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This study aimed to identify trends in the research conducted on Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically in STEAM education. To this end, a total of 16 articles were reviewed from the Web of Science (WOS) database. The analysis revealed an increase in the number of educational AI studies in 2021 and 2022. Spain and South Korea emerged as the leading countries in implementing AI technologies in STEAM education. Quantitative research methods were predominantly employed in the reviewed articles. Most of the studies focused on primary and secondary students as the target sample. Among the various AI applications, educational robots were found to be the most commonly utilized in STEAM education. The findings of the study demonstrated that AI technologies contribute to the development of thinking skills such as computational and analytical thinking, enhance self-confidence, increase satisfaction and enjoyment among students, and also enhance students' deep understanding. These findings have important implications for teachers, practitioners, and policymakers in making informed decisions regarding the effective integration of AI in STEAM education. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the results obtained in this study will guide future research in this field.

The study aimed to identify the effectiveness of a proposed training program for developing action research skills among female mathematics and science teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study employed a semi-experimental approach with a one-group design and pre- and post-measurement. A sample of 36 female mathematics and science teachers from the Bisha Education Department took part in the training program and then took a test to evaluate their action research skills. The results revealed statistically significant differences in the teachers' action research skills at the level α ≤ 0.05 between the pre- and post-measurements in favor of the latter. In light of the study results, some recommendations can be made: A culture of action research should be fostered among male and female teachers in general and in mathematics and science teaching specifically; research partnerships should be built to include experts and male and female teachers in general education; male and female teachers should undergo training to develop action research skills.

Received: 12 January 2023 / Accepted: 23 February 2023 / Published: 5 March 2023

Salah H Elsafi,1 Norah I Alqahtani,1 Nawaf Y Zakary,2 Eidan M Al Zahrani,3 1Clinical Laboratory Science Department, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dhahran, 2Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, Internal Medicine Department, King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, 3Prince Sultan Military College of Heath Sciences, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Objectives: To study the performance of a single test using two fecal occult blood tests with colonoscopy for the detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) for the first time in Saudi Arabia to determine possible implications for the anticipated colorectal screening program. Materials and methods: We compared the performance of guaiac and immunochemical fecal occult blood tests for the detection of CRC among patients of 50–74 years old attending two hospitals in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Samples of feces were collected from 257 asymptomatic patients and 20 cases of confirmed CRC, and they were tested simultaneously by the guaiac-based occult blood test and monoclonal antibody-based immunoassay kit. Colonoscopy was performed on all participants and the results were statistically analyzed with both positive and negative occult blood tests of both methods. Results: Of the 277 subjects, 79 tested positive for occult blood with at least one method. Overall, the number of those with an occult blood-positive result by both tests was 39 (14.1%), while for 198 (71.5%), both tests were negative (P<0.0001); 40 (14.4%) samples showed a discrepant result. Colonoscopy data were obtained for all 277 patients. A total of three invasive cancers were detected among the screening group. Of the three, the guaiac test detected two cases, while the immunochemical test detected three of them. Of the 20 control cases, the guaiac test detected 13 CRC cases (P=0.03), while the immunochemical test detected 16 of them (P<0.0001). The sensitivity of guaiac and immunochemical tests for the detection of CRC in the screening group was 50.00% (95% confidence interval [CI] =6.76–93.24) and 75.00% (95% CI =19.41–99.37), respectively. For comparison, the sensitivity of the guaiac fecal occult blood test for detecting CRC among the control group was 65.00% (95% CI =40.78–84.61) while that of FIT was 80.00% (95% CI =56.34–94.27). The specificity of the guaiac and immunoassay tests was 77.87% (95% CI =72.24–82.83) and 90.12% (95% CI =85.76–93.50), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio of guaiac and immunochemical tests for the detection of CRC was 2.26 (95% CI =0.83–6.18) and 7.59 (95% CI =3.86–14.94), whereas the negative likelihood ratio was 0.64 (95% CI =0.24–1.71) and 0.28 (95% CI =0.05–1.52), respectively. The positive predictive values of guaiac and immunochemical tests were 3.45% (95% CI =0.426–11.91) and 10.71% (95% CI =2.27–28.23), respectively. There was no marked difference in the negative predictive values for both methods. The sensitivity of the fecal occult blood test by FIT was significantly higher for stages III and IV colorectal cancer than for stages I and II (P=0.01) and it was insignificant for the guaiac fecal occult blood test (P=0.07). Conclusion: In areas where other advance screening methods of CRC are not feasible, the use of FIT can be considered. Keywords: fecal occult blood test, guaiac, immunochemical, endoscopy, colorectal cancer

The study aimed to assess the profile of volunteerism in Saudi Arabia, particularly the Al-Jubail Volunteer Club and its impact to community. One-hundred ninety (190) members of the club are the respondents of the study. Descriptive research design was utilized to gain accurate profile of situation. It is found out that the demographic profile of volunteers coincides with some previous studies in terms of age bracket and occupation. Community concern motivated volunteers to participate. Volunteers perceived volunteering as a worthwhile activity. It is something that can improve and imply positive impact on their personal development. It is further concluded, volunteering can help in over-all development of its members and community as well.

BACKGROUND: Psychological distress/morbidity is amongst the primary reason for the cause of pain at multiple sites, its progression, and recovery. Though still not very clear if physical pain in the neck or the back may predict psychological morbidities or not. Thus, we investigated the association between combined neck or back pain and psychological distress/morbidity. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, including 1,003 individuals. The questionnaire comprised of General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) and some questions about neck and back pain. Data analysis was done using statistical software SPSS version 26.0. RESULTS: The results of the multivariate analysis revealed a significant positive association between neck/back pain status and total GHQ score (unstandardized Beta = 2.442, P ≤ 0.0001). Having neck/back pain had almost a 2.5 times greater risk of psychological distress/morbidity. Further, females were more likely to have a higher risk of psychological distress/morbidity (unstandardized Beta = 1.334, P = 0.007) than males while adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. CONCLUSION: The combination of neck and back pain was significantly associated with the Saudi population's psychological problems. Therefore, the Saudi government needs to devise high-risk strategies and allocate adequate resources to the cause so that at-risk people can be shielded from the adverse complications arising from this condition in the long run.

Upgrading of the heavy reformate fraction (HR), containing mainly C aromatics, is usually performed by dealkylation or by transalkylation with added benzene and/or toluene to obtain the more valuable xylenes. However, when the costs related to the use of benzene and toluene are considered, the one-step dealkylation/transalkylation of the C alkylaromatics to xylenes becomes economically attractive. Thus, in a first step, ethylmethylbenzenes (EMB) will have to be dealkylated to toluene, which will then react with the trimethylbenzenes (TMB) present in the HR feed to produce xylenes by transalkylation. Medium pore zeolites will favor dealkylation, whereas large pore zeolites will be more adequate for carrying out the transalkylation reaction. In this work, we present the one-pot synthesis of beta-pentasil aggregates with tunable ratios of the large pore beta to the medium pore component. We show that the close proximity of the beta and pentasil nanocrystals obtained by one-pot co-crystallization synthesis, results in a highly efficient catalyst for the consecutive dealkylation/transalkylation process. The bifunctional catalyst based on the co-crystallized aggregate is more active and selective to xylenes than a catalyst based on a physical mixture of equivalent beta and pentasil nanozeolites synthesized following an analogous procedure. The small crystallite sizes of the co-crystallized zeolites provide the additional advantage of a lower deactivation rate as compared to a reference benchmark catalyst. Results are shown on both, model molecules and industrial HR feed. ; This work has been supported by Saudi Aramco, by the Spanish Government-MICINN through "Severo Ochoa" (SEV 2012-0267) and RTI2018-101033-B-I00, by the European Union through ERC-AdG-2014-671093 (SynCatMatch) and by the Fundación Ramón Areces through a research contract of the "Life and Materials Science" program. We thank Belén Esparcia for technical assistance, and the Electron Microscopy Service of the UPV for their help in sample characterization.