Screening plans for SARS-CoV-2 based on sampling and rotation: An example in a European school setting

Screening plans for prevention and containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection should take into account the epidemic context, the fact that undetected infected individuals may transmit the disease and that the infection spreads through outbreaks, creating clusters in the population. In this paper, we compare through simulations the performance of six screening plans based on poorly sensitive individual tests, in detecting infection outbreaks at the level of single classes in a typical European school context. The performance evaluation is done by simulating different epidemic dynamics within the class during the four weeks following the day of the initial infection. The plans have different costs in terms of number of individual tests required for the screening and are based on recurrent evaluations on all students or subgroups of students in rotation. Especially in scenarios where the rate of contagion is high, at an equal cost, testing half of the class in rotation every week appears to be better in terms of sensitivity than testing all students every two weeks. Similarly, testing one-fourth of the students every week is comparable with testing all students every two weeks, despite the first one is a much cheaper strategy. In conclusion, we show that in the presence of natural clusters in the population, testing subgroups of individuals belonging to the same cluster in rotation may have a better performance than testing all the individuals less frequently. The proposed simulations approach can be extended to evaluate more complex screening plans than those presented in the paper.

The origins of electrical engineering studies in the Ukraine and their shaping under the influence of the European scientific school (the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries)

The deployment of electrical engineering research in the second half of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th c. is shown. The great attention is focused on the economic circumstances of the development of theoretical electrical engineering. Emphasis is placed on the leading role of Lviv Polytechnic. The names of professors who were at the origins of electrical engineering education in Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa are given. It is claimed that the European School of Electrical Engineering directly influenced the development of relevant research in Ukraine.

Educational contribution of the College of the European School of Oncology to the Latin American Oncologists

The European School of Oncology (ESO) offers a wide range of educational activities in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. International experts are invited to provide proper education in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer according to a holistic model of care. This activity is currently structured in the ESO College (ESCO) through masterclasses in clinical oncology, international conferences, clinical training centers fellowship programs, certificate of competence and advanced studies, patients' advocacy events, e-learning sessions and medical students' courses in oncology. This institutional profile highlights the ESO–ESCO educational activities dedicated to Latin American oncologists and reports on the experience of the 869 participants that have attended these programs.

The pedagogical concept «Jena-plan» of P. Petersen

At present, the educational concept «Jena-plan» of a German scholar Peter Petersen (1884-1952) has become widespread in the educational systems of some European countries. It is a technology that aims to change the approach to the organization of education and upbringing of children radically. Two tasks are solved in the issue: to reveal the less known biographical data of P. Petersen, and to characterize the most important features of the pedagogical concept put forward by him. The purpose of the study is to determine its significance in the history of European education. The following methods were used: biographical and retrospective analysis, direct observation in some schools in Germany and the Chech Republic, that use «Jena-Plan» in their practice, as well as an axiological approach. Main results. The concept «Jena-plan» has become quite widespread due to its didactic effectiveness, humanistic orientation and compliance with the age and individual characteristics of children. The technology of using the concept of Peter Petersen on the example of one of the schools in Germany is revealed in the issue. The method of applying the concept in practice, – on the example of «trunk group» and «trunk table» («Stammgruppe» and «Stammtisch» in German), – is shown. The main conclusion of the research is that «Jena-plan» has the prospect of further development in the modern European school. This statement is confirmed by the regular holding of conferences of the movement of adherents of the «Jena Plan», a significant number of schools that fully or partially use the provisions of this concept. Some positive features of this concept can also be used in domestic education.