A raíz del brote de la COVID-19, los gobiernos han implementado estrategias con la finalidad de disminuir el número de casos, como la cuarentena, el distanciamiento físico y el uso de mascarillas. Este contexto ha ocasionado la paralización de las industrias y de las actividades económicas a nivel mundial, significando tanto la pérdida de empleos como el cierre de empresas. Es así como muchos hoteles han implementado tecnología para evitar el contacto entre personas, con el fin de que sus huéspedes se sientan seguros y tengan una mejor percepción del alojamiento. Por tal motivo, esta investigación tiene como objetivo analizar las ventajas y desventajas del uso de robots de servicio en hoteles como herramienta de distanciamiento físico, a través del método de revisión de literatura y aplicando el enfoque integrativo basado en el análisis bibliográfico de fuentes académicas. Se obtuvo como hallazgo que el trabajo en conjunto que viene realizando la inteligencia artificial y la robótica ha logrado que se consideren a los robots de servicio como una futura fuerza laboral en hoteles. De modo que la ventaja principal del personal robotizado dentro de un alojamiento es la reducción del contacto entre personas. Por otro lado, las desventajas más relevantes son su falta de empatía y su limitada comunicación con los huéspedes. En una investigación futura, se recomienda la investigación cuantitativa para obtener información más exacta sobre las preferencias de los clientes y su relación con el uso de robots de servicio en hoteles. / In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, governments have implemented strategies to reduce the number of cases, like quarantine, physical distancing, and the use of masks. This context has caused the disruption of industries and the global economy activity, signifying both job losses and the closure of companies. As a result, many hotels have implemented technology to avoid close contact between people in order to make their guests feel safe and to give a better impression of the hotel. For this reason, this research aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using service robots as a measure of physical distancing through the method of literature review and using an integrative method based on the bibliographic search of academic sources. The main finding was that the work that has been done by artificial intelligence and robotic has caused the service robots to be considered as a future labor force in hotels. Additionally, it has been identified that the main advantage of using service robots is to reduce close contact between people. Besides that, the most relevant disadvantages are their lack of empathy and their limited communication with guests. It is recommended the use of a quantitative method to obtain more specific information of guests’ preferences and its relation with the use of service robots in hotels. / Trabajo de investigación

This thesis project explores how communication technology can foster the sense of togetherness to maintain the feeling of social connectedness during physical distancing. The current global pandemic COVID-19 is causing billions of people across the world to live in isolation or by physical distancing regulations. The elimination of almost all in-person interactions is affecting people’s mental health and has resulted in many people turning to communication technology to feel a sense of social connectedness.The project builds upon three main areas of theory: the social and mental effects of physical distancing, designing for crises and design theories about togetherness within communication technology. The design process is guided by a research through design methodological approach, with the aim find out how people who are living in isolation and by physical distancing regulations are using existing forms of communication technology to feel a sense of social connectedness with others and what they need from it. The project addresses two key problematic areas which were identified during the fieldwork and literature review and are explored through prototypes. The prototypes focus on how to create a hang out feeling within online group interactions and how to create the in-the- moment feeling during shared online live experiences.The outcome of this project includes in a problem framing, design process knowledge, research insights and prototypes that explore how to foster the sense of togetherness within communication technology. The findings from this project intend to contribute knowledge to the research and design community on how to design new or alternative forms of communication technology that foster social connectedness during physical distancing.

Introduction: Community mitigation strategies (CMS) have demonstrated to be effective in the reduction of transmission and incidence of COVID-19, especially in the population with symptoms associated with the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the presence of COVID-19 symptoms and adherence to CMS in Latin American adults. Methods: We carried out a secondary analysis of a database developed by the University of Maryland and Facebook social network during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included Latin American adults that used the Facebook platform and participated in a survey conducted from April 23 to May 23, 2020. The principal outcome variable was reported compliance with the three main CMS (physical distancing, use of face masks, and hand washing). The exposure variable included symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 defined as the presence of three or more symptoms of an acute clinical case of COVID-19. We performed generalized linear models of the Poisson family with a logarithmic link function to evaluate the association between the presence of COVID-19 symptoms and reported compliance with CMS. We calculated crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) with their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: We analyzed 1,310,690 adults from Latin America; 48.1% were male and 42.9% were under 35 years of age. The prevalence of suspicious symptoms of COVID-19 was 18.5% and reported compliance with the three CMS was 45.3%. The countries with the highest proportion of reported compliance with the three CMS were Peru, Bolivia and Panama, while those with the lowest reported compliance were Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. In the adjusted model, people with suspicious symptoms for COVID-19 had a 14% lower compliance with the three CMS (aPR = 0.86; 95%CI: 0.85–0.87; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Less than half of the participants complied with the CMS, and those presenting suspicious symptoms for COVID-19 had lower reported compliance with the three CMS. / University of Maryland / Revisión por pares

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan individers olika tidsperspektiv (TP) med deras rörelse i samhället och mängd av fysiska kontakter i relation till de nationella rekommendationerna om fysisk distansering under COVID-19-pandemin. En studie (n = 52) utfördes med syftet av att samla grundläggande information om deltagarna tillsammans med ett mått av deras respektive TP utifrån den korta versionen av Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI). Efter rekrytering skickades dagliga enkäter till varje deltagare under en vecka för att samla data om deras dagliga aktiviteter innehållandes bl.a. rörelser och sociala interaktioner. En kvantitativ mätning analyserades utifrån deltagarnas antal besök på diverse ställen i samhället samt mängden av fysiska kontakter under en veckas deltagande. Hypotesen var att deltagares poäng på FP-dimensionen från S-ZTPI skulle visa ett negativt samband mellan antalet besökta platser och mängden av fysiska kontakter. Deltagares poäng på PH-dimensionen förväntades i stället att visa ett positivt samband mellan antalet besökta platser och mängden av fysiska kontakter. Resultaten visade inget signifikant samband mellan varken TP (PH och FP) och aktivitet eller TP och mängd fysiska kontakter under en veckas tids medverkande i studien. / The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between individuals different time perspectives (TP), movement in their community and amount of psychical contacts in relation to the national recommendations about physical distancing during the COVID-19-pandemic. A study (n = 52) was conducted with the purpose of collecting basic information about the participants along with a measure of their respective TP using the short version of the Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI). After recruitment, daily questionnaires were sent to each participant during a week to collect data about their daily activities involving e.g. movement and social interactions. A quantitative measure was analyzed using participants number of places visited in their community along with the amount of physical contacts during a week’s participation. The hypothesis of this thesis was that participants score on the FP-dimension from the S-ZTPI would be negatively related to the number of places visited and the amount of physical contacts. In contrast, participants PH-score was expected to be positively related with number of places visited and the amount of physical contacts. The results showed no significant relation between neither TP (PH and FP) and activity or TP and physical contacts during a week’s participation in the study.