Wireless LAN Operation and Behavioral Inferences from Usage Analysis

The majority of network connections on campus is shifting from wired to wireless. Understanding and analyzing the usage of wireless LANs can lead us beyond mere network management to the analysis of users' behavior on campus and the discovery of new insights. In 2022, campus activity has returned to levels seen before the pandemic, but the effects of the COVID-19 disaster remain. Compared to pre-pandemic years, the use of wireless LANs on campus has increased significantly due to high smartphone ownership rates and the promotion of distance learning reliant on personally owned devices (BYOD). The use of multiple devices per person has also increased, creating new issues such as congestion and IP allocation problems. To accurately understand and improve these situations, we are collecting and analyzing connection information of our wireless LAN systems. Interestingly, our analysis of wireless LAN use provides information beyond the mere discovery of technical problems. From the results, we were able to identify ways we might improve the operation of the wireless LAN, as well as information to make inferences about the time spent by students on campus, their flow lines, and their behavior patterns. In this paper, we will report on the current status of the operation of the wireless LAN at Fukuoka University and the behavioral information inferred from our analysis of wireless LAN usage. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Detection of Mask-wearing Based on Improved YOLOV3

To control the spread of the virus, mask detection is crucial in public areas, especially after the outbreak of Covid-19 pneumonia. This paper aims to improve the accuracy and precision of mask detection. This study improves mask-wearing detection by adding data augmentation, using the smooth label to replace the one-hot vector, and customizing the network connection of the YOLOv3 network. Through these targeted improvements, the average precision of face with mask detection has been increased by 0.9%, and the average precision of face without mask detection has been increased by 2.9%, which implies that it is a better strategy to do mask detection based on YOLOv3. By inputting photographs, the network can check, with high accuracy, whether the pedestrians in the picture wear masks or not, which will be a good supplementary to epidemic prevention and control. © 2022 SPIE.

Stay at Home and Learn: Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Influence Mobile Learning in MOOCs?

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic also affected learning activities on MOOC platforms. The field of application for mobile learning in MOOCs has been weakened through the changes in daily lives. To quantify this impact, user interaction data of the past two years was evaluated in an observational study for two MOOC platforms. Since the start of the pandemic, a drop in mobile learning activities and active mobile learners has been noticed on one of the platforms while activities on the other platform remained stationary. No changes have been detected in the usage behavior of active users of mobile applications or with the utilization of different network connections. The adoption of mobile learning in MOOCs appears to be driven by the offered course topics and breaks in the course schedule, rather than by external factors that restrict the mobility of learners. Dedicated applications for mobile devices for MOOCs are mostly used in a familiar environment with a WiFi connection. This behavior became more pronounced with the start of the pandemic. © 2022 IEEE.

Network for the continuous monitorization of environmental quality in educational buildings

In this article we present a measurement network designed to improve air quality and energy efficiency in educational centers. We have made prototypes with carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity and light sensors with network connection for remote storage and processing of data, as well as autonomous prototypes. The design and construction of the equipment has been accelerated by taking advantage of previous experiences and has been carried out by the electronics teachers and students of the IES Escolas Proval de Nigran (Spain) within the framework of an Innovation Project granted by the Xunta de Galicia. The IES Val Miñor of Nigran also participates in the project in the development and interpretation of data, and the company Hermes Smart Control acts as a technology transfer center and has made a commercial product. The project has already been extended to other educational centers, taking measurements that demonstrate its usefulness for the application of ventilation regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic and are planned future uses such as automatic ventilation control or the improvement of energy efficiency in the educational buildings. © 2022 IEEE.

Building a Secure Network during the COVID-19

Our university updated its network to improve security and network stability in 2021. The new network has introduced UTM (Unified Threat Management) with the necessary licenses and bandwidth to allow all members to make VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections for remote work and remote lectures. The UTM appliance is equipped with security functions such as DLP in addition to access control by IP address. In order to support HyFlex (Hybrid-Flexible) lessons, we added wireless access points to each lecture room, but it did not work well. If the channel was not adjusted, it was unable to connect temporarily in a classroom where many devices trying to connect. However, by adjusting the channel and output, the WiFi can be used comfortably. In addition, as the opportunities to use the network for classes and on-campus events increased, it was difficult to adjust the schedule for stopping the network and replacing equipment, and it was difficult to update the network. In this paper, we will report what kind of design was done to build a highly secure and highly available network within a limited budget, and what kind of difficulties were encountered in the construction work. © 2022 ACM.

Educational Leadership and Children’s Resilience: German and Polish Schools during COVID-19

As a result of the pandemic, education has moved into virtual space on an unprecedented scale. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on education and to compare the problems and ways of coping with them between Polish and German schools. The study used a qualitative measure, which was realized through telephone interviews with school principals. The received responses have been transcribed and categorized. The final stage was a comparative analysis of the data obtained. The results of the study revealed that the most common problems concerned: the possession and functionality of teaching resources for remote learning (computer equipment, network connection), ensuring the needs of face-to-face relationships (lack of peer meetings and no direct contact with the teacher), mental problems caused by changes in education (depression, anxiety, feelings of stress) in teachers and students. Among the ways schools deal with these problems are leadership role of school leaders (support, staff training, mental support of students and teachers (meetings with pedagogue, school psychologist, conducting remote social meetings with students). © 2021 29th International Conference on Computers in Education Conference, ICCE 2021 - Proceedings. All rights reserved