Friday 31 May 2019

An approach to enhance machine learning explanations

Researchers at IBM Research UK, the U.S. Military Academy and Cardiff University have recently proposed a new approach to improve the sensitivity of LIME (Local Interpretable Model Agnostic Explanations), a technique for attaining a better understanding ofthe conclusions reached by machine learning algorithms. Their paper, published on SPIE digital library, could inform the development of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that provide exhaustive explanations of how they reached a particular outcome or conclusion.

* This article was originally published here

Climate change is already affecting global food production—unequally

The world's top 10 crops— barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane and wheat—supply a combined 83 percent of all calories produced on cropland. Yields have long been projected to decrease in future climate conditions. Now, new research shows climate change has already affected production of these key energy sources—and some regions and countries are faring far worse than others.

* This article was originally published here

CDC: reported measles cases reach 971

(HealthDay)—Five months into 2019, the number of measles cases in the United States has now reached 971, the largest number since 1992 when 963 total cases were reported for the year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced.

* This article was originally published here

PULP Dronet: A 27-gram nano-UAV inspired by insects

Researchers at ETH Zürich and the University of Bologna have recently created PULP Dronet, a 27-gram nano-size unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a deep learning-based visual navigation engine. Their mini-drone, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, can run aboard an end-to-end, closed-loop visual pipeline for autonomous navigation powered by a state-of-the-art deep learning algorithm.

* This article was originally published here

'Slothbot' takes a leisurely approach to environmental monitoring

For environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, infrastructure maintenance and certain security applications, slow and energy efficient can be better than fast and always needing a recharge. That's where "SlothBot" comes in.

* This article was originally published here

'Miracle baby': Woman gets pregnant after having fallopian tubes removed

Elizabeth Kough had been pregnant before. She knew how it felt. She just couldn't believe it had happened this time.

* This article was originally published here

New mail and messaging tools expected for iPhones, WWDC

New iPhones won't be out until the fall. But Monday, we'll get a sneak peek at what new features Apple has planned for us, not just for the next models but recent iPhones and iPads as well.

* This article was originally published here

Understanding identity in online worlds

For Rosa Mikeal Martey, professor in Journalism and Media Communication, the relationship between identity in the offline world and identity construction in a virtual world has always been of research interest. For her dissertation, Martey studied gender identity and perception in online job applications. Her current research involves understanding how social norms develop in digital spaces. "I'm interested in the way people interact with, use, and respond to technology as they perform and craft those identities," she says. "Identity is a fluid category that emerges in different spaces and is influenced by the space itself."

* This article was originally published here

K-Athena: a performance portable magnetohydrodynamics code

Running large-scale simulations is a crucial aspect of modern scientific research, yet it often requires a vast amount of computational resources. As we approach the era of exascale computing, which will be marked by the introduction of highly performing supercomputers, researchers have been trying to develop new architectures and codes to meet the huge computational requirements of our times. An important property to consider when developing codes for the exascale computing era is performance portability, which prevents the repeated, non-trivial refactoring of a code for different architectures.

* This article was originally published here

Sensor-packed glove learns signatures of the human grasp

Wearing a sensor-packed glove while handling a variety of objects, MIT researchers have compiled a massive dataset that enables an AI system to recognize objects through touch alone. The information could be leveraged to help robots identify and manipulate objects, and may aid in prosthetics design.

* This article was originally published here

REPLAB: A low-cost benchmark platform for robotic learning

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a reproducible, low-cost and compact benchmark platform to evaluate robotic learning approaches, which they called REPLAB. Their recent study, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, was supported by Berkeley DeepDrive, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Google, NVIDIA and Amazon.

* This article was originally published here

New tool reveals how the different shapes of organisms grow

A new tool has been created to explain how tissue growth leads to the range of plant and animal forms we see around us.

* This article was originally published here

Most preventive antibiotics prescribed by dentists are unnecessary

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and published in JAMA Network Open has found that 81% of antibiotics prescribed by dentists—who are among the top prescribers in the U.S., accounting for about 10% of all antibiotic prescriptions—to prevent infections prior to dental visits are unnecessary.

* This article was originally published here

Shared control allows a robot to use two hands working together to complete tasks

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the Naval Research Laboratory has designed and built a robotic system that allows for bimanual robot manipulation through shared control. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group explains the ideas behind their work and how well they worked in practice.

* This article was originally published here

Yoga improves health in later life, study says

Older adults who practice yoga are more likely to be in better mental and physical shape, research suggests.

* This article was originally published here

A novel psychotherapeutic approach to schizophrenia based on psychological well-being

A randomized controlled trial published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics introduces a new psychotherapeutic approach to schizophrenia, based on psychological well-being. Negative symptoms are frequent in patients with schizophrenia and are associated with marked impairments in social functioning. The efficacy of drug-based treatments and psychological interventions on primary negative symptoms remains limited.

* This article was originally published here

Patent talk: Apple has foldables, durability on its mind

Fact of life: Consumers chase the new and shiny, at least enough of them to justify constant trade-ins and barely necessary purchases.

* This article was originally published here

Freshwater find: Genetic advantage allows some marine fish to colonize freshwater habitats

How did some marine fish manage to make their way from the salty sea to the newly available freshwater niches after the last ice age and eventually differentiate from their marine brethren?

* This article was originally published here

Experiments and calculations allow examination of boron's complicated dance

Work opens a path to precise calculations of the structure of other nuclei.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers finds new RX target for common STD

Research led by Ashok Aiyar, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has identified a target that may lead to the development of new treatments for the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. The results are published this month online in PNAS, available here.

* This article was originally published here

U.S. Postal Service mail, packages are headed to Dallas by self-driving truck

Before letters end up in your mailbox and packages land on your doorstep, many travel hundreds or thousands of miles in the back of a truck. Now, the United States Postal Service is testing what it would take to shuttle that cargo without a driver in the front seat.

* This article was originally published here