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Advanced computer programs that use machine learning are transforming the way medical research is done in Nova Scotia and around the world.

Work that might have taken years to complete, or would have been astronomically expensive, can now be done faster and at lower cost.

It has allowed teams in this province to develop better ways to identify and treat cancer, discover new drugs to help blind children see, and speed up medical tests.

Acomputer program learns from data and identifies patterns with little human intervention. A more advanced form of machine learning is often referred to as neural networks.

For example, a program can be shown millions of pictures of cars and, eventually, it will identify a particular car, says Thomas Trappenberg, a Dalhousie University computer science professor.

Medical researchers have turned that learning power inward, setting up programs to recognize cancer cells and proteins.

One group is trying to figure out how to better identify the differences between cancer cells and healthy cells,and, in doing so, what drug treatments will work best for an individual.

"Target discovery is very important right now," said Brendan Leung, an assistant professor in applied oral sciences at Dalhousie. "So knowing what to hit is just as important as designing the weapon to hit it."

The research team he's part of also includes a tumour biologist and computer scientist.

Leung hopes the technology will eventually allow scientists to design drugs to better target cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

He said the research would be almost impossible without a computer capable of machine learning.

"With all this big data it just surpasses humans' ability to comprehend what is going on," he said.

"Not to mention human beings are notoriously biased.If you've been working with a particular gene for the past 20 years, you know, it's your favourite thing to look at, you will find what you want to see. So the way I see it, it's a great way to take away that bias."

Leung said software can be biased as well, but perhaps not as biased as a person.

Machine learning has already helped develop new drugs that treat a rare hereditary disease that can cause children to go blind.

The disease is called Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy, orFEVR.It prevents the proper amount of blood from reaching the eye.

Depending on severity, it can result in poor vision or blindness, said Christopher McMaster, a Dalhousie professor of pharmacology.

McMaster's goal is to turn off a protein that prevents the arteries and veins in the eye from growing properly. The computer uses all available information to create a three-dimensional model of what that protein could look like.

"Once you have this three-dimensional picture you can then use the AI to say, 'OK,I need to stick a drug-like molecule essentially into the gears of this protein to turn it off. Give me a list of drugs, not known drugs but anything you could synthesize in a lab that we could stick into this spot that could turn it on or off,'" said McMaster.

The system has worked.McMaster and his team have created a drug that treats FEVR.

"If you were a mouse with FEVR right now we could restore your vision quite well," he said.

It will be a year or longer before McMaster files the documents to start human trials.

Doing this work without computers capable of machine learning would have been challenging as thousands, evenmillions, of drugs would need to be tested in a lab,as opposed to the computer running virtual tests, said McMaster.

"Diseases like this one that don't affect a lot of children, they'd not have any shot at a therapy whatsoever," he said. "So this has really opened up the avenue for a lot of different diseases that would never see the light of day."

That's not the only success story in the province.

Another professor at Dalhousie has helped develop a device that can quickly perform a blood test without a technician or doctor present.

Alan Fine is a professor with the faculty of medicine in the school of biomedical engineering. He's also founder of the company Alentic Microscience.

Fine developed a device, called the Prospector, that isabout the size of a debit machine and can take images of blood cells with a sensor. The machine's neural network has been taught to recognize different parts of the blood and perform a complete blood count.

That test can tell the number of red blood cells, the number of white cells, platelets and gather other information.

"It's a sort of snapshot image of the overall health of an individual and it provides clues to many different kinds of illnesses," said Fine.

In the best-case scenario, the traditional test for a complete blood count would take 20 minutes.More often it can take hours or a day to get results back, said Fine.

His device takes five minutes and is portable.

Right now, the machine is in its testing form and hasn't yet been approved for diagnostic use by Health Canada or other regulatory agencies.Fine hopes those approvals will come later this year.

"These neural network approaches, they have proven so massively effective," said Fine.

"We were very early beneficiaries of this novel computing technology. It's totally transformed the way that we do this and as I think you can see it's not just our little application, it's spreading throughout medicine."

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How machine learning is revolutionizing medical research in Nova Scotia and beyond - CBC.ca

AI and machine learning are revolutionizing modern businesses - here's how to get ahead

By Pierre Fricke- February 4, 2021

Fierce competition means every business must adapt to succeed. AI and machine learning have emerged as modern, vital ways for organizations to get ahead. Many businesses today prioritize data, analytics and AI/machine learning projects to power new business models, enhance product and service offerings, improve efficiency, drive revenue and deliver superior customer experiences.

But analyst figures on project implementation make for sobering reading. Gartner predicts that under half of modern data analytics and machine learning projects will be successfully deployed in production by 2022. Less than a fifth will move piloted AI projects into production without delays caused by a range of problems - from technical skills gaps and lack of IT/business process maturity, to insufficient organizational collaboration.

For example, these businesses may not have expertise in mathematics, algorithm design or data science and engineering. Or their data may not be in a unified data lake infrastructure for ready access. These conditions create challenges for any organization looking to advance in the market and derive value from AI and machine learning.

This combination of pressure and challenges can overwhelm your business, especially if you're at the start of your AI and machine learning journey. So let's dig into why your business should make the effort - and how doing so might require different skills sets and data from what you might think.

Let's start with the basics. When a machine completes tasks based on a set of stipulated rules that solve problems, we're into the realm of artificial intelligence. This might include understanding and interpreting natural language, recognizing when objects move and providing intelligent answers. Business benefits follow, such as analyzing data sets that are too large for humans to process, answering questions in real time that draw from existing data and experiences, and automation that can reduce costs and boost productivity.

Machine learning is a discipline within the AI domain. It enables machines to learn by themselves using data. They use this knowledge to make increasingly accurate predictions and drive actions. For this to happen, you need a model that's trained on existing data, after which point it can process additional data and make predictions. Throughout the process, it's important to track and understand your model, building quality and eliminating bias.

Finally, deep learning is a subfield of machine learning. It structures algorithms in layers to create an artificial neural network that can learn and make intelligent decisions on its own.

We've so far explored AI, machine learning and deep learning in the abstract, but in what specific ways can they benefit your business?

If you're looking to machine learning and deep learning but have concerns about your existing data, be mindful that they don't always need massive data sets. While completely new models with no data nor training do require tens of thousands to millions of data points, trained models exist that can give a project leader a head start. Even if you have just 100 or so examples for a specific use case, building on a general model's foundation could yield more accurate results than human experts would provide.

Additionally, it's worth thinking differently about hiring for the delivery of AI/machine learning enabled applications and solutions. There's an assumption you need PhD-level data scientists. Although they do add value and can be necessary in some circumstances, existing staff can often be trained in about 100 hours, building on high-school math and a year of coding experience. With modern tools on AWS or Google Cloud including AutoML, they can build the solutions you need.

In all, it's as much about changing your mindset as anything else. You must think about what AI and machine learning can bring to your business and the most effective way to achieve that, thereby keeping your company ahead. Machine learning is today driving change in thinking of data as code - where machine learning uses data to write the program, which is the output.

This methodology coupled with the tools and education I mentioned earlier set the stage for many more people collaborating to fashion a new generation of intelligent solutions that will revolutionize business for years to come.

For more information on AI and machine learning, check out our panel discussion, which dives deep into these topics. The discussion covers: toolsets and methodologies; capabilities and constraints; data, computer and expertise requirements; examples of successful applications; and how to get started.

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Rackspace Technology Inc. published this content on 04 February 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 08 February 2021 22:08:06 UTC.

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Rackspace Technology : AI and machine learning are revolutionizing modern businesses here's how to get ahead - Marketscreener.com

REACH is available in award-winning Millennium System International's scheduling software product, Meevo 2, and serves thousands of beauty businesses in over 30 countries."We are thrilled to announce another Meevo 2 business building integration offering within our MeevoXchange marketplace REACH by Octopi. REACH delivers the AI-powered smart scheduling features to help keep our salons and spas booked and growing. This partnership aligns with our strategic goals for our award-winning software Meevo 2 as we continuously add value to our platform and ultimately our salon and spa customers," says CEO John Harms, Millennium Systems International.

"REACH is so special because it requires virtually no setup or upkeep as it follows your existing Meevo 2 online booking settings. REACH plays 'matchmaker' by connecting your clients that are due and overdue with open spaces in your Meevo 2 appointment book over the next few days, automatically. It has taken us years of research and development to create such successful and exciting tool that will begin to show value to your business starting on day one!" CEO Patrick Blickman, REACH by Octopi

Performance Guarantee and Affordability

The platform includes the REACH Revenue Guarantee thatensures each location will see a minimum of $600-$1400 in new booking revenue every month. There are never any contracts or commitments with REACH. Simply turn it on and let it start filling your Meevo 2 appointment book. Pricing starts at $149/month.

About REACH by OCTOPI

REACH was founded to make the client booking experience easier and far more automated for the health and beauty businesses we serve. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona; REACH is built on decades of consolidated industry and channel expertise. Visitwww.octopi.com/reach

About Millennium Systems International:

Millennium Systems International has been a leading business management software for the salon, spa and wellness industry for more than three decades. The award-winning Meevo 2 platform provides a true cloud-based business management software that is HIPAA compliant and fully responsive, so users can gain complete access using any device, built by wellness and beauty veterans exclusively for the wellness and beauty industry. Visit https://www.millenniumsi.com

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REACH and Millennium Systems International Partner to offer Machine Learning Driven Booking Automation to the MeevoXchange Marketplace - PRNewswire

The classrooms in present era are not only expanding to use more technologies and digital tools but they are also engaging in machine learning

Technology in the classroom is becoming more and more popular as we pass through the 21st century. Laptops are replacing our textbooks, and on our smart phones, we can study just about everything we want. Social media has become ubiquitous, and the way we use technology has changed the way we live our lives fully.

Technology has become the core component of distance education programs. It enhances teachers and students to digitally interconnect and exchange material and student work, retaining a human link, which is important for the growth of young minds. Enhanced connections and customized experience can allow educators torecognizeopportunities for learning skills and enhance the potential of a student.

Hence, the classrooms in present era are not only expanding to use more technologies and digital tools but they are also engaging in machine learning.

Machine learning is an artificial intelligence (AI) element, which lets machines or computers learn from all previous knowledge and make smart decisions. The architecture for machine learning involves gathering and storing a rich collection of information and turning it into a standardized knowledge base for various uses in different fields. Educators could save time in their non-classroom practices in the field of education by concentrating on machine learning.

For instance, teachers may use virtual helpers to work for their students directly from home. This form of assistance helps to boost the learning environment of students and can promote growth and educational success.

According to ODSC, Last years report by MarketWatch has revealed that Machine Learning in education will remain one of the top industries to drive investment, with the U.S. and China becoming the top key players by 2030. Major companies, like Google and IBM, are getting involved in making school education more progressive and innovative.

Analyzing all-round material

By making the content more up-to-date and applicable to an exact request, the use of machine learning in education aims to bring the online learning sector to a new stage. How? ML technologies evaluate the content of courses online and help to assess whether the quality of the knowledge presented meets the applicable criteria. On the other hand, know how users interpret the data and understand what is being explained. Users then obtain the data according to their particular preferences and expertise, and the overall learning experience increases dramatically.

Customized Learning

This is the greatest application of machine learning. It is adaptable and it takes care of individual needs. Students are able to guide their own learning through this education system. They can have theirown speed and decide what to study and how to learn. They can select the topics they are interested in, the instructor they want to learn from, and what program they want to pursue, expectations and trends.

Effective Grading

In education, there is another application of machine learning that deals with grades and scoring. Since the learning skills of a large number of students are expressed in each online course, grading them becomes a challenge. ML technology makes the grading process a few seconds problem. In this context, we talk more about the exact sciences. There are places where teachers cannot be replaced by computers, but even in such situations, they can contribute to enhance current approaches of grading and evaluation.

According to TechXplore, Researchers at University of Tbingen and Leibniz Institute fr Wissensmedien in Germany, as well as University of Colorado Boulder, have recently investigated the potential of machine-learning techniques for assessing student engagement in the context of classroom research. More specifically, they devised a deep-neural-network-based architecture that can estimate student engagement by analyzing video footage collected in classroom environments.

They also mentioned that, We used camera data collected during lessons to teach a deep-neural-network-based model to predict student engagement levels, Enkelejda Kasneci the leading HCI researcher in the multidisciplinary team that carried out the study, told TechXplore. We trained our model on ground-truth data (e.g., expert ratings of students level of engagement based on the videos recorded in the classroom). After this training, the model was able to predict, for instance, whether data obtained from a particular student at a particular point in time indicates high or low levels of engagement.

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Can Machine Learning be the Best Remedy in the Education Sector? - Analytics Insight

Switchtec PFX PCIe Gen 5 high performance switches double the data rate of PCIe Gen 4.0 solutions while delivering ultra-low latency and advanced diagnostics

CHANDLER, Ariz., Feb. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Applications such as data analytics, autonomous-driving and medical diagnostics are driving extraordinary demands for machine learning and hyperscale compute infrastructure. To meet these demands, Microchip Technology Inc.(Nasdaq: MCHP)today announced the worlds first PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 switch solutions theSwitchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 family doubling the interconnect performance for dense compute, high speed networking and NVM Express(NVMe) storage. Together with the XpressConnectretimers, Microchip is the industrys only supplier of both PCIe Gen 5 switches and PCIe Gen 5 retimer products, delivering a complete portfolio of PCIe Gen 5 infrastructure solutions with proven interoperability.

Accelerators, graphic processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs) and high-speed network adapters continue to drive the need for higher performance PCIe infrastructure. Microchips introduction of the worlds first PCIe 5.0 switch doubles the PCIe Gen 4 interconnect link rates to 32 GT/s to support the most demanding next-generation machine learning platforms, said Andrew Dieckmann, associate vice president of marketing and applications engineering for Microchips data center solutions business unit. Coupled with our XpressConnect family of PCIe 5.0 and Compute Express Link(CXL) 1.1/2.0 retimers, Microchip offers the industrys broadest portfolio of PCIe Gen 5 infrastructure solutions with the lowest latency and end-to-end interoperability.

The Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 switch family comprises high density, high reliability switches supporting 28 lanes to 100 lanes and up to 48 non-transparent bridges (NTBs). The Switchtec technology devices support high reliability capabilities, including hot-and surprise-plug as well as secure boot authentication. With PCIe 5.0 data rates of 32 GT/s, signal integrity and complex system topologies pose significant development and debug challenges. To accelerate time-to-market, the Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 switch provides a comprehensive suite of debug and diagnostic features including sophisticated internal PCIe analyzers supporting Transaction Layer Packet (TLP) generation and analysis and on-chip non-obtrusive SerDes eye capture capabilities. Rapid system bring-up and debug is further supported with ChipLink an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) based device configuration and topology viewer that provides full access to the PFX PCIe switchs registers, counters, diagnostics and forensic capture capabilities.

Intels upcoming Sapphire Rapids Xeon processors will implement PCI Express 5.0 and Compute Express Link running up to 32.0 GT/s to deliver the low-latency and high-bandwidth I/O solutions our customers need to deploy, said Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Intel fellow and director of I/O technology and standards. We are pleased to see Microchips PCIe 5.0 switch and retimer investment strengthen the ecosystem and drive broader deployment of PCIe 5.0 and CXL enabled solutions.

Development ToolsMicrochip has released a full set of design-in collateral, reference designs, evaluation boards and tools to support customers building systems that take advantage of the high-bandwidth of PCIe 5.0.

In addition to PCIe technology, Microchip also provides data center infrastructure builders worldwide with total system solutions including RAID over NVMe, storage, memory, timing and synchronization systems, stand-alone secure boot, secure firmware and authentication, wireless products, touch-enabled displays to configure and monitor data center equipment and predictive fan controls.

AvailabilityThe Switchtec PFX PCIe 5.0 family of switches are sampling now to qualified customers. For additional information, contact a Microchip sales representative.

ResourcesHigh-res image available through Flickr or editorial contact (feel free to publish):

About Microchip TechnologyMicrochip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions. Its easy-to-use development tools and comprehensive product portfolio enable customers to create optimal designs which reduce risk while lowering total system cost and time to market. The companys solutions serve more than 120,000 customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website atwww.microchip.com.

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Microchip Accelerates Machine Learning and Hyperscale Computing Infrastructure with the World's First PCI Express 5.0 Switches - EE Journal