Cloud Data Security - 2018 Ponemon Study Infographic

From safenet.gemalto.com

Key Points/Stats from this Infographic:

• In two years an average of 51% of all IT and data processing requirements will be in the cloud, an increase from today’s average of 39%.
• The average number of cloud apps & services used by companies today is 27.
• While 53% of respondents say their organization uses multi-factor authentication to secure access to data in the cloud environment, only 36% of respondents say their organization encrypts or tokenizes sensitive data within cloud applications.
• Source: https://safenet.gemalto.com/resources/data-protection/2018-cloud-data-security-ponemon-study-infographic/ (Accessed on January 19, 2019)

Here are the top 10 learning trends of 2019

Gen Z has a set of unique behavioural attributes which are shaping the needs of the education industry and pushing them to develop ways to deal with them.

 the present scenario, we are witnessing industries undergoing a disruption with a rapid convergence of technologies; which is faster than ever before! These constant changes are making competencies in workforce go obsolete leaving Lifelong Learning as the only feasible option. On the other side, Gen Z has a set of unique behavioural attributes which are shaping the needs of the education industry and pushing them to develop ways to deal with them.

Here are some of the industry trends of delivering learning by Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head of TCS iON, a Tata Consultancy Services unit focused on education, assessment boards and SMBs:

1. Nano-learning

The attention span of learners is persistently shrinking. With the existence of lengthy, text-intensive, un-interactive learning content, students are unwilling to sit in sessions spread over hours. To address this, nano-learning or bite-sized learning is fast becoming a significant trend to support the learner behaviour and ensure attention.

2. Lifelong Learning

As per a report, by 2022, 9 per cent of India's workforce is expected to be employed in job roles that don't exist today while 37 per cent is believed to be in new job roles. In order to prepare for this change, it is important to know that learning is not discreet, rather a continuous and connected process in which the needs of the learners vary with time and the stage of their life. Every moment provides a learning opportunity.

Hence, it is necessary to keep a track of the learning culture of an individual across different stages and not just specific learning in a particular stage. This will help understand the capabilities of a learner in its true sense.

3. Mass personalization

The pattern of customer-based personalization is gradually progressing wherein adaptive means of learning is taking over the concept of 'one-size fits all'. Being an effective mode of learning, this approach takes into consideration the individual learner abilities, and the appropriate time to consume content, thereby enhancing the quality of learning and the overall experience of learners.

4. Data-driven learning

Every individual leaves a large footprint of his/her learning behaviour while learning. Today, such interactions (learning better with video, preferring game format, etc.) are acting as data sources for understanding the learner's patterns and trends, and for devising strategies to make learning more effective than before.

5. Self-paced learning

Learners have some nuances, which are unique to them where some students slow in a certain subject but might have the ability to grasp other subjects better. Taking this into consideration, the pace of the content is now being adjusted according to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual student in specific subjects.

6. Addictive mechanisms in learning

There are specific constructs either in the content or in the learning platform that attract a learner's attention. These include 'like' or 'comment' buttons, challenges, the capability to score and compete, win badges and points, and so on. The focus of learning is slowly transforming to include these constructs in the content to make learning more addictive.

7. Engaged or Immersive Learning

The learner today desires a learning experience with engaging, interactive content that includes games, puzzles, and surprises embedded within. Hence, there is a growing trend of designing content using technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality to create immersive and engaging experiences.

8. Collaborative learning

Learning is no longer a one-to-one interaction between the content and the learner. Instead, it is transforming to be an interaction between a group of people in a community construct where students can learn by debating and deliberating on a common platform.

This concept moves beyond the traditional custom of a student and a teacher. A teacher's role is to facilitate learning for learners together learn from each other.

9. Twenty-first-century skills

According to a survey, India is expected to form 25 per cent of the world's workforce by 2025. This creates the urgency to equip the country's youth with 21-century skills which have a much higher preference over specific domain skills.

Today, learners are assessed on their ability to work in teams, be ethical in given scenarios, and to be creative and assertive. As a result, the focus has shifted towards developing these capabilities to help learners have a greater advantage in the job space. It is not just academics; it extends beyond to social skills.

10. Learning experience platform

Today, rendering mere content is not enough; instead one needs to render experiences to make learning enjoyable. The emphasis rests on enhancing the learner experience management system which uses engaging game cartridges to modulate experiences while delivering content.

As we progress in 2019, we have our energies focused on these evolving trends which are about to dominate the next set of years and we are in the forefront of driving these trends in the market itself.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/the-top-10-learning-trends-of-2019-1427682-2019-01-10 (Accessed on January 19, 2019)

IBM Earns Over 800 Patents In 2018; India 2nd Highest Contributor

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IBM inventors from India earned over 800 patents – the second highest contributor to the company’s global record of 9,100 patents in the US in 2018 – with nearly half in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, cyber security, blockchain and quantum computing.

One of the patents filed from India went to IBM inventors Shivali Agarwal, Gaargi B Dasgupta, Shripad J Nadgowda and Tapan K Nayak, the company has said in a statement. They developed an AI-based approach for structured representation and classification of noisy and unstructured data in tickets used in service delivery.

Ticket analysis helps create problem diagnostics, prediction of outages and prevention of issues in service delivery, for example for help desks.

“IBM is committed to leading the way on the technologies that change the way the world works – and solving problems many people have not even thought of yet,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and CEO.

Among more than 1,600 AI patents included “Project Debater” that, with the use of Machine Learning, can debate humans on complex topics — identifying evidence such as relevant text segments in unstructured text data, which supports or opposes a claim or topic under consideration.

IBM inventors received more than 2,000 cloud computing and over 1,600 AI patents.

The new patents were granted to a diverse group of more than 8,500 IBM inventors in 47 US states and 48 countries.

Source: https://www.expresscomputer.in/artificial-intelligence-ai/ibm-earns-over-800-patents-in-2018-india-2nd-highest-contributor/31472/ (Accessed on January 16, 2019)

New research could allow fast diagnosis of viruses like Ebola and Zika

A new development in molecular biology is a step towards enabling mobile and instant diagnosis of viruses like Ebola or Zika in the field. The Oxford Nanopore MinION device can sequence DNA and RNA in real time, and researchers at the French agriculture research center CIRAD have found a way to use the device as a tool for identifying plant viruses and potentially animal and human viruses too.

The researchers at CIRAD were searching for a way to diagnose viruses quickly and early in the infection process, so they could avoid the time consuming and potentially dangerous process of transferring contaminated samples to a lab. They struck on using the portable sequencer MinION device, which in the last few years since its development has become a common tool for biological analysis techniques like de novo sequencing, targeted sequencing, metagenomics, and epigenetics. The CIRAD team were able to both test and validate that the device could be used in plant virology, making it an invaluable potential tool for diagnosing viruses in real world outbreaks.

“Using a diseased yam plant, it took us just a few hours to sequence the entire genome of two single-strand RNA viruses, a macluravirus and a potyvirus,” CIRAD researcher Denis Filloux said in a statement. This fast and accurate diagnosis technique is a first step to providing real time detection of chronic viruses with a mobile device which can be used even in isolated and remote areas.

A new technique will make it possible to detect viruses in the field. In this case, a yam plot in Guadeloupe. D. Filloux, Cirad

A key aspect of virus outbreak management is shortening the time between taking a sample of a possibly infected plant and diagnosing it as carrying a particular virus. With this development, this process can be achieved in a shorter time to help public health officials to detect potentially harmful outbreaks at an earlier stage than was previously possible. With the new technique, the device will be able to examine the whole genetic structure of a virus quickly: “The technology is characterized by the production of long nucleotide sequences, which makes it possible to sequence the entire viral genome,” Philippe Roumagnac, a virologist with CIRAD, said in the statement.

This technology would be especially valuable in developing countries where there is often a lack of laboratories which can diagnose viruses and limited understanding of how to manage outbreaks and transport contaminated samples.

 Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/mobile-virus-diagnosis/ (Accessed on January 16, 2019)

Harsha Bhogle, wife Anita, Nykaa chief Falguni among those on IIM boards

As industry representatives with an emotional connection to the prestigious business schools, the alumni are expected to guide the decisions of the boards.

Harsha Bhogle, who is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, has been nominated to the board of IIM, Udaipur. Anita Bhogle, who also studied in the same institute, is now a member of the board of governors of IIM Jammu.

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, speaker and author Anita Bhogle, beauty products maker Nykaa’s founder and former investment banker Falguni Nayar, and ReNew Power Limited chief Sumant Sinha are among the graduates of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) who have now been snapped up by various IIMs for board positions — in keeping with the new IIM Act passed last year that mandated alumni from the IIMs on the boards.

“There is a requirement that up to five alumni should be on the board of every IIM. Several IIM graduates who are now big names in different fields are part of these boards,” said a government official who asked not to be named.

To be sure, since there are 20 IIMs now, with many being set up recently, the newer IIMs have been allowed to taken on alumni from other IIMs on their board.

Harsha Bhogle, who is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, has been nominated to the board of IIM, Udaipur. Anita Bhogle, who also studied in the same institute, is now a member of the board of governors of IIM Jammu. Another IIM Ahmedabad alumna, Falguni Nayak is also on the board of IIM Bodhgaya. Sumant Sinha, who is the brother of Union minister Jayant Sinha, studied at IIT Delhi and then IIM Calcutta. He is on the board of his own alma mater, IIM Calcutta.

“Sinha was appointed as a member last year. His name again figures in the reconstituted board,” the government official said.

The idea of getting alumni on the board isn’t new, but the new IIM Act codified it. As industry representatives with an emotional connection to the prestigious business schools, the alumni are expected to guide the decisions of the boards.

Another eminent alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Sachit Jain, the vice chairman and managing director of the Vardhaman group, is on the board of IIM Amritsar. Sridevi Raghavan from Kozhikhode is a senior vice president of HDFC. She is also a member of the board for IIM Kozhikhode.

Sanhjay Mukherjee, an IPS officer who graduated from IIM Calcutta, is on the school’s board.

“Some of the members of the newly constituted boards have also been repeated, especially in the older IIMs. However, many have been appointed for the first time. The IIM boards are star-studded. And they will be more so when the positions marked specially for eminent members are filled up,” a senior human resource development (HRD) ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Following the passage of the IIM Act 2017, the HRD ministry in consultation with the law and justice ministry, initiated the process of re-constitution of boards for the IIMs. The process is underway.

 Source: Hindustan Times dated January 14, 2019

https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/harsha-bhogle-wife-anita-nykaa-chief-falguni-among-those-on-iim-boards/story-CnPWS1nIOdpAoHLZS2k38L.html

Lateral breakthroughs: NEW DIRECTION Consultancies, fellowships, even senior positions in govt are now open to graduates and executives, and new institutes are helping students prepare

This approach of lateral entry into the government has worked well in countries such as the us and UK. if implemented comprehensively, it will help bring in fresh ideas and new approaches to governance here too. DEVASHISH SHARMA, founding member of PeopleStrong, an HR firm

Not all government jobs require an entrance exam. Lateral entry allows qualified candidates — those with a relevant graduate or postgraduate degree, and / or experience in the field — to bypass the civil service exams and directly interview for consultant positions.

“Such candidates can apply for positions in government bodies such as NITI Aayog, the National Skills Development Council and Quality Council of India,” says Luis Miranda, member of the governing council at the Indian School of Public Policy. “If there is an opening for the position of a risk management consultant in these institutions, for instance, MBAs and chartered accountants are accepted. If there is a vacancy for the position of an urban planning consultant, your architecture degree could help you get a job.”

Right now, the job profiles available are a bit scattered, says Devashish Sharma, founding member and chief of strategic accounts and alliances at PeopleStrong, a human resource solutions firm.

“Most of these jobs are for consultants, but there are also positions open for fellows and even joint secretaries in certain departments.”

In June last year, the central government invited lateral entry applications for 10 joint secretary positions from “individuals with expertise in the areas of revenue, financial services, economic affairs, agriculture, road transport and highways, new and renewable energy, civil aviation, and commerce”.

“This approach of lateral entry into the government has worked well in countries such as the US and UK,” says Sharma. “If implemented more comprehensively, it could help bring in fresh ideas and new approaches to governance.” CORRIDORS OF POWER Towards that end, the Indian School of Public Policy, a Delhibased private institute, will launch its flagship programme in policy design and management in August.

“The one-year Master’s equivalent course will help students learn about what the government is looking for in lateral entry candidates, and what such a job would entail. Students will learn leadership skills, administration and communication,” Miranda says.

Faculty will include senior academics, policy experts and former administrators. “The plan is to have students placed with government organisations, consulting firms, thinktanks and maybe even run for election at the end of the programme.”

Graduates can also apply directly for fellowship programmes such as the state government’s Chief Minister Fellowship Programme and the fellowship programme of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The central government also launched the India Smart Cities fellowship and the Delhi government announced an Urban Leadership Fellowship last year.

Before deciding to make the move, make sure it’s the right one for you. “These jobs are generally contractual, so you may not get the desired career growth, and you also will likely not get the type of job security that generally comes with a government position,” says Sharma. “Secondly, you should know that it’s very different from working in a corporate setup. There are processes in place and intricate protocols to follow. There is considerably less democracy and much stronger power structures in place.”

Source: Hindustan Times dated January 16, 2019

10 percent EWS quota to be implemented in colleges and universities in the academic year 2019-20 itself- Shri Prakash Javadekar

Benefits of 7th CPC to be extended to teachers and other academic staff of State Govt. / Govt. aided degree level technical institutions in the country- HRD Minister

Union HRD Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar while addressing a press conference in New Delhi today, informed that in a landmark decision, the Government  has decided that from the academic year 2019-20 itself, 10 percent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota will be implemented across 40, 000 colleges and 900 Universities in the country. This 10 percent quota for EWS will be over and above the existing quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs and General seats.

Adequate additional seats will be created in these colleges and universities to implement the quota for EWS. The UGC and AICTE will be provided the operational mandate within a week to implement the quota.

In another major announcement, Shri Javadekar informed that the Government has approved proposal to extend the 7^th CPC to the teachers and other academic staff of the State Govt. / Govt. aided degree level technical institutions in the country, which will have additional Central Government  liability of Rs.1241.78 crore.  

He said that the Central Government will reimburse 50% of the total additional expenditure (from 1.1.2016 to 31.3.2019) to be incurred by these institutes for payment of arrears on account of 7^th CPC implementation.

This will directly benefit a total of 29,264 teachers and other academic staff of State Government funded institutes. Besides, about 3.5 lakh teachers and other academic staff of private colleges/ institutions within the purview of AICTE will also benefit from the approval given today, he added.

The Minister said that the implementation of pay commission recommendation in State Government Aided / funded AICTE approved technical institutes will help them in attracting and retaining the faculty of high academic standards.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=187513 (Accessed on January 16, 2018)