Intelligent virtual doctor system

There are essentially only two problems, which plague the development of healthcare in third world countries. The first is a shortage of medical expertise and the second is the difficulty to teach rural communities. To solve these problems, most countries would setup clinics manned by nurses who in turn will consult doctors through phone calls or periodic visits. As such, we propose a new system in which the nurses or the patients themselves seek medical advise through a user-friendly system built on natural speech technology developed on field of telemedicine

A rectification strategy in genetic algorithms for academic timetabling problem

The university course timetabling problem is both an NP-hard and NP-complete scheduling problem. The nature of the problem concerns with the assignment of lecturers-courses to available teaching space in an academic institution and may take on the form of high school timetabling, examination timetabling or university course timetabling. In this paper, the authors attempt to construct a feasible timetable for a faculty department in a local university in Malaysia which at the present moment; the scheduling task is performed manually by an academic registrar. The feasible timetable is constructed by means of Genetic Algorithm, embedded with a rectification strategy which transforms infeasible timetables into feasible timetables

Student perceptions of the use of online video clips in a mathematics enabling course

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF ONLINE VIDEO CLIPS IN A MATHEMATICS ENABLING COURSE Jasmine Nga, Dale Wache b , Kung-Keat Teoh c Presenting Author: Jasmine Ng ([email protected]) aUniSA College, University of South Australia, Adelaide South Australia 5000, Australia b Teaching Innovation Unit, University of South Australia, Adelaide South Australia 5000, Australia c Student Learning Centre, Flinders University, Adelaide South Australia 5001, Australia KEYWORDS: Technology-enhanced learning; learning with videos; enabling education Background Enrolment in the Australian higher education sector is expanding, and participation is widening. Kennedy (1997) defines widening participation as 'increasing access to learning and providing opportunities for success and progression to a much wider cross-section of the population than now'. Consequently, non-traditional students, who would not have qualified to enter university studies previously, are now enrolling in enabling programs to meet university entry requirements. As reported by Norton and Cherastidhan (2014), a portion of the 25% of students who were admitted to bachelor degrees based on previous higher education study were non-traditional pathway students. The change of student demographics presents a diverse cohort of students to universities. These students of the enabling programs with very different mathematics skills, knowledge and background pose various pedagogical challenges. To meet the needs of these students, various methods were explored, including the use of online videos. Digital videos allow viewers to take control of the presentation, and they can select a video and view a particular segment of their choice with ease, thus study at their pace. Studies show that learning with videos increases problem-solving skills (Choi & Johnson, 2005) and are useful to improve learning (Kay & Kletskin, 2012). This study explores the effectiveness and perceived usefulness of short videos to teach mathematics for students of diverse mathematics abilities in an enabling program. Aims The primary aims of this study are to describe the development of short video-based mathematics lessons that were integrated into a technology-rich environment and to assess preliminary students’ perceptions of the video clips used for mathematics in an enabling university course. Description of intervention Video clips were developed in a math enabling course using a pedagogical design methodology by a project team consisting of an academic, an academic developer and an audio-visual technician. Recorded videos were developed using Camtasia. The videos were integrated into the mathematics course accessible in an online environment. Design and methods An exploratory case study to explore students’ initial feedback on the use of video to support learning the basics of algebra was carried out. It consists of a student survey with both open-ended qualitative and quantitative questions about students’ perceptions of the use of online video clips which was completed voluntarily. Results The analysed data indicates that enabling program students held strong positive attitudes toward a technology-enhanced learning environment. The use of online videos assisted their learning in mathematics. Most students like the overall concept of online videos and felt that they contributed to their improved understanding of mathematical concepts and working through mathematics problems. However, the data also suggests that students found the length of some of the video clips to be an obstacle to their learning. Conclusions The results of this exploratory study suggest that online video clips are a useful approach to connecting students to mathematics. The results also suggest that enabling program students find short video clips more effective. However, this exploratory case study is an early evaluation and the findings that provided the initial evidence should be confirmed with a larger sample group. References Choi, H. J., & Johnson, S. D. (2005). The effect of context-based video instruction on learning and motivation in online courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(4), 215-227. Kay, R., & Kletskin, I. (2012). Evaluating the use of problem-based video podcasts to teach mathematics in higher education. Computers & Education, 59(2), 619-627. Kennedy, H. (1997) Learning works: Widening participation in further education. Coventry: Further Education Funding Council. Norton, A., & Cherastidtham, I. (2014). Mapping Australian higher education, 2014–15. Melbourne: Grattan Institute

Prediction Of User Acceptance And Adoption Of Smart Phone For Learning With Technology Acceptance Model

This study examines how the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) can be used as a practical tool for early user acceptance and adoption of testing mobile communication devices for learning by evaluating the relationships among perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards using, behavioural intentions to use and actual use. In the study, 60 potential users were presented with an introductory demonstration of smart phone for a digital systems course. Following the demonstration, data on user perceptions and attitudes about smart phones were gathered based on this initial exposure. Subjects with prior experience using the smart phones were eliminated from further analysis resulting in a final sample of 40 users. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the overall model and influence of each variable of interest in determining actual use of smart phone. The analysis showed that both the user perceptions and attitudes have significant positive effects on behavioural intention and actual use of smart phone. Implications of these findings for practice and research are examined

A heuristic room matching algorithm in generating enhanced initial seed for the university course timetabling problem

The University Course Timetabling Problem (UCTP) such as the curriculum-based course timetabling problem is both an NP-hard and NP-complete scheduling problem.The nature of the problem concerns with the assignment of lecturers-courses to available teaching space in an academic institution.The Curriculum-Based University Course Timetabling Problem (CB-UCTP) has a high conflict-density and searching for an improved solution is not trivial.In this study, the authors propose a heuristic room matching algorithm which improves the seed of the CB-UCTP.The objective is to provide a reasonable search point to carry out any improvement phase and the results obtained indicate that the matching algorithm is able to provide very promising results as the fitness score of the solution is significantly enhanced in a very short period of time

Machine Learning based Predictive Modelling of Cybersecurity Threats Utilising Behavioural Data

With the rapid advancement of technology in Malaysia, the number of cybercrimes is also increasing. To stop the increase in cybercrimes, everyone, including normal citizens, needs to know how secure they are while using digital appliances. A system is developed to predict the risk of users based on their behaviour when they are online using real-life behavioural data obtained from a private university’s 207 undergraduates. Five supervised machine learning methods are being tested which are: Regression Logistics, K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Naïve Bayesian Classifier with the aid of a tool, RapidMiner. The algorithms are used to construct, test, and validate three categories of cybercrime threat (Malware, Social Engineering, and Password Attack) predictive models. It was found that KNN model produces the highest accuracy and lowest classification error for all three categories of cybercrime threat. This system is believed to be crucial in alerting users with details of whether the consumer behaviour risk is high or low and what further actions can be taken to increase awareness. This system aims to prevent the rise in cybercrimes by providing a prediction of their risk levels in cybersecurity to encourage them to be more proactive in cybersecurity

Low cost negative pressure wound healing device system

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NWPT) has been successfully used in treating acute and chronic wound by promoting wound healing. Many medical techniques like NPWT are available in this world but not approachable for many patients due to high in cost and lack of devices. In order for most of the patients accessible to NPWT, an inexpensive NPWT system is explored in this study. Aim of this work is to design a prototype of NPWT system that can generate negative pressure and the negative pressure can be regulated within the range. A NPWT system consists of vacuum pump, drainage tube, wound dressing, fluid collecting canister and adhesive film dressing. In this study, a miniature vacuum pump, canister and Arduino microcontroller were used in order to build up a functional NPWT system. The system has been designed to supply negative pressure from 0 mmHg to 200mmHg and negative pressure which can be controlled. To sum up, this system is able to function according to the require specification and suitable for home healthcare wound healing device with safety precaution implement and system stabilization is improved in future

Preprocessing digital retinal images for vessel segmentation

The information contained in the retinal vasculature is used to diagnose the onset of retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. However, due to non-uniform illumination and variations in imaging modalities, the contrast between the retinal blood vessels network and the background is very low, encumbering the analysis and the diagnosis processes. This prompts the need for preprocessing digital fundus images to remove noise and improve contrast thus increasing the segmentation accuracy of the retinal vasculature. In this study, we address issues of nonuniform illumination and low contrast by developing a framework that implements shade correction, image enhancement and prepares the digital fundus images for the next stage

RIRS with disposable or reusable scopes : does it make a difference? Results from the multicenter FLEXOR study

With several single-use ureteroscopes now available, our aim was to analyze and compare data obtained globally from high-volume centers using both disposable and reusable flexible ureteroscopes and see if indeed in real-world practice either scope has a distinct advantage. Retrospective analysis was performed on the FLEXOR registry, which was created as a TOWER group (Team of Worldwide Endourological Researchers, research wing of the Endourological Society) endeavor. Patients who underwent retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) for renal stones from January 2018 to August 2021 were enrolled from 20 centers globally. A total of 6663 patients whose data were available for analysis were divided into Group 1 (Reusable scopes, 4808 patients) versus Group 2 (Disposable scopes, 1855 patients). The age and gender distribution were similar in both groups. The mean stone size was 11.8 mm and 9.6 mm in Groups 2 and 1, respectively (p 2 cm stones, lower pole stones and of higher Hounsfield unit. Thulium fiber laser (TFL) was used more in Group 2 (p < 0.001). Patients in Group 2 had a slightly higher stone-free rate (SFR) (78.22%) and a lower number of residual fragments (RFs) compared with Group 1 (p < 0.001). The need for further treatments for RF and overall complications was comparable between groups. On multivariate analysis, overall complications were more likely to occur in elderly patients, larger stone size, lower pole stones, and were also more when using disposable scopes with longer operative time. RFs were significantly higher (p < 0.001) for lower pole, larger, harder, multiple stones and in elderly. Our real-world practice observations suggest that urologists choose disposable scopes for bigger, lower pole, and harder stones, and it does indeed help in improving the single-stage SFR if used correctly, with the appropriate lasers and lasing techniques in expert hands

Molecular antimicrobial susceptibility testing in sepsis.

Rapidly detecting and identifying pathogens is crucial for appropriate antimicrobial therapy in patients with sepsis. Conventional diagnostic methods have been a great asset to medicine, though they are time consuming and labor intensive. This work will enable healthcare professionals to understand the bacterial community better and enhance their diagnostic capacity by using novel molecular methods that make obtaining quicker, more precise results possible. The authors discuss and critically assess the merits and drawbacks of molecular testing and the added value of these tests, including the shift turnaround time, the implication for clinicians' decisions, gaps in knowledge, future research directions and novel insights or innovations. The field of antimicrobial molecular testing has seen several novel insights and innovations to improve the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases