REJIG, 2020 (Complete Magazine)

REJIG 2020
Adopting a new normal

Department of
Information Technology

Agnel Charities' Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi

REJIG, 2020

Agnel Charities'
Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology

Institute Vision

To evolve and flourish as a progressive centre for modern technical education,
stirring creativity in every student leading to self-sustainable professionals,
through holistic development; nurtured by strength and legitimate pride of
Indian values and ethics.

Institute Mission

To provide industry oriented quality education.
To provide holistic environment for overall personal development.
To foster relationship with other institute of repute, alumni and industry.

Department of Information Technology

Department Vision

To become a leading centre of excellence for quality education, advance
research and development in the field of Information Technology for self-
sustaining professionals.

Department Mission

To provide industry oriented quality education and training to students related to
cutting edge technologies in the field of information technology.
To promote multidisciplinary activities that inspires students to serve society
through innovative applications.
To promote entrepreneurship skills in students with overall personality
development.

Department of Information Technology www.fcrit.ac.in

REJIG, 2020

Program Educational Objectives (PEO)

Adapt technological changes in the field of information technology.
Excel in higher education and professional career.
Demonstrate multidisciplinary and entrepreneurship skills.

Program Specific Outcomes (PSO)

Apply knowledge of Mathematics, Science and Information Technology to
define, analyse, build, test and integrate subsystems to provide solutions for
real life problems.
Inculcate self-learning and research attitude to offer IT services for sustaining
as excellent professional or entrepreneur.

Faculty

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REJIG, 2020

Message from HOD

The Department of Information Technology is
committed to impart state-of-the education and
develop future technocrats in the stream of
information technology. As in-charge Head of the
Department, I am tremendously proud of my role
in providing high-quality education and offer a
multitude of avenues for students to partake in
continuous learning and also help them to inspire
to acquire industry-relevant skills.
We believe in tailored grooming of each student’s needs by organizing technical
workshops and competitive events such as Hackathons, Seminars from eminent voices
of the industry, which helps them to access every sub-domain in the field of
Information Technology. To bridge the gap between industry and academia, the
CSI students section are actively organizing events listed above/below. Students not
only participate in these events but lead them, thus helping them to improve on
important attributes such as collaboration, communication, and teamwork. Our
annual events like AITSS and Infobits empowers our students to collaborate with
students from other colleges, thus inculcating a sense of community.
Our students have won several accolades at University, National and
International levels.
Our Department’s placement records are unvaryingly high and we are proud that the
number of students who are getting placed is increasing year after year. We have a
strong alumni network who work with renowned organizations such as Shell,
Cognizant, TCS, Infosys, Accenture, Capgemini, etc
I attribute the phenomenal growth of the Department to the winning
combination of dedicated and experienced faculty, brilliant students, and
supporting staff.

Ms. Dhanashree Hadsul

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REJIG, 2020

Magazine Committee

Faculty head Design head Editorial head

Mrs. Archana Shirke Ms. Himani Jawale Vaibhav Singh Sriaansh Sahu
Design Team
Anya Gupta Editorial Team

Monica Arul Raj Benitta Mariam Babu Abigael Rachel

Abdul Majeed Inamdar Nefi Nisen Jose Ashley

Sherin Thomas

Parth Phalke Vasudha Sude

Tanmay Mhatre

Catherine Sarah Sunil Joannes Johnraj

Sponsorship Team 3
Vineet Kekatpure Abigael Rachel Immanuel Gnanadurai

Department of Information Technology www.fcrit.ac.in

REJIG, 2020

Editorial

by Abigael Rachel Kumar

Six months ago, the world came to a stand-still. A contagious and deadly virus

had crossed the species barrier and infected humans. Soon it rapidly spread
faster than health professionals could contain it and has infected millions of
people. Socialization was limited as a precaution.
Masks, swab tests, and temperature checks controlled all forms of locomotion.
Confined to these four walls, we had power over one aspect-'time'.
The universe is 13.8 billion years old. Throughout history, we sought to define
this unfathomable expanse called time in an attempt to conquer it, often
complaining at the lack thereof. Yet, when acquired in surplus, we often fail to
optimize it.
With time to kill, we sought new skills, binged on virtual entertainment,
adjusted to new forms of social interaction and work environments as the world
around us changed in immeasurable proportions. Economies fell, stock
markets crashed, unemployment increased and twitter chirped "canceled".
We became immune to these episodes of turmoil and distress. Time became a
series of unfortunate events and humanity was the Baudelaire children.
But the glass is half full. We saw countless heroes rise to the occasion.
Numerous stories of sacrifice, compassion, and charity restored our faith in
humanity. During the lockdown, we saw a massive decline in carbon dioxide
emissions. People spent quality time with their families and reconnected with
acquaintances. We created a support system for each other to rely on.
The pandemic will leave long-lasting changes. As the world gradually and
cautiously emerges from the lockdown, we must accustom ourselves to this
new world.
The theme for this year's issue is -Rejig. Rejig means "to organize differently" or
re-arrange. Here is a compilation of inspirational stories, effects of the
pandemic, and what we can look forward to as we adapt to the new norm. The
future is bright for those who embrace change.

Department of Information Technology www.fcrit.ac.in 4

REJIg, 2020

Department of Information Technolgy | www.fcrit.ac.inCONTENTS.

CONTENTS.01 Articles

06 Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on education
sector

10 Impact of COVID -19 pandemic on mental &
physical health

12 Impact of COVID -19 pandemic on social
media

14 Economic impact of COVID-19
18 Is Touch-Less Technology the way

forward?
24 Innovation During the times of Pandemic
26 Edge Computing
30 Machine learning

36 Virtual Reality & COVID-19
38 COVID-19 AI to the rescue
42 Blockchain Technology & COVID-19
44 What on earth is Data Science?

02 Achievements & Records

48 Faculty Achievements
51 Student paper presentation and publications
52 Placement Records
53 Student Achievements

03 Leisure

59 Test your Aptitude
60 Trending Programming Languages.

04 Image Gallery

5

REJIG,2020

Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on
the Education Sector

With the sudden outbreak of the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic, the
education system took a drastic turn with the closure of schools
and universities worldwide. With the fluctuating uncertainty of
reopening of these educational institutions, the education sector
has taken quite a fall overnight. Let us take a glimpse of the effect

of the current pandemic on Education.

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REJIG, 2020

Examinations

A crucial time worldwide with this period being the season of univer-
sity entrance tests and competitive examinations, the pandemic has
left the students in a muddle. With no clarity whether these exams will
be conducted or not, how the grades will be awarded, mode of exam-
inations, all these questions have left everybody in frenzy. In this state,
prepping up for an examination only looked like a dream amidst this
confusion. The biggest turmoil about examinations in India was for
the final year students. After deciding on several decisions on the trot
throughout these 6 months, the government finally declared to con-
duct the tests online.

Student Learning Outcomes

Schooling provides essential learning and opportunities for growth
and development. With the sudden closure of education centers, there
has been a negative impact on student learning outcomes. Parents with
limited education are struggling to facilitate their children with quality
education. Along with providing education, schools are also a hub for
human interaction and social activities. It is estimated that the rate of
reading ability gain in kindergarten children in the U.S slowed down
by 66% during school closures compared to active schooling.

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REJIG, 2020

Access to technology and educational
resources

Whether it is your mic not responding or unstable wifi, technology
plays a huge role in online learning. It’s nonetheless an annoyance to
tolerate these issues until you get used to the new normal. Teachers
in India seem to struggle to take control of the situation as they are
used to the traditional methods of offline education. Hence, they have
come under tremendous stress since the shutdown. Lack of access to
good internet connectivity also demotivates students from disadvan-
taged families to continue learning. In Kerala, earlier in June, a Class
X student ends life over a lack of access to online education. With the
closure of public libraries, students are left with no other medium to
access textbooks and study materials they need for learning.

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REJIG, 2020

Disrupted Schedules

For maintaining discipline and good physical and mental health, a
consistent schedule plays a key role in a student’s life. With procrasti-
nation and low motivation due to the ongoing pandemic, it has left the
students with nothing but a lot of stress and anxiety. Students find it
very hard to pull themselves up to properly manage time and remain
productive with this major hit on their regular life. This has not only
taken a toll on them physically but mentally too. There has been an in-
crease in depression in students during this unfortunate time. Various
countries in the world have circulated helpline numbers to provide
professional guidance to people in need.

This year’s educational journey has surely been quite a bumpy ride. But
like every coin has two sides, the education sector has adapted to the
new normal at full tilt and was able to come up with reliable solutions
to overcome this unfortunate situation. This couldn’t have been possi-
ble without the strenuous efforts of teachers all around the globe and
their hard work and dedication are indeed commendable.
This academic year has depicted a vast magnitude of perseverance prov-
ing that everything is possible with the right amount of dedication.
With this undying resilience, teachers and students thrive to face this
new normal together one day at a time.

-Benitta Mariam Babu
(Sem 5)

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REJIG, 2020

Impact of COVID-19 on Mental and
Physical Health.

Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live in.
-Jim Rohn

Good health is an asset to your body as it helps you physical-

ly and mentally. A fit person can overcome any disease and can lead an active
and stress-free life. Taking good care of yourself is paramount to the success of
your recovery process.
Self-care isn’t just about your mental health. It’s also about taking care of your
physical personality.

In March 2020, the outbreak of the coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19)
reached all countries of the Western world. To de-catalyse it’s enlargement,
many countries slowed their economies and enforced restrictions on public
migration. Due to this situation, it was difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Recent reviews found a consistently negative impact of COVID-19 on mental
health, with 16–18% of participants showing symptoms of anxiety and depres-
sion. The survey shows that we are living with greater fear, worry, and psycho-
logical stress since the beginning of the epidemic. The adverse effects of lock-
down on our collective mental health are apparent worldwide. The statistics
show the average number of public showing anxiety and depression during the
pandemic.

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REJIG, 2020

Simple exercise and yoga as much as possible can help prevent these problems.
As we grow old, most of us tend to adapt to this inactive lifestyle. This is when
an active exercise routine becomes even more important. The loss of everyday
peers‐to‐peer contact, uncertain academic career, and use of online learning has
created a new reality also in education. So the best we can do is to take care of

These could include physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral sectors. During
this situation, we can be positive by taking care of your body, exercising reg-
ularly, eating a healthy diet, learning to manage stress, and developing a good
balance between work and social life. As there is undoubted evidence that a
COVID‐19 can cause widespread fear, panic, anxiety, and xenophobia.

- Nefi Nisen
(Sem 5)

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REJIG, 2020
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SOCIAL MEDIA

“Don’t use social media to impress people; use it to
impact people.“

— Dave Willis

Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies
that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career

interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communi-
ties and networks. It is the most widely used sources of informa-
tion in the World, the easy and inexpensive access to the internet
and a large number of registered users in these platforms make
them one of the easiest and most effective ways to disseminate
information. to our setting and available resources and follow a
responsible use of social media when disseminating information.

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It has been noticed that there is a peak of searches for information on the
Internet and social media platforms regarding the COVID-19. During sud-
den outbreaks, the public needs access to timely and reliable information
about the disease symptoms and its prevention. Nowadays, social media are
often seen as fast and effective platforms for searching, sharing, and distrib-
uting information among the general population.
On the other hand, various fake news, misinformation, and rumors spread
across the digital media that panicked people into making panic decisions
but the Government are taking measures to prevent such miscommunica-
tions.
July 2020 saw a rise of 10.5% in social media usage, compared with July 2019,
according to a GlobalWebIndex survey. Some 46% of women and 41% of
men said they’ve spent more time on social media during the pandemic.
Social media has both advantages and disadvantages, the responsible use
of these tools can help during a pandemic to quickly spread a piece of im-
portant information, sharing diagnostic, treatment, and follow-up proto-
cols, comparing different approaches from other parts of the World to adapt
them to our setting and available resources and follow a responsible use of
social media when disseminating information.

-Jose Ashley
(Sem 5)

Department of Information Technology | www.fcrit.ac.in 13

REJIG,2020

Economic Impact of Covid-19

The pandemic has had far-reaching consequences apart beyond the
spread of the disease itself and containing it. Economists are hinting
at a global recession.
A country is said to go through a recession when it has a negative GDP
growth rate for 2 consecutive quarters or more. A depression occurs
when a recession occurs recursively. For instance, The Great Depres-
sion of 1929, which went on for more than 10 years. The GDP growth
rate of the world economy had almost touched -15 percent.
But how does economic growth and GDP affect each other? What is
India’s economic situation and how can it be improved? Let’s start with
the basics.
Economic growth means an increase in real GDP – an increase in the
value of national output, income, and expenditure.
GDP(Gross Domestic Product) is a measure of the total of all goods
and services in the country.

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GDP = Public Consumption(C)+Private Investment(I)+Government Spend-
ing(G)+Net Exports(NX)

Consumption refers to “consumer spending”. The money that you spend on hair-
cuts, food, clothes all come under consumer spending.
Investment is a measure of money businesses spend on buildings, land, equip-
ment, etc.
Government spending is the money that the government spends on roads, schools,
and other development.
The final aspect is the Net Exports(NX).

Net Export = Exports-Imports
Negative NX means that a country brings in more imports than the exports it
sends out.

GDP growth rate is the percentage change in GDP over time. This implies that
if the economy is in bad shape, the growth rate decreases.
What effect has the pandemic had on India’s GDP? Trading Economics stated,
“The Indian economy shrank 23.9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020,
much worse than market forecasts of an 18.3% drop.” This is a quarter to quar-
ter calculation, not to be confused with the annual GDP. While most countries
saw a dip of about 7%-9%, India saw a drastic fall in its GDP mostly because of
the prior decisions by the government like GST, demonetization, bank frauds,
etc. It is the worst economic performance since 1947.
Unemployment has seen a sudden surge in various sectors. In April and May,
unemployment peaked at 23%. However, it decreased to 11% in June.
Moneycontrol News stated, “Gross value added (GVA) declined by 22.81 percent
on a Year on Year basis. Apart from agriculture, all other sectors were severely
impacted. Among the industries and construction, construction activities were
down by half at 50.3 percent, manufacturing down 39.3 percent. In the services
sector, trade and hotel were down 47.01% percent.” This was the report for April
to June. This growth in the agriculture sector is because many people lost their
jobs and returned to the agricultural sector for their livelihood.

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REJIG,2020

Inflation refers to the rise in the prices of most goods and services of daily or com-
mon use, such as food, clothing, housing, recreation, transport, consumer staples,
etc.
India’s Consumer Price Index(CPI) Inflation rate grew 6.69% in August, crossing the
upper margin of 6%.(source- Indian Express)

Inflation refers to the rise in the prices of most goods and services of daily or com-
mon use, such as food, clothing, housing, recreation, transport, consumer staples,
etc.
India’s Consumer Price Index(CPI) Inflation rate grew 6.69% in August, crossing the
upper margin of 6%.(source- Indian Express)
Trading Economics stated, “Consumer prices in India increased 6.69 percent year-
on-year basis in August of 2020, following a downwardly revised 6.73 percent rise
in the previous month and below market forecasts of 6.85 percent. Still, the inflation
remains above the central bank upper band 2 percent-6 percent target range. A slow-
down was seen for food (9.05 percent vs 9.27 percent). Prices of vegetables went up
11.41 percent, pulses 14.44 percent, cereals 5.92 percent, meat, and fish 16.5 percent,
and sugar 3.93 percent. Other increases were recorded for fuel and light (3.1 per-
cent), clothing and footwear (2.77 percent), transport (11.1 percent), and education
(1.61 percent).”

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REJIG, 2020

Why is our GDP affected? Remember the formula for GDP? GDP is affect-
ed by Public Consumption, Private Investments, Government spending, and
Net Exports.
First of all, a drop in the GDP was inevitable. A nation-wide lockdown was
necessary to inhibit the transmission of the disease. However, this triggered,
many people to lose their jobs and many businesses went through a loss. This
was followed by inflation. People curtailed on expenditures to save money.
Due to this, the amount of public consumption halted significantly. This lead
to a sharp decline in business investments. Companies did not invest in ei-
ther manufacturing or marketing new products since the sales would not be
as high as expected. Exports also hit a new low during the lockdown.
Hence it is in the hands of the government to intervene and take some nec-
essary steps.
Economists suggest a bailout for small industries or increase government
spending by investing in schemes like MNREGA(Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act). This will increase employment and thus
increase consumption.
Another method is to increase its debt-to-GDP ratio. The debt-to-GDP ra-
tio is the ratio between a country’s government debt and its gross domestic
product. As of now, India is at 69.62%. Economists suggest increasing this
ratio will give state governments more money to spend on the welfare of the
people. While this may cause a short term strain, it is a good move for the
long term.
Also, since we are slowing emerging from the lockdown, the growth rate will
slowly and gradually improve and become positive. The growth in the next 2
years is what will truly define the economic condition of our country.

-Abigael Rachel Kumar
(Sem 5)

Department of Information Technology | www.fcrit.ac.in 17

REJIG, 2020

Covid-19 Impact |
Is Touch-Less Technology a way forward?

Do you remember the last time you went out in public
and didn’t think about what you touched?

Yeah, we’re struggling to remember that time too. But in a world that
is ravaged by the pandemic, Touch-less Technology is a leap forward
towards technological advancement. We will need to touch as little
as possible in the coming weeks, months, and yes, even years. Fur-
thermore, a few months from now, your attendance will be marked
by a facial recognition system or by voice. You can make your pay-
ments through your wristwatches. In airports, you will print your
boarding pass through gestures. Touch-less technology is here to
stay and will witness growth much faster than earlier due to the
COVID-19 outbreak. Experts point out that touch-less technology
is likely to accelerate adoption across sectors such as aviation de-
spite a slump in business.

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REJIG, 2020

What exactly Touch-less Technology is?

Touch-Less technology implies that you don’t have to physically come
in contact with any public surfaces like door handles, elevator buttons,
or shared screens. This is where your smartphone and other person-
al devices come in. It doesn’t take a huge behavioural change because
we’re all on our devices all day long anyway, so it can even add a layer
of convenience.
The technology uses sensors to recognize your gestures, facial features,
or voice to complete a task. For instance, voice assistants such as iP-
hone Siri or Alexa, which use voice-based technology. The technology
interprets speech using automated speech recognition (ASR), a tech-
nology that helps humans interact with the computer using voice.
The same goes for facial recognition or gestures. In case of gesture, as
the name suggests you use gestures to control and interact without
actually touching the device. This technology uses a computer vision
algorithm to interpret the sign language for the action to be complet-

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REJIG, 2020

Types of Touch-Less Technology

-Gesture recognition-

This the most common form of no-touch technology. Users can do simple gestures
to control or interact with devices. Waving your hand to trigger an automatic door,
for example, removes the need to touch handles or a physical button.

-Touch-less sensing-

Touch-Less sensing or motion sensors can detect the presence or motion of a person
under a sensor. Like gesture recognition, they are well integrated into our lives. Ev-
ery one of us has gone through an automatic door at a grocery store, hotel, or com-
mercial building.

-Voice recognition-

Voice recognition system, lets a user interact with technology simply by using their
voice. This is extensively used in our home. We can make hands-free requests, set re-
minders, and perform other simple tasks by talking to Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa,
or the Google Assistant.

-Facial recognition-

Facial recognition takes things one step further since it doesn’t require a conscious
effort by the user. As these days many smartphones can be unlocked with a glance at
the screen, imagine a video conference starting when you walk into a room.

-Personal devices-

For technology to be completely touch-free it must operate without the need for
physical contact, like in the examples above. But the introduction of smartphones
and other personal devices have made nearly touch-free technology possible as well.
Anything that operates at the command of your device allows you to avoid touching
public surfaces.

-Voice recognition-

Voice recognition system, lets a user interact with technology simply by using their
voice. This is extensively used in our home. We can make hands-free requests, set re-
minders, and perform other simple tasks by talking to Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa,
or the Google Assistant.

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REJIG, 2020

Developing and
In-use Touch-less Technology

Mobile payments through wristwatch:

You can now make payments with your watch. MasterCard teamed up
with Laks and announced the first wristwatch that can be used to make
payments. Not only does it sound cool, but it’s also simple and uses a
well-known technology.

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REJIG, 2020

How hotels are preparing for a post-COVID
guest experience:

For the past few years, one of the biggest buzzwords in travel has been
“seamless,” envisioned as a utopian experience in which every moment
of a journey - before, during, and after a trip - happens effortlessly and
yet is customized to the needs and interests of the traveller. Then came
COVID-19 – upending the travel industry, the way business is conduct-
ed and the expectations of consumers. Vouch’s digital concierge system
enables hotels to receive and respond to any sort of question or request
from guests – from needing more towels, to ordering room service or
making spa bookings – without the need for the guest to pick up a room
phone or stand in line in the lobby. Guests access the bot using their mo-
bile device and either scanning a QR code or putting the phone near an
NFC tag, which Vouch creates to blend in with the property’s branding.

Drone-delivery:

The Covid-19 pandemic has given a tremendous boost to online delivery
platforms and retail drone technology will see a commercial rollout on a
larger scale in the not-too-distant future, Indian-origin researchers have
stressed. The study found that both the number of last-mile warehouses
and the delivery speed of the drones will increase as the technology ma-
tures. In other words, last-mile delivery networks will become more de-
centralized, with drones operating at increasingly faster speeds.

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REJIG, 2020

Challenges for Touch-Less Technology:

The cost of sensors is a challenge. Contact-Less sensing products are
expensive and it might not be possible for an individual as well as
firms to implement them in all aspects. In Wipro, washrooms are now
equipped with sensors. An analyst pointed out that firms cannot make
the entire office premises touch-less given how expensive it would be
at a time when businesses are hit. While wider adoption might bring
prices down, firms will be judicious, the analyst added.
Another issue is with the use of facial recognition that is likely to gain
pace with COVID-19. Facial recognition uses facial features to recog-
nize an individual. Unlike fingerprints or iris, the identification is not
accurate though works are on to improve accuracy. There have been
cases where the technology has made inaccurate identification when it
comes to people of color, especially transgenders and ethnic minorities.
At this juncture, wide implementation, especially by the enforcement
personnel like police, could result in inaccurate identification. Priva-
cy is another major concern too. There will be a need for more clarity
from the government on how the data will be used and for what pur-
pose. There is a need for stronger regulation before it is adopted wide-
ly.

-Abdul Majeed Inamdaar
(Sem 5)

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REJIG, 2020

Innovation during the times
of Pandemic.

In this devastating pandemic, it has become a norm to have
our hands washed, with either handwash or sanitizers. To-
day within our sight of confluence, we see people wearings
masks and using hand sanitizers. Usually, the area of con-
fluences are equipped with sanitizers, and people use it by
sheer physical contact, which might account for the me-
tastasizing of the coronavirus. To tackle this problem one
of our final year students- Prathamesh Patil has come up
with a brilliant solution of Automatic. Sanitizer Dispens-
er, you just have to put your palm below the spout and it
would sprinkle sanitizer onto your palm.
Hence feeding two birds with one seed. His expertise in areas of hardware and PCB
designing and development has proved to be beneficial to the whole humankind.
Prathamesh says only four-five components namely plywood, plastic bottle, DC
motor, pipe, and sensors have gone into the making of the device, which can dis-
pense the exact amount of sanitizer without even touching it. The state-of-the-art
automatic hand sanitizer dispenser is not only low cost but also is easy to refill,
doesn’t use much electricity, and is compact & light enough to be be placed any-
where. Being battery-based it can be used for two days straight without electricity
once it is charged for 4-5 hours. Moreover, he has thoughtfully made the machine
in 2 variants- 1 liter and 5-liter capacity according to the need for residential and
official spaces respectively.

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REJIG, 2020

Upon asking about the inspiration behind this wonderful innovation, he proudly
replies that it was his sense of responsibility as an IT engineer from F.C.R.I.T, to
show compassion and be servile towards the numerous policemen, doctors, nurs-
es, and other COVID warriors who are working diligently for our safety. Also, he
says our Honorable prime minister’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative added to his
zeal.
As of now he has already made and gifted 30-35 such dispensers to the police sta-
tions, schools, and hospitals across his city. He aims to make these dispensers via-
ble for many more police stations, schools, government offices, and hospitals who
might not be able to afford the costly dispensers in the market. Our best wishes
to Prathamesh for taking this wonderful initiative that makes health more afford-
able for people.
-Vasudha Sude
(Sem 3)

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REJIG, 2020

Edge Computing

In the beginning, there was One Big Computer. Then, in the Unix
era, we learned how to connect to that computer using terminals.
After a few years, we have personal computers, which was the first
time regular people owned the hardware that did the job. Now, in
2020 we are firmly in the cloud computing era. Many of us still own
personal computers, but we mostly use them to access centralized
services like Dropbox, Gmail, Office 365, etc. Edge computing is
helping everything from IoT to digital advertising technology evolve
in terms of speed, scale, and security.

39

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REJIG, 2020

What is Edge Computing?

Edge computing is transforming the way data is being handled, pro-
cessed, and delivered from millions of devices around the world. Edge
computing in telecom, often referred to as Mobile Edge Computing,
MEC, or Multi-Access Edge Computing, provides execution resources
(compute and storage) for applications with networking close to the
end-users, typically within or at the boundary of operator networks.
The explosive growth of internet-connected devices along with new
applications that require real-time computing power continues to drive
edge-computing system.

The benefit of Edge Computing

-Speed and latency
-Security
-Cost Saving
-Greater Reliability
-Scalability

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How does it work?

Edge computing works by moving data, applications, and computing
power from the core network to the fringes so that information can be
distributed across distributed server networks. Your target users will
remain Internet customers using commercial Internet application ser-
vices. Formerly available for large enterprises, it is now available for
small and medium enterprises due to cost reductions on large deploy-
ments.

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Future of Edge Computing

In our data-intense future, with billions of devices connected to the in-
ternet, faster and more reliable data processing will be of vital impor-
tance. The consolidation and centralized nature of cloud computing
have proven cost-effective and flexible over recent years, but the rise of
IoT and mobile computing has put a strain on networking bandwidth.
Ultimately, not all smart devices need to utilize cloud computing to
operate. In some cases, the back and forth can and should be avoided.
That’s where edge computing comes in. Edge computing allows data to
be processed closer to where it is created (i.e. motors, pumps, genera-
tors, or other sensors), thus reducing the need to move data between
the cloud. Edge computing can be an alternative, but still, the technol-
ogy is in its nascent stage and it becomes difficult to predict its future
successes. Challenges around device capabilities - including the ability
to develop software and hardware that can handle computational off-
loading from the cloud are likely to arise. Being able to teach machines
to toggle between a computation that can be performed at the edge
and one that requires the cloud is also a challenge. Even so, as adop-
tion picks up, there will be more opportunities for companies to test
and deploy this technology across various sectors. And while some use
cases may prove the value of edge computing more clearly than others,
the potential impact on our connected ecosystem as a whole could be
game-changing.

-Nefi Nisen
(Sem 5)

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Machine Learning

Machine Learning applications learn from experiences (well data) like
humans without direct programming. When exposed to new data,
these applications learn, grow, change, and develop by themselves. In
other words, with Machine Learning, computers find insightful infor-
mation without being told where to look. Instead, they do this by le-
veraging algorithms that learn from data in an iterative process. It is a
core sub-area of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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TYPES OF MACHINE LEARNING

Algorithms play an important role in Machine Learning. On the one
hand, they are responsible for recognizing patterns to generate solu-
tions. Approximately 70 percent of Machine Learning is supervised
learning, while unsupervised learning ranges from 10 – 20 percent.
Another method that is used less often is reinforcement learning.

SUPERVISED LEARNING

 
Here in the course of monitored learning, example models are defined
in advance. In other words, the system learns based on given input and
output pairs. In the course of monitored learning, a programmer, who
acts as a kind of teacher, provides the appropriate values for a partic-
ular input. The aim is to train the system in the context of successive
calculations with different inputs and outputs and to establish connec-
tions.

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In the given case, the model tries to figure out whether the data is an
apple or some other fruit. Once the model has been trained well, it will
identify that the input data is an apple and give the desired response.
UNSUPERVISED LEARNING
In unsupervised learning, the training data is unknown and unlabelled
which means that no one has looked at the data before. Without the
aspect of known data, the input cannot be guided to the algorithm,
which is where the unsupervised term originates from. This data is fed
to the Machine Learning algorithm and is used to train the model.
The trained model tries to search for a pattern and give the desired
response. In this case, it is often like the algorithm is trying to break
code like the Enigma machine but without the human mind directly
involved but rather a machine. In the given case, the unknown data
consists of different types of fruits. The trained model tries to put them
all together so that you get the same things in similar groups.
REINFORCEMENT LEARNING
In reinforcement learning, and artificial intelligence faces a game-like
situation. The computer employs trial and error to come up with a solu-
tion to the problem. To get the machine to do what the programmer
wants, artificial intelligence gets either rewards or penalties for the ac-
tions it performs. Its goal is to maximize the total reward.

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MOST POPULAR APPLICATIONS
Machine Learning is applied at Netflix and Amazon as well as for Face-
book’s face recognition. For you as a user, Machine Learning is for ex-
ample reflected in the possibility of tagging people on uploaded im-
ages. Facebook has the largest face database in the world. The data fed
by users into the social network is used by Facebook to optimize and
train Machine Learning systems in terms of visual recognition.
Besides, more and more chatbots are being used in the area of telephone
customer service. These are automated programs that communicate
with customers. In this way, the chatbots can optimize their cognitive
abilities concerning the interpretation of the tone in different situa-
tions. Besides, the chatbots can forward the call - for example, if it is a
more complex request - to an employee of the call center.

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In addition to driverless cars, Machine Learning is also used in collab-
orative robots. Other areas of application for Machine Learning would
be:
-Analysis of the stock market
-Credit Card Fraud Detection
-Automated diagnostic procedures
-Acquisition of landmines in acoustic sensor and radar data

LIMITATIONS
One of the major limitations is time. It is impossible to make immedi-
ate accurate predictions. As it learns through historical data, it’s noted
that the bigger the data and the longer it is exposed to these data, the
better it will perform. Another limitation is the lack of verification. It’s
difficult to prove that the predictions made by a machine learning sys-
tem are suitable for all scenarios.

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FUTURE
Machine Learning can be a competitive advantage to any company
or a start-up as things that are currently being done manually will be
done tomorrow by machines. The machine Learning revolution will
stay with us for long and so will be the future of Machine Learning.

-Jose Ashley
(Sem 5)

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Virtual Reality and COVID-19

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to
create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user
interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. In-
stead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are im-
mersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating
as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch,
even smell, the computer is transformed into a guardian
to this artificial world. 
The COVID-19 pandemic has caught us all off guard. No
one was prepared for the impact of such a crisis. It has ma-
jorly impacted the social scenario as people aren’t allowed
to gather. This has affected and slowed down many things
all around the world. It has locked down many things.

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Virtual Reality acts as the per-
fect key to unlock this as it
gives us the same efficiency
without the need to be togeth-
er. This crisis has enabled us,
as a society, in terms of digital
communication tools. And, if
a video conference is already
a major advance over an au-
dio call, the step will be equally important when we have useful,
practical, and extended tools of communication-based on virtual
reality. These will offer a greater immersion, better user experience,
and closeness, to all the people who participate in it. VR technol-
ogy develops a platform to reduce the face to face interaction of
doctors with the infected COVID-19 patients. Through live video
streaming, it helps to improve surveillance systems on the ongoing
situation. Similarly, VR can be the solution we are looking for and
help us continue without any problem.

-Joannes Johnraj
(Sem 3)

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COVID-19: AI To The Rescue

Looking back at the past few months, the destruction caused by
the tiny - Yes, but oh-so-deadly SARS-CoV-2 or as is commonly
known, the Corona Virus is simply appalling. The world which was
constantly up and about on its feet was forced to stop and watch
as the virus held mankind hostage. As we are slowly getting back
on track, let us have a glimpse at how this universe of 1’s and 0’s

has helped in this journey.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played an enormous role in addressing the
present situation and tackling the various effects of the pandemic. Scientists are
utilizing AI to delve deeper into the molecular structure of the present drugs
to spot which of the currently available drugs can tackle the virus most effec-
tively. BenevolentAI, a London-based drug-discovery company, began turn-
ing its attention towards the Corona Virus in late January 2020. The company’s
AI-powered knowledge graph can digest large volumes of scientific literature
and biomedical research to search out links between the genetic and biological
properties of diseases and therefore the composition and action of medicines.
The corporate, which previously focused on managing chronic diseases, uti-
lized the information which is being produced about COVID19, using knowl-
edge graphs.
In another effort at clubbing the medical and technological fields, DeepMind
(the AI arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet) is functioning with data
about genomes to shed light on the protein structures of the organism. Deep-
Mind has developed a deep learning library called AlphaFold. It has trained Al-
phaFold using massive genomic datasets and has now set it to work on COVID-
19’s genome. This can help identify the varied drugs which could potentially be
effective against COVID-19. R&D of vaccines and medicines aside, detecting
the latest hot-spots, and controlling the spread of infection, becomes extremely
crucial in a pandemic. AI systems were among the primary ones to detect the
dimensions of the Corona Virus outbreak within the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The AI-driven system HealthMap assessed the rapidly growing cases of pneu-
monia within the initial days, though it assessed it to be a ‘medium’ outbreak.
HealthMap has continued monitoring of the virus, tracking and visualizing its
spread across the world by time and geographies.

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Talking about the disastrous effects this virus has had on the hu-
man psyche, we have realized what a formidable opponent we are
up against. From fear to a sense of loneliness, from feeling angry
and stressed to feeling depressed and suicidal, the world is seeing
a massive rise in mental health-related problems. The reasons be-
hind these negative and hopeless feelings range from the economic
crashes which have led to unemployment, the physical distancing
that has translated into social distancing between individuals, liv-
ing in the constant fear of oneself and loved ones contracting the
virus, and so on. According to Statista, as of 31st May’20, approx-
imately twenty-eight percent of respondents in the United States
stated that their Mental health is among their main concerns about
COVID-19. Understanding these emotions and providing help
and advice to tackle them requires a human touch, right?

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The amazing field of Artificial Intelligence has come to our rescue even
in this task by providing similar help and support. Woebot, a chatbot
created by a team of Stanford psychologists and AI experts, uses brief
daily chat conversations, mood tracking, curated videos, and word
games to assist people to manage their psychological state. It is built on
a platform of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT uses struc-
tured exercises to encourage someone to question and alter their hab-
its of thought. Woebot helps patients manage their mental state con-
ditions by changing the way they think and behave by enabling them
to re-frame their negative thoughts into positive ones using language
processing, clinical expertise, and light-hearted daily talk intended to
form a therapeutic experience.
To conclude, AI has come to our rescue amid this COVID-19 pan-
demic by providing technological platforms and solutions to address
its negative consequences. So going forward we can be confident that
we are surely capable of tackling pandemics like this provided we can
be proactive and ready with technology-based solutions like these to
be deployed at very short notice as the situation demands.

Catherine Sarah Sunil
(Sem 5)

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Blockchain Technology and COVID-19

What is Blockchain Technology? It is just a chain of blocks,
where the ‘block’ is ‘digital information’ stored in the ‘chain’
that is ‘public database’. Blocks store information about each
transaction and chains help to propagate this information.

A blockchain is an essential tool for establishing an efficient and
transparent healthcare business model based on accuracy and
trust as this technology is highly secured by cryptography.

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The COVID-19 coronavirus has impacted countries, communities, and
individuals in a myriad of ways, from school closure to health-care in-
surance issues and not to attenuate loss of lives. In this case, if there had
been a blockchain wherein WHO, Health Ministry of each country, and
maybe even relevant nodal hospitals of each country, were connected,
sharing real-time information, about any new communicable disease,
then the world might have woken up much earlier.

Touch-Less technology implies that you don’t have to physically come
in contact with any public surfaces like door handles, elevator buttons,
or shared screens. This is where your smartphone and other person-
al devices come in. It doesn’t take a huge behavioural change because
sptiBpienohtTToiwnchwnahaolrfohhosceoertreri.cn’leelrevftrctoAyvoetirneeioktslcginapneddyariacSuaysccgrvuemdhmilaeleehrletatsaiadsteihtneneonrtisaictonolaonoibdghcytssertlnilotupecencoofooihAaeoofygevacguncfeslergnmliiekylwrletccyoefc.pycxiou,dphbosof,eshattrseleusnnohsaeu,hevyflfttitwiussuadiymanesrpiccssmgohenwaeaeaeiptsiuiagslrtndoacptiltilaloonhauseaaoulrnfowmlnusssneoesluskrttencdrispdsssosf.noeaieo,aagttbmsFtsgborryrseevee.onaeulasrBaorfrelrncitasotoaseiltukegpccceopricnidniooreteyeociogned,-vscnwkgtsusgbtiatehcpnaptteioanrthetbpenidrnwsorhyzyaerouecmegweniicdcestcbnlaehhypel,eoalesktciowseryvrnnetcrssaee,uuocettcinassschrrnhciroauuodcaoeohegnggmelscslageetiteoeh.otolplasannsiltIpfctonnsahu,itncuastddhsgadtiiirnmeecdaeoneCysesratti.vandselonaOasTteet,uv,nreoat(lmvfhVeseeotaAteoikhnesrspcnoIlaufSaeuDitsrogcataceRegrsuercdflt-pcveve.)uce1fedhes,aowehtnrp9tintariaaulaaim.icaloattdtartWbelucheseleaene.lkoroci,ynmiricenghPtuaoeeteshgyssr----tf,,

actually touching the device. This technology uses a cJooamnpnuetseJrovhinsiroanj
algorithm to interpret the sign language for the action to be c(oSmemple3t)-

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What on earth is Data Science?

Behold my pithiest attempt: “Data science is the discipline
of making data useful.” Feel free to flee now or stick around
for a tour of its three subfields.
-Statistics
-Machine learning
-Data-mining / analytics
The term no one defined
If you poke around in the early history of the term data sci-
ence, you see two themes coming together. Allow me to para-
phrase for your amusement:
-Big(ger) data means more tinkering with computers.
-Statisticians can’t code their way out of a paper bag.
And thus, data science is born. The way I first heard the job
defined is “A data scientist is a statistician who can code.”
I’ll be full of opinions on that in a moment, but first, why
don’t we examine data science itself?

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The classic Venn diagram by Conway is shown below

Data science is a ‘concept to unify statistics, data analysis, machine
learning, and their related methods’ to ‘understand and analyze actu-
al phenomena’ with data.
That’s a mouthful, so let me see if I can make it short and sweet:
“Data science is the discipline of making data useful.”

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Role of Data Science during the Covid-19 period:

In the tumultuous times we face, data science has been at the forefront
of detecting and predicting COVID-19. Organisations like Tableau of-
fer trackers and community-based visualisations that provide intuitive
and insightful information about the pandemic. Data scientists at John
Hopkins have been leveraging machine learning to predict risk scores
for the disease based on clinical data. However, the impact of the pan-
demic indicates that uncertainty would be a significant hallmark of a
post-COVID world. Consequently, data science would consider the
ambiguous nature of the environment to play a key role in the com-
ing times. A look at how the world has altered hints at the changes to
come.

Data Science tools are required to forecast and visual-
ize all the given factors below to understand what they

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The total number of deaths, recoveries, and active cases
are all visualized using data science tools:

Map of Count of COVID cases by London Borough, darker = more cases

-Parth Phalke
(Sem 3)

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Faculty Achievements

Publications

20

15 12 14
9 9
10
6 54 4
2

11
10

8

444 5
3
3 2
1
1

Ms.

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