ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has generated changes in the delivery of classes, especially in the modality online. Most of the educational institutions were not up to this challenge. Thus, both teachers and students were navigating this challenge under uncertainty. Therefore, these institutions faced difficulties regarding information technologies and how to deliver the contents effectively to the students. One of the potential ways to overcome these difficulties is to implement innovative tools that provide certainty to students through frameworks such as Agile. Agile is a proven framework in software development that allows distributing tasks in sprints with tolerance to constant changes. Additionally, The Service-Learning methodology allows students to get a hands-on learning experience by working with real-life cases and firms. Therefore, the research question is whether implementing one of the Agile frameworks such as Scrum and the Service-Learning methodology would improve students' content delivery. To test this research question, we evaluated the implementation of these methodologies through a case study based on one course of Engineering in Information and Management Control at the Universidad Catolica del Norte in Chile. Our findings show that this setup increased teamwork levels, time management, and overall work satisfaction.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel corinavirus (later named SARS-CoV-2 virus), was fistly reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China towards the end of 2019. Large-scale spread within China and internationally led the World Health Organization to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January 2020. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 virus infection include asymptomatic infection, mild upper respiratory symptoms, severe viral pneumonia with respiratory failure, and even death. There are no antivirals of proven clinical efficacy in coronavirus infections. Remdesivir (GS-5734), a nucleoside analogue, has inhibitory effects on animal and human highly pathogenic coronaviruses, including MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, in in vitro and in vivo experiments. It is also inhibitory against the COVID-19 virus in vitro. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of remdesivir in adult patients with severe COVID-19. METHODS: The protocol is prepared in accordance with the SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) guidelines. This is a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial. Adults (≥ 18 years) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 virus infection, severe pneumonia signs or symptoms, and radiologically confirmed severe pneumonia are randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to intravenously administered remdesivir or placebo for 10 days. The primary endpoint is time to clinical improvement (censored at day 28), defined as the time (in days) from randomization of study treatment (remdesivir or placebo) until a decline of two categories on a six-category ordinal scale of clinical status (1 = discharged; 6 = death) or live discharge from hospital. One interim analysis for efficacy and futility will be conducted once half of the total number of events required has been observed. DISCUSSION: This is the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial in COVID-19. Enrolment began in sites in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on 6th February 2020. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04257656. Registered on 6 February 2020.