People are more likely to adopt heart healthy behaviors when guided and encouraged via the Internet, their cellphones or other devices, according to 23 years of research reviewed in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. "Both Internet-based and mobile-based programs can help people become more physically active, eat better and achieve modest weight loss over 3-12 months," said Ashkan Afshin, M.D., M.P.H.,…

Big data sets are full of dirty data, and these outliers, typos and missing values can produce distorted models that lead to wrong conclusions and bad decisions, be it in healthcare or finance. With so much at stake, data cleaning should be easier. That's the inspiration for software developed by computer scientists at Columbia University and University of California at Berkeley that hands much of the dirty work over to machines. Called ActiveClean, the system analyzes a user's prediction model …

It is now possible for machines to learn how natural or artificial systems work by simply observing them, without being told what to look for, according to researchers at the University of Sheffield. This could mean advances in the world of technology with machines able to predict, among other things, human behaviour. The discovery takes inspiration from the work of pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing, who proposed a test, which a machine could pass if it behaved indistinguishably from a h…

Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) software that reliably interprets mammograms, assisting doctors with a quick and accurate prediction of breast cancer risk. According to a new study published in Cancer (early online Aug. 29), the computer software intuitively translates patient charts into diagnostic information at 30 times human speed and with 99 percent accuracy. "This software intelligently reviews millions of records in a short amount of time, e…

A European research project led by Chalmers University of Technology has launched a set of tools that will make computer systems more energy efficient -- a critical issue for modern computing. Using the framework of the project programmers has been able to provide large data streaming aggregations 54 times more energy efficient than with standard implementations. Energy consumption is one of the key challenges of modern computing, whether for wireless embedded client devices or high performance …

Shipping cars could be safer and more efficient than ever before, thanks to innovative solutions developed by WMG at the University of Warwick for Trans-Rak International (TRI). Working with Warwickshire-based manufacturer Trans-Rak International, Piero Filippin, Innovation Manager at WMG, has created software that automates the task of finding the optimal placement of cars in a shipping container -- allowing for any combination of make or model -- and can double the vehicle capacity of shipping…

Like all data networks, the networks that connect servers in giant server farms, or servers and workstations in large organizations, are prone to congestion. When network traffic is heavy, packets of data can get backed up at network routers or dropped altogether. Also like all data networks, big private networks have control algorithms for managing network traffic during periods of congestion. But because the routers that direct traffic in a server farm need to be superfast, the control algorit…