Psychological Disorders Part 9

Introduction

The Psychological Disorders Part 8 discussed Neurocognitive and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders. Both types of disorders need consultation from psychologists to control, monitor, and limit the effects they have on daily life. This article will discuss Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia

This is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality in an abnormal way. People with this disorder require lifelong treatment. The DSM-5 says a person has schizophrenia if they show two or more of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period. At least one of the following must be delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. The level of functioning in a major area such as work or self-care should be below the level achieved before the onset for a significant portion. And the signs of the disturbance must persist for at least 6 months. The symptoms of schizophrenia are:

Delusions – these are false beliefs that are not based on reality. For example, thinking you are famous, someone is harming you, a major catastrophe is about to take place.
Hallucinations – these involve seeing or hearing things that do not exist. For the person having them, it seems extremely real. The most common is hearing voices. For example, hearing someone whispering about a murder, or seeing aliens in the back alley.
Disorganized thinking – disorganized thinking and disorganized speech are linked. The person might start answering questions with things partially or completely unrelated. At times it is possible for them to make a sentence by mixing two or more words that do not make sense, this is known as word salad. For example, run desk making dinner sunglasses menu.
Abnormal motor behaviour – this can be in many ways such as childlike silliness, resistance to instructions, bizarre posture, and unpredictable agitation.
Catatonia – is a group of symptoms that includes a lack of movement and communication. For example, a person will sit silently in one position for very long stretches.
Negative symptoms – this includes lack of ability to function normally such as, a person neglecting personal hygiene, appear to be lacking emotions, the person may lose interest in daily activities.
Avolition – it is a lack of motivation to do activities that have an end goal such as paying bills.

The symptoms of schizophrenia in teenagers are similar to the ones in adults but they become difficult to recognize because of the similarity to a normal teenage behaviour, some of these symptoms are withdrawal from friends and family, trouble in sleeping, lack of motivation, a drop in performance at school, irritability and depressed mood. Although teenagers have a less chance of having delusions, they have a higher chance of visual hallucinations as compared to adults getting hearing hallucinations.

People with this disorder often have suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The cause of this disorder is not known but it is believed by the researchers that it is a combination of genetics, brain chemistry, and environmental factors. Some naturally occurring neurotransmitters known as dopamine and glutamate might be playing a role. Neuroimaging studies have learnt that there is a difference in the brain structure and central nervous system of the people with schizophrenia.

Conclusion

Schizophrenia is a lifelong disorder but the effect and symptoms can be managed with proper guidance and medication. Following the treatment plan is important to reduce these symptoms.

References

Note: this is just the Part 9 of the Psychological Disorders series.

Pollution

Pollution is a significant threat to our environment and is caused by the reckless attitude of man towards nature. Our Earth provides us with food and shelter, whereas we treat it mercilessly and plunder its resources. Pollution is a direct result of our greed. We dump waste into our water bodies without caring for the organisms living in them. The balance of various gases in the atmosphere has been disrupted because of the large number of vehicles plying on the road. Even factories that release harmful gases into the atmosphere contribute to air pollution. When we do excessive and uncontrolled farming on a piece of land, it loses its natural minerals. So, when we use fertilizers to boost their productivity, it pollutes the soil. Noise pollution is caused by factories, jets, airplanes, etc. It harms our ears and can impair hearing.

Pollution is a term which even kids are aware of these days. It has become so common that almost everyone acknowledges the fact that pollution is rising continuously. The term ‘pollution’ means the manifestation of any unsolicited foreign substance in something. When we talk about pollution on earth, we refer to the contamination that is happening of the natural resources by various pollutants. All this is mainly caused by human activities which harm the environment in ways more than one. Therefore, an urgent need has arisen to tackle this issue straightaway. That is to say, pollution is damaging our earth severely and we need to realize its effects and prevent this damage. In this essay on pollution, we will see what are the effects of pollution and how to reduce it.

Effects of Pollution

Pollution affects the quality of life more than one can imagine. It works in mysterious ways, sometimes which cannot be seen by the naked eye. However, it is very much present in the environment. For instance, you might not be able to see the natural gases present in the air, but they are still there. Similarly, the pollutants which are messing up the air and increasing the levels of carbon dioxide is very dangerous for humans. Increased level of carbon dioxide will lead to global warming.

Further, the water is polluted in the name of industrial development, religious practices and more will cause a shortage of drinking water. Without water, human life is not possible. Moreover, the way waste is dumped on the land eventually ends up in the soil and turns toxic. If land pollution keeps on happening at this rate, we won’t have fertile soil to grow our crops on. Therefore, serious measures must be taken to reduce pollution to the core.

Types of Pollution

How to Reduce Pollution?

After learning the harmful effects of pollution, one must get on the task of preventing or reducing pollution as soon as possible. To reduce air pollution, people should take public transport or carpool to reduce vehicular smoke. While it may be hard, avoiding firecrackers at festivals and celebrations can also cut down on air and noise pollution. Above all, we must adopt the habit of recycling. All the used plastic ends up in the oceans and land, which pollutes them.

So, remember to not dispose of them off after use, rather reuse them as long as you can. We must also encourage everyone to plant more trees which will absorb the harmful gases and make the air cleaner. When talking on a bigger level, the government must limit the usage of fertilizers to maintain the soil’s fertility. In addition, industries must be banned from dumping their waste into oceans and rivers, causing water pollution.

To sum it up, all types of pollution is hazardous and comes with grave consequences. Everyone must take a step towards change ranging from individuals to the industries. As tackling this problem calls for a joint effort, so we must join hands now. Moreover, the innocent lives of animals are being lost because of such human activities. So, all of us must take a stand and become a voice for the unheard in order to make this earth pollution-free.

Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Pexels.com

OUMUAMUA

Well we all know a lot about space but what is Oumuamua?

Oumuamua was the first known interstellar object that was detected passing solar system. It was discovered by Robert Weryk using Pan-STARRS1 telescope at University of Hawaii’s on Oct. 19, 2017. It was discovered more or less 40 days after it passes its closest point to the sun on September 9.

It appears to be rocky, cigar shaped object with reddish hue. It is estimated to be about 1,300 to 2,600 feet. Originally it was classified as comet C/2017 U1, but later reclassified as asteroid A/2017 U1 due to the absence of a coma. Oumuamua varies in brightness by a factor of 10 as it spins on its axis every 7.3 hours and also has a light curve amplitude of 2.5 magnitudes. It has a radius of about 200 m. It is estimated to be 10 times as long as it was width. However ʻOumuamua’s planetary system of origin and the age of its excursion are unknown.

As soon as it grabbed attention two things in particular fixated scientists. The first was its acceleration away from sun which was hard to resonate with many ideas. The second one was its peculiar shape.

HOW IT GOT ITS NAME?

It was initially named 1I/2017 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which was responsible for granting official names. But later Pan-STARRS team dubbed it to Oumuamua, which in Hawaiian means “a messenger from afar arriving first”. It is pronounced as oh MOO-uh MOO-uh.

TRAJECTORY:

Astronomers were able to record its data only for a short period of time even though its been in our solar system for over decade. Oumuamua wasn’t spotted for a long time because it was too far from the Sun to reflect enough light for astronomers to pick it up. Once it got close enough to the Sun, it was moving fast, remaining for very little time in the relatively small region where it was visible to modern-day telescopes. Oumuamua was again on its way out. “Our very last observations from Hubble were January 2nd of 2018 at fainter than magnitude 27”, says Meech “By May 3rd, it was again outside of Jupiter’s orbit. And once it gets beyond about 1.2 AU or so, it’s 25th magnitude, so beyond Jupiter’s orbit, forget it. It’s gone”, he added. According to Meech, Oumuamua is expected to reach the Kuiper belt in about 2024, and pass the edge of the Kuiper belt in late 2025. It will pass the most distant location the Voyagers have reached, she says, in about 2038. By 2196, it will again be 1,000 AU from the Sun, although our Oort Cloud is projected to extend beyond 100,000 AU, so when Oumuamua truly passes the “edge” of the solar system depends on where you define that edge. Regardless, since January, ‘Oumuamua has been beyond astronomer’s reach.

HAVE ALIEN FOUND US?

Some astronomers even suggested that ʻOumuamua could be a product of alien technology. However evidences are not too strong. Therefore the alien object hypothesis is considered unlikely by many experts.

Apart from this, Borisov is another interstellar object that was found August 30.

Some Healthy Vegetables

Everyone wants to live a healthy life & to live like that you have to know the ways for being healthy .Food takes a great role in this case .As you know vegetables are very nutritious & it keeps us healthy .Some vegetables have much nutrition value than other vegetables .Come & take a look at them .

1.SPINACH : Spinach is a greeny & leafy vegetable .It’s origin is Persia .

Scientific Name — Spinacia oleracea is its scientific name .

This vegetable is very nutritious & it often is eaten as salads or juice .It can be eaten in both ways, raw & cooked .

Nutrients — 100 gm of raw spinach contain 3.6 gm Carbohydrates ,2.9 gm Proteins ,2.2 gm Dietary Fibers ,0.4 gm sugars (as the form of Glucose & Fructose) ,0.4 gm Fat ,0.18 mg Vitamin B2 ,0.73 mg Vitamin B3 ,0.19 mg Vitamin B6 , 99 mg Calcium ,2.7 mg Iron ,79 mg Magnesium ,79 mg sodium , 558 mg potassium , 49 mg phosphorus . It also contains Folate ,Vitamin E ,vitamin K , Vitamin A ,Vitamin B1 ,Vitamin B2 ,Zinc , Manganese ,zeaxanthin, lutein etc. Spinach Also contains 91.4 mg water . It gives away 97 kilo joule energy .

Benefits — 1)It prevents ageing effect by preventing the free radicals from oxidation of our body cells . 2)The carotenoids in spinach improves our retina, that’s why it is good for our eye health . 3)Vitamin K which is present in spinach , helps in blood clotting . 4) The nitrates of spinach keep the marginal level of blood pressure and prevent heart diseases . 5)Some research shows that spinach also fights against cancer .

2.BELL PEPPER : It Is a very crunchy and tasty vegetable and full of Nutrition . It comes with various colours like green red yellow orange and also in purple .

Scientific Name — Capsicum annuum is its biological species name .

It Is eaten in a cooked manner but it also can be eaten raw in salad .

Nutrients — red ,yellow, green, purple, orange And other various colored bell peppers have the same nutrients .100 gram bell pepper have 6 gram carbohydrate , 42 grams sugar ,1 gram protein ,2.1 g Fibers , 0.3 gram fat ,0.05 mg Vitamin B1, 0.48 mg vitamin B3 , 80 mg Vitamin C , 0.2 mg Vitamin B6 , 10 mg calcium,10 mg magnesium , 20 mg phosphorus , Free mg zinc ,0.3 mg iron ,175 mg Potassium etc. It also contains some amounts of vitamin B2 , Folate , phosphorus , Vitamin K ,Vitamin B9 , vitamin E ,many antioxidants(zeaxanthin, lutein) .Yellow and Orange wallpaper contains carotenoids & many other nutrients . It contains 92% water .It gives us 84 kilo joule energy. Benefits — 1) zeaxanthin, lutein ,Vitamin A, Vitamin K , Vitamin C work as antioxidants for our body . 2) Bell peppers help to prevent anemia Due to the presence of Vitamin C & iron . 3) The continents of bell peppers are good for our eye health . 4)Bell peppers help in metabolism by raising up the body temperature and kick out the toxins from our body . 5)Bell peppers are also good for our respiratory system like lungs & other parts .

3.SEA WEEDS : Seaweeds are produced from algae (green algae or Chlorophyta ,Brown algae or Phaeophyceae ,Red algae or Rhodophyta etc) which are found in the sea . It is eaten cooked in salad & soup .Various types of seaweeds are available based on from which algae it is produced .

Nutrients — Seaweeds are a very good source of vitamins and minerals . It contains proteins, iron , and copper carbohydrate fibre in high amounts . It has very low calories . As for vitamins riboflavin , vitamin A ,Vitamin C ,vitamin E, vitamin K and many essential amino acids are present in Seaweeds .It also has many antioxidants . various seaweed units contain various amounts of nutrients ,carbohydrates ,fibers ,polyunsaturated fatty acids etc.

Benefits — 1) sea weeds are very good for our gut health . 2) It is a diet vegetable which helps to to lose weight . 3) It controls the blood sugar level in our blood . 4) It also helps to prevent heart diseases and protect our cardiovascular system . 5)Seaweed also has a very important role in our body’s thyroid function .

4.BRUSSELS SPROUTS : It is a green vegetable & it looks like a small ball of cabbage .

Scientific Name — Brassica oleracea is its species name .

It can’t be eaten raw .

Nutrients — 100 grams of brussel sprout contains 8.9 gram carbohydrate ,3.8 gm dietary fibers ,3.48 gram of protein , 0.1 mg of Vitamin B1, 0.7 mg of vitamin B3 , 0.3 mg of Vitamin B5 , 0.2 mg of Vitamin B6 , 85 mg of Vitamin C , 19 mg of choline , 42 mg calcium , 1 mg iron , 23 mg magnesium ,25 mg sodium ,389 mg potassium , 69 mg phosphorus 7 many other nutrients and antioxidants .It gives 179 KJ energy & contain 86 gm water .

Benefits — 1) Brussels sprouts fight against cancer & prevent it in our body . 2)It also helped by working on the reduction of inflammation in our body . 3) Brussel sprouts maintain the blood sugar level in our blood and it is good for diabetes patients . 4) It helps to lose weight so it is a very good diet vegetable . 5) Brussels sprouts are good for blood clotting to lose more blood .

Ethical Hacking and IT

Data Technology (IT) is one of the greatest and most mainstream businesses as far as building up a profession on the planet today. Industry 4.0 has invited various innovative headways because of which specific IT experts have discovered conspicuousness, in IT organizations as well as in different enterprises. Maybe, the most famous among them is a vocation in online protection.

More than 1 billion network safety experts are required to be sought after over the course of the following 2 years in this field, making it perhaps the most worthwhile profession ways on the planet today. Notwithstanding being a mammoth association, National Health Services couldn’t shield themselves from a huge scope hack. A main nourishment application, MyFitnessPal, likewise went through a monstrous security penetrate where the individual information of more than 150 million clients was taken. The recurrence of these assaults has expanded off-late, making network safety basic in each association.

Huge banks and gems stores regularly enlist proficient hoodlums to endeavor burglaries, to recognize provisos in their security frameworks. Through these preliminaries, these establishments can reliably redesign their security frameworks, to ultimately arrive at a phase of becoming invulnerable. Taking motivation from this interaction, the network protection space has likewise reversed the situation on hacking and made it a legitimized idea through moral hacking.

Moral hacking is a cycle through which experts are paid to hack into an association, to pinpoint weaknesses in the security framework that the association needs to fix. Ill-conceived programmers have likewise discovered lawful conspicuousness in the IT world today because of the developing significance of moral hacking as an idea.

Moral programmers are recruited and prepared to utilize a huge number of methods to attempt to penetrate various associations. They help in the identification of holes inside the security framework as well as during digital assaults.

Government associations wherein digital fighting holds extraordinary unmistakable quality, moral programmers are accustomed to balancing endeavors made by noxious programmers with the expectation of outmaneuvering them, and protecting the information. Another use of moral hacking is of supporting in the examination that follows a digital assault.

Law implementation offices frequently recruit moral programmers to follow the means of a programmer and distinguish the culprit.

Thinking about the incredibly specialized nature of the calling, a basic degree is for the most part insufficient to build up an effective vocation in the field a particular preparing is fundamental. Many driving IT organizations today offer affirmed courses in Ethical Hacking that involve the nuts and bolts of PC organizing as well as intricate methods and driving cycles for keeping up with digital protection.

Think inventively and out-of-the-box:

Aside from these specialized ideas, it is additionally fundamental for moral programmers to have the option to think imaginatively and out of the container. The explanation programmers are developing and can penetrate confounded security frameworks is that they are reliably attempting to concoct new ways and approaches for something very similar.

Another significant quality to have is critical thinking, as the expertise can be fortified after some time, and sharpened with experience and down to earth openness. In this manner, getting ready for a vocation in moral hacking needs to involve a decent blend of both, specialized and reasonable viewpoints.

Be that as it may, there is an exceptionally clear ability hole in the business today, and subsequently, an absence of qualified staff in the field. Attributable to the hole between the interest and supply of moral programmers, this vocation way has gotten very rewarding with monstrous extension later on.

An Adventure in a 'FOREST'.

My father’s ancestral village of Rampur, on the left bank of the Ganga at the Himalayan foothills, has a long stretch of forest which has not been afflicted by deforestation yet. Without exception, my vacations here have always been very exciting.

One cold December, my kid brother went missing. My father was at his wit’s end trying to get someone to accompany him to the forest.The village elders were divided in their opinion on the course of action. My mother was too shocked to speak. He was last seen playing near the trees at the end of the field in front of our house. Then some local boys saw him disappearing further into the area which had denser growth. It had been more than an hour since he had vanished. Nobody could have imagined such audacity from an eight year old who had been strictly instructed not to go beyond the field.

Ten of us left for the forest at three in the afternoon. My mother was most unwilling to let me go. While I managed to convince my mother, some elders were not too happy with my presence, but nothing discouraged my optimistic father. As we kept walking into the denser zones of the forest, ominous visions began to cloud our imagination. Calling out my brother’s name loudly had been futile.

The silence of the forest was punctuated by the shrill notes of various insects and distant growls. The approaching darkness was waking them up. Though we had both fire and torches along with guns, the village elders were becoming sceptical about proceeding further without more help. My father, though nervous by this time, refused to give up.

We had reached a small stream. Suddenly one of the elders asked us to stand still. The approaching dusk forced us to follow his example, and we witnessed a herd of elephants crossing the stream. The leader, to our horror, suddenly stopped and raised his trunk in the air, trying to locate us, I presumed! My father was sweating. Mahato, the shooter, was getting his gun into position almost without any obvious movement. For a moment I thought the leader of the herd was staring at me, but thankfully, they moved on and we heaved a sigh of relief.

Suddenly the shrill cry of a child pierced our ears along with the growl of some wild beast. Fearing the obvious fatal end, we rushed towards that direction. In about seven minutes, we reached an open area to find Ratan standing at a distance of barely five feet from a tigress. Handsomely built, the sinewy and powerful beast seemed to be more interested in sniffing my brother. My brother was speechless and was not even aware of our presence behind him. Before Mahato could get ready, the tigress, aware of and disturbed by our presence, snarled and disappeared into the deep forest.

My father rushed towards Ratan, who fainted at his mere touch. The tigress, perhaps a mother, had spared my brother. I hope, we men too, spare the tigresses.

So, this is my Adventurous experience in forest. Because you know what , Forests are essential for life on Earth. Three hundred million people worldwide live in forests and 1.6 billion depend directly on them for their livelihoods. Forests also provide habitat for a vast array of plants and animals, many of which are still undiscovered. They inspire wonder and provide places for recreation. They supply the oxygen we need to survive. They provide the timber for products we use every day.

Photo taken in Rockerville, United States

Forest conservation act:
Forests are an important resource that nature can bestow upon mankind. Therefore, it is the duty of every citizen to preserve the ecosystems of forests. But due to rapid deforestation, the cycle of nature is itself being disrupted. Therefore, the need to bring about a law to ensure the preservation of forest was needed.

One of the first legal drafts to protect forest tracts was the Indian Forest Act, 1865 replaced by a 1927 version of the same act. However, it was more geared towards protecting the commercial interests of the British Empire in India.

The act gave authority to the British to restrict tribal activities by levying taxes on timber and forest services. In other words, it mainly regulated the cutting of timber and flow of raw materials rather than protecting forests.

Upon independence, the President of India enforced the Forest (Conservation) Ordinance in 1980 which was later repealed by virtue of Section 5 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Under the 1980 Act, the restriction was made on the use of the forests for non-forest purposes.

Why India's gaming industry is on the rise ?

-India’s soaring gaming industry is valued at $930 million, and is number one in the world.
-India has over 560 million internet users, making it the second-largest internet consumer.
-Investors can expect a 10-year growth outlook with a $3.8 billion valuation by 2024.
-The first nine months of 2020 saw India rise to the number one spot in mobile game downloads worldwide, clocking 7.3 billion installs and raking in a 17% market share of the installs volume, as per SensorTower’s data.

Over 50% of India’s population is below the age of 25, and 60% of the nation’s gamers are under 25 years of age too. The gaming userbase surpassed 365 million in March 2020 as per KPMG’s media and entertainment report.

Mobiles staging the games

Mobile users form an overwhelming 85% of the industry, followed by PC users at 11% and tablet users at 4%. Internet penetration is 30%. Inc42 determined that the revenue of major Indian gaming and eSports companies was $68 million in 2019.

Mobile gaming takes the largest chunk of the gaming market thanks to access to affordable smartphones growing at 15% year-on-year for the past five years in India, high-speed 4G internet penetration and the world’s lowest data tariffs. Together with the rise of mobile games, these factors feed into India’s youth having a growing appetite for content.

At its peak, PUBG Mobile had an estimated 34 million Indians playing daily. Indians alone were responsible for downloading the battle royale genre title a whopping 175 million times.

A greater willingness to pay for services comes from improved disposable incomes at purchasing power parity (25% over 2016 levels) and wider adoption of digital payments as per Deloitte’s Telecom, Media and Telecommunications Predications report.

How COVID-19 turned us away from TV

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift in media and entertainment consumption trends, with KPMG estimating a 20% contraction in 2020 in typical segments such as film, TV and print. In contrast, they foresee rapid change to gaming and digital media consumption, projecting global growth bouncing up to 33% to reach $25.4 billion in 2021.

This is lent credence by gaming platforms such as Google Play and Apple App Storerecording 50% increases in engagement during lockdown. BARC & Nielsen report that Indians now spend 218 minutes gaming versus 151 minutes before lockdown.

Investors including Sequoia Capital and Kalaari Capital have already increased their investments by 78% during 2020 to $173 million, as per Tracxn Technologies data. There are now over 400 gaming companies in India, as reported by Maple Capital Advisors.

The surge in gaming comes from a growing need for virtual entertainment with friends, family and peer groups, coupled with the rise in influencers encouraging Indians to play more games. With digital consumption becoming mainstream, the demand for more diverse content has also grown.

Portable games fill in as virtual social spaces satisfying purchasers’ necessities to interface in testing times. Gaming cuts across geologies and penetrates both level one and two urban areas, and metropolitan and rustic regions the same.

An Inc42 report on the eSports scene found that eSports in India represents 4% of the country’s userbase and shaped simply more than 9% of industry income before the pandemic. This area is required to develop 36% year-on-year in the following three years, with extended income of $95 for 2020. The Indian eSports crowd for serious gaming competitions previously arrived at 17 million out of 2020 versus 6 million out of 2017.

Newzoo predicts that IP-holders looking to carry their establishments to new mediums will pick versatile gaming as the favored stage in view of lower advancement costs and more limited time spans. The most mainstream gaming sorts are the hypercasual and easygoing classifications which incorporates well known games like Hunter Assassin, Talking Tom and Carrom Pool, separately.

Designers should keep on making versatile first encounters, however guzzle new points of view that are more comprehensive towards female crowds.

How publicizing is adjusting

Publicists can successfully target crowds who as of now mess around with credible brand informing. Gaming partners share comparable segment and conduct profiles.

Newzoo tracked down that 80% of Indians burn-through food or beverages consistently while messing around. This data is basic to FMCG brands in fostering their promoting methodology. Brands can use these channels to assemble trust and commitment with possible clients.

The Indian gaming industry has developed almost 60% throughout the most recent three years, and the area gives no indications of easing back. In the long haul, it might can possibly surpass Indian film industry incomes, which are by and by more than twofold that of the gaming business. The normal buyer is esteem cognizant and value touchy, and the item methodologies and adaptation models mirror this.

Most income in gaming is created from promoting, and a more modest extent comes from client in-application buys. Up until this point, the plan of action has been unequivocally allowed to-play and is the norm in versatile gaming, a low-section obstruction for would-be gamers.

This is changing; according to the white paper, Understanding Value in Media: Perspectives from Consumers and Industry, connected with gamers are bound to be down help membership endorsers than different media and amusement purchasers. This is not normal for the conduct of connected video, music and sports buyers.

Guideline and ability especially on the public authority’s radar

As gaming develops, the Indian government is relied upon to assume a more dynamic part in working with and directing the business.

As of late, Indian executive Narendra Modi required the improvement of content advancing native Indian culture. Controllers are now observing organization information protection arrangements, for example, stockpiling and the transmission of information having a place with Indian clients.

Then, at that point there’s the expanding dream sports section, which presently despises autonomous legitimate acknowledgment, despite the fact that it rounded up $338 million in the last monetary year. The public authority’s arranging think tank, Niti Aayog, distributed its first draft rules proposed for the lead and guideline of imagination sports, however noticed that the portion could draw in FDI inflows of $1 billion in the coming not many years.

The Indian government is likewise expected to set up industry and the scholarly world interfaces to cultivate new profession ways in gaming and to develop an impressive ability pool in the area.

Space Travel – Worth It??

With the rapid increase in technology and science, we are just inch away from low earth orbit tourism. In the matter of few years we will be able to tour not the whole world but the space too. People will have the opportunity to see the beautiful curvature of Earth. SpaceX, Axiom space and Boeing , are some of the projects , that are focusing on making space tourism possible in early 2022. All these developments seems so surreal and out of fantasy. Who would not like to see the Earth from up above??

Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson has already successfully toured the space in their own built spacecraft,this year. With this, they have created the history in the era of space travel. Richard Branson’s company Virgin Galactic is also offering tourism tickets and so far 600 tickets have been sold. The list of people flying next year includes big celebrities like Tom Hunks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.It is worth to know that the cost to travel is around $250000. Thus , only 0.1% of the richest shall have the privilege to travel.

Idea of travelling space is very fascinating but the cost ( not just the price) is equally disturbing. The amount of environmental damage ot will do is unfathomable.The amount of heat generates while launching these rockets is so large that it creates a pool of ozone layer on ground, which is dangerously harmful for every living being. Virgin Galactic spacecraft produces 12kg of CO2 each mile which is 60 times greater than normal flight, also the Nitrous Oxide released from these rockets are depleting the Ozone layer in atmosphere.While only the richest will be able to afford space tourism, the rest will have to bear its negative effects. So is it worth it??

After his space tour, Jeff Bezos said, “You can’t imagine how thin the atmosphere is when you see it from above”, this is very ironic. He also hinted on moving all the polluting industries into space. All these ideas are fantastic and appreciable but it is also true that execution of such ideas will take more than 10 to 20 years and by then space tourism will be on full swing.

Many climate activists are criticizing these three billionaire ( Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson ) for their space race. Every climate activists are working so hard to reduce pollution and in this scenario inclusion of space tourism seems not so good idea for them.

Psychological Disorders Part 8

Introduction

In Psychological Disorders Part 7, Depressive and Substance-Related disorders were discussed. They are both very serious disorders that need immediate help. Both can be dealt with by consulting a psychologist and taking the proper medication needed. This article will discuss Neurocognitive and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders.

Neurocognitive Disorders

These disorders are accompanied by deficits in cognitive functioning. These are different from the disorders of impaired cognition present at birth.

Delirium is a serious disorder concerning disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of the surrounding environment. Delirium is usually very rapid; it starts within hours or a few days. It usually arises because of contributing factors such as a chronic illness, changes in metabolic balance, medication, infection, surgery, or intoxication. It is important to note that delirium and dementia look very similar but are different. Symptoms for reduced awareness of the environment are the inability to stay focused or continuously switching topics, getting easily distracted by useless things, getting stuck on one idea, and being withdrawn. Symptoms for poor thinking skills are disorientation, poor memory, difficulty in speaking or recalling words, trouble understanding speech, rambling, and difficulty in reading or writing. Some of the behavioural changes are hallucinations, calling out or moaning, lethargy, disturbed sleep habits, agitation, being withdrawn, and reversal of the night-day cycle. Some of the emotional disturbances experienced are depression, euphoria, apathy, anxiety, paranoia, anger, unpredictable moods, and personality changes.

Neurocognitive Disorders used to be known as Organic brain syndrome. It is a group of conditions that leads to impaired mental function. These disorders usually occur in older people but that does not mean they cannot affect young adults. It includes problems with memory, changes in behaviour, trouble performing daily activities, and difficulty understanding language. These symptoms may be caused because of a neurodegenerative condition like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Neurodegenerative diseases result in the brain and nerves deteriorating over time which then causes loss of neurological function. Neurocognitive disorders can be a result of brain trauma or substance abuse. Symptoms for this are memory loss, confusion, anxiety, headaches, inability to focus, short-term memory loss, trouble performing normal tasks, changes in vision, and difficulty in walking and balancing. Some of the neurodegenerative diseases that cause this disorder are Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, prion disease, dementia, and multiple sclerosis.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

This is a category of psychiatric condition that includes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), body-dysmorphic disorder, hoarding disorder, trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder), excoriation disorder (skin picking), substance-induced OCD, and OCD because of a medical condition.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a pattern of unwanted fear (obsessions) which leads to doing repetitive behaviours (compulsions). This starts interfering in the daily activities. When a person tries to ignore the obsessions, the anxiety keeps increasing hence making the urge to do the compulsions stronger, and this is how the cycle of OCD is created. Obsessions usually have a theme such as fear of contamination, having difficulty tolerating uncertainty, needing things to be symmetrical, having horrific thoughts about losing control, and unwanted thoughts on religion or sexual subjects. Symptoms of obsession are fear of touching people because of contamination, doubts whether you have locked the door or turned off the stove, images of driving into a crowd of people, unpleasant sexual images, excessive stress when objects are not placed orderly, thoughts about acting inappropriately in public and avoiding situations that might trigger obsessions. Symptoms of compulsion are washing hands till the skin becomes raw, checking doors repeatedly, checking the stove repeatedly, counting in a pattern, silently repeating a word or phrase, and arranging things in a particular order.

Conclusion

Neurocognitive disorders remain chronic but they can be controlled and monitored by medication and therapy. There is no exact way to prevent OCD but it can be treated by consulting a psychologist and learning how to deal with the fears that lead to the compulsions.

References

Note: this is just Part 8 of the Psychological Disorders series.

The impact of Social Media Influencers on Sales

The way social media influencers directly or indirectly influence publicity and promotion somehow also influence the sales of a brand. Some of the ways in which social media influencers impact sales are:

1. Help in Consumer Research Phase:

Nowadays, market is mostly “consumer-oriented”. Consumers search and research, read reviews about a brand and hence they want someone trusted and experts who will voice their opinions, concerns and recommendations. Influencers play a vital role in spreading the word of mouth and recommendations thereby increasing sales.

2.Help in increasing Return on Investment:

Social Media Influencers help in achieving a relatively high Return on Investments than other factors. It is because of low capital investment. Other forms of advertisement or marketing tools require huge capital whereas dealings with Social media Influencer can be fixed just on a simple phone call.

3.Content Creation helps in increased Sales:

Influencers create meaningful and exciting content that sometimes evoke interest in the viewer to buy the product. Apart from this, Influencers also work on multiple social media accounts and this helps them to reach wide and diverse audience. This is also very helpful for increasing sales in a business.

In a recent survey by Mediakix, a famous influencer marketing agency, about 89% of respondents say Return on Investment from Social Media Influencers is better than other channels.

In another survey by Tint, 71% of respondents told that they rely on social media referrals for purchase decisions.

Some Examples:

1) Glossier, USA.

The USA based beauty brand has built its brand image by entirely relying on Social Media Influencers and other forms of digital marketing. They rely heavily on influencers as they send new products to influencers before the products are even launched so that influencers identify the flaws and suggest improvements (if they require) and thereafter the brand makes the changes accordingly.

2)Daniel Wellington, Sweden

This company was able to tap the “business opportunity” and it proved out to be quite fruitful for them. They broke into the Indian market by solely relying on Social Media Influencers. It is a watch brand company sends its new products to big social media influencers in India and enjoys extreme profits and sales. They were able to see India as a good market due to the country’s vast population.

Conclusion:

Social Media Influencer marketing or the Influencer marketing has become the fastest growing trend in communication in last few years. The key factors involved to be a good influencer are trust and credibility in the message. Latest studies and research have proved that social media influencers contribute to a business’s growth in a very positive manner in terms of promotion, publicity, sales and ROI. Many assume this marketing tool is temporary and will extinct in few years, however only time can say it.

Twitter vs Instagram. What’s better for business?

Before we get into the details about marketing on Twitter and Instagram, let us learn quickly about some of the key features of both Twitter as well as Instagram.
Twitter was launched in 2006 whereas Instagram was founded in 2010. As of 2020, there are 1.3 billion twitter accounts out of which only 330 million are monthly active users globally whereas there are 1.2 billion Instagram accounts out of which 1 billion are monthly active users globally.

About 293 million Instagram users are aged between 15 and 24 and 338 million users are aged between 25 and 34. Talking about Twitter, 80% of its global population is below 50 years old. Twitter ranks slightly behind Instagram when it comes to users 60+ users.

When it comes to the worldwide gender split, about 51% of Instagram users are female and 49% are male and when we talk about Twitter 62% are male and 38% are female. 85% of India’s Twitter audience is male, ranking the country third highest for male-to-female ratio.

With the help of the above graphs, we come to know that Laos has highest female ratio when it comes to Instagram and for Twitter its Philippines with highest female ratio.

1. USER ENGAGEMENT REACH

One of the commonality between Instagram and Twitter is that maximum of their active users are aged between 18 and 29. And if a business is looking for a young audience, then surely it has to select both Instagram and Twitter.
From the above two graphs, it is quite evident that user traffic is much higher on Instagram than any other platform.
However, it is important to note that maximum Twitter users are inactive and Instagram users are mostly active with over 500 million people using Instagram daily whereas only 330 million Twitter users are active monthly. So if a new business wants to enter the market and wants easy and quick promotion, Instagram is a better option any day.

2. Sales

Instagram has separate business profiles specifically for collaborations and business deals. Email, contact number can be directly attached on profiles whereas same does not happen with Twitter.
Another important characteristic where Instagram leads over Twitter is its “Trackable” feature. Sales and Leads can be tracked through Instagram Advertisements and hence we can see clear Return on Investment.

According to Shopify, an e-commerce platform, average price tag for a sale referred from Instagram is $65 and it is $55 for Facebook and $46 for Twitter.
With Instagram settings, we can link our profile to other social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter but the same is not possible with Twitter and this can indirectly help in increasing sales.

Instagram being a more visual platform with variety of formats available is doing better than Twitter in driving sales.
In the graph below, it is found that traffic on Instagram is more than Twitter. So it is obvious, Instagram is ahead of Twitter when it comes to generating sales.

It is also important to note that Sales on social media platforms also depend on the country and the business field one is in.
After analysing the below three graphs, we will be able to understand that it is better to avoid using any of these applications for our business if our target audience is not into these fields and countries.

3) Return on Investment

Providing a link on our Instagram bio can fetch a lot of traffic and doing the same on our Tweets would also increase our traffic. Making good investment on Instagram sponsor advertisements and Twitter advertisement also increases our user traffic dramatically as Twitter shows our advertisements on “TRENDS” while Instagram shows our advertisements on stories.
Mostly, influencers prefer Instagram over any other platform since it is easy to handle and even users like Instagram posts as compared to other formats. And at the end all a business wants to do is to increase sales and earn profits. This is possible more on Instagram due to its unique yet diverse formats, high user engagement and efficient promotional techniques, so definitely ROI is bound to be more in Instagram than on Twitter.

Also, as mentioned before, Instagram Business profiles provide each and every detail about insights, engagements, and sales and as a result it gives better information regarding ROI in comparison to Twitter.
Two examples of Sales Tracking, User Enagagement and ROI information are given below.

Conclusion: Both Instagram and Twitter are doing well when it comes to marketing strategy and business. If we talk about situation half a decade ago, Twitter was leading but in 2020, Instagram is unbeatable winner.
Growth of the business also depends on the industry, for example fashion industry will do better on Instagram while News Industry will do better on Twitter.

World Nature Conservation Day

Conservation is the care and protection of resources so that they can persist for future generations.

Conservation seeks the sustainable use of nature by humans along with preservation.

Preservation means protecting nature.

World Nature Conservation Day is celebrated on 28 July annually.

It is celebrated to generate awareness of the nature and its conservation.

Nature conservation means conserving habitat of different living organism, preventing deforestation, halting species extinction, reducing overfishing and mitigating climate change.

There is increasing interest in extending the responsibility for human well-being to include the Welfare of sentient animals.

Government play a major role in conserving our natural resources and various living organism.

There are various natural conservation is the laws implemented by government.

There are various threat to biodiversity:-

Habitat loss and fragmentation
Introduction of alien invasive species
Disturbance
Harvesting and over exploitation
Soil, water and atmospheric pollution
Intensive agriculture and forestry
Climate change

Habitat loss and fragmentation

Forests and grasslands turned into deserts.
Mangroves get cleared for fuel wood and prawn farming leads to Habitat loss of marine fish.
Waste land is increasing.
Human activities likely to eliminate approx 10 Millions species by the year of 2050.
Rate of disappearance of tropical forest in India is 0.6 % per year.

Thus, there is a need for conservation of living organism as well as natural resources.

Project Tiger – 268 in 1972 in 9 tiger reserve which increases to 1500 in 1997 in 23 Tiger Reserves.

Extinction of Dodo in Madagascar

Alien species

Introduction of Exotic breeds and disappearance of native species through biotic interaction.
Invasive species is a threat for Island ecosystem due to lack of competitors and Predator that control the population of native ecosystem.
E.g.-
- Amazon sailfin catfish responsible for destruction of the population of Switzerland of Kolkata
- Water hyacinth
- Lantana bushes

Disturbance

Natural disturbance are very much differ from man made disturbance.
Natural disturbance like forest fire, cyclone, draught, Tsunami, etc. They disturb ecosystem very different way.
Human disturbances like synthetic compound, pesticides, massive release of radiation or spillover of oil in soil also affect our environment.
Biomagnification.
Eutrophication i.e, nutrient enrichment
Effect of anti-inflammatory drugs, diclofenac on vultures.

Harvesting and over exploitation

Exploitation includes hunting, fisheries, the impact of trade in Species and species parts.
Due to exploitation many species are getting treated at Global label such as births 30%, mammals 33%, amphibian 6%, marine fishes and reptiles.
Fishing often takes large incident catches of non-targeted species and crawling can destroy whole Marine community that live on sea floor.
Illegal poaching of animal for large economic benefit.
- Skin and bones of Tiger, Ivory of elephant, horns of Rhinos, perfume of the Musk deer.

Climate change

Climate change is a major threat for all the species present on the globe.
Due to climate change the Global temperature is rising (0.74 degrees celsius in global mean surface temperature relative to pre- industrial levels), more extreme weather events, changing pattern of rainfall and drought can expected to have significant impact on biodiversity.

These factors affect directly and indirectly to the species in the form of:-

Loss of Polar habitat
Loss of coral reef
Ocean acidification
Shifting of weather
Effect on food chain

IUCN Red List category

Red list is a catalogue of taxa that are facing the risk of extinction.

At present it is known as International Union for the conservation of nature and natural resources
IUCN has recognised 9 Red List categories of species:-
1. Extinct
2. Extinct in the wild
3. Critically endangered
4. Endangered
5. vulnerable
6. Near threatened
7. Least concern
8. Data deficient
9. Not evaluated

The protected areas of India are :- National Park, Wildlife sanctuaries, conservation Reserves, community Reserves, biosphere reserve, Marine protected areas.

Measures should be taken to conserve nature:-

Reduce reuse and recycle
Choose sustainable development
Choose long lasting light bulbs
Try to use renewable resources more than non-renewable resources.
Save water
Volunteer for clean up our environment
Volunteer for clean up our environment
Use public transport system
Plant more trees
Try to avoid plastic
Try to minimise pollution at individual level
Use reusable shopping bags
Educate others about anthropogenic activities or impact of anthropogenic actions on our environment and what can we do to prevent its bad effects.

Visual Culture: How Visual is always contaminated by Non-Visual?

A creator may create an image but that single image can have multiple meanings for different individuals that may or may not go with what the creator was trying to convey. Such is the situation today where “visual” holds massive influence and power on the masses. The meaning of whatever we see around us is very subjective in nature, that is, it depends from person to person. And all the meanings that we derive from seeing something around us depends on our personal experiences and backgrounds we come from. The visuals can be decrypted by many according to their own thoughts.

In the above picture, the creator was trying to convey how over the time we have so much indulged ourselves in technology that we have forgot to give time to ourselves and stopped caring about our health. However different people may interpret the image in different ways using their own understandings and logics like some may think this image shows advancement of technology from heavy computers to light weight laptops, some may think this picture shows the same person who has grown old in these 30 years.

The visual has risen steadily in importance in our culture. The presence of visual images has progressed from the high art of painting through various media such as still photographs, play television, video games etc. The increasing availability of various technologies has led to a massive presence of visuals around us.

Reading an image is about interrogating and playing with the separate elements that compose it to provide some private meaning. If we consider an “image” to be a combination of characteristics, then each one of us reading an image would construct and combine those characteristics attached to it and analyse it in new and unique ways.

The act of reading an image produces myths. It assembles in our minds various characteristics of image, some of which may change on subsequent readings and some of which may be undesirable. When we try to study an image, the image is brought into the world of discourse and meanings are constructed from and through them. . Images can become valuable if they generate powerful connotative meanings or if they are manipulated easily. Images acting as signifiers can evoke different meanings and examination of these images introduce the discourse.

Another example could be:

JapaneseGP: electric mini bike race - YouTube

The above picture is from a mini bike race in Japan, in which the creator wanted to convey the “peculiarness” of the picture, that is, adults on mini bikes. Some may just focus on those mini bikes or some may just see it as a normal bike race or some may see how the one in the far right is going out of the lane or some may see all of the above mentioned and all of this depends upon the interests and thinking capacity of individuals.

Conclusion: Every picture says something and every picture is trying to convey us a message, even though a picture may not look thought provoking, it carries come thought or meaning in some or the other way. Several factors are involved in the evolution or what we can say is “contamination” or pollution of image or visuals. What a creator is trying to convey through a message can be completely different from how the viewer interprets and decrypts it. Every individual can have several different meanings about the same visual that can be positive, negative or both depending on his interests and background.

The Accidental Discovery !

An enzyme that produces some mycotoxins less deadly has been discovered by a group of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) researchers at the London Research and Development Centre in London, Ont.

WHY IT MATTERS?
Mycotoxin infection in crops can have a massive monetary impact for farmers and biofuel producers, and consumption by humans or livestock can have serious health concerns, including death.
The discovery was an accident as per Dr. Mark Sumarah, a mycotoxin and fungal expert at the London Research and Development Centre.
Sumarah and his colleague Dr. Justin Renaud were initially seeking to discover more a few mycotoxin referred to as orchotoxin A and therefore the possible risk of it to contaminate Canadian grapes, and subsequently wine. Sumarah says orchotoxin A may be a significant mycotoxin worldwide, but there was not much data on its effect in Canada.
Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites generated by fungi that inhabit crop species which prevents them to survive on plants, but when consumed they will put the health of humans and livestock at risk.
Long time ago, the investigators were observing the fungus Aspergillus to look for orchotoxin A, and located that Aspergillus produced not only orchotoxin A, but another sort of mycotoxin known as fumonisin. Sumarah says this wasn’t unforeseen, but what was a shock is that the fungus produced varieties of fumonisin that nobody had glimpsed in the past. The most interesting thing about these compounds was that although every formerly known fumonisin contains a nitrogen molecule, these new ones didn’t .
This made the scientists curious. Sumarah, and Renaud did further work to decide that nitrogen is the single-most valuable factor in the toxicity of fumonisins.

The scientists figured it had to be an enzyme. The team then successfully separated the enzyme responsible for transforming some fumonisins into types that need nitrogen, and began work in partnership with Lallemand Inc. through a Canadian Agricultural Partnership project to commercially create the enzyme for the decontamination of fumonisins.
Lallemand may be a privately held company based in Quebec that produces yeast, bacteria the main target of the enzyme for the corporate like Deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins can contaminate crops and cause infection or develop challenges for livestock, and become concentrated in distillers grains from biofuel production.
Sumarah says that fumonisins are a worldwide problem and he has colleagues in areas where corn is a staple in the diet, such as South Africa and Latin America, who are concerned about fumonisins related to human health. Fumonisins are linked to esophageal cancers and there’s suspicion they’re linked to ectoderm birth defects and other cancers

Although commercialization of the enzyme is several years away, the research trio have an interest find an enzyme which will tackle DON.

reference- https://www.country-guide.ca/crops/accidental-discovery-could-be-a-mycotoxin-game-changer/

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/mycrop/diagnosing-fusarium-head-blight-cereals

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

“15 September Engineer’s Day ”

Nation celebrates Engineer’s Day on September 15 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the greatest Indian Engineer Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.

BORN — 15 September 1860
Muddenahalli, Chikkaballapura, Kingdom of Mysore (now Karnataka, India)
DIED — 14 April 1962 (aged 101)
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality — Indian
EDUCATION — Central College, Bangalore
College of Engineering, Pune
University of Madras
University of Bombay
PROFESSION — Civil engineer and statesman
AWARDS — Bharat Ratna (1955)

contributions of Sir M.Visvesvaraya

Sir M V was the architect of the Great Krishna Raja Sagara Dam in Mysuru.He designed a flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad by Mussi River.

Hybrid variety of seeds: He was a great force behind developing varieties of Wheat and Rice, which were capable of sustaining variable temperatures, diseases and also gave high yield for the farmers.
Food security: India was highly dependent on foreign imports of food grains to be supplied for the population. The green revolution, headed by Dr Swaminathan, was successful in making India a food grain sufficient economy.

Introduction

Schizophrenia

Conclusion

References

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Effects of Pollution

Types of Pollution

How to Reduce Pollution?

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HOW IT GOT ITS NAME?

TRAJECTORY:

HAVE ALIEN FOUND US?

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Introduction

Neurocognitive Disorders

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Conclusion

References

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Habitat loss and fragmentation

Alien species

Disturbance

Harvesting and over exploitation

Climate change

IUCN Red List category

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