WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH EMPLOYEE SENTIMENT ANALYSIS USING MACHINE LEARNING

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze workplace productivity through employee sentiment analysis using machine learning. Theoretical framework: A lot of literature is already published on employee productivity and sentiment analysis as a tool, but the study here is intended to address the issues in employee productivity post-COVID'19. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have studied the relationship between sentiments and workplace productivity post-COVID- 19. Sentiments were captured from the text inputs given by seventy-two survey respondents from a mid-sized consultancy firm and correlated against the productivity scores. A machine learning model was developed using Python to calculate the sentiment score. Findings: 98.6% of the respondents had a high productivity score, whereas 88.9% showed positive sentiments. The majority of the responses showed a positive correlation between positive sentiments and high productivity levels. Research, Practical and Social Implications: The study paves way for identification of action plan for productivity enhancement through sentiment analysis. Originality/Value: No previous work on employee productivity using sentiment analysis is done till now. © 2023 AOS-Estratagia and Inovacao. All rights reserved.

An Empirical Analysis of Learners' Perception of Online Learning Platform

Problem-COVID pandemic is a situation which affected every individual as well as every sector of the economy and Educational sector is not an exception. Due to pandemic the years old traditional class room teaching learning system has changed to teaching and learning through online platforms like MS Teams, Zoom and so on. As a result of this drastic change in traditional system, perception of learners has undergone huge changes which is required to be explored. Most of the studies conducted in the field of learners' perception are general study with very few focusing on finding learners' perception towards one specific online learning platform.Purpose of the Study-This study aims to find out the perception and preference of learners for an online learning platform MS Teams.Methodology-For exploring the factors associated with MS Teams as a platform for online learning, Exploratory Factor Analysis was used. Variation in perception of learners was measured by applying one-way ANOVA test. Descriptive statistics is used to study the preference of learners in the present study.Findings-The findings of study are derived from a sample of 147 online learners from a University in Rajasthan. The findings showcased the fact that there exist differences in perception of learners when they accessed online classes through tablet device and on the basis of frequency of attending the online classes. Findings of work also highlighted the fact that MS Teams can be used along with traditional teaching system as a platform for sharing contents with learners.Implication- The findings of the study will be useful for educational sector as well as online learning platform developing companies.

Financial Reportings and Analysis Practices in Tata Steel and Corus Acquisition: Their Association with Growth Rate and Financial Performance

This research article examined the financial reporting and analysis practices in Tata steel and Corus acquisition: Their association with growth rate and financial performance. This article analyzes the reasons and the effect of the Acquisition of Corus by paying 12.33 billion dollars to buy which is one of the biggest acquisitions by an Indian Company at the cross border. This paper also emphasizes this acquisition led to global growth in Steel Industry. The sample size of this research consists of Tata Steel and Corus Company which underwent acquisitions during 2007–08. This paper also emphasizes the significance of developing skills in analyzing and interpreting financial statements to maintain financial position and progress. To understand the distinguishing characteristics, problems and needs of the organization's growth performance, the published audited report from 2002–2022 was studied and interpreted. To measure the significance of the organization's performance the author adopted comparative, ratio analysis and other statistical tools were adopted. The study shows that there is important growth in income and financial position of companies after the merger, the growth can result in financial stresses and excessive use of debts as such cash flow difficulties. But the coronavirus (Lockdown) the company faced a downfall in their profits. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Contactless non-invasive method to identify abnormal tongue area using K-mean and problem identification in COVID-19 scenario

Due to the spread of COVID-19 all around the world, there is a need of automatic system for primary tongue ulcer cancerous cell detection since everyone do not go to hospital due to the panic and fear of virus spread. These diseases if avoided may spread soon. So, in such a situation, there is global need of improvement in disease sensing through remote devices using non-invasive methods. Automatic tongue analysis supports the examiner to identify the problem which can be finally verified using invasive methods. In automated tongue analysis image quality, segmentation of the affected region plays an important role for disease identification. This paper proposes mobile-based image sensing and sending the image to the examiner, if examiner finds an issue in the image, the examiner may guide the user to go for further treatment. For segmentation of abnormal area, K-mean clustering is used by varying its parameters.Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

What is the relationship between fatigue, pain and urgency in people with inflammatory bowel disease? Results of the IBD-BOOST survey in 8486 participants

Background: Fatigue, pain and faecal incontinence are common in people with IBD. However, little is known about co-existence of these multiple symptoms, how they inter-relate and whether people want help for these symptoms. In qualitative interviews, patients have reported that these symptoms are often ignored in clinical consultations where the focus is on inflammation, but that they are very bothered by these symptoms, even when disease is apparently in remission The aim of this study was to determine the presence and relationship between fatigue, pain and incontinence in people with inflammatory bowel disease, and desire for intervention for these symptoms Methods: A purpose-designed survey (online or postal), incorporating validated tools and demographic details, was sent to unselected UK clinic and UK IBD-BioResource adult patients. When the covid-19 pandemic halted clinic recruitment, additional self-selected UK recruits were solicited via social media. Using the validated PROMIS tools the following definitions were used for presence of symptoms: Fatigue: PROMIS fatigue T-score of 60 or more;pain: PROMIS pain intensity T-score of 60 or more;PROMIS bowel incontinence: Raw score of 50 or more. Participants also reported disease activity using the relevant PRO-2 score, IBD-Control, anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9) and quality of life (EQ-5D-5L) which will all be reported elsewhere Results: A total of 8486 useable responses were received (7716 online 770 postal). 4176 reported Crohn's disease, 4255 had ulcerative colitis or other form of IBD. There were 3281 men and 4883 women. Median age was 51 years (range 18 - 92). 2550 (30%) reported fatigue 1766 (21%) pain and 4565 (54%) faecal incontinence according to the above definitions;925 (10.9%) reported having all three symptoms Demographics by symptom are shown in Table 1. Table 2 reports those participants indicating the presence of each symptom and each combination of symptoms. Table 3 shows a summary of self-defined severity and impact of symptoms (scoring scale 0-10 for both severity and impact of each symptom). Participants scored severity and impact a mean between 3.3 and 4.8, with a wide variation. 56% of all respondents (not just those with symptoms) "definitely" wanted help for fatigue;42% wanted help for pain;53% wanted help for incontinence. 29% reported "definitely" wanting help for all three symptoms (Table 4) Conclusion(s): This study confirms that fatigue, pain and urgency are common in IBD and for the first time reports the co-existence and unmet need for help with these symptoms.

Optimization of COVID-19 risk factors using fuzzy logic inference system

According to the WHO, the topmost priority during the COVID-19 pandemic is to recognize the risk factors for the severity of this disease. Because of this, we conducted a series of calculations based on several symptoms of CORONA infections. The study aimed to estimate the rigorousness and identify the risk factors of COVID-19 infection and calculated the risk % by taking a wide range of symptoms like Body Temperature, Cough, Cold, Breathing problems, and Loss of senses of Smell & Taste. We have used MATLAB to simulate a model based on Mamdani fuzzy inference system to help those who can identify their symptoms. In the proposed model Mean of Maxima kind of De-Fuzzifier is applied. Additionally, we also conducted a comparability analysis of risk factors across 5 - 6 studies. The study concludes that if a patient's body temperature is 38.4 °C, suffering from cough (6), cold (8) and breathing rate in pulse oxy-meter is 95, loss of sense of smell is 17% then the risk of his being infected by coronavirus is 50%. Based on the results obtained, we have also proposed a set of rules for further prevention and mitigation of pandemics. Our findings will help in developing targeted prevention and control strategies to combat this worldwide pandemic. In the future also the outcomes are very beneficial when Artificial Neural networks, Machine Learning will be used to train the model and provide more accurate results. The results have also motivated the authors that the inter-disciplinary approach toward such collaborative research works would lead to finding more effective solutions to such serious problems. In this era when there is the threat of biological warfare across the globe, such studies have also opened new avenues for strategic & timely mitigation of biological agents over large sample sizes. © 2022 River Publishers. All rights reserved.

Large-Scale Knowledge Synthesis and Complex Information Retrieval from Biomedical Documents

Recent advances in the healthcare industry have led to an abundance of unstructured data, making it challenging to perform tasks such as efficient and accurate information retrieval at scale. Our work offers an all-in-one scalable solution for extracting and exploring complex information from large-scale research documents, which would otherwise be tedious. First, we briefly explain our knowledge synthesis process to extract helpful information from unstructured text data of research documents. Then, on top of the knowledge extracted from the documents, we perform complex information retrieval using three major components- Paragraph Retrieval, Triplet Retrieval from Knowledge Graphs, and Complex Question Answering (QA). These components combine lexical and semantic-based methods to retrieve paragraphs and triplets and perform faceted refinement for filtering these search results. The complexity of biomedical queries and documents necessitates using a QA system capable of handling queries more complex than factoid queries, which we evaluate qualitatively on the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) to demonstrate the effectiveness and value-add. © 2022 IEEE.

Aimed Robot: Autonomous & IoT Controlled Medical Assistance Robot

This paper describes the emerging role of robots in health care and integrated environments with special concerns related to the management and control of the spread of novel coronavirus 2019. The primary use of such robots is to reduce human interaction and ensure cleanliness, fertility, and support in the hospitals and facilities such as isolation. This will lead to a reduction in the life-threatening risk for medical professionals and physicians who have played a significant role in the management of infectious diseases like coronavirus. The purpose of this work is to highlight the importance of medical robots in general and to link their use in the field of medical assistance so that hospital administrators can use the medical robots for different treatment processes. The work involves the design and development of an AUTONOMOUS and IoT CONTROLLED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE ROBOT (AIMED), which is designed as a potential answer for any irresistible ailment, particularly for Coronaviruses Outbreak. AIMED ROBOT is utilized to limit individual to-individual contact and to guarantee cleaning, sanitization and backing in emergency clinics and comparable offices, for example, food and medication conveyance in isolate emergency clinics/offices. Voice communication can also be established between the control room and patient through a wireless network. This data is sent to the doctor and staff using a communication network that helps in monitoring the patient's condition without human interaction. Hand Sanitization, food delivery and waste collection system are also provided in the robot for quarantine zones. This is despite the popularity of telemedicine, which also applies to similar situations. In fact, the recent success of the Korean and Chinese health sectors in gaining effective control of the coronavirus epidemic would not have been possible without the use of state-of-the-art technology. Background(s): In the quick advancement of innovation, there are numerous sorts of robots with different details and capacities. The AIMED Robots are being developed for hospitals to deliver medicines, food and for taking live data from the patient directly. A few issues are confronted in regards to the limitation of explicit places around and inside the clinic because different robots were utilizing landmark recognition. Moreover, the issues faced when the robot is to convey things to any patient from any place should be taken care of. Objective(s): The objective of this work is to highlight the importance of medical robots in general and to link their use in the field of medical assistance so that hospital administrators can use the medical robots for different treatment processes. Method(s): The work involves the design and development of an AUTONOMOUS and IoT CONTROLLED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE ROBOT (AIMED), which is designed as a potential answer for any irresistible ailment particularly for Coronaviruses Outbreak. Result(s): AIMED Robot goes through three testing stages. In the final stage, one complete embedded system is designed by embedding each tested sub-system and then this final embedded system is tested. All the project goals, which were planned as 'Solution to Problem Statement', have been achieved properly. Conclusion(s): This paper provides an overview of the robotics and therapeutic potential of robotics in specific environments with COVID-19 epidemic control. The AIMED robot introduced in this paper is a piece of emergency clinic and care focus computerization framework. Multiple patients are placed for stop-over and doctor's prescription regarding patient health. It can be very useful to counter infectious diseases like SARS, MERS or Covid-19 etc. This work confirms that the introduction of medical robots has significantly increased the safety and quality of health care systems compared to manual systems due to the digitalization of health care.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Global perspective of cardiac rehabilitation in Post COVID patients

The long-standing style of care known as cardiac rehabilitation (CR) may have been created to lessen the significant burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on people all over the world. In Post COVID era, maintenance of cardiac health in COVID affected patients has been received much attention. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) may be a sophisticated intervention with multiple components which can provide support in developing health cardiovascular system. The calibre of CR services can vary greatly and have an impact on the extent of patient benefit. The research has demonstrated that cardiac rehabilitation improves quality of life and reduces clinical psychological distress (DSM sadness and anxiety) (QoL). Subclinical discomfort and psychological well-being also demonstrated pertinent clinical implications in cardiac situations. Cardiac rehabilitation could also be an economical. According to studies, the benefits of CR are effective for patients with a variety of cardiac conditions, such as those who have undergone myocardial infarction (MI), coronary artery bypass surgery, stable angina, stable chronic heart failure, heart valve replacement, percutaneous coronary treatments, heart transplantation, cardiac arrhythmias, or severe arterial hypertension. As CR, and in several contexts "pre-habilitation," are in increased demand, a chronic disability management programme is being given more commonly in home and community settings. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's new requirements, the employment of distant, personalised solutions within this delivery paradigm is currently changing.

Gta-Ids: Game Theoretic Approach to Enhance Ids Detection in Cloud Environment

The Internet of Things (IoT) industry is growing with the high-quality collaboration with Cloud Computing. The data generated by the IoT devices is quite large which can be efficiently stored and processed by the cloud. Further, the scenario like COVID-19 led to an unexpected flood of IoT devices on enabling networks to facilitate online services, which increases the potential threats to the companies fighting to remain operational during the crises. Still, the problem with the IoT devices is their weak security implications because vendors prioritize other factors like energy-saving and efficiency at the cost of security. The Attacker can send malicious requests through the vulnerable IoT device to the network and exploit the cloud in various ways. So, to address this issue, a Game Theoretic Approach to enhance IDS detection (GTA-IDS) in Cloud Environment has been devised that helps the Defender system to be more efficient, accurate in decision-making and save energy. The algorithm based on relative information entropy has been developed to defend against such attacks. The Bayesian Nash Equilibrium (BNE) has been used to make the Defender's strategies and perform actions to maximize its payoffs. The model has been tested on the NSL-KDD dataset and the results have been compared to the existing techniques. The results show that despite efforts made by the Attacker, the Defender always gets a better gain and ultimately eliminates the attack.

Project to improve paediatric post-neurosurgical fluid management and to reduce the risks associated with Diabetes Insipidus (DI), Syndrome of Inappropriate ADH (SIADH) and Cerebral Salt Wasting (CSW)

Background. Complex fluid balance problems are well established post-neurosurgery and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The triple-phase response requires fluid management strategies reactive to urine output as patients shift between DI and SIADH. Prevalence of CSW is controversial;but ensuring sodium homeostasis is central to safe fluid management. To improve clinical care for these complex patients an audit of existing institutional guidelines was undertaken. New guidelines were developed with structured educational packages for specialist teams involved, and subsequent assessment of their impact. Method(s): Two periods were audited using set standards (table-1), before and after the quality improvements. All data was collected from the CQUIN neurosurgical database and electronic medical records;included were all paediatric patients having neurosurgical operations for posterior fossa (PFT) and supratentorial tumours (STT), plus TBI. A literature review of evidence-based practice, initial audit data and stakeholder feedback was used to develop new clinical guidelines and nursing standard operating procedures. Principles were of strict monitoring and adaptive fluid management strategies, implemented for all with active step down. Structured educational packages were designed for specialty medical and nursing teams involved to improve knowledge, consistency of approach and team working. Result(s): Audit-1 January2017-June2018, n=80;Audit-2 January2020-June2021, n=30 (reduced neurosurgical operation numbers due to COVID-19 pandemic). All patients were managed within a high dependency setting;26-33% initially in paediatric intensive care. Step-down was to a neurosurgical/neurorehabilitation ward. Results comparison (table-1) demonstrated clinical, fluid balance and biochemical monitoring improvement. The number of clear fluid management plans documented post-operatively increased, leading to early recognition and management of evolving fluid-balance abnormalities. However, the recommended adaptive fluid management strategy was not always used. The endocrine team were involved earlier and in all complex cases. Significant Na fluctuations (>12mmol in 24 hours) remained similar (5vs6patients). These represented complex pituitary-hypothalamic pathology, plus one TBI. Feedback from patients and professional teams was of increased awareness, improved consistency of approach and communication. Conclusion(s): * Clinical guidelines revised using audited data, evidence-based literature review and stakeholder consultation have been adopted with effective change. * Patient safety improved through effective post-neurosurgical fluid management and multi-professional team working. * Regular feedback and continued education will identify areas for further improvement.

Preserved T cell but attenuated antibody response in MS patients on Fingolimod and Ocrelizumab following 2ndand 3rdSARS-CoV-2mRNA vaccine

Introduction: Immunosuppressed patients may not mount an adequate immune response to 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine and are eligible to receive a 3rddose. There is limited knowledge about T cell responses specifically in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who receive 3 doses of vaccine. Objectives & Aims: To assess the SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody responses and T cell responses in MS patients on high efficacy immunotherapies and healthy controls (HC) who received 2 and 3 doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines. Method(s): This is a study of patients with MS, aged 18-65, on fingolimod (FIN) and ocrelizumab (OCR) for at least 3 months prior to 1stmRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dose (BNT162b2 or mRNA- 1273) and a cohort of HC. Blood samples were collected after 2nd(2- vax) and 3rd(3-vax) dose of mRNA vaccine. The proportion of patients and HC who exhibited seroconversion, demonstrating serum SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody levels >0.4 U/ml,was determined. T cell responses were examined in a subgroup of patients with MS and HC after 2-vax and 3-vax by flow cytometry. Result(s): The proportion of patients who seroconverted after 2-vax was 8/33 (24.2%) in the OCR group, 5/7 (71.4%) in the FIN group, and 29/29 (100%) in the HC group (Fisher's exact test,P=5.7*10-11). After 3-vax, 9/21 (40.9%) patients in the OCR group seroconverted as compared to 19/21 (90.5%) in the FIN group, and 7/7 (100%) in the HC group (Fisher's exact test for difference,P=0.0003). There was SARS-CoV-2 peptide reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation across all 3 groups (OCR 2-vax n=10, FIN 2-vax n=6, HC 2-vax n=8, OCR 3-vax n=9, FIN 3-vax n=10, HC 3-vax n=5) as compared to unstimulated condition after 2-vax and 3-vax (Mixed effects analysis,P<0.0001). There was an increase in the percentage of SARS-CoV-2 peptide reactive CD4+ T cells in HC and OCR group but not in FINgroupafter 2-vax and 3-vax. There was anincrease in the percentage ofIFNgammaandTNFalphaproducing CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in FIN group as compared to HC and OCR group after 2-vax and 3-vax.TNFalphaproducing central memory CD4+ T cells were increased in OCR group after 2-vax andIFNgammaandTNFalphaproducing effector memory and terminally differentiated effector memory CD4+ T cells were increased in FIN group after 2-vax and 3-vax as compared to HC. Conclusion(s): MS patients on ocrelizumab and fingolimod had decreased spike antibody responses, but preserved T cell responses compared to HCs after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.

Nasal anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (Foralumab) reduces PET microglial activation and blood inflammatory biomarkers in two patients with non-active secondary progressive MS

Introduction: There are no effective treatments for non-active secondary progressive MS (SPMS), which is mediated by compartmentalized CNS inflammation, including activated microglia. We found that fully human anti-CD3 intranasal monoclonal antibody (Foralumab) suppressed disease in a chronic EAE model by dampening microglia and astrocyte inflammation. Nasal Foralumab does not enter the bloodstream or brain. A dose-finding study of nasal Foralumab in controls dosed at 10ug, 50ug and 250ug for 5 days found the drug to be safe with immune effects seen at 50ug. COVID patients dosed with 100ug of nasal Foralumab for 10 days was well-tolerated and exhibited positive effects on blood markers and lung inflammation. Objective(s): To determine if nasal Foralumab has a therapeutic effect on patients with non-active SPMS. Method(s): Two patients were identified with non-active SPMS and sustained clinical progression, despite use of approved DMT. EA1 is a 61-year-old male diagnosed for over 20 years and EA2 is a 42-year-old male diagnosed for 8 years, both last treated with ocrelizumab for 3 years. Treatment occurs in 3-week cycles with intranasal Foralumab 50ug/day administered 3x/week for 2 weeks with 1 week rest. Each cycle, clinical and neurological assessments are repeated, and imaging is repeated every 3 months. Result(s): EA1 has completed 6 months and EA2 has completed 3 months of treatment. To date, there have been no adverse reactions, local irritation, or laboratory abnormalities, and symptom progression has subsided. EA1 is feeling more stable, subjectively, and has noted improvement in lower extremity strength. EDSS, pyramidal motor score and T25FW have stabilized or improved. SDMT and 9HPT were stable during treatment. Microglial activation as measured by [F-18]PBR06 PET scan was significantly reduced 3 months after the start of nasal Foralumab, and this reduction was sustained after 7-week washout and at 6 months. Serum protein measurements of cytokines showed reduction of IFN-gamma, IL-18, IL-1s and IL-6 levels (Olink assay). Cellular immune studies showed increase in CD8 naive cells and decrease in CD8 effector cells, and alteration in gene expression as measured by single cell RNA sequencing. EA2 3-month laboratory and imaging results are pending and will be presented. Conclusion(s): Nasal Foralumab in non-active SPMS patients treated for at least 3 months reduced microglial activation, decreased levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and had positive clinical effects.

Oxi-Inflammatory Stress and Biomolecular Deterioration: A Mysterious Convergence in Post COVID Patients

Background: Despite several scientific efforts against COVID 19, conundrum of biomolecular deterioration in Post COVID syndrome patients are still in dark at an unprecedented scale globally and affected the patient's health multidimensionally. It is conceivable that patients recovered from COVID-19 after second wave are at enhanced risk of secondary complications.Aim: The present study was carried out to estimate the serum vitamin D and total antioxidant activity (TAC) along with markers of oxi-inflammatory stress in post COVID patients diagnosed RT-PCR negative after second wave of COVID-19 and to determine their role in predicting secondary complications.Methodology: 50 subjects (30-55 years) of Delhi-NCR region were recruited and categorized into two groups (n=25 in each group;on the basis of their history of COVID infection). By using standard methods, study group parameters were estimated in Post COVID patients and statistically compared it with that of 25 non affected healthy controls by using student's t-test.Result: Serum CRP, TNF-alpha, MDA and uric acid levels were significantly high (p<0.05) in Post COVID patients as compared to healthy controls. Conversely, serum vitamin D and TAC levels along with SOD activities were found to be significantly low (P<0.001) in Post COVID patients as compared healthy controls. However, ceruloplasmin level was altered insignificantly (p<0.1) with respect to Group I subjects. Vitamin D levels were positively correlated with TAC and SOD activity (P<0.001) and negatively correlated with MDA, CRP, TNF-alpha and uric acid levels in post COVID patients.Conclusion: Therefore, the present study emphasizes the dire need of special attention to Post COVID population by providing vitamin D supplementation, antioxidant and mineral rich diet along with adoption of regular aerobic exercise not only to rejuvenate the biomolecular homeostasis but also to reduce oxi-inflammatory stress mediated future complications.

How did the covid-19 pandemic affect lower respiratory tract infections in young children in England? : Kimberley Foley

Background Social distancing policies to reduce transmission of covid-19 also reduced children's exposures to endemic respiratory viruses. We aimed to examine the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on lower respiratory tract infections in under 5s presenting to primary care in England. Methods Longitudinal trends analysis using electronic health records from a nationally representative primary care database. Our target population was children aged <5 years registered with a primary care practice from January 2015 to March 2021. Our main outcome was total weekly contacts with primary care for a lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). We defined three pandemic phases from March 2020 - March 2021: i) first national lockdown (late March to early June 2020), ii) childcare settings reopened and second national lockdown with schools open (mid-June to mid-December 2020) and iii) third national lockdown with schools closed (late December 2020 to end of March 2021). We compared outcomes during each of the three phases with corresponding calendar weeks during pre-pandemic years 2015 to 2019. Results Our study population included 843 020 children <5 years who had 1 076 181 contacts with primary care for LRTIs. During the first phase (first lockdown) there were falls of 79.3% (95% CI: 73.6 to 84.5) from an average of 28 547 primary care contacts for LRTI in 2015 - 2019 to 5915 in 2020;there was a 78.9% (95% CI: 73.7 to 83.9) fall in phase two (childcare settings reopened and second lockdown) from 107 873 to 22 792 contacts;and a 77.7% (95% CI: 73.5 to 81.4) fall in phase three (third lockdown) from 57 200 to 12 764 contacts. Conclusions Children under 5 in England had fewer contacts with primary care for LRTIs during the covid-19 pandemic. This change likely reflects lower prevalence of respiratory illness due to fewer social contacts. This may impact on future health service use as these children have had less exposure, and therefore may have less immunity, to respiratory diseases. Key messages • Children under 5 had fewer contacts with primary care for lower respiratory tract infections during the covid-19 pandemic in England likely due to the restrictions in place to reduce social contacts. • The falls in lower respiratory tract infections during the covid-19 pandemic in under 5s may mean they have less immunity to respiratory viruses which may impact upon their future health service use.

Internet of Things for control and prevention of infectious diseases

The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of three major components: perception or idea generation, secure transmission, and intelligent data analysis. These core components can be applied in different formats for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The procedure relies on the combination of sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), information technology, and available dynamic networking devices. The IoT networks can establish long-distance communication among hospitals, patients, and medical equipment, which could ultimately improve current medical conditions. The IoT has found many applications in infectious disease management that include early prediction, accurate diagnosis, suggestions on therapeutic intervention, and sharing of research data and policy making. All the components of IoT network gets integrated into skeletal framework and can help in control and prevention of infectious diseases. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

COVID pandemic: Redefining the employment ecosystem

The CORONA pandemic jolted the world out of the blue. For what was once envisaged as a common virus, it quickly began to unleash its power and took the whole world in its grip. The business units too suffered from the ferocious impact of the CORONA pandemic. The government of the country implemented a complete lockdown forcing citizens to stay indoors and to adopt and embrace work from home culture. While some of the essential work force team members were allowed to move around freely others were not too lucky. Business units, sensing that CORONA is here to stay for a longer period than what was anticipated, they began to feel the impact of the lockdown as the work force was geographically placed and the issues pertaining to business sustainability and continuity began to surface. Further, the switch over from physical mode of operations to digital mode of operations has had its own limitations. For example, moving to digital means of carrying out business processes wherein the team member is stationed at home, the control exists gets transferred to from the project manager to each member of the project team. This makes the task of managing the team extremely difficult and getting the work done within the constraints of time and with no direct mechanism for controlling the team it generates different set of challenges and which needs to be addressed somehow or the other. Further, in remote operations certain other aspects need to be taken into consideration. For example, aspect needed to ensure that the home workplace is provides unhindered work environment so that the concerned team member does productive work. Another crucial aspect which was relatively easy to manage, when physical mode of operations was in vogue, is the issue of decay of trust and adoption of unethical practices during the course of carrying out day to day business operations. In virtual world, as mentioned, the control exists with the person operating remotely, he can log off at will or can switch off the mike or video at his own leisure. In such scenario, the issue of trust and unethical practices need to be taken into consideration. This chapter addresses in detail supported by specific real life examples to address the employment eco-system prior to COVID pandemic and during the COVID pandemic. In particular the chapter takes into consideration the aspects such as work environment, human resource policies, organization culture and the like. This is due to the fact an eco-system is an amalgamation of several components each serving a specific role. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc..