Accenture has announced plans to launch a new Applied Intelligence Studio for Mining in Johannesburg. The studio will apply the latest in data science and artificial intelligence technologies with new data sources for real-time co-creation of innovative digital solutions that can help mining companies solve some of their hardest analytical problems. It is expected to open in February 2019. "They are increasingly looking to apply advanced analytics to reimagine processes, unlock trapped value, and drive operational excellence in their businesses today and position themselves for growth tomorrow." "Volatile commodity prices, rising input costs and changing global demand for commodities require mining companies to rethink their strategies and business models to remain competitive," said Rachael Bartels, a senior managing director who leads Accenture's mining business globally.

Designing a molecule with desired properties is one of the biggest challenges in drug development, as it requires optimization of chemical compound structures with respect to many complex properties. To augment the compound design process we introduce Mol-CycleGAN - a CycleGAN-based model that generates optimized compounds with high structural similarity to the original ones. Namely, given a molecule our model generates a structurally similar one with an optimized value of the considered property. We evaluate the performance of the model on selected optimization objectives related to structural properties (presence of halogen groups, number of aromatic rings) and to a physicochemical property (penalized logP). In the task of optimization of penalized logP of drug-like molecules our model significantly outperforms previous results.

As in many other sectors, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are beginning to emerge in the chemical process industries (CPI). While AI-assisted solutions, and other associated technologies, such as robotic process automation (RPA), Internet of Things (IoT), automated drones and quantum computing, are still relatively new for many CPI applications, developers and users alike are realizing their potential benefits for expediting research and development (R&D), predictive maintenance, process optimization and more. Within its Smart Operations initiative, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.henkel.com) is utilizing AI capabilities in its global process operations and supply chain. "We use AI to run efficient analyses of complex data arrays for achieving higher production performance, quick product innovation and scaleup for our self-adjusting production systems," explains Sandeep Sreekumar, global head of Adhesive Digital Operations at Henkel. "Our focus is not only on collecting internal manufacturing data, but also on actively working with customers on data collection opportunities during product usage to make improvements and adjust to changing customer needs," says Sreekumar.

In the present paper, a method of defining the industrial process parameters for a new product using machine learning algorithms will be presented. The study will describe how to go from the product characteristics till the prediction of the suitable machine parameters to produce a good quality of this product, and this is based on an historical training dataset of similar products with their respective process parameters. In the first part of our study, we will focus on the ultrasonic welding process definition, welding parameters and on how it operate. While in second part, we present the design and implementation of the prediction models such multiple linear regression, support vector regression, and we compare them to an artificial neural networks algorithm. In the following part, we present a new application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to the industrial process parameters prediction. In addition, we will propose the generalization approach of our CNN to any prediction problem of industrial process parameters. Finally the results of the four methods will be interpreted and discussed.

Research studies have shown that a large proportion of hazards remain unrecognized, which expose construction workers to unanticipated safety risks. Recent studies have also found that a strong correlation exists between viewing patterns of workers, captured using eye-tracking devices, and their hazard recognition performance. Therefore, it is important to analyze the viewing patterns of workers to gain a better understanding of their hazard recognition performance. This paper proposes a method that can automatically map the gaze fixations collected using a wearable eye-tracker to the predefined areas of interests. The proposed method detects these areas or objects (i.e., hazards) of interests through a computer vision-based segmentation technique and transfer learning. The mapped fixation data is then used to analyze the viewing behaviors of workers and compute their attention distribution. The proposed method is implemented on an under construction road as a case study to evaluate the performance of the proposed method.

Experts warn ML should be used "for its correct purpose" – not for prying long-term strategies from sparse information Data is the latest of many hopes for banks and other investors looking for improved returns in a lacklustre environment. Several banks have begun to point their research teams at big data – using internal data, purchased databases or new research to collect huge quantities of data points, which can then be analysed using the new technology of machine learning (ML). UBS seems to be in the lead at present, but Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and many others are following. And this combination is being applied elsewhere as well; last week Risk looked at HSBC's client intelligence unit, which is aimed at using internal client data to generate new sales leads for existing customers. Standard Chartered's data analytics group earned a 2019 Risk Award for quant of the year for its head Alexei Kondratyev, based on the group's machine learning work.

You might think that digital technologies, often considered a product of "the West", would hasten the divergence of Eastern and Western philosophies. But within the study of Vedanta, an ancient Indian school of thought, I see the opposite effect at work. Thanks to our growing familiarity with computing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, "modern" societies are now better placed than ever to grasp the insights of this tradition. Vedanta summarises the metaphysics of the Upanishads, a clutch of Sanskrit religious texts, likely written between 800 and 500 BCE. They form the basis for the many philosophical, spiritual and mystical traditions of the Indian sub-continent.

We've seen multiple use cases where smart devices like smart watches and other smart appliances have helped people maintain excellent homes and healthy bodies. Are there any smart devices or sensors that can help individuals in improving their mental health and ensure that they lead a happy life? Mental health is imperative for physical health. To live a fully healthy lifestyle, we need to take care of our mind, just as much as our body. And for that, there are some machine learning solutions and smart devices that prioritize mental well-being.

That's a process that may sound time-consuming -- and it is, if you're doing it in a low-tech way. "If a set of quality results does not meet standards, you can build algorithms and start doing repeatability studies to predict when things might go wrong," Ravi said. "Machine learning can be used for that. If you try doing the process analysis manually, it is going to take a lot of time. Machine learning algorithms can get that information quickly and minimize bad product quality by allowing leaders to be proactive and take corrective actions."

The Salary Benchmark report for 2019 by Michael Page was released yesterday. The report predicts strong hiring activity to continue (especially in the technology sector) and a general broadening of roles. Nicolas Dumoulin, Managing Director at Michael Page India stated, "Movement among senior level professionals can be attributed to the growth of India's industries and the availability of talent. This explains the key employment activity within the mid and large manufacturing organizations specializing in chemicals, building materials as well as domestic consumer companies." He added that the injection of new funds in the private equity sector has also led to a growth in senior level hiring.