Intent-Aware Contextual Recommendation System

Recommender systems take inputs from user history, use an internal ranking algorithm to generate results and possibly optimize this ranking based on feedback. However, often the recommender system is unaware of the actual intent of the user and simply provides recommendations dynamically without properly understanding the thought process of the user. An intelligent recommender system is not only useful for the user but also for businesses which want to learn the tendencies of their users. Finding out tendencies or intents of a user is a difficult problem to solve. Keeping this in mind, we sought out to create an intelligent system which will keep track of the user's activity on a web-application as well as determine the intent of the user in each session. We devised a way to encode the user's activity through the sessions. Then, we have represented the information seen by the user in a high dimensional format which is reduced to lower dimensions using tensor factorization techniques. The aspect of intent awareness (or scoring) is dealt with at this stage. Finally, combining the user activity data with the contextual information gives the recommendation score. The final recommendations are then ranked using filtering and collaborative recommendation techniques to show the top-k recommendations to the user. A provision for feedback is also envisioned in the current system which informs the model to update the various weights in the recommender system. Our overall model aims to combine both frequency-based and context-based recommendation systems and quantify the intent of a user to provide better recommendations. We ran experiments on real-world timestamped user activity data, in the setting of recommending reports to the users of a business analytics tool and the results are better than the baselines. We also tuned certain aspects of our model to arrive at optimized results.Comment: Presented at the 5th International Workshop on Data Science and Big Data Analytics (DSBDA), 17th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) 2017; 8 pages; 4 figures; Due to the limitation "The abstract field cannot be longer than 1,920 characters," the abstract appearing here is slightly shorter than the one in the PDF fil

Oxford partial knee replacement by microplasty instrumentation: Indian evidence

Background: There is increasing evidence in support of unicondylar knee replacement (UKR) as a superior surgical modality in a select group of patients of osteoarthritis knee. Oxford knee is one type of UKR with fully congruent, mobile bearing designed to minimize wear. This prospective study describes 5-year results of partial medial compartment knee replacement in 92 Indian cases by microplasty instrumentation.Methods: All 92 cases were operated by a single surgeon. Mean follow up was 5 years. In all cases oxford mobile bearing medial unicondylar knee prosthesis was implanted using minimally invasive surgical technique and the cases followed up.Results: Mean oxford score at the end of 5 year was 43. Patient satisfaction index at the end of 5 year was 98%. Mean maximum flexion was 125 degrees. Incidence of revision was 1.9. No deep or superficial infections were encountered. Average hospital stay was 3 days.Conclusions: There are variations in Indian patients as per size of implants, stay and similarities regarding less blood loss, improved oxford knee score, good range of motion, less morbidity, higher postoperative patient satisfaction and early getting back to work. Oxford partial knee replacement by microplasty instrumentation done in carefully selected patients with proper surgical technique gives excellent functional outcome and superior patient satisfaction

The influence of human core temperature on minute ventilation

Body temperature is known to affect human ventilation (Vg), yet the nature and mechanisms of this relationship are not resolved. The first study in this thesis explores how exercise-induced increases in body temperature affects ventilatory components, namely tidal volume (Vt) and frequency of respiration (f), and if these relationships are reproducible. Expressed as a function of esophageal temperature (Tes) in seven adult males during incremental exercise to maximum, ventilation and its components were reproducible using intraclass correlation coefficients, 0,84 < R < 0.93 (p<0.05). Since the relationships between ventilation variables and Tes were reproducible, a second study examined whether the mechanism of this effect could be mediated by an increased ventilatory sensitivity to C02- Central sensitivity to C02 was assessed using a modified Read rebreathing protocol before and after exercise induced warming in 6 male subjects. The slope and threshold point of ventilation expressed as a function of end tidal carbon dioxide were increased and decreased respectively, indicating an increased to sensitivity to C02 after body warming. In conclusion, the results support core temperature influence on human ventilation in a reproducible manner and that the effect of ventilation may be partially mediated by an increased central sensitivity to carbon dioxide

Fracture supracondylar femur treated with various modalities of treatment-an exploratory study

Background: Present study looked at functional outcomes and rate of complications in cases of adult supracondylar-intercondylar femur fractures treated with different treatment modalities at a tertiary care government hospital.Methods: The study was conducted over 2 years wherein 23 patients with fracture in intercondylar-supracondylar region were included. The different implants and surgical techniques used in the study were: Condylar blade plate, dynamic condylar screw (DCS) with side plate, buttress plate single, supracondylar nail technique and TARPO technique. Neer’s criteria was used to compare functional outcome with different modalities of treatment.Results: Eight out of 11 patients treated using DCS with side plate-showed excellent results as per Neer’s criteria. Excellent results were observed in 3 out of 4 fractures fixed with GSH supra-condylar nail, 3 out of 3 in those fixed with TARPO technique, 0 out of 3 in patients managed using buttress plate and 1 out of 2 patients treated with blade plate.Conclusions: Closed method of reduction followed by internal fixation (TARPO technique and GSH nail) is better than open reduction (Buttress plate, DCS with side plate and condylar blade plate) for the management of fracture supracondylar femur. DCS with side plate by open method is at par with GSH nail and TARPO technique for knee ROM and rate of complications. It is recommended that, the Neer’s criteria should not be utilised in isolation for the purpose of comparing outcomes in cases of fracture supracondylar femur.

Study of Seat-belt Usage in Nevada & Driver\u27s Performance

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), motor vehicle incidents has been reported to be the leading cause of the accidental deaths in the United States accounting for more than 42,000 deaths every year. Distracted driving and Driving under influence (DUI) are the major contributors to these roadway crashes. Moreover, drivers fatigue and drowsiness behind the wheel is another important factor contributing to the high fatality rate. These factors results in significant decline in the driver\u27s abilities of perception, recognition and vehicle control. It has also been reported by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that about 292,471 lives of passenger vehicle occupants age 5 and older were saved because of proper seat-belt use in such crashes from 1975 through 2011. Out of these about 11,949 lives were saved in 2011. According to an estimate provided by NHTSA, if all passenger vehicle occupants wore seat-belts an additional 3,384 would have been saved in 2011. Thus it is important to spread awareness about such accidents in the field of active safety research. This thesis looks at the driver\u27s seat-belt usage in Nevada for 2012 and also studies driver\u27s performance behind the wheel under various distractions and impairments on the driver. This has been primarily done to focus on the driver\u27s attitude towards road safety. By conducting a seat-belt usage survey across Nevada in the year 2012, we have captured seat-belt usage across gender, age groups, ethnicity, vehicle types, state of registration, road types and in different counties. This data was further provided to NHTSA to focus primarily on the areas with low seat-belt usage during the Click it or Ticket (CIOT) mobilization campaign. Another aspect of the research work was to study driver\u27s performance behind the wheel under various impairments and distractions induced on the driver. This study has been conducted in a laboratory environment to avoid any potential dangers to anyone associated with the study. A driver was provided with a cell phone to text and talk while driving on a driving simulator located at Transportation research Center (TRC). Moreover, to induce a similar effect as alcohol, a driver was provided with fatal vision goggles with varying Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) while the driver\u27s road performance was recorded on the simulator

PREDICTION OF DIFFICULT LARYNGOSCOPY BY ULTRASOUND GUIDED VALUATION OF ANTERIOR NECK SOFT TISSUE THICKNESS.

Background : The major responsibility of the anaesthesiologist is to provide adequate ventilation to the patient. Most vital element for this is the airway. Difficulties in optimal airway management can lead to serious adverse effects and failure can even lead to mortality. We have evaluated the feasibility of sonography as an imaging tool in identifying important airway anatomical structures on the anterior aspect of the neck and correlated the ultrasound-guided measurements of the airway parameters with the Cormack Lehane classification of the direct laryngoscopy for prediction of the difficult airway. Aim : To predict Difficult Laryngoscopy by Ultrasound guided valuation Of Anterior Neck Soft Tissue Thickness. Method : The study was a prospective observational study. For this study, n (no of cases) =100 considering power of 95% from the previous study; including patients between the age group of 18 to 65 years, ASA I to III grades, scheduled for elective surgery and requiring general anaesthesia with directlaryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation. Patient with anticipated difficult airway were excluded. Modified Mallampati score, Neck circumference at the level of the thyroid cartilage, Thyromental distance, BMI, distance from skin to hyoid bone and distance from skin to the anterior commissure of vocal cords using the USG machine followed by MCLS grade on laryngoscopy were noted. Result : With reference to ROC analysis, the optimal cut-offs of DSHB, DSAC, neck circumference and BMI measurements for the prediction of difficult Laryngoscopy is 0.81 cm, 0.92 cm, 35.75cm and 24.8 kg/m2 respectively with the area under the curves being 0.944, 0.970, 0.801 and 0.745 respectively. Similarly, the optimal cut-off value for modifiedMallampati grades for the prediction of difficult Laryngoscopy is Grade II and above with area under the curves being 0.718. We also found that with experience the required time to measure the distances using USG was reduced with experience. Conclusion : We conclude from our study that the BMI, modified Mallampati grade and neck circumference are good predictors of difficult laryngoscopy. However, USG guided measurements at the level of hyoid bone and anterior commissure of vocal cords showed a higher specificity and sensitivity for the prediction of difficult laryngoscopy

OUTSOURCING TO INDIA

Topic selected by me for dissertation is of outsourcing to India. Outsourcing is generally done from countries like United Kingdom and United States. I have discussed each and every aspect which is related to Outsourcing in detail. Outsourcing is gaining more and more attention because it enables organizations to cut the cost and improve efficiency of work which results in to overall increase in profitability and competitiveness of the organization. I tried to cove what is Outsourcing, why this concept is getting more and more importance, what are the advantages, what are the risk associated with Outsourcing. I even tried to discuss on various theories on Outsourcing as well as what is the current scenario of Outsourcing concept in global world and so on. India is become Outsourcing hub. Apart from cost benefit India is also enrich with highly qualified professionals workforce as well as technological proficiency is very high. Dissertation is also cover questionnaire interview of the Outsourcing organization and tried to find out what exactly the current scenario of work. After discussing all the issues related to outsourcing I tried to come up conclusion which shows ever growing outsourcing business in India