Questions Answered With the Pupils of Your Eyes

Aug. 5, 2013 — Patients who are otherwise
completely unable to communicate can answer
yes or no questions within seconds with the
help of a simple system -- consisting of just a
laptop and camera -- that measures nothing
but the size of their pupils. The tool, described
and demonstrated in Current Biology , a Cell
Press publication, on August 5 takes advantage
of changes in pupil size that naturally occur
when people do mental arithmetic.

It requires
no specialized equipment or training at all.
The new pupil response system might not only
help those who are severely motor-impaired
communicate, but might also be extended to
assessing the mental state of patients whose
state of consciousness is unclear, the
researchers say.

"It is remarkable that a physiological system as
simple as the pupil has such a rich repertoire
of responses that it can be used for a task as
complex as communication," says Wolfgang
Einhäuser of Philipps-Universität Marburg in
Germany.

The researchers asked healthy people to solve
a math problem only when the correct answer
to a yes or no question was shown to them on
a screen. The mental load associated with
solving that problem caused an automatic
increase in pupil size, which the researchers
showed they could measure and translate into
an accurate answer to questions like "Are you
20 years old?"

They then tested out their pupil response
algorithm on seven "typical" locked-in patients
who had suffered brain damage following a
stroke. In many cases, they were able to
discern an answer based on pupil size alone.

"We find it remarkable that the system worked
almost perfectly in all healthy observers and
then could be transferred directly from them
to the patients, with no need for training or
parameter adjustment," Einhäuser says.
While the system could still use improvement
in terms of speed and accuracy, those are
technical hurdles Einhäuser is confident they
can readily overcome.

Their measures of pupil
response could already make an important
difference for those who need it most.
"For patients with altered state of
consciousness -- those who are in a coma or
other unresponsive state -- any communication
is a big step forward," he says.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided
by Cell Press, via EurekAlert!, a service of
AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length. For further information, please contact
the source cited above.
And ( science daily magzine ).
Journal Reference:

1. Josef Stoll, Camille Chatelle, Olivia Carter,
Christof Koch, Steven Laureys, Wolfgang
Einhäuser. Pupil responses allow
communication in locked-in syndrome
patients. Current Biology, 2013; 23 (15): R647
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.011

Computer Scientists Develop 'Mathematical Jigsaw Puzzles' to Encrypt Software

July 29, 2013 — UCLA computer science
professor Amit Sahai and a team of researchers
have designed a system to encrypt software so
that it only allows someone to use a program
as intended while preventing any deciphering
of the code behind it. This is known in
computer science as "software obfuscation,"
and it is the first time it has been
accomplished.
Sahai, who specializes in cryptography at
UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering
and Applied Science, collaborated with Sanjam
Garg, who recently earned his doctorate at
UCLA and is now at IBM Research; Craig
Gentry, Shai Halevi and Mariana Raykova of
IBM Research; and Brent Waters, an assistant
professor of computer science at the
University of Texas at Austin. Garg worked with
Sahai as a student when the research was
done.

Their peer-reviewed paper will be formally
presented in October at the 54th annual IEEE
Symposium on Foundations of Computer
Science, one of the two most prominent
conferences in the field of theoretical
computer science. Sahai has also presented
this research in recent invited talks at Stanford
University and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
"The real challenge and the great mystery in
the field was: Can you actually take a piece of
software and encrypt it but still have it be
runnable, executable and fully functional,"
Sahai said. "It's a question that a lot of
companies have been interested in for a long
time."
According to Sahai, previously developed
techniques for obfuscation presented only a
"speed bump," forcing an attacker to spend
some effort, perhaps a few days, trying to
reverse-engineer the software. The new
system, he said, puts up an "iron wall," making
it impossible for an adversary to reverse-
engineer the software without solving
mathematical problems that take hundreds of
years to work out on today's computers -- a
game-change in the field of cryptography.

The researchers said their mathematical
obfuscation mechanism can be used to protect
intellectual property by preventing the theft of
new algorithms and by hiding the vulnerability
a software patch is designed to repair when
the patch is distributed.
"You write your software in a nice, reasonable,
human-understandable way and then feed that
software to our system," Sahai said. "It will
output this mathematically transformed piece
of software that would be equivalent in
functionality, but when you look at it, you
would have no idea what it's doing."
The key to this successful obfuscation
mechanism is a new type of "multilinear jigsaw
puzzle." Through this mechanism, attempts to
find out why and how the software works will
be thwarted with only a nonsensical jumble of
numbers.
"The real innovation that we have here is a way
of transforming software into a kind of
mathematical jigsaw puzzle," Sahai said. "What
we're giving you is just math, just numbers, or
a sequence of numbers. But it lives in this
mathematical structure so that these individual
pieces, these sequences of numbers, can only
be combined with other numbers in very
specified ways.
"You can inspect everything, you can turn it
upside-down, you can look at it from different
angles and you still won't have any idea what
it's doing," he added. "The only thing you can
do with it is put it together the way that it was
meant to interlock. If you tried to do anything
else -- like if you tried to bash this piece and
put it in some other way -- you'd just end up
with garbage."

Functional encryption

The new technique for software obfuscation
paved the way for another breakthrough called
functional encryption. With functional
encryption, instead of sending an encrypted
message, an encrypted function is sent in its
place. This offers a much more secure way to
protect information, Sahai said. Previous work
on functional encryption was limited to
supporting very few functions; the new work
can handle any computable function.

For example, a single message could be sent to
a group of people in such a way that each
receiver would obtain different information,
depending on characteristics of that particular
receiver. In another example, a hospital could
share the outcomes of treatment with
researchers without revealing details such as
identifying patient information.
"Through functional encryption, you only get
the specific answer, you don't learn anything
else," Sahai said.
The UCLA-based researchers were funded in
part by the National Science Foundation, a
Xerox Faculty Research Award, a Google
Faculty Research Award, an equipment grant
from Intel and an Okawa Foundation Research
Grant.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided
by University of California - Los Angeles .

And ( science daily )

Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length. For further information, please contact
the source cited above.

New Light Shed On Cause of Pandemic Influenza

July 24, 2013 — With the use of sophisticated
mathematical modelling techniques, a
mathematician at PolyU and his co-researchers
have completed a study that explains the
phenomenon of multiple waves of influenza
pandemic in the last century.
With the use of sophisticated mathematical
modelling techniques, a mathematician at The
Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and
his co-researchers have completed a study that
explains the phenomenon of multiple waves of
influenza pandemic in the last century.

Taking part in this advanced study is Dr Daihai
He, Assistant Professor of PolyU's Department
of Applied Mathematics. He has collaborated
with four researchers in Canada to offer an
explanation to the worst influenza pandemic in
the history of humankind. The research team
found that behavioural response has the
largest impact among three primary factors
causing the waves, thus paving the way for
future enhancement on control strategies to
the spread of influenza virus.

The 1918 flu epidemic was one of the world's
deadliest natural disasters, causing the death of
hundred thousands of people. Influenza
pandemic appears to be characterized by
multiple waves of incidence in one year, but
the mechanism that explains this phenomenon
has so far been elusive.

In explaining the deadly pandemic, Dr Daihai
He and his teammates have incorporated in
their mathematical model three contributing
factors for multiple waves of influenza
pandemic in England and Wales: (i) schools
opening and closing, (ii) temperature changes
during the outbreak, and (iii) changes in
human behaviour in response to the outbreak.

Dr He and the researchers further applied this
model to the reported influenza mortality
during the 1918 pandemic in 334 British
administrative units and estimate the
epidemiological parameters. They have used
information criteria to evaluate how well these
three factors explain the observed patterns of
mortality. The results indicate that all three
factors are important, but behavioural
responses had the largest effect.
The findings have recently been published in
the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society
Biological Sciences (July 2013 Issue).

Dr He's
expertise in advanced mathematics and
statistics has helped improve our
understanding of the spread of influenza virus
at the population level and lead to improved
strategies to control and minimize the spread
of influenza virus.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided
by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University .
Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length. For further information, please contact
the source cited above.

And { science daily magazine }

Journal Reference:

1. D. He, J. Dushoff, T. Day, J. Ma, D. J. D. Earn.
Inferring the causes of the three waves of
the 1918 influenza pandemic in England
and Wales. Proceedings of the Royal Society
B: Biological Sciences , 2013; 280 (1766):
20131345 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1345

Math Game More Effective Than Paper Exercises

July 8, 2013 — To measure the effectiveness of
Monkey Tales, a study was carried out with 88
second grade pupils divided into three groups.
One group was asked to play the game for a
period of three weeks while the second group
had to solve similar math exercises on paper
and a third group received no assignment. The
math performance of the children was
measured using an electronic arithmetic test
before and after the test period. When results
were compared, the children who had played
the game provided significantly more correct
answers: 6% more than before, compared to
only 4% for the group that made traditional
exercises and 2% for the control group. In
addition, both the group that played the game
and that which did the exercises were able to
solve the test 30% faster while the group
without assignment was only 10% faster.
The quality of experience was also measured
and showed that pupils found Monkey Tales
more enjoyable (which was confirmed by a
parent survey), that the game was described as
being 'fun', 'exciting' and 'fantastic' up to 80%
more often than the paper exercises, and that
60% of the children wished to play more, while
only 39% wished to solve additional exercises.
Broadly speaking, it can be concluded that the
game showed better results both in terms of
motivation and learning efficiency. Further
research should reveal how these additional
learning outcomes are achieved by the game.
Possible reasons are the continuous feedback
players receive during gameplay, that the game
is more motivating, that it adjusts the difficulty
level to the player or -- more generally -- that
it trains additional cognitive skills such as
working memory and attention.

Serious games
Serious or educational games are becoming
increasingly important. Market research
company iDate estimates that the global
turnover was €2.3 billion in 2012 and expects
it to rise to €6.6 billion in 2015. A first
important sector in which serious games are
being used, is defence. The U.S. Army, for
example, uses games to attract recruits and to
teach various skills, from tactical combat
training to ways of communicating with local
people. Serious games are also increasingly
used in companies and organizations to train
staff. The Flemish company U&I Learning, for
example, developed games for Audi in Vorst to
teach personnel the safety instructions, for
Carrefour to teach student employees how to
operate the check-out system and for DHL to
optimise the loading and unloading of air
freight containers.

Games in education

The interest in serious games is also growing in
education. The underlying idea is that children
often have to acquire large amounts of
knowledge and master complex skills to be
able to play "entertainment games." If
educational games could be equally enjoyable
or "intrinsically motivating," children would be
learning for pleasure. Monkey Tales is a game
that was developed according to this
philosophy by the educational publisher die
Keure and game developer Larian Studios. This
three-dimensional adventure game exists in
different versions for children from the second
to the sixth grade and is designed to practice
mental math in a playful way by solving
puzzles and mini-games. Until now, no
independent scientific research had been
conducted into the effectiveness of Monkey
Tales however.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials
provided by Ghent University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length. For further information, please contact
the source cited above.

And ( science daily )..
     
              ******-*-*

Development of Operation Research In India

In 1949, operation research come into picture when an OR unit was established at the Regional Research laboratory, Hyderabad.
At the same time, Prof. R.S. VERMA ( Delhi university ) setup an OR team in the Defence Science Laboratory to solve the problem of store, purchase and planning.

In 1953,  Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis established an OR team in the Indian Statistical Institute, calcutta, for solving the problem of national planning and survey.

In 1957 , Operation Research Society of india was formed and his society became a member  of  the International  Federation Of Operation Research Societies in 1960.

Presently, India is publishing a number of  Research journals,  namely,  " OPSEARCH " , " INDISTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT " , " MATERIALS MANAGEMENT  JOURNAL OF INDIA ",  " DEFENCE SCIENCE JOURNAL " ,  "SCIMA" , " JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING PRODUCTION " etc.

As far as the OR education in India concerned University of Delhi was the first to introduce a complete M.Sc. course in OR in 1963. Simultaneously, Institute of Management at calcutta and Ahemdabad started teaching OR in their MBA courses.  Now a days, OR has becomes so popular subject that it has been introduce in almost all institute and University  in various disciplines like,  MATHEMATICS, STATISTICS,  COMMERCE, ECONOMICS, MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, MEDICAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, etc. . Also relizing the importance of OR in Accounts and Administration, goverment has introduce this subject for the IAS, CA, ICWA examinations etc.

Some of the industries , namely Hindustan Lever Ltd; Union carbide, TELCO, Hindustan Steel, Imperiel Chemical Industries , Tata Iron & Steel Company, Sarabhi Group, FCI, etc,  have engaged OR teams.
Kirlosker company is using the assignment technique of OR to maximize profit.

Textile firms like, DCM. , Binani's and Calico,  etc., are  using linear programming techniques.

Among other Indian organizations using  OR are the Indian Railways, CSIR, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute of  Science,  State Trading Corporation, etc ..
       

            ------*******-------

Using Math to Kill Cancer Cells

June 14, 2013 — Here's a good reason to pay
attention in math class. Today Nature
Communications has published a paper from
Ottawa researchers outlining how advanced
mathematical modelling can be used in the
fight against cancer. The technique predicts
how different treatments and genetic
modifications might allow cancer-killing,
oncolytic viruses to overcome the natural
defences that cancer cells use to stave off viral
infection.

"Oncolytic viruses are special in that they
specifically target cancer cells," explains Dr.
Bell, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital
Research Institute and professor at the
University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine.
"Unfortunately, cancer is a very complicated
and diverse disease, and some viruses work
well in some circumstances and not well in
others. As a result, there has been a lot of
effort in trying to modify the viruses to make
them safe, so they don't target healthy tissue
and yet are more efficient in eliminating
cancer cells."
Dr. Bell and co-author Dr. Mads Kaern, an
assistant professor in the University of
Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine and Canada
Research Chair at the University's Ottawa
Institute of Systems Biology, led a team that
has used mathematical modelling to devise
strategies for making cancer cells exquisitely
sensitive to virus infection -- killing them
without affecting normal, healthy cells.
"By using these mathematical models to
predict how viral modifications would actually
impact cancer cells and normal cells, we are
able to accelerate the pace of research," says
Dr. Kaern, who is also cross-appointed to the
University's Department of Physics. "It allows
us to quickly identify the most promising
approaches to be tested in the lab, something
that is usually done through expensive and
time-consuming trial and error."
Drs. Bell and Kaern have established a
mathematical model that described an
infection cycle, including the way a virus
replicated, spread and activated cellular
defense mechanisms. From there, they used
knowledge about key physiological differences
between normal cells and cancer cells to
identify how modifying the genome of the
virus might counter the anti-viral defenses of
cancer cells. Model simulations were
remarkably accurate, with the identified viral
modifications efficiently eradicating cancer in
a mouse model of the disease.
"What is remarkable is how well we could
actually predict the experimental outcome
based on computational analysis," says Dr.
Bell. "This work creates a useful framework for
developing similar types of mathematical
models in the fight against cancer."
The research, funded by an innovation grant
from the Canadian Cancer Society, is only the
beginning, explains Dr. Kaern. "We worked
with a specific kind of cancer cell. We will now
expand that to look at other cancer cell types
and see to what degree the predictions we
made in one special case can be generalized to
others, and to identify strategies to target
other types of cancer cells."
The findings may also help researchers better
understand the interaction between these
cancer cells and the virus. While one magic
cure-all will likely never happen due to
cancer's complexity, the researchers have
developed a framework where they can learn
more about the disease in the cases where the
simulations don't match.

"From my perspective, that's the most
interesting part," concluded Dr. Kaern. "The
most fascinating thing is to challenge existing
knowledge represented in a mathematical
model and try to understand why these models
sometimes fail. It's a very exciting opportunity
to be a part of this, and I am glad that our
efforts in training students in computational
cell biology have resulted in such a significant
advancement."

Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials
provided by Ottawa Hospital Research
Institute .
Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length. For further information, please contact
the source cited above.

And [ Science daily  ]

Journal Reference:
1. Fabrice Le Bœuf, Cory Batenchuk, Markus
Vähä-Koskela, Sophie Breton, Dominic Roy,
Chantal Lemay, Julie Cox, Hesham Abdelbary,
Theresa Falls, Girija Waghray, Harold Atkins,
David Stojdl, Jean-Simon Diallo, Mads Kærn,
John C. Bell. Model-based rational design of
an oncolytic virus with improved
therapeutic potential . Nature
Communications, 2013; 4 DOI: 10.1038/
ncomms2974

Management Applications Of Operation Research

Some of the areas of manaement decision makinging, where the ' Tools' and 'techniques' of OR ,  are applied, can be outlined as follows :

1) Finance-Budgeting and Investments

(a) cash-flow analysis, long range capital requirements, dividend policies, investment portfolies.

(b) credit policies, credit risks and delinquent account procedures.

(c) claim and complaint procedures.

2). Purchasing, Procurement and Exploration

(a) rules for buying, supplies and stable or varying prices.

(b) determination of quantities and timing of purchases.

(c) bidding policies.

(d) strategies for exploration and exploitation of raw material sources.

(e) replacement policies

3) Production Management
((1)) physical distribution

  (a)  location and size of warehouse, distribution centres and retail outlets

(b) distribution policy

((2)) Facilities Planning
   (a) Number and location of function, warehouse, hospital etc.
 
  (b) Loding and unloading facilities for railroads and trucks determining the transport activity

((3)) Manufacturing
(a) prduction scheduling and sequencing

(b) Stablization of  production and employment traning layoffs and optimum products mix.

((4)) Maintenance and Project Scheduling

(a) Maintence policies and preventive maintenance

(b) Maintenance crew sizes

(c) Project scheduling and allocation of resources

(4) Marketing

(a) product selection,  timing,  competitive actions

(b) Number of salseman,  frequency of calling  on accounts percent of time spent on prospects.

(c) advertising media with respect to cost and time

(5) Personal Management

(a) Selection of suitable personal on minimum salary

(b) mixes of age and skills

(c) Recruitment policies and assitnment of jobs

(6) Research and Development

(a) Determination of the areas of concentration of research and davelopment

(b) Project Selection 

(c) Determination of time cost trade-off and central of development projects

(d) Reliability and alternative design.

From all above area of application, we may conclude that OR can be widely  used in taking management decisions and also  used as a correctiive measure.

             The application of this tool involves certain data and not merly a personality of decision maker and
hence we can say ----------------
           -------"OR A REPLACE A MANAGEMENT BY PERSONALITY."