Modeling IoT enablers for humanitarian supply chains coordination

Disaster relief operations rely on reliable real-time information sharing during disasters to coordinate scarce resources and save lives. The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently been regarded as an important technology for enhancing information sharing in disaster response operations to achieve effective coordination, accurate situational awareness, and comprehensive visibility of operational resources. Despite its relevance, its adaptation and implementation have been fraught with complexity. This research aims to understand the IoT enablers of humanitarian supply chain coordination. Seven dimensional enablers have been formulated by reviewing the literature and validating with practitioners’ opinions. A structural model is then developed using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique that addresses the interdependencies of IoT enablers in humanitarian supply chain coordination. Finding provides insights into the interplay between management support, IT infrastructures, and third-party logistics service providers as key enablers towards adaptation and implementation of IoT in humanitarian supply chains. Results provide important implications and insight to decision-makers in international humanitarian organizations toward adaptation and implementation of IoT systems in humanitarian supply chains

PREVALENCE OF RENAL ARTERY STENOSIS IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS UNDERGOING CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY

AbstractINTRODUCTION: Atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (RAS) is an important cause ofsecondary hypertension as well as ischemic nephropathy. Little information is availableabout the incidence of RAS in hypertensive patients in the Iranian society. This study wasperformed to determine the prevalence of RAS and its related risk factors in hypertensivepatients.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 122 hypertensive patients (80males and 42 females) aged 33-74 years (mean age: 54±8.5 years), all of whomunderwent coronary angiography and selective renal angiography.RESULTS: According to angiographic data, 95 patients (77.9%) had coronary arterydisease (CAD) and 27 (22.1%) had normal coronary arteries. RAS was seen in 22 patients(23.1%) with CAD and hypertension, and in 4 patients (14.8%) with hypertension andnormal coronary arteries. Overall, 26 patients (21.3%) had RAS, which was classified assignificant (14.7%) and non-significant (6.6%). RAS significantly correlated to the femalegender (P=0.019), age (P=0.002), diabetes mellitus (P=0.025) and severity ofhypertension (P=0.006).CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of significant RAS among hypertensive patientsundergoing coronary angiography was 14.7%. Factors like old age, severe hypertension,diabetes mellitus and female gender were clinical predictors of RAS.Key Words: Hypertension, renal artery stenosis, coronary artery disease, coronaryartery angiography

Strategic supplier selection for renewable energy supply chain under green capabilities (fuzzy BWM-WASPAS-COPRAS approach)

The supplier selection problem (SSP) is a significant issue in renewable supply chain management (RSCM). Selecting a strategic green supplier can not only discover the sustainable development of supply chains but also optimize the consumption rate of resources and decrease the negative environmental effects, which adopts to the green development context. As a multiple criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) problem, choosing a strategic green supplier is important to renewable supply chains. However, how to choose a strategic green supplier for supply chains is a great effort. Hence, In the present work, evaluating a set of strategic suppliers is primarily based on green capabilities by using an integrated fuzzy Best Worst Method (FBWM) with the other two techniques, namely COPRAS (Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives) and WASPAS (Weighted Aggregated Sum-Product Assessment). Initially, nine strategic supplier selection criteria have been identified through literature review and a real-world case study of Iran's renewable energy supply chain is deliberated to exhibit the proposed framework's applicability. The applied methodology and its analysis will provide insight to decision-makers of strategic supplier selection. It may aid decision-makers and the procurement department in differentiating the significant strategic green supplier selection criteria and assess the strategic green supplier in the local and global market supply chain. Finally, the strengths and limitation of the framework are discussed by using comparative analysis with other methods