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Don't let the name fool you. Robotic process automation (RPA) isn't related in any way to physical robots. The technology does, on the other hand, have everything to do with automating manual, rule-based, and other repetitive business activities. An RPA software robot never sleeps and makes no mistakes. For enterprises in a wide range of fields, particularly financial services and healthcare, RPA has emerged to become a highly attractive, low-cost IT initiative.

The fall semester has not yet begun, and debates on college football are in full gear. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 have already delayed (interpreted as canceled) play until the spring, with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference still pondering their position but planning to start the season. Not far behind is college basketball, which ushered in the COVID-19 era with the cancellation of March Madness.

A few miles south of Goldsboro, in a county with thousands of acres of sweet potato and tobacco fields and speckled with hog farms, lies a ZIP code with one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in North Carolina. In mid-July, as new case counts surged across the state, no other part of Wayne County had a higher infection rate — not even the ZIP code home to Neuse Correctional Institution, where more than 400 inmates have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

A new study concludes that opening clinics explicitly dedicated to treating influenza can limit the number of people infected and help to “flatten the curve,” or reduce the peak prevalence rate. While this study focused on influenza, the findings are relevant for policymakers seeking ways to reduce the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Dedicated clinics would have less of an impact than interventions such as vaccination, but at the statewide level, we’re talking about cutting the overall number of infections by six figures,” says Julie Swann, Ph.D., the corresponding author of a paper on the work, published on August 6, 2020. 

Get ready for an especially cold autumn with subdued fall foliage, rotting pumpkins and wormy apples. Halloween just turned hollow and Thanksgiving turkey with gravy might taste especially bland, too. That’s what happens when a way of life disintegrates in the time it takes to say “aye” or whatever method the 14 presidents of Big Ten schools used on Tuesday in voting to cancel fall sports. (The Pac-12 followed suit soon after.)