Travel Tracking

Seasonal travel is one of the busiest times of the year for transportation services. On other occasions it is rush hour management that can cause severe delays and disruptions to commuters. Tracking best routes and mapping restrictions and disruptions in real-time is a very plausible and useful level of analytics to have at hand for any commuter. This process will not only allow them precise information in real-time but could also allow them to fully comprehend their travel plans from source to destination in a very fast and conducive way. Most transportation networks can be mapped as graphs. Graphs are a generalization of representing the structure and relationships between data points or so called nodes. In a train network each station could be a node and each route to another node as a weighted link or more precisely an edge. Various algorithms can then be applied to work out specific natural language search requirements or more precisely the semantic context of search. This could be a sub-optimal or a greedy option. In a sub-optimal option aspects like global optimization ideas can be applied where a solution sample only needs to be good enough based on the defined function as the search space is so huge. Graph algorithms like dijkstra's shortest path,  uniform-cost search, minimum spanning trees, best-first search, breadth-first search, depth-first search, travelling salesman problem can be applied based on specific semantic requirements of travel. So, one could be looking for an option of finding the shortest and fastest possible route to get to destination before or at a certain time. Another semantic requirement might be to find the best route without connections, delays, or disruptions to travel.  Further, another option could be to find all possible routes that can be reached from source to destination with the cheapest possible price for travel. There is so much data about when one travels that finding and discovering the right information can be difficult. Data only becomes information based on the contextual usefulness. Various mashup applications can be applied that utilize web apis from public transport agencies utilizing their feeds for precise information sharing. Google transit has started their own standardization process towards travel data. However, in every aspect accessibility to right information, at right time, in the right possible way becomes crucial. This is where responsive user interfaces can become the stepping stone for a barrier free access to easy and quick information navigability. We live in an overload of data, almost everything can be translated to some form of information. Knowing how to obtain, deliver, and present such data so it can become useful information is paramount. 

Hybrid Logic Can Save Traffic In London

Actuated traffic lights with Boolean level controller logic can always seem malnourished of severely constrained logic. It seems the traffic lights in London always go off unexpectedly and very haphazard. I feel if they employed more hybridized approaches towards congestion and traffic control would be more effective. They could centrally control the traffic boards across the city but apply more significant real world situations. An off and on service has very limited service and an increased risk of accidents. Even the aspect of controlling traffic held up or pedestrians waiting to cross can be modified. Fuzzy Logic is all about the Fuzzy constraints of approximated reasoning being still between the limit bounds of 0 and 1 only relative constraints can be better controlled over a full specified spectrum of natural language domain. Smooth flow of traffic resulting in less frustrations can be controlled. Looking at times of day and variations can be applied. Classical reasoning of rigid constraints over multivariate changes are severely limited. I think in a city where roads are small and population growing as well as with multimodal means of transport it is only sensible, feasible, and yet workable to apply more intelligent methods in the works where interconnected traffic flows can be changed and modified based on patterns of usage and potential delays as well as more dynamic flows from specified natural language.

O2 A Dreadful Mobile Service

Possibly the worst mobile operator in UK would have to be O2. Perhaps, even beating at odds with the likes of Orange and Vodafone. I have not tried other mobile providers but it is a sure bet that most mobile provider quality of service is dismally poor. And, to top it of you are still asked to pay for line rental when they experience network outages. Customers pay for service not for when they out of service surely. O2 also have one of the worst call centers I have ever come across. I think the word dim wits is quite aptly appropriate, or perhaps a bit too refined a description of their lack of training and common sense within the call center staff. Not to mention when I search the web I noticed similar stories coming around that people are frustrated and that people don't get paid to do O2's job. After all we pay for a service and yet they expect us to do their job for them as well. Their call centers have detailed information about customer accounts and yet they still cannot be bothered to read the information that is present on their screens. Furthermore, it's droning that the time spent listening to music on the other end until one gets through to an advisor has got to be one of the most frustrating and time consuming processes of all. It is as if people are expected to wait around while some advisor decides to pick up the call. A typical aspect of getting through to a manager at one of their call center and one can expect to be waiting around for an unusually long time. It is like the manager expects you to wait while they finish their lunch break, complete their crossword or just keep one on hold as if to display how busy they are. And, when these people do pick up they are possibly the rudest bunch of patronizing people one can ever come across. And, this is from a business that is expected to offer a service to customers. Not to mention the tiresome network outages that seem to be becoming a bit of bane with O2. I have to mention that in UK the level of service for not just mobile providers but a lot of other services is also similar. It is as if lack of quality of service is almost always the bottom of every business model in UK. Prices are inflated and service is poor. And, they expect the customer to be calm and collected otherwise they hang up. Unfortunately, for so many customers in UK frustration for lack of service is almost like the British weather. What most businesses do not seem to realize is that customers are the ones with a choice. They can always switch to another provider. One of the sure ways of losing business is not providing good service and further to lack ethics. Customers nowadays are not stupid a lot do their research. And, yet the service is one factor that always seems to be lagging behind in every business model. Most customers in my view would show brand loyalty if they received reliability of product that was capped at the right price, a strong sense of business ethics, and an approachable service model. 

For All There Exists Pi

Pi has always been a very curious and enlightening number. Although, irrational by nature it can almost feel like it can transcend time. The number is never ending. The enlightenment towards possibilities where everything lives forever. It is a transcendental number where a patternless digits seem to arise over an endless space almost like a matrix. Each digit appearing in equal frequencies. If one can class Pi as a normal number then the endless space might explain some truth in our existence within. There has been an endless amount of discussions and research on the value of Pi for which circumferences of a circle are measured. Perhaps, the idea of quantum immortality and existence. Can one really prove that Pi really does repeat after a certain infinite space of non-repeating numbers where every possible sequence exists? Can the realities of human life be explained through the patterns of Pi? Perhaps, as we exist here on earth there could be an endless universe where multiple aspects of oneself arises across the galaxy. Even in the golden ratio which is another equally interesting affair uses the complex configurations of Pi to produce a perfect equation. The measure of beauty and perfection can be described by the measure of a golden ratio where embedded in it is the transduction from Pi. The title elaborates on the logical constructs. "For All There Exists Pi". This implies that for every possibility there has to exist an infinite wisdom where anything is possible.  

Life of Pi

This movie had a very impressive marketing campaign and trailer but it lacked a lot of depth. Life of Pi is about a boy who gets stranded in middle of an ocean with a tiger. The movie had a strange start and at times it seemed like never ending. And, when the movie really starts to pick up pace, which is after the storm, it leaves much to be desired. I was anticipating that it would be like a castaway sort of movie. Although, not without the quality acting of Tom Hanks. The story line takes on almost three different angles or viewpoints of introducing the viewer into the movie. First one is the early life of Pi as a childhood possibly the most boring part of the movie and showing scenes which were relatively irrelevant. The second, phase is the life of Pi during his days with the tiger in middle of an ocean where his survival instincts took over. And, the third phase is the narrator which is Pi providing the story line in the later years of his life. This makes the movie too long to watch. Also, the movie lacked emotion both in the life of Pi as well as the bond between him and the tiger. It was a rather regrettable and forgettable movie in the scene when Pi is seen crying as his tiger companion slowly disintegrates into the forest never to be seen again. It is almost as if the movie displays a total lack of comprehension of life, friendship, loyalty, and animals. The very thing that this movie was about in my view. Perhaps, if this movie had been directed by Steven Spielberg it may have taken a rather more dramatic and emotional twist. Life of Pi almost left me wanting more and yet not getting any in terms of climax. The movie shows more changing of days then the tides and plateaus in story. Also, the movie in my view seemed to lack structure. The most important part was possibly the most unendearing part. I felt a total lack of connection with the movie, it was as if the movie was playing and I was just watching. My anticipation and enjoyment in watching the movie suddenly felt overshadowed by a sense of  disappointment. They could have done so much more with the movie. It felt like watching a low budget movie with potential that was reduced by haphazard and almost meandering like editing cues not to mention being compounded by the lackluster performance from the child actor.

Artificial Intelligence at University

While I was at university trying to attain my first degree course, I often found myself wondering why the courses did not provide in depth modules to cover the areas of Artificial Intelligence. They also seem to provide very basic details on theory but not enough exposure to the whole field and with any sense of practical projects. By the time, one embarks on a postgraduate or even research work they would be left with so much information to catch up on that it seems strange as to why universities do not cover enough of it during the undergraduate stages. I remember when I was at university my interest in field was well attuned and self managed through background reading, research journals, and conference papers as I could never find enough coverage in the modules. Artificial Intelligence is like eighty percent Computer Science but even that does not cover certain principles like machine learning and natural language processing to any level of detail. I think the best university in UK for any substantial detail in coverage of the whole field is probably Edinburgh University which in my view has got to be a good source of a lot of research for a lot of people. However, it is very difficult for IT professionals to embark on such postgraduate level degree courses while continuing on with their work commitments. A lot of these courses are almost always taught as full time with a research component for discussion on new ways of approaching problems that potentially no one has yet come across or found a way to do. As the years progress Artificial Intelligence is going to become an even more dominant field in wide area of topics and is potentially one of the only real ways of enhancing human kind into the new millennium of technological innovation, finding cures for communicable diseases, and understanding the world around us as well as ourselves. Artificial Intelligence is a broad field encompassing a whole range of topics and not just about robots. One of the most indispensable books and a source of knowledge about Artificial Intelligence for anyone wanting to learn up in some serious level of detail would be Artificial Intelligence A Modern Approach by Peter Norvig and Stuart Russell. The book sets the tone for further research and understanding for any individual impassioned about what the whole field is about and sets ones directions of curiosity for knowledge in motion.

Integrated Libraries

I wonder if it is a possibility to integrate libraries so one only needs to search a website to realize whether an issue exists and where it might be catalogued. Even allowing people to read materials online. It would also be a better way to manage library card catalogue systems in a consistent way allowing people to use libraries more efficiently and at same time cutting costs for managing such a volume of sources. Maybe, an anticipated way of trying it out locally within a district, then branching it out across the city, country, and even global divides. A whole host of archived information could be possible to navigate for almost anyone across the globe and a massive source of data accessible to all. This sort of service could perhaps be available by advertising and subscription services which the user could potentially pay from the geographical location base. The library network service could then be available 24/7 and managed across time zones. I think privatizing libraries is a pretty good way of making sure libraries are well taken care of financially and with a solid information services strategy in place. Often libraries are focal point of communities where people can visit to borrow books and obtain all sorts of information. Why not allow them to do the same from home or on their ipad, android phone, or even at work. If libraries were more creative in making information accessible there would be more people interested in reading and enhancing their knowledge outside of just what they gather on TV. I think it is also a valuable source for educational purposes especially for universities where students and researchers often have to source out a lot of background information on a particular topic for assignments or research work. It would also be an ideal way to categorize or contextualize the information into a linked data or semantic web structure. Perhaps, one day every library, museum, gallery, journal repository, and national archive system in the world would be connected just like the Internet.

Francesca Authentic Italian

Nestled on the tips of Baker Street and facing towards Regents Park is Francesca Restaurant that can make almost anyone fall in love with pasta and the salsa mixes to go with it. And, that is a lot to ask for in a city like London where people seem to have a multitude of quality restaurants to choose from. I usually just go for the spaghetti and salsa mixes but one can opt for any of the four pasta types on offer. The place is very open and relaxing in a sort of cafe mixed with cosy free style eating for an Italian palette lover. They offer both options for take away or eating in. Take away is perfect for lunch or carry out dinner both in between work or after, perhaps even on one's way home from work. Although, by night there is no lights at Regents Park. During the day, I have found grabbing a bite from there and strolling through the endlessly breathtaking Regents Park on the weekend quite tempting. Good food and a lush leafy park with a meandering stream of water, what more can one ask for. I would advise anyone to give this restaurant a try as the food is absolutely delicious and quite reasonably priced too.