Saturday, September 14, 2019

Lots of minds in India capable of becoming great scientists: Nobel laureate Serge Haroche


TNN | Sep 14, 2019, 06.39 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Serge Haroche, who was awarded the 2012 Nobel prize for physics for ground-breaking findings in quantum physics, said that "it is very important to train children in science, especially those whose families don't have science background, as there are lots of minds in India and the world who are capable of becoming great scientists".

In an interview with TOI at the Swedish embassy here, the Nobel laureate talked about India's moon mission and a slew of scientific projects. He said, "I have come to know that India has lost contact with its lunar probe. But this is science, failures are bound to happen. You have to learn from these experiences and do better next time." Earlier in Mohali, he had hoped that Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) would "certainly fix the problem with Vikram lander".

On talking about the world's interest in Moon, Serge Haroche said, "Moon has always interested us. In the US (Apollo) programme that started 50 years ago, we found something strange. America had sent 12 people to land on Moon starting from 1969 and after the manned mission in 1972, everything stopped and the interest disappeared. But Moon is still an interesting subject. Israel had recently sent its probe but it crashlanded. Failures will happen in science, it is life. But science should not be done only for prestige."



On the correlation between Moon and Earth, he said, "Moon is responsible for tides on Earth because of its gravitational effect. This gravitational effect on Earth also has its influence on Moon and its trajectory."

What asked what was the need to measure Earth-Moon distance like a Nasa payload (laser reflector array) on board Vikram lander was supposed to do when scientists knew the distance was 3.84 lakh km, Serge Haroche said, "We have to do measurements for precision. We have to find out that what we had measured corresponds with theory. This is basic science."

The French physicist had shared the Nobel prize jointly with David J Wineland for doing "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems", a study of the particle of light, the photon. After a PhD dissertation on dressed atoms under the supervision of Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (himself a Nobel Prize recipient) from 1967 to 1971, he had developed new methods for laser spectroscopy, based on the study of quantum beats and superradiance.

On the importance of laser in space science, the Nobel laureate said: "Laser is very important as it can be used to find out the distance between two subjects with precision." On the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) project, he said, "Great work is being done in this direction. Two antennas (detectors or observatories) have been set up in the US (Louisiana and Washington), one in Europe (Italy). I think one is being set up in India and the other one in Japan. This project will help in gravitational wave detection. The more antennas you have, better it is because than you can locate the place in space and the distance of the source of gravitational waves. It will be a new window to the universe. We can detect lots of events."



He also talked in great length and the significance of the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) project, the first dedicated space-based gravitational wave detector that aims to measure gravitational waves directly by using laser interferometry. The LISA concept has a constellation of three spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides 2.5 million km long, flying along an Earth-like heliocentric orbit. These three spacecraft relay laser beams back and forth between the different spacecraft and the signals are combined to search for gravitational wave signatures that come from distortions of spacetime. Nasa is a major collaborator in the European Space Agency (ESA)-led mission, which is scheduled to be launched in early 2030s.



On the recent discovery of water on an exo-planet K2-18b, Haroche said, "It is a big field of scientific research to find water in a star system. Twenty years ago, it was very difficult to make such discoveries in such planets. Now, big progress is being made. Not only you can detect such planets but you can detect molecules in their atmosphere. However, the result is tentative and a lot of research is needed."



The Nobel laureate was in India to be part of a new travelling exhibition, "For the greatest benefit to humankind", which was inaugurated on September 11 in Mohali. The world premiere was part of the Nobel Prize Series India 2019, a three-day programme that was organised in Ludhiana and Delhi to highlight issues related to education and learning. Under this programme, Haroche and Kailash Satyarthi, receipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, interacted with people. The Nobel laureate was accompanied by Juleen Zierath, professor of clinical integrative physiology and a member of the Nobel Committee at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. They both gave lectures and took part in round-table discussions with students, teachers and researchers. Both the intellectuals shared with people their work experience and expertise in their respective fields. The objective of such exhibitions and exchange programmes is to hightlight how Nobel laureates have made the world a better place, showcasing discoveries and achievements that have saved lives, fed humanity, connected people and protected the planet.



"The Nobel Prize Series inspires people to seek knowledge, ask questions and contribute to improving the world. By sharing achievements and stories of Nobel laureates with a global audience, the programme encourages engagement in science, literature and peace in line with Alfred Nobel's vision," says Laura Sprechmann, CEO of Nobel Media.

Infosys, TCS enjoy best prospects to deliver growth outperformance


Overall our price targets for 5 top-tier companies rise by 2-10%, as a result of the changes.
Infosys best placed near-term, on both growth & margin.

Our recent meetings with Infosys & Wipro and channel checks suggest a mixed picture with rising risks in BFSI but continued overall deal momentum for select companies. Benefit of recent INR-USD depreciation will be offset to some extent by cross ccy headwinds. We expect continued divergent growth across companies with Infosys best placed in the near term. Amidst our positive stance towards IT services as a relative defensive, TCS & TechM are our other Buys.

Infosys best placed near-term, on both growth & margin

We maintain near-term visibility is best for Infosys amongst top-tier companies given its strong deal win momentum. We expect revenue growth for FY20e to surprise positively at 11.5% y-o-y constant ccy vs. its latest guidance of 8.5-10%. This implies 11% y-o-y growth for rest of FY20e. Despite visible margin pressures across companies in Q1, we also expect Infosys’ FY20e Ebit margin to meet the mid-point of its guided range at 22%, implying 22.5% for rest of FY20e.


Adjusting estimates, PT for ccy & other factors

We adjust our estimates to factor in weaker INR vs. USD but stronger cross currency headwinds. We temper our growth expectations for FY20e in some cases to reflect rising macro risks. We also introduce FY22e estimates and roll forward our price targets. We raise valuation multiple for Infosys as we expect its discount to TCS to narrow. Overall our price targets for 5 top-tier companies rise by 2-10%, as a result of the changes.

Infosys, TCS remain preferred picks

We maintain our positive stance on Indian IT services as a relative defensive. TCS & Infosys remain our preferred picks as we believe these are best placed to deliver growth outperformance, which should also drive better margin defence. We believe risk-reward is favourable for Tech Mahindra given improving communications outlook – recent large AT&T deal will add. Despite its recent deal win momentum, we maintain Hold on HCL Tech given risks from high inorganic contribution. Maintain U/P on Wipro given consistent growth underperformance.

TCS to help students build skills in a fun way

Tata Consultancy Services is now accepting registrations for the second edition of TCS iON IntelliGem, a national-level contest for students from class 5 to 9.





Representational image (File |Reuters)
By Express News Service

Tata Consultancy Services is now accepting registrations for the second edition of TCS iON IntelliGem, a national-level contest for students from class 5 to 9. Registrations will be accepted only through schools till September 20.

IntelliGem is structured as a test, which helps young learners develop 21st century skills in five areas — creativity and innovation, communication, financial literacy, universal values, and global citizenship. Students who clear the qualifying round, which is a computer-based test, are ready to compete in the city round, which leads to the pre-finals, and then the grand finale, which will be held in Mumbai. It will consist of buzzer rounds and one-to-ones with an expert panel.

Participants will have free access to digital learning content to help them prepare. Teachers from all the participating schools will get access to the TCS iON Teachers’ Network, which hosts a vast pool of learning resources.

For more details and to register your school, visit http://intelligem.tcsion.com/

Friday, September 13, 2019

Brain drain from academics is hurting economy

The study, the first of its kind, was conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester. They found that over the last 15 years, 153 artificial intelligence professors in North American universities left their posts for industry. Another 68 moved into industry while retaining part-time roles with their universities.


SAN FRANCISCO: For years, big tech companies have used huge salaries, bonuses and stock packages to lure artificial intelligence experts out of academia. Now, a study released on Friday says that migration has hurt the post-college prospects of students.

The study, the first of its kind, was conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester. They found that over the last 15 years, 153 artificial intelligence professors in North American universities left their posts for industry. Another 68 moved into industry while retaining part-time roles with their universities.

From 2004 to 2009, 26 university professors moved into industry. In 2018 alone, 41 professors made the move. The exponential rise in departures over the last decade and a half indicates that the trend will continue. The talent shift could accelerate the development of artificial intelligence inside tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

But at the universities the professors left behind, graduating students were less likely to create new AI companies. When they did, they attracted smaller amounts of funding, according to the study. The effect was most pronounced in the field of “deep learning,” a technology that has become a crucial part of new AI systems.

In time, the brain drain from academia could hamper innovation and growth across the economy, the study argued. “The knowledge transfer is lost, and because of that, so is innovation,” said Michael Gofman, a professor of finance at the University of Rochester and one of the authors of the study.

Deep learning is driven by “neural networks,” complex mathematical systems that can learn tasks on their own by analysing vast amounts of data. By pinpointing patterns in thousands of dog photos, for instance, a neural network can lear n to recognise a dog.

Big tech companies have hired many of the academics who specialized in the technique. Three longtime academics recently won the Turing Award — often called the Nobel Prize of computing — for their work on neural networks. Two have moved into industry, one to Google and the other to Facebook.

Tech and automobile industry’s interest in artificial intelligence of all kinds has increased, according to the study. Google and DeepMind, both owned by Alphabet, have hired 23 professors. Amazon has hired 17 professors. Microsoft has hired 13 professors. And Uber, Nvidia and Facebook have each hired seven.

Tech companies disagree with the notion that they are plundering academia. A Google spokesman, for example, said the company is an enthusiastic supporter of academic research.

The study found that students most affected by the departures were those who graduated four to six years later, meaning they probably had little interaction of the departing professors. At any given university, a significant increase in the number of departing professors reduced the number of AI entrepreneurs by 13%.

Experts are split on whether a decline in the startup economy will harm the progress of AI. But many agree that university funding should be increased to ensure that the next generation is properly educated.

AI could improve police paperwork: MHA think tank

BPRD’s futuristic vision for law enforcement , especially in smart cities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project, is part of a concept note the body has drafted.
In a recent interview with The Economist, author Malcolm Gladwell, too discusses the importance of AI in the criminal justice system.(HT image)


The use of Artificial Intelligence in police paperwork, including charge sheets could remove flaws and prejudices from creeping into investigations, India’s Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD), a think-tank of the ministry of home affairs (MHA), believes.

BPRD’s futuristic vision for law enforcement , especially in smart cities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project, is part of a concept note the body has drafted.

“A machine-learning algorithm can generate chargesheets specific to an incident with complete legal validity without any exclusions or non-conformity. This allows minimal manual intervention; hence the scope for malicious intent is not there in any way and the ability of the legal system to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law is always available. In the charge sheet, references from other judgements as well as other outcomes can also be included to make it more effective,” reads the note, a copy of which has been seen by HT.

Asserting that AI based systems have outperformed lawyers as well as judges in some cases, the BPRD note adds: “A neural network based system over a period of time can also create sensor based inputs in order to predictively allow for the analysis of outcome of cases as well, helping speed up the judicial process. The consequent burden on the policing system goes down”.

In a recent interview with The Economist, author Malcolm Gladwell, too discusses the importance of AI in the criminal justice system. Citing an example of judges taking bail decisions, Gladwell says, “..Defendants stand in front of the judge, the judge has to decide whether I released this person until the trial or I put the person in jail. Are they likely to commit another crime in the interim? That’s an extremely difficult decision to make. And when we look at how effective judges are in predicting the dangerousness of the defendant, they are not very good at it. But look how the machine learning algorithm tends to do better, actually much better than the judge. So there is an instance where we have clear evidence that a disembodied computer can be more accurate in making a prediction about the human being than a judge.”

Gladwell, however, also argues that there is a need to combine both the decision making of humans and AI, a view that many proponents of AI have also advocated.

According to BPRD, AI models coupled with crime mapping can be developed “to analyse crime patterns and identify hotspots which act as a useful tool for predictive and preventive policing”.

The police can also use AI based on algorithmic software at a crime scene for immediate recognition of perpetrator (s) based on modus operandi, pattern of crime/criminals in the area, biometric data, forensic data etc, the note claims. The BPRD note cites the example of San Francisco based Deep Science AI which has developed AI Surveillance (AIS) platform which uses deep learning to identify real people concealing their faces/firearms of intruders.

AI can also be used to manage traffic in smart cities, BPRD has suggested in its note.

To be sure, all this needs integrated data on video surveillance of public places, a wide CCTV camera network, sensors just about everywhere, databases of criminals, information on public transport, real-time tracking of events, and other such, the note admits. It also adds that privacy concerns need to be factored in while using such technologies.

When asked how AI can help police smart cities, Tarun Wig, co-founder of Innefu, a data analytics and cyber security company which provides predictive intelligence systems to various government institutions said: “The AI based system will read the text on a particular case which has to be charge sheeted and extract data on similar charges and relevant law provisions. It can read the type of crimes and tell police how to use its resources”.

BPRD and MHA officials did not respond to queries seeking comment on the concept note.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

'Make in India' push: ABB, NITTTR set up digital simulation lab in Chandigarh

Supporting the nation’s vision of becoming a global manufacturing hub, ABB partnered with NITTTR, for a digital simulation of a CoE lab for students and faculty
The funding for the project is part of ABB India's CSR initiative



New Delhi: Swiss power major ABB India on Tuesday announced the company and the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) have set up a digital simulation lab in Chandigarh.

The first-of-its-kind multi-physics 'Simulation Center of Excellence' (SCoE) in the country will enhance skill development for critical electro-mechanical equipment design and manufacturing, catalysing 'Make in India' for the students and the faculty members of the institute, according to a statement by ABB India.

The funding for the project is part of ABB India's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.

The Center has added another feather in the cap of educational hub of Chandigarh and Mohali, having institutes of repute ranging from business schools to state-of-the-art research institutions. Chandigarh and its adjoining areas have also become a sought-after destination also for outsourcing industries.


Students from electrical and mechanical engineering departments of the institute have been working with ABB on online remote condition monitoring of motors and issues of motor casings.

Though the SCoE was established with focus on electromechanical systems, the high-performance computing feature of workstations in SCoE has also been used by students of the computer science department of the NITTTR for their postgraduate thesis work in the domain of machine learning.

"A combination of knowledge and expertise developed through the right skilling initiatives would be key to take the Indian economy to the next level of growth. ABB India over decades has been working on various initiatives to catalyse teaching, learning and skill development on best-in-class global technology and practices," said ABB India Managing Director Sanjeev Sharma in the statement.


"The upgraded computing, simulation and analysis facilities available in SCoE has brought opportunities for NITTTR students and faculty for research of complex industrial systems. With the availability of SCoE infrastructure, NITTTR faculty has been able to introduce new short-term courses in the domain of Finite Element Analysis for the technical teachers," said NITTTR Director Shyam Sundar Pattnaik.

In a bid to spur NAAC accreditation, UGC assigns Telangana i

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