The Exposure to Animated Movies and Constructing Adolescents’ Perception towards Gender Role

This study aims to know the Egyptian adolescents’ perception towards gender roles; coinciding with the evolution of the female lead animated movies. Being affected by the third and the fourth wave of feminism in American society and its effect on Egyptian adolescents; since animated movies are mainly American produced. The study found that Egyptian adolescents perceive the female role in the society to be independent decision-maker and has her own rights, reassuring that women hold much more work-load than men and her biggest enemy and fighter is the society itself, not her capabilities, while animation movies from 2012 till 2018 hold more muscular personality traits and behavioral traits than feminine ones

An Enhanced Robot Massage System in Smart Homes Using Force Sensing and a Dynamic Movement Primitive

With requirements to improve life quality, smart homes, and healthcare have gradually become a future lifestyle. In particular, service robots with human behavioral sensing for private or personal use in the home have attracted a lot of research attention thanks to their advantages in relieving high labor costs and the fatigue of human assistance. In this paper, a novel force-sensing- and robotic learning algorithm-based teaching interface for robot massaging has been proposed. For the teaching purposes, a human operator physically holds the end-effector of the robot to perform the demonstration. At this stage, the end position data are outputted and sent to be segmented via the Finite Difference (FD) method. A Dynamic Movement Primitive (DMP) is utilized to model and generalize the human-like movements. In order to learn from multiple demonstrations, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) is used for the preprocessing of the data recorded on the robot platform, and a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is employed for the evaluation of DMP to generate multiple patterns after the completion of the teaching process. After that, a Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR) algorithm is applied to generate a synthesized trajectory to minimize position errors. Then a hybrid position/force controller is integrated to track the desired trajectory in the task space while considering the safety of human-robot interaction. The validation of our proposed method has been performed and proved by conducting massage tasks on a KUKA LBR iiwa robot platform

A comparison of two methods of assessing the potential clinical importance of medication errors

BACKGROUND: A wide range of methods have been used to assess the potential clinical importance of medication errors, but it is neither clear which should be used, nor how they compare. In this paper, we compare two methods of assessment, using a dataset of errors identified in the administration of intravenous infusions in English hospitals, to inform future comparisons between studies. METHODS: We assessed each of 155 errors identified in a study of intravenous infusion administration using two commonly used methods: an adapted form of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) method (an ordinal scale scored by local clinicians) and the Dean and Barber method (an interval scale ranging from 0 to 10 scored by a group of experts). We compared the two sets of scores using a scatter plot and calculated Spearman’s correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Using the NCC MERP method, 137 (88%) errors were rated C (‘an error occurred but was unlikely to cause harm despite reaching the patient’), 17 (11%) rated D (‘an error occurred that would be likely to have required increased monitoring’) and 1 (1%) rated E (‘an error occurred that would be likely to have caused temporary harm’). Errors ranged from 0 to 4.75 on the Dean and Barber scale with a mean of 1.7; 138 (89%) of errors were considered minor (scores of less than 3) and 17 (11%) as moderate (scores 3–7). Scores from the two methods were significantly but weakly correlated (correlation coefficient = 0.36, p = < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Scores from the adapted NCC MERP and Dean and Barber methods are only weakly correlated in the assessment of medication administration errors. In the absence of a uniformly agreed standard method for assessing errors’ clinical importance, researchers should be aware that comparisons between studies are likely to have limitations

VALIDATED SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHODS FOR DETERMINATION OF MONTELUKAST SODIUM IN PURE AND DOSAGE FORMS USING N-BROMOSUCCINIMIDE AND DYES

Objective: Simple, sensitive, precise, reproducible and validated spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the quantification of montelukast sodium as leukotriene receptor antagonist drug, in pure and dosage forms (tablets). Methods: The methods use N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as an oxidant and three dyes, amaranth, methylene blue, and indigo carmine, as auxiliary reagents. The three methods are based on oxidation reaction of montelukast sodium with a known excess of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in acid medium, followed by determination of unreacted NBS by the reaction with a fixed amount of dyes, amaranth, methylene blue, and indigo carmine followed by the measurement of the absorbance at 520, 664 and 610 nm, respectively. Results: Under the optimum conditions, linear relationships with good correlation coefficients (0.9993-0.9996) were found over the concentration ranges of 0.5-10, 1.0-12 and 0.5-8.0 µg/ml with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.15, 0.3 and 0.14 µg/ml using amaranth, methylene blue, and indigo carmine methods, respectively. Intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision of the methods have been evaluated. No interference was observed from the common tablet excipients. Conclusion: The proposed methods were validated in accordance with ICH guidelines and successfully applied to the analysis of montelukast sodium in dosage forms (tablets). The reliability of the methods was further ascertained by performing recovery studies using the standard addition method. Statistical comparison of the results obtained by applying the proposed methods with those of the reported method by applying student’s t-test and F-test revealed good agreement

Attitudes and Perceptions of Healthcare Providers and Medical Students Towards Clinical Pharmacy Services in United Arab Emirates

Purpose: To explore healthcare providers' (HCPs) and medical students’ attitudes to, and perceptions of the pharmaceutical services that clinical pharmacists can provide in United Arab Emirates.Methods: A total of 535 participants (265 HCPs and 270 medical students) were asked to complete a questionnaire over a period of three months (January through March 2009). Results: Almost three quarters of the students perceived that the clinical pharmacist is an important part of the healthcare team while 82% believed that clinical pharmacists can help improve the quality of medical care in hospitals. Eighty one percent of medical students expressed confidence in the ability of clinical pharmacists to minimize medication errors. Although slightly more than half of the respondents (53%) reported that they did not have clinical pharmacy services in their institutions, there was substantial willingness among physicians and nurses to cooperate with clinical pharmacists. The majority of physicians (92%) and nurses (87%) expressed the view that the clinical pharmacist is an important integral part of the healthcare team. Conclusion: The HCPs and medical students in the study setting valued the role of clinical pharmacists in healthcare delivery. However, new developments in pharmacy services in the UAE hospital setting is recommended for adoption in hospitals.Key words: Clinical pharmacy services, Pharmaceutical care, Perception, Healthcare providers

Nile perch fish nuggets: Partial replacement of fish flesh with sesame hulls and sunroot — Quality assessment and storage stability

This study aimed to produce Nile perch fish nuggets by replacing a part of fish flesh with different concentrations of sesame hulls and sunroot to reach the optimal recipe. Chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of nuggets were evaluated during 3 months of frozen storage at –18 °C. According to the obtained data on the chemical composition of raw materials, Nile perch flesh had the highest content of protein (20.21%), sesame hulls contained the highest amount of fat (13.54%), fiber (17.24%) and ash (16.11%), while sunroot tubers had the highest amount of carbohydrates (15.76%). Based on the sensory score, the acceptable replacement ratio for fish nuggets prepared with sunroot (T1) and sesame hulls (T2) was 10% and 7.5%, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) analysis at zero time shows that the T1 samples had the minimum value compared to the T2 and control samples. During storage, the TBA levels increased slightly in all samples, but after three months T1 also showed the lowest value. The total plate count (TPC) and psychrophilic bacterial (PSY) count in the samples were affected by the period of frozen storage at –18 °C. The initial TPC and PSY loads were 2.32 and 2.02 log cfu/g for control; 2.24 and 1.72 log cfu/g for T1; 2.30 and 1.47 log cfu/g for T2, respectively. During storage, the values of TPC and Psy slightly decreased. In conclusion, this study succeeded in the replacement of Nile perch fish with sesame hulls and sunroot as new sources to improve the nutritional value and quality characteristics of fish nuggets.This study aimed to produce Nile perch fish nuggets by replacing a part of fish flesh with different concentrations of sesame hulls and sunroot to reach the optimal recipe. Chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of nuggets were evaluated during 3 months of frozen storage at –18 °C. According to the obtained data on the chemical composition of raw materials, Nile perch flesh had the highest content of protein (20.21%), sesame hulls contained the highest amount of fat (13.54%), fiber (17.24%) and ash (16.11%), while sunroot tubers had the highest amount of carbohydrates (15.76%). Based on the sensory score, the acceptable replacement ratio for fish nuggets prepared with sunroot (T1) and sesame hulls (T2) was 10% and 7.5%, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) analysis at zero time shows that the T1 samples had the minimum value compared to the T2 and control samples. During storage, the TBA levels increased slightly in all samples, but after three months T1 also showed the lowest value. The total plate count (TPC) and psychrophilic bacterial (PSY) count in the samples were affected by the period of frozen storage at –18 °C. The initial TPC and PSY loads were 2.32 and 2.02 log cfu/g for control; 2.24 and 1.72 log cfu/g for T1; 2.30 and 1.47 log cfu/g for T2, respectively. During storage, the values of TPC and Psy slightly decreased. In conclusion, this study succeeded in the replacement of Nile perch fish with sesame hulls and sunroot as new sources to improve the nutritional value and quality characteristics of fish nuggets

The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali)

New excavations in ravines at Ounjougou in Mali have brought to light a lithic and ceramic assemblage that dates from before 9400 cal BC. The authors show that this first use of pottery coincides with a warm wet period in the Sahara. As in East Asia, where very early ceramics are also known, the pottery and small bifacial arrowheads were the components of a new subsistence strategy exploiting an ecology associated with abundant wild grasses. In Africa, however, the seeds were probably boiled (then as now) rather than made into bread