Global Warming

One of the most discussed subjects across the globe, apart from terrorism is that of global warming. While those on the political floor use it to accuse each of other of callousness, there are serious concerns among the scientists over the way things are proceeding across the globe.

Defined in simplest terms, global warming refers to the perpetual rise in the temperature of the surface of the Earth, arising out of human interference into the natural balance, that might lead to catastrophical results. At this point, it becomes necessary to understand a few terms that one encounters while discussing the subject.

Greenhouse effect is a term used to describe the phenomenon observed in glass houses that experiment with the effects of temperature variation in presence of plants. While it is known that the photosynthesis helps in reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, while adding to the oxygen content at the same time, it is a point worthy of mention that even plants do respire. And it is all about the release of carbon dioxide during the nights. So much said about the green house effect, what are the implications? A similar phenomenon can be observed in the real life atmosphere. The levels of carbon dioxide keep increasing, not because of the animal metabolism (whose contribution is negligible), but the pollutants. Vehicular and industrial exhaust gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are termed as greenhouse gases. These gases have the property of trapping heat, thus preventing the heat from escaping the surface of the Earth.


Abledo is a unit used to measure the reflective capacity of surfaces. A perfect white matter has a albedo of 1.0 while a perfect black matter has an albedo of 0. It is a known fact the polar regions of the Earth are covered with ice caps. Ice has an albedo of nearly 1.0, while sea water has an albedo of 0.07. The heat trapped due to green house effect results in melting of the polar ice caps, thus reducing the ice cover on the surface of the planet. As understood, this results in lesser amount of sunlight being reflected back into space, thus adding to the heat trap.

Permafrost is the layer of permanently frozen soil that extends thousands of miles along the Tundras and polar regions. The layer holds millions of tonnes of green house gases, which, if released into the atmosphere, would result in major upheavals in the global climate. The rising temperatures run a risk of melting of this layer, which would be an opening of the Pandora's box. The climate is very much like a rowing boat. You tip it a little, it returns back to normal state. Tip it a little more, it might still return back with slight disturbance to the surroundings. Tip it a little too much, it capsizes. This is what is termed as a point of no return.

Melting icecaps result in the increase of the global water level. Low lying countries such as Netherlands, Bangladesh and Maldives are at an immediate threat of inundation if the phenomenon is not controlled. We have been crossing points of no return on many fronts when it comes to the global climate. But all is not lost. It is now left to the decision of the countries that contribute majorly to the phenomenon. Adherence to the Kyoto Protocol would be the first step in this direction. Countries should work towards usage of cleaner fuels, better engines and put in place rules and regulations to control pollution. It is our duty to save the life on Earth from the danger of extinction and make this place a better dwelling for the generations to come.

Doubly Landlocked

A landlocked country is the one which does not have direct access to the sea as a part of its International border. A doubly landlocked country is the one that is locked by landlocked countries arount it!! There are only two such nations in the world:

Uzbekistan in Asia
Leichtenstein in Europe

Osmosis

Osmosis is a colligative property of solutions where when two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a semi permeable membrane, a diffusion of the solvent molecules is observed from a region of lower solute concentration to a region of higher solute concentration.

A colligative property of solution is the one that does not depend on the properties of the solute, but just the physical concentration.

The amount of pressure that needs to be applied on the solution of higher concentration to prevent the solvent molecules from moving in through the membrane is called the turgor pressure. So, iteratively, a pressure applied on a solution of higher concentration to a limit exceeding the turgor pressure results in the solvent molecules moving from a level of higher concentration to that of lower concentration. This phenomenon is called reverse osmosis.

Osmosis is observed in real life: ascent of sap, shrinking of potatoes dipped in salt solution, transit of water through the tissues in animals etc.

While osmosis can be useful for many biological activities, it is quite catastrophical for a few creatures. Fresh water fish that get dumped into the sea die almost immediately owing to an osmotic gradient between their tissues and the surrounding water.

The phenomena of osmosis and reverse osmosis are used in many medical and industrial applications such as dialysis, desalination of sea water, water purification etc.

Anastylosis

By definition, anastylosis is a scientific method of restoring monuments to their original structure. The Venice Charter (1965) on anastolysis requires the process to make use of the existing components of the monuments in reconstruction. The placement of each of the components is determined through detailed survey and study that involves architectural, cultural and archeological aspects of the monument.

While the charter permits usage of modern technology such as mortar, cement and synthetic resins if they enhance the stability and strength of the structure, filling up of 'perceived gaps' in the structures is disallowed.

Engineering Services in India

Right from the time of production of the first steel ingot at Tata Steel in Jemshedpur, the Indian manufacturing industry has evolved into a self-supporting and sustained entity, producing hi-tech products, ranging from jet aircrafts to semicondutors. The knowledge gained in the various aspects of manufacturing over the past 100 years has enabled India to join the bandwagon of burgeoning industries world wide.

There are certain take away areas, in which India holds the key advantage. Firstly, the domain knowledge. The industries in public, private and defence research are at the fore front in making new discoveries and inventions, leading to enrichment of the general knowledge base. Secondly, the knowledge of outsourcing process knowledge. Over the past 20 years, India has seen a good deal of engineering services being outsourced to its homeland. A recent survey conducted by the NASSCOM and Booz Allen estimates about $2.2 billion worth of engineering services being outsourced to India. Future prospects look all the more promising. The same survey puts up an encouraging figure of an opportunity of $40 billion by the year 2020! Many of the manufacturing industries are now looking forward to outsourcing their engineering services to India after observing the success in the IT and BPO industries. Thirdly, the availability of skilled workforce. India is a land to a host of Universities and autonomous institutions that pump in fresh waves of engineers into the industry every year. Coupling the experience level of the senior members, the energy and innovative skills of the fresh engineers enhances the productivity of any unit.

As a flipside to the coin, there are certain pressing challenges that need to be addressed if India is to tap its potential to match up to expectations. Firstly, the continued availability of workforce. Human resource, undoubtedly forms the most crucial part of any industry. It forms a great deal of responsibility of the nearly 1500 engineering institutions in the country to keep abreast with the modern technology and bring forth quality engineers. A government policy that emphasises on merit and quality education goes a long way in creating the much needed workforce. Secondly, the infrastructure developement. Unless there is a proper infrastructure setup in terms of transport and communication for easier movement of people, goods and services, there will be a serious hindrance to the growth process. While the government is in a continuous effort to build infrastructure, the rate of growth needs to be improved. A dam construction that takes nearly 45 years, a metro service that takes more than 15 years, just for its inception are good examples where the sluggishness of the Indian beuracratic setup is exposed. Thirdly, the need for co-ordination between various elements involved in the manufacturing processes- the educational institutions, the engineering service providers and PSU's (Public Sector Undertaking). Bringing about collaborations between these three important units brings about a quality education, which in turn fuels an enhanced performance of the other two. Thus, the cycle is self fulfilling.

Thus we observe that India holds a great deal of potential in reaching greater heights in the manufacturing industries using its key strength areas. At the same time, there are challenges that need to be addressed at appropriate levels of administration. A co-ordinated effort by various key elements in this chain would work wonders in bringing up the name of brand India.

IT Digital Structure

The most important cornerstones of a corporation's IT digital structure are:

1. CRM - Customer Relations Management
CRM is a corporate level strategy that encompasses the methodologies that focus on creating and maintaining lasting relations with the customers. The methodologies involve the establishment of a broad based customer-centric policy in the corporation at all verticals including marketing, systems, operations, information management and services.

2. ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
ERP is a system to integrate all the processes of an organization into a single unified system. By doing this, the system brings in a mechanism of sharing data between verticals through a single setup. For an instance, an ERP software could provide a solution to integrate HR and accounting information into a single system.

3. SCM - Supply Chain Management
SCM is a process of planning and managing supply chain through continuous planning, execution and monitoring of the processes involved right from creation and movement of raw materials through the processes of manufacturing goods till the delivery to end consumers. Apart from management of the proceses, it also involves activities related to co-ordinating between various parties involved viz. distributors, third party vendors etc. SCEM - Supply Chain Event Management is a process of giving due consideration to the activities that could possibly disrupt or disturb the smooth flow of the supply chain.

4. PLM - Product Lifecycle Management
PLM is the methodology of managing product development, right from the stage of its inception through development till delivery. PLM helps in managing time and man power resources, helps reuse of modules between products, reduces wastage and rework.

Fastest jaws

How fast can you snap your jaws? Here is a creature- trap jaw ant, which can snap as fast as 210 kmph! The average time for a snap is 0.13 milliseconds - 2300 times faster than the blink of an eye! Just for an information, the record was earlier held by mantis shrimp.
So, the next time you are infront of the mirror, just check out how fast you can clasp your teeth!!

"NOT APPROVED" to "NOTE APPROVED"

Thus goes a story of a government official who used to mark files that came without the 'mithai' as "not approved" and add an 'e' to make it "note approved" once the 'due requirements' were fulfilled. Yes, I am coming to the Right To Information Act.
Enacted in the year 2005, the RTI empowered the common man to have easy access to information related to various documents, applications, papers moving across the tables in a typical government office. Prior to the enactment of the Act, the beauracracy was all powerful in terms of the wish and will to approve or reject an application. Apart from empowering the public to question such things, the Act acted as a corruption deterrant (well, did it?).
Apparently, vested interests did not like it. Hence, came the proposal to amend the Act curtailing the power of the public, which would now not be able to get hold of the file notings for documents apart from those related to social and development activities. Democracy took a direct hit.
It is understandable that restrictions are still needed under the domains related to national security, judiciary that might otherwise affect the general public. But curtailing the people empowerment even in other domains makes little sense.
Good sense seems to have finally prevailed and the Government, presumably afraid of the retrograde effects such an amendment could have, has decided not to table the Bill in the current parliamentary session.

SPOT

Screen Passengers by Observation Technique as it expands to, is a new methodology used by officials at the airports to detect terrorists. The methodology used is that of observing the physical changes that occur when someone lies, or makes a statement that is inconsistent with his/her mental state.
(Hindu 23 Aug 2006) SPOT operatives are wizards at picking micro-facial expressions that give away what we are really feeling. This means that any person would give himself/herself away even with a fleeting grimace lasting barely 1/25th of a second!
Of course, there are issues related to the success of such detectors. While a nervous passenger might put himself/herself into trouble over innocuous statements, a well trained person might be able to get away with it!

An era draws close

21 Aug 2006... a sad day for any Indian musician. Ustad Bismillah Khan, who ruled the world of music for nearly 70 years with his magical shehnai breathed his last late in the night. His death brings in deep grief in the hearts of his fans.
Shehnai reached new heights under his interests. The instrument that was restricted to temples and marriages received the respect attributed to classical instruments viz. sitar, flute etc owing to his innovations in the style and presentation.

Prime Integer

Oh well, why "Prime Integer" of all names? Creating a new account on blogosphere has never been that easy of late. Hence, a need to think of names beyond the box. And prime numbers are my favourite anyway! So, on this prime date (23rd) in the Eastern Hemisphere, I start keying down all that comes to my mind :-)