scholarly journals Robot-Enhanced Language Learning for Children in Norwegian Day-Care Centers

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Till Halbach ◽  
Trenton Schulz ◽  
Wolfgang Leister ◽  
Ivar Solheim

In a case study, we transformed the existing learning program Language Shower, which is used in some Norwegian day-care centers in the Grorud district of Oslo municipality, into a digital solution using an app for smartphones or tablets with the option for further enhancement of the presentation by a NAO robot. The solution was tested in several iterations and multiple day-care centers over several weeks. Measurements of the children’s progress across learning sessions indicated a positive impact of the program using a robot as compared to the program without a robot. In situ observations and interviews with day-care center staff confirmed the solution’s many advantages, but also revealed some important areas for improvement. In particular, the speech recognition needs to be more flexible and robust, and special measures have to be in place to handle children speaking simultaneously.

Author(s):  
Till Halbach ◽  
Trenton Schulz ◽  
Wolfgang Leister ◽  
Ivar Solheim

We transformed the existing learning program Language Shower, which is used in some Norwegian day-care centers in the Grorud district of Oslo municipality, into a digital solution using an app for smartphone or tablet with the option for further enhancement of presentation by a NAO robot. The solution was tested in several iterations and multiple day-care centers over several weeks. Measurements of the children’s progress across learning sessions indicate a positive impact of the program using a robot as compared to the program without robot. In-situ observations and interviews with day care center staff confirmed the solution’s many advantages, but also revealed some important areas for improvement. In particular, the speech recognition needs to be more flexible and robust, and special measures have to be in place to handle children speaking simultaneously.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 662-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne E. Landis ◽  
Jo Anne L. Earp ◽  
Michael Sharp

Day-care center staff are often faced with the decision of whether to send sick children home. Some pediatricians may question the criteria used by day-care centers to exclude children who have mild infectious illnesses. To determine whether there is a consensus on illness policy, we asked day-care center staff, mothers, and pediatricians which sick children in day care should be excluded. Randomly selected day-care center staff, mothers, and pediatricians in three North Carolina counties completed self-administered questionnaires. We asked how combinations of temperature and symptoms that occur with common childhood infections should affect the staff's decisions to "call the parent for immediate pickup." Response rates were 302 of 347 staff (87%), 134 of 200 mothers (67%), and 69 of 80 pediatricians (86%). A temperature of 37.2° to 37.7°C (99° to 99.9°F) was considered a fever by 35% of staff, 24% of mothers, and 6% of pediatricians (P < .01). At every level of elevated temperature from 37.2° to 38.9°C (99° to 102°F), day-care center staff were more likely to request immediate pickup than mothers or pediatricians (P < .01). For each of eight symptoms and for all three groups of respondents, the addition of a temperature of 37.8°(100°F) increased the proportion of children sent home (P < .01). Day-care center staff, mothers, and pediatricians differ in their reported exclusionary practices for ill day-care children. Public health practitioners should continue to educate all groups in terms of the epidemiology of common infections in day-care centers; communities should consider designing alternative child-care arrangements for mildlyillchildren.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 977-985
Author(s):  
Cesar G. Victora ◽  
Sandra C. Fuchs ◽  
José Antonio C. Flores ◽  
Walter Fonseca ◽  
Betty Kirkwood

Objective. To investigate risk factors for pneumonia for infants <2 years of age. Design. Hospital-based, case-control study with neighborhood control subjects. Setting. Urban area in southern Brazil. Subjects. Five hundred ten infants with radiologically confirmed pneumonia who were admitted to a pediatric hospital. One age-matched neighborhood control subject was selected for each case. Results. Multiple conditional regression modeling was used to control for confounding, taking into account the hierarchical relationships between risk factors. The incidence of radiologically confirmed pneumonia was associated with low paternal education, the number of persons in the household, young maternal age, attendance at day-care centers, low birth weight and weight-for-age, lack of breast-feeding and of non-milk supplements, and a history of previous pneumonia or wheezing. Day-care center attendance showed the highest risk, with an adjusted odds ratio of 11.75. Conclusions. In addition to continued efforts toward appropriate case management, actions directed against the above risk factors may help prevent the major cause of deaths of children younger than 5 years.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-300
Author(s):  
Jay A. Jacobson ◽  
Gregory A. Filice ◽  
J. Ted Holloway

Household contacts exposed to patients with meningococcal disease are at demonstrably higher risk of that disease than the general population.1,2 Less intimate and less prolonged contact such as that involving hospital personnel3 or school classmates4 is not clearly associated with increased risk. This may well be due to the fact that older children and adults commonly have protective antibodies.5 Preschoolers, on the other hand, are more often susceptible as shown by their higher age-specific primary6 and secondary7 attack rates. When a child who attends a day-care center nursery develops meningococcal disease the presumed exposure of numerous susceptibles is a theoretically dangerous situation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Liat Ayalon ◽  
Ella Cohn-Schwartz

Objectives: The present study evaluated the reciprocal temporal associations between one’s subjective age (or felt age) and one’s social relations in the adult day care center (ADCC) over two waves of data collection, spread about 1 year apart. Method: Participants from four ADCCs in Israel were approached in 2017 and repeatedly, in 2018 ( N = 224 in Wave 1 and N = 259 in Wave 2). The ADCC social network included both outgoing ties of familiar relationships with other ADCC members as reported by the respondent (out-degree centrality) and ingoing ties, based on reports of other ADCC members who were familiar with the respondent (in-degree centrality). Results: Out-degree and in-degree centrality at baseline were not associated with change in subjective age. Subjective age at the first time point was not associated with change in out-degree centrality, but it was negatively associated with change in in-degree centrality. Even after controlling for sociodemographic and health variables, adults who felt younger were subsequently cited by more ADCC members. Conclusions: The findings stress the importance of subjective age to one’s relationship in the ADCC. It is suggested that a younger subjective age is a desired quality in the ADCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Schienkiewitz ◽  
Susanne Jordan ◽  
Anselm Hornbächer ◽  
Hanna Perlitz ◽  
Marie-Luise Zeisler ◽  
...  

Introduction: Until today, the role of children in the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 and the development of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be dynamic and is not finally resolved. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in child day care centers and connected households as well as transmission-related indicators and clinical symptoms among children and adults.Methods and Analysis: COALA (“Corona outbreak-related examinations in day care centers”) is a day care center- and household-based study with a case-ascertained study design. Based on day care centers with at least one reported case of SARS-CoV-2, we include one- to six-year-old children and staff of the affected group in the day care center as well as their respective households. We visit each child's and adult's household. During the home visit we take from each household member a combined mouth and nose swab as well as a saliva sample for analysis of SARS-CoV-2-RNA by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) and a capillary blood sample for a retrospective assessment of an earlier SARS-CoV-2 infection. Furthermore, information on health status, socio-demographics and COVID-19 protective measures are collected via a short telephone interview in the subsequent days. In the following 12 days, household members (or parents for their children) self-collect the same respiratory samples as described above every 3 days and a stool sample for children once. COVID-19 symptoms are documented daily in a symptom diary. Approximately 35 days after testing the index case, every participant who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the study is re-visited at home for another capillary blood sample and a standardized interview. The analysis includes secondary attack rates, by age of primary case, both in the day care center and in households, as well as viral shedding dynamics, including the beginning of shedding relative to symptom onset and viral clearance.Discussion: The results contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiological and virological transmission-related indicators of SARS-CoV-2 among young children, as compared to adults and the interplay between day care and households.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 1150-1151
Author(s):  
RICHARD D. KRUGMAN

In his 1977 C. Anderson Aldrich Award address, Henry Kempe highlighted child sexual abuse as "another hidden problem." It is no longer hidden. Public and professional awareness of the issue is rapidly increasing (reported cases have increased more than 600% in the last 7 years). The disclosure of multiple child victims in day care centers in California, Nevada, New York, and elsewhere has led to demands that "something be done." Legislators have responded by passing packages of laws that increase penalties for perpetrators, mandate long sentences for repeat offenders, and/ or require fingerprinting and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) background checks on day care center employees.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 87 (6) ◽  
pp. 876-883
Author(s):  
Ardythe L. Morrow ◽  
Melanie Benton ◽  
Randall R. Reves ◽  
Larry K. Pickering

It was hypothesized that parents and child care providers are not prepared to accept children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), who are increasing in number, into the day care center setting. To determine their knowledge and attitudes toward HIV transmission, 219 parents in 4 day care centers and 176 care providers in 12 day care centers were given confidential questionnaires. More than 98% of respondents knew that sex and needle sharing can transmit HIV; 84% of parents and 77% of care providers knew that contact with blood can transmit HIV. There was, however, uncertainty about transmission via many common contacts in day care centers: human bites, urine, stool, tears, and vomit; kissing; sharing of food and eating utensils; and diaper changing areas. Only 43% of parents said they would allow their child to stay in the same room with a child who was infected with HIV. In a multiple logistic regression model, the unwillingness of parents to have their child stay in the same room with a child who was infected with HIV was significantly (P < .0001) associated with black ethnicity, beliefs that such a child is likely to infect others (40%) and is dangerous to others (58%), and fear of their child being exposed to HIV (86%). Care providers' unwillingness to care for a child infected with HIV in the classroom (48%) was significantly (P < .0001) associated with beliefs that such a child is likely to infect others (44%) and that common day care center contacts can transmit HIV (62%). Most parents and care providers wanted to be informed if a child infected with HIV was in the classroom. A serious effort will be needed to educate parents and care providers if children who have been infected with HIV are to be accepted into the day care center setting routinely.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-302
Author(s):  

A review of the data from a trial sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control to evaluate the effectiveness of rifampin for the prevention of secondary cases of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b disease and the recognition of failure of rifampin prophylaxis in some day care centers and families prompted the changed recommendations listed below. An increased risk of invasive H influenzae type b disease in household contacts, particularly in those less than 49 months of age had been demonstrated. Although nursery school and day care center contacts may also be at increased risk of secondary disease, the magnitude of this is uncertain at this time. Preliminary data from ongoing studies suggest that the risk of secondary disease among nursery school contacts may vary widely between centers. Asymptomatic colonization with H influenzae type b is frequent in household contacts of all ages. Rifampin, 20 mg/kg (600 mg maximum dose) given once daily for four days, eradicates H influenzae type b in approximately 95% of carriers. In the trial conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, household and day care center contacts were randomized to receive rifampin prophylaxis or placebo. There was a significant diminution in secondary cases among rifampin recipients if the treated household and day care centers were combined. Four secondary cases occurred among the 800 placebo-treated contacts in contrast to no cases among the 1,166 rifampin-treated contacts (P = .03). Analysis of attack rates among children less than 48 months of age showed a trend toward efficacy in household contacts (3/131 placebo recipients V 0/162 rifampin recipients, P = .08).


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