Real-Time Air-Writing Recognition for Arabic Letters Using Deep Learning

Learning to write the Arabic alphabet is crucial for Arab children’s cognitive development, enhancing their memory and retention skills. However, the lack of Arabic language educational applications may hamper the effectiveness of their learning experience. To bridge this gap, SamAbjd was developed, an interactive web application that leverages deep learning techniques, including air-writing recognition, to teach Arabic letters. SamAbjd was tailored to user needs through extensive surveys conducted with mothers and teachers, and a comprehensive literature review was performed to identify effective teaching methods and models. The development process involved gathering data from three publicly available datasets, culminating in a collection of 31,349 annotated images of handwritten Arabic letters. To enhance the dataset’s quality, data preprocessing techniques were applied, such as image denoising, grayscale conversion, and data augmentation. Two models were experimented with using a convolution neural network (CNN) and Visual Geometry Group (VGG16) to evaluate their effectiveness in recognizing air-written Arabic characters. Among the CNN models tested, the standout performer was a seven-layer model without dropout, which achieved a high testing accuracy of 96.40%. This model also demonstrated impressive precision and F1-score, both around 96.44% and 96.43%, respectively, indicating successful fitting without overfitting. The web application, built using Flask and PyCharm, offers a robust and user-friendly interface. By incorporating deep learning techniques and user feedback, the web application meets educational needs effectively

What Are the Saudi Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Against Women? A Cross-Sectional Study From Riyadh

Introduction: Culture and social norms shape attitudes towards domestic violence against women (DVAW). Attitudes accepting DVAW contribute to violence. There is scarce evidence about community attitudes towards DVAW in Saudi Arabia. The study explores the Saudi community attitudes towards DVAW. Methods: The study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional design using a self-report structured questionnaire to collect socio-demographic data and participants’ attitudes towards DVAW. Results: The study sample included 831 Saudi participants, 414 females and 417 males, between 18 and 79 years old. The majority of participants (69.5%) showed rejection of DVAW. Women were five times more likely to reject DVAW than men (OR = 5.19, 95% CI [3.6–7.4]). Participants with pre-university education and lower living standards reported rejection of DVAW compared to their counterparts. Discussion: The results can help stakeholders develop strategies and awareness campaigns targeting different educational and living levels to minimize DVAW. </jats:sec

Depression and Anxiety in Patients with Hematological Malignancies in a Tertiary Center in Saudi Arabia, Prevalence and Associated Factors

Abstract Introduction: Cancer is a serious condition that has an affect not only on patients' physical but also on their emotional well-being.Adults with hematological cancers (HC) have high prevalence rates of depression and anxiety.No reports are yet available about their prevalence in such patients' population in the Arab world. We aimed in this study to determine the prevalence of depression and GAD in HC patients seen at our facility. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted and recruited 211 participants. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to conducting the study. All patients 14 years or older, with confirmed HC in the period of March 2014 -March 2015 were asked to participate in the study. Patients known to have a mental disorder were excluded. After obtaining the informed consent, a structured face to face interview was conducted using an internally developed and validated questionnaire. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) standardized questionnaire, translated into Arabic language was used to screen participants for GAD.It is 7-item scale that provides a 0-21 severity score. A score 5 to 9 is indicative of mild GAD, a score of 10 indicates moderate GAD, while a score of 15 indicates severe GAD. We only report cases of moderate and severe GAD. Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9) standardized, translated into Arabic language was used to screen participants for depression.It includes 9 items; with severity score of 0-27. Scores of 5, 10, 15 and 20 represents cut off points for mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression respectively. A cut-off point of 10 is used to identify depression in our study. Results: The median age was 46 (27 - 64) years and 121 (57.35%) were males. GAD was detected in 47 (22.3%) and depression was detected in 98 (46.5%) participants; while concurrent GAD and depression were detected in 38 (18.01%). Multivariate analyses revealed that the presence of multiple co-morbidities and tense home atmosphere are significant predictors for GAD and depression, while lower or no education is only associated with depression. We found no association between gender, smoking, family income or being on active therapy and the presence of depression or GAD. Conclusion: The prevalence of GAD and depression in HC in KAMC seems to be in the same range compared to what is reported by the international studies. Health care providers in the region ought to screen HC patients for depression and GAD as early referral and intervention may improve their emotional well being and possibly their disease outcome. Table 1. Multivariate analysis for patients with anxiety (n=211) Variable (anxiety) OR 95% CI P-value Gender Female vs. male 1.499 (0.687 - 3.271) 0.3092 Education College graduate vs. not educatedElementary/middle/high vs. not educated 1.849 2.295 (0.522 - 6.192) (0.874 - 6.030) 0.6910 0.1749 Employment Employed vs. unemployed 1.242 (0.484 - 3.186) 0.6520 Marital status Unmarried vs. married 1.914 (0.867 - 4.225) 0.1080 Support Socially supported vs. poorly supported 2.107 (0.707 - 6.276) 0.1810 Home atmosphere Tense vs. relaxed home atmosphere 4.494 (1.686 - 11.979) 0.0027 Income Low income vs. high income 1.043 (0.426 - 2.549) 0.9272 Comorbidities Comorbidity vs. no comorbidity 7.673 (3.136 - 18.777) 0.0001 Actively receiving treatment Yes vs. no 1.053 (0.424 - 2.615) 0.9120 Table 2. Multivariate analysis for patients with depression (n=211) Variable (depression) OR 95% CI P-Value Gender Females vs. males 1.352 (0.682 - 2.680) 0.3874 Education College/graduate vs. elementary/middle/highN ot educated vs. elementary/middle/high 1.365 2.541 (0.584 - 3.190) (1.106 - 5.833) 0.7309 0.0803 Employment Employed vs. unemployed 2.270 (1.000 - 5.149) 0.0499 Marital status Unmarried vs. married 1.806 (0.901 - 3.621) 0.0960 Family support Supported vs. poorly supported 1.854 (0.728 - 4.725) 0.1957 Home atmosphere Tense vs. relaxed 2.591 (1.199 - 5.599) 0.0154 Income Low vs. high 1.816 (0.779 - 4.235) 0.1670 Comorbidities Comorbidity vs. no comorbidity 6.578 (3.315 - 13.055) 0.0001 Actively receiving treatment Yes vs. no 1.627 (0.744 - 3.562) 0.2230 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare. </jats:sec

sj-docx-1-tcn-10.1177_10436596211057896 – Supplemental material for What Are the Saudi Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Against Women? A Cross-Sectional Study From Riyadh

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tcn-10.1177_10436596211057896 for What Are the Saudi Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Against Women? A Cross-Sectional Study From Riyadh by Abeer Selim, Abeer Omar, Nada Almubayi, Aseel Alayed, Jamilah AlQahtani and Anwar Almutairi in Journal of Transcultural Nursing</p

sj-docx-2-tcn-10.1177_10436596211057896 – Supplemental material for What Are the Saudi Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Against Women? A Cross-Sectional Study From Riyadh

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-tcn-10.1177_10436596211057896 for What Are the Saudi Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Against Women? A Cross-Sectional Study From Riyadh by Abeer Selim, Abeer Omar, Nada Almubayi, Aseel Alayed, Jamilah AlQahtani and Anwar Almutairi in Journal of Transcultural Nursing</p