Author: Pon Pradeep D

Water

Water is the foundation of our lives. For daily survival, the human body requires water. We can survive for a week without any food, but we will not even survive three days without water. Also, 70 per cent of our body fluids is water. In turn, this helps our bodies to work usually. There are also significant health issues for human beings because of the shortage of adequate water or intake of polluted water. The water we drink, thus, is of substantial value to our physical wellbeing plus fitness.

Besides, without water, we do not carry out our daily activities. It is equally necessary whether we are thinking about brushing up early in the morning or preparing our meals. We depend very strongly on this transparent chemical in this domestic use of water.

The industries also consume a great deal of water on a large scale. For almost every step of your process, you need water. The product that we use every day is essential to manufacture. If we look beyond human uses, water plays a vital role in every life of the living creatures. It is the birthplace of marine animals. Every organism needs water to survive, from a small insect to a whale. We thus see how water is required, not only for humans but also for plants and animals. To function the Earth depends on water. We cannot be egoistic and use it for our uses without taking care of the environment.

Water is necessary not only for our survival but also for a healthy and happy life. Everyone has seen the situation of water-deprived countries like Africa, where people lead miserable lives. All have to wake up to the urgent need for water conservation.

We all know it is important, and we all know we should be doing it. But do we know why? Well, for starters, water makes up 60 percent of your total body weight, and a startling 90 percent of brain weight. Adequate hydration is essential for your body to function at all, let alone optimally. But if that isn’t enough to convince you, here are five fantastic reasons water is important to your health:

1. Water boots energy. Water delivers important nutrients to all of our cells, especially muscle cells, postponing muscle fatigue.

2. Water helps weight loss. Water helps you feel full longer, without adding any additional calories. Drinking water or eating foods with a high water content can be a big help in managing your weight.

3. Water aids in digestion. Water aids in constipation and other abdominal issues, especially those suffering from IBS. Water helps to move the digestive process along and through the system.

4. Water detoxifies. Moves toxins through your system faster, and optimizes kidney function. Inadequate hydration means inadequate kidney function.

5. Water hydrates skin. Forget expensive creams and cure-alls, water is the best defense against aging and wrinkles in the skin.

The guideline recommended amount is eight glasses per day, though this varies from person to person. Those who exercise regularly, work outside, or have chronic medical conditions should consume more water to compensate for more water loss.

Remember, water is your friend, and proper hydration is a key to good health.

Green Sahara

In an effort to fight climatic changes, we are taking many steps. The people also the governments all over the world are keen on reducing the risks. People are growing trees in their lawns to keep their environment cool. Trees are a great solution to cool down the earth and reduce the amount of Carbon dioxide in the environment. What if I say the Sahara could be made into a forest with green trees everywhere. Plans are being made to terraform the entire Sahara desert, changing it from a dry, barren land to a lush green space. If successful, the transformation could remove 7.6 billion tons of atmospheric carbon yearly. How could we change the nature of such a vast, isolated land?  Could we afford it’s giant price tag? Have we ever done anything like this before? In this blog, we’ll see what would happen if we terraformed the Sahara Desert.

The Sahara desert is 8.6 million km² (3.32 million mi²) in size. It is roughly the size of America. Terraforming an area this massive wouldn’t be easy, in fact, it would cost about $2 trillion a year. Not only this, there are many obstacles in our way. This price tag would be just the beginning of our obstacles. What kind of environmental domino effect would it create? Plants and trees are the lungs of the Earth, and now we could use a lot more of them. A single hectare of trees can absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide that a man would produce by driving a car for 100,000 kilometres. If we could successfully terraform the Sahara, it would result in millions of hectares of treesbeing added to the battle against climatic changes. All that sounds great, but what are the odds we could pull this kind of transformation off? We already have, just on a smaller scale. China’s Kubuqi Ecological Restoration Project saw the successful greening of one- third of the Kubuqi Desert with 70 different plant species over a 30-year timespan.

How to scale that up for the largest desert on earth? We can plant crops and trees and then pump desalinated water from the coast of the Sahara to irrigate them. To prevent evaporation, the water should be carried by underground pipes directly to the roots. The idea would be to plant Eucalyptus trees because they are hardy, and grow well in hotter climates. Also they grow quickly and could be economically beneficial for the region. As the trees began to root and stabilise, the soil would be replenished with needed nutrients, rainfall amount would increase and the overall temperature of the Sahara would cool by 8°C. Why aren’t we going fast to do that. Not only the funding but also terraforming the desert would come with a fair share of issues.

As the region becomes wet due to the plantation of millions of trees, it may lead to the increase of locust attack. A small swarm eats more than what 2500 people can eat in a day. But the biggest problem apart from this is the environmental domino effect it would create. The Sahara sand gets carried away by the wind and crosses the Atlantic Ocean to deposit in the Amazon forest. The dust picks up moisture and when it falls from the sky rain comes along with it. This dust and rain combination provides the Amazon ecosystem the water that it needs and also fertilizes it. If the Sahara is covered by trees, there would be no Amazon rainforest. So even though the green Sahara reduces the carbon, it would indirectly affect another part of the planet and may lead to its destruction.

Indian Cricket

Tokyo Olympics is nearing. Tamil Nadu Premier League ( TNPL) starts today ( Monday 19th July). India Vs England Test Series enclosing 5 Test matches starts on August 3. In the middle of all these and Covid-19 pandemic, India toured Sri Lanka to play 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. India have sent a B-team to Sri Lanka for this tour as the main team is in England now. Yesterday India played their first ODI against Sri Lanka. Two new faces made their debut yesterday. They are new for the International arena but not for India. They are Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. Suryakumar Yadav has played quality cricket for years and have been impressive for last 3 years. Ishan Kishan, at the age of 23 impressed the selectors through his consistent IPL performance. Both performed very well for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Also both made their T20I debut in March in the series against England. They both scored 50 in their T20I debut. Now together they made their ODI debut. It was also Ishan Kishan’s birthday yesterday.

Team India – Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Team Sri Lanka – Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan.

Other than the debuts, two good things happened for Team India yesterday. One was the return of Kuldeep and Chahal combo. Other was seeing Hardik Pandya bowling.

Let’s see the first thing now. Yes, Kuldeep and Chahal are back. They are playing together after 2 years since the 2019 World cup. Their performance in International cricket was not as per the expected standards. Many ups and downs. Going in and out of the team. Kuldeep traveling with the team in every tour and not getting any chance of playing. Everything came to an end yesterday when they played the game. Not only just playing, they also took 2 wickets each. They controlled the middle overs with stability. They haven’t gave runs easily. They also picket wickets at necessary intervals.

Then coming to Hardik’s bowling, he bowled 5 overs giving 34 runs and picking a wicket. He came back as an all-rounder to the team. It is a really good sign for him and also for the nation. This will help the team to maintain balance in bowling and batting units in the T20 World cup coming this year after IPL.

Krunal Pandya was impressive with his economy. Prithvi Shaw scored a quick fire 43 at the start of the innings. Manish Pandey gave balance in the middle overs but he failed to score much. Above all, the captain Shikhar Dhawan scored 86* and took the innings deep and won the match. Suryakumar Yadav impressed at the end of the innings.

Sanju Samson was injured. So he couldn’t make into the playing 11 yesterday. He had a ligament injury. Many expected him to be in the playing 11 as he smacked the bowlers in nets and in the practice matches. We’ll expect him in the next match tomorrow. Bye.

#staysafe

India Vs Sri Lanka

The squad for India tour of Sri Lanka is announced a month ago and players flew to Sri Lanka, were in quarantine and now they are practicing for the games. The schedule that was first released was changed due to Covid-19 spread for some Sri Lanka players who came from England. Previously Sri Lanka toured England for T20Is and ODIs and completed the tour without any pandemic spread for the team and crew members. But after the completion of the tour, some players and coaches were reported that they have Covid-19. Then they were quarantined and now the situation is fine. Due to this, now the schedule is changed. Previously the first ODI match was planned to happen on July 17 (Saturday) but now it is rescheduled to July 18 (Sunday).

The tour was planned to have 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. Indian management have sent a bulk team with more than 15 players for the tour. A pack of experienced players and youngsters were sent. Now they are playing practice matches and pumping themselves up for the game. They are also getting themselves adapted to the weather of Sri Lanka. It is too hot there. Players are using wet towels and ice to cool themselves after every session of practice. The squad is same for T20s and ODIs.

Players: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (v/c), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh.

Players who impressed the selectors by their IPL performance and Syed Mushtak Ali trophy performance were selected. It is a pride for the nation to play two international series at the same time with 2 different teams. It is hard for any nation to do so.

As the head coach Ravi Shastri and other coaches are busy with the test team that was sent to England, new coaches were appointed for the Sri Lanka tour. Rahul Dravid was appointed as the head coach. He worked as the Director of National Cricket Academy previously. He also has an immense experience with the youngsters who are in the new team as they all played under his coaching during their Under-19 World cup stages. He also has a good relationship with them and also the captain Shikhar Dhawan. They both assured that they would provide a few options for the selection committee to choose for the upcoming World T20 cup in November.

The selection of openers will definitely be a tough task for the coach and the captain. Four impressive batsmen are there to open the innings. Dhawan being the captain will definitely play every game. For the next one spot in opening, 3 youngsters are competing. Prithvi Shaw, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikal are those. Prithvi Shaw has a good experience in International cricket compared to other two. Padikkal and Gaikwad showed promise by their performance in last two IPL editions. Gaikwad also had played many India-A matches previously. Let’s wait and watch the series.

#stayhomestaysafe

Keezhadi Nanotechnology

If you believe that if I say Tamil people developed Nanotechnology 2600 years ago. Yes, it is true. Researches say that the pots which the tamil people used then, was coated using Nanotechnology. This blog is going to be about the carbon nanostructures that were found in Keezhadi. Scientists found the 2600 years old earthenwares in Keezhadi coated with carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes have high thermal and electrical conductivity and very high mechanical strength and also very light in weight.

Many may have heard about Keezhadi, the archeological site which portrays the rich civilization of Tamil people in the sixth century BC. Many steps of excavation was made in Keezhadi. Huge remains of pottery were found. When scientists experimented on the pot remains, they found a unique black coating over it. They also discovered that Carbon Nanotubes were in the black coating. These were the oldest known nanostructures on the Earth right now.

In the modern era, Carbon Nanotubes was developed in 1991 which is called CNT. From 1991 to 2006, in America, more than 4500 applications for getting patent rights for Nanotubes have been submitted. This data is from a Scientific paper.

A graphite consists of layers of Graphene laid one over the other. If a single layer Graphene is taken and folded cylindrically/ round, then it is called Carbon Nanotubes. These Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene comes under SP2 bond type. Diamond cones under SP3 bond type. So Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene are tougher than diamonds. So Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene are called as “Wonder Material” by the scientists. Nanotube is used in the Bullet proof vests.

How many types does the Carbon Nanotubes consist of?
Carbon Nanotube has three typpes – Armchair CNT, Zigzag CNT and Choral CNT. The direction in which they are shaped will determine the type. After they have completed a Nanotube it is called Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT). If there are layers of these, then it is called Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT).

Can these SWCNT or MWCNT created naturally?

There are scientific papers released in 2008 and 2017. In any of those, there is no proof that they occured naturally. So according to science, the possibility for Nanotubes to occur naturally is very low. So one should have helped the process in the ancient era. An external force in specific level is required for its formation. A paper in 2008 says that from 2020 to 2025, the carbon nanotubes would be a billion dollars business. Such a precious material is found in Keezhadi now. But no one is ready to talk about it. But we should know about our history.

Gravity is science. But it existed for billions of years. When a person named it as “Gravity” it was changed into a Scientific term but still it is a Natural Occurance. That is the Reality. The Tamils in Ancient times were dependent on nature. Their way of using Nature to their will was unique. They thought about how to use it to improve their lifestyle. The Tamils were one step ahead of research. So the Tamils in the ancient times knew that Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene were the toughest materials which were very high electrical and heat conductors. Take only the toughness property. So Tamil people who lived 2600 years ago, needed the toughest material available on Earth. Tamils had metals. But they had clay in large quantities. The Tamils wanted to toughen up the clay. So they built aypots but it broke soon. So they discovered that to toughen up the claypots, they should heat them. These heated pots were not so tough. Now they wanted a coating to be done upon the pots. So through trial and error method they did a coating in the claypots. They would have spent many years to complete the research. After many trials with many materials which resulted in failures, the Tamils would have developed the carbon nanotubes.

How many degrees Celsius was required?

Nearly 1100° to 1400° Celsius. In these extreme conditions only, they could have created the Carbon Nanotubes. The Scientists of today say that the materials used for coating may be Carbon rich materials. So when we say Carbon rich materials, it could be Vegetable oil or any other material. When it is combined with the claypots under extreme heat, the carbon nanotubes may be created. The claypots would consist of Iron content. So iron and carbon together may produced Carbon Nanotubes, a material which is 200 times tougher than steel. So through this method, the ancient Tamils would have created Carbon Coated claypots which lasted for many years. Due to the toughness of carbon nanotube, the claypots has been discovered as Archaeological remains in Keezhadi.

Secrets of Area-51 – Part 2

We have started our view on Area-51 in the previous blog. This blog is a continuation of that.

Many people were curious to know what was inside Area-51. But the government didn’t let any information go out. At that time, an American conspiracy theorist named ‘Bob Lazer’ claimed that he had worked inside Area-51 and also told that inside Area-51, the traped Aliens that came to Earth and were doing research on them. Many believed him, many did not. But his claim is that they were doing reverse engineering on alien technologies. He said that the alien bodies, their tools and the spacecraft of aliens were taken into control by the USA government and research works on those items was going underground. Many questioned whether he is a credible person. Many believed him. He claims that he studied in MIT. But there was no evidence or certificate that proves that he studied in MIT. He said that the USA government deleted all his records and tried to portray him as a lier and looser. He was strong on his claim that there were aliens inside Area-51. Like his say, some random incidents happen at times to make people think that there are aliens inside Area-51.

In 2019, a 21- year old guy named Matty Roberts, who calls himself a gamer, has watched a documentary in which Bob Lazer spoke and he came to an idea to organise an event in Facebook. The event was planned such that on September 20, 2019, a big mass of people should run towards Area-51. If they run in masses, no one could stop them. That was his plan. As a shock to him, that plan went viral. It reached people worldwide. 20 lakh people from many corners of the world supported him and said that they would come for this event.

The American government warned them when that event plan went viral. They said the army would shoot every person whoever comes to that event. The government had shut the air strips that were near to Area-51 and maintained a high security.

In a small town called ‘Rachel’ in that desert, around 150 people were living. That town was near to Area-51. When the people of the town knew that lakhs of people were planning to go there on September 20, they arranged all the facilities for the people coming. They planned to make a small business out of this event. But what happened was something disappointing to them. Out of the 20 lakh people who supported the event and told that they would come there, only 500 went there. Many went from foreign and European countries. They had to get immigration pass, land on a distant airport and take many kilometres of car travel and walk through the desert to get near to the gates of Area-51. Out of them, only 45 reached the Area-51. But they too came back on seeing the cops with gun. They also had permission even to kill people trying to entry Area-51. At last, the event was a failure. That made people to realise that everything in the internet is not always serious.

The Area-51 story still remains a mystery. Still there are people saying that it is an army base of the USA, some saying that nothing is there and the government tries to fool other nations by hiding something that is not real. But still the story continues. The government didn’t reveal anything to the people.

Secrets of Area-51

Area-51 is a highly protected, secured and restricted part of the USA for many years. America didn’t accept that there is a place called Area-51 in their country until 2003. America didn’t reveal what actually happens inside that place. That place is highly protected from outside world. In September 20, 2019, a wierd thing happened in Area-51. People crowded in millions and protested against the government that Aliens should be protected from humans. They planned to get inside the Area-51 and see what was inside it. They said there should be aliens inside and humans were torturing the aliens and the people were going to save the aliens.

First of all, a funny Facebook event called ‘Storm Area-51’ was arranged to get into Area-51 and see what actually happens there. They believed that there were aliens inside Area-51.

What exactly is Area-51?

After World war1, the government of USA panned to test their weapons and bombs in a very big open place. They chose a desert called Nevada in the USA. They divided the desert into 30 areas each of square shape. In each area, they used to test specific weapon that they are preparing to use in World war 2. The advantage for the USA is that this place is located in the middle of a desert so that any nation can’t find that place and also even an American citizen has to travel many kilometres and cross high security to get into that place. So literary it was impossible for anyone to know what happens inside that place.

Even after the World war 2, there prevailed a cold war between the USA and Russia. The USA continued to test their weapons in that place and maintained their secretive nature. Among the areas from Area-1 to Area-30, there was Area-15. Near to Area-15, there was also a big lake initially. After the lake had gone dry, the government decided to build an underground place called Area-51 so that the inside of that area won’t be visible from outside. The interesting thing is, even when seeing from the top nothing will be visible except a flight landing strip. There are no road facility or train facility to go there. The only transport in and out is through flight.

People in the USA were gone mad to know what was inside Area-51. There was a hill called ‘Challenger cliff’ that was few kilometres far from Area-51. People tried to see Area-51 from the top of that hill. But no one knew what’s inside. They could see only the outside of it. Knowing this, the government made that hill as a restricted area. Nearly for a range of 30 kilometres around the Area-51, no one could enter there. The security was that high. Seeing that the government makes fights to go in and out of that area and keeping it that secured, people were curious to know what was inside. This continued for many years. The government keeps quiet about this till now.

We will continue this reading journey check “Secrets of Area-51 – Part2”. That’s our next blog.

North Korea- 8 weird truths

Hello all! We are going to see 8 weird truths and facts about North Korea and their President Kim Jong Un. These may be shocking, funny, alerting and also bad. The are news like economy of North Korea is dipping. But their President don’t care about his people and the people are struggling in the nation where they cannot rise their voices against the government. Let’s go into the topic.

1. Pleasure squad

This squad was originally named as “joy squad” by the father of Kim Jong Un. This “joy squad” was created by Kim’s father for Kim’s grandfather. Normally a father won’t tolerate or accept this kind of behaviour or character from his child. But Kim’s grandfather accepted that and congratulated him for that deed. After 1983, the joy squad became a regular thing for them and today many college students and school students are selected to entertain the North rulers. And the girls are forced to be in that ‘pleasure squad’.

2. Arresting whole family

Normally in any country if a person does a crime, he would be arrested and put to jail. But in North Korea, the accused, his father, his grandfather and all the men in their family are put to jail. The reason that Kim gives for this rule is that the elders should raise the children in the right way.

3. Restrictions for Kim’s wife

Kim not only makes all these rules for the people of North Korea but also for his own wife. His wife is from a rich family and also a very good singer. Hearing her voice, Kim loved her and married her. After marriage, Kim erased the whole history of his wife. He restricted her to go to her parents’ home. He destroyed all the CD collections of her songs. He renamed her.

4. Permissions for migration

In India, during this Covid-19 pandemic situation, we are getting e-pass to migrate from one place to other. This situation is only during pandemic. But in North Korea, this is a normal and strictly followed rule. The citizens should get permission from the government before leaving to any other places within the country.

5. News

Unlike the breaking news, flash news and other ordinary news that we hear in India, there is no such thing in North Korea. The news that the people hear is telecasted by channels owned by the government alone. There is no internet in the country. This means that the government can create a news for the public, also they can hide a news from them. Kim’s sister manages all these news that are telecasted to the public.

6. School syllabus

There are only 2 subjects for school students. One is Maths and the other is Social Science. Social science is structured in a way that it only covers the good things that Kim and his family did to the people.

7. Kim’s expenses

People in North Korea are starving without food and essential items for life. But Kim’s expenses are much higher. He drinks coffee imported from Brazil that costs around 7000 Indian Rupees. He loves music. So he bought speakers and music systems for 44 crores. He build a threatre in which 1000 people can sit and watch a movie. That is not for public use. He alone sits there and watches movies. There are many articles written on that. Apart from all that, Kim goes extreme in buying Bullet trains. During the rule of Kim’s father, there were 24 such trains, which was increased to 90 during Kim’s rule. That costs around 135 million USD. All these useless expenses costed the poverty for the people.

8. Trendy dresses

If any people wear a trendy dress and comes out, they will be arrested by the ‘fashion police’ and put to jail. Not only the person, but all the men in his/her family. There are also restrictions for hair cut.

Seeing all those happenings in North Korea, we can understand the importance and power of “Right to speak”.

Best AI Movies- part2

In the last blog, we have seen 2 best AI movies. Now we are going to continue that. Previously we have seen Ex Machina and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In our list, the movie that ranks 3 is Metropolis.

Metropolis

Metropolis is a 1927 German film, and undoubtedly, this movie served to be a pioneer for many AI related movies. This film depicts a future world where the wealthy people of the society live a easy and luxury life on the surface. In contrast to that,there is a city deep down in the underground where working- class people labour out of sight on the machinery that supports Metropolis. In time, this oppressive situation eventually leads to a class conflict. Freder Frierson, being a member of the wealthy class, falls in love with a working- class women named “Maria”. He also discovers the hard life under the city and is determined to help the workers. To support his plan and his relationship with Maria, Freder’s father, a scientist creates a robot in Maria’s image. Within the context of the film, the robot Maria seems to have its own mind that causes rebellion within the working class and eventually attempts to destroy Metropolis. With the massive popularity of ‘Metropolis’, the robot Maria stands as the first significant robot in film industry. It is the first film to attempt AI in the storyline.

Her

The movie “Her” ranks 2 in our list. This film highlights emotional intelligence in the form of Human- Robot romance. This film reveals the direction humanity might be headed if artificial intelligence continues to evolve. The main lead of the film doesn’t know what he wants from life and people after being pushed to the verge of divorce. His life takes an unexpected turn when he begins to find peace in the voice of his computer’s new OS – Samantha. The heartfelt conversations with the AI system Samantha makes him fall in love with it. Despite its advanced settings, the idea of this movie is alarmingly genuine and there relies its brilliance. Given our dependence on innovation, AI voice assistants and Virtual realities may soon witness relationships between devices. They are engaging, entertaining, yet sad.

Wall-E

Last on our list is Pixer’s masterpieces and one of the thought -provoking movies, “Wall-E”. Wall-E is an excellent contrast to other AI killer robots shown in films. This is the last solar-charged robot left on Earth. He spends his days tidying up the mess that humans have created before leaving the Earth. Yet, during 700 years, Wall-E has developed a character and it is being sad of being alone. At that point he spots EVE, a smooth and more advanced AI not sent back to Earth on a scanning mission to find any existence of life. It ignores Wall-E entirely as he was a robot. Smitten Wall-E embarks on his most incredible adverture and follows EVE across the galaxy and along the Milky Way. Wall-E can’t even talk but his characteristics and mannerisms resemble human behaviour. Another important aspect is Wall-E tells a story where AI saves humanity rather than destroying it. This is interesting as it shows a sense of dependency and the needs of AI for creating a better future. Wall-E is one of the best AI movies that do well to combat fears of AI potentially destroying the world.

Best AI Movies – part1

AI or Artificial Intelligence is becoming a major buzzword in recent years. Knowing what it is and it’s practical applications in real life, in the upcoming future, leaves us stunned. Although movies tend to exaggerate AI for dramatic effect, there is still some truth in these movies. There are AI experts who fear a super- intelligent AI could outsmart us and eventually decide to wipe us off the face of the Earth. On the other side, AI is depicted as a miracle invention. The intelligent machines can perform analytical tasks such as simulations and predictions much better than humans. So, if you are interested in AI, read this blog fully. Here we have listed top 5 AI movies that you should never miss watching in life.

Ex Machina

At no.5 we have Ex Machina. Ex Machina is one of the best examples of an AI movie. It covers all the bases, allowing the protagonist to be a proxy for the audience to explore AI’s moral arguments whilst also deploying a thriller narrative arc to keep the audience engaging. The film follows the story of a programmer who is allowed by his CEO to be a part of an experiment to evaluate the capabilities of a highly advanced humanoid called Ava. He is the first person to meet Ava and his goal will be to test whether Ava passes the Turing test. What happens next carries the storyline forward and captivates the viewers on the process. The movie focusses on how we interact with AI as humans and how a machine could, in turn, manipulate humans. This movie is phenomenal and a must watch thing for every AI enthusiast.

2001 – A Space Odyssey

At no. 4, we have the 1968 sci-fi classic movie, 2001- A Space Odyssey. This movie is the most intricate and ambiguous one in our list. A Stanley Kubrick masterpiece revolves around Time, space, human nature and evolution. And the film is narrated in a non-linear direction with inexplicable cuts to different contexts. The opening of the movie is something wierd. It opens milliions of years ago in a desert with apes discovering a giant black Monolith. Then the film transitions to a space voyage to find the origins of a mysterious Monolith in the far reaches of the galaxy. The space ship functions are controlled by an Artificial Intelligence computer names HAL, which is claimed to be full proof and impossible to make errors. However during the space mission, the ship’s crew gets double- crossed by HAL. The error free computer HAL makes an odd error. Then, the astronauts decide to disconnect it from the ship’s controls. But HAL discovers their plan and goes rougue- killing most of the crew members.

UV Disinfection of waste water

Used alone, UV radiation does not improve the taste, odor, or clarity of water. UV light is a very effective disinfectant, although the disinfection can only occur inside the unit. There is no residual disinfection in the water to inactivate bacteria that may survive or may be introduced after the water passes by the light source. The percentage of microorganisms destroyed depends on the intensity of the UV light,  the contact time, raw water quality, and proper maintenance of the equipment.  If material builds up on the glass sleeve or the particle load is high, the light intensity and the effectiveness of treatment are reduced.  At sufficiently high doses, all waterborne enteric pathogens are inactivated by UV radiation. The general order of microbial resistance (from least to most) and corresponding UV doses for extensive (>99.9%) inactivation are: vegetative bacteria and the protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia at low doses (1-10 mJ/cm2) and enteric viruses and bacterial spores at high doses (30-150 mJ/cm2). Most low-pressure mercury lamp UV disinfection systems can readily achieve UV radiation doses of 50-150 mJ/cm2 in high quality water, and therefore efficiently disinfect essentially all waterborne pathogens. However, dissolved organic matter, such as natural organic matter, certain inorganic solutes, such as iron, sulfites and nitrites, and suspended matter (particulates or turbidity) will absorb UV radiation or shield microbes from UV radiation, resulting in lower delivered UV doses and reduced microbial disinfection. Another concern about disinfecting microbes with lower doses of UV radiation is the ability of bacteria and other cellular microbes to repair UV-induced damage and restore infectivity, a phenomenon known as reactivation. 

UV inactivates microbes primarily by chemically altering nucleic acids. However, the UV-induced chemical lesions can be repaired by cellular enzymatic mechanisms, some of which are independent of light (dark repair) and others of which require visible light (photorepair or photoreactivation). Therefore, achieving optimum UV disinfection of water requires delivering a sufficient UV dose to induce greater levels of nucleic acid damage and thereby overcome or overwhelm DNA repair mechanisms.

UV Irradiation Pretreatment

Either sediment filtration or activated carbon filtration should take place before water passes through the unit. Particulate matter, color, and turbidity affect the transmission of light to the microorganisms and must be removed for successful disinfection.

UV is often the last device in a treatment train (a series of treatment devices), following reverse osmosis, water softening, or filtration. The UV unit should be located as close as possible to the point-of-use since any part of the plumbing system could be contaminated with bacteria. It is recommended that the entire plumbing system be disinfected with chlorine prior to initial use of a UV system.

Types of UV Disinfection Devices:;

The typical UV treatment device consists, of a cylindrical chamber housing the UV bulb along its central axis. A quartz glass sleeve encases the bulb; water flow is parallel to the bulb, which requires electrical power. A flow control device prevents the water from passing too quickly past the bulb, assuring appropriate radiation contact time with the flowing water. It has been reported that turbulent (agitated) water flow provides more complete exposure of the organism to UV radiation.

A UV system housing should be of stainless steel to protect any electronic parts from corrosion. To assure they will be contaminant-free, all welds in the system should be plasma-fused and purged with argon gas. The major differences in UV treatment units are in capacity and optional features. Some are equipped with UV emission detectors that warn the user when the unit needs cleaning or when the light source is failing. This feature is extremely important to assurance of a safe water supply. A detector that emits a sound or shuts off the water flow is preferable to a warning light, especially if the system might be located where a warning light would not be noticed immediately.

Principles of UV Disinfection – Home Water Treatment

UV radiation has three wavelength zones: UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C, and it is this last region, the shortwave UV-C, that has germicidal properties for disinfection.  A low-pressure mercury arc lamp resembling a fluorescent lamp produces the UV light in the range of 254 manometers (nm).   A nm is one billionth of a meter (10^-9 meter). These lamps contain elemental mercury and an inert gas, such as argon, in a UV-transmitting tube, usually quartz. Traditionally, most mercury arc UV lamps have been the so-called “low pressure” type, because they operate at relatively low partial pressure of mercury, low overall vapor pressure (about 2 mbar), low external temperature (50-100oC) and low power. These lamps emit nearly monochromatic UV radiation at a wavelength of 254 nm, which is in the optimum range for UV energy absorption by nucleic acids (about 240-280 nm).

In recent years medium pressure UV lamps that operate at much higher pressures, temperatures and power levels and emit a broad spectrum of higher UV energy between 200 and 320 nm have become commercially available. However, for UV disinfection of home drinking water at the household level, the low-pressure lamps and systems are entirely adequate and even preferred to medium pressure lamps and systems. This is because they operate at lower power, lower temperature, and lower cost while being highly effective in disinfecting more than enough water for daily household use. An essential requirement for UV disinfection with lamp systems is an available and reliable source of electricity. While the power requirements of low-pressure mercury UV lamp disinfection systems are modest, they are essential for lamp operation to disinfect water. Since most microorganisms are affected by radiation around 260 nm, UV radiation is in the appropriate range for germicidal activity. There are UV lamps that produce radiation in the range of 185 nm that are effective on microorganisms and will also reduce the total organic carbon (TOC) content of the water.  For typical UV system, approximately 95 percent of the radiation passes through a quartz glass sleeve and into the untreated water.  The water is flowing as a thin film over the lamp.  The glass sleeve is designed to keep the lamp at an ideal temperature of approximately 104 °F.

UV Radiation (How it Works)

UV radiation affects microorganisms by altering the DNA in the cells and impeding reproduction. UV treatment does not remove organisms from the water, it merely inactivates them. The effectiveness of this process is related to exposure time and lamp intensity as well as general water quality parameters.  The exposure time is reported as “microwatt-seconds per square centimeter” (uwatt-sec/cm^2), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has established a minimum exposure of 16,000 µwatt-sec/cm^2 for UV disinfection systems.  Most manufacturers provide a lamp intensity of 30,000-50,000µwatt-sec/cm^2.  In general, coliform bacteria, for example, are destroyed at 7,000 µwatt-sec/cm^2.  Since lamp intensity decreases over time with use, lamp replacement and proper pretreatment are key to the success of  UV disinfection. In addition, UV systems should be equipped with a warning device to alert the owner when lamp intensity falls below the germicidal range.

Drinking Water Treatment with UV Irradiation

Ultraviolet (UV) rays are part of the light that comes from the sun. The UV spectrum is higher in frequency than visible light and lower in frequency compared to x-rays. This also means that the UV spectrum has a larger wavelength than x-rays and a smaller wavelength than visible light and the order of energy, from low to high, is visible light, UV, than x-rays. As a water treatment technique, UV is known to be an effective disinfectant due to its strong germicidal (inactivating) ability. UV disinfects water containing bacteria and viruses and can be effective against protozoans like, Giardia lamblia cysts or Cryptosporidium oocysts. UV has been used commercially for many years in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, beverage, and electronics industries, especially in Europe. In the US, it was used for drinking water disinfection and treatment in the early 1900s but was abandoned due to high operating costs, unreliable equipment, and the expanding popularity of disinfection by chlorination.

Because of safety issues associated with the reliance of chlorination and improvement in the UV technology, UV has experienced increased acceptance in both municipal and household drinking water treatment systems. There are few large-scale UV water treatment plants in the United States although there are more than 2,000 such plants in Europe. There are two classes of disinfection systems certified and classified by the NSF under Standard 55 – Class A and Class B Units.

Class A — These ultraviolet water treatment systems must have an ‘intensity & saturation’ rating of at least 40,000 uwsec/cm2 and possess designs that will allow them to disinfect and/or remove microorganisms from contaminated water. Affected contaminants should include bacteria and viruses
“Class A point-of-entry and point-of-use systems covered by this Standard are designed to inactivate and/or remove microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, Cryptosporidium oocyst and Giardia cysts, from contaminated water. Systems covered by this standard are not intended for the treatment of water that has obvious contamination or intentional source such as raw sewage, nor are systems intended to convert wastewater to drinking water. The systems are intended to be installed on visually clear water.”

Class B — These ultraviolet water treatment systems must have an ‘intensity & saturation’ rating of at least 16,000 uw-sec/cm2 and possess designs that will allow them to provide supplemental bactericidal treatment of water already deemed ‘safe’. i.e., no elevated levels of E. coli. or a standard plate count of less than 500 colonies per 1 ml. NSF Standard 55 “Class B” UV systems are designed to operate at a minimum dosage and are intended to “reduce normally occurring non-pathogenic or nuisance microorganisms only.” The “Class B” or similar non-rated UV systems are not intended for the disinfection of “microbiologically unsafe water.”

Therefore, the type of unit depends on your situation, source of water, and your drinking water quality. Transmitted UV light dosage is affected by water clarity. Drinking water treatment devices are dependent on the quality of the raw water. When turbidity is 5 NTU or greater and/or total suspended solids are greater than 10 ppm, pre-filtration of the water is highly recommended. Normally, it is advisable to install a 5 to 20 micron filter prior to a UV disinfection system.

Know about Engineering departments

What does an Engineer do?
Engineers design machinery, build skyscrapers, and oversee public works, but they address society’s needs and problems on so many other levels as well. At a molecular level, they work on drug delivery systems that work inside cells. At a macro level, they look at the particle flow of pollutants through soil to clean up oil spills, abandoned industrial sites and other biohazards. At a galactic level, they design spacecraft for other-planet exploration. At an atomic level, they develop data storage that focuses on the spin of electrons in atoms. Clean drinking water, safe food storage, and the protection of our environment are also under the engineering umbrella.

What is Mechanical Engineering?

Mechanical engineering is the branch of engineering which deals with the design, manufacturing, maintenance and testing of machines. It is also considered as one of the most diverse and versatile disciplines of engineering. Mechanical engineering also includes the application of mechanics, material science, applied mathematics and physics.

With the rise of modern technology, mechanical engineering has witnessed newfound importance with more and more students opting to learn less explored domains of robotics, mechatronics, nanotechnology, etc.

New trends and future scope:

The scope of mechanical engineering no longer remains limited to just manufacturing and testing of huge machinery and equipment. With technology making new advancements, there are several new domains in mechanical engineering which are being taken up by passionate engineers. These domains include robotics, new materials, nanotechnology, computer-aided design, geomechanics, etc. The two highly pursued domains are robotics and mechatronics, both of which combine the knowledge of mechanical engineering with other streams to deliver state of the art products.

Robotics

Robotics is an interdisciplinary stream of engineering that combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science with an aim to design and develop robotic systems along with computer systems to control them. With the AI revolution already started, Robotics as a stream has been on the rise and is expected to grow in both reach and demand in the coming decade.

Mechatronics

Mechatronics too, is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering which usually combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and Information technology. A mechatronic engineer is responsible for designing complex engineering systems, can assist in process automation and also test the systems in use in the processes.

From automobiles to heavy-duty lifting machines and even the modern aircrafts that defy speed barriers, a variety of modern systems are being designed under the supervision of expert mechanical engineers. You will not find mechanical engineers limiting themselves to the manufacturing industry anymore. Mechanical engineers are being welcomed in various industries with open arms and high compensation packages, provided that the candidates are skilled and proficient.

The current market scenario and scope:

According to the portal payscale.com, the average salary of mechanical engineers falls below Rs. 3.4 lakhs per annum. A few skills are able to add value to this compensation package. For example, knowledge of robotics or robotics process automation and a sound understanding of electrical systems can make a recruiting firm provide you with a better pay package, as per their need. Even though the pay package is lower in certain sectors as compared to computer science engineering, mechanical engineer with IT skills are very high in demand and the pay package is higher than CS engineers.

10 tools for a Java Developer

When you talk about a Java developer, he can be a fresher or have experience of 10 years or more. That doesn’t matter. What matters is in this duration whether you have worked on different projects. So in those projects you might have used these tools or technologies but still it’s my job to list that for you. Even if you are a fresher, it’s good for you if you know these technologies because it will be helpful for you to get a job.

1) Companies are normally going for full standard uppers where one person should know both front end and back end web development. When it comes to front end, we tend to talk about HTML, CSS, JavaScript. But along with that you need to work on front end frameworks and that is where Angular and React comes into picture. You can learn and work on any one- either Angular or React.

2) When we work on a project, we also need to create the giant file creatingbthe word file and also manage the dependencies. What if, in your project you need to create jar files and also you need to create a jar out of it. That is where the build management tool- Maven and Gradle comes into picture.

3) Based on your experience, you may have worked on different IDE’s like eclipse. But to increase productivity, you need to start working in IntelliJ ultimate version. The community version does not support the exterprise part. So you have to use the ultimate version. But you have to pay for it. It is upto you to decide whether you want to save time or save money.

4) A developer normally focusses on the development part. But there is a need for debugging your code by yourself. There is a testing team. But if you want to test every class you create, that’s where unit testing comes into picture. One of the best frameworks for testing is JUnit. So make sure that you learn JUnit because it will help you test your software so that you will have less bugs in your code.

5) Okay, how can you increase your productivity more. Of course using IDE and using testing software. But of you follow a particular framework, it will help you to build your project faster and also help you to maintain your project. For different types of scenarios, we have different frameworks famous. But one framework is getting famous a lot and is used by companies now. That is Spring Framework. Spring Framework gives you a lot of features in built, you can write less code and it will also help you to maintain your project. We also have a concept of spring security. It will help you prevent your website from hackers.

6) If you need to include a payment gateway, you don’t need to create a new payment gateway. You can connect with a payment gateway service using REST/postman.

7) Once you built an application, you will release new versions upon development. It is better to have numbers for that. This version control is provided by Git. If you are in a team and you have to share the code you are working on to a team member, you can use Git.

8) If you have a big project and want to add a small module to that, just integrate it with the help of CI/CD. After integration, you can also deploy it.

9) Docker- Its primary focus is to automate the deployment of applications inside software containers and the automation of operating system level virtualization on Linux. It’s more lightweight than standard Containers and boots up in seconds.

10) Cloud- Cloud provides all the services instantly. We have Google could service, Amazon cloud service, Microsoft also has one. Amazon holds the most of the market share in cloud. The amazing this is for one year it would be free for a user. Try using it.