Curriculum Magazine

Author: Editorial team

  • IIT Roorkee Joint Admission test for Masters (JAM) 2022 announced, on Feb 13, 2022

    IIT Roorkee Joint Admission test for Masters (JAM) 2022 announced, on Feb 13, 2022

    Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee  has announced JAM 2022 examination and will be conducted on Sunday, February 13, 2022. The JAM application portal will be open to aspiring candidates from 30th August, 2021 to 11th October, 2021. JAM score will also be used by other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions such as NITs, IIEST Shibpur, SLIET Punjab, and IISERs for admission to their postgraduate programmes.

    Joint Admission test for Masters (JAM) is a qualifying examination for candidates seeking admission to various Masters programmes, including M.Sc. (Two-year), Joint M.Sc.‐Ph.D., M.Sc.‐Ph.D. Dual Degree, M.Sc.‐M.S. (Research)/ Ph.D. Dual Degree, and other Post‐Bachelor Degree programmes at IITs (Bhilai, Bhubaneswar, Bombay, Delhi, (ISM) Dhanbad, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Mandi, Palakkad, Patna, Roorkee, Ropar, Tirupati, and (BHU) Varanasi). JAM score will be used by IISc Bangalore for admission to Integrated Ph.D. programmes. IITs and IISc started conducting JAM from the academic year 2004-05.

    JAM 2022 will have 7 test papers, namely, Biotechnology (BT), Chemistry (CY), Economics (EN), Geology (GG), Mathematics (MA), Mathematical Statistics (MS), and Physics (PH). A candidate can appear for either one or two test papers. JAM 2022 is open to all nationals and there is no age restriction. JAM score is valid for only one year.

    The JAM 2022 examination will be conducted as a Computer Based Test (CBT) in ONLINE mode in various cities spread across the country. It is an entirely objective type test, with three questions’ styles: (i) Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), (ii) Multiple Select Questions (MSQ), and (iii) Numerical Answer Type (NAT) questions

  • Tata Steel MaterialNEXT programme winners announced, awarded

    Tata Steel MaterialNEXT programme winners announced, awarded

    Team Titans from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, which created an innovative solution and prototype of Ti6AL4V implant for the reconstruction of bone defects, won the second edition of ‘Tata Steel MaterialNEXT’ programme. The grand finale was held as an online event on July 9, 2021. Team Titans, comprising Pearlin Hameed, Ansheed A Raheem, Jishita R, and Ashwin G, received a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and was mentored by Dr. Geetha Manivasagam, Professor from VIT Vellore.

    Team Changemakers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, created prototypes of bioabsorbable & deployable biliary stents using shape memory polymer composites and was declared as the runner-up. The team, comprising Saswat Choudhury, Rishabh Soni, received a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakh and was mentored by Dr. Kaushik Chatterjee, Professor from IISc Bangalore and Dr. Sonal Asthana, Clinical lead from Aster Hospital, Bangalore.

    The remaining three teams in the top 5, won a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh each for their successful demonstration of ideas. Team Biomaterials from IISc Bangalore, comprising Pritiranjan Mondal, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Dr. Sushma Kumari, Dr. Padmavathy Nagarajan and mentored by Dr. Kaushik Chatterjee, Professor from IISc Bangalore, worked on their idea of antimicrobial paints and coatings using functionalised graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Team 7 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, comprising Aparna Zagabathuni, Arnob Dutta, Kishore Kumar Padi and mentored by Dr. S. Kanagaraj, Professor from IIT Guwahati, worked on their idea of origami-inspired metamaterial composite orthotic insole for foot disorders. Team Collaborative Research from IIT Guwahati and IIT Gandhinagar, comprising Mitali Basak, Shirsendu Mitra and mentored by Dr. Partho Sarathi Gooh Pattader, Professor from IIT Guwahati, demonstrated their idea of digital electronic based portable device for colorimetric quantification of ketones and glucose in human urine.

    MaterialNEXT 2.0 had two tracks, one for aspiring registered PG and Ph.D. students & research scholars from academia/research centres across India and other for the incubated start-ups in seed or series A funding level. Teams competed for the cash prizes, mentorship, and grants for next level of project developments.

    This year, the programme received registrations from 250 teams with final 91 active ideas (68 in Research track and 23 in Startup track). After the two-stage selection process, 15 top ideas (13 in Research track and 2 in Startup track) were onboarded for a guided idea development for 2-3 months. During the idea development/performance phase, all teams received interactive mentoring sessions from the industry specialists cum challenge area owners from Tata Steel (Dr. Sudhakar R Marur, Dr. Amar N Bhagat, M C Thomas, Kingshuk Poddar) and subject matter experts from IITs, NITs and IISc (Prof. Kantesh Balani, Prof. Nikhil Singha, Prof. Chenna R Borra, Prof. Bankim C Ray, Prof. Saumen Mandal, Prof. Suryasarathi Bose) in respective challenge areas. Apart from these, each team were also tagged with at least one mentor from the local institute. The teams were also supported with small revenue expenditure funds as per activity estimates.

    The grand finale jury comprised Dr. Tata Narasinga Rao, Director, ARCI Hyderabad; Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Material Business, Tata Steel; Mr. Ravi Arora, Vice President, Innovation Program, Tata Sons.

    MaterialNEXT as an open innovation event is targeted at leading academic institutes, research centres and early stage deep-tech start-up incubation spaces nurtured in these institutes as a catchment area for novel ideas, which would be taken up subsequently through TSAMRC (Tata Steel Advanced Materials Research Centre) for technology entrepreneurship. Selected ideas from the MaterialNEXT platform would be incubated and nurtured through collaborative experimentation routes to higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and further for commercialisation by internal business units with other partners.

    Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology & New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “MaterialNEXT is an open innovation platform which aims to encourage and promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the areas of materials for mobility, healthcare, building materials and industrial equipment together with circular economy. We congratulate the winning teams of the second edition of MaterialNEXT for their futuristic approach towards innovating products that will help the society and the environment.”

    MaterialNEXT programme was launched on December 28, 2020, coinciding with the birthday of Mr. Ratan N Tata, Chairman Tata Trusts and Chairman Emeritus Tata Sons. The second edition of the initiative was launched across India as a flagship event of Tata Steel and was based on four key themes/challenges: Fiber Reinforced Composites, Novel Coatings, Urban Mining and Medical Materials

  • Geography determines survival for babies born with birth defects across the world – study

    Gastroschisis, a birth defect where the baby is born with their intestines protruding through a hole by the umbilicus has the greatest difference in mortality with 90% of babies dying in low-income countries compared with 1% in high-income countries. In high-income countries, most of these babies will be able to live a full life without disability. This is based on data by scientists from 74 countries  who examined the risk of mortality for nearly 4,000 babies born with birth defects in 264 hospitals around the world.

    Professor Justine Davies, one of the UK study leads from the University of Birmingham said: “The differences in life or death for babies born with these highly treatable conditions in high, middle, or low-income countries is tragic. It reflects the general lack of attention and investment given to surgery care in low- or middle-income countries. Most people living in high income countries take for granted that they can access high quality care if they or their children have a surgically treatable condition, but this is not a reality for most people in the world.”

    Principal Investigator Dr Naomi Wright has devoted the last four years to studying these disparities in outcome. She said: “Geography should not determine outcomes for babies who have correctable surgical conditions. The Sustainable Development Goal to ‘end preventable deaths in newborns and children under 5 years old by 2030’ is unachievable without urgent action to improve surgical care for babies in low- and middle-income countries.”

    The researchers are calling for a focus on improving surgical care for newborns in low- and middle-income countries globally.

    Birth defects are now the fifth leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age globally, with most deaths occurring in the new-born period. Birth defects involving the intestinal tract have a particularly high mortality in low- and middle-income countries as many are not compatible with life without emergency surgical care after birth.

    The study highlights the importance of perioperative care (the care received either side of the corrective operation or procedure) at the children’s surgical centre. Babies treated at hospitals without access to ventilation and intravenous nutrition when needed had a higher chance of dying. Furthermore, not having skilled anaesthetic support and not using a surgical safety checklist at the time of operation were associated with a higher chance of death.

    Improving survival from these conditions in low- and middle-income countries involves three key elements:

    • improving antenatal diagnosis and delivery at a hospital with children’s surgical care;
    • improving surgical care for babies born in district hospitals, with safe and quick transfer to the children’s surgical centre; and
    • improved perioperative care for babies at the children’s surgical centre.

    This requires strong teamwork and planning between midwifery and obstetric teams, newborn and paediatric teams, and children’s surgical teams at the children’s surgical centre, alongside outreach education and networking with referring hospitals.

    Alongside local initiatives, surgical care for newborns and children needs to be integrated into national and international child health policy and should no longer be neglected within global child health.

  • University of Essex launches 6-wk university preparation programmes

    Students getting ready for university around the world, including India, can now access the six-week Essex Preparation Programme especially designed to get them ready for their university studies.  The course is open to anyone applying for undergraduate study at the University of Essex, and if they complete the course and register to study at Essex for the 2021-22 academic year-they will qualify for a £250 bursary. The University is also developing an early arrival programme for September to give extra help to new students.

    The Essex Preparation Programme builds on the work the University undertook last year in response to the disruption caused by lockdown to support students who were applying to Essex.

    Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Lorna Fox O’Mahony said: “We know the past year and a half was so difficult for this generation of school and college students so we wanted to give then a helping hand so they can bounce back in the next step in their lives and thrive at university. Getting back on track for university study might feel a bit daunting so we want to do everything we can to help these students to succeed. Our academics have been working with our Skills for Success team, library team and other staff to create inspiring course material which will help students reach their potential by becoming better, more effective learners. Last year, we saw how much school and college students appreciated the extra help we gave them so we’ve used their feedback to develop even more ways to support students at this stage just before university.”

    In the coming months the University will also launch programmes for Years 12 and 13 and Years 10 and 11. They are designed to be a high-quality source of information, advice and guidance which students can work through independently or teachers can use in the classroom.

    Completion of the Essex Preparation Programme is optional, but the University believes it will give students a great start to their studies. The materials are also perfect for students who perhaps have taken a break from formal education for any reason. Over the six-week programme students will explore independent learning, critical thinking, academic integrity and many more areas.

  • Computational model blight detection in potato crops using photographs developed by IIT Mandi

    Computational model blight detection in potato crops using photographs developed by IIT Mandi

    Potatoes, in the history of the world, have been the cause of the world’s great famine of the mid-nineteenth century that killed over a million people in Ireland and rang the death knell for the Irish language. The reason? Potato Blight.

    Now there is cheering news. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, have developed a computational model for automated disease detection in potato crops using photographs of its leaves. This computational can detect blight in potato leaf images. The model is built using an AI tool called mask region-based convolutional neural network architecture and can accurately highlight the diseased portions of the leaf amid a complex background of plant and soil matter. uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to highlight the diseased portions of the leaf “Automated disease detection can help in this regard and given the extensive proliferation of the mobile phones across the country, the smartphone could be a useful tool in this regard,” said. Joe Johnson, Research Scholar, IIT Mandi, while highlighting the practical usage of his research. The advanced HD cameras, better computing power and communication avenues offered by smartphones offer a promising platform for automated disease detection in crops, which can save time and help in the timely management of diseases, in cases of outbreaks.

    (L to R) Dr. Srikant Srinivasan, Associate Professor, School of Comuting and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, along with his research scholar Mr. Joe Johnson

    Following this success, the developer team led by Dr. Srikant Srinivasan, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi, in collaboration with the Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, is sizing down the model to a few tens of megabytes so that it can be hosted on a smartphone as an application. With this, when the farmer will photograph the leaf which appears unhealthy, the application will confirm in real-time if the leaf is infected or not. With this timely knowledge, the farmer would know exactly when to spray the field, saving his produce and minimising costs associated with unnecessary use of fungicides.

    “The model is being refined as more states are covered,” added Dr. Srinivasan and highlighted that it would be deployed as part of the FarmerZone app that will be available to potato farmers for free. In order to develop a robust model, healthy and diseased leaf data were collected from fields across Punjab, U.P and Himachal Pradesh. It was important that the model developed should have portability across the nation.

    Funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, the results of this research have recently been published in the journal Plant Phenomics, in a paper co-authored by Dr. Srikant Srinivasan, and Dr. Shyam K. Masakapalli along with research scholars, Mr. Joe Johnson, and Ms. Geetanjali Sharma, from IIT Mandi, and Dr. Vijay Kumar Dua, Dr. Sanjeev Sharma, and Dr. Jagdev Sharma, from Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla.

    The Blight is a common disease of the potato plant, that starts as uneven light green lesions near the tip and the margins of the leaf and then spreads into large brown to purplish-black necrotic patches that eventually leads to rotting of the plant. If left undetected and unchecked, blight could destroy the entire crop within a week under conducive conditions.

    “In India, as with most developing countries, the detection and identification of blight are performed manually by trained personnel who scout the field and visually inspect potato foliage,” explained Dr. Srinivasan. This process, as expected, is tedious and often impractical, especially for remote areas, because it requires the expertise of a horticultural specialist who may not be physically accessible. So, the new technique will help in easy and early detection potato blight everywhere.

     

     

  • TiE Bangalore Launches EdTech Special Interest Group in collaboration with AWS

    TiE Bangalore Launches EdTech Special Interest Group in collaboration with AWS

    The EdTech Special Interest Group (SIG) will also identify, and nurture select EdTech start-ups and entrepreneurs via AWS resources and support from TiE’s network of charter members.

    The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Bangalore has launched a Special Interest Group (SIG) for EdTechs to promote, mentor and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs in the EdTech space. Towards this, TiE Bangalore is collaborating with AWS EdStart, the startup accelerator from Amazon Web Services (AWS) supporting EdTech companies, which joins as the SIG’s Annual Sponsor, with the joint objective of creating a more vibrant EdTech start-up ecosystem. The SIG will be launched on 17th July 2021 at a virtual event, with a fireside chat with Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO of BYJU’S.

    TiE Bangalore’s EdTech SIG will enable EdTech start-ups to scale and succeed by leveraging its strengths of mentorship, education, investor connects, and business networks, along with the resources from the AWS EdStart program to help entrepreneurs accelerate innovation even further to make a positive impact to students, educators, and educational institutions.

    As part of this collaboration, the Edtech SIG will host an array of new and existing events as an exclusive offering for EdTech start-ups. Together, TiE Bangalore and AWS EdStart will also engage actively with the broader EdTech ecosystem and enable meaningful connections to EdTech start-ups through their networks. The EdTech SIG will also nurture selected 20-30 EdTechs annually from this community via AWS resources and TiE’s Bangalore’s mentoring program, and help these start-ups scale up their impact.

    TiE and AWS will also co-host several networking events and knowledge sharing sessions with support from EdTech influencers, kick starting with the EdTech SIG launch event, featuring a fireside chat between Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’s, and Srikanth Iyer, TiE Charter Member and Co-founder & CEO, Homelane.

    Commenting on this launch, Madan Padaki, President of TiE Bangalore said, “Bangalore’s ranking as #7 in the Top 15 in the Global EdTech Index reflects not only its vibrant and successful trajectory in the EdTech space, but also a conducive and thriving environment provided by the State Government to enable a robust startup ecosystem. With the COVID-led boom in the EdTech space, now is an opportune moment to harness these tailwinds and enable passionate entrepreneurs to succeed. We are thrilled to garner the support of AWS EdStart, whose mission is aligned with ours at TiE Bangalore, of fostering entrepreneurship and enabling entrepreneurs to succeed.”

    The launch event of the EdTech Special Interest Group (SIG) will be hosted virtually on 17th July, 2021 at 4:30 PM IST; for RSVP, please register on https://hub.tie.org/e/candid-conversation-with-byju-raveendran–founder–ceo-of-byju-s