SOCIAL COGNITION

A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet “for sale”, who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence – briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing – cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity. He cannot help suffering, even though he can experience moments of joy and clarity that are absent in the life of his “normal” contemporaries. Not rarely will he suffer from neurosis that results from the situation of a sane man living in an insane society, rather than that of the more conventional neurosis of a sick man trying to adapt himself to a sick society. In the process of going further in his analysis, i.e. of growing to greater independence and productivity,his neurotic symptoms will cure themselves.

Social cognition is a sub-topic of social psychology that focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in our social interactions. The way we think about others plays a major role in how we think, feel, and interact with the world around us.

Defining Social Cognition
How exactly do psychologists define social cognition? While there is no single definition, there are some common factors that many experts have identified as being important.

Social cognition involves:
The processes involved in perceiving other people and how we come to know about the people in the world around us.
It involves the study of these mental processes that involved in perceiving, remembering, thinking about, and attending to the other people in our social world.
Psychologists are interested in why we attend to certain information about the social world. how this information is stored in memory, and how it is then used to interact with other people.
It is not simply a topic within social psychology – it is an approach to studying any subject with social psychology. Using a social-cognitive perspective, researchers can study a wide range of topics including attitudes, person-perception, prejudice, stereotypes, self-concept, discrimination, persuasion, decision-making, and other areas.
The Role of Social Cognition
For example, imagine that you are getting ready to go on a blind date. Not only do you worry about the impression and signals that you are sending to the other person, you are also concerned with interpreting the signals given by the other individual. How do you form an impression of this person? What meaning do you read into the other person’s behavior?

This is just one example of how social cognition influences a single social interaction, but you can probably think of many more examples from your daily life. We spend a considerable portion of every day interacting with others, which is why an entire branch of psychology formed to help understand how we feel, think and behave in social situations.

The Development of Social Cognition
Developmental psychologists also study how social cognition develops over the course of childhood and adolescence. As children grow, they become more aware not only of their own feelings, thoughts, and motives but also of the emotions and mental states of others. As this awareness increases, children become more adept at understanding how others are feeling, knowing how to respond in social situations, engaging in prosocial behaviors, and taking the perspective of others.

While there are many different theories that look at how social cognition develops, one of the most popular focuses on the work of the psychologist Jean Piaget. According to Piaget, a child’s cognitive development goes through a series of stages.

During the earliest stages of development, children are very egocentric. They see the world from their own perspective and struggle to think about how other people may view the world.
As children grow older, children become increasingly adept at perspective-taking and have an increased ability to think about how and why people act the way they do in social situations.
More recently, research has provided evidence that children develop the ability to think about the perspectives of other people at an earlier age than Piaget previously believed. Even young preschoolers exhibit some ability to think about how other people might view a situation.

One of the most important develops in the early emergence of social cognition is the growth of a theory of mind. A theory of mind refers to a person’s ability to understand and think about the mental states of other people. It is the emergence of a theory of mind that is critical to being able to consider the thoughts, motives, desires, needs, feelings, and experiences that other people may have. Being able to think about how these mental states can influence how people act is critical to forming social impressions and explaining how and why people do the things that they do.

Questions About Social Cognition
So what are some of the different questions related to social cognition that researchers are interested in understanding? Our perceptions of others play such an important role in how we forge relationships, how we interact with others, how we treat others, and how others treat us. Some of the topics that psychologists are interested in when it comes to social cognition include:

How do we interpret other people’s feelings and emotions? How do we figure out what they are thinking or feeling? What cues or indicators do we use to make these assumptions?
What influence do our thoughts have on our feelings?
How do we develop attitudes? What role do these attitudes play in our social lives?
How is self-concept formed and how does it influence our relationships with others?
What mental processes influence person perception, or how we form impressions of other people?
Cultural Differences
Social psychologists have also found that there are often important cultural differences in social cognition. When looking at a social situation, any two people may have wildly different interpretations. Each person brings a unique background of experiences, knowledge, social influences, feelings, and cultural variations.

Some researchers have found that there are also collective, cultural influences that can affect how people interpret social situations. The same social behavior in one cultural setting may have a very different meaning and interpretation if it was to take place in another culture. As people interpret behavior, extract meaning from the interaction, and then act based upon their beliefs about the situation, they are then further reinforcing and reproducing the cultural norms that influence their social cognitions.

Possible Shortcomings
One criticism of some of the research on social cognition suggests that it is too focused on individualistic behavior. Because the topic itself is so social, some suggest that many of the information-processing models that have traditionally been used to understand the cognitive processes behind social cognition are too limited. Focusing more on the collective and interactive aspects of human thought may provide a better understanding of how people think about and understand social behavior.

World’s food safety day

It is necessary to assure that food remains safe at every stage from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, preparation, and consumption. That’s why World Food Safety Day is celebrated on 7 June to highlight the health consequences of contaminated food and water. The World food safety day was observed by the United Nations from 2019. This year’s world is celebrating second world food safety day. Unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, and marginalized people, especially women and children.

World Food Safety Day Theme: Food-Safety Everyone’s Business

This year’s theme for world food safety day is food safety everyone’s business. This campaign will promote global food safety awareness and will call upon countries, the private sector, civil society, UN organizations, and the general public to take action. The theme Food-safety everyone’s business depicts that whether we grow, transport, process, distribute, store, sell, prepare, or consume food, everyone has a role to play in making consumed food safe and uncontaminated for people. Through World Food Safety Day, the World Health Organization pursues its efforts to mainstream food safety in the public agenda and reduce the burden of foodborne diseases globally.

Food Safety Tips

* It is important to keep foods safe to maintain healthy eating. We all can reduce contaminants in food and keep food safe by following food safety tips:

* Wash your hands properly with soap and water before going to the kitchen.

* Before eating, cooking, and cutting fruits and vegetables rinse them properly under running water.

* Clean inside and outside of appliances and buttons and handles of appliances.

* Daily sanitize kitchen surfaces with hot and soapy water or use disinfectant.

* While doing food shopping keep raw seafood, poultry, and meat in a separate bag and fresh fruits and vegetables ina separate bag.

* Clean your refrigerator once a week, discard cooked leftovers in 4 days and raw poultry and ground meats in 1 to 2 days.

Top 10 Laboratory Information Management System Courses.

The main function of Laboratory information management system (LIMS) is to somehow track and manage samples which are associated to the laboratory and also streamlining the overall activities and processes happening within a lab.

Courses related to LIMS.

Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS

Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS software process execution capabilities in a single solution and delivers laboratory management, data management and process execution. Laboratories across all Industries rely on SampleManager LIMS software to unlock the power of their laboratory data.

Benchling.

Benchling is a modern research platform where scientists can design, share, and record experiments all in one place. The applications are natively unified from the ground up, resulting in a completely seamless user experience.

LabWare. (LIMS)

LabWare is the global leader in laboratory information management systems (LIMS), with +3,000 customers including NIH, Merck, GSK, Pfizer, Nestle, and Chevron and 98% customer satisfaction.

Sunquest Laboratory.

With Sunquest Laboratory, your lab will deliver results through quality healthcare and optimized, efficient workflow

StarLIMS

Abbott Informatics supports the rapidly changing data management needs across your organization with our STARLIMS solution product suite.

SoftLab

SoftLab is a LIS solution built on the latest modem multi-tier client server architecture.This includes CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and Web Services, which promote enterprise-wide connectivity and allow the incorporation of new technologies.

Lab Management System.

Lab Management System (LMS) is a Medical Business Management Software designed to support Laboratory and Clinic processes as well as administration. LMS handles both Laboratory and Clinic functions and procedures allowing for both business divisions to share patient information.

CloudLIMS.

CloudLIMS is an advanced web based sample management software, offered as SaaS. It is essential for any laboratory wanting to automate their informatics systems in a secure and reliable environment.

LABVANTAGE.

LABVANTAGE offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for the laboratory, including LIMS, quality ELN and business intelligence.

Apex LIS

The Management Console provides the analysis, management, QC and reporting functions of the Apex LIS at a fraction of the cost.

Inner Voice- our constant companion

From an early age, we learn to talk to ourselves. That voice in our head which constantly answers, stops us from committing a mistake , encouraging and motivating us to keep moving forward, grabbing an opportunity. Each one of us is blessed with a best friend with whom we can share our thoughts and secrets , hangout with them and make the best of the memories. But what about our partner, our constant companion? Our Inner Voice or we can also call it as our gut feeling, intuition, inner conscious and the latest trendy name which I came across an ‘expert advice’. There is this trending caption going on these days on social media, “Yes I like to talk to myself sometimes , because it is important to take an expert advice”. So that is what I call my inner voice – my expert advise on which I can rely on most of the times.

What is Inner Concious?

One way to begin is by talking about self-consciousness which is equivalent to self-awareness. It refers to the awareness of unique thoughts, memories, feelings etc. It is your voice which always speaks the truth (more than your parents). For example, when we are about to commit a mistake our inner voice stops us from doing so, though we get angry or sad but our concious always give us a sign from doing anything wrong and trust me it never lies, you just need to trust yourself for that.

steemit.com

How should we listen to our inner voice and why do we ignore it?

Have you ever noticed that your Inner voice never speaks nice&comfortable things and it is never a desperate voice or angry, it is always calm, clear and precise which works as a saviour. Now there are sometimes when we don’t listen to our Inner voice and ignore it, so here are some ways to listen and focus on your intuition’s voice:

  1. Delete the extra apps and create space in your mind

Surfing on the internet, clicking and posting pictures, updating stories on Instagram, chatting with your friends, reading disturbing news articles or checking your mails never gives you the time to actually think about yourself. These social media things has taken up too much of space in our lives that we are not alone even being alone itself because we keep on checking our phones constantly. You need to undo this part from your everyday life and create a space for yourself so that your mind remains calm and works efficiently.

lifeath.com

2. Always pay attention to your emotions

Whenever you feel sad accept that you are sad, do not pretend to be happy every time and you should also cry sometimes so that you can understand of what is going on in your life. But nowadays I am noticing that people are becoming emotionless, they really don’t focus on their mental health and they have become like a solid stone, always showing up as a strong person. But what about your feelings that are building up like a skyscraper inside your mind. You cannot flush them out at ones, it will turn into a disaster. So concentrate on your mental health , focus on what is happening and what can be done with it.

3. Don’t let your mind take over your heart

It’s good to be practical but not every time , sometimes we need to take decisions from our heart. If our conscious says that the other person is good, you should take a step forward and talk to that person if your heart says that he/she is the right person. Don’t start judging them before getting acquainted, do not take a decision from your mind.

4. Breath, Walk and meditate

It will just take 15 minutes to turn on a soft song, put on earplugs and meditate. This should be our everyday activity, since we all are at home we can do this more often. This will bring a positive energy in our lives and will help you to be calm and relaxed no matter in what situation we are, unless it is very important. Breathing will help us to be active and will always bring a smile on our face. You can also take this as a mantra which only requires 15 minutes and it is not difficult to give this much time to yourselves.

vox.com

5. Listen to yourself and do not focus on what the others say

What a strange thing it is that we humans tend to listen what others are speaking and never focus of what we want. We always try to live according to the society and forget about ourselves, that is where we should stop and listen to ourself which will help us to become confident and courageous.

But we human beings are always busy in making money, ignoring everything of what are heart speaks.So from now we should begin to listen to our Inner voice because that is our innerself, the inner us, who knows us better than anyone else and not just hear them , ask for an expert advice. Obey it and become aware of it which will help you to become a better person.

“Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice”- Steve Jobs.

MS DHONI – a man with a dream

“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan but never the goal.”

Born in small town of Ranchi,Jharkhand coming from a lower middle class family to becoming a legend in the field of cricket and staying in hearts of billions of people carving his own path of success with gaining the title of captain cool. His journey inspires a lot of people and I am one of them . starting with an accidental adventure in field of cricket ,he has faced all the failures but one thing that remained constant was his determination and the never give up attitude that led him to what he is today. An everyday man who went on to be popularly known as the ‘Captain Cool’ is none other than our very own former Indian Men’s (ODI & T20Is) Cricket Team Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni or simply known as Dhoni.

His cricket journey started when he was in his school in his football team  and his coach asked to do wicket keeping that’s where he impressed everyone with his wicket keeping skills and secured his position in  commando cricket club for 3 years and selected for Vinoo Mankad Trophy under 16 during 1997-1998. Well his journey to be a part of Indian cricket team wasn’t that easy for him, after playing cricket at district and state level, he worked as a train ticket examiner at Khargpur railway station in West Bengal to financially support his family. But the young man always had a bigger vision and wanted to achieve more , he saw a dream, which many feared to see.

He made his debut in Ranji Trophy for Bihar in year 1999-2000 and played for three years. Seeing his excellent performance in Ranji Trophy, TRDO officer Prakash Poddar was attracted towards his performance and later sent a report to national cricket academy regarding his performance.  Finally his struggle and hardwork payed off and he was selected for India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and scored back to back centuries.

ODI CARRER

After delivering good performance in India A team he was selected in ODI squad for Bangladesh tour in 2004-2005  and was also picked for Pakistan series. Though his initial matches were not a great success.

His turning point came with Sri Lanka bilateral ODI series in 2005 where India  had to made 299 runs among which Dhoni made 183 runs finally winning the game for India. Due to his consistent performance in later ODI’s, Dhoni overtook Ricky Ponting and  became number 1 in ICC ODI ranking for batsmen in 2006.

There are many inspiring lessons that the sportsman has taught us about life. He loved the sport and he wanted to chase his passion. He taught us to dream big and not get satisfied with small joys of life. He is a wonderful human, who was always up for absorbing new learning from his peers. He never hesitates to appreciate the outstanding work of others. He never lost hope and put in extra effort to fulfill his dream.

BECOMING A SENSATION AND HIS JOURNEY AS THE INDIAN CAPTAIN

Dhoni was not only known for his cricket but was also very popular for his lengthy wavy hair style. In fact, it had then become a trend in those days that every boy in the country now wanted to adorn the “Dhoni Hairstyle”.

In 2007, he led the team a whopping victory in ICC T-20 World Cup. He continues to inspire the younger generation with his brilliant captaincy, and out of the box thinking.

MS Dhoni is India’s only two-time World Cup winning captain, leading the team to victory on two occasions which involved two different format. He led a young Indian team to the first ever T20 World Cup victory in South Africa in 2007. Dhoni then led India to their second ODI World Cup victory in 2011.

He is arguably one of the best captains in the history of not just Indian cricket but also world cricket. The miracles he has done on the cricket field makes everyone wonder if he really is a human.

His cricket acumen is so accurate that people believe if Dhoni gives someone out on the field then his team starts celebrating without waiting for 3rd umpire. People started referring the DRS  not as Decision Review System but as Dhoni Review System. His lightning fast stumpings are viewers delight. He has taught us that no situation, however bad can be fought through and defeated. The only Indian captain with over 100 wins in ODI’s, the next best captain after Ricky Ponting with 11 consecutive wins in world cup matches.

He is a phenomenal cricketer and a legend, and  because of him I became a cricket lover. I bet no Indian can ever forget the line – “INDIA LIVES THE WORLDCUP ONCE AGAIN AFTER 28 YEARS” right after his six. He served his nation for 15 years. Dhoni is the most successful captain of India who has won two ICC cricket world Cups for the country.

The person behind the stumps, the cricketer who held is calm and takes his team to victory in immense pressure – famous as captain cool. The man who went on to become one of the most agile wicket keeper in modern limited overs in international cricket , right handed batsman , a magnificent  finisher , absolute fighter and the person who have billions of hearts attached

THE MSD NO.7 GAME.

  • Cleary, Dhoni got a special preference for the number as his India shirt also has number 7
  • M.S. Dhoni was born on July 7, 1981. The year 2007 is strikingly significant for such people. No wonder he was won the World T20 Championship that year.
  • The name ‘M.S.Dhoni’ carries 7 characters!
  • India won the final (World T20) when Dhoni was 26 years and 80 days old. The age adds up to 7! (26+80=106). NO.7 will always be in everyone’s heart .

MS Dhoni has been an asset in the Indian cricket team and he has a fan following across the world. When he is in a room full of people, his presence is felt and he is a humble man. He is the man, who never hesitates to improvise. He always improvised his game and never let a failure get to him. This is a true story and it has inspired many! If you have a dream or passion, you should go after it and achieve it. There will be obstacles but life is not easy. Once you go after your dreams, the universe will find a way for you to achieve it.

REOPENING OF SCHOOLS

The pandemic of Coronavirus that has engulfed the globe has also motivated us to find solutions for living life with Coronavirus. Our life will not be the same as it was till Coronavirus is around and the medical fraternity comes up with certain medicine that would increase the chances of survival of the people. A nationwide debate has begun about the reopening of schools and educational institutions.

The lock down that commenced from March did not affect the academics as the majority of learning was already completed and only assessment was to be completed. Students could stay at home safely during the spread of the Coronavirus due to the timely closure of the educational institutes by the government.

The time has come when the new academic year is about to commence. The government and the educational stakeholders are in a fix over the methodology or concrete path to be followed for the reopening of the schools. What should be the guidelines to obviate the fear of all the stakeholders about economical aspects and above all safety of students.

The medical perspective has put forth two issues one is safety and protection of the students, teachers, and families, and the other is the prevention of the spread of disease through schools as a hub for the same. Students have a habit of socializing and they are at greater risk than those who will follow the medical guidelines in letter and spirit. It is a difficult task to ensure all the youngsters at schools and colleges following the guidelines on keeping themselves safe. India is a densely populated country and the cases of Corona infection are on rising day by day. Hence, a judicious and careful approach for the reopening of the schools is considered by the government by finding a novel approach to handle the situation.

Factually the corona infected cases are increasing in India and experts have been forecasting that the country may reach a peak in July. Keeping in view the aspect of the increase in the number of corona viruses infected patients by July would pose a different challenge to the government if it opens the schools. Parents association and some activists have already filed cases in the court of law for seeking a delay in the opening of schools.

Though in urban areas online classes are about to become a routine concept. The condition of rural areas in terms of online connectivity is a matter of concern, putting the rural students at a disadvantage. A thought over long term impact on students residing in remote areas and with no resources be also given.

The students can be called to school physically in the second half of the academic year, in the first half certain measures that would reduce the burden on students and the teachers can be initiated. Reduction in the syllabus is one such aspect. The planned conduct of online classes can help all to achieve concrete success in the first half.

The development of a vaccine is in progress and let us hope that we get the same soon. This is the time when we can redefine the education system and help the Education sector find a new beginning. We need to provide the best education to the students.

Gender inequality : Development issue

Inequality refers to unequal treatment. On gender inequality index rank is 132 out of 187 countries. In India women’s don’t get that much priority as compared to men in most of the areas women’s face a lot of problems. Mostly in rural areas people celebrate the birth of baby boy but don’t celebrate the birth of baby girls. If we compare the literacy rate between men and women we found that the literacy rate of men’s are more than the females most of the parents think that if they educate their daughters its not beneficial for them because tif they educate their daughters then who will look after the household chores .if we see in rural areas we found that women’s are more engaged in agriculture they do all the field works like irrigation, weeding, winnowing, transplanting etc. and also people think that women are not able to do work after marriage or most of the institutions wants male teachers because they think that men’s are capable of doing a lot of things and they think boys are main source of income for their families. So only here women’s face discrimination in work area also they do same work as men but they don’t get equal money for that. the report of Human Development in 2019 says that in 189 countries India’s rank is 129th in [HDI] mainly the human development focuses on the overall growth which also includes economic growth and in 2019 they mainly focused on gender inequality and the report said that the coming generation will focuses more on technology and the report said the rank of India is less than the china in Gender Gap Index because number of women’s participant in labour force are less there are several reasons behind it may be their husband’s don’t allow it or maybe there is safety issue and so on and if we are talking about opportunities women always get less opportunities as compared to men in rural areas women’s don’t work outside the home or usually they work in their own fields in urban areas the report said that girl don’t get opportunity to study further after they reach puberty and boys don’t have any restriction like that they don’t allow their girl child to study and they cut their daughter’s name from the school most of the pregnant ladies use female foeticide which disturbs the male and female ration overall that is 91 girls for every 100 boys
ECONOMIC GROWTH AUTOMATICALLY INCREASES IF THERE IS NO GENDER INEUALITY.
If there is no inequality so women’s started taking part in every sector so their productivity also increases so they produce better goods so after reading a research paper I found that industries which have more female worker grow faster than the industries which don’t have more female worker.
The participation of labour force and growth is lowest as compared to other countries the first think India have to think that how to increase the participation of women’s in labour force then the economic growth already increases for the development we have to remove the gender inequality. Mostly women get chance to those industries where they don’t face any difficulty where people have to think that they have to do those works which don’t require physical work and most of the industries which give opportunity to female want their owner should also be female so they work easily there are some states in India which have female entrepreneurs that is in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil nadu so in India these states have high income as compared to other states
India come to 112th position from 108th position in 2018 in WEF that is world economic forum now its is improved at some extent but some country which have lower rank than India is improving more faster the report said in India the the political gender gap is less than the economic gender gap
Now most of the countries have good gender parity :

  1. Iceland [ 87.7%]
  2. Norway [84.2%]
  3. Finland [83.2%]
  4. Sweden [82.0%]
  5. New Zealand [79.9%]
    So most of the issues covered by Indian media on gender inequality one of them was Sabarimala temple located in Kerala. In India today newspaper it tells us that women’s don’t allowed in that temple so that the supreme court take action on it and decided to remove this rule so now every women whatever her age is should allowed to go and pray so this is the new step taken in our country to remove the gender inequality because people think that the women’s who menstruate are impure and they don’t go to the temples because temple are pure and this kind of discrimination they faced from several years, so now it is remove.
    Another case was article 377 which in favour of gender equality so these steps are taken to remove the gender inequality
    Now India is improving but in most of the areas women’s are still don’t get equal rights so we have to focus on that area and educate them so that they understand it and give opportunities to their daughters and treat equal because if the women is literate then she will educate their children and society too and also improvement of any country is impossible without gender equality because there are lots of people who have good skills but they don’t have platform to show it so lack of these things also decreases the growth so for better development and growth it is necessary to remove the gender inequality.

Worlds first “Internet controlled robot” By 23 year old Indian boy : Covid-19

A 23 year old Thane engineer has developed worlds first-of-its-kind internet controlled robot which can be used to treat covid patients in hospitals.

The robot delivers food, water, beverages, medicines and even some good advices to the patients without the help of any hospital nurses or staffs.

This aCoro-bot’ eliminates the need of physical presence or contact of nurses or ward boys with the patient. It can deliver food, water, medicines and interact with the patients through a camera. Through a speaker, it can also advise patients on various precautions like sanitizing their hands before picking up anything from the robotic tray,” Says Pratik tirodkar the creator and designer of this robot.

This smart boy is also the founder of a start up ‘PNT solutions’. Whatsmore this young lad had developed other unique creations when he had barely stepped to college. This include world’s first ‘Humanoid’ with 47 body (axis) movements, a robotic bird ornithopter for various outdoor applicationsapplications,  a mini packaging robot and several others.

This genius has even given over a 100 guest lectures to the brain students of IITs and NITs in the country.

This robot can be operated from any part of the world through internet. The robot comes with 3 trays with a carrying capacity of 10-15 kg each, plus a 30-kg storage at the bottom, enabling it to serve the supplies to over a dozen patients at a time in the COVID-19 ward.

There are separate dispensers for water, tea, coffee, besides sensors for sanitizers which flow out quickly when the patient holds his hand below it and cuts off the supply when the hand is removed. Thus there is minimum wastage,” Tirodkar explained.

“Not only the COVID-19 patients, Coro-bot can also take care of itself. It has three nozzles at the back to give itself a disinfectant bath regularly, it goes on spraying sanitisers on both sides of the path, plus disinfects the ground it moves on by using UV lights” Says the genius.

The Coro-bot also has LED lights illumination to make it convenient for night usage as well, timers for indicating lunch-dinner, emergency button, besides a small PC like screen on the top for basic computer work or entertainment, he said.

This is now successfully deployed at Holy Cross Hospital in kalyan. Impressed by this robot over a dozen of other hospitals have ordered coro-bot in Mumbai.

The Coro-bot costs between Rs 1.60-Rs.3.80 lakhs, depending on various specifications like the load-carrying capacity, etc, and the Ornithopter is around Rs 30,000. I have a small manufacturing unit at Dombivali, but if I can get a good investor, I can get into mass production,” he said.

Pratik tirodkar is currently doing his Btech in instrumentation engineering from Bharati  Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai.

Geography of India

The second most populated and the seventh-largest country in the world. A land of culture and values, heritage, spirituality. A country blessed with all possible geographic features i.e. plain, dessert, plateau, mountains, island and grassland etc. Land of many religion, languages, spices, festivals. A country who gifted Yoga and Ayurveda to the world. It also called the soil of kings and legends, soldier, farmers, doctors, scientists. We are diverted cast, religion, language but united by a county named India.

Let’s have a look at some more important, amazing and extraordinary things about our country.

Location

• Lying between latitude 8°4′ N to 37°6′ N and from longitude 68°7′ E to 97°25′ E, the county is divided into almost equal parts by the Tropic of Cancer.

• The 82°30′ E longitude is taken as the Standard Time Meridian of India, as it passes through the middle of India.

Area and boundaries

• India stretches 3,214 km from north to south and 2,933 km from east to west. The area is 32,87,263 sq km. Accounts for 2.4% of the total world area and 16% of the population.

• In India, of the total landmass – Plain: 43.3%, Plateaus: 27.7%, Hills: 18.6%, Mtns: 10.7%

• Total land neighbours: 7 ( Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar)

Position of States in India

• Uttar Pradesh borders maximum number of 8 states.

• Tropic of cancer passed through 8 states – Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

• Indian standard Meridian passes through MP, UP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Mountains of India

• Himalayas

• Trans-Himalayan Zone

• Peninsular Mountains

Plains of India

To the south of the Himalayas and to the north of the Peninsula lies the great plain of Northern India. They are formed by the depositional work of three major river systems, Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra. The vast plain of north India are alluvial in nature and the westernmost portion is occupied by the Thar Dessert.

Peninsula Plateau

• Spreads south of the Indo Gangetic plains flanked by the sea on the three sides. This plateau is shaped like a triangle with it’s the base in the North.

• Vindhya Plateau is situated south of Malwa plateau.

• The Deccan plateau is the largest plateau in India.

Island of India

• Total coast: 7,516 km largest coastline: Gujarat

• Indian territorial limits include 247 Island.

Rivers of India

Three major river system are there –

• Himalayan river ( Indus system, Ganga system, Brahmaputra system)

• River of the Peninsula ( River flowing into Bay of Bengal, West flowing river)

• Inland Drainage

The Climate of India

• India has a tropical monsoon type of climate. It is greatly influenced by the presence of the Himalayas in the north as they block the cold air masses from Central Asia. It is because of them only that the monsoon have a watershed in India.

The tropic of cancer divides India into two almost equal climatic zones, namely, the northern zone and the southern zone. The warm temperature or the subtropical climate of the northern zone gives it cold winter and the hot summer season. The tropical climatic zone us warmer than the north and does not have a clear cut winter season.

Forests in India

• According to the National Forest Policy, the minimum desired area which is considered safe for the tropical country like India is about 33%. At present, about 20.64% of India has covered with forest.

• Madhya Pradesh has the largest area to total area, first is Andaman and Nicobar Island, followed by Mizoram, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland. They are in a very comfortable position as more than half of their area is under forest.

• Arunachal Pradesh has the highest per capita forest area.

• In mangrove forest, West Bengal holds the first position, followed by Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Island.

There are many things that reflect the beauty of India. The land, environment and people of India are like a gift for the world. At last, I just want to share a quote written by Mohammad Iqbal to justify it all.

Sare jaha se accha hindustan humara Hum bulbule h iski ye gulsitan humara

The first women ruler of Delhi Sultanate: Raziya sultana

Raziya Sultana, a woman who was the first and last women ruler of Delhi sultanate belonged to the 13th century. She was the daughter of Mamluk sultan Shamsuddin Iltumish and Turkan Khatun. Raziya’s father was the son in law of Qutb-al-Din Aibak the first Delhi sultan. After Aibak’s death, there was a battle of succession in which finally Raziya’s father was able to capture the throne and thus ushering in the slave dynasty.

Raziya was a bold and strong girl from her young age. She got training in military, warfare and administration along with her three brothers. Even during her father’s reign, her father took her into his confidence and trained her in the administration. She won appreciation and admiration of her father as she exhibited her extra ordinary ability and intelligence. Raziya did not follow the customary behaviour of Muslim women veiling their face; she showed her face in public gatherings and rode elephants in public. She many times led the army. But her brothers were interested only in the royal privileges and enjoyed their extravagant royal life. They did not have much interest in administration and warfares. During her father’s Gwalior campaign, she was entrusted the charge of the administration. Her administration skills made her father convinced that she is the fit person to wear the mantle of sultanate after him. This was an historical decision never done before in the history of Delhi to have a woman as an heir to the throne. In a country where women are given equal property rights legally only in the 21st century, he made his daughter the ruler of Delhi in the 13th century, something unheard of and never tested. He was liberal-minded and a man way ahead of his time. She learned all the military and administrative skills not to become a good queen to a king but a ruler by herself.

  Even though Iltumish made her the ruler, there were so many uprisings against her becoming the Sultan. Due to the political pressures and intrigues, her brother Rukn ud din Firuz, a drunkard and an incompetent was made the Sultan. Rukn ud din Firuz who indulged in drinking binge and other carnal pleasures did not mind his mother Shah Turkhan taking the rein of administration. Iltutmish’s son Qutubuddin was blinded and exexuted by Shah Turkhan and Rukn ud din Firuz. This led to upsurge and rebellion among the nobels, religious heads and general public. There were also murders of several important Tazik officers. Rukn Ud din Firuz marched towards Kuhram in Punjab to put down the rebellion. In mean time, Shah Turkhan planned to kill Raziya in Delhi. At a congregational prayer, Raziya instigated the general public against Shah Turkhan. Raziya had the backing and support of the public, the army and the nobles which led to the enthronement of Raziya, the first muslim women ruler in south Asia. Rukh ud din marched back to Delhi when he was taken into custody and put in prison, and probably he was executed. Raziya has become the undisputed ruler in 1236.

  She was a secular ruler. She allowed even non-Turks to occupy higher rankings. She was a revolutionary in that she gave up wearing purdah and wearing male attire instead. She did not like to be called the sultana and preferred to be addressed as Sultan. She conquered new territories, established educational institutions, built public libraries. She was the first to abolish ‘Jaziya tax’ which was collected from non-musilms. She also minted coins in her name. Her financial management, general administration and judicial fairness earned her a lasting popularity and admiration among the public.

The nobles, who initially supported her, thought she would depend on them for advice and opinions in administration. But contrary to their expectation she became more and more assertive and independent, exhibiting her innate boldness and manliness. She made important appointments in administration and army whom she trusted to be very loyal to her. She enjoyed a close rapport with the general public. She started appearing in public dressed in traditional male attire, wearing a cloak and a hat. She rode on elephants through the streets of Delhi, making public appearances like the earlier Sultans. She was popularly called the “Queen of the people”.

Some of the governors of the states under the Delhi Sultanate found that Razia was too independent and the chiefs at her durbar began conspiring against her. Armies were readied for an attack on Razia, but she skilfully managed to divide them and make them fight against each other. Her favourite officer was Jamal Yakut, a black African whom the court nobles called a “Habshi” — a derogative term — who was totally loyal to her and whom the chiefs could not accept as a senior officer.

Within 4 years of being a sultan, there rose a coup against her. The religious chiefs and nobles could not accept an assertive and independent female ruler who had become very popular with the general public. Her brother was made sultan and she was imprisoned at Bhatinda fort. She married Altunia the governor of Bhatinda; with his help she recruited an army and fought for her throne which was hers. However, her effort to retrieve her throne met with disaster. She was murdered during the fight. Thus, the reign of the only female ruler of Delhi ended abruptly and sadly. The final resting place of Raziya is obscure some state her grave is in Old Delhi and a ruined building in Kaithal is also stated to be the site of Razia’s original grave.

A contemporary 13th-century Persian historian, Miraj-i-Siraj, mentioned about her in one of his works:

‘She was a great monarch, wise, just, generous, benefactor to her realm, dispenser of justice, protector of her people and leader of her armies; and endowed with all admirable attributes and qualification necessary for a king’

                She might have been eliminated by the unforgiving misogynist religious fanatics but she lives eternally in the hearts and minds of every secular Indians. 

ANTIBACTERIAL CHEMOTHERAPY-INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Antibacterial Chemotherapy refers to the use of any chemical or drug for the treatment of bacterial diseases. It is the part of antimicrobial chemotherapy.
Antimicrobial chemotherapy can be divided into several branches on the basis of type of pathogen, for e.g.
For bacterial pathogen – Antibacterial Chemotherapy
For viral pathogen – Antiviral Chemotherapy
For fungal pathogen – Antifungal Chemotherapy, etc

ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY –
Chemotherapy may either mean involvement of any drug that fight against any cancerous cell or it may involve the use of any antimicrobial drug to cure diseases caused by infectious microorganisms or pathogens.
Antimicrobial drugs work by different mechanisms for different type of organisms. The overall mechanism by which any antimicrobial drug functions is by interfering with the structure and/or function of microorganisms. They either directly kill microbial cell or function by inhibiting their growth.

DEVELOPMENT OF ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY
The development of chemotherapy has been known to begin with the successful research of a German physician, Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915).
Ehrlich was always fascinated to learn more about the dyes that bind to and stain the microbial cells. He was sure and stated that one of the dyes could be used as a chemical that would selectively destroy or kill the infectious pathogen inside the human body without making any harm to human cell and he named it “Magic Bullet”. Working more on this, he was able to find that the dye, trypsan red was active against the trypanosome that causes African Sleeping Sickness. Later, Ehrlich with his assistant Sahachiro Hata tested a variety of arsenic-based chemicals on Syphilis-infected rabbits and was successful in finding that Arsphenamine (an arsenic based chemical compound) was active against the Syphilis spirochete which was then made available in the market.
The other German scientist, Domagk in 1927 found the another Magic Bullet to treat diseases. He observed the antimicrobial activity of a synthetic dye, Prontosil Red which was able to cure Streptococcal and Staphylococcal infections with very limited toxicity. Sulfanilamide (one of the active breakdown products of prontosil in body) was the first synthetic antimicrobial drug.

A Synthetic Antimicrobial is a drug that is developed from any type of a chemical compound that is not found in nature.

Penicillin was the first naturally synthesized antibiotic which was initially discovered by a 21 years old French medical student. No one remembered his work until Alexander Fleming in September 1928 accidently rediscovered the antibiotic. The petri plate of Staphylococcus which was inoculated by Fleming was found to develop certain molds which made the clear zone of inhibition of staph-bacterial species around them. It was meant that the mold infected the petri plates even before the bacteria were inoculated. Fleming suggested that the mold (probably the strain of Penicillium notatum) produced a substance which inhibited the bacterial growth surrounding it and hence had an antibacterial property.
Further experiment results concluded that Penicillin was active against streptococci, meningococci and Corynebacterium diphtheriae, which is the causative agent of diphtheria.
The isolation, mass production and purification of penicillin were accomplished by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain for which they got the nobel prize. They found that the penicillin once pured was effectively able to show antimicrobial properties against streptococcal infection in mice.
Later, Dorothy Hodgkin observed and analyzed the structure of various naturally synthesized products using X-rays. Because of her observation on the chemical structure of naturally synthesized penicillin, it was easier for many scientists to produce a variety of semi synthetic penicillin.

A semisynthetic antimicrobial is defined as the chemically modified product of a natural antibiotic.

After the discovery of penicillin, other scientists got the determination for the discovery of more antibiotics by natural or chemical synthesis.
Selman Waksman developed a new antibiotic, Streptomycin which was produced by the actinomycete, Streptomyces griseus. This antibiotic was discovered by the soil microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi. It was the first discovery of antibiotic- producing soil microorganism. It was found that streptomycin was successful in treating tuberculosis.
Other microorganisms producing chloramphenicol, neomycin, terramycin and tetracycline were also isolated later.

Human – The Monsters

After the recent incident, where a pregnant elephant died in Kerala after a fruit filled with firecrackers burst in her mouth, triggered nation-wide outrage, a video of a pregnant cow injured in a similar fashion has been circulating on social media. In the video being shared online, one Gurdiyal Singh, a resident of Himachal Pradesh, who claims to be the owner of the injured pregnant cow, describes how the cow’s mouth had been injured after one Nandlal fed her explosives.

Owner of the preganant cow blames neighbour for the brutal act

Meanwhile, Gurdiyal Singh confirmed that Nandlal, the alleged accused, works as a mechanic in Singh’s neighbourhood. Singh said that Nandlal has no remorse for his action. Nandlal has said that he is not scared of the repercussions and that he will continue to do whatever he deems fit. “Even the village sarpanch cannot harm me”, challenged Nandlal when confronted by Singh.

The video of this brutal act was circulated soon after social media was aflutter with outrage and anger over the demise of an elephant in Kerala. Amid outrage, the district police on Thursday (June 4) constituted a special investigation team under a DSP-rank officer to probe the matter.

One suspect arrested in Kerala elephant killing case

The forest department in Kerala has arrested one suspect in the case of death of a pregnant wild elephant in Kerala. The person is being interrogated in the matter. The elephant had died after she was fed a pineapple filled with firecrackers by some villagers.

The autopsy report of the dead elephant has revealed that the crackers stuffed in the pineapple which was fed to the elephant burst in her mouth leading to severe injuries. The elephant was not able to eat anything due to the deep wounds, due to which she fell and drowned due to weakness. The elephant’s preliminary post-mortem examination was conducted at the Mannarkkad Forest Division. It revealed that the animal died as a result of drowning, followed by inhalation of water which led to lung failure. This has been identified as the immediate cause of the death of the elephant.

The investigation in the case has been moving on a faster pace and the forest department has started interrogating the suspect in custody. As per reports, three people are under suspicion of feeding the pineapple full of crackers.

Pregnant elephant dies in Kerala after cracker-filled pineapple burst in its mouth

Recently, in an act of utmost cruelty, a pregnant elephant had died after some locals fed her cracker-filled pineapple which later exploded in her mouth. The incident took place in Malappuram district of Kerala when the elephant had wandered into a village in search of food. It is being believed that some villagers stuffed pineapples filled with firecrackers on her tusks while she was walking on the streets.

From anybody who throws stones at stray dogs to anybody hurting a living soul,choose one face. A lot of these animals trust  humans because the have been helped by them in past. This is cruel beyond measure. When you lack empathy and kindness,you don’t deserve to be called a buman. To hurt someone is not human . Just stricter laws won’t help. We need a descent execution of law too.
Until the guilty are punished in the worst possible way, these wicked monsters will never fear law. Though it’s difficult, i hope they are able to find out the  one who committed this crime and  punish them  accordingly.

“Ushering Towards Better Reforms “

“Clean was our environment and so were our surroundings,animals were happy and strong were the bondings. In the race to change our selves, we changed everything around, with scarcity of resources, and humanity deeply drowned”. In todays era, where work culture is mostly preferred, and least preferences are given to people, their feelings,emotions and most importantly to the nature. With increasing pollution and leading scarcity of resources all around, human has destroyed the purest form of living standards and shifted to the artificial ones. Man is using all sorts of natural resources available around him for his own benefits and is harming our health as well as nature indeed. But the Awareness and concern has been seen since last few years and people are getting aware about the bad affects of these and how it’s utilization is harming our health and nature and how few terms like “Global warming” and “Climate change” have come up. Most of the countries are working on this issue and trying best resources to counter the effects of these.

But the main thought which comes into mind is that ” Do we humans really care for our nature and thus saving it’s resources from getting replenish” or there is some more in addition to it, which may include the “Thought of utilizing these resources in future,when the other alternatives are not more effective”. And will this shift towards more cleaner resources or sustainable resources prove to be more effective and efficient.

But the major concern for the same is that do we really care for these non-sustainable resources and want them to be with us forever. Possible thoughts could be :
1. That yes, we do care for the natural and non sustainable resources and we want their presence with us for a longer duration of time so as to maintain a proper balance in our environment.
2. Most of the countries are shifting towards cleaner energy. But if they have a thought of saving these for future reserve, it’s still better, as these will remain with us, till further usage.
3. But the truth is that most people hardly care about these natural and non-sustainable resources and believe in just working as it’s going on without any change, which surely needs to be changed.


But the question still arises is that why should we shift to sustainable energy as a source of energy and stop using these resources which we know are less and are harming our nature. This may include-
1. Quantity of these resources is endless
2. These are Ecofriendly.
3. These are more cost effective and require just installation charges.

We have these alternatives and know about these, then why are we still not shifting to these new methods and still using the old traditional ones. The main points include:
1. Technological deficiency.
2. Basic information on how these resources can be brought into physical form and bring out maximum output.
3. Lack of interest of people, as most of them hardly care and others are afraid to shift to new things.

Having a glance around our surroundings, we can easily acknowledge that we have made our life’s horrible and also destroyed or nature. The need to shift to natural and clean source of energy is the prior requirement at present as well future so as to live in a clean environment . Saving our nature through the act of finding alternatives to the energy as a source generation can be the change we want and thus make our planet “Greener” and “Cleaner”

EVOLUTION VS CIVILIZATION

Humans are gradually developing themselves since the very beginning of the creation. They are continuously evolving. What is most important while evolving is to maintain the civilization, so that the society in which a person lives, does not get harmed or affected. Today, we have come a long way in terms of evolution but the question is, would we be able to protect the civilization?


Animal abuse by humans is not a new thing. Though cruelty to animals is a punishable offence, we, the so-called civilized humans cannot resist ourselves from tormenting those helpless and innocent creatures, just for mere entertainment. Our planet is blessed with diverse species, but because of the cruelties caused upon them some of the very beautiful species are on the verge of extinction. The humans have threatened their existence to such an extent that the Earth is no more a safe place for the animals to live. Being the strongest species in the entire eco system, humans are going beyond their limits to commit brutality on the pure and beautiful animals.


Recently, in a small village called Malappuram, in Kerala an extremely heinous crime was attempted by some of the villagers on a 15 years old pregnant elephant, who came into the village in search of food. The innocent elephant was fed a pineapple loaded with firecrackers by some of the villagers. The crackers exploded in her mouth causing severe injury to her tongue and jaws. To get some relief and to save her unborn child the elephant ran to a river nearby and stood in the water for a long time, but inspite of her brave attempts, she could not save herself and her child. These people do not deserve to be called civilized. How much regression is needed to commit such an atrocious crime to a guiltless, pure animal, is really not known. Since the humans have been thinking from a very long time now that they are the superior species amongst all, so, they can do anything they want and most of the times they even do not get punished for these mischievous acts. Being the superior creature, humans should be venerated for what facilities they have got. Instead, some of them are acting as demons by misusing those advantages and heading towards destruction.


Though it is not proved yet, if anyone deliberately fed the crackers stuffed pineapple to the pregnant elephant, they are still at fault. Even if the pineapple was lying on the road and the elephant ate it accidentally, how could anyone keep fruits stuffed with firecrackers on the roads knowing that animals can eat them? Human behavior will always remain an enigma. Elephants are the most expressive animals. There are conjectures that elephants’ mind react to humans the same way humans’ mind reacts to puppies. If the humans do not cause discomfort to them or torment them, they do not harm anyone. The innocent elephant trusted humankind and delightfully ate the food she got at the vicinity. As a result, she got deceived. Even in writhing pain, while running towards the river, she did not harm a single human. She knew the value of lives more than any human out there. May be because, she herself was creating a life inside her.


What happened with the innocent and voiceless elephant in Kerala, was really shameful as well as reprehensible. Yet the enlightened humans across the world are politicizing this incident and also quoting Kerala’s literacy rate since it has the highest literacy rate in India. What they have forgotten is literacy rate has nothing to do with animal maltreatment. Humanistic values do not come entirely from formal education. Humanity and literacy do not go in hand in hand. Many illiterate people may have more humanistic values than some highly educated people. More than being empathetic to the poor animal, some so-called educated people of our society are showing their hypocrisy by targeting and taunting Kerala for its highest literacy rate.


These incidents point out how we are evolving. From throwing stones or water to the stray dogs to feeding fruits loaded with explosives to a pregnant elephant, humans have shown how they have retained their civilization. May be, the animals have not evolved much, that is why corruption could not enter into their world. The speechless, innocent animals are already suffering a lot for the humans’ unending experiments and adventures. Our planet is as much theirs’ as ours’. Together we have to make the Earth a safe place for the animals to live on. Only then we will be able to evolve with the civilization in right means.

Food hygiene and Food safety- Not an abate issue

undefined The main motive of food safety is to keep up the necessary produced food from production to consumption without contamination. Not only safety but adequate amounts of nutrients that are essential for a healthy survival should be stocked. Apart from food, the most common source of spreading diseases is sipping polluted water. According to WHO, at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with scat.
Why food safety?
Contaminated food can transmit pathogens which can result in being diseased, unhealthy, and can even cause death. Compared with lesser developed countries, developed countries follow strict standards for food preparation whereas the countries yet to be developed don’t follow such norms and standards for food practices.

How the advancement of biotech in agricultural production affects food?

  • By altering the genes that control nutritious constituents of food yields.
  • Extending production with the help of pesticides.
  • By modifying the genes that affect the levels of naturally occurring toxins in food crops.
    Some stats-
  • 1). As stated by the Kellogg Company in 1981, “Through the advances
    afforded by genetic engineering, grains will become more widely accepted
    because of improvements in taste, texture, form, and total nutritional
    profile”
  • 2)The Rockefeller Foundation, in its continuing commitment to the genetics
    of rice improvement, has made major research grants to develop through
    genetic engineering a variety of yellow rice that would produce carotene
    in the grain to help fight vitamin A deficiency in developing countries
    where diets consist primarily of rice (Rockefeller Foundation, 1985).
  • 3)Phytogen, a biotechnology subsidiary of J.G. Boswell Co., one of the
    nation’s largest farms, is attempting to “increase the nutritional quality of
    the protein” in the Russet Burbank potato with recombinant DNA
    techniques (Anderson, 1984, p. 6).
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235027/

The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are:
● Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests.
● Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods.
● Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill pathogens.
● Store food at the proper temperature.
● Use safe water and safe raw materials.

Food contamination can happen at any stage, from production to consumption. The contamination can be physical (foreign objects like hairs and residuals of plants), biological (bacteria, virus, microorganisms), chemical (pesticides, additives). According to FSA, the 4 C’s that are cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking are food safety regulations that have to be taken seriously. Inappropriate practice, improper heating such as undercooking, cooking, again and again, poor hygiene, and the re-use of leftovers, are responsible for causing 14% of these diseases. These small things have to be considered seriously as they can cause severe illness.
What are foodborne diseases?
Commonly known as food poisoning, these are caused by the consumption of inappropriate or contaminated food and water. The microbes that cause foodborne diseases generally enter through the GIT and cause diarrhea, vomiting, etc. According to 2011 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was estimated that in the United States, one out of every six persons was infected with foodborne illness (48 million people) and that foodborne illnesses resulted in 128,000 hospital cases and 3000 deaths.

FOOD SAFETY FIRST FOR HEALTHY CITIZENS!