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Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, so science has been trying to help mitigate its effects from its various fields of study. Machine learning methods can play an important role in identifying test results that reveal whether an individual has the disease. This degree work presents a prototype based on computer vision and machine learning techniques to automatically detect SARS-CoV-2 serology tests. The goal of the prototype is to identify and classify the serology test cassette result by Immunoglobulin G and Immunoglobulin M indicators that are flagged after a test reaction time which is approximately 15 minutes. The results in the identification performed by the prototype are promising and ease its analysis, reducing the errors in the identification of the test and the interpretation of the results. The result is a prototype that allows to perform, simplify and improve the tasks of health professionals, which they must perform daily in the triage area. © 2022 IEEE.
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One of the big problems facing Latin America in education is undoubtedly the educational backwardness that is present and worsens over time, México is no stranger to this problem, in recent years and especially in times of pandemic COVID-19 brought important educational challenges that aggravated the problems. To this is added the difficulty faced by students in learning mathematics, due to the teaching methods used that do not motivate or arouse the interest of students. The objective of this research is to design digital environments focused on virtual reality as a support in the learning of basic mathematics for elementary school students. It is proposed to build a software architecture based on an ecosystem for virtual reality applications, the proposed ecosystem is composed of providers and consumers of educational content (children), elementary school teachers who will generate and design basic mathematics activities and elementary school students will consume the applications through the activities within different virtual environments and with different interaction dynamics making use of virtual reality viewers. It is expected that the architecture can establish the basis for the design and production of Virtual Reality applications that allow the conformation of learning communities in mathematics through the virtual reality learning ecosystem. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Socially responsible mutual funds (SRMF) , the "antisocially conscious", Vitium Global Fund Barrier Fund (formerly known as the Vice Fund, the term used in this paper) returns, volatility patterns , causal effects are examined in this study within the context of the lessons learned from the 2008 Global Economic and Financial Crisis (GEFC). In times of a new and unprecedented crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a look back to our recent past reveals that volatility patterns on daily stock returns presented some level of predictability on prices for both types of funds. The research findings are significant as funds' potential predictability could help market players when designing their investment strategies. More specifically, an increase in volatility persistence is found after the GEFC, together with an increase in the Vice Fund's resilience to market shocks. Although all funds, without substantial differences, take time to absorb the shocks. A noteworthy outcome relates to SRMF that was able to achieve higher returns and exhibited lower volatility levels during the crisis period. Whereas the Vice Fund revealed long-run sustainable performance offering fund managers and investors investment opportunities that are endorsed by the fund performance over the period. Furthermore, unidirectional causality was found running from the Vice Fund to the SRMF, exhibiting a clear dominance during the GEFC period. The research findings contribute to the debate on the future of socially responsible investment, indicating that SRMF appears to be driven by "antisocially conscious" funds signaling limited rewards for investors inclined to invest in funds that are considered socially responsible.
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The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented change in the lifestyle routines of millions of people. Beyond the multiple repercussions of the pandemic, we are also facing significant challenges in the population's mental health and health programs. Typical techniques to measure the population's mental health are semiautomatic. Social media allow us to know habits and daily life, making this data a rich silo for understanding emotional and mental well-being. This study aims to build a resilient and flexible system that allows us to track and measure the sentiment changes of a given population, in our case, the Mexican people, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We built an extensive data system utilizing modern cloud-based serverless architectures to analyze 760,064,879 public domain tweets collected from a public access repository to examine the collective shifts in the general mood about the pandemic evolution, news cycles, and governmental policies using open sentiment analysis tools. We provide metrics, advantages, and challenges of developing serverless cloud-based architectures for a natural language processing project of a large magnitude. © 2022, The Author(s).
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Heat shock proteins of 90 kDa (HSP90) have been proposed as adjuvants in the design of new vaccine formulations. In our laboratory, two cytosolic isoforms of plant HSP90 (AtHsp81.2 from Arabidopsis thaliana and NbHsp90.3 from Nicotiana benthamiana) demonstrate to have adjuvant properties against parasitic infections such as Toxoplasmosis and Neosporosis. We showed that plant HSP90 fused or mixed with the antigen of interest can enhance and modulate the immune response. To evaluate the adjuvant properties of plant HSP90 in other infectious diseases poorly characterized, we proposed to use the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV2, and the main candidate in the design of subunit vaccines. Initially, we evaluated the humoral response against RBD using the strategy protein mixture (Adjuvant + Antigen). Thirty C57 mice (male and female) were randomly separated into 7 groups and intramuscularly immunized with AtHsp81.2, NbHsp90.3 or RBD as control groups, rRBD + rAtHsp81.2, rRBD + rNbHsp90.3 or rRBD + Alum as vaccinated groups. A PBS group immunized with PBS 1x buffer was also included. Mice received a two-dose schedule delivered in 21-day intervals, and the sera were obtained at 0, 21-, 42-, 63-and 84-days post-immunization (dpi). The analysis of the humoral response showed a significant increase in anti-RBD IgGt, which persisted between 21 and 42 dpi. In addition, the RBD + AtHsp81.2 group showed a Th2 profile with a significant increase of anti-RBD IgG1 like the control RBD + Alum group. By contrast, the RBD + NbHsp90.3 group showed a significant increase in anti-RBD IgG2b towards a Th1 profile. Finally, we evaluated the capacity of the sera to neutralize lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with Spike glycoprotein. Serum-neutralizing antibody titers were determined by the 50% inhibitory dilution. The sera obtained at 42 dpi from mice immunized with rRBD + rAtHsp81.2 and rRBD + rNbHsp90.3 showed the potential to neutralize viral infection. In addition, the differential profile of both isoforms in the triggered humoral response offers an advantage of rapid and safe response in pandemic situations such as those experienced by SARS-CoV2. Neurosciences.
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Global stock markets experienced a dual shock in 2020 due to the impact of the global health crisis, parallel to a simultaneous shock derived from the Saudi Arabia and Russia oil price war. The dual shock fueled oil market volatility with lasting effects as the global economy is immersed in an energy crisis combined with high inflationary pressures exacerbated by heightened energy costs. This research paper implemented GARCH and FIGARCH models on daily returns from 31 December 2015, to 9 December 2021, to examine volatility persistence and long memory processes. The world's most prominent economies are represented by the G7, E7 and the GCC stock markets. Particular attention was devoted to the case of Kuwait as an example of a small oil-dependent economy. The research findings suggest evidence of volatility persistence across the markets, as reported by the GARCH (1,1) model. The FIGARCH (1,1) did not offer significant evidence of long memory processes except for the cases of FTSE 100, BIST 100, IDEX, BSE 100 and Bahrain.
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This paper presents an analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the operations of National Statistical Offices (NSOs), how NSOs responded and adjusted to the disruptions, and how they are transitioning to a post-pandemic equilibrium. The paper uses four rounds of the Global COVID-19 survey of NSOs conducted by The World Bank and the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), in coordination with the UN Regional Commissions. The paper highlights the heterogeneity of the COVID-19 disruptions among NSOs and provides evidence that statistical operations have been hardest hit in low- and lower middle-income countries. We find that NSOs with weaker Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, and those more impacted by declines in funding tended to be more affected and lag in their recovery trajectory. These NSOs tend to be concentrated in low- and lower-middle income countries. The paper concludes that without targeted action the effects of the pandemic will exacerbate and widen pre-existing data production inequalities, despite the best efforts of NSOs that have in most cases responded to the pandemic with the adoption of innovative solutions and have ingeniously used this crisis as an opportunity to accelerate the modernization of the national statistical systems. © 2022 - The authors.
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A simple strategy to reduce disparities in Covid-19 vaccination is to consistently offer the vaccine during primary care visits, a process that can be measured using standardized documentation practices.
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Background: DT combination has shown efficacy in the adjuvant setting for BRAF-mutated melanoma (BMM) patients (pts) in clinical trials. Previous reports from DESCRIBE-AD resulted in promising overall survival (OS) rates at 12 months. Methods: An observational retrospective study was carried out in 25 GEM sites in Spain. Histologically confirmed and resected BMM pts previously treated with DT according to standard clinical practice in the adjuvant setting were included. Only surgical resection was allowed as a prior treatment to DT. DT discontinuation rate and time to treatment discontinuation were the primary objective. Secondary objectives included safety and efficacy of the combination. Here, we report 3-year results for OS. Results: From 10/2020 to 03/2021, 65 pts were included. Median age was 58 years, 55% were male and 60%, 25%, and 14% had an ECOG PS 0/1/Uk respectively, one patient presented ECOG 3. Allocation of stage IIIA, IIIB and IIIC according to TNM AJCC 7th edition was 29%, 26% and 32%, respectively. There were 3 pts diagnosed at stage I/II but considered of risk, and 2 pts with stage IV but completely resected, all considered for adjuvant DT. Ulceration was present in 40%, Breslow ≥2 mm in 71%, and nodes were microscopically and macroscopically affected in 39% and 22% of pts, respectively. Only 9.2% of pts discontinued DT prematurely due to toxicity and 21.2% had dose reductions to manage toxicity. After a median follow-up of 36.2 m (range: 13-51.1), the overall OS rate at 3-years was 83.5% (95% CI: 74.5-93.5). According to AJCC 7 stage at diagnosis, the 3-years OS rate was 95.2% (95% CI: 86.6-100), 75% (56-100), and 76.8% (60.7-97.2) for stage I-II-IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC-IV respectively. Throughout the study period 11 (16.9%) pts died, of which 10 died due to disease progression and one due to COVID-19 infection. Conclusions: Adjuvant treatment with DT for melanoma achieved good treatment compliance and has proven efficacy in the real world. Adjuvant DT has a clinical impact in survival in line with previous clinical trial COMBI-AD. Editorial acknowledgement: We acknowledge Mfar Clinical Research staff for their assistance in the development of this . Legal entity responsible for the study: Grupo Español Multidisciplinar en Melanoma (GEM). Funding: Grupo Español Multidisciplinar en Melanoma (GEM) as Sponsor with Industry partner NOVARTIS. Disclosure: P. Cerezuela-Fuentes: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Consultancy, conference,congress attendance/infrastructure: BMS, MSD, Pierre Fabre, Roche, Sanofi, SunPharma. J. Martín-Liberal: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Lecture fees: Astellas, MSD;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Lecture fees, advisory fees: Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi;Non-Financial Interests, Personal, Member, membership or affiliation: ASCO, ESMO, SEOM, GEM, EORTC, SOGUG, GEIS. L.A. Fernández-Morales: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Speak at sponsored meetings: BMS, MSD, Pierre-Fabre, Roche;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speak at sponsored meetings and advisory role: Novartis. J. Medina Martinez: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker, consultancy or advisory role or similar activity: Novartis, Roche, Pierre Fabre, BMS, MSD, Sanofi. M. Quindós: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, speaker, consultancy and advisory: AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, PharmaMar, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pierre Fabre;Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, Clinical trials: Merck Sharp & Dohme, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb. A. García Castaño: Non-Financial Interests, Advisory Role: Bristol, MSD, Novartis. T. Puértolas: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Speaker and advisory role: BMS, Novartis;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker: Roche, MSD, Sun-Pharma;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker and advisory role: Pierre-Fabre;Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role: Sanofi;Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, Clinical trial: Roche, BMS, Apexi en Inc, Aduro Biotech, Alkermes Inc;Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, congresses inscriptions: Lilly, Sun-Pharma, Novartis, Roche, MSD;Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Leadership Role, Vocal: GEM (Grupo Español Multidisciplinar de Melanoma);Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Affiliate: SEOM (Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica), GEM (Grupo Español Multidisciplinar de Melanoma). P. Ayala de Miguel: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Public speaking: Novartis, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Sanofi, Pierre-Fabré. B. Campos: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker or advisory role: Roche, BMS, Sanofi, Novartis, Pierre-Fabre, Sun Pharma;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker role: AstraZeneca, Merck, ROVI, Leo Pharma. E. Espinosa: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role, Advisory: BMS, MSD;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Advisory, educational activities: Novartis;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Advisory, educational activities: Pierre Fabre;Financial Interests, Personal, Funding, Funding for translational investigation: Roche;Non-Financial Interests, Personal, Member, Vicepresident: Grupo Español Multidisciplinario de Melanoma. A. Rodríguez-Lescure: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role: Pfizer, Novartis, ROCHE, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Seagen;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Public speaking: Pierre-Fabre;Financial Interests, Institutional, Research Grant, Grant for Clinical Trials: BMS, Lilly, Roche, Novartis, Amgen, Pzifer, Zimeworks, AstraZeneca, G1 Therapeutics, Bayer. L. Espasa Font: Financial Interests, Personal, Full or part-time Employment: Novartis. G. Belaustegui Ferrández: Financial Interests, Personal, Full or part-time Employment: Novartis. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Résumé
The transformation of education through emerging technologies has been an imperative due to the pandemic of COVID-19, which has forced higher education institutions to propose strategies to provide better experiences for their students. The objective of this research was to identify the challenges and opportunities of using WebVR tools for the development of academic activities, with the intention of interpreting how these technological tools are combined with educational practices among teachers and students. The context was placed in an activity of a graduate level course in online format, in a private higher education institution in Mexico. A qualitative study was conducted with a case study design to account for the perception of the participants regarding the value of the user experience, the analysis of the integrated tools and the contribution of this WebVR tool to the development of competencies in educational practice. The results show that if the technical requirements and a basic level of appropriation of digital competencies are met, including this type of emerging technology will bring benefits to the educational practice, such as the development of transversal and disciplinary competencies, improvement of interaction and socialization of participants, as well as motivation by incorporating playful elements. IEEE
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During 2020, the pandemic caused by COVID-19 expanded in Latin America, as a consequence face-to-face teaching experienced an abrupt transition to non-face-to-face environments, some of them supported by technologies, especially by the use of platforms for the management of learning and learning. video conferencing sessions. This forced teachers more than ever to discover and deploy their technological skills, however, this transition brought with it uncertainty about the level of development of teachers’ digital skills. This article presents the elaboration and reliability analysis of an instrument called the Digital Competences Questionnaire in Non-Presential Environments (CD-NP), whose objective is to measure in a non-presential teaching environment the perspectives of high school students on skills. shown by their professors to implement the chair mediated by the use of digital tools. In the elaboration and validation of the questionnaire, 19 experts participated, who concluded that the basic digital competences required by teachers to respond to the new reality of teaching are: communicative interaction, the selection and design of digital materials, and the evaluation of learning. 392 students from a private university collaborated to carry out the reliability analysis. The findings show that the instrument has acceptable levels of reliability since various analyzes were carried out, the most representative being that each item and category exceeded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.8093 and a McDonald’s Omega coefficient of 0.8958. It is concluded that the instrument has the necessary properties to be applied in the Mexican context, and opens the door to be implemented in other Latin American scenarios. © 2022, Universidad Compultense Madrid. All rights reserved.
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Educational institutions have continuously adapted to new realities in school education, accelerated recently by the COVID-19 pandemic's transformation of learning modalities. This article analyzes teachers' and Students' acceptance of a web-based virtual reality (WebVR) tool called Virtual Campus proposed to overcome the limitations of teaching strategies using video conferencing platforms. To measure the acceptance of the Virtual Campus, we designed an instrument based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that involves variables related to online contexts, the future perception of using the tool, skills development, and appreciation and recommendation. The results indicate that the participants favorably accepted WebVR technology as an alternative teaching methodology in emerging learning scenarios and intend to use it post-pandemic. The best-valued elements were interactions in the socialization spaces, the simulation of presence, and the environmental dynamics. The principal areas of opportunity for improvement were overcoming technical problems and improving the internet connection quality;however, these did not affect the participants' recommendations. Future studies should incorporate variables related to analyzing learning mediated by WebVR-based strategies and using different methodological designs to compare the findings.
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The pandemic undeniably affected the quality of education worldwide, the foregoing forced governments to restructure their policies, methodologies and pedagogical update in the work of the teacher in order to respond to the demands of the context based on diagnoses made by government entities. It is necessary to review what research has been developed in relation to this topic and how from there the antecedents that are part of the doctoral education path are built. The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of how to address the consequences of the pandemic in the educational sector from various investigations related to the subject and in which the categories are immersed: pedagogical work, ICT, teachinglearning methodologies, pandemic and hybrid education. An exclusion methodology was used based on the categories: pedagogical work, pandemic, virtuality, ICT, teaching-learning methodologies, hybrid education, from a systematic literature review based on Scopus, Google Scholar and Dialnet. Among the conclusions is that the digital divide is a reality that cannot be ignored, it should be reviewed based on the characteristics and needs of each context, avoiding copying models that what they do is supply needs in a superficial way.
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This work facilitates the process of continuous improvement in the institutions through the evaluation of compliance with state policies on occupational safety and health, applicable in governmental institutions. The measurement of regulatory compliance by means of the internal control questionnaire allows to classify the organizations in a framework of risk management before the Sars Cov 2 (COVID 19), providing as a result the determination that the organizations dedicated to provide health services maintain an extremely controlled risk management during the pandemic. While parish, municipal and provincial GAD'S show an important tendency, which classifies them as low risk. It also shows that 86.11% of health professionals in each institution provide quarantine or isolation to workers or public servants with suspected coronavirus (COVID19), always justifying their condition through a medical certificate.
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The objective of this research was to describe the type of stimulation at home and the joint attention of infants during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to evaluate the possible association between these variables. The sample consisted of 55 primary caregivers of Argentine infants aged 9 months to 3 years (M = 1.63, SD = 0.8, male n = 24). An ad hoc sociodemographic questionnaire, an ad hoc Home Stimulation Questionnaire and the Joint Attention Scale of Wetherby and Prizant (2002) were administered, for which all variables were collected by self-report. It was found that the TV was the device most used by infants, and that TV, cell phone, and Internet use were actively shared with caregivers. In turn, the levels of joint attention behaviors were high for this sample. A positive association was also found between shared reading, joint attention and contact with relatives. On the contrary, the more reading, the less daily TV use by the child. In turn, it was found that high number of months out of work, were associated to high levels of joint attention, and the only factor that positively predicted joint attention was unemployment. Finally, it was found that a greater number of books in the home was positively associated with recreational activities with the child and negatively associated with cell phone use. In this sense, a higher level of cell phone use by the child was associated with a greater consumption of news associated with COVID-19 by the caregiver. It is concluded that it is necessary to work on the amount of time that infants are exposed to technological devices and promote joint attention spaces, such as shared reading in the early years of development.
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The Covid-19 social distancing policies forced educational institutions to make significant changes. Schools had to migrate to a non-face-to-face modality using technological tools. However, using these communication platforms had negative consequences for students, such as concentration difficulties and feelings of isolation and anxiety. One alternative disruptive technology used to reduce these problems is virtual reality. This research aimed to know the users' experience with a Virtual Campus based on WebVR activities at a higher education institution in Mexico. The methodology applied was a qualitative case study. The results indicated satisfactory student experience, engaged participant interaction, dynamic activities, and socialization in an environment similar to face-to-face education. The main difficulties related to specific technical problems using the tool. However, these did not affect the positive assessment of the participants since 92.7% of the respondents would recommend a friend to use it. Future studies should include the teachers' perspective, design strategies that promote activities organized by students, and inclusion of others unrelated to academia.
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This case study describes a 45-year-old Caucasian male with a past medical history of obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, who in the setting of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia, developed portal vein thrombosis (PVT) presenting as an acute abdomen after hospital discharge from a cholecystitis episode. PVT is a very infrequent thromboembolic condition, classically occurring in patients with systemic conditions such as cirrhosis, malignancy, pancreatitis, diverticulitis, autoimmunity, and thrombophilia. PVT can cause serious complications, such as intestinal infarction, or even death, if not promptly treated. Due to the limited number of reports in the literature describing PVT in the COVID-19 setting, its prevalence, natural history, mechanism, and precise clinical features remain unknown. Therefore, clinical suspicion should be high for PVT, in any COVID-19 patient who presents with abdominal pain or associated signs and symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of COVID-19-associated PVT causing extensive thrombosis in the portal vein and its right branch, occurring in the setting of early-stage cirrhosis after a preceding episode of cholecystitis.
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China’s hunger for natural resources is growing as the Chinese authorities try to fuel an economy in need of sustainable economic growth while it adjusts to its “new normal” growth trajectory. There is a need to reactivate an economic model that is not meeting growth level targets and remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The country’s energy model needs to change amidst the challenges and significant costs posed by environmental degradation. Over the last decade, the Middle East’s connections have become of paramount importance to China, but these links are quite fragile as they are fundamentally affected by significant uncertainty. The Chinese authorities face paramount challenges as they engage with a very conflicting region characterised by increasing political frictions, armed conflicts, and escalating instability. These difficulties suggest the need for a highly cautious strategy as the Chinese authorities keep progressing with the redefinition of their energy model centered on stability and security as having a paramount importance to a country that needs to fuel its economic model. However, coal dependency, environmental concerns and lower economic growth levels have pushed the country to reconsider its energy model towards more sustainable approaches. As the government seeks energy sustainability, the research findings suggest that the country’s new energy model is shifting towards oil;this raises concerns regarding China’s national security interests and sustainable economic growth goals. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This article presents a compilation of the history of rural development in Colombia, through the economic political complex articulated with reality and its conflicts, which have generated an adverse episode for the competitiveness of the agricultural sector an d in turn an impact on the economic, social and cultural level. Afteraward, analyzing the actors, the complexity of the agricultural sector related to land ownership, analyzing the impact of factors such as biological risks, economic openness and peace agreements as new alternatives to generate competitive, sustainable development for communities, environment and territories. Finally, some alternatives are resolved that can achieve favorable changes in the sector, considering the implementation of the peace accords, the decentralization of the country, the recovery of ancestral knowledge and the strengthening of public institutions through research.
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This paper discusses the transition of an established residential Summer Bridge Program to a virtual learning experience due to the COVID-19 restrictions of summer 2020. The program aims to increase retention of first-year engineering students through a curriculum focused on academic readiness in math and chemistry, professional development, familiarity with campus and available resources, and a broad-based knowledge of engineering fields and the engineering design process. Outside of the curriculum, participants build community and a sense of belonging with social, professional development, and philanthropic programming. With the constraints of remote instruction, math readiness and community building were prioritized as crucial outcomes for participants in the virtual experience. Due to concerns about student retention and program completion, special consideration was given to designing the curriculum and schedule of this virtual program, and to fostering student and family engagement leading up to the program. Various models for math instruction, interpersonal engagement, and academic support were considered during planning. In the implemented program, participants were enrolled in one of three math courses based on preassessment exam results. To increase peer-to-peer engagement, each student participated in a team-based design project and group mentoring. Current engineering students were hired as coaches to facilitate mentoring group discussions and help provide oversight during project work. Additional student staff served as dedicated tutors assigned to one of the math courses. Tutors were made available both inside and outside of class to provide tutoring and mentorship. The program was administrated via synchronous Zoom conferencing with supplemental content provided through the University's course management system (CMS). Physical program materials were distributed by mail before and throughout the duration of the program. Post-program survey data and anecdotal feedback indicate that participants' confidence in their preparedness to pursue an engineering degree increased following completion of the program. While the available data also suggest participants were able to make social connections with select peers and staff, considerable work can be done to diversify and increase social connections during future virtual programs. Additional redesign of program content will also focus on increasing activity-based learning. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021