Friday, September 6, 2019
Race Roits Essay Example for Free
Race Roits Essay In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of there is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally we must treat them differentlyâ⬠ââ¬â Harry A Blackman. It shows how racial tension between African Americans and whites provoked the riot because they were treated differently because of their race. The Chicago race riot occurred July 29, 1919 and it lasted for 8 days and it was a turning point in Chicagoââ¬â¢s history. The riot occurred because of racial tension between African Americans and whites. The Chicago race riot occurred July 29, 1919 and it lasted for 8 days and it was a turning point in Chicagoââ¬â¢s history. The riot occurred because of racial tension between African Americans and whites. The riot was provoked by inequality, racial tension, and discrimination Prejudice, wars, and inventions have been going on since the beginning of time, but in the 19th century that is when those three things are the most significant because it changed the atmosphere of the United States. First, in the 19th century segregation was going on in the U. S, but more in the south than anywhere else. During the year of 1914 many of the states in the south required separated entrances for blacks and whites. Next, in the 1910ââ¬â¢s the U. S just finished going into war. The decade was affected harshly because of the war. The war left the United States with storage of food, money and etc. Finally, the 1900ââ¬â¢s brought new inventions to the United States. The First flight took place by the Wright brother, and Henry ford crated his first ford car model. Those inventions changed the way people took transportation making them get to their destination quicker. (Danzer, Alva, Krieger, Wilson, Woloch) Three street riots were East St. Louis, Springfield, and Chicago. These three riots happen because of racial tension and inequality between African Americans and whites. First, in 1917 a riot broke out in East St. Louis. The riot occurred because of racial tension. There was racial tension because the whites were on strike, so the owners decided to give the jobs to the African Americans. The whites were angered by this so they decided to take control and a riot broke out. Second, in 1908a riot broke out in Springfield because of inequality. The riot broke out in Springfield because an African American man was falsely accused of rape. Lastly, in 1919 a huge riot took place in Chicago. The riot occurred because of a death of an African American child. This riot was the biggest riot in Illinois history. So in conclusion, racial tension and inequality between African Americans and whites are the two main reasons why these riots occurred. (Encyclopedia of Chicago) The Division Street riot was a turning point on history because they showed how racial the government was, how violent and dangerous riots can be and how they riot can affect the atmosphere. First, in the Chicago riot there were cases were police would only arrest African Americans for having possessions of weapons and not whites. There was also the case that sparked the Chicago riot when a police refused to arrest the gang that killed Eugene Williams. â⬠Chicago Race Riot of 1919â⬠â⬠The Chicago Race Riot of 1919â⬠. That shows that the government was very racial towards African Americans when it came to arresting or anything else during the riot because the police didnââ¬â¢t help the African American man when Eugene Williams was drowning. Second, the riots showed how dangerous and violent they can become. In the Chicago riot it was so out of hand it wasnââ¬â¢t until the government had to call in the State Military to calm down the riot. Also in the East St. Louis riot the National Guards had to be called in to stop the white mobs. ââ¬Å"Race Riotâ⬠ââ¬Å" East St. Louis Race Riot: July 2, 1917â⬠. This shows that the race riots became so out of hand that the Government had to call in the National Guards and the State Military because the riots were getting to out of control, and out of their reach and power. Lastly, the riots changed the atmosphere of the place where the riots occurred because it made many people suggested creating zoning laws to formally segregated housing in Chicago, or other restrictions preventing blacks to work in the same workplace as whites. Some African Americans were rejected by liberal white voters. The riots made the two races not get along even more because before the riots there were already racial tension between African Americans and whites. So in conclusion, the Division Street riot was a turning point on history because they showed how racial the government was, how violent and dangerous riots can be and how they riot can affect the atmosphere. Discrimination towards African American provoked the riot. First, when Tabitha C Wong writes ââ¬Å"angry white workers lodged a formal complaint against black migration. After the meeting ended news of an attempted robbery of a white man by an armed black man began to circulate though the city. â⬠This explains how in the East St. Louis riot whites were angered when African Americans took their jobs. ââ¬Å"East St. Louis Race Riot: July 2, 1917â⬠Second in the Springfield riot the trial, the woman told the judge that she was not raped by the two men. Another place this can be seen is when Springfield, Illinois race riot writes aboutâ⬠Mabel Hallem later recalled her accusative against George Richardson and Joe James when it was discovered she had probably fabricated the story to cover up an affair. â⬠Second in the Springfield riot the trial for the African Americans were racially unfair. ââ¬Å"The Accused: George Richardsonâ⬠Third, Steven Essig writes about ââ¬Å"the determination of many whites to deny African Americans equal opportunities in employment, housing and political representation has frequently resulted in sustained violent clashes. â⬠Some whites didnââ¬â¢t want African American the same opportunity so they decided to deny them certain chances that whites would be able to do. (Encyclopedia of Chicago) Finally in the Springfield, East St. Louis, and Chicago riot dealt with discrimination which provoked the riot. Inequality provoked the riot making African Americans have fewer resources than whites. First, a great example can be found in The Slum and the Ghetto: Neighborhood Deterioration and Middle Class Reform when Philpott writes about howâ⬠they had no gas baths or toilets plumbing very bad: toilet leaks; bowl broken; leak in kitchen sink; (180). This shows that inequality between whites and African Americans made the African Americans have terrible living environment. Next, a great example can be found in The Slum and the Ghetto: Neighborhood Deterioration and Middle Class Reform when Philpott talks about how ââ¬Å"a write once summed up the Negro question by saying ââ¬Å"the North has principles and the South has the Negroes. â⬠(146). It shows how the North (whites) had principles, and the South has Negroes (bad living environment). So it shows how because of inequality the African Americans didnââ¬â¢t have a good housing opportunity. Lastly, since schools were segregated whites had a better learning opportunity than African Americans. When the schools were segregated the African Americans did not have the same learning opportunity as white. The teachers were not able to teach the African American children how to read, or write. ââ¬Å"Imprisoned or Teaching Free Blacksâ⬠So in conclusion, inequality provoked the riot making African Americans have terrible living environments, terrible housing opportunities, and terrible education. Racial tension provoked the riot making African Americans and whites not get along. First a great example of this can be found in ââ¬Å"Gangs that came to rule in seats of powerâ⬠when Kass writes about the ââ¬Å"Hamburgs ignited the worst and deadliest race riot in Chicagoââ¬â¢s history in 1919â⬠. That shows how the riot started because of the racial tension between African Americans and whites because they didnââ¬â¢t get along. Second police were racial to African Americans. A great example of this can be found in ââ¬Å"Chicago and its eight reasonsâ⬠when the White writes about ââ¬Å"in one case a colored man who was trailer for weapons, and whites were not trailed, and they were all together in a bunchâ⬠. This shows how the police didnââ¬â¢t want to arrest whites, but they were willing to arrest African Americans. It also proves that they were racist towards African Americans. Finally African Americans and Whites were segregated. A great example of this can be found when Essig writes about ââ¬Å"an African American teenager who had crossed an invisible line at 29th Street separating customarily segregated ââ¬Å"whiteâ⬠and ââ¬Å"blackâ⬠beachesâ⬠. That proves that white and black had separate things and they didnââ¬â¢t get along. So in conclusion, gangs racial tension, and segregation were part of the racial tension that provoked the riot. The Division Street riots had an impact history because led to African Americans getting better treatment later on in history. First, the Springfield riot brought about the NAACP. The NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP was created to ensure the political right, educational, and social economic equality of minority groups ââ¬Å"Our Missionâ⬠. The NAACP fought for African Americans to have better treatment. The NAACP was created after the Springfield riot because they wanted to make sure that African Americans and other minority groups have the same rights as whites. Second, the NAACP had led up to greater things. The NAACP was a major part in the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King as one of the leader ââ¬Å" NAAC: 100 years of Historyâ⬠; leading African Americans through the Civil Rights movement taking them one step closer to integration. With Martin Luther king as one of the leaders of the NAACP and Civil Rights movement, with his dead and everything he did for the African Americans eventually led up to him being known as a great man, and making everyone in his time period including African Americans and Whites become segregated. Lastly, city officials organized the Chicago Commission on Race Relations to look into the cause of riots and find was to combat them. The Chicago Commission on Race Relations was created after the Chicago race riot. The Chicago Commission was a great source if information after the Chicago riot because they suggested several key issues including competition for jobs, thinking of ways to fix the problems. â⬠The Chicago Race Riot of 1919â⬠In conclusion, the Division Street Riots were turning points in history because the NAACP was formed, the NAACP led up to greater things and the Chicago Commission fixing race relations and their problems. The Chicago riot occurred July,27 1919 and it lasted for 8 days and it was a turning point in Chicagoââ¬â¢s history. The occurred because of racial tension between African Americans and Whites. Inequality, racial tension, and discrimination provoked the riot. The Chicago Riot that lasted for 8 days and it was a turning point in History. Due to racial tension between African Americans and Whites a riot broke out . In Order to get beyond racism we ,must first take account of there is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally we must first treat them differently- Harry A Blackman. Even though the Chicago riot left 38 people dead, it still was the most dangerous riot in Illinois History.
The Isolation of Hamlet and Oedipus Essay Example for Free
The Isolation of Hamlet and Oedipus Essay Drama gives its readers a chance to delve into the inner selves of the characters as they sort out their internal struggles and external obstacles.à Often times these characters struggles lead them into a world of isolation as they battle against some type of seemingly unconquerable external force. As Tennessee Williams aptly said ââ¬Å". . . we are in the jungle with whatever we can work out for ourselves. It seems to be that the cards are stacked against us. . . .â⬠à This is true for both Hamlet of the play by Shakespeare with the same title and also for Oedipus from Oedipus Rex.à Hamlet finds himself facing the obligation of revenge from his recently murdered father, the former King.à While he does not particularly want the challenge of avenging this murder, he does take steps to accomplish it.à However, the steps he takes are what serve to create his further isolation.à Before the ghost appears, Hamlet has the friendship of Horatio, a loving mother and a promising relationship with Ophelia.à He has no real enemies except for possibly his uncle Claudius.à As he continues with his roundabout plan for revenge, he alienates nearly everyone. First, Hamlet struggles with this newfound obligation and his own personality.à He notes ââ¬Å"the time is out of joint,:O cursed spite / that ever I was born to set it rightâ⬠(I,v).à He does not want to be the one chosen for this task, lacking the confidence and even motivation to take this step. Next, Hamlet struggles against the very credibility of the ghost.à He notes to Horatio his doubts when he speaks of adding a scene much like the death of his father and uses the play to test the veracity of the ghostââ¬â¢s claim. à When he sees the reaction of Claudius he is sure, but has raised the suspicion of his uncle, the King, to greater heights, placing himself in danger.à Now the struggle becomes a physical one with the king.à Even more isolating is Hamletââ¬â¢s murder of Polonius, Opheliaââ¬â¢s father.à While accidental, this death serves to send Ophelia into suicidal insanity and to create a rival in her brother Laertes, who is also now driven for revenge.à Now, Hamlet is struggling with himself, guilt, and the dangerous union of Claudius and Laertes, who both want him dead. During this journey, Hamlet becomes increasingly isolated.à First, he feigns insanity himself to allow himself the opportunity to be less conspicuous which creates a rift between himself and his family.à To keep his cover, he must act cruelly toward Ophelia, his love.à He tells her that she should not have believed him when he said that he loved her and to ââ¬Å"Get thee to a nunnery!â⬠(III,i). à Only Horatio remains true to Hamlet, perhaps as the only character that can see Hamletââ¬â¢s decline clearly.à He attempts to warn Hamlet of the finality of the arranged duel: ââ¬Å"you will not win this wager, my lord.â⬠à As predicted, Hamlet does not win.à He, Polonius, his mother, his uncle, Ophelia, and Laertes all die as a result of Hamletââ¬â¢s inability to win his internal and external struggles. Oedipus also struggles agains the hands of fate.à He has been fated to kill his father and marry his mother.à While he is far away at this time, he seeks to avenge Laius murder and travel away.à His struggle agains his own arrogance is evident when he condemns the prophet Tieresias who warns him.à Tieresias responds with ââ¬Å"You blame my temper,/ but do not see the one which lives within youâ⬠(line 403-404).à This temper reveals itself when he continues to goad Tieresias and discovers that ââ¬Å"I [Tieresias] say that you yourself are the very man youââ¬â¢re looking forâ⬠(ln.434-435). He then gives the prophecy that will forever haunt Oedipus: à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à He will be blind, although he now can see. He will be a poor, although he now is rich. He will set off for a foreign country, groping the ground before him with a stick. And he will turn out to be the brother of the children in his houseââ¬âtheir father, too, both at once, and the husband and the son of the very woman who gave birth to them. He sowed the same womb as his father and murdered him. Go in and think on this. If you discover I have spoken falsely, you can say I lack all skill in prophecy. à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à (lines 550-562). Of course he is referring to Oedipus, but Oedipusââ¬â¢ arrogance will not allow him to see it at this time. à à à à à à à à à à à Slowly fate comes to blows with Oedipus.à He learns that Laius was killed in a similar fashion as a way he once murdered a man.à à In addition, he learns that who he believed to be his father died of natural causes and that he had been given as a baby to another man.à The knowledge isolates Oedipus from his people and from his wife, who kills herself as a result of the horrible news.à Finally, he isolates himself from the world and the truth when he blinds himself saying, You will no longer see all those atrocious things I suffered, the dreadful things I did! No. You have seen those you never should have looked upon, and those I wished to know you did not see. So now and for all future time be dark! (lines 1517-1521). He cannot accept the truth so he retreats into the wilderness alone. à à à à à à à à à à à Both Hamlet and Oedipus must accept what fate brings them.à Hamlet struggles against his duty and isolates himself from everyone he loves, eventually losing his own life.à Oedipus struggles against the truth, ultimately losing his position and family in the process.à Indeed, it seems as if these characters were left alone, to their own devices, and did not win the struggles.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System
Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection System ABSTRACT DETECTION OF EXUDATES USING GUI Automated diabetic retinopathy detection system is an essential requirement due to developing diabetic retinopathy patients around the globe. The primary intention of the research is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. Apart from these, this study compares three methods namely Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization, Histogram Equalization and Mahalanobis Distance for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface with the help of MATLAB. From the findings of the study, in the image enhancement application of blood vessels, Mahalanobis distance is recognized as the best algorithm. It was evident from the analysis that the monitoring and detecting exudates in the fundus of the eye are essential for diabetic patien ts. Moreover, it shows that hard and soft exudates are a primary tool of diabetic retinopathy that can be quantified automatically. In addition to these, it appears that drawbacks must be resolved to predict an appropriate detection method for exudates in digital fundus images. From the findings, it was evident that suitable algorithm has to be selected and verified on several images which provide likely and excellent outcomes. LIST OF TABLES Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance(MD)14 LIST OF FIGURE Image before enhancement Histogram before enhancement Image after histogram equalization Histogram after HE Image after CLAHE Histogram after CLAHE Image after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Histogram after Mahalanobis distance enhancement Flow chart of the method CIELab color space Input image K-means clustered image Morphological image Dilated image Eroded image Optic disc detection Exudates image Ãâà Hard and soft exudates Input DFI Ãâà Enhancement methods of DFI Step-1 of exudate detection Step-2 by giving input image Step-3 enhancing input image Step-4 exudates image of abnormal eye Normal eye output displaying no exudates LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AHE Adaptive Histogram Equalization CIE Commission Internationale de lEclairage CLAHE Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key DRD iabetic Retinopathy DFI Digital Fundus Image HE Histogram Equalization MD Mahalanobis Distance MM Mathematical Morphology RGB Red, Green, Blue RRGS Recursive Region Growing Segmentation Chapter 1 Introduction Research Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a common disease nowadays that can prevail in anyone having type 1 or type-2 diabetes. The opportunity of being influenced by this disease relies on the time duration of a person having diabetes. Long-term diabetes leads to greater blood sugar level that causes harm by changing the flow of blood in retinal blood vessels. It is similar that in the previous stage DR shows no symptoms and hence without facing medical investigation it is not feasible to predict the existence of the disease. Exudative retinopathy is a condition referred by the occurrence of yellow or white mass that exists due to leakage of proteins and fats along with water from vessels of blood in the retina. It is important to predict the exudates occurrence in fundus oculi because the collection of these exudates may lead to complete loss of vision (Manpreetkaur, 2015). Walter et al. (2001) has mentioned that the disease of DR evolved exudates in eye fundus. The physicians regard exudates as on e of the primary indicators of DR severity. Exudates are yellow spot resided in fundus. This disease of diabetes causes leakage of fluid from vessels of blood. For a long time, uncontrolled diabetes may evolve as exudates in eye fundus. The exudates initiate to develop in little number and size. If the diabetes is not monitored or controlled for a long time the number and size of exudates will grow. The exudates growth in eye fundus may cause blindness. Tasman and Jaeger (2001) have stated that exudates seem as bright deposits of yellow-white on the retina due to lipid leakage from abnormal vessels. Their size and shape differ with various stages of retinopathy. These lesions are related to many diseases of retinal vascular involving DME (diabetic macular edema), DR (diabetic retinopathy), retinal venous obstruction, hypertensive retinopathy, radiation retinopathy and retinal arterial microaneurysms, capillary hemangioma of retina and disease of the coat. Welfera et al. (2010) have stated that exudation is a hazardous case because it can lead to a loss of vision when existing in the central macular area. Thus such lesions must be predicted, and appropriate medical intervention must be acquired to avoid damages to visual acuity of the patient. Automatic exudates detection in DR patients retinas could enhance early prediction of DR and could support doctors track the treatment progress over time. Thus it can be inferred that exudates detection by computer could provide a precise and rapid diagnosis to specialist examination and support the clinician to acquire timely decision to take proper treatment. Problem Statement: Diabetes is a rapidly developing common disease among people globally which causes various organs dysfunction. Diabetic retinopathy is the primary blindness cause in adults. Sometimes, due to long-term diabetes, the retinal blood vessels are harmed, this eye disease is known as diabetic retinopathy. It is essential to automatically predict the lesions of diabetic retinopathy at an early stage to hinder further loss of vision. Exudates are significant diabetic retinopathy symptoms. Exudates are bright lesions that are an important sign of this disease. It is the major signs of DR a major vision loss cause in diabetic patients. Primary concern of the research Aim: The primary goal of the study is to analyze an automated way for exudates in eyes. Objectives: To examine the causes of exudates in diabetic retinopathy patients. To analyze the types of exudates used in digital fund images. To evaluate the different enhancement methods used to predict the exudates in fundus images. To determine the drawbacks of enhancement methods of exudates in digital fundus images. To propose a promising algorithm to detect the exudates in digital fundus images. Limitations of the study: This study is limited to diabetic retinopathy patients. This study is restricted to exudates detection only. This study evaluates an automated way for exudates in eyes. The structure of the thesis This argument is made up of the following five chapters: Chapter 1: This is the introduction section that gives the necessary research background andconcepts related to the research. Chapter 2: This chapter is the review of literature that analyzes several existing worksrelated to finding an automated way for exudates in eyes. Chapter 3: This chapter describes the design of the system that explains in detailabout the enhancement methods applied in digital fundus image for detection of diabetic retinopathy. Chapter 4: This chapter discusses the implementation plan of digital fundus images and compares different researches done by authors and depicts the results of the proposed system. Chapter 5: This is the conclusion section that gives the outcome of the research byanswering the research questions and recommendations for future improvement. In addition to that, this thesis has bibliography containing the sources used in collecting secondary data in the study and an appendix that has tools like questionnaires are utilized in the gathering primary data for the research. Chapter-2 Literature Review Introduction: This chapter provides an overview on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. This chapter discusses in detail about the digital fundus image. In addition to these, this chapter discusses in detail about the classification of exudates in retinal images. Apart from these, this study provides the comparison of Histogram equalization (HE), contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis distance (MD) methods to enhance the digital fundus image for detection. Literature on Digital fundus images The benefits of digital imaging are rate of access to information (images), quick and accurate duplication, chronicling and transmission, and prompt access to the outcomes. The imaging technique can be rehashed if the nature of the underlying result is deficient. Despite the fact that film-based images can be digitized (to register macular color thickness conveyance from two different wavelength-based pictures or to evaluate the status of the optic nerve), quick access to the images is unrealistic, as it is important to build up the film first. This deferral keeps the picture from checking the outcomes and in this manner redressing any issue in the procurement procedure, which can be efficiently accomplished in digital imaging at no extra cost. The digitization of fundus photos was tended to by (Cideciyan et al., 1991) who proposed a nonlinear rebuilding model fusing four parts: the eye, the fundus camera, the film and the scanner. Scholl et al. (2004) observed digitized images to be valuable for evaluating age-connected maculopathy and age-connected macular degeneration. Comparison Table 1: Comparison of Histogram Equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) Histogram equalization Contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization Mahalanobis distance This technique is based on the specification of the histogram. CLAHE is considered as the necessary preprocessing step, and it has the tendency to generate the images for extracting the features of a pixel in the classification process. This method has carried out by identifying the pixels of the background images only by leaving the foreground images. HE is relatively straightforward technique and an invertible operator. Indiscrimination is one of the biggest disadvantages of this method. CLAHE is also denoted as the automatic and efficient method to detect the exudates effectively. The selective enhancement of MD has created the fewer artifacts for further processing than HE and CLAHE. HE has used the neighborhood-based approach on the pixels, and it has the tendency to operate based on the modification of histogram to obtain the new images efficiently. The technique of CLAHE has the capability to provide the green channel image enhancement with high quality. This method can produce the similar curve to the Gaussian-shaped curve ideally. HE has uniformly distributed the output histogram by using the cumulated histogram like the mapping function. CLAHE has limited the process of amplification by clipping the histogram at the predefined value. MD algorithm has given better histogram result when compared to HE and CLAHE Research gap: This study examines about the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. The research gap predicted in this study is that there are many studies on the detection of exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. But no studies have clearly determined the successful approaches towards the detection of diabetic retinopathy in fundus images. Detection and classification of diabetic retinopathy pathologies in fundus images have been investigated by Agurto (2012). He studied the effects of image compression and degradation on an automatic diabetic retinopathy screening algorithm. In addition to these, the Agurto et al. (2012) investigated the detection of hard exudates and red lesions in the macula using the multi-scale approach. Walter et al. (2002) carried out an investigation to contribute the image processing to the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. Authors also focused on automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy from eye fundus images (Man preetkaur, 2015). There are also studies that are focused on coarse-to-fine strategy for automatically identifying exudates in color eye fundus images. Chapter-3 Research Design Introduction: This part examines the design of the study to determine an automated way for finding exudates in eyes. This study compares three methods namely CLAHE (Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization), Histogram Equalization (HE) and Mahalanobis Distance (MD) for enhancing a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. Research design: The reason of the study is to detect exudates in digital fundus image for diabetic retinopathy. In this particular study, we provide an efficient method for identifying and classifying the exudates as soft exudates and hard exudates. The retinal image seen in the CIELab space of the color is pre-processed for eliminating noise. Further, a network of blood vessels is removed for facilitating detection and removing the optic disc. At the same time, optic disc is removed using the technique of Hough transform. Candidate exudates are identified using the method of k-means clustering. At last, exudates are categorized as the soft and hard one by their threshold and edge energy. Developed method has yielded better outcomes. Histogram Equalization: Histogram equalization is a technique for adjusting image intensities to enhance contrast. HE is an operation that is based on histogram specification or modification to obtain new pictures. The objective of this contrast enhancement technique is to get a new enhanced image that has a uniform histogram that only plots the frequency at each gray-level from 0 (black) to 255 (white). Each histogram represents the frequency of occurrence of all gray-level in the image. Figure 1: Image before enhancement Figure 2: Histogram before equalization Figure 3: Image after histogram equalization Figure 4: Histogram after histogram equalization Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization: CLAHE is considered as a locally adaptive method for contrast enhancement. CLAHE is an enhanced version of adaptive HE (AHE) method. The technique AHE has a realistic restriction that homogenous part in the image leads to over-amplification of noise due to thin series of pixels are plotted to a whole range of visualization. In the meantime, it was noticed that contrast limited AHE (CLAHE) was designed for preventing this noise over-amplification in homogenous regions. CLAHE restricts the sound amplification in the image in such a way that image looks like very real. Figure 5: Image after CLAHE Figure 6: Histogram after CLAHE Mahalanobis Distance: Image enhancement using the Mahalanobis distance method is performed by identifying the background image pixels and eliminating them, leaving only the foreground image. It is based on the assumption that in image neighborhood N, the background pixels has significantly different intensity value than those of the foreground pixels. For each pixel (x, y) in the picture, the mean Ãâà µn (x, y) and the standard deviation à Ãân (x, y) of the statistical distribution of intensities in N are estimated. The sample means; Ãâà µn is used as the estimator for Ãâà µn (x, y) and the e sample standard deviation; à Ãâ n is the estimator for à Ãân (x, y). If the intensity of pixel (x, y) is close to the mean intensity in N, it is considered to belong to the background set ÃŽà ². As defined mathematically in Eq. 1, the expression implies that pixel (x, y) belongs to ÃŽà ² if the stated condition is satisfied. Those images would later be combined to evaluate the MD image, which can be segmented using the threshold t to identify the background pixels. Figure 7: Image after MD enhancement Figure 8: Histogram after MD enhancement Summary: This research compares three methods namely CLAHE, HE, MD to enhance a digital fundus image to detect and choose the best one to classify exudates in Retinal images by adopting graphical user interface in MATLAB. It was evident from the above findings that candidate exudates are identified using the technique of Mahalanobis Distance enhancement. Chapter 4 Implementation Plan, Discussion, and Results Introduction: This chapter presents the implementation plan of detection of exudates in digital fundus images by proposed technique. The results of proposed method are also shown. Implementation Plan: The proposed system is implemented using the digital fundus images. DFIs (digital fundus images) are essential in finding the pathological fact that would lead to different diseases. However, digital fundus images have many illumination and contrast issues which make enhancement an important factor. Subsequently, digital fundus images must be developed to permit for good visualization to satisfy ophthalmologists to undertake their diagnosis. The below figure shows the implementation plan of detection of exudates in digital fundus images: Figure 9: Flow chart of the method 4.3 Conversion from RGB color space to CIELab color space A Lab color space is a color-opponent space with dimension L* for lightness and a* and b* for the color-opponent dimensions, based on nonlinearly compressed CIE XYZ color space coordinates. The CIELab color scale is an approximately uniform color range. In a standard color scale, the differences between the points plotted in the color space correspond to the visual difference between the colors plotted. The CIELab color space is organized in a cube form. The L* runs from top to bottom. The maximum for L* is 100, which represents a perfect reflecting diffuser. The minimum for L* is zero, which represents black. The a* and b* axes have no specific numerical limits. Positive a* is red, Negative a* is green. Positive b* is yellow, Negative b* is blue. Figure 10: CIELab color space It is perceptual uniform color space. Perceptual uniformity means how two colors differ from seeing when human observe that two colors. Hence uniform color spaces were defined in such way that all the colors are arranged by the perceptual difference of the colors. The L component closely matches human perception of lightness, and by having it as an independent quantity to control, it can be used to make accurate color corrections without affecting the a* and b* color twins. RGB or CMYK color spaces are designed to model the output of physical devices rather than human visual perception. This color model is used in this work to identify even a small intensity variation. K-means Clustering K-means clustering is a method of vector quantization, originally from signal processing, that is accessible for cluster analysis in data mining. K-means clustering aims to partition n observations into k clusters in which each observation belongs to the cluster with the nearest mean, serving as a prototype of the cluster. This results in a partitioning of the data space into Voronoi cells. K-Means algorithm is chosen because of its simplicity. In this work, k-means clustering is used to partition the data into groups for identifying exudates locations. K-means Usage in our project: Because of the computational simplicity of the k-means algorithm over other clustering algorithms, we decided to use the k-mean clustering in the proposed work. The k-mean clustering algorithm is a particular case of the generalized hard clustering algorithms. It is applied when point representatives are used, and the squared Euclidean Distance is adopted to measure the dissimilarities between vectors and cluster representatives. The k-means algorithm is given below. The steps involved in K-Means algorithm are: Select an initial partition with k clusters Generate a new partition by assigning each pattern to its closest cluster center. Compute new cluster centers. Continue to do steps 2 and 3 until centroids do not change. Figure 11: Input image Figure 12: k-means clustered image Blood vessel detection To facilitate exudates extraction from the pre-processed image, blood vessel network is detected and then eliminated from the picture using Morphological operations. Morphological operations can readily be used in medical image analysis as it supports powerful tools to extract pathologies. The morphological operations employed in the proposed work are given below. An important part of applying morphological operations is to decide on the shape and size of structuring element. In the proposed work, a ball-shaped structuring element of size 8, was found to be optimal for eliminating the blood vessel network from the retinal images of local database Morphological Image Processing: Mathematical morphology (MM) is a theory and technique for the analysis and treatment of geometrical structures, based on set theory, lattice theory, topology, and random functions. MM is most commonly applied to digital images, but it can be employed as well on graphs, surface meshes, solids, and many other spatial structures. Topological and geometrical continuous-space concepts such as size, shape, convexity, connectivity, and geodesic distance, were introduced by MM on both continuous and discrete spaces. MM is also the foundation of morphological image processing, which consists of a set of operators that transform images according to the above characterizations. The basic morphological operators are erosion, dilation, opening, and closing. Dilation: Dilation is one of the two first operators in the area of mathematical morphology, the other being erosion. The primary effect of the operator on a binary image is to gradually enlarge the boundaries of regions of foreground pixels (i.e. white pixels, typically). Thus areas of foreground pixels grow while holes within those regions become smaller. The dilation operator takes two pieces of data as inputs. The first is the image which is to be dilated. The second is a (usually small) set of coordinate points known as a structuring element (also referred to as a kernel). It is this structuring element that determines the precise effect of the dilation on the input image. Figure 13: Dilated image Erosion: Erosion is one of the two first operators in the area of mathematical morphology, the other being dilation. The main effect of the operator on a binary image is to erode away the boundaries of regions of foreground pixels (i.e. white pixels, typically). Thus areas of foreground pixels shrink in size, and holes within those areas become larger. The erosion operator takes two pieces of data as inputs. The first is the image which is to be eroded. The second is a (usuallyà small) set of coordinate points known as a structuring element (also referred to as a kernel). It is this structuring element that determines the precise effect of the erosion of the input image. Figure 14: Eroded image Figure 15: Morphological image Hough Transform The Hough transform is a feature extraction technique used in image analysis, computer vision, and digital image processing. The purpose of the method is to find imperfect instances of objects within a particular class of shapes by a voting procedure. This voting process is carried out in a parameter space, from which object candidates are obtained as local maxima in a so-called accumulator space that is explicitly constructed by the algorithm for computing the Hough transform. In this project work, circular Hough transform is used to detect optic disk in a retinal image. Elimination of optic disk is necessary for detection of exudates. If the optic disk is not eliminated from a picture, there is a chance of identifying optic disk as exudates, which leads to the false result. Circular Hough Transform Algorithm works is presented below. Step1: Convert color retinal image into grayscale Step2: Create a 3D Hough array (accumulator) with the first two dimensions representing thecoordinates of the circle origin, and the third dimension represents the radii. Step3: Perform edge detection using the Canny edge detector. For each edge pixel, increment thecorresponding elements in the Hough array. Step4: Collect candidate circles, and then delete similar circles. Step5: Circle the object. Figure 16: Optic disc detection Classifying Hard and Soft exudates The final step is to classify the exudates as hard and soft based on the threshold value and edge energy. Edge power calculation is required to extract the exudates with sharp edges which are a characteristic feature of hard exudates. We preferred canny operator over Kirsch operator for edge energy detection. The hard exudates are extracted by combining this edge energy and a Threshold value. To obtain the soft exudates subtract the hard exudates image from the picture that contains both types of exudates. Hard exudates and soft exudates are classified by using reference sum value of white pixels in exudates image. Figure 17: Exudates image Figure 18: Hard and soft exudates Chapter 5 Results and Conclusion Introduction: This section presents the results and conclusion of the research by answering research questions and suggestions for future studies. Results: From the proposed system the results acquired are that the exudates are predicted, then it is categorized as hard, and soft exudates and the severity level is estimated. The first figure shows the input as an original image: Figure 19: Input image Source: Author In the next figure the enhancement methods are applied to digital fundus images for detection of diabetic retinopathy: Figure20: Enhancement methods of DFI Next, the exudates are detected which is depicted in the below set of figures: Figure 21: Step-1 of exudate detection Figure 22: Step-2 giving input image Figure 23: Step-3 enhancing the input image Figure 24: exudate image of abnormal eye Repeating the same procedure for normal eye and is shown in the following figure: Figure 25: Normal eye output displaying no exudates The results of the study reveal that Mahalanobis Distance is the best algorithm for the blood vessels image enhancement application. Throughout the experiment, we have found an average of 88% sensitivity and 60% accuracy. Conclusion Automated diabetic retinopathy detection has become an important research because of the severity of increase in cause of blindness among the diabetes patients. DR is caused mainly by the alterations in retinas blood vessels due to increased level of blood glucose. Exudates are one of the major signs of D
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Yahoo Case Study Essay -- Essays Papers
Case about Yahoo 1. Success as a Web Search Engine a. Why was Yahoo! such an early success on the Web? Yahoo was an early success due to a combination of factors such as timing, hard work, and a good understanding of Web surferââ¬â¢s tastes and needs.. In early 1995, Net mania was just flowering. It was a great time to be a young entrepreneur with an Internet idea. Dave Faldo and Jerry Yang saw a consumer need for classifying and differentiating web sights. Resting the urge to automate this process, Yahooââ¬â¢s founders instead chose to manually perform this search, reviewing and classifying roughly 1000 sights a day. This approach combined with their decision to offer a free service lead to early success. b. Why was Yahoo! more successful as a search engine than other, more technically superior search engines? Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s search engine was designed to be both reliable and streamlined. The design was simple so it would pop up quickly. Its focus was on quality, not quantity. Yangââ¬â¢s comment that ââ¬Å"if you have 13 Madonna sights, you probably donââ¬â¢t need a 14thâ⬠rings true. Surfers choosing Yahoo! not only were provided reliable information, but they were not bombarded with 1000 sights to review. Additionally, Yahoo! provided a product that was appealing and fun to use. c. Why is the fact that ââ¬Å"Yahoo! spends money on people, not computers,ââ¬â¢ one of the keys to their success? Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s founders business plan was to manually categorize existing web sights and provide a succinct list of quality sights to choose from. This human-created directory was all that distinguished Yahoo! from its competitors as Net euphoria swept the stock market in early 1996. Other search engines were throwing any sight that met the search requirements at the user. Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s concept saved the browser the time they would otherwise spend filtering out the garbage to find these quality sights. 2. Building a Web Sight and the Brand a. Do you agree with Jerry Yangââ¬â¢s two fundamental strategies for the success of Yahoo! as a Web site and business brand? Why or why not? Yang firmly believed that success could be achieved by: a) giving users abundant reasons to visit your service, and b) promote the hell out of the brand. Both strategies were key in Yahooââ¬â¢s success. Yangââ¬â¢s vision of a one-stop-shopping site, giving users multiple reasons to use his servic... ...with regard to the global community. In places such as India, AOL cannot be accessed without making an international call. Yahoo! also caters to foreign nationals with a variety of Yahoo! home sites from China, France, India, and many more. Given the global nature of todayââ¬â¢s economy, Yahoo! has done its part to reach out to new markets. c. What can Yahoo! do to improve their chances for business success? Explain your recommendation. Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s chances for future success would be greatly aided by diversifying their business plan. Currently, Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s chief source of revenue comes in the form of selling advertising. Two areas can be improved here. First, Yahoo! should look to attract more traditional companies and not rely solely on ââ¬Å".comâ⬠firms. Secondly, Yahoo! would benefit from another, more stable source of income. One suggestion would be to alter their present format and offer a business suite that provides the simplicity and speed of Yahoo!ââ¬â¢s traditional service as well as a professional appearance. Such products as business email, videoconferencing, and other telecommunication tools could be packaged and sold for a flat rate that would provide additional income.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Essay --
In this day and age, many argue that the United States has an ââ¬Å"apathy problem.â⬠According to The Huffington Post, ââ¬Å"America is truly exceptional in its ability not to care.â⬠The only time we are concerned about an issue, is only if and when it personally affects us. This is also the circumstance in regards to politics. Citizens must have reliable information in order to make good, rational decisions that will help our political system run efficiently. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. According to Converse, ââ¬Å"most Americans glance at public life innocent of ideological concepts and unguided by any broad outlook on government policyâ⬠(Kinder and Sanders, 1996, p. 167). In such a society, there is no such thing as equal representation, only popular representation, as a result of the disparities and ignorance of the people. Converse makes very valid arguments that confirm that regardless of ideological innocence, political electorates, as a wh ole, will continue to be consistent with the changing conditions of society. In the past, the ââ¬Å"information problemâ⬠was the scarcity of information and the disconnected flow of information to the voters. Today, the problem is one of ââ¬Å"superabundanceâ⬠(Converse, 1990, p. 371). Because there is such a massive volume of information available, it is difficult to organize and rummage through it all. Corresponding to Downââ¬â¢s Rational Choice theory, rational voters will not make an effort to analyze such information because there are higher costs than benefits to search through and find ââ¬Å"goodâ⬠information (Converse, 1964, p. 33). Consequently, there is a huge disparityââ¬âa difference that we greatly underestimateââ¬âbetween the ignorant and the well-informed constituents. According to Converse, there... ...presentation fidelity ââ¬Å"is higher for the better-educated constituentsâ⬠(Converse, 1990, p. 387). This is the case because politically sophisticated entities will be more vocal and more involved in legislation. Our society is a mix of the two models, issue-public and top-down, so it only makes sense that information will be unequally distributed. Although we don't like to admit it much, we are a very indifferent society, so people do not care; they will simply delve into and further develop their expertise on topics that they are specifically interested in. However, there is no need to fret. Everyone is different and has distinct interests and skills. After all, there are nine different types of intelligencesââ¬âsome excel in Math while others outshine in English. Therefore, we should leave politics to the professionals and the well-informed constituents.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Love, Sonnets and Songs :: Sonnet essays
Love, Sonnets and Songs. Ã Mary Wroth's prose romance, The Countess of Mountgomeries Urania, closely compares with her uncle, Sir Philip Sidney, 1593 edition The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.Ã Wroth was undoubtedly following her uncle's lead by trying to emulate Astrophil and Stella.Ã Astrophil and Stella and Pamphilia to Amphilantus are both about being in love and they both have over one hundred sonnets and songs. After rereading both pieces, I was struck not by their similarities but by their differences.Ã For example, Stella is assertive and Pamphilia is passive.Ã Stella is truly bound by her love for Astrophil while Pamphilia cannot break herself free from the love she feels forAmphilantus.Ã Sidney creates a female beauty that retains her voice and speaks, whereas Wroth allows her woman to remain inactive and vulnerable.Ã However, Wroth no longer allows the female to be the object.Ã She gives the female a voice and she is now the speaking subject.Ã Pamphilia remains inactive and unfulfilled but very patient. A good question for the reader to ask oneself is why would Wroth not establish a strong female speaking subject like the one she was trying to imitate?Ã Wroth was the first woman writer in England to publish a romance and a sonnet sequence.Ã She was by no means conservative or cared about what people thought of her, which has been proved by the antics of her personal life.Ã So why not establish that same woman character/speaking voice in her prose?Ã I would like now to look at the similarities and differences of Stella and Pamphilia. First, Philip Sidney and his female character Stella.Ã Stella has a voice and does speak, however, she speaks in the songs and not the sonnets themselves.Ã We see in the first two lines in each stanza of the Eleventh Song, Stella speaking and Astrophil answering her. Who is it that this dark night Underneath my window plaineth? It is one who from they sight Being (ah) exiled, disdaineth Every other vulgar light. Because she is not granted a sonnet, the standpoint that women are not allowed a voice has some truth to it.Ã Another standpoint is the way the women are viewed.Ã Women are viewed by their physical aspects.Ã For example, in sonnet 7, the speaker states: When Nature make her chief work, Stella's eyes In color black why wrapped she beams so bright?
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Risk of Schizophrenia Essay
Over the last few decades Schizophrenia has become embedded in mainstream vernacular as any behavior or emotional response that is out of touch with reality. However even with its popularity heightened through movies and headline news stories, schizophrenia is still one of the most enigmatic and least understood disorders of the brain. With current research focused on the role of neurobiology and functioning on a cellular level, investigative analysis has merited new innovations towards its source, however a single organic cause for the disorder still eludes scientists. Although the foundation of the affliction is still unknown, its effects are well documented and over the next few pages will show the changes in the brain as the disease develops, and how those alterations impact the rest of the body and alter various other functions throughout the viscera. The term Schizophrenia was first coined in 1911 by Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Eugen Bleuler and translates from the original Greek as schizo (split) and phrene (mind), making a literal translation of split-mind, in reference to the disjointed thinking of those with the disease (Johnstone, 1994). Although the term was first used in the early twentieth century, according to scholars a ââ¬Ëmadnessââ¬â¢ was described in The Ebers Papyrus, a collection of ancient Egyptian medical papers dating back to 1550 BC, which accurately depicts some of schizophreniaââ¬â¢s symptoms (Johnstone, 1994). With its possible documentation over three millennia ago and its symptoms documented in a myriad of medical journals throughout history, the disorder itself is very rare. Those who are at the highest risk of manifestation are offspring whose parents are both schizophrenic, although even at this rate the risk of manifestation is about forty-six percent. Globally however its prevalence is about 0.9 percent or fifty-eight million people worldwide (Hollandsworth, 1990). According to James G. Hollandworth of the University of Southern Mississippi, schizophrenia is primarily characterized by a disintegration of reality perception, consciousness, and thought process which results in a debilitated proficiency in social and professional faculties (Hollandworth, 1990). While schizophrenia can most arguably be classified as a predominantly genetic affliction, there are others factors which can contribute to its development even without a genetic predisposition. These elements include birth defects such as hypoxia and low birth rate, neuroanatomical anomalies, viral infections, along with low IQ and cerebralà atrophy (Hollandsworth, 1990). While these components in themselves are not sufficient enough to cause the disorder, they result in an increased risk for developing the disease. One theory for the cause of schizophrenia that has been studied with great validity is the dopamine hypothesis. This theory postulates that schizophrenia is caused by an overabundance of the dopamine-dependent areas of the brain causing an imbalance that affects the entire system (Hollandsworth, 1990). For this reason many of todayââ¬â¢s schizophrenia treatment drugs inhibit dopamine receptor activity in an attempt to return it to its natural equilibrium. Although even with advances in modern science and new drugs being developed every day, the illness is still only treatable and its symptoms still emerge even with proper medication. Even with its origin unknown, scientists have discovered several chromosomes which when damaged or mutated, greatly increase the risk of developing schizophrenia. The chromosomes in particular that act as catalysts are chromosome numbers twenty-two, six, and eleven (Klar, 2004). Chromosome six contains several genes that are linked with immune response which has given rise to the belief that schizophrenia has some association with weakened disease fighting agents. While damage to this chromosome may be linked to the source of the ailment, it may only be the jump starter that kicks off the path to developing the illness. For as scientists know, a lacking immune response caused by chromosome damage can theoretically leave the body vulnerable to infection, which are facilitators that can bring about the emergence of the disorder (Hollandsworth, 1990). Chromosome twenty-two on the other hand is linked with the dopamine hypothesis as this area houses enzymes that aid in transporting neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters, mainly catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and proline dehydrogenase (PRODH) are essential for the breakdown of dopamine. Any disruptions in this particular area can trigger an overabundance or shortage of dopamine, potentially resulting in developing positive or negative schizophrenia symptoms (Chakravarti, 2002). Lastly, chromosome eleven has been associated with schizophrenia on the grounds of genetic translocation, or a chromosome abnormality caused by faulty rearrangements of various strands of DNA. These faults can occur in any number of genes, however during this process it occurs at times pivotal to cell division, making it easy for genes to be incorrectly rearranged (Klar, 2004). When this happensà it can potentially inhibit the development of lateralization of brain function and act as a precursor not only schizophrenia, but other forms of mental illness as well as cognitive impairments (Klar, 2004). Once the subject has developed schizophrenia it affects the brain in very specific ways. When the disorder itself first begins to emerge its early symptoms manifest themselves in a period called The Prodormal Phase (Neale &ump; Oltmanns, 1980). During this phase, which occurs anywhere from six to thirty months before the disease truly emerges, the person may experience social withdrawal , dysphoria, and irritability. As the disorder progresses the symptoms may become more intense, and newer or ââ¬Ëpositiveââ¬â¢ symptoms may begin to surface. These positive symptoms can include visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thought processes. In severe cases of thought process deterioration or cognitive slippage, a person can develop schizophasia or ââ¬Ëword saladââ¬â¢ where a personââ¬â¢s speech is completely incoherent with no understandable thought or message. Following the positive symptoms of the illness, ââ¬Ënegativeââ¬â¢ symptoms can appear as well. These symptoms are aspects of the personââ¬â¢s personality that have been negated by the disease. They are most commonly expressed by the personââ¬â¢s flat or expressionless demeanor, apathy, very little displayed emotion, and continued peculiar behavior (Hollandsworth, 1990). After schizophrenia has completely manifested itself, the patient is usually classified into one of four types. These types are paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, and undifferentiated. Those in the paranoid group display an obsession over their delusions or ha ve hallucinations specifically related to a certain subject or idea, and are usually the most functional of all schizophrenics (Johnstone, 1994). Disorganized types are typically ones who display little emotion and act in a disjointed and inarticulate manner, while catatonic schizophrenics are merely ones who appear in torpor and display lethargic indolence. The undifferentiated type however is hybrid of the three previous types and is a miscellaneous combination of all their symptoms combined (Johnstone, 1994). While the outward symptoms may be relatively easy to recognize, inside the brain is a totally different matter. Schizophrenia can cause structural changes in the brain even though a specific cause for these changes is still unknown. These changes in brain structure are illustrated by larger ventricles, a thicker corpus collosum, a decrease in dendriteà spines in the frontal lobe, disordered hippocampal pyramidal cells, and a shrinkage of the cerebellar vermis, which is mainly responsible for perception. In some studies malformed neuronal migration has been observed which can lead to disjointed thoughts as well as an overall shrinkage of the hippocampus and amygdala (Johnstone, 1994). Due to these changes, a person suffering from the disorder can have reduced functioning in the frontal lobe which can affect their logic and critical thinking skills as well as their ability to successfully plan ahead. This reduced functioning is displayed in the Wisconsin card sorting test, which is administered to measure possible brain damage and assess the functioning of the frontal lobe. Schizophrenics who participate in the test show an inability to successfully transfer their attention to the rules of the exam once they begin. Functional imaging has also shown a lack of activity in the right hemisphere of the frontal lobe during their partaking, which does not increase as the task is administered. It is also shown that in a study by a Dr. Nagy in 1963, that of 260 cases of schizophrenia, roughly fifty-eight percent of the group had some form of cerebral atrophy (Johnstone, 1994). On a cellular level schizophrenia symptoms are thought to be caused by an overabundance of neurotransmitters released between neurons. These neurotransmitters, mainly dopamine and serotonin, in excess can cause hallucinations and delusions which are referred to as ââ¬Ëpositiveââ¬â¢ symptoms. Too little of these neurotransmitters however can result in lack of emotion and motivation which mirror the ââ¬Ënegativeââ¬â¢ symptoms of the disorder. Another type of cell affected by schizophrenia is the pyramidal cell in the prefrontal cortex, or the forehead area of the brain. These cells, which are a type of neuron that serve primarily as excitation units in the prefrontal cortex, are shown to have a decrease in basilar dendrite numbers. These basilar dendrites arise from the base of the pyramidal cellââ¬â¢s soma, and with a decrease in their numbers it can indicate a shortened synaptic surface area resulting in possible fallacious thought processing (Broadbelt, Byne, &ump; Jo nes, 2002). Pyramidal cells in the hippocampus are also known to be affected by the disorder can and cause many of the cells in that area to be thrown into disarray, causing cognitive malfunctions. The treatment of this disorder can vary greatly depending on the person; however dopamine inhibiting antipsychotics are a very popular remedy. Although prevalent, theseà medications are not perfect and many scientists claim there is still no concrete connection that schizophrenia is exclusively a result of faulty dopaminergic transmissions (Neale &ump; Oltmanns, 1980). It has also been noted that many of the dopamine inhibiting drugs serve only to combat the positive symptoms and leave many of the negative symptoms such as emotional absence unaffected. Another treatment that is still widely used, but much less common is electroconvulsive therapy or shock therapy. This treatment is still very controversial but there has been success in treating schizophrenia symptoms completely, although many patients relapse within six months. Studies have also indicated that although this treatment can be effective there are risks of permanent brain damage. According to Dr. Peter Breggin (2008), a psychiatrist at the State University of New York, shock therapy in animal testing showed statistically significant brain structural abnormalities when compared to animals without it. His study showed the electrical shocks caused changes in the nerve cell walls causing gliosis, or a profound increase in the number of astrocytes in impaired areas of the central nervous system (Breggin, 2008). In conclusion, schizophrenia is unique disorder that affects the brain in many ways, yet manifests itself differently from person to person. As there is no tangible rubric for how the disorder will impact the person, it can be a difficult illness to treat. Its effects on the brain, from enlarged ventricles to a decline in dendrite spines, shows the major impact the illness can have on living a normal life. Although the disorder afflicts just over fifty-eight million people worldwide it is still devastating to those who are affected and while the medical community makes leaps and bounds in understanding the disease, a cure is still far from the horizon. With psychology grant money from universities being invested predominantly in neuropsychology, perhaps sometime in the near future scientists will be able to fully understand this illness and find a successful and permanent cure for it.
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