Envisioning social drones in education.

Education is one of the major application fields in social Human-Robot Interaction. Several forms of social robots have been explored to engage and assist students in the classroom environment, from full-bodied humanoid robots to tabletop robot companions, but flying robots have been left unexplored in this context. In this paper, we present seven online remote workshops conducted with 20 participants to investigate the application area of Education in the Human-Drone Interaction domain; particularly focusing on what roles a social drone could fulfill in a classroom, how it would interact with students, teachers and its environment, what it could look like, and what would specifically differ from other types of social robots used in education. In the workshops we used online collaboration tools, supported by a sketch artist, to help envision a social drone in a classroom. The results revealed several design implications for the roles and capabilities of a social drone, in addition to promising research directions for the development and design in the novel area of drones in education.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies in Kashmir, India, 7 months after the first reported local COVID-19 case: results of a population-based seroprevalence survey from October to November 2020.

OBJECTIVES: We designed a population-based survey in Kashmir to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies in the general population aged 18 years and above. SETTING: The survey was conducted among 110 villages and urban wards across 10 districts in Kashmir from 17 October 2020 to 4 November 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 18 years and above were eligible to be included in the survey. Serum samples were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies using the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: We labelled assay results equal to or above the cut-off index value of 1.4 as positive for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies. Seroprevalence estimates were adjusted for the sampling design and assay characteristics. RESULTS: Out of 6397 eligible individuals enumerated, 6315 (98.7%) agreed to participate. The final analysis was done on 6230 participants. Seroprevalence adjusted for the sampling design and assay characteristics was 36.7% (95% CI 34.3% to 39.2%). Seroprevalence was higher among the older population. Among seropositive individuals, 10.2% (247/2415) reported a history of COVID-19-like symptoms. Out of 474 symptomatic individuals, 233 (49.2%) reported having been tested. We estimated an infection fatality rate of 0.034%. CONCLUSIONS: During the first 7 months of the COVID-19 epidemic in Kashmir Valley, approximately 37% of individuals were infected. The reported number of COVID-19 cases was only a small fraction of the estimated number of infections. A more efficient surveillance system with strengthened reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths is warranted.

Engagement in Human-Agent Interaction: An Overview.

Engagement is a concept of the utmost importance in human-computer interaction, not only for informing the design and implementation of interfaces, but also for enabling more sophisticated interfaces capable of adapting to users. While the notion of engagement is actively being studied in a diverse set of domains, the term has been used to refer to a number of related, but different concepts. In fact it has been referred to across different disciplines under different names and with different connotations in mind. Therefore, it can be quite difficult to understand what the meaning of engagement is and how one study relates to another one accordingly. Engagement has been studied not only in human-human, but also in human-agent interactions i.e., interactions with physical robots and embodied virtual agents. In this overview article we focus on different factors involved in engagement studies, distinguishing especially between those studies that address task and social engagement, involve children and adults, are conducted in a lab or aimed for long term interaction. We also present models for detecting engagement and for generating multimodal behaviors to show engagement.

Surgical management of epithelial parotid tumours.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinicopathological presentation and treatment options in epithelial parotid tumours with emphasis on surgery. DESIGN: Descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: ENT Departments of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad and Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi and Surgical Units at Rawalpindi General Hospital and DHQ Teaching Hospital, Rawalpindi, during a ten year period 1993-2003. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Epithelial parotid tumours diagnosed and operated by an ENT surgeon and a general surgeon in 10 years during their posting in different teaching hospitals were included in the study. Clinical presentation, preoperative investigations, operative procedure, histopathology report, postoperative complications and further management were recorded. The data was collected and reviewed from the records of all the patients maintained by the authors. RESULTS: Fifty-two patients presented with parotid tumour. Average age was 38 years. Commonest presentation was a painless lump over the parotid region (85%), pain (15%), facial palsy, and enlarged neck nodes. Majority of tumours were benign, only two were recurrent. Parotid pleomorphic Adenoma (PPA) was the commonest benign tumour, others being Warthin's tumour and monomorphic adenoma. Adenoid cystic carcinoma was the commonest malignant tumour 29% followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Others were carcinoma in PPA, squamous cell carcinoma, malignant mixed tumour, malignant lymphoepithelioma and undifferentiated carcinoma. Superficial parotidectomy (SP) was the commonest operation performed in 69%. Other procedures were total conservative parotidectomy in 11%, total radical surgery in 9% and enucleation in only one patient earliest in the series. Neck node dissection was done in 2 patients. Except for one child, rest of the 13 patients received postoperative radiotherapy and one patient of lymphoepithelioma received chemotherapy in addition. Commonest postoperative complication was temporary facial weakness in 35% (18/52). Permanent facial palsy occurred in 08 patients. Of these 07 had a malignant process and only one patient had excision biopsy. CONCLUSION: Benign and malignant epithelial parotid tumours can be diagnosed by their clinical presentation supplemented with FNAC. Superficial parotidectomy (SP) was the operation of choice. Facial nerve can be saved in total conservative parotidectomy for benign tumour in deep lobe and early malignant tumour. Radical parotidectomy followed by radiotherapy and in selected cases neck node dissection are the recommended procedures for advanced malignant parotid tumours.