In what could be called a testimony to Bengaluru being the IT capital of India, the Indian Institute of Science’s Computer Science and Automation (CSA) department was ranked 71st in the recently released The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017, making it the top institute in India for Computer Science.
A recent collaborative study between the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has employed machine-learning techniques to reveal newpredictors for the Indian Monsoon, making monsoon predictions more reliable. The team consisted of Ms. Moumita Saha and Prof. Pabitra Mitra from the Department of Computer Science, IIT–Kharagpur; and Prof. Ravi S. Nanjundiah from the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences as well as Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISc. Using global climate data from 1948-2000 and machine learning algorithms, the team derived a set of reliable predictors for monsoon rainfall of the sub-continent.
As a testimony to Bengaluru’s distinction as the research and innovation hub of India, two Bengaluru based scientists – Dr. Amit Singh and Dr. Jaydeb Sarkar, have won the prestigious NASI Scopus Young Scientist Award – 2016, for their work in the areas of Biological Sciences and Mathematics respectively. Dr. Amit Singh is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, while Dr. Jaydeb Sarkar is an Associate Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.
On February 10, 2013, 30 million people descended to Allahabad to bathe at the Sangam (the confluence of Yamuna and Ganga) on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya, the most auspicious day of the Maha Kumbh Mela. Disaster struck the Allahabad railway station when about 200 thousand passengers overcrowded the station and rushed to a foot over bridge to change platforms causing a stampede. The bridge collapsed due to the sudden pressure, killing 36 people and injuring at least 39. Can such disasters be avoided? Yes, say Prof. R. Venkatesh Babu and his teammates, Lokesh Boominathan and Srinivas SS Kruthiventi from the Video Analytics Lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Using Neural Networks and Deep Learning models, they have developed a method to estimate the crowd density and the number of people in the crowd with just the image of the crowd.
In the month of May, over 6000 personnel from the National Disaster Relief Force were deployed for rescue operations in Garwhal and Kumaon districts in Uttarakhand. A rather uncommon, unappreciated disaster had struck that region – forest fires. A recent study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is a significant step towards understanding the cause of devastating forest fires.
To most of us, the Himalayas is a snow clad, dry and cold mountain range. But trained eyes see through this apparent homogeneity and interpret the observed variations to understand the local climate and its implications. As a testimony to this, scientists from the Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), Him Parisar, Chandigarh and the Divecha Center for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have recently published a study on the variations in the 'whiteness of snow' across the Himalayas and its relationship with the mean winter air temperature and glacial stability.
In a major move to homegrown research, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, (IISc) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) today signed an agreement on transferring a technology on Radio Frequency (RF) amplifiers based on Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology, developed at IISc. The signing ceremony took place at IISc where Prof. Anurag Kumar, Director, IISc and Dr. Ajit Kalghatghi, Director (R&D), BEL exchanged the agreement.
Bengaluru, apart from all its glory, is also loved for its pleasant weather and surprise light showers. But what makes up the raindrops in those beautiful showers? Are these raindrops formed when fresh river water evaporates and become clouds? Do salt water bodies like seas and oceans influence the constituents of the raindrops that fall in Bengaluru? A team from the Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS) and Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru is exploring this relationship between rain and the role of ocean in driving it. Prof. Prosenjit Ghosh, a member of the study team and a Professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences, calls this research “the journey of moisture from ocean to the land".
On the outskirts of cities, large towers carrying electrical wires is a common sight in the recent years. These wires carry electricity at Ultra High Voltage (400 kV to 800 kV) and are not encapsulated with any insulation. Due to this, the air surrounding the wires gets ionised and starts conducting resulting in an electrical discharge accompanied by a hissing sound. Prof. Joy Thomas of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IISc, Bangalore, and his student Mr. Bharat Kumar, have now developed a mathematical model to estimate this low frequency audible noise on transmission lines carrying current at ultra high voltages.
One might think that driving a car in Bangalore can easily become a nightmare, thanks to the traffic! But a recent study by a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Management, Bangalore have found that 62% of young adults in Bangalore aspire to own a car as soon as they can afford one. The team, lead by Prof. Ashish Verma from the Department of Civil Engineering, studied the attitudinal factors that influence car ownership decisions among urban young adults in a developing country like India.