Planning and the Global Movement of Goods and Commodities

The year 2020 has provided unprecedented challenges to the global movement of goods. COVID-19 threatens to wipe out the result of years of hard work put into supply chain planning. This pandemic has taught us a hard lesson: keeping our supply chains safe is as important as keeping it lean (Lehmacher and Sharma, 2020). Global transportation planning today faces the challenges of working with new risk factors that will impact business startup, disruption/restart and steady-state operations in the future. Risk factors now include global pandemics such as COVID-19 as well as more traditional risk management issues such as supply, demand, process, and control risks. In order to effectively and efficiently plan and manage international transportation, we need a concise method to achieve the desired results. There is a need to determine transport characteristics for business startups and continuing operations. To be effective, it is important to collect the key performance indicators and utilize the management tools outlined in this article to be successful in transportation planning and management. Understanding the business reasons for a project and then properly defining the project's scope are critical steps to a successful launch (Bolstorff and Robert, 2007). This chapter will focus on the best practices to be used for startup and steady-state global transportation planning and operations. It will provide some of the tools needed to organize and manage the data, planning process, and execution of efficient and effective global transportation operations. Efforts are to be focused on results—not activities. Measuring and managing the results and outcomes to refine the approach will be critical with a view on fast changing environments. Understanding how the transportation model operates compared to "best in class” gives you a roadmap to making progressive improvements. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Demo Paper: A Package Of Objective Measurement Tools For Physical And Social Exertional Activities For Patients With Illness-limiting Capacities

Patients with several incompletely diagnosed and understood chronic diseases suffer from symptoms that limit their functional capacity. In particular, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and long covid syndromes lead to variable fatigue, malaise, poor and unrefreshing sleep, delayed sleep, and post-exertional exacerbation. There are no specific tests for these patients to diagnose their diseases properly. This paper presents a foot-insole sensor system for detecting and measuring physical leg activity, a wrist and arm motion sensor system for dominant arm and hand activity, and a cell phone system for measuring social interaction and noise exposure. © 2022 ACM.

Digital Sphygmomanometer for Voice-Based Blind

The pandemic requires everyone to do regular health checks. Accordingly, it raises concern for anyone because of the fear of being contracted to the covid-19 virus. Every medical service first checks blood pressure because it measures how strong the heart is to pump blood throughout the body. The measurement aims to determine blood pressure levels to prevent various diseases that may affect the patient's condition. Tensimeters, in general, cannot be read by blind patients, and officers in charge simply report their examination results. Therefore, the experiment intended o design a voice-based blood pressure measurement tool for visually impaired patients. Thereupon, the study used the Linear Sequential Model (LSM) method, and the results met expectations and in accordance with the calibration results like a sphygmomanometer in general. Consequently, a digital sphygmomanometer was designed with a sound output based on the ATmega328 micro controller and can be used by hospitals or self-measurement at home. This tool has an almost similar working principle as any ordinary digital sphygmomanometer using the MPX5700GP pressure sensor, which can measure pressure up to 700psi. The results are displayed on the LCD and voiced through the DFPlayer module containing sound recordings saved on a micro SD. © 2021 IEEE.

Individual-Level Interventions for Decreasing Job-Related Stress and Enhancing Coping Strategies Among Nurses: A Systematic Review.

Background: Nurses are facing unprecedented amounts of pressure because of the ongoing global health challenges. Improving nurses' resilience to job-related stress and enhancing their strategies to cope effectively with stressors are key issues facing many health care institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This literature review aimed to: a) provide a thorough overview of individual-level interventions for stress management among nurses, b) identify measurement tools utilized to evaluate nurses' stress level, and c) provide the best evidence-based recommendations for future research and practice adapted to the current restrictions. Design: Systematic review. Data Sources: Studies published between January 2000 and October 2020 were retrieved from the following sources: EBSCOhost, Dortmund University Library, PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, Applied Nursing Research, and reference lists from relevant articles. Review methods: Individual-level interventions with a control group or a placebo intervention were included in the final sample. Primary outcome was defined as a change in individual stress level or stress symptoms which were measured by objective or subjective instruments with evidence of validity. Articles published in English or German were included in the present review. Results: In total, 27 relevant studies were included into the current review. There are some indications that technology-delivered interventions with relaxation and stress management interventions comprising cognitive-behavioral components might be effective in decreasing stress among nurses and improving their well-being. Furthermore, although there were some attempts to collect objectively measured parameters for assessing the primary outcome of stress, the majority of the interventions utilized self-reported stress scales. Conclusion: A wide range of interventions are available for nurses. However, it is of utmost importance to develop and implement stress management programs that are conveniently accessible in the workplace and above all, meet the current restrictions for minimizing human contacts. To this end, innovative interventions delivered through digital technology, such as virtual reality, seem to be a promising solution for combating the detrimental impact of stress on nurses. Special attention should be also paid to applying standardized objective measurement tools to allow the assessment of sensitive physiological indices and the generalizability of scientific knowledge.