Smart-thing design by children at a distance: How to engage them and make them learn

In recent years, research in Child-Computer Interaction has shifted the focus from design with children, giving them a voice in the design process, to design by children to bring child participants different benefits, such as engagement and learning. However, design workshops, encompassing different stages, are challenging in terms of engagement and learning, e.g., they require prolonged commitment and concentration. They are potentially more challenging when held at a distance, as in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores at-a-distance smart-thing design by children, how it can engage different children and support their learning in programming. The paper reports a series of design workshops with 20 children, aged from 8 to 16 years old, all held at a distance. They were all organised with the DigiSNaP design framework and toolkit. The first workshop enabled children to explore what smart things are, to start ideating their own smart things and to scaffold their programming. The other workshops enabled children to evolve their own smart-thing ideas and programs. Data were gathered in relation to children's engagement and learning from different sources. Results are promising for future editions of smart-thing design at a distance or in a hybrid modality. They are discussed along with guidelines for smart-thing design by children at a distance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Questioning global health in the times of COVID-19: Re-imagining primary health care through the lens of politics of knowledge

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequitable response to it has created a space for rethinking the knowledge translation that informs current health policy formulation and planning. Wide recognition of the failure of global health governance and national health systems has led to calls for reviving the Primary Health Care (PHC) agenda for post-COVID health systems development. Despite the joint international declaration on PHC made four decades ago, it has had limited application. This paper argues that the recent attempts to rethink PHC will prove inadequate without analysing and learning from the politics of knowledge (PoK) underlying global health policy and planning. Even with the growing relevance of the spirit of the Alma-Ata Declaration (1978) and its operationalisation as detailed in the report of conference proceedings, reassessment of reasons for its limited implementation continues to be located largely in the political economy of the medical establishment, the international economic order or in national governance flaws. Failure to address the dominant knowledge paradigm in the Alma Ata articulation of PHC has contributed to its limited application. This calls for expansion in the analysis from knowledge translation to generation and hierarchisation of knowledge. The paper discusses how the application of PoK as an analytical lens helps understand the power equations underlying the process of knowledge generation and its translation into policy and practice. Beneath the techno-centric and commodified health system is the dominant ‘knowledge' system whose foundations and assumptions ought to be interrogated. By following a PoK approach, a reorientation of thinking about the relationship between various forms of knowledge and knowledge holders is anticipated. A new health service system design is outlined—translating the spirit of PHC of 1978 into a ‘PHC Version 2.0'—that addresses the PoK gap in operational terms, with an approach to guide all levels of healthcare. It suggests how the world can be empowered to respond better by engaging with diverse ontologies and epistemologies to conceptualise knowledge and frame policies. Further, in the contexts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, it can contribute to the development of self-reliance to democratise general health policy and planning in the post-pandemic period.

Research on Intelligent Disinfection-Vehicle System Design and Its Global Path Planning

We aimed to research the design and path-planning methods of an intelligent disinfection-vehicle system. A ROS (robot operating system) system was utilized as the control platform, and SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) technology was used to establish an indoor scene map. On this basis, a new path-planning method combining the A* algorithm and the Floyd algorithm is proposed to ensure the safety, efficiency, and stability of the path. Simulation results show that with the average shortest distance between obstacles and paths of 0.463, this algorithm reduces the average numbers of redundant nodes and turns in the path by 70.43% and 31.1%, respectively, compared to the traditional A* algorithm. The algorithm has superior performance in terms of safety distance, path length, and redundant nodes and turns. Additionally, a mask recognition and pedestrian detection algorithm is utilized to ensure public safety. The results of the study indicate that the method has satisfactory performance. The intelligent disinfection-vehicle system operates stably, meets the indoor mapping requirements, and can recognize pedestrians and masks.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift toward an Occupant-Centered Environmental Control Model

Office-based environmental control systems are centralized and designed to control entire spaces, ignoring use dynamics and requirements, and despite being regulated by standardized comfort models, they fail to satisfy real occupants, mainly due to their varied individual characteristics. This research is field-based with a quantitative approach and correlational design. Its objective is to empirically demonstrate that open-plan design, where different users share the same space and generalized environmental conditions, lacks a holistic view of IEQ criteria and the integration of other factors that affect health and well-being. Four buildings are chosen in different Chilean cities, measuring temperatures and CO2 levels at different desks, and applying a survey, which was designed as part of the research to analyze the estimation of relationships between variables and to reveal the factors that cause differences among occupants. The results show that people's satisfaction is multivariable and depends on other factors that positively or negatively stimulate their sensations and perceptions, such as, for example, the option to personally control their environmental conditions. Likewise, it is evident that to achieve comfort, health is being affected while in the building.

One Degree of Freedom Copter Design and Control using Smart and Simple PID Controller

A one-degree-of-freedom (1-Dol) copter is designed, implemented, and controlled by an electronically programmed PID controller. The control of (1-DOF) copter leads to rising of the required vision for controlling stability in the designing of (2-Dofs) quadcopter;were copters are used in many fields. Nowadays, the Covid-19 pandemic causes many challenges in health sectors, especially in patient's isolation centers, which forces the health team to take a lot of precautions when dealing with the patient, by using an optimally controlled quadcopter for dealing patients, one can prevent them from infection. The required dealing involves pharmaceutical submission and temperature monitoring which can be handled by these copters with specific sensors and vision. So, there is a need for high stability and accuracy in the movement with a high speed of balancing. This work is testing one axis of these copters by designing, implementing, and controlling a one-axis copter with a simple PID controller, the controller is implemented by using an Arduino controller, with a satisfaction measure for the required balancing of 97% accuracy. © 2022 IEEE.

Co-creating innovation for sustainability

This contribution to the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) presents a case study for an approach to design sustainable innovation. No nation is on track to achieve the UN sustainable development goals for 2030. The traditional innovation ecosystem is insufficient. Rather than only solving problems, technological innovation is creating new challenges that society is struggling with. Innovation needs to be developed differently to focus on impact. Geneva Macro Labs initiated a new approach to foster sustainable innovation which was based on a combination of systems theory, collective intelligence, agile development and design thinking. The initiative, called Geneva impACTs, brought together a diverse group of experts, start-ups and investors to develop innovative projects, aiming to make inroads towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. It started at a time when COVID-19 measures made it impossible for groups to meet in person and so the entire process was conducted virtually using a range of online tools. A critical reflection shows the methodological strengths of the Geneva impACTs approach and identifies suggestions for improvement to be considered for future iterations. As an overall result, this new methodology is highly conducive to impact innovation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (German) Dieser Beitrag der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) stellt anhand einer Fallstudie einen Ansatz zum Design nachhaltiger Innovation vor. Die Ziele der Vereinten Nationen fur nachhaltige Entwicklung bis 2030 zu erreichen, scheint keiner Nation zu gelingen. Die bestehenden Innovationsmechanismen haben sich als unzureichend herausgestellt. Statt blos Probleme zu losen, schafft Innovation zusatzliche Herausforderungen, mit denen die Gesellschaft zu kampfen hat. Daher muss Innovation darauf fokussiert werden, die Nachhaltigkeitsziele zu fordern. Geneva Macro Labs initiierte und verfolgte einen neuen Ansatz zur Forderung nachhaltiger Innovation, der auf einer Kombination aus Systems Theory, kollektiver Intelligenz, agiler Entwicklung und Design Thinking basiert. Die Initiative Geneva impACTs brachte eine Vielzahl von Experten, Start-ups und Investoren zusammen, um innovative Projekte zu entwickeln, die einen Beitrag zum Erreichen der Ziele fur nachhaltige Entwicklung 2030 leisten sollen. Als die Initiative ins Leben gerufen wurde, machten COVID-19-Masnahmen es den Beteiligten unmoglich, sich personlich zu treffen und zwang sie dazu, komplett via Online-Tools zu interagieren. Eine kritische Reflexion zeigt die methodischen Starken dieses Ansatzes und identifiziert Verbesserungsvorschlage, die bei kunftiger Anwendung berucksichtigt werden sollten. Im Ergebnis konnen Innovationen, die Nachhaltigkeit zum Ziel haben, sehr von dieser neuen Methodik profitieren. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Addressing the challenges of online and blended STEM learning with grounded design

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning became a major alternative to college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in postsecondary education. Faculty members, although subject matter experts, often lack pedagogical knowledge and training on how to effectively teach new generations of students online, or incorporate appropriate technologies. Faculty teaching online courses needed a new guiding framework to balance domain goals and emerging technologies. We present grounded design for STEM courses to align domain goals and instructional methods and technologies while reflecting instructors' pedagogical beliefs and addressing cultural and pragmatic issues. It is critical to provide students with aligned STEM learning experience and engagement via defensible theories and research-evidenced pedagogy in online and blended courses while technological, cultural, and pragmatic considerations are also addressed. We suggest grounded design as the conceptual and design framework for designing online and blended courses and discuss the assumptions, approaches, and examples. We provide practical guidelines to apply grounded design to online and blended learning environments and suggest future research. This article can assist both novice and seasoned STEM faculty to connect theory and research to teaching practices and optimise their online and blended courses.Implications for practice* University STEM instructors can use grounded design framework for online, blended, and technology-enhanced teaching.* Instructors should begin the course design by aligning the domain goals with optimal psychological and pedagogical foundations.* When choosing technology to support online learning, instructors should align it with learning goals and needs of students, and consider cultural and pragmatic foundations.

Estimation of Transmission Rate and Recovery Rate of SIR Pandemic Model Using Kalman Filter

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that significantly impacts all aspects. The number of victims who died makes this disease so terrible. Various policies continue to be pursued to reduce the spread and impact of COVID-19. The spread of a disease can be modeled in differential equation modeling. This differential equation modeling is known as the SIR Model. A differential equation can be expressed in a state-space model. The state-space model is a model that is widely used to design a modern control system. This research carried out the transmission rate and recovery rate estimates in the SIR pandemic model. Estimation of the transmission rate and recovery rate in this study poses a challenge to the value of the number of people confirmed as infected. The experimental result shows that the transmission and recovery rates can be estimated using the data for the infected and recovered persons. Estimates of infected and recovered people were conducted using the Kalman Filter.

Theory applied to informatics: Socio-Technical Theory

New Socio-Technical Paradigm (Trist, 1981) Old Paradigm New Paradigm The technological imperative Joint optimization People as an extension of the machine People as complementary to the machine People as an expendable spare part People as a resource to be developed Maximum task breakdown, simple narrow skills Optimum task grouping, multiple broad skills External controls (supervisors, specialist staffs, procedures) Internal controls (self-regulating subsystems) Tall organisation chart, autocratic style Flat organisation chart, participative style Competition, gamesmanship Collaboration, collegiality Organisation's purposes only Members' and society's purposes also Alienation Commitment Low risk-taking Innovation Socio-technical Dimensions or Subsystems Generally, the socio-technical system consists of three main dimensions or subsystems: the social, technical, and environmental (Figure 1). Trist encouraged leaders and designers to focus on networks and collaborative ways to harness the new promising technologies to strengthen organizational and societal open systems where the social and technical subsystems were optimized within a supportive and resource-rich environmental system. All humans affected by the technology should be considered since "socio-technical systems design valued not just the end user but all operational and nonoperational stakeholders” (Abbas & Michael, 2021, p. 57). Since its advent, the socio-technical theory has been applied to many research studies in a variety of disciplines, including the health professions (Lin et al., 2016;Booth et al., 2017). "Information systems design and implementation is a complex and challenging endeavor that has both technical and social dimensions and requires changes in the behavior of actors, social structures, culture, and processes to succeed. [...]adopting an STS perspective is essential to increase the chances of success by taking into consideration both technical, social, and organizational factors and the interactions between various actors in the healthcare environment” (p. 160).

Addressing the challenges of online and blended STEM learning with grounded design

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning became a major alternative to college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in postsecondary education. Faculty members, although subject matter experts, often lack pedagogical knowledge and training on how to effectively teach new generations of students online, or incorporate appropriate technologies. Faculty teaching online courses needed a new guiding framework to balance domain goals and emerging technologies. We present grounded design for STEM courses to align domain goals and instructional methods and technologies while reflecting instructors' pedagogical beliefs and addressing cultural and pragmatic issues. It is critical to provide students with aligned STEM learning experience and engagement via defensible theories and research-evidenced pedagogy in online and blended courses while technological, cultural, and pragmatic considerations are also addressed. We suggest grounded design as the conceptual and design framework for designing online and blended courses and discuss the assumptions, approaches, and examples. We provide practical guidelines to apply grounded design to online and blended learning environments and suggest future research. This article can assist both novice and seasoned STEM faculty to connect theory and research to teaching practices and optimise their online and blended courses. Implications for practice • University STEM instructors can use grounded design framework for online, blended, and technology-enhanced teaching. • Instructors should begin the course design by aligning the domain goals with optimal psychological and pedagogical foundations. • When choosing technology to support online learning, instructors should align it with learning goals and needs of students, and consider cultural and pragmatic foundations. © Articles published in the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) are available under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authors retain copyright in their work and grant AJET right of first publication under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

AN INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEM TO MAINTAIN THE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION

Recently, many educational institutions around the world has transformed to online education specially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fast and in many cases unplanned transformation leads to the needs for more researches to find solutions for the problems of this rapid transformation. As it's the best economic options during this pandemic, this study focused on creating a web-based (asynchronous system) intelligent tutoring system (ITS) to support the teachers in the C programming language course. Nonetheless, the suggested system takes into consideration one of the biggest challenges for asynchronous system which is how to maintain the students' motivation for the entire learning process. Therefore, the current study suggested the use of an interactive ITS as a solution for this challenge. The created system C-ITS used a set of motivational state rules and tactics to assess and maintain the motivation of the students. Finally, after using the system by the students and the teachers for two weeks, we conducted an evaluation study to evaluate the quality of the system design, the usability, the functionality, the compatibility. The result of the evaluation study showed that C-ITS system acceptable from both the students and the teachers.

Endurant Ecosystems: Model-Based Assessment of Resilience of Digital Business Ecosystems

Information Systems (IS) of modern organizations and enterprises often rely on a network of partners’ IS to deliver the services. The resilience of this network is the necessary condition for the operation of such ISs. The Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE) theory has emerged as an approach to ensure functioning and resilience in dynamic and open networks. This paper presents three cases of analysis of resilience of DBEs. The objective of the analysis is to assess the resilience of DBEs during its design phase. During this phase, often, only structural information presented in ISs models is available. In order to assess the resilience, the DBE models are analyzed for the potential for fulfilment of typical ecosystem goals and roles. The three DBE cases analyzed are winter road maintenance, digital vaccine, and Covid-19 testing. The paper evaluates the resilience of the DBEs and formulates the practices for uncovering and strengthening it. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Tele-Collaboration System in CVLab

This work is part of a learning environment that has virtual laboratories that are designed for distant practical work (Tele-PW). In these environments, Tele-PW is performed in two modes: individual and/or collaborative. In this paper, we are concentrating on the tele-collaborative distant practical work model. The work, presented in this paper, proposes an artificial agent called Synchronizer Coordinator Agent (SCA) to synchronize and coordinate the activities of a cognitive process in order to build and maintain a shared conception of a distant practical work between a set of learners. This agent provides certain features such as managing groups of learners, coordinating tasks, shared workspace among members of the Working Group. It is also responsible for the synchronization of workspace agents when they want to manipulate shared virtual objects simultaneously. We have chosen Petri nets to illustrate the principle of granting access to shared objects in the case of simultaneous requests. Experimental results show the effectiveness, of the artificial agent within any tele-collaborative/tele-cooperative learning situation. Several situations describe the geographical/time dispersion of learners and tutors in our system are considered during the system design phase.

Has the Carbon Trading Pilot Market Improved Enterprises’ Export Green-Sophistication in China?

This study empirically examined the effect of a carbon trading pilot market on export green-sophistication of Chinese listed enterprises by adopting a difference-in-difference method. Findings show that a carbon trading pilot market can improve enterprises’ export green-sophistication after using robustness tests to overcome endogeneity. The impact mechanism test shows that a carbon trading pilot market can improve export green-sophistication by increasing green technology innovation. Further research on the system design of carbon trading pilot markets shows that the greater the total carbon quota allocation, the larger the reduction in the trading volume of Chinese certified emissions. Furthermore, the weaker the punishment for an enterprise’s default in the pilot areas, the less favorable it is for enterprises to improve their export green-sophistication. Compared with the grandfather and historical intensity methods, benchmarking used in the allocation of carbon quotas is conducive to the improvement of the export green-sophistication of enterprises.

Responding to the need for online collective intelligence facilitation: A framework for systems thinking facilitators

The present article discusses the need for online collective intelligence (CI) facilitation. This article addresses the move to online spaces by proposing a reflective framework for action to orient systems thinking practitioners to the task of online CI facilitation. Consistent with models focused on the orchestration of computer-supported collaborative learning, the framework is grounded in the assumption that CI facilitators have preexisting tools, methods and skills they need to re-engineer to facilitate design teams working together online. To delineate the framework, this article focuses on the issues of tool, method and competency transfer. The framework emerges after reflection on recent efforts to implement our systems thinking methodology online with an international design team working in the area of higher education. It is hoped that this framework supports ongoing reflective dialogue and design thinking amongst CI facilitators that seek to support teams online. Finally, CI competency framework emphasizes mastery. Mastery refers to activities such as the practice of mindfulness and adaptability during a CI session, the exercise of hopefulness, courage and resilience and the ability to recover and find sources of rejuvenation between CI projects. The new reality of working online in response to COVID-19 implies that these mastery competencies are more important than ever. The world of work is moving online, and workplaces need to be adaptable. The move to online spaces has implications for teamwork and system design efforts. This paper presents a reflective framework for action to orient systems thinking practitioners to the task of online facilitation. The framework highlights the issues of tool, method and competency transfer and the need to reflect on how best to reengineer systems thinking and collective intelligence processes to facilitate design teams working together in online environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Novel Numerical Estimates of the Pneumonia and Meningitis Epidemic Model via the Nonsingular Kernel with Optimal Analysis

In this article, we investigated a deterministic model of pneumonia-meningitis coinfection. Employing the Atangana–Baleanu fractional derivative operator in the Caputo framework, we analyze a seven-component approach based on ordinary differential equations (DEs). Furthermore, the invariant domain, disease-free as well as endemic equilibria, and the validity of the model’s potential results are all investigated. According to controller design evaluation and modelling, the modulation technique devised is effective in diminishing the proportion of incidences in various compartments. A fundamental reproducing value is generated by exploiting the next generation matrix to assess the properties of the equilibrium. The system’s reliability is further evaluated. Sensitivity analysis is used to classify the impact of each component on the spread or prevention of illness. Using simulation studies, the impacts of providing therapy have been determined. Additionally, modelling the appropriate configuration demonstrated that lowering the fractional order from 1 necessitates a rapid initiation of the specified control technique at the largest intensity achievable and retaining it for the bulk of the pandemic’s duration.

From Guidance to Implementation: Applying ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force Building Readiness Strategies in 95 Commercial Office Buildings

During the COVID-19 pandemic, building owners and operators sought to protect their occupants by following ASHRAE and CDC guidance for HVAC and water system risk mitigation. This paper presents the results of building readiness assessments conducted for 95 commercial office buildings across the United States. In these assessments, the authors evaluated buildings for initial alignment with ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force (ETF) guidance and recommended action where additional risk mitigation measures were warranted. The engineering assessments focused on outdoor air ventilation rates, filtration efficiency levels, flushing spaces during unoccupied periods, and Eegonella water management practices. Primary challenges to implementing ETF guidance included resistance to operational changes with potential adverse energy impacts, concerns regarding existing system limitations, and in a limited number of cases, ventilation system design constraints. The assessments showed that most of the office buildings could modify their HVAC and water system operatingpractices to minimize the spread of harmful pathogens without major upgrades to equipment or significant increases in energy use. Almost all subject buildings had the capacity to meet or exceed minimum ventilation rates, upgrade to at least MERV-13 filters, implement appropriate flushing periods to achieve target clean air changes, and manage their water systems to minimize Legionella risk.