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An adaptation of hybrid binary optimization algorithms for medical image feature selection in neural network for classification of breast cancer
Get PDFThe performance of neural network is largely dependent on their capability to extract very discriminant features supporting the characterization of abnormalities in the medical image. Several benchmark architectures have been proposed and the use of transfer learning has further made these architectures return good performances. Study has shown that the use of optimization algorithms for selection of relevant features has improved classifiers. However continuous optimization algorithms have mostly been used though it allows variables to take value within a range of values. The advantage of binary optimization algorithms is that it allows variables to be assigned only two states, and this have been sparsely applied to medical image feature optimization. This study therefore proposes hybrid binary optimization algorithms to efficiently identify optimal features subset in medical image feature sets. The binary dwarf mongoose optimizer (BDMO) and the particle swarm optimizer (PSO) were hybridized with the binary Ebola optimization search algorithm (BEOSA) on new nested transfer functions. Medical images passed through convolutional neural networks (CNN) returns extracted features into a continuous space which are piped through these new hybrid binary optimizers. Features in continuous space a mapped into binary space for optimization, and then mapped back into the continuous space for classification. Experimentation was conducted on medical image samples using the Curated Breast Imaging Subset of Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM+CBIS). Results obtained from the evaluation of the hybrid binary optimization methods showed that they yielded outstanding classification accuracy, fitness, and cost function values of 0.965, 0.021 and 0.943. To investigate the statistical significance of the hybrid binary methods, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted based on the two-factor analysis on the classification accuracy, fitness, and cost metrics. Furthermore, results returned from application of the binary hybrid methods medical image analysis showed classification accuracy of 0.8286, precision of 0.97, recall of 0.83, and F1-score of 0.99, AUC of 0.8291. Findings from the study showed that contrary to the popular approach of using continuous metaheuristic algorithms for feature selection problem, the binary metaheuristic algorithms are well suitable for handling the challenge. Complete source code can be accessed from: https://github.com/NathanielOy/hybridBinaryAlgorithm4FeatureSelectio
Volunteers’ psychological contracts: exploring experiences and expectations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFVolunteers occupy a unique position in organisations; not paid employees yet operating within organisational structures. Volunteering is also an additional life role, managed alongside home, family and, for many, work roles. Despite such complexities, our understanding of volunteer experiences and expectations is limited. We explore the experiences of 72 volunteers using a psychological contract lens (53 volunteers before the COVID-19 pandemic and 19 volunteers during the first national lockdown). Our findings offer insights into consistency across volunteers’ expectations (i.e., of collective commitment, shared values, and organisational and peer support) and two distinct aspects of experience aligning roles to the COVID-19 imperative (i.e., motivation and role flexibility). Implications for organisations are discussed in relation to volunteer support, engagement and retention, including ‘buddy’ systems, peer support networks and open communication regarding expectations
The transmutation of continental philosophy of religion: questioning the ‘continent’ in continental
No full textContinental philosophy of religion is inescapably European. This Europeanness is much more than geographic. It entails a variety of understandings of subjectivity, epistemology, ontology, politics, ethics and the relation between these different concepts. I examine how continental philosophy has insufficiently confronted its Europeanness and critique the way that comparisons with analytic philosophy can result in a self-satisfied conception of the field. Drawing on Nietzsche, Deleuze and Sylvia Wynter I argue for a transmutation of continental philosophy of religion. I conclude by examining how work on agency and secularism is illustrative of the need for this transmutation
Transforming lives: play-based learning programmes in emergency settings
Get PDFIn the first article in a new series focusing on play in emergency settings, Debra Laxton and Sarah Ndlovu outline some of the initiatives the children's rights organisation, Children on the Edge, is facilitating to promote safe play spaces for children in Kyaka Refugee Settlement, Western Uganda
Transforming lives: play-based learning programmes in emergency settings
Get PDFIn the second article in this series focusing on play in emergency settings, Debra Laxton and Priyanka Handa Ram share more about the Learn to Play initiative bringing play-based, sustainable early education to communities in Botswana
A protocol for international mental health guidelines for esports
No full textDespite esports’ rapid growth as a competitive platform, the industry lacks comprehensive mental health support systems for players, coaches, and stakeholders who face unique challenges including emotional distress, online toxicity, and inadequate support structures. This study aims to develop evidence-based international mental health guidelines for the esports ecosystem using a community-based participatory research framework. The research employs a six-phase methodology: (a) stakeholder focus groups to determine preferences for guideline content and scope, (b) an e-Delphi study with international experts to gather recommendations, (c) an Expert Guideline Development Committee meeting to draft initial guidelines, (d) follow-up focus groups to assess guideline acceptability and usability, (e) a second e-Delphi study for expert feedback on revised guidelines, and (f) implementation case studies across various esports organizations. By 2026, these guidelines aim to establish a globally applicable framework that addresses the urgent need for mental health support in esports, while ensuring practical implementation across diverse organizational contexts
Police fitness: an international perspective on current and future challenges
Get PDFPoor officer fitness can lead to decreased occupational task performance, injuries, increased absenteeism, and a variety of negative health sequalae further adding to the challenges of staffing law enforcement agencies. Optimizing the physical fitness for both serving officers and new recruits is critical as their loss is, and will increasingly be, difficult to replace. However, maintaining and recruiting a physically fit workforce faces several challenges. For serving officers, shiftwork is known to decrease motivation to exercise and negatively impact sleep and diet. Additional factors impacting their fitness includes age-related declines in fitness, increasing obesity, long periods of sedentarism, and negative COVID-19 effects. Concurrently, recruiting physically fit recruits is challenged by declining levels of fitness, reduced physical activity, and increasing obesity in community youth. Ability-based training (ABT), individualizing physical conditioning training based on the existing fitness levels of individuals within a group, offers a potential solution for delivering physical conditioning to groups of applicants, recruits, and officers with a range of physical fitness capabilities. Law enforcement agencies should consider implementing ABT during academy training and ongoing fitness maintenance to minimize injury risk and optimize task performance
The physiological demands of a military dismounted assault task
Get PDFAim: Characterise the physiological demands of a military dismounted assault task (DAT) simulation.
Method: Fourteen men (mean ±SD: age 29 ±9 years; body mass 79.9 ±9.2 kg; VO2peak 51.9 ±4.4 ml⋅kg− 1⋅min− 1; upright pull strength 177 ±20 kg) performed a DAT (external load 24.3 kg) of 16 ×6 m bounds in 20 s cycles (5 s work, 15 s rest) followed by an 18 m leopard crawl. Performance and physiological demands (heart rate and indirect calorimetry via the Douglas bag technique) during the first and last 48 m of bounds and the leopard crawl were compared using a one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Performance was maintained across the first
and last 48 m (bound speed 5.7 ±0.9 and 5.8 ±0.8 km⋅h− 1) despite substantial increases in oxygen consumption (first 48 m 25.4 ± 3.3 ml⋅kg− 1⋅min− 1; last 48 m 31.7 ± 3.5 ml⋅kg− 1⋅min− 1; leopard crawl 40.4 ± 6.4 ml⋅kg− 1⋅min− 1, p < 0.001, Ѡ2 =0.64). Mean leopard crawl time was 26.1 ±8.1 s at a speed of 2.7 ±0.8 km⋅h− 1 and post-exercise blood lactate was 3.8 ±1.4 mmol⋅L− 1. Increasing oxygen consumption with modest blood lactate responses suggests the demands of the DAT simulation are similar to intermittent high-intensity
exercise and that aerobic fitness is an important determinant of performance
Listening to parents: lessons from the impact of lockdown on two-year-olds in England
No full textPolicy and funding for two-year-old children in England has focused upon widening access to early education and care (ECEC) but there is limited evidence that the approach has resulted in positive educational outcomes. This paper captures parental perceptions of the impact of a pause in ECEC for two-year-olds during a nationwide lockdown in England during the Spring of 2020. An online questionnaire collected both qualitative and quantitative data from 827 parents of two-year-old children who attended ECEC prior to the lockdown. 6% of parents identified themselves as being in receipt of government funding for disadvantaged[1] two-year-olds. Findings revealed that most parents (39%) believed the overall impact of lockdown upon their child was positive. A further 34% felt the impact was neither positive nor negative, with 27% reporting a negative impact. Quantitative data revealed the perceived impact on personal, social and emotional development (PSED) for two-year-old children was nuanced and this was reflected within the qualitative themes. Positive qualitative themes focused on the time gained for family relationships, time outdoors, toileting milestones and communication. Recommendations include recognising the value of time for unhurried adult-child interactions as a quality indicator of ECEC and facilitating parental choice for families wishing to invest in time with their two-year-old children.
[1]Disadvantaged is the term adopted by the Department for Education in England to describe families of two-year-old children eligible for specific funded entitlement (FE) to childcare schemes. The criterion for this funding is outlined within the paper
Smart mosquito‐nets: a natural approach to controlling malaria using larvicidal plant extracts and internet of things
Get PDFMalaria mosquitoes, Anopheles, are well‐known for carrying and spreading the malaria pathogens, known as Plasmodium. The public health challenge it brings has remained a global health challenge, of which the most robust control measures include mosquito‐treated nets and electronic mosquito killer lamps. Due to health and cost problems, for example, in developing countries, these methods are not suitable for controlling mosquitoes and their plasmodiumic pathogens. In this study, we propose the use of two natural plant (e.g., Petiveria alliacea and Hyptis suavolens leaf) extracts that are cheap, ubiquitous, and effective for the control of mosquitoes, especially in temperate regions such as sub‐Saharan Africa. On top of that, the study uses memory, non‐locality, and fractal properties of fractal‐fractional derivatives from compartmental modeling to capture susceptibility of infected persons, wider coverage, and heterogeneous breeding of mosquitoes, respectively, to evaluate the effectiveness of the two leaf extracts as natural larvicides against Anopheles mosquitoes. To measure the effectiveness of the two plant extracts in controlling malaria, this study develops a basic reproduction number model of Anopheles mosquitoes and evaluates the endemic points of the model. Comparing the results of larvicidal control with those of mosquito‐treated nets, the proposed larvicidal control achieved 94.86% efficacy when applied alone and 96.83% efficacy when combined with mosquito nets, each outperforming mosquito nets (83.33%). These findings position compartmental fractal fractional‐order modeling as an innovative tool for bioinformatic disease vector control. The study also presents a smart mosquito‐net model where data collected from the host nodes on the performance of larvicides in mosquito and malaria control are transmitted via the Internet of Things infrastructure to the edge and cloud servers for computation, processing, artificial intelligence analytics, and policy‐making