An application of artificial neural network classifier for medical diagnosis

In recent year, various models have been proposed for medical diagnosis, which broadly can be classified into physical-based approaches and statistical-based approaches. Uncertainty and imprecision are the most important problems in medical diagnosis, other many problems in medical diagnostic domains need to be represented at varying degrees of diagnosis to be solved. Moreover, classification is very important in computer-aided medical diagnosis. In this respect, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) have been successfully applied and with no doubt, they provide the ability and potentials to diagnose the diseases. Therefore, this research focuses on using ANN to classify medical data. ANN model with two layers of tunable weights were used and trained using four different backpropagation algorithms while are the gradient descent(GD), gradient descent with momentum(GDM), gradient descent with adaptive learning rate(GDA) and gradient descent with momentum and adaptive learning rate(GDX). The network was used to classify three sets of medical data taken from UCI machine learning repository. The ability of all training algorithms tested and compared to each other on all datasets. Simulation results proved the ability of ANN for medical data classification with high accuracy and excellent performance and efficiency. This research provides the possibility of reduce costs and human resources. Increasing speed to find the results of medical analysis by using ANN also contributes in saving time for both physicians and patient

Stylistic Intertextuality in Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and Ngugi’s “A Grain of Wheat”

The main aim of this paper is to stylistically unveil the intertextual points in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat and Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. It tries to explicate the intersectional points that relate the two novels via adopting the school of New Historicism as its literary theoretical framework. Through a close stylistic analysis of the two novels in terms of diction, illusion and other aspects in which the two novels relate, it is clear that both authors use intertextual materials in the composition of their literary texts. Both writers make use of their historical background and life experiences in as foregrounds in portraying the realities faced by their main characters in the novels

MEASURING EFFICACY OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES THROUGH CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS – A STUDY ON COCONUT RETAIL MARKETS IN TUMKUR

Since the marketing of coconuts in Tumkur is experiencing a steady decline, the purpose of this study is to assess the current marketing activities of coconut retailers, measure how effective those activities are, and advise those retailers on how to implement the most effective marketing strategies for future gains. The connection between the two criteria, marketing activity and marketing efficacy, is currently the subject of research that is being conducted. The merchants of the Tumkur market are the source of the primary data. The research covers the Taluks of Gubbi, Tiptur, Thruvekere, and Chicknayakanahalli. According to the data from the Coconut Development Board for 2015-16, these are the five Taluks that generate the most coconuts (Latest available). The researchers are interested in coconut product manufacturers and sellers located in the Taluks that have been designated for Tumkur. The number of stores in the sample is 125, and it was calculated using the Cochran Formula with a confidence level of 95% and an error margin of 10%. The questionnaire was constructed with consideration given to the findings of the study review. The retail shop data, marketing activity, and marketing effectiveness sections make up the three parts of the questionnaire. The SPSS Version 25 and AMOS R Version 23 software packages are utilized in the data analysis process. It is not possible to generalize the findings of this study to other goods or services because it is limited to coconut retail establishments in Tumkur's four Taluks. According to the data, there is a correlation between a one percent increase in marketing activity and a 0.69 percent increase in marketing effectiveness. The retention of customers should be the primary focus of the marketing plan employed by a retail business in order to be successful. In order for marketing to be successful, it needs to be incorporated into the overall business plan. This strategy dictates how the store may effectively engage customers, prospects, and other businesses operating in the same market. According to the conclusions of the research, there are a number of essential elements that contribute to the success of retail outlets in the Coconut market. These factors include product policy, price strategy, delivery, advertising, and physical evidence plan.    &nbsp

Аналіз відмінностей тем, якості письма та стилістичного контексту в есеях студентів коледжу на основі комп’ютерної програми Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC).

Machine methods for automatically analyzing text have been investigated for decades. Yet the availability and usability of these methods for classifying and scoring specialized essays in small samples–as is typical for ordinary coursework–remains unclear. In this paper we analyzed 156 essays submitted by students in a first-year college rhetoric course. Using cognitive and affective measures within Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), we tested whether machine analyses could i) distinguish among essay topics, ii) distinguish between high and low writing quality, and iii) identify differences due to changes in rhetorical context across writing assignments. The results showed positive results for all three tests. We consider ways that LIWC may benefit college instructors in assessing student compositions and in monitoring the effectiveness of the course curriculum. We also consider extensions of machine assessments for instructional applications.Машинні методи автоматичного аналізу тексту та їхні можливості вивчалися впродовж десятиліть. Однак питання доступності та зручності використання цих методів для класифікації та оцінки спеціалізованих есеїв у невеликих зразках, як, наприклад, курсових роботах, залишається досі малодослідженим питанням. У статті проаналізовано 139 есеїв із курсу стилістики, написаних студентами першого курсу. На основі використання когнітивних та афективних категорій програми Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) було перевірено здатність машинного аналізу: а) розмежовувати теми есеїв, б) розрізняти високу та низьку якість письма та в) виявляти відмінності через зміни стилістичного контексту написаних завдань. Дослідження засвідчило позитивні результати для всіх трьох тестових перевірок. Увагу авторів зосереджено на тому, як LIWC може полегшити роботу університетських викладачів під час оцінки ними студентських творів та моніторингу ефективності навчальної програми курсу. Крім того, у статті розглянуто питання перспектив машинного оцінювання викладацьких застосунків

Radiative Conductivity Estimation Using Direct Approach For Fibrous Materials

During planetary entry, space vehicles encounter high loads of thermal energy which requires a thermal protection system. Ablative thermal protection systems are usually made out of fibrous materials that exhibit internal radiation. In order to model the internal radiation response of a thermal protection system one should obtain proper radiative properties as well as thermal properties. The objective of this work is to provide a method that solves for the solid/gas thermal conductivity. Which can be used in coupled detailed radiative analysis. Keywords: radiative conductivity, fibrous materials, radiative transfer, thermal protection system, P1 approximation, Finite Volume method

Epistemological Crisis in Ethical Governance and Constructing a New Islamic Episteme as an Ethical Theory: A Case of Institution of Hisbah

The research presented in this thesis explores the governance within Islamic thought in the case of the institution of hisbah as well as exploring the episteme that is the cause of the recognised and unrecognised incoherencies and inconsistencies in the theories, regulations, and laws associated to the institution of hisbah. The analysis is based on conducting an epistemological examination in moral philosophical dialect in relation to the historical regulative institution of hisbah. Institution of hisbah constitutes the focus of this research, because this institution was politically structured, theologically positioned and theoretically entrusted to maintain public law and order, with the objective of supervising the behaviour in society and market from an Islamic perspective by using Islamic legal theories within its own theoretical framework with the aim of subscribing good and forbidding evil. The analysis presented found that the institution of hisbah was subject to continuous institutional failures throughout its history. In advancing the analysis, the research deconstructs the theoretical framework upon which the institution of hisbah located its operations for the moral governance of the market and the society. The deconstruction of theoretical frameworks point to the use of Islamic legal theory and juristic subjectivity for judging the moral conduct of activities as the root cause of the problem. The study further deconstructed the Islamic legal theory along side exploring for the alternative episteme within the broader view of Islamic thought, given the diversity of philosophical standpoints on good and evil within Islamic discourse. However, the result of this exploration suggests that epistemological crisis embodies the whole of Islamic tradition, which pave the way to a rise in crisis in morality and crisis in legitimacy within the tradition, which resulted in institutional failures, such as the ones witnessed in the operations of institution of hisbah. The study further discovers that consequent to the crisis in the Islamic tradition, the key questions on good and evil, within the realm of governance can no longer be settled by using the historically established tradition’s epistemological sources, because within the current settings of tradition, there is insufficient or no method of enquiry, form of argumentation and episteme that can address the crises, or through which a solution for the crises can be derived. By using MacIntyre’s work as a conceptual structure, this research attempts to construct a new epistemological source that may address the crises by specifying a model justified through model-dependent realism with the objective of creating a new point of orientation through which reality and dichotomy of good and evil can be objectively understood, whilst safeguarding the life form of the fabric of belief that is central to the traditional Islamic thought. Such episteme can then be used as an ethical theory by the institution of hisbah for judging the moral conduct of activities in the market and society. The new episteme is constructed, while preserving the tradition’s consequential essence. The consequential essence is inferred down to morality based on objectiveness and universality, and away from public choice, along with the notion of survival as episteme for philosophical perspective and theological stance. The consequential essence of tradition is maintained by using objectivist ethics and environmental sustainability within the outlines of classic theories on sovereignty of internal and external realm, as a foundational framework to construct the proposed model of ‘objective subjectivism’ as a theory of normative ethics. This proposed episteme as an Islamic ethical theory asserts that standard of value is life and measure of value and purpose of life is sustainability, and through this notion good and evil can be objectively distinguished for each realm, and therefore institutionally subscribed or prohibited for that realm, thus providing a workable framework for the operations of hisbah. As a research methodology and model construction process, the research presented in this research utilises discursive reasoning to conduct an epistemological enquiry based on critical discourse analysis, which is ontologically justified by model-dependent realism and epistemologically framed under consequentialism

Redefining Poverty and Its Measurement: An Islamic Political Economy Perspectives

Islamic economists have always taken the position on the intrinsic capability of poverty alleviation in the Islamic economic model. The poverty, in economics and social sciences, is taken in the context of economic deprivation. Among the multitudinous meanings of poverty, generally it is defined as the lack of income, human underdevelopment, social exclusion, ill being, unsustainable livelihood, lack of basic needs, vulnerability and relative deprivation, while multifarious methodologies like head count ratio, poverty gap ratio, income gap ratio and Sen index are used to measure the poverty. The poverty in the developed countries mostly is identified relative to the average level of income as compared to developing countries which usually define it on the grounds of absolute standard of living. Islamic model clearly addresses poverty in number of ways and even considers it as a threat to faith and recommends alleviating it through different tools like zakat, which is the negative rate of return on savings. The tools prescribed in Islam for counteracting poverty are designed on different conceptual grounds to conventional poverty reduction tools, similarly Islam’s conceptually constructed understanding on: lack of income, human underdevelopment, social exclusion, ill being, unsustainable livelihood, lack of basic needs, vulnerability and relative deprivation differs in its context and in its intrinsic intellectual positioning to the conventional interpretation of these concepts. Inductively therefore, Islam’s idea of, ‘what is poverty?’ and ‘How it can be measured’, is distinct and different to the general perception of poverty. This paper objectively examines the subjective meaning of poverty within Islam, through analysing the intellectual rigour on poverty in the transcendental sources of Islam along with the conceptual construction of Al Ghazali’s work on happiness. It further applies the uniform principles of maqasid al shariah (objectives of Islamic law) and nisab (standard for Zakat to be liable) in an attempt to develop the understanding of monetary measures, which can be used to identify ‘poor and needy’ within an economy. The results should provide the basic argument for the distinction on Islamic concept of poverty and a framework in which such definition can translate into the categorisation of ‘poor’ within an economy; along with some foundational understanding of Islamic value approach on monetary measurement of poverty.

Improving Continuity of Mental Health Care for Women: Jail Release to Community Re-entry

Introduction: This formative Delphi study assesses 1) potential policy changes most needed to support mental health care continuity for women being released from two urban jails, 2) barriers to women obtaining mental health services after release, and 3) understanding what community resources are promoting continuity of mental health care after jail release. Methodology: This is a policy project that uses the Delphi method. In phase one, a primarily qualitative survey was administered to jail health experts to explore project aims. Results were analyzed with thematic analysis, and themes were used to develop a primarily quantitative second survey with Likert scale questions. The second survey was administered to the same participant pool and was used to assess consensus on themes. Results: 14 and 20 participants took the first and second surveys, respectively. Correspondingly, first and second survey participants included registered nurses (n=5; n=8), psychiatric evaluation specialists (n=5; n=6), nurse practitioners (n=1; n=2), release planners (n=1; n=1), medical doctors (n=1; n=1); court clinicians (n=1; n=0), and managers (n=0, n=2). Nine main themes resulted from thematic analysis: 1) access to mental health services within the jail, 2) jail-based communication, 3) interaction with the community, 4) resourcing, 5) assessment and prioritization, 6) capital transformation, 7) trauma and care, 8) enhancing continuity of mental health care, and 9) barriers to continuity of mental health care—nineteen subthemes and derivative questions met criteria for consensus in the second survey. Conclusion: Many of the themes identified in the study are related to infrastructure, policy, and funding issues. Perceived issues identified by participants include psychiatric housing shortages within the jail, limited psychiatric intakes in the community, inadequate staffing to meet mental health care demands in the jail, and a need for enhanced inter-team communication within the organization. Barriers that participants identified in the community include housing, transportation, and inadequate insurance coverage