Effect of Distant Education on Children's Academic Achievement in Primary Schools During Corona Pandemic in Dubai Emirate- Field Study

This study aimed to examine the effect of distance education on the level of educational achievement of children during the Corona period in ten primary schools in the Emirate of Dubai. To achieve the objectives of the study the researchers adopted the descriptive analytical approach. The quantitative method of data collection had been applied using the electronic questionnaire tool consisted of four main axes for data collection and had been distributed to the study sample consisted of 190 students' parents and administrators selected by using simple random techniques. The results of the study indicated that the participation of students in the educational process, and in the establishment of appropriate educational programs and applications for the transmission to distance learning have contributed to reducing the negative effects of the process of shifting from traditional education / face-to-face education classroom teaching to virtual classroom (ZOOM).The study recommended the need for strengthening distance education mechanisms, which contribute in developing the student's interests, tendencies, attitudes, concentrating on the study material, and using of safe and secured electronic devices to increase the search for additional information to reach the correct knowledge. Also, the school administration should have good e-learning plan ahead with required financial credits that will help in overcoming the crisis and mange distance learning processes to reach future objectives successfully. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Face Mask detection using Mask R-CNN to control the spread of Covid-19

Business executives are developing cutting-edge digital solutions as the virus outbreak spreads. A face mask detection system is one of them, and it can be used to spot people wearing them. Face mask identification software and applications have already been released by a few businesses, and others have promised to do the same for the service. The proposed work examines face mask detection accuracy using CNN networks. Mask wear is now required in many developed and developing countries worldwide when leaving the house or entering public spaces. It will be difficult to maintain touchless access control in buildings while recognising faces wearing masks on any surveillance systems. Masks covering faces has made face detection algorithms and performance difficult. The proposed work detect face mask labeled no mask or mask with detection accuracy. The work train the system to click images of a face and provide labeled data. The work is classified using Convolution Neural Network (CNN), a Deep learning technique, to classify the input image with the help of the classification algorithm MobileNetV2. The trained system shows whether a person in the video frame is wearing a mask or not. © 2023 IEEE.

OPEES: Online Proctored Entrance Examination System with Degree Program Recommender for Colleges and Universities

The college entrance examination is vital for program admission. Typically, entrance examinations are conducted onsite using paper and pens. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the entrance examination was lifted and physical gatherings were prohibited. Since many schools cannot offer an online admissions exam, they rely on grades and interviews to admit and qualify students for degree programs. However, academic standards differ between schools, and grades may not be enough to assess students' capacity. Thus, this study aims to develop an Online Proctored Entrance Examination System (OPEES) with Degree Program Recommender for colleges and universities to help institutions administer onsite or online entrance tests and generate course suggestions using a rulebased algorithm. The study employed the scrum methodology in software development. OPEES allows applicants to submit applications online, and institutions can manage user accounts, tailor exams and degree programs' criteria, manage exam dates, and assign proctors. Online proctoring using Jitsi, an opensource multiplatform voice, video, and instant messaging tool with end-to-end encryption, ensures exam integrity. The system's features were evaluated by 102 respondents, comprised of end-users (students and school personnel) and IT professionals, using the FURPS (Functionality, Usability, Reliability, Performance, and Supportability) software quality model. In the software evaluation, the overall system proved to be functional as perceived by the respondents, as manifested by the mean rating of 4.61. In conclusion, the system's architecture was deemed feasible and offers a better way to streamline admission examinations and determine a student's applicable degree program by enabling institutions to customize their exams and degree program requirements. It will be beneficial to look into recommendation system algorithms and historical enrollment data to improve the system's use case. © 2022 IEEE.

Methodology to carry out medical meeting online, based on low-cost solutions

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the adaptation of most of the activities remotely or virtually, in the case of medical appointments, in the different specialties other than emergencies produced by COVID-19. Most of them continued in the format through online appointments. One of the important processes in medical evaluations is related to the so-called specialist boards, where special cases are evaluated, for which several physicians must be connected online, in addition to being able to make reports jointly. In this paper we develop a methodology to perform medical meetings of specialists, using a platform dedicated to the use in video games, through the DISCORD tool interconnectivity from various devices is performed, the results demonstrate the interactivity and applicability of the methodology, so it can be applied in different processes where interconnectivity between different devices and the concurrence of several users is required. We present a methodology to configure virtual appointment rooms, the results allow us to verify that the methodology can be replicated and scaled according to the needs. © 2022 ACM.

COVID-19 Detection on X-Ray Image Using Deep Learning

COVID-19 is one of the threats that came out of nowhere and literally shook the entire world. Various prediction techniques have been invented in a very short time. This study also develops a Deep Learning (DL) model which can predict the presence of COVID-19 and pneumonia by analyzing the X-ray images of human lungs. From Kaggle, a collection of X-ray images of the lungs is collected. Then, this dataset is preprocessed using two alternative methods. Some of the techniques include image enhancement and picture resizing. The two deep-learning models are then trained using the preprocessed dataset. A few more examples of DL algorithms include MobileNet and Inception-V3. The best model is then selected by validating the learned deep-learning models. As the epochs count increases during training and validation, the accuracy value for both models increases. The value of the loss increases as the number of epochs decreases. During the fourteenth validation period, the model generates a loss value of 0.32 for the MobileNet technique. During the first few training epochs, accuracy is lower, and by the fifteenth, it is close to 0.9. The Inception-V3 method produces a loss value of 0.1452 at the eleventh validation epoch, which is the lowest value. The greatest accuracy value of 0.9697 is obtained after the twelfth cycle of validation. The model that performs better and has lower loss values is then put through one last test. Inception-V3 is therefore selected as the top method for COVID-19 detection. The Inception-V3 system properly predicted each of the normal images and the COVID-19 images in the final test. Regarding pneumonia, it correctly predicted just one image out of 20 that are so small as to be disregarded. When a patient cannot afford to find a doctor for consultation, the DL model created in this work can be utilized as a preliminary test for COVID-19. By including the model created in this study as a backend processor for a website or software application, the study's findings can be updated. © 2023 IEEE.

MNLTour: A Web and Mobile Application for Virtual Tour System of Select Tourist Spots Around Manila Using 360-degree Imagery and Virtual Reality Technology

MNLTour is a virtual tour system for selected tourist spots situated within the city of Manila. It utilizes 360-degree images, 2D images, voice recordings, and virtual reality technology to offer an immersive user experience of the virtual environment. The virtual tour system was developed using the Unity3D software and was then integrated into web and mobile applications accessible through web browsers and android smartphones, respectively. MNLTour aims to promote the wonders of Manila city by showcasing some of its historical tourist spots that have been severely affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The developed web and mobile applications were tested and later evaluated to assess the overall quality of the software in accordance with ISO 9126 standard. The evaluation statements primarily focus on the aspects of functionality, efficiency, usability, effectiveness, and user satisfaction in using the application. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze and summarize the data gathered from the evaluation respondents. The evaluation of the application in both platforms turned out to have admirable evaluation results;hence, it's safe to say that the developed software has an acceptable overall quality. © 2022 IEEE.

Work in Progress: Benefits of Learning Engineering Sciences to Transition from Face-to-Face to Virtual Learning of Engineering, Technology, and Computing due to COVID-19

For equatorial African countries such as Rwanda the power grid in some regions is either absent or highly unreliable even though these locations are blessed with reliable solar radiation most of the time. Designing and implementing solar power systems capable of supporting micro-computer systems such as Raspberry Pi devices that can be used in educational environments is a way to overcome grid challenges while at the same time imparting valuable lessons covering Engineering, Technology, and Computing. Using Learning Engineering Sciences best practices effectively mitigates how COVID-19 that has required standard face-to-face project and learning strategies to transition to virtual or hybrid strategies that utilize Open Educational Resources (OER). These strategies include video conferencing, file sharing platforms, and messaging applications to generate learning activities, create courses to construct the learning program for training teachers in the use of OER and Raspberry Pi desktop devices. © 2023 IEEE.

The Impact of the Scientific Metaverse on the Biotech Industry: How Virtual Reality Helped Researchers Fight Back Against COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic not only precipitated a digital revolution but also led to one of the largest scientific collaborative open-source initiatives. The EXaSCale smArt pLatform Against paThogEns for CoronaVirus (EXSCALATE4CoV) consortium, led by Dompé farmaceutici S.p.A., brought together 18 global organizations to counter international pandemics more rapidly and efficiently. The consortium also partnered with Nanome, an extended reality software company whose software facilitates the visualization, modification, and simulation of molecules via augmented reality, mixed reality, and virtual reality applications. To characterize the molecular structure of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to identify promising drug targets, the EXSCALATE4CoV team utilized methods such as homology modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, high-throughput virtual screening, docking, and other computational procedures. Nanome provided analysis of those computational procedures and supplied virtual reality headsets to help scientists better understand and interact with the molecular dynamics and key chemical interactions of SARS-CoV-2. Nanome's collaborative ideation platform enables scientific breakthroughs across research institutions in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and other diseases. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Study on Metaverse in Education

Most nations have used online meeting software platforms for distant education in some capaci ty during the COVID-19 epidemic. These software applications do, however, have substantial drawbacks that hinder engagement and fall short of simulating the classroom environment. Many of these restrictions are resolved by the newly forming Metaverse. In education in Metaverse, learners have the opportunity to engage with digital content and each other in a more interactive and immersive way. For example, learners can participate in virtual simulations, role -playing activities, and collaborative projects with other learners from around the world. They can also access a wide range of digital resources, such as virtual textbooks, lectures, and assessments, all within the same platform. This paper reviews different Metaverse models, frameworks for applying Metaverse in the field of education. © 2023 IEEE.

An Intelligent IoT-based COVID-19 Contact Tracing System for Ashesi University

The outbreak of contagious diseases demand isolation and quarantining of infected persons and people they have been in close proximity with. This can be easily achieved if technology-based systems are designed to facilitate contact tracing. The aim of this research project is to develop a privacy focused IoT-based COVID-19 contact tracing system that leverages mobile devices and artificial intelligence for the Ashesi University community. To achieve this, we divided the project into two main parts: The software sub-system and the hardware subsystem. The software sub-system comprises of a cross-platform mobile application that tracks users, and an admin portal to monitor user activities. The hardware sub-system is an IoT-based system that uses a Raspberry Pi to capture indoor images with the aid of a Raspberry Pi camera module. It processes the images to determine whether the occupants of the room have been in close proximity with one another or not while relaying feedback to them via its actuators and at the same time updates the admin portal. Through system testing, it was identified that 32% our system users considered privacy during the pandemic as critical even though 95% confirmed that the system assures very high level of privacy. © 2022 IEEE.

A Development Framework for a Health Monitoring Application in the Power App Platform

Globally, COVID-19 pandemic has influenced and changed norms and common health cultures. Different countries have implemented risk management and dealt with the condition based on the applicability of the international measures and some uniquely to their situations. As technology has become a key tool in daily lives and smart phones and connectivity has become a common necessity for most of the world's population, these can be used to help face the pandemic and the new normal it brings. Using one of the widely used software platforms, the research intends to design a framework for a health monitoring application for private institutions. © 2022 IEEE.

Introduction to the Minitrack on Smart (City) and Data Streaming Application Development: Challenges and Experiences

Building Smart (City) Applications and data streaming have been fast evolving in the last couple of years with a breadth of topics with cities on the edge of the 4th industrial revolution. With COVID-19 starting to be better addressable and people returning to big cities and downtown areas, visions for urban utopia with focus on sustainability and communities arise again. The combination of Artifical Intelligence, Internet of Things and data streaming methods open up novel research areas with large transational potential and address topics such as smart transportation and standards such as Industry 4.0. This minitrack features the concepts and ideas of Smart Applications and data streaming applications, their implementations, especially from a software engineering point of view. Submissions to this minitrack include presentations of architectures, frameworks, platforms and infrastructures as well as success stories of implementations. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Study of Zero Trust Architecture for Applications and Network Security

As a result of globalization, the COVID-19 pandemic and the migration of data to the cloud, the traditional security measures where an organization relies on a security perimeter and firewalls do not work. There is a shift to a concept whereby resources are not being trusted, and a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) based on a zero-trust principle is needed. Adapting zero trust principles to networks ensures that a single insecure Application Protocol Interface (API) does not become the weakest link comprising of Critical Data, Assets, Application and Services (DAAS). The purpose of this paper is to review the use of zero trust in the security of a network architecture instead of a traditional perimeter. Different software solutions for implementing secure access to applications and services for remote users using zero trust network access (ZTNA) is also summarized. A summary of the author's research on the qualitative study of 'Insecure Application Programming Interface in Zero Trust Networks' is also discussed. The study showed that there is an increased usage of zero trust in securing networks and protecting organizations from malicious cyber-attacks. The research also indicates that APIs are insecure in zero trust environments and most organization are not aware of their presence. © 2022 IEEE.

IOT Based Temperature and Oxygen Pulse Scan Entry System

In this project the system has been designed in the manner to detect the body temperature and oxygen saturation level (SpO2) of the person. To detect the body temperature and oxygen pulses we are using the respective sensors. The sensors we are using in this project is MLX90614 ESF thermometer and MAX30100 is integrated with the pulse oximeter. Here we have used the two Node MCU (ESP 32) for the different sensors, one Node MCU is connected to the temperature sensor and another Node MCU is connected to the pulse oximeter. The components we are using in this project is Eco friendly. The software we are using in this project is ARDUINO UNO R3 IDE (Integrated development board) and To show the results we are making use of Blynk app. The maximum errors we get in this project is about 2%. When it comes to health monitoring, it has shown the good results. This is the best way to minimize the spread of the COVID-19. It is a low cost and high functionality which makes it use in the different places like Hospitals, Malls, Sports etc. © 2022 IEEE.

Using VR in Science Subjects: Popularity and Public Attitudes on Twitter

Following their surge in popularity during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, e-learning and virtual education remain a noteworthy and rapidly developing part of the educational landscape. Still relatively immature in its development, virtual reality in particular promises extraordinary potential for positive educational outcomes. Given this potential, it is essential to deepen our understanding of the needs and attitudes of the public regarding its use. Based on Twitter data, our research focuses on the use of virtual reality in biology, chemistry and physics education, providing an analysis of popularity and other trends, along with public attitudes. Major results of our study include the finding that the application of virtual reality in chemistry was the most discussed among these three subjects between July 2016 and July 2022, and the discovery of a strong positive correlation between the frequency of tweets and the launch of hardware and software products. Our overview of the traffic on these three subjects is likely to be of particular value to software developers and virtual reality content creators. © 2022 IEEE.

Virtual Laboratory, a Learning Resource for Distance Education

Distance education programs have grown rapidly in recent years and have become even more massive because of the restrictions on movement due to the covid 19 pandemic. The development of information technologies has helped this teaching modality to have good results due to its autonomy and flexibility, however, it has some points of improvement especially in activities of practical nature. Virtual laboratories appear as a tool to support this type of activities. The success of these laboratories depends on several factors, not only imitating a face-to-face laboratory. This article proposes a methodology to guide the process of design and development of immersive experiences that allow the realization of laboratory activities in distance education mode. The objective is to ensure that the development of this type of experience becomes a resource to help the teaching-learning process, ensuring its contribution to the achievement of learning outcomes, allowing the validation of the knowledge acquired by students and helping the professor in the teaching of the course. The proposed methodology considers the opinion of the coordinating committee of the distance education program, students and professors. Its application is presented through a case study of a distance education program of an industrial engineering school in a Chilean university. © 2022 IEEE.

An experience in the use of SCRUM and KANBAN for project development in a Waterfall environment

SIDIA R&D Institute is responsible for developing, validating, and localizing the Android Operating System (Android OS) used in smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets, sold in Latin American countries. Traditionally, SIDIA's Model department is responsible for such development, and it is comprised of smaller teams working on individual Android components. For example, the Application team works on the Android's System Apps layer, such as Photo Gallery and Phone Dialer. Like all Model's teams, the Application employs the Waterfall methodology, a straightforward and widespread software development framework. However, the Application team can receive requests to work on projects unrelated to its primary activities. In these cases, the Waterfall methodology is unsuitable because it follows a linear pipeline [1], making it challenging to work on multiple and simultaneous projects. Hence, the present paper aims to report the experience of the Application team in transitioning from a pure Waterfall environment to a mix of Waterfall and Agile methodologies. Specifically, the team applied the SCRUM and KANBAN methodologies in four independent projects. The challenges caused by this culture change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced our workforce to work from home, are reported here. Furthermore, the team used Retrospective and Post-Mortem meetings to gather feedback from members about their experience with these new methodologies. © 2021 ACM.

Educational Assistant Wireframe for the Elderly to Mitigate Urban Climate Health Risks

The climate in urban centers can differ significantly from the immediate surrounding areas;this can pose health risks to the elderly who have spent much of their lives in urban centers and then move to more rural areas for retirement. Therefore, there is a need to develop educational software applications for the elderly that needs to account for their life experiences aside from physiological restrictions. This research created a connected wireframe for an educational assistant to make the elderly aware of the climate differences between their urban and rural residences. To address the difficulty of recruiting vulnerable subjects, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we evaluated our wireframe using a combination of heuristic evaluation and a variation of the Delphi process, an expert consensus-building tool typically used for market forecasting. © ICCE 2022.All rights reserved.

Architecture Proposal under a Virtual Reality Ecosystem to Support the Teaching of Basic Mathematics in Elementary Education

One of the big problems facing Latin America in education is undoubtedly the educational backwardness that is present and worsens over time, México is no stranger to this problem, in recent years and especially in times of pandemic COVID-19 brought important educational challenges that aggravated the problems. To this is added the difficulty faced by students in learning mathematics, due to the teaching methods used that do not motivate or arouse the interest of students. The objective of this research is to design digital environments focused on virtual reality as a support in the learning of basic mathematics for elementary school students. It is proposed to build a software architecture based on an ecosystem for virtual reality applications, the proposed ecosystem is composed of providers and consumers of educational content (children), elementary school teachers who will generate and design basic mathematics activities and elementary school students will consume the applications through the activities within different virtual environments and with different interaction dynamics making use of virtual reality viewers. It is expected that the architecture can establish the basis for the design and production of Virtual Reality applications that allow the conformation of learning communities in mathematics through the virtual reality learning ecosystem. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Floating Structure Integrity Management Program (FSIMP) Towards Digitalization

The objective of the paper is to demonstrate digitalization of Floating Structures Integrity Management Program (FSIMP) and its application for the structural integrity of floating structure assets. The framework of FSIMP is being developed by adopting Risk Based Inspection (RBI) methodology and complemented with technical know-how and industry best-practices. Implementing the methodology provides strategic planning for maintenance by reducing the anticipated risk. Hence, ensuring uninterrupted service of the floating structure assets throughout the service life. This paper presents a systematic approach for digitalization of the integrity management program for a nominated floating structure asset. The methodology offers a procedure to acquire necessary data management gathering, risk assessment, and RBI survey plan to maintain the structural integrity in the centralized web-based platform of FSIMP. RBI process is adopted into the FSIMP to investigate all deterioration and failure mechanisms. These structures will be identified by qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods. The implementation of FSIMP offers a wide range of capabilities in structural integrity management such as integrating all floating structure fleet assets in a single dashboard of web-based platform, clear line of sight for reliable structural integrity, and an holistic overview across all levels of management. FSIMP with RBI methodology evaluates all data gathering to optimize inspection resources based on the risk assessment through an optimum combination of inspection methods and frequencies. The whole process is aligned to the requirements from Classification to ensure reliability for continuous operations. It also observes the essential need of digitalization for FSIMP during the time of post-COVID19 pandemic and the ever-expanding offshore oil, gas and energy frontiers that demand the adoption of new and advanced technologies, especially in the field of digitalization. It is shown that FSIMP has great potential as a digitalization tool and system to integrate with the RBI risk assessment that aligns to the requirements from Classification. It is strategically to maximize the effectiveness and improved efficiency for inspection and monitoring plan. The paper provides information on the solution of digitalization to the Floating Structures Integrity Management Program (FSIMP) in ensuring that the integrity of floating structure asset during the service life is intact for continuous operation and a holistic overview for all the assigned fleet assets in a centralized dashboard web-based platform. In addition to that, RBI is as added benefit to the FSIMP with its structure methodology of data evaluation and risk assessment in order to objectively optimizing inspection and maintenance resources. Copyright © 2023, International Petroleum Technology Conference.