ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

The biosphere and ecosystem are self-sustaining. Nature maintains a balance in land, water, air and all the living organisms in the world. Any imbalance therein causes a chain reaction. Any amount of any kind of imbalance in the biosphere is called environ­mental pollution. Man is going to conquer the universe with the help of technological development, but this development has resulted in grave danger to the very existence of man. Today air is becoming foul, waters are no longer clean and forests are being cut down. If this continues, air and water would become unfit for the use of all living beings.

The grand industrial development, the successful green revolu­tion, the transport explosion, the rapid growth of cities and haphazard management of natural resources, have adversely affected environmental balance. The pollution of air and water will soon reach a point when on place on the earth will remain safe. Due to large scale industrial and human settlement effluents, many rivers have turned murky. The large scale industrial wastes and oil released in the seas have started killing marine life.

There is no doubt that modern technological development has been the main instrument in polluting our air, oceans and rivers, etc. It is a matter of concern to all humanity that our rivers are turning murky, fishes are rotting on sea-shores, trees are withering, cities are choked with foul air and toxic chemicals are finding their way into our food. “Nature’s plentifulness is a heritage not to be squandered with impunity. It must be conserved for future generations or its bankruptcy will extinguish us all” is the observation of a well-known scientist. It appears that man has lost his capacity to foresee and forestall. He will end by destroying the earth and with it, of course, perish himself.

When the normal composition of air is changed, air becomes polluted. The main causes of air pollution are : (i) combustion, (h) manufacturing processes, (in) agricultural activities, (iv) use of solvents, and (v) nuclear energy programmes. Details of these are given in the table that follows.Combustion can be categorised mainly into three types, viz. fuel burning, transportation and refuse burning. All these cate­gories of combustion release several types of gases which pollute the air. Automobiles, trains, aircrafts and other forms of transport are responsible for polluting the air with hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxide and other oxygen products.

There are various types of manufacturing processes which cause air pollution. Chemical plants, metallurgical plants and plants for waste recovery may be put under this category. The pollutants released from these processes differ widely. Several types of gases and fumes are produced in these processess, which make the air unfit for human consumption. Agricultural activities are yet another source of air pollution. Spraying of pesticides and insecticides, use of chemical fertilizers and manures and burning of field wastes pollute the atmospheric air. Several types of solvents are used in spray-painting, polishing of furniture and appliances, dyeing, printing and dry cleaning. These solvents produce hydro­carbons and other organic vapours which mix with the atmosphere and pollute it. Nuclear energy programmes also pollute the air. Radioactive fallouts and fluorides are very dangerous pollutants.

Of late it has been realised that the pollution of the seas is going beyond the tolerable limit. Man uses large volumes of agri­cultural and industrial materials, whose waste products are dumped in the seas and oceans. Oceans and seas cover two-thirds of the earth’s surface and their pollution has very harmful effects on plants and animals.

Release of industrial wastes into rivers creates havoc. It is estimated that more than 5,000 tons of mercury enters the ocean per year as a result of dumping of wastes into rivers. Mercury concentration increases in fish, which may result in poisoning of the people and domestic animals, eating such fish. Fish from many lakes and seas in American countries have been declared unsafe to eat. Many people have suffered neurological disorders by eating such polluted fish. Lead is another pollutant of seas and oceans. Normal weathering processes and industrial discharges are the main source of its entry into the seas. Radioactive material released from nuclear tests is another dangerous pollutant.

Constant and loud noise is yet another health hazard. The noise pollution in Bomby city has touched 74 decibels. This is enough to damage about 15 per cent of hearing capacity in a decade. In big cities frequent mixing of sewer lines with the water-supply net-work causes drinking water pollution. Destruction of trees, birds and animals affects human environment adversely.

The effects of pollution on the climate ar/dangeror.s – though so slow and gradual as to be beyond easy recognition.” Air pollution results in the steady rise in the amount of carbon dioxide and dust particles in the atmosphere. Increase in carbon dioxide raises the earth’s temperature while increase in the dust particles decreases it. An increase either way means change away from the mean. According to an estimate dust particles can absorb 3 to 4 per cent of the sun’s radiation, and thus lower the earth’s temperature by about 0’4°C.

What would be the result of an appreciable change in the temperature of the earth ? It is estimated that a rise of 3’6°C in the earth’s temperature would melt the icecaps of the Antarctic and Arctic regions. As a result of this melting, the water levels of oceans would go up about 100 metres and most of the major cities of the world would be submerged under water, and the earth’s present coastline would be changed drastically. Scientists are of the view that such a stage may come after about 200 years at the present rate of pollution.

On the other hand it is estimated that the cooling brought about by increase in dust particles in the atmosphere may bring in the ice age. A drop of 4’0°C in the mean temperature of the earth may be sufficient to bring the ice age once again. But there is nothing to be scared of, as some scientists argue that between these two limits the opposing forces would maintain the heat balance.

Various measures may be adopted to control pollution. To trap smoke particles, chambers should be provided. Lofty smoke stakes should be built to counteract the danger of concentration of toxic gases. Gases should be discharged through exhaust pipes higher in the air. Chemical industries should not be allowed to be set up on the banks of rivers. The industries on the river banks should be ordered to discharge their wastes in the river only after treating them fully. The industries should be made to follow some absolute minimum standard of emission. Waste effluents should be subjected to anti-pollution treatment.

The growing automobile civilization is multiplying air pollution. Man is poisoning the biosphere. Nobody can save him from this danger unless he himself becomes alert. It is a grave danger for the present as well as the future, It is the solemn responsibility of the international community to protect the environment from pollution. Fortunately, in recent years there has been a world-wide awaken­ing in this regard. In many international conferences concern has been expressed over this issue of vital importance to human life.

It would not be irrelevant to refer to the Bhumisutra in Atharva Veda, which says that our Rishis and seers worshipped the earth, mountains, lakes, rivers, plants, etc. They did it not as a bit of superstition, but they realised that there was a deep harmony behind all existend. and human beings have got to exist in harmony with their surroundings. They never tried to put the human race against nature. To this wisdom once again the human race is returning.

Environmental pullution is no longer only a fashionable catch-Word. It has infact become one of the most formidable threats to mankind. With the growing development of technology and growing world population, pollution is no longer restricted to a certain number of industrial countries but affects the ecological system of vtiit areas. As we become increasingly aware of our limited natural roiources, the protection and preservation of nature becomes a world-wide concern.

In view of the increasing awareness of the formidable dangers to mankind, many countries in the world have passed laws to prevent pollution. But it has been observed that anti-pollution lawn are not being obeyed everywhere. It is hard to understand why the laws being framed by Governments should vest all powers In Anti-pollution Boards composed of salarised employees with no direct stake in the outcome of their activities, denying the victims Of pollution any right. Given the will, it should not be too difficult to put teeth into the current laws against pollution. It is gratifying tillt lome action is being taken, though belatedly.

Internet in education

Internet in education

Education these days has been the top priority for any family or individual person, and no doubt amongst the latest technologies to promote and maintain the education standards the internet comes first.

Internet is not only an access to websites, these days there is knowledge and information on every aspect of the educational world over the internet. The resources provided on various web pages are indeed very informative and useful for professionals and students related to every field of work. The only pre-requisite is the research over the internet for a specific educational topic, and then this information just needs to be filtered to gain the basic knowledge of what you are looking for. Therefore, these are true internet resources which deal with every individual's educational needs.

Internet has also provided the opportunity to study online. There are virtual universities set up, in which the students can take classes sitting on the computer seat opening the university's website video section according the topic, and then study at home.

               

The most amazing thing about internet education is that the international education is no more a chance for only the wealthy and high profile family students because now via internet no matter if one can afford to study in top most universities, people can easily benefit from the international quality education and gain a respectable university degree sitting at home through the online educational courses provided by the world universities.

Internet education thus also provides the individuals to balance their time according to their own needs, as there is no fixed time to attend the lectures. This also allows the poor class of people to work and study at the same time through internet education.

What is Website?

To be very precise a website is described as a file. It is a file which contains a collection of different files only of the www or the World Wide Web nature. These files are uploaded on the web, which makes it a particular website with an address so that it can be accessed by everyone. The first of the files in the collection of these www files is known ad the homepage.

To be able to visit a specific website, its particular address is required so that it can be entered on the internet. The given address is actually of the first file or the homepage of the website, through which all other files and information can be accessed with the links provided.

Sometimes a standard default name is set up by the company for its website and that is when we do not nee to type the whole of the file address and only the default name links to the website source. For example the MSN Company has the site www.msn.com . A website can contain either a single page or thousands of various different pages branching from the homepage.

There is another term used for the website, which is the "Web presence" This term seems to be much more synonymous with the actual meaning of a website, because it does not imply any geographical localization of the file, however it is used less frequently than the most common word Website.

We can add the cross links of different websites on our own homepage so as to share the information in each other's Websites.

 What is Networking?

Networking is the word basically relating to computers and their connectivity. It is very often used in the world of computers and their use in different connections. The term networking implies the link between two or more computers and their devices, with the soul purpose of sharing the data stored in the computers, with each other. The networks between the computing devices are very common these days due to the launch of various hardware and computer software which aid in making the activity much more convenient to build and use.

Computer networking is then categorized into several different areas and uses, such as the most common ones like LAN and WAN.

Computer networking is also based on different network designs. The two basic classification categories of the network design are the client-server and peer-to-peer. The client-server networking refers to the computer servers that are centralized, which are mainly used in storing emails, web pages, files and applications. The peer-to-peer network is the most commonly used and all the computers mainly support its functions. The Client server is used extensively in the business functions, whereas the peer-to-peer server is for home use.

Every network requires a topology to work through which the data flows and the computers can communicate with each other. The most common types of topologies are bus, star, ring, and mesh.

Networking also involves a special communication language used by the computer devices. These languages are called network protocols, and most of the computers use a range of protocols which they support. The most common network in the Internet and home networks is the TCP/IP.

Networking can be either wired or wireless. The most common wired networks like Ethernet cables were extensively used but now wireless networking have emerged and the new computer networks mainly support this feature.

What is Unique Content?

Unique content is used when you create a website or when you purchase one. Unique content is basically something that is original and never has been used before. There are way too many sites on the web that has the same exact information, we are not talking about the same subjects but the same content word for word. There are sites that strictly base their content on what information they copied and pasted from Wikipedia. There is nothing wrong with using online research tools like Wikipedia but there are some sites that flat out plagiarize and that is a form of cheating.

There are other site developers who may not write the content themselves and they don’t have to for it to be considered unique. Some people accuse others of not be original because they hired someone to write the articles. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as the content has not been used any place else on the web. Others work so hard writing and writing and trying to keep their content unique and fresh and then you have those other people who copy and paste from other sites and think it is ok.

There are two tools that you can use to check to see if any content you have purchased has been copied, one tool is called Copyscape and the other is webconfs.com. Copy and paste the content you want to check in the space provided as well as the URL on the top of the page and if the content is unique then it will say found zero matches and if there is a hit, it will show you where the information has been copied from.

If you are writing your own articles or content, it is also a good idea to check your work through these tools. Sometimes you may not even know it but you use a phrase or a sentence explaining something and the copyscape will flag it. Once you check your work , if anything has popped up you can fix it. You want your site to stand out because of the originality of it all. You don’t want more than 5 words to come out of Copyscape.

There are going to be some instances where you cannot help it, let’s say you are writing an biography and this person has won some sort of awards. You want to include these awards in your articles and you push the article through copyscape, the names of the awards are going to kick back because you used the exact name of the award. In these types of cases it is ok because it is something that cannot be avoided.

Even when someone hires you to write that type of article or an article on a country and you use landmarks or the names of historical places, these are going to kick back from copyscape but as we said before that is ok. If you write a 600 word article and 5 places come back from copyscape, it will not make a difference. You want to avoid your article looking like a rainbow. The copyscape site will not only show the user where you got the information but in your article it will highlight in different colors the words that are kicking back.

That is why it is very important to run the articles whether you have written them or if you purchased them from someone else who said they could write. The life of your website depends on it, it will either make or break your results in the search engines.

Computer Education

Importance Of Computer Education

Computers have brought up a revolutionary change in the past couple of decades. They are everywhere now and are being used by everyone. They are being used in every field as they provide the facility of storing large data safely which can be easily accessed and managed. They play vital role in our daily life owing to facilities it provide which are beyond our imagination .Their wide application has made the computer education a must.

As computers are being used widely these days, gaining computer education is the need of time. One should be equipped with the basic knowledge of computers, it's operations and applications. Both basic and practical knowledge completes the basic computer education.

Computers do not act as storage or processing devices only. They are the biggest sources of entertainment and communication as well. One can get connected to another in other part of world in no time with the help of computers. It helps in searching and retrieving vast information over internet also and only computer education can increase the applications of computer across the world.

Those coupled with computer knowledge, that may be networking, programming or any other, are always preferred over others and eventually gets the better job opportunities as in modern world no business operates without computers. So computer education is extremely important now as it is an eligibility criterion for getting recruited. 

Getting acquainted with computer education makes business easy as various business transactions can be made fast and safe. Also all the business records and documents can be stored in computer thus reducing the need of paper documentation. One can shop being immobile as orders can be placed on internet which saves time and transportation cost.

Various database management soft wares are available in market which manages the large amount of data as per requirement. Computers are not used for business purposes solely, they are also used for gaming and for media purposes all over the globe, thus proving its worth as a one of the main source of entertainment.

Thus we need computer literate people in order to keep pace with time and society. This is the Information Age and computers and computer education are must to rise and to achieve the ladder of success.

Computers in Medicine

Importance of Computers in Medicine

Computers play a key role in almost every sphere of life. They facilitate storage of huge amounts of data, they enable speedy processing of information and they possess an inbuilt intelligence, which if supplemented with human intellect, can work wonders. Owing to their intelligence and speed, computers function on a level close to that of the human brain. Computers can hence be employed in different fields like engineering, data processing and storage, planning and scheduling, networking, education as well as health and medicine. You might want to take a look at the various uses of computers, before looking at the importance of computers in medicine.

Importance of Computers in the Medical Field

Storage of Patient Data and Health Information

Computers are the excellent means for storage of patient-related data. Hospitals employ computer systems to maintain patient records. It is often necessary to maintain detailed records of the medical history of patients. Doctors often require information about a patient's family history, physical ailments in the family (if any), already diagnosed diseases and prescribed medicines. This information can be stored in a computer database. Computers can keep track of prescriptions and billing information. They can be used to store information about the medicines prescribed to a patient as well as those, which cannot be prescribed to him/her (ones which the patient is allergic to). Computers enable an efficient storage of huge amounts of medical data. Medicine comprises a vast information base. Computer storage can serve as the best means of housing this information. Medical journals, research and diagnosis papers, important medical documents and reference books can best be stored in an electronic format.

Using Computers in Surgical Procedures

Computer software is used for diagnosis of diseases. It can be used for the examination of internal organs of the body. Advanced computer-based systems are used to examine organs of the body. Some of the complex surgeries can be performed with the help of computers. Computer-assisted Surgery (CAS) is a fast-advancing field in medicine, which combines medical expertise with computer intelligence to give faster and more accurate results in surgical procedures. In CAS, a model of the pateint is created, then analyzed prior to surgery. The surgical procedure is simulated on the virtual image of the patient. The sugery can then be performed by a surgical robot, as programmed by a medical professional or the robot may only assist doctors while they do the actual surgery. In both cases, computer intelligence is at work, thus underlining the uses of computers in medicine. 

Using Computer Technology in Diagnostic Tests

The different types of monitoring equipment in hospitals are often based on computer programming. Medical imaging deals with techniques to create images of the human body for medical purposes. Many of the modern methods of scanning and imaging are largely based on computer technology. We have been able to implement many of the advanced medical imaging techniques, thanks to developments in computer science. Magnetic resonance imaging employs computer software. Computed tomography makes use of digital geometry processing techniques to obtain 3-D images. Sophisticated computers and infrared cameras are used for obtaining high-resolution images. Computers are widely used for the generation of 3-D images. Many of the modern-day medical equipment have small, programmed computers. Many of the medical appliances of today work on pre-programmed instructions. The circuitry and logic in most of the medical equipment is basically a computer. The functioning of hospital-bed beeping systems, emergency alarm systems, X-ray machines and several such medical appliances is based on computer logic.

Communication between Medical Practitioners and Patients, Knowledge Sharing between Doctors

Computer networking enables quicker communication. Computers and the Internet have proven to be a boon in all the spheres of life. In the field of medicine, computers allow faster communication between a patient and a doctor. Doctors can collaborate better over the Internet. Today, it is possible to obtain experts' opinions within seconds by means of the Internet. Medical professionals sitting on opposite sides of the globe can communicate within minutes with the help of the Internet. It is due to computer networking technology that network communication has become easy. Medical practitioners can discuss medical issues in medical forums, they can blog, write articles, contribute to medical journals available online. Updates in the medical field, advancements in medicine, information about new methods of treatment, etc. can reach the common man within minutes, thanks to the Internet and easy access to computers. Doctors can exchange images and messages in seconds and derive conclusions speedily. They can seek advice and share knowledge in a convenient manner over the Internet.

The importance of computers cannot be stressed enough. Computers have given a new dimension to every field and medicine is no exception.

Computer Education

Importance of Computer Education

Computers have brought about a revolution across all industries. They have changed the face of society. They are no longer specialised tools to be used by specially trained people. They are ubiquitous and used in almost every sphere of life. Computers are the best means for storage and management of data, they can serve as huge knowledge bases and can be harnessed for all sorts of financial transactions owing to their processing power and storage capacities. As computers are a daily utility, they have gained immense importance in day-to-day life. Their increasing utility has made computer education the need of the day. 

By computer education, we mean, gaining the know-how of the basic concepts related to a computer and gaining the basic knowledge of computer operation. Knowing about the basic components of a computer, the basic concepts behind the use of computers and the know-how of some of the elementary computer applications constitutes computer education. Learning about the computer basics followed by a practical experience of using a computer is the key to computer education. As computers are widely used today, acquiring computer education is the need of the day.

Computers are not only storage devices and processing units, but also are excellent communication media. They are the means to access the Internet and get connected to the world. They are also an effective audio-visual media. Computers can be used to access a vast knowledge base and search for information archives over the Internet. Only computer education can facilitate the use of computers for purposes of communication and entertainment. 

Computer knowledge coupled with certain other job skills increases ones chances of getting a job. Those with knowledge of computers are considered trainable for many kinds of jobs. As most of the jobs involve the use of computers, computer education is an eligibility criterion for almost all the modern-day jobs. Higher education involving network administration, hardware maintenance or software skills open doors for brighter job opportunities. 

Computer education helps one manage ones own business assets and personal finances. Computers serve as efficient means for management of information. Personal financial assets, medical records and important documents can be stored in an electronic format in a computer system. Today, banking transactions and payments of bills can be done over the Internet. Similarly, on line shopping is becoming widely popular. To be in the race, it is very important to take computer education. 

The word processing applications of a computer serve as an effective means of documentation. The database management software that are a part of computer systems serve as the means of managing large amounts of data. The networking capabilities of a computer facilitate connecting to the Internet to reach out to the world. Gaming applications and media players are some of the popular computer software, which are popularly used across the world.

Computers, which have such a wide variety of applications, are indeed ruling society. To keep up the pace in this fast life of today, computer education is extremely important. Computers are an integral part of life and so is computer education!