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Bureaucracy: Fascination for Power

“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.”- Javier Pascual Salcedo

Bureaucracy in modern India started its journey with the handholding of the British. Since, it’s initial days it is a fascination among Indians both fear and desire. During the British empire used to function through its bureaucratic setup. It connects the metros with the outpost of the empire. After the breakup of the empire, bureaucracy setup has been adopted by the former colonies.

Bureaucrats are the office holders who serve the executive functions of the government in India. The bureaucrats are responsible for implementing the policies of the government. People working as bureaucrats face lots of challenges in their career too. Also, they enjoy various benefits from the government. Combining these pros and cons, millions of aspirants every year try their luck in respective exams with the hope of getting selected as a bureaucrat.

The following points enlist the reasons behind the craze among the people for being bureaucrats.

1) Secure life with a decent salary: In this competitive world, money is the most essential instrument for leading a happy and a peaceful life. The job of a bureaucrat offers a handsome starting salary with high increments along with promotions. The office holders can lead a standard life with their families. This makes the job so attractive among the people.

2) Facilities: The government provides lots of facilities to the bureaucrats including electricity allowance, travelling allowance, telephone, internet, and so on. They get residential apartments too from the government. All these factors add security to their life and make it smooth.

3) Attracted by the position: The volume of immense authority and power given to the bureaucrats, make the position very demanding. The bureaucrats are in the charge of complete control over an area allotted to them. They are respected and saluted by the entire population of that area. This image about the bureaucrats is created in the minds of the people who aspire for the jobs. This particular image is passed from one person to another which increases the number of aspirants every year.

4) Willing to control the policies and administration: The society runs as per the government’s policies and interventions. So, in order to control the good and bad happenings in the society, one has to stay in touch with the respective organs of the government. The civil servants can directly stay in touch with the leaders who frame the policies and run the administration. So, they can directly influence the society through their actions and decisions. The bureaucrats can alter any malpractices rife in the society. People who are willing to take that role have craze for being bureaucrats.

5) Influenced by the social media. The social media these days play a significant role in generating new civil service aspirants each day. The coaching institutes offering courses for preparation for civil service examinations site examples of some successful aspirants who got selected as bureaucrats.

They add audio and visual effects to the images and videos of those bureaucrats to charge the viewers for being civil service aspirants. Then they advertise about their coaching institutes and enlist the courses offered and facilities given. All these activities generate new craze among the people for becoming bureaucrats.

These are some of the major factors that makes people desire to become bureaucrats. Not only this field has positive sides, but also it involves many challenges, the initial challenge being the selection as a bureaucrat. So, one must choose their career option wisely and not get influenced by any external lures from friends, relatives or the people involved in the business with the aspirants.

Comparative approach and Liberal Arts

The tide of liberal arts is now sweeping the differences between various academic disciplines all across the world demolishing the demarcations between STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects and NON-STEM subjects. As a result it is also trying to break the stereotypes that are tagged with this demarcation of disciplines that are automatically getting responded as just constructed and imposed shadow lines. It also reminds us of the days of polymaths who existed in different civilization across the globe in various time periods.

Today we all live in an application based world, where knowledge has to be applied, and to solve this purpose we are all trying to make paths towards the practice of liberal arts in the field of education and India is not an exception in this regard. When we talk about the application of knowledge we must remember that this appliedness of knowledge is only possible if we can take education outside the boundaries of an educational institute.

In the year 1964 Sturart Hall and Richard Hoggart founded the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham with the objectives of taking education outside the university campus and encouraging the students to have a firsthand experience with the community, so that they can develop a better understanding of their respective community as a whole.

In other words this was an important step to implement the idea of Academic Social Responsibility. This new teaching and learning pedagogy once again may help us to bring science and humanities together to give shape to the academicians with the understanding of their responsibilities towards society. This also opens up the possibilities of collaborative curriculum designing, for outreach activities and also accommodates our eternal ‘quest for relevance’ as per the time and space we belong to. This may remind us of the Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thoing o ‘, who engaged in a protest against Eurocentricism in the field of education while discussing ‘quest for relevance’. In the process he encouraged the academicians across the world to have this quest while designing the curriculum.

Thus from the above discussion it is clear that the current educational scenario is ready to welcome an interdisciplinary approach towards education. We have to remember that comparative literature has long been accommodating this interdisciplinary approach and thus giving the platform to study literatures from across the world in an interdisciplinary manner and thus may play a key role in the development of liberal arts.

Comparative literature encourages the study of literature using a comparative framework. Students under such a frame work are encouraged to study many literatures together. Thus it creates the room to read and to critically engage with the literatures produced in various languages from different parts of the world.

Boundaries of such comparative approach is absolutely fluid, it can thus make teaching learning pedagogy multimodal in nature, further breaking the barriers between various existing disciplines. According to Susan Basnett comparative approach gives us the scope to study texts in relation to one another. Thus, comparative approach is the key to practice liberal arts.

Singular perspective focuses on a particular issue, whereas a comparative approach gives a broader spectrum of understanding. Comparative approach in a way reproaches the singular independent existence of disciplines. It sees the existence of all disciplines not in an independent fashion but in an interdependent fashion, thus provides a platform for the practice of liberal arts.

Liberal arts thus with a comparative approach makes all barriers fluid. It makes all geo political boundaries and linguistic boundaries blurred in its attempt to connect with everyone. This reminds us of the German author, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Rabindranath Thakur, who also referred to this idea of connectivity among the people across the world through the exercise of a comparative approach.

Liberal arts and comparative literature both widens our spectrum of reading texts. At this juncture we must remember that texts are not only printed books, every incident that happens around us and among us is a text. Liberal arts focus on training its students in reading these texts of which they themselves are a part. This process serves a twofold objective – firstly the students get the opportunity of a firsthand engagement with the society and secondly they go through a reality check regarding their ability to apply the knowledge that they have acquired in their educational institute.

Both liberal arts and comparative literature together investigates and questions whatever is given. Both jointly vehemently discourage a blind belief in anything given. Liberal arts is probably the only sect of knowledge that dares to question the formulation of knowledge itself. Being a part of an institution liberal arts tries to question the process of institutionalization.

Comparative approach helps liberal arts to get a wholesome, inclusive and comprehensive understanding of our society. Connection is the key component of liberal arts. This connection that we are referring to is the connection of our work and knowledge with the humanity and human concerns.

It is not just the imagination of certain authors but different historical eras have witnessed that whenever knowledge has lost its contact with humanity and human concerns, hell was let loose on mankind, be it the violent process of colonization or be it the transformation of nuclear power into a destructive bomb.

In today’s world we are all connected at different levels, sometimes we realize and sometime we do not. We cannot exist independently anymore. Thus the academic disciplines designed by us too cannot exist and have never existed independently.

The mission of liberal arts is to break science and humanities stereotyped binaries, that are imposed on both, by showcasing the connectivity that has existed between the two since the time immoral, at the same time liberal arts has the objective to connect both the dimension of knowledge systems with the human concerns. Liberal arts with a comparative approach reminds us that human beings with their knowledge need to serve human concerns.

Biomass based biofuel generation future in India

Out of some of the hottest trends that have been on the top lists for quite a while are choosing an entrepreneur as the primary occupation and doing an eco-friendly business.

The need of renewable energy is increasing in the world due to rapidly growing human population, urbanization and huge consumption of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel reserve is very limited, and the reserve is getting depleted day by day. The primary sources of energy that can be used as the alternative of fossil fuels are wind, water, solar and biomass-based energy.

Currently biomass as a feedstock for biofuel production is gaining importance. Biomass energy is supplying about 10-15% of total energy demand of the present world. Biomass feedstocks include organic material such as wood, wood-based energy crops, grass, lignucellulosic materials like wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane baggase, corn, microalgae, agricultural residues, municipal wastes, forest product wastes, paper, cardboard and food waste. Biomass can be converted into biofuels by thermochemical and biochemical conversion. Based on the types of feedstocks or biomass the biofuels derived are divided into different groups i.e. 1^st generation, 2^nd generation, 3^rd generation. 1^st generation biofuels mainly extracted from the food crop-based feedstocks like wheat, barley, sugar and used for biodiesel and by fermentation to produce bioethanol. But first-generation biofuels face the “fuel vs food” debate and also the net energy gain is negative. 1^st generation biofuels production systems also have some economic and environmental limitations. To overcome the drawbacks of 1^st generation biofuels 2^nd generation biofuels have been generated from the non-food crops-based feedstocks like organic wastes, lignocellulosic biomass etc. For biofuel production from these sources rigorous pretreatments are required to make the feedstocks suitable for biodiesel production. This is the major drawback of 2^nd generation biofuel production. Then the attention of the world has been shifted towards 3^rd generation biofuel production entails “algae-to biofuels”. Microalgae is easy to cultivate, has higher photosynthetic rate and growth rate than other plants and there is no food vs. feed dilemma present of using microalgae as feedstock for biofuel production. Presently the attention is also given towards fourth generation biofuel. The former concept of third generation of biofuel deals with the conversion process itself from the microalgae to biofuel. The fourth generation of biofuel concept deals with development of microalgal biotechnology via metabolic engineering to maximize biofuel yield. Fourth generation biofuel uses genetically modified (GM) algae to enhance biofuel production. In comparison with third generation in which the principal focus is in fact processing an algae biomass to produce biofuel, the main superior properties of the fourth are introducing modified photosynthetic microorganisms which in turn are the consequence of directed metabolic engineering, through which it is possible to continuously produce biofuel in various types of special bioreactors, such as photobioreactors.

Biomass has the highest potential for small scale business development and mass employment. Characterized by low-cost technologies and freely available raw materials, it is still one of the leading sources of primary energy for most countries. With better technology transfer and adaptation to local needs, biomass is not only environmentally benign, but also an economically sound choice. Bio-based energy can be expected to grow at a faster pace in the years to come.

On the Biomass Energy sector, the India government committed to increasing the share of non-fossils fuel in total capacity to 40% by 2030. India produces about 450-500 million tonnes of biomass per year. Biomass provides 32% of all the primary energy use in the country at present. A total capacity of 10145 MW has been installed in the Biomass Power and Cogeneration Sector. The Installed Capacity of Biomass IPP is 1826 MW together with the Installed Capacity of Bagasse Cogeneration is 7547 MW and the Installed Capacity of Non-Bagasse Cogeneration is 772 MW.

The eco-friendly business has lots of benefits, by going green with your business you’re promoting the Earth’s safety from potential environmental catastrophe, you support innovation and concomitantly producing green energy.

The Government of India has been constantly bound on increasing the use of clean energy sources. This does increase a better future and at the same time creates employment opportunities too. According to The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), India’s total installed capacity of renewable energy is 90 GW excluding hydropower. Also, it states that 27.41 GW will be added. Renewable Energy in India is a great asset to Energy Contribution, yet India still needs to work a lot in Renewable Energy Sectors.

A LEGAL STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW IN INDIA

The history of copyright is the tale of how the law has adapted to technical advancements. There have been significant technological advancements since the Rome Convention in 1961 and the final amendment to the Berne Convention in 1971. The introduction of digital technology has repeatedly put a major strain on the copyright regime. The WIPO had established two committees of experts [Committee of Experts on a Possible Protocol to the Berne Convention in September 1991 and the Committee of Experts on a Possible Instrument for Protection of the Rights of Performers and Producers of Phonograms in September 1992] to examine the effects of new technologies on copyright and neighbouring rights. These Committees, after exhaustive discussions, in which India was an active participant, drafted basic proposals for three new treaties, that is-

Treaty for Protection of Literary and Artistic Works;
Treaty for Protection of the Rights of Performers and Producers of Phonograms; and
Treaty on sui-generis protection for Databases.

The Conference adopted two treaties, the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The database treaty was deferred for further study.

Being a WIPO member and a party to the WCT (World Copyright Treaty) and WPPT, India has repeatedly revised its domestic legislation to be in line with international copyright standards. The Copyright (Amendment) Act of 1994 and the Copyright (Amendment) Act of 2012 serve as excellent examples of the sufficient degrees of advancement in Indian copyright laws that have been repeatedly seen.

The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012’s recognition of the performers’ rights under Section 38-A and the recognition of the performers’ moral rights under Section 38-B speak volumes about Indian jurisprudential thought and intellectual development in relation to the related rights in the area of copyrights.

The 50-year protection period offered by Indian law to phonogram performers and producers is in line with worldwide norms; the duration of the protection is not just adequate but also satisfactory. It is also a nice development that the period of protection for broadcasting reproduction rights has been increased from 20 to 25 years in the case of broadcasting organizations.

Since the passage of the Copyright (Amendment) Act in 1994 and the Copyright (Amendment) Act in 2012, India’s Broadcasting Reproduction Rights and Performers’ Rights have advanced significantly. In addition to the general-statutory and other economic rights, India has made a significant advance by focusing on and incorporating the idea of moral rights—that is, rights related to paternity and integrity—into its legal framework.

India is quickly catching up to its necessary credit, as in some countries, performers, phonogram producers, and broadcasters of copyrighted works are protected by copyright alongside authors, while in others, they are protected by neighbouring or related rights because of their role in distributing copyrighted works to the public as consumer goods.

What India is still to realize

New media and technology give right holders new avenues for the distribution and exploitation of their works, especially online works, potentially opening up more chances for direct licensing. Systematic management of digital rights are intended to allow a greater range of terms and conditions for the use of those works while better distributing and protecting the right holder’s investment [however, India awoke to this realization and adopted Sections 65-A and 65-B by virtue of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012]. Increased market adoption of these systems is anticipated to expand consumer choice and availability of copyright works, such as digital software and entertainment products, and to permit price points that reflect the consumer’s actual use rather than an assumption that the consumer will use the product in a variety of formats. All of this must further copyrights as well as copyright-related rights, such as the rights to privacy and publicity.
In the digital networked environment, creators and performers want assurances that their moral rights will be upheld, especially by third parties, and that their creations and performances won’t be unfairly influenced.
Since the WIPO Internet Treaties negotiations began, audio visual performers have been calling for an upgrade to their legal status on a global scale. As a result, India should proactive begin pursuing this goal on a national level. India cannot afford to lose sight of the Rome Convention, which is now incorporated on a global level and seeks to update broadcasters’ rights in response to market changes and technical advancements.

Overall, India appears to be well-equipped to provide the allied-right-holders, such as performers, phonogram producers, and broadcasters, with the necessary protection. It is hoped that India will continue to advance and meet the challenges presented by the wave of digitalized, networked environments ‘head-on’.

Future of Brand Communication and Management

Branding have been evolved hundreds of years, may be more than this. The meaning and prospect of this brand came into use over a decade. The meaning and narratives of brand communication has been progressed and it is not limited to a particular products and services but the horizon of branding widens its spectrum in a larger array. Here, will reconnoitres the concept of branding which have been advanced to a new paradigm, and would venture on what’s coming next.

The word Brand is etymologically derived from the word “Brandr”, a term from Ancient Norse meaning “to burn”. Around 950 A.D. the term “brand” denotes to a burning piece of wood. By 1300s this word was used to mean a torch, a factor which burns a piece of wood. This term brand further adds to denote to scorch the cattle of ownership by the year 1500s. The ownership status quo been conferred if their cattle got misplaced, ranched or lost. So, the development of using some similar trait of identifying their respective cattle were used. They had very simple, familiar identification and quick remembrance which lead and pave the way for ‘logo’ which is indispensable for brand identity and image.

Brand communicates to inform, persuade, guide, teach, evoke, enlighten, remind and gives a new insight about a product, service, company, organization to its stakeholders and persuades to pursue the positive perception of the products, service and companies’ strength and core values.

For the drive of easier comprehension, let us put some of those changes in the form of pointers:

The Preponderance of Digital Media: with the advent of digital media, the traditional form of paid media push marketing strategy is no longer valid and lost its conventional power to hold and influence consumers.
Personal Branding: the role of Influencer’s which is in the rise of social media platforms has changed the phenomenon of the conventional definition of personal branding. Social media and branding also the future of branding in a positive room which enables every company and organization to maintain and update their social media pages of triggering and disseminating useful information (Facebook. Instagram and Twitter).
Brand Extension: it creates credibility and consumers gets varied scope of opportunity if the brand positively follows up for further extension.
Brand Association: the top of the mind awareness (recall) and aided awareness (recognition) seems credible in digital age with the help of niche marketing strategy and native advertising.
Co-Branding: this creates the blurred boundaries between global market products and services. So, no matter what, there is a prospect avenue for business collaborations both nationally and internationally. With the rapid changes in the pattern of brand communication, definitely this also need to be focussed international + local products collaboration (because generally the known businesses allies with the established brands).
Brand Equity: Simply, the brand awareness, positioning and loyalty leads to brand equity and paved the way for understanding these three factors in a more diligent manner (recognition/recall/ aided awareness/ TOMA etc).
Naming of the Brand: this gone beyond the graphics but the interactive media content spuriously based on the art, aesthetics, idea and creativity proves to be right in contemporary times. It more emphasizes the ideation blended with virtual reality and augmented reality.
Viral Marketing: this strategy is a new norm to reach out to potential consumers through snowballing and e word of mouth.
SEO: it enhances the website traffic to update the page of the website and searches through hashtags and keywords. It aims to unpaid traffic rather than paid traffic.
Outsourced Delivery: there are few companies and creative bunch of groups who takes this up on behalf of reputed and established brands. The young professionals who is proficiency of digital media marketing, search engine optimization and algorithms related to augmented reality and virtual reality can be put forth for positive brand image.

The rise of the usage and availability of internet across geographic boundaries with economic viability, enhances the platforms of social media which is a driving factor for the next stage of the progression of branding. Point to be noted that the definition of conventional consumer or customers have changed drastically, there is a bent towards the coexistence and participatory. They do not want to consume the products or content anymore, rather tries to participate and so as the future of brand communication not to communicate anymore but to act, feel and intermittence. The power of influencers of social media brands like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook frequently depend on their users to aid and to create their value and how they should be perceived by the public. It further gives them their identity and positive image and enhances the brand durability. Various content sites like Buzzfeed, Amazon, The Huffington post and Yelp be contingent on reviewers to deliver their utmost convincing content. In this regard, many web-based companies and organizations handles their respective brand image and gets loyalty and revenue through active consumers which is unmatched and some thing interesting in these recent times. On the other hand, viral marketing, search engine optimization, and outsourced delivery permits their companies and organizations to have expansion visibility which reduces the cost of products delivery and saves millions of bucks and investment on advertising and infrastructure.

Basically, to conclude, if there is a brand admiration established by the consumers and they would like to see the advancement of prospect category of a specific product, then they must go ahead. This improvement on positive branding and effective brand communication may bring various advantages to one’s business, for example, good growth, profit and a prospect to meet their clients’ who might need to know the advancement of companies’ brand image. If an excellent inkling or creativity for new product is there to experiment that certainly the consumers/customers may accept or like, then probably yes, the companies must give it a try!

THE NANO SCIENCE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION IN TREATING CANCER

Nanoscience involves the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. This molecular level investigation is at a range usually below 100 nm. In simple terms, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter and the properties of materials at this atomic or subatomic level differ significantly from properties of the same materials at larger sizes. Although, the initial properties of nano materials studied were for its physical, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, chemical and biological applications, recently, attention has been geared towards its pharmaceutical application, especially in the area of drug delivery. According to the definition from NNI (National Nanotechnology Initiative), nanoparticles are structures of sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nm in at least one dimension. However, the prefix “nano” is commonly used for particles that are up to several hundred nanometers in size. Nanocarriers with optimized physicochemical and biological properties are taken up by cells more easily than larger molecules, so they can be successfully used as delivery tools for currently available bioactive compounds.

Cell-specific targeting can be achieved by attaching drugs to individually designed carriers. Recent developments in nanotechnology have shown that nanoparticles (structures smaller than 100 nm in at least one dimension) have a great potential as drug carriers. Due to their small sizes, the nanostructures exhibit unique physicochemical and biological properties (e.g., an enhanced reactive area as well as an ability to cross cell and tissue barriers) that make them a favorable material for biomedical applications. It is difficult to use large size materials in drug delivery because of their poor bioavailability, in vivo solubility, stability, intestinal absorption, sustained and targeted delivery, plasma fluctuations, therapeutic effectiveness etc. To overcome these challenges nanodrug delivery have been designed through the development and fabrication of nanostructures. Nanoparticles have the ability to penetrate tissues, and are easily taken up by cells, which allows efficient delivery of drugs to target site of action. Uptake of nanostructures has been reported to be 15–250 times greater than that of microparticles in the 1–10 um range. Nanoparticles can mimic or alter biological processes (e.g., infection, tissue engineering, de novo synthesis, etc. These devices include, but not limited to, functionalized carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, self-assembling polymeric nano constructs, nanomembranes, and nano-sized silicon chips for drug, protein, nucleic acid, or peptide delivery and release, and biosensors and laboratory diagnostics. Various polymers have been used in the design of drug delivery system as they can effectively deliver the drug to a target site and thus increase the therapeutic benefit, while minimizing side effects. The controlled release (CR) of pharmacologically active agents to the specific site of action at the therapeutically optimal rateand dose regimen has been a major goal in designing such devices. The drug is dissolved, entrapped, encapsulated or attached to a NP matrix and depending upon the method of preparation, nanoparticles, nanospheres or nanocapsules can be obtained. Nanocapsules are vesicular systems in which the drug is confined to a cavity surrounded by a unique polymer membrane, while nanospheres are matrix systems in which the drug is physically and uniformly dispersed. Biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles have attracted considerable attention as potential drug delivery devices in view of their applications in the controlled release of drugs, their ability to target particular organs/tissues, as carriers of DNA in gene therapy, and in their ability to deliver proteins, peptides and genes through a per oral route of administration. Recent advances in the application of nanotechnology in medicine, often referred to as nanomedicine, may revolutionize our approach to healthcare. Cancer nanotechnology is a relatively novel interdisciplinary area of comprehensive research that combines the basic sciences, like biology and chemistry, with engineering and medicine. Nanotechnology involves creating and utilizing the constructs of variable chemistry and architecture with dimensions at the nanoscale level comparable to those of biomolecules or biological vesicles in the human body. Operating with sub-molecular interactions, it offers the potential for unique and novel approaches with a broad spectrum of applications in cancer treatment including areas such as diagnostics, therapeutics, and prognostics.

Nanotechnology also opens pathways to developing new and efficient therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment that can overcome numerous barriers posed by the human body compared to conventional approaches. Improvement in chemotherapeutic delivery through enhanced solubility and prolonged retention time has been the focus of research in nanomedicine. The submicroscopic size and flexibility of nanoparticles offer the promise of selective tumor access. Formulated from a variety of substances, nanoparticles are configured to transport myriad substances in a controlled and targeted fashion to malignant cells while minimizing the damage to normal cells. They are designed and developed to take advantage of the morphology and characteristics of a malignant tumor, such as leaky tumor vasculature, specific cell surface antigen expression, and rapid proliferation.

Nanotechnology offers a revolutionary role in both diagnostics (imaging, immune-detection) and treatment (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, thermotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and anti-angiogenesis). Moreover, nanoparticles may be designed to offer a multifunctional approach operating simultaneously as an effective and efficient anticancer drug as well as an imaging material to evaluate the efficacy of the drug for treatment follow-up. In recent years, nanomedicine has exhibited strong promise and progress in radically changing the approach to cancer detection and treatment.

Dramatic Change in Chemistry Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused teaching institutions to switch from face-to-face instruction to online remote instruction. Chemistry teachers have to deal with this as well. Teachers had attempted to conduct learning using a variety of technological platforms. Furthermore, the majority of them had trouble organizing lab activities. Because the end of the epidemic cannot be predicted, this presents a set of obstacles and opportunities to consider integrating online chemistry learning from time to time. However, chemistry exhibits a positive attitude in this pandemic period due to its importance in the pharmaceutical business, which serves as a symbol of optimism.

Throughout the year, the world has experienced various crises. Sometimes it’s because of world wars, other times it’s because of invasions, other times it’s because of natural disasters, and other times it’s because of several pandemics. Various moderate to severe pandemics have emerged all over the world or in some regions of the world, till now. Bubonic plague, Spanish flu, SARS-virus, HIV, Pox, and other diseases wreak havoc on people’s lives and the global economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has recently impacted the entire world. It all began in the middle of 2019 in Wuhan, China. It has spread all over the world by the year 2020. For several months, almost the entire planet was on lockdown.

During the pandemic every institution went under online mode completely. Earlier it was quite difficult to switch everything into online mode. But there, technology came like an angel. Technology brings new challenges to teaching, including developing knowledge about technology and the integration of the technology with content, teaching, and learning. The technology referred to here is the technology that which can help teachers to represent concepts, principles, or laws in a virtual way. Therefore, teachers should have competencies that include content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. All virtual ways went through different virtual platforms (like, Zoom, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams etc.). We also used WhatsApp, YouTube, Quizizz, and other apps for online chemistry learning. But learning chemistry is impossible without lab-activities. We used several recorded lab videos or online performed lab videos to solve this purpose, but 100% lab working learning is not possible. So, in some points technology can’t help us to deliver in that most effective way. University closures may cause delays in graduation for students who are already in graduate school. When the universities closed in April 2020 in India owing to the coronavirus, students performing field or lab research had to stop working. The situation has been specifically difficult for Ph.D. students who were planning to defend their thesis that time. The closures have had a short-term influence on publication records as well. For kids that do modelling and have the opportunity, the situation may be slightly better. Many scientists are concerned that when the economy enters a downturn, they may have a tougher time obtaining federal research grants and other sources of support. Due to various nations’ policies for limiting the Covid-outbreak, many students have lost possibilities to study abroad. Postdoctoral students may be able to find a faculty position that hasn’t been cancelled. If they fail, they will most likely look for positions in the industry. Postdocs who move into her tenure-track post believe that their universities will fairly evaluate any delays in the research and progress of new faculty members. Other than this, The COVID-19 pandemic has a negative influence on higher education due to the long-term pandemic situation and onerous measures such as lockdown and stay-at-home directives. There is an urgent need to create interventions and preventive methods to address college students’ mental health.

Chemistry jobs allow scientists to address fascinating challenges while also allowing them to build something engaging and valuable. Layoffs become a source of anxiety during economic turmoil and decline. Layoffs may be on the rise again as a result of the current coronavirus outbreak. The cutbacks had already been implemented in the pharmaceutical business, while the chemical industry had increased by 16 percent in 2018. On the other hand, controlling this pandemic outbreak, along with biology, chemistry is one of the most important fields that contribute maximum. Starting from Covid-19 infection pattern determination to vaccine development, chemistry plays a big role. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global chemical and materials industry is undergoing a complete transformation, resulting in increased demand for protective gear and disinfectants, increased demand for antimicrobial supplements, and an increase in the absorption of plastic and glass for the construction of protective equipment. However, due to economic constraints and supply chain interruptions, the industry is expected to suffer in the coming days. The chemical market, on the other hand, may benefit from increased demand for textile materials used in a variety of health and hygiene goods. As the demand for sanitizers and various medicines grows, the chemicals segment has the potential to grow quickly. As a result of all this chemical market will reach to new peak soon. All these things overly enhance the employability for a chemistry students in near future. Hope all of those issues will be solved soon. Hope whole world will be back in its track soon.

Lean Management – An Advanced Management Practice in Construction Industry

1.0 Preamble

The lean thinking is a scientific approach in managing time and cost of the construction project which emphasize waste minimization and customer satisfaction. It originated from Toyota and adopted all over the world for managing the manufacturing process to enhance the quality, productivity and safety. The focus point of lean management is to design a customer centric approach by minimizing cost and time by reducing all kind of wastes in the production.

2.0 Lean Management in Construction

The construction is an uncertain sector where the target business remains as it is but priorities changes frequently. Here supportive and non-value addition works are more comparing than manufacturing sector, adopting lean principle is a challenge. Here to increase the operational efficiency, one need to control the inventory even though the unpredictable weather, market, vendors, inventory requirements and especially the labours both skilled and unskilled. These variations cannot be eliminated by one go with lean principles but it can improve the controllable and uncertainties will be addressed confidently. Lean management helps the team to schedule the resource requirements such as men, machine and materials more effectively which provides the expected outcome within the estimated time and budget. This encourages the construction firms to adopt lean management as tool for continual improvement in product and services through effectively managing process and practices.

The six basic lean principles followed in construction management are discussed below for common understanding and implementation.

Identifying Value

The construction industry mainly has focused on the needs of the customer to provide value to the product/service demanded. Realizing the customer requirement and perspective during the planning stage and shape their idea in to reality with an efficient team of engineers, suppliers and labours will provide great faith on the firm.

Map the Value Stream

Generate a value stream such a way that the process and procedures are well defined and precisely mapped with action plan and resources requirements to give the confidence to the customer that it will be delivered in time.

Eliminating Waste

The main aim of lean practice is to eliminate waste where every possible and following are the major areas to be considered

Transportation – Avoid waste during transportation of men, machine, materials and equipment when moved from one site to other. Provide precise information about the transfer of goods, date, time, location and quantity to avoid excessive waiting, movement and overproduction.
Inventory – Provide exact inventory requirements by proper estimation and avoid surplus materials which will be idle in the site and shoots-up the cost and space.
Movement – Avoid moving materials, equipment and manpower multiple time across the site and create unnecessary motion.
Wait Time – Do proper scheduling to avoid unengaged manpower, material and machines. This makes either manpower or equipment kept idle for unavailability of one over other because of improper planning.
Utilisation of Resources – Allocate right person for the right job to avoid expertise or knowledge go waste on the other hand quality output will not be there right in time. Maximum utilization of available resources is very much important.
Excess Processing – Reduce the unwanted task which doesn’t make any value to the project which lead over processing.
Over Production – It happens when one process completed earlier than the expected time.

Create Continuous Workflow

The purpose of lean practice is to achieve systematic, reliable and time bounded result in the construction project. In the lean management, every stage is to predetermined and need to be performed sequentially. There should not be any bottlenecks and to achieve this proper communication and collaboration required among team at every stage. Need to divide the construction activity and ensure time and resources to complete the work within the project schedule.

Create Pull System

Creating stable workflow is a healthy sign to your organization that it will deliver the work task faster and effortless. This can be achieved by pull system or scheduling appropriately to make the collaborative work to understand the sequential nature of the work to complete with in the target time.

Continuous Improvement

The continuous improvement is an essential life line of lean construction. Always identify the scope for improvement and act accordingly, for this close monitoring is required, similarly at any time uncertainties may occur for that you should be vigilant enough to control and manage the project with in the time frame and budget. This makes the construction project economical and profitable to the company.

3.0 Benefits of Lean Management in Construction Industry

Lean Management minimize the cost of production and maximize the profit
It values the customer feedback and improves the customer interaction and value. This enhances the product and services of the organization.
Establishment of Pull and Push system prevents over production and carrying cost.
The focused monitoring in to detail minimize the defects and increases the quality of the product.
Lean Management provides a systematic, well defined work frame which reduces uncertainties and increases the safety of the employees.
Introducing Lean Management will encourage work force for daily improvement that create a healthy atmosphere within the organization
In the lean process, managers are frequently in interaction with employees about the work process, this makes them feel aligned and creates great bonding.

4.0 Concluding Note

The implementation of lean management is the need of the hour to all the construction industry to practice sustainable technology by eliminating the waste, increasing the efficiency, productivity and quality of the construction. This customer focused approach will promote inclusive culture within the organization lifts not only productivity and also employee satisfaction.

Post COVID Career Prospects of M.Sc. Tech (Statistics and Data Science)

In this current scenario i.e. post COVID period data science becomes a new era. Data science has played a vital role in making the policies or decision making in real life world. It is one of the trendiest jobs across the globe in terms of future scope and career stability. Data science is an interdisciplinary subject that includes the use of statistics, big data analytics, machine learning and related aspects in order to understand the problem or phenomena with respect to a set of real-world data. The thrust areas of data science are fraud and risk detection, healthcare, internet search, targeted advertising, advanced image recognition, speech recognition, airline route planning etc. Under health care sector it is having different applications such as medical image analysis, genetics & genomics, drug development, virtual assistance for patients and customer support. Thus, data science has major demand in many organization around the globe. In today’s career-oriented world, students are confused on choosing the right subject after completing graduation that will help them to get a good placement in the job enterprise. After graduation, numerous options like master degree in the general subjects, or in various professional courses confuse the students to take the right decision. Today, both students and their parents are seeking for job-centric programs, though general study programs are mostly preferred as their first choice. A good choice can be a program that is a combination of both general and professional courses. It is always better to choose a program that is a natural progression of the existing skills and qualifications along with some professional development skills.

The Role of Statistics and Data Science in Today’s World:
The pursuit of a career in Statistics is in high demand today. With a degree in Statistics, career opportunities are boundless. Statisticians have been known as Economists, Scientists, Mathematicians, Field Investigator or Qualitative Researcher. The ‘data-hungry’ modern world now calls them data analyst, business analysts, data scientists, quality and risk analysts. Data Science has become an integral contributor to success in career opportunities. Data Scientists and Data Analytics are in high demand in today’s job world. Data Science based enterprises are the largest companies in the entire world. The famous websites like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, use data science to create algorithms that improve customer satisfaction, which in turn maximizes the profit. Thus, with a degree in Data Science, one can work with high-tech companies like Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Facebook, banking and financial companies like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, or research firms like McKenzie, Deloitte.

So, according to the trend of the modern job world, the best option is to choose a program in Statistics or Data Science. But, can one pursue both Statistics and Data Science at the same time? Yes, the Department of Mathematics, Adamas University is offering such a program which is a combination of both Statistics and Data Science. The program name is ‘M.Sc. (Tech.) in Statistics and Data Science’. This program is also a combination of both general and professional courses, Statistics, being a general subject and Data Science, a professional course.

M.Sc. Tech (Statistics and Data Science) program is a two years (four semesters) post-graduate degree course which combines Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Science with applications to Data Science and Data Analysis to meet the demand of today’s job world. From Probability Theory and Statistics to Statistical Inference, from Applied Statistics to Statistical Modeling, from Problem Solving to Number Theory, from Computer Programming to Data Mining, the program is also offering a number of optional papers, a few of which are Big Data Analytics, Cryptography and Network Security, and Artificial Intelligence. Besides these, the program also offers summer internship and Project/Dissertation. In summer internship, a student may choose to visit relevant institute or industry according to the availability. The project/Dissertation helps the students to explore and strengthen the understanding of fundamentals through practical application of theoretical concepts.
On completion of the program, a student will
• Be acquainted with the various Statistical tools useful for Data Analysis
• Develop programming skills
• Acquire knowledge on Data Analytics and Data Mining
• Learn the concepts of Data Structures
• Develop a conceptual understanding on Network Security
Eligibility Criteria for the Program:
Graduate student having Statistics/Mathematics/Economics/Physics as compulsory subject, or graduate students in Data Science, or students having a B.Tech. degree in IT/CSE/ECE or BCA or other relevant stream with at least 50% marks are eligible to apply for this course.

Career Prospects:
From careers in IT sector to technological companies, Data Science professionals can choose their career in a numerous field including business, industry, agriculture, government and private sectors, computer science, and software development.
A few job roles available for a student after completion of the program are:
(i) Data Scientist: Data scientists also called analytical experts utilize their skills in both social science and technology to manage all kinds of data. A data scientist involves in arranging and analyzing disorganized and unstructured data, from numerous sources like smart devices, social media feeds, emails, industry, health science, environmental data.
(ii) Data Analyst: The role of a Data Analyst is to figure out a market trend. The data analyst serves as a caretaker for an organization’s data and as such shareholders are able to understand data and use it to make tactical business decisions.
(iii) Statistician: A Statistician deals with gathering, analyzing and interpreting to aid in many businesses and decision-making process. The Statisticians apply statistical models and methods to real-world problems. They analyse, gather and interpret data to help draw valid conclusions.
(iv) Forecasting Analyst: The task of a Forecasting Analyst includes tracking, analyzing, and evaluating operations in order to provide accurate forecasts. Forecasting analysts use current data of the company to predict future level production and sales. By examining inventory levels, demand for products or services, and speed of production, they ascertain a company’s optimal production levels and possible future sales.
(v) Data Manager: Data Manager are involved in making and implementing policies for effective data management, framing management techniques for quality data collection to confirm adequacy, accuracy and validity of data. They are also involved in planning and executing efficient and secure procedures for data management and data analysis with attention to all procedural aspects

Conclusion:
From above discussion we can see that a student with master degree in Statistics and Data Science has numerous career opportunities and so this program is recommended to graduate students seeking for a good career opportunity in the present scenario of the job world.

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.”

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.

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