Daily Archives: August 3, 2017

Microsoft’s new corporate vision: artificial intelligence is in and mobile is out – GeekWire

Posted: August 3, 2017 at 10:17 am

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft filed its annual report Wednesday, and among the many pages of documents and numbers are insights on what the company sees as its core vision, and that appears to be changing.

As first spotted by CNBC, Microsoft has inserted artificial intelligence into its vision for the first time, and removed references to a mobile-first world. That fits with Microsofts recent push into AI and retreat from the smartphone market.

We believe a new technology paradigm is emerging that manifests itself through an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge where computing is more distributed, AI drives insights and acts on the users behalf, and user experiences span devices with a users available data and information, according to Microsofts vision statement.

Microsoft last year formeda new 5,000-person engineering and research teamto focuson its artificial intelligence products a major reshaping of the companys internal structurereminiscent of its massive pivotto pursue the opportunity of the Internetin the mid-1990s.

Just last month the companymade a series of AI announcements, including a new iPhone app that describes the world for the visually impaired, an AI research and incubation hub inside Microsoft Research, a new Ethical Design Guide for AI andan initiative called AI for Earthto encourage the use of artificial intelligence for environmental solutions.

Here is Microsofts full vision statement from the document:

Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world. Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge infused with artificial intelligence (AI).

The way individuals and organizations use and interact with technology continues to evolve. A persons experience with technology increasingly spans a multitude of devices and becomes more natural and multi-sensory with voice, ink, and gaze interactions. We believe a new technology paradigm is emerging that manifests itself through an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge where computing is more distributed, AI drives insights and acts on the users behalf, and user experiences span devices with a users available data and information. We continue to transform our business to lead this new era of digital transformation and enable our customers and partners to thrive in this evolving world.

And for comparison, here is last years:

Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

The mobile-first, cloud-first world is transforming the way individuals and organizations use and interact with technology. Mobility is not focused on any one device; it is centered on the mobility of experiences that, in turn, are orchestrated by the cloud. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide people and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party datacenters. Mobility encompasses the rich collection of data, applications, and services that accompany our customers as they move from setting to setting in their lives. We are transforming our businesses to enable Microsoft to lead the direction of this digital transformation, and enable our customers and partners to thrive in this evolving world.

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Artificial intelligence, machine learning to impact workplace practices in India: Adobe – Economic Times

Posted: at 10:17 am

NEW DELHI: Over 60 per cent of marketers in India believe new-age technologies are going to impact their workplace practices and consider it the next big disruptor in the industry, a new report said on Thursday.

According to a global report by software major Adobe that involved more than 5,000 creative and marketing professionals across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, over 50 per cent respondents did not feel concerned by artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning.

However, 27 per cent in India said they were extremely concerned about the impact of these new technologies.

Creatives in India are concerned that new technologies will take over their jobs. But they suggested that as they embrace AI and machine learning, creatives will be able to increase their value through design thinking.

"While AI and machine learning provide an opportunity to automate processes and save creative professionals from day-to-day production, it is not a replacement to the role of creativity," said Kulmeet Bawa, Managing Director, Adobe South Asia.

"It provides more levy for creatives to spend their time focusing on what they do best -- being creative, scaling their ideas and allowing them time to focus on ideation and creativity," Bawa added.

A whopping 59 per cent find it imperative to update their skills every six months to keep up with the industry developments.

The study also found that merging online and offline experiences was the biggest driver of change for the creative community, followed by the adoption of data and analytics, and the need for new skills.

It was revealed that customer experience is the number one investment by businesses across APAC.

Forty-two per cent of creatives and marketers in India have recently implemented a customer experience programme, while 34 per cent plan to develop one in the one year.

The study noted that social media and content were the key investment areas by APAC organisations, and had augmented the demand for content. However, they also presented challenges.

"Budgets were identified as the biggest challenge, followed by conflicting views and internal processes. Data and analytics become their primary tool to ensure that what they are creating is relevant, and delivering an amazing experience for customers," Bawa said.

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Artificial intelligence: May mankind fall under the spell? – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Posted: at 10:16 am

The article AP Explains. Should you be worried about the rise of AI? (July 26) points to a debate unimaginatively restricted to such artificial intelligence (AI) inventions as self-driving cars. Longer-term, AI will have far more momentous outcomes. These are many, but one, important to the brouhaha recounted in the article, is ultra-intelligence. Advanced AI systems might, arguably, figure out heuristically how to attain consciousness and think for themselves at a level where ham-fisted human intervention in their cognition would prove a handicap.

Such an eventual development is not just realistic, but may well cascade toward a transformative shift in the history of humankind all the more so, given the potential for AI-brain interfaces as just one line of species evolution.

The much-publicized cautionary notes by a few evangelists of science and technology, such as Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Max Tegmark, regarding existential threats may inject discretion into the AI process; however, they are unlikely to markedly deflect the longer-term trajectory.

Curiosity and the technologys promise will pique the imagination. Governments, the scientific and technology communities, legal scholars, special-interest groups, and philosophers including ethicists will strive to mitigate risk by crafting (malleable) safeguards.

However, each controlling cycle will prove transitory, giving ground to more permissiveness in a march forward as humankind finds the allure of incubating AI technology irresistible.

Keith Tidman

Bethesda

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

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Another Perspective on Health and Medicine – TAPinto.net

Posted: at 10:15 am

To the editor: I am writing in regard to the July 20 column by Mara Schiffren, Patient, heal thyself. My two best friends are pediatric oncologists. One is a Harvard Medical School M.D., Ph.D. geneticist at Sloane Kettering, the other is my classmate from veterinary school at U.C. Davis, a DVM, Ph.D. pathologist at St. Judes Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. I have shared tears with both of my best friends as they described to me the trials of confirming an astrocytoma or glioblastoma, both brain tumors, to the parents of their 3- and 4-year-old children. Leukemias, lymphomas, retinoblastomas and more bring heartache and shatter to the lives of parents in pediatric oncology wards across the country. A 3-year-old child has not the worldly circumspect to alter their lifes nutrition and lifestyle. Ms. Schiffrens flippant remarks regarding health and medicine are reflective of a seeming cynicism, a lack of knowing and an absence of compassion. I disagree with her dark perspective of todays medicine. I see the world of todays therapeutics as wonderfully changing. How integrated has the world of medicine become! As an equine veterinarian, alternative medicine abounds: acupuncture, chiropratic, holistic and herbal therapeutics are all incorporated into managing the lives and careers of horses. My brother, a graduate from the Yale School of Medicine, integrates an array of holistic therapeutics into his practice. Nutrition, exercise, meditation, and lastly, therapeutics, are brought on board. The world of both human and veterinary medicine has been dramatically changing for good in the past recent years, incorporating an array of diverse perspectives. A milestone example of changing therapeutics in my world as an equine veterinarian would be in the world of treating autism. As an equine veterinarian, horses have been substantiated to be one of the few successful therapeutic modalities for improving cognition, speech, balance and empowerment in special needs children. Who would have thought that which nickers and whinnys would replace a pill bottle? The world of human and equine medicine is wonderfully changing for the better, despite the cynicism of Mara Schiffrens article. Matt Eliott, DVM North Salem

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What Is Family Medicine, and Why Should We Be Happy That There Is Now a Local Family Physician? – Jewish Link of New Jersey

Posted: at 10:15 am

My family and I have been living in Teaneck for over 10 years, but only lately have I finally had the opportunity to practice family medicine in my community.

My path to becoming a family physician started at the Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. I was the first woman to be accepted to a general surgery residency in Hadassah, and I remember female medical students coming to congratulate me on that achievement. I was also offered a position at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva, with one of my teachers who moved there from Hadassah, to start a new surgical department, and I decided to go there for residency. However, God had other plans. One night returning with my colleagues from a professional visit to one of the Kibbutzim in the Negev, our bus was involved in an accident. The period of rehabilitation gave me the opportunity to ask myself what kind of physician I really wanted to be. I was constantly drawn to the image of the old-time country physician who knew his patients and their families, came to their homes and treated complex cases, showing his wisdom and love for the people. Those physicians have not disappeared; my dream in going to medical school was to be a doctor like that.

My training in family medicine in Israel exposed me to a wide variety of treatments in primary care that I never learned in medical school. In addition to the traditional fields of Western medicine I completed a homeopathy course for physicians in London, and went to Japan to study Oriental (Chinese) herbal medicine and acupuncture. I also became acquainted with other alternative-medicine methods such as Alexander technique, Feldenkrais technique, osteopathy, chiropractic, Ayurveda and many others.

I worked for eight years as faculty in a residency program in New York and then in primary care practice in Connecticut and central New Jersey. This year I was fortunate to be offered a position with Holy Name Medical Partners. Finally, I am able to practice medicine in my own community.

As an Orthodox Jewish woman (we are members of Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck), I was impressed to find a local Catholic Hospital that has high-level specialists and a state-of-the-art facility, and is very eager to care for the local Jewish Community.

I work with the whole range of resources available to my patients. I collaborate with local rabbis, organizations, Yoatzot Halacha (I am happy to have already spoken to Yoatzot Shoshana Samuels and Nechama Price), therapists, other physicians, nutritionists and schools. There really is no end to the benefits of working with the community.

I would like to see my community engaged in healthy eating, exercise and other healthy behaviors and I will gladly help and participate in any initiative to which I can contribute my skills.

If youre looking for a primary care physician who will take your whole self into account as she cares for you, and also knows when and whom to refer out to while continuously managing your case, a family physician is for you.

I look forward to treating you and your family.

By Naomi Smidt-Afek, MD, MHPE

Naomi Smidt-Afek MD, MHPE, Family Medicine, is a member of Holy Name Medical Partners. She can be reached at 201-342-2771 or holynamemedicalpartners.org.

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What Is Family Medicine, and Why Should We Be Happy That There Is Now a Local Family Physician? - Jewish Link of New Jersey

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The Battle to Give Nigeria’s Moms and Babies a ‘Golden Window’ to a Healthy Life – TIME

Posted: at 10:14 am

There is no period more critical in a childs development than its first few months of life, which is why so much attention is paid to what the mother, and the child, eats during that time. Nutritionists like to call it the golden window the slim period of time where a child, if he gets the right nutrients, can set out on a healthy path, or, if he doesnt, risks irreversible stunting and developmental delays . Eighty percent of the brain development happens in the first 1,000 days of a childs life, starting from conception, says nutritionist Sanjay Kumar Das.

And while getting the right nutrition whole grains, plenty of fruit and vegetables for both the mother and child, once he starts eating solids is relatively simple in most situations, conflict can make eating right all but impossible. This is the situation in northeastern Nigeria, where for the past seven years the Boko Haram militant group has waged a violent insurgency that has kept farmers from their fields, food away from markets, and families living off paltry food donations in camps for the internally displaced. While few here in the Dalori camp just outside the northeastern town of Maiduguri display the emaciated limbs and swollen bellies common among victims of outright famine, the little food they do get a once-daily gruel made of pulses and grains provides little more than the minimum calorie requirement, and almost no additional nutrition.

An estimated 5.1 million are malnourished in northeastern Nigeria. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund [UNICEF], more than half of them are children. Das, who is the nutrition manager for UNICEF's program in Maiduguri, says this is likely to have severe long-term consequences. The impact of acute malnutrition, which happens when a child is suddenly deprived of food, can be reversed relatively easily with emergency food rations and supplements. Chronic malnutrition occurs when a child eats enough to stop from starving, but doesnt get sufficient nutrients to develop properly, especially in the vital first two years of life. That golden window is when all a childs cognitive and physical development happens, says Das. If children dont get good nutrition from an early age, they are vulnerable. The child can suffer from disease and stunting, launching the cycle of poverty.

Indeed, chronic malnutrition can hinder a nations economy. Stunting early in a childs life has educational, income, and productivity consequences that reach far into adulthood, the World Bank writes in its most recent Nutrition Overview.

Children who are deficient in essential micronutrients have on average 13 fewer IQ points. Similarly, stunted children are more likely to start school later, perform more poorly on cognitive functioning tests, and are more likely to drop out of school. Adults who were stunted as children earn 20% less than non-stunted adults and are 33% more likely to live in poverty, the report says. It concludes that malnutrition can reduce GDP in some countries in Asia and Africa by as much as 2% to 11% each year.

Which is why organizations like UNICEF and other humanitarian aid agencies place such a high priority on the first 1,000 days, from the point of conception to the child's second birthday. Childhood stunting, once it has set in, cannot be reversed. But it can be prevented.

Thats where good pre-natal health and education comes in, says Marylyne Malomba, a nutrition consultant for the International Medical Corps, a humanitarian organization that runs several food and nutrition programs in Maiduguri, which was once at the center of the insurgency, and is now home to some 700,000 people displaced by the war. The IMC provides food, supplements and education for mothers and children in weekly clinics around the city and in several of the camps, with a special emphasis on pregnant women.

Malnutrition starts from the womb, says Malomba. If the mother has not stocked up enough nutrients, then the child will not get enough. Limbs, organs; even brain development is affected with lack of nutrients when the child is still a fetus. So its important to understand that the health of the mother at the point of pregnancy is one of the most important places to start taking care of the child. And if a mother is well fed during her pregnancy, she will most likely have enough breast milk to feed her child for the first six months another key element of early childhood nutrition.

The problem is that in a crisis situation like the one in northeastern Nigeria, or in Somalia, Yemen or South Sudan, other countries on the brink of famine , it is all but impossible for new and pregnant mothers to obtain the vital nutrients that round out the right diet for those first 1,000 days. Emergency food distributions usually include grains, pulses and oil, but fresh vegetables and fruit are too difficult to transport and store. And even if the families could afford to buy fresh produce in the markets, they arent always available, especially if conflict is keeping farmers from their fields. We need these mothers to eat vegetables. We need them to eat fruits," Malomba says. "And these are the items that we are not able to supply in an emergency context.

Nutritionists and scientists are working to develop supplements that can provide those essential micronutrients for use in future emergencies, but for the moment, nothing beats the fresh fruits and vegetables that are so hard to find in places like Dalori, or the scores of other IDP camps across northern Nigeria.

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University of Alaska Fairbanks intern looks at nucleotides as health supplement – KTOO

Posted: at 10:14 am

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the body,and have other health benefits. (Creative Commons photo by Natesh Ramasamy/Flickr)

Interns this summer with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute are looking at food science in Kodiak, and one is investigating a new health food fad.

University of Alaska Fairbanks student Alina Fairbanks is doing market research focusing on nucleotides.

A lot people when I explain this to them theyre like fish oil. Well, kinda. We want to extract nucleotides from pollock, right now because the Pollock Conservation Cooperative is funding me, but we want to utilize the entire product of a fish. A lot of people are exploring new ideas.

Fairbanks said her research is on the powdered form, as opposed to pills or liquid, such as fish oil.

Theres three markets right now that Ive discovered, so theyll put nucleotides in baby formula because nucleotides are commonly found in breast milk so, in baby formula, animal food, and for humans dietary supplements. A lot of body builders will actually take them.

She said nucleotides are supposed to improve the immune system and help in cell regeneration.

There are two other interns with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute on the island.

Camron Christoffersen, who recently graduated Brigham Young University, is looking into the Food and Drug Administrations methods for killing parasites before consumption.

The third intern, UAF student Phil Ganz, is helping to document the process. He uses video to make this and other scientific topics accessible to the general public.

All three interns wrap up their time on the island at the end of the month.

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FAA Issues Structural Life Extension for Eclipse Jets – Aviation International News

Posted: at 10:14 am

FAA Issues Structural Life Extension for Eclipse Jets
Aviation International News
One Aviation, which now manufactures the Eclipse light jet, has received FAA approval for an increase in the structural life limit for the Eclipse 500 and 550 models with the extended tip tank configuration to 20,000 hours or 20,000 cycles, whichever ...

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BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada in Peterborough lands five-year, $34M deal to make primary heat transport motors for … – Peterborough Examiner

Posted: at 10:14 am

The BWX Technologies plant in Peterborough has been awarded a five-year, $34-million to supply seven primary heat transport motors for Bruce Power.

The motors to be produced at the BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada Inc. plant on Monaghan Road are part of Bruce Powers life-extension program that will extend the life of six of its reactors to continue providing Ontario with low-cost nuclear electricity for decades to come, according to a release from the company.

The primary heat transport motors are required to drive the main circulating pumps used to push heavy water through the reactor core into the steam generators, the release states. The scope of the contract includes the project management, engineering and manufacturing of seven 11,000 horsepower motors.

Work under the contract will begin immediately, with the first motor scheduled to be delivered to Bruce Power in mid-2018.

We appreciate the opportunity to execute this important project for Bruce Power and take great pride in our contributions to its life extension program, stated John MacQuarrie, president of BWXT Canada Ltd. (which is the former Babcock and Wilcox). BWXT is pleased to be in a position to supply its customers with a multitude of product and service solutions to assist them in extending the lives of their nuclear plants.

Bruce Power supplies 30% of Ontarios electricity at 30% less than the average cost to generate residential power. Extending the operational life of the Bruce Power units to 2064 will create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs every year, create $4 billion in annual Ontario economic benefit, and will ensure low-cost, clean and reliable energy for Ontario families and businesses, the release states.

Partnering with BWXT for this important motor work is critical to ensuring the life extension and operation through 2064, stated Mike Rencheck, Bruce Powers president and CEO. Planning and preparation is key to our continued on-time and on-budget performance since January 2016 when our life extension program was started. Suppliers like BWXT and their performance are critical to our success; its a team effort.

Nuclear energy plays a significant role to Ontarios economy and it is great to see the positive effects of Bruce Powers life extension project being felt right here in Peterborough, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal stated. Throughout its program to extend the life of six of its reactors, Bruce Power will inject billions into Ontarios economy and generate thousands of jobs.

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DARE TO BE 100. BIG BET – HuffPost

Posted: at 10:14 am

Huffington Blog DARE TO BE 100

In 1991 I wrote a book titled WE LIVE TOO SHORT AND DIE TOO LONG. The fifth chapter was entitled Aging is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy. That was 26 years ago when I was 61 years of age. Now at eighty-seven my prophecy is intact. I intend to live till 100. I still have unfinished work to do. Like Alexander the Great observed toward the end of his triumphant career there are still worlds to conquer.

I certainly find much satisfaction in what I have accomplished so far, but its not time yet to fold my tent. My fixation still is on erasing health illiteracy from the world. This gigantic task is the ultimate vaccine. Were we able to teach everyone how to fulfill their human potential of a hundred healthy years mankind would triumph. We die too soon. A major part of my personal strategy is to establish 100 years as our natural life expectancy. I have written extensively to this purpose.

I am of course interested in a bet that was placed by two of my gerontologist colleagues Steven Austad of the University of Alabama and Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois. Stimulated by an article in the journal Nature in 2016, that used demographic data to assert that there is a natural limit to human lifespan of about 115 years, Olshansky agrees but Austad doesnt. Citing current research on animals life extension by some drugs Austad sees no upper limit. Earlier in 2000 he wrote in the Scientific American, the first 150 year old person is already alive.

To address their claims in September 2000 the two endowed their wager that any one born before 2001 will reach the age of 150. As the invested fund value keeps growing the winner will claim a handsome reward. Neither of the gamblers expect to be around in 2150. But I am confident that Olshanskys descendents will heap a bonanza from Jays recognition of the finitude of human life.

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