Empowering the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) towards society 5.0

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is often viewed as a secondary tier of research which consequently contributes to its undervalued status amongst many academicians. However, Higher Education (HE) aims to empower students with the ability to comprehend, analyze, solve problems, apply theories relevant practices, as well as being imbued with a greater appreciation of the knowledge gained from the teaching and learning (T&L) sessions, all as a means of preparing for their integration as a part of Society 5.0. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the migration from face-to-face learning to online and hybrid learning across all institutions of HE, even including those which are typically skills and practice-based. The current situation has effectively catalyzed the importance of SoTL in ensuring the process of teaching and learning at institutions of HE can still be effectively conducted, even during the enforcement of lockdown measures. This study aims to describe the fundamentals and methods for conducting SoTL. Additionally, several case studies of SoTL conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic are reviewed and discussed, mainly to exemplify SoTL practices in institutions of HE. These findings are expected to provide new ideas, strategies, as well as guidelines for conducting SoTL at HE level in the present uncertain conditions. Scholars from SoTL-focus disciplines are strongly recommended to collaborate with those from other disciplines to overcome the tidal wave of uncertainty and complexity of T&L in a post-Covid-19 reality. © 2023 Author(s).

Texture-Based Covid-19 Images Detection System using Haar Wavelet Transformation Algorithm

Covid-19 remains the worldwide highlight because it is still growing rapidly and has greatly impacted human activities. Preventing its transmission by detecting to allow other actions to be taken continues to be carried out. Various research efforts have been performed to detect Covid-19. Along with developing its detection, technology can be conducted by image processing or machine learning. The detection in this study was carried out using X-ray images of Covid-19 positive people, totaling 101 images, propagated through pre-processing to 404 images. Then, these images were compared with the X-ray images of normal people amounting to 202 and the X-ray images of pneumonia-positive people totaling 390. The extraction process was performed using the Haar wavelet transformation by classifying the data using Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) methods. The Fine KNN model obtained the best accuracy with an average of 94.66%. © 2022 IEEE.

Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries.

The COVID-19 restrictions have impacted people's lifestyles in all spheres (social, psychological, political, economic, and others). This study explored which factors affected the level of anxiety during the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and subsequent quarantine in a substantial proportion of 23 countries, included in this study. The data was collected from May to August 2020 (5 June 2020). The sample included 15,375 participants from 23 countries: (seven from Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Russia; 11 from West, South and Southeast Asia: Armenia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey; two African: Nigeria and Tanzania; and three from North, South, and Central America: Brazil, Canada, United States). Level of anxiety was measured by means of the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the 20-item first part of The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). Respondents were also asked about their personal experiences with COVID-19, attitudes toward measures introduced by governments, changes in attitudes toward migrants during a pandemic, family income, isolation conditions, etc. The factor analysis revealed that four factors explained 45.08% of variance in increase of anxiety, and these components were interpreted as follows: (1) personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, (2) personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, (3) personal trust in official sources, (4) personal experience with COVID-19. Three out of four factors demonstrated strong associations with both scales of anxiety: high level of anxiety was significantly correlated with high level of personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, low level of personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, and high level of presence of personal experience with COVID-19. Our study revealed significant main effects of sex, country, and all four factors on the level of anxiety. It was demonstrated that countries with higher levels of anxiety assessed the real danger of a pandemic as higher, and had more personal experience with COVID-19. Respondents who trusted the government demonstrated lower levels of anxiety. Finally, foreigners were perceived as the cause of epidemic spread.

Clinical manifestations of COVID-19;what have we learned from the global database?

Background: There is a need to analyze a worldwide database of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This may prove valuable to facilitate better strategies and planning on prevention, screening, surveillance, early diagnosis, containment and treatments. Method: We extracted 14,259 case reports of COVID-19 dated 11th November 2019 to 18th March 2020 from Johns Hopkins University Repository Online Databaseof 58 countries. After extensive data preprocessing, a multi-disciplinary expert researcherthen conducted series of vetting to categorizefree-text description of symptoms into discreet standardizedcategories. Continuous variables were presented by using median and inter-quartile range whereas categorical variables were presented by frequency and percentage. Result: A total of 2191 cases (15.4%) were included for demographic analysis. The median age was46 years (IQR26 years) with 787 (35.9%) cases involved patients aged of 60 and above while patients less than18 years of age were reported in 79 (3.6%) cases. Majority of the patients were males (n=1227, 56.7%). There were a total of 20standardized categories of COVID-19 symptoms. The most prevalent were fever (74.8%), nonproductive cough (42.2%), fatigue (13.1%), sore throat (12.8%) and shortness of breath (11.7%). Other symptoms with frequency of more than 1% were chest discomfort, nasal congestion, muscular pain, chills and rigors, headache, diarrhoea, expectoration and joint pain. Other more uncommon symptoms reported include loss of appetite, conjunctivitis, toothache and abdominal pain. Asymptomatic manisfestations were reported in 8 cases (1.0%). All population are susceptible to COVID-19 especially the older age group. There were 20 standardized categories of symptoms wherefever, non-productive cough, fatigue, sore throat and shortness of breath were the most commonly reported. Conclusion: Findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding on COVID-19 and may prove useful for researchers to better-design screening and surveillance strategies via more accurate risk-prediction modelling. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science is the property of Ibn Sina Medical College, Ibn Sina Trust 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.)

Identification of Compounds from Curcuma longa with In Silico Binding Potential against SARS-CoV-2 and Human Host Proteins Involve in Virus Entry and Pathogenesis

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and associated coronavirus disease 2019 is a newly identified human coronavirus has imposed a serious threat to global health. The rapid transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and its ability to spread in humans have prompted the development of new approaches for its treatment. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 requires RNA-dependent RNA polymerases for life cycle propagation and Spike (S)-protein for attachment to the host cell surface receptors. The virus enters the human body with the assistance of a key functional host receptor dipeptidyl peptidase-4 primed by transmembrane serine protease 2 which are putative targets for drug development. We performed screening of 267 compounds from Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae family) against the viral S-protein and RNA-dependent RNA polymerases and host receptor proteins dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and transmembrane serine protease 2 using in silico molecular docking. Compounds C1, ((4Z,6E)-1,5-dihydroxy-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-4,6-dien3-one) and C6 ((4Z,6E)-1,5-dihydroxy-1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-7-(4-hydroxyphenyl)hepta-4,6-dien-3-one) exhibited tight binding to the S1 domain of the Spike protein than VE607 and with RNA-dependent RNA polymerase protein more effectively than ribavirin and remdesivir. These compounds also interacted with the human host proteins dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and transmembrane serine protease 2 with higher efficiency than standard inhibitors sitagliptin and camostat mesylate. The lead compounds showed favorable free binding energy for all the studied protein-ligand complexes in Molecular mechanics/Generalized born model and solvent accessibility analysis. Besides, other Curcuma longa compounds C14 and C23 exhibited almost similar potential against these target proteins. The structure based optimization and molecular docking studies have provided information on some lead Curcuma longa compounds with probability for advancement in preclinical research.

Effect of 12 mg vs 6 mg of Dexamethasone on the Number of Days Alive Without Life Support in Adults With COVID-19 and Severe Hypoxemia: The COVID STEROID 2 Randomized Trial.

Importance: A daily dose with 6 mg of dexamethasone is recommended for up to 10 days in patients with severe and critical COVID-19, but a higher dose may benefit those with more severe disease. Objective: To assess the effects of 12 mg/d vs 6 mg/d of dexamethasone in patients with COVID-19 and severe hypoxemia. Design, Setting, and Participants: A multicenter, randomized clinical trial was conducted between August 2020 and May 2021 at 26 hospitals in Europe and India and included 1000 adults with confirmed COVID-19 requiring at least 10 L/min of oxygen or mechanical ventilation. End of 90-day follow-up was on August 19, 2021. Interventions: Patients were randomized 1:1 to 12 mg/d of intravenous dexamethasone (n = 503) or 6 mg/d of intravenous dexamethasone (n = 497) for up to 10 days. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the number of days alive without life support (invasive mechanical ventilation, circulatory support, or kidney replacement therapy) at 28 days and was adjusted for stratification variables. Of the 8 prespecified secondary outcomes, 5 are included in this analysis (the number of days alive without life support at 90 days, the number of days alive out of the hospital at 90 days, mortality at 28 days and at 90 days, and ≥1 serious adverse reactions at 28 days). Results: Of the 1000 randomized patients, 982 were included (median age, 65 [IQR, 55-73] years; 305 [31%] women) and primary outcome data were available for 971 (491 in the 12 mg of dexamethasone group and 480 in the 6 mg of dexamethasone group). The median number of days alive without life support was 22.0 days (IQR, 6.0-28.0 days) in the 12 mg of dexamethasone group and 20.5 days (IQR, 4.0-28.0 days) in the 6 mg of dexamethasone group (adjusted mean difference, 1.3 days [95% CI, 0-2.6 days]; P = .07). Mortality at 28 days was 27.1% in the 12 mg of dexamethasone group vs 32.3% in the 6 mg of dexamethasone group (adjusted relative risk, 0.86 [99% CI, 0.68-1.08]). Mortality at 90 days was 32.0% in the 12 mg of dexamethasone group vs 37.7% in the 6 mg of dexamethasone group (adjusted relative risk, 0.87 [99% CI, 0.70-1.07]). Serious adverse reactions, including septic shock and invasive fungal infections, occurred in 11.3% in the 12 mg of dexamethasone group vs 13.4% in the 6 mg of dexamethasone group (adjusted relative risk, 0.83 [99% CI, 0.54-1.29]). Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with COVID-19 and severe hypoxemia, 12 mg/d of dexamethasone compared with 6 mg/d of dexamethasone did not result in statistically significantly more days alive without life support at 28 days. However, the trial may have been underpowered to identify a significant difference. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04509973 and ctri.nic.in Identifier: CTRI/2020/10/028731.

Perception and Practice of Bangladeshi Adults Towards the Prevention of COVID-19: A Statistical Analysis

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued to spread across the world with increasing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths. Due to outbreaks of new variants of the virus and limited treatment options, positive perception and good practice of preventive guidelines have remained essential measures for the prevention of the disease and slowing down its transmission. We aimed to study perception towards COVID-19 and the practice of guidelines for preventing the disease among Bangladeshi adults during the early stage of the rapid rise of the outbreak. Methods: Data was collected data from 320 participants. For measuring their level of practice, we asked a general question: “Are you properly following the WHO-recommended guidelines to avoid COVID-19?” The frequency distribution, Chi-square (χ2) test and binary logistic regression model were used in this study. Results: The average risk perception among the participants was 3.05±0.75 (median, 3.00) (95% CI of mean: 2.96-3.13) where the score ranges from 0 (no risk) to 4 (high risk). More than 27% of participants showed high-risk perceptions. Males (p<0.05), high educated (p<0.05), rich (p<0.01), service holders (p<0.05), and younger adults (p<0.05) had higher odds of high-risk perception. More than 71% of participants had a good practice of always following the WHO guidelines to prevent COVID-19 and living locations in urban areas (p<0.01), high education (p<0.01), rich (p<0.01), and joint family (p<0.01) had the most contributions to good practice. Conclusions: The study findings revealed that special attention should be given to rural areas, and individuals of low literacy, education and socioeconomic level to more effectively prevent COVID-19. © 2021. Wadood et al.;Licensee Lifescience Global. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

Revealing travellers’ satisfaction during COVID-19 outbreak: Moderating role of service quality

User-Generated-Content (UGC) has gained increasing attention as an important indicator of business success in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Previous literature has analyzed travelers' satisfaction through quantitative approaches using questionnaire surveys. Another direction of research has explored the dimensions of satisfaction based on online customers' reviews using the machine learning approach. This study aims to present a new method that combines machine learning and survey-based approaches for customers' satisfaction analysis during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of service quality on the relationship between hotels' performance criteria and customers' satisfaction. To achieve this, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used for textual data analysis, k-means was used for data segmentation, dimensionality reduction approach was used for the imputation of the missing values, and fuzzy rule-based was used for the prediction of satisfaction level. Following that, a survey-based approach was used to validate the research model by distributing the questionnaire and analyzing the collected data using the Structural Equation Modeling technique. The result of this research presents important contributions from the methodological and practical perspectives in the context of customers' satisfaction in tourism and hospitality during the COVID-19 outbreak. The outcomes of this research confirm the significant influence of the quality of services during the COVID-19 crisis on the relationship between hotel services and travellers’ satisfaction. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Role of Empathy during COVID-19’s First Wave

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world, and concerns about psychological, social, and economic consequences are growing rapidly. Individuals’ empathy-based reactions towards others may be an important resilience factor in the face of COVID-19. Self-report data from 15,375 participants across 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study examined different facets of empathy—Perspective-Taking, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress, and their association with cross-cultural ratings on Individualism, Power Distance, The Human Development Index, Social Support Ranking, and the Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index, as well as the currently confirmed number of cases of COVID-19 at the time of data collection. The highest ratings on Perspective-Taking were obtained for USA, Brazil, Italy, Croatia, and Armenia (from maximum to minimum);on Empathetic Concern, for the USA, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, and Indonesia;and on Personal Distress, from Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Armenia, Indonesia. Results also present associations between demographic factors and empathy across countries. Limitations and future directions are presented.

Predictors of Anxiety in the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Global Perspective: Data from 23 Countries

Prior and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have resulted in substantial changes to everyday life. The pandemic and measures of its control affect mental health negatively. Self-reported data from 15,375 participants from 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questionnaires measuring anxiety level were used in this study—the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The associations between a set of social indicators on anxiety during COVID-19 (e.g., sex, age, country, live alone) were tested as well. Self-reported anxiety during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic varied across countries, with the maximum levels reported for Brazil, Canada, Italy, Iraq and the USA. Sex differences of anxiety levels during COVID-19 were also examined, and results showed women reported higher levels of anxiety compared to men. Overall, our results demonstrated that the self-reported symptoms of anxiety were higher compared to those reported in general before pandemic. We conclude that such cultural dimensions as individualism/collectivism, power distance and looseness/tightness may function as protective adaptive mechanisms against the development of anxiety disorders in a pandemic situation.