On ‘World Sleep Day’, Study Brings Cheer To Chronic Insomniacs

Sleep plays a significant role in maintaining our vitality and well being. But unfortunately, a considerable proportion of the population struggle to obtain a good night’s sleep. Poor sleep for at least three nights a week for over a month, despite adequate circumstances to sleep may be called chronic insomnia. Poor sleep has been associated with mood disturbances, irritability and inability to focus, increased road traffic accidents, elevated blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes mellitus and strokes. There is also a significant association with depression and anxiety. While situational stresses can cause transient sleep problems or insomnia, sometimes there may be a progression to chronic insomnia. It may not be an exaggeration to say that there is no aspect of human wellbeing that is not positively influenced by a good sleep.

Heartfulness Meditation, a spiritual and wellness practice, improves sleep quality of sleep in patients suffering from chronic insomnia - as per findings of a study launched to coincide with the World Sleep Day. 13th of March is marked as World Sleep Day. Interestingly, the study was conducted in an office setting.

Kamlesh Patel affectionately called as Daaji, the guide of Heartfulness said, “How well we sleep and how deeply we sleep determines our state of mind throughout the day. Disciplining our sleep cycle changes our life. Increasing number on sleep studies are all pointing to far reaching benefits of sleep on physical, mental, emotional and recently on spiritual wellbeing of a person. Adequate and appropriate sleep ensures rounded development of an individual and meditation is proving to be an enabler of sleep even for chronic conditions. ”

A recent study published in the Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives evaluated the effects of Heartfulness Meditation on chronic insomnia.  The study was authored by Jayaram Thimmapuram, Deborah Yommer, Luminita Tudor, Theodore Bell, Cristian Dumitrescu and Robert Davis of Wellspan York Hospital, York, Pennyslyvania, USA.

The study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of Heartfulness Meditation coupled with sleep hygiene to treat chronic insomnia. Chronic insomnia reflects a significant difficulty to either fall asleep or maintain sleep. Most often these problems continue for at least a month and often last for many years.  The results showed statistical improvements in the measures of Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) in Heartfulness meditators. It showed that Heartfulness meditation may facilitate the decrease and eventual cessation of sedative hypnotics in patients suffering from chronic insomnia.

Heartfulness Meditation offered by the Heartfulness Institute is a simple, easy to implement, heart-based meditation practice aimed at achieving a state of inner balance.

The study was conducted over two year period  with 45 patients  enrolled. Of them, 32 patients (71%) completed the entire eight weeks of the Heartfulness Meditation programme.

The results of the study demonstrated improvements in measures of ISI in those participating in a structured Heartfulness Meditation programme along with sleep hygiene. The mean insomnia severity scores decreased by more than half from 20.7 to 10.4.

This is the first study on insomnia using Heartfulness Meditation in an office setting. The meditation programme used in the study demonstrates the potential to improve sleep and wean off hypnotic pharmacotherapy agents in chronic insomnia. Twenty-four participants were on pharmacotherapy for sleep. At the end of the study eighteen of them (75%) were able to come off of them and another 3 (12.5%) were able to reduce the dose. As there are significant side effects that come along with the use of pharmacotherapy for sleep, it is important to explore ways to obtain a good night’s sleep.

The Heartfulness practice in this study involved 30 minutes of weekly guided meditation sessions along with a daily home practice of up to 40 minutes. The evening practice of rejuvenation  that helps in clearing up of the daily impressions of stresses and strains is unique to the practice of Heartfulness.The study also found that Heartfulness Meditation can be easily incorporated into the patient’s lifestyle, is cost-effective, and requires no special equipment. 

Western Digital Powering the Indian Start-Up Ecosystem with ‘Data Innovation Bazaar 2020’

Highlights

* Data Innovation Bazaar in collaboration with Startup India, Invest India, and ecosystem partners - MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), DST (Department of Science & Technology) and TiE Delhi aims at developing a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in India
* The forum will enable startups to showcase ideas that have the potential to solve key issues of national importance, by leveraging the power of data

Western Digital, a leading worldwide data infrastructure provider, has announced Data Innovation Bazaar TM 2020 (DIB 2020) to support and encourage a vibrant entrepreneurial sector in India. Data Innovation Bazaar 2020 will closely engage with the ecosystem to promote data driven solutions for industries like healthcare, education, financial inclusion, energy & environment, agriculture, smart transportation and smart cities.

Since its inception in 2016, Startup India has now over 25,000 registered startups across the country[1]. Breakthroughs in technology and accessible funding has ensured rapid growth in the startup ecosystem; however, in order to help further scale the industry and address key issues of national importance, Data Innovation Bazaar was conceptualised by Western Digital. The powerful and unique forum will showcase data led ideas that address the key society and national needs and transform the nation. This edition of Data Innovation Bazaar is being hosted in partnership with Startup India and Invest India, and knowledge partners - Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Science & Technology - Ministry of Science & Technology (DST) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE, Delhi).

“We are pleased to continue our engagement and encourage India’s startup ecosystem to scale with Data Innovation Bazaar. With Western Digital’s vision of driving innovation with data, we can touch base with data-driven startups and encourage them to scale further. Invest India has played a vital role in strengthening the ecosystem and these collaborations help achieve the next wave of innovation. Being one of the largest entrepreneurship platforms in India, our large community of stakeholders enables young entrepreneurs to network and cultivate their growth”, said Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO, Invest India.

“At Western Digital, we are committed to driving innovation and transforming the data industry across the globe. Data lives in every aspect of our lives and it’s our imperative to help leverage it to build a better tomorrow. Through the second edition of Data Innovation Bazaar, we aim to encourage the startup ecosystem to help build data-centric solutions, and also play a role in the continued growth of India’s economy.” said Siva Sivaram, President, Technology & Strategy, Western Digital.

“Western Digital has long been at the forefront of game changing innovation and we believe in enabling those who dare to think big about the possibilities of data. Through the Data Innovation Bazaar initiative, we will empower the next wave of innovative startups that will address real-time challenges. Partnerships with the Government and leading Industry Bodies coupled with our own technology expertise will give these innovators the boost needed to take their powerful ideas to greater levels.” said Supria Dhanda, Country Manager and Vice President, Western Digital India.

Data Innovation Bazaar 2020 is open to young entrepreneurs, startups, innovators and students. This edition will focus on three themes across sectors which are:

Data for Social Transformation for the healthcare, education, financial inclusion and energy & environment industry
Innovative Data-Intensive Commercial & Industrial Applications for the agriculture and logistics industry
Connected World Solutions with Data as the Fuel for smart cities, smart videos, connected homes & offices and next generation connected transportation
As part of Phase I of Data Innovation Bazaar 2020, the online application process is open until March 15, 2020 on the Startup India portal. 40 teams will be shortlisted for Phase II where they will showcase and present their ideas. All the shortlisted teams for Data Innovation Bazaar will be given TiE membership. The final winners will be given awards totalling up to INR 22 lakhs. For women entrepreneurs, there is a special prize money of INR 2 lakhs. Additionally, the top 10 teams will be invited to Western Digital's Innovation Boot Camp at the company's Bangalore campus to learn, scale and engage with experts in the industry, academia, investors and Western Digital leadership.

The previous edition of Data Innovation Bazaar focused on education, renewable energy, healthcare, transportation & mobility, and cleantech for which over 520 applications were received. Western Digital’s partnership with Government of India’s - Startup India and Invest India, provides an opportunity for the development of an ecosystem for emerging entrepreneurs and brings together government alliances, businesses and innovators on a unique forum.

ServiceNow Introduces Intelligence – AI and Analytics to Drive New Levels of Productivity for Enterprise

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company that makes work, work better for people, today introduced the Now Platform Orlando release, featuring Now Intelligence, a new set of powerful AI and analytics capabilities. With Now Intelligence, ServiceNow empowers enterprises with new insights that enable employees to work smarter and faster, streamline business decisions and unlock new levels of productivity.

Worldwide, companies are focused on delivering great customer and employee experiences. And behind every great experience is a great workflow. That’s what ServiceNow enables. With Now Intelligence embedded into its Now Platform, ServiceNow advances its position as a pioneer delivering practical, purpose-built AI and analytics to the enterprise. Now Intelligence enables employees to quickly and easily make decisions, solve problems, find answers and automate tasks – making their lives at work simple, easy and convenient.

ServiceNow is a strategic digital transformation partner to the world’s largest enterprises, including approximately 80% of the Fortune 500. These enterprises use the Now Platform as their “platform of platforms” to streamline work by integrating siloed, legacy systems and digitizing complex workflows and processes across their organizations. Adobe, Deloitte, Equinix, Red Hat, Nutanix, UnitedLex, whyaye!, Acorio, Autotestpro and Highmetric are examples of companies using the Now Platform to power their digital transformations.

“People should be able to work the way they want to, not the way that most software today dictates they have to,” said Chirantan “CJ” Desai, chief product officer of ServiceNow. “The Orlando release provides powerful new AI and analytics capabilities to help people work smarter and faster. This added intelligence will help people make better decisions via insights and recommendations, helping them predict and solve issues before they become business and customer problems. Now Intelligence built into the Now Platform is a smarter way to workflow, and that enables great experiences and greater productivity.”

With its Orlando release, ServiceNow continues to deliver consumer-grade mobile experiences across the enterprise. And with Now Intelligence, the Now Platform delivers great experiences that:

●       Help people get work done smarter and faster by automatically surfacing context-aware recommendations, predictions and insights to help teams act on the fly.

●       Deliver better self-service experiences with intelligent, “always on” virtual agents across any channel, so customers and employees can quickly get what they need and take action.

●       Better predict issues and automate actions with virtual agents fully embedded in the Now Platform. Customers and employees are now empowered to initiate workflows with dynamic conversations that deliver results by automating requests for quick resolutions anytime, anywhere.

●       Enable better business decisions by driving transparency and alignment at all levels of the organization and providing teams and process owners with valuable insight into real-time patterns and trends so they can make more informed decisions and quickly identify areas for improvement.

 The Orlando release of the Now Platform delivers analytics, intelligence and mobility solutions enhancements across ServiceNow’s IT, Employee and Customer workflows. Key innovations in the Orlando release include:

Analytics Solutions

* Cloud Insights helps IT teams optimize the cost of their cloud assets by making intelligent recommendations on managing usage across business hours, choosing the right resources and enforcing usage policies.

* Advanced Risk Assessments make it painless for an organization’s front line to assess different risks within their daily work, so their second line can effectively adapt to change as they analyze and manage operational and other risks across the business.

* Software Exposure Assessment enables security and IT teams to minimize the potential impact of zero-day vulnerabilities by quickly identifying vulnerable software and related devices and servers, then initiating changes immediately through standard IT workflows.

Intelligence Solutions

* Agent Affinity for Work Assignment allows customer service teams to assign work to the best agent using intelligent context to improve customer satisfaction. This can include assignment to a specific team that always services a specific customer, agents who have served the customer previously, or agents who have experience with related tasks.

* Virtual Agent with Natural Language Understanding updates continue to build off innovations unveiled in the Madrid and New York releases, making it easier to create and maintain NLU models.

* CI/CD supports the use of standard DevOps tools for on-platform development at scale with team development, including enhanced developer collaboration with selective commits and collision avoidance, and simplified deployment processes for faster time to value.

Mobility Solutions

* Mobile Agent enhancements deliver native mobile experiences so service desk agents and operators can resolve issues at any time, through any device. These capabilities are available on ITSM, ITOM and Field Service Management solutions.

* Mobile Branding and Analytics allow customers to configure the Now Mobile enterprise experience in a customer-branded environment, driving deeper engagement, and bring analytics into the services that pre-hires, new hires and employees use most.

* Mobile Targeted Campaigns provide employees with important and relevant information (like 'tax time,' site updates and local IT initiatives) right on their mobile devices using profile information, like department and job type. This proactive approach to employee communications increases satisfaction and reduces calls to the service desk.

Also, ServiceNow is extending the Now Platform to manage DevOps pipelines, connecting developers within IT operations with new insights and automating the manual and time-consuming change approval process. This will enable customers to release features developed off-platform more rapidly while retaining safety. ServiceNow DevOps, which was initially available through the ServiceNow Store, is now available as part of the Orlando release.

“As enterprises continue on their digital transformation journeys, there’s a tremendous need to adapt and implement tools that will help connect these distributed departments,” said IDC’s Research Director of Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence Systems, Dave Schubmehl. “Executives should continue to look for ways to embed more practical AI into their operations, which will not only help them to drive better efficiencies across the enterprise, but also meet the ever-increasing needs of their end-customers.”

3i Infotech’s AI-powered AMLOCK Analytics Helps Organizations Address Money Laundering

3i Infotech Limited (BSE: 532628, NSE: 3IINFOTECH), a global Information Technology company, launched AMLOCK Analytics, its advanced anti-money laundering (AML) solution powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Language (ML), which enables banks and financial institutions to identify complex and hidden AML patterns. It helps organizations to meet their most critical challenge of managing high false positives and provides a holistic view of investigating an alert. AMLOCK Analytics uses various statistical methods and machine learning algorithms to derive analyses and predictions based on institution specific historical data.

 One of the important features of 3i Infotech’s AMLOCK Analytics is the reduction of false positives using risk profiling, through predictive analytics that identifies potential risk and thereby enhances decision making. The solution also provides an insight on the trends followed by customers, based on seasonality and identifies the anomalies based on deviation from these trends, where machine learning helps in customer segmentation. This enables users to investigate effectively by working closely on those groups which are risky or deemed outliers.

Ravikanth Sama, Global Head- AML Practice, 3i Infotech said, “AMLOCK Analytics blends both the traditional rule-based system and the power of Analytics to bring better efficiency & risk focus.  It can be hosted both on-premise and on cloud infrastructure. The solution provides a probability score indicating the chances of closing an alert based on the past actions taken by the users on similar alerts. AMLOCK Analytics improves the conversion rate of Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) or Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), as it dynamically correlates between the alerts in which suspicious transaction reports have been generated and those that have been tagged as false positives by the investigators.”

Balakrishna Peddiraju, Head - Global Delivery & Engineering (AMLOCK), 3i Infotech said, “With increasing money laundering activities and financial frauds witnessed across organizations, there is a pressing need to curb such activities. Our AMLOCK Analytics solution helps detect unknown suspicious behavioral AML patterns, thereby improving operational efficiency. This solution is seamlessly integrated with AMLOCK and embedded with various machine learning and deep learning algorithms. It facilitates intense surveillance and reduces investigation time. It enables better alert triage and smarter investigations by providing astute guidance based on historical patterns for factors such as risk assessment.”

AMLOCK is 3i Infotech’s flagship AML solution that is multi-segmented and used by banks, insurance companies, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and mobile wallet companies to proactively detect and manage potential money laundering activities. It is an established global AML solution with over 100 installations across 35 countries. The offerings of the AMLOCK Suite include AMLOCK FCDMS, Financial Crime Detection and Management Solution, which provides end-to-end financial crime management for large enterprises; AMLOCK Lite, which caters to AML requirement of small and medium institutions; and AMLOCK Analytics that brings the latest dimension of Analytics & AI to uncover hidden AML patterns / risks.  AMLOCK was 3i Infotech’s successful application to Chartis Research’s RiskTech100 2020 rankings. The listing positions 3i Infotech among the world’s 100 major players in risk and compliance technology.

Vu Televisions Unveils its New Vu Premium 4K TV Priced at Rs 31,000 for 55 Inches and Available on Flipkart from March 11, 2020

India’s leading premium television company, VuTelevisions — the leader in quality, innovation and design in the television industry is set to launch the VuPremium 4K TV – a TV with unparalleled features at an unbelievable price.Targeted at the new age consumer who seeks innovative and technologically advanced products,Vu Premium 4K TV offers top-of-the-line features and state-of art design at a competitive price. The new range of televisions will be available on Flipkart from Rs.24, 999 onwards.

The company brings the incredible 4K experience at an unbelievable discounted price offer for a limited period for 43 inches priced at Rs 24,000; 50 inches priced at Rs 27,000 and 55 inches 31,000.

The Vu Premium 4KTV range is available in three sizes - 43” (108cm), 50” (127cm) and 55” (140cm). The TVs are equipped with A+ Grade Panel with 400+ nits brightness having Dolby Vision & HRD 10 Support, Dolby Audio with 30W noise cancellation Speakers having DTS Virtual X Surround Sound Technology, Bezel-Less Design, VOD Upscaler, Cricket Mode alongwith the latest Android 9.0 pie, giving a luxury viewing experienceat home.

Commenting on the launch, Devita Saraf, Chairman and CEO, Vu Televisions quoted, “Vu is known for its leadership and innovation in the TV industry over the past 10 years.We have been a customer favourite with over 90% of consumers buying Vu TVs repeatedly and also recommending them to their friends and family. Our promise to the consumer is to provide the best in class product at an affordable price without compromising on quality and service. And today, Vu ushers in the new era of 4K with the launch of the Vu Premium 4K TV”

Adding to this, Ajay Veer Yadav, Senior Vice President - Mobiles, Appliances & Electronics at Flipkart said, “With the growing popularity of 4K displays, we are delighted to launchVU 4K Premium smart TVs on Flipkart. Vu Technologies has been a key partner to bring new consumer experiences in TV viewing for Flipkart consumers. This partnership with VU furthers our vision of making 4K TVs affordable to millions of consumers across the vast demography of India.”

The company has a long-standing association with Flipkart, through which it has sold over 15 lakh TV setsfrom 32” to 75” in size. Furthermore, Flipkart continues to sell VuTVs across 19,000 pin codes, with 5-star reviews for majority of Vu’s products on the platform.

About VU Technologies Pvt. Ltd:

Televisions for the New Age

Vu Technologies was founded in 2006 by DevitaSarafas a luxury technology company and hasannual revenue of Rs.1000 Cr ($130 Million) with over 2 Million TV units sold worldwide. Headquartered out of Mumbai (India) with R&D in Palo Alto, California (USA), Vu is the leader in the premium television segment and the largest manufacturer of 4K TVs in India.

Vu Technologies develops and manufactures televisions for new-age consumers who want to experience the best picture and sound quality, superior aesthetics and advanced computing and content. Vu Technologies product range includes 4K TVs, Android TVs, Large Size TVs and Corporate TVs. The inventions of Vu Technologies include the world’s largest TV – The Vu 100, Vu Swarovski TV, the world’s first computer integrated TV – The Vu Intelligent TV and the Vu Office TV. Vu’s hardware innovations include Pixelium GlassTechnology, ActiVoice Remote with Hotkeys and software innovations include Upscaler Technology and Vu Cricket Mode.

Vu Technologies has 11 offices across India is recognized for the industry’s best customer service with its ISO 9001-certified 24x7 customer support centre.

Route Mobile Partners with Sri Lanka’s Telco - Lanka Bell for PaaS & Firewall Solutions

Route Mobile Limited (“Route Mobile”), one of the global Cloud Communications Platform service providers offering Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) & SMS firewall solutions that caters to enterprises, MNO’s and OTT players is delighted to announce a partnership with Lanka Bell, Sri-Lanka's one of the leading telecommunications service provider to strengthen its position in Sri Lanka.

Lanka Bell is a world-class telecommunications operator that provides a full range of telecommunication services, including Internet, data and voice, to businesses and residential customers in Sri Lanka and wholesale bandwidth solutions to operators. With its agreement with Route Mobile, Lanka Bell will expand its portfolio to include a wide range of cloud communications solutions. For example, in addition to IaaS and PaaS services, the Route Mobile’s Cloud Platform as a Service infrastructure will enable Lanka Bell to offer clients A2P Messaging, New age Chatbot messaging.

Rajdipkumar Gupta, MD & Group CEO, Route Mobile said, "This partnership with Lanka Bell is built to combine the strength in domain & technological expertise of both the companies. We are confident that our cloud platform and offerings will enable enterprises in Sri Lanka to enhance user engagement & to deliver better customer experience."

"This partnership with Route Mobile demonstrates our vision of transforming Sri Lanka’s cloud communication sector and will help enterprise customers in the country to embrace cloud communications offerings like Messaging, Instant Messaging & Enterprise Voice quickly and easily," said Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Managing Director, Lanka Bell. "We anticipate customers will benefit from this collaboration and expansion of Lanka Bell's cloud communication offerings."

"With this partnership, Lanka Bell can now provide the enterprises the ability to leverage our Super Network and APIs to build out their digital communication service needs. Our suite of APIs provided for various communication channels, across multiple geographies  are scalable and flexible to fit the customers’ requirements. We have also recently launched Route Mobile API Developer Network – a program that enables developers to leverage capabilities of our platform and seamlessly deploy digital communication features within their applications/software," said Tushar Agnihotri, Executive Vice President – India and APAC region, Route Mobile.

Since its inception in the year 2004, Route Mobile has assisted enterprises in their digital communication strategy by enabling multiple channels of communication to deliver messages to their stakeholders – including customers, suppliers, and employees. Further, we provide a suite of APIs,  for various communication channels, across multiple geographies that are scalable and flexible to fit the customers’ requirements.

About Route Mobile Limited:

Established in 2004, Route Mobile is one of the cloud communications platform service provider, catering to enterprises, over-the-top players and mobile network operators. As of December 31, 2019, our portfolio comprises solutions in messaging, voice, email, SMS filtering, analytics and monetization. Route Mobile has a diverse enterprise client base across a broad range of industries including social media companies, banks and financial institutions and e-commerce entities..Route Mobile is headquartered in Mumbai, India, with a global presence in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America.

About Lanka Bell

Based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Lanka Bell is a world-class telecommunications operator that provides a full range of telecommunication services to businesses and residential customers in Sri Lanka. Established in 1997, Lanka Bell pioneered the introduction of fixed wireless telephony through CDMA technology in Sri Lanka & thereby revolutionising the telecommunication landscape by providing all Sri Lankans the opportunity to enjoy the very best in telecommunication connectivity. The launch of Bell4G home broadband services via 4G LTE technology further enriched and enhanced Lanka Bell's offering and has taken it to the next level.  Among the company's other main offerings is BEST – Bell Enterprise Solutions Technology. This is a specialised suite of enterprise telecommunication solutions which offers voice and text, data, iDC (internet Data Centre) and international services. Lanka Bell is also the landing partner for the FLAG submarine cable network in Sri Lanka. With a significant investment, Lanka Bell owns and operates the totally independent cable landing station thus providing true diversity in international connectivity to Sri Lanka as a country.  

Shemford Group of Schools MD Suggests Measures and Steps that Schools Can Take to Tackle the Outbreak of COVID-19

Mr. Amol Arora, Vice Chairman & MD, Shemford Group of Futuristic Schools, "Preparedness and proper precautionary measures are the only ways to tackle the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. We need to protect our children, who are more susceptible to infection. There are various steps schools and teachers can take to make sure children are safe. Large gathering for students should be avoided on the school premises. In case any staff member or student has been found to be in contact with an infected person or been to an affected country, they should be directed to stay at home for at least 2 weeks. It is important for teachers to stay alert at all times of any possible symptoms a student might be showing. Fever, incessant cough and difficulty in breathing should be immediately reported to parents so that required tests can be done. Schools should also publicize routine hand-washing and hygiene procedures. Additionally, schools should also make available alcohol-based hand sanitisers at various points within the school campus. In washrooms, availability of soap and water must be ensured at all times. Surfaces that are frequently touched such as doorknobs and desktops should be cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis without fail. Schools can also get in touch with their local health departments, to keep themselves updated with the best practices to contain the spread of the virus. It is important for schools to have communication – not just with the health officials – but with students and their parents as well. All the Delhi primary schools have been shut until 31st March in the wake of this outbreak. But schools should assess their options for educating remotely by resorting to online learning.​"