Quality is more important than quantity: Social presence and workplace ergonomics control predict perceived remote work performance

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a widespread disruption to the way that we work. One of its lasting consequences will be the ubiquity of remote work. The effective use of collaboration tools is therefore a critical factor for information systems (IS) research when design the workplaces of the future. We theorize that social presence and workplace ergonomics control are important predictors of perceived performance. Moreover, we investigate how different factors (i.e., collaboration tool efficacy, mode of work, and number of meetings) influence social presence. Using survey data (N = 389), we provide evidence that workplace ergonomics control and social presence are indeed important for perceived performance. Surprisingly, we observe that only collaborative platform efficacy has a significant impact on social presence, and that neither the number of meetings nor the modality were significant factors. Based upon these results, we derive implications for theory and practice. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Matchmaking for Mental Well-being: Development of a Peer-based Support System (Peer2S) for Students during COVID Lockdown

Social support is known to be a critical factor for mental well-being. More specifically, the protective effect of quality social support in times of crisis is well documented in many psychological studies. In this study, we developed a social support matching system that connects people who are going through similar life circumstances to provide peer-based support, allowing them to better cope with their situation together. As a case study, we focused on Japanese students whose lives were impacted by the COVID-19 lock down. To develop the recommendation model used in our system, 50 participants were asked to register their profile and afterwards, 20 users determined whether they would match with each of the profiles resulting in 1000 data points. We then experimented with various collaborative filtering and deep learning approaches and evaluated their effectiveness in recommending profiles to users. Finally, a user experiment study was conducted in which 11 users used the system 2 weeks. The results showed that while there was no significant difference in perceived social support, users reported significantly less anxiety and a borderline reduction in depression. © 2023 Owner/Author.

An Explorative Study of the Political, Economic, and Social Factors Influencing the Development of Senior Housing: A Case Study of Hong Kong

Senior housing with age-friendly design and elderly care services contributes to the health and well-being of older people. Previous research has evidenced that the immediate environment factors of senior housing, such as the design of housing features and facilities, have a direct bearing on the satisfaction and quality of life of older people. However, external environment factors, such as political, economic, and social ones that affect key stakeholders' behaviors in senior housing development, are relatively under-researched. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the external environmental factors influencing the development of senior housing. Taking Hong Kong as case study, this study first commenced with a systematic review to identify the factors in political, economic, and social domains from global evidence. Following this, we interviewed local experts from academia, industry, and government to solicit their opinions on the relative importance of these factors. We then determined the factor rankings using the analytical hierarchy process method. The results showed that local experts perceived economic factors as the most critical ones in influencing senior housing development in Hong Kong, including land costs, funding from financial institutions, and government incentives. If policymakers tend to promote senior housing in densely populated cities like Hong Kong, the policies should be attractive for housing developers, such as land premium concessions and innovative financial channels for supporting the long-term development of senior housing. © 2023 by the authors.

Identification of Critical Factors Influencing Students' Engagement and Satisfaction of Online Live Learning in Higher Education

In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, online live teaching becomes the main teaching method rather than a choice. Considering the immediate habit change in education, this study aims to identify the critical factors influencing students' engagement and satisfaction with the online live courses using a structural equation model and an online questionnaire survey. Through a comprehensive literature review, four critical factors influencing students' engagement and satisfaction which are instructor behaviors, student characteristics, course organization, the state of health, wellbeing, and sense of community-related (HWC) issues were identified and their relationships as well as measurement indicators for each factor were proposed. Through a survey, 306 valid responses were collected from civil engineering students in China in 2020. The results showed that instructor behaviors and student characteristics have the highest impact on student engagement and perceived learning, respectively. Moreover, the mediating effects of student engagement between instructor behaviors and student characteristics and perceived learning and satisfaction are statistically significant. Furthermore, the state of HWC issues caused by intensive online learning does have a significant negative impact on student satisfaction. Besides, the relative importance of practices affecting student online learning effects was prioritized. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge of online teaching theories and strategies. Moreover, the instructor and the education manager can improve their online live arrangement by referencing the findings of this study. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Synthesis of critical factors influencing indoor environmental quality and their impacts on building occupants health and productivity

Purpose: The present shift and change in the human lifestyle across the world are undeniable. Currently, individuals spend a substantial amount of time indoors due to the global COVID-19 pandemic that strikes the entire world. This change in human lifestyle has devastating effects on human health and productivity. As a result, the influence of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on the health and productivity of building users becomes a critical field of research that requires immediate attention. As a result, the purpose of this study is to review the state-of-the-art literature by establishing a connection between the factors that influence health and productivity in any given indoor environment. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology involves a thorough review of selected published journals from 1983 to 2021, and the result was analysed through content analysis. The search included journal articles, books and conference proceedings on the critical factors influencing IEQ and their impact on building occupants, which was sourced from different databases such as ScienceDirect, Taylor, GoogleScholar and Web of Science. Findings: The findings from the 90 selected articles revealed four critical factors influencing the quality of the indoor environment and are categorised into;indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort. The findings suggested that when developing a system for controlling the quality of the indoor environment, the indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort should be taken into account. Originality/value: The indoor environment deeply impacts the health of individuals in their living and work environments. Industry must have a moral responsibility to provide health facilities in which people and workers feel satisfies and give conditions for prosperity. Addressing these essential aspects will not only help the decision-making process of construction professionals but also encourages innovative construction techniques that will enhance the satisfaction, wellness and performance of building occupants. © 2023, Modupe Cecilia Mewomo, James Olaonipekun Toyin, Comfort Olubukola Iyiola and Olusola Raphael Aluko.

Understanding perceived shopping effectiveness with omnichannel: A MOA theory perspective

Customers' shopping effectiveness is a critical factor in encouraging customers to stay with the firms, the knowledge regarding how to provide shopping effectiveness in an omnichannel retailing environment remains underexplored. Thus, this study draws on Motivation-Opportunity-Ability theory (MOA) and examines MOA factors affecting customers' perceived shopping effectiveness, which in turn influences customers' omnichannel usage continuance intention. The expected findings may suggest that the opportunity factor, channel integration quality encompassing channel-service configuration, content consistency, process consistency, and assurance quality, positively influences customers' percieved shopping effectiveness. Furthermore, the motivation factors such as relative advantage, perceived ease of use, personalized incentives, flow, and enjoyment, have positive effects on customers' perceived shopping effectiveness. In addition, ability factors encompassing technology readiness and self efficacy are expected to influence perceived shopping effectiveness. As a result, perceived shopping effectiveness positively influences omnichannel usage continuance intention. These findings enhance the literature on the shopping values and channel integration quality in an omnichannel retailing environment. These findings also offer insightful implications for omnichannel retailers in terms of creating and managing customers' shopping effectivess in the post-COVID period. © 2022 International Consortium for Electronic Business. All rights reserved.

Infection Safe Workplace Modelling

The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the dynamics of the workforce and the workplace. Being affected by Covid-19, organizations had to mitigate the risks of workplace safety and their negative effects on the health of employees and society. A safe work environment is a critical factor in limiting the spread of infection and technologies can enable it. This paper describes a case study of 4EM method application for safe workplace modelling. The model is used for the communication and validation among different groups of stakeholders. It is the foundation for the Covid-19 safe workplace platform. The main goal of the spread of platform is to reduce the infection among employees on the workspace. The main sources of information for the platform are sensors, which are used to measure parameters of the working environment, such as CO2 ppm, the number of people in a room, the discipline of masks and the virus concentration levels of wastewater virus concentration. The 4EM (For Enterprise Modelling) diagram contains critical concepts that can allow minimization of infection risk in the workplace, which are entities, processes, business roles, and requirements of the information system. © 2020 Copyright for this paper by its authors.

Opt-Sim approach for the gate allocation problem in covid-19 times

This study tackles the gate allocation problem (GAP) at the airport terminal, considering the current covid-19 pandemic restrictions. The GAP has been extensively studied by the research community in the last decades, as it represents a critical factor that determines an airport's capacity. Currently, the airport passenger terminal operations have been redesigned to be aligned and respect the covid-19 regulation worldwide. This provides operators with new challenges on how to handle the passengers inside the terminal. The purpose of this study is to come up with an efficient gate allocator that considers potential issues derived by the current pandemic, i.e., avoid overcrowded areas. A sim-opt approach has been developed where an evolutionary algorithm (EA) is used in combination with a dynamic passenger flow simulation model to find a feasible solution. The EA aims to find a (sub)optimal solution for the GAP, while the simulation model evaluates its efficiency and feasibility in a real-life scenario. To evaluate the potential of the Opt-Sim approach, it has been applied to a real airport case study. © 2021 The Authors.

Preliminary Design and Implementation Discussion of Low Latency Live Video Web Streaming Engine

The threat of COVID-19 maximizes the demands for live video streaming. How to provide a video streaming service with low latency becomes one urgent and necessary research issue. This paper would survey and discuss the critical factors to impact transmission latency from the perspective of software implementation of a web streaming engine. Based on the initial experiment, the proposed live video web streaming engine can achieve under 3-second latency. © 2022 IEEE.

The Future of Technology-Based Learning at the Open University of Tanzania

Today, digital transformation in higher education reshapes traditional educational systems toward technology-based learning. In the wake of the global pandemic COVID-19, digital transformation has even accelerated at many universities worldwide due to the pressure put on policymakers and university management to adopt educational technology at their institutions to allow education to continue. Using the case of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), this article discusses critical factors needed for the successful implementation of technology-based learning and other technological innovations like adaptive learning, for example, in higher education in an African context. We applied a Delphi design, a rigorous research method used for structuring a group communication process to allow a group of experts, as a whole, to deal with a complex problem effectively. In total, 24 experts (e.g., instructors, staff, and students) from different regional OUT centres participated in the Delphi study. The paper presents the results of the first round of the Delphi study on the challenges of technologybased learning identified at OUT providing the first insights into the perceived role, probability, and estimated realisation time of adaptive learning at OUT in the future. We argue that not only technological challenges linked to the internet, network, or technological equipment affect the adoption of technology-based learning in higher education, but also that pedagogical, organisational, and global challenges are indispensable for the successful transformation of higher education. © 2022. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Critical Factors that Influence the Satisfaction of E-learning of Laboratory Subjects among University Students

During the pandemic of covid-19, the government of Malaysia come up with a new alternative to ensure the young generations still can learn from home and no one is left behind by using E-learning. This study attempts to determine the critical factors that influence the satisfaction of E-learning in laboratory subjects, to identify the satisfaction of university students with the E-learning process of laboratory subjects, and to examine the relationship between the critical factors and the satisfaction of university students with E-learning. In this study, third-year undergraduate students from the Faculty of Technology Management and Business (FPTP), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) were selected as the participants. The questionnaire was employed to collect data for this study. The data collected were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software. The results showed that the system quality was the most critical factor that influence the satisfaction of E-learning of the students during the laboratory activities. Furthermore, the UTHM students were satisfied with learning laboratory subjects via E-learning. There was a positive relationship between the critical factors and the satisfaction of UTHM students. This study has been conducted to help the lecturer, university, and the developer of the E-learning application analyzes the critical factors that the student faced during E-learning and give some suggestions to improve students' satisfaction with E-learning. © 2022 ACM.

Multivariate time series analysis on variables that influence pandemic expansion

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on social and economic systems worldwide. The variance in the rapidly increasing number of illnesses and deaths in each country is primarily due to national policies and actions. As a result, governments and institutions need to get insights into the critical factors influencing COVID-19 future case counts to properly manage the adverse effects of pandemics and promptly prepare appropriate measures. Thus, in this paper, we conduct extensive experiments on the real-world covid-19 datasets to examine the important factors influencing in the pandemic growth. In particular, we perform an exploratory data analysis to get the statistic and characteristics of multivariate time-series data on pandemic dynamic. Also, we utilize a statistical measure such as Pearson correlation to compute the relations of the past on the future daily new cases. The experimental results demonstrate that some restrictions have a positive effect on daily new confirmed cases at the early stage of the local pandemic transmission. Also, the results show that the early trend of COVID-19 can be explained well by human mobility in various categories. Thus, our proposed framework can be served as a guideline for future pandemic prevention and control decision-making. © 2022 IEEE.

Automated Sanitization System for Buildings to Reduce the Risk of Spreading Diseases

Application of sanitizing technologies was recognized as a critical factor to assist the successful execution of building in pandemic situations. The aim of the research study is to propose an effective sanitizing technology system suitable for the building construction industry in Sri Lanka. A qualitative approach, with a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the applicability and suitability of identified technologies. The outcomes of the analysis were able to identify the current practices of sanitizing technology in use: HVAC (Heat, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems, Electrical, Plumbing, and MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing). Three possible options to implement the project were identified, namely "waiting room,""building interior sanitizing system,"and "outsider's sanitizing room."The research paper discusses above three options, but mainly focuses on the building interior sanitizing system. The proposed automated sanitizing technology system which has been successfully implemented for the building interior can be considered as introduction of a new technology in the industry to reduce the risk of spreading many diseases such as Covid 19. © 2021 IEEE.

Blockchain-based Value Creation for Supply Chain in COVID-19 Drug Distribution

This research explores how the supply chain application of blockchain impacts workflow across organizations to encourage value-creating opportunities by modeling the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. It focuses on 1) identifying the critical factors that could generate additional value by using blockchain in the supply chain workflow, 2) implementing a vaccine logistics scenario on a blockchain platform, and 3) examining the value creation and value appropriation opportunities resulting from embedding blockchain onto the supply chain. This study, which is currently in progress, demonstrates the practical benefits and business implications for applying blockchain in an urgent vaccine distribution environment. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Understanding the Critical Factors in Information System Sustainability: A Practice-Based Perspective

The continuation of the environmental deterioration, the coronavirus pandemic, and the financial stagger have invoked the attention of sustainability. Developing sustainable information systems becomes crucial for ensuring the success of enterprise information management and sustainable competitiveness. This study analyzed a set of critical factors for sustainable information systems. Using decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method and referring to the theory of practice-based view (PBV), this study constructed a research framework in which the factors reflect the common practices of a sustainable information system. The cause and effect relationships among the factors are illustrated with a discussion of the implications. © 2022 ACM.

Transformational Leadership and Challenges Education in a Pandemic

Leadership is a critical factor in determining an organization's success. This research is an integrative literature review which means that in its preparation the literature used is not only sourced from one scientific discipline but from various sciences that are interrelated with each other. The researcher's steps are broken down into stages, for example, the researcher conducts a review using numerous respectable journal articles obtained from various sources. Researchers enter various keywords related to research topics in literature searches and limit scientific articles published in the last 5 years while transformational leadership during the pandemic which was published in 2020. The journal search results obtained as many as 25 journals but the most appropriate to the topic obtained 10 journals. The study's findings suggest that the problems of transformational leadership in education during a pandemic include societal limits imposed by the Covid-19 outbreak, which can obstruct the nation's ability to achieve and improve its character. Transformational leadership in education describes the level of leader's ability to change the mentality and behavior of staff for the better by showing and encouraging them to do something that seems impossible that offers a changed perspective on the whole educational institution, so that teaching staff and students realize their existence to build institutions that ready to welcome change and even create change. During the pandemic, transformational leadership has hurdles, beginning with social constraints, as the Covid-19 outbreak may obstruct the Indonesian nation's ability to achieve and build its character toward a superior generation. © 2021 ACM.

Multi-class classification and modeling of the hospitalization status of COVID-19 patients

In recent times, the unprecedented surge in the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to several attempts at understanding and containing the outbreak of the pandemic as well as to ultimately eradicate it. Steps taken so far include encouraging the wearing of face masks and shields, municipality restrictions such as work-from-home orders, the development of vaccines by health research institutions among others. It is widely believed that the main mode of transmission of the virus is from human to human. In this paper, we present the multi-class classification and modeling of the hospitalization status of COVID-19 patients by using both machine learning and compartmental mathematical models focusing on critical factors like hospital stay-days (SDs) and admission type based on severity of illness. The classification of hospitalization status of COVID-19 patients is necessary in order to know priority cases and give them prompt attention. Two key machine learning algorithms-the decision tree and random forest, are deployed in our analyses. The Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) algorithm was used for parameter estimation for the mathematical model. From our results, it is easy to identify high risk patients in order to optimize treatment plans that would lower cost of treatments, reduce the chances of others getting infected and assist logistics teams to optimally allocate hospital resources. Hospital administrations can also be supported in deciding the number of staff and visitors per patient per day in a facility. © 2022 IEEE.

Assessment of Critical Factors Influencing Consumers’ Acceptance of Wearable Sports Devices During COVID-19 Pandemic Conditions

Amid rising COVID-19 stringency measures, sedentary behavior has been intensified globally, leading to intense chronic diseases. Due to the potential health benefits associated with digital wearables, there is a dire need to explore the crucial determinants for consumers, which could enhance the usage of sports wearables in addressing health challenges. For this purpose, a novel conceptual framework was developed, and Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed on the primary data of 463 consumers from China. The results revealed a positive association of consumer innovativeness, perceived credibility, perceived ease in using sports wearables, perceived usefulness in using sports wearables, social influence for sports wearables, health benefits, and hedonic motivation for sports wearables during COVID-19 with the adoption intention of sports wearables. The study findings offer valuable policy recommendations to minimize COVID-19 health risks by efficiently monitoring consumers’ health status. Copyright © 2022 He, Shang, Ajaz, Nureen and Sukstan.

Development and Validation of a Measurement Instrument for Sustainability in Food Supply Chains

The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement instrument for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) critical factors, practices and performance and validate it in the food industry. A literature review was conducted in order to identify pertinent variables and propose relevant measuring items. An email survey was carried out in 423 Greek companies in the food and beverage sector. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail in the Google Forms format and it was requested to be answered by a representative of the company. The collected data was processed using exploratory factor analysis in order to extract the latent constructs of the SSCM critical factors, practices and performance measures. The validity of the proposed instrument was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The extracted SSCM critical factors are “firm-level sustainability critical factors” and “supply chain sustainability critical factors”. The extracted SSCM practices are “supply chain collaboration” and “supply chain strategic orientation”. The extracted SSCM performance factors are “economic performance”, “social performance” and “environmental performance”. The three developed constructs constitute a measurement instrument that can be used both by practitioners who desire to implement SSCM and by researchers who can apply the proposed scales in other research projects or use them as assessment tools.

A Hybrid Grey DEMATEL and PLS-SEM Model to Investigate COVID-19 Vaccination Intention

The main objective of this study is to comprehensively investigate individuals' vaccination intention against COVID-19 during the second wave of COVID-19 spread in Vietnam using a novel hybrid approach. First, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory based on Grey Theory (DEMATEL-G) was employed to explore the critical factors of vaccination intention among individuals. Second, Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the hypotheses of individual behavioral intention to get the vaccine to prevent the outbreak of COVID- 19. A panel of 661 valid respondents was collected from June 2021 to July 2021, and confidentiality was maintained for all data obtained. The results identified that perception of COVID-19 vaccination and trust in vaccination strategy directly associated with individuals' COVID-19 immunization. Hence, the perceived severity of COVID-19 has an indirect impact onCOVID- 19 vaccination intentions via the perception of the COVID-19 vaccine. These findings indicated that the government's information about vaccines is necessary for the new phase of vaccination intervention strategies in Vietnam. Therefore, the study suggests that the government needs to give complete information about the role of vaccines prioritizes transparency in official information about COVID-19 vaccines to allay concerns about side effects, allowing for the most appropriate policy formulation and implementation to encourage public vaccination. Future studies can apply PLS-SEM and other MCDMmodels with the fuzzy, hesitant numbers to re-evaluate the feasibility, validity and reliability of this research's proposed model. © 2022 Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.