A model predictive control approach to optimally devise a two-dose vaccination rollout: A case study on COVID-19 in Italy

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the unprecedented challenge of devising massive vaccination rollouts, toward slowing down and eventually extinguishing the diffusion of the virus. The two-dose vaccination procedure, speed requirements, and the scarcity of doses, suitable spaces, and personnel, make the optimal design of such rollouts a complex problem. Mathematical modeling, which has already proved to be determinant in the early phases of the pandemic, can again be a powerful tool to assist public health authorities in optimally planning the vaccination rollout. Here, we propose a novel epidemic model tailored to COVID-19, which includes the effect of nonpharmaceutical interventions and a concurrent two-dose vaccination campaign. Then, we leverage nonlinear model predictive control to devise optimal scheduling of first and second doses, accounting both for the healthcare needs and for the socio-economic costs associated with the epidemics. We calibrate our model to the 2021 COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Italy. Specifically, once identified the epidemic parameters from officially reported data, we numerically assess the effectiveness of the obtained optimal vaccination rollouts for the two most used vaccines. Determining the optimal vaccination strategy is nontrivial, as it depends on the efficacy and duration of the first-dose partial immunization, whereby the prioritization of first doses and the delay of second doses may be effective for vaccines with sufficiently strong first-dose immunization. Our model and optimization approach provide a flexible tool that can be adopted to help devise the current COVID-19 vaccination campaign, and increase preparedness for future epidemics

An exploratory study of the adoption of blockchain technology among Australian organizations : a theoretical model

Scholarly and commercial literature indicates several applications of Blockchain Technology (BCT) in different industries e.g. health, finance, supply chain, government, and energy. Despite abundant benefits reported and growing prominence, BCT has been facing various challenges across the globe, including low adoption by organizations. There is a dearth of studies that examined the organizational adoption of blockchain technology, particularly in Australia. This lack of uptake provides the rationale to initiate this research to identify the factors influencing the Australian organizations to adopt BCT. To achieve this, we conducted a qualitative study based on the Technology, Organization, Environment (TOE) framework. The study proposes a theoretical model grounded on the findings of semi-structured interviews of blockchain experts in Australia. The proposed model shows that the organizational adoption of blockchain is influenced by perceived benefits, compatibility, and complexity, organization innovativeness, organizational learning capability, competitive intensity, government support, trading partner readiness, and standards uncertainty. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG