IIITG Herald

December’16 - January’17 www.iiitg.ac.in In this Issue IIITG ‘Sports’ Champions, Pun Intended One teaspoon of politics and a boiling broth of IIIT Guwahati. There is only one chance to achievements and wishes to selecting the best players to make a first impression, and felicitate each and every represent the institute. These the IIITG sports team nailed its. person who directly or participants then stayed back Sports Meet 2 Its performance in the first indirectly contributed to this during the vacations and ever inter-IIIT sports meet, magnificent success. practiced real hard, right from held at IIITDM, Kancheepuram, Preparation for this event the morning till the night, was truly phenomenal, to say started as soon as it was despite the winter chill of the the very least. The IIITG family announced, with the faculty both. is extremely proud of its coordinators taking trials and Continued on Pg 2 Faculty Talk 5

Events 8

Gallery 10

Rashtriya Ekta Saptah Faculty Talk

Tech News 11 Sardar Vallabhai Patel, often referred to as the Mohd. Mansoor Khan is a lecturer of the ECE ‘Iron Man of India’, was a freedom fighter known Department and is also the Associate Coordinator for his immense contribution in the Indian of sports affairs in IIITG. Currently pursuing his freedom struggle. He also played a vital role in Ph.D from IIIT Guwahati, he is also good at the integration of over 500 princely states Badminton and Cricket. He accompanied the IIITG Brain through political diplomacy. The Rashtriya Ekta sports team as a guide and coach to Saptah (October 31 – November 6) is an initiative Kancheepuram. His invaluable support and by the Government of India in order to contribution had a big hand in the grand victory Boosters 13 commemorate him…… Continued on Pg 7 of IIITG in the inter-IIIT sports meet. More on Pg 5 Follow up inside Page 3 Page 7 Page 14

Sports-General Faculty Talk Achieving High Secretary’s Desk

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Gymkhana News

December’16- January’17 - Shobhit Bhatnagar

Medal Tally Continued from Pg 1 : Here it must be mentioned that despite the development of certain difficult Continued from Pg 2: Now Carrom Gold conditions, the IIITG sportsmen (true to their just to clear the common sportsmanship) fought their way out and kept on misconception, a gymkhana is Football Silver practicing day in and day out. Of course, the faculty not a gym with food! Rather, coordinators supported them throughout. Another Table Tennis Silver it is an elected student council fact worth mentioning is that a massive budget of a best described as being of the Badminton Bronze few lakhs was dedicated solely to this event. Each students, for the students and sportsperson was given a custom made IIIT Guwahati nd by the students. The student Men Championship 2 Runner Up track suit. Also a part of their travelling expenditure gymkhana looks into student was reimbursed. Basically the college authorities did Overall Championship 2nd Runner Up issues and then takes everything they could possibly do in order to ensure necessary action. It is a crucial Best Player, Carrom Kummari Anand maximum participation from the students. part of any educational institute. The journey to Kancheepuram was normal. Finally on the 15th of replete with completely December, with the prize unprecedented events, and was by distribution ceremony this four- no means less than a roller coaster days-long sports extravaganza drew ride. To begin with, one of the to its end. The 1st position was trains that were supposed to ferry bagged by the hosts, IIITDM, the 2nd our students to Kancheepuram was position by IIIT Jabalpur, and the 3rd delayed by several hours. Then, position was tied between IIIT Kota upon arrival in Kancheepuram, the and IIIT Guwahati. However, team, along with the entirety of considering certain technicalities, it Chennai, was confronted by the was mutually decided that IIIT fierce Vardah cyclone. But, Guwahati should have more points champions from within and and therefore should be the sole without, the IIITG sports team did winner of the prestigious 2nd runner not flinch one bit and fought its way up position. We really respect and through the situation. Here, we acknowledge IIIT Kota’s humility would like to give a special mention and sportsman-spirit. It is indeed to the hosts, IIITDM, for their worth a special mention. Apart prompt action and assistance. They from overall 2nd runner up, IIIT really did help as much as their Guwahati also won the 2nd runner capacity allowed. up in the men’s category. Also, However, considering the Kummari Anand of the batch of sensitivity of the situation and also 2015 was awarded the Best Player the time constraint, the opening in Carrom Board award. ceremony of the sports meet could The faculty coordinators, the sports not be conducted. Nonetheless, secretary, the participants and the some indoor competitions were entire IIITG family are extremely held in which the sportsmen satisfied with, and even more proud participated with utmost gusto and of, the sports contingent’s played like real champions. And achievements. They really have with Vardah clearing up the made their mark. Congratulations following day, things went back to IIITG Sports Team !!

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Faculty Talk December’16- January’17 - Ankita A. Baruah & Palak Kapoor

Dr. Hari K. Choudhury

Continued from Pg 2: Now Dr. Hari K. Choudhury is Assistant Professor in Dept of HSS, IIITG. He is also the Coordinator for Sports Affairs just to clear the common in our institute. misconception, a gymkhana is not a gym with food! Rather, it is an elected student council Q. How did you get into the teaching profession and what inspired you to do this? Also, what is best described as being of the most rewarding about your job; what makes it all worthwhile? students, for the students and by the students. The student I started with many options, because you cannot definitely forecast in advance, the curvature of gymkhana looks into student your life journey. As a profession, teaching has always been my first choice as it is one of the most issues and then takes respectable jobs/professions. Also, I love to teach and I find my job most rewarding when students necessary action. It is a crucial perform well and come up with smiling faces. part of any educational institute.

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.

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Faculty Talk

December’16- January’17

Continued from Pg 2: Now Q. Generally boys are more interested in sports than girls, so how do you ensure equal participation of all? How do you just to clear the common enthuse and motivate students to participate in sports activities? misconception, a gymkhana is 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 not a gym with food! Rather, correct to say that our girls are less enthusiastic than boys; they also actively participate in our Annual Sports Meet. At present, our it is an elected student council students are staying in a residential complex (rented) and they are facing certain basic infrastructural facilities. But once we shift to our best described as being of the own campus, it is expected that rate of participation of girls in annual sports will surpass that of boys. students, for the students and by the students. The student gymkhana looks into student issues and then takes necessary action. It is a crucial part of any educational Q. Kindly shed some light on how our college students \ prepared to participate in The Inter-IIIT meet in Chennai. Did institute. 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.

Continued from Pg 2: Now just to clear the common Q. First of all Sir, our heartfelt congratulations for bringing home so many trophies misconception, a gymkhana is amidst all the difficulties. With messed up flight schedules and the Vardha cyclone, how not a gym with food! Rather, it is an elected student council was the overall Inter-IIIT sports meet experience? best described as being of the Well to start with, I wish the entire IIITG fraternity a very happy and prosperous new year. I and Dr. students, for the students and Harikant Choudhury accept all the appreciations on behalf of the entire IIITG Sports contingent. To by the students. The student accompany students at a Sports meet made me feel excited as my natural bend is towards sports, gymkhana looks into student but since “Vardha” struck IIITDM Kancheepuram, the experience fluctuated from pleasant to fearful. issues and then takes Still, our boys achieved the positions as was as expected and it all turned out to be wonderful. necessary action. It is a crucial part of any educational institute.

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.

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Faculty Talk

December’16- January’17

Continued from Pg 2: Now just to clear the common Q. What, in your opinion, are the most compelling challenges with today’s education system? And according to you, misconception, a gymkhana is how important is grade/GPA? not a gym with food! Rather, 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 it is an elected student council are encouraged to take Trans disciplines. Grades do play a crucial role, every student should at least try to make it to threshold. best described as being of the Remember, you cannot take a launch before reaching a pad/platform. students, for the students and by the students. The student gymkhana looks into student issues and then takes necessary action. It is a crucial part of any educational institute. 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.”

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 GS-Sports’Desk December’16- January’17 - Palak Kapoor

Continued from Pg 2: Now Q. First of all, a HUGE congratulations for that massive achievement in the IIIT meet. What just to clear the common would you like to say to your team members who participated and made this victory a reality? misconception, a gymkhana is Thank you for your wishes. I would like to thank the entire IIIT Guwahati contingent, Dr.Hari K not a gym with food! Rather, st it is an elected student council Choudhury and Mansoor Khan Sir for the grand success at the 1 Inter IIIT Sports Meet – IIITDM best described as being of the Kancheepuram. The achievement might have not been possible without the effort of students, for the students and determination and teamwork put in right-size by every participant/team member of IIITG. Even by the students. The student lacking the resources being a new institute it is the true sportsman-spirit and interest of the gymkhana looks into student participants which helped us in backing the glory of winning laurels. I also thank god for favoring issues and then takes us at our hard time necessary action. It is a crucial part of any educational institute. 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. Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Events

December’16- January’17 - Shobhit Bhatnagar

Rashtriya Ekta Saptah – National Unity Week

Continued from Pg 2: Now Continued from Pg 1: and the untiring efforts that he made for the betterment of the country. Under this initiative, just to clear the common educational institutes across the country are requested to organise events to pay him homage. IIITG too participated misconception, a gymkhana is not a gym with food! Rather, actively in the celebration of the Rashtriya Ekta Saptah. it is an elected student council  Elocution Competition best described as being of the  Run for Unity students, for the students and A short marathon with the motto “Run for Unity” was An elocution competition on the topic “Relevance and by the students. The student organised on the 6th of November by the IIITG Cultural Importance of Sardar Patel in Today’s India” was organised, th gymkhana looks into student Sports board. It began at around 6.30 in the morning, also on the 6 of November by the IIITG Cultural Affairs board. issues and then takes and ran along the length of the Baghorbori Road and This event was held in the college campus in the afternoon. necessary action. It is a crucial back. The organisation and coordination of the event Just like its early morning counterpart, this event too witnessed part of any educational active participation from the students, including day scholars. A institute. was adeptly done by Dr. Hari K. Choudhary and the Student Gymkhana Council. The marathon witnessed formal document stating the modalities of the competition was active participation from the students, the will of who emailed to the students by Dr. David Lal, who also judged the couldn’t be deterred by either the early morning chill or event, along with Dr. Rajarshi Mitra. The students had excellent well, more importantly, the earliness of the morning content and spoke very fluently, and in fact made it quite a itself! Upon completion of the marathon, each challenge for the judges to pick out the best. However, participant was provided with a healthy refreshment. 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.

“Run for Unity” enthusiasts 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.

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Events

December’16- January’17 - Shobhit Bhatnagar

Art of Living YES+ Continued from Pg 2: Now Constitution Day just to clear the common Workshop misconception, a gymkhana is not a gym with food! Rather, On 26th November, IIITG celebrated the Constitution Day This October, IIITG witnessed its first ever Art of Living it is an elected student council as per the directives of the Government of India. The best described as being of the program. Courtesy -Sudhanshu Upadhyay, General Secretary – students, for the students and program mainly involved reading of the Preamble to the Cultural Board. by the students. The student Constitution of India, followed by the reading of the This was a three day long pilot project that commenced on gymkhana looks into student Fundamental Duties as enshrined in article 51A of the Friday, October 21st and concluded on Sunday, October 23rd. issues and then takes same. The program was led by Sri Vishnu , a member of the Art of necessary action. It is a crucial The program was held for different batches in different Living fraternity, and former employee of tech-giant Microsoft. part of any educational rooms, with each room having its own faculty and The workshop was themed “Living in the Present ”. institute. student council program coordinators. All students The program basically consisted of meditation practises, without exception participated in this event. followed by a little pravachan by Sri Vishnu. Sri Vishnu had also It was heartening to note that quite a few of our students organised a few fun-filled activities for the participants, along turned up for the event despite it falling on the last day with a gift exchange programme. of End-semester examinations (when they This pilot project generally received positive reviews from the understandably want to break free!!). More than their participants. Suddhanshu Upadhyay believes that this could be recitation of the Fundamental Duties as enshrined in the the beginning of a long term relationship between IIITG and Constitution of India during the programme, its was their the Art of Living community. presence on the last day of exam that exemplifed the

spirit of duty.

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Gallery

December’16- January’17 - Suyog & Daniel

Continued from Pg 2: Now just to clear the common misconception, a gymkhana is not a gym with food! Rather, it is an elected student council best described as being of the students, for the students and by the students. The student gymkhana looks into student issues and then takes necessary action. It is a crucial Oil India officials congratulating IIITG Sports part of any educational Perspective Lecture- IoT institute. Team

Mansoor Khan and Sports’ GS receiving award Mansoor Khan with IIITG Sports Team of 2nd Runner-up Mens’ overall championship

IIITG Football Team with runner-up trophy “Run for Unity” enthusiasts

Students’ Newsletter of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Guwahati Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Tech News December’16- January’17 - Palak Kapoor & Suyog Pipliwal

Python Development (Artificial Intelligence & NLP) Perspective Lecture – Internet of Things On the 4th of November, IIITG introductory speech by Dr. Suranjana for the betterment of the humans and In Bangalore at Elth.care welcomed the renowned Mr. Barua on Mr. Sharma and his their future, pertaining to IoT. He then Ochintya Sharma, Vice-President achievements (which were most talked about how IoT can be further About Elth.care (http://elth.care): Founded by the ex-Flipkart Global Engineering, Binatone and impressive!), followed by a bouquet modified to achieve a new high, and employee, an IIM alumnus, and a doctor, we built a world-class Managing Director for Hubble India, and shawl giving ceremony by Dr. Hari the role that budding technocrats like product within a very short span of time. We are also backed by a to deliver the IIITG Perspective K. Choudhury and Dr. Rakesh Matam the ones fostered in IIITG have to play solid support from Indian Health Care industry and an Exclusive Lecture for that month titled "From respectively. Mr. Sharma began the in that. Mr. Sharma concluded his Health Care accelerator. Our elth.care app is the first AI-powered the Internet of Things to the Internet talk by briefing his audience about the lecture with an interactive doubt self-diagnosis platform made in India for Indians and in regional of Being”. This special perspective was fundamental essence of Internet of clearing session in which he answered languages. We are also developing NLP based chatbots using organized keeping in mind the Things (IoT) and its various questions posed by his audience. Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning Concepts. We aim at placement season ahead for our applications. He further added that The session was as fun as it was becoming the best Healthcare Technology Startup of India that graduating batch. IoT is not really a change in informative. Being such a contemporary and technology, it is rather a sort of solves the doctor-patient ratio in India in a unique way with Artificial talked-about topic, the lecture was integration happening at a global Intelligence & Machine Learning. attended by a large number of level. He then talked about various Link: students and faculty members. The inventions, or as he would rather put http://internshala.com/internships/artificial%20intelligence%20%28 it, the modernization of technology session began with a short ai%29internship-in-bangalore/sort-recent

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 Contact Us: +91-361-2132460 / 2630015 Gopinath Bordoloi (G.N.B.) Road , Ambari, Guwahati - 781001 Source: Internet Tech News December’16- January’17 - Suyog Pipliwal

The last frontier of consumerizing travel Yuvaan’17 Tech Events lives in the workplace One event will be CodeThrill v1.0 and another one will be One event will be CodeThrill batches. ElectroWarfare v1.0. We are looking forward for the very first According to a 2014 study by Google, 74 percent of leisure v1.0 and another one will be ElectroWarfare, however will be successful edition of these events. Both these events will be travelers relied on the internet for travel planning. Thats interdisciplinary. The former will be a coding contest aiming ElectroWarfare v1.0. We are constitue of teams of 4. This not surprising; its generally understood that most towards the creation of a healthy competitive spirit in every looking forward for the very event will basically focus on consumers make travel plans online. But that same study student in IIITG. It will be an individual event. The registration first successful edition of these circuit designing and forms are already circulated among students via mails & social found that 77 percent of business travelers also started events. Both these events will implementation & simulation at networking sites. All of us (Organizers) are looking forward to a their journey online. Similarly, 78 percent of business great start and expect a good amount of participation from all be interdisciplinary. The the same time. Each team will travelers used a smartphone during travel planning, versus the batches. former will be a coding contest be allowed to choose any 67 percent for leisure travelers. Yet in many companies, ElectroWarfare, however will be constitue of teams of 4. This aiming towards the creation of simulation platform that they booking travel still involves emailing or calling an actual event will basically focus on circuit designing and a healthy competitive spirit in deem fit, but they'll have to implementation & simulation at the same time. Each team will travel agent, who then books with the airline or hotel. For every student in IIITG. It will be implement those simulations on be allowed to choose any simulation platform that they deem fit, executives, it often involves first telling an assistant, who but they'll have to implement those simulations on a an individual event. The a breadboard for 100% then communicates with a travel agent, who then breadboard for 100% weightage. The registration forms have registration forms are already weightage. The registration communicates with the airline or hotel. Unsurprisingly, this already been made available to the students. Personally being circulated among students via forms have already been made slightly more inclined towards this particular event, I sincerely process has lengthy reaction times, is prone to errors and mails & social networking sites. available to the students. hope for great response from all the batches. loses traveler preferences along the way. All of us (Organizers) are Personally being slightly more looking forward to a great start inclined towards this particular The Pint-Sized Supercomputer That and expect a good amount of event, I sincerely hope for great Companies Are Scrambling to Get participation from all the response from all the batches. To companies grappling with complex data projects Artificial intelligence finds its way into business powered by artificial intelligence, a system that Nvidia through sales calls an AI supercomputer in a box is a welcome development. Early customers of Nvidias DGX-1, which Artificial intelligence (AI) had a having an impact in the startup combines machine-learning software with eight of the coming out party of sorts in 2016. community. Just this week, we Even though it has been in saw Conversica, a company that chip makers highest-end graphics processing units development for decades, this has built a virtual sales assistant (GPUs), say the system lets them train their analytical year, with the perfect on top of artificial intelligence models faster, enables greater experimentation, and combination of cheap computing underpinnings, land a 34 million could facilitate breakthroughs in science, health care, power and access to increasing US dollar investment. The tool and financial services . amounts of data, it seems AIs takes advantage of natural time has come.Its first foray in language processing, an inference business has been directed at engine and natural language Trivago closes up 8 percent in public making salespeople more generation fairly sophisticated AI debut efficient at every level of the sales technology to undertake initial Trivago saw substantial revenue growth, bringing in workflow.Alan Lepofsky, an email contact with sales analyst at Constellation Research, leads.Meanwhile Tact, a company 425.6 million U.S dollar in the nine months ending in who is working on the impact of started by a CRM industry September 2016. This compares to the 324.6 million AI on work. He sees humans veteran, raised 15 million US U.S dollar seen in the full previous year. Their 2015 net struggling with information dollar to apply intelligence to the loss stood at 42.8 million U.S dollar. We have grown overload. As we gather ever planning and execution part of a very massively in the last year, CEO Rolf Schromgens increasing amounts of salespersons day. Using AI, it aims tells TechCrunch. In particular, hes proud that theyve information, it requires machine to help sales staff work in a more been able to grow in the most competitive market in processing power to help make logical and efficient way, rather the world, which is the U.S. Schromgens says about a sense of that growing pile of data. than be slaves to their CRM tools. quarter of their business is now in America. He AI is hopefully going to help alleviate that by filtering explained that this focus on the U.S. market is part of information and automating the reason they chose to list on the Nasdaq. tasks, Lepofsky said.Its certainly

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 - Suyog Pipliwal

Solutions of Inaugural Issue 1. Dylan should go first. By doing this, Dylan can guarantee a win by playing to a deliberate strategy. On his first turn, he Newsletter’s Brain Boosters 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 2. The answer is 341. around the center quarter when it is his turn. For example, if There are actually infinite answers to the problem, but only one Austin places a quarter near a corner of the table, Dylan can number if the answer is under 1,000. This puzzle is an example of place one on the opposite corner. This strategy ensures that modular arithmetic and the Chinese Remainder Theorem. even when Austin finds an open space, so can Dylan. As a The smallest solution under 1,000 for this problem is 341 coins, and result, Dylan gains victory, since Austin will run out of free the answer is found by working backwards. To find it, we first note that space first! with 11 pirates the coins divided evenly; hence, the number of coins is in the list: 3. Answer is ... 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 110, 121, 132, 143… There are exactly two possible answers: Mel's weights can What happens if we take these numbers and divide them among 12 be 1, 5, 7, and 9 pounds, or they can be 2, 4, 6, and 10 pirates? How many coins would be left over? Well, we want 5 coins to pounds. No other combinations are possible. be left over after dividing by 12. Hence, we reduce the list above to: Explanation 77, 209, 341, 473… Let the weights be a, b, c, and d, sorted such that a < b < c < These numbers divide by 11 evenly and have 5 left over when divided d. We can chain inequalities to get a + b < a + c < a + d, b + c by 12. Now we take these remaining numbers and divide them by 13 < b + d < c + d. Thus, a + b = 6, a + c = 8, b + d = 14, and c + d until we find the number that gives 3 extra coins left over. Hence, 341 = 16. But we don't know if a + d = 10 and b + c = 12 or the coins. 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.

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 Syed Saud internship at IBM I later migrated to the field of Computer Vision and Deep Learning. Surrounded by a great team of world-class Hasan 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 – Suyog where I presented my work on eye tracking with a mixture of nervousness and enthusiasm – surrounded by professors around the world Pipliwal 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. Ankita A. Q.Your non-academic areas of interest? Baruah Editor-in-Chiefs I am an avid reader and love playing football (Real Madrid fan) and table tennis.

Continued from Pg 1: shed light on the tricks of Q.Where do you see yourself in next 5-10 years? language, practical effort vs political narrative and I see myself as a PhD student working to solve problems that have a broader impact through practical applications. basically, the bare truth, so as to shoulder the responsibility of media: the fourth pillar of a democracy. Our highly efficient team consists of: Q.How to work to get PPO? Shashi Section editors:: Shobhit Bhatnagar , Suyog Pipliwal, Just work well during your internship and most importantly be true to yourself and your goals. First off, decide your field of interest, and Shekhar then work towards it. If you work diligently you will get noticed eventually! Designing Head:: Shashi Shekhar, Editor-in-chiefs:: Designing Ankita A. Baruah and Syed Saud Hasan, motivated Head and guided by Dr. Suranjana Barua. Q. Will you join IBM R&D or will go for further studies? I am not sure. It is yet to be decided Section Editors Shobhit Bhatnagar 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