Vicarious founder Dileep George gives advice for those starting out in artificial intelligence

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Dileep George's firm Vicarious, in which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood filmstar Ashton Kutcher put in money, uses visual perception system to interpret the contents of photographs and videos in a manner similar to the human brain. The system claims to reliably solve modern Captchas, including Google's reCaptchas, the world's most widely used test of a machine's ability to act human. George shares advice for those setting out in the field in an interview with Krishna Bahirwani.

How much neuroscience is essential for a computer science/information technology student to pursue Artificial Intelligence? Can you make any recommendations? What is important is to get a system level understanding of neuroscience rather than the minutiae of neuron function. There are many papers that attempt to do this. The one about 'Hierarchical Bayesian Inference in the Visual Cortex' by Lee and Mumford is a good overview paper. One could follow the references from their to build a more detailed picture. There are many popular science books that attempt to build a framework for understanding neuroscience data. 'On Intelligence' by Jeff Hawkins and 'How to build a Mind' by Ray Kurzweil. I would also recommend my PhD thesis and papers and references therein to get some of the relevant neuroscience knowledge.

How important according to you is the study of Mathematics for Machine Intelligence? Very important. Mathematics is important to read and understand the papers in the area and to formulate problems and solutions.

Is it possible for a layman to understand the mathematical nature of Artificial Intelligence by simply observing it? Well, a layman would be able to appreciate the mathematical structure, but to understand it and to operate with it they would need to study the underlying mathematics principles. The underlying mathematics is not very complex, but it requires you to build a large body of knowledge so that you understand what the experts in the field are talking about.

If you were given a student with some programming and no mathematical background to mentor where would you advise him to start his studies in AI from? The student will have to first learn some basic mathematics concepts -- linear algebra, probability theory, optimisation, information theory. Once they have those concepts, one early book to master is Judea Pearls 'Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems'. Another book is Kevin Murphy's 'Machine Learning, a probabilistic perspective'. Bishop's 'Neural Networks' is a classic that everyone should read.

You have been mentored by the likes of Jeff Hawkins and Nils Nilsson. Was it easy to get such pioneers in the field to mentor you? Not exactly. I joined Stanford with the aim of understanding the brain, but I had to explore several paths and deal with a few unexpected setbacks before I met Jeff Hawkins. Working with Jeff required me to step out of the comfort zone of doing a "normal" PhD at Stanford. Being in Silicon Valley helps -- all around you are examples of people trying to do the impossible in unconventional ways.

There is a lot of information available on the internet about artificial intelligence and similar subject is there anything that can help students differentiate from what's real and what's not? This is hard -- learn about all of them and then come to own conclusions.

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Vicarious founder Dileep George gives advice for those starting out in artificial intelligence

ST Aerospace Highlights Cabin Seating and Wireless In-flight Entertainment Solutions at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2014

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Singapore, 4 April 2014 ST Aerospace will showcase its suite of integrated cabin solutions at the Aircraft Interior Expo 2014 from 8 to 10 April, in Hamburg Messe, Germany (Hall 7, Booth 29). Highlights include two new products which were both designed and developed by its team of engineers: ERGO - an expanded range of lightweight economy class seats and airSurf - a wireless in-flight entertainment solution.

Integrated cabin interior solutions

A full-scale turnkey provider of total aviation support, ST Aerospace leverages its global airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) network as well as its strong in-house engineering design capability, to offer a comprehensive range of services for the cabin interior sector. Working closely with its US affiliates DRB Aviation Consultants, Volant Aerospace and European associate Elbe Flugzeugwerke, ST Aerospace has been able to enhance its portfolio of integrated cabin reconfiguration solutions to include engineering design and certification as well as the manufacturing of aircraft interior parts.

In March 2014, ST Aerospace redelivered the first two Boeing 767-300 aircraft to Air Canada rouge after the completion of its first full turnkey integrated cabin reconfiguration programme. This includes engineering design, modification kit manufacturing, aircraft modification, certification as well as overall programme management. The redelivery of the first two prototype aircraft also saw the issuance of Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation. In addition, ST Aerospace also redelivered the first of two 767-300 aircraft for Air Do after a cabin interior upgrade along with the STCs from the US FAA and Japan Civil Aviation Bureau.

ERGO lightweight, comfortable, modern and sleek aircraft seats

Designed with comfort in mind, Ergo features a comprehensive range of economy class seats with patented designs. This comprises Ergo Basic (for short haul flights), Ergo Standard (for medium to long range flights) and Ergo Plus (for long haul flights). These are among the lightest seats in its class, which have passed the 16G test and will undergo Technical Standard Order C127a certification by the end of 2014.

Ergos unique features include: High literature compartment and slim amenity pocket to maximise personal space Articulating seat pan for passenger comfort Ergonomically designed cushion and headrest for neck and head support

Jointly developed with Japanese aircraft seat manufacturing company Tenryu Aero Component Co. Ltd, the name Ergo is inspired by the term ergonomics - the applied science of equipment specially designed for the user, with the intention of optimising comfort and reducing fatigue.

airSurf entertain, inform, enable, connect

ST Aerospaces other new product - airSurf - is a state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment (IFE) system which is a fully integrated and highly adaptable platform that can be tailor-made for all aircraft types. Potential customers will include airlines which are currently not equipped with wireless IFE, or operators already equipped with embedded systems in search of a weight-reduction solution or a cost-efficient upgrade.

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ST Aerospace Highlights Cabin Seating and Wireless In-flight Entertainment Solutions at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2014

How IBM Is Using Nanotechnology To Tackle MRSA And HIV

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While giving a talk at a conference in Australia in the mid-2000s, IBM Research's lead scientist for the advanced organic materials group, James Hedrick, had an encounter that would make him rethink his career. At one point, Hedrick--who holds more than 100patents--took a question from a woman in the audience. It wasn't what he was expecting. "Why are you wasting your time with all this electronics stuff?" asked Dr. Yi Yan Yang, who works at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore. "You need to work with me." That evening, Yang filled Hedrick in on how she was using high-tech nanomaterials for medical purposes. "She was absolutely right," Hedrick recalls. "I was wasting time doing just semiconductors."

The result was IBM's unusual nanomedicine program, an ongoing collaboration between Hedrick's team at the Almaden, Californiabased IBM Research and Yang's group of researchers in Singapore. The project is tackling a range of ambitious projects: creating better antimicrobial and antifungal agents, new methods of drug delivery, and novel ways of combating such diseases as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. It may seem strange that computer-hardware giant IBM is pouring resources into experimental nanomedicine, but it's part of a larger trend within the company. "There is a huge group of IBMers who think we should be using our intellectual know-how to address global problems," says Spike Narayan, director of IBM Research's science and technology group. "As we've pushed the boundaries and engaged with other disciplines, we've found that some of our capabilities in materials and nanotechnology are very relevant in addressing challenges related to water, energy, the environment, and health care. That's the motivation."

Although it has yet to yield a commercial product (Narayan says several joint ventures are in the works), the program also makes sense from a business perspective. Even as the price of computing power keeps falling for consumers, R&D and manufacturing costs are steadily increasing for semiconductor producers. That's squeezing profits: Between 2000 and 2012, IBM's hardware business went from contributing 35% of the company's pretax income to just 14%. Perhaps that's why in February 2014, Big Blue reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale of its semiconductor operation. New areas such as nanomedicine could offer a way for IBM to continue profiting from its cutting-edge research in nanomaterials even if it does get out of semiconductors. "Now we have an ITcentric focus," says Narayan, "but there's no reason we couldn't be more materials-focused, providing enabling technology for other companies."

The nanomedicine group's first big breakthrough was the creation of polymer-based nanoparticles that can target and kill MRSA, a potentially deadly drug-resistant bacterium. The nanoparticles engineered by the IBMSingapore team--dubbed "ninja particles"--use electrostatic attraction to target infected cells. Because the polymers used to create ninja particles are biodegradable, they pass out of the body once they've done their job. While the particles haven't yet been submitted for FDA approval, IBM is working with pharmaceutical, consumer-products, and medical-device companies to explore applications.

In the past year, the pace of innovation has accelerated. The Hedrick-Yang group published a paper in December that describes a method for breaking down PET--the stuff plastic bottles are made of--and reconstructing it into a nanofiber that can kill fungal infections on contact. In the lab, these nanofibers were more effective in fewer doses than conventional antifungal drugs, in addition to being nontoxic and biodegradable. Since the polymers used in both chip manufacture and nanomedicine are generally derived from petroleum, the ability to instead start from recycled material could reduce industrial consumption of oil and gas while providing a new use for plastic waste.

Hedrick and his partners have also made headway in drug delivery, coaxing nanoparticles to self-assemble into a gel-like material that can encapsulate molecules of a drug and release them at a particular location in the body over an extended period of time. When the Singapore team encapsulated the breast cancer drug Herceptin into the hydrogel and injected it into animals, their tumors shrank more than 75%, and the drug remained active and effective in the bloodstream for a month after a single injection. Tumors in animals given a regular IV injection of the drug didn't shrink at all, according to results published in November 2013.

Potential medical and consumer applications for materials coming out of the nanomedicine program are practically limitless: they could be injected; applied as a topical gel to treat wounds and infections; included in products such as soap, hand sanitizer, and shampoo; or applied as a germ-fighting coating on everything from medical devices to cutting boards and toothbrushes. Before they can be commercialized, all of these products will require approval by either the EPA or FDA, so rather than bring products to market on its own, IBM will aim to collaborate with partners that have more regulatory and manufacturing expertise. "Increasingly, in these nontraditional, interdisciplinary spaces, no one has all the capabilities," says Narayan. "As we jointly develop [intellectual property], there will be all kinds of royalty and other revenue streams coming out." The first product to make it out of the lab will most likely be an antimicrobial material to clean surfaces in hospitals.

For Hedrick, pivoting from his comfort zone in silicon hardware has been a learning process. "When I first started this, we went to some major pharma companies, and I got my backside handed to me pretty quick," he says. "Now I feel very comfortable going into a room with scientists and executives and rattling off proteins and numbers and names. A lot of the time [when he's not in meetings], though--I kid you not--I have Wikipedia open on my phone."

Inspired in part by the recent launch of an IBM Research lab in Africa, Hedrick is excited about deploying nanomaterials to fight illnesses that disproportionately afflict the region, including tuberculosis, dengue fever, and HIV. He also hopes to look at ways to use nanocontainers to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier--a major challenge in treating conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. "Even three years ago, I would have been surprised by what we've been able to accomplish so far," he says. "IBM Research has given us significant latitude and freedom. Because they've always kept the lights on, we're able to address these grand challenges in a unique way."

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How IBM Is Using Nanotechnology To Tackle MRSA And HIV

FDA Approves CardioCell’s Phase 2A Trial For CHF Stem Cell Therapy

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By Estel Grace Masangkay

CardioCell LLC announced that it has received FDA approval for its investigational new drug (IND) application for a U.S.-based Phase IIA clinical study evaluating its allogeneic stem-cell therapy for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

Dr. Sergey Sikora, CardioCells president and CEO, said, With the FDAs IND approval, CardioCell is pleased to proceed with a Phase 2a CHF clinical trial based on the safety data reported in previous clinical trials using our unique, hypoxically grown stem cells. At the studys conclusion we will understand if our therapy produces signs of improvement in a population of patients with dilated CHF, a condition largely unaddressed by current therapies. Dilated CHF is characterized by a viable but non-functioning myocardium in which cardiomyocytes are alive but are not contracting as they should. We hope that unique properties of our itMSCs will transition patients cardiomyocytes from viable to functioning, eventually improving or restoring heart function.

The company has developed an ischemic tolerant mesenchymal stem cells (itMSC) treatment for the type of dilated CHF that is not related to coronary artery disease. The treatment could potentially apply to about 35 percent of CHF patients. Only CardioCells CHF therapies feature itMSCs, exclusively licensed from CardioCells parent company Stemedica Cell Technologies Inc. The company said Stemedicas bone marrow-derived, allogeneic MSCs are different from other MSCs because they are grown under hypoxic conditions that closely resemble the environment in which they thrive on in the body.

Dr. Stephen Epstein, CardioCells Scientific Advisory Board Chair, said Although past trials have tested the efficacy of different stem cells in patients with DCM, CardioCells itMSCs, grown under chronic hypoxic conditions, are unique. As compared to stem cells grown under normoxic conditions, they express higher levels of factors that could exert beneficial effects on the mechanisms contributing to myocardial dysfunction and disease progression. This study, therefore, provides an exciting opportunity to test the potential of these itMSCs to attenuate or eliminate these mechanisms and, in so doing, improve patient outcomes.

The trial entitled A Phase 2a, Single-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover, Multi-Center, Randomized Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Single Intravenous Dose of Ischemia-Tolerant Allogeneic Mesenchymal Bone Marrow Cells to Subjects With Heart Failure of Non-Ischemic Etiology, will be conducted at Emory University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania in May this year.

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Facebook Data Science Team Announces Open Source Tools for A/B Testing

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Facebook is continuing their mission of donating goodness to the community with the release of sourcr code called PlanOut. PlanOut is used for online A/B testing experiments.

This is a great move for Facebook, developers, and the data community. As we talk about on SiliconANGLE Wikibon and theCUBE is that Data science is the hottest emerging trend that is creating new value that has never been seen before.

This is a great preview of the upcoming F8 conference on April 30th in SF.

When people think about the tools of data science, they often focus on machine learning, statistics, and data manipulation. Modeling massive datasets is indispensable for making predictions like predicting which set of News Feed stories or search results are most relevant to people. But such models also have limitations in terms of their ability to help with understanding cause-and-effect relationships that lead to building better products and to advancing behavioral science.

Data science needs better tools for running experiments

Despite the abundance of experimental practices in the Internet industry, there are few tools or standard practices for running online field experiments. And existing tools tend to focus on rolling out new features, or automatically optimizing some outcome of interest.

At Facebook, we run over a thousand experiments each day. While many of these experiments are designed to optimize specific outcomes, others aim to inform long-term design decisions. And because we run so many experiments, we need reliable ways of routinizing experimentation. As Ronald Fisher, a pioneer in statistics and experimental design said, To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post-mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of. Many online experiments are implemented by engineers who are not trained statisticians. While experiments are often simple to analyze when done correctly, it can be surprisingly easy to make mistakes in their design, implementation, logging, and analysis. One way to consult a statistician in advance is to have their advice built into tools for running experiments

PlanOut: a framework for running online field experiments

Good tools not only enable good practices, they encourage them. Thats why we created PlanOut, a set of tools for running online field experiments, and are sharing an open source version of it as part of the Data Science Teams first software release.

Importantly, PlanOut gives engineers and scientists a language for defining random assignment procedures. Experiments, ranging from simple A/B tests, to factorial designs that decompose large interface changes, to more complex within-subjects designs, can be expressed with only a few lines of code. In this way, PlanOut encourages running experiments that are more akin to the kind you see in the behavioral sciences.

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Thruway Throwdown Concludes Saturday

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April 3, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets When the Comets make the short trip up the Thruway to Syracuse on Saturday, it will mark the end of the first chapter of Thruway Throwdown. What an exciting chapter it was.

With the Galaxy Cup up for grabs, it's Comets and Crunch for the final time this season. The two teams have battled each other through three meetings already this season with Utica currently holding a 5-3 point advantage. A win or an OT game clinches the series win for the Comets and ensures that the Galaxy Cup finds a home in the Mohawk Valley.

The Comets first trip to the War Memorial in Syracuse was one of the most memorable games of the season to date. Utica pulled through tense moments, tight defense and even a bit of controversy, as they claimed a 2-1 victory in overtime courtesy of a Brandon DeFazio overtime winner. What made the evening so special was the support that came with the Comets from Utica. Comets fans followed their team in droves, with a rowdy supporters section right behind the Utica entrance way.

"I thought there would be a lot of fans there, but we had no idea that we would have that man," Comets Head Coach Travis Green said after the win. "What a night. People cheering us on, and with that level of excitement and passion, it was amazing to see."

A team saluting its fans after a victory isn't uncommon, but seeing it on the road was a sight to be held. DeFazio even sent a lucky fan back to Utica with the game winning lumber after the Comets left the ice to a standing ovation.

"Great Comets fan turnout in Syracuse. You guys were as loud as ever," defenseman Frank Corrado added on twitter after the victory.

The first two meetings between the two teams were also memorable for the Comets. Back in October, the Comets fell in a shootout but picked up the first point in franchise history in the process. When they met again in January in front of a sold out crowd at The AUD, the Comets celebrated Pink The Rink night, where they donated over $35,000 to the fight against breast cancer after they donated an exciting victory to their fans.

The buzz that the Comets and Crunch have created was expected, but was it expected to be this big this quickly? The rivalry that has generated between the two teams has already escalated into talks about a game on the biggest stage in the area.

The Carrier Dome in Syracuse has played host to the NCAA and Big East Basketball Tournaments, even Bruce Springsteen, but hockey would be a new venture. Crunch owner Howard Dolgon recently revealed that the game is close to a go, with the Comets-Crunch rivalry at center stage.

With potential college hockey games between Utica College and Oswego, as well as a Syracuse women's contest on the agenda, the fan base of central New York would be treated to a full slate of unique hockey.

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Thruway Throwdown Concludes Saturday

Comets Add Princeton's Andrew Calof

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April 3, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets Utica Comets Director of Hockey Operations Pat Conacher announced today that the Comets have signed forward Andrew Calof (KAY-loff) to an amateur tryout contract (ATO). In a separate transaction, forward Ludwig Blomstrand has been reassigned by the Vancouver Canucks to the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL.

Calof, 20, recently completed his senior season at Princeton University. Despite an injury limiting him to 22 games, Calof tied for first on the team in scoring with 21 points on four goals and 17 assists.

The 5'10, 175-pound forward was the team's leading scorer in each of his first three seasons and finished with 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) in 117 career games. He was a three-time All-Ivy League selection and twice was named to the All-ECAC team. A native of Nepean, ON, Calof burst onto the collegiate scene in 2010-11 and was selected the 2011 ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year, Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year, and was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team.

Blomstrand, 21, appeared in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Iowa Wild. Overall the Upsalla, Sweden, native has appeared in seven games, without recording a point, in two separate stints with the club. He has recorded 23 points (12-11-23) and 12 penalty minutes in 40 games with Kalamazoo in 2013-14.

Blomstrand was selected by Vancouver in the fourth round (#120 overall) in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Utica Comets season tickets are now on sale for the 2014-15 season for as low as $390. Lock in your seat with a deposit of just $100 and enjoy all the benefits of being a Comets season ticket holder. Call the Comets office at 315-790-9070 or stop by the Utica Memorial Auditorium to pick out your seat today.

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Comets Add Princeton's Andrew Calof

Govt. officer sharing experience with psoriasis treatment at Life Force homeopathy – Video

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Govt. officer sharing experience with psoriasis treatment at Life Force homeopathy
Govt. office sharing experience with psoriasis treatment at Life Force homeopathy with Dr Rajesh Shah, MD. More information at http://www.askdrshah.com/app/p...

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Govt. officer sharing experience with psoriasis treatment at Life Force homeopathy - Video

Patient with Psoriasis & GERD from Hyderabad Sharing Experience at Life Force – Video

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Patient with Psoriasis GERD from Hyderabad Sharing Experience at Life Force
Patient suffering with Psoriasis since 4 years, started treatment at Life Force and within a year got 80% treated. His wife was suffering with GERD and she t...

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Patient with Psoriasis & GERD from Hyderabad Sharing Experience at Life Force - Video