IIITG Herald
December’16 - January’17
IIITG ‘Sports’ Champions, Pun Intended
In this Issue
Sports Meet 2
Faculty Talk 5
Events
8
Gallery
10
Tech News 11
Brain
Boosters
www.iiitg.ac.in
13
There is only one chance to
make a first impression, and
the IIITG sports team nailed its.
Its performance in the first
ever inter-IIIT sports meet,
held at IIITDM, Kancheepuram,
was truly phenomenal, to say
the very least. The IIITG family
is extremely proud of its
achievements and wishes to
felicitate each and every
person who directly or
indirectly contributed to this
magnificent
success.
Preparation for this event
started as soon as it was
announced, with the faculty
coordinators taking trials and
Faculty Talk
Rashtriya Ekta Saptah
Sardar Vallabhai Patel, often referred to as the
‘Iron Man of India’, was a freedom fighter known
for his immense contribution in the Indian
freedom struggle. He also played a vital role in
the integration of over 500 princely states
through political diplomacy. The Rashtriya Ekta
Saptah (October 31 – November 6) is an initiative
by the Government of India in order to
commemorate him……
Continued on Pg 7
selecting the best players to
represent the institute. These
participants then stayed back
during the vacations and
practiced real hard, right from
the morning till the night,
despite the winter chill of the
both.
Continued on Pg 2
Mohd. Mansoor Khan is a lecturer of the ECE
Department and is also the Associate Coordinator
of sports affairs in IIITG. Currently pursuing his
Ph.D from IIIT Guwahati, he is also good at
Badminton and Cricket. He accompanied the IIITG
sports team as a guide and coach to
Kancheepuram. His invaluable support and
contribution had a big hand in the grand victory
of IIITG in the inter-IIIT sports meet. More on Pg 5
Follow up inside
Page 3
Page 7
Page 14
Faculty Talk
Sports-General
Secretary’s Desk
Achieving High
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Gymkhana News
December’16- January’17
Continued from Pg 1 : Here it must be mentioned
that despite the development of certain difficult
conditions, the IIITG sportsmen (true to their
sportsmanship) fought their way out and kept on
practicing day in and day out. Of course, the faculty
coordinators supported them throughout. Another
fact worth mentioning is that a massive budget of a
few lakhs was dedicated solely to this event. Each
sportsperson was given a custom made IIIT Guwahati
track suit. Also a part of their travelling expenditure
was reimbursed. Basically the college authorities did
everything they could possibly do in order to ensure
maximum participation from the students.
The journey to Kancheepuram was
replete
with
completely
unprecedented events, and was by
no means less than a roller coaster
ride. To begin with, one of the
trains that were supposed to ferry
our students to Kancheepuram was
delayed by several hours. Then,
upon arrival in Kancheepuram, the
team, along with the entirety of
Chennai, was confronted by the
fierce
Vardah
cyclone.
But,
champions from within and
without, the IIITG sports team did
not flinch one bit and fought its way
through the situation. Here, we
would like to give a special mention
to the hosts, IIITDM, for their
prompt action and assistance. They
really did help as much as their
capacity allowed.
However,
considering
the
sensitivity of the situation and also
the time constraint, the opening
ceremony of the sports meet could
not be conducted. Nonetheless,
some indoor competitions were
held in which the sportsmen
participated with utmost gusto and
played like real champions. And
with Vardah clearing up the
following day, things went back to
- Shobhit Bhatnagar
Medal Tally
Carrom
Gold
Football
Silver
Table Tennis
Silver
Badminton
Bronze
Men Championship
2nd Runner Up
Overall Championship
2nd Runner Up
Best Player, Carrom
Kummari Anand
normal. Finally on the 15th of
December,
with
the
prize
distribution ceremony this fourdays-long sports extravaganza drew
to its end. The 1st position was
bagged by the hosts, IIITDM, the 2nd
position by IIIT Jabalpur, and the 3rd
position was tied between IIIT Kota
and IIIT Guwahati. However,
considering certain technicalities, it
was mutually decided that IIIT
Guwahati should have more points
and therefore should be the sole
winner of the prestigious 2nd runner
up position. We really respect and
acknowledge IIIT Kota’s humility
and sportsman-spirit. It is indeed
worth a special mention. Apart
from overall 2nd runner up, IIIT
Guwahati also won the 2nd runner
up in the men’s category. Also,
Kummari Anand of the batch of
2015 was awarded the Best Player
in Carrom Board award.
The faculty coordinators, the sports
secretary, the participants and the
entire IIITG family are extremely
satisfied with, and even more proud
of,
the
sports
contingent’s
achievements. They really have
made their mark. Congratulations
IIITG Sports Team !!
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
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Faculty Talk
December’16- January’17
- Ankita A. Baruah & Palak Kapoor
Dr. Hari K. Choudhury
Dr. Hari K. Choudhury is Assistant Professor in Dept of HSS, IIITG. He is also the Coordinator for Sports Affairs
in our institute.
Q. How did you get into the teaching profession and what inspired you to do this? Also, what is
most rewarding about your job; what makes it all worthwhile?
I started with many options, because you cannot definitely forecast in advance, the curvature of
your life journey. As a profession, teaching has always been my first choice as it is one of the most
respectable jobs/professions. Also, I love to teach and I find my job most rewarding when students
perform well and come up with smiling faces.
Q. What, in your opinion, are the most compelling challenges with today’s education system? And according to you,
how important is grade/GPA for getting a good job?
In my view, to provide quality education to the people is one of the most challenging task for the policy makers. Grade/GPA works as a
gate pass for the beginners to get a job. You can show your talent provided that you get the chance to show it. If your grade/GPA is
low, you have to struggle/suffer a lot (although it is not impossible) to achieve your targets.
Q. Why do engineering students need to study Economics? What’s the best advice you’d give to someone interested in
the field of Economics? Are there any written materials you would suggest to read? Which trade or professional
journals and organizations would be helpful to learn more about this field?
There are many reasons to study Economics, for example: this subject not only helps you to learn a way of thinking but also it helps you
to be an informed citizen of the society. Moreover, economics is a subject that all industry-bound students should learn because of its
real-world applications. Here, I want to mention the name of RBI’s recent youngest deputy governor- Viral Acharya. He has a B. Tech
degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay. Also, amongst many others, there is Raghuram Govind Rajan, B. Tech,
IIT Delhi, etc., who has achieved success in the field of economics. Moreover, having a sound knowledge in economics will help you to
enhance your overall managerial qualities. If someone is interested in economics and wants to study further, my suggestion is that
he/she should join a good management institute like IIM. B.Tech from a reputed institute with a professional degree from IIM or any
other good management institute is considered one of the best combinations amongst several options.
Q. You are actively involved in the IIITG sports club; what do you do to further encourage talented performers in
sports? Also, what measures are taken to ensure the safety of the players in each session?
Our institute is doing well to encourage students in sports activities. However, growing institutes like ours cannot provide all the
infrastructural facilities cent percent to the students. But, this is a very temporary problem and once we are in our own campus, most
of the problems will be solved. For the time being, students are continuously advised to take topmost care during practice session and
in case of any incidence related to medical injury, our institute has some provisions (terms and conditions) to provide medical facilities
to ensure the student’s well being.
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Faculty Talk
December’16- January’17
Q. Generally boys are more interested in sports than girls, so how do you ensure equal participation of all? How do you
enthuse and motivate students to participate in sports activities?
Whenever I discuss with our girl students, I start with the famous TV advertisement line ‘Why should boys have all the fun?’ It is not
correct to say that our girls are less enthusiastic than boys; they also actively participate in our Annual Sports Meet. At present, our
students are staying in a residential complex (rented) and they are facing certain basic infrastructural facilities. But once we shift to our
own campus, it is expected that rate of participation of girls in annual sports will surpass that of boys.
Q. Kindly shed some light on how our college students \ prepared to participate in The Inter-IIIT meet in Chennai. Did
they meet your expectations?
Our students were suffering from severe sports infrastructural problems. We are thankful to the authority of Oil India Limited (OIL) for
allowing our students to use their playground. But despite of having such problems, our students have worked very hard for the First
Inter IIIT Sports Meet. Certainly, their hard work and sincerity has paid off as we managed to secure second runners up position in both
“Men’s Championship” category and in the overall Tournament. Hence, rather than meeting my expectations, they have actually
surpassed it.
Q. Do you have any special words of encouragement as a result of your experience or a quote that you hold dear for
our readers?
Remember, “There is no free lunch”. To fulfill your expectation, you have to do hard work during your study period. Also, try to always
keep your options open. Target for the best case/result, along with preparing for the worst case also, if you can survive in the worst
case, then in the best case, it won’t be a matter for you.
Q. Lastly, we know that the 2014 batch is your favorite. But do you have a favorite student? If not, please tell our
readers what we can do to grab that position
Students are always near to my heart. All are my favorite. But at the same time I also suggest our students to maintain decency,
honesty, coupled with some amount of bindass attitude (whenever required) in their behaviour.
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
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Faculty Talk
December’16- January’17
- Ankita A. Baruah & Palak Kapoor
Q. First of all Sir, our heartfelt congratulations for bringing home so many trophies
amidst all the difficulties. With messed up flight schedules and the Vardha cyclone, how
was the overall Inter-IIIT sports meet experience?
Well to start with, I wish the entire IIITG fraternity a very happy and prosperous new year. I and Dr.
Harikant Choudhury accept all the appreciations on behalf of the entire IIITG Sports contingent. To
accompany students at a Sports meet made me feel excited as my natural bend is towards sports,
but since “Vardha” struck IIITDM Kancheepuram, the experience fluctuated from pleasant to fearful.
Still, our boys achieved the positions as was as expected and it all turned out to be wonderful.
Q. Kindly shed some light on how our college students had prepared to participate in the sports meet and what did you
expect about their performance in Chennai. Did they meet your expectations, exceeded them or failed in them?
As we know IIITG is a newly formed IIIT which is still running in temporary premises. Despite the fact of having minimal infrastructure in
sports Dr. Hari and I have tried our best so far in providing the required sports facilities to the students. Our Director Sir, really helped
us in motivating the students to take part in extracurricular and as a result we went all the way to Chennai. We used facilities (for
weekends) at OIL for Football, which fetched us a Silver , and in Cricket we were somewhat unlucky because of the way the decisions
went. I am more than happy that we achieved all over championship position (2nd Runner’s Up) but looking ahead to improve the
current stats.
Q. You are actively involved in the IIITG sports club; what do you do to encourage talented performers in sports? Also,
what measures are taken to ensure the safety of the players in each session?
Keen observation and thorough motivation is the key to build player from amateur to a challenger. Dr. Hari and I followed this simple
strategy and as result we got very good findings from 1st and 2nd year students. Safety guidelines were briefed and we have few first
aids. In case of major injury, hospital is nearby which was needed only once as far as the practice sessions regarding this meet is
concerned.
Q. Generally boys are more interested in sports than girls, so how do you ensure equal participation of all? How do you
enthuse and motivate students to participate in sports activities?
Sports are for all that I believe. It not only creates sportive attitude but a perfect fitness adding to its relaxing nature. Our institute girls
have that sportive attitude and it is often seen in our temporary badminton courts and indoor sports. But Yes, their participation is not
at par with boys which we always recommend to be more participative.
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Faculty Talk
December’16- January’17
Q. What, in your opinion, are the most compelling challenges with today’s education system? And according to you,
how important is grade/GPA?
To be a strict stereotype in education is one of the major challenges in today’s education but now this scene is on a change, students
are encouraged to take Trans disciplines. Grades do play a crucial role, every student should at least try to make it to threshold.
Remember, you cannot take a launch before reaching a pad/platform.
Q. What have your students taught you that you could not have learned anywhere outside the classroom?
To be always ready with an extempore which I try to justify with what knowledge I have in my field. Learning with students is always
what I liked a lot and will continue to do.
Q. Do you have any special words of encouragement as a result of your experience or a quote that you hold dear for
our readers?
As in my earlier statements, situation sometimes becomes bad or even worse as in case of Vardha striking Chennai, but believe me
Sports and its Spirit is something that I saw came up with the silver lining. We were there in Chennai without electricity/mobile
networks/wifi etc.; you can’t think a single day living like this but we spent 4 days, it was the spirit of sports that made it happen.
“Be
like a pyramid, immovable rock solid in knowledge at base and pin point
at top to sheer any falsity in the same. But be very humble to share it.”
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GS-Sports’Desk
December’16- January’17
- Palak Kapoor
Q. First of all, a HUGE congratulations for that massive achievement in the IIIT meet. What
would you like to say to your team members who participated and made this victory a reality?
Thank you for your wishes. I would like to thank the entire IIIT Guwahati contingent, Dr.Hari K
Choudhury and Mansoor Khan Sir for the grand success at the 1st Inter IIIT Sports Meet – IIITDM
Kancheepuram. The achievement might have not been possible without the effort of
determination and teamwork put in right-size by every participant/team member of IIITG. Even
lacking the resources being a new institute it is the true sportsman-spirit and interest of the
participants which helped us in backing the glory of winning laurels. I also thank god for favoring
us at our hard time
Q. Sports has attained a lot of recognition and gained importance all over the world; what are your views on this and how
important is sports for you, especially in the context of an engineering student?
Sports has raised its empire powerful enough to withstand in the present world. If not, in an orthodox country like India we may not have
found master sportspersons like Sachin, Milka Singh, P.V.Sindhu etc. For me as an engineering student sports has a special identity. I feel
academics along with sports makes us a complete man and trains us to withstand the obstacles of reality.
Q. Do you believe that participating in sports affects the academic performance of a student? If not, what are your ideas
to change this common mindset?
No, not at all. Sports as education is equally important in a person’s life. The fact that education alone makes a man obsolete really makes
sense. There should be also a pinch of sport in every man’s life to battle out his ‘STRESS’ and relieve pressure. Sports helps us in building
some key concepts of life as teamwork, managerial skills, sportiveness etc.
Q. Nowadays, almost every youngster is an ardent fan of watching some form of sport on TV. Do you think this saps their
motivation to participate in the sport themselves?
No, I don’t think so. In fact that makes them motivated and forms a will to participate and explore the sport. Even there are many who
learn the skill and technique by watching the sport on TV.
Q. What qualities do you consider the most important in a sport’s secretary? Being elected as a sport’s secretary,
according to you what is your biggest challenge that you will be or are already facing and what are your plans to
overcome them?
Qualities…..!!! Well….!! I believe a sports secretary should be hardworking, calculative and resourceful enough to provide the apt
resource, equipment and opportunity to the athletes. I being a sports secretary have faced few challenges. IIITG being a new institute
lacks the amount of fields and courts. Even the Shine Heaven society restricted us from playing volleyball and badminton due to certain
reasons. It was a really tough challenge to face though we found the alternatives by building our courts in the field behind hostel for
volleyball and badminton and requesting OIL India to grant us access to their field for cricket and badminton.
Q. What is your next plan regarding the sports department of IIITG? What do you hope to achieve before the next
elections?
Well…!! There is plan to establish proper club structure and see that the clubs are functioning properly to train the athletes for the future
competitions. But for all these things to happen perfectly we require our permanent campus to be established asap. I hope to see IIIT
Guwahati as an ultimate sporting team one day.
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Events
December’16- January’17
- Shobhit Bhatnagar
Rashtriya Ekta Saptah – National Unity Week
Continued from Pg 1: and the untiring efforts that he made for the betterment of the country. Under this initiative,
educational institutes across the country are requested to organise events to pay him homage. IIITG too participated
actively in the celebration of the Rashtriya Ekta Saptah.
 Run for Unity
A short marathon with the motto “Run for Unity” was
organised on the 6th of November by the IIITG Cultural
Sports board. It began at around 6.30 in the morning,
and ran along the length of the Baghorbori Road and
back. The organisation and coordination of the event
was adeptly done by Dr. Hari K. Choudhary and the
Student Gymkhana Council. The marathon witnessed
active participation from the students, the will of who
couldn’t be deterred by either the early morning chill or
well, more importantly, the earliness of the morning
itself! Upon completion of the marathon, each
participant was provided with a healthy refreshment.
“Run for Unity” enthusiasts
 Elocution Competition
An elocution competition on the topic “Relevance and
Importance of Sardar Patel in Today’s India” was organised,
also on the 6th of November by the IIITG Cultural Affairs board.
This event was held in the college campus in the afternoon.
Just like its early morning counterpart, this event too witnessed
active participation from the students, including day scholars. A
formal document stating the modalities of the competition was
emailed to the students by Dr. David Lal, who also judged the
event, along with Dr. Rajarshi Mitra. The students had excellent
content and spoke very fluently, and in fact made it quite a
challenge for the judges to pick out the best. However,
Chandrima Bhattacharji of the batch of 2016 won the first
position, along with a sum of Rs. 1000. The second, third and
fourth positions were bagged by Kaustav Goswami (batch of
2016), Sukanya Deka (batch of 2014) and Darsana Barman
(batch of 2014), respectively.
Participants of Elocution Competition
The General Secretary of the Cultural Board, Sudhanshu Upadhyay was happy about the institution’s participation, and
active participation in the Rashtriya Ekta Saptah. He says this has given him even more encouragement to get IIITG involved
in such events.
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Events
December’16- January’17
Constitution Day
On 26th November, IIITG celebrated the Constitution Day
as per the directives of the Government of India. The
program mainly involved reading of the Preamble to the
Constitution of India, followed by the reading of the
Fundamental Duties as enshrined in article 51A of the
same.
The program was held for different batches in different
rooms, with each room having its own faculty and
student council program coordinators. All students
without exception participated in this event.
It was heartening to note that quite a few of our students
turned up for the event despite it falling on the last day
of
End-semester
examinations
(when
they
understandably want to break free!!). More than their
recitation of the Fundamental Duties as enshrined in the
Constitution of India during the programme, its was their
presence on the last day of exam that exemplifed the
spirit of duty.
- Shobhit Bhatnagar
Art of Living YES+
Workshop
This October, IIITG witnessed its first ever Art of Living
program. Courtesy -Sudhanshu Upadhyay, General Secretary –
Cultural Board.
This was a three day long pilot project that commenced on
Friday, October 21st and concluded on Sunday, October 23rd.
The program was led by Sri Vishnu , a member of the Art of
Living fraternity, and former employee of tech-giant Microsoft.
The workshop was themed “Living in the Present ”.
The program basically consisted of meditation practises,
followed by a little pravachan by Sri Vishnu. Sri Vishnu had also
organised a few fun-filled activities for the participants, along
with a gift exchange programme.
This pilot project generally received positive reviews from the
participants. Suddhanshu Upadhyay believes that this could be
the beginning of a long term relationship between IIITG and
the Art of Living community.
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Gallery
December’16- January’17
Perspective Lecture- IoT
Mansoor Khan and Sports’ GS receiving award
of 2nd Runner-up Mens’ overall championship
IIITG Football Team with runner-up trophy
- Suyog & Daniel
Oil India officials congratulating IIITG Sports
Team
Mansoor Khan with IIITG Sports Team
“Run for Unity” enthusiasts
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Tech News
December’16- January’17
- Palak Kapoor & Suyog Pipliwal
Perspective Lecture – Internet of Things
On the 4th of November, IIITG
welcomed the renowned
Mr.
Ochintya Sharma, Vice-President
Global Engineering, Binatone and
Managing Director for Hubble India,
to deliver the IIITG Perspective
Lecture for that month titled "From
the Internet of Things to the Internet
of Being”. This special perspective was
organized keeping in mind the
placement season ahead for our
graduating batch.
Being such a contemporary and
talked-about topic, the lecture was
attended by a large number of
students and faculty members. The
session began with a short
introductory speech by Dr. Suranjana
Barua on Mr. Sharma and his
achievements (which were most
impressive!), followed by a bouquet
and shawl giving ceremony by Dr. Hari
K. Choudhury and Dr. Rakesh Matam
respectively. Mr. Sharma began the
talk by briefing his audience about the
fundamental essence of Internet of
Things (IoT) and its various
applications. He further added that
IoT is not really a change in
technology, it is rather a sort of
integration happening at a global
level. He then talked about various
inventions, or as he would rather put
it, the modernization of technology
for the betterment of the humans and
their future, pertaining to IoT. He then
talked about how IoT can be further
modified to achieve a new high, and
the role that budding technocrats like
the ones fostered in IIITG have to play
in that. Mr. Sharma concluded his
lecture with an interactive doubt
clearing session in which he answered
questions posed by his audience.
The session was as fun as it was
informative.
Inter IIIT coding Competition
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information
Technology and Management, Gwalior, organized
their Techno-Managerial fest Infotsav16 which
include various events like Techathlon which was
in coding competition of all III-T in the country and
was a team event. It consists of two rounds. First,
an quiz consisting of thirty questions was
conducted. The quiz would cover aptitude and
programming related questions. This will be
followed by a coding competition which would
contain three problems. The event was on 25th
October 2016 from 6:00-8:30 PM on the
HackerEarth platform. Top two teams are selected
from this Institute to compete at the on-site
rounds at Infotsav16. There were total of five team
were shortlisted from our college where three of
them were invited on on-site competition.
Talk on IoT by Mr. Ochintya Sharma
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
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Tech News
December’16- January’17
The last frontier of consumerizing travel
lives in the workplace
According to a 2014 study by Google, 74 percent of leisure
travelers relied on the internet for travel planning. Thats
not surprising; its generally understood that most
consumers make travel plans online. But that same study
found that 77 percent of business travelers also started
their journey online. Similarly, 78 percent of business
travelers used a smartphone during travel planning, versus
67 percent for leisure travelers. Yet in many companies,
booking travel still involves emailing or calling an actual
travel agent, who then books with the airline or hotel. For
executives, it often involves first telling an assistant, who
then communicates with a travel agent, who then
communicates with the airline or hotel. Unsurprisingly, this
process has lengthy reaction times, is prone to errors and
loses traveler preferences along the way.
The Pint-Sized Supercomputer That
Companies Are Scrambling to Get
To companies grappling with complex data projects
powered by artificial intelligence, a system that Nvidia
calls an AI supercomputer in a box is a welcome
development. Early customers of Nvidias DGX-1, which
combines machine-learning software with eight of the
chip makers highest-end graphics processing units
(GPUs), say the system lets them train their analytical
models faster, enables greater experimentation, and
could facilitate breakthroughs in science, health care,
and financial services .
Trivago closes up 8 percent in public
debut
Trivago saw substantial revenue growth, bringing in
425.6 million U.S dollar in the nine months ending in
September 2016. This compares to the 324.6 million
U.S dollar seen in the full previous year. Their 2015 net
loss stood at 42.8 million U.S dollar. We have grown
very massively in the last year, CEO Rolf Schromgens
tells TechCrunch. In particular, hes proud that theyve
been able to grow in the most competitive market in
the world, which is the U.S. Schromgens says about a
quarter of their business is now in America. He
explained that this focus on the U.S. market is part of
the reason they chose to list on the Nasdaq.
- Suyog Pipliwal
Yuvaan’17 Tech Events
One event will be CodeThrill
v1.0 and another one will be
ElectroWarfare v1.0. We are
looking forward for the very
first successful edition of these
events. Both these events will
be
interdisciplinary.
The
former will be a coding contest
aiming towards the creation of
a healthy competitive spirit in
every student in IIITG. It will be
an
individual event. The
registration forms are already
circulated among students via
mails & social networking sites.
All
of us (Organizers)
are
looking forward to a great start
and expect a good amount of
participation
from
all the
batches.
ElectroWarfare, however will be
constitue of teams of 4. This
event will basically focus on
circuit
designing
and
implementation & simulation at
the same time. Each team will
be allowed to choose any
simulation platform that they
deem fit, but they'll have to
implement those simulations on
a
breadboard
for
100%
weightage.
The registration
forms have already been made
available to the
students.
Personally being slightly more
inclined towards this particular
event, I sincerely hope for great
response from all the batches.
Artificial intelligence finds its way into business
through sales
Artificial intelligence (AI) had a
coming out party of sorts in 2016.
Even though it has been in
development for decades, this
year,
with
the
perfect
combination of cheap computing
power and access to increasing
amounts of data, it seems AIs
time has come.Its first foray in
business has been directed at
making
salespeople
more
efficient at every level of the sales
workflow.Alan
Lepofsky,
an
analyst at Constellation Research,
who is working on the impact of
AI on work. He sees humans
struggling
with
information
overload. As we gather ever
increasing
amounts
of
information, it requires machine
processing power to help make
sense of that growing pile of data.
AI is hopefully going to help
alleviate
that
by
filtering
information and automating
tasks, Lepofsky said.Its certainly
having an impact in the startup
community. Just this week, we
saw Conversica, a company that
has built a virtual sales assistant
on top of artificial intelligence
underpinnings, land a 34 million
US dollar investment. The tool
takes advantage of natural
language processing, an inference
engine and natural language
generation fairly sophisticated AI
technology to undertake initial
email
contact
with
sales
leads.Meanwhile Tact, a company
started by a CRM industry
veteran, raised 15 million US
dollar to apply intelligence to the
planning and execution part of a
salespersons day. Using AI, it aims
to help sales staff work in a more
logical and efficient way, rather
than be slaves to their CRM tools.
Source: InternetS
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015
Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001
Brain Boosters
December’16- January’17
1. Dylan should go first. By doing this, Dylan can guarantee a
win by playing to a deliberate strategy. On his first turn, he
can place a quarter right on the center of the table. Because
the table is symmetric, whenever Austin places a quarter on
the table, Dylan simply "mirrors" his brother’s placement
around the center quarter when it is his turn. For example, if
Austin places a quarter near a corner of the table, Dylan can
place one on the opposite corner. This strategy ensures that
even when Austin finds an open space, so can Dylan. As a
result, Dylan gains victory, since Austin will run out of free
space first!
3. Answer is ...
There are exactly two possible answers: Mel's weights can
be 1, 5, 7, and 9 pounds, or they can be 2, 4, 6, and 10
pounds. No other combinations are possible.
Explanation
Let the weights be a, b, c, and d, sorted such that a < b < c <
d. We can chain inequalities to get a + b < a + c < a + d, b + c
< b + d < c + d. Thus, a + b = 6, a + c = 8, b + d = 14, and c + d
= 16. But we don't know if a + d = 10 and b + c = 12 or the
other way around. This is how we get two solutions. If a + d =
10, we get 1, 5, 7, and 9; if b + c = 10, we get 2, 4, 6, and 10.
- Suyog Pipliwal
Solutions of Inaugural Issue
Newsletter’s Brain Boosters
2. The answer is 341.
There are actually infinite answers to the problem, but only one
number if the answer is under 1,000. This puzzle is an example of
modular arithmetic and the Chinese Remainder Theorem.
The smallest solution under 1,000 for this problem is 341 coins, and
the answer is found by working backwards. To find it, we first note that
with 11 pirates the coins divided evenly; hence, the number of coins is
in the list:
11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 110, 121, 132, 143…
What happens if we take these numbers and divide them among 12
pirates? How many coins would be left over? Well, we want 5 coins to
be left over after dividing by 12. Hence, we reduce the list above to:
77, 209, 341, 473…
These numbers divide by 11 evenly and have 5 left over when divided
by 12. Now we take these remaining numbers and divide them by 13
until we find the number that gives 3 extra coins left over. Hence, 341
coins.
The answer is Apr 16, 2000, and the rationale is ...
When Albert claims that Bernard does not know Charlie's birthday, he is saying that he knows that the correct day occurs more than
once in the list. In other words, he is saying that Charlie's birthday is not Feb 19, 2000, and the only way he could know that is that he
knows that the month is not February.
So by making this claim Albert has reduced the list for everyone to:
~ Apr 14, 1999
~ Mar 14, 2000
~ Mar 15, 2000
~ Apr 16, 2000
~ Apr 15, 2000
~ Mar 15, 2001
~ Apr 14, 2001
~ Apr 16, 2001
~ May 14, 2001
~ May 16, 2001
~ May 17, 2001
When Bernard says that it is true that he does not know Charlie's birthday, it tells everyone that even with the restricted list the correct
day occurs more than once in the list. So everyone can thus eliminate May 17, 2001. Furthermore, the claim that Cheryl also does not
know Charlie's birthday is a claim that Bernard knows that the year occurs more than once on the remaining list.
This rules out Apr 14, 1999, and since Bernard could only rule this out by knowing that the day was not 14, everyone can further reduce
the list to:
~ Mar 15, 2000
~ Apr 16, 2000
~ Apr 15, 2000
~ Mar 15, 2001
~ Apr 16, 2001
~ May 16, 2001
When Cheryl says that Albert still has not figured out Charlie's birthday, she is telling everyone that given the new list the month occurs
more than once and thus rules out May 16, 2001. This tells everyone that Cheryl knows that the year is not 2001 and the list can be
reduced to:
~ Mar 15, 2000
~ Apr 16, 2000
~ Apr 15, 2000
When Bernard then claims to know the date he is saying that the day occurs only once among the 3 remaining choices, thus telling
everyone that Charlie's birthday is Apr 16, 2000.
Source: Internet
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015
Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001
Achievements
December’16- January’17
- Syed Saud Hasan & Ankita A. Baruah
Achieving High – Karan Ahuja
Karan Ahuja (4th year CSE Student of IIIT Guwahati) is an achiever in the truest sense. He works in field of
Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Human Computer and Perceptual Computing. He has recently received
a fabulous preplacement offer from IBM. We thought of catching up with him so that his story can inspire
other students.
Q. What are your future goals?
My future goals are to go for a PhD in Computer Science (eventually), with specialization in Computer Vision,
Machine Leaning and Perceptual Computing.
Q. Tell us about your academic career?
My academic career, particularly in terms of research, started when I was in my 2nd year. I started working in
the field of Computer Networks and Security, particularly on an authentication scheme based on Zero-Knowledge Proof. My work on this
thread led to publication at the Security and Privacy Symposium at IIIT Delhi, which won the best poster award. However, after my
internship at IBM I later migrated to the field of Computer Vision and Deep Learning. Surrounded by a great team of world-class
researchers at Computer Vision and Biometrics Lab and IBM Research Labs, I became quite fascinated by this field and continued my
work in the direction of Biometrics and Perceptual User Interfaces, leading to 4 more international publications and 15 patents.
Q.Any real life experience that you would like to share with us?
There are many fond memories! I think the best one is from the International Conference of Image Processing at Phoenix, Arizona –
where I presented my work on eye tracking with a mixture of nervousness and enthusiasm – surrounded by professors around the world
who were closely following (even scrutinizing) each and every part of my presentation. It was a great experience in terms of the
multitude of knowledge you gain – not only on how to present your work but also on how to present yourself.
Q.Time management is a big problem. How you manage that?
I just take each day as it comes – make a plan for what to achieve that day and then try to work towards it.
Q.Your non-academic areas of interest?
I am an avid reader and love playing football (Real Madrid fan) and table tennis.
Q.Where do you see yourself in next 5-10 years?
I see myself as a PhD student working to solve problems that have a broader impact through practical applications.
Q.How to work to get PPO?
Just work well during your internship and most importantly be true to yourself and your goals. First off, decide your field of interest, and
then work towards it. If you work diligently you will get noticed eventually!
Q. Will you join IBM R&D or will go for further studies?
I am not sure. It is yet to be decided
Many achievements are still unpublished. Let us know about your achievements. E-mail us : [email protected]
Prepared by IIITG Herald Team: Ankita A. Baruah, Syed Saud Hasan, Shobhit Bhatnagar, Palak Kapoor, Suyog Pipliwal and Shashi Shekhar.
Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati
Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015
Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001