ABSTRACT
The increasing size and density of the human population is leading to an increasing risk of infectious diseases that threaten to spread yet another pandemics. The widespread use of vaccination has reduced morbidity and mortality associated with viral infections and in some cases eradicated the virus from the population entirely. Regrettably, some virus species retain the ability to mutate rapidly and thus evade the vaccine-induced immune response. New antiviral drugs are therefore needed for the treatment and prevention of viral diseases. Modern research into the structures and properties of viral proteases, which are of key importance in the life cycle of viruses, makes it possible, in our opinion, to turn these enzymes into promising targets for the development of effective viral disease control methods.
ABSTRACT
Sigmoid functions (growth function, logistic function, evolution function, etc.) are used to describe, study and forecast several phenomena of the life. In some cases (for example, in case of the COVID-19 disease), the phenomenon has several waves, which needs to apply multilogistic (multiwave logistic) curves in order to perform realistic investigation. In product design, the logistic curve can describe the lifecycle of a product. A product lifecycle can be finished by the significant decrease of the market, but in some cases, several new developments and innovations can regenerate the increase of the market by starting a new boom. This renewing process can invoke several waves of the phenomenon, which will make necessary the application of multilogistic curves for the correct study. This multiwave behaviour of the product lifecycle makes this phenomenon very similar to the time history of the COVID-19 disease which also has several waves, because of the newer and newer virus variants. Analysis and comparison of several phenomena described by logistic curves, or bi- logistic, tri- logistic or multilogistic curves can be made easier by the application of the EBSYQ (Evolutionary Based SYstem of Qualification and comparison of group achievements) comparison and qualification system. The similarity between the multiwave characteristics of the product lifecycle and coronavirus time history makes possible to apply several results, skills and methods of comparison and investigation, which were developed and used previously during the analysis of several waves of the disease also for the case of product lifecycle analysis. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the production and consumption of fossil jet fuel have increased as a consequence of a rise in the number of passengers and goods transported by air. Despite the low demand caused by the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, an increase in the services offered by the sector is expected again. In an economic context still dependent on scarce oil, this represents a problem. There is also a problem arising from the fuel's environmental impact throughout its life cycle. Given this, a promising solution is the use of biojet fuel as renewable aviation fuel. In a circular economy framework, the use of lignocellulosic biomass in the form of sugar-rich crop residues allows the production of alcohols necessary to obtain biojet fuel. The tools provided by process intensification also make it possible to design a sustainable process with low environmental impact and capable of achieving energy savings. The goal of this work was to design an intensified process to produce biojet fuel from Mexican lignocellulosic biomass, with alcohols as intermediates. The process was modeled following a sequence of pretreatment/hydrolysis/fermentation/purification for the biomass-ethanol process, and dehydration/oligomerization/hydrogenation/distillation for ethanol-biojet process under the concept of distributed configuration. To obtain a cleaner, greener, and cheaper process, the purification zone of ethanol was intensified by employing a vapor side stream distillation column and a dividing wall column. Once designed, the entire process was optimized by employing the stochastic method of differential evolution with a tabu list to minimize the total annual cost and with the Eco-indicator-99 to evaluate the sustainability of the process. The results show that savings of 5.56% and a reduction of 1.72% in Eco-indicator-99 were achieved with a vapor side stream column in comparison with conventional distillation. On the other hand, with a dividing wall column, savings of 5.02% and reductions of 2.92% in Eco-indicator-99 were achieved. This process is capable of meeting a demand greater than 266 million liters of biojet fuel per year. However, the calculated sale price indicates that this biojet fuel still does not compete with conventional jet fuel produced in Mexico. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ABSTRACT
As the global economy grapples with the advent of novel coronavirus and its variants, the aftermath has left all industries with ongoing uncertainties and incalculable loss of life and livelihood in most countries worldwide. In such unpredictable situations, the insurance industry and governments worldwide have become the prominent source of optimism to sail through the situation. This applies to the insurance industry globally, which is currently in the grip of fear due to the COVID-19 outbreak and anticipating significant economic slowdown and hardship because insurance rides on the back of other Industries. Therefore, to overcome a few of the tenacious roadblocks due to the COVID outbreak, Insurers will be forced to reassess all aspects of their business life cycle and take necessary steps to continue operations with minimum disruption. Precisely, the impact of COVID on General Insurers and Life and Health Insurers varied depending on the lines of business, product lines, and a bouquet of benefits offered by the insurers. The pandemic has taken a hit on new gross written premiums on specific lines of business, such as medical, travel, commercial, and business insurance. Few lines of business such as motor and home have remained muted during the COVID timeframe. However, the claims volumes for personal insurance (e.g., motor) have significantly decreased due to the lockdown and travel restriction;the industry has witnessed the highest claims volumes in life and health compared to the past several decades. They say, "As every dark cloud has a silver lining,” it has given an opportunity to many insurers to develop new products (e.g., Pay Mile Auto insurance) and push toward greater productivity, i.e., digital capability across product range which will result in an elevated position to understand and address to the customer and intermediary self-service (such as Portals) and implicit and explicit needs. Notably, the Insurance industry is likely to lean toward offering personalized yet custom-made products and services, which are sharply focused on preventative care and embracing digitalization across the value chain. Besides enabling scalability and connectivity, insurers are strategically focused on digitizing the core of the business and cloud implementation;automation across the insurance value chain is necessary to compete successfully with new innovative product development or inclusive business models. Around the globe, the insurance industry is continuously putting a deep focus on revitalizing the technology paradigm to grow and strive to achieve cost-effectiveness amid emerging markets, rapidly changing economic conditions and stiff competition from Insurtech. According to industry experts across geographies, growth may be a balanced blend of preventative and protective approaches, with a gamut of new and improved services and products, and insurers are deeply fostering redefining service-oriented strategies and innovative products. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
Team development is critical to the success of any organization, especially in construction projecta. If the team includes members from diverse locations, it brings diversity to the team. In recent times, a new breed of virtual teams has evolved in various construction organizations. However, coordinating such virtual teams on building projects remains a difficult challenge. Therefore, this research aims to identify the factors affecting efficient virtual teams to manage and tackle the challenges of virtual teams in construction projects in Egypt. To achieve the research aim, a combination of comprehensive research methods is adopted, in addition to the applied study that includes the distribution of the questionnaire survey among 55 members working in virtual teams in the field of the construction industry. The findings of this research contribute to identifying the challenges of virtual team management during the project lifecycle and studying the strategies and technological tools to deal with these challenges. © 2022 THE AUTHORS
ABSTRACT
This article consists of five complementary parts. The Introduction portrays the increasing challenges of entrepreneurial internationalization encountered by smaller and younger firms facing highly competitive, difficult, and near-crisis environments. The literature review of the extant internationalization theories, in five related streams, will examine each stream's benefits, contribution, and difficulties from the evolving perspective of an internationalizing enterprise over the span of its life-cycle, ranging from embryonic to growth and maturing stages. Based on the current and prevailing experience, a longitudinally integrated internationalization framework addressing different aspects evolving over the firm's life-cycle stages is proposed and its necessary building blocks are discussed. A critical examination of the framework from the perspectives of both the received theory and ongoing practice points to its advantages and opportunity for further complementary scholarly developments beyond this article.
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China and quickly spread throughout the world. This deadly virus moved from person to person, resulting in severe pneumonia, fever, chills and hypoxia. Patients are still experiencing problems after recovering from COVID-19. This review covers COVID-19 and associated issues following recovery from COVID-19, as well as multiorgan damage risk factors and treatment techniques. Several unusual illnesses, including mucormycosis, white fungus infection, happy hypoxia and other systemic abnormalities, have been reported in recovered individuals. In children, multisystem inflammatory syndrome with COVID-19 (MIS-C) is identified. The reasons for this might include uncontrollable steroid usage, reduced immunity, uncontrollable diabetes mellitus and inadequate care following COVID-19 recovery.
COVID-19 infection has reported in the development several other infections and co-morbidity in patients. The present review discusses risk and management strategies in patients suffeting from co-infections caused by COVID-19 infection.
ABSTRACT
The application of newly available technologies in the green maritime sector is difficult due to conflicting requirements and the inter-relation of different ecological, technological and economical parameters. The governments incentivize radical reductions in harmful emissions as an overall priority. If the politics do not change, the continuous implementation of stricter government regulations for reducing emissions will eventually result in the mandatory use of, what we currently consider, alternative fuels. Immediate application of radically different strategies would significantly increase the economic costs of maritime transport, thus jeopardizing its greatest benefit: the transport of massive quantities of freight at the lowest cost. Increased maritime transport costs would immediately disrupt the global economy, as seen recently during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, the industry has shifted towards a gradual decrease in emissions through the implementation of "better" transitional solutions until alternative fuels eventually become low-cost fuels. Since this topic is very broad and interdisciplinary, our systematic overview gives insight into the state-of-the-art available technologies in green maritime transport with a focus on the following subjects: (i) alternative fuels;(ii) hybrid propulsion systems and hydrogen technologies;(iii) the benefits of digitalization in the maritime sector aimed at increasing vessel efficiency;(iv) hull drag reduction technologies;and (v) carbon capture technologies. This paper outlines the challenges, advantages and disadvantages of their implementation. The results of this analysis elucidate the current technologies' readiness levels and their expected development over the coming years.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It's already known for certain that SARS-CoV-2 can affect any vital human organ, and super-complex cases are even characterized by multiple organ pathology. In particular, complications of COVID-19 for the kidneys can be irreversible. Consequently, this virus forces us to review the approaches and standards of diagnosis and treatment in most nosologies to minimize the risks as much as possible. Thus, a low level of prediction of the course of coronavirus infection requires a comprehensive approach considering the psychological characteristics of the individual suffering from this disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The method of chronometric testing is used to predict the predisposition to the course of SARS-CoV-2 with nephrotic complications (using an electronic chronoscope) and calculate the duration of an individual's biological life cycle to predict the severity of the course of coronavirus infection. Experimental study of the localization of symptoms of chronic nephrological diseases in typological groups of patients with SARS-CoV-2 using the method of psychodiagnostics. The duration of the study is six months 2020–2021. The study was conducted under the guidance of a nephrologist at the Odrex Clinic I.I. RESULTS: The results of an experimental study show that the psychological type determines the predisposition to the course of SARS-CoV-2 with nephrotic complications;in most of these patients, severe (834 patients) forms of the course coincided with the end of quarters of the long biological cycle of an individual's life. CONCLUSION: The chronopsychotype makes it possible to predict the predisposition of individuals to the course of SARS-CoV-2 with nephrological complications and the severity of the disease.
ABSTRACT
Many projects in Indonesia have implemented new strategies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Many projects suffered unexpected losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and conditions were unpredictable. This situation must be considered by all stakeholders participating in a project. Another problem in the implementation of construction is the fragmentation between project participants. Therefore, a strategy is needed in each phase of the project life cycle. In the absence of proper planning, the contractor is the party responsible for bearing the risk associated with this occurrence. Improved project performance is a shared responsibility among owners, contractors, designers, and subcontractors, all of whom need to tap into their own sources of creativity and innovation. The potential of partnering as a tool for achieving lean construction performance, it is still in its infancy as a means of enhancing project outcomes. In this study, we used qualitative methods and in-depth interviews enhanced by focus group discussions of 14 experts (owners, designers, contractors, and academics) using the Delphi method. The results illustrate the maturity of partnering in integrated project delivery (IPD);therefore, its guiding philosophy can be developed and implemented to improve the outcomes of construction projects in terms of cost, quality, schedule, health and safety, and environmental performance. The most important part of this research is related to the implementation of the 17th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., partnerships to achieve the goals. This research contributes to a deepening of partnering practices that can drive performance in project implementation.
ABSTRACT
Indonesia experienced a COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020. Limited mobility impacts various sectors, including tourism. Alian Butterfly Park is one of those affected. Alternatives were made to attract visitors, such as developing Augmented Reality applications to educate visitors about the new normal. Previous research developed a similar application, namely butterfly education with Augmented Reality technology, but its implementation still uses markers. It makes the user have to visit in person. This research improves the previous application. The improvement such as adding the interaction in AR butterfly life cycle, a virtual tour to collect butterflies, and the AR object is developed markerless. The application is developed using the agile development method. The application that has been developed is tested on the target user of the application. Testing is done by giving a black box testing. The test method is carried out by the black box testing method on 3 students. From the tests carried out, from a total of 25 test scenarios, there are 23 successful test scenarios and 2 test scenarios that fail due to bugs. The success value of the entire test scenario is 92% and the bugs found are 156 only affect the appearance of the application and do not affect the application critically. In addition, 2 scenarios are successful but are given special note due to environmental factors that can affect the results of the test. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Purpose>The inclusion of sustainability in higher education courses has been debated in recent decades and has gained particular emphasis throughout the COVID-19. This paper aims to show how the context of the pandemic, which demanded the transition from in-person classes to virtual classes, was used to illustrate better the concepts of life cycle assessment (LCA) for Production Engineering students in a Brazilian University.Design/methodology/approach>The research strategy used was action research. Throughout the discipline offering, the environmental impacts resulting from in-person and remote classes were comparatively assessed through a practical activity using LCA. Students' behaviour and perception of the activities were recorded by the professor and discussed with the other researchers on the team. At the end of the course, students answered a questionnaire to assess their satisfaction with different aspects of the discipline, and these data were analysed via Fuzzy Delphi.Findings>The results focus on discussing the pedagogical aspects of this experience and not the environmental impacts resulting from each class modality. It was possible to notice a greater engagement of students when using a project that directly involved their daily activities (food, transportation, use of electronics, etc.) compared to the traditional approach of teaching LCA concepts. In this traditional approach, the examples focussed on the industrial sector, a more distant context from the reality of most students. Student feedback demonstrated great acceptance by them regarding the approach adopted.Originality/value>This study contributes to expanding debates about sustainability insertion in higher education and the training of professionals more aligned with the sustainable development agenda.
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a devastating global pandemic, which has seriously affected human health worldwide. The discovery of therapeutic agents is extremely urgent, and the viral structural proteins are particularly important as potential drug targets. SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein is one of the main structural proteins of the virus, which is involved in multiple processes of the virus life cycle and is directly related to pathogenesis process. In this review, we present the amino acid sequence of the E protein and compare it with other two human coronaviruses. We then explored the role of E protein in the viral life cycle and discussed the pathogenic mechanisms that E protein may be involved in. Next, we summarize the potential drugs against E protein discovered in the current studies. Finally, we described the possible effects of E protein mutation on virus and host. This established a knowledge system of E protein to date, aiming to provide theoretical insights for mitigating the current COVID-19 pandemic and potential future coronavirus outbreaks.