Monthly Archives: February 2021

Among the most significant technological advances of the last few decade, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, have the potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry. Already automation is making its way into fast food kitchens, where its taking on repetitive tasks such as flipping burgers and working the fry station.

AI, the smart technology that powers robocalls and helps forecasting models to predict the weather, may also soon play a role in the food service industry, not just by taking on simple tasks but also by dealing with higher order responsibilities like ordering food and writing menus.

OpenAI, a San Francisco-based software company that develops and deploys artificial general intelligence (AGI), recently put its GPT-3 software to the test. GPT-3 is a third generation, deep learning language model that draws upon information it finds anywhere on the internet to develop answers to user queries.

OpenAI put GPT-3 to the test by asking it to develop recipes based on simple language requests like beef bourguignon and Mexican lasagna. The recipes GPT-3 compiled were then prepared and evaluated by a group of volunteers. Well-known recipes developed by the likes of Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, and Rachael Ray served as benchmarks for the evaluators.

Though GPT-3 produced some interesting results, its recipes, with one exception, were not scored as high as those developed by human chefs.

Nonetheless, the study illustrated AIs potential to take over higher order tasks like menu development and recipe creation. Thus the day might not be very far off when the product development chef at a restaurant chain is actually a piece of AI software.

For the full report on OpenAIs AI vs. Famous Chef Recipes culinary challenge, go to refluxgate.com/ai-vs-famous-chef-recipes.

Winter is a season during which restaurants have traditionally promoted game dinners. This year, given the unique circumstances under which we are all living our lives, those sorts of events arent easy to put together.

Delaneys Market has developed a strategy by which the Log Cabin-Delaney Group can deliver a socially-distanced game dinner experience.

Delaneys Market locations will be featuring a Game Dinner at Home this month. The four-course meal includes bison meatballs, a venison hunters stew, a wild pheasant turnover, and a wildberry cobbler with whipped cream.

Each take-home package is designed to serve two, and Delaneys Market is providing a cooking video to help those receiving the package finish the meal preparation.

Contact one of the three Delaneys Market locations - Longmeadow, Westfield, or Wilbraham - on Wednesday, Feb. 17 to order the Game Dinner package, which will be ready for pickup on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Pancake Sundaes Diner and Bakery in Westfield, a family-owned breakfast and lunch restaurant, has been turning out its own unique style of morning food since it opened in 2015.

Run by the husband-and-wife team of Frank and Shelly Baldwin, Pancake Sundaes is currently limiting its operation to Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Pandemic-constrained operating hours arent curbing Frank Baldwins creativity, however. Every weekend he puts together an inventive menu of breakfast specialties to supplement Pancake Sundaes basic repertoire.

Offerings can include the likes of bacon-chocolate chip pancakes, apple crisp French toast, and Baldwins Dirty Philly omelet thats filled with shaved ribeye, sauteed onions, and fried peppers.

Theres usually an exhaustive list of eggs Benedict variations; homemade corned beef hash and crispy Homies are menu regulars. Each weekends specials can be found on Pancake Sundaes Facebook page, Facebook.com/pancakesundaes.

The restaurant, which is currently offering limited indoor dining as well as contactless to-go service, answers at (413) 572-6832.

Maxs Tavern at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield will be presenting its winter food and wine pairing dinner, Cabs & Slabs, on Thursday, Feb. 25.

The dinner this year is different from past such events. In addition to Napa Valley Cabernet varietals, the Cabs include a Washington State vintage by Canvasback Winery of Red Mountain, WA.

Maxs Tavern Chef Nathaniel Waugamans menu for the evening has a game dinner sensibility, featuring Wagyu beef tartare, braised wild boar shank, Denver lamb ribs, and a grilled bison strip loin.

The five-course menu will also include a chocolate raspberry mousse bar for desert.

Reservations for the dinner are available from 5:30 p.m. on through the evening. Cost to attend is $115 per person, not including tax or gratuity.

Call (413) 746-6299 for reservations.

The Munich Haus German Restaurant in Chicopee will be featuring a Valentines Dinner menu on Feb. 12-14.

Available as either a dine-in or a take-home option, the menu includes an appetizer, a choice of any two schnitzel or chicken entrees with side dishes and salad, and a house-made dessert (either red velvet cheesecake or a Black Forest cake heart) to share.

Upgrades are available, including a sausage sampler, salmon filet, or filet mignon option. Selected wines by the bottle are also available.

Reservations for on-premises dining are required, and take-home packages must be pre-ordered. Contact the Munich Haus German Restaurant at (413) 594-8788 for more information.

February limited-time offerings at participating Dunkin locations are, not surprisingly, Valentines Day-themed.

The chain is offering two heart-shaped donut selections - a brownie batter donut filled with brownie-flavored buttercream and a Cupids choice donut filled with Bavarian kreme and iced with pink, strawberry-flavored icing.

Featured beverages this month include a mocha macchiato and a pink velvet macchiato that features red velvet flavoring. Both drinks are available either hot or iced.

Participating McDonalds restaurants are spicing up mid-winter by bringing back Spicy Chicken McNuggets, a menu item that was last featured in Fall 2020.

Mighty Hot Sauce, spicy, garlicky, and slightly sweet, will also be around for the duration of this limited time only offering.

The Spicy McNuggets feature a tempura-style coating enlivened with cayenne and chile pepper. Pricing is the same as for the chains regular McNuggets items.

Partners Restaurant in Feeding Hills will be hosting dinner by candlelight on Valentines Day weekend. For dine-in purposes Mark and Sue Tansey have put together a special prix-fixe, four-course dinner for Friday and Saturday evenings, Feb. 12 and 13. Three dinner to-go packages will also be available.

The dine-in menu, which will be available from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. both evenings, includes a choice from among five entree options: braised short ribs, grilled salmon, chicken saltimbocca, ricotta ravioli, and filet mignon Oscar. Reservations are required for socially-distanced, on-premises dining.

Finish-at-home dinners include short ribs, chicken saltimbocca, or seafood casserole; sides, salad, and a dessert selection are included. Takeout orders must be placed by Thursday, Feb. 11.

More details on these special Valentines Day offerings can be found at the restaurants Facebook page, facebook.com/Partners.RestaurantCatering

Partners Restaurant answers at (413) 786-0975.

Chez Josef in Agawam is offering a delivery or pickup date night this year in the form of a Valentines Dinner for Two To-Go.

The all-inclusive, heat @ home package include a selection of hors doeuvres, a salad course, and a choice of two entrees.

Main course selections include filet mignon, parmesan chicken breast, seared sea bass, or lentil-stuffed sweet pepper. A surf and turf upgrade is also available. Dessert is part of the take-home package, as is a bottle of house wine.

In addition Chez Josef is offering individual meal selections as well as a brunch box that can be customizes to serve either two or four.

Curbside pickup is available at Chez Josefs Agawam location; local delivery is also available. An online ordering platform is available at linktr.ee/chez2go; questions about menus, pricing, and delivery area can also be phoned in to (413) 355-5393.

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community Colleges hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 45 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached on-line at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com.

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Off The Menu: Artificial intelligence lends hand in recipe development - MassLive.com

These eight books about artificial intelligence cover a range of topics, including ethical issues, how AI is affecting the job market, and how organizations can use AI to gain a competitive advantage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an ever-evolving technology. With several different uses, it's easy to understand why it's being implemented more and more frequently. These titles answer common questions about AI, discuss what current AI technologies businesses are using, how humans can lose control over AI, and more.

T-Minus AI: Humanity's Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power

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In T-Minus AI, author, national expert, and the US Air Force's first Chairperson for Artificial Intelligence Michael Kanaan explains a human-oriented perspective of AI. He offers his view on our history of innovation to illustrate what we should all know about modern computing, AI, and machine learning. Additionally, Kanaan discusses the global implications of AI by illuminating the cultural and national vulnerabilities already present as well as future pressing issues.

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values

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The "alignment problem," according to researchers, occurs when the tech systems that humans attempt to teach don't do what is wanted or expected. Best-selling author Brian Christian discusses the alignment problem's "first-responders," and their plans to solve the problem before it is out of human hands. Using a blend of history and on-the-ground reporting, Christian follows the growth of machine learning in the field and examines our current technology and culture.

Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future

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With the possibility of AI making jobs like paralegals, journalists, and even computer programmers obsolete, author Martin Ford looks at the future of the job market and how it will continue to transform. Rise of the Robots helps us understand how employment and society will have to adapt to the changing market.

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans

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In Artificial Intelligence, author Melanie Mitchell asks urgent questions concerning AI today: How intelligent are the best AI programs? How do they work? What can they actually do, and when do they fail? How humanlike do we expect them to become, and how soon do we need to worry about them surpassing us? Mitchell also covers the dominant models of modern AI and machine learning, cutting-edge AI programs, and human investors in AI.

AI Ethics (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)

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AI Ethics discusses the major ethical issues artificial intelligence raises and addresses several concrete questions. Author Mark Coeckelbergh uses narratives, relevant philosophical discussions, and describes different approaches to machine learning and data science. AI Ethics takes a look at privacy concerns, responsibility and the delegation of decision-making, transparency and bias as it arises at all stages of data science processes, and much more.

The AI Advantage: How to Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution to Work (Management on the Cutting Edge)

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In The AI Advantage,Thomas Davenport offers a practical guide to using AI in a business setting. Davenport not only explains what AI technologies are available, but also how companies can use them to gain a competitive advantage.

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

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In her book, author Amy Webb looks at how the foundations of AI are broken--all the way from the people working on the system to the technology itself. Webb suggests that the big nine corporations (Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple), "may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity."

Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Future

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Artificial Intelligence: 101 Things You Must Know Today About Our Futurecontains many timely topics related to AI, including: Self-driving cars, robots, chatbots, as well as how AI will impact the job market, business processes, and entire industries. As the title suggests, readers can learn the answers to 101 questions about artificial intelligence, and have access to a large number of resources, ideas, and tips.

Excerpt from:

AI reading list: 8 interesting books about artificial intelligence to check out - TechRepublic

At the heart of the development of AI appears to be a search for perfection. And it could be just as dangerous to humanity as the one that came from philosophical and pseudoscientific ideas of the 19th and early 20th centuries and led to the horrors of colonialism, world war and the Holocaust. Instead of a human ruling master race, we could end up with a machine one.

If this seems extreme, consider the anti-human perfectionism that is already central to the labour market. Here, AI technology is the next step in the premise of maximum productivity that replaced individual craftmanship with the factory production line. These massive changes in productivity and the way we work created opportunities and threats that are now set to be compounded by a fourth industrial revolution in which AI further replaces human workers.

Several recent research papers predict that, within a decade, automation will replace half of the current jobs. So, at least in this transition to a new digitised economy, many people will lose their livelihoods. Even if we assume that this new industrial revolution will engender a new workforce that is able to navigate and command this data-dominated world, we will still have to face major socioeconomic problems. The disruptions will be immense and need to be scrutinised.

The ultimate aim of AI, even narrow AI which handles very specific tasks, is to outdo and perfect every human cognitive function. Eventually, machine-learning systems may well be programmed to be better than humans at everything.

What they may never develop, however, is the human touch empathy, love, hate or any of the other self-conscious emotions that make us human. Thats unless we ascribe these sentiments to them, which is what some of us are already doing with our Alexas and Siris.

The obsession with perfection and hyper-efficiency has had a profound impact on human relations, even human reproduction, as people live their lives in cloistered, virtual realities of their own making. For instance, several US and China-based companies have produced robotic dolls that are selling out fast as substitute partners.

One man in China even married his cyber-doll, while a woman in France married a robo-man, advertising her love story as a form of robo-sexuality and campaigning to legalise her marriage. Im really and totally happy, she said. Our relationship will get better and better as technology evolves. There seems to be high demand for robot wives and husbands all over the world.

In the perfectly productive world, humans would be accounted as worthless, certainly in terms of productivity but also in terms of our feeble humanity. Unless we jettison this perfectionist attitude towards life that positions productivity and material growth above sustainability and individual happiness, AI research could be another chain in the history of self-defeating human inventions.

Already we are witnessing discrimination in algorithmic calculations. Recently, a popular South Korean chatbot named Lee Luda was taken offline. She was modelled after the persona of a 20-year-old female university student and was removed from Facebook messenger after using hate speech towards LGBT people.

Meanwhile, automated weapons programmed to kill are carrying maxims such as productivity and efficiency into battle. As a result, war has become more sustainable. The proliferation of drone warfare is a very vivid example of these new forms of conflict. They create a virtual reality that is almost absent from our grasp.

But it would be comical to depict AI as an inevitable Orwellian nightmare of an army of super-intelligent Terminators whose mission is to erase the human race. Such dystopian predictions are too crude to capture the nitty gritty of artificial intelligence, and its impact on our everyday existence.

Societies can benefit from AI if it is developed with sustainable economic development and human security in mind. The confluence of power and AI which is pursuing, for example, systems of control and surveillance, should not substitute for the promise of a humanised AI that puts machine learning technology in the service of humans and not the other way around.

To that end, the AI-human interfaces that are quickly opening up in prisons, healthcare, government, social security and border control, for example, must be regulated to favour ethics and human security over institutional efficiency. The social sciences and humanities have a lot to say about such issues.

One thing to be cheerful about is the likelihood that AI will never be a substitute for human philosophy and intellectuality. To be a philosopher, after all, requires empathy, an understanding of humanity, and our innate emotions and motives. If we can programme our machines to understand such ethical standards, then AI research has the capacity to improve our lives which should be the ultimate aim of any technological advance.

But if AI research yields a new ideology centred around the notion of perfectionism and maximum productivity, then it will be a destructive force that will lead to more wars, more famines and more social and economic distress, especially for the poor. At this juncture of global history, this choice is still ours.

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Artificial intelligence must not be allowed to replace the imperfection of human empathy - The Conversation UK

Artificial Intelligence has immense potential catering to various aspects of the world be it economic, environment related, social or anything for that matter. AI has made taking decisions based on data easier than ever. Machines with deep learning capabilities have changed our lives for better. With this being said, one of the hottest topics that has garnered attention from across the globe is Can Artificial Intelligence aid in achieving Sustainable Development Goals? Yes, it can! Infact, there are sectors that have already been using this advanced technology of AI in meeting their goals. Some areas where this has proven successful are

The importance of education can just not be put into words. Not only does it open door to a plethora of career options to choose from, but also grooms you as a person. Gone are the days when getting educated required the presence of someone to guide you through. But today, education is far more accessible thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Getting educated without human teachers is probably one of the best innovations AI has come up with in the education sector. It cannot have got any better for the visually challenged students for the sole reason that they too can fulfil their desire of being educated with the help of voice assistants.

AI is also capable of monitoring the students performance from time to time. Recommending content based on the students past experience is yet another area that AI focuses on. All in all, the future is set to see more number of students getting trained by AI powered machine tutors rather than human tutors.

No matter which country you live in, this sector has a unique importance. It is just not possible to imagine life without this sector. Artificial intelligence can help in detecting diseases in plants and also target weeds. Farmers are now using AI forecasting models to predict upcoming weather patterns, thus enabling them to make better decisions.

Needless to say, this is that one sector that people can never get tired of praising. And when the world is shook by a pandemic like the 2020 virus, then the efforts put in by this sector needs no special mention. Since the data pertaining to the healthcare sector is insanely huge, Artificial Intelligence has the ability to collect and process this data for faster treatment. Coming up with technologies to check whether the person is cancerous or not, to estimate the probability of a person to develop cancer, to name a few are taking shape because of AI. India is marching towards an AI driven economy with every passing day. It has partnered with Microsoft to eradicate preventable blindness using an AI-enabled portable eye-scanning device that helps detect retinal diseases. In addition to all of this, AI is being used to deal with the cyber-security attacks in this sector as well.

The havoc created by disasters needs no special mention. AI promises to be a saviour here as well. It plays a pivotal role in minimizing the damage caused due to disasters. Artificial intelligence helps improve dam and barrage water release to minimize the risks.

The above are just few of the many areas where AI has worked wonders. AI has huge potential to serve a lot of sectors. If we come together and put Artificial Intelligence into its best use, then a better society awaits all of us in the years to come.

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Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Development Goals - Analytics Insight

"This year's World Cancer Day's theme, 'I Am and I Will', is all about you and your commitment to act. The new state-of-the-art artificial intelligence integrated PET-CT scanner at Yashoda Hospital Somajiguda is one more step towards our commitment to early detection of Cancer. The new scanner is now two times faster than the old generation scanners primarily due to the advanced technology known as 'Time of Flight'. The scanner provides best quality images with reduced scanning duration and lesser radiation dose," said Dr. G. Srinivasa Rao, Director of Public Health & Family Welfare, Government of Telangana.

Yashoda Hospitals Somajiguda is well equipped with a comprehensive Nuclear Medicine set up providing services like PET-CT, Gamma camera imaging and radionuclide therapy under one roof. Apart from the newly upgraded imaging of FDG PET-CT, the department provides advanced and rare imaging like Ga-68 DOTA, Ga-68 PSMA, 18F DOPA PET-CTs, DAT imaging & WBC scans, apart from routine Gamma imaging like bone scan & renal scintigraphy.

"Yashoda Hospitals Somajiguda is one of the busiest and high volume centres of radionuclide therapies for thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumours, and prostate cancer. The Centre also provides rare therapies like radiosynovectomy for inflammatory joint disease. Patients not only from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but across India, visitus for these rare therapies. NextGen PET-CT is effective in the diagnosis of Cancer, Endocrine Abnormalities and Neurodegenerative Disease," said Dr. Lingaiah Amidayala, Director - Medical Services, Yashoda Hospitals Group, Hyderabad.

The Combined PET-CT Scan at Yashoda Hospitals, Somajiguda merges PET and CT images and provides detailed information about the size, shape and differentiating cancerous lesions from normal structures with accuracy. It is a diagnostic examination that combines two state-of-the-art imaging modalities and produces 3 dimensional (3D) images of the body based on the detection of radiation from the emission of positrons. It helps in early detection of cancer and any potential health problem that reveals how the tissues and organs are functioning by identifying a variety of conditions.

Dr. Hrushikesh Aurangabadkar and Dr. A Naveen Kumar Reddy, Consultants in Nuclear Medicine while explaining about the PET-CT said, "The cancer cells require a great deal of sugar, or glucose, to have enough energy to grow. PET scanning utilizes a radioactive molecule that is similar to glucose, called fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). FDG accumulates within malignant cells because of their high rate of glucose metabolism. Once injected with this agent, the patient is imaged on the whole body PET scanner to reveal cancer growth, which are usually difficult to characterize by conventional CT, X-Ray, or MRI."

With this new technology, motion artifacts caused by respiration can be decreased and accurate diagnosis achieved.

The use of PET scans will also help the doctors to more accurately detect the presence and location of new or recurrent cancers.

Relevant Links: https://www.yashodahospitals.com/location/somajiguda/

Nuclear Medicine: https://www.yashodahospitals.com/specialities/nuclear-medicine-hospital-in-hyderabad/

About Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad

Yashoda Group of Hospitals has been providing quality healthcare for 3 decades for people with diverse medical needs. Under astute leadership and a strong management, Yashoda Group of Hospitals has evolved as a centre of excellence in medicine providing the highest quality standards of medical treatment. Guided by the needs of patients and delivered by perfectly combined revolutionary technology even for rare and complex procedures, the Yashoda Group hosts medical expertise and advanced procedures by offering sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery. Currently operating with 3 independent hospitals in Secunderabad, Somajiguda and Malakpet and an upcoming hospital (currently under development) in Hi-Tech city, Telangana which is expected to be one of the largest medical facilities in India and will be spread over 20 lakhs sq. ft. with a capacity of 2000 beds. With a constant and relentless emphasis on quality, excellence in service, empathy, Yashoda Group provides world-class healthcare services at affordable costs.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1433696/AI_PET_CT_Launched_Yashoda.jpg

SOURCE Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad

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'Artificial Intelligence' Integrated PET-CT launched at Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad on the occasion of World Cancer Day 2021 - PR Newswire India

Laptop screen webcam view different ethnicity and age people engaged in group videocall. Video ... [+] conference lead by african businessman leader. Modern technology, easy convenient on-line meeting concept

Have you given any thought how the post-pandemic workplace might look and function? Our working practices have changed dramatically since the pandemic struck, undergoing one of the biggest shake-ups since the industrial revolution and bringing the wheel full circle with many of us returning to home working.

Overnight, many of us turned from being office-based commuters to stay-at-home knowledge workers. Now we liaise remotely with colleagues as we work on projects, deliver great customer service or simply manage the work of others. Weve done all this remotely using our webcams and laptops. Its a massive change that would ordinarily have taken a decade to achieve but which has now happened in an instant because of a virus.

Thankfully, effective vaccines are being rolled out and some sort of end is in sight. The pandemic has shown large corporations that remote working is viable and, in many cases, can increase productivity. Many of us prefer this new way of working. As a result, some companies will downsize offices and rely on hot-desking to make best use of available space. Of course, there will still need to be some sort of central hub for workers to meet because some people enjoy office life and face-to-face contact is still essential for some kind of work.

Group Of Diverse Businesspeople Looking At Television While Video Conferencing In Boardroom

Remote working has worked well, especially with colleagues who already had a working relationship before the pandemic struck. All they needed to do was continue their working relationships remotely. Unfortunately, itss not so easy for workers joining companies since the pandemic. Many are working alongside team members who already know each other. This is where video conferencing can help and why some companies encourage workers to hold social activities online after-work usingZoomorMicrosoft Teams.

Another change triggered by the pandemic is the shutting down of business travel. We now depend on video conferencingto liaise with overseas colleagues. The days of hopping on a plane to make a presentation halfway around the world are at an end. In my own world of journalism, most trade shows, product launches and interviews are now conducted by video. I havent had to travel this past year and its done wonders for my productivity and carbon footprint.

Eventually, though, the day will come when we return to a more blended way of working with some time will be spent at the office and the rest of our time working from home. How will we adapt to this more mixed way of working when were not in front of our personal webcams? This is a question Logitech thinks it has an answer to. The webcam and mouse manufacturer also makes high-end video conferencing equipment. Its teamed up with Zoom, the developer of one of the most popular video conferencing software being used this past year, to shake up the market.

Logitech is using AI to make video conferencing as a group easier and more personal by tying in ... [+] equipment with software packages like Zoom Rooms and Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Both companies have collaborated to develop a new style of video conferencing. Theyve realized that when we return to our offices, were going to be using video much more because weve become so used to using it at home. We find it a much better way of communicating than a voice call.

Because were now used to making webchats in solo mode instead of being grouped around a conference table, its clear our approach to video conferencing will have to change in the office. In the past, big corporations had video conferencing rooms filled with expensive equipment and reserved for the senior management. Now were all used to being able to see as well as hear the people were calling.

The old exclusive way of video conferencing has its origins in the days of expensive 128kbps ISDN lines and costly international calls. In the past, the video conference room was too expensive for just anyone to use and was largely reserved for senior management. Now the coronavirus has democratized the whole process and that change must be embraced in the post-pandemic office.

To address this challenge, Logitech has been researching artificial intelligence for use in its video conferencing equipment. In future, video conferencing will be less boring and not limited to static and wide-angle views of a meeting room showing people sitting around a table. Were now used to seeing peoples faces close up and we can register facial expressions and hear voices more clearly. The old style of video conferencing simply wont cut it.

New video conferencing using AI will zoom in on speaker's faces and dynamically alter the volume and ... [+] microphone sensitivity for a more enjoyable experience.

There also needs to be changes in the software we use for video conferencing.Zoomssingle-user mode needs to adapt to the office environment of teams. This is where Logitech and Zoom have been working together to create a new experience. Recently,I spoke withScottWharton, LogitechsVice President and General Managerfor video conferencing, and Oded Gal,Chief Product Officerat Zoom. They explained how both companies see the professional end of the video conferencing market changing as we come out of the pandemic and some of us return to the office.

ScottWharton explained: Its no longer good enough to see people sitting around a conference table in a static wide-angle shot. We need to see peoples faces and reactions. We need to see them close up and hear them clearly as well. That can be a challenge in a larger space.

Zooms Oded Gal agreed. The video conference room has to mirror the experience workers have had at home with Zoom calls.

The companies collaborated on a newproduct portfolioof video equipmentcalled Rallyincluding the Rally Bar, Rally Mini andRoomMate. Each of the new products has been purpose-built to work withZoom Rooms. Logitechs native appliance integration forZoom Roomshas been designed to enhance the user experience while still delivering enterprise-grade video and voice quality, as well as the robust security that companies demand.

The latest Logitech Rally videoconferencing products are designed to work with Zoom and Microsoft ... [+] Teams to bring a more personal experience to the video conferencing room.

The idea of the new portfolio ofproducts is to harness AI to identify participants in a meeting if required and to zoom in on the face of the person talking so the experience feels more like using an individual webcam at home. Logitech has also been working on the sound side of things with microphones that can home in on a voice and ensuresthat someone at the back of the room is heard as clearly as someone sitting at the front.

This is a major shift in how we communicate, a practise that has been stuck for so long in a static group-shot mode. The new Rally productscan blend two images on one screen to add context to a video call. Wharton says: Its a bit like having your own TV studio director in the conference room, adjusting the framing shots while altering sound levels dynamically to create a less static and a more enjoyable meeting.

The new products offer video resolutions up to 4K and the cameras have motorized pan-and-tilt heads, as well as optical zoom lenses, enabling crisp images and perfect framing. The lens on the Rally Bar has a 5x optical zoom that can be extended to 15x digital for larger spaces.

Both video bars also feature ultra-low distortion speakers that can fill a room with sound while an adaptive beamforming mic array picks up voices for much clearer audio quality. The microphone array can focus on the active speaker and auto-adjust for louder and softer voices while suppressing any unwanted background noise in a room such as HVAC or any other persistent sounds. Logitech has also included a patented anti-vibration suspension system so speaker vibrations are minimized from being carried through walls, stands or tables.

The new video bars are equipped withLogitech RightSensetechnology and an AI Viewfinder. This viewfinder works like a second camera but is purely dedicated to computer vision for detecting human figures and can process and track where faces are in the room in real-time. This AI technique enhances the precision of the auto-framing feature and the camera control. Participants are always in focus, whether they are late joining the meeting or moving about while making a presentation.

How will we manage the transmission to using video conferencing at home to a more collaborative ... [+] group set up when we are back in the office?

Logitech has worked closely with Zoom and Microsoft to ensure that the software and hardware work seamlessly together.The company hasalso developedRoomMate, a dedicatedAndroidcomputer designedsolelyto work withthe Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini vas well as USB conferencing cameras such as Logitechs older Rally Plus, turning them into an appliance. Alternatively, users can bring their own Mac or PCs to a meeting and plug that into the video bar.

Its interesting to see Logitech partnering with big names in video conferencing software space to improve peoples experience by tying in the hardware more tightly. The use of hardware and AI can anticipate shots and framing as well as adjusting sound levels for a more enjoyable and productive meeting experience.

However, the tech doesnt just address the audio and visual side of things. Both Wharton and Gal say facial recognitioncould eventually bedevelopedto count the participants in a meeting room and then post a notice to an active display screen outside the room indicating if the meeting room is full or being used. Extra participants could be directed to another meeting room where they can join in with the conference. This could be a game-changing feature in an era of social distancing.

Facial recognition also has downsides and both Wharton and Gal were at pains to point out that privacy is at the forefront of their minds and something both companies are determined to protect. My suggestion that facial recognition could be used to conduct a register of attendees or send a reminder to anyone who is late for the meeting was noted but not endorsed. That, they said, would have to be a decision for the companys employing the technology and the employees who are using it.

It was fascinating to get a brief glimpse into the future of video conferencing from these two giants in the field. It looks like AI could change the way we use video conferencing when we get back to our workplaces. The hardware is ready and waiting in the form of the Logitech RallyBar, RallyBarMini and RoomMate. The software integration with Zoom is also ready and waiting to go. Now, all we need is to get our vaccinations and wait for the call to return to the office.

Pricing and Availability: Logitech Rally Bar is the first from the next generation appliance portfolio that will be broadly available at the end of this quarter. Rally Bar also comes with built-in support for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android and Zoom Rooms Appliances, with Zoom available immediately. Rally Bar Mini and Logitech RoomMate availability will follow. Pricing for Rally Bar starts at $3,999; Rally Bar Mini starts at $2,999; and Logitech RoomMate starts at $999. Logitechs portfolio will also work with GoTo, Pexip and RingCentral.

More info:www.logitech.com

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Artificial Intelligence Will Change The Way We Work Once We Get Back To The Office - Forbes

Newswise Oak Brook, IL The February edition of SLAS Technology is a special collection of articles focused on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation by Guest Editor Cenk ndey, Ph.D. (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA).

This SLAS Technology special collection targets the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and technologies as applied specifically to drug discovery, automated gene editing and machine learning. As AI becomes increasingly more prevalent in research, medicine and even everyday life, laboratory automation has gone beyond hardware advancements toward new levels of precision and complexity. Beyond research, AI serves as a powerful tool for clinicians diagnosing and treating patients in a medical setting. The AI advancements presented in this issue highlight the wide spectrum of medical AI breakthroughs.

This months issue of SLAS Technology also celebrates the top 10 most-cited articles within the journals history. Over the past decade, the publications priority has been to provide a platform for researchers to share technological advancements as well as a resource to continually share the impact of technology on life sciences and biomedical research.

The February issue of SLAS Discovery includes nine articles of original research in addition to the cover article.

Articles of Original Research include:

Other articles include:

Access to Februarys SLAS Technology issue is available at http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jlad/26/1.

For more information about SLAS and its journals, visitwww.slas.org/journals. Access a behind the scenes look at the latest issue with SLAS Technology Authors Talk Tech podcast. Tune into Februarys episode by visiting https://slastechnology.buzzsprout.com/.

*****

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, 2019 Impact Factor 2.195. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics, Boston, MA (USA).

SLAS Technology: Translating Life Sciences Innovation, 2019 Impact Factor 2.174. Editor-in-Chief Edward Kai-Hua Chow, Ph.D., National University of Singapore (Singapore).

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SLAS Technology Special Collection on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation Available Now - Newswise

In the past few years, researchers have turned increasingly to data science techniques to aid problem-solving in organic synthesis.

Researchers in the lab ofAbigail Doyle, Princeton's A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Chemistry,have developed open-source software that provides them with a state-of-the-art optimization algorithm to use in everyday work, folding whats been learned in the machine learning field into synthetic chemistry.

Princeton chemists Benjamin Shields and Abigail Doyle worked with computer scientist Ryan Adams (not pictured) to create machine learning software that can optimize reactions using artificial intelligence to speed through thousands of reactions that chemists used to have to labor through one by one.

Photo by

C. Todd Reichart, Department of Chemistry

The software adapts key principles of Bayesian Optimization (BO) to allow faster and more efficient syntheses of chemicals.

Based on the Bayes Theorem, a mathematical formula for determining conditional probability, BO is a widely used strategy in the sciences. Broadly defined, it allows people and computersuse prior knowledge to inform and optimize future decisions.

The chemists in Doyle's lab, in collaboration withRyanAdams, a professor of computer science,and colleagues at Bristol-Myers Squibb, comparedhuman decision-making capabilities with the software package. They found that the optimization tool yields both greater efficiency over human participants and less bias on a test reaction. Their work appears in the current issue of the journal Nature.

Reaction optimization is ubiquitous in chemical synthesis, both in academia and across the chemical industry, said Doyle.Since chemical space is so large, it is impossible for chemists to evaluate the entirety of a reaction space experimentally. We wanted to develop and assess BO as a tool for synthetic chemistry given its success for related optimization problems in the sciences.

Benjamin Shields, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Doyle lab and the papers lead author, created the Python package.

I come from a synthetic chemistry background, so I definitely appreciate that synthetic chemists are pretty good at tackling these problems on their own, said Shields. Where I think the real strength of Bayesian Optimization comes in is that it allows us to model these high-dimensional problems and capture trends that we may not see in the data ourselves, so it can process the data a lot better.

And two, within a space, it will not be held back by the biases of a human chemist, he added.

The software started as an out-of-field project to fulfill Shields doctoral requirements. Doyle and Shield then formed a team under the Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS), a National Science Foundation initiative launched at five universities to transform how the synthesis of complex organic molecules is planned and executed. Doyle has been a principal investigator with C-CAS since 2019.

Reaction optimization can be an expensive and time-consuming process, said Adams, who is also the director of the Program in Statistics and Machine Learning. This approach not only accelerates it using state-of-the-art techniques, but also finds better solutions than humans would typically identify. I think this is just the beginning of whats possible with Bayesian Optimization in this space.

Users start by defining a search space plausible experiments to consider such as a list of catalysts, reagents, ligands, solvents, temperatures, and concentrations. Once that space is prepared and the user defines how many experiments to run, the software chooses initial experimental conditions to be evaluated. Thenit suggests new experiments to run, iterating through a smaller and smaller cast of choices until the reaction is optimized.

In designing the software, I tried to include ways for people to kind of inject what they know about a reaction, said Shields. No matter how you use this or machine learning in general, theres always going to be a case where human expertise is valuable.

The software and examples for its use can be accessed at this repository. GitHub links are available for the following: software that represents the chemicals under evaluation in a machine-readable format via density-functional theory; software for reaction optimization; and the game that collects chemists decision-making on optimization of the test reaction.

"Bayesian reaction optimization as a tool for chemical synthesis," byBenjamin J. Shields, Jason Stevens, Jun Li, Marvin Parasram, Farhan Damani, Jesus I. Martinez Alvarado, Jacob M. Janey, Ryan P. Adams andAbigail G. Doyle, appears in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Nature (DOI:10.1038/s41586-021-03213-y). This research was supported by funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Princeton Catalysis Initiative, the National Science Foundation under the CCI Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis (CHE-1925607), and the DataX Program at Princeton University through support from the Schmidt Futures Foundation.

Editor's note: You can read the unabridged version of this story on the Department of Chemistry homepage.

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Chemistry and computer science join forces to apply artificial intelligence to chemical reactions - Princeton University

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being explored or adopted by many industries for a wide array of applications. Today it is creating a string of opportunities in space industry use-cases too. As artificial intelligence emerges as a popular theme in space exploration,it is also being deployed for many critical tasks too.

For instance scientists have leveraged artificial intelligence, for charting unmarked galaxies, supernovas, stars, blackholes, and studying cosmic events that would otherwise go unnoticed.One of the recent illustration of this application was when CHIRP (Continuous High-Resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch Priors) Algorithm helped in creating first-ever image of a black hole. CHIRP is a Bayesian algorithm used to perform de-convolution on images created in radio astronomy. It used the image data from the Event Horizon Telescopes to carry further image processing. Even images from the Hubble Space Telescope are used to simulate galaxy formation and further classification using deep learning algorithms.

Artificial intelligence also proves resourceful in classifying heavenly bodies, especially exoplanets. A couple of years ago, a research team developed an artificial neural networks algorithm, to classify planets, based on whether they resemble present-day Earth, early Earth, Mars, Venus or Saturns largest moon, Titan. These five bodies are most potentially habitable objects in our solar system and are therefore associated with acertain probability of life.

In regards to life in outer space, Researchers atNASAs Frontier Development Lab(FDL) employed generative adversarial networks, or GANs, to create 3.5 million possible permutations of alien life based on signals from Kepler and the European Space Agencys Gaia telescope.

Besides, NASA has teamed up with Google to train its artificial intelligence algorithms to sift through the data from the Kepler mission to look for signals from an exoplanet crossing in front of its parent star. With the help of Googles trained model, NASA managed to discover two obscure planets Kepler-90i and Kepler-80g. In 2019, astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin, teamed with Google, to useAI for uncovering two more hidden planets in the Keplerspace telescope archive (Keplers extended mission, called K2).They used an AI algorithm that sifts through Keplers data to ferret out signals that were missed by traditional planet-hunting methods. This helped them discover the planets K2-293b and K2-294b.

Under the Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis (AIDA) project, which is funded under the European Horizons 2020 framework, an intelligent system is being developed that can read and process data from space. The key object of this project is to enable the discovery of new celestial objects, using data from NASA.

AI applications can also found in the field of satellite imagery. Data based on satellite imagery offers insights on several global-scale economic, social and industrial processes, which was previously not possible. Some examples include Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) satellite, SKICAT, ENVISAT. These satellites leverage artificial intelligence to provide actionable insights for agencies, governments and businesses, and help them in making accurate decisions.

While humans are capable ofinterpreting, understanding, and analyzing images collected by satellites, it does cost us time and resources while waiting for a satellite to move back around to the same position to further refine image analysis. Artificial intelligence helps eliminate the necessity for large amounts of communication to and from Earth to analyze photos and helps determine whether a new photo needs to be taken. Moreover, it saves processing power, reduces battery usage, and fast-tracks the image gathering process.

In case of space mining, artificial intelligence will augment mining machinery with intelligence that will empower them to extract minerals and identify any hazards or solve minor issues at hand without the need for immediate support from humans on Earth. Meanwhile, NASA is also developing a companion for astronauts aboard the ISS,called Robonaut, which will work alongside the astronauts or take on tasks that are too risky for them. According to NASAs blog, Robonaut 2 is slowly approaching human dexterity implying tasks like changing out an air filter can be performed without modifications to the existing design.

Artificial intelligence has also helped us develop space humanoids like Kirobo from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Dextre from Canadian Space Agency, and AILA from German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence to help astronauts in space missions. NASAs free-flying robotic system,Astrobee, uses AI to help astronauts reduce their time on routine duties, leaving them to focus more on the things that only humans can do. We also have CIMON or (Crew Interactive Mobile Companion), an AI powered robot that floats through the zero-gravity environment of the space station to research a database of information about the ISS. In addition to the mechanical tasks assigned, CIMON assesses the moods of its human crewmates at the ISS and interacts accordingly with them.

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Beyond the Unknown: Applications of Artificial intelligence In Space - Analytics Insight