How we implemented Continuous Interprofessional Education at a newly established public hospital in Singapore

Introduction To promote interprofessional collaboration (IPC), our newly established hospital implemented the Continuing Interprofessional Education (CIPE) initiatives, which included a half-day workshop and 15 sessions of Grand Rounds, with the content focusing on establishing interprofessional patient-centered care pathways, policies, and ultimately to build a community of IPC. Methods To evaluate the impact of the CIPE initiatives, 120 staff who attended at least 50% of the CIPE sessions were invited to complete the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS). Results 67.5% of the invited participants completed the survey. The majority of the participants answered “agree” or “strongly agree” for the domains of Teamwork/Roles/Responsibilities, Patient-centeredness, Diversity and Ethics, and Community Centeredness after going through the CIPE initiatives. The Interprofessional Bias domain revealed mixed responses. Discussions and Implications of practice The significant contributing factors towards the success of the CIPE Grand Rounds included: (1) the topics were proposed by our staff and centered on clinical practice; (2) the delivery format was interactive, guided by adult learning principles. The mixed responses regarding the presence of biases among the participants suggested that interprofessional biases are deep-rooted in the healthcare setting, and attendance of these CIPE Grand Rounds made participants more acutely aware of these biases. However, more actions are needed to eradicate these biases.

The Android and the Fax: Robots, AI and Buddhism in Japan

In March 2019, a temple in Kyoto, Kōdaiji, unveiled to the public ‘Mindar’, a robot developed in collaboration with Ishiguro Hiroshi, a well-known robotics professor at Osaka University. The android is presented as the manifestation of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. It can move, speak, and record what it sees. Mindar delivers sermons based on the Heart Sutra and, according to the temple’s priest, it will keep evolving and its knowledge will become endless. Mindar has received mixed responses from visitors, from those who cry during the sermons to those who feel it inappropriate for a robot to preach in a temple. Media coverage has mainly focused on the potential for Mindar to change the image of Buddhism in Japan, a tradition often portrayed as antiquated and mainly focused on funerary rituals. By examining the declarations of Mindar’s creators and varied responses of its visitors, and drawing on observation of Mindar’s practice, this chapter explores the interaction between AI, robotics, and Buddhism in contemporary Japan. It highlights the affective potentialities and possibilities of AI, in particular as they relate to emotional connections between humans and robots, and the implications for Buddhism in contemporary Japan.

Random effect models for multivariate mixed data: A Parafac-based finite mixture approach

We discuss a flexible regression model for multivariate mixed responses. Dependence between outcomes is introduced via the joint distribution of discrete outcome- and individual-specific random effects that represent potential unobserved heterogeneity in each outcome profile. A different number of locations can be used for each margin, and the association structure is described by a tensor that can be further simplified by using the Parafac model. A case study illustrates the proposal.

KONSEP AL-FANA’, AL-BAQA’ DAN AL-ITTIHAD ABU YAZID AL-BUSTAMI

This article is an analysis of the concepts of fana, baqa and Ittihat promoted by Abu Yazid al-Bustami. The understanding of Fana' which was developed by him is to state that when humans have reached the level of Fana', which means the loss of awareness of the existence of oneself and the environment, then he will be Baqa' which means continuous in the attributes of divinity. Namely, the eternal commendable attributes and attributes of God in humans and the peak is that humans can unite or ittihad with God so that the personal self becomes non-existent and there is only God. This understanding received mixed responses from the scholars. Shari'ah scholars or fiqh experts tend to state that this understanding is misleading and al-Bustami is said to be infidel, some consider it just a deviation and some understand that an understanding based on al-Bustami's expressions cannot be used as a guide because it was conveyed when he was not in his self-consciousness, but is subject to intuition when he is mortal', baqa', and Ittihad.

Modification of Emulsifying Properties of Cereal Flours by Blending with Legume Flours

Background: The effect of blend formation on emulsifying activity (EA) and emulsifying stability (ES) of some commonly used cereal and legume flours, using different oils, was studied. Methods: The blends of wheat flour (WF), refined wheat flour (RWF) and maize flour (MF) were prepared by mixing with equal proportions of chickpea flour (CPF) (1:1w/w) in a kitchen blender and analyzed for EA and ES using coconut, canola, corn, rapeseed and sunflower oils. Result: Statistically significant variations (p less than 0.05) were observed in the emulsifying properties of the flours and their blends. The blending of cereal flours with CPF showed mixed responses of variation in emulsifying properties from those of the respective pure flours. The EA of the blends was found to be increased from those of the pure WF and RWF but decreased from those of the pure MF and CPF with some exceptions. However, the ES of the blends was decreased from that of the pure WF and increased from those of the pure RWF, MF and CPF. The data would be a valuable contribution to the literature regarding the improvement of functional properties of cereal foods.

#ImNotAChickFlick: Neoliberalism and Post-feminism in Veere Di Wedding (My Friend’s Wedding, 2018)

Released in 2018, Shashanka Ghosh’s Veere Di Wedding ( VDW; My Friend’s Wedding), dubbed as India’s answer to Sex and the City, evoked mixed responses. While many reviews of the film denounced it for its vulgarity and tawdriness, frivolity, flippant vision of women’s liberation and as a threat to Indian values, others, however, celebrated it for its frank depiction of female desires. This article undertakes a close study of the film to argue that while the focus on female desire and sexuality is rare in Hindi cinema, and thus VDW marks an important landmark, the film is not a feminist film, and it does not offer a radical politics of female solidarity. On the contrary, by locating it within its neoliberal and postfeminist politics and aesthetics, we will argue that it haphazardly borrows and superimposes tropes from the ‘bromance’ and ‘the buddy road movie’ genres onto its vision of what feminine choices entail and enable. Its casual evocation of elite lifestyles, denigration of working-class women’s life struggles, and sexual humour jeopardise a radical reworking of patriarchal and heteronormative frameworks, and it encourages us to settle for a future in which ‘women playing the same games as men do’ is the only mode of radicalism or emancipation on offer. While it is undeniably refreshing to watch the film’s push back against the repressive taboos surrounding women’s sexuality and desire, these are articulated only within neoliberal renditions of heterosexuality, matrimony, motherhood and consumerism.

Reading Takes You Places

This study investigates effects of a web-based summer reading program on the reading behaviors and attitudes of adolescents. The study takes place in an American high school, grades nine through twelve. A purposive random sample of 288 students and eleven teachers ensured representation of students from each of three ability groupings. Data were collected through student surveys and teacher interviews. Findings show that students expressed satisfaction with the program, but it did not meet the needs of low achieving students. Mixed responses from teachers point to the need for consensus about the purpose of a summer reading program.