Social Change
Table of Contents
December 2014; 44 (4)
Thursday, December 18, 2014
ITDC signs an MoU with Assam down town University, Guwahati
New Delhi: Adding new affiliation to its list of collaborations, India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (ITDC) has signed an MOU with Assam down town University, Guwahati. The joint endeavour is to conduct a three year Bachelors course in Hotel Management at the Assam down town University, Guwahati, with Industrial Training at ITDC Hotels. The MoU was signed at Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati on 15 Dec 2014.
The MoU was signed by Cmde (Rtd) Ratan Kumar Okhandiar, Director Commercial & Marketing, ITDC and Dr Narendra Nath Dutta, Chairman cum Managing Trustee, Assam down town University at Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati. ITDC will provide its expertise in developing the curriculum for the three Bachelors course in Hotel Management enabling students to cope up with the new trends emerging in the hospitality sector.
The 3 year programme will be conducted at the Assam down town University Campus in Guwahati offering a joint certification (ADTU and ITDC) to the successful students. The course will provide substantial practical skills that are related to different functions in a hotel and therefore has a large amount of time dedicated to practical training with ITDC. This program will commence from April, 2015-2016.
ITDC also welcomes similar collaborations in other parts of the country.
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Taj: the pollutants causing discolouration identified
Particulate carbon and fine dust particles cause browning of the marble
Finally, the specific pollutants in the air that are responsible for the discolouration of the white marble of Taj Mahal have been identified. Particulate carbon and fine dust particles that are deposited on the marble are responsible for its browning.
Carbon is of two types — black carbon and light absorbing organic carbon or brown carbon. The results from a study were published a few days ago in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Besides studying air samples collected from the area, the authors used marble samples on the building to collect the pollutants. They also undertook computer modelling to study the colour change brought about by reflectance of the particles.
Both organic carbon and dust particles have the ability to preferentially absorb light in the blue region of the spectrum. The absorption of blue light by these pollutants in turn gives the marble surface a brown hue.
“There is one group of organic carbon which absorbs light in the blue region of the spectrum and this is called brown carbon. Discolouration is because of what is happening to reflectance, and reflectance is in turn influenced by these particles,” said Prof. S.N. Tripathi from the Department of Civil Engineering and Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. He is one of the authors of the paper.
Role of dust particles
The ability of fine dust particles to produce the brown hue is a well known in North India. According to him, it is the presence of haematite in the dust that is responsible for the brown hue.
“If haematite is not present in the dust then the dust would be only scattering in nature,” he said. Haematite is the ingredient that absorbs the blue wavelength of the spectrum.
Though the absorption of blue light by individual dust particles may be smaller than that by brown carbon, the copious amount of dust of two micron size found in the particulate matter makes the overall absorption much higher than that by brown carbon.
The study revealed that particles larger than two micron in size accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the deposited particle surface area. These relatively coarse particles are by default the dust particles.
Pure dust particles per se do not have the ability to stick to surfaces. “But what we see is a potpourri of particles. The organic carbon is very sticky,” Prof. Tripathy said. Unlike the dust particles, carbon particles are in the 100 nanometre to 1 micron size. Burning of biomass like wood and dung, burning of trash and crop residue are the primary sources of brown and black carbon.
On studying the marble samples, the researchers found that black carbon produces a greyish discolouration, while brown carbon and dust produce yellowish-brown hues.
A combination of these two result in darker shades of yellow-brown. The sample targets were in place only for a brief period of two months.
“We found the colour of surrogate marbles matched well with model results. Modelling showed the combined effect of dust and carbon in discolouration of the marble samples,” he said.
Your Internet image
Recruiters are increasingly seeking information about prospective candidates online. Make your web presence a winning one.
When applying for a job or internship, a good amount of time and thought goes into building an impressive resume. And now, emphasis is being laid on building a good online presence as recruiters are going online with their employee background checks.
The Web offers a host of options for students to build a great online profile which can help recruiters gauge their capabilities. Here are a few pointers to help one build an effective online presence and also manage one’s virtual identity to impress recruiters.
While Linkedin has been universally accepted as an online resume-building network, students should also look at creating profiles in other social sites which have high search rankings on Google. These sites appear on the first page of Google when their names are searched for. So, an active profile can help create a good impression.
Get creative
The idea of personal branding is gaining great momentum and in an age where small-time businesses and autorickshaw drivers are looking at the Web to gain a competitive edge, students cannot afford to ignore its power. And to stand out among the rest, some amount of innovation is necessary.
Traditional blogging sites such as Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr can be used to build an attractive compilation of one’s work. For instance, a student can upload published or unpublished writings or even put up write-ups on the projects that he or she may have worked on as part of academic assignments.
“Blogs are an excellent platform to showcase one’s interests, creativity and experience. Most importantly, they give reviewers an idea about the thought processes and worldview of a person. Companies are on the lookout for candidates who exhibit ingenuity, and this can be exhibited by maintaining creative blogs. I feel content is more important than the design, and more time should be spent in generating good writing,” says Ron Billimoria, CEO, Miracleworx Web Design.
Yet another way to express oneself is through Twitter. This micro-blogging platform can help exhibit one’s active involvement in current affairs and also their areas of interest. However, if one is looking for something more ambitious in terms of design, then a website may be the best option, even if not feasible in terms of time and money. Another alternative is to use the free templates of website builders to make a professional-looking website. A few such sites to check out are Web.com, Weeble and Wix.
Visually appealing
Including a good number of visual elements, such as photos and videos, can go a long way in making the website or blog look good. Visuals have the capacity to attract more attention as well as registering better in the minds of people. They can, therefore, be used to one’s advantage. Another option is to create short video resumes and upload them on YouTube. These videos can showcase a specific skill, and the link can be a part of one’s resume.
Brevity is of utmost importance as it saves time. Shorter the video, the better chances of it getting noticed. Besides, it shows the ability of the student to present ideas concisely, which is an important skill. “Video resumes by themselves cannot make a huge impact unless the area is niche. They have to be combined with other elements to create a balance,” explains Billimoria.
It is advisable for students to keep the same username across all active platforms as it establishes consistency and avoids confusion in the minds of employers. The identity must be as distinguishable as possible. Finally, integration is key. “You cannot have your recruiters run from pillar to post to find out more about you. Cross-linking of blogs and other websites helps them access all the information in one place,” says Billimoria.
With online identity becoming such an integral part of finding a job, it would be safe to say that a traditional resume is no longer enough.
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