'5 Sigma' What's That?

Chances are, you heard this month about the discovery of a tiny fundamental physics particle that may be the long-sought Higgs boson. The phrase five-sigma was tossed about by scientists to describe the strength of the discovery. So, what does five-sigma mean?

In short, five-sigma corresponds to a p-value, or probability, of 3x10^-7, or about 1 in 3.5 million. This is not the probability that the Higgs boson does or doesn't exist; rather, it is the probability that if the particle does not exist, the data that CERN scientists collected in Geneva, Switzerland, would be at least as extreme as what they observed. "The reason that it's so annoying is that people want to hear declarative statements, like 'The probability that there's a Higgs is 99.9 percent,' but the real statement has an 'if' in there. There's a conditional. There's no way to remove the conditional," says Kyle Cranmer, a physicist at New York University and member of the ATLAS team, one of the two groups that announced the new particle results in Geneva on July 4.

Scientists use p-values to test the likelihood of hypotheses. In an experiment comparing some phenomenon A to phenomenon B, researchers construct two hypotheses: that "A and B are not correlated," which is known as the null hypothesis, and that “A and B are correlated,” which is known as the research hypothesis.

The researchers then assume the null hypothesis (because it's the most conservative supposition, intellectually) and calculate the probability of obtaining data as extreme or more extreme than what they observed, given that there is no relationship between A and B. This calculation, which yields the p-value, can be based on any of several different statistical tests. If the p-value is low, for example 0.01, this means that there is only a small chance (one percent for p=0.01) that the data would have been observed by chance without the correlation. Usually there is a pre-established threshold in a field of study for rejecting the null hypothesis and claiming that A and B are correlated. Values of p=0.05 and p=0.01 are very common in many scientific disciplines.

High-energy physics requires even lower p-values to announce evidence or discoveries. The threshold for "evidence of a particle," corresponds to p=0.003, and the standard for "discovery" is p=0.0000003.

The reason for such stringent standards is that several three-sigma events have later turned out to be statistical anomalies, and physicists are loath to declare discovery and later find out that the result was just a blip. One factor is the "look elsewhere effect:" when analyzing very wide energy intervals, it is likely that you will see a statistically improbable event at some particular energy level. As a concrete example, there is just under a one percent chance of flipping an ordinary coin 100 times and getting at least 66 heads. But if a thousand people flip identical coins 100 times each, it becomes likely that a few people will get at least 66 heads each; one of those events on its own should not be interpreted as evidence that the coins were somehow rigged.

So where do the sigmas come in? The Greek letter sigma is used to represent standard deviation. Standard deviation measures the distribution of data points around a mean, or average, and can be thought of as how "wide" the distribution of points or values is. A sample with a high standard deviation is more spread out—it has more variability, and a sample with a low standard deviation clusters more tightly around the mean. For example, a plot of dogs' heights would probably have a larger standard deviation than a plot of heights of dogs from a particular breed, even if that breed had the same average height as dogs in general.

For particle physics, the sigma used is the standard deviation arising from a normal distribution of data, familiar to us as a bell curve. In a perfect bell curve, 68% of the data is within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% is within two, and so on.

Graph of the Normal Distribution showing

3 Standard Deviation on either side of the Mean.

5 Sigma Observation corresponds to Data even further from Mean 

In the case of the results announced announced by CERN, the process was more complicated than simply taking the results from one experiment and measuring the deviation of the data from the expected background levels; data came from many different channels, and each one had a different expected background signal. In addition, there were uncertainties about the measurements from the detectors that had to be taken into account. Researchers used a complex formula to combine all of these variables and calculate a p-value. This value was then translated into a number of sigmas above the mean, because the number of collisions observed at the energy of the newly discovered particle was higher than the expected background.

This final point led to some confusion in the media about the p-value associated with five-sigma. In a normal distribution, data is symmetrically distributed on both sides of the mean. It is twice as likely for data to be in either the high or low tail than just the high tail, so some outlets reported that five-sigma corresponded to a p-value of 0.0000006, or 1 in 1.7 million, rather than the correct value of 0.0000003, or 1 in 3.5 million.

The excitement about the Higgs discovery led the two teams to announce their results before all the data had been analyzed. Going forward, after both teams' analyses are complete, the groups will combine their observations. Although the two experiments are based on similar physical principles, it is not trivial to combine their data in a meaningful way. If your wallet were filled with both U.S. dollars and Euros (or Swiss Francs if you were visiting CERN), you couldn't simply add the numbers on the bills to find out how much money you had; you would have to perform some conversions first. The groups will use what Cranmer calls "collaborative statistical modeling" to combine the results of the two experiments (ATLAS and CMS). This approach has already been used to perform "conversions" on data sets within each team's experiment. When complete, these analyses will convey a more accurate sense of the strength of the new evidence and determine whether the observed data is consistent with the Higgs boson physicists seek.

TATA to Make Debut in Robotics Industry with BRABO, A Industrial Robot

TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a Tata Group company, has designed its first ever India-made robot called ‘Tata Brabo’. Showcased at the 'Make in India' week in Mumbai, the robot will help micro, small and medium enterprises in building cost-effective robotic solutions for manufacturing purposes. Expected to launch in two months, the arm bot will be priced at ₹3 lakh and ₹6 lakh.

The robot is a Tata Motors innovation. It has been developed in-house by a team of six engineers, led by Anil Bhingurde, COO of TAL Manufacturing Solutions, the development cost of the robot is reported to be about ₹10 crore. The designing has been done at TAL, styling was done at Tata Elxi, and manufacturing of some parts at Tata AutoComp. Tata Capital, a housing finance company, provided the finance.

The robot will be developed for micro, small and medium enterprises. The enterprises will then use the robots for their manufacturing purposes. It has been reported that Brabo will be priced at ₹300,000 for 2 kilograms payload, and ₹600,000 for 10 kilograms payload.

The main advantage that Tata has is that the company will have the localized manufacturing of the robot and it can price the robots lower than the foreign players. The idea behind the making of the robot is to drive mechanization in the Indian markets by offering cheap and cost-effective solutions. It has also been reported that by manufacturing robots, TAL Manufacturing doesn't intend to compete with global robot manufacturing companies but plans to target the small initiatives in the Indian markets with affordable solutions.

In short, Brabo, which is completely designed, developed and financed in house by TATA, going to create sustainable environment for Robotics Industry in India. With the launch of Brabo, from next year, the demand of robots in the Indian market is expected to rise to 5,000 from 1,000, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Volvo to Introduce First Truly Keyless Car This Year

By next year, Volvo wants to become the first manufacturer to sell cars without keys. Instead of a physical key or even a Bluetooth key fob, Volvo customers will use a "digital key" in a smartphone app to access (and share that access) to their cars. Good news to those who habitually misplace their car keys.

Car owners will be able to use the mobile app through Bluetooth connection to start their car, open the trunk, mess with the security system, or like with a key fob, simply have the car unlock as you approach it. The automaker envisions the technology will help enterprising owners enable ride sharing to make the most of their rides. They’ll be able to share digital keys with family members, co-workers, and other designated third parties via their mobile phones.

“Our innovative digital key technology has the potential to completely change how a Volvo can be accessed and shared. Instead of sitting idle in a parking lot the entire day, cars could be used more often and efficiently by whoever the owner wishes,” says Henrik Green, Volvo Cars’ vice president product strategy & vehicle line management.

Volvo won't be rolling this new tech out right away. The company will start a pilot program later this year with a ride-sharing fleet at the Gothenburg airport in Sweden before including it with some of its production cars in 2017 and the technology will be officially unveiled next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The automaker says a limited number of commercially available cars will be equipped with digital keys in 2017.

There's likely a lot of issues left to be sorted out (like what happens when your phone dies and you're out at dinner?). If that idea bothers you, don't worry — Volvo will still offer physical keys to those who request them.

Freedom251 Cheapest Smartphone of World; Is it Worth?

A working smartphone for ₹251!!! A Noida-based Ringing Bells on Thursday amazed the domestic smartphone market by launching the world's cheapest smartphone for just ₹251, roughly translating to less than $4. The company has brought the Freedom 251 smartphone a full-fledge usable smartphone to India and is selling it at an amount, which is lesser than a good fast food meal.

Cheap smartphones are nothing new. There are plenty of Android Smartphones priced under ₹3,000 in the market with few takers. In the past, Akash tablet-maker Datawind too grabbed eyeballs by only innovating on the price of its UbiSlate tablet and Pocket Surfer smartphone range. However, consumers soon lost interest because these cheapest devices never delivered as per expectations.

There are lot of doubts around the Freedom 251, Questions like How it possible for company to price a smartphone this cheap and whether smartphone will successfully deliver its promises which are made by company.

So, here are the answers to all the major questions raised by consumers.

Is the smartphone worth buying at Rs 251?

While the market is used to substandard unusable products at cheap prices, the Freedom 251 smartphone (surprisingly) delivers. The company accepted that the smartphone should ideally cost above ₹3,000. So, Ringing Bells claims to offer consumers a ₹3,000-like smartphone performance in this mobile retailing at ₹251.

The smartphone has better looks (even though made of plastic), good hardware and software support. The 4 inch touch screen phone has 1.3GHz processor and is powered by Android 5.1 operating system. (For full specifications click here)

Ringing Bells is offering a full-fledged smartphone which includes complimentary earphones and works fine for just ₹251. This phone can be definitely used by those who are still stuck on feature phones due to the high price of smartphones. The actual price of the device is somewhere between ₹3,000 and ₹4,000.

Who is subsidizing the price?

On the price of ₹251, Ringing Bells made it clear that 'price innovation' is borne by themselves and government has nothing to do with the price of the smartphone. So, the company is giving the subsidy not the Indian government.

So, how is the company going to make profit?

Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha is primarily aiming to achieve this price point by making it a mass product and save from economies of scale. Also, once their platform is well established, Chadha will opt for alternative sources of income. He mentioned that the company intends to make very little profits from the Freedom 251 particularly.

The cost of making one unit of the smartphone is around ₹2,000. "By making in India, this price goes down by ₹400. Then we will sell online only. So, this pulls down the price by ₹400 further. We are sure that this smartphone will be in a lot of demand. We are assuming to save around ₹500 from this economy of scale. At last, we wait for our platform to grow, so, that we can make money from other services," explained Chadha at the launch event. The company is also aiming to introduce its own SIM card within a couple of years (which can be the main source of income/profits).

How to book one?

The company has stopped taking orders on the Freedom251.com website after receiving massive booking requests. Ringing Bells will start the booking process soon. To book one, consumers will have to visit www.freedom251.com, click on buy and follow the on-screen instructions. The booking period will close on February 22. Consumers can expect to get the smartphones by June 30 (latest).

What about after sales support?

Ringing Bells stated that they have over 650 service centers across India. The device comes with a 1 year warranty.

The Most Unstably Stable "Neutrino"

The smallest things in the universe

Atoms, despite the Greek name (“cannot be cut”), are not elementary particles, meaning they can be disassembled. An atom is a diffuse cloud of electrons surrounding a tiny, dense nucleus composed of protons and neutrons, which can be broken into up and down quarks.

Particle collider, which accelerate particles to near the speed of light and smash them together, help us discover new elementary particles. First, because of E = mc2, the energy in the collision can be converted into the mass of particles. Second, the higher the accelerator’s beam energy, the more finely we can resolve composite structures, just as we can see smaller things with X-rays than with visible light.

We haven’t been able to take apart electrons or quarks. These are elementary particles, forming the basic constituents of ordinary matter: the Lego bricks of the universe. Interestingly, there are many heavy cousins of familiar particles that exist only for fractions of a second, and thus are not part of ordinary matter. For example, for electrons these are the muon and tauon.

Elementary particles, of which neutrinos are one kind.

What’s a neutrino?

How is this elementary particle – the neutrino – different from all other elementary particles? It’s unique in that it’s both almost mass-less and almost non-interacting. Those features are different, though often conflated, hence we can call it introvert.

It’s a mystery why neutrinos are almost, but not quite, mass-less. We do know why they’re almost non-interacting, though: They don’t feel the electromagnetic or strong forces that bind nuclei and atoms, only the aptly named weak force (and gravity, but barely, because their masses are small).

Though neutrinos are not constituents of ordinary matter, they are everywhere around us – a trillion from the sun pass through your eyes every second. There are hundreds per every cubic centimeter left over from the Big Bang. Because they so rarely interact, it’s almost impossible to observe them, and you certainly don’t feel them.

Neutrinos have other weird aspects. They come in three types, called flavors – electron, muon and tauon neutrinos, corresponding to the three charged particles they pair with – and all of these seem to be stable, unlike the heavy cousins of the electron.

Because the three flavors of neutrinos are almost identical, there is the theoretical possibility that they could change into each other, which is another unusual aspect of these particles, one that can reveal new physics. This transformation requires three things: that neutrino masses are nonzero, are different for different types, and that neutrinos of definite flavor are quantum combinations of neutrinos of definite mass (this is called “neutrino mixing”).

For decades, it was generally expected that none of these conditions would be met. Not by neutrino physicists, though – we held out hope.

"Whisper from the Universe"- LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves

100 years after Einstein predicted the gravitational waves Scientist at LSC have successful to detect them. LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a group of more than 1000 scientists worldwide who have joined together in the search for gravitational waves.

For the first time, Laser Intereferometer Gavitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) have detected ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at Earth generated by the collision of two black holes in the distant universe. The signals detected are extremely subtle which disturb the intereferometers by just fractions of the width of an atom. But the black hole merger was picked by two widely separated LIGO facilities in the US. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the cosmos.

In 1916, the year after correctly formulating the theory of general relativity, Albert Einstein predicted that, when anything with mass accelerates, it should make waves in space time, like a boat going donuts sends waves lapping towards shore. However, Einstein himself believed that any attempts to detect these “gravitational waves” would prove futile, as the effect that they have on their environment is miniscule.

According to Prof Danzman (Albert Einstein Institute) , this detection is the beautiful signature of the merger of two black holes. And also Prof Bernard Schutz from Cardiff University, UK says that the Gravitational waves go through everything and they hardly affected by what they pass through and its act like a perfect messenger. He added certain predictions saying that this information carried on the gravitational wave is exactly the same as when the system sent it out; and that is unusual in astronomy. We cannot see light from whole regions of our own galaxy because of the dust that is in the way, and we cannot see the early part of the Big Bang because the universe was opaque to light earlier than a certain time. But with detection of Gravitational waves it is risen the expectation to see the Big Bang itself. 

This is only the beginning of the field of gravitational wave astronomy. Gravitational waves ought to let astronomers get a better look at dark, distant, supermassive, fast moving, cataclysmic stuff using mass and movement instead of mere light. Scientists anticipate detecting other events including neutron stars in our galaxy, other black holes and supernova explosions.

Facebook's Free but Restricted Internet Service "Free Basics" Banned in India

India's telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook's Free Basics internet service after the country's national telecoms regulator ruled that the program and others like it violate the principles of net neutrality. The ruling was not directly aimed at Free Basics, but the general practice of zero-rated internet services, that let users access certain apps and websites without consuming their mobile data.

"No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content," ruled the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The decision from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) comes after a long battle between Facebook and the country's net neutrality advocates. Free Basics was blocked temporarily in India last December while the TRAI considered its case, but other services — like Airtel Zero — had previously been the subject of protests. But although Facebook's attempt to offer subsidized content wasn't the only such program in India, it was particularly visible.

After its temporary ban, the company started a campaign to try and win public support, reportedly spending nearly $45 million promoting Free Basics with billboards and newspaper advertisements. While Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defending the program as free basic internet access to all, the critics of Free Basics and zero-rating in general argued that the practice creates an unfair marketplace. By subsidizing content, companies like Facebook get to pick and choose winners, creating incentives for customers to use certain services because they don't eat into their data. This in turn makes it harder for smaller players to compete and quashes innovation.

Even according to netizen in India, the Free Basics of Facebook doesn’t include web services which considered to be basic in India like government websites agriculture information etc. The people who live in cities and are aggressive users of the internet said: 'You can't dictate the terms, give free internet to villagers and then tell them how to use it'.

The World Wide Web Foundation, founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, welcomed the regulator's decision.

Program manager Renata Avila said, "The message is clear: We can't create a two-tier Internet - one for the haves, and one for the have-not."

"We must connect everyone to the full potential of the open Web; We call on companies and the government of India to work with citizens and civil society to explore new approaches to connect everyone as active users, whether through free data allowances, public access schemes or other innovative approaches.", he added further.

For More Information Read- "Should I support Facebook's Free Basics in India?"

A Review: IIT Bombay Entrepreneurship summit 2016

Tenth Edition of the Entrepreneurship Summit concluded with key note from Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank on last Sunday, 31st January at IIT Bombay. This two-day annual summit promises an amazing meeting ground for industry experts, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs and of course, students, many of whom are aspiring entrepreneurs. It’s also the first ever event of its kind to receive patronage from the ‘Make in India’ initiative, as well as UNESCO.

The E-Summit is also the largest such event that is organized by a student body (E-Cell), and its theme this year was ‘The Global Mèlange’ to showcase the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Israel, the US, the UK, Singapore, and Australia – quite apt given that the entrepreneurial spirit is never tethered by geographical boundaries.

Panel discussions, Talk shows & Interactive sessions from the speakers all over the world brought entrepreneurial sparkle and investor energy. Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, Kunal Shah of Freecharge, Vani Kola from Kalaari Capital and Ashish Hemrajani Founder & CEO of Bookmyshow are some of the highlights of talk shows. Jim Beach faculty head of the school for startups got overwhelming response at his talk shows, and an interactive session ‘brainstorming’. The unique talk show hosted by TVF Pitchers added excitement to the event.

The Innovation Conclave witnessed participation from India’s top innovators, comprised of 15-minute long interactions. Anil Gupta, founder of the National Innovation Foundation, and Ramesh Raskar, Head of MIT Media Labs, were among those who gave insights into their ideation styles, work strategies and success stories. Srijan Pal Singh highlighted the opportunities in social entrepreneurship. The struggling story of Mansukhbhai Prajapati, founder of Mitticool and energetic talk on Mumbai’s Dabbawala by Pawan Agrawal added enthusiasm and inspiration in event.

Another major highlight was the second edition of ‘The Ten minute million Challenge’. Ten shortlisted startups got a chance to make a 10-minute pitch in front of a panel of 12 of India’s best angel investors, which was followed by an on-the-spot decision on financial backing.

Other crowd-puller events within the ambit of the E-Summit include the Job and Internship Fair which was open to all college students, and the Start-up Expo. There was also the finals of Asia’s largest Business Model competition on Day 1. Finalists had been chosen from more than 7,000 entries, and prizes worth ₹50 lakh.

Many events were organized to test the skills of young entrepreneur. Competitions like Crowd Pitch, Ideablaze, National BizQuiz, Apocalypse Management and Hackathon, all of which had already created quite a buzz. Teen Tycoons, a pitching platform for teenagers and school students. It was a revolutionary event, aimed at encouraging start-up ideas from all age groups. After all, Mark Zuckerberg was just 19 when he launched Facebook.

Digital Currency- "Bitcoin"

   As I have discussed in the previous blog 'Technological Transformation of Banking Sectors', about how the technological development enhanced and some of them listed also.In the continuation of the previous article it is also essential to discuss about 'Digital Currency' and 'Virtual Currency'.  Always their is a misconception about these two terms. Sometimes these are considered as same but it is not so. The Digital currencies can be used to facilitate payment for physical currencies in real life similar as traditional physical currencies where as virtual currencies are those which are not intended for use in real life and subjected to centralized authority. But digital currencies having decentralized authority. 

   The Virtual currencies and Cryptocurrencies are said to be types of digital currency only, but differs in function. The Bitcoin is an example of Digital currency. It is a form of Digital currency, created and held electronically,its growing category of money known as Cryptocurrency. It can be used to buy things electronically such as conventional dollars, euros or yen, which are also traded digitally. This currency is not physically printed instead it is created digitally, this technology is proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto. The idea behind was to produce a currency which will be  independent of any central authority, transferable electronically instantly. The Bitcoin is the result of mathematical calculations not due to any expensive metallic element. The software is open source, any one can check it.
    The invention of paper currencies over metal coins, gold is for convenience, but the invention of Digital currencies is something which is the result of technological advancements. With the use of long chain of software work this can be possible. It has some limitations being digital such as power requirements, software skills etc. But the innovation of the digital currency sets the height of technology and makes the country globally advanced.

Technological Transformation of Banking Sector

    The technologies have changed the banking industry from paper and branched based banks to digitized and networked banking services. It changed the accounting and management system of all banks. All the way the technology giving rewards are limitless. The development of technology in banking sector are listed below:

E- Banking- The use of Graphical User Interface (GUI) with software made the banking process faster and services can be delivered easily to the high end customers. Also Electronic Data Interchange is the software which can be used to transmit business transaction in a computer readable form.

Plastic money- Credit cards, Debit cards and Gift cards have made the banking industry more flexible than before. The customer can pay for any thing using the cards, in this case they do not have to go through the hassle of borrowing small money.

Rural banking- Mobile banking facilities is the boon for rural areas. People can deposit money on the account made by mobile company or banks which is opened for free. This money can withdrawn anytime anywhere comfortably. The earliest mobile banking services used SMS, a service known as SMS banking which further developed into mobile application as smartphones got introduced.

   Their are so many other uses of technology in the banking sector, such as self inquiry facility, remote banking, signature retrieval facilities, multilingual ATM's,multi-functional ATM's, Bio-metrics etc. Technology has became essential part of the business of banking. It is difficult to consider one without the other. Also for the banks it is now becoming easier to fulfill the customer needs. The technological growth played a vital role in the transformation of banking sector in terms of its transactions processing as well as for various other internal systems and processes by virtue of which day to day operations in banking has evolved substantially over the years.

India Is Reported To Have World’s First Vaccine For Zika Virus

In a breakthrough discovery Bharat Biotech, a vaccine and biotherapeutic products manufacturer based out of Hyderabad, has claimed to have created the vaccine to combat the rapidly spreading Zika virus outbreak. Zika virus is named after Zika forest of Uganda where it was first identified in Rhesus monkeys in 1947. The virus has recently made headlines all over the world as it is spreading rapidly and has reportedly no vaccines to combat it.

The virus is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito family which causes a mild fever known as Zika fever. The virus has been found to be showing the same symptoms as those caused by Dengue fever and is treated only by taking rest. In the 1950’s the virus was confined to the equatorial belt of Africa and Asia. But since then it has spread to various other regions and as of today has reached pandemic levels.

According to World Health Organization, the virus is ‘spreading explosively’ and will infect 4 million people by the end of the year. In Brazil, the virus has been linked to children being born with small heads or microcephaly, but the diagnosis about that has been inconclusive. The virus has been reported in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. A cluster of infections similar to what occurred in Brazil was also reported in French Polynesia in 2014. Most recently in Texas, the USA the first infection transmitted through sex has been reported.

Bharat Biotech CMD Krishna Ella said, “We believe we have an early mover advantage in developing the Zikavac and we are probably the first in the world to file for a global patent for Zika vaccine candidates. We have two candidate vaccines in development. One of them is an inactivated vaccine that has reached the stage of preclinical testing in animals”. The patent for the vaccine was filed by the company nine months ago, however, the efficacy of the vaccine still needs to be tested. None the less the discovery is essential to combat the virus and is a big inspiration for Indian budding scientists. The world has only recently started research on developing a vaccine after the outbreak came to limelight.

Dr. Ella has said that the company at best has the capacity to produce one million doses of vaccine per year. To scale up the delivery of the vaccine it needs intervention from the government, and for this, he has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help fast track the development of the vaccine. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, a pediatrician, and Director General, ICMR has said that they will examine the vaccine from a scientific point of view and take it forward.