New version 2.4 available now

To the people who don't use or need data-mining, data-modelling or prediction software, it can seem pretty dull -- the province of scientists or IT experts. The truth, however, is that such software has significant real-world implications both theoretical and practical, as evidenced by KnowledgeMiner's self-titled software for data analysis in Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet application. In addition to announcing an update to v2.4 that splits the product into single-processor and multi-processor versions, the company has highlighted a case study where the use of KnowledgeMiner (yX)'s ability to reveal trends and patterns is actually saving the lives of thousands of animals formerly used for chemical testing in the European Union.

Version 2.4 of KnowledgeMiner (yX) for Excel splits the product into two versions; a single-processor edition ($300) intended for basic modelling and data mining needs, and a multi-core version ($1500) for high-end, high-performance parallel forecasting, modelling, and classification purposes. Through the use of parallelization, KnowledgeMiner (yX) can be up to 1000 times faster on a 12-core Mac Pro than it would be on a single-processor PPC Mac (which can only run data sequentially), and six times faster than standard dual-core Macs. The new version also features an inputs range check implemented for models exported to Excel, and includes a sample of publicly-available data to use for modelling and prediction of climate changes.

The company is proud of the role KnowledgeMiner (yX) has played in saving the lives of thousands of animals per year, by being able to predict the carcinogenicity, skin sensitization, developmental toxicity and acute toxicity of pesticides based on the compounds' chemical structures. Previously, lab animals were used to text the toxicity of these compounds. Interested parties can read the results of the project to replace animal testing with data predictions of environmental repercussions of toxicity residues based on information extracted via KnowledgeMiner (yX).

KnowledgeMiner (yX) requires 10.5 or later, Intel Macs recommended (and the more cores the better), and Microsoft Excel 2004 or 2008 (2011 support is available via free update). A demo version that is multi-core aware but limited to 30 inputs and 5,000 samples is available.

by MacNN Staff