About the Author

David Julian is currently working on a machine learning project with Urban Ecological Systems Ltd and Blue Smart Farms (http://www.bluesmartfarms.com.au) to detect and predict insect infestation in greenhouse crops. He is currently collecting a labeled training set that includes images and environmental data (temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and pH), linking this data to observations of infestation (the target variable), and using it to train neural net models. The aim is to create a model that will reduce the need for direct observation, be able to anticipate insect outbreaks, and subsequently control conditions. There is a brief outline of the project at http://davejulian.net/projects/ues. David also works as a data analyst, I.T. consultant, and trainer.

I would like to thank Hogan Gleeson, James Fuller, Kali McLaughlin and Nadine Miller. This book would not have been possible without the great work of the open source machine learning community.