FOAA: Flattened Outer Arithmetic Attention For Multimodal Tumor Classification

Fusion of multimodal healthcare data holds great promise to provide a holistic view of a patient's health, taking advantage of the complementarity of different modalities while leveraging their correlation. This paper proposes a simple and effective approach, inspired by attention, to fuse discriminative features from different modalities. We propose a novel attention mechanism, called Flattened Outer Arithmetic Attention (FOAA), which relies on outer arithmetic operators (addition, subtraction, product, and division) to compute attention scores from keys, queries and values derived from flattened embeddings of each modality. We demonstrate how FOAA can be implemented for self-attention and cross-attention, providing a reusable component in neural network architectures. We evaluate FOAA on two datasets for multimodal tumor classification and achieve state-of-the-art results, and we demonstrate that features enriched by FOAA are superior to those derived from other fusion approaches. The code is publicly available at \href{https://github.com/omniaalwazzan/FOAA}{https://github.com/omniaalwazzan/FOAA}Comment: This paper has been accepted for ISBI-202

Enhanced Dropwise Condensation Via Wettability Contrast Mechanism

Condensation heat transfer performance can be improved by many methods including the most common used method, which is by increasing the droplet removal rate of the condensing surface. Commonly, this approached can be achieved by promoting a dropwise condensation mode in which super/hydrophobic coatings can be applied on the entire condenser surface to reduce the surface wettability degree. In this dissertation, two main approaches were adapted to enhance the condensation heat transfer performance of the condensing surface via wettability contrast mechanism. Three approaches of investigation were performed to better understand such dropwise condensation promoter methods. In the first part, alternative mini-scale straight patterns consisted of hydrophobic (β) and less-hydrophobic (α) regions were formed on surfaces of condenser copper tubes. The existence of the two adjacent regions carrying different surface energy generates wettability gradient which can mitigate condensate and increase its removal rates. A parametric study was conducted to experimentally determine the influence of (β/α) ratio on the condensation heat transfer performance and the droplet dynamic under saturation condition near the atmosphere pressure with the presence of non-condensable gases (air). The results reveal that all patterned surfaces exhibited a drastic enhancement in terms of condensation heat transfer coefficient and heat flux compared to those of filmwise condensation. More interestingly, some (β/α) ratios significantly outperformed a surface with a complete dropwise condensation. In addition, an optimum (β/α) ratio of (2/1) exists with β and α-regions widths of 0.6 mm and 0.3 mm, respectively. The heat transfer coefficient of the sample with the optimum ratio peaked at a value of 85 kW/m2 K at subcooling temperature of 9°C, which was about 4.8 and 1.8 times that of a complete filmwise and dropwise condensation, respectively. This term of investigation also demonstrated that the β-regions served mainly as droplet nucleation sites with rapid droplets mobility; whereas the α-regions promoted droplet removal from the neighboring β-regions, and served as drainage paths, where condensate can be drained quickly under gravitational force. Furthermore, the existence of both α and β-regions on the condensing surface controls the droplets maximum diameters of the growing droplets on the β- regions. The maximum diameter is approximately 0.56 ± 3 % mm, which is 26 % the size of the droplets maximum diameter on a full β-region surface. In the second part of the study, the main objective was to analyze the droplet dynamics during condensation on hybrid-wettability patterned surfaces of horizontal oriented tubes, and to investigate why some patterned surfaces with alternative parallel straight stripes consist of hydrophobic (β) and less-hydrophobic (α) regions at different ratios exhibited higher heat transfer rate than others. Three major outlines were found in this course of the droplets dynamic investigation. First, the existence of an optimum (β/α) ratio that maximized the condensation heat transfer rate was justified due to exhibiting the maximum droplet departure frequency and the minimum droplet area coverage rate relative to other tested samples. Second, the reduction in the heat transfer rate resulting from any deviation from the optimum ratio was also identified. We observed that by increasing the α-regions width, the condensation was dominated by a filmwise condensation mode, thus reducing the condensation rate. In contrast, decreasing the width of α-regions less than the optimum ratio was found to be unfavorable due to the increase in the bridging droplets observed and discussed herein. Lastly, the undesirable observed bridging phenomenon found to occur on all tested hybrid patterned surfaces, can significantly influence the condensation heat transfer performance. A bridging droplet can be referred to a droplet that joined or bridged by two, three, or four neighboring α- stripes. Increasing these unwanted droplets formation frequency can induce additional thermal resistance which can reduce the condensation rate. The most dominant and frequent bridging droplet type observed herein was found to be for droplets that were bridged by two α-regions, followed by those between three and four α-regions. A quantitative method (i.e. Bridging coverage area rate) was adapted herein to quantify the influence of the velocity, frequency, and size of the three types of bridging droplets on the condensation rate of the hybrid patterned surfaces. In the third part of the investigation, the same hybrid wettability concept was applied however at a nanoscale instead. A bi-philic surface consist of nanoscale hybrid wettability regions was developed by depositing different numbers of hydrophilic nickel oxide layers on smooth nickel tubes surfaces via atomic layer deposition method (ALD). The deposition nature of the ALD method allows for a certain amount of carbon, which is hydrophobic in nature, in combination with the NiO to be deposited on the surface. The existence of the contrast in wettability degree of the condensing surface helped in droplet mitigation and improved the droplet removal rate. Moreover, the choice of nickel as a material for such investigation can be justified by its relative stability among other common condenser metals and their oxide. Most of the metal surfaces will be oxidized when exposed to the ambient containing water vapor, such as the extreme situation of saturation conditions of water vapor during condensation process. The deposition of NiO layers on the Ni surface is basically mimicking the oxide layer that would be formed on nickel surfaces during real applications. The condensation heat transfer performances for all samples with different NiO layers, i.e. 50, 100, 200, and 400 cycles of ALD. A significant enhancement was achieved especially for the sample with least deposition number of NiO ALD cycles. The maximum condensation heat transfer coefficient achieved was at subcooling temperature of about 3.5°C with a value of 100 kW/m^2 K, which is 4.2 times the FWC. While, the heat flux max out at subcooling temperature of about 11.0°C with value of about 700 kW/m^2 which is 3.9 times the FWC. The coexistence of the hydrophobic carbon and hydrophilic NiO at atomic concentration ratio of about 3 to 1 (i.e. 74.3 % to 25.7 % for carbon to NiO, respectively) allows for a proper droplets mitigation due to the existence of bi-philic condensation mode which was driven by the capillary force. In summary, this capillary-driven mechanism allows droplets to be expediently removed from the condensing surface at higher rates, allowing more surface area to be exposed to the surrounding vapor and leading to a substantial enhancement in the condensation heat transfer coefficient. Such mechanism can be achieved by introducing two or more regions with different wettability degrees on the condensing surface following a pattern. The patterns can be studied and designed in such away it can deliver suitable scale and ratio that match wettability contrast degree of these regions

On the validity of Damköhler's first hypothesis in turbulent Bunsen burner flames: A computational analysis

The validity of Damköhler's first hypothesis, which relates the turbulent flame speed to turbulent flame surface area under the condition where the integral length scale of turbulence is greater than the flame thickness, has been assessed using three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent premixed Bunsen burner flames over a range of values of Reynolds number, pressure and turbulence intensity. It has been found for the Bunsen configuration that the proportionality between volume-integrated burning rate and the overall flame surface area is not strictly maintained according to Damköhler's first hypothesis. The discrepancy is found to originate physically from the local stretch rate dependence of displacement speed, and this helps to explain differences observed previously between flames with and without mean curvature. Approximating the local density-weighted flame propagation speed with the unstrained laminar burning velocity is shown to be inaccurate, and can have a significant influence on the prediction of the overall burning rate for flames with non-zero mean curvature. Using a two-dimensional projection of the actual scalar gradient for flame area evaluation is shown to exacerbate the loss of proportionality between volume-integrated burning rate and the overall flame surface area. The current analysis identifies the conditions under which Damköhler's hypothesis remains valid and the necessary correction for non-zero mean flame curvature. Further, it has been demonstrated that surface-weighted stretch effects on displacement speed need to be accounted for in order to ensure the validity of Damköhler's hypothesis under all circumstances. Finally, it has been found that the volume-integrated density-weighted scalar dissipation rate remains proportional to the overall burning rate for all flames considered here irrespective of the value of Reynolds number, pressure and turbulence intensity. However, this proportionality is lost when the scalar dissipation rate is evaluated using the two-dimensional projection of the actual scalar gradient

MOAB: Multi-Modal Outer Arithmetic Block for Fusion of Histopathological Images and Genetic Data for Brain Tumor Grading

Brain tumors are an abnormal growth of cells in the brain. They can be classified into distinct grades based on their growth. Often grading is performed based on a histological image and is one of the most significant predictors of a patient's prognosis; the higher the grade, the more aggressive the tumor. Correct diagnosis of the tumor's grade remains challenging. Though histopathological grading has been shown to be prognostic, results are subject to interobserver variability, even among experienced pathologists. Recently, the World Health Organization reported that advances in molecular genetics have led to improvements in tumor classification. This paper seeks to integrate histological images and genetic data for improved computer-aided diagnosis. We propose a novel Multi-modal Outer Arithmetic Block (MOAB) based on arithmetic operations to combine latent representations of the different modalities for predicting the tumor grade (Grade II, III and IV). Extensive experiments evaluate the effectiveness of our approach. By applying MOAB to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) glioma dataset, we show that it can improve separation between similar classes (Grade II and III) and outperform prior state-of-the-art grade classification techniques

Politics, economy and religion in a Near Eastern Periphery: the Region of Baḥrayn in East Arabia c. 1050 – c. 1400 CE

The region of Baḥrayn in eastern Arabia during the post-Qarmāṭian era has received little attention from scholars because of the scarcity of local written sources and the daunting task of gathering scattered small pieces of information from other sources in more than one language. This thesis focuses on the politics, geopolitics, economy, literature and religion of Baḥrayn from c. 1050 to c. 1400 CE. It consists of eight chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction presents the research framework of the thesis. World-systems Analysis in a pre-capitalist setting is used to analyse Baḥrayn’s hierarchical position in the Near East according to its economic, political and cultural characteristics. It also sets out the historical background and context of the region, presents the thesis’ questions and structure, reviews modern studies and summarises the extant literary and archaeological evidence. Chapter One describes the historical geography and economy of Baḥrayn and analyses the impact of the region’s geography and the wider economic context on its history. Chapter Two studies the two rebellions against the Qarāmiṭa on the island of Uwāl and in the city of al-Qaṭīf, which led to the establishment of the emirate of Āl al-Zajjāj and the emirate of Āl ʿAbbās. Chapters Three and Four deal with the rise and decline of the ʿUyūnid emirate (1077-1230s CE) and study the ʿUyūnids’ institutions, including their administration and army formation. Chapter Five concentrates on the powers that ruled the region of Baḥrayn after the fall of the ʿUyūnid emirate in 1230s CE: the ʿUqaylid emirate in al-Aḥsāʾ and the deserts of Baḥrayn and Najd, and the Iranian-based polities that ruled Uwāl and al-Qaṭīf. Chapter Six focuses on literature produced in Baḥrayn, presenting biographies of its poets and analyses of the commentary of the poetry collection of the poet ʿAlī ibn al-Muqarrab al-ʿUyūnī and Abū al-Buhlūl’s letter. It also examines the relationship between the poets and the emirs of the ʿUyūnid emirate. Finally, Chapters Seven and Eight shed light on religion in Baḥrayn. They examine the region’s communities of Shīʿites and Sunnis which appear to have adhered to popular forms of Ismāʿīlism, Twelverism, Ḥanafism and Shāfiʿism. The question of scholars and scholarship in Baḥrayn from the twelfth to the fourteenth century is revisited. It is argued that the current consensus that attributes a number of 12th-14th century Twelver scholars who held the nisba of al-Baḥrānī to Baḥrayn lacks early evidence, appeared in a Safavid context and indeed contrasts with the evidence for the region’s peripherality and other evidence that suggests a lack of scholars in the region

ASSESSMENT OF SOIL QUALITY AND HEALTH USING SOME PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES FOR FADAK FARM PROJECT

Fadak farm project was selected to conduct this study and to evaluate the state of quality and health indices in term of soil physical and biological properties, where this farm is located in Holly Najaf Governorate. Some physical properties (soil texture, mean weight diameter, bulk density, porosity, infiltration rate, saturated hydraulic conductivity and available water) were selected to assess the quality then health indices, and the biological characteristics (vegetation coverage, soil respiration, bacterial and fungal counts) were also selected to assess the quality and health indices in term of these properties. Results showed that classes of moderate and poor soil health were dominated in lands of this farm for each physical and biological properties. It was noted that the class good of soil health was collaterally appeared in small areas according to biological characteristics

Practices and complications of pubic hair removal among Saudi women

Source at: http://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0661-6Background: Pubic hair grooming, including the complete removal of pubic hair, has become an increasingly common practice, particularly among young women. Although widespread, there is limited data regarding the methods, products, reasons, and complications of pubic hair removal, particularly among Saudi women. The objective was to examine pubic hair removal practices and the prevalence of its complications among Saudi women living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: In this cross-sectional study conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saudi women between 16 and 60 years of age who had the ability to read and speak Arabic, were eligible to complete an anonymous and self-administered survey on pubic hair removal practices and its complications. Results: Between December 2015 and September 2016, 400 Saudi women completed the survey. The age was 26. 3 ± 6.9, 16–58 (mean ± SD, range) years. About three quarters (77.0%) self-removed their pubic hair, while the remainder made use of professional personnel in medical clinics (15.5%), beauty salons (5.3%), and professional services at home (2.2%). Many women (41.8%) used a combination of hair removal methods, with non-electric razor as the most common single method used (33.5%), followed by laser (8.7%), sugaring (6.0%), waxing (4.5%), trimming (2.0%), electric razor (2.0%), and cream (1.5%). Three-quarters of women (75.5%) reported complications, and although they were mostly minor injuries, treatment had to be sought for 17.9% of complications. Multivariable analyses showed that no variables remained correlated with the occurrence of complications (age of starting hair removal, income, BMI, level of education, mode of removal, advice on removal). Conclusions: Saudi women initiate pubic hair removal in early adolescence. While most complications are minor, close to one in five women experience complications

Maternal Mortality Ratio in Low Income Developing Countries

Maternal mortality (MM) is a matter of serious concern in low income developing countries (LDCs). A great reduction has been observed regarding the maternal deaths globally after huge efforts since 1990 todate. However, the situation continues to be either stagnant or worsening in developing countries, suggesting that the efforts to cope with this issue are either insufficient or not properly implemented. We need to first diagnose the problem areas that are a great hurdle in the road to success towards the reduction of MM. Postpartum hemorrhage and preeclampsia are one of the most common causes of MM. Malnutrition, neurological dysfunction and cancer are among the non-obstetric causes. Trained medical and paramedical staff can be of great help in this regard by increasing awareness among masses at grass root level. Target set by Millennium Development goal has minimized the MM by 44%. But it has not met the target set by Millenium Development Goals 5 and a lot of measures need to be taken in this regard. Majority of the MDs are preventable and can be avoided by adopting appropriate frameworks, linked data sets, surveillance, birth attendants training, preparation for births, etc. Delay in decision to get healthcare, access to healthcare center and receiving these facilities are the main factors in MM

Reframing Borders: A Study of the Veil, Writing and Representation of The Female Body In The Photo-Based Artwork of Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat and Lalla Essaydi

For a long time, most women believed they had to choose between their Muslim or Arab identity and their belief in social equality of sexes. It was almost impossible to choose between either betraying their religious beliefs or their desires for social, political and economic justice, up until an upsurge of a feminist sentiment started to grow among women who were seeking to reclaim the Islamic paradigm and the Quran for themselves in the late nineteenth century (Bardan, 2005). During that time, contemporary female artists from the Arab and Muslim worlds started to create their own tools in their fight against oppressive patriarchal societies in order to express their feminine powers and renegotiate their identities. In this thesis, I analyze the feminist tools used in paradigmatic photo-based artworks by three contemporary female artists from the Arab and Muslim worlds: Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, and Lalla Essaydi