ABSTRACT
As COVID-19 is spreading, national agencies need to monitor and track several metrics. Since we do not have perfect testing programs on the hand, one needs to develop an advanced sampling strategies for prevalence study, control and management. Here we introduce REDACS: Regional emergency-driven adaptive cluster sampling for effective COVID-19 management and control and justify its usage for COVID-19. We show its advantages over classical massive individual testing sampling plans. We also point out how regional and spatial heterogeneity underlines proper sampling. Fundamental importance of adaptive control parameters from emergency health stations and medical frontline is outlined. Since the Northern hemisphere entered Autumn and Winter season (this paper was originally submitted in November 2020), practical illustration from spatial heterogeneity of Chile (Southern hemisphere, which already experienced COVID-19 winter outbreak peak) is underlying the importance of proper regional heterogeneity of sampling plan. We explain the regional heterogeneity by microbiological backgrounds and link it to behavior of Lyapunov exponents. We also discuss screening by antigen tests from the perspective of "on the fly" biomarker validation, i.e., during the screening. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Stochastic Analysis & Applications is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
Collaboration is one required skill for the future workforce that requires constant practice and evaluation. However, students often lack formative feedback and support for their collaboration skills during their formal learning. Current technologies for emergent learning due to COVID-19 could make visible digital traces of collaboration to support timely feedback. This work aims to automatically detect the group work environment using speech data captured during group activities. Grounded in literature and students’ perspectives, this work defines and implements three indicators for detecting the work environment namely noise, silence and speech time. Three experts rated two hundred thirty-two video instances lasting 30-secs each to get a group work environment score. We report the results of two machine learning models for detecting the group work environment and briefly reflect on these results. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The post-pandemic crisis of contemporary housing, triggered by COVID-19, only but extends, to the entire world, many of the questions in which, permanently, housing is immersed within, in an ongoing crisis of developing countries. How to make houses more shareable, flexible, transformable, productive, participatory, livable, etc.? In that sense, by studying low-income housing in these countries, it is possible to analyze alternatives to the current dwellings, that arise from informality as a response to those questions shared worldwide today. This article describes part of a research carried out at Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, which analyzes the physical and social transformations in consolidated informal dwellings within the city center. The techniques used, include planimetric surveys of case studies, interviews to users, and mapping out the use of the dwellings throughout the day. The analysis focuses on the interaction exerted between several nuclear families inside the dwelling and their objects. Thus describing a habitat transformational and production system linked to objects, where the dwelling is understood as a social system of objects and people, in continuous interaction and transformation.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To generate teledentistry protocols for urgent and priority dental care for the elderly population through a technological web platform and mobile application in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: Teledentistry protocols were developed in five sequential steps: Staff training, Patient recruitment, Patient admission, Patient reception and Patient care. Reasons for admission were categorized in urgencies and priority dental treatment. Results: The most prevalent reasons for consultation were prosthesis mismatch (18.37%), dental pain (16.33%) and fractured teeth (14.29%). In urgencies by need for treatment: due to infection or pain (24.44%) or to avoid pulp involvement (26.67%). The rest of the care did not require immediate attention. Regarding the OHIP-14Sp survey prior to care, in which patients were consulted for problems with their teeth, mouth or prosthesis, two questions were answered per dimension, for each dimension the following values were obtained: functional limitation (71.30% and 50.44%), physical pain (68.97% and 70.18%), psychological discomfort (75.00% and 74.14%), physical disability (57.39% and 46.09%), psychological disability (37.72% and 53.91%), social disability (33.91% and 30.97%) and handicap (27.83% and 25.86%). Conclusion: A teledentistry protocol for urgent and priority dental care of the elderly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on a general dentist remotely supported specialists was a useful tool to effectively systematize the care of elderly patients, reducing risk of exposure to COVID-19 and solving dental urgencies in this population. © 2022, Universidad de Concepcion.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To develop a new concept of teledentistry for the elderly through a web platform and associated mobile application in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: A new concept for attention via teledentistry of the elderly supported by the web platform/ app TEGO (Acronym for Tele-platform of Geriatric and Dental Specialties in Spanish) was developed. Priority and urgent dental care for elderly patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic was provided onboard a mobile dental clinic equipped with all the necessary conventional dental care facilities as well as state-of-the-art digital technology. Dental care was carried out in five cities of Chile. For the study, 135 elderly patients were treated. The tele-dental care model includes visit-appointment and remote interconsultation with a staff of specialists. To evaluate patient satisfaction aspects, regarding the service / care provided, a user satisfaction survey was applied. Results: A total of 68 questionnaires were completed by patients. The results showed high levels of patients’ satisfaction after the priority or urgent dental care, which reached above 75% in all dimensions of the questionnaire (Access to dental care, user treatment, platform, recommendation). Conclusion: The generation of a technological eco-system for teledentistry can provide a series of important advantages in the attention of elderly patients, by optimizing the dental care coverage by different specialists who can provide attention to a population that has limited or no access to them. © 2022, Universidad de Concepcion. All rights reserved.