Very simply speaking, Pharmacy is the science of manufacturing medicinal drugs and dispensing them to the patients for therapeutic need/s. It is such a branch of study that can offer students a potential life-changing career, as it does not only help relatively healthy people maintain their wellbeing but also offers people with serious illnesses the chance to regain their health. The Indian Pharmaceutical industry presently ‘ranks 4th in volume and 13th in value in the global pharmaceutical market with exports worth US Dollars 2.6 billion besides domestic sales amounting to over US Dollars 4 million’ (according to a statistics given by the ‘Pharmacy Council of India’ ). Also, The World Health Organization estimates that between 2016 and 2019, spending on pharmaceuticals across the world will rise drastically – from $300 billion per year to $400 billion a year.

Thus in such an era of growth, the industry would be in demand of huge human resources in job positions of manufacturers knowing latest technology of the science to Quality-control Officers, Drug-Inspectors and Hospital Drug Controllers in various government and private hospitals, Scientists in Research and Innovation, Retailers, Teachers, etc. to even boost the public health-care sector greatly, something upon which every government is interested in as well.

For such a branch of study the basic courses begin with a 2 years Full-time Diploma in Pharmacy (D. Pharm) or a 4 years Full-time Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) course, whose syllabus includes a broad range of scientific disciplines that are critical to the discovery and development of new drugs and therapies. At Brainware University in West Bengal, some of the points of interests under the graduation course syllabus would be subjects like the study of Human Anatomy and Physiology to Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Computer Applications to Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, and Pharmaceutical Jurisprudence for enforcing laws, rules and regulations in its field of business. Biostatistics, Social and Preventive Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Marketing, Computer aided Drug Design are some other topics of study within the graduation course. After graduation however, students would definitely get scopes of pursuing Masters and Ph. D courses, as well as MBA in Healthcare Management, if they would like to continue with studies in the said field.

In Bengal, a trusted name to search for D. Pharm courses in Kolkata and B. Pharm courses in Kolkata would surely be The Brainware University, located at Barasat near Kolkata. With the latest infrastructure, an extremely organized administration, a strong faculty base, excellent student-teacher-industry interactions and a huge clean and green campus, the University excels in every educational field, including the Pharmaceutical Sciences as well. Students should join this new-age institution, hoping to be superbly placed in the healthcare sector in future, a sector to be flourishing even more in near future in India.

Join one of the top ranked private universities in Kolkata and give wings to your future!

Data science is something that is used by almost every other industry today. The question is why? The answer is all the customer-oriented product creation. The data created by consumers and various entities involved in a business is huge. But then to understand and search for meaning inferences from them can be difficult. This is where data science helps, using various tools and algorithms to explore it and use it for strategic purposes.

The main objective of data science is to create value for the business. And value for business can be created by gauging the market risks and opportunity on time, knowing demands for new products and services, and most importantly customer satisfaction and retention.

APPLICATIONS OF DATA SCIENCE

It has a variety of applications in different industries. Industries indulged in it are:

• Medical industry: used for collecting and using various patients’ data and timely disbursing reports.
• Retail and commerce: various E-commerce websites use the customer satisfaction activities and also for warehousing and logistics.
• Banking and financial institutes: one of the pioneers in using it for detecting credit risk and frauds.
• Entertainment and social media: they use it for getting customer insights and content optimization.
• Transportation industry: to understand travel insights, route planning, and shipment management.

Data science is applied in making optimized search engines, recommendatory systems, gaming, robotics, voice and image recognition software etc.

PROCESS OF DATA SCIENCE

Data science is a logical step by step process, which takes both time and patience. Getting understandable inferences from massive amounts of raw data can be difficult.

• Collecting data: involves collecting data from various sources and storing them in data frameworks.
• Cleaning data: data usually have lots of flaws and gaps, these inconsistencies are to be removed and cleaned.
• Exploring data: exploring data includes analyzing the data using visualizing tools and statistical models to find meaningful patterns.
• Modeling of data: modeling usually involves creating algorithms using machine learning to use data as a strategic and predictive tool.
• Communicating the results: this is where one needs to interpret the inferences and communicate with others so that it can be used for further business decision making.

HOW TO BE A DATA SCIENTIST

There are two aspects of becoming a data scientist:

• Technical aspect
• Business aspect

In technical aspect, one should be skilled in:

• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Programming
• Data mining, cleaning, exploring
• SQL databases, C/C++, Java
• Python, R, SAS
• Algorithms and data structure
• Hadoop, Apache Flink, Apache Spark, Hive etc.
• Database management
• Machine learning tools and techniques.

Business skills one should have are:

• Presentation skills
• Communication skills
• Analytical decision-making skills
• Problem-solving skills

To be a successful data scientist, along with technical and business skills one should have a curiosity to see new problems and ask new questions and try to solve them in an analytical way.

Currently there exist a number of life science societies in India. The names being diverse, purpose indeed remains the same. These societies are aiming to bring people on a universal platform and popularize science. Certain initiative needs to be incorporated in order to popularize science, which is necessary for its further betterment in the society.

Life Science Society Initiative (LSSI)

The increased effort by the prevalent societies needs more focused perspective. Current outlook is more towards increasing the awareness of science within the community, also there is interdisciplinary work carried out by some of these societies. The efforts should be directed not just to gather these intellectuals and students on a common platform but also to inculcate the habit amongst them to interact in near future. Directives should thus be towards creation of a scientist, teacher, entrepreneur and most significantly an intellectual.

Scientist-Teacher Interaction (STI)

There should be an increased researcher-educator partnership between both, the educators of science and scientists to teach science as it is practiced. There is a communication gap, which is commonly observed between both the scientist and a teacher. The use and conception of improved facilities, update knowledge and productive interactions between the scientist and teacher should be practiced. Inclusion of teaching, research and human research development must also be a part of the process. Programs should be initiated to enhance interactions amongst both the groups.

Teacher-Student Interaction (TSI)

This interaction is indeed strong and influenced. There is day-to-day interaction and discussion within members of this group. The popularization of science is a positive feature that can be initiated by this group. Apart from academics the vision needs to be set towards popularizing science in near future. In many institutes and colleges the incorporation of research projects as part of the curriculum has generated zeal amongst the young generation towards research and science.

Scientist-Student Interaction (SSI)

In most of the cases the reach of students towards science and or scientist is limited. There is a lack of knowledge amongst students about research hence dialogue needs to be established within the scientist-student community. In recent years the communication between this communities is possible by the means of interactive sessions and program such as conferences, symposia, guest lectures or open forums.

But what is the life of this talk? Does the discussion ends within four walls of the conference room? What are the numbers benefited under these program? What about the grassroots levels initiatives?

One of the initiatives in this respect is launch of science magazines. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of science-based magazines. Science magazines was previously more focused towards particular age group readers, it now attracts more diversified readers. To some extent the scientific magazines have proved to reduce the barriers. But how many of them afford to purchase or read these magazines?

Science Awareness Strategy (SAS)

Where do we place science, scientist or science educator? Do they always face a setback in terms of pecuniary? Are the science educators looking towards a change? What do students of science think of the long-term prospects of their career in science?

Honestly speaking science is still undoubtedly not so career dream for most of them. Therefore, science should be made more attractive and focused. The perspective of researchers towards the students must be more open. The life science societies and organizations are driven by their own disciplines. They are more focused towards the organizational aspects and need to co-ordinate their activities on issues like science education.

The state of science education in India is currently still critical as compared to rest of the world. The significance of science education should not be ignored. A collaborative effort of scientific and educational communities thus has become a need of an hour.

Forensic science can be defined as the application of scientific methods and principles to solve crimes and other types of legal issues. In most criminal cases, a forensic scientist is typically involved in looking for and examining many kinds of physical evidence that can help establishing a link between a suspect of committing a crime and the scene of the crime or victim. Forensics is now a more popular subject since several TV shows became successful, such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI).

However, very few people realize that being a CSI or forensic professional can be a very good career alternative. One can put forward many reasons that make forensic science one of the best career prospects nowadays. The reasons range from labor market, salaries, benefits to training availability and beyond.

The availability of jobs for someone seeking to be a forensic professional used to be very small for a long time until about five years ago, when many technological and scientific advances started to develop and provided new kinds of tools that substantially improved the efficiency of the police and security forces in solving crimes and other problems. As a consequence, most law enforcement agencies and other institutions greatly expanded their resources and facilities in order to increase their ability to employing techniques and methodologies of forensic science.

Even though police departments alone employ (and keep hiring) thousands of people coming from diverse areas of forensic work and with many different educational backgrounds, police is not the only alternative for those looking for a job related to forensic science or criminal justice. Methods and concepts of forensic science are increasingly being used by many other institutions for diverse purposes so the job market for forensics is greater than ever. Companies that develop, improve and produce tools, reagents, kits and devices to be used in forensic investigation are also a good part of the available job market. The size of the job market and the opportunities associated greatly increase if one considers working abroad. Besides the United States, countries like Britain and Australia are also part of this trend.

Being a discipline that relies strongly on technology, working in forensic science requires the acquisition of certain skills. This means somebody wanting to work in forensics needs at least some sort of higher education. The type of degree and the length of the program vary largely and depend on the kind of work one is interested in doing. Some positions require higher degrees such as Ph.D. or Masters, but many more posts can be taken after a short course of one or two years earned at smaller private academies.

But these requirements are not a big obstacle to be sorted out if one considers the many benefits of working for a forensic department. Positions at police agencies and other law enforcement institutions are often accompanied by substantial benefits and competitive salaries and, best of all, good prospects of stability and professional growth along with an aura of social approval typically associated with law and order public service. These and many other reasons make forensic science on of the best career alternatives available today.

Big Data and Data Science have already caused waves in all industries from IT to healthcare. Agriculture is another field where this revolutionary technology is being used in order to provide a betterment to the lives of struggling farmers.

Agriculture is the most vital sector in every country, but it lacks support from banks in terms of farmer welfare schemes and loans and in institutional attention. Those involved in the field receive very little support and have to face lots of disasters like climate change, floods, droughts, unfair policies in price fixing, etc. With more and more new problems coming up every year, it is high time that we resort to evolving technologies for solutions.

Smart Farming

A breakthrough application of technology and science newly applied in the field of agriculture is called Smart farming. It is a network of complementing and interdisciplinary facilities and technologies. Technologies like Big Data, Internet of Things, Machine learning, Cloud computing, and analytics are applied to the agricultural field so as to enable farmers to gain more insights on the results of their actions and take better and learned decisions on the practices involved in farming .

The advantage of smart farming is not just limited to improving farming practices. The application of Data Science technologies has a significant impact in giving projective insights on farming operations and practices, as well as in helping to redesign business models, and in delivering real-time decisions, thus having a significant bearing on the entire supply chain. Data Analytics provides tremendous opportunity to significantly improve the initial cost to produce an output ratio, optimize or reduce input usage, improve product yield, offer timely advice for necessary actions, and more.

Improvements in Farming

Satellite-based monitoring, embedded sensors on fields and crops, fertilizer requirement reports, wind direction predictions, pest warnings, water cycles, tractors which are GPS -enabled, and many more facilities act as a rich data source for improvement in better agricultural methods. Monitoring and supervision for nutrient requirements and growth rates on per plant basis is also enabled by application of data science technologies. It also enables farmers to decide which crop to plant for the next harvest based on the available data like information on water availability, soil health, monsoon predictions etc.

Advantages in Marketing

Now that consumers are keen to know the source of food and how it is produced and processed and packaged, there is a need for transparency in the supply chain of the entire agricultural business. The technologies which provide efficient and strategic farming solutions also include usage of the app-based data extraction and generation, storage of data on the cloud, machine learning, real-time visualization of data, satellite monitoring, and so on.

The use of these technologies enables production forecast, output predictability, risk management, quality maximization, and increased sustainability to agriculture companies, financial institutions, and banks, insurance companies, seed manufacturing companies, farming enterprises, government bodies etc. Advice can be issued to farmers if supply is more than demand or even vice versa. This can help control food inflation to a great extent.

WHO ARE DATA SCIENTISTS?

Data scientists are experts with the expertise and skills to interpret the complex data. They combine a mathematician’s and a computer scientist’s skills. This enables them to straddle both the business and IT worlds. That’s why they are paid really well, in comparison to other analytical experts.

ABOUT DATA SCIENCE CERTIFICATION

With the progressive growth of data science across each and every sector of industry, technology trends have shown how significant they are for the effective functioning of a diverse range of businesses. One can learn data science at a variety of institutions. There is no need to go to college for several years and get a degree. Today, we can acquire an equivalent qualification through on-line data science certification courses. The best part of a certification course is that it is similar to a data science degree and one can study at his/her own convenience.

ADVANTAGES OF CERTIFICATION

DATA TRAINING is essential for professionals and freshers looking for a career as because:

• The data-driven economy has made organizations open their doors to big data, increasing the value of a Scientist who knows how to effectively drive the value of a large amount of data. It helps you acquire a competitive edge over others and to stay one step ahead of your competition.
• A recent report from the TDWI clearly states that “46% of organizations cite inadequate skills and employees for Big data Analytics”. It can help the organizations to fill the gap and inculcate skills which employees lack and also help experienced professionals to advance in their careers.
• The enormous growth across industries is a clear indication of the variety of job opportunities available in industries across various sectors. Getting certified leads one to greater heights in the professional hierarchy where is plenty of room for aspiring data scientists.
• The application of big data is not a passing or temporary trend. It’s here to stay and will escalate at an exponential rate, further holding out a promise for the future in the field of data science. Their future looks secure.
• With the wealth of information available regarding fresh job seekers available on social media, corporate databases etc, Data Scientists can hunt fresh talent for the organization and recruit the best to fit the organization’s needs, speeding up and streamlining the recruitment process.

CONCLUSION

They have the capability to add value to the organization and to their careers. Today, a data scientist is a vital component in the success of any organization as they have the necessary skills to handle complex problems.

With the global technological development, a lot of data is being processed each and every day. It has become ubiquitous and unsustainable for any Business Holder to keep it structured and track a resource. To overcome this major difficulty, Data Science – the fast expanding field, has been developed. Every field such as medicine, finance, media or manufacturing has huge sets of data. Therefore the need of data scientists’ skills is sought after everywhere, i.e. they are not bounded to one particular industry!

What do Data Scientists do?

Data Science is an amalgamation of mathematics, statistics, business understanding and programming skills. Therefore, Data Scientists are partly mathematicians, partly computer scientist and partly trend spotters. A Data Scientist helps companies interpret and manage data; deal with processes and systems and solve complex problems with a strong business sense. Their main roles include:

• Collecting large sets of structured and unstructured data from various sources.
• Determining the data sets and variables.
• Ensuring validity, accuracy, uniformity of data.
• Analyzing data to interpret trends and patterns.
• Discovering solutions and opportunities.

Some of the prominent Data Scientist job titles are:

• Analyst
• Engineer/Mining
• Administrator
• The Machine Learning Engineer
• Advanced Analytics Professional

Exploring Data Science:

The few courses, one needs to undergo to become a Data Scientist include Python, SQL, R, Blockchain, Statistical Analysis, Visualization, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Hadoop, Spark, Internet of Things (IoT), Six Sigma, Mind Mapping, to name a few.

If you have natural curiosity, creative and critical thinking, desire to search out the answers to unasked questions and realize the full potential of data, provided that these concepts of data science excite you, it is the perfect time to consider data science as a career option. The stats suggest that these skills are in high demand and transitioning careers in as little as 6 months of commitment.

A computer programming background, innovative business strategies and ability to communicate complex logics to non-technicians in an easy way are prerequisites to becoming a Data Scientist.

The perks of becoming a Data Scientist:

Data Scientists are in high demand with an offer of handsome salaries. Around 80% of companies focus on investing a large proportion of professionals who can analyze data effectively to prepare better strategies for the future. Data Science training is the pathway to getting hired in the top fortune companies, the Giants, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, PayPal, Facebook, Uber, Apple who constantly look for Data Experts. The role is to link the business and technical sides, identify the trends and strategize plans to increase their sales and profits. This field also offers freedom to work on the projects that matters/interests you. Across the globe, both large and small organizations, irrespective of the field, require Data handlers to interpret and analyze the data they create every single day.

This science project is unique as you will turn an egg green but how it happens is very interesting and a great demonstration experiment.

Things you will need for the science project.

• An egg
• Red cabbage
• A pan
• A pot
• A bowl
• Oil
• A parent to help

You are going to make a green egg and cook it, but you will not be using any food coloring or anything green. Let us get to the experiment and we can discuss the results and hypothesis later.

Take the red cabbage and cut into slices as if you were making cole slaw. You will not need a great deal of cabbage. A cup or two should do the trick. Place the cabbage shreds into the pot and pour in a cup of water. If you are using more cabbage you may want a little more water. You do not need a lot. Turn on your stove top and leave on high or a fairly high heat. Let the cabbage cook for a bit. This could take ten to fifteen minutes. You want to get the water to turn a nice purple red color from the cooked cabbage. We will then use the water from the cabbage. Once the cabbage has cooked and the water is a very dark purple color you are ready.

Take your fresh egg and crack it. Separate the yolk into a small bowl and the white into a little larger bowl. Now take a spoonful of the red water from the cabbage and put into the bowl with your egg white and use the spoon or a fork to stir it up.

Heat up your skillet or pan and place a small amount of oil in the pan as you will be cooking the egg and need to keep it from sticking. When the pan is heated pour the colored egg white into the pan. You will notice the egg white is green. You can also put the yolk on top of the egg white now to cook both together.

This will be cooked sunny side up because you do not want to flip it over as you want everyone to see the green coloring. When done you can obviously eat the egg. There is nothing wrong with it because the coloring was added by the cabbage.

Why did this happen? You took the purple coloring from the cabbage and put it in the egg white and it turned green. You did not have the yolk involved in this. You only added the yolk after the white was cooked to finish the complete egg.

Why did this green coloring happen? What chemical process occurred? Was there any change in the egg shite itself?

This is a great science project for chemistry class in high school.

As science teachers prepare to go back to school for the next school year, some have already returned, they are always searching for good online resources to supplement their lessons. It is always nice when someone helps them by previewing science websites and make recommendations.

The best science education websites are interactive, allowing students to make changes to or manipulate variables to observe what happens and share with others. This falls within the boundaries of inquiry-based teaching and learning. Students are developing their own experiments, observing the results, and reporting their findings.

The following websites have been previewed and meet the criteria of interactive and inquiry-based:

FOSS Web – is designed to support Full Option Science System (FOSS) Science K-8 science kits, but anyone can use the interactive activities for grades K – 8.

Volcano Cams – provides real-time views of volcanoes around the world. Students can observe volcanoes and develop their own experiments using these virtual cams for grades 5 – 12.

Explore eLearning – provides simulators for all science concept areas for grades 3 – 12.

Real-time Stream Flow Data across the Nation – by the US Geological Survey (USGS) provides real-time data typically are recorded at 15- to 60-minte intervals and transmitted to the US Geological Survey offices every four hours. Data can be selected by state and county for grades 8 – 12.

Real-time Water Quality Data across the Nation -by the US Geological Survey (USGS) provides real-time water quality data are returned directly field instruments. Data are updated at five minute to one-hour intervals. Data can be selected by state and county for grades 8 -12.

Design a Roller Coaster – allows students to design their own roller coaster. They are building a conceptual coaster using the same physics concepts that are used to design real coasters for grades 6 – 12.

Human Anatomy Online – allows students to explore the Human Anatomy. Each topic has animations, 100's of graphics, and thousands of descriptive links, for grades 4 – 12.

Earth and Atmospheric Kids Crossing – allows students explore water, atmosphere, and weather for grades 3 – 8.

Recycle City – lets students explore plenty of ways to see how a city's residents recycle, reduce, and reuse waste for grades 3 – 8.

MBG Net – allows students to explore Biomes, Freshwater Systems, and Marine Systems of the World for grades 6 – 12.

Today, technology is everything, every industry is now depending on technological advancements to increase their revenue. However, the most basic reason why industries rely on technology is to keep market competition high and offer the best customer services. One such revolutionary stream which has taken almost every other industry by storm is data science for which one can find many quality certifications.

It is all about gathering data, pruning data and then understanding the data to find meaningful insights at the end of the data pipeline. All these insights are then used to create value to the company by increasing customer satisfaction, developing new products and making existing products and services more efficiently. One such field which is now extensively using big data is medicine and healthcare.

BIG DATA IN HEALTHCARE

By 2020, healthcare data will be exceeding 2,314 exabytes. What use is of all the enormous data pile if not applied to understand the healthcare scenario better. In the past, all the medical records were stored as hard copies, but with big data emergence the records are collected, stored and interpreted via data science tools. Having structured medical data helps in better patient care and healthcare decision making.

There are three types of data that is collected by healthcare units across the globe. They are:

1. Electronic patient records.
2. Clinical records made by doctors, nurses in the form of prescriptions, medical reports, laboratory notes, and medical insurance companies.
3. And machine-generated data from social media, website traffic, news data, journals and from machines showing vital signs.

DATA SCIENCE IN TRACKING PATIENT VITALS

It helps in tracking the vitals of all the patients who are plugged into different devices which keeps the track of all the vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate etc. Using big data helps doctors in knowing any kind of vital changes in the patient’s body quickly without a need to monitor them personally all the time.

DATA SCIENCE IN DATA SOLUTIONS

Medical and health care industry handles an enormous amount of data on every day basis, which needs systematic collection, sorting, and systematic storing. It helps in handling the data so that doctors and medical practitioners can have easy access when in need.

DATA SCIENCE IN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Almost every other hospital is part of corporate firms and groups, which is why there is a continuous need to earn revenue and make the hospitals a profitable ecosystem. It helps in creating business plans and new products which boost the business success rates.

DATA SCIENCE IN FRAUD DETECTION

Every industry is susceptible to forgery and human error, same with the medical industry. So, there can be faults like, mismanagement of data or like writing faulty prescriptions and false medical insurance claims. It can help solve these problems by cross-analyzing the data and alerting when precarious medical practices take place.

Considering all the above applications in the medical field and many other industries who use data science extensively, one can say today there is a huge need to train data science professionals and that is why one should think of earning a data science certification.