Impact of COVID-19 on the Factors Influencing on-Time Software Project Delivery: An Empirical Study

The objective of this research paper is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the factors influencing on-time software project delivery in different Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models such as Agile, Incremental, Waterfall, and Prototype models. Also to identify the change of crucial factors with respect to different demographic information that influences on-time software project delivery. This study has been conducted using a quantitative approach. We surveyed Software Developers, Project Managers, Software Architect, QA Engineer and other roles using a Google form. Python has been used for data analysis purposes. We received 72 responses from 11 different software companies of Bangladesh, based on that we find that Attentional Focus, Team Stability, Communication, Team Maturity, and User Involvement are the most important factors for on-time software project delivery in different SDLC models during COVID-19. On the contrary, before COVID-19 Team Capabilities, Infrastructure, Team Commitment, Team Stability and Team Maturity are found as the most crucial factors. Team Maturity and Team Stability are found as common important factors for both before and during the COVID-19 scenario. We also identified the change in the impact level of factors with respect to demographic information such as experience, company size, and different SDLC models used by participants. Attentional focus is the most important factor for experienced developers while for freshers all factors are almost equally important. This study finds that there is a significant change among factors for on-time software project delivery before and during the COVID-19 scenario. Copyright © 2023 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

USABILITY TESTING OF INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS CONDUCTED BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS DURING A PANDEMIC

This case study describes a usability testing course in which students learn by practicing several evaluation methods. The on-campus format makes it possible for teachers and students to meet to discuss recorded test sessions and students can observe other students' execution of pilot studies conducted on campus. The COVID-19 pandemic placed new demands on this course. In-person activities were avoided by some students and many test participants. Some student teams tried remote usability testing. Interestingly, screen recordings (with sound) of the test sessions show that remote testing sometimes helped the students focus more on observation and less on (inappropriately) guiding the test subjects. Another effect was that the students found it easier to recruit participants than during the previous years when the university was teeming with students, lecturers, and non-academic staff. However, the recruited participants were often notably limited to the students' circles of friends. © (2022) by Association for Information Systems (AIS) All rights reserved.

Instructional design with ADDIE and rapid prototyping for blended learning: validation and its acceptance in the context of TVET Bangladesh.

Following COVID-19, the global educational landscape shifted dramatically. Almost every educational institute in Bangladesh undertook a strategic move to begin offering online or blended learning courses to mitigate the challenges created by the pandemic. The TVET sector, particularly the polytechnic institute of Bangladesh, endeavored to explore the blended learning approach as an immediate and long-term solution to address the educational dislocation caused by the pandemic. This study attempts to conceptualize a pedagogical design based on the ADDIE and rapid prototyping model to make a reliable and robust instructional design to be used in the blended learning context. A content validity index (CVI) was used to validate the proposed model; a technology acceptance model (TAM) was employed to examine its acceptability to students; and finally, students' academic performances were analysed to evaluate the overall performance of the proposed instructional design. The findings reveal that the proposed instructional design can be a reliable and valid pedagogical approach to be implemented in the blended learning context for polytechnic students. The proposed instructional design may help TVET educators and course designers to create a robust blended learning environment in the TVET sector and in other similar disciplines, such as science and engineering education.

Iterating Overnight: Using Cardboard to Teach Audio During a Pandemic

Prototyping is a core element of engineering and technology activity, giving form to design concepts and facilitating iteration and testing. With the rise of the "maker movement,"higher fidelity forms of prototyping have often been privileged, without deep investigation into prototyping activities that support materially-focused exploration across different levels of fidelity. In this paper, we describe how students in an interdisciplinary undergraduate audio engineering course adapted to a loss of fabrication equipment and the COVID-19 pandemic, relying more heavily on cardboard prototypes as they "iterated overnight"at home to realize the design of their loudspeaker. We analyzed a range of iterative prototypes using a prototyping framework we operationalized from Lim, Tenenberg, and Stolterman, describing the filtering and manifestation dimensions across a range of student projects. We reflect upon the trajectories of prototyping, considering strengths and weaknesses of different types of materials in supporting student exploration and the pedagogical supports that may be needed to encourage this exploration.

Experiences with Prototyping and Making in Virtual Classes

The pandemic caused people to teach classes virtually that they never imagined could be taught virtually. Hands-on classes are among the most challenging to move from in-person to virtual. In this paper, we focus on how prototyping in engineering classes was handled when those classes were taught virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four engineering educators from a diverse set of four schools were engaged on this topic through written reflections and two focus groups. Learning from this experience has implications for these classes as they remain virtual and shift to hybrid and back to in-person. The four educators each found ways to make prototyping work in virtual classes. Shifting closed-ended prototyping from in-person to virtual classes was found to require less change than shifting open-ended prototyping. Within open-ended prototyping, the instructors generally narrowed scopes and took on less ambitious projects, with students engaging in new ways that produced impressive prototypes that surprised some the educators. Access to materials and tools was handled through different approaches, with curated sets of materials that maintain design freedom being important for open-ended projects while a standard set of materials for all teams worked for closedended projects. Students expressed more interest in doing projects individually. For those that worked on teams, approaches included having the whole team produce one prototype and having each person produce a prototype. Having each person produce their own prototype opened up the possibility that students would not truly collaborate. Even though they were all virtual, teams of students who had to make a single prototype generally worked better than expected.

Can't Touch This: Rethinking Public Technology in a COVID-19 Era

What do pedestrian crossings, ATMs, elevators and ticket machines have in common? These are just a few of the ubiquitous yet essential elements of public-space infrastructure that rely on physical buttons or touchscreens;common interactions that, until recently, were considered perfectly safe to perform. This work investigates how we might integrate touchless technologies into public-space infrastructure in order to minimise physical interaction with shared devices in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on an ethnographic exploration into how public utilities are being used, adapted or avoided, we developed and evaluated a suite of technology probes that can be either retrofitted into, or replace, these services. In-situ community deployments of our probes demonstrate strong uptake and provide insight into how hands-free technologies can be adapted and utilised for the public domain;and, in turn, used to inform the future of walk-up-and use public technologies.

Radiation modeling of microplasma UV lamps for design analysis and optimization.

Microplasma UV lamps have recently emerged as viable excimer-based sources of UV radiation, garnering significant attention during the recent COVID-19 pandemic for their use in disinfection applications because of their ability to emit human-safe far-UVC (200-240 nm) spectrums. An accurate model to simulate the radiation profile of microplasma UV lamps is of paramount importance to develop efficient microplasma lamp-implemented systems. We developed a 3D numerical model of microplasma UV lamps using the ray optics method. The simulation results for lamp irradiance and fluence rate were experimentally validated with standard optical radiometry and actinometry measurements, respectively. To improve the optical efficiency of microplasma lamps, an in-depth analysis of radiation behavior inside the standard commercially available lamp was performed using the geometrical optics method, and several potential scenarios were explored. A 2D modeling of an individual microcavity indicated that the current common lamp design can be significantly improved by preventing radiation loss, and small modifications in optical design can greatly increase the energy performance of the system. Based on the findings of this study, several virtual design concepts were proposed, and their performances were numerically compared with that of the original design of commercial microplasma lamps. The developed model can potentially be integrated with hydrodynamic and kinetic models for the virtual prototyping of complex photoreactors operating with UV microplasma lamps.

Assessment of 3D Printing for Surgical Instrument Manufacturing

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as a method for rapid prototyping and manufacturing of tools. In low-resource settings or field settings, the ability to perform surgeries is often limited by a lack of surgical instruments. On-demand manufacture of surgical instruments via 3D printing may offer a low-cost, reliable, convenient solution for provision of necessary care, particularly during trauma or emergency situations. The global coronavirus-19 disease pandemic has emphasized the need for rapid manufacturing of surgical instruments at the point of care, as the pandemic has often limited patient access to hospitals, due to measures to minimize the spread of infectious disease. Moreover, the ability to 3D print surgical instruments is a priority for enabling surgery during space missions. Recent progress has been made on 3D printing of commonly used surgical instruments from plastics. Important surgical tools such as forceps, scalpel handles, needle drivers, Army/Navy retractors, and hemostats have all been 3D printed, with typical print times on the order of hours. This paper assesses the current status of 3D printing of surgical instruments. The review will include 3D printing methods, raw materials, design times, print times, sterilization methods, and the types of surgical instruments that have been successfully printed. In addition, the results of mechanical testing and simulated surgical testing of 3D printed surgical instruments will be described. Finally, avenues for future work will be identified, including the need for faster print times, and the necessity for producing more intricate instruments via 3D printing. © 2022, Avestia Publishing. All rights reserved.

Overcoming Chip Shortages: Low-Cost Open-Source Parametric 3-D Printable Solderless SOIC to DIP Breakout Adapters

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains of many products. One area that requires improved supply chain resilience and that is of particular importance to electronic designers is the shortage of basic dual in-line package (DIP) electronic components commonly used for prototyping. This anecdotal observation was investigated as a case study of using additive manufacturing to enforce contact between premade, off-the-shelf conductors to allow for electrical continuity between two arbitrary points by examining data relating to the stock quantity of electronic components, extracted from Digi-Key Electronics. This study applies this concept using an open hardware approach for the design, testing, and use of a simple, parametric, 3-D printable invention that allows for small outline integrated circuit (SOIC) components to be used in DIP package circuits (i.e., breadboards, protoboards, etc.). The additive manufacture breakout board (AMBB) design was developed using two different open-source modelers, OpenSCAD and FreeCAD, to provide reliable and consistent electrical contact between the component and the rest of the circuit and was demonstrated with reusable 8-SOIC to DIP breakout adapters. The three-part design was optimized for manufacturing with RepRap-class fused filament 3-D printers, making the AMBB a prime candidate for use in distributed manufacturing models. The AMBB offers increased flexibility during circuit prototyping by allowing arbitrary connections between the component and prototyping interface as well as superior organization through the ability to color-code different component types. The cost of the AMBB is CAD $0.066/unit, which is a 94% saving compared to conventional PCB-based breakout boards. Use of the AMBB device can provide electronics designers with an increased selection of components for through-hole use by more than a factor of seven. Future development of AMBB devices to allow for low-cost conversion between arbitrary package types provides a path towards more accessible and inclusive electronics design as well as faster prototyping and technical innovation.

Customizable Fabrication Process for Flexible Carbon-Based Electrochemical Biosensors

In recent research, 3D printing has become a powerful technique and has been applied in the last few years to carbon-based materials. A new generation of 3D-printed electrodes, more affordable and easier to obtain due to rapid prototyping techniques, has emerged. We propose a customizable fabrication process for flexible (and rigid) carbon-based biosensors, from biosensor design to printable conductive inks. The electrochemical biosensors were obtained on a 50 µm Kapton® (polyimide) substrate and transferred to a 500 µm PDMS substrate, using a 3D-extrusion-based printing method. The main features of our fabrication process consist of short-time customization implementation, fast small-to-medium batch production, ease of electrochemical spectroscopy measurements, and very good resolution for an extrusion-based printing method (100 µm). The sensors were designed for future integration into a smart wound dressing for wound monitoring and other biomedical applications. We increased their sensibility with electro-deposited gold nanoparticles. To assess the biosensors' functionality, we performed surface functionalization with specific anti-N-protein antibodies for SARS-CoV 2 virus, with promising preliminary results.

"Monday Feels Like Friday!” - Towards Overcoming Anxiety and Stress of Autistic Young Adults During Times of Isolation

Autistic young adults are at a higher risk of experiencing elevated mental and psychological distress during times of isolation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the challenges related to uncertainty and abrupt changes in every aspect of daily life. In this research, we aim to develop participant-centric interventions for assisting autistic young adults in addressing their anxiety and stress during times of isolation. We first conducted an exploratory literature review to gather the design requirements for an effective stress management technology. Based on our findings, we designed our initial high-fidelity prototype, MindBot, a mindfulness and AI-based chatbot application. We conducted an in-depth qualitative study (semi-structured interviews with 15 autistic young adults and a cognitive walkthrough with 20 participants who have training in HCI and usability evaluation techniques) to identify the design and usability issues to improve the effectiveness of MindBot. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

COVIDware: Designing Interactive Everyday Things as Tangible Homeware for Social Isolation

This paper describes our collaborative journey of creating everyday interactive artefacts to help us think, reflect, and live through self-isolation. Through a co-design approach, we designed interactive homeware objects (that we collectively refer to as ‘COVIDware') to address the challenges of isolation during the pandemic. Five artefacts were developed by self-isolated designers as interactive art installations. We discuss how each creator reflected on her design concept, process, and encounter through concepts of critical making, speculation, and engagement via in-the-isolated-wild deployments. By empowering early researchers/enthusiasts to design ‘with' smart-materials, and off-the-shelf items, we reflect on how these homey interfaces can enhance people's wellbeing beyond screen-based interactions. Despite not collaborating in the making process, our findings from the designer's making process show how all the designed artefacts shared attributes of biophilic design, imperfection, and unconventional interactions with the overarching goal of promoting wellbeing, and meaningful connection with nature, self, and others. © 2022,Interaction Design and Architecture(s). All Rights Reserved.

IoT-Based Heart Monitoring System Implementation and Analysis

This paper presents an IoT-based heart monitoring system using 8266 NodeMCU. According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics, ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death, accounting for 15.0% of the 109,164 medically certified deaths in 2019. The coronary heart is a vital organ that pumps oxygen and blood across the body. Meanwhile, if the heart is not getting sufficient oxygen, the patient will experience chest pain, typically on the left side of the body, which can be mistaken for a heart problem. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a patient cannot attend regular treatment at the hospital as it is operating at full capacity. During this phase, the hospital can only focus on the critical and high-risk patient. The proposed heart monitoring system monitors the patient by measuring the heart rate and oxygen level in the comforts of home. Therefore, the patient can provide his current health record for the doctor's evaluation. The idea behind this proposed system is to construct an IOT-based system that automatically monitors the health condition in terms of heartbeat and oxygen detection. The prototype provides data to the Blynk for the patient and the I-Heart web-based application for the medical practitioner. © 2022 IEEE.

Software Implementation of a Smart Bracelet Prototype to Monitor Vital Signs, Locate, and Track COVID-19 Patients in Quarantine Zone

This paper describes the design and software implementation of a wearable prototype that allows users to monitor the vital signs of COVID-19 patients in quarantine areas. This prototype consists of two parts, the bracelet, andthe Base control unit (BCU). The bracelet is built with ESP8266 and sensors as main components, as well as the battery and other parts needed to fulfill the system's purpose (monitoring the vital signs of COVID-19 patients). At the same time, the Raspberry Pi (SCB) single board computer and GSM/GPRS/HAT are the main components of the Basic Control Unit (BCU). The current work describes the main parts of the pseudocode, as well as the activity diagram for the microcontroller and Raspberry Pi. This paper describes the mechanism of sending alert messages, whereby the system's ability to configure two types of alert messages;(1) physician Messages (these Messages will be sent to the physicianassociated with the patient if one or more vital signs reach a critical value;these messages contain all measurements of a patient's vital signs);(2) Authorize messages (these messages will be sent if the quarantine rules are violated;the patient's location will be sent to the authorized person as a Google Mapslink). Also, this paper describes the graphical user interface for communication, management,. and interaction between the users of the system. © 2022 IEEE.

SIMULATING AN ENGINEERING WORKPLACE: A NEW APPROACH TO PROTOTYPE-BASED TEAM PROJECT

This paper documents the remote management of a first-year foundations of engineering course with special focus on students' learning by completing a prototype-based project in an online course. The COVID-19 pandemic brought on unprecedented challenges to the teaching and learning communities around the world. Educators made purposeful changes in their teaching approaches, shifting rapidly from in-person to online mode of instruction. This study documents a project-based course that adopted an asynchronous mode of instruction as a part of the general engineering curriculum at a large Southeast university in the United States during the pandemic. This asynchronous course - through implementing necessary changes and adaptations - simulated the experience of a cross-border engineering workplace. The course content focuses on engineering design and problem-solving, physical prototyping, simulated data collection and analysis, contemporary software tools, and professional practices and expectations (e.g., communication, teamwork, and ethics). Learning activities are designed to introduce students to the types of work that engineers do daily and to challenge students' knowledge and abilities as they explore the different elements of engineering by completing an aesthetic wind turbine project. Our paper reports on the development of the course site as informed by recent national developments in scholarship and practice for online teaching and learning. The principles of course design alignment as well as instructor presence and learner interaction as suggested by these national standards are discussed. Further, the study records strategies adapted to enable students to complete a successful prototype-based project working in geographically distributed and virtual, international teams. © 2022 SEFI 2022 - 50th Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.

Engineering a Holistic Response to the Global Crisis of Forced Displacement

The global coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the necessity of engineering approaches, from research and development to rapid prototyping and production, in saving lives all across the world [1]. From personal protective equipment design to vaccine production and distribution, engineering has been the bedrock of an effective global response. However, despite major gains made in the last several decades, there are still millions all across the world, including the vulnerable displaced, who rarely benefit from new developments at the interface of engineering, biology, and health. Copyright © 2010-2012 IEEE.

Digital Clinical Trials-Institutional Challenges in Dental Research

The advent of virtual clinical trials in dentistry has been progressing rapidly, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most dental clinical research trial methodologies that were conventionally performed have given way to artificial intelligence and other augmented methods using digital platforms. The current review entails the imminent transformation that has taken over the dental clinical trial research. The review was conducted using the search engines: PubMed, PubMed Central, SciELO, Cochrane Database, and Clinicaltrials.gov. The search was carried out using keywords: "Virtual clinical trial," "Dentistry," "Tele-dentistry," "Big Data," "Augmented Reality," "hybrid trial," "Rapid Prototyping," "3D," "Artificial Intelligence," "AI," "Personalized dental Medicine," "Institutional virtual trial" were selected. Various components of the trials, such as patient selection, informed consent, and remote monitoring, currently employ artificial intelligence or smart platforms. Though these novel digital interfaces are still in their early stages of application in dental research methodologies, they are not without limitations. In the long run, all stakeholders involved in the virtual clinical trials must provide patient-centered treatment outcomes and ethical treatment delivery.Copyright © RJPT. All right reserved.

Mobeybou for Computational Thinking: Fostering Expression Through Embodied Computing Interactions

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on education has opened new doors and accelerated change, and a learning opportunity has emerged towards the digital transformation of teaching models. Computing acquires a new relevance and fits into the plan to strengthen digital skills as a driver of digital knowledge, particularly relevant for children and young people. In parallel, both the close contact with computers allows the development of skills such as logical reasoning, critical thinking, creativity, communication and teamwork, and the very coexistence of citizens with digital technologies requires the prior acquisition of this knowledge, in order to be prepared to meet the new demands of modern society. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to introduce an ongoing research project that aims at developing young children's expression through embodied computing in order to enhance their digital knowledge, by adapting the digital manipulative (DM) Mobeybou for storytelling and narrative creation as a tool for promoting computational thinking (CT) and inherent competences through a bodily expression experience. The educational toolkit and base literature review are discussed, and the early prototypes of the programming language proposed are presented, as well as the ongoing and future work. With this initial work it was possible to conclude that computer programming has many benefits in fostering CT in children, alongside other cognitive skills, as well as the importance of stimulating children's expression and communication that are transversal to all areas of life. Therefore, computer programming will be used and incorporated in Mobeybou in order to achieve the research aims proposed in this paper and promote children's expression through CT development. © 2022 Association for Computing Machinery.

Instructional Design for Socially Distanced Compliance Audit.

The COVID-19 pandemic made being socially distant an essential practice to upskill employees. As employers incorporate measures to keep employees socially distant from one another, they also need to consider technology to make this practice possible. Our project with a large state-wide, multi-campus food bank (FB) in the pacific northwest occurred during the late summer and early fall of 2020. The FB partnered with our group of three graduate students and one faculty member to improve self-audits of their coolers. This project used technology and rapid prototyping to design an instructional intervention that allowed social distancing in a workplace where employees were required to be present. We conducted a front-end analysis including training requirements, learner and environmental analysis and task analysis. This article describes the process of the analyses and design of instructional materials that allowed the FB to scale their audit process to their other warehouses.

SI-BIME Smart Learning Multimedia Platform for Students: a Solution for the Pandemic-19 in the Regions

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is not only experienced by a handful of people but by all lines of life in this world. One of the biggest impacts is related to the provision of education at the primary, secondary, and senior levels. This study uses the prototype method which is targeted to produce applications that are ready to be implemented to produce an intelligent learning application. This study uses a quantitative method for evaluating results. This study aims to assist schools, especially those in the regions, in overcoming the problem of decreased learning activity because it has been identified as the cause of decreased student learning outcomes. This research was conducted at the high school level because students were prepared to continue to a higher level. This research resulted in a smart learning SI-BIME (BINUS Multimedia Edutainment Information System) which was prepared to support e-learning-based learning processes in schools. Based on the evaluation of learning, the results of this study proved to be very helpful for schools and support a better learning process. As well as focus group discussions with school authorities, students, and parent representatives, assessments are also provided by higher-level authorities. The results of this study can also help schools and teachers to prepare better learning media for students and can be used comprehensively and sustainably even though COVID-19 is over. © 2022 IEEE.