<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The orientation of society towards the so-called “digital age” has had a significant impact on social life and at the same time on economic life. This impact has been accompanied by the constant change of social behavior, orienting society towards a new approach to information technology. ICT and the Internet have helped to eliminate geographical, time and cost barriers, making life more dynamic.The increase in the number of Internet and social media users has affected the restructuring of the relationship between these users, their relationship with businesses, the way of doing business, the way of education, job search, employment, entertainment, etc. The growing popularity of social networks has made it possible to create a new economic environment based on collaboration and communication. Nowadays, social networks have become the most important communication channels. Everywhere in Albania, social networks are used to communicate with acquaintances, to set up business, to communicate with customers and for many other reasons. Social media has come a long way from connecting people only to playing a crucial role in all businesses. People moved online, and they are very social. And brands have noticed the change, of course. Previously, the presence of a business was signed by a physical store and newspaper ad. But in the digital age, the business reputation lives and dies for its position on social media. Social media has the ability to drive buyers to a new product or a good deal. But not only that, social networks create a sense of community and involve people in a way of shopping.</p>
</abstract>

The power of social media in Albanian businesses

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Aim of investigation</h3>
<p>Comparison of an electrochemiluminescence technique (ECL, applied in Cobas 6000 instrument), an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA, applied in CHORUS instrument) and an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA, applied in MINI-VIDAS instrument) for early diagnosis of <italic>Toxoplasma gondii</italic> infection in pregnant women. Medical diagnosis is required to determine the most sensitive techniques to diagnose this pathogen, in the framework of which is developed this scientific work. This is very important due to the multiple fetal infections during pregnancy.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Methods</h3>
<p>ECL, ELISA and ELFA techniques are used to detect anti-toxoplasma IgM antibodies in pregnant women, during the first trimester of pregnancy. 200 samples were analyzed with each technique and sensitivity and specificity are evaluated for each of them.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Results</h3>
<p>ECL technique has resulted in higher sensitivity (100%) and specificity (99.3%), while ELISA technique has resulted in lower sensitivity (87.5%) and specificity (97.3%).</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>Analysis of the results confirmed the usefulness of ECL technique for an early diagnosis of <italic>Toxoplasma gondii</italic> infections in pregnant women. Anyway, for diagnostic purposes, the results should always be assessed in conjuction with the patient’s medical history and other clinical examinations.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

Comparison of three immunoassays for detection of anti-toxoplasma IgM antibodies in pregnant women

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Classification is a data mining technique used to predict group membership for data instances within a given dataset. Classification is considered as an example of supervised learning as training data associated with class labels is given as input. This comparative study focuses on the application of K-Nearest Neighbors (K-NN), Naive Bayes, and Support Vector Machines (SVM) classification techniques in the context of face expression recognition. The study aims to evaluate and compare the performance of these techniques in accurately classifying facial expressions, their advantages and disadvantages.</p>
<p>Facial expression recognition is an important area in computer vision and emotion analysis. It involves identifying and classifying different facial expressions such as happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust. Accurate classification of facial expressions is crucial for various applications, including human-computer interaction, affective computing and psychological research.</p>
<p>K-NN is a non-parametric algorithm that classifies data based on the majority class of its K-nearest neighbors. Naive Bayes is a probabilistic algorithm that makes classification decisions based on the Bayes theorem and assumes independence between features. SVM is a machine learning algorithm that constructs a hyperplane to separate different classes of data.</p>
<p>Dataset such as Affectnet is used to conduct the study including labeled facial expression images. Three algorithms are tested on this dataset to evaluate their performance in correctly classifying facial expressions. Performance metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score are used to assess the classification performance of each technique. Software used for conducting the experiments is Python.</p>
</abstract>

“Aleksander Moisiu”, University of Durres

Comparative Study of K-NN, Naive Bayes and SVM for Face Expression Classification Techniques

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Objective</h3>
<p>This study aims to examine the association between economic characteristics and contraceptive switching in Indonesia.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Methods</h3>
<p>The study employed monthly contraceptive calendar data from the results of the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey. The unit analyzed the contraceptive use during 3-62 months in women of the age between 15-49. The data was analyzed using a Gompertz proportional hazards model. The dependent variable was the duration of the risk period up to the incidence of the contraceptive switching. Main used variables were based on economic, demographic and sociocultural factors.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Results</h3>
<p>The 12-month contraceptive switching rate was higher among women who had a cellular phone, a bank account, ever used the internet in the last year, were currently employed and came from households in highest wealth quintile. These economic features significantly influenced the risk of switching contraception in Indonesia after controlling for demographic and sociocultural factors.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>After controlling for demographic and sociocultural factors, a higher risk of contraceptive switching was associated with having a cellular phone and bank account and being from households in highest wealth quintile. Higher contraceptive switching risk was also associated with switching contraceptive pills, intent of limiting births, having two or three children, being of age 15-24 years, having higher education, having exposure to family planning messages via internet, having husbands who decided about the wife’s earnings, earning more than husband and not owning a house. The nexus between better economic status and contraceptive switching may imply the need to formulate and implement suitable family planning policies and strategies to reduce contraceptive switching among the better-off economically and more empowered women in order to prevent unwanted births.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

The Nexus between Economic Features and Contraceptive Switching in Indonesia

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 10 (2024): Issue 1 (May 2024)

Volume 9 (2023): Issue 3 (December 2023)

Volume 9 (2023): Issue 2 (September 2023)

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research is a professional, double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-access journal. BJIR is published in English three times a year and provides a forum for disseminating and enhancing theoretical, empirical and/or pragmatic research across the social sciences and related disciplines. In this sense, we welcome papers that are interdisciplinary or focused on particular disciplines (e.g. economics, politics, geography, sociology, health, international relations, law etc), with an expectation that all work is accessible to readers across the social sciences. Acceptance for publication is subject to a double-blind peer-reviewing process. The journal expects authors to write clearly and accessibly for an international audience. No particular theories are favoured.  We invite researchers to submit their original papers via email at: bjir.journal@gmail.com   Archiving Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections. Plagiarism Policy The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 