Empathy and Role Modeling. is IT Missing?

Let me start by congratulating the dedicated team of Pakistan Journal of Surgery and Medicine (PJSM) whose untiring effort brought this journal of International standard. I have the honor to be part of this professional and enthusiastic galaxy of highly intellectual writers. Insha'Allah you will witness the glory of this journal very soon

An experimental investigation into the consolidation characteristics of gap-graded soil

Imperial Users onl

Decision support system for the selection of an ITE or a BTE hearing aid

The purpose of this research is to mine a large set of heterogeneous audiology data to create a decision support system (DSS) to choose between two hearing aid types (ITE and BTE aid). This research is based on the data analysis of audiology data using various statistical and data mining techniques. It uses the data of a large NHS (National Health Services, UK) facility. It uses 180,000 records (covering more than 23,000 different patients) from a hearing aid clinic. The developed system uses an unconventional method to predict hearing aid type for a patient and it can be used as a second opinion by audiologists for complex cases. After modifying the system to take account of the feedback from a professional audiologist, the success rates obtained were in the ranges 63 to 66 percent. In this research an automatic system was developed to choose between an ITE or a BTE hearing aid type with an explanation facility that can be used as a second opinion by audiologist in cases where the choice of an ITE or a BTE hearing aid is not clear cut. This analysis of audiology data and DSS will provide supplementary information for audiology experts and hearing aid dispensers. This type of system may also be of interest to manufacturers of hearing technologies in using as a ready means for their telephone customer services staff to check data, discovering data in audiology records will also be good for general awareness about the suitability of hearing aid type

Foreign Debt, Dependency, and Economic Growth in South Asia

Many developing countries are following a policy to attract foreign capital through loans and other means to enhance investment. The inflow of these resources is seen as an addition to investment for accelerating economic growth. However, there are only a few success stories where such resources have made any significant contribution to improve the economic conditions of recipient country. Pakistan and other South Asian countries have received significant amount of foreign loans2 but its role is critical [Chaudhary and Ali (1993, 1996)]. In spite of increasing foreign aid, South Asia has emerged one of the poorest and illiterate regions of the world, having more than 500 million poor living below poverty line and about 46 percent of the world’s illiterate live in the South Asia [UNDP/MHHDC*(1997)]. This is the region, which has 22 percent of the world’s population, while having only 3 percent of the world’s income. It also appears one of the most indebted regions of the world [Anwar (1995)]. In spite of a significant inflow of foreign aid, the economic conditions remained poor in this region. Such a situation calls for an in depth analysis of the contribution of foreign aid. Therefore, this paper is focused to analyse the role and implications of international debt in South Asia. Besides, South Asia’s dependency upon foreign debt is also analysed. In addition, tendency of resources outflow from South Asia to other countries, in terms of debt services, is also identified.