Optimizing Highly Infectious Disease Isolation Unit Management. Experiences from the Infectious Diseases Isolation and Research Unit, Fort Portal, Uganda

Infectious disease outbreaks are the scale of the current COVID-19 pandemic are a new phenomenon in many parts of the world. Many isolation unit designs with corresponding workflow dynamics and personal protective equipment postures have been proposed for each emerging disease at the health facility level, depending on the mode of transmission. However, personnel and resource management at the isolation units for a resilient response will vary by human resource capacity, reporting requirements, and practice setting. This paper describes an approach to Isolation unit management at a rural Uganda Hospital and shares lessons from the Uganda experience for isolation unit managers in low- and middle-income settings.

The role of concurrent engineering in resilient critical infrastructures during disasters

The world has complex mega-cities and interdependent infrastructures. This complication in infrastructure relations makes it sensitive to disasters and failures. Cascading failure causes blackouts for the whole system of infrastructures during disasters and the lack of performance of the emergency management stakeholders is clear during a disaster due to the complexity of the system. This research aimed to develop a new concurrent engineering model following the total recovery effort. The objectives of this research were to identify the clustered intervention utilized in the field of resilience and developing a cross-functional intervention network to enhance the resilience of societies during a disaster. Content analysis was employed to classify and categorize the intervention in the main divisions and sub-divisions and the grouping of stakeholders. The transposing system was employed to develop an integrated model. The result of this research showed that the operations division achieved the highest weight of information interchange during the response to improve the resilience of the system. The committee of logistics and the committee of rescue and relief needed the widest bandwidth of information flow in the concurrent engineering (CE) model. The contributed CE model helped the stakeholders provide a resilient response system. The final model and the relative share value of exchanging information for each workgroup can speed up recovery actions. This research found that concurrent engineering (CE) is a viable concept to be implemented as a strategy for emergency management. The result of this research can help policymakers achieve a collaborative teamwork environment and to improve resilience factors during emergency circumstances for critical infrastructures.

Resilient Response of Cement-Treated Coarse Post-Glacial Soil to Cyclic Load

Stabilisation with cement is an effective way to increase the stiffness of base and subbase layers and to improve the rutting of subgrade. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of different percentages of cement additives (1.5%, 3.0%, 4.5% and 6.0%) on the resilient modulus of coarse-grained soil used on road foundations. The influence of the compaction method, the standard Proctor and the modified Proctor, as well as the sample curing time is analysed. The cement addition significantly increases the resilient modulus and reduces the resilient axial strain. Extending the curing time from 7 to 28 days also improves the resilient modulus. The change in the compaction energy from standard to modified does not increase the resilient modulus of the stabilised gravelly sand due to its compaction characteristics. The test results of the resilient modulus of the gravelly sand stabilised with cement indicate the possibility of using it as a material for the road base and subbase due to meeting the AASHTO requirements. However, the non-stabilised gravelly sand does not meet the above requirements. It has been sheared during cyclic tests at the first load sequence, regardless of the compaction method.

Análisis del conductismo, cognitivismo, constructivismo y su interrelación con el conectivismo en la educación postpandemia

No son pocos quienes consideran que después de la pandemia por covid-19 el mundo debe enfrentarse a una nueva forma de cotidianidad, donde se evidenció que existen áreas que son indispensables para la subsistencia de la especie, mientras que otras pueden permitirse la transformación de sus espacios productivos para adaptarse a los requerimientos, quedando manifestó que el engranaje productivo-social puede regularse sin la excesiva burocratización de los procesos. Por otro lado, la educación también pudo desarrollarse dentro de las fronteras del hogar, sin la necesidad de acudir a los espacios educativos y esto solo fue posible por el desarrollo de las tecnologías de comunicación apropiadas. La adaptación rápida de las medidas educativas en ningún caso supone “innovación”, simplemente fueron la respuesta resiliente propia de las personas, por lo tanto, debemos interiorizar si los resultados que se lograron durante el desarrollo de la virtualidad permitieron el correcto aprendizaje de los estudiantes dentro de sus hogares. Dentro de este último aspecto, se asume que existirán muchas investigaciones que abordarán dicho análisis, por lo cual, la presente investigación tiene como propósito establecer las diferencias y similitudes entre varias teorías de enseñanza-aprendizaje, tales como el conductismo, el cognitivismo y el constructivismo, para posteriormente determinar una simbiosis teórica que podrían desarrollar estas teorías de enseñanza-aprendizaje dentro de la estructura de la educativa postpandemia. A criterio de los autores se seleccionaron estas tres teorías, ya que se consideran que son las que actualmente se desarrollan dentro de los diferentes escenarios pedagógicos. Para esto, se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de diferentes fuentes especializadas, para conocer los fundamentos conceptuales sobre los cuales se desarrollan las teorías antes mencionadas. Posteriormente, se realizaron esquemas que permitieron la priorización de los ejes. Entre las principales características se encuentra que el conductismo estudia de forma objetiva la conducta que desarrollan las personas, por su parte, el cognitivismo concibe que los aprendizajes y conocimientos se originan desde la experiencia que cada uno desarrolla con el entorno, mientras que el constructivismo intenta explicar la naturaleza de los conocimientos humanos. Finalmente se trata de examinar al conectivismo como una teoría emergente, sin embargo, se denota que la misma carece de los fundamentos apropiados para ser considerada como un nuevo paradigma educativo. Se concluye que la neoeducación debe poseer componentes moldeables, que permitan cambios en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje a la misma velocidad que lo realiza la tecnología o la sociedad. There are few who consider that after the COVID-19 pandemic the world must face a new form of daily life, where it was evidenced that there are areas that are essential for the subsistence of the species, while others can afford the transformation of their productive spaces to adapt to the requirements, being stated that the productive-social gear can be regulated without excessive bureaucratization of the processes. On the other hand, education could also be developed within the borders of the home, without the need to go to educational spaces and this was only possible due to the development of appropriate communication technologies. The rapid adaptation of educational measures in no case implies "innovation", they were simply the resilient response of the people, therefore, we must internalize if the results that were achieved during the development of virtuality allowed the correct learning of the students within their homes. Within this last aspect, it is assumed that there will be many investigations that will address this analysis, therefore, the present investigation aims to establish the differences and similarities between various teaching-learning theories, such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, to later determine a theoretical symbiosis that these teaching-learning theories could develop within the post-pandemic educational structure. At the discretion of the authors, these three theories were selected, since they are the ones currently being developed within the different pedagogical settings. For this, a bibliographic review of different specialized sources was carried out, to know the conceptual foundations on which the theories are developed. Subsequently, schemes were made that allowed the prioritization of the axes. Among the main characteristics is that behaviorism objectively studies the behavior that people develop, for its part, cognitivism conceives that learning and knowledge originate from the experience that each one develops with the environment, while constructivism tries to explain the nature of human knowledge. Finally, it is about examining connectivism as an emerging theory, however, it is noted that it lacks the appropriate foundations to be considered as a new educational paradigm. It is concluded that neo-education must have moldable components that allow changes in the teaching-learning process at the same speed as technology or society does.

Supramolecular Self-Healing Sensor Fiber Composites for Damage Detection in Piezoresistive Electronic Skin for Soft Robots

Self-healing materials can prolong the lifetime of structures and products by enabling the repairing of damage. However, detecting the damage and the progress of the healing process remains an important issue. In this study, self-healing, piezoresistive strain sensor fibers (ShSFs) are used for detecting strain deformation and damage in a self-healing elastomeric matrix. The ShSFs were embedded in the self-healing matrix for the development of self-healing sensor fiber composites (ShSFC) with elongation at break values of up to 100%. A quadruple hydrogen-bonded supramolecular elastomer was used as a matrix material. The ShSFCs exhibited a reproducible and monotonic response. The ShSFCs were investigated for use as sensorized electronic skin on 3D-printed soft robotic modules, such as bending actuators. Depending on the bending actuator module, the electronic skin was loaded under either compression (pneumatic-based module) or tension (tendon-based module). In both configurations, the ShSFs could be successfully used as deformation sensors, and in addition, detect the presence of damage based on the sensor signal drift. The sensor under tension showed better recovery of the signal after healing, and smaller signal relaxation. Even with the complete severing of the fiber, the piezoresistive properties returned after the healing, but in that case, thermal heat treatment was required. With their resilient response and self-healing properties, the supramolecular fiber composites can be used for the next generation of soft robotic modules.

COVID-19 and Children’s Well-Being: A Rapid Research Agenda

Purpose Understanding the full impact of COVID-19 on U.S. children, families, and communities is critical to (a) document the scope of the problem, (b) identify solutions to mitigate harm, and (c) build more resilient response systems. We sought to develop a research agenda to understand the short- and long-term mechanisms and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s healthy development, with the goal of devising and ultimately testing interventions to respond to urgent needs and prepare for future pandemics. Description The Life Course Intervention Research Network facilitated a series of virtual meetings that included members of 10 Maternal and Child Health (MCH) research programs, their research and implementation partners, as well as family and community representatives, to develop an MCH COVID-19 Research Agenda. Stakeholders from academia, clinical practice, nonprofit organizations, and family advocates participated in four meetings, with 30–35 participants at each meeting. Assessment Investigating the impacts of COVID-19 on children’s mental health and ways to address them emerged as the highest research priority, followed by studying resilience at individual and community levels; identifying and mitigating the disparate negative effects of the pandemic on children and families of color, prioritizing community-based research partnerships, and strengthening local, state and national measurement systems to monitor children’s well-being during a national crisis. Conclusion Enacting this research agenda will require engaging the community, especially youth, as equal partners in research co-design processes; centering anti-racist perspectives; adopting a “strengths-based” approach; and integrating young researchers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). New collaborative funding models and investments in data infrastructure are also needed.