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Medical supply chain communication networks engender critical information and data. Notably in the COVID era, inner personal and private information is being shared between healthcare providers regarding the medical supply chain. In recent years, multiple cyber-attacks have targeted medical supply chain communication networks due to their lack of security measures. In the era where cyber-attacks are cheaper and easier due to the computational power and various algorithms available for malicious uses, security, and data privacy requires intensive and higher measures. On the other hand, Information Hiding Techniques (IHT) compromise various advanced methods to hide sensitive information from being disclosed to malicious nodes. Moreover, with the support of Blockchain, IHT can bring higher security and the required privacy levels. In this paper, we propose the implementation of Blockchain and smart contract with the information hiding technique to enhance the security and privacy of data communication in critical systems, such as smart healthcare supply chain communication networks. Results show the feasibility of the framework using Hyperledger smart contract along with the desired security level.

Without a proper mechanism to track and authenticate drugs, both stakeholder and consumer experience dilemmas. The dilemmas arise between stakeholders and consumers are related to of coordination, inventory management, human resource dependency, order management, stock management, expiry of medicines data etc. Stakeholders are unable to analyse the demands, hence becoming incapable of optimizing their production and storage. Likewise, a consumer remains suspicious about the authenticity of the drug. A medical supply chain promotes updating medicine status at each checkpoint, reducing the disputes caused by medicine ' s unseen journey. In the current market, medical supply chains are present, but they are centralized. A centralized medical supply chain is typically tedious and expensive to maintain and does not provide adequate features to analyse markets. Above all, it brands merely a certificate to prove the authenticity of a drug. However, by using a blockchain platform, the medical supply chain problems can be solved efficiently. This blockchain-based medical supply chain’s key feature is to system stores all the medicine batch ' s transfer history. First, a pharmaceutical company is permitted to register a medicine. After the manufacturing of a registered medicine, a batch-manager uploads its details on the platform ' s network. Hereafter, any further exchange of this batch needs both sender and receiver ' s approval. Only after the successful completion of this procedure, an exchange occurs. A corresponding exchange transaction is permanently stored on the network. This sequence shapes the system to follow a systematic order and eliminates the possibility of a third-person fraud. Lastly, we made a DApp (Decentralized Application) for the tracking of the medical supply chain. A medical supply chain built on the blockchain provides immutability, transparency, automation, and integrity. This paper aims to introduce a model to maintain medical supply chain records on the blockchain while explaining blockchain technology. Moreover, the blockchain platforms and their dependencies are explained lucidly. The medical supply chain’s implementation and design are performed using smart contracts, Web3.js library, and JavaScript. Furthermore, the system is tested on both a local network, the Truffle suite, and the Kovan test network. In the future, the use of IoT inculcating integrated chip that can automatically update a batch’s location, temperature, and other physical conditions periodically can be developed.

\"Materialities of Care addresses the role of material culture within health and social care encounters, including everyday objects, dress, furniture and architecture. Makes visible the mundane and often unnoticed aspects of material culture and attends to interrelations between materials and care in practice. Examines material practice across a range of clinical and non-clinical spaces including hospitals, hospices, care homes, museums, domestic spaces and community spaces such as shops and tenement stairwells. Addresses fleeting moments of care, as well as choreographed routines that order bodies and materials. Focuses on practice and relations between materials and care as ongoing, emergent and processual International contributions from leading scholars draw attention to methodological approaches for capturing the material and sensory aspects of health and social care encounters\"--Provided by publisher.

PurposeIn recent times, due to rapid urbanization and the expansion of the E-commerce industry, drone delivery has become a point of interest for many researchers and industry practitioners. Several factors are directly or indirectly responsible for adopting drone delivery, such as customer expectations, delivery urgency and flexibility to name a few. As the traditional mode of delivery has some potential drawbacks to deliver medical supplies in both rural and urban settings, unmanned aerial vehicles can be considered as an alternative to overcome the difficulties. For this reason, drones are incorporated in the healthcare supply chain to transport lifesaving essential medicine or blood within a very short time. However, since there are numerous types of drones with varying characteristics such as flight distance, payload-carrying capacity, battery power, etc., selecting an optimal drone for a particular scenario becomes a major challenge for the decision-makers. To fill this void, a decision support model has been developed to select an optimal drone for two specific scenarios related to medical supplies delivery.Design/methodology/approachThe authors proposed a methodology that incorporates graph theory and matrix approach (GTMA) to select an optimal drone for two specific scenarios related to medical supplies delivery at (1) urban areas and (2) rural/remote areas based on a set of criteria and sub-criteria critical for successful drone implementation.FindingsThe findings of this study indicate that drones equipped with payload handling capacity and package handling flexibility get more preference in urban region scenarios. In contrast, drones with longer flight distances are prioritized most often for disaster case scenarios where the road communication system is either destroyed or inaccessible.Research limitations/implicationsThe methodology formulated in this paper has implications in both academic and industrial settings. This study addresses critical gaps in the existing literature by formulating a mathematical model to find the most suitable drone for a specific scenario based on its criteria and sub-criteria rather than considering a fleet of drones is always at one's disposal.Practical implicationsThis research will serve as a guideline for the practitioners to select the optimal drone in different scenarios related to medical supplies delivery.Social implicationsThe proposed methodology incorporates GTMA to assist decision-makers in order to appropriately choose a particular drone based on its characteristics crucial for that scenario.Originality/valueThis research will serve as a guideline for the practitioners to select the optimal drone in different scenarios related to medical supplies delivery.

\"The Business of Healthcare Innovation is a wide-ranging analysis of business trends in the manufacturing segment of the healthcare industry. It provides a thorough overview and introduction to the innovative sectors fueling improvements in healthcare: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, platform technology, medical devices and information technology. For each sector, the book examines the basis and trends in scientific innovation, the business and revenue models pursued to commercialize that innovation, the regulatory constraints within which each sector must operate and the growing issues posed by more activist payers and consumers. Specific topics include market structure and competition, the economics and rationale of product development, pricing, sales and marketing, contract negotiations with buyers, alliances versus mergers, business strategies and prospects for growth. Written by professors of the Wharton School and industry executives, the book shows why healthcare sectors are such an important source of growth in any nation's economy\"--Provided by publisher.

To address the prediction and allocation challenges of emergency medical supplies during the middle and late stages of major outbreaks, we proposed an end-to-end ICSL deep learning algorithm architecture. This approach takes into account the characteristics of infectious diseases and the impact of government quarantine measures on their spread, enabling the prediction of the maximum demand for emergency medical supplies. Based on this, a multi-objective scheduling and allocation model was constructed, considering urgency, scheduling time, and cost. We designed a multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm to solve this model. Finally, we validated the algorithm using data from the Wuhan pandemic control measures. The results showed that the parameter update method improved the prediction accuracy of the LSTM model, increasing accuracy by 29.37% compared to the traditional LSTM algorithm and by 8.63% compared to the improved BP neural network algorithm. The proposed scheduling and allocation model optimizes delivery timeliness while also considering the urgency and cost-effectiveness of the resource allocation. The research findings can provide decision-making insights for the allocation of emergency medical supplies during public health emergencies.

An introduction and comprehensive reference to disposables in biomanufacturing Increasingly, single-use devices (also called disposables) have been replacing their reusable stainless steel counterparts in modern biopharmaceutical processes. Single-use systems offer increased flexibility and versatility while mitigating the risk of contamination during biomanufacturing. The potential reduction in energy, labor, and cleaning costs, along with elimination of cleaning solution wastes and their disposal, offers significant economic advantages. This book provides a practical overview of commonly used disposables in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, as well as their working principles, characteristics, engineering aspects, economics, and applications. Serving as both an introduction and practical reference to this growing area in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, Single-Use Technology in Biopharmaceutical Manufacture: Helps readers identify appropriate disposables (and relevant vendors) for their processes Offers an overview of the main single-use devices for biomanufacturing, and describes their implementation Illustrates manufacturing, quality assurance, and environmental influence with clear case studies Part I of the book introduces the user to single-use equipment in biopharmaceutical manufacture, while Part II represents a case study collection. With the information in this thorough and up-to-date resource, biopharmaceutical professionals, engineers, and researchers will be better prepared for making effective decisions regarding disposable alternatives and appropriate systems for their applications.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of hospital’s visibility for sensing (VFS), learning, coordinating and integrating on hospital-supplier collaboration. Second, it explored the influence of hospital-supplier collaboration on hospital supply chain performance. The author also explored how the technology orientation of the medical chain units influences the above linkages. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a multi-unit study of different hospital supply chains. Consequently, perceptual data were gathered from seven dominant entities in a typical medical/hospital supply chain: hospitals and clinics, accommodation (i.e. hotels), chemistry and pharmaceutical, marketing/public relations/promotion, medical equipment manufacturers, food and beverage and insurance. The responses were gathered using e-mail survey and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings Based on 192 completed responses, the author found positive influences of VFS, learning and integrating on hospital-supplier collaboration and a positive impact of hospital-supplier collaboration on hospital supply chain performance. An insignificant influence of hospital’s visibility for coordinating was noted on hospital-supplier collaboration. The study argued hospitals to invest more for enriching their dynamic capabilities to diagnose the changes in the environment so as to sustain their collaborative relationships leading to positive performance implications. Originality/value The study is the foremost to investigate the effects of hospital’s dynamic capabilities on its collaborative efforts with its key supplier and their influence on hospital supply chain performance. Also the study is foremost in exploring the importance of technology orientation on hospital dynamic capabilities and hospital-supplier collaboration. An important contribution of the research is the conceptualization of supply chain visibility core components (visibility of sensing, visibility of learning, visibility of coordinating and visibility of integrating) in the context of hospital supply chains.