Covid -19 Social Distance Analysis Using Machine Learning

According to the Ministry of Global Health, social distance is one of the most effective defenses against COVID-19 and helps to prevent its spread. Governments have imposed many safety orders on citizens and facilities to limit social distancing and slow the spread of the virus. As a result, there has been an increase in interest in technologies to research and control the spread of COVID-19 in various settings. This research aims to investigate the results of several machine learning approaches to find cases when the physical distance between people has been violated. The method first identifies the instance of the human in the video frame, tracks the movements, computes the distance with other humans on the same frame and thus estimates the number of people who violate the social distance. Compares the approach to performing the performance using Yolo, SSD and Faster R- CNN. Videos that are used in this approach are collected from the wild, considering different camera settings, indoor and outdoor scenes, and recorded from various angles. Comparing the three methods Yolo, SSD and Faster RNN, the results show Yolo has a better performance in detecting humans from the current videos and thus in determining the violation of the distance between humans. © 2023 IEEE.

Reorientation of teaching/teachers about education and pandemic

This chapter is chiefly concerned with presenting an integrated worldview of teaching to deliver positive and effective teaching solutions during times of crisis. In particular, the chapter emphasizes the role of educational leadership and management and stresses the value of performance management, performance appraisal, emotional intelligence, and continuous education during the concurrent covID-19 pandemic. Toward this end, the chapter addresses issues pertaining to anxiety management and cultivating task-oriented learning communities that are modern, inclusive, and rein-vigorating. The objective is to produce a pedagogically useful document when reorienting contemporary teaching practice and teaching staff in Saudi Arabia. © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2022.

Undergraduate Nursing Students Endorse Education Standards in Blended e-Learning Theory Teaching during COVID-19 Pandemic

Aim: The aim of this study was to survey student learning perspectives as measured by ‘student satisfaction’ following the rapid introduction of remote blended e-learning into the existing undergraduate nursing curriculum at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia. Background: National legislation resulting from the spread of Covid-19 required all theoretical and practical nurse training to move immediately to online provision using an unfamiliar e-learning environment and associated tools. Objective: The objective of this study was to use a validated satisfaction questionnaire developed elsewhere, but within a similar educational context involving both theoretical and practical components, for the purpose of checking that educational objectives were being satisfactorily achieved across five relevant domains of educational enquiry, and to use survey findings to improve the online delivery of the nursing program in future academic years. Methods: A validated 35 item questionnaire was circulated online to all male and female nursing students in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of study. The questionnaire content was subdivided into the five domains of ‘Interaction’, ‘Instruction’, ‘Instructor’, ‘Course Management’ and ‘Technology’. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to compare levels of satisfaction between genders and among undergraduate years of study, and against findings from undergraduate information technology undergraduates. Results: 199 female and 84 male students completed the questionnaire (response rate 59.2%). Mean satisfaction scores for male and female nursing undergraduates were significantly greater than 3 (neutral score) in all domains of enquiry, indicating good satisfaction with blended e-learning (p<0.001). However, multivariate regressions of domain satisfaction scores taking gender and year of study as explanatory variables had poor resolving power. Domain scores were also significantly greater than those of a comparator study in three of the five domains (p<0.030) and similar in the domains of course management (p=0.717) and technology (p=0.677). Levels of satisfaction in males and females were similar in 80% of the survey questions, but in females, satisfaction was significantly lower in some questions concerning technology (p<0.003), willingness to interrupt the instructor (p=0.021), comparison of blended learning and face-to-face teaching (p=0.002) and timely feedback on tests and assignments (p=0.031). Fourth-year students showed the highest levels of satisfaction across all five domains. Conclusion: Undergraduate nursing students reported above-average satisfaction levels across all five domains of education provision. Despite an unfamiliar blended e-learning curriculum environment, they demonstrated compatible technological skills, satisfactory interaction with teachers and other students and engagement in the learning process. A number of recommendations identified in the literature as underlying a successful program of blended e-learning are recorded for the benefit of readers. © 2021 Tayyib et al.

Healthcare Professionals (Nurses') Perceived Stress and Coping: Amid COVID-19

Background: Nurses are the frontline health professional more likely to undergo various stressors during the pandemic Covid-19 situation. The ongoing unprecedented crisis causes more stress, especially among nurses, as they are the most vulnerable group who predominantly get impacted while delivering comprehensive care. Aim: This study explored the level of stress among nurses working in different healthcare settings. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study among nurses from developed and developing countries between 7 February and 7 April 2020 was adopted for this research. Sixty-four nurses working in different healthcare settings were included in the study. A self-developed online questionnaire using google documents was used to collect data that comprised baseline data, Cohen Perceived stress scale, simplified coping items, and items of psychosocial perception. Results: It was revealed that 75.64% of studied participants (N=64) had a high level of stress, with a mean anxiety score and Standard deviation of 3.52 +/- 1.084, during the Covid-19 pandemic situation. A statistically significant association was found between the demographic variables such as experience and participation in the COVID-19 team at p<.05, whereas gender, age, and working unit do not show any significant associations. Conclusion: Heath institutions' effective and efficient protocols are required to enhance nurses' mental strength and alleviate their lack of coping strategies, particularly during a crisis.