Personal protective equipment market coordination using subsidy

Indicator-based assessment of potential supply risks for pharmaceutical excipients: Method and application

This work presents an indicator-based assessment of potential supply risks for pharmaceutical excipients. The assessment was conducted systematically through the steps of survey, data collection, and indicator value calculation. Japan was specified as the target, and all marketed products were analyzed. As the basis of the indicator, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI), a well-established method for measuring market concentration in economics, was adopted. Modifications were made to enable comparison of the risk levels of compounds, dosage forms, and diseases. Case studies were performed on each of these levels, and recommendations were obtained for risk mitigation. On the compound level, magnesium stearate, a commonly used lubricant, showed the highest risk, and a switch to alternative compounds was recommended. The dosage-form level evaluation showed that tablets and capsules could have higher risk levels than granules, indicating the importance of diversification. Finally, the disease-level evaluation showed that the supply of adult disease drugs might be risky because of the frequent use of tablets; less reliance on tablet forms was advised for adult diseases.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trade-embodied carbon emissions

We evaluate the response of global supply chains to carbon emissions through compiling multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models for import and export shocks in 14 countries/territories dominated by the COVID-19 crisis. Instead of traditional production-based inventories, we achieve CO2 emissions inventories based on intermediate inputs and final consumption to analyze the connected environmental impacts. In addition, we adopt the available data up to date to construct inventories of carbon emissions involved in imports and exports from different sectors. The results show that global carbon emissions could be decreased by 6.01% during the COVID-19, while export carbon emissions remained basically unchanged. As a result, imported carbon emissions fell by 5.2%, with the energy products sector most affected by the pandemic. Transport sector witnessed 18.42% carbon emission reduction. The impact of developing countries with a large proportion of resource-based industries is comparatively higher than that of developed countries with the technological advantage. International trade plays a crucial role in the choice of supply chain partners to control carbon emissions. Building a sustainable supply chain and reducing the "trade carbon deficit" between countries/regions requires the coordination of all departments of each country/region to promote the trade of energy-saving products, environmental protection services and environmental services.

An optimal control policy in fighting COVID-19 and infectious diseases

When an outbreak starts spreading, policymakers have to make decisions that affect the health of their citizens and the economy. Some might induce harsh measures, such as a lockdown. Following a long, harsh lockdown, the recession forces policymakers to rethink reopening. To provide an effective strategy, here we propose a control strategy model. Our model assesses the trade-off between social performance and limited medical resources by determining individuals' propensities. The proposed strategy also helps decision-makers to find optimal lockdown and exit strategies for each region. Moreover, the financial loss is minimized. We use the public sentiment information during the pandemic to determine the percentage of individuals with high-risk behavior and the percentage of individuals with low-risk behavior. Hence, we propose an online platform using fear-sentiment information to estimate the personal protective equipment (PPE) burn rate overtime for the entire population. In addition, a study of a COVID-19 dataset for Los Angeles County is performed to validate our model and its results. The total social cost reduces by 18% compared with a control strategy where susceptible individuals are assumed to be homogeneous. We also reduce the total social costs by 26% and 22% compared to other strategies that consider the health-care cost or the social performance cost, respectively.