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UAE students develop apps that push creative boundaries

Dubai - Language, health app set to make mark with innovative ideas

New mobile applications (apps) are being developed and launched by UAE residents in a bid to make life easy, enjoyable and efficient for users.

A novel language app targets to bolster efforts in the education sector in line with the UAE's Ministry of Education’s (MoE) expectations, while a soon-to-be-launched health app seeks to identify anomalies among people and can even diagnose novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Arabee app

Arabee's innovative language programme is changing the way Arabic is being taught in schools and at home.

The app was launched recently for non-native Arabic speakers. It can be downloaded on both Android and iOS operating systems (OS) for users on the go.

The app seeks to teach the language in a fun way for young and adults alike during the ongoing three-week winter holidays.

The user-friendly app offers a gamut of activities, including exciting videos, karaoke, interactive games and e-books, which are keeping students engaged during the winter break.

Lenka Basweidan, the founder of Arabee, said, “Many children were struggling to learn the Arabic language. The trend has been a matter of concern for us as parents. There appears to be a disconnect between the time spent studying Arabic and the rigour that the language requires.”

App developers pointed out its distinctive features.

“It’s an interactive, hybrid and digital platform aligned with the international language standards (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and the outlook of the UAE’s MoE that enables progressive, comprehensive learning with maximum retention,” they added.

Health app aims to identify early detection of lung diseases

Two students, both aged 13, who call themselves Team LungPal have bagged an international award creating a buzz among their peers for a proposal that is looking at developing an app supporting the early detection of lung diseases, including Covid-19.

Abhishek Chimbili, a student of GEMS Wellington Academy at Silicon Oasis in Dubai, who is a co-founder of the app, said: “It’s a mobile phone app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and various machine learning technologies or algorithms to identify irregularities in a person's breathing pattern and other lung-related diseases. It can be used to diagnose Covid-19 as well.”

The idea struck the teenagers prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 outbreak. The app seeks to identify all kinds of lung diseases such as pneumonia, malignancy.

Ryan Boldi, the other student-developer of the app, said: “The mechanism behind is to take the sound and convert into an image. We can classify images with the help of AI such as whether there are strains of pneumonia, Covid-19 or normal breathing.”

He added: “We have the image of a sound breathing format. We train a bunch of neutral networks on previously determined ones to come to conclusion about the nature of lung diseases.”

Once the app is made accessible to the public, it can be installed in a smartphone and can detect any anomaly in a person's lung function by holding it up near h/ her mouth or nose and breathing normally for 30 seconds.

“It records the (breathing) audio of a person and converts it into an image with the help of AI. If a person is found to be suffering from a lung disease, the patient is advised to consult a doctor,” Abhishek added.