Multidimensional indexing technique for medical images retrieval

Retrieving required medical images from a huge amount of images is one of the most widely used features in medical information systems, including medical imaging search engines. For example, diagnostic decision making has traditionally been accompanied by patient data (image or non-image) and previous medical experiences from similar cases. Indexing as part of search engines (or retrieval system), increases the speed of a search. The goal of this study, is to provide an effective and efficient indexing technique for medical images search engines. In this paper, in order to archive this goal, a multidimensional indexing technique for medical images is designed using the normalization technique that is used to reduce redundancy in relational database design. Data structure of the proposed multidimensional index and also different required operations are designed to create and handle such a multidimensional index. Time complexity of each operation is analyzed and also average memory space required to store any medical image (along with its related metadata) is calculated as the space complexity analysis of the proposed indexing technique. The results show that the proposed indexing technique has a good performance in terms of memory usage, as well as execution time for the usual operations. Moreover, and may be more important, the proposed indexing techniques improves the precision and recall of the information retrieval system (i.e., search engine) which uses this technique for indexing medical images. Besides, a user of such search engine can retrieve medical images which s/he has specified its attributes is some different aspects (dimensions), e.g., tissue, image modality and format, sickness and trauma, etc. So, the proposed multidimensional indexing techniques can improve effectiveness of a medical image information retrieval system (in terms of precision and recall), while having a proper efficiency (in terms of execution time and memory usage), and can improve the information retrieval process for healthcare search engines.

Does Board Diversity Matter in Credit Risk?

The board of directors’ diversity plays a crucial role in the firm’s decision-making process, which includes risk management. This study proposes a multidimensional index to measure board diversity. We use the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 1500 between 1996 and 2013 to analyse the relationship between board diversity and credit risk. We find an inverse and significative relation between board diversity and credit risk, which means that diversity matters in credit risk, and more diversity leads to less credit risk.

Communities Moving Ahead, Falling Behind: Evidence from the Index of Deep Disadvantage

Using a multidimensional index weighting factors related to income, health, and social mobility—the Index of Deep Disadvantage (IDD)—we rank the well-being of disadvantaged U.S. counties (initial scores below the median IDD) when they were on the cusp of the Great Recession and then again well into the recovery. We compare the characteristics of counties that saw improvements to those that saw declines. We find that a clear majority of counties were stable in relative rank. Counties showing improvement tended to have been worse off prerecession than counties where well-being declined. Improving counties were less likely to be urban, tended to have smaller fractions of the population identifying as Black and larger fractions as white, and had a lower proportion of jobs in manufacturing. Stable counties were, on average, the worst off pre-recession and thus remained the worst off near the end of the recovery. All county groups improved in income and employment through the recovery, but these advances were not consistently associated with gains in other areas such as incidence of low-weight births.

APPLICATION OF A FUZZY SYSTEM TO THE ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION IN COLOMBIA

The incidence of diverse factors on the intention to create enterprises (EI) motivates the calculation of a multidimensional indicator that groups the initial endowments of the individual and the characteristics of the environment. Thus, the research introduces a new way of measuring business intent based on the mathematical support of the theory of fuzzy sets; thus, employing a sample of MBA students in Colombia, a Multidimensional Index of Enterprise Intent (MIEI) was calculated for 14 cities, segmented by gender, age, and area of studies. The results of the document expose heterogeneity in Colombian cities in terms of EI, with greater development in spatial units with facilities to do business. Particularly, the results denote the presence of an EI cycle in the age range between 30 and 40 years and they confirm Bogotá, D.C., as the city with the highest EI in Colombia. Meanwhile, the findings confirm minor entrepreneurial development in students with vocation for agricultural science.

A Distributional Analysis of Uni-and Multidimensional Poverty and Inequalities in Ethiopia

This study analyzes uni-and multidimensional poverty and inequalities in rural and small towns in Ethiopia. Unlike the unidimensional measure, the multidimensional measure of poverty shows all the channels through which poverty may manifest itself; it also shows the extent of deprivation. The analysis uses 6 dimensions with 14 indicators to construct a multidimensional index of poverty and inequalities using Ethiopian Households’ Socioeconomic Survey dataset. The study also uses multiple correspondence analyses for determining relative weights in computing a multidimensional index and conducts a stochastic dominance analysis of distribution of poverty for different population segments. The paper sheds light on the degree of inequalities in consumption expenditure and multidimensional deprivations. In addition, it also compares the degree of poverty using the conventional measure of poverty and the multidimensional approach. It also examines the determinants of household poverty status using both unidimensional and multidimensional measures using the logit model. The results show that the intensity, severity, and depth of poverty varies substantially across the 2 measures. The unidimensional measure of poverty shows that 36 percent of the households were poor as compared to 46 percent multidimensionally poor households. Moreover, demographic, regional, and household heads’ characteristics also affect households’ poverty status.

Composite and Multidimensional Index of Regional Development: A proposal for Latin America

The deep inequalities in Latin America require a territorial emphasis on diagnosis and policy recommendations in order to promote human and sustainable development. To contribute to this objective, a composite and multidimensional regional development index appropriate to the particular Latin American context is proposed. The index confirms: 1) the existence of large territorial development gaps; 2) a general situation of medium to low regional development; 3) a heterogeneity in the distribution between regions of the factors that favor or delay development. The index shows potential as a tool to identify specific challenges in each region and, within the framework of a multi-stakeholder and multi-level dialogue, contribute to generating impactful territorial development agendas.

Farmers' social networks and the diffusion of modern crop varieties in India

PurposeThe main aim of this paper is to assess the relevance of caste-based social networks in the dissemination of technologies and innovations in the Indian agriculture.Design/methodology/approachUsing the unit-level data from a large-scale farm survey, this paper constructs a multidimensional index of social networks encompassing households' castes and information sources within the administrative boundaries of a district and subsequently assesses its association with the adoption of modern seeds of staple food crops.FindingsThere is a strong effect of caste-based networks on the adoption of modern seeds of different crops, but the effect is linked to the stage of technological change, i.e. the network effect is stronger for the crop that has experienced late technological change. Further, the behavior of network members is found to have a bigger impact on the individuals' technology adoption decisions as compared to the characteristics of individuals in the network.Research limitations/implicationsGiven likely, increases in demand for diverse information and limited outreach of public extension systems, the findings suggest that in a socially heterogeneous society the caste-based social networks can serve as an important channel for the dissemination of information and innovations.Originality/valueWhat is unique in this paper is that it constructs a multidimensional index of social networks embedding the farm households' castes and information sources within the administratively defined boundaries of a geographical region.