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Since the emergence of Covid-19 in Indonesia in early 2020, access to public spaces such as malls and museums has been limited. An alternative place to spend leisure time is an open area such as city parks, gardens, and squares (in Javanese, this is called Alun-alun). The proximity between open spaces and public stopping points can encourage commuters to benefit from integrated city planning. This study aims to conduct comparative research related to suburban infrastructure in the cities of Bekasi and Depok. This study uses mixed research methods with SPSS v26.0 and Arcmap v10.5.1 software to see the distribution of open space locations chosen by commuters who live in Depok and Bekasi and work in the JABODETABEK area. The results indicated that the open spaces selected by suburban commuters are still not integrated with public transportation points, especially in Depok City. From the descriptive statistical analysis, the mode choice preference (X4) shows that private vehicles are still the dominant transportation choice for travelling to open spaces. The findings of this study can be considered in urban design policies related to determining the location of open spaces supported by their proximity to public transport points to promote behaviour change for healthier lifestyles. © 2023 Author(s).
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Background: Since 1990, the maternal mortality significantly decreased at global scale as well as the North Africa and Middle East. However, estimates for mortality and morbidity by cause and age at national scale in this region are not available. Method(s): This study is part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study (GBD) 2019. Here we report maternal mortality and morbidity by age and cause across 21 countries in the region from 1990 to 2019. Result(s): Between 1990 and 2019, maternal mortality ratio (MMR) dropped from 148.8 (129.6-171.2) to 94.3 (73.4-121.1) per 100 000 live births in North Africa and Middle East. In 1990, MMR ranged from 6.0 (5.3-6.8) in Kuwait to 502.9 (375.2-655.3) per 100 000 live births in Afghanistan. Respective figures for 2019 were 5.1 (4.0-6.4) in Kuwait to 269.9 (195.8-368.6) in Afghanistan. Percentages of deaths under 25 years was 26.0% in 1990 and 23.8% in 2019. Maternal hemorrhage, indirect maternal deaths, and other maternal disorders rank 1st to 3rd in the entire region. Ultimately, there was an evident decrease in MMR along with increase in socio-demographic index from 1990 to 2019 in all countries in the region and an evident convergence across nations. Conclusion(s): MMR has significantly declined in the region since 1990 and only five countries (Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Morocco, and Algeria) out of 21 nations didn't achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2019. Despite the convergence in trends, there are still disparities across countries.Copyright © 2022 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved.
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In today's world, digital technologies are advancing at a rapid pace. Almost every industry has benefited from this ongoing change. In the health sector, the digitization of medical records was proposed decades ago. Whereas some developed countries have successfully adopted and implemented Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Developing countries like India still heavily rely on paper-based medical records. Although there are a number of systems for electronic medical record management, they have issues related to interoperability, timely access, and storage. Due to poor infrastructure and design, the current systems are not robust for communicating and tracking medical records. The need for a better EHR system was highly emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two major shortcomings of the existing system are a lack of interoperability, which causes delays in sharing the information, and a lack of standardization, due to which the data quality of the data that is shared suffers. To mitigate these issues, we need a nationwide EHR system. Another issue is the lack of a ubiquitous UPI (Unique Patient Identifier). In a country like India, the second most populated country in the world, Aadhar is the best option for UPI, which can be used for creating a national EHR system. In this paper, we have presented a framework for a standardized, interoperable, and unified EHR system based on blockchain technology with Aadhar as the UPI. Using blockchain as the base of this model provides numerous advantages over a cloud-based system, like decentralization, better security, immutability, and traceability. © 2023 IEEE.
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This article reviews the recent trends of Oman's electricity sector before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The impacts of the pandemic on the Main Interconnected System (MIS) of Oman were analyzed using hourly load data. The analysis shows that the MIS demand declined as a result of the decrease in economic activities during the lockdown. In addition, the MIS demand experienced temporal and geographical variations: the former is demonstrated by a shift in peak demand hours, while the latter is represented by a reduction in Muscat's urban areas' load compared with those of other areas. © 2023,Journal of Engineering Research. All Rights Reserved.
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Background Understanding health trends and estimating the burden of disease at the national and subnational levels helps policy makers track progress and identify disparities in overall health performance. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides comprehensive estimates for Pakistan. Comparison of health indicators since 1990 provides valuable insights about Pakistan's ability to strengthen its health-care system, reduce inequalities, improve female and child health outcomes, achieve universal health coverage, and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We present estimates of the burden of disease, injuries, and risk factors for Pakistan provinces and territories from 1990 to 2019 based on GBD 2019 to improve health and health outcomes in the country. Methods We used methods and data inputs from GBD 2019 to estimate socio-demographic index, total fertility rate, cause-specific deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, disability-adjusted life-years, healthy life expectancy, and risk factors for 286 causes of death and 369 causes of non-fatal health loss in Pakistan and its four provinces and three territories from 1990 to 2019. To generate estimates for Pakistan at the national and subnational levels, we used 68 location-years of data to estimate Pakistan-specific demographic indicators, 316 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific causes of death, 579 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific non-fatal outcomes, 296 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific risk factors, and 3089 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific covariates. Findings Life expectancy for both sexes in Pakistan increased nationally from 61 center dot 1 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 60 center dot 0-62 center dot 1) years in 1990 to 65 center dot 9 (63 center dot 8-67 center dot 8) years in 2019;however, these gains were not uniform across the provinces and federal territories. Pakistan saw a narrowing of the difference in healthy life expectancy between the sexes from 1990 to 2019, as health gains for women occurred at faster rates than for men. For women, life expectancy increased by 8 center dot 2% (95% UI 6middot3-13middot8) between 1990 and 2019, whereas the male life expectancy increased by 7 center dot 6% (3 center dot 5-11 center dot 8). Neonatal disorders, followed by ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections were the leading causes of all-age premature mortality in 2019. Child and maternal malnutrition, air pollution, high systolic blood pressure, dietary risks, and tobacco consumption were the leading all-age risk factors for death and disability-adjusted life-years at the national level in 2019. Five non-communicable diseases-ischaemic heart disease, stroke, congenital defects, cirrhosis, and chronic kidney disease-were among the ten leading causes of years of life lost in Pakistan. Burden varied by socio-demographic index. Notably, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the lowest observed gains in life expectancy. Dietary iron deficiency was the leading cause of years lived with disability for both men and women in 1990 and 2019. Low birthweight and short gestation and particulate matter pollution were the leading contributors to overall disease burden in both 1990 and 2019 despite moderate improvements, with a 23 center dot 5% (95% UI 3 center dot 8-39 center dot 2) and 27 center dot 6% (14 center dot 3-38 center dot 6) reduction in age-standardised attributable DALY rates during the study period. Interpretation Our study shows that progress has been made on reducing Pakistan's disease burden since 1990, but geographical, age, and sex disparities persist. Equitable investment in the health system, as well as the prioritisation of high-impact policy interventions and programmes, are needed to save lives and improve health outcomes. Pakistan is facing several domestic and foreign challenges-the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, political turmoil, catastrophic flooding, the COVID-19 pandemic-that will shape the trajectory of the country's health and development. Pakistan must address the burden of infectious disease and curb rising rates of non-communicable diseases. Prioritising these three areas will enhance Pakistan's ability to achieve universal health coverage, meet its Sustainable Development Goals, and improve the overall health outcomes.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world went under strict lockdown, including educational institutions. This led to the quick reshaping of educational systems to provide uninterrupted education to the students. Preferably, both teachers and students switched from physical classrooms to online classrooms. This overnight change brought numerous challenges for a country like India. But the authors of this study see it as an opportunity and aim to explore mobile learning (m-learning) determinants that influence Indian university students' learning needs during the COVID-19. For this, the data were gathered using a web-based questionnaire from 557 students of seven different universities (both public and private) in India. Next, the data were quantitatively analysed using reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results show that out of three first-order m-learning variables, only two (system and service quality items) have a positive impact on students' learning satisfaction in the Indian context. In the end, the implications of the study in the adoption of m-learning at different Indian universities have been discussed. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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With an ever-ageing population the socioeconomic burden of skin disease continues to grow. Undergraduate dermatology training is essential to counter this. With dermatology exposure in medical schools limited by the current global COVID- 19 pandemic, we demonstrate how we can minimize educational disruptions without compromising the holistic approach to dermatology teaching. At our medical school, fourth-year medical students undergo a 1-week clinical dermatology attachment before sitting their fourth-year summative, which includes a dermatology objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). In view of the reduced clinics as a result of the pandemic, we implemented a virtual history-taking project. Volunteer patients with common long-term skin conditions were selected in accordance with medical student curriculum and consented to participate from their own homes. Students were observed taking a focused, timed dermatology OSCE-style history using departmental mobile telephones in loudspeaker mode, to involve their peers. They were then asked to describe an image of the skin condition and to attempt a diagnosis and management plan. They received immediate feedback on their OSCE from both the patient and a dermatology trainee. The session was evaluated via a pre- and postsession student questionnaire using a Likert scale of confidence, as well as anonymous feedback for global qualitative assessment. Preliminary feedback from 35 pre- and postsession questionnaires demonstrated a marked improvement in students' self-reported confidence in taking dermatology histories. Prior to these sessions, no students strongly agreed and 40% agreed to feeling confident in taking a dermatology history. Postsession questionnaires revealed that 37% strongly agreed and 62% agreed to feeling confident with taking a dermatology history. Students reported the opportunity to take histories from real patients useful and 'phone calls worked surprisingly well'. This project allowed the educational process to continue amidst a pandemic. Students were able to appreciate the important aspects of a dermatology history and gained knowledge about therapeutics previously used in these patients, while having a safe, empathetic and sensitive interaction with patients with skin disease.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected a variety of aspects of our everyday life. Most activities like entertainment, healthcare, education and businesses have been reshaped due to the safety guidelines. Proper monitoring in indoor areas is essential to limit the spread of COVID-19. This paper presents a low-cost prototype system that addresses the indoor safety issue by combining a mask detector and temperature measurement system with a smart wearable band which alerts people to maintain social distance in close vicinity. The focus is on ensuring safe distance, wearing a mask, and no entry for people with high temperatures. Firstly, the mask and temperature system has an Arduino NANO that works as the primary device. The Arduino is connected with an ESP32-Cam that sends the image to a client where we have trained and developed a machine learning model using thousands of masked and unmasked pictures. Following, the model uses an image classification algorithm with the tensorflow.js model and gives us the result with an accuracy percentage. Secondly, the temperature is measured with the help of an MLX90614 non-contact sensor. The temperature of a person is also shown on the monitor at of. Finally, a wearable device is presented with a NodeMCU 8266 Wi-Fi module. It uses Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value to detect another similar device and alerts through a vibrator and buzzer if the social distance rules are violated. We evaluated the system in real-life scenarios, and the mask detection system gives an average accuracy of 98.7%. We have presented an in-depth analysis of the Mask Detection System, showing different mask types, the accuracy of the machine learning algorithm, temperature measurements and results. Similarly, the distance measurement system is presented with several factors. © 2022 IEEE.
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This study reviews the literature to gain an in-depth understanding of the pedagogical role of social media in higher education institutions (HEI's) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic search in the Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO databases yielded 34 relevant empirical studies published between January 2020 and April 2021. The findings reveal that: a) the innovative possibilities furnished through social media facilitated the transition to a complete online learning setting, b) the majority of studies are oriented towards the perspectives of students, c) the lack of well-defined policy hinders the effective utilization of social media in the pedagogical process, and d) questionnaires were the mostly used data collection method overlooking the significance of digital tracing as a rich source of data. This article provides a research agenda to advance the knowledge of the pedagogical possibilities of social media, especially that these platforms were not used to their full potential for teaching and learning during the pandemic. This study also has practical implications for HEI's and policymakers to recognize the significance of social media in maintaining educational sustainability. © 2022,International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning. All Rights Reserved.
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Learning activities during the covid pandemic are carried out online. Learning materials are delivered synchronously or asynchronously. Asynchronous techniques allow students to learn independently, and materials can be studied repeatedly. One way that can be used to convey material is through simulation. The students will understand the learning material better using simulation. The simulation made in this paper is a load balancing material simulation. This material is studied by students in computer network studies at both high school and college. Load balancing is a technique for dividing the load on the server. The algorithms discussed in this simulation are round-robin and least connected. In this simulation, the user is invited to interact with the application and see the difference between the two algorithms. The method used to create the application consists of five stages. The stages are problem analysis, application design, development, and testing. This simulation application is made using GameMakerStudio 14.9 and can be installed on Android devices. The application was tested on 20 users with vocational education backgrounds and students. More than 50% of users say this application is easy to use and the material is easy to understand. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences.
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Science process skills and conceptual understanding of pre-service physics teachers were in the low category. This research was conducted to solve this problem by using worksheets based on virtual phenomenon instructions. This research aims to determine the effectiveness of worksheets and improvement of science process skills and understanding of concepts in pre-service physics teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The design of this research is one group pretest-postest with purposive sampling are pre-service physics teachers who take mechanics course in the academic year 2020/2021 (n = 81) consists of 21 males and 60 females. There are 6 conceptual understanding questions for pretest and posttests based on Bloom's Taxonomy (C2, C3, C4). Assessment of science process skills includes indicators of observing, classifying, interpreting, predicting and communicating consist of 5 questions. The data analysis technique uses the effect size and N-Gain score. Based on the result of this research, it was found that the improvement of science process skills and conceptual understanding of pre-service physics teachers reached 0.56 and 0.47 which was categorized as moderate. Effect size for science process skills and conceptual understanding are 3.5 and 1.9 are categorized very high so it can be concluded that the effectiveness of kinematics worksheets-based instruction virtual phenomenon is very significant to improve science process skills and conceptual understanding of pre-service physics teachers. © 2022 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on how adopting technologies impacts employees' job performance and well-being. One such new job demand is the use of technology-based knowledge sharing (TBKS), which has the potential to influence employees' job performance and well-being. Therefore, human resource managers must provide resources that facilitate the adoption of TBKS to improve job performance while minimising mental health effects. Design/methodology/approachGuided by social capital theory, social exchange theory and the job demands-resources model, the authors analyse survey data from 281 Vietnamese employees. FindingsThe results of this paper show that TBKS influences employee mental health and directly and indirectly affects job performance. The authors examine the moderating effects of training, transformational leadership and organisational resources on the relationship between the new job demands of TBKS on job performance and mental health outcomes. Practical implicationsTBKS platform developers should offer user-friendly interface functions and extend critical features. HRM should communicate more with employees, care about their well-being and consider their goals and values. HRM needs to provide training to help employees adapt to organisational changes. Leadership also needs to make employees perceive that organisational success is closely related to the success of TBKS. Originality/valueThis paper draws upon the three fundamental tenets of three theories as a triangular base to examine the relationship between TBKS and its outcomes. This paper contributes to the knowledge management literature by delivering a comprehensive understanding and demonstrating how the inclusion of technology in knowledge sharing and human resource practices can impact employee performance and well-being.
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Background: Although there are fewer COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, the pandemic is still ongoing. COVID-19 has a significant death rate in Indonesia, but lack of information on the effect of different clinical and demographic factors on COVID-19-related grimness and mortality in Indonesia.Objective: This study examined the clinical profile, treatment, and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 at Lahat Regency Hospital in South Sumatera, Indonesia, to find relevant markers that might be utilized to predict the prognosis of these patients.Methods: This was a retrospective single-center study of all medical record files of confirmed patients with COVID-19 admitted to Lahat Hospital from September 2020 to August 2021 (n = 285). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Multiple Logistic Regression, and Cox's proportional hazards model were used for data analyses. Results: This study included 65 non-hospitalized and 220 hospitalized patients. Hospitalized patients were divided into dead and alive groups. The median age was lower in the non-hospitalized group without gender discrimination, and most hospitalized patients had comorbidities. Vital signs and clinical features were significantly different in hospitalized patients compared to non-hospitalized. The survival patients in the hospitalized group showed lower white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil percentages, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) but higher lymphocyte and eosinophil. Non-survival patients had elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, blood glucose, and potassium. The use of Favipiravir and Remdesivir was significant between the alive and dead groups. The mean hospital stay for all patients was 9.49 +/- 4.77 days, while the median duration of hospital time was 10.73 +/- 4.33 days in the survival group and 5.39 +/- 3.78 days in the non-survival group. Multiple logistic regression analysis determined respiration rate, WBC, and BUN as predictors of survival.Conclusions: Age and comorbidities are significant elements impacting the seriousness of COVID-19. Abnormal signs in laboratory markers can be used as early warning and prognostic signs to prevent severity and death. Potential biomarkers at various degrees in patients with COVID-19 may also aid healthcare professionals in providing precision medicine and nursing.
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Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are powerful tools to express sentiments and emotions across the globe. Researchers use sentiment analysis and its evaluation to reveal the positive, negative and neutral opinions associated with an individual or group. In this study, we have analysed the literature available on sentiment analysis based on various parameters such as publication count, year of publication, country and university wise production and keyword progression. Results reveal that sentiment analysis is a pre-owned field and researchers are contributing to this field since 2008. Collaboration among different countries and universities have also seen during this study with maximum contributions received during 2019. Further this study shows that 149 unique keywords are used by different researchers in their literature. 65 universities have contributed to the literature with the highest number of authors from India. © 2022 IEEE.
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Considering the changes that the world is going through, since the emergence of the Coronavirus 'COVID 19' and the following versions of the same virus which has fast spreading behavior among all countries and sometimes worse health effects on the human. It seems that its economic and social repercussions will be significant and influential at the global and national levels, as the outbreak imposed by taking a set of precautionary measures and measures represented in 'isolation' with quarantine or social distancing and restaurant closures. These procedures cause poverty among workers in malls and restaurants and economical losses, so countries start to relax the lockdown. This work aims to propose some procedures in designing restaurants for reopening during the relaxation of lockdown to reduce human contact through designing a waiter robot moves by line follower approach in a restaurant to serve meals to customers and also designing a wireless network to send the customizers orders from the tables to the kitchen. © 2022 IEEE.
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Background. Immune dysregulation associated with COVID-19 includes immune cell activation, inflammatory cytokine release, and neutrophil extracellular trap release (NETosis), which are mediated by spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) (Fig 1). Fostamatinib, an oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor, was approved for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in 2018, and the Phase 3 trials showed a lower than expected rate of thrombosis.1 Clinical studies showed a reduction in IL-6 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.2 The active metabolite of fostamatinib (R406) protected against LPS-induced acute lung injury and thrombosis in mice3,4 and reduced MUC1 in a mouse model of ALI.5 Fostamatinib demonstrated abrogation of the hyperimmune response caused by anti-spike IgG,6 including reduction in hyperactivation of platelets7 and NETosis in neutrophils8 in in vitro studies using plasma from patients with severe COVID-19. A phase 2 study (NCT04579393) evaluated fostamatinib vs. placebo (all received standard of care [SOC]) in 59 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and demonstrated reduction in mortality, ordinal scale scores, and number of days in the intensive care unit (ICU) as well as meeting the primary endpoint of safety.9 A phase 3 clinical study (NCT04629703) of fostamatinib for the treatment of COVID-19 is underway. (Figure Presented) Methods. A Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, adaptive design, multi-center study (NCT04629703) is underway to evaluate fostamatinib in 308 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and on oxygen without intubation (Fig 2). Patients will receive fostamatinib 150 mg BID or placebo for 14 days;both arms receive SOC. At baseline, the clinical status score (8-point ordinal scale) had to be 5 or 6. Patients >= 65 years had to have >= 1 risk factor for severe disease and adults < 65 had to have >= 3. The primary outcome is days on oxygen (Day 1 to 29). Other endpoints include change in clinical status score, days in the ICU, time to hospital discharge, all-cause mortality, oxygen-free status and safety. Fostamatinib is investigational for COVID-19. Results. Blinded data from this trial in progress are as of 2 December 2021. See Fig 3. Conclusion. Final results of this Phase 3 trial are anticipated in 2022.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious global warning to social wellbeing. Antimicrobial stewardship Intervention is evident to provide a good effect on AMR. Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) have been established to minimize the usage of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and healthcare expenditure. Prospective audits with feedback, formulary restriction/preauthorization along with many other supportive elements are found effective techniques of antimicrobial stewardship programme. However, the proportional effect of different techniques is unclear. This ASP strategies utilization is compared in hospital setting and adult hospital units implementing ASP have provided much evidence demonstrating their value. This study includes the effectiveness of various explicit AMS strategies, measuring the outcome in various clinical setups such as reducing antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use.The death toll from COVID-19 is the highest of any other respiratory virus outbreak but Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR) and deadly resistant pathogens outbreaks could be at any point of time.Even in this present antibiotic era required primarily require combat it andstrong vigilance is also desired. The primary objective of this study is to enhance patient care and to lower medical expenses, but the ultimate objective is to safeguard already available and newly developed antibiotics against the threat of AMR. It has been noted that Prospective Audit and Feedback (PAF) intervention is one of the most often employed strategies among all other interventions of AMS. Although this is time-taking, it is accepted by physicians for more than formulary restrictions and pre-authorization procedures. There have been several digital initiatives to support antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), while they have been concentrated on individual interventions.Pre-authorization or recommended formulary limitation was found in 31% of all trials. 20% of these studies implemented this intervention independently, and many trials were also undertaken in conjunction with other interventions mostly in addition to training and education. Using the available pool information, we observed in various strategies a significant reduction in antimicrobial resistance and a reduced Days of Therapy (DOT)/Length of Treatment (LOT) ratio. Formulary restriction limited the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics without any major causality. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
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Corona virus disease - 19 (COVID-19) is one of the most prominent pandemics of the 21st century. Since its appearance in China, it had a lot of bad consequences in various aspects. In this chapter, we will talk about the loads imposed by the nature of work in the health facilities during the pandemic, and the significant psychological diseases caused by those burdens, citing some of the cross-sectional studies that have been done around the world. Also, we touched on the groups most vulnerable to those disorders and we have outlined the most important strategies for dealing with the crisis. Understanding the stressors and psychological effects of COVID-19 is one of the battle rounds that we can easily gain with our rational coping with mental problems. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc..
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Over close to two decades, many organizations have gradually paved ways for employees to undertake more online training as means of obtaining and renewing knowledge deemed necessary to perform their tasks. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many employees having to upskill and reskill not only their IT-related abilities but also on how to communicate, work collaboratively and engage in business differently from usual. Because work must continue, employees need to be continuously educated and trained to ensure they can be effective at work. However, not much is known about online-based training determinants that influence training effectiveness. This study therefore attempts to investigate determinants for effective online-based training (OBT) and develop a questionnaire for effective OBT in higher education setting. The study was conducted in three phases: (i) Phase I – Identification of determinants, (ii) Phase II – Development of questionnaire, and (iii) Phase III – Pilot study. Phase I involved literature analysis using thematic analysis to identify determinants, Phase II involved experts (n=3) and Higher Learning Institution (HLI) staff (n=30) to develop the questionnaire, and Phase III involved a pilot study to test the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s Alpha results showed all proposed determinants are consistent and acceptable except Personality Traits and Attitude with only 0.515 and 0.295, respectively. Several steps have been put forward as mechanisms to enhance the overall quality and integrity of the OBT questionnaire. The questionnaire is also expected to provide useful feedback on how OBT sessions can be continuously improved in the future © 2022, Asian Journal of University Education.All Rights Reserved.
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This chapter discusses when and how the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic following its first emergence in Wuhan, China. Different countries around the world tried to contain the virus through taking cautionary steps by initiating at least a 2-week lockdown and by following recommendations on implementing social distancing of 6 feet, the wearing of masks in public, and washing hands with warm water and soap for at least 20s. COVID-19 is believed to have originated from bats and believed to have spread all around the world before it was first diagnosed in Wuhan, China. As the virus swept the world, some countries, such as Italy, faced a shortage of hospital beds. New York, which also faced a hospital bed shortage very early on during the pandemic, was declared an epicenter of the virus in the United States. Moreover, nursing homes in many developing countries were badly hit and reported a high number of deaths related to COVID-19. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.