A research team at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is working on potentially groundbreaking research in the fight against malaria.
Using new technology and data techniques, the team can predict geographical areas vulnerable to the disease based on potential weather conditions, heat and humidity.
Led by Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, professor of computer vision at MBZUAI, the team is hoping to help doctors and health officials in Indonesia.
It is all made possible with sensory data fusion, a technique that combines data from several sensors to generate a virtual representation of the world, or a “digital twin”.
"The research we are dealing with is collecting sensory data from different sources and then performing machine learning algorithm and deep learning algorithm methods in order to predict potential weather conditions, potential areas depending on the heat, humidity and [in turn] predict potential malaria outbreaks,” Dr El Saddik said.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease primarily found in tropical countries.
About 250 million people contract it every year, with the mosquito-transmitted disease killing 600,000 in 2021 alone, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
What’s a digital twin?
“A digital twin is a virtual representation of any living or non-living entity, so, technically, a digital twin is our virtual representation of a city, forest or tree,” Dr El Saddik said.
“We perform interactions and we try to understand what's going on as if it was a real representation [of the world].”
Historical data from several sources is used to better represent the physical world and make sure that the information picked up by the AI sensors is correct.
Using a combination of historical and sensory data, researchers hope they can predict where the mosquitoes carrying malaria are most likely to migrate to next.
Why the need for sensors?
Dr El Saddik said it is necessary to use vision sensors and cameras to detect the location of mosquitoes.
“If we only consider satellite images, we can see the clouds where they are and where they are going. But for malaria, which is based on mosquitoes, distance from the ground is about two metres. So satellite images are not enough to give us this information,” Dr El Saddik added.
The team also uses data provided by meteorology centres that are used to teach the system AI algorithms.
Can it help against other diseases?
“We could use the whole framework to fight other diseases. However, we need to understand other diseases and we need the historical data from other diseases to train our artificial intelligence model to [imitate] them,” Dr El Saddik said.
“But once this project is done, we will have a much better understanding on the use of the data and we could apply our knowledge and train new models.”
Dr El Saddik said that in future, dengue fever could be another disease this technology is used to fight.
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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