OBIHIRO, HOKKAIDO – Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, NTT Docomo Inc. and others plan to develop a system to monitor dairy cows using fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks, aiming for commercialization in 2022. The system will use vast amounts of photographic data to detect early signs of illness and estrus in dairy cows. The aim is to ease the heavy burdens on dairy farmers blamed in part for the difficulties they face finding successors. Also on the development team is Tsuchiya Manufacturing Co., a dairy farming equipment maker based in Sapporo. The system will feed photographic data from cameras in cattle sheds to artificial intelligence for learning and analysis, informing farmers promptly via smartphone if there are signs of illness or estrus in cows.

Data Science has many facets under itself and fosters many disciplines under its umbrella. The field incorporates scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to derive knowledge and insights from data, presented in many forms representing in both structured and unstructured forms. Data Science is a field of the future with many tricks up its sleeve. Some even go on to say that it is the integration of the concepts in statistics, data analysis and machine learning. It applies the techniques and theories extracted from many subjects like mathematics, statistics, information science and computer science.

As the first step on the road to a powerful, high tech surveillance apparatus, it was a little underwhelming: a blue van topped by almost comically intrusive cameras, a few police officers staring intently but ineffectually at their smartphones and a lot of bemused shoppers. As unimpressive as the moment may have been, however, the decision by London's Metropolitan Police to expand its use of live facial recognition (LFR) marks a significant shift in the debate over privacy, security and surveillance in public spaces. Despite dismal accuracy results in earlier trials, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has announced they are pushing ahead with the roll-out of LFR at locations across London. MPS say that cameras will be focused on a small targeted area "where intelligence suggests [they] are most likely to locate serious offenders," and will match faces against a database of individuals wanted by police. The cameras will be accompanied by clear signposting and officers handing out leaflets (it is unclear why MPS thinks that serious offenders would choose to walk through an area full of police officers handing out leaflets to passersby).

Automation has become part of the global manufacturing line, where robots take on repetitive jobs, like filling boxes or welding a car frame in the same way, day after day. But what if robots could step away from their limited range of tasks, and start to problem solve in complex operational situations, like spotting a malfunction on the assembly line or identifying a better compound for a part? And how could robots enabled with "deep learning" – where algorithms learn from large amounts of data collected via experience – begin to share insights with other robots, to increase innovation in all kinds of settings, from factories to self-driving cars on the road to early cancer detection and drug discovery in hospitals? These questions are the focus of Preferred Networks, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence company founded in 2014. The Tokyo-based firm, which is worth roughly $2 billion, according to CB Insights, is a symbol of Japan's sweeping strategic innovation initiative, where AI and robotics are viewed as keys to both solving social issues and achieving new economic growth.

The use of AI-driven processes to increase efficiency in the F&B market is no longer an anomaly. A host of breweries and distilleries have incorporated the technology to not only develop flavour profiles faster, but also for other functions, including packaging, marketing, as well as to ensure they meet all food-safety regulations. Although the intention is not to find a replacement for the brewmaster/distiller, it becomes a thrilling learning experiment that equips them with multiple data points that could help them come up with innovative ideas. The company claims to be the world's first to use AI algorithms and machine learning to create innovative beers that adapt to users' taste preferences. Based on customer feedback, the recipe for their brews goes through multiple iterations to generate various combinations.

In light of International Women's Day celebrations this past weekend, we acknowledged the beauty, essence and power of women to achieve and thrive in the global ecosystem. Yet in our modern digital age, women continue to be neglected on multiple fronts, especially that of the new workforce. It is society's role to ensure that all females are given equal opportunities to grow in this new age workforce, and we must understand that all of us have a stake in this mission. Women are the key piece to the puzzle of realizing the highest maturity levels of digital enterprises, but unless we realize this, our progress in AI and technology will remain stagnant. In order to close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and to accelerate advances in artificial intelligence and the sciences, we must encourage and support women on all levels, from government to enterprise, and establish equal employment opportunities for all. AI is one of the fields in which women can experience tremendous success, especially with the right push towards female participation in the industry.

When it comes to identifying scents, a "neuromorphic" artificial intelligence beats other AI by more than a nose. The new AI learns to recognize smells more efficiently and reliably than other algorithms. And unlike other AI, this system can keep learning new aromas without forgetting others, researchers report online March 16 in Nature Machine Intelligence. The key to the program's success is its neuromorphic structure, which resembles the neural circuitry in mammalian brains more than other AI designs. This kind of algorithm, which excels at detecting faint signals amidst background noise and continually learning on the job, could someday be used for air quality monitoring, toxic waste detection or medical diagnoses.

BERLIN, Nov 21 (Reuters) - German data mining software firm Celonis said on Thursday that it had raised $290 mln in a Series C funding round, putting a $2.5 billion valuation on the company that has been compared with enterprise application giant SAP . The funding round was led by Arena Holdings and investors included Ryan Smith, the founder of customer experience specialist Qualtrics that was bought by SAP for $8 billion a year ago. Celonis, based in Munich and New York, runs a cloud-based service that uses artificial intelligence to mine data and optimise business processes, serving customers including Siemens, 3M, Airbus and Vodafone. "We are in a market that shows enormous momentum," co-CEO and co-founder Bastian Nominacher told Reuters, adding that Celonis would invest the funds raised in its global sales and customer service and in enhancing its cloud platform. The funding round brings total investments into Celonis to $370 million.

NASA's ambitious plans to build a base on the surface of the moon will likely be delayed. According to NASA's Dough Loverro, who oversees the agency's human exploration programs, several aspects of the project's technical design and multi-phase rollout need to be revised. One of the first changes will affect NASA's touted Lunar Gateway, a space station planned to orbit the moon and to be used as a staging point for the subsequent construction of a base on the moon's surface. NASA's ambitious plans for a lunar base will be delayed by at least a year after unexpected technical complications with the Lunar Gateway, a space station planned to orbit the moon and used as a staging area for construction materials NASA had targeted a completion window for the Lunar Gateway in 2024, and promised construction on the lunar base would begin no later than 2025, but according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Lunar Gateway is being reworked. NASA says it will still have a space station in orbit around the moon in 2024, but it won't initially be as capable as originally planned, likely delaying the completion date for the lunar base.

It was only a few months ago that I wrote about Scientists who developed artificial neurons that mimic our brain cells. Scientists at the University of Bath, Universities of Bristol, Zurich & Auckland collaborated on this effort where the behavior of our brain cells was replicated on tiny silicon chips. As we enter the age of supercomputers, they are still not powerful enough to match the brainpower of biological neurons that power the organ. The neurons communicate via tiny gaps known as synapses. These neurons have a dual mechanism of storing and processing information.