Higher Education for Students with Disabilities. An Overview Through the Lens of Text Min

Inequalities and exclusion from education were exposed and worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic;however, it forced us to recognize the need to make equality, equity, and social inclusion policies effective for all. Scientific and technological solutions to global threats depend on the formation of the maximum number of qualified human resources, which entirely relies on enabling everyone to acquire, update, and improve their knowledge, skills, and competencies through lifelong learning and higher education. To guarantee inclusive and quality education for all (UN Sustainable Development Goal 4) is hard to achieve at higher education or post-secondary levels. This research aims to provide an overview of the achievements and challenges that higher education institutions (HEI) face in fulfilling the requirements of students with disabilities (SWD). We analyzed a database of 104 s from reviews of SWD in HEI published in Scopus-indexed journals between 2018 and August 2022. After data preprocessing, the text mining analysis on the corpus was visualized in word clouds and graphs. From the results, we could identify that providing access to facilities and information still dominates the research on inclusive education, and visual disability is the most frequently analyzed. The graphs reveal published research on undergraduates with disorders like Autism Spectrum (ASD), learning disorders, and visual, hearing, physical, intellectual, and psychosocial disabilities. The authors also evidenced the lack of information on the barriers and needs of SWD in HEI and potential future research to address them. Concerning the strategies to attend and care for SWD inside the classrooms, the graphs highlight Universal Design as a promising trend leading to inclusivity in higher education. The results and analyses in current research provide essential information to educational stakeholders and decision-makers inside institutions so that they can take action to embrace diversity. © 2023 IEEE.

Tomographic findings and mortality in patients with severe and critical pneumonia with COVID-19 diagnosis.

Introduction: A high percentage of patients with non-severe (17.9%) and severe (2.9%) atypical pneumonia do not display pulmonary tomographic findings upon hospital admission; furthermore, lesion associated with COVI-19 are peripherally distributed in a multifocal ground-glass pattern, as well as displaying an irregular consolidation pattern, with a posterior or lower lobe predilection. The main objective of this study was to identify the pulmonary radiological patterns in patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, the factors associated with the need for mechanical ventilation, as well as their survival rates at 30 days. Methods: We report the pulmonary tomographic findings of 490 consecutive patients with severe and critical pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2. The patients were classified according to the tomography and demographic findings, sepsis severity prognostic scales, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE IV). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival distributions. Results: 89.80% of patients had ground-glass opacities, 81.63% radiologic consolidation sign, 42.45% vascular thickening pattern, 37.55% lymphadenopathies, 14.90% pleural effusion, and 2.65% pulmonary thrombosis; meanwhile, 91.02% had bilateral lesions, 85.51% had peripheral lesions, and 75.92% had basal lobe lesions. APACHE IV (HR, 1.191, 95% CI [1.126, 1.260]), SOFA (HR, 5.178, 95%CI [3.103, 8.641]), and CCI (HR, 0.673, 95%CI [0.510, 0.889]), as well as the pulmonary damage severity index (HR, 1.282, 95%CI [1.151, 1.428]), predict the need for invasive mechanical ventilation. Only moderate ARDS patients with mild and severe lung disease showed different 30-day mortality distributions (χ2 = 7.00, p = 0.008). Discussion: Although the survival distributions did not vary significantly, an overwhelming majority of patients (i.e., 84.35%) with a higher pulmonary damage severity index (i.e., 23>) died within 30 days of hospital admission, while only 25.91% with moderate lung damage and 2.42% with mild lung damage.

Designing a Cyber-Physical-Systems and Human Factors Engineering Course for Industry 4.0

This research presents a novel methodology and instructional, curricular design for the Cyber-Physical Systems and Human Factors Engineering course for an Industrial Engineering program in Higher Education. The research proposal offers a Competency-Based Education Model, Challenge-based Learning, and Experiential Learning design to create a curricular adaptation to prepare the future workforce for Industry 4.0, driven by digital technologies and strengthening the structure of Education 4.0 in pandemic times. The curricular design was explored and implemented in a national Industrial Engineering virtual course in five different facilities of a Higher Education Institution. Five professors participated in the exploratory study with 265 students in four country regions. The quantitative analysis provided positive findings regarding knowledge delivery and student competency development, confirming the good practices and standards in the proposed curricular design methodology. The final student evaluation results for the course have been favorable. They emphasized the importance of developing skills and knowledge about the enablers and components of Industry 4.0, such as Cyber-Physical-Systems and machine learning. Moreover, they remarked on the importance of human factors to develop a more sustainable society. The research contributes new ideas and perspectives for professors and instructional designers to shape the future of Higher Education. Furthermore, these new research paradigms for competencies in educational innovation shape the emerging virtual and hybrid educational practices in the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic era.

Exploration Elective: Students from all Disciplines Explore Engineering and Sciences

Universities face the challenges of an integrated, globalized world and new competencies required in the job market. In recent years, our institution, a large private multi-campus Mexican university, has been preparing for these new challenges by migrating its educational model from a traditional lecture modality to challenge-based learning, emphasizing competencies instead of educational objectives. Students take the Exploration Elective course during the third semester, a course outside their discipline, to explore another field. The School of Engineering and Sciences offers various Exploration Elective courses based on four avenues: Bioengineering and Chemical Process, Innovation and Transformation, Computer Science and Information Technologies, and Applied Sciences. In this contribution, we present the design of the Exploration Elective course and its implementation with large classes during the Covid-19 pandemic through synchronous distance education. We surveyed 649 students after they completed the class. They were enrolled in eight different courses at all 25 campuses. We report an overview of students' satisfaction with their achievement of the course's objectives, the implementation, the coordination among the professors, and the students' perceptions of the time and difficulty demands. The survey results showed a high level of student satisfaction with the exploration elective courses offered by the School of Engineering and Sciences. The course provided students from vastly different academic backgrounds the opportunity to learn about Science and Engineering through challenge-solving. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

Entrepreneurial Vision Module: Lessons from the Pandemic

According to a study recently published by the Observatory of Educational Innovation of the Tecnologico de Monterrey and the Inter-American Development Bank, in universities with a virtual approach before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 19% of the programs focused on distance education and 16% used hybrid formats (blended learning). The same document indicates that 1.4 million higher education instructors suddenly switched to an emergency remote teaching environment to give continuity to the educational processes. The purpose of this work is to share the design and main results obtained after implementing a four-week "Entrepreneurial Vision" module within the curricular program of the School of Engineering bachelor's degrees of a large private university in Chile during the first semester of the academic year 2020. During that semester, education changed from experiential face-to-face teaching to synchronous virtual education. In the presented model, we had to reflect on how sessions should be structured to teach content. The Module's design objective was to have the possibility of bringing the value of the face-to-face experience -focused on active methods from the constructivist educational paradigm- to the virtual world. Besides, we had to maintain the expected learning levels and make them significant. To analyze the students' perception of the Module's success, we administered an instrument already used before. The tool consisted of a Likert scale questionnaire. We administered the instrument at the end of the Module to 894 students from 16 groups of eight different undergraduate programs. Evidence demonstrates a highly positive reception of students towards the activities implemented. There was also favorable perception of the means and less with tools available for learning experiences. Students agreed that learning focused on achieving understanding and practical application of the entrepreneurial approach concepts. We concluded that it is possible to bring a structured experiential learning experience to a 100% virtual teaching format. In the presented model, we had to reflect more on 'how' sessions should be structured to teach contents rather than 'what' to teach and design participatory activities with proper and timely guidance from instructors. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

Engineering and Science Modeling Course: Students Explore Engineering and Sciences

Our institution, a private multi-campus Mexican university, is changing its educational model from traditional lecture instruction to challenge-based learning that emphasizes the development of specific competencies. Entering the School of Engineering and Sciences, students take the Engineering and Science Modeling course to introduce students to the university and its educational model by exploring four avenues: Bioengineering and Chemical Process, Innovation and Transformation, Computer Science and Information Technologies, and Applied Sciences. In this contribution, we report an overview of student satisfaction toward achieving the course's specific objectives, the students' perception of the importance of each avenue, and their perceptions of difficulty and time demands. We surveyed 1,499 students enrolled in programs in all four avenues of the School of Engineering and Sciences after completing the introductory course. The overall results of the survey showed a high level of student satisfaction. The students perceived that the course effectively conveyed the avenue contents and how the educational model works to develop and assess competencies. They valued having explored the different avenues of the school. The results also highlighted areas to improve to save students time in implemented activities. The latter could be due to the course's implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., through synchronous distance education. Finally, the course also helped students reflect on their degree choices by making them solve problems they would not have faced if they did not take the course. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

Synchronous distance learning: Students and faculty experience from a gender perspective

The Covid-19 pandemic forced Higher Education classes to shift to online education. This sudden change required universities to respond rapidly, adapting their classes to remote courses maintaining quality educational delivery. In this context, our university implemented the Digital Flexible Model (DFM) to continue with its academic offer. The challenge involved moving 55, 000 classes per week to the DFM, attending 90, 000 students with 9, 400 professors, all in one week. At the end of the semester, a strategic survey was applied to a statistical sample of professors and students from the Engineering School to get feedback about their experience with the DFM. The results highlight takeaways to improve the instructional model and offer interesting reflections by gender from the experience of faculty and students. © 2021 IEEE.

Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant and puerperal women at Callao national hospital, Peru

Introduction: It is known that pregnant women are more susceptible to respiratory infections, but the behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 infection is yet to be known. Objective: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of pregnant and puerperal women infected with SARS-CoV-2 at Hospital Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrion, Callao, Peru. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. All pregnant women hospitalized between May 1 and July 31, 2020 with diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection by either the rapid serological test or the RT-PCR test were selected. Results: During the study period, 671 patients were screened;308 pregnant women and 9 puerperal women were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most common symptoms were cough (57%) and dyspnea (35%). 95% were asymptomatic, 2% presented mild disease, 1% moderate, and less than 1% severe disease. Only one maternal death was registered. 69% of deliveries were vaginal and 31% were delivered by cesarean section. Conclusions: The behavior of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pregnant women studied did not differ from that found in the general population of the same age.