Authorities in Attapeu Province cancelled a purchase order for new vehicles under the state budget on Wednesday last week following a stern warning from the PM.
Unique French-English bilingual programme at the Canadian International School (CIS) expanding from August 2021
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – The Canadian International School (CIS) in Singapore is delighted to announce the expansion of its unique French-English bilingual programme at the Lakeside campus with the opening of a class in grade 1, 2 and 5 starting in August 2021. Going forward, the programme will now be available to students at its Lakeside campus from grade 1 through to grade 5.
“We are extremely excited about the programme’s expansion as we are the only international school in Singapore to offer a French-English bilingual program fully aligned to the International Baccalaureate PYP framework, ” says CIS Head of School Pete Corcoron. “We are delighted students can now take advantage and enjoy the programme’s unique benefits for a longer period.”
The decision to open up an additional class underscores CIS’ reputation as one of the most experienced and trusted international schools in Singapore to offer bilingual programmes. In addition to CIS’s French-English bilingual programme they also offer a Chinese-English bilingual programme for students in junior kindergarten to grade 6.
The French-English bilingual programme objective
To educate students to become bilingual, biliterate and bicultural in both French and English.
Key features of the French-English bilingual programme
Each class has two qualified teachers — one English speaker and one French speaker. Instruction is inquiry-based and fully aligned to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). Students have equal exposure to both languages — classes are in English one day and French the next.
CIS’ teaching approach
All learning is done through inquiry. Wherever possible, CIS uses authentic materials (such as songs, stories, TV and websites) instead of textbooks, and engage students in active, hands-on activities like acting out plays, cooking and participating in quizzes. The school places a strong emphasis on creating authentic experiences where learning mirrors real-life activities. CIS don’t do any translating. All learning is done through immersion.
Who can enrol?
While language requirements do apply, CIS welcomes students from all backgrounds. Some students are French native-speakers while others have been educated in a French-speaking school or have a strong connection and passion for the French language.
Appier’s Viewpoints on Machine Learning as a Service: Challenges and Opportunities
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – Appier, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, today announces its viewpoints of challenges and opportunities when adopting Machine Learning as a Service in the real world. Machine learning (ML) is a vital technology for companies seeking a competitive advantage, as it can process large volumes of data fast that can help businesses overcome challenges such as more effectively make recommendations to customers, hone manufacturing processes or anticipate changes to a market. Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) is defined in a business context as companies designing and implementing ML models to provide a continuous and consistent service to customers.
Businesses today are dealing with huge amounts of data and the volume is growing faster than ever. At the same time, the competitive landscape is changing rapidly and it’s critical for commercial organizations to make decisions fast. Business success comes from making quick, accurate decisions using the best possible information. This is critical in areas where customer needs and behaviours change rapidly. For example, in 2020, people had to change how they shop, work and socialize as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and businesses have had to shift how they service customers to meet their needs. This means that the technology they are using to gather and process data also needs to be flexible and adaptable to new data inputs, allowing businesses to move fast and make the best decisions.
Appier observes that one current challenge of taking ML models to MLaaS has to do with how we currently build ML models and how we teach future ML talent to do it. Most research and development of ML models focuses on building individual models that use a set of training data (with pre-assigned features and labels) to deliver the best performance in predicting the labels of another set of data (normally we call it testing data). However, if we’re looking at real-world businesses trying to meet the ever-evolving needs of real-life customers, the boundary between training and testing data becomes less clear. The testing or prediction data for today can be exploited as the training data to create a better model in the future.
Based on Appier’s years of practical experience, the data used for training a model will no doubt be imperfect for several reasons. Besides the fact that real-world data sources can be incomplete or unstructured (such as open answer customer questionnaires), they can come from a biased collection process. For instance, the data to be used for training a recommendation model are normally collected from the feedback of another recommender system currently serving online. Thus, the data collected are biased by the online serving model.
Additionally, sometimes the outcome we care about most is the hardest to evaluate. Let’s take digital marketing for ecommerce as an example. The most straightforward customer journey would be ‘click item, view item, add item to cart, purchase item’. However, the process is rarely this simple- people might look at an item several times on different devices, and they may remove it from the cart before putting it back in or abandon the purchase altogether.
Usually, the actions in the deeper funnel (i.e. purchase) are much harder to obtain than the ones on the upper funnel. For example, If the consumer does not complete the purchase on your platform, you will never know if he has lost interest in the product, or if there’s another reason he didn’t buy the item. If an MLaSS model relies only on the simplest metrics (i.e. clicks and view), its suggestion (e.g. when to send out marketing messages) will not align with the ultimate business goal.
Finally, for a B2B AI company that provides machine learning services, they normally need to serve thousands or even more customers from different domains. This means there will always be at least multi-thousand models serving online. Furthermore, for those models to consistently perform to meet ongoing and constantly shifting business goals, they need to be retrained or updated every day to keep up with evolving real-world scenarios. To achieve those goals, one needs to design not only an automated training pipeline but also to guarantee that models will have close to zero probability to converge to a bad local optimal.
In many cases when an unexpected outcome is delivered by Machine Learning model, it’s not the machine learning that has broken down but some other part of the chain. For example, a recommendation engine may have offered a product to a customer, but the connection between the sales system and the recommendation could be broken, and it takes time to find the bug. In this case, it would be hard to tell the model if the recommendation was successful. Troubleshooting issues like this can be quite labor intensive and is a capability that companies adopting MLaaS need to have in place.
Ensuring the overall stability and robustness of MLaaS models is critical. It requires significant ongoing investment, research and experimentation, but the rewards for businesses can be huge, allowing them to quickly adapt and pivot to changing business environments and allowing them to stay ahead of the game. For more artificial intelligence and machine learning information, please refer to the Appier blog.
About Appier
Appier helps businesses solve their most challenging problems with artificial intelligence. It is a partner to some of the world’s leading brands, providing a suite of enterprise-grade products to support data-driven decisions and accelerate business growth. Established in 2012 by a passionate team of computer scientists and engineers, Appier now has more than 450 employees across 15 offices in APAC and Europe, and is recognized as a Top 50 AI company by Fortune Magazine. Appier has raised US$162 million in funding from investors including Sequoia, Softbank, and Line. Learn more at www.appier.com.
Laos to Receive 564,000 Doses of Covid-19 Vaccine Under COVAX AMC
Laos has been allocated an initial tranche of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX initiative.
DHL Express delivers first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Malaysia
Rigorous planning and testing were undertaken by DHL to ensure supply chains support the vaccine’s stringent temperature requirements
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 21 February 2021 – DHL Express, the world’s leading express service provider has successfully delivered the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Malaysia today. From door-to-door in just three days, DHL Express worked with Malaysia Aviation Group’s cargo subsidiary MABkargo Sdn. Bhd. (MASkargo) to fly the vaccines in and subsequently arranged for it to be sent directly to designated facilities across Kuala Lumpur.
DHL Express delivers first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Malaysia
“In the past year, our teams across the world have truly embodied the As One spirit, coming together to deliver personal protective equipment, medical necessities and daily essentials to communities in need. We have now come full circle to elevate our purpose of connecting people and improving lives with the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines to countries everywhere including the very first of shipments to Middle East, and now to Malaysia,” said Ken Lee, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific.
“We are proud to have the opportunity to make a difference and I can assure you that no effort is spared in ensuring that our well-established DHL Medical Express solution adhere to the stringent requirements of speed, quality, security and reliability when it comes to transporting these precious cargo,” he added.
One of the key challenges faced in the shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine is the stringent temperature requirements of the vaccine. The vaccine was delivered in specially designed thermal shipper packaging customised by the manufacturer. Each shipment was packed with dry ice to regulate the temperature, enabling its use in locations that lack the physical infrastructure to otherwise maintain the required temperature. Temperature trackers equipped with sophisticated GPS technology are also packed within each thermal shipper box to provide full visibility throughout the shipment’s entire journey.
“As COVID-19 continues to devastate lives and livelihoods, the vaccines represent hope for a better 2021,” said Julian Neo, Managing Director of DHL Express Malaysia and Brunei. “Organising their distribution to so many people in such a short time will be an extremely complex operation that we are well-equipped and proud to contribute to. Since the onset of the pandemic, DHL Express has leveraged our broad experience and expertise to help maintain the integrity of the healthcare supply chain, ensuring vital supplies and protective equipment reach communities and medical stakeholders in need.”
More than 9,000 life sciences and healthcare specialists work across DHL’s dedicated global network so that pharmaceutical, medical devices, clinical trials and research organisations, wholesalers and distributors, as well as hospitals and healthcare providers are connected across the value chain and through digitalisation, from clinical trials to point of care, and every step in between.
DHL’s portfolio for the healthcare industry includes 150+ pharmacists, 20+ clinical trials depots, 100+ certified stations, 160+ GDP-qualified warehouses, 15+ GMP-certified sites, 135+ medical express sites, and a time-definite international express network covering over 220 countries and territories.
On a global scale, logistics providers are challenged to establish medical supply chain rapidly to deliver vaccines of unprecedented amount of more than 10 billion doses worldwide–also in regions with less developed logistics infrastructures, where approximately 3 billion people live. To provide global coverage over the next two years, DHL estimated in its vaccine logistics whitepaper that up to 200,000 pallet shippers and 15 million cooling boxes as well as 15,000 flights will be required across the various supply chain setups.
DHL – The logistics company for the world
DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global sustainable trade flows. With specialised solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing and energy, auto-mobility and retail, DHL is decisively positioned as “The logistics company for the world”.
DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 63 billion euros in 2019. With sustainable business practices and a commitment to society and the environment, the Group makes a positive contribution to the world. Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve zero-emissions logistics by 2050.
Thailand Opens Replica Luang Prabang Town at Bangkok Shopping Mall
A shopping mall in Thailand has opened a replica Luang Prabang display offering Thais the chance to experience the tourist town of Laos while travel is not possible.
Sex Workers Tested for Sexually Transmitted Diseases at Golden Triangle SEZ
Over thirty sex workers employed in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone have tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases.
Ohmyhome Officially Launches Renovations Services to Expand End-to-end Service Line-up
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 19 February 2021 – Ohmyhome, homegrown one-stop Property Technology company, today officially launched its renovation services adding to the company’s suite of end-to-end services. From property searching to post-purchase services, Ohmyhome users can engage in quality and trusted services at every step of their housing journey without leaving the app.
Despite being one of the most important steps to achieving their dream homes, property owners still face perennial renovation woes such as unclear costing, inconsistent communication, delays, and renovation disputes. With high quality and consistency as its cornerstone, Ohmyhome Renovation effectively tackles these issues to deliver a simple, convenient, and quality experience for homeowners.
Ohmyhome has also assembled an experienced team of in-house interior designers, led by Demi Goh. A Top 15 finalist for Upcycled Architecture in the Fentress Global Challenge in 2014, Demi brings an impressive portfolio that emphasizes modern aesthetics with timeless and liveable design. Coupled with high quality materials from their partners, Ohmyhome Renovation is primed to exceed the discerning tastes of today’s condominium and landed property owners.
The Ohmyhome Renovation Experience
The process of engaging Ohmyhome renovation services is simple and transparent. When a customer expresses interest, they are put in touch with one of Ohmyhome’s in-house interior designers who will help translate the homeowner’s vision into concrete designs. Customers will receive a complimentary design proposal with fully transparent costing so that they will know exactly what they pay for. Once the proposal is confirmed, materials are ordered and the renovation is carried out with Ohmyhome’s trusted partners.
Renovation packages start from $9,888 and come with a one-year warranty.
With the official launch of Ohmyhome renovation, the proptech company extends its ethos of simplicity, convenience, and customer-oriented service to this important post-purchase process. Race Wong, co-Founder and CPO of Ohmyhome, shared “Renovation is an integral step to turning a house into a home, every corner matters to us and customer satisfaction is paramount. That’s why we’ve gathered experienced in-house design and project management teams along with a network of trusted and reliable partners so that every renovation project will be seamless, timely, and of the highest quality. At Ohmyhome Renovation, our business is making your dream home into a reality”.
To make an appointment for Ohmyhome renovation services call the hotline at 6886 9009, or visit https://renovation.ohmyhome.com/en-sg/