Autonomy and isolation experienced by patients and primary caregivers during COVID-19 hospitalization in Barcelona (Spain).

This study aims to describe patients' and family caregivers' hospitalization experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using qualitative exploratory descriptive methods, 13 patients admitted to the largest hospital in Barcelona (Spain) due to COVID-19 were interviewed by telephone once discharged, as were eight primary caregivers. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method proposed by Krippendorff.

A generalization of the membrane-plate analogy to non-homogeneous polygonal domains consisting of homogeneous subdomains.

The well-known membrane-plate analogy that relates the natural frequencies when dealing with polygonal homogeneous domains is herein extended to non-homogeneous systems comprised of homogeneous subdomains. The analogy is generalized and demonstrated and it is shown that certain restrictions among the frequency parameters of the membranes and plates arise. Several examples of membranes and plates with interfaces separating areas with different material properties are numerically solved with different approaches.