National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has conducted a survey on Household Social Consumption: Education as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey (NSS). Prior to this, surveys on the same subject were carried out during 64th round (July 2007- June 2008) and 71st round …
IF FRAUDSTERs have devised ingenious ways to dupe banks and financial institutions of millions of dollars each year, then scientists trying to combat forgery have certainly not lagged behind. Recently, British researchers unveiled the latest, state-of-art electronic signature verification system that uses neural network technology to detect forgeries with 95 …
ONE of the most specialised and tedious jobs of an astronomer is classifying galaxies after examining them through a telescope. Now, computers are going to help the scientists in this task, which is important because specifying the type of galaxy gives vital clues about its origin and evolution (Science, Vol …
BY HOOKING on to computer networks like the Internet, the amount of information you can access through your computer is mindboggling. But this glut of information comes complete with a special, needle - in- a- haystack problem: the retrieval of relevant data, especially when the information is image-based. Now, researchers …
A computer chess programme called WChess swaggered through unbeaten at the Fifth Harvard Cup Human vs Computer Intel Chess Challenge. The programme, developed by D Kittinger, scored 4 wins and 2 draws (Communications of ACM, Vol 37, No 12). With 6 grandmasters pitted against 8 computer programmes, the humans outwitted …
COMPUTER models used by climatologists till date have come under a cloud. American researchers Peter Pilewski of National Aeronautical Space Agency's Ames Research Centre and Francisco Valero of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography indicate that clouds can absorb much more energy - up to 30 per cent of the incoming …
IMAGINE finding out all about Humayun's Tomb -- its history and appearance -- without moving an inch. Thanks to a multimedia software package that includes photographs, graphics and narration, the monument's past can now be recreated at the touch of a button. The software on Humayun's Tomb also carries a …
A software programme called Computer Imaging Sperm Selection (CISS) that scientists working with rare animals incarcerated in zoos use to enhance the chances of fertilisation, is now being tested on humans. Recently in London, a woman gave birth to a 4 kg child with the help of this programme. The …
WHO would have thought of archaeologists and anthropologists using cutting-edge computer and laser technology in their disciplines? Now, the scribble pads beloved of anthropologists and archaeologists' calipers could well be given a decent burial for all time to come. At the University of Texas at Austin, for instance, researchers are …
California-based Apple Computer Inc has recently introduced a software technology called AppleScript that allows users to work with several Indian languages on Macintosh PCs. AppleScript, says Alok Sharma, education and development services programme manager, Apple Computer Inc, is a software tool that recognises graphics, thereby enabling the computer to respond …
YOU are posted as a fire officer in a metropolis. One morning, you receive an emergency assistance call about a firebreak. The hysterical caller does not mention the house number -- he just blurts out that it is in "Jaipur colony", near a dilapidated monument. Because there is also a …
INSERT this: you are a scientist who must travel frequently but your presence in a static laboratory is essential every breathing moment. Delete that: you are a cybernetic organism, a brain, almost electronic in its stamina, that must also refer to the scientific information busily accumulated by your research group …
(Attn: No literary liberties have been taken with this piece because techno-slapdash is another lingo altogether). BIT: One bit is the smallest piece of information for a computer and just sufficient to tell the difference between "yes" and "no": 8 bits make 1 byte. MODEM (MOdulator-DEModulator): A device through which …
Rapid advances in computer and communication technology have transformed areas such as banking, railway and air reservation, documentation and entertainment. But the field that stands to gain the most from the information technology revolution is academics. And Poona University seems to have taken the lead among Indian universities in exploiting …
The modest telephone lines -- with their constantly evolving technology -- are going to stay as the backbone of the revolution in information technology. Right now, fibre optics is making a big difference in telecommunications -- sophisticated lasers transform electrical representations of conversations, faxes, or data into light pulses, which …
An abbreviation for "users network", USENET is a collection of electronic bulletin boards or conferences called "newsgroups" -- where users all around the world read and post articles containing news, analysis and opinions. USENET, started in 1979, has around 300,000 users worldwide. The discussions are categorised into different newsgroups according …
OFTEN, a question elicits the cryptic "maybe" as the reply. The fuzzy logic behind such an answer has not escaped mathematicians who have built a mathematical theory known as fuzzy set theory around it. Considering the nebulous character of such logic, the benefits accruing from it are nothing less than …
Microsoft, the US computer software giant, has firsthand experience of its products being pirated in China. Despite burgeoning demand for personal computers -- China imports between 500,000 and 700,000 a year -- the company's application programmes have bombed in the Chinese market. One pirated compact disk crammed with Microsoft programmes, …
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) at Pune recently unveiled its state-of-the-art Param-9000 parallel supercomputer. This machine is the latest to join C-DAC's celebrated Param family which includes the Param Campus, Param-8000 and Param-8600. With the launch of this new machine at the Supercomputing '94 exhibition in Washington, …
Smitten by the computer bug, S Sridharan, a Lok Sabha member from Madras, has emerged as the driving force behind a smuggling network that was bringing in the latest in computer hard disks and software. The modus operandi of the network was simple and effective. It is alleged that the …
The detection of computational errors in Intel's latest computer chip, the much-vaunted Pentium, has created a major furore among users worldwide. Thomas Niceley, a mathematician of Lynchburg College, Virginia, first detected that Pentium made untenable mistakes in high-precision computing. Nicely bunged his finding into Internet, forcing Intel into a corner. …
