Playing Pairs with Pepper

As robots become increasingly prevalent in almost all areas of society, the factors affecting humans trust in those robots becomes increasingly important. This paper is intended to investigate the factor of robot attributes, looking specifically at the relationship between anthropomorphism and human development of trust. To achieve this, an interaction game, Matching the Pairs, was designed and implemented on two robots of varying levels of anthropomorphism, Pepper and Husky. Participants completed both pre- and post-test questionnaires that were compared and analyzed predominantly with the use of quantitative methods, such as paired sample t-tests. Post-test analyses suggested a positive relationship between trust and anthropomorphism with $80\%$ of participants confirming that the robots' adoption of facial features assisted in establishing trust. The results also indicated a positive relationship between interaction and trust with $90\%$ of participants confirming this for both robots post-testComment: Presented at AI-HRI AAAI-FSS, 2018 (arXiv:1809.06606

Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among Libyan people- a web-based cross-sectional study

Background: Successful plans in disaster and epidemics management depend on the feedback response and the assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the target population. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among Libyan people.  Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among the Libyan people from 13-20 October 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was recruited to collect the data of 287 participants. SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data using univariate and multivariable regression data analyses. Results: More than half of respondents were males (53.7%), married (61.3%), aged less than 45 years old, highly educated (46.3%), employed (44.6%), urban resident(79.8%), experience good or very good health (71.1%) and earned more than USD 200 monthly (84.3.%). The participants showed a high rate of good knowledge (81.0%), attitude (71.1%), and practice (83.7%) towards COVID-19, respectively. Regression analysis showed that married (P=0.056), female (P=0.037), living in the urban regions (P<0.001) with good income of more than USD 2020 (P=0.001) were significantly associated with upper knowledge score. Females (P=0.040) were more significantly associated with positive attitude scores than males. Regarding practice score, married (P=0.001), females (P=0.059) had better practice, but poor-rated health status (P=0.018) was significantly associated with the weak practice. Conclusion: The distinction of urban regions with good knowledge, optimistic attitudes, and acceptable practices towards COVID-19 determines the government's action compass towards more interest in supporting males, unhealthy, and those living in the rural areas with accurate and timely knowledge

Development of new thiazolidine-2,4-dione hybrids as aldose reductase inhibitors endowed with antihyperglycaemic activity: design, synthesis, biological investigations, and in silico insights

This research study describes the development of new small molecules based on 2,4-thiazolidinedione (2,4-TZD) and their aldose reductase (AR) inhibitory activities. The synthesis of 17 new derivatives of 2,4-TZDs hybrids was feasible by incorporating two known bioactive scaffolds, benzothiazole heterocycle, and nitro phenacyl moiety. The most active hybrid (8b) was found to inhibit AR in a non-competitive manner (0.16 µM), as confirmed by kinetic studies and molecular docking simulations. Furthermore, the in vivo experiments demonstrated that compound 8b had a significant hypoglycaemic effect in mice with hyperglycaemia induced by streptozotocin. Fifty milligrams per kilogram dose of 8b produced a marked decrease in blood glucose concentration, and a lower dose of 5 mg/kg demonstrated a noticeable antihyperglycaemic effect. These outcomes suggested that compound 8b may be used as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetic complications

SPARC 2018 Internationalisation and collaboration : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2018 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the launch of our Doctoral School, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 100 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers

The Impact of Using Three Computer Programs on the Academic Achievement of Tenth Grade Students in Math in Qabatia Directorate (Comparative Study)

This study aimed at investigating the impact of using three computer programs (Geogebra،Graphmatica،and Function Grapher) on the academic achievement of tenth grade students in Math in Qabatia Directorate.The study subject consisted of (110) tenth grade students in two governmental schools (Ibn Al-Bitar Elementary School II and Al-Shaheed Izzat Abu Al-Rob Secondary School) in the Directorate of Education-Qabatia for the academic year 2015/2016. The subjects have been divided randomly into four groups. An achievement test including 30 items was used in this study. The results of the study showed statistical significance differences between the four groups،in favor of the three computer programs،and no statistical significance difference between (Geogebra and Graphmatica) programs،and a statistical significance difference (Geogebra and Function Grapher) programs in favor of Geogebra program. Also،there is a statistical significance difference between (Graphmatica and Function Grapher) programs in favor of Graphmatica program. This Study concluded a number of recommendations in light of the result

Development of new thiazolidine-2,4-dione hybrids as aldose reductase inhibitors endowed with antihyperglycaemic activity: design, synthesis, biological investigations, and <i>in silico</i> insights

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2023-05-24, revised 2023-06-23, accepted 2023-06-25, epub 2023-07-20, issued 2023-07-20, published 2023-07-20, ppub 2023-12-31Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Grant(s): RSPD2023R74

Development of new thiazolidine-2,4-dione hybrids as aldose reductase inhibitors endowed with antihyperglycaemic activity: design, synthesis, biological investigations, and <i>in silico</i> insights

This research study describes the development of new small molecules based on 2,4-thiazolidinedione (2,4-TZD) and their aldose reductase (AR) inhibitory activities. The synthesis of 17 new derivatives of 2,4-TZDs hybrids was feasible by incorporating two known bioactive scaffolds, benzothiazole heterocycle, and nitro phenacyl moiety. The most active hybrid (8b) was found to inhibit AR in a non-competitive manner (0.16 µM), as confirmed by kinetic studies and molecular docking simulations. Furthermore, the in vivo experiments demonstrated that compound 8b had a significant hypoglycaemic effect in mice with hyperglycaemia induced by streptozotocin. Fifty milligrams per kilogram dose of 8b produced a marked decrease in blood glucose concentration, and a lower dose of 5 mg/kg demonstrated a noticeable antihyperglycaemic effect. These outcomes suggested that compound 8b may be used as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetic complications.</p