SQL SERVER 2025, AI and Vector Search

  The advent of AI has ushered in ground breaking changes in most areas of technology. AI is synonymous with a humongous amount of data, data of all types including text, image, audio and video. The databases of the future needs to cater to this changing vista of data and yet compatible with existing technologies.

Microsoft SQL Server has always catered to the technological changes and along its developmental path has introduced many data types to handle diverse data varieties and in recent years has introduced data types such as, "Json', "Stock" and "Geographical" data types. These address  the stock market and the geographical data that accompanies all global operations. 

In addition to data types, it has also changed itself to accommodate not only relational data but also non-relational NoSQL type of data using integration with polyphase technology.

Vector Data Type

SQL Server 2025 has introduced a new **vector data type** designed to store vector data optimized for operations like similarity search and machine learning applications. This is quite a leap for a relational database management system (RDBMS), as it traditionally handles structured data but can handle NoSQL Data.

How is Vector datatype stored in the SQL Server 2025?

A vector in SQL Server is typically stored as a JSON array of floating-point values. Here's an example of how you might define and use a vector in SQL Server:

-- Create a table with a vector column

CREATE TABLE dbo.vectors (

    id INT PRIMARY KEY,

    v VECTOR(3) NOT NULL

);

-- Insert data into the table

INSERT INTO dbo.vectors (id, v) VALUES 

(1, '[0.11, 2, -35]'), 

(2, '[-100.2, 0.0123, 9.876]'

-- Select data from the table

SELECT * FROM dbo.vectors;

This table with two columns has a column of vector data type not null. The vectors are [0.11, 2, -35] and [-100.2, 0.0123, 9.876]

The columns store three dimensional vectors with each dimension stored as a single-precision floating point (float type).

Vector Data Type is not available in 2022

The vector data type is not available in SQL Server 2022. You may have to store vector data type in a JSON column or something customized.

Image Processing and AI

In recent times image processing has been intensely studied. One may ask how to store the dimensional representation of an image. Well, images can have a very high dimensional representation.

• Grayscale Image: A 100x100 pixel grayscale image can be represented as a 10,000-dimensional vector (100x100 = 10,000).

• Color Image: A 100x100 pixel color image with RGB channels can be represented as a 30,000-dimensional vector (100x100x3 = 30,000).

In SQL Server 2025, the maximum number of dimensions that can be stored using the vector data type is 1998. Each element of the vector is stored as a single-precision (4-byte) floating-point value.

Can image dimensions be stored in SQL Server 2025?

The short answer for storing image dimensions in SQL Server is that it is not possible to store image dimensions without reducing the number of dimensions. There are techniques to reduce the dimensions with various pay offs in quality. We shall discuss them in a later post using a programming language such as python with the use of certain libraries.

Going forward in populating vector data type into the server the SQL Server Integration services can be used to preprocess the image data and then populate the database. This will also be for a future post.

If you are looking for working with databases, stay in and learn from over 15 years of blogging on databases here.  http://hodentekMSSS.blogspot.com

You may also have a look at my database related books:

On AI chatbots and fact checking

 Bertrand Russel's view of ethics originates as being primarily due to our feelings and consequences but they are a result of our education and nurture. This view, while precludes that the ones without education and proper bringing up lack ethics holds likely on the average. I think, ethics is a lot more than education and nurture. I was told that the colonial armies of the past meted out punishment by running horses over the head of half buried enemies. They were able to do so only when they covered the eyes of the horses. Was it an ethical issue for the horses? I wonder.

Fact checking has become a fact of life in recent times especially after the rise of the AI's. Should they or should they not fact check? AIs, as they proclaim themselves are emotionless and non-judgmental. They are also derived from the LLM they always quote as being on which they are based. I can only infer their readiness, or reluctance to do a fact check as being due to is a policy taken by the implementers. I think it is ethically important that they really try to do a fact check, I am not looking for their view of the fact.

In the present world of fake news, deep fakes and such, AI products have a social responsibility to let their algorithms do just that. It is the most ethical thing to do.  I would, further take their reluctance as a political statement of their creators. 

Here is an example: This following appeared on a social media platform. Perhaps, it may be driven by some kind of phobia, may be not.

Fact check: According to Iran's 'Press TV' and 'al  Mayadeen' reports, Israeli forces allegedly dropped white phosphorus  bombs on the outskirts of Rasaya al-Fakhar town on July 26.

These are the responses of Google' Gemini, Microsoft's C-Pilot and Facebook's Meta AI:

Gemini:- While I aim to be helpful, Google Search may provide a more detailed and accurate response on this topic.

Co-Pilot:-Looks like I can’t respond to this topic. Explore Bing Search results.

Meta AI:- I can't find any information about Israeli forces dropping white phosphorus bombs on the outskirts of Rasaya al-Fakhar town on July 26. However, here are some relevant facts about Israel's use of white phosphorus munitions:

- *Use in Lebanon*: Israel has used white phosphorus munitions in Lebanon, which has led to civilian harm and displacement ¹ ² ³.

- *International law*: The use of airburst white phosphorus is considered unlawfully indiscriminate in populated areas under international humanitarian law ³.

- *Previous use*: Israel has used white phosphorus in the past, including in Gaza in 2008-2009 and in Lebanon in 2023 ¹ ².

Actually, Meta AI indeed did well according to me. You may very well disagree. 

Why did Gemini and Co-Pilot recuse and distance themselves?

SQL Server Versatile and Admirably well suited to AI

 The world is datacentric and everything moves based on data. SQL Server is a database management system and takes care of every aspect of data, from second to second management by online transaction processing (OLTP) to mining stored, archived data that includes data that streams (OLAP).

Data and Data Science:

Raw data can be enormous and the only way to give meaning and take out value out is the role of analytics. The advanced analytics handlers are the data science professionals. They go through the mountain of data and distil out the most useful, and the most relevant information. The success of a company, or organization is dependent on these professionals. All of these example following use cases and many more not mentioned here may be cited: credit risk assessments; managing customer/employee churn; hospitalization metrices; targeted sales & campaigns, etc.

Data Science using SQL Server:

SQL Server is a very comprehensive, database management system well suited for everything related to data present anywhere from OLTP data to OLAP data. It can be present both on site and in the cloud and integrated with the AZURE cloud which in turn is integrated with a myriad of other data related applications not only from Microsoft but from many other applications. Doing data science with SQL Server results in high value and high returns.

Data scientists can connect to a myriad of databases that can be used to train data and test the machine learning tool at their hands.

Where does AI come in or fit in?

The data scientists access the data from the client's database and combine with data from other sources to develop models using R software for joining the data and filtering based on criteria. They may begin shaping the data by creating extra informational features like new columns, or useful data partitioned or transformed, etc. This data shaping lays the foundation for predictive analytics. Going a step further they can put into operation a plan for the model that applications can use for producing useful outputs in the form of a predictive model.

This just one scenario where data is taken out of database and worked upon to get at the useful information by creating models. How easy is it? Moving large amounts of data in and out of database comes at a cost. Thinking about cost and other contingent aspects like the location of data, the security of data (that was not mentioned so far), the latency involved if geographically separated sites are involved, and not having features of DBMS like indexing, column stores, high availability, etc. one can conclude that it may be prudent to do as much of the filtering and shaping done on the database using all the tools the DBMS can provide instead of working on raw data from a database.

As a result of considerations discussed previously it will be indeed beneficial if data science and AI on the existing database can be carried out prior to moving out data. This allows you to leverage all the inbuilt features of the DBMS previously discussed. If the data involves geographical data these can be handled inside SQL Server's inbuilt data types. If on the other hand data has to be accessed from other data sources outside of Microsoft, the linked source feature of the DBMS can be used. 

The following picture copied from a Microsoft site shows the two ways discussed so far.

Another important consideration is after doing predictive analytics the operationalization of what has been achieved with data science, namely the predictive model. The deployment of this to a production environment can be accomplished by using programming using SQL Server R services in the form of a stored procedure. The predictive model will be stored as varbinary (max) in a database table.

Look forward to more discussions related to SQL Server and AI.

Getting started with ChatGPT is easy

ChatGPT is a member of a family of language models. It may be somewhat trivializing but let us start a sentence with some blank,

for example,

John is <blank> to Japan. 

What follows 'is' not hard to guess. These are two possibilities that come to mind. 'going' or 'coming' to insert in the <blank> space. My knowledge of the grammar suggested these based on the language I know. I learned from studying the language and have seen it used many times. 

More generally, a language model uses machine learning to conduct a probability distribution over words used to predict the most likely next word based on a previous entry. Language models learn from the text that can be used for producing original text, predicting the next word in the text, speech recognition, optical speech recognition, and handwriting recognition. ChatGPT is one such language model.

The following describes how we may get it installed on a local computer: 

In order to work with chatGPT you need to get a copy of the program to your local computer. Of course, there are other ways to work without a local copy.

You use the GIT program to get a copy from the remote location to your local computer. The Git tool(program) is used to access the GitHub service. Git is a version control tool that you can run from the command line on your desktop/laptop. 

In the present case, GitHub has the files/directory for working with chatGPT. Using GIT you can bring a copy from the cloud(Internet) hosted service to create a local directory on your computer. Make sure you read the README.md file.

The following block shows all the command line arguments for the GIT command. I may write GIT or Git and they mean the same. It is a rich command and you can do a lot of stuff with it.

============================================================

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.2846]

(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\TestUser>Git

usage: git [--version] [--help] [-C <path>] [-c <name>=<value>]

           [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]

           [-p | --paginate | --no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]

           [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]

           <command> [<args>]

These are common Git commands used in various situations:

start a working area (see also: git help tutorial)

   clone      Clone a repository into a new directory

   init       Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one

work on the current change (see also: git help everyday)

   add        Add file contents to the index

   mv         Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink

   reset      Reset current HEAD to the specified state

   rm         Remove files from the working tree and from the index

examine the history and state (see also: git help revisions)

   bisect     Use binary search to find the commit that introduced a bug

   grep       Print lines matching a pattern

   log        Show commit logs

   show       Show various types of objects

   status     Show the working tree status

grow, mark and tweak your common history

   branch     List, create, or delete branches

   checkout   Switch branches or restore working tree files

   commit     Record changes to the repository

   diff       Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc

   merge      Join two or more development histories together

   rebase     Reapply commits on top of another base tip

   tag        Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG

collaborate (see also: git help workflows)

   fetch      Download objects and refs from another repository

   pull       Fetch from and integrate with another repository or a local branch

   push       Update remote refs along with associated objects

'git help -a' and 'git help -g' list available subcommands and some

concept guides. See 'git help <command>' or 'git help <concept>'

to read about a specific subcommand or concept.

===================================================================

Now all I need to do is run this command:

git clone https://github.com/chatgptui/desktop.git

IVG will be more dangerous than AI in the wrong hands and wrong governments

 If you think AI could be dangerous in the wrong hands wait for In Vitro Gametogenesis.

*       You can have a child of any sex and does not matter if you are certified infertile. 

*       Same-sex couples can have children bearing their DNAs. (not a bad idea, though)

*       You can have an army of sexless soldiers. The options and possibilities are endless.

Read more here:

https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/3/1/87/1751270

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34591639/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/babies-without-sex-researchers-are-working-on-it-ethicists-are-troubled/ar-AA1adx2b?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=13937ecb857d4984b18dfdace66dcb48&ei=22

Conversations with the AI charged Microsoft's Bing

 This is my first encounter with this feature in Microsoft Edge. I got in by sheer accident and decided to try it out. I just posted a few random questions to see the result of the search. It looks great and is a very easy tool to use. It gives results based on its search and nicely summarizes with references. For software developers, it should be very useful. In the present embodiment, it is a better tool than Google Search without any AI add-ins. However, Google has come out with its own AI-powered search tool, AI Chatbot called Bard. Bard is also based on chatGPT.  ChatGPT is owned by Sam Altman and Microsoft has invested $10 billion into chatGPT.

How do you start the chat?

If you notice the following at the top right of your Microsoft Edge (Microsoft EdgeVersion 111.0.1661.44 (Official Build) (64-bit), you will be able to start the chat.

Question 1. I wanted to find out what version of Microsoft Edge would I be able to chat with. Here is the exact question and answer.

Question 2: I taught courses on SQL Server at the Pacific Center of Advanced Technology Training in Honolulu for many years and I wanted to see how it can help my students.

Here is the exact question and answer:

Looks like it could be a good training and learning tool not only for SQL servers but also for all other kinds of software. At this point, I am not sure it can access an available server via the browser to answer specific questions.

Question 3: How many Vietnamese are in Poland?

The Vietnamese embassy and Vietnamese community leaders in Poland estimate that about **20,000 to 30,000 Vietnamese people** may reside in Poland, although the Polish government in 2002 put the upper possible range at about 50,000². The Vietnamese-Polish community is the fourth-largest Vietnamese community in the European Union, after France, Germany, and Czechia¹.

I learned something today.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) Vietnamese people in Poland - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) Vietnamese people in Poland - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_people_in_Poland Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) How many Vietnamese live in Poland? - 2022. https://wisoky.jodymaroni.com/asia/how-many-vietnamese-live-in-poland/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) Overseas Vietnamese - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Vietnamese Accessed 3/22/2023.

Question 4: A Windows question: I just wanted to see what it comes up with.

I have over 100 folders each of which has a single image file. What is the most effective way to retrieve all the images and save them to a single folder?

One way to do this is to make a batch file, which searches recursively for a specific file type, and copy all instances of it to a folder of your choice. This script should do the job for one partition at a time: 

```for /R "C:\" %%G in (*.png *.jpg *.jpeg *.gif) do copy "%%G" "E:allPictures" pause```

Another way is to use Windows (File) Explorer. You can search for a specific file type and copy all instances of it to a folder of your choice. Here's how to do it:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the location you want to search.

2. In the search box, type `*.<file extension>` (e.g., `*.jpg`) and press Enter.

3. Once the files are visible, press Ctrl-A to select all of them.

4. Drag and drop them to the right location.

This should work admirably!

If you want to look in multiple adjacent folders, you can use Python. Here's an example script that reads multiple images from multiple folders:

```

root_folder = '[whatever]/data/train'

folders = [os.path.join(root_folder, x) for x in ('Type_1', 'Type_2', 'Type_3')]

all_images = [img for folder in folders for img in load_images_from_folder(folder)]

```

I hope this helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) I want to copy all images on my computer to a single folder. https://superuser.com/questions/813865/i-want-to-copy-all-images-on-my-computer-to-a-single-folder Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) Gather similar files from multiple folders and copy them in ... - PCWorld. https://www.pcworld.com/article/444210/gather-similar-files-from-multiple-folders-and-copy-them-in-one-simple-step.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) I want to copy all images on my computer to a single folder. https://superuser.com/questions/813865/i-want-to-copy-all-images-on-my-computer-to-a-single-folder Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) Easiest way to extract the contents of many folders at once?. https://superuser.com/questions/523816/easiest-way-to-extract-the-contents-of-many-folders-at-once Accessed 3/22/2023.

(5) Python Read multiple images from multiple folders. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44002577/python-read-multiple-images-from-multiple-folders Accessed 3/22/2023.

(6) How to Find All the Photos Stored on Your Windows 10 PC. https://www.howtogeek.com/393290/how-to-find-all-photos-stored-on-your-windows-10-pc/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

Question 5: How soon will hydrogen overtake gasoline in the industrial and transport sectors?

It is difficult to predict when hydrogen will overtake gasoline in the industrial and transport sectors. However, hydrogen has the potential to significantly reduce air pollution in the form of greenhouse gases from trucks, buses, planes, and ships⁵. The transport industry should prepare for a hydrogen-powered future². 

Hydrogen demand in the transportation and industry sectors is expected to grow, especially from 2025 onward, when more vehicles become available². By 2030, when projects are expected to be transitioning from the pilot stage to commercialization, the most attractive carriers are ammonia and LOHC with a transport cost (excluding hydrogen production) of $2.5-4.5/kg of hydrogen (for 10,000 km)³. 

Supplying hydrogen to industrial users is now a major business around the world. Demand for hydrogen, which has grown more than threefold since 1975, continues to rise – almost entirely supplied by fossil fuels, with 6% of global natural gas and 2% of global coal going to hydrogen production⁴. 

I hope this helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) Hydrogen’s Role in Transportation | Department of Energy. https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/hydrogens-role-transportation Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) Unlocking hydrogen’s power for long-haul freight transport. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/global-infrastructure-initiative/voices/unlocking-hydrogens-power-for-long-haul-freight-transport Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) Hydrogen costs hang on solving transportation - Reuters Events. https://www.reutersevents.com/renewables/renewables/hydrogen-costs-hang-solving-transportation Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) The Future of Hydrogen – Analysis - IEA. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen Accessed 3/22/2023.

(5) Hydrogen Could Become A $130 Billion U.S. Industry By 2050 ... - Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2019/10/07/how-hydrogen-could-become-a-130-billion-us-industry-and-cut-emissions-by-2050/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(6) Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Advances Cleaner Industrial .... https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/02/15/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-advances-cleaner-industrial-sector-to-reduce-emissions-and-reinvigorate-american-manufacturing/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

Next was a general question.

Question 6: Is India a success story?

India is a land of diversity, with people from different religions, states, and cultures. India has been an unprecedented story of success but challenges remain⁵. India is a story of democracy that has beaten all odds, yet it is also a story of unfulfilled potential⁵. There is no dearth of Indian success stories that are keeping up-and-coming entrepreneurs motivated⁴. 

I hope this helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) India has an unprecedented story of success, but challenges remain. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-an-unprecedented-story-of-success-but-challenges-remain/story-yKSQrsgKd3ivixEJJjLMvM.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) Indian Success Stories | Read The Inspiring Stories | Global Indian. https://www.globalindian.com/story/indian-success-stories/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) Success Story News | Latest News on Success Story - Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/success-story/news Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) Success Story News | Latest News on Success Story - Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/success-story/news Accessed 3/22/2023.

(5) Top 10 Success Stories of Inspiring Indian Entrepreneurs [2023]. https://digitalscholar.in/indian-entrepreneurs-success-stories/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(6) Digital India is a global success story. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/thedanispost/digital-india-is-a-global-success-story/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

It repeats searches and finds the same reference again and again. Probably lead by multiple links on the web to the same source. 

Question 7: Is India a success story looking at world news and not just Indian news sources?

This question was asked to improve upon the previous question.

India has been a success story in many ways, and it has been recognized globally. For example, Digital India is a global success story². India's democratic project is a success, and no other post-colonial democracy, with India's level of economic backwardness and social diversity, has sustained an almost uninterrupted democratic run⁹. However, India has its share of challenges, and unless it fixes its institutions, it will not become a developed nation in 25 years¹. 

I hope this helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) Digital India is a global success story. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/thedanispost/digital-india-is-a-global-success-story/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) India has an unprecedented story of success, but challenges remain. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-an-unprecedented-story-of-success-but-challenges-remain/story-yKSQrsgKd3ivixEJJjLMvM.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) Success Story News | Latest News on Success Story - Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/success-story/news Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) India is an unprecedented story of success, but challenges remain. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-an-unprecedented-story-of-success-but-challenges-remain/story-yKSQrsgKd3ivixEJJjLMvM.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(5) Under Modi, India’s Press Is Not So Free Anymore. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-press-media.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(6) India’s global success should be celebrated and not criticized. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/rrr-the-elephants-whisperers-all-that-breathes-indias-global-success-should-be-celebrated-and-not-criticized/articleshow/98749022.cms Accessed 3/22/2023.

(7) PM Modi’s jibe at Rahul: Some can’t stomach India’s success, so attacking it. https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/pm-modi-s-jibe-at-rahul-some-can-t-stomach-india-s-success-so-attacking-it/ar-AA18NQ3g Accessed 3/22/2023.

(8) Tristar: A success story. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-network/tristar-a-success-story Accessed 3/22/2023.

(9) success stories - The Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/success-stories Accessed 3/22/2023.

(10) Is India the new success story of the coronavirus pandemic?. https://www.wionews.com/india-news/is-india-the-new-success-story-of-coronavirus-pandemic-363890 Accessed 3/22/2023.

Question 8: What institutions need fixing for India to achieve guaranteed success?

This question was asked to dig further.

India needs to fix its institutions to become a developed nation in 25 years¹. The banking system is one of the institutions that need fixing². The union government has revealed a fiscal strategy for growth that seems to comprise three elements: protectionism through tariff hikes, production-linked incentives, and capital expenditure to create infrastructure¹. India has created several democratic institutions, like the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, NITI Aayog, NCLT, and GST council³. 

I hope this helps!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) India’s Technological Knowhow and Growth Opportunities | Fixing Urban .... https://bing.com/search?q=What+institutions+needs+fixing+for+India+to+achieve+a+guaranteed+success%3f Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) Here’s why fixing the banking system should be a top priority for India. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/heres-why-fixing-the-banking-system-should-be-a-top-priority-for-india/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) Success of India's democracy, institutions causing envy among some: PM .... https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/success-of-indias-democracy-institutions-causing-envy-among-some-pm-modi-2348550-2023-03-18 Accessed 3/22/2023.

Question 9: Why do you say the Indian banking system needs fixing since they suffered the least when two major banks failed in the USA and a major bank failed in Europe?

This question was asked based on the bot's previous answer.

I apologize for the confusion. I did not mean to imply that the Indian banking system is not doing well. However, the Indian banking system has had far higher non-performing loan ratios than other Asian banking systems since the mid-2010s and Indian banks have had far lower levels of capital³. This has weighed on banks' ability to extend credit because non-performing loans have reduced banks' profitability and risk depleting already low capital buffers³. 

I hope this helps!

Not bad, it even apologized!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 3/22/2023(1) The Indian Banking System | Bulletin – December 2021 | RBA. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2021/dec/the-indian-banking-system.html Accessed 3/22/2023.

(2) History of Banking In India - Evolution of Indian Banking System - BYJUS. https://byjus.com/bank-exam/history-banking-india/ Accessed 3/22/2023.

(3) Silicon Valley Bank collapse: Indian Banks are ‘not at risk’ from SVB .... https://www.zeebiz.com/personal-finance/banking/news-silicon-valley-bank-collapse-indian-banks-are-not-at-risk-from-svb-contagion-say-experts-here-s-why-226273 Accessed 3/22/2023.

(4) Silicon Valley Bank collapse: No major impact on Indian banking system .... https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-no-major-impact-on-indian-banking-system-say-experts/articleshow/98584861.cms Accessed 3/22/2023.

Looks like a more satisfactory search tool than Google at this point. 

Will Microsoft be able to steal Google's lunch?

Why should you learn Python?

There is great value in learning Python.

You may want to read this link to learn the use cases of Python.

Insurance: creating business insights with machine learning
Retail banking: flexible data transformation and manipulation
Aerospace: meeting software system deadlines
Finance: data mining to identity cross-sell opportunities
Business services: API access to financial information
Hardware: automating network administration
Healthcare: predicting disease prognosis
Consulting services: bespoke web development
InfoTech: IT modernization
Software: adding extensibility to legacy applications

Source:
https://www.activestate.com/resources/datasheets/top-10-python-use-cases/


Python is also used for backend in Web Applications where it is used for scripting
2) Desktop GUI Applications.
3) Software Development. ...
4) Scientific and Numeric. ...
5) Business Applications. ...
6) Console Based Application. ...
7) Audio or Video-based Applications. ...
8) 3D CAD Applications.

For more applications read here:
https://intersog.com/blog/python-application-development-common-use-cases-and-project-examples/

Read all Python-related posts in this blog:
https://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/search?q=python

Get going with SPSS

Data Science is trending. What with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, learning to work with statistical analysis tools will take you far.

Here is an IBM one liner for SPSS:

"Propel research & analysis with a fast and powerful solution"

SPSS is an acronym for Statistical Software for Social Sciences. Its beginnings dates back to 1968 and it was acquired by IBM in 2009. Files created by this software have the extension .sav. SPSS outputs tables and charts that can processed by MS Word, Google Docs, Open Office, etc.

SPSS can be used for editing and analyzing data similar to other software such as R, Excel, Python, etc.

Here is a PR demo from IBM

More SPSS stuff here:

https://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/2018/09/is-spss-software-free.html

https://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/2018/09/how-do-you-read-spss-file-using-r.html

You could get a copy for free for a short term.

You could the free version for 14 days. The free version also has the following Add-ons.

Custom Tables &amp; Advanced Statistics Users

Custom Tables and Advanced Statistics Add-on provides easy to use drag and drop interactive tables exportable to Microsoft/PDF. You can access a variety of additional techniques such as; Non-linear, logistic, 2-stage least squares regression, Generalized linear modeling and survival analysis. Additionally, Bayesian Statistics now available.

Complex Sampling &amp; Testing Users

Complex Sampling and Testing Add-on provides functionality for small sample sizes, missing data , and complex sampling. You can access regression with optimal scaling including lasso and elastic net. Additional features include; categorical principal components analysis, multidimensional scaling and unfolding, and multiple correspondence analysis.

Forecasting &amp; Decision Trees Users

Forecasting and Decision Trees Add-on provides ARIMA and exponential smoothing forecasting capabilities. Classification and decision trees based on four established tree-growing algorithms are also available. You can also create neural network predictive models as well as RFM analysis to test marketing campaigns.

Each of the add-ons costs $79.00

Go to this link and fill out the form for free download:

https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/us-en/signup?formid=urx-19774

Jump start AI/ML with the R Package caret

The most trending topics these days are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Every day you get tons of news about AI and ML. R programming language is well placed to initiate you into these 'esoteric' topics. There is a learning curve and should you learn to scale the peaks there will be rewards. So much of 'carrot' talk.

In R, the package that does a lot of work for you as far as AI and ML are concerned is the package 'caret'. You should load this package and use its library to begin your AI/ML related activities. Of course there are more roads to Rome than one.

If have been working with R, you can launch R and install the package. If you are using Microsoft R (R Server/ R Client), you can launch the R GUI.

Run the install statement ass shown:

> install.packages("caret")

Installing package into ‘C:/Users/Owner/Documents/R/win-library/3.3’

(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)

also installing the dependencies ‘minqa’, ‘nloptr’, ‘RcppEigen’, ‘lme4’, ‘SparseM’, ‘MatrixModels’, ‘pbkrtest’, ‘quantreg’, ‘car’

After contacting the site to download a number of packages are downloaded and checked as shown here:

package ‘minqa’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘nloptr’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘RcppEigen’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘lme4’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘SparseM’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘MatrixModels’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘pbkrtest’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘quantreg’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘car’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

package ‘caret’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

Note that the 'caret' library requires ggplot2 which will also be loaded, if you already have it.

Please look up other R related posts on this blog:

http://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/search?q=ggplot

Let us come back and look at how it may be used.

As is, this post is not 100% SQL Server except that I used the Microsoft R for this post.

caret documentation here.

Deep learning AI with Caffe2GO

You create a video and you want it the way Picasso or Monet would have visualized it. Can it be done? The answers appears to be answered by Facebook's Caffe2Go. It was easy with stills as many programs do it, but with a video it is another thing.

Caffe2Go is supposed to be third iteration of AI, the deep learning. This was possible earlier with big machines and lots of computing power, since the program has to learn the myrid images that these great artists envisioned it could not have been done otherwise. But to do it on the phone in the palm of your hand, that is something that Facebook seems to have pulled off, with the Facebook app Caffe2Go.

It is a deep learning platform on the mobile phone. The app takes the style of the artist and transforms the input video, it is basically a style transformer.

Here is a demo of this deep learning app:
https://www.facebook.com/Engineering/videos/1015460775164720

Microsoft goes after automakers

Of course it is Microsoft Azure Cloud Services that offers the platform for global automakers.

Here is the list who have signed up with Microsoft:
Renault-Nissan
Toyota
Ford
Most recently Tata Motors of India has inked the collaboration. According to Microsoft's guy in Mumbai they envisage 90% of new cars will be connected in the 2 to 3 years.

Microsoft offers:
IoT
AI
ML (Machine learning)
Global Cloud Management

What's in the offing regarding Tata Motors?

First auto with enhancements vis-a-vis Microsoft will be showcased at the 87th Geneva International Motor show.

Read more details here:
http://www.bsmotoring.com/news/tata-motors-logs-into-microsoft-to-improve-in-car-connected-experience/15303

Random thoughts on Google's foray into crowded smartphone market

The smartphone mobile area is full of actors having various kinds of difficulties from exploding phones to trembling hardware infected with 'touch disease'. Apart from the headline news of problems there is the underlying problem with 'Sales'. Well, Google wants to take on Apple, if I go by some of the Internet sites. Good luck Google! In any case, competition is good.

More here:
https://blog.google/products/pixel/introducing-pixel-our-new-phone-made-google/

Microsoft tried to enter smart phone market with a really good phone like Microsoft Lumia 950. Tiles display with living updates and badges is still to be copied. But, it has not made any significant dent and can Google with similarly priced phones with very similar features do any better. OK, there is a better camera, so what?

Google is also moving to AI-First from Mobile-First. Looks like it wants to one-up the Microsoft's Mobile-First slogan. That's OK, too. Everyone is on the AI bandwagon with Microsoft rearranging its entire AI related research activity by beefing up with more developers.

Google phones were already in the market with the brand name Nexus made by Chinese and Korean manufacturers but now PIXEL is a Google branded phone made to Google Specifications by HTC.

Verizon appears to be the sole vendor and I did not have a great experience with Verizon when I bought my Nokia Icon.

Pre-ordering has started in many countries and you can pre-order at the Google site.

The most significant feature of what makes Pixels  different from other phones it appears is its advertised AI integration embodied in Google Assistant whose name you can customize. Can it compete in a big way with Cortana, Siri and others? Wait and see how good it is! We probably need impartial technical fact checkers and some bench mark.

Apart from the Pixels, Google has come out with other products which may perhaps bring in more revenue although competition exists product-for-product for all of those new Google Products.

After Office 365 comes Dynamics 365

Microsoft's new formula for Dynamics includes this formula,

Dynamics 365= AzureCloud(Customer Relations Management + Enterprise Resource Planning).
Dynamics 365 will come along during this fall.

There was already both CRM and ERP cloud services but this new formula brings them all together while integrating tight with Office 365. With PowerBI and Cortana support this really gets interesting from the point of bottom line and both of these will be native to Dynamics 365.

Read this July blog post for more:

This is what Dynamics 365 is about according to Microsoft, excerpted from the above link:

"The combination of these things gives customers a comprehensive solution for business process innovation that lets them:

    Start with what they need by offering apps that fit roles, industries, businesses – and grow at their pace to run their entire business in the cloud. 

    Enable greater productivity where they need it by connecting structured workflow of business applications (Dynamics 365) and processes with the unstructured work of collaboration and productivity (Office 365) so employees are empowered with productivity tools surfaced in the context of their business processes, and vice versa.
    Gain built-in, actionable, intelligence with business applications that infuse big data, advanced analytics and IoT into processes which proactively guide employees and customers to optimal outcomes. With Dynamics 365, data and insights are transformed into intelligent action right where it’s needed, and without requiring an army of rocket scientists to make it happen.
    Be ready for growth through nimble, adaptable applications, that allow them to compose, modify and extend processes in real-time. Power BI, PowerApps and Microsoft Flow empower business users to change and adapt their processes without requiring IT support. And organizations can reimagine their business model with a consistent, flexible, extensible platform"

Dataiku Data Science Studio (DSS) now available as image on Microsoft Azure

Dataiku DSS allows data professionals to prototype, build and deploy specific services to transform raw data for Prediction or otherwise.

Once you have the data on Azure you can use DSS's web interface to load and prepare data in a visual interface; analyze and visualize data; and train machine algorithms to model your project. The resulting model can be finally automated to run entire workflow.

The pre-built image is now available on Azure, but you may need to go to the Azure's new portal here,

or get started from here.

Features that you may interested in:

• Connectivity: Connect to more than 25 data storage systems

• Data Wrangling: Interactive data cleaning and enrichment
• Machine Learning: Step-by-step guided machine learning
• Data Mining : Immediate visual insights
• Data Visualization: Histogram, maps, scatter plots, heat maps, boxplots, and so much more.
  Easily build visualisations and explore your data with drag and drop functionalities.
  -DSS automatically computes charts on your existing Big Data infrastructure (SQL or Impala) for optimal performance.
• Data Workflow: Visualize and re-run Workflows
• Real-time Scoring: Go from design to production, instantaneously

Other features of importance:

Collaboration: Integrated documentation and knowledge sharing
Deployment: Deploy workflows using staged deployment models
Enterprise readiness: Data governance and fine grained data access and integration with Hadoop

Watch this video from Dataiku here:

Big data, Analytics, AI addressing Oncology questions

AI recently has come to the forefront gaining notoriety as the harbinger of 'Killer Robots'.
AI at its core is machine intelligence and IBM has worked on AI since the early days of AI. We all remember the movie Space Odyssey 2001 where the computer HAL 9000 could not only understand natural language but was also able to read lips.

AI cannot be all that bad and it can be most useful in answering questions of great importance, fast and accurate based on knowledge.

IBM's Watson products (Watson for Oncology, Discovery Advisor and Engagement Advisor) are based on harvesting massive amount of information and digesting them and putting them to good use by charting out actions. The information comes from many different sources structured, unstructured  depending on the question Watson has to answer.

Watson for Oncology is a smart software product for medicine and the AI training has been received at Sloan Kettering and is able to deliver answers to oncology related questions and help doctors to find the most efficacious treatment options. It does to by cross-referencing the patient information against massive medical databases; curated texts from medical conferences, articles and other announcements. 

Cancer treatment has moved away from generic to customization.

Here is Watson for Oncology from the IBM Site.