Quality Management Platform Inspired during Covid-19 Pandemic for Use by Subcontractors in Private Housing Projects

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, many construction sites must limit the number of people on the jobsite or conduct work independently to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The quality of construction may be in doubt with unclear job handover, especially when workers have COVID-19 infection that should be isolated immediately. On top of that, first-level subcontractor self-inspections are crucial parts of construction process management, and neglecting inspec-tion processes can lead to construction errors and poor quality. To improve current quality inspection methods for private projects, a literature analysis was conducted to identify construction quality management issues that are faced in private housing projects. In-depth interviews with small and medium-sized subcontractors of private housing projects were per-formed to understand the quality management methods that they use in practice. Next, improvement measures for quality management were formulated and a simplified checklist for private project subcontractors, based on the practical feedback obtained, was created. Finally, the AppSheet platform was used to develop an inspection application for construction, and a subcontractor was invited to confirm its feasibility. The paperless design avoids redundant human contact, and the re-sults of this study greatly facilitate construction practice, particularly during the pandemic. The main contribution of this study is its investigation of the procedures that are used by private project subcontractors to inspect their work for quality management;its results can serve as a reference for academics in evaluating construction quality management levels and improving the management of work by subcontractors to promote safety and health.

Changes in mobile broadband infrastructure in georgia during the covid-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the digital divide to center stage. This article investigates whether the crisis disrupted mobile broadband infrastructure, taking Georgia as a case study. We hypothesize that the pandemic could have slowed down ongoing infrastructure provision initiatives, as in other segments of the economy, or spurred them by bringing renewed attention and resources to overcoming the digital divide. We find that the per capita antenna gap between rural and micropolitan areas as compared to metropolitan has drastically reduced during the pandemic. Long-Term Evolution expansion was positively associated with the presence of vulnerable populations with variation across areas. © 2022 Penn State University Press. All rights reserved.

5G Xhaul Provisioning Strategies in Shadows of War and Pandemic

Xhaul, a mobile transport network, is a critical lifeline in imminent global crises: the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflict. Not only did the Russia-Ukraine war cause a global energy crisis, but it also put more energy stress on the 5G Xhaul. It also shows that the sustainability of a country depends on the unbroken Xhaul. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 outbreak has triggered the largest human-virus war of this century. It needs the ubiquitous 5G Xhaul to monitor the spread of COVID-19. Once crises occur, turning them into opportunities often requires new ways of seeing, considering, and responding to the 5G Xhaul provisioning. Facing more unpredictable situations, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), the largest service provider in Taiwan, embraces the challenges and proposes practical solutions. This study aims to discuss the new 5G Xhaul provisioning strategies to achieve sustainable development goals in this turbulent era. © 2022 IEEE.

The Roles of Language Aptitude and Online Self-regulated Learning in Foreign Language Achievements

Despite extensive use of online language learning during the pandemic of COVID, there is insufficient research on what factors influence students' foreign language achievements in online learning conditions. This article investigated the roles of language aptitude and online self-regulated learning in foreign language achievement in mainland China. 76 freshmen from two classes at a university in Jiangxi participated in this study. They were required to complete an aptitude test of MLAT and a questionnaire on online self-regulated learning. The results showed that: (1) The students' language aptitude is at a relatively low level, and their online self-regulated learning is at an intermediate level;(2) A positive correlation is detected between language aptitude, online self-regulated learning, and their English achievements (r=0.621 & 0.583 respectively);(3) Language aptitude alone (grammatical sensitivity and associative memory ability) accounts for 38.9% variance in English achievement. Language aptitude and online self-regulated learning contributed 52.4% of the variance to their English achievements. Overall, the findings of the study confirm the high predictive power of the MLAT and predictions of the Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis (LCDH) advocated by Sparks and colleagues. Pedagogical implications are also discussed. © 2022 European Knowledge Development (EUROKD). All right reserved.

Study on the Discovery of Personal Information on the Network of People Diagnosed with COVID-19

The arbitrary disclosure of information of people diagnosed with COVID-19on the network will adversely affect personal privacy and even violate the privacy rights of individuals. Through the method of literature analysis and case analysis, the information of the confirmed patients of COVID-19 is studied on the network disclosure. The study found that information disclosure can be divided into disclosable information and non-disclosure information, and make different ways of dealing with sensitive information, sensitive information must be handled with care, personal information processing must take into account the balance between personal interests and public interests. © 2022, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Users' Concerns and Expectations Regarding Space Qualities in Public Libraries

This research explores the space qualities of public libraries in supporting the community functions specified in the PLA Initiatives & Projects published by the ALA Public Library Association (PLA) from users' perspectives, in particular, digital literacy, family engagement, and fostering creative community connections. Each function was further examined against eight of the ten top qualities of good library space endorsed by IFLA. The survey questionnaire investigates to what extent the users pay attention to and satisfy with the space qualities associated with the community functions and the differences in between. The findings may help the public libraries understand users' priorities, satisfaction, and improvements in need. The findings suggest that although the respondents reported general satisfaction with library services, they paid significantly more attention to family engagement. Moreover, among the space qualities, "environmental suitability" and "safety and security" received considerable attention among the respondents. Accordingly, this study proposes the following recommendations for public libraries: (1) accommodating caregivers' needs in children's areas;(2) expanding and enhancing wi-fi connections and mobile device charging outlets close to users' seats;(3) increasing users' awareness of two undermined functions-digital literacy and creative community connections-during information literacy education and library orientation sessions;and (4) optimizing the use of outdoor library space.

A case report of moderate COVID-19 with an extremely long-term viral shedding period

Background: COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new form of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The WHO raised the COVID-19 alert to the highest level. The virus is a highly contagious via human-to-human transmission. The median duration of viral shedding is 20.0 days. We report a long duration of viral shedding that was 32.0 days from illness onset in a patient with moderate COVID-19 admitted to Qianjiang Central Hospital. Case report: A 37-year-old patient sought medical advice while suffering from fever, dry cough, fatigue, dizziness, runny nose and diarrhoea. Five days before the visit, he had a history of travel from affected geographic areas. The patient had a positive RT-PCR test, and chest CT images showed multiple nodules and mixed ground-glass opacification with consolidation in bilaterally in the lungs. Laboratory findings showed that the lymphocyte and CD4+ counts were below the normal range. The patient was given antiviral treatment, including arbidol, lopinavir, IFN-α, and traditional Chinese medicine, and other necessary supportive care. All clinical symptoms and CT imaging manifestation ab-normalities resolved during the course of therapy. Conclusion: Although the positive RT-PCR tests were verified in consecutive upper respiratory specimens, the patient’s clinical symptoms, CT imaging findings, CD4+ lymphocyte counts, and IgG antibody levels had obviously improved. Positive tests may be detecting pieces of inactive viruses, which would not be transmissible in individual cases.

Social Distance Detection Using Wireless Signal in Social Networks

Coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviation: COVID-19) has been a topic of concern in this two years. The number of confirmed cases worldwide has continued to increase. It is a highly contagious and serious virus. In order to prevent the spread of the virus and reduce the infection rate and mortality rate, maintaining social distancing is a very important task. As the mobile phone is indispensable to modern necessities, we considered to use the mobile device to help to detect the social distance. In this paper, we provided an idea about how to use the mobile device wireless signal to detect the social distance. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Set-Valued Control Approach Applied to a COVID-19 Model with Screening and Saturated Treatment Function

The purpose of this paper is modelling and controlling the spread of COVID-19 disease in Morocco. A nonlinear mathematical model with two subclasses of infectious individuals is proposed. The population is divided into five classes, namely, susceptible (S), exposed (E), undiagnosed infectious (Inc), diagnosed patients (Ic), and removed individuals. To reflect the real dynamic of the COVID-19 transmission in Morocco, the real reported data are used for estimating model parameters. Two controls representing screening effort and limited treatment are considered. Based on viability theory and set-valued analysis, a Lyapunov function is constructed such that both exposed and infected populations are decreased to zero asymptotically. The corresponding controls are derived via a continuous selection of adequately designed feedback map. Numerical simulations are presented with three scenarios (cases when each control is used alone and the case when two controls are combined). Our results show that when only one control is to be applied, screening is the most effective in decreasing the number of people in the three infected compartments, whereas combining both controls is found to be highly effective and leads to a significant improvement in the epidemiological situation of Morocco. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first one that applies the set-valued approach to a controlled COVID-19 model which agrees with the observed cases in Morocco.