Improving Tuberculosis Diagnostics using Deep Learning and Mobile Health Technologies among Resource-poor Communities in Peru

As part of the mini-symposium entitled “Research on Digital Health for Designing Scalable Pervasive Healthcare Monitoring, Rehabilitation, and Home-based Healthcare Systems,” Dr. Alcantara discusses a project to improve the tuberculosis diagnosis in resource poor communities in Peru

Reliving the Bayanihan Spirit: SPRCNHS Landayan Annex Narratives in the New Normal

Bayanihan spirit has been culturally embedded among Filipinos throughout history. Bayanihan also known as tulongan or damayan, is common among Filipinos. In the Philippines, this is a system of mutual assistance and care that serves as a foundation for family and community. In times of adversity, natural calamities, and acts of God, bayanihan becomes a distinct Filipino culture. During this pandemic, the educational system becomes vulnerable to ensure the safety of all learners as well as stakeholders. The study is qualitative research and employed a narrative approach. The study explores the educational and socio-cultural contexts of the experiences among participants, embracing the stories of the pandemic and how it affected them in the "new normal" of the educational processes. Five teachers and five external stakeholders participated in this study. The paper also converges and corroborates the aggregate of teacher and stakeholder narratives. The outcomes include an understanding of the new normal, school and community preparation for the start of classes, narratives of the Bayanihan spirit as manifested by teachers and stakeholders, symbols describing feelings about Bayanihan, and significant experiences during the pandemic

enmpa: An R package for ecological niche modeling using presence-absence data and generalized linear models

Here, we present the new R package “enmpa,” which includes a range of tools for modeling ecological niches using presence-absence data via logistic generalized linear models. The package allows users to calibrate, select, project, and evaluate models using independent data. We have emphasized a comprehensive search for ideal predictor combinations, including linear, quadratic, and two-way interaction responses, to provide more detailed and robust model calibration processes. We demonstrate the use of the package with an example of a simulated pathogen and its niche. Since enmpa is designed specifically to work with presence-absence data, our tools are particularly useful for studies with data derived from a detection or non-detection sampling universe, such as pathogen testing results. enmpa can be downloaded from CRAN, and the source code is freely available on GitHub

Real-time action recognition using a multilayer descriptor with variable size

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Video analysis technology has become less expensive and more powerful in terms of storage resources and resolution capacity, promoting progress in a wide range of applications. Video-based human action detection has been used for several tasks in surveillance environments, such as forensic investigation, patient monitoring, medical training, accident prevention, and traffic monitoring, among others. We present a method for action identification based on adaptive training of a multilayer descriptor applied to a single classifier. Cumulative motion shapes (CMSs) are extracted according to the number of frames present in the video. Each CMS is employed as a self-sufficient layer in the training stage but belongs to the same descriptor. A robust classification is achieved through individual responses of classifiers for each layer, and the dominant result is used as a final outcome. Experiments are conducted on five public datasets (Weizmann, KTH, MuHAVi, IXMAS, and URADL) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in terms of accuracy in real time. (C) 2016 SPIE and IS&TVideo analysis technology has become less expensive and more powerful in terms of storage resources and resolution capacity, promoting progress in a wide range of applications. Video-based human action detection has been used for several tasks in surveill2501FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)SEM INFORMAÇÃOSEM INFORMAÇÃ

Individual Incentives versus Team Performance: Lessons from a Game of Charades

In this article, we describe a modified game of Charades that was developed to facilitate a discussion on the basic principles of effective reward system design. Students are organized into small groups. Incentive schemes are then manipulated so that one player within the group strives for an individual incentive, while the rest of the team play for a group reward. Through this simple and “fun” activity, students learn firsthand what happens when individual and team interests and incentives are not aligned. This experiential learning activity also offers excellent opportunities to discuss group dynamics, communication and coordination, and the importance of maintaining a systemic view of organizational performance

Individual Incentives versus Team Performance: Lessons from a Game of Charades

In this article, we describe a modified game of Charades that was developed to facilitate a discussion on the basic principles of effective reward system design. Students are organized into small groups. Incentive schemes are then manipulated so that one player within the group strives for an individual incentive, while the rest of the team play for a group reward. Through this simple and “fun” activity, students learn firsthand what happens when individual and team interests and incentives are not aligned. This experiential learning activity also offers excellent opportunities to discuss group dynamics, communication and coordination, and the importance of maintaining a systemic view of organizational performance

Redefining Tourism Governance in Raja Ampat: Sustainable Development Plus, Governance Index and Android Based App Open Access

To develop tourism sustainably in an emerging tourism destination especially Raja Ampat, there is a need to manage regional identity and develop governance arrangements that bond tourism development and community together. The government as a key initiator of community empowerment, needs to ensure its governance arrangements are efficient. This paper develops a framework to measure the effectiveness of regional governance for sustainable tourism development based on two main elements: sustainable development plus and tourism governance. Sustainable development plus consists of two core named internal and external layers. The tourism governance is then measured by data triangulation, and analysis. The result of the analysis is articulated into tourism governance index and management strategy based on Boston Consulting Group Matrix. This framework which later transformed into governance matrix can be used to set up governance index to help the government improve the governance performance. The android based app open access is also developed to bring policy making process closer to the community and global sphere

Empirical thermal comfort evaluation of single and double skin façades

In this paper, the topic of thermal comfort for buildings with double skin façades and single skin façades is demonstrated and discussed. A long-term monitoring was performed in 280 office rooms distributed over 28 buildings in Germany. The survey methods were based on sensor measurements and data simultaneously gathered from questionnaire given to office users. The authors take into consideration the operative temperature, vertical gradient temperature, draught rate, radiation asymmetry, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration. The aim is to determine the individual sensory perception of the indoor environment and compare it to the actually measured indoor climate in buildings with double skin façades and single skin façades. In regards to the thermal comfort results, in general, it is shown that double skin façades buildings have slight advantages in relation to single skin façades buildings. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Fil: Huckemann, Volker. Technical University of Braunschweig; AlemaniaFil: Kuchen, Ernesto. Technical University of Braunschweig; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Leão, Marlon. Technical University of Braunschweig; AlemaniaFil: Leão, Érika F. T. B.. Technical University of Braunschweig; Alemani

Effects of Learning Action Cells among Elementary Teachers' Level of Awareness on Climate Change Education

Climate change from a global perspective unequivocally accepts that humans are the primary cause of this phenomenon. A professional development program or learning action cell (LAC) must be designed and implemented to promote programs and practices vis-à-vis climate change. Hence, learning action cells (LAC) followed the theory of experiential learning as modeled by Kolb (1984) with a novel perspective conducted among elementary teachers at the Schools Division Office-City of San Pedro. It described the level of agreement regarding global warming and climate change; the level of knowledge on related issues of climate change; the level of agreement and disagreement on climate actions; the significant effect of learning action cells; and the role of education in addressing climate change. The study was a concurrent triangulation design, using a descriptive-survey and a narrative approach. Convenient sampling was employed with twenty-one teacher-respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data and a narrative approach for qualitative data. A paired t-test was used to test the significant effect of LAC using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. The results indicated that LAC on climate change has a significant effect on the level of agreement on global warming and climate change, the level of knowledge on related issues of climate change, and the level of agreement and disagreement on climate actions. The role of education includes the following themes: (a) from integrating climate change to integrating climate change towards application; (b) empowering and engaging learners to lead, train, and emphasize climate change to learners; and (c) educating people to act for better results