Amazon Web Services MLS-C01 - AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty

The Amazon SageMaker k-Nearest-Neighbors (kNN) algorithm is a supervised learning algorithm that can perform both classification and regression tasks. It can also handle time series data, such as the air quality data in this case. The kNN algorithm works by finding the k most similar instances in the training data to a given query instance, and then predicting the output based on the average or majority of the outputs of the k nearest neighbors. The kNN algorithm can be configured to use different distance metrics, such as Euclidean or cosine, to measure the similarity between instances. To use the kNN algorithm on the single time series consisting of the full year of data, the Machine Learning Specialist needs to set the predictor_type parameter to regressor, as the output variable (air quality in parts per million of contaminates) is a continuous value. The kNN algorithm can then forecast the air quality for the next 2 days by finding the k most similar days in the past year and averaging their air quality values.

Amazon SageMaker k-Nearest-Neighbors (kNN) Algorithm - Amazon SageMaker

Time Series Forecasting using k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN) in Python | by …

Time Series Forecasting with k-Nearest Neighbors | by Nishant Malik …

 A deep convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier is a suitable architecture for image classification tasks, as it can learn features from the images and reduce the dimensionality of the input. A linear output layer that outputs the probability that an image contains a car is appropriate for a binary classification problem, as it can produce a single scalar value between 0 and 1. A softmax output layer is more suitable for a multi-class classification problem, as it can produce a vector of probabilities that sum up to 1. A deep multilayer perceptron (MLP) classifier is not as effective as a CNN for image classification, as it does not exploit the spatial structure of the images and requires a large number of parameters to process the high-dimensional input. References:

AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty Exam Guide

AWS Training - Machine Learning on AWS

AWS Whitepaper - An Overview of Machine Learning on AWS

A stratified k-fold cross-validation strategy is a technique that preserves the class distribution in each fold. This is important for imbalanced datasets, such as the one in the question, where the disease is seen in only 3% of the population. If a random k-fold cross-validation strategy is used, some folds may have no positive cases or very few, which would lead to poor estimates of the model performance. A stratified k-fold cross-validation strategy ensures that each fold has the same proportion of positive and negative cases as the whole dataset, which makes the evaluation more reliable and robust. A k-fold cross-validation strategy with k=5 and 3 repeats is also a possible option, but it is more computationally expensive and may not be necessary if the stratification is done properly. An 80/20 stratified split between training and validation is another option, but it uses less data for training and validation than k-fold cross-validation, which may result in higher variance and lower accuracy of the estimates. References:

AWS Machine Learning Specialty Certification Exam Guide

AWS Machine Learning Training: Model Evaluation

How to Fix k-Fold Cross-Validation for Imbalanced Classification

The solution C will meet the requirements because it uses Amazon SageMaker Spot Instances, which are unused EC2 instances that are available at up to 90% discount compared to On-Demand prices. Amazon SageMaker Spot Instances can speed up training and lower costs by taking advantage of the spare EC2 capacity. The company does not need to make any code changes to use Spot Instances, as it can simply enable the managed spot training option in the SageMaker training job configuration. The company also does not need to implement model checkpoints, as it is using only one epoch for training, which means the model will not resume from a previous state1.

The other options are not suitable because:

Option A: Configuring the SageMaker training job to use Pipe mode instead of File mode will not speed up training or lower costs significantly. Pipe mode is a data ingestion mode that streams data directly from S3 to the training algorithm, without copying the data to the local storage of the training instance. Pipe mode can reduce the startup time of the training job and the disk space usage, but it does not affect the computation time or the instance price. Moreover, Pipe mode may require some code changes to handle the streaming data, depending on the training algorithm2.

Option B: Configuring the SageMaker training job to use FastFile mode instead of File mode will not speed up training or lower costs significantly. FastFile mode is a data ingestion mode that copies data from S3 to the local storage of the training instance in parallel with the training process. FastFile mode can reduce the startup time of the training job and the disk space usage, but it does not affect the computation time or the instance price. Moreover, FastFile mode is only available for distributed training jobs that use multiple instances, which is not the case for the company3.

Option D: Configuring the SageMaker training job to use Spot Instances and implementing model checkpoints will not meet the requirements without the need to make any code changes. Model checkpoints are a feature that allows the training job to save the model state periodically to S3, and resume from the latest checkpoint if the training job is interrupted. Model checkpoints can help to avoid losing the training progress and ensure the model convergence, but they require some code changes to implement the checkpointing logic and the resuming logic4.

1: Managed Spot Training - Amazon SageMaker

2: Pipe Mode - Amazon SageMaker

3: FastFile Mode - Amazon SageMaker

4: Checkpoints - Amazon SageMaker

Forecasting is a type of machine learning model that predicts future values of a target variable based on historical data and other features. Forecasting is suitable for problems that involve time-series data, such as the number of claims in each category from month to month. Forecasting can handle multiple categories of the target variable, as well as missing or partial information on some features. Therefore, option C is the best choice for the given problem.

Option A is incorrect because classification is a type of machine learning model that assigns a label to an input based on predefined categories. Classification is not suitable for predicting continuous or numerical values, such as the number of claims in each category from month to month. Moreover, classification requires sufficient and complete information on the features that are relevant to the target variable, which is not the case for the given problem. Option B is incorrect because reinforcement learning is a type of machine learning model that learns from its own actions and rewards in an interactive environment. Reinforcement learning is not suitable for problems that involve historical data and do not require an agent to take actions. Option D is incorrect because it combines two different types of machine learning models, which is unnecessary and inefficient. Moreover, classification is not suitable for predicting the number of claims in some categories, as explained in option A.

Forecasting | AWS Solutions for Machine Learning (AI/ML) | AWS Solutions Library

Time Series Forecasting Service – Amazon Forecast – Amazon Web Services

Amazon Forecast: Guide to Predicting Future Outcomes - Onica

Amazon Launches What-If Analyses for Machine Learning Forecasting …

The best solution for this scenario is to use a multi-model endpoint in Amazon SageMaker, which allows hosting multiple models on the same endpoint and invoking them dynamically at runtime. This way, the company can reduce the operational overhead of managing multiple EC2 instances and model servers, and leverage the scalability, security, and performance of SageMaker hosting services. By using a multi-model endpoint, the company can also save on hosting costs by improving endpoint utilization and paying only for the models that are loaded in memory and the API calls that are made. To use a multi-model endpoint, the company needs to prepare a Docker container based on the open-source multi-model server, which is a framework-agnostic library that supports loading and serving multiple models from Amazon S3. The company can then create a multi-model endpoint in SageMaker, pointing to the S3 bucket containing all the models, and invoke the endpoint from the web client at runtime, specifying the TargetModel parameter according to the city of each request. This solution also enables the company to add or remove models from the S3 bucket without redeploying the endpoint, and to use different versions of the same model for different cities if needed. References:

Use Docker containers to build models

Host multiple models in one container behind one endpoint

Multi-model endpoints using Scikit Learn

Multi-model endpoints using XGBoost

Using log-scaled hyperparameters is a guideline that can improve the automatic model tuning in Amazon SageMaker. Log-scaled hyperparameters are hyperparameters that have values that span several orders of magnitude, such as learning rate, regularization parameter, or number of hidden units. Log-scaled hyperparameters can be specified by using a log-uniform distribution, which assigns equal probability to each order of magnitude within a range. For example, a log-uniform distribution between 0.001 and 1000 can sample values such as 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100, or 1000 with equal probability. Using log-scaled hyperparameters can allow the hyperparameter optimization feature to search the hyperparameter space more efficiently and effectively, as it can explore different scales of values and avoid sampling values that are too small or too large. Using log-scaled hyperparameters can also help avoid numerical issues, such as underflow or overflow, that may occur when using linear-scaled hyperparameters. Using log-scaled hyperparameters can be done by setting the ScalingType parameter to Logarithmic when defining the hyperparameter ranges in Amazon SageMaker12

The other options are not valid or relevant guidelines for improving the automatic model tuning in Amazon SageMaker. Choosing the maximum number of hyperparameters supported by Amazon SageMaker to search the largest number of combinations possible is not a good practice, as it can increase the time and cost of the tuning job and make it harder to find the optimal values. Amazon SageMaker supports up to 20 hyperparameters for tuning, but it is recommended to choose only the most important and influential hyperparameters for the model and algorithm, and use default or fixed values for the rest3 Specifying a very large hyperparameter range to allow Amazon SageMaker to cover every possible value is not a good practice, as it can result in sampling values that are irrelevant or impractical for the model and algorithm, and waste the tuning budget. It is recommended to specify a reasonable and realistic hyperparameter range based on the prior knowledge and experience of the model and algorithm, and use the results of the tuning job to refine the range if needed4 Executing only one hyperparameter tuning job at a time and improving tuning through successive rounds of experiments is not a good practice, as it can limit the exploration and exploitation of the hyperparameter space and make the tuning process slower and less efficient. It is recommended to use parallelism and concurrency to run multiple training jobs simultaneously and leverage the Bayesian optimization algorithm that Amazon SageMaker uses to guide the search for the best hyperparameter values5

The solution C meets the requirements because it minimizes costs for compute infrastructure, maximizes the scalability of resources for training, and facilitates the use of an ML model in low-connectivity environments. The solution C involves the following steps:

Move the training data to an Amazon S3 bucket. This will enable the company to store the large amount of data in a durable, scalable, and cost-effective way. It will also allow the company to access the data from the cloud for training and evaluation purposes1.

Train and evaluate the model by using Amazon SageMaker. This will enable the company to use a fully managed service that provides various features and tools for building, training, tuning, and deploying ML models. Amazon SageMaker can handle large-scale data processing and distributed training, and it can leverage the power of AWS compute resources such as Amazon EC2, Amazon EKS, and AWS Fargate2.

Optimize the model by using SageMaker Neo. This will enable the company to reduce the size of the model and improve its performance and efficiency. SageMaker Neo can compile the model into an executable that can run on various hardware platforms, such as CPUs, GPUs, and edge devices3.

Set up an edge device in the manufacturing facilities with AWS IoT Greengrass. This will enable the company to deploy the model on a local device that can run inference in real time, even in low-connectivity environments. AWS IoT Greengrass can extend AWS cloud capabilities to the edge, and it can securely communicate with the cloud for updates and synchronization4.

Deploy the model on the edge device. This will enable the company to automate quality control in its facilities by using the model to detect defects in new parts as they move on a conveyor belt. The model can run inference locally on the edge device without requiring internet connectivity, and it can send the results to the cloud when the connection is available4.

The other options are not suitable because:

Option A: Deploying the model on a SageMaker hosting services endpoint will not facilitate the use of the model in low-connectivity environments, as it will require internet access to perform inference. Moreover, it may incur higher costs for hosting and data transfer than deploying the model on an edge device.

Option B: Training and evaluating the model on premises will not minimize costs for compute infrastructure, as it will require the company to maintain and upgrade its own hardware and software. Moreover, it will not maximize the scalability of resources for training, as it will limit the company’s ability to leverage the cloud’s elasticity and flexibility.

Option D: Training the model on premises will not minimize costs for compute infrastructure, nor maximize the scalability of resources for training, for the same reasons as option B.

1: Amazon S3

2: Amazon SageMaker

3: SageMaker Neo

4: AWS IoT Greengrass

The services that are integrated with Amazon SageMaker to track the information that the Machine Learning Specialist needs are AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch. AWS CloudTrail is a service that records the API calls and events for AWS services, including Amazon SageMaker. AWS CloudTrail can track the actions performed by the Data Scientists, such as creating notebooks, training models, and deploying endpoints. AWS CloudTrail can also provide information such as the identity of the user, the time of the action, the parameters used, and the response elements returned. AWS CloudTrail can help the Machine Learning Specialist to monitor the usage and activity of Amazon SageMaker, as well as to audit and troubleshoot any issues1 Amazon CloudWatch is a service that collects and analyzes the metrics and logs for AWS services, including Amazon SageMaker. Amazon CloudWatch can track the performance and utilization of the Amazon SageMaker endpoints, such as the CPU and GPU utilization, the inference latency, the number of invocations, etc. Amazon CloudWatch can also track the errors and alarms that are generated when an endpoint is invoked, such as the model errors, the throttling errors, the HTTP errors, etc. Amazon CloudWatch can help the Machine Learning Specialist to optimize the operational performance and reliability of Amazon SageMaker, as well as to set up notifications and actions based on the metrics and logs