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Dr Hirenkumar Thakkar from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has published a research paper titled “RENDA: Resource and Network-aware Data Placement Algorithm for Periodic Workloads in Cloud” in the journal IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems Vol. 32, No. 12, pp. 2906-2920.

Each year, tech giants are spending millions of dollars to purchase the resources to store the data. However, efficient data placement is a critical issue for companies that experience several terabytes of data generation on daily basis. With such speed of data generation, it is the need of the hour to come up with a strategy for an efficient storage mechanism. This research investigates the data placement problems in cloud data centres and assists several tech giants such as Google, Facebook etc., to manage the cloud resource properly.

This research benefits society with a lower cost of cloud subscriptions, as tech giants are able to save several thousands of dollars by means of an efficient storage mechanism. This ultimately enables the tech giants to offer cloud service subscriptions at a reasonable cost.

The study was carried out in collaborations with Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Computing Lab (ABC Lab), Chang Gung University, Taiwan with Prof. Prasan Kumar Sahoo and in collaboration with Prof. Bharadwaj Veeravalli from the National University of Singapore. In addition to the current collaboration, there are several collaborations with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU) as well as the University of Tartu, Estonia.

In future, Dr Thakkar is planning to come up with a book on cloud resource management using Nature-inspired learning. In addition to that, there are few projects such as filing two separate patents on Healthcare data analysis and opinion feature mining in collaboration with Chang Gung University, Taiwan, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1109/TPDS.2021.3080582

The grand virtual inauguration of the Freshmen Orientation Programme-2021 took place on August 25, 2021, at 2.30 pm. Dr P Sathyanarayanan, President; Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor and Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, welcomed the freshers into the university. The Orientation Programme will be continued till September 07, 2021.

In the Presidential address, Dr Sathyanarayanan asserted SRM University’s latest achievements in Placement, Higher Studies and Entrepreneurship. Unlike many other universities, which concentrates on producing job-seeking graduates, SRM University-AP prefers to deliver job providers. Thus, this university gives grave emphasis on Entrepreneurial and Innovative activities. The university is proud of its budding entrepreneurs, founders of OurEye.ai, who secured an angel investment of $120000. SRM University-AP is unique in many ways, and that is one of the reasons that attract meritorious students to the university. SRM University-AP further offers special scholarships for brilliant students. The university gives equal importance to Placement, Higher Studies and Entrepreneurship to support the students in realising their dreams and potential. Dr Sathyanarayanan believes that talent, discipline and opportunity can change a student’s future, provided he/she makes good use of it. “Stress on the hard work, capitalise your talent with SRM University-AP’s experiential programme to find success at your doorstep,” advised Dr Sathyanarayanan.

In his address, Prof V S Rao emphasised on the transition from the School to the University system. The known world is going to change, many of the things students will be experiencing for the first time – be it hostel living or continual internal evaluation instead of annual exams. Prof Rao further explained the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in education and research. Following the recommendation of National Education Policy-2020, SRM University-AP highly stresses on interdisciplinary learning. Time management is another critical factor that is going to affect the students. With the aim to provide holistic education, the university also puts an emphasis on extra-curricular and co-curricular activities. Starting from various clubs and societies to the learning of international languages, SRM University-AP provides many opportunities to the students. One of the distinctive features of the university is that the students can design their future here. From the choice of courses to the choice of careers, SRM University-AP provides support at every level to the students.

In the concluding remarks, Prof D Narayana Rao delved into the importance of innovation and research. Every nation, who aspires to acquire global leadership, has to be very sound in science and technology. India is now one of the top 5 emerging economic powers in the world. The responsibility lies on the shoulders of the next generation of students to take India to the top. With immense passion and willpower, it is possible to witness that achievement.

During the Orientation Programme, eminent personalities from different spheres will be inspiring and motivating students. Prof K N Satyanarayana, Director-Indian Institute of Technology-Tirupati, Dr Jaya Prakash Narayan, Former Secretary to Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Mr VV Lakshmi Narayana, former JD-CBI, Dr Hanuman Chowdary, Director of Centre for Telecom Management and Studies and Chairman of Pragna Bharati, Padma Bhushan Dr K Varaprasad Reddy, Ms Koka Vijayalakshmi, Prof B S Murty, Director-IIT Hyderabad, will be addressing the students in the fortnight-long programme.

Beyond the motivational lectures, SRM University-AP has organised sessions on Yoga and Meditations in collaboration with Heartfulness Institute to provide holistic development to the students.

First patent granted to SRM University-AP

Title of the Patent: A Process for Preparing Magnesium Foams

Patent applicant: SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh

Patent Application number: 202041001715

Date of Filing: 14/01/2020

Date of Publication: 24/01/2020

Date of Grant: 16/08/2021

Prof GS Vinod KumarProf G S Vinod Kumar and his PhD Scholar Mr Dipak Nandkumar Bhosale from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has brought the first granted patent to SRM University-AP. The patent titled “A Process for Preparing Magnesium Foams” is on the novel processing of Magnesium alloy foams via molten metal route. Metal foams are the class of novel ultra-lightweight and high strength materials used for engineering structures. Under the light-alloy category, Magnesium alloys possess greater challenges to foam and the inventors Mr Dipak Bhosale, PhD scholar and Prof Vinod Kumar (PhD supervisor) of Dept. of Mechanical Engineering have come up with a novel process to foam Magnesium alloy effectively. The patent was filed on January 14, 2020, and granted on August 16, 2021. It is indeed commendable that the patent grant is obtained in just 16 months from the date of application.

Metal foam is a cellular structure consists of solid metal with gas-filled pores. The pores can be sealed (closed-cell foam) or interconnected (open-cell foam). The present patent relates to a process for the preparation of closed-cell Magnesium foams using dolomite [CaMg (CO3)2] as a blowing agent (gas source), through a liquid metal route. The inventors have demonstrated economical and naturally occurring mineral dolomite to be an effective blowing agent for preparing magnesium foams and in-situ formed MgAl2O4 (spinel) particles as the stabilizing agent during stabilization of foams. The Magnesium foams produced by the process of the present disclosure have a good expansion, lower density, uniform pore size distribution and polyhedral pore structure. Through the present process Magnesium foams with 88% porosity 0.20 g/cm3 foam density was obtained. Magnesium foam is an attractive material that exhibits a unique combination of mechanical, physical, thermal, electrical and acoustic properties. It has high strength to weight ratio, good compressive strength and high energy/shock/vibration/sound absorption efficiency. Owing to these properties the magnesium foam finds potential in lightweight structural applications, sound-absorbing, energy and vibration and shock damping application.

Yuvraj Tankala and Joseph K Paul from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SRM University-AP has successfully bagged a cash prize of $1750 at the Datastax Hackathon held from Dec 2020 to Feb 2021. The duo formed the “Team Hexagon” and demonstrated their full-stack AI monitored online classroom and examination portal project at the international competition conducted by Datastax. It powered the innovative data apps to the Home Depot, T-Mobile, Intuit, and half of the Fortune 100 companies.

Rakuten India Enterprise Private Limited conducted this 24-hour challenge competition amongst 7000+ participants. Based on three rounds- 1) Ideation Phase 2) Build Phase 3) Finals-winners were decided. Each team comprised of one to four members and they were allotted various themes such as Mobile and Web Development, Web Analytics, Platform Development and Backend Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

While briefing on the project, Team Hexagon elucidated, “We were excited to participate in the competition and immediately started working on the project. After outlining the base of the project, we were assured that it could create a positive impact during this unprecedented time of Covid-19 outbreak. The education system is facing tough times while managing online assessments. We introduced an AI model-based monitoring system for examiners and examinees involved in the evaluation process. The application follows the head and lip movements of the examinee by considering the various parameters. It tracks the head movement in two axes (up-down and right-left) and warns the examinee to concentrate on the screen. In a similar way, it follows the lip movement and alerts the examiner when found any abnormal movements in between assessment”.

Yuvraj and Joseph presented their project before Technology Business Incubator’s panel, which was shortlisted from 34 other proposals. Under this programme, they went under rigorous training for 12 months and received the felicitation of industry support, seed funding, innovation fund support, industry connectivity with the key players in the market. Winning over the competitive challenges has given the duo high confidence to work on multiple projects and plan to lead off a venture after the completion of academic years.

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