1.1 Introduction
The benefits of breastfeeding are numerous ranging from providing the infant with antibodies, to helping ward off risks of illnesses and providing the baby with all his/her nutritional needs (Mundi, 2008). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2004), breast milk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first six months of life, and it provides about half or more of a child's nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, up to one third during the second year of life. Furthermore, breast milk not only protects the infant against infectious and chronic diseases, but also promotes sensory and cognitive development in addition to contributing to the health and well-being of mothers, helping in birth spacing, reducing the risks of ovarian and breast cancers as well as increasing family and national resources (WHO, 2004).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Breast milk or mother’s milk is milk produced by mammary glands located in the breast of a human female to feed a young child. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns before they are able to eat and digest other foods; older infants and toddlers may continue to be breastfed, but solid foods should be introduced in combination starting from six months of age.The baby nursing from its own mother is the most common way of obtaining breast milk, but the milk can be pumped and then fed by baby bottle, cup and/or spoon, supplementation drip system, or nasogastric tube. In preterm children who do not have the ability to suck during their early days of life, the use of cups to feed expressed milk and other supplements is reported to result in better breastfeeding extent and duration subsequently than bottles and tubes (Collins, 2016).Breast milk can be supplied by a woman other than the baby’s mother, either via donated pumped milk (generally from a milk bank or via informal milk donation), or when a woman nurses a child other than her own at her breast, a practice known as wet nursing.
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with solids gradually being introduced around this age when signs of readiness are shown. Supplemented breastfeeding is recommended until at least age two and then for as long as the mother and child wish (WHO, 2011).
An expert system is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to simulate the judgment and behavior of a human or an organization that has expert knowledge and experience in a particular field.
Typically, an expert system incorporates a knowledge base containing accumulated experience and an inference or rules engine — a set of rules for applying the knowledge base to each particular situation that is described to the program. The system’s capabilities can be enhanced with additions to the knowledge base or to the set of rules. Current systems may include machine learning capabilities that allow them to improve their performance based on experience, just as humans do.
The concept of expert systems was first developed in the 1970s by Edward Feigenbaum, professor and founder of the Knowledge Systems Laboratory at Stanford University. Feigenbaum explained that the world was moving from data processing to “knowledge processing,” a transition which was being enabled by new processor technology and computer architectures.
Expert systems have played a large role in many industries including in financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, customer service, transportation, video games, manufacturing, aviation and written communication. Two early expert systems broke ground in the healthcare space for medical diagnoses: Dendral, which helped chemists identify organic molecules, and MYCIN, which helped to identify bacteria such as bacteremia and meningitis, and to recommend antibiotics and dosages.
A more recently developed expert system, ROSS, is an artificially-intelligent attorney based on IBM’s Watson cognitive computing system. ROSS relies on self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern recognition, deep learning and natural language processing to mimic the way the human brain works.
Expert systems and AI systems have evolved so far that they have spurred debate about the fate of humanity in the face of such intelligence, with authors such as Nick Bostrom, professor of philosophy at Oxford University, pondering if computing power has surpassed our ability to control it.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed that when monitoring breast milk, it is often challenging tracing the causes breast full-up and breast don’t have milk. Often, some of these issues are so minor that clearly every breastfeeding mother ought to be able to handle them effectively without having to undergo the stress of finding experts. In many occasions, the issue are perfectly eliminated by feeding their baby or just get some few drug. However, the need for a reliable health practitioner cannot be over emphasized.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement an expert system of breast milk monitoring for breast feeding mothers. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Assemble a knowledge base that is common to the breast milk monitoring by breastfeeding mother.
- Present this knowledge in a diagnostic format such that it will enable even non-expert to identify and correct minor problems of the breast especially.
- Provide a breastfeeding mother teaching aids on the basis of “DO IT YOURSELF”.
1.5 Significance of Study
The importance of this proposed system is to reduce the stress of breastfeeding mother and get expert knowledge on issue at hand without visiting the hospital.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of this system is center on design and implementation expert system of breast milk monitoring for breastfeeding mother using Nauth, Nnewi in Anambra State.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Expert System (ES): The title of this work “expert system on trouble shooting and maintenance of Epson printer” presents a lot of computer words or term or jargon which need detailed explanation or definition for absolute comprehensive of this and topic and the intention of this work.
Exclusive Breastfeeding: Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant receives only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water – with the exception of oral rehydration solution or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines.
Knowledge-Base: The repository in a computer of an expert knowledge in a given domain is a knowledge base.
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