Greetings
from NeuroDimension!
The World Leader in Neural Network Software
This issue of the NeuroDimension
newsletter highlights significant spring savings available now, along with tips
and news for NeuroDimension products.
In this issue you’ll find:
What’s New
and News?
* Neural Network Course Savings
* Prediction of Pregnancy-induced hypertensive
disorders (PIHD)
Note: You are
receiving this newsletter because you requested to stay informed concerning new
developments at NeuroDimension. If you would like to stop receiving these
newsletters, please see the bottom of this newsletter for removal instructions.
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The deadline is quickly approaching for a 10% early
registration discount for our next series of neural network courses. The
courses are scheduled for April 29 - May 3, 2002 at the Grosvenor Resort,
located in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Register before
March 25, 2002 to receive a 10% discount on any course!
Our course format allows both novice and advanced users to
find a suitable course. Offered courses include: "Introduction to
NeuroSolutions", "Fundamentals of Neural Networks and
NeuroSolutions", and "Advanced NeuroSolutions". The courses
include a copy of our interactive book, Neural and Adaptive Systems:
Fundamentals Through Simulations.
For details on this new offering, or to sign-up from the
Internet, see http://www.nd.com/course/may_2002.htm
For general ND course information, see http://www.nd.com/course
For more information and samples of the interactive book,
see http://www.nd.com/products/nsbook.htm
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NeuroSolutions v4.20 is now available from
NeuroDimension. This release addresses a few minor bugs and includes several enhancements to
support development for Microsoft Office XP and Visual Studio .NET. These
enhancements include:
* Code Generation support for Visual C++ 7.0
(.NET)
* DLL support for Visual C++ 7.0 (.NET)
* Support for compiling Custom Solution
Wizard DLLs with Visual C++ 7.0 (.NET)
* Addition of Custom Solution Wizard project
shells for:
* Visual Basic 7.0 (.NET)
* Visual C++ 7.0 (.NET)
* Excel XP
* Access XP
A complete list of improvements can be found at <http://www.nd.com/support/nsimprove.htm>.
If you already have NeuroSolutions v4.0 or v4.1 installed on
your computer you can upgrade to v4.2 by downloading and running the patch from
http://www.nd.com/support/ns_patch.htm
The
complete installation program is available for download at http://www.nd.com/download.htm
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NeuroSolutions Tip Box
NeuroSolutions supports the reading of bitmap (*.bmp) image
data, where each pixel is translated into one grayscale value or three RGB
values (0 to 255). The NeuralWizard and the NeuralBuilder do not currently give
you the option to select this type of input data. However, setting up a neural
network to read image data is a fairly straightforward process.
Here are the steps for using bitmap image data:
1. Build
your network using the NeuralExpert or NeuralBuilder using a dummy
column-formatted ASCII file (e.g., SampleData\xor.asc).
2. Open the inspector for the File component at the input.
3. Click the Remove button to remove the dummy file.
4. Click the Add button.
5. Select the first bitmap file you want to use as input.
6. Select either the “Bitmap” or “Color Bitmap” translator
within the Associate dialog box that corresponds to selected file.
7. Repeat the previous 3 steps for each image you want to
use as input.
8. If you are reading the images as grayscale (translator =
“Bitmap”) open the inspector for the input Axon and change the number of Rows
and Columns to match the dimensions of each image. For color bitmaps, you will
need to multiply the number of Rows and Columns by three since there are three
values for each pixel.
9. To view grayscale images as they are being fed to the
network, attach an ImageViewer probe to the Activity access point (the right
side) of the input Axon.
10. Add
an ASCII file to the File component at the desired output. This file should
contain one row for each input image.
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Mello G, Parretti E, Ognibene A,
Mecacci F, Cioni R, Scarselli G, Messeri G.
Istituto di Clinica Ostetrica e
Ginecologica, Universita di Firenze, Italy.
Pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorders (PIHD) are common complications
of pregnancy and are associated with increased maternal and fetal morbidity. In
this study, artificial neural networks (aNN) and multivariate logistic
regression (MLR) were applied to a set of clinical and laboratory data (urea,
creatinine, uric acid, total proteins, hematocrit, iron and ferritin) collected
at 16 and 20 weeks of gestation. The efficacy of the two approaches in
predicting the development of PIHD in 303 consecutive normotensive pregnant
women at high risk of pre-eclampsia and intrauterine fetal growth retardation
was then compared.
The aNN were trained with a randomly selected set of 187 patient records
and evaluated on the remainder (n=116). MLR analysis was done with the same 116
patients. The performance of each model was assessed using receiver operator
characteristic (ROC) curves. Pregnancies had a normal physiological course in
227 cases, whereas 76 (25.1%) women developed PIHD during the third trimester.
The best aNN at 20 weeks yielded an area under the ROC curve of 0.952,
the sensitivity of 86.2%, the specificity of 95.4%, the positive predictive
value of 86.2% and the negative predictive value of 95.5% for PIHD. The
corresponding values for the MLR at 20 weeks were 0.962, 79.3%, 97.7%, 92% and
93.4%, respectively. The computer-aided integrated use of these conventional
tests seems to provide a useful means for and early prediction of PIHD
development.
Want to have your solutions spotlighted? We
strongly encourage our customers to send their 1-2 page application summaries
to submissions@nd.com so that
we may post them on our web site at: http://www.nd.com/applicationsum.htm.
We frequently spotlight solutions in our newsletters and include a link for
people to get more information.
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We appreciate your feedback! Please send us your comments or
suggestions concerning this newsletter, our web site, or part of the
NeuroDimension product line. Write to us at: feedback@nd.com
Have questions about NeuroDimension products or training
services? Send your questions to: info@nd.com
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