Online foreign language education during the COVID-19 pandemic – teachers’ perspective

The pandemic that started in 2020 significantly influenced the situations of students and teachers, who stopped attending regular schools, with all classes happening online. Distant education itself transformed a lot, and the activities performed by teachers in autumn were definitely more advanced than those from the beginnings in spring. Teachers developed their ICT skills, and generally feel more comfortable teaching online. They notice some advantages of more systematic application of ICT and the distant form of education, however there are some drawbacks of it that cannot be easily overcome.

Back to the roots: the concepts of force and energy

The concepts of force and energy are analyzed in the context of state and process equations. In chronological order, the application of the cause-effect principle in process equations is studied in mechanics, thermodynamics, special relativity, general relativity, and quantum theory. The differences in the fundamental approaches to nature and the significance of a consistent physical interpretation of formulas and state variables are emphasized. It is shown that the first origins for the crisis of modern theoretical physics are to be found in the concepts of force and energy in mechanics, which partly violate the cause-effect principle. This affects all theories based on mechanics and underlines their historical conditionality. The systematic application of driving forces and the cause-effect principle in process equations suggests a return to causal realistic physics. It meets the wave character of matter, is compatible with the experiment, and allows a unified description of interaction.

Set-Based Concurrent Engineering Process Model and Systematic Application on an Electronic Card Reader

Set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE), also known as set-based design, is a state-of-the-art approach to the new product development process. SBCE, simply, provides an environment where designers explore a wide range of alternative solutions in the early stages of product development. After gaining knowledge, solutions are narrowed down until the optimal solution is ensured. Such an environment saves considerable amount of cost and time while reaching innovation and high quality in the products. However, industrial practitioners seek a clear and systematic application throughout an SBCE process. This paper demonstrates a well-structured SBCE process model and its step-by-step application on a product called “electronic card reader”. Real data is used in the industrial case study. Results showed the benefits of applying SBCE in both the product, and the process of new product development.

642. Facility Reported vs. CLSI MIC Breakpoint Comparison of Carbapenem Non-susceptible (Carb-NS) Enterobacteriaceae (ENT) from 2016-2019: A Multicenter Evaluation

Background Carbapenem (Carb) minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) breakpoints were lowered by CLSI in 2010 and recognized by FDA in 2012. Adoption of revised breakpoints is often slow, which may lead to under-reporting of Carb non-susceptibility (NS) by facilities. We compare facility-reported rates of Carb-NS ENT to the CLSI MIC breakpoints for a large nationwide collection of isolates in the United States (US) from 2016-2019. Methods All adults with a positive non-contaminant ENT culture (first isolate of a species per 30-day period from blood, respiratory, urine, skin/wound, intra-abdominal, or other) in ambulatory/inpatient settings from up to 300 US hospitals from 2016-2019 were evaluated (BD Insights Research Database). Facility-reported Carb-NS was defined as: susceptible (S), intermediate (I) or R to ertapenem (ETP), imipenem (IPM), meropenem (MEM) and/or doripenem (DOR) per commercial panels. Where available, MICs were interpreted using CLSI 2010 MIC breakpoints (µg/ml): ≤ 0.5 (S), 1 (I), ≥ 2 (R) for ETP and ≤1 (S), 2 (I), and ≥ 4 (R) for IPM/MEM/DOR. For evaluable ENT isolates we compared susceptibility results as reported by the facility to CLSI MIC breakpoints. Results Overall, 77.4% (937,926/1,211,845) and 90.6% (2,157,785/2,381,824) non-duplicate ENT isolates with facility-reported susceptibility results also had interpretable MIC results for ETP and IPM/MEM/DOR, respectively (Tables). ETP S rates were 99.3% and 99.1% as reported by facilities and using CLSI criteria, respectively. S rates of other Carbs were 98.9% and 98.4% by facility reporting and CLSI criteria, respectively. Systematic application of CLSI breakpoints under-reported EPT-I and –R isolates by 24.2% and 16.4%, respectively, and identification of IPM/MEM/DOR-I and –R isolates by 31.3% and 22.7%, respectively. Conclusion Systematic application of CLSI breakpoints in 2016-19 would have had minimal impact on ENT S rates in the US. However, facility reporting failed to identify 18.8% of ETP I or R and 26.5% of IPM/MEM/DOR I or R isolates. The clinical implications of this observation are unknown. Facilities should know their local epidemiology, decide if under-reporting might be an issue, and assess if there is any impact on their patients. Disclosures Vikas Gupta, PharmD, BCPS, Becton, Dickinson and Company (Employee, Shareholder) Kalvin Yu, MD, BD (Employee) Jason M Pogue, PharmD, BCPS, BCIDP, Merck (Consultant)QPex (Consultant)Shionogi (Consultant)Utility Therapeutics (Consultant)VenatoRX (Consultant) Janet Weeks, PhD, Becton, Dickinson and Company (Employee) Cornelius J. Clancy, MD, Merck (Grant/Research Support)

Systematic Application of Pressure and Temperature Transient Analysis in an Oil Field: A Case Study

Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA) methodology has long enabled well testing to become a standard routine. Modern, well and reservoir monitoring and management practices are now unthinkable without the well test-derived estimates of KH products, skin factors, radii of reservoir boundaries, etc. Temperature data, measured together with the pressure, is widely available. Multiple methods for Temperature Transient Analysis (TTA) have also been developed, but have not yet gained due recognition. Few examples of a systematic application of PTA and TTA (or, in general, Pressure and Temperature Transient Analysis PTTA) on a field scale have been published. Given that the TTA radius of investigation is much smaller than that for PTA, the TTA tends to explore the near-wellbore properties including the near-wellbore permeability profile, depth of damage, multi-layer parameters, fluid properties, etc. This complements the far-field estimates made by PTA, resulting in the PTTA providing a more holistic and complete picture of the state of the reservoir and fluids around the wellbore. This work demonstrates a case study of a systematic application of PTTA methods to wells in a green, oil field. The wells are equipped with a state-of-the-art, downhole, permanent monitoring equipment. A user-friendly, bespoke toolbox has been developed to carry out PTTA analysis in this field. Dozens of transient events that occurred in the first few years of the field production life have been analyzed using PTTA. There are multiple examples of this PTTA analysis demonstrating improved characterization of the reservoir, near-wellbore, fluid, and multi-layer properties. This work will be insightful to those looking to find out what additional, useful information (like reservoir and fluid properties) can be extracted from the traditional well-test, transient pressure and temperature measurements at no extra cost.

COVID-19: Exposing the need for emergency management to invest in systems thinking

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed numerous challenges in the emergency management (EM) response system. The article contends that had EM deliberately and systematically engaged in systems thinking; it would have been better able to anticipate and respond to many of the challenges. Reasons for EM not fully embracing systems thinking are discussed, including the perception that it is complex and theoretical. This article attempts to dispel these beliefs by first demonstrating how many systems-thinking concepts are already embedded in the EM ethos and then by illustrating the application of system principles in the context of the COVID-19 response. This article concludes by recommending EM invest in training to encourage the systematic application of system principles in emergency preparedness and response.

Virtuous Engineers

Modern approaches to engineering ethics typically involve the systematic application of universal abstract principles, reflecting the culturally dominant paradigm of technical rationality. By contrast, virtue ethics recognizes that sensitivity to context and practical judgment are indispensable in particular concrete situations, and therefore focuses on the person who acts, rather than the action itself. Moral and intellectual virtues are identified within a specific social practice in accordance with its proper purpose, its societal role and associated responsibilities, and the internal goods that are unique to it. As a result, ethics is recognized as something integral to engineering, rather than supplemental to it. This is necessary and appropriate, since engineers are often the decision-makers in contexts where the potential beneficiaries and harm-bearers are not the same, such that even their routine technical choices have ethical ramifications.

ZINC IN THE "SOIL-PLANT" SYSTEM IN CASE OF LONG-TERM APPLICATION OF MINERAL FERTILIZERS IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE SOUTHERN FOREST STEPPE OF THE OMSK REGION

A long-term stationary experiment was carried out on meadow-black soil in the southern forest-steppe of the Omsk region of Western Siberia, it was found that systematic application of mineral fertilizers (during six rotations of a five-field grain-fallow crop rotation) did not lead to accumulation of zinc above the APC in accordance with the Hygienic Standards GN 2.1.7.2511- 09. It has been proven that the amount of total zinc (5M HNO3 extraction) over the years of the research decreased in comparison with the initial value by 15% in a natural background and by 25% in a fertilized background due to its greater removal by plants and migration down the soil profile. Systematic application of mineral fertilizers on average over three years (2017-2019) increased the annual zinc removal by wheat plants by 16%. The content of zinc mobile form in the soil (AAB extraction, pH = 4.8) is estimated as average (2.1-2.2 mg / kg). The dependence of zinc mobile forms on acid-soluble forms was revealed, which is described by the equation y = 0.072x-0.643. The zinc content in spring wheat plants, depending on the fertilization, varied from 5.8 to 7.6 in straw and from 30.8 to 34.3 mg / kg in grain. The biological absorption coefficient was 13.1-12.8; the coefficient of biological accumulation was 14.9 -15.9, which indicates that zinc is intensively involved in the biochemical cycle of the agrocenosis during spring wheat cultivation, and its deficiency becomes a factor which limits the crop yield.