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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly challenged by the Covid pandemic, the climate crisis, war and political tensions including the fuel price crisis. Strategic responses to crisis including cost-cutting as retrenchment in the short run, debt financing to preserve the status quo and exit. However, perhaps the most positive is to innovate for renewal. The paper considers how working with an approach to futures and foresight learning, three different SMEs during the Covid pandemic and beyond formed action learning groups and were able to find future opportunities from which innovation ideas for action in the present could be undertaken. The paper considers the meaning of innovation including what Revans saw as an 'Innovation Paradox' as a gap between invention and innovation. In SMEs, the importance of informal innovation and an innovation orientation are identified. The meaning futures and foresight learning is considered and the focus on the identification of new opportunities for products and services, delivered by a process of action learning. Findings from three SMEs are presented from meetings that took place during 2021 to 2022, when Covid restrictions were partly in place. They show how each programme begins with opportunity questions for the future which then lead to ideas after a consideration of trends and patterns. Further methods of futures thinking are presented which allow further ideas to be developed for innovation. In each case, ideas are selected for business planning after approval. Discussion of the findings considers the importance of futures and foresight learning combined with action learning for SMEs to become more strategic, future-oriented and creative in seeking opportunities for innovation.
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Introduction: Less than 10% of U.S. adults meet the guidelines for whole grains, fruits, and vegetables each day. The Healthy for Life community-based program aims to change confidence and health behaviors, by equipping individuals with new skills for healthy living. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the program pivoted from in-person to a virtual implementation model. This required more advanced planning due to additional logistics to ensure a skills-based learning environment. Objective(s): To examine the effectiveness of the Healthy for Life program over time, specifically: o Changes in participant confidence in the preparation of healthy foods at home o Changes in participant consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains o Changes in participant frequency of healthy shopping habitsMethods: A community engagement program was implemented and evaluated in 17 community centers in 2020-2021 to measure changes in participant confidence to prepare healthy meals at home, consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and frequency of healthy shopping habits. Community center facilitators administered the same pre/post survey to participants at the first educational experience, and then again at the final experience. Facilitators entered the participant data into an online survey portal. Analysis was conducted with 235 participants who completed both pre and post surveys. Two-way repeated ordinal regression was used to assess changes in key metrics over time. Result(s): Participants were predominately female (90.6%), about two-thirds (65.2%) were between 25-55 years old, and most identified as non-Hispanic White/Caucasian (42.6%) or Black/African American (35.7%). Close to half (45.9%) of participants had a college degree or higher, over a quarter (28.1%) received benefits from SNAP and/or WIC, and more than two-thirds (63.8%) indicated they are the only person in their household preparing meals. Almost half (49.3%) of respondents attended the suggested minimum of 4 educational experiences. On average, respondents statistically significantly increased their daily fruit & vegetable consumption by 1.21 serving(s). In addition, over one-third (34%) of respondents increased their level of confidence to prepare healthy meals at home and (37%) respondents increased their level of confidence to substitute healthier cooking and food preparation methods. Close to half (47.2%) respondents reported increased frequency of reading food labels and checking the nutritional values when purchasing food. Conclusion(s): Despite the shift to virtual implementation, the Healthy for Life community education program, was still effective in improving participant confidence and dietary behaviors over time. However, additional research studies are required to further assess whether virtual implementation of this type of intervention will continue to be effective.
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GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science) is a free STEAM and programming summer camp and after-school robotics club that focuses on educating girls about the fields of STEM. GEMS is divided into two main programs: miniGEMS for rising fifth through eighth middle school students and megaGEMS for rising ninth through twelfth-grade high school students. This paper will provide an overview of a new program within megaGEMS called megaGEMS AEOP (Army Education Outreach Program) for rising eleventh and twelfth-grade high school girls. The camp was initially piloted in the Summer of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a virtual four-week research camp. For Summer 2021, megaGEMS hosted the inaugural eight-week in-person Apprenticeship Research Camp from June 7-August 6, 2021, for eight rising juniors or seniors. This Apprenticeship Research Camp was held at the Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research Laboratories located at the University of the Incarnate Word provided the students with an experiential research camp mentored by both faculty and graduate students in the science of autonomy. The camp was funded through two grants provided by the Army Education Outreach Program. Examples of projects included brain-computer interfacing, virtual reality, and Infrared and LIDAR sensor collection. One apprentice was able to obtain her FAA Part 107 UAS Operator license to collect images using a drone. The camp provided opportunities to expand soft skills, explore college-level research, and community outreach. The apprenticeship curriculum was implemented by undergraduate and graduate students which included: daily Python coding classes, developing quality research skills, improving public speaking, and introducing careers in STEAM. Local female STEM leaders were guest speakers and provided career advice. The program concluded with a research symposium where they presented their research in poster and presentation format. This paper will provide details about recruiting, lessons learned working with students and parents under COVID-19 restrictions and developing research agendas for high school students. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
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Free-living assessment and remote monitoring is important for healthcare researchers. Moving research beyond the laboratory provides habitual environments for remote assessment that allows research to remain agile even when facing uncontrollable external factors e.g., the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Emergent technologies have the potential to make this form of assessment feasible by providing accessible and affordable mechanisms for conducting free-living research. This paper presents findings from a study that was halted due to the pandemic, but this work highlighted a series of challenges that may present themselves to researchers conducting similar work. By transparently reporting the challenges and solutions rather than just methods, it is hoped that the lessons learned from this study could provide researchers with greater awareness in future studies. © 2021 ACM.
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BACKGROUND: Despite over 4 million cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States, limited data exist including socioeconomic background and post-discharge outcomes for patients hospitalized with this disease. METHODS: In this case series, we identified patients with COVID-19 admitted to 3 Partners Healthcare hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts between March 7th, 2020, and March 30th, 2020. Patient characteristics, treatment strategies, and outcomes were determined. FINDINGS: A total of 247 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were identified; the median age was 61 (interquartile range [IQR]: 50-76 years), 58% were men, 30% of Hispanic ethnicity, 21% enrolled in Medicaid, and 12% dual-enrolled Medicare/Medicaid. The median estimated household income was $66,701 [IQR: $50,336-$86,601]. Most patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine (72%), and statins (76%; newly initiated in 34%). During their admission, 103 patients (42%) required intensive care. At the end of the data collection period (June 24, 2020), 213 patients (86.2%) were discharged alive, 2 patients (0.8%) remain admitted, and 32 patients (13%) have died. Among those discharged alive (n = 213), 70 (32.9%) were discharged to a post-acute facility, 31 (14.6%) newly required supplemental oxygen, 19 (8.9%) newly required tube feeding, and 34 (16%) required new prescriptions for antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, methadone, or opioids. Over a median post-discharge follow-up of 80 days (IQR, 68-84), 22 patients (10.3%) were readmitted. INTERPRETATION: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are frequently of vulnerable socioeconomic status and often require intensive care. Patients who survive COVID-19 hospitalization have substantial need for post-acute services.
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This paper relates to allaying the global fear on the persistence of the mortality rates due to the outbreak of the current COVID-19. This study thus uses the fractional integration techniques to examine the degree of persistence in the COVID-19 mortality rates for the global data and six high-risk countries, namely China, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. We find evidence in favour of mean reversion for the global mortality rates in all cases, except Italy and Spain where anti-persistence is observed. The reversion is expected to be faster for the United States followed by France. This means that the effects of the shocks caused by the pandemic on mortality rates will recover automatically by themselves in the countries where mean reversion is noticed. Therefore, we suggest that, in addition to the global strive for medical breakthrough over the virus, other current policies, including social distancing, frequent hand sanitization, appropriate regional lockdowns, etc. introduced by most of these countries are important in drastically reducing the number of contacts with the virus. This will consequently have decreasing effects on mortality rates, and then ensure fast rate of reversion.