Smart phone

Smart phones have changed the world in a number of ways. People are now more dependent on phones for anything and everything. Communication between people has become cheap. The hugely popular whatsapp has enabled free international calls and people are using it for instant communication and sharing of videos,photos,documents.

There are more than 10 ways to improve the world with smart phone. Medically ill people can transmit their condition to hospitals/doctors on a regular basis without time consuming visits to the clinic. If the doctor senses an emergency the patient can visit the hospiatl for further treatment.

Smartphones enabled with 4G technology provide seamless entertainment round the clock. Free apps for smartphones enable different type of media to be played.

Students can use smartphone effectively for reading interactive ebooks. Online publishing benefits writers compared to the traditional style. There are no middle men between the reader and writer except the website.

Television and other gadgets,appliances can be controlled through smart phone apps. Scanner apps help to find deals in shopping and correct prices of products.

Event management in the 21st century

The success of event management is not just dependent on number of years a company has organized events. Past success alone does not guarantee success in present ventures. The market dynamics evolve continuously necessiating different strategies to be adopted for success.

The marketing strategy adopted by event planners/organizers includes mass email campaigns,social media and word of mouth publicity.More than fifty percent of planners believe that email marketing can increase the number of registrations. Some types of social media are underutilized by certain event planners. Others are more frequently used. Different types of social media can be used in unique ways by event planners to make the event a grand success.

More than fifty percent of event managers spend less than ten percent of the budget on the software used for event management. The involvement and interactions with audience during the event is a major factor which determines the event's success.

The event manager is under constant stress since he/she needs to manage different aspects related to the event. Availability of a software application which runs on multiple platforms simplifies the event manager's job in managing patrons,speakers,registration of the participants for the event among the other numerous tasks involved with organizing of the event. Advantages include higher efficiency in the execution of different tasks related to event,increase in revenue from ticket sales and value addition for the participants. Real-time surveys provide event organizers the required information regarding the participants satisfaction and experiences.

Sterotyping

Stereotyping is the greatest barrier to creativity and an artist should never play stereotype roles in the films. This is easier said than done. Once an artist transforms into a super star with a series of hit films, he starts playing only stereotyped roles. The audience wants him to play the same kind of character again and again on the silver screen. He also does not wish to experiment in intellectually challenging roles in the films. The superstar-turned-artist finds it difficult to switch over from playing stereotyped roles after some time. The height of absurdity has already observed in hindi films with superstars above the age of fifty romancing with heroines who are in their early twenties.

The stereotyped role of a romantic lover boy has crossed all limits of decency for the aging superstars. It is the combination of stupidity and arrogance on the part of the superstar to play in such roles and hurt the sensibilities of mature audiences. The so-called fans do not entertain any such logic and simply lap up whatever is dished out on the silver screen,irrespective of quality.

Not all audience appreciate this kind of crudity depicted in films. There are sensible audiences who appreciate quality films having a good story. The conclusion is mediocrity has taken over the actor in the selection of story as well as and other aspects of film making. In the process the super star transforms into a non-artist and loses shine in the box office. It is time the superstars changed over

to character roles befitting their age and spare the loyal audiences who want to see and appreciate the artist and not the superstar in their favourite heroes.

Mediocrity has definitely set in the hindi films with the stars occupying the centre stage and playing to the front benchers in the theatre or gallery while performing naively in the stereotyped roles. The story,director,production values,music,lyrics occupy a back stage. The image of the entire film industry is tarnished by the events. In the course of time, sensible audiences stop watching the movies.

Testing Fundamentals

The semiconductor industry faces number of challenges today. There is a demand for more functionality in every die. The most critical aspect is the ever increasing demand for reduced power consumption in mobile devices. The proliferation of high-speed serializers/deserializers has challenged the economics of testing and the strategies adopted for testing. Introduction of newer technologies implies different kind of failure mechanisms previously not encountered. Debugging has reached new levels of sophistication in a rush to capture the market place. The latest trend of 3D packaging technology demands advanced probe based testing.The testing of System on chip and System in package devices demands highest levels of functionality in the test equipment apart from lower cost.

Advantest V93000 series of test equipments have a dual combination of high-speed digital testing and accurate analog,RF measurement integrated into the test system. The features of the test equipment include scalable architecture,low noise effects,modular design among others.Investment optimization has been possible with the use of floating licenses. The application is shared among the users. The life cycle of the test equipment extends with regular development of the platform and the testing community utilizes the equipment to the maximum extent possible.The test systems are extensively used by Outsourced Assembly and Test companies,Integrated device manufacturers, leading foundries all over the world.

Reference

https://www.advantest.com/products/ic-test-systems/v93000-soc-smart-scale

COMPUTERIZATION OF PVD PROCESS

According to CIRP, Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) is a vacuum process allowing material transfer in the form of vapor particles from a material source (target) to the substrate.(Bouzakis, Konstantinos-Dionysios,2014)

From the beginning of early 1960s,PVD been used in the fabrication of Integrated Circuits and other highly sensitive devices. PLCs (programmable logic controllers) were used in the early years as a part of PVD equipment. In the 1980s,the PLCs were replaced by computers in the PVD equipment. The process of integration of PVD equipment with computers however happened at a very slow pace. The PLC control platform remained as part of PVD equipment for some more years. In the mean time, due to limitations of PLC, critical tasks related to PVD were postponed. Using present day computing technologies, vacuum integrity is tracked and analyzed. Complex vacuum manipulation provides an angle-of-incidence control which was neither cost effective nor reliable in the earlier years. Deposition rate and thickness are measured in real-time and variations are easily compensated. The control system architecture with the computer as an integral part enhances process control. New software platforms enable development of the best graphical user interfaces. This maximizes performance and value. With the advent of Internet,remote controlling of operations in real time is possible. This has helped in PVD system design for the past 12 years. Design,development engineers routinely use the world wide web for data,voice and video transmissions. PVD technical services, today are through web cameras. Computer controlled PVD systems operate in clean room or controlled environment. Cleanliness and control over vacuum deposition maintains particulates at satisfactory levels. A recent development is the use of tablet computers for improved readouts. The tablet computers are mounted where data is clearly visible. With the availability of cellular network service, required files are transmitted as and when required during the operations. A tablet computer can also be used for clean-room applications like residual gas analysis and leak detection. In conclusion, it is stated that computerization has led to increased productivity(Malocsay).

References

Bouzakis, Konstantinos-Dionysios. (2014). CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. In Luc. Laperrière, (Ed.), Berlin Heidelberg, Springer-Verlag.

Malocsay, C. (n.d.). Computer-controlled PVD systems advance operational effectiveness. Retrieved June 30, 2016, from http://www.electronicproducts.com/ Computer_Peripherals /Systems/Vacuum_deposition_control_systems_use_mobile_apps.aspx

 

Food for thought.

Impact of technology on daily life: Bombarded with devices like computer,smart phone we have become totally dependent on gadgets. The wi-fi router is always on,enabling us to know the updates of all things on line like social media,emails among others. We can read newspapers at any time of the day with the latest news. E books have resulted in availability of classic literature for everyone which otherwise would be available only in select libraries of the world. They have their own features. E books can be designed to be interactive,with the option of note taking. The book layout,graphics and illustrations are far superior when compared to printed books. They occupy less size and can be read on a smart phone or a tablet .They can be competitively priced and sold directly to customers.

Is it a healthy sign to stop reading books, newspapers, magazines in print and instead do the same on line. What about the writing habits? How much do we write on paper every day? Letter writing is a best forgotten art. Handwriting is a reflection of human mind. When we write neatly it means our thoughts are well organized. Dirty handwriting means otherwise.

As of today,plagiarism is easily identified in academic writing,research writing among others. Gone are the days of 'copy and paste' writing indulged in by plagiarist writers of notorious reputation. Earlier,not too many years ago,plagiarist writers had a field day copying content from all over the Internet web pages and pasting into the word document. Plagiarist writers remained faithful to the basic philosophy of plagiarism by indulging in violation of Intellectual Property Rights on a large scale. There have not been many instances of the plagiarist writers getting punished for their highly unethical activity. In scientific research, a few researchers caught indulging in plagiarism in the research articles submitted to reputed journals have faced expulsion from the university departments. In many shady journals of questionable reputation plagiarized article are accepted for a fee. All this undermines the basic tenets of scientific writing. It takes time to write 100% original article with proper references to the sources used. The sources include books,journals,web pages, videos among others.

Shopping Mall

The concept of shopping malls is alien to most of the Indians of earlier generations. However in the recent decade we have embraced the concept whole heartedly. Malls are multicrore businesses and have different business models. There are all-in-one malls where virtually everything under the sun is available. In some malls prices of goods are reasonable compared to other places. Parking problem, an ever growing feature in the Indian metros is eliminated since parking is free or for a

very nominal fee.  Families visit a shopping mall during weekends or on holidays for a family outing since it is convenient. A whole day can be spent enjoying at the mall, shopping, dining, watching movies or playing games. Malls have transformed into meeting places for old timers who indulge in reminiscence over a plate of vada-pav or idli sambar and coffee or tea in the food court. There is variety of entertainment specially available for kids to keep them occupied for long hours. Malls are the best places for new product or service promotion due to heavy foot fall,especially on weekends. Ina typical mall temperature is controlled to the right degree and is vastly different from the extreme weather conditions present outside. This makes it highly attractive for people who can just forget about existing weather conditions and indulge in shopping. For those persons not interested in shopping,window shopping is an attractive way for time-pass activity. But all things are not rosy regarding malls. There is overcrowding, on weekends and holidays. Parking problem exists on a very busy day. There is huge temptation to buy unwanted products and services. The monthly budget goes haywire. Shopping at malls gradually transforms into addiction with unwanted side effects for the entire family.

Virus

Health & Medicine: Virus

No one is afraid of a virus affecting the computer/tablet PC/smart phone due to various counter measures that work effectively against it. But every one is terrified about the real world biological virus. The latest virus to attack the humanity is called zika. After reading about zika, it will not be far from truth to say that the readers will be 'shaken' and 'well stirred' in their minds.

A virus is a submicroscopic parasite.It infects any kind of animal,any type of plant or bacteria. Most often the infection leads to serious or deadly diseases. A virus consists of DNA or RNA surrounded by a biochemical layer. A virus replicates with the help of a host cell. Some of the popular viruses include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This causes the dreaded disease AIDS. Even a casual mention of the word AIDS sends shivers down the weak or strong spine of any individual. Other examples include herpes simplex virus, smallpox virus, multiple sclerosis virus, human papilloma virus among others. The common type of cold is due to virus. A great deal of mystery surrounds the origins of most recent viruses and even great fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes would struggle in this quest. Methods to cure the viruses and the diseases caused by them are in the early stages. There have been no significant medical breakthroughs as such or sudden discovery of a miracle drug to combat the deadly viruses. (virus)

Zika viral infection is due to a virus spread by Aedes mosquitoes. The symptoms include muscular pains in various parts of the body, headache,skin problems ,light fever among others. They last maximum for a week(zika virus).

According to WHO report, regarding zika virus,the findings are alarming,to say the least. Around 60 countries have reported the presence of virus as of 15 June 2016. The probability of transmission of virus through sexual contact is very high. Microcephaly and central nervous system malformations are the widely reported pathological conditions. Virus sequencing indicates origins in asia(Zika situation report).

References

(2016, Month. Day ). Retrieved Jun. 26, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/topics/virus

(2016, Jun. 2 ). Retrieved Jun. 26, 2016, from http://wwwhttp://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/

(2016, Jun. 16 ). Retrieved Jun. 26, 2016, from http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/situation-report/16-june-2016/en/

What is Data Science ???

In the 21st century huge quantities of data are generated every minute. These data are available to those who want it  at a very reasonable cost. Top notch companies(not only the Fortune 500) in every  sector are focusing their energies on exploiting data for competitive advantage to gain leverage over their competitors in the  hyper  competitive,dynamic business environment of the modern world. 

In the not so distant  past, firms employed teams of statisticians, modelers, and analysts to explore data sets manually, but today  the volume and variety of data has far outstripped the capacity of manual analysis. At the same time, computers have become ultra powerful, networking is present everywhere, and algorithms that can connect data sets have been developed. This has led to broader

and deeper analyses  of the data compared to earlier times. The convergence of these phenomena has given rise to the increasingly widespread business application of data science principles.

Data science refers to all those activities concerned with the collection, preparation, analysis, visualization, management and preservation of large amounts of information.It is not just statistics or machine learning in the context of technology industry.

The profile of a data scientist includes the following:

Computer science,Mathematics,Statistics,Machine learning, Domain Expertise,Scientific instinct, Communication and presentation skills,Data visualization. 

Another way to look at  data science:

The  world wide web is full of applications(apps) which are data centric. One example is  e-commerce.  The different components include a database in the back end and middleware that communicates with a number of other databases and data services . Simply  using data isn’t  “data science.”
A data application acquires its core value from the data used, and in the process creates more data. Therefore it can be called a data product. Data science facilitates the creation of data products.

The  revolutionary phenomenon of big data is closely linked to the emergence of data science. Benefiting from big data implies development of  core teams in the organisation with this unique skill set, and making them understand the management philosophy which is the  readiness of organization to comprehend
 and use data for gaining an ever increasing market share to the benefit of all shareholders.

References:
1.Data Science for Business by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, O’Reilly 2013
2.An Introduction to Data Science:Jeffrey Stanton,Syracuse University,2012
3..Doing Data Science" Rachel Schutt and Cathy O'Neil, O'REILLY Second Indian Reprint,September 2014
4.Big Data Now :by O’Reilly Media,First Edition  September 2011
5.Big Data Now: 2012 Edition O’Reilly Media

Daily News -Part 2

Association with a daily newspaper (black and white, not electronic version) : If i do not read it on a general holiday, i literally go crazy. That's the emotion attached. Some people may call it addiction. I associate myself psychologically with the newspaper. When reading the content i just forget myself and get deeply involved. I come to know the happenings in the world at my own pace,without depending on the world wide web. No need to strain the muscles and nerves of my palm . Less strain on my eyes. These are not trivial benefits. In fact they are major benefits. I am not consuming electricity to read the newspaper. Reading newspaper has become a sacred ritual in itself. 

It is not just the news but the way it is presented that is crucial in capturing reader's attention. Sensationalism in news reporting has worked very well for certain newspapers in the short term. Once the readers became wise,they switched towards other newspapers which focus on objective news analysis. Editorial column is  very powerful  in moulding public opinion on various issues. If it is scripted by prejudiced,biased individuals with vested interests, then the society as a whole is misled.

Daily News -Part 1

How do i get to know what's happening in the world ? Newspapers of course. Is it the printed version or the electronic version? Each one has its own pros and cons. Let us consider the printed version of newspaper. Not so long ago most of us  started the day with a cup of coffee reading a daily newspaper.What did we generally like while reading it?  There were occasions when we read the entire newspaper more than once inviting comments " Why are you revising the newspaper" ?
What made the newspaper such interesting to read ? It was not just the coverage of  general  information,sports news,gossip about films that made the newspaper. There are other aspects that make the newspaper ideal for reading.What are those aspects?
I will tell about them in my next blog.