Issues and Misconceptions of Financial Inclusion Indices: Evidences from Selected Asian Economies

Jamshed ALI,Muhammad Arshad KHAN,Usman Shaukat KHAN,Misbah WADOOD 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.12

This study aims to revisit the issues and misconceptions about financial inclusion (FI) indices. For indices construction, this study uses two approaches: one approach following the methodology of Sarma (2008) which is based on UNDP methodology, while the other is the Dynamic Factor Model (DFM)-based index of Stock and Watson (2002) and Rehman et al. (2021). The data of 18 economies of Asia from 1997 till 2017 is used for indices construction and analysis. The authors constructed macro and micro-level financial inclusion indices based on the different types of financial inclusion indicators. Second, the authors have critically evaluated two different approaches, and the results show that Sarma (2008)-based index show financial inclusion’s level, while DFM-based index reveal fluctuation in the current year’s financial inclusion level due to the prior variations. For measuring the level of financial inclusion, the Sarma (2008) index is effective, while for forecasting the level of financial inclusion, the DFM approach is more appropriate. Furthermore, the micro and macro aspects of financial inclusion should be reflected in separate indices for better understanding and in-depth insights.

Multi-model-based interactive authoring environment for creating shareable medical knowledge

Ali, T.,Hussain, M.,Ali Khan, W.,Afzal, M.,Hussain, J.,Ali, R.,Hassan, W.,Jamshed, A.,Kang, B.H.,Lee, S. Elsevier Science Publishers 2017 Computer methods and programs in biomedicine Vol.150 No.-

Objective: Technologically integrated healthcare environments can be realized if physicians are encouraged to use smart systems for the creation and sharing of knowledge used in clinical decision support systems (CDSS). While CDSSs are heading toward smart environments, they lack support for abstraction of technology-oriented knowledge from physicians. Therefore, abstraction in the form of a user-friendly and flexible authoring environment is required in order for physicians to create shareable and interoperable knowledge for CDSS workflows. Our proposed system provides a user-friendly authoring environment to create Arden Syntax MLM (Medical Logic Module) as shareable knowledge rules for intelligent decision-making by CDSS. Methods and materials: Existing systems are not physician friendly and lack interoperability and shareability of knowledge. In this paper, we proposed Intelligent-Knowledge Authoring Tool (I-KAT), a knowledge authoring environment that overcomes the above mentioned limitations. Shareability is achieved by creating a knowledge base from MLMs using Arden Syntax. Interoperability is enhanced using standard data models and terminologies. However, creation of shareable and interoperable knowledge using Arden Syntax without abstraction increases complexity, which ultimately makes it difficult for physicians to use the authoring environment. Therefore, physician friendliness is provided by abstraction at the application layer to reduce complexity. This abstraction is regulated by mappings created between legacy system concepts, which are modeled as domain clinical model (DCM) and decision support standards such as virtual medical record (vMR) and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). We represent these mappings with a semantic reconciliation model (SRM). Results: The objective of the study is the creation of shareable and interoperable knowledge using a user-friendly and flexible I-KAT. Therefore we evaluated our system using completeness and user satisfaction criteria, which we assessed through the system- and user-centric evaluation processes. For system-centric evaluation, we compared the implementation of clinical information modelling system requirements in our proposed system and in existing systems. The results suggested that 82.05% of the requirements were fully supported, 7.69% were partially supported, and 10.25% were not supported by our system. In the existing systems, 35.89% of requirements were fully supported, 28.20% were partially supported, and 35.89% were not supported. For user-centric evaluation, the assessment criterion was 'ease of use'. Our proposed system showed 15 times better results with respect to MLM creation time than the existing systems. Moreover, on average, the participants made only one error in MLM creation using our proposed system, but 13 errors per MLM using the existing systems. Conclusion: We provide a user-friendly authoring environment for creation of shareable and interoperable knowledge for CDSS to overcome knowledge acquisition complexity. The authoring environment uses state-of-the-art decision support-related clinical standards with increased ease of use.

Revisiting Financial Inclusion and Income Inequality Nexus: Evidences from Selected Economies in Asia

Jamshed ALI,Muhammad Arshad KHAN,Misbah WADOOD,Usman Shaukat KHAN 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.12

This study aims to measure financial inclusion and examine its impact on income inequality in a panel of 18 Asian countries over the period 1997–2017. Two alternative approaches for developing financial inclusion index are used: one approach following the methodology of Sarma (2008), while the other is the Dynamic Factor Model (DFM)-based index. The impact of individual indicators and index of financial inclusion on inequality in income is analyzed. The Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) approach is used for empirical analysis. The results indicate that micro-level financial inclusion has a weak negative and statistically significant impact on income inequality. Macro-level index and all individual indicators of financial inclusion do not affect income inequality in the selected sample of economies. The income inequality issues have different natures and cannot be fixed by financial inclusion only. It needs holistic structural reforms to enable fair distribution of income and make an equitable financial system. Financial inclusion is a relatively less important intervention tool regarding fixing the issue of income inequality. This is one of the first studies that used the DFM method for financial inclusion indices construction.

Esterification of acetic and oleic acids within the Amberlyst 15 packed catalytic column

Yousuf Jamal,Jamshed Ali Khan,Afeeq Shahid,O’Neil Boulanger 한국화학공학회 2016 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.33 No.2

A packed column system was used to study the esterification of acetic and oleic acids by the macro-porous acidic resin, Amberlyst 15. All reactions were at a constant temperature (75 oC) and catalyst mass (3 g). The impact of column flow rate conditions and the molar fatty acid to ethanol feedstock ratio on ester production is reported. The maximum ester production was noted at a flow rate of 0.25mL/min. The maximum observed ester yield for acetic acid (95.2±0.5%) and oleic acid (43.8±1.3%) was observed at an acid:ethanol molar ratio of 1 : 3 and 1 : 1, respectively. The difference in yield indicates the importance of the fatty acid chain length to the reaction.

Comparison between Early and Late Onset Breast Cancer in Pakistani Women Undergoing Breast Conservative Therapy: is There any Difference?

Bhatti, Abu Bakar Hafeez,Jamshed, Aarif,Khan, Amina,Siddiqui, Neelam,Muzaffar, Nargis,Shah, Mazhar Ali Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.13

Background: Early onset breast cancer is associated with poor outcomes but variable results have been reported. It is a significant problem in Pakistani women but remains under reported. Breast conservation plays an important role in surgical management of this younger patient group. The objective of this study was to determine the outcome of breast conservative therapy in patients with early onset breast cancer in our population and compare it with their older counterparts. Materials and Methods: A review of patients with invasive breast cancer who underwent breast conservation surgery at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital from 1997 to 2009 was performed. Patients were divided into two groups i.e. Group I age ${\leq}40$ and Group II >40 years. A total of 401 patients with breast cancer were identified in Group I and 405 patients in Group II. Demographics, histopathological findings and receptor status of the two groups were compared. The Chi square test was used for categorical variables. Outcome was assessed on basis of 10 year locoregional recurrence free survival (LRRFS), disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). For survival analysis Kaplan Meier curves were used and significance was determined using the Log rank test. Cox regression was applied for multivariate analysis. Results: Median follow up was 4.31 (0.1-15.5) years. Median age at presentation was 34.6 years (17-40) and 51.9 years (41-82) for the two groups. Groups were significantly different from each other with respect to grade, receptor status, tumor stage and use of neoadjuvant therapy. No significant difference was present between the two groups for estimated 10 year LRRFS (86% vs 95%) (p=0.1), DFS (70% vs 70%) (p=0.5) and OS (75% vs 63%) (p=0.1). On multivariate analysis, tumor stage was an independent predictor of LRRFS, DFS and OS. Conclusions: Early onset breast cancer is associated with a distinct biology but does not lead to poorer outcomes in our population.

Comprehensible knowledge model creation for cancer treatment decision making

Afzal, Muhammad,Hussain, Maqbool,Ali Khan, Wajahat,Ali, Taqdir,Lee, Sungyoung,Huh, Eui-Nam,Farooq Ahmad, Hafiz,Jamshed, Arif,Iqbal, Hassan,Irfan, Muhammad,Abbas Hydari, Manzar Elsevier 2017 Computers in biology and medicine Vol.82 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P> <I>Background</I>: A wealth of clinical data exists in clinical documents in the form of electronic health records (EHRs). This data can be used for developing knowledge-based recommendation systems that can assist clinicians in clinical decision making and education. One of the big hurdles in developing such systems is the lack of automated mechanisms for knowledge acquisition to enable and educate clinicians in informed decision making. <I>Materials and Methods</I>: An automated knowledge acquisition methodology with a comprehensible knowledge model for cancer treatment (CKM-CT) is proposed. With the CKM-CT, clinical data are acquired automatically from documents. Quality of data is ensured by correcting errors and transforming various formats into a standard data format. Data preprocessing involves dimensionality reduction and missing value imputation. Predictive algorithm selection is performed on the basis of the ranking score of the weighted sum model. The knowledge builder prepares knowledge for knowledge-based services: clinical decisions and education support. <I>Results</I>: Data is acquired from 13,788 head and neck cancer (HNC) documents for 3447 patients, including 1526 patients of the oral cavity site. In the data quality task, 160 staging values are corrected. In the preprocessing task, 20 attributes and 106 records are eliminated from the dataset. The Classification and Regression Trees (CRT) algorithm is selected and provides 69.0% classification accuracy in predicting HNC treatment plans, consisting of 11 decision paths that yield 11 decision rules. <I>Conclusion</I>: Our proposed methodology, CKM-CT, is helpful to find hidden knowledge in clinical documents. In CKM-CT, the prediction models are developed to assist and educate clinicians for informed decision making. The proposed methodology is generalizable to apply to data of other domains such as breast cancer with a similar objective to assist clinicians in decision making and education.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Automated methods for data acquisition from clinical documents and preprocessing. </LI> <LI> Data quality assessment and standardization of language for improved data accuracy. </LI> <LI> Machine learning algorithm selection on the basis of weighted sum model's ranking score. </LI> <LI> The development of a decision tree-based knowledge model for treatment recommendations. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>

Outcomes of Triple-Negative Versus Non-Triple-Negative Breast Cancers Managed with Breast-Conserving Therapy

Bhatti, Abu Bakar Hafeez,Khan, Amina Iqbal,Siddiqui, Neelam,Muzaffar, Nargis,Syed, Aamir Ali,Shah, Mazhar Ali,Jamshed, Arif Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.6

Background: Triple negative breast cancer is associated with aggressive behavior and high risk of local and regional failure. Aggressive surgical intervention is considered suitable. This makes role of breast conserving therapy (BCT) debatable in these patients. The objective of this study was to compare outcome of BCT for triple negative versus non-triple negative breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Medical records of patients who underwent breast conserving therapy from 1999 to 2009 at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and had complete receptor status information were extracted. Patients were divided into triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-TNBC. Patient characteristics, medical treatment modalities and adverse events were compared. Expected five year locoregional recurrence free, disease free and overall survival was calculated. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to identify independent predictors of outcome. Results: A total of 194 patients with TNBC and 443 with non-TNBC were compared. Significant difference was present for age at presentation (p<0.0001), family history (p=0.005), grade (p<0.0001) and use of hormonal therapy (p<0.0001). The number of locoregional failures, distant failures and mortalities were not significantly different. No significant difference was present in 5 year locoregional recurrence free (96% vs 92%, p=0.3), disease free (75% vs 74%, p=0.7) and overall survival (78% vs 83%, p=0.2). On multivariate analysis, tumor size, nodal involvement and hormonal treatment were independent predictors of negative events. Conclusions: Breast conserving therapy has comparable outcomes for triple negative and non-triple negative breast cancers.

Smart Extraction and Analysis System for Clinical Research

Afzal, Muhammad,Hussain, Maqbool,Khan, Wajahat Ali,Ali, Taqdir,Jamshed, Arif,Lee, Sungyoung Mary Ann Liebert 2017 TELEMEDICINE JOURNAL AND E HEALTH Vol.23 No.5