ABSTRACT
This study aims to provide an analysis of military expenditure, political stability, and the total of the workforce on economic growth through the GDP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-section data for 40 countries with upper-to-middle income levels was used to analyze the evolution for the periods 2010-2019 and 2019-2020. For the period 2010-2019, there was a general decrease in the percentage of Gross Domestic Product devoted to Military Expenditure, but the real value per capita increased in many countries, due to the effect of the increase of real production per capita. In the year 2020 the Pandemic diminished the real value of Military Expenditure in a few countries. Military expenditure, as well other components of Public Expenditure, and the total Labor Force/Workforces for 40 developing countries with upper-to-middle-income levels have shown a positive and significant impact on the value of GDP, which means that they encourage economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022 Asociacion Euro-Americana de Estudios del Desarrollo. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought changes to every organization to be able to make changes quickly and adaptively. Organizations need to accelerate the use of digital technology which has an impact on changes in business processes. The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology as software can support the automation of business processes in accordance with the rules of work performed by humans. RPA is a new technology that can be adopted by organizations to achieve various automation goals in the form of accuracy, efficiency, increase productivity and reduce operational costs. This research was conducted at one of the private bank in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the development of robotic process automation (RPA) in order to achieve various organizational automation goals. Data collection is carried out from primary data obtained by company employees who have used RPA and analyzed the condition of business process automation in various work units. In addition, interviews were conducted to identify the requirements for RPA development based on the needs and expectations of the automation objectives of the work unit. Secondary data were also obtained from a literature review on the implementation and benefits of RPA. The results show that the business process automation development company's has implemented 150 units of RPA robots in various work units ranging from operations, human capital, finance, compliance, and others. This research is expected to assist organizations in making decisions on the use of RPA and Automation Center of Excellence (CoE) support in order to achieve automation and digitization of business processes. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Many studies identified the risk factors and prognostic factors related to in-hospital COVID-19 mortality using sophisticated laboratory tests. Cost and the availability of supporting blood tests may be problematic in resource-limited settings. This multicenter cohort study was conducted to assess the factors associated with mortality of COVID-19 patients aged 18 years and older, based on history taking, physical examination, and simple blood tests to be used in resource-limited settings. METHODS: The study was conducted between July 2020 and January 2021 in five COVID-19 referral hospitals in Indonesia. Among 1048 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 160 (15%) died during hospitalization. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis showed eight predictors of in-hospital mortality, namely increased age, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, fatigue, dyspnea, altered mental status, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) >= 5.8, and severe-critical condition. This scoring system had an Area-under-the-curve (AUC) of 84.7%. With cut-off score of 6, the sensitivity was 76.3% and the specificity was 78.2%. CONCLUSION: The result of this practical prognostic scoring system may be a guide to decision making of physicians and help in the education of family members related to the possible outcome.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a problem worldwide, particularly due to the high rate of transmission and wide range of clinical manifestations. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiorgan failure are the most common events observed in severe cases and can be fatal. Cytokine storm syndrome emerges as one of the possibilities for the development of ARDS and multiorgan failure in severe cases of COVID-19. This case report describes a case of a 53-year-old male patient who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Further evaluation in this patient showed that there was a marked increase in IL-6 level in blood accompanied with hyperferritinemia, which was in accordance with the characteristic of cytokine storm syndrome. Patient was treated with tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody and is an antagonist to IL-6 receptor. The binding between tocilizumab and IL-6 receptors effectively inhibit and manage cytokine storm syndrome. Although this case report reported the efficacy of tocilizumab in managing cytokine storm syndrome, tocilizumab has several adverse effects requiring close monitoring. Further clinical randomized control trial is required to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab administration in participants with various clinical characteristics and greater number of subjects.