concern technology would become the norm.

Journalism, as we know it today, would significantly transform in the next few years. The most important thing is to comprehend the pulse of this change and act accordingly. If a prospective journalist can do that, there will be no looking back for her/ him.

This blog encompasses the changing lens of digital journalism and tries to provide information pertaining to career prospects in the broader domain of journalism for upcoming and aspiring scribes. Just in case you find this blog useful and relevant, please make it a point to share it with as many people as you like for them to know the contemporary nuances in journalism and related career opportunities.