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By The Numbers |
BITSAT 2010, which is the online entrance test for admission to BITS, Pilani and its other campuses in Goa and Hyderabad, received 139,000 applications this year for 2000 total seats, which is 13% more than that of last year.
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Exams alert |
Admissions to Integrated first degree programmes of BITS at Pilani campus, Goa campus and Hyderabad Campus for I Semester 2010-11 will be held online between 10th May, 2010 to 10th June, 2010 through a computer based online test (BITSAT) conducted by BITS. |
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Thus Spake |
We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own |
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Interesting Facts |
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The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses. |
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Did you know |
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Talking Mobile Phone: With the introduction of the mobile phone, many blind persons have started using them since the benefit of mobile technology is overwhelming but these cell phones were not designed for use by the blind, they found it very difficult to send SMS messages or use the full functionalities in the mobile phone like the sighted. |
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) |
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Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer based information system capable of digitally representing and analyzing geographic features and events. The main purpose of GIS involves assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying data in a database that is identifiable according to locations, with a view that every object on the earth's surface can be easily geo-referenced. Geographic Information Systems works on the simple premises that almost every form of data can be related to a map or other forms of easily understandable graphics. |
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Smile Please..! |
Comforting Words |
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A man was seen fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation.
"What's the matter?" he was asked.
He said, "I heard the nurse say, 'It's a very simple operation, don't worry, I'm sure it will be all right."
"She was just trying to comfort you, what's so frightening about that?"
"She wasn't talking to me. She was talking to the doctor."
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Anything to Win
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On the day of the local cricket match, the captain was talking to one of his men. 'Look, here's a pound,' he said. 'Go out and buy a new ball or something. Anything that'll help us win.'
The match began and the captain noticed that the same old ball was being used.
He called his man over. 'What did you do with the pound?' he asked. 'Well, you said anything to help us win.'
'Yes.'
'I gave it to the umpire.'
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Net Practice
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The standard of batting in the local cricket team was very low. Even at the net practice, they couldn't hit a thing. Finally, the captain rushed forward and grabbed the bat.
'Now bowl me some fast ones!' he yelled.
Six fast balls came down in quick succession and the captain missed them all.
Not to be put off he glared at the team and shouted, 'Now that's what you're all doing. Get in there and hit them!'
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From The Editors Desk |
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Heartiest Greetings!
In this issue of Youniverse, we have presented an article on "Geographic Information Systems (GIS)" the article provides an overview on the GIS.
Our regular section on "Exam Alerts" informs you of the important dates of the upcoming entrance examinations. The section on "Complex simplicities" explains selected tech jargons and their meaning.
More >>
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Complex Simplicities |
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Rich Internet application
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Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are web applications that have many of the characteristics of desktop applications, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, or independently via sandboxes or virtual machines. Adobe Flash, Java and Microsoft Silverlight are currently the three top frameworks, with penetration rates around 95%, 80% and 45% respectively. Apple has consistently not allowed the use of the top three RIAs in its iPhone, iPod or iPad devices and has instead delivered the applications through its own software and is now promoting HTML5.
Users generally need to install a software framework using the computer's operating system before launching the application, which typically downloads, updates, verifies and executes the RIA. This is the main differentiator from JavaScript-based alternatives like Ajax which use built-in browser functionality to implement comparable interfaces.
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High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) |
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High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards. |
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Interesting Facts |
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The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses. |
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The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people. |
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The snow leopard protects itself from extreme cold when it sleeps by wrapping its 3-foot-long tail around its nose. |
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The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called ‘Mokshapat.’ The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie’s shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e. good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births. |
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One thousand contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine (999) has an A. |
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The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. |
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A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water. If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you’ll feel thirsty. If it’s reduced by 10%, the person dies. |
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A flute made of bone is the oldest playable musical instrument in the world. It’s a flute carved from a bird’s wing bone more than 9,000 years ago. The flute was discovered with other flutes at an ancient burial site in China. |
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The earliest maps were made by the Babylonians about 2300 B.C. The word MAP comes from the Latin word, "mappa", and means cloth, or sheet. |
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Benjamin Franklin, an American, started the first lending library. |
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The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed. |
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Did you know |
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Talking Mobile Phone: With the introduction of the mobile phone, many blind persons have started using them since the benefit of mobile technology is overwhelming but these cell phones were not designed for use by the blind, they found it very difficult to send SMS messages or use the full functionalities in the mobile phone like the sighted. Now things have changed. Mobile Speak is here talking software that converts the cell phone into a talking mobile phone make the lives of the visually impaired easier and put them at par with the sighted. Mobile Speak is a screen reading software for mobile phones that allows access to most of the functionalities of the mobile phone and will make it possible for blind people for the first time to navigate through the Internet using a mobile phone. Mobile Speak software is to a mobile phone what Jaws is to a personal computer that converts it into a talking computer. |
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Kiwi Fruit: The kiwi fruit is not called kiwi because it has to go through a kiwi bird’s digestive system to sprout. The kiwi fruit isn’t even a native of New Zealand like the bird. The fruit really comes from southeastern China. It was called the Chinese gooseberry until it was transplanted to tropical places around the world in the early 1900s. A grower in New Zealand noticed that it resembled the shaggy, round kiwi bird. He started calling it kiwi fruit, and the name stuck. The fruit had a long history before it was commercialized as kiwifruit and had many other older names such as Macaque peach and Macaque pear. No, and It Doesn’t Require a Chinese Goose, Either. |
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Largest cruise ships in the world: When Ferdinand Magellan led the first circumnavigation of earth in the 16th century, his 5 ships were about 100 feet (33 metres) long each and reached 10 knots. Today, cruise liners exceed 1,000 ft (300m) in length and reach 30 knots.The Queen Elizabeth was the longest cruise liner when she was launched in 1938, being 1,030 ft (314 metres) long (she was destroyed in a fire while being renovated in Hong Kong harbor in 1972. The Grand Princess, which cruises the Mediterranean, is, at 109,000 tonnes, one of the biggest. She accommodates 2,600 passengers. The Carnival Destiny – at 101,000 tonnes the first liner to displace more than 100,000 tonnes – entertains 3,400 passengers at a time in the Caribbean. Queen Mary 2 was the world’s largest, longest, tallest ocean liner until |
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Royal Caribbean International’s Freedom of the Seas was launched in April 2006. Although QM2 is 20 ft (6m) longer, Freedom of the Seas comes in at 160,000 tonnes, is 1,112 ft (339m) long, 184 ft (56m) wide and has a cruising speed of 21.6 knots. She is 50 ft (15m) wider than QM2 and pampers 4,375 lucky passengers in her 1,800 rooms across 15 decks. Her sister ship, Liberty of the Seas, was launched a year later, then being considered the largest ocean liner. She features a water park, cantilevered whirlpools, and onboard surfing. The third liner in the famous Freedom Class, the magnificent Independence of the Seas, was launched in April 2008. |
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Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, featuring 17 decks and towering 62 metres (200 ft) above the waterline, one and half times higher than the Statue of Liberty, only 35 metres shorter than the Empire State Building. |
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) |
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| Overview |
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Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer based information system capable of digitally representing and analyzing geographic features and events. The main purpose of GIS involves assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying data in a database that is identifiable according to locations, with a view that every object on the earth's surface can be easily geo-referenced. Geographic Information Systems works on the simple premises that almost every form of data can be related to a map or other forms of easily understandable graphics. Data from GIS is available in the form of maps, 3D virtual models, tables or lists (maps are however the most common form of output). |
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A complete Geographic Information System typically comprises of the following:
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Computer Hardware and other required peripherals |
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Software |
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Data |
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People to feed in data and to interpret information |
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Comprehensive Training to make effective use of system |
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GIS may be a complex system involving dedicated databases and workstations connected to a network or it may be simple desktop software. |
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Data Representation and Projection in GIS |
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GIS represents real world data (both discrete objects and continuous fields) using digital data. If data exists in ordinary form then a digitizer, scanner, etc, may be used to convert coordinates in to digital format. While inputting data in to the GIS one needs to specify identities of the objects on the map as well as their spatial relationships. Data representation in Geographic Information System is done using following methods: |
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Raster Method - Data will be arranged in rows and columns or in the form or cells storing single values. Value recorded in each cell may be categorized on basis of individual data classes that they represent. |
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Vector Method - Geometries such as points, lines, areas, etc, are used to represent objects. You can also make use of vectors to represent continuously varying fields. |
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GIS uses principal of mathematical projection while transferring information from one model to another (from three-dimensional curved surfaces to two-dimensional mediums such as paper or computer). |
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Primary purpose for employing Geographic Information System is to relate information across different sources. For this purpose it is essential to know locations of the different variables that need to be related. The system uses random notations such as x, y, z in order to denote location of the different variables under study. These variables may be coordinates of latitude, longitude and elevation or they may be other geocode system like Zip codes, highway mile markers, etc. Several government and non-government agencies are coming up with computer databases that can be directly entered in to GIS. |
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Advantages of using GIS: |
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One can make use of Geographic Information System to accomplish effective spatial analysis with data collected from different information points. Results from such an analysis can help to build a cause-and-effect relationship or can provide valuable solutions to a wide array of problems depending on purpose for which GIS is employed. |
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GIS may be used to determine rainfall amounts wherein two-dimensional and three-dimensional information relating to earth's surface, subsurface and atmosphere are collected across information points to obtain the required resultant map information. This rainfall information (in different states) when related with respective aerial photographs of the county helps determine which wetlands dry up at certain times of the year (or such other information as may be required). Another area where Geographic Information System is popularly used is in the police and fire departments. Here GIS helps to locate landmarks and hazards, plot destinations and also helps to design emergency routes. |
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Conclusion |
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Today engineers, planners and managers make use of Geographic Information System in almost all business areas including Government, Academic, and Commercial levels. GIS is considered as an efficient tool to help carry out organization and administration of industry database (pertaining to geographic information or other relating details) and to implement effective database management and analysis. Scientists are these days working towards improving use of GIS in remote sensing to obtain more accurate results. With time this technology will grow and help open up new frontiers in science and innovation. |
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Rich Internet application |
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Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are web applications that have many of the characteristics of desktop applications, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, or independently via sandboxes or virtual machines. Adobe Flash, Java and Microsoft Silverlight are currently the three top frameworks, with penetration rates around 95%, 80% and 45% respectively. Apple has consistently not allowed the use of the top three RIAs in its iPhone, iPod or iPad devices and has instead delivered the applications through its own software and is now promoting HTML5.
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Users generally need to install a software framework using the computer's operating system before launching the application, which typically downloads, updates, verifies and executes the RIA. This is the main differentiator from JavaScript-based alternatives like Ajax which use built-in browser functionality to implement comparable interfaces. While some consider such interfaces to be RIAs, some consider them competitors to RIAs and others, including Gartner, treat them as similar but separate technologies.
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RIAs dominate in online gaming as well as applications which require access to video capture (with the notable exception of Gmail, which uses its own task-specific browser plug-in). As web standards such as HTML5 have developed and the compliance of web browsers with those standards has improved, the need for plug-in based RIAs has diminished. The emergence of a range of JavaScript-based desktop-like widget sets have continued this trend. |
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High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) |
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High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards. |
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From The Editors Desk |
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| Kayalvizhi M.S |
| Email - kayal@mindlogicx.com |
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| Heartiest Greetings! |
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In this issue of Youniverse, we have presented an article on "Geographic Information Systems (GIS)" the article provides an overview on the GIS.
Our regular section on "Exam Alerts" informs you of the important dates of the upcoming entrance examinations. The section on "Complex simplicities" explains selected tech jargons and their meaning.
We hope you would find the information presented in this issue of Youniverse interesting and useful. |
We welcome your thought, views, comments & suggestions to share information as knowledge. |
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| Editor |
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Feedback |
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Please provide us with your feedback on how you feel about the Youniverse newsletter.You can also send us your queries on the VEDAS services. |
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