Cancer

Cancer is one of the most haunting diseases, squandering lives since ages. It occurs due to abnormal cell growth due to genetic mutations from environmental and lifestyle factors. Major of these factors are smoking, obesity, infections. There are also some certain chemicals known as carcinogens. Tobacco smoke causes almost 90% of the lung cancer. Physical inactivity and obesity also causes about 30-35% of cancer deaths.Not only cancer physical inactivity also hampers endocrine and immune system.

There are various types of cancer:

LEAUKEMIA : Commonly known as blood cancer,leukaemia affects the tissues of the bone marrow which is responsible for blood production. It is caused by abnormal production of white blood cells.

Myeloma: It targets plasma cells of our immune system. These cells divide in the bone marrow causing multiple tumours in the bones 

LYMPHOMA: It affects the lymphocytes in the lymph nodes, which are a part of the immune system.

CNS CANCER: CNS (Central Nervous System) cancers originate from the brain and the spinal cord. Gliomas, vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas, primary CNS lymphomas, pituitary adenomas are few CNS cancers.

Melanoma: It is a form of skin cancer that targets melanin – the pigment responsible for skin colour. In this form of cancer, the melanocytes are affected resulting in the abnormal formation of melanin. It may also affect other tissues that are pigmented, such as the eyes.

Symptoms

There are various symptoms through which cancer can be detected such as irregular loss weight, fatigue, continuous pain, fever or any irregular changes in skin.

Causes

Cancer can be caused by innumerous factors such as genetical factors, tobacco, alcohol, obesity, unhealthy environment, exposure to unnatural radiations etc.

Treatment

With the advancement of science many cures have been found for the treatment of cancer. The process of treatment depends on the type and stages of cancer. Some of the common treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Cancer

Cancer is one of the most haunting diseases, squandering lives since ages. It occurs due to abnormal cell growth due to genetic mutations from environmental and lifestyle factors. Major of these factors are smoking, obesity, infections. There are also some certain chemicals known as carcinogens. Tobacco smoke causes almost 90% of the lung cancer. Physical inactivity and obesity also causes about 30-35% of cancer deaths.Not only cancer physical inactivity also hampers endocrine and immune system.

There are various types of cancer:

LEAUKEMIA : Commonly known as blood cancer,leukaemia affects the tissues of the bone marrow which is responsible for blood production. It is caused by abnormal production of white blood cells.

Myeloma: It targets plasma cells of our immune system. These cells divide in the bone marrow causing multiple tumours in the bones 

LYMPHOMA: It affects the lymphocytes in the lymph nodes, which are a part of the immune system.

CNS CANCER: CNS (Central Nervous System) cancers originate from the brain and the spinal cord. Gliomas, vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas, primary CNS lymphomas, pituitary adenomas are few CNS cancers.

Melanoma: It is a form of skin cancer that targets melanin – the pigment responsible for skin colour. In this form of cancer, the melanocytes are affected resulting in the abnormal formation of melanin. It may also affect other tissues that are pigmented, such as the eyes.

Symptoms

There are various symptoms through which cancer can be detected such as irregular loss weight, fatigue, continuous pain, fever or any irregular changes in skin.

Causes

Cancer can be caused by innumerous factors such as genetical factors, tobacco, alcohol, obesity, unhealthy environment, exposure to unnatural radiations etc.

Treatment

With the advancement of science many cures have been found for the treatment of cancer. The process of treatment depends on the type and stages of cancer. Some of the common treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Impact of Covid on Education

The world is confronting an emergency today because of the Coronavirus Covid 19 pandemic. Practically all countries have been influenced because of the immediate and the aberrant impacts of the infection and lives of millions of individuals have been changed, by and large hopelessly. The pandemic an affects the training area, as the essential moving supply of this area – the understudy being compelled to stay in their homes to save the danger of conceivable contamination and demise because of the infection, if the schools and universities were to run during the pandemic. This has caused practically all schools and universities to connect with the online course for running the day’s booked classes by means of webcams and cell phones. A further improvement has occurred in the expanding fame of pre-recorded
or then again on-request access online courses made accessible by stages like Coursera, Unacademy and Udemy.

The production of another online course for conveyance obviously content will turn out to be more conspicuous in the post Covid world as the overcomers of the pandemic and the ones who have suffered through the lock down may not be as sure as they were, in the pre Covid world about sending their youngsters and wards to schools and universities, what’s more, along these lines might persuade the schools and universities to offer online based courses to oblige their requirements. This will make another worldview for educators and teachers as they should adjust to this changed circumstance to be more compatible while conveying their talks and course content through the online course.

To comprehend the Impact of Covid19 on the training area of India and the difficulties and openings that can be acquired from it a pursuit of writing was led to discover helpful data, relating to the paper. The web was utilized for obtaining valuable examination papers, having an association with the targets of this paper, as getting to online information bases kept in the organization was delivered inconceivable due to conclusion of the foundation because of the lock down. The web (and Google Scholar) was utilized as an asset for
gaining research papers having an association with the destinations of this paper. Search catchphrases utilized for this design were – Covid 19 pandemic, Corona infection, Wuhan Coronavirus, Effect of the pandemic on understudies,
educators and foundations, Effect of the pandemic on instructive approach choices by the Government, Challenges what’s more, openings introduced by Covid 19, e-learning, web based learning and distance learning answers for conveyance of training, potential troubles in conveying instructive substance by the instructor, potential hardships in getting and understanding the instructive substance conveyed by the educator, potential challenges in directing tests through online course in a legitimate and reasonable manner during the pandemic, an examination between the School terminations requested during isolate brought about by the Spanish Flu of 1919 and the current terminations because of Covid 19 thus
on.
One of the issues that were found with the presentation of e-learning items and framework was innovative issues identifying with the items. Different items have their own advantages/disadvantages, making the
decision of an items which fulfills all gatherings a troublesome one. For instance ‘Chalkboard’ a well known e-learning item is restricted to its current circumstance. At the end of the day, it is limited to conversations, refreshes, data refreshes,
sees and different messages from a solitary merchant just and limits understudy commitment because of its one of a kind highlights, restricting the scholastic staff and the understudies to the boundaries of the climate. Numerous different items
have these sort of difficulties identified with producer arrangements and other comparable innovative issues. This is a significant test in the selection and the notoriety of e-learning items.
Being that e-learning items are fundamentally not the same as conventional strategies for schooling, there will be a need for earlier guidance for the understudies and instructors who will utilize the items. It is significant for the instructor to acquaint oneself with the item so he can help his understudies in understanding the item completely, with the goal that they can gain the most from it. This information can’t be penetrated into everybody effectively as it includes diverse subjective perspectives exceptional to the individual, which need the educational disbursal for utilizing the item to be done in manners that consider the distinctions intrinsic in the individual so he will actually want to see how to utilize the item and how to show the item, subsequently acquiring the most extreme profit with it.
An educator who comprehends the item in an excellent manner will actually want to proceed as an ‘one stop fellow’ for his understudies as he will be the one, the understudies go to, for settling their questions, questions and inquiries about the item.

Impact of Social Media on Teenagers

Like innovation by and large, web-based media has both a potential gain and a disadvantage. Furthermore, with regards to the web-based media consequences for teenagers, those advantages and disadvantages are especially huge.

On the in addition to side, stages like TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can be lifelines for teenagers who feel confined or minimized, especially LGBTQ youngsters. Furthermore, online media assisted youngsters with feeling more associated and not as forlorn during the pandemic.

Be that as it may, the effect of online media on youth can likewise be altogether unfavorable to emotional wellness. Specifically, web-based media and high schooler misery are firmly connected. Besides, abuse of the applications opens teenagers to cyberbullying, self-perception issues, and tech enslavement, and results in less time spent doing sound, certifiable exercises. And keeping in mind that most of guardians accept they know what their youngster is posting via web-based media, as indicated by a Pew Research survey, a review of adolescents tracked down that 70% of them are concealing their online conduct from their parents.Are teenagers and web-based media a decent blend, or does web-based media use lower high schooler prosperity? This has gotten one of the more dubious inquiries in regards to web-based media’s impacts on youngsters, with examines showing shifted results, remembering ongoing exploration for the utilization of online media during the pandemic.

As per a report delivered in 2021 by Common Sense Media via online media’s impacts on teenagers, about portion of the 1,500 youngsters studied said web-based media is vital for them to get backing and counsel, feel less alone, and articulate their thoughts innovatively, just as for keeping in contact loved ones while social removing. Also, 43% said that utilizing online media helps them to have an improved outlook when they are discouraged, focused, or restless. Among LGBTQ youth, 52% said online media assists them with feeling better when they are encountering these troublesome feelings. Youth with moderate to extreme burdensome side effects were almost twice as prone to say they utilized online media continually: 33% of teenagers with sadness revealed steady web-based media use, when contrasted with 18% of adolescents who didn’t have burdensome manifestations. Moreover, the more serious their manifestations were, the more restless, forlorn and discouraged they felt subsequent to utilizing online media. Obviously, web-based media doesn’t help teenagers who are as of now feeling discouraged, and appears to add to their negative outlook.Is web-based media part of the explanation that youngster melancholy has definitely expanded throughout the last decade? Studies of US young people show that youngster burdensome side effects and self destruction rates showed stamped increments somewhere in the range of 2010 and 2015, particularly among females. A few specialists conjecture that the expansion in online media and generally speaking screen use between those years could represent these changes. The young people reviewed who invested more energy in online media were bound to report emotional well-being issues. The individuals who invested more energy in turned off exercises, for example, in-person friendly cooperation, sports, exercise, schoolwork, and print media, were more averse to report these issues.

In the course of the last decade, this hypothesis has been borne out by an enormous group of examination connecting teens’ utilization of online media with expanded teenager melancholy. These examinations show that the recurrence of an adolescent’s utilization of online media has a reasonable relationship to their psychological well-being. For instance, in a recent report, 14-to 17-year-olds who utilized online media seven hours out of each day were more than twice as prone to have been determined to have discouragement, treated by an emotional wellness proficient, or taken medicine for a mental or conduct issue during the last year. This was contrasted with the individuals who utilized screens just about an hour daily.

Numerous specialists accept that the consistent overstimulation of long range informal communication moves the sensory system into battle or-flight mode. Subsequently, this makes problems like ADHD, high schooler despondency, oppositional disobedient confusion, and teenager tension more terrible. In any case, some examination via online media and adolescent despondency shows that the causality goes the alternate way—i.e., when teenagers are discouraged, they take a gander at web-based media all the more regularly. In one investigation of 600 teenagers, specialists tracked down that online media use didn’t anticipate burdensome manifestations, yet more noteworthy burdensome indications anticipated more web-based media use after some time.

Freedom of Speech

The right to speak freely of discourse is the option to say whatever you like about whatever you like, at whatever point you like, correct? Wrong. The right to speak freely of discourse is the option to look for, get and grant data and thoughts, everything being equal, using any and all means.’
The right to speak freely of discourse and the right to opportunity of articulation applies to thoughts of various sorts including those that might be profoundly hostile. In any case, it accompanies duties and we trust it tends to be genuinely limited.
At the point when the right to speak freely of discourse can be limited You probably won’t anticipate that we should say this, however in specific conditions free discourse and opportunity of articulation can be limited.

Governments have a commitment to preclude disdain discourse and incitement. Furthermore, limitations can likewise be legitimized in the event that they ensure explicit public interest or the rights and notorieties of others.

Any limitations on the right to speak freely of discourse and opportunity of articulation should be set out parents in law that must thus be clear and compact so everybody can get them. Individuals forcing the limitations (regardless of whether they are governments, managers or any other person) should have the option to show the requirement for them, and they should be proportionate. The entirety of this must be upheld by protections to stop the maltreatment of these limitations and consolidate an appropriate offers measure….also, when it can’t

Limitations that don’t follow this load of conditions disregard opportunity of articulation. We consider individuals put in jail exclusively for practicing their right to free discourse to be detainees of soul. Jabbar Savalan was detained subsequent to calling for challenges the government on Facebook. We thought of him as a detainee of still, small voice and lobbied for his delivery. Peruse Jabbar’s story

Governing rules

Any limitation ought to be just about as explicit as could be expected. It is inappropriate to boycott a whole site in view of an issue with one page.

Public safety and public request
These terms should be definitely characterized in law to forestall them being blamed for over the top limitations.

Ethics
This is an extremely abstract region, yet any limitations should not be founded on a solitary custom or religion and should not oppress anybody living in a specific country.

Rights and notorieties of others
Public authorities ought to endure more analysis than private people. So slander laws that stop real analysis of a government or public authority, disregard the right to free discourse.

Impiety
Securing theoretical ideas, strict convictions or different convictions or the sensibilities of individuals that trust them isn’t justification for limiting ability to speak freely.

Media and writers
Writers and bloggers face specific dangers in view of the work they do. Nations thusly have a duty to secure their right to the right to speak freely of discourse. Limitations on Newspapers, TV stations, and so forth can influence everybody’s more right than wrong to opportunity of articulation.

Informants
Government ought to never bring criminal procedures against any individual who uncovers data about denials of basic liberties.

Rights and duties
Free discourse is one of our most significant rights and quite possibly the most misjudged. Utilize your ability to speak freely to stand up for those that are denied theirs. Be that as it may, use it capably: it is something incredible.

Gender Pronouns.

Have you ever come across an Instagram/ social media bio, where the account has either she/her, his/him, they/them or he/she/they written and gotten confused as to why people are writing their pronouns on the Instagram page?

A bio or a social media bio typically means information about the person. 

A pronoun is a term that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns refer to either a noun that has already been mentioned or to a noun that does not need to be named specifically. And the addition of pronouns helps not to misgender a person who isn’t gender conforming. 

Source: www.personneltoday.com

Gender is not what you are assigned at birth, rather what you identify with. It refers to you as an individual psychologically, socially and emotionally. 

Using pronouns in social media bios help people with inclusivity. 

As kids, always in our English grammar class, we are taught to assume the gender of the person based on their physical form. But sometimes this assumption leads to be disrespectful and oppressive to people who don’t go by the pronouns assigned due to their appearance. 

As pronouns are connected to gender identity and a way for people to feel like their own person. Hence it’s important to always ask someone their pronouns and continue to call them by their pronouns even if they are not around.

If you are unsure about someone’s pronouns, all you have to do is ask them. And even if you misgender them, apologise and do not belittle and complain as to why you have to call them by their pronouns. Misgendering more often may lead to depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies. It invalidates their identity. 

For cisgender people, this may feel like stating the obvious at times. But here’s why it’s crucial: It isn’t appropriate for you. And, rather than dominating the conversation, it’s occasionally necessary to employ cis-privilege in a way that really contributes to equality. So, even if adding pronouns to your “Hello, my name is and these are my pronouns.” routine is a little odd at first, but stick with it. You’ll grow accustomed to it. When persons who are not cisgender use pronouns on a daily basis, they will eventually become less noticeable.

It’s worth mentioning though, that some individuals don’t feel comfortable declaring their gender pronouns publicly, and just because you announce yours it does not entitle you to everyone else’s.

Pronouns Dos and Donts:

Do! 

1) Recognise that even cisgender people have pronouns. 

2) Remember that some people go by more than one set of pronouns. Ask people about the pronouns they use. 

3) Peoples pronouns may change regularly, hence it’s necessary to ask.

4) Consider using ways to make the language more gender-inclusive. 

Don’t!

1) Don’t describe to the pronouns are preferred, as it is not a preference. 

2) Don’t say, male pronouns and female pronouns. Pronouns are not necessarily tied to someone’s gender identity, as pronouns are not necessarily tied to someone’s gender identity.

Its is necessary to not misgender a person and be respectful to their pronoun.

———————–

Reference and source:

1)  https://www.thesmujournal.ca/editor/normalizing-pronouns-why-cis-gendered-folks-should-use-personal-pronouns-too

2)https://in.style.yahoo.com/pronouns-bios-mean-why-sensitive-164629025.html

3) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronounce

SUSTAINABILITY – THE NEED OF THE HOUR

We as Homo sapiens have made quite a lot of evolution over centuries. From learning to stand erect to finding proper methods of growing, cooking and making food into a scrumptious dish from mere kitchen ingredients, learning to communicate, trade, developing intelligence, creating subjects, branches and specializations in learning, making machines which nullify human effort, diversifying living and basic needs into huge businesses, revolutionizing our methods, taking a step ahead to unforeseen intelligence and development with each passing day – there are countless achievements which man as a living being has accomplished, and in so many unimaginable sectors that listing them would be a heck of a job!

But with advancements and products come by-products, most of them unwanted or of negligible use, and these finally end in dumping areas or uninhabited lands, water bodies or space. With an incredible amount of disposable waste produced each day, and with the dumping yards blowing out of proportion with filth, it has become very necessary that we as humans stop as well as reverse the damage we have done to our own abode, because we have come to realize that we ourselves are bound to bear the fruit of our deeds. Researchers have estimated that if we continue creating waste at this rate, we will soon fall out of clean environment and space to live in, and the result of filling the Earth with this ginormous amount of waste will drastically affect us in the process, destroying not just humankind but the whole ecosystem and will severely impact the planet and its precious resources to an irreversible state. So it is time that we step back and ponder on our operating methods, restore back the balance of nature rather than putting a step forward at the expense of deteriorating and exploiting what we have been generously bestowed upon by. Realizing this, the major organizations of the world have taken an initiative to minimise their waste production and make our world a sustainable place.

According to the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, ‘Sustainable development is one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.’ This means utilising our resources in a way which ensures enough for our coming generations and also keeping in mind the goal to make the world habitable for them. This also necessarily means that we ought to produce lesser waste and dispose off the existing waste in a proper manner which is not destructive to the Earth and all its entities too. Pertaining to this term, many leaders in the manufacturing fraternity have pledged to make their companies self-sustainable and zero waste emitting ones. This will make all its allied sectors sustainable too – like economy, raw material, handling, etc. To make this happen, organizations are devising and innovating various ways in which a manufacturing / waste producing entity can be sustainable. From recycling to reusing and taking note of all the well-designed ‘R’s in the sustainability arena, various methods are being implemented to climb the ladder of achieving a green and clean world, where environmental balance, growth and revolution go hand in hand with each part of the intertwined cycle supplementing the other’s positive transformation. This will surely help in decreasing damage and revitalizing nature and its components in the long run.

THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ever since modern man set foot on the Earth, he has been rolling out numerous inventions to make life easier. From the invention of simple wheels to farming practices, transportation, engines, electricity, phones, internet, portable computers, smartphones and what not! Today, our life has been completely surrounded by machines. Just like Rancho’s character’s dialogue from the movie 3 Idiots, “Pen ke nip se, pant ki zip tak, sab machine hai Sir”, machines are ubiquitous everywhere now and our life is indispensable without the use of these machines. From simple science and observation to rocket science, all the modern technology that we see and use today are a part of our daily lives. Science and technology have taken great strides and have helped us reach the pinnacle of novelty. The device I’ve used to write this blog, the cloud through which it has got uploaded, the site on which it is visible, the device through which you can access my blog from a thousand miles away, all of it is a boon bestowed upon us, thanks to the advancements in technology.

The industry which started with the invention of a huge machine, even bigger than today’s refrigerators and a thousand wires to plug like a jumbling maze, accelerated the modernization of our generation by almost a hundred-fold. These simple machines became more and more compact and handy with time and arduous efforts to convert into desktop systems and personal computers were largely successful. These computers became sleek and flat screened with more innovation and development and the supporting devices and processing systems also became compact. These later clubbed into a single system which could be portable and handy, presented to us in the form of a laptop. This is just one line of development of the old computer system through a few decades. Along with evolution of technology, this development has equally diversified into myriads of branches with similar advancements in those sectors too. With the invention of the internet and the various services offered by it, there began modernization in the virtual space too. Allied services have made the virtual space a totally different world with its own perks and pros. Today, as we wade through a raging pandemic and natural disasters all the world over, these technologies, internet, electronic devices and loads of efforts put into developing them have been the saviours to keep the work going smoothly and hassle-free. Along with this, machine learning, augmented reality and artificial intelligence have taken technology to another level totally. From their use in simple imaging and recognition softwares to complete automation in industries with humongous production, tedious jobs have become a lot easier, and the rate of production has literally increased like a straight line of a graph. The rate of errors in simple tasks has also gone down drastically, thanks to the technology. From a simple thing like wrapping a toffee to a highly skilled task like building a complete car from its parts, technology has given a boost to the rate, accuracy and precision to everything. From robots that can do simple detection and sorting jobs to the ones which can do complex work and multitask too, there is a lot of progress happening around us and we ought to take note of it.

The revolution in the technology and development sector mentioned above is just a teeny-weeny part of the huge universe of modernization that mankind has built just with a little of resources and an unbeatable set of buzzing smart brains, and this is truly commendable. And yes, we’ve left no stone unturned – we’re even covering the actual universe! In the coming years, we shall surely witness a vast developed transformation in the world we live in, making us smarter and better in every way possible, and this transformation will be life-changing!

"The lady who spread her wings"- Ashweeta Shetty

 

Ashweeta
Shetty: Bodhi Tree Skills

Societal norms such as gender inequalities,
child marriage and lack of education still prevail in both rural and urban
regions.  These norms have forbidden
people to spread their wings. Many people are mustering up courage and are
proving that dreams can come true if you have the passion and courage to do it.
One of those courageous people included Ashweetha Shetty.

Knowing about Ashweeta Shetty

Ashweeta Shetty grew up in a
village called Nikuran in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The village is
very famous for beedi rolling. All the people of her village rolled beedis as
their main source of income. 

Although Ashweeta grew up in a simple and peaceful
environment, but one thing that she observed that like education was not
encouraged. People in her village had a mindset that beedi rolling was more
important than going to school.  


Challenges faced

Her parents had the same
mindset and since her parents were illiterate, it was even more difficult for
her to persuade them that she wanted to do something different. Her parents grew
up in Karnataka which is a different state from Tamil Nadu, so they were even
more concerned about her safety. This was another reason why they didn’t
encourage her to pursue higher studies.


Another ‘societal’ convention
was that girls got married at an early age. Her sister got married at an early
age and her brother did some electrician course and then went for a job instead
of pursuing higher studies. Fortunately, she was able to convince her parents
and was the first one to go to a college in her family.

                                                                                        

She pursued Bachelor’s in
Business Administration from a different place which was two hours from her
village. Initially, she kind of dropped out and still didn’t give up. With the
help of hard work and perseverance, she scored well and everyone encouraged her
to pursue higher studies. Her parents then sent her to a good college which was
blessing for her.

 Her parents were not really restrictive but
had always taught her that every decision that she makes, she has to bear the
difficulties and consequences.


Spreading her Wings

She still had the same resolute
and in her second year of graduation she thought to implement her dreams. She
looked for opportunities, applied to all the branch exams, post graduation
exams etc. Her librarian saw an advertisement about the Young India internship
and pushed her to apply for the same and luckily she got it.


When she was in fellowship, she
struggled as she was the only one who studied in rural college. She was finding
difficulty to adjust in a completely different environment but still she
overcame all her difficulties and believed that her difficulties made her grow and
learn more. She learnt to accept herself and became gentle and that year had
transformed her life.

She then started working at a
health center. She did health awareness programmes , spread awareness in many
villages about diseases, worked with school and college children on diabetic
and hyper tension condition for senior citizens.


She
wanted to improve the fact that many graduates like her who pursue for higher
education were not as privileged as her; very few of them got basic facilities
and opportunities. She focused on removing the urban-rural gap and motivating
every rural college graduate that they have a lot of potential and that if we she
can make it so can everyone. This gave birth to Bodhi Tree Skills (non- profit
organization).                                                                                         

                                                                                       

                                                                                  


She
implemented her idea by creating awareness and actively creating opportunities for
rural graduates. But she faced difficulty because of her other engagements
instead of focusing on the things which could solve the situation. She along
with her organization members focused more on improving the potency.

Aftermath

Passion,
perseverance, courage and devotion encouraged Ashweeta to raise her voice and
became the voice of several rural people who are underprivileged. The most
important lesson that she learnt was instead of looking outside and going along
with the herd, one should focus more on looking inside as everyone is unique this
could help them to clearly live their life.


She
feels that privileged people should acknowledge what they have and they should
also use their resources wisely. They should be responsible and have a desire
to do something better and if they also think in a similar manner like her, the
world would be a much better place.

The Greatest Threat to Wildlife

In Africa the poaching of animals such as tigers or elephants for their skins or tusks has been a problem well known throughout the world. But the impact of hunting for their meat may pose a greater threat, such a trade is known as bushmeat trade. It refers to the non-traditional hunting of non-game animals for meat. Wild chimpanzees and other forest animals are systematically hunted and sold as meat through markets across Africa and cities across the world. What once was a form of subsistence hunting in rural villages, has now evolved into a commercial trade that has grown in scale over recent decades.

While Bushmeat has been practiced since the late 1800s, the scale of hunting is far greater today and has been increasing, facilitated by road building in the forest for logging and mining operations and fuelled by growing demand in urban markets, where comparatively well-off customers consider wild-sourced protein a delicacy and a status symbol. A smaller international market for exotic meat thrives in Europe and the United States.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BUSHMEAT TRADING

  • Environmental Imbalance

 Poachers and hunters involved in the illegal bushmeat market mainly use snares to trap these beasts and often larger animals like jackals, lions, cheetahs, wild dogs get caught in these traps. These carnivores the primary one being lions are the ones most affected due to the trading of bushmeat in two ways; by dramatically reducing the populations of animals that are food sources for lions such as antelopes and other small animals (pigs and boars) and by directly killing these animals who inadvertently are caught in the wire snares that are set to illegally harvest other species. The removal of any animal from the food chain causes an imbalance for both the species as well as other species dependant on it for food.

  • Endangering of animals

There are roughly 301 mammal species threatened by hunting for bushmeat including 126 primates, 65 even-toed ungulates, 27 bats, 26 diprotodont marsupials, 21 rodents, 12 carnivores and all Pangolin species. On Bioko Island, off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, for example, hunting for bushmeat has decimated populations of the island’s seven endemic monkey species, which are all endangered. Another prime example is the elephant which have been hunted for their tusks are also for their meat. It has been done to the extent that the bushmeat trade is estimated to be worth higher than the ivory industry. While the ivory obtained from tusks may be sold for around $180 (in 2007), a poacher could sell the meat (approximately 1,000 pounds) for up to $6,000 this may be primarily due to the high demand and the fact that the elephant’s meat is considered prestigious and hence sold at higher costs. The elephant’s population has dropped by 62% in the recent decade and the situation has not improved since with population going from 1.34 million in 1976 to barely 415,00 elephants in 2018

The Impact of Bushmeat on Humans

Animal sources may have been the cause for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, smallpox, measles, influenza, and syphilis acquired by early agrarians. The emergence of HIV-1, AIDS, Ebola virus disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are attributed to animal sources today. Thomas’s rope squirrel and red-legged sun squirrel were identified as reservoirs of the monkeypox virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1980s. Outbreaks of the Ebola virus in the Congo Basin and in Gabon in the 1990s have been associated with the butchering and consumption of chimpanzees and bonobos. The risk of bloodborne diseases to be transmitted is higher when butchering a carcass than when transporting, cooking and eating it. Many hunters and traders are not aware of zoonosis and the risks of disease transmissions. An interview survey in rural communities in Nigeria revealed that 55% of the respondents knew of zoonoses, but their education and cultural traditions are important drivers for hunting and eating bushmeat despite the risks involved.

Wild meat provides a primary food source for many millions of people throughout the developing world, especially where other food options are not readily available. Unsustainable hunting has now metamorphosed into a global hunting crisis taking the form of a serious threat to the food security of many people as well as the immediate survival of hundreds of mammal species, other wildlife and altered ecological cascades rippling through ecosystems. Averting this crisis requires bold and prompt actions. Approaches that benefit both local people and wildlife will be required to avoid a future of hungry desperate people inhabiting ‘empty landscapes’ across much of the planet Earth.

5 things to expect in any Online Counseling Session

 

Often, in our lives, we experience some happy moments,
confusing moments, nostalgic moments, regret, disappointment, frustration,
success etc.

Even though one may have lots or few friends and a
loving and supporting family, sometimes some people still feel very
uncomfortable in sharing their deep-rooted problems with their loved ones and decide
to take help from counselors.

About Personal Counseling

Personal counseling is
a one-to-one session between a client and a trained therapist, in a safe,
caring, and confidential environment. The client expresses whatever personal
problem he or she is facing be it anxiety, lack of self-love, heartbreak,
discrimination etc to the therapist.

They help their clients
in facing their problems and helps them in dealing with their emotions by
suggesting simple things such as diary writing, taking a walk, listening to
instrumental music, role -playing etc.

Introduction
to Online Counseling

During tough times like
pandemic, the mental health of the people is severely affected.

 Recently, a new method called online counseling
has been introduced to help people address their mental or personal problems
just by sitting at home.

Online counseling is an
online method wherein, professional counseling services are provided
through the use of emails, real-time chat, and video conferencing. This model
is becoming popular among young people who are in need of personal help.

 

 

Expectations
from Online Counseling:

Many people who go for their
first online session have certain expectations which are according to me are as
follows:

1.   
Patience

The counsellor should
be very good at being patient. Every client as a human being would expect their
therapist to patiently listen to them.

 Some people are affected so much by their
trauma that they tend to say same things repeatedly. They feel insecure about
it too and tend to restrict themselves from sharing everything.

So, counsellors need to
exhibit a lot of patience while dealing with such situations especially in
online counseling.

They should not get
irritated if their client is not able to see or follow their perspective. This
is because a person who is already stressed or feeling sad may have thousands
of negative thoughts going in their mind and any signs of anger and irritation
would make them even more insecure, worthless and helpless.

Sometimes, all we want
is a crying shoulder and a listening ear rather than a solution!

 

2.   
Comfort

The therapist,
especially when they are providing their counseling services in an online
platform, needs to create a comfortable environment for their clients.

The clients too feel
very uncomfortable or anxious while sharing their life story to a third person.
They might feel that a third person too would laugh at them or be disgusted by
them.

So, If I was the
client, I would expect my therapist to make me feel comfortable and assure me
that he/ she won’t judge me and the information shared would be confidential.

3.   
Gentle Tone

Clients generally
expect their therapist to be gentle towards their pain and problems when they
first approach online counseling sessions.

In online sessions, the
therapist should also take care that their tone is not misinterpreted by the
client. It is just like misinterpreting any message sent on the phone.

 If the client misinterprets the tone, he or
she might be uncomfortable in sharing things with the therapist. So, if such
things happen, the therapist should clear the misunderstanding as soon as
possible.

 

4.   
Understanding

Sometimes people feel
uncomfortable in sharing their feelings or pain with their family and close
friends because they feel that their friends and family are not on the same page
and cannot understand them intellectually and emotionally in certain aspects.

 The person feels that he or she doesn’t “belong”
anywhere. So, it may feel like the person gets along with everyone but inside
no one would have the idea that the person feels suffocated and depressed from
inside.

So, the people who opt
for online sessions expect that their therapist understand them intellectually
and emotionally with an open mind, acknowledging their pains and letting them
know that they are not “abnormal” and they do “belong in the world”.

 

5.   
Will to live

 

Often, the people who
are suffering from traumas think that they have no reason to exist or their
existence doesn’t matter.

While taking online
sessions for the first time, the clients expect their therapist to act as their
crying shoulder who allow them to let out all their emotions, stay by their
side each time in their need and assure them that their existence does matter.

The therapist is too
expected to go out of their way and act like their client’s night in the
shining armor where they understand and find problem in depth and help the
client to build a new and positive perspective where the client feels free and
loves themselves even more and finds many reasons to live again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to write good blog posts?


Writing a blog post is a little like driving; you can study the highway code (or read articles telling you how to write a blog post) for months, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing like getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road. Or something.

“Wait for it… wait for it… BASS DROP.”

Now that I’m done thoroughly mangling that vague metaphor, let’s get down to business. You know you need to start blogging to grow your business, but you don’t know-how. In today’s article, I’ll show you how to write a great blog post in five simple steps that people will actually want to read. So let’s get started:-

  • Step 1- Planning
          First, a disclaimer – the entire process of writing a blog post often takes more than a             couple of  hours, even if you can type eighty words per minute and your writing skills           are sharp. From the seed of the idea to finally hitting “Publish,” you might spend                   several days or maybe even a week “writing” a blog post, but it’s important to spend             those vital hours planning your post and even thinking about your post (yes, thinking             counts as working if you’re a blogger) before you actually write it.

        Long before you sit down to put digital pen to paper, you need to make sure you                    have everything you need to sit down and write. Many new bloggers overlook                       the planning process, and while you might be able to get away with skipping the                  planning stage, doing your homework will actually save you time further down the                  road and help you develop good blogging habits.

  • Step 2- Writing a Great Headline

         Everyone and their grandmother have an opinion about headlines. Some say you                   should be as specific as possible (to avoid misleading your readers and manage their             expectations), while others recommend taking a more abstract approach. Vague                     headlines might work just fine if you’re Barkha Dutt, but for most of us, being                       specific is better. There are two main approaches you can take to writing blog post                 headlines. You can either decide on your final headline before you write the rest of                 your post (and use your headline to structure your outline), or you can write your blog           post with a working title and see what fits when you’re done.

  • Step 3- The Writing Part

         So, you’ve done your research, settled on a headline (or at least a working title), and             now you’re ready to actually write a blog post. So get to it. Similarly to headlines,                 there are two main approaches to writing a blog post. You can either sit down and                 write an entire draft in a single sitting (my preferred workflow), or you can chip away           at it gradually over time. There is no right or wrong answer here – only whatever                   works for you. However, I’d recommend getting as much done in one session as                   possible. This makes it easier to stay focused on the topic, minimizes the chance that             you’ll forget crucial points, and also lets you get the damned thing out of your hair                 faster.

  • Step 4- Using Image Effectively 

         Writing for the web is an entirely different animal than writing for print. Oftentimes,             people simply don’t have the time, will, or ability to focus on lengthy blog posts                   without some visual stimulation. Even a well-formatted blog post consisting solely of           text is likely to send your reader screaming back to Reddit or Twitter within minutes,             which is why it’s so important to include images in your posts.

  • Step 5- The Editing Part

         Actually writing a blog post is hard. Editing a blog post is harder. Many people                     mistakenly assume that editing is simply striking through sentences that don’t work or           fixing grammatical errors. Although sentence structure and grammar are both very                 important, editing is about seeing the piece as a whole and, sometimes, being willing             to sacrifice words (and the hours it took to write them) for the sake of cohesion.

Lastly one should always express his thoughts in his blogs as the blog will reflect the writer’s personality. Follow all the points and I can bet that you’ll definitely ace at writing blogs.

How to Improve Concentration?

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus”

– Alexander Graham Bell

Introduction

The definition of concentration is exclusive attention to one object. Concentration means focused attention and it is very important. It helps in studying, allows faster comprehension, improves memory, helps in focusing on a task, allows to ignore unwanted thoughts. It is also helpful in meditation. It is very common to be reading a paragraph when you realize you zoned out and then having to go back and read the whole paragraph just to be zoned out again and repeating the cycle. This happens because of a lack of focus or concentration. This article aims to discuss ways to improve concentration.

Train your brain

Results from a study show that spending 15 minutes a day for 5 days a week on training your brain has a huge impact on your power of concentration. You can train your brain by playing games such as sudoku, crossword puzzles, chess, jigsaw puzzle, scrambles, and memory games. These games can also help in developing short-term memory and will also teach you problem-solving skills. In kids, even colouring improves concentration.

Get your game on

Some new research shows that playing video games can also help in boosting concentration. It says that playing video games for an hour can help in improving visual selective attention (VSA), which is the ability to focus on some tasks while ignoring distractions. Note that this research has been done on a very small level so it is not conclusive yet.

Improve sleep

Sleep is a very important part of our day as getting enough of it helps in a lot of areas of our day. Sleep deprivation easily disrupts our concentration and other functions like memory and attention. Not getting enough sleep on a regular basis can result in affecting your mood and performance at tasks, it can also slow down your reflexes. With enough sleep, you have enough energy to focus on your task without getting sleepy.

Make time for exercise

A 2018 study shows that physical activity helps in improving concentration and attention. Regular exercise has many benefits like increased concentration. In older adults, it shows that moderate physical activity for a year can help in stopping or reversing memory loss. Any type of exercise can work, the point is to get your heart rate up, it can be a walk for half an hour, a morning jog, walk to whatever place you have to go to or bike.

Spend time in nature

Getting outside in nature for even 15 to 20 minutes will help in boosting your concentration. Research from 2014 found evidence which says that including plants in office spaces has helped employees with their productivity, adding to that, it also increases the air quality. It can be any kind of exposure to nature, going for a walk in the park, or even just sitting in your backyard.

Listen to music

According to research, playing music, nature sounds, or even white noise to cover up background noise can help in improving concentration and other brain functions.

Conclusion

Having the power to focus and concentrate will make a huge change in your life. It lets you be more productive as you will be able to focus on your tasks without distractions, and when there are no distractions, things get done faster. Once you start concentrating, you will realize how much time you were wasting normally.

References

How is the GMAT Scored?


Congratulations on your outstanding achievement in finishing your undergraduate program. Completing college is not easy and takes a lot of effort and work. Between the fall of 2009 to 2019, the number of undergraduate enrollments in postsecondary institutions decreased by 5 percent, from 17.5 million to 16.6 million students. Of that number, only an average of 62 percent will be able to finish their bachelor’s degree in six years.

If you look at the total population, the percentage is even lower. In 2019, only around 22.5 percent of people ages 25 and older finished four years of college. Now that you are done with your bachelor’s degree, you might feel ready to face the challenges of the corporate world.

But are you really ready? With the competitive workplace, you might need more tools and skills for your career to move forward. Enrolling in graduate business school would give you a competitive edge. However, applying for graduate school can be overwhelming. So make sure you’re as prepared as possible.

The first step in your graduate school preparation is taking the GMAT, which is recognized globally as an indicator of your readiness to take a graduate business school. The GMAT measures relevant skills such as critical thinking and reasoning skills needed by the world’s top graduate business school. The GMAT exam is the most common test for MBA admission and is taken by at least 200,000 graduate school candidates each year. With over 7,000 MBA and master’s programs using the GMAT exam to screen their prospective graduate school students, it’s imperative to prepare thoroughly for the exam.

Understand The Sections

Total, Verbal, and Quantitative Scores

Analytical Writing Assessment Scores

Integrated Reasoning Scores

Take your time

The GMAT is a 3.5-hour business school entrance exam that has three sections:

● Analytical writing assessment– Measures your ability to analyze and critique an argument. It also measures your ability to communicate ideas and think critically through an essay in English. Topics will include business and other subjects that can help assess critical thinking and communication skills.

● Quantitative and verbal reasoning– Quantitative reasoning measures your mathematical reasoning, skills in problem-solving, and interpreting graphical data. It will involve an understanding of common concepts of geometry, arithmetic, and elementary algebra.

Meanwhile, verbal reasoning measures your reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and editing abilities. It also involves evaluating arguments and correcting materials to express ideas effectively.

● Integrated reasoning– Measures how good students are at analyzing and interpreting data displayed in different formats. It involves synthesizing information from graphics, numbers, text, table analysis, and evaluating information from multiple sources.

Total GMAT scores can range from 200-800. The average score between January 2015 to December 2017 was about 521.27 out of a total score of 800. Verbal and Quantitative sections are scored interactively and adaptively.

The number of questions answered, how correct they are, and even the question difficulty determine your score. These two sections have scores anywhere from 0-60 after being tabulated. However, scores below 6 and above 51 are rare in verbal and quantitative reasoning.

The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) involves the analysis of one argumentative essay. Scores are from 0-6 in intervals of 0.5. Machine algorithms and professional essay raters are used in scoring the essay. You can request a rescore if you feel it was inaccurate. The score can be adjusted pending the review of another human rater for a fee of $45, but any requests for rescoring should be made within six months of the date of the test.

Integrated Reasoning (IR) is rated on a scale of 1-8 within single-digit intervals. You are allowed to use an online calculator with basic functions to answer the questions. However, each question requires multiple responses and parts completed. So you have to answer all responses correctly because you do not receive partial credit if you leave sections blank.

Get Prepared for GMAT

You have to do your best to get the best score on GMAT and show you have what it takes to enter business school. Now that you know the scoring methodology, you need preparation to get your target score required to get into business school. It would be best to select suitable materials and a clear study plan. Then, shift into high gear and find resources such as a GMAT prep courseto help you fine-tune your test-taking.

The GMAT exam is a crucial step for business school candidates. Around 62 percent of GMAT test takers complete four or more weeks of preparation before their exam. The more time you put into studying, the greater chance you will do better in the exam.

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