ABSTRACT
Covid-19 virus variants identified so far are due to viral genetic diversity, genetic evolution, and variable infectivity, suggesting that high infection rates and high mortality rates may be contributed by these mutations. And it has been reported that the targeting strategies for innate immunity should be less vulnerable to viral evolution, variant emergence and resistance. Therefore, the most effective solution to Covid-19 infection has been proposed to prevent and treat severe exacerbation of patients with moderate disease by enhancing human immune responses such as NK cell and T cell. In previous studies, we demonstrated for the first time that gamma-PGA induced significant antitumor activity and antiviral activity by modulating NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Especially intranasal administration of gamma-PGA was found to effectively induce protective innate and CTL immune responses against viruses and we found out that gamma-PGA can be an effective treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 through phase 2b clinical trial. In this study, the possibility of gamma-PGA as a Covid-19 immune modulating agent was confirmed by animal experiments infected with Covid-19 viruses. After oral administration of gamma-PGA 300mug/mouse once a day for 5 days in a K18-hACE2 TG mouse model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43326;original strain) and SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43390;Delta variant), virus titer and clinical symptom improvement were confirmed. In the RjHan:AURA Syrian hamster model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 49930;Delta variant), 350 or 550 mug/head of gamma-PGA was administered orally for 10 days once a day. The virus for infection was administered at 5 x 104 TCID50, and the titer of virus and the improvement of pneumonia lesions were measured to confirm the effectiveness in terms of prevention or treatment. In the mouse model infected with original Covid-19 virus stain, the weight loss was significantly reduced and the survival rate was also improved by the administration of gamma-PGA. And gamma-PGA alleviated the pneumonic lesions and reduced the virus titer of lung tissue in mice infected with delta variant. In the deltavariant virus infected hamster model, gamma-PGA showed statistically significant improvement of weight loss and lung inflammation during administration after infection. This is a promising result for possibility of Covid-19 therapeutics along with the efficacy results of mouse model, suggesting gammaPGA can be therapeutic candidate to modulate an innate immune response for Covid-19.
ABSTRACT
AR games such as Pokemon Go, Jurassic world Alive and other games encourage us to venture out in the real open world to also see the beauty of it. However, tourism has come almost to a virtual stop during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery is slow. We present a tile-based experience-sharing PixoMap, which incorporates some aspects of smart tourism. For user requirements gathering, we first compare factors that make popular games such as Pokemon Go, Minecraft, and the Sims popular. Findings indicate that people enjoy collecting objects, such as monsters or cards, freedom and creativity, escape and sometimes nostalgia. Our PixoMap game allows players to virtually browse an area in the map, and choose a tile. Each tile contains memories (Memors)/experiences/stories. Users can read others' experiences and share their own experiences, play a minigame to earn in-game currency, to change his/her 2D avatar or change the tile's color or optionally, to own the tile. Alpha user feedback confirms and refines our design. Heuristic evaluation and user experience feedback at the end of the study, are positive and encouraging.
ABSTRACT
Purpose - Vietnam has the fastest growing digital economy in Southeast Asia and is emerging as a critical overseas market for Korean banks in the post-COVID-19 era. Accordingly, many Korean banks entered the Vietnamese market to overcome the limitations of the saturated domestic financial market and create new revenue sources. This study examined the current status of digital finance in Vietnam and the cases of Korean banks that have succeeded in the Vietnamese market. Then, importance-performance analysis (IPA) was conducted on local customers, managers and staff members of Korean banks in Vietnam. Design/methodology - In this study, we analyzed the importance and satisfaction factors of mobile banking app usage in Vietnam through IPA. In particular, we identified the differences between the two groups by considering the viewpoint of customers who use mobile banking apps and that of managers and staff members who provide mobile banking services. Findings - The IPA results from the customer group and managers and staff members group were generally similar, but differences were observed in Ease of Use (Technology), Innovativeness (Organization), and Increase in Revenue (Economic). In the case of the customer group, Ease of Use (Technology) is located in the second quadrant, which shows low satisfaction compared to high importance. However, in the managers and staff members group, Ease of Use (Technology) is located in the first quadrant, which indicates high importance and high satisfaction. This difference in perception can cause complaints from local customers;thus, it is necessary to change the perception of the technological aspect for ease of use of mobile banking apps in consideration of the customer's position. In addition, it is necessary to allocate the resources invested in the Innovativeness (Organization) and Increase in Revenue (Economic) to Ease of Use (Technology). Originality/value - In this study, based on the HOTE framework, factors for using mobile banking apps were derived, and IPA was conducted targeting local customers (app user) and managers and staff members (app provider) of Korean banks in Vietnam. Through this, we presented the results of empirical analysis that can help Korean banks efficiently utilize limited resources and budgets.
ABSTRACT
Although hate-motivated incidents and crimes against Asians are not a new phenomenon, there has been a lack of scholarly attention on the topic. Using a systematic review, we examine, assess, and analyze 23 published peer-reviewed articles that have explored hate-motivated crime/incidents against Asians in the United States of America between 2000 and 2020. We found all studies included in this systematic review examined microaggressions and/or discrimination, and tended to lump all different Asian subgroups into "Asians.” In addition, most studies focused on the consequences of hate-motivated incidents, such as mental and physical health. We suggest a future research agenda and direction that fills the gap in scholarly journal articles on Asian hate-motivated incidents in the United States. © The Author(s) 2022.
ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have experienced major pandemics and epidemics. However, we believe the COVID-19 pandemic was the first time a certain racial/ethnic group or nationality was blamed for the pandemic/epidemic. Anti-Asian racism and violence worldwide are not new, but they are on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the crimes against Asians during the pandemic received substantial media attention, there has been a paucity of empirical research in social science that addresses xenophobic sentiments, racism, and violence against Asians. To bridge the gap, the Korean Society of Criminology in America (KOSCA) invited papers to address the current global issue of anti-Asian racism and violence in mid2021. It was challenging to conduct empirical research because of the lack of data availability, time restrictions, and the narrowed research scope (e.g., Asians). This editorial introduction introduces six articles in this Special Issue of Race and Justice, "Anti-Asian Racism & Violence." We call for further, continuous attention to anti-Asian racism and violence, and we hope this special issue creates more scholarly discussion on this understudied, often-neglected topic.
ABSTRACT
AR games such as Pokemon Go, Jurassic World Alive and other games encourage us to venture out in the real open world to also see the beauty of it. However, tourism has come almost to a virtual stop during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery is slow. We present a tile-based experience-sharing PixoMap, which incorporates some aspects of smart tourism. For user requirements gathering, we first compare factors that make popular games such as Pokemon Go, Minecraft, and the Sims popular. Findings indicate that people enjoy collecting objects, such as monsters or cards, freedom and creativity, escape and sometimes nostalgia. Our PixoMap game allows players to virtually browse an area in the map, and choose a tile. Each tile contains memories (Memors)/experiences/stories. Users can read others’ experiences and share their own experiences, play a minigame to earn in-game currency, to change his/her 2D avatar or change the tile’s color or optionally, to own the tile. Alpha user feedback confirms and refines our design. Heuristic evaluation and user experience feedback at the end of the study, are positive and encouraging. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus problem is an ecological problem stemming from a sud-den change in the relationship between parasites and hosts. Ecologists judge organisms that are established out of their original territory as exotic species. Unlike in their original habitat, these exotic species become very aggressive in their newly settled habitat. Coronavirus infection damage was bigger in Europe or the United States than that in the country of its origin, China, and its neighboring countries. Therefore, coronavirus infection damage resembles the damage due to the invasive species. Results: Exotic species are found in places with similar environmental conditions to those of their origin when introduced to other ecological regions. However, there are few ecological ill effects in their place of origin, while the damage is usually severe in the ecological regions in which it is introduced. According to historical records, exotic infectious diseases, such as European smallpox and measles, also showed a similar trend and caused great damage in newly established places. Therefore, it is expected that measures to manage exotic species could be used for the prevention of exotic infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. Conclusions: Prevention comes first in the management of exotic species, and in order to come up with preventive measures, it is important to collect information on the characteristics of related organisms and their preferred environment. In this respect, ecosystem management measures such as exotic species management measures could be used as a reference to prevent and suppress the spread. To put these measures into practice, it is urgently required to establish an international integrated information network for collect-ing and exchanging information between regions and countries. Furthermore, a system-atic ecosystem-management strategy in which natural and human environments could continue sustainable lives in their respective locations may serve as a countermeasure to prevent infectious diseases. © The Ecological Society of Korea in collaboration with The Korean Society of Limnology.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much stress. Autistic children and their parents/guardians are not exempted. The question is how to engage the autistic children virtually. There are many online games, which can address this problem and they are very exemplary. In our small study, we aim to balance education and fun, so that learning is not too serious. We also aim to improve autistic children's computational thinking skills and enable asset/content reuse. We have reduced the degree of structure, with familiarity in contexts as affordance in four minigames: categorizing puzzle, matching-sorting puzzle, picture puzzle and outdoor puzzle. Through computational practice, we hope that children will be able to recognize patterns, improve concepts and perspectives, and perform better. We also hope to encourage asset reuse via algorithmic changes. Findings are encouraging, indicating that parents/guardians are positive towards the games' usefulness and ease of use. Of special note is their preference for the learning of vocabulary and development of imagination, above matching and categorizing.
ABSTRACT
With increasing COVID cases, many are studying or working from home. We aim to address two problems. First, since many companies are into reskilling and upskilling in groups, the human touch and community are important. One aspect of human touch and community development, is ice-breaking. Second, we need to enable easy customization to reuse the objects or assets for different scenarios, contexts and needs. We are interested in games. Hence, a third problem we want to address is to improve problem-solving competencies through games. Our scope of work is to investigate the effectiveness of an object-oriented QR Monopoly game, to enhance ice-breaking in online training, and for education. Preliminary user testing indicates positive findings, with regards to the inclusion of chance, theme/rules/process/asset switching/modification, adding on to computer playfulness via object-orientation of the QR-Monopoly game and entity-process modeling.
ABSTRACT
Background: Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a severe prothrombotic complication of adenoviral vaccines including ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca) vaccine. The putative mechanism involves formation of pathological anti-PF4 antibodies that activate platelets via the FcγRIIa receptor to drive thrombosis and the associated thrombocytopenia. Functional assays are important in the VITT diagnostic pathway as not all detectable PF4 antibodies are pathogenic. Detection of procoagulant platelets (platelets supporting thrombin generation) in presence of PF4 has been proposed as a diagnostic assay for VITT (Althaus et al). Procoagulant platelets are not typically generated in response to low level agonist stimulation;however, combination of ligand binding of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) (eg. PAR1) and ITAM linked receptors (eg. GPVI, CLEC2 and FcγRIIa) synergistically induce procoagulant platelet formation. Here, we describe an alternative flow cytometric assay to diagnose VITT. We hypothesized that priming of platelets with a PAR1 agonist at a level sufficient to release PF4, but insufficient to generate a significant procoagulant response in donor platelets, would provide a platform in which procoagulant response would be dependent on presence of FcγRIIa dependent procoagulant antibodies in patient plasma, without requirement for additional PF4. Methods: Our previously established flow cytometry-based procoagulant platelet assay (using cell death marker GSAO and P-selectin) was modified to incorporate exogenous patient plasma and performed on whole blood from healthy donors screened for FcγRIIa responsiveness (aggregation response to anti-CD9 antibody, ALB6), primed with 5 μM SFLLRN. The assay was performed on Australian patients referred for confirmatory VITT testing with probable VITT (confirmed thrombosis within 4-42 days of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccination, D-Dimer > 5x ULN, platelets < 150 x 10 9/L or falling platelet count) after screening on PF4/heparin ELISA (Asserachrom HPIA IgG Assay, Stago Diagnostics). Procoagulant response was also measured in presence of 0.5 U/mL and 100 U/mL heparin, monoclonal FcγRIIa blocking antibody, IV.3, and intravenous immunoglobulin, IVIg. Some plasmas were incubated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Flow cytometry positive patients were also tested by serotonin release assay (SRA) and multiplate aggregometry. Clinical correlation was obtained. Results: Citrated plasma from 49 unique patients with suspected VITT are reported. Plasma from ELISA+ve patients with clinical picture consistent with VITT (n=31), significantly increased the procoagulant platelet proportions in healthy donors in presence of 5 μM SFLLRN (p<0.0001, Figure 1A). This increase was not seen with plasma from healthy donors (n=14);or individuals exposed to ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine without VITT: thrombocytopenic thrombosis patients who were ELISA-ve and SRA-ve (n=14);or low-level ELISA+ve patients without thrombocytopenia who were negative by either multiplate or SRA (n=4). The procoagulant platelet response induced by VITT positive plasma was reduced with low dose heparin (0.5 U/mL, p<0.01) except for 3 patients who showed a heparin-enhancing effect (Figure 1B). High dose heparin (100 U/mL, p<0.0001), IV.3 (10 µg/mL, p<0.0001) or IVIg (10 mg/mL, p<0.0001) abolished the procoagulant response (Figures 1C-D). The in vitro effect of IVIg was predictive of the in vivo response to IVIg therapy (Figure 1E). Addition of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein had no effect on the procoagulant platelet response. ChAdOx1 nCov-19 had an inconsistent effect on procoagulant platelet formation in presence of VITT plasma. Use of donors without a robust aggregation response to ALB6 resulted in false negative results. Conclusion: Induction of FcγRIIa dependent procoagulant response by patient plasma, suppressible by high dose heparin and IVIg, is highly indicative of VITT in the correct clinical circumstance. This assay modification of priming donor platelets from known FcγRIIa responsive donors ith a GPCR agonist to potentiate the ITAM signaling from platelet activating immune complexes, results in a sensitive and specific assay. This may represent a functional platform that can be adopted into diagnostic laboratories to identify patients with platelet-activating antibodies and potentially predict treatment responses. [Formula presented] Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
ABSTRACT
Introduction The CHaDOx1 nCov-19 AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccination has been associated with an antibody-mediated prothrombotic syndrome, termed “Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome” (TTS)[1-3]. The current diagnostic criteria for TTS are thrombosis (venous or arterial) within 4-42 days of AZ vaccine, thrombocytopenia and presence of an antibody to platelet factor 4 (PF4)[4, 5]. TTS commonly presents with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) or splanchnic vessel thrombosis (SVT), but outside of TTS, CVST and SVT are uncommon, with an overall incidence of less than 0.5 per 100,000 [5-7]. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are also associated with TTS, however the background incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is much higher, with 1-2 events per 1000 patients per year[7, 8]. Therefore, many patients will present with new VTE and a recent exposure to the AZ vaccine, requiring consideration of investigation for TTS. Recent data suggests that PF4 antibodies can be seen in up to 8% of patients without thrombosis but following AZ vaccination[9]. We hypothesised in patients with recent AZ vaccination, new VTE but with a normal platelet count, that the incidence of a PF4 antibody is similar to this background rate of PF4 positivity. If confirmed, then presence of a normal platelet count despite new VTE and recent vaccination may exclude TTS without the need for PF4 antibody testing. We present our preliminary data on the rates of PF4 antibody positivity amongst patients with VTE, recent AZ vaccination and a normal platelet count at presentation. Aim and Methods To assess the incidence of PF4 ELISA positive results in patients with confirmed VTE, recent vaccination (within 4-42 days) with the first dose of AZ vaccine, and platelet count greater than 150x10 9/L. A retrospective audit of cases referred with suspected TTS to Monash Pathology, Melbourne, Victoria, and New South Wales Health Pathology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and St George Hospital sites Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, for testing for anti PF4 antibodies from 1 st April to 31 st July 2021. Patient sera were tested for the Anti-PF4 antibody using the STAGO Asserachrom HPIA IgG ELISA (Asnières sur Seine, France). For patients with a positive PF4 antibody test additional testing was sought for either the presence of platelet activating antibodies with a flow cytometry-based assay or the presence of spontaneous serotonin release without heparin in the serotonin release assay. Results From April 1 st to July 31 st 350 tests were run on 332 patients. 91 patients met our criteria, of whom 51 were female and 40 male, with a median age of 73 years. Median platelet count at presentation was 226x10 9/L, and median D dimer values were 10 times the upper limit of normal. 86 patients had either DVT, PE or both, including 2 with upper limb DVT, and 5 patients had PE with concurrent arterial events (1 axillary artery thrombosis, 3 arterial strokes, 1 coronary artery thrombosis). Further details are presented in table 1. 82 patient samples tested negative for anti-PF4 antibodies by ELISA, 5 were positive, and were 4 weak positive/equivocal (see table 2 for further details). Of the positive results, 3 had functional testing available, of which 2 were negative, and 1 showed discordant results, with a positive SRA but negative flow cytometry. None of the weak positive/equivocal cases had functional testing results available. Of the negative ELISA results, 5 patients had functional testing results available, of which 4 were negative. One of these cases had positive testing by flow cytometry, but negative by SRA (case included in table 2). Conclusion In our Australian cohort of patients with their first dose of AZ vaccine and new VTE within 4-42days, but a normal platelet count (therefore not fulfilling the clinical criteria of TTS), the incidence of a positive PF4 antibody test was 9/91 (9.9%, 95% CI 3.7-15.9%) and only one had evidence of platelet activating antibodies. This observed rate is similar to that observed in healthy patients wi hout thrombosis who received AZ vaccination as described by Thiele et. al., 2021. Further confirmation in a larger cohort of VTE patients is required, but if confirmed, then PF4 ELISA testing in patients with VTE and normal platelet count post AZ vaccine may not be required, and should give clinicians confidence to institute routine management. [Formula presented] Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
ABSTRACT
On November 09, 2020, Pfizer and BioNtech announced vaccine efficacy results, possibly providing hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. Correspondingly, vaccine-related information was shared on social media platforms, including Twitter. The present research aims to investigate tonal shift resulting from this important pandemic-related event using automatic text analysis of Twitter Tweets. We examined 209,939 tweets before, and 203,490 tweets after the vaccine announcement. Pennebaker’s linguistic inquiry word count (LIWC) was used to detect tonal shifts via analytic thinking (which reflects logical thinking), clout (reflects expertise), authentic (reflects disclosure), and emotional tone (reflects emotional valence). Results indicated a decrease in authentic score implying a more guarded form of disclosure, while an increase in clout score suggests more sharing from expert users. The change was negligible for analytical thinking and emotional tone, suggesting users’ mentality towards the pandemic was not affected. Overall, results suggest a minimal shift in tone on Twitter, even in the face of the good news about the vaccine announcement. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose The aims of this paper are to explore the rise of cyberhate on the Zoom video conferencing platform at the outset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to examine victimized cases of Zoombombing where it was used as a cyberhate tool. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted our lives and modes of working and studying, but also created new environments for cybercriminals to engage in cybercrime, cyberhate and hacking by exploiting tools such as Zoom. This new phenomenon called "Zoombombing" was first reported in mid-March 2020, when the social distancing and stay-at-home policies in the United States were nationally introduced. Design/methodology/approach This research conducted a news media content analysis on cases of Zoombombing. To conduct this analysis empirically, a dataset with all of the reported Zoombombing cases from March to April 2020 was created. Google Trends, news media and tweets were used to analyze Zoombombing as a form of cyberhate, particularly digital racism. Findings The results reveal prevalent Zoom-mediated racism toward Asian Americans, African Americans and Jewish Americans. This study understands Zoombombing from a sociopolitical/cultural perspective through news reporting of victimized cases and explores various ways that Zoombombing shapes, mediates, transforms and escalates racism. Originality/value This study is one of the very first studies to analyze Zoombombing in a way that builds upon an emerging body of literature on cyberhate. This paper considers Zoom as a space where curious young people, cybercriminals, extremists and hackers impose their ideologies and beliefs upon newly established online learning and working environments and engage in a struggle for identity recognition in the midst of increasingly accessible vulnerable software and cyberspace.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic spreading all around the world, the higher learning institutions were forced to shut or limit the person in contact to control the spread of diseases. Under this circumstance, remote learning that emphasized learning via online setting embraced in higher education to replace the physical classroom during the pandemic time. This study designed a single Problem-Based Learning (PBL) module using remote learning to examine the students experience in PBL, and to what extent the PBL module helps students to improve their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The remote learning PBL module conducted using reflection method to assess the students' experiences in PBL learning. On the other hand, a set of survey questionnaires was distributed to 34 undergraduate students to gather the responses for the assessment of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to investigate the students’ critical thinking, problem-solving skills and their experience in remote learning PBL. Using paired sample t-test to test the difference between pre- and post- remote learning PBL class, results indicated that there was a significant improvement of students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills after remote learning PBL class. On the other hand, thematic analysis on students’ feedback on remote learning PBL class- first, second, and third meeting, indicated that students gradually improved their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Although students implied positive feedback on the class, however, some of them were facing difficulties in understanding the module or physical disruptions that distract their learning. The findings gave insights for the lecturers to design a suitable learning course during the pandemic time. Moreover, the findings highlighted challenges that gave insights for the lecturers to look at the students’ feedback from time to time to improve the learning mechanisms and to create a better learning environment. © 2021 Karadeniz Technical University. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was documented in China, and the virus was soon to be introduced to its neighboring country – South Korea. South Korea, one of the earliest countries to initiate a national pandemic response to COVID-19 with fairly substantial measures at the individual, societal and governmental level, is an interesting example of a rapid response by the Global South. The current study examines contact tracing mobile applications (hereafter, contact tracing apps) for those who were subject to self-quarantine through the lenses of dataveillance and datafication. This paper analyzes online/digital data from those who were mandatorily self-quarantined by the Korean government largely due to returning from overseas travel. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses an Internet ethnography approach to collect and analyze data. To extract data for this study, self-quarantined Korean individuals' blog entries were collected and verified with a combination of crawling and manual checking. Content analysis was performed with the codes and themes that emerged. In the COVID-19 pandemic era, this method is particularly useful to gain access to those who are affected by the situation. This approach advances the author’s understandings of COVID-19 contact tracing mobile apps and the experiences of self-quarantined people who use them. Findings: The paper shows Korean citizens' understandings and views of using the COVID-19 self-tracing application in South Korea through examining their experiences. The research argues that the application functions as a datafication tool that collects the self-quarantined people's information and performs dataveillance on the self-quarantined people. This research further offers insights for various agreements/disagreements at different actors (i.e. the self-quarantined, their families, contact tracers/government officials) in the process of contact tracing for COVID-19. Originality/value: This study also provides insights into the implications of information and technology as they affect datafication and dataveillance conducted on the public. This study investigates an ongoing debate of COVID-19's contact tracing method concerning privacy and builds upon an emerging body of literature on datafication, dataveillance, social control and digital sociology. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2020-0377 © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Problem-solving skills are increasingly becoming a desired skill in the workplace today. Although formal education will be the best way to develop one's own problem-solving skills, the problems addressed are often clearly defined and structured. However, problems in the real world are often ill-structured and requires complex problem-solving. Many researches indicate that video games can be an alternative to developing problem-solving skills given that the problem and environment are ill-structured. Based on prior comparative findings on strategy-fast-paced video games and role-playing-brain training games, this study investigates whether participants will evidence greater learning gains in problem-solving speed within a sandwich Tower of Hanoi-a fastpaced-brain-training or a strategy role-playing video game-Tower of Hanoi methodology. There is closer similarity between the fast-paced video game to the Tower of Hanoi. Hence, we hypothesize that this closer similarity may result in improved problem-solving speed since the development of rules may be analogically similar. In our study, findings indicate that participants who play Idle Supermarket Tycoon (strategy role-playing video game) evidence more pre-post-test learning gains (problem-solving speed) compared to Mario Kart Tour (fast-paced-brain-training video game). This finding confirms prior research that strategy and role-playing video games are more effective than fast-paced and brain training games in developing problem-solving skills. It also hints that increased cognitive load due to multivariate complexity may be traded off by motivation to form or activate rules when the problem is personally relevant or simulates real-life challenges. However, there are several limitations to the experiment in terms of specificity due to the small sample size. This is due to the research being carried out during the country's COVID-19 movement control order/lockdown and the need for more data to be conclusive. Nevertheless, we hope it can serve as a catalyst for more research and studies in the field. Copyright © 2020 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
ABSTRACT
Creative and computational thinking are different but complementary. Combining them would bring significant benefits for young people. With interdisciplinarity in mind, FunPlay Code aims to bridge STEM disciplines with the humanities, and the Arts by combining collaborative storytelling and programming. Modelled after Scratch, FunPlay Code encourages users to express experiences in Python codes. These computational concepts/perspectives can be shared, commented, liked, modded collaboratively in a story format. A search function to enable filtering of stories further caters to users' interests. Functions are developed based on Feature Driven Development methodology. We investigate whether FunPlay Code would be perceived to be easy to use, useful and the likelihood of technology acceptance. User acceptance testing is done remotely with five participants due to the country's covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO)/lockdown. Findings are relatively positive. The highest mean score is for social interaction/collaborative storytelling, possibly because the story is fun/surprising yet academic. © ICCE 2020 - 28th International Conference on Computers in Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 due to its rapid spread worldwide. This work-in-progress paper aims to uncover topics related to COVID-19 discussed on Twitter. Using topic modelling, we analyzed two weeks of tweets (11 March–25 March 2020) in English and found 17 latent topics, covering a broad range of issues such as health and economic impact, political and legislative responses, prevention measures, as well as disruption to individuals’ daily lives. The results of this preliminary study show a helpful step to understand public communications about the virus and thus inform health practitioners to propose effective safety measures against COVID-19. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The Movement Control Order (MCO) encourages mandatory stay-at-home and has resulted in much socio-economic-technical repercussions. As such, this study aims to identify lessons from innovative examples to quicken recovery for the tourism industry in Malaysia. We investigate two examples of global innovation and two examples of local innovation with regards to organizational/process/product (including innovative privacy and security protection) and marketing innovation during the COVID-19 MCO in Malaysia. Findings highlight the need for organizational innovation, (including careful privacy and security protection), followed by business model transformation through shifts in centrality in design, mediated by product/process/marketing innovation. A human-centred, crowd-sourcing (social-collaborative computing) use case is presented as an example. Another key contribution is confirmation of a Restorative Innovation framework’s components and its adaptation post-COVID-19. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.