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BACKGROUND: Recent disruption of medical oxygen during second wave of COVID-19 has caused nationwide panic. This study attempts to objectively analyze the medical oxygen supply chain in India along the principles of value stream mapping (VSM), identify bottlenecks and recommend systemic improvements. METHODOLOGY: Process mapping of the medical oxygen supply chain in India was done. Different licenses & approvals, their conditions, compliances, renewals among others were factored-in. All relevant circulars (Government Notices), official orders, amendments and gazette notifications pertaining to medical oxygen from April 2020-April 2021 were studied and corroborated with information from Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) official website. FINDINGS: Steps of medical oxygen supply chain right from oxygen manufacture to filling, storage and transport up to the end users; have regulatory bottlenecks. Consequently flow of materials is sluggish and very poor information flow has aggravated the inherent inefficiencies of the system. Government of India has been loosening regulatory norms at every stage to alleviate the crisis. CONCLUSION: Regulatory bottlenecks have indirectly fueled the informal sector over the years, which is not under Government's control with difficulty in controlling black-marketing and hoarding. Technology enabled, data-driven regulatory processes with minimum discretionary human interface can make the system more resilient.
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The rapid and extraordinary development and deployment of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines worldwide represent an unprecedented achievement in the history of vaccine development. This chapter provides an overview of COVID-19 vaccine strategies, platforms, clinical trials, and regulatory frameworks. Vaccine safety, efficacy, herd immunity, and severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants are also discussed. Real world challenges confronted include the ethics of vaccine allocation, vaccine nationalism, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine passports. © 2023 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
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Climate neutrality is becoming a core long-term competitiveness asset within the aviation industry, as demonstrated by the several innovations and targets set within that sector, prior to and especially after the COVID-19 crisis. Ambitious timelines are set, involving important investment decisions to be taken in a 5-years horizon time. Here, we provide an in-depth review of alternative technologies for sustainable aviation revealed to date, which we classified into four main categories, namely i) biofuels, ii) electrofuels, iii) electric (battery-based), and iv) hydrogen aviation. Nine biofuel and nine electrofuel pathways were reviewed, for which we supply the detailed process flow picturing all input, output, and co-products generated. The market uptake and use of these co-products was also investigated, along with the overall international regulations and targets for future aviation. As most of the inventoried pathways require hydrogen, we further reviewed six existing and emerging carbon-free hydrogen production technologies. Our review also details the five key battery technologies available (lithium-ion, advanced lithium-ion, solid-state battery, lithium-sulfur, lithium-air) for aviation. A semi-quantitative ranking covering environmental-, economic-, and technological performance indicators has been established to guide the selection of promising routes. The possible configuration schemes for electric propulsion systems are documented and classified as: i) battery-based, ii) fuel cell-based and iii) turboelectric configurations. Our review studied these four categories of sustainable aviation systems as modular technologies, yet these still have to be used in a hybridized fashion with conventional fossil-based kerosene. This is among others due to an aromatics content below the standardized requirements for biofuels and electrofuels, to a too low energy storage capacity in the case of batteries, or a sub-optimal gas turbine engine in the case of cryogenic hydrogen. Yet, we found that the latter was the only available option, based on the current and emerging technologies reviewed, for long-range aviation completely decoupled of fossil-based hydrocarbon fuels. The various challenges and opportunities associated with all these technologies are summarized in this study.
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Objectives: To map the timing and nature of regulatory reliance pathways used to authorize COVID-19 vaccines in Latin America. Methods: An observational study was conducted assessing the characteristics of all COVID-19 vaccine authorizations in Latin America. For every authorization it was determined whether reliance was used in the authorization process. Subgroups of reference national regulatory authorities (NRAs) and non-reference NRAs were compared. Results: 56 authorizations of 10 different COVID-19 vaccines were identified in 18 countries, of which 25 (44.6%) used reliance and 12 (21.4%) did not. For the remaining 19 (33.0%) it was not possible to determine whether reliance was used. Reference agencies used reliance less often (40% of authorizations with a known pathway) compared to non-reference agencies (100%). The median review time was just 15 days and does not meaningfully differ between reliance and non-reliance authorizations. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that for these vaccines, despite reliance pathways being associated with numerous rapid authorizations, independent authorization review times were not considerably longer than reliance reviews; reliance pathways were not a prerequisite for rapid authorization. Nevertheless, reliance pathways provided rapid authorizations in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
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The ongoing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic still necessitates emphasis on diagnosis and management of the outbreaks due to the emergence of new variants. This paper is an extensive survey on the implementation of Deep Learning (DL) models used for diagnosing COVID-19 from chest imaging, enriched with quantitative measures and regulatory aspects. The authors have searched, collated and categorised various models and techniques that reported different architectures with respect to COVID-19 diagnosis in the literature. This survey also briefs about quantifying metrics and the reported results are enumerated, also regulatory frameworks for public use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medical devices are comprehended. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.
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The article outlines the keys of the Sustainable Development Goal number 1, which sets out global guidelines for the eradication of poverty in the world: global social protection systems for the most vulnerable, mobilizing resources for cooperation, create solid regulatory frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, etc. The author reviews the path followed by the United Nations and other supranational organizations up to the formulation of the 2030 Agenda, and analyzes how the emergence of COVID-19 has affected the chronic state of poverty at a time when, in some areas of the Globe, signs of improvement were appearing. A reference to the "Next Generation EU" Program is essential, implemented by the European Union with a budget of 1.8 billion euros to help to rebuild the Old Continent after the devastating effects of coronavirus. The author recalls that poverty is not only a problem in developing countries, but also in areas considered as social and economic well-being regions, which are suffering the scarcity of resources. In the conclusions, the author presents the results of the case studies developed in 2021 by twelve teams of civil engineering students in order to find efficient actions against poverty. It was concluded that there are common patterns which difficult the way out of poverty in the short term without an economic investment and support in the planning and management of processes by means of external teams for local actions. © 2021 Asociacion Espanola de la Carretera. All rights reserved.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has placed nursing at the forefront of public attention across the globe and has highlighted the criti-cal role of nursing in healthcare service provision. Advanced practice nursing has been recognized for more than 50 years, but the rate of its growth and development varies significantly across the world. One of the key aims of the Better Health Programme Mexico, which commenced in 2019, was to develop advanced practice nursing in Mexico. The Programme was based on the United Kingdom model, where advanced practice nursing has been in place-though not subject to statutory regulation-for more than 40 years. The aim of this article is to compare the frameworks that underpin advanced practice nursing in the United Kingdom and in Mexico. In the present article, current practice in both countries was researched, and the structure, systems, and processes relating to nursing regulation and the frameworks to support advanced practice nursing were examined. A gap analysis report undertaken as part of the Better Health Programme identified challenges in developing advanced practice nursing in Mexico and the United Kingdom and highlighted the need for stakeholders to agree on an approach toward a rigorous regulatory framework in both settings. In summary, this article highlights the issues facing nurses and regulators in both countries in terms of advanced practice nursing and identifies strategies that can be used to strengthen the advanced practice nurse role.
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Purpose>The study aims at enriching the existing cooperative education sector in Thailand. Adequate cooperative education has direct impacts upon graduates’ future professional development, employability and enhanced professional skills. The cooperative education framework in Thailand is relatively a recent concept and lacks detailed research.Design/methodology/approach>The methodology adopted in this study is mixed-method, inclusive of qualitative methodology where data were collected through key informant interviews and;quantitative methodology involving survey questionnaires with a sample of 350 respondents. The data analysis included the quantitative analysis with Chi-square and excerpts from the key informant interview respondents. Additional strength, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis is performed to provide for gaps at various levels of cooperative education and the potential opportunities to the graduates in Thailand.Findings>The findings depict a lack of legal framework for effective skill development, uncertain moral and physical security of the interns and absence of legal rights for interns, minimal support and assistance from the government sector, reduced future employability and insufficient financial resources among poorer students.Research limitations/implications>Lack of student and cooperative database with the government departments.Practical implications>The Thai Qualification Framework has been adopted in a majority of universities, however, the quality assurance does not cover the student’s perspectives, financial and social limitations towards attending the cooperative education.Social implications>With enhanced vulnerabilities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adverse impacts are analysed and recommendations are provided for enhancing cooperative education opportunities towards students.Originality/value>This research aims to understand the perspectives of the students who graduated with cooperative education and are currently working professionals.