Accelerate Digital Transformation in the Oil and Gas Industry

It has been recognized that Digitalization in the oil and gas industry, as emerging information communication and technology, can improve collaboration to different extents. However, because of the fast progress of Digitalization adoption both on the scope and in-depth, there is a knowledge gap between industry and academia that lacks systematic analysis on critical success factors (CSFs) of implementing Digitalization for collaboration in the oil and gas industry. This study develops a digitalization framework for collaboration from technical, organizational, process, and legal scopes. It identifies the CSFs of Digitalization in each scope based on the latest publications. From a system analysis perspective, the pair-relationship matrix is established to reveal the hidden effect between CSFs. The CSFs in the specific Digitalization application areas are identified based on the matrix. The Innovative Digital Race is based on the evolution of the operational backbone of the engineering domain, driven by advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Automation, energy technologies, and data-driven prediction and analytics. Organizations are constantly buffeted by unexpected events, from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change to political unrest. In contrast, the promise of digital transformation to prosper and outperform the challenges during disturbances stays apparent as digital is responsible for supporting digital enterprise technology. As a result, enterprises can embrace innovations to accelerate growth and strategically drive the enterprise forward through gaining trusted digital connections, solutions to disruptive scale digital creativity, and innovative capacities to post business growth and resilience. © 2022, Offshore Technology Conference. All rights reserved.

Urban green spaces management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experiences from Kraków, Poland

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has spread all over the world, significantly affecting our everyday lives. People changed their habits during the pandemic and made use of urban green spaces (UGS). Our Web of Science and Scopus queries confirm a knowledge gap in green space planning and public space management studies in the field of UGS availability during COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban green spaces management, identify the needs of the residents in terms of urban green spaces furniture, and assess the accessibility of urban green spaces to propose recommendations for the institution charged with managing urban green spaces in the City (Krakow). To this end, we used an expert interview, spatial analyses, and survey research among residents of Kraków, one of the largest cities in Poland. The survey involved 1350 respondents. The spatial analyses employed geoprocessing algorithms and GIS tools. The results showed that 96% of Kraków citizens have access to urban green spaces within 300 m from their homes. Therefore, UGS are an important part of the City's identity, making their reasonable management vital, especially during crises. The respondents indicated that the existing UGS needed more lighting, rubbish bins, and benches as places of respite. Results of the expert interview showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected urban green spaces management. The results may influence urban green spaces management, and the research is an innovative combination of spatial analysis, a qualitative approach (expert interview), and a quantitative method (a survey) proposing new procedures for analysing UGS. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

How a mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine works inside a Cell: A Virtual Reality Serious Game

Vaccine hesitancy and uptake have been important issues in controlling the current COVID-19 pandemic in many regions around the globe, but the increase in vaccination rates has been slow or even halted in some countries. Therefore, people who have hesitated in getting the vaccine need to be addressed. One driver influencing vaccination uptake is closing the knowledge gap among the public by equipping them with a deeper understanding of how a vaccine works inside our cells to activate the immune system and develop immunity. Viral immunology is highly conceptual and requires an appreciation of molecular biology in the cell. To give individuals an intuitive awareness of the operation of a mRNA-type virus vaccine for COVID-19, we designed and developed a Virtual Reality (VR) based serious game called 'Cell Traveler'. Through this innovative VR serious game, the player can control and interact with a sequence of critical real-life events inside a cell triggered by the injected mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. In this paper, we describe the prototype of the 'Cell Traveler'. We utilize the concepts of serious game to create an experience to encourage students and the public to develop deeper mRNA vaccine knowledge through a memorable and fun experience. © 2022 IEEE.

(Micro)plastics in aquatic systems: Current research focal areas, under-studied matrices, and future directions

(Micro)plastics is a broad term referring to all forms of plastic pollution including plastic wastes, (micro)plastics and nanoplastics. (Micro)plastics in aquatic systems have received considerable research attention, and several reviews exist on the topic. However, limited reviews exist documenting the currently most studied aspects, understudied aquatic matrices, and future research needs. In addition, a summary of the data needs in low-income countries is still lacking. To address these knowledge gaps, the present study examined evidence to investigate the current research and information needs on (micro)plastics in aquatic environments. The chapter first presents a summary of the current research, including reviews on (micro)plastics in aquatic systems to identify the most studied aspects. A close examination of the evidence is then conducted to identify under-studied aquatic matrices, and aspect on (micro)plastics. Current evidence and research needs in low-income countries are discussed. Research constraints in low-income regions and proposals to address them are discussed. Finally, future research directions, comprising ten (10) key knowledge gaps are proposed. These knowledge gaps should constitute and drive the global research agenda on (micro)plastics in aquatic systems. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Work-in-progress: Identifying unit operations laboratory curriculum needs

A knowledge gap exists between what is taught in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum and what is needed in terms of knowledge, skills, and attributes for industry. ABET has worked towards characterizing curriculum needs by specifying seven student outcomes that were developed by their more than 2,200 experts from academia, government and industry. While useful in curriculum assessment, these outcomes are broad and do not provide details about what should be incorporated into specific courses. The National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers surveyed 507 individuals from industry and academia to identify more specific skills needed for graduates going into industry. In addition to process safety and process dynamic knowledge, results suggested the need for skills in communication, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, open-ended task analysis, problem solving, and time management. These skills are often taught through the unit operations laboratory. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty were forced to evaluate the learning outcomes of unit operations laboratory courses, allowing them to think more explicitly about how to address those gaps identified through the previous study. Moving forward, faculty have the opportunity to redesign the course to meet the needs of industry. Surveying unit operations laboratory stakeholders will offer a more targeted approach to making the necessary changes in course content. This includes surveying 1. Faculty on their perceptions of the key learning outcomes of the unit operations laboratory, 2. Industry on the knowledge, skills and attributes that should be taught in the laboratory, and 3. Students on what gaps exist in the chemical engineering curriculum that could be filled by the laboratory. The results of these surveys will provide information that will help balance the breadth and depth of content necessary while incorporating updates to address stakeholder needs. This work-in-progress paper will detail the development of these three surveys. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

An Analysis of the Impacts of Social Media on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the U.S

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health emergency, although effective vaccines are available. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy (VH) has mitigated the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns. Preferred approaches to estimate VH are surveys, polls, and questionnaires;however, these methods are limited in scope because they capture VH at a single point in time and mostly in highly populated (urban) areas. A dearth of published research points to a knowledge gap that limits the ability to explain changes in VH over time at the county level. The proposed research uses open-access databases and data-driven approaches to fill this knowledge gap. We present a systematic, data-driven framework that analyzes sentiments on social media and news coverage on COVID-19 to estimate VH changes over time at the county level in the U.S. Understanding how sentiments and topics contribute to VH can help public health officials develop tailored strategies to increase vaccine uptake for different counties of the U.S., especially when data is limited. Our study indicates that the use of social media and online news coverage led to more reliable predictions of VH estimates for urban than rural areas. Future research will consider other factors which impact VH, such as social/demographic factors, weather conditions, vaccine mandates, etc. © 2022 IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2022. All rights reserved.

Computational Fluency and the Digital Divide in Japanese Higher Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a widening digital divide within the Japanese educational system. Most research on the digital divide focuses on K-12 education, whereas our research explores the situation more specifically in a Japanese higher education context. In higher education, we have identified a knowledge gap which can affect the career path of these students. We conducted a survey in 6 universities in the Kansai and Chugoku areas in Japan to map out the digital divide with different types of universities. This poster is intended to encourage stakeholder discussion in Japan to create a new curriculum for all higher education students and encourage all educators to pursue lifelong learning to improve their ICT and computational literacy skills. © 2021 29th International Conference on Computers in Education Conference, ICCE 2021 - Proceedings. All rights reserved

Understanding Well-Being in Virtual Teams: A Comparative Case Study

Although virtual teams (VTs) have been around for over two decades, there are no studies explicitly examining their members’ well-being. Motivated, therefore, by a knowledge gap in the VT literature, and a practical need to understand well-being in this context due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has led to an unprecedented transition into virtual working, in this paper, we draw on 14 interviews and present initial findings of a comparative case between two European organizations involving different types (global vs. local) of VTs (Phase 1). Using the job demands-resources (JDR) model as our theoretical lens, we make the following contributions: We identify the situated character of job demands and resources among our participants, explaining how VT members experience simultaneously increased job demands and reduced job resources, which, in combination, may substantially impair their well-being. We also find that understandings of demands and resources are idiosyncratic and vary depending on prior individual experiences of VT members. We discuss initial theoretical and practical contributions of Phase 1 of our study and outline our next steps (Phases 2 and 3). © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

An Evaluation of a University-Level, High School Course Taught to Foster Interest in Civil Engineering (Evaluation)

High school students have limited exposure to engineering education, especially civil engineering. To fill this knowledge gap, the authors' offered a new college-level, civil engineering course to high school students. Initial course planning anticipated an on-campus environment with a focus on hands-on learning. Due to COVID-19 and the university system's response, the course shifted to an online platform. In this new setting, the course incorporated both synchronous and asynchronous modules with 18 students from geographical locations spanning 11 time zones. The students had diverse prior exposure to civil engineering, virtual learning environments, and active learning techniques. This paper evaluates the new program's effectiveness in increasing students' interest in civil engineering. Also, the paper shares detailed practical techniques that can be implemented to design (or redesign) courses intended to represent both a rigorous college class and foster interest in engineering. The effectiveness of this course is evaluated based on student engagement with online content, student evaluations, and comparison of pre- and post-class surveys. Student engagement was measured by class participation, on-time assignment submission, and time spent engaging with online materials. To get students' perspectives on course content, delivery method, and teaching techniques, class evaluations were administered to all students at the end of the course. Pre- and post-class surveys asked students uniform questions related to their definition of civil engineering, description of core class principles, and the university. The authors found that students appreciate group work, interactive activities, and opportunities to research and report on complex topics. Specific active learning techniques including split room debates, think-pair-share activities, and using novel software for real-time polling were mentioned by learners as especially meaningful. From the instructors' perspective, the success of these virtual interactive activities is predicated on learner buy-in. Initial ideas developed for in-person instruction were largely abandoned, and alternative approaches were used to leverage the assets and limit the drawbacks of an online environment. Some techniques used were issuing online polling solutions to encourage participation and putting learners in permanent groups to help combat feelings of isolation. Altogether, these techniques led learners to engage with civil engineering topics, fostering interest and growing their knowledge of the topic, while meeting the required rigor of the university classroom. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

The ecology of COVID-19 and related environmental and sustainability issues.

Around the globe, human behavior and ecosystem health have been extensively and sometimes severely affected by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Most efforts to study these complex and heterogenous effects to date have focused on public health and economics. Some studies have evaluated the pandemic's influences on the environment, but often on a single aspect such as air or water pollution. The related research opportunities are relatively rare, and the approaches are unique in multiple aspects and mostly retrospective. Here, we focus on the diverse research opportunities in disease ecology and ecosystem sustainability related to the (intermittent) lockdowns that drastically reduced human activities. We discuss several key knowledge gaps and questions to address amid the ongoing pandemic. In principle, the common knowledge accumulated from invasion biology could also be effectively applied to COVID-19, and the findings could offer much-needed information for future pandemic prevention and management.

Facing the Coronavirus Pandemic: An Integrated Continuing Education Program in Taiwan.

This study aimed to identify knowledge gaps regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and develop an integrated educational program for healthcare workers. First, we designed and validated ten multiple-choice questions to identify knowledge gaps among healthcare workers. Within one month of the online test and curriculum offering, 5533 staff had completed the test, with a completion rate of 84.97%. There were 2618 healthcare workers who answered the pre-test 100% correctly. Those who did not answer the pre-test 100% correctly took multiple tests after learning through the online teaching materials. Eventually, 5214 staff passed the test (pre-test or post-test with 100% correct answers). The result showed that all staff had a low correct rate for personal protective equipment (PPE) use recommendations. The Infection Control Center conducted training sessions for hospital staff on how to wear protective clothing. Information on the selection and use of PPE for infection prevention was provided, and participants were allowed time to practice and familiarize themselves with the correct way to wear PPE. Moreover, the Department of Education and Research continued updating the online learning materials based on the most important updated peer-reviewed published articles. The attending teaching physicians helped to search, translate, and take notes on articles in the local language (traditional Chinese) for other colleagues to read easily. We expect to increase learning opportunities for healthcare workers, even during uncertain times such as the current coronavirus pandemic through (1) the hospital-wide course announcements, (2) the continuous placement of test questions and learning files on the digital learning platform, (3) the placement of journal highlights in cloud folders, and (4) the use of the digital learning platform on mobile phones accessible outside the hospital.

Assessment of knowledge gaps and perceptions about COVID-19 among health care workers and general public-national cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: COVID-19 has impacted everyone's life and livelihood in one way or the other. Individual response to measures taken to control the rapid spread of this disease depend on their knowledge and perceptions. Hence, we proposed to evaluate responses about COVID-19 among the health care workers (HCWs) as well as general public participants (GPPs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, observational survey conducted during the peak of the pandemic. The 35-items questionnaire was prepared using Google forms and distributed through e-mails and social media. RESULTS: The 1,026 responses comprised of 558 HCWs (54.4%) and 468 GPPs (45.6%). The most reliable source of information was TV news for 43% GPPs, whereas it was HCWs/Local health authorities for 36.8% HCWs. HCWs had sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19, while it was relatively low among GPPs (average correct response 65% and 53%, respectively). Intra-group analysis with respect to age, sex, qualification, and socioeconomic status showed that knowledge about mode of transmission by airborne aerosols was significantly low with respect to qualification among GPPs while younger age group (<40 years) HCWs had significantly more knowledge about mode of transmission and asymptomatic carriers. Paranoia of contracting the infection was significantly higher in GPPs with upper and middle socioeconomic status and younger HCWs. CONCLUSION: HCWs had moderate level of knowledge, whereas GPPs had low to moderate knowledge, with large scope of improvement in both groups. Continued education, both at professional and community level will not only be helpful but also necessary to improve knowledge, avert negative attitudes and control the devastating pandemic.

The missing pieces in the jigsaw and need for cohesive research amidst coronavirus infectious disease 2019 global response.

Identifying the research needs and gaps amidst this COVID-19 travelling across the countries is absolutely important for finely improving on the way we think and act. The natural history of the disease as well as viral shedding in different stages of clinical illness needs to be known which helps in triaging the patients in hospital settings. Animal and environmental interface need to be studied for defining the high-risk situations. Transmission dynamics in community or hospital and defining the laboratory criteria for the case confirmation will be most crucial. Gene sequencing and validation and, suitable use of molecular based tests such as real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) should be clearly evaluated for diagnosis and/ or surveillance. The movement control strategy must be defined to prevent secondary transmission in healthcare as well as in community settings. Repurposing of drug molecules is an elegant strategy to develop therapeutics in the case of pandemics quickly. Unproven practices and treatment protocols should invite critical scrutiny on the basis of ethics. Socioeconomic status of the community is also an important determinant for the compliance and sustainable public health measures.