Designing a resilience model for pharmaceutical supply chain during crises: a grounded theory approach

Background During disasters or crises, the traditional models of supply chain encounter failure and skewedness under the inevitable and unknown pressures. The procurement and transformation of required equipment to the involved areas is considered as one of the main triggers of decreasing damages and losses during crisis. In this regard, a breakdown in pharmaceutical supply chain can lead to intensive, undesired consequences. Methods This was a qualitative study applying a grounded theory approach. The study was conducted with attending of 32 informant participants who were qualified in supply chain during natural disasters and crisis. In order to collect the data, deep semi-structured interviews were applied along with investigating the documents, observation, field notes and theoretical memos. For data analysis, a continuous comparison was used according to Corbin and Strauss method. Results Results of the study were categorized in 8 main categories as the main themes. “Wasting” appeared as the main factor of the resilience of pharmaceutical and consumable medical equipment supply chain. Wasting included two subthemes of loss of resources and wasting time. Conclusion In order to make resilience in pharmaceutical and consumable medical equipment during disasters, it is necessary to reinforce the various dimensions of the resilience model to increase the rate of supply chain responsiveness. This study particularly contributes to broadening and deepening our understanding of how to mitigate the risk of undesirable outcomes of pharmaceutical supply chain during the disasters or crises.

Influence of parameters on the development of landslides in the Estrada de Ferro Vitória-Minas slopes

Landslides have been the object of extensive studies in the world, not only for their importance as active agents of modifications of relief forms, but also because can damages and losses to people and exposed structures, affecting various kinds of enterprises. This study had as objective the determination of influencing parameters on the development of landslides in the slopes aside of Estrada de Ferro Vitória-Minas (EFVM). EFVM is located in the southeastern region in Brazil and is an important railroad for the transportation of iron ore to the steel mills and for exportation, as well as for passenger transportation. The database used herein was collected from field work in EFVM, together with image processing and data in laboratory tests. The parameters selected to be evaluated were Atterberg limits, cohesion, friction angle, permeability and classification of soil in the slopes. Estimates were done on the volumes and areas of landslides that have already occurred in the slopes. Among the studied parameters, the results obtained for the Atteberg limits and soil cohesion were the most relevantly correlated with the field results, which is in accordance with other studies from literature. It is concluded that Atterberg limits are directly related to soil ruptures, and soil cohesion contributes to soil stabilization in slopes.

Economic costs of biological invasions in the United States

The United States has thousands of invasive species, representing a sizable, but unknown burden to the national economy. Given the potential economic repercussions of invasive species, quantifying these costs is of paramount importance both for national economies and invasion management. Here, we used a novel global database of invasion costs (InvaCost) to quantify the overall costs of invasive species in the United States across spatiotemporal, taxonomic, and socioeconomic scales. From 1960 to 2020, reported invasion costs totaled $4.52 trillion (USD 2017). Considering only observed, highly reliable costs, this total cost reached $1.22 trillion with an average annual cost of $19.94 billion/year. These costs increased from $2.00 billion annually between 1960-1969 to $21.08 billion annually between 2010-2020. Most costs (73%) were related to resource damages and losses ($896.22 billion), as opposed to management expenditures ($46.54 billion). Moreover, the majority of costs were reported from invaders from terrestrial habitats ($643.51 billion, 53%) and agriculture was the most impacted sector ($509.55 billion). From a taxonomic perspective, mammals ($234.71 billion) and insects ($126.42 billion) were the taxonomic groups responsible for the greatest costs. Considering the apparent rising costs of invasions, coupled with increasing numbers of invasive species and the current lack of cost information for most known invaders, our findings provide critical information for policymakers and managers.

Applications of Data Mining in Mitigating Fire Accidents Based on Association Rules

<p class="0abstract">Due to the increased rate of fire accidents which cause many damages and losses to people souls, material, and property in Basra city. The necessity of analyzing and mining the data of the fire accidents became an urgent need to find a solution. The need increased for a solution that helps to mitigate and reduce the number of accidents. In this paper, data mining techniques and applications including data preprocessing, data cleaning, and data exploration have been applied. Data mining applications is performed to analyze and discover the hidden knowledge in ten years of data (fire accidents happened from 2010 – 2019) which is approximately 20k record of accidents. These data mining techniques along with the association rules algorithm is applied on the dataset. The applied approach and techniques resulted in discovering the patterns and the nature of the fire accidents in Basra city. It also helped to reach to recommendations and resolutions for mitigating the fire accidents and its occurrence rate.</p>

Reframing strategic, managed retreat for transformative climate adaptation

Human societies will transform to address climate change and other stressors. How they choose to transform will depend on what societal values they prioritize. Managed retreat can play a powerful role in expanding the range of possible futures that transformation could achieve and in articulating the values that shape those futures. Consideration of retreat raises tensions about what losses are unacceptable and what aspects of societies are maintained, purposefully altered, or allowed to change unaided. Here we integrate research on retreat, transformational adaptation, climate damages and losses, and design and decision support to chart a roadmap for strategic, managed retreat. At its core, this roadmap requires a fundamental reconceptualization of what it means for retreat to be strategic and managed. The questions raised are relevant to adaptation science and societies far beyond the remit of retreat.

Fragmented yet high economic costs of biological invasions in India

Biological invasions are one of the top drivers of the ongoing biodiversity crisis. An underestimated consequence of invasions is the enormity of their economic impacts. Knowledge gaps regarding economic costs produced by invasive alien species (IAS) are pervasive, particularly for emerging economies such as India — the fastest growing economy worldwide. To bridge this gap, we synthesised data on economic costs of IAS in India. Specifically, we examine how IAS costs are distributed spatially, environmentally, sectorally, taxonomically, temporally and across introduction pathways; and discuss globally how IAS costs vary with socioeconomic indicators. We found that IAS have cost the Indian economy between at least US$ 127.3 billion to 182.6 billion (Indian Rupees ₹ 8.3 trillion to 11.9 trillion) over 1960–2020, and these costs have increased with time. Most recorded costs were not assigned to specific regions, environments, sectors, cost types and causal IAS. When costs were specifically assigned, maximum costs were incurred in west, south and north India, by invasive alien insects in semi-aquatic ecosystems, incurred mainly by the public and social welfare sector, and were associated with damages and losses rather than management expenses. Our findings indicate that the reported economic costs grossly underestimate the actual costs, especially when considering the expected costs given India's population size and gross domestic product (GDP). This cost analysis improves our knowledge of the negative economic impacts associated with biological invasions in India and the burden they can represent for its development. We hope that this study motivates policymakers to address socio-ecological issues, especially since economic growth will be accompanied by greater impacts of global change.

Justification of an effective method of potatoes harvesting

It is proved that high-quality potato harvesting is one of the most important technological operations that contributes to improving the safety of tubers during their storage. It is established that the digging working body on the potato harvester has low agrotechnical performance parameters, which directly affect the productivity, quality of harvested tubers, work and resistivity of the harvesting unit. A bar digging working body is proposed, the use of which allows to reduce the volume of soil supplied to elevators, which improves the separation of pile, and the tubers after the passage of the unit are not covered with soil coming off the conveyor. In addition, the rod working body allows the harvesting machine to work within the limits of agrotechnical requirements, eliminating damages and losses of tubers, improving the aggregate composition of the soil, as well as reducing its specific traction resistance and increasing productivity.

Crown rust on oat genotypes with different levels of resistance: damages and losses

ABSTRACT: The evolution in virulence of Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae has challenged the genetic resistance to crown rust in oat genotypes. New resistance sources are constantly required for yield stabilization and costs reduction. This study aimed to characterize the crown rust resistance of oat genotypes and the disease´s productive and economic impact. Experiments were conducted in two environments, with and without chemical control. Resistance was measured by disease progress, apparent rate of infection, final severity and pustule size. Damages were based on reduction of yield, 1000 grain mass and hectoliter mass. UFRGS16Q6030-2 was immune. In both environments, UFRGS166091-2 and URS Brava exhibited the greatest level of resistance and the smallest grain yield reduction, while URS 22 was highly susceptible, reducing more than 70% of its grain yield. These results surpass the negative impacts of the disease previously reported in oats, particularly related to grain yield. The data presented in this paper highlighted the importance of genetic resistance, particularly partial resistance, for maintaining oat genetic yield potential, reducing environmental contamination with less fungicides, and increasing economic gains with oat cultivation.

EXPERIMENTAL MODELING OF DEBRIS ADVECTION DRIVEN BY THE TSUNAMI: APPLICATION FOR NON-UNIFORM DENSITY GROUPS OF DEBRIS WITH OBSTACLES

Extreme coastal events like hurricanes and tsunamis often generate and transport debris, resulting in severe damage to civil infrastructure and often adversely affecting communities' resilience and recovery process. In particular, water-borne debris transported over the land often decreases critical facilities' functionality and block access for initial rescue and recovery. A better understanding of water-driven debris transport is essential to predict damages and losses on coastal communities and develop a mitigation plan to minimize those losses and improve the resilience against future extreme coastal events. In this paper, an experimental study of tsunami-driven debris advection over a flat testbed was conducted considering different density conditions of debris elements.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/yY5SmwQuIn8

CURRENT SITUATION AND CONSERVATION ISSUES OF THE CEMETERY NEAR THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ROHATYN

The historical cemetery near the Church of the Holy Spirit in Rohatyn was investigated. The analysis of damages and losses of the ensemble of the cemetery and its separate monuments is carried out. The material of tombstones has been identified, the state of preservation of their physical substance has been analyzed. Tasks and challenges related to the conservation of the cemetery as a whole and its monuments have been analyzed.