Report from Felipe P Carpes (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
The COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting the countries from South America. The different countries assumed different official positions to fight the infection of the people. In general, classes are suspended and universities are closed for students. Many professors move their attention and energy to act against the pandemic, which include support to families with financial issues, work in the hospital and also developing strategies to create devices that are important in this reality of the pandemic, like low cost ventilators and equipment for individual protection. All the academic events have been cancelled or postponed to late in 2020 or 2021, when a more stable condition is expected.
Research activities still going on using online facilities, but undergraduate lectures stopped in most of the universities. The main reason to not move all education to an online environment is the fact that a significant amount of students, especially those from public institutions, don't have full access to fast Internet at their homes. Most of internet access is by mobile phones and not all students have a computer to work at home. Despite that, many families are now sharing the house for home office work as well, with a significant increase of the family duties, in addition to the economic crises. Universities that are able to connect online with all students are adapting the classes for an online approach. The impact of this pandemic on education is yet to be discovered.
Among all the difficulties, there is something good to observe. People are now much more open to share data, to donate time, and to share knowledge. Social media has been fulfilled of biomechanics contents for free with webinars, classes, guest lectures and crash courses that surely will benefit EDC students and at least minimize the large negative impact we will all feel even more when able to return to our regular activities.
People are now saying that nothing will be like before when the pandemic is over, and we really hope this is true. Maybe the pandemic will serve to change the way we consider the importance of our work and promote a re-evaluation of the importance of share and take care of colleagues and students from different places, nations, and economical and social conditions.
Updates on events previously advertised:
Brazil
7th International Foot & Ankle Biomechanics meeting
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to April 11-14, 2021. To learn more about the event visit https://www.i-fab2020.com
Muscle Physiology Symposium
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed by the specific date was not defined yet. It will probably happen late in November. To learn more about the event visit https://sites.unipampa.edu.br/gnap/muscle-physiology-symposium/
XI Applied Neuromechanics Symposium
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event that combines topics of biomechanics, motor control, physiology and neurosciences was postponed to 2021 and will happen together with the Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics.
Chile
Hackathon, transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement
The Chilean Association of Movement Sciences (ACCM) together with the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE) carried out a joint activity called "Hackathon, Transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement" during the past 2019. This consisted of a series of 5 theoretical-practical sessions of relevant topics to the study of the human movement. Participants visualized central and basic theoretical aspects of different topics, and subsequently worked with data series, processing data and obtaining the results. The data analysis was carried out in 3 languages as appropriate, "R", "Python" and "Matlab", so that the participants had a direct approximation with the analysis techniques, losing the "fear" to code and carrying home a precise and bounded tool. The topics covered were the following: Basic topics of signal processing, COM Processing and Acceleration Analysis for the study of static and dynamic Balance, Machine learning for the identification of movement patterns, Biomarkers of motor control using EEG and Regression Models for the analysis of motor behavior. In addition, a sixth final session was scheduled for the month of October with the International guest Professor Dr. Luis Mochizuki, from Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, to gather around the theme of "Advanced tool for the study of motor behavior". Unfortunately, due to the political-social contingency that we are living in Chile and people may have heard about in the news, we had to suspend this last activity, hoping to promote it during the present year 2020. The specific date still not available due to the critical condition of Chile under the COVID-19 pandemic
Colombia
Biomechanics community from Cali invites all to the VII Seminario Internacional de Actualización Biomédica that will happen in Cali on November 28-30, 2020. This event is organized by the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and other collaboration institution with the purpose to show to the university community the importance of biomedical engineering and its applications in the context of health and engineering. The event also wants to promote national and international cooperation in the different areas related to biomedical engineering.
