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Explainable machine learning for the prediction and assessment of complex drought impacts
Get PDFDrought is a common and costly natural disaster with broad social, economic, and environmental impacts. Machine learning (ML) has been widely applied in scientific research because of its outstanding performance on predictive tasks. However, for practical applications like disaster monitoring and assessment, the cost of the models failure, especially false negative predictions, might significantly affect society. Stakeholders are not satisfied with or do not “trust” the predictions from a so-called black box. The explainability of ML models becomes progressively crucial in studying drought and its impacts. In this work, we propose an explainable ML pipeline using the XGBoost model and SHAP model based on a comprehensive database of drought impacts in the U.S. The XGBoost models significantly outperformed the baseline models in predicting the occurrence of multi-dimensional drought impacts derived from the text-based Drought Impact Reporter, attaining an average F2 score of 0.883 at the national level and 0.942 at the state level. The interpretation of the models at the state scale indicates that the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Temperature Index (STI) contribute significantly to predicting multi-dimensional drought impacts. The time scalar, importance, and relationships of the SPI and STI vary depending on the types of drought impacts and locations. The patterns between the SPI variables and drought impacts indicated by the SHAP values reveal an expected relationship in which negative SPI values positively contribute to complex drought impacts. The explainability based on the SPI variables improves the trustworthiness of the XGBoost models. Overall, this study reveals promising results in accurately predicting complex drought impacts and rendering the relationships between the impacts and indicators more interpretable. This study also reveals the potential of utilizing explainable ML for the general social good to help stakeholders better understand the multi-dimensional drought impacts at the regional level and motivate appropriate responses. © 2023 Elsevier B.V
Molecular characterization and differential effects of levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin on the potential for developing quinolone resistance among clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates
Get PDFBackground: Fluoroquinolones are some of the most used antimicrobial agents for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This study aimed at exploring the differential activity of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin on the selection of resistance among P. aeruginosa isolates at our medical center. Methods: 233 P. aeruginosa clinical isolates were included in this study. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was done using disk diffusion and broth microdilution assays. Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was done to determine the genetic relatedness between the isolates. Induction of resistance against ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin was done on 19 isolates. Fitness cost assay was done on the 38 induced mutants and their parental isolates. Finally, whole genome sequencing was done on 16 induced mutants and their 8 parental isolates. Results: AST results showed that aztreonam had the highest non-susceptibility. RAPD results identified 18 clusters. The 19 P. aeruginosa isolates that were induced against ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin yielded MICs ranging between 16 and 256 μg/mL. Levofloxacin required fewer passages in 10 isolates and the same number of passages in 9 isolates as compared to ciprofloxacin to reach their breakpoints. Fitness cost results showed that 12 and 10 induced mutants against ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, respectively, had higher fitness cost when compared to their parental isolates. Whole genome sequencing results showed that resistance to ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin in sequenced mutants were mainly associated with alterations in gyrA, gyrB and parC genes. Conclusion: Understanding resistance patterns and risk factors associated with infections is crucial to decrease the emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance. Copyright © 2023 Kanafani, Sleiman, Frem, Doumat, Gharamti, El Hafi, Doumith, AlGhoribi, Kanj, Araj, Matar and Abou Fayad
FACTFORMER: A TRANSFORMER BASED FACT CHECKER
No full textMisinformation can undermine public trust and lead to misguided actions based on unreliable
sources and fact-checking efforts. Traditional manual fact-checking systems suffer
from several challenges, including issues related to scaling, performance, and complexity.
In response to this challenge, we introduce FactFormer, an automatic fact-checking system
that retrieves evidence from trustworthy sources for a given claim and subsequently
classifies the claims into different labels based on the retrieved evidence. Our retrieval
model adopts the extractive question-answering technique. This approach treats claims as
questions and trusted sources as context from which evidence, construed as answers, is
retrieved. We harnessed the capabilities of the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from
Transformers (BERT) and Distilled Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers
(DistilBERT) architectures, fine-tuning them specifically for the task of evidence
extraction. Subsequently, claim verification was accomplished using a multi-headed BERT
combined with a fully connected network layer. During the evaluation phase, our retrieval
models demonstrated state-of-the-art results: the BERT model yielded an exact match rate
of 89.89% and an F1-measure score of 93.93%, while the DistilBERT model achieved an
exact match rate of 90.19% and an F1-measure score of 93.98% when evaluated with a
maximum evidence length of 100 words. Our claim verification model achieved a high
accuracy score of 90% using the existing manually annotated Fact Extraction and VERification
(FEVER) dataset with three classes, outperforming other state-of-the-art papers.
We further conducted end-to-end system experiments and evaluations using our retrieved
evidence to demonstrate its ability to generalize well when compared to the manually
annotated FEVER-2 dataset with two labels. Our claim verification model performance on
FEVER-2 with DistilBERT achieved 87.14%, outperforming the manual FEVER-2 with an
86.54% accuracy score. In conclusion, our approach significantly enhances fact-checking
by improving both evidence retrieval and claim classification
Prevalence and Characteristics of Health and Wellness Programs for Arab Hospitals’ Employees: A Cross-Sectional Study
Get PDFBackground: Compared to the general workforce, hospital staff has a greater incidence of chronic diseases and mental health illnesses. Wellness programs have been shown to improve the health and well-being of hospital employees by reducing risk factors and promoting healthy behaviors. In the Arab World, there are no available studies on the number, nature, or impact of wellness services provided to healthcare workers. Objective: The study aims to assess the prevalence, characteristics, and components of health and wellness programs targeting hospital employees in Arab countries. It also aims to test the association of hospitals’ characteristics and the challenges faced by these hospitals with the availability of such programs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire in English and Arabic emailed to directors of Arab hospitals registered in the Arab Hospital Federation. Results: Only 39.5% of the hospitals in the Arab region have an established wellness program. No significant association was found between hospital characteristics and the availability of these wellness programs. The most provided services for hospital staff are Flu vaccine (90.7%), pre-employment medical exam (79.1%), healthy food options (65.1%), and health risk assessment (60.5%), while the least common provided services are mental health (20.9%) and stress management (23.3%). The most common challenges facing wellness services (scale: 0–10) are financial restriction (5.95), creating a culture of health (5.88), and motivating employees (5.56). Only 4.7% of hospitals provide incentives to participate in their wellness programs. Conclusion: In general, Arab hospitals lack a wellness culture, and more investment is needed in essential wellness services such as mental health, weight reduction, stress management, and smoking cessation. © 2023 Romani et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited
Significance of Degree of HLA Disparity Using T-cell Replete Peripheral Blood Stem Cells from Haploidentical Donors with Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide in AML in First Complete Hematologic Remission: A Study of the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the EBMT
Get PDFAvailability of haploidentical donors has broadened utilization of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) are being used with increased frequency in haploidentical allo-HCT. We evaluated extent of HLA disparity (2-3/8 versus 4/8 HLA antigen mismatches) on post-allograft outcomes when using T-cell replete PBSC from haploidentical donors for acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission. Primary objectives entailed assessing cumulative incidence of grade 2-4 acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and chronic GVHD (any grade). A total of 645 patients received a haploidentical allo-HCT from a donor with either 2-3 of 8 HLA antigen mismatches (n = 180) or with 4 of 8 HLA antigen mismatches (n = 465). Presence of 2-3 of 8 versus 4 of 8 HLA mismatches did not affect the incidence of acute GVHD (grade 2-4) and chronic GVHD (any grade). Overall survival (OS), leukemia-free survival (LFS) relapse incidence (RI), nonrelapse mortality and the composite endpoint of GVHD-free relapse-free survival were also similar among the groups. Pertaining to HLA-B leader matching effect, our analysis did not discern any difference in aforementioned post-allograft outcomes for this variable. However, in univariate analysis, absence of an antigen mismatch in HLA-DPB1 showed a trend for better OS. Notwithstanding inherent limitations associated with registry data, our results did not show an advantage of selecting a haploidentical donor with 2-3 of 8 HLA antigen mismatches over one with 4 of 8 HLA antigen mismatches when using PBSC as the cell source. Adverse cytogenetics remains a major adverse determinant of inferior OS and LFS and a higher RI. Using reduced-intensity conditioning yielded worse OS and LFS. Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc
Governing failure mechanisms of simplified three-way dendritic branch under compressive load
No full textThe growing dendrites during the charging of the battery can pierce into the polymer electrolyte and short-circuit the cell. A dendritic microstructure is a branched medium, consisting of numerous three-way intersections and when subjected to the piercing pressure the corresponding forces propagate throughout the dendrite body. In this paper, we explore the effect of such force propagation versus the geometry of a three-way intersection leading to the failure of a dendritic branch and we have analyzed the dominant failure mechanism in the branch. Particularly we address the mechanics of the intersection versus the respective inclinations of the branches and their normalized length. Generalizing this method into larger clusters of dendritic trees helps to identify the dominant failure mechanism and devise methods to prevent it. © 2023 Elsevier Lt
Lebanon Post PM Rafiq Hariri Assassination: The Rule of The Quadripartite Accord 2005-2008 “Dawlat Al Hilf Al Ruba’i”: A Qualitative Study
Get PDFWhen the 2005 parliamentary elections ended with the March 14 movement winning the majority of parliament the next constitutional step was the selection of the prime minister. As stipulated in the constitution the Candidate would have to gain the majority of parliament votes to be assigned as Prime minister-elect. However, the newly elected parliament was not the venue where the political leaders of Lebanon conducted their consensus and discussions.
The 14th of March leader Saad Hariri had two candidates to head the government: Bahij Tabbara and Fouad Siniora. His choice was settled when he asked Siniora to visit Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, accompanied by his political advisor the late Mr. Mustafa Nasser. Siniora, the former finance minister presented his “national convictions,” alongside his affirmed belief in the Palestine cause and in the resistance as an option. Most importantly he expressed his commitment to the “Quadripartite agreement” and not the constitution.
The “Quadripartite accord” between the future movement (Saad Hariri), the progressive socialist movement (Walid Jumblat), the Amal movement (Nabeh Berri), and the Hezbollah party. The accord came as a replacement for the withdrawal of Syria’s influence in managing Lebanese state affairs in the aftermath of UN resolution 1559 and the vacuum of power in the shadow state due to the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri (2005). It is necessary to recall the rule that dictated the accord of the four-party alliance in April 2005 between Hariri Jr. and Nasrallah: The majority is yours (the March 14 team in return for protecting the resistance’s weapons and national partnership in internal files, i.e. consensus in the Council of Ministers.
Four accords, four political parties, and four unity governments occurred in Lebanon between 2005 and 2008. Let alone multi policies about economic and financial matters and not to forget two wars, the semi-international war during the Israeli 2006 attacks and a semi-civil altercation in the May 2008 Hezbollah invasion of Beirut. Like many post-colonial states, this in specific could endure major conflicts/crises, which in turn presents the following obvious question: Does a Lebanese state exit? However, the gap I intend to study is that the existence of the shadow state in Lebanon provides the answer. I intend to study how the “Quadripartite Accord explains this. To the best of my knowledge, all events, and related accords pertinent to that period are not officially documented, nor are the governmental documents waiting to be released. Hence, the rationale of this study is to uncover the mask that was put on the Lebanese state between the years 2005 and 2008 using a qualitative approach that involves the triangulation method which is based on a discourse analysis of Mr. Mustafa Nasser and published books and studies from the Lebanese media between 2005 and 2008. The civil unrest during that period was created by the ruling class itself by utilizing the state’s constitution and tools the shadow state managed to sustain its place as part of the ruling class. A case in point is the “Quadripartite Accord” in 2005 which came to protect the sect or their respective position in the ruling class
The Impact of an Educational Video in Arabic Language on Patients’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Genetic Testing for Cancer Therapy
Get PDFRapid advances in cancer genetics are paving the way towards personalized cancer management, and genetic testing is now an important decision-making tool. Despite the advantages, genetic testing adds a layer of complexity in the management which is difficult to communicate with patients. The variability health literacy among patients may restrict their engagement in genetic procedures. Improving the language and presentation of genomic concepts can influence patients’ risk assessment and willingness to undergo testing. The study aimed to compare the knowledge and attitudes of cancer patients presenting to oncology clinics at The American University of Beirut Medical Center before and after watching a short educational video that clarifies the concepts of genetic mutations, genetic testing technique, and its purposes. Twenty-nine adult patients presenting to the oncology clinics and due to receive somatic or germline genetic testing filled a questionnaire which assesses their knowledge and attitudes before and after the educational video was played. The majority of patients had poor baseline knowledge before the intervention. After watching the video, the percentage of patients with poor knowledge decreased to a minimum of 3.4% and a maximum of 39% for each concept. Mean score for attitude questions also increased significantly. Effective patient education and counseling programs in the patients’ native language prior to genetic testing can increase knowledge, decrease hesitancy, and improve clinical decision making. A short educational video is an example of a simple intervention towards an inclusive approach in patient care all over the world. © 2023, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to American Association for Cancer Education
THE LEXICOGRAPHICAL WORKS OF AL-ṢAGHĀNĪ (D. 650\ 1252), WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON: Al- INFIʿĀL AND AL-ʿUBĀB AL-ZĀḪIR WA-L-LUBĀB AL-FĀḪIR
No full textهذا البحث هو ثمرة ما يزيد على سنتين من استقراءات ومقارانات في مصنّفات الصغانيّ المعجميّة، وقراءاتٍ في الدراسات التي جاءت عليها. فيه إجابات عن أسئلة شغلت بعضَ الباحثين في تلك المصنّفات. وتدور قضيّته الكبرى حول منهج الترتيب وأسباب اعتماده في كلّ مؤلّف منها، وحول مصادر تأليف بعضها. وكان المستفِزَّ إلى هذا البحث صمتٌ غريب من الصغانيّ عن جهده في الترتيب الداخليّ للموادّ اللغويّة تحت التركيب الواحد في معجمه المجنَّس: العباب الزاخر واللباب الفاخر، وإغفالٌ مماثِل في معجمه المبوَّب: الانفعال.
وقد جاء البحث في خمسة فصول، الأوّل مقدّمة، والثاني يهتمُّ بإحصاء مصنّفات الصغانيّ، وتبيانِ أنواعها، والتنبيهِ على الاسم الصحيح لعدد منها، وترتيبِها زمنيًّا. والثالث يتوجّه إلى تبيان حكمة الترتيب أو عدمه في المعاجم المبوَّبة منها. والرابع يخوض في إثارة قضايا مهمّة في العباب الزاخر، وهي: أسباب تأليفه، وعلاقته بـ مجمع البحرين، ومصادره الرئيسة الكبرى، والترتيب الداخليّ للموادّ اللغويّة تحت التركيب الواحد والحكمة منه. ثمّ تأتي خاتمة البحث لتمثّل الفصل الخامس.
ومن الجديد الذي أتى به هذا البحث كشفٌ عن حقيقةٍ معجميّة لم يتنبّه لها محقّق كتاب الانفعال أحمد خان ولا الباحثون المهتمّون بمؤلفّات الصغانيّ فيما يُعلَم، وهي أنّ الصغانيّ إنّما استمدّ ما يربو على نصف كتابه الانفعال من ديوان الأدب للفارابيّ (ت 350ه)، واتّبع فيه ترتيبَ الفارابيّ بحذافيره. واستطاع البحث أن يصل إلى تحديد خطٍّ زمنيٍّ لمصنّفات الصغانيّ المعجميّة بواسطة إشاراتٍ داخليّة من معاجم الصغانيّ بوجهٍ خاصّ. وفي البحث تصحيحاتٌ لكثيرٍ من الأخطاء التي شاعت في الدراسات عن مؤلّفاته، مثل أسماء بعض كتبه، أو زمان تأليفها، أو مصادر تكوينها، أو ما نُسِبَ إلى الصغانيّ من كتب، وغير ذلك. وفي البحث محاولة لتعليل اختيار الصغانيّ للترتيب على الأواخر تارةً وعلى الأوائل تارةً أخرى. وفيه أيضًا محاولة للكشف عن خطّة الصغانيّ في المصادر الرئيسة الكبرى التي بنى عليها مصنّفه الأكبر والأخير العباب الزاخر واللباب الفاخر. وفيه أيضًا اجتهاد لتفسير تكتّم الصغانيّ على ذكر جهده في الترتيب في هذا المعجم.
This thesis presents the results of analysis and comparitive reading of the lexical compilations of al-Ṣaghānī (D. 650\ 1252). It also provides answers to questions that preoccupied some researchers. The major issues at hand include the arrangement method, reasoning behind, and sources of the composition of the lexical material. The impetus for this research was a curious silence from al-Ṣaghānī regarding his effort to internally arrange the lemmata under a single root in his semasiological lexicon: al-ʿUbāb al-zāḫir wa-l-lubāb al-fāḫir, and a similar omission in his onomasiological lexicon: al-Infīʿāl.
The research consists of an introductory chapter, three chapters of analysis of the works of al-Ṣaghānī, and a conclusion chapter. The second chapter is concerned with enumerating al-Ṣaghānī works, showing their types, pointing out the correct name for a number of them, and arranging them chronologically. The third seeks to clarify the reasoning behind the arrangement or its absence in his onomasiological lexicons. The fourth raises important issues regarding al-ʿUbāb al-zāḫir, namely: the reasons for its composition, its relationship to Maǧmaʿ al-baḥrayn, its main sources, and the internal arrangement of lemmata under a single root.
As for the contributions of the research, the analysis shows that al-Ṣaghānī derived more than half of his book al-Infīʿāl from al-Fārābī’s (d. about 400/ 1010) Diwān al-adab, and followed al-Fārābī’s arrangement in full. This is a historical fact that neither the editor of al-Infīʿāl, Ahmad Khan, nor the existing scholarship interested in al-Ṣaghānī works took notice of. Likewise, the research offers a timeline for the lexical compilations of al-Ṣaghānī based on internal indications from al-Ṣaghānī’s own lexica to demonstrate the historical development of his work. Corrections were also made for many of the misconceptions that were common in the studies about his lexical works, such as the names of some of his books, the time of composition, the sources used, and the books attributed to al-Ṣaghānī. An attempt was made to explain al-Ṣaghānī's choice of arrangement based, at times, on the endings of the root, and, at others, on their beginnings. There is also an attempt to discover the main sources on which al-Ṣaghānī relied in composing al-ʿUbāb al-zāḫir, as well as an attempt to explain al-Ṣaghānī's reticence to mention his method of the internal arrangement of his lemmata
Lung cancer screening in Lebanon: Joint statement from the Lebanese Pulmonary Society and the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology
Get PDFLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. The 5-year survival rate of patients is ~15%, since the majority of patients present with the disease at an advanced stage. The resulting burden from this disease entails solid efforts towards early detection and smoking cessation. In Lebanon, the triad of high incidence and mortality from lung cancer, extensive tobacco consumption and delayed diagnosis calls for urgent actions. Furthermore, lung cancer screening with a low-dose computed tomog- raphy (CT) scan allows for the early detection and reduces mortality rates, as documented in several randomized trials and meta-analyses and recommended by international relevant societies. A panel of Lebanese lung cancer experts, members of the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology and the Lebanese Pulmonary Society, have convened and discussed all aspects and challenges related to lung cancer screening implementation in Lebanon. Accordingly, national guidelines were proposed in this joint statement, which defines the particular high-risk population that would most benefit from screening. Pillars to success involve a solid, evidence-based national program, efficient smoking cessation programs and proper referral and follow-up. In parallel, the quality and logistical basic requirements must be optimized with well-equipped centers, trained personnel and expert radiologists; in addition to promoting awareness, adherence and sustainability. Physicians need to be trained to ensure accurate risk stratification for the screening and proper referrals from different specialties. Awareness should also be raised in the general population on the safety and benefits of low-dose CT, and to encourage smoking cessation via dedicated programs. In a country where the economic situation is challenging, and where third-party payers are resistant to cover screening initiatives, support from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health is warranted, along with a cost-effectiveness analysis to uncover the elevated cost of treating advanced stage lung cancer. © 2023 The authors