A survey of automatic contact tracing approaches using bluetooth low energy

To combat the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many new ways have been proposed on how to automate the process of finding infected people, also called contact tracing. A special focus was put on preserving the privacy of users. Bluetooth Low Energy as base technology has the most promising properties, so this survey focuses on automated contact tracing techniques using Bluetooth Low Energy. We define multiple classes of methods and identify two major groups: systems that rely on a server for finding new infections and systems that distribute this process. Existing approaches are systematically classified regarding security and privacy criteria.Copyright © 2021 ACM.

Fuzzy logic approach to assess the effectiveness of online course delivery in management education: a case of B-school from India

PurposeThe future of management studies is invariably steering towards online and hybrid modes of course delivery. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of online course delivery is exceptionally crucial. This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of online course delivery in management education involving the instructor, participant and technological component. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in three ways. First, the study proposes an approach to assess the effectiveness of online courses in management education. The study demonstrates this by taking a case study of a business school (B-school) in southern India. Second, the study identifies the shortcomings and areas that need improvement to enhance the overall effectiveness further. Third, the study outlines suggestive measures to improve the effectiveness of online course delivery by addressing technical, infrastructural, instructor and student behavioral components.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the objectives, a case study approach has been adopted and fuzzy logic has been used as a methodology to assess the effectiveness of online course delivery in management education.FindingsThe findings suggest that instructors' use of cases and animation during online sessions, use of whiteboards, digital pens and other tools, attempts to draw participant's interest and the users' sense of belongingness in the online cohort, self-discipline and motivation from students' side, easy to use Learning Management System (LMS), audio-visual platforms, active electronic communication and training on the technical aspect of the online platform need to be improved to enhance the effectiveness of online course delivery further. The current effectiveness of online course delivery in the case of B-school was found to be "Fair,” which is average in relation to the effectiveness labels.Research limitations/implicationsThis study doesn't investigate the factors that moderate the effectiveness of online course delivery and how the factors influence each other. Future research endeavors can be extended in this direction to enrich the body of knowledge with new insights. Apart from this, the results outlined in this study are about the status quo of the case B-school and can't be generalized. However, the methodology and approach can be adopted by other B-schools or higher educational institutes to measure the schools' and institutes' current level of effectiveness in online teaching.Originality/valueSo far, only a few studies have paid attention to the empirical assessment of the effectiveness of online course delivery consisting of engagement from the technical, instructor and participants' dimensions. This study proposes a novel approach to measure the level of effectiveness and identifies the shortfalls that impede good effectiveness in online course delivery.

A position paper on the Quest for Education Quality and Inclusivity in Low Resource Environments such as Zimbabwe through Social Media

Social media has revolutionised human interaction globally especially on the informal front. This paper proposes that the social media facility could be ‘tamed' to help bridge the educational divide that is apparent especially in developing countries such as Zimbabwe and that was magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic split education provision along income lines with those from the higher income bracket accessing educational instruction virtually even during such an ‘emergency' while those from the low income group were literally on sabbatical, virtually excluded. The obtaining scenario threatens realisation of Sustainable Development Goal Number 4 by 2030 as planned by the United Nations. The particular goal is aimed at ensuring "inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all”. In some instances, some candidates get to the examination room so inadequately prepared that the situation can be described as de facto exclusion. In order to assist Covid-19 pandemic affected learners and to uplift education quality in low income communities, this paper recommends the provision of a tablet per class/grade that should be viewed as a learning/teaching tool. The class teacher can use the tablet to download material, show educational videos to the class, audio/video record learners for educational ends, receive educational materials from the Ministry and its partners and avail these in an interesting multimodal manner to the learners.

Technological Devices and Digital Competences: A Look into the Digital Divides for University Continuity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Virtual education has gained great relevance in recent years, due to the pandemic. The access to electronic devices and services represents an urgent necessity and thus the concern for acquiring digital competences, which allow a proper interaction within the teaching–learning process. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of having digital resources and the adaptability of their use from the university students' homes during the pandemic crisis. This research intends to identify the relevant challenges regarding the accessibility to technological devices and digital competences that university students had to face to obtain suitable learning during the lockdown, due to the pandemic. The sample information consisted of 9326 Peruvian university students. The data was obtained from the National Homes Survey from the Statistics and Information National Institute, and it was distributed in twenty-five regions (in groups of five macro-regions) over a period of three years (2019–2021). The results showed significant differences in the number of students with internet access from home: between 40% and 60% access classes with a desktop or laptop, and digital competences have improved in the last year. This is evidence that digital divides set limits on the opportunities for a quality education.

Covid-19 in Lebanon: Update, Challenges and Lessons Learned

Intro: The COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health problem threatening national and global health security. Early during the pandemic, countries and governments including Lebanon declared states of emergency and imposed strict public health measures including national lockdowns and nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce the spread of the virus. Lebanon has been struggling with plethora of challenges at the social, economic, financial, political and healthcare levels before the start of the pandemic in the country in February 2020. Method(s): The aim of this study is to advance the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemiology in Lebanon pre- and post-vaccination as well as the gaps and challenges affecting recovery and response. We will present the evolution of total number of cases, PCR positivity rates, case-fatality rates an hospitalizations. Finding(s): We present the evolution of the clinical and melocular epidemiology of COVID-19 in Lebanon, national response prior and following the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines and the impact of the latter on the course of the pandemic in Lebanon, national challenges and successes as well as the need to reimagine a national health strategy. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the vulnerability, gaps and needs of the Lebanese health infrastructure including epidemiologic surveillance, genomic surveillance, integrated and concerted data sharing, diagnostic capacity, community mobilization and risk communication. Conclusion(s): The COVID-19 pandemic has been an eye opener about the need to invest in systemic and equal improvement in national health strategies. This is key to prevent future pandemics and to protect global health security. National and international coordinated strategies for emergency preparedness, response and recovery are critically needed in order to support the continuous monitoring of potential threats. The national commitment to these important inherent components of a rapid response requires investment in human and technical expertise to reduce inequality in access to information and care.Copyright © 2023

The digital skills divide: evidence from the European tourism industry

PurposeThis paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies.Design/methodology/approachMixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria).FindingsThe most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents' answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them.Originality/valueThe paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future.

Co-designing with engineers for community engagement in rural Uganda

Co-design is seen as crucial for designing solutions for resource-constrained people living in developing countries. To best understand their needs, user engagement and co-design strategies need to first be developed. In this Design Practice Brief, a process of co-design was created and used to understand ways telecommunication engineers could engage with rural communities in Uganda. It reports and reflects on (i) the experience of co-designing with nondesigners and (ii) creating a co-design structure and developing co-design methods of engaging with community members living in developing countries. In doing so, it offers a format and case study for future practitioners facilitating and conducting co-design with nondesigners and contributes to a knowledge gap in the reporting and reflection of co-design practice. This case study is unique as the co-design practice was achieved remotely (online), crossed disciplines (designers and telecommunication engineers) and cultural boundaries (European and African). It finds that in co-designing with nondesigners, preparation and structure are key, with acknowledgement and management of cultural and discipline differences.

Aerosol Medication Use in COVID-19 Pandemic

Administration of aerolized drugs to patients diagnosed with COVID-19 leads to the risk of transmission of patient-generated infectious aerosols to healthcare providers.While the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, in order to provide the best treatment for patients and at the same time to protect healthcare providers at the highest level, it is necessary to increase access to information and pay maximum attention to preventive measures.Copyright © 2020 Bilimsel Tip Yayinevi. All rights reserved.

Lessons from ArriveCAN: Access to Information and Justice During a Glitch

L'application ArriveCAN des services frontaliers du Canada, mandatee durant la pandemie de Covid-19 pour les voyageurs entrant au pays, a commence a envoyer des notifications de mise en quarantaine erronees ¿i certains utilisateurs dans le courant de l'été 2022. Le gouvernement federal a depiste une defaillance a l'origine de l'envoi de ces notifications erronees le 14 juillet 2022, et l'a remediee six jours plus tard. Neanmoins la reconnaissance publique de la defaillance par le gouvernement federal n'a eu lieu que quatre jours plus tard, soit 10 jours entiers apres en avoir pris connaissance. Durant cette periode, 10,200 personnes ont repu l'ordre errone de mise en quarantaine. Ces ordres ne constituaient pas des inconvenients mineurs. Au contraire, ces ordres etaient des restrictions physiques contraignant la mobilite et etaient assujettis aux pénalités maximales de la Loi sur la mise en quarantaine. L'emission d'ordres de quarantaine par une application qui depend de decisions automatisees et l'intelligence artificielle a suscite des soucis majeurs quant a l'utilisation obligatoire de cette technologie par le gouvernement federal. Cet article discute de cet episode du point de vue d'une partie a la recherche de la transparence et responsabilite du processus de decision d'ArriveCAN, et met en relief l'acces a l'information et les questions de justice decoulant de la defaillance, ainsi que la reponse du gouvernement federal. On discute de recommandations pour avancer dans le contexte de l'insistance gouvernementale sur l'utilisation de collecte de donnees obligatoire, la retention, et l'utilisation dans la prise de decisions automatisees et les systemes d'intelligence artificielle.Alternate :In summer 2022, ArriveCAN, Canada's border app mandated during the COVID-19 pandemic for travelers entering the country, began sending certain users erroneous notifications to quarantine. On July 14, 2022, the federal government identified a glitch that was responsible for sending these erroneous notifications and patched it six days later. However, the federal government only publicly acknowledged a glitch was responsible for sending the erroneous orders four days after that - a full 10 days after it had become aware of the problem. During that time, 10,200 people received erroneous quarantine orders. These orders were not minor inconveniences. They were physical restraints on mobility enforced through the maximum penalties of the Quarantine Act. The issuance of mandatory quarantine orders by an app reliant on automated decision-making and artificial intelligence raised elevated concerns about the mandatory use of such technologies by the federal government. This article describes this episode from the perspective of a party seeking transparency and accountability of ArriveCAN's decision-making and highlights the interrelated access to information and justice concerns generated by the glitch and the federal government's response to it. Recommendations are discussed for moving forward in the context of governmental insistence on the use of mandatory data collection, retention, and use in automated decision-making and artificial intelligence systems.

The Influence of Characteristics of Mobile Live Commerce on Purchase Intention

Mobile live commerce is emerging as a new distribution channel as connectivity and information sharing become easier due to the increase in the use of SNS and mobile phones. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research in this field, and it is meaningful to look at how this new technology-based commerce leads to purchase intention in terms of the value of shopping perceived by consumers. This study aims to (1) analyze the characteristic factors of mobile live commerce, which is rapidly emerging due to brisk changes in the distribution industry in the non-contact era;and (2) verify the relationship between shopping value and purchase intention. We analyzed 283 surveys using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SM) with statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) and R-programming. We inferred that convenience, ubiquity, social presence, attractiveness, and vividness were the characteristics of mobile live commerce that had a positive effect on the pleasure value, and that social presence, attractiveness, vividness, professionalism, information quality, and compatibility had positive effects on the perceived value. The hedonic value also had a positive effect on the perceived value, and both pleasure and perceived values had strong positive effects on the purchase intention. However, the professionalism of the sources did not affect the hedonic value, and the convenience and ubiquity did not affect the perceived value.

Why Do We Need Food Systems Informatics? Introduction to This Special Collection on Smart and Connected Regional Food Systems

Public interest in where food comes from and how it is produced, processed, and distributed has increased over the last few decades, with even greater focus emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mounting evidence and experience point to disturbing weaknesses in our food systems' abilities to support human livelihoods and wellbeing, and alarming long-term trends regarding both the environmental footprint of food systems and mounting vulnerabilities to shocks and stressors. How can we tackle the "wicked problems” embedded in a food system? More specifically, how can convergent research programs be designed and resulting knowledge implemented to increase inclusion, sustainability, and resilience within these complex systems, support widespread contributions to and acceptance of solutions to these challenges, and provide concrete benchmarks to measure progress and understand tradeoffs among strategies along multiple dimensions? This article introduces and defines food systems informatics (FSI) as a tool to enhance equity, sustainability, and resilience of food systems through collaborative, user-driven interaction, negotiation, experimentation, and innovation within food systems. Specific benefits we foresee in further development of FSI platforms include the creation of capacity-enabling verifiable claims of sustainability, food safety, and human health benefits relevant to particular locations and products;the creation of better incentives for the adoption of more sustainable land use practices and for the creation of more diverse agro-ecosystems;the wide-spread use of improved and verifiable metrics of sustainability, resilience, and health benefits;and improved human health through better diets.

Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines.

By June 1, 2022, there were 38 prophylactic COVID-19 vaccines approved in 197 countries around the world. The ongoing approval of new vaccines and the accumulation of more than a year's worth of data on their use give particular importance to the consolidation and analysis of information on the safety of such vaccines. The aim of study was to analyse the information on adverse events after immunisation (AEFIs) with coronavirus vaccines in the individual case safety reports entered into the VigiBase database by June 1, 2022. Material(s) and Method(s): the author analysed safety reports retrieved from VigiBase through the VigiLyze interface in the expert access mode. The search was carried out using the generic keyword "Covid-19 vaccine" in combination with the trade names of all 38 coronavirus vaccines. Result(s): the article presents consolidated information on the number and content of the safety reports on COVID-19 vaccines. The author noted that the reports were characterised by a high level of information completeness and quality, which could be due to the fact that the main reporters were the countries with developed pharmacovigilance systems. The analysis of patient complaints showed that the reported symptoms of AEFIs coincided with the manifestations of side effects of the vaccines included in the package leaflets. The author carried out a review of the cases of serious AEFIs and the cases of adverse events of special interest requiring additional monitoring after immunisation. It revealed a positive correlation of individual vaccines with the cases of somnolence in post-COVID-19 patients. Conclusion(s): the data obtained on the global safety of coronavirus vaccines may be of practical interest to doctors, researchers, developers, and healthcare regulators.Copyright © 2023 Safety and Risk of Pharmacotherapy. All rights reserved.

Developing an App for Improving Access to COVID-19 Information in Underserved Communities

The deployment of mobile health (mHealth) apps can transform healthcare in rural and remote communities worldwide. Rural communities in Zimbabwe have limited access to information that affects their health, economic and social being due to structural and social barriers related to the inaccessibility of traditional media. mhealth apps are a valuable tool to monitor disease outbreaks and provide preventative information to the public. Lack of access to COVID-19 information results in high fatalities and public panic, and it is critical to publish reliable and timely information. The study's objective was to demonstrate the utility of a mHealth app prototype developed to enhance access to COVID-19 information in rural and remote communities in Zimbabwe. The prototype provides COVID-19 information such as statistics, preventative measures, self-diagnostics, social distancing information, and general hygiene to rural communities with limited access to official information channels on the pandemic. A design science research methodology was used to design, build and evaluate the COVID-19 mHealth app and fulfil the study's objectives. Thirty potential users participated in the evaluation of the prototype. The evaluation results show that potential users perceived that the prototype was useful, engaging, easy to learn, well designed, and provided relevant information. A strong correlation was observed between the design, engagement, functionality, and learnability. More widespread usability and more representative tests should be conducted to ascertain the efficacy and usability of the app. The study contributes literature on usability studies in developing countries. As more mHealth apps are being developed and deployed, more usability tests will be required to ensure that they are fit for purpose. The paper provides a baseline for developing related health information apps. Policymakers, health practitioners, technologists, and scholars can further investigate the deployment of digital technologies to improve healthcare and control the transmission and spread of COVID-19.

Facilitating professional learning for technology coaches through cross-district collaboration

Purpose This two-year study illuminates the experiences of technology coaches (digital learning coaches [DL] and science technology engineering and mathematics/literacy coaches [STEM/L]) as they engaged in their own professional learning (PL) facilitated by a faculty researcher.Design/methodology/approach Technology coaches from different school districts and their respective colleagues participated in book studies as part of their PL. They reflected and debriefed individually and collaboratively with a researcher facilitator. Data were collected through interviews, field notes at meetings, observations, researchers' reflections and artefacts. Qualitative data analysis methods were employed.Findings The findings offer a glimpse into (1) benefits of cross-district collaboration, (2) challenges finding resources for coaching, (3) career-long desire to learn and (4) time to build and sustain cross-collaborations.Practical implications Conclusions suggest that DL and STEM/L coaches benefit from their own dedicated, differentiated programme of PL supported by each other (as from other districts) and a researcher facilitator. Educational implications are offered for researchers and other school district stakeholders for consideration for them to foster coaches' collaborative PL.Originality/value Importantly, this project is an exemplar of how to support coaches' PL and growth through researcher facilitation of cross-district collaborative learning.

[COVID-19 risk groups and their strategies for navigating information overload during the first year of the pandemic in Chile]. / Grupos de riesgo por COVID-19 y sus estrategias para enfrentar la sobrecarga informativa en el primer año de la pandemia en Chile.

As a part of the EIS-COVID project on the access and use of information during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile, the objective of this paper was to ascertain how people's informational environment was constructed during the first stage of the pandemic. It discusses the results of a qualitative study of people belonging to risk groups for COVID-19: people over 18 and under 65 with chronic diseases (hypertension and diabetes) and people 65 and over. Ninety semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions between September 2020 and January 2021. The results reveal the problematic nature of the information overload encountered by these groups and the strategies they used to navigate it: a) information avoidance; b) content corroboration and active search for reliable sources; and c) differentiated media use.

Este artículo se enmarca en el proyecto EIS-COVID sobre acceso y uso de información en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19 en Chile. Su objetivo fue conocer cómo se constituyó el entorno informativo de las personas en la primera etapa de la pandemia. El artículo muestra los resultados de un estudio cualitativo enfocado en personas pertenecientes a grupos de riesgo por COVID-19: personas mayores de 18 y menores de 65 años con enfermedades crónicas (hipertensión y diabetes) y personas de 65 años y más. Se realizaron 90 entrevistas semiestructuradas en las regiones Metropolitana y de Valparaíso entre septiembre de 2020 y enero de 2021. Se identifica la problemática de la sobrecarga informativa para estos grupos y las estrategias que utilizaron para enfrentarla: a) la evitación de información, b) la corroboración de contenidos y búsqueda activa de fuentes confiables, o c) el uso diferenciado de medios.

Does bank affiliation affect firm capital structure? Evidence from a financial crisis

PurposeThis study aims to assess the determinants of corporate debt with a particular focus on bank-affiliated and non-bank-affiliated firms during the global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyse the data of 395 listed manufacturing firms from Pakistan with 2,370 firm-year observations. The sample is divided into subsamples, namely bank-affiliated, non-bank-affiliated and stand-alone firms. Fixed and panel effect regression models are applied to determine the during, pre-crisis and post-crisis effects on corporate capital structure.FindingsThe robust results of the study reveal that non-bank-affiliated firms have different leverage determinant behaviours with a greater reliance on size, tangibility and profitability. However, bank-affiliated firms seemed to show greater immunity from a crisis compared to other firms. Simultaneously, the stand-alone firms remained at a disadvantage subject to internal financial ties of group-affiliated firms and form a base of market imperfection.Practical implicationsThis study's findings imply that financial managers should contain better ties with financial institutions to enhance financial immunity in worse time of financial crisis or COVID-19 global calamity. On the regulation front, these findings call for critical policy regulations to govern the internal ties with financial institutions to create a level playing field for the corporate sector.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to investigate determinants of corporate debt with a particular focus on bank-affiliated and non-bank-affiliated firms. This work is also novel to explore corporate debt of bank-affiliated and non-bank-affiliated firms during the financial crisis.

COVID-19 - what did/can we learn from this?

Whilst acute health services were focused on and over-burdened with battling the pandemic, other health sectors such as the care and treatment of chronic and long-term diagnoses and rehabilitation services, were temporarily either suspended or put on the back burner. In this edition, we feature two articles related to COVID-19 pandemic: one explores the possible effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on occupational therapy clients1, and one comments on the experience of students2 who, as part of their curriculum requirements, needed to complete a research project without having access to clinical areas due to lockdown. The other shares how masculinity develops in South African townships8 and the value of mentors and stand-in parents that allow boys to take up non-conforming and non-hegemonic identifies and achieve their personal long-term goals despite the circumstance they grow up in. Ramano E, Pretorius W, de Jager M, Oldfield T, Scriba D, Moriti B. Occupational Therapists' perceived ability to treat and assist bereaved individuals to And new meaning in life through engagement in meaningful activities. Whilst acute health services were focused on and over-burdened with battling the pandemic, other health sectors such as the care and treatment of chronic and long-term diagnoses and rehabilitation services, were temporarily either suspended or put on the back burner. In this edition, we feature two articles related to COVID-19 pandemic: one explores the possible effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on occupational therapy clients1, and one comments on the experience of students2 who, as part of their curriculum requirements, needed to complete a research project without having access to clinical areas due to lockdown.

Breakpoints and Black Boxes: Information in Global Supply Chains

Supply chain management (SCM) deals with the procurement and assembly of goods, from raw material to the consumer. With the growing prevalence of offshore manufacturing and suppliers' reliance on "just-in-time" inventory management, SCM has become both astoundingly complex and critical to companies' competitiveness. This essay examines how data works in global supply chains, focusing on SAP SCM, the huge but hard-to-access SCM software with the greatest market share. It argues that SCM is characterized by two countervailing tendencies: the demand for perfect information about goods and movement, and the need to erect strategic barriers to the fullest knowledge about supply chains. Counterintuitively, this selective obscurantism is what makes supply chains so fast and efficient.