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The social confinement resulting from the COVID-19 crisis temporarily reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Although experts contend that the decrease in pollution rates was not drastic, some surveys detect growth in social concern about the climate. In this new climate-conscious environment, municipalities and local governments are promoting a new way of living and caring for cities, even before they can regain national and international freedom of movement. This work analyzes the connections between new climate awareness arising from the COVID-19 crisis, proposals of sustainable citizenship around the world, and its communication on Twitter to educate the new eco-conscious audience. The methodology mixes quantitative and qualitative analysis, using the Twitonomy Premium tool and the Twitter research tool with data extracted at the end of December 2020. Among the top ten most influential and active accounts, the results show educational institutions, local institutions, companies, neighborhoods, associations, and influencers. The impossibility of living in the city has not prevented citizen education and commitment to make real change for when that city and its citizens return to normality. However, this new normality must be different: more ecological, more responsible, more sustainable, and practiced from early childhood.

Twenty-minute neighbourhoods highlight the importance of well-connected and mixed-used neighbourhoods and communities with proximate access to employment, essential services, public transport, and open spaces. Shorter distances together with re-prioritised public spaces encourage more active transport choices, resulting in public health benefits and reduced environmental pollution. Higher liveability brought about by mixed-use developments enables people to have equitable access to local facilities, amenities, and employment opportunities, promoting vibrancy, social cohesion, and intergenerational connections. The attributes of 20-minute neighbourhoods also combine to create places, that are acknowledged as friendly for all ages, address changing needs across the life course, and provide better support for the ageing population. Furthermore, there are indications that 20-minute neighbourhoods may be more resilient against many of the negative impacts of stringent public health protocols such as those implemented in periods of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, we evaluate and compare planning policies and practices aimed at establishing 20-minute neighbourhoods in Melbourne (Australia) and Scotland (the UK). Using case studies, we discuss similarities and differences involved in using place-based approaches of 20-minute neighbourhoods to address 21st-century challenges in key areas of health and wellbeing, equity, environmental sustainability, and community resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a great emotional impact on the general population, with specific consequences in the field of sport and physical activity. The present study was conducted to meet two objectives: (1) to investigate if the pandemic had an impact on competitive anxiety and if the sex and competitive level played a mediating role, and (2) to investigate if the relationship between emotional self-control and anxiety was affected by the pandemic. An amount of 608 Spanish athletes participated, divided into two cohorts, before and after the pandemic. Measurements of competitive anxiety and emotional self-control were made at both time points, which were processed by combining analysis of variance and regression models. Differences were found in competitive anxiety before and after COVID-19, with athlete’s competitive level acting as a mediating variable. For high-level athletes, there was an increase in anxiety, while for lower-level athletes, there was a decrease in anxiety. The pandemic seems to have led to higher levels of anxiety in elite athletes, compared to amateur athletes. There was no interaction between the sex of the participants and the cohort. Emotional self-control remained a significant predictor of low competitive anxiety levels.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students have been affected by the closure of educational institutions. This has forced a shift from face-to-face to distance education, facing numerous emergency educational measures, such as online assessment. This study aims to present a systematic review of the literature on the impact of assessment in higher education during the pandemic. The study has followed the methodology set out in the PRISMA statement, and includes 13 studies selected from a total of 51. The results indicate that faculty and students have faced numerous challenges in moving to virtual environments; on the faculty side the lack of training in online assessment techniques is the main problem, on the students’ side there is dishonesty and misconduct. However, it is concluded that continuous assessment, not focused on exams, but in a more qualitative way is the best way to assess at a distance.

[ES] La búsqueda novedosa es un nuevo paradigma de los algoritmos de optimización, evolucionarios y bioinspirados, que está basado en la idea de forzar la búsqueda del óptimo global en aquellas partes inexploradas del dominio de la función que no son atractivas para el algoritmo, con la intención de evitar estancamientos en óptimos locales. La búsqueda novedosa se ha aplicado al algoritmo de optimización de enjambre de partículas, obteniendo un nuevo algoritmo denominado algoritmo de enjambre novedoso (NS). NS se ha aplicado al conjunto de pruebas sintéticas CEC2005, comparando los resultados con los obtenidos por otros algoritmos del estado del arte. Los resultados muestran un mejor comportamiento de NS en funciones altamente no lineales, a cambio de un aumento en la complejidad computacional. En lo que resta de trabajo, el algoritmo NS se ha aplicado en diferentes modelos, específicamente en el diseño de un motor de combustión interna, en la estimación de demanda de energía mediante gramáticas de enjambre, en la evolución del cáncer de vejiga de un paciente concreto y en la evolución del COVID-19. Cabe remarcar que, en el estudio de los modelos de COVID-19, se ha tenido en cuenta la incertidumbre, tanto de los datos como de la evolución de la enfermedad. [CA] La cerca nova és un nou paradigma dels algoritmes d'optimització, evolucionaris i bioinspirats, que està basat en la idea de forçar la cerca de l'òptim global en les parts inexplorades del domini de la funció que no són atractives per a l'algoritme, amb la intenció d'evitar estancaments en òptims locals. La cerca nova s'ha aplicat a l'algoritme d'optimització d'eixam de partícules, obtenint un nou algoritme denominat algoritme d'eixam nou (NS). NS s'ha aplicat al conjunt de proves sintètiques CEC2005, comparant els resultats amb els obtinguts per altres algoritmes de l'estat de l'art. Els resultats mostren un millor comportament de NS en funcions altament no lineals, a canvi d'un augment en la complexitat computacional. En el que resta de treball, l'algoritme NS s'ha aplicat en diferents models, específicament en el disseny d'un motor de combustió interna, en l'estimació de demanda d'energia mitjançant gramàtiques d'eixam, en l'evolució del càncer de bufeta d'un pacient concret i en l'evolució del COVID-19. Cal remarcar que, en l'estudi dels models de COVID-19, s'ha tingut en compte la incertesa, tant de les dades com de l'evolució de la malaltia. [EN] Novelty Search is a recent paradigm in evolutionary and bio-inspired optimization algorithms, based on the idea of forcing to look for those unexplored parts of the domain of the function that might be unattractive for the algorithm, with the aim of avoiding stagnation in local optima. Novelty Search has been applied to the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm, obtaining a new algorithm named Novelty Swarm (NS). NS has been applied to the CEC2005 benchmark, comparing its results with other state of the art algorithms. The results show better behaviour in high nonlinear functions at the cost of increasing the computational complexity. During the rest of the thesis, the NS algorithm has been used in different models, specifically the design of an Internal Combustion Engine, the prediction of energy demand estimation with Grammatical Swarm, the evolution of the bladder cancer of a specific patient and the evolution of COVID-19. It is also remarkable that, in the study of COVID-19 models, uncertainty of the data and the evolution of the disease has been taken in account.

In this paper, we have examined the effects of COVID-19 on the socio-economic condition of the three-wheeled electric vehicle drivers in some selected areas of Bangladesh from the cross-sectional data (September–November 2020). The results of linear regression indicate that under COVID-19 conditions, age (p = 0.022) and hardship (p = 0.000) positively, and education (p = 0.036), driving duration (p = 0.023), COVID consciousness (p = 0.086) and easy bike vehicle (p = 0.000) negatively affects income of the respondents. The deaths of COVID in the district (p = 0.003), income (p = 0.000), age (p = 0.037), easy bike vehicle (p = 0.018), debt (p = 0.059) and sufferings of diseases (p = 0.044) positively, and property holdings (p = 0.028), residence in urban areas (p = 0.004) and COVID consciousness (p = 0.082) negatively affect the family expenditure. The results from binary logistics regressions show that diseases sufferings (adjusted p = <0.001; unadjusted p = <0.001), corona fear (unadjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = <0.001) have positive, and income (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = <0.001), cooking fuel (unadjusted p = 0.003; adjusted p = 0.091) and easy bike vehicle (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = 0.288) have negative association with hardship or misery due to COVID-19; death of COVID-19 in the district (unadjusted p = 0.008; adjusted p = 0.037), hardship or misery (adjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = 0.001), and urban dwelling area (unadjusted p = 0.002; adjusted p = 0.004) have positive, and access to pure drinking water (unadjusted p = 0.005; adjusted p = 0.011) has negative link with corona fear; and, family savings (unadjusted p = 0.001; adjusted p = 0.013), satisfaction in the current job (unadjusted p = <0.001; adjusted p = <0.001), and government medical service (unadjusted p = 0.065; adjusted p = 0.012) have positive affiliation, and household size (unadjusted p = 0.007; adjusted p = 0.020) has negative affiliation with the continuation desire of the current job of respondents. All the obtained results are consistent and have significant policy implications.

A quantitative study was carried out with the aim of analyzing the perspective of the students in relation to the factors that have influenced quality teaching during the confinement period resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. To do this, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed and conducted in the months of June–July 2020. The sample consisted of 893 people who were studying at various Spanish universities. The results show little diversity in teaching methodologies; virtual teaching was carried out with the same parameters as face-to-face teaching. The role of the student body was one of passivity, consisting of little interaction with the teachers. Although it is true that there were no difficulties in following the course, there was limited attention paid to the emotional well-being of the students. Amongst the conclusions garnered significant, we point out the need to develop the adaptability of university teaching staff to unforeseen situations, as well as a continuing reflection on the model used in the teaching process mediated by digital technologies and the importance of promoting greater autonomy and self-regulation during learning.