UAE- Firm claims university dropouts can be predicted

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Advanced robots and drones by government entities may have stolen the spotlight at the GitexTechnology Week. However, there are also "future stars" at the exhibition, showcasing their ideas on how to improve education and health.

The Future Stars section at the exhibition includes several start-up firms, including one company that can help predict future university dropouts.

The Lebanese company, called Pre Lemon, is already in talks with a few Dubai universities and schools for their product. The founder of the firm, Rami Khoury, said they take five to 15-year-old data from a university, analyse it and produce a list of current students who can potentially drop out. "There are usually three reasons why students drop out. The first one would be the financial problem, then academic shortcomings and the third one would be psychological issues and mental health problems," Khoury said. "These three issues have offices within the universities that can take care of it. But the problem is that universities can't tell which student is going through a problem or what kind of a problem they have. With the data that we would receive from the university's management system, we would apply that information to the current student pool, allowing us to predict who is at risk of dropping out. Then, we link that student to the right person at the university, who can help him or her with what the problem is."

Pre Lemon also works with school students and produces a list of suitable university programmes for them.

A machine to scan human mind A Japanese firm was also displaying one of their innovative technologies at the Future Stars section at Gitex.Smartmedical, the firm, has a technology that can detect a specific emotion behind a human's voice. This invention, called Empath, was introduced to Dubai earlier this year and the firm has already signed a MoU with the Smart Dubai Office, to help with their happiness agenda. However, the executive director atSmartmedical, Hiroshi Koyanagi, said the voice detection technology can also help with the treatment of people with autism. "We've invented a mental disorder detection technology through voice analysis. The machine can learn or detect a human's mind, mood or emotion. Our psychiatrists in Japan are using this software to help with therapy for disorders such as autism and depression," he said.

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